She shot him a blank stare. “Only you could sound so proud about something like that. I don’t even see how you function with this much clutter... Speaking of never doing things, what’s with you running away from Visor and his goons? If you would’ve used your power for something besides making a little distraction, you probably wouldn’t have had your leg sliced through. Even though it’s a shallow cut,” she curiously inquired of Reito, entering his bathroom and rummaging through the medicine cabinet.
“That’s a big ole nope from me,” he denied, making an X with his hands. “Even if I wanted to put the effort in, there’s no way I could make a power like Delayed Impact work; too much of a hassle.” Pretty sure his name was Lizer, too.
“Come on! Ms. Mitsuki put you through all of that Aura training a while back, right? You should be able to hold your own in a fight! Not to mention-!”
“All that dojo stuff was just Granny breathin’ down my neck, as usual. Yeah, I can fight. If I hafta. Only when I don’t have any other choice. That’s the last time I’ll talk about it,” he cut her off. “I’m beat. Anyway, after ya help me patch this up, how ‘bout a couple o’ drinks on meeeyeooouch?!”
“Considering I hauled a bunch all the way from Azuma, I’m assuming you meant it’s on me, right?” She deadpanned, dabbing rubbing alcohol on his wound to shut him up.
Reito winced. “W-well, I’m runnin’ low on ‘em, anyway. Considerin’ you’re my source, it’d be cool if ya offered!” He shakily grinned.
Now finished tending to Reito’s leg, she reached into the yellow shoulder bag she was carrying to bring out two cans of 24oz cans of beer. “Yeah, yeah... Don’t choke on it going down,” she joked, tossing one of the cans his way.
He caught it, then, looked to her with a genuinely grateful smile. “There we go! Can’t get a toast goin’ without somethin’ to chug.”
She quizzically looked at him. “To what, exactly?”
“It’s to who! And you, obviously!” Reito confirmed, raising the can in the air, a hardy smile gracing his face. “Shizuka Ono, you kick all sorts of ass! Seriously, thanks for today; I would’ve been mincemeat if you hadn’t bashed that guy’s skull in! I owe ya one, big time! Seriously, if you ever need a hand, I’ll come runnin’, guaranteed!”
Hearing genuine praise from him, a smile slowly came to Shizuka’s face as well. Seriously... You’re always such a pain... But every so often, you say something like that! You’re so... She let out a chuckle. “Ok, Reito Usodachi! That’s something I can drink to! Cheers!”
They clinked the cans together—cracked open their drinks—and downed them, simultaneously.
Shizuka tilted her head. Did he learn to tolerate it somehow...?
Shoot! I got so into it that I didn’t...! Reito panicked before spit taking right into Shizuka’s face. “I got too riled up. Straight beer is God awful! Hey, Shion, do me a favor and pass me some grape juice outta the fridge, ple... Shion...?”
She crept closer, her hair casting a shadow over her eyes.
“Ha-ha-haa... Sorry about that. I got so caught up in the moment that I forgot what I was downin’. You can understand though...r-right...?” Reito asked with a shaky smile.
“I’d rather send ya sky high, instead...” Shizuka muttered in a chilling tone, cracking her knuckles as the drink rolled down her face.
“N-No thanks! Livin’s pretty fun, ha-ha! Y-Your dialect slipped...Yakuza bro Shion’s here all of a sudden. Come on, Shion... ...Sh..Shio-?”
“WOULD IT KILL YA TA THINK, DUMBASS?!” She exclaimed, decking Reito in the side of his jaw with a punishing right hook.
At the very least, he’d set his drink aside to prevent any other spills─even if he got the daylights smacked out of him, he saved his drink. A win, in his eyes.
***
Reito awoke to sunlight hitting his face, along with his head pounding like a drum from his actions last night. Shizuka slept over for the night to keep an eye on him, knowing full well how overboard he can go when it comes to drinking, and was now cooking breakfast.
Gone was her previous outfit. In place of it, a punk-like get-up.
“Man,” he started, rubbing the mark on his cheek, “your punch leaves as good of an impression as always. Ouch!” He winced, retracting his hand.
“Hmph! Well, if you actually thought in advance when it came to anything besides lying around, you’d only have the headache to worry about right now,” Shizuka scoffed. “Sit down, soup’s on. Water will do you some good, too. Enjoy.”
Grabbing the glass from her and chugging half of it, he turned to his plate of bacon and eggs. “Smells great! Thank you for the food, time to eat!” He started on the plate at a breakneck pace, the eggs were just how he liked them—fried—cooked to perfection. Soft to the point where they were flavorful, the taste danced on his tongue while also being easy to chew. They slipped down his throat like a stream through rock; perfect.
“This is great! I swear, I'll never get tired of your cookin’! Top notch as always!”
“Well, can’t argue with that. Stuff like this’s pretty basic, though, anyone could do it,” she cheerfully replied. “While I’d love to sit around shooting the breeze all day, we’ve got class in an hour.”
“...Funny, I thought I heard a “we’ve” in that statement just now...”
“Yup! You heard right! Mark this off on your calendar as your first day officially attending Kita academy! ...What? Don’t gimme that look. Not like I’m forcing you. You did say you’d repay me for having your back, remember? Came straight outta your mouth.”
Didn’t think the payment would be somethin’ that bad, though! “Y-Yeah. But...somethin’ like that is a bit of a hurdle. How about a movie, a shoppin’ spree or...literally anythin’ else. Plus, ya know how I feel about people other than you, and-!”
“You promised; you’re going. End of story. So get ready; after I’ve walked you there, I’ll only have twenty minutes to take the bullet train back to Azuma,” she insisted.
Having had every rebuttal or excuse that came to him at the time shot down, he could only groan and say, “Ugh... Fine, fine, I’ll give it a go. Who knows? Maybe I can get lucky and a fallin’ satellite will knock me out cold on the way.”
“Don’t count on it. And don’t even think about weaseling your way outta this. I’ll drag you by the collar if I have to.”
Shizuka put on her cropped hoodie to conceal her identity while Reito leaned his head back with a defeated groan.
“Fuck... Why’d I hafta say anythin’? “Me and my big mouth,” Reito muttered, putting on a different pair of shoes, the colors of which were inverted from the ones he wore the night before.
He begrudgingly stepped out of his dorm, being met with the sounds of chirping birds and sunlight gleaming into his eyes as the sounds of people talking slipped into his room from the outside.
I should’ve known she’d try to pry me away from my safe haven. Just the thought of takin’ classes with all those people, and possibly having to fight some random bastards. I’m just as lucky as usual...
Their walk consisted of three blocks. Many other students littered the path alongside them, mostly academy students on their way to school, dressed in jeans or long jackets. There were even a few girls who wore casual dresses. They laughed and talked on their way, their voices filling Reito’s ears as he shakily continued on.
Every time someone entered his field of vision, Reito shuddered more and more, his breathing noticeably laboring to boot. And it wasn’t because he was out of exercise; if so, his close encounter with Lizer would have ended with him in the morgue. As someone who only went out when it was dark, being around so many others in the daytime made his bones chill with just the thought of it. But there he was—doing just that.
“You creep... I can’t believe you would do that to her! Go to hell!”
“We’ve been cool for two years, and all of a sudden, you do this...? Ya think y’know a guy...”
“He was always so quiet and awkward... Now it makes sense. What a scumbag!”
“Selfish prick! You’re disgusting!”
“Hah! Didja you hear that?! Wonder what other sounds he’ll make if we bash him some more?!”
Insults laced with scorn and disdain invaded his head, making him clutch his sleeves and buckle over. From the outside, no one was directly speaking; or even noticing him—it was all in his head—and they played on repeat against his will.
“Y...Y’know, now that I’m thinkin’ about it, I've got a mean stomachache. Could be a virus. Better safe than sorry, so I'll head back. Later Shiaccck!”
Shizuka gripped Reito’s shirt collar to stop his retreat.
“You ass. I was dead serious about dragging you, y’know.” Reito’s retreat was halted as Shizuka gripped his collar.
“Tch, and here I thought I could outsmart ya. You usin’ some type of secret killer lie detector technique or somethin’?”
Shizuka bared her teeth. “Like I need something like that to sniff out such an obvious misdirect!”
One good look at Reito, and Shizuka could tell, instantly; he was terrified. Of course, she’d known why. He might’ve seen it ill of Shizuka to pry him away from his seclusion, but she had her reasons—she just wanted to help him to break away from his unhealthy lifestyle.
Shizuka gave him a consoling look and said, “Rei... I know this stuff may seem like bad news to you, but I’m sure if you just give it a chance, you’ll get used to it. What’ve you got to lose...?
“Well, if you wanna get technical: My sanity, the safety of my room. I could be made fun of, beaten up, shun-” one side-glance at Shizuka caused him to cut his speech. That look on her face—even if she just stared at him without trying to verbally convince him—he believed it would’ve sent her message, clear as day. There was no anger, or frustration behind her look. She wanted the best for him, even if he himself, didn't.
Pushing down the urge to run away from the whole situation, he bit his lip and removed her hand from his collar.
“Oh, well. Guess I’ll go along with your whole, “Bein’-a-respectable-person” thing”, he joked, giving in and walking alongside her. “But can’tcha at least tell me what I’m gettin’ into? No use fumblin’ around like an idiot when I’ve already missed a couple of days.”
Shizuka softly smiled at his turnaround. “Yeah, ‘A couple’ is an understatement; I think thirty to fifty days is a world record at this point.”
“A world record that I hold a shit load of satisfaction in havin’ built up,” Reito confirmed, puffing his chest out, triumphantly.
“You’ve got some seriously misplaced confidence there, bucko...” She sighed. “They sent invitation letters to every student, I thought you said you read it?”
Reito’s eyes darted from side to side, shiftily. “Did I say read...? Meant skimmed. The only thing I actually paid attention to was the fact that they gave us free livin’ expenses plus our own place. Ha-ha-haaa... Course, I registered and all, but I didn’t really pay attention durin’ orientation—skipped out on that Path Assessment whatchamacallit, too. I mean, this place was made to keep us from troublin’ any Norma’s lives. So, technically, I’m not doin’ anythin’ wrong.”
Shizuka narrowed her eyes and gave him a pointed look. “How’d you even function before we met...? Ugggh... Well, for the basics. There’re 4 ranked schools in Capital City. Course, there are thousands of students, so they probably haven’t noticed any of the slacking you’re doing, even though it’s scummy. All you need to know is that it’s just like any regular ole’ school. Only difference is that the students participate in battles where wins and losses are weighed into a rank-based system. If you get far enough, there’s even a spot on the Student Council waiting for you, which is basically just a group of the top 4 students in each school.”
The cream of the crop, eh?
“You’re a student from Kita—the lowest ranked school. Next up is my school, Azuma. After that—Nishi, then, Minami. They mainly focus on the growth and control of our powers, but we still hafta take part in general studies like Maths and English. We even have P.E.. Apparently, it’s because the government mandates they still squeeze in some basic curriculum. Sucks, but it wouldn’t be school without it, I guess.”
“Fights, huh... I won’t hafta involved in one ever...right?” Reito questioned, hoping he wouldn’t have to.
“Well, you could get lucky. You’ve gotta be challenged by someone first, or issue one, yourself. Considering you’ve never set foot in the academy, you should be the lowest rank of Bronze, so I doubt you’d have to worry about much. Today, though, I need you to promise me something. Rei.” Shizuka grabbed his arm and spoke in a clear tone.
He raised an eyebrow. “That promise bein’?”
“Promise me that if someone challenges you—you’ll accept. You're letting Delayed Impact and Ms. Mitsuki’s training go to waste. If you tried, you could really make a name for yourself with ‘em.”
“You’re puttin’ too much faith in me. Granny only trained me for a year, and I wasn’t exactly a strong listener then, either. Even if you could consider that a factor, come on! Compared to people who can probably teleport, control objects, and especially even people with super versatile Paths like yours, something as impractical as my-”
“Rei, just promise me, at least...try.”
Hearing this and looking into her hopeful gaze, he gave up on his defense and simply shrugged, running his fingers through his hair. “...Guess I couldn't avoid it forever... Alright, I promise. Geez, persistent as always.”
“Damn straight! Like a wildfire tearing through a forest!” she exclaimed before checking her phone. “I've still got about...twenty minutes to spare. Gotta catch the bullet! Later!”
“Don't die on the way to Azuma!” A wildfire? He blinked. What kinda expression was that? Is that just a girl thing? Eh, whatever. Comin’ from her mouth, I guess it sounds kinda natural...? ...Nope. Still weird.
“That aside, time for hell on Earth. Damn, my stomach’s in knots. Somethin’ please get in the way of this... Wait a minute!” Reito brought a fist down to his palm.
“Of course! This is like one of those famous anime moments, right? The ones where the MC encounters a mysterious student who descends from the sky and turns out to be an alien who drags ‘em on a grand adventure! Yeah, kinda like Yuki Nagato from Haruhi Suzumiya! Well, I’m ready for it! Come on! I’d take endless deJa’vu and the like over school in a heartbeat!”
Reito looked up to the sky with a smile brimming with childish expectancy, but after a few seconds, his smile sank into a frown. And, after a few more, he slumped over with a dejected sigh. Students who continued past him wore put off looks as they continued past him.
“Seriously...? I know it was unrealistic, but can’t ya just throw me a break for once, universe...?”
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