That day, Pan and Bulla returned to the orphanage after being treated to ice cream by Togata and Nejire. "I can't believe it, Shizui! We're going to UA!" Pan said as Bulla climbed onto her top bunk.
"We're so happy for you!" Hina told her with a wide smile.
"You're so lucky!" Shizui followed, clapping her hands together. "Make sure you say hi to Akiba, alright?"
"Akiba? Oh! You mean your brother! Isn't here here at the orphanage? I don't think I've seen him around very much." Pan told them, pressing her fist onto her palm.
"That's because Akiba works whenever he's not at school. He only makes it back in just before curfew, and being a second-year at UA is hard enough, as is, I'd imagine." She explained.
"Speaking off, what's your Quirk, Shizui?" Pan asked her. "And yours, Hina."
"Oh, I can activate enhanced reflexes. When I do, my eyes turn red." Shizui explained.
"And I can filter air by taking deep breaths." Hina continued. While the girls continued to chatter about, Bulla remained in her bed, her head turned to the wall. The words of that small mouse man echoed through her mind. "Why do you want to be a hero?"
I want to be able to protect the ones I love, no matter the cost! That was her reason, as cliche they come. Only on the surface though, as nobody but Pan could understand what she was going through. It's no wonder Sir Nighteye chose Pan... Despite what we've gone through, she's still able to smile. She's still able to laugh, and act almost as if nothing's wrong. Because she's strong. Way stronger than I am...
"Hey Bulla!" Pan suddenly said, catching her attention.
"Huh?!" Disoriented, Bulla picked herself up and turned around. "Oh, what is it, Pan?"
Her fists clenched and she threw one forward. "Let's spar! We can get some more practice in while we're waiting for school to start!"
"Right now?!" Bulla asked, earning a nod back from her friend. With a sigh, she hung her head. "I guess it can't be helped. Man, you're a lot more like Super Grandpa Goku than Uncle Gohan." She told her as she jumped out from the top bunk. The two made their way outside and approached the playground. Once they entered found enough distance away from the backdoor of the orphanage, they separated by about five meters and turned to face each other.
"You know, you take after your brother more than you do your dad, too, Bulla. Trunks was always the least eager out of everyone to get into a fight!" Pan said, stretching her arms.
"That's because he began training with your dad after that Universal Tournament ended. He taught him generosity before aggression. Unlike Super Grandpa Goku, who always seemed to do the opposite." Bulla retorted, reaching down to touch her toes. "He was always looking for a fight first, and caring for his opponent second."
"Well at least he had some kind of compassion for his opponents, unlike your dad." Pan responded with a chuckle, taking a fighting stance as a fist slammed into her gut. Although she was just making idle banter, the memories of her family began to flood Bulla's mind, causing her to briefly lose her sense of reason. "Cheap shot!" Pan spoke through her teeth as a fist connected with Bulla's cheek, briefly knocking her sideways. After the immediate shock, Pan's blow could no longer push Bulla back as she forced her friend into the defensive, throwing a fist towards Pan's right temple.
Although she managed to block, Bulla didn't allow for any openings, quickly unloading a series of heavy punches into Pan's left temple, right rib, and gut, finishing the combo by circling around her and throwing her friend over her shoulder. She was caught off-guard, but Pan didn't waver for long as she caught herself with her feet, pushing Bulla away from her right-angle position and hopping into a somersault, allowing herself to bring a heavy kick downward.
Bulla raised her arms above her head, catching the kick in between her arms, however, Pan twisted herself upright and threw her foot into Bulla's chest before spinning around to throw another kick into her temple. Bulla spun around and flew back, but she caught herself as she skid along the dirt. Both girls took a moment to wipe the blood dripping from their mouths.
This time, Pan was the one to rush forward, spinning around to throw a heavy roundhouse, but only for Bulla to block it. Bulla could feel it, though. The weight of her opponent's kicks as she began to unload a series of varying kicks. She couldn't stop them all, having calmed down, now without her emotional boost in power, and Pan quickly took the upper hand once again. As another blow slammed into her gut, Bulla grabbed her friend's leg and threw a punch into her gut, however, the weight beneath her suddenly vanished as Pan lifted her free leg, causing Bulla to lose her balance and released Pan's leg instinctively to catch herself. She watched Pan's foot slam on the ground before a heavy weight slammed against the back of her head.
She hit the ground hard, kicking up some dirt as she tumbled. Her body suddenly began to feel heavy as both girls took deep breaths. "I'm sorry if I upset you, Bulla. I wanted to tell you that earlier, but you were coming at me so hard. I couldn't let that opportunity pass!" She said in between breaths. Pan helped her friend up and put her arm over her shoulder.
As they made their way to the bathroom, Bulla found herself lost in thought. Yeah... It's just like I thought. Pan is just stronger than me. Both mentally, and physically. She's just stronger than I am...
"Come on, slowpoke! We're going to be late!" Pan shouted as the two darted down the hall.
"We? Pan, we're in different classes!" Bulla reminded her as the two made their way down the hall. "And don't run so fast! You need to watch your skirt!" She called out to her friend.
"Oh, come on, there's nobody else around!" She called back as they came to a halt in front of a large brown door with the characters '1-A' displayed across. "Pan, this is my class." She said as she looked up. This door is massive!
"Well...here we are..." Pan said, the slight hint of disappointment apparent in her voice. "I'll...see you after school, okay? Don't leave without me, meet me by the gate." Pan told her, doing her best to keep a smile on her face.
"Of course." Bulla assured, holding her friend's hands. "You do your best, alright?"
"You, too." As their hands let go, they each felt a sense of loneliness. It was the first time that they had to intentionally part ways, and it was only the first of many. As Bulla entered her classroom, closing the door behind her, Pan felt a stream of tears begin to flow down her cheeks. Dammit... Stop crying! All this time, she had been strong for Bulla, because of Bulla. And now that they were separate, it almost felt as if she's lost that strength, or the reason she had for being strong. She'll be fine! Just keep on for her!
Pan continued down the hall, catching Class 1-B a ways down from Class 1-A, she entered, soon to begin her three years at UA.
Bulla was maybe the tenth or eleventh person to join the class. As she opened the door, her head hung and her feet grew cold. Walking over to the second closest desk to her in the front row, and sat down. Although she could feel the eyes on her, she tried her best to ignore them, still wanting to learn from this class despite not wanting the attention.
She began writing on two separate pages on her notebook. One for notes about the class, and one for notes about her classmates. One of the last few empty desk became occupied by a boy with spiky blond hair and red eyes, who kicked his feet up onto his desk. Within minutes, a tall boy with dark blue hair and glasses got up to scold him, causing an argument to break out. In her 'Classmate' section, she doodled the two boys with their own individual notes. Next to the rude boy, she wrote, 'Avoid! Doesn't like to be correct! Very mean!' while next to the taller boy, she wrote 'Uptight! Be weary of! Don't break rules around him!'
Following him, a boy with messy green hair joined, along with a girl with curled brown hair and a rounded face, swinging her arm up and down. Next to their doodles, she wrote 'Really nice and bubbly! Probably a good person!' with a question mark next to the new boy's doodle. The tall boy approached him, and she could hear their introductions. Tenya Iida, and Izuku Midoriya. As the name's flowed out of their mouths, she wrote them down by their respective doodles.
"If you're here to make friends, then you can start packing up now." The class suddenly heard. All eyes turned to the door as the unfamiliar voice spoke once more. "Welcome to UA's Hero Course. It took eight seconds before you all shut up, and that's not going to work." Just through the door, Bulla could see the source of the voice, a man pulling himself out of a sleeping bag, dressed in all black with a scarf bundled around his neck. "Time is precious, and rational students would understand that."
As she began to doodle in her notebook, she wrote the note, 'Obviously the teacher,' next to the scraggy drawing. Following that, she wrote 'What the f-' However, before she could finish, the teacher began to speak again. "Hello, I'm Shota Aizawa, and I'm going to be your teacher." As he stepped into the door frame, he pulled out a blue track suit. "Alright, let's get to it. Put these on and head outside."
The first day. School hasn't even started, and we're already about to get our first obstacle! Bulla thought to herself, clenching her first as she put her notebook away. No matter what it is, I need to tackle it head-on! Just as Pan would do!