[IC] You Can Become a Hero!

[Mcmolly]

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“Lemme get uhhhhhhhh…”

She didn’t usually come to WcDenji’s for breakfast. Their eggs were rubber, their sausage was candy-sweet, and their hashbrowns popped like eyeballs full of grease the moment you bit down on them. The apple pies could be good, if you were lucky and didn’t get one that was either cold as a corpse, or hot as the surface of the fucking sun. Pancakes, maybe, but they were X’d out on the menu, and sometimes the syrup had holes in the sealing, and you’d end up pouring liquid mold and gnats onto your breakfast.

Fuck it, early lunch. “WcChicken, extra pickles, a small fry, and a goke.”

Her eyes skimmed the menu one more time, passing briefly over and then fixing onto the uncomfortably square patty of the WcFish.

Shit, Izuna.

“G’ah fuck,” she muttered. She knew she’d forgotten something. The plan had been to text her when she got close, have at least someone familiar to get through orientation with. Judging from the weather, there was a good chance her friend was a fishcicle by now. Late and unannounced. She’d need an olive branch.

_{Do not get her a WcFish. Do not get her a WcFish. It’s not even funny. Do not get her a WcFish.}

“And a WcFish…”

_{Do not get her only a WcFish.}

“An egg WcWidget, some cinnamon twists, and a berry WcSwishy. Put that in a second bag with the WcFish.”

She paid and stood off to the side, waiting for Murasame. “So you wanna stick around Sapporo when you’re done, or go back home?” she asked, when he’d join her. “Like, graduated I mean. Said your grandpa and sis went here, right? Anyone I’d’ve heard of?”

[Asura]

MIZUSHIMA MURASAME
水島 村鮫

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Location — Somewhere in Sapporo
Interacting — @Mcmolly

---

There he stood. The proving ground. The line inside WcDenji's. There were many proving grounds to come, and each with their own distinct challenges, but this one? He had conquered this one before. He knew what he wanted, knew what alterations to make. He rehearsed them in his mind, one after the other, carefully preparing himself. Saika had even gone so far as to put in her order first, giving him ample time to prepare himself. All he had to do was march right up to the cashier, tell her what he wanted for breakfast, and then wait for his order.

But few things could have prepared him for what occurred next. It was still early, but his companion hadn't ordered breakfast. He knew the WcDenji's breakfast well. Enjoyed it quite a bit, even. The eggs were always well-cooked, the hash browns tasty, and their apple pies were wonderful. Even their hotcakes, drenched in the tiny little cups of syrup he so valiantly struggled against, counted themselves amongst his favorite fast food items. But he couldn't just order breakfast. Saika had decided to have an early lunch, clearly, and he would look a fool if he were to undermine her decision like that. Worse yet, she had finished her order, leaving him to step up and take command of the situation.

It was a difficult decision. But, if he was to become a Pro-Hero, he would have to make many difficult decisions in the years to follow. A Hero had to be decisive, unflinching in the face of adversity, and prepared for any eventuality. As he loomed heavy before the counter, there was a resolve behind his eyes. He knew what to do.

"Hi. I'll uh, I'll have two WcMuffins, a WcSizzle large, some WcWedges, with extra Wac sauce if ya can. A BigWac, two Quarter Drowners, one with cheese, and uh... Y'know, what the heck? Throw a WcNib in there," It was bold enough to order a hybrid of both the breakfast and lunch menus, but to add in a limited menu option like the WcNib? What a rush.

"Oh! And a diet Mr Peter, please an' thank ya. Tryna watch my sugar."

While the poor worker clicked away at his order, he stood off to the side with Saika, feeling positively radiant with his snap decision making. Bringing up his relatives once again caused his hand to go to his head, rubbing bashfully at the back of it.

"I dunno. I've never really been this far away from home before, so I'm already kinda missin' my folks," He admitted, as sheepish as someone of his stature could, "My gramps went by Mariner when he was still bustin' heads in the street, but he's mostly in the management game now. Ya probably wouldn't have heard of my sis, on account of her just startin', but she goes by Frenzy. Y'know, like... Like feedin' frenzy?"

He hadn't much liked the name when she told him, but he didn't dare mention that. After all, he couldn't deny the symbolism it evoked was... accurate, to say the least.

"How 'bout you? Your folks in the business? Or are you a first generation?"

[Mcmolly]

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Saika waited while Murasame bought out the shop. Breakfast and lunch—he wasn’t just big, he was a bold one, too. He lost her at the WcNib, though. Sure it was seasonal, but the sauce was like jelly and she’d never quite gotten over the time she’d found several fingernails beneath the bun the last time she’d gotten one. Absolute horror-show, sick to her stomach for days. Still went back though. You didn't just quit WcDenji's.

She scraped her brain for “Mariner” but came up short. She knew a lot of the old Hokkaido heroes—plenty of them had come around her dad’s place after he’d retired—and a few from the Sado area, but for the most part that was it.

Well, and the ones her mom looked into.

“Pff, feeding frenzy,” she repeated. “Sick. They anything like you? Y’know—large? Sharp? Eventual victims of WcNib-poisoning?”

His question was expected. Harmless, filler conversation, that’s all it was, but she still felt a little slap to the gut. When she cleared her throat, she felt a strain around her neck, just briefly. Her composure was solid though—she’d done this shtick and worse in front of the cops before, shooting the shit between chums was nothing.

_{Chums. Shark. Heh.}

“Eh, my dad used to be, but he retired after I was born, and my mom does office work,” she said, casual and painless, like a really chill band aid that was totally fine with being peeled off at your leisure.

Their orders came up—well, hers did, and then after a good minute or so of bagging, his followed. She looped Izuna’s order from her shoulder, took her own bag up, and jammed the wrapped-up WcFish into her pocket, for the sake of future hijinks. She dug in on their way out, cramming a few fingers of fries into her mouth.

The streets didn’t seem any less busy to her, and despite their detour it didn’t feel much later. But she kept them enroute—no need to take any more risks.

“You know,” she said, chomping through a mouthful of crispy, golden sodium. “Place like Ishin, right? Bet they go out of their way to invite hero’s kids. Yeah. Prolly all kinds of lil’ celebrities runnin’ around there. Lotta ego for one place. How long you figure before two of’em beat the shit out of each other?”

[Asura]

MIZUSHIMA MURASAME
水島 村鮫

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Location — Somewhere in Sapporo
Interacting — @Mcmolly

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Had he the capacity to wince, Murasame just might've when Saika inquired as to his family. Not their mention, of course. He loved them all dearly, and they him in return. But he had always felt like the black sheep of their little clan, always so different from his parents and siblings. So much... bigger, and meaner looking. It only took being confused for an estranged father of two once or twice before that really sunk in. But, his classmate had no means of knowing that, so he couldn't hold it against her. Instead, he just cobbled together another sheepish reply.

"Uh, yeah, I mean, sis is pretty tall, for a girl an' all, and ma always said our smiles were our best features, so..."

The carefully rehearsed, artificially cheerful interjection of the WcDenji's cashier saved him from any further awkwardness, as it had saved him from so many gloomy days in years past. With his significantly larger bag in hand, the teen hurried after Saika, at least a little uncomfortable with eating on the go. Was that really okay? Wouldn't they get looks? If they didn't litter, it probably wasn't violating any laws, but what would people think?

ぐうぐうぐうぐう

They would think a bear had somehow managed to infiltrate downtown Sapporo if he didn't dig in, he eventually decided, and so hunger won out over neuroticism. He carefully balanced the act of prying the thin, papery film from a cup of Wac sauce while trundling behind his companion, listening to her all the while.

"I sure hope not," Murasame managed between mauling potato wedge after potato wedge between rows of serrated teeth, each dipped delicately into the mysterious dressing cradled in his palm, "I ain't too good with fights. I uh, used to get picked on a lot when I was lil'. Guess I made for a real big target, and I didn't have too many friends to stick up for me. Didn't really stop until second year of middle school."

He smothered the painful memories like so many WcWedges, tossing several of the salty, sauce covered treats down his gullet to distract himself of unhappy times. Though, as he swallowed, his eyes went wide.

"N-Not 'cause I, like, snapped and beat 'em all up or anythin' like that. 'S just, my sister, she got wind of what was goin' on and uh... She came 'round to see who all was messin' with me. Ended up throwin' 'em around so hard, one of 'em ended up on the roof of they school. They mostly steered clear after that."

Perhaps realizing how embarrassing it was to explain to someone you'd just met how your big sister had to take care of your school yard bullies, he racked his brain for a different subject, any subject. Only one really came to mind.

"How 'bout you? Got many friends? I mean, I guess you woulda had to leave 'em behind, comin' all this way... But what about makin' new ones? Can't be that everyone'll be buttin' heads all the time."

[mickilennial]

Location: Event Hall, Ishin Academy

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“Tch. Moron.”

The interaction was stupid and normally she would not have cared too much, but Yoshiba was already in one of her moods.

So annoying.

Yoshiba turned back toward the podium, as if the half hour plus of time was going to go by in seconds.

But she did wonder how long it would be until the headmaster demanded silence and everyone’s attention to go on about their pointless introductory speech. Why not just get to the point? This wasn’t a normal school, this was a hero academy, so why operate like it was some sort of basic primary school for the quirkless? Why waste everyone’s time with spectacles like this? If it were up to her, none of this would even be a “thing” and students would be ushered into their classrooms to get real work done. Had Yoshiba not wanted to be seen as the best, as indicated by her front and center appearance, she would’ve skipped out on the ceremony outright. She could tolerate sidekicks acting like idiots and being bored if it was going to get her recognized as the only hero worth noting. Which was exactly, in her mind, the truth of the matter.

She obviously was excited to get her hero career started and the anxiety of living up to her mother and father was a big task. The air in Sapporo was cold, frost-laden, and uncomfortable. There was no doubt in her mind she would make it in Ishin, no matter the obstacles, but she didn’t know what kind of pro-heroes or discarded has-beens she would be dealing with as would-be teachers. Her future was uncertain, or rather how she was going to get to her future was. She didn’t like that. Everyone in the orphanage spat on her and called her names. Told her she would be nobody. Just the thought of her time in that place made her blood boil. Her hair reacted to this emotion, twitching ever more furiously as she gritted her teeth.

She should have choked the pretentious mean girl with her tentacles. That would have made certain she treated her like the #1 Hero she was instead of the weak orphan she used to be.

That girl, whoever she was, had just made an enemy for life.

[Stern Algorithm]

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Location — Ishin Academy, Assembly Hall
Potential interactions — @Lemons @TGM @Feyblue

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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.

What a telepath hears

Gendou's brain is in constant telepathic communication with his eyes; with the brain sending movement and location instructions and receiving vision and touch senses from the eyes. When they are in his head, they are 'docked' to his optic nerve, so long-range telepathic chatter is minimal, though at all times, there is constant three-way communication between his brain and two 'docked' eyes. To Kokone, the 'thought' sphere around Gendou would probably seem like a sort of white noise or television static, his intelligible, verbal thoughts mixing wildly with what can only be classified as untranslatable, 'sonified' touch, vision, location, and movement data. However, by ejecting one eyeball out of his head, his brain would start to send out and received amplified ranged signals, increasing the intensity of the incomprehensible data traveling between the eye and the brain, only to be quieted once more when he returned that eye to his head.

[Asura]

KEMURIKAGE AKEMI
煙影 明美

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Location — Outside Ishin Academy
Interacting — With the air quality

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Inhale. Draw it deep. Hold it. Feel the warmth. Enjoy the rush. Relax. Exhale. Watch the stream billow away. Make it dance a little. Repeat.

How long it had been since she'd gotten to Ishin, Akemi could not say. She had spent most of the morning wandering Sapporo, not because she was lost, or out of any real sense of wonder, but because she could. If there was anything to savor about coming to Ishin, aside from the rush of a Walboro, it was the freedom of being so far from home. If only for a day, for one morning, she got to drift aimlessly, carried here and there like so much smoke on the wind. There was a sadness to that smallest glimmer of joy. She had come to one of the strictest, stick-in-ass schools in the entire country to find autonomy. It was like a really bad joke, a monkey's paw curling to the sick delight of some higher power.

It was also ruining her buzz. Inhale. Draw it deep. Hold it. At one point, her directionless wandering had eventually turned into something productive. She had spotted a handful of students in uniforms just like her own, and it shook her from her pleasant reverie. Her footfalls fell in their example, and she eventually found her way to the academy itself. People had still been filtering in when she arrived, and so she figured she had time for a quick smoke. She had smuggled them out of the house, onto the train, and across all of Honshu. It would've been a shame to see them wasted to some stuffy spinster's dorm inspection. A nice little alcove in the school's external wall served as a perfect place to tuck away from prying eyes, and there one smoke had turned to two, then three. The embers of her third had nearly burnt out, with only a few centimeters of precious tobacco to go.

She couldn't fix a lot about her life, but that much could be fixed. Leaving the burning stick dangling from her lips, she pulled the crumpled up pack from her school bag, thumbing the flap open. A single cylinder greeted her. The final one for a while, until she could find a new hook up and a good place to hide them. She might've questioned what the point even was, so far from home, but introspection led to way too many questions. Better to just focus on feeling the now, rather than think about the future or the past. The filter of her last, virgin cigarette found its way between her lips, trading places with the nearly dead one. She touched their tips, sucking in to chain them off each other. As soon as the ember took and she got a good drag off it, the previous had done its duty. She ground the end into the bottom of her shoe, and flicked the butt into the wispy white cloud of smoke stuck hovering beside her, a temporary ashtray for a temporary release.

There probably wasn't much more time. She had to enjoy what little she had left.

Inhale. Draw it deep. Hold it. Feel the warmth. Enjoy the rush. Relax. Exhale. Watch the stream billow away. Make it dance a little. Repeat.

[mickilennial]

Location: Outside Ishin Academy, Sapporo

@Asura

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“You know, I hear smoking’s bad for you.”

A voice cracked through the cold, Hokkaido morning as a girl approached the cigarette-smoking girl, with a cup of ramen in her hand.

Hidaka Honoka wasn’t much of one to keep her thoughts in her head. It was a new thing she had been trying ever since she had taken the trip from her village in the deepest part of Hokkaido to Sapporo. In this case, she had failed at that practice, though she didn’t think it’d do much good. She had read manga from the local library in her village, so she was expecting to run into someone like this in the city at some point. A depressed loner smoking outside of the school? It was a pretty common thing as far as she knew.

“You’re too bored to wait in the event hall, too, huh?” Honoka mused, trying to change the topic while the girl blankly stared at her for a few seconds as she leaned back against a tree, moving the noodle-laden chopsticks to her lips. No need to keep the conversation about her health. The girl was dangerous and Honoka didn’t want to seem lame and judgy.

Besides, she knew what it was like feeling anxious about a new place. She had spent more time in Sapporo than she had inside the gates of Ishin.

For Honoka, it had been a lot of practicing and getting used to the city. She was from Hokkaido so if she was going to seem like the cool, approachable city girl and not the lame, weird country girl she was she needed to practice; and with practice came familiarity. She had spent weeks making sure her bumpkin accent didn’t accidentally sneeze outside of her lips. That was hard. The posture and look would come second. Hopefully, the girl in front of her didn’t have some kind of quirk that allowed her to see right through Honoka. That’d blow her cover. If she did... she’d probably cry a little on the inside. And the outside.

[Mcmolly]

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Saika could see it clear as day, like it was happening right in front of her—big fuckoff shark sister, launching some snot-nosed bully onto the roof. Fuckin beautiful. Sure, it was hard to imagine anyone bullying Murasame, even if he was ‘little’, but whatever, details. She decided then that Frenzy-whoever was cool in her book. Shame she’d already graduated, but if she was out there throwing more assholes onto roofs, then oh well. Besides, Murasame wasn’t bad company either.

She dug into her WcChiken, mildly disappointed to find that “extra pickles” had evidently meant two slices as opposed to one. The devil on her shoulder whispered sweet temptations in her ear to take a few sips from the WcSwishy, but she bravely ignored it. It was part of the olive branch—even more necessary now that the WcFish was part of the equation.

He asked after her own friends, and she shrugged. “Nah, not really. Sorta the same boat as you—lotta bullying, easy target and all that,” she said through a mouthful of WcCripsy chicken. “Only really had the one friend, and she came to Ishin too. Her name’s Izuna. Great girl, cool as fuck, known her forever. Y’know, actually, you two might get along great. She’s sorta fishy—like, literally. Scales, gills, those lil’ fish-whisker things. She ain’t a giant or nothin’, but she’s good people. Reeeeeal into the hero stuff, which, y’know, can’t be a bad thing, right?”

As was the way with most meals from WcDenji’s, there was a bit of her sandwich that was just, frankly, inedible. Sometimes it was undercooked, sometimes it was overcooked. This time, she nearly bit down onto something gelatinous, and, without even looking to see what it was, wrapped it back up in its paper and tossed the little sliver of chicken into a trashcan.

“As far as new ones go, I think I’m doin’ alright. I mean, school ain’t even started yet, and I’m already having breakfast with a classmate. Shit, bet I made a friend faster than anyone else there.”

Eventually she brought them to another busy crossing, and on the other side of the street there stood a sign for Ishin Academy. She pointed excitedly, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she finished the last of her goke. “Hey, hey, lookit that! I actually knew where to go! Gotta be honest I was like sixty-forty for a bit there. You ready to make waves, big guy?”

[Asura]

KEMURIKAGE AKEMI
煙影 明美

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Location — Outside Ishin Academy
Interacting — @TGM

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“You know, I hear smoking’s bad for you.”

A voice pierced the veil of silence that had, for so long, hung over Akemi's humble little space. It also disrupted her concentration, the cloud of billowing white smoke she had been carefully threading through itself for amusement left to the mercy of the wind, no longer under her thrall. She diverted her gaze from the blue sky above, her tired eyes searching out the source of the disturbance. A girl, in the same uniform she had been seeing all day. A classmate, she supposed, judging by the way she carried herself. She could practically see the nerves coming off the purple-haired young woman. Maybe she would've been full of nerves too, if she could muster up the energy to care all that much. Or hadn't spent the better part of the morning chain smoking a pack of cigarettes. The nicotine really tended to mellow her out.

"Yeah," She eventually decided to give the girl a response, bringing her fingers up to gingerly grip the paper roll between her lips and take a drag, only to pluck it free so she could exhale, a long, wispy stream into the air between them, "That's kinda the point."

The girl, whoever she was, seemed the chatty type. Eager to fill the void with inane banter. Maybe it was the nerves, her anxiety driving her to try and reach out for someone share the burden with. Or maybe she just felt drawn in by the mystique of a messy blonde girl puffing on a smoke outside one of Japan's most severe hero academies. Speculating on the reason wasn't nearly as fun as playing with her Quirk, Akemi decided, but she couldn't very just ignore her. That might only encourage her to get pushier.

"They don't let you carry these into the auditorium," She waved the burning roll in her hand to-and-fro for emphasis, tapping it against the near-solid puff of smoke to her right to deposit the growing ash at its tip. Then it went right back where it belonged, hanging loose at the corner of her mouth, ready to be drawn on at her leisure.

"How 'bout you? You scared security's gonna confiscate your chopsticks or something?"

[Asura]

MIZUSHIMA MURASAME
水島 村鮫

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Location — Ishin Academy Gates
Interacting — @Mcmolly

---

It was a little surprising to hear that Saika had also been the victim—but only a little. She seemed outgoing and personable, but almost a little too much so. It was a strange line to walk, being 'normal'. If you were too quiet, too withdrawn, people saw you as gloomy, and unapproachable. If you were too loud, too boisterous, then you were a weirdo, a nuisance that nobody wanted to deal with. And if you were taller than an American at age eight and looked like you crawled up out of Osaka Bay... Well, he had heard more than enough of what people thought of him, even if they only dared to whisper it when they thought he couldn't hear, for fear of what he or his sister would end up doing to them had they the boldness to speak what they thought.

At least she had a friend. It was always good to have at least one person you could lean on, even if it was another pariah. He was glad that Saika had that much in her life, and hopefully, she'd manage to make more friends at Ishin than enemies. That had been his intention, from the moment he filled out his application and sent it off with the mail.

It went without saying, therefore, that Saika's implication that they were friends near enough sent him to the moon. Had he not stuffed an entire Quarter Drowner into his toothy maw in the moments leading up to her declaration, he likely would've grinned like a fool. They were both spared that terrifying indignity by his hurried chewing, and then swallowing. By the time he had finished the sandwich, he found himself too embarrassed to offer up much.

"Y-Yeah, that's a good way to uh, to think of it," He muttered as he hastily unwrapped another, "I'm glad ya think that."

Worried he might manage to make things awkward, he stuffed the second hefty burger between his jaws, munching away as their trek brought them to the gates of Ishin. He hadn't intended to get his first glimpse of the prestigious academy that, until recently, had been his idol's personal stomping ground with a mouthful fo cheeseburger. But... given the situation that had led him to that point, he couldn't say he minded. His gnashing lasted a few additional seconds, and he wiped at the corner of his mouth with a napkin before piping up a second time.

"I'm, err... I'm not sure. I'm kinda nervous, if I'm honest," He admitted, his huge fingers curling into the paper of his WcDenji's bag, as if it provided him some semblance of comfort, "But it's too late to turn back now. And I uh, don't think I can make small waves, even if I tried."

[mickilennial]

Location: Outside Ishin Academy, Sapporo

@Asura

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“Its only the opening ceremony. It's not like they are gonna kill us on the first day.”

Ishin Academy was a tough school. A tough top school. Honoka had heard all of the whispers about it, but she wasn’t entirely convinced it was the living hell that it was described as.

“But I'm not worrying about it too much. Like, why should I?” She uttered as a friendly gesture while she finished the last of the still mostly-hot ramen from the container before tossing it behind her without looking.

The carton landed square into the open trash can that was a few feet away behind her. It probably looked impressive, which really, was the intention. After all, she had practiced the same exact maneuver back home in her village a billion times. Honoka did a lot of silly things like that back home that got her laughed at, but she was hoping all the cool traits she picked up would have a benefit at this new school far away from everything she knew.

“I'm Honoka.” She finally said, introducing herself like a movie character. “Hidaka Honoka.”

[Lemons]

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.

[DruSM157]

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Sapporo, Japan
Sapporo Station, April 7th

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Trains came and went with the passing minutes. Busy passengers would step on or step off the platforms moving throughout their morning commute. It was all so…droll, so average, so normal. This was city life and that was how it went in these big cities. Even though the tall, chubby boy had lived near Nago City all his life; his youth was spent walking from his family’s apartment to school. He’d never had to worry about train schedules or such crowds, at least outside school trips to the mainland. But this morning sojourn was not a trip to Sapporo Station and Ishin Academy; this morning’s trip had been to an early morning grocery market. He’d gotten up at an almost scandalous hour to ride the Minami-Chitose line to a small marketplace in a small Sapporo suburb. The amount he’d paid for this item seemed almost as equally scandalous.

Hugged close to his chest was a large, brown bag. The crisp and cold April air had turned his face red and flushed, and his jacket felt awkward after years in the southern heat. He was far from home, after all. He was busy looking at a station map, fretting on how his path to the school would be. He had to leave Sapporo Station and head…west? East? Which street was it? 3rd Chome Street? Hokkaido University Street?

”You lost kid?” The voice came from behind the young man and startled him: almost making him drop his precious bag. Standing behind the boy was a lanky man wearing a police uniform. He looked out of place in the busy station and was meticulously chewing on an unlit cigarette. His hair was a messy bramble of almost-curls, and his thick eyebrows seemed to narrow in on the schoolboy.

”Y-yes sir,” the boy answered, in a mix of both surprise and a shiver from the cold. He clenched the paper bag close with his left arm, freeing his right hand to adjust his jacket’s collar. “It’s my first day at Ishin Academy and I’m afraid I’m not used to-“

“You take the yellow line stairs out to the street, turn left on 4 Chome, and follow the road til you see the ugly main building.” The police officer seemed to chuckle nostalgically. “If the old fart is still the headmaster of the school, don’t let him freak you out. Ishin likes to act like they’re the most hard-ass school around, but if you’ve been accepted, you’ve already beat the spread.”

”Did you go to Ishin Academy?”

”Yeah. A few years ago. During my last year they decided my quirk wasn’t strong enough to handle a serious situation.” The police officer seemed to look off towards the stairs wistfully, and then turned back to the boy. ”What’s your name?”

”It’s Shun sir. Tanaka Shun. The boy seemed nervous about this overly casual cop already.

”Well Tanaka Shun,” the officer began with a smirk, and he outstretched his hand for the young teenager to shake, ”My name is Kaneda Ryouichi. As an almost-alumnus of Ishin Academy, I wish you good luck in your first year to become a hero. Do your best.”

The sudden well-wishing of this stranger struck a chord in Shun’s heart. He smiled back, and gave a deep bow, almost dropping the paper bag. ”Thank you so much! I will do my best! And thank you for the directions!” He turned back towards the stairs and began to jog towards the school. He had to make it in time before the opening ceremonies, or his time at Ishin Academy might be cut even shorter.

The cop simply watched the boy run off and shook his head, chuckling. He walked by a newspaper stand, seeing one of the headlines being about a local teacher putting down a crime ring. Of course, he knew the operation quite well; it had been on his beat after all. "Man, I sure hope that kid doesn’t have to deal with Midori,” he chuckled. ”She’d eat him alive.”

---

Sapporo, Japan
Ishin Academy Front Gate, April 7th

---

Shun was almost gasping for breath as he dashed through the front gate. Still sometime before the morning ceremonies, at least which meant he wasn’t in danger of getting expelled on the spot. Would they expel a late student on the spot? He did his best not to let the nerves get to him. The past few months at home had been bad enough, especially after the phone call from the academy, the acceptance letter and his father’s…words of encouragement. The only person who’d actually been excited to see him go to Ishin Academy was his grandmother. She was so excited she even gave him something for his trip: a yellow scarf.

"It belonged to your dear mother, Shun,” she had told him in the hallway before he took the train north to Sapporo.

His mother.

He did his best not to dwell on such thoughts, hearing other students chattering in the courtyard while others were pushed forward towards the auditorium. Now Shun’s face flushed into something more: embarrassment. He felt so awkward, being taller than many of the first years. Being from Okinawa did little to help either, as his skin tone was much darker than the traditional Japanese students. He wondered if some would assume he was a foreigner. The large paper bag also set him apart, as most students simply carried a bag or suitcase with them.

How would this year even start for him?

[Feyblue]

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.

[Asura]

KEMURIKAGE AKEMI
煙影 明美

---

Location — Outside Ishin Academy
Interacting — @TGM

---

Akemi buried the urge to scoff with a long drag on her cigarette. The fact it was the entrance ceremony was exactly why they'd be hard-asses. All the advertisements for Ishin couldn't stop spouting off about the harsh, spartan nature of the school, rambling on and on about pedigree and discipline. It was as if the school took some kind of twisted pride in being a joyless hellscape, declaring all their competitors soft and lesser by compare, even though they were surpassed by Tokyo's dear UA. The staff probably took sick satisfaction in 'breaking in' the new kids, to show them their 'rightful place' and stamp out any dissent good and early.

That, or she was just projecting. But it was too early in the morning and too late in her life to start introspecting, so she buried that thought under another drag too.

"You're a bad liar, Hidaka Honoka. If you weren't worried, you wouldn't be talkin' so much or so fast," The blonde declared eventually, peeling her pale hues off the equally blue sky above, and redirecting them to her classmate, now bereft of ramen. She searched the teen's face for a few moments, perhaps to see what her angle was, or perhaps just to make her uncomfortable with the long, unaccompanied eye contact. Eventually, she spoke again, cigarette dangling from the corner of her mouth as she did.

"Kemurikage Akemi."

[mickilennial]

Location: Outside Ishin Academy, Sapporo

@Asura

---

“I’m talking too fast?”

A brief ‘damn, she got me’ rattled in Honoka’s brain as the blonde girl declared her a liar. What seemed to get her the most was the observation that she was talking too fast. Was she? She wasn’t rambling and her rural enthusiasm was as checked out as she could possibly stretch it. Maybe the sunglasses helped hide her widened eyes at the girl’s foresight, maybe it didn’t, but nonetheless Honoka tried to look unphased for the most part.

She did, however, look in the direction of the school as she added one slight comment to her response.

“What makes you say that, Kemurikage-san?”

[Stern Algorithm]

---

Location — Ishin Academy, Assembly Hall
Interacting with — @Feyblue

---

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.

[Feyblue]

...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.

[mickilennial]

Location: Event Hall, Ishin Academy

@Feyblue@Stern Algorithm

---

The blue-haired teenager had done her absolute best not to lose her cool, despite still having issues with controlling her hair when it came to how her mood influenced it subconsciously. When she was mad or embarrassed people knew. The hair always told them. The sound of distant laughter, the laughter of the other orphans, echoed in her mind like a ghost.

What's wrong? Are you mad? Are you gonna cry, tentacruel?

Someone, in the Past

Yoshiba kept her eyes set on the stage, a few of the support members of the faculty seemed to be having a discussion behind the podium, probably making sure everything was ready for the big speech. This must’ve meant it was only a matter of time before they asked the students for silence and did their big song and dance, right? God, she hoped so.

The rest of her fellow first years were a chatty bunch. Outside of the silver-haired villain, the two in the back were chattering away about where they were from. Tokyo. She had never been. Didn’t care much, either, considering the fact Tokyo was UA’s turf and they hadn’t considered her as part of their new crop of first years. She didn’t think Ishin was a bad consolation prize, but it still wasn’t her first option. She wondered if the two of them were more disappointed that they missed out on UA given its relative proximity to wherever they lived. She wondered if she was going to have to put up with their yammering for the whole year? Were they also assigned to Class 1A like she was? If so, were they ready to resign into the role of her sidekicks?

“You sound nervous.” She stated without looking back at either of the two. “Why.”

Perhaps some part of her wanted to take out her own frustration on someone else. Maybe she didn't know how to talk to people.