Timestamp: Immediately following the end of the Morning Show
Location: Homeroom 203, Mrs. D’Amiano
Introducing: Samyan and Kisho Fujimori
Location: Homeroom 203, Mrs. D’Amiano
Introducing: Samyan and Kisho Fujimori
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“Always so wild, man,” Samyan observed with a wide smile as the Morning Show cut off, their friend's face disappearing from view. They were sitting in Mrs. D'Amiano's class right next to their brother, who had his headphones on and his face down in his sketchbook, totally oblivious to the spectacle that was Beverly Hills High's Morning Show. Sensing his siblings eyes on him despite hearing nothing over the building beat in his headphones, Kisho glanced to the side to see Yani grinning at him. He slid his headphones off and sat back from the slouch that would have his father hiring etiquette tutors for him again, tilting his head in question. Yani humored his belated interest just as they always did. “Rye and Dani made Sully think too hard too fast, man, and the whole show was just like a tennis match; bam, bam, bam, back and forth with the lines,” they described emphatically, hands snapping back and forth at each other to indicate the rapid pace of the televised conversation. “Sully looked like his brain hurt by the end.”
“Concerning,” Kisho replied simply, no change in his expression during his sibling's playback to support his words. He put his pencil down and closed his sketchbook to give Yani his full attention. “Was he upset?”
Sully was a recent pet project of Ethan's, which meant that just like most of the people the other rich boy's interest latched on to, the rising streamer of low income status was on the fast track to becoming one of the Elite. Kisho now had to pay attention to him.
“Ah, mentioned something about being an indentured servant,” Yani replied with a headshake and an animated shrug. “Maybe upset? Maybe just realized and was trying to process. The other two did not really give him a chance. He should be fine, bro.”
“Okay,” Kisho accepted with far less fanfare than his sibling. If it was nothing to bring up to Ethan then it was nothing for Kisho to spend any more thought on. The internet star was Ethan's project and prospective friend, and the japanese boy was more than willing to wait until Sully actually began integrating with the crew before he spent any extra thought or energy on him.
He looked around at his classmates fully for the first time since each one’s arrival after he and Yani had settled down, both early risers that didn't mind chilling in the class long before the first bell rang. Unlike Belmonte's homeroom, which unknown to the others was missing almost half of its students, D'Amiano's was almost completely full. Helen Wells, one of two Tantalizers of room 203, was absent, as was Niles Sinclair, though the other boy spent many mornings in the library so this was no surprise. Helen's brother, Troy, was in his seat soon after the Fujimori's had taken theirs. Alvaro had been seated before the Morning Show started, having done his round of greetings to those that the royal remnant still deemed worth his time in their final year of BHHS, which included Kisho strictly for appearances sake.
Leila Webb was absorbed in her phone screen before she'd crossed the threshold- which also had the girl oblivious to the way Yani had caught sight of her as soon as she'd graced the room with her presence. Kisho admired his siblings’ dedication to this crush, because so far any interaction he's seen has had Leila responding positively but not with that level of interest that showed she understood she was being flirted with and praised. He wondered if the girl would respond back in kind once the flip finally switched in her mind, or if he'd be the beta listener for some seriously sad bops while his sibling worked through their disappointment. Ellie Walter's was sitting next to her friend, slushie blue tongue and lips showing as she mouthed along to the words in her headphones, waiting for Mrs. D'Amiano to officially start class for the day.
Oz made his way in with minutes to spare. Then, the Triple Crowns had made their attention grabbing entrance, connected by Athena following immediately after the first two Helmsleys, moments before the bell, and the sibling duo of Toury Phoenix and Dash Day had thrown themselves across the threshold as the final ringing was dying out, maintaining their surprising joint record of perfect homeroom attendance. The Tantalizer had almost fallen over her smaller brother in their efforts, but they both caught each other at the last moment and shoved the other towards their seats right as the Morning Show had burst to life on screen. Kisho supposed that when your parents worked in the same building, even the most rambunctious kids will retain a certain level of respect, if not decorum.
“Kisho I’ve been talking to you,” Samyan broke through his thoughts when they switched over to Japanese. “Where’d you go?”
“I wasn’t listening,” He replied, words more relaxed as he too spoke in his first language. “Sorry.”
Hiro Fujimori, their father, paid good money for the twins’ English lessons from a very young age, and preferred they speak it ‘properly’ whilst in public, including school, especially to maintain good business conversation and etiquette. This, of course, did not extend to their step-sister Wakiya who had no care for the business and had grown up in America on the Blue Hill reservation, halfway between Beverly Hills and some of their classmates’ hometown of Gravette, Oregon. She took great joy in teaching her new siblings all the slang and curse words she knew, so it wasn't like they were unable to switch up the way they spoke. Yani had picked up on and liked to add words like ‘man’ and ‘bro’ into their sentences like most people say ‘um’ or ‘like’, unwilling to stifle the personality of their speech completely. Kisho used more formal English than Yani did but both avoided contractions and anything that their father believed could make their speech come off as lazy, uneducated, or unprofessional- Kisho would like to insert an eyeroll here. It didn't matter that none of their classmates, some children of their father's business partners, were not held to the same standard. Hiro was a surprisingly understanding father in many areas, but he did still have his expectations and biases that he enforced on his heirs.
He understood his father's worries, of course. Both Kisho and Samyan have retained light accents- despite almost nine years spent stateside- and when Hiro and his father before him had been expanding their business and networking internationally, they had faced many biases and setbacks due to ignorance. Faced down many downright racist and xenophobic people and continued to push through until they’re family name was practically associated with oil. Personally, Kisho felt that his father’s ‘standards’ simply made him seem ignorant and biased as well, just like those he purported this standard would protect his children from. Contrary to his father, Kisho believed being able to adapt to the different ways the people around you speak was a sign of intelligence and skill in and of itself, but he and Samyan still understood where Hiro was coming from, and thus respected his wishes.
All bets were off when they spoke in Japanese, though, they'd struck that deal with their father before they ever set foot in their new home. They had to breathe some time, and their father could be worse than they were sometimes in their native tongue.
Speaking of Yani, they let out an affronted noise before slouching over their desk like a flower getting stomped on. “My brother doesn't even love me enough to listen! I make him music, I drive him to school!”
“I drove to school today, you dork.”
“Not the point!” Yani switched back to English now that Kisho was once more engaged. “But I will still cede it, bro.”
“Concede.”
“That difference hardly matters, man, they are practically the same word!”
“We can bring that up in debate at the next club meeting,” Kisho countered, looking away from his sibling with little care to the affronted stare they were leveling him with.
The Fujimori's loved Foreign Languages club, and many of the students there got to see a more open side of Kisho than the stone faced, soft toned friend-wrangler that was observed with the Elite, or the focused, agile predator on the ice and field who strikes so hard and fast you worry the net of the goal may snap. It was a safe haven for foreign students, no matter how long ago they moved, and for students like PJ Jones who were learning for their future profession, it allowed them to immerse themselves in conversational forms of whichever language they were conversing in at the time. The future ESL teacher - which Kisho honestly found a waste of her talents but was held back on saying by Yani's hand over his mouth- and twin of Yani's friend JJ, could hold entire conversations with them, only stumbling when they threw in slang or used certain words colloquially. Kisho was of the opinion that she should become an interpreter, be it for businessmen or entertainers, and Yani silently hoped the girl would expand her idea for her future in her own ways, but was unwilling to call PJ'S easily achieved goals a waste. Plus, her being in ASL club as well as working at Webb Heads meant Yani could barrage her with questions about Leila in several different languages and pass it off as helping hone the black girl’s skills.
PJ, while never actually fooled by the Raver's ruse, was willing to answer to a certain extent. While the girl had a habit of keeping her head in her writing journal as much as Yani’s brother kept his in his sketchbook, she truly did absorb more knowledge about the people she surrounded herself with than even she herself believed. Yani wasn’t ashamed about taking advantage of that for their own gain.
“Are you going to ask her?” Kisho asked his sibling as he propped his head up on his hand while leaning on his desk, having followed his sibling’s wandering eyes. Yani groaned, taking their eyes off of Leila once more and sending their eyes to the heavens.
“Guh!” They scoffed, pouting at their brother while he rolled his eyes once more at the dramatics Samyan employed in their every action. “Not so easy, man. She does not even get the flirting, how do I just walk up and say, ‘you want to go with me to the dance? I know it is last minute, man, but I have been trying to lead up to it since the first day of school’?”
“Eh…exactly like that?” Kisho replied in confusion, never knowing his sibling to be unsure of what to say around someone and unsure of how to comfort such behavior. “Preferably without saying ‘man’ right in the middle.”
“Do not tease me, this is serious,” Yani said, looking forlornly at the girl Yani has an album’s worth of deep, soft beats that they made while thinking about her. Only Kisho has ever heard those ones. “I am not just wanting Leila for one night, I want her for my world.”
Their brother sighed and rubbed at his eyes, unprepared to deal with Yani’s pining this early in the morning. Being a part of their world as a whole was not simple or easy, and it was a loud and bright place. He was the quietest and most reserved out of the five people in their household, but that was because his personality came out when he had a stick in his hand or a ball under his foot. Kisho was self contained and generally unsociable, and only really had the one big insecurity about himself. His sibling was not typically the insecure or hesitant type. One of the first thing’s they had done when Hiro brought Yani home from Miri and said they would be raised alongside Kisho was stumble right over to their fellow two year old and topple him in a hug. They ran up to people their whole lives with the beats to a song on their mind and just vocalized and beatboxed random parts to the person before asking if that sounded sick or not. Yani did a fucking backflip off a cliff on their last family vacation only to pop out of the water with a grin and declare, ‘I didn’t even know I could do that, just felt like trying!’ Yani never hesitated unless it came to business, and that was just because that was when it was their job to take things seriously and consider every angle.
Yani was hesitating with Leila Webb.
“Is that not what you are supposed to say to someone when you feel that way?”
“Yeah?”
“...Yes? You really should not be asking me this, I have not dated.”
“That is by choice and lack of action on your part, Sho,” Yani countered. “You have had people ask you out and told them no, and you have never wanted to ask someone yourself,” Their brows furrowed as they looked at the back of Leila’s head with their chin resting in their palm. “For once, I am concerned about being told no. This means too much.”
How? Kisho wanted to ask. How do you feel that much, know that much already? It wasn’t a lack of faith in Yani’s knowledge of their own feelings and desires, it was genuinely a disconnect of mentality between the two siblings. Yani was very aware of everything, felt everything, and expressed everything with reckless abandon. Kisho was paying attention but almost never truly listening, was reserved in his actions and attitude outside of his sports teams, and spent more time begrudgingly following the insane plans of his friends in the Elite than presenting any of his own. Yani loved openly and was one hundred percent their authentic self in both public and private. Kisho couldn’t afford the same luxury.
“Samyan, you have not been wrong before,” Kisho finally landed on, realizing how much his sibling was actually looking for his support and validation right now. “She seems happy when you talk to her, you are happy when you talk to her. Show her your songs or something, perhaps offer to show it to her in your car after school.”
Yani’s eyes lit up at the idea and they leaned across the aisle to excitedly punch their brother on the arm while he pulled a face at the spectacle they were making. “With my good speakers, yes! That was a good idea, man, I thought you just said you were not the one to ask!”
“Please calm down,” Kisho mumbled, sliding further down in his seat as people started looking their way. Homeroom was one of the few places where he was allowed to be invisible. “Or get away from me and go bring it up to her now.”
“Okay!”
“Wait-”
Samyan was gone, already out of their chair and sliding into the empty one in front of Leila and making sure they got the girl’s attention before opening their mouth to speak. Kisho watched his sibling’s return to following their impulses with raised eyebrows before he decided to give them a bit of privacy. Putting his headphones back on and reopening his sketchbook, Kisho picked up his pencil once more and let himself disappear from the real world as he focused on drawing his own. The buzzing in his pocket was probably the Elite chat, he could check that once he'd finished his shading.
“Hi, hey!” Yani greeted once Leila had given them her attention. “Do you have maybe five free minutes after school? I have a song I have been working on that I would like to show you, and something else to talk about! Are you interested?”
“Concerning,” Kisho replied simply, no change in his expression during his sibling's playback to support his words. He put his pencil down and closed his sketchbook to give Yani his full attention. “Was he upset?”
Sully was a recent pet project of Ethan's, which meant that just like most of the people the other rich boy's interest latched on to, the rising streamer of low income status was on the fast track to becoming one of the Elite. Kisho now had to pay attention to him.
“Ah, mentioned something about being an indentured servant,” Yani replied with a headshake and an animated shrug. “Maybe upset? Maybe just realized and was trying to process. The other two did not really give him a chance. He should be fine, bro.”
“Okay,” Kisho accepted with far less fanfare than his sibling. If it was nothing to bring up to Ethan then it was nothing for Kisho to spend any more thought on. The internet star was Ethan's project and prospective friend, and the japanese boy was more than willing to wait until Sully actually began integrating with the crew before he spent any extra thought or energy on him.
He looked around at his classmates fully for the first time since each one’s arrival after he and Yani had settled down, both early risers that didn't mind chilling in the class long before the first bell rang. Unlike Belmonte's homeroom, which unknown to the others was missing almost half of its students, D'Amiano's was almost completely full. Helen Wells, one of two Tantalizers of room 203, was absent, as was Niles Sinclair, though the other boy spent many mornings in the library so this was no surprise. Helen's brother, Troy, was in his seat soon after the Fujimori's had taken theirs. Alvaro had been seated before the Morning Show started, having done his round of greetings to those that the royal remnant still deemed worth his time in their final year of BHHS, which included Kisho strictly for appearances sake.
Leila Webb was absorbed in her phone screen before she'd crossed the threshold- which also had the girl oblivious to the way Yani had caught sight of her as soon as she'd graced the room with her presence. Kisho admired his siblings’ dedication to this crush, because so far any interaction he's seen has had Leila responding positively but not with that level of interest that showed she understood she was being flirted with and praised. He wondered if the girl would respond back in kind once the flip finally switched in her mind, or if he'd be the beta listener for some seriously sad bops while his sibling worked through their disappointment. Ellie Walter's was sitting next to her friend, slushie blue tongue and lips showing as she mouthed along to the words in her headphones, waiting for Mrs. D'Amiano to officially start class for the day.
Oz made his way in with minutes to spare. Then, the Triple Crowns had made their attention grabbing entrance, connected by Athena following immediately after the first two Helmsleys, moments before the bell, and the sibling duo of Toury Phoenix and Dash Day had thrown themselves across the threshold as the final ringing was dying out, maintaining their surprising joint record of perfect homeroom attendance. The Tantalizer had almost fallen over her smaller brother in their efforts, but they both caught each other at the last moment and shoved the other towards their seats right as the Morning Show had burst to life on screen. Kisho supposed that when your parents worked in the same building, even the most rambunctious kids will retain a certain level of respect, if not decorum.
“Kisho I’ve been talking to you,” Samyan broke through his thoughts when they switched over to Japanese. “Where’d you go?”
“I wasn’t listening,” He replied, words more relaxed as he too spoke in his first language. “Sorry.”
Hiro Fujimori, their father, paid good money for the twins’ English lessons from a very young age, and preferred they speak it ‘properly’ whilst in public, including school, especially to maintain good business conversation and etiquette. This, of course, did not extend to their step-sister Wakiya who had no care for the business and had grown up in America on the Blue Hill reservation, halfway between Beverly Hills and some of their classmates’ hometown of Gravette, Oregon. She took great joy in teaching her new siblings all the slang and curse words she knew, so it wasn't like they were unable to switch up the way they spoke. Yani had picked up on and liked to add words like ‘man’ and ‘bro’ into their sentences like most people say ‘um’ or ‘like’, unwilling to stifle the personality of their speech completely. Kisho used more formal English than Yani did but both avoided contractions and anything that their father believed could make their speech come off as lazy, uneducated, or unprofessional- Kisho would like to insert an eyeroll here. It didn't matter that none of their classmates, some children of their father's business partners, were not held to the same standard. Hiro was a surprisingly understanding father in many areas, but he did still have his expectations and biases that he enforced on his heirs.
He understood his father's worries, of course. Both Kisho and Samyan have retained light accents- despite almost nine years spent stateside- and when Hiro and his father before him had been expanding their business and networking internationally, they had faced many biases and setbacks due to ignorance. Faced down many downright racist and xenophobic people and continued to push through until they’re family name was practically associated with oil. Personally, Kisho felt that his father’s ‘standards’ simply made him seem ignorant and biased as well, just like those he purported this standard would protect his children from. Contrary to his father, Kisho believed being able to adapt to the different ways the people around you speak was a sign of intelligence and skill in and of itself, but he and Samyan still understood where Hiro was coming from, and thus respected his wishes.
All bets were off when they spoke in Japanese, though, they'd struck that deal with their father before they ever set foot in their new home. They had to breathe some time, and their father could be worse than they were sometimes in their native tongue.
Speaking of Yani, they let out an affronted noise before slouching over their desk like a flower getting stomped on. “My brother doesn't even love me enough to listen! I make him music, I drive him to school!”
“I drove to school today, you dork.”
“Not the point!” Yani switched back to English now that Kisho was once more engaged. “But I will still cede it, bro.”
“Concede.”
“That difference hardly matters, man, they are practically the same word!”
“We can bring that up in debate at the next club meeting,” Kisho countered, looking away from his sibling with little care to the affronted stare they were leveling him with.
The Fujimori's loved Foreign Languages club, and many of the students there got to see a more open side of Kisho than the stone faced, soft toned friend-wrangler that was observed with the Elite, or the focused, agile predator on the ice and field who strikes so hard and fast you worry the net of the goal may snap. It was a safe haven for foreign students, no matter how long ago they moved, and for students like PJ Jones who were learning for their future profession, it allowed them to immerse themselves in conversational forms of whichever language they were conversing in at the time. The future ESL teacher - which Kisho honestly found a waste of her talents but was held back on saying by Yani's hand over his mouth- and twin of Yani's friend JJ, could hold entire conversations with them, only stumbling when they threw in slang or used certain words colloquially. Kisho was of the opinion that she should become an interpreter, be it for businessmen or entertainers, and Yani silently hoped the girl would expand her idea for her future in her own ways, but was unwilling to call PJ'S easily achieved goals a waste. Plus, her being in ASL club as well as working at Webb Heads meant Yani could barrage her with questions about Leila in several different languages and pass it off as helping hone the black girl’s skills.
PJ, while never actually fooled by the Raver's ruse, was willing to answer to a certain extent. While the girl had a habit of keeping her head in her writing journal as much as Yani’s brother kept his in his sketchbook, she truly did absorb more knowledge about the people she surrounded herself with than even she herself believed. Yani wasn’t ashamed about taking advantage of that for their own gain.
“Are you going to ask her?” Kisho asked his sibling as he propped his head up on his hand while leaning on his desk, having followed his sibling’s wandering eyes. Yani groaned, taking their eyes off of Leila once more and sending their eyes to the heavens.
“Guh!” They scoffed, pouting at their brother while he rolled his eyes once more at the dramatics Samyan employed in their every action. “Not so easy, man. She does not even get the flirting, how do I just walk up and say, ‘you want to go with me to the dance? I know it is last minute, man, but I have been trying to lead up to it since the first day of school’?”
“Eh…exactly like that?” Kisho replied in confusion, never knowing his sibling to be unsure of what to say around someone and unsure of how to comfort such behavior. “Preferably without saying ‘man’ right in the middle.”
“Do not tease me, this is serious,” Yani said, looking forlornly at the girl Yani has an album’s worth of deep, soft beats that they made while thinking about her. Only Kisho has ever heard those ones. “I am not just wanting Leila for one night, I want her for my world.”
Their brother sighed and rubbed at his eyes, unprepared to deal with Yani’s pining this early in the morning. Being a part of their world as a whole was not simple or easy, and it was a loud and bright place. He was the quietest and most reserved out of the five people in their household, but that was because his personality came out when he had a stick in his hand or a ball under his foot. Kisho was self contained and generally unsociable, and only really had the one big insecurity about himself. His sibling was not typically the insecure or hesitant type. One of the first thing’s they had done when Hiro brought Yani home from Miri and said they would be raised alongside Kisho was stumble right over to their fellow two year old and topple him in a hug. They ran up to people their whole lives with the beats to a song on their mind and just vocalized and beatboxed random parts to the person before asking if that sounded sick or not. Yani did a fucking backflip off a cliff on their last family vacation only to pop out of the water with a grin and declare, ‘I didn’t even know I could do that, just felt like trying!’ Yani never hesitated unless it came to business, and that was just because that was when it was their job to take things seriously and consider every angle.
Yani was hesitating with Leila Webb.
“Is that not what you are supposed to say to someone when you feel that way?”
“Yeah?”
“...Yes? You really should not be asking me this, I have not dated.”
“That is by choice and lack of action on your part, Sho,” Yani countered. “You have had people ask you out and told them no, and you have never wanted to ask someone yourself,” Their brows furrowed as they looked at the back of Leila’s head with their chin resting in their palm. “For once, I am concerned about being told no. This means too much.”
How? Kisho wanted to ask. How do you feel that much, know that much already? It wasn’t a lack of faith in Yani’s knowledge of their own feelings and desires, it was genuinely a disconnect of mentality between the two siblings. Yani was very aware of everything, felt everything, and expressed everything with reckless abandon. Kisho was paying attention but almost never truly listening, was reserved in his actions and attitude outside of his sports teams, and spent more time begrudgingly following the insane plans of his friends in the Elite than presenting any of his own. Yani loved openly and was one hundred percent their authentic self in both public and private. Kisho couldn’t afford the same luxury.
“Samyan, you have not been wrong before,” Kisho finally landed on, realizing how much his sibling was actually looking for his support and validation right now. “She seems happy when you talk to her, you are happy when you talk to her. Show her your songs or something, perhaps offer to show it to her in your car after school.”
Yani’s eyes lit up at the idea and they leaned across the aisle to excitedly punch their brother on the arm while he pulled a face at the spectacle they were making. “With my good speakers, yes! That was a good idea, man, I thought you just said you were not the one to ask!”
“Please calm down,” Kisho mumbled, sliding further down in his seat as people started looking their way. Homeroom was one of the few places where he was allowed to be invisible. “Or get away from me and go bring it up to her now.”
“Okay!”
“Wait-”
Samyan was gone, already out of their chair and sliding into the empty one in front of Leila and making sure they got the girl’s attention before opening their mouth to speak. Kisho watched his sibling’s return to following their impulses with raised eyebrows before he decided to give them a bit of privacy. Putting his headphones back on and reopening his sketchbook, Kisho picked up his pencil once more and let himself disappear from the real world as he focused on drawing his own. The buzzing in his pocket was probably the Elite chat, he could check that once he'd finished his shading.
“Hi, hey!” Yani greeted once Leila had given them her attention. “Do you have maybe five free minutes after school? I have a song I have been working on that I would like to show you, and something else to talk about! Are you interested?”