After School

Ryuusuke sat in his seat, spinning his pencil. Afternoon classes had just finished, and now his classmates were making time to chat amongst themselves, or if they were less social, just leave for home. Ryuusuke couldn't blame them. The amount of garbage that people tended to spew in their high school years was astounding. Ryuusuke wasn't really much for chatting, although he didn't object to it. The main reason Ryuusuke had stayed behind, though, was to people-watch. There were some people in the classroom that he didn't recognize from last year, and Ryuusuke liked to know what everyone in his class was like.

For better or for worse.

"Yo, Ryuu-kun!" A... to put it loosely... friend of his, Keigo, called out to him, before walking up to his desk.

"Aaaand... what is it, Keigo?" Ryuusuke responded, looking up from his desk with a disinterested look on his face.

"Geez, so mean... did you hear about that new thing involving the old building?" Keigo responded, changing the subject really quickly. That was one thing that annoyed Ryuusuke about Keigo. He changed his mood, his pace, and his topics of conversation too quickly for Ryuusuke to handle sometimes.

But he had heard about the rumor involving the old school building. After all, a majority of students in the school did.

To him, it sounded like a bunch of nonsense. Just vague enough to be impossible to prove, and enough wish fulfillment to capture the attention of a majority of the student body.

"I'm sure you can figure out what I think about the whole thing," Ryuusuke responded, waving his hand dismissively.

"Oh yeah? Well... what about this?!" Keigo shouted with a dramatic flair, throwing down a small scrap of paper onto Ryuusuke's desk. Ryuusuke looked down, almost instinctively.

"Keigo-san... this is just a random string of numbers. You could have literally written this down in four seconds," Ryuusuke responded, looking up at his acquaintance with a raised eyebrow.

"No, man! I found this in my desk! I didn't write it dude, I swear," Keigo said, half-shouting. "Oh forget it, I have no idea why I came to tell you of all people this," he finished, before storming off in a huff.

Ryuusuke sighed. This whole old building rumor started at the tail of last year. He'd gotten wind of it on the last day of school, but it had apparently gained massive traction over the spring break, and now there was someone talking about it at least once per day.

Ryuusuke tried to put it out of his mind for now. He went back to analyzing the new faces in the classroom.

She had heard the whispers all day. Every time she heard another student talking about the newest developments concerning the haunted building, Cho felt like putting her head through a wall. All the excitement would just cause a group of idiots to wander in there and create a mess she would clean up.

And I really hope it won't be my idiots. Cho let out an exasperated sigh at the thought. They were always getting themselves into trouble. She shook her head attempting to block out the noise so she could finish her math homework before she had to leave for the day. The Aoiko household was boisterous at best, deafening at worst. So it was always wise to finish her work before she went home.

But with all the excitement and gossip going around the school, it was hard to focus on anything...

Once school was over, Ueda Etsuko was quick to start packing her bag. She crammed her things in there, not caring how organized they were, and slung it over her shoulder. Standing up so quickly, the chair scraped loudly across the floor, and Etsuko damned herself to hell in her mind. She had caught the attention of Chiasa aka Etsuko’s worst nightmare.

“Etsuko-chan~!” Chiasa screeched across the room, her saccharine voice grating across Etsuko’s ears like poisonous bees. As if the laws of nature didn’t adhere to her, Chiasa was over by Etsuko in record time.

Chiasa took one look at Etsuko’s bag and up at Etsuko’s russet eyes and exclaimed, “You are not permitted to leave!”

Etsuko might have been flabbergasted if she hadn’t been stuck with such behaviors since before school started. Etsuko just had the worst luck of her family moving right next to the Hamasaki clan. The Hamasaki family was a rambunctious bunch that repeatedly invited the Ueda trio to come over and hang out and, of course, Etsuko’s family accepted. Since then, Chiasa had the annoyingly familiar and totally unrealistic goal of getting Etsuko “out of her shell.” Etsuko had tried to persuade her neighbor from the ridiculous ambition, but Chiasa was as bullheaded as ever. As such, Etsuko didn’t reply when Chiasa claimed this and didn’t fight it when she grabbed her by the arm and forced her to walk towards Chiasa’s group of friends.

Etsuko had been introduced to every one of them at some point, but she didn’t bother to remember their names. The only one she remembered was Keigo, and that was in order to avoid him just as she did with Chiasa. Once they reached the friends, a full force of panic gripped her. Her lungs swelled, speedily gulping down air from her nose, and her heart beated twice as fast as normal. She felt as if she was going to pop, but on the outside she looked collected and cool, perhaps even timid.

“I’m back! Say hi, Etsuko-chan!” Chiasa gleefully chirped and Etsuko wondered absently if she ever cried. Then, she thought that if Chiasa did ever cry, her tears must be able to cure the sick. Etsuko bit her lip to keep from smiling – because she knew that when she smiled, it was game over for her and they will savagely take over her social life, which she had kept void on purpose.

“Hello.” Etsuko politely said, looking to each individual face.

“Oh! Keigo-kun, tell Etsuko-chan what you told me!” Chiasa cried and Etsuko felt her ear burst with pressure.

“Oh, yeah, so Ueda, get this – I found a list of numbers on my desk! And I didn’t write it!” Keigo crowed, looking at Etsuko expectedly. Whatever reaction he was expecting, he didn’t get it, as Etsuko just blinked.

“Idiot, she doesn’t know about the legend!” Another girl said and understanding dawned in Keigo’s eyes.

“Oh, yeah, okay: so y’know that old building here? Well, supposedly, if you enter one of the rooms and enter a special code into your phone, you’ll get a response telling how you will die.” Keigo whispered conspiratorially.

“I heard that you talked to the dead.”

“I heard!”

Etsuko blinked outwardly, but inwardly, she was endlessly rolling her eyes. How will she survive these complete morons?

Rin's ears twitched as she caught snippets and pieces of conversation from around her classroom. As the afternoon classes had finished, the student body had vibrated to life with some talk of an old school building. Of course, there was a rumor sweeping the school about such a place, but Rin wanted to know more--wanted to know facts. At first it had sounded silly, but her curiosity had gotten the best of her, and Rin never missed an opportunity for adventure, even if it was over some made-up story.

But who could she ask? Who did she know enough to investigate with? No one here, she thought as her eyes scanned the bodies and faces of her classmates of 3-2. Someone has to know something beyond just the rumors. Her ears became sonars as she squinched her face tightly together, looking like an upset piggy. To Rin, if she weakened her sense of vision, she could improve her hearing. The more she focused, she caught someone talking about numbers...numbers and a name that she couldn't quite make out over everyone's jibjab.

"No way," laughed some boy to the girl next to him as he slung his bag over his shoulder. "There's no way Keigo didn't write that himself."

"He swears he didn't!" Shrieked the girl before punching her mate in the arm. "Why don't you ask him, Tamaki?"

"Yeah right. I'm not wasting my time on that stuff. Real or not, you don't mess with that stuff, you know? Let Keigo mess up on his own. He's just pulling your chain anyway." The boy grinned before strutting out of the room with the girl.

Keigo, Rin smirked. "Class 2-2. Bingo." With a new kick in her step, Rin yanked her book bag up and set out on her mission to find Keigo's home room.

Monday, April 3rd - Shirafuyu Academy - Classroom 2-2 - (3:07 pm)


Near the middle of the lively classroom sat a girl easily distinguishable from the rest by her almost golden hair bun and how neat her desk was. "hmm... no practice today..." She sighed closing her cellphone slowly, placing it over her desk before tapping lightly at it's plastic shell with her pointing finger as if she was bored or saddened.
The tracking team had called saying that they had decided to cancel practice... if she couldn't Run she could at least go to the botany club right? tend a cute plant or two just to see how they were doing... or she could go accompany her two friends in senseless boy-talk even though that wasn't really her thing and they full knew it... or better yet she could return home and pet cute little Susu her adorable white cat.

"this is capush... I was really looking forward to it... oh well I guess tomorrow is always there!"

She looked at her Cellphone for a second casting away all sad thoughts from her mind, a somewhat simple looking half-pink-half white with a sticker of a white kitty winking and a fluffy looking strap cellphone... no more messages for now, so she put it away and rose from her seat, everything else neatly packed within her backpack, the rest of the room still a little rowdy with conversation and although she didn't care for most of it, there was one person really making a show... Keigo was it?
while she hated to eavesdrop she couldn't help but to hear the whole thing as the seat in question was only two seats to the left of her's.

standing up with a smile she look a quick look at the weird numbers as she passed by, as Keigo stood up to talk to someone else.
She had something to do so she didn't even tried to stop them, passing by she left a small stack of paper by their teacher's desk, they contained an assignment, something she had done to help the teacher plan out for a pop quiz next week.

On her way back she stopped again by Ryuusuke's seat musing slightly as she stared at the conversation going on at the other side of the room,
She looked at him and said as a way of greeting, "those are lies right? I mean... I really hope so, if there was a haunted place so close to the school I hope someone does something about it..."
She more she thought about it the more it seemed like a possibility and that was somewhat unnerving, Ryuusuke on the other hand seemed to not believe a single word of what his friend said... his stubbornness kind of made her feel safer.

Kotoko stared at the piles of homework placed at her desk and sighed. Some girls in her class were apparently too busy staring at boy's behinds to crack open a book and study. So obviously they forced their favorite play toy, Kotoko, to do it. Quickly stuffing the endless papers into her bag, she hoped to leave the classroom before her classmates got bored.

"Is the little troll leaving so soon?" A high pitched voice rang out. Kotoko froze and stayed completely silent. She'd been bullied for over a year now and still hadn't found the courage to stand up for herself. What was even the point? They'd only make the situation worse, plus Kotoko deserved everything they did to her, not that they knew about that though. No one did.

"Yes, that's right," Kirai, probably the cruelest person on the planet, said while softly petting Kotoko's head like she was only a wild animal that needed training. Kirai and her gang always thought of the worst jokes to play on her to entertain themselves. Once on Kirai's birthday, her friends decided to make her a cake by pouring flour, eggs, and other mysterious items, all over Kotoko. She can still smell the rotten scent even today. Pulling chairs beside Kotoko, Kirai and her friends began pulling her hand and slapping her in the face while spurring vile insults, a typical afternoon game. Kotoko's eyes welled up a bit in tears whenever one of them pulled a little too hard on her hair. This was her life, why was she so used to it?

The worst part was no one watching them said anything. They just stayed silent as she suffered every day. Maybe if they all worked together, they could put an end to this horror. But no. Of course she couldn't blame them either. It must terrifying to think about going through what Kotoko has to put up with everyday. If they didn't want to risk that, then Kotoko had no reason to be upset with them. While the girls 'played' with her, Kotoko usually tried her best to zone them out. Three seats away, some friends were discussing the latest rumor at their school. Kotoko had heard all about this mysterious abandoned school. People said that if you went inside there and entered a special code in your phone, you'll be told when you die. Kotoko wasn't sure if she believed it or not, how could someone know when you were to die? The future was full of endless possibilities that could change everyday. Kotoko was a bit curious as to when she would die though...

Ihr naht euch wieder, schwankende Gestalten!
Die früh sich einst dem trüben Blick gezeigt.
Versuch ich wohl euch diesmal fest zu halten?
Fühl ich mein Herz noch jenem Wahn geneigt?
Ich drängt euch zu! nun gut, so mögt ihr walten,
Wie ihr aus Dunst und Nebel um mich steigt;
Mein Busen fühlt sich jugendlich erschüttert
Vom Zauberhauch, der euren Zug umwittert.

Slightly annoyed Nori looked up from the tiny book. He had been wanting to start reading it for quite some time, but now the restless atmosphere around him made it simply impossible. Outside, the spring winds rustled through the fresh leaves. It was as if there was something about it that seemed to stir commotion amongst the students.
For a few days now there had been a rumor going around the school, the subject of which had not met Nori’s ears yet. He couldn’t be bothered too much though; it was probably some gossip about who started dating who, or some crazy scheme or plan. Either way, something about which Nori couldn’t care less. He’d rather pick up something useful, such as the contents of his book.

Once more he attempted to take in the words, but whispers kept invading his thoughts, flooding the sentences and drowning their meaning.
Nori sighed and shut the book, putting it cover down on the table. He took off his glasses, placing them on top of the dark crimson booklet, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “What is everyone so agitated about anyway..?” he wondered to himself.
While he leaned back in his chair and stretched out, a pair of students passed him.

“Yeah right. I'm not wasting my time on that stuff. Real or not, you don't mess with that stuff, you know? Let Keigo mess up on his own,” a male voice called out.
The name Keigo rung a bell. Although Nori had never talked to him, he had heard that Keigo was always up to date with the latest rumors.

Next to him, a girl bopped up from her seat, a mysterious spark in her eyes. Nori watched as she left the classroom with a firm step.

“I think I might leave as well...” he determined and gathered his belongings, carefully putting the book in his bag and the thin rimmed glasses back on his nose.

As Nori walked through the hallway, slipping by the still busy classrooms, his eyes got drawn to one particular group of boisterous students. A small flock of people had centered themselves around one boy.
“Oh! Keigo-kun, tell Etsuko-chan what you told me!” a girl cried out.

“So that’s Keigo, huh...”

Now knowing the face of the person linked to the rumor, Nori couldn’t help but get a little curious. He decided to approach the group and resolve what the fuss was all about. Drawing near, Nori listened carefully as the boy explained his story.

Gruffydd’s laughter cut through the air like a knife. At least, his friends reacted like it had, intent as they were on the tales of the mysterious building and its mysterious magic. Or whatever they thought was going on. HE could see in his peripheral vision that he had attracted some attention for it. No matter.

“What’s so funny, Iorwerth-san?”

Aside from how you still can’t pronounce my name right, Sano? It had bugged him at first, when he had first moved here, but there was almost nobody in this country who could pronounce a Welsh name properly, so he had gotten used to it. Now he even found it amusing. But that’s not what this was about. No, his friends were being stupid, so he was going to have some fun.

“Doesn’t it seem odd to you,” Gruffydd said, a grin plastered on to his face, “that it would be so easy?” A wry chuckled wormed its way out of his throat, “You know I’m a big fan of old stories, right? Well, whenever the supernatural comes on to the scene, and its offering something, there is always a price. What does it mean, I wonder, that whoever spread this rumor neglected to say what that might be, hmm?” He leaned in to the others as he went for the kill.

“How horrible it must be, that they’d be so worried about scaring everyone away.” It would seem that quite a few people had paid attention to his little performance—while not entirely silent, the classroom was a lot quieter than it had been. Not like he minded.

Sano Masao was the first, of those he’d actually been talking to, to speak again, “Iorwerth-san, you shouldn’t say things like that.”

Gruffydd grinned. “But you opened yourselves up to it. Besides, it’s the truth.” And it was—these people really had no appreciation for the old stories. “And besides, if there is any actual merit to these rumors, fear is the appropriate response.” Sano blushed with embarrassment, as did the others. Before any of them could say anything more, Gruffydd stood up, slinging his bag on to his back. “Anyways, I have a few things to take care of. Just remember to be careful if you send texts from any strange buildings, alright?” And with that, and one final chuckle, he slipped out of the room.

But for all of his joking, Gruffydd had to admit to himself that he was just as enraptured by the rumor as anyone else. In part, because he had been right—if there was anything behind the rumor, there would be a price to pay. And there’s no way it’s about finding your ‘soulmate.’ Maybe talking to the dead. Maybe. And he had overheard something, in all that dribble back there.

“There's no way Keigo didn't write that himself.”

“He swears he didn't!”

Alright, Keigo, let’s see how this story of yours pans out. Probably nonsense, which’ll be good for a laugh. But if not—however unlikely that is—they’ll need someone who has some idea what they’re doing, or they’ll wind up dead and hanging from an antenna, or something. The second-year wasn’t someone he was overly familiar with, but it as chance would have it, he did recognize the name. And he did know which class he was in.

Ryuusuke looked on idly as Keigo moved over to another group, before one of the members of the group...

Chiasa was her name, if he remembered correctly (not that he really put efforting into remembering, but it so happened to work out like that, generally).

...before Chiasa pulled in a girl that Ryuusuke hadn't seen in first year.

As Ryuusuke expected of any group containing Keigo, Talkmaster, they were loud and energetic and too grating for Ryuusuke to handle, even considering that he was nowhere near them.

Ryuusuke sighed. He would consider this as a good opportunity to analyze the girl's personality, if it weren't for the fact that he could barely sense her presence over the white noise that was the Chatterbugs.

And then, to make things more complicated, another unknown made themselves known.

Annie was a girl who had transferred in near the end of last year, but she was still relatively new to him. But she'd asked him a question.

"It's all total nonsense," Ryuusuke said, waving his hand in the air lazily, "though I imagine it won't stop some people from checking out the building anyway. That's not my problem, though."

Oh my god, they were still going. Ryuusuke stood, and was about to head out of the room, when someone came in the room. Wasn't a teacher. Looked older than him. Saw him maybe once or twice around the last year, but never too frequently.

Upperclassman.

So, it looked to be that Keigo was attracting people from other years as well.

"Don't you guys have anything better to do with your time?" Ryuusuke called to Keigo's group.

The black haired teen made her way down the stale hall with much celerity. Each step Rin took made her excitement inflate--finally, no more boredom! Sure, school was okay, but Rin's lack of friends left her social life empty and beyond boring. If she had something to look forward to or even just wonder about, this rumor would keep her set and content for a little while. Her mouth almost watered at the thought. When she turned into the right classroom, she halted at the doorway and let her eyes scan before settling on a group of students clustering.

"Oh, yeah, okay: so y’know that old building here? Well, supposedly, if you enter one of the rooms and enter a special code into your phone, you’ll get a response telling how you will die," a boy somewhere near the center urged.

No way! Rin squealed internally. "That is so cool," she sighed to herself, leaning against the roughly sanded door frame. Maybe that Keigo guy was around, but even if he wasn't, everyone around here had to at least know enough to fill her in. Drawn like a moth to light, Rin carelessly pushed herself closer to the developing group of students. The corner of a desk caught her by surprise as she stumbled past it, accidentally shouldering Nori Takahashi and knocking his glasses off his nose.

"Oops."

Overhearing both Ryuusuke's angry comments as well as a rumor about your cellphone foretelling your own death sent shivers down Annie's spine, weather she believed it or not she was not a fan of all of that spooky stuff.
"oh well you guys h-have fun, I have a thing i need to do... eeh"
turning around to leave she took a wrong step losing her balance she stumbled to the floor with a thud.
"aauh... ewuu..."
she whimpered as she robbed her forehead small tears in her eyes from the pain as she looked back, still laying on the floor.

As if their stupidity attracted more stupidity, multiple students came buzzing through the doors, seemingly attracted to Keigo’s moronic ramblings like flies to honey. All Etsuko wanted in life was to be left alone – so, why oh why, was God punishing her? Etsuko sighed through her nose, attempting to remain polite, the only thing holding her resolve in place would be the punishment her parents would wrought on her if word reached their all-hearing ears. And, undoubtedly, it would reach them somehow – probably from the mouth of a certain neighborly peer.

“So, whaddya think, Ueda? Scary, huh?” Keigo said excitedly, nudging her in the shoulder.

Etsuko stared at him, slightly lost, before remembering what they were talking about.

“Oh…yes.” It was a lie of course, but if she encouraged such friendliness towards her then she would be stuck with them for the rest of her life.

“Ha, Etsuko finding that scary?” Chiasa laughed, slapping her neighbor on the shoulder. “I’ve never seen her scared. Name a horror movie and we’ve seen it – she didn’t jump once and she didn’t act scared, either. This girl is made of stone.”

Etsuko glanced at Chiasa from the corner of her eye, remembering the days over the summer where her parents forced her to watch movies at Chiasa’s house while they were hanging out with her parents. Truthfully, she was utterly terrified after seeing those movies and couldn’t sleep right for days. What Chiasa had taken for stone-faced in all reality had been the face of someone frozen in fear. But Etsuko wouldn’t correct her on this; then it would give Chiasa the impression that she was okay with sharing her vulnerabilities with her, thus meaning they were friends. And they were not friends.

“Oh, maybe you should go to the old building then.” Keigo joked and Etsuko felt the intense need to sneer. She hummed in response, not knowing exactly what to say in the situation.

Gruffydd was getting very annoyed at this point. He had not thought it possible, but there was more inane drivel here than in his own classroom. He would have put an end to it quickly, if he had found Keigo in the small crowd that had gathered there. It turned out that, despite generally knowing where they were, it is difficult to look for someone when you don’t know what they look like.

But after a few grating minutes—including one mocking underclassman whom he chose to ignore—he was able to puzzle out which one of them was Keigo. As he approached him, Keigo made a rather interesting suggestion to a supposedly fearless classmate of his. While, in the back of his mind, part of him knew that he couldn’t really blame Keigo for this when he had jumped into the headfirst, Gruffydd needed to let off some steam. Plus, he was being a little shit. While the girl he was talking to was acting polite, it was clear to him that she had no interest in this cacophony—she just lacked any sort of enthusiasm for it all.

“My, my, how positively noble.” Gruffydd’s voice was dripping with sarcasm, “You’re Keigo, right?” With the underclassman’s affirmative, Gruffydd continued, “I just have to tell you how courageous that is. You go around telling everyone about how somehow got this mysterious code, to text from this mysterious building, and then suggest that someone else go and try it out. How unspeakably brave of you.”

Nori smirked faintly, raising an eyebrow at Keigo’s description. This was the big rumor? This was what the students had been rambling about for the past few days? It honestly didn’t sound any different from the ghost stories he scared his little sister with.
The mention of how Keigo had found a list of numbers which he supposedly had not written himself made the story only slightly more believable; but how could he prove that he wasn’t lying and actually hadn’t written the list himself? Even so, even if Keigo hadn’t, maybe one of his friends had in an attempt to play a trick on him. (Nori had some experience with this himself after all...)

His thoughts got disrupted when a small, dark figure bumped into him. When he looked down he noticed it was the girl from before who had left the classroom so assertively just moments before he had.
Slowly a name came to mind. “Rin...” Seeing her almost childlike expression of fascination Nori couldn’t help but smile. “I don’t want to spoil the fun for you, but you know it’s just another ghost story, right?” he said nearly apologetically.

“Don’t you have anything better to do with your time?” he heard from behind him.
Turning around towards the source Nori could hardly distinguish a dark-haired boy facing Keigo’s group.
“Well at least he isn’t talking about us,” he murmured, more to himself than to Rin. Moreover though, how did Nori realize only now that he was not wearing his glasses? He must have lost them in the small collision just then.
“Ah, don’t move...” he ordered Rin and gently grabbed her by the shoulders as to ensure that she indeed wouldn’t. Bending down, he reached for his glasses which had fallen exactly in between the girl’s feet. He got up again and held them up against the light, checking for any scratches, before putting them back on their original spot.

The first thing Nori noted when he had regained his vision was how teeming the classroom had gotten. Around him had gathered students from all years. Being in one of the higher classes, he hardly recognized anyone. One particular person he could immediately identify though.
Making his way through the crowded room, rising above all other students, was his classmate Gruffydd. With a thunderous voice he overwhelmed the remaining murmurs.

“My, my, how positively noble,” he spoke as he approached the center of attention. “You’re Keigo, right?” he paused for a moment, awaiting the boy’s response. “I just have to tell you how courageous that is. You go around telling everyone about how somehow got this mysterious code, to text from this mysterious building, and then suggest that someone else go and try it out. How unspeakably brave of you.”

Nori watched Keigo stiffen up completely. He could understand his reaction; although Gruffydd was a good-natured person, you definitely didn’t want to get on his bad side, especially considering his muscular build.
He saw the smaller male struggling to find words and believed he could even smell his cold sweat. A small chuckle escaped his lips at the thought, breaking the tension in the room.
“He’s got a point there,” Nori immediately added, not wanting to create the impression he was laughing about the large Welshman.
“Why don’t you show us the way, and go on in first, Keigo?” he suggested with a teasing voice.

Ryuusuke's eyes could have popped out of their sockets he was rolling them so hard. Not only did everyone in the room completely ignore him, but somehow the commotion got even bigger. Well, he wasn't going to stand here and listen to this. It was pretty much going to pan out like he would expect it to.

In the end, no one was actually going to go to the old building by themselves. And if they tried to go as a group? Ha, good luck not getting caught.

He turned just in time to see Annie on the floor. Cue a big sigh.

At least Annie wasn't participating in this hysteria. Or was trying not to, anyway.

"This is ridiculous," Ryuusuke said, holding out his hand, "come on. Let's get out of here, before I suffocate on the bullshit."

"t-thank you..." She said still bewildered by the ever increasing number of bystanders listening to the boy as she took Ryuusuke's hand and helped herself up.
Dusting herself in a flash she nodded to him and said,
"lead the way~"
She added making sure nothing had fallen off of her bag and securing it to her shoulder.
At least if she followed Ryuusuke she would have someone to talk to about things that weren't necessarily related to spooky things or rumors of any type, at least that's the impression Ryuusuke gave her, someone who didn't liked baseless rumors.

And, when the two anonymous boys jumped into the conversation, Etsuko was faced with the biggest issue she had with people: their sudden need for confrontation. Of course, the talking bothered her, the constant need for companionship, peer pressure, pretentiousness and everything else about humans annoyed her greatly, but at her core, their aggressiveness made her wish she was a tiger instead. Tigers hated everyone and everything; but, most importantly, they were solitary creatures.

When the two boys approached, immediately jumping at the chance to degrade Keigo for a simple joke – an unfunny one, but still a joke – Etsuko had half a mind to speak up. However, no matter how much she hated these undeniable facts about humanity and how much she just wanted to yell and punch everyone in the classroom, it was against her nature. So, she carefully tried to slink away, her foot sliding partially to the side, until an annoyingly warm hand latched onto her arm, seeking comfort that she didn’t want to give. Etsuko shot Chiasa a look; it seemed indifferent enough, but on the inside she was boiling.

“Hey, idiots, leave him alone. He was just kidding!” Chiasa hissed, squeezing Etsuko’s arm for assistance. “Etsuko-chan, tell them.”

The strawberry blonde blinked slowly, taking the time to cool her nerves before opening her eyes again and nodding tightly. “He was.”

She hoped that would have been enough to cease the situation and sent a quick prayer to God, despite not being religious in the least.

This was not what Gruffydd had thought would happen. [i]Maybe if I’d actually [/u]thought I would have seen it coming. Gruffydd’s gaze was drawn downwards, and his expression of contempt melted into one of shame. His thoughts spilled out into muttered speech—but in Welsh, the language he still thought in. “Mae'n debyg y gallai fod wedi bod yn waeth, ond mae angen i mi gael hwn o dan reolaeth.”

He looked up again at Keigo. “They’re right, it was a joke, and I should have seen it from the start. I was, I will admit, annoyed with—well, a couple of things, really—and I allowed myself to direct it at you, while you held direct responsibility for none of it. That was wrong, and I am sorry.” His apology was, as he had long ago learned custom dictated, with a bow. Not a particularly deep bow, as—despite his direct and somewhat grave phrasing—he understood this infraction to be relatively minor. But he was not one to beat around the bush in a situation like this, so both apology and bow were necesarry.

Gruffydd’s rather abrupt change in demeanor had caught Keigo off guard, but the underclassman got out a rather confused expetence. That done, Gruffydd stood straight up and, without missing a beat, delivered his fellow third year and elbow in the side, perhaps a tad more forceful than was necesarry, but the message was clear: “Alright, now it's your turn.”

"Sorry about that," Rin apologized to Nori before she watched the exchange before the three boys. Her dark hair was as scattered as she felt witnessing the dismissal of Keigo's tales from Gruffydd. The once giddy atmosphere of the homeroom hardened like dry spaghetti as Keigo was put on the spot, but Rin just watched with wide eyes. Where was their sense of imagination? How could they just dispose of the rumor's validity?

"But doesn't every story have to have some truth to it?" Rin asked aloud to herself before weasling her way to Keigo. "Excuse me, sorry, thank you, sorry. I'll just take this," she mumbled nonchalantly while others in the clump of people cast strange looks at her. With a quick hand, she swiped the piece of paper out of Keigo's fingers. From what Rin understood, Keigo wasn't going to be doing anything with the numbers anyways. That was where her fellow classmates did have a point. If he was encouraging others to head out, there wasn't a chance he would be caught patrolling the old building. Rin could feel her saliva thicken at the thought of satisfying her craving.

After slipping awkwardly out of the group's nucleus, Rin stuffed the crumpled paper in her pocket and casually waltzed towards the doorway.

He had been watching the scene for a while. Despite he had his ears shielded by some blazing red head-cuffs, devoting himself to his beloved notebook was nearly impossible. The fuss was distracting him, he could not deny it: the clutter of people who had assembled was somewhat... intriguing. Or wasn't it? He was unsure. After all, it was a classic reproposing itself over and over. At the beginning of the new school year, here is the first person trying to rise up from anonymity.

Sighing, he had turned his body sideways on the chair and placed his elbows respectively on his desk and chair. Then, after having raised his forearm, he rested his head on the palm of his hand, looking at the ruckus. He had picked the outmost seat in the first row, near the window. It was a good place, one that could easily go unnoticed, and had a nice mountain view.
There they were. His fellow japanese classmates for another mesmerizing year at the japanese public high school. Vittorio followed with his eyes some third years enter inside the class, along with many other younger students. Keigo had already become famous all around the school. Good for him. Or not. He giggled between himself. It was funny how gullible everyone seemed.

He arched his lower lip outwards and launched a rapid glimpse at his notebook. The alliance between Aeonas and the Empire was of the utmost importance, and the Galactic Council required him to turn in the document regarding the agreement before this late night on the nastionstates forum. Well, literally, his early morning. He absolutely hated time zones. His forefinger hammered the side of his nose; an habit he got somehow: it hinted he was getting bored. Fortunately, the whole thing had settled itself, apparently. Good, just in time. It was the right moment to slip away unnoticed. During the opening ceremony day he had found a wonderful spot near the old school building, calm and protected from the sun. Thus, the perfect place to write down the tricky proposal.

He swiftly packed his things and headed out of the class, putting his head-cuffs back on his head and pushing his hands deep into the uniform's pockets. He definitely hated those itchy uniforms.