The auditorium of Ishin Academy seemed impossibly large for the more astute and traditional building it was encompassed by. Hundreds of students sat in metal folding chairs, all wearing the simple dark colors of Ishin Academy, black, gray and dark blue. The third year students sat in the back of the rows, the second years in the middle, and the first years, the newest students in the academy, sat in the front rows of the school. On the stage sat many of the instructors at the school, all decked out in their hero gear. Snowman wore a bright white coat, his goggles placed over his eyes, picking at his black and gray beard as he seemed to be watching the newest students. Knightmare sat next to him, her large armor suit making her look like a giant around the others. Talking Head was busy chatting with another instructor. The room was in a dull roar as students met one another, talked about their vacations and all sorts of things that high school students do at big student assemblies like these.

A booming voice came from the stage. One of the teachers was standing up in a military fashion. His sudden yelling brought the entire auditorium to a chilling silence. Loud footfalls filled the room. A small elderly man walked to the podium. He was roughly four foot nine. The military looking teacher pulled a small wooden stool for the man to stand on, bowed deeply, and walked away.

“Well…” the old man said, his voice surprisingly deep for such an old man. “So many fresh, young faces here today. Bright, full of hope and excitement.” His kindly face contorted into something violent and sinister. “Those days of sunshine and hope end now.”

The teachers behind him all suddenly stood up at attention. “Ishin Academy is world renowned. Top heroes graduate from our academy every year. We do this with discipline, with rigor, and without compromise. Our school is not for the weak. Our school is not for those who think the path to a hero is easy.”

The old man began to float above the podium, his arms crossed. Without the microphone, his voice still had cadence to reach the ears of every student. “In this school you will either become a true hero or you will be crushed. If you cannot handle this academy, you do not deserve to be a hero!”

It felt like ice in the first year section. Some students would grin with anticipation, as this was a chance to show out, to become a real hero. Others would grimace, suddenly feeling like a target was planted squarely on their backs. “Look around you. Chances are, one in three will graduate this school. Make your peace with each other and realize: these are not your friends. They are your competition. They stand between you and your dreams. Defeat them, or die.” The old man would return to his podium and walk back to the chairs, sitting down. The other staff followed suit. Over time, student council representatives explained the rules, went over everyday operations and other simple routines in a Japanese school. But the principal’s message kept the atmosphere cold. Finally, it was time to head to the classroom designated as each individual student’s homeroom assignments?. And so, the students of class 1-A filed out among the rest of the school and toward their newfound destiny.

How low-spirited this school is! And on the first day!

Shiori Kanemaru crossed her arms as she began walking through the hallway corridors of the acclaimed hero academy. She wasn’t sure what to expect out of Ishin Academy when she decided to be the best hero she could be and applied to several academies all over Japan. Having been prospectively accepted by several, she decided that Ishin was the best choice to develop her quirk. She knew the school’s reputation as being ruthless but all of the hero academies were said to be grueling and unflinching in its preparation of its students for their future as a licensed hero or sidekick. Though after the speech by the academy’s principal she was a bit taken back and wondering if she should’ve stayed in her hometown, Osaka, which housed a hero academy of its own though it was well out of the top ten in Japan and barely on the radar on the international scale.

She had already memorized the floorplan of the school on the train ride to Sapporo, she wasn’t exactly wanting to be one of the students whose faces were glued to the map and running into whoever and whatever due to the big piece of paper being in their face. The black-haired Japanese girl was glad that she had what her mother called an “astute” memory. Which was exactly why she was the first student to get to class 1-A, as far as she could tell. She was almost proud of that fact. Upon her arrival, she wondered if she should’ve waited for her classmates for a few minutes before entering the room to share in the excitement and thrill of their new surroundings. What kind of students were going to be her peers and future friends? What kind of quirks did they have? Were they dour like the school itself or bright like the sun? Questions that made her hesitate albeit for only a moment. She poked her head into the room, her body covering the entrance of the classrom as she took the initiative to take a little sneak peek.

Wonder where I’ll be sitting?

The designation for her homeroom came with a seating chart; she did not forget nor did it really surprise her that she didn’t get to pick her own seat in a school as rigorous and over-serious like Ishin Academy. Not that it mattered all that personally to her considering four was her favorite number, anyway! The assigned number could have meant something as simple as fourth in the back or fourth in the front. Which one would it be? Her hands moved to her back as she leaned over to inspect the room; a room that was apparently as empty as a henhouse after a visit from a fox. Not a student, or teacher for that matter, in sight.

A warm smile graced her lips as she knew this was going to be the beginning of so many great things. She’d show her class that you didn’t have to be gloomy and dour to be a student at Ishin Academy!

Normally Peter lead the way, with Mirror lazily following behind him. Today it was different. Today was Mirror's turn to lead, for Peter had no idea where he was going. He had a map, but he couldn't read it the traditional way. It became invisible whenever he held it, even to him. There were only two real ways to solve the issue. Either stop every once in a while to put the map on the ground to read it, which was most certainly not an option in the cascade of individuals within the Ishin school building, or have Mirror hold up his copy and read that. He chose the latter answer.

As they walked, Peter reflected on the rather dour opening assembly. Stern, strict, he could understand that. You can't become a hero without discipline and all that. But did they really need to be soulcrushing? A major part about being a hero is the ability to inspire hope in others. Dampening spirits was a much better strategy for villains than for heroes.

Then Peter had a new thought. Perhaps the principal was purposefully acting villainous to test how easily the students' dreams gave way? If heroes couldn't bring joy to themselves, they'd have a very difficult time bringing it to others. It both seemed logical and, well, less depressing, so Peter decided to stick with that.

As he contemplated, the two of them arrived at their destination, class 1-A, to find the doorway blocked by a black-haired girl. Probably a classmate, possibly a friend? Mirror began folding up the map and sticking it in his pocket as Peter gave a cheery hello.
"Hey, there! Is this your first year here as well?" Peter asked, "My name's Peter, nice to meet you!"

As he greeted her, Peter tried to look past her into the classroom itself. It had ten desks, lined up in a bit of an untraditional pattern. Instead of two by five, it was layed out three by three, with one all alone in the front. Peter felt a little sorry for whoever would have to sit there. He knew he was number 8, which probably meant he was in the back. That was at least an upside to this school. For some reason in his past classes, he was always stuck at the front, which was especially bothersome for Peter in particular. Mirror would always sit next to him on the floor and do his own thing, which was fine and all, but sometimes that included embarrassing himself or distracting everyone in the class. Eventually Peter started keeping an eye on him and commanding him to stop whenever he was about to do something, but that split attention away from the class itself. It wasn't great.

Besides the ten student desks, there was the teacher's desk in front. Peter couldn't tell if it were just his imagination or not, but this desk seemed especially imposing. Who was the homeroom teacher again? Oh right, Knightmare.
Charming name for a charming person, I'm sure. he thought drearily. This was gonna be good...

---

Tags: @Inkarnate

---

'Why here?'

It was a repeating thought in the mind of one gooey first year, as she shuffled through a vacating auditorium. Why did she need to attend such a rigid school? There were other good academies in Japan, even discounting the infamous U.A, whom her mother held a vehement grudges against to this day. She had hoped, just the slightest bit, that leaving home for Hokkaido would give her some leeway; no more ever watchful authority figures examining her every move, criticizing her, reminding her of her faults. A silver lining to leaving Ōtsu behind.. Yet from the opening speech alone, the dour uniforms, the rigidity in the syllabus, she could tell; this was going to be just like home. An ironic thing to be so melancholy about, considering the homesickness so many of her peers no doubt felt.

Yet, perhaps this was for the best. She was never very good at making her own choices. Deliberating, over thinking. Air headed, her mother would say. She needed structure in her life. Order, lest she melt away like her quirk willed her body to do. This new academy would good for her. It was a good school, plenty would kill to have the spot she qualified for. Many would kill just to see the beauty of Sapporo. She was being ungrateful. Typical.

Introspective as ever, the young goo girl managed to sequester just enough mental fortitude to navigate through the crowds and into the halls. She had spent plenty of time memorizing the grounds of the school. Each hall, each classroom, the dorms. A few quick glances past the sludgy bangs that gun across her face was enough to recognize landmarks she had seen on the map provided and alter course as required. Even as she berated herself mentally for her selfish complaints, her brisk pace put her ahead of many of her peers, who talked among themselves and delayed their arrivals significantly.

It was perhaps this fact that emboldened Nadeshiko. Hearing the crowd fade away as she walked the halls ahead of the pack, she looked up less and less. Eyes down upon black loafers, she trudged through the hall of wing A, towards the very first room that dotted the impeccably kept walls. Caught up in wondering whether or not she truly deserved the prestige of Ishin, she peered forward seconds too late and collided with somebody, resulting in an 'oof' as the squishy female stumbled backwards and onto her bottom, which itself resulted in her bouncing a few times thanks to its elasticity.

Well this wasn't how she wanted things to start off...

Shiori was taken off from her gaze by the sound of footsteps and a voice – a greeting from another one of her classmates or so she assumed. She had turned around, with a slightly embarrassed look on her face considering she had been gawking at the room where she would spend the next several years of her life studying to be a hero. It was at this time she also noticed another student approaching – not noticing where she was going and before Shiroi could act or say a word a loud ‘thump’ echoed throughout the corridor as Shiori found herself falling backwards, her butt landing coarsely on the floor as a physical force pushed onto her and effectively put her in a very awkward and embarrassing situation. She noticed the slime girl had fallen backwards so the only possible conclusion she could make is the male (invisible?) student had fallen into her as a result.

A boy is on top of me!!! T-this is bad!

She couldn’t see the face of the boy who was on her, but she knew he was there! She didn’t want to use her quirk to force the people off her, but the redness in her face that had suddenly accumulated due to the… situation was significant enough to imply she was not a lewd girl and she wasn’t expecting this at all. She was a girl from Osaka, not Akihabara!

“Um!!!” Her voice stuttered a little, flustered in the position she was in. She was not comfortable with it. But she wasn’t going to be rude about it. There was no need to throw someone off of her because a simple accident happened. “Can you… uh… get off? This isn’t how I exactly wanted to get close to my classmates! I ain’t this kinda girl, okay?”

The auditorium introduction had not had the greatest effect on the Freshman; her stride was still that of a readied, new school-girl. Not worried or chilled like many of those who walked around her. For that was what she was; a readied, new school-girl. During the preliminary interviews and examinations for Isshin, the air of strictness and unrelenting structure had been well established. This school was one that took their business with a grave seriousness, and Ume respected that. "The speech that was given to all of the attending students was just a loud reinforcement of that", the girl told herself. This was one of the reasons why she had worked and applied for the second-best school in Japan: It wasn't happy-go-lucky, like so many of the other schools. There was progress that had to be made here. Still, even with those thoughts, a cold tone could still be felt by Ume sleeking through the crowds of hesitant first-years. Hopefully such a vibe would extinguish itself after the first day, but it was here to dominate for the time being. The cold interior of a prestigious school; just the place for students to succeed.

As she slowly walked among the herd of students, Ume's thoughts began to wander much like that of what curious first-year always do before the first class of the year. What kind of friends would she meet? What kinds of projects would she be assigned? Who were her teachers? How big was the classroom? What kinds of quirks would she see in action? Would anyone see her quirk?...

Ume's mind gave into a slow stop as the last question crossed her mind. Her latex-covered hands drifted to her turquoise ponytails as she kept walking, the last question sticking itself in the way of all the others. She started to nervously twirl her hair as a new stream of question walked themselves across her consciousness, parading around in a way that was all too familiar to the young lady. "What if they do see my quirk?... What would I do? We might do basic training, or even quirk testing today in Hero studies. They'll have to see it eventually, But..." Ume adjusted her necklace with subtly shaking fingers. "I've already thought through this before, why should I think about again?.. There's so much more I could think about.. Other than my quirk." The tingling sensation of a developing itch made itself apparent on Ume's right hand, causing her to look down at the appendage in her ocean-thick thought. "I should have applied more ointment today, anyways. I might accidentally itch myself... Wait, what then? Where would the cells go? They could go anywhere... Even on a person. Oh god, not a person, anything but...", Ume's mind continued. Replacing the past, pleasant thoughts of a new school-year, Ume trotted along with her eyes glazed as she ran through her thoughtful routine. "I think I'm almost to class... I can't turn back and apply more medicine now... I'll have to get through homeroom and do it in a restroom later, I guess.", the young lady mumbled to herself as she came towards the classroom sign of 1-A, her eyes lifting themselves from the ground and towards what seemed like her potential classmates. "I should stop thinking about it, really. At least a for little bit..."

---

The sudden absurdity of the situation she stepped into caused Ume to not be able to stifle her laughter, her chuckle ringing clear and sharp as she watched the toppling dominoes that were her future classmates. Through previous serious preparation and expectations, Ume had come to expect her peers to be a readied and competitive bunch. Instead, the young girl was treated to a hilariously awkward situation beyond her control, but just inside her sense of humor. She allowed her grim thoughts to suddenly dissipate as she enjoyed this comic relief in Isshin's tense environment, letting go of her turquoise pig-tails before she twisted them too much. A short, black-haired girl seemed to be pinned by an invisible force as a boy and jelly-women watched, her face beat-red and her body squirming nervously. The turquoise-haired girl heard only a little bit of what the black-haired girl said, her voice muffled by whatever was on top of her and her own embarrassment.


Ume slowly recovered from her fit of laughter as she approached the girl, her composure returning to her and her eyes scanning the scenario to see exactly was on top of the girl. If there was anything on the girl, that was; for all Ume saw, it was just thin air that pinned the student. Hopefully this wasn't just some nervous fit the prone girl was having after being pushed. "I'm sure you aren't, shorty.", Ume responded to the girl's cries, bringing her foot to experimentally feel the air suspended above the girl. "Well, shoot, there is something here.", Ume said aloud, surprised as her foot made contact with dense nothingness. By the feel of it, it seemed like she was putting her foot on someone's invisible hip. That couldn't be it, though. Could it? Hesitantly, but not yet cautiously, Ume gave the invisible object a brisk shove off of the black-haired girl's torso and onto the ground. A low thud sound confirmed that something had been there; how peculiar.

"My name's Ume. You alright?", the young lady greeted as she helped the still flustered girl off the floor. "That was a good laugh. You guys should consider becoming a comedy troupe. You'd make good money", Ume continued, now looking back at the watching boy and jelly-composed girl as she started standing up herself.

---

Interactions: @Inkarnate@Asura@Ebil Bunny

Sitting amidst the sea of her peers in the school's auditorium, Isabelle watched the whole procedure without her expression budging an inch. After everything her father had beaten into her head, the unwelcomingly blunt presentation was to be expected. However, not everyone had the good fortune to have family that had attended the school prior, something made clear by the mutterings of the students she could hear circulating around her. She listened a few moments more to the despaired grumblings and anxious whispers before turning her attention back to the stage, not wanting to miss out on any information that could prove important later.

Once the presentation had ended and the students left in mass to go attend their classes, Isabelle waited a tad so as to avoid getting pressed into the crush of human bodies that surged forward, fingers playing at the pleats of her skirt as her mind wandered. For a moment, the throng of humanity vanished, left only with a dark, damp back alley street, seeming isolated but for a single young boy with a mop of wild red hair.

With a slight grimace breaking her usual stoicism, Isabelle shook her head to clear her sight of the daydream, remembering her father's words. "You can't change the past, so don't let it affect your present." Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she continued forward with a sense of sureness that might've caused some to believe she was a second year rather than a freshman student. In truth, among that many things that her father had sought to cram into her head once her acceptance to Ishin had been finalized, how to get around the school was deemed one of the most important. Of course, even with this prior knowledge, she still got a little turned around on her way to her classroom(Almost forgot that Japanese school's only have the one classroom. . . that'll take a bit of getting used, but at least I don't have to worry about get getting lost to other classes.) by making a wrong turn or two on the way. Upon making it to the corner of the hallway that contained her class, however, she came to a sudden stop at the sound of something hitting the ground. This gave the young girl some pause, but her curiosity got the better of her as she slowly peeked around the corner to see what the issue was.

A girl with bright turquoise hair was helping another girl of the ground, though what had caused the girl to fall over wasn't immediately clear. A natural klutz, perhaps? Isabelle wondered, before turning her attention to the two others, a rather plain-looking boy and a girl who . . . seemed to be made out of slime. That's certainly a new one.

Watching for a little while longer, as well as doing some quick comparisons between them all, Isabelle couldn't help but let out a soft sigh as she noted that so far, she was tallest one here. By far. Again. Why couldn't I be born short, or at least average. It's hard to not draw attention when you tower over everyone else. Unconsciously playing with her skirt yet again, Isabelle couldn't help the slight nervousness that crept it's way through her as she wondered what this next year was going to be like. Harsh teachers and strict curriculums she could handle, her father may as well have been preparing her for this kind of learning environment her whole life, but if this class was anything like her last one. . .

Steeling her resolve with another deep breath, Isabelle backed away from the corner, taking a moment to straightened her uniform and preen at her hair somewhat before walking around the corner and towards the group of her peers. Her face seemed devoid of any true expression, a blank slate that gave nothing away, though her somewhat hurried pace belayed the anxiousness that ate at her from within, as to did the way her fingers continued to worry and pick away at the hem of her skirt.

Once she made to the group in question, she put a hand out towards the slime girl on the floor, doing her best to keep her tone level and devoid of any telling emotion, but also trying to keep it from coming off as overly cold either.

"Are you okay there?" Her voice ended up coming out quieter and meeker than she meant it to be(a fact which she noticed and cursed herself internally for) as she helped the pink slime girl of the ground, the texture of the girl's. . . unique body coming off as not wholly unpleasant though still a bit strange. "Could you perhaps tell me what caused you and the other girl to fall over? As well as the soft 'thump' noise I heard from down the hallway?"

@Asura@GodOfWar@Ebil Bunny@Inkarnate

"Oof!"

Before Peter knew it, he was on the ground. Surprised, yes, but not that surprised. Turns out when nobody can see you, they don't realize you're standing in the middle of the walkway. Someday, someone's gonna invent something to help out with that. Something besides a belt with flashlights all turned on and pointing downward, like what he wore in elementary school. He stopped once he got to middle school because, while it technically worked, it was weird. And also a bit uncomfortable.

"You guys alright?" Peter asked, standing up and dusting himself off. "Yeah, sorry about that. Invisible. Happens a lot." Peter chuckled a bit to try and lighten the mood. He decided it best not to mention the awkward situation that totally didn't just happen. He wasn't that kind of boy, either. Mirror, who had seen collapses like this quite often, was more interested in the newcomers. He gave all three of them a large, heartwarming grin and a wave. Friendliness first!

"So are all of you part of 1-A as well? Maybe now would be a good time to introduce ourselves, then. I'm Peter Koro, I'm a transfer student from the US." Peter moved up against the wall next to Mirror so people wouldn't bump into him. Probably. "And, well... This is my quirk. I look forward to classing with you!"

After that, he slid down the wall into a sitting position to rest his legs. He'd been standing during the entire opening ceremony so Mirror could sit in his seat. Even if the teachers already knew the nature of his quirk, it probably would've distracted the other students if Mirror had stood in front of everyone while one of the seats remained "empty". Technically, they both could've sat in his seat, but there was something very disconcerting about occupying the same physical space as someone else. Even if that someone else was just a visual version of himself.

---

Tags: @Asura@Inkarnate@GodOfWar@Raijinslayer

---

Now thoroughly out of her own head and aware of the present, Nadeshiko couldn't help but be confused by the situation. She hadn't seen anybody in that split second before the collision... Yet, there lay the black haired girl, face aflush and squirming like she had been mounted by a sex crazed foreigner. Her words only made less sense, until the giggling of another individual caught the attention of a certain jelly girl.

Peering up at the blue-haired female who found this situation so amusing, the sudden planting of a foot on the air above miss-blushy-face cemented the situation in her mind; she had run directly into an invisible boy. One who, quite irresponsibly, decided to stand right in front of an already occupied door frame. At least she could deny being at fault here.

As it seemed the giggling pig tails girl, apparently named Ume, helped the poor mountee off the ground, Nadeshiko set off to standing herself up, although the image of a dark skinned hand did catch her off guard and cause her pause. Following it up the attached arm and to the face of it's owner, Nadeshiko blinked for a moment. A foreigner? At Ishin? The school was known for it's nationalistic pride, as far as she had read. Why would anybody not fully Japanese want to attend it? It was not as if one could simply end up at Ishin; it was a very prestigious school.

Questions to be asked later, perhaps, by one much more bold than she. She wrapped a handful of smooth, squishy digits around the girl's outstretched hand and allowed her to help pull the rest of her gooey form back onto her feet.

"I am fine." Nadeshiko answered curtly to the much taller female, noting there seemed to be trepidation in the girl's question. No doubt nervous, the slime girl thought, to be such a sore thumb within a very homogeneous population. She empathized with that, on account of her own very different set of looks. Orbs of soft pink gel shifted, directly themselves towards the last known location of the invisible boy in regards to this newcomer's question. "Carelessness, and an invisible boy." She informed the dark skinned girl, before shifting so she could face miss-blushalot.

A small bow accompanied this, a soft pout upon Nadeshiko's rosy lips. Despite it not wholly being her fault, she still felt quite badly about her actions resulting in so much distress for the poor girl. "I am sorry to have caused you so much trouble."

Man, I look like a dang fool, don’t I?

The black-haired girl took the hand of the turquoise-haired girl that had introduced herself as Ume. As she made it to her feet she closed her eyes for a brief moment as she rubbed the back of her black-hair, still obviously embarrassed as she let out a half-uttered chuckle. “Oh me? Yeah, I’m just about gravy. Guess we’re all scatterbrained or somethin’.”

As she opened her eyes, lightening her dopey grin, Shiori listened to Ume’s second comment; a light-hearted joke done at her expense. Though in all fairness it was pretty embarrassing. Especially considering a few of her classmates had walked in on the awkward situation. She almost wished nobody walked in when they did, but if it was the catalyst to making some new friends in Sapporo she would have no issue about it. Embarrassing accidents happened all the time, after all. Still, she was happy that the entire class and especially their homeroom teacher hadn’t been around to witness it. But given they hadn’t, Shiori didn’t have to worry about it; she wasn’t much of a “what if” and “should’ve” kind of girl in the first place, anyway.

“Yeah, I guess that was a little wild, huh? As for me, I’m Shiori Kanemaru, but you can call me whatever you’re comfortable with! Also, it’s no problem! Accidents happen! Was my danged fault for gawking at the door anyhow.” She stated, introducing herself to Ume and the slime girl before looking in the direction of the boy, or more specifically his voice, who ran into her and indirectly caused this whole mess. His tone sounded apologetic and it was a big accident due to her trying to gawk at the classroom instead of not be in the way. So if there was anyone that should’ve been sorry in Shiori’s mind it was her and not the boy or the slime girl. Still, he seemed nice, though it was obvious he had distinctly American sense of manners even taking away his admittence that he was a foreigner to Japan.

Shiori smiled warmly as she responded in kind, “Like I said, don’t worry about it! Ain’t your fault I’m a ‘lil stupid.”

It did not take long for her to notice more students piling into the hallway as the minutes carried on and as exciting as it was, Shiori realized they should’ve started making into the classroom. Shiori didn’t want to get a demerit for blocking the hallway and not being prepared for class, certainly. She kept her eyes on Ume before glancing back toward the classroom itself. There may have been a lot of students to interact with and introduce herself to but this was the first day at a new school and she didn’t want to make a bad impression had the teacher showed up suddenly.

“Well I’m going to go find my seat. Don’t ‘xactly want to give off a bad impression.”

Shiori turned around and entered the classroom, trying to match her seat assignment with the tables in the room. Each table was set up in a particular structure, though it look little time figuring out which desk was “number four” due to the fact a piece of folded paper stood on each table with the corresponding number. Shiori, too, wondered why the desks had been organized in such a strange way. What kind of purpose could it be? She pulled the chair from the desk as she sat down, moving her material to the desk in turn.

---

---

Following the Opening Ceremony, Namie had wandered off to try and seclude herself from the rest of the school eventually finding a hallway that was hardly seeing any foot traffic at the moment. Once there, Namie found relative peace as she exchanged glances outside the window down the phone in her hand. She should call him back and let him know everything was alright, right...? But maybe she shouldn't right now. The whole point of choosing this school was to make her own choices and figure things out by herself.

I'm fine, dad. Just heading to class. Namie thumbed in her text and left it at that. Besides, the two of them didn't end on the highest of notes when Namie left. Ever since she made the decision to attend Ishin Academy, her dad has been strangely aggravated about the selection. He never made it clear why but Namie thought she knew. Due to the circumstances of constantly moving, the two formed a fairly powerful dynamic as it has just been the two of them. They had time to make friends but never to keep them as they moved from city to city. As it stands, they were each others greatest friends and with Namie choosing to move away, her father probably felt alone. That's maybe why Namie was taking her first day a bit tougher than she thought...

Namie hurried on to class shortly after sending her father a text, she got a reply back almost instantly but she ignored it for now. She had to focus and as she rounded the corner to her classroom's hallways, she saw a collection of her future classmates gathering in front of the door for some odd reason. Bits of the conversation managed to reach Namie's ears and she figured an accidental bump or something happened, though she didn't care beyond knowing the reason.

"Excuse me." Namie muttered only giving an unenthusiastic expression and tone to her classmates as she brushed past those that were still outside the class. Once inside the classroom, it didn't take Namie long to find her seat as her eyes were drawn to the lone desk in the front row. Hers. Part of her wondered why she was designated as seat one but the other parts of her were glad for the recognition and the opportunity, with those prideful feelings starting to creep into an arrogance that made her think she was just better than her classmates in some way or another.

A few of her classmates had already settling in their seats and even though Namie had a momentary urge to turn around and greet them, her mind drifted away to other thoughts about how school will be like and the now waning concerns about her father. Did this school really think they were trying to be scary with that introductory speech? She could handle it and if she's already number one in the class, she had a better shot than most in this room.

---

Hirohiko was hardly the first to arrive at the classroom, but that wasn't his fault. Just thinking about the terrifying intensity of the principle's words had caused him to freeze in fear and dread. Not in any clever metaphorical way, instead it had made him quite literally freeze up in place as accidental activation of his Quirk made him too heavy to move. This in turn gave him plenty of time to stand stuck in the hallway contemplating how doomed he felt and how poorly the first day of school was going so far, making him freeze up for even longer.

No! No I can do it! I don't care what that terrifying old man had to say, I am gonna be a hero! Someday I'll be the greatest hero in Hokkaido at least, even with this stupid quirk!

Hirohiko kept repeating that to himself, building up his own confidence enough that his fears and doubts melted away enough for him to regain control over his quirk and move toward the classroom again. As a result he was incredibly hyped up when he entered the classroom. So hyped up that he burst into the classroom raring to go and conquer the world, if only as a mental trick to make sure he kept moving. Not only that, Hirohiko was so hyped up that he actually started saying his little mantra out loud.

"Yeah listen up! I'm not just gonna be a Pro Hero, I'm gonna be the greatest Pro Hero to ever come out of Hokkaido, got it!?"

Hirohiko paused after realizing what he'd just said and the way he'd made his entrance, but didn't have much time after that before freezing up again in a panic and tilting over mid-step, crashing more than just heavily into the floor with a resounding *BANG* that shook nearby desks, the small student stuck in place staring at the flooring and contemplating just how far he'd fallen both literally and figuratively in so short a time.

It filled both his body and soul with immeasurable heaviness.

"Well it's about time I get going." Kazuo spoke calmly as he smiled and rose from the kitchen table. He'd just finished the huge spread of a breakfast his mother had made him.

"Are you sure? Your father was going to stop by to see you off before work." His mother, Akane, questioned him as he brought his plate to the sink. She'd never quite gotten on board with his father's way of thinking. She believed that he was too strict and harsh. He was supportive of the choices his children, or even she, made.

"Yeah, he sent me a message earlier. He was called in early." Kazuo replied simply. He turned back to his mother and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Besides, it's not like he's ecstatic about me going to a hero school anyway." The young man continued on to the front of the house where he knelt down to slip his shoes on.

"Okay, well, at the very least call Natsumi later. She wants to talk to you."

Kazuo couldn't help, but laugh at this. "Really?" It wasn't like he didn't understand the sentiment or her excitement that he was also pressing onward into the world of heroics. But he couldn't help but wonder what else his sister could possibly have to say that she hadn't conveyed in any of her 143 messages. "Okay, okay..." He chuckled a bit more. "I'll do it at lunch or something." He finally said after a soft slap to the back of his head by his doting mother. And so, without another word he was on his way to the beginning of his journey as a hero-in-training.



And so, there he was. Kazuo sighed as he sat down in the Ishin auditorium. Here he wasn't anything more than another face in the crowd. But that's why he was here. He had to make himself stand out as he was sure so many other heroes once had to do when they were in his position. The young man was prepared for whatever this place might throw at him, though he had something of an idea of what might be coming his way considering the old man had pushed so hard for him to come to this school if he wasn't going to become a police officer.

"That's about what I thought." Kazuo mumbled to himself as the principle gave his speech. The world was one where powers and heroes were common place. It was true that competition was stiff, but he liked to believe there was a certain level of camaraderie that came far before that competition. The fact of the matter was, being the best didn't matter if there was nobody beside him to kick some ass with. Regardless, that was neither here nor there.

Kazuo partially wished he would have been wrong about the overall feel of the school. It would be like a team of his father cracking down of him. Still, if he could handle the old man he could handle this. He wasn't about to let anything get in the way of him becoming one of the best heroes the world had ever seen. If there was anything he had picked up from his father it was this. If he was going to strive to be a hero he had to strive to be the best, no matter what might stand in his way.

"Still got a long way to go." He said with a smile, referring to himself as well as the other students around him as they all began to flood out of the auditorium. The tone set by the principal and the other heroes of the Ishin staff was one of dread for some, and motivation for others. To him it was the latter. He could handle this. Now, all he had to do was handle getting to class. "I think... It was this way."

Now, Kazuo hadn't been so irresponsible as to lose his map of the campus... But during an argument with his father, about a week prior, it had been burnt to a crisp as tempers flared. He couldn't help that. Just like he couldn't help being lost, if only for a moment after leaving the orientation. And so, after ten minutes of walking, and a small talk with who he believed to be a teacher, he'd found his way to his homeroom. Although, it as he turned the corner he was greeted to the end of what he believed to have been quite the spectacle.

"What is this a low budget anime?" He questioned himself at the sheer absurdity of what had been occurring prior to his arrival. He hadn't caught all of it, but he had more or less of an idea of what might have happened. There was a small tumble, a boy on top of a girl, or vice versa. Somebody freaked out about it, and somebody else came to help while one of the members of said fall apologized. And to bring it all together was a slime girl. "She's probably a lot tougher than she looks." He admitted to himself quietly as he walked.

After that you could say he had plunged deeper into though. He couldn't help but begin to think about what his other classmate's quirks would be like. "I can't wa..." Before he could finish the sentiment he was pulled from his thoughts by another student entering the homeroom he was just about to enter. Hiro was ten different kinds of hyped up and Kazuo was sure this wouldn't end well. "He started off so good too..." The young man couldn't help but mumble as he entered the room right after the old friend who'd subsequently dropped to the floor.

"Well..." He spoke aloud as he walked into his homeroom. "How does a guy follow that entrance?" He asked nobody in particular as he dropped his backpack to the ground and knelt beside Hirohiko. "But I gotta be honest." He grinned as he positioned his hands on either side of the immobile student. "I'm glad to know I'm not the only one aiming for the top." He said as he lifted his classmate up off the ground and walked him closer to the walk.

Hirohiko was a bit heavier than Kazuo had expected, but he was glad he could do it, otherwise this would have been even more embarrassing. "I'm Kazuo Mizushima, by the way." He said as he propped Hirohiko up in a standing position against the wall. At least he wouldn't be sprawled out on the floor until he got himself back to normal. "And this guy here is Hirohiko Yamabuki. I'm looking forward to learning with everybody." He said as he left Hiro to pick up his back and find his seat. It wasn't hard given the folded up papers with numbers on the desks.

N o b u N o b u

^{[ Ishin Academy, Sapporo, Japan ]}

What the fuck was this? “Mandatory” they’d said the ceremony was. "Expelled" they said he'd be if he skipped it. Those two statements implied it was important. But all Noboru Nobunaga could see was few second-rate hero-teachers standing around with their thumbs up their asses, and a crusty old man spouting some quote-unquote ‘intimidating’ bullshit in a failed attempt to psych him out. `Defeat them or die`? `If you can’t handle this school you don’t deserve to be a hero`? What a joke. Ishin’s entrance exam was a cake-walk for a student as great as him. If that was the standard they were holding him too, they might as well graduate him already. Or at the very least, transfer him to Yuuei Academy, where he deserved to be instead of this ice cube in the ass-end of Japan.

“Tch.”

The thought of his stolen right made the whole experience that much worse. It wasn’t enough that U.A. didn’t consider him heroic enough - the fools - but they had to recommend him to Ishin Academy and all its austere pretenses. He looked around. The auditorium didn’t have a camera in sight. It wasn’t at all like U.A.’s ceremony, which he had been streaming on his smartphone the entire presentation. No fanfare, no media coverage, no being a hero in all the ways that actually mattered. Just... this.

“At least this shitshow’s over. If I hear anymore administrative nonsense, I'm gonna pass out.”

Noboru hopped out of his assigned folding chair and, for the first time in the veritable eons the ceremony took, his feet touched the ground. He looked to his left, at the older students, and glared. Then he looked to the right, where the rest of his supposed competition was heading, and followed after them, scowling the entire way. By the time he made it to the classroom - fashionably late, as is a hero’s right - there had been a pair of events that only served to lower his already abysmal opinion of this school: a three student pile-up and some idiots talking about how they’d be the best.

Fucking degenerates.

Eyes narrowed, Noboru walked past the doorway freakshow without a word, shoulder-checking anyone in his path (intentional or otherwise) with surprising force. He leapt atop his desk - numbered two according to the folded paper that he kicked off - and stood tall atop it. With his head held high, his hands in his pockets, and his hair like a magnificent mane, he looked almost like a true hero. Or at least, a middle schooler's conception of one. From his place on high, he looked down on each and every one of them, sizing them up with his crimson gaze. Especially the ones who claimed to be aiming for the top: Kazuo and Hirohiko.

‘Wow...’

Nobody was of note in the eyes of Noboru Nobunaga. How completely, utterly expected. With this knowledge, his scowl morphed into a grin. Though it was a more amiable expression, it was no more comforting than his previous expression. Rather than a expression of annoyance, his shark-like mien conveyed only the confidence and disdain of a predator among prey.

“Alright sidekicks, you better listen up!” Noboru's demand reverberated throughout the classroom, carried by a voice with a gravitas ill-fit for the size of the one speaking. “Since it seems some people haven't gotten the memo, allow me to give you the best piece of advice you'll get from this ‘prestigious’ school: learn to settle for second.”

Noboru thrust his thumb towards himself.

“Because the only one who's gonna reach the top is me, Noboru Nobounaga!”

Late, late late! Of course the largest boy in the class would be late arriving, as everyone else was trying to make a good impression (or get all the attention, as one loud-mouthed boy was doing). Was he a delinquent? Did he get lost? No, the answer to why he took his sweet time getting to class was in his hands: A pineapple. Shun Tanaka was a large, dark skinned boy who looked completely out of place compared to his classmates. Having an extremely jolly face, mixed with his dark skin, he did not seem to be Japanese at all, but another foreign devil come to Ishin Academy to sully its purist Japanese roots. As an Okinawan, there were still many mainland Japanese who would eye him with foreign disdain; after all as the southernmost island of Japan, its ties were still greatly connected to America, who still had a military base on the island, even after so many years of international peace.

With the age of superheroes, many expected the ideas of international politics and foreign ideology to dissipate with the advent of superhuman heroes; but instead it all seemed to worsen, with the U.N. passing resolutions to disallow quirks in military combat as part of the Geneva convention. The aim of quirks were to aid in crime fighting, it seemed, and not in fighting wars with other countries. But, many feared Okinawans as American spies. And a Okinawan boy with a quirk was even worse. Was he a ticking nuclear timebomb aimed to threaten Japan to further subjugation by the Americans? It didn't help that nationally known Okinawan heroes were rare enough; the most famous Racer Queen having died thirteen years ago.

But there was the subject of the pineapple, which probably made his classmates look at him as if he were some kind of idiot, touched in the head. Who brought a pineapple to class, and on the first day of class? Was his quirk pineapple based? Was he just really, really hungry and only ate pineapples? Shun simply looked at his seating chart, frowned, noticing he was in the final desk in the room, turned to look at his classmates.

"Hiya!" He yelped out with a mixture of sincere quality and the attitude of a young man who never notices people talking behind his back. He had completely missed Nobu's speech about being number one. In fact, it seemed that Shun's "Hiya!" was the first response to Nobu's blustering. "I brought a pineapple with me today to say hello! You tend to give pineapples to welcome folks into your neighborhood, but i'm guessin' a lot of us had to move all the way up here! So this is my way of sayin' hey to everyone, and let's have a great first year!" It seemed that the principal's message of DEATH AND DOOM had gone completely over his head.

Isabelle merely nodded at the gelatinous girl's explanation, shifting an eye over to the conversation to her the was happening beside her with only slight interest. Whatever had happened seemed to be rapping up very nicely, so she decided against getting any further involved. She'd have plenty of time to get to know these people, so there was no need to rush things. However, as she made her way around the group and for the classroom(where another had already seemed to have taken her seat during all of the chaos), she couldn't help but halt at the loud shout that filled the hallway. Despite her better judgement, she turned to see who made such a bold declaration, only to see the boy slam into the ground with a mighty thud hard enough to crack the floor. She raised a singular eyebrow at this, but made no comment or motion to continue as she watched another boy, seemingly familiar with the first boy, pick him up and introduce the two of them to the rest of the class.

Hmmm. . . A weight-based quirk of some kind, and possibly a strength quirk for the second boy, unless the first one deactivated his. Interesting, if somewhat basic, quirks. The first one,(Hirohiko was how the other one introduced him) seemed to lack a precise control of his quirk if his reaction is anything to go by. Well, at least they seem pleasant.

With this in mind, Isabelle walked into the classroom, ignoring the other voices that echoed from the hallway as she went to find her seat, giving a slight nod to the other girls who had already entered. Unlike the other students, she knew exactly what the seat positioning meant, and as such, immediately began to look over the red-eyed girl who sat in a row all her own. While it wouldn't be quite correct to say that Isabelle was competitive, her father had instilled in her the need to constantly be aware of two facts of life: First, there was always someone better than you, and Second, that they were always the ones you can learn the most from. As such, she would be watching this girl very closely, for if she was to achieve her goal in life, she needed to take every chance she could to improve.

Moving on from the the pig-tailed girl, Isabelle moved to take her seat near the back of the class, a small frown forming on her face as she saw herself seated in the eighth spot. Fist clenched tight in the face of how all of her effort and training had only brought her this far in the eyes of Academy's instructors, a wave of nausea swept through her. Was this all she was worth? All her effort, all of her training, all of it meant this little. As she stood there, staring at her desk with an unreadable expression, a low growl would rumble throughout the classroom. Her jacket seem to rustle as if something was squirming beneath it, but before it grew to violent, the foreign girl took a deep breath. First In, then out, calming Akira's outrage as much as she could.

It's fine. I won't stay here. I can't stay here.

With this simple directive stated firmly in mind, Isabelle calming took her seat, removing the drawstring bag that she had with her and placing before her. Already she could feel the pangs of hunger start to ache within her stomach, and now was as good a time as any to get it out of the way. Reaching into the back, she pulled out a few protein bars, specifically made by a man her father knew who researched quirks to more easily fulfill the energy requirements of her body between meals. While not enough to really fill her up, it took the edge off.

If only they didn't taste absolutely awful, though she was more than used to the sterile and dry flavor of the bars already. As she absentmindedly chewed on the bar, she turned her attention to the classroom door, wondering both why it was taking the rest of the class so long to enter the room and when their homeroom teacher was going to show up. The sooner things got started, the better, as the anticipation was beginning to eat at her, especially after knowing how she ranked on the placement exam. She knew full well Isshin's stance on foreigners, and thus expected very little in the way of assistance from the school and it's staff, despite her father's words to the contrary.

The attitude of the school had been made quite clear during the exam that her presence in this school was neither welcome nor desired. For a second, she wonder if her low ranking was, at least partially, due to this bias against her nationality. . . but was quick to dismiss it. Whether or not it did have an effect, she doubted it was by any significant amount. Whatever bias the school board held against her, the thing they had come to judge were her skills and they had seen them as barely enough for acceptance. She had to accept this, and then focus on how she would prove each and every one of them wrong. Biting down into the final pieces of the bar with a angered ferocity, her brown eyes once again focusing on the pig-tailed girl who sat alone at the head of the class, if for but a moment, before she reclined in her chair slightly closing her eyes in thought as she considered ways she could improve her training regimen and what she could've possibly been lacking in the exam to score so low in placement.

@Pirouette
@Inkarnate
@GreyIf Nobu notices the unintentional diss of ignoring his declaration

Kazuo stared at Noboru throughout his miniature speech. It mere seconds after Kazuo's own small introduction of himself and Hirohiko. He didn't understand it, but something about this new kid bothered him. It felt like he'd known him for years and garnered a strong hatred of him, though it's only been a couple minutes. Maybe it was the way he began.

“Alright sidekicks, you better listen up!”

The word sidekicks echoed through Kazuo's mind. Who the hell was this guy?! He had this air about him; like he thought he was better than the rest of the class. Who was he to decided what they were all capable of? What made him think he was so great?

“Since it seems some people haven't gotten the memo, allow me to give you the best piece of advice you'll get from this ‘prestigious’ school: learn to settle for second.”

Kazuo clenched his fist. He wanted to knock this guy down a peg, if for no other reason than he felt he deserved it. He opened his mouth to speak, but before the words came another student entered the room. He greeted everybody in as friendly a manner as you could get. If kazuo had to compare him and Noboru he'd have said that Shun was something like a babbling brook; peaceful, serene almost. Noboru on the other hand was like a quicksand; something annoying that likely no good could come from unless you had to manipulate and use it to your advantage.

Still, he turned his attention to Shun. "I guess you really do learn something new every day." He said with a small laugh. "I guess given I'm from here, I'd have been the one to bring a pineapple, since it's technically mine and Hirohiko's neighborhood." He spoke in a calm manner, though it seemed almost like a question, as though he wanted clarification from Shun to see if he was getting it right. "Although, to be honest, I think the gesture would be lost on the little guy over here." He said pointing out the young man who'd recently given everyone a little "advice." Had Shun come later, Kazuo might have engaged Nobunobu, but having calmed down a bit he thought it best to just ignore the little twerp.

Ume's peripherals caught the form of a rather foreign figure. Turning her head to face the person helping the jelly girl up, Ume was surprised to see a dark-skinned, American entering the 1-A classroom. Ume noticed that the girl was tall and lean, her features reflecting an air of responsibility and confidence beyond her years. She nearly caught the freshman off guard with her sharp appearance. She seemed like she was here to do a life-long duty. Another voice snapped Ume's eyes back towards Shiori, this one now coming from the invisible substance she had shoved away from the girl. 'So, it really was a hip I shoved', the girl thought to herself.

"You guys alright? Yeah, sorry about that. Invisible. Happens a lot." A small chuckle accompanied the boy's sentence. "So are all of you part of 1-A as well? Maybe now would be a good time to introduce ourselves, then. I'm Peter Koro, I'm a transfer student from the US." Goodness, there were a lot of transfer students. Wasn't this a Japanese school? The voice was gradually starting to levitate to the form of a short, brunette boy who had been watching the group since the beginning. Perhaps the two were friends. "And, well... This is my quirk. I look forward to classing with you!" "And you too, Peter.", Ume responded, giving a slight glare to the boy beside the invisible voice. He was giving her a bad case of the hundred-yard stare. She'd keep an eye out for the two; they seemed to have the right intentions, but just the knack for becoming trouble. But, hell, who knew. They could have gotten in through recommendations.

As Ume wrapped up her conversation with Shiori, the student body started to squeeze itself through the small door of the classroom and onward. It seemed time for homeroom to start, and for people to start introducing themselves.

---

Ume was pleasantly surprised to be situated in seat number seven; a lucky number for a lucky year. Shiori sat herself directly in front of the turqouise-haired freshmen. That was luck for sure. "I guess we're desk-mates, sunshine.", Ume commented. "Luckily, your little invisible admirer is all the way across the class. I guess you won't be advanced upon anytime soon.", she followed up, her eyes starting to wander about the crowd of curious students. A certain Hirohiko and Kazuo caught Ume's attention first with their hoisting act; there seemed to be have been another falling accident.

"I'm Kazuo Mizushima, by the way. And this guy here is Hirohiko Yamabuki. I'm looking forward to learning with everybody." , the boy greeted his classmates, carrying his friend to his seat and subsequently taking an opportunity to greet everyone. Kazuo seemed to be a rather confident and capable young man; Hirohiko, a little less so. However, Ume was impressed by the second boy's ability to stay calm under the embarrassment of being tugged off the ground. Ume would have been beat-red in the face if that had happened to her.

The jelly girl sat right across from Ume, politely and carefully plopping herself down into her chair. "Hey, sorry for not checking up on you before. My name's Ume, and I gotta say, you took that fall like a champ", the turqouise-haired girl politely chatted.

The American, Ume remembered her name as Isabella, could be found near the back of the class. A face of some anxiousness and confusion could be seen flash on the girl's face, but that was soon replaced with a low rumble and a protein bar. At least Ume wasn't the only one that couldn't help but scrunch her face at the first day of school. "She's dealing with it a lot better than I am.", thought the freshman, a dull, blue feeling starting to spread itself back over her.

Such a feeling had no time to grow it's roots, however, as a quick student announcement was made by the self-appointed head of class, Nobu. Ume could almost taste the arrogance rolling off his tongue as he spoke. It had the taste of cracking sulfur.

---

---

The first thing to cross Ume's mind was not Shun's pineapple, nor his kind demeanor. No, it was Nobu is a complete prick. The whole class was anxious to have a good first-day, everyone wanted to do their best. Everyone was on a complete social and academic edge on the first day of school, and this kid just comes up and thinks he can disregard all of that by throwing trash out his mouth at this mass of nervous freshmen. Ume was confused by how truly high-mighty a person could be on the first day of school, in spite of all the insecurities that it brought on everyone.

Ume's mouth started to talk faster then she could think. The sense of insecurity Nobu tried to install just became pure irritation at his deameanor "Oh shut up. You're in seat number two, not number one. You're at the most number two, not number one. Bring it down a few notches, will ya'.", Ume quickly retorted. Another voice soon followed her own, however. That of the confident Kazuo.


Ume turned her head to face the warm and welcoming face of Shun behind her. Had she never been to Okinawa on vacation every other year, she would have thought the boy another foreign transfer. In his large hands rest a solemn, yellow pineapple. She was reminded of a tradition that she was exposed to a few times during her family's bi-annual vacations. "Oh! I'm sorry for raising my voice when you were trying to introduce yourself. My name's Ume, and it's great to have another cheery person in the class." , the turqouise-haired girl greeted the Okinawan. She motioned to the black-haired girl in front of her before continuing, "This is Shiori, and I'm very happy to have Okinawa's hospitality this far out in the cold."

---

Interactions: @DruSM157@Grey@Inkarnate@Asura@Ebil Bunny

What the heck? Why is everyone bein’ so hostile and junk?

Shiori’s eyes widened as one of her classmates made what to her sounded like a declaration of war.

The student in question, Noboru Nobounaga, definitely seemed high strung and she had half of a mind to kick him off his soapbox. Not because he wasn’t better than she was or that she felt annoyed by his attitude but more that if he didn’t shut up he was going to get all of them in trouble with their new teacher! Given the impression she got from Ishin Academy that wasn’t a situation Shiroi really wanted to be in; especially considering their instructor was the legendary heroine, Knightmare! Shiori moved to speak and tell the hot-tempered boy to calm the heck down, but before she could utter a word her newfound friend with bright blue hair spoke first and probably not in a way that was going to defuse the situation.

The black-haired girl could see the redness in Noboru’s face as he was about to give them all a piece of his mind as people not only challenged him but then decided to ignore him for someone who sat at the back of the class. But before he could scream more at the class the sound of a thin and youthful voice cut everyone off at the same time. Shiori’s eyes darted towards the doorway in anxiety.

“Hey! Idiots! What do you think you’re doing?”

What in tarnation?

For Shiroi, she was quite surprised where the voice came from as what appeared to be the shortest girl she had ever seen (at least by secondary school standards). Her expression looked harsher and meaner than Noboru’s by any means. Was she another student? Shiori thought for a quick second before realizing that all the desks had been filled. It only left one conclusion—this was Knightmare out of costume.

“And you! Moron number one! Get off that desk now unless you want to go home to daddy and say you got expelled for being a halfwit!”

The small ‘girl’ groaned in annoyance as she walked into the classroom.

Shiori quietly mused her thoughts to herself. Knightmare was obviously as loud and boisterous as what Shiori remembered seeing on the newsreel, but her voice without the sense of her armor was so much thinner and mousy. Sure they were yelling at her classmates, but she never imagined Knightmare was actually so… small in reality. Her armor definitely did not give that impression. She imagined some of her classmates were equally as dumbfounded.

“What? What’re all of you looking at? Never seen a teacher before or some crap? Did you think you were going to be instructor free?”