"Hey man, shut up!"

Kiyotaka found himself patrolling the hallways of the New Building of Hope's Peak Academy, having had quite the pleasant day so far. There were no classes being held for his class today, meaning he had naturally spent the morning studying, and was now marching up and down the linoleum halls like some sort of solider. What better way to spend his free time than hunting down trouble? Such was the duty of the Ultimate Moral Compass (a role he took far too seriously).

The moment those echoed words and the following laugh reached his ears, his shoulders tensed up. His eyes narrowed. That sounded like trouble.

"Think yer tougher than me, huh?" Another voice called out.

A series of grunts and additional laughter followed the voice, and Kiyotaka was already approaching the source with considerable speed. Even for those not in classes today, there was no reason they should be loitering in hallways shouting at each other!

"D-Dude! When you let me go, I'm gonna kick your ass, y'know!"

His entire understanding of the situation had just been flipped upside down. This sounded like a case of bullying. The Ultimate Moral Compass would not tolerate bullying. His speed-walking just became approximately three miles-per-hour faster.

He turned the corner, seeing two familiar figures wrestling against each other. The taller man had the other male in a firm headlock, which he was struggling to get out of. Despite this, and despite the sounds of strain he could hear from them both, they were chuckling as if all was right with the world. He didn't understand it. Laughter, during what was clearly some kind of battle of strength? Were they enjoying this? This wasn't bullying at all.

They were acting as if they were not in violation of a single rule, when, to Kiyotaka's knowledge, they were breaking at least fourteen. And potentially another if he took the biker's atrocious haircut into account.

They were acting like all was right in the world. It was not.

"Hold it!" The hall monitor called out, an accusing finger flying forward towards them, crimson eyes fixated on his targets. "Cease your actions immediately!"

The pair turned their heads to look at him, still in their headlock position, and, of course, he found himself staring with contempt at none other than Leon Kuwata and Mondo Owada. The usual suspects. He power-walked towards them (no running in the hallways), already reaching into his breast pocket to prepare a detention slip.

"Aw, shit, dude," said Leon, Mondo's arm still firmly wrapped around his neck, "you're not gonna bust us for a bit of rough-housing, are you?"

Mondo let go of the unnatural redhead and crossed his arms over his chest. Leon dusted himself off, making sure to fix his tussled hair, before straightening himself up a little (yet never reaching a proper posture). Both of them gave the hall monitor a look of annoyance. They clearly couldn't be bothered with the lecture, but Kiyotaka had no intention on sparing them his wrath.

"What is going on here?" He asked, black brows low on his face, wide eyes narrowed judgementally.

The biker grunted, shaking his head. "Ain't it obvious? We're having fun. Y'know, that thing that most normal people do?"

Something about those words sparked a little flash of white-hot pain within the prefect. Most normal people have fun? In saying that, was Mondo trying to imply that he wasn't normal? For a moment that lay in the bottom of his chest, lingering. Pulling at him. He quickly shook it off, however.

If 'normal people' wasted their precious time putting each other into pointless headlocks instead of doing something productive, then he was proud to be anything but 'normal'. He wasn't some mindless caveman. He was a student. He was a leader. He was here for an education in the best school on the face of the Earth. Nothing more. Nothing less. He had no time for their foolishness.

He pulled out a single detention slip. Both of his victims caught sight of it, and Leon let out what was perhaps the loudest, most drawn-out sigh he'd ever heard in his life. "Oh jesus, dude, come on! Chill out!"

"Chill out?" The prefect replied, the rectangular sheet of paper, emblazoned with the words 'DETENTION SLIP' in bold black, still firmly in his grasp. "You want me to... 'chill out'?" It felt alien saying those words out loud.

"Yeah man, you know... breathe. Go relax, or something. Go for a run. Hell, even study, if that's what helps you sleep at night. I don't know," the red-haired punk said, looking more concerned than frustrated at this stage.

Kiyotaka paused for a moment, looking over the pair in front of him. Both wore similar expressions, although Mondo seemed much more irritated than Leon did.

"Do you think this is a joke?" He said, suddenly, taking the two of them off guard.

"Think what's a joke?" Said the biker, voicing he and the baseballer's evident confusion.

"This school," Kiyotaka replied rather matter-of-factly. "Your education. Your classes. Your lives. Your futures. The fact that hundreds, no, thousands, no, tens of thousands, would literally kill for a place in this school. The fact that you waste your talents – talents you have never had to WORK for – on screwing around instead of bettering yourselves!"

Tears were welling up in the prefect's eyes, just as a ball of fire-soaked anger started to combust in his gut. Just as those fists clenched again. Just as, for the first time in his entire attendance of the school, he began showing the true frustration buried underneath the surface.

He hated geniuses. Oh, how he despised them. Their blissful ignorance to the importance of effort outraged him. Their continuous praisings from school staff, despite their total lack of work, made him sick. The fact that, over in the Reserve Course, those students were breaking their backs working hard, trying to make something of themselves, and still being put down for it... it made him see fire.

Leon. Mondo. Neither of them deserved to be the geniuses they were.

"Of course not!" Leon replied, tone a defensive one. "I care about this school just as much as you do, man! I just know how to balance my school life with free time. A-Ain't that right, Mondo?" He turned to look up at the towering man, who nodded in affirmation.

"Damn straight!"

Of course they didn't understand. Why would they? They were geniuses, yes, but idiots all the same.

"Detention," Kiyotaka uttered. "Both of you." Simple as that. He drew his rage back. Returned to being calm. Precise. Orderly. Perfect.

"Nah," said Mondo, swatting the air with the back of his hand in obvious dismissal. "Screw this. This guy's fuckin' nuts, I swear!" With that, he turned his back on the situation and stormed off. Kiyotaka considered going after him and forcing the damned slip into his hand, or even his hair if it came to it, but refrained. He would catch up with him later. He had to remain calm. His focus came to Leon now.

"Dude-"

Kiyotaka thrust the paper into the red-head's hands before he could even contemplate continuing that sentence. He looked down at the slip, parting his lips to argue back, before closing his mouth and shaking his head. He pocketed it, only to speak a handful of seconds later.

"Dude," he began again. Did the boy know any other word? Perhaps if he actually studied, Kiyotaka thought, he'd have a decent vocabulary. "Look. I'm gonna be honest here. We're all worried about you. I get it. You love your, uh, rules and studying and stuff. That's fine. But you never hang out with us. You sorta… I dunno… isolate yourself a lot."

"I have more important things to be doing," the hall monitor replied. "I'm a student, Mister Kuwata, not a socialite!" As if the others actually cared, he thought.

"Bud, we're all students here! That's what I'm trying to tell you, man. We all know how to balance it out, ya know? Look, me and some of the others are gonna be hanging out tonight. Come along. Please." Leon spoke in a way Kiyotaka had never heard from him before. It was a tone that sounded concerned. Practically pleading with him. Was he actually worried? Were the others actually worried, after all? No. Leon was probably just trying to toy with his emotions to get out of detention. Not on his watch! Still, it was odd seeing that look of appeal in his eyes.

Kiyotaka shook his head. "I have studying to do tonight."

Leon sighed. Again.

"Fine," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Can't say I didn't try. Whatever, dude. Catch you later."

Running a hand through his hair, the baseballer turned his back, just as Mondo had, and walked off without another word. Thankfully, he had his detention slip, so Kiyotaka expected him to turn up to the Principal's Office presently.

Leon's words rang in the hall monitor's head, however. What if, however doubtful, he was being honest? What if the others really did care? What if, maybe, just maybe, Kiyotaka should attend, after all?

No. No! He had to focus on studying. No matter how exhausted he was, he knew that recreation, unless for the sake of bettering himself physically or mentally, was no more than a distraction. He had to be greater, damn it! No matter how strong the temptation to slack off, even for a minute!

Leon was a distraction. Mondo was a distraction. The entire class; they were all walking, breathing distractions, and none of them cared about their education in the way that he did.

He loved them. They were the only family he had in here.

He hated them. They were idiots.

As Leon walked off down the hallway, red eyes watched him leave, once again welling up with silent tears. Those eyes narrowed at the other male, a flicker of that earlier flame burning in the prefect's chest once again.

If looks could kill, Leon would have been on the floor in that very second. A thought crossed Kiyotaka's mind, albeit for a second, before vanishing into a puff of mental smoke, and he had almost forgotten all about it. A thought he had never had before. A thought he disregarded entirely.

If looks could kill…

In the darkest, most submerged part of his mind, killing was precisely what Kiyotaka Ishimaru wanted.

Not realising this, however, the prefect turned now, too. He wiped away his tears. He straightened his back. He cleared his head of the entire incident.

He returned to patrolling.