[IC] The True Self - Persona

[RolePlayerRoxas]

It was just another typical Saturday afternoon in Warakuma. The school half-day had come to an end, and as the students either left the school grounds or participated in some sort of club activity, one girl in particular remained by herself in the student council room. With a stack of forms lying before her, Akemi Yoshida was - strangely enough for someone like herself - lost in thought. Instead of approving new club applications, or organising several school events months in advance, she was instead pondering upon the nature of a strange dream she had recently.

It annoyed Akemi to be doing such a thing. After all, she had far too much work waiting to be wasting time on nonsensical images in her head. At the end of the day, a dream was just that. Nothing more to it. The reason it bugged her so much, though... well, she had no idea, really. What made it so different from any other dream she could manage to recall? Perhaps the strange clarity of it, but beyond that...

"...Idiot," she muttered quietly, glad that her fellow council members weren't present. The president truly had too much stuff to manage. And then there was the ever-present worry of... that cult or whatever.
Akemi had already noticed students she didn't recognise as being delinquents acting... strange. Thankfully, it was only a handful of students, but the new school term was only a week in, and every day, there was news of more and more young adults and children completely flipping their personality.

Well, as the Student Council President, it was her duty to protect the rest of the students, and convert the affected people back to reality. They may be stupid enough to believe that ruining their lives was beneficial, but it was her duty to show them otherwise!
Motivated by this new fire in her mind, Akemi clasped her fingers together and stretched her arms forward, the satisfying cracking sound of her fingers filling the empty room with momentary sound, before grabbing a pen from the table and glaring at the forms with a smirk. All she had to do was get this simple stuff finished before she left today. Then, she could arrange for some awareness capaigns and counselling for the affected students, starting Monday! Yes, this was her duty, after all!

[Savo]

-Kaminari-
A young man tapped a pen on his lip in an open hallway at the school. He was seemingly conflicted, staring worryingly at a sort of math problem he couldn't solve. He sighed, before turning to lean on a wall somewhere, sighing with annoyance. The young man sunk to the floor, just shaking his head, his hand began tightening into a fist. His lips were trembling, and his teeth were clenched. He just wanted to shout, irritated at the troubles at hand. He knew getting frustrated and angry wasn't going to get him anywhere, but what else was he supposed to do...

"What am I supposed to do," mumbled Kaminari as he unfurled his fist, and put it to his face, covering one of his eyes. He was just tapping his feet, muttering something to himself. "This god damned case isn't going anywhere.... My familys name is at stake here, and we can't figure out what is plaguing this community?!" Kami was seemingly getting desperate, almost ready to give up and do something else that he loved or accept whatever reality was causing this outbreak. All he knew was that something afflicted the children, the teens, but what was it?

The police had already identified a sort of cult with no cult leader, and all those people would say the same thing over and over in that monotone voice. This wasn't like any of the other cases he helped his father with - this was a case where his own emotions clouded his judgement, impairing him. Was his nervousness keeping him from solving this case? Was his anger keeping him from seeing th truth? Was his anxiousness causing him to look over a major part of the case? He didn't know, but all he knew was this truth and fact - something was terribly wrong in Warakuma.

He decided to finally stop pouting, as he pushed himself up from the ground and began rubbing his face. Kami shook his head, and put on his usual bright smile, and began walking down the hallways, whistling a tune to himself. He occasionally peaked into a room to see if someone was still in there or such, but they were often empty. He chuckled to himself after looking in each room, noting that no one was there. He continued this until coming upon the student council room.

"(Eh, someone is still in there?)"

He saw that the girl was seemingly swamped with paperwork, and she had a smirk plastered upon her face. He realized who it was, and his surprised look turned into a little grin. "(Akemi is still at work, diligent as always...)" That girl, Akemi was a girl who was in the same year as Kami. She was a hard worker by others who could get the job done, and was often called a buzz kill by others, often outshining most students in the class they were in. Kami came to admire her for her attitude, and despite the fact he knew this he felt the need to go and help her. She could be spending time doing something else, like hanging out with some of her friends or such. Kami slowly stepped in, his shoes tapping across the floor as he approached her.

"So I see you're still here, hard at work as always Yoshida-san," Kami said, grining widly as he approached the girl. "It seems like you got a lot of work on your hands, need some assistance?" The young man wanted to take a look at one of the files, but he didn't want to seem rude to the girl. He didn't exactly have anything better to do at the moment, than try and figure out a case which found a dead end. He figured he should try to put his time into something that he could actually get done and achieve, plus he enjoyed helping people out. He awaited the girls response, doing his best to keep a professional look.

[Aquaknight]

A youth was walking down the hall with papers for the school council in hand. Kato didn't bother reading it since it was none of his business to snoop he's not part of the council, the member in his class Yomi must've been lazy and left for Kato to drop off the message, he woke up to find on the corner of desk, he has became the messenger for his class since he ends up sleeping though class and the member in his class is not keen on miss president.

Kato yawned loudly and covered his mouth with his free hand, he looks like he just woken up from a terrible sleep, as his hair was a shaggy mess and his eyes had bags under them, also doesn't help he looks like he will topple over and pass out, which he wouldn't mind doing really. But he has a duty to do first. When he reached the Student Council room he was only expecting Miss Yoshidaand maybe two other members, some guy and Yoshida alone with him. Kato doesn't remember him as a member of the council, Kato seen him around though. Could the two be friends. Can Yoshida make friends. But he didn't really care he had to give Yoshida the papers.

He walked in and raised his free arm lazily to do a small wave.
"Greetings Yoshida-Sama, Yomi-chan left me to give you the paperwork, again." He said with as much respect as he can at the moment as he dropped it in one of the piles of paperwork. Normally Kato gives it to another member but she was the only one here at the moment, and as often as Yomi uses him to give messages he might as be the member of the council for his class, but sleeping though meetings might not make you popular with the dutiful hawk of a president, but at least he can respect her for how much works she does.
"And hello to you, sir, are you asking Yoshida-sama something? I'm just asking because I don't remember you being a member of the council." He asked with a small curios tilt of his head.

[VitaVitaAR]

Midori's boots tapped down the hallway. She... well, there was no actual reason for her to be there as far as the school itself went. But... well, she had the most important reason of all to really be there. Akemi was there... oh, such a wonderful girl. Such a beautiful, wonderful, exquisite girl! She was so pretty, and soft, and so... so thoroughly alluring... and on top of that she was nice and friendly and so good to her... ah, Midori felt... light right now. There were few people in the halls, there was no-one to watch her... so she practically skipped towards the student council room. She was going to give Akemi a surprise! A wonderful surprise... she'd drawn something new and she was going to present it to the lovely girl as a gift. Oh, she couldn't wait to see Akemi's cute surprised face.

Midori could feel her cheeks flushing in excitement as the thought crossed her mind. It was so amazing and she couldn't wait... and the room was just up ahead! Midori excitedly headed for the door... and then froze dead in her tracks, eyes wide. Her mood plummeted like a stone. There were two boys in the room with precious, wonderful Akemi... what were they doing there?!

How... how dare they approach her! Midori's shock subsided and rage began to boil inside of her. What made them think they were permitted to approach the wonderful girl seated there?! They weren't allowed to speak to her!

The blonde opened her mouth.

"... Y-you... sh-sh... sh..."

Midori stumbled over her words. They caught in her throat and she couldn't force them out. She... was not used to... to this sort of situation. The girl clutched her bag against her chest and tried to speak again.

"... D-d... u-um... I... A-Akemi-sempai..."

[SwordfishKnight]

Even though it was only a half day, Noboru was still tired. He hadn't gotten much of the lesson, though that wasn't new. Like every other school day, Noboru couldn't learn much of it at all. Walking his short body around the classroom, He spotted a girl with dark black hair out of the corner of his eye. She was taller than him, like everyone else he knew. But despite that she was a little like he was. She enjoyed making friends, but was definitely better at it than he was. He walked up to her and spoke to her. "Heeeeyyyy Sachiko-san, I don't know if you're much of a video game person, but i'm headed over to the arcade right now. If you wanna join me, it'd be fun. Cya later if you want to go to it." Noboru hustled out of the door, quickly walking out of the school into town.

Approaching what most would call an arcade, Noboru stepped inside. Today he had decided to relax at the arcade. He needed a break from working out and a break from his house. He stepped inside. he didn't visit this place very often, but it had a very home-ish feel, in that he was actually accepted here and not just some random person. Noboru wandered around, looking at all the machines. He meandered around until he saw a familiar face. The face belonged to a childhood friend, Rui. They were somewhat friends when they were younger, but he had moved away and Noboru was one friend less. Walking up to him, Noboru called out his name. "Rui! I haven't seen you in forever!" Noboru grabbed Rui and gave him a bear hug, squishing him and giving the friend no time to reply without being swept up in an all too friendly hug.

[Sho Minazuki]

Rui Shinichi | Warakuma Arcade

Having moved back to this little town, Rui couldn't help but feel a bit at ease. It was a lot different to the bustling crowds of Tokyo, there were definitely less people here, and as a result it was a lot more quiet, but he was glad that at least it wasn't devoid of technology. He was surprised to find a decent arcade out here, then again... Warakuma has been growing and keeping itself afloat all these years, maybe it's not so bad out here. He has yet to start school yet, but apparently two days time is going to be his first day as a first year at Warakuma High. He's already finished moving his things in, he and his family did that across the last week. Right now he occupied himself with Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, which he played from time to time while he was in Tokyo. It was good to know that they had one of these out here.

"Rui! I haven't seen you in forever!", is what he would hear, but his headphones were on, so the big bear hug that followed really took him by surprise. Fortunately he'd just finished a match, so he had time between character selection. Wide-eyed he turned to see who it was that was assaulting him... Oh, it was... Wait who was this again? He was friendly, he looks a bit familiar... Seen him in forever? Wait... That face is... Rui grabbed his headphones and slid them off his ears, and began to speak.

"Oh, Noboru. So you still live in this town huh?", he asked.

"Also you can... Let go now..."

[Cuco]

Today's lessons were over, and although finishing with things always made Sachiko a little sad, the smile never faded from her face. After all, even if today's road had been walked, tomorrow's was always in sight, or so she told herself. She would see her friends again very soon, and then there would be more fun to be had. But first, it seemed one of them had plans. Plans that they were extending to her! Noboru Yamamoto, one of her classmates, asked if she would like to go to the arcade. Sachiko often felt that with the way he and her acted, they were almost like peas in a pod. Sachiko wasn't much of a gamer, but she wasn't much of the kind of person to object to a friendly get together either. She eagerly replied "Oh sure, Noboru-kun! I'll get over there right when I'm ready!" She had a few odds and ends to take care of first, but she definitely intended to go.

Soon enough, she would arrive at the arcade. It didn't take long to spot Noboru in there, because she was just on time to witness him engaging someone else in a big hug. Sachiko didn't recognize the other guy, but she knew one thing for certain; she HAD to get a piece of that hug! She rushed over and shouted "GROUP HUG!" as she grasped the pair of them and sandwiched them closer together than before. Maintaining her beaming grin, she said "Great hug, guys, great hug. So, what's your name?" Her question was aimed at the other boy, seeing as she quite familiar with who Noboru was already.

[Haru Nyan]

Saturday...The brunette repeated the word over and over, she'd be able to go home and meet up with her friends again. What would they be doing this time? Slaying a Lvl. 90 dragon and looting its cave? Collaborate on one big fan fiction? Or maybe they'd just hang and talk about the little things they did today? Whatever it was, Ayano couldn't wait. She was getting all giddy and excited just from the thought alone, passing by the Student Council Room she heard a commotion going on...
"That's none of my business... she thought and just went on ahead.

Ayano went on over to the arcade, some gaming wouldn't be bad and besides, it's a weekend! She was quite fond of the rhythm games, she wasn't the best but certainly not the worst. As she was nearing her destination she saw some people engaging in a group hug...Ayano just sneered at the thought, "What a bunch of weirdos..." she muttered under her breath.

[Sho Minazuki]

Rui Shinichi | Warakuma Arcade

"Uhh... Squeezing too hard. Nice to meet you again too but, please let-... Oh god", he can see it. A girl, sprinting right over to them. He can see the intent in her eyes...

"GROUP HUG!"

Rui braced himself as best he could as another joined and turned this into a group hug. Between Noboru's strong grip and this girl, he was practically being squashed. This would feel better and more welcoming if it didn't feel like he was going to be killed. He didn't recognize the girl, as expected, he wouldn't be able to recognize everyone he met here immediately after all. Though Noboru being a friend back in his childhood before he moved, he remembered... A bit. Slightly. Well, just enough. As the girl asked her question, he responded with visible strain, being at the very middle of this group hug.

"R... Rui... Shinichi... Can. Can you two please let go now...?", he requested. Their grips only got tighter though, he hoped his request to let up would alleviate this.

[RolePlayerRoxas]

Akemi's eyes flicked upwards towards the boy that had entered. For a regular student not named Midori to visit was certainly rare, especially after the school day had ended. His offer was nice, but the President's expression was stern as she straightened her back and gazed at him from behind her black-rimmed glasses, "Unfortunately, as this is Student Council work, you wouldn't be able to help. After all, only I or the vice-president have the authority to approve or deny the requests, as well as settle dates for school-wide events. Anything you read would need to be looked at by me in the end, anyway."

Well, not that she found the volume of work to be a problem. She had long since become accustomed to it. All she had to do was finish it swiftly and efficiently. Unfortunately, this conversation was detrimental to said swift and efficient conclusion, but as the Student Council President, she should at least make time to converse with any students that approached her.

Before Akemi could recommend that he simply go home and study, another boy approached, this time with the task of adding to her workload. She couldn't help but frown slightly at Noboru's appearance. Partly because of how unkept he looked - thankfully, Akemi had learned just in time not to confront him about that - and partly because that Yomi kept shoving responsibilities onto him.

"Thank you," she replied, quickly glancing at the top sheet before setting this new pile aside, "and the net time you deliver anything to me, please add a complaint form with your concerns listed upon it."
Believing their business concluded, Akemi returned to reading and signing forms for another moment, although a third, much more recognisable voice stuttered itself into her hearing, and Akemi suppressed a sigh. The expected distraction had arrived, and with those two boys present, things had become much more awkward.

Midori Yanagi may be the closest thing Akemi had to a friend, but... that wasn't a reason to show her preferential treatment, was it? Akemi had work to do, and she could do without all the distractions at the moment. Clearing her throat, the frowning president said, "excuse me, but if none of you have any business with me, please go home and prepare for Monday's classes. Time should not be wasted so carelessly, after all."

[SwordfishKnight]

Noboru quickly let go of Rui, forgetting that Rui wasn't exactly the biggest guy around, and he was. "Sachiko! You came to join me. It's always fun to have more people around to join in the fun." Noboru pointed at Rui. "Yeah this is a childhood friend of mine. Shame he had to move away at a young age. But hey hey hey he's back! So Rui, enjoying your time back? Hey if you don't mind, i'll join you in the next match. And if Sachiko wants, she can play after me. How does that sound Sachiko?"

[Savo]

-Kaminari-
"Eh, ok then I guess," he said grinning. He heard a voice from behind him and turned to face what sounded like a familiar voice. Kami pivoted around and saw that it was Kato, and another strange youth who was staring at the two. She seemed to be mumbling something to the two boys, but he couldn't conclude what the seemingly nervous girl was trying to say. She looked like a second year, but what business did she have to attend with Akemi? He would talk to her later, but right now he approached Kato.

"Is the sleep getting to you or something," he asked, grinning widly from ear to ear. "I'm surprised you can't even remember an old friend Kato..." He looked at the bags under his eyes, and from the looks of it was still looking sleepless ever since middle school. "Its me Kaminari, you know, son of one of the best police officers in this place has to offer," he said, chuckling a little. It would be a stretch to say that he was the best, but when you took his family name and history, they had to be considered one of the best.

"Its been a while since we've talked to each other, with you focusing on school and such, and me, who has been focusing on assisting my father with some of the cases," he said, looking at the short blonde girl, before turning his head back to Kato. "Say, have you talked to some of the afflicted lately, finding any break through in what my be ailing them?" Kamis face had a sort of quizzical look on him, as he hoped to find some right answer within the speech. He was getting desperate to solve this case, and was overstepping what he considered to be his own boundries. "(Damnit, what am I saying? I need to get my head off of this case for a bit, otherwise I'm going to go crazy.)"

Kami stared at the floor, and shook his head. He then begqn rubbing the top of his head, before letting out an exasperated sigh. "S-sorry if that seemed a bit out of the blue, its just... Ugh, I need to focus my head somewhere else other than this case lest it frickin' drives me crazy," he mumbled, stumbling over some of his words. "Since we have the rest of the day off, you wanna hang out somewhere, or something?... Also, is that girl behind you your little sister or something, because I don't remember you having a younger sister."

[Aquaknight]

As Yoshida told him to file a complaint next time he's ask to send a message by Yomi. Must be the rules. He thought. He simply nodded. A small blonde girl was at the door Kato barely noticed her, he only barely heard her whispers. "Are you Yoshida's friend? Pleased to meet you, and don't worry I'm not stealing her from you, just giving her my classmates papers." He said jokingly. The girl sounds to be awkward and Yoshida might be her only friend, since he seen the two walk to together when Yoshida has free time, which is rare. So Yoshida time would mean a lot to her. Kind of reminds him of wishing to spend time with his older sister before she changed.

The other guy in the room started to talk, kato press his palm to his face. Was he that sleepy? "sorry Kaminari-chan, I just woken up from my most recent sleeping spell so I'm still groggy." Kato muttered in apologetic tone. How could he put the face and name together right away. He questioned himself. "Yeah it has been awhile since we last talked, almost four years now that I think about it." Kato said, remembrance of the simpler times, before sleepign taken over his life, and before his sister change. A small smile crept across his lips, but it faded when Kami mentions the afflicted, members of cult Kami means, his sister, Mayumi. "Yes, I interacted with a member of that supposed cult if that what your asking, more then most." He said flatly which was odd coming from him. Kami asked if the blonde girl was his sister, he remember never talking about his sister as a kid, it wasn't important back then. "No, she's not my sister, I do have one, but she's older then me." He said more polite and he added with, "Sure, I wouldn't mind hanging out with you, we can catch up on old times and other stuff that make us sound old, and I also think we over stayed our welcome with Yoshida, it's never a good thing to over stay our welcome." Kato said in a more awaken voice which is peppiness is surfacing to the group. "Sorry for the interruption, Yoshida-sama, won't happen again." He said politely to the president.

He walked towards the door, close to the blonde girl. He was honestly not what to say to her, he was never good at dealing with recluse and shy people. Ever since... her.
He unknowingly frowned when he walked past her. He wasn't sure how to feel about her, pity or what. But he didn't want to. He decided to speak one last time before he leaves. "Oh yeah, Kami we should go to the arcade, might be fun."

[VitaVitaAR]

Midori fell silent. Akemi didn't want her around... oh, no, was she just causing trouble? She didn't want to cause trouble... she wanted it to be nice, she wanted to give Akemi a gift! And now... now she was just making trouble... she was no better then those boys... This wasn't what she wanted at all! Midori immediately looked down at her feet, clutching her bag against her chest harder as... now the boys were approaching, and one of them speaking to her. They were trash! They were horrible trash! If they hadn't been here, Akemi would have been fine and she could talk to her and give her the gift... but no, they had to show up and talk to the lovely girl. They ruined it! They probably wanted her didn't they?!

Fingers trembled over Midori's bag and then froze. No, no, she wouldn't do that she couldn't... but if they dared to do anything that upset Akemi ever... Midori looked up weakly... then immediately back down. When she spoke, her voice was weak and wavering.

"... I-I... w-wanted... A-Akemi-sempai... w-wanted to... g-give you..."

The girl's voice trailed off into silence. She didn't even acknowledge that one of the boys had spoken to her. No, her attention was fully on the wonderful girl. Maybe she could still give her gift...

[Savo]

-Kaminari-
Kaminari nodded, agreeing with the plan. The arcade seemed to be a good place to take his mind off of the case for the time. Turned his head to Akemi, and spoke to her before heading off the the arcade with Kato. "Sorry for taking up your time Yoshida-san, I guess we will be taking our leave now... See ya on monday!" He gave her a little friendly smile before turning his head to the small blonde girl. "And see you later too then," Kami said, nodding to the girl as he left the room and headed off to the arcade. The two had a lot to catch up on since it had been a while since they spoke to one another. ((If you want me to change some of this, just ask. I'm just assuming he follows ))

---

The two walked to the arcade, Kami talking about different things ranging from rumors, their past, the news, and other information. Kami was finishing saying something to Kato as the duo neared the arcade. "... thats a pretty strange dream huh, with that Blue Room, and those characters inhabiting it... Ah, hey look, we are already here, that was quick!" As he approached the arcade, he looked up at the sky, noting that it was a pretty nice day. He notice a bird soar by his head, smiling a little to himself before entering the arcade with Kato.

The arcade was filled with different buzzing beaming games, as well as other people socializing with each other. There were so many games he could play, but he usually enjoyed the combat and rhythm oriented games. "Say Kato, how about we play a round of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax?" As he talked he saw a couple of people chatting it up with each other near one of his favorite fighting games. He noticed a familiar face as he neared the group, and saw that Sachiko was in the group. It was a surprising, but pleasant sight to see her here. He walked over to the group, smiling as he approached them.

"Sachiko, I didn't expect to see you here with some of your friends," giving her a friendly smile. It was unexpected to see her here as he thought she would be somewhere else at the moment. "Say, I've never seen these two around... You two new to Warakuma?"

[Cuco]

Releasing Rui and Noboru from her vice grip, Sachiko moved back into a more relaxed position. "Pleased to meet you, Rui. My name's Sachiko Mogami." She then listened as Noboru explained their plans for the day. "Oh sure, you go on and play with him first. I probably need to watch and figure out how to play at all." She gave them a little space to get started. She definitely did need to figure out how to play this game, because she had never had a go at this "Persona 4 Arena Ultimax" in her life. She would just have to hope she would figure out enough just by watching. But, it seemed she was to be distracted, because she was soon approached by Kaminari, her good friend, with another good friend, Kato, in tow. Sachiko's ever present smile became even broader. "You guys!" She said, reaching out to drag them both into yet another group hug. "I didn't expect to find you here either! Or maybe I should've? Oh well. Man, if only Ayano was here, the whole group would be back together." Sachiko didn't see much of Ayano since certain events. She tried to track her down as much as she could, but Ayano was the kind of person to be intentionally difficult to find. She released the pair of them, eventually. "Oh, that's Noboru and Rui." She told Kaminari. "I only met Rui just now, but I've known Noboru for some time now."

[Aquaknight]

Kami and Kato were walking and talking the whole time they went to the arcade from the school. Kato only avoided one topic the whole time, his sister, talking about her just upsets him and he doesn't want to deal with that right after meeting back up with Kami. Eventually the two started to talk about recent dreams, since the beginning of his sleeping spells he only dreams during the day when he passes out, but most of them are forgotten when he completely awake. But not the dream of the strange man and the velvet blue room. "Yeah it is an odd dream... we got here in good time." Kato had a smile on his face, it was nice just to talk like old days.

Normally Kato wouldn't go to the arcade, at least by himself, since the last he was here, he fell asleep on the rhythm game mat and slept for two hours. Because of that he not allowed by himself in the arcade or to go play the rhythm game at all even with a friend. But he did like it hear, it was energetic and loud here. Not boring and slow like school so it's slightly easier to stay awake. But just slightly. Kato prefer fighting and racing games. Ironic since he might never do either of those things with how he can fall asleep anywhere. Kato can feel the glare from one of the workers, he wide awake so they have noting to worry about, hopefully.

Kami asked him he he wanted to play Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, kato nodded, he heard that game was pretty good. "Yeah, it would be fun to play!" He said with enthusiasm. But it looks like the pair will have to wait, another pair of guys are playing the game and a girl was with them, Kato knew who she was right away. He smiled broadly at her smile, she sure is a hugger. She pulled the two of them into a group hug. sachiko spoke quickly and happily, even with the mention of Ayano, Kato didn't frown. The old group was almost back together, well him and Sachiko sometimes meet up, but still. "It's nice seeing you here Chiko-kun." Kato replied with a smile.

Kami asked if Sachiko friends are new. She said their names are Noboru and Rui. He seen Noboru and the halls before but he never seen Rui, which would be hard to do in a town like this. "Greetings Noboru-san and Rui-san." He said with a bright smile and small wave for his greetings.

[Sen]

Sato Hashimoto // Warakuma High
APRIL 4 2015, SATURDAY
After School

What was that dream? That question haunted him ever since he had it. He had woken up with a start that morning, with the clear memory of the velvet-colored room and the words the residents spoke. “Between mind and matter…” Sato mouthed it as he stared at the equations on the board. They seemed to make so much sense when he looked at them but when he actually thought about them they meant nothing.

“Hashimoto, please solve the equation on the board.” With a startle, Sato rose, pushing back his chair far too much and hitting the desk behind him. He apologized, and then quickly board as he walked over to it. It was only then he realized that he hadn’t been paying attention the entire time the teacher had been introducing the formula he was asked to solve. Several long moments passed before a hand shot up from the front row.

“Yamauchi, may I solve it in place of Hashimoto?" The teacher nodded, and a frail girl brushed Sato aside. She ALWAYS did that, saving anyone who didn’t know the answer. It was almost an insult that he was “saved” by her like the idiots who barely even studied. The ONE time he messed up, it was in the only class he had with Akiko-san! With a significantly more salty mood, Sato returned to his seat and began to analyze everything on the board as quickly as possible, jotting most of it down into a notebook.

It wasn’t long before class ended and a dozen and a half students rushed out the door, with only a few couples of students already chatting away. Almost everyone around him was expressing their malcontent with the fact that their home room teacher had made them do a bunch of math immediately after the welcoming ceremony. As he made his way to the door, listening to others' conversations, he stumbled into a desk, knocking a paper note off it, and it was only then that Sato remembered the other strange thing that had happened that morning. In his shoe locker he had found a note detailing a meeting time outside the local arcade. It could’ve just been from his best friend, Ryouta, or it could’ve been a mistake, meant for someone else. Either way, it was the only thing he had to do for the rest of the day.

-----

Sato Hashimoto // [url=n/a]Warakuma Arcade[/url]
Once he was at the arcade, Sato quickly scanned the area for anyone who seemed to be waiting for someone else. No one seemed like they weren’t already with a group, and it WAS the time listed on the card. He decided that it was a mistake and they didn’t notice until later, and was too shy to take it back. And since that was a bust, Sato decided to grab a drink from the nearby café and sit by the entrance to the arcade for a while.

As soon as he returned to the arcade and sat down, a girl had walked over to him with an expression that was hard to figure out if she was intimidated or was trying to be intimidating. “Akiko-san?” Sato asked, but not before she held out a stack of paper to him, which were presumably math notes. “What gives?”

“I was told to give these to you.” Akiko said the words in a hushed tone, not all that different from how she spoke in class. But as soon as Sato took the notes, Akiko turned on her heel and left without another word. He shouted after her, but she went unfazed by the call and Sato immediately gave up, stuffing the notes into the bag he rested next to him. He’d check them later.

It wasn’t long before he grew bored from laundering outside the arcade. While videogames were always a rare indulgence for him, Sato headed into the arcade without even an idea as to where to start with the maze of games. He immediately noticed the large amount of students, which were mostly underclassmen, killing time with their peers. Of course, he didn’t know most of them, which made a foreign experience even weirder for him. However, Sato remembered other students talking about a game they really liked, Persona 4: The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold. Without much knowledge about videogames, he decided it was a good choice to start with, and it wasn’t long before he managed to find it. Sato cursed under his breath when he saw the gathering crowd around the P4UU machine. He went over to and leaned on some other random game, and pulled out the notes he was given. Though he looked through, he paid no attention to the numbers and instead mulled over one question: what other games were good!?