A Wild Plot Appears!

[harmonizemods]

WHO: Anyone and everyone
WHAT: Just a little scribble-scrabble.
WHERE: Chitoku Academy front gate
WHEN: Monday, May 15th, after classes, but before club activities.

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By the time classes were over, a small but growing group of students had already gathered at the front gate of Chitoku Academy. Rumors, as they were wont to do, had spread fast, and student after student left their final classes of the day to see just what had happened.

Nothing was visible until they stepped outside the school property. There, on the fine stone wall on either side of the school's wrought iron gate, was what they had been looking for.

Various slogans were scrawled on the stone in what appeared to be red spray paint. Notably, most of the words written were not in hiragana, katakana, or kanji, but rather English. Those who cared to look saw phrases such as “REMEMBER NANJING!” and “WE NEED ARTICLE IX!”

Perhaps most notably, though, the flagpole standing alongside the gate no longer flew the Rising Sun Flag that had been adopted by the current government. In its place was the more traditional Hinomaru, the red circle emblazoned proudly on the white background, along with a second flag, identifiable by at least some in the crowd as bearing the emblem of the United Nations.

Staff milled around, doing its level best to disperse the students, and send them off to their dorms, homes, or club activities, but there was a notable sense of unease in the air...

Comments

[petals_scatter]

Erika passed by the gathering, the remnants of her lunch in hand. She'd changed out of her uniform into a pink t-shirt, light denim jacket, knee-length skirt, and pink leggings. She wore a hairband that looked like it was pilfered straight out of an 80s pop video, all together looking entirely too festive for the occasion.

She paused to peek at the graffiti on the gate, instantly coloring as if she'd accidentally glimpsed something pornographic. She nodded a quiet greeting to Chloe and the boy she was talking with, then continued on her way.

There were hungry cats to feed.

[heirofkobe]

For Taue's part, the woman from the 80s pop video stood out in the crowd of uniformed students like a sore thumb. He goggled after her for a moment, both intrigued and confused, before turning back to Chloe.

"It could be, I guess? I'd bet it's not a lot of people. Too many would be noticed. You could probably spraypaint the gate in a half-hour or so. I just...don't think it's likely."

[fassade]

The German nodded, taking in Taue's words. Inwardly, she was conflicted. Who would want that kind of thing given the route Japan was headed? With the country becoming almost militant, it dumbfounded her that there actually were people who weren't all behind this crazy government kick. Whoever these faceless people were, she sure as hell had never seen them.

"Surprising resistance."

She mumbled, her gaze returning to the red paint on the walls.

[heirofkobe]

"Sort of," Taue replied, making an initially quizzical face. "We've got a lot of problems abroad, given China and North Korea's increasing militarism, but not everyone's totally on board with how it's being handled."

No matter how much of a united front the Japanese government put up, and how concerned much of the populace was...not everyone was always happy with the results of the country's newfound national pride.

"The really surprising part is that it's been done this...blatantly? Most people who support Article IX aren't this...boisterous about it. It's definitely interesting. Wonder if Kobe's got more than meets the eye going on."

[allisnothing]

Haruka, meanwhile, was near the fringes of the crowd catching scant pieces of information from the wash of commentary and teachers trying to manage the students, which was enough to give her the gist of things. She sent a few texts to fill in further gaps and continued listening out of curiosity.

Her head suddenly perked up when she heard Taue and Chloe. She excused herself as she slipped past some other students until she found herself around a few feet away from them. Hearing the tail end, she said,

"Huh...you're a local though. Never heard anything before?"

[heirofkobe]

Taue hadn't seen Haruka coming, and the question caught him off guard. Unable to quite hide the surprise in his face, he turned, and bowed in greeting - only hastily adding a "heya" to the end of the gesture.

"There are people who disagree with the government, but you can find those everywhere," he explained, a bit nervously. "That's not the odd part, really. This is just...organized. You'd need to be. This school's government property. It's not like vandalizing some random shop, you know?"

Taue nodded, almost as if to convince himself of his line of thought.

"Has to be the work of a group, I think," Shinichiro said, after another moment. "And if so, I doubt they're easily findable."

[allisnothing]

"Huh...." She turned her head towards the gates, facing the wash of sounds and general feel she could pick up as teachers and other adults looked over the gate. "Dunno. Maybe they're just really flashy? Or maybe..."

She allowed an ominous beat. "It was an inside job? Youths inside the school rising up or getting a kick out of rising up all this fuss?" She shrugged though. "Or something."