Trichology: "Trichology is the study of the hair and scalp. The Institute of Trichologists was founded in 1902." -Wikipedia

{"Hi, as promised, Fukidashi isn't here today because his feelings got 'hurt.' He also has a lot of homework as well, but I'm sure that has nothing to do with it. So I guess you're stuck with me for a while.

Right now, I'm currently sitting here wondering, how did I get here? I'm eleven years old and three years ahead in grades. I'm trying to get into UA as soon as I can. Shun and Fukidashi have already gotten into UA. Fukidashi is in the class 1B hero course, and Shun is in class 1J, the business course.

The school year has just gotten started, so I'm excited to see how they do. I'm going to do my best to get in next year. And I won't let anyone stop me. Also, there is a new development for my brother. I finally found him! He's teaching at UA! Can you believe it? After all this time, I have to see him.

So last time I was telling my story, I was about nine. Well, to be honest, nothing much happened between now and then. There were a few hard to deal with events, but I mean, life goes on.

I struggled with my PTSD, got a slight handle on my quirk, and I found a few friends. Fukidashi, Shun, and my good friend Kure. I joke about her name sometimes by shortening it. Anyway, let me tell you about the first time we met when I was ten."}

I was listening to some music in the car. We were on the way to practice. I would never admit it, but I liked listening to music from 1950's America. Dad dropped me off, and I headed inside.

My parents had never had any trouble with money, which you wouldn't know by looking at our lifestyle. We lived humbly with our small shop and our house above it. Mom had explained a few years ago that she didn't have a great relationship with her family. They had left her enough money that we didn't need to worry. Thanks to my grandparents, who I had never met, my parents could pay for me to have quirk training.

When I got inside, I met with my trainer, sensei Hagino, and we got started. After the warm-up, Hagino asked me, "Do you mind if we try something new today?" I caught my breath and answered, "Depends on what it is. What did you have in mind." A mischievous smile spread across his face.

"I want you to practice your quirk on someone with a mutant type quirk." My face displayed my utter confusion. "What? Would that even work?" He shrugged his shoulders."Up till now, we have only worked with emitter and transformation type quirks. Your guess is as good as mine."

I pursed my lips together in thought. "Okay, but where are you going to find-." He raised his hand to stop me. "I already have a volunteer." He left the room, giving me time to think. While he was gone, I stretched and tried you calm my thoughts in preparation.

A few minutes passed, and the door opened. In came sensei Hagino and an apparently invisible person. "Hello." I greeted. It was a bit awkward, looking at a floating outfit. "Sorry that you got roped into my training. My name is Kobayashi Mari." The girl moved up and down, indicating excitement.

"No problem. I was happy to volunteer. My name is Hagakure Tōru." Her voice sounded really cute. "Well, Tōru, if your voice is any indication, I bet you are really cute." She giggled. "Thank you! You have some charming ears." Sensei Hagino cleared his throat. "Okay, let's get started." He stepped forward and positioned us about two meters apart.

He then gestured at me to go ahead. "Well, let's try this. Nothing to lose." I closed my eyes and placed my hand's palm side down in front of me. It didn't actually do anything, but it helped with focus. I opened my eyes and could tell that I was in Static Glitch. I didn't waste any time quickly moving over to Tōru, who was even harder to see through the vail.

I placed my hand where her shoulder was and drew her into the SG. I could feel my energy slipping away, but I stayed focused. Within a second, I could see her image shifting in front of me. At first, she was murky and surrounded by light. But as precious seconds slipped by, an adorable girl about Shun's age appeared in front of me.

I took out my phone and took a picture, quickly putting it back in my pocket and releasing my quirk. The entire time Tōru had been looking around at the SG. Once my grip was released, I collapsed onto the floor and struggled to retain my grip on consciousness.

My eyes were closed, but I could feel sensei Hagino place his hand between my shoulder blades and slowly bring my energy back with his quirk. Some time passed before I could focus on anything. After I was helped to sit up, I looked at Tōru. Her shoulders were slumped forward, indicating worry.

"Are you okay? You had me worried there." I tried to straighten up, saying, "I'll be fine. Besides, I think it worked." Tōru shouted, "Wait, what? I could barely pay attention to anything in there!" I nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense. There's always a lot going on in Static Glitch."

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. I found the picture I had taken and was proud to see some details could be seen. "Here, this is what I saw." Tōru slowly walked forward and sat in front of me. I held out the phone to her, and she took it. She stayed quiet for a while.

"Sorry about the quality. There isn't that much light in there, and it was kinda close up." She waved her arms to mimic shaking her head. "No! It's perfect!" She held tightly to the picture. "This is just...The first...The first time I've seen what I looked like."

My throat felt tight with sadness. Tōru moved her sleeve to wipe away her invisible tears. I scrambled to come up with something, awkwardly interrupting the moment. "Do you want to hang out sometime? We could go get boba or..."

Tōru laughed loudly as my face flushed with embarrassment. "Sure, that sounds lovely." I did a self-conscious half-smile. "I should give you my phone number then. But I think I need my phone back." She handed the phone back. "Do you want me to send you the picture?"

She bounced up and down excitedly. "Ooh, yes please." We swapped phone numbers and then remembered we were at practice. "I'll see you later Mari!" We hugged and waved goodbye. I watched as she hurried over to her father, who had come to pick her up.

When my own dad arrived to pick me up, I ecstatically told him about my success and new friend Tōru. He was eager to hear every detail, asking me about my dimension. I told him, matching his nerdy-ness. You see, my dad was the kind of guy who spent his childhood researching things that nobody else cared about.

I'm sure that if he had been born with a different quirk, one better suited to his interests, he would have become a world-renowned scientist. Thankfully he decided to become my dad.

"So, your quirk works on mutant type quirks? That's so cool! It's a bigger leap forward in quirk development than I've seen in years. Do you know what this means? The fundamental laws of quirks as we know them are changing! Starting with you, I wonder if this has anything to do with your genetic mutation?"

I shook my head. "Papa, just focus on driving, please." He looked over at me smiling, which did nothing to quell my anxiety. "And they say Asians are bad drivers." He belted out laughing. "Hey, I'm half Asian." We both couldn't stop laughing.

It was such a great moment. Tragic that it ended within a split second. "Watch out!" Time seemed to slow, my dad's arm outstretched to protect me. I gripped the seat tightly, my instincts taking over. The car in front of us was drawing closer.

At that moment, I pulled myself, my father, and the car into the Static Glitch. The other car could be seen even with the vale, passing directly through us. My breathing grew ragged as my energy was sapped. We came to a stop where no cars were, and not a moment too soon.

My energy was sapped, and I was forced to let go. Everything I had pulled in with me was violently ripped out. The world grew dim as I slipped into the dimension of dreams.

There was no telling how much time had passed as I struggled to come back to consciousness. When my strength finally returned enough, I could register the bed underneath me. It felt different from my own, too soft, almost drawing me in like it wanted me to stay.

I gathered up the energy to open my eyes and immediately noticed the fluorescent lights above me. I was in the hospital. 'Great! Just perfect, exactly what I wanted!' I thought. As I lay there, my body aching, I tried not to focus too much on the buzz of the fluorescents. The more I tried not to think about it, the louder it seemed to grow, like a meh version of hell.

Before I could be driven further into insanity, I heard a knock on the door. I looked and saw mom standing in the doorway. The look on her face made my heart drop. "Is, dad okay? Did anyone get hurt?" She rushed over and wrapped me in a vice-like hug.

"No, sweetie. Everyone is fine." I broke down, feeling a rush of relief and guilt. "I-I'm s-sooo s-sorry! I-I didn't mean to make you worry!" Her grip on me seemed to tighten somehow. "No, honey. It's our job as parents to worry about you." We stayed like that for a few minutes before she drew back.

"How long was I out?" I asked, wiping off my tears. "Almost six days." I tried sitting up, but her hand kept me down. "Six?" She nodded, beginning to smile. "Well, a hero needs her rest." I must have looked doubtful because she clarified. "You single-handedly saved the lives of five separate people. Six if you include yourself."

I stared at her. "But I just-" She interrupted me. "Bup. You have someone who wants to thank you if you feel up to it." She helped me to sit up and then went over to the door. As soon as the door opened, I recognized the empty space where her face would be as Tōru.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" She walked over and began to thank me. "My dad and I had to turn around and head back because I had forgotten something. We might have died if you hadn't used your quirk." My mouth dropped open. "You were in that other car?" She moved her body left to right to indicate I was incorrect.

"We were in a different car. But you still saved us." I looked down at my hands. "I guess I got a chance to be a hero for a day." Tōru giggled. "And know I have to become a hero so that I can pay you back someday." We both sat for awhile talking about heroes and where we wanted to go to school.

"If I get into UA, I'll need a hero costume, which you can imagine will be problematic." I cocked my head to the side, confused. "I can't wear clothes, or else it defeats the purpose of my quirk."

I pursed my lips in thought. "But that's not true." It was Tōru's turn to be confused. "What do you mean?" I took a deep breath and started to dork out.

"Well, different researchers have differing opinions on the topic. But some of the leading experts in quirk science believe that the key to it lies in Deoxyribonucleic acid. Theoretically, if you created material with your Deoxyribonucleic acid, it would be compatible with your existing quirk.

The best possibility would be using the system's most adaptive substance, aka osseous tissue. But the current level of abilities within the scientific community leads us to face the fact that our aptitudes on that front are lacking.

So they had to turn to the alternative, something not quite as capable, but more readily available. Trichology. Trichology has already done enough research that prototypes are available. Although they obviously need to be customized in accordance with the consumer. So I'd say, within a year, you could have a quirk compatible suit ready."

When I looked up after finally finishing my bluster of words, I noticed three or four doctors had been listening in to my one-sided conversation. "Did I do something wrong?" Mom shooed the doctors away and then closed the door.

I looked over at Tōru and noticed her hands seemed to be placed on her face. "I think I have a headache." I frowned, thoroughly embarrassed. "I guess I listen to my dad too much." She waved her arms in front of her. "No, it's fine. But I only understood about half of that."

I felt guilty, so I tried to explain it again, this time taking it down a smidge. "Science has advanced enough that they should be able to make you a quirk compatible suit out of hair."

Tōru began bouncing up and down. "That sounds so cool. I definitely have to do that." I smiled, having a brilliant idea. "What if...? No, that would be too weird." Tōru shuffled closer. "Ooh, tell me." I shrugged.

"Okay. So you're going to have classmates and teachers, right?" She nodded with her body. "Your suit will be invisible all the time just like you. So what if you didn't tell anybody that you had a suit?" I grinned mischievously.

"What? So they would assume that I was running around naked?" I nodded. "Do you know how awkward it would be for them? I would die laughing." We both started laughing hysterically. "That's the best idea ever!" Tōru jumped up off the bed. "I can't wait." We said goodbye, and she hurried off to practice.

Later that day, I was discharged from the hospital. I couldn't wait to get home, although we decided to take the subway. When we got home, I noticed that mom had been a little quiet on the way home. "Mama, are you okay." She looked at me as we headed towards the door.

"I will be, knowing that you're safe is all I need." Guilt gripped me, my chest felt heavy. As we walked into the storefront, I noticed the smell of fresh baked goods. "Hmm, smells like home."

The guilt was still there, but it was beginning to fade, being replaced with familiar warmth. "We decided to celebrate our very own hero by making her favorite treat." Dad's voice spoke from the back of the store. I ran over to him and hugged him.

"I'm so happy that you're okay!" I said, holding on to him with a death grip. "Hey, you stole my line." I looked around and noticed Shun standing nearby next to a plate of cupcakes. I let go of dad to go hug her, "I'm sorry I made you worry." Shun's arms wrapped around me. I could feel her tears dampening my shoulder.

"Stop apologizing for things you can't control. You are alive, that's all that matters." My eyes began to water. I sniffled, trying not to cry. "Okay, that's enough." Shun laughed as we drew away from each other. "What's this about my favorite treat?" Shun picked up a cupcake and handed it to me.

"Mango cupcakes, your favorite." I gasped. "Really? You guys are the best!" We spent the day together, laughing and eating cupcakes. The day flew by quickly, and before I knew it, it was time for bed. I settled into bed and stared up at the ceiling. I wasn't going to fall asleep.

{"Hey, I was told you've been promised a story? Introducing the best sister ever, Shun."}

["Hello...Um...Mari this is wierd."]

{It's okay, you'll do fine. Just tell the story to me."}

["Oh...Okay, I guess that will work. Well, you already know that my name is Kobayashi Shun. I guess I'm supposed to tell you about me and Fukidashi or Manga I suppose. He's pretty cool, I guess. When we were in junior high, he asked me on a date. I told him to ask when we were older.

I felt bad turning him down like that, but I think it was worth it. About a month ago, we were on our way to school when we started to talk about life. He said, 'You know, life is really short.' And I agreed. Then he said, 'I will wait as long as it takes until you're ready. Even if you don't get to that point.' And that's when I knew, Manga is an idiot."]

{"Whoa, what? That was not what I was expecting."}

["Shh, you didn't let me finish. So after he said that, I said, 'Manga, you are an idiot.' Which stopped him dead in his tracks. Then I said, 'Manga, do you know why I told you to wait? It's been two years, and we're fifteen now. But back when we were thirteen, I wasn't very good at people. So when I said, 'Ask me when we're older.' I was trying to make a joke."]

{"Wait, what?"}

["Mari, stop interrupting. So I explained how this would never have happened with anyone else. If a girl says no, it's because she means no. But I was really shy, so when he took me seriously, I was too nervous to correct him. So we've been dating for six months now. And honestly, since our relationship was built on friendship and time. Things have been going pretty great."]

{"Wow, that was a rollercoaster of emotions! You really called him an idiot?"}

["Well, yeah. What was I supposed to do? Admit that I was wrong?"]

{"Probably. But that's neither here nor there. Anyway, that's all there is, there isn't, anymore. Fukidashi will probably be back next week."}