Expect Anything Different?

Today’s UN Training --- Master the art of Adjustment

Adjusting to the events around you directly contradicts Tani’s rule of resisting the ebbs and flows of the universe. So it should come as a surprise that he’s added 'Adjustment' as a rung on the ladder to the top of the world, and it only came about just a few minutes ago outside in the rain. Akihiro Tani has never been able to 'Adjust' very well before meeting a certain Foreign Girl, and now that he has realized the error of his ways he understands that has been one of the many things that has held him back.

He can’t expect to head on tackle a world that has an almost infinite reservoir of tools ready to stomp him down, he has to come up with creative ways to avoid taking damage. He isn’t a raging bull after all, he is a delicate creature that has to use wits to outsmart his predators.

So from this point onwards he will be more malleable, and he will go about his climb to the top in a way that by no means could be misconstrued as straightforward. In a way this addition keeps with the original premise that brought him to this point in which he is on the cusp of going to college. But in an even more specific way this addition will allow him to enjoy the ride instead of conquering it.

This in and of itself is a drastic change from what he once was.

So how much will implementing 'Adjustment' serve to muddy his long honed killer instinct? 

Will Ambition still be able to do whatever it takes?

Well, we're about to find out...

---------------------------

Once back inside, the journey through the school and up the stairs to the clubroom went by in a blur. He wasn’t even hit in the head with a volleyball when he passed the gymnasium. He felt suffocated by the lingering emotions of his conversation with Anita, and overwhelmed by what he plans to do about her request of him. Finding it hard to keep his once determined head upright he walked along with eyes locked on the linoleum floor by his feet while lost in thought.

So upon reaching the entrance to the Languages club, he slides open the room door with the vitality of pulling on a square of toilet paper--- it slinks open and barely makes a sound.

He’s immediately met with an energy that forces his head up to investigate.

“He’s back!”

“Yo!”

“Oh my there you are, Akihiro-kun!”

“-................-”

Tani just glares at them all in silence before landing on Shirai’s sparkling and excited face.

‘SLUNK!’

He slams the door shut.

“H-Hey!?”

“We got a runner!”

“Students, we can’t let Akihiro-kun get away!”

Tani can hear their protests from within the room, and he can even hear their hurried footsteps rushing towards the door to give chase to him. He allows himself a brief moment to store up composure; he was originally hoping that when he came back, everyone would still be focused on playing their language game. But Shirai's presence in the clubroom dramatically alters things. 

He has to regroup and get himself properly prepared before dealing with her.

He channels all his chi, taking in a rejuvenating breath of air and letting it out as though he were about to deadlift 400kg.

He’s ready.

Sliding open the door so fast that it slams against the hinges, he awaits their energy with matching vigor. But Mariko, Ume, Charl and Shirai who were just rushing to the door go flying out and land on the ground behind him in a cluster.

“Guahh!?”---“Ngggyah!”---“Whooooah!”---“Eeeep!”

Tani doesn’t even spare them a glance when all that verve passes by him like a sudden puff of warm wind. He walks inside the room where Emilia is sitting patiently at the U shaped table, while patting her on the head he asks, “Emilia, would you mind telling me what has gotten them so riled up?”

“Our club has been chosen to represent Kokusai high school’s booth at Tokyo U’s Gogatsusai Festival.”

Straight to the point, just what he needed.

“Whoah, really?” He turns to his faculty sponsor who is only now picking herself up off the ground and dusting herself off. “Shirai-sensei, is this true? Why us??”

“Yup it is true!” she says with a salute. “You and I have a meeting with Principal Togashi tomorrow to go over the details.”

“Exciting isn’t it?” Ume says while holding the back of her head as though she bumped it when she fell.

Tani doesn’t know what’s expected of them, but the prospect of being a part of such a big event to showcase he and his club’s skills is very much something that can help him towards his goals. “Ha! Of course Togashi chose us for this mission, we’re the only club doing anything that will be worth a damn outside of this school in the future.”

Mariko sheepishly laughs, “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, I’m only learning French.”

“I’m not talking about you.”

“Am I not a part of this ‘we’ in which you spoke!?”

Tani ignores her and walks to the blackboard and writes down ‘PLANS’ in big bold letters, and underneath that he draws a series of bullet points and lines.

“Alright everyone listen up! Let’s write down some ideas for our booth that Shirai-sensei and I will present tomorrow. Who wants to start?”

“Oh, me me!” Ume rushes in and grabs the chalk from his hand. Upon reaching the board she pauses, “Actually, I have no clue where to start with this…”

Tani laughs, which catches everyone off guard including Ume.

He puts his hand on his hips and with a smile says, “Alright, how about you, Mariko?”

“W-What? I thought you just made it clear that I wasn’t part of the team!”

“I was only teasing, you are a very important part of the team, maybe even the most important for this upcoming task. People will be attracted to your magnetic personality, no one better than you to bring that good old fashion American energy.”

“Ehhh I don’t wanna be important though that’s too much pressure.”

“Sports people are born to handle pressure. Come on now.” Tani says, waving her over to the board.

She sighs and obliges, but once there she stalls just like Ume.

“I dunno what to suggest, dude.”

Tani laughs again, “Ha! Alright then, no problem. This is what teammates are for.” He then turns to Charl and says, “You’re the most creative one out of all of us, why don’t you give it a shot?”

“Oh?” Charl runs his hands through his hair and sends Tani a wink. “What an honor to be thought of in such high regard by you, Akihiro-kun.”

“I might not ever show it, but I do hold you in high regard. I’m impressed by your talent. So come on over.”

Charl is left speechless by that, and once at the board he remains that way.

Seeing that he is just standing there holding the chalk in his hand and not making any moves to write something on the blackboard, he turns to Emilia, who is still sitting at the table with her face as blank as ever.

“Emilia, you give it a go as well. You’re going to meet a lot of different people at this festival, with the right booth you might even make a friend or two.”

Emilia can’t believe he’s asking for her opinion on the matter, it makes her feel borderline faint. But when he reassures her with a smile she is able to internally pump herself up in her own little way and stand to her feet. Grabbing a piece of chalk, she stares at the board for a long hard second. Everyone’s attention is locked in on her as she raises her hand to write, inching closer and closer to taking charge.

To them it’s like watching a nature documentary where newly hatched sea turtles make their treacherous journey to the sea while dodging the ruthless beaks of seagulls. If she makes it there and swims away into the blue, she just may finally gain the ability to assert herself like a normal teenager.

Her chalk makes contact with the blackboard, Tani perks up in anticipation.

“...I can’t do it.”

A collective sigh implodes the build up and the entire room along with it.

“Alright alright, it’s all alright.” Tani says, waving his hand out in front of him as if shooing away the problem.

“Stop saying it’s alright, can’t you see we’re all on the struggle bus here!?” Mariko bemoans.

She’s pointing out the obvious as though Tani wasn’t the first person to notice it.

Now the unusual positivity that he has been carrying himself with finally cracks, a twisted smile of someone holding back a severe case of agitation runs off with the features of his face. “Can you guys really not think of anything?? I’m not gonna do it for you this time!”

“Ahem…” Shirai clears her throat, “You know, I was once a high school student just like you. I know a thing or two about festival booths.”

Tani glares at her skeptically and replies, “No maid cafes allowed.”

“I wasn’t going to suggest that, geez!” she says with a pout.

Making her way to the board, she grabs a piece of chalk and prepares to write down her idea.

“....”

She tilts her head to the side and freezes.

“What’s wrong?”

“I… was actually going to suggest a maid cafe.”

“Guah, sensei you’re worthless!”

“Hehe, sorry.”

“Alright! You stand right here.” He says with force as he grabs her shoulders and moves her to his left.

“Oh goodness me..!”

He ignores her purposefully over dramatic coyness and continues the process of grabbing the shoulders of each remaining club member, setting them side by side as though they were bowling pins at a carnival lined up to be knocked down to win a prize. With them all facing him in front of the black board he is able to direct them like a staff sergeant in the military.

“We’re not here to make a finished product right away, there’s no need to overthink any of this.”

Ume raises her hand and speaks up, “That’s the problem though, it's not like we have anything that would showcase our club specifically.”

“Don’t worry about that, Ume. Our ideas don’t need to have anything to do with the function of our club.”

“Really? Then what should it be?”

Tani glistens when he holds out the chalk in front of them as though welcoming someone into the gates of heaven. With a smile befitting of that image, he very tenderly says,

“Let’s just start with something fun.”

---------------------

The next day is sunny with lingering puffy white clouds trailing off in the sky, the still wet earth glistening in the late afternoon sun gives off the fresh and clean sense of a new beginning. That familiar petrichor of drying grass and tree leaves rejuvenates not only the land but the human spirit as well.

Kokusai's high windows are wide open today, bringing in that scent riding on the back of the wind and whispering through the hallways where Shirai Keiko and Akihiro Tani are walking. The two are on their very important mission to Principal Togashi’s office, and in Tani’s hand is a folder containing the Languages club's finished plans for the upcoming festival.

“Akihiro-kun.” Shirai says.

Her words don’t get much of a reaction out of him but she leans in closer anyways.

“What?” he replies without affording her a glance.

“You look different today, did something happen?”

“Something always happens when you’re as busy as I am.”

“And that something changed your style?”

Tani investigates himself, looking from his feet all the way up to his chest. “What are you talking about?”

“Your shirt isn’t buttoned all the way up anymore.” she says with a chuckle, pointing at his collar. “Plus, your posture is much more relaxed than usual.”

Quite the attentive teacher Shirai is. Today Tani actually made a conscious effort to not be so prim and proper, he felt that he deserves a little more comfort in his clothes. Even though it's only the top button of his collared shirt and a looser fitting tie, it feels very liberating nonetheless. He even decided to not be so punctual today and showed up twenty minutes early for school instead of his usual forty minutes.

“Is that important? I’m allowed to relax every once in a while too.”

“Oh of course, but I don't know what it is about it, you just seem more mature now.”

Tani squints. 

“You’re reading too much into it, don’t get carried away.”

“And also,” Now Shirai does a little skip in front of him. “How you gently corralled everyone into making those booth plans yesterday, it really made you sparkle. Dare I say, you were quite manly.”

Tani replies by narrowing his eyes so much that the lines of his face stretch away from his head. He knows exactly where this is going.

"----.............----"

“I think I can introduce this version of you to my parents. Say, maybe even this weekend we can do it? Ahhhn~ but then again, I haven’t seen you in your regular clothes. How do you dress anyways? Oh I have an idea, I can get you a stylish outfit!”

“I’m not going to entertain any of this.” He says as he speed walks right by her.

“Your sensei is quite adept in men’s fashion you know? I’ve read every issue of Seventeen since I was in primary school, I’ll make you look like a movie star!”

Tani can picture himself in the outfit of her choosing and immediately thinks she’d put him in extremely dated clothes from the 2010’s. After all, that magazine she brought up stopped publishing years ago.

“No thanks!”

He increases the speed of his walk to the point that it’s leaving a wind trail behind him.

“Stop walking so fast will you? Wait up!”

He takes a left turn and quickly comes upon the faculty room. Stopping in an instant, Shirai bumps into his back and the two stumble for balance.

“Wuah!”---“Eeep!”

She just about falls over, but Tani grabs her wrist and keeps her upright just in time.

“T-Thank you.”

“Sensei.”

Tani’s face is stern, and Shirai feels like she’s in the process of melting while looking at him; she imagines the feeling of his grip on her wrist like fuzzy handcuffs and lets her fantasy absolutely sprint off with her rational mind.

“I need you not to be your normal self now, it's time to focus.”

To her, that request came across like the perfect mix between a demand and a beg.

“So manly…” she mutters with a blush. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

Too concerned with their upcoming meeting, he doesn’t notice any of the effects his actions are having on her. He lets go of her wrist and opens up the faculty room to head to Togashi’s office. Shirai silently trails behind him as they pass by the other teachers and their piles of paperwork and filing cabinets.

Reaching the corner of the large room they get to the office and he knocks on the door. It gently opens inwards and the two are greeted by the soft and welcoming old face of Togashi.

“Please, come in.” he says, gesturing inside with a tight friendly bow.

Once there, Shirai says her greetings and proceeds to have a seat on one of the two large leather chairs in front of the Principal’s large oak desk. The office has the look of a miniature library with filled bookshelves lining the walls, the areas not covered by those shelves have framed diplomas and awards from many years of educational work. With how neatly organized everything is from the philodendron hanging in the window to the little bonsai tree placed neatly on his desk, Togashi very obviously enjoys presenting himself as orderly and put together.

The atmosphere would read as intimidating to most; even Shirai is never comfortable when she’s in this office despite being an educator herself.

Togashi walks behind his desk and kindly suggests, “Akihiro-kun, please take a seat.”

“No thanks, I’ll stand.”

The Principal holds himself in place halfway between sitting and standing and sends him a sharp glare.

“..!!” Shirai tenses up and grabs the armrests of the chair. The energy in the room just became absolutely radioactive out of nowhere.

Togashi takes a moment to think upon his next move and decides to take his seat; although ceding the dominant position to his student, he at least didn’t broadcast the optics of altering his original plan due to the actions of Tani.

“You must think this meeting will go by quickly then, huh?”

Tani shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t see why it should take longer than it needs to. I’m just here to give you the plans.”

“Is that so?” Togashi says, resting his chin on his clasped hands. “I don’t recall asking for your input. I simply requested that you come here so I can explain the details of what we expect out of you.”

“Then go ahead and explain.”

Shirai has no idea what is happening between these two, all she can do is hold her tongue and watch as they trade verbal barbs as though they were two tennis players smacking an unexploded grenade back and forth instead of a ball.

“So then, as the Principal and Chairman of this school, a dear friend of mine from Tokyo U brought up the idea that I volunteer a club of ours with students looking to broaden their horizons in the world of higher education.”

Tani is pretty sure he is the only one in his club committed to going to a high level college, and it isn’t even Tokyo U he’s shooting for, so he’s confused as to why Togashi wouldn't just send the science or math club. He refuses to make his confusion known and stands there looking down on his Principal while he continues to explain.

“I took it upon myself to suggest the highest ranking student of our school use his club to broadcast the academic accomplishments of our student body. They expect an accurate representation of the best parts of our curriculum.”

Again, he doesn’t understand why he chose the Languages club for that. Anita is barely scraping by as it is, Charl is almost failing English, Emilia and Mariko have average grades, and although Ume is quite high up the list as far as the school rankings go, she wouldn’t be considered a whiz in any particular subject.

There can be only one reason why Togashi would do this, and Tani feels like he is on the verge of confirming his suspicions.

“With you there, surely you’d impress not only the administration of Tokyo U, but also Dr. Mizuno Arai and TIU’s faculty staff, who will have a booth right next to yours.”

And there it is.

It’s a total set up meant to see him fail.

Tani can even see the devilish smirk Togashi is failing to mask.

“And what if I refuse?”

“Imagine how disappointed they would be? After I so enthusiastically volunteered you, shrinking away from the challenge would look a lot worse on you than me.”

“Ha!” Tani puts his free hand on his hip and sticks his nose up. “Me, shrink away from a challenge? Don’t make me laugh.” Walking up to the desk, he tosses the folder containing his plans right in front of the Principal. “If you want my club to make a good impression on your academia buddies, this is how we’re going to do it.”

Skeptically opening up the folder and peering at its contents, Togashi has a hard time stifling a laugh with each page he flips. Once finished, he shuts the folder and unceremoniously drops it in the bin next to him.

“Not a chance.”

“Mr. Principal!” Shirai is forced to speak up, she has even let a little frown pull her eyebrows down. “The club worked really hard on that, how could you disregard it so easily??”

Togashi almost forgot that his fellow staff member has been sitting there this entire time, and he does his best to return the soft face he presents to everyone else except Tani. “Shirai-sensei, the funding for Kokusai’s booth comes directly from the School Budget. We can’t afford such a grandiose presentation, we owe it to the students who have been paying Membership fees to keep costs down. What Akihiro-kun has just shown me is far too expensive.”

“B-But…” Shirai leans back in her chair and squeezes at her skirt to quell her disappointment.

“Too expensive, you say?” Tani says in a way that makes Togashi’s heart sink.

“T-That’s right. You will have to do the booth I have planned for you.”

“Ohh?”

Tani puts his hands behind his back and begins to pace around the office, looking at all the items hanging on the walls from old books to framed pictures. The silence builds an unbelievable amount of tension, and an unpleasant sweat falls from the Principal’s temple when Tani stops in front of his framed TIU graduation diploma.

“I learned something pretty interesting yesterday.” He says, keeping his eyes locked on the somewhat weathered diploma dating all the way back from 1971. “A couple months ago there was a very large sum of money deposited into our School Budget from the Japan Foundation’s Designated Donations Program.”

Togashi is unconsciously shaking his leg underneath his desk, but he tries to play it cool.

“And what of it?”

“I just found the conditions that the President of the Foundation and you the Submitter accepted to be rather interesting, considering that the donation came from Anita’s mother.”

“L-Listen, there’s nothing wrong with accepting donations from the parents of students. Those were allocated properly and have been used to really benefit Kokusai.”

“Allocated properly?” Tani still hasn’t turned around. “All 45 million yen of it?”

“45 million!?” Shirai bellows in disbelief.

“It was actually 35,” Togashi replies, feigning a confidence he doesn’t truly have. “And all of it went into general repairs, teacher’s supplies and the grounds crew to keep our campus looking as beautiful as ever. I don’t see the problem here.”

“There is no problem with that.”

“If you’re insinuating that we can just use that donation money for your booth you’ll be sorely disappointed, much of that fund already went into the student body's club program.”

“That’s not the issue here, Togashi.”

Decorum is downright abandoned, the way Tani spat out the Principal's name would suggest an incoming attack. The old man’s shaking legs go mach speed, they seem to move fast enough that it could lift his heavy oak desk right into the air.

“Get to the point..!”

“You were right, 35 million did go to the school, but the total donation was certainly 45 million. Which made me curious, what happened to that missing 10?”

Togashi is glowing in perspiration.

“You’re mistaken, Akihiro-kun, the JFDDP handled the fund transfer and that’s all we got. I have the receipts inside my desk here. There is nothing missing.”

“As you may not know, Icelandic law states that all foreign donations to entities or individuals are a matter of public record.”

“....”

“After analyzing the paper trail I noticed something funny alongside Ms. Liljadottir’s donation to Kokusai--- it was a nice side check of 10 million JPY issued to a man named Suzuki Togataro.”

“!!!”

“Hey,” Tani says, scratching under his chin and leaning in close to analyze the diploma he's been staring at. “Did you know there’s a smudge right by your name on here? Or is that an eraser mark..? It almost looks as though there is---”

“That’s nothing!” Togashi shouts, abruptly standing to his feet and almost knocking his chair over. Suddenly remembering the presence of Shirai, he sees her concerned face and manages to hold back a complete meltdown.

“Nothing? Hmm, if you say so,” Tani says and turns away from the diploma. He sends Togashi a knowing smirk that gives him the presence of the devil himself. “Suzuki Togataro is a name I didn’t think would come up again, though I’m happy to hear you still keep in contact with him. He must be a really good friend of yours to have been by your side since the 70’s.”

Togashi is completely crushed. Suzuki Togataro is no friend of his, because Principal Togashi is Togataro. Due to his role in the Rengo Sekigun he had to change his name and start all over from scratch upon graduating college, and Tani is very obviously insinuating his knowledge of that. His real name is written underneath his current name on his college diploma hanging on the wall, he doctored it many years prior to conceal evidence of his past life. He’s managed to keep this secret hidden for a half a century only for a high school student to hold it over his head now.

The truth is, Togashi has kept his true identity and his Japanese Individual Number in order to keep up to date with the government census. He’s even opened up a bank account and occasionally put money in for tax purposes and obtained government pension benefits. Of course, this is all a total crime, turns out Togashi never stopped fighting against the system in his own way, only this would more or less be considered ripping it off.

When he talked to a representative of Ms. Liljadottir over the phone about enrolling Anita into the school with only a couple week’s notice, the rep had originally offered three times as much money. A transfer of a cash amount that high would bring far too much attention, so Togashi insisted they didn’t need such a massive donation. He figured accepting a little bit of a ‘commission’ to be skimmed off the top wouldn’t hurt anyone since the original offer was so much higher. Anita’s mother didn’t even ask any questions when he requested the money be put into the account of his real name just in case anyone in his orbit ever went snooping around.

If Tani really wanted to, this would destroy his life far worse than the toilet debacle with Yoshitaka-sensei. One would result in a severe public shaming and the other would result in prison time. His ruthless student has really decided to up the ante as far as their rivalry is concerned, so much so that he doubts he can even use his relationship with the academic board of TIU to keep Tani within arm’s length. Akihiro Tani has officially treaded onto uncharted waters and could absolutely drown Togashi if he dared follow suit.

Togashi wants no part of going against that monster in those waters. He knows exactly how guilty he is.

“H-He and I are very close.”

“I know, I even saw that he recently bought you a nice new car?”

“Ngh!” The principal bites his tongue.

“So it had me wondering, maybe he’d be so kind as to fund the Languages club booth for the upcoming festival? I’m sure there’s still plenty of cash left, and I bet he’d want to make sure Ms Liljadottir’s sweet angel of a daughter had the best possible high school experience while she’s here.”

Togashi lets a dreadful smile twist his face, looking as uncomfortable as someone in the process of being strangled with piano wire by a mobster.

“He most certainly would..!”

“Good, so go ahead and look through those plans again and make sure we have the budget for everything we need.”

“Yes yes, no problem!” he replies as he rushes to pull the folder out of the bin.

Tani puffs before looking towards an extremely confused Shirai and saying, “Sensei, let's head back to our club and tell them the good news.”

“O-Okay.”

Togashi rushes from behind his desk and bumps his hip on the corner of it in a big thud. Ignoring the pain and embarrassment he gets to the door and opens it for them; with a few rapid and very low bows he wishes them farewell.

And just like that, Tani secured the exact vision he and the rest of the club had made for the Gogatsusai festival. Now back in the hallway, even he finds himself excited; with TIU’s booth being right next to him they are going to be able to see an impressive spectacle that will really showcase how well he would suit the Model UN club once he attends college.

That pleased smile of his yanks a question out of Shirai. “Akihiro-kun… I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“Like what? Absolute control over a situation?” Tani proudly sticks his chest out. “Ha! I bet that’ll be the last time Togashi ever tries to cross me, he’ll have to accept the fact that I'll always win against him.”

“That’s exactly what I mean!”

Tani looks to her and sees that she’s holding her clenched fists in front of her as though she were a child gazing upon a superhero in the flesh. “The Principal has a reputation amongst us teachers for being the most stubborn and intimidating boss ever! I’ve never even seen him budge, how did you pull it off??”

Obviously Tani can’t answer her genuine curiosity, if he did he’d have to explain that her intimidating boss is actually a career criminal who has everything to lose. Spilling the beans to anyone about that won’t do him any good, it’s much more valuable to have Togashi as a pawn than out of the picture entirely.

“If you spend enough time around me, you’ll see that people like Togashi are easy to deal with.” 

He intentionally tries to be vague, but it comes across nonchalant and extra cool to her.

“Wow! I thought you were manly before, but this is next level! You’re nothing like the boys I read about in the magazines!”

“Don’t ruin my triumph with your antics, can’t you see I’m on a high here??” He groans as he speeds up his walk to create space from her.

To his surprise, this time he can’t shake her. Her head is like an owl with its eyes locked on a target despite moving its entire body.

“Aren’t you a little too close to me!?”

“Tell me how?”

Tani stops and lets a villainous smirk take charge of his face. Shirai stops in her tracks and is too enthralled by him to notice the shift.

“How, you ask?” he says, pushing his glasses further up the brim of his nose. “It’s quite simple, really. Togashi is the kind of guy who who will always put his pride in his image over anything else, you make people like that budge by putting their image on the line."

This is an oversimplified and only half true explanation, the truth is much worse. Anyone would budge if their freedom is what is actually on the line.

Shirai tilts her head, “I don’t get it..."

“You don’t need to get it, it's not like you'll ever need to learn how to push someone around to get your way.”

"Well it all worked out in the end, you did great, Akihiro-kun. I think the festival will be as fun as everyone wants it to be."

Tani's posture once again relaxes, and he lets his arms swing a little bit as he walks. "In the end, that's all I was hoping to accomplish in this meeting. Togashi was just the main obstacle in the way of all of us having a good time together."

“Hmmm." She says, her mauve eyes dissecting the uniquely gentle expression he's wearing. "So you are just trying to enjoy spending time with your friends. Maybe that's what has been so different about you lately?”

“...What?”

“What?”

“No.”

“No?”

“No.”

“Oh...”

Tani laughs, pats her on the shoulder and continues to walk towards the clubroom. “I just have a new objective that I’m after.”

“Ahh geez, you're being so confusing!” Shirai pouts and jogs behind him to catch up. “One second you’re talking about one thing, the next second you’re talking about another. Just what are you trying to do here?”

“Heh, I’m just trying to do my best.” He says with a confident smile and a gait so powerful that it seems like wings have sprouted from his back and are propelling him forward. “And that doesn’t only mean that I will be enjoying my time spent with friends…"

He pauses for a moment, clenches his fists and finishes, 

"It also means I have a big Icelandic fish to fry.”

Today’s UN Lesson --- 'Adjustment' doesn't necessarily mean change! Did you Expect Anything Different?

Volume 2: End