The sunlight beamed into the room, plastering itself all over Suiiki's face. He loved the feeling of waking up to a warm sunbath on his skin, and he never liked to sit around for much longer after he rose. As far back as he could remember, he'd always been a morning person.

Getting out of bed, he checked his phone to make sure he was counting his days right. He grinned when he confirmed the date.

"Thursday, 27th. Tomorrow's the big day! Oh man, I'm so pumped! I'm hot off my win from the arcade, now it's time to sweep this festival! Not to mention, I'm fighting my easiest counter right off the bat with fire girl! I'm feeling good!"

After taking a shower which went by in seconds thanks to his quirk, and grabbing a piece of bread from his father, he went on his way. The second he stepped out the door, he could see the full effect their festival was having. Traffic was everywhere. Police officers lined the streets directing people where to go for hotels and parking. Posters had been set up all around town, including some with his own face on them. Tents were set up along sidewalks, and even a couple tourist buses had made an appearance. Suiiki had heard rumors that possibly Present Mic would make an appearance, since U.A was apparently on break due to some lockdown for the school postponing activities. He didn't believe it, but it didn't hurt to dream. It's a miracle this was even happening in the first place.

6:40…that's 20 minutes, a quick round at the arcade shouldn't be too bad. He slapped himself twice with a frown. No! Of all days, this is the one I shouldn't be slacking off on.

Quickening his pace, he started being a little more reckless as he bobbed and weaved through the traffic jam. He was almost halfway between his house and the school, until…

"It's the water kid, Suiiki! He's in the fourth match according to the schedule!"

"Oh wow, I heard he just won a video game tournament last week!"

No wonder he's a fan favorite to win already! Hey kid! Can we get an autograph?" asked an older man with two younger children next to him.

Suiiki checked his watch again. He was a little antsy to get to school, but he'd never had someone ask for his autograph before.

"Aww, what the heck? Sure, I'll give you one! You can tell everyone you were the first to get the champions signature!"

"Thank you! On my phone case, please, and my children would like one on theirs as well."

Taking his time, he wrote his name on all three of their phones, enjoying the attention he was getting.

"Wait, he's giving autographs? I want one!"

Oh no.

"Who's giving out autographs?" someone in a tent cried out.

"The water boy! Me too, right here!"

I've made a huge mistake. And Erina told me not to be late for fitting, crap! I think I screwed the pooch on this one.

He tried backing away from the people gathering around him. "I'm sure there'll be time for this at the festival, so if we could just wait until then…"

"Suiiki, how do you feel that so many people have predicted you would come in at least third place?"

"They're saying what?!" He asked, starting to fall into their excitement. "Wow, they're already guessing how far I'll go? That's awesome, though a little bit under the mark. I'm going for the gold, baby!"

Some of the people started writing down in their notebooks every time he spoke. "What are you guys writing?"

"Suiiki, how much did you train your body for this event, and do you have any new moves that weren't seen in the festival's trailer?"

"Suiiki, how do you feel that some of your classmates have said they want to be the ones to take you down?"

"Have you created an online internet presence in the last month, or are you looking to create one?"

Suiiki started to become overwhelmed with all the questions they were asking him, one after another. "U…uhm, I can't answer so many-"

A bright light snapped in front of his face, and he had to rub his eyes to see what had blinded him. A camera. Many cameras, and a lot of microphones as well.

Reporters, I forgot about them! Of course they'd be here.

"I-I can't say much else, I don't really-"

"Excuse me, darlings! If you wouldn't mind, the boy seems to be a bit frightened of you! Might he have his face back?" A voice called out, and it sounded like it had come from a megaphone. Shortly after, vines came from behind the block of paparazzi and pulled them away, revealing the officer that had been at the stadium the day of the demonstrations.

"Ah, Officer Ikasaki, isn't it? I have a few questions regarding your colleague, Officer Hanako. Do you condone her actions on-"

"Tut tut! Dreadfully sorry, but I must escort the young one to school, so if you would kindly just step aside so I may do my job. If you have any questions about Hanako, though, I'm sure she wouldn't mind answering herself."

On cue, a woman that Suiiki had actually seen on the news earlier that week seemingly appeared behind them, wearing a terrifying scowl on her face. The reporters immediately reared back, putting distance between themselves and the woman. Her long hair stood out to Suiiki, almost touching the ground. He didn't remember what she did, but even before that, her appearance rang a bell in his mind.

Hanako? Hanako…where have I heard that…Ah! That's the healer Erina was telling us about! Why are they asking about her? What could she have possibly done…on second thought, looking at her face is giving me the creeps. But I feel like it's more than just from the news…where have I seen her?

"She's beautiful, but it's not nice to stare." Ikasaki said, grabbing him by his shoulder firmly and walking with him. "Come on, you. Erina will give me an earful if I don't get you to school on time. And if you're wondering, yes, your other classmates have been 'helped' on their way to school as well. Never know what those media hawks will do to your reputation. They once started a smear campaign against me saying I had a rash on my eye! Can you believe that? I was just tired and had wiped my eyes all day!"

"…right, thank you sir." Suiiki still tried to get another cursory glance at the woman, but found he was unable to do so without making it obvious. Giving up on the endeavor, he listened to the policeman talk on and on about all sorts of things. Make-up, fashion, police duties; he was quite talkative. Suiiki didn't mind it one bit. He himself was wrapped up observing all the decorations in the town. He must've missed when they put them up, because they were everywhere. Banners hung from lampposts, posters on nearly every wall, people wore shirts with their school name on it. It was surreal seeing his school have this much attention.

"…and what a show that was! I didn't expect Rinasa to actually go all the way like that. And of course, she hired all her friends to work with her, which some people say is a little bit irresponsible, but I think she saw potential in us to be- Oh! We've arrived!"

Once at the school entrance, they were greeted by Erina, standing next to the woman with pink hair.

She must really like that color. It's literally all over her.

"Thank you, Ikasaki! I appreciate you all doing this for me. So many students didn't come in as usual, I was worried something might have happened." Erina said.

"Give it no thought, we are always happy to help our friend! Anyone else you haven't seen?"

"No, Satori went to go retrieve the last few, and Hanako is…scaring people like always- why is she here again? I don't…nevermind. I think everything is covered now. Suiiki, head to the auditorium. You'll be measured for your gym suit now. Any specifics you'll need will be handled by the man inside. Hurry along, don't want to keep them waiting."

When he entered the school entrance, Ranika and Daisuke stood in the hallway, and to Suiiki's surprise, Daisuke seemed to be enjoying himself with her.

"Well, here's a sight for sore eyes!" Ranika said, spotting him. "What, did one of them go pick you up from the arcade? Did they have to drag you out by force?"

She gave him a slap on the back as they moved as a group towards the auditorium together. "No, as a matter of fact, I was on my way here, but then a bunch of reporters tried to interview me! I was almost stuck there until that officer with the green hair helped me."

Daisuke nodded. "He helped me earlier too, although he talks a little too much for me. I wanted to go home to get my bookbag but there was never a time to ask."

"Ikasaki. You lucky fucks, me and Tsubame were practically fused to my sister's hip this morning. I couldn't even get a sandwich from across the street! Yeah, I had two croissants but I'm a growing girl, I need a full breakfast!"

Suiiki took as sip from the water fountain near the door and enjoyed the cool feeling of it running down his throat. "Ah, that's good. By the way, there was also this other woman, her hair was long, like real long. Can't pin it down, I feel like I've seen her before."

"Hanako? She was probably sent to chase them away. They've always been chicken of her. I don't blame them, she's really good at doing that. Can't tell you where you might have seen her though, she's mainly worked with Rinasa as the resident bitch."

"Has she ever been a teacher or maybe she worked as a nurse?"

She scratched her armpit while thinking. "Uhhhh…nuh-uh. She's usually to herself most the time, I don't know where you would have ever seen her. You think it's someone else she reminds you of?"

"Possible, but I guess it's not important." He put on a cheeky smile. "That aside, what is Daisuke doing hanging out with you? Never thought I'd see the day!"

"Well, since you've been off having fun at the arcade all the time, we decided to start hanging out when you're not here, to give you a taste of your own medicine!" She poked his chest with force, making him step back in shock.

"That's not it at all!" Daisuke interjected. "Well…I mean…kind of. You were gone all the time, so I just figured…maybe I'll hang out with our classmates. I happened to stop by her house first…luckily."

"Luckily? What do you mean?"

The usually boisterous girl became unrecognizably silent, choosing to study the linings of the concrete walls than pay attention to the conversation. Sensing his mistake, Daisuke steered away from the adjacent point. "Uhh, luckily cause Tsubame joined us right after! We played a cool racing game together and she taught me how to fly a plane in the simulator game! Had a lot of fun with them, Ranika's really cool!"

Suiiki did a double take. "So she really isn't forcing you?! You like, actually got along? But she's such a brute!"

"Hey!"

"What, it's true!"

"…ass."

"Oh, what a coincidence." They turned around and saw Genso right behind them, pulling a new pair of glasses out. "Pleasure to see you all again. Headed to the measuring stations, I presume? Mind if I accompany you? Not that I'm allowed in myself, just want to walk with you."

Ranika got in front of him with a stink eye. "Oh yeah? What about your friends that you always hang out with? Couldn't you hang out with them or something?" She raised her eyebrow in an exaggerated way towards him with her head held high.

"I could, yes, and it would have been more logical considering my proclivities. However, their presence is not quite as…engaging as say, Ranika's is. I do like to be around them when discussing chemistry or what say you, but I've found any longer than a few hours begins to tire even me. In addition, I admit to growing quite fond of you all after the absence. Suppose once you've been around the ruckus for a while, you become accustomed to it."

She was taken aback, a blush forming on her cheeks. "O-oh…well I'm not…how about…whatever, let's just go!"

Inside the auditorium, a number of adults were helping guide students to their respective measuring stations. The left side of the building was designated for the boys, and the right was for the girls. Ranika tried to stay with her friend group, but the organizers weren't having any of her excuses and directed her to the girls' side. And although Tsubame offered an ear for her grumblings, even she couldn't stop the complaints.

"Look at me! I'm completely flat! There's nothing to see here! If it has nothing to do with chest size, then why do the boys get to show their chests?"

"Girls have to have some semblance of dignity, Ranika. It's just the way it is. A girl's areola is perceived more sexually than a boy's."

"Why?"

"Because it is." She took Ranika's measurements, entered them into the spreadsheet on her given computer, then checked the many bins beside her to find a uniform that matched. She went back and forth between checking the measurements on the computer and looking for one that matched the numbers.

"Not fair. When do I get to walk around shirtless like those Hollywood movie stars? I've got abs to show off too, you know."

Tsubame threw the bagged uniforms back inside the bin. "As I expected, none of these are going to fit. Hold on, let me go get one of the boys' uniforms for you."

Ranika grabbed onto her quickly before she went anywhere. "While you're over there, what about you and Suiiki-"

"Worry not, I won't cause a scene. I'll just head on over to pick up what I need. I won't say anything to him if I see him."

"I was going to ask if you two were cool again. Guess there's that answered. What do I need to do to make you just let this go?"

Tsubame yanked her arm away. "Ranika, I love you. But I don't need to get along with all your friends. It's the same way I told Genso when he was bothering you not too long ago; If you don't like how someone is, then just don't hang around them. I don't like certain aspects of him, so…"

Ranika was unable to come up with a counter-argument for that, so she just looked down to the floor. Tsubame lightly touched her arm, as if to say sorry. Ranika sighed as she pulled away from her touch. Tsubame's face dropped at the reaction, almost tearing up at the act.

"It shouldn't be this big of a deal. The two of us just don't get along!"

"I feel like it's a bit petty to hold a grudge over something that I honestly can't even remember. And I was there."

"Well, that's probably because you didn't think it was important. I take that kind of thing very seriously. I like to think I only associate with people who have morals. He clearly doesn't have any."

"Whatever, just get my god damn uniform."

"Don't be like…" Ranika's glare told her the conversation was over. She rarely ever gave her that face, and she hated seeing it. It reminded her of her half-sister, and the possibility that she had rubbed off on her. Nevertheless, she was obviously in no mood to carry on speaking with her and any further communication would be speaking to the void. At a loss, she stuck her hand to her face and sat looking at the computer. She wondered what she could possibly do to get past this hurdle, but she couldn't think of one besides ignoring it, which she equated to giving up. Even her stomach turned at the idea of just letting it go. However, putting her relationship with Ranika in jeopardy made her feel much worse. She felt like she was having a crisis between herself and her love for Ranika, and it was quickly starting to switch from uncertainty to anger for her.

As she sat staring, she began gripping her forehead with more force, grimacing as she started voicelessly muttering. "It's so loud inside my head," she breathed shakily. "Why can't everything just work like it's supposed to?"

"Tsubame," Kisho called out having noticed her state. "Having some trouble?" He lightly skipped as if in a waltz over from the boys' side with a uniform in his hand, sounding a little more sincere than she was used to. "I saw you were taking a while with Ranika, and by the looks of it, you haven't inputted her data in the computer either. I figured we might not have something accommodating in girls' size. Try a boys' medium instead. It'll likely fit much more cleanly over her figure."

"Ugh…thank you. I was just…"

Kisho leaned in closer and put his hand on her shoulder. "Your day not going so well? I could give you a break if you need one."

Ranika shoved his hand off her. "I'm sure she's fine without your so-called help, so if you would kindly leave us alone. You being here won't help her at all. If anything, you'll make it worse."

Tsubame snatched the clothes Kisho brought over and firmly set them in her girlfriend's hands. "Let me just get this number for you so I can move on. I would actually quite appreciate a break, thank you Kisho. And I'd also like you to treat him with a little more respect, Ranika. He's been very helpful these past few weeks, so I'm grateful to him."

The area around them had gotten quieter. Some of the students were watching the unfolding scene with interest, trying to pretend not to be noticed staring. Tsubame's typing was also much louder than before.

"Wow…you really sided with Kisho over me on this?"

She harshly pressed the Enter Key. "Sided? I'm not taking any side! And if I was, excuse me for taking the one against someone who doesn't want to be mature and take responsibility for his actions!"

"He never said he'd do anything like that, you're putting words in his mouth! You're just looking for a reason to hate him, and it's completely childish!"

Tsubame let her head fall on the keyboard in frustration. Kisho backed away from the two, letting the sparks between the two of them fly.

"So I'm the childish one. Despite the fact that you're the one who barely understood her own quirk until a month ago when someone else had to tell you what it was."

"And I've learned! L-E-A-R-N-E-D!"

"Amazed you could spell even that much."

The surrounding students covered their mouths, smiles visible behind their fingers. Even Kisho was stunned by what she'd just said to Ranika. Tsubame gasped at herself and started trying to apologize.

"I didn't mean-"

"I'll just take my uniform and go." Ranika, the girl who'd been labeled far too reckless to enter U.A., the girl who had previously been known as a violent and aggressive troublemaker, calmly grabbed her bag and walked away, seemingly unfazed by what Tsubame said.

Sitting in her seat, Tsubame sat for several seconds blank faced. She couldn't decide what to feel because she was experiencing so many emotions at once. Tears began running from her face, and she became overwhelmed with all the feelings that had been building up throughout the argument. The sounds inside of her head were now unbearably loud and made even opening her eyes painful.

With caution, Kisho slowly approached her. "Tsubame, why don't you just take a moment to-"

"Kisho, please shut up. I don't want to talk to you, of all people." She lashed out at him, then was hit with the same regret she had against Ranika. Now her anger was starting to take over. Her entire body was screaming at her to release her tension somehow, find some method of release for this stress.

"Tsubame, I want you to take a minute to yourself to-"

With a frustrated scream, she smashed the monitor with every fiber of her being, her hand going right through and sending bits and pieces of computer chips and glass flying forward. She tore her hand out, cutting it in the process, then grabbed the remainder of the screen and slung it to the floor, scattering its remains.

All eyes were on her. The entire auditorium had seen that little spectacle of hers, and now everything was silent. Only the sound of her heavy breathing filled the noiseless room. Ranika was evasive of her eyes, refusing to even look her way.

Unfortunately for Tsubame, it wasn't the same for herself. There was a constant barrage of sounds and voices inside her mind, endlessly repeating again and again. She wanted to disappear, she wanted to hide away. Her body collapsed to the floor and she laid her hands on the carpet, with the intent to bring up a wall to shield herself away from everyone's gazes.

Until a recognizable voice shouted aloud.

"Now that's a 32-bit operating system!"

Within moments, Suiiki's quip had gotten everyone's eyes off her. Some people shook their heads at the corny joke while the rest either laughed with him or went back to doing what they were before her outburst. At the least, it seemed he'd accidentally drawn the attention away and allowed her to calm herself down without the added stress of being watched.

"Fuck. I can't believe I just did that." She shamefully began picking up the pieces of the destroyed screen one by one but Kisho quickly stopped her.

"That screen clipped you pretty badly, you're bleeding on your wrists. You go on and head to the nurses office, don't worry about this. I'll clean it up for you. Worry about getting that bandaged up." He grabbed one of the empty uniform bags and started scooping up the pieces into it.

"Thank you. I don't know what happened, I'm sorry. That was unbecoming of a vice president."

"The school has a hundred more monitors in storage. Maybe if you'd broke the main CPU, there would be a problem. But for our VP…I think I can let this slide." His warm smile let no sign of a deeper motive to his polite attitude show. "Thankfully, no adults saw that happen, so I don't think there's anything to worry about. We'll just say…Ranika did it."

Tsubame recoiled. "What? No, are you crazy? Why would I ever do such a thing?"

Kisho shrugged his shoulders. "They let her get away with all types of things already, I'd believe her doing this would sound par for the course for her. And I don't think they'd believe that you of all people smashed their computer anyway. If they did find out though, I'd hate to think what would happen to your position. Or your reputation even."

Tsubame held her dripping hand, her eyes darting back and forth as she leaned in to whisper to Kisho. "But that's…wrong."

"Tsubame, I'm telling you nothing bad will happen. Ranika is Erina's favorite, so there's no chance she'd get in trouble for this. Why not use that to our advantage? I'll handle all of that. You should just relax in the nurse's office for the rest of today. You've already done all of the girls except Hinote, and she just needs a flame-retardant suit, which Genso should be done with by now. I'll come join you after I finish cleaning up in here. Now go, before that gets any worse."

She opened her mouth to say something, but the reminder of her cut brought back the pain tenfold. Reluctantly, she nodded, accepting his offer.

"Alright. Thank you, Kisho. I really mean it."

She hurried out the auditorium as Kisho continued putting the pieces into the bag.

"Oh, the pleasure was all mine."

"Wow, I never thought I'd ever see her blow up like that. I wonder what those two were going at it about." Daisuke tried on his uniform in the seats, morphing into his different forms and seeing his suit do the same. "Well, that's useful."

"You know, it was only a matter of time. She's been really moody for some reason lately, so this might have just been her finally letting it go or something." Suiiki pushed water in and out of his suit, and was surprised when it freely flowed in through the clothes due to the extreme porousness of his uniform. The boy was thoroughly pleased with his suit's alterations. "Still shouldn't have said that about Ranika though. Pretty messed up. I'm impressed Ranika didn't cut her in two.

"She's my girlfriend, of course I wouldn't." Ranika said, startling Suiiki when she appeared behind him. She slumped down in a chair with a melancholic face. "I wasn't really mad about it actually."

Relieved she wasn't angry at their somewhat inconsiderate topic of discussion, Suiiki relaxed a little. "Well, I sure am. That's some way to talk to someone you're dating. You're not even that dumb to begin with, so it's also not true."

"No, I pushed her pretty far, it's a little bit my fault as well. I don't know how to let things go either. Guess I'm getting too obsessed with it."

The bell rang, a signal for those who were finished to return to their classes. A large group of students started meandering towards the entrances. Daisuke tugged on Suiiki's shoulder to get him moving.

"Come on, we have to get to class. Ranika, you coming?" Daisuke asked. "If you need a bit to think, I'll explain it to Erina for you. I'm positive she'll understand."

Ranika smiled at Daisuke. "Thanks, I think I will stay for just a little. You might not need to explain much, because I'm sure Kisho already blabbed about it to her."

Replying with a simple nod, Daisuke and Suiiki went back to their homeroom as Ranika just sat in silence.

Wondering how things had escalated the way they had, she started to think bridging the gap between Tsubame and Suiiki was impossible.

Maybe it's true. If someone doesn't like someone else, and the other person doesn't care for their opinion…is there really a problem at all? It does make the most sense to just avoid each other.

She watched the last of the boys get assigned their uniforms, momentarily testing its durability against their quirks. No one seemed to have any issue with her sitting there, lost in thought. Soon the place began to empty out, and the adults sent all the kids back to classes, except her. Most didn't notice Ranika, likely because she was being quiet the whole time, and the others weren't too concerned with her to begin with. After half an hour had passed, everyone was gone except herself and a couple people on the girls' side; Two sleeping adults and a girl sitting by herself near the uniform desk.

Running out of thoughts to think, Ranika craned her neck to get a better look at her. Not wanting to look weird, she tried to stay somewhat hidden in the shadows as she peeked. Once she saw her face, she quickly recognized her as the girl with the fire quirk who had easily made it past the tryouts. Her hair was orange, with slightly yellow tips on the fringes. It came down around the sides of her head and completely covered one side of her face in a large bang. She was quite plain looking besides that, and Ranika even remembered she'd acted how you'd expect someone with a fire power to act. She wondered what the hold up for her could be, whatever it was she was waiting for.

Didn't actually get to see her do much, now that I think about it. But there's not much to think about anyway. Fire's fire, no matter what you do with it. Still strong though.

When she turned for a second look, Ranika didn't see her anymore. She checked around the room, with no sign of her anywhere. Assuming she had gotten whatever she needed while Ranika had spaced out, she stretched her arms and yawned. Her body reminded her of how long she'd been sitting there, complaining at her desire to move out of position.

"Boo!"

"Yah!" Ranika yelped. She turned towards the source of the fright and saw the orange haired girl behind her, grinning ear to ear. "Wha-hey! How did you get there?"

"I've got a bit of a sneaky side in me." She jumped over the row of chairs and took a seat next to Ranika. "Mind if I sit here?"

Ranika did in fact mind, and swiftly got into a different chair to put some space between them. "I'm just thinking."

To her credit, she seemed to take the hint and stayed where she was. "Ah, I gotcha. I wouldn't want to be around me either if I knew I was packing all this power!" She created a small fire in her hands to emphasize her point.

The lack of response from Ranika left a very weird pause in the air. The flame flickered lightly, just enough to not be noticed from anywhere else.

"Ranika, right? You have that crazy awesome wind slash thing? I saw you at the demonstration, and wow, you were incredible! All types of different attacks and stuff, just throwing yourself around like some sort of…I don't know! I've never seen anything like it!"

She hadn't wanted to say anything, but the girl was tickling her ego, and Ranika enjoyed the praise for her hard work that day. "It's pretty good. Took me only a couple days to figure out how to do all that."

"You made it seem natural! See, I always knew there was a lot more to you! Never believed anyone when they said you were just a one trick pony!"

The girl placed her flame onto the ground and let it simmer below them. It didn't spread at all, actually becoming a little smaller and less bright. Ranika silently admitted that even though it wasn't anything special, her fire control sure was handy.

"Lots of people always say that. They see my quirk and think it's all I've got. Just a shredding wave and nothing else. I used to think that too. Until I got myself in gear and put some work into it to show them how wrong they were!" Ranika opened up a little more to the girl, feeling much better than she was before. "You've got a pretty strong quirk yourself, uh…sorry, I don't remember…"

"Hinote. Yeah, not the most inventive name for someone with fire. Kind of like calling a water user Mizu or something. A bit lame." She tugged the sleeves of her sweater down, despite them already being at full length.

"Hey, don't disrespect your name, it's the only one you've got!" Ranika encouraged her.

"Eh…" Hinote didn't really have much to say to that particular point, dismissing it quickly. "Who cares about that, though! I'm just happy I finally got to talk to you! I've actually been a fan of yours for a while, you made a huge stir at that entrance exam, you know! It was such a shame you didn't get into U.A. If I were them, I'd be kicking myself in the rear right about now. Huge mistake."

"I know a thing or two about mistakes." Ranika thought out loud, then realized her slip. She hardly noticed what she'd said since it seemed to flow out of her mouth so casually.

"Oh, yeah. That was something. I kinda wanted to ask about that, what happened there?"

"It's none of your business." Ranika snapped back to her aloof attitude. She didn't like the way Hinote had come out and asked so nonchalantly. "Don't you have to go back to class?"

"President's supposed to be bringing my uniform to me. Haven't seen him since he left after…that. Sure you don't wanna talk about it? I really believe you would feel better if-"

"Not happening."

"…couldn't you just try to talk about it?"

The softer tone took her by surprise, but she kept herself from giving in. "Not. Happening."

"Please? Ranika, please?"

"I told you-" When she turned to face Hinote, she stopped seeing a high school student, and instead saw a kind face that made her feel a strange emotion. "…it's not even worth talking about. I was in the wrong, so I'm just dealing with the consequences."

"Who decided that you were wrong? Before you start blaming yourself, I think you should understand what even happened."

"Who cares? I've already messed up everything with Tsubame. Not going to get anything talking about it now."

"I'm sure you haven't messed up anything. You don't think she feels like you do?"

"And since when were you the…the uhm…advice giver person? I'm guessing you have the answers to life and everything else as well?"

"I don't. Don't mean to pretend to. But her…today was…that explosion from her was pretty telling of bottled-up feelings of stress. She's probably feeling her way through this too. And if you're both new to this, then you might also need to unbottle it all, hopefully in a less destructive way."

"You don't even know what's going on between us! You're just saying whatever you think is right to say! How could anything you say about mepossibly be true when you don't even know me?"

"You know that answer better than me right now."

"What are you trying-!" Ranika caught herself as her voice cracked. "You're just…stop messing with me."

Hinote now took the time to sit in the seat next to Ranika. "It's respectable that you put on a brave face about it, but I think it's time you just…got it out."

"What the hell are you talking about? Can you just go away? I didn't ask for your help!"

"I know you didn't. And I know you wouldn't. So I'll be here to listen to you when you are ready."

Ranika was being overwhelmed at the raw emotion being drawn out from her. She'd hadn't felt a presence like hers in a long time. It was almost suffocating.

"Can you go…I can't-I…y-"

Ranika was gently pulled into a hug into Hinote's chest, and the warmth she felt prevented her from pulling away. She coddled her head in a way no one had done for her since she was a baby.

She couldn't hold it back any more. Not that she could even if she tried, it was almost like she was compelled to do so. Finally letting not just the days' troubles, but everything, flow out of her in a stream of tears. Dampening the clothes of the girl who she had barely any connection to, she let herself be taken in and comforted by her. Her quiet sobbing barely was enough to echo inside the otherwise silent auditorium.

"There you go, I knew it was in there somewhere. Just had to coax it out a little." She hadn't known how tightly she was gripping on to her, definitely leaving imprints on Hinote's back while she tried to pull herself in as far as she could go. Her already muted cries were also muffled by Hinote's sweater, so that no one could hear them except Hinote herself. Each sob garnered a soft and gentle touch on her head, every sniffle a caress of her hair and cheeks.

Finally finding words to speak, she still couldn't fully explain any one of her worries in a cohesive way. Through every attempt at a sentence, she sniffled and cried out every so often. Hinote never laughed or mocked her, nor did she loosen her grip or push her away. She simply listened and understood, making sure to respond to every single noise she made, whether with a word or a gentle squeeze.

"I'm so stupid…"

"…you know that's wrong." A light squeeze accompanied her voice.

"…don't know what to do…"

"That's okay."

"…I still love her…"

"That's a given."

"But I…I love Genso too…"

"…" Another squeeze took the space of words.

"I'm so terrible…"

"No, you're not."

"I hate myself."

"If you do, then I guess I'll have to fill that space."

Ranika looked up at her. "You'll…love me…?"

"Only until you love yourself again! Not hard to love someone! Or you'd think…" The girl's eyes shrunk when she realized her wording. "Oh! Not like I would love you; I don't really go for that stuff! Heheh…ya know what I meant."

Hinote's bashful smile helped Ranika don one of her own while she pulled away from their embrace. "Thanks…that helped a lot. Guess I really did need that."

"Most welcome!"

"…umm…Hinote…?"

"I know, won't tell anyone."

"Thanks."