I was awake far before the alarm went off. Moe shut it off before I could reach it, fully dressed. I laughed.

"Man, are we going to be tired this afternoon."

Both of us nice and cute in our uniforms, I snapped a selfie for the first day of school, then we snuck out; most of the others would still be asleep, but I had to drop Moe off at his class before I headed to mine, so the head-start was necessary.

My little brother hid behind me when we reached his classroom; there were a few other kids there already, one or two younger than him, about three a few years older. They all spoke amongst themselves cheerily, pulling out different levels of textbooks and settling into their desks. The teacher was… baffling, to say the least.

Only a few inches taller than I was, she had bright green hair, an orange bandanna, then baggy shorts with green and orange stripes. Her shirt was a neutral black, as were her boots, but there was a wild look in her eye that made me uneasy.

"Hi!" She said with overwhelming enthusiasm, "Well, you look too big to be my new student." She told me.

"Ah, I'm Juniper. It's my little brother Moe…" I gestured behind me to where Moe was hiding. The teacher gave him a big smile.

"Moe! Hi there! I'm Ms. Joke, the laughing hero!" She posed then laughed. Yikes, this was not a personality type that Moe knew how to handle well. Surprisingly, though, she sobered and crouched down so she was at his level, "I hear you're a bright kid, Moe. You want to go into the Support track, right?"

Moe took a minute, but eventually nodded.

"Well, I find that really admirable. I feel like I know a lot about you already." She grinned, "How about we see what you can do, so we can figure out how to make you… PLUS ULTRA!"

Little did I know I'd be hearing that school motto a LOT.

"Alrighty." She held out her hand, "Come on, you don't want your sister to be late to her first day, do you?" Hesitantly, Moe stepped out from in front of me and put his hand in hers. She picked him up in one movement and tossed him like a football into a desk. He seemed too surprised to be upset. "Alright! Everyone say hi to Moe!" While the kids surrounded him and introduced themselves, Ms. Joke turned to me, "I know that face."

"Am I making a face?" I tried not to.

"I still work professionally on my days off." She told me, hands on hips, "I'm not one to brag, but these kids can't be any safer than with a professional hero as their tutor." That did put me at ease. "And don't worry about him fitting in!" She was cheery again, "I can tell he wants to be here, so I'm sure he'll do just fine! See?"

Sure enough, Moe was watching one kid demonstrate her quirk, clapping as she bowed. Then, he busily began scribbling in his notebook.

"Okay." I sighed, "I'm appeased. Thanks."

"I gotcha. Focus on your classes and leave the rest to me."

"Yes ma'am!"

One disoriented sprint later, I made it to the correct classroom: 1A. At least it was easy to remember.

I expected the first day jitters and insecurity, I expected the spacious classroom, I even expected the intimidating classmates.

What I didn't expect were so many familiar faces.

"Manderly!" Tenya Ida seemed just as surprised as I was. He was sitting up front, and I couldn't help but admire his posture, self-consciously straightening my own back when I saw him. It was a tiny relief to see someone I recognized though, so I walked over to his desk, "I didn't expect to see you here. I thought you weren't interested in the test."

"Ah, Ida, right?" I recalled, "And yeah, it's a common sentiment. Little kid conned me into finding and following my dream or something of the like. I'm usually not great at tests but since I was so distracted, I guess I didn't get the chance to psych myself out."

"Hm, yes, I suppose your circumstance would remove the usual test fright and encourage you to increase your efficiency. How unusual." He shrugged and gave a welcoming smile, "Regardless, if you're here it means you must have performed outstandingly, so I look forward to studying alongside you." My nerves started to ease.

"Thanks, Ida. Likewise."

"Wait, aren't you that girl I had to drag to the infirmary?" I turned to see an angry looking boy sitting on top of a desk by the window. It was the same spiky blonde that had been rude but admittedly helpful on test day. I'd be lying if I said I he didn't kind of scare me.

"Juniper Manderly." I greeted him, "And I never got the chance to thank you, by the way."

"Don't thank me." He seemed greatly offended at the notion, "That old hag of a nurse made me do it. But never mind that, there's no way you scored any points in that battlefield. I saw you fall on your face."

Oh yeah.

I gave a sheepish grimace.

"I definitely did better on the written test." I confirmed, "And, alas, you saw me at my two weakest moments during the practical portion. Oh! I haven't caught your name."

"Katsuki Bakugo." He jabbed a thumb at himself, "Remember the name cause I'm going to be the next number one hero." Oh, ambitious. I could appreciate that.

"Nice to meet you, Bakugo. Do you know if the seats are assign-" The door to the classroom slid open and I saw Bakugo's face morph from one of annoyance and boredom to one of pure rage. In an instant, he stepped up on his desk and jumped right over my head. I whirled around to see none other than Midorya standing paralyzed at the door.

"DEKU, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Bakugo's arm raised in preparation.

"I'm gonna die." Deku, as was apparently his nickname, squeaked before diving behind the door again right as a huge explosion burst from Bakugo's hand. A red-haired boy named Kirishima and Ida both bravely held Bakugo back.

"Attacking other students is far from…"

"Chill, dude, you'll wreck our classroom."

Deku peeked back in. I caught his eye, grimaced, and waved. He and I met at the back of the classroom, putting our things into the cubbies.

"So I'm not the only one who finds this place terrifying?" I asked quietly. Deku forced a smile.

"It doesn't matter. We… we made it here, right?"

"Right." I finally figured out the assigned seat system and found myself in the second row, right behind Ida, in front of Deku, and between Bakugo and a girl named Uraraka.

Something behind the teacher's desk moved when the bell rang. There was… a yellow sleeping bag? With a sigh, the figure shuffled to his feet, slowing unzipping himself from the sleeping bag.

"Was he sleeping there the whole time?"

"Is he okay?"

I recognized that tired face. It was the terrifying man who had proctored my test. Surely he wasn't…

"Good morning." He said in a dead voice, "My name is Shota Aizawa, and I'll be your homeroom teacher this year. Change into your PE uniforms and meet me out back."

Ida's hand flew into the air.

"What?"

"Sir, the opening ceremony will be happening in the auditorium soon. Aren't all classes required to attend?"

"UA isn't bound by standardized traditions, which means I get to run my class the way I see fit. You're in the hero course now, so no, you don't get opening ceremonies or low-key first days. We're getting straight to work. You have five minutes to be outside." With that, he shuffled out.

Yup, that sounded about right.