The English order of adjectives was as follows.
Opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, and purpose.
Mother got me an english teacher, cool isn't it?
Tall guy, light brown hair, pinkish skin.
Still within the non-mutant skin coloration though.
About forty years old, said he was "Here to spend the rest of his life in retirement."
Retiring at forty. What a dream.
He taught me pronunciation first.
said something about foreigner's accents being especially heavy and easily fixable. His words?
"Shut up, you're not supposed to make the sounds with your torso. Maybe the throat but not with focus. It's the mouth and tongue you need to use to speak in english."
He'd draw a poor man's approximation of the human mouth and point at parts detailing how they make sounds.
He drew little airflow diagrams over the teeth and tongue in different positions too.
It was fascinating really. That a language teacher actually taught a bastardized summary of the body mechanics first.
The only other person I know who began with pronunciation in such a way was sifu.
But his way was simplified, just pointing at different parts of the body when I made a mistake.
He left taking my mother's payment and leaving a japanese to english dictionary, as well as an english textbook full of notes.
All of which focused on the pronunciation of words and their corresponding sounds in japanese.
Great reference, if he hadn't taught me all that I needed to know to succeed in self studying I would have him be my tutor again.
Mom stopped going through my "diary" too.
I don't know what's going on anymore.
Her eyes that used to look at me with expectation turned into ones of curiosity.
Like she finally realized I was a person?
I haven't seen dad in a while either, he hasn't come home in a while.
I was seated in the living room studying my english textbook.
Of course with the dictionary by my side.
When suddenly mom came over, sitting beside me.
I used to have to suppress a flinch.
Now, she just looks so, out of it.
She closed my textbook.
She closed the dictionary, and she put away my stationaries.
Mom?
For once I wasn't scared of what she'd do to me.
I think I was scared for her.
It's hard to tell.
She turned her head to me, tears in her eyes and she only uttered a few words.
"I'm sorry."
I could almost hear her crying.
But she didn't.
Then she left the room.
I looked at her back as she disappeared down the hall and up the stairs.
I think mom's broken.
I heard a door open upstairs, followed by a drawer and some scuffling.
Mom returned with my sketchbooks.
Normally I would've been scared, I would've worried that she would punish me.
That she would destroy my art.
Instead, she gave me my sketchbooks, and while they were nestled in my arms she hugged me and rubbed the top of my head.
She repeatedly spoke.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Tenjo."
Ma~, What's going on?
I stayed silent.
I really don't know what's happening to mom.
So, dad's gone.
I get he ran out of patience, but like, he just left?
Mom was able to get custody of me pretty quickly, she and I moved to Musutafu shortly after.
I got to transfer into Aldera just like I wanted.
In the middle of the year no less.
I didn't need to take a train to sifu's wuguan anymore.
I could see Himiko as much as I wanted now.
I could make friends, I could draw, I could paint.
But this freedom feels so, weird.
I looked at mom on the couch.
It came to mind that I never even knew what she did for work.
"Tenjo-kun!~~"
Himiko looked so much healthier now.
It's an excellent transformation I say.
The other guys in the hallway turned and stared. Envious of the attention I was getting.
Not that they could handle it.
Most of them would immediately develop a stutter when trying to talk to girls.
"Hey Himiko."
She affixed herself by my side as I walked to class.
I could see that she was just as much happier as she was healthier.
Stronger too, clearly sifu is taking great care in her martial arts.
"How'd you convince your parents to let you transfer over here? It's so good to see you, you know?"
I welcomed her yammering.
It was genuine, directed at me, not at my quirk.
"I didn't do anything, mom remembered I wanted to come here so when we moved she decided on a place close by."
Himiko tilted her head.
"I thought she was like, suuper strict though? What changed."
I laughed a little.
"Mom changed."
Oh, there's my new classroom. I think it's time to part ways.
Himiko stopped me.
"Tenjo, is everything alright?"
Why is she stopping me?
"Why are you stopping me?"
Himiko made sure to look into my eyes.
Their fluorescence illuminating her face.
Now a healthy color instead of corpse pale.
She bit her lip before speaking.
"You sounded like, you were hurt. When you said your mom changed."
She began to stare into my eyes.
I averted my gaze.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
When I turned my eyes back, Himiko was looking down. Though she still stood in front of me.
"We'll talk later." She said it just loud enough for me to here before going into the classroom.
Oh, we have the same classroom.
The teacher arrived shortly after, taking notice of my appearance.
"Oh! Tenjo Watanabe right? Just wait out here a while longer, I'll call on you in a minute for your introduction ok?"
He was tall, thin, regular.
He probably had a telekinesis quirk.
It was the most common after all.
I waited in the hallway a bit.
I wonder what seat I'll get?
The teacher came out quickly, a few short words came with him.
"You can introduce yourself to the class now."
At the front of the class the teacher spoke to the students.
"Everyone quiet down, we have a new transfer student today, please listen to his introduction."
I could hear the kids in the back talking.
"Another transfer student? Why are they only coming to this class?"
An ash haired ill tempered student leaning back in his seat answered.
"Tch! It's obviously because I'm in this class! They needed more extras for me to step on!"
He awkwardly whisper-yelled.
It was quite funny.
I began my introduction ignoring his self important ego.
"Nice to meet you all, my name is Tenjo Watanabe, I'm fourteen years old and I'm happy to be in your care."
I was just about to walk to an empty seat I saw close to Himiko when the teacher coughed.
I turned and he awkwardly spoke.
"Aren't you going to introduce your quirk?"
I sighed, really it's the same here too huh?
Returning to the front I gave a few words.
"My quirk is color projection."
The teacher raised a brow.
"And what does it do?"
Really, do we need to do this?
Well, I didn't need to show them the full application of my quirk though, did I?
I raised a hand, palm up and colored.
Soon a miniature mountain landscape sat atop my hand.
"I can project colors."
Some students admired it, others scoffed like it didn't match expectations.
Another laughed.
"HAH! SUCH A WEAK ASS QUIRK! GO SIT DOWN EXTRA!"
That guy is kinda funny.
The teacher sighed, "you're going to have to deal with him, I can't do anything about him. Just take any empty seat."
I sat next to some green haired kid at the window.
He kept muttering and writing something.
Himiko was seated in front of me.
She turned around in her seat with a smile.
"Tenjo kun! It looks like we're classmates! This school will be just so good! trust!"
I nodded, even when Himiko was down she tried her best to be up.
Now that she is up, she doesn't even need to try to bring others up.
"Yeah. I have a feeling this school year will be great."
The teacher opened a textbook and made a noise at the front.
"Ok! plenty of time to talk later. Pop quiz!"
A test on the first day, no problem for me.
Himiko looked unbothered as well.
When lunchtime came around I met up with Himiko on the roof.
Her bento box was large, like half the height of a grown man's ribcage large.
She opened it to a still warm colossal amount of protein.
I didn't see any bloodpacks though, didn't she need to drink blood?
"Hey Himiko?"
She smiled at me.
"Ya?"
I slowly formed the words.
"I thought your quirk required you to drink human blood?"
She nodded her head while eating.
"Yeah yeah! I thought so too! But while blood is a main focus of my quirk."
She slurped some thin cut beef.
"It's the blood on top of a regular diet I needed, so Dad tried getting me a regular meal with extra food on top!"
I eyed the quickly depleting portion of food.
Also, she's calling Sifu dad already, I feel so happy for her.
"And it turns out! I just needed a more meat based diet with focus on irons, fats, proteins, and vitamins!"
I nodded along.
"What about hormones? Isn't that an important part of the blood?"
I asked.
Himiko nodded excitedly.
"Supplements! Papa found out that the main reason for my need for blood is that my body doesn't produce enough of certain hormones!"
I did not know enough about hormones to understand possible implications.
I did have more questions though.
"How?"
Himiko's bento box was already empty.
"The doctors put me through a few machines and tested my blood! They used their quirks too!"
I'm fairly certain that's illegal.
The quirk usage in a professional setting.
"Isn't that so cool Tenjo? I'm normal now!"
Ah, no, she's not "normal now" she's just, free now.
She can finally be herself.
"Yeah, it's so cool you can be yourself now Himiko."
She suddenly stopped smiling.
I found her eyes staring into my soul.
"You're doing it again, Tenjo. You're being sad again."
What?
Huh?
"How?"
She leaned closer with her nose twitching.
"I can smell it, your blood."
I took a breath before continuing.
"What does it smell like."
She got closer again.
"Like wet paint, and rain on the pavement."
I opened my mouth to speak.
Then she shoved a bun in my mouth.
"Eat your bento Tenjo, we don't need to talk now if you don't want to."
She brought her knees to her chest and waited for me to eat.
Once again, I felt like I brought the mood down.
I bit into the bun, quickly sending it down my gullet.
"I'm-"
She cut me off mid apology.
"Don't be. Just, try ok? You helped me, I don't want you to feel the same way I did."
I finished my bento in silence while Himiko watched.
Today it tasted, homemade.
"Hey Himiko."
"Hmm?"
She turned to face me again.
"Do you still drink blood?"
She nodded her head.
"Yeah, it's super tasty. Why do you ask?"
I wanted to ask her how my blood tasted, but I can't really just do that.
"How do you get it?"
She tilted her head.
"Pigs blood, cow blood, donors from the local hospital."
I held my tongue again.
She kept her eyes on me as she waited for me to talk.
Once she figured I was done talking she scooted a little closer.
Some time passed before we returned to class.
There were many questions I wanted to ask her in that time.
I wanted to know if she had any friends at Aldera.
I wanted to know what she thought of our classmates.
What she knew of our classmates.
If she tasted their blood yet.
I didn't ask, I held my tongue again.
I was able to say at least one thing though.
"We're walking to practice together, right?"
Himiko gave me that smile again.
"Yeah."
Classes went by much easier, at an actual middle school level this time.
No longer was I taking tests in calculus.
Just regular algebra.
Not to mention the other subjects.
I finished the last pop quiz of the day, math.
Though I complain about it quite a lot, it's comparatively more clear than other subjects.
Fewer rules and tiny excerpts to memorize.
I was seated between a green haired wimp and his self absorbed bully.
I admit that the two had a very strange atmosphere between each other.
I was also of the mind to think that my green haired neighbor was autistic.
Given that whenever I got to my seat I saw him writing in his "hero study" journal.
I'm fairly certain he started writing in that book faster when I introduced my quirk.
The end of day bell was soon to arrive, and I've met not a single new person.
The guys seated next to Himiko were the ashy haired bully's goons.
They didn't do anything but curry favor with him.
I glanced at him as he worked on his quiz.
His name was, oh I couldn't read it from here.
Not to worry, I used my quirk to copy the text that I saw on his paper.
Overlaying a transparent color atop his name, I projected its movement and a little rotation to my desk.
Switching colors to let me see the name proper.
Katsuki Bakugo.
I remember him showing off his quirk to his goons.
His hands go boom.
I wonder what it would look like if he could make a huge boom.
Sifu's wuguan was essentially the first floor of a home.
There was a place at the door for our shoes, and a place at the back for shoes too.
A different kind of shoe though.
Kung fu shoes, slippers, wushu shoes, wushoes?
I don't remember what they were called.
The floor has layers of matting, for safety.
Only six pillars were present in the room, dividing practice space.
There was a weapon rack on the right wall, and the courtyard was at the back.
Two changing rooms.
Stairs for everything else a house needed.
"Sifu."
I greeted him with Himiko.
I don't get why I smell sad to her.
Or why I would be sad.
He nodded with a smile on his face.
His beard was gray and magnificent.
The explosive shape of it spoke of great power and personality.
"Conditioning, today."
Fuck.
Horse stance with weighted clothes and hands forward.
Extra weights for good measure.
Despite my displeasure I at least appreciated that he trained willing students.
Sifu could've simply not done anything in his retirement.
Instead he came to Japan, opened a school for his arts, and taught us.
He didn't even have that many students, just me, Himiko, Oshiro Tadashi, and Anzai Tadashi.
Twins.
They only come in 3 days of the week though.
My arms trembled as I kept them before me.
Time passed at a snail's pace before me while I held the weights.
By my side Himiko too held dumbells.
Her form was being gently corrected by Sifu.
A few taps and nudges with his monkey staff, some words and some nods.
Then, he brought out a white board.
He wrote in Cantonese as he spoke.
"To prove a statement by induction."
I forget that he studied pure mathematics when he was in China.
Did I understand the concepts he gave us?
Barely.
I asked him a long time ago why he didn't use poetry to teach us Cantonese.
He said he didn't remember the poems.
By my side Himiko was sweating as if the symbols on the board were actively attacking her.
An hour passed, filled with studies of math and language.
Along with conditioning.
Balancing, holding stances, stretching, the regular.
With the remaining time we had a short water break and some practice problems.
Graded and reviewed.
Frankly, I could get behind studying pure math.
Himiko on the other hand.
"What do you mean k + 1? Why does that work? How does that work?"
I think Sifu needs to start her on algebra first.
At the end of our break Sifu clapped his hands and announced our last portion of practice today.
"Cardio."
Motherfu-
When the end of practice came Himiko sent me off with a smile and a water bottle.
We waved at each other until I walked out of sight.
Home was just a few streets away.
Do I even need to go home?
I paused.
I don't get it.
I looked to the sky as I guessed the time.
About six before midnight.
Six after noon.
I took my phone out, fully intending on texting someone I knew.
Saito, Himiko.
"Huh."
There's no one else I know.
I could text Himiko.
Sifu got her a new phone, her contact was in my phone.
But I literally just said bye to her?
That's kind of awkward isn't it?
Like calling back immediately after ending the call.
Not because you forgot something but because you want to talk more.
I won't text her then.
Then Saito, I don't have his contact.
Right, his parents didn't get him a phone.
Maybe their limiting of his electronic usage made him less fanatical about heroes?
And so it was that I was alone.
I think I could go home at eight instead tonight.
Mom has been out of it lately.
It's just too eerie since I don't know how she could change further.
That leaves the question.
Where to?