The teachers’ lounge was quiet, filled only with the soft hum of the vending machine and the occasional rustle of papers. The sky outside the tall windows was grey, heavy with impending rain.
Present Mic stood by the counter, both hands gripping the edge as his voice, even in a whisper, still carried more force than a normal shout.
— “Damn it… Damn it! Those bastards—how could they do that to him!?”
His normally flamboyant and booming tone was sharp, cracked by grief. His yellow-tinted shades were pushed up onto his head, revealing wide, furious eyes that brimmed with unshed tears. His jaw clenched, voice thick as he muttered under his breath.
— “Oboro… He deserved better than this… Not to be turned into some thing.”
Aizawa Shouta—Eraserhead—sat on the couch with his arms folded across his chest. His eyes were partially closed, his expression unreadable to most, but the tension in his shoulders betrayed the storm beneath. His scarf was loosely hanging around his neck, and his capture weapon lay coiled at his side.
He exhaled slowly through his nose.
— “Yamada,”
he said, voice low, tired.
— “Sit down. You’ll break the damn counter.”
Present Mic didn’t move. He looked at Aizawa, face scrunched with grief and rage.
— “They used his body, Shouta. His corpse. Turned him into… into that! Into some obedient puppet! How do we even fight that!?”
Aizawa opened his eyes fully, staring straight ahead at the wall across the room. His voice was cold, but there was something trembling beneath it.
— “I know.”
— “You think I haven’t been thinking about it since we found out? It’s not something you just move on from.”
He looked down at the floor, fists clenched in his lap.
— “But if we don’t keep our heads clear, we’ll lose him again. And this time, completely.”
Present Mic slumped into the chair across from him, running both hands through his hair. His foot bounced anxiously. The silence between them settled heavily—both men lost in memory, in grief, in the knowledge that their friend was still out there, but not themselves.
Then—
Click.
The door to the lounge opened abruptly.