DAMN IT, DAMN IT, DAMN IT, WHY MEEEEEEE???!!!

A boy thought, noting he was in a troublesome situation. He was rather plain-looking, with his black scruffy hair and circle lensed glasses. His skin, light brown, and his eyebrow had a gash through it, making him look tougher than he felt."

The young man had found himself in a tough spot being face to face with a group of three thugs who didn't seem like they were up to talking things out, which was all the boy knew how to do. Two of them wore black hoodies, except the blond-haired spiky one standing in front of them who wore blue, making him seem like the leader of the bunch. The other two were bald while the other had long red hair respectively.

They confronted him; he sized them up. Donning fake stoicism, he began to try and reason with the three.

"Screw this," he thought to himself in disappointment. "seriously, Reito? Ya can't even grab a drink from Shion's place without my dumb luck makin' it a hassle? This blows. Look, guys, sorry about the spill," he apologized, sighing, "it's not like I meant to splash anythin' on your face. I mean, do I look like the type of guy who'd waste a good drink?"

"Ya don't look like the type of kid who would even like alcohol, smug ass," the blond-haired thug snarked back, "besides, I can't just let you walk outta this. See, I'm tryna to force myself to the top of this City through street rep alone. So it'd be pretty bad for me if word got out that I let some unknown clown get away with splashin' some liquor on me. If you can, anyone can. Y'know? I've gotta be the type of guy people turn their heads to when they hear I'm in the room, the kickass gang boss, Lizer! So ya see? I gotta teach ya a lesson!" the group's leader proclaimed, enamored by his own words.

Reito gave an unamused look in response. Like I care about your life story! Man, of all people, I ran into a narcissist street punk with his head shoved up his ass… Lucky me. The minute I get the chance, I'm givin' 'em the slip," he thought. "Weellll...I'll definitely let everyone I meet know about the "almighty Lizer" and how bad his gang rocked my shit. Soooo...if ya don't mind...I'm outta here!" he exclaimed, bolting out of the alleyway.

"Kid may be a lower rank nobody, but he's got some stones running away after that. Let's go, boys," Lizer commanded his two lackeys as they tailed him out of the alley.

Cutting a corner so hard he almost tripped, Reito hurried his way through a crowded sidewalk. Clothing stores, weapon stores, and eateries filled both the one he was on and the sidewalk to the left. The various people in his path weren't taking kindly to someone rushing through haphazardly.

"SORRY, 'SCUSE ME, TRYNA SAVE MY SKIN HERE!"

[Hey, watch it, jerk!]

[What the heck, kid? Watch where you're going!]

"About 2 minutes to the complex from here, then I'm home free! Problem is, these guys are persistent!"

As he pondered on his current predicament, Lizer's cohorts pointed two fingers at the boy's feet, and, as if it was magic, the ground started to stretch around one of his red and white high top shoes.

"Seriously?! I just bought these!" He worried. "Welp, wasted glint over gettin' maimed...no contest!" The boy decided, quickly kicking off his shoe, causing him to trip over a bit.

Running full speed ahead and wavering a bit from his now lopsided steps, tables and chairs outside of a closed cafe entered his vision. There's a chance! He rejoiced , scanning the area. "Doesn't look like anyone's around...the place is closed too. In that case," just as it looked like he would crash into it, he vaulted over the table into a back-flip, then after landing, approached it with a deep breath, "hope the shop-keep won't mind me usin' this to save my ass!" He wished, launching the table toward the three with a rather strong one-inch punch.

���...! What the hell?! This guy...I thought he was just some loser, but he's got some moves!" The thug leader grit his teeth. "Lookin' all unassumin'...just so ya could get a chance to ram a table into my face?! Yoouuu!!" He growled, throwing a knife from his pocket and waving two fingers back and forth, cutting the table into pieces before it even made contact. "Plain lookin' bastard… TRYNA HIT ME WITH SCENERY??!! YER FINISHED!!"

The knife flew towards Reito with malicious intent. A knife controllin' Path?! Seriously, gimme a fuckin' break! Could I get power like that?! He thought, bracing himself. "Oh well, now ain't the right time to complain! I could use my Path, but what good would it do? It sucks! Not to mention I'd hafta approach 'em, which is so not happenin'!...Damn it, guess I gotta use what she taught me! He focused on the blade and brought a palm up while taking a deep breath. "Calm...draw it out… Aura, save my skin, please!" Pleading for his life, clear blue energy enveloped his hand. "There it is! Alright, I'm shippin' this thing right back to the sender!" The knife collided with the back of his palm, but strangely enough, it didn't cut through him. Instead, it glided across his knuckles. Then, in an instant, he flicked his wrist forward, diverting it back the way it came.

No way! Turnin' my own blade against me?! A Path, maybe? Lizer questioned, confused. Is he some kinda deflection human or somethin'?! The weapon zoomed past him and grazed his ear, nestling into a building side, cracking it. "GAAAHHHHH!!! MY EAR!!!" He screamed in pain, grabbing his ear and rolling on the ground."

His goons stopped and kneeled down, worried about their boss.

[Boss! You ok?!]

"DO I LOOK OK, FUCKIN' MORONS?!! LOOK WHAT HE DID!!" His hands slowly dropped, revealing that his ear was dripping blood, half of his auricle cut clean off. "You…, "he got up, a vein-popping, "I was feelin' kinda generous today...was even thinkin' about lettin' ya off with a broken bone or two… But now...that's way to light of a punishment for ya…! Scarrin' my face...just fer that...yer dead, wuss!"

A chill rushed down Reito's spine, making him flinch. His attempt to defend himself leaving his aggressor even angrier. Scraping the ground as he got up, he took off to a vacant streetway. "WHY THE HELL DIDN'T I JUST KEEP BOLTIN'?!! STUPID! STUPID!" He asked himself as they continued after him. Reito desperately looked around, hoping for anything to show up and get him out of trouble. "Another distraction, please! One that works this time, or I'm gettin' cut into ribbons!! Come on, come ooonn!!" he chanted, nearing a fire hydrant, a smile creeping onto his face. "Perfect! Somethin' my shitty ability's good for!" He proclaimed, coming to a brief halt. "30D 3.5S," Reito mumbled, roundhouse kicking the hydrant's side, seemingly having no effect. When Lizer and his lackeys neared the hydrant, the side of it that the boy kicked burst off and shot high pressured water at the pursuers.

Shit! Lizer quickly picked up speed to avoid the stream, his lackeys weren't so lucky as they caught the stream full force and crashed through the window of a clothing shop.

"Another Path? He questioned, setting his sights back on the boy's escape route. "No...what he did earlier musta been a technique! Hey! We ain't done here!" He angrily rose back to his feet and dashed in his direction.

***

Finally making his round to the Kita school complex, Reito breathed a sigh of relief. His security was cut short however, as a small switch blade cut into his leg, spilling blood on the road. As he winced and knelt down to examine it, he noticed that Lizer had caught up with him just moments from his safe haven.

He looked down on the injured boy. "Blade Shift. I've always been a guy who knows his way around a small confined blade," he explained, gesturing back with two fingers as the blade returned to his side, "but bein' able to control 'em just by wavin' my hand in the wind? That's some good shit. Guess we were meant to be, me and this Path."

As the boy saw his situation looked bleak, he stood up with a smirk on his face, looking to weasel his way out of being sliced through. "I'm extremely sorry Mr.Lizer, sir, I've made a terrible mistake. Saaayyy, if ya let me go home without drivin' a knife through my skull, there's this cutie I met a while back who really knows her way around a good drink, I could give ya as much as you can handle!"

"Save it, you ass. That'd only remind me of the time I let you go every time I drank some."

Shit, even if I wanted to do somethin', I can't get close without gettin turned into a pin cushion, I can't even stop shakin'...so Granny's techniques are outta the question too, lucky me… Reito weighed his options.

Lizer got closer to him, but was stopped by a loud voice.

"DROP DEAD!" Before Lizer could even react, he turned, and was met with a yellow baseball bat to the face, being struck with such force that his nose was broken and several of his teeth escaped his mouth.

Before he passed out, he caught a glimpse of a girl with purple and yellow hair wearing a Flow! print graphic Tee. An Ono…? No way...weren't they all wiped out…? He wondered, falling to the ground on his back, face bloodied from the impact of the hit. The girl responsible stood over him."

"You would've been sashimi right now if I wasn't tailing you, why does trouble love you so much, Reito?" The purple haired girl asked, clicking her tongue.

Reito smiled. "Shion, long time no see! Your swing's as elegant as ever! About as elegant as a gorilla tryin' to figure skate, that is," he muttered that last bit while dusting off his plaid unbuttoned shirt.

The corners of her mouth curved up into a twisted smile as she looked at him. "Huh? You said you want your skull caved in too? My pleasure~" she threatened him in a scarily upbeat tone, tightening her grip on the bat she was holding.

He shuddered. "W-What I meant was...thanks. Ya really saved my ass there. But...didja really tail me all the way from your place? Wow, guess that silent footsteps trick your folks taught ya is pretty helpful after all."

"All that convenience and I still curse dad for teaching me how to do it. Course I did, this guy was part of a mission I took up. And maybe I was a little worried about you, but more the possibility of getting caught with the drinks I gave you. We're still 15 y'know. Unlike you, I have plans. Minami's Student Council is waiting for me."

"Hey, I have plans! Livin' life at my leisure with the stipend Kita sends me until I've had my fill is a kickass goal in my book!"

She gave a disappointed look with her eyelids hung low. "You're truly the king of ambition, Rei… But I digress. I've called the police on Geyser or whatever, so let's bolt to your place. You're probably gonna have trouble walking with your leg all cut, so I'll give you a hand," she said, walking over to Reito and hoisting him over her shoulder. Her bat dematerialized into a red hilt that she slipped into the pocket of her brown hot pants.

"...I feel...kinda emasculated here," he gave a look of indifference.

"Aww, soowiieee, poor you! Maybe don't piss off random thugs every week. You seriously haven't changed one bit since we met." Shion rebutted, making him go silent as they hurried a block over to the Kita complex.

***

When they arrived at the Kita Complex, it was a large building about 4 stories high. Stairs at the front of the building to the left leading up to each specific floor, with the word Kita front and center on the entrance. It was dark, but lampposts lit the way, and the sound of crickets emanated from bushes in front of the structure.

The two stopped at the first floor in front of a door that had the number 13K in bronze letters, on the side appeared to be a hand scanner glowing blue.

"Gimme Paw," she said to him, gesturing towards the scanner.

"What am I, some mutt waitin' to be house-trained?" he whined, raising his hand to the scanner.

"Well, considering what happens when I don't have my eye on you, might as well be," she laughed.

As the scanner emitted a semi loud beep, the two entered the apartment kicking their shoes off at the door.

The inside was rather small, but livable, like a less extravagant studio apartment. The kitchen however, had pots and pans on the stove yet to be put away, and a faint scent of a liqueur wafted through the dorm.

Making her way to the bed, she let him down onto it. "I'll grab some antibiotics, try not to move around too much," she made her way to the bathroom while trying not to trip on misplaced dumbells and game controllers that had littered the floor.

"It's me we're talkin' about here, if it wasn't for my unyieldin' urge to get wasted, I'd never leave my dorm," he responded in a smug tone.

She shot him a look of disappointment. "Only you could sound so proud about something like that, I don't even see how you function with this much clutter… And speaking of never doing things, what's with you running away from Visor and his goons? If you would've actually made use of your Path besides making a little distraction, you probably wouldn't have had your leg sliced through," she questioned while entering the bathroom and rummaging through the medicine cabinet.

"That's a no from me," he denied, making an X with his hands, "even if I wanted to put the effort in, there's no way I could make a power like Delayed Impact work. Too much of a hassle." Pretty sure his name was Lizer, though.

"But Ms.Mitsuki put you through all of that Aura training a while back, right? You should be able to hold your own in a one on one, and-"

"That was just Granny bein' overbearin' as usual, and that's the last time I'll talk about it, Shion," he cut her off, "I'm beat. Anyway, after ya help me patch this up, how 'bout a drink on me?"

"Considering I hauled a bunch all the way from Azuma, I'm assuming you meant it's on me, right?" She deadpanned, applying the antibiotics to his wound with gauze in hand.

"Well, I'm runnin' low on drinks anyway. Considerin' you're my source, it'd be cool if ya offered!" He grinned.

After wrapping the final bit of gauze around his leg, she reached into the yellow shoulder bag she was carrying to bring out two cans of 24oz cans of beer. "Yeah, yeah, don't choke on it going down," she joked, tossing one of the cans his way.

He caught it, then looked at her with a genuinely grateful smile. "How 'bout a toast?"

She raised an eyebrow. "To what, exactly?"

"It's to who, and you, obviously!" He confirmed, raising the can in the air. "Shizuka Ono, you kick all sorts of ass, seriously, thanks for today! If you need help anytime, I'll come runnin', guaranteed!"

Hearing genuine praise from the boy, a smile creeped onto her face. "Seriously… you're a complete pain...but...hearing something like that outta you makes me happy we met!" she thought, laughing at the gesture. "Ok, Reito Usodachi, that's something I can drink to! Cheers!"

That being said, they clinked the cans together, cracked open their drinks, and downed them simultaneously.

"Shoot, I got so into the toast I-" Reito thought before spit taking in his friend's direction. "I got too riled up. Straight beer is God awful! Hey, Shion, do me a favor and pass me some pink lemonade outta the fridge, ple-… Shion…?"

She creeped closer, her hair casting a shadow over her eyes.

"Ahaha...sorry about that, I got so caught up in the moment, I forgot what I was downin'. You can understand though...right?" He asked with a shaky smile

"You know...Rei, I like the idea of helpin' ya pass to the afterlife a lot more…" she muttered in a chilling tone, while the drink rolled down her face.

"No thanks, livin's pretty fun, haha… Y-Your dialect slipped...Yakuza bro Shion's here all of a sudden… Come on, Shion… Shion?"

"Think things through, ya dumbass!" She exclaimed, decking the boy on the side of his face with a right hook.

"Guaaaaaaahhh!

***

Reito awoke to sunlight hitting his face, along with a dreadful hangover. Shizuka slept over for the night to keep an eye on him, knowing full well how overboard he can go when it comes to drinking, and was now cooking breakfast.

"Man," he started as he rubbed the mark on his cheek, "your punch leaves as good of an impression as always. Ouch!" He winced, retracting his hand.

"Hmph, well if you actually thought in advance when it came to anything besides lying around, you'd only have the headache to worry about right now," she scoffed. "Sit down, soup's on. Water will do you some good, too. Enjoy."

Grabbing the glass from her and chugging half of it, he turned to his plate of bacon and eggs."Smells great! Thank you for the food, time to eat!" He started on the plate at a breakneck pace, the eggs were just how he liked them, fried, cooked to perfection. Soft to the point where they were flavorful, the taste danced on his tongue while also being easy to chew. They slipped down his throat like a stream through rock, perfect.

"This is great! I'll never get tired of your cookin', top notch as always!"

"Well, I can't argue with that. Stuff like this is pretty basic though, anyone could do it." she cheerfully replied. While I'd love to sit around shooting the breeze all day, we've got class in an hour."

" Funny, I thought I heard a "we've" in that statement just now."

"Yup! You heard right! Mark this off on your calendar as your first day officially attending Kita academy! You said you'd repay me for having your back, remember?"

"Y-Yeah. But, somethin' like that is a bit of a hurdle… How about a movie, or a shoppin spree or... literally anything else. Plus, ya know how I feel about people other than you, and-"

"You're going. End of story, so get ready. After I've walked you, I'll have about 20 minutes to take the bullet train back to Azuma," she insisted.

"Ugh… Fine, fine, I'll give it a go. Who knows? Maybe I can get lucky and a fallin' satellite will knock me out cold on the way."

"Don't count on it. And don't even think about weaseling your way outta this. I'll drag you by the collar if I have to," she put on a cropped hoodie to conceal her face and hair while Reito thought to himself with a defeated look.

Fuck. Me and my big mouth. He begrudgingly walked outside, being met with the sounds of chirping birds and sunlight beaming into his eyes as the sounds of people talking slipped into his room from the outside. I should've known she'd try to pry me away from my safe haven. Just the thought of takin' classes with all those people, and possibly having to fight some random bastards. I'm as lucky as usual…

***

They left his dorm and began their walk, consisting of three blocks. Many other students littered the path alongside them, mostly academy students on their way to school, dressed in jeans or long jackets. There were even a few girls who wore casual dresses. They laughed, talked on their way, their voices filling Reito's ears while he just sighed.

He hung low in disbelief at the fact that he was actually going to set foot inside of Kita. "You know, now that I'm thinking about it, I've got a mean stomach ache, it could be a virus. Better to be safe than sorry, so I'll head back later Shion-!" he uttered as she grabbed him by the collar.

"You ass, I was dead serious about dragging you, y'know."

"And here I thought I could outsmart you, Onos are as perceptive as they say," he shrugged. "Oh well, I guess I'll go along with your whole "Bein'-a-respectable-human" thing. He said, starting to walk, giving into Shizuka's demands. "But can't ya at least tell me what I'm gettin into? No use fumblin' around like an idiot when I've already missed a couple of days."

"Yeah, 'a couple' is an understatement. I think thirty to fifty days is a world record at this point."

"A world record that I hold a shit load of satisfaction in havin' built up," he confirmed, puffing his chest out triumphantly.

"Your confidence is seriously misplaced…," she sighed. "An invitation letter was sent to every student, I thought you said you read it?"

His eyes darted away from her a bit. "Did I say read...? I meant I skimmed it. The only thing I actually paid attention to was the fact that they gave us free livin' expenses plus our own place, haha… Course, I registered and all, but I didn't really pay attention at orientation. I mean, this place was made to keep us from troublin' any Norma's lives, so technically I'm not doin' anythin' wrong."

She narrowed her eyes and stared at him. "How'd you even function before we met? Well, for the basics. There are 4 main ranked schools in Capital City that were made forPathos. Course, there are thousands of students, so they probably haven't noticed any of the slacking you're doing, even though it's wrong. All you need to know is that it's just like any regular ole' school. The only difference is the students participate in battles where wins and loses are weighed into a rank based system. If you get far enough, there's a spot on the Council waiting for you, which is basically just a group of the top 4 students in each school."

The cream of the crop, huh? He thought.

"You're a student from Kita, the lowest ranked school. Next up is my school, Azuma. After that, Nishi, and Minami. While they mainly focus on the growth and control of our powers, we still have to take part in general studies like maths, and english, we even have P.E… The government mandates they still squeeze in some basic curriculum. Sucks, but it wouldn't be school without it, I guess," she explained.

"Battles… There's a chance I won't have to be involved in one ever...right?" He questioned, hoping he wouldn't have to.

"Well, you could get lucky. You have to be challenged by someone first, or issue one youself. Considering you've never set foot in the academy, you should be the lowest rank of Bronze, so I doubt you'd have to worry about much. But today, I need you to promise me something. Rei." Shion grabbed his arm and spoke in a clear tone.

"The promise bein'?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Promise me that if someone challenges you, you'll accept. You're letting Delayed Impact and Ms. Mitsuki's training go to waste. If you tried, you could really make a name for yourself with them."

"You're putting too much faith into me, Granny only trained me for a year and I wasn't really the best listener then either. Even if you could consider that a factor, come on, compared to people who can teleport, control objects, and even people with super versatile Paths like yours, something as impractical as my-"

"Rei, just promise me, at least...try."

Hearing this and looking into her hopeful gaze, he gave up on his defense and simply shrugged, running his hand through his hair. "Guess I couldn't avoid it forever. Alright, I promise. Geez, persistent as always."

"Damn straight! Like a wildfire through a forest!" she exclaimed before checking her phone. "I've still got about 20 minutes to spare, gotta catch the bullet! Later ,Rei!"

"Don't die on the way to Azuma!" A wildfire? He thought. What kinda expression was that? Is that just a girl thing? Eh, whatever, comin' from her mouth, I guess it sounds kinda natural...still a bit weird though.

"That aside, time for hell on Earth. Damn, my stomach's in knots. Somethin' please get in the way of this… Wait a minute!" He brought a fist down to his palm.

"Of course! This is like one of those moments in anime, right? The ones where the MC comes into contact with a mysterious transfer student who descends from the sky and turns out to be an alien who drags 'em on a grand adventure! Yeah, kinda like Yuki Nagato from Haruhi Suzumiya! Well I'm ready for it! Come on! I'll take that over school in a heartbeat!" He looked up to the sky with a smile and childish expectancy, but after a few seconds, his smile sank into a frown, and after a few more, he slumped over, disappointed. "Seriously…? I know it was unrealistic, but can't ya just throw me a break for once, universe…?