Rumors [OPEN]

[electrician]

Who: Anyone feel free to make threads and hop between them.
What: Study hall for various classes.
Where: Library
When: A couple days after the event and Iwata's lesson.



Ryuseki High is a school that is neither too large, nor too small. The school has enough students that it is impossible for everyone to know everyone else, but it also isn't so woefully over populated that no one knows anyone else. This is the ideal ecosystem to breed the sometimes elusive and dangerous "rumors".

In a school like Ryuseki, the student body lives and dies on the rumors of the day. And there was no better place for those to begin than the shared study hall at the end of the day. Students were free to go to clubs or sports, but many found themselves speaking with friends in hushed tones, writing notes, and even a few more adventurous couples finding a dark corner to practice running to first base.

More importantly, rumors had been spreading through the school about evil disciplinary committee regents, angry idols, the wheel of karma, pathetic homeroom teachers, and funding being cut for clubs. These rumors were the lifeblood of the library, as if feeding some insatiable beast. There were rumors that students should be careful in the older sections of the library, where more rumors abound about falling bookcases and unexplained whispers.

At the front of the library sat a young teacher who seemed more interested in reading on the days celebrity gossip than anything else. She didn't even notice the mass of students who were playing with phones under the table or using the few computers set up to message friends. Every once in a while someone would speak a little too loudly for the teacher and she was forced to let out a loud "shhh!" that managed to quiet whomever had been the noisy one.

To regular students, it seemed like nothing special, just a place they felt comfortable sharing secrets ("Did you know Tanaka dyes his hair", "Megumi told me that she kissed Sato under the bleachers!"), while to others it felt more like they had to share these things. Surely it was nothing strange or extraordinary, right?

Comments

[electrician]

Sitting alone in the back of the seating area, was Tanigawa, with her elbow on the table and her head resting in her palm. Behind her was the older sect ion of the library, filled with rows and rows of books, with a set of dimly light halogens in the ceiling. Somehow, even after they constantly replaced those bulbs the lights never seemed to fully light up that area. There were talks of fixing the wiring, but who had the money to do that?

Even though most students stayed clear of that area, it works fine for Ami. In the library people seemed content to talk to people they didn't even know, and she wanted none of that. Well, that wasn't exactly true. As much as she gave off a air of cool and collected, Ami was lonely. She had to build this personality for her idol career, that seemed to push people away. And sometimes, like today by sitting in the back in the area people were weary to go near, she had done so without even thinking about it.

But homework was still important, and so she tried her best to focus on that, and ignoring the chatting going on in the library about secret crushes and girl's who stuffed their bras. Not to mention the few times she heard her name between girls gossiping about her. Ami just sighed, and turned the page in the book she was reading, eyes never glancing up from the page.

[callmetyrant]

If there was someone you could count on to be at the center of several rumors-- and also anywhere where they would spread, it was Takeo. Takeo kept a good ear out for such things, not only because of an interest in what people said about him, but because the grapevine was often rich with intel that he could use.

He knew others would stiffen if he walked in-- but he took advantage of the fact the library had no dress code. A baseball cap in red, and thick-rimmed reading glasses made him unrecognizable unless you stared at him long enough. Not that he just wandered in to peek in on the rumors... He had been doing a lot of reading lately, along with Utazawa.

Nonetheless, he wasn't looking his finest either-- he had been having trouble sleeping, and had tripped twice on his way to school, which had left a cut requiring a bandaid on his face, and had given him slight eye-bags.

That's when he noticed Tanigawa... Hm. He knew the girl was friends with Oubai.

He approached. "Mind if I sit here?" he asked, making his voice slightly higher than usual.

[electrician]

As with anyone else who bothered Ami, she gave the usual response. She looked up with a disdainful look on her face, then shook her head. And her eyes went back to the page as if no one was even there. By the time she had actually realized who had asked her to sit by her it was too late, she couldn't take back her decision.

The fear was pretty normal for someone a student of Ryuseki. If they stacked the rumors about Ami against ones about the boy sitting across from her, his would make her's look like a ranch house to his skyscraper. Everyone in the school walked on eggshells around him, though lately, if the rumors were true, he wasn't having such good luck. But it wasn't like Ami was jumping to discuss that.

[callmetyrant]

Silence.

"Do you expect me to say 'aboogaboogabooga', Tanigawa-san?"

[callmetyrant]

 

[callmetyrant]

"Abooga-booga-booga."

[electrician]

If anything, that was the last thing she expected him to say. She expected something actually scary, like he had already found out all her secrets or something. That would have easily knocked her out of her seat.

Instead, he had gone in the wildest of directions. And Ami couldn't help by tense up visibly, slowly tilting her head up at the boy. What was his deal?! What did he want from her?! She tried to respond but couldn't think of anything to say, she was just too caught off guard.

[callmetyrant]

"Tanigawa-san, just pretend I'm not here. I'm just doing a little reading for my writing exercises at home," he said, taking out his (somewhat elegant) briefcase (Takeo wasn't the kind to do backpacks) and producing a few books, along with a notebook. "I had assumed that your distance from the gossip mill meant that we were like-minded in wanting to avoid the buzz."

[electrician]

"O-Okay.." Ami stammered just a little bit, betraying the fearless image she was trying her best to maintain.

"I just like it back here!" she answered a little louder than necessary, overcompensating for her previous weak statement.

[dreamsincolor]

Mitsuya was ever one to keep an ear bent to the wind. Most of what she heard was almost unbearably dull, to be sure, but every so often, once in a blue moon, there was something that truly bore fruit.

Her current reading material, a short treatise on household magic she'd won from her first sojourn into the old school building, was proof of that. She unfurled it a little at a time, keeping it hidden behind a largish, boring-looking volume she'd picked up from the library shelves, and kept herself facing the door--just in case.

As with the other scrolls she'd read, this one changed its contents to suit the reader; for her, a child of the wind, it discussed a few of the many uses of air magic in keeping a household clean.

Vacuum, eh? Now that's clever...

[azuranthine]

Satomi sat quietly by herself at the table next to Mitsuya's, appearing completely oblivious to all the whispers and gossiping around her. On the surface, she seemed to be taking a break from reading the heavy reference book in front of her and was diligently writing down notes summarizing what she'd just read. However, if one were to glance over Satomi's shoulder, they would see a series of excited looking chibis coincidentally resembling various students in the library. She glanced toward Mitsuya periodically, smiling appreciatively to herself, though precisely what about the older girl that incited this response wasn't clear.

[dreamsincolor]

It didn't take many of these glances before Mitsuya caught Satomi's gaze during one of them, and offered her a welcoming smile. Being one to keep an eye on Ryuseki's outsider cliques, she was familiar in passing with the younger girl; Satomi was quiet, and "quiet" wasn't normally her type, but it seemed like there was a little more depth to her than that mousy shell allowed her to see.

The peculiar smiles Mitsuya was receiving did a lot to strengthen that impression.

She stowed the scroll--she was done with the bulk of it anyway--and turned her full attention to Satomi. "You seem to be enjoying yourself," she noted, her tone playful rather than sarcastic (as, say, a certain disciplinarian elsewhere in the room might have been).

[azuranthine]

Satomi blushed a bit at having been caught watching but returned Mitsuya's smile with a shy one of her own. After taking a moment to gather up the reference book, her notebook, and pencils, she pushed her chair in and sat down across from the older girl.

"I am. Just doing a little doodling."

And people-watching, of course.

"Good book?" she asked with a perfectly straight face and a twinkle in her eye.

[dreamsincolor]

Mitsuya looked down at the book almost quizzically, shut it, looked at the cover as though she'd never seen it before, and set it aside with a shrug.

"Maa ne, who can say? Certainly not me." Observant, this one was. Mitsuya met Satomi's straight face with raised eyebrows and an amused quirk of her lips.

"I'm certain I've seen your face before, out on the fringes somewhere, but I don't believe we're acquainted. Araragi Mitsuya," she added, with as much of a Western-style bow as she could manage while seated--a gesture that was equal parts pretentious and self-deprecating.

[azuranthine]

"Izumi Satomi."

She gave a slight bow that came across more like a single enthusiastic nod.

" I've seen you around as well. You're hard to miss," she added, gazing coyly at Mitsuya a moment. "I've always meant to tell you this but I really like your hair. It's very pretty. Very unique."

Another shy smile.

[dreamsincolor]

"You're too kind." It was currently pulled back in a loose braid, as it sometimes was to keep it from going all over the place and generally being an obstacle during school hours, but the color and length alone still made it very, very hard to miss in a sea of shades of brown and black.

"It takes a lot of effort to stand out from the crowd, but I find it to be well worth it." Double meaning, thy name is Mitsuya. Subtlety, on the other hand...

[azuranthine]

"And you make it look so easy, senpai. How do you do it?"

Satomi's smile turned soft and encouraging. A spark of genuine curiosity and interest lit her eyes. She was especially curious how Mitsuya achieved that lovely gradient effect.

[grinandbear]

Usually, like certain others, Akito was another who took advantage of the library's rumor network. It was free information, though with dubious accuracy at times, and it wasn't hard to get. All you had to do was put in a set of headphones or look engrossed in a book and fade into the background and people dropped all sorts of info bits.

Today, however, Akito was hiding out in the older parts of the library, reading through a book of old folktales. His shadow was 'behaving' for the most part (though more likely, it was waiting for an opportunity) but occasionally Akito found his shadow sneaking a hand to flip the page's shadow ahead of Akito and Akito had to tell it to stay 'down' again. It was giving Akito headaches, trying to keep his shadow under control, and he found himself rubbing at his temples more than once.

[fantasy_skies]

"Terumi-kun." Takuro had been scanning each aisle with his bag slung over his shoulder for his classmate, and beelined for the boy when he found the right bookshelf. "I was looking for you. Do you have a moment?"

He eyed Akito's shadow with some caution.

[grinandbear]

Akito 'jumped'with 'surprise'. He scratched his head, a bit 'sheepishly'.

"I do," Akito replied, neatly flipping his book shut on a story about the kitsune wife. His usual smile snapped into place. "What can I do for you, Iwasaki-san?"

For the moment, Akito's shadow was normal.

[fantasy_skies]

"What magic do you already know?" Takuro asked, voice barely more than a breath. He picked up a book at random from the shelf and glanced over its cover before sticking it back and moving onto the next one. "I know you have the shadow thing, but that's it."

[grinandbear]

Akito looked at Iwasaki, then took a quick glance around to make sure they were alone (though it wasn't likely, not when Iwasaki wouldn't seen someone on the way and when he was asking something like this). Once satisfied, he replied, voice equally low,

"I only know what I got from Iwata's lesson. I haven't had much time to learn much, unfortunately." 'Sheepish' chuckle. He looked at Iwasaki curiously. "What do you have, if you don't mind me asking? I know you can summon a demon."

[fantasy_skies]

"The only shadow magic I can do is the stuff your shadow can do," Takuro said, abandoning the book he had picked up. "I can grab shadows and hurt the people they belong to in combat. It's not quite as useful as having my shadow do it, like you and Iwata-sensei, but I haven't figured out how to do that just yet."

He paused. "I can do some stuff with plants as well, but that's not so relevant to you, I imagine."

[grinandbear]

"I see." Akito nodded 'thoughtfully', his shadow lingering in 'thoughtful' pose an instant longer than Akito before snapping back. "Well. If we have the same element I would assume there's some commonality there. At least," he frowned, "I can't think of a reason you couldn't do the same thing and vice versa.

"Unfortunately, plants don't quite feel 'right' to me, if that makes sense." Akito thought on it a bit longer, then sighed. "It probably sounds terrible of me, I know, but I almost wish I'd had more of a chance to look at or grab more scrolls while we were in the basement."

[fantasy_skies]

"Ah, that's actually why I was looking for you." Takuro dug into his bag and pulled out a neatly bound scroll. "I found a couple of these while we were in the old school building. I haven't read this one, but I read one of the others and it had a spell inside."

He held it out for Akito to take. "I figure this should have one inside as well. Please take it."