(CONTENT WARNING: DISCUSSION OF RELIGION, HOMOPHOBIC UPRAISING, AND SELF-HATRED)

It was the second weekend that Class 1-B of UA High School was spending in upstate New York for their visit to the Manchester School for Gifted Youth. For many of Itsuka Kendo's classmates, it had been a time to explore a foreign country, to meet other students their age that could become lifetime friendships, and to learn new ways of being a hero.

For her, it had been stress. So, so, so much stress.

Luckily, the problem had yet to rear its head so far that day, while many of her classmates were heading to the school's lunch hall (whose food was nowhere near as good as Lunch Rush's). At least, not to the point that any of the other Class 1-B students had contacted Itsuka.

Prior events meant she didn't really feel like she could enjoy the respite, no matter how much she wanted to, and as the orange-haired fighter decided to head down a hallway that would lead her to where all her friends were, she saw the way ahead was blocked by a Cheyenne girl with braided black hair and a serious face. "We need to talk, Kendo."

[DANIELLE MOONSTAR/MIRAGE! HER QUIRK: MIRAGE! THIS PSYCHIC ABILITY GIVES DANI THE POWER TO CREATE ILLUSIONS MADE OF HER TARGET'S GREATEST DESIRE OR GREATEST FEAR! IT'S USEFUL FOR GETTING INFORMATION AND SCARING THE PANTS OFF OF VILLAINS! -Present Mic, back for your enjoyment]

Of all the girls she'd met so far at the Xavier school, as so many people liked to call the academy, Dani was the one to whom Itsuka felt the closest. They were both confident women who could hold their own in a fight and found themselves becoming the leaders of their classes. Which only made it worse to see that she was going full-intimidation on Itsuka. Starting to back away, Itsuka tried to find something to say. "Dani, hi, sorry, my blood sugar is actually really low so I need to-"

She tried turning around, to head back the way she came and find another route to her destination, but when she did it became clear that she'd been outmaneuvered. "Sorry about this, Kendo. Ah would have preferred t' talk to ya in th' lunch hall, but Dani thought ya might scamper like a squirrel at a dog convention." If there was no way that Itsuka thought she could get past Dani, there were a negative number amount of ways to get past him.

[SAMUEL GUTHRIE/CANNONBALL! HIS QUIRK: ROCKET! SAM CAN SHOOT OUT POWERFUL ENERGY FROM HIS LEGS, SENDING HIM FLYING FORWARD! NOT ONLY THAT, BUT HE'S PROTECTED BY AN ENERGY SHIELD FROM THE FRONT WHILE HE'S BLASTING, MAKING HIM NIGH-INVULNERABLE!]

The teenager from Kentucky was the tallest in his class, with long and lanky limbs that belied the strength Itsuka had seen him display in combat drills. He was also the most awkward, adorable person she'd met since Izuku Midoriya, with a heart far bigger than most his age.

Looking between them, Itsuka knew she'd have to fight to escape, she didn't want to start a brawl in a corridor. Vlad would be disappointed, and Mr. Wagner would find it funny but still give them detention. Hanging her head, she gave up. "Okay guys, let me have it."

Sam rubbed the back of his head, clearly trying to think of a diplomatic way to put what he had to say. "Ya ain't in trouble, Kendo. It's just, well, Ah know yer doin' yer best, but maybe..." Every word he said just made Itsuki feel more embarrassed.

"You have to do something about Monoma." Dani's tone brooked no arguments. "I don't know what it's like at UA, but bullying is not tolerated here, by anyone." Holding up a hand, she started to count off incidents on her fingers. "Rahne came crying to me the first day you guys arrived because he taunted her about her powers, Roberto is furious at the things he keeps hearing from him, and I don't know how but he made Warlock cry." From her tone, that was a feat that would have been impressive if it wasn't so heinous.

Itsuka's head was in her hands, and without thinking she started growing them, as if that would relieve her stress. The loosened Quirk restrictions at this school were something she was only starting to get used to. "I know, I know, I know..." Other students in Class 1-B told her whenever they caught Monoma antagonizing students from the other school, but it wasn't enough. Itsuka didn't have any time for herself, she was using all of it chasing that idiot. "My class set up a text alert to let me know when he's bothering you guys, but it's just too much..."

The two American students looked at each other, before Dani spoke up with an idea. "If we give you our numbers, you can always just let us know instead. You don't have to treat him like your personal problem." Her tone was frank and matter of fact, in a way that let Itsuka know she didn't seem to see why it would be an issue to share the burden.

Relief flooding her system, Itsuka let out a long sigh, and said, "Thank you so much, that would be a huge help." Initially, she'd hoped time away from Class 1-A would make Neito Monoma more tolerable, but if anything the opposite was true. He was obsessed with making his class stand out against more famous ones, and apparently the fact that they were sharing a school with future X-Men bothered him even more than the other class back home.

Smiling as bright as the sun, Sam laughed, and said, "Well, Ah don' think it's that much. If Ah'm bein' honest, Ah bet Monoma just needs a frien-"

Before Sam could finish his sentence, the devil they spoke of came into the hallway from the door behind him, putting an arm around Sam's neck and hooking him down to his level. "Well, look who it is! The 'star students' of the New Mutants: a girl scared of her own powers, and a hick who no one can understand! Ahahahahaha!" Before he could say anything worse, Itsuka grew her right hand until it was the size of Monoma's torso, grabbed him with it, and once Sam opened the door Itsuka just threw him back where he'd come from.

If the tall teen at the door minded being proven wrong, he didn't show it. "Well, look at that!" Sam proclaimed, grinning. "Now that's what Ah call 'teamwork'."


It was quite the odd time, this 'cultural exchange', at least it was for Rahne Sinclair. Of course, she was already a foreigner to the country she lived in, like several of her classmates. Unlike many hero academies, the Manchester school was known for bringing in students from all over the globe, any who caught their headmasters' mental eye.

Rahne was still struggling to fit in, or at least that was how she felt. All these other children her age...they weren't ashamed of what they could do. Very few of them even feared the God Almighty, as they rightfully should, for they were all sinners who would be damned to Hell. At least, that was what Reverend Craig had told her.

But these new students, they were from 'Japan', which was even farther away than Scotland. Their ways were even stranger, harder to understand.

Then Rahne saw it: one of them, a girl with green vines for hair, carried a Holy Bible! Another dutiful Christian! Rahne even heard that the girl had a habit of reading sermons to her classmates, in an attempt to save their souls. She was also quite pretty, with a beautiful face and a figure far fuller than Rahne's. But that was bad as well, for Rahne looked at her not with jealousy, but sinful lust.

Trying to push those feelings from her heart, as she so often did, Rahne still wanted to speak to this Ibara Shiozaki. So, one day when she spied the girl out on the grounds, sitting under an oak tree and reading her Bible, Rahne used her devil's power to transform into a large wolf with fur as red as her hair, and pawed out on the lawn to approach her.

[RAHNE SINCLAIR/WOLFSBANE! HER QUIRK: LYCANTHROPY! THIS WAIFISH KID IS WAY SCARIER THAN SHE LOOKS, BECAUSE AT A SECOND'S NOTICE SHE CAN GROW FANGS, FUR, AND CLAWS! IT'S NOT JUST ALL-WOLF OR NOTHING, EITHER, RAHNE CAN BE ANYWHERE BETWEEN HUMAN OR WOLF, AND SOMETIMES SHE JUST CHANGES BASED ON HER MOOD!]

It felt so good to be outside as a wolf, which was part of how Rahne knew it was wrong. As the Reverend Craig often explained, life was meant to be suffered through, and things that made the experience enjoyable were sin incarnate.

Yet, it was also hard to truly think of it as evil. Being able to smell as well as she could see, to hear better than any normal person, to run as fast as an animal, it was as natural to her as being a human was.

Once she got close to Shiozaki, she was able to smell her signature scents: incense, the paper of her Bible, and something like a freshly tended garden. Without taking her eyes from her holy book, Shiozaki lifted a hand to run through Rahne's fur, something that felt far too good to be godly. Laying down at her side, Rahna allowed herself to indulge in a little wickedness.

"Rahne, I am glad you joined me." Her sudden words surprised the transformed girl, and for a second Rahne considered darting away. That would only make her look foolish, so she only whined and stayed where she was. "I had heard there was another of God's children who read his words at this school, and I have desired to speak to you."

Something about that word 'desired' awoke a terrible feeling in Rahne, one she did her best to squash. She partially reverted to human form, enough for her to speak again, her hero costume appearing as it always did when she changed back, thanks to its unstable molecules. Rahne still had fur, though, as she did enjoy being pet. "I dinnae know why you'd wan' t' talk t' a sinful creature like me..."

For some reason, those words actually were enough to make Shiozaki take her eyes off of her book, closing it as she looked into Rahne's eyes. "What do you mean, you poor girl? Why do you feel as though you are condemned in the eyes of the Lord?" Rahne's hearing wasn't as sharp as when she was in her full-wolf mode, but she could still tell that, under her stoicism, Shiozaki was beginning to get worried.

"Well," Rahne said, unsure why it even needed an explanation. "M' powers are an abomination, and no amou' of good works'll make me clean in th' eyes o' Heaven." It wasn't all doom and gloom, of course. "Still, I shoul' be gra'ful to Reverend Craig. He coul' have simply drown' me when I was jus' a wee bairn."

"..." For a few seconds, it seemed as though Shiozaki was unsure what exactly to say. "Did your reverend tell you that?"

Unsure why she was being asked that, Rahne looked up at her, and nodded. "Aye, he did jus' that, whenever I starte' to act too prou'." Looking towards the school, Rahne shook her head. "M' friends dinnae understan', they aren' proper Christians, like we are." Their compassion for her...it was nice, Rahne thought, but unwarranted. She didn't deserve it.

"It sounds as though it was your reverend who was not a proper Christian," Shiozaki said, her voice sharp. The claim made Rahne start. How...how could a godly woman say such a thing about a reverend? With an intense gaze piercing into Rahne's eyes, Shiozaki continued, "The fires of Hell do not await you simply for being born with a Quirk. No one is born destined to Heaven or Hell, Rahne. It is your choices that determine your afterlife."

Rahne shook her head at that, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "But, but even if tha's true, I'm still a sinner..." Looking at the school again, Rahne confessed, "I'm guilty o' th' sin o' lust, m' desires are nae right." Even if, somehow, being born a werewolf wasn't enough to damn her to Hell, Rahne knew something else was.

The other girl let out a huff, looking uncharacteristically annoyed. "Feeling desire is not a sin, Rahne, and neither is loving someone. If there is a boy in your class you find yourself admiring, the Lord will not curse you for dating him."

If Rahne's face hadn't been covered with fur, then Shiozaki would have seen how deeply she was blushing from embarrassment. "But wha' if it's no' a boy..."

"Then the Lord would not curse you for dating her," Shiozaki clarified, as though there was nothing strange with what Rahne had said.

Instead of saying anything back, Rahne just turned back into her wolf form, and Shiozaki seemed to accept the conversation was over. The girl pet Rahne while reading her Bible once more, and Rahne thought about the hero student's words. She seemed so smart, so in touch with the Lord...could her words be truth? Had the Reverend done not but lie to her? Would...would it be okay, if she wanted to ask Dani out on a date?