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I'd like to express interest! I'm in another MHA RP and have more ideas for villains than I could ever sensibly put to use there, so I'd love to be able to play one of them here.

Reina Mori


Reina couldn't help but blush lightly, bringing her good hand up to gently play with her ear as she listened to the two's words. The implied positive expectations they seemed to have of her was something that'd take some getting used to--it made her nervous, but in an excited kind of way for now. Reina wanted to prove them right--and herself wrong--and the Komei-lympics was certainly the best place in sight to do that.

"It's not flattery, Mamoru-chan. I'm really thankful for you. I know I've been hard to talk to and deal with--I've been told as much by everyone I know the past few years. You and Take-kun, and the rest of the class though... you've been pushing past that, and I can tell it's already been helping me a lot. I guess I shouldn't have ever been surprised, though; there's a reason you're all attending Komei. For a school like that, being an amazing person is as much a requirement as being talented is." Reina smiled again for the two, glad she had expressed her gratitude for them in at least some capacity. "And I'm still going to look up to you, Mamoru-chan. I... might have a powerful quirk, but I really don't... don't think that's everything. That might sound kind of biased, coming from me, I guess--but like I said, I couldn't get into any hero school at all until a string of lucky incidents and a connection to Komei got me here."

Reina's smile had faded as she spoke. Though her expression was still soft, just beneath were hints of the insane determination housed inside her that had surfaced slightly a few times since the school year had started already.

"I want to deserve this quirk. I want to wholly own it, and I want to use it and push it to its absolute limit." The girl's hand moved to gently hold one of her orbs that had floated in front of her chest. "I want to see just how far I can take it."

She flicked her wrist to send the orb on its way, the extra momentum quickly making it complete a full orbit around her before it started to slow down.

The girl was clearly going to continue speaking, but seemed hesitant on her next words.

"I'm... I'm lucky... to have been born with it." The words appeared to be extremely difficult for her to manage. "I've never thought that before. Not until... these villains attacked. My quirk's been nothing but a nuisance at best, and a... tragedy at worst. But for the first time, it did some good. I was able to use it to help save Michiko-chan.

"With such a quirk, I feel like I owe it to the world to not waste it. It's hard to not think it should've have ended up in someone else's hands. Someone more like you, I've always thought, Mamoru-chan. But it's not. It's with me. That's why I want to learn from you. I want to improve myself so I can utilize it to its full potential, because even though it feels like an obligation to me, it's still something I want for myself at the same time. I want to be strong enough that nothing and no one can ever threaten people I care about." The girl's gaze glanced to Takeshi's missing arm for a moment, the briefest flash of hatred coursing through her.

"I'll make myself strong enough to protect everyone." Another moment passed before Reina realized she was staring at the wall, her thoughts somewhere darker as her expression had changed further into one of contained turmoil and cold determination. The girl blinked twice, managing to smile again as she went back to playing with her ear and looking away towards the window. "Or at least, that's the impossible ideal I think I want to work towards--giving off that 'All Might' kind of feeling to the public, you know?"

She quickly grabbed another piece of watermelon and began to munch on it, her newly formed blush slowly fading.

"I'm anxious to get back to class too. I can't stand being monitored and told to stay in bed. Not that resting after, you know... not that it's bad, but I just start feeling so restless so quickly when I'm not doing something." Reina gave a giggle at the admission. "I can handle not moving around, I guess, but I've always really needed something to keep my mind busy at the very least. Hospitals aren't very stimulating, and playing games on my phone is kind of hard with one hand. It doesn't help that the one thing I really want to do right now is to get stronger--reading and phone games are fun, but they aren't scratching that particular itch," Reina went on before taking another bite. "I can't imagine it'll be much longer until I'm discharged, though. I'll walk out the door if it takes too long."

@Aerandir@Lucius Cypher

Reina Mori


”Hah! Those nurses just don’t realize how powerful you really are. Just you wait, in a couple of months at the Kolympics, the world will see what you’re capable of!”

Reina smiled as Mamoru walked into the room, closing the door gently behind the pink-haired girl. The Komei olympics... not something that had been on Reina's mind at all the past while. The thought of being on a broadcast like that made her stomach flutter, though maybe not as much as she would have expected. A short sound of musing escaped her lips as she thought further on Mamoru's words.

The girl spoke again soon enough, explaining why she hadn't visited yet. Reina gave a small shake of her head to indicate it was no worry, as she didn't quite have the chance to speak before Mamoru was onto another topic.

"Ah." Reina took the notebook with her good hand with a smile, cradling it in her slung elbow to flip through the pages more easily.

"Thanks, Mamoru-chan," she said before giggling upon seeing one of the doodles just as Mamoru was mentioning it. "I'm sure I'll be able to understand them. I... I went to a good high school for a year before Komei, actually, so catching up when it comes to studies isn't something I really struggle with..." Reina trailed off a bit, having used the moment to reveal a bit more about herself to the other two in the room--the two peers she trusted the most in what felt like forever. "I kind of got lucky with my uncle being the principal here, among other things. I wasn't ever supposed to have a chance at a hero school--I got rejected by every single one I applied to during my last year of middle school."

The girl walked over to the stand next to the head of the bed and placed the notebook down, picking up a slice of the watermelon.

"That's... part of the reason why I don't feel like I belong at Komei." Reina paused, gripping the watermelon a little tighter. "You two have helped a lot with that though, I think, and I don't feel that way as often anymore." A sincere smile appeared on the girl's lips.

"So thank you, Mamoru-chan, Take-kun."

She sat back down in her spot on the bed, taking a small bite of her food.

"I know I've been difficult in the past, and I'm sure I will be again in the future... so thanks as well, for putting up with that. I'll... keep giving it my all to improve."

A thought coursed through her mind, regarding her reasons now to become the most powerful hero she possibly could. It was not all noble, and it would almost certainly be cause for concern in the future, but for now she killed the thought, wanting to enjoy the great happiness she was being afforded.

Reina took another bite of watermelon, her unusually bright smile persisting the moment of doubt.
@Lucius Cypher @Aerandir
Reina Mori
&
Takeshi Yashiro


Takeshi noticed, quite quickly that he was being pulled closer to her by her quirk...whether on purpose or she forgot about it he didn’t care. He pulled back just enough so he wouldn’t instantly get pulled into her...though he did enjoy the feeling of them even closer. When she squeaked about smiling a lot around him. He couldn’t help but smile more.

She then added the fact that she she too missed a lot of things, his smile being one of them. This made him pull his head back with a thoughtful expression on his face. He didn’t think he smiled much...well he didn’t, but only around Reina did this happen. This only made him smile warmly at the thought that they both were the cause of these changes in each other.

He looked back to her when she glanced back at him, telling him she was glad he visited her. He blinked once as he stared at her with a faint warm smile on his face. Thinking back to their first meeting, his arm that was touching hers, moved and his hand took hers and squeezed it gently. “I’m glad you knocked me off my feet.” he said softly smiling at her.

He couldn’t resist anymore, as he slowly allowed her quirk to pull him in even more.

The girl gave a playful half-hearted roll of her eyes at Takeshi’s line, barely containing an excitement full of disbelief welling up in her stomach. She was expecting… something. The girl couldn’t bring herself to fully form the thought, though—the disbelief was too strong. Despite the fact that Takeshi had made it obvious, Reina was finding herself unable to accept that he was romantically interested in her. There was a mental block, stubbornly deep-seated.

“… Are you sure?…” she whispered as she lowered her gaze to rest her temple on the boy’s shoulder, seemingly not speaking to Takeshi in particular and rather just voicing the thoughts that plagued her mind. Her quirk, however, tugged out of her control.

Takeshi felt the carpet yanked from under him as she moved forward, only to lower her temple onto his shoulder. He was expecting something else. But after a moment, he found he enjoyed the feeling. With her pull even stronger than he felt and my he gave into it. Their bodies pressing against each other as he rested his cheek against the top of her head. At her question he squeezed her hand again.

His voice soft but firm in his conviction. “I admit, I’ve never felt like this before.” He closed his eyes. “But I’ve never met anyone like you before. You amaze me more every day… though you are a little stubborn in actually believing it or me. But when I think of… spending time with you, I start to count the minutes till we meet.”

He looked down. “ I… didn’t notice it before, because I’m not use to this, but after this whole ordeal, I kept thinking more and more, how worried I was about you. How much I missed you.” He shifted the shoulder she rested gently, as his right hand was occupied with hers. “I know I’m sure…”

Reina listened to him speak, losing focus on her negative thoughts again and instead just feeling content and calm in both mind and body. She nodded slowly and gently in reciprocation as he spoke, ruffling her hair against his shoulder. While the girl had been avoiding thinking about what had lead to Takeshi’s missing limb and her still being in the hospital during the visit, it had affected her drastically. Takeshi’s presence also helped with that. The cloud of negativity that inhabited her seemed to always struggle to properly form when she was with him—especially now, that she had survived an encounter with violently dangerous villains.

The girl shifted so that her cheek was on Takeshi’s shoulder, her eyes glancing up at him. Her heartbeat picked up in anticipation at what she was about to do—though even she wasn’t fully certain of what that was. The mental block was still there… but rather than giving up or smashing through it, the girl was climbing over it. It wasn’t elegant, it wasn’t a final fix for her issues. She wasn’t great to be around for most people—but people were unique. Why would Takeshi lie about how he felt about her? Maybe out of pity. But it was maybe just as likely that he really did enjoy spending time with her, like she enjoyed spending time with him. The girls face warmed again as her heart continued to race out of control, but her face was a perhaps cute look of determination, thin brow gently furrowed in focus almost like when she was training with her quirk.

She squeezed Takeshi’s hand tightly for a second to make sure he was also looking at her. Before his head was finished turning, she spoke quietly, but surprisingly firmly.

“… You’re stuck with me, then.”

And not a heart-skip later, her quirk tugged again as she moved her head forward to press her lips against the boy’s.

Takeshi looked down at her as she shifted her cheek to his shoulder. His heart skipped a beat at how close she was. His face was even more red now once again... but he smiled softly. He couldn’t believe this was happening. It was only a week ago that he met this incredible girl. And here he was, sitting shoulder to shoulder...holding hands over some food. Takeshi never had that in his life… His heart was racing... something that was unfamiliar to him when not fighting for his life... but at the same time, he enjoyed the rush it gave him as it was a different kind Adrenaline.

He raised his eyebrow as her face turned into a look of determination. But it was so cute… it made him want to… He lost his train of thought when she squeezed his hand. As she spoke, he blinked. No time to react as he was suddenly pulled closer and she pressed her lips against his. His eyes grew wide as his mind went blank. Like it couldn’t compute what was happening. Thankfully though it rebooted fairly quickly as he pressed back in his kiss own kiss to her.

It seemed so surreal... he didn’t imagine her lips would be so...soft. He felt intoxicated by her, the sensation, the smell of her perfume… He held the kiss as long as he could. Before he pulled away quite literally due to her quirk but just an inch away. Resting his forehead against hers he smiled genuinely… perhaps the most genuine smile he has ever given in his life.

The past few days melted away into nothingness. His pain, his loss of his arm. The stress he had worrying about her in this hospital. Gone. All there was, was happiness. Genuine happiness. He wanted to shout out to the world. But he let go of her hand and reached up, slightly awkwardly as he barely was able to touched her right cheek with his thumb in this position.

But realizing she wasn’t resting on his shoulder anymore he shifted, his hand brushing down her jaw and around her chin. Till his palm slid over her left cheek, his fingers running into her hair to pull her in for another kiss. But before he did, he said softly. “I’m pretty sure it’s the other way around…” with a smirk before he kissed her once more.

The girl was in a ‘zone,’ so to speak, not dissimilar to how she had felt fighting for her life—though not quite that intense or terrifying. Point was, after the kiss broke, she was left in a daze due to that zone for half a second, before coming back to her senses and immediately feeling a rush of shock and embarrassment at what she had done. Before her mind could even speculate on how she might have just completely pushed away Takeshi with that, though, she saw that nothing was wrong. Takeshi hadn’t pulled away. Even after the kiss, he kept his forehead on hers, and he was smiling.

There wasn’t a whole lot Reina could manage other than stare at the boy with widened eyes, stewing in her happiness and disbelief at… everything. The girl was so sluggish in her state that she didn’t even register the second kiss until it was halfway done, all her attention taken away by the feeling of Takeshi’s touch eliciting nice goosebumps.

Mind finally starting to work again as the second kiss broke off, all the stress and excitement of the situation got to her and made her suddenly painfully restless. Doing her best not to appear panicked, Reina moved aside the table and practically leapt up from the bed, slapping her cheek with her one good hand harder than she might have originally meant to.

“Th-that was o-okay right? Right?” she stumbled through quick breaths, the disbelief and joy and worry all managing to be apparent in her expressions. “I didn’t just—just screw up b-bad? I d-didn’t?...” She glanced back towards Takeshi, heart still exploding out of her chest, but she already felt herself slowly beginning to relax after giving that burst of energy something of an outlet—even if that outlet was a bit embarrassing to show Takeshi. Though… it’d be something he’d see sooner or later anyway, at this rate.

Reina paused, glancing away from the boy and pressing the back of her fingers against her burning cheek in an attempt to cool them down.

Takeshi eyes opened wide as she pulled away suddenly, quickly getting up. He let his arm drop to the bed as she slapped herself on the cheek really hard. He didn’t know what was going on. She started asking if that was ok, as if she did something screwed up something. He blinked a few times confused. He shook his head, but he didn’t know if she saw it as she turned away.

“Reina…” He said soft as he pushed himself up off the bed, moving towards her. He placed his hand on her elbow, the one connected to her good hand. “You didn’t screw up Reina…” He leaned his head to the side to try and get into her view. He smiled at her. His face red. “Of course it's okay…” he tilted his head to the other side. A slight worried thought came to his head. “Unless...that wasn’t what you wanted...” He allowed his hand to drop from her elbow.

The girl had been given the time to gather herself, and looked back to Takeshi, embarrassed but feeling better.

“I-it is what I want,” she said, brow furrowing as she seemed to go into thought. “I’m just… I have some issues, I guess…” Reina’s body cringed subtly at the admission. Insulting herself within her own thoughts was one thing, but saying such things out loud for a boy she liked to hear was even worse. It was a hole she dug herself with that outburst though, so she had to at least offer some sort of explanation to Takeshi.

“I’m not really ever very confident—at all, because of… stuff… and just my own personality.” she said, looking away again. “I like you, so it is what I want, and I believe you when you say it’s what you want too, but…” The girl had to really think on her words, knowing she wouldn’t like to hear Takeshi badmouthing himself either. “I just feel like you could… you could do better, and I don’t want to make you regret being with me, but I’m scared I will because I have a history of really… really screwing things up…”

Reina trailed off, noticing the flare of defiant anger in her again. Anger at her past and especially at herself. She’d survived an encounter—and been evenly matched—with a dangerous villain for a short time. She’d already decided she would change. It was hard to shake the habits that had been beaten into her for so long, but if she couldn’t do that much, she’d never be able to atone for what she had done.

Her gravity was pulling lightly now, and Reina found her good hand gripping tightly to the fabric of Takeshi’s shirt, her forehead pressed into the nook of his shoulder and neck. She needed to keep hiding her face for a bit longer.

“I… already told you that you’re stuck with me though. I’m your problem as well for now.”

Takeshi frowned when she said she has some issues. He said nothing as she spoke, watching her closely. He shook his head when she said she felt like he could do better than her. That she didn’t want to have him regret being with her. His voice caught in his throat as he hesitated, not wanting to say something wrong, he thought of what he should say.

He did notice how she was always doubting herself. But, when he watched her fight... that seemed far from the truth. Of course he wouldn’t know what she was thinking, but he did see her first fight, it was amazing, even though she didn’t win. She still did a phenomenal job. But even so, that paled in comparison to her fight with his brother. Rakasha. She put up a real fight against a killer. She pushed through her pain of broken bones and other injuries.

He glanced down to her hand that was gripping his shirt tightly. Her quirk pulling once again... a feeling that felt comforting to him now. As she pressed her forehead into the nook of his neck, he wrapped his arm around the middle of her back and pulled her even closer. His cheek pressing against the top of her head. As she reiterated that he was stuck with her. That she was his problem. This irritated him slightly, he did not see her as a problem, nor that he was stuck with her. He was irritated she kept on insulting herself.

He took a deep breath… noticing soft scent of her hair. He didn’t want to move her, he wanted her to know he was there for her… that he wanted to be ‘stuck’ next to her. He ran his hand up her back and placed it gently on the back of her head, squeezing gently as he pressed his lips against her temple for a moment. “Reina, I want you to listen to me.” He said in Firmly, but his tone was just so she would pay attention. His voice calm and soothing as he then said. “We all have issues. I certainly have some I’m working through. I think you just think too much, and think too little of yourself. Which is why you are not ‘confident.’ But that's not what I see when I look at you. When I see the real you. I see a beautiful woman who stands up in the face of fear, with so much confidence that it made my brother think twice.”

He moved his hand to her shoulder and held her.“I also see you as kind and forgiving. After what... my family put you through, you still are speaking to me. Knowing that they are in my life you are willing to talk to me, to want to be with me. I doubt there are many who are brave enough to even look at me after knowing what you know now. I don’t see you as a problem. Nor do I see that I’m stuck with you. I’m blessed to know you, and lucky that you would even want to deal with me.”

Reina stayed motionless as she listened to Takeshi, keeping her face hidden the entire time. The boy spoke long enough to give her enough time to fight back any tears that had been threatening to fall after she had spoken aloud some of the thoughts that seemed to never leave her.

She couldn’t help but give a quiet giggle as she lifted her head a bit, glancing at Takeshi for just a moment.

“You… say some lame things sometimes,” she said through her laugh. “But it’s cute. And most of what you say isn’t so corny… so thanks.” She could nitpick at every word he said, find some way to convince him why she wasn’t any good… but she simply didn’t. Her mind made no effort to, contrary to how it always did.

She knew everyone had their issues—it was why she didn’t want to push her own problems on anyone. It was part of the reason she wanted to be a hero. It was the entire reason she was hesitant here. But his words made her realize she hadn’t even thought about his family in that way. To her, Michiko and Takeshi were completely separate from the villains she had fought. To Takeshi, though, it was a much bigger deal than that, of course. His spiel had served as a reminder that just as she’d be dumping some of her baggage on him, he’d be doing the same. That was relationships in short, after all. Though she hadn’t had many—and none romantic—she was intelligent enough to understand that much.

Takeshi let his head and shoulders fall in defeat when she said he says lame things. Though it was hard to not smile at her laugh. Shrugging he simply said, “It’s why I don’t talk much…” with a slight smile. He didn’t have a chance to say anymore when there was a knock on the door.

The girl paused again looking to Takeshi for a moment, before finally letting go of his shirt, a sheepish smile on her lips as faint pink returned to her cheeks.

”Reinbow? Are you awake? I got a watermelon!”

She turned to make her way to the door. “I-I’m awake,” she said, opening the door a second later. She had half a mind to just poke her head through a crack but decided against it, opening the door fully. She smiled at Mamoru, blinking as she saw what the girl carried. A whole watermelon. Of course, that’s what she had said, but for some reason Reina hadn’t been expecting her hands to be holding a whole one.

Reina laughed softly, moving aside to invite Mamoru in.

“I don’t think I’m really supposed to be moving around right now, so come in quick before any of the nurses see me.” It was clear by the tone of her voice though that that wasn’t something she was actually particularly concerned about. “They seem to never really believe me when I tell them I can walk around fine without it hurting much.” The girl gave a smirk, glancing from Mamoru to Takeshi, knowing full well why the nurses wouldn't take her word at face value.

@Lucius Cypher @Aerandir

Reina Mori


Reina gave a laugh at the vague mention of Takeshi's awful cooking, covering her mouth as she was mid-bite. She smiled back at the boy as he continued talking about his sister--being a single child herself, she didn't have any firsthand experience to reference, but he certainly came off as a good brother, and she imagined she would act similarly as an elder sibling.

"Mhm," she sounded with a nod, her hand covering her mouth again while she swallowed her food. "I think I'll mention it to her when I get the chance, then."

The girl continued eating happily, finding the brief pause in the conversation to be... warm? It certainly didn't make her feel uncomfortable as such lulls tended to--like she had to scramble to say something to not be a waste of time to be around. With Takeshi, the quiet moments felt nice, and she never struggled to find words to say.

This time though, it was him breaking the moment of silence. Reina paused, glancing at his left arm at the same time he did--followed immediately by her face quickly beginning to burn up that that was the first thing she thought of. It was kind of difficult for it not to be of course, but she wasn't quite sure how to deal with it. Takeshi was still Takeshi, so she had just acted more or less the same. Now that her attention had been brought to his missing arm, she was feeling flustered...

But only for a half second. Because not a moment later, Takeshi cracked a small joke about his arm. Reina paused before giving him a quick smirk. It faded quickly as Takeshi continued, the boy looking rather seriously into her eyes. The girl felt her face blush again lightly as he finished, taken by surprise at his words, and how close they were to each other--of course, that was her own doing, but just now something had become real.

She had been acting kind of flirty for sure, humouring herself and her feelings. Suddenly though, the voice that had been eating away at her thoughts for years resurfaced. Its appearances were becoming fewer and farther between, but right now, it had come back with a vengeance.

There was no way Takeshi was actually interested in her. She was gloomy and depressed, and just awful to be around. To make things worse, she had been finding ways to spend time with him as much as she dared to--if anything, that made her an annoyance. Neither boys nor girls before Komei had ever even wanted to approach her. Shoko had helped with that, but the root of the problem was Reina herself. A shut-in with a terrible personality, and a quirk that had made her a murderer.

She was a monster. Shoko and others had told her again and again, but Reina knew before that.

Maybe she'd somehow fooled Takeshi into feeling something for her. Hell, she had been fooling herself lately that she was maybe worth something--that she could really change--

The thoughts came to a halt as abruptly as they had begun upon the girl noticing her quirk was pulling rather strongly now, pressing Takeshi's body into hers and bringing their faces closer together. Instead of those tainting thoughts, her mind was now completely occupied by other things as she felt her face burn red. The table and sushi had been pulled closer to her as well, and the sheets and pillow on the bed had been displaced.

"I... do smile a lot around y-you, huh?..." she managed to squeak, showing the boy another smile--this one embarrassed--as she weakened the pull of her quirk, though made a point to keep it pulling gently.

Reina's eyes glanced away but she kept the rest of her body facing slightly towards him. "O-Obviously staying in a hospital means I'm missing a lot of things..." she started. "... A-And you're one of those things. Your smile is included in that too, I guess."

She glanced back towards him out of the corner of her eyes, acutely aware of the colour of her cheeks though doing her best to pay it no mind at the moment. "So I'm glad you came to visit me..." she said with a faint, sheepish smile.

@Aerandir

Reina Mori


Reina smiled, turning her head away to help conceal the light blush on her cheeks, relieved that the boy didn't seem to be looking for a quick exit.

Even though there was really no actual need to, she shifted over into Takeshi just a bit more as she reached over the table with to rummage through the bag of food, pressing her arm into his more.

The girl gazed at Takeshi out of the corner of her eye with a bashful smirk. She was... pretty socially inept sometimes, but even she wouldn't have missed the meaning behind her words about the amount of food.

"... Take a hint, Take-kun..." she said, heart skipping a beat when she managed to say the nickname aloud without stumbling. Her face was still warm, but it was starting to bother her less--despite the shyness and embarrassment she may have been feeling, it was a nice version of those things. That wasn't something she would have ever considered as possible even just a month ago. It didn't matter if Takeshi saw her face being a little more red than usual--his was doing the same after all. For now, Reina was happy, and she wanted to enjoy that.

The girl deftly opened a small container of sushi before rummaging through the bag and finding what she wanted a small handful of chopstick packets. She dropped one on the table directly in front of Takeshi, and ripped open another for herself with the help of her teeth.

"This is my gift, and I'll do what I want with it," she said grabbing one of the rolls with her chopsticks and lifting it towards Takeshi. "And what I want is to share it with you. You helped protect your sister just as much as I did... and you protected me as well, even if I maybe didn't need it as much." The normally shy girl's smiled widened, both at the stubbornness she couldn't hold back, and at being able to truly express herself for the first time in years. "So thank you, Take-kun. Food I didn't even make myself isn't enough to fully show how I feel, but it's just a start... and anyway, it looks really really good, so me giving it away actually is kind of a big deal." Reina giggled a bit at her own joke, feeling silly for it but not really caring. It was refreshing. "I wouldn't share it with just anybody."

With that, the girl moved the sushi held between her chopsticks an inch closer to Takeshi, a flash of mischief overtaking her. Unable to stop smiling away, she opened her mouth slightly and made an 'ahhh' noise, eyeing the boy for his reaction to the apparent imminent bite she wanted to feed him as she pushed the food closer and closer.

"Just kidding--it was made for me, so I get the first bite," she said through her grin, fighting back a small laugh as she moved the chopsticks quickly to her own mouth.

"Ahh, Michiko is talented!" she said, stopping herself as she realized she was speaking without having finished the bite. A second later, she continued. "She must cook often?"

@Aerandir
Backstory is still WIP, but I figured I'd post this to also officially state my interest!



Café de Clieu - School Garden, District 7

Collaboration with @Crimmy


Hana’s thoughts drifted again to Kanacon, and the diorama based on one of the series’ most iconic scenes that she had donated to be given away as a prize for the charity lottery. The whole piece had been by far the most time-consuming thing she had made before, usually sticking mostly to simple statues. She had begun the project mostly to kill time during summer break, since there wasn’t much else to do—sure, she had had a lot of homework, but that had all been done within a few days.

The girl tapped through her phone, navigating to her Pixif.net page. Seeing her follower count made her jump out of her desk chair, the combination of restlessness and excitement forcing her quickly out the door of her room and into the halls of the dormitory. She had reached four-thousand followers, up from barely a hundred at the start of summer break. Documenting her progress on the Kanamin diorama had brought her a nice amount of attention due to the general Kanamin hype stirred up by the convention. She had tons of people commenting on her images now, and she loved replying to them as much as she could, often having full conversations. Though she didn’t know the commenters—neither their names or their real faces, it almost felt like having friends… or at least, how she imagined having friends felt like.

Stopping by the vending machine at the entrance of the dormitory, she fired off another reply and bought a bottle of water. Taking a sip, she scrolled down to the next comment—a screen name she didn’t recognize, so potentially a new friend. The comment opened with some praise, and then went into a suggestion asking her to make a diorama of his favourite h-scene—

Hana choked on her drink, coughing herself quickly to tears. There were a few girls in the dorm, and they began to give her strange looks, only one caring enough to say anything.

“Are you alright, Kanno-san?” she said after a moment of hesitation.

Hana nodded quickly and gave an unconvincing thumbs up. “I-I’m fine, I’m fine,” she managed between coughs, quickly leaving the building before the scene she had caused made her turn even redder.

After taking a moment to breathe, she glanced back at her phone incredulously. She… could see the appeal in the suggestion, but it seemed like such a strange thing to directly ask of someone like that. Well, it’s not like she knew who it was that was asking. Along with the extra followers, she had started to notice weirder comments cropping up more frequently, but that was to be expected. The girl chose to ignore this particular comment and slid her phone into her pocket.

Now the issue was finding something to do to burn her energy. Once again, she found herself regretting choosing not to attend Kanacon herself. Normally she would have—conventions were definitely entertaining, even if she pretty much always went alone. Along with all the sights to see, they also always gave her some hope that she’d bump into some nice people to talk to, even if that rarely happened due to her own timidness.

This time though, she chose not to go because of the diorama she had made. She had, of course, made it public to her followers that the purpose of the project was for it to be given away at Kanacon, but she hadn’t expected a side effect of that; dozens of people had messaged her, wondering if they’d be able to meet her at the convention. While that should have been a dream come true for the girl, it really gave her cold feet. Going to a con with the hope that she might meet people, but with no expectations to do so was one thing—but to go with the full intention of meeting up with strangers was a scary prospect to her. They probably wouldn’t like her very much in person, anyways. She was a lot more talkative behind her screen name.

So she had told the people who had asked if she was going that she was going to be too busy with school work. If she really wanted to, she was probably still fine to go to Kanacon; she had never revealed her real name or face on her Pixif page. Paranoia at the potential of somehow being recognized was keeping her back, even if she wanted to be recognized. Maybe. She sure thought she did when it wasn’t a likely possibility.

Hana was brought out of her thoughts, tossing a look over her shoulder. She clicked her tongue. Sat at a bench a few dozen feet away was a disheveled-looking girl, recognizable by her short black hair that still managed to be a wild mane.

Maybe the paranoia of being recognized wasn’t completely unfounded. Hana picked up her walking pace as subtlety as she could, turning the very next street corner.

This girl seemed to be showing up strangely often the past few days. Brushed off as a weird coincidence at first by Hana, she simply couldn’t ignore it anymore—every single time she had stepped outside, she noticed the black-haired girl at least once. While the girl wasn’t particularly intimidating-looking, it still made Hana’s heart race uncomfortably.

A few dozen seconds after walking down the street she had turned into, she glanced back over her shoulder. Sure enough, among other young girls going about their lives in the School Garden, she spotted the black-haired one with her nose in her phone, following in Hana’s steps.

Frustration growing, Hana tilted her head back with a sigh, trying to convince herself there was nothing to it… a sentiment that was immediately shattered upon seeing that same girl up on the rooftop of a tall building, a hundred feet away. Her blood ran cold as she saw sunlight reflect off something held in the figure’s hands. Hana wheeled around, seeing the very same girl still far behind her.

Well, she was officially spooked.

Once again, Hana wasted no time turning the nearest corner, making sure to cut off vision from both of the seemingly identical girls, and immediately broke out into a jog. Spotting a small cafe she was coming up on, Hana tossed one last look over her shoulder, confirming the black-haired girl was not in sight yet. Quickly, she made up her mind and slowed herself to a brisk walk, pushing her way past the doors and into the building.

The girl paused, trying to keep her breathing under control to not make an even bigger scene than she had by somewhat bursting through the doors. Face slowly turning red as she felt judging eyes on her, she tried to calm herself down from the stress that was causing her to breathe more heavily than she otherwise would have from such light exercise. She slid into the short line at the counter, figuring that appearing like she was here to buy something would help make her look less weird.

Her attempt to appear as inconspicuous as possible did bear fruit, for by the time the aging wooden doors behind her chimed once more to allow another customer into the cafe, the gazes of the other clientele were no longer upon her. However, that did not mean she was no longer an object of attention: the newest arrival to Café de Clieu had taken a spot in the line behind Hana, and in fact was somebody familiar to her.

Kanno-han, good to see you,” greeted her classmate in her signature, lilting Kyoto accent. “I haven’t seen you come here before.

The smiling, bespectacled girl standing there was Youko Wakahisa, a daughter of the Wakahisa Conglomerate that was prominent in not only the business world of the Keihanshin metropolitan region, but also the entirety of Japan as a whole. She was also a Level 3 Esper, one who sat two seats to the right of Hana in Shidarezakura Academy’s Class 1-A. And while they were not exactly “friends” in the truest sense of the term, the slightly older girl was always willing to greet her fellow students with friendly cheer, particularly if they were fellow Kansai natives.

It was a not-at-all disguised fact that Youko tended to gravitate towards other westerners.

But now that you’re here, you should definitely try their iced coffee,” she continued. “It’s especially excellent, and you do look like you’re in need of one.

Her observation of Hana’s physical state was punctuated with by a slight quirk to her lips.

Hana started slightly upon hearing her name. She turned a little more quickly than would be normal, taking a half second to realize that she was being addressed not by the black-haired girl, but by a classmate.

The girl blinked, before finally saying “Wakahisa-san,” with a small nod as way of greeting, her own accent less pronounced due to having moved around Japan so much. Hana glanced towards the menu above the counter. “… I don’t really drink anything other than water and sports drinks.” She frowned to herself—that wasn’t a particularly great thing to say if she wanted the chance meeting to at least be pleasant. Youko was one of the few girls in her class that Hana was able to imagine being friends with someday. Though that was mostly because Youko was friendly and polite to everyone, so it’s not like she was interested in Hana in particular, but… it was just one of those things to Hana, that made it easier to hope.

“B-But iced coffee sounds like a good place to start trying new things,” she said, managing to put a bit of cheer in her voice.

She paused again, unsure what to say—not helped by the fact that the apparent stalker was still on her mind. The girl gazed past Youko for a moment, scanning for the stalker through the windows of the store. No sign of her… though another distraction keeping Hana from focusing fully on trying not to mess up this conversation cropped up, in the form of her phone beginning to vibrate incessantly in her pocket from notifications.

“I guess that means you come here often?” she settled on asking her classmate. That seemed like an alright thing to say—maybe not the best, but definitely not the worst. She had personally done much worse far too many times.

The girl who had been in front of them in line moved aside, the employee behind the counter looking to Hana expectantly. This simple situation caused her heart rate to rise uncomfortably. She had just asked Youko a question! What was she supposed to do here? Make her order and force Youko to wait before answering the question she herself had asked? Or listen to Youko and make the employee wait instead? Either way, she’d be getting judged for being rude to somebody, right? Hana’s face began to redden as she froze, glancing between only two options she believed she had—all while her phone was still buzzing away, somehow just adding to the panic of the situation to the socially inept girl.

I like to think I’m a regular,” was Youko’s smiling reply as she casually stepped past Hana and up to the counter. “That’s why Aki-chan here’s aware that I want two of my usual today, right?

The aforementioned employee stared blandly at her. “You always buy one iced coffee.”

Youko waved her off. “I want to try something different and new, just like Kanno-han,” she declared. “And it would be very remiss of me - an injustice even! - if I recommended a drink and didn’t treat her to it.

“Fair enough. Then it’ll be 800 yen today.”

She whipped out her debit card, tapping it against the reader to complete her order. It was an action she had repeated many, many times in her visits to the cafe, but for the first time in a number of months (her last visit with her friend was … probably around the Lunar New Year), Youko was paying for someone else as well.

Why not find us a seat?” she said, moving away from the counter to address Hana again. “I’ll wait for the coffees, so you can answer that call while you’re sitting.

Hana found herself blinking, calming down as Youko seemed to easily take care of what had seemed like a rising, insurmountable problem. To be expected really, from what Hana had seen of the girl already. Though she still steamed in light embarrassment, the panic was quickly gone.

She made the slightest move to protest having her drink paid for, but it all happened so fast, leaving her to only be able to nod at Youko’s suggestion.

Hana’s phone was still going off, though now there were some breaks between vibrations. As she slid into one of the tall seats at a small table for two, she finally took out her phone to see she had received messages to her Pixif account from over a dozen people.

She really wasn’t able to find any relief from stress today.

The girl quickly tapped to one message, her heart stopping when she read the contents. After a second of shock, she tapped to a message from another user, and then another, and another. All mentioning the same thing—a photo that had been posted on her profile’s message section by another user. She navigated to find the post itself, freezing up again.

It was a photo of her—her face in full view, stepping out of her dormitory’s main entrance, wearing the exact same clothes she had on right now. It was taken not even an hour ago. The user that posted it also left a comment, saying that it was her, and even revealing her real name.

She glanced around the cafe again, paranoia making her certain the black-haired girl would be around. She wasn’t. Hana turned her attention back the screen, reporting the user (whose name was a random string of digits) and removing the comment from her profile. The second she deleted, she paused, realizing that was basically her confirming the information was true, right? And it had obviously been seen by quite a few of her followers, if her glut of private messages were any indication.

No, that wasn’t necessarily true, she began to try and convince herself. Anyone making some sort of attempt to reveal her personal information was fully liable to be removed whether or not they were actually correct.

Either way, she was certainly more flustered and stressed than she had been in a long while.

And that was something that others could notice.

Is everything alright, Kanno-han?” asked Youko with a note of worry as she returned from the counter with iced coffees in hand. “Um, sorry if I’m prying into anything, but you don’t look particularly well today.

She gently placed Hana’s drink in front of her, before slipping into the opposite seat with her own coffee nursed between small, pale hands. In the face of the taller girl’s palpable anxiety, there was a genuine air of concern to her words.

Hana finally looked away from her phone, up towards her classmate. At the question, she hesitated before giving an unconvincing nod. It wasn’t something she wanted to bother Youko with, but… would it be weird to tell her? Now that she had asked, it might be rude to play it off as though nothing was the matter, when clearly something was off—Hana had never been the worst at hiding her emotions, but the photo shook her enough that she knew she appeared worried.

“I, um… I think I’ve got a stalker…” she finally said, with a forced smile as though to say it wasn’t a big deal. She looked away quickly though, unable to keep up that facade for any amount of time. After another second in thought, deciding if it was fair to bother Youko with this, she spoke again. “I think I have an idea of who it is though—I’ve been noticing one girl in particular often whenever I’m out lately… well, uh, it might be two girls who look really similar? Or someone with an ability that lets them appear in two places or something. It seemed like I was being followed by them today, which is kind of how I ended up here…”

It seemed that once she finally started talking, it got a lot easier for the red-haired girl. She glanced between Youko and her phone for a moment, before navigating to her Pixif page and moving the phone along the table towards Youko. “I have this art page… it’s gotten a lot of followers lately, and somebody posted a photo of me here, just now.” Hana navigated to an archive of all comments on her profile, accessible by herself and whatever moderators the site had, finding the photo and comment with her real name that she had just deleted and showed the screen again to her classmate.

It was only then that Hana realized her hand was shaking lightly. She quickly pulled her arm back, turning her phone off, realizing she had been talking a lot more than was usual. “It… it should be fine, though. Next time I see her, I can confront her.”

But maybe it wouldn’t be that easy. While Hana wasn’t particularly afraid of any sort of physical altercation with damn near anyone, it’s not like she could go out swinging punches at this potential stalker. Even with proof that it was this girl, she still technically wasn’t allowed to deal with her herself—she’d need the proof, and then let proper authorities deal with it. The thought of it all, on top of her thousands of followers now pretty much knowing who she really was, was really not helping the anxious pit in her stomach.

Youko reached over and gently pushed the glass of iced coffee closer to Hana.

Take a sip, Kanno-han,” she said softly. “There has to be a way to work this thing out.

The girl directed an assuaging smile at her classmate, hoping to soothe the stressed-out state Hana was in. Even though they weren’t friends, the very nature of the problem wasn’t something Youko could (or wanted to) ignore.

I don’t know how these things are resolved,” she admitted, placing a comforting hand on Hana’s shaking one. “But I’ll be here if you need anything.

She paused for a moment, taking in a short breath as she brushed back strands of auburn hair.

And, if it wouldn’t be a burden,” the bespectacled girl continued, “do you want any help?

Hana followed the instruction, taking her first sip of iced coffee. She paused for a second, her mind taken off her stress for the briefest moment. “It’s good,” she said quietly, glancing towards Youko to see her smile.

Hana blinked quickly and looked away again as she felt the girl’s hand on hers, having to fight off an urge to jerk back—not that she didn’t appreciate or like the touch, but because she realized she was being comforted. She was supposed to be strong. If she wanted to stand out and be special, she needed to be strong on her own.

The girl bit the inside of her cheek as Youko spoke, willing the faint redness in her cheeks to disappear. It did feel nice to hear her classmate’s concern… but she couldn’t accept it. That was all backwards. Hana was the one who was supposed to help everyone else.

She opened her mouth, trying to find the words she wanted. “I… I’m sorry, Wakahisa-san,” she finally managed. “It’s rude of me to push this on you suddenly… I’ll be fine.”

Hana felt like making a quick exit, but she couldn’t quite find the courage to do that. Neither did she really have the courage to stay. She settled on rather timidly taking the straw of her drink between her lips and sipping slowly while her eyes looked off to the side, lamenting her complete lack of social skills among plenty of other things.

I see.

Youko hesitantly sucked in a breath of air, as if she wanted to say more, but the pall of anxiety over their table was too much for even her to cut through. Instead, she followed in her classmate’s footsteps, imbibing her own glass of iced coffee in silence. Besides the sound of the two sipping away at their drinks, it seemed that neither of them were willing to speak.

But the stillness wasn’t something the other Shidarezakura student could tolerate.

The clinking of ice against glass as Youko placed her drink down cut through the atmosphere of stillness like a knife.

I don’t think it’s rude of you,” she said. Her youthful face was resolute. “Quite the opposite, I think. Even if I don’t know how to help you, even if I’ve never encountered this particular situation before, I don’t think it’s rude of you to want to ask me for help.

She couldn’t just “un-involve” herself now.

But it’ll be the height of injustice if I let you work this out alone.

Her words were certain and precise. She spoke with absolute certainty in her belief.

And her smile was as radiant as the Sun.

Sorry, I’m pushy,” she admitted, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly. “But, you don’t need to face this alone, okay? You can talk to me and anyone else about it.

The girl had been all but literally collapsing in on herself throughout the silence, jumping slightly at the sound of Youko’s glass hitting the table’s wood. Though her nose was still pointed to the floor, Hana’s eyes stared up at her classmate from across the small table—the troubled girl found herself believing Youko’s words without question. Mm, maybe not… Hana still thought it had been rude of her to suddenly lay out this issue of hers to someone she hardly knew, but—at least—she fully believed Youko wasn’t upset about having to know about it.

The first thing Hana thought to do was suck down the rest of her ice tea in one breath, almost as a strange way of thanking Youko. She gasped lightly for air as she finished, setting it down on the table and sitting straighter.

Hana looked to Youko for a moment. “I’m… not great with people, if that wasn’t already painfully obvious. Things like this—social things, like talking to someone new, or less commonly having a stalker; they make me feel weak and helpless. Like I’m learning how to ride a bike again, except something… something doesn’t click. It never does, and I end up flat on my face.

“I hate that.” Hana paused for a breath, realizing she had gotten up out of her seat and was leaning over the table a bit. She felt her face redden a shade as she sat back down. “I want to get better at dealing with people. I guess… I think what I mean is I’ll… accept your help if it wouldn’t be too much of a burden. But no one else’s.” The girl looked down towards her empty cup.

“It’s hard enough for me to be so weak in front of one person.”

Youko gently shook her head.

You’re not being weak, Kanno-han,” she said simply. “Not at all, I think.

She held out a hand. There was no judgement in the action, no condescension - nothing but a heartfelt desire to give help to somebody that the heiress believed to need it.

I think you’re strong,” continued Youko, taking a short breath through her teeth. “I think it’s fine to be worried. To hate that feeling of just … not person-ing good. That’s normal. But … even if it seems so frightening, you’re still going to trust me.

That’s not weak at all. Kanno-han, that’s real strong.

So -

Her laugh seemed to bubble right out of her throat.

- I, Youko Wakahisa, have to answer that trust of yours in kind.

Reina Mori


The girl felt her blood slowly going cold, brought on by the intense gaze reflected back at her in the mirror. Her eyes… they gave her the impression of—

Reina glanced behind her, seeing Takeshi. Somehow, his sudden appearance hadn’t startled her in the slightest, despite how deep in thought she had been. Instead, it took a second for her to start getting flustered—though thankfully, Takeshi continued to speak while she gathered herself. She turned to face him better with her own timid smile.

“Well… you aren't wrong,” she said with a soundless giggle, glancing to the ceiling and placing her index finger to her lips in thought. “I’ve opened up some of my wounds a few times… hurts a lot less than when I first got them though, so it's no biggie.” She looked back to the boy out of the corner of her eyes, waving her hand at the air. “I can’t help it though, I start to lose it after just an hour of laying in bed. Wasting time like that when I’m trying to be a pro hero is no good either…”

The girl trailed off, eyes shifting to the bag Takeshi held. Had he?…

“I brought you some home cooked food…”

Reina felt her stomach grumble at the mere mention, but more than that she was stopped by the thought behind it. Takeshi and Michiko had thought of her, and had gone out of their way to give her something they knew she’d likely desperately want.

She could only stare for another long second. A week ago, she would have timidly but adamantly refused the food. She would have convinced herself she didn’t deserve it, and she wouldn’t want the person to have to spend any more time with her than necessary. Her eyes widened, realizing that wasn’t at all how she felt now. With Takeshi, she could be at least sociable—even just now, she had talked to him with no effort, which was not a common occurrence in the past few years of her life. That meant she felt she probably wasn’t a complete nuisance for Takeshi to be around—in fact, if she let herself hope and dwelt on their interactions enough, she could find herself thinking that he might like like being around her, which was a concept so foreign to her that it almost made the girl uncomfortable. Almost. Once again, only a couple weeks ago it would have. Now though…

Reina brought herself out of her thoughts, and gave a smile far happier than was normal from her. She stepped forward to peek into the bag, getting even more excited seeing it was sushi. Evidently, the Yashiro siblings had noticed a thing or two about her, the thought of which made her cheeks warm up a bit.

“So…” she began, glancing for a moment up at Takeshi, her voice taking on a subtle teasing tone not often heard from her. “All I’ve got to do to get free food is help keep Michiko safe from a murderous villain or two?” Through her faintly cheeky grin she felt her blush deepening seeing Takeshi's face barely a foot away from hers, so the girl turned to make her way to her hospital bed, pulling on the arm that had a small table fixed to it to allow her to eat while in the bed. She positioned it so it was over her lap as she sat on the side of the mattress—and as she did so, realized something that made the redness in her cheeks deepen and even start to spread to her ears. She glanced between the table, the edge of the bed, and Takeshi… and decided to not let herself think over what she was about to suggest too much, for her own sanity.

Looking away conspicuously, she motioned Takeshi over with her hand, re-positioning the arm on the hospital bed so that the table was only partially hanging above one of her thighs rather than centered over her lap—giving the boy room to sit at the ‘table’ next to her as well.

“I-I’d be able to eat all of that probably, to be honest… but that’d be rude, so you have to have some of it too.” She paused, now starting to think on what she was saying. It was possible he had just meant to drop off this gift for her and be on his way. That would be embarrassing considering what she had just said, and lead to her face getting even hotter. “U-Unless you have somewhere to be or something!” she quickly added, voice a pitch higher than normal. “Then I-I’ll excuse you, I guess…”

Underthinking things evidently had its own set of problems for her, just as overthinking did.

@Aerandir
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