Pushing Up Daisies

01

New x Travel x Companions

A/N: Just headcanon-ing that any who took a ship were hit with a storm so meh

The first phase hadn't even begun yet and I was already annoyed. We had 402 applicants waiting in this underground room and everyone mainly kept to themselves except for two people. A bald ninja who felt the need to tell people he was a ninja and then tell them to keep it to themselves yet we all could hear him just fine and a plump, block-nosed man who called himself Tonpa. The supposed ninja didn't really annoy me as he hadn't bothered me yet so I guess you could say that all of my irritation came from Tonpa who had walked up to me as soon as I had collected my number tag from Bean.

The round man gave a smile as he approached me while I had been attaching my tag to my shirt with the magnets. I looked at him with a quirked brow, dropping my hands to my sides to appear nonchalant though I was more than ready for an attack. I had been ready for an attack since I started my trip to the exams, making rest difficult to achieve even when the opportunity was there. Thankfully this wouldn't be my first all-nighter so I was able to go through the night without trouble.

"Haven't seen you around before," he paused as if waiting for me to say something but when I just continued to look at him, he began to sweat and continued, "The names Tonpa, feel free to ask me any questions you may have, this is my thirty-fifth time after all." Though he made it sound like he was boasting and proud, I could read in between the lines. I knew what he meant and I knew exactly why he had approached me. He crushed rookies for fun whether it be just their spirits or by making them fail by any means necessary. He wasn't the first one I'd seen. There were some who had tried to crush my spirits and determination at the very beginning only to fail when we got hit with a storm. Time to knock him down a peg, I thought before smirking at him which caused him to falter.

"Wow! Thirty-fifth time? You must really suck old man!" I laughed while rubbing the back of my head as his smile faltered before coming back though it was accompanied by sweat beading along his forehead. He went to say something when I thumped a balled up hand against my other palm, "Oh! I know! Since you've been here so many times, are there others who suck as much as you or are you the worst one here?"

"Well, no," he stumbled in embarrassment, "While I do have the most experience here, there are others who are also veterans."

"So you are the worst one here, got it. Well, I wish you the best of luck though idk if you'll need it considering you'll most likely fail the 2nd phase," I simply shrugged and walked past him as he stood there frozen.

I had either stunned him or made him super annoyed but it didn't matter to me either way. So long as the fat bastard left me alone, I didn't care. I tore my gaze from the ceiling and looked back at the crowd as I continued to rest back on my hands, my legs stretched out in front of me. I sighed softly as I shifted my weight and brought my hands to reach my feet, grabbing them and staying there as I stretched out my muscles. As I began to lean back to go into a different stretch, the elevator doors opened. I turned my head as many others did, curious to see who else joined. A group of three exited the elevator and much to my surprise a boy around my age was among them. Grinning, I stood to my feet with one last stretch and began making my way towards them. When I was about five steps away, Tonpa walked up to them and started to speak with them. I felt my eyebrow twitch and continued my journey.

I reached them right as he finished speaking, "If you have any questions, feel free to ask me!" I stood next to him with my chin up and a smile on my face, excited to meet someone my age yet also trying to show I don't like the man I'm next to and I could tell he knew that was my objective as he glanced at me and took a step away; probably to avoid being injured. "My name is Tonpa," he stuttered out as he tried to keep his calm.