Isako Toriumi stood behind the podium in front of her morning composition class, shuffling through her course plan with dissatisfaction written across her features. What was the administration trying to accomplish, structuring things like this? She sighed quietly to herself before glancing up at the assembled students before her, who had begun to talk amongst themselves during the brief lull in their instructor's lecture.

"Quiet down, students. We're not done here just yet." She announced firmly, and her voice briefly reverberated back to her as the rest of the chatter echoing around the classroom quickly faded into attentive (or in some cases, distracted or sleepy) silence. Her eyes scanned the rows of her pupils, searching for wandering gazes or drooping heads, and stopped when she caught sight of one of her more troublesome students staring off into space.

Junpei Iori was the typical class clown: unmotivated, awkward and far too easily distracted from his class work. Toriumi was not surprised to find him once again not paying attention, and she stared him down as she called out his name. "Junpei Iori!" The lanky young man snapped to attention with obvious distress on his face.

"Y-yes, miss Toriumi?" He replied sheepishly as he turned to face her, most of the rest of the class watching him with knowing smiles or disappointed frowns. Toriumi sighed inwardly once again as Iori was put on the spot for the umpteenth time, and she was depressingly certain it wouldn't be the last. A small part of her wanted to give up on challenging him - he was never going to pay attention in her class, especially as long as he could depend on-

"Give me an example of proper semicolon usage, mister Iori," she spoke her instructions even as her eyes trailed sideways to the source of her doubts. One seat over from Iori, another young man with blue-black hair leaned slightly closer to his troublesome classmate and said something too quiet for her to hear. Junpei's nerves visibly seemed to disappear as he stood up with a confident smile, striding over to the whiteboard and quickly scribbling "I was too late; it's over now." on it in black marker. Just as quickly he returned to his seat, while Toriumi looked back and forth between him and the board with a distasteful look on her face. "That is correct…" she admitted reluctantly, and with that Junpei went right back to relaxing and staring into space.

Toriumi's eyes briefly returned to the boy with blue-black hair who'd advised Iori of the correct answer. He was staring at his textbook intently, a notebook open next to it filled with scrawled notes. This enigmatic figure, Minato Arisato, had transferred into Gekkoukan High just a few months ago, and quickly became a star student. Much to her chagrin, he seemed to bond with Junpei just as quickly, and since then he'd been feeding his friend the answers to every question he was asked. Toriumi frowned as she again considered reproaching him, but… she felt her cheeks heat a little as she continued to sneak glances at him during her lecture. Something about him made her want his attention. He was aloof, intelligent, and, she had to admit (with some embarrassment), very good-looking. Every time she thought of criticizing him, the thought of how he might react made her stop. It was a conflict of interest that concerned her often, and at the end of the day she was flustered and eager to be home, where she could relax and forget her worries for awhile.

She pulled into her driveway as the sun was setting, having spent more time than she'd have liked arguing with her senior in the writing and composition division, Mr. Ekoda. Unpleasant thoughts about the older man swirled around her mind as she unlocked her front door and stepped inside, immediately removing her shoes and unbuttoning her stuffy brown jacket, resisting the urge to toss it aside long enough to set it down on the back of a nearby chair. She walked to the bathroom and turned on the light, washing the makeup off her face before looking up to stare at herself in the mirror, her carefully-maintained brown hair beginning to fall in her face. Her features were just barely on the young side of adult, and she could tell they wouldn't last for much longer. A frown crossed her face as she briefly wondered what Minato would think if he saw her like this, before she quickly shook herself from that line of thought. He's a student. Stop thinking like that. She scolded herself mentally as she passed through her living room and into the kitchen, quickly grabbing a blue bottle from the pantry and pouring herself a drink before returning to the living room and taking a seat on her couch, relaxing as she slowly sipped from her glass.

Boredom soon settled on her, a frustratingly familiar malaise that had all too often led her to do foolish things when she was a little younger. Her eyes drifted around the room before settling on her laptop, resting on the table nearby. It had become something of a companion to her in the last few years - while initially she'd only used it to work from home, she had soon after discovered online gaming, an embarrassing fact she made a point of keeping secret from her peers. The anonymity and the endless potential for escape appealed to her in a way few things did these days, and with only a little disappointment in herself she rose and turned it on, taking a seat at the table as it booted up. She glanced over the array of icons on her desktop for a moment before clicking one labeled "ISO".

Innocent Sin Online was an MMO she'd picked up just over a year ago, set in post-apocalyptic Japan and focused on killing mutants and magical constructs to advance. While it was initially quite popular, its userbase had since dwindled considerably, and when she logged in her character was quite alone in the wastelands. She spent an hour and a half wandering around, fighting random monstrosities and occasionally crossing paths with other players, most of whom seemed to be busy or too distracted to talk. Eventually, as she felt her boredom catching up on her, she logged out with an exasperated sigh. She stared at the game's start screen as she ruminated on its decline, and seriously considered quitting once and for all; however, a voice in the back of her head quickly chimed in to remind her - Tomorrow's Sunday. No classes to teach. Without this you'll have nothing to do with yourself.

She pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation as she struggled for a middle ground. Her fingers rapped out a rhythm against the table as she struck upon an idea, though it was not a new one, and she knew it would likely only keep her occupied for tomorrow. Still, it was enough, and she moved her cursor over to a button on the game screen labeled "new character". She spent several minutes designing her appearance, opting for a beautiful young woman with dark hair and a grey reporter's suit. She hesitated when it came time to give herself a name, however, and ultimately ended up giving herself a placeholder, to be changed once she left the tutorial area in Lunarvale hospital. As she clicked "create" and the game loaded the hospital, a yawn escaped her, and with a glance at the clock she realized it was nearing midnight. Her new character created, she decided she'd done enough for the night, and quickly signed out, shutting down her laptop afterwards. As she made her way to her bedroom, she idly made plans to unsubscribe from Innocent Sin Online after this weekend was over. It clearly had nothing left to offer her...