[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/uTzbbVn.png[/img][/center][right][sup][color=gray][b]Ｓａｐｐｏｒｏ, Ｊａｐａｎ[/b]
Ishin Academy, April 7th[/color][/sup][/right]
The bullet train—why was it called that? Its original Japanese name made sense. Shinkansen. With the Shin meaning "new" and the Kansen meaning "main line" or "trunkline", it came naturally and sounded great. Bullet train, however, made little sense. It was fast, yes, but so were planes. One didn't go around calling every supersonic plane a "bullet plane". Was it the rounded tips of the train? If so, then one would need to block out sound shoving ear bullets into their ear holes. Or, possibly, they would have to crack a chicken bullet into a pan.

Idle musings filled Momoka's mind. The train ride, despite being rather short for the distance traveled, left her with nothing to do but think about things. By the end of the first hour, she managed to completely think about every important topic that came to mind. She frantically argued with herself, switching topics every time her train of thought derailed. From her future as a hero to the etymology and critique of naming things, meaningless topics appeared and vanished like a fly.

But coming up, this was her stop. Sapporo—home of the annual Sapporo Snow Festival, the eponymous beer, but—most importantly—Ishin Academy. This was the place where she would learn to become a hero.

It was also colder.

Despite only being somewhere in the realm of 12°C, Momoka had worn an extra shirt underneath her uniform. The shirt, however, was oversized. This made her appear lumpy. Though, in this day and age, having an abnormal body type was usually accepted.

The trip to Ishin Academy was not noteworthy to any extent. She had the map and everything she needed with her, after all. What kind of person couldn't even do something as simple as follow a map?

She entered the gates and, like the others, had been directed towards the auditorium. There, she saw the group she was supposed to sit and mingle with—the other first years. Interesting bunch, to say the least. They seemed to be having fun, conversing and introducing themselves. But, though Momoka was a sociable person, she had to focus intently on her schooling. After all, her father was strictly opposed to her becoming a hero. If she wanted to be a hero, then she would need to prove herself at the strictest school that would be uninviting of her. To her father, that meant Ishin Academy.

First, she needed to find a seat. Sitting next to a big group of talkative people was a no-no. She would have easily found herself distracted. As such, she had made a conscious decision to sit alone. Finding a nice spot alone, she sat. She would bide her time for now, waiting for whoever was the speaker to, well, speak.