---

---

Sitting towards the front, but off to the side, Gendou tried to recenter himself. As much of an achievement as it was just to get accepted to Ishin, Gendou was already beginning to doubt himself. He knew he was in here not because he was eager to hear whatever it was the principal had to say, but because he was cowardly fleeing the crowd outside. What kind of hero was afraid of crowds? He had come here with the hope of being allowed to be his authentic self, to have people see him and his quirk and to think, 'cool' or 'awesome' instead of, 'eww' or 'gross'. Gendou leaned back in his chair and turned his face upward towards the hall lights and let out a defeated sigh. To him, every person was a potential bully, another mean-spirited individual who'd try to catch one of his eyes and try to pop it. If such a thing were to happen again, would he still just take it? The alternative seemed much worse. The use of lasers to retaliate would, after all, certainly be considered excessive force. He didn't want to be hurt anymore, but he didn't want to hurt anyone either. And the worst part of it all was that he knew that if he ever tried to fight back, if he ever snapped and let loose, he'd probably enjoy it.

But these dark thoughts were quickly interrupted by some noise coming from behind. It sounded like two girls had bumped into each other, and they sounded...mean. Instinctively, Gendou had to know what was going on and who they were. If they were classmates who might end up bullying him, he needed to know so he could either try to avoid them early or ingratiate himself to them as soon as possible to mitigate harm to himself. But it would be rude to turn and look (and he'd probably draw unwanted attention to himself), so Gendou leaned forward, cupped one of his eye sockets, and ejected an eye into his palm. Keeping the eye enclosed in his palm so that a disgusting exposed eyeball wouldn't gross anyone out, Gendou rotated his fist so that the small peephole he left in his fingers allowed him to see the altercation between Kirika and Yoshiba.

Gendou gulped thickly. Kirika had an intimidating aura, like she wasn't afraid of anyone, he imagined her bossing him around and forcing him to run errands for her, like buying her juice. She looked like the kind of person who would grind his eyeballs under her heels; an unpleasant thought.

Yoshiba, on the other hand, didn't look as intimidating, but Gendou had met his fair share of bullies that were small in stature. It almost seemed as if shorter height lent itself to greater aggression, what some might call a Napoleon complex. And was her hair made of tentacles? Gendou could imagine her snatching his eyes out of the air with her tentacles and squeezing them until they popped; another unpleasant thought.

Subconsciously, Gendou shrunk into his seat, trying to hide himself from the pair, and pushing the external eyeball back into his head. He tried to focus all his attention forward as if not focusing on Kirika and Yoshiba would make it so that they didn't focus on him.

Wow, was this girl ever fishy. Not suspicious, but literally fishy. Like a fish.

Kayo hadn't realized it when she'd just caught a quick glimpse of her through the pushy crowd, but looking at her up close? Scales, weird looking eyes, sharp teeth, frills on her neck, those catfish whisker thingies, plus everything was GLOWING—she really was the whole nine yards for someone who didn't look it at a distance. Though, she seemed not to understand why Kayo was talking to her. Just...overall confused. Which fit perfectly with Kayo's picture of her; she would be confused over something simple, wouldn't she?

"I'm a first year too, though?"

Kayo twitched. Just a little bit. The faintest movement in her right eyebrow.

For just a moment, the crowd all around them faded into the background as her mind played catch-up. The fish girl was in her class year? Her class year. Really. And in assuming she was an upperclassman because of her height, she'd—actually, you know what? No, she hadn't made a mistake, obviously. It still worked out just fine the end. Though she'd gone into things thinking that she was making nice with an upperclassman, that might even work in her favor. The sweet pitched-up voice, the perfect smile on her face; the cute image that she'd become so practiced at swaddling herself in was starting to weave itself together now, and having this girl be witness to such a 'mistake' from Kayo would only make things smoother.

Opening her mouth to form a faux apology—and to ask the silly fish girl to introduce herself, seriously, what?—Kayo was interrupted and blindsided by what had to be one of the most ridiculous things she'd ever seen. What kind of lunatic introduced himself by jumping off a building? Still. As much as she absolutely gawked for the first moment, she'd pulled herself together enough by the time he landed—nearly running into her, good lord—she mustered up an excited, if quiet, clap. "That was amazing!"

Then this ridiculous flashlight of a person introduced himself, and it took a great deal of her considerable well of patience and tolerance not to burst out in mean-spirited laughter. Justice? He's calling himself JUSTICE? What kind of moron—how did he even get into this school like that? None of it showed on her face, of course. She was about to respond when she realized he wasn't finished yet, and had asked a question of them. And for just a moment she felt her heart sink. He's in MY CLASS?

Immediately followed up, of course, with a happy smile and an "Oh wow, we're in the same class!" Didn't quite manage to call him by that name. It'd take a minute for her to work up to actually calling someone Justice. What a joke.

Where was I?

Ah. Right. I believe when I last left off, I was distancing myself as quickly as I could from the chaos in the front courtyard, and trying my best to ignore the increasingly loud orange thoughts behind me as somebody desperately pleaded for salvation and/or a WcMuffin, in that order.

...Look, just because I like to help people doesn't mean I'm going to march headfirst into that situation. I mean, look at it rationally for a second. What would me, a complete stranger, getting involved even do? That would just make things more awkward for everyone involved, so in the interest of not making even more of a spectacle of myself than that Justice kid is already doing, I think it's best if we just move on.

...Or not. I've only been in the assembly hall for a matter of seconds before I start regretting everything, and instinctively reach for my headphones. But I stop myself before I can pull them out of the pocket of my blazer. At best, I'd get yelled at by a teacher for ignoring the opening ceremony. At worst, I might be suspected.

As always, that thought is enough to stop me in my tracks, even when my head feels like it's going to burst. I have to bear this. Like a normal person. So that I can remain beneath notice. So that nobody will start thinking at me here. This is just another necessary step in securing my peaceful life. I can do this. These thoughts aren't mine.

Excitement, confusion, anxiety, anger, dread, hope, and countless other emotions I can't even begin to process scream through my ears in a language beyond words, despite my insistence. And before I know it, I find myself changing moods faster than flipping channels on TV. As I pass one row, I feel all the elation of a dream come true. As I past the next, I feel the immense frustration of a pointless argument with a stranger. And, as I find myself pushed onward by the crowd behind me -- seriously, STOP. TOUCHING. ME. -- I stumble into a row that only has one other occupant so far... and find myself showered with an unspeakable sense of dread.

...No, perhaps it would be better to call it "gloom." "Dread" seems to imply a fear that something might come to pass, but what I feel from the boy in front of me is more along the lines of a certainty that something will come to pass. And that something is...

Is...

---

⫷𝔡𝔣⊕d̴̜̪͚͔̈́̒̂́͘͘j̶̧̧̻͉̩͇̰̝͔̮̭́̔͛́̋̀̇͐̑̚͘͝͝ͅͅş̷̧̻̻̳͎̼͍̬̳͓͆̐̒̎͛̚𝔦𝔥↝𝔷𝔨ì̷͗̋̀͂̐͂̕͠ͅt̸͙̠̗̦̲́ư̶̖̜͚̬̜͛̊̆͂̋͆͆̍͘ỉ̶̛̯̈́͑͠▱𝔬𝔭⌭❐z̷̡̨̲͖͍͕̺̲̦̼̤͉̱̯̗͎̦̙̬̯̐̿͜ḵ̵̡̧̨̨̠̼͕̗̫̼̟̼̪̖͕̫̜̹͈̲̱͓̥̜̬̼̃̄̀̌̓̓͆̌͑̈̊̈̑̌̆̀́̂͂̚͜͠͝͝͝⤦❖ư̶̖̜͚̬̜͛̊̆͂̋͆͆̍͘ỉ̶̛̯̈́͑͠⫸

---

It hurts!

I clutch my ears, trying to drown out a noise I can't even hear. My head feels like a broken radio, as a sound that tastes like static tries to force its way down my optic nerve. I'm too confused to even speak, or to run away -- and then, just as suddenly as it begins, it's gone.

...No. Not gone. I can still feel it faintly. I can hear it with my skin, smell it on the tip of my tongue. But it's a sound.

It is a sound, right?

I can't tell anymore. My ears are still ringing and my other senses aren't enough. I try to ignore it, but now that I've heard it once I can't help but notice the echo.

...And to make matters worse, the kid sitting in the row I'm still standing dumbly in front of is starting to look at me. I can't let him notice that I've been standing here like this, or he'll definitely take note of me. And I definitely can't let him see how much I want to vomit right now.

Calm. I'm a very calm person. I've never actually lost a game of Old Maid, you know. And I'm proud to say that it's not just because my telepathy tells me which card not to pick. Basically, what I'm trying to explain is that I have a very good poker face. I've never played poker, though. My mom would get worried if I did.

My expression's blank now. I'm sure of it. Then, a slight smile. ...I'm not as sure of that part, admittedly, but at least I tried.

"...Mind if I sit here?" I ask, motioning stiffly to the seat next to him. Truth be told, the last place I want to be is next to this kid, where that noise is strongest and where his gloomy emotions feel like they're choking me. But it would look far stranger to turn around and leave now, and if I did, I'm pretty sure this boy would take it as an insult.

Or rather, doesn't it seem like he's being avoided? Maybe that's what's got him feeling so glum. In a new place, with nobody he knows, and the weight of Isshin's expectations on his shoulders, who wouldn't indulge in a little bit of pessimism? And so, knowing how bad he's feeling, can I really turn and walk away? That little matter in the courtyard is one thing... but right now, somebody's genuinely sad in front of me. And maybe I can help him... I dunno. Not be that, I guess.

...Even if I can't find out why without feeling like he's flashbanging my soul.

---

---

Gendou raised his head as the eye he had just popped back in twists and swivels as it seats itself back into place, however it is at this moment that he notices Kokone is standing there, staring at him. Gendou's hands shot up to cover his eye, knowing that people in general found independently moving eyes darting all over the place unsettling. There was a moment of silence as he tried to ascertain whether she had seen his eye moving wildly in its socket and how she would react. But all he caught was an imperceptible wince. Was that hidden pain? Or perhaps veiled annoyance? What did she want from him? He wondered if he had offended her in some way, or if she had simply and arbitrarily decided that she wanted his seat and that he needed to get out of 'her' spot even though the row was practically empty.

So when Kokone asked if she could sit next to him, his first reaction was to get up before finally realizing what she had actually said. To cover his faux pas, Gendou bowed, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Y-yes...I mean...no, I don't mind, p-please help yourself," Gendou blurted out before awkwardly sitting back down. Gendou leaned quite heavily away from Kokone, retreating so that they wouldn't fight over the single armrest that was shared by both seats. Because of the prior altercation that he had just heard and witnessed, the threat of bullies was on his mind, although to be honest, the threat of bullies was always on his mind. So he couldn't help but wonder if there was some sinister motive behind Kokone's sudden approach. But then he remembered part of why he was even here in the first place. People came here because they wanted to be heroes; surely the majority of people here must have good intentions. It didn't make sense for him to walk onto a hero school campus and immediately start suspecting his fellow classmates of being bullies. No, here, things would be different.

Gendou turned back to face Kokone, though his eyes were downcast. "It's n-nice to meet you. My name is Akisuji Gendou. I'm from Tokyo," Gendou introduced himself. He wanted to start this new stage of his life on the right foot.

...He's afraid of me.

He's afraid of me.

Okay. Let's backtrack here. It's not as though the sensation of fear is a new one to me -- though I wish I could say it was. But that and this are two different things! What do you mean, "threat of bullies?!" Have you seen me? I'm probably the shortest person in this entire school! What am I gonna do, kick your shins?

...Well, to be fair, I do have a mean shin kick, if I do say so myself -- but that's neither here nor there.

Okay. Backtrack further. He tried to run away there for a moment when all I did was ask if I could sit next to him. And now that I've actually sat myself down, he's acting like he'll explode if he touches me. I mean, if anything, I would probably explode, since that noise has only gotten louder the closer I've gotten to him. I dread to think of what would happen if my connection got any stronger.

...But what am I even doing? While I'm trying to wrap my head around what he's feeling and what little sense this whole situation makes, he's already resolved himself to get over that fear of his and introduce himself. At least, I think he has. That voice does seem to be coming out of his mouth rather than his head, so... it's probably safe to answer, right? Or rather, at a time like this, why am I remaining silent? Have I been playing at observer so long that I've forgotten how to speak when spoken to?

I try once again to smile, though I'm pretty sure the expression dies instantly the moment I try to speak. I say "try" because it takes me a good several seconds to remember what order the words go in when my every thought is being drowned out by the crowd around me and that infernal static coming from this kid -- or rather, from Akisuji-kun's head.

"Ah. Uh. Right."

...Brain, that's not how you do a self-introduction. Come on, he's scared of me and he managed to do it better than I did anyway!

"Manaka Kokone. That's, uh... my name. Also from Tokyo, actually! Or... well... I lived there most recently, anyway."

...I'm gonna have to make a mental note to rehearse this at some point. Seriously, this is just embarrassing. But, well... if nothing else, maybe my own obvious discomfort may ease his own worries somewhat. It's less stressful being worried about something when you're not the only one, right? Though, thanks to my power, I can tell that the things we're anxious about are completely different... but let's just let him think we're kindred spirits. He'll be happier that way.