#nerva rekka

[chemicalmagecraft]

Taiyuu OCT Round 4

Character Nicknames: Nii-chan: Takeda Ryuji Mulan-sensei: Jailong Chen Mushu-chan: Firecracker Boron: Nerva Rekka Buck-sensei: Kazumi Shunsuke Akai-chan: Naishin-Sunomu Seisho Akai-obaachan: Seisho's grandmother (I do not know her full name and you probably don't either)

@taiyuu-oct

x x x

Yukino hummed to herself, grabbing a quick snack from the pantry. She'd participated in the UA entrance exam a few days ago and to be honest she was still a little drained from it. Still, she felt like she did pretty well. No way she wasn't getting into the hero course.

"Yuki-chan!" her brother shouted, running into the room with an envelope in his hands. "It's the letter from UA! It looks like you got in!"

"Oh?" she said, opening up a granola bar. "You didn't open it, did you?"

"Oh no," Nii-chan said, "it just looks like the one I got when I was accepted." He tossed the envelope to Yukino. "Now, just remember that, when you get into UA, you should be on your best behavior."

Yukino rolled her eyes and groaned. "Do you really think I won't behave?"

He shrugged. "I'm just making sure. I know some of the teachers at your old school had a tendency to... look away when people with 'heroic' Quirks acted up."

Yukino snarled, clenching her fists. "What, and you think I'm like those bullies?"

Ryuji winced. "N-no, I just meant that UA has higher standards than that, and you should-"

Yukino threw the now-frosted acceptance letter on the floor. "Know what?" she said coldly. "I changed my mind. Gonna see what other hero schools there are before I restrict myself to UA."

"Yuki-cha-" Ryuji started to say, but shut up when Yukino glared at him.

"Goodbye, Ryuji," she growled, then stormed off.

x x x

Mulan-sensei had spent the last half-hour berating the entire class about safety. Odd, Yukino didn't think any of the teachers actually cared about that by now. Finally, she was getting to the point of this exercise. "So today you'll be doing a mock rescue exercise." She pointed behind her, at the same dirt cityscape they'd used the last time Mulan-sensei dragged them out to do an exercise. Except this time it was ruined, like there was a massive supervillain attack or natural disaster or something. Wow, did they really have the budget to destroy one of their dirt training course mockups?

"You'll lose points for any injuries that occur, both to yourself and the mock victims. And you get points for every victim you rescue. We're not telling you how many points you have, lose, gain, or need to pass, so you don't simply stop when you have enough to make it. Heroes don't stop saving people until they're sure that there's nobody left to save, so neither will you. Of course, the ruined state of the cityscape means that parts of it might not be safe."

Yukino scoffed. Here Mulan-sensei was telling them to be safe while admitting she was sending them into somewhere dangerous. At least make sure nothing would collapse and kill someone!

"Because of that, my Quirk effects will be flying around the area." She pointed to Mushu-chan, who was floating around her head, when she said 'Quirk effects.' "If anyone gets injured they are to whistle so they can be rescued."

Yukino bit her lip. 'Quirk effects...' She'd tried to ignore it before, but... Mulan-sensei calling her dragons that was starting to really bother her.

"Mommy! What's that big lizard thing doing here?" "Ugh, did the demon woman have to come?" "Sorry, we don't want any weird monsters in our club!"

Maybe Yukino was making connections where there were none, but... The way Mulan-sensei called Mushu-chan and the others Quirk effects and stuff like that, only begrudgingly referring to them by their actual names... It felt disgustingly familiar to the sorts of dehumanizing remarks she and her family occasionally received due to her grandfather's Quirk and the mutations he passed down. Now, normally Yukino would at least try to talk to her about how the language she was using concerned her, but... Yukino glared at Fuwa-chan... the last time Yukino brought her concerns up to a teacher she didn't feel like it was properly addressed. So she just added it to the list of reasons she would be leaving this half-baked, understaffed, ill-funded travesty of a hero school and never look back. Mulan-sensei was still talking, but Yukino couldn't bring herself to listen at the moment. Hopefully it wasn't anything too important.

She did manage to tune back in when Mulan-sensei was starting to wind down, though. "And remember," her final point was. "You'll all be doing this at the same time! You'll lose a lot of points for fighting with each other, but there's no penalty for collaborating. It's encouraged, even. Now, go!" Mulan-sensei blew her whistle, causing most of the class to run to the ruined city. Yukino was among that crowd, though she was towards the back of the group because she couldn't really get that far into the crowd without getting trampled. The group quickly thinned out, thankfully, as people split off, either to go down side streets, climb up the buildings, or take to the skies. She looked around, trying to spot any of the fake civilians.

There! A vaguely-humanoid figure roughly hewn from what appeared to be stone, trapped under what appeared to be a streetlight made from dirt. They... probably didn't say anything about property damage, right? Typically in a situation where things were already this destroyed nobody really cared if heroes had to break a few more things to save someone's life. Yukino quickly tapped the 'streetlight' on both sides of the fake civilian, using Cryokinesis to freeze two segments and then cleave them apart to free it up. She lifted the cut segment off of the civilian, then concentrated on her Quirk. She'd had an idea for a special move, or at least a new usage of Cryomancy if it didn't exactly count as a special move... She chilled the air around her a by few degrees, extending the effect out in a pulse. Yukino could, if only for a moment, feel anything that she was chilling even if she didn't freeze it below zero. It was a little murky, but she could tell differences between things by temperature and texture. It'd have been a bit easier to detect the civilians if they were warm bodies and not made of cold stone, but at least it was something.

The reason why she'd found a civilian first, though, was because she wanted to have an example of what she knew the civilian might feel like to compare the surroundings to. And using the special move produced... mixed results, honestly. For one, it took a small bite out of her body heat, but she was expecting that. She felt like her sense might've gotten a bit too spread out towards the end, which was hopefully something she could work on, but she did notice two more civilians in a nearby building. The door was blocked by a bit of dirt building, but that really wasn't much of a hindrance to a telekinetic as potent as she. Yukino patted the ground next to her civilian, using her Quirk. "Hang in there a bit," she said despite the fact that it was an honestly creepy-looking rock and not even anything resembling a person. Then she walked up to the door, brushing off the rubble with her Quirk.

Yukino quickly froze the ground under the two civilians inside the building, thankfully not obstructed aside from the rubble over the door. She carefully lifted all three civilians on the impromptu telekinetic stretchers she made from the ground under them, then walked out the building. She walked out of the dirtban area, the three civilians in tow. Yukino noticed Boron down the street carefully carrying two civilian stones in the same direction she was going. "Hey, Boron," she said, waving.

"Hey," he said, though he was still concentrating more on trying not to drop the heavy stones.

Yukino, because she wasn't really burdened as much by her charges thanks to her telekinesis, reached the area where everyone seemed to be dropping off their civilians. She gently set them down, still on their platforms, and nodded to Mulan-sensei. She jogged back to the cityscape, slowing down a bit when she passed by Boron. "Trade ya when you get back," she said, then sped back up again. She walked around the city, not using her sensory skill again but just checking under rubble when she saw a spot where a civilian might be hidden. She'd managed to find one civilian that way by the time Boron found her.

"You said you wanted to trade?" he asked.

Yukino nodded. "I chill you off, you warm me up. Also, I have something I wanna try, if you'll warm me up again when I'm done."

He smiled and summoned some fire. "Sure, let's do it!"

After Yukino cooled him down and ate his fire in return, Yukino tried her idea. She sent a pulse of cold off in one directing, hoping that narrowing it down would let her sense a bit more. It was a success, so she, with Boron's help, sent pulses off in three other directions, turning roughly ninety degrees each time. She had a pretty good idea of where all the civilians nearby were, at least for the moment, so...

"There are some civilians that way," Yukino said, pointing. It was true, of course, but there were a few more in another direction that Yukino planned on taking. "Of course, I can't guarantee our classmates won't scoop them up." With that said, she went after the civilians that she'd felt.

x x x

After... maybe an hour or two of the exercise, Yukino saw two people in suits talking to Mulan-sensei and some other teachers as she brought some more civilians out.

"What are you two doing here?" Mulan-sensei asked, looking somewhat miffed.

"We're here about the outstanding debt of Chikyu Tane," one of the suited men said.

When she heard that, something inside Yukino just... snapped. She faintly heard the civilians she was carrying thud to the ground, but she didn't care at that point.

It made... a disturbing amount of sense. But still, learning that Chikyu-’sensei’ apparently got into debt making a shitty-ass seventh-tier dirt school that couldn't properly care for its students? It was all Yukino could do to keep from exploding then and there, instead gritting her teeth and seething at the situation until one of the teachers, she didn't notice who, gently ushered her back to the dorms.

When she was back at the dorms she immediately walked to her room, slamming the door open, and stormed over to her belongings. She immediately grabbed her scratching block, which she usually kept somewhere easily accessible in case of a situation like this where something (or someone) caused her emotions to spike severely. She sat down and growled to herself as she started furiously ripping into it. She tried to take deep breaths to calm herself down, but it ended up shallow and not helping at all.

"Are you okay?" a quiet, nervous voice asked. Yukino jumped to see Yuu-chan standing at the doorway.

She was about to shout at him, but sighed. He didn't deserve it. "I'm... really angry," Yukino spat out. She snarled. "It's... by itself it's petty, but this is just the latest in a string of issues I've had with this damn school. And to be honest? I'm fucking out. Bye." Yukino got up, still scratching at her block. She walked to the door, letting Yuu-chan get out of her way first. "And... for what it's worth," Yukino stopped to say before she left, "you and the other friends I made here... are pretty much the only good thing I got out of this school. I'd like to keep in touch, if that's cool with you."

"Yeah," he said, though he still sounded a little somber. "I'd like that..."

"Thanks." Yukino left, searching for a teacher. She quickly found Goudalone-sensei, trying to calm down some students.

"I-I'm sure Laccadaisy will get back soon!" they said.

That statement hit Yukino hard. Chikyu wasn't even fucking there? Goudalone-sensei probably was trying to keep the students from getting riled up, but all it did was anger Yukino further. "Who do I have to talk to to leave?" Yukino shouted at them.

"A-ah! Takeda-chan!" they winced. They got really nervous when they saw her, and the students they were talking to backed away a bit. "Um... We'd prefer that you didn't leave the island at this time..."

"Not what I meant," Yukino growled, clenching her fists. "I want out of Taiyuu. I was trying to be patient, but whatever's going on now is the last straw!"

"U-um..." they trembled a bit under Yukino's fury. "Y-you'd have to talk to Buckskin about that, but he's... looking for Laccadaisy with Ryujin at the moment... They're... probably on the mainland."

Yukino's hands shook. A few wisps of white vapor rolled off of her as she tried to keep herself from lashing out. "Okay then," she said coldly. "But I'm leaving. Now. I'll contact... Kazumi-sensei about that later." She stormed off, pulling out her phone and opening her contacts. She tapped one of the first contacts, pressing the 'call' button. She went to an area with no people, trying to get some privacy.

"Yuki-chan! What's up!" Nii-chan picked up almost immediately.

Yukino sighed, trying to compose herself.

Nii-chan picked up on her silence. "This isn't an 'I love my brother so much and wanted to talk to him' call, is it?"

"No," Yukino muttered, unamused.

He sighed. "Okay, you here to vent or do you want my help with something?"

"I'm leaving," Yukino told him. "I don't care if you don't want me to, I don't care if you aren't there when I get off the train, hell, if the train isn't available I don't care if I have to use my Quirk to leave!"

"Okay," Nii-chan said. "Wow. Did... did something illegal happen?"

Yukino snorted, a bit of white vapor puffing from her nose. "Supposedly not, but at this point I wouldn't be surprised at all."

"Yeah, you sounded pretty... serious. Okay, luckily my shift just ended, so I'll try to be there to pick you up. If I'm not there when you get off, please wait until I arrive. And if you can't take the train, call me. I should be able to arrange something a little less... technically illegal."

"Thanks, Nii-chan," Yukino muttered.

"Love you, kiddo. Be there as soon as I can!" *Click.*

Yukino put her phone away and headed for her room.

x x x

Yukino hefted her backpack. She'd put some of her clothes, electronics, toiletries, and valuables in her bag but unfortunately had to leave most of it behind for when she could get it later. Luckily Yuu-chan was still in their room, so Yukino apologized for everything and asked him to make sure nothing happened to her stuff until she came back. With that taken care of, she was heading out. But before she could get to the door, she heard a calm voice.

"You're leaving, Takeda-kun," Akai-chan remarked. It wasn't really a question.

"Yeah," Yukino said. "I just... can't take this shit anymore." She'd already vented to Akai-chan about how she'd been having a lot of doubts about Taiyuu, and how she was considering leaving even before this most recent incident.

The much taller girl nodded. "Would you want me to leave with you?" Yukino noticed that she also had her backpack.

"That... that sounds great, but only if it's what you really want..."

"Of course," she said. "I imagine the incident with the debt collectors is what set you off? It does seem very suspect."

Yukino gave her a small, nervous smile. "Let's go, then."

The coupl- pair left the dorm building together, heading for the trains. Luckily, the train was there and it seemed like it was running. Akai-chan spoke to the operators for Yukino while she texted her brother to let him know that the train was running and she was coming with a friend. The operators agreed to take the two back to the mainland after they were assured that there was an adult back there waiting for them. Apparently the operators were going to pick someone on the mainland up anyways, which certainly helped. Yukino and Akai-chan took their seats on the otherwise-empty train, sitting next to each other near the front with their bags in the seats next to them. Yukino leaned on Akai-chan as the train started. She sniffled and rubbed at her eye. Akai-chan put an arm around her.

x x x

Yukino and Akai-chan got off the train as soon as the doors open. When they did, they saw Jailong-sensei about to enter the train.

"Hey," Yukino said coldly.

"Ah, hello, kids," Jailong-sensei said nervously. "I... can guess why you're here."

"Sure, it could be the fact that our 'beloved' principal up and ditched us to dodge the debt collectors," Yukino shrugged. "That was pretty upsetting, but are you sure it isn't the severely cheap and often times literally made from dirt facilities that reek of the sort of budget you can't run a school on? Or perhaps it's the understaffing issues that made it hard to get a proper education? Or maybe, just maybe it was the fact that the girl with the 'uncontrollable'" (Yukino made sure to use her snarkiest air quotes when she said 'uncontrollable') "memory-erasing Quirk was allowed to just erase everyone's memories for a few months with no question or even making the students aware that there was such a student at all? Ooh, or maybe it was all of the shitty things above!" Okay sure, it might've been a little harsh to dump all that on Jailong-sensei, but Yukino was feeling petty at the moment.

Jailong-sensei sighed, looking a little weighed down by the contents of Yukino's rant. "...I can concede most of what you just said, but not your problems with Kayaki."

Yukino snarled. Whatever guilt she had over venting at Jailong-sensei suddenly evaporated. "What the fuck are you on about?"

"It's... it's classified," Jailong-sensei said.

"Oh?" Yukino asked. "Classified? How can I be sure you're not just covering up for her?"

Jailong clenched her fists. "There wasn't a good solution to her problem that wouldn't have negatively affected Kayaki's education."

Yukino cocked her head at the 'teacher.' "So letting her negatively affect everyone else's education was totally fine, then? And to be honest I can think of a few solutions that would've probably only made her a little uncomfortable, as opposed to your amazingly brilliant solution of 'ignore it even though it's probably gonna make over half the school even more uncomfortable than Zuruko would be if we just did literally anything about it.' Did you even try to think of a solution? No Quirk is omnipotent, there had to have been a better way!"

"Quirks can be unpredictable," Jailong deflected. "We couldn't have been sure anything would work..."

Yukino scoffed and crossed her arms. Did she even realize what she was saying? "There are so many holes in that argument I almost mistook it for a thin slice of Swiss cheese. Oh, no, sorry, excuse would be a better word for it. Doing anything is better than nothing, you know. And most Quirks aren't nearly that unpredictable. You're an outlier, you know that, right? Most Quirks aren't sentient beings, just supernatural biological functions and stuff like that. They're not so unpredictable that they can't be dealt with, or that trying isn't worth it!" Yukino uncrossed her arms and jabbed a clawed finger at Jailong. She could feel herself start to heat up, white wisps curling off of her. "Though to be honest from how you talk about your dragons I wouldn't be surprised if you don't think they're alive! You know what your problem is!? You pretend that your Quirk is a thing when it's LIVING BEINGS! ZURUKO HID BEHIND AN ACTUAL THING AND PRETENDED IT WAS THIS BIIIG SCARY MONSTER SO SHE DIDNT HAVE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE MEMORIES IT ATE! YOU KNOW WHAT'S NOT UNPREDICTABLE, THOUGH!? KEEP THE HURTY FIELD AWAY FROM PEOPLE AND IT'LL STOP HURTING THEM!! FUCKING!! MAGIC!!!" She let all the hurt, anger, and pain she'd been feeling over this pour into her words.

Jailong scoffed. "You think we should've kept Kayaki isolated? I didn't have a lot of records to work with, but I do know that her Quirk only affects memories of herself and blurs her into the background. I fail to see how that's worth that amount of vitriol, and you clearly disliked her to begin with." Seeing Yukino's glare, for whatever reason, not get any better from being told that her feelings weren't valid and that she was overreacting, Jailong sighed, her face softening. "No, I shouldn't accuse you of anything. But you should know that I did what I could, and I wasn't dealing with just her. Taiyuu was barely equipped to handle a class of completely normal people, and you and I both know that hero schools don't attract just normal people. To say I'm embarrassed by how poorly this went all down would be putting it lightly."

Yukino snarled, starting to see red. Not even a fucking apology. Jailong belittled her feelings, made excuses for her own shoddy work, and didn't even fucking apologize. And now she was making out that she was the one that was hurt by this. A lot of thoughts ran through Yukino's head, none of them polite. "You really think that makes it okay?" "Don't condescend me you fucking prick!" "You covered up for a fucking villain, don't act like I'm the asshole here!" "You're a villain, not a hero!" "Shut the hell up!" "Die, die, die, die die die diediediediediedie!"

Yukino felt someone grab her now-cold shoulder. She looked up at Akai-chan, her breath ragged. Akai-chan... didn't really smile or anything, but she gave her a look of sympathy. Yukino got her breathing back under control, then rubbed at her face with her sleeve. She glared at Jailong, but kept her tone cold. "It's... I can't believe you're looking down on me, when you're the one who didn't do anything when I was panicking over the holes that kept popping up in my memory." She shoved her hands in her pockets, partially to keep them from shaking. "But whatever helps your negligent ass sleep at night, hero." She spat out that last word with so much venom that she was honestly surprised that Jailong didn't die on the spot. If there was one thing she could think of Jailong as at the moment, 'hero' definitely wasn't it. She started to walk past Jailong, Akai-chan right by her side, but stopped when they were behind Jailong.

"Oh, and for the record," Yukino said, feeling like throwing one last barb in, petty as it was. "I hate just about everyone who spends months letting their mind-altering quirk permanently erase my memories about equally, regardless of how well they can directly control their Quirk. It's concerning that you, the pro 'hero' here, don't see what the big deal is. Though at least I know where Zuruko must've learned that self-centered attitude about how I'm not allowed to be angry about my memories of her vanishing, now." She smiled sardonically. "But hey, I guess you probably don't care about what a 'quirk effect' like myself might be feeling. Goodbye."

Jailong didn't have anything to say to that. Good. Before Yukino could start walking again, though, she heard a sound like a firecracker popping. "Hey!" A voice... was that Mushu-chan? He sounded angry, in any case. "You don't know anything about what she's like!"

Yukino snorted. "Ain't that the fuckin' truth. Good to know you've got your 'user's' back despite her repeatedly calling you a 'thing,' I guess." She started walking to the exit of the underground boarding area for the train.

"You kno-" Mushu-chan started to shout, but stopped.

Yukino turned back to see Jailong holding her hand up, probably having stopped Mushu-chan's rant with a silent command. "It's not worth it, Firecracker."

"Yeah," Yukino said flatly. "You've got a train to catch and our ride's probably here by now. I'd say this was a nice talk but, well, I don't wanna lie." Yukino was very tempted to say 'unlike you,' but she was probably pushing it already... She started walking to the exit again. Jailong didn't try to dig herself any deeper, she just sighed and got on the train. Yukino walked up the stairs to the exit, seeing her brother's car when she got to ground-level.

Nii-chan got out of the car, a worried expression on his face. It looked like he hadn't even taken time to change because he was still in his hero outfit. "Yuki-chan, are you okay?" He ran up to Yukino, sweeping her up in a hug. "I'm so sorry, Yuki-chan. I don't know what you've been dealing with, but..."

Yukino hugged him back, hard. It was like a dam burst and she couldn't hold back the tears anymore. She buried her head in her brother's chest, sobbing.

x x x

The next couple minutes were a bit of a blur to Yukino. She vaguely recalled being gently led somewhere, Nii-chan and Akai-chan talking about something. But she spent most of that time crying into Nii-chan's costume.

Eventually Yukino calmed down a bit... or maybe just ran out of tears. At some point Nii-chan had taken her to a nearby bench and sat her down. Yukino rubbed her now-wet face off on her sleeve. The tears on her sleeve turned to frost almost immediately. For whatever reason, despite the fact that Cryomancy wasn't technically an ice-based Quirk, her tears were cold and would freeze onto anything other than her. Apparently her grandmother, who had an actual ice Quirk, had the same effect. Even though she was only reminded of it when crying, knowing that she had a similarity like that with her grandmother tended to make Yukino feel... pleasant, at least a little.

Speaking of... Yukino looked at the surface she'd been crying into. Flame-retardant fabric with a scale-like design, covered in frost and, at some parts, outright ice. "Ah, s-sorry," Yukino muttered to her brother.

He gave her a smile, squeezing her back a bit before letting her go from his hug. "It's okay. My costume is made to give me a bit of resistance to cold, remember? While I'm thawing my shirt out, though, do you need some fire?"

Yukino nodded. "Yeah, I might need a recharge..."

Nii-chan took a breath, conjuring fire from his hands. He held one of his flame-wreathed palms over his icy shirt, melting and evaporating the ice, and held the other out to Yukino. Yukino held her hands over the fire, sucking the familiar-tasting heat from it. Nii-chan didn't say anything as she ate her fill of his Dragon Fire, and when his shirt was dried off he let the hand on his chest fall wordlessly, still keeping the fire he was feeding to Yukino up.

"Done," Yukino said when she had her fill, pulling her hands away. "Thanks."

Nii-chan let his fire go out, a slight hitch in his breathing. "I'm... sorry, by the way," he said after a while.

"For what?" Yukino asked.

"This whole thing is kind of my fault..."

"It's literally not, but go on," Yukino said flatly.

"Yeah, but..." He sighed. "I mean, yeah, I didn't cause... whatever happened there, but... you turned down UA because I was a jerk to you all that time ago."

Yukino snorted. "I turned down UA because I overreacted to you giving me valid criticism and decided to do something stupid."

Nii-chan put his hand on her shoulder. "It was criticism, but in hindsight I wouldn't call it valid. I was too harsh on you, and I ended up pushing you away..."

Yukino shrugged, though she didn't shake his hand off. "I still probably should've..." She sighed. "Let's just say we both did something stupid."

He chuckled and ruffled her hair. Yukino pulled away a bit, but grinned. "Yeah, I guess if we're both in agreement..." He looked over Yukino's shoulder. "Hey, kiddo!" Yukino turned to see Akai-chan standing around awkwardly a bit away. "I still want you to call a parent or guardian before I take you anywhere, but once you do that we can get lunch, my treat!"

"I'll need to borrow on of your phones," Akai-chan said. "My Quirk interferes with electronics, so my phone is only for emergencies and usually uncharged."

Ryuji's brow furrowed. "There's really nothi-" He stopped, looked at Yukino, then sighed. "No, no, it's your Quirk," he muttered, "you probably know best... Okay, Yuki-chan, can you give her your phone? I wanna call our parents so they know you're alright." He pulled out his phone.

"Yeah," Yukino nodded. "Though... I don't know if I'm ready to talk with Mom and Dad yet... Honestly I only called you because I needed your help..."

Nii-chan nodded understandingly. "Yeah, I get it. I still have to talk to them, but I'll explain that to them. I'll go call them in my car, give you two some privacy." He did as he said, getting inside his car and calling someone on his phone.

Yukino pulled out her phone. "I can go somewhere else, if you want some privacy," she offered.

"It's okay," Akai-chan said. "Could you please dial the number in and hold the phone for me? I would prefer not to destroy your phone."

"Yeah, that's cool. Gimme the number."

Yukino dialed in the number Akai-chan gave her, then put the phone on speaker for her. It sounded like it was her grandmother who picked up. Akai-chan told her that she'd left the school, and how it was probably not going to be a school much longer. Akai-obaachan asked how Akai-chan's stepsibling was (still on the island and apparently better off that way, which concerned Yukino...) and then suggested she start looking for another school. Then she asked where Akai-chan was and said she couldn't pick her up.

"I'm with... a friend and her older brother right now," Akai-chan answered.

"A friend?" Akai-obaachan asked, clearly interested in what Akai-chan would say next by her tone of voice.

"...Yes," Akai-chan answered.

"Is she the short blue girl with ice powers that you like a lot?"

Akai-chan's ears turned a little red. "...Yes," she muttered.

"And her brother is a pro hero, right? He should be trustworthy. You may stay with them for a while, but please go either here or your home by nightfall."

"Okay, Obaachan," she agreed. "See you soon."

"Bye, Sei-tan," Akai-obaachan said. "I'll tell your mother about this for you." She hung up.

Yukino smirked at her. Akai-chan, probably realizing what that smirk meant, blushed slightly harder in anticipation. "So I'm the short blue girl that you like a lot, huh?" She turned off her phone and put it back in her pocket.

Akai-chan gave a small nod. "That's right."

Yukino smiled at her. "I'm flattered."

"You're... you're welcome, I guess."

Nii-chan got out of his car, stopping Yukino from pressing Akai-chan any further. Probably for the best. "You guys done? I can take your orders if you want!"

"We are, thank you," Akai-chan said.

x x x

"Thanks for this, by the way," Yukino said as she sat down on the bench. They'd gone to Dad's family restaurant for the food, as Yukino thought, but Nii-chan had made it a takeout order and taken them to the park nearby instead of going inside to eat. Yukino had stayed in the car, but Nii-chan relayed the well-wishes of Dad and the employees she was closest with.

"No problem, kiddo," Ryuji said with a grin. He handed out the containers to Yukino and Akai-chan, then opened his. "Smells so good..." he said after giving it a sniff.

Yukino and Akai-chan opened their food, too. Nii-chan and Yukino both ordered the Da'long Katsukare, a special dish that they both liked a lot, and Akai-chan ordered it too because she liked spicy food anyway and didn't have as much of the menu memorized as the siblings.

"It tastes delicious," Akai-chan said after taking a few bites. It was, as the name suggested, a katsukare dish with the tonkatsu shaped and decorated to look vaguely like a dragon. It was also very spicy, as Nii-chan had warned Akai-chan before relaying her order to the restaurant. "Though if I may ask, was it named after Takeda-san's hero name?"

Nii-chan smiled at Yukino. "Really, Yuki-chan?" he asked, his voice dripping with exaggerated joy. "Your girlfriend already knows my hero name?"

Akai-chan's cheeks turned a very adorable shade of red at that comment. "Ah, uh..." she stammered out.

Yukino snorted. "Yeah, that's right Akai-chan," she said. "When Nii-chan chose his hero name, Dad decided to name a dish after him in support."

"And he naturally picked katsukare," Nii-chan added, "because it's kinda one of my favorite foods." He ate some of the curry-covered pork, then sighed in delight. A small, deliberately dragon-shaped puff of fire escaped from his lips when he exhaled. "Plus, it's so spicy that it makes you feel like you're breathing fire, like my Quirk."

"That... sounds nice," Akai-chan said.

Yukino grinned. "And when I finally debut, though unfortunately it seems like it's gonna be a while still, Dad's gonna name something after me."

Nii-chan chuckled. "Yeah, can't wait to see that, huh?"

"I'd love to see it," Akai-chan said.

"Thanks, Akai-chan." Yukino smiled and leaned on Akai-chan's side. "So are you gonna try to get into another hero school after this?" Yukino asked. "I'm planning to try to transfer into UA. Nii-chan's been looking into how to do that for me and could probably help you, if you want to as well."

Ryuji faux-pouted. "Don't volunteer my help without asking, Yuki-chan..."

"Love you too, Nii-chan," Yukino smirked at him.

"Thank you for the offer," Akai-chan said, "but I think I'm going to go into medical school after this, not resume the hero course."

"Oh that's cool," Yukino said.

"Med school is certainly a great goal," Nii-chan agreed. "People tend to glorify pro heroes, but doctors save lives too."

"Thank you," Akai-chan said. "For what you just said, and for the lunch as well."

Nii-chan gave her a smile. "You're welcome! It was nice meeting Yuki-chan's... friend."

He didn't say 'girlfriend,' but Akai-chan still blushed again.

"That's enough teasing, Nii-chan," Yukino said. "Let's eat before our food gets cold, huh?"

"Ah, right," Akai-chan muttered. She quickly took a large bite of her katsukare, probably to give herself an excuse to not engage in the conversation. Yukino smiled and had some katsukare as well.

"Aah~" Nii-chan sighed once they were all done with their food. "That was delicious~"

"Yeah~" Yukino agreed with a smile. She was feeling a lot better after some good food.

"It was good," Akai-chan said, putting her container down.

"So what are we doing now?" Yukino asked.

"We can do something else in a bit, but for now..." Nii-chan pulled another container out of the bag that the katsukare was in and handed it to Yukino. "Sorry if this... probably isn't the best time for it, but Dad and I both thought you might like a little pick-me-up."

Yukino quietly opened the container, revealing... "Is that a meringue?" Yukino asked. It looked like a lightly browned meringue, shaped into a scale pattern somehow.

"Take a bite," Nii-chan said, handing her a spoon.

Yukino took a spoonful of the dessert, revealing ice cream and a brownie under it. A warm feeling spread in her chest. "Oh, it's a baked Alaska," she realized. Her father had made her and Nii-chan the hot-and-cold dessert a few times when they were younger (once he even enlisted Mom's help and Quirk to make it right in front of them). Yukino chuckled. "Haven't had this in a while... What's he calling it? Baked Kuraokami?"

Nii-chan shrugged. "He hasn't told me the name yet, but he's been preparing to add it to the menu since you told us your hero name."

Yukino smiled, taking another spoonful. The meringue and brownie were only a little warm and the ice cream was starting to melt from the wait, but it still tasted delicious. A cold, but not sad, tear came from her eye. She quickly wiped it off, making sure it didn't get in her ice cream. "It's good," she said once she swallowed it. "Remind me to thank Dad."

Nii-chan smiled. "I will."

[xxplinkxx]

@taiyuu-oct

The students involved in this exam are in the tags

[cor-are-they-stars]

Heehoo finally finished

More than 4,000 words

@taiyuu-oct

[arti-pops]

  It had been one month since school had started. Aki hadn't made many friends. Well, she only made one, actually, and that would be Yuyuko, but she could never be sure, that's her first friend after all. Is there a guide on how to be sure you really are friends with someone and they know it? Doesn’t matter, what matters is that Aki doesn’t feel the urge to fight her, like, ever. 

  They have dorms, and everyone has, sadly, a roommate. Aki’s poor, unfortunate soul had to end up with one of the most boring people she has ever met. The only reason she hasn’t forgotten uhh- Zuruko is because they have to see each other every day, since, you know, roommates. Although our dear bomb girl has forgotten a few times, but come on! That’s literally the girls quirk!

  Well, with that much time already studying at Taiyuu, they were bound to have a test. And that is the reason she found herself with a bunch of other kids standing before Wolfsboon waiting for instructions. He looked quite angry, it was funny.

  After getting everyone’s attention, he starts to explain. “Today’s exercise is as cooperative as it is competitive. Your goal will be to either capture or incapacitate the lumin that your opposing team will be attempting to escort.”

  As he gestures to the wooded area behind him, everyone looks, with different amounts of interests. “This will be your starting point. Your challenge will be to locate the escort team on one of the two potential paths through the woods, and either capture or subdue the lumin they will be escorting. I am certain you can already see one of them.”

  Some students stared at the path, too high for their likings and too narrow to walk besides someone, no matter how close you are. “I hope none of you are afraid of heights.” Wolfsboon says, voice clearly showing how concerned he is. And that would be not even a little bit.

  It was quite high, Aki wasn’t too fond of that, but it’s nothing she couldn’t just put aside. She’d be damned if that was a fear of hers, but it isn’t, and she does not feel bad for whoever is scared of that. Sucks to suck.

  “The other path is somewhere within. If you injure your classmates unnecessarily, you will come to regret it…” Shit, that’s a plan already being crossed out, how boring. “...when you are disqualified and fail the exercise.” His expression made it very clear there would be more than just that.

  Then, the teacher pulled out a list with every student’s names, some had a number next to them and some didn’t. Apparently the ones who didn’t were from the other team, and the people who had the same number were partners. Someone with the same number as Busujima Aki… aha! Rogers Salem. Who the fuck was that?

  Her doubts were cleared when someone who she knew as Bug came to her so they could talk. That was her real name? Wow, no wonder they go by a nickname.  “Hey! You’re my partner, right? Busujima Aki?”

  “Yep! That’s me, the one and only, fucker!” The girl in question said with all the confidence she had. Wow, that’s a lot.

  “All right, we need to plan how we’re going to do this.” They said. “We don’t know who we’re up against, so we can't know which path they’ll pick based on the people. Think we should split up?”

  Aki was not planning on thinking this exercise, but her partner was, so she had to go along. “Sure, but when one of us finds them how would we warn the other, huh?” 

  “Well, your quirk makes bombs right? And they’re not destructive? Maybe you could throw one on my path if they were on yours and I could send some insects? You’ll know by the sudden increase in amount.” He suggested.

  “That could work, but what if my bomb ends up too forward or behind you? It might not fucking reach you.” Aki left the part where her bombs were random out, that could be solved by making other bombs.

  “You throw multiple and I’ll send some insects while on my way to warn you I saw them?” They suggested.

  It was their turn, guess they were the second pair. “Sounds good, I’m taking the other path!” She ran without waiting for a response. 

--------------------

  Okay. She was at the top, it was as narrow as it looked, and she had to walk forward. Yep, she could do this. Aki took her steps, she walked like she would on land on a normal day. If she went too fast, she’d really be risking falling. Though maybe speeding up would be a good idea? Ugh! Why is she overthinking? Usually there’s no thinking at all!

  There were no signs of people yet, or an increase in insects, Aki wonders if that’s good or bad. It’s bad, definitely, she wants to get this over as quickly as possible but they just don’t show up! Of course, it was a smart option going slow so they don’t get caught, but surely they’ll meet up anyway, so maybe they could speed it up.

  Looking over at the sky, Aki thinks of the possibility that one of her enemies has wings or some form of flying quirk. There are some kids like that in this school, right? Although her thoughts are interrupted when she catches something brown quickly going from a tree to a bush. That’s… the Aguilero one, right?

  Aki  pretends she doesn’t see them and makes a bomb to throw at the other path. She is quite known for her aggressive and sometimes destructive nature, they wouldn’t suspect anything if she randomly threw a mini bomb, right? She looks down at it. Purple. Bug has to see the sticky goo, she’s not making another one right now. Looking at the other path, she sees the silhouette of her partner, huh, spotting each other isn’t as hard as they thought. The purple bomb is thrown at the other path - hopefully- right in front of the silhouette, her throw proves to have been a success when she sees the little blur that is her partner stop, turn around and run to the start of their path, on their one to the one their enemies are at. 

  Aki looks to her front again, intensely looking at the bushes. Okay, maybe there’s a chance that’ll give her away, but she does need to win this. Still walking, she notices a feather amongst the leaves. Aha! Bird kid! Another bomb is made. Red, flowers, it’s thrown to the side where they can’t see ground just as Bug’s insects get to Aki as a warning that her partner caught the signal. Another bomb is made, blues, cotton candy. Maybe that can trap them? She throws the bomb at the bush where the feather is located and hears a startled yelp. He wasn’t paying attention? Idiot.

  “Oh. Oh god that will take a while to clean.” As she gets closer she sees Aguilero trying to move, it’s mildly effective in separating a bit some parts of the cotton candy, but while they’re at it they seems to get some form of vine undone form around their chest and she hears another voice calling for a Lumin, as she looks towards it’s direction, she sees someone with black skin, horns and pink, blue and yellow fire coming out of them. Nerve- Nerva Rekka, yeah. C’mon, it’s been one month they’re here, shouldn’t she know? But to be fair she couldn’t name a single person from her old school.

  Luckily, behind the horned figure, there was a shadow approaching with what seemed to be a bunch of insects. Aguilero was almost getting up when Aki noticed and pinned them to the ground. “Do NOT try to steal this victory away from me. No matter how hard you try, we’ll win.” And just as she said that, the kids grew a brain and hit his head with hers. She threw her whole upper body back in pain - “Fuck.” - As she got up and took a few steps back, almost falling off the path, if it wasn’t for Bug, who was finally there, and who caught her.

  The Lumin was right beside Nerva, who looked ready to pick up the plant pup and sprint past them, while Aguliro was slowly standing up in the bush they were caught in. Aki made another bomb. Purple… perfect. As Rekka was about to move, a purple bomb was thrown at their feet, causing some sort of sticky goo to seal them in place. With that, Aguilero, already up, took the dog and started hopping with the added wings to help, though in that stated, he definitely couldn’t fly. Holding the Lumin seemed like quite the hardship in those conditions, and it was proven to be when the bird student dropped the animal, that fell onto the path a little ahead of Aki. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Nerva occupied trying to shake insects off that Bug was trying to make crawl over them. 

  As Aguilero turned back to grab the pup again, Aki ran forward and pushed it aside, causing the poor plant animal to fall off the narrow, high path. The villain team could win by either capturing the dog or injuring it to the point where it would be considered dead so… that means… they won! They won by injuring it to death!

   Aki’s first test, it could’ve been better, but she wasn’t going to complain about the results.

[taiyuu-oct]

Name: Nerva Rekka (LN/FN)

Pronouns: he/them

Background: Rekka was born to two ex-villains who have successfully rejoined society (after some…bumps). His family keeps this a secret, which Rekka is fine about. If everyone finds out, his chances of being a hero goes down to 0! Or that’s what he thinks. Being a hero is their one and only dream, and he won’t let anything stand in his way.

Quirk: Burning soul: Rekka can naturally produce neon coloured fire from their body. He can control, shape and solidify the fire. A side affect from this quirk makes Rekka’s body extremely warm, and causes cracks to form that glow with his fire’s colours. Over use causes fire to uncontrollably leak from the cracks, and sometimes, causes more to form. They heal and close up over time but Rekka overuses his quirk a lot.

Stats:  Cooperation: 2/5 Power: 4/5 Intelligence 1/5 Speed: 3/5 Technique: 4/5

Personality: Rekka isn’t the smartest person out there. They’ve always dived into things head first and refuses to give up, even when he should. During down time, he’s actually very chill and sociable, but on the battlefield, they can be ruthless.

[incorrect-taiyuu]

Libby, setting down a card: Ace of spades!

Rekka, taking out an uno card: Draw four!

Merce, putting down a baseball trading card: Pikachu I choose you!

Yurei: What are you playing?!?!?

Jamie, taking out a fish: gin

Kouka, slapping money on the board: GO FISH

Tofu, moving a chess piece: Check mate

Andrew, putting down a monopoly card: you guys are heading to jail, or pay 200!

Kirai, throwing chips at Yuyuko: PICK UP STICKS

Yukino, putting down Clue cards: J'ACCUSE!

Tsuya, throwing everything on the ground: 52 PICKUP

Seisho: puts down a qi piece I take your jun

Hoshimi, landing on Lose your job, take new career card: I'm failing at Life....

Isejin, flipping over a tarot card: three cups reversed. You're gonna make a tough decision soon.

Yuyuko rolling two dice: Guys you gotta move back 5

[scoutdolphin]

Rekka Nerva’s Entrance Exam!

Hello! This is my entry for @taiyuu-oct I hope you enjoy!

If Rekka had to choose something he hates, it would be trains. Especially this train. They're so boring! You can't even look out at some beautiful scenery because this is an underwater train. There's a whole lotta nothing. Rekka felt like he could explode from the energy he had stored up this whole morning. His leg wouldn't stop bouncing. Was he annoying everyone? Maybe. He did see someone with space hair suddenly get up and leave the cart. But he couldn't stop. He'll apologise later.

"3 minutes until Taiyuu Station."

Rekka almost bounced in excitement. "Finally! Let's get this show on the road!"

-----------------

Rekka knew this was coming but he was still annoyed. Yes, he knows that everyone needs to know what to do but after the written exam, Rekka just wanted to get to the action already! He couldn't help it when his attention started to wander to the people around him. There were different levels of interesting people, ranging from a pink haired girl he didn't remember seeing to a weird galaxy man. But appearances didn't really matter to him! He looks like a demon after all, so appearances aren't very telling. Never judge a book by its cover! But, he couldn't keep his eyes off a small person with really long hair. Either they have a hair quirk, or extreme dedication to never have a haircut. He'll ask later! MIght scope out some quirks while he’s at it.

"Aaand that's all the info you need! The teachers will be handing out sheets saying what activities you were assigned and when they'll happen. Have fun hero hopefuls!" The principal, Laccadaisy, walked off stage with a beam as the teachers, Wolfsboon and Aurora, started calling out names. 

"Ah crap-I wasn't listening!" Rekka shakes his head and looks around. "I'm sure I'll be okay! I'm not great at reading and writing stuff but this is just like a gym class! ... Hopefully. I'm good at that!" 

“Nerva Rekka?” 

Almost on cue, Aurora calls out his name and Rekka starts shuffling his way through the crowd. “Ah-yes I’m here!” 

“Here you go. You’ve got Shaky Shimmy, Middle School gym Class and Just Keep Swimmin’! Good luck!” Aurora handed off the sheet to Rekka with a smile before moving on. A quick scan of the paper showed that Rekka wouldn’t have to wait long for his rounds, and Rekka could feel the relief washing over him. The last two seemed very self explanatory but… What would Shaky Shimmy hold for him? Rekka couldn’t wait to find out.

-------------

… Well. The name makes sense now. Rekka stands on the starting line with a handful of other students as they all watch the land in front of them quickly morphing and changing. Rekka takes a deep breath and wipes the nervous sweat from his brow. Laccadaisy raises her arm.

“On your marks-”

Everyone sans the galaxy energy man gets down into a sprinting start position. 

“Get set-”

Rekka looks over at Andrew? “I think that was his name…” 

“Go!”

“Ah!” Rekka stumbles as he brings his focus back to the race, noticing everyone is already ahead of him. He’s a fast runner but he’s never ran on a track like this! Rekka runs, jumps and weaves his way around the shifting landscape, laughing all the while. No reason to not have fun after all!

But time seems to stand still as a space haired boy ahead of him starts falling backwards when the land starts rising suddenly. He could let him fall. But that’s not very heroic, is it? Rekka picks up speed and stretches his arms out, scooping the boy by the arms and loosely holding him by the chest. Some flames instinctively flare out from Rekka’s back in the shape of wings, almost flapping to lift the two over the newly formed ledge. It takes a few seconds for the boy to start running again, so Rekka lets go quickly. “Be careful yo!” Rekka doesn’t leave time for the other boy to respond before focusing back onto the course.

Rekka collapses onto the floor in a vague sitting position when he crosses the finish line. He wasn’t last- but he wasn’t first. As Rekka was melting in the sun, something blocked said sun from his eyes. It was space hair boy. Naishin-Sunomu Isejin. “You alright?”

Rekka smiles and sits up. “Yea! Just needed to catch my breath! Ah- Naishin-Sunomu right? You have a sand quirk right?”

Rekka watches as Isejin waves his hand, red sand emanating from it. “At your service, want me to pay you back?”

“I wouldn’t phrase it like that but- I have Middle School Gym Class next and I was wondering if you could add some grit to my hands? Y’know, to make it easier to climb.” Rekka laughs sheepishly.

“Sure! Be careful though, if you breathe it in, it’ll go super the other way and you’ll fall asleep and fall off the rope.” Isejin takes his hands and sprinkles some sand onto them.

Rekka grins and rubs his hands together. “Thank you! Good luck with your other things!”

Isejin nods in thanks as Rekka walks to his next task, trying to keep his hands away from his face.

-------------

As Rekka looks up at the rope hanging from the wall, he ‘Hmm, no not that right now’ they had a feeling they weren’t going to do well, especially when they heard whispers of it being one try only. There wasn’t an explicit time limit so Rekka took their time circling the rope, hands drifting to his face in thought. They slowly get their hands on the rope and wrap it around their foot. With a deep breath, they start climbing. But after a metre or two, they start feeling sleepy. “Wha? But I didn’t… breathe it in…?”

Rekka took their time circling the rope, hands drifting to his face in thought.

hands drifting to his face in thought.

hands drifting to his face.

....Fuck.

Rekka curses under their breath probably too many times as they try to keep climbing, but they were starting to slow down, limbs feeling weak. Rekka considered just giving up and dropping off. But they really didn’t want that to happen. They’ve got a good sleep repellent after all! 

Rekka lifts their arm and punches themselves in the face.

They were sure that if anyone was watching them, they’d think they’re crazy but hey! It seemed to work as Rekka could feel the adrenaline starting to work it’s way through their body. The rest of the climb went by quickly because Rekka, while not the smartest, knew that one punch wasn’t going to hold off quirk-induced sleepiness for long. They slowly raise their arm and slap the ball signalling the end of the round. They all but fall to the thick floor mats and close their eyes. “I hope… no one… breathes that rope…”

-------------

After some worried questions from the teachers and a quick nap, Rekka walked to their final round. Swimming endurance. Now, Rekka doesn’t mind the water, but they do mind their hair being extinguished and people looking at them weirdly because of it. Especially considering that Tsuya, the hair quirk person as Rekka found out, was competing as well. They really wanted to befriend a lot of people but Tsuya doesn’t seem interested, so Rekka really needs to try! They take off their tank top, revealing their glowing top surgery scars. “I hope no one here is transphobic.” Everyone hops into the water as the countdown begins.

“3”

“2”

“1”

“Go!”

Rekka kicks off the wall of the pool and starts swimming with a basic freestyle, hair sputtering out after a few strokes. They don’t bother to focus on how everyone else is doing as they try their best to keep swimming straight. They can see the stone pillars but they keep drifting off course.

It ends like how Shaky Shimmy did. Not last, but not first.

“Dammit!” Rekka flops out of the water and shakes themselves off like a dog, fire hair trying it’s best to fully reignite itself. They turn to see Tsuya looking in their general direction, so they throw up a peace sign and a grin, which causes them to turn away. Rekka frowns and walks to a locker, drying himself off with a towel and looking at their sheet.

“All done huh? Might go home then…” Rekka yawns and starts gathering their things. They take their time walking to the train station, watching as other students complete their various activities or as they walk to the station as well. Ever the social butterfly, Rekka makes small talk with various people as they wait for the train, loving the interaction despite their ever oncoming tiredness. Eventually the train arrives and all the currently leaving students start boarding. Rekka plops down onto the same seat they were on that morning and pulls out their phone, calling a contact named “dad 2.”

“Rekka honey? Are you okay?”

Rekka can’t help but chuckle at the worried tone “Yea dad I’m fine- ‘m all done with the entrance exam, I‘ll heading home soon.”

“Oh! Already? I’m so proud of you my darling.”

“Thanks dad… Can you and dad pick me up from the station? I’m a bit tired…”

“Of course, lets get some take away alright? My treat.”

“Hell yea…”

“I’ll see you later darling.”

“See ya dad.”

Rekka smiles as they hang up, pocketing their phone. They knew their dads would be proud, but it was still nice to hear anyways. The train doors close and the train starts moving towards the underground tunnel. As darkness starts engulfing the train and the gentle lights flicker on, Rekka can’t help but close their eyes. The noise of the train gently quiets their hyper mind and puts them to sleep. They think they deserve it.

Today was a good day.

[j--meat-hook--j]

Taiyuu Prequel: A mess of a day

The train to Taiyuu was a long one. The speed the train was going at accentuated and exaggerated the little shakes of the carts. 

The carts were full of potential candidates, a boy who radiated heat like a small furnace, two people with stars glowing through their hair, a boy made out of slime, there was one boy at the back who was playing with a couple batteries. And then there was Andrew Meda, the boy made of pure energy, beside him sat his friend Nento Attoteki.

Andrews doesn’t see the way normal people do, so Nento had to describe herself when they first met. Nento described herself as ‘just sort of someone. My hair’s a faded blue mess and I have way too much acne. I wear these ugly glasses, as you can obviously tell and, I don’t know, I’m just a regular turbo-nerd.” 

Andrew didn’t know why Nento put herself down so much, from his point of view she looked fine. Andrew doesn’t even know what acne is. Or the colour blue. 

“It looks like there are a lot of people here Andrew.” Nento said, her voice quivered.

“And now they’re all looking this way.” Nento continued. Nento shrank away from the attention Andrew naturally (An)drew.

“Ish fine. TH-er aw-ll here tuh-bee heroes, ever-one seemsh cool.” Andrews words all slurred together, his energy body had no mouth or vocal-chords so talking required some extra concentration. 

“There are some types that want to be heroes, not all of them want to be good. Like that guy with the grey skin, I am getting some bad vibes from him.” Nento, quickly drew judgement about a boy Andrew couldn’t recognise.

“Can’   t see gRey Nen.” Andrew gave Nento a quick reminder.

“Wai, no, stop juh-jing people so k - kwi-” Andrew threw up his hands in frustration at not being able to pronounce the word.

The floaty stumps that tipped each one of Andrews arms formed full hands with full fingers. He thrust them out in a compressed thumbs-up shape. 

‘Quickly’ Andrew signed.

After Andrew signed the appropriate word his hands and fingers dissolved back into their floaty stump shape. 

“I know, you’re right. Wouldn’t want to be on his bad side though.” Nento kept going.

The two continued in idle chatter on the train, Andrew chastised Nento whenever she quietly badmouthed someone.  

Andrew had come to Taiyuu today to take the entrance exam, ever since he was a kid he’d always wanted to be a hero. Nento came to just get away from the house, she was going to catch the next train back to the mainland and meet up with Andrew after he was done.

The next train back to the mainland was in about 20 minutes so Nento and Andrew had some more time together.

“It says here, that you all take the written test. It should be modified for you. Then it is the practical exam, that should be a breeze for you.” Nento read from the papers that were sent to Andrews house. 

“Alrigh’, I’ll see you after yeah?” Andrew asked his friend.

“Yeah. Send me something when you’re done and I’ll meet you at the train station.” Nento responded, her posture was nervous but she rarely went anywhere without a plan.

“Sounds good. Anyfing comes up don’ be afrai-d to shoo’ a message my way.” Andrew said.

“Of course. I’ll see you later Andrew.” Nento said before walking off.

Andrew continued with the flow of people, he got the occasional double take and hushed whisper about his unique body. He didn’t mind, he liked the attention, it made him feel special. The crowd funnelled into the Orientation Zone, Andrew forgot the building name.

The Principal, Laccadaisy, pointed out all the major landmarks of Taiyuu, the dorms, the track, the classroom buildings, the multitude of gyms, the etc. She explained how the day would work, first came the written exam and then the practical exam, once you’ve finished everything you can go home. The details for the practical exam came later.

Just as the written exam was going to start Andrew was pulled into a different room by someone who introduced themselves as Aurora. Aurora was going to read Andrew the multiple choice questions and options and Andrew would tell her which one he wanted to fill out. 

The questions were mainly about the laws regarding heroism and quirk usage. When it's okay to step in and when isn’t and how to prioritise civilians in dangerous situations. 

After everyone had finished the written exam they were explained the details of how the physical exam would work. There were 8 trials total, each student was randomly assigned 3. Sounds easy enough. Andrews sheet was written in japanese and braille, he got assigned trials 1: Shaky Shimmy - located at the track, 3: Dogcatcher - located in the forest, and 5: rope climber - located near the coast of Taiyuu.

The Shaky Shimmy Trial would be happening at the track very soon. Aurora pointed Andrew in the direction of the track field and he took off. 

It didn’t take too long for him to catch up to the silhouettes of the other people doing the Shaky Shimmy Trial. One was radiating heat off them like crazy, one had the night sky in their hair, and there were two more unexciting people. 

They were all standing around awkwardly with the silhouette standing at the front, Probably Laccadaisy, impatiently looking at her wrist. 

“Wait up! Hold on!”  Another boring silhouette came running from behind the group. They already looked out of breath. 

“Now that we’ve got all 5 of you we can start.” Probably Laccadaisy said. 

“Start the Sh-” The Furnace Person said. “The Shaky Shimmy trial, yes. Your goal is to get to where those orange cones are.” Probably Laccadaisy answered. 

The two cones were about 10 meters in front of the group framing some the track lines of the field.

“Oh, well that’s not that bad.” One of the boring silhouettes said.

“3 times. Just two laps of the track and you’ll be good.” Laccadaisy responded with a bit too much excitement.

Andrew couldn’t see where the track lines were, but he assumed it’s the hard stuff without grass. It made a large oval shape about 400 meters in length. 

“Alright, line up, get ready.” Laccadaisy said, she stood to the side of the track and raised her arms.

The students all picked a lane, the ones with meat started doing stretches to limber themselves up. Andrew could tell the one radiating heat was getting hotter, more around the shoulderblades than anywhere else. 

“3. 2. 1. GO!” Laccadaisy shouted. One of the boring silhouettes started skating forward; the rules of friction didn’t seem to apply to her now. The hot ones back exploded in fiery wings and he shot forward, like a high speed jet or a particularly angry Phoenix. Andrew, not wanting to be outdone flew after the flaming phoenix as fast as he could. 

Once Andrew and The Phoenix reached a curve in the track the ground started shifting across the whole field. The Phoenix tried to turn to make the curve but lost height in the process, they crashed hard into the ground. Andrew gave them a mock salute as he overtook them.

Andrew continued pushing forward, it wasn’t too far until he would finish his first lap when he heard a voice behind him say.

“I’m not losing like that!” It was the Phoenix, quickly back in the air after eating dirt. The second bend wasn’t too far away now, Andrew could control his flight easily enough that he decided to do an air drift over the second bend.

The Phoenix, predictibley, hit the shifting ground again.

“FUCK!” They called out.

Andrew raced past the orange cones, starting his second lap. Ahead he spotted the two boring silhouettes, one was really struggling against the shifting landscape as they hadn’t made it past the first bend, the other had already skated past the first bend. The silhouette with the Night Sky in their hair was about halfway between the other two, they were skating too but not as well as the boring silhouette in front.

Andrew flew over the first boring silhouette who was still struggling to gain his footing. The Phoenix was back in the air and hot on Andrew’s heels. 

Andrew took the bend narrow, hugging the inside of the track. The Phoenix ended up taking the bend wide and started to lose altitude when WHAM they slammed right into the silhouette with the Night Sky in their hair. Andrew winced at the sudden impact between the two. Instead of tumbling straight into the ground The Night Sky stayed upright, The Phoenix used the Night Sky to keep himself balanced and in control of his flight. The Night Sky got a free speed boost, The Night Sky’s shoes sliding perfectly across the shifting and tumbling ground.

Andrew kept pushing forward, past the second boring silhouette that was skating. The Phoenix hadn’t stumbled across the bend and was catching up. The skating silhouette joined the train of the Phoenix, adding even more to the stability and control the Phoenix originally lacked. 

The second and final bend of Andrews lap two was coming up soon and the Phoenix Train was catching up. The boring silhouette placed her hand on The Phoenix’s face and the Trains speed was increased by a little bit more as the Phoenix Train all of a sudden had less drag. 

The three were gaining speed and catching up to Andrew when finally the bend came. Andrew took the bend narrow again, keeping as close to the inside as possible. The Phoenix Train took the bend a bit wider. The Night Sky and the boring silhouette kept The Phoenix from crashing into the ground. The Orange cones were close, so was the Phoenix Train. The two groups were pushing further and further until… There, The Phoenix Train pulled in front at the last second. 

“Don’t stop now! We still have one more lap to do!” The Night Sky said. 

Andrew pulled off to the side having finished his two laps. He caught his nonexistent breath while the other three finished their two laps. The Phoenix Train pulled up after not too long, the last boring silhouette had to keep huffing along. 

“Woooahhhh! That was so cool, I mean hot!  Whatever!” The Phoenix said.

“I’m Nerva Rekka - Burning Soul.” The Phoenix, no, Rekka said. Name, then Quirk, as was custom nowadays.

“Meda Andrew- Energy Physiology.” Andrew responded.

“Naishin-Sunomu Isejin - Sandman.” The Night Sky, Isejin said.

“Kouka Fuitchi - Path of Least Resistance.” The boring silhouette, Fuitchi said.

“Dude you were so fast, it was like zoom and whoosh and PHWAAAA.” Rekka said, with equally extreme hand motions to emphasise the sound effects.

“No meat, no drag.” Andrew said. He liked simple and short words, they were easier to say.

“You look so, sparkly, almost see-through.” Isejin commented.

“Rekka what as with that reckless flying! It was so cool, you could have gotten hurt.” Kouka said excitedly.

“It’s no biggie really, just ate it a few times.” Rekka said, brushing the dirt on his face and torso off.

As Andrew was thinking of something to say the fifth participant of Trial 1 finished up.

“Huff, huff. What the fuck,, was that.” The new boring silhouette doubled over gasping for breath.

“You good?” Isejin asked.

“Fuckin, barely, I swear to god the next test I’m in better have a robot or some shit.” The new one said.

“You are?” Kouka asked.

“Zeke Funkee - Electrokinesis” The basic silhouette, Zeke, said.

“I think the next Trial’s starting now.” Rekka said.

“Fuck.” Zeke said, or was it Kouka.

“That’s me.” Kouka said, probably, the two look so similar.

“Anyone else?” Zeke asked the group.

“Nope. I’ve got a bit of a break.” Rekka said.

“No, I’m the one afta.” Andrew managed to stumble out.

“I’m the same as Meda.” Isejin said.

“Alright, off we go then. Um, I never got your name.” Zeke said to Kouka

“It’s Kouka, lets go Funkee.” Kouka said, slightly dragging Zeke with her. 

“So are we watching Trial 2 or what?” Isejin asked the other two.

“Yeah, that's at the forest, isn't it?” Rekka said.

“Souns goo” Andrew said. 

The three made their way over to the forest area where the 2nd Trial was happening. They sat a distance away from the trial happening.

“I like to play a game with my dads where we try to guess other people's Quirks, you lot wanna give it a try?” Rekka asked the group after they sat down.

“Sure.” Andrew said. “I’ll give it a try.” Said Isejin

The trial started and some wolf shapes started lunging at the student shapes. One student threw something that grew out of their hand.

“Uhhhh, that one’s really good at throwing things!” Rekka interjected.

The thrown thing exploded into huge gobules of cotton candy, it stuck a couple wolves together making it easier to dodge them.

“I think it’s a cotton candy bomb.” Isejin said.

“Tha’s a safe bet” Andrew said with some effort.

A wolf lunged towards another student, but they were pulled back by their jacked in the nick of time.

“What’s that, a cloth manipulation one?” Rekka said.

“Yeah, I think so. They’re moving as if they’re being dragged by their clothes.” Isejin agreed.

Andrew saw something the other two didn’t, his energy sense finally came in useful, the clothes on their body were colder than everything else. Super cold, like starting to freeze temperatures.

“No, ish bit more. Cold.” Andrew said. 

“Huh, cold quirks suck. Garbage. I hate ‘em. YUCK.” Rekka said.

One student simply stood still, sometimes a wolf would approach them but after they did a small maneuver the wolves lost interest. 

“What about her?” Isejin asked.

“I don fink hers is suited for this trial.” Andrew said.

“She’s  totally Quirkless. That’s super impressive!” Rekka said.

The trio's eyes and similar sensory organs shifted towards a girl who launched into the air, propelled by a platform underneath her. 

“Woah. That one’s flashy.” Isejin said.

“Yeah, is that… asphalt or concrete or something like that?” Rekka said.

Andrew’s energy sense came in handy once again. The pillar was warm, not boiling hot but not room temperature. 

“It looksh like freshly laid asphal” Andrew said.

“I mean, I guess so. Sorta.” Isejin said. 

The group moved focus again. 

“What about her? She’s not doing anything flashy.” Rekka asked the group

It was the girl that was standing still again.

“We alread-ee talked abou’ her.” Andrew said.

“Really? What was the verdict?” Isejin asked

“That she was Quirkless but it was cool.” Andrew responded.

“Ooooh yeah! I remember now.” Rekka said.

The group faced towards the next person, this one has almost comically long hair.

“Woooahhhh. That’s so cool!” Isejin said.

“Yeah, that looks like it could come in useful for like, stealth missions and that.” Rekka said.

“What are you talking abou? I can’ shee anyfing.” Andrew asked.

“Seriously dude. It’s so obvious. They’re hair’s changing colour!” Rekka exclaimed.

“Oh, okay.” Andrew said.

There was another student who was dodging wolves only based on his own athleticism. Rolls and tucks and short sprints all over the place.

“Seems like a strength quirk, or maybe they’re just in shape.” Isejin said.

“Yeah, I dunno. There’s nothin superhuman about it. What do you think Andrew, you seem to see some stuff we don’t.” Rekka said.

Nothing out of the ordinary revealed itself to Andrew’s unique sense. 

“Dunno, just seems like a regular dude.” Andrew responded.

“What about her.” Rekka pointed at someone.

It was the girl standing still again.

“She’s just standing still, maybe some sort of stealth Quirk.” Isejin said. “Guysh, we already talked about her. Twice.” Andrew said.

“Wha. Oh yeahhh, now I remember. Silly me.” Rekka said.

“Hmmm, that is a bit odd.” Isejin said.

The trio spotted Zeke and Kouka again. Kouka was being super slippery with her movements, the wolves couldn’t get a hold of her. Zeke was already pinned to the ground.

It wasn’t too long before the trial ended. In a couple minutes the third Trial would be up and running. 

“Welp this is my trial. See you both later.” Isejin said.

“I’m doin this one too.” Andrew said.

“Alright, I’m gonna grab a snack. I’ll catch y’all later.” Rekka said. 

Andrew and Isejin were already in the right time and place for Trial 3: Puppy Catching. It took a little bit for the other silhouettes Andrew assumed were students to funnel in and out. After a quick headcount from the silhouette in charge, probably Laccadaisy, she squared up and announced.

“BEGIN!” 

There were flashes of kinetic energy everywhere as people took off running. Andrew took off into the sky and kept his “eyes” open for the distinct silhouette of a wolf. His vision didn’t blur or decay over distance like a normal human does, it sometimes gets a little overwhelming but it comes in as an advantage today. 

He scanned around from his vantage point. His full 360 field of view was an advantage for scouting. 

‘Wolf shape, wolf shape, THERE!’ Andrew spotted a gaggle of the plant puppies breaking off from the crowd.  He took off chasing the breakoff group, the best he could do is round up 4 of the Good Boys at once. 

Andrew was tailing the gaggle of Plant Dogs but he couldn’t quite catch up to them. The group was always just out of his reach. This wasn’t a problem for Andrew, he reached out with both hands and his arms extended far beyond human proportions.

His long noodle arms wrapped around two Plant Puppies and pulled them close to his chest. Andrew did a quick aerial maneuver so that his chest faced the sky and his legs were at his front. Andrews' legs then stretched out and wrapped around another two Wolves and pulled them close.

Andrew looked like a chandelier of a jacket and wolves as he raced back to the starting area to claim his Good Boy points. When he reached the starting area the person in charge called out to him. 

“Good job Meda, that's four points to you.” 

“Fan-s Lacca-d-d-day-see” Andrew assumed it was the principal running this exercise.

“I’m not...” The silhouette began but Andrew was already gone taking off into the forest again. 

Andrew was searching for another set of dogs when he spotted the Person with the Night Sky in Their Hair sitting and surrounded by sleeping dogs. He flew past them as more and more dogs went to approach them.

He flew past as Isejin gathered something that acted like sand or dust and launched it at the new dogs. Isejin waved up at Andrew.

“H-Hey.” Andrew managed to stutter out. 

WHACK! In his light daze Andrew wasn’t watching where he was going and slammed right into a tree and its branches at high speed. 

“Aww my jahck-eh iz rew-inned." Andrew managed to stumble out. A branch had managed to go right through his energy body and poked a huge hole in the back of his jacket. 

“Woah, are you okay?” A new silhouette said from next to Andrew. Which is weird because he’s far off the ground. Andrew managed to maneuver his jacket free of the branch, his energy body could easily shrug off a branch through his chest. 

“Yeah. Jush tings a lihl.” Andrew responded. 

“Just be careful when you’re in the air, aight?” Andrew got the chance to take a better look at this new silhouette now that he wasn’t impaled. The silhouette didn’t have any distinct energies or silhouettes. Just a regular person floating next to Andrew. 

“I’ll try harda.” Andrew emphasised with a quick laugh at the end. 

“The exercise is over!” The person running the exercise, Laccadaisy probably, called out.

Waiting/Exploring - Not recognising people

After the end of the exercise the students piled together in one place, one student ran off to attend the next trial but the main student body just stuck together. Andrew spotted the Night Sky of Isejin through the whole crowd of silhouettes. He flew closer before he was asked by one of the silhouettes.

“I haven’t seen anything like you before? Such a unique physique.” said this new silhouette

“Uhm, yeah. Mah Quirk is Energy Physiology.” Andrew responded.

“Your whole body is made of plasma? Fascinating. I’m Naishin-Sunomu Seisho - Bioelectricity Manipulation.” The silhouette said. Naishin-Sunomu, wasn’t that the same as Isejin?

“Not plas-” Andrew started but was cut off by another silhouette.

“Nice to see you back in one piece. I’m Sainoch Yurei - Phantasm.” The silhouette said. “Yeah, i’ was jush a scrach. Mah jahk-ehs coul’ use a rep-air though.” Andrew struggled out.

“You really helped me out there Seisho, thanks.” Another un-unique, an ique silhouette approached the small group. 

All the other students talking amongst themselves, their unrecognisable voices blended together, the movement of all the students made it hard to keep track of who was where and with who.

“Yeah, how’d you find the trial Andrew?” A silhouette said.

“It wash preddy easy I fink. I got four poin’s, wha abou’ you Seisho?” Andrew said.

“I’m not Seisho, I’m Kayaki.” Kayaki? When did Kayaki get here? Who’s Kayaki?

“Yeah, m bad.” Andrew said apologetically.  

“I’m shree, I’fe gotta go. I fink my next Trial is up soon.” Andrew said to the small group that had gathered. 

Andrew flew off from the group. His next trial was the Rope Climb, located near the coast of Taiyuu. He spent his time looking around the cliffs and beaches of Taiyuu. Along the way he spotted a short silhouette with a large hat. He floated close to the small silhouette assuming this was where the next trial would be.

“Can I help you?” The silhouette said when Andrew got close.

“Is this where tha rop-ah climin trial is?” Andrew said.

“Not quite kid, follow this cliff face round till ya hit the ocean, then head up, go North-by-North-East by 62 paces and ya should be right there.” The silhouette said.

“Okay, fanks.” Andrew said. 

‘Those were some confusing directions’ Andrew thought to himself. 

He followed the cliff face around for another while until he finally hit the ocean. He then flew straight up the cliff face.

‘Which way is North-North-East?’ Andrew thought. Compass directions are wild and weird and whacky. Andrew kept flying up to gain a vantage point to see if he could spot any groups of people. 

He was scanning the environment around him, “eyes” darting around the place searching, searching. THERE. Andrew found a cluster of people standing in front of a small thin line of stuff, probably rope.

Andrew rushed towards the group, hoping he wasn’t too late. He was close by when the silhouette in charge spotted him. Andrew landed near the back of the students, his energy “feet” never touched the ground. 

“Well it looks like we have a volunteer. Late start. Step forward.” The silhouette in charge said. 

Andrew imitated a step forward as he maintained his floaty nature.

“Just slap the rubber ball up top and you’ll be done.”

Andrew nodded with his whole body and flew up to the top of the rope. 

‘Rubber ball, rubber ball.’ Andrews lack of traditional sight has betrayed him once again. The silhouettes of the rope all blended together and looked the same. Andrew was a little confused and just smacked the highest point of the rope.

“Nope, that’s stone.” Called the silhouette in charge.

“Oh, shree.” Andrew apologized. He aimed a fair bit lower and smacked there.

“That’s rope.” Came from the silhouette again.

“Uhhh.” Andrew aimed a bit higher and smacked. If he had blood it’ll all be at his face.

“That’s the one. You’re all good.” The silhouette called. 

“Fanks.” Andrew responded quietly. He slowly floated down back to the ground. It was the other students' turns but Andrew didn’t really care at this point, it’s been a long day. He just floated back to the train station on Taiyuu Island. 

Train ride home/ Meet up with Nento

While Andrew was on board the train he pulled his phone out of his pocket. His other hand formed a full finger to unlock his phone. After some struggling he got his messages app open.

‘Alright, deep breaths Andrew, take your time.’ Andrew hyped himself up for this bit.

“Ne-n-t-oh” He managed to struggle out. 

‘Sending message to Nento’ The phone responded.

“I’m do-ne wif my physical tri-als. M-e-e-e-et y-ou at the lib-rar-ee?” Andrew slugged through, talking so much was like rolling a metal ball through his nonexistent mouth. Andrews' phone wrote down what he said and with a voice command it sent.

After a minute a blip came from Andrew's phone. 

‘Message from Nento.’ The phone's text-to-speech said. Andrew fumbled around with his phone again until he could get it unlocked. 

‘Sounds good. I’ll meet you there.’ The phone said aloud. 

Andrew enjoyed his time on the train. It was a break from the bright and unending technicolour barrage from the sun. All the energy coming off of it was so intense and focused, it gave Andrew a headache. The night sky is far better, Andrew could see all the energies of such far off places with vivid detail. The sky was beautiful at night.

Andrew nodded off a little for the rest of the train ride, when he woke up again he was only 5 minutes from the mainland station. Andrew navigated his way through the familiar streets of the city until he found the library. 

Andrew got his messages app on his phone again and prepared himself for the high-concentration speaking action that tired him out so much.

“I-m outsi-de Nen--to.” Andrew said. The phone bleeped and blooped and sent the message. Andrew was stuck outside the library, he didn’t want to disturb the peaceful goes inside. After a little bit someone exited the library. This person's hand signed the letters for “A” and “N”. 

“Hey Ne-nt-o.” Andrew said to his friend.

“Hey Andrew.” Nento said back.

The two made their way back to the Train Station to head back home. The two walked most of the way in silence, perfectly comfortable with the other.

“Hey Andrew.” Nento piped up. “Wassup.” Andrew slurred out.

“Do you think Nick would mind if I stayed over?” Nento asked. “Nah, not at all.” Andrew said.

[chemicalmagecraft]

Taiyuu OCT Bonus Round 3

@taiyuu-oct

Character Nicknames: Akai-chan: Naishin-Sunomu Seisho Neki-chan: Tsuneki Aoi Tori-chan: Jamie Aguilero Yuu-chan: Mochizuki Tofu Lacca-sensei: Chikyu Tane Wolfie-sensei: Kuzu Onoma Boron: Nerva Rekka Mulan-sensei: Jailong Chen

x x x

Yukino breathed in the warm summer air as she walked to the beach, then let out a contented sigh. For some reason people tended to think that she would like Winter more due to her ice-based Quirk. Maybe some people with cold Quirks worked like that, but hers was specifically heat absorption. That, plus her residual draconic mutations from her grandfather, made her prefer warm temperatures a lot more than cold. So on a hot summer day like this, she was feeling pretty great even though her swimsuit was exposing a lot more of her skin than she normally liked doing.

"It's funny," she said to the two she was walking with, "I don't really like swimming much, but I love the beach." The sun, the sand, and to be perfectly honest...

"I prefer not to swim as well," Akai-chan told her, still looking ahead and holding the cooler she was carrying for Yukino. She looked really pretty in her sundress. Yukino had been hoping to see her in a swimsuit, but she got why she wouldn't be wearing one if she didn't plan to swim.

"We're going to the beach, this is great!" Neki-chan cheered. He was carrying the other cooler. "And you're making ice cream later!"

"Yup," Yukino grinned, though she was trying to keep away from Neki-chan a bit. Even if he was wearing his Quirk-erasing bracelet, Yukino was wary of her body's only way to cool itself suddenly shutting down on a hot summer day. That'd sour her fun real fast... For her part, Yukino was only carrying the bowls, napkins, and a long tablecloth. To be fair, she was also bringing the means of how the ice cream would be made. Sure, it was literally her body, but she was still the one who would be making the ice cream. "Got stuff to make chocolate and vanilla, plus a bunch of toppings."

"Ohh, that sounds delicious," Neki-chan drooled.

"Thanks, I try my best." In addition to her ice cream supplies, Yukino was also carrying a beach towel for herself. She probably wasn't going to go into the water, yes, but she didn't want to sit down directly on the sand. It was warm, which was nice, but Yukino could do without getting sand in her swimsuit...

They crested the hill they were walking up, giving them a good view of the beach.

"Ohhh, that looks beautiful," Neki-chan said.

"Yeah, it is," Yukino agreed. Even though she didn't swim, she could absolutely appreciate the beauty of the sun glittering off the waves. "Right, let me find somewhere to put my stuff. I'll probably need some help bringing the stuff back, but don't worry about helping me keep track of the stuff while we're here."

"Sounds good," Akai-chan said. "Let's find you a spot."

x x x

"Ahhhh~" Yukino sighed, basking in the sun. Her tail wagged a little, then she decided to check on her coolers. She opened one up a crack, sticking a claw in. It felt good, but just to be safe she drained some of the heat from the air in it and refroze the cold water in the ice bag. She did the same for the other cooler, then grimaced and shook out her hands. She hadn't used her Quirk much, but it was always unpleasant when she used it to cool something that was already a little chilly. Yukino rubbed her hands on her tail, which was really warm from the sun because it was covered in black scales.

Once she warmed her hands up, Yukino decided to play around a bit. She put a hand on the sand, careful not to get any under her claws, and activated Cryomancy. The sand frosted over, though Yukino prevented it from freezing together. She lifted up all the sand that she'd frozen in a large clump. Yukino thought for a bit, then formed the sand into a square of walls with little towers in the corner. Then she started with the detail work. She made a largeish (semifunctional) drawbridge on the side facing her, then carved little lines in the walls in the walls to make it look like bricks. She didn't do any details for the drawbridge, though, because she unfortunately wasn't good enough to make wood grain in a little sand drawbridge. It was starting to warm up a bit, so Yukino lightly touched the top of the wall and cooled it back down. Then she froze a bit more sand, using it to make crenellations for the walls and towers. She hummed, thinking of what else she could add to the castle.

"Heads up!" a voice yelled. Yukino snapped her head up just in time to see a beach ball hurtling at her. She quickly caught it with a single hand. A single... clawed hand...

Crud.

Phweee...

Yukino grimaced as the ball started to deflate from the holes she'd accidentally punctured in it with her claws.

"You okay?" Tori-chan asked, walking up to her. It sounded like they were the one who warned her about the ball. Yuu-chan was trailing behind them. "I hit the ball kinda... far... sorry..." They trailed off toward the end, noticing the deflated ball.

Yukino sheepishly removed the ball from her claws, carefully trying to keep it from getting damaged further. "Sorry about that. Claws..." She held the now totally flat ball out to Tori-chan.

They nodded sadly, taking the ball and brandishing their claws with their other hand. "I get how it is..." They sighed, then shook their head a little and smiled. "It's good, it's good. We should've been more careful with the ball."

Yukino nodded. "Still, if you want I can get you a new one later to replace it."

"Oh, no, don't feel the need to do that!" They smiled. "Thanks, but I'll deal with it. Again, sorry for almost hitting you!" They walked off.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Yuu-chan said.

"It's cool, Yuu-chan," Yukino waved him off.

"Are you building a sand castle?" he asked, pointing to her castle.

"Yeah," she said, then noticed it was starting to get close to "melting" again. She quickly refroze the castle. "Using my Quirk to do it. It's practice as well as fun."

"I could give the towers some sprouts, if you want," he said. "They're not flags, but they might make it look nicer?"

Yukino gave him a smile. "That sounds great, but unfortunately I don't know if they'd do well in the cold sand..."

He shook his head slightly. "I can make them cold resistant. Though... they might die soon if I don't sustain them."

Yukino shrugged. "Don't worry about sustaining them. I could try to ice them over once they start wilting. Probably be good practice for something. Thanks, by the way."

He was wearing his box so she couldn't see his mouth, but Yukino had the feeling he was smiling as he put the sprouts on the towers. "Bye," he muttered, then walked off.

Yukino played with the castle for a bit more.

x x x

Yukino hopped up. "Alrighty!" she said with a clap. Some time had passed, and while the sun was still in the sky she felt that she should get started on her ice cream before it got any later. She noticed that some of her classmates, as well as one or two of the teachers, were looking at her now. "I'm gonna be making ice cream soon!" she announced to the people who were looking at her. "Can one of you make sure everyone knows?"

"I'm on it!" Lacca-sensei shouted, giving her a thumbs-up. "Just save me a bowl of rocky road!"

"I literally don't have that but okay," Yukino muttered as her teacher ran off. She shrugged and poked the tablecloth with a foot, using Cryomancy to float it to her hand. She held one end and tossed the other to the side, using her telekinesis to unfurl it. As she did that, she made a table of ice form underneath where it would fall to, making it super thick so it wouldn't melt easily. The tablecloth fell on the ice table a little askew, but Yukino quickly fixed it with telekinesis. She floated the coolers, bowls, spoons, and napkins onto the table next.

Yukino hummed, pulling out the tubs of chocolate- and vanilla-flavored cream in the first cooler that she'd prepared for today with a bit of effort. She'd tried to make sure there was enough for everyone to have at least some of each. She smiled, then pulled out two ice cream scoops in a plastic bag. Yukino pulled out the first one, then uncovered the chocolate cream and dipped it in. She put her other hand over the cream and activated her Quirk. She stirred the cream with both the scoop and the air above it, chilling both. After a few seconds, the cream froze into chocolate ice cream. "Good," she said as she tested the ice cream with the scoop. It wasn't too thick, but not too thin, either. She repeated that with the other scoop and the vanilla cream.

Once both the tubs were done, she rubbed her hands on her tail to warm them up, then put the first cooler under the table and opened up the second one. Honestly she probably didn't have to bring toppings as well, but she wanted to. Plus she could snack on the leftovers later. She pulled out the chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, caramel, whipped cream, and jar of cherries first. Then she took out a couple of the bowls and plastic spoons. She had big bags of chocolate chips (dark, milk, and white), peanut butter chips, peanuts, crushed Oreos, bits of edible cookie dough, and sprinkles in the second cooler as well, of which she poured some of each into the bowls. Then she brought out a label for the peanut products, which she'd made sure to keep away from everything else, for Wolfie-sensei because of his allergies.

"There," she said, then cooled the table down a bit just in case. "Done." She looked up to see that most of the class had formed a line in front of the ice cream. Lacca-sensei was, of course, in the front. "Hey, you don't mind if I get first dibs, do you?" Yukino asked the line. "I did just make it."

"Oh, go ahead!" Lacca-sensei nodded vigorously.

Nobody really objected to that, so Yukino shrugged and took a bowl and a plastic spoon. She took a scoop out of each tub of ice cream with her telekinesis, then put some chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, cookie dough, sprinkles, chocolate syrup, caramel, and whipped cream on it. And finally, a cherry on top. She noticed that the people still in line were staring at her ice cream, though Lacca-sensei, Neki-chan, and Boron had started getting their ice cream behind her. "Alright," she said. "I'm probably gonna stay close to the ice cream table so I can keep it and the ice cream from melting. Call me if you need anything. And I know it goes without saying, but please don't litter. There's a trash bag in one of the coolers, the first person to have to throw out their trash can take that out. Bye."

Yukino walked away, eating a spoonful of ice cream as she did so. She was about to sit down on her beach towel again, but then she saw that Akai-chan was sitting nearby. Yukino set up the table a little too close to her beach towel, actually, so she figured she'd go sit down with her.

"You okay if I sit here?" Yukino asked Akai-chan with a grin.

"Ah, Takeda-kun," she said. "I don't mind."

Yukino sat down on Akai-chan's lap, taking another spoonful of her ice cream.

"I... should've guessed you'd do that..." Akai-chan muttered, her face starting to flush slightly.

"Don't worry," Yukino assured her. "I'll get up if you need me to."

"That's... that's fine," she muttered. "I hope you don't mind that I didn't get any ice cream. I have some residual snake mutations that make cold foods uncomfortable for me."

Yukino shrugged, then tickled Akai-chan's back with her tail. She smiled at the cute noise Akai-chan made. "I get how residual mutations are. The cold can be kinda bad for me, too, though luckily it's not quite bad enough that I can't have ice cream on a warm day if I want to." Yukino took another scoop of her ice cream. "Plus you're not the only one." She pointed at Mulan-sensei. "Think she's just eating crushed Oreos from a bowl."

"You can tell?" Akai-chan asked.

Yukino nodded. "I can feel anything that I've frozen, there's no ice cream in that bowl."

"That's interesting."

"Speaking of, I'm probably gonna go refresh the table and ice cream soon. Wanna keep 'em cool so they don't melt."

Akai-chan nodded. "That makes sense. It is rather warm today."

"Yeah," Yukino said, licking her lips to get a bit of chocolate off. "I like the heat, so it's nice." Yukino got up, stretching a bit. "Anyways, I'm gonna go cool off." She gave Akai-chan a quick peck on the cheek before walking off. Again, she smiled at the adorable squeak that Akai-chan made. She kept her smile as she walked over to the table and tapped it with her Quirk cooling it back down and reinforcing it. She shook out her hand, then walked over to the tubs of ice cream. "Hey, mind if I cool the ice cream off real quick?" Yukino asked Yuu-chan and Wolfie-sensei, who were about to serve themselves some ice cream. "Gotta make sure it stays cool."

Wolfie-sensei nodded. "Go right ahead, I don't mind."

"Yeah," Yuu-chan said. "Thank you."

Yukino gave them a grin, then grabbed the handles of the scoops and used them to chill the ice cream again. "The handles might be a little cold now," she warned, "sorry."

"That's fine," Yuu-chan said, then took some ice cream. "Thanks for the ice cream, by the way!"

"You're welcome," Yukino responded. "I'm gonna go now." She walked back to Akai-chan, chuckling to herself over the fact that she was still blushing over the kiss.

x x x

Yukino hummed to herself as they walked back to the dorms, carrying her beach towel, the trash bag, and the leftover bowls and stuff. "Today was nice," she said.

"Yeah," Neki-chan agreed, carrying one of the coolers again. "And thanks for the ice cream! It was so good!"

Yukino nodded. "You're welcome. That was nice, though I think if I do it again I might wanna prepare something for people who don't like or can't have cold treats." As she said that, she winked at Akai-chan.

Akai-chan raised her eyebrow at the wink but said, "That... does sound nice, yes. I can't wait to see what you make, Takeda-kun."

Yukino smiled at her. "Thanks, Akai-chan. I won't disappoint you!"

[chemicalmagecraft]

Taiyuu OCT Round 3

@taiyuu-oct

Character Nicknames: Keikei-sensei: Unbreakable Fuwa-chan: Zuruko Kayaki Boron: Nerva Rekka Akai-chan: Naishin-Sunomu Seisho Yuu-chan: Mochizuki Tofu

x x x

Yukino tapped her claws against her notebook as she sat in Keikei-sensei's "classroom." She scoffed. It wasn't so much a classroom as it was a field with a packed dirt stage. But hey, that was pretty much Taiyuu's brand at this point, wasn't it? Dirt-cheap, in both their construction and their ability to actually act like a real hero school, fang'si! Honestly the only reasons Yukino hadn't left yet was that Niichan assured her it'd be less complicated to just wait it out until break and Fuwa-chan finally figured out that her Quirk had an off button. Though... Yukino was still skeptical of how abrupt it was after about ten years of supposedly having no control over it at all and how close it was to Yukino complaining about the whole "hey, I'd like to not have my mind fucked with without my permission on a daily basis" thing, but apparently she HaD aN ePipHaNy so it was all good and should not be looked into further.

All the same, Yukino was still keeping her notes on the sheep girl. And Taiyuu was on thin ice with Yukino. If she felt like they weren't properly ensuring the safety of all of their students again, she would not be happy. And she'd probably involve her family in her discomfort with Taiyuu more than she already had. And if that happened- Yukino sighed and took a few deep breaths. At some point the cover of her notebook had frosted over a little under her claws. Ugh. She was better than just letting her Quirk slip out like that. It didn't look like the frost had bled through to the other side, thankfully. Yukino wiped off a bit of frost, then opened up her notebook. She was actually really looking forward to today's assignment... or maybe activity would be a better description? Today they were going to be showing off their hero names and costumes! Yukino had been looking forward to this for years, and even the recent events hadn't been enough to put a damper on that.

Though... Yukino thought that maybe the timing wasn't the best. They were tasked with getting their costume sketches together about when midterms were announced, with the due date being after midterms were over. Supposedly it was to take everyone's mind off the midterms, but really it was just piling up more work on top of the midterms. Of course, Yukino did pretty well on her midterms, she'd made sure to keep on top of her studies. And she'd finalized her costume design like a year ago, after getting feedback from her pro hero relatives on it too. But she could see her classmates having some trouble balancing the workload. Yukino didn't think it was malicious, of course, but just like everything about Taiyuu it was haphazard and a little mismanaged.

Yukino shook her head and slapped her cheeks. If she kept thinking like that she'd probably get herself worked up again... She took another deep breath, then looked at her design notes again, giving herself a bit of a reminder. She'd practiced what she wanted to do to show off her costume since she had the idea for it, but it was a little complex so she still wanted to refresh her memory. She quickly made a little ice statue, just as practice. Then she ground it down to diamond dust before anyone could get a sneak peek. After she was done with that she turned her attention back to the presentations. Okay, maybe she should've been paying more attention to her classmates, but in her defense she was kinda in the back of the "classroom" and almost everyone only had drawings or rough sketches of their costumes that they were describing for the class. Yukino's eyes were good, but not that good.

Ooh, Boron was going up next. They announced that their hero name was The Flaming Hero: Supernova, pretty nice. Their costume seemed to be some kinda light robe, with a mask and leg wrappings instead of shoes. Plenty of bare skin, to help vent heat. It sounded pretty cool, so Yukino couldn't wait to see them wearing it. Next up was Akai-chan, and wow she already had her outfit somehow. How did Yukino miss that? Akai-chan was wearing a red han'fu and a mask, with her hair done all fancy. Yukino certainly liked it. She took the stage and explained her costume choice. Apparently there was armor under that han'fu, which Yukino thought was... kinda neat, actually. "I have chosen Blood Lightning as my hero name," Akai-chan finished with, accentuating it by brandishing a hand covered in red lightning.

Hot.

Next up was Yuu-chan! Yukino was kinda excited to see her roommate's hero costume, to be honest. "I want to make my hero name... Tofu," he said when he got to the stage. "I've been using Yuu as a name more now, and I want my hero name to be something nice and friendly." Yukino nodded. That was probably a good reason for a hero name, and Tofu was nice and simple. It kinda reminded her of Deku, to be honest. He described his costume, which he said he hoped would make him look friendly and comforting. There was a light robe with a ginkgo leaf pattern, a little tail thingy, and a black turtleneck with black leggings underneath it. And finally, he had his usual box mask, except the hero costume one had a cute smile drawn on. Yukino smiled at the mental image of it.

After Yuu-chan sat back down, Yukino decided to get up. "Can I go next?" she asked.

"Of course!" Keikei-sensei declared.

Yukino nodded and walked over to the stage. She took a deep breath as she did, calming her emotions and collecting her thoughts. She grinned as she jumped onto the stage. The nice thing about constantly having to keep an iron grip on her emotions at all times was that somewhere along the line Yukino had become pretty decent at putting on a cheerful face. "Alrighty!" she turned to face the class with a grin. She raised her hand to the sky, white vapor rolling off of it. "For my hero name, I've decided on The Diamond Dust Hero: Kuraokami!" As she said that, she made tiny shards of ice from her raised hand, causing them to swirl around her hand in a vaguely dragon-shaped cloud that glittered in the Summer sun. "A dragon god of snow is pretty fitting for me, right?"

The dragon coiled down her arm, then she stretched her other arm out to the side as the dragon flew around it. Yukino grinned. "As for my costume..." She activated her Quirk again with her outstretched hand. She formed the sculpture she wanted in her mind, ice crystalizing from moisture in the air under her palm. The dragon made of diamond dust swirled around the sculpture as it formed, slowly melting into water droplets that fell as her telekinesis failed. She didn't even plan it, but the last of the diamond dust melted away as the ice sculpture, a double-scale statue herself in her hero costume making a cute pose, was finished forming. Her grin widened a little. The class oohed and ahhed from the display.

Keikei-sensei clapped. "That was amazing! You certainly know how to show off your Quirk. Though I should warn you, due to how not everyone can make giant ice statues of themselves, your grade is going to be based more on utility and how you sell your costume than what the visual presentation is."

Yukino nodded and gave a thumbs-up. "That's reasonable. Don't worry, I didn't expect to just win with that alone. So, the costume!" Yukino pointed to the statue's frilly dress. "If you can't tell, those ridges are supposed to look like dragon scales, for the dragon theme. I figure it should have a kinda arctic color scheme, whites and light blues and stuff." Yukino cleared her throat, feeling her cheeks heat up slightly. "I... took inspiration from magical girl anime for the general design of the dress. Figured that'd be pretty cool-looking, plus it fits with my Quirk name, Cryomancy, and how it can look like spellcasting. And again, gave it a bit of an arctic feel." She patted her giant, icy skirt. "Plus, those frills will also add insulation to help keep my body heat in. I pretty much can't overheat and my Quirk makes me colder, so no sense not keeping warm. On top of that, I'd like to have a heating element similar to what of a lot of other heroes with cold-based Quirk drawbacks have. And the material the costume is made of should be flame-retardant. I can basically absorb fire, yes, but it's best to err on the side of caution, y'know? Also there are modesty shorts in case I have to kick something and heated pockets hidden in the skirt so I can warm my hands up."

Yukino switched to pointing at the staff her statue was holding in one hand. "Onto the equipment. I'm trained in fighting with a staff and can channel my Quirk through it, so that's a no-brainer. I'd prefer to have it made of metal, maybe aluminum or something, because I can channel my Quirk through conductive materials a little easier, but I can see why a metal staff might not be something you'd be comfortable giving a hero student in the first year." She pointed to the bow slung across her statue's back. "Again, I can use a bow with my Quirk." She held out her hand with a toothy grin and formed a few ice arrows, which she floated around her arm. "I can make my heatseeker arrows pretty quickly, then shoot them faster than normal arrows. And as the name suggests, I can alter the flight path in midair with my telekinesis." She disintegrated the arrows into diamond dust. "Next, it's a little hard to see with the frills in the way, which is kinda the point, but there are wrist-mounted grappling hooks hidden in the sleeves. Made specially so I can conduct my Quirk through 'em. Can use them to trip someone, take their weapons, restrain them, or hopefully a mobility boost. Plus I think they look pretty cool."

Yukino snapped her fingers, causing the statue to turn around. She'd made the statue with a bit of a raised base that was separated to form a moving part so she could turn it with minimal effort. The statue turned all the way around, revealing two raised bits in the bottom of the boot that it was kicking back as part of the pose it was doing. "It might be a little hard to see without any color, but there are bits on the bottom of the boots. On the real deal these would be made of metal and extend to bits touching my feet. My Quirk is basically touch-ranged, so if I wanna use my Quirk through my boots it'll make my boots colder either way. Having small, conductive bits at the bottom should make it efficient enough that if the boots are also heated it won't freeze my toes. And I imagine being able to use my Quirk from my feet as well as my hands is gonna be useful."

And now for the big finisher. Yukino turned the statue back around and hopped onto the base. She took a deep breath, then slowly raised the statue a little. The other purpose of the base was that the raised bit that kept the two halves from misaligning when she turned it around also let her raise the statue up slightly without making the statue wobble, which would probably make Yukino slip up and fall. This was already stressful enough without that. But Yukino had already decided she'd raise the platform with her on it for the end of the presentation, so there was no turning back. She just barely managed to keep from shaking as she felt the platform she was standing on be supported only by her telekinesis. Now the worst part. Yukino jumped, kicking her leg back to copy the pose her statue was making. She lost her balance a little when she landed on one leg, but managed to rebalance with only a bit of wobbling. Yukino sighed in relief, then copied the cute pose and expression of her statue. "And that's The Diamond Dust Hero: Kuraokami!"

Yukino slowly put the statue down, then stepped off. She snapped her fingers, then started to disintegrate her statue. She lifted it upwards, making the powdered ice swirl around it as the statue was quickly chipped away. Soon it was a cloud of diamond dust swirling in the air above the stage, then Yukino made the cloud explode. The tiny bits of ice scattered through the air, most of it melting into raindrops before they could hit her classmates. Yukino grinned as Keikei-sensei and some of her classmates clapped. "Thank you, thank you." She strutted back to where she was sitting. That was fun, but the end was a little tiring... Still, she'd paced herself enough that she wasn't that tired. "Right," she said, "who's next?"

[arti-pops]

Thank some god she didn't throw a fit. Well, if you believe in any.

         Entrance exam for @taiyuu-oct !

           Yep. She was going to do this. Aki was on her way to become a hero. If she passed that is, but there is no doubt she would. Her grandfather and her aunt were counting on her, her parents too, probably, from up there. She was already on the train sitting next to some kid with a witch hat. It looked cool but them as a person looked weak as fuck. Hope they don’t pass. But thankfully, they were quiet, although that might be because of the threatening glare Busujima sent them. She looked out of the window to see lots of water, just stretching to where her eyes cannot see. It was weird. 

          Eventually, though, they got to their destination. Aki practically jumped out of the train in excitement, but sadly there was still the written exam on the way.

-+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+-

          Finally, it was finally time for the practical exams. She just couldn't wait! And- oh. Oh, she was not participating on the first test. She had to wait more?! You better thank some god she didn't throw a fit, at least she's participating on the second. The principal explained what the others would be doing and led them somewhere.

          She had time to prepare herself, rest. The thing is, Aki didn't like rest. She knew she'd need it but god was it tedious. She looked around at the other people waiting, one or two were asleep, some were stretching, some were talking and some were just observing, like her.

          Less than an hour had passed and it was over, the teacher leading the next test, whatever his name was, came to explain what the possibly soon-to-be students had to do. “You will all go to a forest and try to not get caught by wolves.” Some people seemed terrified, and the teacher sighed. “They are made by my quirk, touching them gets you disqualified.” Wolfsboon, Aki remembered, finished explaining. “Any questions?”

          Very few people raised their hands, the first to speak was a blue haired girl with horns “Can we pet them?”

          “No, any form of touching them gets you disqualified.” He seemed annoyed at having to explain, heh. And with that, the two other hands went down. Seeing as there were no more hands up, he led them all to the forest. “I will give you a minute before releasing wolves at you.”

          They all ran, looking for big bushes to hide in, trees to climb, or space free enough to run without obstacles. Aki had just gotten to a tree herself and started to climb, she saw some people around her doing the same thing. The wolves were out and she was staring at where they came from, her tree wasn’t too far from the starting point but not too up close either, so the wolves started coming and her tree had moment of peace for a small second until one of them smelled Busujima and started to try and climb it. 

          The girl jumped from the tree in the opposite direction and ran, footsteps making loud noises, but there were many others with the same problem. The wolf was close behind her and she made a small bomb rise from the palm of her hand. Yellow? Really?! Well, the only thing she could do was throw it at the ground, at the small place between her and the wolf. Once it hit the dirt, the bomb exploded into a huge amount of sprinkles. As the wolf stepped on them, all they did were sink into the dirt, but at least it served as a small distraction and the distance between Aki and the wolf was a bit bigger. Pulling out another bomb, she got purple. Yes, that will be helpful, fucking stupid wolf! She threw the bomb directly at the animal, a sticky goo came from it and it seemed to have a harder time moving, being lightly stuck and on a slippery surface.

          She ran a while more, finally having the wolf off her back as she came across two others, together in front of her. She pulled out two bombs this time, one was purple and another was red. She threw the purple one at them, but it only seemed to stop one of the wolves and make the other slip once. So she ran, and threw the remaining bomb in a random direction. Lots of different flowers came from it and the smell attracted a few wolves but didn’t get that one off her back, a sneeze was heard in the distance, oops. Eventually it caught up to her and touched her with it’s mouth. Mad, Aki went back to where the disqualified people were. At least she wasn’t one of the first five.

-+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+-

          There was, again, another test before she could go to her next one. As much as Aki had promised herself to do something on the next break, she was tired and allowing herself to rest before her next test was a very great idea, so she closed her eyes and waited until a teacher, or the principle, came for the next round.

          After half an hour, which was too long in Aki’s opinion, all of the participants plus the same teacher that led her first test came back. She really couldn’t remember who the teacher that explained the next one’s name was, or the other teacher beside them. “You will be climbing a steep six foot wall, with some hand and foot holds. If you fall, do not worry. Both of us will be there to make sure you don’t get badly injured. Preferably not injured at all.” The teacher beside them gave a big grin. And so, they were led to the wall.

          Aki tried to look at the holds to try and find which ones would be easier to grab and yet were kind of out of her reach. As soon as she found some she made about two bombs that she threw back where no one was at, until she got a glitter one. With that in hand, she threw it on the ground while jumping just above it, the impact gave her a small boost and she got a hold  of the holds (hehe), almost slipping on the one her right foot stepped on. The rest was fairly easy, since no one was allowed to get on someone else’s way, there were even possible future students talking. Only slipping once or twice, Aki got to the top. There were already a few people there, which got her disappointed, but there were still people climbing so she guessed it was okay.

-+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+-

          This time it was two. Two rounds she had to wait until her next one. She did take one of them to rest again, but as the students came back and she didn’t go, Aki decided she could stretch a bit. Who knew what they were going to do next? So she did a few simple stretches, nothing too tiring. Someone with colorful fire on their skin joining her along the way. She stopped and they seemed to carry on for a bit longer as she sat down. That was cool of them. Maybe.

          And so the people came back and what they were doing for the next round was explained. “You’ll be rock hopping from stone pillar to stone pillar, on the ocean, out to an island and back! The water is only a meter deep, but if you even think about wading you’ll be disqualified.” The teacher warned.

         And so they were brought to the ocean. Well, they weren’t in it, but they were close and they would be hopping on top of it in just a second. “START!” Everyone ran towards the pillars’ direction and started hopping. Aki didn’t really have any strategy, so she just stepped on the closest and started hopping to the nearest unoccupied pillars, sometimes she waited for the people on them to jump. Some of the ones in front of her were wet because of people who fell down.

          On some, she slipped and almost fell, on others she didn’t jump correctly and with lots of luck didn’t fall. As she was getting close to the end, there was a smaller piller and it was very wet, apparently it had caused two people to slip, yet it still seemed like her best option. So she jumped. And she could feel herself slipping and falling to the side, until she felt someone grab her hand and shoulder. There was a person on the pillar next to that one who was kind enough to help her, well, she would be too much of a jerk if she didn’t thank them. “Thanks, I guess.” She said to someone with big asphalt hands and bangs that covered their eyes. That actually looked pretty cool.

          “NO PROBLEM!” They yelled, hopping away to the finish line. Fuck, she also had to go. Having no more problems with the few other pillars, Aki made her way to the finishing point. 

-+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+-

          Getting back home she was pretty confident. She was definitely going to pass. And once she arrived, she discovered her aunt was visiting. Sitting down on the living room floor Aki told her grandfather and aunt about the exams, telling them about how she surely passed, without a doubt and having Ichika tell her that even if she was amazing, she should lower a bit her expectations, which her grandfather and Aki herself strongly disagreed on.

[incorrect-taiyuu]

Rekka: [exists]

Jamie: so you have chosen... snuggles

[incorrect-taiyuu]

Kirai: Hits Rekka with the 7th +4 of the game

Rekka:

Rekka: Okay he has to have run out by now

Kirai, about to play another +4:

[incorrect-taiyuu]

Kirai: Any cute things to call your boyfriend?

Tsuya: Sugar.

Boar: honey

Merce: flour

Rekka: egg

Merce: 1/2lb butter

Rekka: stir

Merce: pour into a pan

Rekka: preheat to 350 degrees

[incorrect-taiyuu]

Andrew: I don't think Isejin is that into me

Rekka: You serious?

Andrew: Yeah

Rekka: They asked you if you work out

Andrew: Seisho asked me that

Rekka: WHEN SEISHO ASKED YOU SHE HAD A NOTEBOOK IN HER HAND. WHEN ISEJIN ASKED YOU THEY WERE HOLDING FLOWERS AND CHOCOLATE!

[incorrect-taiyuu]

the Star Ship to Rekka: