Political Propaganda

"I can't believe we got locked inside the storage room,” Gimei said. “All because Henry got our phones confiscated and wanted to get them back! Now we have to wait for someone to look for us and find us here."

"Thanks for doing a recap of the previous chapter in case someone missed it." Henry explained the joke.

"No problem.”

“Also, I’m sorry.”

“No, no, I’m having fun!” Apparently Henry wasn’t the only one to enjoy the situation

“Good then! Since we are waiting anyway, why don't we talk about ourselves to pass the time? C'mon, what are you guys's fetishes?" Henry asked, somehow expecting to be taken seriously.

"I know!" Chiharu lit up, "I’ll throw Henry out the window! Then he can go ask for help."

"C'mon guys, don't be so harsh on him." Riku defended his friend. "He already told you he's bad at socializing."

"When did I ever say that?"

"On your first day here, with your self-introduction."

"I don't remember that part of my speech..."

"You didn't explicitly say it, but everyone got the message."

"T-that’s not true! I can socialize! Look… Chiharu! …Ehm… Your… twin tails are so long and twirly... Does something special happen if I pull on them?"

“Yes! If you pull on the right one you get a punch, and if you pull on the left one you get a kick!" She smiled.

"And if I pull on both at the same time?"

"A burial."

"Hmm, maybe later."

Henry couldn’t think of anything else to talk about, and so the “conversation” abruptly came to an end... The room was hit with a wave of awkward silence.

“C’mon guys, give me a hand here…”

“Not how he’s doing it, but he is right in saying we should talk about something. It’ll help ease the tension and pass the time.” Rohou salvaged the situation.

“Right.” Hajime suddenly spoke. “Say Henry, how many times did you trap your classmates back in America?”

“Not as often as you might think! I decided to skip my second year of high school, so I didn't get as many chances…”

“You were already a second year?”

“Yes, actually. Funny thing about that, they put me back in the first year when I got here.”

“You failed that hard?” Chiharu asked, knowing what she was doing.

“No! The school system works differently in Japan. They put me in the first year so that I’d be the same age as the rest of the class.”

“You are repeating your first year and yet you still can’t get a good grade?” Hajime came in with the kill!

“Nice one!” Chiharu and Hajime laughed together.

“Alright Hajime, don’t forget that you’re supposed to be a kuudere!”

“I guess I might be more of a yandere.” She smiled self-sufficiently.

“Wait, you know about dere types?”

“Let’s talk about the next topic! Your name is weird!” She smoothly avoided the question.

“My name?! You’re called Pika! Like some sort of heavily copyrighted mouse creature!”

“You're angry because you already know you will never get to call me that.”

“It's not like everyone else does…”

“They can now. Everyone here except for Henry can call me by first name, if they want!”

“Really?” Chiharu was surprised.

“Wow Henry, you really bring out the worst in her.” Gimei didn't know whether to be surprised or concerned. Either way she was happy.

"Well, I’m fine with not calling you that, since you and everyone else already call me by my first name!" Henry told them with a petty tone.

"What!?" They all said in unison, with various degrees of emotional nuance depending on the person. Their tones ranged from wonder all the way down to disgust.

"My first name is Henry! I know I presented myself as Henry Tailer, but I forgot that in Japan you put the surname first. I only realized later that I should've said Tailer Henry, but I'm used to being called by first name so it's fine."

"No it's not! I've been using your first name all this time?!" Hajime cried. Not cried out, she cried. "I feel dirty..."

"And I feel hurt." Replied Tailor.

"Both your names sound like a first name! No wonder I was confused!"

“C’mon, I don't think it’s that big of a deal!” He did not expect such a negative reaction, “We call Momoko by her first name all the time and no one bats an eye!”

"You do? I've never realized!" Said Momoko.

"Jeez, how could you not realize? Even now, I called you Momoko."

"Wait a minute, I thought Momoko was a nickname." Rohou said, not as shaken by Henry’s reveal (but still a little bit shaken).

"Momoko isn't my nickname." She made things clear. "It isn't my first name either." She made things difficult. "You guys, Momoko is my family name!" she laughed at the ignorance of her classmates. Her classmates, in response, didn't believe her.

"Are you sure? Doesn’t it sound exactly like a cute nickname?" Rohou tried to compensate for his mistake.

"How do you write it then?" Gimei spoke up.

"Mo-mo-ko." She said, slowly.

"...I mean, what kanji do you use?"

"You write it with hiragana, obviously."

"Your name is Momoko Ronnou. Family name Momoko, written with hiragana, and first name Ronnou, written with kanji?" Henry asked, starting to doubt what he had learnt about Japanese naming conventions.

"That's right!"

"And what’s the kanji for Ronnou?" asked Rohou, without any ulterior motives related to the kanji spelling of his own name.

"論脳."

"Ah, could you say the kanji’s meaning for the readers who don't know Japanese?" Henry made a normal request.

"Ron from paper and nou from brain!" She happily exclaimed.

The rest of the group stopped. They looked at her, some feeling apologetic, others unimpressed, but no one said anything.

“Did you hear that tomorrow we’re going to have independent study for the first period?” Rohou looked at Henry.

“No, but I’m more than happy to switch topics!”

“Don’t actually say that!”

The conversation drifted towards school and the subjects they were studying. Riku sat on the floor, and everyone else decided to follow him sooner or later, realizing, but not actually wanting to admit it, that their freedom was taking longer than they imagined. Nothing ridiculous was said, mostly because Henry didn’t participate in the conversation. He didn’t have anything to say about their studies, and not because he wasn’t studying, but for some other made up reason.

Things went back to being awkward when Henry noticed Chiharu fidgeting.

“Are you ok Chiharu? You've been bouncing on the spot for the past 5 minutes.” Henry was surprisingly apprehensive.

“Shut your mouth!” And yet it still wasn't well received. “I'm just so excited to be locked in here with you that I can't stop moving!”

“You have to pee, don't you?”

A broom made its way towards Henry, but he managed to dodge it for once! It penetrated the metal locker behind him and got stuck.

“Mind your own business, will you?!” Chiharu's face was getting red.

“I'm sorry, but I've been in this situation many times through video games! Whenever people get stuck in a room, someone's bladder will inevitably fail!”

“Play better games!”

“Please, Chiharu, this is a blessing for you! Thanks to those games I already know the best solution for your problem!”

“...What is it?”

"Don't worry if you can't use the bathroom,” Henry pointed both his hands at his gaping maw, “You always have me!”

She jumped on him like a lion on a gazelle. Dragging his head through the floor, and leaving a Henry-shaped line in the wooden pavement, she brought him to a desk and slammed his back on it. She then jumped on the desk and backflipped off it, catching the back of his head under her arm and smashing it powerfully on the floor.

With one foot over his motionless body, she claimed her victory. The crowd exploded with cheers and applause! It was actually just Hajime, but it was enough to make Chiharu happy.

“I can hurt him more if you want!” she appealed to her audience.

“Should we do something about it?” Rohou whispered to Riku.

“He told me he likes it.”

“...That’s in character, I guess. Hey,” Rohou approached Chiharu and made her drop the metal locker she had raised over her head. “H-how about we play a game to pass the time?”

“I am playing a game.”

“How about a… less violent one? Like shiritori!”

“We can't!” Henry screamed, his voice muffled by Chuharu's sole. “It's way too hard to translate into English!”

“Do you have another game then?”

“I do!” Gimei spoke up, and Henry immediately felt a chill run down his spine but we’ll ignore that, “Alright, the game is called “Siege” and these are the rules. We decide two team leaders who will have to choose people and make their team. Each team gets a set number of lockers, desks, chairs, anything we can find in the room, as building materials. We have ten minutes to build a small fort, team A on this corner and team B on the opposite one, which will act as the team’s base. Behind the fort will be the team leader, who will act as the king and is not allowed to move. The objective of the game is to tear down or sneak into the opponent team’s fort, kidnap the king, and bring it to their corner before someone snatches it away! Doing so will earn you a point. The first team to reach three points is the winner!”

“No.” Rohou quickly answered, “How about a real game?”

“Like a deathmatch?” Chiharu cracked her knuckles.

“Less bloody?”

“That one knife game ” Riku raised his hand.

“I’m not going to ask.”

“Baseball!” said Momoko.

“You think we can play baseball inside a storage room?!”

“Oh, I thought the game was trying to guess the right game.”

“Can we really not agree on anything to do to have some fun?”

“I'm having fun!” Hajime smiled while throwing things at Henry’s body.

“Can I propose a game?” Henry asked, still lying on the floor.

“No!”

“At least give me a chance!” He stood up. “And also, who put you in command?”

“I’m not in command, I’m only trying to keep us calm.”

“I’m fine with him in command.” said Momoko.

“To be fair, he was able to stay calm from the start…” Gimei added.

“And he also helped us not panic multiple times.” Chiharu multiplied.

“You’re such a great guy, thank you so much Rohou!” Hajime elevated to the power of two, while also looking straight at Henry.

Rohou began to blush and fidget a little.

“This sucks!” Henry cried out. “I’m the one who’s supposed to get on the girls’ good side, not him! If that’s the case then we should all just leave!” He stood up, walked to the door, took the key out of his pocket and unlocked it.

He started to walk outside, but a dark presence grasped his shoulder and stopped him from moving.

“You… had… THE KEY?!” Chiharu roared.

The floor shook, lockers toppled over, and pieces of the ceiling fell to the floor. Some guy began screaming about a successful experiment from the floor above.

“I-It was inside the lock when I arrived.” Henry whispered, unsure if his voice was giving out because of the embarrassment or the physical pain.

“Why did you not tell us?” The words slowly emanated from Chiharu in bold characters.

“I wanted us to bond a little... And it worked, didn’t it?”

“Hahah!” Riku laughed, “What a weird guy.”

Chiharu detached the legs from a nearby desk and “bonded” Henry with them shibari style. She tied him up by bending the metal bars around his body, making it impossible for him to do anything but stand on the spot and hop a little.

“The metal’s too tight… I-I can’t feel my hands.” Henry wheezed.

“Good.” Chiharu smiled.

Flicking his forehead, she made him fall helplessly to the ground.

“And you better explain to the teacher why I’m late!” She sprinted to the bathroom with her legs closed tightly.

“That was great.” Hajime approached him. “But next time you want to get beaten up by Chiharu, maybe just tell me to come and watch instead of locking me in a room.”

“I don't think I—”

She stopped his mouth with a black marker, before drawing a clown's mask on his face. Satisfied, she left the room.

“Oh, next time can you lock us outside? That way I can go home if I get bored.” Momoko asked him.

Henry didn't really know how to answer.

“Alright, see you tomorrow!” She left.

“Classes aren't over yet…”

“I don’t condone violence, but I think you deserved it this time.” Rohou looked down on him before leaving.

“Wait, isn’t this the second time something like this has happened today?” Henry noticed.

"Henry..." Gimei crouched next to him.

Henry did not have the strength to look her in the eyes, afraid of the damage he had done.

"That was... pretty adventurous!"

He looked up in shock and saw Gimei smiling. He wanted to say some smart line to make it seem as if it was all planned from the start, but he did not have the charisma for it. Gimei left without saying anything else.

“C’mon, you’ve had enough fun for today.” Riku picked him up and made him stand.

“I think I might be doomed.”

“I’m sure they’ll forgive you eventually, if you don’t do anything worse.”

“I thought we could have some fun, but I ended up hurting them… Agh! I’m never going to get a harem at this rate! It’s been a week since I started school and I don’t even have a plausible first candidate!”

“I still don’t understand what that is but if it’s really that important to you, I could join your harem.”

Henry looked at him in shock.

“You would?”

“If you want me to.”

“...That is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.” His eyes were teary, although it was probably from the metal bounds. “Thank you.”

And so, Henry and his first harem member(??) went back to their class, one walking, the other hopping on his feet.

POSTFACE

GLOSSARY?:

Yandere: A character, usually not male, who is actually just a psychopath. If you think that's bad, wait till you learn about the people who actually like them.

First name: In Japan, calling someone by first name means you are so close with that person that you’d be willing to use the same bath, the same toothbrush, the same toilet, maybe even at the same time, without batting an eye.

Kanji & Hiragana: Because having one set of symbols clearly wasn't enough, Japanese has three. Hiragana, which are a way to represent the sounds and phonetics, and don't have an intrinsic meaning, Katakana, which are the same but aren't, and Kanji, which are hell.

Shiritori: As Henry said, it's way too hard to translate it into English.