The small interaction Reina was having with Tommy was cut short by a blast of smoke coming from the building. The girl turned her back as quickly as she could react, squeezing her eyes shut and covering her nose and mouth with a hand. The thought of using her quirk to push the smoke away entered her mind, but she immediately dismissed it--fearful cries reminded her with no uncertainty that she was surrounded by people, who would be equally affected by her quirk. Before she could think anything more, she felt herself grabbed and pulled from behind. Just as suddenly, before any real panic could set in, she was let go to find herself inside the hero agency along with her peers.

Her heart pounded from the shot of sudden adrenaline, and the girl kept her guard up as she noticed a smoking man--the cause of the sudden interruption, evidently. Her furrowed brow only let up as he spoke.

Boro. Her superior here. And someone who liked to flaunt the fact that he was kind of a dick. He seemed to have a rough way of doing things, but it was clear to Reina that there was a reason why he was Tumble's second as he claimed.

She listened intently, finally relaxing a bit; no longer was she surrounded by a crowd or being blinded and dragged around out of the blue. The girl smiled to herself at the mention of groups. Just like any regular old first day of school, they were doing some sort of exercise to help introduce themselves to each other.

Boro turned, seemingly finished speaking his piece, but stopped and glanced to the group.

"Whenever any of you feel like you're done, pick someone who you think doesn't deserve to be in this program and head over to me. We don't need any liabilities."

Reina froze and felt her heart sink. She glanced around the room, shrinking back into herself as her thoughts began to run out of her control.

That's me.

She watched the others beginning to group up, seemingly unaffected by Boro's last words. A group of four was formed.

The undeserving.

Tommy being asked by a girl to team up. Reina hadn't had any time to improve herself and her second chance would be over. It had to be obvious to everyone in the room that she was the one to nominate to Boro. Her eyes fell to the floor as she felt the anxiety start to grip her. There wasn't any way she could ever say that one of the others weren't deserving of being in the program. They had been chosen by Tumble. She didn't want to nominate any one else, anyways. So she wouldn't, unless...

The liability.

If she was told she had to, she'd name herself. Even just the thought felt like a punch to the gut, but her mind worked against her wishes to convince her that that was right. Even if she didn't have to name someone, she was beginning to think she'd still fess up to Boro. That would be the right thing to do. Like he said, she didn't think she deserved to be in the program. As she was now, she was convinced she'd be a liability. It wasn't fair to the others here that she get to stay. Despite knowing she wasn't good enough to be under Tumble's tutelage, she had accepted the hero's invitation with the goal of improving herself quickly to meet the standard of her peers. She had had some confidence she could do it, too.

But now, that seemed like a stupid thought--it wouldn't be the first she'd had. What if she didn't improve fast enough? What if in that time, something happened to her peers that she could have prevented had she not been worthless? Taking up their time as well as Tumble's was idiotic, disrespectful, and--worst of all--dangerous.

What am I doing here?...

Fenrir continued to walk up to Reina and immediately felt a pull towards her, a literal force causing him to be drawn towards her, however he seemed unphased by it. He called out, "Hey, my name is Fenrir, want to join the team I am setting up? You seem like you can handle yourself."

The girl started slightly, finally glancing up from the floor towards the voice directed at her. She stared for a moment, before looking around the room at the others with an uncertain frown.

"You..." she started, wanting to tell him he'd be better off with someone else. There was a pause as she couldn't bring herself to say it, and she bit the corner of her mouth in frustration at herself. Why did she still want to convince herself to stay? She'd only bring him and the others down.

Reina's gaze shifted back to the ground. Boro's instructions had been to group up first, then picking someone out as a weakness. If she was going to out herself, it'd be soon, but not right now. She couldn't help but give herself a mocking smile, knowing the justification was just an excuse for her to continue being selfish for a little bit longer. So she nodded to the boy who had introduced himself as Fenrir.

"Alright." She paused, realizing she had been too caught up in her self-destructive thoughts to give her name. "I'm... uh, Reina." She finally stood a little straighter. She shouldn't be here, but in whatever time she had left, she'd do everything she could to not screw anything up for anyone else.

Fenrir paused. You could clearly see a moment of hesistation before he put back on his persona of bravado. "You're nervous aren't you. I am not sure what your defect is, but be like everyone else and hide it a bit better than you are now."

Reina tensed up a bit at being caught, a faint sheepish smile appearing on her lips. Defect. Good way of putting it, she thought. "Maybe not exactly 'nervous,' but something like that," she said with another bite of her lip. "It doesn't matter."

She noticed that she had been letting her control over her quirk slip in the past few minutes. Stupid, but nothing bad had come of it. Her gravity began to weaken as she focused on steadily making it neutral.

"Oh," she said, looking to the boy and then to their peers. "Did you have a third person?"

He replied by nodding his head over to Nori, "Yeah, her name is Nori." he said, shaking his head and wondering if he made the right choice. He then took a quick look around and sighed. He turned around and walked back towards Nori without a word.

Reina followed the direction of his nod, seeing the girl with two-coloured hair. She paused, catching herself staring for a moment. Nori. The attractive girl radiated confidence even when she was doing nothing at all. Reina looked away quickly, more uncertainty suddenly piled on her.

Fenrir's sigh stung her a bit, and she watched him walk away. Her hand reached up to play with her ear. Now was not the time to mess up. She had to follow Fenrir's advice and hide her weak emotions better, and she had to not let him or Nori down.

After a deep breath, she followed the boy, taking a hand out of her pocket for a moment to give Nori a small wave as she approached.

"Hi, I... I'm Reina," she said to Nori, stumbling over her words slightly but not nearly as bad as she had been fearing. The girl stared for a moment at the other's heterochromatic eyes, finding them pretty, but quickly looked away, worried about coming off as weird as well as unreliable.

After a brief second to compose herself, she addressed both members of her group. "My quirk tends to pull people towards me--more so if I'm not careful--so I'm sorry about the annoyance." For good reason, the short explanation had been a staple of her introductions for as long as she could remember. It helped to make her a little less insufferable to be around.

@addamas

---

Quietly sitting in a corner, distant from the rest, Boro continued to play the role of the observer. He had done the deed; all that was left to do was to just wait. Being a patient man, he had all the time in the world. The longer it took for them to learn from each other, the better it was for him anyway.

With his lower back against the solidified smoke, Boro arched forward, setting aside his cigarette, and as subtle as he could, did his best to catch his breath.

Damn it.

With pursed lips, hidden by a cupped hand, Boro tried to mask his wheezing. His expirations became prolonged and deep, and unfortunately, it took more effort than he had remembered.

"I guess it just keeps getting worse, huh?" He said to himself in a light-hearted manner, trying to add some humour to his fatigued state as he watched the children in front of him finally interacting. Despite his persistent dyspnea, Boro couldn't help but wonder who among them would have the displeasure of getting kicked out this early on in the game.

_BGM
When Fenrir went to recruit their last team member, Nori took to observing the crowd. At first glance it looked like a totally random bunch of people with no apparent skill whatsoever; safe for a few that looked confident enough. Appearances didn’t matter though; it was all about how they performed when under pressure, so she couldn’t underestimate any of them, even the lonesome fat boy cowering in a corner. Her eyes darted between them all before returning to Fenrir.

He was already returning, but it took her upper body curving to the right, to see who was coming along. A sheepish looking girl was following his trail. When the girl paused, Nori casually looked away as to not make her feel uncomfortable; she noticed the floating orbs a bit later. It didn’t take them long to reach Nori, and awkwardly greet her; Reina was her name, and socializing wasn’t her game.

Reina looked Nori in the eyes, probably curious about the colors, yet instead of feeling glared at; Nori looked back and warmly grinned. Maybe acting comfortable and reliable around Reina would make her more open, they were a team now after all. Yet Nori quickly noticed something, her body appeared to be gently pushed towards Reina, she searched her vicinity for the cause but couldn’t find anything noticeable. However, she immediately calmed down when Reina explained her quirk, a very interesting quirk to say the least.

Nori’s mind couldn’t help but think of all the obstacles and hindrances that Reina would have to endure with such a quirk, not to mention the constant social pressure. It was no wonder that she would act distant, if only to keep everyone from being pulled towards her. Reina had to be considerably strong to be able to live that way, and it unconsciously appealed to Nori. And so she stood up straight, pulled her sleeves up and folded her arms; her smile had not waned but a soft lukewarm breeze was now heading in Reina’s direction. Nori had the pores on her arms shoot out constant air as a way to counter the pull, it took her a second to balance the output, but once she had it, it wasn’t hard to maintain at all.

“If you don’t mind a constant breeze in your direction, then I don’t mind that gravity well of yours-” she shifted her weight towards her left leg, visible leaning on it before continuing. “So now that our team is whole, what are your takes on that vote?”

“That’s fine by me, Reina. I’m not super fond of shaking hands either, but I’ve been told it’s polite to do so. Even if you don’t like it, sometimes it’s better to just play along, but no one’s going to care if we skip that step. I don’t think people take note of this kinda thing.” Suddenly a milky white wall of smoke engulfed him and Reina, amongst the others, but Tommy wasn’t really in a position to take note of them. His vision filled with a milky smoke, the hardness was something he wasn’t used to and frankly he found it uncomfortable. Sprawled on the floor, bags of plastic toys still in hand, Tommy got to his feet as he vaguely listened to this boring looking smoker.

Wow, if this smoke stuff is his quirk than this guy is at more risk of dying to lung cancer than a villain Boro’s wicked grin evoked a wry grin from Tommy, the thought of him going to fight a villain and collapsing as he coughs too much and the villain escaped.

"Whenever any of you feel like you're done, pick someone who you think doesn't deserve to be in this program and head over to me. We don't need any liabilities."

“Whaaaat?” Tommy’s eyes rolled so hard that he almost got dizzy and was about to speak up when a girl came over and introduced herself and said to team up with her. Grinning at the ‘order’ Tommy stood straight and gave a mock salute.

“Yes ma'am Ms Shuko ma'am~! Shuko… Shuko… nice name, it rolls right off the tongue and you’re right. Few people left, but still you’re lucky you got me and I’m lucky I got you. Together we could probably, well not conquer the world, we’d be villains wouldn’t we if that were the case? However, at the very least we can have a good time.” A casual arm was thrown around Shuko’s shoulders and he looked over at Boro and raised an eyebrow at the coughing fit. Did he really have lung cancer?

“I’m surprised at Mr Marl though. Pick someone we think is a liability? That’s simply outrageous. Stupid even. I have no idea what constitutes a liability. In fact, if I’m being totally honest I have no indication beyond the fact he’s standing in this place that he has any authority to kick people out of Ms Tumble’s program. Did you hear anything about that? You’d think lung cancer would be a liability though, wouldn’t you?” almost all of Tommy’s questions were rhetorical, but releasing Shuko, he stood in front of the girl with a trademark grin.

“Still, I suppose we should find another comrade in arms, a partner in crime or at least someone else to discuss with. Calling ourselves ‘partners in crime’ is probably a jinx or something, knock on wood if your superstitious! So, a game of I Spy. Who with our little eyes can we see lacking a group?” casting a casual look around the room Tommy took note of the cliques forming. Grinning when he saw that Reina was finding a group, sending a pair of thumbs up her way, since it seemed like her group was nice enough.

“Well, the tough guys are over there. Interesting. Oh, this is probably what Marl had in mind by splitting us into groups and having us introduce each other; I have a vague magnetic manipulation power. I can move metal stuff, doesn’t necessarily have to be a magnetic material though, just metal, hence the ‘vague’. How about you Admiral Commander Captain Shuko? What quirk of fate landed you in here with the rest of us?”

Interacting with: @Riegal and @Drifting Pollen

Akemi Akagi

Akemi could feel the world move around her. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say how she moved though the world, though she wasn't the one moving her. In place of all the reporters, a single boy now stood in front of the students. Honestly it was a little annoying to hear him talk. He acted smug, and seemed to hold himself higher like he's done this all before. But Akemi wasn't going to pick fights. She listened to his order to the group and began to ponder why he was making us cast out people we just met.

"Hey, you should join our group."

Akemi looked back to her surprise. Strangely, it was the same guy that offered to hold the door open before everyone was dragged in. Her face couldn't help but get a little red at the sudden attention she wasn't used to. But ever so calmly, she nodded and joined the other few that seemed to pool up quite quickly and listened to them voice their displeasure with their orders.

Akemi followed Shen-Mu's direction and looked back at Boro. "It is, yes. Though honestly, he seems in no condition for the shots he's calling, yes. In fact, it probably wouldn't be too hard to stay our own against him, if it came to it, and not send anyone for tribute." Actually there was more she wanted to say, but the art of talking with others has seemed to gotten her a little uneasy. Akemi looked at the other students. They seemed to be gathering into a nice group themselves. "Thanks, yes, for the offer to join the group." She turned back to Yuki and Shen-Mu ... and Jake. Akemi didn't know what to think about Jake, more or less solidifying her decision. "Don't get too comfy." Akemi passed though the group as she made her way to Boro.

"I guess it just keeps getting worse, huh?"

"You know, yes. You can try not smoking. Might make things easier in the long run." Akemi plopped down in front of Boro. In all truths, she was sitting quite comfortably, but her mass of vines just bundled up on the floor around her. "Or try an inhaler. I needed one until my plant allergy eventually went away..."

@HeroicSociopath@Patches@KRAZY J@Jabber

Jake smiled at Shen-Mu's question "Some say devil and some say human I don't really know personally I regenerate but I can't wield fire or damn people to hell." Jake then turned to Akemi and smiled as she agreed to joining forces though his thoughts wandered. "It's like she has tentacles I wonder what she can do - can she pick someone up - maybe tear them in half - crush them in a coffin of plant life - or maybe other things... that's so awesome!!" He chuckled at the last bit of his thoughts of the tentacles girl when his gaze reached a person in the corner who wasn't joining any groups. So he walked over and sat next to the loner.

"Hey what's up I'm Satan I noticed you haven't joined a group yet and your not really trying to so how about you come join us nobody here really likes me except Yuki and if he would except to be in a group with 'ME' then he'd surely except you. They probably think I'm a real demon." Jake laughed under his breathe a little bit at saying that. "I don't really know if I am or not but I know what it's like to be left out and ignored it really sucks but you get used to it over time. Plus I don't think anyone here needs to worry about being voted off. If people do vote they'll probably vote me off cause no one wants a psychotic basket case - well except for Yuki he's awesome and he doesn't judge. So what do ya say? Wanna join? There's always room for one more and if smoky doesn't like it he can suck it."

Back against the smoke wrought like steel, Shou's eyes struggled to stay open with a tired bitterness as he watched the others group up like it was natural. There was a pit mulling around in his stomach as he realized that with the smaller amount of groups, there weren't going to be a lot of leftovers. He was going to be lumped with a group that hadn't chosen him, which was perhaps even worse. Thumping his forehead into his knees, he wanted nothing more than to be gone...

After a minutes or so, there was a bit of movement from nearby. Shouichi dared sneak a glance, losing interest the moment he saw who it was. The guy's just restless maybe? He can't be heading over here, his group is already... Wait, he's not stopping. Why is he...oh. Oh no. Oh god of n-

"Hey what's up I'm Satan I noticed you haven't joined a group yet and-"

no no no NO NO NO. Why god?

"-nobody here really likes me-"

Me included!

"They probably think I'm a real demon."

Did you think that was clever or do you really believe that? Oh my god he's got 8th Grader Syndrome it all makes sense now.

Satan continued on, extending a formal invitation, Shou desperately trying to keep his expression neutral, rather than let it slip into one of disgust or fear. Because as much as Shou wanted to be anywhere but right next to this guy, he could still be some delinquent punk who'd rip him to pieces. Assuming it wasn't just some 8th Grader Syndrome bark to conceal the lack of a bite. Was Shou going to let himself be killed by a delinquent punk, or get annoyed to death by him? Eyes glazing over at the horrible choice, he realized, Well, if I piss him off, I die faster, sooooo...

Shifting awkwardly, he opened his mouth. "T-t-team up with y-you?" Slipping his legs down and crossing them, he coiled his arms around his chest, turning his head away. "I d-don't want to b-b-be on any g-group. B-besides, if anyone's g-g-getting voted off i-it's me. I d-d-d-don't even want to b-be here..."

"And you can't have a team of five you friggin' dumbass!"

Heh heh, yeah it would have been cool if I said that, Shouichi considered, but his self preservation instinct kicked in at the last moment as he kept his eyes away, heart beating louder as he started to sweat, hairs on the back of his neck standing as he felt Satan's stare.

@Krazy J

"Bingo. The solution is clear, then." He continued. "It's unanimous."

"We need to kill Boro!" He said, pointing at the man. Then he put his hand down. "Just kidding. It'd make a terrible me...What's Jake doing?" He said. There Satan was, trying to recruit some guy in the corner.

"If you join us, you won't get voted off." Yuki said from behind Shouichi, placing a hand on his shoulder. "The more the merrier, I say. My name is Yuki, but my friends call me Ice Dragon." He said, pointing a thumb at his chest.

@KRAZY J @Patches @Pacifista

A huge smile appeared on Jake's face when he heard Shou's words. A crazy look filled his eyes as he raised his hand looking like he was gonna punch Shou across the face. He lowered his hand with force......right onto Shou's shoulder. "It's ok I understand but whether you want to be here or not the fact is you are and if it's me that is stopping you from joining then I shall resign and give you my place. I don't know why but it churns my insides to see you left out and ignored so worry not I see I am the issue and so now I have removed that issue. I also can assure you you would not be the first one voted off for it takes somes balls to look fear in the face and say what you just said.

Jake didn't really care what happened he just wanted to get this all done so he could eat. Jake then got up gave Shou a smile and a nod and walked over to boro. "Hey smoky when do we get to eat I'm starving and I dont think I can last much longer plus I'm dying to see some real action so can we hurry this along"

It was like stepping through a door and being hit in the face with a raging blizzard. As soon as Shuko addressed the strange boy, she found herself reeling before an onslaught of words, coming in almost too fast and too close to react. She flinched away slightly as his arm came crashing around behind her like a wave, but failed to get away, and could only stand there, desperately uncomfortable, as she tried to get a word in amidst the storm of syllables now flooding around her.

"Right-"

"Wait-"

"But-"

It wasn't just the social side of things that got to her. Anyone would have been a little taken aback by such a motor-mouth, but Shuko also had to deal with her mind constantly picking up on the volume of his words, the total number of syllables he'd uttered, how many syllables each word contained and how many times each word showed up and on top of that all he was touching her and she didn't know whether it would be rude to throw him off. Her breathing had sped up, and her pulse was pounding like she was running from a pack of lions, the stress building up until her mind tried to cope the only way she knew how.

She surrendered.

Let his words flow, and simply listened, letting her thoughts and concerns drop away as she focused on what he was actually saying. It was easier this way, forgetting about herself and simply focusing on what was in front of her, like stepping out of the world and into a kind of trance.

When he finally stopped, and silence yawned between them, she found herself feeling oddly relaxed. Everything that had been on her mind before had simply been blown away by his crazy monologue, leaving her dizzy but serene. She breathed out, and with that breath much of her earlier tension drained right out of her.

"I'm a mathematician."

It was unusual. She wasn't picking the words, or concentrating on the tone she tried to project them in. She just let them come, a gentle stream flowing straight from her mind to her lips and then out into the air.

"That's my Quirk. I measure things around me as set values, and then do the math in my head to figure out anything I can't see." She gestured at him. "Like you. I can see your height and the span of your shoulders, and from that I can get things like your weight, your center of mass, the general proportions of your body structure..." A great deal more, in fact, but she caught herself. "... you get the idea."

Just like that, a little tension had returned, her shoulders going up just a few millimeters from where they had been and staying there. The little worries waiting at the back of her mind came creeping back, drawing her attention to a rather more obvious number.

"There are only two of us." She paused. Who was free? Her plan had been to grab one or two other people and then rescue the chubby kid, but it looked like he'd been picked up by the devil of all people.

She looked back at the boy next to her. "I don't see anyone else without a group. Maybe the plant girl?" Whatever her name was. Speaking of which... "You never gave me your name."

@McFazzer

This "Satan" guy had a real interesting way of putting things. Why was he so hungry, she wondered? Did he not eat enough?
"He's weak." She said, "The round, stuttering one. No will. No desire to be here. Why is he here? Why does he want to be a hero, if he doesn't have the will?"

Was she talking to herself?

She fiddled with a lock of her hair as Jake talked with Shou, consoling him in his own weird way. "It's curious... See how he still offers help, Yuki? The devil offers help to those god doesn't answer, as they say." Maybe her judgements were wrong about Jake. She had to continue to listen and be sure.

She stayed back as Yuki and Jake offered help to Shou, steadily approaching them. Since everyone else was giving introduction, she gave a bit about herself "I'm Shen-Mu. Daughter of a thief. Former tool of a thief. Nice to meet you."
@Pacifista
@HeroicSociopath
@KRAZY J

Nori's welcoming smile was having an effect on Reina--while the black-haired girl was trying to tell herself it was just a regular polite smile, she couldn't help but find it more sincere than that. Maybe she just wanted to see it as sincere; it was a really nice smile, so much so that Reina had to keep herself from stealing glances at the other girl, using her brief explanation of her quirk as an excuse to look directly at Nori for more than a moment.

Reina watched Nori wordlessly pulling up her sleeves and crossing her arms, before feeling a light wind against her cheeks. The girl blinked in mild confusion, looking down at herself for a half-second before looking back to Nori, the air seemingly coming from her.

“If you don’t mind a constant breeze in your direction, then I don’t mind that gravity well of yours-” she said, still wearing her comforting smile.

Reina swore her heart skipped a beat. For what felt like the dozenth time, she quickly turned her face away from the girl, her hand moving up to play with the hair by her ear--an attempt to hide the faintest blush that appeared on her cheeks. There was no stopping the subdued, genuine smile that was brought onto her lips by the tickle of butterflies in her stomach.

"Th-that's fair," she said with a nod, glancing to Nori. It felt like an understated response, considering how the girl's gesture had made her feel, but Reina figured Nori couldn't know how much it meant to her and wasn't expecting any other reply--besides, Reina wasn't even sure she could explain why herself, and certainly not in the heat of the moment.

Waiting for her blush to fade, the girl threw a look around the room, meeting Tommy's eyes. He gave her a grin and a double thumbs up. The humour she found in the gesture helped settle her thoughts, and she returned a more subtle thumbs up of her own with a playful head shake.

Reina looked back to her group, finally letting go of her hair to stuff her hand back into her pocket. She noticed her own smile still hadn't left her face. The girl may not have been able to fully explain why she felt so comfortable with Nori's breeze against her, gently ruffling her hair, but just being as comfortable and happy as she was even in such a new situation was enough for the moment.

“So now that our team is whole, what are your takes on that vote?”

Reina tensed up a bit at the mention of the vote, having briefly forgotten about it. Her smile finally began to wane. She hadn't wanted to leave a few minutes ago, and even less so now. A pang of guilt swept through her at her renewed selfishness--she wanted to spend more time with Nori. Tommy as well, for that matter. She wanted to see what the two were capable of, along with the rest of the kids. She wanted to grow with them all and learn from them, and do what she could to help them, if anything.

But if she wasn't good enough, she didn't have the right to do those things.

"I..." she hesitated, unsure if she should voice her thoughts. After a long second of mulling it over, she decided she wanted to hear Nori's and Fenrir's input. She could trust them. "I think it should be me, at least out of this group." She had to pause again, the words difficult for her to say. "I'm not really skilled or anything. I think Tumble... slipped up or something by sending me an invitation."

The girl's brow furrowed as she retreated into her thoughts for a moment, her gaze shifting to the floor. She focused on Nori's soothing wind for a moment, before looking up again, her next words decided on.

"But I don't want to go," she said with more conviction than either of her group members had seen from her thus far. "I want to improve quickly and properly earn a spot here."

She bit her lip, glancing around the smoke-encased room again.

"I don't really want to see anyone go--if there has to be someone, it'll be me, but..." She paused for another moment of thought. "If we can't just refuse to pick someone, could we sort of... rig the vote? Make sure everyone gets one vote each--they can't kick us all out on a stupid poll."

Reina caught herself, realizing she was being presumptuous in an uncharacteristic moment of what she felt was overconfidence. Nothing good ever happened when she let herself get like this, so she quickly reined herself in and tempered any forming expectations, her gaze shifting off to the side in some measure of shame and embarrassment.

"I mean, unless you two--you know--think that me or anyone else should be gone and all..."

@addamas @Leotamer @McFazzer

Yuki's arm encasing Shou by the shoulders, the hand of the Ice Dragon felt uncomfortably hot. His skin prickled oddly as he squirmed lightly, cringing in discomfort at the touch of another person.

Muttering to Yuki, Shouichi grumbled, "Y-you don't g-g-get it. M-m-my p-parents f-f-forced me into th-th-this. I-if I get k-k-kicked out, th-then all the b-b-better!"

Before he could continue, there was a glint from the other side, Shou starting to tremble as he he lightly turned his head, Satan returning to his vision, his face threatening, his arm raised and dangerous. He wanted to Blink away, but Yuki was right there: they'd already countered his Quirk, and now he was a dead man. He forced his eyes shut, flinching away.

As Satan slapped Shou's shoulder, he let out a low grunt of fright, but there was no pain beyond the forceful slap. Daring to open an eye, he was greeted by Satan's motor mouth once again.

"-then I shall resign and give you my place."

wait what

"-but it churns my insides to see you left out and ignored-"

Okay, now you're kind of pissing me off. Stay in character, 'demon'!

Finishing his line of thought, Satan stomped off, leaving Shou to reimagine the placement of the teams. He was with Yuki and the two girls? Greeeaaat. The only thing worse than deciding groups was actually being on one. Speaking of...well, 'the devil' probably wouldn't be the right term here.

After Shen-Mu introduced herself, Shou wanted to slip away from Yuki's grasp, but instead, he kept his eyes locked on the ground in front of her, as if not daring to touch her with his eyes. "Sh-Shouichi..." he replied softly.

@HeroicSociopath@Patches@KRAZY J

"I think it should be me, at least out of this group."

Nori couldn’t help but lower her smile and look away, towards the commotion with the devilish boy.
Reina doubted herself; a trademark symptom of failure, it upset Nori somewhat that Reina thought so lowly of herself. How was she was supposed to have confidence in someone who didn’t even believe in herself?

_{Play this now}
"But I don't want to go,"

That remark caught the eyes of Nori once more. Her attention was restoring with every word that Reina spoke. It may look like she’s still dismissing herself, but all Nori heard was that Reina would neither want anyone else to fail or get hurt, nor sacrifice herself in order to save them; even though she would be willing to make that sacrifice. Those ideals were something that Nori never even considered; she had always lived by the ways of ‘there could only be a winner and a loser, never both’. It intrigued her, and though she was hesitant to believe that it was possible to make those ideals a reality, she wanted to see Reina try nonetheless.

“Hihihihi-“ Nori chirpily laughed while bowing down as reflex to the laughter after Reina explained her little plan. “-haha you crack me up.” She said while standing up again, looking Reina in the eyes with that trademark smile,

"Your plan to rig the votes would’ve been a good one if you actually knew someone here, let alone everyone.” she said jokingly before smiling even warmer.

“I’m not gonna vote on you, I’m not even gonna vote at all. I haven’t even seen anyone’s capabilities yet, so I don’t want to, it’s easy really.” Her tone was gentle yet confident; she had no worries at all. Her hair wavered by the momentum as she started striding towards Reina, the breeze ever so slightly increasing the closer she got to Reina until they were standing face to face and the breeze had turned into wind to ward off the stronger gravitational pull.

“I challenge you to a game. You are going to bet that you’re not going to receive the most votes, and I’m going to bet on the opposite. If you win…“ her words were fierce and full of determination, even her eyes sparkled with boldness and conviction, she pointed her right thumb towards her chest before continuing, “I’ll be your friend. But if you lose, I’ll take your place as the one to be kicked. Oh, and you should know; I don’t take no for an answer.” Upon finishing her dialogue, Nori turned towards Fenrir,

“And you legendary wolf, that challenge extends to you as well, so you better make sure to have her back as a team member, you chose her and you will stick to that choice, because so will I.”

“Plant girl? Where? Oh, over by Marl. She seems nice.” nodding with a hand on his chin as if he was a wise sage for making such an observation, Tommy took half a step towards Akemi before freezing in place before spinning back to Shuko with wide eyes as if he had just heard something horrifying.

“I-I didn’t?! Oh, wow, I am so sorry!” pulling Shuko into a bear hug, Tommy squeezed as if he could somehow push out the embarrassment, arms wrapped tight to try and convey his apology “I didn’t even realise! I have been just the worst! I am, Tommy. I should have said it immediately! I’ve had absolutely no manners for this entire conversation, gosh… I hope you can forgive me.” releasing Shuko, Tommy stood with his hands on his hips and a wry grin on his face. Shaking his head in self-derision, Tommy grabbed Shuko by the hand and dragged her over to the plant girl Akemi as was the original intention.

“How on earth did I make such a blunder? I’m usually so good with introductions. I suppose the situation got me all flustered and out of sorts, I could have sworn I’d already introduced myself, but it obviously wasn’t to you which makes it all the worse! What if my memory is going as if I’m some old guy?” rambling as he walked Tommy almost stumbled and fell as he dropped a coin to the ground and ‘pushed’ on it to catch himself looking as if his chest was resting on an invisible stick that slowly pushed him back upright.

“Whoops! That was close. I could’ve dragged you down! No one would want that, probably. I can’t really speak for everyone since, well I’m obviously not them!” arriving behind Akemi, Tommy released Shuko’s hand and a face of extreme seriousness and concentration. Nodding as if deciding something Tommy stands behind Akemi and tilts forward, letting gravity take hold as he hugs the plant girl from behind assuming it’s the front since as good as hugs are, surprise ambush hugs are more of an acquired taste.

“Hello, Miss. I’m Tommy. I wouldn’t normally just be blurting my name out like this, but I just had a rather embarrassing conversation where I failed to do so! Imagine that, giving someone a hug and them not even knowing your name? Such poor manners I had… now I’m not sure if this is rude, but Miss… you are a very comfortable to hug and smell kinda like a fresh rainforest and that is, if I may be so bold, nice. Would you like to join me and Major Admiral General Shuko in a group? That is if you haven’t already been recruited. Even then I still offer because I’m feeling rather comfortable and would love it if you’d indulge me just a tiiiiiiiiiiiiny bit longer.” Looking over Akemi’s shoulder, Tommy looked at Boro with the distinct feeling he was forgetting something.

“Oh wow, that’s right, I forgot to ask your name! I almost committed the same blunder as just earlier in reverse! That would just be awful, dreadful, and just impolite! Also, Marl! Smoking is bad for your health, you should take good care of yourself, those smokes will kill you some day! They can also make your breath stink, like that grandpa at the... pachinko... parlor...” looking over his shoulder Tommy realised he left his day profit he had yet to cash in over on the floor where him and Shuko just were.

Interacting directly with: @Drifting Pollen and @Er0r

Leon begrudgingly awoke to the shrill noise of his phone ringing. At first he'd assumed it was his alarm, but no, it was far too early for that, someone was phoning him at half five in the morning. This had to be important. If it was some dumb prank call he'd blow a gasket. He slumped his arm over, dragging his phone from his bedside cabinet and to his ear as he answered the call.

This was important.

He shot up into a sitting position, mumbling a conformation as Tumble hung up. He rubbed his eyes. Did she say they were meeting in a sandbox? A bit unorthodox, but heroes were always a bit weird.

He was there in about 20 minutes, still half awake and looking like death as he approached the woman.
"Is there a reason we're meeting in a play park of all places?" He asked.
@Jabber

"No way, jose. This team is built upon your back." He said to Jake, still holding Shoichi's shoulder. "I'll resign instead. Shenmu, you have to take over as team ladies' man, got it? Just steal their hearts." He told her, giving her the thumbs up, before looking over at Boros. He was asking for volunteers. Presumably to get kicked out. He smirked, glaring back at Boros. "I know your game, coconut head. I'm calling your bluff!" He thought.

"I'll go." Yuki said.

Akemi Akagi

Akemi couldn't help but grin as she watched Boro trip over himself. Apparently her small talk skills were a little rusty, and for that she felt bad. But it was nice to see him a little less standoffish. Akemi held back as she watched Jake inquire about food. At first she didn't know what to think, but after this display of complete disregard of the situation at hand, she had a clear picture. He was one of them simple types. Though, she reckoned he could be scary in an one on one fight. She listed to Boro try to get everyone back under control and follow today's agenda only to be caught off guard from someone latching onto her vines.

Contrary to the rest of the room, Akemi didn't find the massive wave of words pouring out of the lad's mouth all that awkward. Sure, it was a lot to take in, but the fact that someone was taking so much interest in her made her feel good. As Tommy spoke, Akemi spun around and parted her vines a bit to get a good look at Tommy's face and smiled; unsure of how much of her he could actually see given the limited light able to reach her. Her vines moved and set Tommy to a comfortable talking distance, no longer in his generous hug. As she did, she noticed his partner Shuko before turning back her attention to him.

"Nice to meet you Tommy, yes. I am Akemi, pleased to meet you. Although I'm afraid I'm already been accepted, or was, yes, into a group. Though now, I'm afraid I'm volunteering as tribute. Though I hope to see you around again."

”As I was saying. Any. Volunteers?” As if on cue, Boro's words picked up where she finished and she in turn perked up and turned around to give a reply of her own.

"Oho, yes. That's me for one. I came on behalf of the Yuki's group." She said as pointed back with one of her vines. She looked back in time to see Yuki's conviction. ".. Of course, yes, I'll gladly step in for any group that still requires a tribute. Honestly, I'd reckon I have the least potential here, as far as powers, for a hero. That's what you were asking for, yes?"

---

Almost everyday since since Kira turned twelve, she had been getting up at five in the morning in order to perform a routine workout to stay in shape for baseball. Things have changed since that time. The workouts had changed from conditioning, pitching and batting practice to strength and martial arts. Her father had fully embraced retirement and stopped waking up to help his daughter train. Kira suspected that he was still upset about her failure in following his footsteps, which was beginning to get a bit, well... tiring. It wasn't as if Kira could control the commission or rules, but still, her father found a way to psuedo-blame her for it.

Although Kira felt like she was growing apart from her father, there was at least something good to come from it. Kira and her mother had never really been to close since it was always her and her father. She was more of a background figure in her life, which Kira came to regret as she was getting to know her mother since her fall from baseball. Every morning Kira's mother would wake up at five, tidy the house a bit, and then prepare Kira a healthy breakfast. It was breakfast with mother and those moments would always be held in Kira's fondest memories.

This became Kira's new routine as she prepared for the inevitable call from the mysterious Tumble. She hadn't a clue when she might be called but better to be safe and prepared than not at all. In fact, Kira had a gym bag prepped ever since the evening of her acceptance, so when a call came at five-thirty in the morning, Kira had a feeling it was time.

Sure enough, her mother called her into the kitchen, told her who called, and offered her bag and a simple breakfast. Kira quickly ate most of it, gave her mother a hug, and departed with her mother's well wishes.

Kira followed her mother's instructions with a hint of skepticism. "Meet me at the Toshinori National Garden, beside the swings. I'll be the one in the sandbox." ... There was an explanation to follow, supposedly. The thought had briefly crossed Kira's mind that this was all some elaborate hoax, a joke at her expense, but this all strangely sounded right, like this was a test for something grander. No way of knowing until she was there.

She was dressed in dirty blue hoodie and plain looking sweats that concealed her shorts and a plain t-shirt. Her hood was up and her gym bag was thrown over her shoulder, looking the part of a serious early morning athlete. Kira had surprisingly arrived second to another. Upon arrival, Kira noticed a woman laying in the sand... Tumble? She assumed from the unflattering eccentric first impression but there was the other. A fellow student..? He looked fit, though a bit groggy and maybe a bit beyond that, worn out..? "Morning. Kira Nomo, ready for..." Kira stopped just before the sandbox and glanced down at the infamous Tumble, expressing slight bewilderment. "...anything, Tumble." Her tone trailing off in hesitation at the sight.