::Kosei Academy::

[Arena Emperor]

~::Kosei Academy::~
[School of Fine Arts]

An upscale High School Academy attended by many of Japan's most promising young artists, including students of the country's most famous players in a variety of 'arts' attending on scholarship. Marketing itself as a Fine Arts Academy and one of the country's greatest, it is an often-overlooked truth that students of all walks of life can attend Kosei should they have the money or pass the entrance exams. Private, yet not exclusive, it has a surprising mix of students both rich and poor, motivated and slacking, but there can be no doubt that the cream rises to the top...and many famous names have emerged from this school to make their mark upon the world.

Among them are the famous artist Kawanabe who has gained popularity of late, Madarame who was recently involved in the Phantom Thieves scandals, and one of the day's most famous teen idols is said to attend school here as well.

There are few clubs in Kosei Academy beyond the Arts. And the only students who tend to stay after school are those who live in the dorms or who are working on their next great project with the guidance of their school mentors.

Quote:

Classroom Assignments

1-A:
1-B:
1-C:

2-A:
2-B:
2-C:

3-A:
3-B:
3-C:

Principal: Dr. Kaede Kuzuyama

 

[Arena Emperor]

Lavi Nishino, Kosei's Student Vice-Prez
"...Don't judge me for who I am not...judge me for the person that I am..."

He watched from the front gate of the school as the sun finally set in the West; his lips curled into a vague smile as twilight dawned and the first stars began to twinkle into view in the night veil above. A slow yawn escaped him, but he did not let the fatigue show upon his pale visage. Instead he glanced back at the gate as the last of the late-working art students and the few club members remaining trickled out of the school and past him, many offering a small wave, a 'goodbye', or even a 'thanks' to the school's young Student Council Vice President for helping them with this or that earlier in the evening. For his own part, however, he watched the sky a few moments longer. His limbs were a little heavy and his mind was tired, but the day had been long and fulfilling...the people of this school needed him and he had never let them down yet. It felt good...to be wanted, to be needed by the people around you...and if in doing his part to assist them he could elevate the individuals, then it would be to the benefit of the whole. That was a lesson he had learned a long time ago.

"'Night, Lavi-kun!" a taller girl, pretty with strawberry-brown hair smiled at him as she passed...he recognized her as a Senior with an interest in theater and acting that he had helped earlier in the night putting in a request form with the school authorities for materials for costumes for a performance before the new year. She smiled with an honest gratitude that curled the corner of his lips faintly, and he nodded as she waved, then started down the streets beyond the gate away from the school. It could have easily been mistaken for something romantic, if such things weren't quite common with members of all different sorts of clubs and groups throughout Kosei...each of them often coming to the new, 'Reliable Vice-Prez' with their requests at some point throughout the year. And always, when they asked, he did his best to deliver. To the point that he often got out of the building late as he had tonight...after dark, a bit tired, but productive as always.

"Be safe, Iwami-senpai," he offered a light farewell in return, waving with two fingers as she left the school behind...and then, taking one last look at the stars, he decided that if no one was left at the school...it was time to do the same and go.

 

[Rednal]

[12/13 - Evening]

Shiori Niko, aka "Marvel"

"Good work, Vice Prez." Shiori said as she jogged past him. Honestly, it was a bit late for normal students like her - which was probably why she was leaving now - but she'd gotten a request from one of the art clubs and had stayed behind to help them move some supplies. Most had learned quite some time ago to not ask her to model for them - something she found distinctly uncomfortable, given the objectification involved, and the slap she'd given when asked to be a nude model was still whispered about in the halls - but she was still willing to pitch in for other things. That, and she was considerably more athletic than most of the artsy students at Kosei, even when you counted the boys, so requests like that one weren't uncommon.

Her feelings on Lavi Nishino were a bit mixed. On the one hand, his nickname was 'The Problem Solver', but on the other hand, he hadn't been able to solve her main issue... and while a small, very human part of her was upset about that, she knew that nobody was all-powerful, and she couldn't get upset at someone just because they had a limited ability to change society itself. That would have been unfair and childish of her, so while the feelings still existed, she'd buried them deep down and determinedly tried to smile and be nice to him when she saw him.  

[Arena Emperor]

Lavi Nishino, Kosei's Student Vice-Prez
"...Don't judge me for who I am not...judge me for the person that I am..."

He heard her footsteps before he heard her voice, and the sound was enough to alert the Vice President of the Student Council to a presence that he hadn't entirely expected. It was rare that one of the students who wasn't granted a special permission for a late-session working on a project came out of the building after him, but by the speed of the steps and the politeness in her voice, the pieces came together in an instant and the story was already mostly told in-full by the time that Lavi had glanced over his shoulder and spotted the orchid-haired marvel as she jogged right past him. He could sense that there was at least a measure of sincerity in her praise, but also that there was a measure of something she held back from him as well. Perhaps she didn't particularly like him, or maybe she was even teasing him a little, he couldn't say for certain. But the fact that she had made the effort was a step forward in his mind. Nodding in return, his clockwork mind ran through in an instant the myriad of things that he had put together about the girl over the last year, since April. He had no reason to dislike her, himself, he knew. And despite that she wasn't a typical art student like most of the student body, she seemed to genuinely try her best at everything that she did. He wished that he could do more to help her avoid unscrupulous eyes and situations, but the energy that slowly seemed to return to her over the last two months had been...refreshing. Far more effective was the cause of that than anything the so-called 'Problem Solver' (not a nickname he had given to himself) had been able to do for her. And for that, he was grateful.

His return smile to her as she passed was small, but genuine, a wave for her as well as she made her way by.

"Did the art clubs keep you behind late, as well?" he inquired somewhat bemusedly, though the smile of amusement didn't quite reach his eyes. It would have been easy for her to keep on jogging past him and offered a token greeting before going on her way, but as he often did, Lavi had left the door for conversation open if she was willing to open up to him, just a little. Even if he couldn't solve a classmate's problem, he still possessed a small measure of charisma that made him easy friends with those who wanted to be as such. Which might have seemed unusual given how someone with his reputation might have usually been viewed as stuck-up or smug in some fashion...but in his case, that reputation almost seemed not to exist at all (though there were, of course, outliers to that). And it wasn't the first time that he had interacted with the girl, either. Her slap had been heard throughout the school, and the outrage of a particularly flamboyant professor who 'couldn't imagine why a girl would react so violently to such an ambitious request as a nude model' was something he had worked overtime to quell and rationalize several months prior, in the first days of his term on the Student Council.

He hadn't forgotten that incident, and likely few other people had as well. Shiori herself, least of all.

"I suppose I could say the same to you, Niko-senpai," the teen offered casually, knowing that it wasn't exactly a sleuth's work to put together that she obviously had been kept behind to help a club by request if she was here this late, "Thank you for your hard work."

 

[Rednal]

[12/13 - Evening]

Shiori Niko, aka "Marvel"

"Well, you know how the teachers are..." Shiori said, slowing her pace and jogging in place for a few moments so she could chat. "Art clubs do get priority, and they can get a bit fussy if people don't help them out... ah, but I don't really mind the lifting. I don't get to use my arms as often as my legs anyway, so it's a good change of pace. You'd think the seniors would be in better shape after three years of our gym teacher, though..." He was a colorful character, the kind who said that human bodies were art and should be perfected as much as possible. Alas, the fact that many of the art students were skinny kids who had trouble picking up anything bigger than a canvas showed how enthusiastic about that they were... and more than a few deliberately went for the eccentric, starving-student approach, apparently believing that being frail and sickly improved their art somehow.

She... probably wasn't going to understand them. Ever. Fortunately, courtesy of her new friends, she didn't really have to. It really was getting late, though. "Gonna miss my train if I stay here much longer, so... bye." she said - a bit of awkwardness in her tone that she couldn't quite hide in its entirety. She really did need to work on that soon, but managed to keep her sigh in until she headed off and around the corner.  

[Arena Emperor]

Lavi Nishino, Kosei's Student Vice-Prez
"...Don't judge me for who I am not...judge me for the person that I am..."

In spite of himself, he couldn't help but chuckle just a little at the crack about their peculiar art teacher. It was well-known throughout Kosei that even the gym teacher at their school was an unusual artsy type, wanting to hone his students into the perfect subjects for their masterpiece paintings, sculptures, and the like...though rarely with much success save for the students who weren't there for some kind of an art major. Shiori was one of those students, to the fortune of her fellow students. Unfortunately that also meant that she endured a bit more of the physical requests from them than might have been entirely fair. Though when it came to helping the students of Kosei, there was still nobody among the student body with quiet the resume of effort and variety as the overworked Vice President of the Student Council. A reputation like his did have its drawbacks, after all. If you considered it as such. So he could sympathize with her struggle, and certainly had been among the students subject to their gym teacher's insistent methods. Still, as she talked a little about not minding the workout and then awkwardly made a quick excuse for an exit (a fair one, to be sure), he couldn't help the feeling that the interaction between them was still a bit...superficial.

He offered a polite wave in return anyway, in hopes that she could eventually find it within herself to trust him, to rely upon him. Despite the struggles his famed 'reliability' might have brought him, he took immense pride in being there for the students of Kosei High who needed him. It wasn't for his own self-satisfaction or some role that he wanted to be case in among them, however, that made him act that way. It was simply who he was, a person who wished to be relied upon...who wanted to be a leader, a rock for his peers and the people around him. It was how he had been raised, it was what he believed in, and if there was anything in his heart that rang true, it was the knowledge that nobody could stand against the entire world on their own. But together, people could move mountains. If he could be the bond that linked them together...that made the people around him strong...that was his goal. Even if some might say that same dedication to being relied upon is what made him feel detached as well, unable to rely upon others...that was what he believed in. And he would do the same for Shiori, or anyone in the school, if they would let him.

"We wouldn't want that," the Vice-President answered her rush with a small smile, "Be safe on the way home, Niko-senpai." And with that in mind, he knew that it was his time to head home as well. Stepping away from the gate of the school, he turned left and began the casual walk back into the city proper. He didn't have anywhere to go tonight, but he was hungry and didn't feel much like cooking. Maybe a stop into Shibuya for a quick meal before he went back to his apartment was the ticket he needed to put a nice cap on a productive day?

 

[Hibarii chan]

Fujie Ikebana, 'Flower Girl'

A low purr could be heard at a distance, the distinctive sound of the Flowerbike (TM) approaching the school as the sun seemed to lower into the horizon. The gate of Kosei Academy would be mostly deserted by now, the girl with pink hair knew...except for maybe one student. The ever working Vice President of the Student Council. And sure enough, the girl saw a figure standing by the gate, just as another one retreated in direction of the station. As she passed her, Fujie managed to stick out her hand, offering the athletic girl a little flower with a wave and a silly smile, before turning her full attention back to the Vice Prez by the gate. Her Flowerbike (TM) came to a full stop just in front of him, and the girl grinned, pulling up her googles to reveal her glinting eyes.

"Nishino kun! I had a feeling you would still be here." Fujie chirped as she lowered from her bike, putting the brake. The whole thing tilted to the side a little, making the many bouquets and flower arrangements on the back to shift faintly. Sunflowers and gardenias...roses and carnations...forget-me-nots and all kinds of little flowers made the Flowerbike (TM)
a colorful sight, and Fujie loved how it looked. Every time she passed by,
she could see people turning to look and point...and if she could at least make one person smile...then she had done her job. ... ... Well, actually,
if she got people to buy a flower, then she would have done her job,
but that was beside the point!

"--Ahaha... I don't mean it as if I knew you would be here. That would sound a little too stalkerish. I just had a delivery in the area, and well..." the girl mused, her hands waving in the air to accentuate her meaning. She scratched her cheek sheepishly, beaming. "I just thought I could pass by...and here you were, so...here we are! --Oh!" Raising her index finger in the air, almost as if remembering something, Fujie turned quickly, her flowery dress flowing with the movement. She reached over the vespa, and pulled out a single pink gardenia, handing it to him. "For your hard work, Vice Prez."


"You know... I think it is really silly how boys are the only ones to give girls flowers. I am sure guys like receiving flowers as well. So, I am making a study! You will be my first subject, if you don't mind... Besides, flowers can really cheer someone back up, and after such a long day, I thought...it would be nice. I know I'd like getting one. But well...I work at a flower shop, so..."


She was rambling.

She was rambling a lot.

 

[Arena Emperor]

Lavi Nishino, Kosei's Student Vice-Prez
"...Don't judge me for who I am not...judge me for the person that I am..."

Niko-senpai certainly had a lot of energy, and watching her dash off into the distance, the Freshman Vice-President couldn't help but be a little jealous of what seemed like a boundless reserve of it. Of course, somebody might have pointed out to him that he was pretty tireless as well, staying as late as he did and helping as many people as he could the way that he did, but he wasn't the sort of arrogant person who thought about himself like that. He didn't have time to consider how much energy he was spending in the act of helping his peers; he was too busy doing it. But fortunately, for his sake, the day was at its end and he could head home now to get some rest...is what he thought, before the familiar hum of the Flowerbike (TM) caught his attention, pulling past his senpai as she ran and gliding right up to the gate of the school to stop right in front of him, offering him an energetic greeting as she pulled her goggles from her eyes and revealed herself to him. Though he didn't need the goggles out of the way to recognize the colorful Flower Girl of Kosei High. She had a talent for flowers and gardening that most at the school would consider on the level of an art, and even if she was a little weird, in a school like theirs...she was practically normal. He felt his lips pull into another polite smile as she called him how, but the 'forced' nature of it eased away in-time with the radiation of her honest energy. Or maybe it was just the colorful joy of her vehicle that made him smile. Who knew?

"Slow down, Ikebana-chan," the responsible teen responded to her overwhelming energy graciously, raising a hand to hopefully help ease her nerves and let her know that what made her stumble over her words and feel sheepish was fine...though judging by the way she kept talking, he had very little effect on that, "I didn't expect to see you this late, but it's never unwelcome. Can I help you...?" He trailed off as she reached into her basket and pulled out a gardenia, handing him the flower and thanking him for the hard work he had been putting in here, and for the rest of the school. The simple gesture caught him a little off-guard, and he found pulling the right words for a response out of his vocabulary to be a little harder than usual. Her forward, honest energy and straightforward goodness had a way of taking you off-guard, and surprisingly, he was no exception. Her explanation for why she was giving it to him was so jumbled and convoluted that he immediately recognized the falsehood of it...but he made no mention of it. Her intentions were all that mattered, and he had no doubts that they were pure. Questioning it would only make her uncomfortable, and he didn't want that. And the way that she was talking, well...it would be hard to get a word in edgewise.

"Thank you, Ikebana-chan," he responded simply, offering a small but genuine smile as he slipped the stem of the flower into his shirt's breast pocket, letting the flower stick out of the top almost like the look of a corsage, "Gardenia...if I'm not wrong, isn't giving one mean to convey 'you're lovely' to a person? Though they are usually white, so perhaps this one's meaning is different?" He looked at her with a little half-smile, half-teasing, half-curious. He wondered if she knew exactly what it meant, or if she had given it to him because she liked it. She didn't need to answer him straight, of course. Or at all. If nothing else, she could take it as an invitation to a small conversation...even if it was already this late.

 

[Hibarii chan]

Fujie Ikebana, 'Flower Girl'

"Ah, no problem at all, Nishino kun! It's my pleasure! You do so much for everyone, it is nice to be the one helping, for once!" she giggled, sticking her tongue out in a playful fashion. She found herself beaming even brighter when she saw him handling the little flower delicately, slipping it into his pocket like a corsage. 'Sigh, he is so handsome...' He turned his attention back to her, and Fujie smiled in return, returning her focus back to the conversation. His voice was deep and soft and there was a little tinge of curiosity and amusement, and Fujie tilted her head as he started to ask his question. Only that...the question had been one she hadn't been expecting. Her eyes widened, and she probably turned the same color as her hair, and for a second there, she was speechless. He knew Flower Language?!?! Of course he did! Fudge nuggets! What was she supposed to do now? She couldn't just... you know...confess how she felt, right? Ahaha no! Who did that anyway!?

Stay calm, Jie. Stay calm.

Her brain was working furiously...or well, apparently, it kinda shut down, for she could only giggle. She laughed, and crossed her arms, nodding to herself. "Oho~ You know Hanakotoba! I couldn't expect less from the awesome Nishino kun!" Her fingers rubbed her chin in faux thought, before sticking out her tongue again, jokingly. "But yes, you got me. I just think it is great what you do for the student body, you know? Our Vice Prez is so dependable, and efficient, so...yes! I just thought it was fitting. Aha...haha."

"S-so! Where did you learn about the flower language? Interested in that? I didn't imagine you would be into something like that, but... it is nice to see another flower enthusiast!"

 

[Arena Emperor]

Lavi Nishino, Kosei's Student Vice-Prez
"...Don't judge me for who I am not...judge me for the person that I am..."

He had to admit that even he wasn't entirely sure what reaction he was expecting from Kosei High's semi-famous 'Flower Girl' when he took note of the meaning of the gardenia; perhaps he hadn't really been anticipating the response at all, more focused instead on solving the quick puzzle before his eyes as he looked over the floral offering she had gifted to him. Lavi hadn't, he was certain, expected to see the girl go almost uncomfortably pink at his observation, but here they were, her giggles covering for the realization that seemed to gobsmack her out of nowhere. Apparently she hadn't expected him to know what the meaning of the flower might be? Somehow listening to her fumble a bit over her words, trying to figure out or give voice to what she was thinking, left the young Vice-President of the Student Council's grin growing all the more by the second. Something about the genuine nature of the girl and her lovely Flowerbike (TM), the simple gesture, and the way that she tried to quantify her meaning just now made him feel...happy. Yeah, happy was the word he was looking for, however simple it might have been. His lips curled and his cheeks creased with an almost impossible-to-contain smirk that made him look for just a single moment of lost control like the cat that ate the canary. And his arms folded over his chest as he watched her, though a twitch in his fingers that felt like him wanting to...something...nearly saw him reach out and do something even he had no idea what. Almost.

"I had private tutors when I was in primary school," he answered her questions easily, even if his response likely raised more questions in the process, "You would be surprised the range of things we covered when I was younger. Though it helps to know a little about everything if you're going to help everyone, don't you think?" That was...putting it very, very plainly, but it wasn't in his nature the way that it was the people who had raised him to speak about things in quite so grandiloquent a manner. He had learned growing up that people seemed to gravitate to you and trust you if you spoke to them in simple, honest terms. And he wanted people to relate to him in that way...the same way that he hoped, in time, he could find ways to relate to them. Fujie, herself, was one of those people that he hoped that he could relate with and that would come to rely upon him. Though to say that she was like any other student at Kosei would have been far from accurate...she stood, in his own estimation at least, in a classification of her own. Which he had to admit wasn't a bad thing at all.

"So...I'm lovely? And dependable and efficient?" he repeated her words, a touch confused and a touch...well, touched by them. A lot of people thanked him, and more than one had even gone so far as to confess to him in the past. But few of them had made the effort to really connect with him, or had done so with such honest and transparent decency as the Flower Girl. Something about that was...nice. He smiled, letting his fingers brush a petal of the flower before he sighed away any tension and glanced down the road, almost as if to check for anyone else before letting his guard down for even a moment. "You flatter me, Ikebana-chan. Though, I don't really think I'm all that great...but I do try my best to be reliable. If I could help everyone at Kosei to reach their dreams, that would be my ideal..."

 

[Hibarii chan]

Fujie Ikebana, 'Flower Girl'

He was smiling...he was trying so hard to contain his laughter, she could see it. Fujie hadn't seen him smile like that before. He was always aiming to help the others, that was true... but when he smiled...there was something about it. Like it didn't reach his eyes. He simply smiled to be polite. These smiles though... they were different. And she found out she enjoyed them. She enjoyed them a lot. She wanted to see him smile like that more. Oh wow. She was being cheesy. Too cheesy. Stop that.

"Are you laughing at me?" the girl grinned, asking, not offended at all, but just teasing, being playful. She raised her eyebrows and placed her hands on her hips in fake indignation, before relaxing her stance, once again giggling. She was able to control herself though, her giggles dying down as he explained how he knew so much about flowers. "Private tutors? Wow! How was that like? What other things do you know? Do you learn different things than in school? Besides math, and sciences and such? Do you know all those fancy things, like dancing and poetry and literature and painting and whatnot? Well...maybe painting isn't all that strange. We are in Kosei after all."

And then...he was back to the 'lovely' thing. Aaw noodles...her genius attempt at changing the subject had been for naught. He...really was lovely, though. And well, at least...if she could get a solace from it, he wasn't questioning the other meaning of gardenias: 'secret crush'. Why was she so stupid? Hah! Dang rabbit, Jie.

"You are, yep!" She finally decided. New approach! She couldn't act nervous! "And oh, shucks. It's nothing Nishino kun." She followed his gaze to the road and she tilted her head slightly, furrowing her eyebrows. "I am not keeping you, right Nishino kun? Maybe we could walk together? If you like?" The pinkette took the handles of her Flowerbike (TM) and removed the brake, pushing it slightly. "Where do you live, by the way? Is that weird to ask? Sorry if that's weird. My next delivery is in Jongen, so I am going in that direction... so we could walk together until then, yeah?"

 

[Arena Emperor]

Lavi Nishino, Kosei's Student Vice-Prez
"...Don't judge me for who I am not...judge me for the person that I am..."

If it was hard to pull a genuine smile or laughter out of the Student Council Vice-President, then it seemed much the opposite with the Flower Girl, and for that, Lavi was grateful. In his experience, people who tried to keep their emotions close to the vest were a dime-a-dozen these days, but somebody who could be more free to express who they are, how they feel, and to truly embrace life was much less common and more treasured on the whole. The way that she grinned and raised her eyebrows and teasingly challenged him about his amusement couldn't have been taken seriously even by someone far less observant than himself...but she obviously knew that, breaking into giggles once more before she once again picked up on the unspoken questions that his response had opened, poking at him with a measure of interest and an energy that he was almost unprepared for. It wasn't often that people actually asked him about himself...real details from his childhood, about the things that mattered to him, and what exactly he was in Kosei for...and having her go all-in on those questions all at once nearly had him raising his hand to call for her to take a breath again. Instead, he ran a hand through his long, dark hair and parsed out her questions one at a time, delivering the answers as easily as he could.

"It was tiring; going to public school all day and coming home to extra lessons until night was difficult. But hard work and dedication was a lesson my guardians wanted to drill into me early. They taught me any number of things, from flower meanings to poetry to literature...and yes, dancing," he admitted the last bit without much embarrassment, which was to be commended for a young man his age since most people would have gotten a laugh out of picturing him as a kid taking dancing lessons from some adult. Fortunately, he didn't think she would laugh at him for that. Probably. ...Maybe. "That was also where I first learned about the stars and the sun, about science and politics. It was a, quote, 'Crash course on everything the youth of this country needs to know for the future.' The lessons were strict, but I like to think they've borne fruit. I'm trying my best to live up to what everyone expects of me. ...Do you think I'm doing all right?"

In that last question there was a moment, however brief, that might have stood out to the girl if she had any experience with watching and speaking with him. Just a moment that the face and the personality and the polite persona that she knew of him seemed to waver...when all the confidence and the reliable, unshakeable face of the 'Reliable Vice-Prez' faded for just an instant and something else allowed itself to show upon his face. In a small curl at the corner of his lips, in a tired, almost forlorn twinkle in the corner of his eye, there was a hint of something...different, something unusual. Something...hopeful? He asked her if she thought he was doing all right, and in that moment he seemed genuinely unsure of what his own answer to that question might be, it seemed that her answer might genuinely hold weight for him. It was a question that, unknown to her, he almost never asked of anyone, and a slip that was even more rare. But something about her forward honesty and her genuine concern and smiles almost loosened something inside of him, maybe it even did, just for a moment...and in that moment, she could be sure, she was seeing the real face of the boy in front of her. Even if it was too brief, too sudden, to know entirely what it might have meant. And no sooner had it flashed across his face than he let out a small, almost self-depreciating chuckle that was replaced with his usual, humble smile.

"I'm only kidding, of course. I wouldn't want to put you on the spot," Lavi smiled a little, glancing at her bike and considering her offer to walk with him to the station. If she was heading to Yongen-Jaya, then she was heading to a different direction on the tracks than himself, "Oh? Me? My apartment is actually over in Omotesando. Have you ever seen it? The zelkova trees are beautiful...though, less so this time of year. I could still walk with you from here to the station, at least. I was thinking of making a stop on Central Street to eat something on the way, anyway. Would that be all right with you?"

 

[Hibarii chan]

Fujie Ikebana, 'Flower Girl'

It was nice talking to him. It was nice...and she didn't know why she hadn't done so before. Lavi Nishino was a remarkable student in Kosei, and everybody and their grandmothers had heard about him, at least once...and he had helped them with this or that at least one other time. He could be seen around campus all the time, and whenever a student needed something from the Student Council...one knew to look for Nishino kun personally. Fujie was no exception, and while it was seldom that she asked for help, she knew that Nishino kun had made things easier for her at times. She had been observing him since the beginning of the school year, and she was starstruck by him. Perhaps it was that nervousness...that he seemed so distant from everyone else, that he was so reliable and perfect that had stopped her from talking to him in the first place.

But now... now she felt really dumb for believing that.

Well, he was still perfect, but...he was approachable, and she had learned that his laugh was warm and that his eyes were expressive and that he was a regular human being, like everyone else.

Fujie listened to his answers, and bit her tongue to stop herself from making followup questions before he was done answering. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like, having to study all day, every day since an early age. Thinking back on her days at primary school...she had spent more time with friends, and getting scrapped knees, and getting to love flowers more and more than actually studying poetry and politics. She wondered...what had Nishino kun looked like as a younger kid? She imagined him being serious and proper and the image was so cute she had to stifle little giggles.

"That's amazing, Nishino kun, really. It would be great if you could explain a bit of all those difficult subjects to me sometime. But...like a dumbed down version of it. Without being too strict." Again, the pink haired girl let out an airy laugh, only to sober up a little the moment he asked her if he was doing all right.

Her first instinct had been to answer without much thought, but there was something about his expression then...and the question itself that had made her pause. It was as if this wasn't just a light matter, and they weren't just making conversation to spend the time. He genuinely...was asking. Fujie looked at him, and for the first time during the brief time they had been talking, she felt silent, thinking on the answer. The silence stretched between them, and at the same time he spoke back up to brush away the question like it was nothing, Fujie opened her mouth to give voice to her thoughts.

"Well, I think--"

She paused once again, having talked at the same time than him, and gave him a little sheepish smile, before continuing.

"I think, Nishino kun...that you work really hard, and that you are incredibly smart for knowing and having learned all that. I think it is also very nice you are doing all this to help others...using your gifts for good." Again she paused, placing her hand on his arm for a moment, in an emphasizing gesture. "But... Nishino kun...do things because you want to. Don't be anything you don't want to be...even if it goes against the expectations from others. If anything I've learned from my family...it is that. Be who you are! Who you want to be. For yourself."

"So much for not putting myself on the spot, huh?" she added after a second, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly, feeling suddenly awkward by how serious the atmosphere had become. She just hoped she wouldn't scare him off with her weirdly intense speech. "Hahaha...Guess I took it too seriously--- S-so! Omotesando, huh? Fancy! ~ I love looking at the zelkova trees there. I don't get many deliveries that way, but...when I do, the trees are what really catch my attention."

She felt her shoulders relaxing a little, and her heart fluttering when he accepted her invitation to walk together, and she let him know how happy it made her with one of her big grins. "Sounds great! Let's go!"

 

[Arena Emperor]

Lavi Nishino, Kosei's Student Vice-Prez
"...Don't judge me for who I am not...judge me for the person that I am..."

It wasn't all that often that somebody took the time out of their day to stop and actually talk to him; if it wasn't just another request for him to help with some studying, with a school or club project, or the like, it was a passing wave like Shiori a little earlier. There was something nice about having somebody who was willing to stop and listen to you when you talked, and consider what you were saying before they answered you...let alone someone willing to talk to you like an open book, words and thoughts all spilling out before they even had the wherewithal to be shy or suspicious about it. It was refreshing, and it was kind of funny how many people liked to call Lavi their friend, yet so few of them at all had ever had such a conversation with him as he was engaged in right now. Her joking request to help her understand some of the more difficult subjects in school might have stricken him as just another person who was taking advantage of his kindness, but the open and somewhat self-depreciating way she laughed about it made it plain to him that there was nothing of an ulterior motive behind her smile. That was another thing that he could appreciate about the Flower Girl, the fact that there was such an absence of falsehood or deception in her...and what little there was, he could forgive when it was as silly as flower meanings and the reason for a considerate gift. That was why despite her joke, he considered his schedule right now in a quick mental rundown, thinking as best he could if there was some free time in there to help her...if she really wanted to or had the time to do a little extra studying.

"I've been told I'm not a bad tutor, actually," he offered a somewhat humble chuckle, running his fingers through his dark hair in a casual gesture to keep it out of his eyes, "I don't have set times, but usually when I'm in the Student Council Room if I'm not working on a project, I'm tutoring somebody. You're more than welcome to join me...even I can't hope to stay on top of the class if I don't study, after all. I'm only human." Before he could say anything else, however, there was a quiet pause between them as she considered his revealing moment a second earlier. He could tell that she had glimpsed something in him that he maybe hadn't intended to show, and he was perhaps a little surprised to see her weighing the gravity of what that might mean. It was true that it did matter to him, whether he could live up to the expectations and the weight set upon him, but he didn't know why he had let the question slip just now, why her opinion was one that might hold sway with him. Only he knew that he didn't want her to answer carelessly or negatively unless it was the absolute truth. That was why he had tried to play it off as easy as it had come, but thinking hard as she did, he couldn't help but appreciate her when she finally answered him.

Do things because he wanted to? Be who he wanted to be? That was...not something that anybody in his youth had ever really said to him before. Who he was and what he was meant to accomplish were things that had always been set in stone. Lavi had been taught of virtue and sacrifice, of hard work and foresight, but his own desires had almost never been brought into the equation. He supposed he could have dismissed the answer as somewhat cliche, but he didn't. Her compliment made him smile slightly, but honestly. And her insistence, then sudden sheepish backpedaling, eased any of the weight that might have still been there between them...at least for him, anyway. His eyes closed and he let a gentle sigh, a warm curl, pass over and land upon his lips. It was a wistful sort of moment, as if remembering something important to him.

"He who raises up the world around him, also raises himself," the young Freshman recited, words that had been engraved upon his heart long ago, "I help people because I want to. And because in doing so, I want to improve all the world around me. In school, in the city, or all of Japan. ...That quote just now, the Shogun said that recently on one of his addresses, didn't he? I've heard them before, and I think those words resonate with me. ...That includes you, too, Ikebana-chan." Lavi watched as she seemed to relax and smiled brightly, honestly. Trying to change the subject and talking about the trees was a pretty transparent attempt to ease the mood, but he hoped that she could unwind a little more now. And it seemed she could, judging by the way she looked. Satisfied, the dark-haired student nodded in response, already considering the best places in Shibuya and Harajuku that might carry his favored dishes of tempura shrimp and pork cutlet...though, did she like that sort of thing? Not to mention the elephant in the room.

"Do you plan to walk your bike all the way into the city?" he asked with a raised eyebrow as he recommenced his walk from the gates towards the greater Shibuya area, "I don't mind if you want to ride it there...pushing it might be a bit exhausting, don't you think?"

 

[Hibarii chan]

Fujie Ikebana, 'Flower Girl'

She felt sheepish. She felt as if suddenly she was stuck in a huge water tank and the water level was rising. Perhaps her words had been a little weird, and perhaps he actually hadn't been expecting a real answer. Perhaps she had read into him too much; read into the situation too much and now she had ruined the chance she had of befriending him. For a moment, the pinkette tensed, and for the first time in their short exchange, she looked uncomfortable and nervous. Fujie was usually a cheery girl, and she wasn't afraid to say what she felt. She had learn not to care what others thought of her; being called a little weird by others in school...being looked down because of where she came from; being considered gross and ruined because of who raised her...she had learned to ignore all that. She had learned to fight all the negative thrown at her family.

But...she cared what he thought of her.

So, when he let out a soft sigh and smiled back at her, brushing away dark curls off his face, Fujie felt her knees faltering and her heart fluttering. Noodle sticks...she really did like him.

He quoted the Shogun and even if she was a little confused, she smiled warmly, seeing he had his answer. Somewhat. She thought. "Well, if it's something you do because you want to, then it is good! You have no idea how many people do what they do because they want to be accepted. To fit in." She grinned, rubbing her nose sheepishly. "I am impressed, Nishino kun, really. And well...maybe...if it's not too much of a bother for you -- because I know you are really busy-- I will consider those tutoring sessions. I could...buy you a soft drink or a coffee or something in return, if you like?"

With that, she smiled again, before returning to the road ahead of them. Their pace was slow, comfortable, and the teen felt happy. Though...her Flowerbike (TM) was heavy. "Weeeell... I don't want to be ride while you walk. It wouldn't be fair." she started with a sheepish tone, biting the inside of her cheek, an idea coming to her. But...

"Do you...want me to give you a ride? Maybe?"