Chapter 36: A Change
As they brought Shihata home, the Saki family sat down and discussed their final decision regarding Shihata's return to the Horizon Academy. Unknowingly to them, when Mishi left the room at the hospital, she heard everything that was said.
Before her husband could attempt to change her mind, she addressed her daughter directly.
"Do you really want to go back to that place, Shihata?" She asked
Shihata thought for a few seconds, "I really do, mum. It was the choice of me and my friends to go help out. If I was not there, Minako might have died. That's not something I'd want to live with.
Mishi smiled, "you're your father's daughter after all"
Her father's tone was more serious, "Shihata, if you really plan on going down this pathway, Some things have to change. Accidents like these cannot happen again. In a hostile situation, an ability like yours and mine should be exhausted to ensure everyone is safe. Which means you also have a lot of training to do before you can single handedly ensure in a room full of hostages, no one will be hurt. This requires a lot of hard work Shihata, are you ready for that?"
She paused for several moments before responding. "I think I am, dad"
He smiled, feeling very proud of his daughter, he said, "very well then. I'll discuss some things with your teacher, Mrs Izume, and give her some suggestions on your training. Your mother and I are extremely proud of you"
Mishi nodded in agreement and touched her daughters arm. "When do you want us to take you back?" She asked
"I want to resume within the next few days but I don't want to cause a big scene. I'm going to call one of my friends to help me quietly get in"
"are you sure?" Her father asked, to which she nodded.
It was Friday again, on that morning, Hayasato recieved a call from Shihata.
"Hey Hayasato, you alright"
There was a lot of excitement in his voice, he was very happy to hear from her.
"Shihata! Are you okay? How are your injuries? When did you get out of the hospital?"
She laughed,"I'm fine thank you, I got out of the hospital 2 days ago. I'm still a bit sore, and there's a pretty nasty scar but otherwise, I'm good."
"when are you coming back?" He asked,
"actually, that's why I called you. I was wondering if you could come get me. I don't want to make a big fuss by coming through the front gates and having every eye on me. I'd rather just quietly slip in."
"Yeah sure, that's fine. Where exactly are you?""
"I'm..." She looked up and quietly said, "outside the male toilets on the ground floor at the Okawa shopping mall"
To avoid being picked up and spotted using powers in a public place by surveillance cameras, she decided to go to the toilet. The toilets for the males was down the hallway on the left and the females, on the right. She figured he'd never have been to the female toilets so she went to the male section.
Hayasato laughed, and a purple portal suddenly appeared in front of Shihata.
It closed behind her as she walked in, and she realised she was in Hayasato's room.
The first thing she noticed was that it was very neat. There wasn't a single thing out of place. His room had a purple theme, dark purple curtains with a lighter shade used on the walls. He had a desk near his door and a bookshelf backed against the window. There was also a TV mounted on the wall opposite his bed.
"your room is very neat" She said, and was very surprised as he hugged her.
"is really good to see you on your feet again, everyone's been so worried. Especially because you didn't contact anyone but that's understandable. I'm just glad you're okay"
She smiled
"and yeah my mum always told me having a clear room makes you have a clear mind and that's really needed for my ability."
"if your head isn't clear, you can't open a portal?"
"Well I need a clear image of where I wanna go to, to open a portal so having a clear mind makes that easier"
"that makes a lot of sense" She said, staring at Hayasato for a few seconds before clearing her throat and suggesting that she return to her room before everyone woke up.
She thanked him again and quietly rushed to her room. She got into her bed and stared at the ceiling smiling. She was happy to be back.
About an hour later, Hirowa called all the students into the one of the assembly Hall's in the ground floor of the student's building.
Shihata realised there was no way to avoid everyone now, and grumbled as she made her way there. Shortly after she left her room, the very thing she had feared the most happened as Rani spotted her.
"Shihata!" She exclaimed, with genuine excitement as she ran to her. "When did you get here?". A few other students including Minako saw her and ran towards her, welcoming her. Minako hugged her tight and began to apologise.
Shihata smiled, not a smile she felt she had to put on to greet the faces welcoming her back, but a genuine smile as she realised that she had made friends that really cared for her.
She embraced Minako and reassured her that it wasn't her fault.
Shortly afterwards, the welcome messages and hugs were done so the girls walked to the assembly hall together, catching up on lost time.
They were the last ones to get to the assembly hall and as they Sat down, Hirowa started speaking.
"Firstly, welcome back, Shihata. It's good to see you on your feet again. Your parents told me to expect you today." The students cheered momentarily as he said this. He waited for silence, then continued.
"Secondly, we have some very important things to discuss. After the incident that left Shihata hospitalised, principal Fujimoto has put some rules in place.
Firstly, powers are not to be used in the Academy unless you're in permitted zones like the training ground or the skyline arena.
Secondly, if a situation were to ever arise again where the Academy is under attack, you are all to stay in your rooms. Confronting the assailants may result in immediate expulsion.
Thirdly, t-"
"excuse me, sir" Shihata said, interrupting her teacher "i don't mean to be disrespectful but judging by the amount of gas that was in that room, if we hadn't done anything, something bad may have happened. How do you think we would have felt knowing there was something we could've done?"
"Instead of punishing us for trying helping, why not teach us how to react better in a situation like that?" Yashiro added, looking visibly annoyed.
Tokiho placed his hand on Hirowa's shoulder and took over.
"We understand your anger and frustration. The teachers all thank you for intervening and none of us think what happened to Ms Shihata was any of your faults, but try to see it from our perspective. A student under our care was injured and had to be hospitalised while our security team and members of staff lay helplessly on the floor.
Government officials are being hard on us, especially principal Fujimoto and understandably so. He's the head of the institution and all this happened under his watch. Not that it's his fault.
The students lowered their heads a little, as the room calmed down again. Tokiho continued.
"Though he didn't get to finish, Mr Hirowa was just about to say that the combat sessions are now mandatory and may be quite difficult, so be prepared for that. If no one has anything to say, or any questions to ask, you may all leave."
As the students got up to leave the assembly hall, They heard Hirowa's voice loud and clear. "Not you, Yashiro and Shihata. We need to talk" this made both their hearts beat faster as they didn't know what to expect from this talk, they figured they were about to be punished for speaking out of turn.
Yashiro gulped as he climbed the "stage" the teachers were both on. Shihata stood directly beside him. He finally said something.
"I understand why you two got a bit ahead of yourselves just now so I'll let it slide this time" He put his hands on their shoulders before speaking again, "I'm happy you guys were there to help, but it was still too reckless. Principal Fujimoto only put those rules in place to protect you all. The third rule however is also to make sure if anything like that were to ever happen again, which I assure you it won't, all students would be better prepared for a physical conflict but that's only in a situation where you cannot and I repeat, cannot avoid the assailants. As your teacher, I'm proud to see your growth, but if you ever speak to me or any of the teachers like that again..." He leaned forward, glaring at them, "there will be severe consequences. Am I clear?"
They both nodded.
"Good, now you may return to your dorms"
"If this was last year, those two would've been suspended for speaking to you like that" Tokiho said, "are you growing soft, Hirowa?"
He laughed and both teachers returned to their building, discussing potential changes to the students timetables.
Back at the student dorms, there were a few students gathered around Shihata in one of the common rooms, filling her in on what she had missed and making sure she was okay.
"Your first day back and you're standing up to Mr Hirowa " Minako said, "It's really good to have you back" The students laughed and all agreed.
Rando looked around and was not surprised to see that Mika wasn't there. He shook his head and headed to female dorms.
He knocked twice on her door, there was no response, but he knew she was in there.
"Mika, it's Rando. I just want to talk"
About 3 seconds later, she reluctantly opened the door.
"What do you want?" She asked, coldly
"Why are you by yourself again?"
She ignored him, waiting for him to say the actual reason he came to see her. He sighed and got to the point.
"Well I just came to say thank you anyway. You had our backs during the attack and fighting alongside us. Although he's not going to say it because he's still mad at you for what happened at the flowing fist tournament, Yashiro was only able to go all out because he knew you had his back. Who knows what would've happened if you didn't come to tell us that the school was under attack."
Mika remained silent, but her expression wasn't hostile anymore.
"Also, I think you should socialise more. You'd be surprised at how many people believe you're cool. We are all in the common room B, if you change your mind and want to join or at least see Shihata. I'll leave you to whatever it is you were doing."
She quietly closed her door behind him, slumped against her door and sighed. She thought about it for a few seconds before deciding that she'll go to the common room.
When she got there, the room was even livelier than she expected, her classmates were all playing games, socialising and enjoying themselves. She spotted Rando talking to Yashiro and Rani as usual. Chino was with Sando and Tanori doing their own thing. She spotted Shihata with a group and felt like she had accomplished what she came to do.
Mika turned around to leave, but was surprised as Shihata called her name. She turned around as Shihata walked up to her. She hugged Mika and said, "we really couldn't have done that without you, thank you"
Mika smiled a little, for what felt like the first time since she joined the Academy, "I'm glad you're okay, Shihata" She said.
"Thank you, wanna join us?" She asked
"maybe another time"
Shihata nodded, and Mika went back to her room. Rando witnessed what had just happened, and smiled to himself.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
FlamingAcee
FlamingAcee Sorry for the late update guys. Unfortunately it probably isn't going to improve anytime soon as I'm currently knee deep in university projects. Thank you for your patience and thank you for reading. Hope you enjoy this chapter and as usual, criticism is welcome.
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