Kojo fell to his knees, heaving, having never felt this true sense of humiliation in his life. The silence was unbearable. Why couldn't he hear the laughter of Keno at the finish line. Why didn't Hiro come running over yet, filled with his optimism, toughness and kindness. Was Miko-chan still there, or did she leave? disgusted at my performance. What was happening? Kojo slowly forced one eye open, he no longer saw his track number in front of him, nor was he at the starting line of the race. 

Kojo slowly stood up and forced himself to turn around. Behind him, a stream of purple flames and foot-like skidmarks stretched from the starting point to where his feet currently were. Stood at the starting line were the other seven runners, speechless, standing just observing what had happened. They hadn't began sprinting yet, Keno stared at Kojo, pale, unable to move, for the first time in his life, he looked scared, as did the other runners. Kojos line of sight expanded as he noticed an eery silence amongst the crowd, all staring in dismay at what they just witnessed. Miko watched on, in complete disbelief. Even Hiro was completely taken aback, trying to figure out what was going on, if what he had seen was reality or another one of his playful fantasies. Kojo looked down at his runners, he was barefoot, the remnants of his shoes hung from his ankles, slowly burning in the purple flames that were emitting from his feet. 

"Hiro?.." whimpered Kojo

Hiro stood in silence. He wasn't one to be lost for words, he always had something to say. Say SOMETHING GODDAMN IT Kojo thought.

"Euphros Dream" was spoken softly, colour was sapped from the surrounding area, the grass turned crystal white, the running track became tones of off-white and mid-grey. Imperial Colleges striking red uniform now resembled a snow white hue, it seemed all colours were now tone variations of white and grey. Kojo looked down at his flames, they were gone, his trail of flames had also vanished as if quenched by the sudden removal of colour all around him. Kojo glanced at the audience, everyone stood still, happily gazing upward, mouths wide open, gazing at the blank sky as if they were witnessing god for the very first time. They all seemed ecstatic, but nobody was moving a muscle, nor speaking, they were standing still, lifeless, careless, emotionless.

"What the hell is going on" screamed Kojo, he quickly began searching for some sign of life around him.

"How the hell did you do that. I s-s-saw flames.. FLAMES, WHAT ARE YOU YOU FREAK" screeched Keno. 

Keno can move thought Kojo, why can't anyone else move??

"H-Hold on a second, I'm sure there's some rational explanation for all of this, r-right Kojo?.." croaked Hiro, still slighty shook from Kojos previous display. 

"Ahh, so we have THREE I see!! Kee Kee Kee" snickered an anonymous man. He stood gleaming, dressed in black from head to toe with long golden hair neatly arranged into a ponytail. From his chest a single stream of light was flashing. 

"Maaaaaannnn, those are some CRAZY emotions being thrown around here, I mean come on, there are better things to be using your fear emotion for, no???" questioned the strange man.

For once it seemed Kojo, Hiro & Keno were on the same page, looking at one another to confirm that none of them had ever met this man before.

"Oh shoot, I didn't introduce myself again didn't I.. ohhh well, the names Asa Taiyō, but please, call me Asa-Sensei!"

Keno and the others frowned "Sensei? You're not a teacher at this school".

"Very observant of you Keno, you're not as silly as you look. No I am not, I don't like Kyoto Imperials uniform, it's too red for me, to glossy, yanno?" snickered Asa

Hiro suddenly left his trance, still shook by Kojos form "Okay, enough playing around, what are you doing here and what's going on? What have you done to our classmates?"

"uhhhhHH... why do I always have to be the one to explain these things, Kota is always so much better at these sort of things..." whined Asa. "Sooo, since you're all not caught in the spell I just cast, congrats! You evoke more emotion than the average person and hence belong to the Amgydala society! Well.. to be precise you evoke more of one particular emotion than most people which can be transferred into power incantations, spells, weapons, you name it! In your classmates circumstances, they can't consciously handle the intensity of emotion I'm emitting, therefore their body kinda goes into shock, but don't worry, they're probably dreaming of rainbows, ponies and all the good stuff! Usually when someone can evoke enough of one emotion, they attach their feelings, consciousness and the entirety of their being to that feeling and transcend the multitude of emotions expressed by others, or in your case, you use it to neglect the level of emotion I'm emitting right now. For example, good aul scaredy cat Kojo over here is a fiesty one with his nice little Fear Emblem, So once he's activated his fear emblem there's no stopping his emotion, unless of course you exceed his intensity of emotion with your own. Oh! and some emotions are stronger at overwhelming others, but yeah, that's where my ability to explain things goes to shit and Kota usually takes over from here, soooo, he can just explain it to you guys some other time!" celebrated Asa, his arms spread out to the side, as if he expected all three to run over and join him in a group hug after his rocky explanation of what was going on. 

The three boys looked on in confusion, fear emblem? spells? amgydala society? emotional intensity? the three of them all pondered the same thought, this is just a very weird dream and I'll wake up any second, get ready for school, and this will be all over with.

"You think you can just show up here, spouting all this nonsense, and expect us to believe you? You could be a pedo for all we know with your golden locks!" pointed Keno, his eyes locked onto Asa.

"Very good, very good Keno! You're showing great promise with your Digust emblem!" gleamed Asa, looking at Keno as if he were a proud father praising his son.

"Disgust emblem? What on earth are you talking about?" hissed Keno.

"Really? you can't see it? okay fire round explanations, Keno you've got the Disgust emblem, you're easily offended and revolted by puny, thin looking people but ironically you also try to improve the lifes of others who have it really rough in life, whether or not you want to admit that. Hiro you have the bold emblem bestowed on you, you're incredibly passionate about others, you stand with pride, confidence and charisma, but one day your own cockiness will get you killed. Kojo.. how do I say this? You have the primary Fear Emblem, one of the rarest scars, there are only 8 other casters who hold a primary emotion, the strongest of all emotions. You are scared shitless of everything and anything, therefore your fear emotion will continue to grow stronger, but that also means with every day that passes your ability to control your fear weakens. However, once managed, the fear emblem can be.." Asa paused, stopping himself from speaking too much "Okay quick fire round finished!"

"And what about you? what makes you so special?" challenged Keno, arms folded, back to his normal self even after the Kojo encounter.

"Me? I hold the Joy Emblem, one of the 8 primary emotions, same as Kojo, but my cons include absolutely nothing because I'm always ecstatic!!!" cheered Asa as he jumped in the air with glee.

Jesus, this guys even more eccentric than Hiro and that's a tough thing to do thought Kojo. However, he was intruged by Asas explanation of his supposed fear emblem, did that mean there was a reason behind all his chronic fear?

"Okay, that's settled, as of tomorrow you will be attending Hipo Campus!" announced Asa.

"Hipo Campus?" said the three boys in unison. 

Hipo Campus, one of three secret amgydala universities across Japan which teach individuals who possess emotional emblems how to control their emotion and utilise them for the betterment of society. The Hipo Campus, located in the heart of Kyoto, where a strong concentration of emotions reside, is fueled by the high density population of the countries capital, where all feelings, emotions and premonitions gather. Hence, it makes a great location for both the Campus and it's training facilities. Hipo Campus also has two sister universities, Medulla & Bellum Universities located in Tokyo and Osaka respectively. With both specialising in their own key area of emotion regulation. Students usually enroll for exchange years between these colleges to expand their knowledge of the amgydala society and fulfil their goals of gaining full emotional regulation and control over their scar emblems.  

"I expect to see you three at the campus tomorrow! toodles!" gestured Asa.

"Wait! how do you know we'll even show up, where do we even go?" questioned Kojo. Too much was happening all at once, it started to make him nervous. This stranger randomly appears, freezes all his classmates and expects them to just join a "magic university" that he's never even heard of? 

"You'll figure that out. Besides, don't you want to know who attacked you the other night Kojo?" beckoned Asa, a new found sterness could be found in his voice now, it was the first time Kojo noticed a shift in Asas tone. Kojo couldn't help but wonder, was Asa there that night? Did he witness everything that happened? Did he have answers to all the questions he had?

"E-hh, g-g-gguys, what's h-happening" murmured Miko, who was hiding behind the body of people stuck in Asas trance.

"A FOURTH, OH IT MUST BE MY LUCKY DAY!" yelped Asa, practically punching the air in excitement, clearly back to his normal self.

"Apparently we hold emblems, emotional scar emblems to be exact, does that mean you hold the sexy emotion or something Miko?" chuckled Keno. Miko was clearly made uncomfortable at the comment, as she continued to stare at the ground. Kojo wanted to jump to Mikos protection but nothing came out, he couldn't speak. Was he really controlled by his own fear? Could this university really help him overcome his own strong sense of anxiety? If he can't even stand up for the person he claims he loves, or protect himself from bullies instead of relying on Hiro, then maybe this was worth a shot? It's not like he would be going alone, Hiro would be joining, he didn't have much in terms of friends or relationships at school other than Hiro, so what's the worst that could happen?

"I'll go" stated Kojo, there was a firmness in his voice, one that Hiro had never heard before, he was proud of Kojo that he was so steadfast in his decision.

"Same here. It's time to move up in the world" Hiro added.

"Well I can't leave these two idiots get one up on me, count me in, but you better not be a pedo" grinned Keno.

Asa smirked, a smug grin formed on his face, not in a cocky or arrogant way, but one that was impressed at the resilience and potential that the guys demonstrated.

"D-do I have to go?" said Miko as she idled towards the guys.

"The more the merrier! let's take a look at you, love emblem, no, confusion no.." murmured Asa, as he analysed Mikos form. She started to get uncomfortable and slowly broke eye contact from Asa, feeling his piercing eyes inspecting her.

"Interesting" spoke Asa "You can come too. We can talk tomorrow". Asa immediately turned around and simply waved his hand goodbye without uttering another word, as if he knew they were all to meet again soon. 

Suddenly colour began to refill their surroundings, the grass that was once an ice white was now a forest green, the pale sky returned to it's ocean blue and the striking red uniform had come back into existence. Everyone slowly began to wake up from their static dream, their stone cold gaze began to thaw as their mouths began to close and eyes began to narrow. A communal moan began to intensify, people started looking at one another, wearing a confused look on their faces. Suddenly, a random student spoke up.

"W-wait, look! Kojo is at the finish line! he won!!"

All the students began sprinting towards Kojo in celebration, all the while chanting and singing his praises. He never received this kind of attention before, he simply stood there, amidst the collection of cheers, congratulations and pats on the back. Even though it was a great moment, Kojo was some place else. He had so many things racing through his mind. Who did he encounter yesterday? Should he join the Hipo Campus? Is the amygdala society real? What did Asa really want and what was this about him holding one of the 8 primary emotions? All these questions were running through his brain, so much so he couldn't even relish the moment the drumfounded head master placed a gold medal around his neck for winning the 100m. It meant nothing to him, but a chance to control his fear, a chance to stand up for himself. Now that, that meant something.