---

Apparently her timing had been good—Naomi-san’s reply came just before the assembly began, so rather than replying, Emi sat back in her seat, content to listen. She couldn’t claim to be interested in much the teachers or Principal said; once upon a time the renovations might have intrigued her, but whether her months at home had numbed her to such trivial excitements or the newfound guilt in the back of her mind simply took precedent, she found it hard to care about them beyond any possible changes to the floor plan. Even then, at this rate, if she could get back and forth from her locker and her classrooms, she’d probably be content. She had better things to do with her time now than tag every extracurricular room and trace out the building in her head.

So, as the staff droned on, Emi’s mind was cursed to wander, a twist forming in her stomach as she waited for Nakano Sakuya to finally take the stage. The two of them had never really been “friends”, that much was true enough. Emi knew Sakuya through student council, and of course, she’d been close with her older brother, Reiji. But they’d never interacted much outside of an official capacity. But what sort of excuse was that? It wasn’t one; she should have reached out to her after her brother disappeared, especially knowing the two of them were on their own. Goodness, her father in prison and her brother missing? Sakuya must have been a wreck; much more of one than Emi had any right to be. But rather than check on her, maybe offering a shoulder to cry on or some kind words about her brother, she’d just shut herself away from everyone and everything, convinced that somehow she must have been the only one hurting. Emi had to make it up to her—if Nakano would even welcome the effort.

All the more reason Emi had no right to feel the way she did when Nakano took the stage.

It was probably terrible, but she couldn’t help it; when Nakano’s voice finally rang out from the microphone, her very first reaction was indignance. Logically, she knew that Nakano ascended her position as student council president perfectly legitimately, but all the logic in the world couldn’t stop the tears pricking at the corners of Emi’s eyes. No matter what she told herself, all she could think was that it should be Hanami up there addressing the school, giving words of wisdom and encouragement with all the life and energy she brought to everything she did. There’d be no somber words with Hanami at the mic, no stoic proverbs, and certainly no heavy condolences. She’d have livened up the gym effortlessly, and carried that same joy and optimism through all year long. Right up until her speech at graduation.

This just wasn’t right.

She seemed to forget herself, brought out of her reverie only when a warm tear splashed onto her hand. Emi gasped, doing her best to swallow the lump in her throat as she fished for a tissue to dry her face. Goodness, she expected returning to school without her friends to be rough, but maybe she hadn’t given the challenge enough credence if she was just losing it like this in front of everyone. But what was the alternative, going back home to mope for another five months? No! There was work to be done! Not only that, but fate had been so kind as to give her a direction; this was meant to be, she knew it. She had to stop thinking of her friends as dead and gone—they weren’t. They couldn’t be. And that was all the more reason she had to face up to Nakano and everyone else she’d forgotten in her cloud of grief.

It wasn’t until she had to unfold her cane again that Emi realized how tightly she’d been gripping it, her knuckles creaking as she uncurled them. She stood on shaky legs, but thankfully, each step and tap of her cane grew more steady as she went, and by the time she’d navigated to her new homeroom, she was feeling a little more sure of herself. Or, maybe she was just more determined. Whatever it was, she was grateful for it; it wouldn’t do to crumple into tears on her first day back.

Finally making it to her homeroom, Emi slid into the nearest desk to the door, which had expectedly been reserved for her. Closer to the door meant fewer obstacles to navigate, after all. She checked the seat out of habit and slung her bag over the back, folding her cane back up once she was seated. Judging by the “vibe” of the room—she really wasn’t sure what else to call that feeling her Persona had given her, but it surely came in handy—as well as the ambient noise, she guessed she was probably one of the first to arrive—not surprising, given her hasty exit from the gym after her little episode. Students were steadily filing in, though, most of whom she either didn’t know or only knew in passing. They were a bit harder to make out than those she knew well, but she still kept tabs on the door, waiting for Nakano Sakuya to arrive.

After a few minutes, she did just that, and Emi stood in her seat, offering a small bow. “Nakano-san, is that you?” she asked. She was vaguely aware of someone walking nearby, toward the front of the class, if only because it was a little weird. Whatever, didn’t matter.

“That was a beautiful address you gave,” Emi continued, her voice a little choked by emotion even now. “Your tribute to Hanami-chan was…” she had to pause a moment to swallow the lump in her throat, her hand over her mouth. “It’s just… thank you, for mentioning her. For mentioning all of them. It’s comforting to know that not everyone wants to forget.”

Emi was vaguely aware of some chatter starting up in the room, but she paid it no mind, searching for the right words. “Nakano-san, forgive me if I’m a little too forward, but I wanted to offer my condolences. And an apology.” She drew a long breath, closing her eyes. As much as her conscience screamed to get on with it, admitting wrongdoing was still never easy, and she struggled against her emotions and the room’s distractions to put the words together.

“I know this should probably wait, but I just wanted to say… I mean, you know I’m frie— was friends with your brother, and I can’t imagi— okay what is going on?” Emi turned sharply toward the rest of the room, where the ambient chatter had swelled to an abnormal volume. She could hardly hear herself think, dammit! She turned sheepishly back to Nakano, more than a little flustered, and gestured to the room. “I’m sorry, but do you know what has them so riled up?”

---

---

As she suspected, Nakano-san was going to have a student council meeting after school today. She was the kind of person to plan ahead and immediately start working towards her goals. Although she did agree with her it was a little sudden for most people, Oka had already expected it. Nakano-san then began to start walking towards their classroom.

They were indeed in the same class this year. As they made their way to class 3-B, she watched as other students talked amongst themselves in the hallways as they walked by. Some of them seemed to have been careful around the student council duo, some smiling a bit excitedly as they walked by, and others were laughing. It was the first day so it was expected that people would have their ideas of how they felt they should feel about the student council, but something about this mixed bag made her feel uneasy.

She understood the ones that seemed excited and maybe even the ones that were a bit nervous but she was cautious about the ones that were laughing. Oka continued to walk quietly beside her, still observing their surroundings. They’d finally made it to their classroom when they were stopped by an emotional Ueno-san who’d been doing her best to keep it together as she spoke of her missing friends. As she continued on speaking with her, Oka noticed that the classroom was getting a bit out of control. Ueno-san’s voice was drowned out by the loud chatter amongst the students there.

It was then that she noticed the writing on the board. She read it aloud in her mind then immediately shot a glance at the students in the class who’d begun to quiet down as Nakano-san took a photo of the picture before clearing away the obscene message. Oka couldn’t believe that they would think such a thing about her. Did they really all think this through? Her own brother was missing as well, had they thought of that? The only thing a person gained when becoming student council president in the midst of several scandals was more problems. Again, Oka always thought her as admirable while the rest of them were too selfish to see it or take on the responsibility themselves.

Oka bit her tongue, choosing not to lose her cool here of all times. She’d done very well not to let anyone get to her. She could only imagine what else Nakano-san was bound to endure for the rest of the school year if people were already spreading foolish rumors like this. Instead of addressing the students, she waited for Nakano-san to return to where she and Ueno-san had been standing near the entrance. ”It may be best to continue your conversation later. We should quickly get to our seats so as not to cause more of a stir. We shouldn’t give them any more of a reason to talk.” And with that, Oka went to her desk in the middle row but near the window. She sighed, knowing full well the uneasy feeling she’d had was not going to go away anytime soon.

---

---

As Miss Momoji ended her opening address to the class, Kazuyoshi took the opportunity to start dozing off. Barely responsive, he had narrowly missed the first attendance prompt before wildly raising his hand in order to catch his teacher's attention from the back. "I'm here, that's me - Asakura." he would state in a drowsy voice, suppressing a yawn with his hands afterwards. At least his name was near the top of the list and he could go back to skulking behind Noriaki's seated figure. Kazu had hoped that being hidden out of sight would lead to him being called on less but this did not exempt him from class participation at all. He even began to suspect that their new homeroom teacher had started to single him out for passage recitals in order to shake the lethargy out of him. To her credit, Kazu was wide awake by the time lunch time rolled around though his mind was now filled with details of class syllabi.

The day was pleasant enough that spending their free hour in the classroom was simply unacceptable. So, Kazu would grab his lunchbox and sprint to the roof the moment Miss Momoji would dismiss them as he wasn't about to test her patience twice in one day. The sea of students that flooded the hallways did not deter him from making his journey, bumping into the unsuspecting and stubborn without even looking them in the eye. After all, he was still one of the young kings of Hinotori high, right? To his dismay though, his lunch was not fit for royalty as it was cold hardboiled eggs and soggy toast. Certainly a sharp departure from the bento boxes that Ayane-chi would prepare for the both of them.

After consuming his lunch alone and then cloud gazing for a few minutes more, Kazuyoshi would make the reluctant trudge back to the classroom. As he arrived back at his seat, Kazu had a few choice words for his new acquaintance. "Aight, you're not ditching me next time. If I'm gonna be sucking eggs on the roof, might as well be with you next to me." His seatmate definitely had a level-headed response to that which Kazu merely shrugged off. At least they were in the home stretch now and they can finally leave this day behind them. After a few more introductory material readings, they were finally done. However, before they could leave to actually go enjoy their lives, the queen of discipline and good manners had coerced his good friend Noriaki into an interrogation.

Though the young lad's spirit wanted to meet the she-devil head on with energetic bravado, the body was unable. Sluggishly, Kazu stood up and leaned against the nearby classroom wall as Noriaki handled himself. Quite impressive of him to not stumble against Sakuya, Kazu had thought. Wanting to capitalize on this, he would walk towards the pair and once again put his arm around Noriaki's shoulder while locking his sleep-deprived eyes to those of their school president. "Senpai, I'm gonna need you to stop hitting on my good friend Noriaki here." he would state with a callous smirk. "'Sides, I got him. Gonna show him around the area and have a good time, yeah?"

---

Fortunately, Nakano didn’t take poorly to Emi’s attempted apology - or, if she did, she didn’t say so. In fact, she didn’t say anything; Emi grew a little nervous that she’d said something wrong as Nakano seemed to walk away. She was only gone a moment, however, bringing news back with her that took Emi from nervous to furious.

"Some writing on the board has everyone's attention. It would seem someone thinks it's funny to accuse me of causing the disappearances as a power grab. That said, they're ill informed if they think my house is a place to look."

“Wha--!” Emi was cut off by her own shock, gripping the edges of her desk. What on earth would possess someone to write something so foul?! And so ignorant at that! Nakano’s own brother was presumed dead, her own house a pile of ashes, and someone had the nerve to say she was to blame?! Emi sorely wished she could summon Euryphaessa outside of the mirror, if only to identify the culprit and knock some sense into them. Despite what Nakano said about a power grab, she doubted it was anyone on the student council; they’d all been fond of Hanami, they’d never besmirch her memory by leveling some garbage accusation at her successor. Good - it would save Emi the embarrassment of chewing out one of her fellow council members.

Suzuki-sensei arrived before Emi had the chance to say more, and reluctantly she sank back into her seat, fuming. Nakano may have been willing to let the slight go, but Emi wasn’t nearly so forgiving.

---

The day passed fretfully for Emi. It was a good thing the material was mostly old news, because she wasn’t sure she caught even half of it, preoccupied as she was. Even hours later, that message on the board still bothered her. That it was probably some throwaway shitbaggery meant nothing to her; the flagrant disrespect to a girl who’d lost her brother a mere five months ago was maddening enough to have Emi fidgeting in her seat, her mind always wandering back to that awful message no matter how hard she tried to redirect it. And that was another thing! Not only had whoever written that taken a totally unwarranted shot at Nakano (and all of Emi’s missing friends, as far as she was concerned) but now it had her so worked up that she couldn’t even focus on what actually mattered: figuring out what happened to them in the first place.

By the time the bell rang for lunch, Emi all but tore out of the room, food forgotten as she hovered around the doorway in the hall. She didn’t bother asking Nakano - she would have mentioned it if she saw who wrote that message - but waited until someone else she recognized made their way out, stopping them with a gentle tug on their sleeve.

“Miura-san, is that you?” she asked rhetorically, “Did you happen to see who wrote that awful message on the board this morning?”

“Oh, uh…” Miura hummed, thinking a moment before snapping his fingers. “Oh yeah, duh, that’s that Ito chick that got into so much trouble last year. I think she landed someone in the hospital or something. Remember?”

Emi tapped her finger to her cheek, thinking. “Ito… Maki?” she asked, “The one who used to do all that stuff with spray paint?” She wrinkled her nose in distaste. Obviously that sort of vandalism wasn’t much to her, but she did remember one time when the awful fumes of spray paint hung around the second-floor girls’ bathroom for weeks. “What’s her problem with Nakano-san?”

“Beats me. What’s her problem with anybody?” Miura asked back, sounding exasperated. “Anyway, I gotta go. It’s good to see you back, by the way,” he added sheepishly, “I’m, uh…”

Emi held up a hand, offering Miura a smile. “Thank you,” she told him, releasing him from the no-doubt uncomfortable duty of stumbling condolences. Besides, if anyone deserved them, it was Nakano. “Enjoy your lunch.”

---

Ito Maki. Emi couldn’t claim that she kept up with gossip that much, especially after going dark for the past several months, but somehow gossip had a way of making its way to her and the name did ring a bell. General delinquent, hung out with a rough crowd, something about a boyfriend she was crazy over… it wasn’t much, and it was probably outdated, but it was enough for her to start differentiating her from the rest. So, she spent the duration of class after lunch flexing a muscle she hadn’t used in some time, actively probing out the room with… man, she needed a name for that funny extra sense Euryphaessa gave her. Whatever it was, it wasn’t nearly as strong here as it was in the mirror, but it was enough to start distinguishing between her classmates - like distinguishing different voices on a crappy radio. Not knowing Ito well combined with being out of practice made the process lengthy, but by the end of it she was fairly confident she’d pinpointed Ito to somewhere in the back of the class. At the very least, she’d get someone close enough to her to do the trick.

She sighed sadly, feeling drained. In times like these she’d usually nudge Hanami or Makoto and jokingly ask if she was hot or cold. Of course, if they were still here, there’d be no reason to be looking.

The end-of-day bell was a blessing, but this time Emi hung back, gathering what few things she had out - a recording device and a water bottle - and slowly packing them away as her classmates filed out. Predictably, the one she thought was Ito Maki stayed back as well, taking her own time. Probably wanting to avoid the crowds or something, if she was in the habit of stirring up shit. Then again, why cause a stir if you were just going to avoid the reaction? Seemed counterintuitive, but it didn’t matter; Emi didn’t have much energy left for deciphering the behaviour of delinquents.

She stayed in her seat until only she and Ito remained, piping up as she felt the other girl walking past her desk towards the door.

“Excuse me, could you help me please?” Emi asked innocently, flashing her folded cane for effect. She chuckled quietly, tucking a stray hair behind her ear in feigned embarrassment. “I just need a little help finding the student council room; I’d usually make my way myself, but these new renovations have me all turned around.”

---

---

The ice queen's gaze was just as chilling as her stonecold heart. At least that's what Kazu thought as he momentarily froze when Sakuya had locked her eyes on him. "Y-you too..." he managed to mutter as a reply to her scolding. "I"ll, uh, see you at the gates when you two are done talking." he would softly speak to Noriaki, averting his sight to the ground and walking sheepishly away. Upon reaching the doorway he would turn around in a dramatic fashion with wide eyes while making an X mark with both arms, trying to non-verbally warn Noriaki while the student council president couldn't see the cheeky slacker behind her. It wasn't a good idea at all to be on the prez's radar, transfer student or not. While Kazu wasn't superstitious before, that Taoist booklet that kept him company in the hospital certainly spoke of curses and those vicious school rumours circulating around definitely had something about Sakuya catching the eye of harbingers of misfortune. At least, that's what he thinks he heard during the assembly earlier while half asleep.

Outstandingly, Noriaki was not fazed at all. Kazu definitely needed to ask him how he did that later on. For now though, would go on ahead of his new friend and head to their agreed upon meeting area. While not as crowded as earlier, the school was still bustling with activity as people headed to the school clubs. Unfortunately, the promisingly talented Asakura was still not cleared to play sports otherwise he would have signed up to be the star ace of any Hinotori High sports team that would be lucky to have him. At least an element of suspense is still there for the spectators, he supposed. These thoughts of splendour would whisk him away to the entrance of the school before he knew it.

However, Kazu still didn't know where to take Noriaki and, in his pursuit of not trying to expend more effort than he had to, he had decided to leave it to his companion. "So, where exactly are we headed broski? I mean, where do you want to go... Brain's really pre-occupied, y'know?" he would ask once Noriaki would arrive.

---

An unflattering noise escaped Daigo's mouth as the bell jolted him fully awake, thankfully masked by the chime itself and the rustling of students packing their things to leave for the day. His eyes were open, but in that last five minutes, he definitely wasn't all there mentally. On a whim, he checked his face with the front camera of his phone. There was a red splotch on the boy's cheek where his palm had been supporting his otherwise drooping head, and at some point between the last time he looked at the board and now, his head had slipped against his hand enough to push his glasses up at an awkward angle that probably made it obvious he was napping. Great start. At least Momoji-sensei hadn't called him out on it. Not that the ginger's school performance really bothered him much; he certainly wasn't planning on applying to any colleges. His dad had even suggested he drop out before high school. Still, it was embarrassing; he looked like Asakura sleeping in class.

It wasn't like he had to rush home anymore, with how little time he seemed to spend in the kitchen these days, so Daigo was free to take his time and languidly rise from his seat into a catlike stretch. A soft, tired hum accompanied the movement and ended with a nonchalant clearing of his throat as he tilted his crooked glasses back into place. Nakano-senpai oddly enough came into focus, though her business down in the second year classrooms became quickly apparent as she made a beeline for the transfer student. Nice of her to welcome him personally, he guessed. Though, as Daigo turned his attention back to packing up his things, the bits of the conversation he managed to overhear weren't exactly welcoming. Nakano sounded... terse. Sure, he'd heard she kinda had a stick up her butt, but why approach someone just to nag? Then somehow flirting got brought up. He wasn't quite sure how it worked, but he was pretty sure no one outside of anime for tsundere fetishists flirted like that. This was uncomfortable.

As if he needed any more reason to vacate the area, the sudden bang was definitely the biggest hint. Daigo winced at the harsh noise, sending nervous glances between his bag and the escalating conversation across the room. The nervous tapping of his foot quickened with his haste to pack up and leave, and hearing Nakano say something that sounded like she was about to end the conversation sent Daigo hurriedly powerwalking out of the room.

"'Scuse me," He muttered as he slipped past Asakura during the other boy's air traffic controller impersonation. Daigo sure hoped the new kid got the message, whatever it was. Or was he the aggressor there, Daigo couldn't even tell. Maybe both of them were bad news.

He didn't slow his pace until he made it down to the first floor, far from Nakano's new regime of terror. The bulletin board caught his eye for once, full of club advertisements and first day announcements they'd doubtlessly heard in homeroom already. Maybe something to do after school would be nice, since he wasn't working as much. Normally, Daigo would never take a lull in work as enough of a constant in his life to consider a club, but with the way things had been going recently...

Daigo shook his head to dispel any lingering thoughts. No, the restaurant was always his highest priority, he couldn't afford to put extracurriculars on top of that. Besides, if he couldn't even stay awake in school, he doubted a club was going to interest him. To his great shame, he grabbed a flier for the cooking club anyway. It sort of like... studying for his job. Or at least that's how he justified it to himself. The fiery-haired boy stuffed the partially-crumpled paper into his pocket like he was hiding illicit drugs rather than a folded piece of paper and trudged toward the door to change his shoes.

---

@Wxer_ish

---

As the chimes signaling the end of the school day rang out across the school, a near immediate sense of liveliness began to manifest. Genki sat back in his chair as he waited for the flood of students to funnel through the door. He learned his lesson last year after trying to go with the swarm. After the initial torrent of students, Genki got up, grabbed his backpack, and headed through the door.

He debated heading straight home. He didn't really have much to do today, and he could probably spend the rest of the day goofing off. But on the other hand, his grandparents would probably just have him do a bunch of chores around the house, or worse, yardwork. Mowing the lawn was already going to be a bitch and a half, the last thing he wanted to do was spend time pulling weeds or watering plants. He could think of only one way to avoid such a fate: after school activities.

Thinking back to earlier in the day, he recalled his standing on the clubs. Occult was a big no-no. The prospect of learning to play an instrument in the music club was certainly tempting, but the loud noise at school would drive him mad, and the practice at home would likely do the same to his grandparents. Sports... no. Then there was the Cooking Club. All things considered, it didn't seem that bad. It would be a nice life skill to have, and eating good food is never a bad thing. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea. He pulled out his phone and sent a quick message to his grandparents.

"Going to check out a club for after school stuff. Going to be late getting home." He received a text back from his grandfather almost immediately. "ok". Genki sighed before whispering to himself. "Not even capitalized. At least he was quick about it." Another ping alerted him to a text from his grandmother. "Be sure to tell us all about it when you get home!" At least she seemed somewhat excited about it. Probably glad that he was doing something other than lazing about.

Not knowing where the Cooking Club was, he descended the stairs to the first floor to look at the map containing the layout of the school, likely for first year students, and probably to clarify things after the renovations. Looks like the Cooking Club meets on the... third floor. Genki's shoulders slumper forward. "[Ah, fuck,] I'm going to have climb all those stairs again aren't I?" Was it really worth it? To climb the seven thousand steps to the third floor after climbing all the way down? Well, just about anything was better than menial chores and yard work back home. It was time to make the trip.

After the most arduous minute and twenty three seconds of his life, Genki's foot hit the final step, and he found himself at the third floor. "Guh... I am not looking forward to being a third year." He approached the room to the Cooking Club and looked inside. It certainly looked like a place to do cooking given all the equipment laying around. One girl looked significantly more like she knew what she was doing. She even had an apron on. He took a few quick steps towards her. "Uh... are you the Cooking Club leader? I was looking to join up. This'll be my first time joining a club, and this one seemed pretty good compared to some of the others. My name's Mori, Genki, but I usually go by Genki."

---

Aside from the issues during homeroom, the day went by rather quickly without much of a hitch. Oka began to gather her things from her desk. From the corner of her eye, she could see some female students waiting for her outside of the classroom. No doubt, it was their usual ritual. It was the first day of school and they wanted to have a chance at speaking with her.

As she stood from her seat, she noticed Ueno-san gathering her things along with...Ito Maki was it? Oka couldn’t imagine why the two of them would still be in the classroom but still it made her curious. Ito Maki was the last person she wanted to be associated with considering her reputation as of late. Oka wasn’t sure what had been going on or what she had particularly done, but she had heard plenty of things from the other girls in the school. It hadn’t really mattered to her, because as long as the girl wasn’t causing any trouble or made more work for her she had no reason to step in.

Oka made her way outside of the classroom where the other students had been waiting for her. ”Senpai~” One of the girls clutched her books tightly to her chest, pouting her lips. The other two stood next to her, mimicking the same face. Same girls, different year. It was always interesting to see these girls pandering after her when many of the other students kept their distance and admired from afar.

“Good afternoon ladies, can I help you all with something?” Oka responded coolly, offering her peers a light smile.

“We were just wondering if you were going to be having Kendo practice this afternoon,” One of the girls spoke up with a smile. All three of them looked up to her expectantly.

“Ah, no actually.” Oka responded and the girls seemed to get excited, invading her space a bit more. One of them elbowed the girl with the books. She shot them a glance before looking back to Oka.

“Then, that must mean maybe you’re free to come to karaoke with us this afternoon? I-I mean to celebrate the start of the new year.” She smiled.

“Ah, no. Sorry ladies. I have a Student Council meeting this afternoon.” Oka offered an apologetic smile, thankful that she always managed to have an excuse to not hang out with these girls. They had pursued her ever since they'd entered High school during her second year. Oka’s popularity amongst the students had gone up simply because A: she gave off an enigmatic aura because she never associated with any particular crowd and B: she was an upstanding student. If you combine the two, that’s a recipe for any high school student to be admired. Of course, there were other small details such as the fact that her father was the vice president of a large company and the fact that she was fairly well-off.

She felt like she was being treated like one of those characters in those games she had secretly played. It was hard to interact with other people like this; it made her feel overwhelmed at times.

Still, the girls accepted her response without much more push. It wasn’t out of the norm for her to be so busy but that never stopped them from trying at every chance they got. “That’s too bad.” She replied, looking a bit somber. The other two girls sighed. “One day we’ll get you to come out with us. Maybe next time. See you later, senpai!” She scurried off with the two girls and watched as they stuck closely together, chattering and giggling to themselves.

Oka turned the opposite direction and began to head to the student council room, feeling her body begin to relax again. “Don’t count on it.” The raven haired girl mumbled to herself. It wasn’t too far that she had to walk and when she’d arrived, she realized that she was the first one there. She thought nothing of it and sat her things in one of the chairs before peering out the window to look outside. There, she watched as the other students went home for the day. She wondered what Nakano-san would be discussing with them today.

---

While Noriaki definitely had a point regarding Kazuyoshi's lack of sleep, the newcomer to Hinotori high was about to be told the truth of and by the accompanying brash buck that was his classmate. "I hear ya, but I'm telling you now that sleep ain't gonna be changing me much by tomorrow." Kazu would state in the most serious tone he's spoken in today while fiddling away on his phone. The city of Kyoto wasn't lacking in shopping locations but Kazu hasn't exactly visited the kind of store Noriaki was looking for. Luckily, a quick scan on the web would tell him that there were indeed a few choices in the nearby commercial district. Putting his phone back in his pocket, Kazu would start walking towards the direction of their desired destination. "Alright, we're taking a shortcut. Don't mind the stench though, that's just Kyoto's charm, yeah?"

The metropole native would guide his countryside comrade through a mini-maze of the concrete jungle. The pair would cut through seldom-used footpaths, back roads, and narrow alleyways while avoiding the gaze of the homeowners of the private properties they were trespassing on. Along the way, Kazu tried to make small talk though only question really stood out. "So, not a lot of people can stand up to the prez like you did... How'd you do that? Y'know, not be fazed by authority figures. Gods know I can't even look Ayane's parents in the eyes..." Kazu asked, in a more playful jest. While this was definitely quite forward to ask, Kazu's curiosity beat out the reservations he had when they first met.

Eventually, after a few instances of being lost due to unforeseen route closures, they would reach the nucleus of the nearby shopping district. The flashy neon lights that illuminated the night were currently dimmed but the various employees assigned to greeting duty outside their stores more than made up for making the area pop out. Some were dressed as gothic maids, some in colourful uniforms with random English words plastered all over, and one was even in a strangely pristine mascot costume that seemed to be a cross between a dog and an acorn. "Think that dog-a-corn sells what you're looking for?" he would ask in the same sombre tone from their earlier departure.

---

---

The cooking club pamphlet he'd grabbed earlier was practically burning a hole in his pocket. Daigo had read and reread it at least twice now, considered tossing it in just about every trash can he passed along his walk home, and taken it in and out of his pocket countless times. He could only focus on the people walking in his vicinity for so long before his attention span wavered, and eavesdropping was never his strong suit to begin with, even when he needed a distraction. It felt like a weird betrayal to even consider joining, but at the same time, he wanted to turn around and march back to school just to catch the last bits of the first club meeting. Instead, he defaulted to mindlessly fidgeting with his phone in an effort to push the issue out of mind.

As Daigo veered past the shopping district, a familiar duo crossed into his peripheral vision that caused the boy to outright stop and do a double-take. Did... Did Asakura and the new kid have clones or something? He definitely saw them turn off the main road a while ago and head toward... nowhere. Some random residential backroads. He figured one of their houses must've been that way, but apparently they'd simply taken the most convoluted route possible into the heart of town. Daigo was half-convinced the road he saw them take didn't even lead here! Did they just hop every fence they could find on the way? That had to be illegal or something.

Kazuyoshi must've been playing a prank on the new kid; leading him on a wild goose chase through town to get him lost the next time he tried navigating on his own. It was none of his business, but Daigo figured he should say something. Being outright accusatory was probably too mean, since Asakura very well could have had an upstanding reason for travelling that way. Maybe there was a cool park that way or something. Still, even without all the rumors flying around, he wasn't exactly a model citizen that could do no harm; a dumb prank definitely sounded in-character for him. Besides, Daigo wanted to see Kyoto's newest resident for himself before word about his confrontation with Nakano-senpai got out and the inevitable rumor mill colored his opinion.

The redhead ducked out of the stream of foot traffic and casually approached the two while they were oogling the pet store. Again, Asakura didn't really seem the type to go in and pet the kitties. They were either laughing at the mascot or Hoshino decided he hadn't been rude enough for one day and needed some puppies to kick. His business or not, it was enough to get the boy's mind racing with curiosity and increasingly stupid theories about what Asakura was dragging the new kid into.

"Hey, didn't I see you two turn off back by, uh... that dry cleaner the Takemuras own? Is there something down there I don't know about?" He asked with a curious tilt of his head. Daigo hardly waited for an answer before his gaze came to rest solely on Hoshino and inquisitiveness overpowered his manners, "Oh, and welcome to Kyoto! I'd talk your ear off about the local food, but I'm sure you probably have a good idea already if you're from Osaka - you said that in class earlier, right? I mean, you sound like you're from Osaka. I think we get all our crab from down there, actually... Um, either way, I hope you're enjoying yourself here!" The boy seemed to barely stop for a breath while he prattled on.

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@Wxer@Asura

| 𝖳𝖠𝖦(𝖲) : @Obscene Symphony |