SMALL TOWN BLUES (Open!)

Morning. It came in one of the most unpleasant of ways for Mikogami, Inari. She had been prepped since last night to wake up late, rush out of the empty room of her and her brother's home; all while nomming on a piece of bread like that cliched 'first day school girl'. Of course her brother, being the ass that he was; had tripled the alarm clocks without her knowing. Plus, he decided calling her repeatedly ten minutes before the first alarm rang off was a good idea. It was safe to say that Inari was not happy.

So like some A-grade student, the girl had gotten out of bed after telling her brother to 'shut up' about twenty-three times. Those last three he actually spam texted her a whole bunch of annoying stuff that was completely irrelevant to the chains of life. Minus the doughnut picture. That one actually looked good. It influenced her to eat a box of strawberry pokki instead of something healthy for breakfast. 'Ha! Take that Nii-san. Not even you can stop the power of the morning sugar-rush!' The girl huffed, the voice in her head relatively sarcastic as well as annoyed. It only took her ten minutes after that to get ready, throwing on her favorite thin blue sweater over her uniform.

As much as Inari would have liked to stay at home, lounge around; and watch TV until the very last second - her brother once again interfered. How? He hid the TV! "What kind of freak does that!?" Inari had growled before giving up by reading the morning paper. Unfortunately it was just too boring to keep down so she just left early for school. Having already walked the path there a year before (it would have been two if she hadn't been held a grade back in middle school), the trip was long and tedious and frightfully, uneventfully boring. But then the usual peaceful days of mankind were like that, or at the very least; they held the illusion.

Having kept a slow pace the entire way, Inari found herself within the crowd of new and returning students. Between all the chattering, the excited energy, and the bookworms preparing to sprint into their A+ actions; finding the circle of quietly gossiping students wasn't anything new. Normally Inari would have just ignored them and continued on, however; the way they were so quiet and the vast number of them that were so quiet was a little disturbing. Casually she slowed into a stop by the group, more or less eavesdropping while her eyes strayed toward the petals littering the sky.

>>Choice: A - Peer over the group and see what they're chatting about.<<

To be honest, Inari expected something on the notes of fashion or maybe some false yet juicy gossip about dating relationship; considering the crowd. All of them were girls, teenaged girls at that. Whether they were freshmen or older was yet to be confirmed, though one could assume it was a mixture of all. But their topic was an expected but unexpected one. The TV show.

Anyone who had lived in Inaba heard about it one way or another, though Inari herself hadn't been here during the time of the event. Still it was enough to draw the girl's full attention. Her multi-colored eyes would bounce from one speaker to the next. Two girls in particular chirped the tale, one more fearful than the other. 'Disappearance, Satori girl, missing, urban legend, ran away, no trace, mystery...'


A few words stuck out more than usual in the pale haired girl's mind. By the sound of it some girl named Satori either ran away or disappeared without anyone noticing a thing, much like how that urban legend would describe. Going by the description it seemed the police were on it. No surprise there, any sane parent or parents wouldn't be able to sit still when their child went missing. Not unless it was a frequent thing and, as unfortunate as it was; Inari didn't know enough about this Satori girl to make an assumption on that.

There was a moment's hesitation as the girl contemplated on gathering more information. Quite frankly, the whole ordeal was none of her business, and she could always ask her bro if he knew anything about it; but then if she did that she'd need to wait for school to end. That was just misery waiting to happen. So the girl gave out and opted for gathering more intel here, if only for something to keep her brain awake later.

"Hm..?" The girl hummed, drawing in close to the entire group but still keeping her voice low enough to make it seem like a normal get-together. "That sounds like some pretty juicy stuff you guys are talking about. Almost like some phantom theft but with a person instead of a treasure." She made a motion with her hands, wiggling her fingers around like a magician before an act. "Can I hear more?" A simple smile appeared over what looked to be a completely innocent face.

Ah. How typical, an expected outcome. Well it could only turn out one of three ways really, if one narrowed it down to the broad prospects. Still it was sort of funny to see how fast these gossiping 'group' of friends shut up real fast. An enclosed group, picky with who they shared their 'juicy gossip' with. Something that was seen in schools on a regular basis, no matter the grade. Still it was fairly disappointing to not jump into this sharing group.

Or at least, that's what Inari would have thought.

Aside from the obvious stares and murmurs from the passing crowd, one of the girls managed to pipe up. The one that seemed more like a chipmunk among the group. The way her face turned red made Inari raise an eyebrow in curiosity. Then she spoke up, clearing her voice before she could gather up what was probably courage (or maybe she was swallowing down her shame?) before looking to the one who busted her way into their conversation.

'Rumors' she said. Well those were certainly something among those lines. Inari's smile remained as the girl, who now introduced herself as one Makoto Haruki; offered to share more with her. Nice! Apparently shy kids were the new jackpot for this stuff. The pale haired girl waited, watching two other girls whisper something before the group's timely disperse. "Guess that wasn't unexpected." she voiced aloud, eyes flicking to the retreating figures before turning back onto the girl.

She apologized for that too for some reason. Her explanation of her 'friends' tactics weren't lost on the second-year before her. "I don't think that one was quite your fault. I was the one who barged in after all." Something akin to an 'evil' smile flashed across her face before innocence took its place again, "But I'm definitely interested in that lunch date."

The bell chimed through the area. While Makoto was eager to not be late, Inari was more preoccupied with grabbing something from her bag. There was the sound of something tearing as Inari fast-walked toward the building, a pencil appearing from the pouch pocket of her jacket; and in one quick motion she wrote something down and offered it to the girl.

"In case you can't get away or want to meet up somewhere." On the ripped piece of parchment was a phone number, the back showed a torn doodle of something swirly. "By the way I'm Inari. Mikogami, Inari; a second year. Hopefully our classes will be close by."

Thankfully, the shy girl accepted the parchment holding her information. It was no doubt that it was probably strange to hand out your number to a stranger but what people kept forgetting these days was the ability to BLOCK a number in case of spam or harassment. Hopefully Makoto wasn't a wolf in sheep's clothing but honestly, Inari just didn't care. Worse case scenario she could always just get a new phone. Her bro would do that in a heart beat if she said she lost or broke it. The advantages of having a brother-parent who worked nearly day and night.

The girl waved the other goodbye as she raced to her classroom, Inari slowing her pace once she no longer had company. There was no need for her to rush. Not to mention the names for each of the classes was right where everyone would be huddling to see, what was the point in trying to wrestle against all that? The unfortunate outcome for someone as short as her. But it didn't take her long at all to get into the hallway, find her class, and notice Makoto once more running off toward what was no doubt her class.

"Class 1-1. That's convenient." The girl said aloud, shoving a hand into her pocket while her other shoulder kept the perch for the simple bag she held in her other hand.

Being literally right there and being threatened by the herd of kids who were rushing to get to their classrooms, Inari stuck close to the walls until she made it into her classroom. Inside students were already seated or finding seats. There was no sign of a paper telling designated seats. Not yet anyway. But that was a relief. All the window seats were already taken so Inari found herself a desk closest to the hall, second from the back. After that she just needed to sit there and wait for this Mr. Kameshiro. Wait, no... Kame? It was Kane wasn't it? Eh, he'll say his name when get there. Hopefully.

Everything seemed fine so far. Minus the obvious stares in her direction. Inari paid them no mind however, instead she leaned back in her chair; intending to relax. That ended very quickly with a voice that sounded like it wanted to murder her with just syllables. Her multi-colored eyes were on the imposing teacher instantly, a blank look on her face as he proceeded to repri-... forgive her? Well that was anti-dramatic. Still the girl figured it would be best not to antagonize him and merely gave an apologetic nod.

After that her eyes wandered from him and his 'I hate the world' glasses to the board. Only his name was up there... in the most rigid yet proper spelling she'd ever seen. To be honest her own writing was similar to that of bubbles so it wasn't like she could say anything about it.

He continued on, or rather; it seemed he was repeating himself. Either way the girl listened in absentmindedly, propping her head up as he did his introductions. Kaneshiro, just like the board said. It would have been better if he was 'Kame'shiro. That would've made him sound like an old man. Or at least balding. But no, the only thing she would get would be an internal shiver at the mention of such high leveled math classes. Honestly the girl's best subjects were in science and history, math was more of a middle skill so it was a wonder where she would end up with all that.

If it weren't for the evilness that lingered in those glasses, Inari would have given him a face when he demanded two times the amount of respect he made toward them. It was a good thing he didn't chew off an ear or else she might've flung peace right out the window. But the girl was at peace with the world, pulling out a blank notebook from her bag and a mechanical pencil from her pouch pocket. There was definitely a sigh of relief in the atmosphere, anyone could notice that. Not to mention when she went for her paper she could see the relieved faces of her neighbors. The teach must've blown their heads off before she got in or something. Or he was a demon in human skin. Either way, Inari didn't particularly care.

It was best not to make a big deal out of something she had yet to hear or see. Not yet anyway.

Hm. Yeah. He's creepy. It was official. Not once did Inari ever feel the big man's gaze off her, didn't help that she was fairly certain the other kids kept eyeing her as well. There wasn't a single word the girl could use to describe this situation. Several words? Oh hell yeah but a single, descriptive word? There probably wasn't a word that could describe that freaky sense of being watched combined with the droning of a boring lesson. At least she managed to write down some important parts... sorta. The kitten above one formula was adorable enough with how it attacked a number.

Yet during that class, plus the two other teachers' classes that came through; the pale haired child noticed how not a single person spoke past a few hardly traveling whispers. Certainly no one spoke a word to her, not even a very late greeting or explanation on Mr. Kaneshiro after the math teacher left. Nope. They all just continued to stare at her like some exotic animal from the zoo.

The history class was much easier to remember than the literature class that followed. For some reason the girl was able to memorize the names and events given to her almost immediately after hearing them. Too bad vocabulary didn't run as smoothly... which was odd considering how much she read.

Hours upon hours would lapse by and Inari was sure that she dozed off sometime in there. Thankfully by lunch time her stomach made a wonderful alarm clock. When the lunch bell finally did ring Inari chose to hang back for a bit in her seat, slumping down as she shoved her notes and whatnot into the desk. Another muster of effort lifted her bag onto her lap, one hand rummaging around for her lun-... "Ah crap."

Yup. She forgot her lunch. At least she had her wallet... ah, but she didn't want to pay for leftover bread. What to do, what to do... Oh well, best to get lunch after school. That way she could grab dinner as well. Tossing her bag back onto the hook of her desk, Inari finally got her booty out of the classroom. "Time to find Ms. Shy. I do believe she said she hungout out on the roof." Watch me scare all the groupie girls - that was what she managed not to say aloud.

On her way up to the roof idle thoughts popped into her mind along with the earlier rumors. Some were actually decent, others were mental pictures of drawing a Van Dyke beard on that eyeball-stalker teacher. Before she knew she had already opened the door to the roof, the rush of air in her face told her so. Now to find Makoto... "There's a few people up here aren't there..." One, two - oh! There she was! Completely ignoring any company that she may have had, Inari trotted right up next to the girl. "Hi Miss, I see you survived your first classes." A grin found its way onto her face once more.

While she had completely ignored the fellow who was with her vital source of midday gossip, the fedora was not dismissed as easily. 'This school allows those? Would explain why no one has told me to dye my hair black. Or wear contacts for that matter.' Musing on the thought, she watched as Makoto looked be encouraged by this fellow; the shy girl herself bounding forward with quite a bit more enthusiasm than in the morning. There was an 'understanding' hum that echoed from the girl before she was bombarded with happy greetings from the dark haired lass.

"It's good to see more energetic Makoto-san." Inari cut in right after her eagerness, holding what appeared to be a pleasant smile toward the girl. "Please? I can't get it out of my head now." That was a lie, her head was filled with devious thoughts toward the creepy math teacher.

Quietly she listened to the girl, all of her attention focused to absorb every single detail that was shared. She learned a few more things despite having heard the 'majority' already. Like the missing girl's name: Megumi Satori. A second-year. A year that Inari should have been if she hadn't been held back in middle school. Then the disappearance details. The way Makoto described it however made it sound more like a video game, but then; the past incidents were also like that weren't they?

At the end, Inari had a hand up to her chin in a thoughtful pose. Her multi-colored eyes had drifted toward the ground, avoiding the sunny sky above them. "Like 'last time' huh..." A thoughtful hum left her as she looked back up to Makoto. "Well assuming that this Satori-san left on her own accord I'm sure she would have left evidence of this. A missing bag, clothes and food gone, essentials would have been packed as well... Going by how there hasn't been any rumors about that I'm going to guess she never packed a thing." How odd. No wonder the cops are going nuts over this.

Leaning onto one leg while stretching the other out, her arms still in her 'thinking position'; Inari bounced back forth on her two legs for a good few moments. Maybe she left without packing anything? But why? Even if she had runaway to a friends house, she would still need her wallet at the very least. Ah but she didn't have enough information on what was left at the crime scene.

"Since this is the real world I'm gonna guess she didn't just warp herself out." A thought left her in a sigh, "Away from her weird poof magic... Do you know anything else about Satori-san? Like rumors about her school life or anything like that?" Inari didn't have her hopes up. With Megumi Satori being a second year and Makoto being a first, she doubted the shy girl knew much about her personally. If anything the only things she would know would be what she heard from those other gossiping girls.

>>Choice: A - What more do you know about Megumi?