[color=brown]"Hmm..."[/color] Thomas said, as if considering the boy's request.
In reality, however, he was surveying the room as distractions appeared one after another. The first distraction was a somewhat famous figure in the school community. Erika Mitsuki, and the story surrounding her miraculous awakening was one ripe for writing about, but he hadn't yet found the time for investigating it. He'd only briefly mentioned her awakening in the corpse collector issue, the one the club had published just the day before. He wanted to look into the incident in depth as he was sure that there would be something worth writing about, but he didn't have the time to do it now. So Thomas shrugged and uttered a vague word of acceptance at the girl's request. He didn't exactly have any business with the red king anyway.

The second distraction was quiet and unobtrusive, but Thomas noticed it nonetheless. A girl who made as if to leave but didn't. Perhaps she was curious about what was happening in the club room? Next, another girl, though not as anonymous as the first. A presence he would explore soon, but later.

A third distraction occurred abruptly, Maribel cut into the boy - Kosuke as Maribel had inadvertently informed Thomas - and Thomas's conversation. Thomas looked at Maribel at the corner of his eye as she went on to exhibit some fairly strange behaviour. As he watched, Erika took Maribel by the arm and hurried out of the room.
[color=brown][i]"Suspicious."[/i][/color] Thomas thought.
He was quite sure that the blue king was different, somehow, though he couldn't even begin to imagine why she was different, or what exactly happened to cause Maribel's shift in behaviour. It bothered him a lot but he couldn't exactly get the answers he wanted without invading her privacy, and he wasn't entirely sure he could justify an action on the flimsy basis of 'she's acting sort of weird and it might just be me'. So he'd let it go for now. He couldn't act with just his gut, but there were plenty of things he could act on right now.
[color=brown]"Sorry, Kisuke was it? Give me a second."[/color] Thomas told his conversation partner.

Thomas picked up one of Emma's mints and flicked it up to his mouth before biting down on it and chewing down, releasing a burst of fresh mint. He walked up to the door and opened it before suddenly sticking his head out of the doorway to find the new visitor.
[color=brown]"Excuse me,"[/color] He said, calling out to her. [color=brown]"But do you have business here? You're welcome to come in if you do."[/color]

[@RoflsMazoy][@ColouredCyan][@KoL][@TheWindel] and also maybe [@Ryonara] maybe cause you're in the room