Bakugou pushed into a small, plain looking café, the door slamming into the wall behind him. He threw his bag onto the ground as he wrenched the chair from the table and sat down. Kirishima sat across from him much more civilly, fingers grazing the ring shaped stains on the old laminate. It was always quiet in the coffee shop, and today the only sounds were Bakugou's ragings.

Kirishima had come to learn that his classmate was surprisingly talkative if he got on the right track (namely, hatred and complaining), and Kirishima appreciated the opportunity to be stoic. He enjoyed the ambiance of The Cafe, they had no wifi and almost no customers, making it a quiet place to read. Kirishima was there a few times a week to study, or just relax from long days. The service had always been decent, but a month ago it had gotten decidedly more interesting. The new waitress was quiet, jumpy, and constantly breaking things, but she laughed quietly at most of his jokes and then looked surprised, as if laughter was new to her, and she always smiled when he came in, like she was genuinely happy to see him. It didn't mean anything of course, she was just doing her job and he knew that, but he couldn't help how happy and calm the place made him, especially when she was there.

He flashed two fingers and a toothy grin at the waitress, who was at the counter refilling the pastry display. She nodded at him, grabbing the coffee pot and some cups.

Bakugou was still ranting, but it was subdued. He was only like this when the two of them were alone, and Bakugou would scan the area occasionally, as if he thought someone would jump out at any moment and yell 'gotcha! Caught you being slightly more sane than usual!' It was the first time Kirishima had brought him to The Cafe, in the hopes he might unwind a little.

"-and how did that inviso-bitch get past the physical exam anyway? What can she do with that lame quirk, other than sneak around?" Bakugou glared at Kirishima, as if to scare him into agreement, and Kirishima smiled back, happy to spend time with his best friend.

A giggle broke Kirishima out of his thoughts and Bakugou out of his calm rage, the waitress was setting down Kirishima's coffee and creamer. Bakugou always got upset when people interrupted their conversations, and was especially annoyed when people snuck up on him.

Black bangs hid the waitresses face as Bakugou's attention turned to her. "Who the fuck are you?! Die!" She took a frightened step back -which seemed to anger him even more- and Kirishima tried to jump in.

"Dude, chill-"

The tableware started to rattle as Bakugou's stood up, his chair falling over behind him. " Laughing at me, waitress bi-"

Her tray fell onto the table and Bakugou's coffee cup shattered, spraying him with porcelain and scalding coffee. He brought it on himself, but would probably still freak. He wiped coffee from his eyes, flinging it across the room with a flick of his wrist.
When they looked up, she was gone.

A server with a button nose and electric blue hair skipped over, replacing Bakugou's coffee and sweeping up the chunks of porcelain into a dustpan with a bright smile. "Are you alright there sugar? Need me to get you some ice or something?" Her voice held only concern, but when Bakugou looked down to wipe away the spills she winked at Kirishima.

"Where did that useless girl go, laughing at me, who the fuck does she think she is?!" Bakugou's gaze darted around the cafe, stopping on swinging door behind the counter.

The button nosed waitress blinked. "What? I'm the only waitress on shift today." Her hand edged towards his new coffee, "I'll bring you something a little more soothing. Decaf or herbal tea?"

"Hahhhh?!" Bakugou shrieked, ripping his coffee away from her and chugging it down like it was Midoriya's blood. "Bullshit. Where's she hiding?"

He stalked towards the counter, and Kirishima slouched in his chair, not excited to get barred from his favorite cafe. Movement caught Kirishima's eye. He looked up to see hands pulling themselves along the support beams, as though they were playing the monkey bars. He followed the hands into the shelves.

The hands had arms and a torso attached, as the waitress pulled herself down from the ceiling by clinging to a low hanging light fixture.

Kirishima coughed, offering a hand.

"Sorry about him. He get's carried away, but he's totally harmless," He lied, "More bark than bite. If you don't ban us we'll tip forever!" He smiled sheepishly.

She paused, eyeing his hand warily like it might burst into flame.

Their hands clasped and Kirishima pulled her towards the ground.

"You… always tip anyway. It's no trouble. I should've been more careful." He had never heard her speak before. Kirishima blinked as she floated down, her lilting voice surrounding him. It was soft and melodic, almost haunting. Her whole body shimmered until her feet touched the floor and she looked human again.

"Woah." Kirishima didn't blush, because he was too manly, but when she looked down at their still-clasped hands and raised an eyebrow he might've turned a little red. He had been staring. "Sorry! Sorry. Don't ban me!" He let go of her hand and jumped back, flailing his hands in front of him.

A tiny chuckle escaped her. "You two sure have a lot of energy. It's… refreshing," A smile tugged on the corner of her lips, and for the first time and Kirishima saw her eyes, a brilliant green that seemed to glow in the darkness of the bookshelves.

"Well, you're the first to meet that idiot and think refreshing, that's for sure."

"Someone saying exactly what they're thinking is an interesting concept, if he could tone the threats of violence down."

"Shitty Hair! Did you find her?" Bakugou appeared behind him -which meant he must not have been paying attention because that boy is loud - and when he looked back, the girl was gone.

Kirishima flailed his arms towards the bookshelves. "What? No! I was looking for a book… and I found it!" Kirishima grabbed the nearest book and waved it at Bakugou.

He raised an eyebrow, "The Joy of Sex, huh? What d'you need that for, a girl sees your hair and she's going to run for the hills, no matter how 'hard' you can get." Bakugou chuckled at his own joke, his face still a little pink from the coffee -and the rampage.

Kirishima looked at the book, its bright pink cover with the word sex underlined twice. "You're right Katsuki, I'll put it back." He threw out Bakugou's first name to try and throw him off, but he steamrolled right over it.

He sneered, his eyes staring into the depths of Kirishima's soul. "No, get it. You spent all this time looking for it, right?"

Kirishima sighed. "Yup. I did. So I guess I'll get this… book."

Bakugou cackled, stomping back towards the table.

As Kirishima headed back he saw the girl materialise out of the bookcase. She smiled at him and mouthed 'Thanks'.

They had a surprisingly nice time at the cafe after that, and their new waitress -whose name tag said Hanako- brought Kirishima a black cupcake with an icing smile on it.

She winked, "Because you're our favourite regular."

Bakugou balked. "Our? So you admit there's two of you!" He pointed an accusing finger in her face.

"You're ass must be jealous of all the stupid shit that comes out of your mouth," She smacked his hand away. "I meant he's the cafe's favourite." She gestured around, "Because he is polite, and respectful , unlike some of our unruly customers, who shatter our teacups."

"Hahh! I didn't break nothin' it was that stupid laughing bit-"

Kirishima cut him off, "I'm happy to reimburse you for the cup, Miss Hanako."

She turned that megawatt smile back onto Kirishima, "I wouldn't have it! These accidents happen. I'm just glad you're alright."

Bakugou was grumbling incoherently now, glaring death at Hanako, who seemed to think the whole situation was hilarious. She picked up the book beside Kirishima.

"The Joy of Sex? Y'know I've read this one. I'm sure you two will find it really useful." She smirked at Kirishima, who face now matched his hair. "Let me ring this up for you boys, I'll have the bill in a blink."

When Nezu's secretary motioned for the girl enter his office, she hesitated. She nearly tripped over the carpeting, as she moved to sit in the chair across from him. She ran a shaky hand through her hair.

"Miss Masters, how lovely to see you. Congratulations, by the way."

At her name, she looked down, and at his praise she visibly flinched. She already looked guilty as hell, And I am guilty . She thought. "That's actually what I've come to talk about. I would like to formally rescind my application to the Hero course."

"Are you sure? You may not get another chance."

"My exam scores were much better than they should have been. It isn't fair to the other applicants."

"We received recommendations for you from multiple heroes. More than I've seen in recent memory. There are a lot of pros who want you to succeed, who are sure you will succeed! Even without then, with your exemplary scores-"

"It wasn't me!" She sat rigid in her chair, trying not to dig her nails into her crossed arms.

Nezu raised an eyebrow. "I think I'll make us some tea. Your mother loved my homemade Oolong blend." He turned on the kettle by his desk and measured some leaves into his teapot. It looked simple and well worn, much less extravagant than his salary could probably afford.

After a few minutes of silence Nezu set down a cup of tea in front of each of them. "So. Who took your recommendation exam for you? This is on the record, but if you give them up, we can avoid pressing any charges."

"Well, it isn't exactly like that. It was me taking the exam, but," She realised she hadn't thought this far ahead. She couldn't tell Nezu her step-mother had been involved, because it put her father at risk.

"So you took the exam."

"Well, technically yes, but…"

"You have the makings of a great hero. You have a marvelous quirk, and great instincts. Quirks like yours are rare, and tailor made for the job." He paused. "It's part of why your mother was so successful."

She sipped her tea. It tasted light and fresh, like spring or new beginnings.

"I don't have the makings of a hero. I did well on the physical exam because a friend used a... mind altering quirk that made me more efficient. I want to formally withdraw my application from UA." She was more serious now. She didn't have time for this. A hero doesn't need to be convinced and coerced. They have convictions. Heroes want to be heros.

"The ability was yours. It was still you , using your quirk. I have no doubt that with training, you could easily replicate your performance.

She said nothing, sipping her tea and avoiding Nezu's eyes, and trying to ignore his encouraging tone.

Nezu shuffled the papers on his desk and sighed. "Well, I doubt you'll get into a decent school with this on your permanent record. Not many high schools accept students who cheat on entrance exams."

Her head shot up. "What? You can't do that!"

Nezu met her glowing green irises with his own level stare. "I most certainly can. You marched into my office and confessed to a crime. You should count yourself lucky this is all I'm doing."

She bowed her head. Another reason she would never be a hero. She was easily cowed. "Of course, Principal Nezu. Thank you for your time." She set down her teacup and bowed low, reaching for her bag.

"You know, your scores are easily high enough for the hero support course. You didn't submit a formal application, but your recommendations are for UA, not necessarily the hero course."

She sucked in a breath. Would that be enough distance between her and Axion Labs? It was everything she wanted. Maybe she really could become someone else here.

"Could I… Could I enroll under a different name?"

He paused. Eyeing her curiously over her tea. "I don't see why not. What did you have in mind?"

"Reiko Akira"

Principal Nezu smiled from behind his teacup. "It suits you."

Aizawa shuffled into the office as the girl left. As she passed she nodded respectfully, keeping her eyes trained on the ground. "Excuse me."

He shut the oak door behind her, and handed Nezu the files he was there to drop off. He paused, contemplative, and then sat across from the principal.

"Why push her into staying at UA? If a student has to be pushed, they don't belong here."

"She has a lot of potential."

"All of our students have a lot of potential."

"You interned with Phantom, correct?"

"Yeah."

"Why?" Nezu filed away the forms Aizawa had given him.

"She stayed out of the press. We had similar goals. It made sense."

"What did you think of her situation, towards the end?"

Aizawa glared and grit his teeth, "It was shocking and horrible. Get to the point."

"That girl was Phantoms daughter."

"Obviously. I saw her exam." Aizawa rolled his eyes. "Why are you really doing this, Nezu?"

"I owed Phantom a favor when she passed away, and I hate to be indebted to the dead. It's bad luck, you know."

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, and said nothing. Nezu was aware the drawn out pause was a tactic to get him to add more to his answer, but he continued anyway.

"There is the matter of her father. He's a genius -obviously- and popular with heroes and the media. But there have been a lot of coincidenceslately with Axion Labs." Nezu was glaring into the distance now, his eye twitching. "I'm certain there's more to him than meets the eye, but… currently there's nothing we can do." Nezu sipped his tea, watching Aizawa closely. "The game is changing, and we need to keep all the pieces in sight."

Aizawa's face was carefully still, as though he had no thoughts on the matter. It was an obvious tell, and Nezu was surprised he hadn't fixed it yet.

"That aside, you'll keep an eye on her, won't you?" It was phrased like a question, but it was clearly an order.

"Of course, but I'll be keeping an eye on 20 other students, so I don't know how useful I'll be."

"You're a resourceful man, I'm sure you'll find the time somewhere." Nezu smiled from behind his tea. "Besides, I'm sure you'll have a lot to talk about."

The first time Todoroki saw her in the cafeteria he assumed he was mistaken.

The second time he squinted, staring until Iida tapped his shoulder. "Please keep the line moving! We're inconveniencing the other students"

Todoroki shrugged him off and kept walking.

The third time, she looked at him and smiled. He felt a fiery hand clench around his heart, burning it to ash. He nodded back at her and she turned back to her friends.

The fourth time, she was ahead of him in line. He was trying to decide whether he should say something when she saw him out of the corner of her eye and turned around.

"Todoroki! How are you?" Her tone was light, but hearing his fathers name on her lips was like a brand on his back.

"Fine."

"I saw you got into the Hero Course! That must be so exciting. Pretty much everyone in my class wants to get transferred there."

"Not you?"

"Nope. I'm actually-" She stopped to order her food from Lunch Rush. "Anyway, it was nice catching up with you. See you around!" She smiled and headed in the opposite direction.

It was strange to be strangers again. It was like none of their past existed. He thought maybe he had imagined it. He had seen her around with her dad and had made up a whole story that they were friends.

That she used light up when she saw him. That she cried when she scraped all the skin off her knees and when he frosted them, she kissed him on the cheek and said 'I love your quirk Shouto, I wish I could heal people,' her eyes shining up at him like he was the most amazing person in the world. Maybe he had imagined her clinging to his sleeve as they walked along the garden path, jumping when a racoon hopped out of the bush, grabbing onto his arm and hiding behind him.

"Dont worry," he had said, "I'll never let anything happen to you." He had kicked at the raccoon and it had fled back into the bushes.

He must have imagined it. How else could it have become 'catching up' in 30 seconds every six months, almost less than strangers. He should ask Fuyumi. She would know.

The fifth time, there was a stampede in the cafeteria and Todoroki's first thought was if she was alright. She used to be terrified of tight spaces, and if she still is… He looked around at the students, panicking and packed like sardines. He pushed through the crowd, swimming against the current, eyes locked on her usual table.

He slid under it, and there she was. Her eyes had rolled back into her head and were blindingly green, her face and neck were wet with tears, and her hair was thrashing like it might fly right off her head, the ends white.

"Kira."

She looked up at him and went still, hair hanging like medusa's snakes poised to strike. He stayed still for a moment, and then nodded.

She lunged for him, wrapping her arms around his torso and squeezing. It was a good sign that she was solid. He just had to make sure she stayed that way.

"Don't worry. I would never let anything happen to you." He was surprised at the conviction in his voice. He couldn't remember the last time he felt conviction.

She held tighter, and the whimper that escaped her made Todoroki hope it was Villains infiltrating the campus, so he could freeze them all to death.

"Breath with me." He took deep breaths in and out, and she followed, her grip loosening, her hair falling back down.

There was wet spot on his uniform where her tears had soaked through the material.

"Shouto?" He almost missed her whisper amongst all the commotion.

"Yeah."

Her voice wobbled. "Do you... still know how to French braid? I can never get it right." She was still clenching handfuls of his uniform, her whole body trembling.

He hummed, turning her around until her back was to him. He combed his fingers through her hair until it was tidy, and as he braided he thought it was strange how his muscle memory hadn't faded even with years of disuse.

"It's long."

"I've been growing it out. My mom had super long hair."

"Hm."

"Shouto?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you. For everything. I never really thanked you for-"

"Don't" He couldn't listen to her thank him for the biggest mistake he had ever made. He wouldn't survive it.

"Okay. Well. Let me thank you for this at least. There's this great coffee shop-"

"I can't." He couldn't do it again. He couldn't pretend everything was fine. He wasn't there to make friends. Especially not her. Losing his best friend was nearly impossible the first time. He couldn't do it again.

"Oh. No problem. The coffee's meh anyway." She tried to push her voice into calm acceptance, but it sounded defeated, crushed.

"Right now. I can't right now. Maybe later, I could." What was he doing? He knows false hope is worse than no hope. He misspoke. He would tell her no and that would be the end of it.

"Yeah?" The tension in her shoulders had disappeared.

"Yeah." He couldn't say no to her, even years later.

She hummed happily and leaned back towards him -which made it impossible to keep the braid straight. He huffed, undoing the braid and starting over at an angle, so it would sit over her shoulder instead of down her back. It was difficult with her so close, and the leg of the table was digging into his spine, but he didn't move her.

He hoped she hadn't noticed that he had restarted the braid three times, just to stretch out their time together. He tried to think of the last physical contact since this, other than 'training' with his father. He vaguely recalled shaking someone's hand a few weeks ago.

It crossed his mind that this probably wasn't appropriate. They weren't little kids anymore. There were probably cameras in the lunchroom. He couldn't bring himself to care. The commotion had long since died down, which meant it probably wasn't villains, and he was pretty sure their next class had started.

"I don't have a hair-tie, I think it flew off somewhere."

"I'll improvise."

He traced his fingers around the end of the braid until she had a thick ring of ice tightened around her hair.

With the braid finished, she leaned back until she was flush against his chest. She smelled different. Like paper and coffee, instead of the sickly sweet smell of the expensive shampoo that they both used to hate. He didn't know what to do with his hands. He settled for behind him, taking some of the pressure of his back.

She traced a hand over her hair and down her braid. "It's amazing that you're still good at this. Good at everything." She paused. "Thanks for coming to get me."

He nodded. Good at everything, except what's important .

She crawled out from under the table and reached out a hand to pull him up. Her hair was black again, and her eyes had regained pupils and irises. The rebound was faster than he remembered.

She rubbed her arms. "So… I'll see you around?" It didn't sound like small talk when she said it this time. It had weight.

"Yeah."

"I'll look forward to it." She smiled and this time, it didn't hurt.

So I hope you guys liked this! I'll probably be updating at least through to the sports festival because I have the drafts done but how much I continue posting kind of depends on how people like it. I thrive off constructive criticism, so please please let me know what you think. I've also posted this to a03 under the same name, and I generally post there a few days earlier.

It's going to get fluffy pretty quick, and there's going to be lots of interactions with class 1-A, (and 1-B) and everybody's support and general studies students! She does already know a few of them (pre-UA), and there are a few she probably won't get along with. Also, I will not be including the piss face rat baby Mineta, because he was expelled for his garbage behavior, and I hate him

(This is not at any point going to be a reincarnation fic, and there is a character arc planned, so Akira does have lots of weaknesses and flaws, and she might be a little annoying right now, but that's because it's the beginning! Everyone is going to improve.)