Chapter 2: Worried for Nothing

All Might shook his head thoughtfully with his hand holding his chin while "Young Midoriya" rambled on and on about his findings the other day. The two hadn't been able to meet up due to scheduling conflicts on All Might's end, but now that they finally had the chance to talk in person, it was clear that something was eating at the boy. However, if the man was truly being honest with himself, he wasn't totally listening to Midoriya. While acting interested and thoughtful on the outside, All Might was worried about his upcoming teaching endeavors. He'd never been a good teacher, how was he supposed to leave an impression on all those kids? Being All Might can only get you so far, right? Or no?

The blonde man slowly slipped into stilled silence as he became lost in his thoughts, becoming totally oblivious to Midoriya's presence at all.

"...I mean, of course her features are different because of her nationality, and the fact that she's a girl...plus her teeth were odd. But not odd as in they were ugly, a lot of people don't have pointed teeth that I've seen...maybe it has something to do with her quirk..." Midoriya's rambling slowly morphed into low muttering as he counted on his fingers. "The eyes and the hair were both similar but...ah! All Might are you listening?" he asked incredulously, causing the man to snap out of his thoughts.

"Ah, yes. Don't be too concerned Young Midoriya, I'm sure it's nothing." All Might said, waving a hand. The boy's lips set themselves in a firm line and the tension never left his shoulders. Something just didn't feel right to him, but his mentor continued to dismiss his worries. Though after a tense moment or two of silence on Midoriya's end, All Might sighed. "If you're that concerned, you may want to consider befriending this girl to gather intel. Try and put yourself at ease."

Midoriya's face heated up almost immediately at the thought of being friends with a girl. "A-ah, I'm not too sure about that All Might, I've never really talked to girls like that before..."

"Do you talk to your mother?" the man asked, his blue orbs seemingly burning holes into his very being.

"Uh, yes?"

"Then you'll be fine. Go beyond, Plus Ultra." the hero said, and gave him a solid thumbs up.

...

Midoriya sighed as he walked home from his intense training session. The U.A. Entrance Exam was right around the corner, he had so much weighing down on his shoulders lately but still, something just didn't sit right with him about Nagata. Holding his chin thoughtfully as he turned a corner, he couldn't help but think it was odd she was living in the apartment by herself but then again, Midoriya knows it's quite common for students to come from all around just to be apart of U.A. but to live alone? Was that a thing? He wasn't sure, everyone he knew lived with their parents. Either way, it was becoming clear that they might soon be competing against each other for Midoriya sighed as he took a moment to stretch out his sore muscles, closing his eyes as he did so. It wasn't until he ran into something hard that he realized that his mind had wondered off again. "Oh! I'm so sorry!"

Midoriya's eyes immediately shifted to the ground where a familiar girl lay, but it wasn't just any girl. "Oof…" she said, rubbing a spot on the back of her head.

"Oh, Nagata, it's you." Midoriya said, immediately moving to help pick up her items that had scattered all over the ground. The girl brushed back her kinky bangs before looking up at the boy and offering a small smile.

"We should really stop running into each other like this." she chuckled before helping Midoriya with her mess of things that had scattered everywhere. Gingerly, he picked up her earbuds and wrapped them around his hand while offering her a sheepish smile.

"We should...but since it's your turn to knock me down, I'll let you decide." the boy said with a bright smile and it was almost enough for Hotaru to return the favor. Instead, she took to studying him from under her lashes as they finished picking up the mess. Midoriya was plain, there was seemingly nothing extraordinary about him but there was just...something that made her think that the boy was not as he seemed. "There." he said, handing over a small stack of papers and books. Snapping out of her inner monologue, she thanked him quickly as she took the books and tucked them back into her bag. "...Are you going home?" Midoriya asked timidly while rubbing the back of his neck.

Hotaru's mouth quirked up into the smallest of smiles before motioning with her head. "Yeah, walk together?" she asked as she stood up and Midoriya followed suit.

"Yeah!" the boy said with a smile. Was he always this smiley? "So..." he started out, gripping the straps to his bag as he tried to think of something to say. God, he tried to think of anything to warrant an actual conversation. It had been so easy last time they talked, but now his talk with All Might had gotten under his skin.

Gather intel. Try and put yourself at ease.

"Uh...what's America like?" he asked, sweat visibly running down his temple at how trivial that just sounded. Nagata's piercing blue eyes slid over to him and she shrugged.

"Nothing special." she mused after a moment. "It's different, that's for sure. But I think I like it here better. Less commotion."

"I see, is that why you moved here?"

Nagata shook her head a little. "No, I came here to be a hero." she said with such determination in her voice that it made him take pause.

"That's what I want to do too. I'm training for the U.A. Entrance exams next month." Midoriya said, clenching a fist in front of him with just as much determination. This caught Nagata's attention as she turned her head fully to him.

"Me too. It'll be nice to see a friendly face there."

Midoriya smiled before letting his fist hang by his side before another question began to burn at the back of his throat. "You're right, but...why not stay in America to be a hero?" he asked earnestly and Nagata's demeanor changed.

"The rules are different there. It's...complicated." she said and Midoriya stayed quiet as he waited for her explanation. "People are scared easy over things they can't control or understand. You can only be a hero if your quirk is deemed...worthy."

Midoriya couldn't help but gasp as he stared at her. "T-that's insane! Why wouldn't a quirk be worthy?"

Nagata stopped walking, falling a little bit behind Midoriya as she stared at him with widened eyes. But the thing was, she wasn't staring at him. She looked like she was suddenly lost in her thoughts. "Because..." she started, her voice loosing it's usual hardness. "...I don't know." she said, bringing her gaze to the ground. Midoriya so desperately wanted to ask what her quirk was. Was she raised on the belief that she wasn't worthy? He didn't want to think so, he grew up with the doubt in his mind that he wasn't. Midoriya couldn't even imagine another child to suffer the same heartbreak that he did.

The wind rustled the trees and he watched as Nagata brushed her bangs out of her face. "C'mon, it's getting late. We'd better go." he said and Nagata nodded before the two fell in step with each other. They didn't bother trying to hold conversation, their heads were filled to the brim with their own thoughts. Midoriya rubbed his eye in exasperation, all he wanted to do was gather information to put himself at ease but now he realized that this was just the tip of the iceberg and there's oh, so much more. He let his eyes focus on her as he tried to ease his sudden headache and for the first time, the boy really looked at her.

Nagata's wild blonde hair was tied up into a ponytail with a section of bangs hanging down on the side of her face. Her skin was a couple shades darker than his own, like she was used to spending most of her days on the beach. As his eyes trailed downwards, looking over the thick scarf that was once again wrapped securely around her neck to her oversized flannel and then down to her ripped jeans and sneakers. Midoriya felt his neck become hot as his whole body seemed to steam under his clothes from giving her an innocent once-over. God, this made him feel weird. From the neck down, she was curvy and mature in such a way that was sure to be every teenage boys dream...

But from the neck up, every time Hotaru Nagata looked at him with her piercing blue eyes, it was like he was staring at a young All Might.

Er, well, if All Might were to be a teenage girl that is. Either way, it freaked Midoriya out every time. It wasn't the whole face that was similar though, the hair was what caught his attention first, then the eyes.

They were so intense...

"Earth to Midoriya, we're here."

The boy was snapped out of his thoughts by Nagata waving her hand in front of his face before leading the way into the building without another word. Shaking off the last of his apprehension, Midoriya jogged a little bit to catch up to her. "Hey, uh, I did have one question for you."

Climbing the stairs, Nagata eyed him as she waited for the green haired boy to continue. "Are your teeth pointed for a reason? Does it have to do with your quirk?" he asked eagerly and if she weren't so tired she might have actually laughed.

"Hah, I guess you could say so."

Fighting the urge to grab one of his notebooks out of his bag, Midoriya leaned forward with intrigue. "Really? I'd suspected that it was related to what type of quirk you had but I wasn't sure..." he mumbled as he put a knuckle to his chin in thought. Nagata just shook her head as she hopped up over the last step and began to head towards her own apartment. "Oh, hey!" Midoriya called as he realized that he'd already reached his stop. "I guess this is me, I'll see you soon then?"

The blonde nodded as she waved a hand. "See you soon, Midoriya."

When the lock of his door clicked in her ears, Nagata sighed audibly.

That was stressful...

Digging her key from her bag, Nagata slid it into the lock easily before pushing the door open with her hip. Her apartment was cold, and mostly empty save for a few stacks of boxes that she had yet to unpack and a futon. Flicking on the light, Nagata quickly decided that since she didn't have to meet with Sir tomorrow, that she'd spend the day giving her new home some much needed TLC.

Nagata set her bag on the kitchen counter with a thunk and another tired sigh as her aching muscles finally caught up with her. She slipped her hair from its ponytail and took great pleasure in running her fingers through the golden tresses to try and relieve some of the tension.

After successfully creating a mane out of her thick hair, the girl began to untie her scarf. Leaving the fabric in a pile on the counter, Nagata waited for the cool air to hit the bare skin of her neck, but knew the feeling would never come.

She thought back to her conversation with Midoriya earlier, about quirks being deemed worthy. The question gnawed at her neck, where a hefty metal collar lay, seemingly encircling her entire being. A collar that was especially designed for her and only her.

A collar designed to keep her under control.

A collar designed to serve as a reminder that not all men were created equal.