[Rail IC] Academy City

[Mina Kobold]

"Well, I suppose so..."

"Then lets go!"

Katsu gets to his feet and waits for Tsubasa to follow

"Any idea where to look?"

[Lillith]

"<Don't worry Jane, I can teach you some more later if you want, and you're doing way better then I did in my first game.>"

<Thanks.> Jane responded, while she kept playing her game. She wasn't upset though, no, the feeling she had was starting to turn into anger. Jirou's words had struck home, but not in a way most people would suspect. In Jane's eyes this guy was starting to turn into someone who seemed to only care about his own needs and wants. Winning, winning, winning, was that all he wanted? Did others just have to cater to his desire to play Mahjong?

"Pick yourself up, work out what you did wrong and keep moving forward..." huh? Really now? Okay, she wasn't good at this game, but what gives him the right to bash a starting player? If he had been smart he'd be trying to get her enthusiastic about this game so she'd want to play it more often. After all, this started because Jirou started to complain about Jane giving Cale a compliment. What was up with this guy honestly? She had a hard time understanding him, but what she was seeing was not something she liked.

What she was seeing was the type of person who she had been dealing with all her life. Namely someone who is only interested in his own gain, no matter the circumstances. These type of people didn't care what other people felt as long as they would get what they want. A daughter to brag about, a team member that would win the trophies, a patient that was a sure way to a promotion, a pawn that would get you important information from the most powerful city in the world! And now? She was being used to fulfill some selfish guy's desire to play a stupid game? Why was she taking this crap?

If there had been an actual empath present, he or she would be feeling a tidal wave of negative emotions from Jane oozing into the room. Something in her mind was starting to break and would soon snap. To the 'normal' people around her though, she seemed completely normal, focused on a game of Mahjong. Playing the game like it was expected from her. After all... who was better at pretending and hiding her emotions then a girl who had catered to other people's desires her whole life?

Come on Jane... grow a spine already...

[Anyr]

...Avery re-enters the office of the Chief Administrator and sits back on her sea in as perfect a posture she could. Wearing the uniform, she also wore her regular trench coat over it, though open to show her affiliations. Nodding, she stated...
"I-I've done as you've complied. Ma'am."

This time the ensuing silence could have filled a swimming pool. Rather than focusing purely on Avery's anomalous coat, The Chief Administrator's eyes roamed over the entire ensemble with equal intensity. They studied every visible aspect of the sitting student, from the straightness of her spine right down to the tips of her shoes. When at last she spoke, it was in the manner of a judge pronouncing sentence.

"So I see. You wear the uniform well, Miss Tychus; What little of it can be seen. Still, allowances must be made for the recent spate of cold weather. Many students are unfortunately being forced into wearing extra layers lately. Once the climate improves, you will naturally be free of this burden."

There was no explicit order this time; Merely...sympathy. Yes, that must have been it. After all, no self-respecting student of Tokiwadai would be wearing such a garment by choice. The temperature was to blame here, not Avery. Obviously she would discard her coat as soon as the weather permitted.

With this certainty established, the Chief Administrator took one last look at Avery and gave a single, satisfied nod.

"I believe that concludes our business. You should already have directions to your assigned dormitory, which has been prepared for your arrival. Good day, Miss Tychus."

----------------------------------------

In an unremarkable Mahjong parlour in Academy City, an unimportant game was nearing its conclusion. Well, unimportant to most. Some of the players taking part in this contest certainly didn't see it that way. Though Kiyoshi Jirou kept his face carefully blank, there was a tension in him more suited to someone on the steps of the guillotine. Maybe that was actually how things looked to him; After all, every tile he played had the potential to be his last.

What made it worse was that he was apparently the only one. His nemesis Cale in particular looked disturbingly calm, despite the tremendous pressure he should have been labouring under. Even Jane seemed to have recovered from her little crisis; Her tile rhythm was back to normal again, with no more annoying breaks in play. Her decisions were competent as well, so clearly her focus really had returned. Once again the trademark Jirou method of emotional counselling solved another problem. A shame it couldn't help with any of his own.

With a heavy heart Jirou surveyed his hand. There was no getting around it; He was out of options. Thanks to a bad start and a misaimed strategy, he had practically no chance of wrestling it into a decent shape. Disgraceful as it was, he was going to have to leave the game's fate in Cale's hands. His nemesis was competing only against the clock now; If he managed to declare a win before the last tile fell, he would be the victor. If not, Jirou's natural (though slim) lead would win the day. That was all there was to it.

"It's crunch time now, you sneaking wall-crawler. No more distractions and no more tricks. Just one simple test: Finish your hand or die. Better hurry..."

[Rhydeble]

Seeing how Jane had appearantly calmed down a bit again, Cale started focusing on the game again, and noticed something.

Jirou had been bluffing.

or he was drunk.

or accidently got a huge blow to his head.

or got a huge blow to the head on purpose (Cale thought the guy was weird enough for that)

in an incredible stroke of luck, Cale had accidently paid no attention to the bluff while it was going on, and now he could see that it was a bluff indeed. If Cale was able to keep his head away from distractions, he could easily win this game. The problem, was that there was a distraction sitting right next to him, one that was quite hard to ignore.

This is totally like Sophie's choice or something right?

[horngeek]

"Then lets go!"

Katsu gets to his feet and waits for Tsubasa to follow

"Any idea where to look?"

Tsubasa blinks. "Um... no, not really. Seen some doctors about it, and they're stumped..."

[hanzo66]

This time the ensuing silence could have filled a swimming pool. Rather than focusing purely on Avery's anomalous coat, The Chief Administrator's eyes roamed over the entire ensemble with equal intensity. They studied every visible aspect of the sitting student, from the straightness of her spine right down to the tips of her shoes. When at last she spoke, it was in the manner of a judge pronouncing sentence.

"So I see. You wear the uniform well, Miss Tychus; What little of it can be seen. Still, allowances must be made for the recent spate of cold weather. Many students are unfortunately being forced into wearing extra layers lately. Once the climate improves, you will naturally be free of this burden."

There was no explicit order this time; Merely...sympathy. Yes, that must have been it. After all, no self-respecting student of Tokiwadai would be wearing such a garment by choice. The temperature was to blame here, not Avery. Obviously she would discard her coat as soon as the weather permitted.

With this certainty established, the Chief Administrator took one last look at Avery and gave a single, satisfied nod.

"I believe that concludes our business. You should already have directions to your assigned dormitory, which has been prepared for your arrival. Good day, Miss Tychus."

Smiling, Avery answered back...
"Good day to you too. It's been a pleasure."

Grabbing her backpack from the ground, she gave the Chief Administrator a pleasant bow before leaving the office. As soon as she's out of the Administrator's sight, she loosened her posture into a somewhat more natural form as she picked up her suitcase on the way and headed for her dormitory.

[Mina Kobold]

Tsubasa blinks. "Um... no, not really. Seen some doctors about it, and they're stumped..."

"Maybe Espers are different from normal patients?"

Katsu asks, trying to be all smart and such. How he manage to keep focused remains a mystery for now.

"As far as I know both of us can do stuff that they thought was impossible, right?"

[horngeek]

"Yes, but the doctors here specialise in Espers, since this is the center of them in the world."

[Mina Kobold]

"But Espers are new, that's why they still test us and stuff"

[Anyr]

Smiling, Avery answered back...
"Good day to you too. It's been a pleasure."

Grabbing her backpack from the ground, she gave the Chief Administrator a pleasant bow before leaving the office. As soon as she's out of the Administrator's sight, she loosened her posture into a somewhat more natural form as she picked up her suitcase on the way and headed for her dormitory.

Avery's journey wouldn't take long, especially with the promise of leaving the empty school presumably spurring her on. The cold and ominous atmosphere dissipated quickly once the open sky was visible once again, giving way to the first sunny day in over a week. Thanks to this a short walk to the dormitories promised to be quite pleasant.

Well, except for the stares. For some reason a lot of people's eyes followed Avery as she walked by, staying fixed on her for an uncomfortable span. Or to be more specific, fixed upon her trench-coat. The garment seemed to be attracting a lot of attention all of a sudden, inviting puzzled stares from all directions. How strange.

Upon reaching the dorms, Avery would find her new room ready and waiting. Once her luggage was stowed safely away, her arrival at Tokiwadai would be complete. No more forms to fill out, no more officials to sit up straight for, and no class for two whole days; The rest of the weekend was hers to do with as she pleased.

[InyutheBeatIs]

[Hajime - Workshop]

Ah. It appears the couple who had commisioned the chair had finally arrived. And not a moment too soon either, as the table looked absolutely gorgeous as the light reflected off of it's coat of stain.

The two were rather typical, all things considered. One was a fine, handsome young man from Azabu Academy, immaculate hair, proper posture, everything. The girl was also a rather typical girl, all things considered. Cute, a bit perky, and obviously liking pink, what with the various trinkets and the trim on her jacket. However, there was a third man, probably the girl's father, a strong, musclebound man with a jolly grin on his face.

"So, is the table ready?" The father asked with a smile as Hajime came out, still in his work clothes. Hajime nodded his head in response. "It is. I suppose you, me, and Akira-sama will carry it, then?"

"Of course. I wouldn't think to force a lady to carry it after all." Both the young man and the girl chuckled, while Hajime just grinned. "Follow me, then. It's just inside."

They all headed inside. The workshop was rather clean for a place like this, although that wasn't to say there wasn't sawdust here and there, or oil stains and splotches. Most interestingly, however, were several trees just up against the wall, all of various kinds; oak, mahogany, pine, and others. Actually, there were several pots of plants here, ranging from bamboo to just regular flowers. Some of them were even intertwined with some of the surroundings, most notably the grape vine wrapped around the chair Hajime was just sitting in.

"Here it is." Hajime pointed to the table in the center, causing the girl to gasp in awe. It certainly wasn't the most beautiful thing in the world, but it was very impressive craftsmanship. The young man and father beamed at the sight of it. "It's beautiful. Let's get it to the truck, then."

And so, they lifted the table, with the father on one end and Akira and Hajime at the other. Soon, the loaded it into the pickup truck, and strapped it down. Akira handed Hajime the money, 10,000 yen. "Thank you, sir." He bowed, and Akira and the father shook his hand. Soon, they got in the truck and drove off, as Hajime went to head back into the workshop.

[horngeek]

"But Espers are new, that's why they still test us and stuff"

"Yes, but still... I've seen the doctors I know of, so unless you know of anyone..."

[hanzo66]

Avery's journey wouldn't take long, especially with the promise of leaving the empty school presumably spurring her on. The cold and ominous atmosphere dissipated quickly once the open sky was visible once again, giving way to the first sunny day in over a week. Thanks to this a short walk to the dormitories promised to be quite pleasant.

Well, except for the stares. For some reason a lot of people's eyes followed Avery as she walked by, staying fixed on her for an uncomfortable span. Or to be more specific, fixed upon her trench-coat. The garment seemed to be attracting a lot of attention all of a sudden, inviting puzzled stares from all directions. How strange.

Upon reaching the dorms, Avery would find her new room ready and waiting. Once her luggage was stowed safely away, her arrival at Tokiwadai would be complete. No more forms to fill out, no more officials to sit up straight for, and no class for two whole days; The rest of the weekend was hers to do with as she pleased.

Thanks for taking my character along a certain path. Apologies for not always being around to do too much.

Taking a good look at her room, Avery smiled to herself at how nice of a room she got. As she unpacked, she thought about how people were staring at her earlier. All this attention over a coat? It's not even decoratively torn nor does she have any weird logos or patches on it. It's just a coat!

But then, she already agreed earlier that just because she'll compromise, doesn't mean she's isn't able to take her own liberties. She can still be a prim and proper miss (or at least, try not to burn down the school to spread her belief in Anarchy) and her own person. They aren't mutually exclusive.

At least, they're not supposed to be.

----

A while later, Avery whistled to herself as she finally finished organizing her stuff. Complete with film and comic posters on the wall and her laptop resting upon her bed, she happily acknowledge to herself that the place finally looked like a place she lived in. Checking the time, she decided that she could always use the time to take a bit of a tour around the campus. See what's what. Have people stare at her uncomfortably once again.

Taking up her backpack, she left the room to see more of what Tokiwadai school was made of.

[Mina Kobold]

"Yes, but still... I've seen the doctors I know of, so unless you know of anyone..."

"Nope , but that never stopped me before. If you just ook then you can find anything"

Optimistic speedster is optimistic.

[horngeek]

"Okay. You got any plans on where to look?"

[Frozen_Feet]

"Why, if itsn't my long lost brother!" Two arms suddenly wrap around Katsu's waist and he finds himself lifted off the ground. In addition, he might suddenly feel blood rushing to his cheeks.

Somehow, a tall young man (?) in a fluffy pink wintercoat has managed to sneak behind the speedster. He's now squeezing the smaller boy with strenght that's a bit over "affectionate" and approaching "suffocating".

Then the stranger notices Tsubasa and promptly drops Katsu back to the ground. "Why, hello there! It's a nice weather outside, isn't it?", he chimes, smiling alluringly. "Has anyone told you you have pretty hair?"

It's Fujii Hinata. What he's doing there or how he got there is a mystery to all. What the other two students do know is that they've never seen this androgynous person anywhere before... if they haven't been going to Hongakuteki Nihon Ryouri lately, that is.

[horngeek]

Tsubasa blinks. "Um... who are you?"

[Frozen_Feet]

Out of the blue, Hinata grabs Tsubasa's hand and whirls around her as if in a dance, ending up behind her. "Man of your dreams, of course!", he says merrily, beaming. She might notice he has an earphone in his left ear - the other is hanging around his neck, some weird music faintly sounding from it.

... whatever planet he's living on, it's not the same as Katsu's and Tsubasa's.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Walter

With the mention of the price, Walter blushed a little less hard, and his akwardness was toned down a bit. However, just as any male human has experienced, someone of the opposite gender tends to take away their capacity for moving conversations forward.

However, at the mention of the Harmonica, he lightened up to his usual bright self, with a nice cheery grin and eagerness to talk about music, which he could go on with for hours if required to. "Well, yes, there certainly are plenty of other instruments I could play, but most, like a sax, trombone, trumpet, flute, etc., are big and bulky, and probably would end up giving half the people that pass by me a nice big bump on their head, and me several shattered teeth (I mean, you know firsthand how animated I can get, from firsthand experience). The few that won't be an obstruction to other people are piccolos, pan pipes and kazoos, and well, I'm also a guitarist, so Piccolos are right out since I need my hands, and the other two... well, almost nobody likes them, because they sound terrible. And anyways I'm into a lot of blues, and rock, and some C&W, where its a useful instrument to have.

How about you, do you play any kind of musical instruments?" With that, Walter beams a big smile, having had his usual cool, smooth persona, something that had been hiding for months under the akwardness of living with a power that separated him from others rather than united him with them, surfaced. And man, did it feel so good.

Sakurako

The redhead stands in stunned silence throughout the diatribe about Walter's choice in instruments and why he had chosen a harmonica, unable to keep up with the rapid-fire monologue before blinking suddenly. Wait, was he talking to her again?

"Hey, I like pan pipes..." she says defensively, looking sheepish for a moment before his question catches up with her, "Oh, well...I used to play a guitar for a little band some friends and I put together, but when I moved here it just didn't prove feasible anymore. 'sides, I really wasn't good at playing the guitar."

The admitted fault comes with surprising aplomb as if it didn't really bother her much, but she does move on rather quickly past that little point.

"Now...well...schoolwork keeps me busy and so does Judgment so I haven't had much time to practice but....well...I've been taking some singing lessons. I want to become a new J-Pop singer once I've finished schooling here." Sakurako says eagerly, veritable stars in her eyes as she gazes longingly off into the middle distance...that happens to be just over Walter's shoulder.

[Mina Kobold]

An onlooker would have expected Katsu to have some sort of reaction to being hugged and nearly suffocated by a strange person in a pink coat.

But they would be assuming that Katsu's planet was anywhere near this solar system.

"Hi, man-of-her-dreams! How did you get that title? What're you liste-to?"

The last part would be interrupted to the onlooker's ears unless said onlooker really, really tried and maybe heard a very short sound as Katsu seemingly disappeared in a blur and reappeared standing practically on top of Hinata.

He is very likely to be wearing the other earphone at the moment, following all the rules of mannerism commonly believed to be held only by the common house cat and Canis lupus familiaris.

It is at this point an onlooker might have noticed that Katsu have been wearing a antennae hairband made of napkins ever since he was put back down, likely explaining the extreme shortness of his blushing while being picked up in some way, or not. Few onlookers seem to be considering that there are any logic in this series of events at all.

[13_CBS]

Saturday

The woman raises her eyebrow.
"So I take it you are Masaki then?"

Masaki

He nods. "Yes I am. Was there something you needed?"


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kenta

In his room, cluttered with various hardware, metal parts, and other knickknacks, Kenta sits alone. Cans of Pocari Sweat, his usual go-to substance for stress relief, litter the desk and floor.

Four of his precious robots, all destroyed in one day--in public, no less. Anti-Skill got involved, too...not to mention his hand got disintegrated by some crazed hoodlum. And worst of all, his team's "benefactor" had cut ties with him. No more funding, no more special privileges. Granted, the financier was relatively low on Academy City's ladder of ruling elite, but given Team IRON's lack of psychic powerhouses, even that was a hard-earned status.

Now that their reputation was shot to pieces, Team IRON has no choice but to go "normal": go back to school, get a regular job, and so forth. But the team, and particularly Kenta, had already given up such futures for mercenary work, and there is no guarantee that they can so easily switch back to a regular life.

Kenta drains another can and tosses it. It bounces off an empty chassis and onto the floor.

"S-senpai?"

A voice at the door. Saya's, probably, thinks Kenta. He sighs and rubs his face.

"Yeah?"

"I've, uh, I've brought you some rice balls and tea if you're hungry..."

"Oh, thanks. Leave it over there." He gestures to a rare empty spot on the desk.

He glances at Saya, a cute girl with shoulder-length hair two years his junior, and all too many times the glue that held IRON together.

"...hey, Saya? You don't need to do this anymore, you know."

She places the dish full of onigiri in front of Kenta. Even in the dimmness of the room, Kenta can see that her smile is a strained one.

"I'm a member of Team IRON, Kenta senpai. As your junior, it's my job to--"

"Team IRON's finished. You know that."

"I..."

"Listen, I think I still have a few contacts. You wanted to be a chef, right? I'll ring up Mr. Sasamori for one more fav--"

"NO!"

Saya slams the cup of tea onto the desk, splashing her hand with scalding water. She ignores it and glares at the startled Kenta.

"We're not finished yet, senpai! We're not finished! We've all put too much into Team IRON to just let it die like this!" She breathes deep and calms down a bit.

"We'll stick it out, senpai. Hazuri says we've still got a little left over. You'll figure out something."

She gives him a warm smile and walks off, leaving Kenta to stare at the door.

A few minutes later, he grabs his jacket and goes out for a walk. He wanders about the City, brooding.

[Silverraptor]

Saturday



Masaki

He nods. "Yes I am. Was there something you needed?"

The women nods slightly, taking the confirmation of identity.

"I'm Mrs. Williams. I was recently employed with the cities top research facilities. However, given that I am still new to the area, they directed me to you. They say you are quite informed on Esper's and their fields. Apparently, their top priority project is associated with those type of fields. Anything you could inform me about would greatly help."

[Frozen_Feet]

[Saturday, in the vicinity of random fast-food place]


Hinata stumbles a bit when Katsu leaps on his shoulders - the boy isn't too heavy, but the action was certainly unexpected. After some furious waving of his arms to maintain balance, Hinata stands straight again - and tugs the wire of the earplug Katsu took, returning it to his hand. "Sorry, that's mine~. <3"

[hanzo66]

After checking the place enough, Avery left the building to go elsewhere. Turns out that the school's practically empty on a Saturday. Who knew?

She decided that the first thing in order was to go hang out at a Cafe. It's been a while since she's gotten a bite to eat. Making her way to the School Gardens, she came across the French bakery she's heard a bit about...
"Bakery of Happiness? I'm in need of some happiness, and by happiness I mean a garlic baguette."

[Mina Kobold]

[Saturday, Near A Nutrition Business]

"So?"

Katsu looks at Hinata mischievously and dissapears again, reappearing at his other side munching on a breadstick

"Are you here to eat? Or are you looking for somebody? Or both?"

Absolutely no way to misunderstand that, nope, none at all.

[shinnmoso]

Saturday- Tokiwadai Campus

*sigh* Rockwell goes. It's his third Saturday spent in Campus marking English essays and Literature review. On the highly reflective marble tiled floor, there is three empty red pens.

There are two stacks of paper which is of equal size on his table. One stack that is stained with red ink and one stack without any red ink on it.

"Am I not teaching them well?" Rockwell thinks to himself as he walks towards the coffee machine. The aroma of coffee quickly took over the smell of textbooks and paper as he prepares his favorite type of coffee: Latte.

He takes a sip. Ah. The smooth milk and the strong aroma of Coffee Beans made him forget that he is in the middle of marking an English essay.

As Rockwell returns to his desk. He places his cup of Latte in the only Empty space. A rare sight for the former marine's workspace.

Suddenly, his phone rang. The only thing to break the silence of the Staff room. He bought it out of his pocket, does a sliding down motion on the screen, and places the phone next to his ear.

"Hello?" Rockwell answers.

[horngeek]

Tsubasa, meanwhile, is still... pretty confused.

[Frozen_Feet]

And Hinata sees her confusion as the perfect excuse to take her to a wild dance. He first bends Tsubasa backwards over his arm, then suddenly steps to the side while holding her hand, forcing her to spin around unless she wants to sprain her wrist.

Then he wraps his free arm around her waist and pulls her... uncomfortably close to his own body. At the same time, Tsubasa might feel an unvoluntary surge of blood rushing towards her cheeks. "Well? Go ahead and say something", Hinata asks, smiling coyly. "Or did my stunning looks leave you gasping for air?"

[horngeek]

Tsubasa is twirled! "Eh? What?"

Mainly, she's too shocked to do much of anything. Or resist all that much, either.

[Rhydeble]

The last round of the game seemed to last longer then it actually was.

Cales hand was rapidly nearing the point where he could win with it, while Jirou had foolishly broken his own hand to try and bluff victory away from Cale.

Cale grabbed another tile from the table, and a smile of victory dawned over him.

"<I seem to have completed my hand, and gathered enough points to overtake the current number one, so lets call it all to an end shall we?>"

Cale started to shift in his seat, getting ready to stand up. The Thug was thoroughly beaten at his own game, and they could finally go after the mechanical menace that had been threatening Jane. Best of all, he would be able to show of with his staircase, that was bound to impress her.