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Johnny Farelli

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

0 · 6,661 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: Tsukiko Kitogawa Character Portrait: Shiori Kitogawa Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Sora Harigae Character Portrait: Character Portrait:
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

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”Bond? Are you making reference to the undergarment brand? I’m afraid I do not know the brand of my undergarments but I can check right now.”

"Goodness no, Bond is a fictional spy, his name is James Bond." Tsukiko replied between a series of giggles, highly amused by Sora's response, so much so, that she had to cover her mouth with her hand to contain her laughter. This was the first time she'd had a good, genuine laugh in quite some time and she had to admit that it was nice, "It's a movie series. I could let you borrow the first one sometime if you're into movies. I rarely get to watch them, so I think they're rather nice." though she was then distracted by Sora's response to how she reacted to his boob compliment, because it seemed a bit inaccurate based on her acceptance of the compliment and came across as rehearsed. Apparently this guy received a lot of rejection. Poor fellow. I wonder how many times he has been slapped...

“On the contrary, I am being honest and—oh, you took the compliment. That’s nice.”

"I take it that you are not used to receiving a lot of good signals to that one?" Tsukiko inquired, giggling softly after asking her question. She couldn't contain herself, this boy was definitely amusing and fun, a little unpredictable and definitely didn't sugar coat his words. She was almost attracted to his honest better than his looks, but only almost. She knew that honest could turn into a turn-off just as quickly as it could become a turn-on. She let out a calm breath and inhaled one with enthusiasm. Today was a good day, she just knew it couldn't go wrong. She had a gut feeling and she was flying with it today. She refused to let anyone dampen her current mood.

"I do not understand women most of the time."

"I'll let you in on a little known fact: women seldomly understand themselves. It's natural to feel that way. as Sora gazed upon the sky, Tsukiko checked him out again, realizing she'd scored rather well for her first few minutes attending the school. He wasn't dumb as a doorknob and he was extremely cute, she was very glad that she'd chosen him. Also his hair was very fetching, the color and the style both made him hard to ignore, so much that she did not catch her words as they casually slipped out, "Is your hair color natural— I only ask because my own is not." she quickly added to her question, fusing it with the statement in a slightly awkward manner. Typically she would have been more eloquent, but the question managed to slip past her strict vocal filters and breathed life far before she was able to carefully cultivate her words into a more fluid and socially acceptable inquiry.

”That is good, I make an effort every morning."

"Has anyone told you that you're absolutely adorable?" Tsukiko inquired, tilting her head a bit, resulting in her pink hair shifting. It was currently not in her signature high and fringed pigtails, but was instead tied up into one messy ponytail with a pink and white striped hair bow holding it together. Her golden eyes narrowed a bit as she realized her words could be taken as an insult, "Not in a childlike way, you're more like a cute puppy." she responded in a serious and blunt manner, not regretting her words for a moment. She had been given no reason to show restraint, so far he had been responding positively toward her after all. He did seem to have bad luck with women, judging by how he worded his responses, but she felt that she would be able to get along with this hot boy because of his rotten luck with other women.

”It is a relief that the female population has some hope. I’ve had to deal with a lot of dumb ones.”

"Eh? That's a lot of pressure to live up to~" Tsukiko chimed in a halfhearted manner, a joking expression on her face, but she was unsure if he would catch the humor in her tone or respond with obliviousness, seeing as the James Bond joke went over his head. The fact that he didn't know what she was talking about only made him more precious in her opinion, "I'm not that good at school work, but I do like to believe I have all certain amount of common sense." Tsukiko responded with a sheepish laugh. She never expected to be complimented on her intellect, especially since her agent was always nagging her about the horrible grades she had made back in Korea. It wasn't that she was stupid, she was just always too busy for studying and often neglected to do her school work. Tapping her cheek as she thought on Sora's words, Tsukiko explained her situation further without exactly stating her celebrity status, "I was on the road a lot before moving to Japan, so studying has been quite difficult."

”I would like to partake in other clubs too. I think it would look good in my school reports.”

Seeing a boy care about his education seemed rather rare, but she was not going to comment on that aspect. Tsukiko nodded, beginning to wonder what her own school reports looked like, but she didn't want to imagine that much failure on one piece of paper. The thought brought a shiver down her spine, "Caring about your future is an admirable trait." She responded with a smile, not sure what else she could have replied with in that moment. When Sora took her hand once more, Tsukiko allowed it. She wasn't shy, so she in fact rather enjoyed holding his hand, especially because he meant nothing serious by it. The playful flirting was just what she was looking for. She didn't want anything else, everything else was always too complicated. She knew complicated from experience and she hated complicated.

”I would not mind at all. I believe it is this way. Come Tsu.”

"Hai, thank you, Sora-Senpai." She didn't feel right switching to straightforwardly to first name basis without honorifics, at least not this early on. She barely knew anything about this boy, despite the brilliant first impression that he had made, so she refused to go too quick before she felt she could trust him. Even she knew better than to trust someone so easily, she had learnt the hard way once or twice, but thankfully she had brilliant body guards and her agent was super protective and dependable. She followed behind, not minding the nickname, but she wasn't participating yet either. She wanted to get a better feel for this boy's character before she deemed him as a possible friend. She was surprised to see the Social society club was all passed out, but after that crowd management, she felt that it was only to be expected. She felt bad for the boys, especially since it was partially her fault that they were forced to work so hard. She nearly apologized, but was surprised by Sora's incoming words.

”How very lazy of them.”

Tsukiko wasn't really sure if his description of the members was very accurate, in fact, she felt that they had worked quite hard today, but it was none of her business what Sora felt about the members of the club, at least not yet. She was simply relieved that she was not on the receiving end of his harsher statements.

”You sign your name here.”

Tsukiko smiled a bit, only slightly offended by the common sense statement, "Thanks." She responded, signing her name. It was difficult to not sign her Korean stage name, having become second nature over the years. She managed to scribble down her birth name instead, despite her immediate reflex. She noticed the random signatures, realizing that his statement held some merit, apparently some people were not as orderly about signing up as she had been.

"What other clubs are you interested in? It's good to stay in numbers. Club days are always dramatic."

"Band and Inryoku in-waiting." Tsukiko responded after she looked around at the nearby booths. The pink haired girl chose the two others, but it was a difficult choice considering there was a limit on how many clubs one could participate in. She found it very stressful to pick just three considering she'd never been in a club before now.

"That is my leg. You have your own."

Tsukiko began laughing again, wiping her eye, skillfully managing to avoid smudging her eyeliner or mascara. Just after she managed to stop laughing, the bell rang. She shook her head at Sora's behavior, highly amused by the first boy that she'd met at this new school. Perhaps moving here was going to be even better than she thought?

"I'm going to run on ahead. Seems that we don't have the time. I'll see you around, Sora-Senpai." She responded with a smile before rushing off towards the other two clubs she wished to join. She signed up before they closed up, and she made her way quickly towards her first class. She wasn't looking forward to it. She was not very athletic. She didn't know how to play most sports, because she never did as a child and she was not forced to participate in strenuous activity before now. She entered the school gymnasium realizing that everyone else had changed. She searched by gazing around and found the girl's locker room in no time. Tsukiko removed her jacket before even entering the locker room, but waited to remove her actual top until she was among only females. Her skirt quickly followed and she got dressed, actually feeling more confident the more other girls stared at her. She put on her gym attire and closed her locker, returning to the groups near the bleachers. She chose to climb the bleachers, having spotted a familiar face. She realized that a brunette make (Johnny) seemed to be conversing with the familiar girl, but Tsukiko didn't care, "Shi? Is that you? It's been so long! Give your favorite cousin a hug!" She called out in a loud and excited manner, hugging her cousin, not realizing that her cousin would have a violent reaction to the unwelcome and unexpected affection. She hadn't seen Shiori since they were in preschool, so she wasn't used to her cousin's harsh exterior. She did however know that her cousin was timid and probably wouldn't have wanted all eyes on her, "You're so cute now! I wonder when I got taller than you?"





+1 Popularity to Sora and Shiori





Characters Present

Character Portrait: Tsukiko Kitogawa Character Portrait: Aeon Shirokami Character Portrait: Shiori Kitogawa Character Portrait: Gen Fukui Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Tadashi Kiomine
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TADASHI KIOMINE


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Tadashi could feel them... the eyes starring at them now. More and more students began to enter the gymnasium making it harder and harder for him to keep track. So to put it simply, he stopped counting freeing more of his mind to focus on the 'at hand' matters in front of him. The new girl (Cassiopeia) was elated to be able to sit next to him and did just thought. He smiled more naturally feeling her good nature rubbing off on him. Those judging from the outside might think that he would be faking, he definitely didn't appear to be the type to truly relate with such a pure and innocent girl like her. But he lacked the mannerisms that someone like Kazuki had. He was much gentler and quiet, never one to be boisterous.

"Really? Thank you very much." Tadashi smiled at the girl and her companion, passively holding up a hand. "Please, it's only the polite thing to do. I would never deny someone a place to sit if I didn't have a good reason to. "Yes, you are correct! I am a senior student. I just recently transferred here last year. Oh, silly me! Where are my manners? I haven't introduce myself yet. My name is Argyris, Cassiopeia Elegy. You may call me whatever you see fit. And this is Clio.""Name Clio! Pleasure to meet! Clio Name!" Tadashi had a reserved chuckle finding the company of the two to be rather enjoyable. "It is a pleasure to meet you both Argyris-chan. Clio-chan." He would make the extra effort to talk to her companion Clio as if he was another person, treating it with equal respect. It was very clear that this small robot meant a lot to her, so he would care for it in order to please the girl he was with. In the back of his mind he ran some thoughts through his mind, wondering how much that robot as actually worth to the girl. While thinking this through he would listen and answer all of Cassiopeia's curious questions. "Yes, I am a senior student as well. And to answer your second question, I am actually an old student here. I left to go abroad before last year started and had just recently returned a little over a month ago.". He kept it vague for a reason, although he did know that he could most likely open up to his new friend Cassiopeia he decided against it for now. He knew what was happening around him.

"You have such beautiful eyes, Tadashi-kun. It's like the color of sunset... so pretty." Tadashi blinked looking back into Cassiopeia's eyes seeing that she had leaned close. People had talked about his eyes before, not always in a positive light but it was about even in the variety of discussion. "Why- thank you Argyris-chan. He had leaned back at the first but soon, the senior adjusted and sat back up straight letting the pink haired girl invade his space. He knew that she meant no harm at all. He was deducing that it was simply her nature and she was very open about herself. He was surprised by her next comment, not very many people noticed his scars unless they were paying attention. "Are you hurt? We should get you treated if so and we might just met, but if you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask me anything." Tadashi paused for a moment to look down at his left arm, looking at what he had done to himself- but simply smiled. "No need to worry Argyris-chan. They don't hurt anymore, they're from a long time ago.... I feel much better now." And he did, it was the truth.

"Pardon my interruption, Kiomine-san. I see you have come back." Tadashi turned to see Aeon had approached and addressed them both. Or rather he addressed Cassiopeia first then moved on to him. He was startled to the fact that the 'school idol' had already known who he was, but was even more surprised that he was recognized so quickly. A part of him was relieved that he was remembered, but another small piece of his mind was rather disappointed that he could be recognized so easily. He was an observant one however, the 'white prince' of the school. He held no ill-contempt but the 'awe factor' of the trio was quickly rising. "Let me welcome you back to Airdalen." "Hai, arigato Belrose-San.... It is good to be back." He nodded to Aeon politely casting a quick glance to the growing students around him. His iris slowly shifted to more of a red listening around him-

"Did he just say Kiomine?" "Like- that kid that got picked on a disappeared?" "I heard he ran away to some foreign country." "I heard he was taken by the police because he wanted to kill everyone in the school." The seniors were getting suspicious, and the juniors were either clueless or being fed gossip about him if anyone cared to listen.

Tadashi shifted in his seat watching the two (Aeon and Cassiopeia) discussing with one another. It would seem that the usual cold and stone faced idol had become his new friend's closest companion. He found it amusing, but sensed that they had known each other for some time now given how they communicated with one another. That was an issue he could likely find out, but ultimately it wasn't his business. People would let you in when they were comfortable and ready to. Tadashi tilted his head up when Cassiopeia turned back after a childish pout pointing to her lips. "I really like Tadashi-kun's eyes. But I think it would be prettier if you also make them smile." Tadashi couldn't help himself. The entire time he just had a subtle friendly expression on his face, but his muscles twitched and moved beginning to smile all on his own. It wasn't a very large smile, but his white teeth were exposed in a flattering smile. He would look down after a moment, then gaze back up to get a better look at his surroundings. He got people glancing and starring at him from the jealous boys, to the curious girls and even more curious former-now current classmates.

Through the crowd he saw a glimpse of white-blue hair lower itself into a sitting position instantly recognizing it. "Gen..." He would quietly mumble to himself, suddenly having a desire to speak to her. Tadashi would stand up slowly and face both Aeon and Cassiopeia "I am terribly sorry for this. But seeing as I have just returned, there are a few people that I would like to see again. Argyris-chan." He would turn and step forward to the girl gently grabbing her hands in his own, a gesture he was sure to make an impression on her. She'd watch his eyes turn more purple now as he spoke again. "It was truly a pleasure to speak with you. Perhaps we can talk some more during class, or maybe even lunch. You appear to be a fascinating person. Would you like to meet again for food, or studying?" He would slowly let go of the woman's hands and took a step back to give a shallow bow, waiting for her response. He would bow again to Aeon. He glanced up noticing Shiori and perked up beginning to walk backwards. He noticed that the tall fellow (Johnny) was beginning a conversation with her but didn't want to interrupt.

Tadashi would wave towards Shiori in an attempt to get her attention. He did remember her very well, he had a smile across as he lips as he waved now very keen on speaking with her as well. He had so much to do in a short period of time. It was then that another pink haired girl had entered the scene and seemingly glomped his old classmate Shiori. He blinked and laughed a little bit, but suddenly recognized her looks realizing that it was Tsukiko. He sighed knowing that he had a responsibility to talk to her. <Why am I so worried about time? I have quite literally all of class to talk to people..>. Tadashi would pause and truly think about his options, even delving so deep as to think of an alternate reality of the different options he could make. It all made for an interesting thought but he couldn't dwell on that. After a blink of the eyes, changing the amount of red and purple in them so they were even again Tadashi would turn around and walk across the gym. He would look to Gen and smile, remembering their little talks they had together when he was younger. He had waited outside of the school the very last day to try and say goodbye, but he never got a chance to. The one person he wanted to confide to at that moment and he wasn't able to. That had really eaten away at him. He ignored the looks and politely excused himself around any students he walked past until he made his final destination. He was her (Gen) sitting by herself more-or-less tapping her foot nervously. He knew it wasn't a song, the beat was infrequent and sporadic. "Miss Fukui..." He would call out and kneel at somewhat of an angle to Gen'sleft. if she glanced up, he would look her in the eyes and smile. His own turning more purple as if a tide was rising on a beach. A soft smile was on his lips, having excused himself from absolutely wonderful company just to talk to her. He had a feeling that something was wrong but he wouldn't pry or intrude. He did feel compelled to the only friend he use to have right then and there, she deserved that.
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Popularity +1 (Cassiopeia, Aeon)

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Tsukiko Kitogawa Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Tadashi Kiomine Character Portrait: Character Portrait: Character Portrait:
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Shiori pretended that she did not notice the tall brunet male making his ascent. As he traveled up the stairs she grew slightly nervous. She did not know this guy, at all. Why was he coming closer? She was the only person up this high..

What are you doing? I'm not s nice person. You shouldn't come closer! she thought to herself, growing rather anxious. She would have found a reason to escape, but since she was on top of the bleachers there weren't many places for her to run. She was practically trapped unless she wished to make a scene, which she definitely did not. Before she could second guess her decision to stand strong, the boy (Johnny) had made his way to her.

“Pleasure to meet you. My name is Johnny, but you can call me Jay.”

Shiori removed her earphones in time to catch his name, letting the earbuds fall into her lap, "Kitogawa, Shiori." She responded back with a serious and calm expression on her face. There was no possible way she'd be able to call him by first name, so she refrained from addressing him, "How do you know it's a pleasure to meet me?" She asked with an arrogant and amused smirk, her defense mechanism kicking into play. She was becoming too nervous and so the cocky persona kicked in.

“Are these seats taken?”

"They seem to be empty to me." Shiori responded, closing her eyes. A smile formed on her lips, showing how amused she was, although she was simply faking it. She honestly did not want to be so abrasive. Before she could beat herself up about her behavior, her phone began vibrating. She pulled it out of her jacket and blinked as she realized she had a text. She never got texts, except from her father and Kazuhiko. This one was from the school, so she was more than a little curious of it's contents. She tapped on the screen with her finger, opening the message on her expensive touch screen phone.

To: Kitogawa, Shiori

You have been exclusively invited to the Airdalen Halloween Dance!

Today
at 7 P.M.
HIMEJI CASTLE

You are required to attend with a date from the following guest list.


A dark blush immediately crossed her cheeks, a certain someone immediately coming to mind, but she knew that it wouldn't work out. For starters, she was too embarrassed to dance with anyone, like ever. If that wasn't enough, she felt even more nervous when he touched her. How would they ever dance? Then to put the icing on the cake, even if it did work out, he was her junior partner.. She could never ask him. If he declined it would ruin their professional relationship forever. Though as she thought about it, why would it? It wasn't like she had feelings for him, no way! She simply knew Rhys better than the other boys in the school, that was it. It was ridiculous to think that there could be more to it. She was definitely overthinking it. It's only weird if you like him, which I-I don't! So all I have to do is work up the courage... H-He knows that I don't like him that way... J-Just as friends.. That's all they were. Rhys was just a super attractive friend that she really wanted to ask to the dance. Suddenly she was left in a daze as she stared down at her phone. Perhaps I could ask Kazuhiko to practice dancing...? He was the only person she would let touch her, but even his rights were limited. Slow dancing would definitely push the limits to what she usually allowed... but if it would help desensitize her enough to dance with Rhys, it would be well wor- then she shook her head. She wasn't even sure that he would say yes, and he probably wouldn't.. Why was she allowing herself to get this far ahead of herself?

Once she snapped out of her daze, she noticed that her old classmate Tadashi was waving towards her, and she blinked in surprise, waving back with a dumbfounded expression on her face. They had not actually spoke to each other that much, except for short, general talk. He had changed a lot in physical appearance, and his current appearance was definitely easy on the eyes. Even so, she was still trying to figure out how she could ask Rhys without coming across as weird or assuming anything..

"Shi? Is that you? It's been so long! Give your favorite cousin a hug!"

That accent.. She knew it. It was quite familiar.. Then as the word 'cousin' was spoken, Shiori immediately froze solid in fear. She knew exactly who the owner of that voice was, and it definitely was not a good thing! Before she could push past Johnny and run away, Tsukiko practically tackled Shiori back down into her seat, the pinkette tightly wrapping her arms around Shiori. Shiori's eyes widened in shock, mentally freaking out. She even stopped breathing for a moment. Her cousin would do this every time she visited, which was not often. The last time she'd seen Tsukiko in person was when they were in preschool. A lot had changed since then, Shiori had become far more distant and reserved. She noticed that Tadashi was laughing, and she knew under normal circumstances, this situation should have been humorous.

"You're so cute now! I wonder when I got taller than you?"

"I've always been shorter than you, Baka!" Shiori snapped, just loud enough to get her point across. She did not wish to make the current scene any worse than it already was.

Shiori shoved Tsukiko off of her, but in a safe direction instead of down the bleachers. Shiori stood immediately afterwards, putting one hand on her hip, "Don't touch me so familiarly, Tsuki." She replied in a stern tone, bowing to Johnny without making eye contact, too ashamed to look him in the face. She had behaved horribly again due to her phobia, and she was running out of patience with herself, "Excuse me. Gomenasai." She didn't give much more of an explanation, heading toward the bathroom in a rush. She pushed the doors open, heading into one of the stalls. She leaned her head against the door of the stall, tugging on her hair gently with both of her hands, trying to stop herself from shaking. She could feel the tears threatening to fall, and despite her best efforts to vanquish them, they poured down her cheeks. She let them fall for a moment before wiping them away. She had to get back out there before roll call.. She unlocked the door and stepped out to one of the sinks, letting water pour from the faucet and she splashed her face, "Get it together.."

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Tsukiko Kitogawa Character Portrait: Shiori Kitogawa Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Tadashi Kiomine Character Portrait: Character Portrait:
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Johnny "Jay" Farelli


Kitogawa-san, Perfect. That’s another name to commit to memory, Johnny thought. He then suddenly remembered that Japan was all about last names. Shit.

“How do you know it’s a pleasure to meet me?” The girl asked before Johnny could correct himself. Johnny caught “How do you know” as well as the rest of the words he had used before
 in other words, he understood the question perfectly. The girl held a cold exterior, but wore an easy, almost cocky smile. Though he was a dumbass at times, and came across as not terribly intelligent, Johnny had street smarts and face-reading. He could tell this girl needed a friend.

Johnny donned his confident and friendly smile as he leaned onto one leg. His forearms rose on both sides in a casual shrug. [/b]“Meeting new people is always a pleasure. Oh, and my last name is Farelli,”[/b] The foreigner replied
 At least, he was pretty sure that’s what he said.

The girl appeared to display confusion as she produced her own phone. An emergency? Random text? Johnny didn’t want to pry. It’d be intimidating- especially for someone of his stature and build. He then saw that the girl’s face flushed. Her pale complexion made spotting any blush incredibly easy. A boyfriend? Johnny didn’t much care for being someone’s boyfriend right now. He just wanted to be a friend.

Was that boy she waved to earlier her boyfriend? Did he send a text to tease her about meeting the tall gangbanger-looking type that was Johnny? Granted, Johnny was easy on the eyes, but that fellow further down the bleachers seemed more like the kind of guy Japanese girls would swoon over. If it was a tease, it was pretty funny, and probably kind of cute. Wait, no. Can't assume. It makes me an ass. God, what a dumbass.

A second pink-haired girl appeared. It took Johnny a good second to realise that it was not, in fact, the calm, frail one further down the bleachers. This girl was more bubbly and active. She seemed almost ecstatic to meet the black-haired girl. If anything, it reminded Johnny of one of his distant aunts coming to visit. Said aunt recalled stories of the last time they had met- when Johnny was not even a year old.

Johnny wouldn’t have minded these stories if his aunt didn’t express shock towards his not remembering these meetings from being a year old. It also didn’t help that his aunt expressed borderline disgust at his attire and his neighbourhood friends. They were the best damn friends a guy could have ever asked for.

Kitogawa-san Black-hair seemed to treat this visit as Johnny treated treated his aunt
 though there was a lot more venom being spat. Wait, hold the phone on the aunt
 That pink-haired bubbly girl is really familiar. Johnny tried his best to recall where he had seen this girl’s face and hair before. Her voice was especially familiar
 wait a minute, that’s-

The foreigner’s phone vibrated. Uh-oh, I must’ve transferred my phone to my gym pants without realizing, Johnny’s cheap smart phone was hardly worth stealing, but it had an enormous memory storage for the incredibly diverse music collection he has. He would have to leave it on the bleachers or risk breaking it from the intense physical activity coming up. Regardless, he checked his phone to see what’s up.

The message was in Japanese Kana. Johnny was not amused. “Right, can’t read it yet
” Johnny chuckled to himself in English. His warm, pearly-white smile widened in amusement towards his own misfortune. In Japanese, he was just about to ask, “Please read for me? Cannot read kana yet.” when he noticed that the message did not end there. Apparently the message was repeated in English. Oh, sick!

To: Farelli, Johnathan
You have been exclusively invited to the Airdalen Halloween Dance!

Today
at 7pm
HIMEJI CASTLE

You are required to attend with a date from the following guest list.


>date
 Oh
 Oh noooo


Johnny’s eyes held a sudden, almost alien intensity as he stared intently at the four-letter word that caused him the most concern out of the entire text. Though he didn’t blush, he did appear to be in a similar trance to Kitogawa-san earlier. At least, he unwittingly held that look until he took a breath to avoid going pale and actually started thinking about the text and it’s context.

Frankly, he didn’t know too many people as-is. Sure there was Ryou and Kat, and soon these two lovely ladies, but enough for a “date” date
? In the perspective of every junior invited on the list, this event can’t really qualify as a date. It was more like some teacher asking students to pair up for a class assignment


“Excuse me, Gomenasai.”

Johnny almost automatically replied, “Hey, no worries dude.” in his very chill, very relaxed English. He learned what the word “Gomenasai” meant, and he treated it the same way as any apology. The guy couldn’t get offended even if you tried. Frankly, he was more focused on the text that he didn’t realise that Kitogawa-san was rushing to leave.

No
 this is not a date. I can deal.

Welp, might as well start asking. He glanced up to introduce himself to pink-hair when he realised that black-hair Kitogawa-san had left for some reason. Wait, what happened? Did I do something wrong? He thought back to the two girls from yesterday
 although at least Kitogawa-san said something before leaving. That’s a damn good improvement.

His eyes caught pink-hair’s eerily familiar face, and he introduced himself the same way as the black-haired girl. This time, however, he remembered to add his last name. Also this time, he added, “Pleasure to meet you, Name's Johnny Farelli, but you can call me "Jay". Do I know you from somewhere? You look familiar.”

At this point, he noticed that he botched the tie-up job for his bandana. He threw it off and shook his relatively short hair out before tying the bandana back on once more. Having his arms up to tie up his bandana inadvertently made his muscles more pronounced.

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Character Portrait: Tsukiko Kitogawa Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Character Portrait: Character Portrait: Character Portrait:
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Tsukiko noticed that the boy nearby (Johnny) pulled out his phone, and at the same time her's began to ring. She plucked her expensive iPhone 6s from her pocket, tilting her head. She opened the text, wondering what the school could possibly have to say, especially during class. Didn't most schools prohibit texting during class? Why on Earth would the staff contradict themselves? She honestly didn't care, prepared to use this moment to her advantage if she were to ever get caught texting in class in the near future.

To: Kitogawa, Tsukiko
You have been exclusively invited to the Airdalen Halloween Dance!

Today
at 7pm
HIMEJI CASTLE

You are required to attend with a date from the following guest list.


She read through it, smirking a bit. Dates? That was definitely intriguing. Her Japanese was acceptable, but she could not read it nearly as well as she could speak it. She spoke and read decent English and Korean, but her Japanese was severely struggling in comparison. She only knew two students, so finding a date would be a challenge, especially since she did not know who was available and who was already going with someone else. Part of her wanted to find Sora and ask him, but she knew that she should wait and meet a few more of her classmates before deciding who to ask. She didn't even take into consideration that someone might ask her before she has made a well informed decision. She preferred being in control of all situations, but it would definitely boost her ego if someone did ask, whether she declined their request or not.

“Right, can’t read it yet
”

"You can't read English or Japanese? Tsukiko asked in a curious tone, using nearly perfect English since that was the only language he had used in front of her. She assumed he was a foreigner seeing as he did not read the native tongue, much like herself. She could read some of the text in Japanese, but it wasn't very clear, which is why she had been thankful for the English version. She had to admit the boy's smile was rather charming, but it was too early in the game to make any other assumptions, "Why are you wearing a bandanna?" She asked in curiosity, seeing as no one else was. She wondered if it was a fashion statement, which many Koreans such as herself often made, or if there was some function to it that she was not grasping. She had never worn one herself, aside from tying one around her leg or arm for 'looks'. He seemed to be wigged out by the text, causing her to laugh. He had been staring at it for quite some time now, so she was not certain if he heard even a word of what she was saying. However, if he had not heard her, that would be really annoying and she would be forced to give him a piece of her mind. Her time was too precious to waste, as it was far more valuable than most, at least in her own overly inflated opinion.

“Pleasure to meet you, Name's Johnny Farelli, but you can call me "Jay". Do I know you from somewhere? You look familiar.”

Tsukiko sweatdropped, but smiled a bit, "Kitogawa, Tsukiko. It's a pleasure to meet you..." She responded, falling silent after she registered his final words. He recognized her? She tilted her head, making sure that she'd heard him right, repeating his words at least five times in her head before accepting that he had actually said she looked familiar to him. There weren't a lot of people with pink hair in the world, at least not compared to conventional hair colors, so she was confident that he knew her as a celebrity and had not mistaken her for someone else. A huge smile formed on her lips and there was a twinkle in her eyes as her already gigantic ego grew a tiny bit more. She retrieved her earbuds from her pocket and plugged them into her phone quickly before selecting a song she had sang and also written. The song was written for her dead boyfriend, Mokoto, but no one knew that other than her manager and herself, but that was a given.

Not one to pass up the chance to enjoy a man's muscles, Tsukiko lightly gave Johnny a longer once over, than she had previously. He is quite a specimen~ She was definitely impressed, but she mentally reminded herself that she should meet more people before buying into one person. She did not want to regret her choice later on. Once he finished adjusting his bandanna and she wiped the drool off her chin.. (just kidding!)

Tsukiko shamelessly reach forward and brushed a few strands of his brunet hair away from his right ear before gently putting one earbud in his ear without asking. She wasn't the type to ask for permission often, so she didn't really mind what others found 'intrusive'. Personal space was nothing but a myth in Tsukiko's opinion. Life was too short to live by social norms. She would not let others define how she 'should' be. She would be however she wished, and whoever didn't like it could kiss her ass, and if they pissed her off enough, she'd blatantly tell them to do so. She was a girl, but she definitely wasn't society's vision of a 'lady'. She was fine with that though, Does that ring a bell or should I play my number one hit?" She tapped her cheek with curiosity, wondering if she should have played the most popular one first. This was Japan after all, and she had very little reach in this part of the globe. She doubted he would know all of her songs so choosing the right ones would be key in making him remember if he knew her or not..





+1 Popularity to Johnny


Characters Present

Character Portrait: Tsukiko Kitogawa Character Portrait: Shiori Kitogawa Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Yuuki Fujioka Character Portrait: Sora Harigae Character Portrait: Saburo Inoue
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Johnny “Jay” Farelli


“You can’t read English or Japanese?” Yet another student who knew English. The new conversation snapped Johnny out of the rest of his funk. Despite his quest to learn the local language turning out to be more and more pointless, Johnny really just wanted to roll with the punches at this point. He at-first thought the pink-haired girl meant the question like “Are you illiterate in general?” Which may come across as offensive to some people.

It was not offensive to the foreigner, however. The foreigner was not “some people”. In response, Johnny laughed cheerfully, “Oh! Ha, no, I can read, just not
 what’s-it-called, Kana? The squiggly symbols where a lot of ‘em look like the letter T.”

His focus on adjusting his bandana made him miss that the girl was checking out his assets. Apparently inspired by Johnny’s actions, Tsukiko had asked “Why are you wearing a bandana?”

“To keep my bangs out of my eyes,” Johnny replied simply as he still retained that friendly smile. “I wanna grow it out longer eventually, but what I have is a good length for sports.”

Tsukiko introduced herself shortly afterward. The sudden drop to silence near the end made Johnny glance down at Tsukiko’s face. He was about to start trying to read why the silent drop happened when he noticed that the pink-haired girl was suddenly quite close.

[]Roll with the punches, no regrets.[/i] Johnny’s personal mantra seemed to repeat itself automatically, only to be drowned out just as quickly by oddly familiar music.

“Dude, I know this tune,” Johnny’s deep smooth jazz voice lowered to an unintentional growl. He spoke more to himself than the girl in front of him. As he pondered, he put a fist to his chin. He hummed a bass-like hum in harmony with the song. He knew many artists and many more songs. He then realised that he had this same song on an especially special playlist. “This is
 Teardrop, by
”

“Does that ring a bell or should I play my number one hit?” she asked. At this distance, Johnny could clearly see the golden-brown eyes. An old friend had shown Johnny a concert video that got a good close-up of the singer. Johnny had recognized the eyes specifically from that video.


 Holy shit! What are the chances? The chances were about as slim as getting backstage passes for Woodstock back when Jimi Hendrix was alive. The chance were about as slim as the Beatles having a gig without a harassing crowd back in their prime. The chances were about as slim as Johnny winning at a video game.

“Wait
 you’re,” Johnny spoke at a normal volume, but then he paused. He’d seen enough of those Disney teen movies with his buddies in the cheap theatres to know what saying a pop star’s name out loud could cause. He didn’t want to cause an equivalent of what the Beatles had to live with during their prime. In a more personal (or intimate, depending on how one prefers to hear his deep voice) “You’re Mae Seung Jin. I knew I recognized that voice.” Always the professional, Johnny tried not to come across like a rabid fanboy. Though he was cool with being this close to another person, the foreigner knew he’d rather not be in the same room as the type who did act like a rabid fanboy.

The music in Johnny’s ear, while it helped him keep perfectly calm despite the claustrophobia, (or maybe it was something about the girl
 or something
) unfortunately prevented him from overhearing the growing argument being conducted by the music guy, Fujioka-san, and a dude with blue hair. Even if he did catch the exchanged roasts, he probably wouldn’t have understood a fair number of the words being spoken. Though he would have spit some ill rhymes straight out of his neighbourhood... If he had heard the argument, that is. As was established, he did not.

He only continued the conversation with Tsukiko. “I only got a few of your songs, but damn girl, you got the voice of an angel.” he said not unlike Albert King as he bobbed his head slowly to the beat. He wouldn’t mind recording a jam session with her vocals in the mix
 literally
 it’s not an innuendo. He simply continued humming with the music until he thought back to the text. Date
 No, not a date. It makes no sense to “date” someone you met today. That’s just ridiculous.

At this point, Johnny figured the girl wanted her earbud back. Johnny pulled it out and handed it back to Tsukiko Kitogawa. He adjusted his stance, which allowed him to make a little bit of comfortable distance, though he made it look natural. Wait, “Kitogawa-san”? I guess she and the other cute shortie were family after all. That’s pretty cool
 Where did she go, anyway?

Ah well. Just ask. The worst she can say is “no”.

“Anyway, Kitogawa-san, (He remembered the manners at least) there’s this event being hosted by the school at some castle,” Johnny rose his phone to glance at the text once more. With his free hand, he rubbed his pointed, chiseled chin. “And the thing’s calling for, like
” Johnny couldn’t find himself outright saying “date”, for the same reason the word caused him such initial alarm in the first place. “I mean, since I don’t know anyone, I was just gonna ask until I get someone to join me. Not sure if you got a buddy already, but if you don’t, didja wanna go?”

---

+1 Popularity to Tsukiko
+1 Popularity to Shiori *gm edit*

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Akira Blake Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Yuuki Fujioka Character Portrait: Sora Harigae Character Portrait: Saburo Inoue Character Portrait:
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Johnny “Jay” Farelli


This was the best damn teacher on the face of the Earth. Johnny immediately knew he wanted to be buddies with this guy. It was like looking at a grown-up mirror of the foreigner from the past. His name was
 Mr. Kido? Kido-sa
 wait, no. Kido-sama? Wait, no! Kido-sensei! Got it! Johnny genuinely wondered how the teacher pulled off the stunt with his shirt. Matter of fact, Johnny wanted to learn that as a party trick.

The accent wasn’t as difficult to understand as one would suspect for the foreigner
 but it was a little tough. Johnny did catch the name, a general gist of the welcome, and a mention of “teamwork” right before that most marvellous hat-trick
 Wait no, shirt-trick.

“Trust exercises, huh?” Johnny was used to them and was perfectly down for them, but he knew that he was over a head taller than almost everyone here. He wondered if anyone would trust themselves to catch the tall foreigner. Then again, he was of a much lighter build than his senior, Giou-senpai. He was certainly used to falling. It was one of the many things he practiced so he could in turn practice recovery. After all, he was always the fastest player, and any amount of time he was out of commission was a clear disadvantage to his team.

At the same time, he wasn’t sure if his weight could be handled by others. What if someone sprained their wrist trying to catch him-

Now that the earbud was out, the foreigner finally turned to see the growing argument. With a single glance, he saw the great tension broiling between the student with blue hair, another student with red hair, and Fujioka-san.

And shit was hitting the fan. A smaller white-haired boy (Akira) was already rushing to push them apart, as well as Ryou.

“The fu
” Johnny mouthed before the anger adorning their faces made something click in his brain. A fight between two students behind the school, by the bike racks. Several students were around, but did nothing to stop the fight. Johnny’s towering form got between the students. On his face was a serious expression. Despite all concern from all the other students, Johnny never spoke harshly. None have ever seen Johnny mad. That being said, even today none will see him mad. “Oh shit!” He exclaimed in surprise. Within a few bounds, Johnny had descended the bleachers until he hit the hardwood floor with a thump.

By then, in Saburo’s rage, he swung a damn lucky punch that connected with Akira. Though the white-haired boy was a lot tougher than his effeminate features suggested, the strike did seem to stun him.

You gotta keep ‘em
 separated. With a lowered stance, Johnny rapidly closed the distance himself. Saburo’s unawareness to his surroundings gave the foreigner easily enough time to wrap his arms low around Saburo’s waist. With his powerful running legs, he pushed the red-head away from the blue-head for a good metre. Then, with a deep, borderline growling “Hup!” Johnny hoisted Saburo up over his shoulder. This left Saburo hanging from his hips down Johnny’s back, while Johnny locked his arm around Saburo’s legs to keep them outstretched. The foreigner could handle a few hits himself, so it was better that he take any future hits over the rather scrawny blue-haired dude. Hell, the poor dude took a nasty first two hits.

“Whoa whoa, dude! I dunno what just happened, but let’s chill out, a’ight?” In English, Johnny called behind him in a serious, yet friendly manner. He never learned the Japanese equivalent for the slang “chill out”, but a lot of these students seemed to know English anyway. That being said, this red-head might not know English. “Shit, I mean
” Johnny tried to conjure some sort of equivalent. “Uhm, Stop. Cold the blood
 heat?” he managed to somehow say in Japanese. Damnit, at least actions spoke louder than words.

Speaking of actions, picking a fight in front of a teacher of all times? Johnny couldn’t help but feel bad for the aggressor he had just pulled from the fray. The foolishness behind the action made Johnny almost certain that the boy was provoked. The foreigner, of course, never caught the dialogue that could be taken as provocation. He had no witness of whatever could’ve provoked physical violence. Despite the logic, all Johnny really cared about was to keep any more fists from flying at the weaker students.

This objective included basically parading Saburo away from the blue-haired one and part-way across the gym floor. After making a good amount of distance between Saburo and Sora, Johnny leet Saburo back down on his feet. Standing face-to-face, Johnny’s green eyes stared very calmly into Saburo’s. The foreigner kept both of his large hands on both of Saburo’s shoulders. “Are you done? You feel okay now?” he asked in Japanese. Though his words lacked poison, Johnny was quite serious, with a brow that was only very slightly furrowed.

---

Athleticism +1

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Tsukiko Kitogawa Character Portrait: Aeon Shirokami Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Kazuki Miyamoto Character Portrait: Ryou Giou Character Portrait:
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"Oh! Ha, no, I can read, just not
 what’s-it-called, Kana? The squiggly symbols where a lot of ‘em look like the letter T.”

"I see, me neither. I'm half Korean, and was raised in North Korea my entire life. My second language is English, so my Japanese isn't that good, at least not when I write or read..." Tsukiko winked at Johnny in attempt to reassure him, realizing that her words were much harsher than she had meant for them to be. She had just honestly expected a warmer welcome from her cousin and it dampened her mood that the girl did not seem to happy to see her, like at all. Tsukiko's eyes shifts down the bleachers noticing that a ruckus was forming, but that was none of her business so she effortlessly returned her attention to Johnny. She did not feel a shred of guilt for ignoring the bullying that Yuuki was had been receiving.

“To keep my bangs out of my eyes, I wanna grow it out longer eventually, but what I have is a good length for sports.”

"You play sports?" She asked in an oblivious tone, trying to strike up conversation more than anything. She could tell just by looking at him that he was athletic, but she decided to play dumb for the sake of their conversation. She wasn't exactly book smart, but she was definitely smarter than she was currently giving herself credit for, "Are you joining a team?"

“Dude, I know this tune,”

Tsukiko held back the urge to smirk, seeing as he did not entirely recognize her yet. He did not mention her stage name or the title of the song, so she refused to get ahead of herself. Though knowing that her song seemed to at least stir a reaction from him was enough to satisfy her. She was pleasantly surprised, keeping silent as he hummed along with the chorus of her song. She said nothing, wanting him to make the connection on her own. Tsukiko was a confident and somewhat arrogant young woman, but she did not often shamelessly brag. She preferred for her achievements to speak for themselves.

“This is
 Teardrop, by
”

Ok~ So he does actually know the song.. That's a start. Tsukiko thought to herself, anticipation forming in her stomach as he struggled to place a name to the artist, a name to her. It still hasn't clicked in his head yet, but she was certain that it would, seeing as he knew the name of her song. She did not grow nervous as he gazed into her eyes, in fact, she blinked even less in order to give him a better look.

“Wait
 you’re,”

She waited for him to say it, not wanting to coach him into it, because that would ruin all of the fun. If he was a fan he would surely remember anyhow, at least that is what Tsukiko told herself. It was frustrating that no one recognized her, but she wasn't going to throw a tantrum like a spoiled child. She was far beyond those antics now. She had better ways to get what she wanted these days.

“You’re Mae Seung Jin. I knew I recognized that voice.”

"Aren't you observant." Tsukiko grinned, her pearly whites shining as she did. She was definitely satisfied with his answer, her entire day looking brighter now. She had not expected anyone aside from Shiori to remember her, so this was definitely a much better start at this school than she had anticipated.

“I only got a few of your songs, but damn girl, you got the voice of an angel.”

"My mother would certainly disagree. Would you believe me if I told you I was discovered at a playground? I climbed to the top of a jungle gym one day..." She laughed as she thought back to her situation as a child. She grew up extremely bratty and spoiled, and she knew that several times throughout her childhood she deserved more than a few punishments that she never received. She was raised very strangely, practically bred for limelight. She'd been to so many pageants and talent shows that she couldn't remember them all, "I began singing when I grew bored of just sitting there and an agent heard me, but not before the police were called and the local news was quick broadcast the spoiled Korean girl that needed to be beaten for her level of disrespect."

After Tsukiko relayed her personal story, she grew quiet and let him enjoy the song, stifling a laugh. She'd never actually witnessed someone listening to her music outside of concert, aside from her producers and sound crew, so the head bobbing was definitely a foreign motion to her.. She would often dance around with her headphones on, but this was something that she'd never experienced. She wasn't sure what the movement did for him, but he definitely seemed to be enjoying himself. Tsukiko put her phone and earbuds back into her pocket when he returned her earbud, smiling warmly to Johnny afterwards. She wasn't really sure what to say next, but she definitely wasn't going to let that stop her from holding a conversation, and if it did, she would definitely leave first to leave him guessing... Yes, that is what she did best after all. He adjusted his stance, and she eyed him discreetly, Do I make him uncomfortable or am I imagining things..? She thought to herself with a smug attitude.

“Anyway, Kitogawa-san, there’s this event being hosted by the school at some castle,”

She immediately knew where this was going, but she blinked innocently at Johnny despite that. She tilted her head in feigned curiosity as she pretended to be surprised by this news. Of course she knew that there would be a dance, but she did not have to make that known to him, "Really? At a castle? That sounds intriguing."

“And the thing’s calling for, like
 I mean, since I don’t know anyone, I was just gonna ask until I get someone to join me. Not sure if you got a buddy already, but if you don’t, didja wanna go?”

"So it's a date required event?" She asked with a confident smile, twirling a loose pink strand of her hair around her index finger. It was in a high and messy ponytail, so there were several such strands to choose from. She couldn't accept, not this early in the game at least. She'd just got here today, so she couldn't officially make a confident choice, "I just arrived in Japan today so can I take a while to think about it?" She did not want to insult him, but she also did not wish to sacrifice her options so early on. Also she preferred to ask guys out, not the other way around. She hated not being in control of a situation. Johnny was definitely attractive, but he was far too nice. She didn't know how to deal with 'nice' guys.

"At the end of the day if we're both still dateless, I'll say yes, if you've found someone else by then I'll understand, and vice versa. Cool?" She replied, quirking an eyebrow. Sure, Johnny was attractive, but who wasn't at this school? She wanted to meet as many people as possible to make a well informed decision. Besides, she preferred taking the initiative. She felt that being asked out was so seventeenth century. She liked to believe that she was a highly evolved feminist. Johnny rushed to break up the fight that she had witnessed, so Tsukiko made her descent down the stairs just in time to witness another interesting moment.

"Giou-san"

Those golden brown eyes of Tsukiko's raised to find the owner of the voice, a single eyebrow quirking. The owner was a highly attractive blond specimen, and she was highly impressed. Her eyes were transfixed on the situation brought upon by the blond male (Aeon) and the equally attractive dark haired male (Kazuki) that the blond was dangling like bait on a fish hook. She was definitely intrigued by the uproar these boys were causing, perhaps because they were both much taller than herself. Guilty as charged. I suppose I've always had a soft spot for tall guys.. She stood back, seeing as she could hear from where she chose to stand anyhow.

"Catch the trash"

Her interest was immediately piqued as the blond (Aeon) referred to the darker haired male (Kazuki) as trash, she couldn't help but wonder what would illicit such a response from what appeared to be a calm and refined male (Aeon). She would definitely have to investigate, because she could no longer think of anything else. She would never get to these so called trust falls if she did not satisfy her curiosity.

"The hell you're calling trash, you transvestite!?"

She met her lips with her fingers, hushing the laughter that dared to voice itself, she did not wish to make matters worse, but the bluntness and general crude vocabulary of the wild looking male had taken her by surprise. Most individuals of Asian descent would not have spoken so abrasively, which made her wonder just what type of person this guy truly was. He appeared to be one hell of a troublemaker, but now she wished to find out for herself. If she knew one thing about rebellious types, it was that they were exactly her type, the type that did not expect monogamy and would allow her room to breathe. The ebony haired male's bravery was definitely compelling, Tsukiko doubted that she could be as mouthy if put in such a dangerous situation, but then again, it was difficult to shut her up when she was pissed, so she assumed it would be a situation she would have to experience before she could properly gauge how she would react.

"You dipsh*t! I'll kill you!"

I think I'm going to ask him... I rather like this one. He's got spirit, if nothing else... Well.. His looks are quite nice as well, so there's that also. she chimed to herself inside of her head, practically having full on conversation with herself. She was like that though, she often shared her deepest and darkest thoughts only with herself, so it became customary for her to talk it over on her own in her mind. Was it crazy? Maybe. Did she care? Hell no. She ran the thought over in her head, standing alone on the gym floor lost in her own thoughts. She was still standing in the same spot where she had been watching the three boys (Ryou, Aeon, and Kazuki) from a safe distance. She finally wholeheartedly agreed with herself that the dark haired wild child would be a fun and entertaining date, returning her attention to her surroundings just in time to watch the wild card with blond streaks in his hair (Kazuki) make a direct whack-in--the-face contact with the other dark haired male (Ryou). She grew a few steps closer, but stopped when she noticed how angry the taller and once calmer male became. Honestly, he was scarier than the rest now that he showed his temper, and that was enough to delay her approach. She did NOT want to be on the receiving end of that look.

"That's enough, you brat."

She winced as she watched the boy she wished to ask to the dance make an abrupt collision with the gym floor. That definitely had to hurt.. Poor thing~ She thought to herself, but she was also quite amused by how rough the boys at this school were being with each other. If she hadn't known any better she would have assumed this school was for delinquents. The boys were definitely acting far from refined at the moment.

"What the hell is your problem!? If you want a fight, I'll give it to you right here, right now."

Fight? As interesting as that'd be, we've already seen one of those... Pass? Unless it's shirtless, then please do. There were practically two separate fights occurring at the moment, albeit this one was one sided, although so was the other one, but this was different somehow! No one seemed to be taking the wild card that seriously, in fact, they handled him for the most part as if this was the daily norm.

"Fight to your heart's content, just never here in this academe."

Suddenly the blond was far more of a spoiled sport than she had originally pegged him for. She managed to keep the disappointment from her facial features, but it wasn't like any of the three were paying attention to her, well not yet at least.

"I'll punch you first! You tried to kill me!"

....He does have a point. That drop was very dangerous... Perhaps there will still be a shirtless fight? Tsukiko closed her eyes, attempting to imagine a fight between the tall blond (Aeon) and the wild card (Kazuki). It definitely would be an appealing way to pass time, but fantasy and reality hardly ever intertwined. When her golden eyes reopened, the wild card threw a punch at the pale blond haired male (Aeon), but the more mature ebony haired male (Ryou) managed to catch the incoming fist before it had a chance to do any damage. She zoned out for a bit more as she tried to let everything she'd just witnessed compute, but she did not have a lot of time. Tsukiko pulled her schedule out of her pocket and ripped off one of the corners, writing her number on it before folding up the unused paper and putting her pen and paper back inside of her pants pocket. She slowly approached the pair of boys who seemed to have paired up for trust exercises, surprising Tsukiko immensely, but perhaps she would never truly be able to understand the male mindset?

Once she was within the socially acceptable speaking range, Tsukiko couldn't help but notice that the blond (Aeon) was no longer with the two ebony haired boys (Ryou and Kazuki). Tsukiko tilted her head curiously, softly clearing her throat to get their attention, "Excuse me?" She began, blinking a few times as she waited for her point of focus to make eye contact with her. She smiled brightly, with an air of confidence about her after gaining the black and blond haired student's attention (Kazuki's) and decided it would be best to get straight to the point, "Ano.. I'm Kitogawa, Tsukiko and today is my first day here. I couldn't help but notice the two of you, so I thought I'd just come right out and ask." She began twirling her hair around her index finger as she spoke, though not out of nervousness. This was simply somewhat of a flirtatious habit of hers.

"Would you be interested in attending this evening's Halloween dance with me?" She asked, her eyes landing directly on the wild card (Kazuki), unwavering so he would know that she was referring to him. She did not know his name, so confident eye contact was her only weapon. She lightly bit her pink and glossy bottom lip after her question, realizing that she really ought to get started with the trust falls, and held out the slip of paper towards the rebellious golden eyed boy (Kazuki), "I really should start the activity..." She trailed off with a disappointed sigh, intentionally making the impression that she did not wish to cut the conversation off so short. If there was one thing that Tsukiko knew, it was how to show her interest in someone. Her lips formed a brief pout, but she continued speaking soon after, "Think about it. then get back with me so I'll know whether or not to ask someone else. Kay?"





Athleticism +1
Popularity +1 to Kazuki, Aeon, and Ryou





Characters Present

Character Portrait: Shiori Kitogawa Character Portrait: Akira Blake Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Yuuki Fujioka Character Portrait: Sora Harigae Character Portrait: Saburo Inoue
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"Harigae, Sora."

Yuuki politely nodded to signal that she was listening, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Harigae-Senpai." she assumed by his features and intelligence that the boy was older than her. She honestly didn't care if she was wrong, because she respected him for standing up for her and that was enough. She was shaken by Sora's choice to maintain eye contact, something that Yuuki did not often do. Though she did notice that this boy's eyes were nearly the same color as his hair. How peculiar..

Though her peaceful thoughts were disrupted when the irritating boy who had approached her with an antagonistic attitude snatched Sora up by his collar. She didn't understand why the boy with reddish brown hair refused to shove off, but what came next was not anticipated. She gasped in surprise when Sora was struck, her golden eyes wide with horror. She had never actually witnessed a fight in real life, usually avoiding situations and people who were violent, but this time it was apparently unavoidable. She was absolutely mortified, especially when Sora chose not to strike back. In fact, he didn't make a single sound, which sent chills down her spine. She knew that the punches had to hurt, and she doubted that even she could maintain a brave face under such an assault. Suddenly she had new respect for her savior, seeing him in an entirely different, but equally inspiring light. Her entire body was frozen in fear for what felt like forever, but she finally managed to muster up the courage, "Stop it!" She shouted, growing terrified as she realized what could happen if this continued. She would never forgive herself if he was permanently injured because she didn't know when to shut her own mouth. Most of this could have been avoided if she wasn't such a smartass... In fact, the other student probably would have given up on the insults if she had not shot them back in his direction as well. ..This is all my fault.. It didn't seem like the boy without manners (Saburo) was ever going to stop, and she began to worry for Sora's well being.

At the sight of blood, she stepped away from the fight, terrified of the red substance. She'd seen it before, but the last time it had been coughed up by someone far closer to the violet haired young girl, and she was assured that he would die... Thankfully her father was still currently hanging in there, but ever since that day the sight blood was absolutely terrifying to Yuuki. All she could see was her father hooked up to tubes in his hospital room, that oxygen mask on his face and his frail body. For a split second she completely forgot where she was standing, until she heard a voice that brought her back to reality.

"Woof."

She didn't understand how he had the energy or even the courage to stand up to the stronger boy, but she couldn't help but silently admire Sora's bravery. He was bloody, but he didn't seem to waver to the other boy's will, not even for a second. While she was practically shaking in fear, he was taking every blow with stride. She felt pathetic compared to Sora, but she also felt very indebted to him now. She had to do something! ...But what? There was no way she could separate these boys, she was just one girl.

"Oi! Break it up!"

As if reading Yuuki's mind, a pale and ivory haired boy rushed in and separated the two boys, earning a sigh of relief from Yuuki. She reach out and caught Sora's sleeve to steady Sora, just in case he lost his footing from the ivory haired boy's rough shove. He'd taken a rough beating because of her, so the least she could do was make sure that he didn't fall. Sure, she felt awkward touching Sora, but she owed him this much. Once she was sure that he wouldn't collapse, Yuuki quickly released him and took a step back for her own comfort. She was going to ask him if he was okay, but someone else beat her to the punch, a senior girl that she had met the day before, Kitogawa Shiori.

"You need to be cleaned up before infection sets in. Trust me, both of my parents are doctors."

Yuuki nodded in agreement, pretending to rub the back of her neck, but instead she firmly grasped the back of it. She managed to focus on the pressure and calm herself down overall, but she was still kind of shaken by the blood. She sincerely hoped that Sora would take Shiori's advice, preferably for his own sake, but also for hers.

"There is a girl nearby! You could have hit her! And for what? Stupid pride!? We're too old for this stupidity! Do you realize how easy it is to actually kill someone like this!?"

"He's right you know.. It only takes 15 pounds per square inch to break both human neck and the skull."

She looked between the violent parasite (Saburo) and Sora for a moment, realizing how easily Sora could have been seriously injured. Had the boy left Sora alone and just kept targeting her, she probably would have been able to forgive him, but now she felt an intense hatred for the entitled vermin. She knew in that moment that she could not stand the boy (Saburo) and probably never would. He needed an attitude check, badly. Why can't parasites like that keep to themselves.

"I don't care which of you started this, but apologize to the girl that you could have hurt, both of you!"

"Harigae-Senpai should not apologize!" She quickly stated, shaking her head in attempt to sway the white haired boy's wrath. She knew what he meant, but she knew more about the situation than he did. As far as she was concerned, Sora had done nothing wrong. In fact, all he did was stick up for book smarts and insult the boy who had been running her family's name through the mud. Then the white haired boy was struck by the violent guy (Saburo). She hadn't expected it at all. She was surprised by how well the white haired kid took the blow, wondering just how strong that kid was. Even if the white haired boy (Akira) wasn't strong, he could definitely take a punch and that earned her respect, especially since he was an innocent bystander trying to bring the peace.

"Hmph. You can't expect idiots to comprehend common manners. Class is born, not earned. Money has nothing to do with it. A crow is still a crow no matter how you dress it.. Annoyingly making itself heard because that's all it knows. Can we get back to gym class now? Or shall we all compare wealth? I surely doubt you're the richest in the class. Our parents are not something we can whip out and measure for bragging rights... only arrogant children do that."

"Kitogawa-Senpai, you don't know what he'll do." She calmly attempted to warn her senior, quite surprised by the other girl's confidence, especially considering the fact that the parasite had attacked Sora and the white haired boy (Akira) over much less. Yuuki's eyes shifted to the angry parasite (Saburo) to gauge his reaction, fearful for the girl who was nearly the same size as herself, perhaps even a bit skinnier seeing as Shiori was a few inches taller. Then another boy who had brown hair plucked up the violent boy and ran off with him, carrying him in a ridiculous pose. She couldn't take it very seriously, but she was definitely relieved that he was finally distanced from the group.





+1 Athleticism
+1 Charm to Akira, Sora
+1 Popularity to Akira, Sora
+1 Notoriety to Saburo





Characters Present

Character Portrait: Aeon Shirokami Character Portrait: Akira Blake Character Portrait: Rhys Browning Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Yuuki Fujioka Character Portrait: Sora Harigae
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Rhys walked with his new blonde acquaintance (Arietta) up the bleachers till she stopped at a row and took a seat. He looked around, rubbing the back of his neck as he searched for familiar faces. He was mindful that sitting with a girl he near sort of bumped into might come across as creepy. Arietta did invite him to walk with her but sitting down with her wasn't part of the deal. Down on his luck, he could see Gen seated further away with another guy (Tadashi) who was making googly eyes with her. Rhys cringed, not wanting to interrupt them. He would find that seating arrangement awkward. Rhys had already experienced being in Gen's company while she was conversing with men and it always took an awkward turn for him. Her suitors would jump to conclusions and assume he was a threat to their chances. Girl's got charm I'll give her that.
Rhys then spotted Cassiopeia but he couldn't imagine what they'd sit and talk about anyway. Him and her had nothing in common besides being grouped that one time yesterday for the balloon bop activity. Rhys' gut feeling continued to dissuade him with the idea that it wouldn't work out in the long run. Her popularity was another thing to factor in, acting as a deterrent to him along with her almost constant company with the stuck up looking one (Aeon). Just as awkward.

Rhys gave up on his search as his harsh brown eyes returned back to Arietta where he caught her watching him for his decision. He read her gaze to mean that she was open to him joining her. There were lots of free seats in the row she had selected. Okay... guess I'll sit my ass down here. Rhys walked through the row and sat down beside her, slouching forward with one hand casually rested on his knee as the other hand removed the towel off his head. He was ready for whatever Gym class had to throw at him. Rhys set the towel down on the seat beside him carelessly, fingers making their way through his long bangs to check if it had dried up as he looked ahead waiting for the teacher. Well fuck, it's still wet after all of that fuss. He put his hand down defeated and leaned back to get comfortable. He looked around the gymnasium a bit more while Arietta was busy socializing. He had missed Akira sitting in front of them completely as his eyes were focused on admiring the top notch equipment he could steal glimpses of. Damn, gotta say again, I am lucky to be here. Rhys never could have dreamed that he'd be a student at such a high class school yet here he was. He knew he'd have to study hard to stay here but Airdalen's name on that graduating certificate would be enough to land him a decent job or acceptance into a decent university. He had his eyes on the prize and just had to be diligent in his studies instead of procrastinating like he always did at any other school. I hope the study club won't be so bad.

When the teacher arrived, Rhys was fully attentive. Mr Kido was both what Rhys expected and didn't expect. The teacher was ripped enough for the position but he was really weird too. He rubbed his chin anticipating what would happen next when he noticed the teacher was preparing for something with those stretches.

"Aha! I hope this serves as a lesson to you all to be comfortable with me and be freeee!"

Rhys' laugh was delayed, laughing more at the sight of the sports teacher with a bra on than the entire antic. It was a really weird sight seeing a male in a bra. It sounded like a hilarious dare and hard to believe the teacher had decided on his own to go through with it. As hilarious as the sight was, the teacher's words made some sense out of his nonsense. Rhys could gather that the teacher had done something embarrassing on purpose for the good of the students to be more comfortable in sports. It was a respectable while absolutely humiliating act. Are the teachers high or something? Rhys had to question it. The principal seemed to be an odd fellow too.

Rhys glanced back at Arietta realizing she was a very expressive girl. She was active in displaying her emotions from smiling to sighing to dread. Rhys had noticed it all out of the corner of his eyes, a little curious why she hadn't reacted to him that way compared to the weird teacher. Rhys was aware he wasn't the most pleasant to tag along with yet time and time again, people had been really open to being around him. Not everyone but a few people like Gen, Akira, Cassiopeia and Shiori. He was turning over a new leaf with his social life.

"This really isn't fair to those of us who are physically weaker. It makes us seem less dependable."

Arietta said with a pouting face which Rhys reacted to with a light chuckle. "Nah. They may be called 'trust' falls but don't take it to heart. I mean we all have weaknesses. I think that's part of it." He wasn't sure if what he said made sense but it was what he thought about it. Rhys was disappointed that the activity was easy instead of challenging but Arietta's comment had made him backtrack. The activity wasn't going to be easy for everyone. Sometimes even he could forget that. It was an easy thing to forget knowing no matter how many times he landed on his ass it wouldn't hurt. Others had pain to avoid and hold them back.

Rhys finally realized Akira's presence when he had dashed past right in front of him to break up a fight occurring near them. Rhys turned his head to watch what was happening but he immediately stood up from his seat when Akira had taken a blow. Lucky for the bloke who was causing trouble (Saburo), he had been scooped up by another tough looking guy (Johnny) before Rhys could do much else about it. "Damn." Rhys tossed the towel over his shoulder. "Damn, excuse me. I gotta take care of this.." he muttered to Arietta before leaving the row to attend to the aftermath of a fight.

He shoved his way through the gathering crowds blocking his path. "Hey Aki-- Blake-san, you alright man?" Rhys checked on his friend first, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth feeling pissed off at what had happened. He didn't get involved because he wanted to have faith in Akira handling it but that guy (Saburo) was out of control. "Fuck that guy." He voiced out then turned to look at the others involved who were still present when he was sure Akira was alright. He recognized the girl (Yuuki) although they hadn't really talked but the beaten up one (Sora) was a new face to him. Rhys bent down, eyeing him with a piercing look out of instinct. He wouldn't take sides in a fight he didn't know about but he (Sora) looked to be in really bad shape. His eyes lowered, finding packaged alcohol wipes. It strangely reminded him of Shiori but little did he know, he had just missed seeing her as she had left earlier before he had arrived. "I don't know who did what but we should get you cleaned up." Rhys removed the towel off his shoulder to plop on the blue haired guy's head to use as he wished. There was some blood around.




+1 Athleticism
[Johnny] +1 Popularity
[Aeon] +1 Notoriety
[Saburo] +1 Notoriety




Characters Present

Character Portrait: Shiori Kitogawa Character Portrait: Akira Blake Character Portrait: Rhys Browning Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Yuuki Fujioka Character Portrait: Sora Harigae
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"He's right you know.."

It was in this moment that Akira made a terrible rookie mistake, one that she'd been told several times by her older brother to never make. Akira's eyes shifted to Shiori, completely taken aback. The girl had totally blown up on her the day before, Shiori was the last person Akira thought would stand by her right now. Now she's here verbally backing me up..? This girl's something else.. Akira shook her head and rubbed the back of her neck as she tried to make sense of Shiori's behavior to herself, grateful to the small senior, but she also was amused as hell by the senior's confusing mannerisms. Even though she was a girl as well, Akira doubted she would ever understand the other girl's motives. Shiori had to be one of the most confusing girls that Akira had ever met.

"It only takes 15 pounds per square inch to break both human neck and the skull."

Akira immediately sweat-dropped at the fact that Shiori had spewed, "R-Really..?" Akira asked the ebony haired senior girl in unfiltered shock. Akira knew it didn't take much, but didn't want to think about it really being that easy, especially because there were several times in her past that she could have used that information to calm her down. Hearing those words aloud really resonated with Akira, and in the next moment, Akira stumbled back, managing to catch her footing. For a moment, Akira had been stunned by the sudden impact. It happened so fast that she was not really sure what had happened. For a split second all sounds were muffled and she couldn't really focus on anything, but as the pain set in, so did her anger. A fist connected with her face, that was obvious to her now. She rubbed the afflicted area, remaining quiet, still in a bit of shock. It had been the first time she'd been hit since she'd left Britain, it was so long that she'd nearly forgotten what it felt like. Akira considered the fact that she received a punch from the left side, so it must have been from the psychopathic boy that had bloodied up the blue haired guy.

“Whoa whoa, dude! I dunno what just happened, but let’s chill out, a’ight? Uhm, Stop. Cold the blood
 heat?”

Akira had done her best to not take sides, but she was beginning to blame the auburn haired boy for this entire mess. He didn't seem to know when to quit. Akira was mad that he had used such a low blow while she had been distracted, but she was more upset with herself for allowing herself to be distracted in the first place. She had been worried because another female had gotten too close to the area of conflict, but it didn't excuse making such a rookie mistake. Akira wiped her mouth, only a little blood appearing on her hand. Tch.. Cut my cheek on my teeth... Akira was dumbfounded by the brunet speaking English (Johnny), because after he spoke up, he began taking gibberish in Japanese before carrying off the rowdy violent boy (Saburo). She began to laugh a little, unable to hold it back anymore, despite this not being the time or place for it. This entire situation was insane. Akira actually had to hold her stomach to restrain the majority of her amusement. She didn't want to laugh too much, because honestly this situation was not a laughing matter, but something about getting punched did seem amusing to her. Perhaps the punch did a little brain damage? Nah, she was already like that, but no one else knew that for sure.

"Hmph. You can't expect idiots to comprehend common manners. Class is born, not earned. Money has nothing to do with it. A crow is still a crow no matter how you dress it.. Annoyingly making itself heard because that's all it knows. Can we get back to gym class now? Or shall we all compare wealth? I surely doubt you're the richest in the class. Our parents are not something we can whip out and measure for bragging rights... only arrogant children do that."

Akira looked up to Shiori, inspired and grateful to the senior's words. Though the small senior left soon after she spoke her piece. Those words really touched Akira, whether Shiori knew that or not. She was living in a poor neighborhood, whether anyone realized that or not, so she was surprised to hear a wealthy girl say that money had nothing to do with someone's character. Akira had met a lot of rich snobs, so it was a welcomed thought that not -all- rich kids were jerks.

"Kitogawa-Senpai, you don't know what he'll do."

She then turned to make sure that the tall brunet guy (Johnny) still had a good hold on the auburn haired boy (Saburo), "He's got my attention now, and it seems that dude has got him under control. He's not gonna do anything else. I promise." Akira reassured Yuuki with a goofy grin. She knew that the girl had been frightened, because among all that chaos she had screamed.

"Hey Aki-- Blake-san, you alright man? Fuck that guy."

Akira laughed again when Rhys ended up cussing, shaking her head a bit. She rarely partook, but a lot of her hellish friends from Britain could curse with the best of them. Akira blinked in surprise, turning around to make eye contact with her friend, well the closest she could to that, considering she was only five foot and five inches, and he was six foot tall, or hell, perhaps even more, "Eh? Browning-san? ...Etto...I'm okay.. I took my eyes off of him, cause I didn't expect Kitogawa-Senpai to come over before it was settled.. Big mistake, huh?" Akira explained to the taller junior, kind of embarrassed that she wasn't able to handle the fight. Rhys seemed to be really mad, so she had to shoulder some of the blame. His facial expression spoke more than words ever could and she wanted the fighting to end. She still had to participate in the assignment! Akira's life was very eventuful, but she was kind of sore now that she thought about it. Her job and work out regimen was a lot to handle with school now in the mix, "I'd like to say you should see the other guy, but I was distracted so I can't." She laughed a bit, as though she'd never gotten punched at all. She couldn't help but grin, considering she did find it a bit funny that the boy had gotten a sly shot against her. Sure, it was embarrassing, but not nearly as embarrassing as what the teacher had done. She would let this slide, because she refused to be the person she was before. She was not going to hold a grudge and start yet another pointless fight, "It's no big deal, it just looks bad. I've had worse, ya know??" She added to assure Rhys that she was fine, even nodding to physically aid her argument. She turned her head to show him the reddish and slightly bruised side of her face. She knew it would probably bruise more, especially due to her pitiful immune system.

"I don't know who did what but we should get you cleaned up."

"Hai, hai.. You're scaring some of the girls with all of that blood.." Akira jested in a friendly manner. Since Rhys was checking on the boy (Sora), Akira decided to make sure that the violet haired female (Yuuki) was alright, just to be on the safe side. Besides, she came across as really shaken up about it all. Akira approached the girl, hesitantly placing her hand on top of her head. She didn't want to invade the girl's space too much, considering Shiori had a very negative response. She had to keep in mind that to everyone around her she was a 'boy' and Japanese girls were definitely prudish compared to their British counterparts. Akira rustled the top of her hair gently, "Are you alright? I might just have to start another fight if a girl as cute as you got hurt. What's your name? I'm Blake, Akira, a first year." Akira chimed, winking as she spoke the word 'hurt'. Of course she was joking, but she hoped it would distract the girl from all the blood and the violence that took place. She knew it was scary to those who weren't used to such chaos. Thankfully her brother exposed her to the scene at a young age and even taught her how to fight. Sure, he wasn't a black belt or anything, but he did take classes and shared what he learned with her. She maybe wasn't the best with professional training, but there were plenty with less skill than her as well. Her eyes shifted to Rhys, then the brunet (Johnny) that handled the violent kid (Saburo) when she had been punched. They both had gained her respect, whether they knew it or not. There was also an unfamiliar warmness in her chest, but she just brushed that aside as happiness.





Athleticism +1
Charm +1 Rhys, Johnny
Notoriety +1 Saburo
Popularity +1 Yuuki, Shiori





Characters Present

Character Portrait: Shiori Kitogawa Character Portrait: Akira Blake Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Yuuki Fujioka Character Portrait: Sora Harigae Character Portrait: Saburo Inoue
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"Woof" This, and the act of spitting on Saburo's face did not help the situation at all for Sora. In fact, it gave the Junior a renewed vigor in his attack before being pulled away by an unknown force.
"There is a girl nearby! You could have hit her! And for what? Stupid pride!? We're too old for this stupidity! Do you realize how easy it is to actually kill someone like this!?" Saburo turned to face the owner of the voice, a white haired boy a few inches shorter than himself (Akira).
"He's right you know...It only takes 15 pounds per square inch to break both human neck and the skull." The speaker this time was an even shorter black haired girl (Shiori).
"I don't care which of you started this, but apologize to the girl that you could have hurt, both of you!" The brown haired boy's eyes narrowed, who was this guy to talk to him like that? The black haired girl said something else, but it was drowned out by the rage building once again in Saburo's head. "I HATE pacifists..." was all he mumbled before a left cross from his own fist connected with the face of the white haired boy.

Just as suddenly as he had punched the other boy, Saburo was lifted into the air and placed over the shoulder of someone. The enraged adolescent was taken back by the turn of events. "What the fuck?! Put me down you shit! He struggled to no avail against the person carrying him away. “Whoa whoa, dude! I dunno what just happened, but let’s chill out, a’ight? Shit, I mean
” Saburo knew a little English, so he caught a few parts of what was being said, but was even more confused when the voice switched to Japanese. “Uhm, Stop. Cold the blood
 heat?” What the hell was up with this guy? After being carried some distance from the scene of the fight, Saburo felt himself being put down. His wild eyes darted to the one responsible for embarrassing Saburo in front of everyone in the gym. A foreigner (Johny).

Now Saburo dislike a lot of things, poor people were one obviously. But foreigners were not not too far down the list, especially if a particular foreigner made a fool of him. This particular foreigner would be safe though, for now at least. The anger and adrenaline began to leave Saburo's body moments after leaving the scene of the fight, or more accurately, carried. “Are you done? You feel okay now?” Saburo pushed the foreigner away from himself. Not with the anger that was present earlier, but in a tired and exasperated way.
"Go to hell" He spoke without vigor before walking out to the hall. Saburo soon found what he was looking for, a water fountain. After a long drink, the boy washed off his knuckles, revealing the bruising that had already begun. "Fuck" he sighed to himself.

He'd have to figure out a story before he got called to the principles office. Interestingly enough, Saburo was quite good at making up things that happened, mostly from practice. Now he'd just wait until the inevitable happened.




+1 athleticism Saburo

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Tsukiko Kitogawa Character Portrait: Shiori Kitogawa Character Portrait: Akira Blake Character Portrait: Rhys Browning Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Yuuki Fujioka
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Johnny “Jay” Farelli


Johnny was not at all bothered by what basically amounted to an immediate rejection. Very unlike many kids at his age, Johnny thought it was really no skin off his nose. Frankly he was outright relieved. Fuckin’ encouraging straight-up dates on the second day? This school is really strange. Wonder if my sisters are having a similar experience with college


He was perfectly chill with the proposition, where if they’re both without dates, they’ll partner up. Prior to noticing the fight he replied, “A’ight, sounds cool!” He had to run to break up the fight before he could properly answer Tsukiko’s question about what sports he was going to play. Swimming and basketball, One was his favourite, while the other held a greatly sentimental value.

Maybe he should’ve mentioned that he had joined Band as well. After all, Tsukiko’s a musician. Too late to say so, however. Now, Johnny was fully focused on the chestnut-haired boy Saburo, whom he had probably humiliated without meaning to. Saburo used the same unfamiliar words as Johnny heard yesterday when he ran past assorted pedestrians. Maybe those were swear words after all. Definitely don’t mention them to pops.

Saburo shoved, though the action was not done with as much force as the earlier punches. This seemed to answer Johnny’s earlier question. He let go of the boy’s shoulders as he was shoved. With a very un-enraged “Go to Hell” as a form of thanks, Johnny stood back and watched as the other boy left the gymnasium.

He probably was provoked. A truly hateful person would have kept the anger up and swung at me. Johnny thought with a smile. Facing away from the bleachers, no one could spot Johnny's smile, Hm... I wonder what kind of music he listens to.

With his smile faded, Johnny glanced back to the other boy who had been punched repeatedly, as well as the albino boy, and the growing crowd around them. The foreigner at-first opted not to get in the middle of the crowd. For one, there were too many cooks as it was. For two, Johnny wasn’t sure what he could do to help. Sure he knew how to treat sports injuries- as was required for him to continue playing sports back in his old home- but this looked like internal bleeding from a fight, not an accidentally twisted ankle. The school nurse would be greatly needed.

With one more glance to the closing double-doors that indicated Saburo’s departure, Johnny finally sighed in relief and moved back to the bleachers from the middle of the gym floor. By then, he noticed that the scrawny blue-haired boy had fainted into the arms of a boy who seemed to resemble Johnny- at least in terms of physical fitness. (Rhys) This particular boy had a sharpness to his eyes that reminded Johnny of some of the tougher dudes he had faced off against in sports back home.

He would have taken the time to appreciate this guy’s hair if not for the fact that the blue-haired boy was unconscious. Definitely not a fun sign. “How's he-” Johnny stopped his English question part-way through. Now that he thought about it, the question was really not needed. Johnny could tell the two hits on the blue-haired boy were quite nasty, especially considering how the blue-haired boy resembled skin and bones compared to the muscular crew that basically surrounded him at this point.

The two other boys (Rhys and Akira) seemed perfectly capable of carrying Sora to the nurse’s office. However, there was that one violet-haired girl, Fujioka-san. Johnny only took one look and he knew something was deeply bothering her. Johnny crouched down to one knee to meet Yuuki at eye-level. The foreigner asked in Japanese, “Fujioka-san, you feel okay?” Damn, it was a good thing he remembered the name. This time around, he said it pretty competently. He put on a comfortable, reassuring smile. Hopefully this would cheer her up. She didn't look so good.

—

Athleticism +1

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Akira Blake Character Portrait: Rhys Browning Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Yuuki Fujioka Character Portrait: Sora Harigae Character Portrait:
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Rhys listened attentively as Akira spoke. "Hn well I'm glad you are okay." he said while rubbing the back of his neck with a sense of restlessness. Akira continued to reassure him but Rhys' anger did not die down at the apparent bruise on his face. He had not known Akira for long but he didn't take violence lightly if it went undeserved.
"I'd like to say you should see the other guy, but I was distracted so I can't."
Rhys wore a daring smirk as he spoke before wiping it away with his thumb. "You'd have to point him out to me" Rhys was confident in his strength and endurance but despite the smirk, he was also not the type to go looking for trouble. He had missed the fight and thus, missed his chance to defend anyone. Rhys could only wish he had stepped in sooner but then again he was not the type to burden regrets.
"It's no big deal, it just looks bad. I've had worse, ya know??"
When Akira turned his head, Rhys took the opportunity to inspect the bruise by pinching his classmate's cheek lightly an inch away from the affected area. "Remind me not to cross paths with you on a bad day. You sure can take a punch." Rhys joked to lighten up the situation before attending to the more injured one (Sora).

Out of the corner of his eyes, he observed Akira flirting with Yuuki mildly interested. Akira was not the type he pictured as flirtatious but it seemed he had underestimated him. He moved his eyes back to Sora, addressing him casually about the fight but not asking of details. He talked only enough to show that he meant no harm and was there to assist. It looked like the blue-haired stranger had taken a rough beating. What made Rhys feel off about the fight was the stranger's reaction to the situation. He was coughing out blood and out of it, yet his expressions were not of anger or fear. Did he see the fight coming? He looked down at the wipes again considering opening them. Kitogawa-san huh? That particular detail stuck out to him more as he recalled Akira mentioning her having come over. He picked up one of the packets analyzing it between his fingers as the stranger was occupied using the towel. This one is in worse condition than I was yesterday but she seems to have dropped these off and left? I guess she was being honest about me being her responsibility...

Before Rhys could continue to be lost in thought, he noticed the blue-haired one's grip had loosened on the towel as it descended on the floor. His eyes momentarily distracted by it, he was surprised by the weight that knocked against his chest. Rhys looked down to see the injured guy's head had fallen against him. He could only sigh matched with his usual grouchy expression.
Rhys was soon joined by Yuuki as she started to tear into the wipes and wipe at the boy's face.
"Should we take him to the nurse's office?" Rhys remained quiet and still until the next question, "Do you suppose he has a concussion? If he does, we should try our best to wake him. After all, passing out is quite dangerous under those circumstances.."
Rhys brushed back his bangs with his fingers as if frustrated before allowing them to fall over his face again. He closed his eyes as he spoke, "It seems we're visiting the nurse's office every day since we got here." He muttered but loud enough for the others to hear. Rhys was referring to him and Akira having already gone there yesterday. He wasn't complaining but it wasn't the best habit to get into.

“How's he-” Rhys reopened his eyes surprised to hear English. He turned his head towards the voice to meet a tough looking guy's (Johnny) gaze. He didn't think he had met this one before. Isn't he the one who picked up the other guy? Well, it was not the time for introductions and Rhys had a habit of not introducing himself properly. When he was sure Yuuki was done, he lifted the injured blue-haired boy on his back as if giving the guy a piggyback ride. "I think we should just let him rest." he advised and repeated in English for the other guy (Johnny).
From what he could tell, it was nothing out of the ordinary so he wasn't worried about him having a concussion. He also considered if it had been a concussion, Shiori would not have left the guy to deal with it on his own. She seemed knowledgeable in medicine and the like from their brief experiences together. He picked up the towel from the ground and turned around to face the others. His hands were attempting to stabilize the boy's position while holding onto the towel as well when the bell rang to signal dismissal. Rhys waited a bit to check if anyone insisted on going with him especially Akira with his bruise. The unknown one (Johnny) in the group was chatting up Yuuki so he assumed those two were unlikely to join him before heading towards the nurse's office.



[Johnny] Popularity +1
Athleticism +1

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Gen Fukui Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Yuuki Fujioka Character Portrait: Character Portrait: Character Portrait:
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Johnny “Jay” Farelli


—

Fujioka-san seemed to indicate that she was fine. Johnny, however, did not believe her for a second. Something was troubling her on a level Johnny could
 admittedly, potentially relate to. At least, he could see something of the sort just by examining the subtle movements of her eyes. Her golden eyes seemed normal to the untrained eye. From Johnny’s distance, the foreigner could see that they strained to avoid widening more than they were. Something was
 terrifying to her, and she was trying not to show it. Was “terrifying” the best description? What could be terrifying? Was it that dude who punched the blue-haired guy? What was his name
? Johnny thought back to the familiar faces he saw when he added fellow students to his Facebook. That one was
 Saburo. Was it Saburo?

No, that can’t be it, Johnny pondered, Bullies would be annoying to someone like Fujioka-san sort at-best, unless the specific bully was a particularly evil person. If it was a "bully", then the only contender had to be Saburo
 But Saburo was absolutely not a particularly evil person. That much, at least, Johnny could tell.

What could be terrifying
? Johnny, for a good second, glanced to the blue-haired boy who had been beaten. Some blood had been spattered from the corner of Sora’s mouth. Violence? Johnny wondered. Lots of people don’t react well to violence, but that’s not as common as
 Could it be
 Blood?

“Welp,” Johnny said, though he did not continue. He didn’t know any encouraging words in Japanese. In English, he said “Take it easy,” followed with a thumbs-up.

He did not think further into Fujioka-san’s fears. Instead, Johnny willed himself to accept her word with nothing else to say. He remembered that Japan’s citizens held a lot more pride than back home. Maybe the Japanese didn’t take too kindly to help? For a split-second, Johnny even considered the possibility that she could join him for that party. He very quickly felt that it was out of the question.

Fujioka-san didn’t strike Johnny as the type to go out on a date. At the same time, she looked like she needed a way to escape from what she had just experienced. The foreigner was not used to socializing with someone with that personality. Where Johnny came from, girls were
 tougher
 boisterous
 They even fought it out like the boys
 well, save for the ones like Yuuki. Small, focused on schoolwork, “bully-bait”. The sort Johnny and his friends often stood up for in his old school. This violet-haired girl wouldn’t have lasted a week at Johnny’s old school. Over there, kids were usually sassy and rude towards each other, except for Johnny and his crew, the shining beacons of decent people
 though some teachers never thought so. “Bunch of trouble-makers. I don’t see why kids respected them,” was more or less the gist of every phrase some teachers said.

This Airdalen school, though far cleaner and far superior in general quality, made up for the budget by being far stranger. Despite that, at least the worst of this was a kid with a temper. Actually, make that two. Johnny didn’t see what was going on at the far end of the bleachers, but apparently there was at least a second hot-blooded kid enrolled in this school. They had to be smart, at least. Otherwise they couldn’t have possibly gotten into this school in the first place. Johnny knew this perfectly well. The entrance exam was pretty tough, Johnny remembered, but he pulled through while making it look easy
 Technically that meant he was setting himself up for potentially greater disappointment, but the foreigner never thought of it that way. He makes an effort to never think of things that way.

The bell rang, knocking Johnny out of his recollection. The second day had finally reached it’s end. Johnny knew that he still had that Halloween dance to go to, but that was hours away. He might as well head home. He could text people, or he could potentially find those who were still da
 partner-less outside of the castle proper.

He stood from his knelt position, and automatically returned to the change room. He threw off his bandana and such without much care for looking decent in front of the other boys. Johnny was used to locker rooms full of nearly naked individuals. The locker room might as well have been his second home while at school. He did not imagine Japan was any different. His chiselled body, for a good moment, was covered only by sporty boxer-briefs. It did not last long for the dudes who liked a nice-looking guy, for after undressing, Johnny quickly slipped back into his school uniform.

Back at his locker, Johnny dropped off the school items he wouldn’t need back home. His gym uniform- completely sweat-free from the lack of intensive exercise- was left in the locker. He would definitely clean them once they had a reason to be cleaned, however. They would absolutely need to be cleaned once the sports seasons kick into high gear. The foreigner awaited those wonderful times with bated breath.

Outside of the building, the wind had picked up. Many pink leaves were being blown off from the unusual trees that seemed native to Japan. Leaning against one such tree was a white-haired person
 That white-haired boy? Wait, no. This was a girl, with her long hair tied into a single braid looped over her shoulder. She appeared to present herself with a rather
 obvious elegance. Wasn’t she the one at the theatre booth? Johnny wondered if she, like many a student in the area with the club booths, had heard his vocal handiwork.

Similarly to Fujioka-san, this one seemed bothered by something, if her leaning against the pink tree and heaving a sigh meant anything.

As he approached, the foreigner recognized her face from back when he was adding familiar faces on his Facebook yesterday. This one was
 Uhm
 Fukui-san
? Shit, how do I even pronounce that? Johnny reminded himself to open in Japanese, rather than the English he automatically resorted to. “Is something wrong, lady?” Johnny asked in Japanese. The exact definition of the words basically amounted to that, but Johnny figured he was asking something more casual, something more like, “Yo, what’s up, dude?”

Hang on, Gen Fukui
 her name was also on that list from the text message
 Would it be appropriate to ask so soon? Does she even have a
 buddy? Better intro myself.

“My name’s Johnny Farelli, but you can call me Jay,” he greeted in Japanese. He then paused. He didn’t know the word for “escapism”, damnit! Johnny quickly pulled out his dictionary and flipped through the pages as fast as he could. Eventually he found it. “You seem not okay. Do you need
 (he tried to pronounce the next word correctly) esca-pism? Going to Hijemi Castle?” he asked. In English, he muttered, “Or a party or something,” to himself. He chuckled at his own apparent awkwardness as he shook his head at the book he had been consulting. From a distance, this tall mofo trying to speak Japanese to this girl who was easily over a foot shorter.

Yes, nailed it! That totally wasn’t awkward as shit! Johnny glanced up to meet her eyes. The foreigner grinned confidently, hoping to salvage a laugh out of that shameful display. From this distance, he couldn’t help but notice that her eyes resembled
 what was that gemstone his old science teacher kept on his desk
? Amethyst, that was it. Smooth-cut amethyst.

Smooth Cut Amethyst
 that sounds like a sick band name


Anyway, Johnny maintained that confident, borderline goofy grin to see if he could get Fukui-san to laugh or smile. She did, after all, seem very bothered by something. Hopefully a laugh would help her out. If nothing else, Johnny had experience in helping others chill out.

---

+1 Athleticism
+1 Popularity to Gen

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Akira Blake Character Portrait: Rhys Browning Character Portrait: Johnny Farelli Character Portrait: Yuuki Fujioka Character Portrait: Sora Harigae Character Portrait:
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"Remind me not to cross paths with you on a bad day. You sure can take a punch."

Akira blinked in surprise, seeing as she was not really sure what Rhys meant by not wanting to cross her path. She hadn't taken part in the violence, so she was left rather baffled, that is until Akira mentally registered the last part of what he had said. She laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her neck, "You give me too much credit. I just have-." she began to explain, feeling rather awkward with the compliment, but stopped abruptly. She didn't want to talk about her brother, or even mention that she had one. She cleared her voice awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck, "...Someone who doesn't throw out any handicaps." In all honesty, the punch had nearly floored her, and it hurt like hell, she just didn't like to show weakness. In fact, she was glad that no one actually touched the bruised area, because her tough facade would have been immediately thwarted.

"...Fujioka, Yuuki... I am a first year as well.. Should we take him to the nurse's office? Do you suppose he has a concussion? If he does, we should try our best to wake him. After all, passing out is quite dangerous under those circumstances.."

Akira could barely keep up with the panicked girl's words, blinking in surprise. She managed to catch the girl's name, which was Yuuki, but she reminded herself that she would have to address her as Fujioka-san, unless given permission to address her otherwise. She had taken a social liberty in calling Mai by her first name, and luckily the timid girl did not seem to mind it all that much. Akira realized her habit to address girls by first name came across as a bit forward and overly confident, especially since she was a 'boy', but she found societal norms to be quite tedious and preferred to follow her own set of guidelines. It was this laid back and nonconformity that often left the friendly and awkward girl without a social group to lean on. Japan wasn't as casual as Britain, and most of the people she'd met before attending Airdalen did not wish to associate with a 'boy' as socially inept as Akira, well, at least by traditional Japanese standards.

"It seems we're visiting the nurse's office every day since we got here."

"We might have to pay rent soon.. On a good note, the nurse will know our blood types in no time." Akira grinned, commenting on the situation lightheartedly to brighten up the mood. she realized that they probably weren't getting off to a great start, and daily attendance in the nurse's office was definitely something Akira did not wish to make a habit of. She had to keep her state of health a secret at all costs, because the future of her sports membership depended on it.

“How's he-”

Akira blinked, tilting her head at the English speaking foreigner, relieved to hear her native tongue, even if his dialect and accent were still quite different from her home region. It was the same guy (Johnny) that had carried off the delinquent (Saburo). She was definitely grateful, but part of her was a bit annoyed. He was quite huge compared to her, so Akira felt immediately intimidated and challenged by his size. She was supposed to be a boy, but next to this guy she felt her true gender was all but plainly obvious, and that instinctively brought on a subconscious defensive posture. She wasn't entirely aware of it, but her subconscious behavior could have easily given Akira an suddenly uptight appearance. She would have normally appreciated the boy's aid, but now it made her look incapable.. which she had been in this instance, but it was a mistake she couldn't afford to make. She could not afford to have her 'masculinity' challenged. Once her attention returned to the more important matter at hand, Akira decided to try and calm Yuuki down, but Rhys beat her to the punch, which was probably for the best. He seemed to be better equip with things like this, considering she had gotten a rather angry reaction from Shiori, Akira felt she wasn't all that popular among the female populace.

"I think we should just let him rest."

Akira understood Rhys' words in both Japanese and English, but said nothing, only responding with a simple nod. There wasn't a lot to say. In her experience, people typically would wake up on their own in situations like this. She doubted it was serious enough to actually attempt forcing him to wake. Besides, Akira knew that the boy would likely prefer to sleep through as much of the pain as possible, because he had taken quite a beating. She couldn't help but respect him, because he didn't cry out for help or wuss out, at least from what little she had seen of the fight. Looking him over, physically even she had more muscle mass than him, and she was a girl. Her limbs were slender, but she had a great deal of muscle, for a girl.

Akira smirked a bit when Rhys lifted the blue haired boy (Sora) who was just a few inches taller than herself off the ground, carrying him on his back. Akira decided to go along, just in case, because that rowdy brunet could always show up again, and she knew fairly well that a lot of guys refused to play fair. She had a rather tender bruise on her cheek to prove that much, but she didn't hold it against him too much. There was more than one occasion where she had done the same thing when someone had interrupted her fights, she simply hoped that those days were behind her. I don't want to be that person anymore..

Akira followed behind Rhys, quiet for the majority of the walk, but she had something to say before they got to the nurse, especially before the blue haired guy was conscious. She didn't wat anyone else to hear, because frankly, it was none of their business, "Oi, Rhys. Thanks." She called out to Rhys in a low English mumble. She hoped that the blue haired boy (Sora) didn't know English, using it just in case he woke up while she was getting the gratitude out and open. Akira was not able to bring herself to look at Rhys as she voiced her gratitude, instead staring at the walls for a distraction. She didn't expect anyone to come to her aid, so it was a pleasant surprise when her fellow Junior seemed to be worried about her well being, "We haven't known each other that long, so I appreciate the help and concern. I won't forget that." It was embarrassing that she needed help breaking up a simple fight, but she did appreciate everything that the brunet foreigner named Johnny and Rhys had contributed. She felt guilty for not thanking Johnny, something she reminded herself she would have to do sometime in the near future.





Athleticism +1

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“Fujioka-san, you feel okay?”

Yuuki was too lost in her own thoughts to even acknowledge what Johnny was attempting to say to her. She heard him quite clearly, and it was hard to not notice his presence with him kneeling down in front of her, but she was too preoccupied with attempting to calm down. She didn't have the bravery to speak, she feared that she would make her fear more noticeable if she attempted to make conversation. It felt incredibly difficult to even breathe, so she knew her voice would falter if she attempted to use it. I want to say yes, but I can't.. This is pathetic.. SPEAK YUUKI. She mentally demanded, growing rather frustrated with her response to today's events.

"Take it easy,”

He seemed to be leaving. She wasn't necessarily upset that he had given up on her, but she did feel bad for coming across that she was ignoring him. He was only trying to help. Thankfully Yuuki went to cram school regularly, so she understood what Johnny had said in English despite having a rather poor background. However, seeing as she seldom spoke to others her own age, she did not know what 'Welp' was, or why he had even said it. She could only manage a nod and a weak wave of her hand. It wasn't until the bell rang that Yuuki fully snapped out of her shock. She blinked a bit, then look around. She looked to her hand to count her fingers, making sure that this wasn't a nightmare. She had heard somewhere that you have a different number of fingers in dreams and nightmares. She still had ten, so she deduced that this was indeed reality. So....he really was beat up because of my argument.. The realization held immense weight, and she felt crushed under the burden of it all.

To be honest, she didn't even notice when Akira and Rhys left with Sora, and she wasn't sure how long the three boys had been gone. She suddenly found herself quite embarrassed with her behavior. She had prided herself on being calm and collected in nearly every situation, but today she had dropped the ball. This school seemed to have a knack at getting underneath her skin and constantly reminding her that she was still human and felt human emotion like any other person despite the rumors always floating around that she was an android made by the government to test the behaviors of other teenagers. As she thought about that, she kind of wished that the rumors were true. She wanted adults to know how terribly some students acted outside of adult supervision or when they believed that authority figures were not paying attention. She wanted others to know why she had so little hope for humanity.

She let out a sigh and went to change in the locker room, keeping to herself as she did. She definitely had to visit him in the nurse's office at the very least, she couldn't just go home without making sure that he would be alright. She was incredibly tense as she dressed back into her school uniform, but went to the nearest vending machine and ordered several sodas, mostly lemon-lime. She knew that everyone was rather upset, be it anger or anxiety and Yuuki knew that flavor had always settled her stomach. She was unsure if the others would like it, but it was her attempt towards erasing her debt to the boys that interfered with Saburo's verbal attack.

She cracked open her own, taking a large gulp to help calm her nerves before checking the school map to locate the Nurse's office. Once she was confident that she knew where it was, Yuuki quietly strolled toward it. She did not have a Facebook nor did she text people outside of her family, so she did not have any means to ask Akira, Rhys, or Sora if they were still in the Nurse's office or inquire about Sora's condition, so an in person visit would be the only way she would be able to get peace of mind.

She quietly sipped on her own drink, keeping a firm grasp on the other three with her other arm as she continued towards the office, her gaze lifting as she located the door. Were they already inside? Suddenly she grew very nervous. Were they gone? Had she taken too long in the girl's locker room? She found herself too anxious to open or even knock on the door. This wasn't an area where she had a lot of experience, seeing as she typically made a point to be harsh and avoid other students. Just knock on the door.. It's almost as simple as breathing.. she told herself, raising her fist to do so, but somehow she still managed to hesitate. Had she really become this socially inept?

Suddenly she received a text from her parents, saying that her father would attend the school dance as her date if she did not find someone suitable to go with her. Immediately Yuuki's eyes widened as she considered this. She did not wish to strain her father in any way, and she knew that the train ride plus dancing all night would do just that to him, so she quickly texted back; Fine. I will find someone. I don't have anything to wear though. You both know that we can't afford this. There was practically venom in her tone as she replied, but she hoped that her mother and father wouldn't pick up on it.





Athleticism +1




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Gen turned slightly when she heard approaching footsteps, not wanting someone to catch sight of her being mopey. A mopey Gen was not a side she wanted just anyone to see. “Is something wrong, lady?” Gen resumed her usual facade, the face she had trained herself to wear during her shifts at the Inryoku cafe. It appeared she had been caught already by a stranger no less. She shrugged her shoulders sheepishly as she turned her body to face him. She wouldn't lie but she also wouldn't divulge too much information. "It just hasn't been my day I'm afraid but there's always tomorrow. Thanks for the concern, darling~" she said with a closed eyes smile, half expecting the lad to take her word for it and carry on. It was the end of the school day after all and many students would be eager to go home. When she opened her eyes and found him still present, it seemed he wasn't going to.

Gen looked over her company, a tall brunette with a foreign accent. She hadn't seen him around before but his build was a little intimidating. I suppose it's only natural for foreigners to be taller. “My name’s Johnny Farelli, but you can call me Jay,” She wondered if he had introduced himself to become acquainted or if he was possibly bothered by her use of 'darling'. It was hard for the girl to be positive after the negative attention drawn to her after class. Thankfully, not everyone was against her but it felt that way even so. Aeon had an unfair advantage being popular. At the very least, Gen had charm and a following of male admirers who might be willing to step in and put a stop to rumors but nothing was guaranteed.

Gen was surprised when the foreigner paused in thought and took out a book, seeming to read from it. “You seem not okay. Do you need
 esca-pism? Going to Hijemi Castle?” escapism..? It was a strange choice of wording but she did not judge him. In fact, Gen was flattered that he was going through so much trouble to communicate with her after noticing she wasn't well. Not only that, he was asking her out! Gen smiled a little brighter, forgetting about the entire Aeon ordeal for the moment. The Halloween party was an event that had almost slipped her mind. It was sure to be a blast seeing everyone outside of school in their outfits. Her hopeless romanticism side also secretly hoped for the night to be interesting. "I would love to." Gen pushed herself off the tree and entwined her hands behind her back. "I'll see you there then, Jay~?" She realised she hadn't yet introduced herself and jolted upright, not aware he already knew her name. "Ah where are my manners... Feel free to call me Gen too darling~." She bowed her head in respect before skipping away to change. Gen was still wearing her gym uniform and had left everything in her locker. "I'll see you tonight~" she waved and winked, causing some of the students in the area to speculate.



Charm + 1 Johnny

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Johnny “Jay” Farelli


—

It sounded like
 “darin”? Johnny had no idea what that word meant. He had to assume it was some sort of verbal tic. Judging from her less-stressed, genuinely warm expression, it couldn’t have been an insult of any kind. It sounded like the opposite of “gaijin”, a more familiar word he had heard from some of the shouting pedestrians from yesterday. “gaijin” sounded more like an insult than “darin”. Matter of fact, it kinda sounded like “darling”.

“darling” couldn’t possibly be the actual word. That would just be very forward. Johnny made a note to look it up later.

“I would love to,” this phrase, Johnny understood, even without reading her expression. “I’ll see you there then, Jay~?”

Yes! The nickname’s sticking!

She had paused, her eyes unfocused slightly as she reached some form of epiphany. Johnny was about to consider asking when she continued. “Ah, where are my manners
 Feel free to call me Gen too,” which was followed by that same non-insult word. It had to be some kind of verbal tic.

Gen, that was her name. Johnny already knew the spelling from the facebook friend-adding from yesterday. Now knew the pronunciation for the name.

Gen bowed her head- a Japanese custom, to be sure, but one that Johnny knew well from theatre- specifically when he watched some performances by friends back home. “I’ll see you tonight~” The wave and the wink took Johnny off-guard, but he didn’t show it. This girl seemed almost as easily expressive as the hardened girls back home. He knew Japan was different, so he didn’t expect to see much of anything that resembled America in some way. Goes to show what assumptions mean.

Johnny could’ve sworn he had seen Gen before at the club booths
 Damnit, which club was it
? Hopefully it wasn’t the theatre club- the one Johnny planned to flake on in favour of band. He personally wanted to do both, but the school made it clear that he would only have time for three clubs on top of his studies. Would she know Johnny signed up? How would she take it? Do Japanese have a greater tendency to hold grudges?

Well
 It didn’t matter at the moment. Johnny got a buddy for this school event.

“A’ight, I’ll see you there, Gen!” Johnny hefted his pack over one shoulder and waved. He wore that pearly-white, borderline dorky smile as he headed off in the opposite direction. He didn’t really notice the staring students turning to speak in hushed tones to their closest neighbours. He tensed up slightly as he finally caught one sentence from the closest group of students.

“He’s that gaijin
” there’s that word again. What did it mean? “he’s strange
”

”You see his body? Very
”

Johnny didn’t catch the rest, however. He had just crossed the threshold of the main gate. Strange? Ha. ‘Course I’m strange. I’m a stranger. Doesn't matter. I got a buddy! That's sick!

Outside of the campus, Johnny felt more relaxed. He opted not to break into a sprint like yesterday. Rather, he was happy to simply jog at a brisk pace. This time, he was not as wild as before. The more recognizable faces along the way seemed relieved. In one particular neighbourhood, completely unfamiliar girls in different uniforms seemed to stare in awe at the towering foreigner. Most appeared to recognize the foreigner at-first, only to later show expressions of disappointment.

Heh
 They must think I’m Ryou or someone else, Johnny smirked and stifled a chuckle. Though the fact didn’t bother him at all, he was still curious why most chicks didn’t dig him. Chicks dug him back home. Maybe something was different here.

Eventually, the train caught up to Johnny, and he took the ride the rest of the way home. Back at the apartment, Johnny was surprised to see a package on the table addressed to him, specifically. Mother and father were not home- probably out to their respective jobs. There was a note left behind by Johnny’s mother. Slipping his nearly empty single-sling backpack onto the table, the foreigner picked up the note.

Hi Sweetie, this box came in from the States. Your friend Avery sent it. Make sure you break the box apart properly before recycling it. I’m at work, and so is your Father. - Mom.
PS. There is a snack in the fridge.


Avery
 Johnny hadn’t thought of Avery in weeks, not counting his thoughts about Katsumi and her own assertiveness. The family computer was usually used for the work of the parents, or calling his older sisters on Skype. Though Johnny was of the generation where he clearly knew how to work the basics of a computer, he almost never used them besides his phone. If anything, he was more technically literate about the most complex of sound equipment, whereas he knew very little about the simplistic Apple and other products similar to Tsukiko’s phone.

In the sense of technology, Johnny was was close to the opposite of his friend Avery Freeman. “Ave” himself was not particularly rich, but he was certainly spoiled in a specific fashion. His parents were both musicians, and Johnny’s acquired skills in music were attained at his friend’s house, along with at least three others, Rashim, Pablo, and Lars were particularly common visitors. Avery, while not terribly book-smart, was very tech-literate. In fact, he taught Johnny everything he knew. From mixers to amps to guitar techniques to turntables and everything in-between. They experimented with every scrap of equipment and instrument that Avery’s parents ever owned, save for a beautiful electric-blue Fender Stratocaster signed by many, many guitarists, including Jimi Hendrix, David Gilmour, Muddy Waters, BB King, and Stevie Ray Vaughn. That particular guitar was treasured too much by Avery’s father, and had never been touched by the hands of “mortal men”. As many of the signatures belonged to dead musicians, It was indeed a treasure without price.

Avery (as well as his father) physically resembled Jimi Hendrix. His hands were enormous- much larger than Johnny’s, even though Johnny’s were easily able to palm a basketball. Avery’s face was the same shape as Hendrix, though he had no facial hair, and he wore a larger afro that resembled the aftermath of a twister. Despite all his knowledge, his looks, and his skill, Avery preferred being a good drummer. He always had a good beat running whenever Johnny wanted to practice free-styling.

As the only remotely gang-like activity, Johnny and his buddies often hanged out at Avery’s place and jammed on Avery’s parents’ instruments. Ave’s parents never minded; they relished the younger generation getting into their own favourite pass-time. ”Hey, it was either that or getting stoned in an alleyway,” as one of Ave’s parents joked. To this day, Johnny still didn’t really know what that meant.

Johnny used the kitchen scissors to cut the box open, and pulled out three things amidst the cheap construction paper used as padding. The first item a very familiar, and very well-cleaned portable boombox. The second item removed was a large, soft envelope that felt like it contained fabrics. The third was a much smaller, rectangular envelope containing a letter. The writing was neat, but was clearly written by someone who liked flourish over tidiness.

Yo Jay. What’s good?

How’s Japan? Play any good Nintendo games? Probably can’t read any of them yet, Ha ha ha. Anyway, long time no talk dude. My old man got to looking through your old man’s storage where you left the stuff you didn’t want to take with. I couldn’t believe you didn’t want to bring your boombox with you. What’s wrong wichoo? You better be glad I sent it along! Ha ha.


Oh shit, that’s where it was? I thought I had lost it for good! Johnny laughed as he placed a loving hand on his old boombox, a birthday gift from all his buddies from a few years ago. It was more like a collection of heavy-duty PVC pipe serving as the framework to an apparent hodgepodge of wrapped-up cables, speakers, and a subwoofer, all put together with a surprising rigidity. Johnny could even hook his phone to it. With a silver and green casing over the PVC pipe, the boombox had a retractable AC adapter and a rechargeable battery that had been replaced shortly before he lost it. All his friends pitched in to buying the materials needed to construct this true ghetto blaster. Rashim knew how to solder, that’s for sure. Even Johnny learned how to fix it in case a part failed.

I haven’t called your phone because I know different regions cost more. I know you don’t use computers that much, but you gotta hit me up on Skype. The Boyz always ask me if you called, but you never do. I bet it’s because you don’t even have my contact info, tho. I wrote it on the back. Call me up sometime, but
 I know you gotta do it in your own time, dude. Ever since
 Well, when you got down, we all got down. Know what I’m saying? Don’t worry about us, buddy. You gotta take your time... but do call soon. A’ight? You’re my bro from anotha mo, you know? You’re everyone’s bro, and you’re the best damn bro to everyone, no matter what Mr. Joffrey said. That’s who you are, man. Don’t ever forget that, and don’t ever change.

Anyway, how’s yo new school, dude? I heard you were tight at the entrance exam. I couldn’t believe my black ass when I heard you got honour school-level marks in there! I thought you was a different dude! What, you gonna be a doctor like your sister, or a car guy like your other sister? You could probably learn to finally spit like the rest of us with that much change! Ha ha, I kid man. Your licks are sick.

Oh yeah! Rashim, Pablo, and Lars told me to tell you: Follow your dreams, but don’t forget us back at the old hood. A’ight? See ya someday dude! You’re straight outta the hood, but you still gotta stay outta trouble. Haha!

Avery.


Johnny realised he had been holding his breath for the rest of the reading. It was true. He hadn’t remotely contacted any of them for the entire time he was in Japan. Now he absolutely had to make time to talk with his old buddies again. He was making new friends now, but he didn’t want to burn bridges. That was unacceptable to the foreigner-

A sharp sound- a single tap on the floor- made Johnny flinch. He glanced down, away from the letter. A single drop of water had hit the floor between his feet. Weird
 there’s no water that could drop here
 Oh
 Johnny finally made do on regaining his breath and gasped for air. He then reached to grab a tissue from the table. With the one piece, he wiped his cheeks and eyes dry, and mopped up the drop on the floor, as well as the several others that had dropped before he wiped his eyes. As he reached for the last drop, the foreigner noticed that his hands were shaking. I thought I was past this


Johnny temporarily squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists. I should be past this
 I have to be past this
 but it’s been so little time
 There’s so little time

In an attempt to calm his nerves, Johnny hummed a tune. As he hummed to the lyrics to a progressive rock tune, Johnny brought the boombox to his room and returned to the table. There was still the soft package remaining. Once more, Johnny consulted the letter, but avoided the memory-inducing paragraph from earlier.

PS. Lars found that old Halloween costume he made for you. Nintendo’s huge over there, so I figured I send it your way too. Your skinny ass should still fit it, or have you been slackin’ off? Dude if you’ve been slackin’ off, we’ll all have to swim to Japan and kick your ass. haha!


Johnny tore open the large, soft envelope, and noticed a familiar set of clothes. A pair of blue overalls coupled by a green t-shirt, a pair of white gloves, and a green plumber’s hat with a green L attached to the front over top of a white backdrop.

He laughed. He laughed for a good long while. He needed this laugh, now more than ever. Finally, he cut the box up in order to fit it nicely in the tiny recycle bin. On the back of the note was indeed the contact information for Avery’s Skype. Johnny would have to ask his mother or father on how to use Skype once his parents got home.

Instead, Johnny picked up the sandwich from the fridge, returned to his room, and continued to read his book. He kept the letter folded-up on the floor next to the pillow. Johnny threw on the costume, sans moustache. The shirt was rather tight. If Johnny flexed his torso muscles all at once, he would probably do what The Incredible Hulk always did. The strip of fake facial hair that made up the moustache was ruined last year, unfortunately. Without the ‘stache, Johnny really resembled a themed male stripper. In the mirror, however, he never thought “stripper” when he examined the form-fitting costume in a mirror. At least the overalls remained relatively roomy. His musculature had very noticeably bulked up since last year.

It was hours before he would take the train to reach the party. Before he left, Johnny opened up his book and continued reading. He spent the time studying, reviewing, and learning new words as quickly as he can. He certainly needed it in preparation for the party.

“Oh, it does mean darling!” Johnny laughed all of a sudden in between practicing the phonetics of words new and old. No one was around to reply, so he had no qualms about repeating new knowledge to himself. With a smile, he added, “How charming.”

---

Intellect +1
Gen Popularity +1
Gen Charm +1 (I'm not sure if that counts.)

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Johnny “Jay” Farelli

—


As Johnny took a break from memorizing words, he had a sudden, terrible thought. “I have no clue where this castle is.”

Out of short-term anxiety more than anything, the foreigner muttered curses to himself. He tossed the book onto his bed and rushed out of his bedroom. The empty apartment echoed slightly with the tall boy’s sock-muffled footsteps. The foreigner meant to use the personal computer sitting at the far end of the small living room/kitchen. Johnny pushed the chair out of the way and placed his hand on the mouse.

Nothing happened. Johnny shook the mouse around a little. Still, nothing happened.


 His lips flattened in annoyance.

Johnny sized up the computer- an unfamiliar machine to the foreigner. Johnny knew mixing boards like no other, but he didn’t know the difference between a CPU and an SSD. With a grimace, Johnny gave up on trying to figure out the personal computer. He returned to his room and picked up the only computer he was familiar with, his phone.

His phone did not have a maps app, so Johnny tapped on another icon to open up Facebook. He searched for an official page on the castle itself. Though he did find the official page for Hijemi Castle, Johnny could not determine much at all. The text was in the Japanese symbols. “Damnit
” Johnny mouthed.


 There’s another way, though.

Swiping away from the page, Johnny checked over his friends- the ones he had added yesterday- and found the one that was coupled with a well-shot picture of Gen-san’s face. He didn’t have her digits yet, so a facebook message was Johnny’s only option. The foreigner tapped a few buttons, and prepared a private message.

“Hey Gen, it’s Johnny. I asked you out to the Halloween dance. I actually have no idea where Hijemi castle is, lol. I’m taking the train, so all I’d need would be the name of the train that would pass by Hijemi.

Hope to jam soon! -J.”


Johnny paused before sending. He gave the message a once-over, before realising he forgot to add the “-san” suffix. He also realised that Gen might have no idea what “jam” meant in that context.

“Hey Gen-san, it’s Johnny. I asked you out to the Halloween dance. I actually have no idea where Hijemi castle is, lol. Anyway, I’m taking the train. All I’d need would be the name of the train that would pass by Hijemi.

Gonna be a lot of fun! Hope to see you soon! -J.”


Satisfied, Johnny tapped the “send” icon. For the next minute, Johnny wondered how he could’ve sent the message better. Would she understand English text? Would it be understood properly?

Welp, nothing to it but to wait for a response. While waiting, Johnny hooked his phone up to the ghetto blaster, set the volume to a decent, neighbourly volume, and tried playing some music on the little guy.

The sound was clean, absurdly clean considering how it’s a near-mishmash of PVC pipe and audio parts. Every octave of distortion during the recording of Born To Be Wild was discernible between the detailed sounds of the six-strings.

This put Johnny into a good mood after that letter. With his head bobbing, Johnny returned to his book. He would immediately know if there was a response. A notification sound would cut off the music.