Airdalen Academy

Being in Chase’s arms, in her bed, it was a dangerous situation to remain in for Tsukiko’s incredibly confused heart. So when they parted for him to take a shower, Tsukiko smiled warmly. It felt safe, comfortable even, in his arms. Yet it was too comfortable. She didn’t deserve things like that. He was too good for someone as damaged as her. She was as toxic as they came to other girls. She tried to kiss a guy that she clearly knew Shiori cared about when her cousin struggled to let herself feel anything for anyone. What kind of monster did things like that? She slept with the hellion of Airdalen after the Halloween dance and fled the scene at first light! She was… a poison. A poison she wouldn’t allow to infect Chase.

When the door closed behind Chase, Tsukiko allowed herself to fall back on the bed and cry even harder, ensuring that she did so very quietly. It wasn’t fair. Why did she have to develop feelings for the only light left in her world?

Wiping away her tears, Tsukiko forced herself to her feet. She couldn’t leave Chase naked in the bathroom, he needed something to change into that didn’t smell of the beach. Plucking one of her manager’s more stylish outfits from his meticulously organized closet, Tsukiko began to walk back toward her room just in time to hear Chase’s phone. Where was that coming from? She went through the apartment, searching, not finding it until the second ring.

Snooping wasn’t beyond Tsukiko, but she had never done so with Chase. She was about to return to her room, on the other side of the apartment until she saw the preview of the last message flash across the screen, coming in just as she found the phone.

Her lips tightly pressed together as her hand gripped the phone tighter. Her body trembled seeing the message, a reaction she wasn’t accustomed to. Sure, she had been jealous many times in her life… but never when it came to Chase and other girls. He was the one person she never felt that she had to balance on a tightrope to impress. She was a vindictive girlfriend, she had wrecked many girls lives in middle school for even looking at her boyfriends.

That wretched side of her had her thumb hovering over the button that just needed to be swiped to open his phone, he never remembered to lock his phone down, which kind of concerned her if she was being honest. It would be easy to delete the message or write something nasty to the girl pretending to be Chase and just block the number if she wanted t—

"Tsukiko?"

He isn’t yours. You don’t have the right… she reminded herself, clenching her eyes shut and shaking her head. What she was about to do… it was wrong and exactly the reason she couldn’t be in a genuine relationship. She was toxic. She almost sent a nasty message to a girl flirting with Chase, almost violated the privacy of her best friend’s phone.

That was a line she knew she couldn’t cross… and if they dated, she couldn’t promise she wouldn’t. She wasn’t good at trusting others and if she learned nothing else about Chase… he hated having his privacy invaded. So… as much as it hurt to do nothing whilst knowing the content of the last message, that was exactly what she did. He would never forgive me if I did something ugly like that… I can’t lose him, even if we have to remain friends to ensure that doesn’t happen. She was near tears again, and it was enough to drive her mad. She had to stop that crap. She couldn’t keep bursting into tears!

Before he had the chance to come looking for her she quickly returned to her room, “Sorry, I heard your phone so I went on a scavenger hunt. Let me put on some leggings real quick!” She called out to him, refusing to look in the direction of the door at first.

The pinkette searched her drawers haphazardly, snatching up a pair of sunglasses and put them on, as well as a pair of colorful leggings from one of the lower dresser drawers to go under her baggy shirt. It was a slightly disheveled look for an idol to have, especially with her unkempt hair, but she didn’t have the energy to go all out.

Putting on a beanie that matched the color of her leggings, she let out a long sigh, trying to compose herself. Sunglasses indoors came across as a bit pretentious, but more than anything Tsukiko wanted to hide her eyes in the event they chose to betray her again. With his change of clothes neatly folded in hands and his phone placed on top. While she inadvertently peeked at the message preview, no messages had been opened, deleted, or replied to. Tsukiko reach everything out in front of the crack in the door, “Good thing I heard your phone. Be careful, it is on the top.” She forced a smile and a dash of her usual cheerfulness to her voice.

As an idol that had done her fair share of interviews, she knew how to fake her tone, if nothing else. She was a singer for Pete’s sake, she had to master at least that much. She was about to turn away, not confident that she could fool him into believing she hadn’t seen the messages if she continued, and she didn’t want him to think she went through with going through his phone when she had just barely overcome that temptation.

Walking away was the plan, but her brain had a bit of a meltdown getting a glimpse of him with a towel draped over his shoulders. She couldn’t see anything else because of the door, but it was enough to freeze her in place for a moment with flushed cheeks, “U-Uhm, you do realize that is a pretty dangerous sight even when it is only that much, right? I-I’ll let you get dressed!” She quickly blurted out. Her brain, her heart, they were all muddled.

There was a reason she never dated guys in the limelight, they were constantly surrounded by girls vying for their attention. Chase… they met because of their individual connections to public attention and while she wouldn’t change a thing about their past, she knew she would go mad with jealousy. She was too malignant after the bad no-strings-attached relationships she dived into when Makoto died. She picked up jealousy, resentment, and the inability to trust her partners. I can’t be another source of his pain. And as I am… I would be no better than some of the girls he’s dated already. She had to keep herself under control.

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"Show off~" Rhys smirked proudly as Akira clapped her hands at his successful shot. "If I was a real show off, I'd say why aren't you scouting me for the team?" he joked back, playing along with her mood. It seemed to be effective at easing the tension of her secret being revealed, in between the game's downtime. He took a few steps back from the court after Akira shooed him away and observed as she checked her positioning before attempting the shot. The ball made it, Rhys displaying equal good sportsmanship as he clapped at her success.

"Since we both made it... how about a reverse layup next?" Rhys nodded, Akira looking cheerful about this one in particular before taking off and landing the next shot without difficulty. He clapped again, retrieving the ball for himself. He dribbled the ball a few times before making his move, visualizing that there was a defender in front of him he had to get past but as he jumped outwards towards the opposite side of the rim, his phone sounded and he messed up the shot. The ball bounced right off the rim. "Shit!" he cursed but only in the moment, his shoulders relaxing seconds after in acceptance of his screw up. "Shot too soon. Give me a sec." he admitted before heading to the benches to dig through his stuff for his phone. His first guess was that it might be a message from Shiori but instead it was from the school and was nothing... educational.

Rhys furrowed his brows as the video played on. He didn't recognize the brunette (Kaori) but he recognized the little fucker (Kaito). From what he could gather, the two kissed and it didn't appear consensual. The girl was cornered by the glass behind her and her facial expression... it didn't sit right. "Hey, you might want to take a look at this." he called out to Akira, passing her his phone as he wiped any traces of sweat off his face with a towel. When he was sure the video replay had ended, he said, "Should we step in, boss?" Almost sounding like a mobster taking orders. He added the boss touch to not let their spirits be spoiled completely and because Akira is the class president. It was her call more than his. Whatever the case, he was ready and confident they could deal with it.

Athleticism +1
Notoriety +1 Kaito

"If I was a real show off, I'd say why aren't you scouting me for the team?"

A small frown formed on her lips as he mentioned the basketball team, “Don’t I already see your face enough?” Akira jabbed lightheartedly, grinning afterwards. They were hanging out outside of school, a mutual choice, so she didn’t mean it. Part of the reason she never considered to ask was because she didn’t know the Basketball captain too well… but the other half was pretty obvious, “Is that your way of saying that being captain of the swim team isn’t challenging? I mean you do just swim around in a pool…” Their dynamic didn’t seem that it changed all that much, so far. They were still making the same jabs at each other, all in good fun. Unlike some guys that she played basketball with, Rhys didn’t seem to be a bad sport either, a welcome change of pace.

"Shit!" "Shot too soon. Give me a sec."

While she didn’t mean to, Akira couldn’t help giggling when he cursed, “Sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to laugh at you.” She waved her hand dismissively. As he headed for his phone, she laced her fingers behind her head and took on a more relaxed stance, “It’s just for fun after all, don’t worry about it.” She responded as he checked his phone. Her own had vibrated in her jacket, but she didn’t really have anyone that she cared to hear from, so it ended up ignored.

"Hey, you might want to take a look at this."

Approaching curiously, a pale hand accepted the phone, the other having the basketball tucked beneath it. Unlike Rhys, Akira recognized both in the video before even pressing play, “Himewari-Chan?” She inquired before clicking on the video, pale blue eyes locked on the screen as the scene played out.

"Should we step in, boss?"

Boss? It made her feel a bit like a Yakuza to be addressed that way… so Akira shook her head with a laugh. Returning his phone to his hand, she scratched her head pondering on the next course of action. What should they do…? Getting involved seemed to be a good idea… but their basketball game would be left unfinished. The whole idea of hanging out and shooting hoops was meant to blow off steam, drama from school, not to jump head first into more, “This weekend was supposed to be relaxing…” Akira lamented over their game. As a class president… if she didn’t do something it would reflect poorly on her, right? Especially since it was pretty obvious that she was related to Kaito in…some way. He shared her birth father’s last name after all. How they were related exactly, she wasn’t sure yet. Cousins, maybe? Did her father have any siblings? She hasn’t looked into his life enough to know, “Jeez rich kid schools… it never ends, does it?”
A sigh escaped her lips before sitting down on the bench, letting her head tilt back against the chain link fence not far behind it.

“I only know where Himewari-Chan lives… I can’t say I’ve been to any amusement parks since moving to Japan either…” Akira began looking up amusement parks in the surrounding area, finding three, but two were quite a bit farther than the first. She also nonchalantly revealed that she had been to Kaori’s house, as a boy, within her first week of knowing her, “My bet would be on the closest one, what do you think? Even so… I didn’t really come here prepared to taxi across town… would we make it before they leave if we take the train?” She inquired as she tried to do some math. The drive time was listed, but nothing for the train travel. It reminded her of the dreaded paragraph math problems about train A and train B. Suddenly, she found herself wanting to kill Kaito in spite of her vow to become a less violent individual than the Akira that had left Britain, “Dammit! I hate math!” she snapped, messing her ivory hair up with her hands in frustration.

While she could guess that it had to do with a certain brunet male, one that as far as Akira could tell, Kaori was dating. It seemed like a fair assumption after having lunch with Kei and the pair. She could still remember the intimidation shot in her direction by him, “Is he mental? Who even does something like this?” The situation in class where Rocco had pulled his seat out from under him as well as Rocco’s own admittance that they didn’t get along… it made it clear that Kaito was trying to piss him off… but how childish could he be!? Why did he have to bring Kaori into their drama, “I kind of want to kick his ass myself. You don’t just kiss someone to hurt someone else. He’s disgusting.”

Standing up, Akira made sure that she had everything of hers. Phone. Jacket. Basketball. All good, “You were having enough stress at school Friday… you don’t have to go if you don’t want to. I can’t ask that of you too.” Akira tilted her head upward, making sure that he could see that she was serious, not secretly hoping he would feel guilted into lending her a hand. Kaito was her family mystery to solve and to get under control. She was all out of understanding and favors with revealing that she was a girl. It felt that secret took up enough bandwidth in their friendship. She couldn’t ask him to extend himself to her any further than she already had. It would be much too selfish for friends that had only just met less than a week ago. Still… if she got her hands on Kaito she was going to beat him to a pulp… part of her didn’t want Rhys to see the side of her that was the entire reason she had to leave Britain. Her temper, when flared was pretty bad, and it was a side she wasn’t proud of. She had become a bit of a pacifist since a casual accident almost killed someone. Life… it was fragile. Humans were fragile and fighting… it terrified her ever since.

It was in these little moments that Tadashi lived for. He cared not for showing off musical talent, wowing crowds or impressing fellow musicians. What he had learned in the years since his brother’s passing was to find little moments of humanity and focus in on them. He learned to *feel* his feelings and let them out through music, not that he had to sing or play a certain instrument to do so. There was no standard, there was no exam or meeting needed to do so. Anyone and everyone could express themselves in music and most people did, whether they knew it or not. This was a moment that no one was ever going to see, let alone hear about. He had tight lips. And Gun’s ability to talk was currently gone.

In a way, the two friends had swapped places. So long ago it felt like he was stifled into silence before being whisked away to a far away land. Unable to even say goodbye to the *very* few people that he liked and liked him back. His words flowed easily with practiced smoothness, confidence and vulnerability. He had lived these words and so had Gun, adding validity and intensifying the experience. Music was about experiencing something, even if you couldn’t relate to the words. If the artist was talented enough and you opened your mind and your heart, you could feel it too and understand.

Just as the clouds and sun moved and shifted the light around the room. So did time, with the notes finally ending he looked to Gen with greater concentration now, not being lost in his own mind and the music. He was happy to see her smile and thankful to himself for not putting his hopes so high as to think that a simple song would cure her missing voice. This wasn’t a romance manga.

There wasn't much to say for him in the seemingly brief moment, he was relaxed and very much in his element. He wondered about that. Why was he so relaxed? Was it because of Gen? Otherwise, Tadashi would be extremely reclusive about his musical talents and even worse regarding his aspirations. He didn't tell as soul about that, the only person who knew was his 'butler' Mr. Harumas. He glanced outside to take in the sights from the elevsted location of their apartment. He was grateful. Extremely grateful to be here, to be with Gen... To be alive. He had his purpose, he felt it stirring in his soul and very lungs. IF only he could have someone here with him to talk to. Share life with and support. But that wasn't something to dwell on, that's what his doctor's and counselors told him. 'It is unhealthy to think upon and obsess over things that you wish could happen.'
Perhaps they were right.

With a shake of his head to get the thoughts out, Tadashi drank his tea just as Gen began to play again, watching her process and get through the muddiness of finding a melody until it came out and he instantly knew the song. Tadashi would let her go on, allowing Gen to express herself in their new form of communication. But eventually he didn’t want to be an idle passenger. Gently strumming, he kept his chords quiet but they complimented the song and Gen, letting her lead and guide them onto their next journey together. He would play with her as long as she needed and wanted, the world outside could wait.

BISHOP TRANDER

”Ohayo Bishop~!” the trio of women greatly immediately after Fuyuki did, with their tell-tale smirks on their faces. He immediately frowned looking at all of them and sat down in his seat. "Well, it will be fun if I can spend lots of time with Bishop-kun." The boy blushed in his seat immediately, not used to having girls talk about him like that. Fuyuki was so unique, it was stifling to her junior and his relatives ate up every single second of it with glee. ”Well we can definitely ensure that you two spend as much time together as needed.” His mother chimed in, with his grandmother Seito butting in. ”Oh, Bishop doesn’t have any plans today~. Don’t you dear?” ”Uhhh, well actually I was going to swim-” ”-That’s nothing! You can bring such a lovely girl with you to practice right~? I’m sure the school wouldn’t mind.” Bishop parted his lips to speak, but he caught himself- it would be best to not blabb that this ‘practice’ was just solo and at a public pool a few blocks away.

With the argument far from being settled, Fuyuki made her point. "Commitment and responsibility are important to mold one's future." Being a role model for being responsible for one’s commitments. It was- a little out of character from everything that he saw of Fuyuki so far, which confused him. The girl that he met, loved to break rules, get her way and would coerce, or charm her way to get most things she desired. Now she was talking about responsibility and commitment to duty. It was something more along the lines of what his father would say. He was looking at his senior in a different light just then, but the moment was very short lived as his hunger got the best of him and Bishop distracted himself with eating. ”Well, I can-” His words stopped dead in his tracks when Fuyuki leaned onto him.

His siblings seemed to all gasp and stare, with his auntie holding up a phone to snap a picture really quick of this precious moment. The look on his face was- priceless. He stopped chewing, stopped moving, stopped doing anything. It was a moment, akin to when your newly adopted cat decides to rest on your lap for the very first time. You ceased to do anything remotely human, to ensure that it doesn’t get spooked away. Bishop froze in place, feeling her settle in next to him. This girl so quickly invaded his life and stirred everything he knew, or thought he knew. The girl was genuinely a breath of fresh air after how high school has treated him recently. Bishop was still very much in doubt as to whether he felt he deserved it or not- this. Being doted and even fawned over by such an angelic presence.

Only her junior heard her whisper, but barely. He couldn’t make out all of the words she said, but something instinctually alarmed the boy. He turned to look at Fuyuki when she suddenly stood and announced that she had to leave. ”Ah-what?” Bishop’s mother Kimiko moved to answer the door and see who was coming by so early on a Saturday. ”So- you won’t come to the pool with- me?” As he said this, Bishop began to question himself because 12 minutes ago he was internally monologuing how he wanted more space. And now he was wondering why his senior had to leave so suddenly and so suddenly. ”Do you need a ride? My aunt can drive us.” He didn't understand what made circumstances change so quickly, it just didn't make sense to him.

It was something that his grandmother and aunt were already cuing into, being natural born Japanese like Fuyuki. But there were still some cultural barriers, that Bishop was yet to break through and decipher.

"Haha, how charming. It looks like I've hit the jackpot."


If Kazuki was a jackpot… it would be one of misfortune rather than luck in her opinion, which she could tell her company would agree on. Smiling back at Devone, Shiori pressed her lips together to hold back her laughter. They were still in public and Kazuki attracted enough attention on his own. She didn’t want to draw in any additional sets of eyes on the three of them. The onlookers were growing alarmingly high as it stood, “I would toss that ticket in the trash, I can’t imagine anyone other than Tsukiko that would cash that in.” Shiori added, teeth pressing into her lower lip to contain her amusement. It was the first time that someone had joined her in one of her verbal assaults. It… was actually kind of nice to have an ally.

"Now, now, Mi-ya-mo-to-san~"

Devone coming to her aid was surprisingly… nice. They shared similar misunderstandings regarding their outward personalities, especially at school, that was becoming clearer. Devone could have easily left her to deal with Kazuki on her own, and yet she stayed. Violet eyes lit up a bit, touched by her classmate’s choice to stand by her and come to her defense.

“I think you should quit now while you're ahead.” “She is rejecting you, just in case you didn't know. Any further and it'll be assault, police, and a, "Don't let him get away with this, officer." from me." "Are we clear?"

However true shock claimed Shiori’s expression when Devone mentioned police. The cameras would support their claim, and she was incredibly touched. Until now she had felt so incredibly alone, but Devone… Rhys… even Aeon had come to her aid when she truly needed a helping hand. Perhaps… extending her heart and lowering her guard was a step in the right direction after all, “Kim-San…” Shiori whispered under her breath without even realizing it. The conviction in Devone’s eyes had Shiori convinced that she meant every word that she’d threatened Kazuki with. Despite her current situation, in Kazuki’s grasp, she felt incredibly lucky to have bumped into Devone. Sure… it would take some work, a lot of work, but it felt like she was witnessing the start of her first female friendship.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" "You two can find employment as a comedic duo."

And the heartwarming moment was ruined by the hellion of Airdalen Acamdey’s voice bellowing in laughter, of course. This made the raven haired heiress sigh, a weary expression crossing her features as she gathered up the energy to resist, pulling hard on her claimed wrist just as he seemed to have decided to tighten his grip. It didn’t budge, the girl fragile like a porcelain doll, “No one cares about your opinion. Laugh all you want.” She rolled her eyes up at him, fuming, her lips curling into a pout as she failed to pry herself free from him.

"Miss Sea B*tch Obaa-San seems to misunderstand me." "When did I ever care about that?" "Well, I look forward to it."

Blinking as he referred to Devone in such a derogatory way, Shiori used her free hand to do something surprising. Instead of remaining on the defense she used it to shove at his chest, even to pound her fist against it, “This is why I don’t like you at all! You’re so vulgar!” She snapped, raising her voice this time. He had gone too far. Regardless of Devone’s moniker as Ursula, calling her a… it was deplorable. Low grade name calling was one thing, but he had crossed the line by using a demeaning word like that to address her, “A man wouldn’t speak to a woman that way. Calling her Ursula would be one thing, but you went out of your way to be utterly vile. I hate guys like you!” Her glare had become a violent storm of emotion, staring straight into his predatory eyes with concentrated disdain.

"Call them. The chase will excite me more. But you are coming with me either way. Miss Pipsqueak."

Despite her attempts to pummel him with her fists, Shiori had little choice in where she went. Height difference as well as their individual builds all worked against her. She didn’t weigh anything in comparison! Hitting him, thrashing, and even kicking, Shiori found herself quite literally snatched up in the middle of the mall.

"As for rabies, let's go mad together then. After all, we already shared saliva."

“D-Don’t say that like I even had a say in it! You attacked me!” She snapped at him, flush returning to her face as that was not something she wanted to become public knowledge. Mistletoe and a sudden kiss… it had simultaneously flustered the icy class president and broken her secretly hopeless romantic little heart all at once. It was not at all how she imagined her first kiss going!

"Hey everyone! I am kidnapping this girl for a date! Call the police okay?"

“Are you a psychopath!?” Shiori snapped louder than she even thought possible of herself. The attention he was drawing, especially given her family reputation was not good for her. Even if someone called the police, while the public would likely side with the Kitogawa heiress given her pristine history… her mother would be a different story, she would be forced to move back to the Kitogawa family estate… which was not an option. Going backwards… she couldn’t let that happen, “Just put me down! I don’t want to go on a date with you! You idiot!”

"You plague rat as described by your friend here." "Go f*ck yourself since that is the only way you can ever get laid by anyone seriously."

Pounding her fist into Kazuki’s back as he insulted Devone further, Shiori was trembling with rage. Never before had anyone handled her so carelessly and with such groundless familiarity aside from her school bully Takumi, Kyo.

"This will be fun." "Why not get HIM involved? He is your dog isn't he?""Then again, you probably can't handle that right, plague rat b*tch?"

Who was Kazuki talking about? There were a few guesses in Shiori’ ahead, but she hadn’t really paid a lot of attention to Devone’s comings and goings at school. She had been swept away by her own interactions for once, Akira, Rhys, Cassiopeia, Sora and Aeon… bit by bit she felt a little closer to them all. It wasn’t a lot of progress especially with Cassiopeia and Aeon, but her world was expanding slowly but surely. Devone was always a passing curiosity of hers, but she had just recently made it beyond Shiori’s walls. She… earned a spot as one of the people she decided she cared about. That she would make an effort toward.

"Now, let's finish this date."

Was he serious!? Did he truly believe they could have any fun after what occurred between them to this point? If anything she was his hostage not a date! How could he smile like that after every cruel thing she had said? If he had known her role in Devone smacking that girl… would he still smile at her like that? Certainly not… but she didn’t want to find out how things would change when he was taking her further and further away from Devone, “We weren’t even on a date to begin with! I was just trying to buy you your present for the Kris Kringle event at school!” She protested. It was almost, almost admirable how insults seemed to roll off him as if he were impervious to being upset by the opinions of others. She… wasn’t like that at all. Perhaps it was a good thing to not have Kazuki’s level of self assurance… but she felt that having a teaspoon of his devil-may-care point of view wouldn’t be the worst. At least she wouldn’t be working herself up into a frenzy over the way others perceived her all the time. Still… it was Miyamoto, Kazuki… the first kiss thief!

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"My, oh my." Devone thought aloud as Kazuki fled the scene with Shiori thrown over his shoulder like a Santa's sack. Well, it was nearly Christmas and it appeared he claimed Shiori as his gift. "Whatever shall I do?" She folded her arms, her purse tapping a shoulder. It was clear as day Miyamoto-san detested her with all his heart. How precious Fuyuki must be. . .

The dark-haired senior cast a casual glance over at Ryou hand in hand with a pair of children.

"Why not get HIM involved? He is your dog isn't he?"

Devone was many things... 'Ursula', the school loanshark, and maybe even every other insult like, 'Miss Sea B*tch Obaa-San' and 'plague rat' that had left that street urchin's lips. She'd heard it all that it didn't leave a dent in her feelings anymore. But a babysitter she was not nor did she have any desire to pry Ryou away from his own babysitting. That would be irresponsible now, wouldn't it?

Kazuki saved her some trouble, alerting the authorities himself that he was 'kidnapping for a date.' She watched as the police and proper authorities took off after him, only one staying behind to hear her account. With a honey-sweet voice, she told him everything he wanted to know and everything he wanted to hear.

"No, officer. I don't know why he would do such a thing but he's always been troubled."
"Well, you know how it can be... Sometimes, boys just can't take a hint."
"He's nothing at all like you, officer. What is your name?"
"I'm so pleased they have men like you in the force. It makes me feel safe in situations like these."

When all was said and done, Devone sighed left on her lonesome, and fidgeted with the moon pendant that dangled down her neck. Somehow, it felt like it may choke her.

"Calling her Ursula would be one thing, but you went out of your way to be utterly vile."

The class president's words echoed in her head. Why did she care so much about what she was called? Why now? Devone scrolled through her mobile phone, her finger slowing down as it located the assignment Shiori had completed on her behalf. The seconds ticked away slowly. She was starting to feel guilty, wasn't she? That she didn't do more like chase after in pursuit?

Even if I wanted to, I'm wearing prada.

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Notoriety + 1 Kazuki