Disclaimer: The plot and characters of My Hero Academia belong to Horikoshi Kouhei.

- Chapter 3 -

Curious

Ever since he had begun attending UA, Izuku had met a multitude of personalities. Everyone in the hero course was colorful and unique in a way that made him overly conscious of his own plain self.

Among them was, of course, Airashi Megumi. Although they didn't interact much, Izuku liked to think that she, in the least, acknowledged his existence with her petty jibes and haughty ridicule.

She never hung out with anyone besides Todoroki and usually had a sharp insult or two up her sleeve for anyone who dared to approach her. Ochako had told him once that she would go out of her way to change in the lavatories instead of in the locker rooms, just to avoid talking with them. Iida would always say that she had never been particularly amicable when they were younger and that her behavior had only gotten worse, with a disappointed shake of his head.

Izuku himself didn't harbor any ill feelings towards her, even when she snubbed or sneered at him with eyes so cold they could freeze a lava pit. If he hadn't written a full diary entry on her quirk already, he would have mistaken her quirk to be the ability to make anyone she looked at feel like a bug.

Maybe if he had met her in middle school, her words might have hurt him. Alas, he had his plate full with training both his body and mind in order to make All Might proud of his progress- nothing could discourage him now that he knew there was hope for him to achieve his dreams of becoming a hero. Kacchan could never bully him into giving up. Airashi's cold dismissal couldn't phase him either.

Izuku found that although both of them were fairly unpleasant, their aggression differed from each other. Kacchan got a lot more physical with the source of his anger (usually Izuku) and freely expressed his discontent to anyone standing 10 meters within his blast radius. Airashi on the other hand would throw a tantrum similar to that of a child, complaining and tearing down the person she addressed until they yielded to her demands. She was stubborn, perfectly shameless and most importantly, extremely self-centered.

So self-centered in fact that he couldn't help but pity her. For an egomaniac, she sure wasn't doing herself any favors.

Did she intentionally choose to ignore the unadulterated distaste Todoroki treated her with or did she really not realize his aversion to her mere presence? Why was she pushing away anyone who attempted to befriend her? Did she think they weren't worth her time? And the most pressing question Izuku found himself wondering about: someone who had no interest in heroes nor a desire to become one... what was she doing at UA?

'She must have a reason- everyone has a reason.' He would tell himself. But with each passing day, his vexation would grow.

Izuku couldn't forgive someone who had no rhyme or reason to become a hero.

And yet...

When he felt himself being shoved aside by slender yet strong arms, everything seemed to play out in slow motion.

Before the Nomu's fist made contact with Airashi, teal chains whipped out to wrap around its bulging muscles. She was flung away and with the ensuing momentum, the Nomu let out an ear-splitting screech when the chains ripped out the entirety of its arm. As quick as they had manifested, Airashi's chains disappeared in a wispy cloud of dust.

Before the resulting spray of blood could even land on the ground, All Might had charged into the clearing scooping up all four students stuck in the flood zone and dropping them off where the rest of their classmates had gathered.

Everything that happened afterwards was a blur to him.

The expression on her face at the moment of impact had haunted Izuku for days to come. He still wasn't sure if he had imagined it or not.

(Why would anyone be smiling, knowing they might die? He must have seen wrong.)

All Might made quirk work of the Nomu. It wouldn't stop screaming as its body struggled with regenerating the arm that had been ripped off, the flesh of its shoulder rotting away as if infected. With their Nomu down for the count and more pro heroes arriving to the scene, the villains had no other choice but to retreat. With the situation sorted, All Might had bid them a hasty farewell and Izuku worried that his mentor had pushed himself too far for him to make such a quick exit.

They were later told that Aizawa-sensei and Airashi were both transported to the hospital immediately, but that the class couldn't visit them, for they would be under supervised house arrest until the media and the legal procedures were taken care of. Some parents were not happy with the incident and wanted an explanation as to how this could have happened. His own mother had been ready to storm into UA's offices until he had fretfully managed to talk her out of it.

Meanwhile, the guilt was eating Izuku alive. Did heroes really need an explicit reason for wanting to be a hero? Airashi might not have had a real reason to become a hero- but that didn't mean he had the right to judge her based on his own prejudices as to what a hero should strive to be like.

So what if she didn't have a reason? She had still saved him.

As soon as he'd seen the messy blonde hair sliding the door open, he had stopped conversing mid-sentence and sped towards her as fast as a bullet, the apologies that had been on the tip of his tongue ever since that day spilling from his mouth like a waterfall. He had bowed low in an attempt to avoid those blue-green eyes that would undoubtedly look at him as if he were pure trash.

And maybe he was- after all, Izuku had never even bothered understanding her and written her off as someone with no drive whatsoever. Even now, he was apologizing because he wanted to get the guilt off of his chest. But someone with shallow intentions would never risk her own life for another...

He expected a barrage of verbal insults. A slap or punch, a sneer or whatever else that would embarrass him in front of the whole class. Heck, perhaps she would just straight up ignore his apology and leave him standing awkwardly. Izuku just closed his eyes tight and continued mumbling apologies in an attempt to stave off the inevitable.

And then he felt it. A light fist coming down onto the back of his head and slightly ruffling his hair. A haggard voice, similar to how his mother would placate him when he used to come home crying because of Kacchan.

"Uh.. don't worry about it. Anybody would have done the same."

...Had he unknowingly crossed over to some kind of alternate universe?

Bewildered, he looked up only to see her walking towards her seat. Todoroki's weary-confused expression when she sat down without sparing him a glance would have made him laugh under normal circumstances, but Izuku was far too preoccupied with what had just happened.

'Just how hard did the Nomu hit her?!'

He whipped his head toward Ochako and Iida, lifting a weak finger at Airashi's direction while sputtering. Ochako shrugged, scratching the back of her head uneasily. "Well, that was pretty different."

Iida coughed. "That was very brave of you Midoriya. Nevertheless, it's time for us to get back to our seats! The bell has rung a while ago and it doesn't seem like we will be having a substitute teacher!"

The change of topic was welcome, but Izuku still ended up overthinking everything as he sat down. Was that really Airashi? Had her concussion been that bad?

Iida was at the front of the classroom within seconds. "Everyone! Morning homeroom is about to begin. To your seats!"

Its not like he had been hoping for a beat-down or anything, but he hadn't expected her to look so tired and 100% done with life either.

"We're sitting, you're the only one up..."

The classroom door slid open with a Tchak!, revealing a heavily bandaged Aizawa. He muttered a lethargic "Morning." as he walked up to his desk.

Whatever the case, that apology had not only not eased his guilt in the least, but had also opened up a whole new world of questions concerning Airashi's sanity.

"You're back already Aizawa-sensei?! What an undeniable pro..."

Megumi felt like she was having an actual fever dream. Not a good one either.

"UA's sports festival is fast approaching."

She held back the urge to slide down in her seat and just disappear into the floor in a puddle of nothing.

The sports festival... so that's where they were at. It wasn't like she didn't know what the fuck to do with her quirk or anything. 'It's not like I learned how to activate my quirk YESTERDAY or anything.'

Yeah, she was kind of in deep shit.

There were some voices of dissent within the class regarding the sports festival, and she leaned forward hoping that she could perhaps maybe sit out on this one? Was that an option?

"It's mandatory."

Megumi leaned her head back praying for salvation. 'Sensei... Aizawa-sensei, you're killing me.'

"We need to demonstrate that UA's crisis management protocols are sound. That's the idea anyway. Compared to past years, there will be 5 times the police presence. Anyhow, aside from that... our sports festival is the greatest opportunity you'll get."

Was it though?

Sure, it was an event that enabled students to showcase their quirks and battle abilities to an audience as large as that of the Olympic games... but on the downside, they had to showcase their quirks and abilities to an audience as large as that of the Olympic games.

Which meant triple the embarrassment she would have experienced at a normal school function.

Megumi had a long way to go before she could actually figure out how to battle let alone walk with the chains she could conjure. It didn't help that her stamina was absolutely pitiful. The number of chains she could call upon were limited and their lengths depended on how many chains she created at the same time. Hence the higher her number of chains, the shorter their lengths.

Once they dispersed, she found that all her energy disappeared along with them. Considering that she could hold on to them for a maximum of 5 minutes before she felt faint and dizzy, she would have to make her fights short enough to score a win without fainting before her timer ran out. Another tactic she could employ was to use her quirk sparingly in intermittent bursts to make the most out of it.

From the very beginning, since the previous night when she had first activated her quirk, Megumi had been brainstorming about how she could survive future events without making too much of a fool of herself. So far, she had decided that the only thing that could possibly improve her survival rates was training.

Lots of training. Training until she bled sweat and sweat blood.

Megumi wasn't scrawny by all means, but she would certainly stand no chance in a 1v1 battle against an opponent with higher endurance. Hell, even 1-B's thornbush-hair girl could easily beat her, considering she didn't have to expend precious life force to summon fancy glowing chains.

Fuck, now she had flashbacks to the painful warm ups her swimming coaches had forced on her in 6th grade. Not to mention the hellish laps she had run in the high school girls football club she'd been a member of, before resigning to focus on her studies. Colby had been decently athletic as a kid- though, the same couldn't be said of her adult version.

Yaoyorozu piped up from somewhere in the front. "Japan's top heroes will be watching, right? They'll be there as scouts!"

Megumi cringed remembering the whole ass tantrum the Original had thrown when she saw that Yaoyorozu would be sitting in the back next to Todoroki, and had all but begged to switch seats with her. Another cringe attack was on its way. 'God, please, forget it forget it forget it, that was so stupid AGH.'

Never mind that. Yaoyorozu was right- the nation's top heroes would be attending. If Megumi embarrassed herself, she'd be doing it in front of hundreds of trained professionals.

...unacceptable.

She would rather die than look like an idiot who couldn't even control her quirk properly.

Getting internship requests, getting hired as a sidekick after graduation... she didn't care about that stuff. In fact, they seemed so trivial and so far away compared to what they were going to go through as first year students alone, that she couldn't even get excited about the fact she would be in the immediate vicinity of real life superheroes.

Fame and glory or whatever, the others could have it all. Megumi wanted a fresh start. She had promised herself; to Colby and the Original and even the chains that had coiled around her hands so lovingly in the comfort of her own room; she had promised that she wouldn't give up. Becoming a hero was her only option. It was the only thing she really had. Without any friends or family to depend on, it was all she had. A stupid sports festival wouldn't put an end to that.

Besides, the sports festival was an annual event. Megumi could give it her all knowing there would always be a next year.

With a new resolve, she powered through the math and modern literature classes. It was a bit confusing coming to terms with actually being able to read, write and comprehend Japanese- a language she had never once learned in her previous life. Her thoughts were still in English though... maybe she should see if she still had her American accent despite having switched to a body that wasn't as experienced with speaking English.

The bell rung after fourth period, signifying the start of their lunch break.

Everyone else was chattering between themselves, excited about the upcoming sports festival. Especially Uraraka. Her fighting spirit really shone through. Megumi admired that, especially knowing she herself didn't aim to achieve much during the festival.

She rummaged around her bag, finding the big, extravagant lunch box the maids had prepared for her. While leaving the classroom, she dropped it into a nearby trash can and made her way to the canteen.

On her way, she accidentally bumped shoulders with someone. With a glance she identified the red eyes and volcanic expression as none other than Bakugou. He pulled his lips so far back his canines and molars were visible, resembling a rabid dog ready to bite her throat off.

She scurried even faster into the canteen's direction. 'Nope. Not today. Or ever.'

Megumi stood to the side next to a wending machine in the canteen, with the bowl of ramen she had obtained after waiting in line for what felt like forever.

She didn't know where to sit. Where she could sit. The Original would always eat lunch with Todoroki, but she herself wasn't very keen on eating with someone who obviously felt uncomfortable with her. He looked perfectly content sitting by himself on one of the tables far away from all the noise.

Suddenly, her vision was obscured by a pink hand waving in front of her face.

She recognized the owner of the hand as Ashido. The pinkette had an easygoing smile on her face. "Heya Megumi! Watcha doing all alone?"

Megumi blinked when Asui chimed in, a finger on her lip in thought. Her wide eyes briefly glanced at the ramen in her hands. "It's unusual, ribbit. How come?"

With a nervous laugh, Megumi tried not to show her discomfort at being caught loitering all alone, like some loser. "Ahh, yeah. Well..."

She was honestly impressed by how articulate she could sound sometimes.

After a while of Megumi just awkwardly shifting around and trying to come up with an excuse, the two girls seemed to get the message that she wasn't in any mood to entertain their curiosity. Ashido giggled lightheartedly, patting her shoulder in an attempt to get her to relax. "If you're looking for a place to eat, I heard the school's rooftop is a nice place. Definitely not as crowded as the canteen."

Slyly, she also added, "Of course, we wouldn't mind if you sat down with us either."

Megumi could see Asui giving her an encouraging smile from behind the beaming Ashido. Suddenly, she felt butterflies in her stomach. The friendly aura they gave off was off the charts. So that's what being a hero course student was all about!

She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten together with her girl friends... there hadn't been much of an opportunity for her as Colby, seeing as they were all adults and too busy to meet up regularly. It had been pretty lonely.

It almost brought a tear to her eyes. They were offering her such a small thing- but for her, it felt enormous. Ever since she had woken up as Megumi, it had been one disappointment after another. A busted body, a livid homeroom teacher, a terrible family dynamic, no friends; in comparison, this really was a breath of fresh air. She really wanted to go with them.

However...

"I'll give the rooftop a try. A change of scenery doesn't sound bad."

She needed some time alone.

Their smiles dimmed a little, but they still maintained their affability. Ashido retracted her hand from Megumi's shoulder ever so slowly. "I see. Well-"

Megumi held onto Ashido's sleeve, the heat crawling up her neck and onto her cheeks. "M-maybe I can join you next time. Definitely. Yeah. I'll go now, thanks, bye." She then proceeded to march towards the exit, disappearing around the corner.

If she turned around, she would have seen the stunned, yet pleased faces both Asui and Ashido sported.

A/N:

Yo guys! Another week, another chapter.

Thanks for your follows, favorites and, of course, your reviews. They make my day. :')

Would you look at that, Megumi being awkward with her classmates. Awww. I was actually thinking of making Megumi act all cold and cool, before she went ahead and did her own thing with Tsuyu and Mina... Originally I didn't intend to include them at all. XD

A brief interaction with Bakugou, just cuz I could. You can tell it's gonna be a slow burn by the current state of their relationship. And the sports festival... hoo boy. Megumi has got a lot of catching up to do.