"You'll have to learn to do without the frilly niceties. Our school has a reputation for freedom on the campus, and that includes the classroom."

Aizawa Shouta's voice floats over to me as I enter the field, my Zanpakutou at my hip, the black and white of my costume making me easy to identify to these students and to Hollows alike. Several look over and gasp upon seeing me, the excitement making them forget their fear of Shouta. He stops mid sentence and looks to me, his eyes narrowed ever the slightest bit. "Every time you show up, kids just don't listen to me anymore," he comments blandly, irritated but not biting my head off either. It inconveniences him, and that's it.

"Only because I'm so old," I respond before standing next to him, a half smile directed towards the students. "This is the assessment, isn't it? Why haven't you started? Giving your famous preamble again?"

Shouta sighs. The students seem to burst with giddiness upon seeing me, and I stand straight to say, "I'm Miss East, but Olaug is fine in the classroom. I'll be one of your teachers, predominantly over your Hollow knowledge, but I do like to visit classrooms sometimes. Shouta is one of my favorites, so you'll see me in your classroom often enough to call us both your homeroom teachers."

"You gonna take over this assessment then?" Shouta asks, weariness in his voice. He wants to go to bed, the over worked bastard. "You know the drill by now, don't you?"

"Sure I do. Still not gonna do it." He sighs, muttering something under his breath, and I grin out at all of the students. Even with the three I've singled out, this group contains a large amount of reiatsu by this world's standards, but that's not the only thing. Each of them appears strong, with an individual amount of absurd strength. "It looks like a good batch this year! So much more impressive than last year for sure. I don't imagine it will be easy cutting one of you."

Several jump at my words, eyes wide, and repeat, "'Cut'?!"

"Of course," I say, my smile widening. "Every year, Aizawa likes to cut someone from the class- or the whole group if he doesn't see enough potential. But go on, Shouta, so I don't spoil more of the surprise!"

Aizawa rolls his shoulders, then his eyes, and I take a few steps back to allow him a return to the spotlight. He blows out a breath, and then boredly explains the events of today to the students. I reach out with my reiatsu towards the three I know to be so strong with it, pressing against them, testing their awareness. Bakugou Katsuki shifts and looks around him before shrugging it off. Todoroki Shouto doesn't react at all. But Yaoyorozu Momo tenses up, bites her lip, and immediately locks gazes with me.

I read her body language. She doesn't entirely know if it's me, but she knows it is someone. I do the same with the other students, drawing back from the three I've primarily concerned myself with so far, and brush against the other students. A few notice but brush it off, and more fail to acknowledge it in the first place. "So let's begin," Shouta states with yet another sigh. Last night must have been a rough night. "Don't you have class to get to, Olaug?"

"It's orientation day. Of course I don't." He grunts in reply, and I find a place to rest and watch the students beneath a tree with plenty of shade. I make it halfway there when I notice Yaoyorozu's reiatsu spike briefly and come to a stop. Lifting my head, my senses become more alert, more aware of the world around me. It takes a few seconds before I feel it- ominous, hungry, and moving fast.

"Move!" My Shunpo activates, and I grab Bakugou Katsuki by his arm, dragging him backwards as someone lands exactly where he stood mere seconds ago. The students gasp or yelp from the suddenness of it, and I try to peer into the dust kicked up like a fog. I know the malevolence I feel is that of a Hollow, but there's something more to it. Adjuchas? Vasto Lorde? "Shouta, get the kids inside. Now."

"And leave you? Not happening," he replies, stepping to stand beside me.

But I can feel it in my gut, a sick feeling twisting my intestines and trying to cut through them. Withdrawing my Zanpakutou, I reach out with my reiatsu, feeling, and frown deeply. Something isn't right, there's something off about this. "I insist," I tell him as it finally begins to clear. "No self respecting animal would stay in that when the prey is clearly so easy to catch. This isn't right."

"All the more reason to not leave you here." Shouta pulls his goggles down even though his Quirk doesn't affect Hollows and their abilities, nor my own. He knows that. What the hell does he think he's doing?

The dust clears enough for me to see the form. More humanoid than animal, and my body tenses, clenching the hilt almost too tightly as he growls in the back of my head, threatened. A singular horn rises into the air, but it's off centered. Glowing amber eyes cut to me, and the smile is all too happy to see me. "Ah, a Shinigami! Don't know you though, so you must be weak. Certainly no captain," she says, increasing the output of her reiatsu. The words aren't threatening just yet, but the tone reminds me of a shark somehow.

I look back at the students to find each of them frozen in place by her reiatsu. Well, except for three- Todoroki Shouto, Bakugou Katsuki, and some green haired child I never noticed before. But something else anchors them to their spot- fear. "Ohoho, you will make a tasty treat, won't you, Shinigami? Can handle all of this reiatsu like it's nothing, like a real badass and worthy opponent. But you're not the one I want today," she states and points directly at Bakugou. "I want him. He'll be a captain someday, which means he'll make me incredibly strong."

Tilting my head, I take her in. Her uniform is more black than white, with chains holding some of it together instead of sewn stitches. Her shoulders are bare to the world, her breasts almost as much, and her stomach is defined by a six pack. "Well? Aren't you going to tell me who you are, Shinigami? Which captain is yours? Oh, do tell me it's that uptight Kuchiki, the one with the long hair. He really is powerful!"

"I'm Olaug of the Third Division." Her face deflates, transforming into one of thought. "My captain is Ichimaru Gin. Who, and what, are you?"

Her expression is astonished at first, and then she laughs hard enough to nearly falls to the ground. Her reiatsu lets up, and I sense some of the students back away. Shouta drops to his knees, breathing labored as he clutches at his heart. Suffocating, that's what she is, to mortals like him. "Ichimaru Gin- how long since you've been home, Shinigami?" she asks, wiping away tears.

Hesitating, my brain urges me to know more, to get some form of information from her. What happened to my captain? He's alive, isn't he? Did he move divisions? But my body is tense, anticipating an attack, ready for the fight at hand, and my mouth won't move to ask such questions. I Shunpo to directly in front of her and slash out. She backs away in enough time for a decapitating attack to become a shallow cut. Her amber eyes narrow. "I'll kill you for that," she seethes, eyes glinting red ever so slightly.

"Who, and what, are you?" I repeat.

"My name is Rosa de Syazel, and I am an Arrancar." Whatever speed technique she uses- Shunpo or something similar- gets her close to me. "And you're pretty fucking fast. Faster than the last Onmitsukido guy I killed." Rosa de Syazel grins at my face as her words register in my head. She's survived them? I was asked to join their squad upon exiting Shino, but my heart would have never been in it. Onmitsukido cleans up messes, regardless of pleasantry.

I push her away, keeping my body between her and the students. She's well built, and if that was only a fraction of how fast she can go, then it would be more than enough to make it difficult for me. Or to kill me. The kids need to get out of here, and Shouta- "You won't be able to keep up. Take them and go," I say again, not quite looking at the male at my side. Shouta hesitates for the briefest of moments and then looks away from me with a murmured order to the rest of the group.

"C'mon, c'mon. I told ya. I don't want you. I want that one!" The same technique- the same one- so similar to a Shunpo and yet different. Faster somehow. But not too fast for me. I follow her trajectory and stop her from attacking Bakugou Katsuki. Her arm meets my zanpakutou, a sort of guard keeping it from biting into her skin. The blonde stands mere inches away from my back, staring up at me and at her. Staring, like he can't believe what's happening. And why would he? A Hollow wants to eat him, and she could damn well overpower me.

"Get the hell out of here," I mutter, taking my leg and planting it in his stomach. Before he can protest, I launch him back towards the school, just short of hitting the wall, and this "Arrancar" allows a grin to split her lips, malice the only identifiable emotion. My gaze flicks over the mask on her face, then down to the hole on her abdomen. The words tumble out of my mouth with confusion, though not quite a question. "You're a Hollow."

Her head tilts. "I am."

I press against her, trying to break through her armor. "Then what the hell is wrong with your mask?"

"You really have no idea." The words seem to be some sort of dawning to her. "You reacted so quickly earlier I thought that you knew. But you claim Ichimaru Gin as your captain, and you don't know what an Arrancar is. How long since you've been home, Shinigami? How long since you've seen the great walls of the Seireitei? Since you've been among your kind?"

Gritting my teeth, I push aside the loneliness and memory of the Seireitei, of my barracks, of my captain, of the people I saw every day of my life before disappearing to here. My heart darkens just a little as I grit out, "One hundred and eighty years."

The laugh that breaks from her is demeaning in a way so primal I feel it in the atoms of my bones. "One hundred and eighty years, huh... Interesting, that's what that is." I stumble when she speeds away from me, my body loosening almost immediately. "I think I'm going to keep you around, Olaug of the Third Division. You're going to be fun to watch, even if you keep me from getting those delicious brats."

Rosa disappears from sight, and I clench my jaw. It isn't a good idea to just let her roam free, especially not in a world like this. Whatever souls she eats, they can't possibly mean more than my own life, or the life of Bakugou Katsuki, the one she really wants. But at the same time, if I can't keep up...

No. I can keep up. No one in the Seireitei was faster than me. No way she can be.

I use Shunpo to launch into the air, and Rosa appears in my sights before too long. She turns around and draws her own-

Shit.

The blade cuts into my shoulder and sends me to the ground. The impact takes the breath from my chest, but I still roll to my stomach when I sense her coming near again. She stands above in the air, her reiatsu successfully keeping her afloat. "So that's how fast you can go, hunh? This is gonna be so fun! C'mon, get up, get up! I wanna see you fight. Maybe you'll be worthy of my Lord Grimmjow! Or Lady Harribel! Which means I'd get first dibs on your life!" she laughs out.

What is she? An "Arrancar" isn't something I know anything about.

Do you want my assistance, mistress?

No. Stay low and to the ground. I push my body up and launch myself forward again, much faster than when I initially chased her. Rosa barely has enough time to block my attack, and I go in for another stab. Dancing around her, I manage to snag a few cuts onto her skin in exposed areas, appearing where she isn't looking and much faster than her.

She's slowing down.

I can see- "Eck!"

She's strangling me. Rosa stares at me down the length of her arm, her glare savage. I claw at her hand and swipe uselessly with my Zanpakutou. "You stupid bitch. I am an Arrancar- one of the surviving Arrancar, and a personal servant to the strongest Hollows in all worlds!" Rosa's breathing is labored, and a serene glow surrounds her as those cuts stop bleeding and begin to heal. "Do you think you can simply slice and dice your way to my core? I'm not so easy to kill!"

The children are all nearly inside, and Shouta is trying to drag Bakugou to safety with the others. But he isn't the one to break free, far from it. Instead, it's the green haired boy I paid no mind to. And as he charges Rosa, ice coats the surface of the ground as it races to us both. Not nearly fast enough, as she merely moves two feet over, hand still wrapped around my throat and cutting off all air to my lungs.

Now, mistress?

Now!

Rosa freezes at the sound of a low growl, far lower than any ordinary animal would be capable of. Shadows come together to form the overly large silhouette of my companion, his hackles raised, muscles bulging, and teeth bared back in a harsh snarl. A wolf easily reaching four feet tall and nearly double that in length lunges for Rosa's arm, teeth sinking in despite the armor she wears.

Her pained scream is heard before she lets go of me, and I fall to the ground with my hand around my throat. The student falls to the ground next to me, and I want to throttle him for being so stupid. He shouldn't be here. He should be as far from me as possible. "Miss East! Miss East, are you okay?" he asks, unaware of where to touch me and how to help me but needing or wanting to nonetheless.

"Get back with your class. It's too dangerous-"

I throw myself in front of the student, and her blade rips through my shoulder, but it stops just short of him. It doesn't hurt him. "You are annoying," she hisses, hair askew, and she pushes it in further. I grit my teeth to keep from making any pained sounds, from providing her satisfaction, and say nothing. "So I'm going to enjoy what I'm about to tell you. Your captain, how much did you like him?"

My captain? Did? No. No, no, no.

"Oh, you know what I'm going to say. It's right there, right in your eyes. Because you did care about your captain, didn't you? Pathetic, that's what you are. It's been one hundred and eighty years, and you still have loyalty to a man who isn't even here anymore, loyalty to a time that has left you behind. It's pathetic, and it's sickening. Pathetic and sickening because you're loyal to a dead man."

All feeling leaves my body in an instant. My captain... is dead? My captain? Ichimaru Gin? The Snake of the Seireitei? How can that be? He's so strong, almost too strong, capable of almost anything. There's no way-

"Mi-Miss East..."

The whimper of the student reminds me of where and who I am. I'm in a school yard, with school students around me, and I'm a Pro Hero- the Immortal Hero Miss East. I have been responsible for keeping the public safe for over a century, and it comes with the trust of the entire world regardless of nationality or upbringing. Including the students I'm meant to teach. I don't have time to mourn right now. I don't have time to let that familiar and devastating loneliness sink into my bones and kill me from the inside out, freezing my heart and then my skin. I can't do that. I have to do this.

"I may be loyal to a dead man, but it's better than being a Hollow about to be beaten to the ground," I say and grasp the blade in my hand, the metal biting my sensitive skin. Another scar.

"Interesting theory," Rosa states, pulling her sword from my body. Blood splashes out, spilling onto the ground. "But it won't be enough. I'm going to kill you!"

I feel Yaoyorozu's reiatsu wrap around me, forming a protective barrier that Rosa hits. She breaks it, and I stand up easily. Rosa has no idea what happened, just that I should be hurt and I'm not. It does nothing to warm my blood. "Do you know who I am?" I ask, my voice dropping to the cold of a glacier. "My name is Olaug of the Third Division, underneath Captain Ichimaru Gin, and the fastest Shinigami currently in the Siereitei. You think you can just kill me? You're not fast enough, not even close to it!"

Rosa de Syazel moves as fast as she can, but it's not fast enough. I angle my Zanpakutou and cut through her body, lightning surrounding me for the barest of seconds at the use of my Shunpo at maximum power. I feel my Zanapkutou slice through her more than see it, and as soon as I land, I turn around to cover the student's eyes, burying his head into my chest and obscuring his gaze. Rosa's blood splashes onto my back, and I hear her lower half hit the ground before it disappears into the air.

His fingers clutch into my costume, and I allow him to stay there for a few seconds before releasing him. He's shaking, visibly, terrified out of his mind, but he did well enough in coming out here to offer his help in the first place, regardless of the stupidity of the decision. I place my hand on his head, feeling it for any heat, for any suggestion he might be unwell so close to all of this reiatsu. Soft murmurs escape me easily, promises that everything is fine, that everything is okay.

It's not quite, but it is close enough.

Recovery Girl complains beneath her breath, glaring over at me every so often with renewed poison. The students have been treated for minor injuries caused by the sudden intensity of Rosa's reiatsu and scrambling to get back inside so quickly. Shouta stands against the wall now that homeroom is over and his planning period has come about. Nedzu rests on top of a stool in silence. "There's not much I can do about this particular wound. That Hollow left a lot of damage," she states, gathering things together to stitch me up.

"I figured as much," I respond, "but it was worth getting checked out just in case."

The air hangs with the unasked questions they have. What happened? Who was that? Exactly how much danger were the students in? It's tense with worry, concern, and a twinge of fear because nothing about this is normal. A Hollow came specifically for a student, carried something similar to my Zanpakutou, and almost matched me for speed. Me. The fastest Hero alive, possibly in existence ever.

"That wasn't a normal Hollow," Nezu states obviously, starting the inevitable conversation.

Hesitation builds in me for a second, but I can't outsmart Nezu like this. I dispel it and nod my head. "I've never seen or heard of one like it before. And the sword it carried..." I look to my Zanpakutou. "I wonder if she was even at full strength when we took her on. That sword resembles Zanpakutou so much that I wouldn't be surprised if she had a released form."

Aizawa is the most unhappy here. Aizawa spent all of his beginning Hero years around me, having come to my office repeatedly during his school years even if he never told me what was wrong until it was resolved. I am, in some odd form, a mentor, a mother, someone he doesn't know how to exist without just yet. It pulls at the corners of his mouth, at the bags beneath his eyes that have deepened since this morning. They snap to me, worried anger swirling within. "Will more show up?"

I could lie, but... It would be wrong, after everything Shouta has imparted to me, after the amount of trust I've already placed in him. "I don't know. I don't know how many are out there in the first place to know the level of threat that we could be under," I admit, flinching when the needle makes contact with my skin. It burns, almost unbearably so, but Chiyo kisses my shoulder so a numbing agent from her power shoots down my arm. "I know she called herself an Arrancar. So if she's an Arrancar, then there could be more. She was so fast, and strong from what I could tell..."

Nezu asks, "What did the Hollow want?"

"Bakugou Katsuki," I answer, leaning back. Chiyo grunts but keeps working. Problematic, that's all this is. "I've encountered a great number of people, and he is, perhaps, among the top five in the sheer amount of reiatsu held, and he hasn't yet finished growing. He'll be extraordinarily strong when he's full grown. And Todoroki Shouto isn't far behind, so if they were to ever get Bakugou Katsuki, then Endeavor's son would be next."

"Which would put doubt into the power of Heroes entirely, and by extension-"

"Me," I finish for Shouta. "I don't know if we'd be wise for keeping this Arrancar part under wraps or wind up kicking ourselves in the balls now rather than later. If we do it now, the public will see us as honest. If we do it later, we keep public faith up, less fear among them."

Silence falls between us until Chiyo finishes with my arm. The old woman sits back and says, "We admit there was an attack. Wouldn't be the first, certainly won't be the last. We admit it was a stronger Hollow who looked different compared to normal Hollows. The public knows there are stronger Hollows in existence, even if they haven't seen one. We admit the Hollow was faster as well. But we leave this new division of 'Arrancar' out of the public's hands and ears. If possible, out of students' ears as well."

"If one never shows up again, we could be getting the public in a frenzy for nothing. But if one does show up again, we could be leaving them unprepared," Nezu hums, and I keep my thoughts inside. "If that happens, you'll have to be the one to face the public. Seeing you, the one with all the answers about Hollows, who has an ability uniquely qualified, will encourage them. But if you fall, then..."

The rest is unsaid, because we know exactly what could happen. The public will fall into fear, and Hollows will prey upon it. An absurd amount of lives could be lost. I turn away from the group and look out the window. Students are in the yard now, messing around during break or playing hooky on school grounds. These lives are gambled with this decision as well. It's all a gamble these days, and if that Arrancar isn't the strongest- if someone is faster than her- I could-

Don't think like that, mistress. The future is unknown.

The future might be unknown, but my limits are not, I bite back, and he snarls in reply. If only there were more of us. More Shinigami.

More Shinigami.

"What if, hypothetically, I could train proteges of my own?"

Mistress!

Rosa was right. I've been here for one hundred and eighty years, and the Seireitei, the Gotei, have abandoned me. Who cares what happens to me as long as the public is safe? Who will care about the Mouse of the Third when they find us and I have to be executed? It's nothing to be concerned over, that's for certain. I am just an end to a goal greater than myself.

That doesn't make it okay, and we both know that.

"Olaug?" Shouta's expression is concerned as he lifts his weight from the wall, checking my wound and then other parts of my body for signs of things not being okay.

I shake my head, hoping to stave off my companion until we're alone, perhaps even when we've made it home. "Sorry. What was the question?"

Nezu asks, "How?"

Time to spin a tale. "I'm sure all of you are aware that my Zanpakutou isn't a human ability that is made possible by something like a Quirk." They nod, even if it has never been said out loud or confirmed by me. Until now. "It's uncommon knowledge. This Zanpakutou, while connected to my soul, does have its own spirit inside. And it isn't the only one in existence. It would take months to years of training- time we might not have- but I could train students to take up their own Zanpakutou and fight the good fight. Their reiatsu levels are high enough, now to teach them control, to use it in ways even I could fall short in doing. Eventually, they'll show their own Zanpakutou that has chosen them."

Silence reigns, thick and heavy. Simply put, I would be teaching children how to fight non-human entities- monsters. That's all that needs to be said for Humans to be concerned. Nezu sighs. "Will it be safe for them?"

"Possibly not. But we're training Heroes here. Even our alumni have been known to die on the field."

"Who would you select?" Chiyo asks. "Not the boy who can't control his Quirk, surely?"

"Not at all. The three I've already singled out, the three perhaps Fate has wanted me to notice on purpose." I look to Shouta, and his eyes darken and harden. They've been his students scarcely a day, but they're still his students. And what he saw this morning... "Bakugou Katsuki, Todoroki Shouto, and Yaoyorozu Momo."

My office sits at the back of the school, a bit out of the way, purely so I can have more room to myself. The walls are a faded blue at this point, having once been vibrant in the early days of this school's opening, and plants cover the entire perimeter of the room that I've maintained through the years myself. A few die every so often and are soon replaced, making for a beautiful room, even if it is sometimes a bit dirty as well. It's cool in my office, though not quite chilly, and I rest against my desk during lunch break with my eyes closed, basking in the comfort and privacy of my office.

But, inevitably, I hear a scratch of shoes on the ground. A sigh. A student stops in front of my office door, and I only see his silhouette through the slightly ajar door. Tall, with a mess of hair on his head. My reiatsu brushes against the door and then him as I stand up and begin tending to the small Christmas tree I keep up year round. The door opens just a tad bit more, and I turn around with feigned surprise.

"Oh, hello," I greet, going back to work. "You must be a first year, aren't you?"

His answer is wary, vaguely suspicious. "I am."

I offer a grin before saying, "Don't worry. All students wind up here eventually, for one reason or another. You're just yet another student who has come here. And you can keep coming here, if you so wish."

"And why would I do that?"

"You tell me. What brought you here this time?"

Turning to him fully, I see him completely. His hair is indigo, flaring out about his head almost impossibly, and his eyes match eerily well. Shadows hang beneath them, giving off the impression he doesn't get near as much sleep as he should. A lunch tray rests in his hands, almost completely forgotten, and he stares at me blankly. His name comes to mind immediately, due to the uniqueness of his Quirk. I can see the question beneath, and answer it. "I care not because I'm your teacher but because I like to be a friend to all students. Living for two hundred years has perks, you know?"

"You're Miss East." It's less of a question and more of a statement. "You missed class this morning. Are you alright?"

"A scratch. Nothing that won't eventually heal," I reply and set down everything to sit at my desk again. My Zanpakutou rests on the desk, warm, and I hear a contented sigh in the back of my mind as he finds peace in this room once more. "It was a mere Hollow attack, nothing to concern yourself with. It caught me off guard, and I paid the price for such a stupid mistake."

Indigo eyes narrow, and Shinso states, "I heard rumors you read all students' files."

"I do."

"Then why do you keep answering my questions? Aren't you afraid I'll activate my Quirk against you?"

I run my gaze over him, and the more I stare the more I find pieces of my previous students. A giggle escapes me, and I say, "Not in the least. I keep answering because you've given me no reason to distrust you, Shinso. And everyone is welcome in my office, regardless of creed, affiliation, or otherwise. Now go on and sit. You should eat before lunch ends, you know."

There's a second where hesitation lingers on his expression, still hidden beneath apathy, before I watch him sit down across from me, eating slowly and watching me. I reach for my book and wind up reading, almost ignoring his presence entirely. He swallows a large bite of rice before saying, "I didn't come to U.A. to make friends. In fact, I was never good at it because no one trusts my Quirk. Since I don't want friends, I was looking for somewhere to sit with a half decent view."

"Did you try the roof?" I ask, marking my spot in my book.

"Locked."

"Of course. Too many students nearly pitch themselves off every year when finals roll around. I guess no one bothered to unlock it. I'll go up there and get it unlocked this afternoon, if you'd like?" Shinso nods once. He continues to eat, but his body has loosened since walking through the door. I open my book once more and say, "But you are welcome here, just so you know. I'm a friend and a teacher. So if you ever need or want somewhere to escape, my office is always open."

As I finish, there's a hesitant knock at the door, and third year Sakura shifts on her feet, eyes red. The bell rings to signal the end of the first years' lunch, and Shinso stands up with a curious gaze in her direction. "Sakura? It's a bit early to freak out over exams, isn't it?" I ask, keeping my voice light and teasing. She sniffles, and I tilt my head in sympathy. "I haven't watered the petunias outside, the ones you made me. Go on and care for them, gather your thoughts, my dear."

"He-he cheated on me."

Ah. I take a deep breath and Shinso seems to stop for a moment as she does indeed go outside. "Students really come here regularly?" he asks.

"She's my fifth visitor today. Excluding you, of course, and she comes here regularly to study. She's in the management class, and the course here is quite rigorous. Some of these plants have calming effects." Shinso nods his head, and I reach across my desk to place my hand on his shoulder. "Like I said, all students find their way here eventually. Some ignore it, refuse to come until they can't take it, and others make it a sanctuary."

"What's in it for you?" he dares to ask.

I feel my gaze soften immediately, that frustratingly familiar loneliness settling in my chest again, curling up and dozing off. "Do you think others would find sanctuary here if it were not already my own? I've lived a long, long time... and this room changes far less than the faces and names and ages of those around me."

Shinso swallows and walks out, before Sakura comes back in and cries about her cheating boyfriend. But long after she leaves and the after school day ends, I leave my office door open while I lounge around outside and feel a familiar reiatsu before too long.