A Farewell to All Futures

Fireworks

And so, winter had come and went. The students that got their dorms early only spared each other a passing glance in the hall, unsure if they should interact before spring came. Sora had interacted with her dormmates a lot, but she mostly hung out with her sister over the winter. And brought hot chocolate back for her aforementioned dormmates. As for them, Kokoro became more open to Setsuka's surprise cuddles and Mikado had slowly but surely gotten out of his wheelchair. It helped that having food and warmth replenished his energy, and in turn, his magic.

Today was April 6th, the beginning of the school year at Hope's Peak Academy. Sora walked down the school's hallways until she saw a classroom labeled '1-B'. Though Sora had only gone to school a few times, she knew that the first floor classrooms were for the first-years that were accepted.

She walked through the door to find...only five people there, including herself. Not even a teacher. All of her dormmates were there, and to her surprise, Emma was there as well. "...Only five people?" Sora asked.

"Seems so." Setsuka replied. She looked out the window with a bored look, impatient for even the teacher to show up.

"According to the brochure everyone got, you technically don't need to attend classes as long as you pass the practical exams. You remember this, right?" Kokoro added.

Emma sighed. "If the teacher doesn't show up, I'm worried that I'll have missed an opportunity to make friends with the others."

"Who are all skipping, while we aren't." Mikado idly tacked on the end, twirling a pencil in his hand.

Sora thought for a moment. On one hand, talking to the others wasn't really required, and they were free to skip. On the other hand, she wanted to make friends and create a new life for herself at this prestigious school, and her talent requires her learning from others. Suddenly, her brain short-circuited and accidentally gave her a solution. 

"Why don't we all just skip together?" She suggested.

"Skipping together?" Emma asked. She thought it over before standing up and walking over to the door. "Well, that solves quite a lot of things at once. I'm in!"

"We should at least do something fun together. People aren't going to join us for no reason." Setsuka pointed out.

"...If it helps you to know, Syobai sells fireworks." Kokoro got up from her seat and went over to Mikado's desk, offering a hand. Mikado silently shook his head and stood up on his own.

Sora nodded. "So that settles it. We're collecting everyone and setting off fireworks beside the school." She turned around and began her walk around the school, a trail of students following in her wake.

***

The first place the group went to was the cafeteria, where they thought a few of their classmates would be. After all, it was still morning and the Ultimate Cook liked serving breakfast to practice his talent. However, they only saw one from their class.

Yuri was busy stuffing food into his mouth, so he didn't see his classmates there for him. Beside her, Sora felt somebody's body go stiff. She turned around and saw Mikado, who normally kept his face emotionless, with his eyes narrowed in a slight glare. Sora quickly assumed it was because of the amount of food Yuri was devouring on his plate. She rolled her eyes. "If I get you a BLT, will you chill?" She asked. Mikado relaxed his body and looked slightly embarrassed that he was seen doing that.

Her voice had caught Yuri's attention, and he quickly swallowed his food and turned around to face the group. "Ah! Some beautiful ladies! Do you need my services?"