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[img]http://i.imgur.com/tOSegMM.png[/img]
[h3][color=b16edd]Reina Mori[/color][/h3]
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Biting her lip hard, Reina listened to Mamoru’s words, her blush deepening with each passing second. She tried to protest a couple times, finding it difficult to hear so many good things being said about her, but she couldn’t make her voice work. 

[color=pink]”You're as crazy as me, but smarter, stronger, and waaaaaay cuter.”[/color] 

[color=b16edd]”I-I’m not!...”[/color] she finally managed, her voice hardly noticeable. She was going to say more, unable to accept the pink-haired girl comparing Reina favourably against herself, but stopped upon receiving a second hug.

[color=pink]”Even if you doubt yourself, trust in me, who has faith in you. I know you'll be a great hero.”[/color]

[color=pink][i]Trust in me.[/i][/color] Reina... she could do that, right? She liked Mamoru. The girl was the exact kind of person Reina always wanted to be around—a complete opposite of herself, at least on a surface level. She always avoided that type of person especially, however, not ever wanting to impose. But maybe Mamoru, as well as the other two...

Reina glanced to Acion as he spoke. Her expression was beginning to lighten, no longer on the brink of crying, but still filled with sad, scared uncertainty. She nodded slowly as the boy finished.

[color=b16edd][i]Friends...[/i][/color] The three of them deserved better than her, though. Even if she tried, she’d just be a burden they’d feel the had to take care of, and eventually they’d realize the effort simply wasn’t worth it. She should just push them away and keep to herself, as usual. Her own desires shouldn’t come into play.

[color=#F50A83]"That's wrong, though, Reina,"[/color] Fumika said.

Reina glanced to girl still hugging her for a moment, before dropping her eyes to her lap. She listened quietly, fighting the urge to disagree. There was no way that was true—that no one else could use her quirk better. Of course, Fumika and the others didn’t know everything about it—they couldn’t.  She was just doing what she could, for Reina’s sake. The dark-haired girl dug her fingers into her skirt. 

She paused, looking up when Fumika’s voice suddenly changed, the confusion taking her away from her thoughts for a moment. The girl, after a passionate speech, reverted to normal. [color=b16edd][i]Haruka?...[/i][/color] A friend of hers, maybe. Someone she respected greatly.

[color=#F50A83]"So, please don't be sad, Reina. You were really heroic."[/color]

Reina looked away again, feeling shameful for even feeling upset again. [color=b16edd]”S-sorry...”[/color] She felt tears begin to sting her eyes again. The three at her desk really were too good for her. But she wanted to be friends with them...

...Hadn’t she decided only a little earlier that she would try to fix herself? And here were three of her new classmates, giving her an opportunity to take a step forward to that end. It frustrated her that she didn’t immediately take it. It just wasn’t that easy. Why couldn’t it be? Because. She’d just be a problem for them, one they’d feel obligated to deal with for a while. She wouldn’t do that to anyone.

[color=#F50A83][i]”What matters is your drive – how much you want to succeed, the things you believe in.”[/i][/color]

Reina’s eyes, still staring at her lap, widened slightly as something finally clicked in her thoughts. She always wanted to believe in others. She always [i]did[/i]. Even when they left her, fed up with her personality, fed up with her quirk, it was always herself she blamed. Because it [i]was[/i] her fault. But still... it was in others that she found all of her own drive. Probably not in the healthiest ways, but that was how she was, fundamentally. 

Right now, her classmates were too good for her. In her mind, that was undeniable. But she wanted to fix herself. To become someone that could be looked at and immediately pinned as a great hero. One known world-wide, and was turned to constantly for aid. She wanted no one to ever be scared to ask for her help, as she was right now with the help of all others.

Though she was far, [i]far[/i] from that, she could move forwards today, thanks to these three. She’d do everything she could to not be a burden on them, until she wasn’t so like... herself. If there was anyone who’d be okay with putting up with a personality like hers, wouldn’t it be hero course students?

[color=b16edd]”Th-Thank you...”[/color] she finally said quietly, glancing between the three. [color=b16edd]”Aksha-san, Nakamiji-san, Motome-san...”[/color]

Swallowing shame and guilt, Reina bowed forwards in her seat, eyes lightly squeezing shut. [color=b16edd]”I-I’m sorry... I’d like to be friends with you...”[/color] Though only really Acion had come to her making it clear he was looking for a friendship, the girl managed to force herself to ask the same of the two other girls. 

Reina fought to keep herself from shaking too much as she bowed, completely out of her comfort zone and terrified of what consequences she’d face for her actions—both immediate and in the future. She was thankful she had her eyes shut, at least—it was hard to cry like that.

[sub][@Conscripts] [@Lucius Cypher] [@Feyblue][/sub]