[IC] 「 Persona: Reflections 」

[Marlowe]

MENTIONS: Munehisa [@Solace], Nagi [@Psyker Landshark], Masashi [@Zombehs]

April 21st, 2025.

Classroom 2-B, 3:35 p.m.

If Asumi had to describe how was her day, she would say that it was... pretty interesting. First off, it had rained the entire day, and it was still raining. She could hear the tip-tap of yet another passing shower rattle against the windows. The skies were overcast, and the streets outside were covered in lukewarm puddles. Not only that, but the rain brought along a desperate chill, which had forced her to wear her fuzzy gray sweater the entirety of the day. Hadn't winter gone away like a month ago? she had asked herself, but apparently that wasn't the case. Then again, she might have been exaggerating; she had never tolerated the cold well. The humidity made her hair frizzle the entire day, and she had to pat it down and smooth it out on more than one occasion. It had been a very uncomfortable experience, to say the least.

Then there was their history teacher. At first, Asumi thought she was going to like Miss Okamoto. She was young and very possibly in her mid-twenties, and her golden plumes of hair were never out of place, not even once. She had a petite body, and her make-up was always on point. Some of the boys in class often ogled her as if they had never seen a woman in their life, and even though it annoyed her a little, she couldn't blame them. Asumi thought that it was insane that she had become a teacher at a boring high school instead of landing a job as a model or idol. She probably had her reasons. Maybe she really liked teaching the younger generation.

While Miss Okamoto had started off as someone that Asumi looked up to, her opinion of the teacher went south very quick. She tried to understand her-- she really, really did. But the woman often took breaks in the middle of lectures in order to text on her phone and complain nonstop about her problems with her boyfriend. And when she did teach, she'd often go off on wild tangents about what she did over the weekend or how kids should respect their teachers no matter what. Her "lectures" made Asumi very uncomfortable at the best and extremely frustrated at the worst. No matter how hard she tried to pay attention and impress her, her efforts were always met with a look of sheer disdain. Asumi really hoped that she hadn't started off on the wrong foot.

Then there were the stupid videos. Asumi had only seen Prime Minister Satoshi kill himself on television once-- that was enough for her. How many times did people have to watch the same broadcast? The video was passed around more times than a bottle of booze between swanky high school students. She hoped that the principal would catch the people that still had the video saved on their phone, because every time she heard the beginning of his speech it made her stomach churn. The whole fiasco exhausted her to no end.

At least it was the end of the day. It was time to finally unwind and spend time with her friends, which was usually a pleasure... but right now, she just felt empty. Were they just as tired as she was? Or was she just being dramatic?

Asumi had been silent for the span of the five minutes after they were dismissed by their homeroom teacher, Mister Itoh. Her upper body was sprawled upon Nagi's desk with her arms dangling from the sides and her head turned towards the wall. It was like one of the rain clouds outside had flown into the classroom and currently loomed over her. Her clouded mind weighed heavily on her shoulders, but after a few minutes of sulking she finally forced herself to turn around and face them. To anyone that didn't know her well, it seemed like she was on the verge of tears. To them, it was just her having a moment.

"Am I the only one who didn't get Miss Okamoto's lecture today..?" she whined. "To be honest... I kind of blanked out after she started talking about the show she watched last night..." She punctuated her statement with a wistful sigh. After a moment of quiet thought, she turned her gaze towards Munahise. Sparks of exasperation lit up her blue glare. "And on top of everything else, your dad looks like he's a hell of a grader. It hasn't even been a month into the semester and I'm already stressed the hell out."

[Psyker Landshark]

Nakano Nagi

Mentions: Asumi @Ambra, Masashi @Zombehs, Munehisa @Solace

Fucking. Finally. Class was enough of a pain as it was, considering Nagi preferred to study on her own. Figuring shit out for herself was more interesting than listening to half her teachers bumble their way through explaining math or science. But that bitch Okamoto? How the hell did they make her a teacher? What, did no one sit in on her bitching about her limp-dicked boyfriend while she was getting her license? Or did she just actually try back then? Hell, Nagi's own tits were bigger than her teacher's. If it weren't for the fact that everyone and their mother knew who her father, and by extension she, was, Nagi figured that would've been why Okamoto didn't like her. Then again, Okamoto didn't fucking like anyone, from the look of it.

"No one got what that bottle blonde bitch was saying." Nagi spat as she casually reclined in her seat, letting Asumi sprawl across her desk. "You know, aside from the fact that her boytoy's not doing what she wants. Which I can't exactly blame him for. Listen to her nag for five minutes, I'd lose my boner too. Well, my metaphorical one."

What a day. What a fucking day. On the bright side, cooking club wasn't meeting up today. President was out sick and the vice-president had a doctor's appointment she couldn't reschedule. More time to hang around with her friends. On the not-so-bright side, cooking club wasn't meeting up today. They were supposed to be finally starting on French dishes, damn it!

"Anyways," Nagi sighed, pulling her phone out and idly booting up her usual mobage. "What's the plan today? Ramen? Game center? Karaoke at Komatsu? Actually, what're you even still doing here, Masashi? Don't you have a kendo club to beat over the head?"

Thankfully, there wasn't much homework assigned today. Well, not much by Nagi's standards anyways. For either of the two slackers with her and Asumi, it might actually be a decent chunk. Still, that was their problem, not hers. If she was allowed out past 10 PM, a lack of homework might actually mean something. Unfortunately, even her dad wanted her to comply with the curfew. The less excuses the cops had to show up at their door, the better. Fucking Prime Minister, ruining everyone else's day just because he had to be dramatic about the way he wanted to go out. Guy couldn't have just hung himself in private like someone with an ounce of consideration for others? Prick.

[Zombehs]

Saboru Masashi

---

The constant pitter patter of rain throughout the day had been a welcome distraction. The irregular cadence it set against the windows had helped tune out the eccentricities of their various teachers. It seemed to be split about.. half and half in his opinion? A look down at his notebook as he flipped through what information he had jotted down seemed to reinforce that opinion. The amount corresponded with just how much he had actually caught on to what was being said, and.. well, history looked like it was going to be a bit of a write off. He snapped his notebook shut, cleaned off his desk, and packed everything away into his bag.

He looked ready to just get up and leave, and to his friends it wouldn't have even been much of a surprise. Sometimes when they weren't paying attention and he didn't bother to say bye, he'd already be on his way to the club before they even noticed! Not the case today though as he just sat in his seat with his arms crossed. Rather relaxed in fact as he leaned his head back a bit and let it bob to some unheard beat. He didn't even seem to recognize Asumi's question at first. Could he...

Yup. As the song must have come to an end, Masashi brushed aside a bit of hair from his left ear and popped out a small earbud. How many periods had he been listening to it? Who knew. As he placed it into its charging case, he looked over his shoulder and saw that some familiar faces were waiting around. With a slight push backwards, he leaned back on his seat and swung it about so he could face the three of them. The chair's legs came down on the ground with a sharp clack and he raised an eyebrow at Nagi.

"No? We had to cut down on practices. Our membership is too small to keep the space everyday." It wasn't that big of a problem per say, but the issue was if things compounded from there. If the remaining members weren't as motivated because they didn't get enough time to practice, they might not stay commited. If the club lost any more members than it would have to disband. He wouldn't be able to attend any of the school based competitions, and those were most of his opportunities right now!

It was a pain to think about though, and there wasn't much Masashi could do about it. He had already toned things down to stop scaring people off, but the damage was already done and the reputation wasnt going anywhere anytime soon. He couldn't even really do anything about the slackers just coasting along to say they were part of the kendo club when it won. They needed to meet the membership count after all... _"Fuck..." He muttered under his breath as the thought rankled him before he shook his head.

"So, plans?" How utterly unhelpful~

[DJAtomika]

April 21st, 2025.

Classroom 2-B, 3:35 p.m.

Akira sighed as "class" finally ended. Even though her grades were nice and high, this was one of the classes where she felt like she was losing more brain cells than gaining them, especially with how much of an airhead Miss Okamoto was. As much of a nice person Akira was, she often wondered who in school really liked the history teacher. Like, really.

And today didn't even feel like a music day either. She couldn't go up to the roof because of the rain and most of the school band club was hogging the music room to practice their own pieces instead of that one big recital piece they were supposed to be learning for Labour Day. Plus, with the curfew in effect, she couldn't hang out with her other friends as late as they normally did. Despite protests from her parents, sometimes the soft-spoken young lady stayed out late to enjoy the town's nightlife and destress from how boring school was sometimes.

She laid her head on her table and pulled out her phone, browsing Twitter and Facebook to see if there was anything new to read while she listened to the bustle of her classmates around her. Nagi and Asumi were chatting on their end of the room, with two of her other classmates sitting nearby. Akira only really knew Nagi, purely because her parents often received visits from the local branch of the Yakuza, since they owned the only prominent okonomiyaki stall in town. And, to be fair, they made good food.

Still, she kept to herself most of the time, but her attention was on the conversation she could hear over at Nagi's table. A trip to the game center did sound enticing...

And here she'd brought her trumpet case all the way from home. Ugh.

"Anything to get my mind off this rain."

[FalloutJack]

Hakuro Kuroda

April 21st, 2025

As the rain continued to pile on outside, one floor up in Room 3-A, class had also let out. Several students began to talk freely or do a stretch as they got up from their seats. In the middle of it all, one student remained largely motionless, glaring forwards.

Our world has been thrust into darkness.

Ah, he's doing a bit. Quickly, Hakuro pulled out his phone and pressed a button to play some music.

The country is in chaos, held in the grip of a power it could never withstand.

He stood up, listening to the sounds from outside.

It's raining again...

Stepping outside the classroom, he headed the downstairs as the music from his phone continued to play.

Only I have the power to weather the storm. Only I can beat back the onslaught of forces unknown.

People were mainly talking about the Prime Minister, as they had the entire week, while he made his way to the lockers. Hakuro Kuroda looked fairly normal, not standing out much at all when he was in uniform, or even in his street clothes. But when he donned the items in his locker...

The rains have met their match, for I am...the Hatto-san.

All at once, Hakuro stopped the music and put away his phone, for now. He was ready for the Drama Club, once it organized for this year. They were a little late to the scene because - as expected - people were feeling drama from a different source, entirely...

"I can't believe he did it live on television..."

"Didn't anyone notice anything beforehand?"

"How did he even hide a gun from his own security?"

The Prime Minister's death... Hakuro didn't know what to think of it. The last thing he wanted to do on the Hatto Ken Ko-to Website was make an episode using that for sensationalist content. The internet was choking with it, anyway. Reaction videos, commentaries, speeches... Even foreign Let's Players were talking about it. He didn't want to, because his site was dedicated to the lighter side of life, the more interesting bits and even some of the strange. If he put that on there, even just to air it out, it would be forever be a stink bomb on the site that would hang over him forever. But even then, he couldn't stop his followers talking about it on the message board, asking him to talk about it or do some kind of video. He could take a look at the unusual manner in which it had all occurred, take apart the scene to try and find something wrong with it, but unless he somehow discovered something that a billion other people couldn't...

Forget it. I'm not going down that path. I don't even need to flip for it. Some things - the most important things - you never leave to chance.

So, for the moment, he was hanging out in the halls, not far from the stairs. He could head out into the bad weather for a laugh, but he wanted to see if something was going on around the school before committing to that. Hakuro sighed, looking at the recent news again. No, even the authorities - who were all over this - didn't know anything, and he wanted to know, himself: Why? Why did he do it? Why did he look so haggard? It WAS strange. Nobody seemed to know anything prior to the fact. Hakuro hated to be in the same boat as everyone else, left wondering at the mystery, and yet...it was indeed a mystery, and it begged to be solved.

Things ARE pretty dark, right now. Hope it doesn't last.

[Fabricant451]

April 25, 2025

It took Hoshiko five times to fully comprehend the sign plastered on the softball club's locker room door. 'MEETING CANCELLED DUE TO RAIN (And because of the video)'. It wasn't that she couldn't read or didn't know what the words meant, but she didn't understand why a little rain would cancel a meeting. In America they played baseball unless lightning was striking everywhere! And this was just a little shower. It was nothing! And what was this about a video? Is that what people were watching during lunch? She had assumed it was some new idol thing or celebrity scandal or something else she didn't care about but no celebrity scandal would cancel sports. People in Tokyo got into scandals all the time! Hoshiko kicked the locked door of the softball club and shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket, but not before adjusting her cap of the day which was serving her well in the rain. Despite her aunt saying as much this morning, Hoshiko didn't have an umbrella nor did she have anyone to share with. A little rain never hurt anybody. She assumed.

Kicking the door was like flipping a switch for the first year. Yes, she was upset, but she was now over it and could find a new use for her time. On a day like today, going to the batting cages would be an exercise in frustration and she promised her aunt that she wouldn't have burgers every day after school (she was going to break that promise) and she didn't have anyone to go to karaoke with or go shopping with or go to a movie or anything - and though she had homework to do there was no way she was going to spend her time doing homework of all things. That really only left one option and with the rain dripping down on her hat, hands in her pockets, and nimbly avoiding puddles and having her shoulder bumped by people hurrying to get out of the rain, Hoshiko arrived.

April 25, 2025

Fujihama Game Centre

Hoshiko liked the game center well enough as far as local establishments went even if she sometimes felt like a delinquent for spending time there when she could've been studying. Her aunt didn't let her have a game console at home so this was really her only option. Plenty of students spent time here and Hoshiko was just another uniform amongst the people engaged in their game of choice. For Hoshiko, that meant one of the games where she could beat on the drum with a stick and anime music played. Fortunately, they were open which meant the coins rattling in her pocket were inserted and she took the sticks in hand and selected her song of choice.

She might not have gotten a high score, but her smile was wide as can be as she hit the drum completely off-rhythm without a care in the world.

[Lord Orgasmo]

Interacting with/Mentioning: None

---

Today really wasn't going well. The rain wasn't much of a problem for Chen, as it provided nice background noise for reading and dozing off. Then there was the cold. Why was it so cold? It's halfway through spring and it's still cold! Fortunately, Chen was always prepared with one of many hoodies. Today's hoodie was black on the left half, with a Grey patch on the sleeve, and Grey on the right half, with a black patch on the sleeve. There was also a small rabbit head on the left side, signaling the brand. Whatever that was. Chen's main concern when picking out a hoodie were: "Do I look homeless in this?" And "Does it fit?". Even then the first one was negotiable.

Then there was the teacher. Miss Okamoto. At first Chen was delighted. An attractive teacher and she teaches his favorite subject? What more could he have asked for? Unfortunately, fate was merely pulling his leg. Miss Okamoto was a piss poor teacher at best. Constantly getting off topic, never teaching anything for more than a couple of minutes before batching and moaning about something stupid. At least he had his textbook. It was a bit of a dry read, but it still made for a much better teacher than whatever the hell this lady was trying to do. Sitting in the back gave him a prime hiding location, not that the teacher was paying that much attention anyways, so his reading went mostly undisturbed. Chen gave the occasional glance up at the board to see if anything of note had happened, but most of the time the answer was no.

At last, the bell sounded, signaling the end of the day. Students flooded the hallways like packed sardines, a thousand and one conversations going on at once. Mostly about the prime minister. The video was still being passed around like a... thing that gets passed around. Either way, with classes over for today, he needed to decide on what to do with the rest of his day. Wantanabe's was supposed to be getting a few new items soon, but he didn't really want to make the trek all the way there in the rain and cold. But new weapons... there was even supposed to be a Khopesh in said order according to old Wantanabe himself. It slowly began to tempt him more and more.

There was always the library. He'd read a number of the available history books last year, most of which were Japanese history, but he did find a couple on Egyptian, Chinese, and Vietnamese history. There was even one on American history. Maybe waiting out the rain in the library wouldn't be such a bad idea.

There was also the game center. ...Nah. Chen wasn't in the mood for arcade games at the moment.

Chen pulled out a ¥100 coin and flipped it into the air before catching it and slapping it onto his wrist. "Heads Wantanabe's, tails the library." He lifted his hand. The image of Sakura blossoms stared back at him. Heads. Off to Wantanabe's then.

Descending the stairs, he approached the lockers and swapped his shoes before standing in front of the doors with his hands in the front pocket of his hoodie. Yep, it was still raining. Well... time to make the trek.

[Solace]

Interactions: @Ambra @Psyker Landshark @Zombehs

Throughout the length of Miss Okamoto's tangent of a lecture, Munehisa Nara had seemingly been glued to his notebook with such an attentiveness to taking notes that was wildly uncharacteristic to the student as his peers could have noticed. Only his right eye had inched up from the tabletop from time to time to observe their history teacher, and by the time that the harmonious bells signalling the end of the school day had sounded, it was complete. As one would soon come to discover, his effort had not been wasted on their 'lesson' of the day. Nay, it was something far greater. A masterpiece to add to the pages of his small sketchbook that the boy had hidden between the binds of his actual notebook.

"Hey, don't freakin' blame me for my dad not being another Miss Okamoto," Munehisa twirled a ballpoint pen between his fingers as he glossed over his work of art, scooting a chair over to Nagi's desk where they congregated. The boy tucked the page of the sketchbook to his chest, setting his elbow down near Asumi's head and laying his chin on his open palm. "Besides, try being his son of all students, Shirasawa. He'll grill my ass if I get anything short of top class."

Exchanging his pen for a smartphone from his uniform pocket, Munehisa didn't need to scroll for long before the notification of top priority popped up. The sound of a cute, girly voice radiated from his phone with the hololive alert, though his volume was just loud enough for his friends around the desk to hear. "YEAH, I could use a bite right now," he stammered as his face sprung up suddenly, stuffing the phone back into his pocket. "Can we just go for a quick bowl at Obi's, though? I've got some stuff to do after," nervous laughter rose from the boy as he scratched the side of his head, slowly minimizing into devious snickering when Munehisa looked upon his sketchbook again.

[PrankFox]

Mentions:

The moment class let out in 3-A the second headphone that had been hanging out of Kenzan's ear as he sat near the back of the room was put back in it's proper place; drowning out the noise of chairs scraping the floor and other students talking. He stayed seated, not wanting to draw attention to himself by doing so much as moving. It seemed like one other person had somewhat of the same intention until Kenzan realized who it was and rolled his eyes as his regularly eccentric classmate pulled out his phone to do some bit. Once most of the students had trickled out of the room he stood and swung his bag onto his back; leaving the classroom quickly with his eyes cast towards the ground.

Even through the music in his ears he could hear the students chattering about the most recent events, namely the death of the Prime Minister. He really couldn't care less about the incident, but everyone else seemed fixated on it for some reason or another. People did crazy shit sometimes and there probably wasn't anything more to it than that. Just the last visual of a man who had lost his mind. The main thing it did was prevent him from staying out as late as he normally would and that meant going home to deal with his mother. That he was not looking forward to.

He made it down to his locker and retrieved anything he might need for the various assignments they'd already been given. He looked towards the front doors where he could see the rain still coming down with a vengeance. At least he had an excuse not to go home for a little bit. There were some students heading out, those who had been smart enough to bring an umbrella anyway. It also meant any of the athletic clubs that would normally be meeting today wouldn't, so he didn't have to dodge the questions about why he hadn't agreed to join up. Wasn't it obvious enough that two headphones in meant don't talk to me? Even one, or none in his case usually meant the same.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and a scowl marred his usually disinterested expression as he read the text from his mother. How many times do I have to tell her you have to be twenty to buy alcohol? He wasn't about to break the law for her to get her fix. He slammed his locker shut and it took a lot to resist the temptation to bang his head against it.

He could always go hole up in the library or with luck Kudo's would be open and willing to let him hunker down there as long as he wanted. He at least wanted to wait for the rain to let up a little bit so that he didn't get completely drenched on his way over there. He posted up nearby the front doors so that he could keep an eye out for when the rain lessened, but far enough away that he wouldn't be in anyone's direct line of sight if they were to leave the school.

It was just one more year and then he'd be free to strike out on his own, so better to keep his head down and avoid anything that might stop that from happening. Tomi had it lucky, just up and leaving, but unfortunately he didn't have the luxury so he'd power through. At least that was what he told himself as he sat and watched the rain fall; letting the music drown out the sound.

[Marlowe]

MENTIONS: Munehisa [@Solace], Nagi [@Psyker Landshark], Masashi [@Zombehs]

Despite everything, it comforted Asumi to see at least one of her friends were bothered by Miss Okamoto's strange way of teaching. Especially when most of the complaints came from Nagi's side. At least she wasn't the only one that was out of the loop during history class. The two boys that sat with them seemed to be almost carefree regarding the matter, which irked her. It turned out that Masashi was just listening to music the whole time, while Munehisa had been preoccupied with something obviously not school-related in his notebook. They were supposed to be there for moral support, not shrug their shoulders and pretend it isn't a big deal. Asumi finally lifted her head off of Nagi's table and placed her chin in her hand. At Munehisa's reply, she couldn't help but scoff. "I rather just... not imagine anything like that, thanks. I think I'm gonna get a heart-attack if I have to deal with any more stress."

Then came the topic of what to do next. Her stomach grumbled at the mention of food. A warm bowl of ramen would surely hit the spot after she had to deal with such a rough school day. "Yeah, let's go get ramen. I'm starving," Asumi agreed with all of the energy she could muster. She got up from her table and pulled on her pink schoolbag, making sure that none of her pins had fallen off. Nope, every single one was still on there, including her newest and most beloved one-- a chibi black wiener dog stuffed into a hotdog bun and lined with ketchup and mustard. She smiled at the sight of it, though the throng of rain against the windows brought her back to the present.

"I didn't expect it to rain, so I didn't bring an umbrella..." Asumi laughed nervously as she glanced between the three of them. "Anyone mind sharing theirs with me?"

[Psyker Landshark]

Nakano Nagi

Mentions: Asumi @Ambra, Masashi @Zombehs, Munehisa @Solace, Akira @DJAtomika

"Fucking really, Munehisa?" Nagi rolled her eyes, closing her mobile game after she finished draining her stamina. Yeah, she recognized that alert sound. Hang around him for long enough, and anyone with half a brain would figure it out after the second or third time. "Going cheap today so you can throw out more red superchats, huh? Whatever, it ain't my money. You wanna ditch us to simp, that's your business."

She sighed as the group seemed to decide on Obi's. Figured. Considering Asumi's black hole of a stomach, she really shouldn't have expected much else. Of course, in her sheer hunger, it sounded like her best friend forgot something. Or Asumi had just been too in despair from Okamoto's piss-poor teaching to notice Akira.

"Works for me. Yo, Tanimoto," Nagi called out to their pink-haired classmate, who'd put it on herself to join in on the conversation. Well, it wasn't like she hated Akira or anything. Fuck it, she could come. Why not? "You coming for ramen too? Too damn cold and gloomy today to do much without a bite to eat and a hot drink first."

"Yeah, sure, Asumi." Nagi shrugged as she stood up, slinging her black leather school bag over her shoulder as she fished a plain clear umbrella out. "I got mine. You boys share with each other. Or with Tanimoto." She looked to Akira. "Don't worry about those two, they don't bite."

[DJAtomika]

Mentions: Asumi @Ambra, Masashi @Zombehs, Munehisa @Solace, Nagi @Psyker Landshark

"Oh! Uh, sure, Nakano-san. Ramen would be nice."

Akira gathered her books and shoved them into her satchel, before putting on her hoodie.

"I, uh, have an umbrella too. I can share it with someone." She said as she pulled an umbrella from her bag, slinging the satchel on her shoulder as she joined the other year twos at Nagi's desk. Just as the rain started to come down hard, she raised her hood over her head instinctively. A loud peal of thunder roared through the sky right after, which made her flinch slightly.

"Well I'm definitely not going up to the roof to practice today. How long do you think it's going to storm?" She shifted a little, glancing out the window from time to time, maybe expecting lightning and thunder again? Who knew.

[Zombehs]

Saboru Masashi

_{@DJAtomika@Psyker Landshark@Solace@Ambra}

---

Seeing as Nagi had already raked Munehisa over the coals, Masashi just settled for a raised eyebrow at the stammering boy. He had a few songs from some of the VTubers, but he had never really gotten into the scene after being introduced to it by artistic boy. What was there to be embarrassed about anyways? Nagi was just being her usual bitey self, and frankly Munehisa had practically given her the opportunity.

"Gonna clean out another challenge bowl?" With how burnt out Asumi looked, Masashi fully expected that she could do just that. It had been a while since he last ate there, so he didn't mind the group's decision either. Leaning backwards into his seat and rocking it onto its rear feet, he managed to catch himself before he bumped his head against the classmate Nagi had called over.

Looking up at Akira's hooded face, Masashi greeted her with a wave as he balanced his chair precariously once more. A soft ^"Hup," escaped him as he swung his chair around noisily before he stood and grabbed his bag. "I've got my own down by the lockers." Speaking up, he rolled his eyes a bit before they settled on Nagi. "That's more your thing anyways. Or was," he retorted with a slight huff.

Speaking of the shitty weather, Masashi checked up on it with his phone once Akira mentioned it. An annoyed groan quickly followed as he rubbed his eyes before he tucked the phone into his pocket. "Supposed to go all night," he grumbled before he started to lead the way out of the classroom. Naturally this meant he ended up holding the door for them to all file through.

[FalloutJack]

Hakuro Kuroda

Mentionings: @PrankFox

He was there at the front area by the lockers, checking out the site on his phone. It was what you'd expect. All the usual topics were being dominated by talk of the Prime Minister, plus complaints that the site was being dominated that very topic, a few stupid fights that the mods could handle, and...Hakuro stopped.

What the fuck? 'Hatto-san Too Afraid To Open His Mouth'? Am I being trolled?

Worse. It was a rant. It was long-winded, but it boiled down to the user complaining that the site about Hakuro's 'Go anywhere, do just about anything' attitude was cowering before the Prime Minister issue by not talking about it. Ugh... Typical. Some guy on the internet trying to tell the content creator how to make his content. There was a fairly-normal line in the sand between the parties for and against this argument, with some saying it'd be nice if they could hear from the Hatto-san himself about it, if even just a little. That part, he found reasonable, and typed something up before linking it to the thread.

The Topic That's Really Over-Talked About.

USER: Hatto-san

Okay, so there's been some talk on the message board (some of it louder than necessary) about the topic we all know everything about that can be known, the death of the Prime Minister. Some of you want me to do an episode on it, and to those people, I have just one question:

What the smoldering heck am I suppose to talk about in it?

It's been about a week now, and literally everything that has been known has been said by everybody about it. More than that, there's been any number of speculations and theories, personal examinations, and just plain wild rumors about same. What in the everloving world am I suppose to say that hasn't already been said, even for sake of content? There is no content to be found, nothing new to be said, and no particular reason for me to make an episode on it.

I don't mind you guys using the board to about the Prime Minister and the events surrounding his death yourselves, but I got nothing. The Hatto Ken Ko-to Show will not be broadcasting anything unless there is something I actually find out that you or anybody else does not know. And short of storming the Diet Building, I have no idea how that's ever going to happen. If I learn anything, sure, but without something real to go on, there's nothing to tell.

Yours Hattedly,
The Hatto-san

That done, Hakuro put his phone down and started messing with his notepad as he heard a locker slam and saw Kenzan hanging out in his 'I'm not here' spot for avoiding attention. It never worked, and not because Hakuro kept spotting him (although he did), but because avoiding detection required you to blend into the background, be invisible by not being so easily spottable. He seemed to be trying to wait out the storm, but...Hakuro's forecast for the day suggested that this would last all day, which meant that Kenzan was in for a long wait, a wait of boring. There was only one thing to do. Quietly, the Hatto-san moved from his position to the spot just out of the taller boy's line of sight, then proceeded to write in his notepad. Afterwhich, Kenzan would receive this message in Haiku:

This rain will not end.
Like Sisyphus on the mountain,
Your fate is sealed.

What will you do, then?
Hunker down in this place of noise,
or run like hell?

In any case,
I'm bored as hell and need a break.
Join me, or stay here?

[Lord Orgasmo]

Interacting with/Mentioning: None

---

This rain was ass. Like really ass. The one umbrella that was in the house was taken by his father on his way to work, so now here he was, sprinting down the street, umbrella-less. The hood of his hoodie provided some defense against the rain, but as the rain became more angled, his face was totally defenseless.

But at last, salvation was in sight: the oh so familiar sight of Wantanabe's. Shelter was at hand! Stumbling into the brick building, Chen put his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. "Oh, those new weapons had better be here... please let them be here, i really don't want to walk home in this." He lifted his head to look around the building, his bangs practically glued to the front of his face. He was less familiar with the first floor, but did notice a few things had been moved around, and a few new plushies were in stock, including a giant pink rabbit that stood out from the rest. The thing was almost as tall as him!

Pulling his hood down and pulling his hair out of his face, he began walking towards the opposite end of the room where the stairs were. Passing the numerous animal plushies and figurines of characters from anime he's never seen, he climbed the stairs up to the second floor.

As soon as his head poked into the second floor his eyes were immediately drawn to a golden sickle shape right by the stairs. The khopesh. History on the weapon came flooding back to him. It was an Egyptian weapon, used around 2500 B.C. and fell out of use around 1300 B.C. Supposedly derived from a battle axe, the sickle shaped sword only had its outer edge sharpened, though there were many that had edges that were never meant to be sharpened, indicating a ceremonial weapon. They were even depicted with several Pharoahs, and two were even found in King Tut's tomb.

An absolutely fascinating weapon. And who knew just what else was in here? Maybe he could bring in more ancient weapons, like the seven branched sword. Though arguably those wouldn't sell well, and Wantanabe probably got the khopesh just for him. Maybe he should ask about a part time job? And employee discount sounded very enticing.

[PrankFox]

Mentions:@FalloutJack

The message from his mother was promptly ignored as Kenzan leaned back against the wall to begin the mindless scroll on social media to see if anything at all had changed. It seemed that most people were still obsessing over the death of the Prime Minister, so it was more rapid scrolling to get past the massive threads of conspiracy to find anything interesting. There were a few discussions of some new games that had come out, but it wasn't really worth reading the opinions that no doubt started an argument in the thousand comments.

He paused for a brief moment on a lengthy thread about someone blaming aliens for the suicide of the Prime Minister that was paragraphs upon paragraphs of bullshit. Amazing how much people will do to avoid their own problems. It had gotten the point that it was getting amusing and losing the actual fear and concern over what had happened. He was so desensitized to the topic now it didn't even phase him, not that it really had in the first place.

Eventually he gave up on social media and sat to listen to his music and play one of the many mindless phone games he had to pass the time. He was pretty sure that the rain wasn't supposed to stop, but he had hope the weather as wrong. He didn't need it to stop, just lessen enough that he wouldn't get yelled out by his mother for tracking water into the house.

His thoughts stopped their wandering and turned to confusion when he received the message, in haiku no less. He stared at it for a moment in befuddlement. The hell? It took him a couple times reading over it to come to the realization that the only person that really knew him, and would be dramatic enough to send a message this way would be the same drama club member of his class.

"You really couldn't have just asked in a normal way?" He pulled one of his earbuds out, "Sure, why the hell not. Don't have much else better to do." He wasn't usually inclined to agree to hanging out with any of his classmates, but he didn't really want to hang out in the school by himself for several hours.

[Fabricant451]

The problem with going to a game center by yourself is that eventually you got bored with no one to talk to or play against or to celebrate winnings with; some people could play for hours by themselves and have a fine time of it. Hoshiko managed three songs on the Tatsujin machine before she was bored out of her mind. It was like when she went to a karaoke place by herself and paid for an hour; after seven minutes she wound up taking a nap on the couch because it was somehow more enjoyable than singing for an imaginary audience of her peers. It was because of that boredom that Hoshiko once again found herself out on the streets with nothing to do. Rain really did mess everything up. All she wanted to do was run around, throw the ball around, and then go grab a burger and a cola and find some reason to not do her homework. Was that so much to ask?

The first year slid a coin into a vending machine and cracked open the milk tea can. Three long sips later and she was placing it in the receptacle next to the machines and was still no closer to figuring out what to do with the rest of her day. Sure, she could just go home, but then her aunt would just constantly ask her to do homework and to not watch anime or dramas or baseball highlights - or worse, ask Hoshiko to help in the kitchen. The fact that it was still raining made Hoshiko sigh, stick her hand out, and feel the drops on her palm. She didn't mind getting wet but everyone around her would act like it was the end of the world. She heard from her brother that people in America just live in places where it rains most days of the year. Hoshiko couldn't imagine it, but only because it meant that their sports teams had to be all indoor and that almost defeated the purpose.

There was plenty to do the problem is she had no one to do them with. Her slightly rain-wet hand dug her phone from her pocket and tapped away at the lock screen. Zero messages across any apps. Not even so much as a notification for a game. Still, the phone made for a decent enough distraction; if it wasn't raining she might have even just fiddled around with it while she walked but instead she put it back in a pocket and had her hands join the phone there. She envied those who had indoor clubs today. She envied a lot of people, including those who remembered an umbrella.

All she could do was walk with her head up - but not too up that the rain dropped into her eyes. Where was she going? Nowhere special. Nowhere in particular. Nowhere at all. She'd know when she got there. But for now, Hoshiko was walking, wandering, hands in the pocket, baseball cap mercifully keeping the rain from hitting her face.

"I shoulda just stayed at school! Ugh, I can't believe I said that..."

[Solace]

Interactions: @Zombehs @Psyker Landshark @Ambra @DJAtomika

"Sounds like something Miss Okamoto would complain to us about her ex-boyfriend," Munehisa cracked a joke shortly after Masashi's remark about the downpour, alluding to their history teacher's endless rant about her persona-non-grata. There was hope in him that their class would not have to suffer the woman's incessant lamentations for an extended portion of the school year, but only time would tell. "And hey!" his expression sneered of light-hearted offense, waving his notebook towards Nagi. "It's not simping, Nagi! I'm just... respecting hard-working women," the boy drew a sigh, deflating his shoulders.

"By the way, what have you been doing all class, Nara?" Asumi asked with a glare, You've been laughing at your notebook the whole history class."

His eyes lit up upon Asumi's question, his lips curling deviously upon remembering his original intentions. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Take a good look at Miss Okamoto," Munehisa's eyes scanned the surrounding room in a double take before placing his sketchbook flat on the desk to reveal its contents, hovering around the page so that it would not come into sight from any unintended spectators. It was a well-drawn portrait of their history teacher, but all of Miss Okamoto's features were greatly distorted in satirical exaggeration. Her 'perfect' facial structure and 'flawless' complexion were captured in such a way that directly mocked the woman's vanity.

"Inspired by some ancient meme of a handsome cartoon face from who knows how long ago," the boy was clearly proud of his disparaging illustration; he had a penchant for poking fun at people through his drawings, and though it was usually in harmless jest, Munehisa was sure that something of this nature would spell trouble, should it be seen by someone he didn't trust or even worse-- Miss Okamoto herself. "A masterpiece that'll never see the light of day, hehe."

[Marlowe]

MENTIONS: Munehisa [@Solace], Nagi [@Psyker Landshark], Masashi [@Zombehs], Akira [@DJAtomika], Hoshiko [@Fabricant451]

Oh yeah, ramen was a great choice for dinner. There was nothing better than eating a steamy bowl of it when it was a gloomy, rainy day. Her stomach growled loudly at Masashi's question and Asumi rubbed it in complaint. "With the day I had, I think I'll have two of them," she whined. Maybe she'll ask for extra toppings this time around. She'll need it if she wanted to get a good night of studying down. God knew that she had to, at this rate.

Their little group finally made to leave, with another student in tow. Even though Akira was in their class, she didn't know much about her-- Akira, however, probably knew a lot about her, since she didn't sit far from her. However, before she could move too far, Munehisa brandished what he had been drawing. It was a caricature of their darling Miss Okamoto. The drawing's crudeness made her roll her eyes, though she couldn't help the crooked grin that teased the corner of her mouth. "No wonder. You actually did a pretty good job at capturing her likeness, that's for sure," she giggled. Credit had to be given where it was due.

And so, they were finally off. They meandered down the halls, gathered their belongings, and set off outside. Asumi frowned at the downpour. The storm looked pretty bad from inside the classroom, but being outside in it was much worse, even with umbrellas. She chatted with Nagi as they walked-- her topics of interest were always the same. School, their teachers, what she was going to do when she got home, and what boys looked extra cute in class today. She always worried that she spoke a bit too much for Nagi's liking, though she was glad that she was a good listener. In the midst of her spiel about Miss Okamoto, they came across a waterlogged girl who traveled without an umbrella. Asumi didn't know her personally, though she did recognize her as one of the first-year students at their school. Upon her request, they slowed down upon their approach.

"Hey, wanna come with us for ramen? I'm sure someone will share an umbrella with you!" Asumi called out over the rain. With a kind smile, she added, "Better than walking in the rain by yourself, right?"

With yet another student added into their mix, their entourage walked the rest of the way to the shopping district. She thanked her past self for at least choosing to wear rain boots. Asumi couldn't imagine splashing all the way to Obi's in water-filled shoes. She breathed a sigh of relief once they made it to the storefront. A flock of assorted birds huddled underneath the red cloth canopy as they pecked at a bunch of bird seed strewn on the floor. Water rolled off of its edges as a crow landed beside a group of pigeons and attempted to garner its fill of food, though the pigeons chose to peck at it instead, drawing out an exasperated squawk from it. It fluttered off to perch at the top of the roof, its black feathers all fluffed up and its small body quivering under the torrent of rain. Poor thing, she thought, her eyes drifting down to its right leg. A bright purple band was wrapped around its scaly ankle. Is it someone's pet..?

Asumi's attention was drawn back to the store once they stepped inside. Fortunately for them, Kuro-Obi's was not yet full, and there were several tables that sat vacant. The warmth coming from the kitchen and the smell of broth ebbing with spices made her stomach growl loudly. "Ah, it feels like I stepped into heaven!" she chimed, a pleased expression washing over her face.

"Oh, Asumi," Katsuragi Yuri, one of the servers, greeted her as she approached. Her soft smile wavered slightly once she turned her eyes to the rest of the students that filtered inside. "Wow, you sure brought a whole army this time."

Asumi beamed up at the other second-year. "Hi, Yuri! Nice to see you again!" she chirped as if she hadn't just seen the girl in school. "Yeah, everyone was pretty hungry, so we decided to come here for a bowl of hot, steamy ramen! It's the perfect weather for it, isn't it?"

Yuri nodded, the small smile still on her lips. "I guess you can say that."

The lot of them chose a table by the window, and Asumi chose to sit right by the window itself. The rain didn't seem to let up; it was like someone had set the rainfall to "extreme" and forgot to turn it off. She leaned towards the window and peered at her reflection. Her hair was even worse than it was before! Curse the April Showers... "I look like I've been struck by lightning!" she whimpered as if she had been mortally wounded. "I should really bring a hat with me on days like this..."

"I think I had too high of expectations thinking you'd learn from the last time this happened." Yuri told her as she once again approached them, this time wielding a pen and notepad. Her grayish-brown eyes scanned their table, her thumb pushing the button at the top of the pen in-and-out. After a series of rapid clicks, she rested its tip against the paper. "What'll you have?"

"I'll have the challenge bowl, please! With two extra eggs!" Asumi answered jovially.

"Got it." Yuri scribbled something down on the paper before she turned to the rest of the group. "What about you guys?"

[Psyker Landshark]

Nakano Nagi

Mentions: Asumi@Ambra, Masashi@Zombehs, Munehisa@Solace, Akira@DJAtomika, Ebina@Fabricant451

As they walked, Nagi let Asumi carry most of the conversation, while only occasionally chiming her thoughts in herself. Same dynamic as they always had. Really, she didn't mind. More interesting to hear someone else's thoughts and not have to talk all the damn time. Of course, it was a bit weird when Asumi picked up some stray freshman to come with them, but considering Nagi had just let Akira tag along herself, she supposed she didn't much room to talk here.

Instead, she waited for a lull in the conversation to examine the freshie, knowing she'd seen her somewhere before. But where...? Oh. Nagi snapped her fingers in recognition.

"Wait, aren't you that freshman that came by cooking club asking if we did burgers? Sent the prez into a fucking fit after you left, so props to you there. Seriously, bitch just about lost her mind freaking out about how people thought the club was Big Bang Burger or some shit now." Nagi remarked offhandedly to Ebina. Shit, that had been hilarious. Good times.

___

As the group reached Obi's, Nagi's attention was drawn to two men in suits exiting as they entered. The duo, one man in his mid-20s, and the other somewhere in his mid to late-30s, paused and bowed quickly to Nagi as she walked in.

"Young madam." They echoed in chorus.

"Genda. Tesso." Nagi inclined her head in return, recognizing two of her father's men on sight. "Cut that shit out while I'm with friends, yeah? Fucking embarassing for a teenage girl to have two grown men bowing to her." She sighed, shaking her head. Punkasses. She swore, they did this shit on purpose.

"Yes, ma'am. Sorry, ma'am." The two recovered quickly, loitering at the entrance of the ramen shop as Nagi noticed everyone else start to take a seat.

"Heading out to collections in this weather? Well, don't let me keep you. When you report back, tell the old man not to worry his ass off, I'll be home before curfew."

"Right. You coming in to the office this weekend, ma'am? NJPW's got a pay-per-view Saturday night."

"You kidding? Of course I am." Nagi grinned slightly at the thought before her visage turned stern again. "But really, get your asses going. I wanna be eating ramen, not blocking the entrance with you two."

With that out of the way, Nagi quickly slid into her seat at the table the rest were at, giving Yuri an apologetic nod.

"Sorry about that, Katsuragi. Hope those two clowns weren't starting any trouble in here. Anyways, gimme the regular tonkotsu bowl, extra chashu." That done, she looked aside to Asumi at her order.

"Swear I'll never get used to how much you can put away." Nagi sighed, looking slightly envious. "And while keeping your figure. I gotta work out to eat what I like without putting on fat instead of keeping my tone."