[B]Teàrlag Cirsium[/B]

Kawaguchi Umeko (folks from where she's from do their clan names first) looks like a helpful and kind lass. She acts like a helpful and kind lass. The popular gal, the fashionista, the bubbly bonnie with an ego who couldn't [i]possibly[/i] be so rude and malicious to people she's just met. She's a nice person, you might think. She wouldn't purposely seek to crush people under her nine-inch robot heels before skewering them like a sausage on a stick, would she? You must be crazy, Teàrlag!

I don't blame you. In fact, even I was caught up in the lie, even when I should have really known better.

You see, everybody in this world is pretty superficial, myself and Umeko included. We only show people what we want them to see, hiding up every other piece o' nasty bizzo behind some façade. People are natural liars. They're always lying. I think it's called a persona, a "social mask" that's been designed to make an impression on others and to hide our true natures. You can't tell what somebody's really like from their face. You only get the cover, the mask. Everyone's just playing charades, pretending to be something so that we're not to get ahead.

We all want the truth, the genuine article, but it's a worldwide hypocrisy. There's never going to be a truth.

They're always lying to you, even when they don't think they are.

Shame.

I think this world would be better if people admitted they were lying.

But really ... it's not a completely bad thing. It's how you survive in society, how you manoeuvre around all these tribes and in-groups and out-groups without making a bugger outta yourself. It's a cutthroat world of animals and sweet talk and whatever. You have to master being shallow, brittle and conformist to get ahead.

That's what people do.

Even me, no matter how much I want to undergo individuation.

Anyway, Kawaguchi Umeko.

She's an angry lass.

I grip onto her scarf tightly, moving it up to wipe as much of the rainbow powder off my face. As if I'm removing a mask like she's just done. That happy go-lucky, shallow popular gal vibe she's got? A lot of that's a lie. You don't see the real her. Maybe that might be nicer for you, because the real her's pretty angry. She's some sorta ... weird tsundere or something.

Not that I know what a tsundere is or anything. It's not like I watch anime.

Even annoying her just a tad is a bad idea, mate.

I don't like that colourful bloke either but it's like the guy's run over her pet Faunus or something. Do Atlesians have pet Faunuses? The Schnees probably do. A few words exchanged, and I think she's already on a rampage. I guess that's how it works. Look weirdly at the wrong person and even they'll crush you no matter how vapid the offense seems. Supersize that, and you get society.

"[color=D8BFD8]Wooh.[/color]"