Just another day

"I sit by myself, talking to my foooooooood"

As I always do when lunch rolls around and my food looks especially good today after my talk with my club. I've been working my ass off all week and the coach has finally acknowledged my Tsubasa level skills and says it's very likely I'll get to play against our neighboring school. That very much calls for a cheery mood and full enjoyment of the simple bologna sandwich I have today. Simple, but still very tasty. Morgan had things to do today so she couldn't go all out, hence the bologna sandwich. How do you say "baloney" but write "balogna"? The English language just loves to mess around, huh?

"It's lunch hour and you're busy with homework?"

A bag is dumped on the table opposite me as Mina casually seats herself in front of me. She makes more space by carefully shoving my books closer to me while trying not to let that one pencil roll off the table.

Day five of Mina joining me for lunch.

"Efficient" is the only answer I have for her. I tend to do the assigned work as soon as possible so I can enjoy my young life without worry. Never once have I not done my homework and I do not plan on breaking this somewhat nerdy streak of mine.

"A bit nerdy if you asked me" she say casually while eyeing my books as if they were her worst enemy. They probably are. "Not that it's a bad thing, it just means you're smart, and smart is good. But you'll never catch me doing homework during lunch period"

Understandable. Homework is very frustrating and it's hard to just up and do it when you don't enjoy the task. It's hard to do anything when you can't stand the very thought of it and if teachers took the time to somehow make the stuff entertaining a lot of kids would be doing far better in school than they currently are. I myself do not like homework, but I have no problem doing it as it's best to just get it out of the way. And the stuff they give isn't that hard for me to go over so that helps.

"Do you normally sing about talking to your food?"

The question comes out of nowhere and a piece of bread flies down my throat in my shock. There had been no warning to the question at all, not even thought before she spoke on it. Just a spontaneous question. I didn't think she heard me. How long was she in my area then?

"Chocking on a piece of bread would be a sucky way to go" oh, believe me, I know all about terrible and embarrassing deaths. My bottle of water is opened and offered to me. She's trying to contain the smile that wants to surface, the laugh that builds in her stomach. She's trying so hard and for a moment it works, but soon she's giggling and can barely contain the snickers.

With my water bottle almost empty, I finally get the piece of bread down safely and I'm left to sit quietly as I think of ways to redeem myself. Now that I think about it, singing about sitting by myself and talking to food sounds really lonely, slightly weird, very much unhinged.

"So?" She's grinning.

"So what?"

"Do you?"

No, I do not, if you must know. It's just that the song came to me out of the blue and I decided to make my own little remix. It was amusing when I did it, especially when I thought no one heard me, especially when I'm sitting alone in the most secluded corner of the cafeteria.

"No"

She smiles as if she doesn't believe me and her thoughts confirm this very loudly. I'm a bit offended actually, but there's no point in making more out of it and embarrassing myself even more. I'll just eat my sandwich and drink my juice. I'll just pretend she isn't sitting right there, amused and cheery.

"Do you have any friends?" She asks after a few minutes of companionable silence.

"Friends are overrated" they truly are. She doesn't agree with this and I can already hear the argument before she even opens her mouth. "I don't need friends, I need gremlins, clowns, menaces to society," I say, quoting myself from over a month ago.

"Gremlins?"

"Gremlins" I grin. "Annoying creatures that will get on my last nerve, creatures I'll debate killing, but I cannot because I love them too much, ya know?" That is a very tight friendship right there.

"You're very weird" she repeats the word she had used when she first sat down and had lunch with me. Each day she spends with me she gets a glimpse of the idiot I am and she openly embraces it. "Weirdos are the best"

"Birds of a feather"

"But you didn't answer my question" she circles back to her inquiry, though I do believe she knows the answer by now. I mean, I sit by myself.

"That's a stupid question"

"Okay, so you don't have friends"

"Captain obvious are ya? Do I need to go get ya hook?"

"Sure, do you need me to get ya leg for ya, captain friendless?" She shoots back.

"Your pirate accent isn't as good as mine" I point out and she seems offended, though she can't argue because she knows I speak the truth.

"Let's say we become friends" she's adopted something similar to a power position many bosses take when in a meeting, with her fingers interlaced with both index resting against her chin. The way she's treating this like some kind of business while trying to keep a straight face is kinda funny. "Would I be a gremlin, clown, menace to society? Personally, I'd like to be a menace because the world cannot handle the fantastic phenomenon that is Ashido Mina"

"I appreciate the confidence" if a teacher were to walk by they would see two girls seated as if they were both considering a serious business deal. Maybe they would be a bit chagrinned with the childish behavior, maybe they'll just chalk it up to kids being stupid, maybe they won't give two flying fu-

"And most of all, I appreciate you believing you are worthy of my companionship"

"Me, worthy?" She laughs. "It is you who should consider your worth, little Kitsune"

"That's offensive, really offensive, but I cannot blame you for your ignorance" I nod. Of course her insolence is not her own fault, she doesn't know any better. "After all you don't know me and all the greatness that comes with that knowledge"

"And you don't know me, so I guess the same can be said in turn"

"You're good at this"

"People skills, my friend. I'm pretty sure I can make an actual business deal" she's nodding thoughtfully as she mentally conjures up the image of such a thing. She'd be dressed in a nice suit coupled with a pair of high heels. She would attract everyone's attention with her presence as she strolled into the meeting room with confidence, ready to score the most wanted company in japan.

Wait a damn minute.

She mentally conjured an image and I actually saw it?

See, this is why I go to school, to learn things like this. I've never seen an image before, never glimpsed something like that in all my years. Why suddenly now?

"Okay look, we're friends from today onwards and you can't disagree," she says with finality. "So now you're not friendless"

"I was perfectly fine being friendless" I point out. Being alone has its own set of fun that comes with it.

"I know that" she sighs. "And you're the friendless quiet kid from America"

Is she actually referring to the quiet kid being dangerous? That's something in this world too? I did not know that? Or maybe it's just Mina being spectacular.

"Back to my question", she snaps her fingers in front of me when I zoned out. "Gremlin, clown, or menace?"

"First mate" since we were talking about pirate captains and all, why not?

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, I'll get you an official badge and everything"

~~~~~~~~

"And the lab exploded"

What in the actual hell, Alissa, how do you blow up an entire lab? And she's talking so casually as if she did not cause massive destruction to her school, as if she hadn't gotten into trouble with the principal. She's told me the story about two times now and I still fail to understand how that led to an explosion. She had science class with her classmates and they were tasked with causing a simple reaction that would simply change the color of the liquid in the vial. How did she get an explosion out of such a simple and mundane task? There is no way in the seven hells that this was simply an accident. Alissa had definitely tried to concoct something she was not supposed to which led to the destruction she caused.

"What were you trying to do, Alissa?"

"I was trying to make a smoke bomb" she shrugs. "They had all the needed ingredients and it would've been that easy to make one"

"Then how did you blow up the lab?"

She says nothing for a moment, content with simply staring out my window as she herself tries to figure out what went wrong. She blames someone, that much I'm sure of. Maybe her lab partner who tried to intervene or maybe outdo her.

"Tenya"

Oh okay.....

"Who?"

"Tenya Iida, that guy really has a stick up his ass you know" she grumbles, not at all happy with the boy. She goes to school with Iida of all people. Now I can understand how things went wrong. Iida must've known she would do something she was not supposed to and tried to stop her, most likely scolding her and educating her on proper behavior. "If he had just left me alone and not try to talk my ears off, I wouldn't have made that dumb mistake and the lab would've been perfectly fine"

Iida, why must you be such a stick in the mud? Look, you went and made Alissa not like you and she likes almost everyone. That's truly a feat to accomplish.

"You know Zena, I'm really into studying quirks right now, and I learned a lot through research" as the conversation leaves school she's climbing into my bed with a book I had not seen her carrying until now. She opens it to a certain page where she reads while further addressing me. What is it this kid found? "When you go to the doctor they do all these tests right and in the end, they tell you one thing almost all the time. That one joint in the pinky is apparently the key factor in all of this"

She's pointing to the drawing in her book indicating the very joint she's talking about. Next to it is the explanation that those with quirks have a single joint while the opposite is said for those quirkless. I'm curious to know what she's getting at, but I feel as if I know what she's trying to say.

"So then when the doctor tells you that your pinky toe doesn't match what it should be, you'd immediately assume that you don't have a quirk, and when you believe you don't have something, you'll never have it"

She makes a good point right there.

"Things are different now with stronger quirks and more people possessing these cool powers. So maybe not everyone has that single joint, but that wouldn't immediately mean they are quirkless. Think of all the people out there who have been told they're quirkless, but might actually have quirks"

Exactly the thing I was thinking too. When I was watching the show I always considered that, especially with Izuku's amazing analysis skills. For all we know that could actually be his superpower. Knowledge is power and because of that Izuku is a very powerful person. With the notes in those books the villains could take down even the strongest hero, a quirkless person could prove to be one of the most dangerous with the things Izuku knows. But the show never explores this theory. It would be cool if Alissa was right. Maybe those with seemingly insignificant powers would appear quirkless and they wouldn't know any better. They would just think their abilities to just be a unique part of themselves.

"Makes sense right? I know you're thinking about it" Alissa wiggles her brows playfully when she notices my consideration.

"Yeah it makes sense"

"Yeah, and I need to find someone quirkless" she closes her book. "Some of their blood could hold the answers. Or maybe just a study of brain activity. Do you know that your brain is so much different from ours? I'm sure your brain waves must appear alien to our own. Oh it would be so cool to see that, if only I had the equipment"

Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea. Only certified people are allowed to do such things and she is definitely not certified. She's not going anywhere near my brain, especially not with how she's so prone to explosions with everything she works on.

"Okay, which one of you stole my boxers?" My door is wide open and a shirtless Israel stands in my room with condemning eyes directed at the both of us. "Because I am missing one of my newest and I know one of you took it"

"That's a very bold accusation"

He only glares at each of us intently, shifting from Alissa to me and back for minutes until his eyes settle on me.

Awe come on.

"Zena"

"I committed no crime"

"Yes you did"

"I did not steal your boxers" I have to dive for my bed when he charges me. My face almost meets the floor when I try to get away the second time, but he has me and he's strong. He holds my hands down with one hand and with the other he's tugging at my pants. "Hey, this is harassment! Harassment I say!"

"This would look very questionable if anyone just walked in" Alissa comments, but does nothing to help the situation.

Israel has my pants low enough to see the top of my underwear and what do you know, it's not his boxers. I wouldn't be dumb enough to wear something I stole just yesterday.

Yes I stole it, it was cool.

"See, I don't have it" I'm smug and he's not convinced.

There's a very loud sigh that gets our attention and Morgan is standing there, watching us with a range of emotions. One of them is confusion, which is warranted.

"What are you doing?"

"She stole my boxers"

"I didn't and this is proof"

"I know you did it, Zena, you love boxers" he gets off me and heads to my closet. "I will find it"

"I have my own" pulling my pants up, I make sure the strings are tight around my waist to prevent another incident such as this.

Morgan looks at the both of us before deciding it's none of her concern. She's gone with a simple wave and wish of good luck.

"Israel, you know that if she stole it there is no way you're finding it" Alissa points out, speaking from experience. To this day she has not found the hat I stole from her and I'm very proud of it. "She's really good at hiding things"

"Zena, when I find it I will beat your ass, you hear me"

"Yeah sure"

He'll never find it.