March 20th, 2016 (5 years later, Ayano is 13)

Aya stood in front of the mirror, glaring at her reflection. The ridiculous outfit she was wearing could only be described as… revealing.

The Spring Festival had arrived right on time, despite Ayano's silent prayers. She was hiding in the closet-turned-changing-room, running through excuses she could give Class Rep about how she couldn't wear this.

Ayano was mostly content with the class-wide decision to try their hands at making sweets from all over the world. She just didn't know why it was necessary for her to wear an off-the-shoulder maid's outfit with excessive bows and lace. It was a really pretty dress, don't get her wrong. The fit-and-flare style did wonders for her figure, the different shades of purple accents dressing up the mostly white dress.

You get what you pay for, I guess, Ayano didn't want to even try to guess the price tag. She was actually happy with how she looked, most of the time. Ayano just craved a jacket, shawl, scarf… hell, a big enough necklace would do the trick, if she managed to obtain some makeup.

A couple months ago, when planning for the festival had barely started, Ayano had seen the long list of ideas on the chalkboard and became excited. The festivals in elementary school had been fun enough, what could be so different about Junior High?

This, apparently. She looked into her reflection again, her eyes drawn to the thin line on her neck that started below the right side of her jaw and stopped over her collarbone. Her right hand reached up to cover it. Her hands reached up to pull her hair out of the bun her mom forced it in this morning. Her lion's mane did nothing to disguise the scar; in Ayano's eyes, it looked even more obvious.

The curly brunette was tempted by the scissors she could see peeking out of a drawer behind her. If the dress is all ripped up, there's no way Class Rep can force me to wear it! But as her hand reached for the sharp shiny tool, a knock snapped her out of her destructive planning.

"Ayano-san, are you done yet? Other girls need to change, too!" Aya sighed, straightened her back, then opened the door to see Sameko, the Class Representative.

Sameko's face lit up, "Great! It looks so much better on you than the mannequin!"

Ayano disagreed, but smiled at the nice rich girl that had funded the class's uniforms. "Thanks," She pulled the fabric of the collar a bit, "uhh, do you think I could put a jacket over-"

"Absolutely not!" The nice rich girl's face suddenly didn't look so nice. "If you put a jacket over it, you ruin the whole look!"

One of Ayano's classmates tapped her shoulder to get into the closet-turned-dressing-room behind her. Her hands came up in apology and she moved away from the door. She turned to try to convince Sameko-san that she really didn't think a jacket would affect the quality of the pastries she made. However, the Class Rep was already busy with someone else's problem.

After a second of hesitation, she decided not to walk around the school covering her neck with her hands. She crossed her arms over her stomach, hugging herself. Air came through her nose and out her mouth, taming some of her restless thoughts. Her body weaved her way through students to the kitchen on autopilot. As ideas went, baking international sweets was a great one, and Aya was honestly excited to share a piece of her heritage with her peers.

Of course, to make her day one million times worse, she turned the last corner before her destination and ran right into the last person she wanted to see.

"Oh, how adorable, the seiyōjin thought putting herself in a maid uniform would make her look like she belongs!" Ayano cringed as the designated School Bitch called her westerner. Her hands automatically came up to cover her exposed neck as she turned red, covering the top of the dress with her arms. Her parents hadn't quite taught her that vocab word, she had to ask Izuku why people were calling her that. It wasn't one of her favorite memories.

The water haired girl-how do you wash water hair? Fish tank cleaner?-next to The Main Bitch laughed with a hiccup (Ayano guessed it was caused by her gills on her neck). As the two other girls in the Bitch Squad laughed with their leader, Ayano was left wondering what the joke was.

She raised an eyebrow, giving the cackling witches an unimpressed look, "Really? That's the best insult you could come up with?" She looked down at her outfit, and her brows pinched, "How often would you have to wear a maid costume to think that it's normal?" The laughing squad in front of her fell quiet, but she heard a few girls giggling behind her.

The black-haired leader of the group was by far the prettiest girl in school, as long as you were applying the beauty standards from before quirks developed. Her pale skin made her dark eyes and hair resemble the night sky, and her heart seemed to match the aesthetic. Ayano avoided her at all costs, since the girl had been raised with traditionalist values, she often made unsolicited comments about Ayano's heritage.

She rolled her eyes and went to walk around them when the one with gills reached out and stopped her, her name might have something to do with the ocean.

Head Bitch, Ayano honestly couldn't remember her name anymore… it was kind of sad, spoke up again. "We have a proposition for you, Aya-chan."

'Aya-chan' raised an eyebrow. Pretty sure that's the first time she's used my name, honestly surprised she remembered it.

Since Fishy was still in her way, she decided to bite the bait, "Oh, yeah?"

The blue eyed girl didn't like the way the xenophobic girl smirked before replying. "You know," Ayano watched her manicured hand reach into her backpack, "You should know better than to leave important things just lying around." She watched in horror as her hand slowly pulled out a small purple book from her bag.

I would recognize those stickers anywhere! Ayano's eyes narrowed and her fists clenched, "Where did you get that?!" She had lost her journal just over a week ago, she figured it was hidden in her room somewhere but…

The Devil Bitch laughed again, "Do you really care? I have it now and isn't that all that matters?" She flipped the book open, "It took me a while to decipher," She turned to her audience, which had gathered rather quickly, "The foreigner can't even write properly so half of it's in English. But when I got my dad's British friend to help me, it was such an entertaining read." The grin on her face spread too far and her eyes too wide for her to look pretty anymore.

Shit. Ayano wanted to curl into a ball, wishing she had burned that stupid journal when she had the chance. She had no idea what page it was turned to, but she could imagine any of them would have something way too embarrassing to read to their peers.

She didn't really want to know what the dark haired girl wanted, but it was probably the only way to keep the journal as private as possible. "What do you want?" Ayano kept her eyes on the purple hardcover book in her opponent's hand as she closed it again.

"Well, it's actually really simple," Her eyes darkened and her grin widened as she pointed at the ground, "I want you to beg me for it."

The tension in the air heightened, the two girls facing off in a battle of wills. Ayano took a deep breath to keep herself from screaming in frustration. She locked her pride in a box and ground the words out.

"Will you please give my journal back?" Before she finished speaking, The Bitch was shaking her head in disapproval.

She repeated her action, pointing at the ground with an immaculate nail, "Do it properly, seiyōjin."

Ayano looked around the crowd that had gathered, a few seemed to be on The Bitch Squad's side, smirking with her. Others showed pity for Ayano or plain amusement at the show. She took a deep breath and prepared herself to save what was left of her reputation.

あきら End Chapter 5 あやの