Welcome to Avengers Academy! ~The Romantic Misadventures of Former Heroes~ - Wednesday Awakening, A Prankster's True Intentions

The futon felt heavy. Beneath the blanket pulled over his head, only his breath lingered, trapped and lukewarm. His fingers, clutching the edge of the pillow, were faintly damp. "……Why does it have to be like this?" He tried saying it aloud. As if to comfort himself. But the words were swallowed by the blanket and simply vanished. What happened on the rooftop. Ai's eyes, that look. *I don't have the right to fall for anyone.* So lonely, yet somehow resolute. And then, the feeling of Makoto—the guy he thought was his best friend—shoving him by the collar. The bone in his shoulder still ached, or so it seemed. *Are you serious about this?* *I trusted you—* He couldn't forget Makoto's wounded expression. Rejected by the girl he liked, feeling betrayed by his best friend. He'd hit rock bottom. Everything was a mess. Through the gap in the curtains, the Wednesday morning sun slipped in, thin and sharp. The chirping of small birds sounded impossibly distant, hammering at the core of his skull. "I don't wanna go to school……" He squeezed the words out. That's when it happened. —*Ding-dong.* The cheerful chime of the intercom echoed through the house. "Comiiing!" His little sister Hikari came thundering down the stairs. The sound of the front door clicking open. "Huh? Sis, who're you?" "Sorry to bother you—I came to drop something off for Tooru-kun. I'm Rokujou Miyabi, from his class." A small jolt of electricity ran down his spine. Miyabi—!? Why was she here? "Big bro! You've got a friend! A girl named Rokujou's here! Hey, can she come in!?" Hikari came charging back up the stairs, this time with even more momentum. Before he could even answer, his bedroom door burst open. "H-Hey—" "Pardon the intrusion." From behind Hikari, a ponytail bobbed into view. Large eyes narrowed, crinkling with a mischievous smile. Miyabi stepped into Tooru's room with the ease of someone who knew the place well. With a light, casual stride, as if she'd just come from club, she sat down on the edge of his bed. The springs let out a tiny creak. Still buried under his futon, Tooru shrank back. "Wh-why the hell are you here……" "No need to be so scared. I came to check on you, after all." Twirling her ponytail around her finger, Miyabi gazed steadily down at Tooru. It was her usual, teasing smirk. But today, something behind it looked just a little different. "Check on me…… I'm not sick or anything." "I know. A cold of the heart, right?" A cold of the heart. Those words pierced his chest with a strange sharpness. "This isn't the time to be running away, Tony Stark." —The blood drained from his entire body. His heart pounded deep in his ears, and his fingertips went cold in an instant. A shiver raced down his spine. Tooru threw off the futon and bolted upright. "……What did you just……" His voice trembled. Tony Stark. This was Japan, the utterly ordinary daily life of a middle schooler. No one should know. That name—the one from those dreams, burned into his mind—. Miyabi simply gazed back at him in silence. Her teasing smile had vanished before he knew it. Her eyes were calm and deep, like a placid sea at night. "You heard me just fine, didn't you? Your ears aren't bad, right?" "Don't screw with me! How do you know that name—" His mind was a chaotic mess. "I'm just Tomioka Tooru! My dreams just happen to link up with some American comic book hero! That's not—" "It is." Miyabi finished his sentence. "No. That's not it, Tooru-kun." Miyabi clasped her hands tightly together on her lap. Her fingertips turned faintly white. "Your past life was Tony Stark. My past life was—Loki. For a god's prank, this is in pretty poor taste, don't you think?" Loki. The Norse god of mischief and chaos. "Makoto-kun is the Captain…… Steve Rogers. Suzu-chan is the Scarlet Witch. And Taiga-kun—he's Thor. The God of Thunder, now the ace of the judo club. You've gotta laugh." Miyabi twisted her lips in a slightly self-deprecating smirk. "When I realized that those guys—the ones who were enemies, or allies, in our past lives—were all in the same class, I was honestly thrilled." Thrilled—? Tooru was at a loss for words. Always causing trouble, scattering fake love letters, eavesdropping on people's secrets and broadcasting them over the school intercom. He'd thought she was just someone who enjoyed pranks. "Do you remember? During gym class, when Ai-chan almost fell, and you shielded her. That time, I recorded Suzu-chan's bombshell comment and played it over the broadcast." "……Like I could ever forget! Because of you, the whole thing got twisted beyond belief!" "Yeah, I twisted it. On purpose." "Wha—" "Because if I hadn't, everyone would've just stayed stuck in that vague, awkward haze forever. Ai-chan was terrified of her own past, Makoto-kun was bound by his clumsy sense of justice, and you were just spinning your wheels in weird directions. None of you were moving forward at all." Miyabi's voice quickened, just a little. "These are the people who defeated real enemies and saved the world. So why, when it comes to something as simple as middle school romance, is everyone so scared? The thought of our current selves being crushed by the weight of our past lives—I absolutely hate it." Tooru didn't know what to say. At the core of his mind, those dreams flashed back. A city in flames. Armor of gold and red. Despair, and resolve. So those weren't just dreams. "Ai-chan's memories of her past life are the faintest. She doesn't remember being Natasha at all. But her body remembers, and somewhere in her heart, she feels it. That disconnect terrifies her." Miyabi looked out the window. Her ponytail swayed gently in the room's air current. Her profile wasn't its usual playful self; it was far more mature, and somehow lonely. "Makoto-kun didn't shove you just out of jealousy. He was suffering terribly too, caught between his own sense of justice and his romantic feelings. He couldn't forgive himself, more than anyone, for hurting his best friend." "……Makoto." He remembered the guy's trembling fist. That face, a mix of anger, sadness, and confusion. "Everyone's just too damn bad at expressing their own feelings. So a third party was necessary. Someone to mess everything up and force things into motion. That's my way of doing things." Miyabi turned her gaze back to Tooru. "You like Ai-chan. Am I wrong?" Tooru caught his breath for a moment. Ai's face surfaced in his mind. Those large eyes, seen from up close when she collapsed during gym class. Her ears, turning just a little red when she got embarrassed. *I don't have the right to fall for anyone.* Her voice, when she said that, so sadly. "……I like her. I do." The words came out with a surprising, honest ease. "Past lives or whatever, it doesn't matter. When I look at her, deep in my chest, it gets warm. I want to talk to her more. I want to see her smile. I like Morimoto Ai, the girl who's here, right now." He said it. Then, a sharp sting hit the back of his nose, and his vision suddenly blurred. Before he knew it, tears were spilling over. Stifling his voice, he sobbed, like a child. "Dammit…… I'm making such a pathetic face……" He was frustrated. At himself, for not truly realizing his own feelings until this very moment. Miyabi simply watched him quietly. Then, she pulled a small handkerchief from her pocket and gently offered it. "It's okay. If you can cry properly like that, you'll be fine." Still looking down, Tooru accepted the handkerchief. After a while, when Tooru raised his head, Miyabi had returned to her mischievous smile. "Alright then. If you're ready to stand up, I'll help you out. The next stage is the sports festival. But the lead role is yours, Tony. There, you'll face Makoto-kun and Ai-chan properly." Miyabi rose to her feet. The bed springs creaked once more. "I……" "You can do it. You're the hero who's always gotten back on his feet that way, right?" At those words, Tooru bit his lip and nodded. —No more running. He'd face Makoto head-on. And then, he'd tell Ai properly, one more time. His feelings, right now. That was his resolve. As Miyabi was about to leave the room, she paused by the window. The light slipping through the curtain gap illuminated her profile in white. "Oh, right. I almost forgot." She turned back. Her eyes sparkled like jewels, yet somewhere within them, they also seemed cold. "The scar on Ai-chan's temple. She got that in the final battle of our past life. But the current her doesn't remember that time at all. Why do you think that is?" Ai's scar. That mark, illuminated by the sunset on the rooftop, looking slightly red. "……I don't know. I have no idea." Miyabi smiled, satisfied. "Isn't solving that mystery your job too? I mean, you like her, right? So accept everything about her, properly." Leaving only those words behind, Miyabi finally exited the room with light steps. The door clicked shut. In the distance, he could hear Hikari's voice: "Ehh, you're leaving already!?" and Miyabi's reply: "Sorry, I'll come again." Left alone in his room, Tooru looked down at the handkerchief clutched in his hand. A single, small embroidered flower at the corner. (*That girl…… seriously, what is she?*) A prankster, a chaotic force, always messing with people. And yet, the one who probably saw everyone most clearly was her. It wasn't just us who were about to be crushed by the weight of our past lives. Miyabi, too, had been carrying those memories alone, struggling all this time. A stage for everyone to enjoy the present—huh. "……I'll do it." Tooru gripped the handkerchief tightly. His nose still stung, and his eyes were still hot. But it was completely different from just moments ago. It felt like the jumbled puzzle pieces had finally taken a little bit of shape. Tooru raised his head and looked out the window. The blue May sky was endlessly high, and dazzling.

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Episode 6

Name: Welcome to Avengers Academy! ~The Romantic Misadventures of Former Heroes~
Author: Novelia

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