Shin Megami Tensei Persona: Dissonant Strain (Private RP)

[Rosen2012]

Takuya turned to Yamada, he was still full of adrenaline. He would have immediately gone from looking to punching if not for the teachers coming up behind them. He looked past Yamada and took a deep breath and let the emotion drain out of his face.

"Go with him, Seiya. If you want Yamada, go with him and get away from me." He didn't look at her. He started to walk toward the teachers. The wheels in his mind turning. Something was off, in his head. In the student body. He didn't like it, he was going to fix it.

One student at a time.

 

[PresqueVu]

His face went blank, half enraged, and half terrified for the response. He went over to Seiya not wanting to see her have to make this choice. "Are you hurt, Seiya Sempai?" He was worried she was going to hate him for having flown off the handle. At least he'd stood up for what he cared about, exactly what she'd told him she was disappointed in him for not doing the previous day, though he feared his methods were going to be what she disagreed with, not the defense itself.

 

[Daren58]

Rin turned from the booth she was looking at when she heard sounds of yelling. Seeing other students heading in that direction, she followed at a much slower pace. As she got closer towards the yelling she saw more and more people. Among them were Mori and Seiya. It looked as if some fight had taken place. She slowed her pace and approached the area at a much slower pace as she saw Mori moving away from them.

 

[Rosen2012]

Kojiro spotted Rin walking up and he called out to her. "Rin! Hey, Rin! Over here!" He jogged over to her and smiled, "Did you see what happened?"

 

[Cinnonym]

Hikaru looked between the two boys, on the verge of tears, "Yamada... Th-Thank you, but..." She was supposed to choose between them? But Yukimura hadn't just had his nose broken. Yukimura wasn't bleeding down the front of his shirt. Yukimura didn't need her the most right now. "Please excuse me!" She broke out of his grip and hurried after Mori, towards the teachers.

-------

Eber joined him in silence, face stern with the brevity of his throughts. Eventually he reached over, resting his hand on Akinari's head. "Oi..." He glanced aside at him, features softening, "...I do not want to go to the nurse's... Can we go home?"

 

[Daren58]

Rin shook her head at Kojiro. "Um no, I just got here um Kojiro-san." She glanced around. "They seemed quite upset, what do you think happened?"

 

[ShadowFolk]

He jumped a little at the hand touching his head. "But,..." he stopped, happy that Eber at least did not look so upset anymore. Akinari's will bent at the request. "...Well...alright...But, we still need to put something on that, ok? I think I have a first-aid kit somewhere..." he trailed off, changing directions to face the dorms.

 

[Rosen2012]

Kojiro shrugged. "Looks like Mori and that new foreign freshman got into a fist fight. I'm sure we'll hear about it tomorrow..." He looked around, content that everyone was way to busy with the fight to care about anything else.

"Now would be a good time to check out the weak spots in their security. And we'll need to...after this the teachers will be on edge for the rest of the day." He pulled up his phone and dialed Isoroku.


----

Takuya could barely contain the smile that crept across his face as he heard foot steps quickly coming up behind him. Without looking he slightly reached behind and offered his hand to they approaching girl. He even slowed down his pace and slightly turned his head to catch the look on Yamada's face.

In war even the smallest of victories were important.

As he felt Seiya's hand grab his own, he squeezed it and looked down at her. With his free hand he wiped the blood from his face, and leaned it to whisper to her before the teacher was within ear shot.

"...Thank you, for always being there, Hikaru." If he had been facing her dead on, you could have seen the arrogant smirk on his face.


One student at a time...

 

[duckflesh]

Isoroku sighed as, directly upon leaving the building, he watched the fight being broken up.

"I can't fucking believe this," he commented to a first-year standing next to him. The girl looked up at him, stunned at being addressed. "Honestly," he continued, "it never fails. I take an extra minute to get a drink of water, and look what I miss."

He shook his head and walked over nearer to the fight, trying to see. It would appear that Mori had gotten into a fight with another student-- a younger student! That was fantastic. Even if the younger one had started it, it made Mori look terrible-- totally out of control. It wouldn't be good for his reputation. It would increase the amount others feared him, but that wasn't really what Mori needed at this point. He needed respect, and his respect was devaluing swiftly. The bigger they come...

Isoroku strolled down the row, looking disdainfully from club to club. One of the first tables he noticed seemed to have no one behind it, though a few boys stood awkwardly nearby. There was an extremely nice looking spear lying on the table, and it drew his attention. Striding over, he picked it up in both hands and tossed it up a few times, feeling its weight. He glanced up at one of the boys nearby.

"What's the story here, kid?"

 

[PresqueVu]

For several minutes Yamada stood there dumbstruck by what had just occured. He didn't know why he was so devastated, why his chest was tightened up like this. He hardly even remembered the other boys right then. He answered teachers questions blankly, stoically, then mechanically walked over and picked up his spear. He dusted it off as best he could and politely declined any other conversation.

He made his way back to his booth and sat heavily down in a seat that one of the other boys had brought over. He was sure at the very least that this was going to bring some people over to the table if for nothing but questions. He was so angry, but now in a muted way, a sort of calm anger. He realized dully that the runners were gone, but he was sure that Akinari could handle getting the German to the nurse's office. Even if he seemed scattered or childish he could tell already that that boy could hold his own.

He sat there trying to piece together what was upsetting him so much about this and for just a second he considered skipping out on cram school. That was just something he didn't do. Didn't even entertain the thought, never had. He wondered what it was about this term was getting to him so much. He was sure that it wasn't just the president. Between him, Seiya, the quarreling students, those damn dreams and all the work he was piling on himself he just couldn't take it. After thinking back to just the way he'd acted he was sure that something had to give and he feared it was going to be his sanity. He had no idea what to do with himself right then.

Yamada glanced up from where he sat and saw Yoshida. Of all people. Yoshida. This was just a perfect day. "The president was just displaying his talented sense of control on an underclassmen. So not much out of the ordinary, Yoshida San."

 

[duckflesh]

Isoroku laughed. "Mhmm. Try saying that to his face." His phone began to vibrate, and he fished it from his pocket, glancing at the screen.

He dropped the spear back on the table, where it began to roll toward Yamada.

"Nice stuff for a museum, Yukimura, but if you want to fight, you should really take up shooting. Hard to put a spear in someone if they're five centuries ahead of you in technology."

He indicated his phone and then turned to walk away, flipping the phone open.

"Moshi Moshi?"

 

[Cinnonym]

"Mori-sama..." Hikaru squeezed his hand tightly and kept beside him, eyes on the ground while she addressed the teachers, occasionally speaking for the president as a good secretary should.

------

Eber gave him a quirky sort of half-smile and squeezed his shoulder, walking with him back to the dorms. He cast a quick glance over his shoulder to confirm that no one was following him; while he couldn't avoid punishment from the faculty forever, he could at least put it off until tomorrow. He had a feeling things would go his way during the ensuing debate...

"Let us watch a film while everyone else is out, all right, Aki?"

 

[PresqueVu]

He stared after him, furious. He was so close to saying so many things, but decided instead to stew. He was sure that anyone that wielded a gun had very little real combat skill. As he sat on it he got even more upset and remembered his competition from before. He wanted to dare the boy to try a fighting style that required any more than pulling a trigger. He saw no honor in firearms, but saw no honor in Yoshida either. "I suppose you're correct, Yoshida San. Guns are a fine weapon for cowards. Those who are too afraid to fight like a man."

He wondered if it was going to make him shut off the phone. He had no idea why he was acting this way, but he was just sick of everything and got even angrier at his own weakness.

 

[Rosen2012]

"Hey, Isoroku," Kojiro spoke, "Hey did you see the fight? I didn't...but Rin and I want to go review that stuff we were looking during club rush. I figured now's a good time while the teachers are scrambling to find out what happened and find that German kid."

He looked around, "Meet us over by the Kendo Club table, ok?"


----

Takuya assisted in explaining what had happened during the altercation. Some of it lies, some of it truth. He knew it was better to tell his story first and garner as many to his side as possible, than to run and hide. He admitted to eating some of the food. he admitted to spitting some out, as it had an odd taste...He explained the bleach incident from before and expressed a concern for Fridmund slipping some into the food. He conveniently left out the part about mocking Fujita and Fridmund.

He then went into the details of how Fridmund tired to force him to eat the food off the ground, only reassuring him that there was something funny it. And that he was defending himself the entire time.

He was not going to go down alone.

 

[ShadowFolk]

"I can't believe there was fighting so soon in the year. We're not even a week in." she said to no one. She rolled her eyes and left the sojutsu booth. What point was there in staying around? Yamada had run off and anyone that could have been interested in soccer had jetted over to watch the fight. There would be far too much gossip to focus on anything.

----

Akinari smiled right back. "Ok, that sounds like it would be fun!" he perked up a bit at the proposition. "But you're still gonna let me take a look at that, right?" he pointed at the now dried blood on Eber's face. "I'm sure it'll heal up fine, but I want to be sure." he carried on, blabbing about ointments and skin care.

 

[Cinnonym]

Eber frowned, rubbing at his cheek and picking at the wound, "It hurts..." He sighed and shrugged, indicating his defeat in this matter, "As you like, then, though I do not expect it to go anywhere..." He flashed a teasing smile at the smaller boy, "Do you suppose no one will like me with a gruesomely scarred face, or shall it make me look rugged and dashing?"

 

[duckflesh]

"I'll be there in few minutes."

Isoroku hung up the phone. He'd heard what Yamada had said, and it had been startlingly close to an insult. Isoroku did not mind this all that much, but it was very odd-- normally Yamada was in far better control of himself than to stoop to such a level. Isoroku, obviously, was quite comfortable at said level.

He didn't know why he hated Yamada. Maybe it was because the other boy was everything he wasn't. Hard-working, honorable, from a good family... it all just made him sick. He should have walked away, but... when would Yamada be in a mood like this again?

He turned around and took a few steps toward the Sojutsu booth, trying to act natural, like he was just having a friendly conversation. He even smiled.

"See, that's what the Samurai thought, isn't it? And how did the last of them die, Yukimura? Full of bullet holes."

He put one hand on the table so he could lean on it.

"There's no place for that kind of honor in the modern world, you know? We've always been good at evolving, adapting, but we can't seem to give up tradition, and I think that's our problem. It's like the last war. Kamikaze pilots died with honor, but what good is honor when you're a bloody oil stain on the deck of an aircraft carrier? Honor... well, that's what you get from people who don't have the aptitude to provide anything better."

 

[ShadowFolk]

"Ah!" Akinari shook his head violently. "No! No, of course people will still like you! It was stupid of me to make such a big deal out of it. You'd still be handsome either way. Just as liked as ever and--" He didn't like the way he started to ramble. He got behind Eber and pressed his hands onto his shoulders, pushing him forward. The boy made a strange strangled noise in the back of his throat.

 

[Cinnonym]

Eber blinked, surprised by his behavior, but laughed and let himself be pushed along, already feeling less viciously vengeful. "All right, all right, all right..."

When they reached the boys' dormitories, he left his things on the floor by the couch and dug through the pile of DVDs in the entertainment center that housed the large television.

"What should we watch? I am partial to American films myself..." He looked over his shoulder at him. "The action and adventure type. But that does not surprise you, does it?"

 

[PresqueVu]

"I think quite dissimilarly, Yoshida San." He accented the title in his name quite pointedly and tried once again to keep his features neutral. He wanted to go over the table at him. He wanted to wipe that damn look off his face for always being so laid back. Slacking off and doing better than he did when he tried so hard every minute of every damn day. His carefully crafted wall of control was starting to crack and shatter.

"In my opinion that's nothing more than an excuse from those too lazy to stand up for what is right, what they believe in. If they ever have believed in something, that is. You aren't wrong about the death of the samurai, but I guarantee those men had nothing to regret, no burden to hold them back at the end because every one of them faced their obstacles head on."

He forced himself to stay seated and just barely at that. He didn't mind this debate and he wished he did. He hated the way he was sounding, how harsh and undignified, how hard a time he was having controlling himself. "I have a feeling that those gunmen could not say the same. I'm sure that they died small, and broken. And I'm sure that they ran and hid from their challenges just as they did from where the true battle raged."

This verbal sparring was a very good way to relieve stress, a good way to get out in the open everything he'd ever hated about the other boy. At the moment he didn't even notice his other club members as well as a few others starting to take notice of their odd disagreement.