JULY 30TH, 2045, 4:08 PM, 7 MONTHS BEFORE [REDACTED].

Mina trudged her way down the hall alongside Izuku, who was helping her carry the mountain of gifts given to her by her classmates all the way to her room. After a few more moments, the two had miraculously made it into the room and set everything on her bed.

"Phew, that was a lot, I'm surprised Momo didn't pass out…" Izuku said, throwing himself onto a clear space on Mina's bed. "So, do you like your gifts?" Izuku asked, sitting up on the bed.

"They're...nice gifts, I guess.." Mina trailed off, digging through one of the drawers in her dresser, looking for something. "The gift Shock-head got me was probably the best one, honestly." Mina said, pulling the Nike high tops with a golden swoosh on the sides from the pile, its laces loosely dangling.

"Yeah, it complements your eyes! They're very pretty, y'know." Izuku complemented, grabbing Mina's attention.

A-a compliment…? H-he complimented me…?

Ew. He complimented you.

Mina softly blushes unknowingly, a light shade of lilac barely visible under her pink skin. "O-oh thanks, I guess…" Mina thanked, rubbing her arm. "No one's ever told me that..."

Izuku was too enthralled by Mina's eyes to notice her blush. "...Really? Nobody? Not even your own mother?" Izuku asked, puzzled. "Your eyes are so…unique..it's kind of difficult to not...y'know, get lost looking at them..." Izuku said, staring into Mina's eyes, her hazelnut pupils swimming in the inky black sea of her sclera.

Izuku's mother has always told him that eyes are the gateway to not just someone's soul, but their heart too, that's how she fell in love with his father. Now, Izuku wasn't in love or even had a minor crush on the horned girl, it's just that her eyes are so….captivating. It was nearly impossible to look away…

"Greenie."

Izuku was instantly snapped out of his trance by the sound of Mina's voice.

"You're staring." Mina said blankly, she couldn't stand it when people stared.

Especially one of her idiotoic classmates like Izuku.

Pikachu was the dumbest of them all however, that moron somehow managed to get all the girls in 1-A, including herself, in cheerleader uniforms during the sports festival.

Mina nearly killed someone that day.

Wait, why do they even have cheerleader uniforms? Does U.A. even have a football team?

...Weird.

Seriously, that is WEIRD.

Yeah…

I think it's time that he leaves, don't you think?

O-oh, right…

Mina put down the shoes, and walked over to the door. "I think it's time you get goin' friends are probably waiting' for you." Mina told him, opening the door to show him out.

Izuku arose from the bed and made his way to where Mina was, careful not to trip over anything that was scattered among her messy floor. Once Izuku exited the room, Mina began to close the door, but was stopped by her classmate's foot.

Mina let out a small gasp when the door wouldn't close, she then snapped her head up to see Izuku staring straight at her.

"...What?" Mina hissed, "Is there something else on your mind, or are you trying to annoy me?" She asked annoyed. She didn't have the time in the day for whatever bullshit he had to say.

Izuku, keeping his foot where it was, stayed silent for a moment, making Mina grow more annoyed by the second. Once Izuku finally thought of what he had to say, he opened his mouth to talk. "I-"

"Don't want to hear it. Go away." Mina interrupted, forcefully pushing the door to close it, not caring what happens to the One for All user's foot at all. But Izuku wasn't having any of that, what he wanted to tell Mina was really important.

And he might not get another chance.

But Mina was clearly winning in this push-off, since she was using her entire body to push against the door, unlike Izuku who was only using his foot.

"I can help you!" Izuku blurted out, making Mina's eyes widen and her pushing stop. "I've noticed that you've been performing... poorly in class lately and…" Izuku began, creeping back into the room as Mina opened the door back up, allowing him passage inside.

"I'm listening." Mina then said, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, and uh I was thinking I could help you… study and stuff… it was clear that you didn't do well on the written exam and you definitely didn't do well in the practical exams… so I want to… help you." Izuku explained, leaning back against the wall, his usual laid-back but bold voice returning.

Mina scoffed. "Now why would you want to do that?"

Izuku shrugged. "Hey, we're all on the same team right? And what kind of teammate would I be if I didn't help ya out?"

"Yeah I get that, but why me? There's those idiots downstairs that probably need way more help than me, especially Pikachu."

"Pikachu?"

"Kaminari."

"Heh, I get it, nice one." Izuku complimented Mina's smart nicknaming, "But Pinky, your quirk just has so much potential… there's so much you can do with it, that I literally had to get a second notebook just for your quirk. So how about this, I can give you my notebook full of my notes about your quirk and how you could improve it..."

"There's a but coming up, isn't there?" Mina interjected, rolling her eyes.

"Yep! You have to let me tutor you." Izuku finished his proposal, giving a sly smile.

"Hell no."

"Aw don't be like that Pinky, if you use my notes to good use, you could be a huge help during the license exams! There's so much more to your quirk than just flinging acid all over the place and using it to slide everywhere." Izuku reasoned.

As much as Mina hated it, Greenie was right. She only had two uses for her acid, and Greenie had just listed them both.

Hell no, I'm not letting this broccoli-headed moron bore me to death with 'physics' or whatever that stupid-ass shit is.

I think I should take his offer… the exams are coming up and I can't afford to mess up again… Remember what Aizawa said?

"...Ashido. Listen, if you have another failure like this, I'll have no choice but to kick you out of the Hero course."

"And U.A."

Aizawa's threat echoed in Mina's head, she knew she had to take this seriously. Her future depends on it.

Oh don't tell me…

"Deal." Mina walked over to Izuku, and started to push him out of her room. "Bring me that notebook and we'll talk tomorrow, now get the hell out of my room." Mina demanded, giving him one last shove out the door, not too hard, but enough to make Izuku stumble out. After a few seconds Izuku gave a small nod and began to walk off, hands in his pockets. But Mina had one more thing to say before she closed the door.

"Hey Greenie."

Izuku stopped walking and turned his head around. "Yeah?"

"Sorry."

Izuku turned all the way around, a confused look on his face. "For what?"

Mina stepped out into the hallway, leaving one of her hands on the door to keep it open. "...For punching you. Earlier today, it was... it was a bitch move honestly. I shouldn't have let my emotions get the better of me like that." Mina apologized. "I had a… rough childhood, to be honest. I wasn't all that... liked for my looks."

Izuku gave a sympathetic smile, Bakugou, and many others, had put him through hell during their childhood, bullying him day in and day out just for being quirkless.

Something he had no control over.

Mina was clearly bullied for how she looked because of her quirk.

Something she had no control over.

Wow, how can two people who look and act so different, be similar at the same time?

Wild.

Izuku pondered on it for a moment, Pinky wasn't a social bird like him, that's for sure, and it's hard to get her to open up to you.

"It's okay Pinky, I know you didn't mean to, we all have our moments." Izuku said, sympathy in his voice.

Mina's eyes widened, again.

Sympathy.

Something Mina only ever received from her aunt, another rarely felt emotion.

"Welp, I best get going now, I must be soooo annoying right now, heh" Izuku said, giving a small chuckle. "When I bring the notebook, I'll knock twice and leave it there, is that fine?" Izuku asked.

"That's fine."

"Alright, see ya!" Izuku said, turning back around and continuing down the hall; sticking up his hand in a way of saying goodbye, Mina watching him the whole way until he turned the corner.

Thank you…

Izuku.

Mina smiled.


JULY 30TH, 2045, 4:30 PM, 7 MONTHS BEFORE [REDACTED].

Mina laid in her bed, fiddling with the pink and aquamarine rubik's cube that Momo had made for her, which had matched her current hero suit.

The hero suit Mina was planning on fixing.

Your hero suit is probably one of the WORST things I've ever seen in my life.

I know that, it was just a silly draft I made with Auntie and I never found the time to fix it then…

Then you had to send it to U.A.

Yup…

Well, what about it do you want to change?

Well, I was thinking about a scarf to replace that fur on my jacket, it's just silly… and I can utilize the scarf and surround it in acid and use it as a whip… and even use it to get around and stuff…

Mina solved one side.

Ooooh, I like that, it can put that acid to good use like Greenie said.

I was also thinking about these things that can go on my forearms… that I can use to launch my acid far distances instead of using that technique Ectoplasm taught me...y'know?

So acid launchers?

Yeah.

Mina solved another side. Four more to go.

So do you think those things will help you in the license exams?

I hope so… like Aizawa said, if I mess up, I can kiss U.A.- and my chances of becoming a hero, goodbye.

Damn right. I'm still not a fan of how you accepted Greenie's tutoring offer, but it might help. Hopefully.

Yeah…

Mina solved 3 more sides.

I find it odd how you can solve a rubik's cube so fast, but can't figure out how to factor a simple equation.

Well, do you know how?

...No…

Exactly. We're the same person pretty much.

Except one of us is meaner.

Yeah.

Mina solved the rubik's cube, and threw it to the side, the cube softly landing in her pile of gifts that she had carelessly thrown to the ground so she could comfortably relax on her bed. She then reached to her left and dug through the crevice between her bedside and wall.

What're you looking for?

My sketchbook. I want to get this shit written down somewhere before I forget it.

Ah.

After some more searching, Mina found her sketchbook, which was a deep shade of aquamarine with tears and folds all over the cover, the word "SKETCHBOOK" written on the front, some doodles of God-knows-what. Her aunt had given her this sketchbook as a gift for her 12th birthday.

The same year she told her aunt she wanted to be a hero.

Mina opened the sketchbook to a page where she had left a pen to use as a bookmark, pulling the pen up from the page its clip was tightly clinging to and began to sketch her thoughts onto the page. Mina wasn't an artist by any means, but she could make a decent drawing when she had to. Which was now.

After a few failed attempts and teared out pages crumpled into tiny balls, Mina finally ended up with something she was satisfied with, then clipped her pen to the page and closed the sketchbook shut, tossing it back to where she had first gotten it.

A few more minutes passed, then Mina heard a knock at her door.

It's probably Greenie with the notebook.

Yeah.. Mina got up from her bed and walked over to the door, nearly tripping over one of the gifts that she had dumped all over the floor.

I need to find a better place for all that shit.

For sure, it looks so messy just sitting there.

Mina paused in front of the door for a moment, and felt that there was more than just a notebook waiting outside her dorm room.

Someone's out there.

Is it Greenie?

No, Greenie would've called my name.

Then who is it?

Only one way to find out.

Mina wrapped her hand around the doorknob, feeling the cold brass knob against her fingers.

Mina then turned the knob and pulled the door open, and was met by a tall, black figure standing in front of her.

Aizawa.

"Hello, Ms. Ashido." Aizawa spoke up. "May I come in?"


Shorter chapter this time, needed to give myself a break after burning myself out 50 times over writing the last chapter. :p Sorry.

Sorry about this one taking so… Long. Had some issues between the release of chapter 3 and now which side tracked me from working on this chapter.

Plus writer's block. I hate that.

This chapter wasn't the best, I know, but I am new to this so criticism would be greatly appreciated.

Oh yeah I know it wasn't really mentioned in this chapter, but this rivalry between Mina and Uraraka is gonna be around for the majority of the story. Just a heads up.

Next chapter will be more focused on Uraraka, I promise.

Also I just want to know, how's quarantine treating y'all? I just want to make sure my readers are okay. Don't answer if ya don't wanna.

Chapter 5 coming soon.

Twitter: BadgirlHazelnut

Discord: Queen Hazelnut#2924