Language Barriers || Charlie

Not a talkative one, this Charlie was. Well, he was aware that Japanese wasn't her first language. Still, it was a bit awkward- He couldn't read her facial expressions, for obvious reasons, so he couldn't exactly tell what the girl was thinking. Were her curt answers simply due to her unfamiliarity with Japanese? Or was she simply not interested in conversing with him? The white-haired boy rubbed his head awkwardly. With his luck, it could easily be both.

Well, he had promised Tsutsuji-sensei that he would try, after all. If Charlie didn't want to talk, there wasn't much he could do about it, so he may as well just hope she was just uncomfortable with the language? His English could not be compared to that of his girlfriend, but... it should be passable, right? "<Ah, you would be more com, com... Complicated, speaking English?>"

Ah, no, that wasn't the right word. Comfortable, comfortable... What was that in English again? Ah, hopefully she got his meaning. Was this how it felt like for her to try and speak Japanese? It must be tough. "Do I like... Ah, the festival? <I am, having fun. This is, my first time, with such a large... population?>" Ah no, that was close, but had more of a connatation of population. Crowd, what would be a better word for crowd...?

"<I must sorry, for my English. It is, bad, I know.> Wow, he didn't realize just how bad he was at English until he tried to hold a conversation in it. But on the bright side, it was better to find out now than during a test! Besides, a chance to practice conversational English wasn't all that common, surprisingly enough- So many of the exchange students spoke Japanese, some of them even more fluently than Haruto! As such, conversations tended to default to the local language.

"<Are you, joined, in any of the... races?>"

Alright, so he wasn't quite sure if his gamble had paid off or not. Charlie did sound perkier, but she insisted on speaking Japanese. Had he misunderstood something? However, the more he spoke, and the more awkwardly, the more excited it seemed Charlie was getting. "<<Yes, practice!>>" Haruto replied, getting caught up in her enthusiasm. Despite her saying Japanese was fine, he knew that she had perked up significantly from his attempt at English- Well, maybe she was just laughing at him inside- But he'd rather that than awkwardness of their initial attempt at conversation!

Oh, so she was in the cavalry battle, was she? "Cavalry, in English, is... Hmm. I know <<horse>> but... Ah, <<Horse back battle, sounds, fun. Do you, know,>> Haruto paused for a moment, trying to fetch the right word from his vocabulary, before finally admitting defeat and asking in Japanese. "Teammates?" Despite being class president, he couldn't claim to be familiar with the arrangements for the festival. Did the cavalry battle participants choose their team in advance, or would it be assigned on the day of?

"<<Me, am doing, rescue.>> Haruto supplied without being asked- Although he mistakenly used the wrong pronoun. "<<Should be, interesting.>>" The white-haired student had significantly changed his direction after the disaster at Semper Fi. No longer was he content to just be a doctor- He wanted to be able to save people that were in front of him. And so, he had redoubled his efforts, and added some of the school's optional rescue training to his courseload- Some of which went better than others. Still, this sports festival was, to him, a chance to show the results of this. That he wasn't the useless boy who could hardly to more than curl up in a corner while others saved the day anymore.

And if he was wrong, well, he could only worry about that when it came to it.

However, Charlie followed up with a non-sequitur which caught the vice-president a bit off guard. "Well, yes. Tsutsuji-sensei suggested that you might have be having a hard time getting used to Japan, and hoped that I could help you settle in. Honestly, I had wanted to catch you sooner... But, well, as you can see, that didn't happen. Why do you ask?" Haruto switched back to Japanese for his explanation, feeling unconfident in his ability to explain well in English. Still, with a better grasp on Charlie's knowledge of Japanese, he made an effort to speak just that little bit clearer, and to avoid harder words that she might not know.

He didn't know why she had asked, nor did he have any reason to hide it. Still, he had to wonder what had prompted this question. Did it really matter if someone had told him to? Did he really need a reason to talk to a new classmate, especially as one of the two leaders of the class? Did she think it was like that stereotypical scenario where someone lost a bet and had to confess to their classmate? But this wasn't even a confession, he was just talking to her! Why would there be a problem with that?

Haruto could only rub his head awkwardly as the word he was looking for was supplied to him. "<<Teammates, yes.>>" Languages were hard, he couldn't blame Charlie for her struggles in the slightest. "<<I see. It is for me same.>>" That grammar sounded wrong, even to Haruto. So he took a second stab at it."<<Err, It is, same, for me?">>" In any case, the point should have gotten across. Though the rescue group overall had met earlier... Well, it hadn't gone too well, but that was besides the point. Anyways, they didn't know how the group would be split up, although they did know that there were four individual courses being set up. Or would they be working as one large group to do all four courses?

Well, anyways, it seemed that this was the case for more than just his group. "Hard to be ready, not knowing teammates." Haruto supplied. There was only so much practice that could be done without being able to work with the people you would actually be with during the event. He could only imagine it was even worse for the cavalry battle, which would have an even greater focus on teamwork and matching each other's movements.

Hearing the reason Charlie had been suspicious of his approach, Haruto's heart sank. "Seriously!? For someone, a student of UA to say such a thing, no less... Who was it? Er, <<Do you know who it was?>>" Haruto asked in English, his anger apparent. For someone who wanted to be a student to mock their classmates... If he didn't give them a piece of his mind, he would at least report this to a teacher!

Of course, she didn't remember. Haruto frowned, his anger unabated. Seriously, who among his classmates would make fun of how someone else spoke? He wanted to say that no one came to mind, but... On second thought, there were a few whose verbal filters seemed nonexistent. Still, he would have thought his classmates to have more sense, than this! How should we say- Shouldn't prospective heroes know that if they didn't have anything nice to say, then to not say it at all?

"I can see, why you would think that way." Haruto responded. It was just a case of bad timing, really. Seriously, if he knew who did it! He would give them a stern lecture, for sure! Hmph! "You're doing very well for three months." Haruto assured. Wasn't his English as bad or worse, and he'd been learning for how many years now? "Everyone's just spoiled by the perfect English of all our other exchange students. You'll get there. They do say that immersion is the fastest way to learn, right?"

He chose to ignore the words which he did not understand, exactly, but were obviously nothing polite. Let Charlie vent- It would do her good to vent some of the stress. Though, he wasn't quite sure what she meant by her last words- What exactly was it that teachers always said? "I'm sorry?" Haruto asked. "What, do teachers always say?"

Charlie suggested that the teammates would be chosen randomly- Well, that seemed likely, given the circumstances. "<<We will have knowledge soon.>>" There was only so much time before the events would begin, after all. Haruto smiled awkwardly. Saying that had reminded him of just how little time he had to prepare for the rescue mission. <<Ah, I am not ready!>>" The boy complained, even though it was pointless to say so at this point. Surprisingly, he managed to maintain his use of English, despite this outburst.

As Charlie explained what she had meant, Haruto found it easier to understand. However, the arthropod mutant had made a mistake- She thought that Haruto did this for all of his new classmates. This wasn't true- While he was responsible for helping them settle into the class, this was the first time he had gone out of his way to track one of them down outside of class to offer help. Should he correct her on that, or let her hold her misconception? He wasn't sure how she would react to being singled out this way, after all. Perhaps it would be better to tell a white lie, and not risk upsetting her?

However, on the other hand, Haruto truly did hate telling lies, even by omission. And if he did do this, and she found out from another source later, wouldn't she be even more upset about having been lied to about it? "I see, but, umm-I'm sorry, but, uh- It's uh, not just because you're new. I mean, Tsutsuji-sensei hasn't asked me to do this for any of our other transfer students, so..." Haruto tried to explain it in a way that wouldn't hurt Charlie's feelings, but had no clue if he had succeeded. It didn't help that he had spent so much time searching for the right words that his speech had been awkward and faltering.

In any case, the girl had started speaking in English despite having refused to earlier, which was not the best sign. "Oh, no, no- <<I do, understand. I think. It is, about, uh...>> Intention, <<Right?>>" She was saying that because his intentions were good, it was fine that he was doing this because he was told to, right? That he hadn't treated it like a chore and been disinterested, instead going out of his way to try and help the newcomer to feel more comfortable.

Haruto was only able to sit awkwardly and look at Charlie. As before, he found the girl's crustacean-esque face difficult to read. However, her narrowed eyes suggested exactly what Haruto was afraid of. That she was angry about being treated so differently from everyone else. The white-haired boy's heart sank. It was the right thing to do, so why did it feel so bad? Things had been going so well, and Haruto just had to ruin it by telling the truth. And what was the full truth, even? He hadn't been told the full story, about why Charlie needed to be singled out like this. Was it really just that she was unused to Japanese, or was there more to the story?

Haruto wouldn't normally come to this conclusion, but it was already quite odd that Charlie struggled with the language so much. All of the other exchange students spoke nearly as well as native speakers- Which really should be the exception. However, what this suggested is that the other students had simply had more time to prepare before moving to Japan. Could Charlie have a special situation that led to all of this? Was there even a way of asking that without making things a million times worse, and more awkward?

Probably not. Haruto fidgeted as he waited for Charlie to say something, anything. To blame him for being patronizing, or something. Anything was better than this awful silence. But in the end, the girl would just look down, and say a few meek words. Then back to an awkward silence. Haruto fidgeted a little, unsure of what to say. "<<Umm. Uh. I am sorry, I did not intend to upset you.>>" Haruto would start by apologizing in English, using the other's native language in order to show his sincerity, despite his awkward enunciation and phrasing.

He really wished he could start this over from the beginning, but there were things which could not be taken back.