Isen/Relationships

## Wellston Private High School

### Blyke

Blyke and Isen are close frenemies who often bicker and argue over the most trivial matters. Together with Blyke and Remi, They are seen as the main trio in the story. Isen also considers Blyke as a rival for Remi's affections. Isen often annoys Blyke by bragging about his info-gathering skills, often in the form of stalking girls from other schools. However, the once boastful Isen has become reserved after a fateful investigation into John's past. Despite Blyke wanting to know why Isen insists on doing their best to keep John happy and calm, Isen remains tight-lipped about the danger John truly poses.

Despite this, the two of them are more than capable of working together and maintain a close friendship with each other. They will and have risked life and limb for each other. Together they helped Remi in her crusade to learn more about EMBER, with both agreeing that she was putting herself in great danger in doing so. When they learned that she was motivated by her brother's murder at the hands of the organization, they joined her in trying to lure EMBER out into the open. Their teamwork really shined when they rescued Waldo's hostages on their first outing and saved Remi during their second.

### Remi

Remi is another one of Isen's best friends alongside Blyke. Despite Remi technically being Isen's superior, the two of them, along with Blyke, frequently spend time together. Isen is one of the few people that Remi trusts with her vigilante work, and Remi is one of the few superiors Isen can argue with without any consequences. On an interesting note, Isen once doodled himself winning over Remi's heart by defeating Blyke, implying that he has a crush on her .

### Arlo

Arlo is Isen's highest-ranking superior and was the one who assigned him to find information on John. Isen is loathe to put his investigative skills to work for Arlo's whims, which happens quite often. He considers Arlo's obsession with order and the hierarchy to be "BS," especially following his disastrous attempt to bring John to heel. Isen also feels that Arlo's decision to make him head of the Wellston Weekly team to be one of many instances where he expects others to perfectly perform duties they're not qualified for.

However, Isen is nowhere near brave enough to say all of this to Arlo's face, unless he is too stressed out to think clearly. Usually, Isen only voices these hang ups when he talks in his sleep. A greater fear of John also keeps Isen from telling Arlo the whole truth until there's absolutely no other recourse.

For all of Isen's issues with Arlo, he still considers the King to be the best candidate to fix major problems in school. When Arlo had resigned to surrender to John's superior strength, Isen urged him not to give control over to someone so unstable.

### Seraphina

Like many students, Isen viewed Seraphina with awe as she was the strongest student in the school. He was shown to be envious that Blyke got to witness Seraphina in action. Isen later realized that Seraphina also had a very important role in keeping John from lapsing back into the cruel tyrant he once was. When she returned from her suspension, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Even after Seraphina's ability loss, Isen finds her to be very intimidating. Though he is currently stronger than her, he chooses helps her when she asks, just like other high-rankers close to her. During her personal investigations, he aided her by acquiring information on persons of interest upon request. Sometimes he'll even listen to her speak of her research and provide some of his own insight on the matter. However, he will refuse to help her if there's too great a risk to his own well-being. Isen drew the line when she asked him to back her up as she looked into a mysterious and potentially life-threatening invitation.

Overall, Isen admires Seraphina for her tenacity, even though he usually doesn't understand her motivations.

### John

At first, Isen took no interest in John, but after being assigned on finding as much information on him, Isen began to notice that John was different from other cripples and low-tiers. At first, he thought John was a naive idiot who didn't know better. After forcing John into an interview against his will, he began to suspect John was hiding something. After going through John's former school records and learning about his true nature and Ability, he began to fear John, not only for himself, but for the whole school.

Since then, Isen tried to keep John calm throughout the duration of Seraphina's suspension, hoping her return would make things go back to normal. The loss of the Ace's ability only made things much worse, with John's aggressive nature rising closer and closer to the surface. John himself is unaware that Isen knows what he's really capable of, and doubts his good intentions based on the fact that the reporter smiled as he crushed his wrist during the interview. John would eventually attack Isen to add his Hunter ability to his growing arsenal in his search for Seraphina. Out of blind rage and/or contempt, John also beats him to near death before resuming his search. When John visits Seraphina after her rescue for the gang of mid-tier students, Isen is in the next bed over. He winces when John walks past his bed, and panics when his presence is made known to all in the room. He gets scared to the point where he excuses himself by insisting he needs rest, saving him from sharing the details of his ordeal.

Because of John's rampage throughout Wellston, Isen, after taking several beatdowns by John, tries to stay away from him. He then becomes completely afraid of John after deciding to expose John as Joker in the newspaper.

### Cecile

As Cecile was former head of the school press, Isen worked under her. Cecile is fully aware of Isen's talents as an information-gatherer, and makes use of it. When the news of Arlo suffering a defeat at the hands of The Shadow King John reached her, Cecile correctly guessed that Isen would know the details surrounding the incident since he was the one who wanted to write an article about him in the first place. Isen is reluctant to share the information he gathered with her, but their differences in power made this a moot point. Isen vehemently protested her plan of installing John as the new King of Wellston, criticizing her short-sightedness of the disaster such action would bring down on the school.

Despite their philosophical differences, Isen can't help but find her attractive, as he thinks of her as a "hot chick."

### Terrence

Isen and Terrence both write articles for the Wellston Weekly. Isen was aware of Terrence's year, approximate level, and ability, but had otherwise never given the little guy much thought. After becoming head of the press team, Isen looked over Terrence's articles, but didn't consider them to be anything but average. Thus, the revelation that he was the anonymous writer of the article about the smoke bomb incident at the mall came as quite a nasty shock. Isen was hard on himself for not realizing that Terrence was likely the invisible accomplice affiliated with the Ability Gauge Vendor. Upon hearing that Terrence could also be involved with the group who rendered Seraphina powerless, Isen was struck with a fear of other dangers that could arise if his personal life was investigated.

### Zeke

Although they are not seen interacting much, Isen views Zeke the same way the other elite and high tiers do: with contempt and disdain. Isen despises Zeke's fawning and backstabbing nature, and warns Remi against calling him to help unmask fake Jokers. His revulsion towards Zeke is further increased when he realized that Zeke had returned to the Safe House and was beating up students. Isen intercepted Zeke, defeated him and forced him to leave.

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 26
2. ↑ Chapter 59
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 164
4. ↑ Chapter 46
5. ↑ Chapter 168
6. ↑ Chapter 139
7. ↑ Chapter 171
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chapter 175
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Chapter 204
10. ↑ Chapter 212
11. ↑ Chapter 85
12. ↑ Chapter 211