Monsieur le Président, Mesdames et Messieurs les Députés, Mesdames et Messieurs les Députés,
C'est un triste jour à l'école où la chose la plus mouvementée qui se passe est une rencontre aléatoire avec un collègue du personnel qui ne pouvait manifestement pas penser à quoi que ce soit de pire que d'être autour de lui, et pourtant c'était un parfait résumé de la journée de Nicolas. C'est triste. Ça n'a rien à voir. C'est ennuyant. Les étudiants se précipitent vers lui pour obtenir des conseils sur des sujets qu'il n'était malheureusement pas qualifié pour discuter, le reste du personnel du bureau sur son cas pour son long déjeuner encore une fois, et une réunion avec Eric qui les a laissés épuisés. Nicolas était reconnaissant d'avoir ce travail, toutes choses considérées étant donné la fin plutôt...dramatique de son dernier concert d'enseignement, mais c'était souvent un bilan sur son bien-être. La plupart du temps, ces enfants n'avaient pas besoin de conseils. Ils avaient besoin d'une éducation et d'une pointe de bon sens, ce qui ne faisait que dire à Nicolas que certains enseignants faisaient un mauvais service à leurs élèves.
Il n'a pas donné de noms, bien sûr. Pas pendant les heures d'école de toute façon.
Il a toujours étonné Nico à quelle vitesse l'école s'est vidée quand la cloche finale a sonné. Les élèves ont pris pour toujours aller de classe en classe et pourtant dès que le jour a été fait, ils étaient rentrés à la maison en un clin d'œil. Bien sûr, certains sont restés derrière pour des clubs ou des activités, mais c'était encore impressionnant comment les salles pouvaient être si immobiles. Si calme. Donc... sans vie. En fait, c'était plutôt sympa. Nico avait son dossier attaché en main alors qu'il quittait le bureau d'orientation avec un peu de printemps à son pas et un sifflet dans la tête. Ses pieds sont tombés dans le couloir vers la sortie jusqu'au parking du personnel.
Et il l'a presque fait sans incident.
Ce n'était pas un cri que Nico a entendu, mais un rire, et pas un rire de quelqu'un qui venait d'entendre une blague très intelligente, très racée, mais le rire de quelqu'un jusqu'à pas bon. Il a suivi ses oreilles et arrondi un coin seulement pour souhaiter avoir vu quelque chose d'autre. N'importe quoi d'autre. Six élèves font quelque chose de loin, bien pire qu'intimider une cible de loin, bien pire qu'un étudiant. Ça n'a pas l'air bien d'où il se tenait, mais ça n'aurait jamais l'air bien d'un angle quelconque.
"Qu'est-ce qu'il y a, les gars?" Nico a annoncé sa présence aux six avec le même genre de smugness occasionnel qui a constitué son attitude régulière. "L'équipe de pom-pom girls a rejeté les guerriers du banc? Ce n'est pas la faute de M. Walker, n'est-ce pas? Bien que je me demande ce que le coach dirait à ça? Il ne voudrait sûrement pas qu'un tas de... mécontents bousculent l'uniforme, encore moins réchauffer le banc. Ou peut-être devrais-je appeler la liaison de la police, voir quelle est l'accusation pour agression? Vous pourriez souhaiter être en détention alors. Deux options, les gars. Tu t'éloignes et on appelle tes parents comme des gens responsables... ou j'ai les bonnes autorités en ligne et ils appellent tes parents. Et je suis beaucoup plus cordiale au téléphone."
Nico a dû se retenir, la main qui ne tenait pas son affaire a été balancé dans un poing. Mais autant qu'il le voulait... il ne pouvait pas. Pas encore.
Nicolas Ishiguro
'Glass walls and waterfalls can't stop your light from reaching my eyes...'
Age:
Twenty Six
Occupation:
Guidance Counselor
Personality
If ever there was a competition for the most popular member of the staff as voted on by the student body, chances are Nicolas, Nico to the students, would rank quite high, if not take the title himself. Such is the effect he has on the students that a petition once went around demanding he be considered for Teacher of the Year. Nicolas takes the compliments in stride, seeing it is signs of him doing his job well. Students often come to him for advice, and more often than not the advice is not at all related to the academic side of school but rather...the social. Because of his charming, cool exterior and his flowery way of words, he's a prime source for students that need more useful advice...such as the right way to ask someone on a date or the perfect outfit to wear to prom.
Nicolas has a certain way about him that makes him easy to talk to and to his credit he either is a fantastic listener or has mastered the art of only hearing the important parts of someone's concerns. He's quite charismatic, helpful given his position among the staff, and he maintains a friendly rapport with his fellow staff...well...most of them. Some of the wiser ones have picked up on a few of his bad habits, such as how he's always taking personal calls unrelated to work...how he never dresses like a professional ought to, and how on more than one occasions he's arrived to school being dropped off in different cars in the staff lot...and those are just the easily spotted ones.
Of course, the person Nicolas is during school hours doesn't necessarily carry over to after hours and the private life. Those that know him outside of school might not be so quick to use 'charming' to define him...they might well use 'manipulative' or 'heartless'...but then...no one so popular with people can be squeaky clean, surely.
'Golden medals on my chest don't mean I deserve it...'
Sexuality:
Nicolas is...a very loving sort.
Appearance:
Nicolas is a slender man but he carries it well due to his height. He's 5'10" and with unkempt black hair and piercing green eyes, he really makes his youthful look work for him. Some say that he's so popular with the students because he looks like he never really left his late teens and other than his deeper voice he'd probably be able to blend in with a certain crowd. He never dresses like a stuffy staff member, only busting out proper formal attire when he's attending functions such as dances or events he's roped into being a staff adviser for. His normal work attire is casual to the letter, with jeans - a little on the tight side on most days - and long sleeved shirts being the typical look he strives for.
His sense of fashion is more...laid back formal. It's not uncommon to find him at home on a weekend wearing no shirt and pants that might've been worn during the week already. It's not as if he's lazy or slovenly, it's just that he keeps things casual when it comes to dress as people that wear formal attire all the time tend to just be far too stuffy.

Bio:
Looking at Nicolas now one would always assume he was the person he is today...but that would be grossly incorrect. In his youth, which is to say from middle school to high school, Nicolas was a lonely, quiet kid that was mocked by his grade school peers due to both his hobbies (which included building and collecting model kits and figurines from various media) and from not having a dad. Grade school bullies were so needlessly cruel and he was glad they didn't know what it was his mother did to pay the bills. Nicolas was raised by his mother who worked unsavory jobs for even more unsavory clients just to make sure that Nicolas didn't go hungry...even if that meant she was never around at night to tuck him in. Nicolas was so grateful to his mother that it became his way of thanking her by leaving a meal out for her for when she came home.
In high school Nicolas was still not the most popular sort, but managed to get through by hovering around people that he wouldn't exactly call friends but those who at least had similar interests. It was after a disastrous attempt to ask someone to prom - which was seen by an entire classroom - that Nicolas realized that simply being the weird quiet kid would lead to more rejection and dejection in his life. He traveled away from his hometown for higher education and, as so many do, when he returned an adult he had shed his past skin.
After graduation he lived with his mother for a handful of months. While he was away she worked more jobs within the same field she had tried so hard to get out of and the risks finally caught up with her. She contracted a disease and Nicolas wanted to make sure she was taken care of. Though she's sick, she seems to be hanging in there and improving, though she's retired and now has a nurse on retainer just in case.
Nicolas' upbringing could be a reason for why he's turned into such a charming, or is it manipulative, sort, but the only thing he chooses to focus on with regards to his past is that he's still, at heart, a mother's boy. He's since moved into his own place - by nature of it being easier than explaining to people he takes an interest in why he lived with his mother - and is enjoying the life he never did back when he was younger.
Fears:
He's come to terms with the fact that his mother might not have that much long left, but he's still afraid of losing her seeing as how she was the most support he ever had in his life and it's difficult to lose that connection. Nicolas fears rejection, the incident in high school lingering still on his heart, which is perhaps why the tables have been turned in his adulthood. Less on the emotional side of the spectrum...but Nicolas also has a fear of heights. He keeps that one, as he does with much of his personality, close to the chest.
Extra:
-He still collects figurines and his apartment has entire shelf space dedicated to them. He makes sure to keep the ones on display in the living area more family friendly for obvious reasons.
-Nicolas was actually fired from his last teaching job, but the reason why is known only to himself and the school district he left behind.