Meet Kaitei Takumina, the Loner

Sometimes I feel like maybe the world needs some revision. A change, for the greater good. Like, for example, laws to help stop criminal activity. Maybe lower requirements for jobs, so the poor can earn money. But for me? My life didn't really need an edit, but I got one regardless. So now I'll tell you how a red pen changed my whole life....

The world I lived in had rules alright. But that didn't stop discrimination from taking over, the powerful loomed over the weak, the rich over the poor, the arrogant little fools. For me? I was just a middle-class high school student, with above average grades. And me, a 'just' person, goes to such an inadvertently unnaturally gifted and talents school. I guess just another person would call me a loner, but I do have a few friends I occasionally hang out with from time to time. Then again, no one consults with me because I don't look for someone to talk to, so I guess that's my responsibility. I'm neither good looking nor ugly, but I do hate it when girls swoon over the handsome boys in our grade, like they were under a spell that couldn't be broken. It was just really cheesy, and it makes me gag. Back to the friend topic, I do have a small portion of people who I'd call friends. By small portion, I mean three people. They are Yochina Fushigi, Kimyona Chisei, and Kibishi Kisoku. They each have colorful and diffrent personalities, although all of them have their own sense of pride. Yochina is mysterious, broad, and humorous, Kimyona is weird, and awfully smart, and lastly, Kibishi is strict and goes by the books. We all get along, and argue from time to time. We don't have much classes together, though. We sit by each other at lunch though, and talk about daily events, like other students. But today, that all changed, for the worse or the better, I don't know, but it did.

Today was the day. The day we normal people realized even more that the world was not so normal. February the 17th. On a Monday, to say the least. I woke up, as tired as an owl is during the late afternoon tired. To say the least, exhausted to the bones. I doubled over and yawned loudly in my bed, not wanting to get up. But I got ready for school anyways, and after grabbing a waffle from the toaster, I was off to school. It's a pretty close walk, five minutes to get there and five to get back. So soon after I arrived, near the lockers I saw Yochina and Kibishi talking to eachother, with Yochina laughing and Kibishi having her straight face, just like always!

"Hey, wazzup?" Yochi called as he spotted me nonchalantly walking towards them. "The ceiling!" I answered, with a little smirk on my face. "Ready to hear more owlful puns?" Yochi snickered at his own joke, but then again, he was the punniest person around! The mood was always light when Yochi is around, I thought pretty regularly. "Seriously, enough with the owl puns!" Kibishi stuck her pointer finger up and shook it, as a sign of telling him to stop. "Hey, I'm sorry, I was just winging it!" Yochi chuckled aloud as he made another owl pun. "YOU-" Kibishi was about to say, but the blaring ring of the unprecedented intercom interrupted her before she finished, and soon after the chatty place became silent as we all listened to the announcement. "All students, please report to the auditorium. I repeat, please report to the auditorium." CHCK! The intercom made the clicking sound and it became silent. Then the chatters of curious students wandered around the halls, making me wonder too, what was going on. "Well, come on! We better not be late!" Kibishi commanded in her always condescending tone. "Yeah, let's owl see what happened!" Yochi cracked another pun and ran away as an irritated Kibishi followed him. "Uh, hey guys, wait up!!!" I called, suddenly being left behind. I chased after them, and sighed deeply.

I caught up to them at the crowded auditorium, and we also found Kimyona standing near the crowd, trying to squeeze past the people at the door. I called over to Kimyona, and we all grouped up to sit next to eachother near the front row, closest to the stage. "Uh, does anyone but me feel slightly concerned about this?" Kimyona asked, putting his hand on his chin and resting it there. "Tell me about it!" We three said in unison. It felt like the air suddenly got chilly or something along those lines. "Well, we just gotta wing it-" "STOP WITH THE OWL PUNS!" Kibishi and Kimyona lectured at the same time. "Glad you guys have mutual feelings about this!" I exclaimed as I sighed with relief. Then, as the principal walked up to the stage, the whole auditorioum became so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. And so, he made an announcement that would change our lives as a whole. "Thank you for all coming here, and I am deeply sorry ahead of time, for forcing you to miss class. My greatest apologies to you, teachers. So now, I must start explaining the new exchange program." "New exchange program?" I whispered to Kimyona, who was next to me, and he replied back, "I dunno, but hanging out with students from a diffrent school doesn't seems that all interesting." "We will be allowing students from the Mirai University of Superheroes in Training to come here, to teach you what a superhero does, and also for them to figure our way of life out." "Yeah, interesting my butt!" I raised an eyebrow at Kimyona wearing a smug face as I mimicked his voice. "Argh- you!" Kimyona whisper-shouted. The principal continued on. "We must accept them with kindness and gratitude, and thank them for their time. So I want you to welcome them, because of today, they will attend classes with you all. Thank you, and sorry for the inconvenience." the principal finished, and the auditorium broke out in applause, and mingled conversations. "Ahem, ahem!" The principal coughed, and the room quieted down once more. "We have the student president, a third year, who is representing the school. He will make a speech. If you may, Mr. Tokushu." Tokushu stepped forward on the stage, everyone looked at him now, and some of the girls were aweing over him, and getting stares from their boyfriends. "Thank you for having us, everyone. We hope you stay safe, and that you will learn more about us, and we will about you. Good blessings to you all." Those few words impacted the whole school. I just couldn't believe he said that with a straight face, and I tried desperately to hold back an incoming laugh. How come he's so cold all the time?

But those words weren't enough to stop the disaster that happened tomorrow, the second day with the heroes in training. So should we skip the time until then? Yeah, no!

After the announcement, I kept on teasing an irritated Kimyona about how he said this exchange program would be boring. "Haha, you said that this would be boring!" I snickered loudly at Kimyona, who looked about ready to snap. And he did, replying snarkily, "Hey, come on, who knew the most famous superheroes in training school students would come right to our door? I mean, we ARE a gifted and talented school, but that's only for the smarts and crafts, not superpowers!" "Haha, looks like you're having a good time!" Yochi jumped in, taking his cue to help me tease Kimyona. "Seems like someone doesn't like interesting things!" Yochi laughed light-heartedly. "Hey, all of you, shut up!" Kibishi sternly suggested, but she didn't sound like she suggested anything. Maybe she had that tone because she was the heir of a rich company nearby. The three of us glanced at eachother silently. "Thank you, now may we head to class?" Kibishi stated, which sounded more like a task than a suggestion. Ugh, class..... boring! "Yeah, sure..." I replied half-heartedly, head drooping. "Hey, it's not gonna be that bad, y'know?" Yochi attempted to lift my spirits. I looked at him, making eye contact, thankful for his successful try to make me feel better.

During the next 3 classes, I was staring at the unmoving sun outside of the window, slowly rising, and slightly setting as minutes slowly ticked by, as the teachers all talked about heroes, and unreal accomplishments, and awards for famous people, etcetera. God, they better shut up before I lose my mind completely! I was starting to lose my inner sanity levels and go insane, but thankfully, the chime of the bell saved me from literary mental torture! Phew! I pulled myself out of the classroom to go find either Yochi or Kimyona, I really needed a breather (or two!) I actually saw both of them hanging around the hallway connecting from my classroom to the cafeteria nearby. "OHMYGOSHTHANKYOUFORBEINGHEREIWASABOUTTOGOCRAZY!!!" I said, stumbling over my words as they tumbled out of my mouth like a waterfall. "Dude, what's wrong?" Yochi patted me on the shoulder, trying to be reassuring. "Maybe this isn't what it's cut out to be..." I exhaled while sighing at the same time. "Haha, who's being proven wrong now?" Kimyona snarkily remarked. "This isn't the time for that, Kimyona!" Yochi and I chorused together in unison. I was holding my hands in the "pray for me fashion", hands together, eyes closed, looking dejected. "I felt like I died twice, only to wake up into a nightmare we call reality!" I tried to get a mental picture of my fried brain right now. "You sure sound pooped..." Kimyona sympathized, "but rest assured, you might be fine if you fall asleep." I perked up, realizing that, forgetting that it was an option. "WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT EARLIER!!!" I yelled, because no one was around to hear. "You are my life savior!" I praised Kimyona while holding his clasped hands inside of my own. Kimyona looked at me weirdly as Yochi giggled silently.

"No seriously, thank you so much! I'm saved, thanks to you!" I shake Kimyona rapidly, making him feel a bit dizzy, and he pushed my hands off his shoulders. "You don't have to thank me you know, I'm your friend, aren't I?" Kimyona smiled at me brightly while he head slightly rolled around, still feeling dizzy from the intense shaking I put him through. "Yeah, just.... don't that ever again, please?" Kimyona asked nicely, so I agreed, "Yeah, whatever you say!" "Yay, now you're feeling better!" Yochi cheered on from the sidelines and we all clapped each others hands. That's when Kinishi walked up to us, her classroom being nearby, and she was only helping with clean up duty. "Uh..." she started cluelessely at us, "did something happen?" We all nodded quickly. "Uhh... ok?" she managed out before taking the empty trashcan back into the chemistry classroom. "Uh, let's hope I don't get a seizure again!" I nervously smiled, while laughing. "Yeah, let's hope!" Yochi smiled his childish grin, and Kimyona agreed, "Please!" As soon as Kibishi walked out, we bombarded her with questions, trying to change the topic from what happened before. "How is your company doing?" I asked her nonchalantly. "Yes, perfect." she said in her emotionless tone. "Come on, show your softer side a but more!" Yochi complained. "You know, maybe you should stop being so loud!" Kibishi glared at Yochi, who shrugged it off. "Now, let's owl to the cafeteria!" Yochi cheered, and then rushed off the the cafetorium, where the delicious aroma of the the school lunch was waiting.

As I grabbed my lunch tray, and soon after Kiyona followed, not bringing his own lunch as well, we sat down at a isolated table, the one where we always sat at. Kibishi and Yochi was already there, having a debate about whether water was wet or not. "Tell me, how is water wet? Only when one touches water, they are wet." Kibishi demanded, and Yochi rebutted, "Isn't water H2O? So the compounds touching eachother should be wet, right? Because H2O makes up water, rigghhhht?" "No, only when water touches something, it is wet!" Kibishi stated, for the second time today looking visibly angry. "Uhhhh guys? Why are you fighting over such an irrational thing?" I asked, looking over at Kimyona with a matching quizzical expression on his face. Kimyona shrugged as Yochi stubbornly argued, "Because I want to prove that Kibishi is wrong!" "Which I'm NOT!" Kibishitwitched, looked the most irritated because Yochi basically called her stupid, which she awfully disliked. Yochi stuck his tongue out at her, with a smug look on his face. "Ok, ok, break it up!" I quickly said, and Kimyona added, "We don't want to cause a scene!" through clenched teeth, pointing at the nearby students coldly staring at them while finding seats at nearby tables. "Sorry, sorry!" I put both hands up, palms showing, as a sign of saying sorry.....

Then something unexpected, something that hasn't even happened even once in the year before and the few months during the school year. Someone sat down, nervously, at our table.