Battered fingers, bandages both old and new frayed around the edges, reached for the latch of a rusty locker. The lock rattled in her hands, she growled in frustration at her trembling hands. A blood-stained hand brought to her eye, the back of her wrist trying to dry tears from her face smudged dried crimson beneath it, just over a blackened bruise. With that same hand she clawed stray hairs from her face, the strands falling amidst a patch of their torn brethren. Large clumps of her hair had been snapped, broken by attacking hands. In that moment of panic, like so many others lately, it had felt as if the entire hallway was trying to swarm her. This was becoming the norm for this place, going to school here. That it hadn't rattled her to the point of sobbing was a sign that she was getting used to it. Reaching for the bandages she kept in her locker, her arm drifted past the calendar taped to the inside of her door. Red X's marked every day of april and half of march, at the opposite end of the calendar was a day circled in red: her last day of school for the year. Can't get there soon enough... She thought bitterly, collecting the bandages and disinfectant from her possessions.

"You've got it almost as bad as me."

Without thinking, her elbow was flying. Someone had snuck up behind her, and by now her instincts knew how that ended. A rush of wind, elbow sailing past her would-be-assailant connected with nothing but wind. Shoulder length red hair and the white tails of earbuds she wore fluttered like tiny wings, soaring as this newcomer dodged.

"Whoa!" A pair of prominent lips hollered, the owner of them raising their hands. "Easy! I'm not here to start anything!"

Jiro eyed her with the glare of a watchful, lone wolf. Any attempt to get close was to be treated as an attack. Despite her fear, the thudding of her heart in her chest, her face remained fixed with steely anger. This... girl was entirely unknown to her. In the last month she hadn't seen her once among the many faces in the crowds. Yet here she was, wearing a school uniform and a few bruises on her face. Jiro's eyes narrowed. "Is that what you told the one who gave you those?" She gestured to the discolored skin, earning a nervous chuckle.

"Trust me," Jiro did no such thing. Another nervous chuckle, as the red-head adjusted her sunglasses, taking her earbuds out and poceting an absolute relic of an MP3 player. Where the hell had she even gotten that thing? "I got these the same way you did."

Then the purplette raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?" And her defensive stance eased slightly. "You don't mean...?" She looked at the stranger with new eyes, looking them up and down. A mournful wince twisted the redhead's features for a moment, unable to look Jiro in the eyes.

It took all of five minutes to find their way outside, to the disused lot behind the school. They sat on a boulder the size of a small car, Jiro with her legs under her as this strange girl splashed disinfectant on her battered fingers, making Jiro hiss with the stinging pain. Then she wrapped the fingers, one by one, with Jiro's bandages. Indelicate fingers, a touch too wide, attached to broad hands. Her shoulders were wider than was to be expected, hips just a hair to thin and her jawline was far too prominent. Feeling Jiro's eyes on her, she smiled sadly. "I don't blend in well, it's true."

Jiro quickly averted her gaze. "I didn't say anything..."

The other girl batted the tension from the air, her scratchy voice speaking gently. "Forget it," she set to work on Jiro's other hand, "everyone here already knows about me anyways, dumbass idea for me to out with it in the middle of last year."

A sympathetic look colored Jiro's face, regarding her medic with tender eyes. "That can't have gone well."

She chuckled mirthlessly. "Well, it did change everything, just like I'd hoped." And the bandages were applied. "Can you use em well enough?"

Jiro flexed her fingers, wiggling them rhythmically almost like the twitching of an insect's legs as it walked. "Yeah." Collecting her things she added, "thank you. Guess I owe ya one."

The redhead hopped off the boulder, feet padding on soft grass. "If that's the case, you should come meet a friend of mine." She flashed a wide grin as Jiro climbed off the boulder. "She'll like you."

Jiro couldn't help but feel a pang of envy. "So you've got a friend..." she smirked, masking the emotion with one she wanted to feel. "You're lucky."

The redhead shrugged, walking away from the school, the shadows it cast over them. "Maybe... but she isn't so lucky."

A tilt of her head to one side, Jiro blinked. "Meaning?" and her hands went to her pockets.

"Well, you know how it is." the redhead spread her arms to both sides, pivoting at the elbows and palms upturned. "No one wants to be friends with a freak, or the friends of the freak."

Jiro's gaze turned away, finding anything else to pay attention to for a moment. "I... wouldn't know that last part." A few moments of silence passed, leaving room for thought. Thought that Jiro soon turned to words. "Why haven't I seen you around before? Schools been going on for a month, where have you been?"

She sighed, scratching behind her head as she peered at the ground. "I uh... was recovering from surgery. Thought my depression was gonna do me in, I can't stand sitting around."

Her eyes went wide, "Wait, you don't mean-!?"

"Yes, I mean." she sighed. "It's the law, if you're serious about who you are then you'll get the surgery. Or so the logic says..." then she shrugged, "it's not like I wouldn't have gotten it anyway, it's just annoying that I didn't have a choice," the she muttered, "damn societal shackles..."

Tone hushed, more akin to breath than speech, Jiro replied, "Yeah, I'm ... familiar with those laws." Tucking some of her hair behind her ear, she swallowed. "So you're not new here?"

"No, but believe me: I wish I lived in Tokyo, or some other city where I'd have more agency with this but..." her voice trailed away for a moment, a sort of melancholic tint shadowed her features even as she smiled. "You work with what you get."

"I... see." She fiddled with her fingers on one hand, very aware of her words. "you don't seem any worse for wear though."

That time she laughed. "Damn right. Life might be a rancid bitch but it hasn't thrown anything at me yet that I couldn't handle, and I don't intend to make that a lie anytime soon." That was a sentiment Jiro could appreciate, even as they continued in silence.

They'd only just reached the edge of the town when Jiro's new -and only- friend started looking about, searching for something. Walking past a shop window she took a look at her reflection. Her hair had been butchered. Her flowing, purple locks were lopsided, tangled messes in places. Her bangs were now entirely uneven and her face... bruised, puffy eyed and streaked with dried tears, a smudge of blood beneath her eye was shaped like a triangle. She went to scrub it off but something made her hesitate. It's like war paint... So she left it be, expression softening her hand returned to her pocket. She'd only just turned back to follow her new friend when a pair of arms flung themselves around her. "Awww," a cheek smushed up against one of her own, a mess of blonde hair spilling onto her face. "if yer not the cutest little thing!" Growling at the indignity of it all, Jiro grabbed her arms and flung her off of herself. This second new girl cackling with laughter the entire way to the wall Jiro pinned her against. Rather than getting angry, she just smiled a crocodile smile, peering at her with yellow eyes. "Wassup? It's yer girl, Toga."

"Are you psychotic!?" Jiro demanded, and 'Toga' cackled with laughter. "You don't just- UMPH!" and the redhead's arm flumped onto her shoulders.

"Heyyyyy, Himiko!" the redhead reached out and pinched her cheek, and Toga did her best to bite playfully at the offending fingers. "Long time no see."

Toga laughed. "Finally got yer butt outta solitary, eh Big Sis?" Jiro ducked out from under the arm of 'Big Sis', backing away from the pair of them nervously. Toga pointed right at her. "Ya got a ducklin followin ya." Jiro growled at being called a duckling. "An angry, scardey ducklin."

She growled louder. "Scardey!?"

"Scardey pairdey!" Toga blew a raspberry, and Jiro lounged at her, hands trying to grab her.

"Get back here!" Now the blonde was howling with laughter, running with the abandon of reckless glee.

"K, help! She's gunna skin me!" Despite the obvious plea for aid, her tone was beyond ecstatic.

K, Big Sis, chuckled. "Run for your life! I don't think I can stop her!" Jiro couldn't help but grin. This was something she'd been lacking for the last month, something she'd written off ever having in middle school: fun. So the chase went on, right up until Jiro tackled Toga, the two of them crashing to the ground in a heap.

As the two of them struggled, both trying to pin the other, Toga and K exchanged a look. They'd found a keeper. Eventually, thanks to a very disorienting and unwelcome lick to the cheek, Jiro was defeated. Toga just sat over her, grinning like a lunatic. "I think I like ya." then she tousled Jiro's hair. "The mop? Not so much, but with a pair o'scissors I can fix that right up."

Jiro eyed the tangled mess of blonde sitting in a disheveled mess atop Toga's head. "Can you now?" Her tone betrayed her uncertainty as clearly as her features.

Rather than take this as insult, Toga laughed. "Don't worry yer pretty lil head." she hopped off of her, taking her hand and pulling Jiro to her feet. "When I'm done with ya, ya wont recognize yer reflection."

"If it helps," K pointed at her own hair, "she helped me with this.

Rather than continue an argument that would benefit no one, Jiro sighed and relented. "Alright…" Toga pumped her fist in celebration. "But… leave the bangs like this." Jiro pointed to the slanted, uneven hair hanging just above her eyes. "I kinda like it like this."

A glint of genius sparkled in Toga's eyes, the kind that flashed when a truly amazing idea was being formed. "I think I can help ya alright…." Toga turned and nudged K in the side. "Where'd ya find her?"

K just smiled, an empty smile that made all the right motions but held none of the spirit of a real smile. For the first time, Jiro suspected she was seeing her new friend's real face beneath her brave facade. "The same as you found me." A sympathetic look from Toga was all that bit of conversation needed for its conclusion.

There was something different about these two. Something about the way they carried on, in spite of all life threw at them. Jiro had made up her mind to find out what that was.

Maybe she'd be able to learn something from them, along the way.

A deafening cheer yanked her from her memories. Someone had just won a fight.

"AND THE WINNER IS MIDORIYA!" Present Mic screamed, splitting the eardrums of at least two UA students in one go. "YORASHI PUT UP AN AMAZING FIGHT, LET'S ALL GIVE THE MAN A HAND!"

Stunned, and a little surprised, Jiro made some vague attempt at applause. Up on the scoreboard was a reply of parts of the fight. Highlights, and whatnot. While Yorashi had a range advantage it was about all he had. Midoriya had no trouble countering his onslaught of wind with his super strength and claws: clinging to the ground and working his way relentlessly toward Yorashi. Even with his quirk at full tilt, it was little more than a battle of endurance, after it was established that Deku wouldn't be so easily defeated. Yorashi, for al his training, had the endurance that many an athlete or bodybuilder would envy.

But that wasn't anywhere near the fortitude required to battle Nomu.

Eventually, Yorashi had spent his energy. It was a simple matter for Midoriya to throw him out of the ring after that.

Somewhere to her side, Kaminari let out a single chuckle. "No surprises there. Our green boy more or less had that in the bag."

"You didn't see him wipe out his entire team in seconds." said Mina, rubbing the sore spots from where Yorashi's quirk had pelted her with so many rubber projectiles and bits of scattered earth.

Kaminari had his own sore spots about the conclusion of the skirmish. "Yeah, I didn't see much of anything after Akaguro led us into that kamikaze run." As the dhampire rolled his eyes, the electric blonde shot another remark his way. "You coulda said that was a suicide run before we were headlong into it."

Akaguro sighed. "It didn't go exactly as I'd planed, but we really should have expected as much." He leaned into his armrest, cheek propped against his palm. "Either way, I've about had it with it with self indulgent spectacle." Sneering at the gathered masses, he muttered under his breath. "Give the fools their bread and circus, distract them from the untold horrors likely being committed right as all this is happening…" The look of contempt in his eyes might have put off a seasoned Nun, making her question whether her place were truly right in the world. It was lucky no one but Jiro had noticed the look in his eye.

"You don't think a little distraction is healthy?" Asui tilted her head to one side, index finger resting on her lower lip. "If all people focused on was the bad things happening in the world, they'd probably break down and panic before too long."

Akaguro smirked, turning to look the frog-girl in the eyes. "You don't think anyone would rise to the occasion? Stand up to stem the tide of all the wrong being done?"

Asui seemed to shy away, faltering at the obvious strength of his beliefs. Speaking up for her was Kirishima, also out of the game. "Well, obviously there would be. Look at us!" he put a friendly hand on Asui's shoulder, earning a smirk from the frog-girl. "We're here, aren't we?"

At this, Akaguro could only give a half-hearted laugh. "After beholding what horrors of the world I wonder…?" he turned away, regarding the jeering crowd with that same bored contempt as before. "One can only hope the 'heroes' of tomorrow have any idea." That was the last he had to offer on the subject, and so it was back to his quiet, brooding contemplation; a hand placed idly over his mouth, index finger tapping at his jaw.

"Heya, fam!" Jiro cringed. Camie, as she liked to be called, had a vernacular that lowered the collective IQ of whatever room she was in. "That was toats awesome, Midoriya." Between her choice of words -and that incredibly unsubtle wink- Jiro questioned why she was even allowed to sit with them. It had to violate some kind of rule.

It certainly violated her brain…

Right beside her, fangirling with equally unfiltered admiration, was Uraraka. "You were amazing!" She beamed, and between her and Camie Midoriya looked as though he may die from blushing. Too much blood pulled away from his brain. "I thought for sure Yorashi would be a contender in the finals, but them BAM!" Uraraka slammed her knuckles into her other palm, a wild grin on her face. "You just kicked him out of the ring!"

Kirishima, witnessing this, had to join in with equal enthusiasm. "Right!?" he pumped his fist, also grinning wildly. "Just tirelessly forcing his way through a hurricane!" With a giggle, Uraraka nodded. "You got the makings of a bona-fide man, Midoriya!"

To Jiro's -and Deku's- surprise, the vampire seemed to blush brighter. "I- uh, well… I dunno if I'd go that far…" he seemed to shrink ever smaller with each bit of praise. It would have been adorable, if only it didn't remind any who knew that he had so little experience receiving praise. "It was a pretty basic strategy and it kind tired me out… so, it's not exactly practical in emergency situations."

Kirishima blinked. "Huh? Oh!" he said, as the realization hit him. "So right about now you need-"

"YOUR PROTEIN SHAKE!" In that moment Ashido, Jiro and Kaminari had collectively shouted, the blond scrambling to procure Midoriya's thermos from his schoolbag.

"Brought this up for ya, man!" Kaminari blurted out, with all the tact of a startled elephant, tossing the metal canister to the vampire.

"We got your back, buddy!" Ashido gave an almost frantic thumbs up, her smile only just masking her fading panic. Camie could only look between the group in total confusion, exactly as they'd hoped for.

"Er, right…" Kirishima said awkwardly, "totally wasn't gonna offer, uh… nevermind." He held up both hands in a motion of surrender, laughing nervously and sheepishly slinking away to his seat.

Deku just shrank into his seat, hiding his face as he quietly sipped away.

Camie followed after Kirishima, subjecting him, Ashido and Kaminari to a line of questioning they wanted desperately to avoid. "Offer him…?"

Ashido giggled like a mouse corned by a lion. "It's just a… stupid inside joke."

Jumping to her aid was Kaminari, "y-you had to be there."

Shaking his head at this was Akaguro, face buried in his palm. While the others were distracted, Jiro snuck over to her hiding friend. "Hey…"

He peeked up at her, vaguely worried she'd somehow make him want to turn invisible like the others. "Uh, hey." An attempt at a smile was made, it utterly failed to convince her that he was anything close to composed. "W-what's up?"

She sat beside him, knees drawn up below her nose. "Nothing, just checking on you." when she caught sight of sad surprise on his face, she sighed. "Yeah, I know…" she ran a hand through her hair. "I've been shit at that lately."

Capping his thermos, he uncurled himself in his seat and turned to look at her more directly. "It's okay." really he just seemed to be happy to be talking to her again, if anything. "I've been worried, but I know you had reasons." That little smirk he gave disarmed her reservations against such things being brought up.

And that was something she found surprising. "Yeah…" she murmured, "mind if we don't talk about that while I apologize for ghosting you?" When he nodded the weight on her shoulders lightened some small amount. But it was an amount she needed to be free of burdening. "Thanks. Sorry for ghosting you, Green."

With another smirk, he shrugged. "Forgiven and forgotten."

She buried her face in her knees, letting out a frustrated groan. "You're too nice. You know that?"

He chuckled. "Thank you." Even as he blushed again.

Fighting back a smirk, she growled and looked away from him. "Idiot…"

"Meanie." That one she hit him for, right on the shoulder. When they looked each other in the eyes, smiles straining against their best efforts to hide them, they burst out laughing. "Let's not do anything like this again, okay?" He had to wipe some hint of tears from the corner of his eye.

She smiled, feeling just a bit better about the rotten couple of weeks now behind her. "Deal."

"EYES TO THE CENTER RING, FOLKS! THE NEXT MATCH BEGINS SOON!" Boomed the voice of Present Mic, making both teenagers startle and flinch from the pain in their now ringing skulls. "THIS TIME IT'S TODOROKI VERSUS SHISHIKURA! SILENT AND DEADLY VERSUS DEADLY AND SILENT!"

"Fucks sake, can he not!?" Jiro hissed, palms shoving into her ears.

"I keep wondering that myself…" Murmured Deku, rubbing at his own screaming ears.

It always surprised her when his hearing caused him pain. That bag of tricks he had at his disposal was not without its hidden problems. Problems that… She bit her lower lip, a knot forming in her stomach. Memories stirring up like old, rotting bones to make her queasy. "Hey… Green?" When he turned to her, mismatched eyes wide and wondering, she felt a pang of guilt. The question she was about to ask was probably not one he ever wanted to answer. But she had to know. "What does it feel like?" her voice was quiet, like that of a frightened child trying to lie to someone who obviously knew the truth. "Being what you are?"

For the first time since she'd met him, he looked genuinely conflicted. Touched, hurt, like he wanted to hug her before running away to scream into the sun. "...you really wanna know?" When she nodded, he deflated letting out a long, tense breath. "It's um... " his eyes flitted away, throat gulping. "It's like being on fire." Her eyes fluttered, taken aback by the harshness of that declaration. "My mind, it… I still…" a palm dug into his forehead, right at the center of his brow. That look of pain on his face twisted a knife in her chest. "When I wake up, it's like I get to feel human again for one second." the hand at his side clenched into a fist. "Then my body reminds me that's wrong. I'm not human anymore…" and the knife in her chest became a sword. "But in my head…" his eyes winced shut. "I can't shake it. It's like some part of me knows what I am. What I should be and it just won't-" He felt her hand gripping his before she realized she'd reached out to him. Blinking, utterly confused, he turned back to her. "...Jiro?" Wait, why did she look she was about to cry? A question his brain had no time to find an answer to before she hugged him.

Getting into fights was no longer as horrendous as it had been. Having removed her problematic hair from the equation, Jiro had at least that much working for her. Granted her physique was never the best suited for brawling but she never had a choice when it came to these fights. When running didn't work, when you got cornered by four people who would probably love to see you die and pain was inevitable you tend to worry less about your body type and more about where you hit the enemy. Of course, this would have been so much simpler if she could just use her quirk but that would likely get her expelled. The fights alone should have been grounds for expulsion of the bullies she faced but the teachers, as every bullying victim knows, either could or would do nothing about it. The year was rapidly approaching a close, tests were breathing down her neck, but she didn't care.

She wasn't alone anymore. She hadn't been for a while.

At the sound of the closing bell, Jiro was out the door like a streak of lightning. Unlike every school year prior to this one, she had friends waiting for her. Reaching the main parking lot with a happy smirk she waved to K and Toga. Both of them seemed excited to see her, K pocketing that relic -her silly little 'Zune'- with the biggest smile on her face. "Sup?"

"Same as you, lil ducklin." Toga said, unwrapping and then sticking a lollipop into her mouth.

K and Jiro rolled their eyes at her, shaking their heads in bemusement. Toga and her penchant for nicknames... "Still making up our minds about what to do," said K, "have you got any ideas?"

A dark, obnoxious and sinister chuckle made them freeze. "I got one." As the trio turned to face their least favorite students Jiro was hit in the face with a soccer ball. "How about 'run home crying to mommy'?"

While K helped Jiro back to her feet, blood dripping from her nose and lip, Toga glared at the three boys approaching them. "Izzat the best taunt you could come up with? Really?" then she cackled. "Wow, kudos to this school. Didn't realize lobotomy patients were allowed to attend here. Let's give em all a round of applause." And she started slowly clapping, a wicked smile spread across her lips while their antagonists seethed with anger.

Wiping the blood from her face, trickling from her split lip and nose, Jiro and K exchanged a nod. Just like always... "Go easy on em, Toga," Jiro quipped, "I know they look our age, but these guys are actually just toddlers with gland problems."

A blood vessel on the largest boy's head threatened to explode. "Do you want to die?" he hissed through clenched teeth.

"Why?" K devilishly smirked, "planning on killing us with your bad breath? You boys know that toothpaste isn't for decorating the bathroom, right?"

One line too far. The largest boy's anger snapped, "I know you're little secret." and he smiled like a man unhinged. "See, my dad works at the hospital," Jiro's heart skipped a beat, a sadistic smile spread on the bully's face, "He brought me into his work a while ago, got to talking about a patient. One with purple hair?" For a brief moment, as it hadn't in any real capacity for months now, she felt fear seeping into her from the cold air. "I know more than just your secret... you little freak."

For a moment the world was eerily silent. A gust of wind went through the parking lot, tousling their hair And K charged in, her friends not far behind. Like every other tussle did these days, it ended with the boys being handily defeated. Limping away to lick their wounds for the next time they tried something like that.

"Have fun replacing those teeth!" K screamed after them. "Just so you know: the tooth fairy isn't real!"

"FUCK YOU!"

"Not even in your lonely, pathetic dreams!"

"K..." Jiro's hand on her shoulder, along with her near lifeless tone, forced her to calm down. "Stop." As the redhead turned around she saw the tears streaming down Jiro's face, her shoulders shaking. "just..." and K hugged her, Toga following suit. They stood there in silence for a long time.

Eventually, as it was with silence, someone found just the words to break it with. "Hey," K backed away, placing a hand on Jiro's cheek, fingers under her chin upturning her face. "wanna know something about me I wish I could change?" Jiro, after some deliberation nodded. Toga just squeezed her tighter, face burrowed into her neck at the hairline. "My name is... it's Kenji." Jiro thought she might cry again. She still hadn't- "It's a bitch trying to get your name changed without your parents consent."

If her heart hadn't been reduced to shambles before then, it had now. "K..."

K held up a silencing finger. "It's nothing." She gave a smile so warm it could have melted ice. "It's just a label, and labels are for idiots who don't care enough to see the reality of what's in front of them. They just wanna box it up and not think about it." she giggled, "so names don't matter. It's the heart of those that own them that do." She took Jiro's hand, "come on, let's go get some food."

Walking hand in hand with K and Toga, Jiro felt a little better. She was able to stop sniffling before long. When they finally arrived at the sweet shop -Toga's suggestion- K walked off to the restroom. "Not what ya expected, is she?"

Jiro blinked, turning to look at Toga. For once, her manic demeanor had been replaced with something calm, thoughtful. "No." Admitted she, fussing at her eye. "No, she isn't."

Toga nodded. "She wasn't to me either." she fiddled idly with the ice-cream in front of her. "When I heard she had depression, and that other thing goin on," they didn't mention that out loud. Not when people could over hear them, "I figured 'ey, this one is gonna be a bundle of joy...', cuz most folks with depression?" She pointed her spoon at Jiro, "well they're kinda lifeless. Mostly cuz they just don't... want to keep goin, ya know?" Toga smiled a lopsided frown, shifting her head to one side while a shoulder rose up almost to her cheek. Casting a sidelong glance at the floor she went on. "If ya throw a depressed person into the ocean, and they realize they're gonna drown, there's no sense of panic. No streak of fear that kicks in, tellin em that it's do or die. So, knowin that, I kinda figured K was just some idiot who didn't know what she was. A sad sap lookin for a way to fix the unhappy with some hormones or somethin. " Jiro flinched, fussing with the hem of her skirt, her innards in knots. "But... she obviously wasn't." The smile on Toga's face was serene, affectionate. "Girl's got spunk, life to her that wont be ignored in spite of a brain that hates her." Then, her usual self came rushing back, flashing a crocodile smile right at Jiro. "Ain't that fuckin badass?"

That... was Toga... It wasn't just K she was talking about, was it? At that, Jiro couldn't help but laugh, flattered as could be. "You know what, yeah. It's badass." She gave Toga a very appreciative smile. "Thanks, Himiko."

"Anytime, Kyoka gurl."

A few moments later and K had come back, "Hey," she smiled, happy to see her friend had cheered up. "I knew Toga had the right idea with this place." She took her seat and scooched up to them. "What were you talking about?"

Toga shrugged, "Oh ya know, just some stuff." She and Jiro shared a quick, knowing look and set about eating their treats. Over the course of their desert, Jiro couldn't help but steal glances at K. It was strange, but... it wasn't often that you found a friend who turned out to be your role model.

Thanks to Toga, and K's prior actions, Jiro was starting to feel lucky realizing that this was the case.

Forcing his face away from her, it took every fiber of self control he had not to bite her right there and then as she hugged him. But she obviously needed that hug. So he clasped his jaw tight and wrapped his arms around her for as long as he could. Eventually, of course, it got to be too much. His heart hammer, temperature through the roof, straining to keep his voice quiet, he hissed as he put shaking hands on her shoulders. "Um, ah-" why did thinking have to be so hard? "fangs!" he went with that as his pleading warning, and he would almost instantly come to regret it.

Understanding what he meant she moved away quickly. Her arm snared in his underarm, yanking him awkwardly closer to her for a moment. His face brushed against hers, their cheeks flushing bright as they made contact. Her chin glanced off his forehead moments before his face squished right into her sternum; and everything in that vicinity. Then they rocketed away from each other. She let out a mortified squeal while he did very much the same, a flurry of apologies spilling from his brain.

"I- that- I'm so sorry! I didn't-"

"Me too!" She interrupted, her face just as violently red as his. "That was a complete accident!"

Stammering, his every word was a single, uninterrupted train of thought. "Of course! I never would have assumed otherwise! I know you're not like that at all!" He was deathly afraid of offending her in this moment. He probably could have thrown her from end of the stadium to the next, but for whatever reason the fear was perfectly logical in his brain.

Blushing furiously, she turned away to stare at the floor. Hiding behind a hand placed strategically at the side of her face, she fiddled with her hair. "Holy hell today has been a trip…" she breathed, after clearing her throat.

"It uh…" Then it was his turn to clear what vocal chords he had. "Could be less of one, yeah." She could feel the heat radiating from his face.

It did not help her calm down. "You're overreacting…" she hushed, once again hiding her face in her knees.

He couldn't even look at her as he replied. "Believe me, I am trying to refocus my brain." Never again would he think of her as 'flat chested'. Something he wished had been more of a decision on his part than it was.

She peered at him, like a cornered cat afraid of a stranger. By god that boy was embarrassed. The meekness his face held seemed such a paradox in the face considering what they both he was. Then her eyes turned to their friends, who were suspiciously, entirely unaware of them. "...Do you think they noticed?"

"...I don't know." he sighed. "It wouldn't surprise me if people in space noticed." Now he was hiding behind his knees, "I'm really sorry…"

Shoulders deflating, forehead jamming into her knees, she let out a long breath. "It's fine. I should probably just be glad it wasn't some total pervert who just…" she couldn't. "Y- you get the idea."

His reply was a single word. "Yep." spoken at a pitch higher than she would have credited his vocal chords of being able to reach. In truth, they'd likely look back at this moment and laugh. Before, once again, blushing half to death. Why couldn't things ever be normal when they interacted?

"AND HERE WE GO!" They both yelped, hands slamming over their ears as Present Mic screamed. "LET THE NEXT BATTLE START!"

Deku leaned forward, eager to see Todoroki's quirk in action again. His notebook seemed to just appear in his hands and he flexed his wrist. This was the first chance he'd had in a while to actually study his classmates quirks. Hell, it was the first time he'd been able to observe quirks from students outside the school. Considering what he'd heard about Shishikura, this was going to be quite the match. If Todoroki could keep his quirk away, he'd just have to-

The fight was already over. Todoroki had almost instantly frozen the poor boy with a simple scuffle of his right foot, shooting ice along the ground. From there it climbed up Shishikura's legs and turned him into a statue before he made his first move.

For a moment the stadium was silent. At the sight of nothing happening, Present Mic declared the winner. "AND TODOROKI WINS BY AN AVALANCHE!" The crowd, perhaps more sedately than ever, applauded. "SOMEONE GET SHISHIKURA THAWED OUT! HE MIGHT WANNA WATCH OUR NEXT FIGHT," here was the announcement that had her mind anywhere but here... "BAKUGO VS JIRO!"

Deku blinked, gulping down a sudden bout of nerves. "That was... abrupt."

"Tell me about it." Jiro breathed, watching Todoroki stalk away with weary eyes as reality settled in: she was up next. She had to fight Bakugo. Admittedly, she'd wanted to beat the stuffing out of him since they'd encountered each other outside the lunchroom. But now, now her innards were all in knots. A queasiness had spread from her stomach and almost to her legs. Reality was here, and it had billions of eyes watching her. Still, she refused to back down now. Standing up, fists clenched, she steeled herself. "Guess I'd better get to the waiting area..." Deku looked at her with those wide, puppy eyes and she couldn't help but smirk. "Wish me luck."

He nodded. "You can do it, Jiro." He smiled, giving a thumbs up. "Good luck."

Mina thrust her fist into the air, "You've got this, Jiro!"

Kaminari gave her that reassuring smile of his. "Go get em, lady."

"Plus ultra!" Kirishima cheered. "May the best-" wait... he couldn't say 'man' there... "uh... Hero win!"

Taking in a deep breath, Jiro started walking. The stadium's halls felt oppressively dark, cramped. In the midday heat she started sweating. There were only a few minutes before the match would start, but it felt like hours before she reached the waiting area. Heart thudding in her chest, wiping sweat from her brow she did everything she could to keep her mind locked on the present. Whatever form of catharsis she wanted from fighting Bakugo wasn't the point here. This was about proving her mettle as a hero. Kicking Bakugo in the tail was just a bonus, however personal this was.

"Hey." She looked up and saw Todoroki, walking past her. "Good luck. You're going to need it."

"...thanks." she muttered, before opening the door to the waiting area with more force than intended. She walked to the water fountain and splashed water on her face, taking a long drink.

She had this, she could do this. This wasn't new, she'd fought actual villains and won. So why was her heart pounding? Why was she so worked up? Why couldn't she stop thinking about-

...no. No that wasn't new. There wasn't a day that went by where those few months didn't haunt her as surely as the present. Today it was it just impossible to deny. Bakugo was scum, but she hated him for personal reasons, reasons he had nothing to do with directly.

But he was just like those bastards, and he'd made Midoriya go through what she had for a decade. Worse than that, he'd been alone from start to finish and it showed. His awkwardness, that nervous lilt in his voice when he talked, how he couldn't take praise without turning into a blushing, stuttering mess. The way he didn't even seem angry about half his fucking face being disfigured. Bakugo deserved a beating and then some, but... could she actually deliver? he was insanely gifted. His quirk was enough to at least challenge Midoriya if not outright surpass him through power alone. Did she really have a chance at this?

"GET READY FOLKS! IT'S ABOUT TO BEGIN!"

Jiro took another deep breath, utterly failing to calm her heart. Fists clenched she started walking toward the door, then to the ring. She reached to her pocket, hoping to squeeze that old Zune for good luck but, of course, it wasn't there. Growling at her stupidity she remembered that it was probably long gone. If she could have remembered where it was- she slapped both sides of her face. Focus, Kyoka! And then she was at her edge of the ring, staring down Bakugo. Cold confidence and blood lust shone in his eyes. Like some beast staring down a lamb.

That was not how reality would play out, those were not there respective roles. She reused to allow it.

"LET THIS MATCH..." She braced herself as best she could. "BEGIN!"

Neither of them seemed willing to take that first step forward. The hesitance that slowed their footsteps as they made that first approach sent a wave of worry through the audience. Something in the air, tangible as the humidity, made it known that this would no simple brawl between the heroes of tomorrow. Eyes locked on one another broadcast the personal nature of this bout. Bakugo was wary, cautiously approaching the center of the ring. With every step forward her emotions climbed. Fear, resentment, displaced anger and blame, guilt from years passed. As her emotions rose, her footsteps hastened until she was running right at him. Her charge was met with an outstretched palm; an explosion tearing the air between them with deafening heat. Yet she muscled through it. Arms crossed in front of her eyes, ignoring the ringing in her ears she lashed out with her earlobes.

Nothing but air.

Bakugo had seen it coming and dodged. A growl escaped her throat, the lower corner of his eye twitched. Palm raised he let another explosion free. His quirk had one drawback in close quarters like this: it obscured his vision for all too precious seconds of time. Seconds she used to get right up next to him. Cursing under his breath he used his quirk to propel himself away from her. She yelped, hissing in pain and clutching at her ringing ears. This was his chance! He raised his hand, she expected him to blow her away and braced herself, arms right in front of her face.

Only nothing happened. She looked up, confused. There he was, eye twitching, raised and readied palm shaking. His expression was locked in place, fiery determination mingled with fear. Fear of what?

"GET HIM, JIRO!" Above the din of the crowd she made out Ashido's voice. "HE'S A DEER IN HEADLIGHTS!"

"KNOCK HIS TEETH OUT, JIRO GIRL!" For once, Camie's voice didn't make her nauseous.

All the reminder he needed to do something other than stand there. The explosion he unleashed did nothing more than singe her skin and gym clothes. This was a far cry from what he was capable of. Her eyes narrowed, cursing under her breath as she once again failed to jab him with her earlobes.

Then it was Kaminari's turn to cut through the noise. "KICK HIS ASS, LADY!" Why was Bakugo hesitating?

His last retreat had sent him flying, and he'd landed some distance away. Adjusting her tactics she charged again, waiting for the moment he tried to defend himself. When it came, and the explosion came roaring forth, she lowered herself almost prone. Earlobe stabbing into the ground she tore the surface of the arena apart, turning the ground beneath Bakugo's feet to loose rocks and sand. While he flailed to correct his footing, sinking into the ground, she used her earlobe and fingers to send debris at his eyes. A choice of attack that had Akaguro silently hoping Bakugo would end up with a damaged eye, for karma's sake. Her choice paid off. While the walking warhead sputtered, clawing at his blinded eyes, she rushed in. Earlobes jutting forth she sought to spear at his ribs, if she didn't knock him out she would stun him long enough to land the real deciding blow.

Only it didn't happen.

Bakugo had sensed her approach, instincts kicking in. Fear and adrenaline fueling his actions he lashed out with both hands and set off a deafening attack. She screamed. Ringing in her ears rocked the very foundation of her skull, a searing pain in her ribs and arms sizzled with burned skin as she dragged along the ground.

It was a monday, just after the weekend following that last violent encounter with those bullies. Something was wrong. School had gone by completely without event. No one approached her, not her usual antagonists, neither of her friends, no one. It was enough to fill the air with a sense of foreboding. In the midst of her final class her eyes drifted to the clock. Still another ten minutes to go. What was wrong? Where were they? Why did the air have to be so thick? She couldn't focus on the lesson. She just wanted to get up and find K and Himiko. But that was silly. Nothing was wrong, it was probably just some project or something. School getting in the way of things. Midterms were approaching after all. Yeah, that was all it was.

At the sound of the bell her book slammed shut and she was out the door. Worming her way through the crowded hall, she reached her locker and dropped off her things. Only something caught her eye. There was... an envelope in her locker, sitting square in the middle of her belongings. It was unmarked, unlabeled. Picking it up, she found it was heavier than if paper was left inside it. Something plastic, with mild heft slid to her fingertips as she turned it over, finding no writing on the other side either. As she closed her locker in confusion she jumped. Hiding behind the door was the bully, his face covered in bruises and lips twisted into a malicious smile. She leapt away, braced for combat but it never started.

"Feeling lonely?" His tone dripped of venom. "Heading home by yourself this time?" There was a look in his eyes, something beyond his usual sadism, hatred.

Something that pit a nauseous pit in her stomach. "What of it?"

He snickered maliciously, "Oh... I see." he started limping away. "Nevermind. Have fun." As he drifted away, she felt something wash over her. Panic. Why wasn't he attacking? Why was he talking like that to begin with? Turning toward the exit she broke into a run. The world was nothing but black and white, her footsteps clattering in distant echoes made up the only sounds she heard. No one was waiting for her outside. Not in the town. Not at their usual hideouts. Neither answered their phones. She tore open the door to her home, chest heaving with breath. The last place to check, the last place they might have been waiting that she knew of.

All she saw was her mom, a look of devastation on her face. "Sweetie..." her voice was as dead as her face looked.

Jiro's breathing hastened. "Mom..." she felt a pang in her chest, anxiety from some mood she couldn't make sense of. It had to be unfounded. It had to be teenage hormones riling up nothing into melodrama, it had to be. "I- have you heard from K or Himiko?"

Her mother winced, eyes closed for a moment she breathed in slowly, bracing herself. "I just got a call from the school..." Jiro's heart sank, and all warmth faded from her skin. "Please... you should sit down..." No... No no no no no no no no no no no no no! "Your friend K... she's... something happened..."

Underestimating Bakugo. Not a mistake she anticipated making. She clutched her singed, bleeding ribs while her hearing returned very slowly to normal. Every sound was dim, fuzzy. Her equilibrium completely thrown off, it was disorienting to hear the world like this: through an ocean of cotton, her understanding of her surroundings faint. She'd never relied much on her eyes to observe the world, not when her ears told her everything they couldn't see. How a person's heartbeat quickened when they were afraid, the sound sweat made when it sprouted, the creaking of muscles and bones moments before someone sprang to action. The echoes of enclosed spaces, broadcasting where things were in a dark room. The way sounds moved like ocean currents, branching and splitting around objects in their paths.

Perfect vision was nothing compared to that, and it was what she had to work with at this moment.

Of course, her opponent wasn't faring much better. While she hadn't made contact with his ribs, Bakugo's eyes were struggling and his ankle was almost useless. He was lying on the ground, clutching his screaming limb, eyes watering and turning the dirt on his face to trace amounts of mud.

It was a dizzy climb back to their feet, made with swaying staggers as they stared each other down.

Once upright, her eyes gave her something her ears never could. As Bakugo struggled to stand, she saw they'd reversed positions on the field. He was standing with his back to the seats where 1A had gathered. His palm outstretched and waiting to defend himself, propped up by one good leg, was shrouded by the far away face almost directly above him. The scarred, mismatched face of his former childhood friend. That determined fear on his face was all but gone, his eyes fixed on her burned ribs. The usually colorful pallor of his face had gone painfully pale. In a brief moment, she connected the dots, realizing what he was as a moment from weeks ago echoed in her memories.

Thirteen faltered for a moment, "True…" Clearing her throat, she spoke louder this time, "However, considering the destructive nature of my quirk, if I were to make a mistake it could easily kill someone." The mood of the class dropped from enthusiastic to grim apprehension in mere seconds. "I've no doubt there are some among with similar abilities." Unseen by most, Bakugo raised an upturned palm, and gazed at his hand before clenching it softly.

So this was what he really was. Not some belligerent, unfeeling brute but a childish boy who'd never once stopped to consider the consequences of his actions. Either because he hadn't wanted to or never had to and thus didn't know that he should. Her fists clenched, nails embedding themselves in her palms. "God damn you..." her rage, seething contempt for him was wavering in conflict. "You idiot!" She charged right at him, the look of momentary confusion he wore replaced by that now familiar fearful resolve. He was immobile, his fear overwhelming his hesitance enough to put some more oomph back into his quirk. The blast rocked her body, rattling her even further. Pockets of reality and memory flashed interchanging in her wavering consciousness and she forgot to use her quirk when she punched him in blind fury. For brief moments she wasn't fighting Bakugo, she was fighting him. Years ago, in the rain, after running for hours, tracking him down and screaming with impotent fury and grief. They traded hit for hit in the past, fist for explosion in the present. Both her opponents were disoriented, staggered by the force at which she'd hit them. Somehow, by either throw or the searing fire of the blond's quirk, she was hurled onto the ground. Her body twisted, launching herself at an unprepared enemy. Her hands grabbed his collar, missing his throat by milometers and her earlobes lashed out.

She'd struck true, and both versions of reality blended together. In her memories she screamed, in reality she didn't have the strength. Do you feel that!? In either case, her enemies had felt fear looking at her in stunned terror as their bodies were rendered helpless by her quirk. That insane fear making you want to puke!? Making you want to run for you life!? Her teeth grit, world spinning around her from pain and emotional whirlwind. That's something she never got to feel! Every day she was alive, every day she made herself deal with this stupid fucked up world was a march through hell you will never understand! Both boys threatened to black out, as well as both versions of herself. You stole that from her! Stole her effort away to fight through a pain she was born drowning in! Hands moved to her wrists, and she hauled their owners forward, pulling them both off their feet. Tears streaming down her face, her lips moved, past and present in unison. "Take it back! Take back what you did, god damn you!"

It was here that reality and memory split apart. Where the bully had looked at her with broken eyes, Bakugo raised his hand and retaliated. She was sent flying, slamming into the ground face first as the world threatened to go black.

They stood there, in the rain. One with his back to a brick wall, the other poised to break his body where he stood. Neither could speak, neither could move. She stood there, defiant and triumphant in their battle, but broken and alone. He fared no better. For whatever reason, those stooges that followed him about were gone. No longer by his side. His hands loosely held her wrists, not trying to hurt her in the least as rain and tears streamed down her face.

"...I can't."

She started shaking, quivering, guilt, grief, anger, pain. It all made her body tremble as though she might come apart. With a disgusted heartbroken wail she threw him to the ground, his battered form splashing in the puddled sidewalk. When he looked up to say something, she'd already started away.

The rain and wind tore at her. Her slender form was little more than a toothpick flying through a typhoon that raged around her. All she could do was run, keep moving against the weight of this horrid world. When the door to her home tore open, her shoes flying off, she ignored her mother and father's worry on her way to her room. Door slammed and locked, drenched as she was, she dove into the covers of her bed and gripped her pillow like it were her only anchor to the earth as she sobbed into it. Sleep overtook her exhausted body, and nightmares plagued her restless slumber. At the end of them all, she was alone, clutching what remained of her friends. She'd lost one of the most important people she'd ever met. Someone she looked up to, who's example she desperately wanted to follow. But... her example had led her to... No, don't think of her like that. She climbed out of bed as reluctantly as could be, but something needed doing.

Himiko had yet to reply, to say anything to her. Awaking early the next day, she found she still hadn't said anything. No calls back, no texts. Not even bothering to change her clothes or get ready for the day she trudged off to school. If Himiko was there she needed to know. No one else would tell her. As far as Jiro knew, Himiko had no parents to speak of. So it was on her to pass the message along.

No one at school dared to speak to her, to approach. Her appearance was outright dreadful. Face bruised and bloodied, lips cracked and dried, eyes black, hair ruffled and messy, clothes much the same. She made a brief stop by her locker to collect her hoodie and claw into it. Some stupid scrap of paper, something plastic too, crumpled in her hoodie's pocket. Whatever, not important. After that she went to Himiko's locker and waited.

She didn't have to wait very long before the superintendent, the guidance councilor and principal were all looming over her. "What?" she snapped.

"You're coming with us."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm busy."

One of the grabbed her shoulder and started hauling her away. "Not any more."

For twenty agonizing minutes she sat alone in the faculty meeting room. Staring at the floor in silence. Eventually, the three staff members she'd had the encounter with arrived, followed closely by several others. Her parents, worried sick, the now lone bully and his father. What followed was about far from anything dignified as an official discussion with the school could have been. Late last night, the bully had wandered home and his father had asked no end of questions. Their discussion led the fact that Jiro had attacked him but little else. His father called the school the next morning, and now here they were. "What do you have to say for yourself, Jiro?" Her hands clenched into fists, a numb rage boiling over inside her. "How can you possibly justify this kind of violent behavior?"

She wanted to scream, to lash out and smash the building into dust. When she opened her mouth to speak, she was surprised by the voice that filled the room. "Are you fucking kidding me?!" Blinking, dumbfounded, she and all others in the room turned toward her mother, bristling with anger. "This!? This is what we're doing now!?" She took a step toward the staff, Jiro's jaw dropped. "This brute and his stooges antagonize my little girl, beating her to a pulp for how long, and it's only after he drives her friend to the edge, pushes so hard the unspeakable happens that you come together against her!?" She waved her arm to the side, slicing through the air in declarative defiance. "NO! If you want to know where to direct that hostility," she pointed right at the bully, "direct it at him! Hold him accountable for his despicable behavior!"

When the staff failed to say anything, when all they could was stare at her, Jiro's father stepped up. "Well? How about it? It sounds perfectly reasonable to me."

Licking his upper lip, tongue scraping against his top teeth, the principal's upper lip twitched in a barely contained snarl. "This is the first we've heard-"

"Bullshit." Now everyone was staring at the bully, his dead, vacant eyes locked on Jiro's mother's. "She's telling the truth." His voice was like that of a zombie, barely holding any life in it at all. "It's... all true." His face turned toward the floor. "I'm the one at fault. Have been the entire time."

The room was silent, air heavy with the weight of all too obvious decision that now had to be made. "Children," said the superintendent, voice laden with defeat. "wait outside..."

Outside the room neither of them could hear what was being said. But it was all to obvious now, how this was going to play out. As she slumped against the wall, she once again felt the paper in her pocket. Pulling it into view, she recognized the unmarked envelope. Hesitating for a moment, she slowly tore it open. Housed inside was a relic of an MP3 player. Inscribed on the back, was a simple phrase: When the world gets you down, just play a song and give it space.

"It wont take anything back." She looked up, her face pulling away from her knees. She was sitting, curled up in a ball against the wall, hugging her legs up to her face. He... just slumped, facing the ceiling and sprawled out across half the hall. "For what it's worth... I'm-"

"Don't." Her face shoved back into her knees. "Just don't..." It was finally drawing to a close. The bullying, the fighting, all of it. But that didn't change that she was alone all over again. That this had still played out as badly as it possibly could have in every other way.

He respected her wish, eyes still staring into the tiles above. "What are you gonna do now?" Her body tensed, holding herself as tightly as she could. "Once I'm gone... well, this place will probably be a lot better for you. But I can't say I'd be surprised if you left anyways." She felt herself relax a fraction, realizing that now she had a decision of her own to make. "What's your way forward, girly?"

And the brute finally called her something other than freak. "Do you know who I lost?"

"Your best friend."

"Wrong." When he turned to look at her, he found a fire burning in her eyes as she stared right back at him. "I just lost my hero."

His body seemed to shrink, if that was even possible for him to do any further. "So the world's lost someone that important. That special..." listlessly, he turned back toward the ceiling. "Are you going where I think you are with this?"

Hesitation stalled her reply, the answer she was already determined to make reality. Fist clenched by her side, she caught her breath and found her voice. Beaten, bloody and disheveled as she was, her answer rang forth like a bell through a still morning. "I'm going to be what she was meant to be from the beginning."

Her fist hit the earth, her shaking body pushing itself harder than she ever remembered doing. Sweat dripped off her face, blood from her wounds and she hauled her shaking form upright. Staring down Bakugo, the warhead looked about ready to blow a gasket he was angry and confused, she recalled the words that brought her here. The words she would live the rest of her life to fulfill.

I am going to be a hero.

Her feet started running, body preparing to launch itself at her opponent, even as he snarled at her. "You think you have any right to say that to me!?" Ignoring the pain in his screaming ankle, he frothed at the mouth as his hands splayed out behind him. "YOU'RE NOT THE ONE WHO FUCKED UP LIKE ME!" The cascade of explosions he unleashed sent him at her like a projectile. His body curled and twisted in the air, his right hand poised to deliver a one-hand-knock out of an attack.

So he's human after all... Her earlobes went to her hands, taken between her fingers in a vice-like grip. She had a plan of attack, one that was far riskier than any from before. Considering how battered she already was, it was do or die time: risk was part of the part of the game no matter what, all she could do was embrace it. "You have no idea how wrong that is..." Back then... she'd been so focused on her own crap that she hadn't bothered looking to anyone else's suffering. To actually take care of her friends. Kyoka Jiro would never make that mistake again if she could help it. With that thought fueling her muscles, she lanced her hands and earlobes out toward Bakugo's palm. Rather than jabbing his undefended flesh, she brought the metal of her earphone-jacks crashing together.

As Bakugo unleashed the mother of all explosions, the resulting onslaught of sound amplified and deflected it. Bursting forth from the ring was a wave of wind and dust so strong it pushed everyone into the backs of their seats. Microphones blew out, cameras were spun around and the stadium was shrouded in a cloud of dirt.

No one could see how it had ended.

"JIRO!" Deku leapt forward, his hands catching the railing of 1A's private section of the stadium, allowing him to lean over it and closer to the arena. By his side were Kaminari, Yaoyorozu and Ashido, frantic to see what had happened.

"Is she okay?" Ashido brought a hand to her mouth, shoving it against her lips.

"I don't know..." Yayorozu worried, "can anyone see anything through this?"

Kaminari narrowed his eyes, trying to see through the cloud. "Rrrgh!" he growled in frustration, his and Ashido's hands gripping each other on the railing. "Where's... Wind... Guy when you need him!? I can't see anything!"

Deku waited with baited breath for the dust to clear. Slowly, like a curtain unveiling for the final act of a play, it split enough to see the area. Bakugo was lying outside it, dazed and groaning, clutching his useless ankle, but Jiro...

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT FOLKS!" She was lying motionless at the center of the ring in tatters. "THIS MATCH IS A TIE!" Present Mic announced with uncontrolled excitement. "BOTH CONTENDERS ARE OUT OF THE RUNNING!"

"WHAT!?" Deku screamed, as the audience erupted in mixed cheers and booing.

Ashido growled in petulant frustration, stamping one of her feet. "That's so stupid!" She threw her hands to her sides, yanking Kaminari's hand -along with him- to her in the process. Bodies leaning against each other, they both blushed bright red before inching apart. Meanwhile, robot medics had arrived with stretchers, carting the fallen students away to see recovery girl.

Deku fell back into his seat, completely disheartened. What kind of ruling was that? Just because the rule was 'whoever was knocked out of the ring or could no longer stand would lose' didn't mean it had to apply to both of them! She'd come so far... He buried his face into his hands, leaning forward.

"Nothing sparks a memorable event like a good outrage." Akaguro sneered. "I think I might actually be sick..." and he stood up, hands shoving into his pockets as he stomped away to who knew where.

By Deku's side, Uraraka sighed. "I don't like how often he's had the right idea today." she pouted, arms crossed. "Jiro should've won that."

He wanted to say something, to agree with her but... a realization crossed his mind. There was a lesson here, one he'd learned a few too many times. "Sometimes... the best we can do isn't enough to win." For a moment, he saw Shigaraki's lifeless body on the ground in front of him. Fingers curled, digging into his palm, he gulped before he continued talking. "Sometimes what should happen just doesn't." Forlorn, he looked at the floor of their section.

Surprising him, Uraraka put a hand on his as she leaned toward him. "But that's why we're here!" He blushed furiously, jumping and leaning away from her as she got just a little too close to him. "We're going to be heroes aren't we?" Her resolution made way for a look of defeat. If you'd asked him right then, Deku would have said that such looks belonged no where on Uraraka's face. The fact that such a thought crossed his mind surprised him. "Aren't we supposed to stop things that shouldn't happen?"

He blinked, she failed to move her hand away from his. "Yeah..." She realized just how close the pair of them were and flushed beat red. Moving away from him, fingers fussing nervously at each other. "But a world without things that shouldn't happen, is a world that doesn't need heroes." For some reason, that sounded very familiar to him. "Just think of this one as a reason to fight harder against the next one that tries to stop us." Smiling, like she usually did, she nodded emphatically.

"Now that's the Deku I know." She said through a closed eyed grin. Though after a moment, it faded and she looked toward the arena again. "Think someone should go make sure Jiro's okay?"

Ashido was the first to reply to that one. "Actually... Kami and Yaomomo kinda already went to do that." She held up her phone for the pair of them to see.

Jiro's in the waiting area she started in. She's not really taking this well. - And Ashido would save Kaminari to her contacts as " Kami" followed by a heart.

Deku and Uraraka frowned at the same time. "Poor Jiro..." She murmured. Unable to just there, Deku stood up, walking for the exit. "Deku?"

"I'll be right back." While Ashido and Uraraka looked after him, saying... something, he made his way toward the waiting area. This entire event was playing out in a way he hadn't once suspected it would. Shiketsu's sudden appearance, the battle royale that followed, now... this. He'd expected chaos, heightened emotions, fighting for recognition against the best of his peers but not this sinking feeling in his gut. He hadn't expected him or his friends to win, to make it to the final stretch.

Or that failing to get there would hurt this much.

He was almost at the waiting area when he ran into Kaminari. "How is she?"

For a moment, the blond seemed uncertain as to what he should say. "She..." he sighed. "Go talk to her." He met Deku's gaze, something in his eyes pleading for him to oblige. "Yaoyorozu and I tried but... I dunno." The blond slumped against the wall, hands in his pockets and staring at the floor.

In reply, Deku nodded. "I'm not sure I'll do much better." He rubbed at the back of his neck, "I'm not the best at 'peopleing'."

"Heh..." Kaminari chuckled mirthlessly, "trust me. You don't have to be." Before Deku could ask what he meant, the other boy clapped him on the back. "Go on."

Unsure what to think, uncertain what to feel, Deku just kept walking along. He felt... nervous, almost queasy for some reason. What was he supposed to do? Why was Kaminari-

...Wait. He stopped in his tracks, ears straining. Between the sounds echoing slightly in the corridor -the noise made by the crowd outside- he heard... singing?

"I never really feel quite right
And I don't know why, all I know is something's wrong
Every time I look at you, you seem so alive..."

That was Jiro... he almost hadn't recognized the voice. She sounded totally different, singing like that.

"Tell me how do you do it, walk me through it
I'll follow your every footstep

Maybe on your own you take a conscious step
Till you wanna give it up, but all I want,

Is for you to shine
Shine down on me
Shine on this life that's burning out..."

Why was she...? He shook his head, making his way toward the room she was hiding away in. His knuckles tapping on the door elicited a sharp gasp. "Jiro?" He mumbled, "It's me..." he heard rustling in the room, hesitation at any actual movement toward the door. "are you okay?" He heard her breathe, open her mouth and then close it; unable to find words to speak with. "... Do you want me to go?"

At his offer of space the door opened. The sight of her made him want to cry. Recovery girl had more or less healed her up, but that did nothing for the dirt and dried tears. Or the damage to her clothes. Jiro had since changed out of her UA gym shirt, mangled as it was, and was wearing a madras patterned shirt. Primarily black with red lines, some hints of white thrown into the pattern for good measure. She wasn't wearing the way she was supposed to. She'd tied it off at her midsection rather than using the buttons and rolled up the sleeves. "No."

Slowly, he stepped into the room with her. It wasn't much more than four walls and a few chairs, a water cooler and a sink thrown into the corner. When the door closed he turned toward her to say something but never got the chance. In a moment, her arms were around him, face buried against his chest. Reading the room, with as limited skill as he had, he determined it would be best not to deny the embrace. Instead, he put his mask back on and wrapped his arms around her. "How not okay are you?"

She laughed a solitary, breathy laugh. "A typically reductive inquiry, Green."

Tried though he did to resist, he smirked anyways. She'd just quoted Star Trek, something he wouldn't have expected from her. "Sorry, Spock."

Lightly, she smacked one of her fists against his shoulder. "Shut up..." the way she was shaking, she was likely laughing but it could have been crying.

When she finally backed away and he saw her face, it turned out to have been a bit of both. "That was... a pretty song." Said he, and she bashfully looked away. "I couldn't help but hear it."

Her eyes drifted back to his, hiding behind those sunglasses of his, but her face remained where it was. An idle hand ventured to the side of her head, fiddling with a few strands of her hair. "Have you ever heard it before?" He shook his head. "That's not surprising." Said she, taking a seat in one of the room's few chairs. "It's well over two hundred years old." Surprised, his eyes fluttered as he took the seat next to her, while she continued talking. "I heard it on my uhm..." pain, sadness, grief, old, old anger moved her face, flickering the expression there for a moment. "the Mp3 player. It was the first song on it that I listened to."

"So it's important to you..." an obvious bit of information, but more so than the next he inquired about. "I'm guessing it has something to do with... K.H.?" At the mention of the name she seemed to shrink. Shoulders slumping, eyebrow furrowed gloomily over closed eyes and a pained smile. He hadn't meant to hurt her, he hadn't wanted to. Yet the pain was there, and might not have been if he hadn't asked. "Nevermind..." he shook his head at himself, "I'm sorry, I- ... shouldn't have asked."

"It's fine..." her face turned toward the floor, eyes now open but face otherwise unchanged. She took a slow breath, in through her nose. "Yeah. It has a lot to do with her." She turned her face toward him, and he felt the weight of everything she'd yet to say, staring at him from behind her eyes. "I never really told you about myself, did I?" It had only been two weeks, two weeks since their year at UA had started. From day one she'd known his story, to some extent. What history he and Bakugo shared, how he'd become a vampire, what growing up quirkless had been like. She'd never divulged her own history, told him the story that out her here on the same path as him. There, in the waiting area, while the world outside seemed content to be unaware of them and busy with its own dealings, she told him. There was only so much to tell, so many important details that bore true significance. But now he understood, or was starting to at least. It's like being on fire... Was that the real reason she was looking out for him? Why she wanted to be his friend? It was all because of K... "I'm still not really sure what I'm doing..." Jiro's voice trailed on, "trying to make myself into a hero when... I don't even know if that's what she would have done." Her shoulders started shaking, tears dripping from her eyes and her palms flew up to her face, hiding her from view. "But I don't know what else to do!" Between sobs, as his eyes widened, she managed a single sentence more. "What are you supposed to do when your hero loses the same fight as you, the one you can never stop fighting?" Her voice filled the room, sobbing becoming utterly uncontrollable. "What am I supposed to do?"

Even as he hugged her, holding her as her body shook itself violently, he couldn't find an answer. He'd never had to ask that question before. But something about what she'd said...

The same fight...

It's like being on fire...

...

Oh...

He could only squeeze her tighter, hold on harder than he had been until the crying passed. Even then, her fingers clung to his shirt, face buried in his shoulder. Eventually, when the next fight was announced, they had to move apart. "I'm gonna..." she sniffled, "go hide for a bit longer." When she looked him in the eyes, he almost started crying himself. "I'll uh... meet you back at the seats, okay?"

He nodded, and together they left the room, before going their separate ways. Body almost entirely numb, though he knew not why, he started wandering back to his other friends. Just around the corner he saw Kaminari waiting, hands shoved into his pockets, staring at the floor. "...You heard everything, didn't you?"

The blond could only smile a sad little smile. "I already know the story..." he sighed, "heard most of it through rumors and the rest from her, back in middle school." He turned to look him in the eye, holding his gaze. "Keep it quiet yeah?" Then he shoved off from the wall, walking back the same way Deku was headed.

A knot in his stomach kept him from walking, kept him rooted to where he stood. "Kaminari?" The other boy stopped, turning around, an eyebrow raised. "When she said 'the same fight'..." he fought to raise his voice above the barest whisper, "did... did she mean...?"

Kaminari raised a hand, index finger raised and pushed to his lips, silently shushing him. "Before I even think about answering that..." he gave Deku a long, searching look, scrutinizing his every detail. "Does it really matter?" His fists clenched, stomach upturned, going even further into a bunch of knots. He couldn't look at Kaminari anymore, even as he kept talking. "Would knowing change anything? Like how you feel about her?"

"I... have no idea how I feel about her. But..." Slowly an answer came to him, his hands unclenched, stomach settled and air left his lungs. "...No. It wouldn't change anything." His eyes went back to his friend, seeing him smiling with approval. "She's Jiro, my friend. Nothing's gonna change that."

And so the blond smiled, almost grinned really. "Good." Turning away he kept walking back to the others. "For what it's worth, I'm glad I can call you 'friend'... Green."

Deku couldn't help but smile. "You too." When Kaminari was out of sight he slumped against the wall and took a long, deep breath. What a day... Wringing his fingers through his hair, pushing them at his scalp, he shoved off from the wall and started walking back to his awaiting friends.

There was still the rest of the festival to get through yet...

"When you looked through me,

you really knew me,

like no one else ever looked before..."