As the landscape zoomed by, trees and cars and buildings merging into a weird shade of greenish-grey. Ryuko yawned.

If there was one word to describe the last few days, it would be 'uneventful.'

A typical class representative election.

A normal lunch followed by a mad rush to safety when the press somehow got through security.

Ida cosplaying as the dude on the emergency exit sign.

Mako following her home because her parents were working late and she didn't want to sit in the darkness all by herself.

Which led to sitting on a fancy charter bus, half-asleep and wearing her PE clothes because UA shipped her costume back to Revocs for repairs and modifications. Not that she cared in the slightest. Revocs could take as much time as they wanted. Because, truth be told, she'd been fine with only one sleeve. It made using her Quirk easier. And it didn't feel like she was being strangled by fabric. But no, UA had standards. And no matter how much she complained, All Might had confiscated her costume as soon she changed back into her normal uniform.

"Hey, uh, Matoi – "

Without turning from the scenery blurring past the window, Ryuko grumbled, "…it's just Ryuko."

"Err, right, Ryuko," Izuku cleared his throat while seemingly finding something interesting on the floor in front of him, "You don't have to answer if you don't want to. I mean, I know it's not something you want to talk about, but your dad…" he almost stopped, hands gripping his knees and a sour taste in his mouth, "…did he know All Might?"

The bus actually got quieter.

Even the little pervert in the back stopped ogling Yaoyorozu.

"Yup," the succinct response clung to her tongue while a snort stopped itself halfway up her throat. As if their opinions mattered. If someone didn't want to take the time to actually get to know her, that was their problem. Not hers. If they did, they'd know she wasn't someone who lost her temper at the drop of a hat. Personally, she was insulted at least half of the class believed her temper matched the blond punk's, "He knew a lot of pros," a massive understatement, if anything, "There's the Wild, Wild Pussycats, Nighteye, that guy wearing jeans and, oh, Endeavor. Give me a name and dad probably met them."

"That makes sense," next to her, Ida muttered with affirmation, "Professor Matoi's expertise would've been in high demand across – "

"Forget that!" butting into the conversation, Kirishima asked something far more important, "You know Endeavor?"

"Now hold on, I wasn't finished – "

"I heard Endeavor's nicer in person," this time, Hagakure interrupted Ida, "That his 'rough and tough' personality is all an act."

Sequestered in the furthest corner of the bus next to Mezo Shoji, interested in nothing except whatever Aizawa had planned for the day's lesson, Todoroki was torn out of his thoughts by a sequence of words that not only shouldn't exist in nature, but were completely abhorrent, in and of themselves. None of this reached his eyes, however. The slightest twitching of his mouth. A minor grimace. And his fingers, if only brief enough to suggest to he wasn't amused, clenched before relaxing.

"Tch, that's a load of bull."

Unaware of Endeavor's son's opinion yet nevertheless in agreement, perhaps not to the same extent but in spirit, Ryuko rolled her eyes, "The guy's as friendly as a porcupine!"

She left it at that.

There was nothing more to say.

Endeavor was a hero.

And an asshole with an ego the size of Mount Fuji.

"Don't leave us hanging!" curious in a way only someone invisible could be, Hagakure leaned over her seat, ignoring Mineta's protest when she 'accidentally' smacked him in the side of his head with her elbow, "When did you meet him? Was Todoroki there?"

Everybody was staring at her.

Perfect.

"…I met him once."

It was actually more than once.

"…and no, he wasn't there."

That was a lie.

What happened during those two hours of awkward torture her dad had called 'a pleasant dinner' was a secret she and Todoroki would take to their graves.

"Ugh, long story short – " she ran a hand through her hair, annoyed simply by the prospect of remembering, " – dad was called to his agency. Don't know why, don't care why."

It hadn't been the most embarrassing visit.

But it was the most memorable, "I didn't want to go, but dad thought it would be great to see how Endeavor worked," a click of her teeth. Boredom. Five hours of boredom starting from the moment they walked underneath the flaming 'E' above Endeavor's door, "Of course, it was all hush-hush and secret, so while they chatted, I hung out with the guy's interns and sidekicks. Ugh, it was the freaking worst," another grumble, "Well, five hours later, dad walks out of Endeavor's office, talking about something or another. Then the guy decides to ask dad if I wanted a letter of recommendation to UA."

"Your daughter has a powerful Quirk. She could do a lot of good if properly trained. It wouldn't be any trouble writing a letter of recommendation to UA…"

"I told the prick to shove off," a chuckle, "Got grounded a whole week. But totally worth it."

"Wha – Wait! What!?"

Caught between Ryuko's uncaring attitude and everything she'd just heard about Endeavor and UA, Uraraka experienced a momentary loss of sanity. Something snapped. She wasn't sure what snapped, just that nothing about anything Ryuko said made sense, "You mean, you could've gotten into UA on a recommendation! But you didn't!? Why? How!? Gafafa!"

Ryuko was fairly certain that last word wasn't actually a word.

"…uh, yeah?" she shrugged, and Uraraka's already wide eyes widened even further.

"BUT YOU COULD HAVE!?"

Now Uraraka was repeating herself.

But Ryuko still couldn't understand the problem, "It's not a big deal. Even if he wrote the damn letter, I'd have thrown it in the trash."

"GAFAFA!"

"Yaoyorozu, if I'm not mistaken, you participated in the recommendation exam, correct?" while the zero-gravity teenager collapsed onto Momo's shoulder, foam drizzling out of her mouth and lips twitching, Ida enquired about something more important given the circumstances, "If it's not too much trouble, I'm curious what the differences were between UA's standard admission process and the recommendation route."

"Hmm…differences?"

Momo pinched her chin, "There was a three-hour written exam with fifty multiple choice questions, five open-ended questions on each major subject and an essay about what we'd do if faced with one of three different villains. An hour later, we had to run through a three-kilometer obstacle course with our Quirks. Hmm…after that, we were interviewed by the faculty, a sixty-minute question and answer round involving our aspirations and goals. It was quite overwhelming. I studied for four months and barely managed to come in third."

"Was the recommendation exam THAT hard!?"

"I knew the recommendation exam was difficult, but not to such an extent," the speed-hero confirmed with reluctant relief that he hadn't needed to go down such a route.

"Hey, Ryu," as the bus hit a pothole, lurching its occupants upwards, Tsuyu accidentally leaned against Midoriya, not that she particularly noticed, "Endeavor must have thought you could really pass if he offered to write you a letter of recommendation."

"Ehh…"

A lazy shrug summarized her reaction, "Cramming for seven days was bad enough. But four months? Ugh! I'd rather die."

Uraraka, who'd barely managed to regain consciousness, fell back into a stunned stupor, "Only a week!?"

He remembered the nightmare cram sessions, day after day sitting at his desk with his face glued to textbooks, skipping everything but eating and sleeping, just to get a barely passing score on the written exam. And Ryuko passed by putting off studying into the last second? Kirishima lurched forward in his seat, eyes glued to Ryuko, "Wait – you're serious? What'd you get?"

"Uhh…" looking to Tsuyu for support only to find nothing but betrayal, Ryuko scratched her neck, "…a ninety-three?"

"GAFAFA!"

"Yup, that's Ryuko, brilliant but lazy," a halfhearted glare pierced the length of the bus, which Tsuyu ignored as she'd always ignored, "By the way, I saw you talking to the other class's teacher yesterday. What was that about?"

"Oh, yeah, I saw that too," Kaminari forced a grin, "Don't tell me you already got into trouble. Sero and me were betting Bakugo would be the first called to the principal's office."

"As if!"

She clicked her teeth, refusing to dignify that question with an answer, "He just offered some advice about my Quirk, is all."

"You have a limited supply of blood, Matoi, think creatively!"

"Instead of conjuring something from your imagination, try something easier."

"Your Quirk allows your blood to become sharper than any blade, so don't limit yourself to swords and axes!"

"If you ever need advice on a new technique or move, feel free to ask. My office is always open."

It was actually good advice.

Really good advice.

"That's useful, especially since blood manipulating Quirks aren't exactly common," Midoriya, sensing an opening, leapt headfirst back into the conversation, "However, I'm not certain if his control is as precise as yours," oblivious to his surroundings, he tapped his finger against his cheek while thinking, "He's been a pro hero for thirteen years, but I can't recall ever seeing him manipulate his blood into shapes or objects, let alone weapons. Perhaps his Quirk has limitations that yours doesn't. Durability. Or maybe his blood can't harden as much as yours," his pondering slowly shifted into mumbling too quiet for anyone to pick up, "On the other hand, given the entrance exam, there's obviously a limit to how much blood you can use at any one time. Of course, that limit's open to interpretation…"

"Midoriya sure knows a lot about Vlad King," Tsuyu muttered in confusion and morbid fascination.

As he kept talking and talking and talking until one sentence bled into another, Ryuko's expression devolved from boredom to annoyance to outright irritation.

"Alright, geez, we get the point," that seemed to shut Midoriya up, but she wasn't done with him yet, "Hey, since you know so much about heroes, answer something for me," it was a normal question, yet the moment she finished, Ryuko watched the green haired hero-in-training shiver like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar, "Your Quirk's an awful lot like All Might's. Ever think about going to him for advice instead of breaking your arm?"

She must've hit the nail on the head because Midoriya immediately started sweating.

"Well, um, it's funny you mention that…" wracking his mind for an excuse, one Ryuko would find believable yet not too believable, Midoriya laughed, "Because I actually talked to All Might yesterday. And he offered to teach me a few pointers once I got a little stronger."

Bakugo growled into his hand.

Something Jiro ignored by cranking the volume on her phone.

But someone else didn't.

"So, I'm just going to be the one to ask – what's your deal?" through no fault of his own, Kaminari had drawn the short straw, leaving him the sacrificial lamb, "Did Midoriya kick sand in your face or something?"

"None of your business, dumbass!"

Rather than acknowledge the warning, Kaminari snapped his fingers, "You know, with that attitude, you're never going to make friends."

"Shut up before I explode your ass!"

As Bakugo's threat reached the front of the bus, bounced against Aizawa's head and vanished, Mina stretched her arms and pouted, "Seriously, what's your problem with Izuku? He's nice. And cute. Nothing like you."

"Problem?" Midoriya blushed, sweat dripping down his face, "There's no problem! It's just…well…Kacchan is sorta like…"

"Kacchan?"

It was great.

It was perfect.

It was the best thing she'd heard in months.

Repeating the nickname, just to make sure she wasn't dreaming, Ryuko grinned, "That's adorable."

"THE HELL IT IS!"

Having reached his breaking point, passed so far beyond that he came back to mild annoyance, and then broke the barrier again, Bakugo leapt out of his seat, "Call me that again and I'll kick your freaking ass, blood bank!"

"Hey, hey, we're here. Stop messing around."

At the front of the bus, silently daring anyone – especially Bakugo – to so much as open their mouths, Aizawa grumbled when none of them bothered risking suspension, much to his relief, "Now, let's go. Single file. No pushing or shoving. The sooner we get off, the quicker you can get to training."