Takaru

Persona - The True Self

Kotori Shirohane - Ferrero Mall: Yoshida Book Café | Monday, July 20 2015 - After School

Kotori cocked her head to a side when Rui concluded the discussion with the resolution to talk to Shizuka about the matter - but her worries that her previous thoughts about the other girl had somehow been so easy to read were quickly dissuaded when she realised that, unlike her, he was still talking about the topic at hand and thus was simply seeking more input on the matter. At least, that's what Kotori took from it, given that she knew little of her fellow Agriculture Club member's exact involvement with Star Drop Café. Kotori still glanced between the others at the table when silence fell upon them once more for a few seconds more to see if anyone would speak up - but when no one did, she let out an inaudible sigh before turning her gaze back on the book before her; even as she felt her guilty conscience creep up once more when she took a sip from the unbidden but not unwelcome glass of water. It didn't take long for this to vanish though when the book's story received her full attention.

Kotori Shirohane - Abandoned Warehouse | Wednesday, July 22 2015

Having spent most of the morning helping her mother around the family flower shop, Kotori had headed to her room to make some more headway on the summer homework. She'd already begun therewith after she'd returned home from her unexpected visit to Yoshida's and was feeling somewhat optimistic that it shouldn't take too much longer to get everything finished up and thus not have to worry about it for the rest of the break. Unfortunately, however, she hadn't even started when she almost jumped out of her seat at the sudden ring of her cellphone. Not a prolific user thereof, she was still surprised whenever she got a message - and given the usual contents thereof, she didn't look forward to seeing who it might be from.

Her fears were proven well founded when saw that it was once more a call to gather up at the warehouse - new developments needed discussing and another expedition into the mirror realm was very likely. Whilst it didn't mention any kidnappings, Kotori couldn't help but feel her worries and fears return anew as got ready to head down the by now worryingly familiar way to the warehouse.

She was neither the first nor the last to arrive, though they didn't have to wait too long. Whilst some had to excuse themselves for various reasons, there were more than enough people present to field a full team or two - but that did little to lift Kotori's spirits when Kazuki and Megumi began to explain the situation. Ayano supported Megumi's findings that an unknown area had been located and that, according to Kaminari's investigations, they might finally be on track to finding this cult's leader. However, the fact that no one was in need of rescuing did at least serve to lighten Kotori's mood, if only a little.

Almost immediately thereafter, a squawk drew everyone's eyes to Zeke. The bird spread its wings and lifted off, wasting no time to push off into the mirror - not exactly an everyday sight when seeing the others passing through was still an uncanny experience. Still, Zeke had proven to be a great help before, so there was little reason to doubt that it was doing this without some purpose - agreement was quickly reached on this before the rest of the investigation team followed suit. As ever, Kotori held her breath in apprehension as she stepped through the mirror; only releasing it on the other side when the surreal feeling that always followed had passed.

Kotori Shirohane - Mirror World: Seto | Wednesday

Zeke lead the group onwards, always flying ahead before perching just within view and waiting for them to catch up. The bird seemed to know exactly where it wanted them to go and, for a lack of any other directions, they were quick to follow. The path they travelled on took them through the many streets of this mirror image of Warakuma; the buildings on either side always seeming just a little bit off as they skirted the verge of mundanely familiar and utterly bizarre - at least until they turned on corner and suddenly found that they'd just stepped off the concrete pavement and onto similarly ashen sand. An unearthly green glow washed over the entire scenery - but Kotori was hard-pressed to say if this came from the light in the sky - whether it was a moon or a sun, she couldn't tell - or the depths of the vast sea before them, flanked all around by tall mountains far off in the distance.

Yet what caught most everyone's attention was the only colour that broke the gloomy scenery in the form of an enormous torii that seemed to stand as a gate between the grey sands they stood upon and the green waters that lay beyond. The fact that Zeke had chosen it as his final perching place only served to further everyone's suspicions that what they were looking on was not just another minor quirk of this mirror realm; the strange ripple in reality - for what it was worth here - immediately bringing a portal into yet stranger worlds to mind.

The sight brought about much muttering among those gathered - but it wasn't until Megumi suddenly spoke up in surprise at sensing another presence that everyone could tear their eyes away from this most strange scenery. Even after delving into several dungeons and experiencing their blatant violation of common sense first hand, Kotori just could not get used to the oddities that made up the mirror world - but she did her best to try to quell the unending stream of questions that sprang forth at every sight that presented itself to her as she gave a slow nod to Kaminari's words.

But even if she agreed with the notion that they had to get to the bottom of this, Kotori could not help but feel a sense of unease at this newest turn of events and most blatant transgression against reality as they knew it to date.

Persona - The True Self

Kotori Shirohane - Ferrero Mall: Yoshida Book Café | After School

Following Kotori's suggestion, Ryan was quick to answer Rui's question. Rather than find a new place, he seemed to think it easier to instead simply make the warehouse a little less uninviting - a suggestion which, given its state, wasn't exactly an unappealing one. On the other hand, Kotori wondered just how one might get the furniture into the warehouse without attracting any undue attention - but before she got to that, Ryan added that a café might instead serve as a meeting point just as well; leaving the warehouse to simply serve as their staging grounds.

Whilst Katsuro remained silent on the matter - unsurprising, given that he had likely yet to see said warehouse in the first place - Rui seemed to think the matter over before speaking up; mentioning that he could let Kaminari, who probably would know more on any legalities and the like, check the matter. As he reminded them that they had both ample space and the time to use it, Kotori briefly thought on what they might do to make the place a little friendlier - perhaps a touch of green might be nice, but given that they weren't exactly visiting the warehouse too often she was apprehensive to suggest that she bring some flowers to liven the place up if she couldn't also make sure that they'd be treated right.

Either way though, Rui went on to mull over the interim solution of relocation their meetings to a café initially - but though she quite liked the atmosphere, seeing as it reminded her of a library, she couldn't help but feel that that very quality would disqualify it as a suitable location. Given that they'd likely be wanting to discuss matters regarding the mirror realm, they'd undoubtedly be disturbing the other guests - and there was also the matter that they might not want to be overheard discussing abandoned buildings, kidnappings and strange other worlds.

But before Kotori could start thinking of another place, Rui already mentioned the cosplay café. "Eh? Star Drop Café?" Kotori remembered visiting the place, found not far outside the mall, about two weeks ago - though at the time, she hadn't paid much heed to it as she'd been far more preoccupied with seeking advice from Rui on what to do to somehow help with the yet-unresolved rift between Matthew and Shizuka, her two fellow Agriculture Members. Surprise made way for a more sombre expression over Kotori's face at that thought - even as she tried to put it aside for the moment, seeing as there was still the matter at hand.

As she thought about it, it did seem like a suitable choice - given the at times a little odd choices in cosplays that the café hosted, or so they might appear to someone who only caught glances thereof in passing, the investigation team's choice of topics would perhaps not seem too far out of place. Furthermore, she couldn't deny the convenience for herself, seeing as it lay both on her way home from school and wasn't too far from either - and reaching the warehouse from there would only take a few minutes as well.

All told, it seemed like a solid chocie - as long as she told herself to ignore the fact that she'd undoubtedly feel embarrassed at entering the café again. Preferring quieter places, she wasn't exactly the prime clientele thereof - but between knowing that she'd not have visit alone and that only the staff was doing the cosplaying, she resolved to bear with it. "Uhm... that, ah, might work...?" she said, quickly glancing between the others at the table even as her voice trailed off towards the end.

Persona - The True Self

Kotori Shirohane - Ferrero Mall: Yoshida Book Café | After School

Sat at the table and her eyes firmly focused on the book in her hands, Kotori only noticed in passing that Ryan addressed Rui in a hushed tone or that, moments later, Katsuro returned with a book of his own. Had she looked up, she might have noticed that Ryan was glancing in the other boy's direction as he posed his question or that Katsuro wore a slightly confused expression on his face after being spoken to by another fellow student - but such details were lost on her; her attention entirely given to reading - to the point of not even noticing that her own face betrayed her thoughts occasionally as she did so, giving rise to brief bouts of worry or wonder as her eyes darted over the pages. Judging by the rapidity of the changes in expression, it looked like she'd just gotten to a point where the story was getting particularly interesting.

Katsuro's trailing voice found little heed when he didn't follow it up with anything else in particular, leaving the table in silence - at least until Rui returned with drinks for everyone. "Ah, thank you," Kotori said absent-mindedly, almost mumbling the words when the fact that she hadn't actually asked for anything escaped her mind - at least until, a few seconds after the fact, the movement of her eyes stopped mid-sentence for a brief moment. She blinked in brief confusion before glancing up at the glass before her: "Eh?" she went, needing a moment to realise that despite having thought she'd managed to avoid bothering him with an order, Rui had still gotten her a glass as well. Immediately, her guilty conscience resurfaced - and stronger than before, considering that she'd previously thought she'd successfully gotten around being a bother.

Rather than make things more embarrassing than they already were, Kotori quickly held up the book in her hands; partly covering her face as she did and trying to find where she'd just left off a moment ago. However, just as she was about to continue reading, Rui spoke up once more. Kotori's eyes glanced up from the pages and at the boy as he mentioned the meeting place - and that the warehouse they were using until now wasn't exactly the most inviting choice in locations. It was hard to refute that - though in Kotori's mind, she first thought he meant another place to both store both the collection of armaments and the large mirror that served as their entrance to the mirror realm. As such, she had a hard time coming up with a place that would be be more convenient - though after a few moments of imagining a dozen students excusing themselves to the restrooms of a restaurant to slip into the mirrors there, she realised that Rui probably meant something more along the lines of a meeting place to discuss their findings.

Luckily though, she'd managed to avoid embarrassing herself with such misconceptions by simply staying silent as she thought on it, unconsciously adjusting her glasses that had begun to slip while she'd been looking down at her book. She waited for a few moments to see if anyone else broke the silence following Rui's question before she spoke up. "Uhm... a ca-café? Of sorts...? Or..." Kotori's voice trailed off as she glanced between the others; hoping that they might have a more concrete or suitable location in mind.

Persona - The True Self

Kotori Shirohane - Ferrero Mall: Yoshida Book Café | After School

Glancing between the others, Ryan was the first to speak up in answering Rui's question; declaring his tastes in books to lie in science fiction and manga before heading off to just those sections. Katsuro, meanwhile, seemed a little more embarrassed as he pointed over toward a similar set of book shelves as Ryan and then walking over. Rui, on the other hand, sounded curious about their respective choices, though evidently not enough to delve for further details. Kotori was quick to avoid his eyes when he looked between those that had answered him - only to almost jump when Ryan suddenly spoke up about enjoying a good mystery novel as well; though evidently not quite enough to not correct his initial enthused exclamation to a slightly more impartial one.

Rui, seemingly intrigued by all this mystery talk, seemed to decide that that was going to be his choice today as he picked up a manga before gesturing towards one of the empty tables and designating it as a meet-up place once everyone had made their choices in turn. Kotori gave a quick nod in agreement as everyone had split up already in search of an interesting book or already heading over to get started on one. Thus left to her devices, she turned her bespectacled gaze to the book shelves before her - the mystery section thankfully being quite close, even if the romance novels received a brief look - and looked over the various titles on display. She made a quick mental list as she went over them, ticking off one after another for a multitude of reasons - she'd already read that one, didn't like the sound of that title or had found that author's writing style not to her particular liking - as she unconsciously brought a finger to her lips, gently tapping against them in thought.

After selecting a few titles for a closer inspection and finally settling on one which she recognised neither title nor author of but which promised to be intriguing if a quick inspection was anything to go by. Before heading back to the table, Kotori quickly checked her phone - both to ensure that it was muted so as to not disturb anyone in the admittedly rather unlikely event of anyone trying to contact her and to see that her mother had replied with a simple OK to her previous message about being home a little later that she'd sent on the way to the café. With all pending matters thusly settled, she glanced about the café to see where the others were - and noticing that there were several other students from Warakuma High School about, though none of whom she recognised for more than their uniform.

Still, there was a small trace of a smile on Kotori's face as she looked down at the book in her hands - the prospect of a good story usually had that effect. Taking a seat at the table where Rui had already found himself a space, Kotori wasted no time and quickly turned the first few pages to get to the beginning of the story. She only noticed the others presences in passing if and when they took a seat as well - or spoke up, as she only realised after a few belated seconds. "Huh?" she went when she realised that Rui had asked a question and having to take a moment to piece together she words she'd heard back into a full sentence in her mind.

"Oh, I-" Kotori started - but then remembered that the last time someone had asked her a similar question, they'd gone ahead and gotten something for her despite her protests and subsequent guilty conscience. As such, she was wary of abusing any such kindness or inconveniencing someone else and thus gave a quick shake of her head mid-sentence: "Ah, I-I mean, I'm fine for the moment. I'll... uhm, get something later." Even though Kotori's tone wasn't exactly the most convincing, she nonetheless felt a small yet still inordinate sense of pride at having managed to avoid any awkwardness so successfully for the second time today - though it didn't last very long before her mind's focus was entirely engrossed in the book before her.

Persona - The True Self

Kotori Shirohane - Ferrero Mall: Yoshida Book Café | After School

With everyone in agreement, the small group's destination was decided - and Kotori couldn't help but feel a little excited at the prospect of visiting the book café without having to show up alone and undoubtedly draw some curious attention. Furthermore, the larger the group, the more likely it was that the others would focus on each other - in fact, given that she wasn't exactly the best candidate for holding a conversation more than a few words in length, she remained quiet for most of the way to the mall; only really answering if anyone directed a question at her but otherwise listening to whatever the others might be saying. Given that most everyone had come to school to see the results as soon as they were posted and thus were now free to do what they willed on their first day of summer break, there was quite a large number of other students out and about - often in groups as well, heading to wherever had caught their fancy.

Arriving at the mall, it was quite clear that they weren't the only students here too - most everywhere Kotori looked, she could see at least one or two fellow uniform-clad people. As she looked about, she noticed that there was an undeniable aggregation of high schoolers - mostly from Warakuma High School, though she did spot a few Shoujin Private High uniform here and there - in and around the clothing shops of which there were quite a few in the mall; likely looking for some more summery clothes now that they'd be getting enough opportunities to wear them. Seeing that, Kotori made a mental note for herself - whilst she wasn't in dire need of anything in particular, the summer season starting in full most likely meant that anything that hadn't sold well in spring would likely be on sale and a decent bargain.

As the small group arrived at Yoshida's, Kotori could that it too was popular among her peers - but the sight of the full shelves toward the back of the café did bring a small smile to her face for a brief while. Stepping over the threshold and entering the establishment proper, she gave a small bow in greeting toward the staff at the counter before glancing about the patrons already present. Most of them were sat at the tables and engrossed in the book of their choice, though some had come in pairs or more and were chatting with one another - though it was an unusual mix of atmospheres between a quiet library or bookstore and a lively café, it wasn't an unpleasant one, Kotori thought.

She was abruptly brought out of her reverie when Rui spoke up, addressing none of the three present in particular as he asked them their book preferences. "Huh? Oh, mystery a-ah, uhm, m-mostly..." Kotori said, with what almost might have passed for enthusiasm if it weren't for the usual quietness of her voice - at least until she seemed to stumble over her own words and trailed off. Whilst it was true that she did enjoy the excitement that mystery novels promised, she was also quiet partial to romance novels - but after a quick glance about, she realised that that probably wasn't going to be very interesting for the three boys and thus made her best attempt at not bringing it up even though she'd almost let it slip; silently congratulating herself on her quick thinking at avoiding any embarassment or awkwardness.

Though she did glance between the others, a slight curiosity as to their tastes in books not completely deniable, Kotori's gaze was almost inexorably drawn to the book shelves; her bespectacled eyes passing over the helpful signs that signified which genre any given section corresponded to. As it turned out, she was in luck when she found both sections she was looking for - but though her curiosity as to the selection of mystery novels was most definitely piqued, she hesitated to head over immediately for want of rudely dismissing the others' answers as to their taste in books.

Persona - The True Self

Kotori Shirohane - Warakuma High School | After School

Just as Kotori began hoping that perhaps Katsuro might take her up on the idea that Rui would know better how to teach him how to learn, yet another familiar voice spoke up, calling her by name. "Eh?" was Kotori's immediate response, and not for the first time today. Having been rather more focused on the school floor - which, she incidentally discovered, actually had a regularly repeating, if subtle, pattern to it - Kotori hadn't noticed Ryan approaching and was somewhat taken aback at both his unexpected appearance and question; mostly missing the slight uncertainty in his voice due to her own. "Huh? M-me? Ah, uhm... I-I'm fine, A-Alon-san..." she quietly said in response to Ryan's questions - even if neither her awkward tone of voice didn't exactly lend that statement very much credence.

Still, she was quite thankful for the fact that with more people around, there'd be focus on her - however, this seemed to have quite the opposite effect on Katsuro whose confidence from just a few moments ago vanished into nothingness as he stumbled over his words. He seemed rather distracted as he half-heartedly agreed with Ryan - only to apologise for his previous curiosity. "Ah, n-no, no, it's not, uhm, a bother... Kotori quickly said, shaking her head for emphasis - and feeling her guilty conscience creep back up for having seemingly caused his now apparent discomfort by denying his request so harshly. Concern coloured her features when he momentarily winced as he absent-mindedly drew his fingers over the side of his face covered by his hair - but even as he recovered immediately, Kotori did feel a measure of sympathy for the scarred boy who didn't have the luxury of being able to easily hide his scars.

"Eh?" Another apology caught Kotori by surprise - enough to not even notice Katsuro getting her name not quite right - though she quickly recovered and shook her head. "Ah, no, i-it's fine," she said, even if one would have to be both blind and deaf to not notice that that statement was a bit of a stretch. As he then proceeded to ask some questions - such as where they, if they were friends, happened to go after school. Kotori, however, was rather more busy staring at the ground, a red tinge undeniable on her face - though it was embarrassing to admit, even to herself in her own thoughts, being thought of as friends did have a nice kind of sound to it for the rather hesitant girl.

Luckily though, her embarrassment passed quickly enough for no one to notice, she hoped, before Rui took to answering Katsuro's questions - and in turn reminding her that, besides coming to school to check her results, she did not have any plans yet. When Rui then mentioned the Yoshida book café, Kotori's curiosity was quickly piqued - she'd walked past it a several times already, but never actually gone inside; never quite feeling comfortable with going there alone - after all, a café sounded like a rather trendy place which she had no illusions of being a word anyone would use to describe her. She still remembered her last visit to one when Leiko had practically dragged her to the her friend, Saya's, family business and how she'd felt a little out of place.

Still, the fact that Yoshida's was also a library of sorts did have a certain undeniable appeal to the bookish Kotori. "Ah, I heard that too," she quickly agreed when Rui mentioned their selection of books - only to fumble over her words when she realised that she might have interjected someone else. "Uhm, th-that sounds n-nice. I-I mean... i-if a-anyone else wants to... uhm..." her voice grew quieter before finally trailing off while her hands were once more preoccupied with her skirt - though Rui had put it forth as a suggestion, it might sound a little presumptuous of her to think that anyone else might be interested in going; leaving Kotori to hope that she didn't step on anyone's toes - and to adjust her glasses that were starting to slip downwards from how much she was averting her eyes throughout the whole conversation in her embarrassment..

Persona - The True Self

Kotori Shirohane - Warakuma High School | After School

Following her words, a brief silence fell between the two students - though the same could not be said for everyone around them as such a large number of people in one spot inevitably made for a lot of noise. Still, when Katsuro didn't reply immediately, Kotori began to faintly hope that he finally realised that there really wasn't anything she could do to help him - but that hope vanished just a moment later when he spoke up again; albeit only to excuse himself for a moment. "Eh?" Kotori went, bringing her eyes briefly up from the ground to blink in confusion - focused as she was on her own troubles, she hadn't quite caught the slight shift in tone and was left to wonder exactly what he was doing as he slowly looked around. It was only when the first few of the previously whispering students slowly backed away or started moving that she realised that he wasn't looking for someone but instead seemed to glaring at them, if only with one uncovered eye given his asymmetrical hairstyle.

Kotori couldn't help but feel a slight bit nervous when his focus turned back to her - and the relief at hearing him finally agree that there was nothing for her to do easily outweighed the cold hint in his voice as he stopped practically waving the money around in front of her. But just as she was about to silently sigh - not having noticed that she'd been holding her breath quite a few times - Katsuro spoke up yet again; this time though asking to instead accompany her and to continue talks on the topic as he did and leaving Kotori rather conflicted. On one hand, she was only too glad to get away from the school after what felt like every single student having witnessed the embarassing scene first hand and he even seemed to have given up on the whole tutoring idea - yet he still seemed quite persistent on somehow trying to get something out of her that she didn't know how to give.

In her discomfort, Kotori was more than a little thankful when a familiar voice made itself heard. "Eh?" she went once again as she looked over to see Rui coming closer, praising their test results and questioning the need for any improvements. Though she couldn't quite suppress further embarassment at the words, she was still glad that he was here - as she would have been for anything which might somehow get everyone's attention focused on anything but herself, even as she gave a small bow in greeting. "Ah, th-thank you, Shinichi-san," she said - though she couldn't help but add "Keeping up studies is important, even during breaks. A-at least, I think..." Her voice trailed off toward the end as she realised, a moment too late, that his had been a rhetorical question.

Still, with Rui's timely arrival, she had yet to answer Katsuro's question - which just left her back in the most unfortunate situation of wishing to decline yet having no way to do so without being rude when all he did was ask nicely. That is, until she realised that perhaps there was no need to: "Ah, uhm, m-maybe Sh-Shinichi-san might know a... better way? I-I mean, there's really nothing special about m-me, so... Her quiet voice had an almost apologetic tone to it as, once more, her gaze was fixed firmly on the ground and her fingers were playing along her skirt's hem; her guilty conscience returning almost immediately in full effect when she realised that it was sounding rather much like she was trying to just push Katsuro's problem onto Rui just because she didn't know what to do about it.

Persona - The True Self

Kotori Shirohane - Warakuma High School | After School

Kotori was still trying to find the right words to somehow convince her classmate that she was the wrong person to put his request forth to - until he spoke up again, more quietly this time. She felt no small measure of relief when he seemed to understand and thus withdraw his question - though she couldn't quite help but feel her guilty conscience creep into her thoughts at not helping someone who was asking something of her. Still, she did prefer this outcome, even if it unfortunately meant that she had to decline her probably dejected classmate's request, as it at least meant that they wouldn't be continuing to undoubtedly draw any more attention to themselves.

Yet just as Kotori was about to thank Katsuro for his understanding and apologise for not being able to help, the boy spoke up once more - with a cheer to his voice that was quite the turn from his previous brief muttering. As it turned out, he hadn't understood what she was trying to say at all - though Kotori couldn't really blame him, considering her attempt at conveying her point hadn't exactly been a shining example of conviction - and instead seemed to be redoubling his effort to get her to somehow teach him when she had no idea how to do so; even going so far as to increase the amount of money he was offering - which only served to further Kotori's embarassment as she was fairly certain, though she daredn't lift her gaze to confirm, that at this point, half the school was either throwing them strange looks or whispering among themselves about the whole scene.

She felt a small pang of guilt when he added a final please to his words - even if his methods seemed a little odd, he still seemed to genuinely want to better himself and was asking her to help him. "N-no, I-, uhm, it's..." she tried, her voice even quieter than usual - only to realise that rather than denying his request, it sounded more like she was answering his question of whether his price was enough. "Ah, ehm, I-I mean i-it's not about that," she quickly added, shaking her head as she did, "A-all I do is, uhm, in class I-I take notes a-and review things at home, s-so, uhm, t-there's really nothing special..." Kotori's ever-growing embarassment and discomfort, which was not exactly hard to see at this point, did not help either the volume of her voice nor the smoothness of her speech in the slightest - in fact, at this point she was already starting to glance around to see if there was perhaps someone else around who might be able to help Katsuro in a way that didn't require her presence or, failing that, just how far exactly they were from the main entrance.

Persona - The True Self

Kotori Shirohane - Warakuma High School | After School

Between the fact that most students were trying to get to the noticeboard and thus had their backs turned and that those returning seemed far more interested in talking with their friends or else just heading straight out, Kotori didn't immediately see anyone she recognised before she turned to leave. As she did, a voice called out in her direction, causing her to glance back to see that the assumption she'd just made turned out to be wrong when she saw that the person calling was in fact a classmate and recent kidnappee in the form of Katsuro. Seeing as they'd not spoken very much either before or after said kidnapping, Kotori assumed that he was calling out to one of the other students around him and started to turn back around - at least she noticed that he was both heading towards her and looking straight at her.

"Eh?" she went, blinking in surprise as he reached her in short time given his rather brisk pace. As it turned out, she really was the one being called out to as he then spoke up, introducing himself formally and then asking if he could pose a question. Unsure of what exactly he was going to say, Kotori just gave a small nod; the quizzical look upon her face easily giving away her confusion. This confusion immediately turned into embarassment when he mentioned the test results - enough that she barely noticed the calm of his voice and face becoming a little strained.

"Ah, n-no, I..." she weakly started when he mentioend her study methods - but before she could respond that all she did was take notes during school and study at home, he already went on to pull out his wallet to Kotori's further confusion before he explained himself whilst thumbing through a substantially larger number of notes than would be expected of an average highschooler.

Kotori's immediate reaction, besides giving a rather confused look from behind her glasses was a moment of silence followed by another "Eh?" It was a rather strange situation after all - whilst she'd grown somewhat used to requests for studying help, it was the first time someone had offered to pay for them - which was not exactly helped by the fact that they were standing near the main entrance, Katsuro holding out a small stack of notes in her direction much to the murmurs of other passing students; leading Kotori to realise how many eyes were on her.

"N-no, I-, uhm, that is..." she started, quickly waving her hands in front of her to try and deny the request; embarassment evident both in her voice and face. "I-it's not anything special, really, s-so..." she said, trying to find a way to explain. All the while, she kept her eyes firmly locked on the ground before her in an attempt not to notice the other students passing by whilst her unconscious habit of playing with the hem of her skirts made itself known once more.

"I... I don't really know how to... uhm, teach someone, so..." she said, her voice trailing off towards the end - and wishing very dearly that she could be just about anywhere but here at this very moment.

Persona - The True Self

Kotori Shirohane - Warakuma High School | Monday, July 20 2015 - After School

With both the finals and the last real school day already in the past, there was really only one reason for every student to be at the school - which was also why there was a rather large gathering just beyond the main entrance, centered around the noticeboard. Kotori could already see the crowd before she entered the building - and the prospect of having to navigate it just to see the results of the finals didn't exactly appeal too much, causing her to slow her pace. Even before this, she hadn't been looking forward to this day - with the constant distractions, worries and mirror world excursions courtesy of the Junsei Sekai Tensei, Kotori hadn't felt too confident going into the exams. Besides that, she was somewhat torn between wanting to somehow keep up the results form the mid-terms yet also not drawing as much attention as she'd done - which, all told, had left her somewhat nervous throughout the exam period and thus now even more worried that she may have made some avoidable mistakes.

Reaching the main entrance and stepping inside, Kotori suppressed a yawn before rubbing her eyes behind her glasses - the uncertainties hadn't allowed for very good sleep. Still, she was here now and with good reason - even if that meant trying to somehow make her way through the constantly moving sea of fellow students all with the same goal in mind. It took more than a few minutes and several more whispered "Excuse me" and "Sorry" before she somehow managed to make it all the way to the front. On the way, the students she passed seemed to be in quite a wide range of states - whilst some seemed quite proud of their achievements, most seemed to just be happy to have passed; quite unlike those few whose dejected faces immediately let anyone know that they were bound for remedial classes - a fate that Kotori very much hoped to avoid.

Once at the board, Kotori quickly looked over the list to locate the second year rankings and scanned it for her name - this time starting at the passing grades and slowly working her way up. As she worked her way up, she grew ever more nervous as her own name didn't show up - but just as she was starting to fear that she would have to find herself in the failing section, it turned out that quite the opposite was the case. The surprise at finding herself at 99 points was quite plain to see as Kotori blinked several times just to make sure that she was seeing right - but when nothing changed even after re-adjusting her glasses, a sigh of relief finally came over her lips as she made her way back out of the crowd.

Though she did feel a little guilty for scoring lower than during the mid-terms, Kotori was mostly just relieved to see that not only had she passed but also that she could finally lay to rest all the concerns about her studies throughout the year. It was only when she stepped out of the crowd that she realised that in her search she had neglected to see how either any of her classmates or the other members of the investigation team had done, much to her immediate guilty conscience. However, glancing back at the ever-present crowd, Kotori decided against trying to make her way through it a second time and instead headed for the main entrance to get some fresh air before deciding what to do with the rest of the day; though she did spare a glance over the crowd to see if she might recognise a familiar face therein - though that was a tall order considering the sheer size thereof.