[attr="class","likedo"]

Elijah's attention was pulled away from the sprinklers to the older student. The furrowed brow remained as the other spoke, because honestly-

What the hell was this guy talking about?

He'd been going on about a staff person coming in to give Elijah due punishment for what he'd done for a while now, but now he was threatening to make it look worse for him? With the alternative being him erasing his crime altogether? And why was he still not concerned about the second fire? Unless...

Ah. The condition. He understood now. Well, understood Gen's true intentions with the whole thing that is. Why the sophomore had to go through such drastic measures was still up in the air.

Maybe that was why the other students were so afraid of him. Because they couldn't figure that part out either.

Elijah glanced down at the offered hand and blinked one. Twice.

Then he looked up at the other student's face and spoke.

"You could've just asked. I would've been fine with moving."

He let the thought sink in before he continued. "But instead you turned your room into a landfill, set your own clothes on fire after I put out the first one, and would risk your credibility with a renowned university for a mistake I would own up to, even though my expulsion would give you what you want regardless. Which I assume is a room to yourself, as I doubt you knew who I was to make this a first-time affair." All was said in monotone, as if he were reading off a grocery list instead of a list of things Gen would do to secure his solitude.

Elijah took a deep breath, eyes shut as a headache formed. Exhaustion from the exam followed shortly by this fiasco was taking a toll on him. He opened them again when he heard steps coming closer instead of away. "Your confidence in your seniority makes it so my choice doesn't matter in the end, so feel free to do what you want."

The freshman turned away from the hand, facing whatever faculty would greet them as he silently accepted his fate. "Good luck getting rid of your next roommate."

Kurokami Gen

As the alarm rang over the duo's heads, Elijah sighed. His role in this fiasco was finished. He did what he could, nothing more, nothing less. Unlike the usual irrational student who would continuously work on a problem to no avail, the freshman knew his limitations. His Quirk wasn't useful in the situation, so naturally, it was up to someone more fit to deal with the strange fire.

And here they come. Irrational student or someone more fit, Elijah couldn't tell, but a whole group of them made their way down the hall in hopes of putting out the flames themselves. Maybe one of them could generate water that was different from regular water? Hell if he knew.

What struck him as odd however was that all of them stopped in their tracks, stared at the guy he was still holding the shirt of and turned around with metaphorical tails between their legs. Elijah couldn't help but comment at the strange turn of events while he stared at Gen as well. "They walked away when they saw you." He squinted. Just what kind of reputation did this guy have?

In any case he didn't seem to want to follow evacuation protocol with the way he pulled away from Elijah's grip. With a huff, he let him do so. "What's there to fix? It's a fire. Unless you have a way to extinguish it?" He doubted it. Gen didn't even do anything while his clothes were burning in front of him.

Finding they couldn't do much else other than wait, Elijah tucked his hands in his pockets and looked to the ceiling, doing his best to tune out the noise of the alarm. He tilted his head at the other student's further accusations. He never runs out of things to say, the freshman will give him that. "I started the first fire, not the second. The second one was unnatural." Hadn't he said that already? Maybe the guy really was hard of hearing.

As the sophomore spoke, Elijah stared at one of the sprinklers with a furrowed brow. "The sprinklers never triggered by the way."

So much for thirty seconds.

Kurokami Gen

The goose actually got itself stuck in a tree.

Elijah took a moment to really acknowledge that; to look at the bird and confirm that, indeed, some of its heads were lodged in the trunk while the rest honked at him. He lowered his arms with furrowed brows, unsure of what to do with this turn of events.

He could leave, first off. The threat was subdued if temporarily. It meant he had a chance to escape; really put some distance between himself and the strange creature.

But it also meant the bird was vulnerable. Menacing as it was, even geese had its predators, and surely they would see a trapped fowl as an opportunity for an easy meal. Not to mention the fact it may never be able to free itself, meaning it could starve to death. And while Elijah understood the circle of life, he also knew that humans should not tamper with that cycle.

The student sighed. He should get it out.

Pocketing his granola bar, Elijah pointed his prosthetic at a tree branch away from the bird before launching a grappling hook at it, zipping himself towards the tree to get some distance from the fowl. He needed it for what he was about to do next.

Once he was situated on the branch, he pointed his arm at the goose next, firing his hook again so it grasped one of the bird's many necks. Only then would he maneuver himself so the wire wrapped around the trunk for additional leverage before he tried to pull it out with a quick yank.

Here's hoping he won't die because he unleashed the beast.

Goose

Soul touching. Elijah expected the kind of poetic description of what they've done from the musician, but it didn't change how cliché it sounded to his ears. Fires alit in people's hearts. Lifting their spirits with their symphony. As if they did what they did for more than just to earn their pay.

Well. Dante did, certainly. He brought his guitar on a whim when he noticed the student play. But did Elijah?

It was hard to tell, now.

He eyed the man when he groaned, curious as to what he was thinking. Did he have more to say on the matter? Didn't seem to when he picked up his gear and was on his way out. Elijah nodded once in response to the salute, tilting his head afterwards. "See you." Would he? They were strangers in the end, happening upon each other only because of their mutual interest in music. He supposed it didn't matter now.

The freshman packed his bass as Dante drove away, having to pause multiple times before he closed his case so the crowd was able to throw more money in it. And there was quite a bit of it; much more than what he would've made on his own. He was eventually able to walk away, hollers and whistles sounding off his departure as he boarded the bus back to the campus.

Elijah wondered briefly if his next venture was ever going to be as eventful as this one.

Dante

There were other rules to follow when one was facing an aggressive goose. Like remain calm. Slowly back away from its turf. Grab it by the neck and leg it once you toss it away. But as Elijah watched the fowl adjust its flight path for a second assault, he wondered if these rules still applied when the bird was doing a spin attack of all things.

Probably not. But he had nothing else in mind with how to deal with this situation, so rules continued to be adhered to.

The freshman dove to the side again before he stood, eyes still on the goose as he remained calm and took several steps backwards. His focus was now split, with one part of it watching the bird while the other attempted to ensure he didn't step on something that would make the problem even worse. One of his hands still held the granola bar. He should throw it.

But he wasn't one to litter or feed the wildlife.

Goose

This guy seemed fond of getting a rise out of people. Elijah's seen it before. The sneers. The accusations. The name-calling. It's just a shame that he was trying to anger someone who was used to shouldering the blame in everything he did. Instead of regretting his decisions, he simply accepted whatever consequence that came from them. Which included said taunting.

The burst of flames made his eyes widen slightly though. It was impossible. Unexpected. The freshman stepped back and pointed his extinguisher at it before firing again, but this time the embers showed no signs of dying down despite the pressurized air blown against it. His first thought went to Gen as the one responsible but that couldn't be. He didn't seem the type to risk getting kicked out to prove a point.

No, someone's infiltrated the campus and was on the attack.

He sighed through his nose before covering it with his shirt in an attempt to mask the smell. By the way his coughs sounded, it wasn't working. "There's bigger things to worry about than water and expulsion." And given that Gen made no move to do... anything really, it was up to him to get them both out of this situation. He dropped his useless extinguisher on the ground.

And with the suddenness of a viper striking its prey, Elijah reached out to grab the sophomore by his shirt and hauled him towards the door, his prosthetic not letting up in its grip on the other hero student.

Kurokami Gen