FalloutJack

Innocence Lost - A Science Fantasy RP [v.03]

NERO KAYAKOS

Later On...

The Blowfish is a small craft, and therefore not much room in it to do anything, so what you should do in a ship like this is a whole lotta nothin'. Specifically, what Nero had been doing for the duration was taking up one small nook or corner of the interior and lying against it. Was he asleep, or vibing to the music his Omni-Tool was putting through his mask? Well, you couldn't tell because, of course, the mask...but the fact is that he did doze off at some point during the journey. Fact is, there was a pretty good chance of this, since he'd taped a sign to the wall, stating that 'Nero.exe has stopped working for the moment. Wake up when we're actually there.'. He obviously didn't want to be bothered for most of the trip if he didn't have the luxury of moving around much. Even the vents didn't offer him much to go on...or go IN.

Ah, the vents of a small cruiser... That reminded him...

Nero Flashback!

Back During The War...

"...and then, we'll move on with the left flank of the main battle group- Kayakos, are you getting all this? HEY!"

A smallish vessel, on its way from a bigger one to a planet that might detect the big one, but not the little one...somewhere in outer space. A strike time was harbored within, and they were discussing their plan of action while they waited. While they did, though, their secret weapon - a certain Star Marine - had stolen a marker and taken up residence in one corner of the room, writing 'Nero's Corner. Fuck off.' before going to sleep. It wasn't on a ship exactly like the Blowfish, but accommodations were about as terrible, and the company was worse. Nero was resolved to ignore them for the journey, but the commanding officer turned and found him slasking off, and with a grumble he pulled him up by the scruff of his neck and took his mask off so he knew he was looking at him.

"Listen, kid. You're a soldier in this army, and that means having to learn a little strategy, especially so you know what your squad is doing, got it? So, get over here and study this map!"

He was pulled over to the map of the region they'd be attacking, with pushpins being used to represent their forces and the markers having been used to crudely draw in locations and plans of attack. Nero looked this over, and then pulled out his own marker as he pulled out one of the pins and put it in away from everybody else. He then wrote 'BAIT' with a circle around the group, and wrote 'ME' with an arrow pointing to the lone pushpin, before tossing the marker in his CO's face and turning away with a smile. That caused the man to shove him into the wall, hard.

"Stupid kid! You think you're invincible? You need to learn how wars are FOUGHT! Alright, let's go over it again. Fucking kid's useless..."

There wasn't any immediate reaction from Nero, there, but as the men were three hours into their rest later, the CO suddenly found himself garrotted in his chair, with the last words he ever heard being "Wars are fought by killing, dumbass.". Nobody heard any struggle, and they didn't even find the body, afterwards, which was a shock when you consider there wasn't much anywhere to go. He'd been pulled into the vents, of course. Operating an airlock was NOT quiet, and he didn't want to wake anybody up. When the other men asked him if he'd done in their captain, he said...

"Well, that depends. Do we all go on that planet and kill some folk, or do I have to go and do it alone?"

From then on, the rest of the men decided to obey the sign and kindly fuck off.

Nero was a bit kinder, these days, because he'd had significent time enough to relax, and because he didn't actively hate the people around him. So, that was why his note on the wall was just a piece of paper, and not even rude. Furthermore, he didn't silently want to kill Alan when the boy asked his question among those that were here.

"Oh, it'll be the ship that has the most speed and guns you can put on it without compromising it too much. Pirates like surprise attacks, so they wanna move in with speed and gunfire so fast that you don't have time to react, and not very much left to react WITH once you get around to it. Well...it's what I'd do, anyway. I could be a pirate. Pirate is just assassin with more drinking involved."

「 Persona: Reflections 」

Hakuro Kuroda

Mentionings: @DJAtomika @Serei2477

To be honest, Hakuro didn't like people selling themselves short either. It was just that he felt the need to point out that some people aren't interested no matter how good you are. He would follow up on that matter as the other girl did, saying "I agree. You're probably fine, just not for this setting. Somewhere that actually takes auditions, maybe, in a bigger town.", although he was 90% sure the music he'd been hearing on the way up wasn't Akira's own. Nevertheless, Hakuro read the 'room' and decided to remain encouraging. Why not? It couldn't hurt to try. Just take the act somewhere else, somewhere that the people might...hmmm. A thought came to him, just then. He'd've brought it up, if not for the hard rocker here addressing him now.

"Well, I'm not exactly new, and unless I'm mistaken, you've seen my face before. Long enough to draw it, anyway."

The Hatto-san stepped forward, tapping his phone a few times to bring up an image and show it to her. It was, naturally, the image that the 'Metal Chick' account had posted online that he found very weird, the one of himself as some kind of Thug Life nutjob, complete with sunglasses.

"You have an account on my site with an artist's rendering of your face in the profile and Fujihama listed in the public info. I didn't even need the IP address, 'cause I'd seen you around."

He pocketed the phone now.

"Now, I'm not angry, and I'm sure as hell not gonna be like Okamoto about it, but I would like to know why...because I had to dance, and I didn't feel like dancing."

Yes, it was important to note that he wasn't pissed off. He was mainly confused. People have made doodles of him before. It happens. But this was kind of 'out there', and it made him seem like a bad person, especially at a time where he was putting his foot down about not talking about the Prime Minister.

「 Persona: Reflections 」

Hakuro Kuroda

Mentionings: @DJAtomika @Serei2477

Good-News/Bad-News time. The good news was that, after alot of searching, Hakuro was about to search out the information he was looking for. This wasn't to say that the news he had found was good. It made for a grim read. There were a host of flunked-out students whom Okamoto had treated like garbage, in which some of them were in a bad way and...some of them had succumbed to pressure in the worst way. Let's just say that if Nagi really had plans to make that woman disappear, he wouldn't argue with the girl's methods. And yes, some of the failures had disappeared... The bad news, though...was in the successes, the ones he'd been warned about. Some of them were unfamiliar to him, just names listed among a series of achievements. However, some of them... The Student Treasurer, Room 3-A's Class Rep, Rina's older brother... Hakuro's eyes widened especially at that last one.

No wonder you were trying to warn me. You knew about the fanaticism from the start, and that put you onto the fallout of the fail-outs.

There were others in the vicinity of him, but the main threat was that the most-successful were in the places where being aware and in control of things surrounding them worked hand-in-hand. No wonder the Pricnipal liked the results. These were achievers probably at any cost, and they had a severe case of Stockholm Syndrome. Hakuro stepped back from the computer and headed out of the school library. He needed time to think, to reflect on this. Putting on some music, he started to head to the roof while composing a text to Rina.

I see now why you warned me so quickly.
It must've been rough for you, at home.
I'm sorry if my investigation caused you grief.

Heading up the floors, he was getting close to the roof, looking to get some air, when...something interrupted. He stopped his phone a second. Was there...? Yeah, someone up here was already here, playing music. It was different from the track he'd been playing, which was from a show. It was more up-beat, even. Hakuro decided to open the door to the roof and have a listen, seeing two girls, both of whom he knew, but not personally. That is, one was the Metal Chick, and the other was the very-much-into-pink girl, Akira. The music played itself out, and then the Metal Chick - who was the one that drew that picture of him, most likely - asked a question that Hakuro was all too happy to answer as he stepped out into the open.

"Unfortunately, there isn't really much in town that would be alright with that. Closest things would be either the mall, and Komatsu Karaoke, and Shimazu-san doesn't like minors hanging around the bar. Believe me, I tried."

For the record, Hakuro was not mispronouncing Shimizu Aoi's name. He was equating them to the Shimazu of history, a clan of war and profit. So, these two had a Hatto-san on their hands now. What do?

「 Persona: Reflections 」

Hakuro Kuroda

Mentionings: ?????

April 25th, 2025. For real, this time...

The events of last night had been entertaining, and before he had to turn in for the night, Hakuro had purchased some quick half-priced bento that his watchers and listeners wanted him to fight some people over, all because of that one anime. What they didn't understand was that life did not work that way. In order to even fake a choreographed fight in a public place, you have to have alot of permissions and consents, along with waivers to cover the damages or possible injuries. And if you just spontaneously tried to make a real food-based Fight Club things, the police would be all over you in seconds, even in this small town. It wouldn't work, and he told his fans to stop trying to make it work.

So, the next day at lunch time, he was reviewing the online submission as he ate from his bento box, not initially noticing Nagi as she came in, but then becoming aware of her once she called him out by name. He didn't know what it was she wanted - He hadn't actually done anything to her - but there was always that tone that suggested you were in trouble. It was a natural enough reaction, and she was also prepared to throw down if he didn't make himself known. That was what bade Hakuro to stand up and follow her to discuss...well...nobody in Class 3-A would know. Anyone, like Kenzan, who'd placed bets on him getting beaten up would find him unblemmished. You, the viewing audience, know what really went down, but anybody asking - and a couple of his classmates, including the Class Rep, DID - would receive the same answer, that "She was consulting me about a rumor she'd heard, and asked about this weird drawing of me she'd seen online.". Honestly, the picture thing caught him by surprise, and what even more surprised him was that Nagi seemed disappointed that it wasn't a real thing. Honestly, did she want him to be some kind of street-talking, full-of-themselves kind of person? Apart from not being his style, he'd sound just like every single influencer out there on the internet trying to sound tough and cool, when it's all just an act, and even if you don't enjoy the Hatto-Show, at least he was FUNNY.

Anyway, that whole business was neither here nor there, and the main issue - the one that kept Hakuro in that club room until the end of lunch - was what he and Nagi had been talking about. It was clear as soon as she'd asked that Nagi had been planning to move against her teacher, assuming she hadn't already. Okamoto hadn't been met with any sort of violence or been threatened, as far as Hakuro was aware, but everything pointed toward some unspecified action to take place, and that she didn't want him to worry about it...which was street code for 'I don't want you sticking your nose in that part.'. However, she DID want to hear more information, if he came across any, and to that he had an angle ready and waiting. Words were not said in direct confirmation, but Hakuro definitely got the impression that Nagi was saying Okamoto was in deep with something.

She has a number of success stories, of Third-Years and Graduates singing her praises. I wonder... Is there a common thread among the failures? Flunked out, perhaps, but I'd better make sure that they're not DEAD or something.

After school, he was going Hatto again, as per usual. This time, however, he was hitting the library to just cross-reference some names. Thanks to Rina, he'd gotten a list of some of the names of Miss Okamoto's successes. A bit of computer work and looking at school records for a 'comparative look at the greatest test scores throughout the year' would reveal who it was essentially suffered at her hands...and then he would try to find out what happened to them, what she did to them...

「 Persona: Reflections 」

Hakuro Kuroda

Mentionings: ?????

He awoke sometime later, as evening properly approached. Hakuro sat up on his bed and looked at the time. Huh... That late, already? Well, if he was going to do anything special tonight, now was the time to decide, as the curfew would be in like a couple of hours. As stated, he didn't really like having his potential hours cut short, but Katsuragi had engrained in him a fair understanding of the why. Casually looking over his notepad, he considered writing an entry for her like he did other people, but as he'd decided to let this be a bit more organic in getting to know her, maybe knowing her full name should come first. Hakuro set the pad aside and got onto his computer instead, checking out a bit of news - nothing new - and then the Hatto-Site. It was pretty much the norm, but then...

"What the...?"

There was this picture that...

"Whaaat?"

Someone posted this on the forums. He sometimes got art of him in various situations. There were even Deep Fakes of him in place of Inspector Zenigata from Lupin The 3rd. Those were always funny, especially the episode 'Zenigatacon'. Hakuro immediately posted a Jackie Chan reaction pic, followed by 'Oh, it's on, now.'. He liked to leave dangling comments like that. It let the forum stew on that while trying to imagine what it is he was going to do in response. This might've been connected to his statement that he wasn't going to talk about the PM's death, and that some might've taken his attitude as some Thug Life 'Deal with it' kind of thing. Hakuro resented that. He had class. He had style. Just look at that hat! Look at that coat! Look at that swagger! Donning them both, he stepped out and shouted "HATTO LEAP!" as he jumped from the stairs leading up to his apartment outside to the ground before taking off in a run. He was going to the arcade for a little fun time...

On the way to the place, he pulled out the Go-Pro he'd taken from his room and set it up. It was a fairly-decent model that he sadly didn't treat as well as his phone. As is with the things, sometimes, that when you toss it around, it gets bumps and knicks and scratches. But after seeing the channel How Ridiculous, Hakuro figured it would be alright, in the long run. If three Aussies could drop it from on high and it still works, then his would probably be fine. Anyway, he got to the area of the Fujihama Game Centre and started recording the walk-up with a serious expression on his face.

"This is what happens. This is your fault. You drove me to this."

He stepped into the arcade and looked around, pausing only slightly at his intended target before focusing on someone to give him a hand.

"Adult-Man, player of games! Are you busy?"

There was that one guy that was known for coming in sometimes to play 'cause he's basically bored. Hakuro had made his acquaintence and given him the heroic title he was now addressed by, mainly for laughs. The man turned around at this point.

"Ah, Hatto-san! You recording?"

"I am, but I need your help. It won't take long."

"What do you need?"

"My honor is impugned. They have taken my image and done this!"

He showed him the image on his phone.

"I mean, it's not bad, but the comments are...you don't talk like this, do you?"

"You see? You see?! I can't let this go unchallenged. Please help me. I need you to record while I dance the dance of doom."

"The...? Oh! You want to use the machine?"

"Yes."

The machine had various nicknames, but Hakuro called it the Dance Dance Revolutionary. It was the Game Centre's best dance machine, and sometimes his arch-nemesis on harder levels. He stepped on as 'Adult-Man' recorded, and set it for a hard track.

"You did this to me. Now...here is my retort."

It was hard to keep up the serious face for long, especially when the music picked up, so Hakuro gave it up once he had to really move with the beats, his feet dashing from spot to spot in rapid succession. He wasn't perfect, but he was scoring high! Hakuro had originally started doing this when he received a challenge from a dancing accountant who regularly used these kinds of machines to unwind. The man's name was Hito Fuyunaito, and he could bust incredible moves all while wearing a nice salaryman suit. He could Gangnam Style down the street or do anything, and Hakuro admired that, so he took the challenge to try and best his high scores. So far, no dice, but he had gotten good, as you could see right now. He was just finishing up as he shouted out.

"I'm not a disaster! I'm a dancer, I'm a romancer, and I'm a repaster!"

"What's that mean?"

"It means I forgot to eat! Aaaaaggghhh!!!"

This was gonna be funny as hell, once he got it online.

「 Persona: Reflections 」

Hakuro Kuroda

Mentionings: Katsuragi Yuri

It had been a long day for Yuri, one filled with tons of work and more rumors than she liked to hear. Word of a so-called Miss Okamoto’s transgression against Class 2-B made her a bit spiteful; if what people were saying was true, then she was pitting teenagers against each other in an attempt to preserve her own self-image. Though, more than anything, she was curious. She had a good idea of who had created the cursed drawing that had caused so much chaos, though how would the whole situation play out?

The flash of a coin caught her eye as she reached the bottom of the steps that led up to the school. Yuri turned to see a boy who she swore was familiar. Hey, wasn’t that... “Oh, you’re that third year who’s asking all of those questions,” Yuri commented. She stared at him with a small quirk of a smile, waiting for his next move.

The coin landed- ”What?” He grabbed it from the air as his head turned, distracted, as a girl he was...neither familiar nor unfamiliar with...addressed him. It was an either-or situation because, of course, he’d seen her in school, but he had yet to put down information regarding her into anything. The familiarity was there because he’d seen her around with Asumi, whom he DID know more about. The thing she said, though, was ummm...how to address this? Well, he’d made a toss prior, so why not...?

“Huh? Who said that? Oh wait, everyone did. Unless I didn’t. In which case...no?”

He was being a bit coy. Hakuro had never spoken with her before, and he was riding on the wings of a warning about making his actions a little too known...but he didn’t want to be unfriendly to someone trying to hold a conversation with him. He flicked his hat once with a smile.

“It’s the hat. Hiding in plain sight. Uhh, which questions were those, though? I kinda’ have a habit of this.”

Yuri cocked her head to the side at Hakuro’s response. Her eyebrow quirked a little, almost as if she pondered him or if she was a bit frustrated with the way he looped around her statement. “The ones you’ve been asking more recently,” she answered, though her smirk only grew into a fond smile. “You mind walking me to my job? With all of the disappearances, I’m starting to get scared of heading there on my own.”

He gave her an “Oh those questions.”, which was pretty much confirmation to her inquiry, but in good humor. This may have been a bad move, but he’d rather know up-front where the conversation was going, in truth. His evasiveness was merely a choice of approach toward this end. Perhaps the girl was curious about him, as well, because she asked if he would escort her to her place of employment.

“Sure, I don’t mind. No problem.”

He made a ‘Lead the way’ sort of gesture for her, then proceeded to walk alongside as she essentially led. It was only after a mental pause and a blink that he followed up with...

“...what disappearances?”

Yuri nodded at his gesture. A long, tired sigh left her lips as she set off for one of the busy roads of town. “What, you didn’t know? That’s why we have that curfew,” she replied as she shrugged the loose strap of her backpack onto her other shoulder. “People’ve been vanishing from town. The girls in my class are scared, they think it’s a kidnapper or serial killer or something. But I think people might just be running away.”

She yawned as she rubbed an eye. “So, why are you asking so many questions about that teacher? Miss Okemata? Miss Okumuta?”

He was a bit embarrassed to find that he’d missed that. It should’ve been something his mind was focused on instead of this business of the Prime Minister, like everyone else, or trying to straighten out his site in regards to that matter.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize the situation was that serious. I should’ve known, but all I heard was ‘No more late-nights’ and was completely bummed out thereafter. As for Okamoto...”

He looked her over for a second, parsing together what little he knew with the fact that she didn’t even bother to pronounce the teacher’s name right. She wasn’t in that class, or even much associated, save for one, perhaps.

“You heard from Asumi what happened, didn’t you? It’s one thing for a teacher to seek discipline towards a student disproportionately, and for that to be in question. But for a whole class? Unprecedented... I checked. There isn’t a cause for it in the book. Alas, I’ve heard that that may not stop her, and that has led my abrupt questioning to a halt, at least until I try an approach that won’t step on too many toes.”

“Oh.” Yuri’s smile melted off her face. She turned her gaze down the road once again and rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah... I heard about that.”

After a few seconds of pondering, she shook her head. “It’s pretty bad, but if I were you, I wouldn’t get involved with it. Don’t even ask any questions.” Yuri gave him a pointed side-long glance so she was sure she could get the point across. “You’re gonna graduate soon, so I don’t think it’s worth getting into any sticky business... there’s gotta be a reason why she’s been around for so long, right?”

He nodded, saying ”I know.”. His questions might’ve gotten him close to being burned, as she suggested, but fortunately he’d been given fair warning.

“One of my Drama Club friends told me about her having people in her corner among the Third Years...and also the Principal."

He let that sink in, as if to say that even on a bad day, the Hatto-san still gets his intel. His own expression had gone rather solemn, or maybe into a Deep Thought kind of mode.

”I’m very lucky. I might just be able to survive her, even if I’m targeted, though it might hurt in a different way. The point is whoever else might get damaged in my wake, hence the sudden caution...but give in entirely? I know what she’s doing, and it’s sickening. In future times, I don’t wanna look back and regret doing nothing on this one.”

Now, he looked over her way with a smile.

”I think I’m alright telling you this because you’re clearly not one of her followers. What do I call you besides ‘Asumi’s friend’, though?”

Yuri paused for a second when Hakuro mentioned what he heard. Her eyes widened and her lips pursed into a straight line. “Damn, so it runs that deep, huh...” she murmured as she dropped her gaze down onto the floor. “I guess I’m really lucky I don’t have her as a teacher. Still, poor Asumi...”

After a brief pause, she glanced back up at him and offered him a weak smile. “Y’know, this town needs more people like you, standing up for things that are right. Too many people stay to the side when something bad’s going on. It’s sad...but hey, thanks for the compliment. I’d hate it if I got labeled as one of her followers...” Then, with a sly smirk, she teased, “and what’s with calling Asumi by her first name? You must know her really well if that’s the case.”

She let out a dry chuckle, which was quickly punctuated by a long sigh. “You can call me Katsuragi, by the way.”

They would both laugh, because it seemed like they needed it after being sobered by the Okamoto experience. Yes, Hakuro was prepared to roll with that one.

“I don’t, but she’s so outwardly friendly that I don’t think she’d even mind.”

In keeping with the theme, though, the girl was just going by her family name, so he doffed his hat with a smile and a nod and went “Kuroda.”. He’d considered doing the ‘Bond, James Bond’ routine, but that was neither his style, nor an effective means of segway into his alter-ego as the Hatto-san.

“Hey... Is it alright if I asked about these disappearances? I know the reasons you said were just theory, but...is there a pattern to ‘em at all?”

“Nice to meet you, Kuroda,” Yuri affirmed with a smirk. They walked for a bit more as she pondered his next question. “I don’t think anyone knows about a pattern except for the police, and that’s a huge maybe...they can be kind of dumb sometimes.”

“All I do know is that people need to be careful,” she finally added. “Especially the kids from the high school.”

The young man seemed to ponder that himself for a moment, wondering if...nah, it’s probably nothing. Unless it isn’t. Let’s just say that it was going in the suddenly-pulled-out notepad before the thing was replaced in his coat pocket.

“Thoughts for later. Where do you work, anyway? I’ve been in this town about a year, and I’m pretty sure I only ever saw you a handful of times, mainly at school.”

Yuri didn’t mention anything about his sudden quietness, instead choosing to answer his next question. She nodded down the street at a bookstore that was tucked in close against the residential district. “I work at Kudo’s today,” she replied. “I’m a pretty busy gal, need to pay the rent to my place, so I work odd jobs here and there. You know what they say, money makes the world go round.”

“Ahh, you rotate around. That makes sense. Well, most of the employs seem nice in this town, so I imagine you have a fine time of it.”

Huh... That was interesting. Rent implies that she lived in an apartment of her own, as well. That didn’t necessarily mean she wasn’t local, but she was working to possibly strike out on her own while still in high school. Hakuro felt the itch to inquire further about that, but he had a feeling that it would be overstepping his boundaries...and we’d already had enough of that happening already. Best to keep that one for later, maybe.

“They’re alright, I guess,” Yuri replied with an indifferent shrug. As they approached the bookstore, she waved at him and gave him another smile. “I’ll see you around. Get home safe!”

And with that, she trotted down the street and slipped inside the small bookstore, leaving Hakuro alone once again. He had, to his credit, waved back, saying "You too!" as she headed off. He wasn't far from his place now, so he could just take her advice and head right there...or he could keep an eye on things externally to make sure she doesn't run afoul of anyone...or he could look up who it was he was dealing with-

What am I doing? Haven't I had enough for one day?

He really overdid it, sometimes. Why not just meet someone without secretly finding some background information and learn about them the normal way? Katsuragi seemed nice, after all. A down-to-earth sort of girl with realistic expectations of the world, maybe, and she liked his attitude. These were good points that he just shouldn't spoil, so yeah... Home. He'd had a day, and she could surely look after herself if HE was the one not fully-informed about the disappearances, like he should. Hakuro went back to the apartment and shrugged off his coat, putting it up on a hook with his hat nearby. He pulled out his notes that he'd been taking all day, wandering to his bed and falling back into it.

"I should talk to them direct, with or without finding these 3rd Years and graduates. There's no telling what that teacher is really capable of. No telling..."

He turned over and decided to take a snooze, leaving the notebook open on his bed to a particular page...

Okamoto Hina - History Teacher (Class 2-B)
Disproportionate Response
Gets Results, Principal Impressed

Fraud?
Extortionist?
Kidnapper/Murderer?

Innocence Lost - A Science Fantasy RP [v.03]

NERO KAYAKOS

The problem, on the whole, was that Nero wasn't treating Nirrti as some kind of walking weapon, so he didn't think of it as that when trying to equip the machine. He heard 'I need a large weapon of some kind.', and immediately thought of a big ole' plasma-flamer. It wasn't a terrible idea, per se. It's just that Nirrti knew their own capabilities and what worked better in the field. So, when the eager Marine heard that the flamethrower wouldn't work, he was naturally confused, and then a little dejected. He kinda' wanted to see what the action in the field would be. Maybe Nirrti could've made recordings? It was actually kinda' disapointing, and as he lowered it, you could see that on his face.

"Eh...I'm not that great with guns. And I haven't pulled any special ones off of anyone, lately, so this was all I really got. And you can't have my chainsaw. I'm taking that."

Yes, that's right. The Jaws-of-Slice Super-Cutter was coming with him. It was actually on his back, right now, as he'd hoisted the strap on the way out of storage. It was time for that to get its field test too, you see. Still, as he was about to put the flamer off to the side, Nero spoke up to Nirrti again with a smile.

"After our missions, let's meet up again and talk weapons. Who knows? Maybe I'll get something off of the pirates, and we can watch fight recordings for fun."

Go figure that Nero would be holding a decent conversation with a killing machine. It seemed pretty much up his alley, instead of a normal human being, or even average alien being. Normal people just weren't that interesting. Speaking of which, and most unexpectedly, Blackbeard's Ship Queen Anne's Revenge suddenly chimed in. Of course! The black market mechanoid! The perfect choice! Nero renewed his savage grin as he held it over.

"Well, alright, then! You try that thing out, and tell me if it works out. I mean it. I want recordings from both of you, and we can talk fighting tactics over popcorn or whatever the hell you eat."

It was at this point that he actually noticed Ki'Tlex, who was mostly silent, but had interjected in the middle of QAR's boisterous opening, which Nero didn't really care about, since the machine had said the right things.

"And your the fourth member coming with me, Flame, and other flame-boy. Whadya think the pirates are gonna try while we're tracking them down? I'm thinking space mines with magnetic grapplers or a whole asteroid just set to blow. They like the unexpected and the 'boom'. Any thoughts on that before we take off?"

He was enjoying this just a little too much. The opinion Ki'Tlex had of the Star Marines was likely to get colored funny be the likes of Nero.

「 Persona: Reflections 」

Hakuro Kuroda

Mentionings: ?????

The voices had given him pause, at the entrance, just as he was leaving. It was this odd thing, like he'd been just out of hearing range, and in his mind...he thought it was Nagi. She had a distinctive voice, so he thought she was leaving for the day, as well. He was just holding the door open for a moment so that she or whoever else it was could walk on through, but no such person came. Huh... Going the other way, then? No matter. Hakuro stepped outside into the sun with a stretch. You spend alot of time holding up the wall, texting and sending emails, you get stuck in position and gotta straighten yourself out. He stopped for a moment to reflect...

I walk everyday with the sun on my face, and my life is already a planned success when I go home. Why do I mess about like this? I could get people hurt if I go too far. I almost DID go too far, and would've been burnt by it, if not for Rina, just then.

He was fortunate, in many ways. Not blessed or cursed with overwhelming success or money or power, but that life was generally good to him, and would remains so regardless of what actually happened here. A traditional family of inherited responsibility wasn't bad. He just wanted more. He just wanted to get involved, get his hands into things. He reached his hand up to encompass the sun.

I want to be in the world, to hold on for as long as I can, until I have to go.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The Past!

"Hakuro, where are you going?! Why are you running?! We don't have time-"

It was evening, and getting later. The island was his world, and he knew every part of it as The Great Explorer, and he could leap and run across it as The Last Adventurer, but now - right now - he was a man on the run from the world, The Great Escape Artist, and his friend. It was a typical thing when you make a friend while visiting the resort. You meet the local kid who knows the island well and can help you through everything, and knows all the best ways tyo have fun. You have a good time, and you share a few laughs.

And then, you have to go, and he has to stay behind to greet the next one, and the next one, and the next one.

Meeting new people all the time wasn't all that bad, but losing every single one of them was sometimes terrible. So, one day, when fed up with it, a young Hakuro took his friend for a run around the island, late at night. They didn't stop, and as they moved, he explained why.

"There's always time, as long as you keep running. As long as they never catch you, you're free, and you can keep going."

"But you can't keep running forever."

"I can run until they make me stop. If I'm only one step ahead, I'm still ahead."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Now...

Hakuro lowered his hand, then adjusted his hat.

You make me who I am. I am the traveling Hatto-san. Keep running. Don't ever stop messing about. This one's important.

So, back to business for a second. He finished off all the conversations he'd been texting about to make sure that that was the end of his inquiry for the time being. He was sure that he could find the information he needed to start the investigation and get the evidence he needed, once he got the email from Rina about the past and present students who had been taught by Miss Okamoto. He was sure that something terribly underhanded was going on, but he needed to get to work. Two paths lay before him on where to get started. Did he wait for the email so he could review the profiles and look up information? Or would he begin his official statement to outline the nature of his investigation for those that might listen, when he unleashed the report and forced action upon this woman.

Hakuro took out his quarter, and flipped it high into the air, catching the sunlight as it did so. Now, call it. Heads or tails?

「 Persona: Reflections 」

Hakuro Kuroda

Mentionings: ?????

His thumbs were tired, and he needed a break. The information was coming in from all the different sources. What was he planning? Hard to say. Maybe an attack, maybe to expose her, or maybe maybe he'd settle for a little anonymous leverage to force her to behave. It really depended on what information he could get out of people, his inquiries sometimes subtle and sometimes direct. For instance, Azuma made a made another doodle while in the restroom - for secrecy's sake - that was a decent copy of the original one in class, took a picture, and sent it to him. The idea that that woman was getting bent out of shape to the point of throwing the entire class out off school was patently ridiculous, and yet Azuma was insistant that she'd do it. Meanwhile, Kai had come through with a PDF file and a note stating what pages to look into. Hakuro would've preferred he just tell him over message, but he could read it over and let his fingers rest.

Hmmm, it doesn't really say much about mass expulsion, and what it says about explusion in general is just what I'd expect.

That is, the usual reasons for expulsion were violence towards staff, exceedingly poor delinquint behavior, and also repeatedly low academic scores which incline the school to have the student seek their education elsewhere, lest they stop wasting their time here. Other bits and bobs began to trickle down about Miss Okamoto. How emotional she gets, her general attitude, some of her habits around the school-

A hand suddenly came down and grabbed his phone.

Looking up in confusion, Hakuro saw a girl from another class, one whom he was familiar with...especially since he'd been messaging her earlier about the Student Council.

"Rina?"

"Hakuro...don't. Rather, you have to stop right now, Hatto-san."

She removed her hand, and the Hatto-san's head tilted slightly as his eyes narrowed a bit.

"Why? What happened?"

"You wanted me to ask the School Treasurer to bring up this history teacher and question her actions, and I'm telling you that whatever you're up to, stop right now. I asked her instead about the general opinion of Miss Okamoto instead because you wouldn't get anywhere, and you might land yourself in trouble with the Principal if one of them were to raise the question to him."

"The Principal? Why would-"

"I'm sorry, but is that music playing for some reason? It's a little distracting."

He looked down as the phone continued to play this overly-dramatic theme. Hakuro pressed a button to pause it.

"Sorry, you jostled the phone when you grabbed it."

"I might've been a bit dramatic, myself. The club does it to me. Still, if you never had Okamoto as a teacher, you wouldn't know, but she has uhh...history of her own, you could say."

"Tell me."

"Miss Okamoto has a track record for getting results. There's a host of third-years that'll swear by her, instead of AT her, and a number of successful graduates will sing her praises, as well. It's sick. Half the school knows she walks all over people, and here these ones are all simping for her."

"Simping for her? Like how?"

"You know. They would do anything for her, follow every word for even ONE iota of praise. I'm surprised you don't know this stuff. Don't you have like a stalker or something?"

"I mean, maybe. Nobody's tried taking my stuff or anything like that. But the Principal eats this up, right? He sees the good results and if he knows anything about malfeasance, he's ignoring it."

"Exactly. And I'm saying stop this because you'll end up in the Principal's office with some sort of accusation about trying to cause her harm-"

"Not entirely untrue."

"-OR the other students may start trying to invade your site or the unofficial school message board to cause damage. You don't want that, right?"

"No, I can't have that..."

There had to be a way to approach this, some method that could blow this thing wide open. If he couldn't depend on the school authority, when this woman had the Principal and students eating out of her hand-

No... It couldn't be. She's NOT that charismatic, but if she has a history of getting results with a minimum of effort, then she may be doing something else... I'll need to look into this...but differently.

He was lost in thought for a second, but then quickly looked to Rina.

"Alright, I won't continue the online stuff, and I won't use any resource that'd drag it back to anyone or anything we don't want hurt. I was keeping it fairly light, mainly like curiosity, so it should be fine. I'm gonna head home now, but I'd like you to email me all of Miss Okamoto's adoring fans, both successes AND failures."

"What're you going to do?"

"I'm going to talk to them and see just how she's really affected them. Later, though. I gotta go."

Hakuro unplugged his phone and headed downstairs to leave the school. As he did, he thought her heard a familiar voice or two, but he didn't see anything on his way out. If there was anyone there, he must have just missed them...

「 Persona: Reflections 」

Hakuro Kuroda

Mentionings: @PrankFox

It's always hard to tell with Hakuro, but most people found him harmless enough, unless he was actually out to cause some damage. Most people he found to be decent enough, though. It was always they Hatto-san's way to gravitate towards people of interest who might have something to say on life or impart something useful or interesting about the world. For instance, Hakuro had been doing a food-related podcast, and had therefore gone specifically to a couple of small-but-dedicated establishments, plus a fortune cookie manufacturer, to get some insight. Back to the present, though, Kenzan had clearly been through this before, but he was apparently giving our hatted boy here the reins to decide. The curio shop was actually closer since it was IN town and the bookshop was on the edge of residential, but the bookstore had the towels, and it wasn't MUCH farther because this was still a small town. Kenzan was fine either way, and so was he. A fairly-even split.

Well...I know how to handle this.

From his pocket, Hakuro produced an American quarter. It was left behind by a guest of the Kuroda Inn. For no reason other than the fact that it was there, he considered it lucky. It also reminded him of the Batman villain, Two-Face, but the fact is that the hatted youth just hated to strain over decisions that need not take up so much time. It was much quicker and easier to just allow fate to decide in the form of a simple coin toss and just follow the ruling made. If you don't like the results, just do the other thing some other day. It wasn't an important decision, right? Hakuro decided alot of random things by this method, but not when it was a dire decision. It was mainly to eliminate INdecision when weighing the outcomes didn't help any, like now. So, he said "We'll decide this way." and flipped the quarter into the air. It spun for a hot second before landing in the palm of his hand on Tails.

"Bookstore, it is."

That was another thing about the Hatto-san. He didn't always explain the rules of this game. Still, with the two of them basically committed to the act, the doors would be opened and they would dash out against the rain!

Needless to say, the two of them would brave the storm at the speed of GO, heading to the bookstore at light speed (or close enough), though the rain didn't let up, and may have even strengthened as they arrived at the location. Hakuro stepped in, removed his hat and coat, and asked for a towel, which he offered to Kenzan, as the other boy was no-doubt by the time he got there.

"So! What's good today?"

April 25th...

"Wait a minute. The date's wrong on this thing. How did that happen?"

April 24th, 2025

When Hakuro woke up this morning, he found the date wrong on his phone, which was weird, though stranger things had happened. No matter. Minor phone issues aside - it was probably an accident - he got up and prepared for the day unabated. Hakuro lived in a small apartment complex located in the residential district of Fujihama. The rooms were nothing special, but they were comfortable for a single person, with at least accommodations for a guest longterm or a small gathering for the hell of it or what have you. Naturally, when he got up, Hakuro checked the Hatto site. Nothing special going on. The idiot troll from before was still making noise, but mostly people were razzing him or ignoring him. 'Hatto has spoken' seemed to be a repeated theme, with gifs of Dead Poets Society going "O Captain, My Captain!". That put a smile on his face.

The school day was nothing to write home about, or write here about. Hakuro's classroom didn't have an infamous derpy teacher like Classroom 2-B. Oh yes, he'd been hearing about Miss Okamoto, alright. She definitely DID NOT seem like someone to get to know in the proper light, and today...he would learn just how bad that could get. Fujihama High had an unofficial message board and chatroom that regularly saw venting about the bad things that happened to someone, regardless of how serious it was. It was about a half an hour before the end of the day, when things in 3-A were winding down, that the topic exploded.

BURNING TOPIC: 2-B OR NOT 2-B? THAT IS THE QUESTION!

Hakuro arched an eyebrow when he saw it, and then as he read further on...what? The whole class? Impossible. A teacher doesn't have that power unless this were a classroom of delinquints, and last he checked, this wasn't Cromartie High School! You might make an argument for Nagi, but one thing Hakuro noticed about her was that she wasn't trying to bring that into school. At least...not so far as he was aware. Still, this was madness... The history teacher wasn't even that good a teacher, and according to the thread, all of this was over - of all things - a stupid doodle. This was unacceptable. As soon as class let out, he got moving. People normally watching Hakuro as he left usually saw him dash out or something to go for his hat and coat. He was still doing it, but he was actually moving in simple purposeful strides while his thumbs were sending messages. Messages to whom? Why, to his peers, of course, to the people on the scene whom he could contact with ease, especially those he'd put on his frankly-extensive contact list.

Azuma, tell me what happened in 2-B.
What was this picture, exactly?

Kai, I need to know what the rules are for school expulsion.
The EXACT rules, as they are written.

Rina, can I ask you to talk to someone in Student Council?
I know one of 'em is in your classroom, but I forget which.

This went on, with only a certain pause to put on the hat and coat. He stood by an outlet out of the general school traffic after that and plugged his phone into it so he wouldn't run down on batteries when he needed to get out messages. Hakuro was having effectively a dozen conversations to try and gather different angles on this situation. Azuma was the only 2-B student he had on phone, because of a recent favor which - Surprise, surprise! - was down to a bad history lesson. He helped him out a little, and thus managed a fairly-decent grade. The point was, though, that he had to get information piped in around the classroom to filter out the false information from the true. He also wanted to know the exact rules because there just couldn't be a single reason for which a teacher could actually just chuck an entire classroom into the bin. You can't punish all so severely for one person producing what is essentially an unflattering, but smirk-worthy picture. And as for the Student Council? It seemed like it was probably best for someone with a bit of clout in the main office to come to the Principal in protest, to give information indicating that Miss Okamoto was overstepping her boundaries ALOT. This could not be allowed.

Not in this town, not here and now, not while I have something to say about it. I'm coming after you, lady, and believe me, you won't just be humiliated by a simple picture. This whole school should expell YOU.