[center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/684ddb45-4fc1-4da4-89c5-42f0263bd666.png[/img][/center][right][sub]April 11th—Afternoon[/sub][/right][hr]
Emi offered a reassuring smile in Maeda’s direction, but quickly returned her attention to Mizuame, nodding along as she listed off her new members and committing the names to memory as best she could. Hinari and Mori, both first-years most likely. She made a mental note to look up their class numbers and any other information that might be relevant should she need to track them down again, just in case she didn’t get all she wanted accomplished before she left. 

Now just to figure out exactly what she wanted to accomplish.

Something bothered her first, though. She wasn’t sure why, but Emi felt a little insulted to hear Mizuame call Makoto by his first name. It shouldn’t have been unreasonable; it wasn’t like there was anything going on between them if Mizuame was so seemingly unaffected by his disappearance, and they probably worked on club matters together a lot last year. Emi supposed it might have been a little tasteless, but she could just as easily be accused of the same thing. But wouldn’t a little formality be polite considering everyone thought Makoto was dead? Did common courtesy just go out the window once someone was no longer around to hear it? Jeez, first with Ito jabbing at Nakano about the fires, then the student council carrying on as if they weren’t missing a vital member… that lump in her throat started to grow again, and she had to quickly blink away a few tears threatening to form. It never got any easier, did it?

No, no, she had to focus. The whole reason she was here was for her friends, after all. But what to do next? She couldn’t ask any of the questions she wanted to with Mizuame and Maeda around; besides, if she came right out with it and she was wrong, there’d be no closing that can of worms. Oh God, she’d probably be referred to the school therapist, marked as crazy and sent to some institution where she could never hope to find her friends! Could she hint at the issue? Would they even know what she was talking about? If they just Awakened, they probably had no idea what was going on; besides, until now Emi thought there weren’t any other Persona users in the world. The terms she and her friends used would probably be gibberish to anyone else. William seemed to use them, but did these boys even see them? [i]She[/i] hadn’t even ever dreamed of the Velvet Room before now, and she’d been Awake for over a year!

Agh, this was so frustrating! She was the Navigator, of all people she was supposed to be the one who knew what she was walking into! She couldn’t even go into the mirror and hope to meet them on the other side; besides the fact she’d probably get herself killed all alone, the mirror still wouldn’t let her pass. Dammit, she was so useless alone!

A weird wave of tension, not unlike what had drawn her over in the first place, pulled Emi out of her frustrated reverie. Was Maeda trying to do something with his pastries again? No, that soft, boyish voice was absolutely dripping with awkwardness. That had to be it. One of the suspicious new students—she couldn’t tell which one—was growing more and more nervous by the second. It was downright odd; not only were there those distracting vibes that screamed “Persona”, but she also wasn’t used to sensing [i]feelings[/i] as well. Did a Persona amplify them somehow? It was worth puzzling out in the future, but for the moment, bigger things took priority. 

Clearing her throat, Emi finally offered a short bow in the general direction of the new students, forcing a smile. [color=E5C4CD]“Pleased to meet you, Mori-kun, Hinari-kun. My name is Ueno Emiha, Student Council Treasurer. Once more, I apologize for interrupting. I suppose I should explain what I’m talking about.”[/color]

Hugging her folder to her chest, she took a deep breath, letting her expression get a little more sincere. [color=E5C4CD]“I wasn’t personally a member of the Cooking Club—for obvious reasons—but I did have a pretty close connection with it last year. A close friend of mine, Chousuke Makoto, was an active member of this club. Cooking was his passion, and he worked very hard to keep the Cooking Club afloat with Mizuame-san here. Unfortunately, he was one of the students who went missing in those fires last year.”[/color] 

Emi was silent for a moment, a wave of emotions washing over her, before she straightened from her rather somber posture, heaving a deep breath and forcing some energy back into her voice. [color=E5C4CD]“Anyway, for the sake of his memory, I won’t let the Cooking Club lose funding while I’m Treasurer, so there’s no need to panic. But regardless, I’d like to thank you both for joining; I’d be very sad to see this club die for lack of members as well.”[/color]

Getting an idea, she turned to Mizuame, her fake energy quickly becoming real as she finally got a glimpse of a way she [i]might[/i] be able to make things work. [color=E5C4CD]“But, with that said, I have high expectations for the club, Mizuame-san! I hope you won’t mind if I check in on you guys from time to time to see how you’re doing?”[/color] 

Ah, finally! If she had an excuse to drop in on the Cooking Club, she could keep an eye on the potential Persona-bearing students without drawing too much suspicion! Ah, it was as if Makoto pointed out the obvious solution for her at long last, just like he used to. Their Magician working his magic from the other side!
[hr][right][sub][@Hero] [@Scribe of Thoth] [@Lord Orgasmo][/sub][/right]