“Done...” I groan a little. How long have I been working anyway? I stretch my good arm and back, twisting a bit to loosen up my sore, bruised muscles. Ugh, it's still infuriatingly scratchy when I move around. I go back to my dresser automatically, but no, the contents haven't changed. There's nothing more comfortable inside.

Giving up on that, I go over to Leona and gently shake her awake. She mumbles a little as she sits up and checks the time on her mobile. It's pretty late, but she almost immediately says she's hungry again.

“I am too,” I sigh. We already had dinner, but I guess we need more food right now. “Want any, Ken?”

“Sure, just remember to change first.”

“Ahh, yeah...” I jolt a little when I'm reminded again that I'm in the girl's uniform. I can't walk through the men's dorm dressed like this... With a sigh, I grab another old shirt and pants, and pick up my black hoodie from where I dropped it earlier. I change in the wash room and toss the girl's uniform in my hamper.

“Seiko, is something wrong?” Leona asks.

“My clothes are all scratchy and uncomfortable,” I complain, still rubbing a hand against my side in vague irritation.

“Can I see?” she asks as she approaches, so I nod and hold out my hand. She takes my sleeve and rubs the fabric between two fingers. “Where is the problem?” she asks, looking down over me, like her eyes are searching my body for problems.

“Everywhere.” At my admission, she pulls up my sleeve and rubs a finger along my forearm, her eyes immediately narrowing.

“How does this feel?” Leona asks.

“Not bad? Your hands are a little rough.”

“Really... Yono-san, can you come here?” she calls for Ken.

“Yeah?”

“Feel Seiko's skin. What do you think?” After we share a short look, he brushes a finger along my skin like she did. The pad of his finger is even rougher than Leona's, but not enough to be uncomfortable like my clothing is. However, his eyebrows shoot up in surprise for some reason.

“Sei, your skin is so smooth!” he practically gasps.

“Uhh, thanks?” I get a little red at the unexpected compliment.

“No, not like that.” He shakes his head. “It's like, perfectly smooth. It feels like, what is it, a polished marble countertop? But you know, soft because you aren't made of, like, stone?” He's falling over himself a bit, hands moving uselessly as he tries to explain, but I get the point he's trying to make.

My skin doesn't just feel smooth, it feels weird smooth.

“Oh, uhh, is that... a good thing or a bad thing...?” I don't even know which one of them to direct the question at. Having absolutely no roughness to my skin sounds good, right? But is that why everything else feels scratchy?

While I'm wondering about that, Leona kneels down, lifting my arm above her, so she can examine it closely with the room's light right behind it.

“Seiko, can I look at other parts of your body?” she asks. I get way more embarrassed when she words it like that, but she sounds serious, so I consent anyway. She sends a look at Ken, so he turns around and looks the other way. Then she pulls up my hoodie and shirt, and peers closely at my stomach, probing carefully with another finger before moving on.

I try to move how she wants and ignore my embarrassment, just letting Leona work. But still! She starts by pulling down the waist of my pants and boxers, just barely keeping them high enough to cover me there, but revealing the whole area directly above it.

When she trails a finger against that sensitive section of skin, I let out a surprised squeak. “Seiko?”

“S-sorry, I'm fine.” I have to look away because my face is burning up. Leona keeps inspecting me all over, from my legs, to my breasts, to the back of my neck and even my ears.

Her verdict: “You have no body hair.” All of that for just... that?

“Umm, I already knew that. I haven't really started growing body hair yet...”

But Leona shakes her head. “I mean you have no hair at all. Normally, human skin is covered with tiny, nearly transparent hair.” She pulls out her mobile, taps at it, then says, “They're called...” Her eyes search the screen, then, “Vellus hairs. You don't have any. It must be from the regens. They may grow back or they may not, I can't say at this point.”

“Is it... a problem?”

With her eyes still trained on her mobile, she scrolls a bit. Then the tension visibly goes out of her. “It looks like they help sweat evaporate, so you might overheat easier in summer without them.”

“That's, uhh, not so bad?” I don't think she would have relaxed if it was.

“Yeah, it shouldn't be too big of a deal.”

“Mmm, they probably help with protecting skin,” I think aloud as I rub at my own arm. It doesn't feel any different than normal to me... “Like a tiny barrier between your skin and the things you touch. That's probably why everything feels rougher now.”

Leona shrugs. “Yeah, that sounds possible.”

“Well, whatever.” I shake my head. There's nothing I can do about it. “Food, right?” I ask, trying to get back to what we were doing before.

“Yeah, food. Yono-san, let's go.”

“Sure,” Ken calls, and we head out. The common room is almost entirely empty, just three people still sitting around, either reading or watching TV. But then I notice one is Morris Mason. That asshole who thought I was a girl and threatened to call the police on my very first day here. Which turned into the first of all the rumors when I... pulled down my pants to prove it...

I scowl and cling closer to my friends, just trying to avoid him as much as possible. He's exactly the kind of man Leona warned me about, one who won't listen no matter what you say. Of course, when he catches sight of me, his eyes keep following me from across the room. Creep...

Ignoring my pain and discomfort, I make some turkey and cheese sandwiches, since they're easy and I don't feel like putting a ton of work into a late-night meal like this. We eat and chat about class a bit, catching Leona up on what she missed today, and eventually land on the topic of our upcoming group projects for bio. I still haven't had a chance to talk to Gon about it, I really need to do that tomorrow.

Apparently Ken is partnered with the guy who sits behind him and they got most of it done already. Leona is unfortunately, utterly clueless. Whoever she's supposed to be partnered with hasn't come to talk to her, so she'll just have to do it herself.

With a sigh, we relay the outline of the assignment so she at least knows what to do. By then, we've finished eating, so we split up for the night.

As soon as we get back to our room and finish getting ready for bed, I lie down, dead tired at this point. My injuries are healing thankfully, but after seeing how much Leona is sleeping, I feel kind of bad. Even with her ridiculous powers active, she took the brunt of the damage, and she's been pushing herself really hard to keep up my daily checkups.

I lie down with a sigh, but, ooh... My soft, fuzzy blankets feel really nice, totally the opposite of my clothes. Without any hesitation, I pull my clothes off and dump them out from under my blanket, but I notice Ken looking at me as I do.

Cheeks burning, I stammer, “W-what? They're uncomfortable and my blanket feels nice!”

Just as red, Ken turns away. “Nope. Not saying a word.” He climbs into his own bed. There's a stretch of silence, then both of us start laughing.

“Thanks for everything, Ken.”

“What are friends for?”

----------------------------------------

The next day, I flag down Gon when he appears just before first period and make plans to at least start working together today. It's Wednesday and the project is due Friday, so we don't have that much time. After scarfing something down for lunch, we head to the library during our lunch break, with Leona coming along of course. Even if Gon isn't big and scary, there's no way I'd go anywhere alone with him.

It turns out that he's already partway through the work. I sit down next to him, Leona across the table from us to work on her own project, and I go over the research and writing he's already done. It's pretty good already, so I just chip in where I see places for improvement.

Once I have a good idea of where we are so far, I'm feeling a lot better about the project. The remainder is easily doable in the time we have left. We head back, lunch almost over, and plan to meet up again after school today and tomorrow to finish.

We manage our classes a lot better today, Leona actually staying awake the whole time. We sit out gym again though. I'm not about to play basketball with a broken arm, and Leona seems to have a few fractured ribs still left to heal.

As soon as gym is over, I tell Gon that we have something to do before we meet up, so we're skipping last period and we'll see him in the library. Then he goes into the showers and I head to the infirmary with Leona.

“Is this really going to be alright?” I ask uncertainly as she's preparing for my checkup. “I didn't burn off anything from Monday or Tuesday.”

“Don't worry, I'll manage. Do you think there's any way you could burn some off before tomorrow though?”

“I don't know, it would be a lot easier if I could just release it like I did the one time...”

Leona shrugs. “You'd need regens. But they're way too dangerous to use for anything besides serious injuries.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Mmm...” I know she's right. This time I lost all the hair on my body. What might happen next time? With that list of side effects...

If only I had some idea of the strange state of mind I reached, it might be possible, but it doesn't make a single bit of sense now. Something about existence, marshland, and the stars? Or the colors of the universe? I don't get it at all...

I sigh. I don't even know where to begin with all of that. But as Leona gathers power, her whole body trembling with effort and the air crushing down oppressively around her, I finally wonder: What about this?

How does Leona do this? Well, she's a psion, obviously, so it's something she can do. But how? Why does it feel the way it does when she uses her powers? One part of my mind says these are stupid questions. It does because it does. There isn't a reason for psionic powers doing what they do, they break all laws of logic and physics. They don't make sense by their very definition.

But if that's the case, how do psions use those powers? How do they even know they can? Is it like some kind of muscle they can flex that doesn't exist in normal people? In Leona's case, she does physically strain from gathering a lot of psionic power, so maybe it's related. She also gets tired and does show fatigue after she uses a lot.

I continue to watch closely, trying to feel everything I can as she finally leans down, pressing her forehead to mine, and dumping power into me. I stare, wide eyed into the violet glow, so bright and blinding.

But that's not all, is it? With my sight drowned out in color, I think I can see it, that non-color behind it. I don't understand what it is, but I can feel it there, inside Leona, around her, around myself. Inside me too. A strange thing beyond me, but it definitely exists.

Then Leona reels back. I'm acutely aware of the air around me shattering. Is that even possible? That's definitely what it felt like though...? I choke through a few breaths, I guess I was holding mine through that. While Leona growls out through her teeth and staggers away, flailing and groaning, I can feel my consciousness shrinking.

My awareness of my surroundings is vanishing, all those feelings fading away into the noise of reality, like the ringing in your ears as a high note fades, no longer in your range of hearing. Still there, but you can't perceive it anymore.

That's how it feels as I roll onto my side, looking over Leona as she sits, panting against the wall, tapping at her mobile before her arms flop down to her sides. I fix my clothes and get up, grabbing a towel, then kneel down and start patting her to dry off her forehead.

“You can't keep this up, Leona.”

“Even if I can't, I have to.”

“Come on, that doesn't make any sense,” I pout at her. “No matter how powerful you are, you have limits. Not that I can really talk...” It's my fault she has to push herself like this, I'm the one who isn't burning the energy off every day.

No, that's because she injured me. Even by accident, I totally see how the blame for this falls on her shoulders, so she's trying to grin and bear it, but I just don't see it being possible to keep this up much longer. The more power in me to overcome, the more I end up with, making it even harder the next time. Like exponential growth.

I'm the only one who can do something about this. Either by burning the energy off despite my injuries, or somehow reaching that state of mind where I can release the psionic energy I literally can't even perceive.

But all of that comes later. As mundane as it is in comparison, I have a meeting to keep with Gon. When Leona can stand again, we say our farewells to the perpetually worried doctor, and head to the library.

I take a seat beside Gon at the same table as earlier, and Leona collapses across from us.

“Uhh, is Vicca-san alright? What did you guys have to do?” he asks as soon as he sees her condition.

“A-ah, well...” I scratch my cheek. “I can't say exactly, but it's a thing we have to do every day, and Leona's having a lot of trouble with it lately. I want to do what I can to help, but I can't manage much because of my injuries.”

“Not very descriptive...” he mutters. “Well, I don't want to pry, so, umm, let's just get to work?”

“Y-yeah...”

Despite the tense beginning, we manage to get into the work before too long. Leona rests her body on the table across from us, and I start to worry a little that she'll be able to finish her project, but there isn't any way I can really help with that right now. For now, I focus on my own work.

“So, Maka-chan, I've been wondering,” Gon speaks as we're packing up for the day. “You two seem really close, you're always together. I mean, Vicca-san is here, even though she's basically just sleeping. What's up with that?”

“Oh, that? Umm...” I consider my words, not really knowing how to explain. I don't really want to just throw my whole story at him out of nowhere, but it's not like I can come up with an excuse either.

“I'm too scared to go anywhere alone, so Leona stays with me.”

His eyebrows shoot up. “Scared? Of what?”

I avert my eyes. “Well, people...”

“You're scared of people? Why?” At this point, he sounds both concerned and curious. Which is a very strange combination in this situation, I think.

“Uhh, some reasons. Bullying and stuff.” I don't want to get into details.

Unexpectedly, Gon grimaces. “Bullying, huh? Yeah, I get it.”

“Huh? You do?”

“Well, I got bullied a lot in the past too, so... yeah.” He has a sour look on his face for a moment, before he waves his hands. “Oh, not anymore though. It's fine now.”

“Really? What happened?” Does he know of a good way to stop from being bullied?

“Well, nothing happened really...” he mumbles, his face sinking. When he starts looking uncomfortable, I try to back off, saying he doesn't have to tell me if he doesn't want to. “No, it's fine. After my family moved to Meridan county, I just... mostly started avoiding people, so no one's bothered me ever since.”

“That...” Rather than overcoming the bullies, he ran away and isolated himself instead. “I'm sorry...”

“Don't worry, it's fine,” he tries to wave it off like he doesn't care, “it's not like I'm lonely or anything. I just focus on my hobbies and I can enjoy my time by myself.”

“Hobbies?”

Gon freezes, his entire body jolting a little. Then, “U-umm, j-just, uhh, nothing much, uhh, games and s-stuff, you know?” He isn't fooling anyone like that, but it's so clearly a sore spot, I don't push.

“Ahh, yeah, games are pretty fun,” I agree. Just what sort of hobbies does Gon have...? “Hey, I'm glad we got to talk.” I hesitate a little, glancing at Leona to steady myself. She's right there, so I know I'm safe. “...Friends?” I extend a hand, trying to keep it from shaking too badly. I'm the one offering here. This is fine.

Gon glances at it, also hesitating. I wonder if he has trust and touch issues like I do...? Despite his hesitance, he does take my hand. I twitch a little, shoulders flinching at the touch, but this is still fine. I'm safe and I can't imagine someone who was bullied like me forcing himself on me... probably.

“Friends...” he responds quietly, but his eyes are already widening, moving to our hands. “Maka-chan, your hand...”

“A-ahh, that, umm,” I move to draw my hand back when I remember, but he doesn't release it, and my heart jumps into my throat. Instant panic alarms start to blare, before he yanks his own hand back, sputtering an apology. I clutch my hand close, chest heaving, and he immediately goes into retreat, sliding his chair back with a screech, rambling more apologies.

Right, it wasn't on purpose. He was just surprised. “F-fine,” I stammer out. “It's fine,” I eventually manage to assure him. “Sorry I... Just... Touch issues...”

“No, no, sorry, Maka-chan, I was just, uhh, surprised was all. Your hand was, uhh, like...” he gestures vaguely, like he doesn't know how to put it.

“I know.”

“Is that why, you know,” his random, anxious hand waving really isn't helping with his points. “Your touch issues?”

I blink a little, taking a moment to put meaning to his broken up speech, before responding, “That? No, umm, that's new, actually.”

“Oh?”

The sort-of changed topic helps me calm down. Focus on that instead. “Yeah, it's from some...” Wait, am I allowed to talk about the regens? I look across the table to Leona, who's watching us closely in case anything happens. I ask her with my eyes if I'm allowed to mention this, and she nods. “It has to do with my injuries, the doctor used some strange medicine to help us heal, and it looks like it had some weird side effects.”

“Oh, that's... interesting?” he gives an uncertain response to the information that completely comes out of left field compared to our previous topic.

Still trying to calm my heart, I sort of just ramble on, just to keep myself talking instead of spinning in my own head. “Yeah, it like, made my skin feel weird and got rid of my body hair. All my clothes have felt rough and scratchy ever since, so it's super annoying actually.”

“That's- umm, unfortunate?” Both of us pause, tense and awkward, like we don't know what else to say, but the silence is even worse. Then Gon perks up a little, like he just thought of something. “Wait, you said they're uncomfortable? Our uniforms are mostly just cotton blends. Have you tried rayon, silk or microfiber fabrics?”

I blink. “Umm?”

“A-ahh,” he waves his hands. “Do you know what I'm talking about?” When I shake my head, he elaborates. “Different fabrics can feel significantly different.” That much I know already, just from wearing different clothes. There are different types of fabric, obviously, but I can't say I'm familiar with any specifics.

“There are certain types that are softer and more comfortable that you'd probably want to look into. A basic one that they make, like, everything out of is cotton, but it isn't always super comfortable like some other fabrics are, without putting more work into it.”

“Oh, alright...” I'm still a little off-balance from his sudden outburst of information. “You, umm, know a lot about this I guess? Do you have any suggestions? You mentioned 'rayon' and, umm...” I don't remember the others.

Gon stiffens up, eyes shifting through the room nervously for some reason. His gaze sticks on Leona who is still watching him with the energy of a lazy cat. “I, uhh, guess I do?” he hedges awkwardly. “Just kind of... something I picked up?” He's clearly downplaying it, nervous about knowing about this. I don't know why, but again, I don't want to make him uncomfortable.

“Here, let's trade numbers. You can text me the info, then I can look it over later, and have it on me when I go shopping for something decent to wear. Sound good?”

Gon deflates slowly, most of his nervous tension dissipating. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

“We should bring him shopping,” Leona suddenly advises out of nowhere.

“Ehh?!” Gon flinches. “Me? Why?”

“Multiple reasons.” She twitches an eyebrow at him slightly, then gives just one reason. “You'll be a good source of information.” What about the other reasons, I wonder...?

“W-well, umm, I don't know, maybe...?” Gon gives an uncertain response, so I decide to let him think on it more.

“Here, let's trade numbers like I said. “You can give an answer later.”

“Sure.” We tap mobiles, getting a chime in response, and he vaguely mentions sending me the information later, before we awkwardly split up for the day.

“Are you sure you should have invited Gon-san? He looked really uncomfortable...” I mumble as we head back toward the dorms.

“Don't worry, it'll be fine. I do have another question though.”

“Yeah?”

“Besides Gon-san, is there anyone else you want to bring?” Leona asks, giving me a strangely knowing look, like she's thought of something I haven't. Anyone else? If we're just drawing from my friends, Ken's a guy and I'm still a little iffy about Lucy and Amari. Then there's Jen-

As soon as I think of her, she sticks in my head. She's the one who took me for all of my clothes shopping so far. She even chose the bras I've been wearing, which I should replace when we go out next. Of course Leona is referring to Jen, but...

But with the way things are between us now...

Could this be a chance to mend things? Even a little?

I would like that. I would really like that. I hate how things are between us, but I'm just so scared of opening up to her again, would this really help...? I have no idea, and just thinking about it is making my heart race and my hands clam up.

I gulp anxiously. “I... I'll talk to Jen...”

“Alright.”

I end up spending the night with Leona, mostly helping her with homework she's been neglecting due to fatigue. We eat another two dinners, and I'd be worried about all the calories, except I can tell how badly our bodies need the food by how ravenously hungry we are for each meal.

By the time Leona escorts me back to my dorm room, it's really late, and I flop tiredly into bed. My clothes are stripped immediately for the comfort of my blanket, and I let out a long, exhausted sigh. God, that scratchy feeling is going to drive me insane...