Mind Boggled

Chapter 14

Hitoshi hid his utter joy pertaining to the situation well, his thoughts rolling over one another happily at the obvious acceptance and prospect of possible friendship. Hagakure was her usual cheery yet somehow dark self, and Kirishima was still stuck on her mentally. Why he'd latched onto her in the way he had, Harper really didn't know. She wasn't a psychologist by any means, but she'd be damned if she didn't know at least a little about how the human mind worked. She'd bore witness to a vast palette of of mentalities over the years. She'd seen people with obsessions, but on another person, and so intently? It was odd and maybe even concerning, even if Kirishima was relatively harmless in nature.

"She's so cute! I can't believe we're eating together. She's right across from me. Man, this is amazing. I'm being weird. By staring. And thinking. Ugh, why am I even like this? This has never happened before with anyone! She has to be my soulmate. Or maybe I'm just going crazy..." Kirishima trailed off, head propped up on his hand and dazed stare trained on Harper. She didn't acknowledge it, but had to admit that the him being batshit would explain a lot. She kept the opinion to herself.

Lunch went by too fast, and if they really thought Harper was going to participate in those extra games they had 'for fun', they were dead fucking wrong. She slunk off to the stands to collapse in a chair and silently wallow. The thoughts clashing around her send sharp waves of pain through her head. Harper was seriously considering a visit to Recovery Girl. At least then maybe she could get the pain down to a more manageable level. Maybe. Did Recovery Girl do headaches? She had no fucking idea, but it was impairing her ability to function.

On top of her general distress, she was anticipating physical injury. Harper had never actually broken a bone before. She really wasn't looking forward to the moment when she did, because she damn well knew it was coming. She wasn't an idiot. This was the hero course, and she'd been thrown into the deep end. If it didn't happen here, then somewhere close down the line it would. And she'd be fucked six ways to Sunday. Just- ugh, she didn't not want to be a hero, but she wasn't really looking forward to being one either. 

"Damn, Deku. Looking hot as hell. I haven't gotten a reply to my note, you know. Cute ass motherfucker probably thought I was joking. Jokes on him, actually. I was dead fucking serious, and he's going to see that eventually." Bakugo's thoughts were absolutely booming. She didn't hook onto them, though. They'd devolve into something inappropriate, and she'd grimace, and then they'd get worse, and she'd grimace some more. She continued to prod around her classmates, looking for someone low-key. 

Hooking onto a single person's thoughts and focusing intensely on them really helped to block the others out. It gave her quirk something to do. The damned thing couldn't be turned off, and repressing it was just as hard as trying to listen to the constant cacophony of noises. It was an invasive approach, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Harper knew most of her classmate's deep, dark secrets anyway, so it wasn't like there would be anything new to learn. Unless she found the traitor by chance, in which case, hurrah. Now that would be nice.

"I can eat bees, but if they sting me I have an allergic reaction. What's up with that?" Tsuyu's thoughts weren't too bad. 

"If anyone found out how much I like Taylor Swift, my reputation would be ruined." Jiro was having another music-related crisis that Harper didn't want to deal with. Shake It Off was playing in the background of her consciousness, which was not what Harper needed at the moment.

"I could easily kill Sero with his own tape." Okay Koda. Okay. Harper, once again, was choosing not to touch that one with even a ten foot pole.

"IF YOU DO THE COOKING BY THE BOOK, THEN YOU'LL HAVE A-" Harper flinched, eyes briefly widening. What the fuck was up with Sato? And more importantly, why? Whatever. She didn't even really want to think about that at the moment.