[IC] Kōkyo High

[Carlyle]

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7:00 - 8:00
EARLY MORNING. THE SUN RISES.

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...beep...

...beep beep....

...beep beep beep!

Stretching an arm in the direction of the alarm clock, Kaori pressed the shut off button. Groggily lifting her head from the pillow, Kaori forced herself up and out of bed, rubbing her eyes in the process. With the end of spring break, a new school year was set to begin, yet by no means was Kaori ready for waking up early. If there was one thing other than sweets that Kaori loved, it would have been sleeping. The comfort of the bed was alluring--almost entrancing--to Kaori, whom would often refuse to get out of bed until her older sister forced her to. Luckily for Kaori, today was not one of those days.

Flinching as she opened the blinds, Kaori let out a tiresome yawn as she stretched her limbs. "It's too bright..." Kaori mumbled, making headway towards the bathroom. Taking a quick shower and brushing her teeth, Kaori readied herself for school, dressing in the female uniform of Kōkyo High. The uniform was hardly special; in fact, it was rather bland for a state of the art school, consisting of dreary plain colors. Pulling her arm through the sleeve of the emblazoned blazer, Kaori descended the stairs of her house, and sat down in a nearby chair for breakfast.

Eating a quick meal with her family before each of them would leave for work or school, Kaori found herself idly glancing at the family television. A report was being aired by the local news station, and although Kaori hadn't heard all of it, she had the gist of the report. Strange cases were appearing throughout the country, where individuals were known to showcase aggressiveness after dealing with a bout similar to rabies, showing an almost predatory instinct towards their fellow man. It sounded like something out of a horror story, but Kaori was far from being a doctor, so what did she know?

Thinking little more of the report, Kaori placed her dishes in the kitchen sink to be washed later. If she wanted to be on time for her first school day, Kaori had to leave soon, although not without her lunch. Whlist putting on her shoes, Kaori mumbled a sleepy thank you to her older sister as she handed her a bento box, elegantly tied in a fancy cloth. Taking care to cushion the bento's surrounding in her bag with her jacket, Kaori soon said her morning goodbyes to her parents and sister as she set out for school, without the slightest thought to what she would experience later on.

[mickilennial]

Nᴀɢᴀɴᴏʜᴀʀᴀ Aʏᴀ

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6:00 - 7:00
Naganohara Residence

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“Good morning, Aya-chan.” Nahanohara Aya muttered in monotone.

The Japanese teenager looked straight forward, the long strands of hair covering the majority of her face, her dead cerulean eyes looking back at her from the other side of the mirror; like another person entirely, and that person was never happy.

She moved her hand to her head, with a quiet sigh left her lips. Not that she was trying to be quiet. She lived alone. It was one of the main reasons that her mood was always so dour when she woke up to face the day. As confident and hard-working as she was, sometimes she just hoped her father would come home one day and tell her he got a job in the city, close enough where he didn’t have to travel all the time and pretty much exclusively talk through a web camera or phone. She knew he loved the work he did and she respected it, understood it, but it didn’t stop the desire for things to be different.

Perhaps it would’ve been different if her mother hadn’t gotten killed in a car accident all those years ago? Perhaps she would have a family and not the emptiness that she got as a consolation prize.

“You shouldn’t think like that, Aya-chan. Pretty girls should always smile.” She uttered, thinking out loud. It sounded like something one of the stupid boys would say at school. Tch. As if.

After brushing her hair and getting dressed Aya prepared breakfast as she always had for the last several years of living ‘mostly alone’. The only good thing she got out of the early mornings was the fact that she could put on her favorite Tricot record on the household stereo and try to escape. Even if it was only escaping for a brief moment in time. It was probably the only thing that got her motivated in the mornings and ready for the day ahead.

When food was handled, dishes were put away, and lunch was prepared she left. Perhaps it was early for most students – but Aya was probably one of the very few members of her class that actually had to be 100% self-oriented. She didn’t have an older sister to look after her, parents to wake her if she slept through an alarm, or close treasured childhood friend to make sure she was okay. She wished it wasn’t like the way it was, but she couldn’t change the fact her dad worked overseas and her mother had been dead since she was nine years old. Nobody could change that. The best thing she could do was give everything one hundred percent and do right by her mother’s memory; it was the reason she had joined the girl’s baseball club at her high school, after all.

It’s a new day. Hopefully it’ll suck less than yesterday.

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7:00 - 8:00
School Courtyard, Kōkyo High School

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Aya was first of her class to arrive – as usual. She took a light breath as she decided to do as she did every day for a few minutes and take the morning in, go over some of her notes from class, and listen to music. She preferred it to waiting around in the hallways or an empty club room, at least.

[OwO]

_{Oshiro Shin}

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7:30 - 8:20
Oshiro Residence

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The high pitched shriek of the alarm had woken Shin. His slow rise out of bed had been hastened by the sharp pains he felt along his ribs. His body contracting, he quickly grasped the source of his pain. Deep breaths. It was the only way he could cope with such a thing. But in his mind, the pain was worth it. It made him feel. While not savoring it, he accepted his injuries. They were worth it. But the pain began to subside. Once it did, he got up and entered the washroom.

Gauze, tape, scissors, and bandages were already littering the countertop. All had been haphazardly used. Shin looked into the mirror and at himself. His body was covered in bandages hastily put on. A piece of gauze on his cheek, one on his ribs, one on his neck and a cut on his nose that he had missed. Each one was caked with dried blood. One by one, Shin pulled them off. Crackling as the tape was pulled off, the gauze seemed to stick before finally coming off. Taking a wet wipe, he cleaned his cuts. He carefully replaced the gauze. A single bandage was placed on the bridge of his nose.

Finishing his morning routine, he brushed his teeth and got dressed. Entering the kitchen, it was hauntingly empty. Rather, it looked like nobody had used it in months. The only thing on the table was a ¥2000 bill.

"Not even a note..." Shin said in a hollow tone.

The pocketed the bill and left his home. His walk towards the school was uneventful. He heard some things about the end of the world, rabies, and general panicking but that was normal. Shin didn't live in the best of neighborhoods. Hearing people freak out about things being stolen or people fighting was normal. Approaching the school gates, Shin stood still. He was on his last chance. He couldn't skip out on any more classes or else he couldn't graduate. He entered the school, ready for the day to simply pass like it always did.

[HokumPocus]

EIEN YUMEMI ❤

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Getting Ready! ❤
6:45 - 8:00

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Yumemi dragged her bunny slippers across the kitchen floor while preparing her lunch for school. Cooking was a skill of hers, one that she preferred to use for other people. Her lunches were all function and no form, easily summed up as “affordable”. Today, being the first day of school, was an exception. She had gone through the effort of preparing a cute and colorful bento to use as a conversation starter. She had spent too much time revisiting a photo album of hers and she'd risk being late if she didn't hurry up a bit.

Yumemi set up her phone cover that doubled as a phone stand and placed it on the kitchen table with the grace of someone who had woken up ten minutes ago. Her father had left home to work already, evidenced by the mess he had left for her to clean. She munched on reheated white rice in silence and played a couple of videos on her phone, a vlog series produced by a couple. She shifted around in her pink camisole and gym short pajamas while giggling to herself occasionally. She thought about how cute it would be to be in such a modern relationship, documenting every romantic interaction in painstaking detail. It made her heart flutter, as most romance infused media tended to do. A couple of trending videos mentioned rabies, but she scrolled past them in disinterest and began to wash down her breakfast with a juice box.

She was in her room now, wearing her uniform and pausing briefly in front of the mirror. Was it tighter because she washed and dried it yesterday? Was she eating too many sweets again? Whatever the case, tomorrow’s school lunch was sure to be a salad. Yumemi began her morning skincare routine and sealed it with a touch of perfume. Her deadbeat father had stolen it from a pharmacy as a birthday gift, and Yumemi’s face made no move to react to this thought reentering her mind. She enjoyed the smell and how overpowering it was either way, since it made it easy to hide the scent of his cigarettes. After years of living alone with her father and his aggressive personality she had gotten used to his quirks and outbursts. She just had to grin and keep living. Yumemi tied her auburn hair into small braids and continued getting ready.

Her footsteps toward the kitchen were a resonant series of clacks associated with the stiffness that came with wearing new leather shoes. The rarely experienced joy of wearing new clothing washed over her and the high school girl felt fresh and ready for anything life had in store. Her last three daily tasks were brushing her teeth, picking up her phone and cleaning up after her father. After quadruple checking every square inch of the house for beer bottles and cigarette butts, Yumemi calmly stepped foot outside.

[RumikoOhara]

Look into the Mirror

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Tomari looked into the locker room mirror and thought about what she’d look like if she cut her hair and thought for a moment till such Ideas were smashed by the weight of memory. Her mom had told her how beautiful her Aniu hair color made her along with how she must never cut it. Her school coaches had tried many time to get her cut it but her dad for all his meddling, exposures, and demands had bought her a well made sheath in her favorite colors of red, yellow, and black.

Her dad was away at some writers retreat which Tomari knew was code for the mutual complaint board to meet, drink, complain, gamble, complain, chase women, complain about women and more complaints; it was unclear how this worked but it did for her dad who was called the Monk because he’d kicked his bad habits….well except smoking. He was their Monk, their caretaker and their friend there trying to support them. Best of all he was there and not in town.

She loved her Dad even if he had made her now need to go to the Manga Cons in extreme Cos so she could avoid “Nabu Miki” her alter ego and protagonist of “Dreams in Sunlight” but she also needed a break from his focus.

She had the house to herself (TAKE THE TOUR) for the next four days and was enjoying the solitude and even though her two adopted Uncles teased her about having a boy over or maybe a girl she had no such plans. She could bathe and then wander the house in the nude and because of the skylights of her modern home she could sit and meditate in a sunbeam. She hated clothes when she meditated...at least the Bras. She considered their function as pointless while meditating; more of a distraction but with her dad home she had to watch her every move because he had the habit of popping in at the worst moments with some burning question.

He had said he forgot she was growing up

Then shaking off such thoughts Tomari finished tying up her hair and buttoned up her blouse doing a general once over of her person so that she didn’t have to deal with some other student judging her clothing and then need to bite her tongue repeating the mantra

Lucky for her she had no such encounters on her way to the lockers then while putting on her school slippers noticed a chubby first year staring at her chest as if mesmerised

[Scarescrow]

Yuuki Kenji

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7:20
Yuuki Residence

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Should we cut down the size of the festival this year? Or reducing the fund of the baseball team? The track team needs some gears badly. But it does not seem like they really need it do they? How about the asking for more fund? Nah, it would probably get shot down immediately. Cutting the unnecessary tea and snacks seems like a good idea. And for Christ sake, how much paper do the literature club need? Are they planning to chop down all the trees? And the Cult club, what are they The boy sighed, looking at the opened window before looking back at his note. Most of the fund had been distributed reasonably, with some problems like the Cooking club with their stupid thousand layers cake or the literature unreasonable rate of using paper. All is needed to put to check and balance, and Kenji needed to submit this plan by the end of this week.

“Just today, another woman was assaulted by a strange man. Luckily, she was rescued and transferred to the local hospital. Based on her description, the man was in his feral state…”

Focusing on his natto, Kanji glanced over the news with a flashy red title on its first page. “The End of the World?” or so to speak, providing some brief summaries of what others news had provided before. There was nothing new besides from the nearby stores are having a promotion on seaweed. But Kanji just laughed off before putting the paper on one side, unaffected by the shocking “revelation” of some tabloid newspapers. Truly, the thing can only be used by his mother for some gossips and debatably juicy materials.

“Thank you for the food,” Kanji said, loud enough for his mother to overhear but small enough to keep the motherhood’s conversation between his mother and the beloved sister to flow. And then the usual things, cleaning his own dishes, taking the pills for his mother, reminding he will come home late,... Another year is coming. Another year will soon go by. Kenji thinks before he said goodbye to his mother, who is growing older by the years. She used to be able to accompany him to his first-day school , Kanji thinks before giving his mother a final wave. That humble soul, withering away as time passed on, is still observing him and her from afar, fulfilling her long-promised oath.

And out of his hearing range, Kenji's mother whispered before slowly closing the door, "Have a nice day."

The Dream

“Mother, would you ever leave us?” A soft voice broke out in the night, following the sound of something sobbing at the night. The woman darted to the lamp and turn on the light, fear of what happened to her son. Kenji, rubbing his eyes, remained to ask her the same question as she begins to check if he got hurt.
“Why did you ask?” The mother asked him back, before rubbing his back and getting him another cup of warm water.

“I'm scared.”

“Oh come on, baby. Don't be. Did you have a nightmare?” The woman said to him before wiping another tear from his faces. Her expensive nightdress, now soaked with the little infant's sweat and tears, continued to be used as a napkin to take away her son's fears.

The little boy didn't say much, but his soft nod was enough to inform her. And his sister, after hearing from their mother, felt comfort in such loving had fallen back to her sleep of Doraemon and Shin-chan. But the boy, still painted with fears from his dreams, hugged her tight and refused to set her free from him.

“I will always be with you.” She said, before giving him a soft kiss on the cheek.

“Now, would you like another bedtime story? I'll make this a secret if you promised.” The woman pulled out a collectible of Grimm stories, gleefully watching her son’s streams of tears began to dry.

“Once upon the time..."

[JELDare]

Genjo Arata

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6:30 - 7:45
Genjo Residence

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6:30, the same time Arata awoke each day. This morning his phone had selected a ONE OK ROCK song for him to listen to as he dragged himself out of bed. He grabbed his smartphone and turned the alarm off, his pyjamas were baggy on him, his top clearly showed he didn't have much muscle in his arms and his bottoms were a bit too long for him.

He stumbled downstairs, into his kitchen, as he put a piece of bread into the toaster he checked his phone for news. He disregarding most of the articles and quickly went to see if anything about his favourite anime were on the news sites. He briefly put the phone down whilst he buttered his toast. As he was eating he put on the latest episode of his favourite anime.

There was no one in his house, his mothered had sent him text saying that there was an emergency at work and she'd gone in earlier than usual and she'd made him lunch, leaving it on the counter. His Dad, a British man, had gone home for a month or so and was meant to be returning soon, it was not as though Arata saw him much anyway as he would be in a casino somewhere. Arata sighed, finding loneliness peaceful but boring.

He thought about his parents as he buttoned up his shirt, the final part of his uniform, apart from the bag he needed to grab. He picked up the backpack by one of its straps, as he was about to walk out of the door, he realised he'd nearly forgotten his dice. He grabbed a handful of six sided dice, around five, all that were purple and slightly transparent. With that he left for school, he had about a twenty minute run in front of him, but he loved to run anyway and he'd be early today.

[Frettzo]

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Hey, living in the poor side of town had its advantages. The most important one was that since you knew all the thieves around, your chances of being mugged were drastically lower. The second, less important one, was that people tended to respect those who worked hard to get a better life.

Asahi was one such person, and nearly everyone in her neighborhood knew her. Whether they knew her because they were friends or because she’d given them a juicy ‘fist sandwich’ was another matter, but the respect was there.

She covered her mouth as she yawned and rubbed her eyes. She didn’t jump in surprise when the car engine nearly exploded, as she was used to the sounds now. This was one of the wealthier people in the neighborhood that was giving her a lift. Takeda was his name, and for some reason he liked to treat her as a little sister. She didn’t care about his weird mannerisms and actually appreciated how he sometimes went out of his way to lend her a hand when needed.

“You’re out early Asa-chan, what’s up with that?” Takeda asked, his voice raspy like it always was. Asahi could make out some amount of concern in his tone, though. Cute.

Asahi shrugged, “A lot of noise, y’know… I couldn’t bear it, so I quickly did my thing and decided to leave for school early.”

Takeda chuckled, “I have no idea how you keep a straight face while saying such things, it’s barely sunrise!” He said as threw her a smug sideway glance.

Upon seeing the look he was giving her, she felt her cheeks color, “S-Shut up, it’s very awkward so I try to, uh… You know-” She stuttered, “I-I just try to… Oh, just shut up.” She puffed out her cheeks and looked out the window at the fronts of closed stores.

After a long while, Asahi noticed the peculiar scent in the car, it was like a mix of smoke and gunpowder. “By the way, why are you out so early? Don’t tell me you joined those guys, please.”

Takeda’s smile was wiped off his face with that question, and he was silent for a long moment.

“Nah. I was out with some friends,” He looked at her for a moment and saw her skepticism as plain as the day that was just about to begin, “You know, bar-hopping and… Stuff like that.”

Did he really think she was that dumb? Still, she nodded and looked out the window again, noticing the car slowing to a stop in front of the school. Without hesitation she opened the door and jumped out, making sure that she didn’t forget anything.

“Thanks for the lift, Takeda! See you around.” She waved goodbye at Takeda as he took off, leaving her in front of the closed gates. Now she’d have to wait a while, but anything beats listening to her mom and her mom’s boyfriend going at it.

[Carlyle]

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8:00-8:30
SAME OLD BORING CLASS.

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Waving a tired hello to a fellow classmate, it wasn't long before Kaori reached the front gate of Kōkyo High. It was nearly impossible to miss the massive high school, not just because of the school itself, but because of the several sports fields that adorned the land it sat on. Some students were already practicing for the new school year, although Kaori hadn't seen anyone she personally recognized. "It's a new day, a new year..." Kaori uttered to herself, putting a smile on her face despite the call of her bed urging her to rush back home and sleep the day away.

Entering through the front doors of the high school, Kaori would soon swap out her outdoor shoes for more school-appropriate attire at her locker. A pair of slip on shoes, designed to alleviate the amount of grime tracked through the school and what not. At least they're nice and comfy, Kaori thought, as she always did on the way to the various classrooms throughout her school career. On the way, Kaori noticed a green-haired individual in the school's courtyard, oddly reminding her of the "computer idol" Hatsune Miku. It was something Kaori wouldn't dare to say directly to the girl's face, but she thought it was an interesting coincidence.

Pushing the sliding door open to her classroom, Kaori looked around to see if anyone was around. With no trace of anyone in sight, Kaori shrugged, figuring that the rest of her classmates would be arriving soon or were too busy talking up a storm somewhere within the school grounds with their friends. Their current abscense would soon prove to be in Kaori's favor, at least. Hanging her school bag on the desk hook, Kaori placed her needed materials on the desktop before laying her head down on the wooden surface. A few more minutes of shut-eye, wouldn't hurt anything, or would it?

Dozing back off to dreamland, Kaori soon fell sound asleep on her desk, unaware that she might just be drooling everywhere. Her mind was shut off from reality as Kaori found herself dreaming. The dream was nothing in particular, unlike what one might think a high school girl would dream of, unless they were thinking of sweets rather than being famous or having a boyfriend. Kaori loved her sweets, from donuts to cakes to chocolates to ice cream, she had quite the large sweet tooth. If only Kaori had cinnamon rolls for breakfast... then maybe she might have been aware that class was starting due to the sugary content inside of such a delicacy.

[DELETED7282737]

Syori

School, gates
@Frettzo

It had become a morning routine to start off with a horror scene each day. The blonde was staring into the mirror while she was fixing her hair into place. While she was peacefully doing her hair a horrified sight was seen in the mirror as se was forcefully trying to smile for practice to use it. She seemed more irritated then trying to smile, it was a devastation to look at. When she was done tying one of her side bangs into a braid she put both her hands to her mouth and pulled the corners of her lips into a more horrified smile as her brows furrowed. This sight was still painful to look at for her but it is as it is. She couldn't do anything about this except for relaxing her face, she had tried some stuff with makeup and stretching the skin on her face to different positions but it all came down to not trying to force it.

Syo dropped her hands down onto the sink and gave a deep sigh. She moved her face closer to the mirror as she studied the aspects of her face thoroughly again.

"It's my eyes isn't it... and my brows... and my mouth..."

Syo sighed again and pushed herself away from the mirror as she goggled her eyes to the side. Should she consider plastic surgery? It costed a lot but at least she wouldn't live as focused on her smile as this and seeing how she wanted to move out first thing it would take years before it would happen. Syo moved back to her room to grab her bag and headed out in her store clerk outfit. She did wear a jacket over her clothes so she wouldn't feel as embarrassed walking about in these work clothes. Her work wasn't too bad in general but it surely was humiliating to help her old classmates or any other people she knew from school.

Syo did partly ignore their talking about her but yet, it hurted inside. The only relation she did have left from her school was a childhood friend that did understand her. At least she had something to look out towards when she had to start to day and that was walking and hanging out together with that friend. Her friend was already patiently waiting for Syo to arrive at her house so they could walk towards the school together.

The chit chatted a little and generally had a fun walk, it took about 10 minutes before they arrived and just like any day they were even too early for the gates to open, nice! Syo could hang out with her friend a while longer. Most of these people that were here waiting always came around this time period. They did seem to notice Syo didn't belong here or didn't belong here any longer. It was clear she didn't belong here by the fact that she wore these work pants and would walk away when the gates opened. She did try to ignore them but accidentally made eye contact with one of them this time. She watched right into Asato her eyes and try to brush it off with the same smile she tried practicing this morning. It wasn't a great succes. Annoyingly she turned her head away while she muttered something inaudible under her breath, seemingly quite irritated.

[HokumPocus]

EIEN YUMEMI ❤

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Feeling Glum...
8:00 - 8:30

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Yumemi took a deep breath and passed through the school gates. The combination of new clothes and cool morning weather left her with a refreshed and perky feeling. There would come a time when the bright fluorescent lights of the school and the stiffness of her uniform would soften and be a part of her life that she'd take for granted, but today definitely wasn't that day.

None of the nearby students caught her attention much save for a couple of them. Some she had recognized from her previous years of high school. None of them were friends, but rather an assortment of faces that she had seen dozens of times existing in the background of her school life. One of them in particular, a girl that had been chatting near the school's entrance, had managed to catch her eye a bit. She had seen that girl around the school occasionally, and it was confusing to see her not wearing a uniform and not entering the building. She didn't think about it too hard and carried on.

Yumemi walked around the school in the same eerily quiet way she had a bad habit of always doing and found her classroom in no time.

A small pang of sadness struck her heart. This was her third and final year at Kokyo high. The previous two felt so unfairly short to her. Two whole years and I still don't know what I want to do. she thought. Yumemi sat on her desk and sighed as she waited for class to begin.