In the midst of heartbreak, new bonds are forged.
At the end of their first year at UA High, the students rely on their tight friendships and hard work to get through finals. New alliances and friendships are made between the outgoing hero classes a...
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We were about to fight with robots. Not like the ones in video games but real, physical robots; ones we would build ourselves then pin against each other in an arena. To those who claimed all the adventures happened in the Hero Department, I laugh.
But before all that, it seemed like a normal visit. Koto had a friend from middle school, and thinking we would all get along, she offered to introduce us.
Reina Fujino, to anyone just meeting her, was your average teenage girl. What I wasn't prepared for was for her to come with a family of nine behind her doors. When Koto mentioned this, Double thought she was joking, and I'd believe it if she was. We didn't meet all of them at once though, thankfully. Koto started by introducing us to Reina first.
"It's nice to meet you all," Reina both said and signed along. I wasn't surprised Koto had told her I couldn't hear, but seeing her sign caught me off guard. It shouldn't have; Koto was mute and frequently used sign, so it made sense her friend knew it.
"Hey-Hey," Double stammered, "We've heard- We've heard a lot about you-you, Reina. It's-It's nice to-"
"This is your house‽" Rose interrupted him, casually shoving Double aside as she stepped in and stared up at the high ceilings.
"Rose," Dani warned, keeping a hand on the collar of her jacket before she wandered off.
In what I was guessing to be a more hushed tone, Rose argued, "What? Cut me some slack, I was homeless for the first half of the year. Frankly, I'd be impressed by anything."
I let them be, watching the paranormal, green glow surrounding one of the ghosts as he flew inside.
"What's the big deal? It's just like my place in America." Edison hadn't been to America in centuries, so his memory was sure to be misleading him. There's no way anyone here ever stepped foot inside a house like the Fujino's.
We were just near the front door when Reina welcomed us into the living room, but even that was larger than my room. Growing up in my parents' business, our house was huge, but what impressed me here was the detail. Dozens of family photos were hung on all the walls; accented rugs were under the furniture of the living room; the dining room was even over the top with just a fancy table and chairs.
"It's like a palace!" Cleo cheered, soaring around the hallways and through the walls. "There's no dirt, no stone, not even those dreadful tombstones. Oh, Mordecai, isn't it amazing? Can we stay? Please!" She floated back with her hands pressed together, already too attached to the house.
Instead of explaining that I obviously have to leave today, and I was sure Reina wouldn't be too happy if I told her I cursed her home with ghosts, I let Cleo have her fun. Jack soon phased in to drag her back down anyway. He was always skeptical of new places, especially crowded ones.
"God, that's a lot of kids," he muttered while looking at a family photo of the Fujinos. "I don't like this, kid. These people seem. . . Well, I don't want to say strange 'cause, let's face it, the freak who talks to ghosts isn't too normal either."
