The first thing Naoto thought when he saw the building was only one: "Really?" He said as he glanced at the woman next to him, Rumi Usagiyama. It's been five days since he started to live with Rumi "thanks" to his 2-months probation.

"What? Do you really believe that you would just lay on a bed or something for two months?" Rumi stated before she nodded towards the building. "Come on, you're already late for the first lesson"

'I…uuugh…' Naoto sighed as he adjusted his clothes before he followed Rumi inside the building…Aldera Junior High.

Wheel 1: Junior High arc — Rebel 3: Bloodedge in the school

"—And that's it about that kid" Rumi finished her explanation to the man sitting behind a desk. He is a tall and handsome middle aged man with grey hair and black eyes along with a thin and neat mustache, wearing a white vest underneath a dark blue suit with light blue tie. "Principal Kozuki, I hope that you will understand the circumstances around him"

Raising his right hand, the man known as Kaien Kozuki shook his head. "As the principal of Aldera Junior High, I cannot turn my head away from a kid who needs help. Plus if is a Pro Hero like you, Mirko, then I must accomplish the task you are bestowing to me"

Bowing a little as a sign of thanks, Rumi smiled a little. "Thank you very much, principal Kozuki"

"No need for thanks. It is my job after all" Tapping on his tablet, the man opened a file as he continued to speak. "Kurogane-kun: No parents or legal guardians. It saddens me to know that such situations continue to exist. In probation for two months for vigilantism and excessive violence…"

"His heart is in the right place" The Pro Hero said. "He did it for save another kid"

"I know, and as I said he can freely attend our school" Kozuki nodded before he wrote something on a piece of paper, eventually handing it to Mirko.

"What's this?" The Pro Hero frowned as she glanced at the piece of paper.

"It is for Kurogane-kun. Tell him to give it to the 1-C homeroom teacher"

Nodding, Rumi bowed. "Thank you very much for this, principal Kozuki"

"Oh please, we should say thanks to you Heroes. Without you, it will be chaos" The man commented as Rumi walked away from the office. Closing the door behind her, the rabbit girl turned her head towards Naoto, who seemed to tremble slightly.

"Are you okay, brat?" She questioned as Naoto gasped a little, seemed surprised to hear her.

"U-Uh…yeah! I was just…meditating, heheh!"

Staring at him, Rumi crossed her arms as she raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Heh…." Naoto giggled nervously until Rumi sighed.

"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you the way to your class" She said as she walked away, as Naoto followed her.

'Do I really need to return to Junior High…?'

Kanako Kondo wanted to disappear. Slamming her head to the desk of the classroom, the twin-drilled-style white haired woman groaned as the students of the 1-C continued to do everything but not follow her lesson.

'You'll be a great teacher' Kozuki, the principal of the school, told her a month before she took the job in April. Now it is May.

"What a liar…" Kanako murmured before someone knocked at the classroom's doors. That gesture alone brought silence to the class as all the students turned their heads towards the door which opened on the "come in" response from Kanako, revealing a boy wearing the school uniform.

'I never saw him…' Kanako thought as she smiled at him, ignoring the comments that the other students were saying between them. "Come here" She said, encouraging the boy to approach as he murmured something before he handed a piece of paper to the teacher.

Taking the piece, Kanako read what was written on it before she nodded. "Attention class!" Rising up, she glanced at her students before she took a chalk, writing something on the blackboard, catching their attention.

"From today, we have a new student, treat him well and make him feel like a member of the class!" She ended as she stepped aside, allowing the students to read the name of the boy written on the blackboard. "You can introduce yourself"

With a nod, the boy turned his head to the students…and all of them were glancing at him. Gulping, he bowed his head. "My name is Kurogane Naoto, nice to meet you all!"

. . .

It was literally the calm before the storm…because a few seconds later, all the other students bursted out, throwing tons and several questions to Naoto as he sighed.

"Come on everyone, you can ask whatever thing you want during the break" The teacher said, noticing that the class, for once, finally listened to her. Enjoying the moment, Kanako gestured Naoto to a vacant seat by the window. "You can sit there, but don't get distracted, ok Kurogane?"

Naoto nodded to the teacher as he walked towards the seat. When the new student sat down, Kanako smiled at her class. "Very well class, it is time to start the lesson!"

When the bells rang indicating the start of the pause, Naoto was mentally prepared for the assault the rest of the students made.

In the end, the school was still the school. Whenever a new student arrives, the rest of the class wants to know all about them: life, death and miracles included.

"Where are you from?"

"Do you like pizza?"

"Favourite anime?"

"Cats or dogs?"

And many other questions…

'Relax Naoto, you just have to do this only for today…I hope' Naoto thought as he tried to answer everyone's questions. He noticed that a lot of them have Quirks that affected their appearance— Is that a gryphon?!

"What's your Quirk?"

Naoto turned his head towards the one who asked the question. It was a girl with wide, curious royal blue eyes. Naoto noticed how her periwinkle hair almost reached all the way down to her back, while her side-swept bangs are tucked behind her ears on the right and hanging just over her eyes on the left.

"My Quirk?" Naoto repeated the question, making a blunt face that made the girl chuckle.

"My Quirk allows me to release shockwaves" The girl said as she bumped her fists, talking so enthusiastically about her ability— Wait, she said shockwaves?! — before she looked back at Naoto. "I called it Wave Motion! What about yours?"

"My…My Quirk is this" Naoto opened his right hand, causing a trail of blood to leak for a few seconds before disappearing naturally. "Its name is Bloodedge, and it let me shape my blood into whatever I want"

"Bloodedge? It's so cool!" The girl said before she lent her hand to Naoto for a handshake. "My name is Nejire. Nejire Hado, but you can call me Nejire-chan! Nice to meet you!"

"Kurogane Naoto" Naoto returned Nejire's handshake as he smiled slightly at her. "Nice to meet you too"

Suddenly, all the other students presented themselves alongside showing their Quirks to Naoto.

Strangely, for the first time, Naoto was…happy for showing his powers to others? He couldn't describe the feeling, but after he first inherited the Eye of the Hunter from the Terumi clan and eventually triggered the Drive Bloodedge, he wasn't "alone". Here, everyone possesses abilities that make them just like him, without problems like the Mitsurugi Agency. He couldn't hide the smile that appeared on his face.

The bell rang signaling the end of classes as all students, who were not members of school clubs, were dropping out of the school.

Holding his bag (empty because he did not have any kind of material since he still needed to buy them), Naoto started to walk away, heading towards the east side of Musutafu.

His current home was an hour's walk from the school. Sure, he could take the subway, but honestly Naoto hated crowded places. He was more of a boy who loved being on the sidelines to get to school or go home—

"Hey Naoto! Wanna walk together to the station?"

Turning his head towards the voice, Naoto saw Nejire approaching him. After a few seconds of contemplating, the boy decided that his answer would be a shrug. He could at least escort her to the station.

"Yay!" Nejire exclaimed as the two started to walk. At the start, there was an awkward silence coming out from Naoto before Nejire started to talk mainly about things like today's lessons or personal hobbies until—. "You're not from Musutafu, right Naoto-kun?"

"Yes" With a nod, Naoto glanced at the girl before he replied. He had to continue to use the "amnesia" lie. "But I don't remember where"

"You…don't remember?" Nejire cocked her head to the side, confused.

"Amnesia, or at least it was what the doctor said"

Gasping at the casual answer of the boy, Nejire brought a hand over her mouth. "Oh gosh, I'm sorry!"

"No, don't worry. I already accepted it" Naoto casually shrugged.

"Really? But how does it feel?"

"Amnesia? Meh, like…a wall, probably?" Naoto scratched the back of his head as he tried to reply to Nejire's question, continuing to lie about being amnesiac. As the two walked, something caught the Bloodedge Drive user's attention. Stopping, the boy saw a game center. Suddenly, Nejire put her hands on his shoulders as she saw the game center too.

"Oh, Yatsura gaming center!" The curious girl stated, without noticing Naoto's sudden blush for her actions. "Do you like videogames, Nao-kun?"

"Y-Yeah…wait, Nao-kun?"

"Yes, Nao-kun" Nejire nodded as she smiled at him. "It sounds good, no? You don't like it?"

"W-Whatever…" Shooking his head, Naoto tried to reassume his composure. 'Quit staring Naoto…I thought I already surpassed that phase damnit…!'

"Yay! Let's go, Nao-kun! I'm pretty good with videogames!" Nejire grabbed Naoto's left hand as she dragged the boy into the gaming center, seemingly ignoring his protest.

After they went inside the gaming center, Naoto managed to free his hand from Nejire. "I can't play Nejire!"

"You don't have money?" Nejire raised an eyebrow, but Naoto shook his head.

"No, I have the money" In fact, Rumi handed him the money. "But I have to return home early—" Naoto said, but Nejire's smirk stopped him. "What's with that smirk?"

"Not even a single game? You are sure you are not afraid of losing, noob—"

"You're on" Naoto said. He was proud of his video game skills, hell no one calls him noob and get away with it…but one hour later—

This is a crushing defeat

This was Naoto's only thought as Nejire bumped her fists into the air. "Yatta! 9-0 for Nejire!"

'How could this brat be so strong at video games?!' Naoto glanced at the girl and then looked around. She beated him at a lot of games, from the dancing games to the shooter games.

"At least it was fun—" — not for me! — "Now we can return to home"

Naoto was going to accept the total defeat, if only his eyes did not notice a certain arcade. "...Let's try it" Naoto said.

"Huh?"

"One last game. Whoever wins will be the real winner" Naoto declared as he pointed to the arcade.

Following Naoto's finger, Nejire glanced at the arcade, saying its name. "Guilty Gear Xrd…?" She said as she saw Naoto nodding. "Alright, I like the idea"

Approaching the arcade, the two students inserted the coins, waiting a few moments before the game opened the character select menu.

'I tried to be cool, but I don't know if I will win. Never heard about this game. Nejire looks like she didn't know how to play either' Naoto glanced at the girl before he looked at the characters. When his cursor was hovering at a certain "Sol Badguy", Naoto's eyes were practically twitching for the vibe he got. '...Why does this guy remind me of that white haired bastard?!'

…In the end, he picked Sol. Nejire, on the other hand, picked a certain Potemkin. After three matches, Naoto bumped his fists after he landed a DI Tyrant Rave against Potemkin, eliminating the last bit of HP Nejire's character had.

Shortly after, the two students walked out from the game center, resuming their path towards the station. After the stop at the arcade, the two students talked about their shared passion about video games until they reached the destination.

"Aren't you coming, Nao-kun?" Nejire asked Naoto, who shook his head.

"I'll continue by foot"

"I see" Nejire murmured before she took out her mobile phone. "Then let's exchange IDs LINE!"

'…Great' Naoto scratched the back of his head. "Huuh…I don't have a phone"

"Heeeh?! How could you-" Nejire stepped back, shocked, but she couldn't continue to speak when the announcer of the station said something regarding a certain train. "Oh no, I'm late! See you tomorrow, Nao-kun!"

"See you, Nejire!" Naoto waved as he saw Nejire running inside the station. When she disappeared from his sight, Naoto resumed to walk towards his original destination: Rumi's home.

'He's late' Rumi glanced at the clock inside the private gym of the apartment before she resumed her kick training. The lessons should have ended at 3PM, and now it was 6PM. He had to return at 4/4:40PM. 'Could the brat runned away? No, he's not the type…maybe?'

Fortunately for Naoto, Rumi heard the door of the apartment be opened followed by the brat saying "I'm back". Honestly she was glad for her enhanced hearing. With a last kick, the rabbit girl exhaled as she walked out from the gym, wiping the sweat off with a towel as she saw Naoto at the entrance. "There you are, kid"

"Sorry for being late" Naoto said as he took off his shoes. Rumi raised an eyebrow when she saw the small smile Naoto made.

"Thinking about something?"

"Huh?"

"You're smiling" Crossing her arms, Rumi smirked. "Something good happened?"

"...Yeah" Naoto said as he walked to the guest room with the intention of wearing comfortable clothes. "I guess I made a friend today"

"Oh? Already a friend during the first day. You got guts kid" The rabbit girl followed Naoto with her eyes. "Who is?"

"Her name is Nejire Hado"

… Naoto regretted revealing his new friend's name. Throughout the evening, Rumi seemed amused as she teased Naoto all the time.

Great…

…Naoto couldn't notice the smile present on his face when Rumi teased him the whole time.

The Wheel of Fate is Turning…