Deep breaths, I told myself, standing in front of my closet.    

I didn’t mean to be nervous about tonight, but I found my hands shaking anyway. Sure, I knew Rose, Double, and now Rocket just fine, but they had said their other friends were hanging out with them too. If they were anything like the rest of the support class, I was going to be too overwhelmed to think properly.

I’m sure they’re nice, I thought, shaking my head and reaching out for a fluffy tan sweater. Rose’s tastes in friends may be a bit eccentric, but Rocket seems like he just wouldn’t hang around people he doesn’t like. He can ignore them easily enough if he doesn't like them.

I breathed a sigh as I undid the buttons on my uniform shirt and pulled the oversized sweater over my head. Damn nerves, just calm yourself.

I put on a pair of fur-lined leggings, knowing it was going to be cold that night. Whoever decided there should be festivals like this in the winter needed to be punished. I was sure we’d have fun and yeah, winter festivals were really pretty, but honestly, why couldn’t they have had this in late fall or early spring when the cold was at least semi-bearable?

After lacing up my boots, I grabbed my outerwear: gloves, coat, and hat, then headed out. My friends in the common room seemed to be too busy with homework to inquire where I was going. Part of me wished they would, but it was clear I’d have to brave the cold sooner or later.

I squashed my crazed curls underneath my thick knit hat and pushed the door open. The snow had been on the ground for a couple days, but it was the first day since the storm that the sun had come out. The light blinded me as it reflected on the glittery white drifts, causing me to cover my eyes until they adjusted to the glare.

I made my way down the stairs and started my walk to the 1-H dorms. It was at the far end of the row of buildings, closest to the exit of the UA campus. Even from far away, I was able to see the glint off Rose’s prosthetics. What is it with everything blinding me today? I briefly considered going back to get a pair of sunglasses, but quickly shrugged off the idea, not willing to put the effort into that joke.

As I approached the group, I noticed two additional students joining the members of the support department I already knew. A rather tall boy with bandages covering his face nodded in my direction, unsettling me slightly. I was not one for mummies, especially after my uncle and I had decided to watch a horrifying movie from my collection. It had presented itself as an action/adventure movie, but neither of us could sleep the next few nights. Safe to say, the boy’s appearance unnerved me.

His movement brought the attention of my approach to the rest of the group. The other student I had yet to meet was a girl with rattles at the ends of her hair and sparkling golden scales. As I came to a stop next to all them, her bright yellow eyes looked me up and down. She smiled, showing off long, glinting fangs as she turned to Double.

“You didn’t tell me you had a twin s-sister,” she hissed in a voice like swirling metal beads, breathy, but with a pure tone.

I smiled, not having noticed our resemblance before, but I supposed we both had the red hair and blue eyes.

"What are you—are you talking about?" Double stammered, taking glances between me and his friend.

"Seriously? Come on, you two could be twins," Rose added as if the connection were obvious. Sure, we had some similarities, but it certainly wasn't enough to convince Double.

The ginger head stuttered his argument, "We-We could not. Why, just because—just because we both have red-red hair?"

"You're right, I don't see it." I looked over to find the mummy boy shaking his head in disagreement.

Double replied, "Thanks, Dani."

"She's a hell of a lot prettier than you are." Dani's remark earned a short laugh from Rose and hisses from the other girl. Double didn't say much other than giving his friend a light punch to the shoulder and politely asking him to shut it.

With that, we decided to begin heading to the festival. Considering Musutafu was a rather large city, it made sense that they often held big celebrations. What excited me most for this one, though, was the rides.

Reina would drag me to the amusement parks around Japan and always made it a point to go to the fairs that had thrill rides. While roller coasters were her favorites, simple fair rides were just as fun, and the lines never tended to be as long.

I took even steps down the hill, my boots crunching the rock salt beneath my feet, as I listened to the rest of the group’s discussion of winter costume upgrades.

“He wants to add an orange cloak,” Dani huffed, exasperatedly. I giggled to myself, hearing his complaints about Kaito. “And they thought to come to me for advice? I say burn the whole costume and start over.”

“I agree,” I illused while signing for Rocket’s sake. “It’s hard to look at during training.”

“I can’t imagine having— imagine having to look at that-that thing every day,” Double chuckled, shaking his head.

“I’ve debating wearing sunglasses.”

This caused all of them to chuckle. The one who had introduced herself as Snake chimed in, “Talk about a scare tactic.” I nodded, knowing from personal experience that it worked.

By the time we reached the festival, we’d roasted Kaito’s costume as much as it had roasted my eyes during training. I could smell the celebration long before I could see it. The nutty, sweet scent of fried food wafted through the air, drawing us closer.

The air was buzzing with energy as we entered the park. The entrance held an admissions stand with a billboard displaying prices for wristbands and tickets. Considering the wristbands would be cheaper in the long run, we all decided to purchase those, letting us ride as many rides as we want. Well, all of us except Rocket. After glancing around, taking inventory of the rides, he decided to only buy a small sheet of tickets. Despite Rose’s prodding, he insisted that he wouldn’t know if he could tolerate the rides, seeing as he'd never been on one before. I had to translate, of course, since his whiteboard was in his backpack.

“Well?” Dani asked, pulling the wraps on his face down so Rocket could read his lips. “Where to first?”

Rose grabbed Snake with her robotic arm and pointed off to a glowing, vertically spinning ride. “Zipper!”

“Before we eat anything,” the reptilian girl exclaimed, nodding her head and beginning to run towards the attraction, Rose right by her side.

“Guess we’re going-going to do that one first!” Double chirped, following them with a smile, though he looked warily at the ride.

I hurried along with him, Dani and Rocket bringing up the rear. As we approached the glowing thrill ride, seeing Rose and Snake already in line, the other redhead turned back to look at us apprehensively. “So-So, who’s going with who— with who?” He asked, tugging on the red bandana tied loosely around his neck.

The two boys caught up and I translated as Rocket signed, “I’m not going on this one.” The small boy’s black hair floated in the breeze kicked up by the rapidly spinning ride, revealing his pinched-together eyebrows. Considering he’d never been on a ride before, I’m sure this wasn’t the one he would want to start with.

I saw Double breathe a sigh of relief out of the corner of my eye. “I’ll stay here— stay here with him, then-then,” he stated with finality. I handed him my purse and joined the other girls in line, Dani by my side.

It hadn't occurred to me until we got to the front of the line that Snake and Rose got into one of the caged seats, leaving Dani and I to be in the next one. Alone. I snuck a glance at the tall boy, trying my hardest to ignore his mummy-like wrappings. A shiver went down my spine, but I tried to pretend that it was just the cold.

I showed my neon green wristband to the ride operator, climbing into the tight space. Thankfully, Dani and I were both relatively thin, so it wasn’t like we were pressed up against each other, but the enclosed cage suddenly felt a bit too small.

“You don’t scream, do you?” Dani asked, peering at me through his wraps. I had to strain to hear him over the hum of the ride.

I shrugged and shook my head, illusing, “Not unless I’m really caught off guard.”

He seemed to be done with the conversation, looking out at the festival as our cart began to rise, rocking back harshly. I giggled lightly at the movement, remembering how much I loved this type of ride.

After a few more people boarded, the zipper ride finally began to pick up pace, spinning our cart in varying directions. I laughed outright, feeling my hair lifting off my shoulders and my stomach plummeting in quick succession.

Screams echoed out from every side of us and I heard a whooping cheer that sounded suspiciously like Rose. The cold wind whipped at my face, searing my cheeks, but also making me smile. There was nothing quite like the thrill of a ride in winter. The spinning drew laughter from my throat.

After an adrenaline filled minute or so, the ride finally shuttered to a stop, our cart rocking on its axis. I pressed my gloved hands to my cheeks, trying to warm them up, as I shook my hair out, hoping I didn't hit Dani in the face. I knew he was quite significantly taller than me, but I had a lot of hair. I briefly considered braiding it out of the way so I wouldn’t have this problem all night.

Maybe when I have some more time.

The ride operator cycled through all the carts, eventually letting Dani and I out. I gave him plenty of time before stepping out myself, still not certain of him. While I was sure I’d get used to him with time, the wraps still creeped me out.

When my feet hit the metal stairs of the ride, I looked up at the rest of the group. Snake and Rose had large smiles on their faces that I was sure mirrored my own.

Though I was also certain that my wind-blown cheeks were bright red, stark against my pale skin, where their cheeks weren’t flushed in the slightest. I was sure that was because of their quirks, but I placed my hands on my cheeks self-consciously anyway.

I followed Dani to stand with the rest of the group. Double handed my purse back and I threw it over my shoulder, standing between him and Rocket. The short boy was trying to avoid looking at all the flashing lights.

“What next?” Snake asked. I strained my ears to hear her soft voice above the chaos of the festival.

“Maybe–maybe some games?” Double suggested, pointing at a collection of tents not too far from us. The colorful canvas rolled gently with the breeze. Nobody seemed to object, so we began walking towards them.

I fell in line with Rocket, trailing behind the main group. I noticed his head slightly bowed, keeping his hair over his eyes, I’d assumed to keep out the light. For some reason, he seemed to prefer darkness. I’d have to ask later.

Arranged in a central area of the festival were all the games and such. Game operators' voices were projected through speakers strapped to their belts as they called for participants. The group moseyed around until Rose noticed the ring toss.

Immediately, she seemed to go into hardcore mode, her sights zeroed in on the challenge. We stepped up to the woman running the booth, her blonde ponytail swinging.

“Hey there, challengers!” She chirped, bouncing on her toes. “Toss a ring, win a prize! Who’s up for it‽”

My tall friend slapped a bill on the counter with a smirk. “I’m in!”

“Me too!” Double exclaimed, searching in his pockets until he found his wallet. The rest of us followed suit, not about to miss out on the fun.

As the woman placed a handful of rings in front of me, I noticed Rocket standing a ways back. I cocked my head to the side, silently asking him what was up.

“I’ve never played this before,” he signed sheepishly, shrugging.

The conversation from earlier resurfaced in my head, him saying he’d never been to a festival like this before. Not even an amusement park. The thought saddened me, but at least he got to experience the fun now. I beckoned him over to teach him the rules.

“Let me learn you a thing or two,” I signed to him before gesturing to the bottles. His eyebrows scrunched and he raised his hands as if he was about to correct my sign, but I continued before he could. “It’s simple in theory. Get these rings around those bottles. But what they don’t want you to know is that the game is basically rigged. The necks of the bottles are wide enough that you can barely get a ring on. The trick is to throw the ring really flat. That’s pretty much the only hope you have.”

He watched what his friends did as I explained, throwing the discs horizontally to try and snag a bottle. Rose roared in outrage as her last ring glanced off the rim of a bottle and fell between two others. She hastily pulled out more money in exchange for another round of rings.

“Her chances of winning are low,” I explained, “but there’s just something about it that’s infuriatingly addictive.” With that, I slid a couple of my rings over to the golden-eyed boy.

“That’s alright, I’ll watch for now.”

I shook my head frantically, the wind blowing hair into my face. “Go ahead and try. I’ll just be watching Rose after this anyway.” I crossed my fingers and moved them across my nose, using the sign for ‘rose’ rather than spelling her name.

The small gesture reminded me of when I first learned sign language and had to pick a sign for my name. It was easy enough for me, considering my name meant ‘harp.’ I could just use the little plucking motion as my name sign. I didn’t see it used much because it was not like I would speak about myself in third person. Besides, until I met Rocket, I didn't sign much anyway when I could just illuse.

I tapped him on the shoulder as he was lining up his toss. When he glanced my way, I signed, “By the way, you can sign ‘Koto’ like this.” I showed him the little sign with my left hand up like it was holding the instrument and pulling my right arm across my chest as if to strum.

His honey eyes watched me intently before he briefly got a far-off expression. He immediately signed it back to me, “Koto.”

A smile tugged at my lips as he tested the sign a few times, glancing at me to make sure it was correct. I guessed he took my cheerful grin as confirmation because he blinked quickly, his head dipping into a quick nod before turning back to the game.

Together, he and I made quick work of our hand, losing all the rings to the floor. I hyped him up as he threw the last ring into the center, but I considered too late that I might’ve distracted him. The metal loop hit the top of one of the bottles, bouncing around a bit before ultimately falling to the ground.

He shrugged, looking defeated, but I assured him that it’s fine, pulling him over to watch Rose. As she carefully lined up her throws, I took off my hat and plopped it on top of Rocket’s head, startling him for a moment. He fumbled for it as it started to slide off, expression confused, but when I started braiding my hair, he seemed to understand. The boy looked at my heavy hat in his hands for a long moment, probably wondering how it would look on top of his own beanie.

I continued the plaits in my hair as we watched Rose. I had to give it to her, as frustrating as this game was, she refused to give up. Although it couldn’t be good for her wallet, something Dani readily brought up. In the end, he had to do some major convincing to get her away from the game, mainly promising that we could come back later.

Rose took one last look at the booth, mumbling “I’m coming back for you.” The blonde in charge looked frightened for a moment, but it seemed the pink-haired girl was talking to one of the prizes: a giant stuffed giraffe.

I turned to retrieve my hat from Rocket, only to see he indeed had placed it on top of his own. “Your hat is fluffy,” he signed with a small smile.

I giggled lightly, pulling the edge down over his eyes. Immediately, he rushed to push it back up. I supposed that wasn’t really nice, even as a joke. My heart thudded heavily in my chest at the thought of having no hearing and suddenly being robbed of my vision as well.

But thankfully, he didn’t seem to take it poorly, instead offering me a grin as he pulled the knit cap off and handed it back. Pulling it over my braids, we followed the others to the next booth.

Over the next hour or so, we visited many of the game booths, trying our hardest to win prizes. I managed to win a hedgehog puffball keychain at a darts game, Rose received a cape for being able to ding the bell on the strongman game, and Snake got a stuffed Koala from one of those race games where you shoot water into a target as steadily as you can. Dani dominated at skeeball, Double absolutely destroyed us all at whack-a-mole, and Rocket was shockingly good at a game similar to the ring toss where instead there was an array of fishbowls with multicolored water and we threw ping-pong balls. It reminded me of another game I didn’t think we should have been playing as teenagers, but I guessed in the Support Course, they learned a bit more about physics than we did, so I wasn’t surprised when he managed to get the little orb into the middle bowl.

He chose the giant panda as his prize which obviously made Rose jealous, reminding her of that giraffe she still had yet to win. Double helped Rocket stuff the bear into his backpack, zipping it up so only the head was sticking out.

We discussed going to the food trucks, but Snake’s eye was drawn to something else. She smirked, the rattles on her hair shaking as she began to grin. I followed her line of sight and understood immediately what she was thinking.

“Alright, Rocket,” she crooned after getting his attention. “Are you ready to go on a ride?”

Of course he didn’t pick up her tone, but the boy in question seemed wary anyway. Snake pointed across the path to a little kiddie ride with all of two hills and a cart shaped like a dragon. I, along with the others, began to laugh at the thought of Rocket riding that with all the little seven year-olds.

He eyed each of us, brow furrowed, but Double nudged his arm with a smile. “C’mon! I’ll ride it— ride it with you-you!”

In no time, the two boys had made it through the line and were sitting in the middle section of the dragon-mobile, surrounded by small cheerful children. Rose could barely contain her laughter as the ride began and Rocket grabbed for the handlebar. Dani held up his phone for a recording, surely planning to hold onto the footage for later.

The cold wind whipped through their hair as they picked up speed, already on to the first hill. The motor on the back rattled past where we stood, propelling them up the next hill as well. They continued around the track a couple times, Double cheerfully screaming along with the kids and Rocket holding on tight.

By the time they rejoined us, Double was smiling from ear to ear and Rocket had an adrenaline-filled gleam in his eyes.

"Well?" Snake inquired, raising her eyebrows.

I translated for the boy as he signed, "That wasn't so bad." The grin on his face was enough to say that he wasn't telling how much he enjoyed it.

"Time to level up, then," Rose stated with a smirk before grabbing Rocket and pulling him along, beckoning the rest of us to follow. Further down the path, I saw her target: a large metal rollercoaster.

I wasn’t sure how they brought around large attractions like that, but I supposed somebody must have had a quirk to help. Maybe a shrinking quirk, I considered.

Rocket tried to pull away from Rose, but she held strong, keeping him by her side all while we waited in line. When we got to the front, the tall girl sat next to Dani in the back of a cart. I noticed Snake was already sitting with Double, so I turned my attention to the small boy who was pushed through the gates by the people behind him.

I could almost see the thoughts whirring around his head: no turning back now.

"C'mon, it won't be too bad," I signed, gesturing for him to join me at the front of the group’s car. I thought it was a wise decision for them to pick one in the middle of the train, considering the back tended to be wild and Rocket probably wouldn't want to sit up front.

He begrudgingly nodded his head and sat down next to me, attentively strapping himself in. A couple ride operators came by to check our seat belts and lower the bars over our laps. Those happened to be a little different than the seats I was used to. While most were often a padded bar across the lap, these also had supports for our shins.

I already noticed Rocket's white-knuckle grip on the handlebars, clearly rethinking the whole ordeal. But we were locked in, so he couldn't go anywhere. I tried to give him a reassuring smile as the ride started rolling along, catching onto the chain to pull us up the first hill.

The coaster appeared as a convoluted mess of steel beams below us, the orange track weaving through it. From the ground, it didn't look too tall, but now I could see across the whole festival as we rose above it.

I gestured for Rocket to look, but his eyes were too focused on the drop ahead of us. The weight of the first few carts gave into gravity and accelerated us down. I laughed, full of adrenaline, as the wind whipped at my face. As much as I loved small rides, there was just something else about roller coasters.

I put my hands up to touch the sky as my joy overflowed. The ride thundered around a curve, forces pushing us out and pulling us in all the same. Double's screams were drowned in the wind behind me.

The ride dipped down once more and suddenly flipped into a corkscrew. I yelped in surprise, grabbing the lap bar, but felt a giggle bubble out anyways.

Gloved hands wrapped around my arm as Rocket clung to me for dear life. I had forgotten for a moment that he was there and terrified. He held onto me until the ride screeched to a stop.

Chapter four is dedicated to sun_jin