Chiarezza
Early evening, dorm study corner, Lixdite is concentrating on a spread of papers, moving from one to the next checking for mistakes and referencing them with the data on his phone. A strange sound fills the room, halfway between a whistle and a rattle; the feathers on the tip of his tail should not make any sound even when moving in that way, but an instinctive reflex gathers air around them, creating the sound; in nature, it would be a warning, enough to send chills to anything hearing it, but humans don't know the meaning of it. The serpent is translating coursework twice and is understandably stressed out by it. He translates the assignments once, solves them, then translates them again to finish the job; right now he is finishing the second part.
"Aquila-kun!" The shout breaks Lixdite's concentration; a sound of clattering objects falling resonates around the room, and a mix of stationery is now spread in a mess on the table. The whistle diminishes in intensity.
"Class rep. Can I help?" Isao stands next to the serpent, his helmet making his expression unreadable, but his pose is stern. "Great, I clearly needed to see such a calm and reasonable person right now."
"Your quirk use is irresponsible; this is a place to study, not play around with your pencils!" The serpent looks at the table and the materials scattered around.
"Did I do this? I guess this is stressing me out more than I anticipated." "I am studying. It was not... conscious."
"What are you doing then? I only saw a tornado of stationery, which is very dangerous, I may add!" The whistle intensifies; wind visibly starts gathering in a sphere around the tip of the tail; the uptight classmate doesn't notice.
"Translation. I need to understand the material to complete the assignment. And the teacher needs to understand my answer, so I translate again." "Which is very stressful, I may add."
"Oh well, you can always ask for help if you are having problems. It is my duty as the class representative to help my fellow classmates and my duty as a hero to help those in need!" Without waiting for an answer, Isao grabs a paper at random; it happens to be the finished translation, and he starts reading it.
"I am pretty sure class reps don't have the duty to act like this. The way this guy does things just... I need to calm down." With Isao quiet, the serpent has a chance to relax; even if briefly, the sphere disperses, and the whistle disappears.
"This is really well done actually; I don't think you need my help in this case."
"What?" Lixdite is genuinely surprised to hear that. "Perfectionist Class Rep says I don't need help? Did he read the wrong page?"
"It's very articulate, easy to read, and there are no grammatical errors. And it's also correct; I would grade it quite high."
"Thank you..." "Now if only you were the one grading this instead of Mr. Hayasaka It would be perfect. You could have stopped at the language analysis."
"I have to admit, this gives a whole new impression of you. I think it would do you good to communicate like this."
"Why, thank you! Because I am not trying to do just that, and learning Japanese is really easy, right?" "I am working on that."
"Congratulations on not letting it hold back your studies; some of our classmates should follow your example. Have you seen the club listings? I think the culture club could help your cause."
"I need permission. Sugiyama-sensei was... occupied; I will try later."
"You are putting so much effort into extracurricular activities? I am sure Sensei will approve of your dedication. I would advise you to make your request in written form, but if he saw that, he might think you don't need it, ha."
"You would not be praising me this much if you knew my two clubs are camping and gaming; I don't think either of those are approved by your diligent mind. I guess he could change his mind if we win some competition." "I will keep it in mind." Lixdite maintains his emotionless expression, putting as much effort as he can into not creating a tornado in the dorms, no matter how much he wants to.
"Maybe you should do it anyway, for the sake of clarity. Well, my duties call me; have a good day, Aquila-kun."
"See you." The serpent is left pensive by the last statement. "Clarity, huh? Maybe he is right; I should be more clear. I can't do that normally, but if there is a situation I can prepare myself for, there is no reason why I shouldn't." Taking a moment to calm down, Lixdite gathers the scattered pens and pencils, then resumes his translation efforts, being more careful about his wind this time.
Back in his dorm room, the serpent coils himself on his bed; it's still early in the evening; he worked faster than he had predicted. As annoying as he was, Isao was probably right, just this once; there are situations that he can think of where clarity may have helped. After some time reflecting on it, Lixdite decides to try something; he can't really make the situation worse. Preparing his phone and some paper, he starts on something he considers very old-fashioned but, in this case, probably still effective, a letter.
Dear Shinohara Katsuryoku,
I apologize for the rude introduction, or lack thereof, we had on your arrival to school. As you probably realized on the day of the questionnaire, I am not from around here. I am still getting used to the language and social customs despite the time spent studying them. My quirk, as you quite intuitively understood from the start, has an unfortunate side effect of making people wary of me. The researchers gave it a grandiose name as a joke, but it is, in the simplest of terms, a fear aura (I will attach some useful characteristics of it at the end.), which I cannot turn off or control in any way, and believe me, I tried. It is regrettable, but at the time, simply exiting the conversation was the best alternative I could think of. I lack the fluency necessary to explain the intricacies of my aura verbally, so instead of subjecting you to any undue exposure, I removed the problem at the root. My lack of introduction was simply due to my forgetfulness; I am unused to this environment. I hope this explanation was satisfactory.
Your classmate Aquila Lixdite
At the end of the letter is attached a smaller piece of paper with a list of instructions on theories that could minimize the effects of his aura.
The letter was done; now on to the difficult part, the delivery. Shinihara was not an easy man to approach, and for Lixdite in particular, there were complications. His classmate spent most of his time in his self-appointed laboratory; the serpent saw him carry materials in and out of there many times in his short stay at the dorms, and a distraction during such delicate work due to an unforeseen fear aura could have disastrous consequences for everyone in the dorms, possibly, considering what the materials are. Of course, Lixdite could simply leave the letter under his door at the dorm, but this kind of thing has to at least be done personally; the letter is already too impersonal. The other spot where Shinohara spent a significant amount of time was the food corner of the dorms; distractions there could still be a danger but not on the same level, so it was the best option.
Preparing a makeshift envelope with the name of his classmate on it, the serpent takes a gamble, hoping to find the mechanic in the kitchen. The dorm is almost empty due to the time, but other students are about to come back with curfew approaching. As luck would have it, Lixdite spots the mechanical arms and plasma light streaks of his classmate sitting at the table, several dishes already empty in front of him. "That's a lot of food, or is it? He is the third person that I saw eat a lot; am I the strange one? Which reminds me, I forgot to eat again; I may have to ask ODA to warn me at about this time."
Moving quietly, instinctively, the serpent approaches the table. Shinohara tenses up at first and then turns around in search of the source of the somewhat familiar feeling. The source was closer than he expected. "Oh, fuc—I mean, Aquila-kun, what brings you here? I don't usually see you around the kitchen."
"Now the sentence I prepared." "Good evening, Katsuryoku-kun. I apologize for the sudden appearance. I owe you an explanation, so please read this at your convenience. Have a nice day." After a bow, the serpent delicately places the letter on the table, bows again, and departs.
"Good talk... again." Shinohara is left with his food and confusion.
"I feel a bit sorry for him, but I didn't prepare any more sentences; I could not predict how he would answer."
Having finished his task, Lixdite went back to his room, not feeling accomplished; it's too early for that, but less anxious, he did his best for now.
It's too late to go on his almost daily convenience store visit, but this time Lixdite has some instant food ready. He decides to eat on the roof; the calm will do him good, at least it should. Draped in his wings as a makeshift cape, the serpent observes the night while slowly eating his instant noodles. "It took me a long time to write a simple letter; having to resort to this is kind of depressing. But it beats not doing anything, and it could be useful at some point. Maybe I went a bit overboard with the terms; I don't know what is considered the right tone here, but at least it should be clear. I don't like Isao, but I can't really say I disagree with most of what he says; it just feels so forced. If this works, I will have to write him a letter too, even if I don't want to. What a strange position to be in; I almost want it to fail, almost." Staring at the courtyard outside the dorms, looking at the small shapes of his classmates hurrying to avoid breaking curfew, Lixdite has a final realization.
"Perchè non ci ho pensato prima? (Why didn't I think of that sooner?)"