Shintaro Tanikaze's Story

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Johnny was nearly about to pop in his earbuds to listen to some Rolling Stones. Such an action for calming music was not meant to be, however. “Eh?” the violet-haired girl he observed earlier suddenly asked, “Did you need something?” Johnny knew all of these particular words, but the suddenness took him off-guard. Evidently, she managed to hear him exercise the new knowledge provided by his senior. After all, he was speaking rather low, as his chords were too powerful to whisper.

“What?” Johnny asked, in English, as he turned his head to the shorter girl. He then corrected himself when he realised he was talking to someone who very likely didn’t know his native language. “Wait, shit- I mean, shoot... Damnit.” Johnny put a hand to his forehead as he adjusted his seating. He didn’t know the word for “honorifics”, or whatever the term the Japanese used to describe said honorifics. Since he didn’t know the specific terms, he spent a couple seconds thinking of a work-around with the words he did know. “Very sorry. Heard name, wanted to say correctly,” was the gist of what he managed to say in the new country’s language.

Heh… nailed it… totally… yeah, I probably nailed jack. He fought a grimace at his own ineptitude, hoping like hell that whatever he said made a lick of sense and explained himself properly. During this slightly embarrassing situation, Giou-senpai was called away by that one teacher with the intense eyes. Johnny nodded to his senior before returning his attention to the girl he feels he might have offended… somehow? Was there something against saying names… or against whispering? Or attempted whispering? Sometimes Johnny’s self-consciousness got the better of him, flooding his mind with questions without answers, flooding whatever narratives he could think of, and also these very paragraphs with worthless dreg. Worst of all, it was very unlike him. The Johnny he knew was confident, full of gusto, who didn't let little things keep him down. A new culture seemed to bring such an uncharacteristic behaviour to the front lines for the first time ever... that, and the past... Though his face didn’t twist, a slight flush betrayed any professional demeanour he tried to pose. The girl’s lovely golden eyes certainly didn’t help his attempts to remain professional any.

Regardless of the girl’s reaction, Johnny made sure he apologized once more, before Ryou returned with another girl. With yet one more apology, he wiped a hand over his face to try to wipe away the embarrassment. The foreigner stood from his chair and turned to greet the newcomer. An orange-haired girl with dark, yet vibrant eyes- not nearly as vibrant as his own eyes, (green as healthy leaves) but bright nonetheless. She had a physique similar to his mother’s back in what she described as her “heyday”, if old photos were anything to go by. The general shape of the physique was the only similarity, however. Like Arietta, this new girl was easy on the ey-

… Goddam- Johnny got the feeling his face-wipe didn’t do anything. So many mistakes already mad-

“Hello, Johnny-san, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Vika Saitou, but you can call me Vika, or whatever you’d like. I don’t mind.”

Oh thank god, More importantly than the previous observaions, she spoke English. Johnny’s new worries about meeting yet another person melted away, only to spawn new ones. Did everyone in this school understand English? Johnny wondered, Because that would kind of defeat the purpose of my continued learning of Japanese.

“I don’t know how long I’ll be with the both of you, but I hope we can be friends,” Vika-san added.

Friends. Yeah, Johnny could use friends, especially in a foreign country where he knew no one. Especially useful were friends to help put the past behind him. “Charmed, Vika-san,” Johnny quipped with a bow of his head, “You know my name already, but you can call me Jay for short.”

Over Vika’s shoulder, Johnny spotted another boy approaching. This one seemed to look younger than Johnny or Giou. However, judging by the folder the boy had, this one appeared to be a senior, and a more academic-focused senior at that. The poor guy had skinny arms- as evidenced by his uniform sleeves- which were not stretched tight by any muscle besides the usual thickness around the elbows. The blue-black hair contrasted sharply with Johnny’s natural brown.

When he noticed the boy suddenly decide to keep his distance, Johnny spoke up. He heard the word used before as a greeting, but he wasn’t entirely sure what it meant. “Ohayou,” He also quickly added the explanation that his Japanese speech was pretty much only a month in development… without the specifics. Basically he said his Japanese wasn’t that good.

-

+1 Popularity to Yuuki
+1 Popularity to Vika

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"It's not like I
dislike the presence of others
I simply don't want to
be bothered by them
because I had enough
to worry about without them."

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██The announcement soon commenced. Ryou looked towards the front where Kita-sensei explained the activity to be held with the help of Araya-sensei. There were a few antics from the female teachers, but the instructions were clear for the most part. They were going to have a Balloon Pop. He had never heard of it before, but whatever it might be most of the students were excited about a wish being granted. It was rather ironic as he had done earlier with a sakura petal.

His silver eyes held a ghostly tint of sadness, before it disappeared into nothing as he heard Vika addressing him. The girl was excusing herself while also apologizing as a teacher came over to them. It seemed like there was something very urgent for Vika to take care of. "Don't worry about it. Go on. Later." He spoke in Japanese for this matter as he was again left with just one junior which was Johnny. Ryou looked at the contents of his folder and took out the pens, papers, and balloons. "Here. Write your wish and then we'll look for the Leopards." This time, he didn't revert to English.

He also did his own wish. He wrote it in a piece of paper after making it smaller and then rolling it. He placed it inside the balloon and then began inflating it. The action didn't take long for him. It was even effortless as his balloon was quite huge and it was not in threat of popping. He made sure that it wasn't push to its limits. He then tied the end to make sure the air doesn't get out when he's done, he looked at Johnny. "Are you done?" Still in Japanese, it was his own way of helping his junior to get used to the language. He did notice that Johnny was having a hard time as proven with the girls earlier.

Ryou began to look around if he could spot someone carrying a folder with Leopard. It seemed that would be a bit hard as he suddenly remember Vika's folder. He looked at it and saw the team name Leopard. This was certainly interesting. A team is composed of two, a senior and a junior. Now, the junior had left and the senior is nowhere to be found. He should notify a teacher about this. He looked at Johnny again and noticed that the younger male had greeted someone. His eyes went to that direction and saw a familiar face. If he remembered correctly, that is Shintaro Tanikaze, another senior. They passed by each other, nothing special. Then, there was something in his mind that connected. "Tanikaze-san." He called out to the other senior. When he knew that, he has the guy's attention, he continued. "Are you a Leopard?" He asked, but if not. There was no trouble, he did just ask. Still, it is a problem even if Shintaro was a Leopard. Vika has left which makes them an incomplete team. Would that be fine?

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Once more, attention was pulled en masse towards the podium, where an absurdly well-endowed teacher with long, Rapunzel-like blonde hair spoke with deliberation into the microphone. Though there was a steady pace in her speech, the teacher in question added unusual emphasis to the words she spoke. There were unusual pauses, among other verbal tics that implied that this teacher was very ditzy, light-hearted, and probably daydreaming throughout the speech. Visually, she was a polar opposite to the brunette teacher with the eyes that resembled Johnny’s own at times. She mentioned something about splitting into the teams, but Johnny did now yet know the word for balloons.

He did catch something about writing something onto a slip of paper and slipping said slips into a balloon. The visual aid was (though awkward) well-appreciated. However, he did not learn “wish” yet, so he was entirely out of the loop for what purpose the paper would serve. There was later mention about calling names and body parts, which confused Johnny greatly, considering he lacked all the required context. Even with Ryou speaking in Japanese to help Johnny out, he still didn’t understand the word “wish”. Ryou also handed Johnny a pen, a slip of paper, and a balloon.

Lastly, from the teacher, he did understand the order to form a circle. At that point, Johnny managed to piece together what was happening. His old schools did similar things with pieces of paper and odd activities that were not physically taxing to perform. The pieces of paper were used for… The foreigner tried to remember way back when.

A goal, perhaps? Or… Oh! That word must be something like “goal”, or… “wish”? Johnny pondered what he would write in the paper. There were the obvious ones; success in his studies, achieving his dreams, being the best man he could be, leaving his mark on the world, but all of those sounded like long-term goals, rather than wishes for the present.

With that one limitation, the choice became abundantly clear. Johnny placed the slip of paper onto the back of his hand and wrote down, “I wish to move forward, my way, fearless and with purpose.” He did not know calligraphy, so he wrote his sentence in his native language. His handwriting was well-practiced, and looked quite excellent, despite him standing up and writing with the slip of paper on the back of his hand. It was a small, unintentional display of the dexterity of his hands and fingers. He rolled up the piece of paper and slipped into the mouth of the leaf-green balloon he received.

Ryou left to find the other team, leaving Johnny by himself, besides Yuuki’s response. Yuuki’s response was in English, and sounded very much like how he imagined his attempts to explain his skill with a foreign language came across. However, this girl struck him as academically strong, and was probably doing a better job than he was. He spoke in English at-first out of impulse, and didn’t realise the girl probably didn’t speak English.

Those uncertainties regarding her knowledge of language, of course, were quashed. However, the girl’s response to Johnny’s attempt at an explanation did concern the foreigner greatly. This could be going better, he thought. Johnny pushed the awkwardness out of his mind as he bid farewell to regroup with Ryou for the upcoming activity. First meets had a tendency to be awkward, and it took discipline to put that awkward meet behind him so he could foster a meaningful friendship. He knew this from experience.

Ryou was with the nearby blue-haired boy, who had also responded in kind as Johnny approached in kind. Jesu Christo, Johnny thought, Everyone knows goddamn English here? Am I just wasting my time?

“Yo, you speak English?” the boy asked in a weirdly pronounced English. There was a heavy accent, but the words were at least clear.

“Is the Pope Catholic?” Johnny asked with a grin. Hopefully the joke would take. The Pope is world-renowned, he was certain… sort of…

Regardless of this abundance of English-speakers, Johnny was not about to stop learning the language. However, it did make the nights of the past month spent reading his pocket dictionary seem rather pointless in hindsight. At least this blue-haired one held a similar level with English as Johnny did with Japanese… sort of… There was a question about why no one spoke English, which confused Johnny. Wouldn’t it be the other way around? Wouldn’t the answer be ‘I don’t actually wonder why no one speaks English in Japan- it’s the country where the Japanese language is from.’ He did not make that reply, however, and chalked the confusion up to the other boy’s skill in the foreigner’s own language.

Johnny switched to English for this particular encounter. He grasped Shintaro-senpai’s hand with his right hand. (His left continued to hold the balloon with the note.) His long, lean fingers practically engulfed the smaller boy’s hand like a tidal wave. Though he looked lean and skinny, there was a great amount of seemingly effortless strength put into his handshake- like it was well-practiced. In reality, he had to shake hands with many when he was in his older school teams- especially the opposing teams he wound up beating. “I’m Johnny, but you can call me Jay. I’m Ryou-senpai’s junior,” Johnny replied, fighting back a grimace at how out-of-place the Japanese term was in his English sentence. Regardless, he did pronounce his words correctly, so Shintaro could pick up on the proper pronunciation.

From the edge of his vision, he noticed a number of people blowing up their own balloons. Some of the balloons also had slips of paper inside them. Balloon bop, Johnny wondered as he brought his own fresh balloon up. He stretched the balloon out to build it’s flexibility, and he brought the mouth to his lips.

His powerful lungs- conditioned for optimal oxygen intake for long stretches of cardio, coupled with the rest of his vocal organs, made blowing up the balloon a cinch. He blew it up to an optimal fullness with one and a half breaths. He then tied the knot and tested his handiwork. He bounced it lightly off his elbows, with only a foot’s height in the air at a time. Satisfied, he snatched the balloon out of the air and palmed it like his hands would do a basketball.

Yeah, I can do balloons, Johnny thought as he twirled the balloon on his finger- also not unlike a basketball. "I didn't quite catch everything, but do we bop balloons into the air, and call for others to make the next bop?"

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"It's not like I
dislike the presence of others
I simply don't want to
be bothered by them
because I had enough
to worry about without them."

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██His guess was on point. This makes them a three-man group. It can't be helped since Vika had left on some emergency. He hoped that everything will be fine with her. She was a nice customer. He stopped his thoughts at that, because there was nothing else to think about really. He focused instead at the people in front of him. Shintaro asked him if he was a Cheetah. He nodded as his simple answer and then, there was the next question about Johnny being his kouhai. "Yeah." The conversation was now focused on the introduction between Johnny and Shintaro.

Ryou took this chance to approach one of the teachers. He told them the situation of how the Leopards are missing a junior. He wanted them to know and to advise them what to do on this group activity. He was then told that to continue with the activity with just the three of them. It seemed that Shintaro's missing junior would be addressed tomorrow. He accepted the instruction and returned to the two males. "Tanikaze-san." He called out to the fellow senior. "You'll join us as instructed." He wasn't really the kind to explain things. The thing with the honorifics was already hard for him in an essence, he had never spoken in so many words before.

He looked at Johnny when he noticed that his junior was playing with an already inflated balloon. "Have you done yours?" He asked Shintaro before looking at Johnny again who asked about the balloon bop activity. It seems that Johnny wasn't able to fully understand the instructions. It was spoken in Japanese so, it was understandable.

He really doesn't like explaining, but this is his responsibility as Johnny's senior. "A balloon is thrown in the air and the person who threw it will call a name and a body part." He looked at his balloon and threw it to the air at a relative height before catching it easily without looking at it. His eyes were on Johnny. "The person called will make the balloon stay in the air with only the body part called and it continues on." His eyes then looked at his balloon which contained his wish. "If the balloon falls to the ground, it remains there. The last balloon with a wish in the air wins and the wish is said to come true. We're grouped with the Leopards in this event." He explained that in fluent English, but at the same time translating it in Japanese in each pauses of his statements.

He then remembered that he should tell Shintaro what the teacher told him. "Tanikaze-san, the teacher said that your junior will be taken care of tomorrow." This time, it was spoken in Japanese. It did take him a long time before he did manage to speak a well-enough Japanese, even now. There were still some things, he doesn't know about the language or even the culture. He would just make it in his own way when he encounters certain things he doesn't know about. "Johnny, do you have any other questions?" He began to speak in Japanese again. His junior was trying isn't he? He won't let that go to waste.

---

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Katsumi Kurosawa

Location || Outside?
Dialogue || #6B3E53
Thoughts || #804080
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬"So where did your senior go Kurosawa-san?" A teacher asked with his arms crossed and foot tapping away. "She requested a change this time." He obviously appeared irk and she didn't blame him... This wasn't the first time she was left unsupervised by her senior, she sighed remembering what happened.

Flash Back

"Katsumi you could do this..." She stared intensely at the bathroom mirror, "Smiles arent hard..just.. focus" She added, before taking a deep breath.. Slowly she began to smile, and while she did so, she nodded approvingly. What she put forward seemed natural enough, a kind of calm sort of grin really, 'Aye not bad.' Katsumi thought victoriously, 'Maybe this year wont be a total failure.' Feeling her sense of hope rise, she walked out of the bathroom with a slight hop in her steps, "Ne Senior-sa-" Suddenly she found her back being pressed against the wall, as if she was trying to hide.. "What...?"

"So I heard your Junior was Katsumi Kurosawa.." A girl said, as her name was taboo or something, "You must be pretty brave." Another girl began to nod, agreeing with the first girl's statement, "Yeah did you hear, not only was she seen soaked in blood (in actuality, just red paint) in the art room, but she also got kicked out of her past school due to gang activities.. geez scary.." Silence pursued, before the hateful question was asked, "What do you think of her Senpai? I mean, you've been around her for awhile right?"

Katsumi's fingers tightened to form a fist, she knew this was going to happen, 'Please senpai..' She thought desperately.. It was the last thing she wanted to hear, her own senior calling her out and agreeing with the notorious rumors. Katsumi thought she gave off a good impression, she practiced so hard with her brother, was it all for not?

"Yeah she's pretty scary, I swear every time my backs turned, I feel like shes about to pounce me." Her lips tightened. "It so scary to know she's always behind me, and shes trying to act all goody two shoes, but yknow she just wants to take advantage of you.." Her pulse increased. "God, why did I have to be paired wi-"

"Sorry."

Three sets of eyes met hers and if she wasn't so "pissed", she would have laughed, they looked like a bunch of deer caught in the headlights. "But what were you saying?" She smiled, however it was not like the one she practiced, instead it was- "GAH!" In seconds flat she was left alone in the hallway, her "smile" gone, and she merely stuff her hands into her pocket, slouching slightly. "Whatever." Her voice was flat, uncaring, while her face appeared stoic and nonchalant.

She was quite used to this.

End

"Sorry... my fault." She replied, not bothering to take time to explain what happened. She knew it was going to be in vain, for the rumors that went around not only went to the students but teachers as well, which was obvious when she saw the look the teacher was giving her. Sighing, he massaged his temples, "Kurosawa-San, I know you just moved but please dont make such trouble.." She nodded solemnly. "Well for now, go to the group of three over there, we'll arrange something for you later."

Without saying a word, she walked away towards her designated group for this.. "balloon pop"? She remembered the instructions, clearly understanding it, but even then, she never played the game before so she had her doubts. However that wasn't the problem she was worried about, 'Would they freak out too.' She studied the men from afar, 'They seem.. friendly enough.' If anything, her nerves relaxed since in her experience, most male students freaked out less- maybe they judged less or perhaps it was just a front to keep their masculinity in tact? She wouldn't know but at least one of them seemed tough.. (Ryou). The other two? Questionable.

"Hey." (She is currently speaking in Japanese) She lifted a hand up in a curt yet boyish form of greeting, "I was sent over by the teacher," She gestured a thumb towards said "sensei", "he said since this is a group of three I could make it even." Katsumi explained, hoping to disguise the fact that she had no senior to pair up with and that it was simply due to uneven groups.

Attempting a smile, despite her secretly bitter mood, she decided to introduce herself, "Im Katsumi Kurosawa, nice to meet cha three." She eyed them, curious if they would recognize her as a result of the rumors, it would be nice if they didnt, but she highly doubt it.
[OOC: Sorry if its rushed, but I wanted to jump in as soon as possible~]

The explanation was simple, yet exactly what Johnny needed. Though unsure about the usefulness of his learning the language, he did appreciate the option to communicate clearly. Regardless, he wanted to continue conversing in the language this country was known for. “No. Thank you very much, Ryou-senpai,” Johnny returned, also in Japanese. The simple phrases he used were among the first he learned. As a result, that particular response sounded very competent. Johnny continued to bop the balloon with the flexibility and skill that garnered him the sports-related prestige in his old schools.

Almost as if on-cue, the blonde teacher announced the start of the balloon bop. Johnny snatched his balloon out of the air. “Ok, let us begin,” was the general gist of his addition. This time, it was right back to amateur town.

Johnny formed up opposite the other two dudes. The stark contrast between the two fit giants and the skinny short-stuff would make the stuff of legends if anyone had been paying attention to this particular group. Chances are, everyone else was focused on their own brand of the same activity. With a single tap of his fist, Johnny launched his balloon up close to the ceiling. There would be plenty of time for him to call a name, a body part, and for the intended student to make due on the limitations.

For now, Johnny had no deeper concerns. There was only the present, and the balloons filling the air with the sounds of rubber drums, as students bopped at their own pace. The rhythm was haphazard, but Johnny could tell there was a groove to be made somewhere in the collection of sounds that flooded the large, echoing chamber of the gymnasium. Might as well start with his Senior. “Ryou-Senpai,” he called in Japanese. He then struggled for a split second. The only name for a body part he learned was “foot”, so he went with exactly that. “Foot.”

It was then that the new Junior arrived. She spoke in Japanese, only she sounded similarly as Johnny thought he sounded. It sounded like a more casual version of a greeting, followed by some kind of explanation involving one of the teach… Sensei’s? Sensei? Whatever… Still, another foreigner? Johnny wondered. She looked different from the Japanese folks he’d seen this past month. This girl looked more… Chinese…? It was hard for him to tell. He couldn’t be arsed to put those differences into words for his brain because she looked kinda cute. She had long, dark hair and perfect pearly-whites and-

… I don’t even know where to start with you, dude, Johnny thought to himself. Don’t you even see it?

Indeed, one look for Johnny’s trained eye, and the foreigner could see that the new girl’s eyes betrayed the smile she wore. There was definitely some kind of darkness within her, much like many students. Johnny recalled his father once say that “That darkness you see is a teenager coming to grips with their identity.” Seeing that look in his eyes in the mirror since last year, Johnny knew exactly what pops spoke of. “It’s a part of growing up.” Johnny got that from his dad, though he did not say that it was his own eyes that he noticed that occasional oddness to them.

Despite that read, Johnny knew nothing about any rumors, nor anything beyond "she's got her own deal, same as everyone else". He only waved back with that confident, yet not at all fake smile of his, and an equally decent word in greeting. The past is the past, and previous weak encounters would make way for better encounters. Time to pull the stops, he thought, this time the greet will go swimmingly. The foreigner, of course, knew jack squat about this girl, and he wouldn’t be sure what to think if he knew.

Frankly, all the foreigner cared to know about at this point was that she needs to get her wish and balloon set up so she can join the game proper.

---

Popularity +1 to Katsumi

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"I guess that this year
will be different from last one
I'm more talkative than I have to
but, i don't mind it
as much I had thought otherwise
I'll just see what happens."

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██His junior has no other questions for the mean time. That's good to know. He looked at the balloon in his hand which carried his wish inside. He knew deep inside that this activity was just for fun. It's impossible for a wish to be granted just like that with a balloon bop game, if it did, people would just be playing this game all of their lives. Ryou even with such stark thoughts actually, wanted to believe that this superstition would add a chance in her recovery, at the most.

He then heard the teacher saying that they were to start. Johnny was rearing to go on ahead which his junior did. He was bout to follow the trend especially when he called out his name, but there was another addition to their group. His eyes went to the newcomer, forgetting the activity around them. It was a girl with a rough demeanor around her. She wasn't like most of the girls he had seen around him. Most usually are very feminine as he recall his experiences with them. This was... refreshing. She began to explain about being sent here by the teacher to make the group even, but he doubted that. She was a face he doesn't recognize. It meant a freshman. She must also be in the same circumstances like Shintaro, but he didn't say anything about it.

"Giou, Ryou." He introduced himself simply, then looked at Johnny and Shintaro to do the same. "Here." He showed her balloons. "Pick one and then write on a piece of paper what you wish for. Put it inside the balloon after, then inflate it." He explained and somehow, he was opting to record his voice in a recorder, so he won't have to say the same things again. It was nothing against anyone, he just wasn't used talking a lot or even leading situations.

He also noted that smile of hers. "Kurosawa-san." He started and then did what he had always done for all the juniors for this school year. "Welcome to Airdalen." He wasn't being sarcastic or anything. He was just told that it would be appropriate to say that. It was then he heard some of the students that were looking at them whisper about a word, scary. He wasn't sure what that was about, but he ignored it. Just like his junior, he wasn't well-read with the rumors flying about. He wasn't the guy to let himself get lost in it or really cared for it. More importantly, he really doesn't care about a person's preference or anything beyond or behind them. It was okay as long as it wouldn't bother him.

It wasn't mandated to him to be a judge or whatever. "Just tell me, when you're ready. We'll continue the game." He waited for a while to give Katsumi time to prepare her balloon and wish. When the balloon and she had told him, she was done. He started the activity again by doing what Johnny called him out on earlier. "Let's go." He then kicked his balloon into the air with his right foot. The balloon was rather high in the air even if his kick appeared to have no strength. "Jay. chin." He continued on for the others. "Tanikaze-san, shoulder. Kurosawa-san, knee."

Just like that, their balloon bop activity had finally began, hopefully, everything else would proceed on smoothly.

---

“Jay,” Ryou called, “Chin.”

You got it, Johnny thought. He considered his options for accomplishing the challenge posed to him. He could jump up and bop the balloon at the right time, but even with a good jump, that would only send the balloon a certain length. The force behind the jump would be spent on pushing his body, and not transfer properly into the balloon to send it high enough for him to send a command, let alone let the next student react.

One other option: Johnny stepped swiftly to the estimated landing zone for the incoming balloon, and dropped onto his back. From there, he pulled both legs up with a slight bend. His flexibility allowed his legs to cross over his head. When the balloon was mere feet away, Johnny thrust his legs out and forward without grazing the balloon. Performing a well-practiced tip-up, Johnny tilted his head upwards to poke out his pointed chin. His core tensed up as the force applied to his legs transferred to his torso and neck like a bullet. With the sudden change in force, Johnny’s torso lifted off the ground. Though a tall, lean boy, Johnny performed the recovery surprisingly well. It seemed it wasn’t the first time he had to get off his muscular back. Indeed, in his old schools, Johnny was often targeted by the heavier athletes in games, since they knew just how much of a threat Johnny was on the field.

More importantly, however, the timing could not have been more nearly perfect. The swing of the foreigner’s back, neck, and head allowed the chin to whip the balloon with enough force to propel the balloon higher than his initial idea of a simple jump. The wish-container was once more in the air. Hell yeah! he thought as the feeling of the thin rubber membrane propelled away from him. His feet stamped lightly against the floor as he righted himself from the jump. He felt a sense of pride in his physical prowess for a good couple of seconds, only to realize that he hadn’t called out a name and body part yet.

Most importantly, the maneuver send the balloon slightly outside the perimeter of their circle.

Shit, he thought as his mind raced. Next up would have to be the girl, who had introduced herself as Katsumi Kurosawa. She appeared to speak with a similar accent to Johnny’s. Could she know English? It would make this game easier… But she still had to make her wish-balloon.

Best to keep it safe. He went with Ryou once more. “Ryou-senpai,” he called. In English, he added, “Inner elbow- like volleyball.” Of course, he did not know that particular combination of words in Japanese. Johnny knew little about Japanese, as if that ever needed to be stated. Quickly, while he was still clear of incoming balloons, he asked Katsumi, [b]“Hey, do you know English?”[b]

It was then that he realised that there was a light layer of dust that had settled on the waxed floor over the night after the waxing took place., and the backside of the black uniform held an imprint of dust where his muscles pressed down against the floor. Thankfully, the task did no damage to the buttons. If the foreigner's uniform had been any tighter a fit, that would have been a different story. His flexible arms managed to reach behind him and pat away some of the dust... only some, however.

Aw man, are there customs discouraging dusty uniforms? he wondered.