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Johnny Farelli

"I will get stronger. I have to... for everyone's sakes." (FridayStatsUpdated!)

0 · 6,866 views · located in Airdalen Academy

a character in “No-Go AA+”, as played by HolyJunkie

Description

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Theme of the Foreigner: Pretty Fly For a White Guy - The Offspring
Theme of the Athlete: Don't Stop Me Now - Queen
Theme of the Beast: Takyon - Death Grips
Theme of the Warm Home: N O S T A L G I C (Simpsonwave) - Assorted
Theme of Melancholic Jams: Whitewash - Buckethead
Theme of the Forever Lost: Great Gig in the Sky - Pink Floyd
Theme of the To and From: Aunt Suzie - Buckethead
Theme of the Distant Elite: Uptown Girl - Billy Joel
Theme of the Fresh Skeptic: Think - Jimmy McCracklin
Theme of the Ultimate Goal: Heart of Gold - Neil Young
Alternate Theme of the Ultimate Goal: Beyond the Sea - Bobby Darren

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Time for school.

Full Name: Johnathan Farelli
Nickname(s): Johnny, Jay, that baka gaijin 
Gender: Male
Grade: Junior
Face Claim: Makoto Tachibana, Cecil Aijima, among others whose images are used for this thing. 
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual 
Nationality: American - Japanese and Italian genetics


STATS


Intellect: 9 (1 start + 8) 
(git guder.)
Athleticism: 38 (9 start + 29) 
(If I wasn't so strong and fit, I probably wouldn't have made it through the smoke with Haruhi-chan...)
Charm: 8 (0 start + 8)
(I guess actions speak louder than words.)
Popularity: 18 (0 start + 18) 
("Huge", "Muscular", "Kinda Cute", and "Kinda Scary tall" are the general words going around campus.)
Notoriety: 1 (0 start + 1) 
("Did you hear he got in a fight with six guys? He also ran right into the smoke... What's his problem?")

Your most important stat:  
Atheticism
Which stat appeals to you most:
Charm, though "most" in this case is barely reached.

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Simplistic, yet chiseled features. He has thick, Italian brown hair and gleaming deep emerald-green eyes. Standing at 6’4”, he very literally stands out in a crowd. He's very muscular, but he's very lean and compact. He's at an ideal BMI at 205lbs. His preferred attire more often than not is lightweight, sporty attire. More often than not, he tends to pull off the hip/hop look with a bandana to keep his hair back. He has no tattoos.

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Confident and dependable, yet relatively quiet. To him, actions speak louder than words- especially since he can barely speak the language. When he does speak, there’s only the slightest tinge of jadedness in his voice that he often tries to hide under his otherwise cheery and to-the-point attitude. His voice is a soothing, deep one, indicating great practice for... what? No one knows for sure. (It's music. It's obviously music.) What they do know is that all work and no play makes him a seemingly dull boy
 except on the literal court of a sport. He does enjoy physical activity, since that's when he understands everyone perfectly through their actions. He was a lot more fun-loving in his previous schools, but he doesn't talk about that.

He's quite laid-back about a lot of things, from the differing personalities of people to even things that inconvenience himself. This is probably why he comes across as an average student, despite performing extremely well in the academy's entrance exam. He seems to have great potential when he gets really serious and passionate about something.

Always willing to help others out, almost to a fault. Very positive, and has a tendency to spot the silver lining. Patient to a point with everyone, but scary to those who commit injustice around him.

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A strikingly normal kid who got big into athletics with an ordinary and a seemingly average academic interest and skill. His parents- his father especially- wanted him to be better at his studies so he could manage a solid GPA so he could make it to the big leagues in the future. This school seemed like the best idea, plus the father wanted to move back to Japan- a plan that was already made before ma and pa got married. Johnny is seemingly behind their plan 100%, if only he could break past that average nature of his during his studies. Learning the language would definitely help him learn things faster. This seems likely, since he managed to pass the very strict entrance exam.

His last home was in a ghetto neighbourhood. He grew up as the only seemingly white guy in a world of ethnic minorities. As such, the only mannerisms he knew- besides the stern love of father figures and teachers, was the stereotypical behaviour of so-called "hood rats". A very poor neighbourhood, which was one of the many reasons why his parents wanted to break out from the area, and also why Johnny's sisters moved out to more decent neighbourhoods for college college. His previous two schools and the experiences within were... eclectic, to describe with a word. He prefers not to talk about certain aspects.

He used to be in a group called "The Boyz". It may sound like a gang, but it was really just a term for "the cool kids" in their part of town. This group also included his best friend Avery. With Avery as "The Brains" and Johnny as "The Muscle", their group of friends maintained a sort of care-free order on the school grounds, where kids can have fun so long as they don't hurt each other. Johnny developed "The Muscle" during school sports and the like, but he also had taken a job at a local gym once upon a time. During work hours, that was the place the Boyz hanged out.

Johnny was rarely ever back at home, instead he was hanging out with The Boyz. Between learning music at Avery's place and playing pool on grubby old tables at a local bar-and-grill, Johnny rarely ever saw much of his parents. What puzzles the boy is that the parents either didn't mind, or didn't notice. Either possibility seemed odd. It was at this point where he realised that his parents must have been hiding something from him. As a way to return the favour, Johnny keeps his musical interests and talents a secret.

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Mother
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Father
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Sisters
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Italian mother- whom he takes after- and a Japanese father who moved to the States at a young age. They moved back as the father’s idea, because this school was ranked highly. The mother was not entirely behind the idea due to the language barrier, but the presence of the translator made the decision a lot easier to make. Beyond the parents, Johnny has two older sisters. Both sisters moved out to college, and often Skype back. His sisters, named Machi and Chieko, are both incredibly talented, both academically and physically. Both sisters took after the father, and look almost like twins. Johnny's sisters are currently studying to become doctors.

Avery, his "brother from another mother," is a smaller boy who'd almost be a dead ringer for Jimi Hendrix. Where Johnny was "The Muscle", Avery was "The Brains". His code of ethics is almost like that of an idealistic leader of a superhero team. They were never a real "Gang", at least, not one with the stigma usually associated with the word. Being the brainy one, and also the only one in the neighbourhood with a computer and some kind of internet connection, he is Johnny's only link to communicating with the past.


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✓ STRENGTH 
Athletic: Strong, tall, lean, fast, and generally very athletic. Prior to the move, he had the confidence to boot, sometimes still does- mainly in physical challenges and sports. He’s familiar with the rules of many a sport, save for most of the more Japanese-centric activities, such as that sword fighting thing, and martial arts. He's especially fast on his feet, thanks to his interest in whatever dances he's learned. Street dance, B-Boying, and even a little classical partner-based dances. This also translates into raw fighting talent- though he does not have any formal training in that field. A fast metabolism means he recovers from wounds relatively quickly, with low risk of scarring.

✓ STRENGTH 
Reading Faces: He is quite skilled at reading faces and microexpressions, and he's always quick to notice even the slightest gesture. The reason for that relates to his previous schools- that which he doesn't talk much about.

✓ STRENGTH
Sign Language: Fluent. He prefers not to talk about why he learned it.

✓ STRENGTH
Talented Musician: He is skilled with a few instruments (guitar, synthesizer, bass, ukulele) and especially powerful and flexible vocalist. His deep, outright sexy voice would probably give the best singers in school something to pay attention to. He can even pull off a decent falsetto, though it pales in comparison to his normal and especially deeper voices. This is a trait he keeps secret from his parents, where even his old friends are in on the secret.

✓ STRENGTH
Tolerant to a fault: Almost impossible to offend. Almost as if he's forcing himself to be naive, he always tries to find the silver lining, why a person acts the way they do.

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✖ WEAKNESS 
Given that Johnny's fitness is impeccably muscular, (no pun intended) he is lacking in fat. Therefore while he has explosive power and speed, he's somewhat lacking in energy reserves. Add to that a fast metabolism and you have a guy that rapidly runs out of fuel in the first two rounds of a boxing match.

✖ WEAKNESS 
Awkwardness / Weirdness: His relative hugeness compared to most others makes the rest of the world feel small, especially places like London or Tokyo. As a result, he is deathly claustrophobic. Johnny also sometimes has that flicker of jadedness in his eyes every once in a while when he thinks of the past- in Elementary and Middle school. He comes across as quiet and awkward despite his confidence for two reasons: He’s a foreigner and doesn’t know anyone, and he is only partially familiar with the Japanese language. He is especially unfamiliar with the culture. Good thing the school comes with a translator to help him learn. Due to his desire to not offend anyone due to his unfamiliarity with the culture, he comes across as awkward and kind of a pushover, despite his imposing size and physique. 'Course, once he gets used to the new culture, he'd be a lot more like his old self. Partly related to the past, he holds a few secrets not even his family knows, secrets that he wishes to deal with, but does not yet have a plan to do so.

✖ WEAKNESS
Gullible: Due to his kind and friendly nature, he is very quick to trust people. Some (ok, let's be real, everyone) would opt to call him "Gullible". Even though his ability to read faces is top-notch, he can still be easily tricked. Also means:
Yes Man: Since he is always willing to help people out, he's also one of those guys who finds it difficult to say "no". This would leave him in awkward situations if he botches his time management- which would become apparent once he starts filling in the schedule.

✖ WEAKNESS  
Unstable Facade: He acts positive, cool, and tough, but is difficult to open up, because he feels he shouldn't share the burdens meant for him. There are some heavy burdens he tries to keep locked away, but the mere act of keeping them locked away is straight-up poisonous to his mental health. Who knows what the results would be if he fails to deal with the emotional strain.

✖ WEAKNESS
Hard on himself He's not often passionate about his own schoolwork because he's more prone to help others first. He feels that he has to out of some form of penance. While being a rock star is always on his mind, he's somewhat arrogant that he feels he has to be the one to help people. His potential remains somewhat untapped, only bubbling to the surface whenever he feels truly passionate about something- such as when he passed the very tough Airdalen entrance exam in flying colours.


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♄ SECRET 
He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, but tries to keep it under wraps due to arrogance. The main symptom in his case is hallucinations involving the Phantom. The Phantom is a pitch-black projection with white eyes and white teeth that assumes a somewhat feminine, yet nightmarishly inhuman form.

♄ SECRET 
He is from the ghettos of Los Angelas. It's not exactly a big secret, but it's interesting to note that he came to the highest school in the world from the lowest point in modern society. Some may say there's a romantic quality of a guy starting from what the rich kids would call "nothing".

♄ SECRET
Aside from music technology like soundboards and amplifiers, Johnny is very technically illiterate. He doesn't know the difference between a browser and the start button. While he's familiar with video game icons through cultural osmosis, he's never played a video game in his life.

His phone is a simple, cheap smartphone (took him a while to learn it) that he only really uses as a glorified "contact list" via facebook. The phone is modular, and contains a high-GB memory card stuffed nearly to the brim with a wide variety of music.

Slowly forming opinions...


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Ryou Giou

I like the dude, in a very home-bro kind of sense. He seems very all-work and no play, which I can respect. Only one life to live, ya know? Still, I know that look in his eyes. Those eyes that seem to look at nothing in particular, because your mind is focused on something else. Something you can't let go of. I know that look too well, man. Would that make us... clones? He also seems happy to help me out, which is pretty rad. He's also the tallest person I've ever met. Symbolic value? Probably. I gotta move on myself.

Gotta chill wit the guy more often. I think he's the captain of the B-Ball team? Can't wait to play alongside the guy. I bet the team'll dominate the ladders, yo.

Awww snap dude! This guy's really good- he had me on the ropes! That's awesome! It's really nice to be in that position when it isn't a fight, you know? It's... nice to not need to keep your teeth in place.

Sora Harigae

He seems more sturdy than he looks. Good to know he's doing fine. He's going out with Fujioka-san? Hope they have a good time... Wait... how did he not know who Luigi is? I don't even play video games, but even I knew about the Mario Bros.

A prime target for bullies... I have no idea why, but it pisses me off. People shouldn't hate on a dude for being.

Aeon Belrose (Shirokami)

Haven't met the guy. Learned his name, it's Belrose, right? Eh... I'm not sure what to think of him so far. Slick hair, though. I'd take pointers, but long hair would get in the way of the now. I'll grow mine out later.

Kazuki Miyamoto

Dude seems to be a big-time rebel. I can respect that. Rebels tend to change the world, man. Saw him at the dance. Very ladies' man, kinda like Lars, actually.

Okay yeah, the guy's like... a Japanese version of Lars. Foul-tempered, impatient, he's like time- he waits for no one. Lars made a great training partner. I like that!

Kaz... Are you alright, buddy?

Gen Fukui

Is that hair dyed, or is it like that one dude with the sick hair? Come to think of it, what is it with bright-haired peeps who wear it out long? I've yet to see an albino home-boy with a crew-cut, know what I mean? Seemed bothered by something, though. I hope I can help. I did learn CPR and stuff... buuut I don't think CPR would help with her problems. I mean, she ain't chokin', na'am sayin'?

I think we'll make very good friends! Great dancer. If she don't mind my saying, that costume was off the hook! ... Whatever it was supposed to be, it was cool!

Inryuko, eh? Maids n shit? Very fancy stuff. I should stop by soon. Gotta check the schedule, see if i got the opportunity. Lunch times seem good. I guess it's some kinda restaurant thing?

Okay, okay... This never leaves this room, but she did look kinda cute with her hair down. Don't you dare tell anyone.

Oh my goodness... holy shit... fuck... that was just... that was too close, man... Thank goodness she's alright... It's not like that... She's a friend, a friend!

Shiori Kitogawa

I think she's a cool cat, dude! Bound to have a lot of cool friends too, I'm sure. I would like to give the guy who bruised her a piece of my mind, though. It'd probably feel... nostalgic... to help a brotha out, you know? Or wait, I mean sista.

Cassiopeia Argyris

Green-hair? She's always with that dude with the slick hair, right? ... Wait, why am I assuming that? It's only been the first day. I don't even know if she's a senior or not.

Come to think of it, what happened to her? I haven't seen her at all this gym class. I hope she's okay.

Devone Kim

Bless you.

Fuyuki Hakuryu

Super cool! We're gonna be good friends, I can tell!
... what the heck is oppai?
Oh... that's "oppai"... So she was asking if guys prefer... Ah jeez...

Haruhi Morinozuka

Never met he- Oh wait, yeah I have. Hope she's alright!

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Bishop Trander

Hot damn dude the guy's got more stamina than me! He's gotta be a big-time swimmer dude. I can dig it! I just need to get back in the swing of things and I'll be right there with him.

We're gonna do great! Poor guy's got somethin' on his mind, but I know he'll break through his funk. After all, I did... I did... didn't I?

Johnny Farelli

Saving lives... getting work done... maybe I'm finally moving on after all...?

Rhys Browning

Sick hair, bro. Swimming team captain? I got good vibes about this guy. At least... he kinda reminds me of Avery, especially how angry he's gettin' over Kitogawa-san's bruises. I may have been the so-called "cool guy", but Ave was always the real leader in our group...

Weird leadership choices, not really taking command there. I guess he was just testing the waters... aw fuck that was a pun.

All honesty: I think we're two peas in a pod. He's pretty passionate about helping others, it seems.

Akira Blake

Dude or chick? ... Jeez man, I really shouldn't assume... but my money's on dude... Phew, good thing these are just innermost thoughts, and psychic potential doesn't exist... But then again, that thing with the ninjas never happened before. This school feels... weird...

Tough nut to crack, that's fo sho.

Yuuki Fujioka

Yo, I've seen this kinda thing before. That kinda kid who tries to wall off peeps to focus on schoolwork and nothing else... I've seen bullies flock to that type like moths, dude. Good thing this school's pretty rad. I think she'll do fine, red-head guy considered. Goin' out with the Blue Hair dude? I bet they got somethin' in common.

Given how many uncool dudes I'm starting to come across... I gotta do something... I gotta help...

Tsukiko Kitogawa

Yo it's that musician from Korea! Dude, she's one fine singer. My buddies said a few nice things when we discovered a Youtube video of one of her concerts. I don't think I should relay any of those "nice things", ha ha... Real talk though: she's cool!

Tadashi Kiomine

Yo, that's the dude with the purple eyes, right? I saw him earlier. He looked like he had a lot on his mind. Heh heh, don't we all... I'm sure he's a cool cat. I gotta introduce myself.

Kei Watari

Good eye, recognizing me in the dark. Well, actually Luigi's green stuff would shine surprisingly bright under some of the black lights. Heh.
Strikes me as a dependable guy. Wouldn't mind having him by my side in case shit happens.

Rocco Murray

Was he... was he just choking the kid with the blue hair? Was it provoked? No, I can't assume anything. I gotta know what happened before I can make a call like that.

Mao Nozomi

Who? ... That darker-skinned girl? I mean, she's... someone... Fuck, I was really worried for a sec there...

Maybe i misread entirely, but it seemed like she was a little annoyed at something? I wonder what it was... Was it... Nah, couldn't have been me. I was just helping those photographers out. Helping's what I do!

A really nice artist! And a skater too! She'd like LA. Plenty of skate parks there.

Misaki Serinuma

Wat lol? ... That's what Avery would say. What's that, a photo? ... Huh... Gotta give her props, she's pretty cute. Whoever gets with her'd be a lucky guy, I'd imagine... Well, maybe not. I know jack about her personality, after all.

Kaito Miyuu

What kind of name is "Me-you"? That's a weird sounding name. The pronunciation's all... weird... "Meee-yoooouuuuu"... Eugh. I don't like the sound of it. It sounds like that string that always gets out of tune within minutes.
... Why are you showing me a photo of that Akira Blake fellow? ... Oh, that's Kaito!? My bad! I'd wonder if they're related to each other, but then again I've passed by two albino dudes this morning alone. They're surprisingly common here I noticed. Nothin' like America. No one in the ghetto ever had blue or purple hair either. Is it a Japan cultural thing or something?

Chase Kaufman

Good smile bro! ... You!
... I have no idea who this is...

Kaori Himewari

This is certainly a person! :D

Thanks to Victorant for the character sheet!
Also thanks to Strix for gathering/editing some of the images used!

So begins...

Johnny Farelli's Story

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Ryou Giou Character Portrait: Saburo Inoue Character Portrait: Katsumi Kurosawa
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Johnny "Jay" Farelli


The foreigner was distracted for a good portion of time when the teacher announced something regarding a “neighbour school” and “students dismissed”. When he remembered that his own balloon was coming right back at him, he reacted as quickly as his reflexes could possibly allow. He did not use the intended body part; there was no time. He instead used his fist. The clenched fist connected at a speed only his fitness and lightness could help him accomplish. The amount of force applied through the point of his knuckle was barely enough to make the flexible balloon finally give. The proximity of the clap caused Johnny’s ears to ring for a couple seconds.

The folded slip of paper drifted to the floor. It spun haphazardly, like a damaged maple tree seed, as it approached the waxed wooden floor. Johnny’s expression was perfectly neutral, betrayed only by a disappointed sigh. “Guess I ain’t getting my wish then,” he finally laughed as he snatched up the paper and the rubber remains.

At that point, a pair of posh-looking men in suits appeared and began talking to that one dude with the long hair. That Belrose-san person with the slick hair. Caretakers? Man, I really dig that dude’s hair, Johnny caught himself thinking. He did not reprimand himself, however; was really nice hair. Johnny already planned to grow his own hair out once he’s out of high school. Seeing a preview beforehand made Johnny feel pretty good about the future.

“Anyway, I guess I’ll be-” Johnny paused for a second. He did, in fact, recall how to say the following in Japanese: “See you later, Ryou-senpai,” Johnny raised a clenched hand for a fist-bump, only to realise part-way through that the more obscure gesture might be lost on his senior. The foreigner quickly switched to a thumbs-up
 which was hopefully universal? Hopefully it wasn’t something obscene in Japan. Again in Japanese, Johnny also added to Kurosawa, “See you later, Kurosawa-san,”

He had to keep practicing his language, or he’ll fall behind in his studies very quickly. Only now did he begin to consider what kind of clubs he would wish to join. Obviously I pick a sport, Johnny thought, that would satisfy my parents. But then I’ve got my hobby, and then I need to get my grades up. Question is
 which sports
? Swimming? B-Ball? What other ones did this school offer? Is there even a limit?

Johnny had many questions, and they made his head hurt. This was a very fast, yet emotionally exhausting first day, Johnny thought as he considered what to do for the rest of the day. He decided to wait until he got to see some of the club booths before coming to a decision. Until then, the foreigner had the rest of the day left to his own devices. After Ryou's translation of what exactly was happening, Johnny’s music was once more playing in his ears. The Blues drowned out all other sounds as he strolled out of the gymnasium, right behind a kid wearing a toque and a headset around his neck. (Saburo)

“Hey dude,” Johnny greeted rather excitedly. His eyes had a glitter to them that only seemed to show whenever he had the art of sound on his mind, “Sick headset there, man! Where’d you get it?” Silly foreigner, Johnny forgot to try to ask that in Japanese. He had yet to realise he had even made the mistake.

+1 Popularity to Aeon
+1 Popularity to Saburo

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Ryou Giou Character Portrait: Katsumi Kurosawa
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"I guess that this year
will be different from last one
I'm more talkative than I have to
but, I don't mind it
as much I had thought otherwise
I'll just see what happens."
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His attention shifted towards the front where Araya-sensei had announced that the activity was over. It seemed that a neighboring school would be using their facilities and Airdalen was known to allow such thing from time to time. It also meant that everyone is dismissed early. That was a good thing for him. He could use the time to visit the hospital before doing his shift at Paradiso. The only thing he was a bit uncertain about is tomorrow in which the clubs would be having a presentation and booths in order to have new members from the freshmen.

He was not really keen on that and in his opinion he did not even seek the position of being a captain. Ryou was not even aware that he was a candidate for leading the team. It was something thrown at him by the former captain and the strict suggestion of the coach. That's why in the end he really had no other choice but to take it. Now, the responsibility falls down to him in a sense that he would be required to perform some activity stunt tomorrow. He might split the team into two and have a practice game with each other. He has a feeling that the court would be filled with unnecessary noise on that day. It had always been since he had joined the basketball team.

He would just brief the team tomorrow about their presentation. His attention then was directed at Johnny who said about his wish not coming true. "You'll have to do that on your own." He noted as he caught his balloon with a hand to the side and glanced at it for a moment. It also carried his wish though his was not something that could be done with just physical effort. If it was, It would have been done a long time ago.

"Kurosawa-san." He looked at her. "It seemed that Tanikaze-san has been taken away for important matter." A teacher approached him while the two Juniors were busy with the activity. He was informed that Shintaro would be removed for the program due to personal matters. Kurosawa's senior would be replaced with someone by tomorrow, for now, she would be under his care till then.

"I'll assist you for today, if you have any questions. That also goes to you Jay." He directed his eyes on his junior and the decided to explain the details to them, since he might not have time for that tomorrow. due to his classes and of course, club responsibilities. "Tomorrow there would be classes, but later on there would be a time for club activities. There would be various of clubs that can be chosen by you, freshmen. There will be booths and even presentations, so that you can choose better. You can have three clubs at most if you like, just make sure you can handle it." He noted and then was silent for a moment. He was pondering whether to tell them where to find him, but that was already a given isn't it? "You can find me tomorrow at the Basketball Gym if you need something both of you." He looked at them. "Kurosawa-san, you can come to me if you also need help, but I've been told that another Senior would replace Tanikaze-san tomorrow. Still, I'll assist you if you want."

Ryou then believed that there was nothing left to be said. Johnny took that hint as he made his goodbyes. "Yeah, see you tomorrow, Jay." He then looked at Kurosawa. "See you tomorrow too, Kurosawa-san." He then walked away as he exited the hall. There were no other reasons for him to be there anymore. He stopped briefly by the gates and looked at the fluttering cherry blossoms as the wind blew. It was a sight that he wanted to see and reminded him of her, but that pause of his also allowed other students to look at him in a trance state. He did look quite handsome and appealing at the same time as his hair was played by the breeze and his black features contrasted with pink blossoms, making him pop up. Others wanted to approach him, but lucky for him, they seemed to notice the solemnity that shielded him, not to be approached.

He then moved again leaving the school grounds as he went to the hospital where she will be waiting for him, as always.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Saburo Inoue
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Johnny "Jay" Farelli


Johnny’s words unfortunately fell onto deaf ears. The boy in the toque was already blasting his excellent tunes to the exclusion of all other sources of sound. The foreigner didn’t blame him at all. As a matter of fact, Johnny was already set with his music as well. “Next time,” he promised.

After he left the campus grounds proper, Johnny glanced at the station platform to find that the train back home had not even arrived yet. That might change on a day where he would not be leaving so early, however. The foreigner took this as a challenge that he found distinctly nostalgic. He checked both ways down the empty street, and broke into a sprint towards home.

The foreigner’s slightly loose-fitting uniform did not tear one bit as he ran. His lungs heaved at a steady pace as his feet lightly tamped the ground and continued to propel him forward. He zipped past pedestrians and cyclists alike. Many a citizen called out to him with words he either didn’t understand, or didn’t need to understand. Much of the language was delivered out of shock, implying the words were Japanese equivalents of interjections
 or something
 He committed the words to memory to look them up later, but he got the feeling he wouldn’t want to say many of these words out loud, especially not to his father.

The cool wind flowed through Johnny’s thick brown hair. He continued running for several blocks, until his lungs finally began to remotely burn. By then, the train had finally passed by the station next to the campus grounds, and was rapidly approaching.

Johnny finally slowed down by the nearest station, and caught his breath as he waited for the train to catch up. Johnny only managed to clear several blocks
 He knew he’d have to do better.

He made it his goal to be fast enough to reach the next train station before the train caught up. Obviously after that, he’d set the bar higher and higher. Back in America, he did the same practice with the city buses. Buses were clearly slower than trains, however, so Johnny could make it from school to home before the next bus even arrived. The upgrade to a train, as well as the increased distance, was nothing more than a further raising of the bar to the foreigner. Johnny took that as a good sign; another man would interpret the “upgrade” as an attempt by the universe to try to force the foreigner to accept his own limits. Johnny could never interpret it that way; It wouldn’t be what was wanted.

Home was where the heart is. However, at the current moment, Johnny’s heart knew nothing but the joy of the smell of lunch. On the other side from Johnny’s position was a street-side restaurant serving assorted rice-based recipes. The foreigner opted to skip the train this time. Instead, he carefully crossed the next street in a few bounds, and approached the restaurant. The business exchange was handled surprisingly well. Johnny knew almost every required word since he and his family had gone to such places before. The common language used was already familiar to him. He ordered a ball of rice laced with vegetables, as was his preferred treat for lunch. He already had his protein intake from this morning.

“You visiting Tokyo?” The cook asked. The accent was absurdly obvious, but the grasp on English was pretty sound. It seemed this gentleman was quite familiar with tourists.

“Living,” Johnny replied, also in English.

“Your Japanese is sloppy,” the man jabbed with a grin.

“Ha! Don’t I know it,” Johnny laughed.

“Not as bad as others, though. How long you learning?”

“About a month now.”

“Ah! No wonder, but you’re doing okay, sir.”

Sir
? Johnny was only seventeen. He wasn’t old enough to be responding to “Sir”, yet. The more mature acknowledgement was not unwelcome, though. He was indeed incredibly tall, especially for his age. The foreigner opted not to correct the cook.

The cook, however, only just recognized the school uniform, “Oh! You’re still a student?” The cook said a word Johnny recognized from one of the pedestrians he passed prior. “You’re really tall for a kid. Shouldn’t you be in school right now?”

This got another chuckle from Johnny. Before he could reply, however, a handful of tourists wearing huge camping backpacks approached the street-side restaurant. The cook had just finished the rice ball by then and moved to serve the next customers.

“Arigato!” Johnny called.

“Still sloppy!” The cook returned with his own laugh- a much higher-pitched laugh compared to Johnny’s.

With a quick scan of the area, he spotted a park being overlooked by the rails of the train. The park was green, very green. Vibrant greens from the ground to the shrubs to the forests that bordered the park. Cutting through the grass was a modern-looking cobblestone path. The stone twisted and turned like a modern art project around a pair of ponds, several trees, before expanding into a large walking area built for events. In the centre of the event area was a tall, extravagant fountain. The blue of the pure water shone with the reflecting sunlight. Johnny could not read many symbols yet, so he wouldn’t yet know what was depicted on the plaque set at the base of the fountain.

The foreigner strolled into the larger walking area of the park and sat down on one of the benches that bordered the area. He kept a distance from the fountain, because even an American would know better than to drink the water
 well, most of them anyway


The foreigner produced his phone from his pocket. It was a smart phone, capable of the more complicated things like Facebook, but it was a relatively cheap variant. The only impressive aspect about the phone was it’s large hard drive size, which was packed to the limit with music, and the bare necessities of a student. Using his phone, Johnny checked his Facebook. Thanks to his adding Airdalen Academy to his list of schools, a fair number of familiar faces entered his suggested friends tab. Johnny went ahead and added most everyone he came across to his friends list. At least, he added all the familiar students who had Facebook profiles that were available to some kid with a phone, sitting in a park. Hopefully this contact option would suffice until he got actual numbers.

Once he had finished adding the faces he found familiar, Johnny popped his earbuds back in and continued the playlist. This time, he went for something more modern than the old Blues, yet still old. In this case, it was classic rock. Johnny hummed the instrumental part to himself as he ate the rice ball. In between bites, he outright sang the lyrics. With seemingly no one around, let alone close enough to hear, the foreigner had no reluctance about using his well-trained voice.

Once he finished his lunch, it was about time he headed home. Johnny did so via the next train that arrived at the nearby station. He went part-way through his playlist before arriving at the station two blocks away from his family’s apartment. The foreigner dashed the rest of the way and unlocked his apartment door.

The lights were all out, and so were his parents. With the whole apartment to himself, Johnny stepped into his tiny room and pulled out the large bottle-shaped case from a hidden corner of his closet. From the case, he produced his concert ukulele, equipped with fresh nylon strings. Johnny then strummed
 and strummed. He practiced for many hours until he caught the tell-tale sound of the front door unlocking, and Johnny slipped the instrument back into it’s hiding place. He’d have to explain that the day was a short orientation before proper classes the next day. He’d also need to get a locker to stash his ukulele inside. With clubs and such, Johnny knew he would be spending a lot of time at school.

Tomorrow was going to be an awesome day, he felt as he packed his bag. That night, he planned out how he was going to smuggle the ukulele out of the apartment the following morning.

—

+1 Physical.

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Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Katsumi Kurosawa
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Katsumi yawned, stretching her surprisingly long limbs over her shoulder before looking around curiously. There were a few tables set up, and if she assumed correctly- it was club day. "How fun." she voiced musingly, but her eyes shined otherwise. These social activities always had their risk, especially for her, and its obviously due to her notorious nature. Yesterday, she was lucky for having such a.. chill group, and she only smiled even more thinking of them. 'Maybe ill see them again today.' She thought, hopeful, since yesterday she found herself in state of daze, leading to little conversation. There was a potential friendship, especially with the other foreigner- Johnny! Ryou was a nice man as well, since he seemed to know nothing of her rep, and even if he did, she imagined he wouldnt care too much.

So with good thoughts in mind, she began to walk around, eyeing each booth, which led to a few typical reactions. Club members would glance away, murmur a few words, or just try to push her out- "bad attention" or "people will be scared off.".. Katsumi would only shrug and walk away. They weren't interesting to her anyways.

But after a few more minutes of walking around, one booth- no two, caught her eye: Basketball and Swimming. Her eyes gleamed.
However, with a casual pose, she leaned in, taking a pamphlet, before skimming the details with little to no "care". She appeared antipathetic about the whole thing, as if it was a bore but her feelings were anything but that. She was actually quite excited. In the U.S, basketball was indeed a sport she took on while swimming has been her favorite everywhere. Katsumi excelled in these things, or well, she was above average, so perhaps she will gain some good rep. from this club. Looking up with a new found excitement, she blinked seeing the club members pressed against the wall- frightened. "Oh. uh." She looked around awkwardly, before taking the pen slowly, "Ill just be signing up.." Jotting down her name, she backed away with a tight smile, before hopping off.

She fisted the air happily, resulting in a few weird looks, but she didnt care. 'Wouldn't Gege (mother) be so proud.' She snickered, then looked around, "I still have one more to pick from.. so I guess Ill take my time..." Maybe she'll find a few people to talk too? so she stationed herself near the swimming and basketball club, wondering who else will take their interest in the two sports. Kicking back against the wall, she stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jersey, before keeping her eyes peeled.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Arietta Hakushiro Character Portrait: Katsumi Kurosawa
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Johnny "Jay" Farelli


Once more, Johnny got to his routine of clap push-ups before breakfast. He counted as quickly as he performed- which was also quickly. His lean muscles bulged as he pushed over and over again. Once he had finished, he headed to the kitchen for breakfast.

His mind wandered to how he would smuggle the ukulele out of the apartment without his parents suspecting a thing. The very idea of sneaking past a sort of guard struck Johnny as fun. He always pulled off something similar whenever he slipped past opponents to make easy breakaways and eventual goals. Like a jet, he would streak down the field. It was too easy to just up and score from there, so he usually passed back to another teammate so the rest could get in on the downfield action.

The case for the instrument was only slightly taller than his backpack. It would not fit properly, even if the one textbook needed for today, as well as his gym clothes, weren’t already inside. Fortunately, the two bags held the same colours of black and green; they would blend together nicely if Johnny kept them a good distance from view. Johnny opened the bedroom door and glanced out into the kitchen. Neither father nor mother were there. There was never going to be a better time than now. Keeping the two bags close together to blend at a distance, the foreigner quickly stepped to the apartment door and slipped outside. “I’m off! See ya!”

He only caught the returns of both his parents right before he heard the lock clamp back into place. Once more, Johnny jogged down the apartment stairs to the train station. His playlist was something different this time: Hip-hop. Music that stemmed from the Blues, much like many other genres popular in the United States. As was fitting his intense interest in music, Johnny also knew how to street dance. As he jogged, he threw in a little bit of Free Step. Obviously this made him look quite foolish, but he always wanted the practice. He didn’t much care what the regular people thought. Hell, if anything, it made their day more interesting. His cheery attitude seemed to be a welcoming service to an otherwise dreary day
 Although it didn’t help any that he was basically doing these moves to music only he could hear. Maybe he should get himself a boombox.

Aboard the train, Johnny had no room to dance. Once more, he got to take a good look around the city he had been living in for only a month now. So much to do, so much to see. It was immensely different from the relatively smaller hometown back in the States. For one, there were far fewer heavily inclined roads. That was something Johnny really appreciated. It was also very tight-knit and very pedestrian-friendly. He imagined that it was not terribly nice to be a driver in such snug roads.

While leaving the platform outside the campus, Johnny once more slid down the hand railing. It was pretty clear that he was putting great confidence in the durability of his school uniform. Either that, or he never understood the significance of a uniform.

Right outside the campus entrance, Johnny’s music got to a really good part, and he started doing the Spongebob before finishing with a back-flip across the threshold. After pumping both fists into the air, Johnny quickly pocketed his music and rushed inside.

Today was Club day. Thankfully, he got word of it from an event announcement from his school’s page, so he was absolutely prepared to head to the gym once more. In the interior corridors of the school, however, Johnny did not run. He did, however, shuffle some steps. Maybe if he brought some flattened cardboard boxes, he could do some B-boying. It was a thought to consider in the future. For now, the foreigner found his assigned locker and stuffed his bag and case inside.

Johnny emerged at the far side of the gym, where many booths were still being set up. He figured he had arrived pretty early, because many of them were struggling to get the booths fixed up. The foreigner zipped over to a booth in time to catch a banner a shorter boy had accidentally dropped from atop a step ladder.

The (non-player) boy and his two (non-player) girl assistants elaborately thanked the tall foreigner, who only caught mentions of the word “Arigato”. With a smile, the foreigner got to helping out with the tall-person work. Namely using zip-ties to hook the banner up to the top of the booth poles. Once the tall-person stuff was done, the foreigner glanced around to spot more booths struggling to get set up. It wasn’t until he finished helping the fourth one that he remembered why he was even there in the first place. Also by then, the gym had filled up with hundreds of students.

“Oh boy,” he huffed in amusement. “Which one should I join
?”

There was one of the booths he had helped- Band- but it didn’t look like someplace that he could take centre stage for. Band also left little in the way for career opportunities compared to a very different club.

Johnny read the banner
 and he didn’t understand a single goddamn symbol of it. However, judging by the costumes and masks, as well as the bombastic design of the banner itself, the booth appeared to be for some sort of drama club.

Drama club
 that included musicals, and very often dancing. Johnny could dig it, and what better way to surprise his folks about his musical talent than a stage play? Johnny could already imagine that situation play out in his head. The best damn musical ever performed in a Japanese high school. Airdalen produces a fine young musical talent. Broadway would reach out and demand his prese-


 What the hell are you doing? he wondered, Right, shit. Drama club. Join.

The foreigner approached the drama club booth and silently signed up for that. He did wave to the blonde-haired girl who seemed to be running things, and he also waved to the other people present. He didn’t think it, but it did make it seem like he was just a friendly sort and not specifically interested in anyone. After all, it’s only the second day.

Two clubs to go, Johnny thought as he used some of his shuffle moves to maneuver through the still-growing crowds. He spotted the more sports-focused section of the area. Standing next to each other was Basketball and Swimming. Between those booths was that girl from yesterday, Katsumi.

Johnny waved to Kat, since the loud speech patterns of students made calling across nearly impossible. The foreigner then quickly signed up for swimming. As he crossed to do the same for basketball, Johnny got close enough to say “Hey what’s up? Join any clubs yet?” Though he wasn’t particularly loud, his smooth-jazz voice resonated quite clearly, not unlike the late Don LaFontaine’s voice cutting through the sounds of explosions and gunfire in trailers. Hopefully Katsumi would hear.

—

+1 Athleticism

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Shiori Kitogawa Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Bishop Trander Character Portrait: Arietta Hakushiro Character Portrait: Katsumi Kurosawa
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BISHOP TRANDER


Image


Bishop got up bright and early today, it was club day!! He was the only freshmen so far on the team and being the scholarship athlete, there was a bit of pressure on him. The team had yet to meet him, but he heard lots of good things about the 5 other sophomores and juniors. Apparently the club had become somewhat hit-and-miss with participation every year or so. But this year was different because of him. He felt kind of bad for rejecting Arietta but he had to keep his obligations with the swim club, that meant showing up early for booth setup. As his mom pulled up to the school he hopped out with a huge grin on his face as he looked over the school. "Thanks mom, I'll see you after school. Also- please dont' forget toi mnail my letter! I gotta tell my penpal about this new school." He stepped off to school this time carrying two bags, his regular green backpack and his Speedo brand duffel bag. "Have a good day sweety! I won't forget." They waved goodbye to each other and parted ways leaving Bishop to head inside the school gym to see the booths being set up. His eyes sparked alive suddenly feeling more motivated than ever to be at this school and went to find his club's booth. While his mother placed the envelope he handed her into her purse to be sent off that very day.

It didn't take very long finding 3 boys and 2 girls assembling the supplies. He gulped getting a tad bit nervous and stepped forward to introduce himself. "O-Ohayo.." They turned and blinked at the foreigner wondering what business he had with them. "I'm the new scholarship student.... I came from Okinawa." "Oh hey, you're that American kid right? Mr. Kido told us about you!" Bishop perked up at the prospect of his new club mates waiting for him. Though there was an awkward silence after that moment. "Didn't Mr. Kido say that this kid was going to turn the whole team around? He doesn't look like much." One of the girls whispered, but Bishop unfortunately heard and nearly collapsed of embarrassment. To quickly recover he faked an awkward laugh and rubbed the back of his head. "Well- uh. Seeing isn't always believing i guess, right? Hehehe~..." Another awkward silence came upon the group again with everyone trying to think of something to say. "Well... I guess I'll get changed then." The other club mates blinked a little confused at what he meant, but Bishop simply ran off to change in the locker room. He hurriedly threw off his uniform shirt and stuffed it into his bag, then put on his Airdalen Swim Club jacket, switching into his full swimsuit. Consisting of a pair of skin tight black and light red jammers, flip flops and his goggles hanging around his neck. He left the jacket zipper open exposing his fit figure and came running out from the locker room.

"Hey guys~!" He was met with shocked and red faces as he jogged happily towards his booth grabbing a good bit of attention. "You're wearing the club uniform? "Yeah! We gotta represent the team right!?" He pumped his fists confidently looking at everyone in the eyes. His smile was contagious in the group with everyone following suit, then it was settled. The entire club would be wearing their swimsuits for club day! Bishop was told to man the booth while everyone changed since they had finished setting everything up and had the pamphlets and fliers ready. "Maybe he will turn the club around." He heard one of the sophomores comment as they excitedly rushed to change in the locker room as well. So there he was, front and center to the swimming club booth. It was designed with moderate and tasteful decorations. The club banner was cut to represent a large splash of water, with a vinyl back drop of the school swimming pool and their logo put in front of that. They were one of the few clubs to actually have a logo since they competed in licensed sporting events.

So there he was manning the booth as the crowds of students began to swell in number around the gym. He got quite a few looks, not only for being a blonde kid in a Japanese high school. But also for being a little more than half naked. "Hey!! Come join the swim team! Lots of fun stuff to do! Come over here and I'll show you~!" He was putting his best pitch for his new club wanting to support his team holding up and waving pamphlets. He was making quite the spectical of himself, half dancing while energetically encouraging people to stop by his booth. It would cause a slight racket next to the basketball team booth and in the gym in general. Soon enough the others would arrive all clad in similar swim suits. The school was rich enough to afford everyone their own type of variation of outfit. Some boys wore whole leg coverings, while others had jammers like Bishop. The girls were both in one piece suits, obviously garnering some attention. The whole club began to pander for attention trying to attract possible members for their club. What was slightly odd however was thatof the sophomores and juniors all of them had scooted away from the basketball booth due to a dark haired girl (Katsumi) and a taller boy (Johnny) standing next to them. Bishop was so busy trying to talk to people he didn't even notice.

"Alrig'ht guys.. It's time to change strategies! Let's walk around and hand out pamphlets and fliers to people who might be interested. Bishop grabbed a handful of pamphlets while he paired off with a taller blue haired junior named Seto Muzaki. He seemed to have taken a liking to Bishop so they began to walk around the floor of the gym together to meet people and try to attract new members. Two fit high schoolers walking around in skin tight shorts was bound to get some sort of attention. <I wonder where Airetta-Senpai would be... She probably does something cool!> The two students were approached by a group whoe began to ask questions. "So uh... Who are you guys exactly?" Seto and Bishop grinned to each other and jumped together in a pose proudly introducing themselves in unison, while Bishop winked. "We're the swimming club!" Somewhere in the crowd a girl fainted.

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"Oh no! I can't believe that I did that!" Shiemi; another member of the club blushed from embarrassment. "I thought that was the booth sign up, not the performance sheet!" The girl had mistakenly signed up the club to do a live performance in front of the school in the gym to promote the club. We have to tell Muzaki and Trander-san. Maybe they're know what to do." "How long till we have to perform" The other girl Nagisa asked with a sense of dread. "Thirty minutes!!" Shiemi cried out.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
+1 Athleticism

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Shiori Kitogawa Character Portrait: Gen Fukui Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Bishop Trander Character Portrait: Sora Harigae Character Portrait: Ryou Giou
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"Well Mai darling~ It was a pleasure to meet you! Feel free to turn to me if you need any help. I feel I owe you for the lack of fun today.. if you stop by Inryoku sometime right by the cafetoria where I work? I'll be sure to treat you.”

The small junior looked up at Gen, tilting her head to the side a bit. She wasn’t entirely sure what she meant by Inryoku but it didn’t sound too bad. Her outlook on Gen changed ever so slightly since the Senior offered her help whenever she requested. The very mention of it was certainly more than what her own Senior offered to her. It seemed like Kazuki only saw her as a source of entertainment. Mai gave Gen a soft smile, “H-hai” as well as a bow of her head. She returned Gen’s wave of departure although it was a bit late as Gen had already faced forward when Mai did so. A bit hurt that she had missed her chance, Mai lowered her arm slowly.

"You resemble a doll." Those words reminded Mai that she was not alone, so bringing her eyes up to focus on Sora a warm and soft pressure began to caress her cheek. The very action made Mai jump , as she was not expecting to be touched in such a manner that was similar to Kazuki’s albeit nicer. In a matter of just a few seconds Mai’s doll like features reddened to that of tomato. Her blush spread across her body so even her hands turned a shade of red. The fact that she was rather pale compared to some made the blush that much more obvious. Suddenly he pushed a bento box into her hands and with a serious voice told her to eat it. While the inside of the bento was interesting, the very idea of being forced to eat food as if she was some kind of animal did not sit well with her. If anything her skin turned redder.

Not only that but tears began to well up in her eyes. It wasn’t just because Sora had touched her or that he had called her a doll, it was from all that had occurred today. From being protected by Akira when her Senior jumped over them to Kazuki doing all those embarrassing things to her, she just couldn’t hold back the tears any more. They began to flow down her cheeks slowly and she started to sniffle. Mai tried to hold them back but it was pretty hard to do. Shaking her head, Mai gave Sora back his food. She quickly apologized in her usual stuttering voice that was accompanied by a few hiccups. With a quick bow as she spluttered out apologies Mai dashed off to exit the building.

The small Junior kept her head down to avoid being seen but at this point it was pretty obvious the girl was upset. She managed to get rather far from the school grounds from running but in doing so had completely passed her meeting point with Ren. Now that she had slowed down Mai realized this. She thought of maybe going back but she didn't want to be seen looking like a crybaby any longer. Already her legs were sore but Mai didn't care. Picking up the pace again, Mai jogged the rest of the way home and barely made it up the stairs. It would seem that while today had its enjoyable moments, overall she had made a fool of herself.

Current Day


Mai made sure that she had everything with her when she left her home. This time Ren had to leave to the University early so he couldn't walk her to school like he did the other day. She was a bit hesitant about going to school today since she had cried in public the other day. Thankfully most of the students had left when she broke down but she was sure that some would undoubtedly talk about the small Junior who left crying.

With a heavy sigh Mai walked down the steep stairs slowly but quickened her pace when she reached the bottom. It didn't take too long to get to the school but she had been walking slower than yesterday. Just as she did before Mai peeked around the entrance of the gym. From the looks of it today was Club Day which meant members would be trying to recruit. The idea of being approached made her nervous. Biting her lip, Mai watched for a little while longer. No doubt looking like a bit of creeper in doing so. You must join at least one club. Just one club will be fine, right? A look of forced determination crossed her face as Mai stepped into the gym. She stood incredibly still expecting to be flocked by a variety of students but it seemed she was not noticed. She felt good about it but also a little sad. With a shake of her head Mai began to walk around.

She recognized a few people, such as that blonde Senior (Arrieta) she encountered the other day. The older girl looked beautiful in her costume, making Mai just a little envious. Mai gave her a weak smile but somewhat hoped she didn't notice. Just in case she tried to recruit her. Passing that booth, Mai took note of some of the students who were walking around half naked. Her cheeks flushed with a little bit of shame and she did all she could to avert her eyes from them. Clutching her bag close, Mai came upon a much simpler booth. Although it was simple looking, one was still drawn to it.

At once Mai knew what it was for. It was a study group of sorts but its title was much more extravagant than that. "Airdalen's Overachievers Committee." she mumbled to her herself. She approached the booth, noticing that there were only a few people manning it. Thankful that it wasn't too many Mai quickly placed her name on the sign-up sheet before stepping away for others to do the same. Now that she had signed up for her first club, Mai was feeling a bit excited and didn't pay much attention to where she was going. She looked up at the last minute to crash right into someones side. She let out a small oomph upon contact and rubbed her face as they turned red again. Looking up, Mai quickly bowed. "I-I'-I'm s-sorr-ry! I-I was-sn't lo-looking wh-where I-I w-was g-going!" She said as she bowed a second time.


Popularity +1 Arietta

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Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Katsumi Kurosawa
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Katsumi stiffled a yawn, finding herself quite bored. No one seemed to take interest in either clubs- at least no one approachable. Most of them ran off the moment they finished signing up, so to no prevail. 'Nothing new there.' She thought, with a scoff, 'I should just go.. I need one more club-' Hey what’s up? Join any clubs yet?” She blinked, first surprised to even hear a voice.. being directed towards her, and secondly, found the speaker to sound very familiar - it sounded quite nice.

Not like she'll admit it though.

Turning her head to the side, she found her eyes settle on someones chest so slowly looking up, she find green eyes connect with her own red ones. "Ah! Johnny?" she grinned boyishly, her Japanese swiftly transitioning to a more fluent language: English, "Nice to see ya again." A few students gave her a shocked glance, as her English was almost perfect that it was impressive, but of course, they quickly averted their gaze.

She boasted to herself quietly, her grin growing larger. "...And just signed up for swimming and basketball, two things that Im actually pretty good at." She let out a little chuckle, "Perhaps ill be better than you in the pool." Katsumi teased, finding her words doubtful due to his obvious build that the clothes was poorly hiding, which she found very impressive- and thats coming from the only female of a male house hold who fought for a living.

"Just kidding~... maybe." With a snicker, she then tilted her head curiously, her tone cool and calm, "anyways what about you? Got any other clubs in mind?"

While going off, she found herself totally consumed by this conversation, as her excitement got the best of her (not that it showed too much). But who is to blame her, this might have been the most successful interaction she has had and will hopefully continue to have.

And seeing how Johnny finished his sign up, she neared him so he could hear her better among the crowd, plus she was ready to move along if he was, perhaps to find other clubs?

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Ryou Giou Character Portrait: Mai Kon Character Portrait: Katsumi Kurosawa
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Johnny "Jay" Farelli


Johnny’s interaction with a more notorious person in school was really out of dumb ignorance than anything. The foreigner saw no real reason to avoid Katsumi. Though he did find it unusual that despite the crowds getting thicker throughout the gymnasium, there was always an open space around them. It didn’t bother him any. If he had been wading through any longer, he’d probably have gotten short of breath. At-worst, maybe even a panic attack. That would've been insane.

Katsumi’s tease was unexpected, but not unwelcome. The foreigner knew how to roll with the punches, and unexpected things did take his mind off things. “Hah! Well, I think we’d have to find out when we attend Swim club,” Johnny replied to her tease in full. “Oh, gimmie a sec-“

The foreigner quickly stepped away to sign up for basketball. As he scrawled down his distinctly cursive Anglo-American-based signature, the foreigner looked up from the sign-up sheet and spotted his senior amongst the other booth-working students. Ryou was there, leading the “B-Ball Booth”, much to Johnny’s delight. Given his senior’s height advantage, it really didn’t come as a surprise that Ryou was big in basketball. Johnny enjoyed the game as well. He and his old buddies used to run the court back in his old schools.

It wasn’t until a good second that he realised that the Ryou he was looking at was not moving. He then spotted another instance of his senior
 and another
 and all of them seemed to be unmoving. Wait
 these are all images? Johnny wondered as he glanced around him. Most of the prospective members appeared to be girls utterly entranced by the posters.

His senior- the real flesh and blood one- finally appeared and hissed like cracking ice. He said something along the lines of “Be serious or leave. I have no time for stupidity.” Granted, the exact wording was probably different, but Johnny did get the gist of it- especially the venom imbued into the words. His senior seemed to not approve of the paper clones. The girls surrounding the rest of the table, oddly enough, seemed to take that cold jab as encouragement
 though probably for all the wrong reasons. Johnny really didn’t get it. He didn't get some of the subtle cultural differences here. He's a foreigner, obviously. The previous sentence didn't even need to exist- it's that obvious.

Johnny then backed off and returned to the area between booths with Katsumi to give everyone else a chance to sign up for whatever club they wanted. Thankfully, the area around them seemed to remain open, giving Johnny some real room to breathe. He couldn’t help that the most populated booths were Basketball itself, and in the distance appeared to be some sort of
 archery club? Johnny could see what was happening in the Archery club booth due to his immense height. Archery seemed cool, but Johnny imagined it wasn’t that physically intensive. Though it would require precision, Johnny already was great at precision shots in B-Ball back home. He personally never lost a game of HORSE, though not to say he didn’t try. Hell, the most he ever became in one game was a HOR. (hue hue)

From his natural vantage point, Johnny saw that there was that one guy with the slick, long white hair at the archery club. What was his name
 Belrose! Was that guy some sort of popular guy, kind of like Ryou? Johnny imagined that would explain the large number of girls flooding around both respective booths. All the rest seemed to be frolicking around the Swimming Club.


 There were quite a number of girls at this school, Johnny noticed, but maybe it just seemed that way. The typically longer hair of varying styles and colours did seem to stand out from the less flamboyant hairstyles most of the boys had.

“Anyway, I’m also taking up B-ball and swimming,” Johnny replied to Katsumi, “I also joined the drama clu-”

All of a sudden, he felt a very soft impact, like someone’s puppy performed a flying tackle right into his back. Johnny spun around, wondering if whatever hit him was alright, and saw that one really tiny girl he remembered from yesterday. Her stuttering made deciphering the entirety of her dialogue basically impossible. However, Johnny knew an apology when he saw one, even one with weird gestures like bowing repeatedly. “Hey no worries dude- wait, shit-” Johnny began with a casual wave before silently berating himself. In Japanese, he corrected, “It’s alright. No worries.” with as warm a smile as he could muster. If a girl about two heads shorter than him could possibly cause any harm, the foreigner imagined he’d never hear the end of it. To the short girl, but also to Katsumi, he asked in as clear Japanese as he could currently perform, “You look for clubs? Any clubs?”

He had a tendency to call anyone and everyone “dude”, even girls from old schools. No one really seemed to mind back in America, since it was a verbal tic, as some would say. They only really cared that Johnny was the best athlete at his old schools. Still, it was fortunate that he didn’t know the equivalent in Japanese.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Akira Blake Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Ryou Giou Character Portrait: Mai Kon Character Portrait: Katsumi Kurosawa
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"Why can't they
just leave me alone, or
why don't they care about
themselves more than getting
involved with me who
don't care about them."
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It's not like he wanted to limit the members wanting to join the Basketball. It was free for all, but he does not like those who do not take it seriously and wanted to enter just because they have a baseless admiration towards him. It was downright annoying. He would never understand people like them which was even more so when his words seemed to have an opposite reaction.

Japanese people... They are really weird, even if he was technically one as well. He wasn't raised here and for the better word, he and his little brother are still acclimating to the shift in the environment and, it was outright noticeable that the cultures they were used to are far different here. He didn't take a look back even when the other members called out to him. The only time he did was when he heard a familiar voice and a question that took his interest in a different level.

He looked over his shoulder and seeing that it was from a familiar face. It was the guy who sat beside him during the welcome ceremony yesterday. He turned around finally facing him, Akira Blake, that was his name. "Go ahead, as long as you're serious. Because, I won't go easy on anyone, Blake-san." His eyes then landed to the rest surrounding the basketball booth. There were a few faces familiar faces on the crowd near it. Johnny was easy to spot and was that Katsumi with him, even with the crowd... He could still see another familiar face. It was the girl, Mai Kon.

"In basketball, I respect skills and drive. Nothing else." His words were not only meant for Akira, but also to the rest interested in joining Basketball.

The other members cannot help but mutter that their captain was truly a cool dude. Ryou could not help but shook his head and turned his back at them. He had intended to go to the Basketball Gym to prepare, since he would participate in the presentation game, but before he fully disappeared from sight. He looked over his shoulder one final time. "I'll meet you all in the court." Then, he left without another word. He meant every word he said. He doesn't care about gender or anything else about that person, as long as they are able to play basketball with a serious drive and their hard-earned skills. He would respect them and would do everything within his responsibility to make sure they get the ultimate development they could at the basketball team.

Once inside the gym, he went towards the locker room and began to change into his gear. It had not been that long since he played ball. There had been a training camp over the summer. He wasn't against doing a demonstration game and all. It's just that he was just worried about the audience especially with those girls present. It was not like they can be prevented since, the clubs during this time are open for all. It is recruitment day, after all. He shook his head again with that thought before exiting the locker room now fully clad in his basketball gear with his jersey showing the number 10.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Gen Fukui Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Mai Kon Character Portrait: Arietta Hakushiro
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#, as written by Stiles
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Arietta noticed the smile that she received from the small black haired girl (Mai), but only smiled back with the warmest expression that she could muster, which turned out quite pleasant, due to the fact that she was genuinely enjoying herself. She waved to the small girl, realizing that she was quite shy when the girl scurried off. She knew that the girl wouldn't last a week with the members of Showstoppers, who took everything drama quite seriously. They did not goof off much, most of the time they were rehearsing lines or making stage props and costumes. In Arietta's opinion, this year's and last year's group were a bona fide stage cast. Everyone was highly skilled for their ages and she couldn't have been more proud of them.

Too bad, she's pretty cute for a short kid. Arietta thought to herself with a benevolent sigh. Her attention then turned to Johnny, whom she met the day before, right before that humiliating balloon bop, and she slightly remembered him, kind of surprised that he was interested in being a Showstopper, "Hello, Farelli-San! Glad to see you've shown interest in Airdalen's showstoppers! Can't wait to see you at practice, Ja ne~!" Arietta exclaimed, a warm smile on her face as she waved him off. He seemed busy, so she didn't attempt to hold conversation. She was just happy that recruits were coming in, because this would be her last year here and she did not want the group to fade away. She wanted to leave it in multiple capable hands. Thinking about it was starting to dampen her mood, so she quickly shook it off.

"Good morning, Arietta darling you look lovely~"

Arietta's attention immediately turned to Gen, who looked lovely as always. She personally appreciated Gen's unique hair and eye color the best. Gen is always so beautiful.. Arietta thought to herself, slightly intimidated by the challenge the Gen posed, if the girl so wished. Gen was definitely pretty enough to pose a threat to Arietta if she truly wanted to. Arietta couldn't help but feel mildly apprehensive around the ivory haired female as a result of her paranoia.

"Is there any way I can be of assistance? I was attending to the Inryoku booth first so please pardon my delay."

"Ohayo, Gen-chan! Thank you. You're looking rather splendid as well, like always. It's alright, I just sometimes forget that you have other obligations. Sorry~ Sorry~" Arietta responded with a light laugh, but held up the sign up sheet, letting her fellow senior examine the number of new members. She was fairly proud, though the only one that Arietta recognized from the list was Johnny. She was excited for the club to begin practicing, and began forming ideas on what play they would preform this year. She wanted to do something a bit different, but she wasn't sure what to choose. This would be her last performance as an Airdalen student, so she had to make it count.

"I'm afraid this is my only costume item since I'll be moving between clubs."

"I understand. It's perfectly fine by me. It seems a few people are bouncing between clubs, seeing as a lot of our fellow seniors are in at least two of them." She responded, realizing that she was only in one active club. She wanted to be more productive this year, especially since it was her final year of high school, and Gen reminded her of that. She needed to choose something athletic, because she was fairly wimpy as things stood.. Sure, she wasn't fat, but she wasn't anything close to muscular either, "You've got enough talent that a mask would be enough to make a costume. Sorry for relying on you so much, Fukui-chan." Arietta responded with a slightly bashful smile, then tapped a finger on her chin. She did wish to join a new club, and she knew that she needed to join something more athletic, but she didn't want to pick something that would be too difficult. She had noticed something about swimming on her way to her own booth earlier that morning, which she could do fairly well recreationally. She wasn't a competitive swimmer, but she could hold her own. There was no risk of her drowning, she knew the basic swimming skills. Seeing as Arietta did not realize that swimming competitions were a real thing, only assuming races in a pool were something that little kids did when they were bored of aimlessly swimming around, she did not realize that the swimming club would actually have competitions. Arietta was oblivious to how challenging this club would truly be for her, almost impossibly hard at her current skill level.

"I'd like to sign up for a second club... would you mind watching the booth and making sure no one intimidates the possible candidates until I get back?" Arietta asked Gen in a curious manner, even clapping her hands together with a pleading expression. She did not even realize how much this one decision would impact the rest of her life. She was about to make the most embarrassing choice of her life.





Popularity +1 @ Gen & Mai





Characters Present

Character Portrait: Akira Blake Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Rhys Browning Character Portrait: Kazuki Miyamoto Character Portrait: Mai Kon Character Portrait: Katsumi Kurosawa
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Her reply back was a bit surprising in that she hadn't expected to be called dude. Isn't that a term used for men? Oh no do I look like boy!? The worrisome thought flashed through her mind then again it was the only word she actually got out of what he said. The boy she had bumped into was quite tall, much like her Senior, however he seemed nicer. This was further justified by him repeating himself. Not having to worry about some punishment was a relief to the small girl. Now that she thought of it her relationship with Kazuki was something like s&m. A term one of her cousin's friends used when he came by one time.

Tilting her head slightly, Mai pondered what it meant but it wasn't of importance at the moment. Her thoughts were brought back when said boy (Johnny) asked if she had looked into other clubs. At first Mai wasn't sure who he was talking to but she then realized the question was meant for her and whoever (Katsumi) that was beside him. The ebony haired girl peered around him to see who it was. It was a rather pretty girl, in her opinion, but she also seemed kind of scary. Could she be a bad person? She noticed how others stared at the girl. Mai wondered if maybe she was new or had something on her shoulder. Then again the looks the other students gave her (Katsumi) were ones of disdain. Without even thinking Mai gave the other girl a small smile before looking back at Johnny to answer his question.

Fiddling with her hands, Mai took in a deep breathe as she prepared to speak. "I-i h-have j-join-ed a st-stu-dy gr-group b-but I w-would l-like to f-find t-the g-gard-dening c-club." Her stutter wasn't too bad as she answered him with a tight lipped smile. Mai looked around quickly to see if she could find the gardening club however due to her small height it wasn't very easy. "E-Excu-cuse m-me" she pardoned herself with a bow and went in search of the garden club. It was the one club she knew she'd be most comfortable with. It's generally a small group that partakes in it and that's just the way she likes it. Plus she absolutely loves gardening since it's an activity one can get away with doing on their own.

The Junior walked around a bit more and finally caught sight of a banner that looked like it could spell Gardening Club. With a newfound energy Mai hurried over to the small booth. Upon arriving she took note of the smallness of it compared to the other booths around it. The only thing that made it standout from the others was that they incorporated actual flora into the booth. A smile spread across her cheeks as she had hope for this club. There was a nice looking girl manning the booth along with two others, another girl and a boy. Going to the table, Mai signed her name onto the signup sheet without much hesitation. If she had she would have certainly noticed the name that was to be the source of her embarrassment, Kazuki. Mai looked up at the members and gave them a shy smile as she put everything back in place. Suddenly a commotion could be heard some distance away from them. Not one to get into those sort of situations when she could help it, Mai refrained from going towards it, even with the yelling. She was a bit curious but Mai knew she might get hurt if the commotion as a fight. I hope everything is okay over there. she thought with a look of concern.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Kazuki Miyamoto Character Portrait: Mai Kon Character Portrait: Katsumi Kurosawa
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Johnny "Jay" Farelli


Johnny barely caught “study”, and imagined the tiny girl was referring to a study group. He never learned the word for “gardening”, so that part went way over his head. He feigned his confidence though. Being so short, Johnny also imagined she would have a very difficult time finding clubs. He could lift up the small girl- it wouldn’t be difficult, and he’s done it plenty of times before with far heavier-looking people back home
 but wait
 Is that polite over here? Is it proper? Would it be considered an insult?

Before he could ponder further, the tiny girl appeared to excuse herself and left Johnny alone in the small clearing with Katsumi. He was reminded of the two girls who just up and left yesterday. “Ah well,” he said with a shrug. It was no skin off his nose.

There was suddenly much yelling. Johnny glanced up over the sea of student heads to spot a familiar head of hair bounding through the crowd to escape an older-looking man. The older man appeared incredibly pissed off, but Johnny did not recognize him. The one he did recognize was that one guy who was running amok yesterday, the
 trouble-maker? Johnny wasn’t sure if the kid was actively causing trouble or trouble was happening to the kid. Johnny never knew the full context, so maybe that’s why he seemed pretty chill about it.

Johnny couldn’t help but laugh. The dude with the gold-streaked hair certainly made the days interesting at the very least. The laughter was short-lived when he suddenly realised that the reckless movement could’ve gotten someone hurt. The crowd, beyond the empty space with Katsumi, was pretty damn thick, though. He wouldn’t have made it in time to offer any useful help. Not like the packed-up crowds would do the foreigner himself any good anyway.

He had a sudden change of heart regarding whether he wanted to join band or the drama club. Ah jeez, he thought as he put a hand to his forehead. He was honestly considering the option of flaking out after having signed up for it. It just wasn’t his style to flake. There were so many interesting clubs, and the foreigner was informed that he could only pick a maximum of three. He had to follow his interests, but he had slightly more interests than time would allow.

Then again, the drama club was not a guaranteed thing. He could fail the audition, or the intended productions could not be musicals... But then again, the drama club could also offer tech and stage management skills he would need in his future career... but then again, band would offer the same thing... and guarantee music...

But flaking wasn't his style either way...

“Only one way to decide on this,” Johnny suddenly said as he produced an American quarter-dollar from his pocket. He glanced at the subtly scratched silvery profile of a man whose name the foreigner kept forgetting. On the side, in capital letters, “IN GOD WE TRUST.” Johnny blinked his eyes; he knew they would’ve faded slightly. The coin was an unpleasant memento, but one he carried all the same for the sake of it’s primary function.

More like in chance I trust, Johnny huffed in amusement before turning it around to view the more interesting side- the side with a bald eagle surrounded by the name of his homeland- the one he left behind. With a light ping, he sent it skyward. With the same hand, he caught the flipping coin in mid-air and slapped it onto the back of his other hand.

“Alright. New plan: Heads, I flake on Drama and join Band,” Johnny said sort of to Katsumi- mainly so he would have a witness to this immensely important choice of two paths. “Tails, I stick with Drama.” No regrets... He removed his upper hand. The man’s profile shone back with the reflection of the fluorescent lights high above. “Guess I’m flaking,” he laughed with a slight hint of nervousness.

The foreigner once more glanced around the gymnasium. Band was on the other side of the crowd. Johnny had a few choice words on his mind about that. None of which he ever voiced. He decided he would make his way there when the crowd would thi-

A large segment of the crowd erupted in applause and what Johnny had to assume was a cheer. The cheer was in a different language, so it sounded quite different from the cheers he heard back home. The segment of crowd were enamoured with a display going on at the archery club.

At that point, a number of students seemed to move towards the archery club to see what was going on. Johnny saw a clear, relatively spacious path opening up. “Yo Kat,” he turned to face the purple-haired girl as he began stepping towards the target booth, “I’m heading to Band. Wanna come with?”

Regardless of the answer, he'd weave through the crowd with relative ease. Though the claustrophobia was real, he kept himself focused by humming a tune and keeping an eye on the booth.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Rhys Browning Character Portrait: Kazuki Miyamoto Character Portrait: Saburo Inoue Character Portrait: Katsumi Kurosawa
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The crowds were deafening due to the size, and it resulted in a few confused looks from Katsumi. Johnny's words faded in and out, making it hard for her to understand, but it didn't seem to matter much. Besides, the two made it to a clearing that allowed some conversation or more specifically decision making. Stuffing her hands into her varsity style jacket, she tilted her head curiously, "hm?"

“Only one way to decide on this,” First puzzled, she immediately knew what he was going to do with the sight of that type of currency- it brought mixed memories, but she looked at the coin with nostalgia more or less. "How cliche." she joked, while the coin flipped into the air, determining Johnny's next cource of action.

“Guess I’m flaking,” She laughed along with him, giving him a reassuring pat on the back before slowly walking past, "Hey do what you got to do man." A grin pulled at her lips, but unlike previous ones, it was soft and light hearted. But it only lasted a rare moment before the crowd nearby picked up in volume, she peered over curiously. 'Archery..? maybe.' She couldn't imagine a mafia child like her take on the art of archery... But she wasn't one to give in to those kind of things. Keeping the club in mind, she slowly turned her attention back to Johnny who was shooting her a question.

“Yo Kat,” She hummed in curiosity, “I’m heading to Band. Wanna come with?”

"Sure." Katsumi answered smoothly, almost unaware of the new nickname she gained- it made her grin grow. 'Wouldn't the gang be proud.' she thought, thinking of the girls from her home town. Then she thought of her father- she inwardly cringed.. 'Guess I won't be bringing this up anytime soon.'

Stepping forward, she glanced back at the many people, only for her eyes to linger on a few individuals... Two people who she decided to keep her eyes on: the purple hair (Kazuki) male who ran furiously, and the red haired (Saburo) both looked and acted very similar.. to well... the people she usually sees on a daily basis. Now whether she sees them as potential friends or foes is undetermined, but she is definitely watching out- she didnt want to get even more infamous than she already was. At that very moment she felt the usual hesitant glances, but they seemed to increase due to their presence.

'We'll see.. shouldnt be a hypocrite about it'

Finally her eyes focused on the last one- long haired brunette...(Rhys) She blinked, he looked familiar..? 'From where though..' Squinting her eyes, she tried to find more distinguishable features, only to remember what she was previously going, "go se.. (shit)" Murmuring a certain curse word in her native tongue, a habit of hers, she easily ran and dodged the crowd, finding her way to Johnny who was way ahead of her. "Sorry, got distracted."

Looking up at him, she caught the audible hum, and saw the intent focus in his eyes which made her wonder if something was wrong... With less then a second thought, she laid her palms against his back, and began to run, pushing the huge lump of a man out of the crowd. It was pretty comical really, since Katsumi was significantly smaller, but seemed to easily guide and plow him through. It was totally unexpected too, that it caught most people off guard. She would have laughed.

Getting out of the crowd faster than they would have at their previous pace, she pulled away, before walking past him, saying in a casual tone.

"You went too slow."

Without turning back, she made her way to the booth, causing a few nervous glances, but she picked up one of the many pens, and waved it in the air. "Cmon Johnny, no flaking on this one." She teased.


Stats
- Popularity: +2 (for previous post as well- forgot to update for that one) Johnny
- Athleticism: +1

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Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Katsumi Kurosawa
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Johnny "Jay" Farelli


“Sorry, got distracted.”

Johnny did indeed pause for a moment while in the crowd. He was waiting for an opportunity to slip past some students in front of him.

“Whoa!” Johnny’s tall, muscular form bowled through the sea of students as Katsumi shoved him along. He apologized to as many people as he made impact with. His sloppy Japanese hopefully fell on understanding ears, but he doubted any of them could catch it on account of his laughing so hard. This reminded him of the one time his buddies wrapped him up in saran wrap and paraded him through the school after a major victory in sports. Specifically, when they won the regional championships for Jr. High schools. This was two years ago. It was a good day.

“You went too slow,” came Katsumi’s casual voice once the booth was directly in front of Johnny.

“Damn girl, you’re a lot stronger than you look!” He laughed as the pushing finally stopped. Either she was strong, or Johnny was just very light. Either way, with a quick breath, he turned to face the booth itself. Hopefully his vulnerability didn’t show itself. He had to be strong, always strong. Though this apparently humiliating event was really, really funny to the foreigner. It was
 humbling
 maybe even charming.

A number of students were getting themselves set up for a performance, not unlike the one done by the Swimming team earlier and what Johnny had to assume was why cheering occurred near the Archery booth. Hm
 should I show off? He got a glimpse at an electric guitar sitting on stand-by. He could tell from a distance that it was a Fender Squire- probably made in Indonesia.

Back when he was in Jr. High, one of his buddies had a solid collection of instruments. Johnny learned to play at their place every time they didn’t have practice. As far as his parents knew, Johnny hanged at the friend’s place to play more sports and do homework. Though Johnny did do homework, he and his friend mainly jammed. Over the years, he learned to jam well, and especially sing well.

His eyes went from the unused Fender Squire to a pen being waved in the air. “Cmon Johnny, no flaking on this one.” Katsumi teased.

The foreigner once more laughed that nice deep chortle of his. He liked this girl already; she was very take-charge, like some of his homeland friends. “Yep,” he replied as his hand reached to grab the pen. At that point, he finally noticed the nervous glances by other people directed at Katsumi. This came across as confusing to the foreigner. Kat didn’t seem to show that she was bothered by these gazes, though. Johnny figured they were intimidated by her take-charge attitude. He understood the feeling. Many fellow students in the past were intimidated by Johnny’s speed and overly friendly, yet professional demeanour.

Johnny didn’t plan to ask further, however. However, the very slight hesitation to grab the pen allowed Kat to pull it away in time. At that moment, his reservations drained away, and he once more laughed. As soon as Katsumi held the pen out again, Johnny’s arm shot out again. This time, he used his full speed. This time, his fingers wrapped around the pen and slipped it out of the grasp of the fellow Junior.

“Abracadabra,” he quipped as he twirled the pen. After clicking the pen, Johnny scribbled his name down onto the sign-up sheet. At that point, he finally spotted the box of many other pens. “Oh wait, maybe I should’ve grabbed one of these.”

Regardless, he signed up, and he was itching for a jam for the first time in a couple of months. He voiced his desire to play the lonely Fender as best he could to one of the booth runners, who ran the idea with the rest of them, and returned that they saw nothing wrong with it. The guitar belonged to the school’s music club, not anyone specifically.

“Awesome!” Johnny exclaimed as he vaulted the table. Finally, he was out of the crowd. Johnny slipped the guitar strap over his shoulder. He spent the first couple of minutes bringing the bridge to his ear so he could hear the tune of the guitar. Just by-ear, he re-tuned the guitar. Johnny then plugged into the wah-wah pedal- which was in turn connected to the mixer. To test everything, he tapped a note. Thankfully, the guitar mixer was already set to exactly what he wanted. Though he fiddled with his friend’s mixer before, it was an ancient piece of hardware, compared to this newer-looking one with all the bells and whistles. Despite all that, the foreigner managed to make it look easy from a distance.

He used hand gestures to show the drummer the tempo Johnny wanted for the song he was planning to play. The drummer didn’t know English, and Johnny hadn’t yet learned the words required to describe music-related things. Still, the drummer watched Johnny’s swinging fingers and copied what Johnny was showing. Once the drummer had it down pat, Johnny gave the thumbs up, “You got it, dude!” The song in particular, he thought about when he watched Kazuki run through the crowd to the chagrin of the older man who had been giving chase.

So he played, and he sang. The lyrics, obviously, were in English. He wasn’t sure if everyone could understand, but he didn’t really care. He just wanted to jam. His uniform fluttered rather loosely as he bounced on the balls of his feet to the rhythm, which was maintained by the quite skilled drummer. Said drummer seemed to know the song already, either that or he was just lucky. The rest of the team running the booth seemed content enough to just listen. This girl with a large, thick-stringed bass seemed to recognize the song for certain. Needless to say, the bassist girl also joined in.

(Note: The bassist and drummer are a couple, for anyone who wants to reference them.)

Johnny sang his goddamn heart out for the first time in months. His deep, powerful voice still had it, thank goodness. It certainly helped that he kept his vocal organs in good condition through the more silent exercises back home. If he wasn’t focused entirely on his two instruments, he’d be wondering where this outburst of energy was coming from. He didn't even know how the crowd throughout the gymnasium was reacting.

Today is a pretty awesome day already. Good start for the year. he finally thought as he finished the main vocals and played the last sting.

---

Unless interrupted, Johnny would give a second set of similar instructions to the drummer. This time, he would ask for a slightly faster tempo. He planned to play Green-Eyed Lady. The bassist, thankfully, would also seem to know this song already once Johnny starts playing.

---

Charm +1 to Katsumi
Popularity +1 to Katsumi

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Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Katsumi Kurosawa
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Katsumi's was taken by surprise due to Johnny sudden speed, and found herself blinking in confusion. But it was immeditatly replaced by an impressed smile, 'Not only is he strong, but fast...' Her mind wandered onto the day of swim practice, and she couldn't wait to see a guy like him in the water. Perhaps he'll be good enough to where her brothers respected his skill, and that would be impressive, especially since a mafia family like hers were nothing but critical. But it didnt matter, shaking her head, she merely laughed when he finally noticed the plentiful amount of pens, as she found his "moments" quite hilarious. However with her laughter, it caused students nearby to tense and she could only imagine that she sounded like a witch cackling then a student simply laughing.

But having too much fun to care, she continued to keep her focus on her new found friend who decided to dash into the crowds once more. She could only tilt her head in curiosity, 'Where was he going now.'

Deciding to keep her distance, she leaned her body against a nearby wall comfortably, before looking up at the familiar sound of the guitar.

The sound induced memories of her travels, specifically those in America and Britain with their many concerts and musical events- what great times.. A soft smile pulling away at her lips, she closed her eyes to listen carefully at the stream of lyrics which were passionately sung. It was well done, but she would smile not only out of nostalgia but bemusement. How many students could actually understand the song being sung?

She had doubts, but from the slight shifting of feet to the claps, she saw that she was wrong as a good amount of students peeked or stayed with interest.

'Good for you, man.'

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Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Tadashi Kiomine Character Portrait: Katsumi Kurosawa
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Johnny "Jay" Farelli


It was fortunate that the bell rang right after Smokin’ In the Boy’s Room was finished. Johnny returned the guitar with a thumbs-up. The other members seemed to enjoy the foreigner’s contribution, even if none of them knew just what the hell Johnny sang in the first place. As such, they returned the thumbs-up. The crowd seemed to like the music as well. Apparently American stuff was popular over here.

“Alright!” Johnny whooped as he vaulted over the table once more. From his uniform pants pocket, he produced an eight-and-a-half by eleven sheet of paper, which contained his class schedule. With a quick glance, he memorized where his first class was taking place. His height allowed him to find Katsumi’s half-cornrows pretty easily. Thankfully, the crowd began to thin as the announcement was acknowledged by more and more students. “Looks like I’m going to Gym Building E,” he said once he arrived before pocketing the paper once more. His voice sounded only slightly strained, as if he had just spent the past few minutes putting his all into something strenuous on his vocal chords. “I gotta hit up my locker. I’ll see you later, Kat!”

Johnny, being a bit of a well-meaning dumbass, did not realise that the class was being shared by seniors and juniors. He headed off on his own once more, now borderline desperate to get out of the sea of shorter people. Once he finally found himself away from the crowds, Johnny rushed to his locker and swiped his school bag. After emptying the books he wouldn’t need for Phys. Ed, he locked up and slung his single-strap backpack over his shoulder.

Currently, he was packing his work-out uniform: a white tank-top with baggy dark green pants. His salt and pepper cross-trainers were complemented only by a matching bandana- which Johnny used to keep his longer bangs out of his eyes. Along with the uniform, Johnny had a second lock, which he would only use whenever he’s using a locker at a gym.

He then walked down the hallway. From his other uniform’s pants pocket, he produced the campus map. He was on his way to Gym Building E. Finally, the education will commence. Finally he can get started on leaving ancient history behind.

Leave ancient history behind. No regrets.

Johnny pushed the men’s locker room door open with next to no effort. The locker room was clean, and retained a slight bleach smell from several days ago. It was a common scent for a locker room at this time of year. The lockers themselves almost glowed in the fluorescent lights that lined the ceiling.

Johnny stepped over to an unused locker and flung off his uniform shirt and jacket. It then took one side glance, where he spotted a shorter, yet older-looking boy, for the foreigner to realise he was not the only one there. The other boy was rather quiet. Johnny imagined it may have something to do with the unusually coloured eyes. With his face-reading talent, Johnny read something similar to Ryou’s own gaze. Some kind of darkness- possibly a regret of some kind. Johnny knew the look well- he saw it in his own face sometimes.

No regrets.

Regardless, this was the time to move forward and make friends at this new school. With a friendly, very calming smile, Johnny greeted, “Yo what’s up?” Immediately after he said that, he realised he said that in English. He quickly repeated a similar, if simple and unnecessarily polite greeting in Japanese. Hanging with Katsumi all morning made Johnny forget he was in a foreign country. As he corrected himself, he removed his uniform pants and similarly tossed them into the locker. Afterwards, he’d slip on his workout outfit, starting with pants, tank-top, shoes, and finally the black and white bandana. He would be doing all this during the conversation.

At least, he would, if he did not later realise that the boy had already left before Johnny could say anything. Dumbass. "Oh," he muttered as he continued to change in silence.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Yuuki Fujioka Character Portrait: Tadashi Kiomine Character Portrait: Cassiopeia Argyris
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Yuuki realized that the recruits were being interviewed and let out a soft sigh. She really detested things like this, but she assumed one interview wouldn't hurt, besides, if she got it over with then they would have no reason to do it again. The thought of getting everyone off of her case was more than enough to keep the purple haired student in the area. Yuuki closed her eyes and let out a sigh, pulling out paper and pen before writing a few math equations down from the top of her head. She didn't go easy on herself and she began solving the first one, albeit with a bit of difficulty. Math was her worst subject, but that wasn't saying much. Her grades were phenomenal, but her math score was a B- and she wished to improve. She plugged in the needed formula and her pencil began searching away at the paper as she continued to write numbers and letters. Whoever invented math has a sick sense of humor.. Yuuki thought to herself, but would never speak aloud. She loved school, but she would be the first to admit that mathematics courses were among the cruelest and most unusual forms of torture available to man.

"Fujioka, Yuuki-chan?"

Yuuki's body instinctively jolted into action, causing her to stand up quickly as her name was called. When her attention focused in on the source of the voice she realized that she was next to be interviewed. Yuuki picked up her scrap sheet of paper and pen folding up her personalized questions to finish later, seeing as she'd only gotten a little more than halfway through her self generated set of problems. We're hardly acquaintances, so why is she referring to me as Yuuki-chan instead of Yuuki-San?

"Ah, yes. You are Aeon's junior, correct? It is nice to see you again."

....Rude..She's getting on my nerves..This school has a bad case of poor manners.. She didn't even address him with respect... If she's close to him she could have at least used '-kun' when saying his name... Yuuki had to admit she was kind of bothered by the other girl's lack of an honorific when addressing Aeon, but she held her typically sharp tongue. She needed to join this club and unfortunately the pinkette was the club manager. She wasn't going to jeopardize her spot in one of the only solitary sports that the prestigious school chose to offer, "Yes, I am Belrose-Senpai's junior partner. It's definitely unexpected to be seeing you again." She decided to stick with a neutral greeting, not feeling particularly friendly, but she didn't entirely detest her as she did Miyamoto. She was simply annoyed by the level of familiarity that this girl exuded. Yuuki was not the casual type and she did not appreciate it when Arietta or this girl, known as Cassiopeia, spoke to her as if they were casual friends, because they weren't and she did not intend on ever being as such.

"Clio nice to see you! Clio again! Clio nice to see you!"

Yuuki eyed the pink ball, but averted her gaze. She couldn't look at it very long because it sent a shiver down her spine. It was a feminine overload of artificial intelligence and it spoke in third person, that was more than creepy enough for her tastes. I-I think it is talking to me..

"I am glad to see that you are interested in Archery. I hope that you can enjoy your time with us. Oh right, do you have any prior experience with Archery?"

"I needed an athletic extracurricular in order to enrich my college resume." She responded in a calm and matter-of-fact manner, seeing as she did not truly have an interest in the sport, although she didn't mind learning. Deep down, Yuuki did truly wish to learn how to shoot an arrow, because it was simply badass, "I've had no prior experience. Belrose-Senpai suggested it because I do not wish to join a sport where I am expected to waste my time socializing." Yuuki informed her Senpai, Cassiopeia. She was growing tired of the conversation, wishing to either practice or leave, but the interrupting bell decided that much for her. Yuuki quietly bowed to Cassiopeia before retrieving her belongings.

She turned off her phone now that classes were beginning and made her way towards the gymnasium. Once inside she headed straight for the girl's locker room and chose a locker near the back. She put her bag inside, then looked around to make sure no one was around. Even though it would just be girls, Yuuki didn't want to be seen in an exposed state. She quickly removed her school clothes when she realized she was alone, neatly folding them inside of her locker and changed into the female workout attire before anyone saw her in her bra and underwear.

Yuuki tapped her tennis shoes against the floor, putting her school shoes inside of her locker on top of her clothes before closing the locker with a loud slam. She returned to the main room of the gymnasium, taking a seat on the bleachers not too far off from an unfamiliar but usually attractive male student (Tadashi), not that she should be surprised, because all of Airdalen's students seemed to be unrealistically beautiful, herself excluded. He's really.. No cut it out! Don't even think it! Just because he's been generously gifted aesthetically, doesn't mean I should note it. She felt like a weed among roses in this place, but it wasn't like it mattered. She didn't have time for romance, so why should she care if anyone thought she was pretty? It wasn't in her nature to start up a needless conversation anyhow.

Yuuki unfolded her paper and tried to work on the problems again. She succeeded with most of them, but she found herself irreversibly stumped on the last question that she had come up with. She always found calculus to be difficult, so she wasn't surprised that the question had her at a complete loss. I don't get it.. I know it's advanced for my age, but this school expects more from it's students.. Seniors are probably doing trigonometry, or even higher level math than that while I can't even accomplish advanced Calculus.

She knew the basics of calculus, even though she had never had the class in as a class in her actual school lessons yet. She was struggling to finish the course at cram school, and found her struggle to be unacceptable, she blamed it on being a slacker, although she was far from it. Perhaps if I fully cut out my one hour a day television I'll be able to study it longer and I might understand it?





Intellect + 1
Notoriety + 1 Cassiopeia
Popularity +1 Tadashi





Characters Present

Character Portrait: Shiori Kitogawa Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Tadashi Kiomine Character Portrait: Cassiopeia Argyris Character Portrait: Saburo Inoue
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TADASHI KIOMINE


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<Open up my eyes; I need your light again- burning me inside; i need your love again. I can feel our-> "Excuse me, are these seats taken?" "Hmm?" Tadashi opened his eyes the his iris was now mostly purple, the lower quarter of them a deep red re-focusing until he saw a kindly looking girl standing beside him. His mind switched functions from going over the words to a song he was writing; to processing the world around him. "Clio excuse! Clio seats taken! Clio excuse!" His eyes scanned her features, but only as far as to her shoulders and immediately adjusted accordingly. He then looked down at the little bouncing ball that was taking to him in simple Japanese. His mind formulated words as he sat up from his reclined position and pivoted in his seat to give this new person (Cassiopeia) and her companion his full undivided attention. "No, by all means please feel free to sit." He looked through her eyes gauging further as to who this person was he was speaking to. First impression from the surface told him that he was speaking to someone that could easily be dubbed as one of the 'elite' in society. She was rather polite and gentle... Almost frail. There was only so much that he could go by from just an exchange of just 16 simple words. Her Japanese had a unique accent to it which peaked his curiosity. He had never seen this girl before (Cassiopeia) which prompted him to assume that she was an exchange student from somewhere else, very far away. Tadashi made a subtle sweeping gesture to the seats beside him allowing her to see the vacant space- and able to see the numerous scars on the inside and upper side of his left arm. It looked like the inside of his arm had been slashed with a knife well over 50 times, which was entirely accurate. This was an act he would had deliberately tried to hide some time ago, but that was the old Tadashi.

"My name is Kiomine, Tadashi. Would I be correct in assuming that you're a senior here, as well as transfer student?" Tadashi spoke up again, his voice having a practiced and natural flow as if he was narrating the introduction to the girl. He was rather proud of his growing vocal abilities and did practice on the people he interacted with, both in Japanese and English. Tadashi would roll his shoulders back just slightly to show that he was listening keenly to his new visitor (Cassiopeia). He had plenty of practice practicing this with his father and the acquaintances of his father- mostly politicians that loved to talk about himself. Tadashi's eyes showed a unique twinkle in the morning light, he was steady and patient even holding a small calm smile across his lips. Whatever she said, Tadashi would listen as if it was imperative that he caught every detail. One might feel a sense of importance when talking to him, he would look at you as if he understood a person the way they most desired to be understood. He knew, because more than anything he wished for people to understand him in the same aspect. He projected outward what he wished to see in other people, the thought-process was something called 'influence-molding'. One didn't have to be overtly dramatic or intrusive to effect change in a person's behavior. The woman he was speaking to already had influenced him and his behavior. Within 30 seconds of meeting her (Cassiopeia) Tadashi knew to be more kind to her and the people around her. Watch his language and hold a kind nature for her sake. A small part of him wondered what his 'influence-mold' was on her. He wore all his scars and marks on his chest proudly, yet quietly. His eyes shown like a pristine crystal that had been shattered and placed back together several times over. Not many people where in the gym yet, but he knew that the few that were in and not sucked into their own words would watch them. Tadashi didn't from a distance seem the type to 'fit-in' with Cssiopeia's type. But that was the appeal of this girl he felt.

Tadashi would cast a very quick glance to the individuals around him, seeing all were appearing to be underclassmen. However he would be incorrect missing Shiori sitting near the top of the bleachers. <4 other students... Including myself and this one, that makes 6. 4 boys, and 2 girls... There will be more.> He did find it a tab bit strange however how one seemed to be dressed like a gang-banger- an American one at that (Johnny); when everyone else was in their school P.E. uniforms. But he could find that out rather quickly, unfortunately he missed the greeting the taller and built underclassman had greeted him with before he left the locker room. In his mind while he listened to Cassieopeia while processing and putting information together that he gathered around him. He heard a rough segment of Saburo's statement but not enough to act on it, since he mind was thinking about several different things at one time. That was a unique quality of his, but he did want to get better at it.

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Aeon Shirokami Character Portrait: Shiori Kitogawa Character Portrait: Akira Blake Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Yuuki Fujioka Character Portrait: Ryou Giou
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Johnny “Jay” Farelli


The first thing Johnny noticed upon entering the gymnasium from the locker room was that this school seemed to have official gym uniforms on top of the regular ones. Johnny found this unusual for two reasons. The first reason was that his previous schools never had gym uniforms, so most everyone back home dressed the same way he did. More importantly, however, he was supplied a regular school uniform, but the received package oddly did not contain a gym uniform. His attire was as-is because there was, hilariously, no other choice. He was obviously dressed like a gangbanger, but most every boy in his old neighbourhood dressed that way. The foreigner never got into gang activity, despite his attire and confident demeanour. Frankly, he miraculously had no idea what a gangbanger was. Hopefully the teacher wouldn’t mind. After all, the bandana was only there to keep Johnny’s chestnut bangs out of his eyes.

His pants, though baggy, were the kind of pants parkour practitioners wore. Though he had the fitness for it, Johnny never tried parkour. Back in his old city, the neighbourhoods were very flat, with only five-foot chainlink fences as the only common obstacle. The nicer walls and structures that would suit parkour were very few and very far between.

His arms were bare, on account of the tank-top. The lack of sleeves made the intensely lean muscles quite noticeable. The tank-top itself was also quite snug, and form-fit around his chest and abdominals. If not for how goofy the borderline Charlie Chaplin-esque outfit made him look, the foreigner would’ve been quite a looker for the assorted ladies throughout the gym. Granted, if Johnny had tattoos, he would look less gangbanger and more Yakuza. Then again, he was a 17-year-old boy who didn’t even know what either one was.

The second thing Johnny noticed was that both boys and girls were present. Even at home, Johnny’s schools had separate classes for boys and girls’ Phys. Ed. Once he noticed that nearly every face was recognizable from yesterday, Johnny determined that this class was some sort of senior-junior activity. The one boy with the unusual eyes was seated at the bleachers, talking with a frail-looking girl with pink hair. That one dude with the slick silver hair was also there, looking almost like a butler
 or bodyguard
 or something. Apparently the frail pink-haired girl held some aura of great import.

The pink-haired girl had some kind of
 what was it, some sort of teddy bear radio? He didn’t get a decent enough look, but he did catch multiple instances of a word “Clio”. It didn’t sound familiar to Johnny’s language studies; was it some kind of name? If the foreigner had a better look, he’d probably be one part creeped-out by the thing that moved on it’s own, and three parts in awe at the technical wonder. Despite curiosity, Johnny opted not to butt in on their conversation
 At least, not until he learned more of the language to hold a better conversation.

Instead, Johnny paced along the perimeter of the gym. He performed basic arm stretches as he walked. The foreigner kept his ears open as he readied himself for the upcoming class. He tried to listen to conversations to determine what was being said. Technically, it was eavesdropping, but Johnny felt it was more like a fun little language test. After all, he had left his dictionary in his locker- the idiot


Among the students forming at the bleachers was a slender black-haired girl, (Shiori) a small albino boy, (Akira) his senior Ryou, and the one dude Johnny missed a chance to meet yesterday. (Saburo) The fellow music-lover was talking to the short, violet-haired girl
 Yuuki, was it? Wait no! Fujioka-san. Damn, I’ve been slacking off on this language and culture all day, Johnny mentally berated himself. Once he made a lap, his arms felt loose. He bounded up the stairs on the far left of the bleachers. Innocently, he approached the black-haired girl, (Shiori) who sat alone near the top of the bleachers. After that successful friendly friend thing with Katsumi, Johnny’s memory of those two (NPC) girls from yesterday had vanished entirely. He was determined to be a dependable friend to everyone like he was back home. He just needed to introduce himself to everyone.

Given the time he spent stretching and thinking, he was sure not to screw this one up. He greeted and introduced himself in Japanese. “Pleasure to meet you. My name is Johnny, but you can call me Jay.” His delivery was only slightly sloppy, but it was delivered with professionalism. He had used a fair amount of time last night practicing this new, more efficient greeting. He did miss the party, after all.

In America, and from a distance, the bandana-wearing Italian-American would look incredibly goofy when juxtaposed with a girl who appeared very well like the foreigner’s physical opposite. Though a fitting quote to criticize the scene would be "Clothes make the man," Johnny truly had no nefarious ideas. He just wanted to make friends ASAP. After all, he left everything behind when he moved.

Johnny glanced around at the empty benches throughout the bleachers. “Are these seats taken?” he asked in Japanese. It was obviously a dumb question, but it was only the polite thing to do. This time, the delivery was less practiced, but the professionalism still remained.