"You're moving?"

The auburn-haired girl nodded lightly, smiling as she finished her matcha Kit-Kat outside of a convenient store. Next to her, her best friend sighed and adjusted her monocle. Saiko would admit that when she and Cassie first met at the beginning of their first year, she saw the girl as a rival. But now, she saw her as her best friend and equal. And that one friend that she finally let past her walls is now moving away.

"Dad's assignment got moved to Musutafu, so it's now too far away from Seiai for me to continue school here. Plus, after the past two years with the rise of villains, Dad had been scared to let me going to school by myself on public transportation. Which is ironic, considering I am a hero-in-training and can protect myself. Dad already had started my paperwork for the hero school there."

"Oh, you're talking about U.A. High. Ugh, it's that school. Nothing beats Seiai Academy for me, we're the best of the best. Is there any way you can move into the Seiai dorm and stay here instead, Cassie?"

Cassie shook her head lightly as she walked slightly ahead of her friend, the chilly December wind flowed through her long wavy ponytail. The two friends finally reached their final destination, a small quaint little café a short walk away from Seiai Academy. The two girls situated themselves into a booth in the corner and their drinks in their hands.

"Seiai dorm is beyond what my dad could afford right now, since his work only paid him for our current apartment and some bills. He had been working extra hours to bring extra income for us both, and you know that my scholarship at Seiai only cover just the tuition."

Cassie explained softly while stirring at her matcha bubble milk tea, a habit she adopted from her dad whenever she's unease. Saiko glanced briefly at her friend before taking a small sip of her own strawberry slushie. It is a good weather for hot drinks, but neither of the girl are in the mood for them, too stubborn to give up their favorite cold drinks.

"I guess that can't be helped… I just wish you could stay in Seiai at least until graduation. With you as a part of Seiai medic team, you helped our school's nurse a lot with her loads. Not only that, our strict hag of a principal actually likes you and she glared at me every time I came by her office."

"You should have seen her face when she saw my dad walked in. I have never seen her turned green so quickly."

"You're right! I lost it when I saw your dad just tore into her as if she's a child who's not doing her work. I have to give props to your dad, she scares me."

"Speaking of U.A., are you still a bit salty from the license exam?"

A small chuckle erupted from Cassie at the look at Saiko's face, the girl clearly still was not over her deal with the group of students from U.A.

"My plan was flawless, they just got lucky and got out of it. I was so close to beating them too. I had to get mine on the second round, you got yours with them because you knew to mind your business."

Cassie snorted at Saiko's accusing glare, forgetting that she was drinking bubble tea and almost choked on a tapioca ball. Saiko's glare turned into a satisfying smirk seeing Cassie coughing and sputtering, but still take out her handkerchief and offered it to her friend.

"I told you on the bus that your plan would fall through, you were just too stubborn and I didn't want to fight with you. But at the end, we both got our licenses and one step closer to being heroes. Didn't you turn in a sketch recently for your revised hero costume, Saiko?"

Saiko nodded and finished her slushie, frowning slightly that her drink is finished. Cassie laughed a little bit at her friend's behavior, an action she related to also every time she finished her food or drink. Seiai students doesn't get their hero uniform until the third year right before graduation. So when the students walk across the stage during graduation, everyone will get the first look of their hero costume. It is a huge deal, so Seiai students often spend years to design their own hero costumes. Cassie knew Saiko had already started designing hers since she was 4, and had seen the rough sketches of them but yet to see the final result.

"I actually did, at first I wasn't sure what I wanted but I finally finished it. And I must say, you are not ready for it! My costume will be the best looking in all of Seiai, will look better than any heroine that had ever walked the stage of Seiai. And speaking of costume, have you finished your sketch yet? I want to see yours so bad!"

"So you can copy a bit of what I did? You are not that sly, Saiko~"

"That's not fair! You have seen my sketches, and I have yet to see any of yours!"

Cassie joked and received a playing punch on her shoulder by Saiko. She glanced at her phone briefly and frowned.

"I got a missed call from Dad, I think he needed me to be home early today. Knowing him, he's probably packing right now even if we have some time before we actually have to move."

"Don't think to avoid my question, young lady! I will get to see your costume's final sketch and I will get it out of you by the end of this year!"

Saiko exclaimed cheerfully, heading toward the exit with Cassie, the latter sending a quick text before catching up with her friend. It is already a bit dark outside as the two friends continued their walk home. Cassie immediately latched onto Saiko's arm, a small smirk playing on her lips.

"So… spill the tea, sis."

"Did you just said spill the tea because I drink tea to enhance my quirk?"

"That was part of the word play, but I'm being serious. Spill it, how are things going with that guy from Ketsubutsu High?"

Saiko's squeaked at the implying message and trying to turn away from her friend, but seeing Cassie's smirk widened she knew she had been caught.

"There's… There's no guy… Who are you even talking about? I'm from Seiai Academy, I'm too good to mingle with those losers from such a school as Ketsubutsu."

"Oh please, as if I didn't see you staring at that one guy whose quirk is Vibrate. Girl, I didn't know you're already calculating that far ahead…"

Cassie immediately dodged a swipe from Saiko, laughing and running ahead as her friend chased her the entire way home.

In a secluded warehouse somewhere in the outskirt of Musutafu

"Ple…. Please… Don't hurt me…. Please…"

The man said nothing as he stared down at his latest victim, a young girl from the neighborhood college that he just kidnapped. The brunet girl was crying, tears and blood were marring her once beautiful face. Blood stained in the corner of her forehead suggested that she was hit in the head with a blunt object, scratches and bruises littered on her pale body. Both of her hands and feet were tied down to a flat table by handcuffs, her dress torn and bloodied. The man wordlessly drew out a syringe, ignoring the whimpers getting louder, and filled it with a gold substance. Behind him, seven rows of cell rooms lined up and all empty, saved for the one in the corner left. The auburn-haired girl inside that lone cell didn't make a single sound, but her body shook in fear as she stared at her kidnapper's back.

"Please… let me go… My parents were waiting for me… I promised…."

Her whimpering was cut short as the man suddenly turned and grab her left bicep, injecting the mysterious substance into her arm. The girl screamed and tried to thrash around, but the damage had been done and soon there was nothing but silence inside that building. The girl inside the cell finally let out a whimper and hurriedly to the corner of her cell, curled into a ball as if doing so would shield her away from the man outside her cell. Outside her cell, the man slowly turned around and stared at the direction of her cell, revealing to all that he didn't have a face. Only cold, dull pair of black eyes staring straight into the distance.