Here, have another chapter. Why? Because I'm on a roll, damnit and I can't stop coming up with ideas of how this story will play out! My monkey brain demands I write more, and write more I shall! Also, I should note that The Stand Arrow that Jolyne received will be working differently than I am guessing everyone is going to assume. This may be an OP!OC story, but she isn't going to be THAT OP… yet.

Also, this chapter would've come out sooner, had it not been for the fact that I had work. The only reason why I'm posting/writing/finishing this now is because I have a particularly nasty Sunburn on my arms, which makes writing this paragraph a pain in the ass.

Response to Reviews/Comments:

SKVioletta (Ao3): I'm glad you're enjoying this! I have a lot of ideas as to what the Blood Magic will be able to do as time goes on. As for how she will interact with the casts of DR: THH and DR: Goodbye Despair… well, only time will tell.

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[Jolyne Brooks – POV]

A low growling sound resounded throughout the small dorm room that Jolyne resided in, which pulled Jolyne out from her reading of the horror cult classic, IT. Her stomach growled for a second time, which made her groan in annoyance. To be fair to her, she had been so caught up in… everything else that she had forgotten to eat. "Right… I should probably eat something," Jolyne muttered, looking out the window and frowning. "It's getting dark, and I have no idea as to where any good cafés are…. Shit."

Bunny-earing the page she was on, that being Page 183; she opened her inventory and placed the book inside. Her progress on the Quest The System gave her was around 15%, all of which came from 4 hours of reading. That sounded slow, and it was, but Jolyne was a slow reader. That, and some of the words that Stephen King used in the novel were… questionable at best, and concerning at worst.

Not to mention, she had never read IT before, and only watched the 1990 movie that was released to mediocre acclaim, and when she did watch it she was like, 9 years old, and the movie had been out for 17 years at that point.

Yes, she was born in 1998, and yes she died at 14 years old, and she'd rather NOT remember how she died because it was severely traumatic for her; ya know, as all dying things were. She was experiencing high school for the first time, and she was doing it with magic and other cool magical crap and the like. Just not in a world where magic was readily available. Which, by all accounts, made it less… interesting.

But that was beside the point. The point was that she was reading the original source material from which the crappy, mediocre film came. Initially, she had been worried that it would be just as bad as the movie was. however, the book was showing itself to be far better than the movie. She just hoped that nothing strange would happen and ruin it for her.

Then again, she thought the same thing with Fool Moon with The Dresden Files, and then that part with Susan happened, and she had been put off with the book for a week before picking up after it. Though that werewolf fight scene was fun to read, and the part where Harry turned into a werewolf thanks to the magic wolf belt and killed the corrupt FBI agent using it was damn near worth the cringe part before the big brawl.

Also, Dresden trashing anything of Marcone's always got a rise out of her. Though, if it wasn't for Marcone, he would've never gotten the chance to kill the big bad wolf in question, pun most definitely intended.

"Less thinking about awesome Werewolf fights and trashing Marcone's properties, more thinking about getting food in my extremely empty stomach," Jolyne thought, frowning as she got up from her bed. When she got up from her mattress, she outstretched her back, something that she sorely needed to do due to being hunched over for the last four hours.

Now, all she had to do was find somewhere to eat, continue her reading Quest, then MAYBE get some sleep. Was it healthy? No, but did she care all that much? Not really. She knew there was a Cafeteria in the school, but the question was, where was it? And another question… was it even open? It was nearing 8:00 PM, and from her past experiences of staying over at schools for a late period of time, Cafeteria usually closed when the school day was out.

However, there was no bell declaring the end of the day, only a bell that declared that it was lunch period, and when lunch period ended. Besides that, those were the only bells that rang throughout the day.

Did days Hope's Peak Academies never truly end? Or was it something akin to a teach-yourself program? If that was the case, then that made everything else easier for her. Once the school finished constructing her Ultimate Lab, she could get stronger faster.

The stronger she got, the faster she could burn through the quests.

The faster she could burn through the quests, the better off she would be.

Don't get her wrong, this world was normal, and she liked that. She liked that a lot, however despite that, she didn't want to stay in a world where Magic all but doesn't exist. It would greatly hamper her progress, and she knew that it would make her complacent. The sooner she got to a place where her Magic would seem normal, then she could progress her abilities faster.

But, first things first: Food.

"The Cafeteria is most likely closed, but I guess I could check anyway," Jolyne muttered, walking over to the entrance of her dorm room. Twisting the doorknob, the teen with the dual-coloured hair stepped outside of the room and closed the door behind her. However, upon exiting her room, she bumped into someone, and if she hadn't noticed then, then the shriek of surprise after the fact had been a damn good indicator.

The mage turned around, looking at the person who she accidentally knocked to the floor. The first thing that caught her attention was the red hair and the greenish-blue eyes. The pale skin was another thing that caught her attention, as too did the freckles. The girl on the floor was wearing a baggy white shirt and black yoga pants with blue ankle socks. Scattered around her were photographs of various people Jolyne didn't recognize outside of Mikan.

The redhead groaned, and while she was still in a daze, Jolyne used CHECK on her to identify the person she knocked over.

Name: Mahiru Koizumi/The Energetic Photographer

Level: 10

HP: 500

Stamina: 250

Mana: Null

Likes Women, Hates men, but really hates perverts of all kinds, as anyone really should. Photographs are her passion, and deadbeat dads should fear her scornful words.

Jolyne blinked, dismissing CHECK before reaching a hand out to Mahiru, who gratefully accepted it after groaning. "Sorry about that, I didn't expect anyone to walk past my door," Jolyne commented, smiling as Mahiru cupped her forehead, still reeling from being knocked over like that.

"Yeah, it's fine. I… huh?" The redheaded teen began, only to stop once she got her barrings and was able to get a good look at Jolyne. "Who're you? No offence, but I don't remember anyone like you being in my class. Seeing as these dorms are reserved for Class 77 – B, and seeing as I've never seen you before in the school…" Mahiru commented, a sheepish expression on her face, though her eyes gleamed with demanding energy.

Jolyne wasn't going to lie. For a split second, she almost thought that Mahiru was going to go run and get the guards… did Hopes Peak Academy have guards? Probably, but that wasn't important right now. The reason why that idea even came to her mind was namely because of just how cliché their encounter had been. However, seeing as the Photographer didn't do that, she could explain herself rather easily.

"Ah, yeah. Technically speaking you aren't supposed to know about me till tomorrow. But, uh… after an… event. Yeah, we'll call it that, I'm officially joining your class tomorrow. Though I have to keep my Talent under wraps until then. Can't spoil everything, now can I?" The mage answered as Mahiru hummed.

"Oh, I get it. Well… uh, it's nice to meet you then. My name's Koizumi Mahiru. You are?" The redhead asked, letting go of Jolyne's hand as the dual-hair-toned teen smirked.

"Jolyne Brooks, a former Canadian transfer student from the Reserve Course turned Ultimate Student. Nice to meet you, Koizumi," Jolyne said earning a smile from the supposed photographer, at least according to The System.

"It's nice to meet you, Brooks-san. Or, uh, would you rather be called Jolyne? I know foreigners usually introduce themselves with their first name, er well, first, so…?" Mahiru asked, a confused expression on her face, which was quickly replaced with a thoughtful one. "Also… Jolyne… I swear I've heard that name before… Uh, do you know a Mikan Tsumiki?"

The dual-hair-coloured teen let out a sigh, her expression going neutral as Jolyne scratched her cheek. "Yeah. She's the Ultimate Nurse, right? She was watching over me while I was comatose. Something about a failed suicide or something? Not that I remember a thing about it outside of that it happened and was the reason behind my coma," Jolyne said nonchalantly, causing the redhead to gasp.

"Oh my! I…!" The redhead paused, clearing her throat. "Well… I mean, I'm glad that you're okay, but… how can you just casually bring that up?!" Mahiru said, a clear tinge of disturbance on her face being apparent. Not that Jolyne could blame her, bringing up the fact that she, or at least whatever the person she had been in her backstory, had attempted to kill themselves, and then saying it in such a careless manner did seem offensive.

But, in the same vein, it wasn't like she cared all too much. That, and she didn't even know why she had attempted to off herself, so once again, why would she care? It was something that happened, she didn't remember a single thing about it, and therefore, it wasn't her problem.

Jolyne shrugged before putting her hands on her hips. "I don't remember why it happened, or why I did it. To be honest, whatever past me did, I don't remember a damn thing. It's kinda like having Anterograde Amnesia. You know, when you can't remember certain things? It's like that, but only for that specific thing," Jolyne stated, stuffing her hands into her pockets.

Mahiru looked at her with a shocked and confused expression. For Mahiru, someone forgetting such a traumatic accident like that seemed almost… pitting. But, at the same time, she could also see it as a blessing, seeing as whatever had caused her to do that was no longer plaguing her soon-to-be classmate's mind.

"I see… but, maybe don't go around mentioning it all the time…. It can still be a dangerous thing to mention, even if you don't mean it to be in a malicious way," The redhead said, still gauging the information she had been given by the foreigner.

What Mahiru said wasn't exactly incorrect. Suicide was a rather sensitive topic, something that couldn't or shouldn't be tossed around so haphazardly. "Note to self, do not mention it during your introduction to your new class. Bad taste and all…" Jolyne thought as she nodded.

"I'll keep that in mind," Jolyne replied, a smile on her face. That was when her stomach growled, and the two-hair-toned teen chuckled. "Uh, Koizumi… right? I know that Japanese people don't like being called their first name if said person doesn't know them… ugh, whatever, not important. Um, do you know where exactly the cafeteria is? I need to eat something, desperately. Being in a coma for three months kinda leaves someone with a pretty empty stomach…."

As Jolyne said that, Mahiru couldn't help but suppress a snicker. The redhead smiled, then gestured down the hallway to her left.

"Ah! It's just down the hall and to the right. You can't miss it," Mahiru informed as a grateful Jolyne smiled. With a swift "thank you" Jolyne ran off to the cafeteria as if her life depended on it, because, if she was going, to be honest, it probably did.

[Mahiru Koizumi – POV]

If there was one thing the photographer had expected, running into her soon-to-be-new-classmate did not even come close to the top of that list. It was rare for someone to join a class halfway through the year. The only thing that she found weird was the gender imbalance in her class.

Seriously, the only boys in her class were Gundam, who was a Chunibyo. There was Fuyuhiko, who was a freaking Yakuza! As far as Mahiru was concerned, Teruteru didn't count as a boy or a man, but rather a disgusting pervert who should be locked up. Nekomaru was cool, minus his locker room jokes. Kazuichi was downright strange, and his obsession with Sonia was disturbing. Ryota was nice, a bit too nice, but that was it and the less she talked about Nagito, the better.

Jolyne was a foreigner with an unknown talent, but she seemed nice enough. Her Japanese was perfect, too. So that must've meant that she grew up in Japan, but had foreign parents. Or maybe she had been born in her birth country and came to Japan at a young age? Whatever the case might have been, she didn't care.

So long as Jolyne was nice and caring, she wouldn't mind having another member of the class.

The redheaded teen first assumed that this girl was going to be some sort of punk based on how her hair looked and based on how nonchalant she was about almost killing herself, but instead she turned out to be different. That was a good thing, and thank god for that. Mahiru wouldn't know what she was going to do if she had to deal with ANOTHER punk.

Fuyuhiko was enough for her as it was, and the less she spoke about his sister, the better.

The only issue she could see happening was her being a former Reserve Course Student. Nagito had a particular hatred for them. She just hoped that the white-haired teen wouldn't do anything too drastic. Although considering this was Nagito she was thinking about, she doubted that mattered any. If his attempted bombing of the Reserve Course Building was anything to judge by, then that must've meant that nothing was too drastic.

Still, there was something about Jolyne that made Mahiru… uneasy. An unwanted feeling of distrust floated around her, and not the kind where Jolyne would distrust Mahiru, but rather, the other way around.

It was common knowledge that if the human brain didn't like something, it sent signals to the body to indicate that fact. Mahiru was no psychologist, hell, she barely understood her own feelings sometimes; but this was beyond that. Jolyne gave off the type of energy an oppressive dictator would give off. The type of energy that warned those around them that they were dangerous, and to not be messed with.

Put things into perspective, Fuyuhiko didn't give off that type of energy.

To be fair to Jolyne, Mahiru didn't know her, so it was hard to make any assumptions right off the bat. The dual-hair coloured teen seemed nice enough on the surface, and while she was aloof when mentioning her attempted suicide, she didn't mean to hurt anyone with it and even said so herself.

So why did Mahiru feel uneasy around Jolyne?

What was it about Jolyne that made Mahiru feel like a police officer chasing after a criminal?

Was her talent crime based? It would be the rationale as to why she would want to keep her talent a secret, especially if they weren't too big on telling the world what it was.

Was she secretly Genocide Jack? Serial killers were often those one would least suspect; and while Mahiru knew she was safe seeing as Genocide Jack only killed boys and never once even attempted to kill a girl, who's to say that could change?

Whatever the case might've been, there was something up with Jolyne, and while Mahiru wasn't the best at solving mysteries—hell, she couldn't find her prized camera in her dorm room without the help of Hiyoko that one time—but she would be damned if she wasn't going to try and figure out what it was about Jolyne that made her so skittish. For now, she had a mess to clean up, that being her photographs being scattered around the floor. Thankfully, Jolyne didn't step on any of them, which she had been a tad bit worried about the teen doing, even if it was by accident.

But when she was finished, and when the next day came about, she was going to do everything in her power to try and find out what it was that made Jolyne so suspicious.

-To Be Continued-

I know this chapter is shorter than usual, but this is a natural cut-off point for the next one. Plus, I never said that there were going to be consistent word counts for this, now did I? Till next time everyone, peace!