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First Day Nerves; Open
Topic Started: Apr 23 2012, 02:28 PM (516 Views)
Katana9992

"Um... hello there." Ken Williams stood in front of Class 2-2 for his introduction, his arm hanging loosely at his side while he let out a small nervous gulp, trying to resist the urge to tug at his tie. Just yesterday he was fighting off those monsters called shadows for the first time, and now here he was being nervous about talking to people his age. Well, to be fair, the teen wasn't fond of speaking in front of others. "My name is Ken Williams, given name first, and uh... I recently moved from Britain to Nagashima to live with my aunt. A-anyway, I've only been in Nagashima for a few days, so I hope to get to know you all. And uh... that's it." With his blurb over with, the Brit hurried to an empty seat and set himself down, his bag sliding off and onto the floor with a dull thud that (thankfully) didn't echo, and hid his face to avoid showing his mortified expression.

"Calm yourself, it wasn't that bad." Phoenix spoke up from within Ken's mind, which didn't really comfort the one-armed teen as he lost himself in his work, trying his best to keep up with his notes.

---

It was now lunchtime, and never before was Ken grateful to get a break from learning, his hand aching as he grabbed his bag and began to search for his lunch. He was really hungry, and going outside could wait a bit while he ate his sandwich.
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Noriko wasn't the type to reach out to others. Even her close friends didn't see her often, usually because she was busy with something or had her nose stuffed in her books. Today, however, was different. The blond teen glanced over the cafeteria out of habit when her eyes fell upon the boy who had just become her classmate.

Wandering over book bag in hand, she smiled with a small bit of awkwardness. She noted there wasn't anyone seated with him- or at least not yet. "Sorry to intrude Williams-san, but would you like some company?" She bowed politely. "My name is Noriko Tsukino. I'm from the same class as you, so I was hoping to get to know you a little."

Despite feeling curious about his disability, she neither brought it up nor even glanced at it- odds were it wasn't a happy topic, and it wasn't vital for her to bother him about it in the long run. He's probably tired of explaining it all the time anyways.
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Katana9992

"H-huh?" Ken glanced up from his bag, sandwich in hand, as someone spoke. Vaguely recognising someone from earlier, the teen smiled as Noriko spoke. "Please, I would enjoy some company, Tsukino-san. Not many people seem thrilled with the opportunity to sit next to me, although likely for good reason." Putting his food onto the table, he pushed his glasses up his nose with a finger before gesturing to a seat.

"Please, sit down." When she mentioned being from his class, Ken nodded. "I thought you looked familiar, Tsukino-san. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have, though you'll have to forgive me for eating while we talk." And with that said, he took a bite of his sandwich, happy to soothe his ravenous hunger.
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The blond smiled and shook her head as she sat. "That hardly seems fair. You were a bit shy when you introduced yourself earlier, but considering you just moved into an entirely new country, that's only natural." She retrieved her own lunch and sat it out before she could forget.

"I guess a good place to start would be to ask about your hobbies. I'm a major soccer fan, a mystery-buff and a dab hand at sleight of hand- I even founded a school magic club for practicing stage tricks and showmanship." She rubbed the back of her head. "I still need work on the last one, though." That was a lie, but she really didn't want to introduce herself as someone good at deception.
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Katana9992

"I'll concede the point about it being natural to be shy in unfamiliar surroundings." Ken replied before taking another bite of his sandwich as Noriko sat down. Hearing the new topic, he smiled and listened to the girl's hobbies. Nodding his head, the teen had to admit it was quite an interesting list. "I'm afraid my hobbies are a bit more mundane. I'm quite fond of a good book, including some mystery novels, and actually I signed up for the Reading club. I'm also fond of writing, although I doubt I'm very good at it." Taking yet another bite of his lunch, the teen pondered for a bit.

"I'm also interested in psychology, although I've never had any formal instruction in the subject, and languages. I also used to be a pretty big fan of sports." Ken left the conclusion to that sentence unsaid, knowing the implication was fairly obvious.
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"Nothing wrong with having mundane hobbies- especially reading. There are way too many people who lack enthusiasm for a good story these days." Noriko took a bite of her own sandwich as he went on. "I considered jumping into Reading club, but something about Drama pulled me in and that ended up putting me at four. I didn't want to throw myself into too many at once."

Taking another bite, she smiled and nodded along. Up until the last bit, at least. That had earned a wince that she hadn't quite been able to suppress. She quickly latched onto the previous sentence. "Psychology and languages are both good areas to explore. I admit I wish I knew more about both. I only speak Japanese and I everything I know relevant to psychology comes from fiction- not the best place for accurate details."

Chewing idly, a bolt of inspiration hit Noriko. "Say, if you're a sports buff, you could join soccer club- it's a good way to keep in shape, and it'd mean we can hang out more often." Not to mention it was probably the one sport where his handicap wouldn't hinder him too badly. She left that part unsaid, like Ken had left the important part of the sentence that spawned it unsaid.
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Katana9992

"..." Ken suddenly felt really guilty as he saw Noriko wince at his non-mention of his disability, and had been about to apologize before she began talking about wanting to know more about psychology and languages. Making a mental note to find out if the library had any good books on either, the teen was brought back to reality by Noriko's suggestion. Blinking in surprise, he idly took a bite from his sandwich, mulling over the idea. Swallowing the food, he had to admit that it was a good idea, and one that he'd initially considered.

"Well, I did ponder the possibility, but I wasn't too sure that anyone there would be... comfortable with me being around. That and I wanted to get used to Nagashima before committing to more clubs." Ken admitted, pushing his glasses up again. Boy, he really needed to get some contacts or something. But he adopted a thoughtful pose, wondering if maybe he should reassess the situation.

It would be good for you, and would only aid in the fitness you get from your daily run. Perhaps, if you remain uncertain, you could pay a visit to one of their meetings." Phoenix consulted, which drew an absent nod from Ken.

"Look, I'm not sold on the idea, but maybe I could tag along to a meeting sometime. Test the waters, so to speak. I-if that's okay, Tsukino-san."
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Noriko smirked in spite of herself at Ken admitting he worried about making others uncomfortable just by being around them. She bit her tongue until he finished, however. "It's perfectly fine- I was reluctant to join Drama and Art, myself." She giggled softly. "And don't even worry about others being uncomfortable about you here. Nagashima is the most insane city on the planet- you probably haven't seen any yet, but we have honest-to-god ninjas and costumed vigilantes running around!"

Though her tone was cheerful, her expression showed that she was completely serious. "If someone can't get over the things that make you different, they'd never have survived here with their sanity intact." That didn't rule out the average jerk or bully, but fear of the crazier students taking offense to something tended to keep the majority mostly in check. Except for the bullies who were crazy themselves, but a soccer cleat to the 'nads would solve that problem, she was certain.

She took a bite of her food and realized as she chewed that she had just piled on peer pressure pretty thickly. Noriko winced and had the good grace to look apologetic before continuing. "Erm... sorry, got a little excited. I swear that's not how I normally am." With an embarrassed smile, she changed the subject. "You say you write? That's pretty cool. I always envied people like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for their ability to put a story together- I'm better at solving mysteries than making them."
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Katana9992

"... wait, ninjas...?" Ken mumbled to himself as Noriko responded with a long explanation of the insanity that was Nagashima. Of course, he was surprised she didn't mention anything about persona users, but then again he'd only heard vague rumours of 'monsters' and strange events. But Ken understood that, while she was a bit heavy with the peer pressure thing, she was only trying to make him feel better. "Don't worry about it, we all get a bit excited." When Noriko mentioned his writing, the teen adopted a thoughtful expression.

"Well, I like writing about fantasy things moreso than mysteries, so unfortunately no British detectives in my writing. And as I said earlier, I'm not too great at it. But you said you like solving mysteries? That's cool, any good ones on the table lately?" Ken asked, curiousity peaked as he finished his sandwich. He supposed that it was only fair to give Noriko a break from having to think up subjects to discuss.
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"Ah. Fantasy is good too." She nodded. "For mysteries, not really. There's a big hoopla about what happened in the park, but after hearing all this crazy stuff about aliens and people with super powers I've been tuning it out." The teen took another bite, grinning at how ridiculous it all was. Even Nagashima followed the laws of reality to an extent- and reality said people didn't just gain magic powers. Aliens was only slightly more credible a theory. "At the rate things are going I'll probably have to start looking into it just to keep the constant rumors from distracting me every time it comes up."

Noriko laughed and shook her head. "It's my weakness- I get something into my head, and I can't get it out 'til it's solved or I'm certain I did what I could. On a less gossip-y subject, I'm rereading The Sign of Four. It may sound odd of me to like rereading mysteries I already saw the answers to, but it's nice to see what clues there were in the book and realize when you missed something important the first time. I think it's a nice feature of the genre."

"Most of the time, my own 'mysteries' are trying to help people find where they lost their things." Or the occasional adventure of finding out who took it and how to get it back without being seen.
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