Seven years hurry by, and my quirk gets stronger and stronger. I am now fourteen years old and still growing. Over the years, I am able to summon three more flames, but with my new strength comes new problems. I discover that I would have these crazy breakdown sessions where my quirk becomes almost uncontrollable if I'm too angry. This first happens somewhere near the beginning of the second semester of eighth grade. It happens like this:

I've tried not to interact with anyone much, seeing as my quirk is constantly judged anyway. It isn't until I am walking through the hallways of Naetwo Middle when I hear something in one of the unused classrooms.

Okay, there wasn't anything posted of some special event or something happening in there. Eh, maybe it's just some kids sticking their noses where they shouldn't be. Not my problem. I start to continue down the hall for my next class, when I feel some kinda urge to go in the room. Alright, Yurei. Just ignore it. It's not your fault if they get in trouble. You got work to do.

Before I make another move however, I hear banging and almost someone yelling from the other side of the wall.

Dagnabbit, now I have to go in. I sigh out loud and walk to the door. Not wanting to announce that I had shown up, I summon flames in both my hands to phase through soundlessly. Silently stepping into the room, I catch sight of a group of boys standing in front of a closet.

One of the boys has scarlet hair with black tips that seems to threaten anyone who would dare cheese him off. His quirk isn't very obvious, but the boys flanking him obviously have mutation quirks. One has a scorpion tail, while the other looks like he has some sort of gooey gelatin as arms.

The closet in front of them pounds, and someone whines from inside. "C'mon, Sicuto, let me out!"

"You gonna give us the answers to the exam, Quills?" the middle boy mocks.

"N-no!"

"Then I don't see why I should."

"I don't get it, dude," the gelatinous boy states. "He usually cracks so easy. I dunno why he's being so stubborn today."

"M-my mom said that I shouldn't give bullies like you what you want, s-s-so I'm not gonna!"

"Quills!" The middle boy calls. "I'm gonna give you to the count of three, and you better spill, or you're never coming out!"

"No!"

Before he could start counting, I step forward. "'Scuse me." The boys turn in surprise. "I'm sorry, who you got in there?"

"Aw, make like a heavy box and scoot." The middle boy threatens.

I blink as I recognize the teen as one of my classmates, Riyaki Sicuto. He's pretty well know around the school for picking fights with other students. I don't know anything about his quirk though. Gotta play it safe. "Sicuto, was it? Listen, man, you're in a pretty bad position right now. I can legit walk on over to the hall monitor and inform him of your doings. Let the kid go, and we'll forget this happened."

Sicuto angrily looks over his shoulder at me and clutches his crossed arms, seeing I am right. He himself unlocks the closet door and swings it wide open. Inside, another boy leans nervously against the shelves in the closet.

The kid also has a mutation quirk: a porcupine. This explains why Sicuto called him Quills. His hair is fairly tall, about two-thirds the height of his head, and I notice that it's replaced with a patch of quills that run from all over the top of his head and down his back. They seem to brush down well as his quills ever so slightly poke at the back of his t-shirt. As the kid steps forward a bit, the light reflects off his brown pins like they've been gelled. He looks almost petrified as he slowly walks on quivering legs past Sicuto and his gang. Sicuto scoffs, as I gesture for the kid to leave. Still a bit dazed, the porcupine walks to the doorway and watches us.

Completely fine with this, I look back at Sicuto as I walk toward the door myself. "Thank you." I say, a bit annoyed, but thankful I didn't have to be a part of something rash.

"Wait," Sicuto grunts. I stop and look back at him. Sicuto puts up his fists. "Let's battle. Here and now."

Dang it! I scowl and turn back to the door. "I'm not in the mood right now."

"What? You scared?" His immature taunts are futile.

"Sure. Whatever."

"Hang on, dude. I know him," the scorpion states. "He's the ghost kid. The guy with that quirk from hell."

I pause in shocked anger. "What?!" I sharply glare back over my shoulder with the light reflecting in my yellow eyes. The porcupine kid ducks more behind the doorway.

"Yeah, doesn't he summon demons or something?" The goopy boy catches on. "Pfft! A villain's quirk if I ever heard one."

"Excuse me, punk, I inherited my quirk from my parents." I fully turn toward the boys and set my clutched fists ablaze with my purple fire. The porcupine shakes his head nervously.

"Well," the scorpion kid continues. "now I guess we know what they were then, huh?" I grit my teeth in hatred as I mentally dare him to finish his thought. "A couple of no-good. Lowlife. Criminals."

That did it. I furiously leap at the kid, pushing past Sicuto and the gloopy kid, and violently tackle the scorpion to the ground. My eyes completely morph into hollow, yellow ovals as the kid struggles to push me off. He quickly peeks his long tail from over his left shoulder and quickly jabs it at my head. Somehow seeing this coming, I move my head to dodge and punch the kid straight in the nose. To help his companion, the gloopy kid yanks me off with his elastic-like limbs and brings me toward him. He then extends his arms more and wraps them around me, ready for Sicuto to come in and perform the next blow. I summon all my flames around me and my captor to lift us both in the air. I push off the ground to give us more of a boost as Sicuto swings at nothing. Catching the gloopy kid off guard, I spin us upside down and push him off me, releasing him from my levitation and hurling him at Sicuto, who dodges to the side to have the kid fly past him and knock the scorpion back over. I quickly land on my feet and summon the two ghost minions I can and send them in the bullies' direction. Sicuto swings at the sudden additions, missing terribly. However he quickly changes his objective, ducks past the ghosts, and comes flying at me. He jumps up to throw a devastating punch. To block, I bring my one remaining flame up in my left hand to slow down his fist so I can easily catch it. I grab his incoming fist and quickly do the same to his other hand when he tries on the opposite side. We're fist to fist and pushing against each other with all our might.

I want nothing but revenge at the moment. I'm not gonna take an insult about my dad like that. I want them to pay! I want them to-.. I want-... Before I could finish my vengeful thought, I start to feel drowsy and light headed. Through my half opened eyes, I can see Sicuto with the same look of exhaustion, but still fighting. Now's my chance! With him drowsy, I can-... I can...

I finally fall to the floor, weak and half-conscience. I look a bit up to catch a slight glimpse of the porcupine kid with an adult at the doorway. There's an odd yellow mist floating in the room. I close my eyes fully, too weak to press on.

———————————————————

I wake up on a bed of some kind. I still feel incredibly groggy and unstable. I look around the room and gather that I'm in the of nurse's offices. Sicuto and his friends are in the room with me on separate beds. His friends are still asleep, but Sicuto is sitting up with a bandage around his upper left arm. He angrily glares at me but doesn't say a word. I look past him to see his companions bandaged up from our fight in the room. I summon a flame in my hand to check if my quirk was still functional. It still is. Thank God for that.

A nurse finally steps in with the principal. The two stern authorities stay standing to show that we've majorly goofed. Principal Koyami, a buff man with his hands behind his back, stares each of us down, even the boys who are still unconscious. I know our principal's quirk. It is one called Perspective. He can see all situations from all angles and can replay in his mind what a person has seen within the last two hours if he touches them with all five of his fingers.

"You four are in big trouble," he begins in a heavy, gruff voice. "I understand that you boys were fighting in one of the unused classrooms?" Sicuto and I remain silent. "In the middle of your dance, Hall Monitor Tumiro stepped in and stunned you all."

Now I remember. Our hall monitor, Mr. Tumiro, has a quirk that sends out a mist that paralyzes and knocks out anyone who breaths it in.

"Furthermore, all of you were supposed to be in class." The principal sighs. "Here's what's going to happen. Mr. Sicuto, I'm suspending you and your friends for four weeks." He looks at me. "Mr. Seshin," I cringe, ready to take the punishment. "I'm not suspending you, but I'll let you go with a warning." My eyes widen in confusion as I stare back at the principal. Sicuto angrily glares at me again out of the corner of his eye. "It's because of this: a little after you four started your fight, the porcupine, Mr. Tojuta reported this to Mr. Tumiro." So it was the porcupine that sold me out. "After you four were knocked unconscious, Mr. Tojuta also reported to me that you saved him from Sicuto's ruthless bullying. I've checked your memories to confirm this, and they all align with what he said. However, Mr. Seshin, you lost your temper and dealt the first blow. Only you and Mr. Sicuto didn't receive any injuries. While I support your deed to end this bullying, Mr. Seshin, I am not pleased with your reaction. Please refrain from fighting like this again."

I nod, still a bit cheesed at Sicuto and his gang. "Yes sir."

"You're dismissed then. You were only unconscious for half an hour, so school's still going. It's 2:37 now. Please go to your current class."

"Yes sir," I address his orders again and head out. Lucky break back there! I gotta make sure I don't goof like that again, or the principal will surely have it out for me.

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After my final class of the day, (biology,) I begin to the front door of the school to walk home from there. All the students are gathered there as well, either waiting for their ride or just hanging out with each other. I mentally cross my fingers, hoping and praying I don't run into Sicuto or his posse again. To up my chances, I throw on my jacket hood so I'm not easily recognized. I march through the crowd of classmates, trying to make as little physical and eye contact as possible. I exhale a sigh of relief when I make it to the path near the school to my apartment, thankful that God had answered my prayers.

"Hey! Hold up!" A voice calls from behind me. Dang it! So close! I suddenly realize that the voice isn't rough and raspy like Sicuto's. Instead, it's light and quivery. Having no choice, I turn to see the porcupine boy from the closet running towards me. How he recognized a kid he just met with a hood over his head, I'll have no idea.

Once he catches up, he bends down on his knees, trying to catch his breath. "Hey. I thought it was you! Sorry, if I'm.. wasting your time or something." He apologizes between breaths.

I shrug, not really having any plans to be held back from. "Eh. I got nothing. Can I help ya?"

"Uh! I- I just wanted to say thanks. You know, for backing up from Sicuto back there."

"Sure, no problem."

"Uh! An- anyway! I'm Kuiru Tojuta. Not.. Quills cause, you know. Sicuto's name calling. I'm Tojuta."

"Yurei Seshin. The 'ghost kid,' I guess." Tojuta chuckles, seeing the connection that I also used to the experience with Sicuto's gang. "So you're quirk is a porcupine?" I ask, trying not to make it awkward.

"Yeah. Despite having a good defense and offense though, I guess I'm not really the best fighter as you could tell." He pulls a quill out his spiky hair and fidgets around with it. "What about you? I saw those flames and stuff, but I have a great feeling your quirk is not pyrotechnic, huh?"

"Nah. My quirk is called Paranormality. Just think of a ghost and.. I guess you get the idea."

"Oh. So, you can turn invisible or fly or what?"

"Eh, not exactly. I can levitate things including myself, so I guess that counts as flying. Then I can also phase and summon some ghosts, but my powers rely on my flames. I can currently only summon five at a time, but they can be put out."

"Oh. Well that's cool!" He continues to nervously twirl the quill in his fingers. "I- uh- I was also wondering if we could be friends! I'm not really a social person, but you were just so cool back there!" He nervously backs down a bit. "I don't want you thinking that I need a bodyguard or something."

I scratch my head. I'm not a social person either, but this kid I just saved looks up to me now. I can't let him down just like that by rejecting his friendship, especially if he doesn't have many friends himself. So I shrug and say, "Yeah. We could be friends."

"Really? Cool! Thank you so much! I know you might think I'm cowardly and stuff, but maybe I can learn from you!"

"I don't think you were scared." I shake my head.

"Huh?" Tojuta looks surprised. "I don't know. I was shaking in my shoes, and if I'm being completely honest, I think I nearly-"

"Stop," I quickly command and hold up my hand before the porcupine gets into details. "Think about what happened in the classroom before I came. Sicuto demanded for.. answers to a test I think.. but what did you say to him? In brief."

"Um. No?"

"There you go. You didn't give in even after Sicuto threatened to leave you in that closet. That was pretty brave."

"Huh," the brown quilled boy stares at his feet, thinking. "I- I guess so. Gee! First two minutes of being official friends, and you're already being incredibly supportive of me. Thanks again." He looks up at me, and I nod to imply a 'you're welcome.' Tojuta suddenly checks his watch, and his eyes widen. "Ah snapples! I- I gotta get going. Nice to meet you!" He waves over his shoulder as he runs. I slowly wave back before turning and continuing back on the path.