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Kana had a knot in her stomach the size of an anchor.

The big girl who stepped forward had a familiar name. Not overtly familiar, but there was a time when it had seemed beneficial for Kana to know some of the more famous heroes, at least by name, and [i]Tanegashima[/i] seemed too unique to be a coincidence. 

It ought to have excited her. It was [i]exciting[/i] after all. Getting to share a room with the daughter of a famous hero, getting to see firsthand what that sort of parental-guidance could create, what a hero was supposed to be like. The Tanegashima girl looked like a testament to hard work and diligence, was that her own mother’s doing? With how…rowdy some of the other students had seemed from the brief time she’d been around them, it seemed as though Kana had struck oil insofar as roommates went. 

She still felt like she was about to be sick. 

The look on Aia’s face was more familiar to her than her roommate’s name. The furrowed brows, the confusion, the feeling of [i]that can’t be right, can it?[/i] Was it her mother’s name they knew, or her alias? Sometimes people didn’t ask questions, they just jumped to—admittedly correct—conclusions. Aia, however, took an extra step.

[color=crimson][i]I was wrong,[/i][/color] Kana thought. [color=crimson][i]Lie. Definitely lie. She gave you an out. Say you’re from Kagoshima, that’s still kind-of true.[/i][/color]

[color=crimson]“Uhm…”[/color]

[color=crimson][i]Yeah, okay. Or just stand there like some mute freak. Cool.[/i][/color]

Blessedly, or at least so for the moment, someone else interjected. A girl that Kana could describe instinctually as “pretty,” and then more thoughtfully as…“blue.” She seemed to recognize the Tanegashima girl—Wakako, she’d heard Aia say—and the Tanegashima girl only. 

It was enough of an opportunity for Kana to shuffle over to Wakako and politely bow her head. [color=crimson]“Hello. It’s…very nice to meet you.”[/color]

There was a rather significant difference in height between them, and while it seemed a bit crass, Kana found herself, almost on reflex, standing with Wakako between her and the cat-eared upperclassmen, as if she might suddenly—hopefully—become invisible.
[hr]
[@Naw]