[CENTER][img]https://i.imgur.com/TfLpRoY.png[/img][/CENTER]
[hr][right][color=gray][color=FFFF00]Location[/color] — Ishin Academy, Assembly Hall to Testing Chamber(?)[/color][/right][hr]
Touko's declaration that his quirk was 'freaky' stung Gendou slightly, but there didn't seem to be maliciousness in her words. In fact, her follow up question seemed to indicate actual interest. Of course, Gendou was carefully gauging how everyone around him would react to his quirk, so he had noticed the subtle change in Kokone's expression. Was that nausea? No, clearly it was disgust, the natural reaction to someone popping out his eyeballs. Gendou mentally lamented that even at a hero school, he would have peers who found his quirk disgusting. But at least...at least it didn't seem as if they intended to harm or bully him for it. Being surrounded by this group of people, he had expected bullying at every point, but it never came. Was it okay to finally let down his guard? Or were there simply too many others around for them to initiate the abuse? Or maybe it was time he started seeing his fellow students as hero hopefuls like himself, good people with good hearts, who just wanted to help others.

Before he could answer Touko's question, the speech began, and like Touko indicated, he would have to elaborate later. As someone who took comfort with figures of authority, Gendou was enraptured by the principal's welcoming speech. However, a quick glance to his sides revealed an uncomfortable truth; only girls were sitting on this side of the hall. It struck Gendou that Ishin was a rather conservative school, and that he had sat down mindlessly. He locked eyes with one of the faculty, whose face immediately took on an expression of sternness as they realized that Gendou was violating propriety, and though the teacher took a half-step forward with the intent of moving Gendou to the other half of the hall, they ultimately decided against it to not cause a scene in the middle of the speech. And though Gendou looked away, he could embarrassingly feel the teacher's gaze drilling into him for the remainder of the ceremony, almost as if the teacher was the one with laser vision.

When the speech concluded, Gendou wondered if he should go and apologize to the teacher, but the teacher had their responsibilities, and Gendou had to follow Kinzokuma-sensei, so they parted ways leaving this little misunderstanding unresolved.

[hr]
As he followed his new teacher through the campus grounds, another intrusive thought wormed its way into his head, spurred on by the principal's warnings. He knew that his acceptance was due in part as a favor to his deceased mother, an alumnus of the school. So the principal's emphasis on personal ability made Gendou start to question if he had made it in on his own merit, or how his classmates might treat him if they found out. Gendou wasn't even sure which faculty member it was that had made true on this favor, but shuddered to think what would happen if this faculty member approached him out of the blue and become chummy with him. It would be painting a target on his back. As they arrived at their destination, Gendou handed his luggage over to the upperclassman and was almost immediately given an impossible task by the teacher: don't be nervous.