<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/4/4a/Iris_Heart_-_Hyperdimension_Neptunia_-_2x3_portrait_-_mischeivous.png)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Natsuki Akuzawa<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Music club room<br/><strong>Time:</strong>Day 2, lunch<br/><strong>Wearing:</strong>School uniform<br/><strong>With:</strong>Aoi, (Kazuma, Yoshimune, Misato), Tetsuo, Nao, Ryuu<br/><br/><strong>“Why yes,”</strong>Natsuki answered Aoi wryly, while looking sideways slyly at Tatsuo.<strong>“I’ve met Producer-san. We have plans to go swimming together sometime.”</strong>She knew Tatsuo would grasp the hidden meaning of her comment, even though it would sound completely innocent to everyone else.<br/><br/>Tatsuo she already had pegged as a player – not that she minded that – so she knew how to handle him. But Aoi’s earnest sincerity kept throwing her off balance. Especially since she was still embarrassed about her entrance, she just couldn’t find a rhythm with Aoi that she had control over. So when he complimented her for being cute, all she could manage to do was blush and look shyly away, mumbling an awkward thanks.<br/><br/>She took the offered seat, now feeling that it would be far more embarrassing to refuse it and come up with an excuse to slip away. She had no lunch – she’d planned to buy one when she went into town that evening – so she simply sat, smoothed out her skirt, and crossed her legs, ready to listen politely, hoping to avoid creating any more of a scene.<br/><br/>She watched with amusement as the excited girl from earlier physically dragged the boy she had been with – presumably her brother – to a seat, then sat herself between him and Natsuki. Natsuki quickly got the sense that the girl couldn’t speak – she hadn’t uttered a sound the whole time, not even a greeting of any sort, and her brother seemed to be speaking for her. And the brother, for his part, seemed to be blind.<br/><br/>Always on the lookout for other Abnormals, Natsuki quickly deduced that the pair were like her. Physical “defects”, such as blindness, were very common among Abnormals, occasionally held up as evidence that Abnormals in general were “cursed” or “deformed” in some way. For a brother and sister pair to be blind and mute, the odds were just far too low for that to just happen by chance in a normal population. But, you never know.<br/><br/>Aoi, on the other hand, she was almost certain was Abnormal. The “detention centre” comment clinched it, and she already knew Tatsuo was, and he didn’t give any sign to contradict what Aoi said. The rest of the band had to be normal, if they were already known around the school; Aoi had also said he was a new addition, so that made sense.<br/><br/>But she was jolted out of her musings by Nao offering a sandwich. Almost instinctively, Natsuki accepted, before even being aware of what she was being handed. Belatedly she offered thanks.<br/><br/>She chuckled at Ryuu’s comment about the band being a “thing” to pick up girls. In all honesty, it just might be, but from what they’d heard, they rocked well enough that it didn’t matter. If that was their game, they were playing it well.<br/><br/><strong>“He <em>is</em> definitely cute,”</strong>she confided to Nao, in a low voice, agreeing with her silent assessment.<br/><br/>Tatsuo joined them, taking a seat on her other side. She smiled warmly at his arrival.<br/><br/><strong>“Yes, it is a coincidence,”</strong>she said, in a tone that was jokingly meant to sound like she believed it wasn’t.<strong>“I never got to do any shopping yesterday,”</strong>she sighed.<strong>“It was too late when I got into town. So, I have to try again today.”</strong><br/><br/><strong>“It’s so weird being in a normal school again,”</strong>she confided in a low voice.<strong>“Like… I keep thinking that it’s some kind of really banal dream. Or maybe all those years in lock-up was some kind of nightmare. I dunno.”</strong><br/><br/>But then she blinked in confusion, and asked of Ryuu, Nao, and Tatsuo:<strong>“<em>Ano</em>~… I’ve never seen a live band before… are we supposed to cheer? Or be quiet?”</strong>