"You have a shadow."

"Huh?"

"Behind the banister. Geez, she's been watching you for days already and you're just noticing?" came Bakugo's gruff voice. He didn't like any of these extras, but the girl had been following them for a while now and it wouldn't take much more for him to finally blow his top and confront her about it.

"Who-?" Cluelessly shifting in his seat Eijiro Kirishima caught sight of a dark flash before it disappeared from sight. Shrugging his shoulders he continued eating his meal between conversation with Bakugo and Sero.

*behind the banister*

"Still stalking him?"

Kae Itoyo wasn't surprised when Jurota Shishida walked up behind her vantage point just to admonish her, her tail flicking listlessly behind her. "Shut up! It's not stalking, it's observing!"

"You're giving our class a bad reputation. Just go talk to him already! He seems like a nice enough guy, he won't reject you too badly."

Kae's thick black tail bristled behind her, "There's nothing to reject me for! I'm just curious, obviously!"

"Monoma's not gonna be happy when he hears about your crush, Kae."

"There. is. no. crush! I'm just curious about him!"

"Uh-huh. Why don't you talk to him then?"

"Because I can't just walk up to him without any kind of dirt on him! Just look at him, he's way too nice. He's got to have some skeletons in his closet. Maybe he's a closet pervert or something."

"You'd like that wouldn't you?"

"I said I don't like him!"

"I know you're trying to be slick, but everyone can totally see your ears." Quickly grabbing onto her furry ears, Kae followed after Jurota, face feeling hot. "You better not speak a word of this, Shishida."

"I know better than that. Seeing you embarrass yourself is much easier to deal with than Monoma's obsessive rivalry." They sat at a table with the rest of their class, thankfully, Monoma was nowhere to be found. Picking at the plate of food Tetsutetsu grabbed for her, Kae's thoughts still lingered on the red haired boy in class 1A.

She wasn't the smartest girl on the block, but she knew when to trust her instincts. Or more specifically, her quirk. Born with a mutant type quirk Panther Kae had a relatively normal childhood, save for the fact that she sometimes got a little overwhelmed by sensory stimulus and often sought out refuge in secluded quiet areas. Which is where her knight in shining armor found her a few weeks ago. Crouched in a corner with her hand over her nose, hiding.

"Um hey. Are you alright there?"

Kae kept her eyes focused in front of her, "Yes it's just a little overwhelming." He seemed to agree. "I know what you mean. A lot of hopefuls this year! But I'm sure you'll do great!" He gave her an optimistic thumbs up. While grateful for his attempts at comfort, it wasn't exactly what was bothering her.

"It's the smell," she said. She saw him subtly take a whiff of his armpit. "There's a lot of students from all over the country, so it's just taking me some time to get used to it. No biggie."

"Here," he said, handing her a plain white handkerchief. "Sorry if the soap is a little strong, but this should help right?" She stared at the small folded cloth in his hand. She wasn't even aware people still carried those things around anymore. Taking it from his outstretched palm, she sniffed it quickly. The smell wasn't horrible, it was a common soap brand designed to be scentless and it was, for the most part. She could still smell him on it. It was...nice.

"Thanks," she said as she held it against her face.

A bell rang, notifying examinees to take their seats. She moved to return the handkerchief, but he shook his head politely. "You hold on to it. I'm sure the place will stink up again after the practical is over."

He left after a quick goodbye and they both took their seat. She kept an eye out during Present Mic's speech, and even searched for him at her battle arena, but didn't find him. She couldn't even track him down after the exam.

She even kept an eye and nose out for him the first day of school but was disappointed when she didn't find him anywhere. That is- until a few days ago when she caught his scent in the cafeteria, hence her stalking. Her enhanced senses meant she found him fairly quickly considering, but instead of the shy dark haired boy she borrowed a handkerchief from during the entrance exam, her nose lead her to a red haired boisterous charismatic beefcake surrounded by the rising stars of class 1A. Needless to say, she was very confused.

It wasn't often that her senses didn't match up, but this specific case could leave no room for error. He'd been exceptionally considerate of her, especially considering that they were complete strangers when they met. Kae didn't have it in her not to find him and at the very, very least thank him for his, well, chivalry. And also return his handkerchief. That too. That was very important to her. It was embarrassing to admit, but she couldn't help but think maybe, just maybe, he really was her knight in shining armor. Growing up with the most perfectly splendid parents who were absolutely in love with each other and filled her head with fairy tale love stories (their own relationship pretty much was one), Kae definitely had hopes for the same kind of relationship in her own life.

She gave up hope in middle school, because although quirks were widespread, her particular kind of quirk called for some uninvited attention from weirdos with unhealthy attractions to 'cat girls'. Unfortunate, uncomfortable, and wholly disheartening for a young girl who secretly wanted to be swept off her feet. That dark haired stranger was a blessing, a breath of fresh air, and a shining beacon of hope all wrapped in a gallant package.

Okay maybe she was a little too invested in this. Still, she couldn't give up. Even if he did turn out to be that strange red haired boy, at least she could say she tried. After all, she thought dramatically, it was better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.

Testutetsu flicked her nose to get her attention. "Kae! Are you day dreaming again?"

Shaking away the simp, she chuckled apologetically as she wrinkled her nose. "Sorry, sorry, don't mind me. What were you saying?" She smiled sweetly, hoping he'd move past her obvious distraction.

Testutetsu shook his head disapprovingly, "You've gotta get your head outta the clouds! The sports festival is coming up and we need a battle plan!" There were several murmurings of approval from around their table. Kae frowned lightly. As much as she'd love to continue observing her target, the sports festival was a HUGE deal and even her dark haired stranger couldn't distract her from it.

Smiling a little more deviously, Kae leaned forward. "What do you propose?"


Kae couldn't stop fidgeting atop the small wooden footstool her mom moved from the kitchen to their living room. She had finally grown into the Miss Universe Japan crown and sash that was usually kept on display when it wasn't being worn by its owner. "Mom, please, this is embarrassing!"

"Hush up. It's never a bad idea to practice your winning stance." Mamiko Miyamoto was immensely proud of her title, almost as proud as she was of her only daughter Kae. It saddened her a bit that her daughter wouldn't be following in her footsteps, but she was supportive of her track nonetheless. So when she came home bragging about her class' strategy to move forward to the end of the much acclaimed UA Sports Festival she did the only thing she could do as a loving mother and brought out her old crown and sash, stood her up on a kitchen stool, and took photos of her as she practiced smiling and waving.

"You know they don't give out crowns at these things right?" Kae pouted. Mamiko simply continued flashing pictures. Kae tried not to feel like this was jinxing her chances at winning the festival and let her mother continue doting over her. It was simply easier that way.

Her class' plan was simple. They would be preparing physically and mentally in the week leading up to the festival whilst gathering intelligence about class A, and be discreet about it. After a short discussion, they had predicted that those attention hogs would arrogantly assume that they could walk all over the competition and not bother to strategize beforehand, which was what they were planning on taking full advantage of.

They still didn't know everyone's quirks, but this could be quickly remedied by sending their sociable classmates to investigate from other first year classes if no one in class B had seen them during their entrance exams. There were bound to be students who didn't make it into the hero track and settled for general studies; and Kae was one of the few responsible for seeking them out and milking them for information. She even went so far as checking social media (after heavy encouragement from Tokage) to see if there was any exploitable information online (there wasn't). They found it was tricky navigating that specific topic with hero track wannabes since most were bitter about failing the exam, but with skillful wording and polite banter, they had most of class A figured out and even made a few acquaintances along the way. Kae in particular turned up her bubbly charm 100x to butter up those with particularly bruised egos and somehow managed to alleviate some of the resentment she didn't know non-hero track students held against them.

Their class was still going to completely obliterate them in the festival, but at least they wouldn't totally hate them for it. Unfortunately, it took most of the week to gather all the information, but they had two notable competitors to look out for.

Katsuki Bakugo and Shoto Todoroki.

There was no way of knowing what exactly they'd be facing in the festival, but they knew one thing for certain: if they made it to the last round, they had one on one battles to look forward to. She tried to smother the nerves that came with the thought of facing the red haired boy, Kirishima, her mind whispered, in a one on one. If he really was her knight, she hoped he'd take a loss gracefully.

For her own strategy, Kae was counting on the fact that only hero track students would make it past the first round. The chance that any non-hero students made it through was low enough that she didn't feel the need to worry. Instead, she focused on what she knew about the other first year heroes and calculated her chances of winning in one on one fights. There were many variables to consider, but with some quick thinking she was confident she could make it far. Maybe not win, or even place, but definitely get noticed by hero agencies. If it goes really well, she thought happily, maybe I'll even get noticed by Edgeshot! She giggled girlishly into her pillow, accidentally kicking off her duvet. Her eyes drifted to the handkerchief neatly folded on her bedside table, grinning secretively to herself. She was really looking forward to the festival.

The fateful day finally arrived and Kae found herself hyping up the rest of her class alongside Testutetsu. He turned to steel as he shouted, "Let's kick ass!"

"Class B rules!" she replied. Kendo was quick to shut them down when Monoma started making nasty remarks about their rivals, but Kae was happy to see the rest of their class looking excited too. They walked into the stadium built specifically for first years, soaking in the cheers and shouts of the crowd and settled in front of a stage where Midnight kicked off the festival with an invitation from their representative.

Watching with mounting apprehension, Kae waited to hear Bakugo's speech...and was totally unsurprised (but still disappointed) when he declared himself the winner, effectively killing all her hard work with the [unknowingly mended] relationships with the non-heroes. She shared a look with Tetsutetsu.

They were definitely going to smoke them.