Chapter Two: left home (with a dream and a suitcase)
The next couple of months were busy for the group of friends.
The four of them were busy studying for the U.A. entrance exam after Nino was convinced to apply to the hero course, since they offered generous financial aid to international students (with it being the department that received most of the budget, they were more willing to steal fund talented students from other countries). He was planning on studying to be a hero anyways, so even if he didn't get into U.A. he'd be going to a hero-focused university in France. His quirk, Bubble Trouble, allowed him to create green-tinted bubbles around anything he touches. The largest bubble he could make had a diameter of about two and a half meters, though that limit goes down the more bubbles he creates. His bubbles had the added benefit of being almost indestructible. He hadn't found anything that can damage them since he got his quirk, and he's able to control whether the bubbles and their contents are weightless or not.
Japanese hero schools, unless they were already specialized in some way, were required to offer specific courses in combat, rescue, or stealth that students would be able to focus on. Most schools teach a little bit of everything so that their graduates know how to conduct themselves in any number of situations, but they try to divide their classes in three sections so that they get some combat focused heroes, some rescue focused heroes, and at least a few underground heroes.
U.A.'s hero course did those specializations unlike other schools, because they weren't able to choose an elective in their first year. Instead, hero basic training covered the most significant aspects of all of them, which they believed made for more versatile graduates. The same applied to the first trimesters of their second and third years, as a sort of refresher.
Another aspect to this program was that U.A. didn't lock in elective choices— a hero student would be able to take a course on combat in their second year, and in third year they could instead go into stealth training. This was unlike other courses at U.A., which lock students into their chosen elective for all three years (as a more career-focused high school, students are expected to have an idea of what they wish to pursue after graduation).
Nino was of the opinion that his quirk would be most useful in rescue scenarios, so he always wanted to become a rescue-focused hero. If he did get into U.A. he wasn't sure if he'd stay in Japan after graduation, but a world-class education would go far in most countries.
During school, all four of the teens that were applying to U.A. spent quite a lot of time together, both studying and just generally hanging out. Outside of school hours, they spent most of their time preparing for exams, though Adrien usually didn't join them because his father paid for his own personal tutors.
Sabine, Marinette's mother, told the group that though she wasn't as fluent in Japanese as she was in Chinese, she knew more than enough to get by and that she'd be glad to help teach them what she knew of the language. By supplementing her instruction with online resources and speaking as much as they could with each other, they were able to get a score of N3 on the fluency exam, which was high enough for them to be able to take U.A.'s entrance exam.
Because Nino's exam was the only one that required an in-person practical, it was decided that he'd take the written exam online about a week before the regular applicants. If he scored high enough on said exam, U.A. offered to pay for a round-trip flight and a one night stay in some hotel so he could take the regular practical with the rest of the examinees.
It really was astounding the lengths that the school would go to in order to maximize the potential quality of their heroics classes.
Marinette took her written exam at about the same time as Nino, because she was qualified to take the recommendation exam thanks to M. Agreste. He wasn't able to recommend his own son for the management department (because that would be something akin to nepotism), but he had enough contacts to get a slightly less famous CEO to recommend him.
Since they both did the exam through an online service, they didn't need to do it in real-time with other examinees, which they were both grateful for. Otherwise, they'd both have to wake up in the early morning to take their exams, thanks to the seven-hour time difference between Paris and Musutafu.
Due to Marinette's complete lack of experience in support work, M. Agreste was willing to pay an established engineer to teach her and provide access to their workshop.
In order to get her up to speed, she had sessions for two hours after every school day and three hours on Saturdays. It was definitely one of the most draining experiences of her life, spending thirteen hours a week studying a completely new field and learning the several skills that she needed to pass her exam.
While the support-specific written exams tested her theoretical knowledge of engineering concepts (of which she hopefully had a satisfactory amount), the practical was expected to show the exam proctors what kind of real-life experience applicants had in the field.
Non-recommended students were expected to drop off one device that they had created, explanations regarding the function of the device in question, and a portfolio listing two other inventions they created along with explanations for their functions. This was done because it was easier to filter out the less talented students by just taking a look at their submitted materials. The teachers could filter out those that weren't good enough for admittance, and the ones that were could be more thoroughly evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Due to the far lower quantity of recommended students, however, they were subject to a more personal practical. They were to build a piece of gear according to guidelines set by U.A., followed by an interview with the head of the support department, Higari Maijima, also known as the pro hero Power Loader (in Marinette's opinion, it was a bit of a boring name, but she couldn't judge all too harshly. Nino was still set on making his hero name "Bubbler," and no one could convince him otherwise— not for a lack of trying, however).
Her exam would have to be done live so that they could monitor time spent on the device. Since the proctors couldn't exactly examine her gear themselves, she would give a short presentation about it and answer any questions about its functions to the best of her ability before heading into the interview.
Since it would be administered live and she didn't have a support lab above the bakery, she had to wake up at six in the morning to have time to get ready and make her way over to her tutor's lab, which was graciously offered for her to use during her exam.
As she headed to the lab, which was about a twenty-minute walk away, she considered her preparations for this exam. It was February 20th, the day after her written exam and six days before Alya would take her own. She assumed that Adrien took his written portion the same day that she did, but what with stressing over her practical she hadn't had a chance to talk to him yet.
She'd text him after she was done here, she decided.
It was a quarter to seven by the time she was at the lab, and she unlocked the door with her own personal keycard.
She still had some time before the exam, so she opened the laboratory's laptop and signed into the online meeting room, though not entering it yet. She had about ten minutes to ensure that the tools and materials she was most likely to use were all near her, and set up everything in a way that was well organized (unlike some people who had no concept of organization, Alya).
When the clock turned to seven, she clicked on the link that would take her into the video call and found one other person there: the head of the support department himself, Higari Maijima.
"Good afternoon, Maijima-san," she said in slightly stilted Japanese.
"Good afternoon, Dupain-san." She grimaced, not used to only using half of her last name, but Japan didn't really allow for hyphenated surnames so she'd been forced to choose one. "Although I suppose it is morning for you," he continued, chuckling as he said that.
"We'll get started with the exam so that we can move on to the interview as soon as possible. Please place your webcam in a position that shows as much of your workspace as possible." After she had done so, making sure the volume was loud enough that she would still be able to hear him, he continued. "You will have a time limit of two hours to complete this practical exam. Be aware that although you should aim to complete your device to full working order, it is not the only category scored. If you lack materials or the time but explain planned features and how they would be integrated, you may be able to gain additional points based on the level of detail in your explanations and the creativity in the planned additions."
That makes sense, she nodded. Depending on the complexity of the thing being built, you couldn't fit everything you wanted to do over a span of two hours.
He continued, unaware of Marinette's thoughts. "I will make an announcement when you have one hour left, half an hour left, and five minutes left. Your prompt will be as follows: create a device that can enhance mobility and be used offensively in a combat scenario. Your time begins now."
Marinette thought over the prompt for a good minute, and was struck with an idea. They grade for creativity, right? Hopefully this should give me a bunch of extra points then.
"You have five minutes remaining!"
The voice of (possibly) her future teacher jolted her out of her own thoughts. Ever since she'd come up with her idea she hadn't really taken a moment to breathe or even think too much about what she was doing, more concerned with finishing as much of the design as she could.
She had just finished her magnetic locking system (or at least what looked to be a working locking system) and all she needed now was to attach the thin but strong steel fiber to the core. She'd initially wanted to have it go on the finger, but the forces involved would more than likely rip someone's finger off, so she added a wrist attachment instead. However, even that would probably exert too much force on a user's arm and would at minimum pull their arm out of its socket.
She had just about finished wrapping the fiber around the center when she heard a "Time's up!" from the laptop, which meant that she needed to put down her gear and place the laptop back into a position from which she could speak to Maijima-san.
As she settled in, Maijima started to talk. "Now hopefully, the last two hours have been enough for you to finish your project. If not, well, hopefully you can make up for that now," he gave her a smile through the screen. "If you would, please explain to me what it is your gear is supposed to do?"
"Hai, Maijima-san!" While her Japanese wasn't perfect, she tried her best to explain what exactly it was that she created. "I have created a battle-ready yo-yo!"
She could almost feel the confusion radiating from the other side of the screen, thanks to the absurdity of the statement she had opened with."
"Please… enlighten me as to how this could be used as a mobility enhancer and a combat tool."
"Hai! I had originally considered something like a grappling hook, but a grappling hook doesn't usually have too many uses in combat. Instead, I took the concept of using a rope to pull oneself towards various objects and applied it to something that could be used to bludgeon or even to tie up an enemy."
"So you used a yo-yo?"
She shrugged. "I thought it'd help me out in the creativity department."
He pursed his lips together, clearly thinking, then said, "Fair enough. If you would please explain its functions?"
"Right," she cleared her throat. "This yo-yo is made of steel, although there are lighter and more durable materials that I just don't have access to. The same goes for the "string," although it's a thin wire rope instead. In its current state, it's not the most durable, but as a proof of concept it suffices.
"Inside the shell of the yo-yo itself, there is an electromagnet that is activated upon any sudden shift in momentum— such as when it gets wrapped around a pole after it gets thrown, for example. When the magnet activates, it forces the yo-yo shell to attach itself to the nearest portion of the string that it can. Assuming this works correctly, that creates a loop that gets hooked around the object this is thrown at."
She took a sip of water, wondering how to phrase the rest of her explanation. "By tugging on the string, a mechanism is activated within the other half of the shell that winds up the string with incredible force, pulling along the holder of the other side of the string. Once the amount of string outside the shell is lowered past a certain threshold, the magnet is deactivated so that the loop is broken."
"I can see the use," Maijima allowed, "How would this be used in combat?"
"Many ways. The yo-yo is heavy enough that it could do some serious damage with enough speed behind it, which can easily be achieved by taking a length of the rope and spinning the yo-yo fast enough."
She demonstrated that concept by backing up, loosening three feet of the rope, and spinning it in a circle for a moment until it built up a significant amount of speed. Then she hit a large metal plate she had set up, which got severely dented by the yo-yo.
"This will deal more damage the heavier the yo-yo is, but more weight may make the yo-yo more difficult to use."
Maijima cleared his throat, startling Marinette out of her trance. "Thank you, that should be all that I need. Take a five minute break to rest and go to the restroom, and afterwards we may begin the short interview."
"Wakarimashita, Maijima-san!"
She set a timer on her phone so that she would get back in time, and went to the bathroom. Leaning over the sink, she splashed some water on her face. This is good. Everything is going fine so far. As long as I don't bomb the interview, I have a real shot at getting in, she psyched herself up.
She felt her phone start ringing, letting her know that her timer went off and that she had one minute to get back. She hadn't even realized she was standing there for so long, but she supposed that time could slip past her like that.
When she made it back to the lab, the hero was waiting for her.
"Welcome back, Dupain-san," he shot her a friendly smile. "Let's start the interview, shall we?"
Marinette nodded.
"Before we begin, I would like to add that this shouldn't take longer than fifteen minutes, and will most likely be in the realm of five to ten minutes. I have a few questions for you, and once I finish with those you will be able to ask any questions you may have. Our first question is about your interest in U.A.. Why is it that you are interested in applying here?"
She wet her lips as she took a moment to think about her answer. Why was it that she really wanted to go to U.A., outside of some contest that she won?
"Well, on a superficial level, most teenagers want to go to U.A., just on the basis of it being one of the best schools in the world. When I was younger, I thought about applying here too. My interests at the time, however, didn't really align with what U.A.'s curriculum focuses on. As I am right now, I think that it would be beneficial for my future plans to earn my education at U.A.. Thanks to M. Agreste, I've discovered a whole new side to my passions that I've never really thought about, that being support items. And while I don't think I'll be a dedicated support engineer in the future, I have other plans in mind. As fashion is still my greatest passion, I want to start a line of fashionable clothing options that use elements of support design philosophy. For example, a luxury suit jacket made from durable fibers that increase flexibility and make it almost bulletproof, or an affordable pair of jeans that use self-repairing fibers currently found in the highest-end support gear, but could realistically become affordable to the mainstream market in ten to twenty years or so, assuming that it becomes more cost-effective to produce."
"I see. Care to explain why it is that you made those plans? I'm interested in hearing your reasoning behind this kind of idea," he said thoughtfully.
"It's just ever since the end of the quirk wars, technology hasn't really been progressing all too much, at least for the general population. We still use exactly the same kinds of phones, computers, and cars, even though there should be much better versions of all of those. And there are, but most of the public just doesn't have access to them since they're typically reserved for pro heroes and government officials. My plan manages to combine a solution for those fears with my greatest passion."
Maijima was quiet for long enough to make her think that she said something wrong, until he responded with, "I agree with you. It's hard not to notice when I have so many of my former students making so many exciting innovations, only for about a fifth of those innovations to even make their way to market. I look forward to seeing if you succeed in this endeavor of yours."
Marinette beamed. That sounded like pretty high praise to her.
The rest of the questions were pretty basic compared to the first one. There was one about her hobbies (fashion and art), one about her strengths (she thought about this one for a bit before deciding on talking about her work ethic) and weaknesses (she told him it was her clumsiness, though she was fairly sure that wasn't the type of answer he was looking for).
After a few of those types of questions, she had a chance to ask her own. She didn't have many of her own, but she was curious about something.
"How will housing be handled for international students like myself?"
He gave a hum at that question. "I'm not entirely sure, to be honest, since it's not something that I'm involved in organizing. I'm sure Principal Nedzu would know, and I'm sure that should you be accepted, you would receive an email detailing your options."
That wasn't exactly an answer, but she supposed that he wouldn't necessarily be organizing these things, as head of the support department.
After the interview, there wasn't much more to do other than wait for their application results, which they got a week earlier than Japanese applicants would because international students had to prepare to go to a new country and sort out their living situation, with whatever assistance U. give.
Now that they didn't have to study anymore for the entrance exams, the group spent a lot more time together relaxing rather than working. They still had their regular schoolwork, but the amount of free time that everyone gained was remarkable, along with the stress being lifted off of their shoulders.
None of them were sure whether U.A. would send them physical acceptance letters or just an email, because while they've found international students online who've gotten physical acceptances, most of them were Chinese exchange students, or from other countries much closer to Japan than they were.
Even through this uncertainty, they all made a pact to open up their admission letters together, regardless if they came in the mail or to their emails.
And so life went on for them all, eagerly awaiting the news that would determine the next chapter of their lives.
"Thank you, Maijima-kun. I'll prepare an acceptance letter for her and have her added to the roster. What class did you wish to place her in?"
"I believe that I listed her under 1-H, Nedzu-san."
Nedzu smirked. "Very well. I will handle the rest of the paperwork, you may return and prepare for next week's exams."
He watched as Maijima ambled out of the room, satisfied with today's work. With all of the recommendation students having been decided on, there was no more work to do regarding them, at least until acceptances were to be sent out. This year's students would certainly prove to be interesting, considering Endeavor's son was among them— along with their first quirkless student since he'd become principal.
Very interesting.
He jumped off of his oversized chair and walked over to the bookshelf adorning one of the walls. Pressing a button located on his dress shirt under his tie, he watched as the bookshelf split in two and slid open just enough to allow him to pass. Once, he had considered installing a mechanism where he would have needed to pull out certain books like in older movies, but keeping the only way into the room on him at all times was much more secure. At any rate, there was no need to look cool when no one else would ever see this room.
He stepped inside the passageway as the secret entrance closed behind him. Most other people would have called it claustrophobic— or at the very least suffocating, but to him it was the perfect size, constructed according to his inhuman proportions.
He walked down a flight of stairs, until he reached what he liked to call (in his head, of course) his lair. It was in this room that you could find Nedzu's personal computer, which was on a completely different network than the rest of U.A., with the network being completely undetectable outside of this room. In short, it was impenetrable, and it was here that Nedzu worked on his most secret projects.
He strode over to his desk and sat on his custom-built chair that was sized to him. If you asked him, he'd say that while the oversized chair in his office was good for making his opponents underestimate him based on his size, it wasn't quite as comfortable as an ergonomic office chair that was actually made to support his body. While his keyboard and mouse were sized the same way, the triple-monitor setup actually used bigger monitors than what he used upstairs, because the screen real estate was useful for his more private research projects.
He entered his password, which was so long that only someone with an intelligence or memory-enhancing quirk could remember it. He delved into his file system, inputting passwords whenever he encountered a password-protected folder (he had many), until he reached the folder that became the reason he had this room built. In it were five subfolders, his five most important projects to date. Three of them were no longer relevant, kept only for the sake of posterity.
One of these projects was about the containment of quirks which were too dangerous to be realistically allowed to exist freely. Thanks to his connections in the government, he was involved in monitoring any incidents involving and planning contingencies for most of these types of quirks. When one became too powerful to either threaten or suppress with quirk suppressants, they were eliminated. One of these cases included Thirteen's siblings— not that anyone knows about them. It was regrettable, of course, but sometimes certain choices had to be made to ensure that society wouldn't collapse thanks to one person. Thirteen themself was almost targeted, but Nedzu successfully argued in their favor and had them trained as a hero instead. All For One was also a target of this program, and while All Might seemed to have killed him, Nedzu wasn't entirely sure about that. There were still far too many coordinated activities in the underground for Nedzu to feel that All For One wasn't still meddling.
That wasn't something that Nedzu was looking into today, however. He opened the last folder, which was labeled "Miraculous". Unfortunately, he'd been researching this topic for almost fifty years now, and he hasn't made as much progress as he would have liked.
He knows for a fact that there used to be temples all around the globe, with a site in Tibet confirmed to be one of them, and multiple other ruins besides that in Shanghai, Japan, and Brazil. All of the sites have the same symbol etched into various walls, a sort of circular cross pattern that was incredibly distinct. Nedzu knew that this wasn't just some ancient religion, because he had with him what was possibly one of the most valuable objects in the world, depending on if the contents were fact or not.
This object was a book, though it was large enough (and old enough, for that matter) to be referred to as a grimoire. He keeps it in a small climate-controlled room in a locked archival box, but he made scans of every page so that he would have a reference. Most of the contents of the book, which was positively ancient, actually seemed to describe something like heroes— which normally would make something like this be fiction except for the fact that it was written in a code that took him multiple years to decipher.
Even when the code was deciphered, though, things didn't make too much sense. It seemed like the book was describing people who actually existed (though he was certain that Joan d'Arc never wore anything like that). All of the people depicted he could verify as having existed at some point in the past. All of these superheroes themed after seemingly innocuous animals— cats, bees, foxes, turtles, and most prominently, ladybugs. There was verifiable evidence that supported Tentomushi's existence in the feudal period of Japan. Hell, eighty years ago there was a fox-themed hero called Ko Ashi who could have been described by this book, down to their quirk and weapon.
The book told him that these heroes were created by these jewels called Miraculouses— with a capital "M", apparently, since they hosted gods (Nedzu was less likely to take the book's word on that than on the other things it contained, because that just doesn't work). These… Miraculouses allowed the users to transform into their respective heroes, which explains how so many people have had the same powers and costume themes since even before the Dawn of Quirks.
What didn't make sense was how these so-called Miraculouses made their way to so many areas of the world. Sure, they might not have crossed any oceans (at least none that he knew of), but it was no easy feat to go from Japan to France and back again, especially in medieval times.
The thing is, that wasn't even what Nedzu was trying to figure out. The main subject of his research was actually trying to figure out where they were now. After the Quirk Wars, any mentions of the Miraculouses in any capacity just ceased. The temples were likely destroyed in the chaos, but what happened to the Miraculouses, if they even existed?
Well, in the same location just outside the Tibetan ruins where Nedzu found the grimoire, he also found a scrap of notebook paper. Most of it was ramblings, but a Japanese temple was mentioned. While he'd already had it searched, that didn't stop his belief that whoever possessed the Miraculouses was in Japan, or at least the jewels were. If Nedzu could find them, the potential for them to be used against the most dangerous villains was enormous. The ladybug's powers had the ability to alter reality like no other quirk could, and the black cat's powers of destruction rivaled that of even the most powerful destructive quirks like Black Hole.
With the signs of All For One's activities becoming more and more apparent, and All Might's debilitating injury, he needed some sort of assurance that he could be beaten.
Nedzu cracked his knuckles, and got ready for a long evening of research.
"Marinette, there's some mail here for you!" Sabine yelled so that her daughter would be able to hear her.
"Coming, Maman!" Marinette yelled back, before putting some finishing touches onto her latest design. She saved and shut down her computer before opening up the hatch that led downstairs.
It was a Saturday, which meant that there were fewer people here in the morning, the tradeoff being a much busier lunch rush. It was still about 11:00, so she had some time before that happened. Maybe after she checked what she got in the mail she could help her parents with the croissants.
At least, that was Marinette's plan, until she actually saw what it was she received and shrieked in surprise.
Her dad poked his head around the corner, "Marinette, sweetie, I know that we don't have any customers right now but that's no reason to be so loud. I know I'm a bit tougher than the average guy, but I'm fairly sure my hearing isn't a part of that." Tom's quirk increased his bone and muscle density, which had the effect of making him much heavier than an average person of his size while giving him a bit of extra strength and quite a lot of durability.
"Sorry, Papa! Listen, let Maman know that I'm heading out to meet up with my friends? Thanks!" she ran off, almost forgetting to put on her shoes and not giving her father a chance to respond. Luckily, the weather was a bit nicer so she wasn't freezing when she went outside.
As she walked towards Adrien's mansion, she called Alya, who picked up on the second ring.
"Did you get it?"
"Did you?"
"Pretty sure I wouldn't be asking that if I hadn't gotten it. Which, spoiler alert, I did!"
Marinette cheered, "That's great! Listen, call Nino and we can meet up at Adrien's as soon as possible so we can all open the letters together."
She could hear Alya's giggle on the other end of the line. "Yes ma'am!" was all she heard before she got disconnected.
Marinette smiled and picked up her pace so she could get to her destination as soon as possible. When she rang the buzzer on the gates she didn't even need to answer any questions, the bodyguard already familiar with her (well, as familiar as someone who doesn't talk to anyone can be).
Thankfully, she didn't run into M. Agreste on the way to Adrien's room, which she entered as loudly as possible, startling Adrien into almost rolling off of his bed.
"Jeez, Marinette, what's with the rush?" he asked as he recomposed himself.
"Adrien now is not the time, I need to know if you got the letter," she asked him, forgetting her habitual nervousness.
"What letter?" he blinked owlishly at her.
"Don't play dumb with me, Adrien. Alya's tried it, didn't work out so well for her."
Adrien chuckled at her newfound confidence. "Yeah, I got the letter. It's sitting on my desk because you said we were going to open all of them together."
"Yep!" she said, popping the "p". "Alya and Nino should be here any second now." She sat down on a chair, repeating the conversation in her head, and instantly began to blush.
"Aaah, I'm sorry I almost knocked you off of your bed! I was just really excited and I didn't think you would be so surprised to see me and—"
"It's fine, Marinette! Don't worry!" Adrien laughed. To tell the truth, he was glad that Marinette was finally gaining the confidence to be able to speak to him like a regular friend. They didn't speak too much before this whole "applying to U.A." thing, and when they did she had a hard time even saying full sentences without being jumpy. It was nice to see her moving past her anxiety like that.
Suddenly, Alya and Nino burst into the room much the same way that Marinette had. Adrien was expecting it, so there wasn't a repeat of a few minutes ago, but Marinette reacted in much the same way he had and fell off of her chair shrieking.
The two newcomers were yelling something, but Marinette just loudly whispered to Adrien, "I think I know how you feel now."
They chuckled over that when out of nowhere Alya grabbed her face and smushed her cheeks together. "Were you even listening to us?"
"No?" Marinette had a hard time speaking thanks to Alya's grip, but she managed.
"Ugh, you guys are hopeless," she proclaimed before letting herself fall back onto Adrien's bed with a whump.
Nino strode into the room at that point saying, "Yeah, we established that a while ago." He joined Marinette on one of the chairs. "So, what's the plan? Are we all just going to open them at the same time and announce the results to everyone?"
Alya looked at Marinette, and when she shrugged Alya said, "Yeah, that sounds about right. I didn't actually plan this far ahead."
"Can anyone toss me my letter?" Adrien called out, followed by a quick "Thank you!" when Nino lobbed it, landing on Adrien's face.
For a brief moment, the tearing and shuffling of paper was the only sound that could be heard as they all opened their respective envelopes and took out the papers enclosed within. Alya was the first to break the relative silence when she squealed in excitement and yelled out, "Guys, check this out! I actually got in!"
The others looked up from what they were doing and Nino said, "Seriously? Congrats dude!" and shot her a pair of finger guns, too far away to give her his customary high-five.
Adrien kept reading his own letter of acceptance as the others kept speaking ("What class are you in?" "It says right here, I'm in 1-C."), interrupting them after a few seconds with, "Says here that I've been accepted to class 1-J. I'm in!" He looked up and beamed at his friends.
He was not expecting Nino to barrel into him and knock him over with a hug. He was glad he was on his bed rather than on the floor, or else he'd be worried about getting a concussion.
"Great job, bro! I knew you could do it!" Nino peeled himself off of his best friend and turned around to the girls, who were deeply amused at Nino's actions. "On a related note, it seems that I got into class 1-A!"
Light applause greeted him, and when he got off the bed he bowed, grinning all the while. "Thank you, thank you everyone, soon enough you'll have to call me by my hero name in public!" Marinette rolled her eyes at that one.
"So, Marinette, did you actually check if you got in or not?" Alya asked.
"Good question," Marinette replied as she returned to reading. She muttered as she read, until she reached a point and said to them, "It says that "it's an honor to welcome you to class 1-H," so I guess I got in!"
The rest of them cheered at the announcement, and soon enough they devolved into senseless chatter as they basked in the glow of their successes.
"Does anyone know what the living situation is gonna be like?" Nino asked the group.
Adrien grabbed his letter and skimmed through it until he reached the desired part and responded, "It says that we'll be provided with small apartments a short distance from U.A., along with basic furniture, uniforms, and an allowance for groceries and other necessities."
Marinette blinked. "Are they really giving us that much freedom?" she asked.
"Seems like it. It's a bit strange to me, but I guess Japan does have different customs than France. Let me see… it also says that they'll have one of the teachers check in with us every couple days to make sure the apartments are still habitable."
Marinette nodded. "That makes a bit more sense, but it still seems like an odd amount of freedom for us."
"Girl, are you really complaining about getting your own apartment?" Alya came up behind Marinette and slung her arm across her shoulders. "This is going to be great! We'll be able to see each other every evening—"
"Assuming you don't have homework," Nino muttered.
"Oh quiet, you. Don't ruin my fun!"
Marinette giggled at her friends.
There was still one more important thing to go over, however. Adrien brought it to their attention when he said, "They'll also be paying for a flight for us. We'll be leaving on Friday and we'll have a day to orient ourselves and get over any jet lag before orientation on Sunday, followed by the first day of actual school on Monday."
Nino sat up from where he was lounging. "That means we only have, like, less than a week to pack! And I need to tell my parents when the flight is so I can get there on time!"
They all burst into laughter, bubbling with excitement and anticipation at what was to come.