[center][h1][color=#F50A83]Fumika,[/color] [color=#c9c916]Haruka,[/color] [color=007236]Jett[/color] and [color=steelblue]Kenichi[/color][/h1] ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ [img]https://i.imgur.com/1GzGnyg.png[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/FciBpgl.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/yMYUUW4.png[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/1ZAikaK.png[/img] ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬[/center] [center][color=#F50A83]“Yoshida, you idiot.”[/color][/center] "Oh, uh...No, I mean..." Kenichi flubbed as Jett put him on the spot. He started to open his mouth again to give some other excuse, but before he could even think of it Jett bamf'd somewhat clumsily across the room. The bluette raised an eyebrow, but just then a crackle of static made him shift his attention to Fumika. Suddenly he felt very nervous, and a drop of sweat rolled down the back of his head. When Haruka brusquely asked what was wrong with Jett's Quirk--was that what it was? His Quirk going out of control for some reason? What could've caused [i]that?[/i]--Kenichi wasn't able to spare them another glance. As Fumika scolded him, he found himself experiencing something that didn't often happen to him, specifically--having his breath catch in his throat. "Aw come on, Motome-chan..." he muttered, dropping his hands to his sides. He looked down for a moment, biting his lip...then he finally met her eyes. He hoped she couldn't see what he was feeling in them. "Look, I'm not just keeping quiet to try and make people stop worrying--I mean, that's part of it. But I'm..." He sighed. "I'm [i]legally[/i] required not to tell anyone. Cause I'm in as much trouble as they are, for some stupid reason." He looked mad, but he specifically made a point to do so in another direction, not at Fumika, lest she mistake him as directing his frustration at her. "But..." He glanced over his shoulder. Haruka and Jett were probably going to have a little spat of their own, if Jett had some explaining to do about his glitchy Quirk. And...Fumika did things so literally. And she seemed to listen the same way. So maybe... "Just...please don't tell anybody, okay?" he said to her, more of a whisper, crossing his own arms. But whereas Fumika did so to express a stern countenance, Kenichi almost looked like he was...hugging himself. She nodded seriously, that earnest yet unreadable expression remaining utterly focused on him. "On the first day of school, after dinner, I got an email from my parents. Somebody carjacked them, and broke my dad's leg in the process." He kept his voice low, and although he stepped a little closer to her he also turned slightly--more to put his back towards the other two than anything. "I...I worry a lot about my dad. He's...he had an accident. Kind of like Haruka-chan. So I went to see him. I thought if I went early enough I'd get back in time for afternoon classes, only miss part of the day." His fist clenched. The bandages got a little redder. In the corner of his eye, he could see Fumika tensing up, opening her mouth as if to say something, but the words didn’t come out. The look on her face had shifted at the mention of her friend, and there was something painful in it, but she nodded numbly as if she understood. He’d told her once before, right? Come to think of it, she’d frozen up back then, too. Now that he had met Haruka, he understood why - because for once, she knew exactly how someone felt, in the worst possible way. "But...I don't know the whole story, yet, but it seems like the guys that attacked my parents weren't doing it randomly. Somehow they knew I was a Komei student and for some reason they were trying to lure me out, specifically. They...they snatched me, took me out to the mountains, and they..." He hugged himself tighter, his other hand's fingers gripping his own arm like he was going to tear it off. But his eyes were not afraid. His eyes were like those of a wild animal. That goofy grin twisted until his teeth looked like fangs. [color=#F50A83]“Yoshida, don’t. You’re going to hurt yourself.”[/color] Fumika’s voice sounded… different, almost as if she was scared of something, but that hardly registered before he’d forced himself to continue. "But, but I got away! And I left those [i]fuckers[/i] some bruises. Then the Pros found me." He forced himself to take a breath. The wind caused Fumika's long blonde locks to move slightly. "I had to stay in the hospital--not Hosu General, some other place a few train stops from here--and they even sent a bunch of psychs in. Like [i]I'm[/i] messed up in the head cause I defended myself or-” He got no further before suddenly, something… or rather, someone cut him off. [hr] Sure enough she called him out asking what was wrong with his quirk. Mixed feelings rose up on him. He of course didn’t tell her when it happened, yet the fact she didn’t get that it was happening till now kinda miffed him he teleported on her three times now and since they were kids that never happened. But on the other hand, him losing his quirk for a week or so seemed like nothing compared to Haruka losing her leg. He bit his tongue. He still didn’t want to seem weak infront of her. Telling her he got his head almost smashed in on the first day would make it seem like he was. He shrugged. “It’s nothing… don’t worry about it.” He said quietly. Haruka stared at him, eyes narrowed. She opened her mouth, then seemed to think better of what she was about to say, take a moment to reconsider it, and then try again. Her cheeks slowly puffed outward, then deflated like a balloon as she gave a hiss-like sigh of irritation. [color=#c9c916]“Fine. If you don’t want to talk about it, then suit yourself. Guess I’m not one to talk, anyway. Tch.”[/color] She shook her head and kicked at the floor with her false leg, muttering to herself in a more quiet voice. [color=#c9c916]“Geez, I can’t even stand my own idiocy, let alone seeing it come from you.”[/color] But this momentary gloom was quite quick to fade, as when she raised her head again, it was with a sly grin. [color=#c9c916]“Oh, but of course, since I just got done doing this whole routine myself, I already know the answer to my question anyway. You did something stupid, got yourself hurt, and now your Quirk’s all messed up, right?”[/color] She spoke so smugly that one might wonder if she really did in fact realize that everything she’d just said applied perfectly to herself, despite her earlier words. She nodded enthusiastically to herself, then gave a bemused expression. [color=#c9c916]“Hmm… Yeah, that does seem about right, but… how the hell do you even screw up teleportation? Like, it’s not like it’s tied to a specific body part or anything… Guess it’s not really like my leg at all... Or at least, I don’t think it is. Maybe like, your spleen or something?”[/color] Jett looked at Haruka and sighed. “Yep you solved it. I hurt my spleen and couldn’t teleport for a week, and still can’t control it.” He said sarcastically. Annoyed and yet happy to see her somewhat back to her old self. He felt a vibration in his pocket but ignored it for now. Haruka couldn’t quite repress a rather obnoxious chuckle and shrugged. [color=#c9c916]“Heh. I can’t even tell how much of that’s for real and how much is you giving me shit,”[/color] Another one of her trademark cheeky grins crossed her face. [color=#c9c916]“So I guess I’ll just assume that all of it’s true and you’ve just got some kind of freaky quantum mutant spleen. ...Talk about lame hero names, though. Look out, evildoers, here comes ‘The Disappearing Spleen!’”[/color] She struck a deliberately lame pose and gave another raucous laugh. Jett rolled his eyes as he stood in front of her. Quickly raising his hands and flicking her pig tails again so they landed on top of her head. She brushed them back with a frown. [color=#c9c916]“Oi, quit it, will ya?”[/color] He opened his mouth to say something when he looked over Haruka’s head and saw… Wait, what? He hadn’t been paying much attention to that side of the room, and come to think of it, they had gotten rather quiet, but still- [color=#c9c916]“Oi, what are you gawking at all of a su-”[/color] Haruka stopped mid-sentence, turning with an expression of bewilderment on her face. [color=#c9c916]“ ...Huh?”[/color] [hr] In his half-agitated, half-enraged state, it took Kenichi a moment to understand what had happened, or why suddenly, he found a pair of arms wrapped around him, his vision crowded out by pale skin and the fabric of a black blouse. Kenichi's eyes widened. Once again, his breath caught in his throat. For a few seconds all he could hear was the thudding of his heart in his chest. [color=#F50A83]“Please calm down. Please go back to normal,”[/color] pleaded a quiet voice coming from somewhere just over his head. It was gentle, soft as always - and yet there was a certain urgency to it. She pulled him closer slowly, tentatively, as if afraid she herself would cause the pain she was so desperate to avoid, and yet insistently, clinging to him as if equally afraid he’d try to shove her away. [color=#F50A83]“You are acting strange after all. I don’t like it.”[/color] Her words were little more than a whisper, but she was now so close that he could hear them perfectly clearly. He could feel her breath rustling through his hair, a hot current that brushed up against his ear as she continued to ramble, clearly searching for something to say but never quite hitting upon it. "No...no, it's...it's okay." Slowly, hesitantly, Kenichi returned her embrace. He held back, because he didn't want to get blood on her...and he didn't want to accidentally use too much strength...and she was so [i]soft[/i] and...and he wasn't really sure [i]what the hell was going on.[/i] He could feel his face heating up, and his heartbeat was still going a hundred miles an hour but somehow it was [i]completely[/i] different. [color=#F50A83]“I’m sorry. I know I should be saying something, but... I don’t know the words, because I’m being stupid and it gets in the way and I don’t understand at all. I’m sorry. If you get angry at me, I won’t mind. You said something you didn’t want to. It wasn’t the right thing. So it’s my fault you’re acting strange. I shouldn’t have asked. I’m sorry.”[/color] As she spoke, he could feel something coiling slowly around his back, a faint jolt like a spark running up his spine. Was that... her hair? It was soft to the touch, and faintly warm, enveloping him like a blanket. "Motome-chan, I'm not angry at you. You're not stupid. It's not your fault. I don't blame you at all!" His hands stopped hovering so much, and gently settled on her back. That static from her hair almost made him jump, a shiver that passed through him like the trembling of a taut muscle ready to tear. "If it wasn't for you...If I hadn't met you, I don't know if I could have made it out of there. I'm just...when I think about Villains like that...when I remember how weak I really am...I just..." He couldn't go on. The words just wouldn't come. He bit his lip. He could feel it threatening to break loose, but he'd be [i]damned[/i] if he fucking cried right now. So all he could do was stand there, letting himself relax in her arms as he felt her warmth and comfort. Her chin sat nestled on his hair, and her delicate arms were trembling too as she pulled him closer. Wait. [i]No don't--[/i] If she was tall enough that her head was resting on his-- [i]Brain please no--[/i] Then that meant she had to be holding his head against-- [i]BAD BRAIN, STAHP![/i] And that's why she felt so [i]soft[/i] and-- Kenichi's flushed face made a sound akin to a kettle reaching a rolling boil as his entire head turned the shade of a cherry tomato. As he gulped, his body ever so slightly began to shake again. The shiver even passed up his spine, causing all of his hair to stand on end-- And right in front of Fumika's big blue eyes, that one big blue spike of his hair suddenly stood straight up in a manner rather reminiscent of an exclamation mark. Had Kenichi just...achieved Ahoge? Fumika blinked. She tilted her head sideways, as she was wont to do when bemused, then stopped, lowered her chin, then raised it again ever so slightly, her cheek rubbing against the inexplicably upright tuft of hair that had unexpectedly appeared in front of her. She gave a faint smile. His hair was really soft and fluffy, after all. She liked soft things a great deal. They helped her relax when she was upset. Yoshida sounded relaxed now, too. His voice didn’t sound scary anymore. Even if his words were sad, even if she didn’t understand quite what he meant, even though she hadn’t known the right words to say… had it really worked? She’d just been doing what she herself would have wanted if she was upset - a warm, fluffy hug. Granted, it had never really helped that much when she’d had to make her copies do it, but… ...But it really was quite odd. His hands had felt… strange. His palms were very gentle, as if hesitant to touch her at all, but his fingertips had been pressing just hard enough on her back to leave faint imprints on her shell even through the fabric of her blouse. Were his hands… shaking? It seemed soft and warm, even though she couldn’t feel it well. His forehead, too, had left a warm spot where it had been resting right below her collarbone, even when he’d drawn it back suddenly just now. And the soft imprint on the particles on her cheek still reminded her of his fluffy hair. Contact like this was always strange to her, lingering even after she pulled away. It made her uncomfortable, because she felt like people were poking and prodding her, sometimes for hours afterward. It was one thing when that feeling came from her own copy, or from her mother or father, but strangers were never so gentle. Even Haruka sometimes was too rough when she hugged her, and it would itch and feel strange. ...And yet, even though the way he’d embraced her was certainly odd, it wasn’t an unpleasant thing. It made her… happy? - but in a strange way. Her face - no, her whole body now - was beginning to feel strangely warm, and her hair was wiggling back and forth on its own again. There was something that told her that the way she felt now was bad, but another part of her seemed to enjoy it. She couldn’t make head nor tail of the way she felt, and for some reason, that confusion kept bringing her back to his earlier words… What exactly did he mean when he said that he had been able to come back because of her? She hadn’t been there. She hadn’t been able to help, even though now that she knew what had happened, she greatly wished she had been able to. It was like… it was just like… Just like that smile she couldn’t understand. When Haruka had saved her, even though she hadn’t been able to do anything, even though she had caused her so much pain, Haruka had been smiling. Yoshida had been hurt. She hadn’t done anything. So then why… why did he act like she’d had anything to do with it? And why was it that hearing him say that made her feel so unaccountably strange? This kind of wanting was… different. It was definitely different. She’d never felt anything like this before, and that scared her a little bit. She couldn’t understand any of what was happening right now, why she’d been so desperate to see this boy again when there was still so much about him that she didn’t understand, why he had wanted to be friends with someone like her, or why he seemed to think so much of her when they had really, rationally speaking, only just met a week or so ago, or why it seemed like she’d actually very much wanted to hug him and have him hug her back or why she was so happy or why… or why… She couldn’t answer any of those questions, and just thinking about asking them made her face feel very hot and her heart feel very confused, so she decided not to think about all that just now. Simple was best. Then, what needed to be said was… [color=#F50A83]“I don’t really understand, but… did I help you feel better?”[/color] She asked nervously, drawing back slightly. She didn’t really know why, but she very much wanted to see his face right now. Just standing here, without saying anything...just holding her, and she holding him, somehow felt...it felt... Well really he wasn't sure what this whole "moment" or "atmosphere" felt like at the moment but he was VERY sure he could feel [i]her[/i] and he was starting to worry that if he couldn't stop his blood pumping through his body that he was about to literally explode. But then she [i]did[/i] say something and he almost didn't catch it, but he felt her moving back slightly so he responded in kind on instinct, and they broke the hug and he looked up at her hoping that she would just assume that he had gotten some terrible African jungle fever and that was why his face looked like it had undergone about seven layers of sunburn-- And yet when Kenichi saw [i]her[/i] face, he thought maybe he [i]had[/i] caught something, because surely this was a hallucination. Motome Fumika had a soft, genuine, bashful, innocent smile on her face, and her cheeks had turned just the slightest pink, like someone had taken the most delicate, puffiest brush and just ever so lightly touched the cheeks of a porcelain doll... [i]Kenichi, this is your heart speaking to you...because I, of all cardiac muscles on this planet, have never gone without oxygen this long! BREATHE, MAN![/i] His jaw dropped and he sharply sucked air like a gasping fish. A Kirby-esque effect threatened to drag the lobby's furniture towards a point of singularity. Then he coughed because that was too sudden. "Y-yeah, Motome-chan." He nodded, then looked at her again. His grin had returned, and he thumped his chest softly with his uninjured fist. "You really helped. That was exactly what I needed." He began to rub the back of his head with a nervous chuckle...but soon it started to grow into a real laugh. A happy laugh. A laugh that-- --was murdered in cold blood as he glanced to the side and saw Haruka and Jett both looking at them. His red face rapidly drained to pale white, and soon started to turn the same color as his hair. [color=#c9c916]“F-Fumi, what… uh… What was that... just now?”[/color] Haruka sounded, for the first time, almost completely lost for words. Fumika blinked innocently, comprehension slowly seeming to dawn on her that the situation she was in might have been more concerning than she had thought. While his reaction had been quite abrupt, Fumika’s expression underwent a more gradual metamorphosis, going from a timid smile to pursing her lips and furrowing her brow in an expression that could best be likened to that of a child caught stealing from the cookie jar. [color=#F50A83]“...Hug,”[/color] She answered in a monosyllabic murmur, lowering her head. Haruka hastily shuffled over toward her, scratching the back of her head. Geez, how could she even look at this situation without being embarrassed by proxy? She hadn’t heard what they’d been talking about, but she’d definitely seen enough to know that… That is, in that sort of position… Didn’t Fumi have any idea that she’d just… And wait a minute, why was she even… What? Just… what? In all their time together, she’d never once seen her friend acting this way. And this friend of hers... Was she seriously… Was he really... No, like, were [i]they[/i] seriously… Damnit, she wanted to be upset at Fumi for not realizing exactly what was going on, but how could she possibly be mad when she was making that face? [color=#c9c916]“Uh, no. That is, I kinda saw that, but, uh… why, exactly?”[/color] She asked, trying her hardest to sound a little more gentle so as not to agitate her friend. [color=#F50A83]“I wanted to help,”[/color] Fumika answered after a moment’s quiet. [color=#F50A83]“...Was it bad of me to do that?”[/color] [color=#c9c916]“No, no, no, that’s not… That is, I don’t really get what you’re talking about, but just giving people hugs isn’t really bad persay, and I’m glad to see you’re getting along with your classmates… I mean, uh…”[/color] Crap, crap, crap. She was trying to be calm, but she was really bad with emotional stuff like this even though she herself totally - okay, now was REALLY not the time to be thinking about that, especially since the height difference was all wrong and seriously she needed to just [i]get a grip[/i] or else she was gonna turn into a tomato just like these two idiots! "Hey, uh, Haruka-san, I can explain..." Kenichi started to say, but he trailed off as he looked over at Fumika. Seeing her mood fall like that when she had just been so radiantly happy and had actually shown what seemed to be some real emotional energy left the bluette feeling sad for her. He rubbed the back of his head as Haruka continued her lecture. Fumika stared at her, her embarrassment giving way somewhat to simple confusion as she tried and failed to grasp why her ostensibly unflappable role model was behaving so strangely towards her. Haruka made a monumental effort to restrain her inner romantic. She cleared her throat, gave a slight nod, and tried to approach the situation tactfully. [color=#c9c916]“It’s not that giving hugs is bad, it’s just… There are… uh… better ways to do it. Like, the position was just… and like, your shirt’s a little bit… uh... a bit too… Y’know...”[/color] “A little bit” was putting it mildly. Somewhere in this chaos, the already low-cut blouse had begun hanging dangerously far down Fumika’s left shoulder, and sure enough, the skin showing beneath it was red from the pressure put on it by a certain unlucky - or lucky, depending on your perspective - [i]someone’s[/i] forehead. Granted, she herself was to blame for that particular fashion statement, but in her defense, she’d had no idea that this would happen, and really, she was just trying to help Fumi take better advantage of her appearance and that [i]really wasn’t the issue right now.[/i] "...Wait a minute, whaddya mean by that? A hug's a hug, ain't it? And what's wrong with her shirt?" Kenichi managed to break in again, this time feeling a little bit defensive for Fumika's sake. Why was this good friend of hers suddenly lecturing like this? Was this some stupid fashion thing girls worried about? As far as he was concerned Fumika's shirt looked perfectly-- Then he actually looked at the shirt, and started blushing again. [color=#F50A83]“...Is this a code? Sorry. I don’t really understand what you’re saying at all.”[/color] Fumika bowed her head apologetically. Haruka tried again. [color=#c9c916]“No, it’s not a code, it’s just that when you hug someone - like, a boy, I mean - it’s kind of… You’re not supposed to…”[/color] [color=#F50A83]“So I’m not supposed to hug boys?”[/color] Aw, crap. She was giving that stupidly innocent, shamefaced look again. [color=#3F9CB1][i]Not so harsh, Haruka. Just, you have to say it, for the sake of common decency…[/i][/color] As Fumika said that, Kenichi's head snapped up again. A look of disappointment crossed his face--followed by realization. Oooooh, that explained it. Haruka thought...she had made the assumption...Well, it wasn't like he [i]wasn't[/i] thinking a little bit about that, but...In the background of the two girls' conversation, the blue haired young man suddenly clutched his temples as steam whistled out of his ears. [color=#c9c916]“I mean, really, it’s up to you…”[/color] [color=#F50A83]“So I should hug him then?”[/color] Fumika raised her arms demonstratively and Haruka rapidly shook her head. Wait, when did this specifically become about Yoshida specifically? Did she just add that part? [color=#c9c916]“No, what I mean is, you can if you want to, you just…”[/color] [color=#F50A83]“Mm. Okay.”[/color] Fumika nodded, then quite suddenly reached out, grabbed Kenichi, and gently dragged him right back into another hug. Like a swimmer who has just reached the surface, still gasping for air, only to be swept under by an inexorable wave - just like that, the blue-haired kid’s head disappeared under a tide of golden fluff… Or rather, it was dragged directly into the one place Haruka had been [i]trying[/i] to keep it from going again. "Um, can I get a say in th--mmphhmph!" Kenichi's arms were still posed in the 'I have something to say' position, one finger extended up in the air, but now his head had disappeared once more. And once again, next to Fumika's cheek, the blue spike stood straight up. Jett hand slapped over his face convulsing as he started to laugh silently. [color=#c9c916]“Wait- Hold on just a sec- Stop, stop, stop!”[/color] She frantically waved her arms. Fumika gave what might have been a grunt of annoyance - no, surely, Haruka must have just been imagining it - and raised her head slightly. [color=#F50A83]“What?”[/color] She asked all-too-placidly for someone who had just been interrupted halfway through what should have been, by all rights, an entirely too intimate gesture. [color=#F50A83]“It is a problem after all?”[/color] "Nuh, mph murha hmph--!" came a muffled answer from the boy in her arms, but he only had so much oxygen available. To her credit, Haruka tried very hard to be patient. She tried very hard to be tactful. And, most importantly she tried very hard to actually look her friend in the eye when she spoke even though her own face was rapidly turning red as a beet. However, all that effort could only get her so far. Tact wasn’t working, and her frustration and embarrassment-by-proxy were boiling over. She had to defuse this in the simplest, most direct way possible. [color=#c9c916]“The [i]problem[/i] is that you’re shoving his face in your [i]boobs,[/i] Fumi!”[/color] She exploded. Fumika blinked. She looked down. She blinked again. She looked up. [color=#F50A83]“Oh. You’re right. I am.”[/color] Haruka gaped. Fumika very pointedly didn’t quite let go of her victim. She tilted her head to the side after a moment’s contemplation. Kenichi's limbs had pretty much gone limp at this point, like a drowning man who had accepted death. [color=#F50A83]“...Should I not do that, then?”[/color] [color=#c9c916]“[b]YES![/b]”[/color] Haruka exclaimed, covering her by now extremely red face with her hands. Jett made a valiant effort, but couldn’t quite repress a slight chuckle. Haruka shot him a glare out of the corner of her eye, swept out her false leg, and thwacked it against his shin once again. Causing him to jump up and down on his uninsured leg a few times. “Why you kicking me!? He’s the one who didn’t resist it!” [color=#c9c916]“Shut up! Just stop laughing!”[/color] Whether this command was for her friend’s dignity or her own by proxy wasn’t clear, but regardless, Haruka went right back to facepalming. Fumika stared quizzically at this exchange, but nodded. She let go of Yoshida and bowed to him meekly. [color=#F50A83]“I’m sorry. I guess I don’t know very much about hugs. I had no idea there were rules like that,”[/color] she apologized earnestly. Kenichi gasped again as he once more emerged from the fluffy depths, his eyes merely empty white voids at this point while something that might have been his soul drifted up out of his mouth. But when Fumika bowed, he shook his head and sobered up, before glancing over at Haruka and Jett. Then he sighed and turned back to the blonde girl with a softer smile. "You still didn't do anything wrong, Motome-chan." he said. "I mean, if it would be anybody's fault for taking your hug the wrong way, it'd be me. That is..." He scratched the back of his neck. He had a feeling he was probably going to mess this up, but...it was never wrong to try, right? "Girls and guys around our age act odd about things like this sometimes. It's mostly just a social thing, being polite, respecting boundaries...but there's no set "rules." I mean..." He thumbed his nose and looked down at the ground. "I kinda agree with Haruka about girls bein' a little modest, but in your case I don't think there was anything wrong. If it doesn't bother you to hug people, then hug 'em, so long as they're fine with it. And I'm fine with it...I mean...as long as it's just us--not to say that you can't hug other people either, but...um..." He made a frustrated sound and crossed his arms, looking off to one side as he muttered under his breath. "I'm supposed to be a battle shonen Main Character, this is totally outside my genre...but wait, why am I thinking about rom-coms in the first place...?" Finally he turned back to Fumika. He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, gesturing for her to stop bowing. When she looked at him, he gave her another grin and a thumbs up. "Anyway, don't sweat all that stuff, alright? You didn't do anything wrong and there's no need to feel bad. I like your hugs, and if you like giving hugs then that's A-Ok." Fumika looked at Kenichi, her brows furrowing in the slightest sort of squint. She looked seriously back to Haruka, and then motioned to the boy next to her. [color=#F50A83]“...If he says it’s okay, it’s okay, right?”[/color] She asked again, just to be sure. Haruka gave a longsuffering sigh and nodded. [color=#c9c916]“If it seriously doesn’t bother you, then… But only if you’re less… squishy about it.”[/color] She fought the overwhelming urge to facepalm again. Had she seriously just said that? [color=#c9c916]“L-look, just don’t smother his friggin’ face, alright?”[/color] Fumika seemed satisfied with these terms, and nodded obediently, mumbling them back under her breath. [color=#F50A83]“‘Don’t smother his friggin’ face,’”[/color] She recited with the utmost seriousness. Even Haruka had a hard time keeping a straight face hearing her say that, but nevertheless, she pulled through. That is, until... [color=#F50A83]“So long as he’s fine with it.”[/color] Haruka frowned. Just there, she’d done it again. Why was it specifically about Yoshida all of a sudden? Normally, wasn’t she super literal about these sorts of things? [color=#F50A83]“As long as it’s just us.”[/color] Okay, she knew that her friend didn’t mean it to sound so suggestive - there was no way she’d even understand something like innuendo, would she? - but the way she spoke so slowly, emphasizing each word like that couldn’t help but make her think… [color=#F50A83]“...Then it’s fine. Just Yoshida is fine.”[/color] That seemed like as good an answer as she was going to get, and she really wanted to forget about what she’d just seen happen as quickly as possible, so she decided not to continue on the point. At least this way Fumika wouldn’t be doing [i]that[/i] to every hapless schmuck she thought needed… help, she’d said? Help with what? Come to think of it, why had she even decided to hug him in the first place? If they were close friends and she was just being clingy, then that seemed normal for her… But even Yoshida himself hadn’t been expecting her to do that, had he? On the one hand, that meant that he hadn’t deliberately tricked her into doing something lewd, but… What exactly had he told her to prompt that? And… And what if now that he realized how naive she was, he’d already started planning on manipulating her in other ways, too? Fumika was so dense that really, that might just actually work…! Haruka folded her arms and turned her glare on Kenichi, staring him down with a menacing look in her eye. Sure, he had at least [i]seemed[/i] like he was trying to help defuse the situation, but she couldn’t help but feel like he wasn’t exactly trying to prevent this from happening again. No, in fact, he’d specifically told her that he was fine with it, undercutting her authority! And just because [i]Fumika[/i] didn’t seem to care didn’t mean it was right to let this kid take advantage of her like that…! ...Her expression morphed into a disturbingly forced smile. [i]Oh boy, here we go.[/i] Kenichi looked back and forth between the two. Every innocently unaware gesture Fumika made just seemed to be making things worse...although he couldn't help but think it made her cuter at the same time. Although...was he just misreading the mood, or did she seem like she had [i]specifically[/i] designated him as hugworthy, as opposed to just...hugging people in general? Did...did that mean something? No, he had to be imagining it. Just wishful--or perverted--thinking on his part, right? Yeah, after all, he had been lucky thus far all this "friendship" hadn't made him pop a... [color=#c9c916]“Hey, Yoshida, could you come over here for a second?”[/color] Haruka asked all-too-cheerfully, motioning to the corner of the room. "Uh, um...'scuse us one moment, Motome-chan..." He sheepishly waved at her before he followed Haruka towards the corner--then immediately held both palms up in a sort of defensive gesture and spoke motormouth style in a low whisper. "W-wait, before ya start! Wh-when I said that stuff, it was just cause...cause Motome-chan tends to, ya know, be so...mechanical." He glanced back over his shoulder at the girl...and now that he was facing Haruka, that grin faded a little bit to a worried frown. "I was afraid if we just told her, "Don't do that, it's not appropriate," or somethin', not only would she get sad but she'd like...shut down. Maybe not do that ever again--to me or anybody else." Now he met Haruka's eyes--and for like half a second that felt weird for some reason, then he realized with something like glee that [i]she was shorter than him[/i]--and continued with less nervousness in his voice. If she tried to tsun-tsun-punch him now he didn't feel like he deserved it. "When she hugged you just a minute ago, that was...the first time since I've met her I've seen her get, ya know, close to somebody. I mean, I've only known her like a week, but if you watch her ahoge she's not actually too hard to figure out." Unconsciously he reached up and smoothed that one spike of his own hair. "She...doesn't think much of herself. And she holds back a lot. She tries not to show what she's thinking on her face, but she tugs her hair when she's sad or frustrated and her eyes will change color if she sees something interesting. I'm sure you already know all that, but what I mean is..." He sighed, then finally just crossed his arms and braced himself to say it. "She doesn't think she's interesting, or cool, or good at things, or that she'll be a good Hero. So I'm trying to to make her realize that she is, and can be, all of that. I want..." He closed his eyes for just a moment, then opened them again. [i]Don't think about how lame it sounds! Be a man! Say what you feel![/i] "I want her to see herself the way [i]I[/i] see her." Haruka had begun listening to him with an expression that could best be described as a “death glare,” but the more he spoke, the more surprised she seemed, until finally she was staring at him with a look somewhere between mild distrust and approval. At last, she nodded, and replied in a low voice. [color=#c9c916]“Seems you’ve got the gist of it, and I’m feeling generous, so I’ll clear up the rest for you. From what I’ve found, she’s actually pretty clingy - as you just noticed - just uncomfortable around people she doesn’t know well - which I guess means everyone who isn’t me. At least, until now anyhow.”[/color] She gave Kenichi a meaningful look. [color=#c9c916]“Honestly, I was surprised by how much she’d warmed up to you even before… all this. She started following me around pretty quickly, but it took weeks for me to get more than a few words out of her.”[/color] Haruka sighed and shook her head with a shrug. [color=#c9c916]“Then again, I ain’t exactly the most personable gal, either.”[/color] She narrowed her eyes, staring the boy down and trying to be as firm and authoritative as she possibly could when she was still the shortest person in the room. [color=#c9c916]“Anyway, look - I don’t know if she’s just lonely now or if you said something she just really wanted to hear, but it’s pretty obvious at any rate that she thinks the world of you already. Now, since she trusts you, I’d be a pretty piss-poor friend if I didn’t have some degree of faith in her choice to do so, yeah? And given what you just said, it does seem like you’ve got her best interests at heart. That’s something I can get behind.”[/color] She took a deep breath, then abruptly raised her artificial foot and brought it down with a loud clattering of plastic against the rigid metal frame, sounding like a judge’s gavel pronouncing an irrevocable sentence. Crossing her arms, she stared him down and spoke with the sort of serious voice and expression that made her seem at least two feet taller all of a sudden - the kind of stance and tone you’d expect from a grizzled yakuza boss in a crime thriller. [color=#c9c916]“[i]However,[/i]”[/color] She added pointedly. [color=#c9c916]“There are some things Fumi’s just too innocent to understand, so somebody’s gotta look out for her, and it looks like it’s going to have to be me. So just on the off-chance you’re considering her friendship as an opportunity to get yourself some nice little ‘bonuses’ on the side, I’ll leave you with a warning. If you ever break the trust she’s given you - trick her, use her, lie to her, betray her, or hurt her… Then I’ll make you wish Harukaze Haruka had lost both her legs. Ya got that?”[/color] "Heh heh! Roger that, Haru-taichou!" Kenichi saluted with his index and middle finger, once again grinning like an idiot." But then he looked a little bit confused, and tilted his head in a manner far, far too similarly to the fluffy subject of their conversation. "I get the stuff about lying and all, but what did you mean by 'bonuses'? Like...asking her for money or something?" Then he shook his head. "Never mind, it doesn't matter! I'll tell you like I told Asuka-chan: I'm one'a those loudmouth-types of main characters who rushes into stuff even if it's none of their business! Even if she ignores me or gets mad at me, I'll still come runnin' anytime she needs help!" Haruka stared, an obvious “Huh” or “Are you seriously asking that question after what just happened” dying on her lips. She’d dealt with this specific type of denseness enough to realize with a decent degree of certainty that, no, this wasn’t his idea of a cheeky joke. He legitimately had completely missed her meaning. Then… he hadn’t been trying to misdirect her after all. And what he’d said just now was really true. And he… and he was just as unbelievably, astronomically dense as Fumika herself, just in a way that was less obvious at a glance. Once she realized this, the rest all fell into place. The reason why Fumika had grown so attached to him so quickly… the reason why he must have stayed by her even despite her odd behavior. The reason he could say such stupidly honest things with such a straight face - express his feelings directly and earnestly in ways Haruka herself never could. Maybe… maybe things were fine just the way they were. Even if she wasn’t around… no, specifically because she wouldn’t always be around. This boy could do what she should have done all along. She gave a wry smile, and nodded. [color=#c9c916]“If that’s all, then there’s nothin’ to worry about.”[/color] But just as everything was settling down and they were making their way back over to the others, Jett made a rather worrying announcement. When they went to the corner, Jett decided to check his phone, seeing a text from his father explaining that he wouldn’t be able to swing by today like he planned due to work. Though he decided to add right at the end that his fellow classmates were in the hospital surviving a villian attack. His eyes went wide at the news, seeing that it was four of his classmates, and Yashiro’s kid sister. He didn’t know what to say at first but he looked to Fumika and Kenichi. “I’m sorry to break this up. But my dad just texted me. Roy, Reina, Takeshi, Michiko and Kaida are in the hospital….” he looked to Haruka and added, “Sorry, but I gotta go check on them.” "What!? Holy shit, what happened?" Kenichi looked between Fumika, Jett, and Haruka. Maybe he had missed more in these past few days than he thought? Reina, Takeshi...he wasn't sure who Michiko and Kaida were, but Kaida's name sounded...somewhat familiar? Still, for four students to be in the hospital--not Nurse Kiwi's office, but an actual hospital...Was this Yoshida-sensei's doing? Another one of his damned exercises? Haruka appeared to be thinking something similar, as her brows furrowed immediately in a frown, and her momentary smile disappeared. Just then, his own cell phone buzzed. Looking apologetically at the others he pulled it out of his pocket with a curious frown. He didn't get a lot of texts to be honest, so who besides his parents... "Nani the fuck?" he said quietly to himself. He read the lines, then spoke to Fumika as he quickly thumbed a response. The effort of multitasking seemed rather serious, judging from the intense concentration on his face. "Hey uh, sudden change of subject, but is that jerk you were telling me about before named Amane?" he asked Fumika, looking up at her just as he hit send. She didn’t answer him for a moment. Her gaze still seemed vaguely focused on where Jett was standing, her lips pursed intently as her hair fizzled and squirmed. She looked… pale, all of a sudden. When he spoke to her, she almost didn’t seem to hear him for a moment, and then started slightly as if suddenly, unexpectedly awoken from a sort of sleep. She gave a slight, sheepish nod to his question, then began fussing with the ends of her hair in sudden preoccupation. [@Experiment 249][i]Lysander? Sry bro had some issues, been out the loop. Wtf u doin in 1B? and who tf is Amane? y we tryin to play ko game on him? if its the asshole i think it might be maybe ill help but i aint gettin expelled 4 pranks -- ya boi kenichi ps how tf u get my number[/i] "Also, reverse swallow cut back to the first subject," he continued as he slipped his phone back into his pocket, "Which hospital are they at, Jett-kun?" Fumika couldn’t help but wince at the word. The sound of an EKG rang in the back of her mind, and it was only by focusing on the dark-haired figure standing beside her that she could bring her thoughts back to the present. Even still, that nagging, insistent fear didn’t go away. Roy. He’d treated her kindly during the exercise… even though they were enemies. He’d helped Takeshi when she couldn’t. Takeshi himself had praised her, protected her from that horrible fire. Michiko was his sister, and although they hadn’t spoken much at dinner or over the week, she’d always been very nice. Kaida… She didn’t know much about her, but from what she’d seen in the exercises, she seemed kind of scary. Didn’t that seem strange? How did somebody so strong get hurt…? And Reina… Reina tried so hard. She was an incredible person, but she always seemed sad. But when she’d hugged her, when they’d become friends, Reina had seemed so happy… She had hoped that she could stay happy like that, and yet now… She’d gotten hurt? All of them had gotten hurt so badly she’d been sent to the hospital? And Yoshida was hurt too. He’d been sent to the hospital too. Everyone was… Everyone was getting hurt, and what was she doing to prevent it? She was scared. She didn’t want to see it again, but even when she refused to look, the memory surrounded her. A white room. Curtains fluttering in the wind. The beeping of the EKG, and that haggard expression on the face of the greatest hero the world would never know. That was when things had become different. That was when she stopped being able to understand the feelings welling up inside herself. And all the while, she could do… nothing. She denied the memory. Thinking about things like that was pointless. It hurt. She didn’t want to think about it, so she shut it away. Right now, there was only one thing she could do. She had to make sure everyone was alright. They had to be alright. She had to be overthinking it. It had to be simpler than this, it had to make sense. But still, she had to know… Just to be sure… [color=#F50A83]“Are they… alright? Are they safe?”[/color] She asked tentatively, her voice quiet, soft, desperate. Jett sighed as he glanced at his phone to somehow get more info out of the text. Shaking his head he looked to Fumika and Kenichi. “My dad didn’t say much, just that they were attacked by a group of villains. The fact they are at the hospital, I assume it’s serious, I can call him and get more info along the way.” He looked to Haruka. “Sorry..” The dark haired girl stared back in shock. [color=#c9c916]“Oi, oi, are you serious? Legit villains this close to the school? That’s-”[/color] [color=#F50A83]“We need to go,”[/color] Fumika interjected. Her voice was firm, but as her hands ran through her hair, they almost seemed to be shaking. [color=#F50A83]“We’ve got to go see them. They might be hurt, or…”[/color] She either didn’t need or - more likely - didn’t want to finish that sentence. Haruka nodded grimly. [color=#c9c916]“If you’re goin’, we’re all goin’.”[/color] She stared Jett dead in the face as she spoke, making it clear that she wasn’t taking no for an answer. [color=#c9c916]“If they didn’t catch the villains who did this, they might still be out and about looking for victims. Letting anybody go anywhere outside of this school alone is just askin’ for trouble, and since your Quirk’s completely shot to hell, I’m definitely not letting you take that risk.”[/color] She seemed to be rather pointedly ignoring the state of her own Quirk as she spoke, but nevertheless it was clear she meant well. Glancing back to her distraught friend, she gave a reassuring nod. [color=#c9c916]“Fumi, it’s gonna be alright. The message didn’t say anything about anyone dyin’ or being in critical condition, so it’s probably not as bad as it sounds. Why don’t you go get your sister, and we’ll all go check on them together?”[/color] “Count me in too!” Kenichi added, slamming his uninjured hand into his fist. “If anybody messes with any of us, I’ll blow ‘em away--cracked ribs be damned!” He gave Motome-chan a reassuring look, but he wasn’t really sure if he could comfort her this time. After all...hadn’t he failed to save himself from those three losers? [i]No. Don’t think about it.[/i] After a moment’s hesitation, he settled his resolve. Fumika nodded quietly, tugging one last time at her hair before letting it drop. Answering with words seemed like it would be too difficult in her current stressed state, so she quickly turned and headed out the door where she’d last seen Asuka. Haruka had said that it was fine. Haruka was smart. She knew more about these sorts of things than Fumika herself did. If she said it, then there was absolutely no reason to doubt her. ...And yet, she couldn’t shake the feeling that once again, something important - a precious dream, and the strength and pride of a new generation of heroes - might have been lost forever, while she stood idly by.