<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>Track & Field<br/><strong>Time:</strong>Flashback - a few days before school starts, very early morning<br/><strong>With:</strong>Shizuma<br/><hr/>"Oh yes, we are in touch." Taro turned his full attention back to Shizuma and briefly looked down at the hand on his arm. He didn't mind; it was a warm, friendly gesture. Offering Shizuma a soft smile he continued, "I just came back from visiting them in Tokyo for two weeks, and we are on the phone at least once or twice a week. We have a pretty good relationship."<br/><br/>He shifted his water bottle to his other hand so he could lay his own hand one Shizuma's lightly. "And don't worry about not having thought that much about how it might have played out for others. I am sure you had more than enough problems of your own when your powers developed. There were enough times when I cared little about other people's problems, and I didn't have as good an excuse as suddenly manifesting superhuman abilities. It's the past, right?"<br/><br/>Taro didn't often talk about his past, rarely even hinted at it without being asked directly, but somehow this girl made him want to reassure her, protect her. Maybe mentioning his own imperfections would distract her from what she perceived as a failure on her part. It was this protective instinct also, that allowed him to fight down his own curiosity just before he could ask about Shizuma's family. Perhaps she was estranged from them, even now that she was out of the special school, and Taro didn't want to open any wounds.<br/><br/>A change of topic was in order, he thought. Something not so heavy. "Say, Shizuma-san, when did you arrive here? Did you have time to get a good look around, take a tour of the grounds and the buildings"