She almost couldn't believe that the Shion she first talked to not too long ago was the same one that had come before her today. She heard of the horrors of the recent events and could only imagine what it must be like for a first year like him to go through so much. Still, as much as she felt for him she needed to remain professional too, she couldn't get caught up in her own feelings, she needed to remain in control of them.

''What did you see?'' Her voice remained soft, more inquisitive than prodding was what she was going for. She got the sense that she needed to take a calm and patient approach with him. He had seen horrors that made him question everything, he was probably in a sensitive state so it was best for her to take her time and let him leave when he wanted to. ''What do the strangers say? What do you think you're missing?'' She would take notes occasionally as he talked, listening attentively even through his rant.

''Toto scares you?'' She side-eyed the broom she had put in the room. Just what had happened to Shion? Toto, who was perhaps once his closest friend had become an entity he feared. A fear of his own quirk? Shion wouldn't be the first one, but usually people didn't go from liking their quirks as much as he did to downright fearing them so fast. Him mentioning he wanted to hold weapons was a bit alarming, but she couldn't jump to conclusions.

Her gaze shifted down to his teacup as a small black line appeared, the tiniest of cracks.

''Shion Utsui.'' She put her note and pen away and reached out a hand, if he wanted to, he could take it, but she wasn't going to force him either. ''You're still you. No matter what you see, or go through, you will always be Shion and no one can take that from you.'' She tried a reassuring smile, not to expect one in return from him, but to try and ease some of the tension he might be feeling. ''You're a bright student with a heart of gold. You're affected by what you've experienced, and that's one of your strengths. You'll succeed in life because you ruminate on these things. Because you take it to heart. It's tough, it feels awful, but you do it anyway, right? That's a strength. It may not feel like it in the moment, but I want you to remember this, Shion, fear is but a precursor to valor.''

Shion Utsui

''H-H-Haven't I?!'' She stammered out, her face tomato red as she cleared her throat. ''Yeah?'' She cracked a smile, ''You can't tell from just a glance? I mean.. A-Anyway!! We're not here to talk about him.'' Even though she could, for hours, probably. ''I'm sure you will in time, she's in the hero course after all.'' She stretched her arms one last time to get cozy, setting herself up to get spooked by the incoming movie.

She was mid sip when Iphigenia called out her recklessness. ''That's rich coming from you, Iphi, weren't we both a bit gung-ho back then?'' Maybe it was just her memory playing tricks on her, but she recalled times where she got wheeled into the nurse's office, just to find that Iphi was already occupying one of the beds with her own set of injuries. It's why she couldn't be mad when the current first years got a little reckless. She still remembered her own early UAU days, and how the entire education had a way of humbling you through every single year you progressed forward. ''Hopefully not!'' She chuckled, still occasionally having nightmares about their second year exam. ''Well, I heard they made the exams easier now, right? Not that Rin and Aella couldn't handle it of course!''

''Yeah mega famous, I feel like every other movie I put on he's in it. If I was an actress I'd want his agent.'' Never ending acting jobs! Although she had to admit she quite liked her current career and didn't feel any call to the big stage. ''Really? Is that so?'' She smiled, appreciating the pat and the distraction with weirdly specific facts that could take all the horror out of any movie. ''Yeah? You like it?'' Her face lit up as she lowered her pillow again. ''Wait, but you're not even scared. They don't call you 'Iron Iphi' for nothing.'' No one called her that.

Iphigenia Pavlina

''Yeah. Sadako, or Gleipnir, whichever you prefer.'' She smiled, having all of May's best interests at heart she only wanted to see her succeed, as she did with all the other students. She returned the bow. ''Don't worry, there's no need to be formal with me.'' She rather wanted to strike a balance between being an educator, but also a friend. Since she wasn't a teacher like many of her colleagues, she was in a unique position, and being that she was a counselor, establishing friendly, yet professional relations with the students was key.

''I admire your optimism.'' She put her hands together softly. ''It goes a long way in this career path.'' May might not know it, but the ability to bear the shocking, or the surprising, or maybe even downright bad, and then turning it into something better was not something just anyone could do. It required practice, but above all else a strong will. ''That's right. Keep away.'' When she separated her palms again, a chain started to emerge from one of them, a chain which she gripped tight in one hand and began swinging around like a lasso.

''You're full of energy, aren't you?'' She couldn't hold back a giggle. ''Then, here I come!'' Throwing the chain forward, Sadako started out with a simple attack just to test May's reflexes. Aiming the chain up near the top of her shoulder, she tried to snatch the bow from a position that would be quite easy to dodge or defend against.

May Twenty-First

Back at the UAU offices, one guidance counselor had chosen to stay behind late into the night to get some more work done.

''Man, the moon's already out.'' She yawned, having walked over to the window of her office to stretch her legs. ''I can't tell if I regret staying behind to get some more work done. Guess it'll depend on how I feel in the morning.'' Some people might feel scared still being at the school this late, but not Sadako. She watched plenty of horror movies and still it didn't phase her. If anything, UAU was easily ten times more safe than her own apartment and she had never experienced any attacks on her personal life. She had only ever had to fight whenever she was on duty.

Sitting down to look through some more student files, her eyes lingered on one that had her stumped for the last couple of hours. This boy had a quirk that changed the properties of his entire body, but it wasn't your typical mutation power up. Suddenly it clicked. How couldn't she have thought of it sooner? Taking a sip from her energy drink, she turned to her laptop and started pulling up the numbers of other heroes, namely UAU alumni.

Her finger hovered over the call button on her phone. Wasn't it really impolite to call her this late, and on her work phone too? Oh well, she could always ask for forgiveness later. For now, she needed to prioritize finding a way forward with this student.

''Helloo, is this Pretender? ~ Yeah, it's Gleipnir calling on behalf of UAU. Do you remember me? I believe we first spoke in your first year. The camping incident, exactly. Well, I'm sorry to be calling you this late, but I'd like to ask you a few questions regarding your quirk.'' Really this was more Iphi's ballpark, but she could always wing it now and double check it with Iphi later. ''Yeah, there's a first year student who just enrolled with a quirk that's pretty similar to yours. It's not a complete match, but his body is kind of gel-like too. Being that you're a pro hero, I figured you can relate to what he's going through.'' She turned a few pages as she looked over his file, before grabbing a pen and a notepad. ''Fantastic! Could you repeat that?''

After the call she stretched her arms above her head. She had a page full of notes she could go over in the morning now, what a save, Mochi Ogawa to the rescue! If only she had thought about calling her sooner so she wouldn't feel so bad. ''Hm?'' Did her ears deceive her? Did she really receive an email this late? An email from Apparel no less.

''Daiki Kaneko targeting Kaida Ikarashi?'' She woke up right quick reading that. ''Daiki Kaneko..'' She immediately walked over to a drawer and looked through a stack of paper. ''Don't ever let anyone say I slack off at work.'' She muttered to herself. ''Kaneko, one of the Kaneko children. Daiki specifically is the prime suspect of the Missing Heads Case.'' She almost dropped her papers as she stormed back over to read the email again. ''Targeting Kaida Ikarashi?! A student? But why... Should I call her in for a meeting? She's probably shaken, but she's been through a lot. I don't want to force her into a conversation either..'' She let out a sigh. She was definitely going to forward this. She could already tell her and Iphi was going to have a lively conversation tomorrow morning at Ouros. Apparel's email reassured her that Kaida was safe, but there was no way of telling if Kaida would become a target again in the future.

[attr="class","likedo"]