Unintelligible jabber filled the clustered halls of the stadium, people rushing about to hurry back to their seats. Food and trash littered the floors and being inside the thick of it, Kisho couldn't help but step in some of the excess lying around.

"Oof! Now, now! Hold on, I'm moving- ugh! Damn savages, have you no concept of order!? I should've just gone home…" He was pushed against the wall by the large mass and desperately looked around for a room he could escape into. "There! If I can work my…agh…way over there…Oomph!" He thrust himself into the barely open door and fell on his stomach. Kisho bolted to the open door and slammed it shut, the muffled sounds of voices bringing to him relief. "Hah. Thank goodness…hmm?"

Wide-eyed and frightened, Daisuke was hiding under the large table in the center of the room, which seemed to be some sort of large conference hall. If it were any other occasion, Kisho would've taken the chance to gloat or insult the meek boy.

"Daisuke, what are you doing in here? The final match will start soon, you need to be out there!"

"In a second!" He shouted, or at least that's likely what he would've called his attempt to raise his voice past a shaky murmur. "It's a w-work in p-progress!"

"Couldn't you turn into water and slip past everyone?" The dull cacophony of voices were his only reply. Huffing, Kisho walked over and grabbed the boy's shoulder. "Alright, up and at them."

"No! I'm not g-going out there, it's s-so loud and everyone's trying to move so fast!"

"And?"

"And that's horrifying! Everyone talking so much and getting upset and pushing you around…isn't that why you came in here too?"

"Uh…well, kind of but…alright yes. But if I really wanted to go somewhere, I could clear that hall in seconds." Daisuke raised an eyebrow at the claim, but asked nothing. "Now move!" He finally pulled Daisuke out from under the table.

"W-wait!" Now exposed from beneath his hiding space, he frantically ran to a wall away from the door's window. "They'll s-see me! And th-then! They'll start asking questions! A-and for…" He swallowed loudly. "Autographs!"

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"NO!" He covered his mouth while staring at the door, as if someone would walk in and charge him at any moment.

Kisho facepalmed, but couldn't help laughing. Even though Daisuke failed to see the humor in his dire situation, even he could feel a slight upward tug on his lip as well once no one entered.

"W-what's funny?"

"How are you friends with Suiiki…" Kisho sat down in one of the many swivel chairs available, taking care not to ruffle his suit jacket. "I take it you've noticed the disparity between the two of you?"

"I don't know? W-we just always…have been?" He glanced at the door every so often as he spoke. "Nothing much more to it. He does always draw lots of attention to me so it's hard sometimes but, we get through."

"Hmmm." Kisho rapped his fingers against the table a couple times then clicked his teeth. "So you willingly hang around someone who makes your life objectively worse?"

"I wouldn't s-say it's worse. Different, maybe. Different from what I'd prefer." He approached the table and stood behind one of the chairs, his tension finally starting to dissipate. "I guess that's good for me though. If it weren't for him, I never would've had any other friends. P-probably would've just stayed inside all day. And I shudder to think what he'd be doing without me to calm him down."

Kisho grunted as if he'd smelled something awful. "Ugh, I don't even want to imagine what he used to be like. I've seen plenty enough of his antics."

"I hear you on that. Believe it or not, he's actually a lot calmer when we're alone. O-or as calm as he can be, anyway."

"Really? I never would've guessed his monkey brain would know when to tone it down."

"Genso said it's like a battery's charge. What was it…the protons moving around the…I forget." Daisuke took a seat, and Kisho felt a minor sense of accomplishment for having made the anxious boy comfortable enough to sit close to him. Even though the round table was at least 15 feet around and he was on the opposite side.

"Oh, spare me an analogy from Genso. I've spoken to him only once or twice, and that one…he's perfectly well adjusted but he rambles on and on."

"Yeah, he has that tendency. Ranika actually blew up on him a while ago for it. Scared him away for a couple weeks. Oh, Ions! That's what he said! Suiiki's like a bunch of ions, and the more there are around him, the more charged up he becomes. If it's just two or three, he's way calmer than in a large crowd. Like…o-out there." He shrunk into his seat, rotating it away from the door.

Sensing his discomfort, Kisho tried to steer the conversation away from mobs. "I agree! He was much easier to talk to than I anticipated when we…wait! No, forget I…"

Daisuke quickly rotated back to face him. "Whoa! You spoke to Suiiki? Like, you guys had a real talk?"

He threw his head back in agony and wished he could put words back in his mouth. "Only minorly! We discussed certain games, it wasn't anything major though-"

"Great!" Daisuke jumped out of his chair. "That's huge! If you guys keep meeting up, maybe you could join us whenever we all hang out!"

"No, I can't-couldn't, i-it's…" The usually well-spoken president found himself fumbling. "The topic was luck, we just happened to play the same game once!"

"Hey, every relationship starts somewhere! See, I knew back then he was being silly! You two could've hit it off so much sooner! If he wasn't so awkward around you and acted naturally, things would've been much nicer."

"…awkward? W-wait a minute…what do you mean?"

"He-Pfft! Daisuke collapsed back into his chair in a fit of giggles. "It's funny actually! He was trying sooo hard to impress you in middle school, he thought you were so, like…you know!" Daisuke posed with his hand on his chin with squinted eyes. "Like that! Cool joe, type of guy! So he was trying to do a bunch of stuff like wearing all black, talking less, he even bought some sunglasses! Boy, am I glad I talked him out of that! He looked like some D movie action hero!"

Kisho's heart started speeding up as he continued on. "That can't be true! I heard him say I was weird and my quirk was weak!"

Confused, Daisuke leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a time. "I don't remember…Yes! Oh god, yeah…" He held his hands to his head.

"Ah-ha! So what you said can't possibly-"

"He was making up stuff to avoid you, he wasn't being honest! Come to think of it, I don't remember you being there when we talked about that, and I remember a lot about that day. That was the same day I ate his large eraser by accident, almost choked and died on it."

"…accidentally ate an eraser?"

"Well, I didn't put it in there myself! We were tossing gummies into each other's mouths in his room and he pranked me."

"But…n-n-no! That…you-!" Kisho's natural composure began to waver. He started seeing memories of his recent activities flash through his mind. "So, what you're saying is…this was all a m-m…" Almost like his mind wouldn't dare let the words be uttered, he stuttered futilely.

"Right! A misunderstanding! If you two had just worked things out earlier, you definitely would've been friends by now!"

While Daisuke kept talking happily, Kisho saw Tsubame's face in his head. How he made her vouch to the Board for his transparently rigged schedule.

"Wow, to think all this could've just been avoided. You see, I was always wondering why you did a complete 180 on us!"

Tsubame's face morphed into Tamura's, his screams filling his head.

"Turns out it's because Suiiki doesn't know how to socialize! Guess he's more like me than I thought! Now isn't that a joke? Kisho? Kisho?"

Tamura's face began to melt as Kisho remembered how he absorbed the blood from his body and turned him into an empty husk. He violently shook his head and tried to clear his head. It didn't work. All the self-righteousness he'd felt while doing everything he had done was being replaced by an insurmountable wave of guilt. He barely kept from hyper-ventilating, and he likely would have had he not felt a tug on his arm.

"K-kisho! S-stop, what's wrong!? You're breathing like crazy, a-and you won't stop shaking!"

He snatched away immediately as if offended. "Nothing's wrong! It's not wrong! I know I-I'm…listen to me." Kisho gripped Daisuke's shirt, putting fear back into the poor boy's heart. "We aren't friends. We will never be friends! What happened then can't be changed!"

"W-what are you saying?! O-of course it can! You just need to talk to Suiiki, clear this up and we can put this-"

"NO!"

His scream rang throughout the room and even inside the halls outside, now mostly empty from the clamorous activity minutes before. He let Daisuke go and stumbled backward with his hands covering his eyes.

"No, Daisuke…I can't go back."

"…why?"

"I'm in too deep. I'm way too deep now."

"W-what do you mean? How-"

"Get to your place. It's time for your final match."

"Wait, hold on!"

"I advise you take your spot lest Hinote win by default. And I've put far too much effort into this tournament to let you squander away my perfect finale."

"…okay." Too meek to challenge his demand, Daisuke took a deep breath and made for the door. "Guess I'll s-see you later?" Turning around one more time, he steeled himself and opened it.

"Daisuke." Kisho lightly spoke from just behind him, making him jump.

"Y-yes?"

"You're a good person. Suiiki might really be lost without you…"

"Huh? Thanks, I think?"

Nodding slightly, Kisho ambled away down the halls, leaving Daisuke lost on the meaning of his last words. He hadn't much time to consider them though; the most important fight of the day was upon him.

Clearing his mind, he strode from the hallway onto the field, the rowdy screaming of fans and students overwhelming his senses. Inwardly terrified, he managed to keep walking even as the feral screams of the crowd became louder and more demonic to his ears.

Standing on the cusp of the arena, he saw his opponent waiting for him, the look in her eyes closer to a predator eyeing its prey. Hinote stood already in fighting poise, her piercing gaze burning a hole through him before she'd even used her quirk. He approached his starting position with one objective:

Survive.

Twenty Minutes Earlier

"Idiots, do they think this is some sort of hangout where all their loser friends conglomerate and lick each other's wounds?!" Hanako stormed out of the infirmary and nearly knocked over a young girl innocently skipping down the hall. "Watch it, prissy!"

The small child held back tears and grabbed her tiara that had fallen off. "You don't scawe me! Mommy says I'm a pwincess!"

"Princess of the slums? Why don't you click your heels twice and go back to the ghetto?"

"T-that'sh not vewy nice! Why are you bein' such a meanie pants? I wasn't a meanie to you!"

You're about to see how mean I can get! "Because…" She took a shaky breath and tried to regain herself. "I'm…okay. I'm sorry, I'll stop being mean!" Hanako forced herself to smile even as she felt her rage building up inside.

"See! You'we pwetty when you smile! Here!" She took her tiara off and handed it to Hanako. "You have lots of hair, like Thrapanzie! Put on! You can be a pwincess too!"

What is that, does she mean Rapunzel!? Is she also mentally handicapped? "Haha, sorry! Not me! Just keep it and go back to your…pawents." That stupid lisp of yours somehow irks me more than that ugly smile on your face. Keeping her clenched fist behind her back, she placed the tiara back on top of the girl's head. "Don't want them to miss their pwincess too long, right? Where are they?"

"Huh?" The girl looked around and started to panic. "Mommy…Daddy!? Where's my…mommy…" Tears started leaking from her face.

How clueless can you get, god I want to punch her until my hand splits open. She gently pat the girl on the head. "It's fine! I'll help you find them!"

"sniff…weally?"

"Weally! Where were you before?"

"Uh…hic…we were outside, at a…uhm…a thingy…with stripes?"

"A…thingy with stripes? Not like that describes 80 percent of the decorations or anything. Thanks for being helpful, you…" She clenched her teeth to avoid continuing.

"Sowwy, I don't know…sniff…I don't know!" The little girl began bawling in the middle of the hall, attracting the attention of several passerby. "I jush wa' my mommy!"

"Ugh, shut up!" She gripped the girl's mouth tightly. "I just told you- IS SOMETHING INTERESTING!?" Hanako screamed at their audience, prompting them to walk away quickly but highly concerned. "I'm an officer, I can handle this unlike some of you and your personal lives! And you!" Once the girl's mouth was uncovered, she immediately began sobbing again. "I said I would help you, so put your big pwincess shoes on and use that tiny brain of yours to THINK about WHERE you JUST WERE! Can you do that? I know, it's a lot to ask!"

"Sturipuh! Sturipuh!" The girl's tiara fell off again while she struggled to hide her tears. She picked it up but for some reason decided against donning it again. "Big…meanie."

Calm down. Stop getting upset with the child…STOP GETTING ANGRY. What would Satori do here, besides pulling out a pen? She turned to the ceiling and wracked her brain for any ideas. "Were you by a bunch of hung-up colorful triangles on string? Like banners?"

"sniff…nuh-uh, it was by…a big tower hic…daddy hit something with a hammer."

The test of strength…I saw that rigged thing earlier. "Good, there's some brain function up there. Let's go." She gripped her arm and filled her head with thoughts of her peers, her go-to when she was struggling to keep herself relaxed. Ignoring some of the girl's random observations, they were soon out in the open concessions area where the clear air helped cool her head immensely. Peering around the corner on the right side of the stadium past the line of tents, she noticed a man with a monstrous arm worryingly pacing to and fro.

"Daddy!" Without hesitating the girl slipped out of her grasp and waddled through the grass, rapidly approaching a slightly hidden puddle.

"Stop, you idiot!" Her warning was useless; the little child slipped and fell face first into the marshy ground. Feeling another flare-up due to the bone-headedness she just witnessed, she covered her mouth to prevent herself from saying anything.

"Jumi!" Her father rushed over and slid into the mud next to her. Panicked, he righted her and checked over Jumi for scratches. "Oh, dear my Jumi!"

"Waaah! M-my…clothes…Wahhhh!"

How grating, all these brats ever do is run and cry. Seeing some blood on her leg, she headed over to quickly heal her until the father stepped in front of her aggressively.

"Who the hell are you!? Freak, if you lay a single hand on my little babe again-"

"Please just be quiet." She threatened through gritted teeth.

"Excuse me?" He walked up into her face and spat on her shirt. "You better get, girlie. Cause I won't tell you again."

Using every last ounce of her willpower, she inhaled so deep her lungs started to hurt and turned away. Seeing her hair had been soiled by the muddy water made her already vitriolic demeanor even harder to withhold. He's not worth it, he is not worth it.

A glint in her eye caught her attention. Looking around the grass for the source, she saw a gem of the tiara jutting out from the mud.

"Sir," She shakily uttered while picking up the accessory. "I'm Officer Hanako, I was approached by your daughter near the infirmary where I was working. Letting her leave your side and meander unattended is highly irresponsible and caused me a great…deal of trouble." She harshly grinded the tiara into his hand, her body unable to retain its emotional rage. "I believe this is hers."

"Uh-huh. sure. Creep." His hand was unaffected and with a 180 in attitude, he doted over his still sobbing daughter. "Aw, baby! Here, don't worry! You're safe now! Let's go find mommy! Wanna see mommy, princess?"

Her sobbing stopped abruptly and she kicked some mud on his shoes. "I'm not a pw…puh-rincess! I'll be a…something else! I don't want a tiawa! Or stupid dwess-dwur…Waaaah!"

"What? Why? My little girl always loves to be called a princess!" He picked rubbed her hair playfully until her noticed her bleeding. "Gasp! Honey boo, your leg!"

"I don' wanna be anything that has a R in it! I hate R! It makes me get mocked by meanies and bullies, I hate it!" As she stomped around, her leg seemed to give way and she fell to the ground crying.

At her wits end, she shot an extension of her finger into the girl's skin. Her scream tempted Hanako to blow her apart but she fought against the urge and healed her scrape.

What's this lump…something else is weird with her leg. Whatever, I'll just remake the inside really quick.

Her leg gurgled and the skin bulged underneath for only a moment before settling down. "There! I'm finished, now you can both get as far away from me as possible!"

"The hell was that! I told you!" The father twisted his monstrous arm. "You don't believe I'd kill for my baby girl?" He slammed his hand into her chest. "Even if you are a cop, no one touches my baby!"

"…you motherFUCKER!" Hanako morphed her right arm into a large growth twice the size of him and pushed him down into the damp grass. Her skin grew over his arms trapping them inside. "Assaulting an officer? You must have a death wish! Should I grant it for you RIGHT NOW?!"

His eyes shrunk when seeing the hatred in her eyes directed solely at him. "Pyscho! L-let go!" He tried to tug his arms out but with no success.

"Daddy, no! She hewp…help me! She nice, don't fight her daddy please leave my daddy alone!" She jumped up and down pounding on Hanako's large. "She fixed me, she fixed me, my leg doesn't huwt anymore! She was twying to helllpp…"

"…wha?"

Damn. Lost control again. "That's…a-hem. That's what I was trying to get at, sir!" She let him go and plastered the most transparent smile ever seen on her face. "I just wanted to heal her leg, that's all!"

Cautious of her, he scuttled over to his daughter and lightly felt a specific part of her leg. "W…wait, it's gone. You really did…well, I'll be! Missy, I have some apologizing to you for–"

"Unnecessary, have a nice day." She barely got through her sentence; her head was throbbing so much. Leaving them to their own devices, she fast-walked away from the drone of the crowds. Past the entrance where no one was lurking, a large tree stood on its lonesome.

"Perfect."

Thrilled to have a moment to herself with no one around, she stuffed a large amount of hair into her mouth and just screamed. Her attempts to muffle her shouts of rage worked, but the aftermath of having hair in her mouth only further inflamed her. She spat out the hair and began hailing blows upon the tree trunk and immediately broke her hand, although this meant little to someone with such accelerated healing as her. This didn't dull the pain however, and each fury-induced strike lead to more pain, leading to more anger, which lead to more strikes, an endless cycle that only had her wincing by the end. With much of her uncontrollable emotions still not vented, she leaned her back against the tree and slid down, tears streaming down her face.

"Why…even against a child…can't I stay fucking calm!?" She shouted the last two words, her own anger causing her frustration. "What is wrong with me, just stop being mad. Stop getting so worked up, come on, stop stop stopStop STOP! AAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Her hands gripped her forearms and dug deep into them. No matter what she tried, any attempt to burn away her unending rage served merely to add more fuel to the fire. Defeated, she gave in to silently crying even though it did little to alleviate her feelings.

"Hanako." The monotone voice startled her but she did little to hide her distressed state.

"Rinasa." She scooted up slightly so as not to look so pathetic in front of her twin. "What are you doing here?"

A small noise between a hum and an exhale was her answer. Rinasa sat down beside her, not caring much that her clothes became dirtied.

"So, did you catch up with Latelia? Hopefully it was worth ditching Ranika for."

"She talked about Paris. I went to sleep for a little while and then I resumed my patrol. It was nice." She answered robotically.

"At least one of us had a good time today. Half my patients were people with brain damage asking if I could heal their hangovers. Honestly, thinking about all that…" She cut the thought short to spare her sanity.

"I know Latelia's return bothered you a lot, I'm sorry about her."

"Now don't be sorry for – hah…" Turning to her side, she brushed her hair between her head and the tree for cushioning. "You don't think I hate Latelia, do you?"

"I see she often agitates you. So I was going to tell her she can't come-"

"No, no. Nuh-uh. Listen, she gets on my nerves, her personality is…a lot and she's put us in the spotlight more than I'd like…but you love her. You love her, don't you?"

Rinasa's cheek reddened. Hardly able to glance at Hanako, she nodded.

"And you somehow made her fall for you! I'm just happy one of us was able to find someone who accepts us as we are." Wiping some leftover tears off her cheek, she faced forward again. "At least, you deserve that much. Especially after middle school. When Shinjiro – or Sunako now – broke up with you because…"

"Because I have autism."

"You don't have to call it-"

"It's autism. I know what it is. To be more specific, the doctor said it was likely a variant of Sch-"

"Stop!" Hanako yelled angrily. "Stop talking about yourself like you're some…subject or something."

"It's a fact. Some people have it, most don't. It doesn't make me feel sad." She paused her sentence, recalling a memory. "I'm happy you treat me normal still. But that's not how everyone else will treat it. It's similar to your anger and how it makes it hard for you to speak to others, it's just how you are."

"But I don't want to be angry, it's not my choice!" She pounded the ground with her fist, a decision she instantly regretted when it made contact with an exposed root. Again she felt herself start to spiral down her inner rage tunnel, but she no longer even had the energy to express it. She merely breathed a long sigh of exhaustion. "It's so tiring! It makes living so hard, just getting annoyed at the TINIEST things! Getting hung up on all the…the unimportant…like the peripheral stuff."

"If you went to a psychiatrist and get diagnosed, they could prescribe…" Rinasa stopped midway when she heard Hanako's muted whines. "What?"

"So much stuff got in the way." She knocked her head against the tree, an act she quickly regretted. "I had everything all planned out! Just kill Kyoya, maybe some lackeys if we're lucky. It was supposed to be easy."

"We had school and money issues back then-"

"But I started thinking about his hospitals and where his patients would go, then who would fund them without his money, then what new company would try to screw over his current…" She sighed with her hand tugging on her hair. "It just became so complicated! The more I learned, the less I knew. I lost sight of the one thing I wanted. Ended up doing nothing at all."

"I don't think it was nothing."

Hanako scoffed. "Dad's still alive, ain't he?"

Rinasa lightly hummed as several ants began crawling along her forearm. "Yeah. But killing him wouldn't have fixed anything either." As the insects began biting her, she lifted them to her face and curiously observed their feeble attack. "Besides just annoying his wealthier friends. We were in over our heads." She yawned while she momentarily activated her quirk, singeing the ants into smoke.

"No, I was in over my head."

A large leaf fell from the treetop onto their heads. "Pardon me, but wouldn't it be better if you two vixens didn't sit directly on the dirt?" Ikasaki swung down from the branch he'd been sitting in.

Hanako put the leaf underneath her and lightly nuzzled against its warm surface, having just been made by Ikasaki. "So besides leavesdropping, what were you doing up there?"

"Leavesdrop – hey, that's clever, that! Really though, I'd thought to take a moment for myself, repairing an arena about 20 times takes it out of you! Thank their lucky stars they've got this hunk of attractiveness to save the day!"

Hearing no reply to his boasting, he looked down and was greeted with a view of Rinasa cuddled up asleep against Hanako. "Ooooh, so she does sleep!"

"Shh!" She hissed at him. Hanako spread her hair over Rinasa's body. "So…'Saki, we're going to hang out here until it's over."

He smiled warmly at her as he lowered himself from the tree with his vines. "I understand, you two bunnies have had enough fighting for one day, hmm?" He lightly kissed both their foreheads. "Get some beauty sleep! I have a Grand Final to judge." He began to walk away but stopped abruptly. "Oh! Uh, by the way, lovey dovey? A touch-up once we're back home? Your hair is a little bit-"

"I'm aware it's messy…thanks."