HOTD: A New Dawn

Tysone arrived at the university. It was an old building with a large campus. The grounds were filled with students and faculty members walking around in various stages of activity.

The first thing Tysone noticed about it was its size. This place had to be bigger than his old school.

"Wow."

He'd been to some big universities—well, more like, he passed by them, but this one seemed particularly large. The overall architecture seemed quite dated but fancy. There were a lot of green spaces and the place had a nice view, with the sun shining down on everything like the beginning of an episode.

In fact, now that he thought about it, his walking into the entrance could be considered the start of an episode right before a catchy, colorful opening song would take over the screen.

A smile tugged at his lips. That was a nice thought. A bit cliché, but still, nice. The place looked even better when the wind blew.

Tysone walked, standing tall amidst the sea of students. He thought he'd be a little nervous, but instead, he felt strangely calm. It wasn't exactly like he had to worry about getting bullied or anything, so he could just take things at his own pace. Grades were optional; he wasn't there for an education, but more to expand his social network. And he had another reason to do it.

It was to keep an eye on any potential characters that didn't belong to the HSOTD universe. He had already caught Mai, an anomaly, it'd be stupid to think she'd be the only outlier when the world was so vast. As such, he'd be on the lookout.

However, his anime knowledge was limited.

There was always a possibility that he'd stumble, or even befriend, someone he didn't know belonged to another anime verse. It was one thing if they were lawful good, but if they turned out to be the worst piece of evil shit in the anime they spawned from, he'd be in a tight spot. He wasn't going to let something like that slip under the radar. Imagine having to deal with a politician Aizen, or even worse, a politician Light.

So he'd try to make as many connections and gather information, so that when he came across such an individual, he could make an educated decision about their intentions and whether or not to get involved.

Tysone walked in.

And, in true anime fashion, he was immediately noticed by everyone.

Well, it wasn't like they hadn't seen someone of his complexion, but he was still a foreigner in a sea of Japanese people. The reaction wasn't over the top, just curious glances, whispers and murmurs. Tysone paid them no mind.

"Hey, hey. Who is that?"

"I don't think I've seen him around here before."

"He's definitely a transfer student or something. He's not Japanese, that's for sure."

"A new guy, huh? I wonder what he's like. Maybe he's from Europe, like France, maybe Germany. Or even from somewhere in Africa? He looks really fit."

"He must've been working out a lot. He has some serious muscles under that shirt."

"I bet he's rich."

"I wonder if he has a girlfriend."

"He seems like a cool guy. I wonder if he's single."

Tysone smiled wryly. It seemed like the students here were pretty normal and ordinary. Just some young adults with normal, mundane concerns. It was nice to see that not every school was filled with special people.

He gave them a cursory glance, wondering if there was anyone he recognized, but no. Nothing yet.

He arrived at the classroom and stepped in.

All eyes in the room turned towards him. It was only for a brief moment, but it was still enough for him to feel the attention of everyone on him.

He walked in and took a seat in the back. His first day at his new university. 

University. Him?

Seriously, who'd have thought? 

…

Tysone decided to pursue Business and Economics as his major; he figured that having some educational background in that area would be very beneficial.

But either way, it would help in the long run. It'd give him a better idea of what he was doing.

The first class was uneventful, but not boring. It was just the basics. Economics 101. It was an introduction to basic principles, nothing special. They were talking about demand, supply, equilibrium, and all that. He was actually pretty familiar with that stuff since he did a lot of self-study before opening his Rage Room, so he just listened to the teacher without interrupting or asking anything.

Once classes ended, it was where all of that cringe socializing took place. The rest of his fellow freshmen decided to surround his desk and strike up a conversation.

"Hello." He greeted the group with a small nod of his head. His tone was calm, but polite, his accent still present, but not too strong.

And it momentarily surprised them.

"Oh! Ah, hi there." One girl responded. A girl with curly brown hair. "Sorry to bother you, we actually just wanted to introduce ourselves." The girl then looked at the others. "This is Nami." Nami had blonde hair. And she looked like she belonged to a church or a convent or something, which was an odd sight to behold. "And this is Akio."

The boy, Akio, raised his hand with a short greeting.

"My name is Chika." The brown-haired girl said with a friendly smile.

Tysone raised his brow slightly. "Oh." He said, looking from face to face, as though sizing them up. "Nice to meet you." Then he smiled, flashing a brilliant set of pearly whites. "Nice to meet you guys."

And then a round of customary bows and greetings ensued.

They all acclimatized well enough to sit around him and start talking. Tysone could have tuned them out, but he didn't want to be that odd, overly quiet character everyone was averse to. As such, he tried chiming in, throwing a joke to lighten the mood and being overall approachable, at least for those in his periphery.

"Hey, Ty. Can I call you that?" Nami asked, and when she saw his nod of affirmation, continued. "Where are you from?"

"Good ol' America." Tysone chortled at Nami's dreamy sigh. Ah yes, the US used to be this powerful giant every country looked up to; that was way before the joke it'll become in a decade or so. "Born and raised there."

"Ohh, so cool!" Nami said, this time in very accented English. It tore a chuckle out of him. "Why did you come here?"

Innocent question. Wrong person to ask it to.

Tysone shrugged. "I've heard girls are cuter here."

Chika giggled.

Nami chuckled at that too, her cheeks slightly colored. "Oh, is that it?"

"Yeah." He smirked at her. "And they definitely are cuter, I can say. I haven't been lied to."

"So you transferred here just to flirt with pretty girls? How naughty of you. Not a very commendable goal." Nami stared at him, mischievously. "Do you talk like this to every girl you meet?"

"Hey, hey." Tysone raised his hands. "I'm not lying or making things up. I'm not the type of man that gives the same compliment to multiple girls. If I think that one's cute, then the next girl that catches my eye must be prettier, or I won't pay her a second look." Tysone explained matter-of-factly, but his smirk didn't go away. "Besides, I didn't transfer here to just do that, I've got my own reasons."

"Ohh? What kind of reason, Ty-san?"

"Secret reasons." Tysone grinned at them and left the conversation at that, shrugging off their demands to know more.

As such, Nami shifted topics. "Do you know any cool spots to go to?"

He tilted his head. "Well, I haven't been here long enough to give some good recommendations. But... hmm." He tapped his chin, thinking it through. "I've heard of this really cool place called Rage Room. Apparently, you can blow off steam there." He grinned. "You can even smash a television screen to smithereens. I think that'd help relieve a ton of stress and anxiety. That's something we could use, I think, what with our daily schedules."

The three shared a look.

"I see." Chika mumbled, nodding. She then straightened. "I've actually heard about it as well. A friend of mine went there last week."

"And?"

"She really liked it. She said that there was even a really, really pretty lady that helped with the customers. She seemed to have enjoyed the service very much. " She paused for a moment before adding. "My friend was very happy to go back."

Nami chirped in with a smile, leaning on Tysone's shoulder. "Hey, why don't you bring us along sometime?" She asked, giving him puppy eyes.

Well, well, isn't she cute? 

Aiko chipped in. "I'm sure you can show us how it works."

Tysone grinned at the thought. "I suppose so." He agreed, nodding along.

"Then, let's make it a group hang out." Nami suggested, clasping her hands together.

Already? Tysone was slightly surprised. Then again. This was an anime, he reminded himself. Everyone moved so damn fast. Everyone and everything but relationships—those usually took anywhere between 12 to 24 episodes. 

"Sounds good." Tysone smiled, readily agreeing. 

Classes continued on quite uneventfully. 

Author Note: More chapters on [email protected]/LordCampione.