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

[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.

[dreamsincolor]

"Time, practice, and a very light touch." Oh, and the practice it had taken. There had been a period a year or more ago during which Mitsuya had taken to wearing headscarves in order to hide the results of her first few attempts at it.

There had been spots involved. It was not pretty.

"The trick," she added, raising a finger as though offering sage advice, "lies in hiding your efforts. After all, to seem as though you're trying too hard is worse than doing nothing at all. It wouldn't do to draw attention for the wrong reasons."

[azuranthine]

Satomi nodded, listening intently. Her smile grew a little brighter. It was certainly a philosophy she agreed with whole-heartedly. Satomi had never been one from drawing attention to herself. Too many eyes on her made her stumble far too easily. It felt too much like sitting in the middle of a fishbowl for comfort.

"I agree," was all she said.

[dreamsincolor]

"Then again, seeking to draw no attention can draw some attention of its own." And there was that faintly teasing smile again, as Mitsuya tucked a strangely-colored lock of hair behind her ear. "Not from most, but there are a few who may come to wonder what's being hidden behind that shell."

[azuranthine]

"I agree with that as well."

Satomi giggled softly, demurely touching a finger to her lips before lowering it again.

"Maintaining balance suits me more, I believe. For everything that is, there are things there are not," she added with a playful tone of her own.

[dreamsincolor]

Observant and clever. Yes, this girl had officially Piqued Mitsuya's Interest, enough to merit the capital letters. It made her wish she had another of those scrolls--magic showed so much of a person's inner nature, after all, but not in so blindingly obvious a way that it made the old-fashioned sort of exploration obsolete. Just a taste, to awaken the appetite.

"True. But I must admit to having always found the golden mean boring. Life's beauty is found in its asymmetries."

[azuranthine]

"Perhaps so. Perhaps it depends on the angle you look at it from," Satomi said.

Her bright smile from before returned, this time one of pure happiness.

"It's really nice speaking with you like this." She shyly made eye contact with Mitsuya. "It's nice to be around someone who understands."

It was a vague statement meant to cover their chat so far entirely.

[dreamsincolor]

"The pleasure is mine, Izumi-san. It's been most enlightening." A shift of her eyes took her smile from playful to mysterious. "Yes, I think we'll be having more of these chats in the future."

There was, now that Mitsuya thought about it, something drawing her in besides simply the usual attractors--some kind of intangible, indefinable essential harmony or kinship. It was a feeling she'd never experienced before her initiation, but one she'd been noticing more and more after it in myriad forms. This was the first she'd felt it in this form, though. Most intriguing.

[azuranthine]

"I would like that," Satomi said, her voice filled with sweetness and sincerity. "It's been very enlightening, indeed."

Their resonance was not completely lost on Satomi, though to the uninitiated girl, it felt more like being in the presence of someone with the potential to be a close personal friend. There was an underlying affinity that Satomi didn't quite understand but it kept her smiling, regardless.

"Most of the time, I'm in the art room after school if you would like to visit sometime. I also paint in the West Park on weekends when the weather's nice."