[IC] You Can Become a Hero!

[Asura]

KEMURIKAGE AKEMI
煙影 明美

---

Location — Ishin Academy Gates
Interacting — @Yankee

---

It took a level of willpower to suppress the eye roll that rightfully should've followed the boy's comments, as if he hadn't just been shuffling around through the crowd, aimless as anybody else, hoping the flow would bring him to where he needed to be. She couldn't exactly fault him for expressing interest in her company, though, nor for the devil's grin that followed it. If there was one thing Kemurikage Akemi was, it was a beam of light, sent down from the heavens above to brighten the days of those lucky enough to witness her radiance. He just happened to be the most recent in a long line of beneficiaries of such a luminous blessing.

That, or high school boys couldn't help but puff up like roosters when they perceived a compliment from the fairer sex. Either or, really.

"What gave it away? My youthful glow?" She asked, gesturing vaguely to herself as if she hadn't slept for all of four hours and spent the rest of the morning wallowing and chain smoking like some kind of burnout, "Class 1-A. Suppose that means I'll have to sit up in the front..."

She deigned to follow along with her ostensible classmate, figuring that a second or third year probably would've already found where they needed to be. Her pale blues scanned the crowds with a vague disinterest, if only to pass the moments between words, her mind lazily shifting through potential bits of small talk to offer up. Eventually, she settled on the basics, magnanimous enough to tilt her head to the side and address him more directly while they walked.

"Name's Kemurikage Akemi. You are?"

[Raijinslayer]

heroically addressing: @LemonsKayo, @FeyblueIzuna

---

---

"After you, Nishikiyama-san." Justice returns Izuna's grin with one of his own, quickly falling in step with the group as they made their way into the auditorium. He had to hold back a chuckle at the sudden flash and dim of the fishy student's bioluminesence spots. While he thought it was a little cute, it didn't take a genius to figuree that she seemed a bit anxious right now and making a comment about them might not be the best thing to do right now. She was already half-way into becoming a fish popsicle after all.

"Oh, I'm a local, born and raised." Justice's response is follwed by a quick glance back to Kayo, looking the shorter student over with some curiosity. She seemed to be a happy go lucky sort, given how much she was smiling. She also must not have been used to the snow, given she seemed to have an errant twitch on her face every now and then. Justice wonders, briefly, if her Quirk had anything to do with her serpentine eyes, given they seemed to be the most visually striking aspect of her appearance, which was a common trait among certain quirk types.Not that it could really tell him much, of course. "The cold honestly isn't too bad, all things considered. A few months here and you'll probably barely even notice it. And if not, I could try to find make some warmer stuff for you if you'd like. I'm a bit of a hobby tailor, after all, and I think I have a good idea for fashion and outfits."

[Stern Algorithm]

---

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

---

A smile managed to drift onto Gendou's face, as he took successfully complimenting Yoshiba's quirk as a small victory. If escape wasn't possible, perhaps getting on her good side was. Kokone and Touko both stated where in Tokyo they were from, and Touko actually formally introduced herself. Perhaps he was overthinking it and these were just normal hero school students doing normal hero school student things. However, getting called without an honorific reminded Gendou of the 'artificial closeness' tactic that so many bullies employed, and it got under his skin. But what was really bothering him was Yoshiba's question about his quirk. Did she know? Was she going to snatch up an eyeball and proceed to torture him to moment he popped one out? Of course, common sense dictated that it was extremely unlikely for her to know his quirk in advance, given that they had never met. He was in a hero school; this was no place to hide his quirk. Gendou resolved to be a bit braver than he had been since arriving, besides, if they did bully him, surely the teachers here wouldn't turn a blind eye, unfortunate pun not intended.

"W-well my quirk is shooting laser beams from my eyes," Gendou began, listing only the safest aspect for now. The thought occurred to him to at least demonstrate it, but he obviously wasn't going to fire a laser at school property; he didn't want to be expelled for vandalism, obviously. But before he could stop himself, the question of, "what surface can I shoot my lasers at?" elicited an unfortunate habitual response. Gendou brought his left wrist in front of his face before realizing what he was doing. A coldness ran over him as his 'tendency' reared its ugly head. Gendou was thankful that their current uniforms had long sleeves. He awkwardly turned the motion of his arm into one of brushing his hair as he chuckled nervously, "H-heh heh, I wanted to show you my beams, but then I realized that I shouldn't to burn anything in here." A moment of silence stretched into eternity in Gendou's mind as he contemplated his next step. Would he reveal what else his quirk could do? It would at least make up for his inability to show his lasers right now. "B-but I c-can also, umm, 'spawn' more eyeballs from my head which can float around independently."

Gendou leaned his head forward, cupping his face with his hands. When he lifted his head back up again, each hand held one eyeball, while two new eyes had already taken their places in his sockets. The eyes in his palms rotated, looking around, before floating up, though their gazes continued to dart here and there. Gendou was practicing controlled breathing, and it might have appeared that he was having difficulty maintaining the floating eyes, but the actual reason for his intentional deep breaths was to keep himself from panicking from the anticipation that someone would grab one of the eyes or swat them out of the air. "They can shoot lasers too, even when outside, and I can see what they see," Gendou explained, though he left out the fact that he could also feel what the eyes felt. Still, Gendou's nervousness quickly caught up to him so he popped the eyes back inside his head. He looked around to gauge their reaction. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to demonstrate his quirk after all. Girls tended to be more squeamish about this sort of thing, so maybe it wasn't such a good idea to pop his eyes out in front of the three them.

[Lemons]

Well, that sucked.

But, she reflected as she walked quickly down towards the front of the hall, at least it had sucked successfully. She'd done what she wanted to do, which was to draw eyes; hence the stares she could practically feel still burning into her back. Burning into, warming; they were the same thing in the end, right?

As she continued roughly shouldering her way through the crowd, she passed by Tentacles and a few others talking, though she couldn't hear what about over the noise of the hall. She sighed quietly. She'd made an enemy already. God. God, she hated this, and she hated how much she craved it. A small, bitter smile came to her face. It was almost funny in a mundane kind of way, wasn't it? Here she was at a hero school. A really good hero school, too. One of the best in the entire country, where she could eventually learn to help people, most especially by way of her Quirk. After all, a hero without a Quirk wasn't much of a hero at all.

So in a place designed around working with Quirks, wasn't it funny how much she hated hers? It almost made her laugh.

Or, no. She didn't hate her Quirk, not really. Otherwise she really wouldn't have come to Ishin. What was the...ah. That was it. She didn't hate her Quirk. She resented it. Perhaps she wasn't mad at it, but she was definitely mad about it, that it had been inflicted upon her. And as she walked by the crowds of people with their multiple arms, metal hands, and cat heads apparently, she did laugh. Quietly, but not too quiet; rather, just loud enough.

No one here knows what it's like, huh?

Good for them. That sucked too.

Ah, there we go. Right up front, row second to the front. Perfect. She plunked herself down in the chair, distractedly fiddling with a strand of her hair. She was surrounded by people on all sides now. No way it'd go unnoticed if she disappeared. She felt the tension in her stomach unknotting as much as it ever could. There. Safe.

[Yankee]

---

Location:
Ishin Academy: School Gates
@Asura

---

Ah, not just bold but playful too. Akemi's more relaxed nature, while not exactly contagious, made Riona feel like he could loosen up more too. Generally he'd be a bit more polite with girls, but he followed her lead as he made a show of looking her up and down before replying with a cheeky, "Yeah, we'll call it that."

He could imagine that some of the rest of Class 1-A would be the more stuck up types, so he was glad for a nice first impression as far as future classmates went.

He rolled her name around in his brain. Kemurikage, huh. "Written like smoke?" he guessed, the thought of it clearly amusing to him given the persistent grin on his face. She smelled of smoke so it would be a funny coincidence. The scent was heavy, though it didn't bother him. He was quite used to the smell from back home, his father's casual smoking and the small town kids trying to look cool or take after their parents.

He introduced himself quickly after she asked.

"Fuwari Riona." No one outside of Abashiri would have ever heard of the Fuwari family, but Riona still stated his name proudly as though it was on par with some famous hero's. Hopefully one day it would be. He finished the introduction with a quick dip of his head. "Nice to meet you."

Naturally the door they were looking for came into view, given that they were shuffling along following the tail end of the crowds. The distance between them and the academy's sensible entrance way was closed in no time at all. Whether by loitering, wandering, or simple ambling, it seemed that they were among some of the last students entering.

"So we made it," he joked, glancing at Akemi and gesturing ahead of him at the entryway where the school's doors were propped open to let hero hopefuls (and cold drafts) inside. "After you, Kemurikage-san."

[mickilennial]

_{April 7th}

---

The time had come.

After what seemed like an eternity, the upperclassmen that had been casually talking amongst themselves outside had headed inside the assembly hall to take their place among the crowd of students that was ready to begin their first day at Ishin proper. Few students were brave enough to skip out on the opening ceremony, as tedious and pointless as it may have seemed. Ishin's faculty were assertive men and women who didn't take complacency lightly and this year it was no different.

Yukimura Hideaki, the Dean of Students and Supervisor of Ishin Academy, hadn't quite seen a line-up of students quite like the current crop that sat front-and-center, mulling over what Ishin was like and talking to one another for the very first time. During his Profesisonal Hero days he had met a lot of optimistic young men and women, but the days of being The Frozen Hero, The Snowman, was long past him. His hair had grown gray and he had long shadows under his icicle-like eyes. His expression was blank, giving the impression he was unimpressed with everyone else in the assembly hall. The truth of the matter was he couldn't be any more excited to have a new group of would-be heroes at the academy. He moved his hand to the microphone on the podium, tapping it with the backside of his right hand.

“Silence.”

His voice boomed across the room. Conversations stopped, attentions shifted, and postures straightened.

“Ishin Academy is the second oldest hero institution in Japan. Sixth in the entire world. This serves as a reminder that it is here at Ishin that we continue a tradition of excellence in preparing the next generation for the future that awaits them. Whether it is a future as a hero or not.”

His eyes moved to the returning members of the student body.

“For those of you that survived the gauntlet that was last year, congratulations. You've passed the first series of tests. You know what comes next and how I'm counting on you to become the very best examples of what Ishin has to offer.”

He pressed his hands against the podium.

“For those of you who are new... well, congratulations on passing the entrance exams.”

The old man looked directly at the more nervous members of the first years. He knew that his tone and appearance was sending a chill down their spine – some of them may have been already wondering what they got themselves into. He was certain that his next few words would make that feeling stick with them. It was a sentiment he was glad to imprint upon them.

“Ishin Academy is a battleground and you will need to prove that you belong here. You should know this just by the merit of applying to this institution, so if you think an acceptance means you have nothing to fear now you are not going to be a student for long. But being a hero is about bravery, tenacity, and humility. Nobody is going to hold your hand here. Your teachers are here to prepare you and nothing else. For those of you that are new to Ishin, you will need to remember that. Should you forget, your upperclassmen will remind you of it very very quickly.”

Hideaki sighed, moving a glass of water to his lips with his left hand, the liquid instantly chilled to perfection as it met his lips. He always did hate monologues and speeches, especially after he had retired from the professional circuit to teach and administrate. It was probably the one singular thing he didn't care for about his years as Dean of Students at Ishin Academy. There was too much talking. But it was the job.

“At the end of the day, whether you are a new student here or have been selected to return you need to remember one thing. Give your best; not for yourself, but for the world. Soar Skyward.” With the glass of water in his hands he gave a glance to his side and to two other faculty members one who was quite small and disinterested and another tall and attentive. “With that said, I’ll leave it to my teachers to take it from here. Those of you who are not first years are dismissed.”

Before long it seemed the hall emptied except for the forty first years.

***

“Kinzokuma Midori. I’ll be teaching 1A.” The smaller woman remarked utterly disinterested as the other woman smiled quietly, “To my right is Hatsune Akio. She’ll be teaching 1B.”

“Follow me if you’re in 1A, alright?”

The woman stepped down from the podium, hands buried in her pockets as she moved toward one of the exit doors. She didn't look behind her to see if the students were following. As far as first impressions went, it didn’t seem she was very interested in getting to know her students, however if Kokone could hear through the noise of the other students there seemed to be a sense of interest in how the students would handle her “test”.

As the group followed their teacher, they passed by the various dormitories that had been constructed around campus. There appeared to be two large buildings with Japanese denominations for men (kansei) and women (josei) written above the doors inside. However, Kinzokuma-Sensei walked right past the dormitories and led them to a large building in the back end of the eastern wing of the school campus. Once inside she looked to a lone upperclassmen with dog ears and a clipboard.

“Alright. Leave your belongings with Inuhara and join me at the front of the room.” Her hands still tucked in her pockets, she headed to the far wall of the massive empty room that served as the interior of the building. For some it looked like a building that had yet to be renovated.

“So, you’re the–”

“K-K-Kinzokuma-Sensei?” A voice from the students uttered out, holding a fruit out in his hands. “M-my grandmother said that I sh-should give you an Okinawa Pineapple as a sign of my appreciation for teaching us this year.”

The older woman raised a brow as she moved her hands out of her pockets and retrieved the pineapple.

“Alright.” She said as she held the pineapple with one hand. “Don’t be nervous. You’re at Ishin now. All of you are.”

[Yankee]

---

Location: ＠Ishin Academy Event Hall
Interaction: @@Stern Algorithm@TGM@Feyblue

---

Introductions between the four of them were over by the time Gendou responded to Yoshiba's query. And so, Touko tuned in to his explanation.

He started with laser beams from his eyes. It was a classic and decidedly cool power, one that fit multiple hero archtypes. Touko nodded sagaciously, appraising Gendou. He would definitely need some kind of superhero makeover. With the way he looked now, maybe he should go the edgy route? He could probably pull off a dark aesthetic. Something something 'the power held in my cursed mystic eye'... ah, but both of his eyes shoot lasers. Not quite as fun that way.

He followed up with the ability to 'spawn more eyes,' ones that could float. Unexpected, and a bit hard to imagine, plus it clashed with the mysterious dark laser beam hero she was envisioning. A secret agent type then? The mental picture morphed from a shaggy haired, black cloaked Gendou to one with slicked back hair in a suit and tie, with little eye turrets flitting around him.

And then came the demonstration. She stared at the eyeballs, her own eyes widened. It was far from the grossest thing she'd ever seen (she practically lived online nowadays after all), but it was a surprise. She had never seen someone's eye detached from their body, and now there were a couple floating around, rotating, staring, moist...

"Ehe... freaky," she said, leaning slightly away until the spheres were back in Gendou's head. That was a whole other thing too, were there extra eyes pre-loaded in his skull or what? And how were they controlled? The longer the silence stretched between the group the more curious Touko appeared, replacing her discomfort. Like with Yoshiba's quirk, she imagined the use she could get out of having multiple sets of eyes, but there were more questions surrounding this one.

"How does your brain not overload from the visual input alone?" she asked. It was something that she wrestled with while using her own quirk. However before anything else could be said, the assembly finally got underway. The dean cut an intimidating figure, but before he really got going Touko glanced at the boy seated next to her.

"Tell me later," came her whispered command, and then she sat back properly in seat to listen to the speech. The time to reveal her own quirk, and learn about Kokone's too, would come later.

---

Jeez, I thought opening ceremonies were supposed to be inspiring...

She didn't complain out loud, given it was what she signed up for. After trudging along after her new homeroom teacher, a short woman named Kinzokuma, Touko was pleased to see her assumption was correct: Kokone, Yoshiba, and Gendou were all in the same class as she was. She wasn't as thrilled to see that the pushy girls from earlier that morning were also a part of class 1A. Besides them there were students both tall and small, rough looking girls, pretty boys, and one gigantic shark.

Once they'd seemingly got where they were going and were instructed to drop their things off, Touko let out an "Ugh, finally." She eyed this Inuhara, her gaze turning harsh.

"You'll be careful with everything, right? There's some delicate stuff here... uh, senpai." She tacked on the last word, belatedly realizing she shouldn't risk offending the person that was going to watch over their luggage. It was with some hesitation that she left her bags, slowly dragging herself to follow Kinzokuma-sensei and the rest of the class to the other side of the room.

With nothing to occupy her hands anymore, Touko fidgeted. She wiggled her fingers while her hands hung by her side, though she ended up crossing her arms over her chest when their teacher mentioned they shouldn't feel nervous. Touko didn't feel nervous, and certainly didn't want to give off the impression that she was, so instead she switching to tapping a finger on her arm where they were folded. Rather than a pep talk, I'd rather you share that pineapple, sensei...

[Feyblue]

Colorless is a pretty perceptive one, it seems. The words hardly even managed to leave my mouth before she noticed. "Lived" -- not "live."

Well, logically speaking, it's not like the way I said it was wrong. After all, I'm gonna be living here for the next four years, unless I do something really stupid. But then again, I suppose for a normal person, it's pretty strange to make that adjustment so quickly. No doubt, most people my age would be more attached to that place called "home." But can you really blame me in that regard? A rented one-room apartment over a shady izakaya isn't even the worst place I've stayed until now -- but it's also not one I'm attached to even slightly. All the thoughts spilling in through the thin walls and floor, the sounds of passionate drunkards lamenting and rejoicing until the wee hours of the morning --

Ehem. Suffice to say, I'm more than happy to be gone. Compared to that, a few hundred flustered high school kids is easy-peazy.

At any rate, as a fellow observer, I have to admire her perceptiveness -- especially since she's flying blind -- or rather, deaf -- compared to me. She seems like a "my pace" sort of person, but she's a sharp one. I'll have to make a mental note to remember that for future interactions, so that I don't tip her off to anything I actually want to keep hidden. Clever people are always the most fun to watch -- but only when they're not watching me in return.

"Nice to meet you, Touko-sama," I answer bluntly.

That was a joke, by the way. You're free to laugh. I know. I'm hilarious.

Sigh. Tough crowd, I guess.

"Manaka Kokone," I continue. Since my first joke failed, I try to force a smile for my next one -- not that I even know how to. But I do my best to think in orange and my facial muscles -- atrophied though they may be -- do the rest. "Not sure if you heard me introduce myself before -- actually, kind of hope that you didn't."

Another miss, it seems. The life of the party, I am not.

"It does seem like we're going to be in the same class, though, so I hope we can get along."

At any rate, it seems like I've distracted Tachibana long enough. Though I lost track of what Akisuji-kun was thinking about, I tune back in just in time to hear him saying something about what those eyes of his actually do. They can shoot beams, apparently -- though why he's so afraid to talk about it continues to elude me. Or... that's not all, apparently. He can also create more of them, and control them remotely -- an ability which only just begins to pique my curiosity before it happens.

---

⫷t̸͙̠̗̦̲́ư̶̖̜͚̬̜͛̊̆͂̋͆͆̍͘⌭❐⫷𝔡ư̶̖̜͚̬̜͛̊̆͂̋͆͆̍͘ỉ̶̛̯̈́͑͠▱𝔣⊕❖ư̶̖̜͚̬̜͛̊̆͂̋͆͆̍͘ỉ̶̛̯̈́͑͠d̴̜̪͚͔̈́̒̂́͘͘j̶̧̧̻͉̩͇̰̝͔̮̭́̔͛́̋̀̇͐̑̚͘͝͝ͅͅş̷̧̻̻̳͎̼͍̬̳͓͆̐̒̎͛̚𝔦𝔥c̴̛̖̍͑̏͘͝ą̸̪̟̳̞̥͓̱̦̞͊̓́͋̍̐̃͌̇̚↝↖ṅ̵̨̡̲̘̠̫̯̥̬̯͔̫͙̉̋́t̸̝͇̲̓͛̏͋̇͠→↓s̷͚͙͇̩͍̩͒̎̋͂̇̈́̅̉͗̚̕͠ḛ̴̡͙̫̦̪̟̓͒̐̅͝͠↘↘e̸͙̞͔͔̦̠̣̠̭͙̗̥͐̆͒̑̈́͝ẻ̵̺̲̼͕̒̀́͊̄̑͠͝͝͝ē̶̝̼̼̼̳̪͙͙͎̱͓̗̩͛͐̇̈́͑̓̿͐́͌̊͆͜͝ͅe̷͔̦̜̻̺͔̠͉̦̋̇́͑̀̍͑̋͌͑͘ė̸̻͕ȩ̸̢̪̼̠̯̗͍̬̬͓͔̳͖͇̈͆̓̅̏̓͋̓͜e̵̼͍͎̤̾̊̈ë̶̞́̋́̑̄͆͆̓̋ę̴̧̧̬͍͉̣̬̟̞̙͍̻͙͎̓́̇̐̄̑͒͐̅̓̇̏̆͛̃͝ͅͅe̵̗̪̊̎̑̋̌̂̂͂̂͒̚̕e̵̢̧̢͉̹͇̘̝̠̩͚̞̓̽̀͗̿̆͝⫸

---

A sound beyond words fills my mind once again. My head is shattering. Somewhere, his -- my -- our eyeball is screaming, and I realize only too late what this sound is, as Tachibana helpfully asks about the ramifications of a Quirk that can and, apparently, does overload one's brain.

It's a Quirk somehow alike to my own, meant to transfer information from one living being to another -- and unlike him, I don't have any of the necessary brain functions to process it.

I want to scream, but then I remember that there are others near me. What kind of facial expression am I making right now? I haven't moved, so my face is probably still frozen in orange even though my thoughts are already green again. Even so, I must have flinched involuntarily, despite myself, and can only hope the others didn't notice. The urge to vomit just came back in full force, and I only barely choke it back before, mercifully, the noise stops -- and I find myself suddenly basking in complete --

"SILENCE."

---

For most kids, that speech was probably the most nerve-wracking thing they had experienced today.

Me? I was more afraid of the short kid who'd been seated next to me than anything. After the ceremony ended and the teachers gave us our marching orders, I almost didn't even notice who I was supposed to be following. It took until she repeated herself for me to realize that the one thinking in green was 1A's teacher -- a fact which did little to assuage my unease. I don't do well with people who think in the same color as me. If I stop paying attention, it's all too easy to forget which thoughts are mine and which aren't -- and that scares me.

Thankfully, she doesn't seem to be thinking about much of anything in particular... Anything except some kind of test, that is. So, they're throwing us right into the deep end, huh? Normally, this sort of thing wouldn't even faze me -- but my ears are still ringing and I can't make out the details in the teacher's brain. The worries of everyone around me aren't exactly helping, either -- particularly as some overly nervous student steps forward and nearly bites his own tongue trying to offer the teacher a pineapple.

And worst of all, that senpai just took my headphones. Even if I can't use them right now, just having them is reassuring in case something happens. Without them, I feel like a samurai going into battle without a sword, and I can't help but be uneasy... Just what sort of test is this going to be? And how can I pass it without drawing attention to myself... or to my Quirk?

[Lemons]

Midori-sensei, hmm?

As they traversed the campus that she'd be spending the next few years of her life on—a quickly-suppressed jolt of fear shot down her spine, they wouldn't make her go back after the school year was over, right? She'd be able to stay, right?—Kayo made sure to keep her eyes peeled. She wanted to remember everything about this place as quickly as she could.

As they kept going, she glanced over to her left where the tall fish girl Izuna was walking, and murmured as though in sheer awe of everything around her, "Woooow, we're really here! Can you believe it, Izuna-chan?" And the campus was nice, as expected of one of the best hero schools in the country. Still, though she of course didn't show any of it, her conniving thoughts belied how innocent and cheerful she seemed. And though she seemed as though she was looking at Izuna, her thoughts were on somebody completely different.

Kinzokuma Midori-sensei. She seems like a hassle.

Like bad news. Like she knew something.

Kayo ran her hand through her dry, slick hair, twirling a pale green strand around her finger as the tiny teacher led them around back of the school and giving them an excellent view of the campus dormitory buildings. While of course they weren't nearly as nice as Kayo deserved, she could use them just fine. Anything to get her away from the psycho bitch waiting for her back in Kyoto. As they passed, she wondered idly as she kept her mental mapping; she recalled there being roommates in Ishin, something that she had been less than happy with when she'd first heard.

So...who would hers be? Izuna the fish? The one with tentacles for hair? The tiny girl that walked nearby? The purple-haired kid?

Well, whoever it was, they'd better get used to someone else calling the shots.

Before she knew it, they'd gone around the back of the campus and headed into a huge, empty space. She craned her neck at the ceiling in genuine wonder. It was...really high.

"Alright."

Kayo couldn't stop herself from jerking at the unexpected noise, reflexively tensing up. But just half a moment later, she realized it was just the tiny sensei.

"Leave your belongings with Inuhara and come to the front of the room."

Walking over, she gave the backpack containing what were now all of her worldly possessions to that "Inuhara" guy and gave him a sweet, quiet "take good care of it, okay?" before she turned back around.

Somehow in the seconds she hadn't been paying attention, Kinzokuma-sensei was now holding a pineapple. She held back a heavy sigh.

It was going to be a long year.

[Stern Algorithm]

---

Location — Ishin Academy, Assembly Hall to Testing Chamber(?)

---

Touko's declaration that his quirk was 'freaky' stung Gendou slightly, but there didn't seem to be maliciousness in her words. In fact, her follow up question seemed to indicate actual interest. Of course, Gendou was carefully gauging how everyone around him would react to his quirk, so he had noticed the subtle change in Kokone's expression. Was that nausea? No, clearly it was disgust, the natural reaction to someone popping out his eyeballs. Gendou mentally lamented that even at a hero school, he would have peers who found his quirk disgusting. But at least...at least it didn't seem as if they intended to harm or bully him for it. Being surrounded by this group of people, he had expected bullying at every point, but it never came. Was it okay to finally let down his guard? Or were there simply too many others around for them to initiate the abuse? Or maybe it was time he started seeing his fellow students as hero hopefuls like himself, good people with good hearts, who just wanted to help others.

Before he could answer Touko's question, the speech began, and like Touko indicated, he would have to elaborate later. As someone who took comfort with figures of authority, Gendou was enraptured by the principal's welcoming speech. However, a quick glance to his sides revealed an uncomfortable truth; only girls were sitting on this side of the hall. It struck Gendou that Ishin was a rather conservative school, and that he had sat down mindlessly. He locked eyes with one of the faculty, whose face immediately took on an expression of sternness as they realized that Gendou was violating propriety, and though the teacher took a half-step forward with the intent of moving Gendou to the other half of the hall, they ultimately decided against it to not cause a scene in the middle of the speech. And though Gendou looked away, he could embarrassingly feel the teacher's gaze drilling into him for the remainder of the ceremony, almost as if the teacher was the one with laser vision.

When the speech concluded, Gendou wondered if he should go and apologize to the teacher, but the teacher had their responsibilities, and Gendou had to follow Kinzokuma-sensei, so they parted ways leaving this little misunderstanding unresolved.

---

As he followed his new teacher through the campus grounds, another intrusive thought wormed its way into his head, spurred on by the principal's warnings. He knew that his acceptance was due in part as a favor to his deceased mother, an alumnus of the school. So the principal's emphasis on personal ability made Gendou start to question if he had made it in on his own merit, or how his classmates might treat him if they found out. Gendou wasn't even sure which faculty member it was that had made true on this favor, but shuddered to think what would happen if this faculty member approached him out of the blue and become chummy with him. It would be painting a target on his back. As they arrived at their destination, Gendou handed his luggage over to the upperclassman and was almost immediately given an impossible task by the teacher: don't be nervous.