Once the bell had rung, there was no hesitation in Shiori's actions as she began putting her things away. About to leave for her club activities without another word to her partner, Shiori received a text. Pulling out her phone, Shiori quirked a brow. Didn't Kazuhiko already know that she had to stay late for club participation? Opening the text, Shiori blinked realizing there was a photo attachment and it had a picture of both her siblings smiling smugly waiting outside the gates with Kazuhiko, “W-What are they doing here!?” She accidentally said aloud, forgetting where she was for a moment in her worry. Shiori was well aware of the fact that her parents hired servants that were meant to look after each of their children, the same way that Kazuhiko accompanied her. What were those idiots doing!? Why were they paid so well if they were absent-minded enough to let a ten-year-old and a five-year-old give them the slip?! The only reason she was able to relax was that they were both with her own trusted retainer. Quickly regathering her composure, she made a beeline for the exit, only to come to a halt once more when she noticed the scene at the doorway. She wasn’t allowed to overlook it as a class representative, especially as she was one of the senior class representatives. Seniority often came with higher expectations. With a sigh, Shiori adjusted her bag. This was not the day for this sort of thing. She couldn't put it off on Sora, seeing as he was involved so she had no choice.
She would figure something out, even though her last attempt did not go over well, “How about this... I'll take Kim-san’s place and help instead? My partner was hardly competent and it appears that Kim-San has other obligations to see to. We are both in Airdalen Overachiever's Committee, so it works to our schedules as well.” Shiori attempted to use reason to distract her fellow class president. It was her best effort to cool the tension that seemed to be rising. Given Ryou’s hold on Sora’s arm, she felt that intervention was necessary before anyone did something they regret. Blood had already been shed once, and she doubted all of Sora's bruises had healed yet. A second head injury wouldn't be helpful to his healing in the slightest. She wasn’t fully attuned to what happened, but she was familiar with everyone involved to some degree. While she only saw Ryou in passing, she frequented the store he worked at and he was quiet, she could appreciate quiet. It was an ability that many people lacked. Sora was incredibly intelligent, but he lacked the people skills to properly read situations.. and it often led to random situations, often angering others. In a way she could relate to both parties, as well as the center of the issue, Devone. Offering a solution that would please all parties was the only way Shiori knew to avoid taking sides, and she didn't want to change her opinion of anyone involved. If something happened, she would lose respect for someone. That aside, wealthier families often came out on top in disputes, especially if their families made donations, at least that was how a vast majority of the world worked. Shiori didn’t have any confidence that it would be any different here. In her own way, she was attempting to prevent the issues of social class from peeking out it's ugly head.
Looking between Ryou, Devone, and Sora, Shiori was hoping they could come to an agreement to avoid a violent outburst, “Harigae-san, we will be late for our club meeting and you still have the matter of getting changed. I'll be waiting in the hall.” She added, after years of attending classes with him, she observed that he was often quite punctual. She was making a few gambles, but she hoped that cooler heads would prevail. As she carefully made her way around them, prepared to wait in the hall for Sora to join her, Shiori became aware of Rhys' presence. Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment, unsure of what he was doing there, but remembered that he had joined the club as well. Her features returned to normal when the information all clicked. Still she was pleasantly surprised that he was waiting there at all, If he's waiting to see if he can identify Takumi, he's already left... Shiori thought to herself, not that she was going to offer any help in that endeavor. She wasn't going to enable a confrontation, and it didn't even cross her mind that he could have been waiting for her. Looking over her shoulder to the scene inside the classroom, Shiori took a moment to approach Rhys, “This may take a while. I have to stay until a dispute over class participation inequalities is settled. Gomenasai. If you don't wish to be late, you may go on ahead.” Shiori explained, avoiding direct eye contact. She was still embarrassed about her humiliating slip, but she had to keep her wits about her. She was in class president mode and she couldn't let that falter for even a second. She made that mistake once, she had to do better this time around. She fell off that horse, but now that the pain had subsided it was time to get back on and try again. She was voted in for this role, now she had to live up to it, even if the only reason she was chosen was that her classmates wanted to watch her fail. Regardless of what the reasoning behind it was, if that were truly the case, she would just have to work hard and prove she deserved the job.
Waiting to see how things turned out, Shiori replied to her text, taking a spot against the wall next to Rhys, but not brazenly close. 'Take them out for ice cream or something, this could take a while. Also, please inform father that he needs to fire their retainers and hire someone more competent. They could have easily been kidnapped. What then?' Shiori was typing a mile a minute, and her heartbeat was incredibly fast, despite her outer appearance of calm detachment, she was panicked about her siblings traveling such a long distance alone, and she was worried that her words that were meant to ease the conflict in the classroom would be ineffectual. Once she sent her response, Shiori lifted her gaze, looking to the doorway of the senior classroom, “If you choose to wait, we might have Harigae-san accompanying us. Is that alright?” Shiori asked as a courtesy, not aware of the exchange at the pool. She didn't tune in to gossip often as she detested it quite a bit so she didn't overhear. Besides, most were discussing the fire despite there being no casualties, she even heard the rumor that the Freshman she met harrassing Sora before (Rocco) might have started it. She didn't cross off that notion, but she wasn't sure how much she trusted the gossip trail. There was plenty said about her in the years before that were far from true. Honestly, I don't care if I never find out the truth. I want absolutely nothing to do with anything involving that Freshman. She thought to herself, doing as little speaking as possible to avoid any further awkwardness. The 'Tou-san' joke was enough embarrassment, explaining it would only result in added humiliation. It was better to pretend it never happened at all. Keeping to a more formal Senior-Freshman relationship would be easier to maintain. She was assigned to him to help guide him, that was all that was expected. She couldn't let other entanglements impair her ability to provide guidance.
Intellect: +1 to Shiori