Smoothly Sleuthing Stuff (Tomomi / Gozai)

As the bell for the end of the day rang throughout the academy, Tomomi moved to go straight to the academy's library, intent on doing some self directed studying. Of course, it wasn't anything to do with the work assigned by the teachers, mostly because Tomomi was either on top of his work, or didn't care in regards to the maths. Seriously, did anyone like maths?

Regardless, with his school uniform on, and his school jacket hung over his shoulder, Tomomi went over to the non-fiction books, looking through them in alphabetical order for... Well, honestly, nothing in particular other than just a nice book, trying his best to not stand out - which in turn, made the boy stand out, as if doing something suspicious rather than simply looking for a book. A contradictory action that only came from his anxiety and wish to not draw attention to himself by doing something wrong.

The door to the library would be pushed open, a pale figure stepping through, walking straight over to one of the tables. The figure, a he, seemed to pay no heed to the idea that there might be others present in the room. He would take the messenger bag slung over one shoulder and set it down beside one of the chairs, kneeling down beside the bag and pulling out several items. A textbook, three separate notebooks, and a pencil case, all which the young man set down on the table space in front of the chair.

This done, the youth reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a phone, his other hand rising up to tap the screen for a moment. He then turns on the spot, heading over to one of the shelves, the same shelf Tomomi was at, only on the other side of.

His gaze remained locked on the screen of his phone all the while, some fairly furious tapping. As he reached the shelf, his gaze finally pulled away from the phone, red eyes tracing across the various books, before picking one out. The Book opened up enough of a gap that one might see from one side of the bookcase to the other, enough for the albino to notice someone else behind the bookshelf.

He stepped back, visibly startled. "I- I hope I'm not interrupting anything." He spat out after a few second, voice low and timid.

Unaware of the other person moving to the other side, Tomomi continued looking through the books  on the shelf he stood before. The sound of movement on the other side of the shelf was noticed, but not really acknowledged. Finally, Tomomi found a book that caught his eye, however just as he went to reach for it, the book next to it was removed, a face filling up the slot the book once was.

Whether in over reaction from how startled he was, or over reaction just from trying to keep himself quiet, the boy nearly fell over on the spot, stumbling backwards and nearly knocking into the next one before stopping himself and attempting to regain his composure.

"A-ah, I uh, s-sorry, I um... Didn't expect to see someone's face pop into the book shelf... Um... I was just uh... Looking for a book... Sorry if I startled you um..." Oh dear. Oh dear. This person looked almost as shaken up as Tomomi, and anyone that knew Tomomi knew that was a hard feat to manage.

"I really need to pay more attention in the future." Gozai thought to himself as he took a moment to compose himself and get his act together.

"Haha, no that's f-fine." He spoke in reply, again with that same timid tone. "I really should have been paying more attention. I guess I was just too focused on finding this." He then explained, ending his words with an awkward chuckle as he briefly flashed the other to book he held, one on the topic of human psychology.

That said, he would turn back toward the table where he'd left his thing. "Don't mind me, I'm just gonna fill out my notes some. I swear, professor Ridley's lectures can sometimes be the worst when it comes to taking coherent notes." He lamented as he slowly approached the table. Inside his head his mind raced, trying to recall if he'd ever seen or heard about this student.

Letting out a light exhale, Tomomi caught his breath and tried to calm himself down, readjusting his posture and looking through the hole in the bookshelf at the other person. The book he appeared to be carrying was one on psychology for humans. Next to the physiology books that Tomomi was interested in. Still, awkwardly watching still while trying to look as normal as possible, Tomomi took the book off the shelf - the wrong book, but still a book. The stranger's lamenting did not go unnoticed despite the disarrayed state of Tomomi however.

Wanting to try crack out of his social shell, and also just... Really curious, Tomomi chimed in, voice still quiet and timid, as if unsure on if he were allowed to even speak. "Professor Ridley? I've not had a lesson with them... What do they teach? Because, um... Whatever it is, I doubt it's as bad as Miss Riderson's history lessons... If they can even be called history..."

At this, the boy sighed once more, before looking at the book he was holding, realising it was the wrong book, and replacing it with the correct one in a panicked hurry.

Coming to the table, Gozai sets the book down, before starting to go through the content of his pencil case, and next started on going through one of his notebooks. "Professor Ridley teaches second-year Psychology, I believe first- and third-year as well, but can't say for sure. He's a substitute, only gonna be here as long as is necessary." He pauses, stopping on one of the pages of the notebook, before turning his eye to the book, finally sitting down.

"I don't know if you heard about how Mr. Winston had to take sick leave, what I hear is he suffered a pretty nasty concussion from some freak lawnmower accident." Gozai let his tone perk up a bit as he spoke, as though to imply he was comfortable enough in speaking to complete strangers when it wasn't face-to-face.

"But Ms. Riderson... Hmmm..." He'd pause, stroking his chin with one hand as if thinking, while the other continued flipping through pages on the book. Yeah, he could certainly remember, indeed it almost felt like the seething fury the mere mention of that name invoked broughta drop of bile up his throat. But he couldn't let the other know what he actually thought. "wouldn't surprise me if I got expelled if I let anyone know what I actually thought of that bitch." He went in his little internal monologue

"She taught first year? I only took bare minimum in history, though I do have a recollection that those courses were... let's say bothersome." He'd finish, with something of a chuckle capping off his words.

Now with the correct book, Tomomi listened to the stranger as they spoke, nodding his head from behind the book shelf, more to himself than anything else. Looked like Tomomi and Cecil weren't the only ones who had... Grievances with some of the staff at the academy. The news about Mr Winston was sad though, and something Tomomi was unaware of. "Darn... I hope he's okay soon."

Although he had to admit... What did a lawnmower incident even involve?

The comments about Ms Riderson were more surprising, Tomomi shaking his head to himself once more as he waited for the stranger to speak before replying. "She's also, um... Currently teaching second year... But I feel like she'd be a better political teacher than a history teacher, since a lot of what she talks about is the queen, not like, actual history... Like, I'm not from America, so, hearing actual American history seemed quite interesting to me, not... Well, what you could read in a newspaper..."

Coughing, the boy added. "The name's Tomomi by the way. Second year."

He nodded every once in while, still continuing to go through the book. After a moment he seemed to find something he was looking for, as he stopped on a page, leaning slightly toward the book. "I get what you mean, I can still remember how bothersome it was to try and write all those essays when the notes you could get on the subject were so hit-and-miss. Buuuut..." He spoke, drawing out that last word as he grabbed a pen, and wrote down a few lines of text.

"As annoying as that was, if it meant we could hear about our glorious queen. I honestly didn't mind." Gozai continued, flipping a page, again writing down something into his note, and then wrote own another short bit. "You mentioned not being native. Same here, but I don't know if you were here during the Divide. Those times were..." He tried to continue writing as he spoke, but his hand begun to tremble as he brought up the Divide. The albino would set the pen down, his hand instead going for a highlighting pen. "...Tough." He would finally finishing, letting his tone take on that slightly choked sound to it.

The other introduced themselves. Tomomi, not a name he could recall. "Gozai. Also second year." He gave his name, though he did wonder if it would actually matter in the long run.

Now opening up the book on physiology, Tomomi continued to listen to the stranger as they returned the conversation. He completely got the feeling regarding the essays, although he was caught off guard by the fact that this person was also foreign.

More of a shock was the mention of the Eternal Divide. Tomomi felt a bead of sweat roll down his cheek at the mere mention. That... That event... Everyone knew it. How could anyone not know it? Still, it wasn't something people talked about... Too... Uncomfortable... Tomomi was also taken off guard how much this person talked positively about the queen. Evidently, this was someone that loved the government. That was fair enough, although a bit jarring given the recent broadcast, also difficult to talk about... Wow a lot of subjects were difficult to approach safely.

As he introduced himself as Gozai, Tomomi smiled, nodding. "Gozai... Well, nice to meet you." He declared, reading through his book as he stood there. "So, what's your favourite subject?"

Gozai uncapped the highlighter, and began pulling it over some of the text written on the notebook. As he'd note the initial silence following his previous words. He got the sense this person didn't care much for the queen, so maybe it was that, or maybe the mention of the Divide? He couldn't say for sure, though he made sure to make a mental note of that for later.

Following introductions, the other proceeded to ask him an interesting question, something he'd want to get some clarification on before formulating an appropriate reply. "In the context of school ,or literature?" He asked, capping the highlighter before again picking up his pen.

Realising that the question was indeed rather broad, Tomomi thought for a moment, tapping his chin with his spare hand while he continued scanning the pages of the book, slowly and methodically. After a moments awkward silence, Tomomi quickly specified what he meant. "Um... Both? Probably? Uh, whichever you want to answer?" The boy added, voice still quiet as he tried his best to avoid being told off for talking in a library.

The albino would let out a small, awkward chuckle, dropping his pen for a moment. What should he say to the other? "Well, as far as books go... I think I'd have to say crime fiction. Detective novels in particular, you know the ones where the detective can just read people like an open book." He'd explain, letting his voice rise slightly, to give off that impression of excitement.

"As far as school subjects go, well there's psychology, otherwise I wouldn't have that as my major. But beyond that, I find economics to be quite... fascinating." He'd explain, letting his tone and volume normalize again, as if realizing he'd let his voice get up. "So how 'bout you then?" Gozai would ask in turn.

Listening, Tomomi nodded to himself in what was by this point a given action, smiling slightly at Gozai's enthusiasm. He'd just met the person, kind of, and even though he didn't know what this other person looked like, it was nice to hear enthusiasm.

When asked the questions in return, Tomomi hummed in thought for a moment. He already knew, but was trying to recall the official name of the subject matter. "Well... Um... With regards to books, I quite like books on animals, like, encyclopedias... And with subject, I'm not really old enough to specialise yet, but, I quite like, um... Zoology. I just... Really like animals..."

He flipped to the next page, his hand again picking up the pen to write down a few lines. "Animals? That's nice, I guess. Animals certainly seem cute, what I've seen on the internet, but I've never really gotten to know animals too well." He explained, letting his tone take a more... somber note.

"I used to want a dog when I was little, but my parents would never let me, and my current landlord is very strict about not keeping animals on the property." Gozai would continue, his writing having seized, but the tip of the pen was still pressed to the paper of his notebook.

"Ah... Yeah, I have a similar situation at my apartment... Land lord is very strict on what is and isn't allowed... Not even allowed a washing machine or dish washer, since it's considered a fire hazard..."

Coughing, Tomomi shook his head. "But, that's my problem anyways... So, um..." Moving to the next page, Tomomi continued. "So, um... What about psychology is interesting to you? Like, I like animals because I grew up in an environment where nature was to be, well, loved and respected, and just sort of... Well, love them as a result. So, what's the story behind psychology?"