An Undead Academic Experience 2

Chapter 2:  Talks

<<<Kana Sato>>>

The voices were always loud. Not from people, or even her parents, but from the souls of other people. Always whispering secrets about themselves, things they could do or wanted to do. They were never things their body-selves wanted to keep hidden, just little things. Tricks they had saved for a rainy day or what they were craving for lunch (that the school was able to just make so much custom food impressed her a lot too).

But some of the souls around her were so loud and talkative it was hard to hear herself think!

The bird was, to borrow a Japanese phrase, extremely chuuni. And talkative, though it was at least willing to just talk her ear off and didn’t mind her rarely responding. The pink one’s soul, on the other hand, really wanted her to reply every now and again and she hated doing that.

It made people feel weird things towards her because they were getting emotions without knowing where they came from.

“No, the dress looks fine on you; but it would look better with the sheen than without,” She thought towards the pink one. The sheen being an anti-acid coating that made the black dress shimmer.

Souls were weird, they could just pull looks and such from memories whenever they wanted. It was never fully accurate, but it was interesting to see how others saw themselves.

But Xiao’s soul… was weird.

To her senses, it was like it was barely attached to her body. She didn’t understand, and it felt cold. Not unpleasant, but she had no doubt that could change in an instant, just… unusual. Maybe it was related to the circumstances of her quirks activation? Maybe it was due to something else entirely, she didn’t know, and though she was curious, she was too shy to ask.

Though her soul was rather friendly, it was thankfully not as chatty as the pink one’s.

She was also thankful that no one was pressing her on her quirks, it would be painful to explain what caused her to gain them.

“You know sweetheart, you should open up more to them,” Her mom said to her, “They seem nice.”

They did, yes, but she couldn’t help but see every glance her way as suspicious and fearful. She knew that they weren’t, but it was… hard to escape the habit of wondering when the next attack on her would come.

“We know you came here for a fresh start, so why not begin with Xiao? I don’t think she would care much about how your quirk works,” Her dad suggested.

That was a possibility, yes, but she wouldn’t know where to start with her. The girl was so… different from anything she was used to. She had to have come from a different province than her. Maybe further north, closer to where the Americans hung out? She’d heard those were always more open and ‘party-goer’ type people.

“So where’re you from exactly, Lang?” The pink one asked curiously.

“Well, I was born and grew up in the States,” She said, “But when I was five, my parents moved back to the Philippines.” She explained.

That… explained quite a bit…

“Kana could tell you way more about the Philippines than I ever could!” Xiao announced, “We stayed at the military bases over there a lot.”

“Huh, you don’t seem like a military brat, Lang,” The pink one said, scratching her chin and getting a shrug in return.

“I mean… yeah, I learned self-defense and how to use guns. But dad kept his private and work life separate,” She said, “He didn’t want to realize one day he was treating his family like a squad of military jarheads.”

“That’s pretty sweet!” The pink one said with a grin.

“Yeah… he was…” Xiao coughed, “But anyway, my dad wasn’t American really, but he worked with them! I met Stars and Stripes once!” She announced, “Oh, what’s your favorite Hero, Kana? And you too, Mina?”

“So that’s pink’s name. I should have been paying more attention before…” Kana thought before frowning. “I don’t… have one? I… liked Kapre?” A hero named after a tree giant or mystical ape, he controlled a magic smoke.

He was nice, he visited her in the hospital when her parents fell ill once.

“Can’t say I’m familiar with that one.” Mina admitted, “For me? Midnight! She’s just so confident and everything! What kind of girl wouldn’t look up to that?” 

“Well, like I said earlier, Stars and Stripes is mine,” Xaio said, “Though if I had to name another… Solarman.”

“Solarman?” Mina asked with a funny look on her face.

“Yep, not really creative. But names are hard,” Xaio said, “It’s pretty much a direct reference to his quirk: Sun Up.”

“Faster and stronger… in the day. He can fly in the day too…” Kana slowly explained, her plate too empty to even pretend to be focused on something else. “Kapre is named after a magic monkey myth thing and… controls smoke he breathes.”

“Cool!” Mina said, “So is he a Support or Rescue Hero?” She asked curiously.

“Combat,” Kana replied instantly, “He… chokes his opponents and… puts them to sleep.”

Mina blinked. “That’s scary,” She noted, “But cool!”

“Bet I can be scarier,” Xaio commented with a grin, “How do you think people would react if I just threw my head at them and knocked them out? I’ve been told I have a very hard head!” Kana honestly wasn’t sure if she was serious or not.

“I think you might get a headache from that!” Mina said with a grin, “But it would be really funny.”

Not being the center of attention was… nice. Peaceful even. Now… if only Mina’s soul would stop badgering her.

“Well, it makes sense that an extrovert would have a soul that’s just as extroverted,” Her mother teased.

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They were stopped on the way to class, but Kana had expected it and so didn’t object even as Xiao tried to stand up for her. That felt nice, but she felt it was better to go along with the nice hero instead of fighting them.

She’d have… probably won against most of them, but with All Might teaching there… him she could not beat.

So she followed Snipe to the principal's office and prepared to meet her fate. Or escape, whichever was more convenient.

“Relax,” Snipe said, “I dunno why they’re asking for you, but you’re no varmint so I know you ain’t in trouble.”

“I… do know, I think…” She replied, voice distant, “Your soul… likes american foods. Is that why… you chose to be a cowboy? Or did you… like the movies about them?”

Snipe just chuckled, “A little bit of both, darlin’,” He said with a chuckle, “But let’s make that our little secret, eh?”

“All secrets… safe with me…” She knew enough that she’d have to talk for days on days to get them all out anyway, might as well keep them.

“You’re a good kid,” Snipe said, “You’ll be fine.”

“Maybe… just hope not religious…” She mumbled. She knew she’d get accepted into the school, but there was always the chance they’d arrest her or capture and disappear her afterwards once they had her in a place she couldn’t simply run from.

Or they were asking about some weirdness with her immigration papers, that was possible too!

They eventually arrived at the office, where Snipe opened the door for her. “I’ll be just outside for when the meeting’s done,” He said.

She nodded her thanks to him as she swayed into the room, one foot after the other in an almost falling motion; building up energy for her flight… and for practice, admittedly. Still, that there were only two people in the room was somewhat reassuring.

That one of the two was All Might was much less so, admittedly.

On the other hand… “You’re… hurt?” She asked, head tilting as she walked towards him, “Wounded, torn… given away?” The color was almost exactly like the green-haired girl’s, but… lessened. Which was weird, normally a stronger hero would have much brighter colors and greater vibrancy. Her quirk was, really, really bright and blinding, but surely All Might’s would be even more so… “Looks… weird…”

All Might spat up blood in surprise, “What do you mean, Young Soto?”

“You did just spit up blood,” Principle Nezu noted, sounding amused, “But this does confirm she wasn’t lying on her form that she could see quirks and souls.”

“I never lie,” Kana replied carefully, “unless I have been asked to.” Like to keep secrets or to get someone to think she was interested in something when she wasn’t.

“Yes, well, how much do you know of your family, Young Soto?” All Might asked, “It’s important you answer this.”

“Not a lot…” She ventured with a frown, “I was an… orphan. Dad and mom were… married for their quirks by their parents… I never saw them much. Mom was infertile, so they adopted…”

“I see, do you know who dropped you off at the orphanage?” He asked, getting a shake of her head in return.

“The reason we ask is that your powers remind us of a villain that All Might fought in the past,” Nezu explained, “We suspect you may be related to him in some way. You said that you can’t steal or copy quirks without their users dying first, right? Can you force that to happen?”

“No… well, I could but I refuse to,” Kana said, “It’s wrong, and… they would be angry…” Her life was noisy enough with her parents running commentary, never mind other souls doing it.
She had no desire to add the angry soul to all the background noise.

“And… it would be the same way anyone else would do it…” She mumbled, “Just… killing them. I think? I can’t… ask my own soul what it can do… and I’ve never tried to steal a soul before…”

“Good, good,” Nezu said, nodding pleasantly, “If you were asked to, would you wait by a dying hero’s bedside to have their quirk? Let’s say a healer is dying and wants to keep people healthy after their death?”

Kana frowned, worry on her face. “I… would. But only if asked… or if it was accidental. I can’t control when it happens… there’s just a range limit…”

“Thank you for your cooperation,” All Might said, “Please do not spread around that I’m wounded, it could cause panic until there is someone that can replace me.”

“I keep secrets…” Kana said as she rubbed her shoulder, “I keep a lot of secrets…” What’s one more? This one was rather minor, all things considered. A hero getting hurt was normal, she didn’t know why All Might would be so special as to not get hurt. Obviously it was better for people to not see it, her Dad had to hide injuries all the time, but… everyone knew it happened at some point.

She briefly considered pointing that out, but decided not to, it wasn’t her place… and she was pretty sure Nezu knew or at least suspected what she was thinking.

“May I… go to class?” She asked, “They’ll be… worried about me…”

“Of course,” Nezu said with a smile, “And thank you for indulging us.”

“You are… welcome, Principal Nezu… I did not have much choice…” It was only fair for her to point that out, if she refused she’d have been expelled or worse. Or at the very least given detention…

“You always have a choice, Ms. Sato,” Nezu corrected, “We could’ve scheduled this for another time easily, correct? All Might?” Kana didn’t miss the side eye he gave the Number One Hero.

“Oh, um, yes!” He said, “We could have! We… probably should have told her before she came!”

They had the grace to look embarrassed at least.

“... See you in class later…” Kana sighed, turning to leave in the same loping walk she’d come in with. “If you have… any more questions… feel free to ask…”

“If any do come up, Ms. Sato, we'll arrange something,” Nezu said with a nod.

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