<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/a/ac/Taro03.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Taro Ikeda (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=257738.msg12730054#msg12730054)<br/><strong>Location:</strong>School grounds<br/><strong>Time:</strong>Day before Culture Festival, Late evening<br/><strong>With:</strong>Biscuit, Open<br/><strong>Wearing:</strong>Jeans, sneakers, school uniform shirt, jeans jacket<br/><hr/>Taro had followed his usual habit of staying at school well into the evening. Usually he used the quiet hours of the evening to get some homework done before he went home, and while he had seen to that today too, there had also been some last minute work at his homeroom, putting up decorations, arranging chairs and tables, and all the hundred other things that needed to be done in preparation for the festival.<br/><br/>When he left the classroom building, Taro almost immediately halted and sniffed the air. Something was burning. He looked around for the source of the fire, ready to call an alarm, but could see no flames. Then he heard the music and looked in that direction. Blinking several times he needed a minute to convince himself that he wasn't dreaming. What he saw was so out of the world – at least the Japanese world – that he still had a little trouble believing his eyes didn't deceive him as he made his way over to Ben and his smoker.<br/><br/>"Good evening. Ben, right?" He bowed his head a little in a perfunctory greeting. He was pretty sure he remembered the American's name right, but with so many new students around this year figured he'd best make certain. Stepping closer to the smoker, Taro drew a deep breath through his nose. Yes, this was what he had smelled a moment earlier. "What are you doing here? Smells good."