This was a whole new world.

This world had four blue walls, light blue, rather than four grey walls. This new world had a dark blue rug instead of a brown carpet. This new world had a bed under the window, a bed big enough for him to lay out on, and a window without curtains or blinds or….or anything. A window that he'd had to cover. That had been the first thing that he had done when he had entered this new room, this new world. He'd gotten out a bedsheet and hung it over the window.

Though he wished that he hadn't used a white one.

Because the light came through. Before, in his old room, he'd had black out curtains. He didn't like the sun, the light, that passage of time. The reminder that it had passed. The reminder that the world was turning without him. He could, if he spent enough time in the dark, bring the world down to just being one big today. That was what life had been. Just this endless…today. He slept and ate and played games and then did it all again and again and again…and that had been it. That was been his life. That had been the world.

Now it was different.

The world was different. This bed was different. Harder than his bed. His bed had dipped in the middle from where he had slept, he slept curled up like a cat most nights. It smelled different, too, sort of…like…heavy? Heavy and…well…one time he had startled a skunk…and this whole room smelled sort of like that and…and that was…ok. This was his room, this was his home, and he…he wanted to be here. Miss Suzuki had brought him here and he trusted her. She was his friend. She had brought him here and he trusted her. He had never trusted anyone in his life as much as he trusted her.

He had never known anyone like her before.

"Do you want your TV on the desk? Or maybe on your dresser? Or maybe I could figure out how to get it stuck to the wall…but we move around a lot so that might not be practical…but being practical doesn't matter. What do you want, Serizawa?" said Miss Suzuki. It takes him a moment to realize that she's addressing him. Nobody's called him Serizawa in years, not since he had been as small as she was now, not that he knew how small she was but he knew that she was a lot smaller than him. That was who he was now, Serizawa. He was Serizawa and this was his room.

And that was his friend.

He held his umbrella tighter in his hands. The door was closed and the window was covered but…but he just…this wasn't…he didn't know if he was….he just….she was near. He focused on that. Not the beating of his heart, not the dizzy feeling in his head, not the purple that he could see just under his skin. He focused on her. On the pink and blue that swirled around her like a whirlpool. On the way that with a flick of her wrist she could make boxes, the boxes that held his entire life, move from one side of the room and then back again. The way that she was smiling without smiling. The way that he got the feeling that she was smiling, that she was happy, that she was happy to be there with him.

That she was happy to be his friend.

"I…I….I don't know." Said Serizawa finding some words. Nobody had ever spoken to him, aside from mom, as much as she did. She was speaking to him and she was…she wasn't afraid. She as in his room, his space, his world, and she wasn't afraid. Mom always shook, just a little, when she was near him. Miss Suzuki never shook. She just…stood there…now she was moving his TV around the world…and that was an old one. The old CRT kind, good for gaming but very heavy, and she was lifting it with her curse…no…her powers…like it was nothing.

They weren't cursed. Miss Suzuki had said so.

She had told him so many times that he wasn't cursed. That lots of people were born the way that they were. That there were a lot of people with powers. She even named specific people. Her father, a man who could be equal parts nice and mean but she had told him not to take it personally, a little brother who was, according to Miss Suzuki, the best little brother that the world had ever known. Other people, too, people outside of her family. Her friends. A man named Shibata who made the house shake when he walked. Someone taller than anyone Serizawa has ever seen and with more muscles than he had ever thought that human body even had. A man who's powers were being incredibly strong…but who was also the nicest person in the house, according to Miss Suzuki, and the best cook in the house too. A man who had come right up to Serizawa and introduced himself.

And a man who Serizawa hadn't been able to say two words to.

He had introduced himself and…and Serizawa…well if he hadn't been next to Miss Suzuki he didn't know what would have happened. He saw the purple and…and he'd been on edge from just leaving his house…and the car ride had been a lot even if the windows had been tinted…and he'd just…needed to just….to be alone and…and if she hadn't been there and if he hadn't had his umbrella and if she hadn't practically dragged him to this room then he wouldn't have had any idea what was going to happen.

Everyone has powers and everyone loses control sometimes.

She had said that to him. She had walked him into this room and she had sat him down on the bed and she had said that to him. She had told him that….the he had nothing to be afraid of…and that nobody here would be afraid of him. He could feel them, other people, other people like them. Those people that she had told him about. Her friends. His future friends. She had insisted that everyone would just love him and that he'd be surrounded by friends, by people like him, by people who could understand. She had named them all. Shibata, who he'd met and run away from, and the others too. Someone named Hatori who loved videogames and had the power to control technology, she had no idea how it worked just that he could do it, and who would get along with him and be his friend…but also someone who startled easily and could be overdramatic sometimes. Someone who he wasn't supposed to take it personally if he ran away and hid.

There were a lot of things that she had told him not to take personally.

There was a person in the house who, she had insisted, was very nice when you got to know him. Shimazaki. He liked to mess with people, she had said, and she had told him not to take it personally. She had told him that if Shimazaki did anything to him then he was to tell her immediately and she would fix it. He didn't want to get anyone in trouble….and he didn't want to have anyone mess with him either. That was…how it had happened….on that day. He had been…he had told everyone to leave him alone and…and that was….she had said that nothing would happen. She had told him that even if he lost control and exploded he couldn't hurt Shimazaki….and he wanted to believe her.

He wanted to believe his friend.

He wanted to believe every single thing that she said to him. He wanted to believe that, unlike all the others, she was telling the truth. That there was nothing wrong with him. That he was normal. That there were other people in the world like him. That he would make friends with her friends. That he would make friends with her friends who were nice, with her friends who weren't so nice all the time, and even her best friend. Her best friend who could be sort of mean but was nice, and also who he was supposed to use gender neutral conjugation with or else they'd get mad, and he didn't want to make anyone mad. He didn't want….he didn't want to be here…but he didn't want to go back either. This place, this new room, this new world…the new world that she had shown to him, this was what he had always wanted. For his entire life all he had wanted, more than anything else in the world, was to have been able to be in a place where people could understand him…where he could have friends…and she had brought him to a place just like that….

So why did he still feel like this?

"I think that I'll leave it here on the dresser then so you can see it from your bed and I'll leave your computer on your desk, too, because that's where they go…but if you don't like something I can move it. Don't try to move it on your own, though, because you're not ready for that yet. It took me a little bit, when I was really little, to figure out how to pick things up with my telekinesis without breaking things or throwing things. You'll figure it out too. We just have to practice, that's all. Like when I was little my dad and I would play in the backyard and…" she was talking. She was talking and he…had done his best to listen. He wasn't used to people saying this many words to him. The only person he had talked to for the past…he didn't want to know how long…had been mom…and he just…why did he miss her? Why did he want her to knock on the door and tell him that she had made him lunch or washed his clothes or gotten him a new game?

Why did he feel like this?

Mom was so much better off without him. He had left and he was here and now she could do whatever she wanted. She could make friends now. She could travel now. She could get that talking parrot she had always wanted now. She could save a lot of money, too, so she wouldn't have to work so much…or at all. He was being paid for being here, she had shown him a number with a lot of zeroes in it, and that was what he would get a year for…he didn't even know. Being near her or…something. She hadn't told him what he would be doing here, just that he would be here, and he didn't care what he did just so long as he wasn't there to be a burden on mom anymore.

She was probably happy…the happiest she had been in years…and he needed to be happy for her…instead of whatever….this feeling…was.

"….pancakes. If you want something else than Shibata will make it for your but birthday breakfasts are usually pancakes. You one pancake for every year that you've been alive. I don't know why we do that, just that we do that. Shimazaki's birthday is on the twenty fifth but we're throwing him a big party on Halloween. I hope that you're all better by then so you can come with. It's going to be so fun. Well I tried to make it fun but my dad…." Miss Suzuki was unpacking his clothes now, all with her curse….her powers…and folding them up and putting them in drawers. Mom had folded them already but she was refolding them now. She folded things differently. Mom had always folded his things into squares but Miss Suzuki did wedges so that they stood up sort of like books…and he had no idea why she did that. He had no idea why she was doing any of this for him…

Because she was a good person.

Maybe that was it. He had no idea why else she would do something like this for someone like him. She was talking to him like he was a normal person. She was unpacking his clothes for him like she was mom. She was standing right there in his room like…like he couldn't hurt her without even thinking about it…but she had told him that he couldn't. She had shown him that he couldn't. She had reached out and…and stopped him from…from hurting her back in…in his old room. She was…she was there and she was his friend and…and she was safe….

And she would keep him safe.

"…which I think is unfair because everyone loves dogs…but my dad…..and also it's Shimazaki's birthday but that's ok. There's no use arguing with my dad. Dads are just like that I guess. They can be really bossy sometimes, and they can be mean, but they still love you…or at least they do when you're a girl. Dad is kind of really mean to Sho, my little brother, but maybe that's just what all dads are like. I'm not sure, I've only ever had the one dad. What's your dad like?" asked Miss Suzuki. Serizawa…he needs to answer her…but he has no idea who his father even is. He knows that his dad wasn't Japanese, the kids at school never missed an opportunity to remind him that he was half, and he knows that mom isn't even sure who his dad is….and that's all that he knows….but she's expected an answer….and he has to give her one…

He has to answer his friend.

This is his friend. This girl…small woman….person. The person dressed in blue putting his things away for him is his friend. This person who delivered him into this…this place….this place that she said was everything that he had ever wanted…was his friend. He…he had to answer her….he owed her that much…and just…he has to say something….but words…they're hard right now. His back is to the window and his umbrella is in his hands…and this bed is too hard…and too big…and he's too big…or too small….and he just feels….there's a feeling like he swallowed something sharp inside of him…and she's looking at him…and she's smiling without smiling…..and he just….

Come on, Katsuya.

"I…have never met my dad…before." Said Serizawa. There. Words. He'd made words. He'd made words and now words were made and…and he'd done it. He'd spoken to her…and he had no idea why that had been so hard. This was his friend. She was his friend and when you were friends with someone you spoke to them…and he'd never had a friend before. Now he had one…and more. The other people in this house. The other people who were all around him. The ones that she had told him about…..they were all going to be his friends too…

It was dizzying.

Or maybe it was the light that was making him dizzy. Or maybe it was the smell of this room. Or maybe it was the fact that his room was so far away…he was in Tokyo….the farthest he had ever gone out of the city was when he and mom had gone berry picking at that farm when he'd been three…and now he was here…in Tokyo and…and he was with his first friend…and that was enough to make him dizzy….and he was just…he held onto his umbrella. He held onto his umbrella and he let his colors meet hers. He let them out….and the room shook…but the shaking stopped when his colors touched hers. When his curse touched hers. She was…she was…her face was normal but he was struck with the feeling that she was frowning….

He had made his friend frown.

She was…her face was normal and she was coming closer and…and he felt it happening again and…and he couldn't stop it. A box, one full of fragile models, flew through the air…and then another….and another….and another…but as soon as they got close to her they stopped. They just froze in mid air and…and she wasn't even looking. She had crossed the room and then…and then she had done something that…that nobody had ever done to him before.

She hugged him.

She hugged him and…and she needed to GET OFF! She was TOO CLOSE! She was touching him and…and nobody touched him! He couldn't….he couldn't remember the last time that he had ever touched anyone and…and she needed to GET OFF OF HIM! She needed to get the h-word OFF OF HIM! He was going to hurt her….and he was hurting her…he could feel his colors…his curse…his powers and…and he should…she should have been flying but….but instead it was like…like it all just…disappeared inside of her and…and…and….

And she let him go.

"I'm sorry that I made you talk about something sad. I guess that I was just being….me. Sometimes I can be really clueless and…and I'm very sorry." said Miss Suzuki. She said that she was sorry and…and she had done nothing. She had never done anything to him. She had done nothing but be there for him. He felt….he felt like he…he had been terrible. He had almost hurt his friend and all she had done was hug him. That was a thing that people did.

He couldn't remember the last time anyone had ever hugged him.

He must have been small. Very small. Mom said…she said that his curse…his powers…hadn't been that bad when he'd ben young. When he'd been a baby. She said that it had gotten…bad…when he had been two. Two or three. She was…she had held him before. There were old pictures of her holding him….and he couldn't remember what that had been like…what it was like to be held and hugged….but now he just…he could remember because he had just been hugged five seconds ago…and she had been warm….

He had forgotten how warm people were.

"You…hugged me." Said Serizawa. He needed to make words. He had to pick out words and use them and…and it was hard. It had been easier, before when they'd met, because he had been telling her to leave….and he was used to telling people to leave. He was used to telling people to leave him alone, to leave his room, and that….that was easy. Easier than this. This was…he had to talk to her…

He had to figure out how to talk to her.

He'd spent the car ride here with his head in his hands and his mouth shut. He hadn't said anything to her…and he'd had the excuse of being in a car…and she hadn't asked him to talk…and they had to talk now. They were friends and friends talked. He had never had a friend before but he'd played games…and he'd watched a lot of TV…and he knew that he needed to figure this out and….and he just….

He was dizzy.

"Sorry! I thought that we were the kind of friends who hugged….and I should have asked. I'm sorry. I can be kind of clueless sometimes and I don't always say or do the right thing….but I'm trying. I'm just really excited to be your friend. I haven't made a new friend in a while and….this is exciting for me." Said Miss Suzuki. She was excited to meet him. Her. Miss Suzuki. He was…dizzy…to know her. The dizziness might have been excitement. The dizziness might have been fear. The dizziness might have been from the light that came in through the bedsheet he'd tacked up over the window.

He didn't know.

He just knew that he needed to just…stop it. He needed to stop it because….because he had what he'd always wanted. He always wanted friends…people like him. People who understood him. He'd always wanted this and she had given this to him and…and he had no idea why he was this dizzy. He had no idea, too, why he wanted his mom. She was…she happy now. She was happy and he was happy. He had to be less selfish. He had to just….stop it….because this was what he and mom had both always wanted and…and he just….

He was dizzy.

"This is…a lot for me too and….and it's….it's alright. We're friends and….and we can hug. That's normal. It's normal for friends to hug." Said Serizawa. He had never had a friend before. He had never had anyone aside from mom hug him before. He had never been in the same room as someone who could hug him before…but she could. She could and…and so could other people…like him. That was…a lot. There were other people like him and they could be his friends and…and there was just so much and…

And the room was spinning.

No, he was spinning things in the room. He was making them spin and…and she was pulling them out of the air. She was pulling things out of the air and putting them down and…and she wasn't scared. She wasn't shouting. She was treating this like it was normal…because it was normal. He could see the other colors in the house. The other people in this house. He was surrounded by people…and he had never been around this many people before….not since he had been small…small like the person in front of him….and just…

He was dizzy.

"Shhh….shh…..it's ok. You're going to be ok. I know that you're scared. All of this is new to you and you've been in your room for fifteen years-" said Miss Suzuki. Serizawa held his umbrella to his chest and closed his eyes. Fifteen years. The words rang in his head. Fifteen years. The number. There was a number behind his eyes. Fifteen. Ten plus five. Ten plus five made fifteen. Twelve plus fifteen made twenty seven. That was how old he was. Twenty seven. He was twenty seven and he had been gone for fifteen years and that had been days and days and days and….and he didn't know how to figure out how many days had gone by but….but he had to figure it out and he had to make up that time….because he was gone from that room and out in the world now and…and he just…he was with other people like him and they were normal and he had to be normal and….and he didn't know how to be normal or…or how to be a friend or…or how to be anyone or anything and he just….

He held onto his umbrella.

"….here for you. You're my friend and I'm always going to be here for you, ok?" said Miss Suzuki. She was smiling at him, actually smiling, he could tell because he had opened his eyes when he felt her lean in close. She was smiling and her hand was over his. His hands were wrapped around her umbrella. She was so much smaller than him, both of her hands could have fit inside of his, and she was the one comforting him even though she was so small….

And she did a good job of it, too.

He let his colors meet hers again. She was smiling. He smiled back. He smiled back as best as he could. He knew that his teeth were yellow. He knew that he looked terrible. He knew that he needed…well he needed to do a lot of things….but she didn't recoil from him. She wasn't…anything but happy. She was happy and…and he could feel her all around him. Her colors. Her presence. She was there all around him and she could and would keep him safe…from himself. She was strong enough to do that and….

And he was so happy to be her friend.

"…alright." Said Serizawa. There. That wasn't so hard, making words, talking to her. He had said something and she had said something and now…well now he had no idea if there was anything else left to say but…but she was there with him and…and as long as she was there with him then…then he felt like nothing could hurt him….and he couldn't hurt anyone….

Just because he felt something didn't make it real.

He could hurt people. He was dangerous. She….she wasn't in danger from him. She had been there in the middle of…things…and she hadn't been scared. She had said that she would never have been scared of him and…and he trusted her…and he knew her…but he didn't know…there was a knock at his door from a person that he did not know. There was green, there, just a bit of it. Not as bright as his purple or Miss Suzuki's blue or the massive red splotch he could see off to the left. This was…another person…one who he did not know….knocking on the door….knocking on HIS door….

He opened his umbrella.

"Mob! Get out here! We're having a meeting!" that was a voice, a high one, sort of like a ladies' voice. Sort of like mom's voice….but different. Like it had been before when he'd been little. He felt dizzy, though, hearing that voice. Not like mom's voice at all, then. That voice sounded angry…and he just…did not like anger…and people had always been angry with him for no reason…and he knew that he had done something….and he knew that he had done nothing…and he knew that it was bad luck to open his umbrella indoors….but he needed this umbrella. He needed this umbrella and he needed…he needed….

He needed his friend.

"Um….ok, Minegishi, I can come but I don't think that Serizawa is up to it and-" said Miss Suzuki. She was still standing in front of him. She had turned around and now she was facing the door. He wanted…he wanted her to face him. He wanted to pull her close and…and he wanted to push her away and….and he wanted….he didn't know what he wanted. To be safe. To be in the dark. To be home. To be back in his own room, in his own world, in his own world with his mom….he wanted his mom….he wanted his friend…he wanted…he wanted so many things….

He wanted to be safe…he wanted everyone to be safe…from him.

"Just you. Now come on." Said the person….Minegishi. That person was named Minegishi. They were a year older than him. They could control plants. They used gender neutral conjugation. They didn't like sugar. They were Miss Suzuki's best friend. That was all he knew about that person. That was what Miss Suzuki had told him. He listened when she talked. He may not have been the best at talking back but he listened.

He wanted to keep on listening.

He wanted her to stay. He wanted to keep her near him and…and he wanted to keep safe…and he wanted to keep her safe…he wanted so many things and…and it was dizzying. This whole thing was making him dizzy and…and he was sitting down and his umbrella was up and opened and she was there but…but she was going to go and….and she was walking away from him and…and he needed her to stay. He felt his colors reaching forward, reaching around. Covering hers. The room was purple. He was purple. She was purple. There was purple everywhere.

Like a wall.

"I have to go now but I'll come back and I'll help you unpack, too, ok? So can you please put your barrier down?" asked Miss Suzuki. She had her hand against the purple and…and it was there. When he had been little and he told people about the purple they had thought that he was creepy and crazy and…and the purple wasn't real…but now he knew that it was real…but it had never been something that he could reach out and feel…until now. The purple was there like a wall and…and he had…he had done….

He had done that.

"I…don't know what that is…and I don't know how…." Said Serizawa. He had no idea how he was doing that. He had no idea that he was even capable of doing things like that. He knew that he could pick things up. He knew that he could throw things. He knew that he could pick people up. He knew that he could throw people. He knew that he could break things. He knew that he could break people. He knew…he had never known…that he could…create something…create this wall….

A solid wall.

"That's ok that you don't know how. Sometimes I forget that not everyone is like me. Not everyone has a dad like mine. When I was really little my dad taught me about barriers….um….ok. Well he taught me how to make them strong not to get rid of them but….um…ok. What I do is that I just…get rid of my barrier I guess? Sorry. I just sort of….make it go away….oh….I've never had to explain this before." Said Miss Suzuki. She was playing with her hair now…and she was upset and…and he was upsetting her. He was upsetting her and now she was going to leave…and he should have wanted her to leave. He should have been sending her away. He should have been sending her away for her own safety but he just…wasn't. He wanted her to stay near to him and….and he shouldn't have wanted this and…and he had no idea what he even wanted and…and he was dizzy and…

And the wall shattered.

It felt like…he had no words for that that felt like. The wall had shattered and….and now the only thing that was purple in the room was him. He was purple and she was pink and blue and…and there was green outside the door…and red…and…and blue and…and so many colors and…and he just…didn't…he didn't know….he just….

He kept his umbrella opened.

"I'm sorry to have broken down your barrier but I have to go…but I'll come back! Don't worry, Serizawa, I'll come back and then we can finish unpacking and we can work on barriers and all the other stuff that you want to work or we can just hang out and play games or even…maybe even I can introduce you to the others. Alright? I'm coming back….ok?" asked Miss Suzuki. Serizawa nodded. He clung to that. She would be coming back. She would come back and…and this was…this was fine. She was fine. She was fine and she was his friend and she was safe and when she walked outside of that door she would be…she would come back…because they were friends…and that was what friends did.

"I...that would…that would be…ok….Miss Suzuki." Said Serizawa. That was what he had to say. He wanted her to stay. He felt like…like he was starving. Like he had spent so long without eating and…and now there was food…not that she was food. She was a friend. She was a friend and…and he'd never had a friend before and…and it was so good…it felt so good to be her friend but….but also…

Also it was dizzying.

This whole thing was dizzying. This whole thing was just so….he was dizzy. He was dizzy. He wanted…he wanted to lay down. She was leaving the room now. He could see her back. The blue of her sweater. The white of her collar. The footprints her feet left in the carpet. The way her hair was so black and shiny and…and she was there. She was another person and she was his friend and…and another person had been in his room. He had never imagined that he could have had another person in his room and now there was and…and she had been in his room and now she was leaving…

She opened the door.

She let more light in. That was artificial light. Too bright. He didn't know which was worse, the sun or a lightbulb. He didn't know. He wanted the dark. He wanted the darkness and he wanted…he laid down. This bed was too big. He could stretch out. The hallway was wrong. He could see…the wall was red there…and there were plants…and no door. He should have been able to see the bathroom door from his room…the door swung shut. That was better, with the door being closed he could imagine that the bathroom door was there. If he curled up he could imagine that this was his bed.

That it was small.

That he was small. He didn't want to be small. He didn't want to be small and he didn't want to be big. He didn't want…he didn't know what he wanted. He wanted to be here and he wanted to be home and he wanted….he wanted to keep his eyes closed. He curled up. His eyes were closed. His umbrella was opened. Even with his eyes closed he could see her, all of them, their colors…and his colors….and his eyes were closed but….

But he could still see the world…the new…world.