"There we go! Let your true power shine!" Ochaco whooped, bouncing and clapping her hands. Her bubbly excitement was quite infectious, and, even if she wasn't already smiling from Izuku's accomplishment and showing Aizawa up, it would have definitely rubbed off on Mia.

"His finger appears to be broken now," Iida pointed out. "Just like at the exam. His Quirk has some very peculiar draw-backs. It's not very effective. Powerful, yes…"

"I would say it's more so his body isn't suited for that kind of power," Mia retorted, thoughtfully cupping her chin as she stared at the boy. "And, if I were to go off of Bakugo-" A quick glance towards the sandy blond, who had the most amusing mixture of shock and anger on his face. "I'm assuming they've known each other for a long time. He said Izuku was Quirkless." She gave the slightest of inclinations of her head.

That meant one of two possibilities: either Izuku just got his Quirk, or he has been lying about it all his life. And, as unlikely as it was, Mia knew just where she was placing her bets. And, as his shocked face twisted into a complete rage, Mia knew Bakugo had placed his bets on the other possibility.

His hands began to sizzle, small bursts of fire from his shaking palms. Before anyone could react, the raging teen charged at Izuku. "Deku, you bastard! Tell me how you did that or you're dead."

Poor Izuku looked like he was about to piss himself, nervously screaming. Mia's fingers started to glow, but something shot through the air, waggling about like a snake, and wrapped around the hormonal teen. He couldn't move, struggling to even look back at their teacher.

"Why the hell is your damn scarf so strong?" he growled.

"Because," Aizawa started matter-a-factually, his eyes glowing and his hair flying about. "It's a capture weapon made out of carbon fiber and a special metal alloy. Stand down." The air chilled as he spoke those words, his authority absolute. After a moment, he blinked, his hair falling back into place as he released Bakugo from his hold. "Now, stop wasting my time. Whoever's next, get on with it.

He turned away, and as he did, Izuku slowly inched away from the blond, hands clenched at his chest as his face twisted with unease. Once he was far enough, he quickly ran towards the rest of the class, sulking between Mia and Ochaco.

"You're finger. Is it okay?" the brunette asked.

Izuku nodded. "It's fine. It doesn't hurt too bad."

"Are you okay?" Mia asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

His face flushed brightly. "Ah, well, I just said I'm-"

"I don't mean your finger," she interrupted, casting a wary glance over at the unstable blond who was glaring at Izuku.

"O-oh. Uhm... It's fine. He's always been like that.."

"He sounds like a jerk," Mia concluded, crossing her arms as she shot her own glare at him.

After that, the class did the remaining three tests. Nothing interesting happened, which was probably for the best. After Bakugo's little scene, no one wanted to risk the ire of Aizawa again.

They huddled around their teacher. "Alright. Time for your results. I've ranked you all from best to worst. I'm not going to go through each individual score, but you should all have a relatively good idea on where you stand." He pulled out his phone and produced a hologram, displaying twenty-one names.

Everyone huddled closer to find their name. Mia found hers at number five. With a smile and a nod, she turned her attention to the last spot. Her smile fell, shoulders slumped.

Oh, no…

She looked at Izuku, his eyes welling with tears. She sighed. She wanted to lay a hand on his shoulder once more, desperate to comfort him. She reached out.

"And I was lying." Her hand jerked to a halt. "No one's going home." Everyone looked at Aizawa with equally shocked expressions. "That was a rational deception to make sure you gave it your all."

Several of her classmates let out shocked gasps. Others yelled. Izuku was close to fainting from obvious relief.

"I'm surprised you didn't figure that out," Yaoyorozu said, scratching her cheek. "I'm sorry. I guess I should have said something."

Several of her classmates, all of which Mia assumed to have scored pretty low, all agreed that she should have.

"We're done for the day. Pick up a syllabus in the classroom. Read it over before tomorrow morning." He turned to Izuku, handing him a slip of paper. "Take this, and have the old lady fix you up." Izuku took the slip, his brows knitted together. "Things are gonna be tougher tomorrow when your actual training begins. Make sure you're prepared."

He left, and everyone was quick to make it back to the class to pick up the syllabus. There was no need to stay, after that. They had missed orientation.

Mia was slow to gather her things, tossing her backpack over her shoulder. What a strange day…

She heard a soft shuffling next to her, and she glanced over to see Todoroki retrieving his own things. He looked up to see her staring. She swallowed thickly, her cheeks warming, as she quickly turned her attention to the syllabus in hand.

Say something. Don't be the weird girl who just stares...

"Uhm, you did really good," she said, fidgeting a bit before looking back up at him. "During the exam."

He didn't say anything.

Did I do something to offend him? She clenched at the page, wrinkling it just a bit.

"Do... Do you want to walk out together?" she asked, silently berating herself. Could she be any more obvious? Even he looked a little taken back by her request. "I just figured, ya know. We're gonna be desk-mates for a long while. We could get to-"

"Sure. I guess that wouldn't be a problem, Tanaka."

Mia blinked and smiled up at him. "Cool! But, seriously, call me Mia."

He furrowed his brows. He definitely didn't seem like the informal type, as she suspected. But he got over it, nodding his head. "Alright. Mia." No request to call him Shoto. That was fine.

Beaming, she started for the door, glancing back to make sure he was following after her. He fell into step beside her, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Hey, Mia!" The white-haired youth looked over to see Ochaco rushing over to the two, followed by Izuku and Iida. Shoto looked a bit apprehensive as more people approached. "Let's walk out together."

"Alright," she chirped.

Izuku slumped as soon as the group, as well as a hesitant Todoroki, started to leave the building. "Man... I'm so tired," he murmured. And he definitely looked it.

"How's the finger?" Mia asked.

"It's fine. Recovery Girl is amazing!"

"I have to admit, Aizawa's approach to his class is a bit questionable," Iida started. "But, I trust the school's judgment. U.A. is the top program. However, lying is just so… Immoral."

"I don't think he was lying."

Everyone turned their attention to Mia.

"You don't?" Ochaco asked.

Mia shook her head. "No. I think he had every intention to expel the person in last place." She focused in on Izuku, eyebrow quirked slightly. "I think you changed his mind."

Izuku let out a surprised squeal and started shaking his head. "What? No, I don't think so. How could I have done that?" His eyes widened suddenly, and he looked up at the sky, softly muttering to himself. Mia could only catch snippets.

Mia shrugged. "I could be wrong. But, ya know. You were still standing. Not broken, like he suspected you to be. Whatever he said to you, you proved him wrong."

"Yeah! That was amazing, Deku!" Ochaco praised, bouncing as she walked.

Izuku flinched a bit. "D-Deku?!"

"Yeah, isn't that what Bakugo called you?"

"We-well, yeah. Bu-but, you see, "Deku" is a nickname Kacchan calls me to make fun of me."

"So, he's a jerk and a bully," Mia said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"That seems likely," Todoroki quipped.

Ochaco rubbed the back of her head, her cheeks faintly changing color. "S-sorry! I didn't realize. That's a shame, though. I liked it. I thought "Deku" was really cute."

"DEKU IT IS!"

"Just like that? Didn't you just say it was an insult?"

Izuku covered his face, a faint trace of his flushed skin barely visible. "Paradigm shift! My whole world is upside down."

"Huh?"

"Heh…" Mia couldn't help the soft chuckle, her gaze softening as she watched her classmates. She felt like she could get along with this group. "Mind if I call you Deku, too?"

"NOT AT ALL!"

Laughter rose from the group. Hell, Mia thought she even saw a soft smile form on Todoroki's face, though she wasn't too sure.

The next morning came quickly, which brought the official first day of school.

At first, it went by like a regular day of school, what with your typical core classes, like math, English, whatnot. Most of those were in the mornings.

It went by pretty quickly. Most of the class looked bored out of their minds, though Mia couldn't fault them for that. She was pretty sure some thought the academic portion of schooling was behind them, and that they would get to focus on hero stuff.

Lunchtime came around, and everyone met in the cafeteria where everyone was served delicious food from the freaking Cook Hero himself, Lunch Rush. This place was so cool.

Mia walked through the crowd, her tray in hand, looking for Deku and her other friends. She spotted them a little ways away before she spotted a certain boy with red and white hair, a few empty seats around him. She glanced back at her other friends before making her way over to him.

"Hey," she chirped, causing him to glance up at her. "This seat taken?"

He looked at the seat directly across from him, blinking in confusion. "I don't think Hagakure is sitting there," he said, his gaze returning to her.

"No, she's sitting over there." Sure enough, the invisible girl sat with a couple of their classmates, chattering away as teenage girls did. He stared at her. "Sooooooo… You don't mind if I sit with you?"

"Why would I mind?"

Mia took that as an invitation to sit with him. "I dunno. Why would you?" He opened his mouth, probably to spout out a reason or two, but Mia held up her hand. "Rhetorical question. Don't answer."

The two ate in silence. Well, mostly in silence. Mia did try to strike up a conversation, but his responses were rather minimalistic. It was as if he didn't really want to talk.

Maybe he isn't super into the idea of having friends…

Or into being friends with her, specifically.

Either way, both thoughts stifled her attempts at trying to make conversation.

She was just about finished with her food, and, deciding she had her fill, both of food and the silence between them, got up to leave.

"Did I offend you?"

Mia stopped and looked at Todoroki. She sighed and shook her head. "No. I kinda assumed I may have offended you."

He was silent again, staring at the remainder of his food. "You didn't."

After another moment, he, too, stood up, tray in hand. The two dumped their trays off just. Not too long afterward, lunch was over, and everyone filed back into their classroom.

Once everyone was in their seats, whispers buzzed across the room. Excited little buzzes. Hero Basic Training.

All Might, their teacher. Plenty of the kids looked up to the Pro, and all couldn't believe that he was there!

The door began to slide open, which silenced all the chatter, and suddenly, a body flew through the door with finesse and charm.

"I am here! Look at me, heroically entering the classroom!"

Mia let out an awed gasp, clasping her hands together as the giant of a man flamboyantly posed in front of his students, wearing his Silver Age costume.

Oh, how nostalgic!

"Oh my gosh! All Might!"

"Wow! He really is here! This year is gonna be totally awesome!"

All Might stood at the front of the class, hands resting on his hips as he smiled his dazzling smile that so many fell in love with.

All eyes were on him. After all, his presence was one that demanded apt attention.

"Welcome to the most important class at U.A. High! Think of it as Hero-ing 101! Here, you will learn the basics of becoming a pro. And, what it means to fight in the name of good." He threw his arms up and began to flex, his muscles rippling beneath the colorful spandex. "Let's get into it! Today's lesson will pull no punches!" He threw out a card, the word BATTLE large as day, his dramatic flair a wondrous sight.

"Fight training!" Bakugo yelled, a bit too excitedly.

"Real combat?" Deku didn't sound… Quite as excited, to put it lightly.

"Yes!" All Might continued. "But! One of the keys to being a hero is…" He pointed at the wall. "…looking good!" Several panels opened and slid out, revealing cases with numbers on them. "These were designed for you based on your Quirk registration forms and the requests you sent in before school started."

The class could barely contain their excitement, gasps, cheers, and even a whoop-whoop-hurray! was thrown in there.

"Our costumes! Alright!" Kaminari whooped.

All Might grinned, quite pleased. "Right! Suit up! And then meet me at Training Ground Beta!"

No one needed to be told twice, students rushing to get their assigned cases. Mia headed straight for the girl's locker room, the other girls in tow. It dawned on her that there weren't that many girls in the class. Six. Seven, including her.

"Oh, this is so exciting!" the pink girl, Ashido, gushed.

Mia removed her uniform until she was in only her bra and panties, neatly folding it and placing it aside. Opening her case, she let out a soft squeal. Her costume looked so goooood! And it wasn't even out of the case yet. She couldn't believe it! She pulled it out, setting each individual piece aside.

She slipped into the first piece, a tight-fitting, turtleneck jumpsuit, mostly white in color, save for the black shoulders and neck, along with the black alternating horizontal strips that started right at her elbows and right above her knees. The fabric felt like a dream and felt oh so breathable. Next, she slipped into a short, strapless corset dress. The corset was a dark purple, three large, white buttons went down the front middle. The bust of the dress was a lighter purple, a shade or two from matching her eyes, with black embroidery lining the top. The skirt of the dress resembled a frilly miniskirt, each frill alternating between the two tones of purple.

Dark-light-dark.

She swooped a rather lovely, glittery black cape that fell to her knees over her shoulders, the inside black and white stripes. She tied it at her neck with a dainty, purple bow, which matched the bows that were placed at the tops of her mid-calf boots with matching purple laces.

The final piece, one that would put it all together, was the bit that she was most excited for. A lovely Volto mask, the color of pure ivory save for the rosy cheek blushies and a painted smile. The eye slits were wide enough just so that she could see properly, and was painted a dark purple. To give the illusion of makeup, the "lids" of the eyes were painted a light lavender, as well as given quite the dramatic cat-eye.

She looked herself over in one of the mirrors, double-checking to make sure everything was in order. Yes, she looked fantastic! She straightened her hair, making sure it fell over her mask perfectly and made sure her hair clips were in their proper place.

She looked like a proper hero.

Well… A proper hero in training, anyways.