"Oh shit! She’s coming back here!"
Hannah and the others immediately scattered the moment they saw Riley walking back with Tomoe, only to awkwardly regroup seconds later when they realized they were, in fact, a group.
None of them really knew what to do until Bella shoved Hannah to the front, forcing her to take the lead and leaving her no choice but to say,
"H-hi!" Hannah greeted, raising her hand awkwardly as her lips twitched into something that was almost a smile. She looked at Tomoe, who remained as expressionless as ever. "You guys done with your... talk?"
"Yes," Tomoe said, bowing her head politely.
"When... and where did you two even meet?" Hannah asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. Riley opened his mouth to answer, but Tomoe beat him to it.
"I accidentally bumped into Riley in the train station yesterday," she quickly said, "I dropped my phone, and he helped pick it up."
"T-that’s...!" And out of nowhere, Gary let out a loud gasp as he leaned back. If it wasn’t for Bella catching her, then he would have definitely collapsed to the floor. "That’s... that’s the trope where the main character meets one of the love interests!"
"What the fuck are you talking about, you weeb?" Hannah glared at him.
"T-think about it..." Gary clasped his hands together and started to whisper, "...Riley’s practically a harem protagonist. He’s surrounded by pretty girls."
"Ain’t you also a man?" Bella commented, and for some reason, Pauline suddenly let out a loud gasp before covering her mouth.
Gary, on the other hand, only smirked as he once again covered half his face, "You misunderstand me, my dark chocolate."
"Excuse me?"
"My tastes are far more refined," Gary said with a wave of his hand, then pointed dramatically at the ceiling for no reason at all. "I like women. You girls are definitely not women."
Gary then narrowed his eyes as he scanned V, Pauline, and Tomoe, and then shook his head and sighed. He then turned to look at Bella, and while he almost nodded, he still sighed in the end—he only really paused when he looked at Hannah from head to toe.
"And I have to say, your proportions are—"
"Don’t say whatever the fuck is coming out of that mouth of yours if you want to live," Hannah growled, flipping him off before he could finish.
But Gary only laughed behind his hand, letting out a delighted,
"Ohohoho! Someone’s growing nicely."
"What the fuck is wrong with you?! Am I the only one who wants to kick him out of the group?" Hannah yelled, turning to the others in exasperation.
"S-speaking of which..." Victoria, who had been finding everything amusing, raised her hand to speak.
"Are we like... an official group?" She asked.
Everyone slowly turned to look at Victoria when she asked that. Even Hannah, who was about to strangle Gary, and Gary, who was about to be strangled, turned their heads at her.
"What you mean?" Bella leaned away to look at her, "We’re just a group of friends, why do we need to make it official?"
"Oh," Victoria blinked, "It’s written in the handbook?"
She glanced around as the group exchanged confused looks, and only Riley and Pauline seemed to know what she meant.
"I... think I also read about that part," Pauline meekly said, "We... can register our group as an official group. Kind of like... a superhero team? There are perks too, like... like we can have shared points."
"Hmn," Victoria nodded, "I talked to some of the instructors about it, they told me it’s so that we can develop chemistry early, if ever we do decide to become superheroes."
"An... official group?" Hannah narrowed her eyes as she scanned everyone. And then, without even saying a word, she gestured to them to huddle up, and everyone did so without a word, too, even Riley joined in.
Tomoe, who was about to take a step back to give them some privacy, couldn’t help but halt when she noticed Hannah staring at her.
"Come here," Hannah said, "You’re Riley’s friend. That automatically makes you a part of the group."
"But I don’t know any of you," Tomoe muttered, "And I am not Riley’s friend."
"And?" Hannah raised an eyebrow. "No one knew anyone before we knew anyone. And don’t think too much about what my brother said, he’s... just edgy like that sometimes."
"That’s..." Tomoe blinked a couple of times. She was about to leave and return to her corner without saying another word, but then she noticed the others were also looking at her... and it made her incredibly uncomfortable being stared at like that.
But for some reason... she also felt something else. Something... nice.
And so, without saying another word, she also joined in on the circle. And as soon as she was in, Hannah’s face turned serious.
She then let in a very deep breath before raising her hand.
"Let’s just get this out there, then..." She said, "...Who here actually wants to be a superhero once we graduate?"
Everyone looked at each other when they heard her question, except for Gary and Bella who raised their hands at the same time.
"It is my sole duty, and the reason I was born into this world," Gary whispered.
"I ain’t clowning anyone else’s jam, but I wanna be a celebrity superhero," Bella shrugged.
No one raised their hand after that. But after a few seconds, Victoria also raised her hand.
"I... am actually already in the superhero registry," she said.
"Wait, fuck... That’s right," Hannah narrowed her eyes, "You’re going to be a part of Hope Guild after you graduate, right?"
"Well..." Victoria subtly glanced at Riley, "...That’s not final. And honestly... I would rather be with people my age?"
"That makes sense," Hannah shrugged before slowly turning to look at Pauline, who slightly flinched when she noticed everyone looking at her.
"I-I’m..." Pauline gulped, not really knowing what to say, "...I didn’t really come to the Academy to become a superhero. But... but after being with you guys... maybe it... maybe it won’t be too bad?"
And with those words, she, too, raised her hand. And now, all that was left were Tomoe and Riley. Tomoe raised her hand without any hesitation as soon as she noticed them looking at her, not wanting to be asked anymore questions.
Riley, on the other hand, quickly shook his head and said,
"No."
"What? Why?" Hannah blinked a couple of times.
"I truly think that I am going to turn into a supervillain, Sister."