Ryan walked outside of the school and looked at his watch. He had some time to do some shopping today, maybe he should go stock up on Manga in preparation for tomorrow. Ryan then sighed and shook his head. "What's the point, I don't really like the club. I just joined because I didn't have anything else to do. I really need to just stop jumping into things headfirst. Too late now I guess." He shrugged and walked over to the Shopping Center.



Ryan stepped out of the book store and looked inside his bag. He just asked the lady at the counter what the best manga were and she gave him way too many books. He shook his head and headed home to sort through the books he had just bought.

Kotori Shirohane - Warakuma High School: Classroom 2-2 | Thursday, May 7 2015 - After School

With the bell signalling the end of class and the usual rush out of the classroom beginning, Kotori finished up the notes for the day. With the mid-terms coming up, some teachers were increasing the load of homework whilst others were being more lenient in favour of more self-study. Either way though, she was doing well enough - she kept up her studies throughout the year and was spending a bit more time most eveninings behind her school books rather than in the greenhouse or with her newest mystery novel, tempting though it was. Finishing up her notes, she put her books and utensils into her school bag - a quick glance confirming that she'd remembered to bring along everything she'd found on the matter of growing plants in general and flowers in particular. She had one or two books on the subject at home which she never really looked at since she'd already had them for years - but they might be helpful in some way, so she had decided to take them with her to today's meeting of the Agriculture Club where they could be kept for reading by the others if they so desired. Or, more likely, Shizuka at least, considering that Matthew seemed to know his way about plants - at least, if she hadn't done any research of her own or if he taught her, that is. Looking up, Kotori noticed that the classroom had pretty much emptied out by now - she'd have to get going if she wanted to still arrive on time.

Kotori Shirohane - Warakuma High School: Agriculture Club | After School

Sitting down at the table in the small clubroom - Matthew once again having taken it upon himself to water the various plants about the room which Kotori suspected of having grown in numbers again - she placed the books before her and her bag on the floor before resting her hands in her lap. Thinking back on the last meeting, they had discussed some of the things that the club could do for activities - though it was mostly Matthew speaking with occasional words being brought up by Shizuka and Kotori. Either way though, they hadn't really established anything concrete yet and had instead opted to at least think it over - though unfortunately, she hadn't really come up with anything suitable beyond growing whatever took their fancy; something which wasn't exactly going to be very helpful towards researching any agricultural methods. A silent sigh escaped Kotori's lips - it seemed she wasn't going to be able to be of very much help.

MAY 7TH 2015, THURSDAY
Afterschool
Medical school... Sato wasn't fond of the concept of practicing a profession he hardly cared for, especially one like that, but his parents had always insisted on it. His dad had decided on it even before he had left, and his mother was still all about the idea. Sato Hashimoto, after all, had no siblings and his parents wanted their only baby to become someone they could be proud of. He wanted to protest, to tell his mother that wasn't what he wanted to do with his life, but he knew she'd ask him what he wanted to do instead. And Sato had no answer to that. So he just kept studying for his exams like any good student would.

The bell signalling the end of the school day tolled and Sato shut his books the exact way he did every other day. Sato wasn't even sure why he was still thinking about it, since it was in the morning his mother had brought up his university and all that. He waited for the crowd of students to dissipate, like always, before getting up. The boy shoved his books into the school bag hanging from his desk, carelessly tossing his pencils in with the texts before picking it up. As he walked around his desk to get to the door closest to him, a clattering caught his attention. His phone had tumbled to the ground after having bumped his desk by accident.

Sato knelt down to pick it up off the ground, but after pocketing it and going to stand back up, he hit his head on the side of his desk-- or rather, he was hit. The teen was knocked to the ground, colliding with another desk on the way down. He looked up from the floor at the cause of the incident, only to see Rokurou's as-always inexpressive face with one knee on his desk. The taller boy had pushed the desk forward just far enough for Sato to biff it on his own. Sato propped himself back up and glared at the other boy. "What do you want?" They still weren't exactly the best of friends again, and Sato didn't want to act politely in case this guy was going to be an asshat again.

Rokurou withdrew his knee, standing up straight and looking down at Sato from his minor height advantage. "You're hanging out with me today," He said, giving just the slightest smirk.

"Fine," Sato muttered, as he grabbed his school bag off the floor. "But why'd you go through the effort to find me?" Sato followed Rokurou as he strode out of the classroom without responding. He reiterated his question. "Don't you have anyone else to bother?"

"Nah, you're my go-to guy." Rokurou answered after the second version of the question. "My girl's busy today and I got nothing better to do."

Sato frowned, shoving his hands into his pockets as he walked. "We-- moreso you-- should be studying right now. Midterms are right around the corner, you know."

Rokurou pushed the school doors open with his knee and walked backwards out, looking at Sato as he responded. "Come on, Sato. Don't be a nerd. I'd prefer going singing some karaoke or something instead of shoving my nose into some books any day." He did a few hand gestures as he spoke, but Sato didn't really understand what they were supposed to mean, so he just gave Rokurou a sour look as he backed up further. Sato was about to rebuttal, when he remembered that there were some stairs in front of the school. He was just about to warn him of it when he heard a resounding "Fuck!" come from the other third-year.

The stairs weren't particularly steep nor were they long (as he remembered from when he had biffed it on the steps weeks ago), but it was still a little horrifying to see Rokurou tumble backwards down the steps. Sato flew down the cement stairs and crouched down next to Rokurou, who was slowly pushing himself off the ground. "Are you okay?!" He asked, scanning the boy up and down for any obvious injuries.

"No, I'm dying. Tell my mom I love her." Rokurou replied dryly, pushing himself onto his ass, rubbing the back of his hair. Sato was a little relieved to see that Rokurou wasn't seriously hurt (as far as he could tell), but his irritation remained.

"How can you seriously forget about the stairs, Rokurou?" A bit of a hypocritical statement, but Sato didn't really care. In all honesty he wasn't in the mood for studying and the distraction was welcome. "If you're as fine as your sarcasm implies, then let's get going."

"Oh, no." Rokurou groaned as he rubbed his shoulder. "That still hurt like a bitch. Give me a minute..." Sato let out a long sigh and stood beside Rokurou (who'd scooted himself onto the grass), leaving plenty of space between them. As he watched Rokurou try to stretch out wherever he'd hurt himself, Sato gathered that it was mostly the boy's shoulders and arms that took the fall. The thought of giving a shoulder massage crossed Sato's mind, but he quickly got rid of that idea. That'd be... a little too unsolicited.

Noboru sat in class half listening, but his mind mostly on other things. He clutched his deer necklace again, and his mind drifted off again.

---

"Hey, hey! Keiko! Where are we going today? Where? I wanna know!

"Haha hey Noboru! Calm down! Stop bouncing around! What if we get into a crash? What are you gonna do? You're gonna hurt yourself is what. Sit down and calm yourself. We're only going to the mall. Okay?"

The car rolled down the road, making a low hum as it traversed to its destination.

"Hey Keiko, what is that down there? It looks like it's coming really really fast towards us.

Keiko acted fast, jerking the wheel to turn herself towards the oncoming car. Noboru closed his eyes and started whispering prayers to be protected. Keiko yelled out at Noboru.

"NOBORU, DUCK YOUR HEAD AND COVER YOURSELF NOW!"

Noboru did as he was told, and only felt the events. The screeching of car tires, the shattering of glass, the warping of metal. He felt something pierce his left leg, and he cried out in pain. He was shook around in his seat, but he was unharmed. The last sound he heard before opening his eyes was a dull thud, right next to him.

"K..K...Keiko? A...Are you okay?" Noboru looked over. Keiko's head was rested on the steering wheel, the little bits of red dripping from the bottom. Her arms were limp, and she was making no movement. "Hey Keiko, get up. Stop playing around. I know you're good at acting, but this isn't the time! Stop it! Now! Please! This isn't funny anymore!

Noboru started shaking her arms, grabbing her body and starting to shake that. He then realized what had happened. He clutched her, hugging her, the sobs coming out softly.

---

Noboru's fists were clenched tightly, becoming ghostly white. He was shaking in his seat, the flashback way too real.

"Yamamoto, are you feeling well? If you must, go see the nurse."

Noboru got up, taking a detour to the bathroom to throw up first.



Noboru walked out of the school, most of his day spent throwing up. He had his training clothes on and ready to run. He got to his route. And noticed a glaring problem. There, standing at the start, was Chiaki. He looked at her and she looked straight back at him. He stammered.

I...I....I...

Noboru threw his head into his hands, starting up and running his route without her. He decided to take an alternate route, heading the way of the shrine. He got to the shrine, heaving.

"Goddammit! Why am I so weak! Why can't I do this! Why! Keiko, why aren't you here to help me! Why did you have to leave me here! AGGGGHHHH!"

Another day, another pack of lectures go by that Ayano went the extra mile to listen and take down notes to. Out of all the subjects she had trouble today, it was math. The teacher had decided to call her for today's recitation and she wasn't expecting to at all to answer. Despite her knowing she tried her best to solve the problem, her answer fell short on the grounds of her equation...Ah, what is it with mathematics and it's complex equations that every teacher seems to know when you've not done it their way. Shaking her head, the girl tried not to get her failures best her, and instead look at them as a learning curve...Hopefully enough to make her pass the test. Before she knew it, the day had finally ended and they were home free. Since today was a Friday, it meant that there was to be a meeting in the Anime and Manga Club and fortunately for her, Ayano had bought some of her own manga and art materials to boot. She had considered bringing her laptop like she previously thought of last time, but decided that it'd be risky to bring an item to school, unless she was permitted to anyway.


Opening the door to the club room, Ayano looked in to see that it was empty, making her think that she's the first one here. Entering and closing the door behind her, the girl sat in her usual place and watched as the minutes ticked away, doing whatever strikes her fancy until the others would arrive.

Chiaki laughed at Itoshi. He reminded her of another boy she knew, always fumbling his words and getting embarrassed. "Aha, it's okay, but yes, I'm feeling much better, thanks for asking. Now let's get going, we don't have much time left until lunch is over! Chiaki quickly grabbed Itoshi's hand and pulled him out the door. The gleaming eyes of jealous boys were cut off by the slamming of the class door. She was going to take him to a small cafe not far from the school. That way, they would be back in time for the rest of the classes. With her overbearing personality, nothing was going to get in her way, all of Itoshi's denials would be in vain because Chiaki was not going to give in.

Unfortunately, the cafe was closed today. Which put an extreme damper on Chiaki's mood.
"Damn it!" Yelled Chiaki as she stomped her foot. Turning to apologise, she sighed rather deeply. "I'm dreadfully sorry about all of this Itoshi-san. I just dragged you around for no reason. I'm terribly sorry."



He's sure to show up here... I've come so many times before hand and he hasn't... Is he avoiding me? I hope not... Thought Chiaki was she stood at the beginning of her usual running track. Patiently waiting for Noboru... Who seemed to be a no show again. Tying her hair up in a ponytail as usual, she eager noticed a familiar figure coming towards her. She went to wave, but he quickly spun round and dashed away. Disheartened, Chiaki began to think negative thoughts, but at the same time found herself chasing after him without realizing. She quitely followed him to the nearby shrine. She could hear him shouting something. She decided to eavesdrop before getting too close.

Akane Hanazawa // Warakuma High // Class 2-2 -> Manga Clubroom
Thursday, May 7th, 2015
After School

With it being Thursday, she briefly considered heading home to draw or even hit the park and draw but decided against it and made her way to the Manga Clubroom. After all, a ghost member reappeared and they did get a new member, even though he doesn't seem to want to be there, so she might as well head there. Though, it doesn't mean they'll be there It was strange, usually, when she was the lone member, she'd always find herself there drawing by herself but now that she joined other clubs and broke off her normal routine, she's there only half of the week. Maybe it's considered normal since people don't usually tend to their clubs everyday. Hmm

As she opened the door, she walked in and to her surprise, Ayano was there. I guess she's no longer a ghost. I wonder if this means she'll be showing up more often? Putting on her usual smile, she greeted Ayano as she set her things down. "I'm surprised, usually it's only me here on Thursdays."

As Rui wandered through the shopping mall, he noticed a student was walking home with a big bag of books... It was either intense studying, or they just really liked reading. He only recognized the uniform, but otherwise there wasn't much else about it. As he wondered around he eventually settled to eat a snack in the food court, purchasing a burger for himself, and then he noticed Kami was at one of the tables. He had a bunch of papers in front of him, but they didn't look like study material.

"Hard at work?", he asked as he took the seat across from him.

"Yeah... Just, I don't get it... There's no pattern other than them being a student, but even then, students were only recently", he began.

"The earliest ones were random, and not all of them were found, though it's suspected a bunch of these were not related... There may be more answers with the mirror world, so I'll try investigating the dungeons next time we go", that was reasonable.

"Yeah... We might have to try and backtrack somehow from inside the mirror world to find them, or predict who's next... But we have no way of knowing", Kami just responded with a sigh. Much of the conversation thereafter wasn't much else, though as soon as Rui was done eating he bid farewell.

Alexei Dargunov || Warakuma High || Class -> Manga Clubroom
Thursday, May 7th

It had been a boring day with teachers droning on about their material like robots. He had caught himself from napping a few times in class to avoid an embarrassment. The operation went fine and his mother was stabilizing again though he found her getting weaker everytime she came from therapy. Elena was back in school today, hopefully studying harder than him. She had the brilliance and he was sure that if she kept up with the material, it won't be hard for a place in Tokyo University.

Though the expenses of making her go there made him shudder a bit. He needed a better paying sidejob, because the living and lifestyle expenses of a college student were also quite large, if he wanted her to interact with students of particular class, he needed to bust his ass. For that getting good marks was important, that way he could get a job where he is hired for his brain and not for his brawn or He could think of getting into the underground scene, Sagat was well versed with it and had made decent wads of money from it. Thoughts ran through his mind all day and kept him a bit nervous.

As soon as the bell rang, he stuffed the books in his bag and got ready. Both of his buds were absent today, Inoue had called in sick and Sagat had decided for a full day at the restaurant rather than school. Strange choice but Alexei couldn't argue, He already had a future planned out unlike himself. He waited for the crowd to thin out and began moving. It was a too early for his shift to start and with both his friends not here meant that MMA club wasn't going to be open today. He had packed in his sketches when he had gotten the messages from them. If the Manga club was open today, he'd swing by maybe ask Akane for a lookover at his stuff.

He ambled slowly towards the hallway most of it was empty as the rush had thinned out. He came up to the door and clicked in open. As expected Akane was in there but surprisingly another girl was there too. Perhaps a new member, even without advertising it seems Akane had attracted members, maybe Manga was what everyone considered cool.

"Hi! there!" he said in his trademark low baritone.

"I brought some unfinished stuff for you to take a look. Haven't done the betas yet." he said, walking over to the side and settling his bag on the table, taking out his pad.

With her attention glued to one of the doujinshi she had brought along with her, Ayano was in mild surprise when the doors of the club room opened to reveal Akane. The young girl gave a small grin to her and greeted her as well, "Are you implying that you go here on Thursdays regularly?" a curious Ayano became privy to her words, a puzzled expression adorning her face. "What do you do then?" she asked Akane, setting down her doujin on the table and crossing her legs to adjust her position.

As she was waiting for her answer, the door opened again to reveal a boy...Well, man seems more appropriate for his build and overall appearance. He looked like the type of character you'd see that get a lot of fanart in sites like pixiv...Another thing that struck Ayano was she knows that they had met before...Wasn't it when she was applying for the club for the first time? He greeted the girl in a deep voice that seemed to fit his character, Ayano simply bowed in response. He had mentioned something about "unfinished stuff" that piqued her interests again, she asked, hoping that it wouldn't be much of a bother. "You create your own too?"

Noboru sat down at a nearby bench and buried his head in his hands. He had a headache, still feeling sick from the morning. He spoke to himself.

"Godammit Keiko. Why did you have to leave? What did you do to deserve this? Why did you leave me? I...I need guidance. I need help. I don't know what to do. Why can't you be here to help me? I need your advice. Something, anything, to help."

Noboru lifted his head up,quite sad. The clanking of chains on his neck made him look down, the necklace swinging on his neck. He took it off, grasping it in his hand. It soothed him down, as if his sister was still alive in the necklace, cheering him up. He unclenched his hand, putting the necklace back on. Noises could be heard coming from the entrance of the shrine.

"Hey. Wh...Who's there?"

Akane Hanazawa // Warakuma High // Manga Clubroom
Thursday, May 7th, 2015
After School

"That I have!" she laughed. "Actually, up until a few weeks ago, I came here everyday without fail but now, it's only about half of the week, With Kendo and what not. So I try to come as often as I can to make up for lost time. As far as what I do, that's obvious, I draw." she grinned as she held a page she drew, in great detail, of a girl slapping a boy and walking away as the boy tries to give chase but face plants into the ground. To those who actually saw, might actually recognize the students drawn on the page as they are both quite popular upperclassmen at Warakuma High, Risa Kagami and Shinya Abe.

Apparently the boy was messing around with other girls, the girl caught and confronted him. Shinya played stupid and act oblivious as Risa slapped him and dumped him. He didn't probably get the hint and tried to go after her when he tripped and face planted into ground. It was quite the amusing scene, to be honest. Though, I probably shouldn't say so outloud. Just as she showed her drawing while holding back a laugh, she found Alexei walking in. "Hey Alexei," she returned the greeting. "So, what kind of work have you brought in this time?" she asked curiosity piqued, taking the pad as she glanced at it and began turning the pages.

Stealthily hidden behind a stone podium, Chiaki was listening in on Noboru. He mentioned some girls name and it appeared as if he was clenching something very tightly.

'Keiko' Who could she be? Thought Chiaki... "Egh! A girlfriend?!" Quickly placing her hands over her mouth, her outcry may have been too loud. But... Could that be it? Is that why he has been avoiding her?
"Hey. Wh...Who's there?"

Well damn. She had been caught, guessing that there was no reason to stay in hiding anymore, she slowly peered and around the podium. Bashfully greeting Noboru with a wave. "Hey, um... It's just me. ... Please don't run away again. We need to talk ya'know. But I guess now might not be the best time, you seem kind of... Distracted. Unless of course you want to of course!" There she was, classic Chiaki, ranting and not making any sense. Honestly, she didn't know what to do in this situation. This was a long silence. Noboru just held onto something tightly while staring into his hand.

Mustering some courage, she bravely asked him about his mumbling.
"Noboru-kun... Wh-Who is Keiko?.."

To the entertainment of the girl, it would seem that Akane has been doing this 'non-club day visit' thing regularly. Perhaps this shows promise, maybe Ayano might stop by the club room some more. In the other girl's hand was a handheld page of a girl and a boy. The girl is slapping the boy and she walks out on him, he tries to run back to her to no avail, his face meeting with the cold, hard ground. When she saw the little silly scene, Ayano couldn't help but giggle a little, she had been to busy drowning herself with tragic romance stories that she's practically forgotten to appreciate comedic scenes like this one.

"They look similar to those two..." Although Ayano wasn't exactly one for gossip, especially around the school, her classmates had been talking about this couple for a while now that even she's become aware of it. When one thinks about it hard enough, the sheer silliness of it is similar to what one would expect from a manga. As she looked at the page once more, Ayano couldn't help but laugh again.

"Ch...Chiaki?"

Noboru stammered at first, and calmed himself. Chiaki was right. They needed totalk. He stood up, steadying himself.

"Noboru-kun... Wh-Who is Keiko?.."

Noboru's lip stammered at first. He spoke up to her.

"Kei...Keiko wa... is my eldest sister. She went into a coma, eight years ago, from a car crash, one that I was also in. She's in the Hospital currently."

Noboru looked down for a second, glancing at his necklace, and looked back up to speak again.

"But that isn't important. If Keiko saw me acting like this, she would slap the hell out of me and tell me to stop acting like this. So I guess the main thing I should say is sorry. I ran away and avoided you, thinking it would fix things. Please, please forgive me."

Noboru had rambled long enough, but it felt good to get something off of his chest. He rubbed his eyes, not realizing a few tears had formed.

Stepping out of the shade from the bathroom entrance, a maiden emerged out of the public bathroom, clad in frilly, white and blue idol costume with a blue ribbon upon her chest and long, straight sky blue wig finishing her glam appearance. Despite the bright and happy theme of the costume, a melancholic smile was spread across Shizuka's lips as her thoughts were of the events from the night before. Even her two best friends at school had inquired about her change of mood, to which they were given an empty "I'm alright." While the only child might have gotten used to being alone at home, it didn't change the fact that she felt lonely even while indulging in her hobbies.

As her high heeled shoes clacked against the pavement towards Star Drop Cafe, the cosplay cafe she currently worked at, her feet abruptly stopped in their tracks. '... Today is Thursday, which means... I-I'M LATE FOR AGRICULTURE CLUB MEETING!' Taking a full turn, the idol girl started out back to her school in a mad dash, or at least as fast as she could without tripping on her high heels.

---

Before barging into the club room, Shizuka paused and overheard whispering from her surroundings, "Hey, isn't it too early to practice for cultural festival?" "Is she from the drama club? Why haven't I seen her in any plays before?" "Oooh, is there a cosplay event going on today? Why's she here in school though?" ....... Oh, right. She ran in here with her full costume on. Way to go, showing off your closeted hobby to schoolmates. Hiding her face with both of her hands, the cosplayer made her way to the nearest bathroom all the while bumping into walls and corners. She had hoped that her make up was heavy enough not to be recognized by anyone since she sure was confident in her make up skills today.

After a long while of rushing to change back into her school uniform, Shizuka once again emerged out of the bathroom with her full length of bangs covering half her face as usual. In a hesitant gesture, she slid the door to the club room and entered with a deep bow of apology. "I-I terribly apologize for be-being late..! Fo-Forgive me but it seems I-I have yet to adjust into the club's schedule." As she pursed her lips nervously, she tasted a hint of peach from her flavored pink rouge to which she hurriedly wiped off with a handkerchief from her school bag.

Alexei realised a bit late that there was someone else besides Akane in the room and that the lady had gone completely unnoticed by him. He bowed a bit and spouted his apology, "I'm sorry. Didn't see you there."

Her question though was a bit perplexing, from the start Alexei had thought that this club dealt with production and conceptualization of one's own Anime or Manga. The girl made it sound like that it was not the case. Before he could reply though, Akane had greeted him warmly and had taken his notepad from him, inquiring about the kind of work he had brought her.

"Ah! hadn't I told you about the problem I was having with the shoujo I was drawing, in our last meeting." he paused to motion at the notepad in her hand.

"Well, that's the piece I was referring to. I can't get the look of the tomboy princess down. Need your help on the redraw of the princess, I frankly suck at drawing feminine characters." he said frankly before turning to the girl. "I'm Alexei Dragunov of Class 3-3 and yes, I do make my own manga. Nice to meet you."

Akane would notice that even on the panels where there was only the girl, her expressions were rather hard or stoic for the setting. She looked more like a grizzled war veteran than a pampered princess. Her body language to soldier like as opposed to charming and lady like.

Akane Hanazawa // Warakuma High // Manga Clubroom
Thursday, May 7th, 2015
After School

"Well, given time constraints it couldn't be helped last time. Let's see..." as she flipped another page, he leaned in pointing to one of the characters, informing her that was the problem. "So that's what it was....Tomboy princess, huh? It's true that tomboy characters are girls who dress and sometimes act like a male but in this case, there isn't a shred of girlish behavior err femininity while tomboys usually have a little. Black Lagoon's 'Revy' is a great example. Throughout the majority of the story there's basically no trace of it but then it slowly starts to appear, especially during the 'Gangsta Paradise' Arc. Though, that really doesn't mean anything in regards to a 'tomboy' character because it depends on the story or setting of your character."

"Take Balalaika (also from Black Lagoon) for example. Was there any trace of femininity there? Of course not, one would break into laughter using that word to describe her. Unless you actually want her to be charming and Lady like, you should draw her as you see fit. If not, If you're really having trouble with it, find yourself a 'model' for her, Alexai. What I mean is, find someone, whether in real life or another medium, and Model the character after them. All authors, especially mangakas, model the characters, whether its the hero, heroine or supporting character, after someone they've known or encountered at some point in their lifetimes. Especially if its someone they love(d) dearly, which the usually do in regards to the hero(ine)s."

Pausing for a moment as she reclined back and stretched a bit, she continued, "Having said that, if that's no good and you're still having trouble and wanting me to draw, I'll--" Gladly do it, she meant to say before she was cut off by the school's PA System that called for her to report to the faculty room. She was quite caught off guard and confused by it, wondering what the teachers may want with her but then it hit her. The Mall. That had to be it. She thought before freezing. Crap, got to relaxed and forgot.

Given the silence and how things kind of went on normally, she forgot about the likelihood of the school finding out about it. Well, that's what she thought before coming back but didn't take them long to act. Well duh, Warakuma isn't exactly a big place, so it wasn't going to take long. Especially with the students gossiping about it nonstop. She was given detention for it but today she got too relaxed, forgetting, and ended up reporting to the Manga Room instead.

Standing up, she turned to the others. "Sorry about this, looks like I'll have to cut things short for today. Looks like i've got a long day ahead of me..." she sighed. "We'll have to continue this another time." she smiled as she held up her hand and bid farewell as she left the room.

---

Akane Hanazawa // Warakuma // On The Way Home
Thursday, May 7th, 2015

Talk about tiring, she thought as she relaxed her shoulders. "At least it's over with now." As she proceeded down the street, she heard a noise from behind her. Footsteps. Normally that wouldn't be strange considering this was a street and all but when there was practically no one within a mile radius and all of a sudden there was footsteps coming from behind you, getting louder and louder. She started to think whether she was simply imagining it considering how it normally was with her.

Hmm, turning the corner she picked up her pace before hearing the footsteps pick up their pace as well and from the sounds of it, more seemed to have join in on it. "Someone wanting revenge? Maybe its... Looks like they still haven't learned their lesson after what happened at the amusement park." she grinned, under the assumption that the ones following her were Kenji Miura and his lackeys. After humiliating him in front of everyone at the rear gate of the school and then at the amusement park, they did swear that they'd 'get her back'. Was this it?

Ducking in an alley around another corner, she waited for them to get closer and when they passed by, she jumped out and attacked them. Kicking one in the back of the knee, causing him to collapse on the ground, she stomped on his legs again. As she moved in for the finishing blow the man grabbed her by the leg with a vicious grip before she slammed something hard she found in the alley on his head and knocked him out. That grip....theres no way they buffed up in that short of a time, and they were wearing masks....why would they hide their faces now? It cant be them... Just as she was about to pull the guys mask off the other two found out and attacked.

Well, after a hard fought battle, she prevailed and managed to pulled the masks off and didn't recognize who they were. Her feeling was spot on as the ones behind the masks weren't Miura and his goons but totally different people. She was thinking it was someone out for revenge but its not even that, she never seen these people before. If it was someone she went after, she'd have known their faces.... Not given anymore time to think on it, more masked people came after her. Not sure what's going on, she turned corner upon corner trying to lose them. Just when she felt she finally did, she was trapped.

In what would normally be a 10-15 walk home, she found herself running all over the place before losing track of her surroundings. Surrounded by masked figures, along with the 3 figures she attacked before, she froze. But I defeated them.... Wait, the news....that cult....don't tell me... Having remembered the strange events occurring lately..."Like hell I'll let you!" With no other option, she attacked. Managing to bring a few down, she was eventually overwhelmed and beaten. As she layed there defeated, she heard a strange laughter before things went black.

With no drama practice today Sieg was left to the mercy of not his peers but his parents, although at this point he would have joined a dancing club just to free himself from the clutches of his parents. Alas that was not the case when today he had another one of his families servants come to whisk him away of a bountiful adventure full of..... hell. So he thought anyway, so when their family tailor picked him up today he was handed a turtle hoodie which made him chuckle a bit as he slipped it on. He always did like silly little crap like this. So as they walked out to the limo and got in he was a little surprised when they were taken to Ferrero mall. Apparently today he was going to learn about all sorts of clothes making 101 information. So what better place than the fabric store where he was sent occasionally to get materials for the very person he was with.

No one could say he was an idiot that's for sure, he was taught so much crap about Science, Math, History, English. That his parents had to teach him about some other useless crap that really in the end probably wasn't going to matter. Then again the teachers did throw in weird questions every now and then, so learning about different fabrics probably wouldn't have actually hurt him. If he didn't get forced into this situation he honestly wouldn't have know but dear lord were the fabric explanations a little above the average learning level. He was expecting just a brief explanation, but boy was he wrong she went into such detail that he couldn't forget this information even if he tried. Hell he probably knew more about clothes than females did now.

He wasn't sure how much time passed but he was finally let loose and told to meet back at the limo in an hour, so he for once had an hour to do something fun. It was just a shame his mind literally had multitude of fabrics going through his brain, so before his hellish torment began anew tomorrow he decided to quickly stop by this little book store and purchase himself a few little play books to keep himself entertained at home.

Rui's trip home brought him past the shrine, he was thinking about making a prayer for his studies before reaching home, but as he arrived... He found himself hiding behind some of the trees. It was Noboru and Chiaki, and the atmosphere was simply tantalizing. He could barely hear what they were talking about, but with everything he knew so far, it can only be romance. As he sneaked around to a closer position, Noboru would spot him peeking out and giving him a thumbs up shortly after the exchange was finished. It looked like there were still some awkward circumstances between them... Shortly after that, Noboru also left.

Taking a last look at them as they disappeared from sight, he then turned to the shrine and put in an offering...

"I think they'll need this prayer more than I do..."

---

"So this is the next place... By the way Kazuki...", Rui turned to the boy as they arrived to the next dungeon. Someone had been kidnapped again, there was no public news about it, but he did see more 'really nice men' walking around than usual... Whoever it was put some of the organized crime in a tizzy, so he had no idea what to expect, but his inquiry held another concern.

"We always come to these dungeons days after they are supposedly kidnapped... Does time move differently here?",

"Correct. I thought it not detail to be concerned about. To be honest when I started doing this, I also thought it might not move differently, but as I timed events inside and out, time moves very differently here... I'm not sure how differently, but it seems to suit our needs", only a passing concern. Regardless, the dungeon laid before them was... Well, only one person here seemed to not be eager about going in.

Leiko and Chiaki were praising the gothic design, one out of love for the style, and the other because it reminded them of horror plays and would make a great set piece. Noboru was indifferent, but Matthew was... Not thrilled to say the least.

The mansion before them looked straight out of Castlevania. Even had thunderbolts and everything... In which case, Chiaki with her whip might have an advantage here. Well, it was time to choose his party members with everyone else on rear. Chiaki and Leiko were brimming with enthusiasm, so he picked those two, and then... Matthew. He was about to select Noboru, but all things considered...

"This place looks like there could be a lot of anti-physical. More magic might be better...", he explained.

"We'll head out as soon as you're all ready".