Phalanx's Drabbles

Niji-Punch!

For most of her life, that being 15 years, Tsukino Mito was not a necessarily diligent individual. Oh, sure, she passed her assignments on time and she was the student council president of their entire school, but she never had gone above and beyond for something; not to a literal body-breaking extent, at least. She did those assignments and projects because it was her duty, and she might as well use what assets she had to her advantage; to strike while the iron is hot, as they say.

Though the curse of responsibility had cemented itself on her shoulders, Mito soon became accustomed to the constant weight of the expectations around her. She became a model student, a pillar one should aspire to work towards for the betterment of society. Crowds of both seniors and juniors alike parted at her approach, delinquents and juvenile fraternities cowered in fear from her mere glance, and the teachers respected her as if they were one of their own.

She had met friends to alleviate the stress put upon her, and to vent her frustration upon; Higuchi and Shizuka-senpai were the extra two crutches that her mental health needed, and both of them were competent people in their respective fields—Higuchi's being violence and Shizuka's at diplomacy. In her nearly three years of highschool, the two had drilled their way into her heart, and Tsukino wouldn't replace them for 500 billion yen. Anything beyond that is debatable.

For all intents and purposes, it was her ideal school life.

When their teacher announced to them that they were going to a field trip towards an entirely new destination, along with all the other classes in their year, she was initially very jubilant about the event. Since Higuchi was her classmate, she already knew the details and was similarly, if not more excited than her. The only one she needed to text on LINE was Shizuka, who was one year up from her, and literally one floor above her classroom.

Shizuka-senpai had positively replied to her ramblings, giving her the emoji of a thumbs-up and an extra missive to be safe. She had responded with the text equivalent of a nod, and a few texts to her parents for their permission later, and both Tsukino and Higuchi were off for their short trip.

If, somehow, her consciousness were sent back in time to that specific point in her life, she would've done everything in her power to decline it. The Tsukino of the past didn't know, but this goddamned trip would be the end of her peaceful normality that had dominated her life till then. This would be merely the catalyst of her adventure, the first step in becoming what Tsukino Mito truly wanted to be, beyond the excuses of duty and the fear of further responsibility.

This was the start of her journey, as the greatest hero in the world.

XXX

Her head was pounding, thousands of tiny pinpricks of pain assaulting her mind as Tsukino awoke herself from unconsciousness. Her vision was splotchy, reflecting only a sea of drab gray pockmarked by the occasional blobs of black and white. The taste of iron and copper in her mouth was revolting, and the cataclysmic tinnitus that assaulted her ears were even worse. Her entire body ached, a dull, yet strong pain all over her and her extremities as she groaned. Dimly, in the back of her mind, Tsukino remarked that the lightning that assaulted her nerves were leagues worse than any Bowling Incident in the world.

The highschool girl blinked herself awake, blinking rapidly as she struggled to make heads or tails of her surroundings. Her memory was foggy; she remembered that she was looking out into a nearby forest in the bus, before passing through a dug-in tunnel through the mountain, exiting said tunnel, and then a chorus of grinding metal before her memory stopped. She grit her teeth, fists tightening, as she remembered one important, excruciatingly crucial detail. Higuchi was two seats up from her, Tsukino herself at the back of right-side rows of seats, right next to the window that was no doubt shattered.