Scene #48: The Assembly

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Tadase Hotori	Radiant Heart Academy is a little too big to have assmeblies that cover the whole school - there's just too many students. Similarly, the student council is also a large entity - more an actual council of debate and discussion than the usual Japanese school's singular president. Grades 6-8 though, have piled into the auditorium for, what should be, a rather rote and boring assembly. On stage is Tadase Hotori, and a few other members of the student council as well. Tadase is talking, mostly sharing rote information about the clubs and, notably, the decision to let students of either gender wear either uniform. What nobody else knows but the other Chara Bearers on the council, is that Tadase hates public speaking. And is not good at it. So it's not ''really'' just Tadase speaking - he's leaning a lot on his guardian chara, Kiseki, to help him speak in public. Which gives him a little more of a dignified air - but also a bit of a curt, short one as well when he speaks.
Amu Hinamori	Today, Amu Hinamori is a little more at ease about the eggs. She is still nervous about them but less so What is on her mind right now is Tadase. She watches the confident King of the Student council speak and its all she can do not to get a nose bleed from how cute he is. "I wish I could tell the Prince how much I like him. And that I'm sorry for the other day." She quietly speaks to no one in particular. "Then just change into someone who can say that stuff!" Before Amu can even ask who said that the hair pin in her hair changes from an X to a heart. She jumps to her feet. "I'm Sorry for the other day my Prince! I really like you too!!!" She speaks with no warning. The pin changes back and she quickly sits down. "How did my body move on its own! That is not the type of person I am at all!" She comments to no one in particular. If she wasn't panicking before, She is now. Her heart is beating through her chest as she looks nervously at Tadase.
Tadase Hotori	Tadase freezes. He's... not good with public speaking, we mentioned, that right? The interruption throws him off what little game he has settled into having and one of the Student Council members has to grab his shoulder and nudge him. "This is not the place for such things." Kiseki says via Tadase, having to pretty much step in entirely so that Tadase doesn't just shutdown from the combination of getting a confession in front of everyone, and just being pulled out of his talk. "We are in a very important situation and I cannot accept such frivolous things right now." He continues. Well, it's better than what Kiseki tried to get Tadase to do, which was claim he had another girl he liked. But even still, it's not the nicest thing to say to someone in front of the school - but she did interrupt, Kiseki mentally protests. Interrupting a king giving a speech at court, the gall!
Amu Hinamori	Amu's heart sinks. That comment was painful. The flat out rejection. No. Not even an acknowledgement. It hurt more than she could have ever imagined. Quickly she stands up and takes off running. Her feet carrying her out of the auditorium. Tears fill her eyes. She runs down a hallway as fast as she can and out the front door of the school. Outside is quiet. She quickly runs her way to a bench where she sits down and lets her eyes dry. "It's alright Amu-chan! You can try again another day! He didn't say no!" Its that voice again. Where was it coming from? Her bag wiggles and opens. Out floats the red and pink egg with hearts on it. It opens and out floats a little figure dressed in pink! "WHaaaaa! Who? What are you?" Amu asks trying not to freak out completely. "One of the eggs hatched into a little person. How is this okay!" The little figure speaks up, "My name is Ran. I am your guardian character. Those two will be too!" She smiles happily and floats in front of Amu. "I am here because you wished to be your true self!" "My True Self?"She quietly remembers just a few nights before. "I prayed that I could be who I really wanted to be. So I wouldn't pretend to be something I'm not anymore."
Tadase Hotori	Amu flees out the front gates of Radiant Heart Academy, and the assembly grows quiet, nervous, in fact. Maybe some secondhand cringe settles over the student body. "Hey. Let me take over for a moment, I think you're rattled now." one of the other councilmembers says. "Yes, let's not let this be a distraction." The chara-changed Tadase says. But, now, with Amu bolting out the door, the girl with three eggs is distraught, and Tadase knows he's partly to blame. Well, Kiseki is to blame. Both of them? "I just don't see why it had to be then, she had plenty of time to tell us before. Why are you mad at me?" Kiseki asks. "She ran out of the room crying in front of everyone, of course I'm mad at you." Tadase replies to his little floating king. She's got a fair bit of a head start and he's not entirely sure which way she went - but a pointed finger from a kind old woman on the grounds at least gets him chasing her in the right direction.
Amu Hinamori	"Wait... You are the one who told me to change and be someone who could say those things. A moment later I was confessing that I really liked The Prince!" Amu frowns. "Oh no, everyone in several grades heard me confess that and saw me get shot down. They are going to spreading even more rumors about how I am not like they thought. That I'm a loser or worse!" She looks at Ran curiously. "Did you have something to do with that?!" "Yes that was me! That was a Chara change! Its when we let you do things that like confess your love for the Prince or Let you do a lot of athletic things. That is my specialty. I am from your desire to be athletic and outgoing!" She waves her pom poms excitedly. "You made me confess in front of the whole school! You embarrassed me and I got turned down by the Prince! How could you!" Ran backs up a little, "Its okay Amu-Chan! You will have more chances. Many more. Who knows, maybe next time the Prince will accept your confession and you can be a happy couple!" She cheers a little trying to show the girl that it isn't all bad.
Tadase Hotori	Tadase is looking for Amu, not that he has a clue what he'll say. Does he apologize? Just try to explain everything that's going on? He has to assume it was a chara change since the girl had 3 eggs and acted in a very... happy, upbeat way that didn't match any of their previous interactions. He also had to admit, if those 3 eggs were all that girl's eggs, he felt a little bit bad. Kiseki was bad enough. Three Kisekis would be downright chaos. Maybe at least one of them would be a little bit less troublesome. Eventually, he found her - looking at her from a fair distance, as she sat on the bench. Off to her right. "Well? Are you going to go over there?" Kiseki asked. "We ran all the way out here, just so you could look at her from far away?" "Maybe!" Tadase retorts. "I at least need to make sure she's okay.
Amu Hinamori	Amu doesn't notice the King's chair guardian out here. She is completely lost in thought as she speaks to Ran. "So you CHANGED ME!? You made me speak out like that. You did that without asking me! I should flush you down the toilet!" She snaps at the chara. "Amu-Chan! It can be good too!" She flies around Amu, trying to avoid any attempts at capture. "Just wait and see." "Wait did you also make me do the whole goodbye thing the other day?" Amu Asks pointedly. "Yep that was me! You were so happy and you really wanted to express that so I helped! I changed you into a person who could express their feelings like that!"
Tadase Hotori	Tadase, meanwhile, was slowly walking towards her. His mind was kind of reeling. What does one say or do in this circumstance. He genuinely didn't know, other than... he had to say something. She was just sitting there, and she looked frustrated and sad as she talked to Ran. Finally he takes a deep breath. And speaks. Without Kiseki's help. "Y..Yeah, they uh. They do that." Tadase says, standing off to the side. "Make you do things you weren't umm, going to do on your own. Things you want to do but don't think you can, or you're too afraid to do on your own. And... they don't always have the best judgement on what to say or how." He gives a little side eyed glare to Kiskei, who crosses his arms and looks just absolutely put out at it all. "We help you when you won't help yourself." Kiseki replies.
Amu Hinamori	Amu hears footsteps. She turns and sees... THE PRINCE! Her cheeks immediately go red. She looks over at him and gives a nervous smile. "I am so sorry for that. I didn't mean to speak out like that. It was a umm... something really out of character for me." "Amu-chan! It doesn't have to be. You just need to let yourself change!" Ran states before flying over to Tadase and Kiskei. Thats the point where Amu hears what Tadase says and she finally sees the little King chara flying around him. "You have a Guardian Chara too?" She asks curiously. "Wait, you know what is going on? Ran was trying to explain it to me but it was really confusing. Ran looks at Amu and pokes her tongue out. "Its not that hard to understand! We do like the little King said. We help you when you won't help yourself. We help you be who you want to be!"
Tadase Hotori	"Yeah, I've had Kiseki for a little while now. It's something me and some of the other student council members have in common. I mean, really, most people have them it's just... they never wake up, as fully as Kiseki and your little one there did." "They... they embody a you that you would like to be, but you aren't." Tadase began. "Like, Kiseki helps me out a lot. Even if he is trouble, too. I don't... actually do very well at public speaking. Like, big group things? Or even small things like this." he admits. "But, I want to be a good leader. I want to be able to help people get motivated, have everyone's hearts pushing in the same direction for a shared goal. So... Kiseki gives me that help. But... he also thinks he, and by extension I, should be in charge of literally everything, so... he's also a lot of trouble." "Anyways, I guess that's a lot about me, but. Most people don't have these eggs hatch, ever. They just stay within their heart. And... it takes someone with a strong desire and magical potential to make the egg hatch into a Guardian. Once it does, you can do some amazing things... but you also have to watch out for them."
Amu Hinamori	Amu blinks a few times. "There are other people in school with guardian characters? That is really cool. And there are some in the student council? That kinda makes sense... I think." She looks at Ran and smiles. "So you can help me out with stuff. That is amazing." She turns her attention to her bag and opens it. There are the other two eggs in there. One blue and one green. "I wonder what these two will be." "So a lot of people have eggs that don't hatch? That is sad I think." She ponders This for a moment. "I mean if they represent our hopes and dreams, then knowing that they never come true. Its really sad." "What do you mean by watch out for them? Do you mean the whole character change thing? Because that is really freaky when that happens. I mean its not like me to confess like I did. That was super awkward for me and now the people are going to be spreading even more rumors." She shakes her head. "Too many rumors. Anyway, So the egg thing isn't completely crazy. Waking up with three eggs in my bed had me really freaked out."
Tadase Hotori	"I'm not sure it's always that they don't come true. I think it's just that they don't have the mixture of magical potential, desire to change who they are, and a heartfelt dream. You need all three, I think." Tadase explains. "But... well, the three eggs thing? ''That'' isn't something I've seen at all. The rest of us just have the one." he explains. "A red, a blue, and a green..." he says out loud. "I think I might have seen something like this in a book once. Talking about a lock." he continues."Oh... although, I guess since you have a chara - what's her name, by the way? - that means... yeah, you'll see all of the other stuff happening around here." "Like the monsters." Kiseki adds. "I was trying to ease her into talking about that, you know." Tadase adds, sighing at Kiskei. "But... let's just say eggs in your bed is weird but it might not rate as very weird a month from now."
Amu Hinamori	Amu nods as she listens to what Tadase is saying. "I guess that makes sense. Plus maybe they make their dreams come true without a guardian character." She smiles. "Wait magic? You mean I had to have magic potential for the eggs to appear? That is kinda freaky." She winces a little. "Umm This is Ran. I don't know about the others yet. She has Character changed me twice so far. I'm kinda worried about what will happen next. "A Lock?" She asks curiously. "What kind of lock are we talking about. A combination lock like is on the lockers or something else. "Wait I'm going to start seeing other things now. Like How I can see Kiseki now? Wait MONSTERS?!" She winces and shakes her head. "There are real monsters out there. Because of course they are. Monsters are totally normal and have always been." SHe comments as she tries to process this.
Tadase Hotori	Tadase laughs a little nervously. "Belive it or not you're handling this information dump pretty well. When they told me I tried to go to the nurse. Who, of course, couldn't see Kiseki." he sighed. "It became a whole thing, my grandma got super worried..." he pauses, and looks down and away. Then shakes his head. "Yeah I would ''prefer''..." and here he looks at Kiseki and pokes the little floating king on the forehead "... to get you into this one step at a time." "Anyways, it's a little lock like a padlock but it's got a clover on the front of it. We keep it somewhere hidden, and maybe we should bring you to it soon. But... I'm throwing a lot at you, I know." He sighs. "Sorry, I told you I'm not good at the speaking. I get nervous, and one of the ways it shows up is I don't stop talking." "He gets especially nervous around pretty girls, especially when they try to confess to him so I usually have to chase them off for him." Kiseki adds 'helpfully'. Tadase just grabs Kiseki and starts trying to forcibly put him back into his egg now. It's going about as well as Amu trying to catch Ran before did.
Amu Hinamori	Amu winces and looks at Tadase as he talks. "Oh my. That sounds really bad. They didn't try to put you in a hospital or anything did they?" She asks nervously. "I guess I gotta keep quiet about Ran then." She looks at the little chara and watches her fly around. "Its a lot to take in. All of this is really overwhelming. I am trying to take it in, its just a lot you know?" She listens to the description of the lock and nods slowly. "That sounds like some lock." She smiles and holds up her hands. "Don't worry. You don't have to be worried. I'm not as bad as people say I am. Really." Then Kiseki chimes in and Amu immediately blushes bright red. Ran flies behind Tadase and Kiseki. She starts waving her pom poms and smiles "See Amu-chan?!" she comments as she grins happily. Amu goes to swat at Ran while Tadase tries to force Kiseki into his egg. It doesn't go well. If anyone is watching she looks like she swatting at a fly.
Tadase Hotori	Tadase finally sighs and gives up while Kiseki sticks his tongue out and flies overhead, out of Tadase's reach. They're kind of used to this, the two of them. "You know, it would be nice if, since you're supposed to be my true self, you were a little bit less of a jerk." Tadase yells. "I wonder what that says about you." Kiskei replies. Now bested physically and verbally by his own 3-inch tall wish-self, he just shrugs and gives up. "Honestly, I'm not worried. Of all of the people I've met who have Guardian Charas, I've only had one that was really bad." Tadase says, pausing. "As long as you're not about to start stealing stuff from my family you won't match that." "Anyways, worry about the lock and all of the stuff later. Just uh..." And Tadase pauses, looks down, looks up, tries to say something, looks down..." "He's worried about you and wants to keep in contact with you in case you get in trouble or anything strange happens, but he's not sure how to say that without sounding like he's asking for your number for a date." Kiseki says, though he has to yell it from how high up he is floating.
Amu Hinamori	Amu stops her own fight with Ran, who just laughs over the whole thing. "I am not used to having a little trouble maker flying around yet. And I got two more to look forward to? This is going to be a wild ride, isn't it." "I'm not a trouble maker! You are because I'm what you want to be!" She sticks her tongue out at Amu and flies around her head. "Okay I will put it out of my mind for now." Then Kiseki chimes in with his comment. "Oh! I understand. Don't worry, I get it. We are just friends so its not a big deal." She quickly goes into her bag and pulls out a pen and a piece of paper. She write down her number and hands it over to Tadase.
Tadase Hotori	Tadase takes it and puts it in his phone, and calls her to make sure he's got it right. And he sighs. "See, there? He was helpful, even if annoying in the way he did it." Tadase explains. "Well, if you were going to do it some time before we all died of old age I wouldn't have to." Kiseki replied, getting another sigh from Tadase. "They're... they really do have your best interests at heart, even if the way they show it is frustrating. Because deep down, they're you. Or at least, a side of you." he says. "I don't know what having three of them means. Maybe it means you're really special, like... super unique." Tadase says, and maybe he sparkles a smidge there. "Or it means you are really confused." Kiseki said, breaking the moment.
Amu Hinamori	Amu's phone rings. She quickly answers it, "It works." She hangs up and smiles. "There we go." She saves Tadase's number and totally doesn't put it in her phone as Prince... because that would be weird. Right?" She laughs a little bit. "Wow! I guess they are helpful. Even if Ran really embarrassed me." She shakes her head. "Then there is the topic of her having three. She does note the sparkles and she can't help but blush yet again. "I dunno. I don't really feel special." Then there is Kiseki. "Yeah I'm probably just confused. I dunno what my true self is. I would love to be sporty and out going but thats not the only thing I would wanna be."
Tadase Hotori	"Hotori-san?" A voice calls from behind Amu. It's another one of the student council members. "You should really come back to the assembly, it looks awkward to have you gone for so long." she said. "Oh, yes. Sorry, I just had to check on her." he said, indicating Amu. "She's fine now, right, Hinamori-san?" he asked, smiling. But he didn't so much wait for her reply, as he was going to head back as long as she didn't ask him to stay or seem in trouble. Plus, she was going to get some time to process hearing him call her name.