Akina gently opens the door, returning from her morning run. She wipes her forehead, closing the door behind her and proceeding to her next duty. As the only one awake in the Paranormal Dorm, she moves about silently but with purpose through the kitchen, grabbing ingredients and going about preparing breakfast for the rest of the club. She stares at the beat-up rice cooker on the counter, contemplating whether to use it again or to make the rice another way. Eventually, she decides not to gamble on the stovetop and loads up the cooker before heading off to take a quick shower.

A loud knock comes from the door. Akina groans as she gives up trying to get the grill to heat correctly for now. “This better be important,” she grumbles, before heading to the door and opening it. A thin girl who’s slightly shorter than Akina with dark blue hair tied into long twintails stands at the door in running gear.

“Wake up trashies!” she yells into Akina’s face. She is met by the door in her face. She knocks again. “Don’t slam the door on me! My President sent me to get you guys!” Akina stands at the door as the knocking grows louder from the intruder. “She said you guys agreed to this yesterday!”

Akina opens the door again, staring daggers into the runner, “First, before you start yelling again, tell me who you are?”

The girl at the door stands proudly as possible. “Aika Yoshikawa, Vice President of the Games Club! And Yamato wants you guys over ASAP!”

“Later. I haven’t finished breakfast yet.” She tries to slam the door a second time but Aika stops it, forcing the door back open with a large gust of wind. Aika walks in with a smirk as Akina rubs her temples. “You have 5 seconds to get out before I toss you out the door you just slammed open.”

Yuuri runs into the room drawn by the commotion, “What’s with all th-”

“You!” Aika shouts and points at Yuuri. “Round up the rest of your club and let’s get going! My President’s waiting.”

Yuuri’s still trying to process all this while half-asleep. “W-who are you?”

“She’s from the Games Club.” Akina spits out, making her way over to the intruder to actually fulfill her threat.

Yuuri manages to put the pieces together. “Oh! You’re from Yamato’s club!”

“Yes, I a-” Aika is cut short as Akina grabs her by the shirt and begins dragging her towards the door.

“It’s too early to be this violent!” Yuuri yells, forcing Akina and Aika apart.

“She made the grave mistake of waking everyone here up. She must pay the-” Yuuri clasps Akina’s shoulder.

“And you’re making the same mistake,” Yuuri nods towards the others emerging from their rooms.

“Would someone kindly explain what the hell is going on this early!?” Katsuki rubs her eyes.

Rina yawns, “I’m with Prez here.” She looks over at Aika. “Who are you now?”

Yuuri moves back closer to the rest of her club, making sure Rina doesn’t also try to attack the visitor, “This is....”

“I’m Aika Yoshikawa, Vice President of the Games Club! ” Aika proclaims as she pounds her chest, “And out of the goodness of my heart, I’m going to teach you trashies how things work around her!”

Cerys groans. “Seriously? We sat through an hour of our child Principal explaining it to us last night!”

“This can wait until after breakfast. I won’t forgive anyone who lets the food I’ve prepared go to waste.” Akina glares, her gaze giving off malicious vibes.

Aika takes a step back, not wanting a second round with her, “Make it quick then!” she says before taking a seat on the nearby couch. She winces and mutters, “Still as bad as when we left it.”

Akina heads to the kitchen and a short time later returns with a spread of rice, soup, and meat.

“You guys are all bad at cooking,” Akina points at the Miyafuji crew, “I took part in that cooking competition, I don’t want any of you near the kitchen. This is now my responsibility.”

“You know there is a cafeteria if you don’t trust her cooking.” Aika chimes in from the couch, face buried in a game on her phone.

“Do you trust any of them to get up in time to make it to the cafeteria?”

Yuudai stares at the food placed before him, “I can’t tell if this is a nice gesture or really insulting.”

Saito looks at Yuudai. “Both. But I think this is the best we can expect from Akina.” He ignores the death glare she’s sending his way. “At least the presentation continues to be nice.”

“That actually is an impressive meal for a kitchen that only has a half working stove and a broken rice cooker.” Aika speaks up, her position on the couch changed so she can see what’s on the table, “You guys are the bottom tier club, this stuff’s meant to drive you to win so you don’t stay here!”

“What, were you guys here last? How do you know so much?” Cerys asks.

Aika pouts, “W-whatever. Can you guys hurry up!? We’ve still got class too you know!”

***

Aika leads the large crowd behind her, the school quiet.

“I-is it fine to be on school grounds this early?” Hotaru speaks up from further in the back.

“Of course it’s fine!” Aika says, “Besides, it’s not like anyone who would punish us is awake either.” Aika reaches a classroom and slides the door open, “We’re here.”

The Paranormal Club walks in to find four tables merged together in the middle of the room. Yamato stands at the far end of the table with the rest of her club: a short-haired brunette girl, a blonde girl with a serious look on her face, a tall, lanky guy with green hair, a guy who’s slightly shorter with steely gray hair, and a shorter, nerdier guy wearing glasses.

Yamato does a slight curtsy and takes her seat. The rest of the Paranormals all take the open seats left opposite of the Gamers. There’s a brief silence before the table leader speaks up.

“Ahem, Good morning! This could be a long talk or a short talk, but no matter the length I’d like you all to be comfortable.”

“Thank you for your gesture,” Yuuri nods, keeping things professional. The rest of her club doesn’t seem to have the same idea in mind.

“So, what’s the story, morning glory?” Saito sits up, “There any reason we’re havin’ this meeting at the round table, or did you just wanna deliver the morning announcements in person?”

“Don’t you speak in that tone to-” Aika begins before Yamato hushes her.

“I wouldn’t be delivering the morning announcements in the first place, that’s the job of the school president,” Yamato answers seriously. “And besides, this is purely a meeting to bring both of our clubs together.”

“Why would we want to team up with you losers?” Cerys teleports over from her seat to a spot on the table beside Yamato, “We’re only last place because we’re new. As far as I know, you guys were in last place because you sucked.”

“You got a lotta nerve, don’t you bitch?” Aika gets up, ready to put the short redhead in her place.

“You yap too much.” Cerys looks over, uninterested, “I had to listen to you all this morning, just be quiet.”

Aika’s twintails begin to levitate and wind begins to blow between her fingers. Yuuri snaps out of her seat, ready to run over there to break up another fight.

Yamato calms Aika down with a hand. “Now now, Aika. Let’s not start a scene,” she holds her hand out to Cerys, “Here, would you like a display of my abilities? Would that convince you?”

Cerys raises an eyebrow, “Yeah sure, show me whatever a last-place club member is capable of doing.”

The calm club president’s eyebrow twitches. She takes a deep breath and smiles. She motions for Cerys to give her her hand. The redhead grins at the thought of whatever this girl has to show her and gives Yamato her left hand.

“Let it be known that throwing around insults isn’t a nice thing to do to people you just met.”

Snap.

Cerys’ grin turns into a grimace as she sees Yamato bending her finger back at an unnatural angle. Her hand explodes in pain, the oncoming numbness in her finger keeping her from screaming

Everyone at the table gets to their feet. Her clubmates scramble, ready to throw down, while the Games Club members take defensive stances. Cerys wails in pain, gripping at her wrist as she tries to pull her wounded hand out of Yamato’s grip.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Yuudai shouts. The very large boy makes a sprint towards the head of the table before a wall of wind and water shoves him back, “Gah!”

Aika and the bespectacled boy from earlier are standing there between the pained girl and her club.

“Are you even watching what’s going on?” The nerdy-looking water bender tells Yuudai before pointing back to Yamato and Cerys.

There’s a soft white light coming from Yamato’s hands. Cerys is sniffling and wiping at her eyes and slowly regaining her composure.

“Shhh, shhh, it should be better now,” the motherly words from Yamato are finally heard upon the deaf ears from earlier, “This should get you back to tiptop shape, maybe better.”

“Breaking someone’s bones just to heal them? T-That’s some psychotic behaviour!” Kirika says, arms guarding herself.

“In what way is that acceptable behavior, even when it’s Cerys we’re talking about?!” Katsuki walks down Yamato, her hands balled into fists. The boy with steely gray hair stands between the two towering over Katsuki.

“She kinda deserved it,” Mari cuts in.

“I don’t care who or what happened, I won’t let you harm Yamato! I’ll strike at anyone who dares to come close” Aika declares.

“Harm her? W-We aren’t the one snapping people’s wrists!” Kirika screams.

“Yo,” Saito cuts in, still in his seat, “Unlike the rest of my club I ain’t gonna freak out, so you better not start trying to hurt me.”

“Clearly I won’t,” Aika retorts, “You’re still sitting.”

Saito pumps his fist in victory.

“There, there,” Yamato speaks up again, “I understand that was… a bit of an inappropriate way to display my abilities, but I assure you that making a statement like that is how things work in this school.”

Akina nods in agreement, “The simplest words are said with one’s fist.”

“You could’ve just broken your own damn finger,” Cerys sniffles.

“An’ yew coulda not provoked folks yew barely know,” Mari replies.

“I… that…” Yuuri fails to put together a sentence. She regains her composure and restarts, “That’s how things work? Is everything here just this intense and cutthroat?”

“It sure feels that way sometimes,” The blonde girl answers, taking her seat.

“Well, it can get that way with how seriously some take the competition that surrounds the school.” Yamato continues. Her grip on Cerys’ hand is released. Cerys wiggles her fingers flawlessly before pulling her hand back and teleporting back to her seat silently.

Katsuki chimes in. “What is this, a game?”

Mari retorts, “Are yew of all people really sayin’ that?”

The blonde girl keeps going, “Yes. To some it is. This is a game to show off their cool powers, play up their feelings of strength, or to just recklessly figure out how their new bodies work.”

“New… new bodies?” Yuuri tilts her head.

“That’s what it is,” The blonde says, “I’m sure you know now that mages, demihumans, all that crazy stuff is real now.” A small tear in reality opens up behind the cool-sounding girl’s right shoulder. A hilt slides out of it. She reaches up to grab it and pulls out a wooden blade. The portal shuts as she holds it out in front of them, “What we got isn’t anything like what they got, though.”

“It’s nothing we grew up with. The mages in the room can surely say this is different, but what caused our abilities is completely new to this world.” Yamato resumes, “While some here may just be practicing what they already know of and are simply grouped with the rest of similar students, the rest of us are dealing with some sort of phenomena that no one else in the world has experienced.”

The room quiets down. “What the hell are you talking about?” Akina breaks the silence.

“Ahaha, sorry for getting a bit heavy there!” Yamato giggles, blushing a bit, “Sayaka and I practiced this part a lot and wanted to make sure we got it right!”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Akina responds, “What nonsense are you and her speaking of now?”

“Er, well,” Yamato says, “That’s the thing, I don’t really know.”

“So you’re psychotic and delusional, got it,” Akina cuts the conversation there.

“You sure have quite the personalities in your club, President Sayamura!” Aika says with a mocking tone. Yuuri looks down in embarrassment, even if she isn’t really following Yamato’s words either. Katsuki gives Yuuri a look but doesn’t correct Aika.

“Yeah, if we’re just gonna be crazy talking and breaking hands, I’m going back to bed,” Rina whines, getting up from her seat, “Can’t even get a good fight out of this.”

“Miss Warren, I understand you may be very sleepy for reasons I’m unaware of, but I must assure you we have class in a few minutes,” Kirie tells her before she can leave.

Rina groans, “Why’d you have to remind me?”

“I guess I shouldn’t keep you here much longer,” Yamato gets up from her seat and stretches, “So what do you guys say, are the two of us on good terms now?”

“You broke my finger,” Cerys says bluntly.

“An’ once again, yew kinda deserved it,” Mari retorts. “Be thankful nobody’s broken yer neck yet.”

“I already told you,” Yamato pouts, “I was only doing that to show you that there could be people out there who do it without the intention of healing you. You can trust that I will never do something like that again.”.

“Can we though?” Saito asks, Yuuri nudging him under the table.

“Yes,” Yamato bows, “I assure you I’ll never cause harm on you or your club again.” She looks up with a soft smile on her face, “And besides, you’d really want to have someone with regenerative powers be on your good side right? You never know when you’re going to upset the wrong person~”

“But you… Broke her bones to show us that people can break bones? And we should be thankful?” Kirika asks, aghast

“Is that a threat?” Mari opens an eye.

“I already said I wasn’t going to hurt any of you anymore! I am being honest with my words, like always!”

“Kay.” Mari’s gaze lowers to Yamato’s chest, “Yew an’ yer two friends convinced me.”

Yamato blinks and looks over at Sayaka and Aika, “Ah, thank you?”

“Tell you what Yamato,” Yuuri clears her throat and leans onto the table, “We’ll accept your erm, treaty? The Paranormal Club and the Games Club will be on good terms from this point forth. However, I’d like it that we have a level of understanding of what exactly ‘good terms’ entails to both of us.”

Yamato sits back down, “Go on.”

“No in-fighting, no stealing from each other, having the others’ back when we’re being apprehended by another rival club. Does that sound good?”

“That sounds delightful,” Yamato answers with a cheery smile.

“A-Apprehended by a rival club?” Hotaru finally speaks up.

“Well,” Yuuri scratches her head, “Yamato did say that the clubs here may or may not be this nice to us. So consider this as a little precaution. Forewarned is forearmed, after all.”

“I do hope that you get along with everyone here,” Yamato says. “We’re supposed to be like one big family here at Zonzai. There’s no one else like us out there in Japan.”

Yuuri smiles. She gets up from her seat and walks to Yamato, Aika preparing to snap in case of an attack.

“Call it a truce then.” Yuuri extends a hand to the Games Club president

Cerys shoots up from her seat, “Don’t shake her hand, didn’t you just see what she did to me?!”

“I-I don’t want any part of this ‘truce’ either!”, adds Kirika.

Aika glares over at the shouting girls. “Yeah, Prez. Don’t work with these trashie jerks!”

Yamato hesitates, Yuuri motions her hand forward again, “Well?”

Yamato’s eyes sparkle as she smiles and shakes it happily, “Done deal!”

Cerys watches for a second before sitting back down in her seat, arms crossed, while Kirika wears an almighty pout, silently seething.

Yuuri turns to look at her club, “Now as for the rest of us, we should be getting ready for class!”

Saito yawns, “Ah, man, that’s freakin’ nuts. I suddenly feel soooo tired.”

Yuuri snags him by his ear as she walks by, nearly jerking him off his seat. “Didn’t you hear Kirie? Our first class is coming right up! Get in gear, lazy!”

“Owww! Alright, you don’t have to be so aggressive!” Saito gets up and follows her.

“Pssh, if you think that’s aggressive…” Cerys says as she and the others file out to head to class.

As they file through the halls, Katsuki catches up and slides beside Yuuri. “Hey… good job back there, Pres.” She says, putting emphasis on the last word.

Yuuri blushes, almost stumbling at the sudden promotion. “H-huh? You’re the president, what do you mean, Katsuki?”

“No… you handled that back there waaaay better than I could have ever hoped for. I think… I think you deserve this, Yuuri.” She says with a big smile.

“But...isn’t this your mom’s club? I couldn’t take that away from you…”

“Your mom supported mine, so let’s try trading places. Who knows, you might surprise yourself.” Katsuki hugs Yuuri to punctuate her sentence.

Akina grimaces at the foolish scene before her, but she trudges along behind the gang. She is stopped by a large wooden sword pointing between her eyes. She gives a disinterested glance at the blonde at the other end of the sword. “Are you insulting me, only bringing a wooden sword?”

Sayaka gulps, belying the fear in her iron gaze. “A thousand apologies, Lady Gedou.” She puts away her wooden sword and summons a metal one. “I did not mean to insult you with such a weapon, Lady Gedou.” Her gaze softens. “I merely wished to get your attention.”

“Move.” Akina glares at Sayaka, stealing the breath from Sayaka’s throat and the strength from her body.

Sayaka falls to her knees, her sword clatters uselessly on the ground. Akina walks past her, paying her no further mind.

“Guess she doesn’t remember me.” Sayaka sighs, summoning a portal to sheath her fallen sword in. “I’ll have to be more direct next time.”