[center][h1][color=39b54a][b]Hakuro Kuroda[/b][/color][/h1][/center]

[h3][i][b]April 21st, 2025[/b][/i][/h3]

As the rain continued to pile on outside, one floor up in Room 3-A, class had also let out.  Several students began to talk freely or do a stretch as they got up from their seats.  In the middle of it all, one student remained largely motionless, glaring forwards.

[i][color=39b54a]Our world has been thrust into darkness.[/color][/i]

Ah, he's doing a bit.  Quickly, Hakuro pulled out his phone and pressed a button to play some music.

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGx5a1ifSDs[/youtube][/center]

[color=39b54a][i]The country is in chaos, held in the grip of a power it could never withstand.[/i][/color]

He stood up, listening to the sounds from outside.

[i][color=39b54a]It's raining again...[/color][/i]

Stepping outside the classroom, he headed the downstairs as the music from his phone continued to play.

[color=39b54a][i]Only I have the power to weather the storm.  Only I can beat back the onslaught of forces unknown.[/i][/color]

People were mainly talking about the Prime Minister, as they had the entire week, while he made his way to the lockers.  Hakuro Kuroda looked fairly normal, not standing out much at all when he was in uniform, or even in his street clothes.  But when he donned the items in his locker...

[i][color=39b54a]The rains have met their match, for I am...the Hatto-san.[/color][/i]

All at once, Hakuro stopped the music and put away his phone, for now.  He was ready for the Drama Club, once it organized for this year.  They were a little late to the scene because - as expected - people were feeling drama from a [i]different[/i] source, entirely...

[b]"I can't believe he did it live on television..."

"Didn't anyone [i]notice[/i] anything beforehand?"

"How did he even hide a gun from his own security?"[/b]

The Prime Minister's death...  Hakuro didn't know what to think of it.  The last thing he wanted to do on the Hatto Ken Ko-to Website was make an episode using that for sensationalist content.  The internet was choking with it, anyway.  Reaction videos, commentaries, speeches...  Even foreign Let's Players were talking about it.  He didn't want to, because his site was dedicated to the lighter side of life, the more interesting bits and even some of the strange.  If he put that on there, even just to air it out, it would be forever be a stink bomb on the site that would hang over him forever.  But even then, he couldn't stop his followers talking about it on the message board, asking him to talk about it or do some kind of video.  He could take a look at the unusual manner in which it had all occurred, take apart the scene to try and find something wrong with it, but unless he somehow discovered something that a billion other people couldn't...

[i][color=39b54a]Forget it.  I'm not going down that path.  I don't even need to flip for it.  Some things - the most important things - you never leave to chance.[/color][/i]

So, for the moment, he was hanging out in the halls, not far from the stairs.  He could head out into the bad weather for a laugh, but he wanted to see if something was going on around the school before committing to that.  Hakuro sighed, looking at the recent news again.  No, even the authorities - who were all over this - didn't know anything, and he wanted to know, himself: Why?  Why did he do it?  Why did he look so haggard?  It WAS strange.  Nobody seemed to know anything prior to the fact.  Hakuro hated to be in the same boat as everyone else, left wondering at the mystery, and yet...it was indeed a mystery, and it begged to be solved.

[color=39b54a][i]Things ARE pretty dark, right now.  Hope it doesn't last.[/i][/color]