Giorno di Pioggia
Japan was different from how Lixdite imagined it; only knowing it from anime and games, he was expecting a sprawling metropolis like Tokyo. Kyoto instead was more traditional, or maybe that was not the right word; it was not as tall. The lack of skyscrapers was somewhat disappointing; Lixdite was looking forward to them since Italy tends to have short buildings as well. He always liked high places; he was not sure why, maybe it was his quirk influencing him, maybe it was the isolation allowing him to worry less, maybe it was the quiet that allowed him to keep his emotions under control in the first place, or maybe it was a combination of all of them. Despite the lack of true skyscrapers, there were buildings that offered a good place to rest; the dorm where he was supposed to live was one of them. It was during his morning meditation on the roof that he caught the first signs of rain.
"The weather is getting worse; I wonder if the others will realize in time. Should I warn them? Probably not worth it, it would cause them more trouble than help." With these worries in mind, the serpent rose to his feet, uncoiling his tail, and stepped off the roof, lazily unfurling his wings. An unnatural current caught him, delivering him safely to the open window of his room, already empty by now. "Strange, someone got out early"
Having already prepared to go out before meditation, Lixdite had nothing left to do but get out himself. The corridors are filled with noise and people, students hurrying because they overslept, exchanging small talk with friends, cramming at the last moment for one test or some forgotten homework, the chaos slightly subsided as the feathered approached. Glances from all around, yet not meeting his eyes even by mistake, by this point he was used to it, and as the chaos resumed after his passage, he knew that his fellow students would at least pretend to do so as well. Among the suspicious glances and hushed comments, there was someone that reacted differently.
"Greetings, Aquila-kun, you seem early today." Yamasaki Yuudai, a classmate and someone who managed to resist the pressure surprisingly well, or maybe he was just really good at hiding his emotions. He didn't even turn around.
"Good morning Yuudai-kun. You see me early? Time seems the same to me." Japanese was a struggle, writing much more than speaking however so he was adapting pretty quickly. He would be very embarrassed to admit anime helped. "How did you know me?"
"You have a certain presence, it's easy to recognize once you know what to look for." For the first time in this conversation, Yuudai turned to face his interlocutor, his face calm but somewhat tired.
"I see, sorry, I can not avoid that." Balancing intonation to sound genuine while also maintaining his calm facade was not easy, one of the two had to give, this time it seemed like the intonation lost. "It will rain, the wind speaks so, you may need... protection?" With a limited vocabulary sometimes generalizing was needed, misunderstandings were as a result sadly common.
"I appreciate the concern Aquila-kun, I will keep it in mind. We should get going soon, you don't need an umbrella?"
"My wings, they don't get wet easy, they dry easy. I like rain, calming."
"I see... well, I will go ahead, economics awaits." With a final curt nod, Yuudai leaves at a brisk jog, part of his training probably, it seemed to never end.
*"No umbrella uh. I hope he outruns the rain then." With a small yawn Lixdite also starts to walk in the direction of school, much less in a hurry at a leisurely stroll.
The rain started not long after, and the surrounding students started making even more noise. It's close enough to the dorms that some decide to go back, most just start running instead, and a few just freeze from choice paralysis. Lixdite continues unbothered, using his wings as a cape of sorts, walking along the chaos and spotting a student running backwards? KK, as she reminds people to call her, is soaked and running to the dorms from right next to the school, it seems. Some time ago he would have been surprised by the irrational behaviour but by now he has seen her quirk at work so many times that he just assumes she is using it every time she does something strange, most of the time he is right.
"Time loops, never would I have imagined having to deal with them on a daily basis now. Warning her would have done nothing, she already has herself for that. Would she even listen?" He half expected to see her running to school with an umbrella in a couple seconds, sometimes her quirk feels like omnipresence to him instead of time travel. Another different means of travel was Takata, the Kraken boy, Lixdite felt a strange sense of familiarity for the fellow student, it was probably just his knowledge of mythology. The sound of rushing water preceded the tentacled student, a small wave under him was sliding him to school, the other students watching curiously but with no need to get out of the way, he was very far from the crowd. "So someone else is benefiting from this, it seems a bit more direct for him. It's a bit of a shame he will not be able to enjoy the rain this way." Watching his classmate was still not enough to make Lixdite change his pace, school can wait a little longer.
Having reached the school Lixdite was just walking in when he saw some students drying umbrellas before entering. "Oh right, water." The sound of wind overtook the little alcove in front of the main door, the students looked on in confused horror as a localized typhoon was starting to develop right beside them but was gone in a moment, and the snake was now dry. Ignoring the stares he heads inside, with only some students backing off in horror, it was an improvement over the last few days, all things considered. Now came the hard part, finding the class was somewhat problematic when he could not just fly up to get a better view, it was a new place and enclosed spaces were slightly harder for him to get used to. "Maybe I should have followed Yuudai, getting lost doesn't seem like him. Being able to read any of these signs would help a lot." With a sigh the winged student decided to just enter a room at random and hope someone would correct him, a nearby potted plant shook from a stray gust.
As the door swung open the atmosphere in the class suddenly shifted, all eyes pointed at the door. The teacher looked at the strange sight at the door, confusion clear on his face, and as he was about to ask, the snake beat him to the punch.
"Sorry, wrong room."
Somewhat calmer now the teacher managed a steady reply. "Well, it is the beginning of the year. What class are you from?" It was impressive how a random teacher was able to apparently resist his aura, maybe the elite status of the school was not just for show.
"1-D, transfer student."
"I see, the hero course is on the other side of the building." Seeing the confused look on the transfer student's face the teacher added. "I can send someone to show you the way, but you better remember it. Mieko-chan, please guide the transfer to his class." A girl jumps after probably hearing her name called out like that. After looking at the red eyes that she could swear were glowing on the face of the invading monster and then looking at the teacher, she apparently reached a solution: the teacher was scarier.
The girl got up and approached the door. "P-Please follow me." It was barely a wisper, but Lixdite heard her anyway.
"Tank you. Sorry to bother." A sudden very stiff bow accompanied those words, the girl flinched.
The journey to the other side of the school was very quiet, the guide was visibly trembling so Lixdite attempted to reassure her.
"You are hurt." Those words did not have the desired effect, the girl froze completely in her tracks. "Did I say something wrong? Were those the wrong words? I am sure it's not an embarrassing matter this time."
"W-W-What, how, why?" A barrage of barely understandable questions, directed more at the universe than at the creature in front of her.
"Your knee, it's hurt. You fell? Need healing?" His blood sense was not that precise, but with the weather being what it is and the general zone he could feel the reaction from it did not take much to guess.
In her panic the girl glances at her own leg, a very faint red stain started forming on her socks. "That's... right?" She sounded unsure of her own state. "I slipped on the way here, the forecast was wrong." The feeling of panic momentarily subsided with the distraction. "I did not have time to bandage it properly, I was already late."
"Health important, ignoring is bad." The frustration of not being able to express himself was starting to get to him, but the girl stopped trembling, it was progress. "Have a cloth, good for wound." Lixdite offered a handkerchief to the very confused girl.
"Why do you have this?"
"Prepared is better than not." After a short pause the girl takes the offered cloth.
"Thank you. I don't even know your name."
"Oh right, what was the tradition again? Family name first, proper name second, and I don't add honorifics to myself right?" "Aquila, nice to meet you."
"Mieko, likewise." As the girl's attention went back to the feathered snake her feeling of general unease started buiding up to a panic again. This time however it was mixed with confusion, why was she so afraid exactly? She could not shake the fear but it was not as intense anymore.
The guide quickly bandaged her scraped knee and started walking again. The rest of the way was still in an uneasy silence but the girl was not trembling anymore so as far as Lixdite was concerned this was a massive success, it was unusually easy to get her not to panic. "Now it would be amazing if she didn't just forget about this the next time we meet so I don't have to start over from scratch, sadly I know that's not how it works, it's not that easy. I don't think I will ever meet her again anyway, I am pretty sure that was the general studies class." The girl stopped in front of a room, sounds of chatter could be heard inside.
"This is 1-D, the hero course, class is about to start so you should hurry." A look of confusion adorned the young girl's face, almost overpowering the fear, as she pointed to a wall clock nearby.
"That's a new look, it almost seems as if she was studying me. Maybe she's just strange." After another stiff bow and thank you Lixdite opened the door to the room in a sudden surprisingly fluid motion. The girl was too stunned to react and as the door opened, she quickly moved to the side.
"Lixdite-kun, you were almost late, please take a seat Tyler-sensei will be here any minute now, I don't feel like hearing one of his lectures." What greeted Lixdite on the other side was the laid-back face of his homeroom teacher, Sugiyama-sensei did not seem particularly mad about the near-late arrival. "I have to say, you are cutting it close, that's either impressive or reckless."
"Sorry, rain." Before entering the snake remembered something, he glanced at the sign on top of the door trying to remember the shapes on it, he also saw something else. "She's still here? She looks... mad? What did I do? She told me to hurry, right?" But he did not have time to dwell on it, the teacher's voice reminded him of the time so he simply nodded and entered closing the door behind him.
"Now that we're all here, for real this time, we can start with the day's program. First period is economics, try to pay attention, you may need it one day." The schedule goes on, at some point Mr. Tyles arrives and starts preparing his materials in the background after a brief greeting.
End of the first period, the bell signals the brief respite between one class and the next. Mr. Tyler ends the lesson as quickly as possible without leaving out important stuff. "Remember that this will be on the exam." The class is unperturbed, at this point they are not sure if it's a joke or not but it's a frequent end-of-lesson statement, it even has mild success in making the student retain the information, until next class at least.
As the teacher leaves KK enters, a second one, some classmates are still surprised by the double. The present KK gets up from her desk and gets intercepted by her future self stopping whatever she was about to do, they exchange some uncharacteristically quiet words, glance at Lixdite, then quickly depart. "What? I didn't even speak with her today. Or have I not done it yet? It's too early in the day for this." The rest of the class starts leaving the room too, leaving the confused Lixdite behind. "I should follow them, even if I know where the rescue class is I don't have time for detours anyway."
For the rest of the day the hero student feels watched, more than usal anyway, in places that should be empty, or when people should not even know he is there. Being used to similar situations the student doesn't give it much tought, being paranoid never did him any good, none that didn't get him in trouble anyway. Moving around so much means he has the chance to learn what the signs look like if not what they mean, and the fact almost everything is labeled does help, unlike his old school. Following the rest of the hero course prevents him from getting lost during the day, that is until lunchtime when they all more or less split up.
Eating is a struggle too, like most of the new things in Japan apparently, so most of the time Lixdite just finds some bread or a sandwich; maybe one day he will try to use chopsticks, today is not that day. Taking his newfound strange bread he retreats to the roof, where the feeling of being watched doesn't follow him, and starts eating while watching the campus. "Not sure what I was expecting with something called melonpan, but this was not it. It's closer to some sweet than bread, and doesn't taste like melon at all. Maybe I should learn how to make pizza, the others have those bento boxes sometimes, I should be able to make a box-shaped pizza." His lunch does not last long, but the bell has yet to ring so he weighs his options. Deciding that getting lost once is enough for one day he stays on the roof, observing his surroundings hoping to find one of his classmates to follow to the next lesson.
What catches Lixdite's attention is a figure off to the side of the courtyard, hidden in the shade of the building avoiding the outside even if the rain stopped, almost afraid it could start again. Recognizing the figure is not hard, Reiji was acting shadier than usual even for him, checking his back and hugging the wall, it was a curious sight but not much out of the ordinary. Just as the feathered student's mind starts to wonder on the why his classmate is acting like that the bell rings, signaling the end of lunch and causing Reiji to head back to the main building. Afraid to lose his unknowing guide, Lixdite jumps off the roof and glides in the direction of his classmate, a riskier maneuver than floating vertically down as it attracts more attention but is much faster. An ominous shadow appears on top of Reiji as he enters the school, he turns around to find the serpent already on the ground folding his wings with a neutral expression.
"What the fuck man?! What are you doing here?" There is a strange mix of anger and fear in his voice, somehow it doesn't seem the normal reaction to the aura.
"Going to class. Lunch ended."
"Ok, then why are you here behind me, gliding like a damn stealth drone?!"
"Don't want to get lost. So I follow." Something about this explanation still seems to not sit well with Reiji, as if he did not believe it.
A sigh. "Let's go then, I guess I can be early once in a while."
"He looks more annoyed than I expected, my aura shouldn't do that." Reiji starts walking, presumably in the direction of class, not that Lixdite would be able to tell now. "He is not looking me in the eyes, that seems to lessen the effects of the aura somewhat, and we are in the same class so he should have some resistance. I wish they had tested it more last time, but they focused on my air control and my tendency to hold grudges because they considered them more impactful. Even my strange sense for blood was barely tested, but nobody knew I had it before then so that is understandable. That's why mom sent me here, for the quirk science, but how long will it take for me to know enough Japanese for tests of that kind?" Reiji did not seem aware of his classmate's internal monologue, the aura probably affected him more than he let on, or he just didn't care.
"Here we are, back to 1-D. You should get a digital dictionary or something, they have image capture nowadays." Without waiting for a response the hacker entered the room leaving his classmate to ponder his surprisingly considerate advice.
"Well I do have a phone, but I don't have it connected to my brain 24/7. There is something I should be able to do with it at least." Before entering Lixdite took a picture of the sign on the door, like this he did not have to remember it himself. It was a stopgap measure, he still needs to learn the language but maybe some compromises to not get lost would be acceptable.
Night, dorm roof. The air is colder than usual, the humidity from the morning's rain still has not passed, the feathered serpent lies on the roof covered by his wings like a strange half cocoon. Looking at the stars and the night sky he reflects on the recent events, it's not been that long since he transfered to Shiketsu, since he decided to be a hero. "Everything is so different, but the sky is the same. How long will it take me to speak like I did before? Other than the language barrier and the different culture it still does not feel like I am at a hero school, the subjects are normal and for the ones that are supposed to be special we are still only doing theory. I don't even know why we study economics, what does that have to do with saving people?" The cold wind blows, it swirls around and gathers on the form of the serpent, with a deep breath it dissipates. "I shouldn't think too much about it, these things take time, I'm supposed to be here three years after all. Rome wasn't made in a day, and patience is a virtue." The cold wind gathers again. "I can't fool myself too much, it will have the opposite effect. I better calm down." With one last sigh Lixdite stands up. "I wish I could sleep here sometimes, but I don't want to cause problems, not many at least. My roommate also needs to sleep, and the window can't stay open all night."
So the winged student carefully enters his room and closes the window; tomorrow he needs to wake up early.