[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/V7oGvYL.png[/img] ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ [img]https://i.imgur.com/yt0zZ3m.png[/img] ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 𝔇𝔦𝔞𝔩𝔬𝔤𝔲𝔢 𝓒𝔬𝔩𝔬𝔯 || [color=#FF741D]#FF741D[/color] ||| 𝔗𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔤𝔥𝔱 𝓒𝔬𝔩𝔬𝔯 || [color=#DFD989]#DFD989[/color] ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬[/center] As her two unexpected companions had begun conversing amongst themselves, Asuka had obligingly remained silent. Having to be so passive all the time was, to be sure, mildly infuriating. She thrived on conversation, on being the center of everyone's attention and directing the flow of the talk how she wanted. And yet, time and time again, all she could do was stand around staring at her phone and pretending to be engrossed by nothing in particular, zoning out from conversations in which she was not welcome. It was, of course, to be expected. After all, these kids were all heroes in training. It made sense that their concerns and interests - and thus, their topics of conversation - would be completely different from those in which she could readily participate. Still, hearing nothing but talk of training and martial arts couldn't but grate on her nerves after a while. It was just like listening to her own big sister and Harukaze. It was always the same stupid stuff, rehashed over and over again, how such and such hero was cool, or how they'd done such and such training in such and such way at such and such time. While she knew Kasuke wasn't as socially stunted as her sister, she wasn't so sure about the rest of the kids at this school. Couldn't they talk about normal stuff at all? Like what new TV show had just come out, or where they wanted to go shopping and what they wanted to buy, or what music they had been listening to, or the stupid thing their brother's friend's cousin had shown them, or... or something, anything - literally anything other than just fighting, nonstop, 24/7! Thankfully, she was distracted from one frustration by another. Her sister walked into the room and, as expected, ignored her presence completely in order to strike up a conversation with her cute friend. Of course, the thing she immediately latched onto was his injuries, just as she had expected. With those unfair eyes of hers, of course that'd be the first thing she noticed. And, playing her part with gusto, of course she'd immediately act all worried over him, and then would probably pretend to be impressed when he passed off his injuries like they were nothing, and say something like "You're so cool!" in that dumb, airy way she always did. Her sister had become such a master of sliding her way into people's good opinions by feeding their egos that Asuka was almost inclined to be jealous. No, she would most certainly have been jealous, if the prideless, airheaded way in which she acted to do it wasn't so insulting to her. And of course, everyone just bent over backwards to accommodate her, giving her exactly the attention she wanted, the attention that she hadn't been able to get anywhere else. ...Her thoughts had just turned in a very unpleasant direction again. Asuka sighed. Staying to watch this would only make her question herself and her plans. When Kasuke declared her own intentions to leave, the green-eyed blonde was all too willing to join her. [color=#FF741D]"Hmm... I suppose I should go, too. I need to tell Harukaze, now that I've found my sister."[/color] She returned the rather pointed look Kasuke had sent her way, and gave a slight grin. [color=#FF741D]"It should be alright. I don't think she'll be going anywhere for a while, so I can probably afford to leave these two alone."[/color] Giving a slight chuckle, she motioned her friend towards the door, but was unable to resist glancing back over her shoulder and giving one final parting remark. [color=#FF741D]"Do [i]take care of[/i] my sister for me, Yoshida-san,"[/color] She suggested, so innocently that she could only be teasing. [color=#FF741D]"She can be a bit [i]oblivious[/i] sometimes, so be sure she doesn't wander off with [i]anyone else.[/i]~"[/color] She gave a slight giggle. [color=#FF741D]"Before I come back, that is,"[/color] She added, so naturally that of course, that was the only thing she could have been talking about. She turned and headed out the door, holding it open for Kasuke to follow after her, all the while shooting her new friend - and, if her own efforts to depart quickly were any indicator, probable accomplice - another sly grin. [@Silver Carrot] [hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/fl36rOW.png[/img] ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ [img]https://i.imgur.com/1GzGnyg.png[/img] ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 𝔇𝔦𝔞𝔩𝔬𝔤𝔲𝔢 𝓒𝔬𝔩𝔬𝔯 || [color=#F50A83]#F50A83[/color] ||| 𝔗𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔤𝔥𝔱 𝓒𝔬𝔩𝔬𝔯 || [color=#0A8BF5]#0A8BF5[/color] ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬[/center] Fumika's frown of worry softened slightly at his words, but never quite went away, even as he continued with his explanation. He couldn't tell her? Why? That didn't make sense. People only kept secrets when the truth would cause them difficulties. Then did that mean that if the story of how he'd been hurt got out, Yoshida would be in trouble? But why? It still didn't make sense. He was a nice person. He wouldn't do anything bad that would get him into a situation like that. There must have been some kind of mistake. But then why else wouldn't he tell her? Maybe because if she knew, it would put her in danger? That seemed more like him... so much more like him, in fact, that it seemed almost certain to be the case. But then in that case, didn't this all seem really dangerous? What kind of trouble had he gotten himself into? He'd been fighting someone... someone who even he couldn't beat. What was he trying to protect her from? Just like that, her worries only increased, but, as he'd already firmly stated that he couldn't tell her, she couldn't even find anything to say to give voice to them. Even so, he seemed happy. But the longer he spoke, the more Fumika realized that his words were all wrong. What did he mean, saying that he wasn't great? This was the same Yoshida who had so eagerly encouraged her on the first day of classes, who had worked so hard to become a Hero, who was so much faster and stronger than her! Of course that wasn't true... But like always, he moved so fast. Before she could even say anything or try to encourage him, he had already moved to asking how she had been. She opened her mouth to answer, but slowly came to the realization that there really wasn't much to say. She had kept training, had done her homework, and had done her best in the battle exercises for Hero class. She'd even managed to make some decent progress on her Quirk Applications report. But that wouldn't really matter to Yoshida, would it? In that case, herself... But what had she done aside from that? She'd spent some time with Haruka whenever she visited... and she'd been trying really hard to get along with her new roommate... But all of that wasn't really important either. After all, nobody ever really cared about what she did or thought. It wasn't at all interesting or special. Talking about herself would only bore him, so why had he asked? And yet, he had asked, which meant she'd have to answer. [color=#F50A83]"I've been fine,"[/color] She responded curtly. She wasn't lying. Well, maybe... Technically speaking, she had gotten hurt a bit in the last exercise. But that was to be expected, and her wounds had all healed very quickly. So then why did she feel like she wasn't telling the truth? Why was it that her chest felt so tight? She had wanted to see him, but now that he was here, just talking was difficult. It didn't make any sense at all. She wanted to say something, anything, so forced herself to continue a little further. She tried to think of it as talking to herself rather than to someone else, hoping it would help her focus and find the right words, but even then, she didn't really know what to say, and so jumped haphazardly from one thought to the next. [color=#F50A83]"I worked hard in training, but I still lost. My teammates were very nice, though, and didn't get angry with me even when I slowed them down. Well, one of them wasn't actually nice. He was your replacement. He saved me from falling, but then he dropped me on the ground, and during the fight he apparently hurt a bunch of people. I haven't seen him since then, but I think I dislike him. He's very strong, but he's not nearly as cool as Yoshida. ...Oh. That is, he's not as cool as you are."[/color] She trailed off completely, pursing her lips and exhaling quietly as her bangs, which had been curling rather wildly out to either side, let out a quiet crackle of static and slowly descended, like curtains being lowered ignominiously on a failed performance to cover the actors and conceal their shame from their silent audience. Her antenna flopped over completely, dangling across the bridge of her nose and twitching slightly with pent-up impotent frustration. Her expression didn't change, save for a slight frown as she reached up to adjust the glasses that her writhing hair had slightly displaced, but something in her eyes as they peeked between curtains of smooth, shiny hair seemed dark and gloomy by comparison. [color=#F50A83]"Sorry,"[/color] Fumika said quietly at last, her voice slightly tense as she lowered her head ever-so-slightly in what might have been a bow. [color=#F50A83]"I'm very bad at talking, so I'm probably being very boring."[/color] The silence that followed was practically tangible, and she couldn't help but shrink slightly. Whatever the right words might have been in this situation, even someone as dense as her couldn't help but feel that her own words must have been sorely lacking by comparison. Yoshida must have been so disappointed. He had finally come back like he'd promised to, and she couldn't even hold a decent conversation. She fretted, fussed, twisted and tugged slightly at the ends of her braids, hoping the warmth of her own hair rubbing against her cheeks would give her whatever strength or assurance she needed to dispel such thoughts. To her consternation, however, the soft strands actually felt cold to the touch. No, that wasn't it, but rather, her face was already strangely warm...? Now that she noticed it, in fact, everything about the way she felt was strange. Fumika didn't feel well at all, all of a sudden. But why? Was this that strange kind of "wanting" she'd experienced before? But why would she be lonely? She didn't understand it one bit, and that frustrated her to no end. She'd gotten what she wanted. He was right there, so why did she still feel lonely? [@Zeroth]