[center][color=ffff00][h3]Haruishi Mari
[img]https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/intermediary/f/51eb3987-b4b5-4dbe-9ebe-103119ed3b36/d2b0q8j-5759a70c-b991-4dac-8321-414f771bd477.jpg[/img]
Quirk: Born to Run (Thunder Road)[/h3][/color][/center][hr]
Interacting with: [@Light Lord] [@Naw] 

The explosion, the smoke, the roar, and the texts were, quite frankly, overwhelming for Mari. She wanted to settle into her dorm room. She wanted to sit in a class, read from textbooks, turn in assignments, and take exams. Bad teachers gave tests before teaching. Hadn't their 'heroic mettle' already been evaluated in the entrance exam? It was plenty clear that many of the students had misguided concepts of 'what a hero is' or 'how a hero should behave', herself included. So why continue to run the students through these flash-bang, off-the-cuff exercises that were essentially massive 'trick questions'? Education was inculcating the ability to run through a specific process of thinking that a student could then use to arrive at desired conclusions and methods of action. Education was not relying on a students inherent 'instinct' or preconceived notions based on their limited perspective and specific upbringing. Education was supposed to normalize and hammer out errors in thinking, not amplify them. At this point, nobody truly knew what they were doing or what they were supposed to do, and the ability to think through a crisis was not something hero students should be expected to inherently know how to deal with, it was something they were supposed to be taught. And teaching was something Mari had yet to see happen at this school. In the end, everyone would run off doing whatever they personally thought was best, and no one would be the wiser. But who would be to blame if someone made an error in judgment? Could this test really be considered fair? The way Mari saw it, the outcome of this 'test' no longer mattered. Pass or fail, no student could be blamed, whatever action they chose to make. If any student failed, Mari would have some words with the faculty. If there was any criticism or finger-wagging after the fact, if any student felt like a failure for their performance in this test, Mari would be there for them to reassure them that it's the teachers who are wrong. Mari had always been a model student as far as her grades went, but that was because she had understood conventional education, and her teachers had delivered on that front, so she had reciprocated. Even if material had been difficult, she couldn't fault them for being unfair or for improperly preparing their students. Now the performance of the entire faculty was questionable, and she wouldn't stay silent.

Of course, there was also the [i]other[/i] issue that was making her impatient to be done with this farce. The promise of a bed, a roof, and hot meals were so tantalizingly close. It would be weeks of regular laundry and showering before she could cleanse the shameful stench of destitution from herself. Weeks of sleeping in a soft bed before the persistent aches melted out of her body. She was sure some of her classmates could tell and thought less of her for it, no matter how much she attempted to hide it.

As these thoughts circulate in her mind, her teeth and fists clench as her forward marched ceased due to indecision. But as Yasu and Kai approach, she is brought out of her introspection. Turning to them, she releases the built up tension, and even offers them a weak smile, feeling a strange sense of camaraderie in that they were all being equally dicked by the faculty. She was also somewhat relieved that the teachers at least explicitly stated that cooperation would not harm their evaluation, removing the fear of sabotage from earlier. As she listened to Yasu's proposed ideas, she nodded along, because what she had said made sense, but also because Mari didn't really have any better ideas herself. She did, however add a bit, saying, [color=ffff00]"Although from the looks of it, there are multiple fires, maybe three, judging by the plumes of smoke. I think the smaller fires should be dealt with first so that all effort can then be used to concentrate on the inferno. Concentrating on the big one first allows the smaller ones to potentially get out of control. And I'm sure that letting a dumm yget burned is probably really bad, so instead of saving all the dummies, we should just prioritize saving any dummies that are under immediate threat from the fires. Since I don't think any of us is ideal for handling fires, we should probably focus on clearing dummies out of the way of the fires, and fulfilling any requests the fire teams have for us. It seems Yakkaimori will be leading that front. I think that for now, we should still stick to our designated white path and do what we can there. Also, I can't run at top speed, not with the fires drying out the plant material. I shouldn't add any more sparks to the situation."[/color]

[hider=tl;dr]Mari has an internal philosophical disagreement with Jigokuraku's methodology of education that spirals into an existential crisis. Mari agrees with Yasu's plan, adding in her own two cents.[/hider]