I don't own My Hero Academia or Kill la Kill, please don't sue.

Ryuko Matoi shoved the rest of her lemon into her mouth so she could use both hands to fidget with the key Gamagoori gave her. The keyhole was worn-down from what must have been years of use, which was right at home amongst the peeling paint on the walls, cramped and noisy elevator, and musty smell of the hallways.

Eventually, she managed to unlock the door and stepped into her new home for the foreseeable future.

Maybe it was just because her standards had been lowered into the ground, but Ryuko was pleasantly surprised by how nice the apartment actually was. It wasn't luxurious or anything, but it was mostly clean and smelled just fine. Not as nice as her one-star living accommodations, but definitely a step up from the no-star slums.

Just the common room alone was bigger than the Mankanshokus' entire house, though the furniture was all just cheap, plastic, fold-up crap. She passed by the kitchen without pay any mind to it, since she'd only use that when hell froze over. The apartment had two bedrooms, so Ryuko chose the one furthest from the entrance.

She tossed her guitar case on the floor and laid down on her rather comfortable bed. The last time she slept on a proper bed was back when she ran the Fight Club with Mako. Which actually wasn't that long ago, but the bed was still nice. Sure she missed the Mankanshokus, but this was certainly an improvement to sleeping on a dirt floor with four people and a dog.

Ryuko began to close her eyes and take a long nap, but the sound of the front door opening caught her attention. Right, Gamagoori did mention that she had to share the apartment with a roommate. She stood back up and went to go see who she'd be living with. When she saw the figure standing in the doorway she had to do a double take.

Was that Mako? Ryuko briefly entertained the idea that Mako had somehow followed her all the way to Musutafu. That was (probably) impossible, but the resemblance this girl had to her best friend was uncanny. Her eyes were larger and her face was rounder, not to mention her incredibly pink cheeks, but she had the same short brown hair and innocent demeanor that Mako had.

"Uh, who are you and what are you doing here?" the girl asked, taking up an amateur combat stance.

Shit, this girl must have had no idea what was going on. It must have been pretty shocking for her to see a stranger in her apartment. But Ryuko didn't have time to waste on explaining herself to everyone she met, so this girl would just have to deal with it.

Before she could tell the girl that, she remembered her promise to Mako.

"You should try making more friends too Ryuko!"

Right. Promise. Friends. Making friends. Ryuko forced a smile and stiffly extended her right arm in an attempt to shake her new roommate's hand.

"My name is... Ryuko. Ryuko Matoi. And I'm your new roommate," Ryuko managed to force out.

Goddamn that was awkward. To be fair, it wasn't like Honnouji Academy encouraged honing one's social skills. To her surprise, the girl's face lit up and took Ryuko's hand and shook it.

"Oh right, the landlord told me yesterday that I'd be getting a roommate! Nice to meet you! I'm Ochaco Uraraka!" the girl, Uraraka, introduced herself.

Ryuko smiled, this time for real. She did it! She made a new friend! And this time she didn't even have to save her from being held hostage and almost dumped in boiling oil!

"So Ryuko, what brings you here to Musutafu? New school or something?" Uraraka asked, trying to break the ice.

"Yeah, something like that. I'm going to UA."

"Whoa no way! That's where I'm going, assuming I pass the entrance exam of course," Uraraka said. "I actually just got back from training. My body feels like it wants to melt, but it'll be worth it when I get into UA! What about you? How much training have you been doing?"

"Um, none?" Ryuko replied, surprised by the question. "I mean, I've been fighting a lot if that counts."

Training? Wasn't this just the entrance exam? Just how serious did they take this whole hero thing?

"Wait really?" Uraraka's jaw dropped. "You know UA only accepts one student out of every three hundred applicants! Come on, we need to get you to a gym!"

"I really don't think I'll need that," Ryuko assured her. She was pretty confident in both her abilities and that most of her "competition" had never been in a real fight before. For her, ten fights a day was the absolute minimum she'd come to expect. When she was in the Fight Club, that number went up to twenty. She'd be fine.

"You should go Ryuko," Senketsu told her. "It'll be good for you to get more acquainted with the city and learn more about what we'll be dealing with. Also, we seriously need to work on your weight. Your veins are so clogged with fat I don't think I can even drink your blood anymore!"

"Hey, that's unnecessary!" Ryuko protested. "But fine, you're right. About seeing the city, not the other thing!"

"D-did you just talk to your sailor uniform?" Uraraka asked, a very concerned look on her face.

Crap, she completely forgot Uraraka couldn't her him! She probably thought she just lost her mind, even Mako thought she was crazy whenever she talked to Senketsu. Well, she had to at least try to explain herself.

"Yeah, I did. This is Senketsu!" Ryuko introduced her Kamui. "You're probably gonna think I'm crazy, but he's alive. For some reason I'm the only one who can hear him. I guess my quirk is what lets me do that, but I haven't met anything quite like him."

Ryuko Matoi!
"Quirk": Senketsu!
With her power, Ryuko has the unique ability to communicate with her living sailor uniform, Senketsu! By feeding him her blood, he can transform into a super powerful synchronized form! However, feeling embarrassed in her transformed state makes him consume blood at a much faster rate! Ryuko can even pass out from blood loss if he consumes too much! It's... kinda weird.

"Well, it's certainly a strange quirk," Uraraka admitted. "But if you can use it well, I'm sure it won't be a problem for UA! It also saves you money on a costume," she added, a hint of envy in her voice.

"A 'strange quirk'? That's it?" Ryuko asked, shocked that someone was so accepting of her talking to her own clothes. "Back home everyone thinks I'm just going insane!"

"Believe, me I've seen weirder ones. Once I saw a guy with a cactus for a head. And that wasn't even part of his quirk!"

Ryuko felt the need to sit down so she could comprehend what she just heard. What kind of crazy world was she in?

Ochaco Uraraka walked down the busy Musutafu sidewalks with her new roommate in tow. While she wasn't too thrilled that she'd be working out again, Matoi definitely needed the help. Besides, a little extra training never hurt anyone.

Speaking of her new roommate, Matoi was definitely a little... odd. Ochaco had never heard of a quirk like hers, especially considering that it seemed Senketsu was his own separate... person. But her quirk was the most normal thing about her.

Based on their first introduction, it was like Matoi had never had a normal social interaction in her life. Maybe she was just an extreme introvert?

But she was also constantly twitching and looking over her shoulder, almost like she expected to be attacked at any moment. Sure, Musutafu had its fair share of villains, but being the home of UA there was no shortage of heroes on patrol.

Despite all that, Matoi seemed like she was a genuinely good person. She did want to become a hero after all. Probably for much more noble reasons than her own.

"So how far is this gym?" she asked, looking at a billboard with Mt. Lady's face on it like she'd never seen an advertisement before.

"It's only a few more minutes from here," Ochaco answered. "Follow me, there's a shortcut I like to take!"

Ochaco led Ryuko down a narrow alleyway littered with garbage. The buildings around it were just tall enough to block out the sun, making the entire alleyway almost pitch black even at noon.

"Shortcut? This place looks like Shank City!" Matoi exclaimed.

Admittedly, the alleyway looked super sketchy, but Ochaco had taken the shortcut dozens of times and she hadn't run into a villain once. She ignored Matoi and continued walking, not noticing a discolored spot on the wall.

A tall man wearing a mask seemingly stepped out of the wall and grabbed Ochaco by the neck, holding a knife to her throat.

"Don't move!" he ordered, brandishing the knife towards Matoi. "Now you two lovely ladies are gonna hand over your wallets and phones, or I'll stick this one like a pig!"

Ochaco grabbed at the mugger's arm, but he was too strong. She tried desperately to fight back the tears from flowing, but it was no use. How pathetic, a prospective UA student and future hero brought to tears by some street level thug.

On the other hand, Matoi didn't seem to be even phased by their situation. All that paranoia probably just paid off for her.

"Alright dipshit, I really don't have time for this," she said, not even bothering to look the villain in the eyes. "You let her go, and I'll let you go with all your fingers still attached."

What was Matoi thinking? She had to be pretty strong if she was seriously thinking about applying to UA, but this was an actual villain!

"Ha! And just how do you plan to do that?" the villain asked mockingly.

Matoi just rolled her eyes and reached into one of the holsters on her skirt. She pulled out a strange red trinket when it suddenly started to rapidly increase in size. Intricate mechanical parts unfolded until it expanded to its true form, a giant red sword shaped like a scissor.

The villain's eyes widened with shock for a moment, but he hurled his knife at Matoi. She simply tilted her head, causing the improvised projectile to miss. Now that he'd made the mistake of throwing away his only leverage, Ochaco grabbed onto his arm and activated her quirk.

"Whoa! What's happening to me?" the mugger shrieked as he began to float into the air.

"Release!" Ochaco shouted as she touched her fingertips together, sending her assailant down into the pavement.

Matoi ran at him with her sword taken back, ready to finish him off. But before she could swing her blade, the villain was wrapped in a cage of branches.

"Lacquered Chain Prison!" a man wearing a wooden mask announced, completely restraining the villain.

Holy crap, they were just saved by Kamui Woods himself! Unfortunately she didn't have a pen or paper for an autograph, but she was able to take a few pictures with her flip phone.

"Are you two ladies alright?" he asked.

Ochaco just nodded with her jaw hanging open, at a complete loss for words. She just couldn't believe her luck! Kamui Woods was the biggest sensation in the hero business in years! He was a shoe-in for a top ten spot once they updated the hero rankings!

"Yeah, no thanks to you," Matoi scowled, crossing her arms.

Somehow, Ochaco's jaw managed to drop even more. What was she saying? Did she even know who she was talking to?

"Er, right. I'm sorry I couldn't help sooner," Kamui Woods apologized, just as shocked as she was. "But it was still incredibly dangerous for you to take on a villain by yourselves, even if you were able to handle yourselves. Though I didn't actually see you use your quirks, so this was technically self-defense, not vigilantism. If you want to fight villains legitimately, there are always hero courses who would be happy to take on someone with your talents."

"We're very sorry Mr. Woods!" Ochaco apologized, kneeling on the pavement. "And actually, we're both applying to UA!"

"Well if this is any indication of your skills, you two shouldn't have any problem with getting in!" he said. "However, I do have to give both of you an official warning to not get into any more fights, even after you get accepted to UA. Now I'll take this evildoer off your hands and into the police!"

Ochaco smiled widely as Kamui Woods leaped over a building using his branches, the mugger still in his clutches. Heroes were so cool!

Ryuko Matoi wasn't impressed.

That was what people in Independent Japan went crazy for? All that tree guy did was steal her kill and give her a lecture! She and Uraraka were handling that guy just fine, they didn't need to be saved by some complete stranger.

Since both of them agreed to stick to the main streets the rest of the way, it took a bit longer to get to the gym than expected. Better than being mugged again though.

"Plus Ultra Fitness Center: Unlock Your Inner Hero!" the sign at the front door read, with a smiling picture of All Might giving a thumbs up next to it.

Ryuko rolled her eyes. Wasn't this whole hero thing a bit much?

The gym was packed with kids about her age, most of them wearing sweatpants and tank tops. She felt a bit out of place wearing Senketsu, since she didn't own any workout clothes.

"Whoa, what's with all the people here?" she asked.

"They're probably applying to UA as well," Uraraka answered. "The entrance exam is in less than a week so they're all trying to get in as much last-minute training as possible. Speaking of training, what kinds of things do you need to work on?"

"I told you, I think I'll do just fine. But I guess lifting a few weights can't hurt."

"Oh, well I need to work more on my endurance," Uraraka said, a little disappointed. "Strength training is kind of a waste of time for me, because of my quirk and all."

Her quirk? Oh right, she made that asshole back in the alleyway float into the air!

"So what does your quirk do exactly?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you! My quirk is called Zero Gravity! Basically, I can turn off gravity on anything that I touch up to three tons. After that, I can release anything I've floated by touching my fingers together. But using it too much makes me need to throw up."

Ryuko nodded, not a bad quirk to have. It explained why she didn't need to focus on lifting heavy objects, since her quirk kind of did that for her. The drawback was an interesting one, but it wasn't any stranger than passing out from blood loss due to embarrassment.

"It makes sense that you'd want to train more on your endurance, since being able to use your quirk more would be essentially the same things as getting stronger," she realized.

"Yeah, I thought that by training my stamina, I'd be killing two birds with one stone." Uraraka agreed. "So I'll be by the treadmills if you need me for anything!"

As her roommate left, Ryuko started to look around for any machines that weren't in use. There weren't a lot, pretty much every single weight machine was taken by some muscley jerk trying to show off to their friends. Was she the only girl in the weights section?

"Hey hot stuff," one such jerk said, slapping his hand down on her shoulder. "You look a little lost. Luckily, you have a future hero to protect you!"

She didn't even bother looking at the guy before she stomped on his foot as hard as she could, making him shriek in agony. Just what that prick deserved. On the bright side, he freed up a bench press for her.

Ryuko grinned as she started stacking heavier and heavier weights on the bar. Activating Senketsu would have removed any challenge the weights could offer her, so she stayed in her base form. About one and a half tons would be sufficient for a light workout.

She laid down on the bench and gripped the bar, ready to start her reps. But before she could, she was interrupted.

"Hey! Need a spotter?"

Ryuko sat back up to see where the voice had just come from. Standing behind her was a boy who looked about her age. He had straight black hair and red eyes, but his most notable feature was a set of very pointy teeth, which he flashed in a very shark-like grin.

Just what she needed. Another douchebag hitting on her.

"If you're trying to get in my pants, you're gonna have to do a lot better than that, dipshit. Beat it!" she snarled.

The boy was taken aback by her hostility, almost like he was offended. Ryuko didn't care though. If he wanted to pick up chicks at the gym, he had to get used to rejection eventually.

"Hold on now, you've got the wrong idea! I'm not that kind of guy!" the boy protested. Ryuko just rolled her eyes. "I'm serious! That kind of behavior is totally unmanly! I just thought you needed some help, that's all. But if you want to be left alone, I get it."

The boy lowered his head and walked away, his expression matching that of a sad puppy.

Alright, so she did feel a little bad. And she did make that promise to Mako about making friends...

"Actually, you're right," she called out to him. "I could use a spotter."

The boy's eyes lit up and he broke into a grin, showing off his shark-like teeth. "Now you're talking! Let's do this!"

She didn't really need his help after all, as she completed her three sets without much difficulty, but it was nice to have some company. When they swapped positions, Ryuko had to admit that she was pretty impressed with him. He was able to use the same weights she did and she only needed to help him once.

After they finished with the bench press, the two walked over to the water fountain for a drink. Only they were blocked by a familiar face. Well, more like a familiar voice. She didn't want to waste brain cells remembering that guy's face.

"Hey! You're that whore who stepped on my foot!" the prick from earlier shouted. "I oughta teach you a lesson about respect!"

Ryuko sighed. Some idiots just didn't learn. One flash of her scissor blade at full size would be enough to scare that asshole back into whatever cave he crawled out of. She was about to expand her weapon, but the shark-toothed boy stepped in front of her.

"I bet you think you're real manly, harassing girls like that!" he growled. "But that kind of shit isn't cool at all! A real man respects others!"

"Look, I was just being nice!" the asshole whined. "She's the one who started it by stepping on my foot!"

"Only because you made an unwanted advance on her. Don't deny it, I've seen you pull that crap before. Now you better leave her alone!"

"Ooo, Mr. White Knight is gonna get me!" the asshole said mockingly. "I guess I'll be teaching you a lesson too!"

He pumped both of his fists, making three bronze spikes pop out from his between knuckles. The shark-toothed boy wasn't deterred at all though, just smiling as the asshole swung his spiked fists for his face.

All six metal spikes completely shattered upon impact. The shark-toothed boy kept smiling, having not moved a single centimeter. His face looked different though, now having sharp edges and rocky skin.

The prick fell on his ass from the recoil. He tried to stand back up, but the shark-toothed boy cast a dark shadow over him.

"I guess you're not hero material in terms of personality or power. Now, do you have anything you want to say?" he asked, glaring at his defeated opponent.

"I'm sorry women!" he squeaked before running out of the gym as fast as he could.

"You know, I can stand up for myself. I don't need a stranger to protect me," Ryuko told the boy. While she was thankful for his help in dealing with that asshole, she wasn't some damsel in distress.

"Sure, but it's a hero's duty to protect anyone they can. Also that guy was super annoying," the boy said. "By the way, I'm Eijiro Kirishima!"

"Ryuko Matoi," she introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you Matoi! I can't say I've ever seen you around here before, and I spend almost all my free time here. So are you new in town?" Kirishima asked.

"Yeah, I just moved in. I thought I'd get a little training done before the UA entrance exam."

"You're applying to UA too? Awesome!" Kirishima exclaimed, hitting the water fountain in excitement so hard he almost broke it.

"Hey Kiri, who's this?" a girl asked as she walked over to Kirishima's side.

Her appearance was... unusual to say the least. She looked human for the most part, but her skin was hot pink and a pair of curly horns poked out from her even pinker hair. Ryuko wasn't too surprised, she knew people with mutation quirks existed, but they were a rarity in Kiryuin territory.

"This is Ryuko Matoi," Kirishima introduced her to the girl. "She's applying to UA too!"

"Wow that's so cool! My name's Mina Ashido!" Mina introduced herself, taking Ryuko's hand and shaking it. "Anyway, Kiri and I were going to get something to eat, do you want to come with us?"

Ryuko froze. She had never gotten an invitation like this before, what was she supposed to do? Wouldn't Uraraka be waiting for her?

She frantically looked around the gym for her roommate until she found her. While Uraraka looked a little bit surprised that Ryuko had already met some new people, she waved her hand, motioning her to go with them.

Well, there went her only excuse.

"Alright, where do you guys wanna go?"

"So Matoi, what's your quirk?" Mina asked.

The three of them were sitting outside of a small café underneath an umbrella protecting them from the harsh rays of the sun. Kirishima and Mina both ordered sandwiches which they ate with gusto, while Ryuko just watched them while sipping her coffee.

"First, I wanna hear what your powers are," she deflected. "Back at the gym you did something with your face to block that guy's punch."

"Wait, who was punching you? Did you get in a fight?" Mina glared accusingly at Kirishima.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a fight, it was just some jerk at the gym hassling Matoi. He couldn't even hurt me so he just ended up leaving," he defended. "And I did that with my quirk, Hardening! I can turn any part of my body to solid rock!"

Kirishima demonstrated by flexing his arm and activating his quirk. The skin from his elbow all the way down to his fingertips hardened, making it look like it was comprised of several plates of rock.

"Ooh, it's my turn!" Mina exclaimed. "My quirk is Acid, I can shoot acid from my skin! Like this!"

A small stream of grey liquid shot out from Mina's fingertips and onto the table, burning a hole through it in a matter of seconds. The substance dripped through the hole and onto the concrete floor, eating through even that. Ryuko wrinkled her nose in disgust as the noxious fumes it produced reached her.

"Uh, maybe don't tell anyone about that," Mina said sheepishly. "But enough about us, now you have tell us your quirk Matoi! Also, what's with the school uniform? It's a Saturday!"

"Well, they kind of go together. My sailor uniform, Senketsu, is alive," she explained. "I'm the only one who can actually hear him though and I can also feed him my blood to enter a transformed state."

"You have a transformation quirk? Show it to us!" Mina requested.

"I really don't think that's such a good idea..."

"Come on, we showed you our quirks!" she pointed out. "Show us! Show us! Help me out here Kiri!"

"I would like to see what you can do," Kirishima admitted. "Besides, we'll have to find out eventually."

There wasn't any way out of it now. Ryuko took a deep breath and let her blood flow into Senketsu.

"Life Fiber Synchronize: Kamui Senketsu!"

Once the red flash from her transformation had faded, she saw Kirishima and Mina staring at her. They weren't the only ones either, pretty much everyone at the café was looking to see where the burst of light had come from.

"And I thought my costume design showed too much skin..." Kirishima muttered.

Ryuko didn't mind the looks though. She was way over that. If this was the form a Kamui had to take to unleash the most power, she'd embrace it gladly.

"Hey! No shirt, no service!" the café owner shouted. "This isn't that part of town! And why is there a hole in the table?"

He just had to put it like that, didn't he? She instantly deactivated Senketsu out of sheer embarrassment and slammed a 5000 yen bill on the table. Way too much for what they ordered, but she just needed to get out of there.

"Let's get out of here!" Ryuko blushed furiously as she stormed away from the café, Kirishima and Mina following her.

"Uh, alright I guess," Kirishima agreed reluctantly. "Now that I think about it, there is another place I wanna go!"

Dagoba Municipal Beach Park. Warm white sands and clear blue water with the sun's rays reflecting off its surface. A few children built sandcastles at the water's edge, their constructs quickly washed away by the waves. Off in the distance, seagulls soared above the water, looking for their next meal. It should have been beautiful.

It was also completely covered in garbage.

Huge mountains of junk were strewn about everywhere. And not just small pieces of litter like plastic bags and bottles either. Everything from tires, to computers, to entire washing machines were all piled up on the sand. Some of the junk didn't even come from Japan!

"Why'd you bring us to this shithole?" Ryuko asked.

"Sorry, I didn't know how bad this place got," Kirishima apologized. "The last time I came here was when I was a kid. It actually used to be really nice here."

"Oh yeah, I read somewhere that it's something about the ocean currents. I think they bring junk all over the world right to this spot," Mina spoke up. "It's kind of a shame that people take advantage of that to dump trash illegally. But actually, I remember it being a lot worse a few months ago."

"How could it be any worse?" Ryuko exclaimed, unable to imagine anything worse than how the beach was right now.

"Well, now everything is in these neat piles. It used to be that the junk was layered on everywhere. At least now you can actually see the sand," Mina pointed out. "And look, there's actually a section that's completely clean!"

"Hey, you're right!" Kirishima noticed, squinting into the distance. "It looks like there's two guys over there picking up the trash!"

Sure enough, there was a pretty sizable section of the beach that was devoid of garbage. And as Kirishima said, there were two people who were likely responsible. One of them was a tall and skinny old man. He also looked like he was coaching the second person, who was closer to Ryuko's age.

"Maybe we should go help them!" Mina suggested. "You know, help the community and all."

"Yeah!" Kirishima agreed. "Let's go!"

She wasn't sure what it was, but something about that rubbed Ryuko the wrong way. Going out of her way to help complete strangers with something that had nothing to do with her. It just... seemed wrong.

"If that kid wants to waste his time with a pointless task, you should just let him," she scoffed, making Kirishima and Mina stop in their tracks.

"What are you talking about? He's cleaning up the beach, that's not pointless!" Mina exclaimed.

"It is when the beach is just gonna fill up with trash again in a few years," Ryuko pointed out. "Do you really think anything's gonna change? He's not doing anything except wasting his time so some ungrateful strangers can continue to dumb garbage in the ocean."

"Maybe you're right, but for the few years it is clean, people can enjoy the beach again!" Kirishima countered. "It's the right thing to do, even if it ends up amounting to nothing in the long run!"

What was their deal with picking up garbage? Didn't they get that they'd be doing all that work for people they didn't even know existed? Why would they take time away from their own goals to help with something no one even cared about?

"Both of you want to get into UA right?" she asked. Both Kirishima and Mina nodded as she expected. "Then do you think that UA is gonna care if you waste time cleaning a beach that hasn't been used in years?"

"Well when you put it that way, I think it would be better if I studied for the written exam," Mina conceded. "I've barely passed most of the practice tests, so I should probably keep studying."

"Yeah, I guess you have a point. I need to focus on the exam if I want to get into UA with my pretty basic quirk," Kirishima said dejectedly. "I'll see both of you at the entrance exam then!"

Ryuko stayed still for a few seconds as she watched her new friends go home. Maybe she was a little too harsh with them. All they wanted to do was help out.

Nah, all she did was save them from breaking their backs moving refrigerators. They'd realize she was right when nothing changed and people continued to dump their trash wherever they pleased. In this world, the only person she'd ever bother doing anything for was herself. And her friends.

She took one last look at the boy on the beach. While his face was too far to pick out any distinct features, she managed to look into his eyes for a moment. And he looked into hers. She left, leaving the fool to his errand.

"Come on young Midoriya!" All Might encouraged. "You can do it! You've almost got this entire section of the beach cleared up!"

Izuku Midoriya grunted as he pulled a giant TV with all his might. It was the last piece of trash on the section of the beach. Of course, he still had a long way to go before he cleaned everywhere All Might told him too, but he was getting there.

He didn't plan on stopping though. He wasn't going to stop at one section, he'd clean the entire beach! That was the kind of hero he wanted to be, the kind who saved everyone!

Thinking about his motivations gave Izuku the final push he needed to lift up the TV and toss it onto the trash pile. Afterwards, he fell over and collapsed on the sand. Everything hurt, but his arms felt the worst. He didn't even know if he could use them for the rest of the day.

"Not bad kid!" All Might complimented. "I'd say you're almost ready to receive my power!"

"All Might, will I be able to finish in time?" Izuku asked weakly. "There's less than a week left before the exam and I'm only about three quarters of the way done!"

"That's true, but you have to remember that you've been improving exponentially this entire time!" All Might pointed out. "When we began, you couldn't even budge a single refrigerator! Now look at what you've done, you threw that TV all by yourself, without even using a quirk! You'll finish your training on time, don't worry about it."

"Yeah, you're right!" Izuku stood up, his mentor's words encouraging him. "I'm gonna keep working and going beyond!"

"PLUS ULTRA!" he and All Might said together.

While All Might chuckled after yelling out his catchphrase, Izuku saw something in the distance that caught his eye. Three people were standing at the edge of the street, looking down at the beach. Two of them turned around and left, but one stayed behind. She was definitely a girl, but he couldn't see her face that well.

For the briefest of moments, Izuku managed to look into her eyes. She tilted her head seemingly in confusion before leaving with her friends.

He didn't know why, but for some reason that girl...

It looked like she needed saving.

Before long, the day of the entrance exam had arrived. Ryuko Matoi and Uraraka started the long walk to UA, which was all the way at the top of a hill far from the rest of Musutafu.

They were hardly the only ones there. The sheer number of kids also making the climb to school made the gym look practically empty by comparison. Most wore their school uniforms, but a few had carried costumes and support gear of their own with them.

Ryuko had gone back to they gym a few times to meet back up with Kirishima and Mina, so she wasn't nervous about the exam. She'd even bought a chibi plush of All Might for Mako when she saw her again. Getting that plush was an adventure on its own. Apparently it was some sort of limited edition collector's item.

She stood at the base of the hill, a long winding path ahead of her. At the peak, the massive school building loomed over her. The parallels to her arrival at Honnouji Academy were not lost on her, though UA was a lot less intimidating.

Ryuko took a deep breath and made the first step toward her new life as a UA student.

"Are you ready for this Ryuko?" Senketsu asked her.

"Hell yeah I am!" Ryuko said. "Let's show UA what we can do!"

A/N: I am so glad that I rewrote this chapter. The more I reread the original, the more I cringed at how bad my writing was. I truly think that the original chapter 2 was the reason some people stopped reading. Like it was Wattpad quality. Now I think it's actually pretty decent.

I'd also like to clarify what "Independent Japan" and the "Kiryuin Territories" are. I think you can gather enough of the pieces in the other chapters, but if you're still confused, it's just my way of explaining the differences in Japanese society between the two series. Independent Japan is just the hero society in MHA, while the Kiryuin Territories are all the places Honnouji Academy invaded and conquered.

Finally, Ryuko doesn't actually say "Life Fiber Synchronize" most of the time. Life Fibers are still somewhat of a secret in Independent Japan and no one there understands them. Just like how Midoriya doesn't actually say "One For All" with every attack, otherwise he'd be pretty terrible at keeping it a secret.