The day finally came. It was the first day of my life as a hero-to-be. The entrance to the school was packed with panicked, yet enthusiastic first-years, followed by the lax and smug second and third-years. It was slightly hectic, as any first day was. But, even more so than the inside of the school, the outside was no better. There was a small horde of reporters and their camera men outside of the gates trying to catch a glimpse of the legendary hero All Might working as a teacher. Even just trying to enter the school was going to be a hassle.

Nevertheless, I had made it.

I ambled my way in through the throngs of U.A.'s student body and tried to find my way to my classroom, which was proving to be harder than it was supposed to be. This place was gigantic, after all. It also didn't help that some students were using their quirks to show off to others, making it hard to see past them. There was even a couple making out in the middle of a hallway, another student who was likely to be their mutual friend standing next to them slightly awkward. The guy who was third-wheeling it hard met my eyes for a moment and then winked at me. I rolled my eyes briefly at the commotion and resumed my trek across the school grounds, not giving any of it a second thought.

Eventually, I caught sight of an unnecessarily large door that had "1 - A" painted on it, making it safe to assume I had found where the first-year classes were. I made my way over to the door and opened it slightly to check to see if a certain blonde male was there. I had not seen him since the encounter we had at the convenience store, and he still never called me, not that I ever expected him to, but still. I was a persistent woman.

I had not forgotten him, and I had to make sure he wouldn't forget me.

A grin erupted on my face when I saw the familiar blonde, he had a "don't bother me or I'll kill you" look on his face as he sat rather delinquent-like in his seat. There were a few others already in the class, but all of which were most likely unimportant for me to save in my memory.

I opened the door a little more, hoping to make myself known. A few pairs of eyes moved toward my direction, one of them, my beloved Bakugou Katsuki.

He narrowed his red eyes sharply at me, but said nothing.

Ah, true love. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

I'll be courteous since its only the first day of school, and no doubt, he was already at least 82% pissed. We wouldn't want to reach 100% until later.

In return at his actions, I simply gave him a knowing smile and a small wave, then promptly closed the door.

I've become so subtle.

"Um, excuse me..." A small voice wavered from behind me.

I turned and was met with a freckled boy with messy green hair. I could practically feel the hesitation and anxiety fluctuating off him. This guy must have it rough.

"Sorry about that," I apologized, giving him a friendly smile and moved out of his way to walk off toward the end of the hall.

I came to a stop in front of a door that was labeled "1 - B", and gently moved the door to the side, making my way to an empty seat in the back. I tilted myself back in my chair as other students started piling into the classroom, each giving the others a once-over before taking their own seats. Everyone appeared to be on edge, including myself, as the overall atmosphere felt just a little too tense.

The huge door opened once again, signaling the entrance of yet another student, and thankfully, it was someone I knew very well. Nirengeki Shoda's eyes scanned the room, his lips forming a smile when he saw me give a nod of acknowledgement.

It was amazing, really. Neither of us thought we would get in, but we both slipped through the cracks somehow.

"Maaya," he greeted, as he settled down into the chair next to mine. "I guess we're both going to be seatmates again."

I nodded once more at his use of my given name. After we both received our letters of acceptance, we started talking to each other more at school. He didn't seem to mind my personality nor my ambitions, so he was worth keeping around. Eventually I told him to ditch the formality and he reluctantly agreed.

"Nirengeki..." I started, examining his form intensely, "Did you lose some weight?" He was still a tad chubby, but a whole lot slimmer than when we first met.

The grey-haired boy rubbed his neck at that and let out a small chuckle. "Your mom talked me into drinking more white tea," he said, apparently falling victim to my mother's incessant babbling.

I hummed, running a hand through my dark hair as two more students came into the room. "Don't make me laugh," I muttered, eyeing the split ends of a female classmate seated in front of me.

Nirengeki followed my gaze and sighed. "I know you don't like exercising, but perhaps you could use it," he said nonchalantly.

Over the past several months, I had made Nirengeki watch shows like The Fashion Police and exposed him to trendy magazines and the like to help him with his confidence and to teach him how to make a statement. Every now and then, he says some pretty surprising things. Though, he was still a cinnamon roll.

I crossed my arms at his comment, grateful that we both did not seem to draw any attention from the other students. "Are you trying to say I'm fat?"

He tilted his head in thought. "No, but you're definitely out of shape," he replied blankly.

I stared at him in amazement. "When did you even grow the balls to say that?"

Nirengeki parted his lips to speak once more, but was cut off by the sound of the door being slammed open, revealing quite the interesting character. A tall man wearing a red and silver jumpsuit strode toward the front of the room with an aura of superiority. Excited whispers erupted around the room, indicating that most of the students clearly knew this guy.

I shifted towards Nirengeki, who also seemed to light up at the sight of this meat head. Honestly, I knew next to nothing about most of Japan's heroes, save for a few that would appear on those entertainment channels, but those were mostly heroes who were nothing more than television personalities. Grumbling, I took out my phone, setting a reminder to do more research on pro heroes in general.

"You in the back!" a loud masculine voice called out.

I paused and picked my head up cautiously, hoping the beefy man wasn't directing that at me.

And then I met his gaze, and realized I, indeed, was on the receiving end. The entire class was staring at me too.

Shit.

"Are you on your phone?" he questioned, his tone powerful and steady.

"No," I lied easily, discreetly placing my phone inside the sleeve of my blazer.

His crimson eyes stayed trained on me, and I just kept looking at him, hoping I didn't look like a little bitch.

He knew I was lying. Yet, he only stared at me a few moments more then turned his attention on the rest of the class. I heard Nirengeki release a breath next to me.

"Just because you all made it into U.A. does not mean you can play around," he said, crossing his arms. "You are all here as aspiring heroes-"

Then I tuned him out. Not by choice, its just hard to pay attention these days. Leaning back in my seat, I scanned the classroom lazily with my hand under my chin, the back of my classmates' heads taking up my entire field of vision.

School had only been in session for five minutes and it already sucked.

I had just made a bad first impression, if any of my classmates even gave a fuck - and hopefully, they didn't. Beefy Vampire Man totally wasn't going to let this slide. But it was the first day, so perhaps he would-

A tap on my right shoulder snapped me back to reality. Nirengeki was standing up while looking down at me expectantly.

"Huh?"

He looked at me flatly. "We're leaving," he said, gesturing with his hand to our classmates who were already making their way towards the door.

Feeling Count Dracula's eyes on me once again, I stood up and nodded. "Of course," I said with ease.

Nirengeki looked at me lamely, but said nothing as he followed me out of the room.

While following behind a girl that had vines for hair and making sure our WWE wrestler of a teacher was out of our proximity, I leaned toward my grey-haired companion.

With a hand circling my mouth, I whispered, "Where are we going?"

In return, his lip twitched upwards as he whispered back, "The opening ceremony."

"Right."

So the opening ceremony was wack. I mean, seriously.

All of U.A.'s new pupils were lined up in rows according to their class letter, filling up the expanse of the auditorium where the ceremony took place. The auditorium was nothing less than grand, both in its sheer size and magnificent quality. I'm telling you, the carpet matched the drapes. Then U.A.'s star-studded faculty came out onto the stage at the front, minus All Might, and everyone around me lost their shit. Some students were screaming like they were at a death metal concert, and others were scrambling for their phones, trying to take pictures of the valiant heroes on stage who we would be seeing regularly for the next three years.

The first to speak was Present Mic, who was just as loud as he was back at the entrance exam.

"Everybody," he started, making a wild gesture to the mass of young students in front of him, "Say hey!"

And unlike the silence he was met with at the entrance exam, this time he got a good roar from the crowd.

Energized by the reaction, the eccentric blonde male was about to speak to the crowd once more until he was elbowed by Ectoplasm, who I mostly knew from Celebrity Big Brother: Hero Edition.

With only a wave of his hand and a short, "Quiet down," Ectoplasm made his way toward the center of the stage, eliciting a few squeals from the female population. However, most of the students obeyed his request and gathered themselves, but two rows to the left of me, some girl burst into tears of what I assumed to be happiness, and another fainted and was escorted out of the auditorium via a stretcher.

They must have been Ectoplastics. These fan clubs always gave themselves weird ass names.

But other than that, it seemed for the moment that chaos was put on hold.

Ectoplasm stepped to the side and made way for a humanoid...mink? The tiny animal man was wearing a black, sleeveless suit adorned with a red tie and wore orange sneakers on his...feet - if that's what they were.

"Hello, new students!" he greeted with both hands...or maybe paws...resting behind his back. "I am the acting Principal at this establishment and you may refer to me as Principal Nezu."

Whispers could be heard throughout the auditorium about our mammalian Principal, most stemming from his appearance.

"Our Principal is a mouse?" A boy from my class wondered aloud. He had dark hair that was braided into a ponytail and appeared to be of foreign descent.

A boy with spiky brown hair who stood beside the foreigner chimed in, "Nah. He's definitely some kind of hybrid species - kind of like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."

"No, man," another boy cut in, "they were just turtles."

"So more like the ThunderCats then?"

"At this academy," Principal Nezu continued, the auditorium falling silent once more, "We have nurtured countless pro-heroes, successful businessmen, highly acclaimed support technicians-"

And then I stopped following along.

Selective hearing was a bitch and so was my overall attitude.

In the end, it proved to be less of a personal issue of mine, and more due to how lengthy Principal Nezu's speech was getting.

I took a glimpse at Vlad-sensei to my left, who looked visibly weary, letting on the impression that this was a regular occurrence.

Eventually, the Principal stopped talking, and let the guidance counselor, whose hero name was Hound Dog, take over. The dude had a muzzle and everything. And then, when it was his time to shine, he let out nothing but a series of barks and growls like a big angry chihuahua. Afterward, the rest of the faculty clapped as if they understood him and then promptly ended the ceremony.

Soon, we made our way back to the classroom. Away from...whatever that was.

But before we could even reach our seats, Vlad-sensei stopped us half-way.

"Take these in accordance with your seat number," he instructed clearly, gesturing with a nudge of his silver head to the numbered cases in the corner of the room. "Get changed and follow me to the Omega grounds."

I pulled my shirt up over my head and sighed slightly, anxious about what was to come next. Physical activity was never my specialty, but I was going to have to toughen up sometime. My quirk allowed me to absorb energy from others through touch and I could either release the energy, emitting a blast of some kind, or I could store it and gradually burn it by increasing my physical capabilities. So perhaps my greatest obstacle would be endurance?

And the fact that I would have to touch someone to absorb the energy only makes it more difficult. However, I was able to pass the entrance exam, although barely, simply through the use of my own energy and the consumption of sugar and caffeine. That deserved some credit, right?

"Hey there!"

I paused my thoughts, turning my head and was greeted by a girl with wavy dark green hair and upturned eyes. She had a casual grin on her face and stood with her hands at her hips, already fully dressed in the gym uniform.

"My name is Tokage. I sit in front of you in class," she said, introducing herself.

"Ah," I mumbled in response, my gaze flickering down to the familiar ends of her hair.

I could spot those split ends a mile away.

Realizing I had yet to give her an appropriate reply, I molded my face into a friendly smile. I didn't want to make enemies. At least, not yet. It would be good to get along with some of my classmates, even if we would one day end up being rivals after we graduate.

I rotated my body to face her fully, wearing only a tan bra and matching underwear. "My surname is Furuta, but you can call me Maaya," I stated plainly.

She seemed to blink in surprise, probably because I was willing to let her address me by my given name, something I never had any qualms about.

Or it was because I was still pretty much naked.

She then let out a good-natured laugh; it was quite pleasant to the ears. "Then, you can call me Setsuna," she replied with a grin, pointing to herself with her index finger.

I scrutinized her for a moment, but she seemed to be a genuine person, so I relaxed a bit and loosened the stiffness in my shoulders.

Emitting a slow audible breath, I gave her an honest smile, "Okay, Setsuna."

Her eyes lightened up at that and she slung an arm around my naked shoulder. "I have a good feeling about us, ya'know," she said pleasantly. "Us girls have to stick together."

I smirked at that, putting my shirt inside a nearby locker, unbothered by her close proximity. "Agreed, it would be nice to have more women in the top ten hero rankings."

Although, I had no idea who was on those rankings, save for a few, and they definitely were not women.

She matched my smirk with a silly smile of her own, removing her arm from my shoulder and settled herself by leaning against the lockers. "Totally!"

I reached into the case containing my uniform and paused when I touched the shirt.

"Wow, this material is really nice," I noted, feeling the material with my fingertips.

"Really?" Setsuna questioned, stroking the ends of her shirt. "Now that you mention it..."

A quiet feminine voice called out, "You noticed it too?"

We both swiveled our heads around to see another classmate of ours, a girl with a shoulder-length bob, staring at us intently - though her expression was rather blank. She was fully dressed in her gym attire and was currently sitting on one of the benches a few feet away from us.

Her voice was so quiet that I almost didn't hear it.

"Kodai Yui," she added, almost as an afterthought.

I only nodded at her. "It must be made up of some kind of special fibers," I said, gently putting the material over my head.

I knew expensive shit when I saw it. If I was blindfolded and only felt the material, I would have said it was Gucci.

Setsuna whistled in response and put a hand in her pocket. "As expected of U.A., this whole place is so over the top," she then pointed at the numbered cases scattered around the locker room and continued, "I bet those are at least three-hundred bucks. They look like those expensive ones in the movies that contain millions of dollars."

"So boujee," I added, snickering while putting on my pants.

"Hey," Setsuna spoke suddenly.

I put the last of my stuff in the locker, "What is it?"

"That girl left," she observed, gesturing with her hand to the open space, "I didn't even hear her leave."

It was true, Kodai Yui was no where to be seen. Actually, so were all the other girls.

"Oh shit," I cursed, scrunching up my face. "We're the last ones."

At that, we both broke out into a quick run and headed toward the field where the rest of our classmates were located. When we arrived, it looked like they hadn't started yet. We were a good distance away from the main building. Though, there wasn't much out here to see. All that was here was a running track.

The crowd was dispersed and there was hardly much talking going on, as no one knew really knew each other yet.

It was kind of awkward.

Spotting a flash of grey hair towards the back, I strode over to Nirengeki with Setsuna in tow.

"Nirengeki," I called out, catching his attention.

Upon reaching him, he smiled. "There you are," he said softly. He shifted his gaze to Setsuna, who was beside me. "And you are?"

Setsuna grinned amiably at him. "You two are good friends? Then, you can call me Setsuna too!"

Nirengeki introduced himself, though he appeared to be slightly anxious as he did so. Although he had gained more confidence during our time together, he was still very much an introvert at heart. Thankfully, the green-haired girl didn't seem to care, and started conversing with him about how he kind of reminded her of the Pillsbury Doughboy.

A loud horn then sounded off in the air, making everyone stiffen at the shrilly noise.

We all then turned towards our teacher who was holding an air horn in one hand, and the other was pulling a wagon of sorts. There was a vault of some kind in the wagon.

"You all want to be heroes right? Then it is necessary to discipline your body and mind," Vlad-sensei lectured in a serious tone, walking over to the vault seated on the wagon. "Simply having a strong quirk isn't enough. You need to build upon your foundation first - and that is what we will do here today."

"Somehow, I have a bad feeling about this..." I mumbled, looking on with distaste.

Nirengeki offered me a smile, though it was a weak one. He was nervous too.

"Today," Vlad-sensei started, opening the mystery vault slowly, "We will be running..."

For a second, I was relieved.

"-with weights," he finished, his crimson eyes narrowing.

And then I wasn't.

"This exercise will increase bone density and muscular strength while improving your cardiovascular fitness," he stated, holding up one of the weight vests. "After we're done with our running practice, we will be doing leg exercises with ankle weights."

Fantastic.

Vlad-sensei starting placing the weight vests on the ground in front of each student. "There are straps on the sides of them, so use them! Make sure the vests are strapped around your middle securely!"

Setsuna bent down to lift hers up, but she could hardly lift it off the ground. "Whoa, this is hardcore, even though the premise is simple."

With the exception of two my classmates - the one with the beast-like appearance and the big yellow muscular guy - everyone else was having trouble putting their vests on.

"How much do these even weigh?" asked a girl with orange hair tied up into a side ponytail. She was struggling to get her vest off the ground too.

"Not important," Vlad-sensei answered shortly, "When you all are done putting on the equipment, meet me by the track. And no quirks allowed."

After spending a few minutes trying to get the damn thing on, all of us walked - or at least attempted to walk - over to the track. And then the running started and it was tragic.

It was currently forty-two minutes into the exercise, and a few of my classmates seemed to have little to no trouble running with the vest on and were still able to make their way around the track with almost no issues. However, the majority of the class were not able to run and stuck to a silly-looking version of fast walking instead.

Meanwhile, I was dead last, as usual, save for some blonde guy with parted hair who was traveling more or less at the same pace as me. Just trying to put one foot in front of the other was proving to be really difficult. Even Setsuna and Nirengeki had passed me, although they weren't exactly that far ahead either.

I puffed my cheeks in annoyance, wiping the sweat that had accumulated on my forehead with my sleeve. My legs wobbled every time I stopped to take a break, so I had to keep moving. If I tip over, I'll probably never get back up.

Eventually, Vlad-sensei ended the training exercise, much to everyone's relief, and then ordered us all to go put on the ankle weights for the next training.

"Except for you," he said, pointing to me. "For having your phone out and then lying about it. Continue running."

I froze, but said nothing. I wasn't really surprised. Like everyone had been saying, this was U.A. after all.

Then slowly, I turned on my heel and went back to the track without a word, ignoring the pitying looks of Nirengeki and Setsuna.

I kept going, I don't know for how long. My mouth was dry and my legs were so heavy.

I don't know how much later, but I ended up collapsing onto the tartan track like a worthless pile of crap.

Was this what it felt like to jump over jumpman?

I heard footsteps coming towards me and I cracked open my eyes as much as I could, gradually settling them onto Vlad-sensei, who was looking down at me with a frown.

"Please tell me I don't have to do that ankle thing," I huffed, exhausted.

He crossed his arms and shook his head. "No, you don't. Class is over for the day."

I gave no response but was thankful that practice was over. Shifting my gaze past Vlad-sensei, I found myself fixated on the wispy clouds above. Pools of sunlight streamed through the visible masses over the vast horizon. I would say it was beautiful, but it actually hurt my eyes very much so I had to close them.

"Tell me," Vlad-sensei began, curiosity present in his tone, "Why do you want to be a hero?"

Squinting at him, I responded with no hesitation, "Money."

To my surprise, he let out a booming laugh that probably reverberated all the way back to the main campus. He then reached out a hand towards me and I took it, almost hesitantly, as he pulled me into an upright position.

My legs and feet ached so much, I could only imagine what they were going to feel like tomorrow. More importantly, I wanted to get this flipping thing off my chest. I fiddled with the straps for a few seconds before I finally got the damn thing off. It fell to the ground with a small thud.

It literally felt like taking a bra off after a long ass day. I was finally cut loose. A free woman, if you will.

"I appreciate the honesty," he replied finally, picking up the vest that had fallen out of my hands due to its heavy weight. "Not a lot of people say that, actually."

We both started walking back towards the main building, though at a very slow place. Vlad-sensei didn't seem to mind and followed into step with me.

"I'm assuming that most people say the usual bullshit," I muttered through a heavy sigh, running a hand through my dark sweaty locks.

"If the 'usual bullshit' is to keep the peace or protecting those in need, then yeah," the silver-haired man answered, not in the slightest offended by my comment or word usage. "However, everyone who pursues a career in heroics do it to achieve their own goals, whatever they may be."

I hummed at his response then my eyes widened when I realized something. "Wait, where is everyone?" I asked, looking around at the empty grounds.

Vlad-sensei furrowed his brow. "I told you, class ended," he said simply.

I felt a wave of irritation wash over me. "How long ago?"

"About an hour and a half, maybe longer."

My mouth hung open slightly. "Then why-"

"You seemed pretty determined," He said, a small grin forming on his face, though there were no traces of malice. "I was surprised."

I just stood in my spot, feeling dumb and dead. At this point, I was too worn out to be confused or angry.

Vlad-sensei's grin faded into a stern expression. "Now, ask yourself if those pains and aches you are feeling in your body right now are worth it. If you are really set on your goal, then get used to this feeling," he stated gravely, turning his back towards me. "The path ahead of you is a long and treacherous one, regardless of your reasoning. If you can't handle even this, then you should just give up."

He then resumed walking without me and added over his shoulder, "It's only going to get worse from here."

I merely stared after his figure moving off in the distance, his form becoming only a red and silver blur the longer I stood in place.

...

Was it worth it?

I tightened my fists and grit my teeth.

Of course it is.

Very slowly, I felt my legs move toward the campus, toward U.A., narrowing my blue eyes into slits.

I wasn't a stubborn bitch for nothing.

.

.

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Hey guys, I'm sorry there is no Bakugou in this one, but there will be in like every chapter after this, so thanks for toughing it out! I just felt like this chapter was necessary. Also I just realized that I have to come up with a hero name and a costume for her, which kinda sucks. My creativity has been lacking lately but hopefully it will be better soon!

Thanks for reading!

edit: just to clarify, she is in class 1-B, and her seat number is 15, regrettably replacing the character Fukidashi Manga, who is only in like 1 panel in the manga. I wish we got to see class B more in canon :(