---

Jett was sick of his room so he decided to go outside for a bit and get some fresh air under a tree. His head still was hurting and he didn’t really understand why, after being healed by the nurse he yet was able to teleport and still had a constant migrane.

He made his way to what seemed like a sucluded spot and sat in the grass under a tree. He had his headphones on and listened to some calming piano music as he tried to ‘relearn’ his quirk. Music had helped him greatly before, thanks to Haruka’s help.

Taking a few long and deep breaths he tried to focus. Closing his eyes and enjoying the warmth of the sun on his face. Rolling up the sleeves of his casual buttondown shirt loosely he rested his elbows on his knees as he leaned against the tree. As much as he tried to focus, his thoughts had turned to Haruka, feeling the necklace on his chest and doing an exercise that she suggested, it was hard not to think about her, and alll the things that happened a few days before. Finding out that she lost her leg, losing her dream, not being able to become a hero with him.

Not long after he was thinking thise thoughts they all seemed to blurr together and he wouldn’t realize that he had fallen asleep.

@Silver Carrot

After having gotten changed, Mina stated to aimlessly wander round the school, deep in thought. She was thinking about her fight with Amane, her fight with Dulga, her fight with Kaida. She was thinking about what Jais had said to her, and what she'd said to him. She was thinking about her mom, what she would say, and what she would do.

Why were there no answers? There were just more questions. Things were only making her more conflicted and confused, not less.

As she entered the courtyard. She didn't see Ruby or Persia. She did, however, see Jett, sleeping under a tree, and some of the confusion lifted. It was a weight off her mind and her heart that she had now admitted to herself that she has a crush on him. She was glad too see him. A conversation with him and his annoying but endearing personality would, she surrendered to the notion, make her happy right now. She approached him, bent down, slipped his earphones down so they were behind his neck, and then gently shook him awake.

"Nice place to sleep, Jett. You must have dozed off."

Even though she wasn't smiling at him (she rarely did), he would notice a sparkle in her eyes when she was talking to him.

@Aerandir@pkken@Melpaws

---

"I find the 1-A 1-B rivalry quite childish myself, but I've been an outsider looking in for a whole year and I've barely been a hero student for a month," Hitomi replied. "And of course! Let's swap details!"

Hitomi gave Asahi her phone number, and received his, and after all the business was conducted and Asahi went to ask about the cats, Hitomi turned to Tomoe. The sheep girl was smiling sheepishly (well, more so than usual) beckoned her to follow her out of the cafe, away from the poor girl's allergies.

"I'm sorry for getting you roped into this, Tomoe. You wanted to hang out and instead we're involved in something big now. Still, there's time until we all have to meet up at the school. Want to hang out properly for a while?"

@liferusher@Lucius Cypher

---

Jett's eyes slowly opened, taking in a deep breath as his body began to move around slightly to stretch. He was clearly confused for a moment, as his dream slowly faded away and mixed with reality. He looked up at Mina for a bit, Surprised that she was the one waking him up. He looked around and and sat up more against the tree. He was silent for a moment, glad that Mina was here...but suddenly everything clicked with what happened in the past few days.

He shook his head, and took another deep breath/yawn and said softly, "Yeah... I guess I did." He reached back and rubbed the back of his head and neck. Closing his eyes as he did, Hoping that just a simple pop of his neck would relieve the pressure in his head...but to no avail.

He looked back at her, annoyed slightly. After what happened a few days ago in the exercise, with her getting back into the fight even when she was way too hurt...despite what he did to help her. She had yet to say thank you...she knew how beat up he was when he fought Amane, they all watched the video afterwards. But then Kaida explained that she was blinded by Kadia when she was trying to fight Amane, and protect him.

Despite all this he bit his tongue and simply asked. What's up? Wondering if she was trying to talk to him for a reason.

@Silver Carrot

While sitting with her back leaned against the tree, Ruby pulled her legs closer to her own body so that she could let her head rest on her knees while she was still sitting up against the stump. "Infamous class, huh?" It was hard to deny that fact. While Ruby didn't know anything about the reputation of anyone in her class outside of the class itself, they were a bunch of troublemakers for sure. The feline wasn't sure about whether she liked being in such a "troublesome" class or not, but it definitely was anything but boring. Right now she leaned more towards enjoying all the action that they were getting.

While Persia was complaining to ruby and bumping into her leg while pouting, the catgirl did not seem to react at all. She was only staring into the distance while staying in the same position. Even when Mina was mentioned, whom she spotted immediately as Persia said it, the neko barely seemed to react at all. "I guess that is her." She barely saw what happened during the fight itself, so Ruby had to recall the rewatch of the exercise in class. The name Amane rang some bells too, she remembered his cruel actions and the reactions by her classmates. "It definitely was not pretty to look at."
The other person that Mina approached however, Jett, was a face which she surely remembered. It was him after all that stopped he fight between Ruby hersef and Acion, which the catgirl thought she would have won for sure. On top of that it was him who grabbed her in a very lewd way! Just thinking about it made her both angry and embarrassed. Luckily, nothing of that showed on the outside.
"At least she seems alright now. And I believe Amane got punished quite harshly didn't he?"
Ruby used her right hand to stroke through her own long, black hair that fell down her sides before yawning quite strongly. While she did so, her fangs were clearly visible.

"Even if it did damage her ego, I am sure that she will recover from it. From what I can remember, she seemed capable enough. I'd much rather have a talk with Amane though, see what he thinks about this situation and so on."

@pkken

and just like that the meeting was quick to be over. Hitomi and Tomoe were getting their stuff together again before leaving the table. Tomoe was still partly hanging onto Hitomi with her head drooped against the girl her shoulder. Honestly she would much rather have been asleep right about now but resisted the attempt too for a while longer as to not make any bad impressions on the rest of the representatives of the school. In no time people could call her by some weird nickname and she would want to prevent stuff like that. They were about to leave to relax a little longer before the competition began just as Asahi walked up to them to have some small thank. He sounded grateful for their presence. Well they were the only ones of the A class right now. It did make her wonder if they even had asked anyone else in the first place. Tomoe wasn't the greatest representative for her class.

Tomoe gave a short bow towards Asahi as thanks for having her and listened to his request. He wanted to exchange emails. Tomoe looked somewhat surprised when he held out his phone to her and Hitomi. Tomoe herself pulled out a simple fold phone, she didn't have anything too precious on her. This was only for emergencies. If she had something expensive with her at all times she would have been better off with ziplockers on her pockets for how inactive she was with protecting anything while she was asleep. With some fast clicking Tomoe copied over Asahi his info and send him a message of a bunny emoji with a cheerful smile of her own followed up by it.



Tomoe gave a short cheerful wave before he left the two of them to their own again. As soon as Asahi left Hitomi instantly apologised for getting Tomoe into this as well. Tomoe staggered back somewhat at the sight of Hitomi her sorry face. She immediately tried comforting Hitomi as to not try making her more worried.



Tomoe gave the girl a gentle smile as to show her it was honestly okay. That was only moments before one of the cats in the cafe decided to crawl up to her leg and brush its soft fur again her bare leg. Goosebump enveloped her body as she felt enlightened by the cat fur. Tomoe glanced down and saw the cute kitten gently scritching itself against her leg. In pure aw she bend down and patted the kitty, giving it gentle head scritches. Tomoe had been taken completely out of this world now she had seen this. More gathered around her all seemingly wanting the same treatment as the first kitty. Cat heaven!

Mina could sense that Jett was still as moody as he'd been since he lost the use of his quirk. No, there was something different about him now, but she couldn't place it. Maybe he wasn't too pleased he'd been woken. "Sorry if I woke you," she apologized, before crouching down. It seemed like she was trying to build up the courage to say something, but then sighed defeated and started speaking anyway.

"I just wanted to talk to you. I've been training rather heavily so we haven't really had a conversation since the exercise. I got out of the infirmary after you, so I never asked you if you healed up alright. Also, something's bothering you. Would you mind sharing?

No, I mean...I'm not very good at this. If you want to talk, I'll listen. I haven't talked to anybody this much in over a week. I fear I may be out of practice wording things in a polite way."

@Aerandir@pkken@Melpaws

---

Hitomi chuckled watching Hitomi connect with the cats, despite being allergic. Was was rather cute. Hitomi then tried to do the same, but the natural predators could sense prey, and Hitomi was once again swarmed with kittens who licked her, clibed up her with sharp claws, and began to once again start to play with her woolen hair. This time, Hitomi resigned herself to her fate and started to pet them. Besides, they were cute.

"So, Tomoe, when do you want to head back. Would you rather do something else first?"

@liferusher

Tomoe had been buried under kittens. There had been so many kittens around her that you could have said she was a celebrity right now. Tomoe couldn't handle this, she liked kitties too much, this was actually somewhat of a dangerous place for her. She had been safe all this time when she ignored them but when she couldn't ignore them any longer it was gonna get wild. She sat down on her knees and patted as many kittens as she could, embracing them into her open arms. Tomoe had her moment with the cats, hugging and snuggling against them before she finally was done and pulled herself away from them before it would get any worse for her. Most kitties had already left her so she would be less likely to be followed by them for if they tried to get her attention again.

Hitomi had been stormed by the kittens as well and seemed to have a worse time then Tomoe with the cruly hair she had and the woolen clothes. She did sort of represent an animal so kitties would probably feel safer around her. Tomoe would use her as a scratching pole as well so it was only logical for the kitties to do that as well.

Hitomi spoke to Tomoe when Tomoe had stood up. Tomoe gave the girl a drowsy look and seemed somewhat, snotty and sick after having pet the kittens. With the mask still on she spoke back as to what option she chose for them to do.



Tomoe tried to suppress her yawn but was unable to posses that sort of skill. Tomoe and Hitomi both walked out momentarily pausing before they headed to any location to discus it one more time.

Reina let the wolf's limp body go, gasping for air as she rested her uninjured arm and forehead against the building's wall to support herself.

"Th... thanks," she managed through breaths, glancing towards Roy out of the corner of her eye.

Her gaze dropped to the ground below her. She was having a hard time seeing at the moment, but she could see the blood. Much of it hers. Somehow the sight didn't affect her much.

"Oh." Yeah, she was hurt. She had forgotten for a second, Roy's words reminding her.

Though her adrenaline was still going, she began to feel the pain again. Most of it came from her abdomen, then her ankle which see stopped putting so much weight on, and finally her left forearm.

She glanced at the strip of clothing Roy held out to her. She'd need more than that probably. Bleeding out wasn't a very heroic way to go.

They were still in danger, so she had to be as quick as she could. The girl took off her uniform's pullover, handing it to Roy at the same time she took the offered strip. "Cut."

She rested her shoulder against the wall to lift up her injured leg. She tore into the legging to completely expose the injury. It didn't look great, but that wasn't what mattered right now. She wrapped it tightly in the cloth, finally showing the pain on her face as she winced slightly.

Next she untucked her top from her skirt, holding out her hand to take more cut clothing from Roy. She gripped the hem of the shirt, but hesitated for the first time. It was such a stupid thought, but the idea of exposing part of herself, even if it were just her torn up waistline. She glanced towards Roy and Takeshi, and turned her body away ever so slightly. So dumb. They were both far more occupied with the immediate danger to all their lives.

Besides, with Kaida and Michiko around... well, there wasn't really a reason to be interested in her.

With the faintest blush, she pulled the shirt up and gripped the hem in her teeth as she did her best to temporarily slow as much of the bleeding as possible. The cuts were deep and would scar without a doubt. Another worthless thought about her appearance flashed through her mind.

Somehow, the stray wandering of her mind helped refocus her as she reprimanded herself. The glassy look in her eyes had faded, replaced with a narrowed look of vexation.

Reina pulled up her left sleeve, revealing the extent of the damage to her forearm, giving her pause again as her eyes widened.

It was mangled. How was this hurting the least? She grit her teeth again, furious she let herself get so injured from such weak enemies. Permanent scars were the least of her worries...

No, no time for thoughts on the future right now. She wouldn't have a future to worry about if she didn't stay focused.

Glancing once again towards Roy, she held out the arm as way of asking him to wrap it up for her.

"Please."

Her senses all beginning to return, she was able to hear the sounds of fighting somewhere close. While still holding her arm out, she turned her head to try to get an exact sense of the direction of the other noises. There was more trouble than this wolf guy.

Reina's eyes were a cold glare, barely containing something. She had managed to keep her quirk from going crazy so far, which she was grateful for. Once she got out of this alley though... she wasn't so sure she wanted to keep it controlled. If she had the chance, she'd try. She'd remember the panic she just felt, and the panic she felt during the event that got her invited to Komei, and she'd use it to try to get her quirk to obey. As long as she knew she wouldn't hurt anybody in the collateral.

Anybody but the villains.

She looked again to Roy, eyes terrifyingly sharp despite her state. "Quickly."

"No problem"

Even though it didnt seem like it, Reina was certaintly about to get serious now. When she handed over her uniform he couldn't help but smirk, it reminded him of the first exercise. It seems as though when Reina enters a tight spot she always manages to turn up the heat. The boy nodded turning his gladius into a pair of scissors before cutting long thick strips of her clothing into a makeshift bandage wrap. Having an overprotective single mother proved most useful in times of need. First aid was natural pretty natural for him even to the point where he can make spur of the moment decisions.

He was totally oblivious to Reina exposing herself until she turned herself away, O-Oh, im sorry" the boys serious demeanor totally defeated briefly. He turned his head away and onto the enemy briefly watching his friends battle with the enemy at hand as Reina did her thing. Trying his best to keep a straight face but the red blush plastered on his cheeks would surely give his embarrasment away.

"Please"

The blonde turned back around to face the girl as she offered her arm for him to wrap. Roy moved silently, placing his scissors on the ground before wrapping the piece of clothing around the girls eviscerated arm. Over, under, over, under., Roy wrapped it tightly to stop the bleeding before helping Reina to her feet.

"Lets go help Kaida and Michiko" The boy said going ahead.

@Riegal


"Yes infamous class, a bunch of roughhousers. I'm not sure if you heard since you just recently got into Class 1-A but your new class did get into a fight with my class 1-B. You seem like a pretty reserved girl, I want you to be careful Ru-Chan." She was one to talk, afterall Amane had nearly placed both the students in front of her in a coma. Ruby confirmed that it was Mina Kasuke, "I was hoping to talk with her but she seems busy talking with that boy right there." he saw her new friends demeanor change as she mentioned him. "Whats the matter Ru-chan is that your lover?" She said teasing, surely she would recieve some kind of threat from Ruby.

"And yes Amane did get punished quite harshely, he is in the on the verge of expulsion actually. If he gets in any trouble while on academic probation he is gone. Mr.Hisakawa has deep ties in the heroing world so no matter where he goes he will never be able to become a hero if he is casted out of Komei. A price to pay for his dastardly deeds. When she proposed wishing to talk with Amane a idea popped into Persias brain.

"I want to go speak with him right now, I actually worked with him on the first exercise for 1-B. It might be hard for you to talk to him as a complete stranger but he may seem more willing to speak if I tag along." The brunette stood up from the chair and yawned shortly after Ruby. Her restlesness was sure contagious, "Are you ready to talk with our not so friendly neighborhood brute?"

@Melpaws

Most of the stuff that Persia said got no reaction from Ruby, at least externally. In her mind though she was thinking and contemplating about some of the things that the other girl said! "Reserved is one way to put it, I guess" the neko thought to herself. But still, most of her words went without any reaction from Ruby. She was simply and quietly staring into the distance, sometimes towards the pair that was sitting beneath one of the other trees.
It was only when Persia started teasing her that Ruby actually gave some reply. By now she had grown used to be called Ru-chan already, it was kind of a cute nickname after all. When she called Jett her lover, Ruby could only think back to what happened to the exercise and almost shivered because of that weird feeling that the moment gave off. Her eyes shifted over to Persia without turning her head too much.

"Do you have a death-wish?"

Amane being on the edge of expulsion did sound quite hard, though maybe it was justified after what he did. Ruby only saw the recording and she did not exactly hold any grudge against him, but he did not seem like the friendliest of people either so she was not sure if she was interested in talking to him. Ruby also was not sure why Persia wanted to talk to him in the first place, but after doing an exercise together it did not seem too unlikely.
"Nyah, if you want to." the catgirl replied, replacing the affirmative "Ya" with a spoken "Nyah".
Waiting for Persia to open another portal, Ruby stood up and glanced over to her friend. While she still was not sure whether she wanted to actually meet Amane or not, she knew that she was done sitting around despite the nice wheather. Ruby needed to do something productive.

@pkken

Persia chuckled silently to herself as soon as the threat was received by her friend, pulling a hand over her mouth to hide her face. "Alright maybe he is not the one but one day you will find someone, and I want you to know I am here for you Ru-chan." she teased a bit more but certainly this would be as far as she goes. Persia placed her hand on the trunk opening another portal.

"I recall seeing him head to the cafeteria after school ended. Let's go check there." Persia walked through the portal and out she appeared at the entrance of the cafeteria. It was a good thing Ruby didn't know the inner workings of her quirk or else she'd have to explain why she had a warp to the mess hall. The brunette peered through the cafeteria door window to find the black haired boy scrubbing down the tables.

A smile crept across her face, it was amusing to watch a top dog drop because of their ego.

"There he goes. 'The 1-B Brute' "

@Melpaws

Having just walked through the portal, Ruby took a look around to check her surroundings. For a moment she was wondering whether it was actually okay to use such a quirk for transportation around the school. That thought reminded her that Ruby was actually not entirely sure to what extend they were allowed to use their quirk outside of classes or training-sessions on school grounds. A question she'd have to ask a teacher at some point.

But surely enough, Persia was correct: Amane was in the cafeteria doing this almost humiliating and annoying work. Before both of them started to approach him, Ruby faced Persia and asked a last question. "So, why is it that you want to talk to him? I've never had any interaction with him, but from the recording I could tell that he was not exactly the nicest guy."
That was still almost a euphemism. Since the neko did not hold a grudge against Amane she had no real interest in talking to him at the moment. However, it would be interesting to tease him after what he had done to her classmates.

@pkken

Persia took a deep sigh as her demeanor changed a bit, she didn't even turn to face her friend as she spoke.

"Sure Amane is many things but stupid is not one of them, if you haven't noticed yet Ruby but our hero society enter a recession once all might's reign is over. The guy is pretty antisocial but this is his own way of showing he cares. I'm pretty sure if he didn't care he wouldn't be at a hero Academy trying to become a pro. That's why I don't completely condemn his actions. I want to pick his brain a little more is all.

Persia opened the cafeteria doors and entered the mess hall with purpose, she wanted to know how far his ideals go and whether or not he has the resolve to realize them.

Amane had been hard at work scrubbing the tables vigorously, he was preparing to move on to scraping the gum from the underside of each table when one of his classmates and some catgirl entered. He didn't bother to make it it obvious that he noticed them. The temp janitor simply pulled out a metal scraper from a bucket of tools on the ground near him.

Persia held a hand up to mouth ,clearing throat before speaking, her demeanor changing completely into a happy and cheerful mood. It was as if she was an actress the way she could alter her moods.

"Kishi-Kun!!"



An annoyed sigh was released from the boy's lips as he realized there was no escape. He rose from his position to meet his visitors. His shadow quickly being castes over the two ladies. "I thought I told you not to call me that." he said before his eyes turned over to the cat girl. His gaze sharpening as he recalled this girl as a major factor in her teams win in the battle exercise last week.

"What do you guys want, I am pretty busy as you can see."

@Melpaws

Persia's sudden change in behavior and demeanor somewhat caught Ruby off guard, since the girl until now only had been rather goofy around the neko. Therefore seeing her that serious and almost overreacting to Ruby's casual statement was surprising and Ruby only stood still to listen. With her eyes staring at the girl who did not return her gaze, the catgirl did not even reply to that little monologue of her's. Rather than getting into some discussion about deeper topics like these, Ruby took the oppertunity to stay quiet and simply followed Persia inside while keeping her head down.
It was an interesting and frightening thought to think about, a world without the allmighty hero. Whether Amane was fit to be a "symbol of peace" or anything like that didn't matter, it would seem as though this world would need every hero that it can get soon enough.

Both entered the place and the catgirl was walking right besides Persia. She still wasn't too sure whether she had any real interest in conversing with Amane, but since Persia wanted to and Ruby was fine with coming along, she did not mind approaching him like that. It was good however, that it was Persia who initiated the conversation with the edgelord.
With crossed arms Ruby returned Amane's gaze as he stared at her for a short moment, giving her own cold and neutral expression to him.
"Kishi-kun" Ruby thought to herself, almost having to surpress laughter after hearing such a cute nickname for Amane. Her outer expression showed no change luckily but Ruby was happy to know that she wasn't the only one to receive the "nickname-treatment" from Persia.

When Amane asked for their intentions, Ruby didn't bother replying, since it was her friend who wanted to come here after all. Right now Ruby saw no reason to tease Amane anyways, he seemed humiliating enough, collecting the used gums from under the cafeteria tables. Therefore the neko kept up her outer expression but also did not take her eyes off Amane since this was the first time she actually saw him outside of the tapes or the battlefield and could take a moment to inspect him and burn his image into her mind. Her own ears were perked up and twitching slightly since she was paying attention carefully. Her tail on the other hand was just hanging down her legs and not moving at all so it was almost impossible to spot it from the front.

@pkken

Persia placed her hands behind her back as she swayed side to side. "Jeeze, you aren't a prisoner Kishimoto. You should be happy that you have at one person in this school who is happy to see you." she replied puffing her cheeks out once more showing her clear annoyance by Amane disregarding her carefully thought out nickname.

The brunette took a seat in a nearby chair, crossing her legs. Her attitude once again as she quickly got straight to the point.

"I wanted to talk...I mean we, we wanted to talk more about your reasoning behind going as far as you did. From your point of view what was going through your mind.



"Tsk. Did you come here just to bash me like everyone else? I'll leave what I was thinking up to 'your' imagination." he said in a somewhat degrading tone. He didn't plan on explaining himself to people who couldn't begin to understand. Amane was already accepting of becoming the black sheep of Komei academy. The guy never really cared who liked or hated him, there was only one goal he had on his mind and it was achievable alone.

"Not at all, intact I wanted to confirm your ideals. Did you really harm her out of enjoyment or were you instead trying to instill something in her. I've fought alongside you once before and generally you would never care to go to such lengths. I want to know what your goal was.

Amane was a bit annoyed by this girls persistence, the fact that she figured out his reasoning based on rumors made him a bit suspicious."Look it was simply just me competing and going too far. After I beat her multiple times she didn't want to give up and was blinded by her vegeance. Above all else she became a hazard to her own comrades, this girl wanted to take a path she is not mentally and spiritually prepared for." For once, he spoke like a normal person. Even if his tone of voice was forced. The guy was able to hold a decent conversation, as if he had some kind of care.

Though that side of him didn't last long,He turned his gaze away from Persia as she finished talking and back onto the Neko who has been eyeballing him since she entered the cafeteria. "I guess you're just going to stare at me this entire time, if that's all you're gonna do then why are you here?It irritated him that she was just watching him as he talked, just standing there, wasting oxygen. You must be standing pretty tall right now, ya win a exercise, get transferred into the hero course, and here you are staring me down." he let out a short chuckle, pretty much mocking the girl in front of him as he returned to his work of scraping the underside of the lunch tables.

"Dont get ahead of yourself, after finally getting your foot in the door it would be too soon to have to your hero career come to an end."

@melpaws

Much to Ruby's surprise, Amane's reply was considerably normal or casual, given who it was coming from. For now it simply made more sense to just let Persia and Amane converse, Ruby didn't have any reason to talk to Amane herself after all. She only wanted to accompany her friend.
When the guy turned to her and began talking her down however, the situation changed. While Amane's words barely phased Ruby, her outer demeanor did not change at all and stayed neutral, it was interesting to have words directed at herself and it also was interesting to see him become angry just by her presence.
"I am only here because she wanted to talk to you." Ruby replied without changing her expression or tone.

Thinking back to the exercise however, Ruby felt the need to correct Amane. "My team did not win the exercise. Yes we would have won, however your freakout caused the exercise to end preemptively which is why we were never officially awarded with a victory even though 3/4 out of my team were still standing after that final attack." Despite the topic, her tone continued to stay neutral and cold.
"Besides, these are strong words coming from someone whose hero career was on the brink of conclusion after you got scolded by your grandfather for almost killing a student during the exercise."
She finished her sentence by closing her eyes and shaking her head. "I didn't come here to pick a fight with you though. I don't hold any grudge towards you for what you've done."

Once the catgirl reopened her eyes, her gaze returned to meet Persia's. "We all have our reasons why we want to become heroes and I don't doubt that you have your own. You've received your punishment and I doubt that you'll do something similar in the future." She was intentionally looking at Persia even though she was talking to Amane since her follow-up statement was directed towards her. "If that is all you wanted to ask him, I wouldn't mind leaving now since I still have to do my daily training today."
@pkken

Rubbing his eyes one more time to get the crusties out of the corners of them he shrugged when she said sorry that she woke him. Not having a chance to answer when she looked like she was going to speak again.

He listened to her, staring off infront of him, taking low deep breaths. He knew she wasn’t like other girls, not quick to say thank you, and putting up a cold demeanor all the time. But with her asking what was bothering him. Along with his headache, and the fact he was just thinking of haruka and her situation...just added onto his irritation on why he was even bothering with girls like them.

All Mina could see was perhaps his left eyebrow twitching as he had a very blank expression on his face before he seemed to snap out of it and said with a irritated sigh. “Now you want to talk?” He said while shaking his head.

He continued to look forward and said in a low voice. ”Yeah i’m fine. Thanks for asking.” He then looked at her ”I mean, I figured you would ask that earlier...instead of a week later.”

He let that hang in the air for a second before adding. “I honestly thought single handedly managing to get a bigger, stronger opponent away, while not being able to use my quirk, from you while you were hurt would get a thank you.”[/color]

He looked away, shocked at himself really for just being so blunt with her. But as much as he wanted to stop his mouth just continued. ”The last thing I hear from you though is some comment about me falling onto a girl, which was totally not my fault thank you. And then running back in and getting yourself beaten up even more. And even blinding kaida as she was trying to protect me from the same damn guy who hurt you. But I mean, at least you’re talking to me a week later. Better late than never…”

Well shit… he thought to himself. There goes that friendship. He sighed as he looked away and at the grass infront of them.

@Silver Carrot

---

Takeshi took his eyes off Hade’s for a moment to look at Riena who he had heard yelling in pain before. Her arm bleading and Roy was already at her side helping. He looked back hearing Hade’s speak, saying how disappointed he was in him. He barely had time to raise his own blade to parry the first strike, taking a step back trying to prepare for the second. While he saw it, and managed to move his head so it was a glancing blow, it still jarred him back a few more steps. But he quickly shook his head and regained his footing, using his left hand to rubbed his jaw as Hades spoke once again, threatening to kill Michiko.

His eyes narrowed and he shifted back into his stance simply saying, “Sensei would never allow it. You wouldn’t dare go against his orders.” He knew he would kill the others without a second thought, and himself as well. A rush of adrenaline pumped through him, one that really never came since he left almost a year ago. While the fights in the academy were honest to say, insane for a public school. None of them had the true promise of death like this one would bring.

He lunged forward and delivered three fast attacks, from different directions each time. Each parried or blocked by Hades. After a counter attack from Hades that ended with a block from Takeshi, their faces close to each other. Takeshi could see the eyes through the slits of Hade’s mask and he said with a threatening tone. “You overestimate the situation… I never beat you before because I was always fighting you and your ‘pack”[/color] With that last comment he shoved the taller man back and redoubled his efforts into his attacks.

To those who were able to catch a glimpse of their fight could barely follow the swordplay. The two seemed to be evenly matching each other strikes and counters like they knew each other's next move. Another thing someone would notice was that Takeshi wasn’t fighting to defeat his opponent like a hero would...but rather his moves have all seemed to be aimed for killing blows. Not fighting at all like he had before at school. Takeshi’s goal was to distract Hade’s enough so he couldn’t add even more control over his wolves. But he knew he couldn’t hold back at all with this man, and despite his resentment to become more like he once was, he pushed forward. Slowly but surely, Takeshi began to push Hade’s back.




Michiko during this time, was busy with her wolf. While she had slashed it quite a few times, Hades had focused more energy into the two wolves going after her, So each time they would fall, they would instantly get back up again. She knew what Takeshi would tell her to do and that was to just Run away using her quirk, Despite the situation. However...that was with just them...not while they were with their friends!

She wasn’t like the others though… she was a decent fighter...but she never focused on it like the others did. She got winded far sooner than the others would have, and despite her best efforts, she got pinned down by one of the wolves, it biting her shoulder. However, it just held her there instead of going for a killing bite.

---

Kadia looked to Riena, Michiko and Roy as they were fighting...Reina already hurt and roy was helping her out with bandages.Michko was holdiing her own for a bit but was soon taken down by her pair of wolves. Before she could help her though she noticed the two aiming for herself had gotten back up and merged into a two headed one, bigger than her!

She could feel the cold coming off of them and was terrified. Cold was her one and true weakness. It hurt her like fire would hurt others. She backed up a few steps, it was this time that a woman was thrown into the alley with another masked man telling her she was in over her head. She suddenly recognized that the woman was Aurelia! Wasn’t that Acion’s older sister? A pro hero?! If she couldn’t fight these men what could she do?

Visibly shaking with fear and also from the cold fog around them, was when the larger two headed wolf then attacked, She ducked down as the wolf lept over her, missing her by mere inches. She didn’t have a moment to breath though as it whipped around to come at her once again. Despite her mind telling her to not grab the wolf...she did. Grabbing onto the thick of the right heads mane, to stop it the other head from getting closer.

She screamed in pain as the cold started to burn her hands, despite the scales on them now. She wrestled with the beast for a moment, feeliing the sudden taste of iron in her mouth as she bit her lip to try to ignore the pain, pushing herself through the pain and lifting the animal and slamming it heads first into the wall next to her. No longer being able to hold on she stumbled back, tripping over her own feet and heels and falling onto her back. Cradling her arms to her chest and rolling over to her side, crying from the pain she rarely felt...blood dripping from her mouth.

It hurts.

Who cares.

It's hard to stand.

Stop complaining.

But my body is resisting me.

You know your place. Enough whining. Make yourself useful. The pain won't be anything compared to the how you'll feel after if you don't manage that.

Kill the fear. Kill the pain. None of it matters to you.

Go.

Blackened vision returned. Reina nodded in response to Roy, eyes surveying the current situation. Both Kaida and Michiko were in trouble, but Takeshi was holding his own for the moment.

Violent threats were issued from the villain.

No. None of her friends were going to die. Not as long as she didn't. She'd fight with every thing she had to make sure that didn't happen.

"Help Kaida," she said to Roy, voice rough from her sore throat.

The girl took an unsteady step forward on her left foot, teeth gritting against the pain that shot up her leg.

It doesn't matter.

She kept stalking forward, pace increasing.

Pain is nothing in comparison to helping save Michiko's life.

Reina stepped into a hard kick to the wolf's side, immediately dropping to grip his fur and skin in both hands, left forearm searing in pain at the exertion.

"Get off."

Like a demon possessed, Reina bent down to snap her teeth down on the wolf's ear, not hesitating a moment before tearing it off. The wolf reacted by letting go of Michiko and snapping at Reina's face, canine opening a cut on her forehead above her left eye. Reina reeled back from both the force she had used to tear the wolf's ear and from dodging it's counter attack, catching herself with her right hand and bouncing up to her feet.

Her mind raced as it tended to while she analysed the situation. The wolf was still on top of Michiko, though at least now its focus was on Reina. Michiko could maybe take the opprotunity to do something--but just in case that didn't happen, Reina needed to do something herself.

This wolf was noticably stronger than the two that had attacked her. She needed a weapon to do significant damage to it, or her quirk--

Her quirk. Realization flashed through the girl's mind. She had simply accepted that using her quirk in the alley would be too dangerous as it'd affect her friends as much as it'd affect the villain and his dogs... but maybe that wasn't entirely true. The villain shouldn't know what her quirk even was, while her friends did...

She could make use of it. Maybe they could, too.

Reina's eyes were still focused on the dog as the train of thought ran it's course in a tenth of a second. If her quirk's activation adversely affected any of her friends and something bad happened, she'd never be able to forgive herself... but now wasn't the time for second guessing. There was no time for that. If it turned out bad, she'd give her life to fix the mistake.

Reina had made up her mind, her expression steeled beyond what it had ever been in her life.

"Using my quirk!" she cried out so everyone in the alley could hear. It was up to them to react in time now. She trusted them.

Her cold gaze settled on the wolf's snarling head as she used her quirk to suddenly pull her surroundings sharply towards her. Once again, she stepped into a hard kick, her body's entire weight on her injured left ankle. The wolf's body was jerked violently towards her, and her right foot snapped out to meet the beast's head. An audible crack could be heard on contact, the force of the kick far amplified by the use of her quirk.

Reina immediately zeroed the effects of the quirk out again as the wolf's body was spun and ragdolled off and away from Michiko's body, sliding to a lifeless stop several feet away.

The girl let out a sharp gasp from the exertion, immediately glancing up and down the alley, hoping she hadn't caused trouble for Roy, Kaida, or Takeshi, and fully ready to jump in if she had.

---

---

Now that he had successfully left the battle area, Acion slowly recovered from that anxiety attack he just had. He gradually stopped shivering as he stopped climbing and hovered in the sky.

"Urgh..."

The winged man grunted as the pain from that kick earlier resurfaced. It might have hit a vital bone or something. Fuck this. Even the strongest person he knew, his beloved older sister, was being torn apart like that. How strong are these people anyway?

He had to focus here. This was no drills. This was the real thing. A matter of life and death here. His sister is in peril. His friends are in peril. He could not afford to screw this up. He had to get the Sky Knights together. That was the only shot capable of piercing through these bastards. If he could gather a few of them and struck them from different directions, it would do it. They may be stronger individually, but with many of the pro heroes together, they would not stand.

Talking about great conveniences, he had this comm link right here. If he could just change the channel to the HQ, or maybe Albert, he could gather them up. They should be already in stand by now. He had to give the command for his sister.

"Come on..."

Acion pressed the comm link several times, trying to find the right channel. Hell, he didn't even know which channel it is. His heart was rushing. Panicking was lurking around him, as he desperately tried to not let it consume him...

---

Once Forte had left the HQ, the one in command was a tall girl with long lustrous blue-hair with glasses, wearing a white lab coat. The appearance and choice of clothing was a little obvious that she was not part of the Sky Knight's battle squadron. She instead was part of the ground staff, in particular in charge of the equipment. For a girl graduating from Support Course, the job was a surprising delight. The payment was not as high as she expected, but the environment was second-to-none. They usually say working is worse than schooling, but being here, it may be good enough to be considered an exception to that statement. But today was not a delightful day to her. This was a surreal and a little intimidating experience, to actually be in charge of an emergency situation.

Suddenly, she noticed something strange over her own comm link. It appeared that someone was trying to contact her, but it stopped right before she could hear anything. A minute later, it repeated. She could barely hear what was on the other end

"-ome on."

Her eyebrows lifted. This was intriguing.

"There's something currently calling us on the comm link." She reported to the last person who left the HQ, the dragon-girl. "It's scouring through multiple channels."

Over to the other end.

"That's suspicious. What's the ID of that comm link?" Forte asked.

"Uhh..." She took a moment. "It's K98"

The Sky Knight was in shock. K98 was dead. How could it be contacting HQ right here, right now? The only person that could have it right now is Aurelia.

"Can you figure out who's the caller?"

"I heard vaguely. I think it's a male."

No way...

"Put me on with him."

---

Elsewhere

It seemed that he didn't need to call someone. Someone was already reaching out to him.

"You. Identify yourself. State your name and where you come from?"

He breathed a sigh of relief as the panic aura left him.

"Acion Nakamiji. I'm from Komei Academy."

"Acion..." She recognized that name. "You're the son of Arisa?"

"Yeah, and the brother of your leader."

"Ohh..." She nodded understandingly. "But why are you here and have that comm link?"

"I'll explain if there is time, in which we only have very little!" He almost yelled into the link.

"Ok ok. Calm down. Aurelia is in trouble isn't she?"

"Yeah, she just got overwhelmed by a...strange person. I think he's from the Shadow Clan or so."

'Shit, even Aurelia?'

"Alright. We are heading there as fast as possible. Where are you now?"

"Uhh..."

Damn it, he didn't know where exactly this was. He remembered that his sister used some sort of sector as a way to coordinate, but he didn't know for shit about it. He had to find something to mark his location. Something...like a landmark.

"I'm near the city's drawbridge."

"Ok got it." She switched off the comm.

Acion was still not any less worried. Right now, he was all by himself, with no help around him for now. Tension was mounting. What if they mistaken his location? What if they couldn't find him or something? Questions like that went through his mind. But he just have to trust them. He landed on the top of the bridge and waited, hoping direly that they would arrive soon.

Minutes after, the relief party, or so it would seem to him, had arrived.

"Hey man." It wasn't the girl earlier. It was Albert, flying in with two more Sky Knights. One of whom looked very young, with short brown hair, who had like four flying flat objects rotating around her while she levitated using her two waist wings."Ok, I know you're in a panic. But you gotta tell me what is going on."

Acion was not really panicking anyway, but whatever. He briefly explained the situation to the three members.

"Hmm. It may be a lot harder than we thought. I know we're on short of time, but we should wait for Forte first before storming in. She should be arriving any moment now." He then proceeded to make a short call somewhere else. But before that. "Just tell Aurelia that we're on our way."

---

---

The throw into the alleyway was so violent it hurt. The point of impact was not a flat surface, but rather an edge of a dumpster that her back crashed into. Because of it, her back was now soring. She had to take a moment to stand up. Thankfully, no danger was heading her place. At least not immediately.

Upon standing up, the Sky Defender looked around to see the kids from Komei also struggling with their fights. And before her were wolves, one so large that it was out of this world. One she had never seen or dared to imagine. One was pinning a girl down. One was preying on a silver-haired girl. Aurelia recognized her being that girl in the cafeteria the other day. She's caught up in this too? Not far from her was the blond haired guy also from the cafeteria, along with another girl with short black hair. They too weren't faring very well. The last person she could not see very clearly, but he seemed to be holding out.

The wolf preying on Kaida soon attacked, but the girl quickly and nicely dodged, grabbed it and slammed its head onto the wall. But then she...collapsed. The battle must have been brutal. Aurelia paid more attention to the wolf. It received a heavy blow, but it was still moving. It was going for the now defenseless girl.

Wasting no second, Aurelia charged at the wolf. Before it had any chances of touching the girl, she plunged her sword deeply into its neck. The freezing cold skin of the wolf sent chills down her spine. Then, she quickly ripped the sword off and delivered two slashes to its head, sending it to the floor.

Aurelia could see Kaida in pain. But before her, she had to know what had happened to Acion first? Did he escape? Or did he stay and fight that guy? She really hoped that he didn't. If he did, and then got hurt or even lost his life, how would she explain this to mom and dad? Or the school. Her entire career, esteem and conscience would be in complete ruin. If that happened, she'd rather die here in this battle.

"Acion, are you-"

Suddenly, the short-haired girl yelled that she would be using her quirk. Instantly, the air around her became a storm as it was pulled violently into this girl. What the hell is this quirk?!

Aurelia planted her sword onto the ground, trying to not be pulled into it. The force was so immense that it took most of her strength to remain stable. So strong that it pulled the wolf into her. And then, without any pre-warning, she was blasted away by an opposite force, propelling her in the direction opposite of the force she was trying to fight against. She slammed her back yet again, but thankfully it was just the wall.

"Holy shit my back hurts." She grunted as she stood up. "Acion, are you alright?"

The few second's silence seemed like a medium eternity to her. And it all came out in one go as a voice came right back at her, loud and clear.

"I'm alright."

She breathed a sigh of relief. But then the next thing to come out of her communication device was the news she wanted to hear.

"I've met up with the Sky Knights. We'll be relieving you soon!"

Yes. Now she would just need to hold out. Time is on her side!

Her next concern turned to Kaida, who was crying in agony. Aurelia immediately went to her side, kneeling right next to her.

"Are you alright miss?"

She got her answer pretty quickly, in the form of a drop of blood dripping from her mouth.

"Oh no..."

What could she do?

@Riegal@pkken@Aerandir@Heartfillia