It’s not long into his arrival that Kaoru had started explaining the finer points and elegance of calligraphy to those who had (for the sake of not splitting hairs) brought him here. He’d had to start from the beginning which was one of the less annoying things he’s had to do in his life, explaining what kanji were.

As he continued explaining he wondered if perhaps talking about Carla or skateboarding would have been a better topic. Honestly, anything from his world would probably have worked. The lightbulb or even a damn rice cooker would be intriguing. Not so much for their advanced nature, but because these people simply seemed to enjoy hearing everyone talk about their own worlds.

When they explain the game is meant to be a sort of ice breaker, Kaoru isn’t concerned. He’s dealt with worse. He’s dealt with youth hostels that Kojiro chose for European vacations. How horrible could this be?

Then the words wrote their way above his head: Hopeful

"Of all the …" The words were like hissed venom. This was not a small secret. This was something he worked well to hide underneath layers of indifference and intellect. This was an invasion of privacy and he wasn’t going to stand here and deal with it.

He turned to head out the door but found himself surrounded by people.

Username:Cherryblossom
Kaoru, I like Italian.