Acute Stress Disorder: "Acute stress disorder is an intense, unpleasant, and dysfunctional reaction beginning shortly after an overwhelming traumatic event and lasting less than a month. If symptoms persist longer than a month, people are diagnosed as having posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)." -Merck Manual

The room was still, silent, you could hear the cars passing below. "Shun, please, please say something." Shun looked away from me for a moment. I pulled my hands back from her grasp and looked down in embarrassment.

"Mari, tell me about your life. I'm here to listen." The relief and gratitude I felt at that moment, it was unlike anything I had ever felt before. I choked back a sob and began, "I had a little brother." Shun seemed to have aged years within the last few seconds.

"I can't remember his name yet, but I remember what happened." I pulled the blanket tighter around me, suddenly feeling the need for warmth.

"I was quirkless, my parents weren't great. I went through years of bullying. And throughout it all, my brother was the only one who loved me unconditionally. I think I was quite a few years older than him. I remember by the age of thirteen, I had thought up a plan on how to-"

My voice cracked. Shun leaned forward and placed her hand on my shoulder. I continued on, "How to...leave...I understand why I did what I did. But I don't know how I could have left my brother behind. That's why I've been having those attacks." I leaned across and placed my face on Shun's shoulder. I could feel her voice as she spoke, "I believe you."

("Hey! You want to hear a funny story? Too bad. So when I was thirteen and in secondary school. I was at lunch with Shun, because we went to the same school, and I decided that today was the day.

I was going to ask out my best friend. So I look over at her, and I notice that she seems to be lost in thought. So I clear my throat to try and get her attention, the whole time I'm yelling at myself internally. Don't mess this up! Don't mess this up!

She looks at me with the face of an angel and asks, 'Did you want something?" At this point, what I should have done was go with my speech that I had spent three hours thinking up.

Instead, I blurt out, 'Y-you?' And she looks at me straight-faced and asks, 'Huh?' I start shutting down internally, it's all over, time to abort. So I say, 'Wannagooutwithme?' And she says, '...No.' At this point, I am ready to die. Plan my funeral, I want cheap saki at a bar.

And then she says, 'Ask me when we're older.' *Ahem* So that is the day I fell in love. I'm telling you, this girl is the one! She has stolen my heart, and I am not pressing charges! That was a few years ago. I'm at UA now, and if you want to know what ended up happening, you're going to have to wait for her to tell you.

But since I'm not that mean, here is Mari to tell you what type of hair cut she ended up getting. A young girl enters the scene and walks over to the current narrator. It's present-day Mari")

{"Hi, sorry for the wait. But there isn't really anything special about my haircut. I mean, I love it, but it's hair. Anyway, I decided to get it cut really short.

I went with shaved on the sides and since my hair is naturally wavy, I left enough on top to style with. It leans to the left and partially covers my eye, but my glasses keep it out of my eyes...That's it...I'm done."}

("Give it up for my future sister-in-law. That was well done I have to give it to her. For her first time that wasn't so bad. What's that? Oh, I'm being told that I still have a lot of time left to mess...up...Rude! Well, I'm not coming back next time. How about that? Anyway, let's get back to the story. *Humph* Shut up and read.")

Some time had passed, I was eight years old and no closer to finding out what had happened to my brother. I found my story, it was in an old newspaper article online, from twenty-two years ago. It said they weren't able to contact my family for a statement. Another suicide, found outside in the snow.

I can't tell you what it was like to read that. I had another attack, it was one of the worst by far, that time mom found me. She tried to help but, I didn't let her. I was eventually diagnosed with Acute Stress Disorder, although they found it impossible to pin down what traumatic events lead me to that state.

I had a specialist help me figure out what exactly my quirk was, and then I began training. I studied all I could and had a lot of help from my past life. A month later I was diagnosed with PTSD, the next stage after ASD. I still struggled but I was figuring it out step by step.

When I turned nine I was already two grades ahead of my year. Things were starting to come together. I was happier. And then I found him. He had become a pro-hero like I knew he would. But I couldn't find any more information.

So I decided, why not follow in his footsteps? I had a goal, to go to the same hero school he had, and become a pro-hero. But when I found him, would he believe me?