"...I don't know if anyone's even awake anymore. It's so late- er, early now, I mean." Her quiet voice whispers into the mic, sounding exhausted and a little scratchy from overuse. The viewer count has gone down pretty far, which is what she'd been expecting, if she was being honest. She's a little relieved to see that it's gotten smaller, even if it's not technically a good thing, but she's nervous and she'd rather there not be a higher chance of people noticing. "I'll take a poll later on my twitter and see if you all liked the new segment- singing you to sleep- I don't think I'll be able to keep it up all the time, I gotta sleep myself sometimes, but it'll be nice to do every once in a while."

That said, the chat was still going pretty strong, even if it'd slowed down majorly.

Anyways, I do have an announcement to make!" Her voice raises a bit back up to it's normal volume before dying back down. "I- uhm. Lemme see. I got a picture to go with it and-"

Those who had fallen asleep were suddenly shocked awake by what sounded like confetti and streamers being popped. An image jumping up on screen in a fairly crappily put together poster that just had text scrawled across it- it was, frankly, incredibly dorky. Cartoon party effects, tossed together marker, she was pretty sure there was a coffee stain in the corner of the image that they could still see, even though she'd tried to cover it up with a sushi sticker-

"Holy shit. That is way too loud, gosh. Whoops!"

Halo laughs, but it sounds distinctly pained and nervous and she has to cough to try and force it out of her voice. "U-Uhm. So, you can read that, I guess. I'm releasing another album, isn't that fun? Follow my twitter for more information 'cause I did not expect to get so tired that I- uhhh-" She was used to late nights but a ten hour stream was just murder on her body. Every bone ached and she could practically feel blood clots forming in her legs from lack of use. "-I've honestly forgotten… no, that's a lie, I don't forget. I just-" She mumbles, muffled noises that sound like she's talking to herself, and it has the chat 'awwwing' at the noise. Her lips purse a bit at the cutesy reaction and she ignores it. "-half the things I was going to say so I'll just let you all know through there. I've gotta get ready to go to-"

She cuts herself off, realizing the mistake she'd been about to make by saying too much. Ugh. That would've been a nightmare in a half. She definitely wasn't going to do long streams like this unless she had 5-Hour Energy raring to go at every interval.

"Well, I've gotta get ready to go. Since it's morning already. Um. Nice streaming everyone!"

-0-

"There's something wrong with that girl…"

"Isn't it obvious? It's his quirk."

"What're you guys even talking about?"

"Villain."

"Oh, the new one that the news covered-"

"No, at the school."

"There's a villain at the school?"

"Well, no. But it's pretty obvious to anyone with a brain that he's going to become one. You know, that guy from 1-C they've been talking about, but that's not even the worst part-"

"What's the worst part?"

"He's gotta be controlling this girl. She keeps hanging out with him and, well, who would hang out with a villain if not to-"

They fall silent as people pass through the hall, their conversation kept hush-hush. That is, until one of them hisses: " ...What? ! Has someone told a teacher yet?!"

"Yeah, one of the heroes too, but they just said something about our imaginations running wild. They won't believe us!"

"So… S-So we gotta get proof, right? We can snap her out of it and-"

"-she can tell them herself!"

…

…

"Aah!"

"Will you watch where you're going?!"

"B-But I-"

"You're annoying, Chikuchi. Knock it off!"

Chikuchi sniffs, sticking her nose up in the air as her arms cross over her chest, acting as if she hadn't just been trying to run away from Shinsou. Letting out a terrified sounding scream everytime he took a step near that… couldn't have been more obviously fake.

(There was the added fact that Shinsou had to step near. She was blocking the pathway to his seat.)

"Well, it wouldn't be a problem if he just left!"

She's saying this to Shinsou, for the most part. Who really can't win no matter what he does. Taking the early train to avoid old classmates had, unfortunately, resulted in him getting to class at an earlier time than was typical. An earlier time that meant running into Chikuchi Togeike, who was turning out to be one of his freshest pains in the asses to deal with.

Shinsou's eyes narrow a bit before he flatly states, "... He has class in twenty minutes."

"Did you just talk to me?!" Chikuchi shrieks, voice shrill.

Shinsou decides not to mention the fact that he technically could mind control her right now. Whenever he tells people that they have to respond to him in order for him to control them, they always seem to think that it's only to his questions- and, well, he absolutely implies that and doesn't go out of his way to correct them but, really, any sound they make after he speaks is pretty fair game.

"You all heard that, didn't you?!" There's a loud groan from the blonde, one of the only others in the room, and Shinsou relates to him immensely because the blonde looks way too tired to deal with any of Chikuchi's shit. "Gaiaku, c'mon! Back me up here, he totally tried to use his quirk on me."

"Ugh, go talk to Eiga- he's probably the only one gullible enough to believe you. And that's probably only because he's a total gossip-" It has Chikuchi arguing with the blonde- Gaiaku- and Shinsou looks at his seat. So close and yet so far.

...He's not going to lie, he spaces out quite a bit.

"Ikimaru, you believe me, don't you-?!"

He only tunes back in when Chikuchi whips around to glare at the only other person in the room- Ikimaru… Hisoo, if Shinsou remembers right, and he only remembers because of how distinct the guy's appearance is. Blue skin, fluffy dark hair, large ears that stuck out from his head and were distinctly bat-like, fangs that stuck out over his lip, and a long tail with feathery bits at the end. Shinsou had no idea what his quirk was supposed to be but he couldn't help but wonder how it tied into his vaguely vampiric appearance-

"Um."

Ikimaru looks like he's about to cry if Shinsou's being honest.

In fact, he looks a little like his soul is trying to escape his body and Shinsou feels that on a spiritual level. Chikuchi glares harder at the waif of a boy, who only sinks deeper and deeper into his seat. "I- I think it's rude-"

Chikuchi looks triumphant.

"-t-to tell him to get out… I mean, he hasn't done an- anything, right?"

Shinsou, who'd just been about to label the guy a complete pushover, feels a smug smirk spread across his face that has Chikuchi huffing at him angrily.

"Hasn't done anything? What about that girl he's possessing- Medama?"

And here he thought his quirk was Brainwashing, not possession.

Still. Shinsou feels himself bristle, " Excuse me ?"

Chikuchi is smart to not respond, her face puckered and sour. And Shinsou ignores the wide eyes he gets from Ikimaru and the suspicious, but not quite believing her, look from Gaiaku. Shinsou glares until she responds, which only happens once she deems a suitable enough time has passed for her to answer safely- "I tried to warn her off, you know. Tried to tell her about your villain quirk-"

Shinsou tries not to react to that. Just barely manages to hide the pained expression that threatens to overtake him, though he can't quite keep his fists from clenching at his sides.

Well, there goes that.

"-but you must've gotten to her already with your quirk because she refused to listen!"

(Is that why Medama had been complaining about Chikuchi the other day? A part of him dared to dream.)

"I didn't do anything." He sneers.

"Then why would Medama hangout with you- "

He doesn't know. Maybe she is one of those people who want something from him and is trying to act all buddy-buddy, it's the most likely possibility in his mind. Maybe she felt pity for him that would wear off in a day or two. Maybe she really had just completely ignored Chikuchi and just didn't know about his quirk yet. It doesn't matter.

(The part of his brain that Shinsou tentatively labels 'childish hopes and dreams' spoke up with a whisper that was quick to be brutally stomped out 'but we would've noticed if she had been hiding something like that' and ignored.)

"Well, what were her other options?" Chikuchi's mouth slams shut again. "A harpy with an inferiority complex?"

She forgets that she's not supposed to answer.

"Inferi- I'm going to be a hero, you watch your mouth!"

"Oh, I imagine Class 1-A is just waiting for someone like you to join- I hear every classroom needs a class pet." He grins. "I think a dog would work well for them."

Chikuchi seems taken aback. Though Shinsou couldn't reasonably understand why, considering what she's accused him of. "L-L-Like you're so much better! A villain that's not even charming, I bet Medama's only hanging out with you because she feels sorry for…"

" Medama can think for herself, thank you very much." Both flinch back from each other at the unimpressed voice that comes drawling from the open doorway. The first thing Shinsou is struck by is the fact that she looks even more tired than he does, seemingly physically drooping where she stands, and like walking into the classroom to find them arguing was the last thing she needed.

(It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the subject being… well, her. As it was, she was forcibly made a part of it the moment Chikuchi name dropped her.)

She yawns, rubbing her eyes. "Also, argue louder. You're only scaring off all our classmates."

That's about when they notice the heads peeking out from behind her and around the edge of the doorway, no one that Shinsou knew the name of but the wide eyed looks they were getting was enough to have his shoulders hunching and him wishing he hadn't come in early to class today.

Chikuchi puffs up, completely mistranslating her words, "He is scary, isn't he? So you agree with-"

"...Chi… Whatever your name is. I-" Medama blinks, head bobbing like she was struggling to keep herself from falling asleep standing up. Her hand comes up to wave her off and she slinks towards her seat in disinterest. "Can't deal with you right now."

"Deal with me?!"

Medama winced, rubbing her temples. "Yeah." And simply sits at her desk, burying her face in her arms.

Shinsou takes the chance to get to his own seat, leaving Chikuchi open-mouthed in the middle of the room as he shoves past her. A deeply offended look has made its way onto her face as it quickly turns a humiliated red as people shoot her looks and sneak past to their own seats- what a way to make a morning awkward. Shinsou curses his own part in it.

And he doesn't get much of a chance to interact with Medama anymore after that. Classes start and everyone goes back to focusing on their work- all Shinsou does manage to do is spare a glance in Medama's direction eventually.

She doesn't meet his gaze back.

Head ducked in her hands, fingers tangled deeply in her hair, and it looked like she was seconds away from falling asleep, pen scratching against paper in that journal that she always carried around and eyes slowly blinking open and closed. As if she wasn't able to see a single thing.

"-answer this for me, Shinsou?"

Shinsou breaks his gaze away as Mic-sensei calls on him and he stands to answer. Ignoring the looks from the rest of the classroom, looks that he was sure were suspicious and defensive of his voice- watching and waiting for him to slip up so they could accuse him of everything minor and major.

…

…

"We should hangout with more people."

Shinsou gives her a side glance from across the bench, she's draped over the back of it. She's got a tiny red spoon in her mouth, the plastic kind that comes with those premade parfaits, the only thing she'd gotten for lunch- and she's looking out at all the other people eating lunch as Shinsou picks at his food and turns away.

"Then go find some." He huffs.

He'd tried not to seem surprised when she'd followed him back to their normal spot, not making a comment on his quirk- even though he knew that she knew what it was now. And he was sure that she knew he did.

"Well, you know anyone cool? I- Don't really know anyone." She mumbles. Her energy levels are cut rather obviously in half, especially compared to how she'd been the day before. He's faintly surprised that she's not using the time to sleep already. "And I don't know who's going to be a… be like Chikuchi."

He snorts.

Stabs his food.

"...What's with that reaction?"

"They'll all be like Chikuchi. And I thought you didn't know her name."

"Of course I knew her name. I don't forget things unless I want to." Yeah. He didn't know about that . He rolls his eyes. Shifting away as Medama pulled herself back around, slumping back so she's actually sitting next to him now, her head resting against the back of the seat. "Hey, what's up with you-? You've been acting weird all day."

She paused. "...Is it Chikuchi?"'

"No."

"Then what's-"

He stabs his food again. Glaring down at it.

"Why are you here?" She doesn't answer. Of course she doesn't, he asked a question. She just stares at him blankly, like he was an idiot who couldn't see what she was up to- "Is this some strange pity thing to you? Or are you going to go find some friends to talk about me behind your back? I'm not going to use my quirk on anyone for you and-"

"Shin-sou."

She frowns at him.

"Me-da-ma."

He scowls back.

She doesn't seem even slightly intimidated by it, just confused as she stares back and opens her mouth- then closes it, brow furrowed and lips pursed before she finally speaks up: "You… do know that I knew what your quirk was from the start… right?"

-0-

Shinsou collapses onto the couch.

And a cat jumps up onto his chest, knocking the breath straight out of him.

"Espresso-!" He grunts, breath coming out in a short wheeze. "Ge'off!" The aching running through his entire body, just painful enough that he was sure he was going to feel it tomorrow, throbbed a little from the surprising weight leaping onto him. He folds over and Espresso hisses as he loses his footing and is forced to hop off and onto the floor.

So much for relaxing, he huffed, pinching the bridge of his nose and trying to will away the uncomfortable tension in his muscles. His hands still shaking from overwork a bit.

"...stupid, shoulda figured out something better… don't even know what I'm doing. MeTube videos don't teach shit-"

It was the only thing that he could think of.

No gym would accept him once they looked into his quirk. At least not one that was safe for him to go to. And the ones that were anonymous didn't typically have the best reputation and, even if he ignored that, there wasn't one anywhere close enough that he could even think about feasibly going in on a regular basis.

That left whatever was close to home. Most of which Shinsou had tried already.

"Espresso-?" His cat meowed loudly at him, and he huffed in return. "C'mon, don't look so offended. You're the one that knocked the breath right out of me." Straight out of his lungs actually, he picked the cat up and ignored the hiss he let out until he could get him in a better position. Espresso was a cat that didn't exactly mind being man-handled, in fact, Shinsou would be willing to bet he had some sort of superiority complex because he just loved looking down at the word from above. In this case, in the arms of his humans. "Uff, you've gotten heavier…! Didn't know that was possible."

It didn't help that Espresso was also an incredibly spoiled cat. A fat ball of white fluff that enjoyed falling asleep on people.

"Mom, can you watch Espresso? I gotta go take a shower."

He didn't expect a no. His mom was always trying to get the cats attention and it seemed like she was going to be busy on the computer for awhile yet so- "Sure. Where's my sweet lil' bastard man? Espresso~" She cooed and he dropped Espresso straight onto her lap. "Oh, Hitoshi, no one gave you any trouble today, did they?"

He just grunts in response. Not really answering the question which, for his mother, was probably answer enough. That nothing much had changed between now and middle school and-

"You've been giving the cat too many treats!"

"No I haven't!"

-he bites his tongue, foot tapping on the floor and a nervous energy that he'd been hopping to be rid of running through him. "Hey… mom?"

"Ye'ffh?" She's got her face half planted in the cat, so her voice comes out muffled and Shinsou can't help but swallow. "What's wrong?"

"...Do you… Do you think someone could want to be friends with me- even if they knew what my quirk was and that they wouldn't want to… you know?"

"Of course." She answers it with an ease that he honestly can't help but envy. That level of confidence was just- beyond him. "The world's full of all kinds of people. You just gotta find the good ones. Why? Did you meet someone-?"

"Nah. Just asking."

"Hmm."

She had his same talent for spotting lies.

"You should invite them somewhere. See how it goes."

He just makes a noncommittal noise, shaking his head. "I'm not going to school to make friends- "

"...Never knew my son was so edgy."

And he flushes red before he can stomp off and hide it.

-0-

"She was with him again today. How long are we going to let this go on?"

"Did you hear- He tried to use his quirk on one of his classmates the other day! Nearly got away with it too but someone stepped in-"

"I can't believe UA has been so irresponsible as to let a villain in! What next?"

"I have a plan. I did a bunch of research on quirks like his the other day, turns out that you can usually snap somebody out of it by, like, pain-"

"-but what if that isn't it?"

"Well, maybe there's a time limit or something? Anyways, we can meet and-"

…

…

"Give me your phone."

Shinsou doesn't even take a full step into the classroom before he's bombarded. Medama looks just as tired as she did yesterday but much more used to it now- or, maybe, she'd just had a bunch of coffee to force herself to stay awake.

"..."

"Shin-sou."

There's snickering from the back of the class and he feels tension rise in his shoulders. It takes all he can to bite his tongue and keep from shoving Medama away, whatever plan they'd thought up probably wasn't a new one and-

"Are you going to or not?"

It's not as if he has much of a choice in the matter. He feels a scowl deepen as he ducks his head, pulling his phone from his pocket and already accustomed to the results.

He doesn't expect to get his phone back. Or, if he does, he doesn't expect to get it back in one piece. It was just how these things went and he's just glad that he'd gotten a warranty this time and-

(He only really has himself to blame. For being so naïve to think that Medama hadn't figured it out already, or that she could possibly be different- especially not after he'd stormed away from her the other day when she'd told him she already knew about his quirk.

It wasn't even fair. He didn't even have a clue what hers was so he couldn't even really defend himself.)

-he blinks sudden spots from his vision as Medama takes a selfie of herself. "Wow. You have flash on? We~ird." And then hands his phone back to him. "I sent a text to my phone so I can add you. Let me get a picture of you at lunch or something."

He blinked again. Lips parting slightly as Medama hurries back to her seat and he only really has a chance to look down at his phone for a moment and see the profile pic she'd given herself. It's a simple one. Of her just holding up a peace sign with a grin and sloppily drawn music notes around her head. As far as he can see, there's nothing wrong with it- or his phone- and he eyes her number with a modicum of trepidation as he takes it in, dimly wondering if it was fake-

Medama's number has three sixes in a row.

His lips pursed.

That's bad luck, isn't it?

He doesn't get the time to look any further before he's been shoved forward a bit, "Ooh~ lovely to hear that my students are finally starting to get to know each other!" It looks like Kayama-sensei finally showed up. And, like always, her presence and double entendres causes a whole round of unnecessary snickering and groaning from either half of the class. One side enjoying it and the other annoyed. "But we have a class to start and an excellent subject for today! Dreams for the future! I have assessment tests~!"

This time pretty much everyone groans.

See; the odd thing about Class 1-C was that there was almost constant testing. It varied so completely that it was honestly a little astounding. From personality, moral, and academic tests. It seemed like they were constantly being tested on their values and ethics and Shinsou couldn't help but find it incredibly strange-

What's weirder is that Midnight always seemed so excited for it. Giving them all a borderline predator look as they ran through all the papers and she droned on a lesson on art history at the same time in the background.

The exchange is pushed to the back of Shinsou's mind as more important things are brought up.

…

…

"Dude, Shin-sou. It's my number."

He gives her a suspicious look.

Excuse him for being cautious.

She laughs, scratching the side of her face and he watches her eyes crinkle with a narrowed look. It's not an uncomfortable or a fake laugh. Just confused. "We're friends, I just figured I'd give it to you."

He mocks back, "Are we?" Waiting for the inevitable flinch.

She doesn't.

"Well, sure. We hangout all the time. Have you not noticed?"

He scowls, giving in to her point. It has been about two weeks and- he shakes his head. "Fine. Friends."

Medama snorts with laughter. "Why do you gotta say it like that?"

-0-

musicclubonly created the group chat school buds :)

musicclubonly added insomnicat to school buds :)

musicclubonly: I do think we should hang out with more people

insomicat: You can

musicclubonly: Well why not you? You're cool

insomnicat: You're the only one who thinks that. Leave me alone

musicclubonly: I will if you actually want me to

Read 10:03 pm

musicclubonly: do you want me to

Read 10:54 pm

musicclubonly: shinsou I may not have insomnia like I am assuming you do

musicclubonly: based off the name

musicclubonly: also the eyebags but I felt like that was too much of a callout

musicclubonly: but my sleep schedule is disastrous and I will absolutely stay up for this

musicclubonly: do not challenge me to a no-sleep-off

insomnicat: I would win

musicclubonly: idk I'm pretty bad

insomnicat: if you thought the eyebags were too much of a callout why did you point them out anyway

musicclubonly: uhhhh

musicclubonly: uh

insomnicat: your an idiot

musicclubonly: hey that's rude don't say that

Read 11:14 pm

insomnicat: sorry

Read 11:23 pm

musicclubonly: did you rlly think I didn't know what your quirk was

insomnicat: I don't want to talk about this

musicclubonly: but… rlly tho?

insomnicat: why else would you have stuck around

insomnicat: sorry I didn't realize you were just crazy

musicclubonly: it's not crazy to want to hangout with you dude

musicclubonly: besides you seem like a good guy

musicclubonly: when your not being a jerk

insomnicat: nice

musicclubonly: you have to admit I have a point

Read 11:36 pm

musicclubonly: trust me I've met bad people

musicclubonly: you are not bad

Read 12:24 am

insomnicat: thanks

insomnicat: I guess…

Read 1:54 am

musicclubonly: hey you listen to halo?

insomnicat: don't most people

musicclubonly: idk bout that

insomnicat: why

musicclubonly: no reason,,, just bored

insomnicat: go to sleep

insomnicat: you don't have insomnia like I do

musicclubonly: I mean yeah

musicclubonly: but then who'd you talk to?

Read 2:13 am

musicclubonly: Shinnnnn-sou?

Unread 2:27 am

musicclubonly: I assume you're asleep,,, Nigggght~

Unread 2:52 am

-0-

The early evening air is cool.

"Did you find her?"

"No, I lost her completely! It's like she up and vanished."

"She didn't use her quirk, did she?"

"What even is it…? I don't think I've heard anyone say yet."

"Ugh, this would be so much easier if we could just tell her that we were trying to help her."

And a group of UA students in crumpled uniforms and exhausted looking faces appear to be scouring the area, searching for someone. It was an unusual sight. The school had just gotten out and most students would be rushing home at this point, that or in a club but even those had let out already. It was quite rare to see someone up and about, still in uniform.

A curious group of onlookers watched the students as they huddled together before separating, looking like they were finally on their way back home.

A pink head of curly hair peered out from around the corner of an alley. She eyes the spot where the students had just been with a growing stutter in her heart and she chews on her lip.

She has a ratty old sweatshirt- some of the first Halo merchandise ever created- tossed on over a green skirt and stockings and anyone who looked close enough might've realized that the green matched one of the main colors of UA. Instead, no one sees her as she leans against a wall and slides to her feet, a slightly stressed and panicked breath leaving her. "What the hell was that all about…?" She mumbled, squeezing her hands to her face. "Fucking hell. And so close to my deathday too…!"

It may have seemed strange to any stranger who overheard but anyone who knew her well would've just nodded along in understanding- and a lack of comprehension.

Medama groans, tugging the sweatshirt tighter over her head, horns barely hidden beneath the hood.

"Not again…"

She only gets up when she's sure that they haven't left behind any stragglers, trying not to think about how they waited for her to leave the school grounds before giving chase. Her breath finally eased from the adrenaline coursing through her veins from the sudden rush from before.

She'd be better prepared for them next time.