"What. The fuck." Rasped out a small whisper. A girl was standing in her bathroom, eyes locked on her reflection. She had stuffed cotton balls into her ears, but could not rack her brains around what she was seeing.

Kyoka Jirou had woken up abruptly, as a falling glass had roused her from her slumber.

Unfortunately for her, the glass was several kilometers away from her house.

In a daze, she looked around, the various colours of her instruments dancing in her vision. 'I'm in my room?' She remembered walking home, a ray of light taking over her vision, and now she's here?

Then, every noise in existence slammed into her eardrums at once. She screamed as she heard several conversations, the busy kitchen beneath her, fights, animals, cars, bikes, everything. She quickly rushed to her bathroom in a frenzy as she grabbed cotton balls and stuffed them into her ears.

Which is where we are now…

Her eyes were wide as she noticed her earlobes moving on their own. If she could even call them earlobes.

They were long. Insanely long. Her breath hitched as she grasped onto one of them, and whimpered as she felt her own hands touch them. The ends… looked like a headphone cord.

It was terrifying.

'What the fuck happened to me?!'

"Kyo? Is that you?"

She froze as the words of her own mother sounded like they were said next to her. "There's no way…she's in the kitchen, right?"

She stumbled into her closet, throwing on anything that looked okay, and stilled when she looked at her dresser. There laid a wool cap, perfect for the winds that threaten to freeze her.

And now, it was just what she needed. She grit her teeth as she slammed it over her head, making sure to tuck her earlobes into it (God, it sounded so surreal when she thought of it like that). Rushing downstairs, she yelped when her mother glomped into her, tears streaming down the matriarchs face.

"Oh Kyoka! My baby!"

The teen looked at her mother in confusion. "Wha?"

She felt tears drip from her mother as her hug became tighter. "I w-was so scared you wouldn't wake up, and I didn't know what to do!" Mika Jiro kisses the top of her daughter's head. "Never scare me like that again, Kyo."

The younger Jirou nodded. "How long was I asleep then?"

"Two weeks."

Kyoka blanched. "Huh?"

'There's no way! I was just at school yesterday, wasn't I? No, there has to be a mistake. There was no light, my earlobes are normal! Everything's normal! Except I can hear moms heartbeat, her lungs exhaling and inhaling, and-

Oh fuck.'

"Kyo? Why is your hat moving?"

Kyoka's eyes shot open from her daze as she stumbled backwards from her mother's reach, crashing into a bookshelf which swept the beanie off her head. "Ow…" she murmured.

Her mother stood there, watching as her only child rub her head with elongated earlobes wriggling around like worms. Her daughter could only stare at her in fear and confusion.

"Mom?"

Mika Jirou was always a believer of the unreal, but this,

This was too much.

"Kyoka, what the fuck happened to your ears?"

"Mom?"

"What did you do?" Mika hisses out the last part. She narrowed her eyes at the girl in front of her.

Kyoka didn't know what to say, was her mom angry? Scared of her? Fearful of her? She had read of these situations in books, but it never happened in real life!

Until now.

"Mom, I don't know. I woke up and I could hear everything, and my earlobes are like this, and please stay calm. We'll never get anything sorted while panicking." On the contrary, she was definitely not calm on the inside.

Her mom, on the other hand, was the opposite. She paced back and forth, hands running through her hair. Upon closer inspection, her eyes were wide and breathing erratic. She tried to whisper, but Kyoka heard it all the same.

"My daughter's a mutant. A freak! No no, she's still your daughter, get it TOGETHER. She's still the same Kyo. Nothing has changed. Everything will be fine." She glanced at the moving earlobes.

"How do we hide them?"

Kyoka could only stare. "hide them?"

Her mother nodded. "No one else has to know about this. We could tie them into your hair, keep the hat on, maybe even have them removed?" The matriarch frowned. "We don't know what'll happen if people find out."

"You sound like you've been through this before."

Mika nodded. "It's not the same thing, but there are people out there who discriminate based on skin colour alone. Then there's discrimination of disabilities and gender, not to mention sexual orientations. Of course people are going to throw you under the bus. They're fearful of what they don't understand."

Kyoka blinked. "That's helping, oddly enough. Okay, but what do we do if people find out? My hearing is not going to be easily hidden. The orchestra will know something's up based on how close I am to the instruments."

Mika shook her head. "I'm withdrawing you from the orchestra."

"What?!"

She frowned. "If your health is going to be in jeopardy, especially if your hearing is as sensitive as it is now, you're going to cut ties with the extracurricular. You can still play at home and on the street, anything that won't hurt you."

Kyoka looked miffed. "Fine."

'Remember, look for the others.'

"Kyo?"

The purplette snapped out of a daze. "Huh? Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

Kyoka nodded. "Yeah. Although there was a voice in my head. It said something."

Mika nodded. "A voice? Well, I guess it's not too far off from fact if this is what we're dealing with. What did it say?"

"You're oddly accepting of all this."

Mika chuckled. "I have to be. You're my baby girl. I will help you until my last breath."

Kyoka paled. "Don't say that, please."

"What did the voice say?"

She nodded, getting back into focus. "Find the others."

Both women froze. "The others, as in people who have their bodies altered?"

Kyoka sighed. "I wish I knew, mom, I really did."

On the other side of the prefecture, things weren't going so swimmingly with one Tsuyu Asui.

The girl was hiding, since her life depended on it.

"Beru! Where is she?!"

"Don't hurt her, Ganma! She is still our little Tsuyu!"

"No, she's a literal frog! Where is she?! She couldn't have gotten too far!" The sound of her father made her shake. The greenette stared at her hands, now much bigger than they were yesterday. She flinched as she touched her tongue, a small croak leaking in her surprise.

'What is going on?'

A loud crash broke her from her musings, the impact near her. Tears threatened to spill as the panting of her father grew closer. She whimpered. 'I might not get out of here alive.'

'Find the others.'

She froze. 'That voice! It said the same thing when I woke up!' She glanced through the crack of her hiding place. 'If I escape, I can find whoever it's talking about, but how do I leave?'

"I know you're here, freak."

She paled. She had to escape him, but how?

"Ganma, let's talk about this! She's still your daughter! Please!" Her mother pleaded with the madman, making Tsuyu smile just for a moment.

Unfortunately, it was at that point that everything went wrong.

SLAP*

Tsuyu almost gasped in horror as she watched her father hit her mother. She could do nothing but watch as the matriarch flew backwards, landing roughly on a glass table they had stored down here. Tears flowed from her eyes as blood started pooling from the broken woman.

Tsuyu saw nothing but red.

In a spurt of anger, she launched herself from the little closet and jump onto her father, her feet smashing into the man's chest.

Ganma grunted as he fell to the floor. He couldn't speak as his breath was pushed out from him. He looked at his attacker and snarled. 'It's the freak.' The downed man glanced towards the stairs. 'If she doesn't notice…'

Tsuyu glared at the man she kicked, not noticing the man hobble up the stairs as she swiveled her head to where the other victim was. She hopped over to her mother, tears once again falling to the floor. "Mom!"

She was laying on a large pile of glass, her face staring upwards. Her right arm bent at a very unnatural angle from trying to brace her fall, and her chest was barely rising. "Baby…" was all Tsuyu heard.

"Mom, I'm here. We need to get you to the hospital, ribbit."

The matriarch almost shook her head. "No, I can't move."

The greenette choked a cry. "Mom, I'll pick you up, let's go. I'll have Satsuki call an ambulance, and Samidare bring a first aid kit! You'll be okay!-" she was interrupted when she felt a bloodied hand on her cheek.

She gasped as she looked at her mother's face, a small, sympathetic smile gracing her features. Her eyes held warmth and compassion for the frog-like girl. "Tsuyu… it's too late for me. Please grow up happy, and loved, take care of your siblings for me… I love you so much, baby. Your complications or not, I will always love you."

Tsuyu sobbed. "No…we can get through this!" She gripped the hand that was broken, squeezing it even if her mother couldn't feel it. She traces her thumb over a deep cut, choking back a croak as she didn't get a reaction. "Mom, please, let's go, ribbit!"

"I love…you… s-so much, my little…tadpole"

"Mom, mom! They need you!"

"…" she could only watch as the warming light from the mother's eyes faded away into a stone cold darkness, her smile never once leaving her face. The bloodied hand that had felt so comforting fell limply to the greenette's lap, staining her dress. Tears from Tsuyu multiplied as a harrowing scream escaped her throat, sobs mixed into it.

"Please! Mommy…"

She hugged the deceased matriarch, pleading for one more breath, another heartbeat that could be saved. Unfortunately, that never came.

She sobbed even as her father stood behind the greenette, his shadow cast over her. The daughter froze in place as she heard the chuckling of the man, her eyes shaking in sheer rage.

"So she's dead, huh? Can't blame her. It would've been easier to just pass on than live in a wheelchair for the rest of her life, being taken care of by a freak like you."

He sighed. "Well, now what to do with you…" She followed his line of sight in horror as he narrowed down on his tools, her blood going cold as he approached the nail gun he had on a shelf. "Guess we can put an animal on the mantle, eh?" She hugged her mother harder and moved back as he grasped the tool. "Please, don't, ribbit."

He sneered. "There's that nasty sound again, it's a wonder how you mutated. It would be a great story on the news on how a freak killed her mother and siblings. The poor little children. Heh!" Tsuyu gasped in realization at what he meant.

"So you would just murder your own children in cold blood, ribbit? For what?"

The man smiled. "I never was used to fatherhood, you know? The only reason I'm still here is because I didn't have a choice. Divorce is expensive, and I can't have your mother take half of my belongings. Plus she did have that life insurance policy that would make me filthy rich."

He walked to the girl slowly. "Using you as an alibi is just perfect timing. I won't kill you now, you're just the icing on the cake."

He flashed her one more grin before turning towards the stairwell. "Here's the deal. I'm feeling real generous. I'll give you a head start to leave this place, never come back, and to never let me see your freakish face again, or I can just kill you now and it'll be the same result for me. It's your choice."

Tsuyu scowled at the man. "And what about Satsuki and Samidare, ribbit? What will you do with them?"

"Oh, you don't have to worry about them." The tone of his voice made her blood run cold.

Her lips quivered as she backed away, eyes wide with multiple guesses as of what happened to her siblings. Her hands shook as she held them up before her. "What did you do to them?"

Her father looked her in the eyes, his expression losing all humor. "I did tell you I wasn't fit for fatherhood."

…

It only took her half a second to react.

"SATSUKI! SAMIDARE!"

She immediately bolted up the stairs, calling for her siblings, her voice becoming more and more desperate as no one answered. Her throat cracked as if sandpaper shredded against it, her eyes brimming with tears as she called for the children over and over, yet receiving the same result.

She ran to Satsuki's room first, and growled in irritation as there was no one there, so she went to Samidare's instead.

What she found forced everything to a halt.

Her brother and sister…they were laying on the floor, blood spilled from each of their torsos, both pairs of eyes wide and unblinking. Satsuki's eyes forever locked with fright, her mouth gaping open with blood still trickling from it; Samidare looked like he put up a fight as his hands were broken, bruised, and his body draped over his sister.

Tsuyu dropped to her knees, bile threatening to erupt from her, but she fought against it. Her heart hurt, her head spun, and her chest felt so tight it was like plastic wrap around her lungs.

She fought to breathe as she sobbed, the hopelessness sinking into her. Her throat hurt from the many cries and croaks that emanated at large volumes. She felt instant regret, shame that she couldn't save her siblings from the madman that they used to call a father.

She cried, and didn't stop even when the man appeared behind her.

"You do realize this is all your fault, right?"

She slowly turned towards the source of the voice, her eyes full of hatred as she watched the man sit himself down in a chair. "If you hadn't mutated into this animal you are now, none of this would have happened. So tell me, what are you going to do now?"

That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

'I am going to kill him.'

She stood slowly, her fists tightening, her head tilted down in shame and fury, and only her tongue was visible.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Before the patriarch knew it, he was tossed to the wall, his vision in a daze as his head slammed against a picture frame. He narrowed his eyes as he narrowly dodged a whip like tongue and glanced at the hole it made.

Thinking as fast as he could, he grabbed a glass shard from the broken frame and lunged at the girl, ignoring the flaming pain the glass caused as it dug into his palm. He swiped at Tsuyu, screaming all the while, anger flaring as she continuously dodged.

After a minute of dodging, Tsuyu had enough and placed a mighty kick on the man's chest and sent him flying into a glass door, panting as she collapsed to the floor. She watched the body of her former father as he went down and never stood up.

Seeing several puddles of blood form all around the body, it was safe to assume the man was dead, and she sobbed uncontrollably.

Her tears wouldn't stop even as red and blue lights appeared from the distance, even as sirens grew closer.

Her family was gone, and it was all her fault.