[h2][center]James Zhen[/center][/h2]

The release from Akiya's grip led James to inadvertently glance at the mark left upon his hand. His partner certainly had... Some arm strength, to say the least. It was a tad disconcerting, being dragged along like a rag doll... But, in the end, no harm, no foul, right?

The presence of his luggage in front of the door was a great boon; he'd have had half a mind to punch something or some[i]one[/i] if he'd have to walk all the way back to his former hotel room to pick up all his crap. A quick check was all he needed to ascertain that everything was in place; clothing, cell charger, some emergency snacks, a laptop...

And the violin. Right. He forgot he had brought that along, and the reason for doing so along with it. It was a timekiller, yes, but would he have time to kill in between bootleg Japanese lessons, combat training, regular classes, and all the other crap that there was here?

Closing up all the cases and bags, James rapidly brought all of his goods inside the dorm room, which proved to be much easier said than done. Finding a way to arrange everything to take up the least amount of space would be miserably annoying, to say the least.

Akiya's next comment pulled James' attention away from that dilemma, however, and led him to nod in return before taking his own bed, which was... Well, more comfortable than he had expected.

"Right. Well, as you know, I'm James Zhen. Age 16, came all the way from the US. Hobbies are... Well, actually, I don't have many hobbies. Kinda got forced into the usual rigorous lifestyle that you get tossed into when you're the child of Asian parents... You know?" he stated in turn as he began to move his things around and start to unpack. "Forced into violin-playing aside, I guess I hung out at internet cafes a lot and played games there. Usually under the pretense of staying at school for extra work, but hey, what works, works, right?"

[hr]
[h2][center]Mari Kougami[/center][/h2]

Aaand there it was. Geez, she [i]really[/i] should've seen that coming a mile away. Sighing, Mari brought her right hand up to her forehead and, sighing, shook her head in disapproval. Having those words not be misconstrued was just asking for trouble. Her fault, everyone's loss.

"There are... [i]So[/i] many ways I could retort right now, but I think it'd just be best if we headed back for now. You're misinterpreting my statement; I'll say that much, at least," Mari responded, glancing at the map in Kagura's hands.

Mari's formerly-polite facade was slowly being replaced by exasperation, little by little. So, what did she know about her new partner so far...?
[list][*]Tries extraordinarily hard to make nice, up to a fault.
[*]Is probably the type to be prepared for possible problems.
[*]Might be awkward to sleep in the same room for the first few nights or so because of this exchange.[/list]
...
Oh yeah. Definitely going to be interesting... And not in the way she'd have preferred.

"In any case, let's go before we start gathering any strange looks from people. If you would."