『ARC ONE: EXAMS AND MISHAPS』

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A loud, stifling sigh escaped Akihiko's lips as he kept his gaze trained on the crisp white painted ceiling above him. To be completely honest, he was bored out of his mind. The medium sized room he inhabited had nothing really entertaining and he was not in the mood to scroll through the internet on his phone. Plus his bag had been placed beside his cot, sitting uselessly on the white tiles.

His mind quickly decided to ponder the exam and its aftermath. After the timer went off, both him and Hitomi were quickly ushered to the nurse's office, where he currently was. Hitomi was cleared fairly quick as she did not have a lot, if any, injuries due to her Quirk making her squishy and hard to injure. In fact, the nurse took one minute to evaluate her status before shooing her away. The red-haired girl managed to voice a goodbye to him before being told that she had to leave the room.

The image of glowing purple butterflies fluttered about in his head right after. His lips pursed together in a straight line as his jaw visibly tightened. His fingers slowly curled around the fabric of the blanket that was placed over his body.

The memory of the luminescent insects and the knowing smile worn by that boy, Junpei was it? That was definitely his name. It sent an uncomfortable shiver threading down his spine with ice at the remembrance of the teen. There was no doubt about it that all the information that he knew about Akihiko was possibly shown or easy to pick apart with the strange kid's Quirk. It left him unnerved every single time his mind decided to make him remember.

One thing that was certain was the fact that Junpei's knowledge definitely had to deal with the butterflies. In what way? Akihiko had no clue. He assumed that the butterflies had to at least come in contact with the other person since the insect was hiding behind him. He really did not know anything else that he could pick out from Junpei's Quirk.

He released a tiny and strained noise that went unnoticed. The periwinkle-eyed boy narrowed his eyes a bit after a dull pain latched onto his temples. All of that thinking with not many answers was beginning to materialize into a headache. He settled on informing Tomohiro when the Hero arrived back from work.

One of his hands slowly trailed up to stomach to feel the softness of the bandages wrapped around his torso. Akihiko was not entirely worried over the injury since the nurse at Mizu Academī was stated to be very efficient and good at his work. The nurse was very knowledgeable and knew how to do his work without a second thought, but his personality could be worked on. However, he felt much too drained to retort or argue or really speak to be honest.

The other thing he was worried about beside Junpei's knowledge was how Tanami and Tomohiro would react. His sister would probably scold him first and then huff for a bit before settling down. His father would just look at him in disappointment, sigh, and then ask if he needed anything in particular to be more comfortable. The corner of his lips quirked up into a small smile at the thought of when Tanami would be told where he was. Where they were at the very least.

He was situated in one of the nurse's offices. Apparently half of the second floor was solely used as a medical wing from what Kagemi, who was unfortunately stuck in his room as well, informed him with much spite laced in his tone. Two people were situated per room. The room they were in was painted a baby blue color with the two cots pushed up against the far wall where a window resided in between the space from one bed to another. Various cabinets were pressed up to the other two walls and were stocked full with various types of medical supplies. The bottom cabinets looked normal but in reality they were small refrigerators filled with bags of blood.

On top of the small bedside tables next to the cots were medium sized cups. Small droplets of red lined the clear plastic rims as a tiny puddle of crimson was sitting at the bottom. A drop trickled down the side of the cup until it plopped onto the table. Rubbing alcohol bottles and cotton balls sat on top of the flat surface alongside the cups.

He shifted as carefully as he could, careful to not disturb his aching ribs. Wincing just a bit from the movement, he adjusted himself to rest his head on the propped up pillow. His head instantly sunk into the pillow and one of the crystals that made up his hair poked annoyingly at his cheek.

Kagemi on the other hand was staring boredly at his phone as he scrolled through whatever he was looking at. He paid no attention to Akihiko, too tired to argue with him, let alone speak to him. His shirt's collar was open, revealing the wrap of bandages that reached from his neck to wrap around his right shoulder.

A few feet away near the cabinets with a tabletop was a rather tall male with a thin and lanky body. Brushing the white bangs out of his sapphire eyes, he finally tucked away the final roll of bandages into the cabinet attached to the wall near the ceiling. Shutting the cabinet door, he sighed heavily. Turning his body, the pair of light blue scrubs along with a white coat swayed just a bit from the movement. Placing a hand on his hip, he scoffed before trekking over to Kagemi.

Kagemi lightly pulled away from the man's cold touch as he lightly pressed two pale skinned fingers to his shoulder. The man's skin tone was alarmingly pale, probably as pale as a piece of paper. The boy relaxed as the nurse shook his head in disappointment. The only reason the glasses-wearing boy tensed up in the first place was because of the frigid temperature the man had emitted.

"I am fully convinced that none of you know how to perfectly and accurately carry out a plan that ends in a way that you acquire little to no injuries. But I suppose you are indeed children. Your brains are not fully developed yet." the nurse rolled his eyes, pulling away from the boy. The white-haired man narrowed his eyes in disgust before turning away with a wave of his pale hand. "Such a pitiful sight, no?"

At the words uttered by the nurse, Kagemi's nose scrunched up in irritation. Those words did not settle well with him. Akihiko just pulled absentmindedly at the corner of the blanket draped over his legs. The crystal-haired boy was far from telling the boy to shut his mouth. "Some of us did indeed have a plan, Kura-san. However, it didn't go exactly as planned due to the fact that none of us know each other well. You cannot expect a group of two or a duo who has no knowledge of the other's Quirks to mold perfectly well with each other. We also had to adapt and plan against experienced Pro Heroes. Of course we would ge injured without prior knowledge."

Only stopping for a second to take a breather, Kagemi continued on with his rant. "Not a sidekick, not an intern, but a Pro Hero. You may be the school nurse as well as one of the healing Heroes, but you don't have to lecture us every single moment you open your mouth."

A mocking yet mirth filled laughter fluttered out of Kura's throat. Opening a drawer, he drew out a syringe, inspecting it as if he was observing it for any inconsistencies in the material. He retrieved a needle, staring at it momentarily before placing it in the syringe. "Do not try to talk your way out of this child. You are the one who managed to get fragments of glass embedded in your shoulder. It is only a matter of time before you get worse injuries and appear in my office once again. Do you even know the true point of the exam?"

Akihiko had tilted his head up a bit. He decided it was high time he got into the conversation but he was not going to defend or comply with Kagemi's words. He really did not want to talk as he felt exhausted from Kura's Quirk on top of what already happened beforehand. The teen still voiced out his question. "The point is saving the citizen right?"

Kura shook his head and clicked his tongue in response. Placing the syringe on a small tray, he shifted. The nurse turned until he pressed his lower spine against the cabinets while curling his fingers around the rail. A sly smirk slipped onto his lips as he chuckled. "The exam results are partially based on saving the citizen. Most of it is based off on whether or not you and your companion can work as fluently as you can in your circumstances."

Bringing his head back, the white-haired nurse drew in a deep breath before his sapphire eyes narrowed to glare at the two injured teenagers. "These circumstances consist of barely knowing the other person or their Quirk as well as how good the two of you can connect to swiftly carry out a plan. The Hero is there to evaluate you on this. Of course, if you have a valid response, I would like to hear it now."

Neither of them spoke as both did not really have a clear cookie cutter response. They settled on nestling into the pillows their heads were laying on top of.

The tips of the nurse's lips curled into what seemed to be a victorious smirk. Pushing himself off the counter, he laced his fingers behind his back as he stepped toward them. "However, the two of you happened to get yourselves injured by charging in blindly. One of you more literal than the other. I wonder what your friend and sister will say- ah, what is her name again? I believe it started with a T or something. I do not bother remembering all of your names. Just memorization of your face will do."

Akihiko chuckled quietly at the mention of his sister. He was honestly wondering when his sister was going to arrive at this point. He gazed at the window to see streaks of orange, yellow, and purple decorating the sky. The colors blended together in a beautiful scene, highlighting the deep red lines melting into the other three hues. His attention was torn away from the scenery from the sound of Kura talking once more. By then, the nurse was tidying the rest of the office while speaking.

"You are going to inform her and- you over there with the hair that is made out of crystal, would you like to explain how you screwed yourself over with charging into a situation that you could have had knowledge but decided not to observe earlier. Please don't give me those condescending looks. Shut your mouths, lay down, and heal." Waving his hand in the air, Kura sent them a leer before returning to putting stuff away.

"With all due respect Kura-san, I would prefer if you did not speak as if we were five-years-old. And do you not have other patients to attend to?" Kagemi raised a hand to push his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. His face was twisted into one of exhaustion and annoyance. "It's not like you have all the time in the world to insult us."

The nurse grimaced, lips tilting downward in a frown and brows pinching together. He raised a hand to the back of his neck before cocking his head. A low sounding crack resonated from his neck. "Fortunately, no. I will stop treating you- or as you say 'referring' to you- as children when you come of age or when you stop doing idiotic stuff. Whichever comes first. It is not like you have the knowledge of an adult, let alone the knowledge and experience acquired by Pro Heroes. Even if you are adopted by one."

The crystal-haired swallowed harshly at the comment. Did everyone know about him and his sister's situation? Akihiko was certain the Tomohiro's agency had suppressed any news about this. He could not help the slight stutter at the beginning of his words. "H-how do you know that? Only a few Heroes know that and I happen to know that you are not one."

"Kohei absolutely loves to drabble on and on and on whenever we have breaks and when we are in the staff room. It is like he does not know the concept of shushing when the time comes, but I am certain you know that. After all, Inscribe constantly throws stuff at him to get him to shut up." Kura commented as he flicked a piece of white hair out of his eyes. He threw them a playful smile before tucking the final medical supplies away.

Akihiko did not press further.

Kagemi had stifled a quiet chortle by raising a hand to his lips."I'm surprised he hasn't gotten brain damage."

"Tomo told me to buy a brick once. He never used it yet. I am scared to know when he does." Akihiko suddenly commented while bringing a hand up to his chin. His father had informed him once to stop by a hardware store while him and Tanami were in a bakery. The crystal-haired teen did not question it but did find it odd. When he asked why, all he received was a serious of annoyed grumbling from the line before it went dead. Akihiko then realised why and shrugged.

"Might as well throw the dog." the glasses-wearing male suddenly suggested. Kagemi's eyes narrowed at his glasses while he wiped the lens with a soft rag before placing them back on.

The periwinkle-eyed teenager scoffed as he cocked his head up from the pillow. A crack came from his neck as he did that. "That will not happen. I am a hundred percent sure that Tomo loves Shishi more than us."

"Oh, I wonder why?" Kagemi said as he waved a hand nonchalantly in the air. He turned back to his phone, tapping it a few times before he drew his finger in a long swipe against the screen.

Akihiko's eyes trailed to the bottle of alcohol sitting innocently on the bedside table. His fingers twitched beside his thigh. "I will throw that bottle of rubbing alcohol at you."

"Will you now?" The other injured male let out a dramatic gasp as he placed his good hand on his chest. He was careful to not mess up the white bandages wrapped around his shoulder. His eyes brightened as a thought materialized in his mind. "Won't that irritate the status of your healing ribs? Go ahead and throw it. That means you have to suffer more."

Instantly, the crystal-haired boy glared at the other male. He had half a mind to fling the alcohol bottle at him but Kura was leering at him as he was counting the amount of blood bags that were in one of the refrigerators. Akihiko instead settled on glaring as that did not take as much effort. He spared a quick glance at the clock before returning to stare at Kagemi. The light streaming through the window hit the ends of the small crystals that framed his face and sent an array of purple hues to shine on the fabric of the blanket.

Akihiko spent the next five minutes huffing similar to how his sister would. In that small time frame, he carefully lifted the blanket off his body before throwing it over his shoulders and hiding his hair with the fabric while his fists clenched the ends of it. He was certain he looked like a child but he was exhausted, bored out of his mind, and injured. He did not care at this point.

The nurse's office was silent for a few more minutes and he relished in the peacefulness. But then, his mind instantly shifted to the occurrence that happened earlier in the day. He suppressed a groan at the remembrance and proceeded to narrow his eyes at relatively nothing.

It was not much longer before the sound of hurried footsteps slamming against tiles echoed in the corridor. Kura lifted his head, stared at the door for a moment, shrugged, and turned back to mumbling something about disorganization and how the assistants misplaced some blood bags. Not even a second later passed by before the door flung open. Placing her hand on the frame of the door, a frazzled Tanami who was heaving heavily and bent slightly at the waist emerged.

Kagemi gave a small wave while Akihiko shifted so he could take a glance at Tanami's expression filled with disbelief before it shifted in one of concern and anger. Behind her popped out Kohei, or Metallic, who wore a large grin that met his deep gold eyes as he watched Tanami storm over to her brother and friend. Kura nearly sneered at the sight of Kohei before choosing to roll his eyes and turning away. The blond Hero smiled while clasping his hands. He was still wearing his Hero costume which was a skin tight costume which was a combination of gold and silver.

"Oh my gosh! I thought Kohei was kidding when he said both of you would be in the infirmary. How did this even happen? It hasn't even been one day- not even a day! We were in there for what, 10 minutes?!" The female crystal threw her hands in the air to emphasize her jabbing points. After that, she crossed her arms and stared pointedly at her brother for an answer.

Releasing a loud sigh, Akihiko shook the makeshift blanket hoodie slightly off his head. It was just enough that his bangs were visible. "If you would like to know, dear sister," his tone was ebbing into a mocking tone at the end, "I ended up getting the Hero Shift in the earthquake area. As you know, she is very well known to hit hard. I did not think that in an exam that she would strike hard enough to break a bone, let alone my ribs."

Tanami let out a small chortle that lingered with slight exasperation toward the end. She shifted her attention to Kagemi. "What's your excuse?"

Placing his phone down onto his lap, Kagemi's lips slipped into a frown as his voice quickly took on a tone of frustration. The creases of stress were drawn onto his forehead as quickly as Tanami inquired her question. "Smoke and paper should be experimented more before you try to see how well they can mix together. Long story short, I got shoved into one of the broken windows and shards were embedded in my shoulder. Unless that is not noticeable given the bandage wrap."

"Do you want more shards in your shoulder, Kagemi?"

"Now, now, no need to threaten people, let alone your own friend, for being sassy, Tanami. Who would you talk to then?" The white-and-black-haired teenager stated in a knowing tone. He allowed an innocent look to take over his expression and spoke slowly.

"Shishi."

A string of joyous laughter escaped Kagemi's mouth. "He'll just eat your phone."

"At least I know he will fetch me candy."

"Are you still mad that you couldn't steal my tamagoyaki?"

Before the banter could continue on, Kohei suddenly interrupted the conversation clapping three times. With a grand smile and a cheerful chuckle, he quickly turned to the nurse. "Well kiddos, I got to talk to Nao-san over here-"

Kura immediately shot up from his position. With a glare and a reaction of revolt, the nurse sneered in response. "Why do I need to talk to the likes of you?"

"Because it concerns the next batch of medical supplies that you requested!" Ignoring Kura's rude behavior, Kohei placed his large hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"Medical supplies?" the sapphire-eyed adult looked baffled as he stared in confusion. Shaking his head, he began to retort. "I have already gotten the bat-"

He could not even respond before Kohei had latched his fingers around the nurse's wrist, tugged him lightly to get him off balance, and had dragged him out of the office without another word. Kura had stammered a few insults and a yelp. His feet scraped against the tiles as he tried to regain his balance. He did not succeed as Kohei had successfully tugged him out. That was all the three teenagers heard before the door slammed shut with a rumble.

"Oh, okay...?" Tanami mumbled in a daze from the sight. She blinked a few times and kept her gaze on the now shut door. Tearing her attention away, her fingers quickly found their way around a nearby chair. Pulling it in between the space of the two beds and propping it against the the window, she sat down. Light filtering through the glass seeped into her crystal hair and a soft glow was emitted as it lightened her clothes.

"That was strange," Kagemi commented with a light tone. His nose crinkled as he seemingly pondered over something. A few moments passed before he shrugged and rolled his eyes. "But considering how odd everyone who works at this school is, I won't waste much time thinking about it."

Sinking into the bed, Akihiko allowed his eyes to shut. The sirenic song of sleep was beginning to lull him. His grip on the blanket was beginning to loosen but still kept a weak grip to keep it wrapped around his shoulders. His breathing slowed as did the rise and fall of his chest. His head slipped down so his cheek was uncomfortably slouching on his shoulder.

However, his few minutes of sleep were quickly interrupted. The lock on the door clicked as the hinges creaked quietly. The door was pushed open and both Kura and Kohei stepped inside before shutting it once more. The nurse's face was deadpan, a dull glint shining in his eyes. His narrowed gaze stayed on Tanami's distracted figure. He placed a hand on his hip for a few seconds before dropping it.

Jabbing his index finger at her, he said, "You,"

Picking her head up, the female twin raised her head from staring at her twiddling thumbs out of boredom. Cocking her head to the side in confusion, Tanami takes a second to point at herself with an innocent expression. "Me?"

"Yes, yes, you girl. Who else must I be talking about?" the nurse stated while flicking a pesky strand of white hair that fell into his line of sight. He released a loud sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Why must all children be so slow to catch onto things?"

Tanami's brow's furrowed together as she shook her head. "Why do you need to be so opinionated?"

Stifling a snort, a sly smile slipped on Kagemi's lips at the retort. Kura raised a brow at the boy and Kagemi's quiet laughter soon came to a halt but the little smile still stayed on his face.

"Anyway, what do you need me for?" the periwinkle-eyed girl questioned. She leaned forward, propping an elbow on her knee to rest her chin in her palm.

If anything, Kura only scoffed and signaled for her to stand up and walk up to him. "You were put in the same area as Impression. I believe it was said in your data that you were blindly momentarily."

"You were blinded?" Akihiko bolted up into a sitting position before wincing. The aching in his ribs were almost completely gone as the bones were almost healed. His eyes were widened slightly as his face shifted into one of concern.

His sister shrugged, but he instantly noticed that the movement was rather stiff than relaxed as it should. A flash of fear struck her irises, however, it was gone as fast as it appeared. With a tight smile, Tanami let out a fruitful yet barely shaky laugh. "Yeah, Impression's Quirk allows him to take your senses. Sadly, I had my sight taken and my teammate- ugh, don't get me started about him- had lost his hearing. You know how hard it is to communicate with someone when you have no clue where they are and you don't know if you are gesturing correctly since you can't see. Overall, it is very hard."

The male twin swallowed harshly, not buying his sister's attempt at a quick cover up. He knew her long enough that he knew that something was wrong. Akihiko kept his mouth shut and did not comment on it. He can wait for an answer when the two of them were alone. He spared a quick glance at Kagemi. The other boy looked visibly confused but not enough to see the entire picture.

"I need to do a check up on your eyes just to be assured that no after effects due to his Quirk. It may not seem relevant to you but I am the nurse here and unfortunately, I have to make sure that your eyesight is the same as it was before." Kura pointed out while searching for a small flashlight.

It was needless to say that Kura took his time when it came to inspecting Tanami's eyes. He would move slowly, stare longer at her pupils and retinas than needed, and proceeded to make her perform every single vision test he could think of. Color blindness test, ocular motility testing, stereopsis test, retinoscopy, visual acuity, you could name it and Kura most likely did it. It did not help that he had access to everything needed in order to perform this.

By the time that the nurse decided that four hours of vision tests were his limit, it was around ten at night. The sky was no longer a combination of bright ametrine but a deep onyx that shined with specks of dust painted over the curtain like crystalized grains. The crescent moon hung heavily in the darkened veil, illuminating the ground in a silver glow. So much time had passed that both Akihiko and Kagemi had healed completely. The only thing left was for the nurse to take off the bandages.

And he did so, painfully slow. The white-haired adult would unwrap, halt for a few seconds as if it was something needed to be done, then continue unwrapping for both of them, it took an extra hour so the clock hanging on the wall read eleven something. At this point, all three were exhausted, cranky, and in no mood to walk back home close to midnight. No one wanted to stay this long at school and no one wanted to be stalled any longer.

While all of this occurred, Kohei would happily chat with everyone. Whether they responded or not, the Hero talked just to fill the silence. Given that everyone was used to this, they let him speak as long as he wanted to, sometimes making comments or yelling at him to shut up. The latter only applied to Kura.

"Finally!" Tanami raised both her arms above her head, laced her fingers and stretched. A line of resonating refreshing pops came from her joints. "I thought those tests were never going to end! I am never going to the eye doctor!"

Rolling his neck, Kagemi raised a hand to cover his yawn. "I go to the optometrist once a year and they don't even due the amount of tests he did to you."

"I am just glad that I no longer have bandages on my chest and stomach." Akihiko rubbed the side of his face with his knuckles.

Staggering to the door, the three halted due to the cheerful chime that resonated across the room. Kura groaned at the annoying noise but did not say anything else. Kohei laughed quietly and sheepishly shrugged. "Sorry about that. You three wait here. I'll drive you home. I'm certain Tomo would not like you walking home."

Fishing his phone out of his pocket, the blond tapped the screen. Raising the phone to his ear, his expression fell into one of grimace. Not even five seconds had passed by before the call ended. Looking at the trio of teenagers, Kohei shakily sighed and said, "we have to stop by the hospital. Tomohiro has just been emitted."

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Author's note:

And that wraps up chapter seven. I was supposed to include what happened to Tomohiro this chapter but it trailed off longer that I expected. Seriously we are inching into 5000 word territory at this point. Did I want to not tell you Tomohiro's condition yet: no.