After the homeroom session, the morning started off with an English lesson with Present Mic first. Akiko noticed a strange non-verbal exchange between him and Aizawa when the English teacher entered the classroom. Their best interpretation was that it looked… soft? Intimate? Anyway, their private lives were none of Akiko's concern, so they dismissed the thought and focused on the class.

Aizawa returned an hour later to run the next class - Hero History. Akiko had hoped that he would make it engaging, unlike History classes in middle school - they were boring, and focused a great deal on rote learning of historical facts. But Aizawa's slow drawl of historical facts and outlines went in one ear and out the other. It was almost like Aizawa didn't really care about this part of teaching, and it just made the lessons harder. Akiko needed context and an active application of new knowledge in order to learn, and Aizawa was most definitely not providing that.

When the lunch bell rang, Akiko was glad to leave. Aizawa instructed everyone to change into their hero costumes straight after lunch, and meet at Gym Beta just beside the PE Grounds for their first Quirk Training lesson. Once dismissed, Akiko met up with Hitoshi, Izuku and Todoroki to go and get food from the cafeteria. While in the line, Izuku had remarked at how good the food was, and went on for a while about how cool Lunch Rush's Food Refinement quirk was. He explained that, using this quirk, Lunch Rush was able to draw out qualities in food, like nutritional value and flavour. Not only did this allow him to make incredibly delicious food for the UA students, it also helped many students with their quirks. For students whose quirks relied on specific nutrients or just lots of food, Lunch Rush was able to simplify that process substantially.

Akiko was especially impressed when Izuku began listing off examples of pro heroes who had worked with Lunch Rush in the past because of this quirk, and even more impressed when Izuku also included some of their current classmates in this list. Apparently, Izuku had been paying close attention to everyone's quirks, and had been able to produce an incredible analysis on how the quirks operated and what ways each individual could be supported by things as otherwise unobvious as the right diet. They made a mental note to talk to him later about any thoughts he had on how they used their quirk.

Izuku finished his explanations just in time for the four students to seat themselves at an empty table. Just as they were about to dig in, Uraraka walked up to them with an anxious look on her face. "Um… is it alright if I sit with you? I've been sitting with Ida for the last few days but he and Yaoyorozu had some class representative business to attend to."

"Sure!" Izuku replied immediately with a warm smile. "Hey, Uraraka, I had been meaning to ask - if it's okay, that is - is your costume inspired by the hero Thirteen?"

Uraraka blushed. "Um… yes! I think it's really cool how they use their quirk to specialise in civilian rescue, even though it's a powerful quirk that could be more easily used for combat! That kind of thing is one of the reasons why I want to be a hero!"

"One of?" Akiko asked, curious.

"It's kind of embarrassing, but… I come from a poor family. I want to make money so I can support my parents, after they've helped me so much!" Uraraka looked down.

Akiko and Hitoshi exchanged a glance. Hitoshi was the one who then spoke. "Same as me and Akiko. I don't think it's anything to be embarrassed about! It sounds like both of your reasons are really that you just want to help people, which is exactly what being a hero is all about."

Uraraka looked up, tears welling in her eyes. "You mean that?"

Hitoshi nodded. Then, Todoroki carefully put down his spoon and contributed to the conversation. "I think that your quirk is very well suited to being a rescue hero."

With Uraraka's confidence and comfort restored, she began eating her katsudon, though she was still blushing heavily.

Gym Beta was a giant indoor hall, separated into two main areas. The front half was a large open space with a dirt floor, in which a plethora of humanoid-shaped targets had been set up. The eastern wall was made of rocky stone, and was probably designed for climbing practice. The back half of the room consisted of several enclosed booths, which Akiko guessed were for training individual quirks out of the way of others.

Aizawa was already inside waiting for his students, and next to him was a Pro Hero that Akiko quickly recognised to be Cementoss, who, to put it bluntly, looked like a block of cement with arms and legs. Akiko couldn't help but wonder how the hero's vision worked with a flat face.

"Welcome to your first Quirk Training class," Aizawa announced. "These classes will be run by me, and there will often be a guest hero, such as Cementoss here, available to help out. Make the most of the guest heroes, as each of them will be able to give you their own unique perspective to help refine your quirks. In these classes, you will focus on improving your own quirk in a variety of different ways. Over the past few days, I have been observing how each of you use your quirks, and I will issue you each specific instructions on how I want you to use your time in the gym this afternoon."

Aizawa proceeded to call out names and issue each student a goal for the lesson. Akiko's task was to train their agility, so they could change directions more quickly and effectively - which was hardly surprising. But when they overheard what Izuku's 'task' was, they immediately scrapped any intent to work on their own quirk.

"Midoriya, you will sit out for this lesson. Watch your classmates, and think on how you might learn to control your quirk. It would be pointless for you to participate, as you'll just end up injured and in need of healing." Aizawa was blunt, and Izuku looked horribly downcast.

Akiko walked straight up to Aizawa and Izuku, with a clear cut purpose. "Sensei, if you don't have anything for Izuku to work on, I'd like to work with him. I want to see if I can help him learn to control his quirk. And if that's not okay, I don't care, I'm gonna do it anyway!"

"Fine, but I doubt you'll succeed." Aizawa rolled his eyes and yawned, and then walked away.

Izuku scratched at the back of his head. "Thanks, but you didn't have to do that. Aizawa is right, I can't control my quirk so there's not much for me to do here."

Akiko shook their head. "Come with me, let's go to one of the sections at the back."

Reluctantly, Izuku followed, and they went to the furthest section of the back half of the room, out of earshot of anyone.

"Izuku, did All-Might actually teach you anything about how to control your quirk?" Akiko asked directly.

"He said that it's all about feeling, but that was pretty much it."

"Well that's vague… okay, what does it feel like when you use your quirk?"

Izuku looked at his hand. "It's like… I focus on a part of my body and flex, but I'm not actually flexing anything. It's like I'm-"

"Using muscles that don't actually exist?" Akiko offered, finishing Izuku's sentence.

"Yeah, how did you-" Izuku replied excitedly, but didn't get a chance to finish before Akiko cut him off again.

"Because my quirk is kind of the same," Akiko answered. "I think I know how to help. People don't often talk about the internal mechanics of quirks, and what it feels like to use them. Most of the time you figure it out with a quirk counsellor, and that's that."

There were a bunch of tennis balls in a basket nearby, and Akiko walked over to pick one up. "If using my quirk feels the same as yours does for you, then…"

Akiko activated their quirk on the tennis ball at full blast, and it pelted into the wall, bounced off and flew all the way to the other side of the room. "It's a little bit different to using actual muscles. Normally with a muscle, you can flex a little bit and then push more and more. But when I was first learning my quirk, I actually had to do it the other way around, because my quirk wanted to come out all at once, and it was too much for me to control. It's easier for me now, but at first I had to learn by pulling back on the 'muscle' when I was activating the quirk. When I pull back…"

Akiko picked up another tennis ball, and activated their quirk again, but this time with only a tiny bit of its power. The ball pushed a meter out of their hand, and arced down towards the ground. "This is what happens. So it's like I flex the muscle but pull against it at the same time. Does that make sense?"

Izuku nodded vigorously. "Yeah! Oh my god, that makes so much sense! I think when All-Might talked about feeling, he meant that I can learn to feel how much of the quirk I use, but it's probably been so long for him that he forgot what it was like to learn, or something?"

Akiko grinned, and looked Izuku up and down. His whole body was trembling with excitement. "Wanna try it out now?"

As excited as Izuku looked, he was apparently equal parts nervous. "I don't know… what if I mess up and just have to go see Recovery Girl again?"

"Then I'll skip class and take you there myself. Why don't you try with just flicking your finger first? Here." Akiko picked up another ball, and placed it on the ground across from Izuku.

The green-haired boy took a deep breath, and settled his nerves. "Alright, let's give this a go." He looked at the ball, and pressed his thumb and middle finger together, ready to flick. With another deep breath, he steadied himself, and his thumb and finger began glowing. Then, he flicked. The ball bounced across the room. Akiko looked at Izuku's hand, and it was completely intact.

"YES!" Izuku jumped, and screamed. He was probably loud enough that everyone in the gym heard, but that was fine. This was a huge achievement, and he deserved to be immensely proud of himself. "Akiko! I did exactly as you said, I pulled back when I activated my quirk and it worked! Let's go show Aizawa!"

Before Akiko even had a chance to respond, Izuku bolted off towards the front half of the hall. As Akiko chased after him, they saw that a fair few of their classmates had stopped what they were doing to see what was going on.

"Sensei! Sensei! I can control my quirk!" Izuku shouted excitedly, waving his arms about. Aizawa's eyebrows shot up. "Here, get me the grip strength thing and I'll show you? Besides, I wanna see how much power I can output safely too!"

Aizawa shrugged, and walked over to a cabinet on the west side of the hall. He came back holding the tool that the class had used during the Quirk Assessment Test to measure grip strength, and handed it to Izuku. "Very well, show me what you can do. If I recall correctly, your result on the first day was 56 kilograms."

Izuku grabbed onto the device and closed his eyes. His whole arm, from the shoulder down, began glowing faintly, and he squeezed. Akiko leaned over to get a look at the reading on the small display panel. 178 kilograms. That was more than three times his original result! Akiko grinned proudly, ecstatic to know they were able to help Izuku surmount this hurdle in the usage of his quirk.

"Well, I'm impressed," Aizawa admitted. "Fukuhara, what did you tell him?"

"Oh, I just explained how I learned to control my quirk originally. It would seem intuitive that for quirks that feel like 'flexing a muscle', the less you push the weaker it would be, but my quirk works in reverse; I have to pull it back. I just guessed that Izuku's might be similar, is all," Akiko answered.

"Huh," Aizawa hummed. An odd expression passed over his face, and Akiko couldn't even begin to guess what it meant. "Alright Midoriya, in that case, I want you to spend the rest of the lesson practicing using the weakened version of your quirk all over your body. Get used to using it, moving around and whatever else you can do. But don't rush, I don't want you slipping up and breaking any bones. And Fukuhara? I still want you to do your agility training, but if you want to do it next to Midoriya and keep giving him advice, be my guest."

After school, Akiko joined Izuku on his way home, as they had agreed last night. Both were exhausted from pushing their quirks so hard in the Quirk Training class, but it was a good kind of exhaustion. Izuku was immensely excited to be able to start controlling his quirk. He could only use a tiny fraction of its full power - Izuku had estimated that he was using maybe 5 percent of it, but it was still something. Akiko was a little bit terrified that what they'd seen was only 5 percent, but excited for their friend all the same. Akiko's own exhaustion came from nearly overusing their quirk. But they were excited, too, because they had started to see tiny results in the agility training. At the moment, they couldn't go fast while changing directions, but at the end of the lesson they were definitely a little bit faster.

"So… what's the plan with my mum?" Izuku asked.

And so Akiko began explaining a variety of information - statistics and studies that demonstrated the positive effects of mental health on trans people who received gender affirming healthcare, the incredibly low rates of detransitioning, and so on. They also retold the story of their first visit to the endocrinologist who had prescribed Akiko's hormones. "As supportive as mum was, she was a bit worried because she didn't know how the hormones worked, and things like what the risks were. But when the doctor explained everything, I think she felt a bit safer having that knowledge? So I think if your mum knows more about what to expect from your HRT, she might be more willing to sign off."

As the duo arrived outside Izuku's home, Akiko couldn't help but take a moment to admire it. He lived in an apartment complex, and the building looked nice. It wasn't run down or in need of repairs, it had an even paint job on the outside, and every apartment had a sizeable balcony. Akiko could spot some plants across a few of the balconies, and there was even one with leafy vines growing down the side. They followed Izuku through the building, until they arrived at his front door.

"You ready?" Akiko asked when they noticed Izuku pausing at the door.

"Yeah, let's do this!" Izuku took a deep breath. He opened the door, and walked in. "Mum! I'm home!"

A short, plump woman with Izuku's same green hair bustled out from another room into the hallway. "Oh, and who's your friend? Are you going to tell me her name?"

Akiko winced, but part of them was amused that Izuku's mum had assumed they were a girl, even if it wasn't true.

"They are my friend from school, Fukuhara Akiko," Izuku grumbled in a tone of frustration.

"They? But- Ah, it's hard to keep up with all of this," Izuku's mum sighed. "Anyway, hi there Akiko, I'm Midoriya Inko, and you're welcome to just call me Inko."

Akiko painted on a smile, despite the discomforting comment. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Inko. How was your day?"

"Oh, you know! Same old, same old. Just another day at work!" Inko replied in a sing-song tone. Akiko almost got distracted pondering the way the phrase 'you know', was used, since it didn't make any sense. Akiko didn't know.

"Mom, can we sit down? There's something we want to talk to you about," Izuku wore a serious face, and moved to sit down at the dining table without waiting. Akiko followed, and so did Inko.

Once they were all seated, Inko spoke up. "What is it, dear?"

"I know we've talked about this before, but I want you to hear me out, okay? I want to start testosterone," Izuku declared.

Before Inko had a chance to protest, Akiko jumped in. "Miss Inko, I've been taking estrogen for the last half a year. My mum was also worried before I started, since it's a big deal. Just like you, she was a concerned parent who wanted the best for me. If I tell you what made her agree to let me do it, would you be willing to listen?"

Inko's face tensed. "Okay, I'll hear you out. But I want you to understand - especially you, Izuku - I'm not agreeing to anything yet. It's certainly reassuring for me to meet your friend who is doing the hormones, but… anyway, go on."

Izuku looked stressed, so Akiko put a comforting hand on his shoulder, before getting started into their explanation. "I think one of the biggest things parents can be worried about is 'what if my child regrets transitioning'. But there have been studies done on that! Less than one percent of people detransition, and of those one percent, the vast majority detransition only because of social pressures - not because transitioning was a mistake for them."

Inko's eyes widened. "Is that really true?"

"I can find the studies for you, if you'd like to see for yourself," Akiko offered. Inko nodded, and so they made a mental note to give Izuku the list of studies to show Inko later.

"I'm guessing the other biggest concern is what the hormones are actually gonna do, right?" Akiko continued, and Inko nodded. "Because my mum was the same. Honestly, once my doctor spoke to her, she felt a lot more reassured, so I really think that even if you don't sign off, it would be a good idea to at least go visit a doctor with Izuku to talk about it? But also, maybe Izuku can explain a bunch of it now, if you want."

Inko turned to face her son, and he took that as his cue to rattle off all the information he'd practically memorised. When he was done, Inko let out a deep, long sigh. "Okay, I'm willing to consider it. But are you sure this is a good idea now, while you're busy with your studies at UA?"

Akiko grinned. This was a perfect opportunity, and they now knew exactly how to fully convince Inko to take Izuku to see an endocrinologist. "Actually… now is the best time for it. There are definitely advantages to starting HRT before puberty is finished, but that's not all. I'm sure you know that Izuku has a strength-based quirk that he's had trouble controlling, right? It's actually kind of limited by how strong his body is, and testosterone helps a lot with putting on muscle. So if you think about it, starting testosterone will make Izuku less prone to injury!"

Izuku nodded repetitively, and Inko's eyebrows furrowed. "That sounds wonderful, but I hope you'll understand that I want to hear it coming from a doctor."

Izuku's eyes lit up. "You mean you'll take me to see an endocrinologist now?"

Inko sighed. She stared at something on the wall hard enough that she may as well be drilling a hole in it. A plate on the table also started rising up into the air, and as Inko collected herself, it was gently set back down. "Yes, dear, I'll take you to see an endocrinologist. Akiko, dear, it sounds like the one you saw has been quite good about all this, would you be willing to give me the information to make a phone call? And… might I speak to your mother as well?"

Wordlessly, Akiko grabbed a pen and piece of paper and wrote down the contact details of both their endocrinologist and their mum, and handed it to Inko. They couldn't help but exchange a high five with Izuku - they'd really done it, and soon Izuku would finally be able to start testosterone.

And then Inko refused to let Akiko leave before they had joined the Midoriyas for dinner.

Hitoshi rolled over and checked the time on his phone. It was almost 1am, and he wasn't going to fall asleep any time soon. He groaned. His insomnia had been getting better since coming to UA… or so he thought. Before then, he would lay awake most nights possessed with thoughts and worries about interactions he'd had with others, all just feeding his insomnia even more. Knowing how they all saw him, any poor social interaction could be costly, and he would replay the mistakes over and over in his head until he figured out what he did wrong and how to do better.

Going to UA, and just being accepted had lightened that burden a little, and Hitoshi had gotten decent sleep for the first couple nights. But now, his mind was busy again. It was a mess of anxieties, anticipations and warm, fuzzy thoughts of one person. Akiko. They had embraced a description of his quirk with open arms, excited about its applications. And then… and then they had asked him out on a date. Him. It wasn't just that they saw him as someone who can actually be a hero as opposed to an inevitable villain-to-be. They actually saw him as a person worth knowing, a person worth spending time with.

And then they had gone on that date, and Akiko asked if they could hang out even more. And it seemed optimistic, like the two of them would actually work out, and be in a relationship. What were the odds that on the second day of high school, Hitoshi would meet another ace person with a similar value set who lived in the same neighbourhood and actually liked him? It seemed impossible, and yet it had happened.

And then there was the whole entirety of who Akiko was. They were incredible - pretty, smart, with a powerful quirk that had gotten them the top score in the entrance exam. They were kind, patient and… Hitoshi squashed the thoughts away. Not that they were bad thoughts, but… He was blushing, and wanted to scream to let out the raw emotion he was feeling. In the dead of the night, Hitoshi didn't think that his parents or his neighbours would appreciate that. No, he just wanted to get to sleep. Things were going well for him, and perhaps they would get even better.

Sometime around 3am, Hitoshi finally drifted off to sleep.