[hr][@AdmrlStalfos19][hr]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/2ypMUI5.png[/img][/center]

The girls head came up. His eyes remained blank, flat but inquisitive, as his starkly rigid expression stared into hers, which brimmed with emotion. 
[color=04ece9]"I, uh... I-[i]I'm[/i] sorry. I d-didn't mean to z-zone out l-like that..."[/color] Umi explained. Slowly, Taro's head tilted to one side, expressing curiosity. In his mind, one simply didn't click to the other: why was she apologizing to him? Familiar words danced by his mind but they evaded his senses. [color=04ece9]"Oh! J-jeez, I... p-please keep it; y-you might need it m-more than I w-will."[/color] As Umi stood and made her way off the bus, Taro remained knelt by the seat, lingering there in stillness for a moment. Suddenly, his head corrected to sit upright and his eyes wandered down to the bottle.
[color=ed4485]"Is something wrong with it?"[/color] he monotonously wondered out loud, tilting the bottle in the sunlight to inspect the water inside. It looked clear enough and nothing seemed to be wrong with the cap or the label. Maybe her quirk lets her see something he cant? As Taro stood and stepped off the bus, he tossed the half-full water bottle into the bin on the way by. Better safe than sorry.

As Taro stepped off the bus, he rubbed his hands together and rolled his feet from ball to heel, feeling the gravel through his boots. One arm went over his head as he leaned over to one side, rocking into the stretch before reaching for his toes. There was no denying it: it felt good to get off that bus. As he pulled his arm around his body, his eyes wandered to the others. As if he could ever do anything else, he scowled in thought as he listened to the conversation. Something was being thrown back and forth about teamwork, competing, and strategies; he tried to give it some thought, but he found himself stumped pretty fast. As he pulled one of his feet to his butt, he dismissed the thought as too bothersome. He'd just wing it. That'd work, right?

A little voice with convenient timing pulled Taro back to reality. 
[color=04ece9]"I, er... I n-never got your n-name,"[/color] Umi mentioned, continuing with the introduction: [color=04ece9]"I'm Sug-guro Umi. My b-brother and I t-took UA's ent-trance exam t-together, but... I-I couldn't cut it..."[/color] Taro looked down to her as he pulled back on his fingers, waiting quietly for a moment before speaking.
[color=ed4485]"Oh."[/color] he let out, flat-voiced as ever. You would have to go panning for any sympathy from it. A moment later, Taro reached up to the zipper of his puffer jacket, sliding it down and slipping it off his shoulders. [color=ed4485]"I'm Inoue Taro. This is the only school that's considered me, so let's work hard to get in together, okay?"[/color] His eyes glimmered a little, contrasting his demeanor, as he folded up his jacket and slid it into his backpack. Underneath, despite it being cold enough to see your breath, he didn't wear much to ward off the cold. Arms clad in horns grafted to the grain of his muscles ran out from his tank top, which led down to a pair of plain tracksuit pants and unremarkable boots. In fact, everything he had on once the jacket was off looked [i]really[/i] cheap given anything more than a glance. 

Taro reached out a hand towards Umi, as if to offer a handshake-
-before it swung back as he cast his head about, responding to the cascade of screams. 

He jumped- no, more so leaped in fright. His jaw slackened with ragged breath and his brow threatened to press an arrow through his nose. Horns across his body grew in his panic reflex, ripping through his pants, boots, and tank top alike. His eyes frantically searched the space around him over the cusp of his left fist, his left forearm lingering in front of him. It was about then that his brow gave a little: that he realized this was the start. The fear in his eyes phased partially over to focus as he looked over his shoulder, back to Umi. 

Taro had no words for Umi; only a presuming nod.