"I hate this already."

She'd gotten up early, ate breakfast, grabbed her stuff, locked her apartment, bought another bagel at the bodega on the corner and began the long and boring walk to UA.

Running into Mako had been a surprise.

Maybe stumbling made more sense.

Apparently, her mom and dad lived across town. And she'd been so excited to make a good first impression that she left without eating breakfast. Ryuko could still remember Mako's eyes settling on the half-eaten cream cheese bagel. The questions about 'are you going to eat that, Ryuko?' And the drool. So much drool. She'd tried ignoring Mako. But it had been like trying to ignore a puppy. And so, by the time they passed through UA's security gate, her bagel was long gone. Followed by five minutes of chatting – about her home, old school and Quirk, Mako's dog who wore a sweater or something, Mako's little brother, Mako's Quirk causing their apartment's power to go out at the end of everything month and a couple of things she believed were possibly illegal.

Her stomach grumbled.

Why was everyone at UA so freaking weird?

She pulled at her collar.

UA's preppy uniform was the sort of thing she'd vowed never to wear, even on penalty of death. A gray jacket over a long-sleeved white shirt. A blue-green skirt that barely reached her knees. Brown dress shoes with matching socks. And a red tie she'd spent hours in front of a mirror practicing how to tie without choking herself. Everything was ironed. Everything was perfectly pressed. And she'd used enough starch that she was half-certain her uniform could stand on its own. Her day was off to a phenomenal start and it wasn't even eight in the morning.

She looked up.

Class 1-A.

This was it.

The beginning of her 'new life.'

Once she walked inside, there was no turning back.

Ryuko stood outside the classroom for more than a minute, staring at the overcompensating door like it would burst into flames at any moment.

"Well, no point waitin'…"

Upon sliding open the door, she immediately noticed two things. One, it was way nicer than her old school. Like, way nicer. State-of-the-art equipment, ultra-modern lighting probably set to the sun or something stupid and fancy desks with reclining chairs. The second thing was that she wasn't the first to arrive. There were five other people. An invisible girl waving at her. A quiet guy in the back with white and red hair she swore looked familiar. A girl with long black hair tied into a spiky ponytail. A tall guy with two pairs of webbed arms. And a old-looking guy with glasses who decided to introduce himself in the weirdest fashion possible.

"Good morning! I'm Tenya Ida," furiously waving his arm in a chopping motion, the newly-named Ida continued, "I'm looking forward to learning alongside you!"

It took her a moment to realize he was waiting for her response.

"Oh, uh," she debated whether to ignore Ida. It felt like a fantastic idea, but if she was going to spend the next three years at UA, she might as well make some friends, "Ryuko…Matoi."

"Matoi?"

It hit her quickly. The moment she finished, she knew she'd screwed up. She could see the gears in Ida's head spinning, "Professor Isshin Matoi? One of the world's foremost experts on Quirk evolution? It's an honor to meet you! His paper on Quirk inheritance arising predominantly from paternal Quirks was groundbreaking!"

"Yup."

"I, uh," to his credit, Ida realized he'd messed up sooner than she'd thought, because he quickly backed away and coughed into his hand, "My apologies. I should have known better than to broach such a delicate subject."

"It's fine."

She pretended not to care.

This wasn't the first time someone accidentally mentioned her dad.

And it wouldn't be the last.

Her desk was in the first row, fourth from the front, and fortunately nobody else bothered her as she dropped her backpack on the floor and sat down. Yawning into her hand, Ryuko covered her mouth and stared at the wall, eyes unfocused. Time passed, but it might as well have stood still. More people arrived. An eccentric-looking weirdo three seats in front of her. A muscular guy who enthusiastically shook Ida's hand much to the latter's surprise. And a girl with earlobes resembling phone jacks. Everyone had Quirks. And she'd bet anything they could kick ass. Yet as her eyes trailed across the room before returning to the blank wall, one question kept repeating itself in her head.

If All Might was teaching at UA, how the hell would he bring the psychopathic monster who killed her dad to justice?

"Hey, Ryuko."

Tsuyu Asui's desk was number three.

Right in front of hers.

Talk about a lucky coincidence.

They'd known each other since middle school. Some might call them friends. And they'd be right, although the reason behind their friendship was secret, known only to herself, Tsuyu and the bullies who, to this day, were too terrified of telling their parents why they'd come home bruised, bleeding and crying. She was personally proud of that. Seeing her friend in the same class was a breath of fresh air. She felt better. But unlike a normal and socially adjusted individual, she barely reacted beyond an exhausted nod, "Oh, hey, Tsu."

"I still can't believe All Might blackmailed you into attending UA," half a foot of tongue hung from Tsuyu's mouth as she sat down, "That's surprisingly underhanded."

"Don't let that stupid smile fool you."

She shrugged as two people laughed their way into the room – a cheerful girl with pink skin and horns, and an upbeat guy with spiky red hair, "Nobody becomes number one hero in the world by being mister perfect. Besides," propping her foot on her desk, Ryuko threaded her fingers through her hair, "It wasn't like I had anything better to do."

Maybe that was nonsense.

But nobody knew it was nonsense and she wouldn't give a shit even if they did.

Tsuyu croaked.

"You know, Ryu, if you changed your mind, you could have just said so," she and Habuko hadn't believed Ryuko's strange excuse. They'd known her long enough to realize when she was making something up, "You didn't need to come up with a crazy story about All Might acting like a villain, ribbit."

She refused to acknowledge that.

"OH MY GOD!"

Yellow eyes surrounded by pitch black sclera spotted Ryuko moments after she walked into her homeroom. Pink hair fluttered as she homed upon the other girl faster than anybody could react. Not even Kirishima. She was positively excited! And by the time she reached the blood-manipulating teenager's desk, Mina Ashida had already began spilling her deepest secrets, "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S REALLY YOU!"

The sheer enthusiasm overwhelmed Ryuko, "…huh?"

"You're the one who destroyed that humongous robot during the test," before Ryuko could recompose her thoughts, Mina leaned forward, all smiles and sunshine, "C'mon! Give me the details! How'd you pull it off? What super move did you use? What's your Quirk!? C'mon! Spill it!"

"Uh…"

From his seat, Denki Kaminari whistled, "Wait – that was you?"

"It was amazing!" a beaming grin answered his question, "Like something from an action movie!" now furiously pumping her fist over and over, Mina repeated every detail she could remember. Which wasn't much. But that didn't stop her from improvising, "She was all Hiya! And Pow! And Wa-taah! With a little Wham!"

"Uhh…"

"Oh man, that's hardcore," Eijiro Kirishima leaned around Mina, "Your Quirk must be crazy strong."

"Uhhh…"

"So c'mon, what's your Quirk?" alternating between clasping her hands and pumping her fist, Mina whined, "Tell meeeeee…"

"….uhh?"

"That's enough questions," it would be a bold-faced lie to suggest he wasn't modestly curious about Ryuko's Quirk, if only from a strictly philosophical point of view. But that didn't stop Ida from interceding on her behalf, "I'm certain Miss Matoi will demonstrate her Quirk in due time!"

"Hey."

Someone, however, didn't get the message.

He had explosive blond hair, an expression straddling the line between 'pissed off' and 'stick up his ass' and shoved his way through the crowd. He also wasn't wearing a tie, something which annoyed her far more than his vulgar personality and short temper. If she knew the dress code was that lax, she would have tossed her ties into the trash. But that particularly personal frustration was quickly and violently overshadowed when the asshole opened his mouth a second time, "You're that extra who decimated that worthless villain, aren't you?"

Extra?

Her foot slid off the desk.

Did he seriously just call her an extra?

"Huh, that's a funny way of asking for advice," she half-snorted, half-scoffed.

He glared at her.

She snorted harder.

This was a battle of attrition.

Whoever gave up first, lost.

She knew it.

He knew it.

"Forget it," and as expected, the blond punk was the first to blink. Snarling like a mutt choking on the end of its leash, he stalked away, spitting impotent insults that would probably hurt more if he weren't running with his tail between his legs, "You probably mooched off someone else's Quirk. No way a nobody like you could pull of something like that."

She watched his leave.

And if not for the witnesses and her desire to make a good first impression, would have given him a certain gesture.

"Well, that could have gone worse, Ryu," a ribbit, followed by blunt honesty, summed Tsuyu's reaction.

"Nah – punks like him are all bark and no bite," slouching in her seat, Ryuko ignored the migraine pushing against the inside of her skull, "If you don't back down, they give up. And if they don't give up, you kick their ass until they surrender."

"You're kidding me, right? Your old school shove a stick up your ass or were you born with it?"

Her eyes snapped towards the front of the room, where another confrontation was unfolding between the Ida and the blond delinquent.

"Hey, Ryu?"

She heard Tsu, but didn't answer until determining they were at a relatively safe distance from the imminent explosion," Yeah?"

"This might be personal, but are the rumors true?"

The red bang sweeping above her left eye dimmed, physically confessing the sinking nausea roiling her stomach, "What rumors?"

"Well, a few weeks after you ran away, someone attacked Seiai," Tsuyu stared at the ceiling, finger against her chin and lost in thought, "Nobody knows who they were, but Habuko's friend's sister goes there. And apparently you look a lot like whoever –"

"If you're just here to make friends, then you can pack up your stuff now."

It was a miracle.

Ryuko didn't know how or why, but she wasn't about to complaining when someone interrupted Tsuyu. But out of morbid curiosity, she picked her head up. Ida and two other people looked shocked. Or maybe surprised. Mortified? And…terrified? At something. Or something.

"Welcome to UA's hero course."

Even if she couldn't see anyone, she could still hear their exhaustion, "It took eight seconds before you all shut up. That's not going to work. Time is precious. Rational students would understand that."

A man stepped into the classroom, his eyes tired and bloodshot.

"Hello, I'm Shouta Aizawa. Your teacher."

He looked familiar.

"Now, before we begin, I need to do roll call," shambling towards the lectern at the front of the room, the self-professed teacher rolled his sleeping bag, tucked it away, pulled out a phone and looked around, "When I call your name, answer present. Understand?"

"Yuga Aoyama."

"Mina Ashido."

"Tsuyu Asui."

"Katsuki Bakugo."

"Toru Hagakure."

"Tenya Ida."

"Kyoka Jiro."

"Denki Kaminari."

"Eijiro Kirishima."

"Koji Koda."

"Ryuko Matoi."

"Izuku Midoriya."

"Minoru Mineta."

"Rikido Sato."

"Hanta Sero."

"Mezo Shoji."

"Shoto Todoroki."

"Fumikage Tokoyami."

"Ochaco Uraraka."

"Momo Yaoyorozu."

"Alright," in the same bored tone, he pointed out the window, "Change into your gym uniforms and meet me outside."