Asura

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

this is my 3000 post alt.

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

hi.

You Can Become a Hero!

KEMURIKAGE AKEMI
煙影 明美

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Location — Ishin Academy Gates
Interacting — @Yankee

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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?"

You Can Become a Hero!

MIZUSHIMA MURASAME
水島 村鮫

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Location — Ishin Academy
Interacting — @Mcmolly

---

It only took a few hulking slides across the courtyard for Murasame to realize the error of his ways—he had undoubtedly ensured that nobody on the eastern side of the courtyard could possibly have seen his companion. On the other hand, everyone on the eastern side of the courtyard couldn't help but have seen him. He had been terrified all morning of exactly that! All the eyes, all the quizzical looks! The urge to just break formation and book it into the school in shame was incredibly strong. But he had made a commitment. He couldn't back out of something he had promised to do. So agonizing step by agonizing step he did his duty, until they reached the entrance to the main hall of the school and the blonde's voice stirred him from his mortified stupor.

At least Saika had managed to have fun with it. Feeling the smallest he had since arriving in Hokkaido, Murasame could only offer an embarrassed mutter as he shuffled through the entrance behind her, careful to duck his head as to not end up with a bruised nose on top of his bruised self-esteem.

"I don't even know what I'd want in return," He managed once they were inside and proper conversation could carry on, "'Side from never havin' to do that again. You seen many dancin' shark people? 'Cause I don't think anybody forgets seein' a dancin' shark person..."

The flow of students at least saved him from having to root around his bag for the on-boarding pamphlet. The auditorium was the only place students had any business being that early in the morning on the first day, so he nodded his head in agreement with Saika.

"I sure hope the rooms ain't small. I remember goin' skiin' with my folks when I was, err, smaller," He admitted sheepishly, "I couldn't fit on any of the hotel beds, so they had to smoosh two of 'em together, else my legs woulda been danglin' all night."

He didn't even want to think about the logistics of trying to do his business in a tiny little squat toilet. So instead of letting his mind run wild with that, he began to trundle his way towards the auditorium, figuring Saika would come along with him and keep him occupied during the trek. One such advantage of having such a chatty classmate.

You Can Become a Hero!

MIZUSHIMA MURASAME
水島 村鮫

---

Location — Ishin Academy
Interacting — @Mcmolly

---

The trek into Ishin wasn't as nerve-racking as initially expected. Maybe it was the company, or the fact he had eaten a couple meals worth of WcDenji's on the way, but when he had left the station, Murasame had expected to near enough keel over at the thought of marching through such a crowded venue. There were students everywhere, from all manner of backgrounds and years, with all sorts of Quirks. Mercifully enough, it seemed most of them were either too busy with trying to find their way, or catching up with old friends, to bother paying him too much mind. That was probably the real reason it was so much easier—in his mind, he had imagined every pair of eyes in the school to have followed him all the way to the auditorium and beyond.

The hulking teen found himself brought back to reality by the sound of Saika's trash piling into a nearby waste bin. That presented a problem. He had only managed to eat about half his order in the time it took them to arrive, on account of his nerves. He still had a ton of food left, including a the fabled WcNib! Eyes darting to-and-fro in search of an answer, he found one only when he spotted a nearby student hiking a massive backpack up the school's stairs. Of course! The students would undoubtedly be expected to have lunch later! He would just save it in his luggage! As he hurriedly made room in his suitcase for the grease stained paper in his palm, he only vaguely caught what his companion had been saying.

"I, uh, yeah. I think this place is uh, pretty big on the whole patriotism thing... Honestly kinda surprised the uniform didn't come with a hat an' cape."

As he slung his bag back over his shoulder, he found the girl had gone missing from her previous position. It took him a few turns of the head before her voice clued him in to where she had gone, and he furrowed his brow quizzically at her request.

"I uh, I guess I could, but are you sure she wouldn't just prefer you fessin' up? Especially if you got her food. WcDenji's isn't very good when it's cold..."

There were many other questions to be asked. The usage of 'sprayed' not least of them. But, he didn't want to cause a fuss. He had only just met Saika, and she had been nice to him, so he didn't want to risk getting her into hot water with her friend if he could help it. Of course, her idea of helping it involved using him like a makeshift barricade. With a resigned grumble, he accepted his fate, and straightened out his back so that he might better display his full height.

"Just try an' keep up with my pace, okay? I ain't gonna be able to see ya while I'm going."

Turning so that his back was to Saika and his front towards the group she had so gingerly attempted to hide from, he puffed out his chest good and broad, his width more than enough to totally eclipse his more averagely proportioned classmate. Then he began. One step to the side. Slide all the way over. Return to full standing height. Repeated. Step by step, he would get Saika into that auditorium unseen, or his name wasn't Mizushima Murasame.

You Can Become a Hero!

KEMURIKAGE AKEMI
煙影 明美

---

Location — Ishin Academy Gates
Interacting — @Yankee

---

"Always do."

The purple haired girl who had interrupted her morning ritual disappeared just as quickly as she had arrived, leaving Akemi to continue to drown her woes in puff after puff of nicotine infused carbon. Or, what little happened to remain of it. She had done well in achieving her initial goal—she had emptied her pack, and the embers had burned away most of the final remaining cigarette between her lips. It would only be a few more drags before it was all filter, and she would have no further excuse to avoid wandering into the assembly hall to await the dreary finality of her fate. Part of her, a large part, wanted to try and stretch out those final few draws, so that she might continue to gaze vacantly at the sky and enjoy the chilly morning. But that wouldn't help any. She'd just end up with a worse seat for the assembly, and she had a feeling it was going to be a long, boring one at that.

So she inhaled, deep and long, letting the air fan the flames ever greater, until there was little left but a stub. As she held it, she crushed the tip of her final reprieve against her shoe, and tossed it into the makeshift ashtray with the others. A flick of her wrist sent the cloud drifting across the way, and once it arrived at the ramen-filled trash can it finally found release, dispersing into ephemeral wisps that left the butts to fall down, out of sight and out of mind. She exhaled a similarly short lived stream of puffy white smoke as she walked away, hands tucked into her pockets and feet aiming for the front gate.

Most of the students she had spied during her little smoke break had disappeared, the stream of students beginning to slow to a trickle as the time for their reckoning inevitably approached. That wasn't to say everybody had gone, though. There were a few stragglers, herself among them, loitering about without anyone to keep them company. By chance, one of them happened to be right in her route, and so she decided to give a go at a little socialization.

"What's the matter, handsome? You lookin' for directions?" She asked on her approach, a tired little grin tugging on the corner of her mouth as she did, "I'm not the best at givin' them, but I think I can manage to show you the way. If you ask nice."

You Can Become a Hero!

KEMURIKAGE AKEMI
煙影 明美

---

Location — Outside Ishin Academy
Interacting — @TGM

---

There a long silence that permeated the space between Akemi and her would-be classmate. For a time, she simply stared, as dispassionate as she ever was. It was only when the ash dangling off the tip of her cigarette threatened to fall that she deigned to respond.

"Because you're talkin' fast."

It was a silly question, and so she gave it a silly answer. As returned her gaze to the heavens, she tapped the embers into the cloud of smoke beside her, she pondered it for a little longer. That was the tragedy of interacting with others, she decided. You couldn't just vibe and forget that everything outside your field of view, outside of the the big, blank blue sky and the streams of smoke billowing out of your mouth existed. You had to actually consider things. After mowing it over in her head for a while, she added more to her 'explanation'. As if it even mattered.

"It's like you're uncomfortable with the silence. Like you feel obligated to fill it. Maybe it's because you're feeling so many things that you wanna get it all out. Or maybe you just wanna distract yourself from the feelings by chattin' me up. Like it'll make you feel better to forget how nervous you are, even for a little bit."

There were more words than she had intended to use, so she washed the taste of them out of her mouth with a long, heady draw from her last Warlboro. The familiar, acrid flavor of ash was significantly more welcome.

You Can Become a Hero!

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."

You Can Become a Hero!

MIZUSHIMA MURASAME
水島 村鮫

---

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."

You Can Become a Hero!

KEMURIKAGE AKEMI
煙影 明美

---

Location — Outside Ishin Academy
Interacting — @TGM

---

“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?"