Another Cliche Lunch Thread [Kenji]

Although Kenji was predisposed to wander during lunch periods in lieu of finding a place to sit and eat, he felt like doing a bit of people-watching today. It wasn't a frequent hobby of his, but every now and then, he just wanted to see what others were doing. Thus, he took his daily loaf of melon bread with him into the cafeteria when it came to be lunchtime.

It was rather packed today. Must be some kind of special or a scheduled fight, Kenji surmised. Whichever one was correct, or even if neither was, it didn't concern him. Popping the wrapper and taking his first bite, he scanned the rows and rows of tables as well as those setting up shop against the walls. Most of the usual suspects, some missing, some new, as was the way of the 552 student body: it was always changing, and a handful of students had 'extracurricular activities' to attend to at any given time.

Not that he was much different, anyway.

Kenji noticed something new as his eyes fell on a corner of the cafeteria. A blonde-haired kid with a lanky build, who rather looked like he'd seen some shit in his time, although exactly what was unknown. He mumbled unheard words to a plushie that looked distinctly like its owner before pulling out a mutilated-looking doll, taking his fork, and shanking it in the neck with a smile. How odd, yet compared to the rest of the school population, it wasn't necessarily the weirdest thing Kenji had ever seen in the states. It made him curious as to the story that must lay behind the wispy student's eyes.

So that's what the ronin found himself doing, walking over to the corner. He stopped a polite several feet away, well within earshot, but not violating any sort of personal bubble. Probably. Glancing down, he offered the boy a light smile, inquiring, "Is this seat taken?" It would've made more sense to ask if he could join him on the floor, but breaking the ice with a more ironic question was closer to Kenji's nature.

As the boy stood and closed the distance till only a foot remained between them, Kenji had a better look at his face. He looked almost gaunt in complexion, a close cross between a sickly hue and a healthy one. It made him wonder exactly what his life was like, and he'd had yet to properly talk to the student. When he reached out toward his head, Kenji reflexively but gently blocked his hand at the wrist, harmlessly deflecting it aside, but inflicting no damage. It wasn't as if he was trying to attack, but the ronin did have a hangup about new people trying to touch him. Not entirely unfair, right?

When granted the opportunity to join him, followed by the dual mention of an experiment and cutting, Kenji began to wonder further about this unique teen. As always, he maintained a level of personal guard, neither lowering nor raising it for the person before him, though would once again harmlessly deflect any attempts at his hair, this time with a chuckle to diffuse any tension his instinctive parrying might've caused. "You're awfully touchy-feely, aren't you? Cute," he commented, then sat down next to his soon-to-be acquaintance, though with a small but fair bit of distance between them. After all, it was hardly proper to plop down so close to a stranger that your bodies were touching.

So it goes in Kenji's head, anyway.

"My name's Kenji, Miyamoto Kenji. What's yours? For that matter, what's this experiment of yours?" he inquired, taking a bite from his melon bread.

Suffering in mass despair, huh... Not to mention, watching people in pain. Kenji couldn't honestly say that he was into that sort of thing, at least as far as reality was concerned. In video games, it made for some serious fun, because it was all 100% fictional and exceptional stress relief, on top of being a good time waster. Given his experience in reading people, he had two particular feelings about this 'Tyler': that the name he used wasn't necessarily the one on his ID, and that something had happened in his younger years to make him wish pain and suffering on others.

With a masterful poker face picked up from years of wandering, fighting, and helping out his younger siblings, Kenji chuckled in response to Tyler's questions. "I definitely know how to render somebody pained or injured, crippled or worse even, but I tend to reserve that for those who deserve it. What makes you want to cause mass despair?" It was a question with twofold intent. The ronin was genuinely curious, and he also wanted to understand the boy a bit better.