Class 1-A filtered into their classroom in a steady trickle through the last ten minutes up to the bell as usual, but today with a special sense of excitement. Several had gotten there a little earlier, so that they could spend time speculating about who the new student was going to be, but by 4 minutes till the bell, that was when Ruli approached the hallway. Mina was sentineling the hallway eagerly at the entrance of the classroom, and she knew it right away as she saw the fuzzy wolf boy, eyes widening. The backpack still over his shoulder would’ve given it away anyway.
“Oh my…yeah, that must be them. Neeeeever seen him on campus before. Definitely.” She grinned, and then turned around back into the classroom, saying it louder. “He’s here!”
Ruli’s ears flickered curiously and he huffed as he heard Minita follow it up, “Aw, He?” hearing the voice but not yet really knowing who it was. ‘Hehe figures. At least one like that in a group this big.’
“Pretty sure hehe, looks rugged with those ears and tail.”
“What? Tail? Ears?” Many voices answered in interest.
“Not like yours Ojiro; or yours Shoji. You’ll see.”
Ruli smirked for a moment but he calmed it down as he tried to just walk into the room steadily, but of course, all eyes were on him. He stopped at the entrance and tried to manage a grin, but his nerves showed in the way his tail curved, a flickering twitch every so often. “Hey, everyone. I’m uh, Ruli Kinnari. Nice to meet all of you.”
“Kinnari huh. I like that, it's easy to say and remember.” Kaminari chortled.
“You’re a wolf morph.” Shoji noted, a few tentacle eyes blinking at him over the other students.
They all stood along different parts of the room, some sitting and some not. All of them were looking at him with intense eyes. In the back, Midoriya was already sketching into a notebook, eyes flicking down every so often. He was drawing Ruli.
Ruli’s tail twitched again at the attention, his eyes briefly fell on everyone and lingered at slightly different times on each one. He recognized all of them from the Festival right away, though of course, he knew some of them more since they’d had more screen time. They stayed silent, each pair of eyes studying him in keen interest. He eventually chuckled and smiled, “Heh, yeah…but well I don’t bite. Just don’t know what to say.” He finally admitted.
And then the bell rang, and just shortly after, Aizawa was turning the corner of the classroom, and there was an instant shuffling that Ruli missed seeing as he turned his head at hearing the teacher enter. “Good, you’re already introduced. Everyone, this is Kinnari, the new student I told you all about. Just go ahead and jump into it, tell them your Quirk. There’s time for socializing later.” The teacher tiredly went on, as he stopped at the front desk and he sat down, eyes closing.
“Uh, yes, Mr Aizawa.” Ruli nodded, only somewhat surprised that he then noticed everyone had sat down so quickly. He tried to recall the words he’d mentally been thinking of at the start of his hour as he walked up to the front of the class, backpack still shouldered over his shoulder, but in wandering a few parts of the campus around the support course and cafeteria he had lost track of those thoughts. “Heh I kind of forgot what I was even gonna say at first so I’ll just try to wing it.”
Ruli walked up to the front of the group, “My Quirk is called BeastMode, or that’s what the Quirk researchers decided to call it. It gives me a big boost to my reflexes by supercharging my instincts, as well as a good boost to power and speed. I transform in it too, becoming more feral looking.”
“Dude so you’re a freaking WEREWOLF!? That’s awesome!” Kirishima shouted, punching the air with his fists.
“Don’t skimp on details.” Aizawa pointed out, his voice stern in a kind of ‘it should be obvious to be detailed’ kind of way and Ruli jumped a little. “Keep going.”
“Uh Um…well my method of control is kind of…difficult for it hehe…” Ruli started, holding up a paw and gripping it. BeastMode was going ballistic…this situation was so anxiety inducing! Even with Aizawa in the room, it was still running up the walls…
“It’s been described to me as a separate entity type kind of Quirk, but it doesn’t manifest, it hijacks my body right away. It taps into my instincts in such a way that I no longer become aware of the world around me, and it’s the only thing in control. It’s like I get locked up in my head. It becomes the only thing I can see and there’s a leash connecting myself to it wrapped around my hand. Um…” He decided to just also borrow the analogy Aizawa had given him “It’s like driving a car blind, but instead I have a wolf as an engine and a leash as the car, which then pulls my mind with it. It dodges the bumps in the road and the obstacles for me but I just get dragged along.”
Ruli scratches at his neck while looking up and away as he goes on, “See if it gets too upset and startled by things…like loud noises and stuff and like, being attacked, it starts pulling me harder and harder as it kind of just is trying to run real fast, ya get me? I can’t see what it is that’s attacking it or such, and so it ignores a lot of my orders in trying to calm it down. The more I’m dragged, the more control I’m losing and the more feral I become.”
At this he stopped a moment as he tried to gather himself. A few eyes in the room had narrowed, others had become looking concerned. “If the leash gets ripped out of my grip, I go completely mindless, and I’m running purely on instinct, or rather, -it- is.” He reached up and scratched the back of his head, “Uh…and by what I mean by hijack…is that it literally does. When things are calm I can control it decently enough, and it focuses on what’s in front of me and on any kind of actions I might be wanting it to do as I start using it, but I don’t remember anything it says or does while it’s in control. So if you hear me say odd things just…sorry in advance.”
“Odd things? What kind of odd things?” Ojiro asked lightly.
“One of the videos I know of shows BeastMode screaming at the professors that were examining the Quirk…calling them Quacks quacking questions already answered…” Ruli stumbled out, but he didn’t expect that at least most of the room got grins and a few even snickered. Kaminari looked like he was trying not to bust a gut, while Jiro and Siro looked at him worriedly. Midoriya had started mumbling, and Bakugo slapped his desk, making him jump to stop him. Ruli could tell many of them were thinking things–just not what.
‘He’s cool with claws and that tail is fuzzy. Dangerous cute is the best cute. I wanna hug him.’
‘It’s obvious why he’s here with Eraser then. Scary…’
‘He looks rough. Aizawa said he was from the far north, forests are thick up there.’
‘He also walks in shadow with a creature of beastly nature…I can help him.’
‘…Quacks quacking questions…ho man…’
‘Another student with unstable power…’
‘Great…he’s just a mutt…tsch’
‘Biological strength and speed enhancer, instinctual awareness powerup. So he’s really fast? How fast? And it’s an entity like Tokoyami’s Dark Shadow, but stuck in his head? Synchronisation issues then?’
Sensing his surprise at the warm smiles, Aizawa spoke up, “You’ll find that around here everyone is able to be more open minded to the specifics of someone’s Quirk. Is that all you’re going to say?”
Ruli thought for a moment, well, at least they weren’t yet seeing it anyway. “I think that’s the best as an amount to start sir…I’m still picking apart other things about it too but that’s also about my best understanding of it so far. Your analogy earlier already helped, thank you.”
Aizawa continued on, “That mean you’re ready to show them what you can do?”
“Yes sir.”
“Anyone have questions for him before we head to Gym Gamma? Consider this the get to know moment for all of you at once.” Aizawa asked, and then Midorya did raise a hand, but then spoke right after.
“How did your Quirk activate? What triggered it? We were told you were in the public schools for community living and service when it happened. So you’ve been without a Quirk for a while and now you’re being thrown into it…” He trailed off there, as Bakugo eyes had started twitching.
Todoroki seemed to sense something off, “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. Sometimes those kinds of moments are too personal.”
Ruli thought for a moment, his eyes searched Todoroki’s face. He remembered them from the festival big time. His face was…calm, passive…almost unreadable. An invitation to retreat was often an invitation of understanding. “I don’t think I mind it too much. It was just shortly after the League’s first attacks on you guys…some goons in my town got…well…I suppose just inspired, is the right term…just in the wrong way.” The wolf huffed, leaning a little in his stance, “They went on a rampage of their own, and they tried to hit me and my sister with their car during it. That’s when it emerged. It saved me and her.” Ruli rambled it out steadily. It was an answer, quick and steady, but a feeling settled on the room from the tone. He didn’t like talking about it much after all.
“What happens to you when you go out of control?” Tokoyami spoke next, though he didn’t seem to bother in raising a hand.
“Um…” Ruli started, “It depends on the severity of it…and if they’ve managed to catch me or not. Only my family so far has been the only ones that have helped me shift back out of it readily. After maybe half an hour or so though, my body hits the limit it can deal with the Quirk and I pass out. Takes a bit to wake up from that and it’s kind of jarring then cause I don’t remember the last like, 17 hours heh…” Ruli spoke about what happened outwardly for his Quirk. Losing control inwardly meant losing that leash, and then having to run after the wolf in his own head, usually only to faint from the bodily exhaustion anyway…
“How many people have you hurt?” Bakugo then spoke, and a collective jolt appeared to have gone through the class upon hearing him, as well as a few eyeballing him for the way his question sounded.
Ruli stared at the spiky headed student a moment. Oh yes, he knew of Bakugo just as well from that tournament. The moment stretched out into near uncomfortable silence before the wolf boy answered, “I’ve been told…I’ve “seriously” hurt 15 people–broken body parts, internal body damage from blunt impacts…then more minor injuries to others. It’s never killed anyone though, and if things remain calm I can hold control. In the recordings I’ve happened to see, all it wants to do is just run away and be left alone.”
Bakugo’s eyes had narrowed slightly as Ruli had spoken about broken body parts, and the wolf got the feeling that his question had been more to try and gauge his possible strength rather than any concern. For an extra moment after this their gazes remained fixed on the other.
For Ruli, nerves had struck, though he did his best not to show it, his tail still twitched behind himself a little. ‘Explosives like yours…you’re what sends BeastMode up the wall…’ he thought worriedly.
The following silence that stretched out appeared to mean no one else had any questions, and Aizawa noted the tension with an interested gaze before he began moving.
“All right, Everyone to Gamma for Ruli to demonstrate his Quirk. Everyone else out first.” The tired teacher stood up, as did everyone else, with Ruli kind of blinking in surprise at the sudden pushing of chairs. Most stood at keen attention, though a few had more relaxed posture and pose, like Todoroki appeared to have. Or maybe, Ruli thought then, that was just his face. Bakugo slouched a little and had his hands in his pockets.
As everyone passed by and out the door a few gave him positive grins and even thumbs up, yet his nerves were through the roof…If not for the fact he knew he could already get BeastMode to do this, he’d be a wreck.
And then he followed Mr Aizawa out the door. A realization had just occurred to him, as his eyes stared at the back of Bakugo’s head as the other was at the back of the class with Midoriya.
________________
A few minutes later: Gym Gamma.
Ruli stood in front of a pair of twin swords that had been placed on the ground in front of a block of cement by Mr Aizawa. The blades were slightly curved and had jagged backsides, the hilts designed for his slightly longer fingers and claws as a beast morph. He eyed the weapons then up towards the block of concrete in front of him as Aizawa spoke to the rest of the class who had stood lined across the edges of the gym. He was trying to make it his clear focus and intent to make something out of the cement, so that he could be sure it was what BeastMode would focus on doing once and while it was in control.
“Everyone keep quiet. Remember he’s still only got just a fraction of control any of you do. Just watch closely and keep your comments to yourselves.”
“Right. Yes sir.” Came multiple replies at once.
Ruli kept looking down and back up to the cement block in front of himself as he kept focus on them as best he could. It wasn’t a first doing this being watched, but a first being watched in such a way. This wasn’t some group of doctors experimenting. This was a demonstration of what he was capable of.
After the series of replies Aizawa turned around and he called out to Ruli. “It’s your show Kinnari, start whenever you’re ready and don’t worry, I got my eyes on you.”
Ruli let out a soft huff of breath, eyes closing a moment and he nodded. Knowing that actually did help calm the nerves a little, “Right sir…just uh…just a moment.”
“Take your time, just not too much of it.” Aizawa added on with a tired droll in his voice.
Ruli nodded again as he tried to focus inwardly. BeastMode was beside him, eager shakes and tense in its body. It could sense the situation, he knew that.
‘All right bud…you know the thing.’ Ruli thought, as he mentally held the image of the cement block to it.
A sudden muttering of gasps sounded among the students as they watched Ruli, who suddenly had, for lack of their knowledge, appeared to suddenly go rather…intense.
The wolf’s shoulders and neck had all become raised, fur bristling and puffy, on edge. Even though his eyes at the time were still closed, his muzzle now held that manic, wide grin that showed rows of sharp, canine teeth.
Whispers reached his ears that made them flicker.
“Dude what the hell?”
“That’s his Quirk? It looks like he went insane…”
“That…it’s hard to say…Midoriya…”
“Yeah…It reminds me of Stain…”
“I said keep quiet.” Aizawa snipped sharply and all mutterings and whispers left the air back into silence.
And then, BeastMode’s eyes opened too, once calm green now a wide open stare. It looked at the cement block in front of it and then down towards its feet, and a low rumble left Ruli’s throat as it spoke.
“Grrrr new fangs.” He knelt and picked up the swords, shuffling them into his grip with a quick tug and gripping them both with his claws making soft, quick ‘klaks’ against the hilts. With the weapons in his hands, he growled again and then slowly stood back up, turning the weapons about in his hands as if examining them. “Fit well.”
Then, his eyes looked up towards the block of cement in front of him. “Grrrrrr, perfect.”
Ruli crouched and suddenly jumped high into the air, his legs and feet pushed off with force enough to cause the dust to billow across the ground. More mutterings.
“Whoa he’s got juice-Ack!” Kaminari began as he flew up about forty feet or so.
“Sssh!” Jiro hissed as she elbowed him.
In the air though, BeastMode was still able to keep focus, lifting up the two swords high, they started to glow a bright white across the edges of the blades.
“Grrrrrrr…” A loud growl built in his throat as he began to descend back towards the block of cement, eyes gleaming.
“X…” He growled, holding up the swords into an X over as they began humming, “MARKS THE SPOT!!!” With the loud howl, it swung the swords forward in a cross X through the air, and the energy that had been building upon the edges shot off the blades like bright white lasers.
The attack crashed down upon the pillar of stone with a crash of dust, but appeared to have sliced mostly clean through it, only exploding against the ground behind it from the angle it’d been thrown at and cutting it into four parts. Ruli landed as the stone began to crumble and fall.
However, BeastMode didn’t stop, as it spun on one foot to catch one of the larger, body sized pieces that had broken off with a kick, knocking it up into the air higher than the rest as it crumbled to the ground and broke apart into jagged chunks.
With the chosen piece flying higher, it stood back into stance and began swinging the two twin swords rapidly in a series of quick, blurry swings at the air up to it, wide grin and eyes focused sharply on it.
A stunned silence had fallen on the watching students as more of the gleaming white beams of energy fired off each swing. Though not as focused or as powerful looking as the first swing he had charged up, each blade sent pieces of smaller shrapnel flying off the piece he’d kicked up into the air, clattering upon the ground or even just becoming embedded into the ground by pointed ends; the white streaks struck it in different seeming places and spots, until…
Suddenly BeastMode gave a final swing and then snapped the blades at his sides, tips pointed down and that grin and eyes on the block of stone as its spin through the air slowed and a few surprised mutterings already came through.
“Whoa, that’s good control already there…”
“Yeah but this is when able to focus it, what about in actual combat…?”
“Wide hit attack then. Force evasion for the target or get smashed.”
“Dummy, she means -his- own control.”
And just then, the rock piece hit the ground in its new shape. A pyramid. Almost perfectly cut with jagged groves caused by the sharpened air.
With a low growl, BeastMode let out a slow breath. “Grrrr Triangle…”
And then, his fur laid down slowly and that smile calmed until there seemed to be a just barely there transition, as Ruli’s eyes became more focused and he blinked a few times.
However, this immediately followed him leaning to the right and gasping, as he caught himself with the weapon he held in his hands by digging it into the ground. His body suddenly filled with that pins and needles sensation as his muscles remained tense, that smile slipping into a tight grimace, before he opened his eyes back up to look at the pyramid block.
“Ahhhhhh g-good!” He stammered out, “N-not bad for about three weeks out of touch with that…”
“Three weeks out of touch? That was incredible.” One of the female students he couldn’t recognize the voice of spoke among them.
“I thought you said only a -fraction- of control…” Kaminari groaned, “Here I thought there’d finally be someone inadvertently hurting teammates too…”
“Dudes already got an Ultimate Attack.” Kirishima said in a respectful tone, “His look might be intense, but that just lets him stand out more!”
“Yeah but if that’s him focused what’s he like when he loses control…?”
“Shut up Minita.”
Ruli giggled, “Naw he’s right…” He shivered lightly. He didn’t need to breathe hard, he could keep going, but still. So many pin needles… “But hey, that’s why I’m here.”
“All right, class.” Aizawa stated, grabbing everyone’s attention. “Let’s get back to the classroom. Today’s a lecture to help Kinnari through his Quirk control, but I expect everyone else to give some effort to help catch him up. He’s a new teammate now.”
Everyone in the group gave affirmative statements in response, though only one remained silent. Bakugo only stared towards Ruli, and as the wolf boy's eyes moved along the group, avoiding moving his head because of the pin needles, they stopped on him and met that gaze. However, Bakugo was first to break it as he made to follow the group, face calm.
The unspoken tension hung there, and it was perhaps only Aizawa who had noticed it. He stopped and turned toward Ruli a little, “Kinnari, ya gonna be able to move?”
“I’ll…manage.” He huffed and slowly turned himself, stepping slowly with slow movements to only barely lift his feet up and then push them forward and drop them again. Every step sent shocks up through his body, muscles just barely twitching.
Even Aizawa couldn’t help himself, he smirked under his scarf. Kid looked like a robot needing to move like that…he needed to increase his own stamina with some serious work outs.
“Leave your swords in your locker.” Aizawa told him before turning again.
_____________________
Classroom 1-A, another few minutes later.
“Ah, Ruli, your chair is back there by Midoriya and Bakugo.” Aizawa said as he noticed the wolfboy stand awkwardly at the front of the classroom, unsure on where to go.
On that Ruli had the realization he probably should’ve known; duh of course the only one open was his. He nodded and went to sit down as Aizawa then used a piece of chalk to write along the board in front of the class.
Bakugo didn’t react, his eyes closed and just somewhat leaned back in his chair. Midoriya gave Ruli a careful, but friendly seeming smile as he began reaching into his backpack himself, pulling out a notebook that he opened up and prepared to take notes in by writing the date. Ruli noticed the other end of the book already had a page full of notes in various layers like it was being presented as a full on subject…
‘Huh, that’s really detailed…’ He thought, and then as he settled into his chair he looked up towards the front of the class just as Aizawa would finish what he was writing and began to talk.
“All right then, for today we’re going to be going over Quirk Control and Redirection. For many of you this is still something you need to work on. Control, Discipline, Override. For all of you these sensations are like reactions to the stresses you find yourself in. They’re all reactionary, quick, and done without much thought. Today, we will talk about this, tomorrow, we will test it.”
Tokoyami had appeared to pull out their own notebook. Ruli remembered their Quirk had made a bit of a show in the tournament, and how Bakugo had quickly quelled it. A fear against light and rage in the dark was its reaction.
So this was to help him too.
Realizing he needed to actually focus on this, Ruli began to pull out his own notebook as Aizawa continued.
“Real heroes keep discipline even when the heat and pressure is on, if you can’t find ways to make sure you can keep that control, then you won’t be fit for real hero work. And yes, that still goes for everyone. Becoming a danger to yourself is one thing, a danger to others is another. That’s being a villain.”
Ruli’s and Tokoyami’s eyes both narrowed at this. They both felt the same kind of thing. That wasn’t fair.
A flicker of movement was the answer in Aizawa’s gaze to the both of them. Good, his target audience was on point.
Aizawa turned back to the board as he wrote the words Control, Discipline, Override fully on the board. “Stress responses are psychological first, your body panics long before your mind catches up, and this directly affects your Quirks. Elevated heart rates, shallow breathing, and your adrenaline spikes.”
“Quirks respond directly to these biological ques,” He continued, his eyes roaming the class as he listed them off, “Bigger strikes, larger blasts, and even Quirks that are tied to your sensory systems and yes, even your instincts.” He finished his gaze on Ruli as the wolf boy tilted his head down in focus.
Beside him, Midoriya had already begun scribbling through his notebook, but Ruli’s mind had momentarily gotten hung up on the unfairness to write, but he was listening intently, the just barely there need to know kept him such. So, how did he control it?
Aizawa’s hand pointed at the three words, “These are your anchors, these three things can help keep you from being a threat to those around you who aren’t your targets and people; the innocent civilians you’re supposed to protect.”
At that, Ruli’s eyes lose some of the hard edge. That’s right…protection too…it wasn’t all about just fighting. Aizawa pointed at the word Control.
“Control isn’t just about focus or absolute control of oneself, it’s about learning your body language–and knowing how to talk back to it once things go sideways. You already expect the stressors, so start thinking on how you can redirect the reaction.”
He pointed to Discipline, “Then Discipline yourself to those other reactions. Redirect the reaction to the sensation towards a different response. If you let your head get in the way of what you’re feeling, you’ll miss where and what is causing the sensation.”
Then he pointed to Override. “Once you know what is causing the sensation, you can retrain the reaction your body gives to it. Where once you twitched, you now stand and fight back.”
Aizawa pointed back towards Control, “However remember, Control isn’t the same as suppression, for some Quirks bottling up the reaction eventually makes it explode at worst times.”
One of Bakugo’s eyes opened and Todoroki’s eyes also squinted.
“For some of you I know you already do several things, you do countdowns, you fixate on a mental image, tapping your fingers or keeping some rhythm that keeps you in the moment. A few of you practiced breathing techniques; you take a moment, you take a deep breath, you calm those nerves down and try to think things out.”
Midoriya paused his writing as he looked up. He realized now this was for him too. “All of you tomorrow will be exposed to high stress; loud environments, sensory deprivation techniques both removing and overwhelming, as well as unexpected physical shocks and unexpected surprises. I’ve already planned out your matchups and have a few of you I need to speak to in private in preparation for some special cases, but I’ll call for you if you’re involved in those after class. Don’t expect that just because you’re one of the special cases means you’re not also expected to show full control, you’re just being tested in different ways. Remember that.”
A quiet calm settled over the class. Bakugo had even opened his eyes in response. Ruli raised his hand, “Sir, what do you do in high stress situations? What do you do when those triggers come at you like flashes of images instead of all at once?”
“Good questions.” Aizawa noted, though he knew the first was because the wolf boy didn’t quite know him either it helped him gain insight, “For me, I focus on target isolation, I find the nearest most immediate threat, I single it out and neutralize it, then move on to the next most immediate threat. But that’s what works for me because of what my Quirk can do. I can erase what makes others dangerous, and then bind them down to a state where they can’t fight back after. That lets me simplify a battlefield.”
His eyes blinked a few times, “For something you describe, in an instance in which the stimulation is coming at you in rapid fire fashion the problem isn’t the repeated stimulation, it's that you’re treating each one as if it's an immediate emergency. Kinnari, from reading your Quirk’s research notes, I understand there appears to be some short of time dilation between what you experience and how much time actually passes, yes?”
Ruli blinked a few times at this, but there was. “Yes, in rampages where my body would pass out after about thirty five minutes of activity it feels more like two hours go by in my head. Actually sometimes it’s nice to just sit there and wait for things to calm down, once I like, catch up to it anyway.”
Midoriya looked to the side towards Ruli and his eyes opened wide, a thought that was somewhat clear to some of the other students there. He was jealous. That was so much more time to study!
However, to Aizawa, his own thought had come, ‘So that’s why this kid seems clever, he’s had the time to think these kinds of questions out in the privacy of his own head, but he’s held onto them until he was somewhere he knew he could get the best answers from…Nezu was right, clever, but also dangerous. There’s such things as being too headstrong…let’s point it out to him’
“Considering that factor, whatever stimuli you’re experiencing are things that have perhaps already happened. The issue isn’t that it happens, it's that your instincts treat each of them all as immediate emergencies. All the flashes hit the same panic button. It’s the heart of your body in that fashion and responds to each one in the same way, you are the mind of the body in your situation and can tell those flashes are just memories, and if you actually are falling behind on seeing the flash then you’re just not there because those are what your instincts are seeing and responding to on their own in trying to protect you. Have you considered what might happen to you if your Quirk comes up against something that it can’t handle? So far, it’s been heroes who have helped catch and contain your Quirk. A villain isn’t going to care if you pass out.”
Ruli’s eyes widened. He had not. If BeastMode, the source of his Quirk, was slain while he didn’t have the leash…would he just die too or…
A sobering sense fell on him. ‘Was that how you felt when I vanished…?’
Aizawa stared at Ruli for a stretch of silence and he closed his eyes as he then continued, “That’s where redirection comes in. You need a new default reaction, something other than panic for it to follow.”
‘Something other than panic’ Ruli thought. His eyes looked down and around a few times as he tried to think of something. So far, anytime he’d seen BeastMode in places where it felt safe, it seemed happy…yet, when out in a majority of the world it seemed to think that everything around it was just absolutely ridiculous, it ran about as if everything it could see was chaos.
So…something for it to redirect the feeling. If it thought everything was ridiculous…
“What about laughter?” Ruli asked, looking up at the top of the class.
A few smirks grew on the class as they looked at Aizawa, an unknown fact to Ruli of the teacher’s relationship to another teaching hero of a rival school Miss Joke was making a few of them inwardly giggle.
Aizawa closed his eyes as it wasn’t lost on him either. “Laughter…isn’t as strange as you think. Other heroes also use it for their Quirks or for reducing mental fatigue, including All Might. It helps directly counteract the stress response and disrupts the body's flow under stress conditions, allowing a reset of your awareness to the current situation.”
“But,” He continued, voice again steady, “if that’s the choice, you have to remain consistent with it. That becomes the new reflex, even if it feels unnatural.”
‘So for the time…my only logical connection and easy redirect would make me seem even -more- insane. Heh. Already prepared for that at least, the grin has already determined that.’ Ruli chuckled to himself, but outwardly he nodded his head a few times.
“That makes sense sir, I’ll think about that.” He already had a bit of an idea, although he didn’t like how it kind of made BeastMode out to be a mental patient in doing so. He’d use the computer in his room for it. He had to get it to redirect the stimulations of the world towards other things.
“Good.” Aizawa said back, then leaned a little, “Class is dismissed for today. Focus on your growth and your control. Lunch is in four hours Kinnari, I wouldn’t miss it, nutrition is just as important.”
Ruli’s ears perked and he gave another nod. “Thanks sir, I’ll stick to my room for now, I need to focus on how to use this…”
“What you do with your free time is up to you, just don’t break any rules. If you interrupt any of my nap times it’s immediate trash duties.” Aizawa said, “Same for all of you but you all know that already. Dismissed.”
________________
The class had filed out with a mixture of silence and mutterings as they began to make plans together. Most had decided to go training while Ruli and a few others went towards the dorm. Midoriya came up beside him with the others milled around them as they walked up the path.
“I think you got this,” Midoriya mentioned to the wolfboy, catching his attention, “Good luck tomorrow, but ya better be prepared for anything. Tests around here don’t pull back haha.”
“Yeah, remember your fight against All Might with Bakugo? That was a hell of a final exam.” Uraraka chimed in.
“I don’t think they’ll throw him into anything that direct.” Midoriya chuckled while waving his hands and Ruli chuckled as well as they kept walking. The other person had went to train in the gym so he knew he could potentially speak openly about it.
“Bakugo’s gonna end up being my opponent. A direct stress test to us both. Him because of his explosions towards me, and BeastMode because of its reaction speed and assaulting power.” He said confidently.
Midoriya and Uraraka both blinked at him, and Kirishima began overhearing as he was just walking nearby and slowed as Ruli continued, “It’s the best matchup against me trying to control BeastMode in that kind of situation and for him against a quicker opponent. Lots of bangs, lots of flashes, accompanied with the shock of pain.” Ruli looked at Midoriya. “If I were you, I’d look into the stress of fighting against multiple opponents.”
“What…makes you say that?” Midoriya questioned slowly, but in genuine interest.
“Remember how he said he’d have to talk to some of us separately? That tells me he intends to have some students directly know who their opponent is beforehand, and let them get the advantage on you.”
“Oh yeah that’s right…” Uraraka hummed.
“You’re a brawler, so focused attention from multiple opponents is an easy stress test expectation…but then again…I don’t know this place, or you more than your name and what I’ve seen of you Quirk through the festival, but that’s just the feeling I got.” Ruli shrugged. “Do you not injure yourself anymore?” His question was directed at Midoriya, who picked up on it quickly and he chuckled.
“No not anymore, I’ve learned better control since the festival. But things still get out of hand sometimes…”
“Hehe, that’s awesome, if you can figure that out then surely I can figure this out and at least get BeastMode under sensible control.” Ruli smiled, swishing his tail lightly.
“Do you really go that bad if something startles you? You seem chill.” Kirishima pointed out.
Ruli huffed, “Oh yeah…jumping off the walls is kind of bad.”
“Hey can we see your room? We all let each other see them before, but it's up to you.” Uraraka said, offering a change of topic.
Ruli tilted his head a little, not expecting that, but he realized he didn’t mind. “Naw, I don’t mind. It’s the first time I’m seeing it too, so might as well be with others.”
Ruli’s room was on the fifth floor next to Sato’s, one of only two that were open for the male side of the dorm. Opening up the door to it Ruli actually paused in surprise, the ceiling appeared someone sunken in by means of his caking plaster plan, but he was pleased to see how it had ended up.
The room beyond was dimly lit by only the campfire lightsource, the curtains of the windows drawn closed with the ceiling light turned off currently. The sound of running water flowed out from somewhere.
“Whoa did the robots have a glitch attack? Sounds like they broke the bathroom sink…” Kirishima commented however, thinking it was a mistake.
“Hehe no this is how I requested it.” Ruli said lightly with a soft giggle, stepping in around some hardened spots along the floor, then feeling the soft synthetic grass carpeting he’d put in too he smiled. He flicked on the ceiling light to light up the whole room properly as the others followed in, then stood at the entryway with pleased smiles at seeing what was making the water sound; the waterfall feature that took up the whole back wall from the right of the entrance. His bed was up against the far wall, a wooden desk was forward and under the windows. A firepit was just to the left of that in the opposite corner to the room, and then a dresser painted a light brown wood lined the wall back towards the entryway. Four large compartments for space not just for clothing but other supplies too.
“This is awesome, it makes me think of the summer training camp all over again!” Kirishima said happily.
“Did you make it like this to give your Quirk someplace natural to be? You shouldn’t use it outside of class ya know…” Midoriya noted. “Still though, it’s good foresight.”
“Ya just don’t go doing something destructive…” Kirishima added.
“That’s actually what I should really start working on so I’m gonna take some time right now getting started on that.” Ruli pointed at his computer.
“With your computer?” Kirishima questioned, his voice confused.
“Unfortunately with the way BeastMode is, the only thing I can use to teach it is perhaps repetition. Gonna try to make a playlist of videos, then set it on repeat and make it sit here and watch them.”
“What kind of videos…?” Midoriya asked in interest, his head already bending the rules.
“Explosions, fight scenes, other explosions, and then slip in sudden intakes and clips of laughter…” Ruli huffed, he knew how it sounded. “Sounds like I’m training a psychopath…” He shivered, and beside him the other three chuckled lightly, if only a little nervously.
“Hey if it works, it works, it's just a first step, eventually you’ll have full grasp of it and know exactly what it’s doing as it’s going.” Kirishima fist pumped the air.
“Will it be safe to practice your Quirk like that here though?” Uraraka worried, “It’s against the rules technically...”
“I was told our rooms were one of the last places we had absolute privacy here. Even the hallways have cameras.” Ruli said, a knowing grin on his muzzle.
Uraraka looked ready to argue and say they should tell Aizawa the plan to get permission, but Midoriya stepped in, “I think it should be fine, Tokoyami practices Dark Shadow in his room, we all know that. And it’s hard to tell Shoji not to use his tail to help him down the halls faster, and you float things all the time right? His Quirk is like theirs and ours. Mine just happens to be the more destructive and protective variety so I can’t wield it so freely hehe.” He pointed out to her, although that avoided the point of Tokoyami having better control than Ruli did of his Quirk.
“As long as his room remains private and quiet, BeastMode has no reason to go wild. That’s probably why he’s up here on the fifth floor next to quiet Sato and the good smells of his room and not in the only other empty room next to Bakugo’s hahaha.” He laughed in over analyzing.
He was laughing, but Ruli then began to laugh too. “Yeah see, redirect the knowledge of rule bending away with laughter!” He said.
This got Kirishima to laugh too as Midoriya instead realized how he’d been called out and then Uraraka also began to laugh, though he rejoined the laughter soon after anyway cause he realized everyone went along with it.
______________
It turned out bending the rules wasn’t enough to get the other students to say he couldn’t do what he intended, they seemed to be calm in thinking he could handle it, and so they left him alone for the rest of that morning to set up his playlist. He slotted in several clips of laughter between explosions and high tension clips of hero and villain fights, and then left it alone for the rest of the day. He told himself to eat lunch first before actually doing the training in the afternoon and evening.
But while waiting for the lunchtime bell to ring there came a knock at his door. Ruli had been just somewhat half sleeping on his bed, listening to the waterfall in the dim light of that campfire and he perked his ears. He’d changed from his class clothes into a black shirt and red knee length shorts.
“Hello?”
“Yeah come open the door.”
Oh, he knew that voice and tone already. Bakugo. “Yeah sure.” In the back of his head his pulse pounded however. Tension. Oh was this really happening huh?
Ruli opened the door and Bakugo’s eyes immediately looked up as he caught the unique shaping of the ceiling and walls. He was wearing his gym clothes, he hadn’t yet even bothered to change out of them. “Figures…” He muttered as he took in the wild visage of the room he could see from where he stood.
“If you’re just here to hate on me you can save it, you probably already know it even if Aizawa doesn’t give you the heads up.”
Bakugo’s eyes narrowed, “What about…?”
“That you’re my stress test. I don’t wanna make it sound like it wouldn’t be for you, but BeastMode might even present a challenge to you even if it goes completely out of control seeing your bangs and explosions. In a place where it can’t escape, a cornered animal does anything to survive and win.”
That made him narrow his eyes, but he didn’t bite the bait. Ruli was somewhat surprised, but he only tried to go harder. “Guess you calmed down since the festival…that old you would’ve been steaming, like after your fight with Todoroki.”
“That fight was half assed.” Bakugo jipped back, his tone only somewhat conversational. He spoke quickly, “Naw that’s not what I came here for, just wanted to size you up a little more, but I’ll be straightforward with you cause it’s clear you’re smart like Deku even though you’re still dumb like him too. You’re right, Aizawa just got done briefing me. You’re my stress test against something wild and unpredictable. Whatever it is you’re doing you better make it count, cause I’m not gonna go easy on you, no way I’ll lose to a rapid mutt.”
Ruli narrowed his eyes. “Well I’m doing what I think I can anyway, we’ll see what comes of it…”
“Naw you let that thing off the leash if you need to.” Bakugo grinned suddenly, voice going rough and he leaned in on the doorway, lifting a palm up and letting off a few pops in the air. Ruli’s eyes widened, his heart leapt. Even knowing that’s how it looked from the festival; and seeing that near same kind of smile on his own face in the recordings still didn’t help against how unsettling it was to see someone else suddenly do it! “Something that doesn’t know how to stop fighting back is exactly what I need.”
‘Oh fuck…this guys got something pent up hard! Those words about bottling up shit wasn’t about me!’ Ruli thought as he leaned away, though a low growl built in his throat. He could feel this feeling…an enemy was right outside the safe space…
But just then, the lunch bell rang. Bakugo huffed and stood back, face going calm and his eyes narrowing. “Don’t know if you had any, but ya think you had bullies before? Welcome to UA and your new fun times being my punching bag ya mutt.” But then he turned around and stalked down the hall, hands going into his pockets. “I’m counting on ya mainly too for it cause I’m serious…I -really- need a good one…Kirishima only lasts a good few hours.” that had been what he’d just got done doing.
“Yeah…sure…I get it…” Ruli said slowly as he watched Bakugo leave, leaning out of his doorway to watch after him. ‘Holy shit! What just happened!?’
