Everything has a rhythm. A beat. And if you manage to learn how to listen and how to move to that beat, the entire world becomes your playground, your stage. While perhaps not the best explanation, it's a rather accurate description of the philosophy of life for the young girl by the name of Mina Ashido, the first holder of a true Mutant-Quirk (not just a cosmetic one with a Quirk that had little to nothing to do with her appearance), of the Animal-subclass to be specific, in the Ashido-family and the last holder of the Ashido-name. The family-name might not be as well known, as highly regarded in association with anything or even considered important by the general public, but it was Mina's family name.
As her family had been known to be rather hyperactive by their neighborhood, the strong dislike in regards to remain still for extended periods of time brought on by the instincts of the creature her Quirk gave her the traits of, more specifically a subspecies of a creature classified as a Leviathan from the video game-series Monster Hunter called an Acidic Mizutsune, a good portion of neighborhood treated her well when she was basically adopted by them after her parents died in what seemed like an accident, and therefore declared as such, burning down the apartment complex where the Ashidos lived. Fortunately for Mina, she was at the local arcade with her best friend, Eijiro Kirishima, when it happened, surviving as a result. Unfortunately however, she lost her parents and a few classmates who happened to live in the same apartment complex that were actually nice to her.
While she was treated nicely by her neighborhood, never really staying in one particular house for long, drifting in and out of guardianship around the neighborhood for a few months after she lost her parents in a legal limbo of sorts, some of the less than accepting members of community when it came to holders of Mutant-Quirks of the Animal-subclass somehow managed to gain enough legal influence that effectively forced Mina out of the neighborhood and onto the streets, unintentionally (unlikely) causing the separation of two best friends. While she remained in the neighborhood early on, she eventually left her old neighborhood, admittedly in the heat of the moment while running away from people that made her instincts scream 'run away!', and on a train, ending up on the streets of the city of Musutafu where she vaguely remembered U.A University was located.
A few days after arriving, Mina was practically starving, having resorted to shoplifting and even stealing to either get money to buy it or steal food directly, using her ability to generate a very slippery soap-like substance, that was only slightly acidic at its weakest and very acidic at its strongest, and skate away from her pursuers when she was caught in the act. Sitting with her back against a wall underneath the roof of a store to protect herself from the rather heavy rain and a stomach so empty it was practically roaring with hunger, she didn't immediately notice someone standing in front of her, trying to get her attention.
"Hello? Anybody in there? Hell-o-o-oh?" Despite the fact that Mina managed to pick up that someone was trying to catch her attention, a woman by the sound of the voice, her hunger made it difficult for her. The fact that the woman, despite clearly speaking Japanese, spoke with an accent that made it tricky to properly understand what she was saying certainly didn't help.
Hesitantly looking up, Mina was greeted by the sight of a blond haired woman wearing a blue raincoat hugging her muscular and well-endowed figure tightly with an umbrella in her right hand, which was placed on her hip with her knuckles digging into her posterior ever-so-slightly. The only real hint regarding what the woman's Quirk could be was the rather long protrusion sticking out of the left sleeve of her raincoat at the elbow. The protrusion itself looked like it was made out of bone in the shape of what looked like a cross between a small crossbow and a modern gun, more specifically a heavy-duty anti-material rifle on a small (not that Mina knew nor really cared about the last part). Taking a closer look at the woman's face, Mina took particular note of an old burn scar on the right side of her face, covering her right eye in a way that kind of made her look like she had a permanent black eye of sorts. The right eye was a blank white, hinting that the woman might be half-blind, while the left eye had a rather interesting appearance, the iris sporting two colors within the same eye, consisting of two rings with what seemed to be a permanently small pupil. The outer ring was dark pink in color while the inner ring was pale blue, giving the eye the appearance of a bullseye.
"Finally managed to get your attention huh? Hungry дорогая?" Asked the woman as she crouched down to look into Mina's eyes, earning a look of confusion from the young girl.
"What?" Replied Mina before making a face that indicated embarrassment as her empty stomach let out another roar.
"I think I'll take that as a yes. Come on дорогая, I'm planning on meeting a friend of mine and introducing myself to her kid over dinner tonight and as of now, you're invited. Care to join us дорогая? Oh! How rude of me, here I am offering food and a place to sleep without having introduced myself!"
"What?"
"My name is Yumi Balalaika. What's your name, дорогая?"
"Mina."
"Well Mina, care to join me, my friend and her kid for dinner?"
"Gladly. But…"
"But what?"
"Why?"
"Because it's the right thing to do, дорогая. Nobody should have to go hungry." Replied the woman, now known as Yumi Balalaika, as she opened up her umbrella, which had a pattern of rather basic crosshairs, before offering Mina her left hand. "Shall we get going, дорогая?"
"Yeah, but what does that word mean?"
"What word, дорогая?"
"That one."
"Ah. It's a term of endearment. It means sweetie, дорогая."