Koto's POV
(Wednesday the 24th)

I wake to the sound of the garage door opening and closing. Kati's room is right above the garage, letting her know every morning when her parents leave. I shoot awake at the low, rumbling sound, rubbing the fatigue from my eyes, but as I look over at the girl lying next to me, I see she's still in a deep sleep. 

I'm in America, the thought strikes me. And they're probably looking for me.

A tiny whine escapes my mouth as I roll out of bed and stumble down to the bathroom. I kneel on the tile floor, my head in my hands as my breathing becomes shallow. 

No, stop it. Not here, I tell myself, but I feel the blood draining from my face, making my whole head ring with static. They can't find you. You're going to be disguised. Nobody will recognize you.

I sit there for a while, gripping my shirt so my hands don't shake. A knock comes at the open door of the bathroom. I look up to see my friend, looking at me with concern, her hair a rat's nest from sleep. 

"Th-th-th-thissss hap-p-p-p'ns," I manage to stutter out. She sits down next to me, quietly shushing me. She rests a hand on my back and I frantically pull away, more nauseous than before. 

"Sorry," she whispers, looking at me with her tired, yet concerned eyes. I can't stop shivering from the cold sweat.

She sits with me for a long time, but her gaze burns at my skin. "What's your plan for today?" I illuse, trying to take her focus off me for a moment. 

"Oh, umm, well if you aren't planning on leaving the house, then I guess we're gonna find a hair color here and then I'll go to the store. Do you want anything else for your disguise?"

I consider it for a while. "Maybe contacts? And I'm thinking some makeup to cover my scar. My choker is another giveaway."

She nods and exits the bathroom. I take a few deep breaths in the empty room, feeling a little better. The numbness in my head has faded when she returns. I expect her to be carrying her laptop or something to look at hair colors, but she's empty-handed. She offers me a hand, surely seeing the color slowly returning to my face. 

"Everything will be okay. Let's get ready for today."

We brush our teeth and take turns taking showers. I walk downstairs, feeling more refreshed, to see her heating up some toaster waffles. She wraps a couple in a napkin and hands them to me, tearing at her own as she pours us both a glass of orange juice. 

"So what contact color are you thinking?" She asks. 

"S-su-surprise me," I say, grabbing some cash out of my pocket to hand to her. 

"I can get them," she protests, but I shake my head. 

"You've already done so much for me. Please?" I illuse. 

She sighs, putting the money in her pocket. "Alright, my ride will be here any minute. Are you good, being here by yourself for a bit?"

I nod, but my brow furrows. "Wh-what do y-you mean? I th-th-thou-thought you h-ave a c-c-car."

She smirks. "I felt like I needed a bit of help."

I'm about to ask what she means when the doorbell rings. She puts her waffle down on the counter and goes to answer it. I hide in the kitchen, hoping it's nobody here looking for me. 

"Hi!" Kati says cheerfully, so I assume it's one of her friends, not some stranger to her, but I still cautiously wait next to the fridge. 

"Hey!" Another voice says. I don't recognize it, so I'm fairly certain I'm safe. 

"She's right in here," Kati says, closing the door. I hear shoes with hard soles, clopping towards me. She brought somebody to see me?

My blonde friend rounds the corner, followed by a tall girl with very striking features. 

She has a deep, warm tan and jet black hair that cascades over her shoulders in gentle waves and frizzes a bit where she obviously brushed the ends too much. Her lanky frame is donned with black skinny jeans, so worn the fronts are barely there anymore, and a large red t-shirt, tucked into her waistband in the front. She wears light brown cowboy boots and fiddles nervously with leather straps and braided string tied around her wrists.

"Hi, Koto," she says nervously. Her voice is big, but I can tell she's nervous. 

She has sharp jawbones and a strong chin. But what really gets to me is her eyes. They're a pale sage green that reminds me of a meadow covered in frost. My breath hitches in my throat. 

"M-m-mar-Marcus?" I ask quietly. 

The girl looks away uncomfortably. "Macy," she corrects, equally as quietly. When she meets my eyes again, a couple seconds seem to last an eternity. 

I think back to my childhood of the little boy who would always go on adventures with me and back me up when Kati was giving me a hard time. But now…

Her eyes fill with tears at my lack of a reaction. She blinks and that brings me out of my daze. I walk over and wrap my arms around her tightly. "H-how'v-ve you b-been?" I ask. She lets out a breath she seemed to be holding back and hugs me fiercely. 

"I've been good," she says, pulling away and looking me over. "I saw you're going to be a hero. I recognized you immediately in the sports festival. I wanted to reach out, but I didn't know how. And I didn't know if…"

She trails off. An uncomfortable tension fills the air as I think of all the ways she could've finished that sentence. "We-well I'm back n-now, so w-w-we can ma-make up f-for all th-th-the lost time."

I feel guilt like a punch to the gut. All these years, all I could think about was how I hurt Kati. I never thought about leaving my other friend behind.

Her eyebrows furrow at my stutter. She looks to Kati who shakes her head and says, "long story. We can talk about it while we're dying her hair. Speaking of…"

"Oh right!" Macy exclaims, running her hands through her hair. Of course I remember her quirk. It's nothing particularly special, but I found it cool. "What color are you thinking? A brown? Blonde? Something really out there like pink?"

With every suggestion, the color extends from her roots to the ends of her hairs, finally settling on an obnoxious shade of neon pink. 

"You've definitely got a Merida thing going on," Kati observes. I perk up at the mention of one of my favorite characters. "What? I watched those ones too. I just only cared about Sleeping Beauty when I was little. I think she's sorta lame now. Like good story and all, but it's just not as cool."

I think through the whole list of princesses and whose hair would be the coolest to have. But my mind keeps coming back to GGG Evie. Wouldn't it be a good way to honor her memory?

"I'll do blonde," I illuse. They lead me into the bathroom. 

Macy holds a lock of hair up to my face, all of us facing the mirror, and says, "stop me when it's a color you like."

Her bubblegum pink hair fades to white, then slowly becomes more golden. We pass the color of Elsa's hair in Frozen and I get an idea. I decide to stop her between there and Evie's hair. It's a little darker than my skin, a soft cream color. 

"J-just c-c-call me El-lsa," I stutter with a grin. 

"That'll be your codename," Kati says, smirking. She seems to have gotten into this alterego idea, seeing the color. 

"Alright," Macy says, combing through her hair with her fingers. "Do you remember this?"

"S-same tech-tech-tech--" I clear my throat, "--t-technique?"

She nods and goes to stand behind me. "It's easier now that my hair is longer. Now close your eyes." I do as she says and feel her placing the tips of her hair onto the top of my head, right at my roots. Immediately, I feel a tingling, burning sensation like fire ants crawling over my scalp. 

As the color transfers from her hair to mine, she asks me to tell her what happened after I left, so I go through the story again, mainly just mentioning the big things. 

After a while, it feels as though my head is being doused in ice water, so I know the process is complete. I let out a breath I was holding out of sheer pain from the last couple of agonizing seconds. 

"Open your eyes!!" Kati squeals. My eyelids flutter open to see her hopping up and down next to us. Macy lets her hair fall away and I take in my newly pale, curly hair. 

I lean closer to the mirror, seeing that even my eyebrows and eyelashes have changed color. 

"H-how long?" I ask, playing with the curls. 

"I've gotten a lot of practice, so now the color stays for a couple months before starting to fade. And then it'll go straight back to your original within about three days. No need to worry about your roots showing. I just temporarily changed your natural hair color."

I stare at my hair, open mouthed. "Y-you've got-t-ten s-so good w-with your qu-quirk."

I finally look up from my hair to see her looking away, bashful from the praise. I also notice her hair has returned to black, though it appears darker and more blue now. That's the way her quirk works; she can change her own hair color at will, but her natural hair acts as almost an ink cartridge, depositing new color onto other people's hair. If she were to make somebody's hair the exact same shade of black as hers, her hair would turn white and wouldn't return to its natural state for about a week when the hair absorbed enough light. Because I chose a light color, her own didn't change much. 

"Thank you," she says, combing her fingers once again through her own hair. She turns to Kati. "Are we still on to go to the store?" 

"Yeah! I'll just get my purse," she responds. 

I stay in the bathroom, tugging on a strand of hair until it's completely straight, then releasing it for it to bounce back up into a curl. 

"You know," Macy says from the hallway, "if we straightened it, you'd be even less recognizable."

I think about it for a moment, "I d-don't think I-I've ever st-straight-t-tened my h-hair."

Macy regards me pensively. "We can try it if you want."

I look back in the mirror and wonder how I'd look with straight hair. I merely shrug in response and she takes her leave, following after Kati.