#kaoru.

A normal person might have looked upon their first day at Hope's Peak with excitement. As the first group of teenagers accepted into the prestigious school, the group of them were navigating uncharted territory. It followed, therefore, that the wise thing to do would be to make friends with one's peers, seeing as how they were the only other people who had ever been in that situation.

But MAESTRO didn't claim to be wise, nor normal, and at present, he was searching for a place to take a nap. The most obvious answer, of course, was to head up to his dorm, but, well, that took effort, and he was nothing if not notoriously lazy.

With all the speed of a groggy sloth, MAESTRO strolled around the first floor of Hope’s Peak Tower, purposely avoiding any area that seemed to be rich with people. Obviously, that meant that the cafeteria was definitely out (at least, until the crowds had thinned), as was the swimming pool (because water and electricity was a poor mix).

Finally, he reached his destination; the nurse’s office. Quiet, out of the way, and - at least, for the time being - deserted, it was the perfect place to lay low. Plus, there was a giant bowl of M&M’s. Score. After dragging the bowl of M&M’s over to the closest bed, he settled in for a nap, only to be interrupted by the sound of someone else entering the room. Slowly, he sat up, fixing the other boy with the most disinterested stare in his repertoire.

“...You know, there are other places you could be. Like outside, or burning in the fiery pits of hell. Which is metaphorically what I’m doing, now that you’re-”

He paused, furrowing his brows together. His stare, while already cold, seemed to intensify as he gazed upon the blonde.

(Why did it feel like he had seen that stupid getup before?)

“...here. Now that you’re here.”

me when I'm normal

There were few times where Akinori made outbursts of frustration. Quite often, it was usually others around him who were bound to blow up, while Akinori would be the one to calm them down (if they weren't strangers.) Today had been an exception. Technology had seemed so easy, especially since the others had little to no struggle with it. Unfortunately, Akinori came from an old fashioned area, the only techie thing he ever used was the television, soda machines, the lights, his kitchen, and hot water.

Getting taken to a city filled to the brim with technology was jarring, to say the least. From sliding doors physically to automatic sliding doors, from quiet nights to bustling noise everywhere, he could go on about how different everything was. But he wasn't about to complain, sure, it was different, but in all honesty it looked cool to Akinori. From basic things like animated billboards to crane machines in Akihabara, all impressed him.

That didn't mean technology liked him back though.

So back to what was mentioned before, Akinori rarely ever let his rage show completely. Maybe a passive aggressive jab if they’re really pissing off him off, but never anything too dramatic.

Except apparently, technology pushed him past his usual lax behavior.

And now here he was, attempting to work his watch, only to get severely frustrated. Nobody usually visited the classrooms here from what he could tell (after all who's focused on learning when there's a blond woman in pajamas holding you all captive in a killing game) and Akinori took that opportunity to yell as much as he pleased.

His current speech was starting to border on a yell. “‘Where's the buttons for this stupid watch,’ Akinori simply wanted to pull up the map function. He wasn't sure how in god’s name he managed to pull up the chat function. He remembers he wasn't looking and he touched something that caused it to turn work. But right now…”  He hissed, as his attempt to pry open the watch was nowhere near successful. His fingers were turning red, and the watch left a few marks back, but he wasn't bleeding thankfully.

“”Stupid watch,’ Akinori mutters under his breath.” Akinori groaned and slammed his fist on the desk, causing a loud ‘SLAM' to echo in the room. As much as he wanted strangle an inanimate object about now, he knew that’d be about impossible.

The execution passes without any fanfare, and in the days that follow, MAESTRO falls back into his ordinary routine. He’s eager to pack up his things and move out of the room he was drugged in, and although he enjoyed the peace and quiet of the hotel, he’s also grown used to having ASCII as a roommate. If nothing else, he finds her easy to tune out, and immediately goes back to his antisocial ways.

It isn’t, of course, that Masato’s death had any effect on him (it didn’t), it’s that he doesn’t like drama, and everyone seems to be an ample source of it nowadays. He might have attempted to see how long he could last without human contact, had his watch not suddenly alerted him to a message.

>kaoru: hey what do you say we go throw some rocks at the zombies in the nearest park

On one hand, MAESTRO doesn’t think this sounds like the best idea. Kaoru isn’t someone he particularly wants to be alone with, given how their last exchange ended, and the activity itself isn’t even something he’s swayed by. On the other...he still likes him, more or less. So, after taking far too long, given the simplicity of his response, MAESTRO shoots a message back.

>MAESTRO: ok

Roughly ten minutes pass before he arrives at the designated meeting place, looking just as unimpressed as usual. It’s only when they’re together that he realizes he doesn’t know what, exactly, to say, so he leads with a good old standby.

“...Hey.”