Ochimaru groaned as he dragged his suitcase across Koushujin's winding stonework pathways, sweat dripping from his brow as he slaved away under the morning sun. Two small bags were slung over both of his shoulders, and a huge rucksack strapped to his back made him look like an encumbered turtle. The handle of the suitcase he was hauling across the ground almost slipped out of his sweaty grasp as he reached the edge of the forest. He really should've asked his parents to help him move into the dorms, even if it would have been embarrassing. He rubbed at his flushed cheek, attempting to remove his mother's persistent red lipstick. He tried to duck out of one of her rib-crushing hugs at the train station only to receive a kiss instead. He hoped that nobody at the dorms would notice the crimson mark.
Letting one of his bags slip haphazardly from his shoulder and fall onto the faint, dirty trail, he struggled to decipher Koushujin's complicated map on his smartphone in the harsh light. The first-year dormitories were tucked safely away in a dense forest, apparently to provide a more natural, relaxed environment for the students, but as Ochimaru began a treacherous adventure through thorns and shrubbery, he was anything but soothed. It felt like he was travelling to an isolated campsite far from civilisation, not the dorms of a hero school. His new, light-blue sneakers had already been stained with a layer of sodden mud and arid dust.
His heart pounded away inside his chest in a mixture of exhaustion and apprehension. He still couldn't believe that he was attending Koushujin Institute, even after everything had been finalised and he received his official certificate of acceptance. Those couple weeks of waiting for the signed documents to be verified had passed by in a flash, and now he was suddenly starting his first term at one of the top ten hero schools in the whole country. Well, it was tenth on that particular list, but it was still an impressive feat nonetheless.
Eventually, after what seemed like many hours of fighting through branches and getting startled by birds, he reached a trio of quaint, humble buildings nestled in a circle of oak trees that must have been the dorms, one building for each year. He paused for a moment to catch his breath and try to figure out which one was meant for the first years. He didn't want to walk into the third-year dorm only to be met with an audience of older, unrecognisable faces. Stumbling out of the forest, he noticed a crowd of students lounging on the steps outside the leftmost building, blocking the large set of shiny, double-doors leading inside. Thankfully, a large head of wild, purple hair belonging to his friend was amongst them. As he approached with a hunched back, Youta's overzealous voice and laugh became clear.
"There you are, finally!" he greeted. "I was starting to think you'd never make it here!"
"Carrying all this by myself was definitely a mistake," Ochimaru sighed, throwing his heavy luggage onto the spotless, wooden steps without a care for the delicate contents inside. His arms and shoulders were aching far too much for him to be mindful of his hero figurines.
"You should've texted me back at the station," Youta laughed, patting harshly at the vacant space on the stairs beside him. He was sitting beside a couple of bright-haired boys that Ochimaru didn't recognise. "I would've helped you carry some of it if you asked nicely."
"Nah, I needed the exercise," Ochimaru grinned, happy to be reunited with the boy who helped him so much in the exam. They had been texting back and forth every day since then, but both had been far too busy with packing and designing costumes to meet properly. Since it was decided they would share a room in the dorm together, they would probably be seeing far too much of each other from now on. At least he wasn't rooming with a total stranger.
"Well, hurry up and sit down!" Youta yelled, pulling him onto the steps excitedly. All of the noise had attracted a few stares from the students. "I've gotta introduce these guys to you."
Ochimaru turned his attention to the two boys now that they had been mentioned. They were sitting rather close together on the wooden steps, and it took him a moment to realise that they had their arms wrapped around each other happily. One of the boys had long, golden-brown hair tied back in a small ponytail and was relatively short, while the other boy was taller, with sunken, tired eyes and wispy, baby-blue hair. They both seemed content despite the heat. He couldn't remember seeing either of them from the entrance exam, but they had clearly done well if they both passed. He wondered what both of their Quirks were.
"Okay, so, the little one is Kou Hachimoto," Youta began, gesturing to the smaller boy who gave a wide, toothy smile. His round, pale cheeks and small nose were peppered with tiny, brown freckles. "And the tall, stoned-looking guy is his boyfriend, Rei Setsuki."
"What ever happened to showing respect for your senpai?" Rei lamented, his tone little more than a deep, slow drawl. He nudged a snickering Youta gently in the side with his free arm. Ochimaru noticed that the veins on the boy's arms were unusually bright and prominent, like they were emitting a vivid light under his pale skin. The strange, fluorescent blue vessels pulsated rhythmically with the boy's relaxed heartbeat. It had to be a side-effect of his Quirk. "Back in junior high you'd already be bowing at me."
"Oh yeah, these two were in the year above mine," Youta explained. Upon closer inspection, Rei did look slightly older than everyone else here. Kou, however, was so small and baby-faced that he still could have passed for a twelve-year-old. Ochimaru wondered why they both didn't attend a hero school directly after graduation. "I actually had no idea they were going to Koushujin this year though. I almost got a heart-attack seeing them both here!"
"Well, we were planning to enter the hero course earlier," Kou interjected with a jovial smile, his voice bubbly and high-pitched. Even though he would never say it out loud, Ochimaru was relieved to find someone at the school who was shorter than him. "But I was the only one who managed to pass last year's exam. Rei just barely failed by a couple points, so I decided to wait and take the exam again with him this year, so we could both go to Koushujin together. Thankfully, he passed with no problems the second time 'round!"
"Wow, that's really nice of you," Ochimaru chuckled, finding the boy's eager smile infectious. Rei's lips had been curved into a disapproving frown at the mention of his failure, but the corners of his mouth eventually wavered until he smirked uncontrollably at his partner. Kou's carefree, kind nature and ability to make others smile definitely made him a suitable hero candidate. "I'm Ochimaru Kawadatsu, by the way. It's good to meet you both."
"Youta-kun's told us a lot about you!" Kou exclaimed, bouncing merrily on the dorm steps like a child who had just been told they were going to Disneyland. Rei remained composed and motionless despite the erratic shaking as if was a common occurrence. The two students gave off completely different energies even though they seemed to be a stable couple. Maybe they helped to balance each other out. "He was giving us exam details before you arrived!"
"That reminds me, I was just getting to the part where I shattered the statue," Youta began with his signature cocky grin, but before he could continue proudly telling his story, he was rudely interrupted by a female voice that echoed across the forest clearing. Nearby birds squawked in alarm and abandoned their nests. Youta was the first to react, his pleased smirk quickly fading to a scowl as the dormitory steps were bathed in shadow.
"Hey, blondie! I want a few words with you about the exam!"
Ochimaru whirled around in fear, only to be met with the skinny, exposed waist of a girl that once again, he didn't recognise. She towered over him menacingly, and as he quickly scrambled to his feet amidst the interested murmurs of the other students, he noticed her spotless, annoyed face. She was wearing a pair of large, expensive sunglasses that obscured her eyes, but even he could immediately tell that she was angry at him. Her eyebrows furrowed in rage as she reached forward and poked him aggressively in the chest with a sharp, manicured finger. Ochimaru watched his own startled reflection in the dark lenses as he shrunk away from the intimidating student. Why did Koushujin have so many scary girls?
"Are you t-talking to me?" he finally managed to stutter. He had no idea who this girl was or why she had a reason to be annoyed with him in the first place. From what he could remember, the only girls he encountered in the entrance exam were the nervous girl with light-green skin, the terrifying one with the serpentine Quirk, and Fumiyo.
"Uh, yeah, obviously!" she yelled, sliding her thick sunglasses down the bridge of her nose to reveal bright, ocean-blue eyes. Ochimaru stared at the girl in shock, mesmerised by her cobalt irises that shimmered and warped like tiny puddles of water. The colour in her eyes seemed to have a mind of its own, slowly morphing and bubbling like a lava lamp. He had never seen eyes move so fluidly before. "Who else sitting here has blonde hair like yours? Duh!"
Before he could anxiously think of a response, another girl came running towards them at a slow, shaky pace. Thankfully, it was someone he actually recognised. The nervous-looking girl with green skin that had grown the oak tree in the exam jogged over anxiously. She grasped tightly at the bottom of her pink, flowing summer dress as she almost tripped over the fabric and tumbled headfirst across the grass. The same sunhat she had been wearing in the exam bobbed loosely atop her bright-green hair as she finally came to a stop, trying to stifle her panicked, laboured breathing. Her brown eyes were wide in terror.
"Shimizu, r-really, it's okay, I changed my mind, you don't have to talk to him!" she pleaded, waving her bare arms towards the loud girl like she was trying to distract her attention away from him. Her quivering voice made her sound close to tears. He was speechless.
"No, you should apologise to Hanako!" the girl ordered, pointing at him with such ferocity that her finger nearly pierced into his cheek. "She almost failed the exam 'cuz of you!"
"And why should he do that?" Youta challenged, leaping deftly from the highest step and landing on the ground beside an astounded Ochimaru. His casual expression had narrowed into something far more serious as he puffed up his chest at the two girls. "I dunno if you were listening to Urekana-sensei, but she said that stealing from others was allowed. Encouraged, even. If you can't handle that, maybe you're not cut out for the hero course."
"What'd you say, turniphead?" Shimizu barked, responding far more to Youta's abrasive words than her apparent friend's quiet, peaceful protests. "You wanna say that again?"
"No, Youta, she's kinda right," Ochimaru admitted, attempting to diffuse the situation before a huge fight broke out at the dormitories on their first ever day of living together. Conflict would no doubt be a common occurrence at Koushujin. "I did feel really guilty about stealing the silver egg after she had worked so hard to retrieve it. I know it's not a good excuse, but I felt like I had no other choice since my Quirk isn't all that great. Sorry."
"Honestly, it's fine," Hanako smiled softly, adjusting her large, skewed sunhat. "I get it."
"Your plant growth Quirk is really impressive though," Ochimaru complimented, feeling his face grow hotter as his gaze fell to the girl's brown sandals. He always had a problem with maintaining eye contact, especially with cute girls. "I probably deserved a faceful of cactus needles after just taking your egg like that."
"I w-wasn't actually planning on throwing those seeds at anyone, but you made me panic," Hanako admitted, arguably having more trouble with eye contact than he was. Her stuttering voice was so meek and timid that it was almost inaudible. She fidgeted nervously with the hem of her summer dress as she bowed her head submissively in apology. "I'm glad that you managed to d-dodge it, because I would've felt really bad for hurting you."
"If any of you boys ever do anything to hurt Hanako again, you'll have me to deal with!" Shimizu announced, hiding her bright, flowing eyes behind the sunglasses, apparently satisfied with his sincere apology. She swivelled on her heel and stomped swiftly away from the dormitory, her blue crop top and skimpy denim shorts prompting hoots and crude jeers from another group of boys. The tentacled applicant from the exam was among them.
Ochimaru had been so frightened that he hadn't noticed the girl's breath-taking hair. Her gelatinous locks were oddly translucent and wavy, with what looked to be sparkling water exuding from her scalp instead of regular hair. The fluid was a deep, sea-blue, but the tips of her rotund hairstyle were a frothy white. It reminded Ochimaru of the foam you'd see in the ocean at the beach. The single, membranous mass of hair reached down to her back and bounced as she strutted away. The sloshing water was contained in a stretchy, outer layer like a jellyfish. Ochimaru couldn't be sure if Shimizu's hair related to her Quirk or if it was just an aesthetic mutation passed down by her parents. Whatever it was, it was beautiful.
"I'm so s-sorry about her, Hanako whimpered pitifully. "We've been best friends since we were really little… so she tries to protect me no matter where we go."
"Well, she'll definitely make things more interesting around here," Youta sighed heavily, letting his strong, cocky demeanour slowly return. It was like he was putting on a mask.
"But she's a good person, I swear!" she replied shakily, balling her small, green hands into ineffectual fists. She looked more like a novice gardener, not a pro hero candidate. "She just lets her emotions get the b-better of her sometimes. I'll go try to calm her down a bit."
With that, Hanako ran away before her noticeable anxiety got any worse. She almost collided with a group of laughing girls who were gathered around a row of long picnic tables with wide parasols, and her fervent apologies didn't stop until she reached Shimizu at the other end of the peaceful dormitory glade. Students of all different sizes were scattered around the quiet forest haven, but it was obvious to notice the inexperienced first years as most of them stood around awkwardly, some even sitting by their lonesome. Ochimaru was incredibly thankful to have found a friend like Youta, who he could latch onto for support.
"Hanako seems really nice!" Kou beamed after the nervous girl had flailed far away out of earshot. His innocent tone helped to clear the atmosphere after Youta's rant with Shimizu.
"You've been saying that about everyone here…" Rei commented under his steady breath. Even though his remark was scathing, he failed to hide a sweet smile as he squeezed Kou's hand lovingly. The relaxed boy's neon veins started to brighten and thrum at the connection.
"Ochi-kun, you should probably pack away your stuff before the induction ceremony starts," Youta recommended, kneeling down to his scattered luggage and lifting the largest rucksack that contained the hero figurines over his powerful, muscled shoulders. Carrying around heavy objects had to be second nature to the athletic boy by now. "I've still gotta unpack all my things as well. C'mon, I'll help you carry all this shit through the dorm."
"You make it look so effortless," Ochimaru laughed breathlessly as he struggled to lift the other, lighter bags with his aching, tired arms. He wondered how much physical strength and fitness mattered in the hero course. Maybe he should have applied for a gym membership.
"Since my Quirk can turn pretty much anything into a piece of sweet workout equipment, I've had a bunch of practice," Youta explained, bowing his head respectfully towards and Rei and Kou who had settled back down onto the dormitory steps together. Ochimaru had no clue how both of them could be so relaxed on the first day of attending a new, prestigious school.
"It was nice meeting you, Ochimaru!" Kou called happily before the double doors leading inside the dorms slammed noisily behind them. He always seemed to be full of positivity.
Koushujin's first year dormitory was surprisingly silent and devoid of life. Ochimaru had arrived relatively later than everyone else due to getting lost in the forest, and it looked like all of the other students had already moved in, or at least dropped all of their luggage off in their rooms. They walked briskly through a dark, thin hallway that had a myriad of jacket pegs hammered into the cream walls and a long, metallic rack used to store shoes. Ochimaru wiped his new, muddied sneakers on the dark green doormat that stretched the whole length of the stained entryway. That was one major drawback of having a building so far out in the woods. Even though it was their first day of living in the dorms, it was already filthy with muck, tiny twigs and dead leaves. He wondered if Koushujin employed any janitors.
The spacious living room was significantly less dirty than the entrance, thankfully. Ochimaru stopped to marvel at its impressive size as they both removed their shoes in the wide doorway. The whole place was ornately furnished, with huge, old-fashioned armchairs and vintage, seafoam-green couches that reminded him of his grandmother's house. The only modern thing in the entire room was the towering, plasma-screen television in the corner. It sat behind a long, varnished coffee table that looked like a refurbished cafeteria bench. As the two boys skidded gleefully across the polished floor in their socks, Ochimaru noticed a sliding glass door that lead outside to small courtyard and garden shrouded by forest trees. They ignored all the other sights for now as Youta made a determined beeline towards the dorm rooms. The boys' section of the building was hidden away on the left, nearest the well-stocked kitchen, convenient for midnight snacking.
Youta bashed against the heavy door leading to the boys' bedrooms with reckless abandon. If he acted like this in a new environment, Ochimaru could only wonder what he was like in his own home. Their shared dorm room was 101, the very first in the long row. Most of the other doors had already been closed and locked for safety, but some, including theirs, were still ajar as other students finished their business inside. Ochimaru thought about nosily perusing the glossy nameplates and peeking through doorways to learn who their neighbours were, but he eventually decided against it. They would be introduced to each other soon enough anyway. He just wanted to unload all of his luggage.
Finally, they entered their tiny, sparsely furnished hovel that would be his new safe haven for the first year of studying at Koushujin. It wasn't much smaller than his bedroom back home, with the only obvious different being the two single beds squeezed into opposite sides of the room. Strangely, one of the beds was raised far higher off of the dark-blue carpet on shoddy-looking supports. It was like a bunk bed, except the bed that should have been on the bottom was replaced with a wooden desk and a rickety office chair. Ochimaru could only assume that it was to save space. The room felt cramped already. The other bed looked far more normal, with the accompanying desk situated below the window in the centre of the back wall. Youta's scattered luggage had already been thrown onto the higher, more dangerous bed.
"First come first served!" Youta cheered, setting down the hefty rucksack gently next to the remaining, shorter bed. It was strange to see him handling something with care. He then ran towards the bunk bed and leapt onto the shaky ladder, climbing up the creaking steps with astounding speed. Ochimaru was surprised the whole thing didn't immediately topple over.
"I'd probably roll out of it in my sleep anyway," he admitted, giggling as Youta's head emerged from the tall structure upside-down, his wild, plum-coloured hair dangling down towards the barren school desk. "This bed seems way safer compared to that death-trap."
"Suit yourself," Youta remarked, sticking out his tongue childishly as his face turned red. "I'm looking forward to jumping off the top of this every morning to wake you up early."
"Please don't," Ochimaru winced. "I don't want noise complaints from the other guys."
"Maybe only on weekends then," he winked, his head suddenly disappearing from view once again as he shuffled towards his bags. Ochimaru heard the quick sound of a suitcase zipper, and then watched in horror as various knickknacks and articles of clothing still on their coat-hangers rained down messily onto the dirty, dark-blue carpet. "No promises, though."
Ochimaru sighed as he started unpacking as well, although in a much more careful, composed manner. He spent almost thirty minutes positioning his old pro hero figurines on the shelf above his bed before he even started hanging up all of his clothes. He would stop and have a casual chat with Youta every now and then, and before he knew it, almost everything on his side of the room had been neatly put away in the wardrobe or in plastic boxes under his bed. He was looking forward to decorating and buying some new furniture with the money his parents gave him. The musty green curtains, stained bedsheets, broken yellow lamp and wobbly office chair would be the first to go. He fell back onto the squeaky bed with a proud sigh of accomplishment as he browsed social media on his smartphone. It actually felt refreshing to do some normal, household things that his stifling parents always insisted on doing for him. Maybe independence wasn't such a bad, scary thing after all.
A few minutes later, he happened to spot something out the corner of his eye. A short message had been carved into the corner of the old, wooden bedframe. Curiosity got the better of him, and he threw his charging phone down on to the bed and crawled towards the strange writing. He had just realised that countless other students had lived in this room for their first year at Koushujin in the past, and it seemed like a particularly brave boy had left his signature for future tenants to discover. He pulled his scratchy, uncomfortable pillow aside to uncover the full message, only to be slightly underwhelmed at what he found.
-SHINJI WAS HERE-
The person hadn't even left a year or anything, so he couldn't tell how old it was. Whoever he was, the guy clearly didn't care about destroying school property. Ochimaru had the brilliant idea of covering up the unsightly, meaningless graffiti with a well-placed sticky note, but as he reached over to grab one from his cluttered desk, he heard a loud knock at the door that shocked him out of his relaxed stupor. Youta's head popped over the edge of the bunk bed curiously at the sudden noise.
A strange-looking boy clad in all-black clothing was standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame nonchalantly, his fist still raised. The first thing that Ochimaru noticed was his terrifying, black eyes. Unlike Shimizu, it wasn't just his irises that were different. This boy's entire sclerae were pitch-black like an absolute, shadowy void. There was no white to be seen. It seemed like mutated eyes were a common theme with the Koushujin students. He couldn't tell where the ominous boy was looking as his eyes had been dyed an inky black. Awkward silence spread throughout the room as they both were at a loss for words.
"Hello, I just wanted to come and apologise for punching you during the entrance exam," the boy bowed, his quiet voice muffled by a weird, black, surgical mask. Ochimaru often used to see older people wearing them on buses and trains when he was younger, but it had been many years since he had seen a mask like that. He had heard that some people wore them for fashion, while others wore them to avoid catching colds and other illnesses.
"Uh…" Ochimaru replied dumbly, his mind drawing a blank. He definitely would've remembered seeing eyes like those in the exam, but all he could do was shake his head.
"I was inside the shadow that attacked you," he replied, the surgical mask shuffling gently as he talked. The conversation would be so much easier if he just took it off. "Remember?"
He knew that those edgy, black clothes and pale arms looked familiar. This was the boy who attempted to steal his eggs by possessing his own shadow. This was the user of the Quirk that had forced him to retreat because it was so powerful. It was only natural that a person with such a strong Transformation Quirk had passed the entrance exam. Ochimaru wondered just how many applicants he encountered would turn out to be students here.
"Yeah, I remember now," Ochimaru replied with a short sigh of relief. "Don't feel guilty about it though, it didn't hurt that much. What happened in the exam, stays in the exam."
"Well put," the boy breathed, the corners of his perplexing, dark eyes tightening in what must have been a wide, thankful smile. "My name's Takumi. I'm staying in the room next to you."
Ochimaru left his warm seat on the bed and walked over to the hesitant boy, extending a smooth, shaking hand in acceptance with a slight, respectful bow. He wasn't exactly sure when he was supposed to offer such a formal handshake, but this felt like an appropriate moment. He also felt guilty about tackling Takumi to the ground after his basket was knocked over, so he wanted to be as polite and apologetic as possible. He was actually surprised at himself for taking charge of the conversation. Usually, he felt really nervous talking to so many new strangers, but it was getting easier each time.
To Ochimaru's utter dismay, Takumi suddenly flinched at his hand as if he was expecting it to suddenly give him an electric shock. The boy fidgeted nervously with his black facemask as he swiftly took a few steps backwards in fear. Alien, emotionless eyes as wide as dinnerplates, he stared at the outstretched palm in abject terror. Ochimaru's cheeks immediately flushed in total embarrassment as he awkwardly brought his arm back to his side and bowed even further in a hurried apology. He could hear Youta's amused, barely-stifled snickering coming from the bunk bed in the back of the room.
"Sorry, no offense, it's just that I, uh, really, really hate germs," Takumi stammered neurotically, one of his darkened eyes twitching as he pulled the surgical mask further up his face. He had turned frighteningly pale, like someone who was just about to vomit.
It was only then that Ochimaru realised the boy was wearing some kind of utility belt like an overprepared tourist or a veteran camper. Those sorts of belts were actually a very common piece of professional hero equipment, but he had never seen a regular civilian wearing one. Perhaps he was getting a head start on his training. A small bottle of hand sanitiser was strapped to the front of his waist for easy access, and it was almost empty, only a small spattering of faint, green fluid left inside. Takumi himself had a strong, sterile scent of alcohol and bleach that reminded Ochimaru of a hospital. It stung at his nostrils.
"To be honest, Ochi-kun's soap Quirk probably makes him one of the cleanest guys here," Youta laughed, wiping a tickled tear from his eye and jumping down from the top of the dangerous, rickety bunk bed. "But man, going in for the handshake, what are you, fifty?"
"I dunno, I thought that's what you were supposed to do!" Ochimaru squealed, tempted to hidden behind a confident Youta and let him finish the rest of the conversation that he had promptly ruined. He should always just let his friend do all the talking.
"No need to worry, I've become accustomed to awkward introductions," Takumi began after a deep breath to compose himself. His bony hands curled around the bottle of sanitiser for comfort, colour returning to his face. "Usually, I try to inform others that I'm germophobic beforehand, but I wasn't expecting you to be so… forward with your approach."
"Anyhow, it's nice to meet you, Takumi-kun!" Youta chirped, somehow managing to steer the conversation back on track after that debacle. "We're gonna be seeing a lot of each other since we're neighbours. I'll make sure not to touch any of your stuff when I'm in your room."
"Thank you," Takumi chuckled. He still looked pretty apprehensive, but his slim shoulders slackened somewhat as he laughed. "That would make my life here much easier."
"I'm Youta, and the charming one over there is Ochimaru," Youta grinned. Ochimaru was far too embarrassed to open his mouth, but he gave a soft smile at the brief mention of his name. "If you need any help unpacking or navigating the dorms, we'd both be happy to help you."
"I will keep that in mind," Takumi responded. He acted very restrained and reserved, which was scarily similar to Jun. Maybe they would get along well with each other. "That reminds me, I must finish disinfecting everything in my room before the induction ceremony begins."
"Your roommate must love you already," Youta joked. "There'll be no cleaning left for him."
To both of their surprise, Takumi actually began to pull down his surgical mask. He looked nervous to be taking it off, but it must have been getting uncomfortable for him. Ochimaru expected the lower half of his face to be scarred or mutated, but his small nose and pursed lips were completely normal. That was until, he gave them a happy smile and a long, pleased laugh. The boy's teeth were completely black, like a fountain pen had exploded inside his mouth and dyed them with dark ink. Ochimaru stared at them in fascination. Whatever should have been white on his body was the exact opposite. Even the tips of his trimmed, immaculate fingernails were shadowy. The facemask eventually settled on his thin neck.
"I hope he likes the smell of bleach," Takumi laughed, covering his stained mouth with the back of his hand as he diverted his gaze to another dorm room. "Well, duty calls, I'm afraid."
Ochimaru could finally hide his blushing face with his hands and groan in embarrassment as Takumi disappeared out of sight with a stiff wave. Why did the first person he offered a handshake to have to be cartoonishly germophobic? It was like something out of a horrible, cheesy sitcom. He dejectedly shuffled back to his new, smaller bed and slumped across the hard mattress, wishing that he could just wrap himself up in a cocoon of blankets and ignore the entrance ceremony. All of his energy had been drained away. Right when he was starting to get more confident with social interaction, he suddenly never wanted to talk with another person again. His ability to act like a normal person had reached a sad, new low.
"Aw, cheer up!" Youta encouraged. His loud, confident voice had been muffled as Ochimaru took hold of a pillow and stressfully pressed it against his head. The boy's carefree nature was actually starting to irritate him a little. "Takumi-kun even said not to worry about it."
"That still doesn't change how awkward and stupid I am," Ochimaru whined into the fabric, still unconvinced. His father always used to tell him how important first impressions were.
"Tell you what," Youta began, the corner of Ochimaru's bed forcefully sinking down as his friend assumedly took a pensive seat next to him. "How about we take a walk to get your mind off of it before the ceremony starts? I've got some old boxes and other stuff that I need to throw away in the bins 'round the back of the building. I could use some company~"
"… fine," Ochimaru sniffled after a long pause. Now that he had time to think clearly, there was no point in moping around by himself. Youta was trying his best to make him feel better, so the least he could do was accept his offer. He disliked having to rely on his friend so much already but moving out of his childhood home had been really overwhelming for him.
When the two boys reached the spacious common room once again, it was significantly more alive and active than before. Many new students were lounging around on the couches, chatting with each other and getting through respectful introductions. A sleepy-looking Rei and an excited Kou were talking with Jun and Fumiyo, and Ochimaru was relieved that they had both passed the entrance exam. It was nice to see some familiar faces around the dorm. Youta was carrying so many cardboard boxes that he couldn't even see where he was going, so Ochimaru had to guide him through the living room to make sure he didn't crash into anyone and bury them alive. Even if the room was large, it was still crowded.
As if his day couldn't get any more stressful, he just happened to notice the serpentine girl on his way out of the front door. She was standing aggressively next to one of the kitchen countertops, tapping her painted fingernails rapidly on the smooth surface as her flexible neck swayed to an intense, invisible rhythm. She looked like a snake being charmed. Her leather jacket, dark-green skirt and ripped tights just screamed 'stay away from me'. She seemed to be glaring daggers at another girl from across the room, who had big, floppy ears and long, fluffy legs. Thankfully, she didn't notice him as he crept past.
"Of course, she passed…" Ochimaru whispered under his breath as he exited the dormitory.
The two boys quickly reached the huge dumpsters at the back of the building just as Youta's flimsy cardboard tower toppled out of his strong hands and fell noisily to the ground. Ochimaru sighed, wondering why the prideful boy didn't just let him carry a couple of them. As they both kneeled down to pick up the flattened boxes, the first thing that Ochimaru noticed was the pungent scent of cigarette smoke. Trails of the strong, wispy vapour assaulted his nostrils as he wafted a hand in front of his face. He had always hated the smell of tobacco. It brought back a flood of painful memories about his grandfather who was a heavy smoker.
Ochimaru looked up in disgust only to find an older man leaning against the wall of the first-year dorms, rudely ignoring the blatant 'NO SMOKING' sign directly above him. His sunken eyes were closed in deep relaxation as he took another long draw of the thin cigarette held in his dirty, scarred fingers. Youta apparently hadn't noticed the man as he darted across the ground, collecting the rest of the fallen boxes before Ochimaru had a chance to speak. Finally, the mysterious man's attention turned to the both of them as he exhaled slowly.
Through a thick cloud of smoke, Ochimaru noticed the man's strange arms. His iconic, black jacket had been completely ripped at the forearms, exposing skin that was wrinkled and pink with melted scar tissue. Greasy, black hair with faint streaks of silver obscured most of his face as it got tangled amongst his unkempt, scraggly beard. Ochimaru couldn't believe what he was seeing. Although the man certainly looked different, he had studied and doodled that outfit and those war-torn arms a million times, using his treasured hero figurine as a simple reference. Ochimaru's jaw hung agape in total shock as he stared up at the dishevelled man. A dim ember from his glowing cigarette fluttered gently to the ground next to his feet.
"Cinder…?" was all he managed to whisper.