Aika Aramachi

After her own introduction, there was just one last student that introduced themselves. Aika was almost certain there was some kind of foreign influence in this club, as Zane Wulf, Travis Furukawa and Iria Valentine all had names that were at least partially foreign. It had to be the Americans; they were always looking for ways to force feed their culture to others, and what better way to do so than to infiltrate at the high school level? They would probably love nothing more than to make Japanese students like those "weeaboos" she had heard of over in the states, except with them worshiping American culture instead. It was an idea worth looking into for sure.

As the introductions winded down, however, the students began to talk among themselves. This was of concern to Aika, since any of these people could take the opportunity to try and peek at her phone under the cover of moving around to socialise. She made up her mind to end today's info taking for now. Her decision was soon vindicated, as none other than Yuki Asahiro approached her under the guise of casual conversation. Aika knew better; Yuki quickly betrayed a keen interest in the contents of her phone. Her theory was being confirmed, and she was more certain than ever that Yuki was a government plant. She wasn't about to betray her knowledge of this, of course. For now, she would have to keep playing silly innocent Aika Aramachi, a girl none the wiser to Yuki's ulterior motives.

"Oh hi!" She responded. She shook Yuki's hand when offered. "Oh, don't mind me, I just like to keep in touch with my friends. They weren't interested in coming here, so I was just updating them with whatever flew into my head at the time." Even though not a single part of that explanation was true, Aika was probably going to need to make up some nonsense to tell her friends later. "But I actually heard of you before from the track team. You're something of a sport's star around here, aren't you?" It was true that she had heard that from them, but she was less interested in talking sports with Yuki than she appeared. This just seemed like a good topic to distract from her phone...and perhaps it would lead into other topics that would reveal Yuki's true purpose. Her cover story couldn't be perfect.

@Polaris North

@Pleek

Travis was quick to return to his music after he had introduced himself. He was honestly ready for this little 12 step program type of introduction to end. Travis didn't get to critique the students that went after himself. He was so focused on fixing the poor first impression he gave that he didn't bother to look up. All you could see was the aggressive twiddle of his thumbs as he starred at the ground.

He leaned back in his chair and would gaze around the room from time to time. It was tough being an introvert but hell this was crazy he literally didn't know what to do. Travis decided to give into his soloist attitude...well he was going to until he felt a religious disturbance in the force. He tried to ignore it but the more he tried the more he slowly began to sweat. "No....no...please no." He whispered to himself as he closed his eyes.

And as soon as he opened his eyes there she stood. Nutty the nun in all her graciousness​. Travis quickly thought of ways to get her out his hair. Maybe he'd lie and proclaim that he was a homosexual getting ready to marry his seriously gay boyfriend after highschool. Then again that could crash and burn in his face so for now he decided to see what she had to say.

To his surprise she came to talk about heavy metal. Travis hated himself now. How did he not notice it before. She's the naughty nun type character. He stated to himself mentally but physically​ placed his fist in the palm of his hand as if he'd uncovered a mystery. Travis smiled and replied with "Veni Domine and Bloodgood are sorta not my style.. more of a Bring Me The Horizon type of guy." Travis paused for a moment then realized something. "I'm not as familiar with your religion as you are but isn't Heavy metal seen as "devil music"?" He questioned Yoshi also doing the quotation hand gestures when he mentioned devil music.

@Slendy

Yoshi held her right hand in front of her mouth before giggling. "Eheeheehee! Oh deary, not at all!" Watanabe Yoshi stared Travis directly in the eyes as she placed both of her hands down upon his shoulders.

"Music itself is one of the beauties that God created. Heavy Metal is not intrinsically the devil's music. It only becomes the devil's music when it is tainted with sinful blasphemy which threatens you off the path of Our Lord Jesus Christ. As such there are some bands, which yes, play the corrupted and tainted music belonging to the devil. But the platform itself is not inherently sinful." Watanabe blinked before removing her hands from Furukawa. Taking a few steps back, she turned her head side to side.

"Besides if any music was more susceptible to the devil's taint I would say it would be swing." Yoshi shrugged while holding her palms upwards. "But that's just my thought on the matter."

---

Her reasoning was common enough. Somewhere deep inside, Yuki was hoping for a... rarer reason but she guessed that she was just expecting too much. Oh well, disappointing but at least Aika seemed to be willing to continue to conversation. "Well, you gotta admit, not a lot of people are interested in the whole occult thing. But joining clubs is a lot better with friends so I can't blame you for keeping in touch." She said with a shrug. She was lucky enough that Iria wanted to join up too. While she doesn't mind being alone in a room full of strangers [and that reporter] but it was way more fun if she had friends with her.

Upon hearing about the Track team, her eyes practically lit up. This usually happened when someone mentions anything sports related when they're around her. She let out a light chuckle once Aika finished her statement. "I like joining a lot of games since it's fun and helps clear the mind when you're thinking of a lot of things you know? Fame's just a bonus." She wasn't about to deny the fact that she was pretty famous because of her involvement in practically all the athletic clubs. She knew that much was true. You would really come to notice when they start asking you to join some practice games.

She then shook her head. "Ah but it seems you know about me a lot more than I know about you. Track Team huh? Never pegged you for a runner, no offense intended." Considering how she acted, Yuki never thought of her as the runner type. At least that's what she noticed from her own classmates who had personalities like Aika. Guess it was never good to generalize. "So are you into competitive running or just running for exercise and clearing the mind?"

"Uh-"

Before Ai could do so much as even respond to one of those follow-ups, Yoshi had rushed off to the Musical Type - Travis, she corrected herself. Her eyes instinctively snapped to the items left behind for her to "watch over" as the others around her began talking. No one really seemed to catch her eye as she sat in her chair, pose having loosened back into its default...or at least, anyone she figured was worth talking to. Seiko was rather eye-catching, after all, but unfortunately she seemed to be busy with two other girls. A tiny twinge of something twisted in her gut - must be those brownies, she figured.

There was nothing outwardly interesting about Yoshi's bag. No, what Ai was more interested in was whatever could be inside it. A crucifix, she figured, picking up the final bite of brownie and shoving it into her mouth shamelessly. As far as she could tell, no one was watching. Maybe a smaller Bible. But surely there had to be more to the fanatical girl than that. Something. Anything. Who knows - maybe she'd find something compromising. Maybe, if that were the case, she'd have an excuse to talk to the self-proclaimed "resident journalist".

Ai looked around once more. Yes, it still appeared that no one was watching.

...Just one little peek. No harm.

Slowly, the girl moved forward and began to open the top of Yoshi's bag.

It was a good thing that Watanabe Yoshi was unaware of the antics Yamauchi Ai was currently committing. Truly this invasion of property was a shady deed; both in the realm of Caesar and that of the Lord. But since it appeared guilt in either realm wouldn't hinder Ai's actions it was trivial to open Yoshi's bag and see what was in it.

Well at least the stuff buried near the top anyways.

The most notable things at this top level were, the Book of Common Prayers, a standard one piece swimsuit in dark blue, an advertisement for a nearby arcade with one full coin roll and one half coin roll on it, a script for the play Lady Aoi and a metal pencil container.

Certainly there had to be other items in the bag if dug through. But would searching for those items really be worth the guilt of continuing this invasion of property?

Ai's gaze skimmed over the various items in the bag passively. As she had no personal connections to its owner aside from one slightly awkward conversation, there really was not much guilt to be felt (at the moment at least) other than the vague sense of wrongdoing and the fear of being caught.

The script and the pencil container were barely even noted, and the amount of money held in the coin rolls was trivial. The prayer book was expected, and the swimsuit (What a prude...) more or less blended into everything else in the pile. But the bag appeared to be a bit too sizable to hold just these unremarkable items. Maybe if-

Without checking around once more (as she figured that any large movements would surely just bring more attention to herself...were those her palms sweating?), Ai slowly flipped over the Book of Common Prayers to see what lay underneath it.

Without the worry of falling to either the realm of man or that realm of The Lord, it was quite easy to succumb to temptation delve even further into Yoshi Watanabe's bag. While flipping the prayer book it was pretty obvious that the book was pretty well used but not to the point that it was about to fall apart. As for what was underneath the Book of Common Prayer; the answer seemed to just as mundane as before.

For the most part it was a series of scroll paper that were stacked together and had red handles at the end of it. Scattered alongside these scrolls quite a few magatamas. For the most part the majority of these magatamas were pretty small and were indigo. And there was a single crucifix that was around hand-size among those as well.

With a simple glance it appeared that scavenging through this bag for "something compromising" was a fruitless endeavor. But of course, there was the chance that the infection of Sin from Adam and Eve's misdeeds, still managed to infect Watanabe Yoshi much like the rest of man.

Having that in mind it was curious to see that there was something that poked between a few of the scrolls. This thing that poked through, looked like a golden and rather glittery piece of a skirt. Perhaps there would be enough time to allow the wandering mind to decide whether or not it would be worth the risk to pull out. Perhaps it would be better to just let it lay there and be unsure of what it was.

Ai pursed her lips at the initial look of the bag's second layer. The papers might have been at least slightly interesting if unfolding one wouldn't create so much noise. The magatamas were useless; the crucifix at least gave her a brief moment of satisfaction at being correct.

Ai was just about to shut the bag, defeated and bored, when suddenly the light caught a dappling of sparkles somewhere in the area of the scrolls. Briefly she considered if pushing her luck any further would be worth it - and she decided yes. Why not? She'd already gone this far.

And so, head tucked low under the chairs surrounding her, Yamauchi Ai began to tug at the golden fabric stuck at the bottom of Yoshi's bag.

Aika Aramachi

"Oh, I don't mind. Lots of people say that." Indeed, more than a few people had expressed surprise that she was involved in an athletic club at all, let alone the track team. On top of that, a few people on the track team seemed dismissive of her due to her expressed reasons for joining. "Yeah, I just joined because I needed to do something to keep the carbs off. If I just sat around all day, I would totally get all bloated and fat, right? Track seemed like the easiest way to burn pounds. The other sports were, like, way too competitive for me." There was more to it than that though; Aika also reasoned that she could stand to be a good runner for whenever the government came after her, or if she happened to discover someone's deep dark secret and they set out to murder her. Naturally, she wasn't about to speak a word of those reasons to Yuki here.

"Anyway, the hot topic about you often seems to be about what's between your legs. Oh, hope that wasn't too rude to say, haha!" Truth be told, Aika worded it that way on purpose. Being somewhat crass was always a good way to shake up the conversation. "No but seriously, some people insist you're one thing and some people insist you're the other. You get that a lot?" Aika was interested to see just how deep Yuki went into the gender debate. If she had been playing it up herself, then that was one more piece of evidence towards her real purpose in Aika's books.

@Polaris North

And now under the cover of darkness, or really just the cover of the chairs, Ai once again found it easy to pull at the material that was hidden in the bag. What it was, at least for now was unknown, besides a rather glittery piece of fabric. The scrolls and crucifix were shuffled around as the fabric was being pulled upwards.

Perhaps this was the 'controversial piece' that was being searched for? Would this item really be worth all the trouble that it was to observe it? Would it, at the very least, shine a bit more light about Yoshi beyond her faith? What would going through another girl's schoolbag lead to?

For the most part these questions could only be answered through the eye of the beholder. And at this particular junction in time the beholder was Ai who decided to keep going through Yoshi's bag. The answer of this particular object was going to be revealed now that Ai finally got it up towards the top.

The golden fabric was indeed part of a glittery and golden skirt. Upon a closer inspection this item was a Western-style Cheerleader Uniform. The skirt itself was pleaded and appeared to be a touch shorter than what typical regulations would be for the item. The uniform had its focal colors as rose pink and gold. The top was sleeveless and mostly rose pink except for the golden stripes that formed a triangular pattern pointing downwards. Written across the breast in lavender was the word 'ANGEL' in some cutesy font with a little white halo above it and the L have a little pointed tail hanging from it.

Ai was sweating bullets. The absolute madwoman. Surely she had crossed the line, looking through the surely innocent schoolbag of a devout Christian schoolgirl. Who knows what this mysterious item could be?

It was...

It was...

It was a cheerleader uniform.

I mean - it was a kind of skimpy, unusually Western cheerleader uniform, but it was still just a cheerleader uniform. Ai turned it around in her hands, felt the soft fabric fall between her fingers. She...honestly didn't know what she was expecting. The whole "angel" thing on the front had to be at least a little sacrilegious, which she supposed was funny seeing who it was coming from, but other than that it was, Ai had to admit, anticlimactic.

Alright, this wasn't worth it. Oh well. No harm was done, she guessed, and perhaps she could slip a little something about this discovery into a conversation later. Ai began to put the uniform back into the bag, paused, pulled her phone from her pants pocket, and snapped a quick picture before slipping it back out of sight. The uniform was shoved back into the darkness, Ai not bothering to put everything back into its proper place as she shut the bag once more.

"Oh!" remarked Watanabe as she glanced at Travis. "I should probably move my stuff back here if I'm going to keep chatting with you. Maybe I can see if I can get you a seat up front?" Yoshi laughed a little as she ran her right hand through her hair.

Smiling at the boy she offered a parting wave, "Catch you sooner or later! Or something or other." And with that Watanabe Yoshi skipped back towards the front as she returned to her seat next to Ai.

Yoshi briefly glanced at her bag then at the Bible on the table before sitting down. Smiling she leaned towards Ai and gave her a firm pat on the back. "Thanks for watching the bag! I did not want to just leave it alone you know? But like I said you shouldn't have to watch out for anyone here."

She snapped her fingers before pointing at Ai, "Oh right I realized I left pretty quickly; was there something earlier you wanted to mention or ask me?"

Travis was a bit surprised to hear Yoshi's response. Well he was at first until Yoshi closed the space between​ them to thoroughly explain what can be considered devil's music or not. He honestly had a hard time listening to what she was saying. Travis has never been this close let alone locked eyes with the opposite sex for such a long period. Travis still managed​ to pay attention to some of the things she said but he was seriously focusing on not turning completely red. If he blushed now and someone saw that it was caused by the nun, he didn't know what he'd do.

Once Yoshi took a few steps back Travis lowered his head avoiding any further eye contact with Yoshi. His cheeks were hot and he knew his face was some type of redish color. "W-well... I guess that's good to hear not all heavy metal music is demonic..." He let's out a suspicious laugh that he hoped wasn't too suspicious. "....and yeah swing is horrible..."

This was bad, Travis didn't know what to say next. It looked so easy in mangas but making friends Sucked in real life. He wanted to ask her to talk more about herself but he couldn't bring himself to ask. Even before he could get a word out Yoshi was already walking away. He exhaled heavily wishing he could get better at communicating.

Ai reached for her empty brownie plate and half-empty bottle of water, nodding respectfully as Yoshi approached her. It was a shame, really, how deluded that girl was. If she showed that much enthusiasm for a subject that mattered, maybe she'd amount to something.

"Anytime, anytime," she said in response to the other's thanks, tilting her head down with the plate and bottle in each hand. "I was just about to get rid of my trash, but I didn't want to leave my post." She winked, rising.

"Questions? Oh, no, nothing I can think of at the moment." She hummed, then brightened, as though she hadn't already been rehearsing some variant of this conversation in her head already. "Oh! But if you don't mind me asking, what were you and - oh, Travis, was it? - talking about? You seemed pretty...invested."

Truthfully, she hadn't even glanced at them from the time she'd begun her snooping until now. But at least it sounded good.

---

Yuki smiled at her reason. Now that was unusual but it doesn't really matter. At least it looks like it's helping her and she will be enjoying it. "That's a pretty unique reason. Swimming is good for exercise too you know. Arguably better than running, some say." She mused. She wasn't much for finding out what was better for one's health but when you spend a lot of time with other athletes, you start to pick up a lot of things. "It's just as competitive as running too. But I shouldn't really be convincing you to join another club huh?" She gave her a lazy grin alongside her statements.


She laughed alongside Aika as she mentioned that. Of course it would eventually fall to this subject. It always did. Doesn't bother her though. "Oh yeah, I get that a lot. Wherever I go you know? Everyone I meet, they ask the question and then have their own conclusions." Yuki replied as she leaned on the empty chair adjacent to her. A smirk played on her lips as she continued, "Probably doesn't help when I don't answer them properly." She then chuckled. Yuki just loved it when they don't get it right but are convinced they did. Being her classmate was enough for one to know what she truly is as when PE rolls in... well, changing in the right changing room is a must. "But you know, it's up to you whether I'm a guy or a girl. Doesn't bother me either way." She said with a shrug.

Yoshi gave a brief thumbs up to Ai as she went to dispose her trash. "Yeah you don't want to leave a mess." She took a moment to check the straps of her bag to make sure it was secure. Noting that it was Yoshi turned her attention back to Ai.

"Yeah, it was Travis." Yoshi responded before glancing back in the general vicinity of Furukawa before glancing back towards Ai. "Oh it was just a bit of discussion of music. I probably should head back to continue the chatter with him." Watanabe blinked before waving her hands a bit side to side.

"I mean not that I'm not having fun talking with you. Hey, maybe you can join me and talk about stuff with him. But then again..." Yoshi tilted her head to the side and began twirling a bit of her hair with her finger, "... I am not sure if he cares for group discussions. So oh, is there anything else you'd want to talk about before I should head back to maybe discuss more music? Weather? School? Hobbies?"

Ai paused, considering. She still had this vague distrust of that Travis boy for reasons she could not exactly place - there was just something about those kids that seemed to lose themselves in music. But even still, what else was there to do? If not Yoshi, then perhaps she could at least get some extra information out of him.

"If he wants to, then sure, I'll talk to him." She paused, thinking of the last question Yoshi had asked her. No, no, no - oh, maybe that could be at least a little interesting...

"Hobbies? Personally, I like to read...write...specifically,
I'll sometimes write - y'know, codes, ciphers. Little things like that. I mean, if you're interested. You?"

"Reading is pretty fun, I also like to read in my spare time." Watanabe Yoshi smiled as she reached over to grab her Bible. Holding it in both arms she quickly brought the Bible against her chest as she hugged it. "I especially enjoy reading through the The Good Book." She said while seemingly emphasizing her point with a bit of torso swaying.

Yoshi tilted her head as she glanced at Ai, "When I'm not reading through The Good Book, I enjoy reading through other Christian Theological selections, and if I'm not reading those usually I'll read through scripts." Yoshi placed the Bible back down onto the table and gently patted it. Returning her attention to Ai she smiled again, "So you like codes and things, like mystery messages and stuff? That's nifty! Do you have any you'd like to share?"

"But oh." Watanabe remarked as she tapped her left cheek.
"You probably want to know some of my hobbies. Well I already told you about reading. I loooooooove water based activities, swimming, fishing, Marco Polo, jet skiing though that can get just a little intense, and even just long walks on the beach. Water is really pretty in all forms. I thank God in His Infinite Wisdom for creating such a beautiful thing."

Clasping her hands together Yoshi bent her head down in a short and silent prayer. Springing back up the girl returned her attention to Ai, "I also enjoy acting. There are so many interesting roles to do upon the stage! Oh speaking and chatting in general is fun as well. And if I find myself with a good amount of free time I'll go visit my local arcade."

"But those are just a few of my hobbies. Soooo..." Yoshi rested her right hand against her cheek, "What sort of code and mystery stuff do you do?"

Damn. Yoshi was really attached to her Bible. Vaguely in her mind Ai wondered how the other would react to the Occult Club's activities once they got into full swing - whatever that meant. Ai herself kind of expected something like Ouija boards, seances...uh, tarot readings...eh. Maybe she really had no idea what to expect.

Ah, so not only did Yoshi like reading plays, apparently she liked to participate in them as well. Personally, plays were not a thing that Ai found much enjoyment in watching. Often they were far too slow, and involved just so much sitting around and waiting, waiting, waiting. It was all so boring. Sometimes she supposed that maybe she'd be a decent actress; maybe if the opportunity presented itself, she'd consider.

Swimming - oh, so that explained the swimsuit in her bag.

(There was, Ai noted, still nothing explaining the mysterious cheerleading uniform. Unless it was for a play. It might have been for a play.)

Ai smiled, holding her hands behind her back before removing her wallet from her back pocket. "Well, I might have something or another in here..." She opened the wallet - one could see a patch resembling a roaring lion emblazoned along the front, the rest being of mocha-brown leather - and pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper.

"Here," she began, unfolding it and flashing the front to Yoshi for the briefest of moments before folding it once more "This one's pretty old. I'll let you see if you can figure it out." She winked, holding it out for the other to take.

If one were to open and examine it, they would see in Ai's large, messy writing: ZKYZ, ZKYZ...GS O KBKT JUOTM ZNOY XOMNZ? NGNG...O NGBKT'Z YRKVZ OT ZCU JGEY! GTJ O'S JUOTM ZKXXOHRK!