No one likes math

"How skilled are you in history and math?"

Halfway through my delicious burger Mina dumps her bag and food opposite me and practically drops down onto the bench. Her question has me staring at the two papers she slammed on the table, slowly chewing my food and awaiting further explanation despite me not needing one. She failed in the mentioned subjects and wants to redeem herself so here we are. I suppose she believes I can help her because I'm always busy with homework during lunch. Just a few seconds ago I put away my English work, satisfied with myself and the completion of my work. In all the time I've been here I've never brought homework home and I'm proud of that fact.

"I went and failed my tests," she says this laughing as if it isn't a concern on her mind.

"Uhuh" another bite off my burger and another moment of silence as Mina wordlessly unpacks her lunch and dives in. She still seems so cheery despite having failed and while she is worried about it, it doesn't dampen her mood entirely.

"So, are you any good with history and math?" She asks again. "I have a feeling you are"

"Why? Because I always make my homework during lunch?" A valid question and the nod she gives me is expected.

"I see how easily you do your work, so I'm assuming"

"Well, yeah, I am" I've made it a goal to be good in every subject taught at school and that goal has been achieved. The first couple of tests I made all ended with me getting solid hundreds. Besides, this is easy enough with my education reaching college level already.

"Great, I need a tutor" she mumbles as she retrieves my own papers, looking quite impressed with my score. "Wow, you aced them both"

Of course I did. Anything lower would not be worthy of my mother's praise. And straight-A's make teachers like you and whatnot, and it's good to have teachers who like you.

"Got any club activities later today?" She asks.

"Nope"

"Me neither, you think you can help me today?"

"Sure" I've got nothing better to do anyway. With Morgan gone for most of the day today and Israel off somewhere and Alissa coming home late due to club activities I would be by my lonesome and, while there's a lot I can do on my own, I don't mind helping Mina out.

She nods, cheeks stuffed with whatever she's eating.

"Your house or mine?" She asks next and my mind blanks. Huh, I've never gotten this far into a friendship before, I realize. Mina seems to realize that when I don't answer and I will ignore the amused smile.

"Did you blank?" She asks knowingly and I am confused as to who has the mind-reading quirk here because I don't think she should know me well enough to realize this.

"Yeah"

"You really have no experience, huh?" It is pitying if she weren't so nice about it all.

"I was homeschooled, the only people I interacted with are my family"

"Yeah, I could've told you that," she says as if it were obvious enough. Where does she get her people skills, because this thing she has for always knowing what's wrong could be a superpower in its self.

"You can come over to my house if you're allowed" she suggests. "Though you don't have to if you'd prefer your own place"

I'm not even sure.

"Or we could just stay in school. There are plenty of empty classes to find"

Good option, but not the one that's gonna work. Since I have no activities later I am expected to be at the house at a certain time, just before Israel leaves to do whatever it is he has to do. Though I could call and say there's been a change of plans, but if I told Morgan what those plans were she would tell me to invite Mina over. But if I invite her over and Lissa comes home while she's still there, there's another problem to deal with as she'll either tease me or bombard Mina with questions. The latter should be avoided because then the two will get into a cheerful conversation that could quickly lead to Lissa spilling all my secrets.

Ugh

But if I go over to her place I would be meeting her parents, which means meeting new people and being wary and all of that.

"You can come over"

Which leads to another thing. I recently pestered Morgan into getting me a bike, so that's how I'll be going home today.

Does Mina have a bike?

"How do come to school?"

"Parents, bike or train"

How much money should I bet on her not using the bike today?

"Which is it today?"

"Train"

Yes of course.

~~~~~~~~~~

Whenever I got the time I called Morgan to explain the situation to her and trying to find out what to do. The first thing she says after my entire explanation is for me to hold on for a moment. Then there's the sound of her clearly canceling any plans she had that were keeping her from picking me up from school before. This woman really went and canceled her plans because I invited someone over.

Yeah, okay, should've known she would do such a thing.

I suppose I don't have to worry about biking back then

"So you started school not even a week after moving here?" Mina summarizes after I had answered a question before. Since we have to wait on Morgan to come get us, she has decided to question me about anything that comes to mind as a way of getting to know me better. She states that she had known me for almost a month already and she knows close to nothing safe for name, age, and my friendless situation.

"Yeah"

"Huh, wasn't it a bit disorienting?" A valid question.

"Not really" eh, I understand the language and have an idea of how Japan works. That added in the fact that I never attended any form of school before might have added to my adaptability. If I never went to school in America I could never notice any differences.

Though I did go to school in America in a last life, but still.

"Okay, so you come from America, you can speak fluent Japanese, you're a martial artist, you're incredibly smart from what I've seen and you're good at sports" Mina lists off everything, making it sound much more impressive than I thought it all was. "What else am I missing?"

"I have a lot of hobbies?" I mean, I truly do have a lot. No reason why, though.

"Such as?" At this point I expect her to pull out a pen and paper.

"Music, art, writing" I shrug. "I like to take pictures too, so I guess Photography"

"Uhuh" she's staring at me, her thoughts almost making me laugh and it's only by some miracle that I don't let it slip. For one she's comparing me to a wizard for a moment and that has the image of Harry coming to mind and then I imagine myself as said boy and the chaos that would ensue if I were the chosen one.

"You're a gifted kid, huh?" It's more a statement than a question.

"I suppose so"

"Another question" I can hear the question before she even asks it as well as her mental debate about how to best ask said question without upsetting me in any way. It's interesting to listen to the mental debate because she uses factors based on the behaviors she has observed from me. I still find it both weird and incredibly impressive how this kid seems to be able to read me so freaking easily. "Do you have a quirk?"

She went with being straightforward.

"The million-dollar question isn't it?"

"Hey, you don't gotta tell me and I won't care a bit if you're quirkless" she makes sure I understand this, speaking in a casual yet gentle manner. "I mean we've only known each other for about a month, so really there is no reason to tell me. I'm just curious. You're still pretty awesome though"

"Thanks for the compliment"

"Do I get one in return?" She wiggles her brow but doesn't let me answer. "Nah, don't answer that, you'll probably say something snarky"

Good call.

"I just realized I'm questioning you about your quirk and I haven't told you mine" she treats it like a grave mistake, while she shouldn't have to. But this is Mina.

"Never asked, Ashido"

"Not the point"

"It's easier for people to trust you when they know you mean - or could do - no harm. In that sense, if you reveal a secret of your own before the other they would be more willing to do so, or at least trust you a tiny bit more, or perhaps feel safer in your presence" she explains to me in a somewhat professional manner that has me wondering why she knows this.

Apparently the question is clear on my face, or she just knows.

"Mom's a therapist, Dad's a phycologist," she says. "I pick up on a few things"

Yup, that all makes perfect sense now. She should teach me a thing or two.

"I'm gifted you say as if you don't have the most useful talent a person can have" does anyone realize how powerful such a talent is? Maybe not overpowered, just you know, powerful. For one, I immediately think of how easily she could manipulate anyone, okay, even me, because I have fallen for some of her tricks. It's the most discreet things too, things her thoughts won't alert me of. Then there's her ability to resolve conflict with simple words, which would make her an amazing negotiator in my opinion. I bet she could get most people to do things for her if she really wanted to.

"Huh, I got my compliment in the end" she laughs. "Thanks for the nice words"

Yeah sure.

"What do you think my quirk is?" She's up for a game apparently.

I shrug.

"Oh come on, you're not even going to try?" She pokes me in my side and has me flinching. Awe come on, not someone else doing this too. "Come on, just one guess. I'll scream it in my mind and maybe you'll get it"

If only she knew.

It's funny that she actually does do as she had promised despite it being somewhat ridiculous.

"Acid," I say simply and her eyes widen in both surprise and joy I'm sure.

"Wow, you got it first try" she's impressed. "I guess my idea worked"

"Like a charm" I chuckle. "You were really loud"

There's a pin drop silence that follows after that and I allow it. I'm not too concerned, just curious. She's slowly realizing that I was not entirely joking with her just now and that realization has her silent.

"Correct me if I'm wrong" she clears her throat. "But you can read my mind?"

"Yeah" I confirm. "As well as everyone else's. I just have voices in my head twenty-four seven"

"That's....." She pauses, multiple words running through her mind, none of them actually bad or offensive. "Cool, yeah it's cool. An invasion of privacy, but cool"

Questions follow involving my quirk, only after she fully explains her quirk to me. I appreciate it because while I know what her quirk is I'm not sure about the details of it. Her Quirk allows her to generate acid from her body as well as manipulate the properties of this generated acid, making it so she can control exactly how lethal her quirk is to a person.

Cool, cool, cool, cool.

Basically, she could burn someone's face off, which is the only thing I could think of when her quirk's name is acid.

"It's not that cool of a quirk when you think of it" she demonstrates by creating something more akin to slime than acid between her fingers. It's thick and sticky - not in an inappropriate way, of course - and perfectly harmless.

"Whatever you say" because being able to melt walls and stuff isn't cool.

"So how does your quirk work?" It's my turn now.

"Basic mind reading stuff safe for the fact that I can't turn it off on command and it only really stops when I wear these things that just blocks my quirk. They're pretty useful when I get a headache and need some quiet"

"Telepathy doesn't come with it huh?"

"Kinda" I can mentally talk to people only when I have forced myself into their minds for control.

"So did you keep it to yourself because of what people might think?"

A good question there Mina, but it's not really that deep.

"Yes, I had considered what everyone would think of me if they knew of my quirk, likely they wouldn't trust me, but on the other hand, that's not entirely my problem, is it?" Yeah, that doesn't sound like my problem. In fact, it would mean no one would want to talk to me, would make people wary of being around me and that's perfectly fine with me. It would mean that the people who do decide to talk to me are the ones who don't give two cents about it. "The only reason I kept it to myself is that I simply saw no need to tell anyone"

The only people needing to know of my quirks are my teachers, the students aren't as important enough to know anything.

"I guess you have a point" Mina admits after some thought.

Well, yeah, everyone should learn not to care about what others think.

There's an irony here, I think.

Our talk continues for a while until Morgan finally arrives, happily waving me over the minute she locates me. Sometimes she radiates golden retriever energy. After loading my bike in the trunk, I join Mina in the backseat just in time to catch the end of the short conversation between the two of them.

"Oh yeah, she's really smart" Morgan laughs, either boasting or stating a fact. I'm not sure what she was doing. "Anyone who can easily solve math problems that look like the devil's language is someone to be admired"

"You suck at math too?" A question asked by Mina and one I wanna know the answer to.

"Any normal person does, it's a miracle I even passed most of my tests, Ill tell you that" chuckling Morgan starts the car and quickly leaves the driveway. "But my friend is pretty good at it, which is unexpected if you know her, well at least it was to me"

She talks about this friend pretty often, but I've never heard their name or seen them. It's not much of a concern, I'm just curious and now even more so.

"Who's this friend of yours?"

"High school friend" is the simple answer. "She's pretty arrogant with this lone wolf act she puts on, but she's an amazing person"

"Not gonna tell me her name?"

"Nah, you can live in suspense"