Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Yuyu Haya?” Aizawa looked at the piece of paper, it was the dossier on a new student in Class 1-A. Its picture had the girl herself trying to look her best even if it was in a slightly tattered uniform and with an obvious patch of makeup that was hiding a bruise. Aizawa felt an underlying pang of despair as he noted the obvious desperation in her eyes. It was subtle and was mixed with a sense of determination but any Hero worth their salt could tell she had issues.

He scratched his scruffy short beard with his Vitamin D deprived hand and continued, “Born in a clinic in Sanya and also raised there. Her father left when she was young, his quirk was ‘Passive Electrical Generation’. Mother is single, works in the power plants and has several health conditions, her quirk is some form of enhanced constitution. Miss Haya’s academic grades are just good enough and her physical scores are impressive. The main issue in her entrance exam was a lack of ‘heroic bearing’ and that she may be in this for the money.”

The other heroes helping him out nodded. It was essential that they had a vague understanding of each member of the new cadre. U.A. students and alumni were commodities best spent wisely and all the teachers knew it was an unofficial rule to give the Hero Course preferential treatment.

Across from Aizawa was the curvaceous teacher of Modern Hero Art History. Nemuri Kayama or ‘Miss Midnight’. The R-rated hero wore a casual and baggy sweater with loose jeans. She looked completely alien to the quasi-dominatrix design of her hero outfit.

And beside him was Anan Kurose who was better known by her hero name ‘Thirteen’. She was actually outside of her white space suit for once. Her arms were an inky black as barely contained power throbbed from them, theoretically if she had a decade or so to spare she could probably destroy most of the planet.

Her dress sense was clearly affected by being cooped up in that thing all the time. Her outfit was a pair of beige cargo shorts and a striped green and white shirt that made her look like she worked at a convenience store, and the beer hat on her head to minimise use of her hands just looked strange. Her short blue and blonde hair jutted out in rough strands under the novelty hat.

Nemuri looked at her copy of the dossier and winced, “Nasty.”

Aizawa looked up at her, “How bad is it?”

Nemuri put down her dossier and pointed, “Scrape on her chin. Cut under her eye. Bruise on her cheek. Clearly she also doesn’t use makeup that much so it was probably severe.”

The other teachers were silent, this wasn’t Nemuri teasing or gloating, she was deadly serious. Presumably with an absent father and a weak and pallid mother the chances of it being a domestic incident were very low. Her middle school was one of the worst in the country and the amount of petty villains it pumped out was cause for concern.

Thirteen shook her head. She did little to conceal the feeling of utter disdain she had for whoever hurt one of her future students, “Why does Sanya still exist?” She muttered. It had been a problem area for as long as she’d been alive, and the crime was too petty for  Pro-Heroes to do anything about.

“Because the government doesn’t care,” Aizawa mumbled, “Also several hero agencies have lobbied against development projects.”

“Is this a conspiracy theory?” Thirteen asked.

Aizawa scoffed, “It’s true. Endeavors agency and Team Idaten need to do it.”

Nemuri sipped her tea, “He’s not lying. It’s a sad fact that a lot of sidekicks get the career boost they need from working in deprived areas. Stopping petty crime is a way of getting your name out there.”

Thirteen was mortified. She looked at the paper before her and shook her head, “But we can’t just let this slide?”

“Thirteen. Don’t go making enemies. You’ve been in the search and rescue industry your entire career. The combat agencies are incredibly cut-throat,” Aizawa sighed.

“We’re not an industry!” Thirteen protested, “We’re supposed to help people.”

Nemuri reached out to rub Thirteen’s shoulder, “I agree but unless you plan to publicly stand against most of the top heroes and their agencies then the best we can do is try and contain the issue.”

Aizawa continued, “Her Quirk is the ability to discharge electricity from her fingertips, toes and spine. She can produce a lethal amount of amps and voltage according to her maximal output during the entrance exams. The exact amount she can safely output is apparently based on her emotional and physical state and has increased overtime. So she is developing.”

“So the electricity is innate?” Thirteen folded her arms, “Weaknesses?”

“Her body isn’t completely immune to the effects she puts out. Muscle contractions are common and if she misuses her Quirk then she’ll probably have pretty severe heart problems, bone fractures and rhabdomyolysis in her 20’s,” Aizawa spoke softly.

“And people say I have it bad,” Nemuri laughed.

“I’d take the stripper look if it meant I didn’t have rh-rhabdoll-rhabdomyolysis,” Thirteen frowned and stuck her tongue out.

Nemuri pouted, “I probably have an outfit in your size.”

Thirteen’s face went bright red. She held her breath and her face puffed out slightly.

“You don’t have the suit on sweetie,” Nemuri teased.

Thirteen gasped for air. “Oh god you can see me!”

Nemuri laughed, “I could tell even if you had the outfit on. But anyway, tell us more about Yuyu.”

“Miss Haya,” Aizawa corrected her informal mannerisms, “Considering even 400 milliamps can cause instant death she’s clearly got an innate resistance to amps and volts. I also think she’s illegally using her quirk.”

“It’s a victimless crime. Unless she’s blasting people?” Thirteen questioned.

“She’ll be the only student at U.A. who’s actually below the poverty line. Don’t mention that Thirteen!” Aizawa added.

“I’m just new here, I’m not an idiot,” Thirteen frowned.

“That can’t be true! We’re not a private school,” Nemuri shot up, “I was poor.”

“No. No you weren’t,” Aizawa sighed.

“My parents took out a second mortgage and I worked a summer job during my 2nd year. I missed out!” Nemuri snapped her fingers.

“Right. But were you so poor that you provided slightly over a million Yens worth of energy?” Aizawa raised an eyebrow.

“A MILLION!” Thirteen and Nemuri coughed.

“It’s a miracle no one noticed. She’s been doing it since she was 10 years old. Technically it's not illegal but it's obvious how she’s doing it unless she’s invented infinite energy in her bedroom.”

“Clever girl!” Nemuri laughed. Energy prices were such a rip off that if anything the girl was already doing the world a service by not paying.

The door slid open. A man who was literally larger than life stood at the entrance and smiled, “HELLO EVERYONE! Who’s this?” He looked at Thirteen. The man had a beautiful blond mane and was muscular to the point of absurdity. The entire world seemed to revolve around him and he seemed ripped straight out of an old school comic book. He was a beacon.

Aizawa rubbed his brow, “We’re indoors All Might.”

Thirteen waved, “I’m just out of the suit.”

All Might slammed the door shut and wheezed. His body churned and crunched as he became a shadow of the man he was a second ago. His crooked and broken figure was a parody of the ultimate sign of justice. He slumped into the chair, “Any stand out students?”

“I think I’ve found a few you’ll like,” Aizawa slid him a piece of paper, “Mirio Togata. Reminds me of you. And the recommended kid is pretty spectacular, Nejire Hado.”

All Might studied the dossier. The boy definitely seemed to be bouncy and heroic, like All-Mights persona but genuine perhaps? The kid seemed to radiate nothing but the happiest energy, “Hmm… is he French?”

Nemuri just narrowed her eyes, “What the Fu-”

-

‘Her name is Noelle

I have a dream about her

She rings my bell

I got gym class in half an hour

Oh, how she rocks

In Keds and tube socks

But she doesn't know who I am

And she doesn't give a damn about me!’

Yuyu’s cheap and cracked flip phone kept playing the song and she dragged herself out of her small and cramped bed. Its frame creaked in a way she really didn’t like and the mattress felt like it was actually on the verge of expiring. But such was life.

“Can they even expire?” Yuyu muttered to herself as she got up and grabbed a towel. Today wasn’t just another day, she’d be going to the best school in the country and logically it stood to reason to at least try and fit in.

Her tiny room felt more oppressive than usual. The single bed always took up a solid third of the space but today she felt as if she couldn’t move. Everything seemed more dreary than usual, each crack in the wall seemed larger. Her girls magazines, Miss Midnight pinup calendar, Uwabami fashion catalogue and U.A. brochures were still sprawled out on the floor and the scent of damp and slightly earthy cheap beer filled the room. Her mum had no reason to intrude so she could get rid of her celebratory ‘I’m going to U.A.’ drink later.

She entered the slightly dingy bathroom and stripped. She was being very haphazard and body wash and shampoo got all over the place. A slight stinging sensation down her spinal cord as the water ran down her body, the pain of accidentally discharging her Quirk for the first time lingered to this day.

She raised an arm and looked at her armpit. The small tuft of hair was something she had gotten no end of grief about back in middle school, but she hadn’t given even the slightest fuck about the pricks she had to share a class with.

U.A. however was a different breed and Yuyu could hardly afford to be outcast for something that basic.

In the end she decided on delaying the inevitable. Stepping out of the shower Yuyu dried herself off and crept back into her room. She looked at the new uniform she had been sent and got changed. It felt weird to wear a white shirt that wasn’t yellowed or greyed out and the skirt didn’t feel like starch! The red tie was actually quite snazzy too.

With a slight spring in her step she rushed towards the exit, but before she could escape she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.

She really did look like a normal student.

Yuyu looked at her fingers. She should put on some nail polish… Black maybe? Red? No, she rubbed her short brown hair. The 15 year old walked around in the space that could very charitably be called the foyer of her mum’s apartment as she considered what to do.

She was really worrying about this? Now? She was going to be late!

Still she was going to be a Hero for God’s sake! Yuyu was going to be someone! After a few years of training and work she’d be able to move her mom out of this grungy shithole and into somewhere nice.

‘Maybe we should lay off on the nail polish. You don’t even know the full dress code.’ Yuyu thought to herself.

‘Shut it!’

‘You’re thinking to yourself.’

‘I’m aware! Now shut up!’

‘God, you sound like a schizophrenic.’

“Sweetie?” An older slightly weary voice rang out.

Yuyu turned and bowed, “S-sorry I was just leaving.”

Her mother, who was a thin, pallid and greying woman, shook her head, “It’s ok. Just be yourself. You’ll fit right in!”

Yuyu nodded and ran a hand through her spiked hair. Her mother always seemed to know just what to say. Yuyu didn’t know how she managed to put on such a warm and comforting face when she was clearly working herself to the bone, she even refused to let her daughter do part time work.

The young girl gave her mum a strong hug, “I’ll do well. Don’t worry 4 years from now… we’ll have a mansion!”

Her mother snorted, “You want me to clean a mansion!”

“N-no I’ll help!” Yuyu flustered.

“Like you do right now?” Her mother teased and nipped Yuyu in the gut.

“I-I do!” Yuyu protested. She had been more busy recently, especially with practising with her quirk in her room. It was such a simple thing but it had somehow managed to drag her into U.A. even it was literally by the skin of her teeth.

Her mum grabbed her and tossed her out, “Go. Don’t be late!”

Yuyu nodded and started to sprint. A sandwich bonked her on the back of the head. She smiled “Thanks!”

“You're welcome!” Her mother shouted.

The apartment block she lived in was somehow actually significantly worse than her mum's apartment. Broken glass, cigarette butts, graffiti and needles littered the ground in the concrete jungle she was navigating. Yuyu charged down the stairs with a look of grim resolve. Several older men and women noticed the girl sprinting away. They actually smiled when they saw her uniform.

That was unexpected. The general consensus around heroes in the area was pretty negative considering how often sidekick lackeys were sent in to engage in ‘minimal pacification measures’ that usually led to a few cracked skulls and arrests.

She even got a few claps and cheers. Yuyu laughed and smiled until she reached the bottom.

Sat in the courtyard of the apartment block were a few of her old middle school classmates. They wore their grungy black uniforms and laughed when they saw the U.A. girl was actually in a hurry to go to school.

One of them. A boy with a pointed and cruel face looked at her and laughed, “Hey wonder lesbo! Go Pro. I wanna say I actually kicked the shit out of one.”

Yuyu frowned. She knew she should let it slide, but the beatings she got because she refused to date any boys and was apparently ‘caught’ staring at girls in the changing room stung a bit too deep. She licked her lips and looked at him, “I’m not a fucking lesbo! And if you're gonna insult me, use a good name… How about wonder dyke?”

The boys stopped and considered what she said. One of them nudged the guy who hurled the insult, “That actually is better.”

He nodded, “Yeah…”

Yuyu laughed and ran off. 

-

Mirio walked along the idyllic and pristine street. They were getting near to U.A. academy. He was gonna be a hero and help at least a million people!

Beside him walked Tamaki who looked like he was being held hostage. His head held down and grungy hair dishevelled and all over the place.

The two boys were the logical opposite. Mirio was a tall and imposing figure with bright blond hair and a literal spring in his step. He was the platonic ideal of a hero with muscles, a wide smile and aura that spoke of heroism.

Tamaki was the opposite. He was scrawny, thin and pale. His posture was god awful and he didn’t seem to ever have anything but a miserable frown. His raven black hair pointed up awkwardly and the lingering scent of seafood was constant.

And yet somehow they were best friends.

Mirio pointed at his hair, “What do you think?” He had recently gone for a new look, with his hair moving forwards and making a little peak instead of the old ponytail. It reminded Tamaki of someone.

“It’s good,” Tamaki awkwardly whispered. He thought every haircut Mirio got was pretty damn good. He could pull off just about anything.

“Good to hear!” Mirio laughed, “I wanna look fantastic for our first day!”

“W-why?” Tamaki asked, one obvious answer rang in his head. One he really didn’t want to hear.

“Gotta look your best! I wanna make a good first impression!” Mirio practically shouted and did a fist pump.

‘Better than what I expected.’ Tamaki thought to himself. Mirio was just eager to impress, it had nothing to do with girls.

As they walked a young lady slammed into the back of Mirio, she let out squawk and fell back. Mirio, ever the watchful eye, spun around and held her hand in a prince-like fashion, “Are you ok!”

Tamaki could practically see the roses and pink filter over Mirio as he held her hand. The girl was a slim and rather rough looking lass with messy hair and a slice of bread stuffed in her mouth. She even had earphones in, it was obvious she had been manically spriting around. And now she had practically stumbled into Mirio’s arms and Tamaki just had to watch… How could anyone resist his good manners, attractive physique and stunning face? It was so over! Soon Tamaki would be sat at a wedding and have to keep himself together as his ‘best friend’ (and nothing else) was stolen from him.

“Watch where you’re walking you beady eyed bastard! I’m gonna be late!” The girl pushed forwards and slammed into Mirio. She used his body as a springboard and bounced into the air, she soared upwards about 6 feet. Tamaki looked up and noted she had a U.A. Uniform on, he also noted that she was glancing down at him with a look of scorn on her face for some reason.

Yuyu couldn’t believe this scumbag! Was he looking up her skirt! A million things ran through her head.

‘What’s up with this creep!’

‘He’s got a U.A. uniform on?’

‘I am wearing something under this right?’

Yuyu shook her head, that last thought was stupid. She couldn’t have forgotten to wear underwear… she probably would have felt the draft. Yuyu swung her left leg and hit the brooding pervert with everything she had.

Tamaki barely had time to register what had happened before he went flying onto the road. He rolled around pathetically and looked up in horror to see the fuming girl.

She pointed, “What were you doing?”

“Huh?” Tamaki blinked.

“You were staring up my skirt you absolute fucker!” Yuyu shouted.

Mirio’s eyes went wide, “Tamaki!”

“Wha-what? NO!” He held up his hands. Tamaki was shaking, this was the worst possible way he could introduce himself, “I swear I wasn't looking!” He held his head down in shame. If his parents heard about this he’d be crucified.

Yuyu bit her lip. This worm was trying to get all defensive.

Mirio raised a hand, “I can vouch for him. He’s not a pervert and even if he looked up your skirt he’s actually a really nice guy!”

Tamaki wanted to slam his head into the concrete.

Yuyu just looked at Mirio confused. She was genuinely just perplexed by his statement, “P-pardon?”

Mirio explained, “Tamaki’s really nice! He’s never had a girlfriend so maybe he was curious about girl parts.”

“Girl parts?” Yuyu tilted her head, “How old are you?”

“Fifteen?” Mirio answered.

“And you still say ‘Girl parts’ ?” Yuyu was actually thrown. Was this guy stupid?

“He’s just a bit naive,” Tamaki mumbled.

Yuyu nodded, “Clearly. You’re his friend?”

“Yes,” Tamaki nodded.

Yuyu rubbed her brow. These guys probably weren’t sex perverts, it was just an emo and an idiot, “Fine I’ll let it slide!”

Mirio raised his fist in exuberant joy. The sun beamed down onto him, “Tamaki you’re not a pervert!”

Tamaki looked at the confused onlookers, “I’m aware! Keep it down.”

The trio started to walk towards U.A. together. Yuyu trusted these guys had the time right.

She slipped her earphones into their case and took out a pilfered cigarette, “So you guys are U.A. boys?”

“Class 1-A!” Mirio pointed, “I’m gonna be a hero!”

“Oh? I’m in the same class,” Yuyu smirked, “What a lovely coincidence.”

Mirio beamed, “Great!”

Tamaki nodded awkwardly, “Cool. So what’s your quirk?”

“I can shoot electricity,” Yuyu decided to be a bit cagey. It wasn’t worth revealing everything to strangers.

“Awesome. My quirk is permeation! Basically I can make my body intangible and phase through things. I’m also super strong!”

“You can just walk through anything?” Yuyu was shocked, “What about your clothes?”

“Not so lucky!” Mirio declared with a smile on his face.

“In simple terms it's like no-clip in a PC games console commands,” Tamaki tried to explain.

“A what?” Yuyu was more confused after his attempt.

“You know. Don't you have games on your PC?” Mirio asked.

“I don’t own a PC,” Yuyu admitted. She looked down slightly shamefully, the feeling of being a very poor proletarian fish out of water came back to her.

“How did you apply for U.A.? Does your school have them in the library?” Mirio asked.

“No. I wrote a letter and filled out the preliminary exam in the city hall,” Yuyu whispered. She remembered the look she got from the receptionist when she showed up in her ratty and tattered school uniform for that test. She couldn’t tell if the woman was more dismissive about where the school the uniform was from or the state it was in after having been worn by countless other girls.

Mirio may have been dense but even he could tell that this was making her uncomfortable. “Well how about you come hang out with me and Tamaki some time? We can play together! I’ve got consoles too!”

“You’re offering this despite the fact I jumped on you and accused him of being a pervert?” Yuyu laughed.

Tamaki nodded, “We’re supposed to be heroes. You signing up for this school makes you good in my book.”

Yuyu nodded, “Same to you two.”

Mirio’s smile seemed to get even wider. He saw the gates that were the purest representation of his destiny, “W-we’re here!”

Tamaki smirked, if only slightly, “Correct.”

-

The school was as nice and clean as they had expected. Tamaki and Mirio didn’t seem to realise the sheer luxury they were in. Yuyu couldn't see even a crack or flaw in the tiles, plastering or walls. Nobody even had extra chains or padlocks on their lockers. The fear of theft or crude jokes was at an absolute minimum. The students all looked fit and healthy, the free and high quality school meals a sinful contrast to her previous middle school experience.

Yuyu glanced at her own thin frame. Many people would probably find it attractive if she did proper skin care and adopted a more feminine posture. Sadly she really did stick out like a sore thumb. Everything about her screamed ‘I’m the poor!’ and she wasn’t gifted with a mind bogglingly powerful quirk either.

Mirio waved and nodded at every student he passed by. The 3rd and 2nd years were confused as to why he was doing this. A few of them assumed he was an older student leading people around based on his absurd physique and solid personality and waved back.

Tamaki just kept his eyes forward and looked for Class 1-A. Mirio was apparently convinced that everyone in the entire school had to be aware of the three new arrivals.

They mercifully reached the room relatively quickly. Mirio slid it open and entered, Tamaki peaked inside. It was full of other potential heroes sitting around and talking to each other. He smiled, they were on time!

Yuyu glanced inside and her eyes flew straight onto one person. A girl sat by herself, with perfect long hair that was a beautiful colour somewhere between violet and blue. She was absolutely adorable and stunning with a face that Yuyu wanted to just tug on just to see what it did, it was smooth and bubbly.

The rougher girl felt ashamed to be in the same room as her. The beauty’s uniform was perfectly stamped and crisp and it looked like she had a serious battle each morning with her hair and perfect face.

Mirio sat down near the back and Tamaki sat beside him. They both looked at Yuyu who was vaguely staring in their direction.

Tamaki sighed, “I think she must have had a really hard life.”

“Really? Maybe we should get her something! Like a dog!” Mirio pulled out his phone to look up gift ideas.

The two boys were hardly from well off backgrounds. But they had never really wanted for anything and their development had been pretty sheltered. They assumed most other people would be similar, proper nutrition and care was actually a major component to Quirk growth just like any other physical and mental development.

Yuyu tried to do something. Anything! She knew people would be looking, she was going to make a terrible impression immediately.

A hand grabbed her and pushed her forwards. A feeling in her gut like something was fundamentally wrong with her for just a moment. Or rather like something had been suppressed.

Yuyu turned around and saw some sort of wormlike creature towering over her. It was yellow, smelt faintly of alcohol and had the face of a crusty old man.

Then she realised, “Heh?”

“Aizawa,” The thing spoke softly with a hint of withheld superiority.

“What?” Yuyu was trembling.

“Mr Aizawa. That’s what you’ll call me,” Aizawa unzipped his sleeping bag and walked forward. He was a grungy and lanky man with sunken slightly strained eyes, “Miss Haya. Care to use your Quirk?”

Yuyu was shocked, “Errr… But that’s-”

Aizawa shook his head, “Not on these grounds when I tell you to. Shoot me, I remember seeing you in the practical exam.”

All eyes were on her. If she was trying not to be the center of attention then she had already failed disastrously.

Yuyu had little choice. Raising her hand she focused enough energy into her palm to not kill someone. ‘2.5 milliamps should be safe enough for a little shock. Don’t wanna kill this geezer.’

With a finger gun she fired.

Except nothing came out.

Yuyu looked at her fingertips and realised, “Oh… you’re Eraserhead.”

Aizawa nodded, “No hesitation to shoot your own teacher? Good. Now sit down.”

Mirio was not so subtle waving at the empty seat next to him. It was also next to that girl from earlier… had he deliberately allowed Yuyu to be beside her?

She hurried over and sat down. Mirio gave her a thumbs up and a wink, “Impressive! Most people wouldn’t be brave enough!”

“Quiet!” Aizawa shook his head, “Welcome to U.A academy. I’m your homeroom teacher, Eraserhead. But you will call me Mr Aizawa. Some of you look like you don’t wanna be here and some of you look like you want to be here too much. We’re going to do a few tests and anyone I find lacking will be kicked out. Am I clear?”

Everyone let out a gasp. He was serious business, barely a paragraph in and he was already threatening people with being booted.

Aizawa walked to the door, “Get dressed and meet me by the track field in half an hour. Being late will be considered an automatic fail.”

Yuyu let out a sigh, “Great. My career is in the hands of my track and field skills.”

“You look healthy.”

Yuyu looked at Mirio to make a quip before realising he hadn’t said anything. She turned and looked at the blue haired girl who had spoken to her.

‘Oh God. She’s too cute.’

Yuyu felt like she was staring directly into the sun. What was she supposed to say? She was going to fumble this so badly. Why was she even so stuck when trying to speak to this girl, she’d grown used to being a rough and tumble brute who only ever let her guard down around her mother.

Mirio waved, “Hey I’m Mirio! What’s your name!”

The girl waved back, “Nejire.”

“That’s a cute name,” Yuyu blabbered before immediately considering the option of running and jumping straight out of the window.

Nejire was taken aback, “Oh thank you very much. What’s yours?”

“I-It’s errr… It’s YUYU HAYA!” She shouted.

“Nice to meet you,” The girl bowed her head. She wanted to say more but knew it was wise to keep to herself. People didn’t really seem to enjoy what she had to say anyway.

Internally her mind went wild. Yuyu’s finger gun with Mr Aizawa was that a mind trick or was that actually her quirk? She seemed so rugged and hardcore, does she already have quirk training? Maybe a vigilante?

Why did the black haired guy smell like seafood? What was up with his shaking? Was that a MCR album in his backpack?

Why were Mirio’s eyes beady? And what whitener did he use on his teeth? What kind of quirk did he have? Was he All Might’s estranged son?

So many thoughts bounced in her head. But memories of being told to shut up kept her restrained if only slightly.

Chapter Text

The girls changing room was sleek and well maintained. Nejire and Yuyu walked inside and took it all in, it was clearly designed to be the very best for the aspiring heroes, it had clean showers, a sauna and a fully stocked first-aid kit.

Nejire was determined not to ruin her relationship with her first friend here. She noted that Yuyu seemed a bit awkward, could it be that she was really a big softy? Maybe her Quirk would make her an absolute Pro at disaster relief? She still wanted to know exactly what it was.

Yuyu took a deep breath, “Let’s get changed then?”

Nejire smiled, “Hey don’t worry. The other girls will be here soon. It won’t be just us!” She took Yuyu’s hand and they found their lockers… which of course were next to each other.

The blue haired Goddess opened up the locker and took out the sports uniform. A rather shapely blue, red and white jumpsuit, the measurements were a lot more precise than the baggy things most civilians wore.

Yuyu felt ashamed to be next to a girl like her and she suspected the feeling would only amplify as the others entered. She felt nothing but dread as Nejire stripped down for a moment to put on her clothes, a fancy looking sports bra and perfectly smooth skin only added to the mental humiliation.

Yuyu nervously started to unbutton her shirt. Feeling like a greasy teenage monster.

Nejire looked at her friend who was visibly sweat, “OH! Privacy?” She forgot some people got really self conscious.

“Thank you,” Yuyu whispered.

Nejire spun around and started to look at the wall as Yuyu got changed. Never before had she been so uncomfortable in her own skin.

‘Tiny tits, rough skin, hairy armpits, hairs on my legs and my clothes are rough and expired.’ She slid on the jumpsuit that thankfully made her seem like the rest of them once more. Just as she zipped up the door swung open and a gaggle of girls entered. They were talking among themselves.

“You hear we have a Sanya kid?” One of them shook her head.

“God, they’re probably dangerous? Which boy do you think it is?”

Another girl rubbed her bushy hair, “Well we ought to keep an eye out.”

Nejire shook her head. She whispered to Yuyu, “I mean if they wanna be a hero why does it matter?”

“You’re right,” Yuyu clenched her fists. She was going to have to do better than just pass this course. She was going to have to be exceptional or be seen as some freakish slum kid for the rest of her life.

-

Aizawa looked at the students mustered before him.

They seemed scared and on edge. Well, all of them except Mirio. He had a wide smile on his face as if he wasn’t going to be potentially kicked out if he didn’t meet an arbitrary score that Aizawa had conjured entirely within his head.

Tamaki awkwardly turned to Mirio, “He’s looking at you.”

Mirio noticed Aizawa’s death stare and jumped to attention, “I’m ready Sir!”

“Are you now?” Aizawa threw a softball at Mirio, “Then throw this as far as you can. This is our first test. I need to see how strong you all are. So use your Quirks.”

Mirio aimed the ball, “As far as I can?”

Aizawa nodded. The kid's score wasn’t going to be that impressive considering his Quirk had nothing to do with strength or speed. Still it was essential to know what his body was actually currently capable of.

Mirio took a step back and took a running start, his entire body moved in a single swift motion as he flung the ball into the air. The entire class got a big gust of dirt from the sonic boom.

Aizawa’s phone pinged, “523? Y-you threw a ball 523 meters?”

Mirio smiled, “Is that a record?”

“No,” Aizawa shook his head. But that was well beyond what he had expected. What was this kid eating?

Mirio sighed, “Damn! I must have been on an off day.”

“You threw a ball 523 meters? And that’s an off day? What’s your Quirk? Super strength?” Nejire asked.

“Nope, it’s this!” Mirio disappeared. His clothes flustered onto the ground as he phased into the earth.

Tamaki gasped, “Mirio!”

Mirio bounced up out of the ground and landed on his feet, “What is it Tamaki?”

“Wh-why did you show off?” Tamaki jumped in front of him.

It was far too late. Everyone in the class had gotten more than an eyeful of ‘everything’ he had. Most of the girls were mortified by the sight. Yuyu tutted dismissively and Nejire was blushing bright red at having asked about his quirk. The boys were stunned by his bravery.

Aizawa shook his head, “Get dressed. Your Quirk is irrelevant for these examinations so don’t use it.”

Mirio nodded and turned around before bending over to get his clothes. Tamaki had to work overtime to conceal his friend's rear end from prying eyes.

Yuyu, not wanting to be delayed by Mirio’s stupidity, walked forwards and grabbed a softball. She planted her feet in the ground and took a deep breath.

Aizawa looked at her and shook his head, “Come here.”

Yuyu stopped and nodded. Once she approached Aizawa grabbed her and dragged her in. He whispered into her ear, “You’re aware that Heroes make sacrifices?”

“Yes?” Yuyu confirmed.

“And you want to be one?” Aizawa reiterated.

“Yes,” Yuyu nodded.

“Then you have my permission to use your Quirk as hard as you can go without causing major damage. Don’t fear a bit of pain!” Aizawa pushed her away, “And next time wait for me to call out your name.”

She looked at the softball and felt the creeping dread in her back. Yuyu knew she was going to have to go hard, “Ok… ok.”

Yuyu pointed. She wanted to send this thing flying. ‘I can beat 523… I can beat 523.’ She reiterated the point to herself over and over as she took a step back.

Nejire took a good look. She wanted to see what Yuyu could do. The need to know what kind of powers people had was almost uncontainable.

Yuyu raised her left leg like she was about to pitch a baseball and channeled a decent amount of energy into her fingertips. It was already aching and the release was probably going to fry a bit but it was nowhere near the serious danger zone.

A snap, crackle and a boom of energy whipped out. Aizawa couldn’t even see what had happened to the ball as a pained scream curdled into the air.

Yuyu’s fingers shuddered and trembled as the veins were overloaded, her entire arm spasmed under the painful current. She couldn’t help but scream, the reverberating pain making her want to cut her arm off as the excess shock retaliated against her.

The dust cloud cleared and she was a mess. Her hair was slightly sparky and dishevelled and her breathing was ragged. But Yuyu was still standing.

Aizawa checked his phone, “516 meters. That’ll do.”

Nejire rubbed her eyes, “Electricity?”

Tamaki was deeply concerned. He knew when someone was in pain and the way Yuyu groggily turned around and subtly glanced at her throwing arm gave him all the evidence he needed. That Quirk just wasn’t safe.

Mirio zipped up his jumpsuit and looked around, “What did I miss?”

“Nothing,” Tamaki sighed, “Mirio. Wanna invite Yuyu over tonight?”

“Hell yeah I do!” Mirio nodded and cracked his knuckles, “We gotta get her on Hero Smash! I’m a beast at Snipe.”

“You can’t use Snipe against a newbie. She’s never even held a controlle-”

“Mr Amajiki, what are you talking about?” Aizawa tapped his foot against the dirt.

The boy felt his teacher's baleful gaze and wanted to dig into the ground to hide. He lied, “Nothing Sir.”

“Well then. Come on up!” Aizawa took a step back and let the seafood smelling boy take a softball. Yuyu was still awkwardly shuffling by, her body looking like it was made out of jelly.

Tamaki aimed the ball and conjured up the last thing he had eaten. Which was… steak. He had been too depressed by the constant seafood and had tried something else for once.

He could do little more than just watch as his hand melded into a hooved monstrosity and the softball flopped pathetically onto the ground.

Aizawa checked his phone, “That’s 0.6 meters. Come up Miss Hada?” He looked up at the periwinkle haired girl. He wondered if that was natural or not, the amount of genetic anomalies in the human race had made something as innocuous as blue hair a potentially world destroying power.

Tamaki was devastated. He had been robbed by his own incompetence and now he was doomed to be kicked out of U.A. after a day or two. With bags of pure dread under his eyes he shuffled off to Mirio.

He slumped onto the ground and looked away from everyone with an overwhelming sense of complete and utter shame, his long elf-like ears fluttered with shame. Mirio tapped his back, “Hey, you win some and you lose some. We’ve got other things to do!”

“No… I just lose them,” Tamaki shook his head. A whirring sound made the two boys turn around. Nejire’s quirk was made up of bright yellow rings that seemed to propel the ball before her with incredible power. When she released it the ball shot off into the sky.

It just kept going. She was definitely a record setter.

“7506 meters!” Aizawa nodded, “Clearly recommended for a reason.”

Nejire did a little jig, “I did it!” She clinked her feet together as her victory shuffle continued.

“What was that?” Yuyu muttered.

“It’s my special Quirk! It allows me to convert my stamina into energy! I can relays it from my hands or feet in a crazy big blast that allows me to propel, crush or repulse things super duper easily. I’ve even been working on some cool new moves for it! Also if I use it too much I become tired and throw up!” Nejire spoke rapidly as she dumped the intricacies of her Quirk onto Yuyu. Only after her veritable word salad had she realised that she had spoken way too much.

Yuyu nodded, “Seems pretty powerful. You could do a real number on a building with that.”

Aizawa pushed Nejire away, “Yes, yes I’m sure it is. Now make way, we’re not done.”

The rest of the students tried their best but no one could beat Nejire. After that the training session was relatively simple. They were made to run and do whatever basic exercises were deemed fit by their teacher.

The 50 meter dash allowed Tamaki to scrape back a bit of his credibility as a small amount of hare he had recently devoured allowed him to dash at supremely impressive speeds for a few seconds.

Despite being a lanky boy with strange ears he was surprisingly healthy and he didn’t make any more mistakes with his Quirk.

Mirio was crushing everything. He was nearly at the top of the class on almost every event with his seemingly supernatural amounts of strength, endurance and speed allowing him to outpace students who had Quirks helping them out. He was truly something else, a boy with a strength altering Quirk got left in the dust by him when they started competing on the pull-up bar.

Yuyu struggled along as best she could. A toned down use of her Quirk was actually helpful in the dash and she wasn’t weak when it came to pull ups or push ups but they still made her skin ache and her right arm was definitely worse for wear after her last stunt.

She knew for a fact that she hadn’t failed and actually getting to use her Quirk for practical and sporty reasons was like cutting loose. It was strange how something that the majority of the population had access to were kept contained.

But Nejire was something else. Her use of her quirk was not only brutally blunt but also surprisingly smart. Her dash was at a breakneck pace as she could just blast herself 50 meters in just under a second. During the push ups and pull ups she used a small amount of energy to propel herself back up, even if she wasn't as physically fit as Mirio her manipulation of her Quirk allowed her to easily beat him due to the lack of physical effort required.

Nejire only seemed to get a bit drowsy over time. As the session dragged on she spent more time crouched and layed on the ground as her Quirk was pushed.

After a few hours Aizawa nodded and looked at the tired and heaving students. None of them had thrown in the towel or had performed exceptionally poorly. With his trademark look of nonchalance he waved his hand, “Go home.”

“Go home?” Nejire asked, “We failed?”

“No. I’ll tell you if you passed tomorrow. I’m just giving you time to rest. If you’re injured, go find Recovery Girl.”

The students nodded and scrambled to the changing rooms. Yuyu stayed behind for a moment to ask Aizawa a question, “Sir?”

“Yes?” Aizawa tried to stop the worst of his overly depressive and grim resting face as he turned to her.

“You know where I live?” Yuyu whispered.

“Yes?” Aizawa shrugged, “I’m not going to judge you for the accident of your own birth.”

“But what about the others?” Yuyu glanced around, “I heard people talking about me earlier. Well not me but the idea of a ‘Sanya kid’.”

“One thing you’ll learn is that to succeed as a Hero you have to make sacrifices. You can tell them the truth but I can guarantee you it won’t go well,” Aizawa didn’t pull his punches. These students were nowhere near as mature as U.A. faculty and even some of the staff had problems.

“So just hide it?” Yuyu rubbed her dirty dust covered hair.

Aizawa looked at the glistening building, “Do you feel like you fit in?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“Do you have any friends?”

“I-I think so?” Yuyu wasn’t actually sure herself. Mirio seemed alright and Tamaki wasn’t all that bad despite looking up her skirt earlier and Nejire was actually waiting for her by the girls locker room, “I’ll work on it.”

Aizawa turned to walk away, “Good,” He could see Thirteen in her bulky seat staring at him from a window. She really was as subtle as a brick; it exposed the much more stealthy Midnight who was also watching. They probably thought he had a favourite.

Yuyu walked over to Nejire, “You waited?”

“Of course. You didn't seem to mind my rambling… I can stop if you want?” Nejire’s hair seemed to swirl upwards in certain places after using her Quirk. Yuyu couldn’t help but look and try to count each individual

“No! I mean no… I don’t mind. Go ahead,” Yuyu smiled, a strangely toothy grin on her face.

Nejire nodded and let her guard down slightly, “So what’s your Quirk?”

“It’s pretty simple. I output electricity from my spine, hands and feet. I can manipulate how many amps or volts I produce,” Yuyu explained.

“Does it hurt?” Nejire remembered seeing Tamaki physically wince as he watched Yuyu stumble out of the smoke and dust kicked up by her Quirk enhanced throw. Plus the way Yuyu lumbered and shivered after that first Quirk usage was interesting.

“Not unless I do too much. If I cranked up my Quirk to its full power I would probably be in hospital though,” Yuyu explained, “My tolerance has gotten better over time so hopefully by the time we graduate I can do some serious work.”

Nejire reached out, “Can I see your hand?”

Yuyu let Nejire take her right hand. The bubbly girl's eyes looked over the rough and calloused skin, she didn’t seem to ask anything and was genuinely inspecting to see how the Quirk worked. She was mumbling to herself about the ‘lack of obvious mutation’ and ‘how does it release?’ The girl was obviously curious about how people's Quirks functioned at a level that was deeper than merely what it actually did.

After a few moments of inspection Nejire let her go. She laughed, “Sorry, I’m wasting time. Let's just get changed?”

Yuyu nodded and followed her. The locker room was empty. Everyone else had clearly entered and ran out as quickly as possible to enjoy having a few extra hours at home. She glanced around and walked over to her locker.

Nejire had already looked away as Yuyu unzipped her jumpsuit. The girl hurried back into her regular clothes as quickly as possible. She was going to need to buy some new undergarments as soon as she could. This was just ridiculous, they felt disgustingly worn out.

Nejire undressed and Yuyu’s eyes couldn’t help but wander. She cursed herself for looking but there was something so cute about Nejire. She wasn’t overly thin or built like most modelling Heroes but she was definitely very attractive even by conventional standards. Yuyu felt the blood in her cheeks and the warmth in her belly.

The two girls were soon dressed and left. Waiting just outside the locker room was Mirio and Tamaki.

Mirio clapped his hands, “Hado you wanna come with?”

“Nejire is fine,” She smiled, “And come with you where?”

“We invited Yuyu around to Mirio’s place,” Tamaki murmured.

“Oh, of course then!” Nejire nodded.

-

Thirteen let out a jolly laugh as Aizawa entered the office, “How are you finding the new student?”

“It’s students,” He corrected her and sat by his desk. Without a hint of hesitation he dove straight into doing the forms and work needed at the end of the day. None of the students were in any serious need of any additional work or help but Miss Haya having a self destructive Quirk was definitely something he wanted to flag up and Mr Amajiki also seemed to have an incredibly complicated and veritable ability he and Mr Togata probably needed extra training.

Nemuri shook her head, “We think you have a favourite.”

“I don’t have a favourite.”

Thirteen and Nemuri shared a look and laughed.

Aizawa kept typing away, “I need to keep an eye on her. Some Quirks can be negative, my eyes don’t work properly because of mine,” He took his eye drops and reapplied them.

“I think you have a soft spot for that girl,” Nemuri teased, “Wouldn’t want to be inappropriate would ya?”

A teacher moved back on his chair and looked over, “Heh? Did I hear that right?”

Aizawa looked over at Hizashi, also known as Present Mic, who was staring at him. They’d been comrades for years having been in the same class as students. He knew Hizashi was slightly deaf in one ear and had probably heard something terrible.

Hizashi looked disgusted, “You’ve been inappropriately touching girls' soft spot?”

Aizawa’s eyes widened, that was a bit more than just a slight slip up, “NO! These two idiots are teasing me because I care about doing my job. I haven't touched her at all!”

“Well you did pull her in for some ‘advice’,” Nemuri added more wood to the fire. She should not be accusing her workmate of being a perverted criminal but it was also quite funny.

“Dude!” Hizashi was taken aback. He was quite naive and Nemuri had years of experience pushing his buttons.

Aizawa got up and out of his seat. “Shut up! Nemuri, tell him the truth.”

“So do you want me to shut up or talk?” Nemuri jeered before sticking her tongue out, “Anyway it’s not my fault it’s so easy to make this up.”

Hizashi asked for clarification, “So she was lying right?”

“Yes. I’m not going after children!” Aizawa confirmed and slumped back into his seat.

Hizashi gave him a thumbs up, “Good. So what do you think of Class 1-A?”

“They’re decent. Miss Hada is clearly going to be a chart topper but I think Mr Togata has some serious potential. We just need a solution to his Quirk.”

“Being able to phase through anything sounds good to me,” Thirteen shrugged.

“Not when it takes your clothes off. This job is PR based too. We can’t forget that and having him run around naked,” Aizawa started typing away to the engineering department. “Midnight, I’d like your help with this.”

“Using my hero name?” Nemuri giggled, “All right I’ll ask around. I might need the boy for experiments.”

Hizashi rolled over on his swivel chair, “Hey can I help out? I wanna meet these dudes and dudettes before the Sports Festival.”

“I mean sure. We’ve got a few more assessments before their normal classes start. Won’t you be teaching them English anyway?”

“True!” Hizashi nudged Aizawa, “But I wanna see how they like ya’. You're a spooky guy!”

“Based on how you treat me I doubt that.”

“That’s just because we’re used to you and your scary eyes!” Thirteen added.

Hizashi frowned and looked at Aizawa like he was taking a photo, “His eyes aren’t that scary.”

-

Mirio escorted his new friends and Tamaki back to his Dads house. It was in a nice and quiet suburb with very little going on. The air smelt crisp and the sun was still hanging high in the air. They had stopped by a small gas station and loaded up on all sorts of soft drinks and cheap snacks.

Yuyu looked at the piles of junk food under Tamaki and Mirio’s arms, “You guys eat like this all the time?”

“Only for game nights,” Mirio defended himself. He walked inside, “Dad, I brought new friends around.”

A black haired man stuck his head through a wall and smiled. He had the same eyes as Mirio and a similar haircut but smoother and even pointer.

Nejire waved and Yuyu awkwardly grunted.

Mr Togata smirked, “I knew you’d make friends! Mirio is a great friend, kids!”

“I know it,” Mirio pointed up the stairs, “We’ll be upstairs for a while but I’ll tell you about class later!”

Mr Togata looked at Tamaki, “You alright son?”

Tamaki remembered the ball bouncing along the ground and the subsequent humiliation he faced at scoring less than a meter, “Err… yeah.”

The group walked upstairs and into Mirio’s remarkably well kept room. There was hardly a hint of dirt and everything seemed to look like it was cleaned on the regular, the wallpaper wasn’t even damp and peeling away. His computer looked decent, the consoles were still relatively new and the books weren’t too worn. Over his bed he naturally had a poster of All Might as any growing boy should.

Tamaki started to lay out all of the food and drinks in as organised a manner as he could do with the trashy items.

Nejire took a pillow and sat down by the TV.  She looked at the consoles, “So what are we playing?”

“Hero Smash: Final Battle!” Mirio declared proudly, “I got the preorder version and everything!”

“Who do you main?” Nejire asked.

“Snipe,” Mirio laughed, “Do you play?”

“Of course. I really like All Might, he's super simple. Who’s Tamaki’s favourite?”

“Midnight!” Mirio laughed.

Tamaki huffed, “She’s got good combos.”

“Any other reason?” Yuyu asked with a slightly crooked smile. She knew exactly what was on her floor in her bedroom but that was beside the point.

“None!” Tamaki groaned, “I use the sweater skin and everything.”

“What about you, Yuyu?” Nejire swerved on the pillow to look at the sheepish girl.

Yuyu rubbed the back of her neck, “I’m not really a… gamer?”

Nejire smiled and pulled Yuyu in close, “Don’t worry I’ll help you out!” She grabbed a controller and shoved it into Yuyu’s hands, “What kinda heroes do you like?”

“Girl ones?” Yuyu answered immediately and honestly. A slight amount of embarrassment creeped into her lower stomach, that may have been too swift.

“Oh. No, I mean like powers!” Nejire brushed off her comment for Yuyu’s sake.

“Err… I don’t really mind. Who’s good?” Yuyu asked.

“Well Endeavor-”

Yuyu cut her off, “No.”

Tamaki and Mirio both shared a look.

Nejire nodded, “Well I suppose Ingenium is the next best… no?”

Yuyu bit her bottom lip. It made sense that the heroes with some of the biggest agencies would naturally filter into these games. But she wasn't gonna play as them.

Mirio piped up, “Mandalay! She’s a cool DLC character.”

“But she’s not really any good!” Nejire didn’t want Yuyu to bounce off the game just because she picked a bad character.

“The Wild, Wild Pussycats?” Yuyu chirped up.

“You know them?” Tamaki asked, he was kinda unaware of them before they got added into the game. Apparently one of lead art designers was involved with the costume design of the group so it hadn’t been too hard for them to be added despite being only in the 40’s in the Billboard team rankings.

“I think they look cool,” Yuyu smiled. “Also their utility Quirks are more my speed. I think I could pull off the catgirl motif if I could get an internship!”

Tamaki looked her up and down, he wasn’t really sure what to say. He didn’t find her repulsive or anything but he couldn’t really see her in a leotard and making silly catgirl puns. Yuyu seemed too mature?

“You wanna intern with the Pussycats?” Nejire’s face sparkled. “Do you think your Quirk would work in the mountains?”

“Well I can use my hands as defibrillators, also I’m able to start small fires and perform emergency cauterization!” Yuyu reeled off what her Quirk could potentially do.

In truth a large part of what she wanted to intern with them was to avoid going into the city, she knew that in terms of pure marketability and profit it’d be more reasonable for her to just do regular combat patrols but at the same time living in a small, spartan space had instilled a sense of longing in her.  Also seeing Pro Heroes patrolling the dingy streets always made her feel uncomfortable and she’d been stopped and searched more than once by them.

What she wouldn’t give for a few years of running around in forests.

Mirio had set up the first game, “Alright let me take you on then!”

Yuyu looked up and down at the controller, “How do I play?”

Tamaki let out a soft laugh, “You really haven't held one before?”

“Screw you man! Give me a little help,” Yuyu started fumbling with the controller pathetically as Mirio’s character Snipe walked towards Mandalay.

“Use the left stick to move forwards and backwards.” Nejire pointed, “The right stick is kinda useless in these games. Just focus on the buttons on that side.”

Mirio threw out a few attacks here and there but allowed Yuyu to actually work out what the hell she was even trying to do.

Yuyu was awkward with her movements and she was pretty sure that Mandalay was a high skill character based on how she didn’t seem to have any obvious power moves. The telepathy Quirk could force an enemy to stop blocking but that was only for a split second. Mercifully Mirio took a dive and let Yuyu score a win to avoid making her feel embarrassed or left out.

Yuyu rubbed her brow. That was the most intense 90 seconds of her life, playing these games was akin to trying to diffuse a bomb that was being actively changed in front of her. She handed her controller over to Nejire and Mirio handed his over to Tamaki.

They both started to play as Yuyu chatted with Mirio. She shoved a potato chip into her mouth and munched, “Kinda sweet.”

“Try the spicy one,” Mirio laughed as he chugged a cola bottle. They looked at the other two playing, Nejire and Tamaki were furiously inputting and trying to out manoeuvre each other.

Yuyu laughed, “Jeez, I don’t stand a real chance do I?”

“Hey you beat me!” Mirio pointed out.

“Only because you let me,” Yuyu laughed, “Thanks for that.”

“Hey, just because I went easy doesn’t mean I let you win!” Mirio smiled.

Yuyu shook her head, he was a very blunt kinda guy. She looked as Tamaki angled the controller on his lap so he could press buttons and move the joystick with one hand to optimise his inputs. Nejire was still able to keep up as the sound of clicking plastic drowned out the actual gameplay.

Mirio leaned back on his bed, “So why do you want to be a Hero?”

“I wanna help people and I’ve got a Quirk that can do a lot of good,” Yuyu recited her answer at the U.A. entrance exam. She wasn’t lying but she had definitely omitted the factor of her mother.

“I get that. I just wanna help a million people. Quirk or not!” Mirio flexed his arms.

“Where do you wanna intern?” Yuyu stretched her legs.

“I don’t mind. I just wanna save the day,” Mirio shrugged. He should probably be more career oriented and try to seek out connections… but oh well.

‘TIME!’

The two had played to a standstill. Tamaki let out a deep breath, “That was close.”

He had just barely clinched out a victory by having a slither of health remaining over Nejire. She took the defeat gracefully, “You’re really good at this.”

“HEY KIDS!” Mr Togata kicked open the door. “I bought Pizza! I didn’t know what you girls would like so I gave it a guess!” He laid the pizza’s down and left with a wide smile on his face, he was just as boisterous as his son.

Tamaki opened his box and eyed the seafood, “Dude, I love your dad.”

Mirio looked at the other boxes, “What kind of pizza do you like Yu?”

“Yu? My name isn’t that long,” Yuyu pouted.

“We’ve got margherita, pepperoni and pineapple,” Mirio said.

“I’ll have pepperoni!” Nejire snatched the box and started to dig in.

“Which one do you usually have?” Yuyu asked Mirio.

“Pineapple.”

“He’s just weird,” Tamaki added.

Yuyu took the margherita pizza and started to dig in. It was surprisingly cheesy and gooey. She had never tried anything like this; her usual restaurant/fast food meal was either American-style burgers or Japanese curry bowls.

Nejire noted the look in Yuyu’s eyes. She wanted to ask if it was the first time she had tried pizza but decided to keep it to herself.

Tamaki nibbled on his pizza. The Europeans were definitely onto something with this stuff, “Do either of you need a ride home or anything? My parents are next door.”

Yuyu snapped her fingers, “Shit. I haven't called mum.” She whipped out her flip phone and typed in her mothers number. It was picked up in the first buzz.

“Yes? Is everything ok?” Her mother asked, an instinctive fear at having her daughter actually ring her.

Yuyu tried to put her at ease, “I’m ok. I’m just going to be slightly late. I’m at a friend's place.”

“Where?”

“Musutafu, they’re from U.A. don’t worry.”

“Oh thank God. Don’t be late please, have you eaten?” Ms Haya trusted her daughter, but kids in the local area were not to be trusted, they could easily force her down bad paths. U.A. children from Musutafu were almost certainly more kind and idealistic.

“I’m actually having a pizza right now.”

“Pizza. That’s pretty fancy. Can we talk when you come back?”

“Yes, mum. Love you.”

“Love you too!”

Yuyu almost flicked her phone shut but noticed Nejire and Mirio with the most obnoxiously wide grins she had ever seen. Nejrie whispered, “Can we say hi?”

The girl handed it over, “No swearing!” Yuyu realised that she was probably the only person who even swore among this blooming friend group.

Nejire placed the flip phone to her ear, “Hello?” She had never used one of these things before.

“Oh? Who’s this?” Ms Haya asked, she noted the girl's contiguously sweet voice.

“Nejire Hado, Ma’am. I’m your daughter's best friend. Can I ask a question?”

“Sure?” Ms Haya noted that Yuyu had made a ‘best friend’ anomalously quickly. She was more of a loner in middle school.

“Do you have any baby pictures of Yuyu!” Nejire laughed.

“I do! Do you want to see her in the bonnet?”

“A bonnet! YES! I’ll give her some of mine just to make it fair!”

Yuyu’s heart dropped at the mention of baby photos. She had no idea what kind of little fat abomination she looked like as a baby but she most certainly didn’t want Nejire finding out. Still she was powerless to do little more than just sit and hopefully beg her mum to burn those pictures later.

Mirio bumped heads with Nejire, “Hey my turn!”

Tamaki looked at Yuyu, “Don’t worry I’ll be quiet.”

Yuyu just mouthed ‘Thank you’ . Having to deal with the hassle of describing two new friends was going to be enough of a problem.

Mirio smiled, “Ma’am. May I have your number!”

Yuyu and Tamaki did a double take. Had he actually just asked that question.

“Why?” Ms Haya asked.

“It’s super-duper important. Pretty please!” Mirio bowed rapidly despite the fact Ms Haya literally couldn’t see him.

“F-fine?” Ms Haya was genuinely caught off guard. The kid sounded sweet enough and probably wasn’t trying to pull an adult woman he’d never met before.

Yuyu looked in horror as Mirio scribbled down a number that was most certainly her mothers and gave the phone back to her.

Yuyu grumbled, “See you mum.”

After that trainwreck of a phone call they all crowded around the TV. They continued to play and eat for a few more hours.

Chapter Text

After one final game Yuyu looked out the window, “It’s getting dark. I’ll probably head home now.”

Tamaki looked up, “Are you walking? My parents could drive you home.”

“No, no. It’s fine. I’ll see you all tomorrow.” Yuyu smiled and grabbed her bag. “I need to stretch my legs after all.”

They all walked down the stairs and Yuyu thanked Mr Togata for his kindness in letting her stay for a few hours and buying everyone pizza. Mirio was even nice enough to let her borrow a slightly oversized coat for the walk back.

Nejire pulled Yuyu in for a hug, “See you tomorrow!”

Mirio picked them both up in a huge group hug, he grabbed Tamaki and forced him to join in. Yuyu peeped as she felt her spine getting crushed under Nejire and Mirio’s strong arms. Being love bombed was a new feeling to her.

Tamaki looked like he was on the edge of despair. He didn’t seem to enjoy the physical contact but put up with it.

Yuyu eventually broke free and opened the door, “See ya guys.”

Nejire beamed, “Stay safe.”

They all waved as she left.

Tamaki looked at Nejire, “When are your parents coming round?”

“In about 5 minutes. Can I ask you guys something on the level?” Nejire lowered her voice, “I think Yuyu’s the Sanya girl.”

Mirio nodded, “I mean yeah?”

Tamaki raised an eyebrow, “Is that a problem?”

“No! Of course not. She’s really sweet regardless… I was just wondering if she needs any help?” Nejire looked as she saw the brown haired girl walking away, “She just seems on edge. And I don’t know if telling her that I know would be good for her.”

“It could offend her,” Tamaki rubbed his chin, “How do you even put that to someone? ‘Hey I heard you live in a slum but we’re still cool!’ It just seems wrong.”

Mirio slammed his fist into his palm, “We can just wait until she wants to tell us?”

“That's… that's actually a good idea?” Tamaki wasn’t used to Mirio having those.

“That’s because I’m an empath!” Mirio declared proudly.

-

Yuyu walked through the dark streets. Her steps tapped against the concrete as she passed each and every streetlamp with a quick look to ensure she was truly alone. She was always hypervigilant when walking by herself, Yuyu was well aware that as she got closer to home the chances of getting mugged, beaten or worse increased. She kept her head down as she moved, her gaze focused on her scuffed trainers.

Still she wasn’t a weakling and had more than enough fight in her to take on a mugger if she absolutely had to. But as the ground got rougher and less well maintained the feeling of dread built up in her.

‘You’re not a Hero yet.’ She thought to herself. Thinking too highly of herself would inevitably lead to catastrophic fall.

She just couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. Like someone was just waiting on her to make a misstep or position herself poorly. She whispered, “Fuck.”

Behind her was a slight flow of green. That was almost certainly a Quirk. Someone was hiding down an alleyway she had passed.

There was a slight amount of movement. That was all the evidence Yuyu needed, whoever that was, they were after her. And she was a teenage girl walking alone at night. The only option she had was obvious.

Yuyu started to run. At that moment she heard people starting to pursue, “Get her!”

“Stop right now!”

Yuyu just focused on running. She ran like her life depended on it, Yuyu wasn’t even sure who she was dealing with; it could have been Heroes, Villains or petty criminals.

She took a deep breath and focused some energy into her feet. Each step became slightly electrically charged, the friction disappeared and she found herself running just slightly above the ground.

“That’s a Quirk!” A feminine voice screamed, “Stop right now! You’re under arrest!”

‘Heroes?’ Yuyu thought. It could have been worse at least. She’d probably live if she got caught but illegally using her Quirk could land her in some serious trouble.

A bruning bolt of greenish flame flew straight past her. The female hero shouted, “Stop or we will use force! You fuckin’ criminal!”

“Be quiet Burnin’!” Another Hero shouted.

Yuyu could tell they were getting closer. The first time they had shouted they had been about 50 meters away. Now they were about 30, even with her Quirk boosting her speed she was hardly able to get away. Several ideas ran through her head.

‘I’ve already broken the law. They’re probably going to drag me into jail just for using my Quirk.’

‘I could fire electricity. But it probably wouldn’t do jack.’

‘I have cigarettes on me. That’d give the shot more punch.’

‘But if I shoot at Heroes I’m going to prison if they catch me.’

Conjuring up a fistful of electricity, Yuyu slammed her hand onto the pavement and drifted to slide down an alleyway. As quickly as she had entered Yuyu looked for a way out, propelling herself upward she grabbed onto rusty, worn steel bars and hauled herself up the wall at the end of alleyway. A  long and scraping trail of electromagnetic energy fizzled behind her as she slid along, in a quick motion she also ditched her pack of cigarettes. It was better to lose them than have underage smoking pinned on her too.

She soared into the night sky. At that moment she felt truly alive. The currents and voltage hummed under her skin, she was getting close to short circuiting but Yuyu knew these streets better than any Hero.

‘I'm actually going to win!’

With a roll Yuyu landed on the other side and kept running. She was close to home, she could just jump in a dumpster and wait out the chase. She turned a corner before coming face to face with a slab of spandex and muscle.

A large fist connected with the top of her head and sent her crashing into the ground. In an instant all her hopes of escaping unharmed were shattered as she was swatted like a fly.

The tall and imposing beast of a man loomed over her, “That’s far enough, scum.”

That punch had completely thrown Yuyu. She had been bloodied up before but that felt like it was a blow from a man who could literally crush her like a bug if he wanted to.

As her head hit the ground Yuyu felt a jet of blood leaking from her eye. ‘A-am I dying?’ Before she could even process what was going a fist grabbed her hair and pulled her up.

She desperately clawed at the hand around her hair. It was digging into her scalp and she couldn’t help but tear up. Yuyu begged, “Please. Stop.”

The Hero’s face was partially concealed in flame but she knew who she was dealing with. The stern look, the brutality in his efficient motion and the complete lack of hesitation. The Hero was a beast of a man, the sharp primary colours of his outfit demanded attention, he didn’t care about being seen or targeted. It was like looking at a crude parody of All Might, but rougher, crueller and more aggressive he seemed more militarised with obvious gadgets and a sharp practical haircut that seemed more like it belonged to a soldier.

‘Endeavor.’

“Why did you run, boy?” Endeavor asked. His grip was still like iron.

Yuyu stammered out an excuse, “I-I didn’t know you were Heroes… I’m just a girl walking alone at night.”

Endeavor was slightly taken aback. It was dark and she was mostly wrapped up in a men's jacket and looked rather androgynous. He might have apologised if she wasn’t a criminal, “You illegally used your Quirk. My sidekicks told you they were Heroes.”

“You can’t trust… anyone here,” Yuyu wheezed, her head was spinning awfully. The clattering of footsteps as this man's minions arrived.

“Name, age and why are you out late?” Endeavor shook her.

“Y-yuyu Haya, 15, I was going back home after school.”

“At 9:30 at night?” A glowing green haired sidekick frowned. “I don’t buy this BS. She’s clearly a gangbanger or some shit. That coat looks stolen.”

Endeavor looked into Yuyu’s eyes, “Explain yourself.”

She didn’t even dare to attempt a snarky ‘I don’t have to say anything’ response. Yuyu hoped this would work, “I-I’m a U.A. student. I just live here, Sir.”

One of the other sidekicks laughed, “Sure thing kid. The day that’s true is the day Burnin’ gets a solo arrest.”

Burnin’ flipped the sidekick off.

Yuyu coughed, “My uniform-”

“Is stolen,” Endeavor cut her off and threw her onto the ground, he snatched the teenagers bag, “Keep this for evidence and bring her down to the police station. I’ll ring U.A. on the double.”

Burnin’ smiled, “Can I mark this one as mine, boss? I saw her first.”

“Do as you wish,” Endeavor turned and left. His boots slammed into the ground, Yuyu could do little more than watch in absolute terror. She was nothing to this man, he didn’t even bother to contest her arrest as his.

Yuyu felt a hand on her shoulder as Burnin’ loomed over her, “Let’s make this easy. Come quietly and I won’t rip that uniform off ya.”

The girl just let herself get hauled up and dragged away. Yuyu had lasted just under 24 hours at U.A. and now she was in the custody of the most powerful and aggressive hero agency in the country.

-

Nejire sat in her bedroom, the fluffy white and periwinkle blue theme making her feel relaxed and at ease. She had gotten out of a nice cleansing bath and dried and changed into her nightdress that was fresh and smooth. She slumped over her desk, opened her journal and smiled to herself as she started to write whatever came to mind.

‘So today I made a few friends. U.A. is actually really fun. There's this guy called Mirio. He's got a silly Quirk that allows him to phase through things, how does he breathe when doing that? Can he? He’s pretty strong though. I think he should point his hair more.

He’s friends with a boy called Tamaki. I think they’re childhood friends or something. Tamaki’s got strange ears… do they relate to his Quirk? I should ask! His Quirk lets him use things he’s eaten as powers. I like his black hair, I wonder what music he listens to? He seems like the indie type.

I also have a new bestie! She’s called Yuyu and she’s really cuteyu, that doesn’t really work does it? Her Quirk is kinda scary, I don’t think I could electrocute myself. She’s from Sanya but she’s actually nice and wants to be a Hero, I just hope the others realise she isn’t like the rest.

Mirio wants to buy her a present. Maybe something nice like a handbag? But what if it gets stolen? Her mum probably rents so I don’t think they’re allowed to own dogs or cats. We need to brainstorm ideas!’

Nejire looked around her room. The plushies of her favourite female heroes were strewn about on her bed. Maybe Yuyu would like something like that? She could get her some Wild, Wild Pussycats merchandise. It wasn’t the most common pick for a shirt, poster or plushie but Nejire and Mirio could definitely find some, they’d definitely have to draft Tamaki for that job too.

Maybe they could treat her to a really nice meal? Nejire thought it over, Yuyu hadn’t really had much to eat when it came to variety so that would be fun.

Her mother entered the room, “Nejire. You need to sleep. It’s late!” The woman was very similar to her daughter but with even longer hair, a more womanly frame and a few wrinkles around her eyes. She hadn’t intended Nejire to look so similar, it had just kinda happened as the girl had grown up.

“Sorry momma!” Nejire smiled and slammed her journal shut. She opened her desk and slid it inside.

Her mum hugged her, “You’re making friends?”

“Lots. I’ll be ok,” Nejire hugged her mother back, determined to not let go.

“Good, you should bring them around at some point,” The older woman picked her daughter up and threw her onto the bed. The teenager clinging onto her with enough force to drag them both down.

Nejrie laughed, “You hugged me first! You know I don’t like to let go.”

Her mother couldn’t help but giggle, “Oh I know. I’m a fool for hugging my daughter,” She winked and rubbed Nejire’s hair.

“Don’t say that!” Nejire pouted.

“I’m not allowed to joke with my little girl?”

Nejire slipped under her covers, “Hmph. Maybe.”

Her mum just prodded her through the covers and got up, “Sleep well.”

“I will, thank you,” Nejire closed her eyes and thought about her friends. She hoped Yuyu was doing alright, maybe they could walk to school one day?

-

Aizawa opened up another can of zero-alcohol beer, “We can’t get too drunk. We have classes.”

He was sitting in his apartment in the Teachers Quarters of U.A.. With him was Hizashi who sat on the same couch as him, Thirteen who was sitting on the couch opposite the duo with her strange beer drinking hat and Nemuri who was smoking outside.

“C’mon… like calm down!?” Thirteen gulped away through her booze straw. The novelty hat idea that Nemuri had suggested was getting better every second.

“Yeah, we can go to Recovery Girl. Also you’re drinking that nasty stuff,” Hizashi laughed as he drank.

“That’s because I’m the emergency contact. We could have a crisis and you’d all be drunk,” Aizawa grunted as he drank his booze, also non-alcoholic tasted about the same anyway so why become a boozehound over it?

Nemuri walked back into the apartment with a cigarette between her lips, “Pass me a can?”

Thirteen nodded and reached to grab one before it exploded, “O-oh yeah? I forgot about that.” She focused on neutralising her Quirk's innate effects and tossed one at Nemuri.

Nemuri grabbed it with a deftness that spoke to her composure even when under the influence, “Thanks girl.”

Thirteen blushed, “No problem.”

Aizawa shook his head as Nemuri sat on Thirteen's lap. She apparently had no concern for the potentially dangerous distance she had to the other woman.

Hizashi drank a bit more, “W-why don’t you just wear your gloves Thirteen?”

“I like letting my arms breath,” Thirteen smiled, “You have no idea how disgusting they get after sitting in a suit for a week. Although I should since… Nemuri’s sat so close.”

Nemuri smirked and picked up the gloves Thirteen kept on hand just in case, “Here you go darling.” She grabbed Thirteen's arm and helped her slide them on.

Thirteen laughed, “I’ll still keep the hat on.” She sipped a bit more booze.

Aizawa pointed at Nemuri, “Toss that cigarette, Nemuri. You can’t smoke in here.”

Nemuri just pouted and plucked the cig between her lips, “Fine.”

Thirteen rubbed her chin, “Why do you guys still call me Thirteen? Like I don’t call you ‘Eraserhead’, Shota.”

“It’s the suit!” Hizashi laughed, “I’ll get used to calling you Anan at some point.”

Nemuri ran a hand down Thirteen’s cheek, “I like the Hero name. It’s based on Apollo Thirteen right?”

“Y-yeah!” Thirteen smiled, “When I was a little girl if I couldn’t become a Hero I wanted to be an astronaut!”

“When was the last space mission?” Aizawa asked.

“It’s been 50 years,” Thirteen huffed, “The drive to advance into the stars seems dead.”

Aizawa could look at the palpable sense of disappointment on her face. It was true, almost all forms of technological development had ground to an absolute halt unless it was for the Hero Industry. The spike in crime was so high that anything else was practically and economically unviable.

Nemuri cupped Thirteen’s face, “Anan. It’ll be ok. You’re still a cute young hero. Maybe we can all go on holiday to the moon or something?”

“Well nobody ever sees my face,” Thirteen pointed out, “But thanks.”

Hizashi looked at Aizawa, “So anyone you wanna kick out?”

Aizawa was silent. If he was doing his usual routine then it’d have almost certainly been Tamaki and Yuyu. But that didn’t seem to be the practical option. He needed to do a bit more digging on Yuyu’s background but even with the little he knew Aizawa was aware he couldn’t let his trauma of Oboro get in the way of the facts.

Yuyu was in a really, really compromising position. If he had given her the boot then there was a decent chance she'd completely slip off the deep end. If she got a reenrollment then she’d be pigeonholed into being a Pro-Hero due to the black mark of an expulsion, her family background and the poor local schools in her area. If she didn’t get a reenrollment then at best she’d live out a miserable existence in a dangerous and potentially lethal 9-5 job and that was assuming she didn’t need to turn to prostitution, thievery or gang activities to make ends meet.

He’d give her some time. If that Quirk didn’t show signs of improving then he’d have a serious talk about her future, the general education course would guarantee a good university and career for her.

Tamaki was a different beast. The boy seemed to be reserved to the nth degree and didn’t appreciate any forms of attention or contact beyond people he saw as friends. Although the presence of Mirio meant that he was actually able to make connections relatively easily. It reminded Aizawa of himself back in the day, hanging around with 2 extroverts made it so he was in the attention a surprising amount.

His Quirk also definitely needed work, Aizawa had counted that accidental throw for a reason and if Tamaki couldn’t properly use what was clearly an insanely versatile Quirk then he wouldn’t last long as a professional.

Hizashi prodded Aizawa’s face, “You ok? You zoned out for a second, dude.”

Aizawa looked up, “Yeah. I’m fine. I’m not getting rid of anyone yet. Although I have a few in mind.”

“Such a moody fella. Do you get off on spooking children?” Nemuri laughed.

“No. I just don’t want to be responsible for subpar or overly zealous Heroes getting killed,” Aizawa pointed, “If they survive my first year then they are worthy of being taught more.”

“So moody,” Nemuri repeated.

Aizawa would have complained more but his phone buzzed. He looked and noted it was from Principal Nezu, what did he want?

Aizawa placed the phone to his ear, “Sir?” He pushed away the other snooping heroes who cackled and tried to shout obscenities down his device like they were annoying impish children.

Nezu sighed, “We have a situation. One of your students may have been attacked and stripped for her clothes.”

“What?” Aizawa’s blood ran cold.

“The perpetrator is being held at a police station near U.A. It was the Endeavor Agency who brought her in. The criminal hasn't told us who it was but it was presumably a female student.”

He clicked the phone off, he didn’t need to ask anymore. Aizawa got up and rushed to put on his coat, “Hizashi, I'm taking the car.”

The other heroes looked at him confused. Hizashi sobered up slightly, “Why?”

Aizawa cracked his knuckles, he wasn't going to lose a student a day into the course, “One of my students apparently got attacked and had her clothes stolen. Could be an infiltrator type villain.”

As he spoke his coworkers got up and straightened themselves out. In an instant all of the slightly drunken stupor and laughs were gone, replaced with the grim look of resolve that all veteran heroes had.  Nemuri grabbed her coat, “We’re coming with.”

Thirteen jumped up and staggered forwards. She grabbed her beer hat and tossed it aside, “It’s weird to be doing hero stuff without the suit.”

Aizawa smiled to himself. They were all true Heroes at heart, even if it wasn’t necessary they were all still willing to spend the evening helping out a friend.

The teachers rushed downstairs and out into the dark of the U.A. grounds. Racing along Aizawa noted how fast they all were, a serious sense of urgency in their stomachs. He texted Snipe and told him to keep an eye out for the boarding students. It was late and with incredibly short notice but he knew the gunslinger would understand.

They piled into Hizashi’s fancy blue muscle car. Nemuri and Thirteen squeezed into the back and Hazashi sat in the front passenger seat.

Aizawa knew the location of the Musutafu police station. It was a huge and sprawling building and had several cells for extremely dangerous Quirk users to be safely contained in before a transfer to prison. It was necessary considering U.A. suffered more targeted attacks on its students than any other hero academy.

Thirteen held on tight as Aizawa swerved around like a maniac in the car. She felt like she was going to throw up and it wasn’t just because of the booze.

Hizashi almost ground his teeth, “Don’t break my car!”

“Yeah, yeah!” Aizawa sped along going at well over 150 mph.

Within moments they practically swerved into the front of the police station. Aizawa practically kicked the door open and charged inside.

The person manning the front desk looked at him, “Eraserhead?”

“Where?” He stared into the man’s eyes.

“Holding Room 12 on Bloc D. Quirk inhibiting clamps are on her, she’s roughed up but conscious,” The policeman typed away, “We’ve got some evidence too.”

Nemiru entered, “How roughed up?”

“Black eye and I think she’s concussed. That’s what you get when you mess with Endeavor.”

Hizashi looked, “Can I ask something?”

“Sure?”

“No. I need you to repeat what you said.” Hizashi placed a hand on his ear.

The Policeman was confused, “What? Why?”

“I just wanted to be cool and I didn’t hear you. You know I’m a Pro right?” Hizashi proudly declared.

“Maybe you need new hearing aids?” Thirteen rubbed her shoulders, the cold air of the open door made her wish for the comfort of her suit.

Aizawa started looking for the room with the perp. He didn’t have any time for cool speeches or to show off his Pro status. He would beat the information out of the criminal if needed and if the student was actually dead Aizawa would ensure all involved suffered.

The heavy footfall of 4 Heroes filled the winding and draconian complex. An endless sea of grey and cracked walls ran throughout as the cells became increasingly small and confined. The means to stop people from using their Quirks increasing in intensity from simple shackles to heavy bolt head clamps that would tighten when unnecessary usage was detected.

The group reached Bloc D. It was where Villains with high potential Quirks were kept, a place for the nastiest scum of the earth with the power to act out their sick and twisted desires. Aizawa pushed the guard aside and slammed open the door to Room 12.

In an instant all the previous rage he had drained.

Yuyu looked up at him with a bloodied and damaged face. Her hair was messy and all over the place, with the crude and brutish restraints on her arms, legs and head keeping her in place. She had taken a blunt blow rather than anything pointed so mercifully the damage looked mostly superficial.

Nemuri looked into the room, “My God… is that a Quirk?” She couldn’t believe it, with the restraints on it didn’t make sense for an infiltration Quirk to work without causing the user extreme pain.

Aizawa trembled, “Miss Haya?”

Yuyu looked around, “Sir?” Her voice sounded battered and bloodied. The fight had been completely stamped and trampled out of her.

Thirteen and Hizashi were silent. Had no one even bothered to check if she was an actual U.A. student first?

Aizawa looked at the guard, “How long has she been in there?”

“A couple hours?”

“Let. Her. Out.” His voice gave away just how close he was to absolutely going berserk.

The guard was confused, “Excuse me? That’s a crim-”

“That’s a student!” Nemuri grabbed him by the collar and relieved him of his keys.

Aizawa took the keys and entered the cell. A rough and slightly sharp scent filled his nostrils, it was distinct from the smell of blood, copper or cigarettes. He had a good idea what it was and kneeled in front of Yuyu, she was shaking and squriming in her seat uncomfortably.

He slowly freed her hands, “Keep calm. You’re going home.”

“I-I’m sorry!” Yuyu whimpered, her voice was like a mouse. Her uninjured left eye was still bloodshot and panicked and her right one was a mess.

“This isn’t your fault,” Thirteen walked over, “What happened?”

“I was walking home. T-then…” Yuyu burst into tears, “Please don’t kick me out! I can’t let my mum down! Please!”

Aizawa shook his head, “You’re not getting kicked out. Just breathe.”

Hizashi couldn’t even look. Seeing students in distress always left him in a bad state, especially when he was powerless to change that.

Aizawa ripped the head restraint off the girl. “Have you had any painkillers?”

“N-no Sir.” Yuyu barely moved, even with the restraints gone she felt claustrophobic and trapped. The will to move was deadend by being kept in the stressful sitting position.

He got up and took control of the situation, “I’ll get medication. Hizashi go down to the desk and get her released. This is a fucking misreport at best. You two stay and keep her company, don’t let anyone else even talk to her. I don’t care if it’s Endeavor himself.”

Hizashi nodded. Shouta very, very rarely swore. This was clearly just a step too far for even him to keep it together, “Yeah.”

Thirteen and Nemuri looked at Yuyu. Earlier today she’d been a rather strong and impressive girl on the track and field, they’d been silently rooting for the disadvantaged kid to do well enough to avoid Aizawa’s wrath. But now she just looked hollow.

Nemuri held her hand, “I promise you. This isn’t supposed to happen.”

“Yes it is,” Yuyu whimpered, “I’m just scum to you.”

Thirteen shook her head, “We’re not like them!” She had a knot in her stomach, how could she defend herself when Yuyu was treated like this?

“I’m not a criminal. My mum’s worked everyday for me… she wanted me to be important. To leave and have a life,” Yuyu looked at them, “They didn’t believe me.”

Nemuri hugged the trembling girl and held her close, “It’s ok. We do.”

Yuyu wailed into her teacher's shoulder the feeling of being utterly humiliated and treated like an animal made her want to vomit. She felt like nothing, she really was nothing but a speck of muck.

“Can you walk?” Thirteen asked as softly as she could manage.

Yuyu nodded, “I think so.”

Nemuri held her right hand and Thirteen took her left. They helped the shaking and distressed girl up. Her legs moved and wobbled like jelly.

Shaking her head, Nemuri sat Yuyu back down, “Let's wait a little longer.”

-

Aizawa ran down the hallways and entered an infirmary, “Morphine sulfate and ibuprofen. A 15 year old girl weighs about 48 kilograms.”

He slid along the ground and grabbed a first-aid kit. The nurse on duty was confused for a moment before grabbing the necessary items.

The nurse asked, “What’s happened?”

“Not your problem,” Aizawa took the gear and left. He was down the hallway like a thunderbolt as he ran along. A student needed him and he wasn’t going to fail, not right now.

This was such a mess. What exactly had been reported to Nezu?

He passed a common room and heard a laugh.

“Easiest arrest of my life!” Burnin’ gloated, “Like I’d have got that psycho without Endeavor.”

The police officers looked at her with a sense of awe. Aizawa just shook his head, he didn’t have time to waste on her even if she didn’t deserve the title of ‘Sidekick’ .

He just kept running. His eyes actually wide with concern. Aizawa had no clue what state she was in or what she was actually being held in the jail for. Everyone was just in the dark.

When he returned. Thirteen and Nemuri were trying to console Yuyu. The typical stress signs of shame, dread and a hint of righteous indignation were on her face.

He immediately set to work giving her a dose of ibuprofen and a needle of morphine stuck into the girl's arm.

Thirteen shivered, “That can’t be safe.”

Aizawa just wrapped a bandage around Yuyu’s bad eye, “She’ll be fine. But Miss Haya probably can’t walk in this state.” He hauled her up onto his back.

Nemuri winced, “You don’t mind the…”

“No. I don’t. Now move!” They left the jail cell and started to navigate a way out of this hellish place.

It was all so grey. So uniform. Without the large painted markers Aizawa would have gotten lost and he frequented this place more than most other heroes.

Eventually he reached the foyer.

Hizashi was arguing with the guy at the front.

“Look, I just can't let her go. You’re not even her teacher,” The policeman noted.

Aizawa walked over, “I am. Let her leave.”

“Sir, she’s being held on illegal Quirk usage, assault, theft and running from law enforcement. I can’t just let her walk.”

Aizawa shook his head, “The theft and assault charges are false. She’s the student. And if I was a teenage girl alone at night I’d have ran too. Drop this or U.A. is getting involved,” He had cut straight to the point and laid out all his cards.

Hizashi frowned. ‘How come I can’t do that?’ 

The policeman shrugged, “Endeavor will hear about this.”

“We don’t care,” Nemuri turned and left.

-

Ms Haya tapped her fingers against the faded white table. The dining room/living room/kitchen felt so much worse when she was alone.

Where was Yuyu?

‘Calm down Yuki. She’ll be back soon.’

Her eyes were locked on the clock, it had been hours. The creeping realisation that she should have probably called the police was taking root in her belly.

A knock made her get up in an instant. Ms Haya ran straight to the door and with a calloused hand she swung it open, “YUYU WHAT WERE-...”

She stared straight into the eyes of the grimiest and most depressing man she had ever seen.

“Mr Aizawa. I am your daughter's homeroom teacher.” He stood aside and Yuyu shuffled inside, she was trembling and bandaged.

“So-sorry for being late,” Yuyu apologised. She sounded dazed and confused.

Her mother was silent. It was too much, the bloodied face, bandages, the stench and she was clearly under some sort of influence.

“She’s had a dose of morphine. I’ll ensure she receives medical treatment tomorrow,” Aizawa sighed, “Miss Haya wished to go home.”

“What happened?” Ms Haya stammered.

Aizawa chose his words carefully, “We’re not entirely sure. I believe she was apprehended by a group of Heroes who thought she was a villain impersonating a student. She was kept in a cell in the Musutafu Police station for several hours.”

Ms Haya held her daughter close, “Impersonating a student? She is a student!”

“I know. We’ll ensure some justice comes from this.”

“We?” Ms Haya noticed the figures standing close by, “You're not going to drag her back?”

Thirteen stepped forwards, “No. I can assure you we won’t. In fact, I’ll drive her to school early so we can have Recovery Girl fix her.”

Ms Haya nodded, “Ok… just what do you want us to do?”

“Nothing,” Thirteen felt terrible, “We’re trying to help. We can give you space?”

“Thank you,” Yuyu’s mother held her trembling child close.

“We’ll buy her new clothes. Don’t worry about the costs,” Aizawa walked away and closed the door. It was too late at night to do anything major.

Ms Haya slowly started to move her daughter to the bathroom. The two of them were silent. She looked at Yuyu, “Do you need help getting undressed?”

“Yes,” Yuyu admitted through gritted teeth. A feeling of utter shame in her stomach, she was so weak her mother had to wash her like a baby.

“We’ve been together in this tiny apartment for fifteen years. Trust me it’s nothing I haven't seen,” Her mum laughed and helped her out of her shirt, skirt and undergarments. Rolling up her sleeves she helped Yuyu into the tub and flicked on the shower.

Yuyu shivered as she felt the cold water slowly heat up on her skin. She reached out for the shower gel and stumbled slightly, a slight amount of phantom movement as she realised just how out of it she was. Her mother gently held onto her shoulders as she scrubbed.

They were silent. Yuyu didn’t have anything she wanted to say, what could she even talk about?

Ms Haya let her daughter clean herself. She was nearly an adult and deserved that much, her hands merely kept her from slipping and stumbling. Once Yuyu was done her mum helped her out of the shower and dried her off.

They walked to Yuyu’s bedroom door.

Ms Haya forced a smile, “We’ll talk more tomorrow ok?”

Yuyu nodded and entered her room, still slightly dazed and very tired.

Ms Haya just sighed. She needed to lie down, she had a 12 hour shift tomorrow and needed to be awake for that Hero tomorrow morning.

Chapter Text

Yuyu woke up to her mother knocking on her door. The girl groggily raised her head and looked around the cramped and dingy space that was her bedroom, it was so early in the morning that she’d barely rested.

“Wake up, sweetie!” Ms Haya hammered on the door again, “Or else I’m coming in.”

Yuyu jumped up and coughed, “I’m up!” She felt better then the mess she was last night, but the scrappy bandages and slight sting behind her eye was still an annoyance.

Ms Haya stepped back and smiled, “Works like a charm.”

Thirteen was stunned at how easily this woman wrangled her child, “Really?” She had her unique gloves on but other than that looked like a civilian with her ‘convenience store dress sense’.

“Well she’s a teenage girl. I don’t actually wanna know her sordid little secrets,” Ms Haya nestled by a chair by the small teapot in the kitchen, even though she was dressed in her heavy workwear she was still a considerate host, “How do you take it?”

“Three tablespoons of sugar please,” Thirteen idly mumbled as she looked around the small living space. Nearby Nemuri was transfixed with a mirror while sorting out the messy bun that was her hair. Thirteen didn’t think it was necessary considering she looked sexy all the time anyway and messy hair in the morning was hardly a crime.

Ms Haya chuckled, “I can only afford to give you two. Especially if your friend wants a drink.”

Nemuri nodded, “No sugar, thank you.”

Thirteen looked at the fridge. It was plastered with photos of Yuyu and her mother. It was strange to see that in one very early photo of the girl her mother looked incredibly strong and firm, her arms muscular and reassuring. The baby was cute, it’s face wasn’t very fat and it looked a bit too slender but the tiny strands of silky brownish hair were delightful.

There was a photo of Yuyu when she was a 3 year old girl smiling in the woods, she was wearing a childish insect hat and was looking at a ladybug that had crawled its way onto her hand. The wrinkles under Ms Haya’s eyes were slightly more pronounced and the stress lines on her brow were more obvious, but she was still holding her daughter up on her shoulders. Thirteen couldn’t resist and leaned in as she took in more of the photos.

“Oh?” Thirteen muttered idly.

Ms Haya took the photo off the fridge, “Yuyu after her Quirk manifested. She was proud… even if I was terrified,” She smiled as she remembered those times. It was horrible back then but now it was just nostalgic. She gave the Hero the photo.

Nemuri sat beside Thirteen, “Oh that’s cute.”

Yuyu had plasters on the cheeks of her face, her hair stood up from the electricity that had accidentally overloaded and she was wrapped up in bandages all along her chest and arms. But she was smiling like a maniac. She was holding a certificate with her Quirk being officially registered as a  High-Power Emitter type Quirk.

Nemuri giggled, “You must have been proud too.”

Ms Haya noticed Yuyu exit her bedroom and slink away to shower, the girls hair all over the place and coarse. She heard the door close and sighed, “Not massively. It’s strange but I knew with a Quirk like that she’d end up using it,” She placed down the cups of tea for the women and started to sip hers.

“True. Most of our students have High Power Quirks in some way,” Nemuri agreed, “It’s just the way of things I suppose. Each generation's best are earmarked for work like this.”

Ms Haya furrowed her brow, “You're a Hero right?”

“I’m a teacher. So yes,” Nemuri nodded.

“I see… I feel like I know you,” Ms Haya raked her brain.

Thirteen tried to interject, “Well it’s only natural for you to hear about-”

“Are you Midnight?” Ms Haya asked.

Thirteen coughed and took a big swig of her tea.

“Yes. I am,” Nemuri rubbed the back of her head.

“Why do they let you teach children?” Ms Haya bluntly noted.

Nemuri was silent. She hadn’t really dealt with someone so direct before, “Err… Well why not?”

“Well my daughter has your nude pinup calendar. I don’t know if that sets a good example for her,” Ms Haya shrugged.

“Well you need to watch what your son buys…” Thirteen stopped for a moment, she’d been preparing to say something completely different, “Wait Yuyu owns her nude calendar?” She was thrown through a loop, she presumed Nemuri’s calendar would sell well amongst a slightly different clientele.

“I think you mean calendars. And yes she does, she owns the one released this year,” Yuyu’s mother tutted.

“Calendars as in plural? Released this year!?” Thirteen looked at Nemuri who conveniently decided now was the time to admire the room she was in.

Nemuri nodded, “A very rustic place. I-I like the plant pot you have. And the wallpaper sure is… something.”

“You told me this was something you did when you were nineteen!”

“Well that is technically true,” Nemuri pointed out.

Thirteen rolled her eyes, “Wait… why does Yuyu even own this smut?”

Ms Haya sipped her tea, “Well probably because she’s a lesbian.”

Thirteen and Nemuri blinked at how open her mother was being about this.

Nemuri looked around making sure Yuyu was still showering, “Really?”

“I don’t know for sure but it’s pretty obvious,” Ms Haya adjusted her rubber gloves.

“You don’t have an issue with that?” Thirteen had presumed the woman would be pretty socially conservative as an older presumably straight lady from a deprived area.

“No? If I did I’d have something to say about you two,” Ms Haya casually exposed their relationship.

Nemuri and Thirteen spat out their drinks. They both gasped in unison, “WHAT?”

“Well you're obviously a thing,” Ms Haya laughed, “I don’t need a mindreading Quirk to tell that,” Her gaydar was apparently a finely-tooled machine.

Nemuri fell back on the chair, “It was that obvious?”

“H-how? How could you tell?” Thirteen struggled to speak.

“It’s simple, you kinda pull the same face when Yuyu’s looking at a girl she likes. Also you were staring at Midnights’ ass.”

“There’s a face?” Thirteen cursed her lack of being judged for what she did in the suit. It was effectively a black void so her eyes could wander wherever she wanted.

“Of course. Yuyu got caught having her eyes wander in middle school quite a lot. She denies it… she might even believe what she tells me but I’ve always just kinda known,” Ms Haya finished her tea, “I heard that Hado girl yesterday. I can tell from the voice that she’s Yuyu’s type.”

“You seem to be taking your daughter's love life quite casually,” Nemuri pointed out.

Yuyu’s mum looked out of the window and across to the next grey decayed apartment block, “It’s not my life. And she doesn’t choose her sexuality… and even if she did. So what? If anything I quite like the idea of her not having to deal with any horndog teenage boys intimately. As much as I love Yuyu and don’t regret a thing, I don't want her getting knocked up at the age I did.”

Thirteen and Nemuri were silent. It was rare for a parent to be so hands off about a daughter. Let alone an only child.

Ms Haya chuckled, “Oh and I won’t tell a soul. I have a feeling that being a single pringle is a big part of your brand?”

Nemuri tried to flick her hair before releasing it was still in a bun, “Yeah. Also considering my brand of sex appeal my fanbase would probably be more understanding if I was sleeping with Stain than a woman.”

“Such is life.”

Yuyu left the bathroom wrapped up in a towel, “I’ll be ready in a second.”

Thirteen pointed at the front door, “We got you a new uniform.”

Yuyu grabbed the bag, “Thanks!”

Ms Haya got up, “Take these.” She slid a few photos over, “Make sure Miss Hado gets them.”

Thirteen took the set of baby photos, “I will.”

-

Yuyu walked along the pavement with her teachers. She was still aching from where she was punched by Endeavor.

Nemuri seemed to be looking at her slightly funny. Yuyu just had to ask, “Is something wrong?”

“No!” Nemuri snapped, “I mean, nah it’s all good.”

“Why are you talking like that?” Thirteen shook her head.

Nemuri mumbled a few meaningless sentences under her breath. The two Heroes felt slightly on edge in this area, it was still too early for anyone to actually be up and about beyond the occasional night shift worker returning home but it still gave them the creeps.

Thirteen pointed, “That’s my car.”

Yuyu looked, “Really?”

It was a small and compact eco monstrosity, it was tiny and also thin. It was in a nice polished teal that made it stick out like a very small sore thumb. Yuyu could tell that its performance would be abysmal and it probably also cost a fortune.

Thirteen nodded, “Yep. She’s a beauty.”

“Just roll with it,” Nemuri whispered, “I didn’t get much of a say in it.”

They all got inside and Thirteen flicked on the engine and started to drive. Yuyu hadn’t been in too many cars but she felt like this thing was way too close to the ground.

Thirteen decided to make some idle small talk to the girl cooped up in the back, “So made any friends?” She knew the answer vaguely enough already but was just trying to be a good teacher.

“Yeah,” Yuyu answered evasively.

“Wanna tell us about her?” Nemuri smiled.

“Her?” Yuyu perked up.

Nemuri realised she had already fucked up. She tried to bring it back, “Well girls make friends with girls. Right?”

“Suppose,” Yuyu looked out of the window. Her good eye took in all of the sprawling details, she had always enjoyed watching the world pass her by. 

“So are you gonna spill?” Thirteen chuckled as she drove around. The gloves seemed to have no effect on her ability.

“Well Nejire is nice. And we get on pretty easily, we didn't even need to do any formal name bs,” Yuyu smirked.

“What do you like about her?” Nemuri asked.

“She’s considerate. Talks a bit too much but I like that.”

Thirteen drove carefully and slid into the U.A. parking lot. She parked next to a bright blue muscle car.

Nemuri shook her head, “Of all the cars you have to park next to the one that blows us out of the water.”

“He’s got some gas guzzling beast,” Thirteen protested, “Eco friendly is cool. It doesn't even use lithium in the battery.”

Nemuri opened the door, “I don’t need a manual to see who’s got the cooler car. You’re better looking though.”

Thirteen laughed, “Thank you.”

Aizawa emerged from the shadows (a shrub nearby). He was fully dressed in his hero gear and rubbed his eyes, “Morning Ms Haya. I’ll take you to, Recovery Girl.”

-

Yuyu followed Aizawa to the state of the art medical bay, it’s walls polished white and its cabinet stocked full of legitimate and safe drugs, that were even in date, it was a far cry from the clinic Yuyu had been born in her mother hadn’t even been able to afford anaesthetic for the birth. Inside was an old woman with a white lab coat and pink headgear. Upon seeing the state Yuyu was in she just shook her head and walked over.

She ripped off the bandages. “You need to relearn first aid, Shota.” She kissed Yuyu’s eye, and in an instant the girl blinked and opened her injured socket.

Yuyu felt fine. A little hungrier but all the lingering pain had been eradicated, “Thank you… Recovery Girl?”

Recovery Girl smiled at the thank you, “Correct. I’m taking a break, you two can talk.”

The moment she left, Aizawa sat down and gestured for Yuyu to sit across from him. She complied and waited for what he had to say.

Aizawa crossed his arms, “What do you intend to get out of this course?”

“Well I wanna be a Hero?” Yuyu wasn’t sure where he was going with that.

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, “Even after yesterday? If you want I can get you in the general classes.”

“I don’t need your pity. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened to me,” Yuyu scoffed at the notion, “I’ve been searched by Heroes while walking home with my mum. I’ve seen kids orphaned by Heroes arresting their parents. But I’m not going to let that stop me, I want to help people. That's final.”

Aizawa applauded her conviction. If anything it was probably better to have a Hero who actually knew a few things about the world. He took out his eye drops, “Any idea on what kinda work you want?”

“Search and Rescue. Could I intern with the Wild, Wild Pussycats?” Yuyu was straight to the point.

“Hmm. Really?” Aizawa applied the drops and looked at Yuyu, “You’ll have to wear their uniform.”

“I don’t mind that.”

“Then I’ll see what I can do.”

-

Mirio and Nejire were dancing away at the back of the classroom. Tamaki had placed his bag on his desk and hidden behind it as the two idiots sang.

“Ain't nobody dope as me, I'm just so fresh, so clean!” Nejire sang.

“ So fresh and so clean, clean, ” Mirio provided backing vocals.

“Don't you think I'm so sexy? I'm just so fresh, so clean,” Nejire spun around and flashed a smile at the students watching.

“ Who smokin' purple and green, green? ”

“Ain't nobody dope as me, I'm just so fresh, so clean,” Nejire laughed and did a frontflip, “I love when you stare at me, I'm just so fresh, so clean.”

“So fresh and so clean, clean,”

Mirio’s hips swayed, “ And we are? ”

“The coolest motherfuckers on the planet,” Neire answered as their duet continued.

“ In my mind. ” “The sky is falling, ain't no need to panic.”

“ Oh, oh. ” “I got a stick, I want your automatic!”

“ Ooh, ooh-ooh. ” “Compatible, creative in the attic, huh.”

“ And we are. ” “The coolest motherfuckers on the planet.”

“ In my mind. ” “The sky is falling, ain't no need to panic.”

“ Oh, oh ” “I got a stick, I want your automatic.”

“Ooh, ooh-ooh” “Compatible, creative in the attic, 'cause-”

Aizawa slammed the door open. He looked at the teenagers dancing in the back, he would have gotten annoyed but even he had to admit OutKast were a good choice even though it was strange to have students listening to music that would be over a century old when he was a teen.

Yuyu held back her laugh as she sat beside Nejire, “What were you guys doing?”

“Having fun?” Nejire giggled, “Get home safely?”

“Yeah. It was ok,” Yuyu handed over Mirio’s jacket.

Aizawa sat at the front and started doing the register. Yuyu took a deep breath and wanted to get some sleep, but she needed to do her best here.

Aizawa finished up and got up. “I’m going to the break room. You’ll start Hero Art Studies.”

“What’s the point of that?” A hot headed student asked.

“It’s your costume designs. I’d advise you to pay attention,” Aizawa got up and walked away with his yellow sleeping bag.

As he left a woman dressed in a scandalously tight and revealing outfit burst in. The way the flesh coloured and skintight fabric clung to her breasts and rear combined with the black corset was enough to make most of the boys instinctively ogle, even Yuyu struggled to keep her eyes to herself. The woman smiled, “I am Midnight.”

Beside her was a person in what seemed to be a white astronaut suit with heavy padding and a completely blacked out helmet. The person waved, “I’m Thirteen. Today we’ll be going over how suit design works.”

Nemuri pointed at herself, “It's a fact that the more distinctive you are the more successful you’re going to be. So that means we’re gonna do some theory!” She whipped the table with a whip and pointed, “Ladies!”

The girls in the room looked up.

“Don’t be afraid to show a little skin!” Nemuri smirked her crooked smile sending a shiver down most of the class's hearts, “Femininity is in high demand these days. You want striking colours and also maybe some almost fleshy tones in your outfit draw in the eye.”

Nejire raised a hand, “What about suit practicalities?”

“Huh?” Nemuri stopped for a moment and frowned, “Err… yeah make sure you do that too!”

Mirio stuck his hand up, “Can we show skin?”

Nemuri was flabbergasted, “I mean like… yeah?”

Thirteen pushed her aside, “Before we get onto cool designs. We need to know what your Quirks do and how we can enhance them. For example the reason Midnight here dresses like a stripp- in a vulgar outfit is because she needs ready access to her Quirk.”

Mirio fidgeted around his chair even more. Tamaki looked at him with eyes that begged for his friend to just shut up.

Thirteen nodded, “Yes?”

“How?”

Nemuri smiled, “Well my skin exudes a pheromone that puts people to sleep. It doesn’t come from my hands or face so I need to have exposed skin-”

Mirio cut in, “But it comes from your arms right?”

Nemuri nodded, “Arms, chest, stomach, thighs and groin.”

“So like why don’t you wear a tank top and cargo shorts? It’d be comfier!” Mirio asked with childlike wonder.

Tamamki was making cutting gestures at his neck. ‘Shut it!’

Thirteen tried to defend her secret girlfriend, “Well it’s because it’d be… you know... It’d be less… actually he’s right. Why don’t you?”

Nemuri was silent. She was scraping her head for an answer but with the exception of being naked (again) his outfit suggestion was actually making a lot of sense. The only glaring issue was her brand was kinda reliant on pushing the boundaries, “Well you see. I think I know a little bit more about how my Quirk works than you.”

Mirio conceded, “That's true I suppose!”

“Great, now all of you can just write down some strengths and weaknesses of your abilities and hand them in. We’ll start drafting your actual designs later!” Nemuri let out a sigh of relief that her cover was maintained.

-

In the dining hall Tamaki sat across next to Mirio, “What were you thinking?”

Mirio looked at his lunch, “What’s wrong with Katsu curry?”

Nejire laughed and sat across from them with Yuyu, “I don’t think he means that.”

“Why are you criticising a Pro Hero’s outfit?” Tamaki mumbled, “She knows our names.”

“I think he was right to. Nobody needs to dress that proactively, it’s just thinly veiled misogyny,” Nejire added.

“I agree. It’s just crass sexualisation,” Yuyu nodded. She subtly pushed aside the mental images of her topless teacher… or the fact that she owned several calendars of those images.

Nejire looked at Mirio, “So how is your suit going to work? Won’t you just be naked?”

“Well if I was a villain I wouldn’t want a naked man chasing me,” Yuyu nibbled on her rice, “Wow… this is good.”

Mirio ate his curry, “Well maybe we can use my hairs to weave it together. I noticed that I can’t phase through myself.”

“Odd restriction but it could work,” Yuyu nodded, “I’m getting something simple.”

“Why?” Tamamki ate his seafood.

“I just need conductive yarn and a lot of utility belts. The actual design should be enabling and not flashy, I don’t care about being an icon,”

“What are you keeping in the belts?” Nejire asked.

“The usual. Painkillers and maybe stimulants. My Quirk's safe output is higher when I’m calm,” Yuyu yawned and kept picking away at her food.

“I want a cloak,” Tamaki whispered.

“So you can brood?” Yuyu teased, “Dude you need to put yourself out there some more. Like you’re probably the strongest guy here.”

Tamaki looked away in shame, “Sorry.”

“What are you apologising for? It’s not my problem,” Yuyu shrugged.

“Sorry,” Tamaki reiterated much to Yuyu’s annoyance.

Nejire forced a smile and tried to steer the conversation, “Hey. Tamaki? Can I call you Tamaki?”

“If you want,” He whispered.

“You could use pouches too!” Nejire nodded, “If you have food on hand then you can use your Quirk whenever.”

Tamaki looked at Nejire like she was an angel. Why hadn’t he come up with that?

Yuyu huffed, “That was my idea!”

As the 4 students talked away Thirteen walked by and handed over a slip to Nejire, “This is for you.” She walked away, the sounds of her boots were deceptively quiet.

Nejire opened it up and gasped, “OH. MY. GOD!” She screamed, and several students looked over to see if she was ok.

Nejrie held the photo of a baby Yuyu to the other girl's face, “This is you?”

“Where did you get that!” Yuyu looked at Thirteen, a feeling of betrayal running up her tingly spine, “W-wait! How!”

Nejire handed a photo over to Mirio who just couldn’t believe it, “You were so cute!”

“WERE!?” Yuyu shouted in impudent rage.

“I thought you were going for the grunge look now?” Mirio frowned.

“Look at this!” Nejire gazed at a baby picture of Yuyu wrapped up in a blanket, the giddy smile, small peachy fuzz and wide gormless smile.

Yuyu cringed, “Why do I look like that? What am I smiling about?”

“There’s even a breastfeeding one!” Nejire giggled and showed off the old picture, Yuyu shivered as she saw her shirtless mother cradling her baby. She also noticed several boys from other tables subtly lean over at the mention of breastfeeding.

Snatching the photo Yuyu slammed it onto the table fadedown, “Are you happy?” The only one who took her privacy to heart was Tamaki who's eyes were locked squarely on his food.

“Not before I see the other dozen or so photos!” Nejire declared.

Chapter Text

Aizawa looked at the students standing before him. They were all huddled and dressed in their physical education uniforms. He had been training and pushing them for weeks and he wanted to see how they would be able to handle themselves alone.

Nejire had a wide smile on her face. She was a beacon for all the other students to look at. No matter what Aizawa threw at them, she always seemed to take it with a childishly happy grin and spring in her step.

Mirio also had the same stupid grin. They were both exceptionally talented and physically able students with rumours of a potential relationship sparking behind closed doors starting to be whispered among the halls of U.A. much to two other students' horror.

Tamaki was standing around trying to look as small as possible. He didn’t really want to do badly, but the idea of being the best also made his skin crawl. That internal barrier was the biggest hindrance to his own success, he had enough guts and talent to get on the hero course but the inevitable feelings of being a fraud had crept back in. Mirio was still doing well even while being unable to properly use his Quirk. Yuyu was fighting tooth and nail to secure her position in this world. Nejire was clearly the best among them, her Quirk was unbelievably powerful and she seemed to be growing stronger and stronger each week.

Yuyu had a look of grim determination. She needed to do well, her logic being that she was going to try her absolute hardest at all times. No concerns for damage ran in her mind and no quarter was spared to herself. She clenched her fists and furrowed her brow, she thought about her mother… that was all the motivation she needed.

Aizawa pointed at the whiteboard he had set up, “It’s simple. Make your way through the forest and defeat anything you find. The only difference this time is you’ll be split up and you can get hurt. Pick a partner.”

People turned to look at Nejire but she was already on Yuyu.

“Let's buddy up!” Nejire declared as she wrapped an arm around the girl.

“Really?” Yuyu asked. Her Quirk was decent but Nejire could have requested anyone in the class.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I want to hang out with my BFF?” Nejire laughed.

“BFF?” Yuyu raised an eyebrow at the abbreviation.

“Bestest Friend Forever!” Nejire giggled, “It’s simple.”

“Right,” Yuyu made no attempt to escape Nejire’s grasp, if anything she nestled in as Nejire started reciting other terms and synonyms for ‘Best friend’ .

Tamaki looked at Mirio, “Shall we?”

“Yep,” Mirio stood beside him. Their choice was as easy as ever. Tamaki was Mirio’s best friend after all. They were the most dynamic duo of all.

-

Nejire cracked her fingers as she walked along in the dark and misty woods. Beside her was Yuyu who was looking around with a sense of paranoia. Yuyu murmured, “Shouldn’t we be quicker?”

“It’s not about speed,” Nejire pointed out, “It’s about how we react. It’s a confidence trick.”

Yuyu rubbed her short brown hair, “Gotcha.”

Nejire walked around with a sense of wonder at nature. She didn’t take things too seriously, taking time to look and smell flowers or to carefully prod little insects.

Yuyu felt a surge of electricity prickle down her back. She was as alert as ever and wanted to just do something, several ideas for how to best utilise her Quirk sprung to mind.

“You seem distracted,” Nejire pointed out. Her hands nestled between a small white lily that was growing under a damp tree stump. She didn’t pick it, Nejire wished to see it blossom and spread across the entire world.

Yuyu was silent. Her eyes trying and failing to pick up any disturbance ahead of her, she didn’t want to look at Nejire. Her eyes would wander and she’d fail, she didn’t need to think about how cute and symmetrical Nejires face was, or how nice she looked in the jumpsuit or how shiny her periwinkle hair was.

Nejire accepted Yuyu’s silence. She didn’t know what the girl was going through and didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable or forced to say anything, “Wanna get something to eat later?”

“Yes!” Yuyu snapped before realising how forward she was being again, “Yeah, that’s cool.”

Nejire placed her hands together and smiled, “Sweet. I’ll get an ice cream. It's way too hot today.”

Yuyu’s lips started to rise before sensing an immediate danger. Nejire was on her in a second and pushed her to the ground.

The entire action was in the blink of an eye and a metallic fist shot past them and smashed a tree in twain. Yuyu thought to herself, ‘She’s been aware the whole time?’

The robotic practice dummy sprinted out between the trees and looked down at the two girls who were sprawled on top of each other. It raised its fists to deal an incapacitating blow before being blown apart by Nejire’s Wave Motion, the sheer power of the Quirk was clearly not accounted for in the design of the machine and its circuits and shattered metallic skin landed among them. A circular beam shot into the sky.

Nejire let out a deep breath before remembering she was laying on top of Yuyu. She quickly scrambled up and laughed, “Sorry about that. I didn’t have time to ask.”

Yuyu shook her head, “I don’t mind. That thing was trying to take my head off!” She looked at the wreckage of the robot, its mechanical guts hissed and cracked and its single red cracked lens looked at them pathetically.

Nejire dusted the dirt off Yuyu’s jumpsuit, the other girl leaning into her grasp. Nejire beamed, “Don’t worry. I’m sure the teachers wouldn’t send anything too dangerous.”

Yuyu held her tongue. Nejire was truly something else, her Wave Motion was significantly more powerful than her Quirk and the downside would at worst cause Nejire to be a bit lethargic for the day. Meanwhile overuse of Yuyu’s Quirk was liable to leave her as a vegetable with a fried brain, destroyed bones and flayed skin.

Yuyu should have hated her. Maybe in a way she did. The confidence, the power and the sheer attractiveness of the girl was sickening, Yuyu felt like a bug stuck in a spider’s web and she knew this was only going to end one way.

Nejire looked into Yuyu’s eyes, “Yuyu?”

“Huh?”

Nejire frowned, “You look annoyed. Did I do something wrong?”

Yuyu span around and just kept walking, “No. You’re not capable of that are you.”

Nejire followed behind her, the thinly veiled insult had somehow not been recognised and Nejire was wondering what exactly was going on. She could see Yuyu was walking in a slightly sloppier manner, the more paranoid and timid steps replaced with a heavy footfall as Yuyu pushed ahead. Was she determined to get into a fight?

Maybe she was being too friendly? That had cost her friends before, her middle school experience was still a bitter memory she didn’t want to repeat, especially now that she was at U.A. but it was also stupid to put words in Yuyu’s mouth. She hadn’t actually gotten visibly annoyed, maybe she just wanted to show off her own Quirk? Nejire still wasn’t entirely sure what Yuyu could do. Sensei Aizawa’s tests had always seemed to not push Yuyu to any limits or even really required her to use her Quirk at all.

Given his extremely high standards and threats of expelling anyone who didn’t meet his criteria Nejire had found it a little strange. They didn’t really talk and Yuyu was definitely not related to him, she was cool in a completely different way to Sensei Aizawa and didn’t seem like the brooding type.

A crackle of electricity assaulted Nejires nostrils; she looked ahead and saw Yuyu walking into a clearing with another one of the mechanical dummy bots waiting for them. Nejire shouted, “Do you need help?”

Yuyu turned and looked at Nejire. She had a slight look of surprise at the question before smiling with a focused and sharp grin, “Nah, leave it to me.”

Nejire rested against a tree and watched. Against her better nature she decided not to intervene unless it was absolutely necessary.

Yuyu rubbed her hands together and took a deep breath. This was it, for the first time she’d be allowed to actually show off what she can do.

The robot was once again of a humanoid shape. With a blocky and tankish design, it’d be easy to hit and assuming she got the right part she’d be able to land a decisive blow.

Imbuing her legs with a low level charge she started to close in with the machine. It was just staring her down.

Was it defective?

Was this going to be embarrassingly easy?

Yuyu cursed the idea of Nejire thinking she was little more than a U.A. charity case. She needed a real fight, she was determined to have one, “C’mon do somethin-”

The machine moved in the blink of an eye. Yuyu barely had time to register that a carbon fiber fist was being firmly and brutishly pumped into her noggin.

She went flying back as she saw stars. But only one thing was on her mind.

‘I’ve had worse.’

With a flip she hit the ground on both of her feet and wiped the blood off her face. Yuyu laughed and pointed at her adversary, “Now we’re talking!” Electricity surged and ached from her body, the tips of her fingers and toes starting to feel the strain as she supplemented her physical strength.

With a leap she waded in and started to strike at the robot. The ground and blades of grass hissed and burnt as she punched and kicked at the thing. 

Nejire watched as it parried and blocked her BFF’s blows. Yuyu fought like a mad dog. Her swings and attacks were wild and completely self taught. Her punches were sluggish but also mostly feints and probes. She even grabbed some dirt off the ground to try and throw into the robot's eye lens.

She was a very dirty fighter. But Nejire didn’t really expect anything else from a Sanya girl.

-

Tamaki had his hands in his pockets as he kicked a rock around. He and Mirio had been making decent progress. But they hadn’t really found anything yet, the robots they were supposed to encounter seemed to be missing.

“This is kinda boring,” Mirio yawned. He was testing out his Permeation by striking his hand into trees. Tamaki was impressed, he was actually getting a hang of the Quirk without stripping himself or falling into the ground.

Tamaki shrugged, “We just need to keep going. At least we don’t need to do much work.”

“I guess,” Mirio rubbed the back of his head. His blond hair shimmering in the light that broke through the woods. “Are you ready for the Sports Festival?”

“No,” Tamaki shook his head.

“I thought you’d say something like that,” Mirio chuckled, “Your Quirk is really powerful. You’ve also got the strength to win.”

“Flattery?” Tamaki raised an eyebrow. Did Mirio want something off him?

“A complement. C’mon dude no need to put yourself down,” Mirio shook his head and looked ahead, “I think we’re nearly done.”

“Really?” Tamaki looked up and saw the end of the woods, “This is way too easy. Wanna get something to eat after?”

“Pizza?” Mirio snapped immediately.

“I was thinking of Katsu Curry,” Tamaki shrugged.

“What if we get Yuyu a burger!” Mirio snapped his fingers, “She’d love that.”

Tamaki’s lips curled up ever so slightly, “Yeah. That sounds good.”

-

Forcing tens of thousands of unstable volts into her system Yuyu felt the breaking points of her Quirk fast approaching. She probably had a few more strong punches and quick dodges before diminishing returns kicked in. Once that happened it was a matter of time before Quirk usage would be self destructive.

This had to end.

The robot was speeding up as she got more and more aggressive and slippery. The perfectly machined hands were punching out at angles she couldn’t even see as it formed a protective cocoon of reposites and back breaking blows. She couldn’t get within a few feet before getting hammered back. Each blow winding her and taking more and more of the fight out of her.

She pointed at it and formed an arrow of pure electricity. Using her body as a rail the bolt shot ahead at the speed of light. The arc of power short-circuited the machine for just a moment. That was all she needed. Her right arm was numb and pained but she simply did not care.

Closing the gap Yuyu lashed out. She was small and wiry, jinking and dodging like her life depended on it. As the bot swung and churned up the dirt and grass around them, Yuyu found herself getting more and more into the rhythm of combat. It was lustfully powerful to fight, her heart pounding with frantic and energetic stress.

More and more attacks started to miss her or rather she was starting to dodge them better and better. Each time she avoided a blow she learned something new, even when a fist hurt her it was also a lesson paid for in pain. 

Yuyu’s blows bounced off the carbon fiber hide of the mechanical monstrosity. Its punches and flailing faded into the background as she pushed herself harder and harder.

Nejire was watching.

She needed to be better.

She had to be better.

With a scream she jammed her fist into the chest cavity and pulled. Sparks and clashing volts and amps howled into the air. Yuyu’s aggressive tear caused the cabling and live wires to ripple along her skin. If she wasn’t innately resistant to electrocution she suspected she’d have caused serious damage.

With a gut wrenching amount of effort Yuyu managed to drag out most of the machine's internal cabling and scrambled up the dying beast. Using its own mechanical innards as a noose she pulled and pulled until it stopped. It’s neck popping and grinding as it was crushed under the weight of its own machinery.

The struggle ground on for what felt like hours. Yuyu pulled and pulled as the machine fell back and tried to rip her off. It was a titanic feat but she held on and tightened her grip with all her might, her arms bulging and waning with strength as she waited for it to pop.

Eventually it stopped, the machine sufficiently disabled to shut down.

Yuyu had won. With a defiant roar she raised her fist in a style similar to All Might. She would utter his iconic catchphrase but he’d probably run in to sue her or something.

Nejire watched with a look of horror and also a strange sense of pride. Wave Motion could have blown the bot apart in seconds. Instead Yuyu had fought red in tooth and claw to bring it down alone.

Still, was it worth it? Yuyu was bleeding from her face and her jumpsuit and chest were torn and cut in several places.

Nejire walked over and took Yuyu’s hand. She didn’t care about the fact that it was trembling, covered in blood, rough and calloused. WIth an angelically soft voice she declared, “I’m carrying you the rest of the way.”

Yuyu felt her energy sap. She wasn’t even in a position to pretend to argue against Nejire, hearing that soft voice she didn’t even know if she could. It was music to her ears, the purest melody that made the battle frenzy slip off her soul, “That’s fine with me.”

Nejire held Yuyu close and started to propel herself upwards with Wave Motion. The movements were awkward and needed work, but she was getting a hang of it.

Yuyu wrapped her arms around Nejire’s neck, the raspy breaths becoming more erratic and panicked as they flew through the air. Nejire’s periwinkle hair fluttered as she flew around, the heavy yellow rings vibrated and reverberated as she kept hovering, “Don’t look down. Just look at me… please?”

Yuyu listened and stared at her savior's face. ‘Cute.’

-

Aizawa looked at the monitors as the students pushed through the woods. Beside him was the big man himself, All Might, “Anyone catch your eye?”

All Might was looking at the screen with his trademark smile and larger than life appearance. The time he could maintain his super state was deteriorating each and every year and yet Aizawa still felt the overwhelming power of the Symbol of Peace in the room.

All Might watched on the screen as a young girl strangled a machine to death with its own cabling. She was fury made manifest a good model to be sculpted and formed into an ideal line hero with the right pushes and training.

She was definitely not the one.

“No I don’t think so,” All Might shook his head, “Those two boys seem to be avoiding everything?”

Aizawa looked as Tamaki and Mirio somehow managed to blunder and avoid each and every ambush. It was hilarious in a cosmic sense. Two high potential Quirk users and they weren’t even being given the chance to show off.

Nemuri sipped her thermos flask and looked at the monitors, “No one’s been incapacitated?”

“No. Next time we could give them live targets,” Aizawa rubbed his chin.

A loud crash could be heard outside all of them turned to see Nejire and Yuyu enter the tent. Yuyu was in a state but after watching the fight Aizawa wasn’t particularly surprised, “How’d you get here?”

“We flew,” Nejire heaved. She was sweating and her eyes looked glazed, clearly having expended a large amount of stamina.

“Flew?” Aizawa raised an eyebrow, “Since when?”

“It’s like hovering… but harder,” Nejire coughed. It was a large leap of her powers and she was really starting to feel the negatives of pushing herself too hard, “I’m gonna go.”

“You do that,” Aizawa frowned and turned back to the screen.

-

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” Mirio asked as he stumbled over a rough patch of grass. They were still yet to actually find anyone or anything.

Tamaki sighed, “I’m at least seventy percent sure dude.” He looked around at the thick underbrush, it did all look the same sadly.

“Ok I feel like that’s lower than what we started with,” Mirio looked concerned. They couldn't be this bad at navigation, right? What if GPS went down one day?

“We’re close ok,” Tamaki shook his head, “What’s the worst that’s going to happen.”

“You two?” Aizawa walked out of a bush, “Where are you going?”

“Sir?” Mirio was confused, “But we’re not at the camp yet.”

Aizawa looked at them, “No, you’re several hours late. You walked past the camp about four times.”

“But we were close when we missed?” Mirio asked.

“I suppose you were?” Aizawa was confused by what Mirio was even trying to get at.

Mirio looked at Tamaki, “See dude just a little work and we’ll be Pros!” He held out his hand for a high five.

“I’m making you two do this again over the weekend,” Aizawa shook his head and walked away, “You’re also dead last.”

Tamaki wanted to hit his head against a tree.

-

“Where are we headed?” Yuyu smoothed out her skirt as she walked along the street with her friends. Recovery Girl had chastised her for the beating she’d received but other than that had been quick to get her back into a functional state.

Mirio pointed at the sky, “Isn’t it obvious?”

Nejire looked up, “The sun?”

Tamaki leaned in and whispered to Mirio, “It’s not that obvious.”

“Oh! Well… we’re getting burgers!” Mirio explained, “You guys have a preference?”

“I’ve had a McUltra meal before.” Yuyu shrugged. She neglected to point out that it was because it was being given out for free at her middle school as part of some PR thing. Her mother could afford a cheap burger as part of their monthly meal out, but Sanya was so far removed from fast food places that it was easier and nicer to get some local street food from the slums.

“We’re getting real burgers! Not the fast food chain stuff!” Mirio shouted into the sky.

“I see,” Yuyu shrugged, “Burgers aren’t really my thing. But I’m open to trying I suppose.”

Nejire brushed against Yuyu, “I know a really good place! You’ll love it,” She locked her fingers around Yuyu’s and started swinging them up and down as they walked hand and hand.

Tamaki noticed the red hot blush on Yuyu’s face as she tried to hide herself. He wondered what that was about, “Mirio, should we check out Nejire’s idea?”

“Yeah why not,” Mirio nodded, “What kinda place is it?” He adjusted his backpack slightly, the straps starting to feel a bit tight as he got bigger and wider over the last few months. At least he knew the training was paying off.

“It’s kinda Hawaiian,” Nejire smiled. She pulled out her smartphone and showed the place to everyone.

“So there will be seafood?” Tamaki resisted the urge to smile.

“Naturally.”

They all walked along. Nejire still held onto Yuyu’s hand, she traced over the other girl's skin. She felt nice in a slightly rugged way, not in a particularly masculine way… but more like a thorny rose.

Nejire wanted to know more about Yuyu. She was clearly quite a prickly and closed off person, like a hedgehog. She’d read about this dilemma in the past and the idea that she could actually push Yuyu away by being too open and kind was horrifying.

She could handle rejection. But not when people misinterpreted what she had even said.

Why did she care so much about Yuyu? Mirio was a friend too. But he didn’t seem as important and was definitely a lot easier to please. Tamaki was nice but she didn’t feel the need to squeeze information or a life story out of him.

There was only one reasonable explanation for what Nejire was feeling!

She had found her super-ultra-bestest-friend forever!

That was the only rational explanation for why she was so interested. Her smile was wider than a planet as she leaned in and nuzzled against Yuyu, the other girl's shampoo made her hair quite coarse but it was still nice and fuzzy.

Yuyu’s heart stopped at the feeling of Nejire’s perfectly soft and gentle skin against her. She could barely process that Nejire was rubbing against her.

Mercifully they’d reached the place. Nejire let go of Yuyu’s hand to lead them all inside, the soft thrum and drone of foreign music and the sharp lighting was a spectacle. The dark wood of the carved wooden booths was quite sweet and the scent of spices and sugar filled the air. 

Yuyu sat in a booth and looked around. It was so bright and also so dark. It didn’t really feel like Nejire’s kinda place.

Tamaki was already looking through the menu and was preemptively picking and choosing what starters he’d like, “This is a gold mine. Good call!” He actually smiled, he was clearly in his element.

Mirio was looking over Tamaki’s shoulder. They were inseparable and had immediately sat together, a dividing line in the booth between the girls and boys. Yuyu found it funny, neither of these guys had even tried to make a move on her over the last month at U.A.

Then again that’s not a surprise, she knew she was rough and hardy. But more importantly neither of them had shown even the slightest amount of interest in Nejire.

Not that Yuyu cared of course. She just couldn’t understand how they wouldn’t be all over Nejire considering her perfect and symmetrical face, amazingly athletic body, bubbly personality and large bre-

“Yuyu?” Nejire nudged Yuyu. “Are you ok? Is the menu that good? You’re drooling.”

Yuyu wiped her lips, “Oh yeah… I’m just hungry.”

“What do you want then?” Nejire asked, her voice ever patient.

Yuyu bit her lip, having not really looked over the menu, “Can you decide for me?”

“Oh like a friendship test?” Nejire beamed.

“Something like that,” Yuyu lied.

“Well we’re definitely going to get the cheesy stick starters and then I’ll get you an apple burger with peri peri fries!” Nejrie looked over the drinks looking up at Yuyu repeatedly as she did so.

Yuyu assumed she must have had something on her face and tried to wipe her lips, “Is it still on me?”

“Pardon?” Nejire asked.

“You’re looking at me.”

“I just want to get a drink that matches your hair colour,” Nejire explained.

“Why don’t you do that for me?” Mirio asked Tamaki.

Tamaki looked at the drinks menu, “Err? Banana milkshake?”

“You know me so well!” Mirio hugged Tamaki, “Yeah I’ll have that.”

Tamaki was so lost. He just found the first vaguely yellow thing on the menu and said it. Still he wasn’t going to reject the hug. Mirio kept hugging him tighter and tighter until Tamaki realised that he was actually being constricted and his oxygen was being forced out of him.

Mirio looked at Yuyu, “Hey, maybe you can pick out my meal.”

“Will you hug me if I do?” Yuyu asked.

“Of course,” Mirio nodded with Tamaki smothered between his arms.

“Then no,” Yuyu answered bluntly, looking at the poor boy caught between Mirio’s arms. Well she assumed he was a poor boy but Tamaki didn’t look all that concerned.

Eventually they all managed to fumble through and order something. As they waited, Nejire turned to Yuyu and asked, “What’s your favourite sport?”

“Baseball?” Yuyu was surprised at the question but the answer was obvious. Baseball was something everyone liked regardless of class in Japan.

“Favourite food?”

“Oranges are nice and simple,” Yuyu shrugged, “Streetfood of all types is also good but my preference is probably yakitori.”

“Favourite day?”

“Of the year?”

Nejire nodded, “Mine is New Years.”

“May 15th I guess,” Yuyu always remembered her mothers birthday. It was fun to celebrate and spend time with her.

“Why?” Nejire rubbed her chin, “Are you a big fan of the coup?”

“What?” Yuyu was so lost, what coup?

“You know, like 200 years ago. It was a really big deal,” Nejire remembered being taught about it in her history class. She found it strange that people were willing to kill one another over something as ephemeral as power politics. At least a thief killing for money was tangible.

“I don’t know my history, I'm sorry,” Yuyu shrugged, internally she felt like a complete and utter tool.

“Ok so what about your favourite…” Nejire struggled along for a moment, “Person!”

“My mum?” Yuyu answered as if that were obviously a stupid question. She thought Nejire was cute but she had her priorities straight… or at least on track, “Is this 20 questions or something?”

“Ok ask me something?” Nejire leaned in and pouted.

“Everhadaboyfriend?” Yuyu snapped before slamming her head into the table with enough force to rattle the cutlery around them.

“Pardon?” Nejire didn’t quite catch what Yuyu was trying to say.

Yuyu let out a sigh of relief. Thankfully she’d spoken too quickly.

Tamaki, ever the helpful guy, filled Nejire in, “She asked if you’ve ever had a boyfriend.”

Yuyu looked up at him with bloodshot eyes filled with purest and most overwhelmingly evil hatred. Tamaki’s heart stopped, had he messed up? Of course he had! The way she stared him down was enough to make Tamaki consider running away to a dark corner to brood and hide.

“Erm no?” Nejire answered, “What about you?”

Yuyu’s face lifted with exuberant joy at the confirmation (not that she cared) and she shook her head, “Nah you know what boys are like. The whole lot of them are good for nothing sex pests.”

Tamaki sharply nudged Mirio when he tried to interrupt.

Nejire was shocked, “Really. Is your experience with boys that bad?”

“Well Tamaki upskirted me on the first day,” Yuyu laughed, in the grand scheme of things. It wasn’t too bad but it was a funny story.

“B-but-but-”

Mirio waded in, “Don’t worry he’s a lot better now and he hasn’t done it since.”

Nejire was stunned, “You looked up her skirt… at her ew! The only person who should see that is her partner!”

“No wait. Well yes… but it was by accident!” Tamaki tried and failed to defend himself. He could see Yuyu smiling at him squirming like a fish out of water.

Nejire scoffed, “Accidently? That’s sick.”

“No. He’s not that bad to be honest, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume it was an accident because we were all late and I did jump in the air using Mirio.”

“Still you should wear longer skirts in future… you never know,” Nejire whispered.

“Don’t like my legs?” Yuyu teased.

By some miracle Nejire was actually taken aback. She coughed and shook her head, “No, they look nice. I think the cuts and scars look cool and kinda… pretty.”

Their meals arrived and Yuyu looked at the burger. It was like nothing she’d ever seen. It wasn’t squashed, or gnarly or cheap. ‘Huh. That looks nice?’ The cheese was a very rich yellow and the spices and sugar made the burger have a distinct scent. Even the bread seemed to be fancy and toasted in all the right ways with the crisply edges blending into the dark room due to the overhanging light.

Tamaki was already shoving food into his mouth. He was a completely different beast when they were eating, especially seafood. The embarrassment seemed to wash away into a shameless sense of engorging himself.

Nejire was digging into her burger, “How is it?”

Yuyu tentatively gripped hers and took a bite. It was sharp and sweet, the savoury elements giving away to an almost dessert-like quality, the apple was genius with the natural flavours of onion and apple mixing together perfectly. Her hands trembled at the idea that she’d been missing out on this her entire life!

Mirio smirked, “I think she likes it.”

“S-shut up man,” Yuyu protested as she started to eat more and more. Each bite was enough to make her toes curl. The burger was even a little smokey in all the right ways.

‘Money well spent then.’ Nejiire thought to herself as she watched Yuyu eat. She’d spend her entire allowance just to see that smile.

-

After finishing up Tamaki and Mirio waved off the two girls before walking away. Nejire looked around, it was getting dark and Yuyu would need to get home soon. She smiled, “Want me to walk you?”

“No, no I’ll be alright,” Yuyu lied. The lingering pain of being slammed down by the No2 hero was a shroud that hung over her. But she refused to let Nejire see the area she lived in, something as cute and as perfect as Nejire didn’t deserve to have her eyes sullied by abject poverty or be leered at by downtrodden and pathetic wasters.

Yuyu didn’t even deserve to be near her. She was a fraud and she knew it.

Nejire frowned but didn’t press her, “That’s fine. But maybe we could get together sometime… just as girls you know?”

“Yeah, that'd be nice,” Yuyu mumbled sheepishly.

Nejire tore off a piece of paper from her journal and scribbled down her number, “Send me a text sometime and ring me when you get home! I wanna know you’re safe, ok?”

“Gotcha,” Yuyu clung onto the number like it was magical. Her heart was pounding as Nejire turned around and walked away. Her beautiful and flowing hair bobbed as she moved away.

Nejire almost squealed as she turned the corner. She must have looked so cool and she’d just given out her number to someone for personal reasons! What should she send Yuyu? Should she be cool and kinda detached on text or maybe they could check in on each other every morning and evening at minimum.

Was she overthinking this? Or maybe she was underthinking this! How could she be sure that Yuyu even wanted her number?

She had seemed so determined to fight that robot earlier by herself even to the point of severe injury. Was Yuyu showing off or was she jealous? Nejire had won the genetic lottery after all; her Quirk was objectively more powerful, easier to use and had less drawbacks than Yuyu's. She could be half the woman that Yuyu was and still be more successful than her in the Hero field.

Maybe she was? How could she even tell? Her thoughts were hers and hers alone and clearly Yuyu, Mirio and Tamaki all had thoughts of their own.

Still Yuyu had her number and that was all that mattered.

Chapter Text

‘I don't mind about the war. That's one of the things I like to watch. If it's a war going on, 'cause then I know if our side's winning, if our side's losing…’

‘What God wants, God gets, God help us all

What God wants, God gets, God help us all (God gets)

What God wants, God gets, God help us all (What God wants, God gets)’

Yuyu sat in her room and looked out of the window. It was an ochre and dusty morning. The sun peaking just over the apartment block and filling the fog with a heavy, sickly light. Her shitty headphones crackled with a slight buzz as she listened to her music. She couldn’t even tell if it was the age of the album and how it was mixed or if it was a genuine technical issue.

Still it sounded good. It was a classic afterall.

It felt like the end of the world. Smog, dust and a general aura of despair hung outside. Yuyu understood that the air in the slums was always bad, but this was just absurd. It was now physical in a way she had never really seen.

She didn’t have time to mess around, not today at least. She needed to get up and dress for school, it was hero costume day and she needed to look the part. Yuyu stood up and walked out into the cramped hallway of her apartment, she swung into the bathroom and stripped down to nothing. She looked at her body, immediately she turned to self critique.

‘Leg hairs are kinda long.’

‘Should probably trim back ‘those’ hairs.’

‘Armpit hair. Still have the fucking armpit hair.’

A frown was plastered on her face as she took in what she had to do. Yuyu would prefer not to but maybe the time had finally come to comply. It would be embarrassing to be on camera during something like the Sports Festival and have tens of thousands of people point and laugh. She’d been called an orangutan at middle school by enough girls and even at U.A. she still hid herself from the gazes of her classmates in the locker room. Maybe it was inevitable, she wasn’t really the most conventionally attractive girl.

Even Nejire was unaware of what she looked like stripped down. It was for the better, nobody would want to see that.

With a trembling hand she hopped into the shower and started to clean herself down. The water was slightly cold, she reckoned that the heating must have been on the fritz again. Still she’d make do. That’s what she always did.

Her thoughts drifted while she was in the shower. To a place where she could just be herself.

-

Yuyu’s imagination

Yuyu sat inside the cockpit and messed around with the dials as she flew in the air. She knew instinctively what to press even if she didn’t know the precise names of the buttons, knobs and doohickeys.

The air was clear and pure. The entire world was like a massive collection of specks below, she felt like she was in heaven. Maybe she was. Yuyu wondered what she’d do when she died.

‘Be dead probably.’

‘That makes sense. But I was feeling like there should be something more?’

‘For you? Not a chance!’

Her internal dialogue bounced back and forth as she continued the flight. The supersonic jet kicked into the high gear as she kept cruising in the air, it felt like driving but more intense. Or at least it was like what she imagined driving was like. 

The air was nice. It didn’t feel thin at all. Was that an attempt to escape the smog of the real or would it truly be this nice up here? Why was she questioning herself, it was her fantasy after all.

It was in these moments she was allowed to enjoy things after all. Her world twisted and contorted as she sped up. The fabric of reality started to become more and more translucent and intangible. She was alone up here. She had no clue where she was, maybe she was over Japan? The sea? The abyssal depths of limbo?

Did she have orders? Would they even matter? This was all a figment of her imagination.

“Are you ok?” A voice whispered. She was alone and yet someone had spoken to her?
How could that even be?

“You’re never alone,” Nejire’s voice giggled. It felt close. In fact it was close enough to tickle Yuyu’s spine. Like it was all coming from right behind her.

A cloud formed next to the aircraft and sat atop it was a woman of dazzling beauty. Nejire was staring into her eyes. It was a hyper idealised form. With the smoothest skin and the prettiest smile. She was dressed like a Goddess with a flowing white toga, golden bracelets and a crown that was truly resplendent. The sheer beauty was enough to make Yuyu’s jaw physically drop.

Nejire just laughed, “Like what you see?”

“Of course,” Yuyu mumbled.

“Good. Because you know that you and I were meant to be together forever. Pardon me if I seem forward, but don’t waste this,” Nejire smiled, “Be free. Live in the moment and never ever beat yourself down again.”

Yuyu was stunned. Her mind was such a mess, was this a subconscious attempt at a pep talk. To dangle someone she cared about in front of her like a delicious and authoritative piece of meat.

There was a metaphor in this. That had to be the case. Why else would all this happen but to teach her a lesson?

-

“Yuyu?” A finger snapped in front of her face.

“Huh? Nejire?” Yuyu looked around confused. Her cool flight suit was replaced with her birthday suit leaving her totally exposed and the beautiful halcyon days of the clear skies were gone and replaced with grey tiles and cluttered interiors.

“No. I’m your mother,” Yuyu’s mum leaned in, “Are you alright?” The older woman was wearing her undergarments and looked incredibly confused. Yuyu could see the scars and imperfections all over her body, even the nasty injuries around her groin from where Yuyu’s birth had left its vicious mark.

“Yeah why wouldn’t I be?” Yuyu lied.

“You’ve been holding a razor to your armpit for about ten minutes.”

Yuyu looked and as usual her mother was correct. She’d managed to finish showering and had prepared to shave in her deluded state. Still she hadn’t actually done it yet.

Yuyu’s mum rubbed her greying hair, “Why are you doing this?”

“What?” The girl frowned. That was a strange angle to take.

“Well you clearly don’t want to do it. So why?” Her mother was on point. She probably thought it was something to do with bullying.

“Hero costumes,” Yuyu muttered. She had no reason to lie, it was just the truth.

“Oh lord. Are they trying to dress you up like some sorta weird prostitute?” Her mum despaired and hugged her.

“What? No!” Yuyu snapped and shook her head, “Well at least I don’t think so.”

“Look, little lady. You’ve never done it before so why are you thinking about it now?” Her mum leaned in and scanned her face, “You trying to impress someone?”

“We-well… not like-”

“I forbid it,” Her mum snatched the razor out of her hand.

“Heh?”

“I forbid it,” Ms Haya repeated herself, “I didn’t raise a coward. You’re going to go to school as normal. If they can’t accept how you are now then I don’t want to meet them.”

“Heh?” Yuyu’s face contorted even more as she tried to process what exactly was going on. Was she being wound up?

“You heard. Now get dressed or I’m inspecting your room,” Yuyu’s mum threatened. She was already getting undressed to shower. A long shift at work was coming up.

Yuyu ran and slammed her room’s door shut and looked around for her uniform. She really needed to get a grip. Still, that was an issue for future Yuyu, she just needed to get ready for school. Picking the whitest shirt she had available she quickly slid it on and tied a quick red tie. She cracked her knuckles and fiddled around for her skirt. She was gonna be alright.

Yuyu eventually got dressed and left her room. Running into the kitchen she opened the fridge and looked at the dismal selection, with a shrug she grabbed a pack of cheap sliced meats and sprinted out of the apartment.

-

Tamaki and Mirio sat in the classroom. They hadn’t even said anything yet, they’d chatted on the way to school but now they were quiet. Too quiet. The other students were almost just as silent and were all murmuring and whispering about the new uniforms.

Nejire entered the room and nodded at them, “You guys ready?”

“Yeah. Does your hair seem different? It looks nice,” Mirio pointed out with several girls swooning at his effortless ability to complement Nejire’s appearance. Tamaki just scoffed and ground his palms into the table, he managed to suppress the urge to shout.

Nejire flicked her hair, several strands had been curled into twirls, “It’s for my Quirk I think it’s more efficient like this. Think I should keep it?”

“Sure. Then again I like your hair no matter what,” Mirio mused.

The door slammed shut as Yuyu walked past Nejire. She had heard the conversation and felt an irrational sense of jealousy. It was a simple compliment but it was a compliment too far. With slump she seated herself by her desk and tapped her fingers against the wood.

Nejire sat beside her, “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine,” Yuyu muttered.

“Good. I can’t wait to see your costume. I think you’ll look super awesome in it. I remember you were looking into pouches?”

Yuyu smiled, “Yeah. You remember that?”

“Of course I remember. I even looked into trying to get some into my design,” Nejire beamed, “You’re a genius.”

With a smile Yuyu ran a hand through her dirty brown hair, “Well I wouldn’t go that far. But I’m pretty damn good.”

Aizawa entered with his trademark look of boredom and dejected arrogance, “Your outfits have arrived. Get ready-”

“HELLO!” Nemuri shoved him aside and pointed, “Are you ready kids?”

Everyone was silent as they looked at Aizawa glare at the scantily clad woman.

“I can't hear you!” Nemuri shook her hands at the audience. She was still receiving no applause from the snot nosed students, “Alright fine then. Go to the changing room and get dressed… can’t have any fun with these kids can ya?”

Nemuri slithered away as she whispered obscenities to herself. She’d clearly expected a more grand entrance.

Aizawa just sighed, “She’s right about the outfits. Get dressed and meet me in the city training area,” With that he turned and left the room. Making sure he took his yellow sleeping bag, he’d have a few moments of shut eye while they all got ready.

Yuyu got up and walked alongside Nejire. Her mind was clouded and as she moved through the bright and almost pastel halls of U.A. she was stuck in yet another loop. She could barely even understand what Nejire was droning on about as she thought about what the girl might think when she sees the outfit. Yuyu herself wasn't entirely sure how it was going to look or even how she’d look in the gear.

Nejire laughed, “We’re gonna look so cool. What colours have you picked?”

“Purple and white,” Yuyu shrugged.

“Ohh! Like Tamaki, you guys would look cu-...alright together,” Nejire awkwardly forced through her regular smile. A bead of sweat formed on her brow.

“Eww. He went with purple and white?” Yuyu shook her head, of course the emo would dress up like that. She’d just hoped he’d go with pitch black or something and leave her sense of style alone.

They entered the changing rooms and Yuyu took a deep breath. This was it, all she needed to do  was get changed. How hard could it be?

‘This isn’t a herculean task, Yuyu. Just walk to the locker.’

Each step felt like she was wearing a deep sea diving suit. She felt the soul crushing energy required to move, it was a feeling worse than overloading her quirk. It was the ever present feeling of embarrassment and failure. Something she’d gotten very used to now.

Finally she reached her locker and reached out tentatively. With a sigh she swung it open and looked at her hero uniform. It was an odd thing with a top in a manner similar to a chinese cheongsam and the bottoms were form fitting shorts. Yuyu’s first thought was, ‘Is that going to show off my ass?’

“What?” Nejire asked and looked down at Yuyu’s bottom by pulling up the rear end of her skirt, “I think it’ll cover up any skin from your cheeks.”

Yuyu suppressed a scream. She had just said that outloud? Was she actually that stupid? Oh God she was! Wait a moment? Had Nejire just looked at her ass? Had she just pulled up her skirt?

Nejire looked up and noticed Yuyu was burning bright red. Gibberish and incomprehensible murmurs spilled from Yuyu’s lips. Then she noticed several other girls in the room looking at her with faces that ranged from confusion to horror and even a few flustered expressions. She had no clue why the other girls seemed so shocked, it wasn’t like she had pulled up their skirts…

“Oh!” Nejire jumped back from Yuyu so quickly her hair flicked up like a waterfall. She raised her hands and prostrated herself on the ground, “SORRY!”

Yuyu just blinked and looked at the girl begging before her. Even though she should have been annoyed and fuming. She didn’t want to make a scene, “It’s fine just ask next time?”

Nejire feverishly nodded, “Yeah! Sorry! I just heard you talking about your butt-”

“Butt?” Yuyu laughed and slapped her thigh, “How old are you?”

“You know how old I am!” Nejire got up and puffed her cheeks.

Yuyu leaned against her locker, “I suppose I do. Still. Butt?”

“I’m not saying it,” Nejire hissed.

“Alright, alright.”

The other girls in the room whispered to each other and went back to looking at their outfits. It was definitely one of the strangest things they’d seen. Yuyu smirked as she'd just been handed the perfect opportunity to get changed while everyone looked away, Nejire had been the perfect distraction/martyr.

She quickly stripped down and slid on the outfit as quickly as possible. It was a surprisingly nice fit, the weave was incredibly high quality and didn’t feel rough or scratchy. The simple gold trim was quite light and didn’t feel cheap or heavy.

Nejire span around, still in a state of undress, and tilted her head, “That was quick!”

“Yeah. I’m used to taking off my clothes quickly,” Yuyu quipped before coughing at how bad that sounded, ‘God, I sound like a robot and a cheap hooker.’

A girl nearby with a short white bob cut scoffed and whispered, “Jeez, keep it to yourself slut.”

Nejire gasped, “You take that back!”

The girl raised an eyebrow, “You heard what she said right? How else is anyone supposed to interpret that?”

Nejire snapped her fingers, “It’s simple! She just wanted to express how much of a hard worker she is! Getting dressed quickly is a sign that she’s confident and focused.”

“You and I know damn well you’re pulling at straws with that one,” The girl scoffed, “You sound like a business slogan.”

“It was pretty bad,” Yuyu confessed. Even if Nejire was technically defending her, she couldn’t let a statement that vacuous slide, “But I ain’t a whore.”

“Whatever you say,” The girl tutted and went back to getting changed.

Yuyu just chuckled and slipped on her mask. It hardly concealed her identity but it did look cool even with most of her face and eyes being clearly exposed. She wondered why Pros even bothered, especially someone like Midnight. Yuyu had personally witnessed ‘all’ of what the woman had to show.

Nejire fiddled with her hair, “Done! What do ya think?”

Yuyu looked up and was speechless. Nejire was beautiful that much was obvious but it was the way she carried herself in that outfit that made Yuyu’s heart stop. It was a bodysuit with a mixture of turquoise and a deep blue. The twisted horns in her hair were stark and dangerous. But in truth Yuyu just couldn’t get over the form fitting bodysuit, she was truly shameful, “I-it looks real nice.”

“You think so?” Nejire looked down, “It’s not too… basic right? It feels a bit like the generic pinup style.”

“No, no… it’s not like that at all. It’s got… erm… it’s got… you know-” Yuyu bit her lip, it was very much in the same vein as the generic pinup female hero costumes. But she needed to come up with an excuse, “The arm design is cool. Why does it fold into straight sheets like that?”

“Oh it helps with amplifying my power. It’s kinda like a rail,” Nejire explained while showing off her cuffs, “It makes my output 200 percent more efficient.”

“Heh?” Yuyu stopped ogling Nejire for a moment, “200 as in three times more powerful?”

“Yep. My Quirk isn’t all that efficient in regular clothes or my training gear. With this outfit I’d have to try quite hard to run out of energy,” Nejire shrugged. She was seemingly unaware of the very, very jealous stares she was receiving. She was already the most powerful person in the class and her hero outfit had seemingly done nothing but make her even more overwhelmingly oppressive.

Yuyu just swallowed her pride and nodded, “Cool. So, let's just go outside and see the others?”

“Alrighty,” Nejire’s trademark smile and pep in her step was the perfect mirror to the monstrous ball of energy she was.

The duo left the room and slammed the door shut. One of the other girls mumbled, “Thats such a stupid fucking Quirk.”

-

Aizawa looked at the gathering of trainee heroes, “Any issues with your outfits?”

The class was silent. Everything had gone swimmingly apparently. He let out a sigh of relief having to deal with more fluff was the last thing he needed right now.

He pointed at the building complex behind him, “You know the drill. You’ll have two ‘villains’ and two ‘heroes’. Defuse the bomb and ensure you don’t wreck the place too much. Am I clear?”

Mirio stuck his hand up. He was dressed in a stark white and blue outfit with a heroic red cloak, his hero costume also had an obscene amount of gold jewellery. Lingering in his shadow was Tamaki who was dressed in heavy white cloaks with what looked like black and purple tactical gear underneath.

Both of them had strange plastic visors on. Yuyu wondered if eye protection was the big thing in hero fashion this season.

“Yes?” Aizawa asked, his face dipping into his capture scarf as he awaited whatever inane question the boy would inflict upon him.

“Can we buddy up with whoever?”

“You can’t partner with Mr Amajiki,” Aizawa noted, “I’ve already preselected your partner. It’s Miss Hado by the way.”

Mirio slapped his knee, “Damn. I guess we can’t buddy up.”

Tamaki looked visibly confused, “Are you upset?”

“Of course. We’ve been together for everything,” Mirio chuckled and looked at Nejire, “Not that we’re not buddies. But you know how BFFs work.”

Nejire waved him off, “Don’t worry. I understand. It’s like how I can’t be with Yuyu for this.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll see your ‘BFFs’,” Aizawa smiled darkly, “They’re your opponents after all."

Yuyu and Tamaki’s blood ran cold. They both slowly turned to look at Nejire.

‘We’re dead,’ They both thought in unison.

-

Yuyu sat next to the ‘bomb’. Her mind raked over the many strategies and ploys to try and delay the inevitable that ran in her head. It was a fool's errand really, the most embarrassing part was that the entire class was watching.

Tamaki was munching on raw seafood as he tried to plan something out, “Maybe we could… Do you know anything about her Quirk?”

“I know that in five minutes she’s going to smash open a wall and win,” Yuyu sighed, “Mirio is also a serious problem. He can appear from anywhere and is stronger than both of us.”

“Oh God… I forgot,” Tamaki ran a hand through his dishevelled black hair, “What the hell are we going to do?”

“Lose?” Yuyu looked up at him, “Are you actually trying to plan something? I thought you were thinking about something you like. You know something like Welcome to the Black Parade.”

Tamaki raised a hand, “Overrated song. MCR had so much more to offer, it’s almost like The Black Parade is the only album people listen to.”

“Ok nerd,” Yuyu laughed. She had never really gotten into them, they always seemed a little too emo for her, “Maybe you could put on some more black eyeliner to show your loyalty.”

“Hey. They’re a classic. Also, don't you listen to some out there stuff?” Tamaki snapped his fingers, “I swear I heard some Nick Cave coming out of your phone one time.”

“Y-you actually caught that?” Yuyu was impressed. Maybe Tamaki was worth a little more than just being known as the ‘MCR loving coward’ in her head.

Tamaki tilted his head, “I don’t just listen to MCR.”

“I knew that. I just presumed that your knowledge of century old emo bands ended with them,” Yuyu shrugged and kicked a rock.

Tamaki raised an eyebrow, “Hardly. You don’t think that little of me?”

“Well… well no yeah I kinda did,” Yuyu confessed, “I mean I hardly know anything about ya’.”

“Aren’t I one of your like three friends?” Tamaki grumbled and adjusted his white hood. The wind from outside chilled his bones, that or the thought of his imminent beatdown was getting to him.

“I have other friends,” Yuyu lied, “They just don’t go to U.A. anyway have you come up with anything?”

“Actually I think I have-” Tamaki was interrupted by the wall beside him exploding into a shower of rebar and concrete. Both of the students looked in horror, they’d spent way too much time talking and now they were dead.

Yuyu jumped to the side and watched as a flowing ring of energy cracked and knocked Tamaki against the wall. His clothes were caked in dust and torn at the edges, and the boy himself was already out cold in a ‘fight’ that had lasted less than a second.

Nejire walked in and looked around her usual bubbly and warm smile looked sinister in this context. It was like she was almost mocking the duo, “Yuyu? Are you ok?”

Yuyu just hid amongst the rubble. Her costume had also been covered in debris and dust from the sheer amount of collateral that attack had caused. Still she had a chance to actually do something, the ringing in her ears and pain all over her body fell to the wayside. Nejire was still looking around and clearly was still trying to work out what state the room was actually in.

The brown haired girl slowly and brutally dragged herself along the ground. A dribble of blood leaked down across her eyes, it was just a fleshwound and she couldn’t stop. With each and every movement she felt something scraping against her stomach, it was awful but she just needed to keep quiet. Nejire didn’t know who she was dealing with, Yuyu was hardy and knew all about punching above her weight class. That was what any good Sanya girl was born to do.

Nejire was still looking around and was neglecting the task at hand. If she had wanted to, she could have just walked over and tapped the bomb. Instead she was looking out for Yuyu. It was sickening, did she truly really think that little of her own friend. With a final effort Yuyu approached and reached an effective distance, the choked dusty air and rubble moved as she stood up and swung with an electro charged punch at Nejire’s head.

Mirio faded out of the wall and reached out to try and stop Yuyu’s blow. But before he could even grab her Nejire had spun around and gut punched her friend, Yuyu gasped and gagged. The turn around had been brutally swift. The blue haired girl then grabbed Yuyu by the throat and as if on autopilot slammed her into the rubble. 

Mirio was stunned, he linked in confusion and walked over to the bomb he tapped it once and the duo were victorious, “Oh? Erm… I guess you had it?”

“Do your clothes really have to come off?” Nejire asked while averting her gaze.

“Yes. I don’t really get a say in that,” Mirio sunk into the ground to hide his shame.

Nejire just nodded and checked in on Yuyu, “Are you ok? That was pretty good. I didn't even notice you until the last moment!”

Yuyu was out cold. Her head had a nasty gash and spit was bubbling from her lips, she’d been completely defeated. Nejire just brushed some of the blood off her brow, “You’ll be ok. I’ll make sure of it!” She then leaned in to hug the other girl before scooping her up to take her to the infirmary.

As she left the building Yuyu’s eyes flickered open, her hero suit was torn in places. The underarms slightly open her armpit covered in squelchy blood. Aizawa was already ordering the next group in, but that made sense. Injuries like this weren’t exactly rare at U.A. after all. The last thing she saw before she faded into unconsciousness again was Nejire’s angelic face looking down at her, maybe she could get used to being in her arms.

-

Tamaki sat beside Mirio on the bed, they were having yet another game night at Mirio’s place. The two of them had been playing for hours at this point and Tamaki had reached his limit, “Can you please just stop using Snipe?”

“Nope,” Mirio smiled and kept on button mashing to win. It was just how he rolled.

Tamaki rubbed his bruised arm, “What happened after?”

“Well we won?” Mirio noted, “I don’t know what to say really. There really wasn’t much that Yuyu could do. Even if I didn’t jump in she’d have lost.”

“You had to jump in?” Tamaki stopped for a moment.

“Yuyu managed to get the jump on Nejire but got punched in the gut by her. I think she’s alright but she’s probably taking the loss badly,” Mirio wondered to himself, it was a pretty crushing loss for the girl. She was so close to actually landing a single blow.

Tamaki took a slice of pizza and wolfed it down, “How badly injured was she?”

“Nothing serious. But I think most people would have stayed down… I think it’s more of a pride thing?” Mirio wondered, “Maybe a friendly get together is in order?”

Tamaki just laughed, “I’d be down for that actually.”

-

Yuyu sat on her bed, the crumpled and smelly rags that she called bedding were in dire need of a wash. She closed her eyes and smiled, “Not a single word.”

Nejire must have seen the armpit hair. Yet she had simply kept it to herself, maybe no one cared about Yuyu’s body. Maybe the expectations of a nasty middle school experience was keeping her in check?

The small light above her swung gently back and forth. The slight buzz and hum kept her ever so slightly on edge. She could close her window, but that would make the place stuffy.

Instead she was condemned. To sit and sit and sit and sit and sit. To hear and hear and hear and hear. To sigh and sigh and sigh. But that wasn’t so bad.

Yuyu looked out of her window, her mother was still at work. She could ring Nejire, but that would probably be a waste of the other girl's time. What to do, what could she do? She was broke and bored. Maybe flick through the nude calendars? Yuyu shook her head, it was awkward after having actually seen Midnight earlier. That was more a weekend thing.

Yuyu’s mind drifted to what was next. The Sports Festival.

Yuyu clenched her fists. She wanted to win. She needed to win.

Nejire would never respect her if she simply got ground into the mud by the other students. Yuyu was strong, she just wanted Nejire to see that. For Nejire to tell her that and mean it.

Was that so much to ask?

The feeling of being the poor, ugly duckling crept into her stomach. Nejire was perfect, she was beautiful, kind and had the power to rival that of the best professional heroes.

Yuyu was ‘blessed’ with the power to rip apart her own body for a burst of energy that would probably make Nejire shrug. It wasn’t fair, but nothing ever was. The world was cruel and she knew that. She had always known that. She didn’t resent Nejire for being stronger than her, if anything it just made Nejire more… alluring.

She got up and dusted herself down. Yuyu changed into a beat-up white tank top, black shorts and faded trainers. With a sigh she left her apartment and walked up the stairs of the block. The steps were hard and decaying, she wondered if one day the building would simply crumble and return to dust. Probably not in her lifetime, even piss poor maintenance could keep a rotten structure alive.

After a few moments she emerged on top of the building, the drizzle of rain and general grey uniformity of the world landed the place a depressing quality.

Yuyu bent down and started to exercise alone. She was already decently fit but the desire to push herself played at her heart strings. Her brown hair started to get soaked and matted as she did a relentless series of pushups and situps. The rain caked and soaked her shirt in a way that made her very grateful that no one was around.

She hopped up and ran on the spot. Her heart was pounding as she jumped back down to do more push ups. Yuyu had learned from Mirio that the best way to exercise was to be as ‘explosive as possible’ her movements needed to be strong and confident. Bad form needed to be avoided at all costs. Her arms hissed and ached but she kept going.

The skies darkened and the clouds swirled as she kept working out. The sweat beads mixed into the rain water to sting her eyes with a blow through her nose she just kept going. Pain was inevitable and she’d been hurt worse.

Yuyu felt her whipcord muscles tense and groan with each movement. She hopped onto the old ventilation system and jumped off. She repeated the jump over and over, previous generations would have thought her feat as near superhuman. The human genetic structure had been torn apart and pieced back together ever since the golden child was found.

Yuyu had seen even the Quirkless could walk off injuries that would have apparently splintered bones a few generations ago. Some people would have seen it as the inevitably of the human genome collapsing in on itself with murmurs of several doomsday cults being formed around the possibility. She just remembered borderline failing biology and ignoring something as nebulous as the future of the human race, it wasn’t like she was gonna change that.

A thundercrack stopped Yuyu for a moment. She looked up with her soggy hair clinging to her eyes. She probably needed to finish up soon, the last thing she needed was to catch a cold or get struck by lightning. Even if her Quirk was related to electricity Yuyu suspected that she probably couldn’t just walk a lighting strike off, still she needed to strike while the iron was hot and keep going.

From the fire exit her mother watched. She just laughed and whispered to herself, “Sweetie, no girl is worth this much.”