Authors Note:

Hello everyone! I'll keep this short so you can get into the story, because you aren't here to hear me ramble.

Cover art is by the wonderful Airey, Find her twitter at /revolutionAirey/status/954511209050521600

Without further ado, I'll let the chapter, speak for itself...

It all began in Quin Quin, China. Across the raging sea and for the people of America, a whole other world away.

With a shocking cry, a baby was born that defied all logic and would to many, seem to herald the end times. A child whom glowed with a radiant light, so bright they could barely be looked at. This event obviously, shocked the world. Experts were puzzled with the miraculous child, theories ranged from mutations due to exposure to radiation, to whispers of twisted government experiments to create super soldiers; Furthermore, some even claimed it was an angelic gift from a god. Yet they all decided on one thing for sure, that the child was a once in a lifetime miracle, a abnormality that would never be seen again.

They had no idea how wrong they were.

Within months, superpowers began to suddenly, and violently, manifest within societies all around the world. Seemingly overnight, civilization collapsed. Governments lost control and witch hunts began. It was a dark time in American history especially, when brother fought sister, villains conquered cities and hope and goodwill were in short supply. It was a time of shame and mistrust, yet the darkest days lead to the most brilliant dawns.

Heroes, those who dared to stand up to the Tyrants who had taken power built followings and took back their homes. The Age of Villainy had come to a swift end, and the Age of Heroes had begun. What was once trapped in the pages of comic books had become the real.

That was many years ago, nowadays, almost 80% of the world's population has a power, a 'quirk' that manifests in some fantastical way, there are more heroes now than ever before. Each generation passes their quirk down to their children; consequently, the child's own quirk can become a mixing of their parents, taking the existing and making it something new.

America, while in many places an example to the rest of the world, still has many places of darkness, lagging behind the rest of the world. Gangs clutch their territory, working under the nose of heroes as they terrorize those trapped, economically and socially, within their grasps. All still trying to recover from an age of darkness that lasted far too long. America is still try to reconciling the laws they have which value freedom and self-service, with a world where the everyday man could possibly destroy a city with a sneeze.

Yet our story doesn't begin in the lands of USA. Our story begins in the home of the greatest pro's in the world, in a place where the best and brightest young heroes are drawn, in a place filled with tourists of all kinds, our story begins in Japan.

The scent of fresh fruit washed over Lazarus like nothing he had ever felt before, hunger dulling his already jet-lagged body. He let out a sigh. He watched his palms twitch as his stomach growled, he could practically taste the apple he was staring at.

Lazarus cast his eyes up at the price tag, before softening his focus and looking at the entire booth he was standing at, he let his gaze follow the young lady behind the booth rushing back and forth, her brown hair and green eyes were plain, but Lazarus noted her two green thumbs, which left very little question in his mind as to what quirk she would posses. She turned around suddenly to him, and smiled kindly as she stepped forward, Lazarus half-heartedly smiled back, nodding as he fumbled around in his pocket for his booklet; however, Green Thumb began speaking before he could pull out his cheat-sheet.

"Tetsudaimashou ka?" She says, leaving Lazarus to quickly take his notepad out of his pocket and flip through it, he could feel her eyes burrowing into his downturn head with confusion. After a moment of awkward silence, he smiled and responded in incredibly rusty Japanese, speaking the words slowly, focusing on enunciation as he went.

"I'm sorry" he spoke, his brain translating what little he was saying back to English inside his own head. "I'm not local." he spoke, constantly looking back down at his booklet after every word, struggling to simplify his complex English vocabulary into simpler, easy to translate words without always relying on his dictionary. "I am very apple hungry." He smiled, he felt there might have been something wrong with that last comment; nevertheless, he hoped it got his point across to Green Thumb.

Blinking twice at him, Lazarus saw her start tilting her head to the side as her brow kept furrowing further. He let out another sigh, taking his wallet out of his pocket and moving to pull out enough to pay for an apple. He had failed to remove his American change from his wallet and swore quietly to himself in English as he fumbled for the yen kept inside the small wallet.

"Ahem." Green Thumb cleared her throat, Lazarus lifted his head up, locking his eyes onto hers, she was smiling and holding out an apple in her hand. Lazarus moved to hand over his change, but she simply shook her head and continued smiling at him. Lazarus cautiously moved his hand out, and she threw the apple underhand, Lazarus easily caught the red snack and wiped it on his red T-shirt as he put his booklet away, turning back to the Lady and thankfully knowing exactly what to say.

"Thank you!" He spoke, then, after a moment bowed slightly, unsure of what exactly the custom was in this situation. Green Thumb bowed back; consequently, Lazarus nervously bowed back, slightly faster this time.

Green Thumb's eyes never left Lazarus's as she bowed yet again, lower than before. Lazarus was now terrified, his book had not described what to do when a friendly shopkeeper engages in a bowing war of attrition. Lazarus took a deep breath and bowed one last time, waving as he came up and slowly stepping away from her. Green Thumb giggled and mimicked his wave as she turned back to tending her business. Lazarus let out a breath he hadn't felt himself holding, before licking his lips and taking a massive bite of the apple, wiping the juices away from his face with his other arm. Closing his eyes, he enjoyed the sweet flavor of the fruit.

"Maybe Japan isn't as different from back home as I thought…" He spoke to himself in English.

"AH!" A voice screeched from somewhere in front of him. Lazarus let out a cough, panic suddenly seizing him, freezing his body in place.

"Crap, please tell me that's not directed at me." He muttered to himself as he forced his head to move up slightly, his eyes scanning for what the commotion was about, his eyes landing squarely on a mask wearing thug, running through the crowded square, a third arm growing out of his back holding a purse.

"Unless that man has as much of an appreciation of neon pink as I do." Lazarus muttered as he felt his body relax, satisfied that a course of action had been decided upon.

"I do believe that man has stolen someone's purse." Lazarus let out a smile as he felt all his nervous energy pulse through his body, before channeling that energy into adrenaline, his muscles tensing as he pulled a tiny metal cube out of his back pocket.

"Darekaga eiyū o yobu!" Green Thumb screamed behind him, but he didn't have the time or the mental presence to try and translate her panicked cry, he had some saving to do. He pulled back his hand feeling his muscles strain as the familiar rush of adrenaline pumped through his body. His eyes locked onto the Thief running in front of him, before gazing back at his arm, watching the cube physically shake, pulsing to the beat of his heart. He turned his eyes forward again, switching the items in his hand so he held the apple yet again in his dominate hand. The Thief had just passed him and was running away, his back exposed to Lazarus.

"God I've always wanted to say this!" Lazarus laughed, his face shifting into a determined line. "Ahem." He took a breath. "Smash!" With that, his arm snapped forward, sending the apple flying in such a way that it knocked Lazarus off balance and squarely onto his chest, his arm strained with the force of the throw. Lazarus watched as the poor Thief turned his head to the side to see what the commotion was behind him just in time for the apple to connect squarely with his face. The Thief stumbled back, smashed his head into a stop sign, and dropped to the ground.

Lazarus forced himself onto his feet, his arm still shaking uncontrollably after the sudden ace-pitch outta nowhere, he simply shook the pins and needles from his arm as walked confidently towards the downed Thief. He took a moment to catch his breath as he used his foot to turn over the downed thief, quickly picking up what was left of his apple and throwing the chunks into a nearby garbage bin; He put his cube back in his pocket, the extra energy holding it gave him slipped away.

Lazarus couldn't help biting his tongue as he checked out the already bruising mark on the man's cheek. He nodded sagely, he wasn't expecting to knock him out, only trip him up, but he had gotten lucky with when the man had turned around; still, he couldn't help but smile.

"That's what you get for screwing with Lazarus Poe!" He called, taking a moment to sit on his laurels.

Sudden shouting behind him snapped him out of his thoughts, he turned to see the police rushing down the street, he laughed, running a hand through his thick black hair, cursing himself as he knew he was messing up the product he had spent forever trying to apply to the mess on his head. He smiled at the Police as they kept a brisk pace towards him, he needed to look presentable for when they gave him their thanks for his assistance in apprehending the culprit.

"Furīzu!" One of the officers yelled as several of them surrounded him, Lazarus, though not understanding what had been said to him, froze in place in confusion. "Okay hold on, this is the guy you want!" Lazarus pointed down at the man below him, before remembering the officers most likely wouldn't understand English, thinking quickly, he swiftly reached for his pocket to grab his cheat sheet.

Then the officers drew their weapons.

In the blink of an eye, Lazarus had gone to his knees, locking his hands behind his head. He may have been in a foreign land, but the 'I'll come quietly, please don't shoot me.' pose was hopefully easily translatable to any language, and that was a pose Lazarus had learned very well in his youth. He felt his hands forced behind his back as heavy cuffs were placed on him, the offices grabbed him and moved. As he was being dragged back to wherever the Police had come from, he saw Green Thumb staring at him in horror as he was being pulled by, thinking quickly, he called out in broken Japanese.

"Thank apple friend! Jail prison you-chan write!" Then Green Thumb disappeared from view and the officer said something that sounded like a warning, and Lazarus shut his mouth and let his shoulders sag.

"Welcome to Japan Lazarus, you've already won a one-way all expenses paid trip to jail."

Lazarus sat, the cold metal chair digging painfully into his tailbone no matter how much he would shift around. He rubbed his sore wrists, taking deep breaths as he focused on rubbing the red marks out of his skin. Watching the door quietly as he waited for his judgement to come to pass. He looked around as he crossed his legs, tucking his entire body onto the chair.

"No matter where you go in the world, some things never change…" Lazarus put his hands to his cheeks as he bit his lip. He kept glancing down at an imaginary watch he wasn't wearing.

The door opened and a rather plain looking officer walked through the door, at a glance, he didn't seem to have any outward quirk. Before the officer could say a word, Lazarus risked cutting in.

"English?" He questioned, praying that he would get lucky.

"It's rusty." The officer replied, a thick accent attached, but Lazarus could care less, he forced his racing heart to slow down and focus on keeping control of his voice.

"Look, I don't know what kind of treatment for a citizen Hero this is, but let me tell you, it's a little disheartening." A little bit of a condescending tone slipped into Lazarus's voice, but he couldn't help it, he had stopped a robber and this was his treatment?

The Officer looked a little peeved, but also confused. "You...have a public hero license?" He seemed to struggle to find the right words, but Lazarus could understand him well enough to respond.

"No, obviously, I'm a little young you know?" Lazarus gestured to himself, frowning as he outlined his still rather youthful body, "But Citizen Hero's Act, you know? Public use of quirks in order to stop a criminal act in progress? This is a great way to treat way to treat someone doing your job for you." Lazarus watched the Officer's face, his confusion shifting to something that looked between pissed off and pity.

"Americans…" The Officer muttered, Lazarus was going to interject something smart-ass, but then decided that he had challenged the establishment enough for one day considering they could still deport him.

"Look, maybe in America they let you use your Quirks willy-nilly in public, but here? There are laws, and the 'Citizen Hero's Act' is not one of the ones we have." Lazarus stopped breathing for a moment, suddenly realizing that he had been working under the assumption he had done nothing wrong; when in technicality he had committed a serious offense against the law. Lazarus felt guilt, regret and shame well up in his chest all at once, while his snide sarcasm drained out.

"I, well." Lazarus coughed, his face going several shades of red, "I uh, believe in that case I owe you an apology for my previous behavior; I am sorry, I know that's not a very uh, well, good, response to learning one's broken the law, but, wow. Uh, I, was wrong." Lazarus balled his hands up in embarrassment, fear of an actually justified punishment ending his adventure prematurely welled up in his throat, threading to choke him. The Officer sighed.

"I see you've finally realized the severity of the offense you've committed." Lazarus felt the Officer's eyes burrow into his skull. Lazarus couldn't bring himself to look into his eyes, "But," he continued, "I see that this was simply due to a lack of cultural understanding...and some well meaning intentions." The Officer softened his appearance and sighed.

Lazarus risked speaking, "Well, sir, what happens to me now?" The Officer rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Now? Now you go home and stay out of trouble, we apprehended the Thief and you've been reprimanded, it would be far too much work to have to deal with all the paperwork if we wanted to prosecute you for anything." The Officer waved his hand and let out a small smile, "Don't do this again and we can all just call this a learning experience, okay?" Lazarus stared at the officer in disbelief, standing up slowly from the table.

"Thank you, thank you very much!" Lazarus smiled, fighting back a swell of emotions that suddenly replaced his shame. He offered his hand to shake, the Officer stared at it for a moment before he gingerly took his hand and shook it.

"I'll not forget your kindness sir, I promise, you'll never see my face in here again!" Lazarus jumped, clicking his heels together as he spun around opening the door, waving warmly at the Officer one more time before he bolted for the front entrance.

"No running in the hallway!" Lazarus heard the Officer calling out from behind him as he only picked up speed, bursting out the front entrance onto the busy streets of…

Lazarus became very aware of the fact he had no idea where he was.

Lazarus gasped as he emerged unscathed from the mass of people behind him, he took a few deep breaths as he felt like crying, he had not traveled far, but it felt like a journey that took him forever. He looked out across the park, he checked his watch again. Letting his eyes glance across the area, he finally locked onto a very awkward and plain looking couple with what look to be a kid his age holding a white sign reading 'Lazarus Poe' in English. Lazarus grinned, he couldn't help feeling like this was going to be interesting.

Lazarus strolled up to the family, who seemed surprised as he approached. "I am guessing you are the Hanta family?" Lazarus spoke, causing the Boy his age to glance at his father in confusion, who simply smiled back.

"Hello Lazarus Poe." The man spoke, surprising Lazarus with his perfect English.

"It is nice to meet you, I am Mr. Sero and this is my wife Mrs. Sero" He put an arm around his wife, who smiled warmly at Lazarus.

"And this, is my son Hanta Sero." Hanta waved halfheartedly, an expression of nonplus boredom all over his face. Lazarus looked him over quickly; Hanta looked like what Lazarus would assume an everyday plain John Doe from Japan would look like, (then again, Lazarus also had black hair, was somewhat tall and had a rather normal looking face, so Hanta was probably just as unimpressed with Lazarus's appearance as Lazarus was with Hanta's.) Though the weird bumps on Hanta's elbows intrigued him, he couldn't help but wonder what kind of a quirk would have that kind of a physical presence.

Lazarus figured it would be polite to exchange pleasantries. "Well uh, it's nice to meet yo-" Lazarus was cut off by Mr. Sero coughing politely.

"While I may be fluent in English, my wife only knows a bit, and my son is a little helpless, would you mind using Japanese?" Mr. Sero looked at Lazarus expectantly, Lazarus sighed, it had been phrased as a question, but he knew it was going to have to be his normal to converse in his non-native tongue.

Flipping through his language guide, he tried to form a coherent sentence. "Nice to meet you Hanta." He spoke, tripping over the words as he went, when he looked up at the end, Hanta was giving him a weird look and his folks were chuckling lightly.

"I suppose we have a lot to teach you." Mr. Sero spoke, causing Lazarus to glance up, skeptically watching the older man.

"In Japanese, honorifics are everything, just as you wouldn't think of addressing an authority figure as anything other then 'Mr.' or 'Sir', we use such terms in everyday life as a sign of respect to each other." As Mr. Sero lectured about the importance of honorifics, Lazarus bit his tongue to avoid mentioning he would, could, and had referred to 'authority' figures in far less flattering terms then 'Mr.' or 'Sir' yet he decided now was not the time or place to make a fuss about his personal experiences.

Hanta stepped forward suddenly, catching Lazarus off guard, Lazarus blinked as Hanta spoke, Lazarus appreciated that Hanta purposefully slowed down his words so Lazarus could catch them all. "Greetings Poe-kun, it's nice to meet you." He bowed, however, Lazarus suddenly felt the perfect opportunity to snark, and hoped comedy would break the ice.

"I'll try not to elbow in on any business that isn't mine." He grinned, his Japanese sounding somewhat less strained as humor slipped into his tone, "eh?"

Hanta looked at him as if he had just spoken gibberish. "Well- I don't get, what?" Hanta's lack of understanding was priceless, Lazarus couldn't help but laugh, his head falling forward as he wiped a stray tear from his eye, he did love a good pun; however, when he looked back up, clearly Hanta was very confused at not being in on the joke. His parents were looking at him a little weird as well.

"...Is there something funny?" Mrs. Sero spoke, her tone confused and a little concerned, "I don't think uh…" She looked at Hanta who's confusion seemed to shift to indifference.

Lazarus wondered to himself if he would ever learn his lesson about not screwing up a good thing as soon as he encountered it.

Lazarus tried to explain his poor attempt at English wordplay, still using a language he was unfamiliar with. "No! No-no-no-no, Elbow! Pun! Cause you have elbows, well, everyone has elbows, but you got big elbows, NOT that there's anything wrong with that, it's just a really noticeable feature so I figured I'd make fun of you, wait no that's even worse, I meant uh, breaking ice, and jokes! It joke?" Lazarus tripped over his own words as he tried to translate his hundred mile per hour train of thought into a suitable explanation, clearly, by the looks on the Sero family's faces, he'd done a very poor job at that.

Sighing, Lazarus shook his head and rested his hands in his face. "Poor joke, I apologize."

A silence descended over the four, the air filled with the sound of an occasional bird, or wind rustling the trees. Lazarus thought he might have heard a chipmunk, but the view of the top of his black sneakers was all his world currently was. The same feelings of guilt and shame rose in his chest as his emotions turned into anxiety within his chest. He clenched his fists, feeling his nails digging into the soft palms of his hands painfully, his breathing turned ragged, he had one job. He just had to keep his stupid mouth shut, that's all he had to do.

Mr. Sero clapped loudly, shaking everyone from their isolated moment of reflection as he took a deep breath. "Well! Everything's alright now! We just got your stuff from the airport, so...homeward bound!" Lazarus felt Mr. Sero's eyes looking at him. All Lazarus could do was nod silently and follow a few paces behind, his mind completely absorbed in his own head.

The Sero household was modest at best, it was a normal house, all things considering, it had two floors, a modern-ish kitchen with all the standard amenities, two bathrooms, a common living area, a master bedroom, Hanta's room and a guest bedroom which was to be Lazarus's for the next few months.

"Thank you." Lazarus said simply, taking a deep, shaky breath. He looked up and smiled, he felt the tension in his chest relax slightly, though the familiar weight of unhealthy energy in his gut and throat were still dominating the back of his mind. Mr. Sero smiled and clasped him once on the back as he walked away, leaving Lazarus to unpack his bags. Lazarus sighed again, trying to practice the breathing exercises that one therapist he saw taught him. He felt his energy relax, but like always, the threatening presence still remained and would most likely keep him up all night.

Lazarus distracted himself from the futility of actually trying to address the things that caused his stress by opening his bag and moving it into the room.

He noted that he hadn't brought as much with him over from America; he had his calendar, already flipped to January; his laptop and assorted electrical cables; his special pillow for his neck support; his photo book, filled with memories from the last few years back home; and his…

Lazarus slipped the small into his back pocket, happy that it had cleared customs without being detected, he would have to remember that carrying this was actually illegal here.

He walked back to his calendar, flipping through it until he reached the day of truth, the March entrance exam for UA. He felt his face shift, his features feeling more solid on his face. He turned and let the pages of the calendar fall. For a moment, his doubts were forgotten.

"Why UA?"

The voice questioned Lazarus, though it hadn't been spoken by anyone in the house, not yet at least. Lazarus grinded his teeth, turning to leave the room as he felt a burning need to go let out some steam.

Lazarus quietly opened the door to the home, his body was warm and sore, the physical stress of working out always got his blood pumping. The house was dark, clearly, everyone had gone to bed since he had left.

"Mental note." Lazarus muttered to himself, "Don't be a party-animal past eleven o'clock." He grinned as he closed the door behind him, but stopped as he heard a soft muttering and faint light from the kitchen.

A single click sounded in the empty doorway, Lazarus looked down at his hand, the small switchblade he had stashed in his back pocket already hungry for blood as he felt the cube in his back pocket pulse in time with his own pounding heartbeat. Lazarus pressed his back against the wall as he moved towards the kitchen, peaking around the corner into the kitchen.

Hanta sat mumbling to himself at the kitchen table, several sheets of paper spread out in front of him. His posture screamed 'I wanted to be in bed an hour ago.'

"Read rhymes with lead? And read rhymes with lead? But read doesn't rhyme with lead and read doesn't rhyme with lead? What does that even mean? I'm so doomed…" Hanta moaned as he encountered the worst part of any language, the nuance of context. Suddenly, Lazarus felt that guilt and anxiety from earlier well up in his chest, suddenly, he was talking before he could second guess himself.

"You need a hand?" He spoke, his poor-sounding Japanese obviously startling Hanta. Who regarded him with caution.

"I-" Hanta stopped, clearly intending to, politely, turn him down, but Lazarus knew that look in Hanta's eye, it was the look of a man with nothing left to lose, "I...wouldn't mind it-"

Instantly Lazarus strolled across the room and quickly began reading over Hanta's shoulder. "Don't worry, I've been tutored a lot, being a lost cause myself, I think I've picked up something from all those sessions, if I can't teach you English, no one can." Lazarus cracked his knuckles as he absorbed the lesson, taking in the information as quickly as he could.

"...Thank you Poe-kun." Hanta spoke, suddenly sounding a lot less wary and simply more tired. Lazarus frowned and spoke as loudly as he could without risking waking everyone up.

"Okay, just call me Lazarus, all this prefix stuff is really weird. Just Lazarus." Lazarus did not wait for a response before continuing to mutter his way through Hanta's work, marking it in his head as he went.

"You really are hopeless when it comes to Japanese huh?" Hanta chortled, Lazarus stopped and shot him a glare, but if Hanta cared, he didn't show it on his face.

"Hey, I've got time-" Lazarus began before Hanta pointed at him and cut him off.

"Just under three months to become fluent and educated in a language you clearly have no experience with? That's putting something off to the last second even in my books." Hanta's pointed accusation cut though Lazarus like a hot knife through butter, leaving Lazarus momentarily speechless, and with no witty comeback to retort with.

"I have faith in my abilities." Lazarus wasn't sure if he was trying to convince himself, or Hanta.

"...Why UA?" Hanta asked, and Lazarus felt his blood run cold.

"It's the best school for people who want to be famous Heroes." Lazarus lied; the falsehood tasted bitter, but it was as close he could get to the truth without needing to explain his whole life story.

Hanta sighed, waving his hand as he shook his head. "I expected something a little more dramatic…" Lazarus said nothing as Hanta seemed absorbed in thought, before Hanta snapped his fingers and let loose a big toothy smile. "I have no choice then, we have to make a deal!"

"A deal?" Lazarus felt his eyebrow raise quizzically. Hanta kept smiling.

"You teach me everything you know about English, and as payment, I'll teach you everything you want to know about Japan and Japanese." As Hanta finished, Lazarus was left deep in thought.

"That...doesn't sound like a bad deal." Lazarus spoke, feeling a weight lift off his chest as he couldn't help but smile.

"In fact it sounds like the best goddamn deal I've heard in awhile Hanta!" Hanta sighed as Lazarus spoke.

"Did my dad's honorifics lecture go in one ear and out the other Lazarus?" Lazarus smiled.

"Totally." Lazarus sat down beside Hanta, drumming on the table with his fingers, "Now, let's start English-ing all this!" Lazarus looked at Hanta, who nodded back at him, before quickly getting to work. Lazarus let his gaze linger for a moment, before diving into tutoring Hanta.

"You can't keep doing this Lich, I don't care if it's your quirk, it can't be healthy." The masked Girl spoke, her cheap jumpsuit looking relatively untouched compared to how Lazarus felt.

Lazarus didn't speak; instead, he looked down at his chest in silent awe, wounds riddling his body, he felt his vision blur. He looked back up at the masked Girl, unable to find the right words to express what he needed to say.

"What else do you expect me to do? What else can I do?" The words felt harsh coming from his mouth, and a little blood forced its way out of his throat and into his mouth in a violent cough.

"Why UA?" She asked, Lazarus looked at the smaller Girl and found that he had no ability to respond, not due to a lack of words, but an inability to breath. Lazarus collapsed as he felt the world disappear along with his mind.

Lazurus awoke, his mind still lingering on the dream. Suddenly, he felt an emptiness in his chest as he realized he could no longer feel his own heart beating. Adrenaline suddenly pumped through his whole body as he shot up, his dream forgotten as he looked around the kitchen, frantically searching until his eyes landed on Hanta. Lazurus watched, fear creeping over him as Hanta held the small metal Cube, Lazurus's Cube, in an outstretched palm.

"What is this thing." Hanta spoke quietly, admiring the pulsing cube in his hand. Lazurus pounced, moving quicker than he ever had before to snatch the cube away from Hanta's hand.

"IT'S MINE!" Lazurus screeched in English, clutching the cube close to his chest, comforted by the sound, and feeling, of his own heartbeat finally returning. Lazurus panted quietly, his compulsion to find his cube finally subsiding. Lazurus looked up to see a terrified Hanta looking down at him, suddenly, Lazurus felt fresh embarrassment crawling onto his cheeks.

"Haha…" Lazurus chuckled, slipping the cube into his back pocket as he took a long, sharp intake of breath, "Uh, where, where did you find that?"

Hanta blinked slowly and shuffled a half-step away from Lazarus, "It feel out of your pocket just a few minuets ago, when you were sleeping." Hanta frowned, "sorry for uh…"

Lazarus quickly responded, thumbing through his English to Japanese booklet as he spoke. "Oh no! Don't worry! My fault, but I just really don't like being separated from it. Haha, wow can't believe I fell asleep last night, say what what are you up to today?" Lazarus internally cringed at his own rushed attempt to change the subject, but thankfully Hanta seemed just as willing to move the conversation away from what had just happened.

Hanta pointed at the door, "I was just going to grab a quick breakfast then do some training, gotta get in shape for UA!" Hanta smiled, causing Lazarus to reel back in surprise.

"Wait, you're going to apply for UA too?" Lazarus shut his mouth when Hanta shot him a glare, "I mean, there's nothing wrong with that, I just never thought you'd want to be a hero as well!" Lazarus quickly corrected himself, causing Hanta to smile again.

"Well I do." Hanta laughed, "Just because I don't have a quirk that screams 'put me in spandex' doesn't mean I can't have a dream." Lazarus couldn't help but join him in laughing.

"Mind if I join you?" Lazarus carefully inquired, hoping that he wasn't pushing his luck, "I don't really know any good places to train around here yet." He spoke as he tried to justify himself. Hanta just shrugged.

"Training is always better in pairs, feel free to join." Hanta began walking towards the door, grabbing an Orange on his way out. Lazarus quickly followed behind, stopping in the doorway for only long enough to take a deep satisfied breath, before following Hanta Sero into the brisk early morning.