<strong>First Assembly of the Year!</strong><br/><strong>Character:</strong>School Body, NPCS<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Assembly<br/><br/>With an eye to the empty stage and podium, students gradually shifted into the hall. The large room had a hushed tone, despite the lack of any staff, as some of the pupils shuffled into seats to wait while others meandered about the auditorium or formed small groups. Several cliques had already formed in the interim as the student body waited for the assembly to officially begin. The sporty pupils mingled near the entrance, freely chatting amongst each other as they casually handed out pamphlets with information on their specific activities, given to them by their captains and club coordinators.<br/><br/>Izumi and Fuji Ito, dressed in the standard uniform, were busy eyeing the pom-poms Kimi Maruyama was holding. “I’ll bite, what are the pom poms for,” Izumi piped up sceptically, echoing her sister’s thoughts. Kimi just gasped as if the two had missed the obvious. “Well, duh, they’re to help draw attention to our recruitment drive. Think of them as our secret weapon against the others. Watch this...” Before the sisters could stop her, Kimi suddenly started waving the pom poms in the air as she launched into an exuberant cheer, “Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate? The swim team, the swim team, yay swim team!” Izumi and Fuji were swiftly reduced to blushing as they tried to shush their enthusiastic friend. Kimi finally relented with a sigh and a pout.<br/><br/>Meanwhile the other sports captains, all dressed in their sports uniforms, had been goaded into a familiar argument by Fumiko Takahashi, the school reporter, who had just asked, “So, which would be the team to join this year?” Unfortunately, the captains seemed oblivious to the trap as they launched into a vicious debate, unwittingly fuelling the next news worthy article. Takao Uragawa, the tennis captain, stood over Chiyo Kobayashi, the football captain, as he yelled, “Spare me, soccer’s nothing but a game for nitwits to run up and down, hitting a ball around.” With a glare, Chiyo shot back, “Coming from a nitwit who runs up and down, hitting a ball around, that’s pretty cheap.” Kei Matsuo, the athletics captain, simply shrugged her shoulders and replied, “Glad to see you two agree. Athletics is obviously the superior as it combines a variety of skills, unlike football and tennis.” Kei stood defiantly at the backlash to her comment as the other captains retorted and the fight continued while Fumiko took notes on the side.<br/><br/>The council students were quick to move away from the raucous sports nuts until they found themselves just below the stage. The popular-by-vote juniors and seniors stood at a safe distance from each other, preferring not to chat. The seniors had a tendency to look down upon the juniors while the junior council despised the arrogance of the seniors. Between comparing their holidays, matching private yacht rides with expensive African safaris, the two groups at times answered questions for students which fell under their organization’s mandate. Despite the meagre effort they’d put into responding to inquiries, it was obvious to those who dared to approach that both the junior and senior councils did not enjoy interruptions to their “important” discussions.<br/><br/>While the crème-de-la-crème of Tachibana’s teenage society engaged openly with those around them, the outcasts of the college reacquainted themselves near the side of the auditorium. Out of sight and out of mind.<br/><br/>“'Quel amrun, nae saian luume’,” Kou Yoshida, the resident role-player extraordinaire, cheerfully said in greeting to a small group of geeks and enthusiasts. “Good morning to you too, Mistress Nightmoon! As you say, it certainly has been too long,” one of the boys replied, a short and bespectacled eighteen year old with neatly combed brown hair and a thin body. From beside Kou, Kin chimed in, “Hi Sasuke, thanks for using English… Kou tends to forget, not all of us speak Klingon.” Kou huffed at the remark with a quick correction, “It’s ELVISH, not Klingon… How can you confuse the tones and dialects of the two as the one is so much sof-“ Kou fell quiet at the sight of Kin’s smirk, a sure sign that she was having her leg pulled. Another indignant huff escaped her lips as she adjusted her glasses and muttered, “Not funny Kin.” The "nerds" were all dressed in their standard uniforms.<br/><br/><strong>Laying Low…</strong><br/><strong>Character:</strong>School Body, Kiyomi<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Outside Indoor Court<br/><br/>The students at first ignored Akihiro’s arrival as they continued their soft-spoken conversations but a few took notice when he finally spoke up. One of the students turned his head to reply but the words seemed to catch in his throat as his eyes widened in horror. With a shaky hand, he pointed in the direction of Akihiro and shouted, “Oh shit, it’s  Kiyomi, run!” Everyone gasped as they turned to look before suddenly dashing in all directions, stumbling over themselves and yelping as they made their escape. From behind Akihiro, Kiyomi adjusted her single white glove as she spoke up. “I don’t know why they’re running. They’re not late for the assembly… yet. Besides, there is no escape now that I’ve seen their faces.” She snickered at the thought before shifting to a sterner expression as she regarded Akihiro. “Speaking of which, I’d suggest you start making your way there now. And button your top up while you’re at it.” Kiyomi folded her arms as she waited expectantly for the mysterious student to comply.