Shin Megami Tensei Persona: Dissonant Strain (Private RP)

[Cinnonym]

Persona: Dissonant Strain


This is an RP based on the Persona series of Shin Megami Tensei games. We aren't in competition with the other Persona thread on this board--we're just running a different game. This RP is currently private and closed to other members, but if you'd like to discuss joining at a later date, feel free to send me a PM.

As for the players involved:

I'll be managing your journey through Dissonant Strain! Your characters will begin as students at Akaito High School, the most prestigious academy in Uramichi-cho with the highest rate of successful graduates in the prefecture. You'll dorm on campus; the boys' and girls' housing are separated. You will each earn the use of a "Persona", a physical manifestation of your inner being, which will be your ally and life line through the difficult struggles ahead.

We'll be using a rather liberal battle system. You and your party members will have communal "Health" and "Mana" bars, so it's important to be aware of your teammates' actions. Accuracy and damage will be determined by the skill of your writing and ability to communicate your actions, as well as general physics. When writing your battle posts, please do not feel obligated to leave your actions open-ended. If you type that your character "stabs into the Shadow, then kicks it away", I will determine in my counterattack whether or not the attack hits and for how much. When interacting with your fellow players, however, it's more polite to "attempt to strangle him" rather than "choke him to death".

You may also interact with NPCs who have either information on the matters at hand or a fetch-quest. Rewards for these quests vary depending on difficulty and the manner in which you solve them.

Should three or more of you be online at one time, but are lacking the rest of your party or myself, you may travel to the dungeon for "leveling". Though you won't earn experience, you will have the chance to obtain helpful items, skill upgrades, or a piece of valuable knowledge, which I'll award to you upon my return to the thread. If there're only two of you, I'd prefer you just have some good ol'fashioned sparring. Neither option is necessary, and may be unavailable if we're paused in the middle of a school day.





I'll post my two characters' profiles here, and the rest in the following post.

Names are given surname first.
EDIT: Character portraits by Sa'Rithven.

Spoiler: Fridmund Eber

Fridmund Eber
Age: 16
Persona: Ne-Zha, Chinese trickster
Element: Wind (weak: Elec)
Arcana: Fortune
Combat Style: Offense--Magic>Physical
Weapon: Knife
Appearance: 5'10" Blonde hair cropped stylishly short, blue-eyed, well-tanned. Athletic, relaxed posture. Extremely charismatic, yet laid-back.
History: A German foreign exchange student from a powerhouse business family, Eber has studied abroad in various countries from the age of eleven and speaks Japanese, French, and English fluently in addition to his native German. His exotic nature and airs of confidence and strength have made him exceedingly popular since beginning schooling in Japan. He entered middle school life late, but easily won the students and faculty over with his prowess in team sports, rarely suffering a loss in competition. His scholastic intelligence is excellent, but not perfect, making him comfortably relatable. He adores the good attention and seems to encourage it often. He does much for his own amusement, having an aura of relaxed power and mischievous intent. He appears to have little to no ambition, and yet succeeds in all areas.
Extracurricular: Basketball, Soccer, Volleyball, Tennis, etc...

Spoiler: Seiya Hikaru

Seiya Hikaru
Age: 18
Persona: Menaka, Hindi muse
Element: Light (weak: Dark, Fire)
Arcana: The Star
Combat Style: Support--Magic>Physical
Weapon: Bow/Arrow
Appearance: 5'3", Medium brown hair--long, thick, consistent high ponytail in ribbon. Pale, creamy skin. Lively, adobe brown eyes. Perfect posture, yet prone to daydreams.
History: Hikaru is a senior at Akaito and is active in many clubs as well as within the community. She's a very friendly, very polite girl. Her parents are both doctors, and she has grown up learning to be respectful and maintain the household in their work-related absence. Quiet and traditional, she can be awkward in social situations that are too casual and occasionally loses herself in her own thoughts.
Extracurricular: Archery, Student Council (Secretary), Drama, Music, Community Volunteer, Cram School

 

[Cinnonym]

Names are given surname first.
EDIT: Character portraits by Sa'Rithven.

Spoiler: Mizushima Kumiko

Mizushima Kumiko
Age: 17
Persona: Baldr, Norse deity of light, love and happiness
Element: Fire (weak: Ice)
Arcana: The Lovers
Combat Style: Offense--Magic>Physical
Weapon: Legs
Appearance: 5'5", long, wavy, honey-gold hair. Hazel eyes. Straight posture, pigeon-toed. Pleasant, charming expression. Loves attention.
History: Kumiko is an only child who lives with her father, Ryuutaro, a very in-demand designer jeweler. Her mother left home early on for a man who made more money than her father and has since moved to America. Since then, Ryuutaro does nothing but baby Kumiko, showering her in gifts and money (though never actually spending quality time with her). Entering her second year of high school, she has held her ground as one of the more popular girls. Kumiko dates rich boys until things go sour; she gets bored, or just replaces them. Before the school year started, she dumped a guy causing gossip on who the next pick will be.
She uses her charm and good looks to win people over and will never say no to a free gift or a flirtatious advance, but she isn't easy. If a man becomes too grabby, he's dropped.
Though gifts don't really make her happy anymore, she seeks a man who will pamper her. "Daddy always says 'If a man can't grant your every wish, he's not worth your time.' So that's what I want!"
Kumiko wants to find something to make her happy again as money and gifts no longer can.
Extracurricular: Women's Soccer

Spoiler: Fujita Akinari

Fujita Akinari
Age: 16
Persona: Demeter, Greek deity of the harvest
Element: Light (weak: Dark, status effects)
Arcana: The Sun
Combat Style: Defense--Magic>Physical
Weapon: Kendama
Appearance: 5'3", brown hair, short and messy. Brown eyes. Relaxed posture, constant smile. Caring, naive.
History: Akinari is so optimistic and happy it's almost unbearable. He feels the need to constantly cater to others and be a protective shield. His parents both came from families that struggled to make ends meet, but they worked hard and their future became bright. Akinari received his name for just that reason; with every day he wakes he becomes more and more luminescent.
Surprisingly enough, though he is very easy to get along with, he doesn't have too many friends. In his last year of middle school he lost one of best friends who couldn't stand to hear anymore of the bright side of things. Depression barely had time to touch him before Akinari started to look forward again toward that guiding light. He's bursting with energy and all of his efforts are towards the aid of others. He is uncertain of what sort of career he wants, the only thing he wants is to be around people and to do his best to create happiness for them by his own hands.
He sees good things happening for him in his new school.
Extracurricular: Baseball, Swim Team

Spoiler: Yoshida Isoroku

Yoshida Isoroku
Age: 17
Persona: Leviathan, master of the oceans
Element: Dark (weak: Light, critical Phys)
Arcana: The Tower
Combat Style: Offense--Magic>Physical
Weapon: Pistol
Appearance: 6'0", short black hair, brown-eyed, lightly tanned. Good posture, often seeming bored with or snide towards his environment.
History: Isoruku Yoshida is a somewhat unremarkable young man. Notable in appearance only for being taller than average, he is the sort who has been placed in mostly honors classes but who excels in none of them. Tending to do well on assignments requiring native wit and poorly on assignments requiring hard work or teamwork, Isoruku is not social and is generally little-known to his peers.
Things changed several months ago, when Isoroku's grades began steadily climbing. Eventually he was managing a nearly perfect grade on every assignment, and other students began to take note as Isoroku climbed in the overall grade rankings, which the school keeps public to foster healthy competition. Isoroku's grades now challenge the top two contenders for the highest spot; one popular but intelligent honors student, and one socially awkward yet brilliant genius. Both students have watched Isoroku's rise with confusion and hostility, as he has until now been largely unknown to them.
Their confusion is warranted; Isoroku does not have the drive for hard work required to maintain such high grades. Rather, his recent ascension is the result of cheating. Isoroku accidentally discovered a gap in the school's computer system the previous year, and gained access to lesson plans, answer keys, and everything else needed to do perfectly on nearly all assingments. He purposely began by getting some answers wrong to avoid suspicion, and even as he began getting almost perfect scores, he was always careful to get a few answers wrong.
Isoroku has enjoyed his ill-gotten success, and found himself with mixed feelings about the slight increase in popularity his grades have brought him. However, the school has recently updated their security system, and Isoruku, far from a computer whiz, can no longer gain access to the resources he needs.
Isoroku is aware that if his grades decline sharply, it will be painfully obvious to the faculty and staff what had occurred. He is sure that some of them already have strong suspicions, and those suspicions may have even motivated the recent security update. As such, he is now desperate to find a way to continue doing well, wishing to avoid the ramifications of his actions at all costs. Ironically, Isoroku is now forced to work quite hard to keep his secret, and he finds himself wondering why he'd desired high grades to begin with.
Isoruku's homelife is uneventful; his father left his mother while he was a child, and his mother, though appropriately loving, works two jobs to support his tuition and is often absent. They live in a middle-class apartment.

Extracurricular: None

Spoiler: Yamada Yukimura

Yamada Yukimura
Age: 17
Persona: Fionn mac Cumail, Celtic hero of the hunt
Element: Phys (weak: Light/Dark, Ice)
Arcana: The Chariot
Combat Style: Offense--Physical>Magic
Weapon: Yari
Appearance: 5'9", Side-parted, neat, layered black, fairly light brown eyes. Very proper posture, expression is neutral, polite/driven. A simple pair of glasses--Armani frames.
History: Yukimura is a very serious young man. Beyond anything else he is dedicated, diligent and beyond stubborn. Both his father and his uncle are in running to be the heir of his grandfather's company. His mother died when he was just a boy and he's been practically raised in martial arts. He's disciplined and traditional. He's being groomed to take over the company one day and he's more than ready for it.
He's, however not very used to interacting with other people. He understands how to work in a group, support, protect, and fight, but isn't very used to one on one conversations and situations. He is very polite and reasonable with people, but has a very difficult time understanding anyone under the age of forty. He does not question his father's motives or those of the business. He's generally alone, but that's all he's known so it's never bothered him.
He doesn't expect his life to change from what it is now, nor does he anticipate other people being involved with it. He just wants to get through school to be successful and prove to his father that he's a worthy successor. He spends pretty much every minute of the day studying or training and has very little time for sleep. He also attends cram school. He's the captain of the school Sojutsu club. He doesn't have friends but has admirers, followers and aquaintances that he doesn't much notice.
Extracurricular: Cram School, Sojutsu Club (Captain), Community Volunteer

Spoiler: Junsui Rin

Junsui Rin
Age: 17
Persona: Inari, Japanese fox goddess
Element: Ice (weak: Fire)
Arcana: The Empress
Combat Style:
Weapon: Book
Appearance: 5'6". Black hair, comes down a little over halfway down her back. Brown eyes. Somewhat slouched posture, as though she tries to avoid attention. Her general expression is withdrawn. Skin tone three or four shades from being pale
History: Rin was born into your average Japanese family. Unfortunately, her parents died in a car crash while Rin was still very little. This left raising her up to her father's brother, who at the time had just recently graduated medical school. Rin's uncle wasn't around as much as he would have liked due to the nature of his job. As she grew older, she became increasing shut in, which caused her uncle to worry. Hoping to snap her out of it, he enrolled her in his old high school, where she would have to live.
Extracurricular: Music

Spoiler: Ishikawa Kojiro

Ishikawa Kojiro
Age: 17
Persona: Quetzalcoatl, Aztec serpent deity
Element: Elec (weak: Wind)
Arcana: The Devil
Combat Style: Offense--Physical=Magic
Weapon: Rapier
Appearance: 5'8", curly black hair, light brown eyes, relaxed shoulders, disinterested/frowning expression, often moody.
History: Kojiro is of mixed heritage. His father was Japanese, his mother is American. His family was not the richest, but they made good money, until his father died. Due to the size of their family, Kojiro plus four younger siblings and his grandmother, his mother struggled to keep their heads above water. His family finally sank after his Father's Mother became ill. She refused to go into assisted care and doesn't want to leave the country, even though moving back to America to be near her family would make things easier on his mother. As a result, the family has had to sell most of their prized possessions and give up many extra things, including Kojiro's fencing lessons and their old house, to pay for his grandmother's medical bills. However, due to his skills Kojiro was offered a scholarship to attend Akaito High School; he jumped at the chance to get away from the family and grandmother he now resents. But he is also very resentful, or jealous, of the rich students attending the school. Kojiro thinks only of how to pull himself out of his family's train wreck.
Extracurricular: Kendo

Spoiler: Mori Takuya

Mori Takuya
Age: 18
Persona: Styx, Greek deity of hatred
Element: Almighty (weak: Ice)
Arcana: The Emperor
Combat Style: Offense--Physical>Magic
Weapon: Fists
Appearance: 5'6", Dyed red hair, dark brown eyes with a blood shot look, fatigued/annoyed looking most of the time. Proper posture, threatening presence. Never wears his school jacket, even in winter.
History: Takuya is an orphan, an extremely rich orphan. His parents died when he was five years old, since then his grandfather has raised him and let him spend his inheritance however he wants. Since he excels at everything he does he often becomes bored quickly. The only things that really keep him entertained are controlling others through money and mind games. He rarely talks to anyone, except to put them down. However in the presence of teachers or other adults he flawlessly pulls off a perfect and charismatic demeanor.
Extracurricular: Student Council (President), Soccer (Captain)

NEW.

Kikaihaku Souku

Spoiler: Hasegawa Shiori

Hasegawa Shiori
Age: 18
Persona: Ma'at, Egyptian Goddess of Truth
Element: Elec (weak: Earth)
Arcana: Justice
Combat Style: Offense--Physical>Magic
Weapon: Baseball Bat
Appearance: 5'11", long black hair, just past the armpit in length, always straight and loose. Deep, blue eyes, like two pools. Skin is tan colored, she's got some muscle tone on her arms and legs. She's got a straight posture. Very straight-laced expression that hides her personality. She's actually very nice and usually is the one to break up the tension in a room with a quip. However, she is also very competitive, thanks to years of athletic contests.
History: Shiori grew up in Sapporo in the North, a fairly good student. She was part of an athletic family, her dad being a former professional baseball pitcher, and her older brother following his footsteps. She soon showed herself to have a lot of talent on the basketball court, and by talent, I mean height. She got slotted as a power forward and soon developed her skills. Her parents decided to attract better quality schools for basketball scholarships, and to be closer to her now professional sibling, the family would move south, to Uramichi-cho, so Shiori could play for Akaito. They hoped the prestige might even lure in scouts from America, but it may have brought Shiori down a different path.
Extracurricular: Women's Basketball (Captain)

Spoiler: Tsukiyomi Satoshi

Tsukiyomi Satoshi
Age: 16
Persona: Nabu (Mesopotamian God of Knowledge and Writing)
Element: Ice (weak: Elec)
Arcana: The Moon
Combat Style: Defense--Magic>Physical
Weapon: Replica dual swords
Appearance: 5"5', constant bedhead, hair light and looks as though it's been bleached at some point, brown eyes, pale, very improper, slumped posture. Quiet, somewhat distracted and jumpy.

Bio:

Satoshi doesn't seem like much at first glance. He's fairly small, stays out of the way and keeps his head down, slouching so it seems as though he's even shorter than he is. Something about him just comes off as uncomfortable, distant, maybe lonely.

He's a very bright boy and always has been, but his grades have dropped this year already and it's only just started. He'd been in a more average school before, though his family was rather well-off. He'd only wanted to lead a normal life and had been happy before. School had always been fun for him. He didn't have many friends because of his rather reserved, jumpy nature, but he did have one. The two of them had been best friends. She was practically a staple in his household and his mother had taken to setting an extra place for her at the dinner table.

The year before, however, she'd gotten very sick and passed away. It had crushed him near completely and he'd only withdrawn further. He'd always liked reading and watching movies. He loved comics the most, since he'd been given his first as a little boy by his mother. After his friend died he threw himself into them, buying and collecting them more obsessively than ever, just wanting to fill that void she left with something. He became much more reserved and didn't try at all to make other friends, distancing himself even from the acquaintances that he'd had in the past.

His parents were uncertain on how to handle it. His father, the owner of a publishing company, wasn't home often, but when he was tried to distract him, take him out or show him new projects, but he didn't seem to want to do much, though he did often go with him. His mother, however, is a stay at home mom and has been with him through pretty much all of it. She eventually suggested Akaito. It would be a change of pace for her boy. Living in the dorms may be strong move for him, force him to interact with other students and not rely too heavily on them. His parents shared the worry that they coddled him too much and were trying to make him live for himself, in hope that it would break some of his obsessive tendancies and hopefully start to push him out of this worrysome rut.

So far he hasn't really spoken to anyone and just concentrates on his stories, never ever without his books, and if he is for some crazy reason, just reads on his phone. He did take one step forward and join two clubs at his parents' request.


Extracurriculars: Library staff, Journalism

 

[Cinnonym]

It's dark. The subway's empty, as you'd expect for such a late hour. No trains run; all you hear is the dull, quiet thrum of emptiness. Your body and mind are fatigued, your thoughts as heavy as your eyelids.

Tomorrow's the first day of the new school year and you ought to be in bed, resting. You can't remember why you left the house, especially after curfew. Had you wanted a snack? No. It seemed more important than that at the time. It seemed? urgent. And life-changing.

Your gaze flicks away from the tracks below your platform when you detect motion, watching as a butterfly flutters erratically towards the tunnel. It looks haggard. It was probably searching for the sky? Never going to make it now that it's down here. You follow it with your eyes as it weakly flaps its wings, descending towards the shadows. You feel sorry for the helpless thing... Then--

Something thick and wet latches onto you. You hear yourself scream in shock as you frantically kick your leg. You can't even see it properly, whatever it is--its body is as inky black as the shadows on the tracks; the thing's appendages flow over the edge of the platform, a flood of darkness larger than anything you've ever seen before. A broad golden mask covers two vicious eyes that glow red with bloodlust. You call a name as sharply as you can in your terror, a wholly new and yet familiar one, as it swallows you.

There's a sharp whistle and your eyes snap open. Everything is blue; it's harsh, but you feel at peace, and your sight quickly adjusts; you look around in confusion, wondering wildly if this is the inside of the beast.

"Welcome."

Your attention focuses on a small, oddly shaped man. He looks ancient, and repugnant. You cringe in your seat--realizing, however, that you're in one and it's quite soft. You still feel the sensation of movement--a glance at the windows confirms that you are in motion, through a swirling greyness. You're in the cab of a train--an actual locomotive, chugging forward, not the streamlined transit you've grown accustomed to.

"My dear guest, welcome to the Velvet Room. My name is Igor. You look quite shaken--fear has befallen you. But it's that sort of fright that makes you feel alive? Doesn't it? Well. Are you all right?" You look back to the man as he speaks, mouth moving under an unusually long nose. Gnarled hands gesture behind him, where a tall woman in blue that matches the upholstery--you'd swear she blended right in. Her white skin and hair are offset by golden eyes. ?This is my associate, Eleanor. And we have been waiting a long time for you.?

Your brows furrow in confusion, quite wary. You feel as though there are several more people with you in this car, but you only see these two.

?Do not worry. As we speak, you are fast asleep in the realm of reality. Yes--this place lies between your consciousness and your dreams. But the monster you saw was no nightmare. It is truth. Fact. You must combat it, and I will be here to guide you to your destination.?

?Please, take this key,? Eleanor says, coming to your side and nestling an object into your palm, ?And when you find the door that leads to us, you will learn more.?

Igor's eyes never leave you, though the moment the key touched your hand, you felt your attention slipping. The blue room blurs, but you hear the old man speak.

"You are special. You have a gift. ?You will judge the World."


-------------------

[b]TUESDAY: AUGUST 16th, 2016[/b]

Students flooded out of the dormitories at eight o'clock on the first day of the new term and everything was loud and boisterous with movement and talk. Seiya Hikaru mans a desk at the front courtyard; she looks diligent, but it appears as though no one else is around to help her.

"Class schedules! Excuse me! Class schedules are here if you haven?t picked them up!"

She waved one arm widely, then thought better of it, folding her hands behind herself bashfully. "School schedules??"

"Ah? May I please have mine?"

Hikaru only barely stopped herself from gaping at the comparatively tall blond. Eber smiled quite charmingly. If anyone could pull off a real-life lens flare, it was him. "Oh, yes--You're the exchange student, aren't you? I think I met you at the orientation speech. Hold on? Um." Rifling through the papers, she plucked one out of the pile and narrowed her eyes at it. "Fu... F-Furi...du..."

"Fridmund." Eber took it from her, looking it over with an air of pleasant surprise. He smiled again at the small girl, toning it down just enough to manage polite conversation. "It is my first day and I have not been shown the grounds... 'senpai', I suppose I should say? So, if you would not mind."

Hikaru stared up at him in distracted confusion, suddenly making an odd noise of epiphany and turning towards the main building, "So sorry--the first year classrooms are on the west wing of the second floor. 1-D should be the second door down on... the... right...?" She watched the German's back as he headed off and sighed.

 

[ShadowFolk]

Kumiko found herself awake well before the 'crack' of dawn; both because she could not shake the strangest dream she'd ever had and because her daily preening routine started quite early in the morning. It was times like these that she pondered the meaning of 'beauty sleep'. Light burst through her window just as she finished up her regimen.

"Well, crap-" she sighed heavily, glancing at the small charm watch dangling from her wrist, "I'm going to be late." Throwing a brush in her designer bag she bolted out of her room and down the halls of the dorm; her heels clicked loudly as she scampered.

Before rounding the final corner to enter the school yard, Kumiko stopped to give herself a once over in her compact. When she was deemed presentable by her own ever scrutinizing eyes, she bounded in, practically skipping.

She saw a very tall, blond boy departing from her destination just as she arrived. His back was facing her, but that wouldn't have stopped her from staring even if he was standing right in front of her. "Good morning, Seiya-senpai." She smiled sweetly, tilting her head as she did. "My I have my schedule please? Mizushima, Kumiko."

-------------------

"Ok, I'll talk to you tomorrow! I love you!" Akinari waved in a sprightly manner at his webcam sitting atop of his laptop. "Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad! Wish me luck!" he beamed so brightly that it could be seen in dim room, through a crummy webcam.

There was a possibility that no one else in his wing of the dorm was awake at this hour, and who would be? Yet he was up and ready for the day that didn't start for another three hours, Akinari took this time to make himself a large, double decker bento with onigiri shaped into Sanrio characters. The seaweed decorated the faces of cats, bears, and raccoons. He always made too much food so he'd be prepared for any situation.

A quick check of his room was made to make sure that he wouldn't leave anything behind on his first day and he was out of the door, humming.

It was strange how the first day of school to him could be so easily compared to a child's first trip to an amusement park, but it was pretty much the same in his book. Akinari closed his eyes and took in a gulp of air before nearly shouting "Good morning, everyone!" to no one in particular. He made his way to girl sitting at a desk in the courtyard to repeat a greeting. He gave a very enthusiastic bow before rambling on about how happy he was to finally be at Akaito High School. "Oh yeah! Sorry! I'm Fujita Akinari." He extended both hands to receive his schedule.

 

[Cinnonym]

Hikaru's relief was almost palpable; still, she was very respectful towards the very wealthy and very idolized Kumiko. "Mizushima, good morning," she bowed quickly, "Here's your schedule--You're in homeroom 2-B. I wish you the best semester, and please bring us victory in the spring!"

 

[Rosen2012]

'You will judge the world... You will judge the world...'

The bizarre dream Kojiro had had the night before the first day of class echoed in his mind all morning. It made him even more paranoid than he already was. He was paranoid of his new classmates, his new school, his new surroundings. Paranoid they were all judging him. He figured dreams were funny like that, they always did things in reverse. Of course he would love to judge that smug looking 'princess' gaudying herself up in a compact, or that idiot looking child pretending to be so happy to great everyone on the first day. No he knew what they thought of him.

Poor little Kojiro, no money of his own. His only fancy clothes were the school uniform, and he only had three pairs. His lips turned downward as he felt that they were staring at him. The whole courtyard full of uppity rich kids that would never appreciate him.

He huffed, as he approached the girl passing out schedules in the courtyard. He nearly shoved over the first year in his way. "Ishikawa Kojiro, please." He said nothing else. Just had to get to class, then he could focus on what was really important. And escape from this miserable place.

 

[Cinnonym]

She stepped back a bit when the other boy joined Akinari at the desk. "Oh--here." Hikaru fumbled, handing them each a schedule. "Wait, no, forgive me!" She snatched the papers both back from their hands, switching them to be with the proper owner. "Welcome, Fujita! And... welcome back, Ishikawa... Um." The third year leaned forward slightly, whispering, "How's your grandmother...?"

 

[Rosen2012]

Kojiro sighed at the question. He could care less about his grandmother. Selfish old witch. This was all her fault. She couldn't die soon enough as far as he was concerned. He looked down at his class schedule and pondered what his mother had told him when they last spoke on the phone.

"She's doing...alright," he looked up, his face blank and uninterested. "But its spread to her lower spine. She can't walk now...Thank you for your concern, Seiya-senpai."

'Your fake concern.'

He pocketed his paper and turned to leave never once looking at the other student. 'If I had to judge someone..Seiya would probably pass. She seems like she at least has a vague understanding of kindness...or she's just mocking me reminding about the source of my woes.'

 

[PresqueVu]

Yukimura Yamada had gotten up early to begin preparing himself for the day. He was a bit unsettled by the dream that he'd just had, unused to them by now. A frown was set on his face, but it went quickly away as he got into his routine. He did a few light exercises, showered and got ready for the day. His uniform was positively immaculate, his hair combed just so, and his eyes focused by the time that he was through. Once he was positive that everything was in order he stepped out of his dorm confidently, ready for this new term and any challenge it may bring.

His time off classes had just been filled with cram school, but somehow it just wasn't the same as being here. He didn't pay very much attention to the other students milling around, not thinking very much about any of them.

He had an almost quizzical, but also somehow disapproving expression on his face as he approached the desk. He'd just seen the end of the last transactions, but stayed at a distance and wondered if the school's standards had dropped. He'd recognized the senior behind desk right away and was pleased to see that she was the first person he was directly encountering. When he made it up to her he gave a very polite bow. "Good morning, Seiya Sempai. I hope you had a nice break. May I please have my schedule? Yamada, Yukimura."

 

[Cinnonym]

Hikaru stared after Kojiro blankly; her spirit almost visibly fell, feeling sympathetic towards what must surely be a very trying time for the second year student. It was a relief, really, that he'd even returned to school. She'd have to be sure that the Kendo team wasn't given too much grief about their budget this year.

She'd been staring out into space for a few moments before she realized someone else had approached. "Yamada, oh--I enjoyed cram school with you!" She smiled brightly, handing him his schedule, "Will you be joining the Community Volunteer Group again this year?"

 

[PresqueVu]

He gave her a very small smile, pleased again that she's the first person he'd met that day. "It's a fine school." He glanced over it, nodding as he read off the courses. "Yes, of course. I'm sure you will be as well then?"

 

[ShadowFolk]

There was a strangely tense aura about Ishikawa-senpai, but the brunt of it simply bounced off of Akinari. His brow furrowed at the mention of the older male's Grandmother, but he had no time to be a bundle of cheer. If he didn't hurry, he'd be late for his very first class. "Please excuse me!" he bowed once more before taking off towards the main building.

 

[Cinnonym]

"Good luck, Fujita! Oh... I wonder if he heard me," Hikaru shuffled the papers in her hand, nodding to Yukimura, "Yes, of course--well, I run it I'll see you at club rush, okay? Enjoy your year!"

-----

Eber Fridmund walked confidently into class and took a seat right in the first row, letting his bag flop into it unceremoniously. Women squealed. It was a good morning.

"Furidomonnnn, we have the same homeroom, it must be fate!"

"I admit I am quite surprised to see you, too, Aiko--I would never have thought you would pass the entrance exams."

There was a brief pause in conversation before the high-pitched girl tittered nervously, "Oh, you're so funny~!" The entire group, including Eber, laughed at the "joke". He sat on the edge of his desk, holding idle conversation with whoever approached him, waiting for class to start. The second and third years began to file into their own homerooms as well, and Hikaru was the last one left out, carrying her fold-away table back inside.

 

[Rosen2012]

Kojiro silently walked to homeroom through the halls. He didn't care to really 'look' at the other students, just look through them. As he was sure they looked through him too. He dug a bag of grapes out of his bag and munched on them along the way. He had gotten a part time job during break, and they were kind enough to let him continue to work weekends, so he could afford little splurges.

'Though, its not really a little splurge. But fruit every now and again is good for my diet. And I have to stay in shape. As long as my skills are top notch, I don't care about anything else!'

He entered the 2-B homeroom and took a seat up against the window. He continued to eat his grapes and ignore the rest of the class as they filtered in.

 

[ShadowFolk]

Class would be in session soon, the students would all have their attention pointed towards the front of the room when their homeroom teacher stepped in. At least that was the idea. It was hard for Kumiko to see the high desk teacher's sat at over the mountain of flowers, fruits, and candies that had been piled on her desk. Clapping her hands together she thanked everyone who gave her the gifts by name. After she drank her fill of attention she cleared off her desk, stacking the items to the side of her chair.

-----

There was a pack of giggling girls in the room, all of them standing in front of some foreign guy he thought he saw a glimpse of just before getting into the classroom. Akinari stared at the back of his head, imagining what the front of it looked like. A few of the girls looked at him looking at the blond and caught how odd it might have seemed. Smiling awkwardly, he messed the back of his head and looked out the window.
He gave it another minute before he pushed out of his chair and went to greet the popular boy. The moment he got in front of him a hundred things fired off in his head.
'Whoa! Do all Germans look like that? Can he even speak Japanese? Is that his natural eye color? Good heavens, he's so tall! Does he have any friends?' It was around then that he picked up that the things going off in his head were eating up time and to everyone else he was just staring.
"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just I've never seen a foreigner before. My name is Fujita Akinari. You can call me Aki if you'd like. I'm very pleased to meet you!" he bowed again, hearing the girls burst into giggle fits.

 

[Cinnonym]

Eber paused his conversation around the same time the small Japanese boy introduced himself. It was almost too quick for him to pick out the words, half expecting to be told a fire had broken out downstairs. When the blather calmed, he gave him a puzzled, yet amused grin, patting the kid awkwardly on the head before turning back to the topic at hand: telling a pair of very interested girls all about the training he'd done for the upcoming basketball season. He flexed an arm and let them squeeze the bicep to their eternal delight.

 

[PresqueVu]

Yukimura headed straight to his class as well, sitting front and center and pulling out any of the materials he was going to need for the day. He ignored pretty much everyone else in the class after seeing several gifts piled on one of the desks. He wasn't sure why he wasn't used to seeing frivolous wastes of money, especially at this school, but he was convinced that there were so many better thing that they could be putting their effort into than trying to impress someone they more than likely didn't know.

There were a few students that gathered around his seat to greet him and try to make small talk. He kept it as brief as he could and went over a few of his notes from his cram school. He wanted to meet the teacher more than he wanted to meet any of the other sudents.

 

[duckflesh]

"Fuck. Fuck!" Isoroku slammed the monitor of the laptop down, wincing slightly immediately afterward and hoping he'd done no damage.

When his pirated log-in hadn't worked over the break, he'd merely assumed the system was down for maintenance. But could that still be so, on the first day of class?

As if the dream hadn't been bad enough. He didn't believe in omens, but...

He grabbed his bag and left the room. It would be fine. It wasn't as though there was going to be a test on the first day.

Isoroku glowered when he saw a small pack of students that had formed around Seiya Hikaru, but approached anyway. First year students occasionally gazed up at him-- startled by his height, no doubt, which had increased since the previous year. Normally he would have taken pleasure in their awe, but he felt too worried to really care. His stomach felt terribly queasy, and he realized he should have had something to eat. It probably would not have helped anyway.

Steeling himself, he approached Seiya, ignoring the others.

"Hikaru. Here we are again."

He held out his hand expectantly.

 

[Cinnonym]

"Yoshida!" The girl smiled and shooed the group of dawdling first years into the building, putting down her foldaway table to open the file under her arm, "Homeroom 2-B. I'm so jealous! I should've tried to talk you into taking the exams and put you into third year classes... You'll be the star of the show for sure, anyway. If you hurry, you'll still make it on time! Please enjoy your year." Hikaru picked up the end of the table again, dragging it up the stone steps and through the courtyard.

 

[Rosen2012]

Kojiro finished off the last of his grapes and finally decided to look around the room. He immediately regret that decision. The first few people his eyes came upon were Yamada and Mizushima. He hated the both of them the most out of his year.

Yamada was a stuck up jerk. Everyone praised him, but all he ever did was walk around pretending to be perfect. He didn't even have a personality. And if you tried talking to him he just looked right through you. If anything Yamada was a robot. A snobby rich robot. At least he wasn't sitting next to him.

No, somehow he had ended up next to Mizushima. She would be pretty, if she didn't flaunt her good looks to exploit the kindness of others. Every day Kojiro waited to remind her looks fade...but he never did.

He never said anything, he just sat quietly seething. If he didn't want to continue fencing he would never be in this situation. He couldn't relate to or barely even care about people like Yamada or Mizushima who never had to worry or want or try for anything their whole lives. He turned his head and grimaced at the gifts Mizushima was piling on the floor.

"...You're going to bruise the kiwis..."