Kana couldn’t help the shock—or the twinge of disgust—that twisted her face as Wakako explained the intricacies of her quirk. It was sympathetic, of course, and she cringed at the idea that her roommate might think she was disgusted by her and not the preparations she had to go through to get her quirk working, but it seemed as though Wakako understood. Perhaps she was even used to it; after all, how many people wouldn’t flinch at the idea of drinking dangerous chemicals, on top of god-knows-what-else?

She nodded appreciatively when Wakako suggested their quirks’ more finicky aspects were similar, but in truth, listening to the cannon’s explanation had her feeling grateful that all she had to put up with was pain. There were prospective dangers with her quirk, of course, but at the very least she never had to worry about drinking poison or eating metal, to say nothing of worrying about things exploding in her face.

Still, shock and worry aside, Kana found herself rather relaxed. She’d taken a seat on the bed she’d lifted, and while Wakako talked she had listened closely and almost forgotten herself. Her hands had stopped shaking, her heart, still hastened, no longer pounded against her chest like the feet of a rabbit. Her elbow still stung, but what was pain compared to anxiety? She was smiling, even, swept up in Wakako’s enthusiasm for what her quirk might do with a little practice, and her pride for what she could do already.

“I’d like to see that, when they let us,” she said, and did mean it. It had been years since quirks had been such a welcomed topic; back home her father had made discussing them practically taboo. Kana of course hadn’t spoken a word about her own quirk to anyone before Ishin had entered the picture, and so Wakako’s question stumped her, at first.

No, no. Don’t lie, you know exactly where your quirk is headed.

Perhaps it was the fact that, for the first time in a while, she felt like she had a handle on her nerves, but she managed to quiet her own thoughts before they could bring disaster back to fragile, tentative calm she’d mustered.

“Oh,” she said, surprised at the relative clarity of her own voice. “I’m not sure…maybe lifting two beds at once?”

Was that a joke? Had she tried to make a joke? Even in her own stillness she could feel herself cringing.

“Uhm…b-but, really, I don’t know. It might seem a bit…dumb, but I’m not really sure what I’m capable of. I guess I’d like to find out, here. I-is that wrong? I mean…Ishin is supposed to be…well, Ishin, and…”

Wow, you can’t go thirty seconds without trying to sabotage the conversation, can you?

Well, it was nice while it lasted. Kana felt her smile twitching. She bowed her head, cleared her throat.

“Sorry. I guess the…ah…speech, that the Supervisor gave still has me a little nervous. I guess we'll have to get used to imposing faculty, though, huh? I'm sure the teachers aren't any...warmer than he is.”

---

@Naw

Wakako laughed along with Kana's little joke. It was hardly a side-splitter, but it was kind of funny. Kana went on to explain in somewhat halting terms that she didn't really know what she was capable of. It was perfectly reasonable, assuming her parents were out of the picture, or that she had only one around and they didn't share her quirk. Of course all she could do was speculate without Kana telling her, and she didn't want to just up and pry into her family situation like some kind of ass. Even worse if it really was some tragic situation where she never met her parents and just bringing it up made her sad. Wakako decided it was best just to take her words at face value.

She went on to talk about how "Ishin was Ishin". At first Wakako wasn't sure what she was driving at, but she clarified. Wakako figured she was talking about how competitive and cutthroat the speech made it all sound. Having to "earn your place" was hardly conducive to getting to feel out how your quirk worked, as though they expected them all to already know what they were doing, rather than being taught like a school ought to. Of course she had a feeling it wasn't as simple as that, but she could understand what Kana meant.

"Yeah, I get you. He sure doesn't sound like he's going to let us chill out and find our grounding." It was just like somebody else Wakako could think of. A certain lady living on a boat. "Buuuut, think of it this way; they probably wouldn't have let us come here at all if they didn't think we had potential, right? Like they screened us all, sounded us out, they had to have assumed we'd at least have the capacity to do well. So as long as we give it our all, we'll probably get through this, yeah?" It was technically just puff for Kana's sake, and maybe even for her own state of mind. Wakako definitely wasn't this confident about it all, but she knew it wouldn't pay to sit there and think the school was going to chew them up and spit them out. Wakako wanted to be a hero, and if that meant slogging through Ishin's grueling course work, then she'd do it or break trying.

"As for the teachers, I dunno if you should be too quick to right em all off. We already met Nekohara-senpai and she didn't seem, uh, all that cold and whatever, right? Chances are the faculty might be cut from a different cloth than the Supervisor. Course, my speculation ain't no guarantee, haha...." Truth be told she was leaning that they would be just like Yukimura Hideaki, but she preferred to try to remain hopeful if she could.

"Did you manage to speak to any of the others in our class? I only got to talk to the one briefly. Osamu Kenzo, that kind of stiff looking guy? But he's nice and polite, seems like a reliable dude. How about you?" She thought it would be handy if Kana had some first impressions of the others to share.

---

@Mcmolly

Well, that was something. Her roommate instantly dumped a pile of trash onto her bed. Did... Did she sleep like that? On a pile of foul smelling fasteners? Even if they were related to a quirk in some way, that didn't mean she should just make a mess. It wasn't like she was going to use it any time soon. She was making a mess for no reason, wasn't she? It took a bit out of her, but Yoru didn't snap. Rather, she covered her mouth with a hand, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. It wasn't worth it was her mantra. She chanted it in her mind, trying her best not to cuss out Haruhi. It took even more willpower to not pop off when she made a mess of the floor.

"Eh!? Of course I've had sleepovers!" Yoru instantly replied when asked. Her sweet tone was still there, sounding more like she was making a joke rather than actually getting offended. She was only getting defensive because it was such a dumb question! Yea, that was it. There was no other reason why she'd respond so quickly. Rather promptly, Yoru had a hand pointed towards her. It wasn't good. Really, it was as if someone directly insulted her. The complete lack of effort on part of Yano made her sick. But she had a reputation to gain. By god, she'd work her magic. Well, she'd actually need to perform a miracle.

"S-sure." Her sweet tone came, albeit with some shock in the inflection. She grabbed a nail file, cuticle pusher, and pick. She'd need to boil them later, but her own nails were good enough for a few days. It was time to get to work, and get to work she did. Fixing those cuticles, evening those horribly cut short nails, and getting as much gunk out as she could. Maybe she'd need to boil her hands after this. Maybe. It was like trying to fix a gorilla. Actually, a gorilla would probably be easier than that.

Kana nodded along to Wakako’s encouragement, and it did take, if just a little. It was the sort of assurance she’d been drip-feeding herself ever since she’d been accepted—You wouldn’t be going if they didn’t think you could cut it. And it was undeniably true, at least a little bit. Ishin didn’t seem like an institution interested in wasting time, especially not its own time. If there really wasn’t any chance she could make it through this, she wouldn’t have been on that train.

Still, like most of her thoughts, they didn’t really matter until someone else thought them, too.

Wakako was probably right about the faculty as well. Nekohara was not at all what Kana had expected of Ishin’s students, and she was upperclassman. Some—perhaps even many—of the teachers would likely be cold and hard and merciless, but Kana held out hope anyway that they might encounter some people of power and influence unjaded by their work.

The topic shifted. Kana tried to pull an image of Osamu from her memory, but the auditorium was a blur of anxiety to her now. She did recall her seatmates, the gelatinous and polite Nadeshiko, and the awkward yet well-meaning Shun.

“A couple,” Kana said. “I know there were a few people who didn’t seem to be getting along, but thankfully the people I sat by were nice. One was that boy, outside, who helped Nekohara back up. He…brought a pineapple with him.”

Slowly, she saw flashes of unfamiliar faces, picked out snippets of conversations she hadn’t really heard but remembered by broken piece-meal after the fact. Blue hair, white hair, sharp words and words of tender arbitration, a foreign girl with a hard face and a girl with hair like a squid. People were thrilled, and anxious, and angry or eager overjoyed to be here, to be something. Kana did not know these people yet, but she felt a sudden connection to them, a sort of pride and also worry, because despite Wakako’s assurances, the Supervisor had seemed intent that not all of them would last.

“I hope they make it,” Kana said finally, and though she had excluded the two of them, it was perhaps them she meant most.

---

@Naw

---

Sapporo, Japan
Ishin Academy, April 7th
Interacting With:: Akizawa-san(@Asura)

---

A lack of expectations, huh? That response felt a bit off to her, nearly causing her to pause in her tracks, but instead she merely stuttered a bit before continuing as if nothing was wrong. Leaning a bit forward, she angled her head slightly away and sighed, raising an eyebrow as she scratched the side of her chin, "Really then... hm."

It was a bit difficult to discern what she sounded like, whether it was the fact that she was disappointed or dissatisfied with the answer as she glanced back over at the slime girl. "That doesn't make any sense," she bluntly followed up as they approached the door to the girls dorms and opened it up, holding it for the slime girl and either following right behind her should she take the offer or entering first if she didn't.

Either way, once they were out of the nippy outdoors, Adrianne would continue to push Nadeshiko, "Out of all academies you could of attended, you selected this one, correct?" She began to speak more forcefully to the girl as they continued walking (or in her case, sliding?) to their dorm, but in her mind she couldn't be blamed.

While this Ishin was second to U.A., it stilled ranked in being one of the top hero schools in the world if she could recall right, at least somewhere in the top ten. She couldn't help but feel disgruntled that her roommate decided to possibly choose to attend this academy on a whim or because it was second best and she couldn't get into U.A.? Huffing, she merely gripped her bag tighter and continued speaking, not bothering to give her an edge in, word-wise.

"Considering the schools reputation and the fact that you chose to attend this place instead of applying for some fourth-rate academy or getting a job in the police force or anything... why would you not have any expectations," her voice was getting a little shaky, if not a bit aggressive. In fact, the tone made it sound more like she was interrogating Nadeshiko for some crime instead of trying to make small talk.

Alright, cool it down Adrianne, you already got a red-flag from the girl and that's all she needed, unless this was some form of cultural thing the Japanese had. No expectations for anything... wait, that didn't make any sense at all, considering the friggin' school she was attending. So what, was the bar set so extremely low that people without expectations could get in now?!

Damnit, deep breaths Adrianne, deep breaths.

Grunting and clearing her throat, she adjusted a nonexistent tie around her neck as they made a turn, "Anyways... what are you planning to do for the rest of the day?"

The first to arrive would be Osamu. He was always an early riser and a dutiful student, and he would sooner perish than be tardy. Wasting their educators precious time was the height of rudeness, and he was not keen to be the one to do so. He was not so sure about his dorm-mate, Yasuhide Seo, who seemed far more consumed with his own entertainment than getting the most out of his education. He would have to see if Seo would prove him wrong over the course of their mutual tenure at Ishin Academy.

Curiously, it seemed he had arrived here ahead of their teacher. He was sure there were many reasons to explain such a scenario; perhaps they were held up in a meeting, or they had something they yet needed to prepare for their first lesson? The fact was it was none of their business as to why the teacher was late. Even if it were a matter of negligence, that was for the school administration to sort out, and not them. Osamu would simply take his seat and silently await the arrival of both the rest of the class and their instructor as well.

A similarly early riser, Wakako was awoken by the purely imaginary sound of a ship's horn blast. It was only when she found herself in the dorm room that she shared with Kana that she reminded herself she wasn't actually living on a ship anymore. She was on dry ground, her mother's voice wasn't about to sound in her ear, and all she had to worry about was getting breakfast before heading off to sit at a desk. It was an unbelievably refreshing change from Tanegashima Sanae's rigid sea life. Would that Wakako could, she'd sleep in and enjoy this nice cushy bed some more. But even if this was better than life on the Battleship hero's boat, she doubted that Ishin would take kindly to her being late or lazy. She'd just have to drag herself out of bed like any other day of her life.

Wakako entered the classroom shortly after Osamu. She was surprised to find the teacher was not there, but not surprised that Osamu was here. He sure seemed like the straight laced type. But she imagined the teachers here would be largely the same, or at least that the academy would demand prompt arrivals from their teachers. It surely couldn't be that her and Osamu were somehow more dedicated than the staff of the school that churned out a discipline freak like her mother. There either had to be a really good reason or someone might be about to lose their job. Wakako chose to assume the former.

Wakako was pleasantly surprised to discover that her assigned seat was to the right of Osamu, whom she promptly took a seat next to. "Heya, Kenzo-san!" She greeted him with a wave. "You doing alright this morning? How was your first night here?" If the teacher wasn't even here, there was nothing wrong with a little idle conversation while they waited.

---

@Etranger

---

Sapporo, Japan
Ishin Academy, April 7th
Interacting With:: No one, thankfully

---

Early to bed, early to rise, though she woke up a bit later than anticipated, much to her chagrin as her mind continued to travel back to the first day. It would always be a bit of a waste to her as she grumbled and mumbled, sliding off the side and doing a couple of morning stretches as she absentmindedly glanced around their living space.

Oh, that was right, she had a roommate now. She could wake her up...

... nah, if Akizawa-san wants to fritter her time away sleeping, that wasn't her issue, especially after those responses from yesterday. Following that, Adrianne stretched her hands towards the sky, then low towards her toes, forcing herself to see the bright side of giving the dead-weights a day of respite. I mean, the only thing that really came to mind was that this gave her the opportunity to get familiar with the area outside the school; she even managed to find a gym nearby after some exploring.

Regardless, she knew the expectations here at Ishin, and if she had to guess, she and the slime-girl were extremely late, so Adrianne began to hustle, getting cleaned up, putting on their school uniform, and heading on over to class.

---

Much to the horned girl's shock, there wasn't a whole lot of people in the hallways, with her only really seeing five ore more students total on her way to class. Adrianne expected there to be more people as she bit her own lip and scowled as a dark cloud formed overhead. Great, this is totally the type of expectation you should already be setting, come on, you're better than this! You don't want to be lumped in with these imbeciles!

Picking up the pace, Adrianne began to shuffle faster as she recalled the class, alongside some of the other irritable students. She sighed. What a great way to start the day. Adrianne could feel the hairs standing up on the back of her neck as she turned down a hallway, and- wait a minute.

Why was Tanegashima-san late? Out of all the people, she would of expected her to be in class already.

Adrianne briefly pondered on if she misjudged her character as she scooted down the hallway even faster, shaving a couple of seconds off some invisible timer. Before even entering, she took some deep breaths and took the time to compose herself, not wanting to look as foolish as she might already being late.

"Alright, make the best of a bad situation Adrianne, walk in there and own them all," she did a small pep-talk with herself, getting herself psyched as well as fortifying her against what the miscreants might comment under their breath. Alright, walk in, proud, solemn, ca-

There was no one here.

Correction. There was no one here besides herself, Tanegashima-san, and Kenzo-san. Even as she strode in, all prim and proper like a dignified hero, the lack of students, let alone a teacher was enough to take the wind right out of her sails. Seriously, what the absolute hell. She had to do a double take as she stared at the empty podium, blinking as her expression darkened even further. There either was some asinine reason for this or their teacher just left due to pension.

Adrianne could only hope it wasn't the latter as she walked down the aisle of seats, eyeing each desk as if there was an actual student sitting there. Whether or not it was a glare of judgement or a look of interest, she remained perpetual sour, choosing to forgo the meaningless small-talk Tanegashima-san in favor of finding her assigned seat.

... which was in the far back. Not exactly what she expected, especially for a student such as herself, but Adrianne expected some sort of bs catch or explanation as she slid into her seat with a frown. Placing an elbow on the desk, she rested her head on her hands as she rapped and tapped the desk gently as a new thought came to mind.

Maybe it's not that I'm late, but that I'm really early.

_{Location:
Ishin Academy | Sapporo}

---

Having never shared a room with anybody, Nadeshiko found her first night at Ishin to be rather nerve-wracking. It did not much help that she seemed to have gotten off on the wrong foot with her roommate, despite her best efforts at remaining inoffensive. In the end, the goo-girl opted to spend the majority of the night under her covers reading on her phone, something that must not have displeased Kunze-san all that much, what with her own rather early bedtime. It should have went without saying that going to bed so early would have also meant a rather early rise, but such common logic found little lodging within her anxiety stricken mind, which kept her up longer than she would have preferred.

It might have led to her sleeping in, even, if she was not such a light sleeper in the first place. Though she had cocooned herself entirely in her sheets and blankets, she could practically feel Adrianne's eyes on her as the other girl rose at the crack of down and shuffled about their shared space before departing wordlessly. That much was a kindness, as Nadeshiko was uncertain with how well she could handle the easily agitated foreigner so early in the morning. As comforting the idea of remaining tangled up in her bedding all day and avoiding responsibility was, the mutant had little choice in the matter. She followed in the example of her roommate some minutes after the door clicked shut.

While she may not have had the same level of commitment as many of Ishin's early risers, Nadeshiko did make up for her lack of haste with a lower need for maintenance. She did not need to spend long styling her hair, as its gel-like form never much changed even while she slept. She had little need for a shower when she lacked the capacity to sweat. Even breakfast was a much more efficient experience for her, a simple bottle of orange juice retrieved from a vending machine outside the cafeteria and consumed on the way to class sufficing.

Perhaps it was the brevity of her routine that saw Nadeshiko arriving on the heels of her roommate despite the very purposeful gap between their departures. Had she been the type to do so, she may have grimaced at the phenomenon. But as was her way, Nadeshiko simply directed her eyes towards the floor and maneuvered her way to a seat towards the back of the classroom, which she silently slid herself into.

Kana’s first night at Ishin had not been too dissimilar to her first night in Kagoshima. A new home, a new bed, and hours of fitful sleep she could have counted on one hand. She wasn’t exhausted, thankfully; she’d grown accustomed to an erratic and stingy sleeping schedule through long stretches of brickish mattresses in roadside motels, or the passenger seat of her father’s car. Ishin was generous enough to give her a soft bed, warm sheets, and clean air, and so whatever restfulness was lost had been made up for quite well in comfort.

She’d been awake when Wakako left, tempted to ask if they might walk to class together, but she refrained. Her roommate had put up with her enough yesterday, and the last thing Kana wanted to do was repay Wakako’s kindness by being a burden, or clinging too tightly. Instead, once she was alone, Kana shuffled out of bed—folding the sheets without much practice,—donned her uniform, and gathered her materials into a small satchel she’d tucked into the duffle bag. On her way out, she took quick stock of herself in the dorm’s bathroom mirror, and frowned.

Hoped you might not recognize yourself just because you’re wearing a fancy uniform? she thought bitterly. One decent day isn’t enough to wash her out of your face. Sorry.

The map and instructions were clear, and Kana arrived at the classroom early, it seemed. Earlier at least than the teacher. There were already a few students there, faces she recognized from the day before—the put-off foreigner, the “kind of stiff looking guy” Wakako had mentioned, and the friendly, gelatinous Nadeshiko.

Wakako herself was there as well, sat beside Osamu. Kana smiled to her, waved, and noticed the seats were labeled. It must have been good luck, Wakako being seated next to the one person she’d known from the assembly, luck that Kana was hopeful for herself. Unluckily, she didn’t find her name near Wakako, or even Nadeshiko. A bit anxious, she checked the seats nearby the foreign girl—as quiet and unobtrusively as she could—but she didn’t find herself there, either. That wasn’t much of a consolation, Kana had been hoping for a seat near the back. Out of sight, out of mind. But as she continued to search, raking each row seat by seat, that anxiety built, and built, as she went on and on and on fruitlessly until at last there it was, and suddenly more than ever before she wished her name was not Mutsuki Kana.

Mutsuki Kana was assigned to the front row.

Kill me.

---

Sayuri was tired. Not that she was expecting otherwise. She'd spent the last two weeks in a storm of getting ready to move, her best friend dragging her literally everywhere to spend as much time as they could, her mom doing the same while keeping up her normal training. Add to that an uncomfortable trip and only a few hours sleep the night before.

That morning she got up, cleaned up, got dressed and headed out for breakfast as quickly as she could paying her roommate little attention outside a good morning, some verbal grumbling about the required uniform skirt, and replying when addressed. She left quickly eating breakfast quickly before heading directly to class. Stepping into the classroom she looked around not familiar with anyone there. Only a few others were there when she got there. She made her way to the sheet left in the front.

Let's see… I am… oh good I have a window seat. That's always nice, she checks through the rest of the list commiting names to memory. None particularly caught her eye so she turned and made her way to her seat. Reaching it she yawned before dropping down to wait for the teacher to arrive.

---

Sapporo, Japan
Ishin Academy, 1-A Classroom, April 8th

---

Kenshin sighed as he walked hurriedly through the halls of Ishin Academy. It felt as if the world itself had been trying to stop him from becoming a hero. He'd not only missed orientation due to missing his train, but now found himself lost on the campus itself. A clammy hand rubbed the boy's groggy eyes as Kenshin lamented his situation. "C'mon Kenshin! You can't give up on your first day just because you're a little tired! You're here to become a pro hero, not a dropout!" he quietly reassured himself as he continued to trudge through the halls. Truthfully, the previous night had been a sleepless one; anxiety having tied a sickly knot in his stomach.

Before long, he finally found his way to the classroom. As he approached the door, he noticed that room ahead was oddly quiet... Have they not started yet? By some stroke of luck, it seemed Kenshin had successfully made it to class on time today. A sigh of relief passed his lips as a beaming smile spread across his face, sharply contrast to the dark lines under his eyes. Excited to start class (despite his worries) Kenshin promptly checked the seating chart, and took his place in one of the front row seats.

---

Namie had thought she was drifting in early to the class but it appears that wasn't the case. As she reached the door to her classroom, she stopped just before entering surveying just who had arrived so far. Quite a few of them, surprisingly, but she reckoned it made sense considering the speech from yesterday. Regardless, it made no sense to delay any longer and she finally crossed into her classroom.

Any nervousness she felt, she quickly stuffed away along with her hands into her school uniform's jacket. She might have been the only one wearing one at the moment but things were cold here. Far cooler than home and certainly noticeable to the girl whose sweat glands contained a colder substance than normal. Maybe that's why she outperformed athletically than expected. Maybe that didn't matter at all and it was just Namie's fierce attitude for success. Either way, she knew she could get results and today's class, whatever awaited her, was none different. She was going to prove just exactly why she belonged here.

Her classmates were quiet, sullen or focused for the class probably. This was honestly a welcomed changed from all that casualness yesterday. Not that she minded much but having the others not be much of a distraction for when things really mattered was better than the alternative. Thank goodness there wasn't one of those clowns who just talked and joked out of nervousness. Exhaling through her nose, she pressed on, surveying the little papers until she found her name. Curious spot to place her and she wondered if there was any reason to it.

Seo had woken up in not the best of moods. The episode from the previous day and how . . . awkward the interaction with Namie had been the other day had hung in his mind deep into the night, and as such he and his boy scout of a dormmate hadn't done much in the way of talking. They'd gotten across some basic things but he'd been too distracted to really get to know the guy.

And as he entered the classroom full of people, he continued to not really pay all the much attention to those around him. He gave the odd nod here and there, but it all served as just a way for him to get into his seat faster without any real interactions. Absently, he felt at his neck, the aching of his scar still seeming to resonate as it had been doing on and off the whole day yesterday. Luckily, it didn't grow into anything more than that, though the medications he had taken once his dormmate had left did make him feel somewhat woozy this early in the morning. It was a common side-effect and faded with time, but he still couldn't help but hate the sensation. It was like cotton and fog filling his brain, a stuffy feeling the made everything just a little harder to process.

Falling into his seat with a groan, he hung his school bag of his chair and wrote a quick little blurb on his white-board before laying his head down. The whiteboard was left leaning against his resting head, reading a simple message:

~Feeling a little tired this morning. If you need me, just tap my shoulder, kay?~

"Ah, Tanegashima-san. I am well." His stoicism only barely letting in a shred of warmth. "My first night was uneventful, as might be expected. My roommate was of no trouble." In fact Seo seemed to have barely wanted anything to do with him at all. Osamu was not the type to force the issue, so he left him be. It did not bode well for their future relationship, however.

Osamu noted that the foreigner arrived shortly after Wakako. He had to admit it was a small surprise she was still here. He would not have been surprised at all if she had offended the faculty enough she was sent packing on the first day. Perhaps time would betray her inclinations? The rest were not all that noteworthy to him, besides Seo, who brushed past in a hurry to reach his seat. Still not keen to interact with his roommate, it appeared. Or anyone.

"We should perhaps keep our conversation brief in anticipation of our Sensei's arrival." The teacher still had yet to arrive, but they could arrive any minute. It would not do to be mid conversation when they came in. Better they wait in silent appreciation of the staff so they were ready to learn immediately.