Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When you have a chance to make a choice, make one that you know you won't regret.

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…

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A little dark haired girl sat in the waiting room anxiously, wringing her hands, biting her lip hard but yet couldn't feel the pain with how slowly she was becoming numb. Her eyes shifted and looked to the side where she found her mother and father talking with a doctor.

"Oh my god… for how long…?"

"It's hard to say."

"But there is hope, right?"

"We did everything we could. It's a stabilized condition right now."

The girl lowered her head and her hand started digging its nails into the back of her other hand. Again, she couldn't quite feel the pain with how numb she was getting. She let out a shaky breath and hunched over in her chair, hitting her forehead against her hands.

The picture of a guilty and remorseful eleven year old.

She was plummeting fast into a pool coloured in regret.

And there was no way back to the surface because she didn't have the strength to navigate in dark waters.

She lifted her head and took in a deep breath, face twisting with obvious discomfort as the regret became the threads in her skin with guilt flowing through them.

"Hngh…"

The girl released her bloodied lip and sniffled, the digging of her nails becoming harsh scratches on the already bruised skin.

"What's going on with my nephew?!"

Deep uneven breaths. Shaky exhales. Eyes squeezing shut.

"Mizuha."

It all came to a stop when a warm hand touched her right hand and a familiar voice cut through the world around her.

Her eyes shot open.

…

…

…

But if I can't, then take away my free will to make one.

…

…

…

From behind light gray bangs, onyx eyes took in the familiar face and her right hand felt another grab hers.

Light purple eyes that reminded her of purple hydrangeas and snowy white hair. A boyish face was quirking his brow as he tipped his head. He was casting a shadow over her by blocking out the afternoon sun. He raised his other hand and waved paper money between the two, directing her eyes to the paper almost in a cat-like manner.

"Oh, good. Here I thought you were dead."

"Byakuren." She mumbled.

The boy raised the money to tickle her nose which made her narrow her eyes.

"Your change." He said before dropping a pack of gummy bears on her lap. In exchange, he picked up her school bag that was sitting next to her and dug in her bag for her wallet to put away her money while she stood up and started opening the snack after mumbling her thanks.

Byakuren slung his school bag on his shoulder and held hers under the same arm. He watched her pluck out a green little bear, stared at it for a second, and then bit off its head as if to taste the flavour of a decapitated green head. A sign of satisfaction came out as a pleased hum before she ate the rest of its body.

It made him chuckle softly.

Hearing this, Mizuha paused her chewing and looked at him curiously.

But he just smiled. "Is U.A High School your choice?"

She hummed her answer with a slight nod, digging inside the bag to take out an orange bear. "Is yours changing?"

"Nah. But of course, I have a second one just in case. You?"

"They wouldn't accept my choice otherwise. I had to put something." Mizuha replied flatly. "But I have no intention of going to my second choice."

"Mhm. I can see why you're confident." He nodded.

Mizuha plucked out another bear, a light yellow one, and offered it to him. He did a close eyed smile and sang a 'thank you' before bending low enough to snatch it with his mouth, making her yelp lightly when she felt something wet on her thumb. She narrowed her eyes at him and then looked her fingers. Why couldn't he have taken it like a normal person?

"Dude… did you have to get your DNA on me?"

"Meh."

Mizuha rolled her eyes and wiped her fingers on his cheek harshly, making him squawk in surprise.

"But it's exciting, isn't it?" Byakuren said while chewing, grinning boyishly. "A new environment, new people, new opportunities! I wonder how many friends we'll make?" He eyed her knowingly but she only narrowed her eyes at him again, disapproving of his insinuation.

"At the end of the day, you need the necessary connections that the school will give you the opportunity to make. That's why the school promotes events and stuff."

"Is that so?" Byakuren did a close eyed smile.

She ate another treat before rolling the plastic bag and holding out her hand for her bag back, signaling the end of the topic.

There was nothing left to be said because she wouldn't change.

She would stay the same because that was the safest way to be.

…

…

…

"Hyoumei-san, Kyouran-san! Please go see the principal now because he wants to discuss your high school applications."

Mizuha and Byakuren looked up from their desks when their teacher called them out five minutes before lunch. The other students in the classroom looked towards them and began whispering slowly amongst themselves.

The white haired boy hummed and put down his mechanical pencil. "Does that mean we're dismissed early?"

Their homeroom teacher nodded. "Yes. You may put away your things first since lunch is starting in five minutes."

"Alright then." He responded with a smile before rapidly gathering his things.

Mizuha was already up on her feet since she promptly put away her stuff once the teacher relayed the message. As she walked towards the rear door of the classroom, she heard a student yelp in pain, causing her to look back.

Byakuren was smirking darkly at one of the boys who was hissing in pain and holding his foot. Mizuha glared at the boy who was in pain before exiting the classroom first and waiting for Byakuren to join her.

He came out looking quite cheerful which made her wrinkle her nose. "What happened? Did you piss him off?"

"Why, such accusations hurt." Byakuren gasped mockingly, placing a hand on his heart. "I will have you know that I am as pure as my white hair." He feigned innocence for a second before scoffing and waving his hand dismissively, walking down the hall with her in tow.

Mizuha sighed, giving him a look. "The truth, stupid."

"I was only retaliating." He clarified. "He's only one of the few who haven't stopped pestering me."

Today's school system had adjusted curriculums to accommodate the Quirk Education Class.

It was a class that focused on testing and exploring students' Quirks in order to see how they would be helpful to society.

But their middle school was a bit of an outlier.

The school that Mizuha and Byakuren attended inclined more towards the old-fashioned escalator system, meaning it prioritized the academics of school that didn't involve Quirks. The Quirk Education Class focused on the bare minimum of its course, it practically forced students to work on their Quirks on their own in secret.

For that reason, when the word got out that Byakuren and Mizuha were one of the very few that applied to U.A. it caused undesirable attention. Applying to U.A? That was quite a ballsy move for students in this kind of school.

Two good students that did well academically and got recognition for it was going to study at an institution that helped grow Heroes when they barely worked on their Quirks? What show offs.

Was it jealousy? Was it anger towards the school?

They didn't know.

And frankly, they couldn't care less.

Especially when things were looking well so far after they did well on their mock test.

There were two reactions.

One was the bombarding questions of curiosity of their Quirks and the other was the derogatory insults here and there to mock their attempts. Mizuha had no patience for the latter and often displayed apathy which eventually bored them. She had the splendid self control which helped her reel in her impulse to react.

Byakuren was a different story. He didn't have the patience of a saint. He didn't mind getting into a scuffle with sore losers, especially if they tried to stoop low by sticking their foot out when he walked in class. A discreet yet swift kick to the foot was well deserved in his book.

"Just don't get in trouble." Mizuha warned. She wasn't objecting to his retaliation but she was worried that if he started a fight then it might not look good on his record…

Eventually, they arrived at the principal's office. Byakuren was the one who notified the principal of their arrival since Mizuha remained still with her hands in her pockets. She followed Byakuren inside just as apathetically when the gruff voice inside permitted them entrance. He was typing something on the computer before setting aside his documents and smiling at them, ushering them closer as he pulled out documents.

"U.A High School sent them here this morning for those who applied." The gray haired man explained.

"That was faster than I expected. Thanks." Byakuren replied, smiling happily.

"Thank you." Mizuha nodded politely. She took her paper and scanned it curiously.

But her thoughts were cut off when the principal spoke again. He stood up from his desk and started coming around to stand before them while leaning back against it. "Are you certain you want to go there?"

Byakuren's light purple eyes looked at him silently.

Mizuha blinked tiredly.

"There is so much you could do to help this society grow." He said with a hand gesture, pointing towards the window that displayed the city buildings. "There are so many options in this world."

"Oh yeah?" Byakuren couldn't help but feign interest, sarcasm hidden beneath his words.

"Of course! Recently, students have been so enamored with the idea of Heroes. It's not like I don't understand the appeal. It's wonderful to contribute to public safety… despite how glamorous it is. But at the same time, it's a shame for society. Hyoumei-san, with your potential talent in arts, you could easily get into art and designs. Kyouran-san, you could do something in business."

Mizuha deadpanned.

Byakuren resisted the urge to scoff.

"U.A seems like quite a risky choice, don't you think? Shouldn't you two put down another kind of school just in case? The Quirk Education classes here were not quite as good as other schools."

"Yeah, we know." Mizuha replied, implying she was fully aware it was an F tier class. "So, no thanks."

Byakuren's hand shot up to his mouth and he hid his laugh with a cough.

The principal stilled at the way she replied without hesitation. His lips formed a thin line as he watched Mizuha's uninterested gaze turn to some random shelf in the office, tuning him out.

Byakuren ruffled the back of his white hair and put a hand on her shoulder, smiling like a fox. "Our Quirks have been well practiced thanks to Mizuha's uncle."

"H-Her uncle?"

"Did you know?" Byakuren's eyes opened slightly, making him look slightly eerie with his smile. "He's a teacher at U.A High School. He was literally the perfect Quirk Education class we could ask for. We've had our hearts set on that path for a long time. So, it doesn't matter if we didn't get enough practice because we've been ready for a long time." Then he snorted slightly. "I can't say the same for the other students here who applied considering the lack of...support."

It never crossed their mind that the principal had so little faith in its own students. Discouraging students to do what he thought seemed impossible… how disappointing.

The principal huffed and shook his head as if not accepting their decision. "Well, if you two are absolutely sure… we can leave it at that. Good luck."

Byakuren grinned at the principal and bowed his head respectfully while Mizuha did the same before walking out the office with their forms, not wanting to hear anything else from him.

However, the moment Mizuha was out the door, she twisted her face in disdain and shot the door a glare before leaving.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

At least I won't have to spend another year in this school. Seriously, get me out of here.

During lunch periods, Mizuha usually spent it in a classroom located on the ground floor. It was always empty and it was the perfect place to study and eat at the same time. The peaceful empty classroom was better than the noisy cafeteria that always seemed to attack her eardrums. It made her wonder if it was a zoo at times.

She liked being alone there since she could do whatever she wanted.

Of course, she didn't object to Byakuren's appearance every now and then.

But this time, she was sitting outside with him under a tree. At first, she protested as he dragged her along, but him claiming she needed a break from studying and needing an actual peaceful place to eat by enjoying the nice breeze made her sigh in defeat and give in.

The table they were sitting at was shadowed by a tree.

Byakuren was reading the forms while Mizuha was spacing out and watching students play soccer outside.

"Simple enough to fill out. We have to send these before next Friday." He said to himself while nodding. "And then we'll be taking the written and practical exam in ten months. Wonderful."

"If we attended a school that wasn't focused on regular studies, we probably could have gotten some type recommendation." Mizuha said while still staring into the void, spacing out. "I heard recommendations can help you skip the practical exam… or even both. Not sure. I just know it's less work."

Byakuren raised a brow at how she answered. He picked up his chopsticks and used the opposite end to poke her cheek, effectively snapping her out of it. He chuckled at the reaction. "There'll be many students taking the exams. But I have faith we'll make it in."

Mizuha slapped away his hand and frowned. "We have more than enough to practice our Quirks. We'll be fine."

"Mhmm."

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…

…

After school, they went to a local store that sold school supplies because Byakuren was in need of a new notebook since his mother gave his extra one to his little sister.

Mizuha simply chose to wait outside and play a game on her phone. She was leaning back on the wall of the store, tapping away at her phone. Her mind was completely in the zone as she controlled her player in a boss match.

However, her concentration shattered when something flew in her peripheral vision and hit a pole. It made her jump and move away from it on instinct.

It was a bottle.

And it burst from the impact.

Why did it look like garbage juice?

She clicked her tongue in disgust, lowering her phone in annoyance to try and find who did it.

I swear… if that bottle hit me just now…

"I thought I told you to stop smoking! Get caught and it'll go on my record too!"

She found the culprit. He was the only person within range that could have done it. It was a boy who was around or maybe the same age as her. He was taller with ash blond hair and red eyes with a face that could make a baby cry without fail. Behind him were two other boys who were from the same school judging by their uniform.

The boy with red eyes was annoyed and started fanning away the smoke around him. For a brief second, she and the boy made eye contact but only Mizuha was fast enough to respond to the garbage juice suddenly swirling up behind him with its jaws open, revealing teeth and obvious eyes.

"HEY!" She shouted.

"A body… with a good Quirk."

It completely took the boy off guard when it chomped down on him, immediately throwing him into a fight or flight reaction as his voice was muffled.

"What the hell— mphff—!"

Mizuha clenched her phone and took a step back, shocked at the sight.

"Holy shit! It's a Villain!"

"Run!"

The two boys ran for their lives as their classmate got swallowed up by the mud looking Villain.

The ash blond haired boy thrashed around. "Get off me!"

"Stop resisting!"

Mizuha flinched when bright explosions set off in front of her, causing her to throw her arms up to defend herself as she felt herself get pressed against the wall because of the shockwaves. She was sure the sound was just as good as alarm bells signaling danger because not long after she heard people screaming. She lowered her arms and saw many people evacuating from nearby stores while the mud Villain and the boy were wreaking immediate havoc.

In an instant, fires were growing fast and the explosions kept going off while the boy resisted with everything he had. The explosions were for sure his but she wasn't sure if the explosions were his doing or the mud Villain's.

But she did know that extracting the boy was imperative to stop the chaos.

People were still fleeing the scene but at the risk of getting caught in the danger zone. Several people ran into her while she remained within the range of fire without budging.

Her eyes took note of a man lying under the rubble caused by the explosions.

The Villain needed to stop moving.

"..."

Her fingers twitched.

She took a step forward and raised a cold hand while the mud Villain wasn't looking. The boy yelled angrily and managed to pull his face out of the mud, gasping for air.

For a split second, her eyes met his once more.

…

…

Shadows of the past rested on her shoulders and they whispered in her ear:

"What if you put him in the hospital next?"

Mizuha's eyes widened and she immediately dropped her hand. Her head shook and she took a step back, going back to where she was. Back where it was safe. Her eyes squeezed shut and she lowered her head, purging her mind from such reckless thoughts and impulses.

It wasn't her choice to make.

Never.

Again.

While she was busy strangling irrationality, she didn't notice the Villain aiming for her. It assumed she was going to attack from how the ground and wall around her started having frost all over it and how her hand was swirling with cool air and ice.

But a blur of white immediately skidded to a stop in front of her and let out a growl as it swung its arm at it, unleashing a powerful gust of wind that destroyed its muddy arm, splattering it against one of the walls opposite from them.

"Back off mud freak!" Byakuren roared, startling her. He reeled his arm back to create more wind to push it back so that it would give them a clear opening to run. However, when he saw the boy stuck inside the mud Villain, he lowered his arm and narrowed his eyes.

He wasn't going to risk hurting the boy. This job had to be dealt with by professionals.

"Byakuren!" Mizuha yelled upon noticing the fire spreading to their left. She pulled on his arm and started running along with the crowd with him following behind her. He glanced over his shoulder and clicked his tongue when he saw it blow up something which sent debris flying their way.

Mizuha let out a surprised sound when Byakuren pushed her head down as they ran. The debris slammed into the shop next to them

"This way!"

They looked ahead and found Heroes arriving on the scene. Death Arms, Kamui Woods, Mt. Lady and Backdraft were already assisting in the evacuation, rescue and the damage reduction. The police were also there assisting by stopping civilians from getting too close. Death Arms was the one calling them to reach the safe zone.

They were able to make it past the makeshift barrier of policemen blocking the way to remain on the safe side of danger. Mizuha looked over her shoulder once more to look at the boy and the mud Villain.

"Explosive fires are my weakness! Someone else has to take this one!"

"I got my hands full with the fire! Where are the firefighters?! How's it looking over there?!"

Mizuha looked away from the scene.

"He's too slippery to get hold of. But his hostage with the explosive Quirk is resisting! It's like a minefield out here, but we can't do anything against him!"

Byakuren turned away from the scene where the Heroes were currently trying to reach the boy who was taken by the Villain. But there wasn't much they could do. They needed another person with a different Quirk to handle the hostage situation. For now, they would concentrate on keeping damage to a minimum.

The white haired boy lowered his head when he felt something cold on his side. His purple eyes immediately spotted her right hand shaking with ice as if it was restraining it. He looked back at Mizuha who was staring solemnly at the ground.

He eyed her thoughtfully.

Earlier, he was able to catch what she was trying to do.

She stopped herself from taking initiative.

Like always, the past shackled her in place and she ran away from a choice.

Byakuren firmly held her right hand and held it up between them. "Mizuha."

The girl's onyx eyes lifted and she saw how he was smiling reassuringly, wordlessly soothing her core, bringing her back to the place where it was safe and away from something she couldn't stand seeing.

Pulling away from disharmony to retain the comfortable and familiar order.

Her eyes landed on their hands and noted quickly how he was getting frost on his skin. She jumped in place and quickly slipped out of his hand, stopping her Quirk, to use her sleeve to wipe off the frost on his hand.

"Why'd you touch me like that?" Mizuha sighed exasperatedly, worried about his skin since she didn't pay attention to her Quirk output. "Now, you're making me feel bad!"

Sighing through his nose, Byakuren smiled softly as she went back to her usual self. "What can I say? I like the idea of you giving me something in compensation for damage done."

Scoffing, Mizuha threw down his hand and focused back on the scene. She and Byakuren were one of the only people not cheering on the Heroes blindly because apparently All Might was in the area. They would get front row seats to witness the Number One Hero in action. They were sticking around mostly to see All Might.

But the two stayed out of concern for the boy they left behind.

They would wait until All Might arrived and saved him before turning around and heading home. At least then they wouldn't have to worry about it.

However, a boy suddenly pushed past Byakuren and Mizuha in a frantic run, startling the two, and sped off towards the Villain. Byakuren was left blinking in confusion when he realized what just happened. Mizuha noted how he wore the same uniform as those boys.

He removed his bag and pitched it at the mud Villain to distract it before trying to claw a way out for the other boy when he got closer. He wasn't using a Quirk. He probably didn't have one suited for the situation.

Clearly, he didn't have a plan but he was still trying nonetheless.

And Mizuha couldn't help but watch with widened eyes after realizing he simply rushed onto the scene just because his classmate was in danger.

A brave choice fueled by instinct.

An act that had her averting her eyes uncomfortably.

...

...

...

Not too long after, All Might indeed came to the rescue and everyone cheered for him. Amidst the cheering, Byakuren and Mizuha took their chance to slip away from the ground and leave it all behind them. They were the first to turn their backs and walk away.

The light gray haired girl sighed through her nose and looked back at her phone to resume playing… only to let out a loud groan.

"Damn it!"

Byakuren blinked. "Hmm?"

Mizuha growled and scratched her head furiously at the words 'DEFEAT' glowing red on her phone.

She completely neglected the boss match she was having on her phone and lost during the whole Villain incident. Damn, she should have at least closed her phone! She was doing so well too compared to her previous losses. She actually made progress only for it to go to shit!

Byakuren peeked at her screen and then looked at her as she grinded her teeth in utter annoyance.

He couldn't help but grin. "Having fun?" He teased.

Mizuha shot him a glare before going back to her phone and deciding to look up guides on the internet to facilitate her next attempt. She promised herself she wouldn't but this was the last straw. She wanted to proceed with the story instead of getting her ass kicked every time.

"By the way, how do you want to meet up for the entrance exams?"

Mizuha just sighed and shrugged. "I'm fine with whatever. I just know I'm going there early because I can't stand the idea of being late for something. It makes me anxious." She said lazily, keeping her eyes locked on her screen.

"I say we go together. That way we can stick together and maybe help each other in the practical exam~"

Mizuha couldn't help but let out a laugh and give the boy a side look. "Don't kid yourself, I'm not helping you." She said with a smirk, causing him to pout. "Besides, we can't help each other. My uncle told me that they separate students from the same school to prevent something like that from happening."

"Geez, way to disappoint me before the exams." Byakuren muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Better now than later. We still have time before it takes place so at least now you can let the disappointment simmer."

Byakuren huffed. "They're real serious about these exams, huh?"

"I guess. I mean, you can't just let in a fraud who got help from someone else." Mizuha said nonchalantly. "Seems unfair for those with the skills who could have made it."

"Eh… yeah, I see your point."

…

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Brrr!

…

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Brr!

..

…

Brr–

A hand shot out from under comforter to press the volume buttons of the vibrating phone that also rang loudly in the darkness on a headboard. At the same time, she skillfully unplugged the phone from its charger and brought it underneath quickly.

Mizuha shivered and curled into a ball while snuggling deeper into her pillow, annoyed and sleepy. She opened her phone, only to hiss when the light attacked her retinas and quickly dropped the brightness to save herself from more torture.

FEBRUARY 26, 5:45 AM.

A sigh escaped her.

She wasn't annoyed about waking about early.

She was annoyed about having her flesh exposed to the cool air in the room during the winter season. Even with a sweater on, she still felt cold.

Mizuha unlocked her phone and started going through video platforms. While scrolling, she saw news headlines regarding the entrance exam of U.A High School.

Which was today.

Reality sank in when the time hit 6 AM.

Obviously, she was starting to get a little nervous, especially since she'd never been to U.A… her mind started making up possible scenarios which included getting lost on the way there and missing the exam.

… An irrational worry considering that she actually took the time to actually go to the school during a weekend to see how to get there.

But maybe she should have made a plan to meet up with Byakuren after all.

While tying her shoes, her mother set her blue backpack that she had left near her door along with her black wireless headphones near her.

"Oh. Thanks." Mizuha said with a small sheepish grin.

Her mother was in her pajamas since she still had time before heading off to work. Her father was already at work since he left very early in the morning.

"You made sure you have everything? IDs? Forms? " Her mother asked with an eyebrow raised. It wouldn't be the first time she forgot something. There were times when mother would receive a text message from her daughter right after she got on the bus to tell her that she forgot her lunch in her room while she was packing her things for school.

Mizuha nodded with a thumbs up before standing up and patting away any dust that might have stuck on her. She picked up her headphones and placed them on her head. "Bye mom." She said before throwing her bag on her back and walking out the door. She heard her mother reply with her own 'bye' before she closed the door.

Immediately, she activated the map on her phone to keep track of her travel with her current location. She already had music playing in her ears to muffle noise around her. It would also help her keep track of the directions her phone would tell her.

On the way to the bus stop, she couldn't help but wonder if the students walking the same way as her were also people who were heading to the entrance exams at U.A. There would many students heading to the same destination today after all.

Thankfully, when she made it on the bus, she found herself a seat to calm her nerves in. It was right next to a window too, perfect.

Mizuha sat in silence and watched people walk and even run towards the bus until it finally moved. As her phone announced that she needed to get on the bus she was on, she felt an elbow brush against her headphones. She glanced at the person without turning her head. One thing she didn't like about public busses were that some people had no consideration about the personal space of those they were standing close to. It was supposed to be common sense to be quiet and well behaved in public transportation.

And yet the girl was happily chatting with her friend and panting while holding onto the pole of Mizuha's seat, unaware of her elbow that she was pointing at Mizuha's cheek.

Annoyed, Mizuha moved an inch closer to the window while letting out an irritated breath.

At least now I'm not just nervous.

Thanks for irritating me.

As she predicted, the students who got on the same bus as her were all intending on taking the entrance exam like her. She was part of the wave of students coming from the left side of the school. She could already see the building reflecting the morning light from above.

She swallowed as she tore her eyes away and focused on making it to the entrance. And when she did, she looked back up at the building. Apart from to lower part of the school, the rest was just blue thanks to the windows. Giant glass windows that reflected the color of the sky and clouds. It was pretty much a sight to behold.

I wonder how the view would look like from inside…

At that moment, Mizuha was already imagining herself as a student just to see how it would feel to stand on the other side of the window.

Would it just be just as great from the other side of the windows?

Would it be any different from her middle school?

What would change?

All of a sudden, Mizuha let out a gasp when she ran into someone. She was so startled by it that she almost fell backwards. Thankfully, the only thing that fell was her headphones that dropped on her shoulders just as the map on her phone said 'you have arrived'.

She wasn't dumb enough to keep her eyes glued on the school's structure and not pay attention to where she was going at the same time. That's what peripheral vision was for!

It's just that the person in front of her decided to just stop walking to admire the school!

"Whoa! I'm sorry! I didn't realize someone was behind me!"

Mizuha inwardly frowned and looked at the person who stopped. It was a guy who was taller than her, almost the same height as Byakuren. He had somewhat long black hair and red eyes. She spotted a little scar above his right eye.

His red eyes reminded her of that boy.

What's with the red eyes lately?

She was probably staring at him a little longer than she thought since he started waving his hand in front of her.

Mizuha jolted and took a step back. "Sorry. And, uh, it's fine."

He sighed in relief. "It wouldn't be manly of me to scare a girl before an important entrance exam."

What, did he think she was scared of him? How the heck did she look like to him just now?

He smiled at her, "Well, good luck to the both of us." He said with a thumbs up.

Mizuha honestly didn't know how to reply to that. She was aware that if she were to walk away without any type of reply... it would have been rude. Should she nod and just get on with her life or just stand there until he turns around and leaves?

... She decided to copy him.

She awkwardly put out her own thumbs up, "Y-Yeah...good luck." She repeated with a small weird grin. Apparently, he seemed satisfied with her reply since he gave her a toothy grin.

Unsure how to move on, she scratch the back of her neck and weakly lifted her hand to wave him off as she averted her eyes before moving around him and making a quick beeline to the school doors all while cursing herself for looking weird just now.

Only when she made it inside the building did she put a hand on her face in embarrassment.

Gah, that was so weird…

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

A week passed.

Even though she was confident about her written test, she wasn't sure how to feel about the practical one. If her memory was correct, she would have accumulated forty-five points. Forty or forty-five, somewhere around there. She wasn't even sure that it was enough. What exactly was the passing grade for their practical test?

… Could she have scored more if she focused on the smaller faux villains instead of that walking disaster?

Maybe she would have gotten a higher score.

But she'd be no different than that ginger haired girl that thought that helping out was a waste of time.

And that just didn't sit right with her.

That's why she was nervous when she found a letter addressed to her from U.A High School. She found it in her mailbox after school. She wasn't expecting to receive it so soon. All she did was poke her hand in her mailbox while watching a video on her phone and pulled out the mails, going through them out of curiosity, counting them.

But everything just stopped when she saw the U.A logo with her name as the recipient. There was no mistake. It had her full name, address and everything.

And yet… she didn't open it right away.

She just left it on the living room table and hid away in her room.

…

…

…

"Mizuha!"

The girl jumped when her mother barged into her room with the U.A letter in her hand

"You have a letter from the school!"

Mizuha paused her video game. "… Yeah, I know."

"And you didn't open it?!"

Footsteps pounded in the hallway. Her father came up behind her mother with widened eyes, staring at the letter in shock.

Mizuha cocked her head and frowned sheepishly. "I thought I should wait for you guys since it's such an important announcement result thing..."

"Well, open it! Hurry! I want to know the results of the exam!" Her mother urged quickly, gesturing her to follow her out the room.

The family went into the living room and they sat together on the couch in front of the wooden coffee table. The letter was pushed into the daughter's hands and the parents were watching with anticipation.

"Wait… maybe we should get some water—"

"Sit down! You're not going anywhere!"

Her father scratched the back of his neck when her mother pointed at him. He sat back down next to his daughter when he sensed the hidden displeasure coming from his wife.

Mizuha sighed heavily.

It was time.

She actually took the time to open the letter by gently opening it starting from where the wax seal was. Perhaps she was dragging the time by trying her best to open it as cleanly as possible or maybe because she was nervous. Probably both. That didn't go unnoticed by her parents who were urging her to just rip it open but she wouldn't have it.

Her envelope looked a bit messy by the time she finally opened it.

She blinked when she looked inside.

There was a small device along with the official letter. She curiously pulled out the device and brought it close to her face. Her eyes examined the object carefully, looking over the edges and corners.

"Ah, that's different." Her mother remarked.

"What else is inside the letter?" Her father wondered.

Mizuha shrugged and set it device on her desk carefully to not break it if it was somewhat fragile thing then she went back to the envelope, sticking her thumb and index finger to grab the letter inside.

—FWOOSH!

All of a sudden, a huge projection shot up from the small device. Frozen in her seat, the girl paused and blinked several times before looking up at the projection, envelope at her feet from the shock. Her parents were also surprised from the way they jumped. The projection was displaying an office setting where a small creature was seating behind a large brown desk.

It looked like a mouse.

"Greetings, Hyoumei Mizuha! Now please don't be alarmed, this is only a projection! I am Nezu, the principal of U.A High School, yes I know, my appearance is quite strange I get that a lot."

But I didn't say anything...

"I am going to inform you about your exam results. Now let's see..."

The anthropomorphic mouse went through some papers that sat on its desk. It took her a moment to realize her heart was beating fast from the suspense, she could even hear it in her head.

"Ah, here it is. Mizuha Hyoumei... your grade for the written exam is ninety percent. Very good! As for your results for the practical exam... you have a total of forty-five villains points."

The projection then displayed video footage, shorts of how she gathered points.

Her father was mostly concerned by how she literally launched herself in the air at the start of the test, claiming that seeing her free fall was not good for his heart. "That's scary…"

"Wow! Look at you!" Mizuha's mother exclaimed with a laugh as footage of Mizuha skating backwards on the street appeared.

"It was fun." Mizuha admitted, softly laughing.

"However, you should know that the practical exam was not just based solely on villain-points. We also evaluated you on another factor which is Rescue. Now, let's talk about your rescue-points! Please take a look at the footage we prepared."

The projection screen now displayed Mizuha grabbing someone by the shirt.

It was that guy who called her cheater.

"Ew." Mizuha spat.

"Your quick thinking earned you seven points for that rescue."

Then the image changed, this time it was the footage of Mizuha keeping the fourth faux villain at bay. She watched herself trying ask the girl for help and the shock and disappoint she expressed when it was denied. The footage showed everything until the point where she, the two boys, and the limping girls made it out of danger.

"Now this rescue was the one that caught our attention. You, who still had the choice to run and continue on, decided to stay and protect those two girls. We noticed you were faced with a dilemma, you had figure out a way to save them while trying to keep away the fourth faux villain. You may not have succeeded on coming up with a solution, but you were able to buy some time until help arrived. That's still very good! You chose to be brave and face an overwhelming threat that could have undoubtedly destroyed you. Heroes are those who face adversity no matter the difficulty."

"But I hesitated at first… does that really count?" Mizuha mumbled, unsure.

"You did something." Her mother reminded her.

"That instinct to protect is there, hidden inside you. We were able to discover it with the help of that fourth faux villain. You have the mark of someone who is willing to face danger for the sake of others. The mark of someone who will go against the worst odds for the sake of others. The mark of someone who is capable of self-sacrifice. That, my dear, is an important part of being a hero."

The next footage was a constant replay of her summoning up the ice rampart in the nick of time.

"Therefore, you have received a total of twenty-five points from all of the judges!"

The screen went back to the principal who gave her a smile.

"That is after we took measure to avoid any bias from a certain teacher."

"Ah… he's talking about your brother. Why not? Bias is fine every now and then—" Mizuha jumped when her mother slapped her father's shoulder repeatedly.

"Shhh!"

"Your score for Rescue is thirty-two points!"

Then a score board appeared in front of her.

Mizuha froze in her seat and stared at the projection screen with wide eyes.

1st place: Bakugo Katsuki (Villain: 77/Rescue: 0) and Hyoumei Mizuha (Villain: 45/Rescue: 32)
2nd place: Kirishima Eijirō (Villain: 39/Rescue: 35)
3rd Place: Uraraka Ochaco (Villain: 28/Rescue: 45)
4th Place: Ibara Shiozaki (Villain: 36/Rescue: 32) and Kyouran Byakuren (Villain: 40/Rescue: 20)
5th Place: Kendo Itsuka (Villain: 25/Rescue: 40)
6th Place: Iida Tenya (Villain: 52/Rescue: 9)
7th Place: Midoriya Izuku (Villain: 0/Rescue: 60)
8th Place: Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu (Villain: 49/Rescue: 10)
9th Place: Tokoyami Fumikage (Villain: 47/Rescue: 10)
10th Place: Awase Yosetsu (Villain: 50/Rescue: 6)

…

…

…

"Ha?"

"Oh my god! You're in first place?!" Her mother exclaimed, clapping her hands, laughing and smiling. "That's amazing, Mizuha!"

Her father was quickly taking out his phone and taking pictures of the board. "I need to show this off! My daughter got first place in the exam!"

Meanwhile, Mizuha just stared with round eyes in complete shock and disbelief.

No… that's just not possible.

I know I did well…

But how could I have done THAT well?

No, way… this has to be some mistake!

"Congratulations, Hyoumei Mizuha! You pass! Welcome to U.A High School! We look forward to seeing you in spring!"

With that, the projection video ended. Mizuha stayed rooted in her spot for what she felt was an eternity, thinking it would start again after realizing that they indeed made a mistake with the scores.

But it never came.

When she snapped out of her daze, she reached for her letter with shaky hands.

The formal written admission was the same as the projection.

She made it into U.A High School.

All of a sudden, her parents were all over her. They were hugging her, joy written all over their faces now that she was given the path to become a hero.

And for some reason, that's when it hit her. Their reactions couldn't be fake. She really made it into U.A High School.

She really did make it in first place.

Her hard work paid off.

"You did it, Mizuha!" Her mother grinned.

"I'm so proud of you!" Her father ruffled her hair.

Finally, Mizuha broke out into a smile of relief. "I freaking did it! I need to thank Uncle Kazuei for helping me!"

Her mother stood up from the couch and beamed a smile, still excited from the news. "I have an idea! Let's all go out to eat tonight! We'll celebrate your acceptance in U.A High School with your favourite food! Maybe we can even invite your uncle if he's available!"

"E-Eh?! But we just bought ingredients for dinner!" Her father protested, gesturing to the bags they left at the front door.

"Then we'll put them away and then head out! Come on, everyone help me put these away!"

"… That's not what I meant— ah, never mind." Her father turned to his daughter and smiled proudly as they stood up together. Mizuha was already looking forward to eating out for dinner. He could tell from how she was eagerly putting her slippers on to get to the bags.

She felt her father's hand on her head.

"Your brother would have been ecstatic. I could already picture him freaking out and throwing confetti."

The mental image made her chuckle softly while she picked up two plastic bags. She imagined him pulling out the poppers he prepared the second the principal announced her acceptance into U.A, all while hollering that he knew she could do it.

And yet, her features softened briefly with a hint of melancholy.

"You think so?"

Her father smiled, walking past her.

"I know, my son, so I know so."

On the weekend of that week, Mizuha agreed to Byakuren's invite to eat outside for lunch. Another celebration for getting accepted into the school, but this time with just each other.

As expected, he burst into a smile upon seeing her and held up his hand when she came close.

"U.A Baby!" He grabbed her hand when she weakly held it out for him to hold. His grip was tight and he kept shaking their hands before using his other arm to hug her. She couldn't help the smile and chuckle, his energy being contagious that was hard to block it out.

"U.A." Mizuha nodded. "Man, I wish I could just rub it in that old man's face…"

Byakuren snorted and began leading the way. "See? This is why I told you that retaliating gives you satisfaction. You missed your chance to be a menace."

"Again, I'm not like you. I don't have and will not have the energy to start a fight, especially not with the principal."

"Your loss."

It wouldn't be long until spring arrived.

Their first year at U.A was about a month away now.

…

…

…

SPRING – APRIL

"So, how do you feel?"

Mizuha looked up from her breakfast, question marks in her eyes. Her mother was sitting across from her and sipping on her coffee. Unlike Mizuha, she wasn't going to eat breakfast just yet. She still had time before she needed to get to work. She was keeping her daughter company.

"It's your first day." Mizuha's mother pointed out the obvious.

The girl nodded once she got it. "Oh. Yeah. I feel like puking to be honest."

Her mother sighed exasperatedly. "Why are you nervous? This happens every year, you always get some type of anxiety. That's not good."

With a pout, Mizuha shrugged. "I can't help it."

"You'll be fine like always." Her mother waved her hand dismissively. "Your father would say the same if he was here but you know he has work."

"Yeah, I know."

Since it was her first day at school, Mizuha was going to go with Byakuren. Normally, she went to school by herself since she always had the habit of going to school way too early because he'd whine about her punctuality and that it was too much for him. He still wanted to keep his butt in bed for as long as he could.

In her defense, his 'on time' meant two minutes before the first bell.

Yeah, no.

But this time, he was too excited not go early for once.

He showed up at her door with a grin. "Good morning." He looked at her mother and bowed politely before waving. "Good morning, Hyoumei-san."

"Oh, Byakuren. You're up early for once." Mizuha's mother teased while Mizuha made sure she had everything she needed in her bag. She didn't want to have any surprises on her first day. After making sure she had everything, she checked the time on her phone and noticed that she was two minutes after the departure time. She quickly put her shoes on and started pushing him.

"E-Eh?! What's the rush?"

She pushed harder, making him stumble. "I don't want to be late."

"We're not going to be late!"

"We'll be late by my standards."

"You sure you have everything?! Your ID?" Her mother yelled after her.

Byakuren and Mizuha turned around and pulled out theirs IDs.

"Yep!"

"Yeah."

The girl squinted at Byakuren.

The boy shrugged. "I misplaced mines this morning. Consider it a redo."

Their IDs were extremely important.

U.A had a security gate at its entrance. This gate would automatically close if someone does not have a student I.D card or a Special Entry Permission ID.

And considering that they had just gotten their student I.D cards in the mail, it was vital that they don't lose it. Unfortunately, Byakuren misplaced it and he had to go ask his mother for help to find it. After all, no one knows how to find things better than one's own mother. She ended up scolding him throughout the entire search while he sheepishly nodded and apologized.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask, what class are you in?" Byakuren asked curiously as they headed off to the train station. They could already see the cherry blossom trees in full effect, representing the spring season and another new beginning for students.

Mizuha pulled out her student ID card from her wallet and showed it to him without a word. With her free hand, she held her wireless headphones.

Byakuren hummed and nodded, then he pulled out his own I.D and checked his class. "Looks like we're in the same class this year. Class 1-A. That makes two years in a row now. Lucky." Byakuren said with a close eyed smile, putting an arm around her shoulders.

Mizuha shrugged, putting away her ID back in wallet before she dropped it on the way to school.

"Will you try and make friends?" He asked while keeping his eyes in front of him but he knew that she was staring at him the moment he asked her that question.

Mizuha narrowed her eyes at him. "No." She replied before looking back in front of her and putting her headphones on her head. He sighed and she felt his weight on her shoulders when he heaved down his chest. It was kind of unnerving how he would always try to encourage her in some form or another to befriend other students her age despite knowing perfectly well how uneasy she was about the subject.

Personal attachments to people could be dangerous.

Byakuren's eyes solemnly stared at her side profile as she focused on choosing a video to watch on the way to school.

Even with the cherry blossoms in full bloom, the time for new beginnings didn't seem nigh.

"Mizuhaaa, you're going to die alone with some cats!" He whined.

She looked at Byakuren with an apathetic expression. "The hell?"

After one month, they were finally back at U.A High School.

The trip there went smoothly.

To Mizuha's relief and pleasure, they arrived earlier than expected since the train came a few minutes early.

When they got on campus, they decided to head straight to class after making a quick search for the bathrooms. It was Mizuha's suggestion since she didn't want to waste time searching for them during the break. She found the idea of going around in circles for a bathroom pathetic.

After a while of searching, they finally found the door to their classroom.

Byakuren gaped at the size of the door. Mizuha's eyes were wide as she looked up. They thought the height of the door was quite an exaggeration along with the giant 1-A written on it.

To relax herself, she straightened out her uniform.

Her new school outfit was pretty nice. Long sleeve white shirt, gray blazer with blue green strips on hem of the sleeves and collar, and a red tie. And like usual, pants for boys and skirts with high knee socks for girls in the same blue green collar.

Ever since she entered middle school and had to wear a skirt for the first time, she wore shorts underneath her skirts. It was to make her feel comfortable when she disliked having air touch skin that was never touched before. The shorts helped.

"You think the door is for giant students?" Byakuren deadpanned. "God, if there are giant students... how are we going to fit in there?"

"We won't, obviously."

The white haired boy looked at her with a grin and pointed at the door, "Shall we go in?" he asked without expecting a reply from her. She simply held her phone in her hand and closed the video she was playing in the background but still kept her headphones on.

Byakuren slid the door open just enough for one person to enter at a time. He was the one to take the first steps into the classroom while she was following him closely behind, naturally sticking to him like glue.

Her eyes darted around the classroom to see if anyone was there. There were already a few.

She first spotted a boy with white and red hair sitting in the back before noticing five other people in the classroom.

His attention was brought to the door thanks to Byakuren. The same was for the other students in the classroom. Mizuha kept her gaze on the ground as she followed Byakuren into the classroom, ignoring everyone. Byakuren was different, already giving them a close eyed smile to those that looked over.

So far, from what she noticed in that brief moment, there was guy with blond hair who had a black lightning streak in his hair, a guy with glasses, a girl with dark purple hair with ears that had plug-like earlobes. The two other people were also sitting alone, a girl with long dark green hair and some guy with red spiky hair.

No one was speaking.

It must have been the first day awkwardness after all.

Byakuren looked over his shoulder. "Hey, let's choose a seat—"

Suddenly, an authority-type-like voice boomed. "Good morning!"

Obviously, Mizuha looked up from the floor to look at whoever was loud in the morning. Who the hell has so much energy?

Her headphones were just for show at this point since there wasn't anything playing. She could hear just fine. She squinted an eye and furrowed a brow at the sight of the person.

It was the guy with glasses. He had dark blue hair. And he was marching over to them in an odd manner because his hands were making a chopping motion as he came closer.

Robot?

He reminded her of one with how square-looking his appearance was.

"I am from Somei Private Academy! My name is Iida Tenya! I will be your classmate this year." Iida introduced himself with weird hand gestures that reminded them of a robot as he walked towards them.

Byakuren and Mizuha sweat dropped at the sight of him.

You wasted no time, huh? Mizuha respectfully removed her headphones by using the back of her hand to knock it down onto her shoulders.

Dude, you just scream 'serious looking'! Byakuren grinned. "I'm Kyouran Byakuren, nice to meet you, Iida-san. Hey, I remember your name from the scoreboard when the results were revealed. Congrats on making it into the top ten."

Iida's eyes widened when he easily received praise from a classmate on the first day.

There he goes again.

This was the layer to Byakuren's personality exposure. First, it was the kind amicable smile. But underneath also hid another side that was cunning and calculating. She honestly had no idea how he turned out like this. It must have started around the time he was eleven which was when he started getting into tactical games. If she was the brains in the academic field then he was the brains when it came to the field of battle. Developing his mind in that way seemed to have that effect on his personality as they grew up.

Quite a dramatic effect if you ask her.

Tuning out the exchange between Iida and Byakuren, the girl was busy staring at the teacher's podium to notice that Iida. She thought that the podium would be fancier looking since they were in U.A. No. It just looked regular and basic.

She blinked when Byakuren's hand landed atop her head. She looked at him with a disapproving frown. Oh, how she missed the days when she was the taller one. Damn her growth spurt for giving her false hope.

Her eyes shifted to look at Iida who looked like he was expecting something.

Oh.

"Hello."

Byakuren wanted to sigh.

"May I know your name?" Iida gestured to her. "I would like to start getting to know the names of my classmates as soon as possible since we will be working together this year!"

"Hyoumei." Her tone came out flat yet softly for only him to hear. "Hyoumei Mizuha."

Iida paused for a second when her name registered in his brain. His lips parted in realization. She was one of students who ranked first in the practical exam. Immediately his first thought was the nature of her Quirk, what was her unique ability that helped her rank first?

But instead of staying at the door, Mizuha moved around Iida to claim a seat, already eying one spot in particular. Her face remained nonchalant as she lifted her hand to pull off her headphones and set them down on her chosen spot. It was somewhere in the front. She always preferred sitting near the board just in case a freaking tree of student would sit in the front, making it impossible to look at the board without swinging her body back and forth like as if she was at a concert and didn't know how to dance. It was also a good place for promptly leaving the classroom.

Her bag fell on the desk as she pulled back the blue chair and quietly sat in it. At least now she could just wait and relax until class began. No doubt that more students belonging to Class 1-A would soon be arriving.

She kept herself occupied by putting her bag under her desk for the time being and dropped her headphones in them. Everything was fine so far, nothing to worry about. She should use this time to calm her nerves and just wait patiently for class to start. From the corner of her eye, she noted Byakuren's figure that was walking towards the back to find himself a seat. Unlike her, he didn't care about where his seat was and as long as it wasn't in the front.

Crossing her legs under the table, she leaned back in her seat and pulled out her phone.

She was scrolling through social media to see if there was anything worth reading about to pass the time.

Maybe I can read some fanfiction or whatever…

Mizuha blinked and checked the time. Hm… maybe later I'll take pictures of the campus so I can show it to mom…

But even when she preoccupied herself on her phone, she was able to take note of her surroundings, which is why she used her foot to make sure her bag was properly under her desk when she heard someone walking towards the front. She didn't want them to trip over her own mess.

Her thumb that was scrolling paused when she realized they came to a stop next to her.

"Hey there."

Repressing the urge to sigh, she turned to look at the person talking to her. He had spiky red hair and red eyes. She knitted her eyebrows when she saw their face. He looked familiar. But she couldn't quite remember who he was. It was only when he grinned did a lightbulb go off in her head. She remembered that grin. Her eyes confirmed her suspicion when she spotted the little scar above his eye.

"… Hi."

"Do you remember me?" He asked, hopefully.

"… I bumped into you."

His face lit up and he smiled. "Yeah, and I sat in front of you when they explained the exams. I'm surprised you remembered."

He was probably referring to the fact that his hair was no longer black.

Well, it did throw her off.

From his seat in the back, Byakuren raised a brow when he saw the boy interacting with Mizuha. As usual, she just looked nonchalant, but mostly confused this time since she didn't understand what spurred on this sudden interaction. Curious, he folded his arms on his desk and focused on the two.

"My name is Kirishima Eijiro. What's yours?"

Her eyes made a slight shift to the left, hesitant for a second. "Hyoumei Mizuha."

He blinked. "Ehh?! You're one of the students who ranked first in the practical exam!"

Immediately, she felt like shrinking in her seat. That certainly caught the others' attention. Damn.

I suppose they were going to have to find out sooner or later…

"Um… yeah."

The red haired boy rubbed the back of his neck. "Wow… uh,well, anyway, I just wanted to say that the way you went back to help those girls during the exam was cool. Like seriously, you went back to face that fourth villain when everyone ran away." He pulled his hand down and clenched his fists. "I was so moved by your heroic act that I couldn't help but do the same! I was even able to get more rescue points because of you!"

Oh.

So, he also got something out of it.

Because he also assisted with the rescue…

Mizuha frowned, unsure how to reply to his words. It didn't seem like a good idea to just say 'cool'.

Her hand put down her phone on the desk.

I guess… whatever comes to mind.

"Kirishima-san, you earned those points by yourself. I didn't force your hand. You made the choice to go back and help. Without your help, someone was going to get hurt." She started drumming her fingers against the surface of her desk. "You were actually the only other hero there who brave and willing to help me and them. Well… you and whoever the other person was. So… thanks." She finished with a mumble before looking back at him.

He stood still with shock.

In reality, he was actually the first person to run back and help her out. He didn't want to stand still and do nothing, not again.

And hearing her acknowledge his courage, the very thing he worked hard on made him feel like he truly changed. When someone else sees the effort, that's when it shows.

Mizuha flinched when he didn't say anything.

Oh crap. Was it something I said?

If that was the case, she'll probably just keep her mouth shut for the rest of the year.

"Thanks, Hyoumei! You know, I think you're pretty cool!"

Again, Mizuha flinched. "H-Huh?"

He gave her a toothy grin. "I have a feeling we're going to get along real well."

"Uhh…"

Mizuha blinked dumbly as he started talking more about the entrance exam, specifically the written one. She stared at him as he kept talking but she was trying to understand how he'd just suddenly talk like as if they were already friends. How did this guy make it look so easy?

To be honest, she was mentally panicking.

How was she supposed to react?

She wasn't trying to make friends.

And she wasn't the type to act… like a bitch to simple push people away. Despite how she felt, being respectful while keeping her distance was always how she did things. There was no merit in being mean to those who meant well other than being seen as a bad person.

Ugh… now what… What do I do?

Byakuren chuckled in the palm of his hand as he could imagine her face and how confused she must be feeling.

She was never good with the amicable types.

…

…

…

After enduring a short conversation and struggling to attempt to be patient with Kirishima, Mizuha was given reprieve. But not before shooting Byakuren a discreet annoyed stare over her shoulder when he sent her a laughing emoji through text. He even took a picture of her and Kirishima and sent it over, captioning it with 'social sickness'.

To avoid anymore interactions, she took out her headphones from her bag, played a song, and put them on her head after setting a countdown for when class would start. Her folded arms were a makeshift pillow for her head because she chose to keep her face down, hidden from everyone.

It was the perfect deterrent.

And it worked.

Because when the alarm went off, she lifted her head and noticed more students sitting in desks around her. At the door, Iida was greeting a green haired boy who looked taken aback by the sudden introduction. Soon after a girl with brown haired appeared behind the green haired boy, saying stuff she couldn't hear with the music playing in her ears.

Hmm…?

Isn't that…?

Is that the same kid from back then?

Promptly, she removed her headphones and tucked them back inside her back to wait for the teacher to make an appearance.

It would be funny if Uncle Kazuei was my homeroom teacher…

But when she looked back up, she noticed that three students at the door backed up to make way for a man in a yellow sleeping bag. Messy black shoulder length hair, half-lidded black eyes, black clothes. He took a moment to look at everyone in the classroom.

"It took eight seconds for you to quiet down. Time is a precious resource. You lot aren't very rational, are you?"

Mizuha squinted her eyes and slightly tipped her head to the left, making her bangs fall over her left eye. Why does that sound like collective blame?

The man sighed and rolled up his yellow sleeping bag on his way to the podium. "I'm your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shouta. Pleased to meet you."

Mizuha paused when he introduced himself. For a second, she averted her eyes away to stare at her blue sneakers.

Her lips formed a tight line.

Damn. I wasn't expecting him to be my teacher.

She lightly shook her head. No point in worrying about it now. He was her teacher and nothing could change that.

Aizawa pulled something from under the podium. It was a shirt, specifically the gym shirt that the school sent them through the mail once their acceptance was assured.

One of the many things they had to do while submitting their application for U.A was to give them specific information about their clothing sizes in order to send them their class uniforms and gym clothes.

"Now, I'm sure you all brought the gym clothes we sent you. Change into them and head out to the grounds."

At first, everyone was stunned and they all remained seated. They were expecting some sort of speech to welcome them or a brief summary of their year's curriculum. Nope.

Aizawa, who was stepping off the podium, paused to look at everyone. He narrowed his eyes and gestured for everyone to get up. "Quickly now. I said that time was a precious resource."

"You kids have been doing these since middle school, right? Physical fitness tests where you weren't allowed to use your Quirks. The country still insists on using the averages taken from results from students not using their Quirks. It's not rational. Well, the Ministry of Education is procrastinating."

Mizuha was standing next to Byakuren on the far right of the group. She was the second person after Iida to show up outside since she quickly got ready. The time took to get ready was so fast that she had time to fold her clothes, lock them away in a locker with a padlock, and walk past the girls that were now her classmate.

Maybe the clothes folding part wasn't necessary but she preferred not having wrinkly clothes, a habit her mother suggested she make so that she could always look presentable.

Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long for the others to come out and join them.

Byakuren put his hands in his pockets and smiled a little. "Our school was completely irrational." He whispered to her.

Mizuha simply chuckled through her nose, lightly nudging him to make him be quiet to avoid having their teacher call them out for not paying attention.

"Bakugo, how far could you throw in middle school?" Aizawa addressed to the guy standing by Byakuren's other side, pulling out a ball from his pocket.

"Sixty-seven meters." He answered.

Aizawa moved away from the center of the field and used his chin to point at the circle. "Great. Now try it with your Quirk." He said and waited until Bakugo made it to the middle of the circle to toss him the ball for the throw. "Do whatever you need to. Just don't leave the circle. Give it all you got."

Mizuha blinked when Bakugo faced towards the group since Aizawa was standing in between. Her eyes squinted when she recognized his face. It was the boy that was caught by the garbage juice villain… or was she just making a mistake.

She nudged Byakuren's arm and whispered: "Is that the boy that the muddy Villain was rampaging with when we went to the store?"

He looked at her and slowly nodded, looking at her strangely for not noticing sooner. "You just realized?"

"Yeah…"

"DIE!"

The duo jumped in surprise by the sudden yell and explosion going off. They squinted when Bakugo's explosion throw caused a gust of wind to fly in their faces. The girl put her hands behind her neck to avoid having her hair fly over the place while the boy sputtered, fanning away the smoke.

The ball landed.

Aizawa stared at his phone until it made a beep. He turned around to show the results to the class.

"It's important for us to know your limits. That's the first rational step to figuring out what kind of heroes you'll be."

705.2 m.

Mizuha sweat dropped. You punch someone like that and their body is finished…

"Uwah… scary." Byakuren remarked. "But it makes sense."

"Whoa! This is awesome!"

"So we can use our Quirks for real!"

"That's so much more fun than normal assessment tests!"

"Man, the Hero Course is awesome!"

Mizuha didn't like the way her teacher dropped his arm when the enthusiastic reactions exploded. The body language indicated that he didn't agree with them.

"Awesome, you say?" Aizawa echoed. He then nodded slowly and tucked away his phone in his pocket. He sighed and stared at the class from behind his bangs, appearing eerie. "You're hoping to become Heroes after three years there… and you think it'll be fun and games?"

Mizuha scratched her arm

We're kids.

Hell, even I am a little excited considering the trash classes we had in middle school.

"Right. Then the one with the lowest score across all eight tests will be judged hopeless and will be expelled."

"The fuck?" Byakuren muttered.

Mizuha stilled in place. Oh, she did not like that.

Everyone tensed at his words and collectively reacted to such unfair punishment on the very first day— first hour— at U.A High School.

"Natural disasters, high pileups, rampaging Villains." Aizawa named, straightening up. "Calamity is always around the corner. I'd say Japan is full of unfair things. Heroes are the ones who correct all that unfairness. So, if you were hoping to spend your evenings hanging out, then I'm sorry to tell you but for the next three years, U.A will run you through the wringer." He smirked at them. "That's Plus Ultra. Use your strength to overcome it all. Bring it on."

Mizuha's eyes shone like silver when she was hit with a realization.

"Oh…"

I see. A bluff.

Do your best.

This class is not a place for slacking off.

Because the moment we stepped foot in U.A, there was only one path forward…

And it was littered with all the toughest obstacles possible.

Chapter Text

"Anyway, we're done here. Your documents about the curriculum and such are in the back of the classroom. Give them a look. Also, Midoriya, have Recovery Girl fix you up. Tomorrow's trials aren't going to be easier."

Mizuha was the first to turn around and walk back the way they came. Byakuren did a double take when he noticed how far she had gotten, causing him to roll his eyes in exasperation for her quickness.

She left so quietly that he didn't even notice.

"You're so quick to leave!" He exclaimed, catching up to her.

"You heard Aizawa-sensei, there's no need to stay."

"Yeah, but you're so fast."

"I rather go back inside and change. Our uniforms are comfy."

As expected, Aizawa was bluffing when it came to the punishment for last place, which was Midoriya, the green haired boy.

He called it a perfect deception for draw out the upper limits of their Quirks.

She knew it was meant as a bluff the second he started laying down the realities of a hero's world, but she still made sure to do her absolute best on the test. However, because she saw through the deception, she wondered if it was better if she was naïve since it might bring out different results. Maybe.

Speaking of Midoriya, he was only able to get a good grade on the throw test which somehow triggered Bakugo to come after him, demanding how he was able to do it until their teacher caught him with the scarf he was wearing. It was a tool meant for capturing. Perfect for leashing Bakugo.

She didn't understand what got him triggered over a simple test.

Byakuren looked over his shoulder to see how the class was following them, his eyes landed on the green haired boy that was stood still, staring at his hand.

"Hm… that kid ended up in last place… And Aizawa-sensei didn't look too happy the first time he threw the ball. I wonder what was up with that…"

Mizuha also looked back briefly. Midoriya's shoulders rose as he visibly let out an exhale before following the rest of the class. She turned back to look in front of her. "Maybe his Quirk is only good for his arms? Who knows. But what double-edged blade for it to injure his finger in an instant."

If his Quirk is really a double-edged blade, bringing only injury after using it… then that's rather unfortunate.

…

…

…

The first day of school went very smoothly.

Aside from Aizawa-sensei's impromptu Quirk fitness test, everything else was a breeze, fitting for a first day. They were able to meet a few of their subject teachers, or rather the ones who would be with them on the second day such as Present Mic for English, Midnight for Modern Art History, Cementoss for Modern Literature, and Ectoplasm for Mathematics. They explained the curriculum for their specific classes and reminded them of what materials they needed to buy for their classes.

In the morning it was normal classes. In the afternoon, it was Hero Basic Training. Of course, since she was in a Hero Course, that meant that she was going to have longer classes for hero training.

Even if the day was mostly spent with explanations and self-touring around campus, she was a little tired mostly because she slept a little late last night. Nothing new for her though. She was a nocturnal person.

The second she came back home and shut the door behind her, she let out a heavy sigh, lazily taking off her shoes at the genkan before dragging her tired body through the house.

Her bag was sent flying onto her bed when her door opened, making it bounce and hit against the wall. Her uniform however got a kinder treatment as she neatly placed them on the back of her desk chair to change into her house clothes, a loose gray t-shirt and some black long pants with blue smiley faces.

Always treat your uniform nicely because you will alternate between them during the week, her mother would say.

As she passed by her long mirror in her room, she stared at her reflection and saw how her light gray hair was messy. Her bangs were all over the place in front of her eyes from changing her shirt. She jutted out her bottom lip to blow them out of the way and used her hands to fix it.

Her hands pressed against her cheeks.

"First day was good. Not bad."

As much as she enjoyed a good relaxing day as a start, a piece of her was itching to start her hero related classes, the curious cat within her was anticipating it.

She may not show it on her face outside, but she was indeed looking forward to it.

The little excited smile reflected in the mirror was proof when she randomly poked the mole situated on the left side near the corner of her mouth.

"In the meantime…" Mizuha mumbled to herself, walking away from the mirror to take out her empty container that used to be filled with two waffles sliced in eight pieces. She knew a waffle wasn't the best choice but she liked it either way. It was quick, easy to eat and get rid of. It did the job.

She went to the kitchen to drop it off in the sink swiftly before walking back.

Her feet didn't stop at her room, instead they kept moving a little more until they stopped in front of another door.

Her eyes fixed the door handle.

"Do you know why my door is before yours?"

With a deep breathe, she took hold of the handle and turned it to slowly open the door. Gently, quietly. She didn't want to cause a disturbance. She didn't want to make too much noise. Softly, slowly. She kept her head low, staring at the wooden floor, to avoid looking inside immediately.

As if she didn't want to bother anyone inside.

But why?

There wasn't anything in there anyway.

There wasn't anyone in there.

It was just her at home.

Her eyes lifted.

The sunlight coming from the window was enough to illuminate the room, instantly giving spotlight to the specks of dust dancing in the air, appearing like golden dust under the yellow light. The bed next to the window displayed an illusion of a gradient thanks to it. Cool blue fading into a warm yellow. The pillow was also coated in glow of warmth. The dusty nightstand became a lighter shade of brown. The charged phone sitting on it nightstand was also affected by glow.

The white desk on her right had a black holder meant for pens, pencils, and the like. She could see the dust on it, proof that it hadn't been dusted in a long time. Anything of a darker shade was victim to dust accumulation.

And yet the floor was clean, shiny even.

Mizuha stood in the doorway, taking a moment to let the sight reignite the times she would enter this room.

Nothing has changed.

She still felt the same.

The same feelings of guilt emerged the shadows of her heart and slowly embraced it, wrapping it tightly, dying it completely in its colours.

Her eyes solemnly looked over to the phone. It took her a moment but she eventually made the first step into the room, approaching the nightstand and standing before it, walking just as quietly as she opened the door.

She poked the screen.

Instantly it revealed the current date and time. The lockscreen background was a silly picture, meme, a light brown Dachshund wearing a purple sweater and a green scarf, looking up at the camera with the caption 'Gotta keep your wiener warm'.

There were 25 voicemails.

And 30 missed calls.

Truly, nothing has changed.

Her thoughts were pulled away when she forcibly strangled her feelings, quick and painless, but she couldn't break free from the squeezing guilt in her heart. She was grateful for that because it was almost unbearable being in this room right now. It was a good nudge to get her mind back on track and to turn away from the reality that this room oozed with.

She went to the closet and got on her knees to pull out the boxes hidden away. Fortunately, she was able to make out the writing on them.

This one.

Her hands picked up a box that was written 1-A on it. That was all she needed in this room. She didn't need to come back here unless it was absolutely necessary.

"I should be able to get head start by brushing up…"

Unlike how she came, she hastily made her way to the door to leave it all behind.

Not forgotten, always there, but simply in the back corner of her mind.

She didn't spare the room another glance as she adjusted the box in her arms to reach back and close the door.

…

…

"Because big brothers come first! I have to watch out, and protect you!"

The next day of school, things were back to normal.

Mizuha was now on her own on her way to school, and she was yawning as soon as she made it past the school gates.

Her hand went up to rub her eye tiredly because she was still tired. As usual, she slept late but it was also the fact that she was back to the whole waking up early to go to school routine. The break was nice while it lasted. But alas, this was her life now.

Not that she was complaining.

But the way Aizawa-sensei said it wouldn't be all fun and games… he makes it sound like we won't be able to do things normal kids should be doing. I know we're training to be heroes and all… but ehh…

The U.A Sports Festival was always fun to watch.

The students also looked like they would have fun too.

Mizuha was pulled away abruptly from her thoughts when someone ran past her while shoving into her left side. Her straight face turned into one of surprise as she steadied herself so she wouldn't fall forward.

The girl, that ran into her, merely laughed while saying something about someone being slow, not caring that she ran into another fellow student.

Mizuha quirked an eyebrow up and quickly moved away from her spot and, as expected, there was someone else running behind her. It was another girl who was also laughing. They were probably racing each other to their classroom.

She narrowed her eyes at them from behind. They didn't even apologize.

"Goddamn rude people." She muttered lowly. "Idiots."

But you two seem like you're having fun.

Maybe I'm just overthinking it…

…

…

…

One more class and then it's lunch…

Mizuha sighed as she put away her notes for modern literature. There was a five-minute reprieve before Ectoplasm would take the podium. A few students were stepping out of the room to go for a quick restroom break.

"Gaaah." Kaminari groaned in his seat. "I almost fell asleep."

"I swear I yawned a few times…" Sero admitted, scratching the back of his head.

Mizuha stared at her mechanical pencil, frowning. I'm getting hungry… but we still have one more class. Thank god hero training is after lunch.

She pushed her things forward and leaned face down on her arms folded on her desk, deciding it was best to relax her mind since the next subject was going to be a walk in the park. Yesterday, she dug into the closet in order to fish out old math notes that were recorded from the same school. It was to help her brush up on the subject since it was a while since she touched it.

Mizuha wasn't sure how long she had her head down but all she knew was that she woke up to something slamming on the podium. She fell asleep. She didn't even hear the bell!

"Ehh? What happened to Ectoplasm-sensei?" Kirishima asked when he saw who was standing before them.

"Change of plans."

The man in front of the class had his hands extended to the extremities of the podium. Dark gray hair, familiar dull onyx eyes. Oh, and would you look at that? The stubble was gone.

"Due to unforeseen circumstances, I will be teaching some of your math classes with Ectoplasm. I'm normally supposed to be the math teacher for the third years, but well, simply put, we're having staff problems." Kazuei droned, looking quite exasperated by the situation. "You guys can just call me by my Hero name, Reflect, like most of your teachers. Pleased to meet you all."

"It's a pleasure to meet you too sensei!" Iida's voice boomed in the back just as Kazuei started flipping his book open, instantly making Mizuha cover her mouth while pretending to brush her nose with the back of her index finger. She was chuckling at the sight of her uncle's face, clearly not expecting such an enthusiastic response.

He shook his head and went back to searching for his page. "Alright, turn to page twenty-five of your math books. Bring out a notebook because you'll all be taking notes starting today. I'm sure most of you are more interested in doing hero work instead of doing things like studying math, literature, and whatnot, but it's the law. And as long as you are in my classes, you won't have time to think that you can take it easy. Also, I don't tolerate sleepers in my class." He finished his sentence by looking directly at Mizuha.

In response to that obvious address, she rolled her eyes and went straight for the books.

I didn't sleep during your talking so chill, geez.

The quicker she finished the work the more time she'll have to do nothing when it was actually time to do the work when he finished explaining.

She smirked at what the page presented her with. Quadratic formula. Looks like I'll be taking it easy for this chapter.

As her uncle kept going on about math, she ignored him and went ahead to complete the work on page twenty-five.

Ever since the first day, Byakuren and Mizuha chose a table near the big windows for their lunch table. It had a nice view and it was away from most of the students who were gathered in the center where more seats were available.

And the table wouldn't be taken, not when she would be sitting there eating while Byakuren lined up to get himself some food. Mizuha didn't like the idea of eating school food especially not after what she saw during her time in middle school. The worst thing she saw was a green goop that bubbled on the plate. She didn't understand how eighty-nine percent of the food during the whole school year looked like something out of a nightmare.

She opened the container and grabbed a small piece of her disassembled waffle before chewing on it slowly. It was only after finishing her third piece did she hear footsteps approaching her table.

Why were there two trays on her table?

She raised an eyebrow up and looked up at the owners of the trays. In front of her was Byakuren, smiling as usual, and next to her was...

She stilled.

"I let him sit with us instead since we have seats available~" The white haired boy sang.

It was Kirishima.

He put down his tray in the spot next to hers, where her bag was sitting. He smiled at her. "Yo! Hope you don't mind!"

Mizuha mentally gulped before shaking her head silently, she reached for her bag and moved it away from him. She kept her bag on the table and put her container inside as it remained open. Was it weird to keep it on the table? Probably. But she didn't care.

She wanted to hide.

Behind her bangs, she discreetly shot Byakuren a look that screamed:

'WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!'

But he just smiled innocently, ignoring her obvious question entirely.

Now she just felt awkward as the two guys started eating at her table and making conversation about how Ectoplasm and her uncle were both their teachers. She was just there nibbling on her waffles and feeling awkward with every second that passed. Mizuha wasn't comfortable with the idea of eating with other people around, it just made her feel like... strange and nervous.

She discreetly peeked to the side to check if Kirishima was watching her but thankfully he wasn't, too busy just munching his food, singing praises that the food was way too good to be considered school food which Byakuren was totally in agreement about.

It was most likely the nervousness but she found herself eating way faster than usual. She probably chewed a bit before forcibly throwing it down her gullet so that she could stop eating in front of other people.

Sensing the unease literally coming off in waves from his friend, Byakuren looked up from his gyudon curiously. The sight before him made him pause because he couldn't help but picture a shaky little dog trying to hide away in its little cage after taking a piece of food with it.

Ah… maybe this was too big of step?

I didn't realize she was so weird about eating in front of other people.

"Hey, Mizuha~"

The girl stiffened and looked up, one side of her cheeks round like a squirrel's.

"Mizuha, help me with math."

The only reply he got was her closing the container in which she was eating from without breaking eye contact, signaling that she was done eating and that the answer was no. Then she pulled her bag off the table, leaving only her apple flavoured juice box as her next task.

Kirishima made a confused sound. "We literally just started learning a new chapter, how is it hard right now?"

"Mizuha happens to be a math wiz. She's good at it because she already learned the materials until second year high school. She took her brother's old notes and worksheets and did them on her own when we were in middle school."

Why are you sharing that information, stupid?!

Kirishima's eyebrows shot up. "Ehh?! Really? That almost feels like it's kind of cheating, isn't it?" He finished with a chuckle, amused and impressed.

Byakuren laughed heartily. "That's what I said!"

Practically sizzling in her chair, Mizuha felt her ears turn red from the conversation. What on earth was Byakuren thinking revealing information about her just like that? She was trying to keep a low profile so other people wouldn't try befriending her. She wasn't comfortable with the attention he was directing at her.

"She's been doing it since elementary school. I even had her tutor me once, right Mizuha?"

Byakuren was smiling at her.

The only reply he got was Mizuha ripping off one end of the plastic around her straw and blowing into it to make the plastic fly into his face. He blinked several times and then watched her nonchalantly poke a hole into her juice box.

He pouted.

Kirishima turned in his seat to face her just as she was about to put the straw in her mouth. He placed his hands in front of him in a praying manner, "Hyoumei, if I ever have trouble in math, can I please come to you for help?" He begged with his eyes shut tightly.

The girl's eye twitched in annoyance, this was exactly what she trying to avoid.

How was she supposed to answer? She didn't know how to answer negatively without being rude.

'No, I don't want to'.

Doesn't sound right.

'No.'

Sounds a little rude for someone I barely no.

'Hell no'

Yeah, hell no.

"Um... we'll see?" She tried with an unsure look. His red eyes shot open and a grin widened on his face. It looked like that was a satisfying answer much to her dismay.

"Yess! Thanks, Hyoumei!"

"Ah…" was her unenthusiastic response in comparison as went back to his food.

Slowly, her head turned to look at the scheming fox sitting across from them who was innocently smiling back at her.

You damn charlatan!

Stupid marshmallow!

Stupid!

…

…

…

Mizuha adjusted her gloves by pulling on them to make sure they were firmly on. She was on her way to Ground Beta for her class with the one-and-only All Might, the new addition to U.A's faculty, with her costume that the school commissioned for her after she submitted her application and got accepted into the school.

It was a dark blue long sleeve shirt underneath a black long sleeve jacket that she decided to roll up and button up to her elbows. It was long enough to cover her rear end, and it also had a zipper in case she felt cold.

None of her arm's skin was exposed since she wore long gloves that each had a metal plate below the knuckle area. They were fingerless, however, making her fingers the only ones exposed since she wore black pants with flat black and white buckled boots with red soles. She decided to forsake any cool design on it in favour of needing only the necessary.

As much as she wanted a hood, she didn't need it.

When she made a turn that would bring her outside and directly to Ground Beta, she took a moment to stop and look around. Once the coast was clear, she took a moment to jump up and down a few times, bringing her knees up to her chest, to test the flexibility of her attire.

It's not too tight nor too loose. That's good.

She then stomped on the ground and dragged her foot.

And I feel like they have a good grip.

"Mhm. Cool." Mizuha smirked. "But I guess I'll need something else when winter hits…"

She resumed her pace to go outside where she could already see a few people waiting with All Might. To her surprise, Byakuren was already outside and he was talking with the tallest student in her class. That tallest student had six arms. And he wore a mask over his face. When he noticed her, he beamed a grin and ran up to her while walked leisurely at her own pace now, hands in her jacket's pockets.

Byakuren's costume was fairly simple. It was a purple t-shirt tucked into black stretchy yet fitted pants. His black high-shin boots with purple tucked the sleeves of the pants inside. What was noticeable was the long white and purple jacket with a split tail, the hems of his jacket were black while his collar was purple.

As he jogged over to her, the split tail bounced around until he stopped. He smirked and made a show to demonstrate his costume by doing a slow walk in a circle. "What do you think?"

"I think you should thank me." Mizuha deadpanned.

Byakuren deadpanned as well for her quick reply. "Ugh… you could at least say it looks good on me."

"You look good only because I helped you make your costume when you came over." Mizuha reminded him when she started walking past him.

He pouted and followed after her. "Only because you were the one who insisted on drawing mine."

She rolled her eyes. "Only because watching you draw the same line over, and over again was getting me tired. You seriously have zero art talent."

He put his hands behind his head, shrugging. "Art isn't my forte." He agreed.

"… But you do look good."

"Wah~ Thank you, Mizu-chan."

Mizuha cringed and started moving away from him. "Ew, don't call me that again."

All Might had pulled out a box with lots and told everyone to line up so they can pick their teams.

They were going to be doing an indoor battle villain situation.

The cleverest villains hid in the shadows, hence the indoor challenge. They would be split up into teams where they would fight each other two-on-two, but there would one battle that will be three-on-three, nothing too different.

One team would be the Villain Team and their job was to protect a nuclear weapon from the Hero Team until time ran out.

The Hero Team had to either dispose of the weapon or capture the villains to win the battle.

Simple enough.

Just not something she could mentally prepare for.

…

…

…

Mizuha glanced around, there was already students paired with each other. She frowned, she quickly walked over to Byakuren and pulled on his arm.

In her hand, she held the lot with the letter 'B' written on it.

She knew she wasn't going to be with Byakuren because she was standing behind him in line and saw which lot he pulled out. It was the letter 'I'. And he was very eager to get with his teammates based off the way he grinned and literally spun out of the line while waving his lot.

With a sigh, Mizuha turned around and started to silent walk around, peeking at the lots. She was like a cat snooping around and trying not to get caught. She just wanted to spot the same letter and stay quiet until it was her turn.

She approached the student with a tail. He had short blonde hair and was wearing a costume similar to one that martial artists wore. And because he was taller, she stood on the tip of her toes to peek over his shoulder.

"Ah." A glove pointed at her.

Eh? A glove? A talking glove?

The boy turned around and jumped when he saw Mizuha so close to him. She quickly backed away and held up her hand and apologized. "… I was just checking if you had the same letter."

"O-Oh!" He came closer to check the lot she held. He lifted his head and pointed towards the student that Byakuren was talking to when she arrived. "I saw that he pulled B earlier. So, that must be your partner."

"Ah… thanks." Mizuha nodded and immediately moved around him to join her teammate. He easily noticed her approaching and held out the lot for her to read when she was close enough, making her hold up the matching letter.

He was a tall giant that was probably at least twenty centimeters taller than her. He had white hair that swooped down and covered the right side of his face. He was wearing a light blue mask that covered everything below his eyes. The only facial characteristic trait you could see was his left eye. If it wasn't obvious enough, he had six arms but only the front arms had actual hands.

Just then, another person was added to their group. He didn't say anything but only held out his lot for them to read.

Mizuha resisted the urge to furrow her brows at the sight of this classmate. It was that boy that she saw on the first day whose hair split into white on right and red on the left. At the end of the first day, she was barely able to catch the fact that he also had heterochromia, dark gray on the right and turquoise on the left. Really, dual man, that one.

And he also had a large burn scar on the left side… which was covered by a material that looked like ice. That's what almost made her do a double take since his whole left side, head to toe, was covered up.

The hell? Can you even see in that get up?!

"My name is Shoji Mezo." The tallest one introduced himself, breaking the ice since it fell silent among them.

It was only the second day.

This was the first time everyone was actually getting the chance to mingle during class.

"Todoroki Shouto." The half-and-half boy said in a blasé manner.

"Hyoumei Mizuha." She followed in suit.

And that was it. No one else said another word. Good for her. She didn't have the energy to try and make conversation anyway. And besides, that Todoroki didn't look like he wanted to talk anyway.

Mizuha stood next to Todoroki and Shoji, patiently waiting for All Might to announce the first teams as soon as everyone found their partners.

"Now, then!" All Might stuck his arms into two boxes that each had villain and hero written on it. Mizuha had to wonder where the hell he manifested those boxes because they certainly weren't there before.

He yanked out two balls the same time.

In his right, it was D.

In his left, it was A.

Mizuha internally sighed in relief.

Oh, thank god. I wanna see an example first… I really didn't want to be first.

"The villain team goes in first!" Their teacher said before turning around, gesturing for the rest of the class to follow after him. "The timer starts in five minutes when the hero team sneaks in! The rest of us will be watching from the monitor room!"

…

…

…

Midoriya and Urahara won the matchup.

Much like during the assessment test, Midoriya once again got hurt for using his Quirk to give Uraraka and opportunity to capture the weapon with her Zero Gravity Quirk.

As for Bakugo, the boy who ranked first with her on the exam, he immediately painted a feral animal in Mizuha's mind, as left in disbelief for losing the matchup. Mizuha looked over her shoulder when he returned to the monitoring room with Iida, he looked completely speechless after losing to Midoriya specifically.

And I thought they were good friends after seeing the way Midoriya ran to try and save him from the garbage juice.

Thanks to his Quirk injury and after receiving a full on explosion from Bakugo, Midoriya was transported to Recovery Girl, dismissed by All Might for the rest of the class. They would proceed without him.

"Alright! Let's move on! For the next battle, Team I will be the villain team while Team B will be the hero team!"

Those involved in the matchup raised their hands, revealing the only three-on-three match up.

The floating gloves and walking boots, the boy with the tail, and Byakuren, were team I.

The moment team B's opponents were revealed, Byakuren and Mizuha lowered their hands looked at each other. In that instant, Mizuha's face slowly hardened and she was glaring at the white haired student next to her, smiling.

Just because they were close didn't mean she was going to go easy on him.

Like the first battle, Mizuha and her team had to wait five minutes before they could begin. During those five minutes was a complete silence between her and her teammates. She seriously thought they would discuss about what they should do but apparently not. Again, it's not like she going to initiate some type of communication.

All Might's voice rang, "Now! Let's start the second indoor person-to-person combat training match!"

Shoji walked into the building and then stopped. Mizuha raised an eyebrow as she continued walking in with Todoroki behind her. But the moment Shoji's limbs transformed into an ear, Mizuha's eyes widened in surprise and she stiffened, eyes darting back and forth to the new additions.

She and Todoroki stopped advancing and waited for Shoji to provide them with information since it was obvious that trying to track their classmates.

She watched as a few of the limbs turned into mouths. Freaking mouths. What the heck. She has never seen a Quirk like this before! Sure, she once saw a cyclops and a third eye, but this was completely different!

"We've got one on the north side of the fourth floor. Another's somewhere on the same floor… barefoot… and another walking around near the first one. The invisible one must be planning to ambush us and capture us."

Mizuha looked at the camera on the ceiling. Byakuren and the one with the tail is probably guarding the weapon…

"Get outside. It's about to get frosty in here." Todoroki said, walking past Mizuha and Shoji with his right hand up. Mizuha eyed the frost swirling around his hand as he approached the right side wall. "Our opponents think they're playing a defensive game… but," He touched the wall. "That means nothing to me."

He was instantly turning the building into an iceberg.

She could hear Shoji quickly stepping out of the building to avoid getting caught.

But she remained rooted in place, only slightly stepping out of the way to avoid some ice. As long as she remained behind Todoroki, she was in a safe zone.

And she was staring at his hand that was freezing the place.

Yesterday, she was only able to see a little of what Todoroki could do as a fellow ice Quirk user. But here, she was seeing that he was very proficient at using it like her. It was impressive, really.

To be honest, she didn't expect someone to have the same kind of Quirk she had. In middle school, no one had the same as hers. No, it was more like she had never seen anyone use an ice Quirk at school. So, it was a little surprising to see another one in person.

But…

Ack… better move fast!

Without delay, Mizuha ran past Todoroki who was surprised to see her dash off on the ice with ease. Not even a single sign of slipping. She was no stranger to walking on ice.

"What are you doing?" His voice echoed.

"Just checking something." Was all she said because she was in the middle of launching herself up the stairs. She needed to make it to the top as soon as possible!

But don't get so arrogant without checking if you caught everyone!

Todoroki blinked when he saw her land and quickly turn to launch herself up above the next set of stairs. Did she notice something that he didn't? How? There was no rush even if the enemy didn't get caught. There was ice everywhere so it was going to be hard to move around.

But if she rushed upstairs then perhaps she was seeing something that he couldn't. Without another second, he followed after her.

"…?" Shoji blinked once. He wasn't expecting the quiet girl to suddenly take off in a mad dash like that. He wanted to go in as well, but the second he put his foot on the ice, he knew he wasn't going to make it far as easily as his teammates did.

…

…

The floor was completely icy when she reached the top. Unlike the lower floors, the top's layout was pretty straight forward. There were four doors, two each on the left and right side, evenly separated with a lot of space.

Mizuha ceased her movements, staying completely still.

But her eye twitched when she could hear Todoroki climbing up the stairs after her.

Ahrgh, quiet, quiet, quiet…!

She closed her eyes.

And then she heard it.

It was coming from the right side. The sound of ice shattering. It was faint but still audible.

"Right…" Mizuha muttered, using her Quirk to speed down the corridor to the right. To avoid potentially hitting the invisible person, she swirled around, leaving a spiral of ice in her wake. It turned out to be a good thing because she could hear the invisible girl's voice yelp in surprise when she zoomed past her. When she neared the first door, she was perched on the ice stuck on the opposing wall and then used her free hand to break the door open with a burst of ice.

As the door fell, it revealed Byakuren using his Quirk on the boy with the tail to try and free him from the ice. He already freed one foot.

Bingo.

"Tch, so quick, Mizuha." Byakuren shouted her name, instantly sending a blast of wind with ice shards in her direction. But Mizuha was quicker because she used her ice to push her down, throwing her into the room by sliding against the ice on her side.

Byakuren aimed his right leg for her. A pretty risking move considering he was on ice. But she knew he was using his Quirk to help maintain his balance. An improvised crutch.

Her eyes narrowed and she quickly maneuvered around to create ice to help her deviate from his leg. As she moved to the left, the ice followed after her but was immediately shattered when another blast of high pressure wind flew at her as she slid to a stop on one knee.

When she looked up, he was in mid air about to kick her on the side.

She slammed the back of her other hand with the metal plate on his shin.

He visibly winced and faltered, causing him to miss and give her the opportunity to lean back and ram her foot into his gut, forcing him back. She smirked almost sadistically when she found an opening. The plan was to tackle him to the ground and completely freeze him with, maybe, a double layer. After all, his Quirk gets weaker the more restricted he was.

And he knew she was going to do that.

Which is why she used her ice to suddenly swirl above him just as he unleashed high pressure wind that broke the wall behind her.

Byakuren looked up, shocked. "HUH?"

Mizuha looked down, smirking. "Heh."

He could have sworn he felt his lifespan drop by two years from the way she stared at him dead in the eye like a ghost ready to pounce. Her hair hanging above him didn't help the image.

"ACK—!" His body fell on its side when she dropped down while kicking him in the shoulder, and her foot that kicked him served as the conductor to direct the ice she was riding on to slam him on the floor and freeze him there. She could have aimed for his head but she was kind of scared of hurting him. It was scary to think a blow to the head, even if it was training, could be dangerous.

But just to be sure.

She came over quickly and placed her hands on his chest.

Realizing dawned on him and he panicked. "Oi, oi, oi— overboard! I'm already—!"

She froze him from head to toe but made sure to leave only his face free to glare at her, clearly unamused.

Ojiro, who had been watching the two, was left speechless at how fast she dealt with him. He couldn't move at all during their fight. Only Byakuren was able to free his foot by chipping away at the ice with high pressured wind. His tail couldn't precisely shatter the ice without hurting himself.

Todoroki entered the room just in time to see Mizuha getting up. Her eyes noticed him quick and she stared back at him behind her long gray bangs but didn't say a word since she quickly went back to the goal: the weapon.

Ojiro tried to move to stop her.

"You can move if you want, but the skin on your feet will come off, so you won't be able to fight your best." Todoroki informed him, waiting just until Mizuha touched the weapon to give her team the win so that he could begin melting the ice with his left side.

"The Hero team wins!"

Sensing the temperature rising, Mizuha looked around and noticed that it was coming from Todoroki. He was using the opposite side.

When the ice was weak enough for Byakuren to move his arms, he blew away the wet ice from his body and sat up with a grouchy expression. He shot Mizuha a dirty look while shaking out the pieces of ice in his hair. But she only stared at him apathetically with mirth dancing in her eyes.

"Not cool." Byakuren scowled.

Already fed up with the heat in the room, she decided to leave before anyone else. But she just wanted glanced at Todoroki while he wasn't looking just to see how he was melting the ice.

… Okay, so Todoroki is a freaking walking thermostat.

"Did you see the look on Hyoumei's face?" Kaminari lightly jabbed Kirishima with his elbow as the projection showed the back view of Mizuha exiting the building to join Shoji who had been waiting outside the whole time.

Kirishima looked at him with confusion. "See what?"

"She looked like she wanted to crush Kyouran!" He glanced back at Bakugo and then back at Kirshima. He put a hand around his mouth. "She looked like a mini Bakugo for a split second... minus the scary smile." He whispered.

"Oh yeah, she's pretty fierce." Kirishima grinned. "You should have seen her during the entrance exams."

"Ehh…?"

As both teams returned, everyone noticed how Byakuren was limping his way back.

Mizuha felt just a little guilty about hurting him so she apologized once. But he simply brushed it off, saying that it was sign that she put thought into those gloves of hers.

All Might had to call in another pair of bots to deliver another injured student to Recovery Girl. Just for a little healing to help him walk better. But Byakuren was insistent on walking on his own.

While she did feel a little bad about hurting him, she couldn't help but feel proud thanks to his praise. The gloves she asked for were definitely going to help her defend herself in the future.

But her proud moment dampened a little when she was told that she lacked communication for her teamwork during the summary of the matchup. If she knew something then she should have mentioned it instead of going off on her own. Doing that in real life was very reckless.

Mizuha rubbed the back of her neck.

Yeah, yeah, I know.

After school, everyone was chatting together. Mizuha glanced behind her shoulder while she packed her things in her bag, taking in how everyone was introducing themselves and talking about the exciting class they had with All Might. It was giving everyone the chance to socialize.

Todoroki was not one of them, by the time it was three o'clock he was already on his way to the door.

Mizuha had the same intention, and she was probably going to head home by herself since Byakuren one of those happily talking instead of getting ready to leave. And, like the others, he probably wanted to wait for Midoriya to return from the nurse's office so that he could introduce himself.

After zipping up her bag, she checked her phone. There was still a lot of time before she missed her scheduled ride.

Byakuren, who had a perfect view of the class from his spot, noticed Mizuha leaving without saying a word. He quickly excused himself from his little group and went over to her.

"Mizuha!" He called.

Once she heard her name, she stopped in her tracks and looked at him with a confused face. "What?"

He pouted. "Where are you going?" He asked while leaning back against a desk with his hands in his pockets. "You don't want to wait? We'll go home soon."

Mizuha tilted her head. "It's fine. I can head home by myself. Besides, I'm a little tired."

When her hair moved with her head, his eyes spotted a little speck of something in her hair. He wordlessly reached out to pick it, he took a second to inspect it before blowing it away. Mizuha was indifferent to this.

He knew she was trying to avoid her classmates altogether. Her being tired was an easy lie.

"Kyouran! Hyoumei" Ashido's called from afar.

Startled, Byakuren and Mizuha looked at the owner of the voice. She was skipping towards them excitedly, following her closely behind was Kirishima, Asui, Mineta and Sero. Mizuha cursed inside of her head as they all approached them.

"Hyoumei! You were ranked first in the entrance exam, right?" Mizuha leaned back when Ashido got into her personal space with that question.

"Uh… yeah."

"She must be on the same level as Bakugo then, huh?" Sero said.

"I, uh, only scored high thanks to the rescue points." Mizuha corrected him. "I didn't get as much Villains points like him."

Byakuren closed his eyes and smiled. "Just say that you are."

"Lie?" Mizuha shot back. He shrugged with his hands.

"But you do have a good handle on your Quirk." Asui pointed out.

"I had a lot of help." Mizuha answered flatly.

"Yeah! Her uncle who is a teach—" Byakuren was cut off when Mizuha accidentally dropped her phone on his foot. He paused to look down where she crouched down to hide herself from the others to shoot him a look while shaking her head. She didn't want the others to know that Reflect was her uncle. No need to divulge personal information.

Mineta, who was watching from the side, couldn't help his deviating his mind into the gutter when he saw the way she was kneeling in front of Byakuren.

"You guys dating?" He shortest student asked out of the blue when Mizuha stood up again. The two stared at him, wondering where the hell this was coming from.

Asui looked at him. "Isn't it bad to make assumptions?"

Ashido, who was suddenly interested in the subject, held her hands together excitedly. "Are you?"

For her, it was the way Byakuren removed that speck of dust or dirt from her hair just now combined with all the times the class had seen the two sticking close to each other. She figured they were close but perhaps more than just close?

"Uh… I don't think they are." Kirishima sweat dropped. He didn't get that vibe from them when they interacted in front of him.

"I mean, we're assuming, yeah…?" Sero said.

"No, they are!" Mineta said. He was totally convinced in his guess. "Kyouran, what base are you at?!" The boy nearly screamed with his eyes wide.

Mizuha's right eye twitched, BASE? I'LL SEND YOU FLYING YOU TWERP! WHAT'S WRONG WITH THAT HEAD OF YOURS?!

Byakuren laughed and quickly told them to settle down.

I'm out.

Mizuha groaned in annoyance before once again turning around to reach for the door.

However, she felt him wrap his arm around her mid section and she was pulled to his side. She gaped at him as he did a close eyed smile. His right hand was resting on her waist. The hell was this idiot doing?

He put his hand under his chin thoughtfully. "Are we dating?"

"Are you?" Asui tilted her head with a finger on her chin.

Suddenly, she felt him move closer to her face until the sides of their cheeks were pressed against each other.

"How's this for an answer?" He asked with a mischievous tone.

Kirishima saw the way her eye twitched in annoyance. And before anyone could say anything, she immediately slammed her left arm into his stomach. With a cough, Byakuren released her when he felt the air get knocked out of him, he stumbled backwards and supported himself with the edge of the teacher's desk.

Mizuha stared at him with an apathetic face. "How's that for an answer?" was all she said before leaving the classroom. She really didn't want to waste any time with his stupid antics.

Through the door she could still hear Byakuren's words. "I was only kidding! Violent Ice Queen!" He wailed accompanied by some groaning.

Mizuha rolled her eyes and kept walking. She blocked out any more annoyance by putting on her headphones and playing a random song.

What kind of pleasure he gets from creating unnecessary attention like that? Annoying freaking marshmallow.

To escape from Byakuren and any more possible headaches he could give her if he chose revenge, she all but ran down the hall. She even raced past Todoroki down the stairs.

…

…

…

"You good, dude?" Kirishima asked. Byakuren was rubbing his tummy while hunching, hiding his expression from his classmates. This was the second time Mizuha hit him today. However, the second time was more deserved than the first.

"I'm fine… just enduring right now." He chuckled softly. His white bangs hid away his purple eyes that stared at door. "But... I don't mind. It's a small price to pay in the long run..."

Chapter Text

The news that All Might had come to teach at U.A shocked the whole country. The media uproar went on for several days. And ever since the first day of school, the media was posted in different corner nearby the school, hoping to catch a student that would be willing to give them some fresh food to deal with. It was getting very annoying, especially for those who just wanted to get inside the damn building.

…

…

…

Mizuha narrowed her eyes at the sight before her.

In front of the U.A school entrance, the same media mob with cameras and mics were trying to interview the students who were trying to get in.

Now they are in front of the school?

This was not what Mizuha wanted to deal with at the moment. This morning, she took her time eating her breakfast and was late for the bus she usually took to school. That was fine. What pissed her off this morning was that she was forced to endure a ride next to some chatty girl on the phone who wouldn't stop laughing out loud. And the fact that her laughter bypassed her noise cancelling headphones? She couldn't escape this laughing villain even if she wanted to because the bus was full, leaving no space for her to get away.

And now she was faced with a media obstacle?

With a heavy sigh, Mizuha moved to the side where there were less people and tried to use that as her entry point. She skillfully made her way through the crowd without almost being noticed.

"Oh! Excuse me!"

ALMOST.

Mizuha kept a straight face and kept walking through the crowd that was slowly starting to surround her. But she almost clicked her tongue when someone's fat ass head blocked her sight.

For fuck's sake…

All of a sudden, she felt someone grab her shoulder. Now, Mizuha was no saint but she did have some degree of patience. However, that patience could easily evaporate if things crossed a certain comfort line.

Like some random person touching her.

Instantly, Mizuha slapped off the person's hand off her shoulder, narrowing her eyes in annoyance. She glared at the lady dressed in blue, who was shocked at what Mizuha just did. "Who said you can touch me? Isn't that inappropriate?"

"I'm sorry, but you couldn't hear me so—"

"Huh?" Mizuha squinted her eyes and placed a hand around her ear. "Sorry, I'm having trouble hearing so…" she gestured to her headphones while forcing her way through the crowd, ignoring the protests and calls for her to wait. All she needed to do was make it past the school gates and then she was free from those news reporters.

"I just want a damn story about All Might!" The lady groaned in annoyance when Mizuha was out of reach.

"Don't care." Mizuha mumbled to herself and walked away from the annoyance without looking back. She didn't mind if they tried pursing her. If they did, then it would have been hilarious. U.A's barrier would lock them out for good.

"Hyoumei! Good morning!"

The girl looked up and saw Kirishima waving at her in front of the stairs at the front doors.

She nodded as a sign of acknowledgment. He was waiting for her to catch up with him ever since he spotted her getting surrounded by the media. He actually waited to keep an eye out just in case she needed help navigating through the crowd if they kept blocking her way. Thankfully, she made through okay.

But he chuckled when he saw how immensely annoyed she looked when that woman tried getting her attention.

Mizuha sighed internally but maintained a straight face when she came within earshot. "Good morning, Kirishima-san…"

"Loud morning, huh?"

Oh, you have no freaking idea.

"Mhm."

Mizuha and Kirishima looked back to see another student getting hassled by the media. The student had no choice but to run his way through them to escape their clutches.

"Wow… they are relentless." Kirishima remarked. "They weren't as intense with me though. I guess that's because I answered some questions…"

Mizuha was quietly climbing up the stairs while Kirishima watched the media gang. But he noticed she was gone only after he turned to ask her a question and spotted her opening the front door. Surprised, she followed after her. She could hear him climbing up the stairs so she at least held the door open with her arm for a few seconds.

"But you know, I get why they're so persistent. I mean, this is All Might we're talking about. Who would have thought he'd become a teacher here?!"

Mizuha scratched her cheek with a finger while Kirishima walked next to her. Still talking.

"We're lucky we get to learn from the living legend himself." Kirishima clenched his fists, grinning. "It's so cool! Don't you think?"

Like most children today, Mizuha was familiar with All Might's achievements. And of course, he played a part in nurturing her motivation to become a Hero. Who wouldn't be inspired to do the same after seeing all that? But that isn't to say he was the sole reason for her wanting to be one.

"Yeah." Mizuha replied simply, not really trying to make conversation.

But somehow Kirishima just kept on talking.

And Mizuha didn't find him as annoying as everyone this morning.

"Anyway, let's walk to class together! You could use some company!" He said with a grin.

Company? Does he think I'm lonely? Mizuha felt the corner of her mouth pull for a second, unsure how to respond to that assumption. Maybe without Byakuren he thinks I'm lonely? I'm not though.

"Um... having no company doesn't bother me. I just choose to be alone."

Kirishima quickly shook his head, he moved his free hand in front of him in a flustered manner, "No, I didn't mean it like that!"

Huh?

"It's got nothing about being lonely." Kirishima sighed and rubbed the back of his neck in defeat, "I just meant that we could just walk together to class." he clarified, sheepish.

"Ah." Mizuha nodded slowly and apologized for misunderstanding. "Okay, sure."

I'm not going to tell him to fuck off. So, it's whatever.

Kirishima fell into step with her.

"Anyway, about yesterday, you know with Mineta's question?"

Oh god. Stop.

Mizuha deadpanned and stared at Kirishima. "We're not."

Kirishima only chuckled. "Yeah. I figured. But you two are close friends, yeah? It shows. Now that I think about it, you guys were sitting next to each other behind me. You're always together…"

"… We've known each other since elementary school."

"Good work with yesterday's battle training. I saw the video and results." Aizawa praised everyone, before setting down the papers on the teacher's desk. However, he looked unimpressed when he directed his gaze to the right side of the class.

"Bakugo. Grow up already. Stop wasting your talent."

Mizuha was resting her cheek in her hand when she slightly angled her head to look over at Bakugo who scowled and looked at his desk.

"Got it."

Very arrogant, very aggressive, and clearly violent. That boy was a ticking time bomb ready to go explode, very much like his Quirk. A literal manifestation. Despite those traits, Mizuha already knew he was going to be one of the best students in the class.

And even when he was clearly someone different from her, she could see something that she had something in common.

A capable foul mouth.

The only difference was that she kept her words to herself by not talking much. No one would ever know.

"I want to be class rep! Pick me!" Kirishima's voice suddenly boomed from the back.

Mizuha was startled when the classroom suddenly became very loud. She was too busy thinking about Bakugo that she didn't understand why everyone was yelling. She found her teacher wrapped up in his yellow sleeping bag, sitting on the floor, disinterested.

"I wanna be leader!"

"I'd like to do it!"

"Pick me!"

"Class president sounds like fun! I wanna do it!"

"Ah." Mizuha realized. Well, that was her cue to fold her arms on her desk and lie her head down. She had no interest in such a tedious temporary job so she chose to extract her brain from class and throw it into the pool of daydream, disconnecting completely.

At least she and her homeroom teacher agreed that this was a waste of time.

… I wonder if I'll be in the mood to buy a snack after all.

I haven't really had the chance to explore whatever's around U.A.

But this area is a hotspot for kids so maybe there's some yummy snacks somewhere nearby.

In the midst of her mind wandering, she was tapped on the shoulder by someone which forced her out of her reverie. She looked up and saw Iida pointing at the piece of paper he left on her desk.

"Huh?"

"Don't forget to write down your choice for the class president, Hyoumei-kun."

Huh… we still didn't choose yet?

"Uh… sure."

She didn't spend too much time on deciding who she wanted to vote for.

She just wrote the name of the person who first came to mind.

Or, specifically, the last person she thought of.

Bakugo Katsuki

However, she wasn't the least bit interested about who was going to be named their class rep.

After finishing her poor excuse of a lunch, she got up from her seat with her mango flavored juice box, making both Kirishima and Byakuren look up at her.

"Eh? Hyoumei, what's wrong?" Kirishima wondered, chopsticks an inch away from his mouth.

Mizuha looked at him with her juice in hand.

Despite it only being the third day, Kirishima somehow made himself their permanent table mate. And to make things worse, Kaminari was also invited to the table by Kirishima and Byakuren when they met him in line for lunch.

Kaminari did a double take when he saw that her things were tucked away. "You finished your lunch already?! I didn't even see you eat!"

"Mizuha has the habit of eating fast. I doubt she swallows." Byakuren shrugged, ignoring the glare she shot at him. "But seriously, where are you going?"

"Just gonna walk." Mizuha replied while walking away. "Watch my bag."

"Sure!" Kirishima responded, taking her bag off the table and putting it in her chair.

Byakuren frowned when he watched her form walk further away from their table while sipping from her straw.

…

…

…

Ever since she visited her reverie during the class activity of choosing a representative, she grew to anticipate the idea of looking around the school floors since she always had plenty of time whenever she finished eating. It also helped avoid conversation with Kirishima that Byakuren would try to initiate by mentioning something about her that would catch his interest. She knew he was doing it on purpose but she wasn't going to tell the red haired boy to shut up just because she didn't want to socialize with others.

She didn't want to be mean, not when he was genuinely a nice guy.

So, she did what she did best.

Turn away and stay alone.

When she stepped out of the cafeteria, she looked left and right, trying to recall where the vending machines were. From what her uncle told her, there were some near the cafeteria, but she just didn't know where exactly.

Vending machines weren't exactly something worth being excited about but she wanted to see them because U.A was a highly financed school. Surely, they had some rare goodies that regular schools didn't provide? Like those lunches premade in them.

"Ah… but with Lunch Rush making all kinds of food… I don't think they'd keep processed food and whatnot in vending machines…" Mizuha mumbled, finally choose to walk to the right.

And her choice might actually be correct since she suddenly heard metal, more specifically something hitting metal.

Mizuha let her feet drag her towards the sound. It got louder. It's not because she was getting closer. No, it seemed more like the sound got louder because the vending machine got hit with a little more force this time.

"Fucking finally."

The girl paused when she recognized that voice. It made her deadpan and take a quiet step back since she had just arrived at the corner where he was on the other side of.

Okay… curiosity might get this cat killed.

I'll slowly get the hell away from here.

She recognized that angry voice anywhere. It was his trademark at this point. When she heard him pull out a drink from the vending machine while muttering another curse, he was already walking, his footsteps getting closer to where she was hiding.

Ah, fuck.

Get back, get back!

However, there was no escape. There was no where to hide. He spotted her immediately when she was going back the way she came. Obviously, the way she was trying her best to stay quiet and how she walked like she didn't want to get caught made him think she was lurking without him noticing.

"Oi, what are you sneaking around for?"

Mizuha flinched and slowly looked over her shoulder to see Bakugo narrowing his eyes at her. Now that he got a good look at her face, his eyes were now glaring because he obviously recognized her.

"You're in my class… the one who was with the icy-bastard."

Oh. So he doesn't know—

"And you're the one who also ranked first during the entrance exams..."

Never mind. Fuck.

Why did he say it like she was on his shit list now?

But Mizuha only frowned deeply, not liking how he could potentially give her the same look he gave Midoriya. She just wanted to have a smooth sailing school year. She didn't need this guy looking at her like she was trying to best him. God, no. Too much headache! Unwanted attention!

…

…

RIIIIIIIING!

"Ah?"

"… huh?"

Bakugo and Mizuha looked up at the ceiling when a blaring alarm went off.

"Security Level 3 has been broken. All students please evacuate in an orderly fashion."

"Security?" Mizuha tossed her empty juice box in the trash and went to look outside the window hurriedly. From where she was, she couldn't see the entrance of the school. But she didn't see anything worth the alarm to go off.

Bakugo turned around and was suddenly greeted by an enormous crowd of students filing up the hallway. Unfortunately, the crowd was too quick even for Bakugo to react. In less than five seconds, the space was filled with loud bustling students. Alarmed by the noise and screaming, Mizuha turned around to see what was happening only for her forehead to hit something hard.

She recoiled, wincing. "Ow!"

But she was able to catch what hit her. It was a mutant type student with a head that looked very much like a rock. However, she didn't have time to think about it when she suddenly felt her body get shoved back, making her collide with the glass window.

She was immediately greeted by a pair of red orbs. Bakugo.

And he looked ready to explode… with her in proximity.

He turned his head to start yelling at those who were pushing him.

Mizuha winced, putting her left hand up to her forehead where she got hurt. "Bakugo-san! Can you get off me?!"

The boy whipped his head so fast to look at her, she thought his head was going to fall off. "That's what I'm trying to do dumbass!" He responded harshly before getting pressed against her even more. Mizuha blinked slowly in disgust when she felt a drop of spit land on her cheek.

Mizuha was wondering where his soda went because both of his hands were planted on the glass near her head now, trying to push back against the mob. She flinched when he got angrier, resulting in him pushing back a student with a roar.

Her classmate was basically pinning her to the glass and she was scared that anymore pushing might break the window. She would be the first one to fall over.

With a groaned, she put her hand down from her forehead and used her arm to push against Bakugo's chest, to give her more breathing room.

Huh?

Her hand was red. It was blood.

"A Villain broke into U.A?!"

"This the first time in years! This has never happened before!"

Mizuha brought her hand close to her face.

"We have to get out of here!"

"They're going to attack us?!"

Her onyx eyes lifted to look at the students panicking, trying to run to safety. They all wanted to get away from the danger that might touch them next. Their bodies, the walls, the light, they all blurred, distorted and became static in her eyes. They were all replaced by a people wearing casual attires, some even wore festive yukatas, and the walls were replaced by dark skies, tall buildings illuminated with light.

But she was the only person that stayed the same. It was the same thing. She bled the same way too. Her heart was beating fast, she could almost hear the blood pounding in her ears which were deaf to anything but the voices from a memory that was extract from her past, plastered over the present.

"Mizuha! Move! Run!"

"Mizuha! What are you doing?!"

"Get back!"

Her eyes widened when she got swept away by the memory of the past, her head looked down while she covered the left side of her face. She could see drops of red falling down. And she felt like she was falling too. Instinctively, her other hand flailed around to grab onto the closest thing and she held onto it tightly. She vividly remembered holding onto the white shirt stained in her blood.

"Oi, let go."

The illusion of the memory was shattered when a familiar angry voice startled her. She blinked and shot her head up to see Bakugo scowling at her and he yanked his blazer away because she was holding onto him.

Bakugo's brows pinched when he saw the blood coming from her forehead.

And the way her hand and eyes shook were enough to tell him she got spooked from the false alarm.

Clicking his tongue, he grabbed her shoulder and forced her to look out the window. Mizuha gasped from the sudden treatment, it wasn't gentle but it wasn't too harsh either.

"Open your ears, you idiot. If you just look behind you then you'll see that there's nothing to worry about. It was just those shit heads from this morning."

Mizuha watched as the media was getting dragged away from the school grounds by the police. The situation was sinking in. There was no villain, no one was in danger.

It was a false alarm.

Everything is okay.

"Fix your face." Bakugo huffed, walking away from her. It was only when he moved away did she notice that there was more space now that the students returned to the cafeteria to resume eating lunch. And most of them were giving her looks because her face literally had blood on it, visibly, very hard to miss.

"What happened to her?"

"Whoa…"

Embarrassed, she kept her head down and firmly pressed her bloody hand against her forehead where she felt the cut. It wasn't a serious deep cut but it was long enough for a lot of blood to come out.

I need to find a bathroom…

"H-Hyoumei-kun?!"

Mizuha looked up and saw Iida, Midoriya, and Uraraka standing in front of her, the two shorter students were behind Iida and they immediately gasped in shock at the sight of her face.

"What happened to you, Hyoumei-san?!" Midoriya freaked. "Blood! You're bleeding a lot!"

"Did you get hurt during the panic?" Uraraka asked worriedly.

"I'm okay… I'll be fine." Mizuha nodded. "I just need to go to the bathroom…"

"You should see the school nurse if you're hurt!" Iida exclaimed, clearly worried about his classmate who was eager to just move around them and walk away. "Do you want me to take you there?"

"No, it's fine… now, if you'll excuse me—!" Mizuha said quickly, running around them, using this chance to speed down the hallway in search of the bathroom on the floor she was on despite their voices of concern echoing behind her.

Even while she navigated with one eye, she quickly spotted the girl's bathroom and entered to check herself in the mirror. She grimaced when she saw how far the blood traveled down her face, mostly because of her hand. It made sense for Midoriya to freak out at the sight of her. Without wasting anymore time, she quicky washed her face and also cleaned some of her hair since the blood was visible on her gray hair. When she made sure the water was clear after several splashes of water, she looked up and saw that her face was clean.

She saw how there was a jagged line across her forehead. As she thought, it was a light cut.

"What a pain… A sharp rock literally ran into me…"

But as she stared at her reflection, her mind wandered back to what just happened to her during the panic.

The memory that resurfaced felt fresh.

And the guilt in her heart pumped it full of life, making her temporarily relive that moment of despair.

"… Damn it."

She scooped a handful of water and wiped off the fresh blood coming out of her cut.

…

…

…

"Whoaa! Little listener, what's with all the blood?!"

Sitting at his desk, Aizawa turned to see that Present Mic was shocked at the sight of Mizuha holding up bunched up bloody toilet paper. She had knocked on their teacher's room door so quietly that it she made it seem like her cut was dismissible when the amount of blood on the tissue said otherwise.

"Um, where is Recovery Girl?" Mizuha asked quietly, timid. "I tried knocking on the door but no one answered… And I didn't want to snoop around her office."

"Hyoumei. What happened to you?" Aizawa asked, getting up to check on his student who was solemnly staring at the floor.

Kazuei was sitting at his desk, a sandwich in his mouth, tapping away at his computer when he overheard his niece's voice. When he looked up, his mouth fell open but he caught his sandwich in his hand before it could fall on the floor. Quickly, he saved the document he was writing in and got up from his seat to check up on her with his colleagues.

"During the panic, someone ran into me and I think their head cut me. They had a rock for a head."

Present Mic scowled. "See? I told you we should have blasted those media people away. Now, one of our students got hurt during the panic."

Ignoring his colleague, her teacher sighed. "This is why we tell people to evacuate in a calm and orderly fashion."

Aizawa moved her hand to reveal the cut she got. It was still bleeding. The platelets didn't full seal the wound closed yet. And for her to be asking for Recovery Girl meant that she didn't try to treat it yet.

"Eh… it's not that bad." Present Mic noted.

Reflect took a bite out of his sandwich. "It's still not nice to look at."

Mizuha looked at her teacher. "Uh… are you sure it's okay?"

"You tend to bleed more when you get cut anywhere on your face. It's not serious but it can be a hassle, especially when you're trying to see." Aizawa explained when he let go of her hand.

"Oh… okay."

That was good to know. No one told her that before, not even when she got hurt four years ago.

"And unfortunately, the old lady is on her lunch break somewhere. And I don't think it's a good idea to use her Quirk on you when you have Basic Hero Training in the afternoon. Her Quirk uses up your stamina to heal it."

Mizuha looked down when Aizawa let go of her hand. "Oh… okay. Sorry for bothering you." She bowed her head and immediately started walking away, easily baffling Present Mic from how quick she was to basically shrug her shoulders and go 'oh well'.

She should be fine without any first aid stuff. She would just have to deal with the red jagged line on her forehead for the rest of the day.

I'll just keep pressing on it just like when I accidentally scratch a damn pimple.

That usually helps stop the bleeding…

"Ah, ah, ah." Kazuei called after her, snapping his fingers. "Wait up."

Mizuha stilled obediently, looking back, questioningly. She found her uncle walking after her with his sandwich in hand. Her eyes narrowed at the food in he carried.

"I assume you got it?" Aizawa said. The only response he got from the fellow teacher was a dismissive hand. "Don't take too long. She has class soon." Aizawa said before going back to his desk inside the teacher's room with Present Mic.

"I know, I know. Come on, kiddo."

Mizuha frowned, keeping step with her uncle when he pushed her along with him. "Where are we going?"

"Back to Recovery Girl's office."

…

…

…

Unlike her, her uncle went ahead and started going through drawers and cabinets, looking for what he needed while Mizuha sat on one of the beds, looking nonchalant as both her hands were busy, one on her forehead while the other was holding the damn sandwich.

When he found what he needed, he told her to push up her bangs after he tossed the bloody toilet paper in the trash. Wary, she watched as he shook a bottle of alcohol and immediately flinched when sprayed it on her forehead without saying any heads up.

She hissed, narrowing her eyes in annoyance. "No warning?"

"You're fine." Kazuei said. With a frown, she shoved his sandwich in his mouth, muffling his surprise. She basically and literally force fed him when he bit off a piece when she yanked it away. "Mizuha!"

"Finish your freaking sandwich."

"Feed it to me while I fix your busted forehead, will you?"

"What—?! Man, damn it."

Grumpily resigning herself to her fate, she helped her uncle eat his freaking food while he tended to her forehead. Thankfully, she didn't have to be his feeder for too long since he got giant bites. Kazuei stretched out a bandage patch, measuring it with his eyes to make sure it was a good length. Meanwhile, Mizuha simply played with her finger, keeping her eyes mostly on the sky behind the clear windows. She was tracing the shapes of the fluffy clouds with her eyes.

"After your Basic Hero Training, you can go see Recovery Girl. She'll heal it without a problem. I'm sure Eraser will let you go then." For now, she would have to deal with the obvious bandage patch square on her forehead.

She nodded softly, avoiding too much movement. "It's so I can focus on class. I get it."

"Mhm. Without your full stamina, your Quirk and body lags behind. It's better to be in top shape for your hero training classes." He said just as he cut the bandage and firmly pressed it on her forehead, and then gave her the cue to stop holding up her hair.

"Thanks." Mizuha said, curiously touching his first aid gingerly.

Kazuei picked up the trash he made, tossing them into the garbage bin next to the desk. "No problem. But for a student to run into you and make you bleed like that when we're only three days into the school year? That has to be some omen. Meh, I just hope no one else got hurt."

While her uncle was busy with his back turned, her mind went back to the moment during the crowd panic, specifically the way she reacted to it and what resurfaced. She couldn't believe how easy it was to get swept away by a past memory. It just somehow threw her back in the past from the similarities alone. The only time she felt something similar was when the incident was still fresh in her mind. Afterwards, it was pushed back, locked away, in a small dark corner of her mind. And for something stupid like media people to unravel and shine a light on it…

It was irritating.

The rusting sounds of the bed sheets and a heavy sigh made him turn around.

Mizuha was lying on her back with left her arm over her eyes. He couldn't clearly see her face but the way she blew air out of her mouth hinted that something was on her mind.

"Mizuha? What's wrong?"

She lifted her arm away to stare at her palm, the same one that had blood on it. Just like back then. She opened and closed her hand a few times before dropping it down on the bed, and she closed her eyes.

"Tummy ache…"

Her uncle stayed quiet for a few seconds.

"Just a tummy ache?"

"Mhm…"

…

…

…

"Whoa?! Mizuha?! What happened to you?!"

Mizuha squinted when Byakuren came over to hold her by the shoulders. She allowed him to move her hair around to check the first aid her uncle gave her. Standing behind him, Kirishima and Kaminari were also shocked to see that bandage on her forehead considering they were one of the last people who saw her just before the crowd went on a full-blown panic.

Earlier, Byakuren tried calling her phone to try and figure out where she was when everything called down. But she never answered, mostly because her phone was set on a Do Not Disturb mode, which was very annoying in times of trying to check up on her. In the end, Byakuren opted to returning to class with her bag after the first bell, planning on interrogating her about her whereabouts.

However, he didn't expect to see her looking like that.

"Ah! Hyoumei-san!" Midoriya exclaimed when he entered the classroom with Iida and Uraraka, with them less than half of their class was back. "Are you alright now?"

Iida spotted the bandage on her forehead. "You went to see Recovery Girl, I assume?"

More like Recovery Uncle.

"What exactly happened?" Uraraka wondered, coming over to check her forehead. Mizuha took a step back reflexively.

"Wait, you saw what happened?" Kirishima asked, pointing at his own forehead.

"No," Uraraka shook her head and started making hand gestures. "After Iida-kun calmed every down, we were walking back to the cafeteria and she was bleeding!"

"The hell? Did you get stomped over?!" Kaminari guessed, shocked.

Ugh… this is getting very annoying. If only Midoriya, Iida, and Uraraka didn't see me. There would be less questions and everyone could just mind their own business.

But, ugh, this thing of my forehead is like a literal post-it that basically says 'Ask-me-what-happened'.

Mizuha deadpanned as her classmates looked at her for an answer.

One she did not want to give.

How weird and pathetic would it sound like to them if they heard her say 'someone ran into me'.

With a sigh, Mizuha moved away from Byakuren, pushing his hands off her shoulders. "I fell."

The white haired boy did a double take. "Hey, hey, that's a blatant lie!" He said when she took her seat.

"Yeah! How do you fall and end up with that?!" Kaminari was having a hard time trying to understand if it really were the case.

"You're lying." Byakuren frowned.

"Do you have any proof that it is?" Mizuha challenged, frowning as well, going through her bag to make sure Byakuren didn't forget anything. She'd hate to run to the cafeteria to get back what was forgotten. "Look, I'm fine. That's all that matters."

"Does it hurt?"

Mizuha looked up to see Kirishima looking at her with obvious concern. The genuine concern on his face was not one she wanted to just brush off coldly. Instead, it made her feel timid. She eyes averted away from his, and she tucked her bag away properly under her desk.

"No. It wasn't a bad cut. It doesn't really hurt anymore." She said, looking down at her desk.

He smiled in relief. "Then that's good."

Mizuha kept her gaze on the desk, nodding softly, puffing her cheeks out slightly. She was completely unaware of the way purple eyes were looking back and forth between her and the smiling boy. But his gaze didn't linger for too long since he had to take his seat in the back before their teacher returned.

The gray haired girl lifted her head when everyone went back to their respective seats. It was safe to expose her damn face without being questioned. And her classmates were too busy hurrying to their seats to ask about it. That was good.

Just to be sure, Mizuha messed up her bangs to have them hang over her forehead instead of parting them.

As soon as Aizawa entered the classroom, he quickly told Midoriya and Yaoyorozu, the president and vice-president of the class, to hurry up and choose other council members for their class. She didn't realize that the shaky boy at the front was their chosen representative. He certainly didn't look thrilled to be the one, he was stuttering at the front while his vice was watching him with concern as they stood next to each other in front of the black board.

"Hurry up, Midoriya." Aizawa spoke from his spot on the floor where he was sitting in his sleeping bag once again.

"Ah… wait, before that…!" Midoriya turned to look to his left. "I believe that Iida-kun is better suited to be class president…! You all saw how well he led everyone in that crisis." Midoriya slowly looked a little more confident as he spoke in front of the class. "I think… he's the correct choice for the job."

Mizuha discreetly glanced over her shoulder to see Iida looking shocked by Midoriya's suggestion. Judging from the look on his face, he wasn't expecting Midoriya to trust him with such a position.

He was the one who stopped the panic? I didn't realize.

The girl looked back in front of her.

… Well, at least we know someone is capable of making good spontaneous decisions when it counts…

… Must be nice.

"I will accept the job, then!"

The first week of school was going by fast, and before the end of it they were already introduced to all their teachers for the year. And everyday was interesting thanks to the hero training classes they had everyday which was completely new thing for everyone. And those classes helped everyone get quickly acquainted with one another since they had to work together in classes.

Since teamwork was necessary for these kinds of classes, Mizuha had no choice but to force herself to communicate with her partners. It was difficult. She couldn't help feeling like it was the hardest thing to do, which was often considering that the teachers made sure to switch around the students so that they wouldn't always be with the same person.

But that didn't change anything for Mizuha. She would do the bare minimum and communicate with her partners during class. But when they changed out of their costumes, she'd quickly disappear from the girls' changing room and return to class first.

The only person that she was comfortable talking with was Kirishima.

And that was only because he sat at the table that she and Byakuren ate at.

But other than that, she still kept a reasonable distance, figuring just barely close was close enough.

…

…

…

Mizuha, Ashido and Sero stepped out of the building with Kirishima, Yaoyorozu and Satou, the team that was opposing them for the exercise. They had just finished their timed exercise which was being watched from the monitor room by their classmates and Aizawa. The exercise was similar to their first class with All Might. However, this time, it was more like a capture the flag activity. Both sides had a flag they needed to bring back to their territory while avoiding capture from other teams.

"Aghh! Soo close! I was so close to capturing Satou!" Ashido whined, fists clenched in frustration.

"If it makes you feel better, you almost did…" The big student chuckled softly, trying to make her feel better. "I slipped on your Acid…"

"But I ended up being tied up in rope for the rest of the exercise." Ashido deadpanned. "I barely got to do anything!"

"When Satou got you, Sero came in quick to capture him with his tape. I didn't realize it could stretch that far." Kirishima said, making a hand gesture and sound effect to show how fast the tape flew out of the black haired boy's elbow. "I didn't even see it coming!"

"Heh, you only saw a bit of how far it could stretch so far, so I don't blame you." Sero grinned, rubbing the underside of his nose with his finger.

"We weren't expecting all three to be on the offensive." Yaoyorozu sighed, lamenting over the glossed over possibility.

Ashido and Sero were the capturers while Mizuha remained the sole defender thanks to her widespread ice. At least, that's what they made the other team think.

Not long after Sero captured Satou and Kirishima, he headed off to capture the flag from the opposing team which was in a room filled with traps thanks to Yaoyorozu. However, Mizuha had actually been trailing behind Sero, out of sight, as planned, and was quick to freeze everything within the room once he put himself within range of the traps, revealing their positions.

Of course, it was only logical to believe Mizuha would stay behind as the defender thanks to her ice.

But well, lessons were learned.

"Yeah, Hyoumei's follow up timing was fast." Sero said, looking around for the girl he was paired with only to realize she wasn't walking in the same horizontal line as everyone else. "Where'd she— oh there she is."

Mizuha, who was busy brushing off the frost off her clothes, looked up to see the others looking at her. She was actually walking behind everyone, not really paying attention, mostly thinking about if she should swing by the place that had bubble tea since she was craving for something sweet. Maybe some food too… she was getting hungry.

Her hands paused. "What?"

"Must be nice to have strong Quirk like Bakugo and Todoroki." Ashido whined. "It looks easy for you guys."

She didn't know how to respond to that. But her hand rubbed her elbow while she shrugged slightly. "I guess." She replied before going back to brushing off the frost off her clothes.

Within the first week, it was very easy to see who would stand at the top of the class with their Quirks. Mizuha was already up there with Todoroki and Bakugo. She had many years of practice with a Pro Hero. It would be disappointing if she fell short in her class. She would have been satisfied for a middle tier ranking, too.

She remained quiet as she followed her classmates back to the monitoring room where their teacher told them to hurry up and get ready to watch since the next matchup was about to begin. He would give them the feedback later, when everything was over.

Her Quirk was no longer in effect. There was no ice on her skin. Most of the frost on her clothes were gone, leaving the smaller fragments to melt away.

And yet, she couldn't help but feel a chill when Aizawa kept his gaze on her when the people from her group scattered to watch in different spots, leaving her exposed without a wall of people. He was looking at her in the same apathetic manner, and she felt uneasy not knowing why.

She turned her eyes away and stared at the ground.

Under her desk, Mizuha was checking the time on her phone. It was almost time to leave. The first week of school was finally going to be over in just a few…

The familiar sound of the school bell resounded, signaling the end of the day. Immediately, everyone started getting up from their seats.

But just when Mizuha thought she could relax, she heard her name being called by Aizawa who remained at podium.

"You stay." He said, leaning back against the blackboard, crossing his arms. "Everyone else, make it quick and leave the classroom."

Some of her classmates were looking at her curiously and whispering about why she suddenly got called out while the rest simply left, obviously disinterested. Byakuren spared the girl one look as she sat back down and didn't look at those who were free to leave.

"I'll wait for you outside!" Byakuren told her before promptly leaving as Aizawa told him to.

Discreetly, Mizuha dropped her phone in her bag while waiting for everyone to leave. If she was getting called out by Aizawa then it was probably serious. She was going to pay close attention.

But why the hell am I getting called out like this?

Do I look like that problem child Bakugo?

She put her hands on the desk and remained still and silent.

What the heck did I do?

Because he sure as hell doesn't look like he wants to give me a reward!

And then finally, the door shut.

Mizuha lowered her head and peeked at her teacher from behind her gray bangs.

"I thought that my little trick about expelling you if you scored low on the Quirk Assessment Test was a clear message. You are to bring out the current best of your abilities. But if you only work with a third with what you have, what are we supposed to do?"

…

…

Mizuha stilled, eyes widening by a fraction.

… Damn it.

Aizawa narrowed his eyes when she knew what he was talking about.

"You've had plenty of opportunities to use it properly. The Entrance Exam. The Assessment Tests. The Mock Battle. This whole week. Not once did you use anything other than ice when you had the opportunity to use them. You're not like Midoriya who can't control his Quirk. You're not like Todoroki because he has already used his left side for the bare minimum. You make it look like your Quirk is cryokinesis and only cryokinesis, but that's not true."

Mizuha looked down. She started playing with her hands, a clear sign of uneasiness

"Your Quirk lets you generate water in all three forms, solid, liquid, and gas, depending on the temperature choose."

Water States.

That was her Quirk.

Todoroki wasn't the only walking thermostat in 1-A.

Her mother possessed a water Quirk while her father's Quirk was one that allowed him to take control of the temperature. Their Quirks fused together and gave her a new one, making her one of those hybrid children. A versatile Quirk, really. She knew that such a Quirk gave her many options.

"In the Hero Course, you're going to have to use your Quirk completely and not just a third of it. Do you understand?"

But there was just one problem.

"… I can't. It's not like I'm trying to hide it." Mizuha's right hand gripped her left wrist. "I can't use liquid and gas. It's not possible… I can't."

Aizawa's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean you can't use it?"

Mizuha lowered her head even more, hiding her face behind the curtain that was her hair. "Three years ago, I haven't been able to use it all no matter how hard I tried. I can only use solid. That's all that works for my Quirk."

Quirks don't just change drastically like that. When people get older and use their Quirks more often, they learn that it wasn't exactly what they thought it was. But it will never stray too far from what their parents and siblings have. They could have similar functions but be expressed in different ways. Ice was another form of water. However, she couldn't just possess ice as her Quirk.

It was hard to believe it.

Especially since he had already seen her use water before thanks to someone close to her.

Mizuha pulled herself upright and exhaled heavily while looking down at the floor. Her face expressed shame and discomfort. She was beginning to tug at her sleeves to hide her hands in them.

"Was your Quirk factor damaged in the past?"

"… No."

Aizawa frowned deeply. "So, there shouldn't be any reason why you can't use liquid and gas."

Mizuha briefly made eye contact with her teacher before looking away, rubbing her sleeves together as if she was cold. "I don't know… Does it matter? I use ice just fine. Uncle Kazu— I mean, Reflect-sensei says I'm very good at it. I passed the Entrance Exam with it. I did well for my Mock Battle. I'm doing well in class, aren't I? Isn't that good enough?"

"Well, he's right. You are good at it. You are doing well. But that's still not good enough. The more tricks you have up your sleeve the better. In the real world out there, Heroes with more cards in their deck have a better chance at succeeding and surviving."

Mizuha didn't answer. She only looked solemn as she dropped her gaze to the empty seat next to her.

She looked very uncomfortable talking about her Quirk. She didn't look like she was lying, especially when she was known not to show much emotion.

And seeing that made him sigh.

"Look, Hyoumei, as you know, the Hero Course is not going to be easy and it requires its students to overcome many hardships. You are not going to be an exception. If you Quirk is not damaged then you'll have to figure out how to use it at its full potential."

Mizuha looked at him with furrowed eyes brows and a frown. "… How am I supposed to do that?"

"Quirks don't just disappear or malfunction. Think of that as your goal from now on. Your someone with a lot potential so it would be a shame if you kept going like this." Aizawa straightened up and picked up the papers on the podium. "But we'll talk more about it next week. For now, just go home and enjoy your weekend. It'll only get harder as we progress further into the semester."

She bit her lip.

"… Yes, sir."

...

...

...

There weren't many students lurking on the upper floors where she was. They would mostly be downstairs changing out of their school shoes, excitedly running out the door to enjoy the Friday afternoon, the pre-weekend high.

That left Mizuha's lone footsteps echoing around the stairs. But in her mind, the only thing she could hear were the echoes of her homeroom teacher. She was honestly dreading Monday now. She wanted to avoid another conversation about her Quirk.

With a frown, she stopped moving after reaching the end of the short staircase. From where she was, the view the window gave her was mostly the big tree in front of it. Its darker colours thanks to the shade of the building allowed her to see her faint reflection. For some reason, she moved her feet to look at herself properly.

The U.A uniform was perfectly in place. Her long gray hair that reached her hip, some of it hung over her chest, and her bangs that leaned over her right eye was shadowing her melancholic face.

"..."

Her lips parted, blinking, slightly taken back.

What a face.

Her hand quickly rubbed her face as if to physically scrub away her thoughts and scatter them in the air, quick and abandoned.

The face that looked back at her was better, much better.

… I'm okay.

Chapter Text

Ever since they met when they were eight years old in elementary school, the two have always been close. Their connection was created over a simple coincidence, one that was very exciting for kids their age, as if they found a secret sibling that fate kept hidden away from them.

They had the same birth date. That's all.

They weren't even in the same class back then. But knowledge of this coincidence brought them together like magnets.

That's why, it was easy for Byakuren to notice the way she seemed a little down when she came out of the building while he waited by on of the statues. His sight narrowed in on her as she put her headphones around her neck and after putting her bag on her back.

His eyes twitched as he suppressed a sigh and walked.

He smiled. "That wasn't long."

Startled, Mizuha whipped her head to where his voice came from. He only continued smiling as he placed himself by her right as she continued walking to the exit.

"Yeah." Mizuha replied, nodding. "He just had a few things to say, that's all."

"Hm?" Byakuren hummed curiously. He gave her a questioning look, the mute words written across his face. She could tell he wanted her to tell him. Frankly, she had no reason to keep it to herself, she didn't mind sharing.

Mizuha sighed and lazily gestured her hand to the exit. "… But I'm hungry."

Byakuren blinked. He hummed and nodded, taking her right hand in his and dragging her off with a grin, her body yanking in his direction.

"What the hell?! Slow down!" Mizuha said, quickly getting back her balance as the white haired boy kept venturing forward.

"Slow down? It's Friday! We're outta here!" Byakuren declared, grinning as he picked up the pace which forced her to run behind him, sighing in defeat.

She puffed her cheeks out. "Pizza. I like the pizza around here. Can we go?"

He smiled brightly. "Pizza it is!"

…

…

…

"Your Quirk?"

"Mhm."

After getting their reward for making it through their first week at U.A, they found a place in a park. It was more or less filled with children going wild at the playground. But they were situated a little further away from the children, a table under a tree where they ate their slices of pizza. That's when Mizuha decided to reveal what their teacher wanted to say since she could feel the curiosity oozing off from him ever since they got their slices.

"But I can't do it." Mizuha frowned, taking another bite from her cheese-only pizza. Byakuren watched her furrow her brows as she stretched the cheese when it wouldn't cut off, holding it almost an at arm's length. She had to chase after it to avoid dropping it against the table.

The white haired boy put down his pizza on the paper plate he got from the restaurant. "You know… I believe you can do it again." He said as he plucked off a pepperoni to nibble on it. "I mean… it was your specialty. You were good at those two."

As she chewed, the girl looked at the boy who had the little piece between his lips, taking tiny bites as if to savour it. He wasn't smiling or giving her a playful look like he usually did. He dropped all acts to address the subject seriously. It only made her tug the right side of her mouth, unsure how to respond to his faith.

"Used to." Mizuha reminded.

"Used to." Byakuren agreed, finally taking in the rest of the pepperoni into his mouth. His pink muscle poked out just to lick his thumb for a quick second.

He was all too familiar with her Quirk.

And the incident that preceded her inability to use solid and gas.

After all, they were tied together.

She wouldn't have problems if that never happened.

The girl visibly exhaled with her body when she recalled the past where she would proudly show off her Quirk to everyone. Her teachers at school would tell her to stop sliding on the water in the corridor, annoyed by the potential accidents she could cause if other kids slipped on it. She'd mischievously play pranks on others by dropping down a few cold droplets of water down other kid's shirts when they weren't looking. Dense enough steam was used to cheat during hide and seek games in playgrounds.

But now, she was left with cold hard ice, unable to change its shape.

"You know…" Byakuren picked up his pizza. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. The words he wanted to say wouldn't come out. His brain took and shredded it before he could make a sound. The words he wanted to say didn't seem right. He couldn't find the right words.

"What do I know?" Mizuha quirked a brow, tilting her head, curious to what he had to say.

Byakuren stared at one of the pepperoni's, lips pursing.

"… Hmm… I wouldn't worry too much about what Aizawa-sensei said. We don't know what he'll say next week so… just chill, yeah?"

Pouting, Mizuha took another bite after huffing. "Yeah. I'll have the whole weekend to look forward to it. All is good." She said, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

…

…

…

"Yeah, that's about right. Her Quirk stopped 'working' three years ago. A year after the incident."

An hour after school ended, there were a few teachers left in the school who were still either locking up facilities or just finishing their work on their computers. So far, only two people had left the campus mostly because they hurried to finish as they were eager to go out a drink on this Friday afternoon. Aizawa had to fend them off, them being Present Mic and Midnight, because he had no intention on drinking, wanting to just go home instead.

In the teacher's room, only Eraser Head and Reflect were left now that Cementoss and Ectoplasm retired for the day.

It was only when Aizawa shut off his computer and stood up from his desk did he feel inclined to ask something personal from his fellow colleague.

About his niece.

Aizawa leaned back against a nearby desk, arms crossed over his chest while Reflect remained seated, saving his documents so that they would be ready for printing on Monday.

"Slowly, she lost the ability." The math teacher added. "It didn't just happen suddenly. But everyone who knows Mizuha knows that it was related to the incident. She blames herself for what happened, utterly convinced that she is the root cause."

"I didn't hear any news about Shinsui recovering. Is he still in the hospital?" Aizawa inquired.

The dull eyed teacher sighed and nodded before scratching his brow. "Yeah, and that doesn't help either. Four years of self-blame for believing she put her own brother in a coma… that's a heavy reminder even though she shouldn't blame herself. We tell her it's not her fault but we know she still sees it as hers. She's just learned to live with it. She's been okay."

From what Aizawa remembered hearing during that time, she and Byakuren were the ones who came out of it without needing too much medical help.

"But simply waiting for Shinsui to wake up again to lift her spirits isn't the most rational solution. I am not going to wait for him to improve my student's performance. Hyoumei needs to be able to do more, she needs to overcome this to maximize her potential."

The only reason why Aizawa was familiar with her Quirk at all was because her older brother was a junior to him. They never attended school at the same time but they participated in operations together when he was interning. And after getting familiar with him, the younger man took a moment to show off his little sister who had a better Quirk than him with videos on his phone. And there was a passing moment when he actually saw the girl.

"Obviously. You don't know how many times I've tried telling her that. Ah, but I'm glad you see that she has talent. And with you having a record in bringing out the best out of students even if you need to use your special 'death', I don't need to worry with you being in charge."

Aizawa didn't bother responding to that last statement accompanied by a smirk.

As her teacher, it was up to him to help her move past what was limiting her performance in his class. He needed to extract the potential he saw and bring out the best of her. But, as strict as he was, he wasn't a tinman, he wasn't lacking a human heart that knew when to tone it down when it called for it. He needed to see where the chains that shackled away her Quirk truly came from.

He wasn't going to be heartless but he wasn't going to be soft either.

Aizawa looked at the floor pensively. "A traumatic experience, that I understand, but how does that explain her Quirk exactly? Why only two and not three?"

"She did use her Quirk back then to try and defend. After that, she regretted using it." He sat back in his chair and stretched his arms over his head, finally calling it a day. He dropped his arms on his desk and gave his younger colleague a look. "My guess it's that her psyche playing a role in this inability."

Aizawa narrowed his eyes. "And which part of her Quirk did she use back then?"

"Which ones do you think?"

…

…

…

"Now, for today's Basic Hero Training. This time, All Might, myself and one other will supervise."

The gray haired girl's head perked up hearing this. It sounded like it was a special lesson. That fact alone dispelled her concerns she had for the past two days.

It was currently Wednesday.

And her teacher had yet to speak to her about her Quirk which confused her since she was really expecting him to speak to her on Monday.

The subject of her Quirk always made her uncomfortable, and knowing that he was going to speak to her the next week had her hopping on the couch and putting on a game to play after school, easily burying his words into the back of her mind. And she was more than willing to enjoy her weekend without him telling her to. Her weekends were her own time when she could be free to do as she pleased, a happy escape.

But when Monday rolled around, she nervously waited only to be left confused at the end of the day.

Same thing on Tuesday.

But if he wasn't going to bring it up any time soon (which she doubted) then she wasn't complaining.

Their next hero class was going to focus on Rescue for a change.

"Preparing you for disaster relief, from fires to floods."

"Ehh… are we actually going to a disaster zone?" Byakuren's voice carried over the chatter that erupted.

"Of course not." Aizawa glared at everyone to quiet down, addressing only Byakuren since he was the only person asking a real question. He activated the extraction of their suitcases from the wall that contained their costumes. "It's up to each of you whether or not you wear your costumes as some of them are ill-suited to this sort of activity. The training site is a bite remote, so we'll be going by bus. That's all get ready."

Mizuha got up with the others and went to quickly get her suitcase, thinking about what Aizawa just said. This would be a good test to see if her costume needed some modifications. After all, she only came up with it after thinking of the minimum requirements because the application assured her that she'd have chances to make changes if she was accepted.

With her suitcase in her arms, she speedwalked out of the classroom to head to the changing room, barely catching Aizawa saying where to meet up for the bus ride.

…

…

…

"Ehh, Hyoumei-san! You're always ready by the time we start changing!" Hagakure exclaimed just as the girls spotted the aloof girl making her way to the exit to join their teacher outside, trying to make another one of her quick escapes from he changing room.

Mizuha sweat dropped at the floating skirt. The invisible girl didn't have her uniform shirt on so… that meant she was half naked, right?

And you technically could be the first one done since you barely wear anything…

"Yeah! You really waste no time." Ashido remarked, looking over to Mizuha's locker to check if she actually finished putting away her clothes as well. Last time, they found her propping her leg up on the bench to fold her uniform neatly and locking it away before scurrying off.

"Almost like a ghost." Uraraka remarked with a look of realization. Jiro pointed at the brown haired girl, nodding in what seemed like agreement.

"Oh." Mizuha rubbed her neck and averted her gaze. Her foot was itching to make another step to the door to escape and just get on the bus. She blinked when she thought of something smart to avoid conversing with others. "Ah, I forgot something…" she quickly said, feigning being startled by the thought before turning around her heel and dashing out the door before anyone could say anything.

Her eyes were squinted, nearly scowling as she kept on the act of running.

She made sure that her footsteps echoed down the hall by running until she made it more than far enough.

After slowing down, her body heaved a sigh of relief. "I hope I didn't make it look weird." She muttered to herself. Appearing like a weirdo by suddenly dashing out the door like a scared squirrel will never be on her bingo card. And yet, she couldn't help but overthink and wonder if she could have played it off more smoothly.

Mizuha stopped and took a moment to drop her hands in her face and rub it. "Haa… whatever."

Being distant was once thing but being a weirdo was another. She wanted to at least maintain a good reputation for herself.

On her way to the stairs that would bring her to the exit nearest where the bus would be, her eyes were drawn to a nearby window where she spotted Bakugo and a few other of her classmates exiting the building through another exit. After standing there, furrowing her brows, she headed towards the side where they came out of and actually found another door leading down another staircase, still keeping her eyes on the windows.

Oh… so there are more exits I didn't know about… Cool.

Perhaps she'd have to spent a lunch break walking around to try and familiarize herself with the school building.

This way is faster though.

After pushing the door open and stepping forward, her hand lagged behind, out of habit, to hold the door behind her. Her fingers were slipping against the surface of the door but she suddenly felt another hand touch hers, briefly pressing. Her eyes grew wide and her shoulders jumped, forcing her to recoil and quickly step away while whipping her head back to see who touched her.

It was her dual coloured haired classmate already dressed in his costume.

This time the left side of his face was visible. It actually had been since Monday. He probably removed it since it was interfering with his sight.

He looked unfazed by the way she visibly got spooked by him. "Sorry." He said before walking closer to continue going to the stairs.

Mizuha turned away from him, taking the first steps down the stairs. "It's fine."

From behind, Todoroki could not see the way she cringed as she mentally scolded herself from reacting in such a way from a simple touch. She needed to get it together, like calm the hell down, there was no fire (but her ears felt like they were).

She still held out the door for him when she made it to the exit door and walked away without a word after seeing him lift an arm to hold it.

Saved my ass from looking like a fool in front of a group only to slip up in front of a single person. Great.

Eh… could be worse.

For once, she chose a seat in the back instead of the front mostly because there was a backdoor on the bus. She went in the very back and sat next to the window to go on her phone without anyone bothering her. Her eyes did occasionally glance up to see who was approaching the seats in the back. Thankfully, no one sat next to her. The only person who sat closest to her would be Todoroki who took the seat in front of hers. Everyone else who took a seat in the back sat away from her, giving her the privacy she needed to go on U.A website to search for their virtual campus so that she could get a better idea of what was around instead of going on a freak adventure and possibly getting lost.

There were moments when she'd feel paranoid about people peeping at what she was doing on her phone on a public transportation.

During the ride, she didn't pay mind to the conversation being held at the front until she heard her name being spoken.

"You wanna talk strong and cool? That'd be Todoroki, Hyoumei and Bakugo!"

Mizuha's onyx eyes briefly looked up from her phone when heard Kirishima talk. It made her sweat drop, slumping a little in her seat to try and make herself shrink in the back just in case someone was looking over.

Kirishima… I know you mean well… but please don't give me attention.

"Ohh, I get what you mean." Byakuren's voice said. "Todoroki-san and Mizuha share the same distant vibe… but…"

"But Bakugo's so unhinged. He'd never be popular." Asui stated flatly.

"What'd you say, frog face?!" Bakugo's voice boomed, instantly proving her point.

Mizuha closed her phone and sighed as she mentally prepared for the shouting that might drag on until the end of the ride.

Here we go. A front row seat to Bakugo's rock concert.

The Unforeseen Simulation Joint.

USJ.

A giant facility that took shape was a dome-shaped building, the place where they would train to prepare for disaster rescues.

And the teacher that was there to introduce them to this new training was none other than the Pro Hero Thirteen, the Space Hero, a member of U.A's faculty. She was the one who created this disaster zone simulation.

Again… how much money does this school freaking have.

Mizuha couldn't help but think back to all the training grounds she had been on. The same thought always came back to her: how much freaking money did U.A have? Probably more than what she could make in her entire lifetime.

"I don't see any snow related disasters…" Byakuren noticed, voicing out the one thing he wished to see ever since they entered the facility and laid eyes on the zones. "Wouldn't it be important to know how to help someone stuck out in the snow?"

Mizuha looked back to see all eight of the simulation zones. "Like an avalanche?"

"Maybe they thought it was too dangerous?" Kirishima guessed.

"There's a whole fire zone." Byakuren deadpanned, pointing at the Conflagration Zone. "Snow can't be that bad in comparison to something to turns you into a crisp."

"That's true." Mizuha muttered. Perhaps the Landslide Zone had a snow option?

"As I'm sure many of you are aware, my Quirk is called Black Hole. It can suck in and tear apart anything. I saved a lot of people in all sorts of disasters. However, my power could easily kill." Thirteen lowered the hand she was showing off to everyone, specifically the fingers that were capped. "I've no doubt there are some among you with similar abilities. In our super-powered society, the use of Quirks is heavily restricted and monitored. It may seem that this system is a stable one, but we must never forget that it only takes one wrong move with an uncontrollable Quirk for people to die."

Mizuha looked down at her hand. Never has the image of her using her Quirk in a haywire manner ever crossed her mind.

"During your physical fitness test, you came to learn of your own hidden potential. Through All Might's Battle Training, you experienced the danger that your respective Quirks can pose to others."

The girl's eyes slowly shifted to the left to look at Bakugo who was listening to Thirteen. She wasn't the only person who looked at him because he snapped at Sero and Kirishima to look away.

"This class will show you a new perspective! You will learn how to utilize your Quirks to save lives! Your powers are not meant to inflict harm. I hope you leave here today with the understanding that you're meant to help people."

With that, Thirteen bowed down and thanked everyone for listening to the introduction of the Rescue Training, earning applause from many students who were now hyped up to learn how to use their Quirks differently.

Mizuha noticed her teacher walking towards the stairs, signaling that they were now going to jump into their new training. Her body swiveled around her classmates to catch up with him. She was actually eager to see what her Quirk could do in the Ruins Zone. She had a good handle on her Quirk when it came to making specific things so perhaps it would be a good test to see if she could make something useful to stabilize buildings and whatnot.

Aizawa stopped near the edge of the stairs to look back at everyone who were chatting together. "Alright, first off…" He paused, narrowing his eyes, and looked down at the Central Plaza.

Just as Mizuha came near her teacher, his hand stretched back and pushed her away, barely giving her a chance to see a face within the black fog that wasn't there before. She was surprised as the stumbled away from her teacher.

"Huddle up and don't move!"

"Huh?"

"What?"

The fuck was that?!

Mizuha could barely see from where he pushed her back, so she walked a just bit closer and noticed how there were now numerous people coming out of the black fog. They were all looking up to where they were, advancing with weapons and looking very unfriendly. It was obvious they were not faculty from the way they looked.

What…?

Her eyes were darting around and looking at everyone, watching as they rapidly grew in numbers. Some were even enthusiastically dashing out of the fog. Taking heed of her teacher's words, she backed away to avoid revealing herself anymore than she already did.

"Mizuha!"

The girl looked back to see the white haired boy coming closer with Kirishima following after him but she just pushed him back, shaking her head furiously. "No, don't come closer!"

"Why?" Byakuren knitted his brows when he saw the way she looked uneasy.

Kirishima put a hand above his eyes, trying to get a better view of what was down there. "Is this like the entrance exam where the lesson's already started?

"Don't move!" Aizawa ordered loudly for everyone to hear, freezing everyone in their tracks when they tried getting closer like Mizuha, Byakuren and Kirishima. Their teacher took out yellow googles and put them on his face. "Those are villains!"

Most of them took a step back while others couldn't help feeding the curiosity that was urging them to take a look, causing them to run over to the side where the safety railings were situated.

"Villains?! No way!"

"What kind of villains would be dumb enough to sneak into a school for Heroes?!"

Mizuha and Byakuren were one of those who went to the railings to get a better look at the situation.

"We should get on the bus and leave. Like, now." Byakuren mumbled. "We're not supposed to be anywhere near these kind of people."

Mizuha looked over her shoulder when she overhead Yaoyozoru wondering about the security sensors. A school like U.A had many security measures put in place, it was hard to imagine it lacking in safety. After all, this school was a place to nurture young aspiring heroes, why wouldn't it have a target painted on its back?

"Yes, of course there are sensors…!" Thirteen assured. "But it didn't sense them…"

"Are they only here, or also at the main building?" Todoroki wondered out loud as he appeared next to Byakuren to look down at the Center Plaza. He remained calm despite the majority of their classmates freaking out. "Either way, if the sensors aren't working then it has to be one of their Quirks."

He was mostly speaking his thoughts out loud rather than someone in particular.

Byakuren gritted his teeth and pulled out his phone. His eyes looked at the top of his screen and noticed how the signal bars were marked off. "Could be… I don't have a signal."

Todoroki's eyes briefly looked over to Byakuren who clenched his phone in annoyance and frustration before looking back at the crowd. "This place is far from campus, there's no signal, and they picked a time when there'd be few people here, so maybe they're not as dumb as they seem. They must have an objective because this is a well-coordinated sneak attack."

Mizuha's eyes widened. It sounded almost like… "A leak? Did someone tell them… we're here?"

Todoroki glanced at her. "... That might be a possibility."

"Thirteen, start the evacuation and try calling the school." Their homeroom said, causing Mizuha to whip her head to head around to see her teacher getting ready to leap into action. The villains were now closer to the stairs. "One of these villains even had something to counteract the sensors. There's a good chance one of their electric-types is causing the interference. Kaminari, try using your quirk to signal for help."

"But sensei! You can't fight them alone!" Midoriya quickly spoke. "Against that many… even you can't nullify all their Quirks! As Eraser Head, your fighting style involves erasure and a quick binding capture! A head-on battle isn't…!"

Aizawa pulled on his capture scarf, glancing back to look at Midoriya. "You can't be a hero with just one trick."

And with that, he took a giant leap off the top of the stairs to dive straight into battle, leaving Thirteen in charge, while the others could only watch with worry.

Mizuha remained, watching as he immediately dealt with the enemy without a hint of trouble. His skills as hero were on display for everyone to see. He was good with hand to hand combat and it wasn't because his Quirk was strong. It seemed like the opposite. His Quirk was strong because he had other tricks up his sleeve.

…

…

Mizuha briefly made eye contact with her teacher before looking away, rubbing her sleeves together as if she was cold. "I don't know… Does it matter? I use ice just fine. Uncle Kazu— I mean, Reflect-sensei says I'm very good at it. I passed the Entrance Exam with it. I did well for my Mock Battle. I'm doing well in class, aren't I? Isn't that good enough?"

"Well, he's right. You are good at it. You are doing well. But that's still not good enough. The more tricks you have up your sleeve the better. In the real world out there, Heroes with more cards in their deck have a better chance at succeeding and surviving. Your goal here is not to become a minimum hero."

…

…

She was forcefully yanked away from her brief remembrance when Byakuren put a hand on her shoulder and urged her to run to the exit with the rest of them. She was able to make into the middle of the class as they ran, eager to get out and not get involved. But they all skidded to a stop when the black fog appeared and expanded to loom over them, several students gasped and backed away from the fog that wore only a metal brace as clothing.

"I won't allow that." It spoke while forming what looked like its head. Not a single piece of human flesh was on this guy. He was mutant type. "Greetings. We are the League of Villains. Forgive our audacity, but… today, we've come here to U.A High School— this bastion to of heroism, to end the life of All Might, the Symbol of Peace." The fog flickered. "We were under the impression that All Might would be here today… but it seems his schedule was revised?"

Byakuren glared at the fog. "It definitely sounds like you were right on the money, Mizuha."

"But who the hell gave them—" Mizuha let out a surprised shout when Bakugo and Kirshima rushed at the villain from behind her. Her hair flew when Bakugo's explosion went off, creating a small cloud of smoke. Kirishima's hardened arm didn't hesitate to swing at the mist. Both of their attacks caused the mist to become scattered… only for a moment before it expanded to engulf them all.

Everywhere she looked, the black mist was surrounding her. The others around her were disappearing behind the black mist. She, along with everyone else, was going to get caught in the attack it was about to unleash on them all. Her attention was brought to the back where she saw that the concentration of black mist was less compared to the front.

"My job is to scatter you all and torture you to death!"

But the ones at the worst place…!

Mizuha looked ahead where Thirteen warned Kirishima and Bakugo to back away.

When she saw Kirishima look back, that's when the black mist was about to surround him and Bakugo completely…

…

…

"Does it hurt?"

Mizuha looked up to see Kirishima looking at her with obvious concern. He was crouching with his arms resting on her desk so he could get a good look at her face. The genuine concern on his face was not one she wanted to just brush off coldly. Instead, it made her feel timid. She eyes averted away from his, and she tucked her bag away properly under her desk.

"No. It wasn't a bad cut. It doesn't really hurt anymore." She said, looking down at her desk.

He smiled in relief. "Then that's good."

…

…

… and then she just started moving.

She dashed to the front and charged ice in her palms to deflected the incoming attack.

As if sensing her intent, the black mist surrounding them extended to envelop her in its darkness along with them. It became pitch black and she lost her footing, alarming her when she found herself falling in an endless black pool. With a gasp, she flailed around in the darkness. Every panicked thought ran through her mind that she couldn't relax her Quirk.

Then she saw light under her feet.

She didn't have time to think when she fell into it so fast and her retinas were attacked by the sight of a roof building with villains standing atop of it. But that wasn't all, Bakugo was over there attacking the ones around him while Kirishima was getting tossed out of a black mist, landing on his side. When the villains noticed her, they got ready to attack her the second she landed.

With narrowed eyes, Mizuha rolled forward when she touched the floor with her hands that were still in Quirk mode, instantly spreading ice to trap whoever was in her closest proximity, removing all chances from getting too close to her. She even increased the power to make sure it was unbreakable.

"I-Ice?!"

"I-I can't move!"

"What the hell?!"

"In an instant…?!"

Mizuha stood up from her spot and got away to knock back a villain that Kirishima didn't see coming from behind him. As for her own back, she swung her arm and created a wall of ice to stop several daggers from hitting her. Seeing this, Kirishima hardened himself and practically catapulted himself into him and several others, knocking them out with heavy hits. Bakugo screamed out a profanity and blasted them at a point blank range.

"Where the hell did that warp gate bring us?!" Bakugo shouted after finally getting a moment to look around.

Another villain appeared when they climbed up the building. "Kurogiri brought them right to us!" He exclaimed gleefully, leaping up to attack them with his Quirk, inviting his allies to do the same.

"Kill them!"

Suddenly, Bakugo bore a deadly look on his face. "You first!" He shouted before zooming in on the first villains in his line of sight.

Mizuha dragged her foot back and reel back her arm and swung it upwards starting from below, sending a giant wave of ice that caught villains midair, unable to move. She glared at them and shook off the frost off her arm. They were all shocked at how a mere child stopped them all just like that. When they tried breaking free, they learned fast that it wasn't a good idea when they felt the pain.

Kirishima dealt with those who were able to make it onto the roof, barely missing the ice that trapped their allies. And with his last attacks, all the villains on the roof were defeated.

He whipped around to look his classmates. "You guys okay?!"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Bakugo huffed angrily, throwing away some villain that passed out in the face of his explosions.

Mizuha nodded, looking at the faces of these people who tried to attack her. She couldn't believe they wouldn't hesitate to kill children. "Yeah."

The red head jogged over to Mizuha, his expression looking regretful. "You got warped away with us because Bakugo and I jumped the gun. You tried to save us, right? Sorry, Hyoumei."

The girl frowned, shaking her head lightly. "No, it's… fine. It's good that it was only a warp… I thought it was an attack."

The feeling she felt when she tried to save them was still fresh in her system. There was a sudden dread when she Kirishima looked back at the class and she remembered how he was nice to her, asking if she was in pain, and then imagined him and Bakugo being suddenly engulfed in that darkness, trapped in an attack that could have killed them.

The nice boy who would always sit next to her at lunch and talk with her even if she didn't try. The first person who actively tried to get to know her when many gave up.

She thought they'd die right in front of the class, snuffed out without hesitation.

But it wasn't an attack.

It was only a warp gate.

She made the wrong assumption once more.

Mizuha sighed and covered her eyes with her hand, gritting her teeth. She couldn't make another mistake like that again. She was at U.A to avoid making foolish decisions. To be like her homeroom teacher who chose rational decisions, yes, just like that.

To be a perfect hero.

Kirishima eyebrows shot up when she didn't say anything standing like that. His hands hovered in front of her, not knowing what to do. He couldn't read her as well as Byakuren so he didn't know how she was feeling.

"Eh?! Hyoumei, what's wrong? Did you get hurt? Is it your eyes?!"

She shook her head and removed her hand to stare at her palm. But eventually raised her eyes to look at the red haired boy who was looking at her with obvious concern. "My eyes are okay… it's… I'm confused about this whole thing."

It wasn't exactly a lie.

She couldn't fathom how this situation came to be.

Kirishima looked to where the plaza was. He could make out their teacher fighting off the villains. "Yeah. It's crazy how things turned out this way." He said and then turned to her and smiled reassuringly, putting a firm hand on her shoulder. "But we'll be okay. We just have to stick together, yeah? We'll regroup with the others and make it alright."

Even though she didn't seek any solace or show any concrete worry about the situation since she was thinking more about her internal problems, she did find that hand on her shoulder reassuring to have. It pulled her back to reality to remind her that she had other things to worry about, her life was in danger, and the natural fear for her life was blossoming in her chest.

But it was repressed by a kind warm hand, she wasn't going to be alone in this. She had someone who was going to stick with her… someone that wasn't Byakuren.

And that was… okay.

She was fine with that.

Mizuha could only nod in response as she gave Kirishima an awkward lopsided forced smile that she did by tugging her mouth to the right.

"And I'm sure Kyouran will be okay—"

Kirshima and Mizuha jumped and looked to where Bakugo destroyed a door, roaring more profanities as his explosions went off. He was heading inside the building through the rooftop door.

"Bakugo?! Where are you going?!"

"I'm not going to sit on my ass and wait while more of these idiots are scrawling around— DIE!"

Not even one second later, they could hear Bakugo's explosions going off everywhere along with the shouts and screams of the villains hiding inside the building, clearly waiting to pounce on them the second they let their guard down.

Kirishima laughed nervously. "Let's go?"

"Yeah, okay." Mizuha agreed, keeping up with the redhead as they sped off after Bakugo to deal with the villains in their zone, the Ruins Zone. It was best they all stayed together. The more numbers together the better.

On the way down the stairs, the three of them wasted no time in fighting back against the villains. If there were villains lurking around and blocking their way, then it wasn't going to be a problem. After all, the firepower they had was suited for fighting their way through them.

Kirishima grabbed someone by the shirt and slammed his forehead into theirs. "So, what should we do? Do we keep heading down and just run to the exit?!"

"Fuck no!" Bakugo leaped over the rail to get the jump on someone below. He used his Quirk to boost his fall before throws his hands down to unleash an explosion that caused collective screams of pain. "And let them think they can just jump us?! I'll kill them all!"

How hero-like.

Mizuha sweat dropped right after she used an ice sledgehammer to knock someone against the wall, effectively knocking them out. "Figuratively… right?"

Kirishima cringed. "Let's hope so."

Without looking back, she spun around and threw the sledgehammer at a girl with claws. Her eager footsteps gave her away. She let out a choked gasp when it collided into her gut. But it didn't stop there. Before the ice hammer could fall, Mizuha used it as an extension to generate more ice to freeze her against the wall.

"Ahhrgh!" The claw villain screamed angrily when she realized she can't move.

Mizuha just deadpanned at the tantrum only her head could throw.

You might get frostbite by the time this is over but well… this is self-defense so…

The girl rushed down the stairs to follow after her classmates to assist on the assault.

This doesn't seem so difficult so far.

So I guess freezing them in place is good.

But let's hope things stay that way.

A villain with wings groaned and tried crawling away only for a hand to grab the back of his shirt and drag him back. Gasping, he looked over his shoulder and saw glaring purple eyes that glowed under the shadows of white bangs.

"Oi, oi… I thought you guys were here to kill All Might. Funny, I don't see that ability anywhere if you're getting owned by kids. I literally blasted you out the sky and you sprained your foot?"

Byakuren clenched his free hand and generated powerful wind to swirl around his fist.

"What's your real plan, scum?"

The villain tried using his fire breathing quirk to push him away but the boy merely backed away, giving the villain a chance to get back up on his feet.

"I won't let a friggin' kid make a fool outta—"

Byakuren swung his fist forward as if to punch him, sending high pressure wind his way which sent him flying through a frozen tree about ten feet away. The boy narrowed his eyes, watching the man roll down the Landslide Zone at top speed before slowing down and lying limply on his side.

Out of commission.

"Weak. So weak." The boy remarked.

"Kyouran. Watch where you're throwing your wind. Don't free any of them."

Byakuren clicked his tongue and looked over his shoulder. "I'm not stupid—" The boy stopped himself, sowing his mouth shut when he realized his personality was taking a turn. He dropped his head in his hand and ruffled his bangs. He needed to calm down.

Deep breaths.

After a second, the boy lifted his head and smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Todoroki-san! I guess I got a little carried away…"

Todoroki was walking down the ice landslide at his own pace after freezing the entire ground.

Upon landing in the Landslide Zone, he instantly froze the place, trapping those who were waiting for easy lambs to slaughter. As for the aerial villains, the second Kyouran came out the warp gate, he just started zooming across the air and took out one by one by blowing them away with high wind pressure. Like hell he was going to let someone catch him lacking in midair.

And within a minute or two, everyone was immobile.

The white haired boy walked up the ice a little to stay near his only ally. He took this moment to really look around and watch the way the villain shivered in their makeshift ice coffins. He passed by one who glowered at him, trying his best to break free, but then hissed when he felt his skin crack.

"Ouch." Byakuren mocked. "Better wait for a professional to help you out, huh?" He said as he approached Todoroki all while looking at the others with disdain. "You know… I noticed that they're kinda, or really, weak. Every single one I fought just now barely fought back. You'd think they'd bring out elites…"

"It's hard to see any them any more than thugs with Quirks they can't even handle." Todoroki stated blatantly, staring at the closest villain trapped in ice whose pose spoke volumes about his non-existent reaction time when the ice arrived.

Byakuren remained shoulder to shoulder with Todoroki, staring at the ice sculptures. "Fodder. Then the others should be fine."

Honestly, he was worried about Mizuha. The last thing he remembered before getting warped away was how she sped off to the front where Kirishima and Bakugo were getting surrounded by the black mist. The cool air she left behind told him more than enough about what she was planning to do.

He tried grabbing her arm to keep her still but he was second too late. Actually, he probably didn't have a chance to pull her back anyway when his body got sucked away into the warp gate.

She took the initiative to try and save them, something the past always restricted her to do.

But this time, the shackles were weak to the sudden drive she felt to reach them in time.

… And that was a good thing.

Byakuren looked over to where the disaster zones were. Earlier, when he was flying, he was able to see the nearby Mountain Zone and spotted Kaminari's hair as he ran away with two other people from villains that were chasing them. So, it was safe to believe that his classmates were all warped in different places. That's what the warp gate would do anyway.

Divide and conquer.

Mizuha was somewhere in one of those disaster zones.

But if the villains she was facing were just as weak as the ones he just fought, then she should be alright. That thought helped calm his mind since that why was he was getting more aggressive.

He was just naturally worried to be separated from his dear friend while their lives were now on the line. And of course, he was worried whether or not her course of action was troubling her.

But she should be fine.

She won't get stuck in her mind like that.

She knows what needs to be done.

"Hey." Byakuren saw Todoroki sit on the ground in front of a villain and looked up at him to address him. "At this rate, your skin will rot away from frostbite. But I'm trying to become a hero, and heroes don't do such horrible things." The villain paled at the sight of the dual-haired boy's face. He wasn't joking around. He was seriously willing to let him get the worst effects of the ice trapping him. "So, what makes you think you can kill All Might? Tell me the plan."

Byakuren blinked when Todoroki took the initiative. That choice just now… seemed very wise.

If these Villains showed up oh-so confidently, then that meant they had an ace up their sleeve to kill the Symbol of Peace.

However, if they were to uncover the ace and report it to their teacher then this whole thing would fall apart, no? Eraser Head could just turn off this person's Quirk. It would be faster and everyone would be safe once the villains no longer had the upper hand.

"Good idea." Byakuren remarked, walking off to interrogate a nearby villain. The wind swirling around his fists as he walked towards them were his show of intimidation. He was planning on injecting some fear into the villains by threatening to knock them out if they refused to answer, leaving them unable to change their mind as their skin caught frostbite.

The villain he had his eye on didn't like how he was chosen as a target. All he could see was a boy with gleaming purple eyes shadowed by white hair that flowed roughly thanks to the wind spirals at his hands, clearly not in the mood to waste time with him.

Byakuren stared apathetically as he got closer until he was face to face with the villain.

If Mizuha has started cracking, even a little, then I'll do what I can to help stop this and keep her safe.

So that she can shatter when the time is right.

Chapter Text

"DIE!"

Mizuha sweat dropped and side eyed the room in which Bakugo was causing a ruckus in. Kirishima was in there fighting off the villains. As for her, she was in the hallway basically guarding the room with her wide range Quirk. She was limiting the amount of villains trying to box them in.

The gray haired girl sighed and walked away from the frozen villain she finished dealing with. Her hand trembled as she brought it close to her chest and blew hot air on her fingers.

She had been clearing out the area left and right while almost and probably going over her limit.

She was undeniably cold.

Her ears picked up the sound of footsteps, prompting her to glance up from behind her bangs. Lo and behold, more of them screaming and running her way.

They've been coming in like cockroaches.

She remained still and breathed out a white cloud, remaining still amidst the coldest hallway in the building.

"It's a little girl!"

"She's all alone!"

Mizuha stood her ground and clenched her fist as she took in a deep breath.

"Get her—!"

The girl swung her dominant right her towards them. Immediately ice that started from her feet shot forward like a beam of light in the dark. An echo of yells reverberated through the building as they slammed into each other and back into the wall behind them, encasing everything beneath their chins.

She listened apathetically as they cussed her out from their sheer disbelief in how fast she dealt with them.

Unlike the boys she was with, she made sure to keep her distance when it came to knocking them out with her Quirk or trapping them. She wasn't going to risk getting hit. These were real deal after all. What if someone had a blade coated in poison? That would be the worst-case scenario right there if someone were to get cut. There was no one they could get in contact with. She even checked her phone several times for a signal whenever she had the chance. Always nothing.

This situation required them to use their Quirks the best way they can to protect themselves.

…

"The more tricks you have up your sleeve the better. In the real world out there, Heroes with more cards in their deck have a better chance at succeeding and surviving."

…

Mizuha shifted her eyes to the side when Aizawa's voice echoed in her mind again. His words, this moment of crisis and the undeniable cold her body was feeling was linking together.

…

"You can't be a hero with just one trick."

…

The corner of Mizuha's mouth twitched as that reality slammed into her. Was this really how things would be like even as a professional? Her body would chill in a long fight, slowing her down to the point where she could start feeling the numbness approaching? Surely there would be some kind of costume she could come up with to make up for her flaws?

How easy would it be to simply produce water in its gas state to warm her body.

How convenient it would be to slow her chill if she used liquid instead of solid all the time.

How…

Impossible.

Honestly, after that talk with Aizawa, she'd remember what he said and quietly try to do something at home alone. She did try. She tried her best to change a simple sphere of ice into water or mist, but was only met with disappointing results.

Why try when she knew the results?

With a soft sigh, Mizuha turned around her heel and walk to where Kirishima and Bakugo were after waiting for any more sign of danger. The rear felt secured now. She could hear Bakugo's yelling and explosives echoing in the corridor. For a while now, the girl had associated his sounds to reassurance since having a strong and aggressive classmate sure did help. His violent side towards his classmates was nothing compared to the aggressiveness and violence he showed the villains.

When she returned to her classmates, she was just in time to witness Kirishima defeating the last villain in the room.

Kirishima ducked and slammed his hardened fist under a guy's chin. At the same time, another one was coming from behind. The red head was quick to react and simply broke the blade in half with his hand. He then slammed his rock-hard head into theirs, effectively knocking them out.

Alarmed by the sound of her boots, the red head whipped around in alert with the intention to attack only to realized who was standing there. He stilled and smiled at her. Mizuha nearly squinted from how bright that smile alone looked like.

"Hyoumei! Are you alright?" He asked when he reverted his hand back to normal.

"Mhm." Mizuha nodded her head and walked into the room. "It looks secured in the building now."

Bakugo huffed. "There is more of these vermin outside though. They think they can ambush us."

"All right. Then let's hurry up and finish here so we can go save the others! If we're here, then everyone else should be inside USJ, too." Kirishima turned around to face both Bakugo and Mizuha, clenching his fists. "I'm worried about the guys who don't have ways to attack!"

... Uraraka, Koda, these two are the first people that pop into my head. I haven't really seen any offensive abilities from them yet.

Mizuha titled her eyes up as she tried recalling more of her classmates' Quirks that might not help in a outnumbered fight. One face did appear in her mind which made her cringe in disgust. The short kid who was so determined to know at what 'base' she and Byakuren were at. Mineta. She was wondering what kind of Quirk this shrimp was hiding in that small body of his.

Kirishima's words pulled her away from her thoughts. "Besides, because we ran off ahead, we slowed Thirteen down. None of this would have happened if we'd let Thirteen suck up that fog." Then he looked at Mizuha. "Plus, Hyoumei also got warped away when she tried to pull us back because we acted rashly!"

That made Mizuha pause a bit, unsure how to feel when he clearly felt bad.

"Nobody asked her to, anyway." Bakugo dismissed with another huff.

"Come on, man." Kirishima reproached the second Mizuha looked at the floor in response.

She still felt troubled about that, really. It's true. Nobody asked her to but she did it anyway. She was driven by a wrong assumption.

"So stupid! You're doing it again!"

The shadows of her past laughed at her again.

"No one called for you!"

Mizuha narrowed her eyes as she forcibly steeled herself, clearing her mind, trying to tune out the mockery swirling around her. She had grown used to shadows after all. When she lifted her head, her face was devoid of emotion, appearing almost sad and apathetic to Kirishima.

"I'm sorry for trying to help."

She spoke those words with utmost sincerity.

Kirishima stiffened at the sight, not used to seeing this kind of solemn sight coming from her. For a while, he was getting used to reading her reactions and expressions.

Even more so once Byakuren encouraged him to.

…

…

"Just gonna walk." Mizuha replied while walking away. "Watch my bag."

"Sure!" Kirishima responded, taking her bag off the table and putting it in her chair.

Byakuren frowned when he watched her form walk further away from their table while sipping from her straw.

Kirishima was chewing on his food, watching her form get further away. He turned his attention back to Byakuren who sighed and took a bite out of his own food.

"Hyoumei is kind of 'cool', huh?"

With chopsticks in his mouth, Byakuren paused with his eyebrows raised, looking up at Kirishima. He shrugged and shook his head before freeing his mouth, swallowing his food quicker than usual. "You think so?"

"I mean… it does to me?"

"Hmm… I guess. But, if you've had my eyes, you'd notice that most of those traits are linked to being timid."

"Eh? She doesn't pass off as timid to me!"

Byakuren smiled with a chuckle. "She masks it well, doesn't she? She hides a lot of things, that girl." He then pointed his chopsticks and smiled with his eyes closed. "But I won't divulge too much of her character. It's better to find out naturally. I gave you a hint, so I challenge you to decipher her."

…

…

He was beginning to separated cool and timidity.

But this… he was starting to pick up on something else… he couldn't quite put a finger on it.

Which one was this?

Whatever it was…

… It made him uneasy.

Slightly startled, Mizuha looked at him blankly when he moved and came closer to place his hands on her shoulders.

He smiled at her reassuringly.

"No, don't be sorry! Even though you got swept up with us, you're keeping us safe on the side!"

She tipped her head. "… Really?"

He could hear the doubt in her voice.

He gave her a toothy grin. "Definitely! I feel totally reassured with you having my back out here when we're all scattered."

He didn't even hesitate to answer.

Her eyes widened slightly and her chest rose a bit when her breath hitched. The red haired boy could see some small, very small, light appear in her eyes.

"Oh… okay."

She looked slightly better now.

It made him exhale a bit, relieved to feel it gone.

He was glad.

"Buuut!" Kirishima looked back to Bakugo. "As men, we have to take responsibility for what we did!"

The ash blond haired boy only scowled. "If that's what you want, then go on alone. I'm gonna kill that warp gate."

Kirishima was supporting the same look on his face. "What? You're gonna act childish at a time like this? Besides, normal attacks don't work on him..."

Whipping around, Bakugo gritted his teeth in annoyance. "Shut up! That gate bastard is the enemy's way in and out. I'm gonna cut off their gateway route for when the time comes. And it's not like I don't have a way to beat him!"

Mizuha suddenly saw a knife emerged from behind Bakugo and it was heading straight at him.

"Bakugo-san!" She warned.

But she didn't have to do anything.

Her classmate was already faster than her because he merely stretched out an open palm and grabbed onto whatever was directing the knife behind him. He slammed it down on the floor with his Quirk, muffling their shout. Kirishima and Mizuha blinked as it was revealed to be a mutant Villain.

"A chameleon...?" She mumbled while staring at the villain who looked out of it.

Bakugo stared at them as he held up its head for them to see. "If all they're sending us is these idiots, we should be fine. Besides, if they can't handle her freezing them in closed spaces then that means they aren't powerful enough to fight back."

Kirishima looked astonished by his calm response. "Were you always this calm and rational? I thought you were more like..." He trailed off. Mizuha already had a good idea of what he was talking about. They were both picturing the usual Bakugo who screamed 'DIE' with numerous explosions going off around him.

Bakugo instantly snapped and returned to his usual character, "I'm always calm and rational, you spiky-haired punk!"

"Ah! There it is!"

Mizuha nearly rolled her eyes, contradiction right there.

Bakugo scoffed and merely tossed aside the villain like a ragdoll. "So, go if you want!"

Kirishima was quick to tell him to stop him before he went off on his own. "Believing in our friends! That's real manly, Bakugo! I'll follow you!"

Bakugo didn't say anything as he stared at Kirishima. Then, his red hues were directed at Mizuha as if he was waiting for her answer.

Honestly, she would very much like to go find Byakuren. He was very good at tactics.

But…

Earlier, the guy with light blue hair that had a hand attached to his face. When I saw him, I could tell he wasn't someone to face lightly. Something about him feels dangerous. If my hunch if correct, then what if that warp gate guy brings him in front of Bakugo and Kirishima once they get to him? That warp gate is able to move things around freely… he is the mobility of their team.

But what will happen to Byakuren? I don't even know if he is doing okay.

But… if the villains are really this weak… then maybe?

And Byakuren has the greatest mobility on our side, so he wouldn't be able to get hurt so easily.

So…?

Bakugo kept his eyes fixed on Mizuha. She looked like she was having an internal struggle with herself by the way her face looked conflicted. "Whatever. Sit here and think. I don't care. I'm going on ahead." The bomber started walking. "If your boyfriend can't handle trash like this, then he must be really weak!"

Mizuha jumped in surprise and turned to watch him leave. "How did you know… I was worried about him?"

"You're so damn easy to read!" Bakugo huffed in annoyance, walking out the room without even waiting for either of his classmates. She didn't seem like the type to panic in fear. And considering how she always hung around that sketchy white haired guy, it was literally the only answer for her inner conflict.

Mizuha puffed her cheeks in slight annoyance. He's not my boyfriend. And he's not weak!

From the side, Kirishima chuckled at how she slightly childish she looked. At least she looked more at ease after that comment. She looked more collected now, like she made up her mind.

"I'm sure Kyouran will be fine. I could tell he's strong. Have faith, alright? We'll find him the faster we stop them!" Kirishima patted her back before pressing lightly to have her join him as he ran out the room to join Bakugo.

Mizuha didn't delay in following him.

They could hear Bakugo yelling once more along with his Quirk firing off around the corner. A villain must have gotten impatient and came to ambush them.

"And at least with Bakugo here it won't be boring!"

"Tell me about it…"

…

…

…

After clearing out the Collapse Zone, the three of them were on high alert as they dashed out of their zone. They were all fortunate enough to come out of there with no injuries. Mizuha was glancing around at the other zones where she could barely see the fighting, only hear.

After a quick scan of the entire area up ahead, they spotted a scene in the Central Plaza. People were fighting.

All Might was at the center of it all. They didn't know when he got there though.

"Quick! Let's go help him out!" Kirishima said urgently. The Symbol of Peace was trapped in the hands on what looked like a monster. The body of whatever was holding him went through the ground and its upper body came up from underneath their teacher while keeping a firm grip on his sides.

"The warp gate!" Bakugo grinned sadistically and quite literally flew to the scene.

Mizuha felt her unease from earlier surge as she watched the light haired villain just stare at All Might's state. She then noticed two more people running to the same location. Midoriya was trying to reach All Might with desperation and Todoroki was coming from the Landslide Zone at full speed.

The green haired boy stretched out a hand as he jumped forward only for the warp gate to appear in front of him with every intention to send him somewhere where he wouldn't interfere.

Bakugo blasted the mist villain with one of his explosions. "MOVE! YOU'RE IN THE WAY, DEKU!"

He grabbed the floating plates of metal and slammed it on the ground, effectively stopping him.

Mizuha skidded to a stop next to Todoroki who was already doing what she had in mind. With his right foot planted on the floor, his ice was reaching the monster's right leg and crawling up its torso. It continued through the warp gate and he froze the creature's right side. Todoroki made sure to not freeze All Might in the process by stopping at the monster's wrist.

All Might fell out of the creature's grasp, holding the left side of his abdomen. She looked carefully by walking a little forward and noticed how he had bloodstains on his shirt. Yeah, that's not good.

The gray haired teenager looked back in front of her and found Kirishima leaping over to handy-man to attack.

The man simply jumped away from the red head with ease.

Kirishima backed away. "Crap! Almost had him!"

Mizuha shot her arm forward and created walls of ice to separate Kirishima from the villain. In addition, she immediately trapped him in ice. The man caught grunted and looked at her, most likely in annoyance much like all the villains she trapped in ice so far.

"Ohh, good thinking."

Mizuha jumped in surprise at the voice near her ear. She looked back and found Byakuren floating in the air behind her. He was smiling at her with a close eyed smile. "Heyo, did you miss me?"

Ignoring his teasing, she returned her attention back to the enemy, staying alert. As much as she would like to ask where he was, there was literal danger before them.

Mizuha narrowed her eyes at the monster still half trapped inside the warp gate. She didn't know what it was but if it was capable of making All Might struggle and bleed… then it wasn't something to be messed with without precaution. It was alarming for Mizuha.

And that that man standing behind her ice acted like it was the villains' ring leader... then he would be commanding this monster too...

"Ahh… it's so damn cold." The handy man droned before the ice started crumbling down around him. Byakuren and Mizuha's eyes widened at how easily it fell apart.

"The ice is coming undone…" Todoroki remarked.

She quickly readied herself just in case when she saw him turn to look at the creature through the ice wall blocking his view.

"Nomu." He said before stepping towards the small ice wall and breaking it down as well.

Without wasting a second, the Nomu's upper body sank deeper into the warp gate. Mizuha's eyes widened when she saw how it was forcing itself out of the warp gate with its legs, shattering its right arm in the process.

Midoriya gasped next to her. "His body is falling apart but it's still moving..."

The Nomu began regenerating.

"Uwaa… disgusting." Byakuren cringed, landing to stand behind her. The limbs it had lost were being reconstructed starting with the muscle tissues and it finished with its skin covering up everything.

That just sealed the deal for Mizuha. She couldn't consider that human even if she tried.

"Should we try freezing it completely?" Mizuha asked out loud to Byakuren.

"Maybe it would shatter into pieces if—"

"No, do not engage! Get back, everyone!" All Might cut off Byakuren, making him startle with a jolt, he didn't want any of the children antagonizing it. He stood up straight as he witnessed its full regeneration until it stood without a scratch on it."… His Quirk wasn't shock absorption?"

Handy-man shrugged. "I didn't say that was all he had. This is his super-regeneration. Nomu has been modified to take you at a hundred percent. He's a super-efficient living sandbag designed to withstand everything you've got."

Mizuha stood back up and took one step backwards. Not its only Quirk? Modified? Designed to take on All Might? Is there really someone out there capable of creating a monster like this? What the hell...

"First, we need to get our warp gate back."

Mizuha's eyes widened in realization. The moment she looked towards Bakugo's direction, the Nomu had already lunged towards him to the point where it was impossible to intercept its attack. The impact shook the entire dome; it was so strong that it pushed away Mizuha, Byakuren, Kirishima, Todoroki and Midoriya at least four meters away from their original spot. Mizuha tried to remain standing while she was pushed away. And Byakuren forced himself to step forward, standing before her, to create his own wind pressure to push back against the wave to reduce the pressure.

It was somewhat effective.

… Or barely.

As she took a small step back once the effect of the shockwave died down, she nearly tripped over someone's foot.

She quickly caught herself and moved aside from whoever it was. It was a shocked Bakugo. Mizuha paused at the sight of him, trying to figure out when the hell he got there.

… The fuck?

"Wh… when did you get there?" Byakuren recoiled, voicing Mizuha's question.

Midoriya looked at Bakugo sitting behind him. "Kacchan?! You dodged that?! Wow..."

The ash blond haired student didn't even look at him. "No, shut up, scum."

Kirishima stood up and stared at Bakugo with disbelief. "Then how...?"

Todoroki realized who had taken the hit. "Then that was..."

Mizuha gestured at the person that was revealed behind the smoke of the rubble. "All Might."

It was obvious to them that All Might took the hit when he pushed away Bakugo. The Nomu was able to successfully retrieve the warp gate from them and it stood still waiting for its next orders.

Then the main villain guy went on about how the world was categorizing the same type of violence acts of both Heroes and Villains into what was good and bad.

"Man needs to get his head checked if he can't tell the difference between violence on an innocent and violence on villain." Byakuren spat.

Mizuha glared at the man giving out his little monologue. "What the fuck..." She whispered to herself. Same violent acts? Heroic acts are not the same as what those monsters do! Monsters kill, steal and destroy what is precious to us; they shatter our happiness and rip away everything we built! They like to take apart something fragile that we want to preserve.

Their acts are not the same as the acts that protect us from suffering from the what villains do!

All Might was quick to shoot down his monologue with a reality check.

"It's three against seven." Todoroki stated.

Midoriya nodded, eager to assist. "Kacchan already exposed the fog's weakness!"

Kirishima hardened his arms. "These guys are crazy, but if we back up All Might, we can push them back!"

"No! Get out of here!" All Might instructed as he walked forward.

"Oh, come on, sensei." Byakuren sighed. The least they could do was leave that ugly creature with All Might and deal with the others.

Despite Todoroki and Midoriya trying to tell him that they should indeed try to back up him, their teacher refused their help and asked that they stand back and watch a Pro Hero fulfill his duty.

Suddenly, the man with the hands on his face bolted in the students' direction. Since her attention was always focused on him, Mizuha charged her hand with ice and took a step forward to freeze him, not leaving it to chance. Sure, he might break down her ice but All Might would be faster to take him down during those seconds he was static.

But All Might was faster than her, already moving.

The Nomu rushed at All Might in response.

Their teacher collided his fist against the monster's which created a similar but stronger shockwave like before. The students were pushed even further away. The same was for the ring leader.

Mizuha's ice randomly froze a portion of the ground when released her Quirk from surprise. Byakuren stabled her when she nearly fell after losing her footing. He squinted his eyes and scowled. "I can barely see shit!"

Midoriya was forced to lower himself closer to the ground to keep himself from flying back, "A head-on fist fight?"

Mizuha watched in awe as All Might engaged in a fierce fist fight with the Nomu, blow for blow. Every hit that was landed on the Nomu created shockwaves that was preventing any one from getting closer to them. Much like Byakuren, her eyes were squinted from the air pressure. Her arms went up to block her face and try to see what was going on.

They were now fighting in the damn air.

The warp gate couldn't even float up there if it wanted to unless it literally wanted to get blown away. All Might landed lightning speed blows and literally sent him flying into the ground when they were in the air.

Kirishima and Byakuren yelped at how strongly the ground shook beneath their feet.

Everyone stumbled to catch their balance once the Nomu's body collided into the floor where it landed and broke it in the process.

It kept going until he punched the Nomu in its abdomen and sent it flying out of USJ, leaving All Might as the victor.

"Whoa…" Kirishima gaped.

"Where did he send it though…?" Mizuha mumbled, sweat dropping.

"That's… a good question." Byakuren chuckled nervously.

"I really have gotten weaker... In my prime, five hits would have been enough. But it took more than three hundred hits." All Might said as he stood proudly with a fisted hand on his chest where his heart was.

Now that the ring leader had All Might's full attention, he seemed to be a little shaken up. He even took a step back out of panic.

"As expected, it looks like there is no need for us to fight." Todoroki said. Clearly, that Nomu wasn't something they could take on.

The red haired student looked at Midoriya who kept his eyes on All Might. "Midoriya! We should get out of here now! It'll be worse if we end up getting taken hostage instead!"

Midoriya did not respond to Kirishima's words. Instead, he was keeping his eyes on All Might and he had a worried look on his face. It's like he wasn't listening. From the side, Mizuha was quietly watching Midoriya because of his lack of response.

Earlier, he jumped in to save All Might.

Is he actually eager to help even though All Might defeated the ugly thing?

Those other villains should be easy to handle with it gone.

She turned her head to slightly glance behind her shoulder after hearing some voices. The villains that their homeroom teacher took down… they were starting to get up again.

Oh, wonderful. Mizuha deadpanned.

"They're asking for it." Bakugo growled.

"They should stay down." Byakuren smiled innocently, raising a hand that was charged with wind, ready to be launched. "But I don't mind doing a little more Quirk training."

"Don't tell me you treated this incident like a class?" Kirishima chuckled, readying his hardened arms.

Without warning, the ring leader ran towards All Might, making Mizuha whip her head and look back at the scene after noticing it in her peripheral. Maybe he was driven by that last hysteria one would have after considering they had nothing to lose. At that moment, she saw her green haired classmate jump forward with the help of his Quirk, shocking her.

Mizuha reached forward. "Hey—!"

Midoriya tried to intercept them in time but the warp gate made the ring leader's hand warp near his face.

Immediately, the memory of her ice crumbling apart flashed in her mind.

…

…

Suddenly, a powerful sound resounded sharply in the facility. It was a gunshot. The moment the bullet was fired, it already made contact with whatever the assailant aimed at. The hand that hand poking out of a warp gate had a bullet shot into it, successfully intercepting whatever the man planned on doing to him.

Mizuha flinched from two more gunshots firing off. "Gun fire? From where?" Mizuha mumbled as she looked at her surroundings.

Her gaze stopped at the top of the stairs.

It was revealed to be one of the teachers from their school. In fact, the Principal had rounded up the ones who were available to help. They were all here.

"I, Tenya Iida, Class 1-A representative, have now returned!"

Mizuha sweat dropped. She could without the 'reporting for duty!' voice.

But… she was glad he was able to bring help.

"I suppose it's a good thing that Iida was selected as class rep. He certainly is capable." Byakuren droned.

…

…

The only villains that escaped were the ring leader and the warp gate. Although Snipe and Thirteen attempted to stop them, they slipped away but not without injury.

Many of their lackeys were left behind since the Pro Heroes got to them first. The ring leader's escape was prioritized over the fodder.

Mizuha, Todoroki and Bakugo were watching from afar as their Pro Hero teachers split up to help the students that were still dealing with villains in their Simulation Zone. Kirishima bolted away to go and help Midoriya that was still on the floor.

Todoroki placed a hand behind his neck as he looked around. "If this many Pro Heroes have gathered here, then it looks like they did not attack the whole school."

"But sneaking past security is… concerning." Byakuren shrugged before smiling. "But All Might dealt with the threat that was supposed to kill him, he was today's target. All that was left was a man with a hand fetish!"

"He got away." Todoroki said flatly.

"But the major threat was neutralized." Byakuren waved dismissively.

"Wherever it landed… let's hope it's dead." Mizuha said quietly to herself, but Byrakuren's ears picked up on it. She was concerned about the possibility of that thing landing in some shopping district and going on a killing spree.

"It looked like it was taking orders from handman, so I think it should be okay—?"

"Mizuha!" A familiar voice yelled.

Todoroki and Bakugo saw the owner of the voice running straight at them. Mizuha frowned when she realized who it was, not bothering to look back. It was her relative who had the same coloured hair as her. Byakuren smiled brightly beside her as he turned around, commenting how it was about time he was running over.

Todoroki stood there, finding it slightly odd how a teacher was quickly using a first name despite the lack of closeness.

"You kids okay?" Reflect stopped in front of Todoroki and Bakugo to make a quick check of their conditions. Bakugo gruffly answered he was fine while Todoroki nodded with a 'yes'.

"I'm fine~" Byakuren sang.

Then it was Mizuha's turn. However, she didn't even get the chance to reply when he spun her around to face him. He put a hand on her arm and checked her out for injuries all while Mizuha deadpanned as her classmates watched. Personally, she didn't want others to know that Kazuei was her uncle just in case people might get the wrong idea and think she was going to get special treatment. No, she wanted to avoid attention.

However, she didn't have it in her to dismiss his concern.

His relative was in danger.

… And he might be a little protective with how her brother turned out.

She could only imagine how he must have reacted to the urgent situation about her class. His niece was being attacked by villains who infiltrated U.A High School.

"I'm fine, Reflect-sensei." She said honestly, gently pulling away from him. "I didn't get hurt at all today."

Byakuren chuckled at how Mizuha fidgeted in place uncomfortably as her uncle questioned her and walked around her to check for any injuries she didn't notice, saying that maybe adrenaline made her feel numb to possible wounds.

"Heeey!" Kirishima shouted from behind them. The three of them looked at the running red head, relaying information to them. "He said to gather in front of the gate!"

Mizuha took that as her cue to escape. "You should focus on the other students who are still in other zones." She quickly told her uncle before jogging away from him.

Kazuei simply watched her eagerly leave him behind to join Bakugo and Todoroki who were ready to get out the facility. If she was running off without the slightest hint of injury… then she was telling the truth.

Byakuren was left behind with him, still smiling.

"Hey, Senragi-san." Byakuren opened his purple eyes, dropping profession titles to speak to him on a more personal level. "Mizuha actually tried to save Kirishima and Bakugo."

The teacher blinked at that revelation. "She did?" Byakuren nodded once and brushed his finger under his nose as he snuck a glance towards the girl.

The roots on her legs didn't stop her this time? They weren't tight enough to restrain her heart?

"Mhmm. I think she loosened a bit." Byakuren's eyes narrowed a bit as he turned to watch her back. "However… this is hardly a place for her to shatter. Too risky. And I think it's not as impactful. But yeah, see you later, Reflect-sensei~!"

The gray haired teacher with dull eyes directed his gaze on his niece who was climbing up the stairs with Kirishima chatting beside her. Byakuren was flying to catch up with them. The girl who was shackled by the past fought off the chains to help a classmate who was amicable with her. A nice boy who was persistently friendly with her when everyone else who drop the ball and leave her be.

He often heard from Byakuren that he was the only one happily approaching after she made a good impression on him during the Entrance Exams. And he has already seen Kirishima being friendly with her to the point where she tolerated it all.

It was undeniably his persistence that made her act this time.

Even though she distanced herself and threw away her free will…

At the core of it all, her heart remained unchanged.

A kind heart.

Kazuei hummed.

"You might have chosen this school because he did… but now, this school will be more than that for you."

I have faith you will step over the boundary you have drawn yourself in.

Police were on the scene.

Tsukauchi was the officer who came to tell them how their instructors were faring after the attack before sending them on their way back to the main building.

Their homeroom teacher sustained critical injuries when fending off the villains from his students. Both of his arms were shattered and his face was also fractured. Fortunately, there was no brain damage along with those injuries. However, his eyes may long-term effects.

Thirteen on the other hand had terrible lacerations across their back and arms, but their life was no in danger.

All Might would also be alright.

Recovery Girl was more than capable enough to heal his wounds.

And as expected from the boy who could only use his Quirk at the cost of hurting himself, Midoriya Izuku was also admitted into the nurse's office. However, Recovery Girl would be enough.

The bus ride was more or less silent. Everyone was still a little shaken up by the incident. Of course, there were whispers here and there to fill in the void.

In the bus, Mizuha did not sit alone. Byakuren was quick to secure a spot next to her and remain just as silent by her side.

As he always did.

For the trip back, Mizuha found herself drawn to the seat their teacher previously sat in before the incident. After hearing how he had gotten terribly injured while trying to protect his students, Mizuha found comfort in sitting in his spot.

The memory of him leaping down the stairs and protecting her and classmates was playing like a broken record alongside the fresh memory of seeing his damaged body being transported into the ambulance.

How quickly things could change for someone.

Makes it seem like Heroes live on the edge, don't they?

After all, they are the ones who must respond to Quirks used for harm.

Mizuha clenched her fists on her lap and let her head rest back against the seat.

Of course, this is what they have to face... but seeing something like that again...

Her brother was like that too. One moment he's fine, laughing with her, and the next moment he's on the ground looking lifeless.

The aloof student slouched forward and lowered her head into her hands. Byakuren's purple eyes lingered on her form. He frowned because he could almost feel the waves coming off her.

Fear.

Understandably.

She was only a first year and she became exposed to danger so soon. It had completely caught her off guard.

It was hitting now.

So, when she lifted her head again, Byakuren reached out and gently took one of her hands in his, just like back then, and simply held it in comfort.

She did not react to his touch.

But the way she slowly tightened her hand around his told him enough.

She was glad for him being there again.

…

…

…

When they arrived back at school, they were told to change out of their Hero Costumes and return to their classroom. Lucky for them, it was currently the break before the final period.

The moment the bus doors had opened, Mizuha was quick to leave the bus and head for the school. Always so quick on her feet. Mostly because she didn't want her classmates to see that she was still shaken up by what happened. She needed a moment to herself, alone, to collect herself. To appear like her usual self without questions being asked.

She just needed to change and quickly wash her face before heading back to class. That would surely wake her up and calm her mind.

She wasn't aware of how fast she was going until she turned around the corner. Her body slammed into something, making her yelp before she all but lost her footing and started falling with whatever she ran into.

She heard a groan.

Fuck. Great. It's a person.

Whoever she knocked down now found themselves on their rear. Mizuha found herself on the floor right next to them.

"A-Ah... I-I'm sorry..." Judging by their stammering voice, she concluded that she ran into a male student.

Mizuha shook her head and apologized twice before standing up. "I'm really sorry."

It was a guy with dark messy hair and noticeable pointy ears. He had a flustered look on his face as she reached for his hand to help him up. She made eye contact with the guy briefly before timidly skittering her gaze away when he shakily accepted her help.

Once he was back on his feet, Mizuha bowed down in apology before bolting down the hallway, embarrassed, avoiding any possible verbal exchange.

I just want to go home already...

I'm tired of it all.