After leaving Class 1-A's dorm, the boy's mind had been wondering all over the place as he started to reflect on the past couple of days. Highschool wasn't going exactly as he planned, which oddly made him happy deep inside. Though he absolutely can not stand the other students here, he can't help but give them a smidge of respect...as far as combat goes. Perhaps this is the reason why he has some sort of happiness within, for once there is something to look forward too.

Without even noticing Amane had reached one of the few ponds located on the outskirts of the campus, the area was vacant of any other students and teachers. Just the way he liked it. The boy walked down the slight slope before laying down on a small hill leading into the pond, fully taking advantage of the opportunity to enjoy sunset. Despite all that was going on in his life, his academic probation that has him hanging on to his hero career by a thread, being pretty much a wanted man on campus for what he did in the previous exercise, as well as having to put up with his tattered body. Amane managed to find peace, even if it was for a moment.

After a few moments the boy was out cold laying in the grass.

@Experiment 249@FamishedPants

Fumika nodded repeatedly, returning each of Yoshida’s rather enthusiastic statements about the show with a very authoritative nod of affirmation. Her expression was still as serious as ever, but there was something about the way she looked, as if her bright blue eyes were sparkling in a way they usually didn’t. As he jumped energetically from one thing to the next, she made an admirable effort to keep pace - not just mentally, but physically as well, mimicking each pose he made in turn, and giving a rather sympathetic wince as he overexerted himself. Immediately, she dropped the little mirror game, and before she’d quite realized it herself, she had already taken two steps closer to him, her hand half-raised, uncertain whether it would be alright to reach out to him any further.

“...Are you-” She began, but trailed off into silence as he grinned and just kept talking, passing over his momentary slip-up as if it was nothing. Perhaps she should have allowed this to convince her that he really was fine, that nothing was wrong and everything was back to normal. And yet, she couldn’t do that. He’d been hurt somehow, and he wouldn’t - no, “couldn’t” - tell her why. And now he was trying to act like it hadn’t happened at all. Was it wrong of her to worry?

The clear look of concern in Fumika's eyes had momentarily shocked Kenichi. Not because he thought she was uncaring at all, but to some degree that was part of it--rather, it seemed a very intense and real emotion from the girl. Not just something she was imitating. He knew she had real emotions, but at this point he was more used to reading them in her hair's slight movements than in her face. For her to show something of her own...and specifically for him...

She stepped back, her hand dropping back to her side. As usual, she couldn’t find the answer. All she could do was listen and observe. Yoshida was happy with this, right? They might have been friends, but that didn’t give her any right to stick her nose into his private business and make a nuisance of herself. If Yoshida was satisfied, she would just have to be satisfied with this much as well.

So, she listened patiently in silence as he continued. She didn’t really have much experience with foreign movies and TV shows, so she took his word for it, but something he said stuck out to her, words immediately joining with an all-too-familiar question.

“‘What makes a Hero...’ I see. That is important. Haruka taught me that first.” She began by seemingly parroting him, but then shook her head, a slight smile crossing her face for just a moment as she answered cryptically. No, that wasn’t quite how she remembered the question going.

Then she showed Kenichi a new imitation, but he didn't quite know who it was she was imitating. And there was something different about this one too--because anyone could do an imitation. They might not be great at it, but anyone could memorize a line or a pose. This, however, was something deeper.

In other words, anyone could read a quote off a page or recite it from memory. Only someone who internalized it could make it part of their life, could live it. Or try to do so. And Fumika had done that with whatever this was. With whoever had given this to her. So this--

Unexpectedly, Fumika raised a hand once more before her face, sweeping it dramatically in front of her as she spoke with an energy and a power that was not her own, her voice echoing suddenly in the empty common room.

“Then, I ask of you: what is a Hero?”

She stared seriously at Yoshida, hand outstretched as if beckoning him, entirely still as if frozen in time, save for that single strand of hair atop her head that continued to wobble excitedly back and forth. Her faintly luminescent gaze was utterly fixed on his face, as if expectant of something. And yet, when the answer to her question came, it wasn’t from herself or from Yoshida, but rather...

--so this could only be from one person.

He started to reach out his own hand to her, just like she had done...although in his case it was almost a matter of being overcome by the sheer ~cool~ of the situation. But just then--

“A sword of justice against the wicked!” The bombastic, rougher, more tomboyish voice that answered her question in equally melodramatic form was unmistakable. Fumika’s gaze immediately swerved to the left, focusing on the side-door of the dorm’s common room, which swung quietly closed behind two figures. The shorter of the two was currently nudging the taller boy whose arm she was leaning against with a prodding elbow. “Oi, she stole my part and now we’re all out of order, so you get the third line. C’mon, hurry it up before you ruin my entrance.”

When they walked in and Jett heard the upbeat question that came from Fumika’s mouth he closed his eyes and groaned inwardly. Haruka mentioned teaching Fumika their ...well...her thing. But he kinda wished it wasn’t true. But soon Haruka pipped up even more upon hearing her favorite saying.

While he was enjoying Haruka leaning on him, he took the sharp elbow in stride. Wincing as only to the fact he knew what was coming up. He looked directly at Haruka as she quickly started with the second line with a blank look. After all these years… she was still into this? But her eyes had that sparkle again in them like they did before.

He sighed and closed his eyes upon her ‘request’ deciding to indulge her and while puffing his chest up half heartedly a flush of red come up on his cheeks as he was about to do this infront of Kenichi and Fumika. His cred was going to soon plummet after this. Kenichi, meanwhile, dropped his jaw as he clapped both hands to his cheeks. Then he recognized a third person, who added their own line...

”A...shield that...doesn’t falter?" He said in a voice just slightly over monotone as if he thought he knew the line but suddenly got confused And blanked the rest of it. His face only growing more red as He looked to Haruka with a look of ‘why do you do this to me…’

"OH MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" Kenichi's hands dragged down his face like he was going to rip his own cheeks off. He turned to Fumika with childlike, glittering eyes. "THAT'S SO COOL YOU WERE TOTALLY IN SYNC EVEN THOUGH THEY MUST HAVE BEEN HAVING A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT CONVERSATION OR SOMETHING." Then he turned towards Haruka with the same look, his fists bobbing rapidly up and down as he practically bounced in place with budding energy. "HARUKA-SAN DO YOU GUYS DO THAT EVERY TIME YOU SEE EACH OTHER!? BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T YOU NEED TO!" And then he turned towards Jett, and all the energy went away. Shaking his head, he put a reassuring--if bandaged--hand on the teleporter's shoulder. He had to noticeably reach to do so but he put a great deal of effort into trying to ignore his own shortness.

"But Jett-kun, bro, the line is great but the delivery friggin' TANKED. It's gotta be more like...Well, I ain't good enough with words so I'll just show ya!"

Jett looked at the guy blankly… these two would get along Waaaaaay to well…. He shrugged off his arm and said “To be honest… It wasn’t even my line….” He said trying to make up a slight excuse under his breath.

He took a shallow breath, just enough to generate enough wind that his hair went Super-Saiyan-ish...Then he leaped up a full meter, doing a backflip onto the stair railing in a three-point crouch, and coming up with an upraised fist that punched out as if at an imaginary camera somewhere beyond the other three's shoulders.

"A FIST, THAT BREAKS THROUGH THE LIMIT!"

He stood there for a moment, exhaling through his nostrils to keep that dramatic breeze going...and then he grimaced again, more noticeably this time...and a few spots of blood started to well up under the bandages on his clenched hand. He quickly hid it, pretending that the motion was part of a turn away from the others as he--much more gingerly--climbed down the stairs the normal way.

"Ah, but I guess my finish needs work too, heh." he said, looking up with a sheepish grin. Then he blinked and seemed to return to normal, or whatever passed for normal with Kenichi. "Sorry guys, got overexcited there." He nodded to Haruka, "The name's Yoshida Kenichi." Then his gaze took her and Jett in equally, the memory of the last time he'd seen them talking tickling at his mind but quickly being washed away by the present moment. "Me and Motome-chan were just catchin' up! We'd just been talking about Kamen Rider when y'all walked in."

Haruka blinked, watching first in slight surprise and confusion - the blue-haired boy had, after all, recognized and addressed her immediately, despite the fact that they hadn’t really spoken during her prior visit. Of course, this wasn’t exactly hard to explain. Fumika had mentioned this particular boy, Yoshida Kenichi, several times before, and she had a feeling that she’d probably also told him about her. While she was glad to thus get introductions out of the way, that reputation of hers was still…

However, these thoughts were very quickly sidetracked as, unexpectedly, the boy not only jumped on board with their routine, he… added his own part? Haruka gave an enthusiastic nod, prodding the tomato-faced teleporter beside her once more in the ribs. Really, it was just too adorable how seriously he tried to take himself. Sure, this was, if you looked at it rationally, little more than a game of make believe she’d played as a kid… But really, what was so wrong with that? Fumika enjoyed it. That was enough for her, even without the rare treat of getting her childhood friend into a fuss. But seeing him to be the one to break for once? Ah, revenge was sweet, indeed.

“See?” She said with a smug grin. “He gets it. And seriously? You didn’t even keep the lines straight. The third line’s ‘A shield to protect the innocent.’ Then there’s all the stuff about not givin’ up at the end. You can’t just jump straight to the finish, or you’ll throw off everyone’s coordination!” She nodded several times to herself. “Mm-hm, mm-hm,” She declared theatrically, her posture going rigid as she did her best to waddle on her shaky plastic leg away from Jett such that she could get a better position, like a drill sergeant overseeing her regiment. “Even if we’re thrown out of order by our start, it’s important to be able to adapt to the situation! Agent Fumi, Yoshida-kun, you both pass with high marks! Squadron Vice-Commander Jett, you could stand to learn a lot from their shining example of dedication and enthusiasm!”

"Ha! If only we actually got graded on stuff like that in class." Kenichi crossed his arms--partially as he calmed down as the conversation became something more familiar, and partially to hide his bleeding hand. "Maybe then I wouldn't have to worry about flunking the academic parts." As he watched her interact with the others, Kenichi couldn't help but find himself curious. Both Fumika and Jett had known Haruka for a long time, while he had only known the two of them for a much shorter one. He knew he would probably be the odd one out in this conversation, and had to admit he coveted their familiarity. After all, his brand new school life had been thrown all out of whack--days that he should have spent making new friends, finding his place among this class of all-new faces and personalities, had instead been spent on a dark, lonely mountain...wrapped in chains...Don't think about it.

She gave a rather over-the-top laugh before slowly dropping the act and scratching the back of her head. “Hmm… now that I think about it, though, this is getting pretty difficult to keep track of. I mean, I guess I added Fumi to the lineup without your permission, Jett, so I can’t really complain about her bringing in a friend, but still… Working in more lines’ll be hard…” She narrowed her eyes as if scrutinizing the blue-haired boy closely. ”And I can’t help but feel like you’re tryin’ to set yourself up as competition for the Red Ranger spot…”

"Red Ranger? Nah." Kenichi shook his head, his grin growing somewhat softer and more resigned. "In a battle shonen, I'd totally be the Main Character! But for a sentai team? I'd have to be the Big Guy. The one that hits the hardest but is the dumbest, something like that." He waved the hand that wasn't bleeding with a nonchalant attitude towards his own self-depreciation. "I don't think I've got the chops for leadership."

Haruka raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. “Eh, whatever, we can iron out the details later. Although it seems like Fumi’s already told you plenty about me, the name’s Harukaze Haruka. It’s fine to call me whatever, though.”

Jett raised a finger and quickly added as he leaned in with a smirk.“There's also Bunny, and rabbit….” His smirk growing as he looked at Haruka’s rapidly reddening face and widening eyes.

“H-huuuh?! I thought I told you not-” For just a moment, her exclamation of surprise and stammering reply sounded surprisingly girly, but just as quickly, this momentarily uncharacteristic “softness” of tone was immediately replaced by a more familiar one as she quite pointedly cleared her throat. “A-and who the hell are you calling ‘bunny?’ Like I need some lame, cutesy nickname like that!” She retorted angrily, crossing her arms and turning up her chin as if refusing to even look at him… which, however, she did not two seconds later, giving him a scathing sidelong glare.

As the two bickered back and forth, Kenichi watched with an expression that begged for popcorn. Although he had worried about not connecting with the three on the same level, he now found himself beginning to pick up more and more on the subtleties between them. Haruka was definitely a "Red Ranger," but Jett didn't seem to buy the act--though Kenichi didn't think it was a falsehood at all--and his teasing seemed to purposefully call her out. Or rather...he was intentionally poking holes in that image. Not in a mean way, but still...Nonetheless, it didn't seem like Haruka was going to let whatever this other side of herself was show without a fight. And it might get nasty.

Jett shrugged seemingly unfazed by her angry tone and glare. Tempted to flick her pigtails once again but he didn’t. He thought her reaction was cute, and this only egged him on, gaining that upper hand once again. He placed a finger on his lips and though for a second. “I wouldn’t call it ‘lame’.... Buuuut if we are going for ranks here… We can always call you General of-”

With an echoing clatter, a plastic, artificial heel swiftly collided with Jett’s shin, cutting him off mid-sentence.

Jett grunted in pain, as he lifted the leg into his left hand, hopping on one leg slightly as he rubbed it. His mouth was open as if he was going to say ow… and it did come a few seconds later. ”Owwwwww” holy hell this girl could kick just as hard with a plastic leg.

Haruka smiled all-too-cheerfully, giving an exaggerated and tremendously cheeky grin as if she hadn’t the slightest idea how her artificial foot had just somehow ended up kicking him. “Hey, hey Jett, I just remembered a really funny story! There was this kid I knew back in school who had this crazy plan. You see, he thought that if he could just manage to steal a ca-” Jett’s eyes went wide, for a moment and then turned into a death glare similar to Haruka’s. quickly added, ” I’m sure there was a girl with him in this story as well… She had a funny name too… what was it? He said with a look of one playing chicken. Mutual destruction was ok with him.

“Oh sure, but that’s not even the funny part. The funny part is how that boy thought that doing all that would somehow get him noticed by-”

A violently sizzling ball of golden hair appeared out of thin air and interposed itself unexpectedly between them, pushing both of them gently backwards. Haruka, off balance, stumbled slightly, only to be caught in an equally sudden tackle hug and pulled slightly away. The copy in between them spread its arms like the referee in a cage match pulling two combatants apart, and while perching her head on top of that of her rather baffled friend, Fumika gave Jett a very serious look, eyes flashing with a bright green glow before fading back to blue as the copy between them dissolved.

“No fighting,” She declared firmly.

Haruka shrank a little, awkwardly returning her friend’s hug. “Right… Sorry about that, Fumi. Don’t worry. We’re not really fighting anymore. That was just a bad joke.”

“Really?” Fumika asked, drawing back slightly and cocking her head to the side. Haruka nodded. “Oh… Okay.”

Kenichi blinked. Fumika had jumped right in the middle of things, which from his experience didn't quite seem like her. And...had she basically just glomped (damn how old was that meme now) Haruka? Kenichi blinked again. That wasn't all that unusual, right? They were friends, had been friends for a long time. Of course Fumika was going to be more comfortable with Haruka. Even if she didn't usually show all that much emotion, much less physical affection...not even with him, even though they seemed to have really hit it off already...in fact he could only remember like two different times when he had actually touched her--but why was that bothering him in the first place!?

Jett was surprised when he was pushed back by Fumika, or her copy that is. It was clear she thought they were really fighting again...like before. Though while it was cleared up in a few sentences, he still scratched his head. A slight annoyance that their little banter was cut short, but he said nothing.

The dark-haired girl cleared her throat. “Right… Where were we? Basically, you can call me whatever so long as it ain’t dumb.” Satisfied with her newly established criteria, she concluded her rather irreverent introduction and carried on. Really, it was almost astonishing how quickly she recovered her composure after losing it so completely. She must have been used to this…

“Anyway, back to your… uh… suggestion, Yoshida... wouldn’t it be a little weighty throwing out a big speech like that every time we happened to bump into each other? Like, it’s cool to have a thing and all, but I think a simple ‘Yo!’ would probably be more convenient, eh?” Haruka motioned casually over her shoulder at her rather fluffy friend, who had quickly resumed hugging her and perching her chin atop the shorter girl’s head. “Besides,” She added slyly. “I don’t think Fumi here would like waiting that long. She’d probably get impatient and tackle me halfway through the first line.”

He watched how Haruka reacted to Fumika hugging her...completely different with how she treated him. Much more softer. Which he admitted is a given with Fumika, the personification of innocence. But he couldn’t help but feel like…

"Oh, uh, yeah, I guess." Kenichi snapped himself back to reality as Haruka spoke. He glanced off to one side because he couldn't remember if he had actually been staring at the two of them cuddled up together or not. "I still think it's pretty neat, though. I have a bit I do with the "Main Character" stuff cause I think being high-energy at the intro like that takes pressure off people who're more reserved, ya know, but..." He turned back to them with a genuine grin now. "Mostly, I think it's the way you both immediately went with it. Not just cool lines and poses, but that...bond, I guess?" He thumbed his nose, forgetting that the hand he used now had blood splotches covering his knuckles. "Seein' people with connections like that, that's the whole reason Heroes exist, ain't it? To protect those smiles!"

He did mean those words...but as he suddenly noticed and then tried to hide his hand again, he couldn't help but remember the things he was trying not to think about, and how they made him feel. To Kenichi, being a Hero did not mean being "a shield to protect the innocent." Haruka's allegory was much more accurate...but rather than a sword "against the wicked," Kenichi just wanted to be...A sword that cuts evil out like the cancer it is.

Jett turned to Kenichi. Noticing the bloody knuckles...and after really looking at him, he could see he was pretty ragged. But putting on a show that he was perfectly fine. Despite the fact he was bleeding. Which begged the question...where the hell did he disappear for the last week. “Speaking of the ‘main character’ where the hell did you run off to this past week? Did you get bumped down to 1-B?” He knew damn well he didn’t but a little jab slipped in there. He never had the chance to take him on in the second exam. Which he wanted to...despite not having his quirk.

He turned towards him to give him his full attention, but suddenly he vanished in a puff of black smoke. Appearing once again on the back of the couch...off balanced off course and toppling over the side of it. Quickly coming back to his feet, trying to cover up the fact that just happened. Despite everyone seeing it. He gritted his teeth as he walked back over to the three. Trying not to look at Haruka who would probably give him shit about it in any second.

Fumika had seemingly been content to remain silent as the others spoke. After all, she was bad at things like making small talk, and her friends had seemed to be enjoying themselves. This was good enough, right? She didn’t need to worry about saying anything too complicated for her to understand. She could just listen and observe, recording this moment like she had all such moments that had come before it, without interfering or dragging the others down. This was fine. She was happy like this. Listening to such kind people was more than good enough.

And yet, it wasn’t good enough, because even though he tried to hide it, even though he tried to act normal, even though he wouldn’t tell her anything but that she didn’t have to worry, even when she didn’t use her eyes… Even then, she could still see it clearly…!

“Yoshida, your hand-” Fumika murmured quietly, letting go of Haruka and taking a step forward, her eyes flashing red and her bangs violently fluffing out to either side as static flashed from strand to strand between them. Her perpetually straight face had composed itself into a serious frown, and as her eyes returned to blue, they seemed somehow sad for a moment.

Of course, she’d analyzed the damage. His bones hadn’t re-fractured themselves or shifted out of joint - a surprise, considering how much he’d been moving around - but the surface level of skin which looked to have been either stitched or glued back together at some point - she couldn’t tell which - had quite predictably broken from over exertion. The rest of his body seemed intact… but if he kept behaving like he was now, how long would that last? She didn’t understand it. His behavior made no sense. He knew he was hurt, right? And she knew, and surely everyone else could tell too! So why was he acting like he wasn’t when it would mean only causing himself more pain? Why wasn’t he worried about it at all? Why didn’t he want her to worry about it either? Someone had to, and if he wasn’t going to take care of himself, then she…

Then she would do what, exactly? She was an observer. Complicated things like this weren’t hers to interfere in. She wasn’t good at expressing things, or saying what needed to be said. If it was just a matter of listening, then she’d be fine, but-!

...But that wasn’t good enough. That wasn’t good enough at all. Something needed to be said, and Yoshida wasn’t saying it, and nobody else was saying it either. Surely, Haruka could have said something… If someone important to her was behaving strangely like this, then surely, she’d say something like… Something like…

“Oi. Idiot. What the hell’s wrong with your Quirk?” The abrasive, irreverent voice of her tomboyish friend, mentor, and hero snapped her to attention as Haruka turned to face the wayward teleporter who was now, quite suddenly, on the other side of the room. “I thought you were just screwing with me when you kept popping up right behind me earlier, but this is way worse than that. I haven’t seen you flickering all over the place like this since we were kids.” She crossed her arms and stared him down with a frown that was somewhere between angry and concerned. It seemed very much like she wanted to tease him about it, but something stopped her… Something that Fumika recognized as a sentiment very similar to her own.

If it was Haruka, then that definitely had to be… it wasn’t wrong. It couldn’t have been. In that case-!

So, turning back towards Yoshida, Fumika crossed her arms, narrowed her eyes, and stared him down with a sad, angry frown. With her quiet, serious voice, she at last gave vent to her frustration the only way she knew how, borrowing the words she couldn’t come up with herself.

Hitomi wasn't the only one worried about the outcome of the Komei collective. Seiko was against it from the start. The 1-B clique getting power over the rest of the school? That was a very bad idea. Plus, Seiko didn't want to be controlled, or even advised. He didn't want to share a spotlight with anybody else. He was the Idol Hero, Wireframe!

He was about to leave the 1B classroom, when he overheard a comment from the 1-A transfer student, Lysander; "Oh, this is Lysander, aka best wire quirk in the school."

Seiko decided to find out the result of the Komei Collective final later, and followed Lysander out the classroom. Seiko wasn't going to let that go. While the two had never actually spoken, Seiko knew that Lysander also had a wire-based quirk, albeit a slightly different (and in his opinion, limited and inferior) one. But this. This was a challenge. It was time to man up and settle it, or at least man up as much as possible wearing a dress and tights.

@Experiment 249

After Tomoe her song she panted softly as she brightly smiled at the crowd. There were light drops of sweat from moving around and using her voice so much, this might have been one of her best jobs she had ever done. Off course she had given it her all. She couldn't really tell how she sounded but the crowd seemed to like it at least so she felt happy as well. Tomoe bowed multiple times towards the crowd before she stepped off the stage. Seiko was already in front of her nose before she knew. Tomoe surprisingly jumped and gave an awkward laugh. This girl was so hyper. The girl told her she loved her performance just like the crowd. Tomoe was happy to hear her opponent liked her performance as well. At least she was competitive with these challenges unlike others. Seiko dashed off towards the next challenge they would be undertaking already. Tomoe gave a sweet smile and waved at the girl shortly.



Tomoe waved after her before bounce bounce pushed against her face. Tomoe pleasingly smiled as she returned the hug towards Hitomi. Hitomi seemed to be surprised and pleased with Tomoe her act as well. When she spoke her voice was slightly muffled by the two jellies in her face.



Hitomi softly let Tomoe go again when Asahi had walked up to the two of them. They had already been told about the outcome of the challenge will be told to them later this day or tomorrow which was a little strange but Tomoe did not generally care since she enjoyed to do this. The next challenge would be starting shortly outside so they were asked to join. Hitomi had already said that she had business on her own to take care off? Tomoe was a little surprised from hearing that but alright. Asahi even asked if they wanted to leave since they wouldn't be participating in this challenge. Tomoe gave a short nod towards Asahi.



Tomoe gaped her mouth open in sleeping manner while stretching out. Off course she was gonna sleep. Tomoe gave a wave towards Asahi as they saw him off heading towards the next challenge.



Hitomi turned back towards Tomoe with quite a serious look right now. Tomoe was honestly a little taken off guard as Hitomi stared at her as in this serious manner.



Hitomi began about how she didn't trust this group of people at all. From the beginning of these challenges Hitomi had been having her doubts about this situation. Tomoe worryingly stared at her as she spoke. What was she suppose to say. Tomoe had been at a loss of what they have been doing from the start so she couldn't tell either.



Tomoe let out another tiring yawn indicating it was time to sleep.





After Nia had asked her the question if something had happened to her she opened up somewhat it seemed. Nia worryingly looked up at the girl as she went on. Nia decided to stay quiet for most of the time so she could tell her story. While she spoke she was playing her violin as well matching the music with the tone of her story. In all Nia felt bad and horrified to what the girl had gone through. At home Nia was happy together with her parents while others might have had it more rough. She never really thought about stuff like that so this was pretty harsh to hear it as first like this.

When she was playing an occasional false note passed by seeming to somewhat hurt the girl. She didn't like to hear these notes and immediately stopped to go back a verse so that she could start over. It didn't generally seem like she was used to playing like this. Was this a new song or did it hurt to hear this piece? Nia was definitly confused, but yet she was a person that would easily cry for others and so she did. While she was sobbing she wiped the tears away as much as she could.



When Vae was done talking Nia peered up into her eyes and folded both her hands together while she lightly shook. She was scared to talk to her.

"Alright, well this little popsicle stand doesn't seem to be attracting many customers, so what say we keep on keeping on with just us three?" Toru suggested, his patience beginning to dwindle. There did not seem to be anybody else joining their little group. Would they be enough? As an improv comedian, Toru had to make do with what he had on hand, so to say, but having someone without their arms meant that perhaps they'd need to think outside the box more than the usual. At the very least, they needed to spice up the plan somewhat. Maybe sprinkle a little practical joke on top of the random beatdown that was originally suggested.

"We should do a little brainstorming between us, I'd think. I'm afraid that I know very little about the exact nature of everybody's quirks, so I can't think of the perfect plan just yet." he told them. With the righ Quirks, no prank was an impossibility. But one had to understand what weapon they wielded before they could use it. Toru looked to Lysandre. "For example, can you make an improvised slingshot with your quirk?"

Against the advice of his older sister, the young Acion did not rest for the day. But he didn't intend to make the courtyard his training ground yet. There were still too many people around for comfort and safety. One of the few reasons why he usually train by himself was because of his deadly techniques that he was practicing. Aside from direct combat, nobody should be around him when he was actually doing his work. He never minded the solidarity though. It is a great medicine to the soul, whenever he was tired of other people.

Acion flew up and landed gently on the roof of the school, having the outside view completely within his vision. Maybe he could train in the outskirt. It was usually really quiet and vacant, so he could make use of it. If he had asked nicely, he may be able to use the back area for his training.

"Hmmm?"

Or not.

It isn't vacant anymore now. Some guy was heading there right now. He seemed to have some time in his hand. Looking closely, was that Amane? That dude whom Acion fought at the auditorium. Rumors said that he was on probation for what he had done in that training exercise, and was quite 'enjoying' his time. Now that he thought about it, the guy didn't seem as demonic as some of the gossipers in the school described him to be. At least that was what he had in mind while having that talk. Of course, his ideology was nowhere righteous, but roots of bad behaviors don't tend to come from rational choices, but rather personal insecurities and social problems. Criminal behaviors also branches from those theories. So if there was anything, he'd look at him with a bit of sympathy than complete scorn, assuming he hadn't dug deeper. Maybe some day he could.

But for now, Acion didn't want to make his appearance known to him. The guy seemed to be enjoying his solitude, so better not to break it.

Turning away from the quiet backyard, some commotions over the other side of the school caught the winged man's attention. Seemed like some sort of competition, as there appeared to be a split between some of the people participating as they were standing on two sides, separated by White Hat and some of the teachers. He recognized some faces there. Two of his classmates. There was Tomoe, that sleepy girl in the gym and the dining room the other day. He wondered if she was ever present without hugging anyone? It was kind of cute, but inconvenient somewhat?

And there was Hitomi…

For some reasons, his mind went back to the exercise. He immediately grabbed his forehead before shaking lightly.

'Snap out of it. You're better than that.'

There's obviously something he needed to reflect on. Privately that is.

But still, they didn't seem to be actively participating in this one. From afar, he could see two contestant stepping up, saying something to each other. With a signal from White Hat, they both dispersed. Now that sparked his curiosity. What seemed to be the commotion?

From the rooftop, Acion made a jump before spreading his wings widely, slowing down his descent, and touching the ground nicely. He approached the two ladies casually.

"Hey guys. What seems to be the whole commotion here?"

@Silver Carrot@liferusher

Jean nodded as he listened to her, his eyes keeping contact with hers as she explained her reasoning. It was all very logical and reasonable. Slightly different from when he met her burglarizing a jewelry store in broad daylight.

He sighed and leaned back against his chair. “Oh I doubt it would have been a disappointing sequel. I knew some master thieves that only grow better with time. I even knew one that was still active in his sixties.” He said quickly before answering her question.

Well, I was a detective when you met me. Though, I was clearly not a straight laced officer.” He said with a crooked grin. Though he raised a finger and added. That lasted a few more months till my new fiance, who I actually got back with a week or so after you and I met. And she set me straight. Married her, had a beautiful daughter… and life was perfect for many years.” He said as he looked forward growing silent for a moment his

left hand fingering his ring finger as if playing with a ring...which wasn’t there. That changed some years ago...but things are looking up.

Taking a deep breath he looked to her and smiled. since then I’ve been traveling, doing some work and spending time with my daughter, came back to Japan when I heard Kaida was going to school here. Hoping to keep an eye on her. @Silver Carrot

"Sure," Hitomi replied, smiling at nodding at Tomoe. "Let's head back to the room. If they are planning anything, there's not much I can do right now. I'll always be able to step in later, when there's more concrete evidence to use. But for now, let's go back and chill."

As the two were making their way back to the room, with Hitomi draping one arm over Tomoe's shoulder like a big sister, Action landed in front of them in a striking, bad-ass pose. Tomoe would notice Hitomi blushing a little and muttering "He's so cool..." to herself. Oh dear. She's got it bad.

"Well," replied Hitomi, impressively keeping her cool in regards to outward appearence, "There's a little sort of competition to determine the fate of an idea called 'The Komei Collective'. It's basically like a practice agency, with students from all the different classes playing the roles that they'd be likely to play in a real agency when they graduate. It's a fantastic idea in theory, but...I'm worried that the class 1B clique are going to try and use it as a power grab and I don't want this idea to become a political tactic. Enough about that. What have you been up to?"

@liferusher@Conscripts

---

Mako began to listen to Jean's story with interest. This was her first glimpses into who this man actually was, that she'd ever heard before. When he mentioned that he got married, she started to feel a new, strong surge of regret that she ran away all those years ago, but that feeling dulled when Jean didn't go into detail about what happened next. He didn't have to. As she read his eyes and his mannerisms, his silence told her all she needed to know. She did want to know what his connection to Miss Beaumont was, but she wasn't going to pry. He hadn't gone into detail for a reason. Now that she knew a bit more, she wanted to swing it back around to flirting. She was much more comfortable being coy than she was being honest and open. Not that she had any qualms about spilling her guts, but the more Jean did not, the more curious she became, and it was rather torturous.

"You know, I'd like to have kids one day. But I'm thirty-eight," Mako sighed with a sly smile. "The clock's ticking."

Mako's buzzer chose this perfectly ironic moment to then start going off, causaing Mako to stiffen, blush and visibly die inside. "Ah...that's my time up. I need to head back to the Academy now..."

@Heartfillia

Mamoru listened, but for once, thought about the situation. While she was totally up for some vigilante heroism, frankly she wasn’t physically capable of doing much but being moral support and a walking pair of eyes. That was the practical reason why she would normally refuse. But there was something of a more… Ethical reason. Mamoru didn’t really know Amane very well and his actions were all just sort of a blur to the pinkette during their last brawl; she knew he was pretty brutal to a lot of the others, but to Mamoru that was just business as usual. After all, villains are even more brutal, and they’ll kill you! Granted she also understood that Amane was a big bully and needed to be put in his place, but wasn’t that why Mamoru punched his black hole? Just to show him for all of his fancy powers, there was someone who was willing and capable of destroying him?

This plot sounded like just a petty revenge scheme. However if it was just a light-hearted prank instead of something serious, she’d be down for it. After all at the end of the day they were all on the same side. Sure they compete, and there was a method in the academy to actually expel another student if you can defeat them in challenges, but she felt those were mostly for formality. She couldn’t imagine anyone who’d actually do it! Which gave Mamoru an idea.

”Hue… Well, while I’m willing to play a little prank on Amane, fighting him sounds like a lot of trouble! If he’s doing bad stuff I’d totally be up for it, but you know it’s not heroic to just beat people up because you don’t like them. Especially since I can’t really use either of my arms.” Though to show that she wasn’t entirely useless, Mamoru did summon her shield. Since she couldn’t simply summon it to her hand she summoned it closer to her mouth, grabbing the handle with her teeth before tossing it up so she could catch it with her foot. ”My quirk lets me make this shield! It’s pretty much indestructible and can withstand anything. Or at least I haven’t found anything that could break the shield that didn’t break me in the process. I even used it to destroy a black hole!” Mamoru kicked the shield towards Toru to catch.

”Anyone could use the shield, though I can summon it back to me if I need to take it away. Also, I think I have an idea of how we can totally punk Amane without getting into trouble! We could make him challenge us, and then we beat him! This way we can do whatever we wanna do and be completely without our rights! Wow, that actually sounds kinda villainous. You sure this is a good idea Lysanya?”

@Experiment 249@FamishedPants



In other parts of Komei, as Asahi dueled Tori in their final challenge, the other members of 1B were on the move. Fujino was meeting with some influential students from the General Studies; while Asahi had representative occupied, it was Fujino's duty to address the general studies students themselves. And unlike Asahi who intended to make a big show via openly challenging and recruiting Support Students to his side, Fujino was simply going to pass out flyers and talk to students. Fujino was of course here to promote the Komei Collective to them, which would be even more difficult for her then for Asahi; at least the Support classes were part of the hero business. Fujino would need to somehow appeal to the everyman instead of promoting heroism. Fortunately, she had an idea. She intended to sway their hearts, seeking out not only the influence students, but also those in danger or need of some very needed company and friendship, like any high school youth would.

Which is where Shiki herself comes in. Always enigmatic but also very talkative, unlike her subordinates who would make big speeches and shows about the collective, Shiki was more personal. Some would even say underhanded, but Shiki herself would simply claim that there's no reason to dramatize things. The 1B class Rep would be going to individual members of the Business Reps, many of whom who knew Shiki but had various reasons to distrust her, some more reasonable then others. She'd meet with these members and try to quell these salacious rumors and propose a more beneficial future for both the reps and Shiki herself. Of course, what these benefits were varied from rep to rep; some wanted more personal glory, others wanted the best for others. Shiki promised this and more. And none of them would know that Shiki was biting off more then she could chew... Or was she?

Meanwhile Sakura was actually with a few of her fellow 1B students, mostly just to study. While it wasn't really her job to foster relationships between Shiki's crew and the rest of 1B, Sakura has proven to be the most approachable since she doesn't seem to have as much brazen ambitions as others; she simply wants to become a hero. Also she has really good grades and tutors anyone who asks her. She mostly taught them how to keep better notes, as well as explaining her understanding of the various subjects they've been learning in class. When critiquing she was honest but not harsh, simply pointing out mistakes and trying her best to clear misunderstandings. If her fellow student was having difficulties with a particular problem, she simply suggest moving onto other problems they can solve and figuring out the more difficult ones later.

Gurren was present at Sakura's study session having one of the poorer grades in 1B, mainly due to his own procrastination for work. Unlike the other students, Sakura was much harsher on him much to her own displeasure, being fully aware of his crush on her and seriously hoping he wasn't screwing up his own education for her attention. Quick to doodle in his notes but when he can finally understand the solution to his homework, it has a cascading effect where everything clicks together. At least until he gets stuck again and goes back to doodling.

Doll was at the training rooms honing her golem craft. She wanted to quickly learn how to control her golems more efficiently so she could mold them around her body like living power armor, but she was already having a hard enough time trying to use the various resources around the training area to create golems. She's trying to make bigger golems out of bigger materials; normally it's easier for her to put together golems using a large collection of small objects like sticks, stones, or trash, but right now she was trying to use bigger things that either needed to be broken down or simply used as components of the golem, like vehicles or even the ground itself. Doll was somewhat distracted because she was dwelling on Shiki's plan for the Komei Collective; while she's glad that Shiki has been so open with her, she can't help but question Shiki's methods. It was for the greater good, but how come this entire thing reeks of villainy?

It turned noble concepts upside down and corrupts them. Turning the willingness to rise to the challenge as a motive for going against the status quo, even when that status quo isn't a bad thing at the moment. Making the ideals of teamwork and cooperation into a commercialized entity in the form of the Komei Collective, hoping to use sheer numbers and a diverse arsenal of talent to make up for individual weaknesses. Practically weaponizing the idea of "Defeat means friendship" but having the other members go out and subjugating other classes and students, albeit not always in a violent way, in order to gain more allies. It really made Doll wonder if what they were doing was heroic or villainous. Was it bad because they were using others instead of relying on one's own strength? Was it good because they want everyone who can and is willing to cooperate to be able to come together now, instead of during a dire emergency?

It all came back to Doll herself as she was trying to hone her powers. Before she would make golems and have them do all the work. It kept her out of harms way and she could easily make new golems to replace any that get destroyed. But she thought it'd be more heroic if she learned how to use those golems to help Doll herself fight. She's had plenty of support from her friends, but she knew Shiki and Sakura criticized the idea of endangering herself just to prove a point. Doll wanted to think that she was just trying to be prepared for the worse-case scenario, but she'd be lying if she didn't admit that she just wanted to be able to fight bad guys face-to-face.

And finally there was Hector. He had stopped by his dorm to replace the bandages on his leg; he still had his scar from where a table had nearly ripped his leg off. He dislikes how unbadass his scar is; he generally wears trousers and his scar just looked like a particularly ashy rash. Regardless, it was time for him to do his part for the collective; seek out outside support. While most of the other members were either attending personal business or dealing with other members of Komei to bolster their credibility, Hector had the thankless task of actually securing the resources that Shiki promises and that the collective would need so they weren't reliant on paying out of pocket. Someone's gotta secure fundraiser money, supplies, and get information. And because Hector's influence waned after he threw the 1B class elections, he's pretty much a nobody at school. But that in itself gave Hector a good cover as he left the school and headed to some of the shadier parts of Hosu.

All the while Asahi was smashing apart Tori's drones. He was cocky at first, thinking that he essentially had this challenge in the bag with the scavenger hunt, but he underestimate Tori's own growth. His drones were deceptively fast and more importantly, flexible. Asahi had figured that if he knocked them out of the air that'd be it for the, but not only where they fully capable of running but they were also detachable, meaning that even if he smashed them into pierces that just meant more drones running around. This new development was annoying, but nothing that Asahi couldn't beat. He just needed to focus on his task. Something that the others in the group has been helping him do; Asahi has a lot of energy but a short attention span. When he puts everything into a task he does great, but he's always trying to juggle many things at once, doing mediocre work for so many things instead of his best for something specific.

"Focus Asahi! Eyes on the prize!"

"Oh, uh...No, I mean..." Kenichi flubbed as Jett put him on the spot. He started to open his mouth again to give some other excuse, but before he could even think of it Jett bamf'd somewhat clumsily across the room. The bluette raised an eyebrow, but just then a crackle of static made him shift his attention to Fumika. Suddenly he felt very nervous, and a drop of sweat rolled down the back of his head.

When Haruka brusquely asked what was wrong with Jett's Quirk--was that what it was? His Quirk going out of control for some reason? What could've caused that?--Kenichi wasn't able to spare them another glance. As Fumika scolded him, he found himself experiencing something that didn't often happen to him, specifically--having his breath catch in his throat.

"Aw come on, Motome-chan..." he muttered, dropping his hands to his sides. He looked down for a moment, biting his lip...then he finally met her eyes. He hoped she couldn't see what he was feeling in them.

"Look, I'm not just keeping quiet to try and make people stop worrying--I mean, that's part of it. But I'm..." He sighed. "I'm legally required not to tell anyone. Cause I'm in as much trouble as they are, for some stupid reason." He looked mad, but he specifically made a point to do so in another direction, not at Fumika, lest she mistake him as directing his frustration at her. "But..."

He glanced over his shoulder. Haruka and Jett were probably going to have a little spat of their own, if Jett had some explaining to do about his glitchy Quirk. And...Fumika did things so literally. And she seemed to listen the same way. So maybe...

"Just...please don't tell anybody, okay?" he said to her, more of a whisper, crossing his own arms. But whereas Fumika did so to express a stern countenance, Kenichi almost looked like he was...hugging himself. She nodded seriously, that earnest yet unreadable expression remaining utterly focused on him.

"On the first day of school, after dinner, I got an email from my parents. Somebody carjacked them, and broke my dad's leg in the process." He kept his voice low, and although he stepped a little closer to her he also turned slightly--more to put his back towards the other two than anything. "I...I worry a lot about my dad. He's...he had an accident. Kind of like Haruka-chan. So I went to see him. I thought if I went early enough I'd get back in time for afternoon classes, only miss part of the day."

His fist clenched. The bandages got a little redder. In the corner of his eye, he could see Fumika tensing up, opening her mouth as if to say something, but the words didn’t come out. The look on her face had shifted at the mention of her friend, and there was something painful in it, but she nodded numbly as if she understood. He’d told her once before, right? Come to think of it, she’d frozen up back then, too. Now that he had met Haruka, he understood why - because for once, she knew exactly how someone felt, in the worst possible way.

"But...I don't know the whole story, yet, but it seems like the guys that attacked my parents weren't doing it randomly. Somehow they knew I was a Komei student and for some reason they were trying to lure me out, specifically. They...they snatched me, took me out to the mountains, and they..."

He hugged himself tighter, his other hand's fingers gripping his own arm like he was going to tear it off. But his eyes were not afraid. His eyes were like those of a wild animal. That goofy grin twisted until his teeth looked like fangs.

“Yoshida, don’t. You’re going to hurt yourself.” Fumika’s voice sounded… different, almost as if she was scared of something, but that hardly registered before he’d forced himself to continue.

"But, but I got away! And I left those fuckers some bruises. Then the Pros found me." He forced himself to take a breath. The wind caused Fumika's long blonde locks to move slightly. "I had to stay in the hospital--not Hosu General, some other place a few train stops from here--and they even sent a bunch of psychs in. Like I'm messed up in the head cause I defended myself or-” He got no further before suddenly, something… or rather, someone cut him off.

---

Sure enough she called him out asking what was wrong with his quirk. Mixed feelings rose up on him. He of course didn’t tell her when it happened, yet the fact she didn’t get that it was happening till now kinda miffed him he teleported on her three times now and since they were kids that never happened.

But on the other hand, him losing his quirk for a week or so seemed like nothing compared to Haruka losing her leg. He bit his tongue. He still didn’t want to seem weak infront of her. Telling her he got his head almost smashed in on the first day would make it seem like he was.

He shrugged. “It’s nothing… don’t worry about it.” He said quietly.

Haruka stared at him, eyes narrowed. She opened her mouth, then seemed to think better of what she was about to say, take a moment to reconsider it, and then try again. Her cheeks slowly puffed outward, then deflated like a balloon as she gave a hiss-like sigh of irritation. “Fine. If you don’t want to talk about it, then suit yourself. Guess I’m not one to talk, anyway. Tch.” She shook her head and kicked at the floor with her false leg, muttering to herself in a more quiet voice. “Geez, I can’t even stand my own idiocy, let alone seeing it come from you.”

But this momentary gloom was quite quick to fade, as when she raised her head again, it was with a sly grin. “Oh, but of course, since I just got done doing this whole routine myself, I already know the answer to my question anyway. You did something stupid, got yourself hurt, and now your Quirk’s all messed up, right?” She spoke so smugly that one might wonder if she really did in fact realize that everything she’d just said applied perfectly to herself, despite her earlier words. She nodded enthusiastically to herself, then gave a bemused expression. “Hmm… Yeah, that does seem about right, but… how the hell do you even screw up teleportation? Like, it’s not like it’s tied to a specific body part or anything… Guess it’s not really like my leg at all... Or at least, I don’t think it is. Maybe like, your spleen or something?”

Jett looked at Haruka and sighed. “Yep you solved it. I hurt my spleen and couldn’t teleport for a week, and still can’t control it.” He said sarcastically. Annoyed and yet happy to see her somewhat back to her old self. He felt a vibration in his pocket but ignored it for now.

Haruka couldn’t quite repress a rather obnoxious chuckle and shrugged. “Heh. I can’t even tell how much of that’s for real and how much is you giving me shit,” Another one of her trademark cheeky grins crossed her face. “So I guess I’ll just assume that all of it’s true and you’ve just got some kind of freaky quantum mutant spleen. ...Talk about lame hero names, though. Look out, evildoers, here comes ‘The Disappearing Spleen!’” She struck a deliberately lame pose and gave another raucous laugh.

Jett rolled his eyes as he stood in front of her. Quickly raising his hands and flicking her pig tails again so they landed on top of her head. She brushed them back with a frown. “Oi, quit it, will ya?”

He opened his mouth to say something when he looked over Haruka’s head and saw… Wait, what? He hadn’t been paying much attention to that side of the room, and come to think of it, they had gotten rather quiet, but still-

“Oi, what are you gawking at all of a su-” Haruka stopped mid-sentence, turning with an expression of bewilderment on her face. “ ...Huh?”

---

In his half-agitated, half-enraged state, it took Kenichi a moment to understand what had happened, or why suddenly, he found a pair of arms wrapped around him, his vision crowded out by pale skin and the fabric of a black blouse. Kenichi's eyes widened. Once again, his breath caught in his throat. For a few seconds all he could hear was the thudding of his heart in his chest.

“Please calm down. Please go back to normal,” pleaded a quiet voice coming from somewhere just over his head. It was gentle, soft as always - and yet there was a certain urgency to it. She pulled him closer slowly, tentatively, as if afraid she herself would cause the pain she was so desperate to avoid, and yet insistently, clinging to him as if equally afraid he’d try to shove her away. “You are acting strange after all. I don’t like it.” Her words were little more than a whisper, but she was now so close that he could hear them perfectly clearly. He could feel her breath rustling through his hair, a hot current that brushed up against his ear as she continued to ramble, clearly searching for something to say but never quite hitting upon it.

"No...no, it's...it's okay." Slowly, hesitantly, Kenichi returned her embrace. He held back, because he didn't want to get blood on her...and he didn't want to accidentally use too much strength...and she was so soft and...and he wasn't really sure what the hell was going on. He could feel his face heating up, and his heartbeat was still going a hundred miles an hour but somehow it was completely different.

“I’m sorry. I know I should be saying something, but... I don’t know the words, because I’m being stupid and it gets in the way and I don’t understand at all. I’m sorry. If you get angry at me, I won’t mind. You said something you didn’t want to. It wasn’t the right thing. So it’s my fault you’re acting strange. I shouldn’t have asked. I’m sorry.” As she spoke, he could feel something coiling slowly around his back, a faint jolt like a spark running up his spine. Was that... her hair? It was soft to the touch, and faintly warm, enveloping him like a blanket.

"Motome-chan, I'm not angry at you. You're not stupid. It's not your fault. I don't blame you at all!" His hands stopped hovering so much, and gently settled on her back. That static from her hair almost made him jump, a shiver that passed through him like the trembling of a taut muscle ready to tear. "If it wasn't for you...If I hadn't met you, I don't know if I could have made it out of there. I'm just...when I think about Villains like that...when I remember how weak I really am...I just..."

He couldn't go on. The words just wouldn't come. He bit his lip. He could feel it threatening to break loose, but he'd be damned if he fucking cried right now. So all he could do was stand there, letting himself relax in her arms as he felt her warmth and comfort. Her chin sat nestled on his hair, and her delicate arms were trembling too as she pulled him closer.

Wait.

No don't--

If she was tall enough that her head was resting on his--

Brain please no--

Then that meant she had to be holding his head against--

BAD BRAIN, STAHP!

And that's why she felt so soft and--

Kenichi's flushed face made a sound akin to a kettle reaching a rolling boil as his entire head turned the shade of a cherry tomato. As he gulped, his body ever so slightly began to shake again. The shiver even passed up his spine, causing all of his hair to stand on end--

And right in front of Fumika's big blue eyes, that one big blue spike of his hair suddenly stood straight up in a manner rather reminiscent of an exclamation mark. Had Kenichi just...achieved Ahoge?

Fumika blinked. She tilted her head sideways, as she was wont to do when bemused, then stopped, lowered her chin, then raised it again ever so slightly, her cheek rubbing against the inexplicably upright tuft of hair that had unexpectedly appeared in front of her. She gave a faint smile. His hair was really soft and fluffy, after all. She liked soft things a great deal. They helped her relax when she was upset. Yoshida sounded relaxed now, too. His voice didn’t sound scary anymore. Even if his words were sad, even if she didn’t understand quite what he meant, even though she hadn’t known the right words to say… had it really worked? She’d just been doing what she herself would have wanted if she was upset - a warm, fluffy hug. Granted, it had never really helped that much when she’d had to make her copies do it, but…

...But it really was quite odd. His hands had felt… strange. His palms were very gentle, as if hesitant to touch her at all, but his fingertips had been pressing just hard enough on her back to leave faint imprints on her shell even through the fabric of her blouse. Were his hands… shaking? It seemed soft and warm, even though she couldn’t feel it well. His forehead, too, had left a warm spot where it had been resting right below her collarbone, even when he’d drawn it back suddenly just now. And the soft imprint on the particles on her cheek still reminded her of his fluffy hair. Contact like this was always strange to her, lingering even after she pulled away. It made her uncomfortable, because she felt like people were poking and prodding her, sometimes for hours afterward. It was one thing when that feeling came from her own copy, or from her mother or father, but strangers were never so gentle. Even Haruka sometimes was too rough when she hugged her, and it would itch and feel strange.

...And yet, even though the way he’d embraced her was certainly odd, it wasn’t an unpleasant thing. It made her… happy? - but in a strange way. Her face - no, her whole body now - was beginning to feel strangely warm, and her hair was wiggling back and forth on its own again. There was something that told her that the way she felt now was bad, but another part of her seemed to enjoy it. She couldn’t make head nor tail of the way she felt, and for some reason, that confusion kept bringing her back to his earlier words…

What exactly did he mean when he said that he had been able to come back because of her? She hadn’t been there. She hadn’t been able to help, even though now that she knew what had happened, she greatly wished she had been able to. It was like… it was just like…

Just like that smile she couldn’t understand. When Haruka had saved her, even though she hadn’t been able to do anything, even though she had caused her so much pain, Haruka had been smiling. Yoshida had been hurt. She hadn’t done anything. So then why… why did he act like she’d had anything to do with it? And why was it that hearing him say that made her feel so unaccountably strange? This kind of wanting was… different. It was definitely different. She’d never felt anything like this before, and that scared her a little bit. She couldn’t understand any of what was happening right now, why she’d been so desperate to see this boy again when there was still so much about him that she didn’t understand, why he had wanted to be friends with someone like her, or why he seemed to think so much of her when they had really, rationally speaking, only just met a week or so ago, or why it seemed like she’d actually very much wanted to hug him and have him hug her back or why she was so happy or why… or why…

She couldn’t answer any of those questions, and just thinking about asking them made her face feel very hot and her heart feel very confused, so she decided not to think about all that just now. Simple was best. Then, what needed to be said was…

“I don’t really understand, but… did I help you feel better?” She asked nervously, drawing back slightly. She didn’t really know why, but she very much wanted to see his face right now.

Just standing here, without saying anything...just holding her, and she holding him, somehow felt...it felt...

Well really he wasn't sure what this whole "moment" or "atmosphere" felt like at the moment but he was VERY sure he could feel her and he was starting to worry that if he couldn't stop his blood pumping through his body that he was about to literally explode.

But then she did say something and he almost didn't catch it, but he felt her moving back slightly so he responded in kind on instinct, and they broke the hug and he looked up at her hoping that she would just assume that he had gotten some terrible African jungle fever and that was why his face looked like it had undergone about seven layers of sunburn--

And yet when Kenichi saw her face, he thought maybe he had caught something, because surely this was a hallucination. Motome Fumika had a soft, genuine, bashful, innocent smile on her face, and her cheeks had turned just the slightest pink, like someone had taken the most delicate, puffiest brush and just ever so lightly touched the cheeks of a porcelain doll...

Kenichi, this is your heart speaking to you...because I, of all cardiac muscles on this planet, have never gone without oxygen this long! BREATHE, MAN!

His jaw dropped and he sharply sucked air like a gasping fish. A Kirby-esque effect threatened to drag the lobby's furniture towards a point of singularity. Then he coughed because that was too sudden.

"Y-yeah, Motome-chan." He nodded, then looked at her again. His grin had returned, and he thumped his chest softly with his uninjured fist. "You really helped. That was exactly what I needed." He began to rub the back of his head with a nervous chuckle...but soon it started to grow into a real laugh. A happy laugh. A laugh that--

--was murdered in cold blood as he glanced to the side and saw Haruka and Jett both looking at them. His red face rapidly drained to pale white, and soon started to turn the same color as his hair.

“F-Fumi, what… uh… What was that... just now?” Haruka sounded, for the first time, almost completely lost for words. Fumika blinked innocently, comprehension slowly seeming to dawn on her that the situation she was in might have been more concerning than she had thought. While his reaction had been quite abrupt, Fumika’s expression underwent a more gradual metamorphosis, going from a timid smile to pursing her lips and furrowing her brow in an expression that could best be likened to that of a child caught stealing from the cookie jar.

“...Hug,” She answered in a monosyllabic murmur, lowering her head. Haruka hastily shuffled over toward her, scratching the back of her head. Geez, how could she even look at this situation without being embarrassed by proxy? She hadn’t heard what they’d been talking about, but she’d definitely seen enough to know that… That is, in that sort of position… Didn’t Fumi have any idea that she’d just… And wait a minute, why was she even… What? Just… what? In all their time together, she’d never once seen her friend acting this way. And this friend of hers... Was she seriously… Was he really... No, like, were they seriously… Damnit, she wanted to be upset at Fumi for not realizing exactly what was going on, but how could she possibly be mad when she was making that face?

“Uh, no. That is, I kinda saw that, but, uh… why, exactly?” She asked, trying her hardest to sound a little more gentle so as not to agitate her friend.

“I wanted to help,” Fumika answered after a moment’s quiet. “...Was it bad of me to do that?”

“No, no, no, that’s not… That is, I don’t really get what you’re talking about, but just giving people hugs isn’t really bad persay, and I’m glad to see you’re getting along with your classmates… I mean, uh…” Crap, crap, crap. She was trying to be calm, but she was really bad with emotional stuff like this even though she herself totally - okay, now was REALLY not the time to be thinking about that, especially since the height difference was all wrong and seriously she needed to just get a grip or else she was gonna turn into a tomato just like these two idiots!

"Hey, uh, Haruka-san, I can explain..." Kenichi started to say, but he trailed off as he looked over at Fumika. Seeing her mood fall like that when she had just been so radiantly happy and had actually shown what seemed to be some real emotional energy left the bluette feeling sad for her. He rubbed the back of his head as Haruka continued her lecture.

Fumika stared at her, her embarrassment giving way somewhat to simple confusion as she tried and failed to grasp why her ostensibly unflappable role model was behaving so strangely towards her. Haruka made a monumental effort to restrain her inner romantic. She cleared her throat, gave a slight nod, and tried to approach the situation tactfully.

“It’s not that giving hugs is bad, it’s just… There are… uh… better ways to do it. Like, the position was just… and like, your shirt’s a little bit… uh... a bit too… Y’know...” “A little bit” was putting it mildly. Somewhere in this chaos, the already low-cut blouse had begun hanging dangerously far down Fumika’s left shoulder, and sure enough, the skin showing beneath it was red from the pressure put on it by a certain unlucky - or lucky, depending on your perspective - someone’s forehead. Granted, she herself was to blame for that particular fashion statement, but in her defense, she’d had no idea that this would happen, and really, she was just trying to help Fumi take better advantage of her appearance and that really wasn’t the issue right now.

"...Wait a minute, whaddya mean by that? A hug's a hug, ain't it? And what's wrong with her shirt?" Kenichi managed to break in again, this time feeling a little bit defensive for Fumika's sake. Why was this good friend of hers suddenly lecturing like this? Was this some stupid fashion thing girls worried about? As far as he was concerned Fumika's shirt looked perfectly--

Then he actually looked at the shirt, and started blushing again.

“...Is this a code? Sorry. I don’t really understand what you’re saying at all.” Fumika bowed her head apologetically. Haruka tried again.

“No, it’s not a code, it’s just that when you hug someone - like, a boy, I mean - it’s kind of… You’re not supposed to…”

“So I’m not supposed to hug boys?” Aw, crap. She was giving that stupidly innocent, shamefaced look again. Not so harsh, Haruka. Just, you have to say it, for the sake of common decency…

As Fumika said that, Kenichi's head snapped up again. A look of disappointment crossed his face--followed by realization. Oooooh, that explained it. Haruka thought...she had made the assumption...Well, it wasn't like he wasn't thinking a little bit about that, but...In the background of the two girls' conversation, the blue haired young man suddenly clutched his temples as steam whistled out of his ears.

“I mean, really, it’s up to you…”

“So I should hug him then?” Fumika raised her arms demonstratively and Haruka rapidly shook her head. Wait, when did this specifically become about Yoshida specifically? Did she just add that part?

“No, what I mean is, you can if you want to, you just…”

“Mm. Okay.” Fumika nodded, then quite suddenly reached out, grabbed Kenichi, and gently dragged him right back into another hug. Like a swimmer who has just reached the surface, still gasping for air, only to be swept under by an inexorable wave - just like that, the blue-haired kid’s head disappeared under a tide of golden fluff… Or rather, it was dragged directly into the one place Haruka had been trying to keep it from going again.

"Um, can I get a say in th--mmphhmph!" Kenichi's arms were still posed in the 'I have something to say' position, one finger extended up in the air, but now his head had disappeared once more. And once again, next to Fumika's cheek, the blue spike stood straight up.

Jett hand slapped over his face convulsing as he started to laugh silently.

“Wait- Hold on just a sec- Stop, stop, stop!” She frantically waved her arms. Fumika gave what might have been a grunt of annoyance - no, surely, Haruka must have just been imagining it - and raised her head slightly.

“What?” She asked all-too-placidly for someone who had just been interrupted halfway through what should have been, by all rights, an entirely too intimate gesture. “It is a problem after all?”

"Nuh, mph murha hmph--!" came a muffled answer from the boy in her arms, but he only had so much oxygen available.

To her credit, Haruka tried very hard to be patient. She tried very hard to be tactful. And, most importantly she tried very hard to actually look her friend in the eye when she spoke even though her own face was rapidly turning red as a beet. However, all that effort could only get her so far. Tact wasn’t working, and her frustration and embarrassment-by-proxy were boiling over. She had to defuse this in the simplest, most direct way possible.

“The problem is that you’re shoving his face in your boobs, Fumi!” She exploded.

Fumika blinked. She looked down. She blinked again. She looked up.

“Oh. You’re right. I am.”

Haruka gaped. Fumika very pointedly didn’t quite let go of her victim. She tilted her head to the side after a moment’s contemplation. Kenichi's limbs had pretty much gone limp at this point, like a drowning man who had accepted death.

“...Should I not do that, then?”

“YES!” Haruka exclaimed, covering her by now extremely red face with her hands. Jett made a valiant effort, but couldn’t quite repress a slight chuckle. Haruka shot him a glare out of the corner of her eye, swept out her false leg, and thwacked it against his shin once again. Causing him to jump up and down on his uninsured leg a few times. “Why you kicking me!? He’s the one who didn’t resist it!”

“Shut up! Just stop laughing!” Whether this command was for her friend’s dignity or her own by proxy wasn’t clear, but regardless, Haruka went right back to facepalming.

Fumika stared quizzically at this exchange, but nodded. She let go of Yoshida and bowed to him meekly. “I’m sorry. I guess I don’t know very much about hugs. I had no idea there were rules like that,” she apologized earnestly.

Kenichi gasped again as he once more emerged from the fluffy depths, his eyes merely empty white voids at this point while something that might have been his soul drifted up out of his mouth. But when Fumika bowed, he shook his head and sobered up, before glancing over at Haruka and Jett. Then he sighed and turned back to the blonde girl with a softer smile.

"You still didn't do anything wrong, Motome-chan." he said. "I mean, if it would be anybody's fault for taking your hug the wrong way, it'd be me. That is..." He scratched the back of his neck. He had a feeling he was probably going to mess this up, but...it was never wrong to try, right?

"Girls and guys around our age act odd about things like this sometimes. It's mostly just a social thing, being polite, respecting boundaries...but there's no set "rules." I mean..." He thumbed his nose and looked down at the ground. "I kinda agree with Haruka about girls bein' a little modest, but in your case I don't think there was anything wrong. If it doesn't bother you to hug people, then hug 'em, so long as they're fine with it. And I'm fine with it...I mean...as long as it's just us--not to say that you can't hug other people either, but...um..." He made a frustrated sound and crossed his arms, looking off to one side as he muttered under his breath.

"I'm supposed to be a battle shonen Main Character, this is totally outside my genre...but wait, why am I thinking about rom-coms in the first place...?"

Finally he turned back to Fumika. He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, gesturing for her to stop bowing. When she looked at him, he gave her another grin and a thumbs up.

"Anyway, don't sweat all that stuff, alright? You didn't do anything wrong and there's no need to feel bad. I like your hugs, and if you like giving hugs then that's A-Ok."

Fumika looked at Kenichi, her brows furrowing in the slightest sort of squint. She looked seriously back to Haruka, and then motioned to the boy next to her.

“...If he says it’s okay, it’s okay, right?” She asked again, just to be sure. Haruka gave a longsuffering sigh and nodded.

“If it seriously doesn’t bother you, then… But only if you’re less… squishy about it.” She fought the overwhelming urge to facepalm again. Had she seriously just said that? “L-look, just don’t smother his friggin’ face, alright?”

Fumika seemed satisfied with these terms, and nodded obediently, mumbling them back under her breath. “‘Don’t smother his friggin’ face,’” She recited with the utmost seriousness. Even Haruka had a hard time keeping a straight face hearing her say that, but nevertheless, she pulled through. That is, until... “So long as he’s fine with it.” Haruka frowned. Just there, she’d done it again. Why was it specifically about Yoshida all of a sudden? Normally, wasn’t she super literal about these sorts of things?

“As long as it’s just us.” Okay, she knew that her friend didn’t mean it to sound so suggestive - there was no way she’d even understand something like innuendo, would she? - but the way she spoke so slowly, emphasizing each word like that couldn’t help but make her think…

“...Then it’s fine. Just Yoshida is fine.”

That seemed like as good an answer as she was going to get, and she really wanted to forget about what she’d just seen happen as quickly as possible, so she decided not to continue on the point. At least this way Fumika wouldn’t be doing that to every hapless schmuck she thought needed… help, she’d said? Help with what? Come to think of it, why had she even decided to hug him in the first place? If they were close friends and she was just being clingy, then that seemed normal for her… But even Yoshida himself hadn’t been expecting her to do that, had he? On the one hand, that meant that he hadn’t deliberately tricked her into doing something lewd, but… What exactly had he told her to prompt that? And… And what if now that he realized how naive she was, he’d already started planning on manipulating her in other ways, too? Fumika was so dense that really, that might just actually work…!

Haruka folded her arms and turned her glare on Kenichi, staring him down with a menacing look in her eye. Sure, he had at least seemed like he was trying to help defuse the situation, but she couldn’t help but feel like he wasn’t exactly trying to prevent this from happening again. No, in fact, he’d specifically told her that he was fine with it, undercutting her authority! And just because Fumika didn’t seem to care didn’t mean it was right to let this kid take advantage of her like that…!

...Her expression morphed into a disturbingly forced smile.

Oh boy, here we go. Kenichi looked back and forth between the two. Every innocently unaware gesture Fumika made just seemed to be making things worse...although he couldn't help but think it made her cuter at the same time. Although...was he just misreading the mood, or did she seem like she had specifically designated him as hugworthy, as opposed to just...hugging people in general? Did...did that mean something? No, he had to be imagining it. Just wishful--or perverted--thinking on his part, right? Yeah, after all, he had been lucky thus far all this "friendship" hadn't made him pop a...

“Hey, Yoshida, could you come over here for a second?” Haruka asked all-too-cheerfully, motioning to the corner of the room.

"Uh, um...'scuse us one moment, Motome-chan..." He sheepishly waved at her before he followed Haruka towards the corner--then immediately held both palms up in a sort of defensive gesture and spoke motormouth style in a low whisper.

"W-wait, before ya start! Wh-when I said that stuff, it was just cause...cause Motome-chan tends to, ya know, be so...mechanical." He glanced back over his shoulder at the girl...and now that he was facing Haruka, that grin faded a little bit to a worried frown. "I was afraid if we just told her, "Don't do that, it's not appropriate," or somethin', not only would she get sad but she'd like...shut down. Maybe not do that ever again--to me or anybody else." Now he met Haruka's eyes--and for like half a second that felt weird for some reason, then he realized with something like glee that she was shorter than him--and continued with less nervousness in his voice. If she tried to tsun-tsun-punch him now he didn't feel like he deserved it.

"When she hugged you just a minute ago, that was...the first time since I've met her I've seen her get, ya know, close to somebody. I mean, I've only known her like a week, but if you watch her ahoge she's not actually too hard to figure out." Unconsciously he reached up and smoothed that one spike of his own hair. "She...doesn't think much of herself. And she holds back a lot. She tries not to show what she's thinking on her face, but she tugs her hair when she's sad or frustrated and her eyes will change color if she sees something interesting. I'm sure you already know all that, but what I mean is..." He sighed, then finally just crossed his arms and braced himself to say it.

"She doesn't think she's interesting, or cool, or good at things, or that she'll be a good Hero. So I'm trying to to make her realize that she is, and can be, all of that. I want..." He closed his eyes for just a moment, then opened them again. Don't think about how lame it sounds! Be a man! Say what you feel!

"I want her to see herself the way I see her."

Haruka had begun listening to him with an expression that could best be described as a “death glare,” but the more he spoke, the more surprised she seemed, until finally she was staring at him with a look somewhere between mild distrust and approval. At last, she nodded, and replied in a low voice.

“Seems you’ve got the gist of it, and I’m feeling generous, so I’ll clear up the rest for you. From what I’ve found, she’s actually pretty clingy - as you just noticed - just uncomfortable around people she doesn’t know well - which I guess means everyone who isn’t me. At least, until now anyhow.” She gave Kenichi a meaningful look. “Honestly, I was surprised by how much she’d warmed up to you even before… all this. She started following me around pretty quickly, but it took weeks for me to get more than a few words out of her.” Haruka sighed and shook her head with a shrug. “Then again, I ain’t exactly the most personable gal, either.” She narrowed her eyes, staring the boy down and trying to be as firm and authoritative as she possibly could when she was still the shortest person in the room. “Anyway, look - I don’t know if she’s just lonely now or if you said something she just really wanted to hear, but it’s pretty obvious at any rate that she thinks the world of you already. Now, since she trusts you, I’d be a pretty piss-poor friend if I didn’t have some degree of faith in her choice to do so, yeah? And given what you just said, it does seem like you’ve got her best interests at heart. That’s something I can get behind.” She took a deep breath, then abruptly raised her artificial foot and brought it down with a loud clattering of plastic against the rigid metal frame, sounding like a judge’s gavel pronouncing an irrevocable sentence. Crossing her arms, she stared him down and spoke with the sort of serious voice and expression that made her seem at least two feet taller all of a sudden - the kind of stance and tone you’d expect from a grizzled yakuza boss in a crime thriller.

“However,” She added pointedly. “There are some things Fumi’s just too innocent to understand, so somebody’s gotta look out for her, and it looks like it’s going to have to be me. So just on the off-chance you’re considering her friendship as an opportunity to get yourself some nice little ‘bonuses’ on the side, I’ll leave you with a warning. If you ever break the trust she’s given you - trick her, use her, lie to her, betray her, or hurt her… Then I’ll make you wish Harukaze Haruka had lost both her legs. Ya got that?”

"Heh heh! Roger that, Haru-taichou!" Kenichi saluted with his index and middle finger, once again grinning like an idiot." But then he looked a little bit confused, and tilted his head in a manner far, far too similarly to the fluffy subject of their conversation. "I get the stuff about lying and all, but what did you mean by 'bonuses'? Like...asking her for money or something?" Then he shook his head. "Never mind, it doesn't matter! I'll tell you like I told Asuka-chan: I'm one'a those loudmouth-types of main characters who rushes into stuff even if it's none of their business! Even if she ignores me or gets mad at me, I'll still come runnin' anytime she needs help!"

Haruka stared, an obvious “Huh” or “Are you seriously asking that question after what just happened” dying on her lips. She’d dealt with this specific type of denseness enough to realize with a decent degree of certainty that, no, this wasn’t his idea of a cheeky joke. He legitimately had completely missed her meaning. Then… he hadn’t been trying to misdirect her after all. And what he’d said just now was really true. And he… and he was just as unbelievably, astronomically dense as Fumika herself, just in a way that was less obvious at a glance. Once she realized this, the rest all fell into place. The reason why Fumika had grown so attached to him so quickly… the reason why he must have stayed by her even despite her odd behavior. The reason he could say such stupidly honest things with such a straight face - express his feelings directly and earnestly in ways Haruka herself never could. Maybe… maybe things were fine just the way they were. Even if she wasn’t around… no, specifically because she wouldn’t always be around. This boy could do what she should have done all along. She gave a wry smile, and nodded.

“If that’s all, then there’s nothin’ to worry about.”

But just as everything was settling down and they were making their way back over to the others, Jett made a rather worrying announcement.

When they went to the corner, Jett decided to check his phone, seeing a text from his father explaining that he wouldn’t be able to swing by today like he planned due to work. Though he decided to add right at the end that his fellow classmates were in the hospital surviving a villian attack. His eyes went wide at the news, seeing that it was four of his classmates, and Yashiro’s kid sister.

He didn’t know what to say at first but he looked to Fumika and Kenichi. “I’m sorry to break this up. But my dad just texted me. Roy, Reina, Takeshi, Michiko and Kaida are in the hospital….” he looked to Haruka and added, “Sorry, but I gotta go check on them.”

"What!? Holy shit, what happened?" Kenichi looked between Fumika, Jett, and Haruka. Maybe he had missed more in these past few days than he thought? Reina, Takeshi...he wasn't sure who Michiko and Kaida were, but Kaida's name sounded...somewhat familiar? Still, for four students to be in the hospital--not Nurse Kiwi's office, but an actual hospital...Was this Yoshida-sensei's doing? Another one of his damned exercises? Haruka appeared to be thinking something similar, as her brows furrowed immediately in a frown, and her momentary smile disappeared.

Just then, his own cell phone buzzed. Looking apologetically at the others he pulled it out of his pocket with a curious frown. He didn't get a lot of texts to be honest, so who besides his parents...

"Nani the fuck?" he said quietly to himself. He read the lines, then spoke to Fumika as he quickly thumbed a response. The effort of multitasking seemed rather serious, judging from the intense concentration on his face.

"Hey uh, sudden change of subject, but is that jerk you were telling me about before named Amane?" he asked Fumika, looking up at her just as he hit send.

She didn’t answer him for a moment. Her gaze still seemed vaguely focused on where Jett was standing, her lips pursed intently as her hair fizzled and squirmed. She looked… pale, all of a sudden. When he spoke to her, she almost didn’t seem to hear him for a moment, and then started slightly as if suddenly, unexpectedly awoken from a sort of sleep. She gave a slight, sheepish nod to his question, then began fussing with the ends of her hair in sudden preoccupation.

@Experiment 249Lysander? Sry bro had some issues, been out the loop. Wtf u doin in 1B? and who tf is Amane? y we tryin to play ko game on him? if its the asshole i think it might be maybe ill help but i aint gettin expelled 4 pranks -- ya boi kenichi

ps how tf u get my number

"Also, reverse swallow cut back to the first subject," he continued as he slipped his phone back into his pocket, "Which hospital are they at, Jett-kun?"

Fumika couldn’t help but wince at the word. The sound of an EKG rang in the back of her mind, and it was only by focusing on the dark-haired figure standing beside her that she could bring her thoughts back to the present. Even still, that nagging, insistent fear didn’t go away.

Roy. He’d treated her kindly during the exercise… even though they were enemies. He’d helped Takeshi when she couldn’t. Takeshi himself had praised her, protected her from that horrible fire. Michiko was his sister, and although they hadn’t spoken much at dinner or over the week, she’d always been very nice. Kaida… She didn’t know much about her, but from what she’d seen in the exercises, she seemed kind of scary. Didn’t that seem strange? How did somebody so strong get hurt…? And Reina… Reina tried so hard. She was an incredible person, but she always seemed sad. But when she’d hugged her, when they’d become friends, Reina had seemed so happy… She had hoped that she could stay happy like that, and yet now… She’d gotten hurt? All of them had gotten hurt so badly she’d been sent to the hospital? And Yoshida was hurt too. He’d been sent to the hospital too. Everyone was… Everyone was getting hurt, and what was she doing to prevent it?

She was scared. She didn’t want to see it again, but even when she refused to look, the memory surrounded her. A white room. Curtains fluttering in the wind. The beeping of the EKG, and that haggard expression on the face of the greatest hero the world would never know. That was when things had become different. That was when she stopped being able to understand the feelings welling up inside herself. And all the while, she could do… nothing.

She denied the memory. Thinking about things like that was pointless. It hurt. She didn’t want to think about it, so she shut it away. Right now, there was only one thing she could do. She had to make sure everyone was alright. They had to be alright. She had to be overthinking it. It had to be simpler than this, it had to make sense. But still, she had to know… Just to be sure…

“Are they… alright? Are they safe?” She asked tentatively, her voice quiet, soft, desperate.

Jett sighed as he glanced at his phone to somehow get more info out of the text. Shaking his head he looked to Fumika and Kenichi. “My dad didn’t say much, just that they were attacked by a group of villains. The fact they are at the hospital, I assume it’s serious, I can call him and get more info along the way.” He looked to Haruka. “Sorry..”

The dark haired girl stared back in shock. “Oi, oi, are you serious? Legit villains this close to the school? That’s-”

“We need to go,” Fumika interjected. Her voice was firm, but as her hands ran through her hair, they almost seemed to be shaking. “We’ve got to go see them. They might be hurt, or…” She either didn’t need or - more likely - didn’t want to finish that sentence. Haruka nodded grimly.

“If you’re goin’, we’re all goin’.” She stared Jett dead in the face as she spoke, making it clear that she wasn’t taking no for an answer. “If they didn’t catch the villains who did this, they might still be out and about looking for victims. Letting anybody go anywhere outside of this school alone is just askin’ for trouble, and since your Quirk’s completely shot to hell, I’m definitely not letting you take that risk.” She seemed to be rather pointedly ignoring the state of her own Quirk as she spoke, but nevertheless it was clear she meant well. Glancing back to her distraught friend, she gave a reassuring nod. “Fumi, it’s gonna be alright. The message didn’t say anything about anyone dyin’ or being in critical condition, so it’s probably not as bad as it sounds. Why don’t you go get your sister, and we’ll all go check on them together?”

“Count me in too!” Kenichi added, slamming his uninjured hand into his fist. “If anybody messes with any of us, I’ll blow ‘em away--cracked ribs be damned!” He gave Motome-chan a reassuring look, but he wasn’t really sure if he could comfort her this time. After all...hadn’t he failed to save himself from those three losers? No. Don’t think about it. After a moment’s hesitation, he settled his resolve.

Fumika nodded quietly, tugging one last time at her hair before letting it drop. Answering with words seemed like it would be too difficult in her current stressed state, so she quickly turned and headed out the door where she’d last seen Asuka. Haruka had said that it was fine. Haruka was smart. She knew more about these sorts of things than Fumika herself did. If she said it, then there was absolutely no reason to doubt her.

...And yet, she couldn’t shake the feeling that once again, something important - a precious dream, and the strength and pride of a new generation of heroes - might have been lost forever, while she stood idly by.

With arms still folded, Roy looked away rebelliously. He was standing firm on his position though the stance he had took didn’t last very long. Mr.Hisakawa had appeared, most likely after hearing the large commotion. His presence made the boy a bit nervous. Though he received his attention just barely as Reina managaed to take the spotlight. Quite relieving, that man had a pretty bad temper once he was angry. When he spoke to Reina he sounded more like a worried parent than a hero instructor.

Roy let out a relieved sigh, with Mr.Hisakawa coming in and whisking away Reina in a hurry, the mood in the room sorta mellowed out a bit. This possibly stemmed from the mutual relief of Reina finally getting treated. Once they had left Takeshi chipped in his own two cents on the situation. Roy couldn’t help but make a face, his tone of voice triggered him a bit, he was going to say something but he decided to bite his tongue. The boy instead retired to his bed as the pain from his injuries began to resurface.

“Tsk”

Acion and Aurelia spoke a bit more before taking their leave, Roy waved lazily goodbye after which he layed his arm back onto the bed and waited for the door to open and close. As bad as it sounds, he thought that the two would never leave. Not that Acion or Aurelia were a pain or anything but Roy knew more people around would complicate things. Takeshi knew something that the others didn’t. What he said next he made sure to keep his voice low.

“Takeshi, you know those masked guys personally don’t you? The way they talked to you and michiko, giving you nicknames. Quirks that revolve around the shadows. ‘The way you were raised’, you and michiko have some kind of connection with these guys but now you are branded a traitor and being targeted. Is that much true?” Roy stared attentively at the guy as he awaited any kind of response, if he was correct then he would have half of the story. He’d still have to find out why his life was spared as well as why they wanted Kaida.

@Aerandir

Lysander took what mamarou said into consideration. On the one hand, heroes didn't randomly punch Amane in the face, they had REASONS for punching Amane in the face and... Well nobody was really being actively tormented by the gravity well. It was disappointing on so many levels, being righteously denied his fame because its not the right thing to do.

But Toru suggested brainstorming, a sport Lysander referred to mostly as "Idea stealing and credit taking excersize." But for once, Lysander actually did have an idea. A good one, maybe, possibly.

"Okay okay, I get your points, and as leader I say uh... Mamarou us right we can't just punch his stupid cocky face. We have to do something better, like... I got it! Lets freaking destroy the elastic inside of his uniform or suit, so when he uses his quirk he drops his pants to the ground! Eh? Eh?

Lysander retracted his wires only now, after he spoke. All grwat leaders were tall compared to their subjects, and with Dulga existing in this school well, stilts were necessary. He had yet to notice Seiko creeping behind him, due to his blindingly huge ego keeping him from registering competition

Mr.Hisakawa let out a smalll sigh as Reina apologized to him, at was as if a bit of guilt had struck him as those words escaped her mouth.

”I don’t want you to feel sorry dear, I want you to be more careful. You’re going to be in the next generation of heroes, you and your cousin. I’d hope for neither of you to have a short career due to being reckless.

At the end of the corridor a group of nurses were prepared to take care of Reina, once Mr.Hisakawa saw them in with he began to slow down in speed as he had a few more things to say to her. Very rarely did he ever get a chance to speak with her alone as her grandfather.

”The first step you have to take in order to improve your quirk will begin with your mental state. You have the potential to become something great and everyone is beginning to take notice, everyone except you. The lack of confidence in yourself is holding you back like a ball and chain. It’s humoring that you and Amane possess similar quirks but are so different. What he lacks for in compassion he makes up for in sheer strength and confidence while you are the other way around.”

Finally they had reached the end of the corridor, as the gravity yarl handed Reina he left her with a few words of inspiration.

”But I feel like that is the reason why you will become a great hero, confidence is something that is built up much easier than a strong sense of compassion.”

@Riegal

Seiko watched Lysander talk with two 1A students, and listened in on their conversation. He quickly gathered that they were going to play a prank of somebody. As he continued to listen, he discerned the name of their target, and it was...Amane? Were they out of their minds?! And their ideas were either dangerous, or laughable, or both! Even Seiko would never challenge Amane in a fight, and he honestly believed he could beat most anybody in the school in a spar if he cared about fighting enough to ever spar. That's not to say he couldn't be pranked. These bakas just needed a better plan. Seiko chose this moment to step forward. He was still wearing the dress and makeup he had been waiting for the karaoke match, so anyone who didn't know him would see quite a cute girl approaching.

"Wow. That idea's even worse than the idea to fight Amane! It's clear you three can't be trusted to pull of a prank by yourselves. I'm Seiko, by the way. Koizumi Seiko," he gave a sly, challenging glance at Lysander as she continued, "The best wire quirk user in the school."

@Experiment 249@FamishedPants@Lucius Cypher

Hitomi and Tomoe both agreed that there could be nothing about the Komei collective right now, if it was at a later stage and when there would be more evidence they could do a lot more. The two of them would be going back to their dorm room right now to chill out a little from this hectic day. Tomoe could not even keep her own balance anymore that is how tired she was. Hitomi was kind enough to keep Tomoe upright though so Tomoe wanted to stay awake for a while longer in order not to be a bother to Hitomi by letting her do all the work.

On their way back Acion had decided to drop on by from the air dropping right in front of the two. While Hitomi was deeply blushing from the mere sight of the boy Tomoe was pleasingly smiling at the winged boy as she muttered to herself.



When she was satisfied with feasting her eyes she glanced over at Hitomi as she was still blushing quite badly. Tomoe gave another pleased look as she muttered once more to herself about Hitomi this time.



Tomoe decided to help a little as Hitomi should get her act together for the best. Tomoe sneakingly pinched the butt of Hitomi and cheekily sneered at the sheep as she whispered to her.



They were cute together though.

Hitomi explained Acion what the Komei collective was about as Tomoe kept nodding at each line she said to confirm it was indeed true what she was telling.



Tomoe pulled up her fold-phone from under her shirt and browsed through it for a short time before turning it towards Acion to show him a picture of Hitomi with at-least two cats tugging at her hair while she was helplessly on the ground taken from quite a lower angle. Off course Tomoe could only take quite the dirty shots with this personality. Even Tomoe started blushing somewhat when she had seen the picture again.

Oh, so it's like a simulation program, that runs along when we are still studying, if I'm not interpreting his incorrectly." Acion crossed one of his arm, as the other one run through his lips. "These people have a lot of nice ideas."

Acion did not know how hard it was to be a support student, as he was always destined to be a hero student. His physicality and hard grind had given him more than enough to enroll in any courses, and following the family's tradition, he would either choose only the Hero, or nothing at all. But from a theoretical standpoint, it didn't take much to understand, other than the unholy knowledge that no one could ever illustrate it better than by living on the face of the Earth: that life was not a fair game. And knowing Hitomi's personality, he could always imagine her helping her old classmates.

"You did?" Acion replied to Tomoe's remark about Hitomi's cat challenge. If he wasn't wrong, cat and sheep's wools do get along nicely. At least for the cat. Though it would be hard to imagine how the sheep would feel.

And here he was given the opportunity to see it for his own eyes

"Let me see...that..." For one second, it appeared as if Acion had gone into hibernation. He did not blink, turn his eyes away, move his hand or even breathe. That pose, how the hell did she get that? The only explanation would be she bent over hard or was lying flat on the ground to take that. She looks cute though, even in that situation. He wondered if he could...

SLAP!

You'd thought that was the girl who slapped him. But no.

'I'm such a disgrace.' The winged man thought to himself after a self-inflicted punishment. He told himself he'd reflect after this, but it wouldn't be so simple this time.

Noticing how stupid he acted in front of the two beautiful ladies, he turned back to the two of them

"Excuse me you two." He said as he straightened his shirt. Thankfully, he could freely change the subject due to Hitomi's question earlier. "I was volunteering for the day, with my older sister. At first just normal mundane stuff like patrolling the city and such..."

Then it struck him. The, perhaps, most memorable, and most frightening, event of the day: the fight with the Shadow Clan. The fight that sent pretty much a third to a half of the 1-A class into the hospital. The fight in which Acion was the only class member to get out unscathed. Should he tell these two about it? He could lay low and play it off, but rumors would travel quickly, especially when a number of students hospitalized. He could say it now, but it wouldn't do much but make them worry. Moreover, he was concerned if the Shadow Clan affair got leaked, it could lead to unforeseen consequences.

"And then I and my sister got into a case. A big one I would say. I could tell you two about it right now, but I want to be discreet to everybody around, since it concerns all of us. If you want to hear it."

@liferusher@Silver Carrot

” Yet you don’t look a day over twenty eight.” He said with a genuine smile. But he did frown when she mentioned she had to head back. So soon? Well she did have a real job to attend to really. Though he didn’t have a job for a few years, he’s been pretty busy with his own ….work.

He cleared his throat Oh, well that's sad to hear. I was rather enjoying talking to you once again. He looked her right in the eyes and added, ”But I should check up on Kaida as well and make sure her heat packs are still hot.” He stood up first and stretched his lower back by putting his hands on his back right above his hips. A few pops could be heard.

He then smiled at her. “How about we have dinner this friday? ”

The butt-pinch was met with a rather loud meep, as Hitomi seemed ready to turned on Tomoe in an annoyed manner, before hearing that she'd been staring too much, whereupon she turned red and firmly attached her gaze to her own feet. "Ah, thank you, Tomoe. I didn't realize..."

When Tomoe started showing pictures of the cat-herding competition to Acion, the facial expressions of both alarmed Hitomi, and she practically grabbed Tomoe's phone and turned it towards her so that she the picture. She was shocked. "Tomoe!" she exclaimed. "Delete that picture right now!"

When Acion slapped himself in the face, Tomoe turned back towards him. Wait...did he...? Was he? That thought was embarrassing not no more embarrassing than the past minute had been. However, she didn't hate it. She didn't hate thinking about the possibility that she could garner the same reaction from Acion that she has herself felt that time Acion landed on her balcony in a tight t-shirt. It made her wonder if perhaps she had a chance.

Acion then went into detail about what he'd been doing. Or at least was going to, but didn't. His tone was also noticeably more somber thinking about the past events. "If it's important, I want to hear it, but if we should be discreet, maybe we should all head back indoors. Are you and your sister okay, though?"

@liferusher@Conscripts

---

"Tell Kaida I was here and wish her well," Mako replied, getting up, before slipping a diary from her jacket pocket and looking into it for a few seconds, before chuckling. "Look at me, pretending I ever have plans...I'm free this Friday. Just name the place and time and I'l be there! Here's a card for Komei Academy's reception line. Nobody will ever answer that phone but me."

She placed the card on the table as she turned and left the hospital. During the drive back, she couldn't help thinking about many things. Jean was only one of them. This attack on Komei pupils. Dulga's desire for revenge. Donny's lack of regard for his safety and of those around him. Amane. This year was quickly growing into the most chaotic year of school she'd ever faced, and it was almost enough for her to stop enjoying it. Almost.

@Heartfillia

---

Once Reina left the room, relieved as well that she was being forced into treatment. For a timid girl she had quite stubborn streak. Which made him smile for the briefest of moments.

As for Aurelia, when she mentioned that what a pro like he should say he raised an eyebrow with a quizzical look upon his face. She really thought he was a pro? Acion quickly moved over to her and whispered something in her ear which seemed to shock her. Probably the fact that he was not a pro, but merely a classmate of his. After a quick exchange between the two siblings, and a few confused mixed with aw glances at himself, Acion and Aurelia left, leaving him and Roy alone. Frankly he was honored that someone thought he was a pro hero, but at the same time the knowledge of his brothers strength and his failure quickly snuffed out that little flame.

He looked down at his stump of an arm, really studying it now. That woman who healed him did a fascinating job, as it looked almost completely healed. The fact remained, even if he can get out of this bed, he would have to work again twice as hard to come up with a new style that did not rely on the use of it, not to mention the fact that he had to use his free hand to make constructs…

He glanced over at Roy as he spoke in a low tone. He was of course asking about his connection to the men. He knew this would come, and knew that now he had no choice but to tell him. He sat for a few moments breathing slowly, his eyes never leaving Roys. Yes. He said simply and matter of factly. For a moment, it would seem that would be all he would say, blinking and then looking to the door.

He has to see Michiko. He remembered before he passed out that she was fine, just unconscious. Which made sense because of how much effort it took to pull him into that shadow wolf. He still felt weak, but he slipped his feet over the edge of his bed slowly, grunting softly under his breath.

He looked once again at roy who was still looking at him, expecting more to the answer to which he added, Those masked men were our older brothers... He let it sink in before continuing, Michiko and I were born into a clan of Assassins, raised to follow in our ancestors footsteps and rule this country from the shadows. When everyone our age was going to school and having a childhood, Michiko and I were fighting quite literally to survive within our own home. All up till about a year or so ago, when I saved Michiko from being married off to abusive man twice her age… and we ran away from it...or tried to at least.

Once he gained enough inner strength he slowly stood up, keeping a firm hand on his bed, Since I brought dishonor to the family, Only my head will suffice to restore it. looking to Roy he changed the subject. Do you know where my sister is?”

After a more than just weird conversation with the Class-B Bully Amane, the visibly confused nekomimi made her way to the entrance of the dorms just as she had initially intended. It’d be just a few more moments before she could finally lock herself into her room and have her mind wander freely through the lovingly and carefully crafted fantasy worlds within her beloved novels that were stored in Ruby’s room. All while listening to some of her favorite tunes with the help of her headphones which were unique since they were created to fit even her feline ears. Already lost in her own thoughts about the events that just occured, the stinging pain in her hands and about what was to come in a few moments, Ruby was very absent-minded. While being a rather uncommon occurrence for the cautious and careful catgirl, right now she basically couldn’t pay less attention to her surroundings.

It is because of this unique state of mind she was in that Ruby did not notice the other two people approaching the other side of the doors to their dorms who, just when Ruby was reaching for the door herself, pushed it open from the other side. The catgirl, who was still dressed in her somewhat tight and rather dirty gym clothes after her intense training session, her hands being bandaged fully due to the small injuries the sustained, was caught so off guard that the door just slammed into her face. A cute and quiet shriek of surprise came from within the neko as she stepped back and held her nose with both hands.

"Eeh!"

This small but literally impactful moment brought her back to reality as she saw the two figures standing in front of her, only one of whom she recognized. Ruby was incredibly embarrassed nonetheless, her cheeks blushing as she waited for them to step through the door.

Mina was the first to emerge, and seeing that the door she’d opened had hit the cat girl in the face, turned Lady-mode back on, and bowed to Ruby profusely. ”Oh my gosh! I am so sorry! Is there anything I can do to help?”

Asuka blinked as she felt the slight bump against the opening door. There hadn’t been anything outside next to it when she’d come in, had there? She didn’t need her sister’s perfect memory to be sure of that much. So then what, exactly, had she just hit? Or rather, who? She quickly pulled the door back mostly closed and slipped gingerly through the remaining gap, peering around from behind Kasuke and finding her suspicions confirmed. Someone had been standing right on the other side, and she hadn’t noticed since she’d been preoccupied watching the Yoshida kid with her stupid sister. As to who it was… well, of course Asuka didn’t know that. If Fumika had ever mentioned someone with cat ears to Haruka, then she certainly hadn’t been around at the time, and of course it was too much to hope that her idiot sister would introduce her to anyone - especially if she’d already been going around telling everyone about how mean and horrible she was.

Well, regardless, that was no reason to prove her right, so, even if Kasuke seemed to have the situation under control, she felt obligated by courtesy to follow suit. So, she flipped her mental switch one more time and made a tremendous effort to make a good impression, even if, thinking about it honestly, this girl probably wouldn’t even remember her face ten minutes from now, and would probably just think of her as “that ditzy bitch who hit me with the door” regardless of what she said to smooth things over.

How utterly exhausting.

Emerging from behind the door, Asuka covered her mouth in obvious surprise, her face coloring the expected shade of red. “Omigosh, omigosh… I’m soooo sorry! I spaced out and didn’t even see you there! Are you okay?” She folded her hands and bowed sheepishly once, then twice for good measure.

Both of the people stepping through the door were actually being very polite towards Ruby even if she only recognized one of them. SInce she usually had a fairly decent memory it was fair to assume that they had never met before.
While still covering her nose with her hands, the neko watched them as they bowed and apologized, rightfully so as Ruby thought. Nonetheless she was happy that they did apologize to her like that, even though obviously Ruby was partially to blame as well.

After she had quickly checked the bandages that were wrapped around her hands with which she had covered her nose, Ruby saw that there was no blood on it which meant that her nose wasn’t seriously injured and it made her sigh in relief. This sudden wake-up call however, had her feline ears perked up in attention again.

The catgirl lifted one hand up in order to calm the two of them down.
“Don’t worry, it was more my fault.” She reassured them, being a bit overwhelmed by the profound apologizing. Upon a second inspection of the people in front of her, Ruby saw that the person she recognized initially was one of her classmates. Mina’s face did take Ruby back to just a few moments ago and her interaction with Amane.
Before the neko would be caught staring at the girl long enough to make it awkward she would quickly start talking. ”Are you... doing alright again?” She asked with genuine curiosity even though that was barely audible through her voice. Despite her edgy and quiet persona, Ruby still cared greatly for her peers even though she expected that Mina might be tired of hearing that question.

Mina’s facade dropped when it appeared she was getting pitied again. Even if part of her appreciated the fact that this usually quiet cat girl was showing concern, there was an instinctual freezing over at the showing of any kind of compassion by otherwise strangers, as also happened in this case. Despite the iciness, there was clearly no aggression or unfriendliness directed specifically at Ruby.

She nodded, and replied with a much more earnest and natural tone; ”Physically, I’m more or less back to normal. No lasting damage except to my pride.” She managed a wry smile before continuing. ”What about you? I doubt you got those bandages from doing homework. What’s the story there?”

Damage to her pride, huh? That was understandable. It was hard to imagine someone’s pride not having at least taken some hit after what had happened to Mina. Even though Ruby wasn’t exactly an expert when it came to how other people felt, this seemed somewhat obvious. Nonetheless, the fact that Mina had already healed her wounds just showed how amazing the medical staff at the school was. Before the neko had a chance to reply, she was asked about her bandages. While not exactly being surprised by the question, she was still somewhat caught off guard. Out of all people, Mina just had to ask her that! After just being told that the girl’s pride took a hit, Ruby could only imagine what she must feel like if she found out that Ruby had just beaten Amane in a spar. Yes it was a quirkless fight- but the fact would surely upset Mina. At least, that is what Ruby concluded after a few moments contemplating which left the other two girls standing in awkward silence.

“Oh you know… I just went a bit too far while training that is all.” She said.

It technically was not a lie since her going overboard was what caused the injuries in the first place. However, of course she did not tell the whole truth.

“Just some scratches.”

Before Mina had much of a chance to reply, Ruby turned her head to face the unknown girl, Asuka. Even though she would prefer to not talk to other people that much, given the fact that she had met plenty new people already with her classmates and Persia earlier, it seemed rude to not introduce herself. Besides, this was a way to change topic away from her bout with Amane.

“I don’t think we’ve met yet. My name is Ruby Mamoru, it is my pleasure to meet you.”

Rather than reaching out her arm to give Asuka her hand, it made more sense for the catgirl to bow given the fact that her hands were injured. So she bowed forward slightly and politely, since the unknown one made a good and polite first impression with her apology. Despite her polite tone, Ruby did not smile at all. It was not really her thing to smile a lot anyways since it would show her fangs which she feared would perhaps deter some people. Therefore the catgirl just looked Asuka into her eyes with her own golden-colored ones after having bowed.

Asuka returned the bow in kind, giving a chipper nod as she raised her head and making significantly more of an effort to show a welcoming smile than the impassive girl she was speaking to. “Yup, we haven’t met yet. My name’s Motome Asuka. I’m not actually a student here, although my big sis is. I’m here visiting her. Her name’s Fumika. You might know her already?” She kept her voice cheerful and friendly, and externally, she didn’t seem to jump to any assumptions that the catgirl was friends with her sister or anything like that, but her own inward thoughts were a very different story.

Despite dismissing her apology immediately, this Ruby girl had hardly even looked at her since then. No, rather, it was almost like she was being pointedly ignored in favor of Kasuke. She didn’t know what they’d been talking about just now, and it clearly hadn’t been any of her business, so she’d been polite enough not to interrupt, but this was a different story. Now that the cat-eared student was actually paying attention to her, her expression had seemed to harden into an ultra-serious stare. Even if her voice sounded disinterested and impassive, that blank, completely calm poker face she gave as she introduced herself didn’t exactly bespeak enthusiasm. It seemed obvious to Asuka that she wasn’t the only one putting on a front here - she was just putting significantly more effort into it. This girl probably had already heard about her from her sister, in which case, it only made sense she’d act that way. But the really annoying thing was just how much her unenthusiastic front reminded her of Fumika herself. She’d only just introduced herself, and she could already tell that she was probably in for a truly unpleasant conversation.

Mina sensed a hint of tension coming from Asuka. It was similar to what she felt when Asuka was with Fumika. She didn’t get involved then because it was sibling issues and that was none of her business, but this kind of tension with Ruby was puzzling. Maybe Asuka had taken offence at Ruby’s naturally impassive nature, which could be taken to be impolite. No, that didn’t make sense. Asuka had relaxed when Mina dropped the pretence of being ‘polite’ and allowed them both to be frank and natural. There was something else going on in Asuka’s head, and now wasn’t the place to look into it.

That wasn’t the only mystery. Ruby had been deliberately vague about where she’d gotten those injuries, which suggested that it was either somebody she was ashamed had given her them, or somebody she didn’t want to bring up with Mina, and there were only two candidates in the latter category. Seeing as how carefully she’d chosen her words, it was unlikely to be a case of Ruby’s own pride. Mina was very suspicious of the possibility that Ruby had sparred with Amane, given the pause. Ruby had no reason to know the full story between Mina and Kaida. There was a tiny voice in Mina’s head warning her that she was being overly paranoid but it was drowned in her constant and frantic thoughts, and suffocated by the threads and chains of ‘logic’.

Even someone as socially inept as Ruby noticed the slight tension in the air that was directed towards her. While pretty much all of that seemed to originate from Mina, it was kind of hard for Ruby to imagine that someone who was as cheerful and friendly as Asuka appeared to her would not be deterred at least somewhat by Ruby’s cold reply to the friendly advances. Feeling a little awkward in her position, Ruby rather replied to Asuka concerning her sibling for now since she wanted to show interest in the conversation, letting the rather polite stranger know that she was appreciated and that Ruby did care, contrary to what expression she might’ve given. Even though Ruby did remember the name Fumika since they were in in the same class now, she hardly ever had exchanged a word with her. The face that she had a sister was knew to her, how would she have known that?

“Yes I know Fumika. I didn’t know she had a sister though, I haven’t really talked to her all that much yet. I just got into this class a few days ago after all.”

Feeling that the tension wasn’t really going away, Ruby started to put the blame onto herself. She knew that the cold expression she gave other people wasn’t exactly the most inviting one and by now the neko somewhat felt bad about it. Especially regarding people like Asuka who were generally friendly to the neko were the ones where Ruby regretted being so seemingly rude towards. Maybe she should really start to train to become more friendly towards others…
Her head dropped down after a few seconds of awkward exchange and she stared at the floor for a little while before lifting her head again and awkwardly scratching the back of her head with her right hand awkwardly.

“Look, I am sorry if I come across as rude. I am not often around people so I… I tend to give of the wrong impression. Really, I don’t mean to be… unfriendly.”

Ruby tried to force a smile but the result looked more like someone who has never seen a smile in their life before and only heard about how it works in theory. It was incredibly awkward and very much cringy, but Ruby tried to show that she was not actually meaning to be rude towards the two girls, one of whom she only barely knows and the other one which she did not know at all beforehand. The smile did reveal her fangs though which is probably one of the few things that could be appreciated about it.

“No, it’s no problem at all!” Asuka replied with a bright smile of her own - a significantly better act, if she flattered herself, than that of the cat-eared girl who she addressed - waving her hand dismissively. “I get shy sometimes when meeting new people too, so I totally understand.” Of course, that was a lie, but it was a polite lie.

Speaking of polite lies, however, the way she’d backtracked quite suddenly came off as suspicious to Asuka. Sure, it was possible she was just awkward, as she had said. However, the way she was acting now was completely different… less defensive, rather. Had she been expecting a more rude welcome, then, once she realized who she’d been speaking to? Given her earlier theory, it was possible - no, likely, even, that this girl had, like the others, been predisposed to expect the least of her, and now that she’d broken those expectations, this Ruby was struggling to find the appropriate way to react.

Well, whatever. It didn’t matter if that was the case or not. Unconvincing though it might have been, she was at least making an effort to be civil, which was more than Asuka could say for the cloaked woman she had encountered earlier. In that case, she supposed she could be bothered to keep acting like an airhead a while longer just for the sake of conversation.

Besides, now that she got a read on her, she seemed like a better person that Asuka had originally given her credit for. Reviewing the facts in her mind, she ran through the case like a true detective. When they’d accidentally hit her with the door, she’d immediately apologized herself, claiming it was her own fault. She’d noticed something about Mina which even Asuka herself hadn’t caught onto, and had inquired after her well-being. And after her admittedly frosty self-introduction, she’d been so self-conscious that she felt the need to clarify and apologize again. If she was feigning the whole shy-girl act, then she was way better at this than Asuka thought, in which case she deserved some measure of respect. And if not, then, well, interacting would probably be super awkward, but at least she was making an effort to be polite about it, whether it was out of obligation or some naive kindness, unlike some people. Either way, she could have been a worse conversational partner, and so long as she was actually willing to be civil, Asuka decided that, act or not, she didn’t mind Ruby so much after all.

“I wouldn’t call it sh-”

”By the way,” Mina suddenly blurted out, choosing her timing badly, or possibly deliberately. ”It wasn’t Amane you sparred with, was it, Ruby?” Asuka turned, glancing at her with slight surprise, but made no comment.

Ruby was interrupted before she could finish her sentence by Mina’s questioning. Pretty much out of nowhere she decided to inquire about Ruby’s training-partner. Since Mina had asked specifically for Amane, it was clear why she was so energetic about it. However, it mostly only confirmed Ruby’s suspicion that the events during the exercise really affected Mina.

A small pause where Ruby gazed at Mina was all that seperated Mina’s blurted out words and the neko’s reply.

“Are you sure that you are okay Mina? Amane really seems to be getting into your head. You really shouldn’t become paranoid over it. Amane is just another student and you’ll be able to get your revenge in eventually, I am sure. Just don’t let it affect you this much, that is not very healthy”

For once, Ruby actually spoke with a kind voice showing that she was genuinely concerned about her classmate, it definitely was not a pretty sight after all. Obviously, Ruby hadn’t forgotten it either. For any aspiring hero that was hard to watch.

Mina’s gut reaction to that was anger, but thinking about it, Ruby had a point. Who was Mina’s anger really directed at? Not Ruby, possibly Amane, but probably herself. She lost. Badly. She thought she was over it but obviously not. Mina had never, in her life, lost before. Not in fights, not in grades.It was only natural she wouldn’t take it well.

”Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go...get some water, or something,” Mina responded, looking...let’s just say distracted, as she started to leave the group. Before she left, however, she turned back to Ruby, with a worryingly focused glint in her eye. ”We should spar sometime,” were her parting words.

Asuka glanced between the two students, as if weighing her options. She could follow Kasuke - that would be the logical thing to do - but something told her that the blonde very much didn’t want to be followed. Not with that look in her eye. Still, that was no reason to be impolite, so, giving a cheery wave to her new “friend,” she sent her off as innocently as if nothing strange had happened in that last exchange at all.

“Thanks for showing me to the dorms, Kasuke!” And then, all that was left was to get out of this conversation. “Ah, right. Speaking of which, I should probably head back now to see how my sister is doing.” She was just turning back to face the cat-eared girl and finish excusing herself when an unexpected voice from behind her decided that now was the perfect time to interrupt.

“You don’t need to do that. I’m fine.”

Asuka jumped slightly, whirling around to find herself being stared down by those blank blue eyes… Except the fact that they weren’t nearly so blank as they should have been. Her face seemed pale, and her brow was set very intently. If Asuka didn’t know better, she’d have said that her sister was afraid. But what would she possibly have to be afraid of?

“Oi, sis, I told you not to sneak up on me like that! Don’t tell me you forgot?”

“I don’t forget things,” the elder Motome replied seriously. “But I also didn’t sneak. I just walked here normally.”

“Ugh, nevermind, you big idiot… What’s the deal, anyway? I thought you were too busy flir- That is, catching up with that classmate of yours back there.” Asuka crossed her arms, angrily staring down her sister and trying really hard not to slip up. Fumika didn’t seem to notice, or if she did, she didn’t care - just like she didn’t seem to care about anything else her sister said or did either.

“...We have to go,” She declared gravely. Asuka did a double take, craning her head and raising an eyebrow.

“...Uh… Why?” She asked.

“A villain. A lot of my friends were hurt. They’re in the hospital now. I have to go make sure they’re alright. Haruka said it was dangerous to go alone.”

The words hung in the air, and suddenly, Asuka understood the look of fear that her sister had worn all too well. She forgot to be angry at her sister for interrupting, for being so insufferable - even for telling stories about her behind her back. Having seen and spoken to Harukaze Haruka, it was impossible not to, in that moment, understand what her sister was thinking completely.

“Alright. It’s late, but if we hurry, we should be able to catch a bus or a train downtown. Come on, don’t just stand there. Are the others coming too?” Fumika nodded, and motioned back to the dorm.

“They told me to get you…” She answered quietly.

“Well, you’ve got me. Come on, let’s go see what their plan is.”

Ruby half expected Mina to actually become angry at what she had said, so seeing her react relatively calmly was surprising for the catgirl. She would be justified in becoming angry, though not becoming angry really did impress Ruby actually, showing her that she knows how to control herself and that earned respect with the black-haired one. Before Mina attempted to leave she asked Ruby to spar sometime, for whatever reason. Even though Ruby was not the biggest fan of sparring, she returned a confident nod to accept the challenge, even though the actual spar would probably still be far away in the future.

Before Ruby could say goodbye to Asuka and leave, a classmate decided to make an appearance. Fumika brought some interesting news to the table, enough for Ruby to make a quick change of plans. Usually, she’d really love to be alone right about now, but hearing that her classmates were injured due to villains sounds like a serious issue and immediately spoke to the heroic spirit inside of Ruby which caused her to become concerned. Even though, again, she didn’t properly display that emotion to the outside, the neko replied to the other two girls.

”I will join you guys if that is okay. That sounds worrying…”

She replied quickly and then would follow the others on their journey to the hospital.

Meanwhile, Mina had been close enough to hear Fumika’s news that many of their classmates had been hurt. As confused and emotional as Mina was right now, this news reached the Hero in her, and she vowed to make her way to the hospital herself, and assure herself that everybody was alive and stable. The fact that this was the morally right thing to do never crossed her mind. She was genuinely concerned for the safety and health of her classmates.