Ariko woke up to her favorite Uravity poster, and a dull ache behind her eyes. It wasn't so bad; there were worse things, but Ariko would have preferred not to have a headache on the first day of school. Her eyes traveled to the photo that she'd hung right next to the poster. It was one of her, and her mom and dad at a local festival, all three of them with large grins plastered on their faces. Above that one was a drawing she'd had done of her dad in his hero costume. It was pretty messy, as it was drawn by a four year old, but anyone could tell who it was. Above the scribbled on bunny ears was the name "Broccoli Man". Her dad had signed it afterwards, even though she had been embarrassed to show it to him. By his signature, it said, "I see the makings of a great artist! Keep it up!" It made her giddy every time, because even though he was her dad, he was also Number One Hero Deku! (But then she'd remember that he was so cool and she was quirkless, and she suddenly couldn't stand to look at it anymore.)

"Arichan," her mom called. "You're going to be late for school if you don't get out of bed!"

"Okay mom!"

She turned on her lamp, hissing as the light made the throbbing in her head to intensify. In spite of it she couldn't miss the first day of school, so Ariko made her way to the bathroom, practically tore out some of her dark green hair as she ran a brush through it, and changed into her new uniform.

All of this was done with the lights off. After running into the wall a few times, she finally made her way into the kitchen where her mom was cooking breakfast. Her mom had her hair up in a messy bun, and was wearing workout clothes. Ariko didn't know how she did it, waking up practically in the middle of the night to exercise. (Really, it was just 5:30 AM.)

"Good morning, Arichan! Are you ready for your first day of middle school?"

She received a groan in response. Ochako laughed; the girl reminded her so much of her husband, who she was still so in love with after all these years.

"Sorry, I don't speak zombie," she replied.

"No, I'm not ready for my first day of middle school."

Ariko rested her head on the table, trying to keep the light out of her eyes.

"Arichan, are you alright?"

"My head hurts," she mumbled.

"Oh, baby, do you want some tea? Here, take your breakfast! Are you well enough to go to school?"

Her mom rushed around the kitchen in a frenzy, leaving no room for Ariko to answer. Besides, her mom wouldn't take no for an answer either anyways.

The tea did help at least. After drinking it, her head felt the same as it did when she woke up. Crisis avoided for now. She didn't know how she could survive without her mom.

"Oh, you look so cute!" Ochako said, after braiding Ariko's shoulder-length hair into pigtails. To complete the look, her mom placed a red headband with a small bow at the crown of her head.

"Like that girl, Madoka was it, from that anime you like so much!" Ochako had remarked, when they were out shopping one day, and Ariko had spotted that very same headband. Her mom didn't hesitate to buy it for her.

"Now, I think you're ready!"

"Right! Thanks mom!"

Ariko was hugged from behind.

"You've grown up so fast. It was only yesterday that you were pulling on your dad's hair and learning how to walk."

She couldn't see her face, but Ariko knew that her mother was trying to hold back tears.

"I wish your father was here to see you in your uniform but he's-"

"At work, I know."

She looked up at her mom, and realized she probably shouldn't have said anything, especially since she couldn't quite hide the bitterness that leaked into her words.

"I'm sorry, mom. I know you guys work hard."

"Don't be."

Ariko felt a hand squeeze her shoulder.

"You can't always help feeling the way you feel."

"Thanks mom," she replied, appreciating her mom's patience, yet wishing she wouldn't look at her with such pity.

It was almost 7:30, so they broke the embrace, the atmosphere feeling almost colder than before. Ariko scrambled around for all of her school supplies, barely remembering her sketchbook, and nearly sprinted out the door before her mom stopped her to take a picture of her in her uniform.

"It's for your dad!" she said.

"Okay! Okay! Bye mom!"

Ariko rushed down the street as fast as she could without making her head hurt worse than a four out of ten.

Ariko arrived to school with fifteen minutes to spare, and she was pretty impressed with herself. She sat down in a desk near the back corner of class 1-C's classroom, and pulled out her sketchbook to the next empty page, thinking about what to draw next. She had at least 15 of her dad in multiple variations of his costume. She had about 20 drawings of her mom. There were a quite a few of Uncle Kacchan in all of his angry, explosive glory.

Perhaps it was time to broaden her horizons, but there were so many possibilities. Ariko sighed, watching her new classmates trickle into the room. They looked like normal junior high students. All of them, except one girl.

Said girl had a normal human body, but her head was that of a grey tabby with deep blue eyes. A grey tail peeked out from behind her. Ariko knew what she was going to draw.

She was halfway through the girl's head, when she heard someone sit in the desk next to her and clear their throat.

"Um… e-excuse me?"

The voice was gentle, and it made Ariko think of the wisps of smoke left behind after one blew out a candle, or maybe the soft trickling of the stream that she and Satsuki used to visit all the time. It was a pretty voice, and she decided that she liked it very much.

Ariko looked up from her drawing, towards the speaker.

It was the cat-girl that she was drawing!

"H-hi! I noticed that you were drawing me…" she said, ears flattened against her head.

Ariko's face flushed scarlet. She hadn't bothered to ask the girl if she could draw her. Ariko suddenly felt very rude.

"Oh! I'm um, I'm really sorry! If you want me to get rid of it then I can!"

"No, no! I think it's really nice! No one's ever drawn me before."

Ariko let out a deep breath.

"I could give it to you, when I'm done!"

The other girl's ears perked up, her blue eyes widening a fraction.

"R-really? That's so nice!"

It was then that their homeroom teacher walked in, a severe looking woman that struck fear into everyone in the room. There was something about her, the way she looked at all of the students, that made them feel like she could read their minds. Perhaps that's what her quirk was? She glanced over in Ariko's direction; Ariko quickly closed her sketchbook. At the same time, her headache went from a four out of ten to about a seven. Ariko's hands clenched into fists under the table.

"I'm Fujioka Etsuko," she said, writing her name on the whiteboard.

"Mediocre work is inexcusable," she said after reciting what seemed like a tome of rules. "After all, you will be high schoolers three years. I look forward to teaching you this year."

The girl next to her bared her canines in what Ariko assumed was a grimace. She also hadn't thought about high school. Maybe they could bond over that, and Ariko wouldn't feel so lonely.

Maybe she could have a real friend again.

A/N: Hi everyone! Hope you liked this chapter.