[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/H460qVp.png[/img][/center]

[color=#FF825C]"Ah, crap... door, door... where's the freakin' doooooorrrrrrrr...?!"[/color]

A certain aquatic student was hopping nervously back and forth in hopes of restoring some feeling to her half-frozen legs, her frilled crest curling angrily clear from her gills all the way up to the top of her head, as her transparent scales pulsed a frustrated shade of crimson and her barbels thrashed with impatience.

The front door was blocked by another crowd. Same with the gym. There [i]was[/i] a fire escape on the side of the building, but that was probably locked and would set off alarms, and in either case if she actually tried it Saika would never let her hear the end of it.

And where was Saika, anyway? She hadn't even texted to say when she'd be showing up. Didn't she know her best buddy was freezing over here?

[color=#FF825C][i]Ugh... That jerk! I'll bet she's busy stuffing her face at a WcDenji's or something. Of [b]course[/b] she wouldn't care about being late. Curse you, Sai-chan! I'll never forgive you for this![/i][/color]

Her stomach chose that exact moment to rumble.

[color=#FF825C][i]...Though I guess if you get me some too, I could maybe consider letting you off easy this time.[/i][/color]

...Well, that said, it wasn't as if she had a convenient power like telepathy or mind-reading  -- [color=#4F8D1B][i]Careful what you wish for, Orange.[/i][/color] -- so there was no way to actually convey that message. But Saika would understand. Surely. Definitely.

[color=#5bb573]"Excuse me~?"[/color]

It took Izuna a moment to realize that the gentle, quizzical voice that only barely reached her ears over the din of the crowd was directed at her -- since the tap on her shoulder went unfortunately unnoticed due to the thickness of both her tarp-like blazer and the ice coating it. Still, after a moment of delayed realization, her pointed ears flicked up, and the pale girl spun around, only to find herself looking down at a mass of curly, oddly shiny green hair.

Oh, and, uh, the person underneath all of it. Izuna's own oddly bright golden eyes met two vertically slit green ones as she took in the face -- the [i]scaled[/i] face of their owner. The frills along her head and neck flicked outward immediately, and the dim crimson halo that had been pulsating from the tips of her barbels clear up to her cheeks gave way to a much more welcoming blend of blue and orange.

[color=#FF825C][i]A comrade! So I'm not the only one with scales this time![/i][/color]

[color=#FF825C]"Ah, sorry 'bout that -- didn't see you there!"[/color] The fishy freshman gave a nervous laugh, rubbing her palm back and forth over the scales of her neck. [color=#FF825C]"Can I, uh... help you, or something?"[/color]

[color=#5bb573]"You're an upperclassman, right? I'm Nigata Kayo, a first year. I'm a [i]liiiittle[/i] bit lost, so could you show me where the event hall is, please?"[/color]

...

[color=#FF825C]"...Eh?"[/color] Izuna blinked, cocking her head to the side. Then slowly, deliberately, she pointed to herself. The girl standing in front of her cocked her head to the side too, not seeming to understand her confusion.

[color=#FF825C]"An upperclassman?"[/color] The green-haired girl nodded.

[color=#FF825C]"Who is? Me?"[/color] The green-haired girl nodded again, pursing her lips cutely, still not seeming to understand.

[color=#FF825C]"I'm a first year too, though?"[/color]

...

Suddenly the air between them got really quiet, and for just a second, Izuna could have sworn she saw the other girl's eyebrow twitch -- but surely she must have been mistaken, since that innocent smile just kept on shining up at her. Oh, geez, this new kid was a little dense, wasn't she? Well, Izuna didn't know the way, but she'd feel bad about leaving someone so clueless to her own devices, so...

[color=#FF825C]"Don't worry, though! I read the pamphlet. Uh... at one point. So I'm pretty sure the assembly hall is, uh... Uhhh..."[/color]

It sure would have been convenient if literally anything else happened right now so they could pay attention to it. That would have been great. Then maybe she'd have enough time to remember where she was even supposed to be going -- since her plan had basically ended at "get inside before you become an ice cube!"

...How regrettable that she hadn't made her wish more specific. [i]Something[/i] did indeed happen at that exact moment -- but it was a something that set Izuna's every braincell to screaming as she desperately -- [color=#4F8D1B][i]Unsuccessfully, I might add![/i][/color] -- tried to repress, uh... [i]certain memories.[/i]

After several seconds of wide-mouthed gawking, she managed to get herself together enough to process what just happened. Some crazy boy had -- or, well, at least, she was [i]pretty sure[/i] he was a boy -- anyway! He had just done some sort of... acrobatic ninja-flip out of a tree, then skidded to a stop right in front of them, and started screaming about JUSTICE or how he WAS Justice or... something.

[color=#FF825C][i]Who does this kid think he is, some kind of superhero?[/i][/color]

...It took a moment of thinking about where she was to realize how stupid that question sounded. But also, there could really only be one explanation for the... [i]entity[/i] currently standing in front of her -- and it was one with which she was all too painfully familiar.

Making a herculean attempt not to visibly cringe, she slapped her cheeks, pasted a smile across her face, and hoped nobody noticed the frantic pulsing of her photophores or the sudden shower of water dripping from her sleeves and freezing on the ground beneath her as she tried and failed to keep her cool.

Two people were asking her for directions. One was a little dumb, the other was the physical manifestation of the phrase "dark history" despite looking like a boy idol crossed with a lightbulb. She had no idea where to go, but people all seemed to be heading in one direction, so with all the natural-ness of a robot in an old SF film, she slowly, jerkily raised her now-dripping arm and pointed vaguely in the general direction of the main building.

[color=#FF825C]"...Uh... that way. To the... uh... assembly hall. Where everybody else is going."[/color]

...Yeah, no shit.

[color=#FF825C][i]Sai-chan, everybody here is all [b]weird[/b] and [b]I'm[/b] the only normal one and how did this even happen? Seriously, what am I even supposed to do in this situation? Is this some kind of trial?! Augh, just hurry up and come save me!

...Or at least bring me a WcMuffin![/i][/color]