NPC: Generic Teacher A

"Mifune-san!"

A stern, scolding voice echoed across the hallway. If the aforementioned Arina Mifune were to turn around, she would have been treated to the sight of a middle-aged woman, dressed professionally, stalking through the crowds of students towards her. There was a clear tone of disapproval present, which was far from unexpected; the utterly blatant disregard for Uchima Senior High's uniform policy was not something that would be tolerated by the teaching staff. While they were relatively lenient on some modifications to a student's general dress, they had to draw the line at not wearing an uniform at all.

"Detention tomorrow morning, nine am," said the teacher, who had crossed the gap between her and Arina remarkably quickly and had already scribbled an official note that she was handing towards the delinquent. "This is entirely unacceptable."

The school rules were not to be so casually disregarded.

---

@Ayazi

Arina Mifune

Arina heard a noise, it sounded like some sort of ruckus that the teachers would sort of. Her phone then rumbled in her pocket, taking it out and it saw a message, Mom wants groceries…NOW. She also needs her medicine from her pharmacy as well! I am literally copying over what she said to me and she won’t be happy if you’re late… And then there was a list of groceries and her medicine. But then she heard noise, the voice of a teacher as she just began walking again after hearing whatever noise that was. Detention are you serious?

Arina turned to the authority, impatient though that could not be seen. “I am not causing any harm am I” she said with a neutral tone but perplexed expression, “School is over today, everyone is leaving.”

Now then, how to get out of this as Arina stared neutrally at the teacher who thinks she is some delinquent. She had to play cool, her sassiness was activating… “Sensei, I need to get back home, my…mother she needs her medicine from her pharmacy, and I need to buy groceries as well” as during that sentence her voice became sympathetic and her eyes dropped, and gave a small frown. “Please…I don’t deserve this.”

Oh but did she hate uttering the word "mother."

“Woah Rena-chan, that’s really cool!” he exclaimed. ‘Cool’ might not have been the word he was thinking, but the image was certainly deserving of some adjective. “You captured the movement of the figure really well, and the inking is incredible too! Kinda looks like one of those gaijin cartoons,” he grinned.

"Well thanks but actually this is from a western cartoon, A western cartoon meant for children apparently though i can't tell cause in one episode one main character spent an entire episode looking for what implied to be his dirty magazines...(True Fact by the way)." Rena informed him. "I just copied it based on my memories." She told him.

Rena then stopped when she saw the bright light and heard the distant screaming. She then begin to wonder if something bad was going down.

“Jeez, what are those Drama Club idiots even doing?” he cursed out loud, revealing a sourness that would not be expected of a kid with a charcoal smudge on his face and an oversized cardigan. “I swear, I’m going to go over there and give Yamamoto what’s coming to him,”

"That the drama club? Wow, there screams sound quite...genuine. I tell that they can take great pride with their performance" she told him.

“Hey Rena-chan, if you’re done with your work, wanna come with me to tell off the Drama Club?”

Rena looked surprise that he would asked that. Most people give off the first impression that they would like to avoid her but Aki acting convince her that he want to hang out with her more. She remove her shock expression and replace with with a warm smile. "But still those lights and screams are rather distracting, perhaps she should tell them to tone it down a notch?" Rena suggests calmly before coming with him to check out what going on.

@banjoanjo

Looking back, if Aki had known what he was about to stumble across, he would have ditched Rena, called in sick and shut himself in his house for two weeks.
The smell was noticeable from even outside the door. A caustic, burning stench that made Aki’s already weak gag reflex show a lot more enthusiasm than it had ever done in the past couple of years. But more worryingly, there was another odor that cut through the stink: the undeniable smell of smoke. What's more, there was no more screaming.

“Something’s off,”

After grabbing the nearest fire extinguisher, Aki shouldered in the doors of the stage area. As much as he would have liked to say that it looked like a tornado had swept the room, Aki was pretty sure that the average tornado was not an incendiary blackout-inducing nightmare, so that analogy was a no-go. But, holy shit, what happened? An explosion was the first answer that came to mind. No, it wasn’t an explosive. A rough assessment of the situation showed that the students were relatively unscorched. Fuck, what was he meant to do? Look for a culprit? No, the safety of the people came first. Evacuate the students? There’s no way he’d be able to carry them all, plus there were injuries and the small fires to take into consideration. Oh right, the fires. Yes, that’s what he needed fix first and then after that, waking the students. Would smoke inhalation be a problem? Hopefully not. But the pool of blood with the Drama Club president lying it was definitely something to worry about. Apart from the fact that his entire back area looked like he accidentally fell on top of a giant mosquito, Kaede seemed unharmed if not a little dazed. Akihito went to work with the fires.

“Rena-chan, see if you can help out Yamamoto-kun or wake up anyone else to help with this. Yamamoto-kun, are you alright?” he called out from the other side of the hall, intently foaming any signs of flame.

@demonspade64 @Zenphilvian

When Rena got outside the door she could help but smell a foul smell, perhaps something burning..."A fire?" She wondered. Aki was right to grab a fire extinguisher. She then helped Aki with the door before seeing messed that was left inside, and like Aki the voices in her mind fought with each other about what to do first. Aki already had the fire extinguisher so her best bet was to get anyone left inside to safety, so she acted about 2 seconds before Aki given her directions. She first checked on the Drama club president Yamamoto-kun. As she moved closer to him she begins to call to him. "Yamamoto-kun are you all-Ah" she then covered her mouth her shock when she realizing he was lying in a pool of blood. Her brain then took about 2 more seconds to come up with another decided. If there even the slightest chance he may still be alive she should, at least, try to save him. So she put her hand on his chest to feel his purse.

tump*

tump*

tump*

He still alive...? She was kind of shocked to discover that. Now that she thinks of it, he seems unharmed from his front... She then decided to try to wake him up. "Kaede-kun, Kaede-kun, are you alright?" She yelled while gently nudging him.

Kaede didn’t understand. He couldn’t comprehend the scene in front of him. There was no simple explanation. All the feeling left his body, only dimly aware of his surroundings.

He heard footsteps and people talking panickedly, their meaning lost on him. Slowly Kaede regained his senses, feeling what he was hoping was merely sweat dripping on his face.

“Yamamoto-kun, are you alright?” Someone cried out. Kaede thought he recognized the voice, but wasn’t too sure.

He tried to say that yes, he was, but his throat was tight, dry, and clammy. So it came out like the croak of a dying frog that was halfway through puberty. Kaede swallowed and tried again. “I- I’m f-fine.” Was what he meant to say. He wasn’t too sure if it came out exactly like that.

Kaede attempted to get up and almost fell, but was caught by a girl with long purple hair, and eyes that matched. Her name was on the tip of his tongue, but his mind was on other matters. He also spotted another classmate on the other side of the room, trying to help some of the other students, but again, there were more pressing concerns.

My fault. Gone. Missing. Have to help. Clock tower. My fault. My responsibility. Blood. Why? Why? My fault. I don’t understand. What happened? I could have been there. I should have been there. Clock tower. Missing. Gone. Okazaki. Oogami. Hanazawa. Sasaki. Why? My fault. Should have been me. Have to save them. Have to do something.

Kaede’s thoughts were scrambled, basic, the thoughts of someone almost at the edge. He knew he had to do something. The Drama club was his home. The members were his family. Immature, reckless, rude, rambunctious, but still definitely family. He would rather die than lose them. There are many fates worse than death, and this was one of them.

Without thinking, Kaede grabbed the girl’s wrist, Tatsuya, that was her name, he was pretty sure, and he ran. She screamed at him to let her go, but he was deaf to it, heart pounding in his ears. Kaede thought that the other guy was running after them too, and that was good. The more people the better. He wasn’t sure how he knew, but the clock tower was his destination. Something important was there. He knew it. Kaede concentrated on the sound of the footsteps hitting the ground, and the sound of the blood dripping off his back onto the floor.

Drip

Drop

Tick

Tock

Rena was surprised to see this kid lifted himself up from what appears to be his own pool of blood, and yet that didn't stop her quickly moving to him knowing that he would likely fall back down. Just when Kaede was about to fall quickly stopped him by holding him up before wrapping his right arm behind her neck she was supporting his body weight with her shoulders. She seemed somewhat happy; knowing that he looked worst lying down then he actually is right now and didn't bother to question the strange circumstances. "I'm getting you out of this room." she told calmly.

All of a sudden the boy grab her wrist and begin running off with her, it was at that point Rena was truly beginning to wonder what the hell was going on... "Hey where are you taking me, What happened in that room?" She yelled while she pulled through the halls and yet the boy didn't seem to acknowledge her. She the two ran down the halls Rena calmly attempt to reason with him loudly to explain what going on, what happen in that room, and where he was planning to take her; and yet even with all that going she didn't seem to fear him...

It was rather fortunate that he heard Rena’s yelp after he had put out all the fires and roused most of the club members. Yes, if anything needed to be added to Aki’s “Bullshit I’ve Had To Deal With Today” list, it was the potential kidnapping of a yakuza heiress. He turned quickly enough to see Kaede speeding out of the room with a shocked Rena in tow.

There was no doubt that the purple haired girl wasn’t the type of person to let someone push (or rather, pull) her around, she seemed too proud for that. She wasn’t being taken away because of Yamamoto’s physical prowess either; a kendo and judo practitioner like her would be able to wreck that spindly caffeine addict in two seconds flat. Those rumours had to be based on some truth, right? Therefore, the logical explanation was that Rena was being taken along by her own will.

But what if she wasn’t? What if she looked back and didn’t see Akihito chasing after them? It would be seen as a betrayal or a sign of cowardice, which would not put him in her good books. And when she would inevitably free herself from Yamamoto’s grip, Aki could NOT have her react unfavourably to him.

To Aki, Tatsuya was not a friend. She was merely someone that he needed to establish as a non-threat, to himself and his club members. The best way to keep her away from the Art Club members was to direct her attention to Aki himself. Rumours were rumours, but Tatsuya was undeniably dangerous. The best way to declaw her was to befriend her, gain her trust and slip past her defences. That’s why he needed to go after them. He wasn’t a track team standard runner but if he went now, he might be able to catch Yamamoto and Tatsuya, no, “Rena” as she would continue to be referred to, since she set foot into the Art Studio.

Any signs of smoke or reignition had been put out already. Woken club members were already attending to each other. The worst remaining hazard was shattered glass from the spotlights, which the drama kids could easily deal with. Aki ran.

@Ayazi

NPC: Generic Teacher A

"While you are present on campus grounds, you must wear the correct school uniform," explained the stern woman, placing a hand on her hips as she stared into Arina's cloudy blue eyes. There was a tone in her voice that brooked no arguments. The rules were the rules, and in her eyes, the American transfer had clearly broken them. Explicitly broken them. "Tomorrow's detention will be your punishment for such a blatant violation of school regulations."

She held the detention slip out to Arina, eyebrows quirking up slightly even though her gaze wavered not a single inch. There was a tinge of sympathy present, however; she understood the need for students to grab groceries and the like for their parents; she herself had once been a teenager, after all. However, the rules were rules, and the detention would not stop the girl from doing her duty to her parents.

"Leave immediately, Mifune-san," she continued, "but remember, 9am tomorrow morning. You have to be here for your detention."

"V-v-v-very well than" Senhime said as she carefully followed Tomoda-San it was somewhat easier to get to the roof this way she noticed since a lot of people seemed to give her a wide berth making it easy to follower in its wake. It was kind of funny watching the two interact it literally was similar enough to her secret stash of romantic comedy light novels. With a small smile gracing her lips she quietly followed through till they reached the roof. Letting them be she quietly went to the edge where her back was against the fencing than quickly looking around she took out a small well used light novel. Taking another look to make sure that no one was looking she quietly took to reading it and quickly forgetting that Tomoda-san and his friend was up on the roof as well.

The trip up to the roof was about as uneventful as the three of you could have hoped for.

Meaning, it was only once or twice that you and your bro had tried to trip eachother up in your arbitrarily declared race, in the most literal sense of the phrase. This led to the two of you ending up nursing sore palms just ahead of Senhime as opposed to having left her in the dust ages ago. Hey, catching yourself non those school floors were killer, man.

Once up atop the roof, things proceeded as normal, albeit at a somewhat muted volume and with a respectful distance to Senhime, who for her part quickly went off into her own little world with that LN she was reading. You'd have to inspect her taste at some point.

For the majority of the time you spent up there, things were the usual You-and-Bro fare, shooting the shit about the latest episodes of the shows you were watching...

"Yo, Priscilla got messed the fuck up!"

"I mean, that's one way to deal with the character..."

What games you were playing...

"Why does the Bed of Chaos even exist, though? What idiot at FromSoft thought it was a good idea?"

"They literally apologized for that one."

"I'd hope. It was such bullshit..."

Even personal lives.

"So, we gotta do something about that harem before it grows out of hand."

"I don't have a harem."

"Debatable! And besides, if we wanna kee—"

His faces visibly tenses, and he sharply cuts you off with a raised hand.

"What's up?"

"You hear that?"

Tilting your head quizzically, you focus your attention on sound as opposed to sight for a moment—

And faintly, very faint and distantly, you hear people screaming.

That was weird.

Your bro's already up on his feet, and started in the direction of the screams, or at least what seemed to be their direction. Deftly hopping up, you follow suit, until both of you are gripping the chain links of the fence as you gaze down upon the strangest sight.

The Drama Clubroom is trying it's damndest to be a Sun Number Two, Horrific Boogaloo. Impossibly bright light floods out the windows, like someone tried to pause time during the detonation of a flashbang and rolled a Natural 20. Takauji, ever one to take matters into his own hands, voices the question every witness was asking

"The heck's going on down there?"

You pause for a time as you look his way.

You're not sure what possesses you in this moment. You never will be. But whatever it is, it must have come from deep within. Maybe concern for his well-being on some instinctual level. Some breed of selfishness making you want him to stay out of the newest weird creepy thing to happen. Maybe you said it because you thought it was the most likely thing, despite not believing it.

Maybe you didn't want to suddenly have all of your "dude you're literally a main character" jokes come true.

So you lie. You tell a big fat lie about your opinion with the straightest face you can muster.

"Probably just testing out new practical effects."

"Like what?" he counters, albeit with genuine curiosity.

"Like a bunch of new lighting stuff and sound system for sound effects, probably!"

"Maybe..."

He looks back, and you continue to drive through the crack in his armor you've made.

"Ain't it getting kinda late, anyway? The girls shoulda backed off by now."

He checks his watch.

"Crap, you're right..."

"We should probably go home, man... Aw, piss." you growl, folding your arms.

"What's up?"

"I'm stupid." you state bluntly, before waving him on. "I forgot half of my stuff in my desk, you go on ahead."

"Oh, that's it? I'm fine waiting for you, man." he replies, and you know that's true no matter how little help it was in this instance.

"No, really, it's cool. I'll catch up. Hell..."

You smirk, before playing your trump card.

"I bet if I didn't, I'd beat you there."

"Oh, would not!"

"It'll be just like that mile run in eighth grade, and you know it..."

Your smirk widens to maximum oversmug dimensions, as you recall the impromptu race the two of you'd had during the fitness testing day of class. "...Mister Second Place."

That lights the fire of competitive spirit under his ass, and he all but rushes off, roughly shouting "We'll see about that, NERD!"

"You better get moving, DORK!"

"Bye then, DWEEB! And Senhime-san!"

The door slams shut, and you snicker.

"I dare someone else to try and pull that on him and have him fall for it."

Now then, as for the catalyst to all that...

You turn, staring down the burningly bright clubroom.

It was time to get some answers.

"Y'know they're the same fries, right, Kimiko-chan?" Daisuke asked rhetorically, even though he knew with Saitou Kimiko no question was ever really rhetorical. At least no rhetorical one would be. She'd answer in her unique, left-field way and more often than not catch everybody who wasn't used to her off guard. It was her way. A way that had taken months upon months of knowing her, either at work or school, to get used to. But her way nonetheless. The teen adjusted the strap of his bag, glancing back at the doorway where he'd been heading just a minute before.

"I'm planning on heading home. Gotta grab something to eat, I skipped lunch. Want to walk with me? I can supervise my coworkers, make sure they get your fries right." A pause. "You never skip fries, it's weird that you'd think about it."

"That's a good point..."

Rarely did Kimiko ever skip out on her two pilgrimages to the cozy little temple in Daisuke's neighborhood - that most prolific of outposts, the tiny little thread in the larger, greasy tapestry that was the world's largest hamburger chain. Lit up like a beacon into the 1 to 2 am hours every night, it drew Kimiko in like the young budding detective was a whaling boat, exhausted after her long tour at school. She loved sitting down with her gargantuan tray of fries before she went home, and she loved the two sodas she would slurp down after she got thirsty and went back in time to spend the midnight hour.

But it was certainly true - though the fryer and the fountain remained the same no matter who was on shift, and the price never changed, Miyamoto-kun was still the most talented server on staff when it came to handling her regimen.

The others would roll their eyes at Kimiko.

"I'm pretty hungry. Okay. We'll go."

They went.

Act (a) - Something Rotten

Blurred photos, schematics and a few delivery itineraries were spread out across his desk, a veritable feast of evidence for him to delve deeper into. When that dame had first come to him with a request (well, she had approached his partner, but he was handling the bulk of the case), he hadn't really expected much. Just a bird whose steady had disappeared when he'd gone out for some grub (his pal'd pumped her for more information; it was a Pizza Hut). Once he'd gotten started though, the entire flat case had gone queer. He'd assumed a dido, maybe some folks bumped the guy off for failing to scrounge up some dough. The usual, you know?

Oh boy, had he been a dumb onion.

"When does the truck come?"

Ah, there was the broad who he called a partner (he still wasn't sure if he worked for her or the opposite, but she was one helluva smart cookie despite appearances, so it didn't really matter; though the entire freeloading in his basement thing needed to stop). She looked like she stepped right outta bed (which to be fair, given how late she'd been out the night before, wouldn't be too surprising) if that bedhead was any indication. Didn't mean she was gonna be an easy rube. Those eyes were sharp.

"Gotta be there in thirty lest I look like a boob," he replied, shooting her an easy grin. "I'll scram in about ten."

"You sure it's got what you're searching for?"

Her reply was expected. Had he been in her position, he'd be pretty sketch as well. How could some delivery truck help him find more evidence on this case? It'd taken him a bit to make sure somebody hadn't loaded his drinks, but after that, the sap he'd hooked into seemed to be really truthful. This was the fish that'd lead him to water. The lead. The dingus that'd explain what the hell was going on with this missing person's case.

"Take a gander," he said, sweeping his arm over the papers on the desk. "You'd be real surprised, girl."

She took hold of one of the photos, and he could only smile as her eyebrows rose in curiosity. A real queer case they were dealing with here. Maybe not the top, but the score on this bajoomah really put it up there. Tokyo Tower up there.

"I had to do some real illegal stuff to get hold of this," he continued, the admission barely phasing his partner a single bit. "We're not gonna be sent upriver by some bull, will we? I've spent time in the clubhouse before, and let me tell ya, it ain't pretty."

Hey, he was worried. He had bills to pay, and with the crazy prosecutors in this country, he didn't want to risk it.

"You'll be fine," was the casual reply of his partner. She wasn't taking it seriously at all. "Do remember that we are acting with the Emperor's blessings."

What went unsaid was which emperor.

"I don't have any noble blood in me, girl. I can't grease the johns."

She snorted in amusement.

"Neither do I, but if you're really that worried, I'll adopt you later today," she said, waving a dismissive hand in his direction. "Now go do your job. The client won't be happy if you don't bring her good news."

He sighed in exasperation. Man, that bird really needed to be less carefree. Still, she was right. He'd better dangle and get the scoop on that truck. Rising to his feet, the detective reached for his beloved hat, picking it off the hanger and placing it snugly upon his head. It was time for him to do some business. Hopefully without ending up a con.

"I'm scooting then," he said, waving a salute in his partner's direction. "Don't break our coffeemaker again."

Her denial was cut off as he slammed the agency door shut behind him.

He had a truck to intercept.

<Snipped quote by Krayzikk>

"That's a good point..."

Rarely did Kimiko ever skip out on her two pilgrimages to the cozy little temple in Daisuke's neighborhood - that most prolific of outposts, the tiny little thread in the larger, greasy tapestry that was the world's largest hamburger chain. Lit up like a beacon into the 1 to 2 am hours every night, it drew Kimiko in like the young budding detective was a whaling boat, exhausted after her long tour at school. She loved sitting down with her gargantuan tray of fries before she went home, and she loved the two sodas she would slurp down after she got thirsty and went back in time to spend the midnight hour.

But it was certainly true - though the fryer and the fountain remained the same no matter who was on shift, and the price never changed, Miyamoto-kun was still the most talented server on staff when it came to handling her regimen.

The others would roll their eyes at Kimiko.

"I'm pretty hungry. Okay. We'll go."

They went.

"C'mon, then." The Miyamoto's oldest son stepped out into the hall, slinging his bag over one shoulder and starting to root through his pocket. Normally he'd be in a rush; afternoon shift started twenty minutes after he got out of class, so he needed to get to work, change, and clock in during that time. He generally aimed to be early when he could, so he planned with fifteen minutes. If things went to shit he had five minutes to spare. Today, though, he had plenty of time. He'd still need to collect his bike, though, didn't trust people enough to leave that at school overnight. He needed it to get to school on time, anyway.

Kimiko was there, though. He'd need to walk it. His keys were what he was looking for, actually; the tiny one that went to his bike lock was on the same ring as his house key. It took a moment to sift through the day's accumulated shit, pens, folded papers, change, all that stuff. Still, they were exactly where they needed to be. He bounced them up and down in his hand a little while they walked, pretty quietly all things considered. Daisuke wasn't a quiet guy, but without anyone to bounce off of, he tended to settle down pretty quickly. And Saitou Kimiko wasn't exactly boisterous. So they made their way through the halls pretty peacefully until they stepped outside, and then the (reformed) delinquent made a beeline for the bike rack.

The process of unlocking it, stowing the lock, and freeing the bicycle was quick and practiced. Like clockwork. A second more and Daisuke's backpack was back on his back, and he had the handlebars in hand. Normally he'd already have been on board and riding, but as with everything else, today was a little different.

"Ready to go?"

Senhime looked up from her book only to see the bright light coming from around the drama club she if she was not mistaken. Standing up and quickly packing the book she left the roof going down a bit in a hurry making sure she wasn't running as to not invite the teachers on her. Her school uniform's skirt coming dangerously close to flying up at one point when she almost tripped. Thankfully for Senhime it didn't though she did have a major blush on her face the rest of the way towards the club. Reaching the drama clubroom on the second floor she noticed some people already there. "W-w-w-what H-h-h-happened?" She asked as she looked at the closest person nearby.

"Yeah."

She had learned the Seven Styles of Bantz from under the floral-patterned wing of Nakamichi-kun. It was not as though she could not have scratched Daisuke's itch for someone to talk to, bounce his hot-blooded zeal off of. But sometimes it was best to just reflect on your day in silence, you know? Banter and cursing was nice, but if you did it all the time, things stopped being funny. You learned not to laugh at most of it, which was sad.

Kimiko still liked to laugh.

Anyway, that probably wasn't what Daisuke-kun would take out of her silence. He'd probably just think she was daydreaming about baseball or detective work or a kaiju made of Bubbalicious. There wasn't a deeper meaning behind Saitou Kimiko's silence very often, and she wasn't easy to read when there was one.

She decided to try communicating her intent to her bike-wielding classmate more directly.

"I don't know if I've ever seen your bike."

This was a start.

"Do you park it at McDonald's often?"

Fortunately for the petite girl, Aki's decent reflexes barely prevented him from clotheslining her as he turned the corner. Perfect, the drama room explosion caught the attention of some more people. The newcomers could take care of the casualties while he went after Yamamoto and Rena. A flustered blush coloured Honda's cheeks as she stuttered her way through her inquiry.

"Ah, I'm not too sure myself, Senhime-chan," he sheepishly grinned as her presence forced him out of contemplation. He reverted back to Default Mode: Airheaded Cinnamon Roll in response to her appearance.

"Seems like Oogami set off a military grade flashbang or something. It's a total mess in there and everyone's a bit dazed but they looked fine when I came in. I'm just going after Rena-chan and Kaede-kun cos they were, um ... getting medical attention! For Kaede-kun! Yeah, that!"

The urgency of the situation made his bluffing a lot sloppier than usual.

"You should go check up on the drama kids. I'm sure you'd be a better medic than Mr Clumsy here," he added. "I should go now, seeya Senhime-chan!"

He sprinted past without listening for a response. He'd explain himself later. He spied them already outside from the window. Looks like they were heading towards the clock tower.

@DJAtomika

NPC: Igarashi Iemasa

"Tolstoy, huh?"

War and Peace wasn't something that he expected the Literature club to be covering, but it looked like his precious students were really expanding their horizons in search of greater understanding of their world. That was delightful for a teacher like him to hear; for the kids to take initiative and study such difficult texts, it was pretty awesome. There was a reason Tolstoy's works were so central to world literature after all, and even a history teacher like him could appreciate everything it taught!

"I don't know that, actually," replied Iemasa, relishing the last word on the tip of his tongue. "Every teacher has their own style of handling a class. What rocks for one might not for another. Like, I for one am totally in the dark on how Kazuma-sensei does maths."

Definitely not like how he taught history though. He liked a more cozy, talkative atmosphere, one that wasn't too conductive to all that numeracy.

"Some classes you might think are fun, while others? Snooze-inducing. Still pays to keep those eyes open and pasted to the work though."

Iemasa stopped walking.

"Anyway, I must be keeping you," he continued. "Have fun with Lit, Matsumoto-kun, and have a good weekend too!"

He stepped to leave, before pausing once more. Right. There was one more thing he was going to say.

"Oh yeah, if you saunter by the the drama folks' clubroom on the way there, could'ya tell Kaede-kun that he needs to get some paperwork to his club advisor? Thanks in advance."

Arina Mifune – Uchima Senior High School

That’s fucking stupid. School is over! Arina bowed, “Alright.” She swiped the detention slip from the teacher’s hand, reaching behind, placing the slip into her bag and left. As her journey to the parking lot neared the end, the detention was in her mind, how stupid it was for her to get a detention for this. Of course rules were rules, this was not America were it was common for students to question the authority of teachers. Though she should have kept her uniform on, but she realized that but her ego scoffed at the thought of that.

And she made her trip into the city.

--

Arina Mifune - Shikatsu (師勝町) - A Pharmacy in the City

After that hour of shopping for groceries, now it was time for his mother’s medicine. The dreaded Pinkeye was it, for her mother’s prescription was ready at the local drugstore. It was a large pharmacy and was equitable to CVS Pharmacy or Rite-Aid back in America. Though it did not have a lot of people when she originally entered, a few customers shopping around, employees stocking merchandise, it was quiet, which was somewhat odd at first but the she liked it as she sat on a chair near the pharmacy counter. She scrolled through her Instagram, looking at her friend’s photos with harmony, waiting until the intercom call for her mother’s medicine.

Lining the eastern boulevard away from Uchima Senior High, cherry blossom trees stood in stoic rows and silently awaited their turn of seasons. Nevertheless, afternoon sunlight dappled the verdant leaves and spilled over onto the ground, mingling with the shadows of tree trunks and students passing underneath. The weight of Japanese tradition literally hung over the heads of each successive generation who would attend and graduate from Uchima; only one exception was finding physical and mental difficulty in accepting it. That is, Kiritsugu found it his daily annoyance to brush away the lower hanging branches interfering with his movement.

About the twelfth tree down the line, Kiritsugu had enough of bending over to leaves whipping his face, and leaned back against its trunk, allowing those of better fitting stature to pass by him. Their usual drone of merrily chatting about their weekend plans, abound in Shikatsu, did not escape his ears. He shielded his eyes from the filtered Sun as he averted his gaze upwards towards the canopy. Sunlight's one thing, shadow's another. Can't win with both problems.

The surrounding fields of rolling green captured Kiritsugu's attention next. An image flickered in his mind's eye, and the blank panorama transformed for him. Apartment complexes rose out of the ground, followed by skyscapers in the distance, reaching to block out the Sun and cast their looming shadows. At the base of it all, familiar restaurants and shops opened up to direct the flow of customers as the crowd increased in size and intensity. Kiritsugu relaxed against a traffic light, and listened to the buzzing conversation of Cantonese speakers walking past him, merrily chatting about their next stops in Kowloon. His hand felt around for the button to activate the crosswalk signal...

...instead scraping it against the bark. Kiritsugu kicked behind him, and let out a disappointed sigh when the "thunk" of the tree trunk was heard instead of the hum of metal. His eyes swam in the white light before readjusting to the ample shade, and he held an arm out to steady himself before continuing his walk down the boulevard. Gritting his teeth as he emerged out of the last of the cherry blossoms, he'd just remembered the irony of his Japanese surname, as he entered the initial suburbs marked by family houses.

//

Let's think of something a normal person would for once.

Not much homework today. The weather's gotten to me, so no martial arts practice. If I'm indoors, at least I have to finish learning C++. Meh, programming's a bore.

Okay, any manhua I feel like rereading? Nope, still need to buy the next volume of Ravages of Time. That means waiting for mother to come home for longer than a day, and coinciding with a literature expo in Nagoya. Unless the heavens tear asunder and I can make a trip to Tokyo.

Oh look, here comes a truck. At least here I won't get run over looking both ways in the wrong order.