[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/220406/41c00969640e4c419145d2059208198c.png[/img][/center]
[center][b][color=00a99d]Mentions:[/color][/b][@FalloutJack][/center]
Kenzan turned his attention from the downpour outside back to Hakuro, a curious look on his face at the foreign currency. It only lasted for a moment before he understood the coin flip to decide where to go. [i][color=00a99d]Well that's one way to make it easy.[/color][/i] He gave a nod as the bookstore was agreed upon. He didn't [i]really[/i] want to get wet, but at this point he had agreed to it, and he wasn't about to back out now. Of course the rain had to increase in force as they bolted from the cover of school to the much more inviting interior of the bookstore. He was grateful for at least the little bit of protection that his hood gave him, but they were both drenched by the time they stepped inside. The jacket was quickly removed, he hated wearing wet clothes, and took the towel from Hakuro when it was offered with a mumbled thanks.

It immediately set Kenzan more at ease being in the familiar interior of the bookstore, not that it really changed much about the bland expression that usually had residence on his face. The multiple shelves of books that lined the store, occasionally interspersed with small tables that could be used for studying or reading, which is where he usually posted up. Just those few things pretty much packed the building to the very edges.

[color=00a99d][b]"I imagine books,"[/b][/color] he responded to Hakuro's question with a dry tone. He gave a friendly wave to Kudo, who recognized him from the moment they stepped inside, before finding one of the chairs to sink into, despite the dampness of his clothes. He pulled the books free from his bag and was grateful he had the brains to spend a bit more money and get one that was water resistant. A quick gesture to the chair across from him indicated that Hakuro was more than welcome to join him for as long as he liked. He fully planned on spending the rest of the day, until the store closed at least, holed up working on whatever it was that needed to get done for class. 
[hr]
[h3][b][color=00a99d]April 24th, 2025[/color][/b][/h3]
[b][color=00a99d]Mentions:[/color][/b] Asmumi [@Ambra], Akira [@DJAtomika], Masashi [@Zombehs], Hoshiko [@Fabricant451]

One of the nice things about running early in the morning was that Kenzan didn't have to deal with his mother as he shuffled around the house. He kept quiet enough to not wake her up while still making sure he had everything for the day. Thankfully the rain from a few days ago was enough for Mother Nature and she had decided to leave the city alone for the time being. Headphones in he ran a few laps around the block before popping back to his house to grab the backpack from the front porch, no way in hell he was running with that thing on, and made the walk to school.

It was an easy day, for 3-A anyway. He heard from some of the other students about the chaos that was going on in 2-B with their history teacher. Nice thing about being quiet and out of the way meant that people were more likely to talk with him around since they assumed he wasn't listening. It was something other than the Prime Minister at least, but he couldn't believe that this Miss Okomoto was threatening to expel an entire class over something as petty as a unflattering drawing. He'd gotten into his fair share of scraps with other students over the years when it came to stupid shit like that. Taking anger out on people who were unrelated to a problem and didn't deserve the ire, but school administration was not something he was really willing to tangle with at this point. He had barely any time left before he could get out of the house and he wasn't going to let some second year teacher screw that up.

As the school day finally came to a close he watched lazily as Hakuro immediately stood and left the room; tapping away at his phone in a way that indicated to Kenzan that he was working on something. It wasn't his problem though, unless is classmate asked for something, so he grabbed his bag and headed out the front of the school to start making his way...somewhere. Not home, maybe back to the bookstore for the rest of day like usual. He popped in his earbuds before starting his music and stuffing his hands into the pockets of his coat. He let himself zone out; completely emptying his mind of anything that was causing stress as he walked towards the residential district. 

The scream that echoed throughout the area was enough to push past both the music and complete dissociation, which was impressive in its own right. He ripped the earbuds free, now fully alert, and quickly began to move in the direction that he heard the scream from. The last time he'd heard something like that he'd been on a ride-along with his father in Tokyo and someone had gotten shot a couple streets over. It had not been a pleasant experience, but he never really thought about it anymore until this moment. He wanted to stay out of the whole mess with Okomoto, but of course leaving school would drag him into something else. He could just ignore it, but every bone in his body told him that he needed to see what was happening.

He rounded the corner to a small side street to see several second years that he recognized from school. Just in passing, but still. One of them was sitting on the ground, slightly shaking from what he could see, and the others were still standing nearby the trash that was piled to the side. He didn't know any of their names, at least not off the top of his head, but he jogged over to crouch next to the girl who was sitting on the sidewalk. [color=00a99d][b]"Hey, you alright? What the hell happened?"[/b][/color] He glanced past the other three as the smell hit and he grimaced. Yep, just the same as what happened with his father all those years ago.