Noikari woke up with a start, looking around frantically as he recalled the events that had taken place a few hours ago. Scratching his weary eyes, the child noticed that the room was. . . empty. Neither the rabbit, the one covered in fire, nor the man with the scary face were there. He was alone. As he slowly rose out of bed, he noticed something stranger. Looking down at his arms, the boy was shocked to see that the majority of his scars were. . gone! The only one that remained was a large scar that ran down his collarbone, but even that was now closed up. Had he regenerated? No, that wasn't it. There was more to it. Quietly peering out of the doorway to confirm his suspicions, Noikari realized where he was. Dr. Hetodah's data allowed him to be aware of his current location. This was the school he had learned about, where the so-called "heroes" trained the next generation to take up the mantle of heroics. For a place seemingly crawling with superpowered people, it was surprisingly normal. He figured this place would be like the lab. But he didn't dwell on that for much longer as another thought invaded his mind.

'I can't believe it' Noikari thought to himself. 'I'm finally free. .'

He looked outside through the open window, seeing that the sky was clear, allowing the Moon to illuminate the landscape. Noikari was mesmerized. He had never seen such beauty. Deciding to get some fresh air, the boy quickly started rummaging through various drawers. Eventually, he found numerous sets of clothes. Unfortunately, as they were Eri's clothes, they were all much too small for him. Noikari sighed in annoyance before eventually conceding and grabbing a pink shirt with flowers on it from the drawer. 'Better than nothing, I guess', he told himself. After taking a moment to squeeze into the tiny shirt, which barely covered half of his chest, Noikari silently exited the dorm room, taking extra precaution not to wake any heroes up, knowing that they would most likely find it suspicious that an unknown person was roaming the dormitory at night.

After a few minutes of sneaking, he found a door that led outside. The boy sighed contentedly as he felt a breeze of wind gently blow across his body. Gazing at the star-filled sky, he saw the full Moon in all its glory.

The Moon had always enamored Noikari. When he was all alone in his containment, it was the Moon that provided him light, gave him hope, however small it might have been.

Looking around to make sure no one was watching, Noikari brought his hands up to the sky, as if he was praising the Moon itself. And then, he danced. But it wasn't any normal dance. Every movement had not the slightest wasted movement. His body spun and twisted with fluidity and grace that would make even the most skilled choreographer's blush.

For almost half an hour, Noikari worshipped the natural satellite of the Earth, ending the beautiful performance by bringing himself downwards, allowing his body to sit on the grass. A single tear left Noikari's eye as he smiled.

For the first time in his life, he was truly happy.

After getting his fill of peace and quiet, Noikari decided to return to the dormitory so that he could continue sleeping. His mind was still a bit fuzzy, so it took the boy a moment to remember which room was his. Eventually, he found the dorm room that he had woken up in, the same one that Eri stayed in. However, when he opened the door a figure stood in the entrance, silent and shrouded by darkness. Noikari immediately began to panic. Was someone from the lab here to bring him back? Or was this perhaps a hallucination caused by his exhaustion? Whatever it was, it certainly did not look friendly, considering that it was wearing a black mask, with a red scarf covering its face. A hooded cape was draped over its shoulders, hiding its form. Noikari took a step back as the being emerged from out of the room, the sound of his feet hitting the floor echoing like bells in Noikari's ears.s Suddenly, the hooded figure raised its arm, a knife materializing from within its sleeve. Noikari was too petrified by fear to move. Closing his eyes, he prepared for the pain, only to hear a loud crack.

Opening his eyes, Noikari gawked as his attacker was sent to the ground with a punch to the head, forcing the man to drop the knife.

Standing between Noikari and the attacker was none other than Eraserhead, who had just returned with Eri. Without taking his eyes off of the mysterious assailant, Aizawa ordered "Noikari, you and Eri stay back. This freak is mine."

Noikari was confused. Who was Eri? How did Aizawa know his name? He had never told him it back at the lab. It wasn't until Eri tugged at his arm that Noikari was brought back to reality. Knowing that now he probably shouldn't question him right now, Noikari stepped back with Eri to allow Eraserhead to fight.

Still gazing at the attacker as he slowly pulled himself off of the ground. The villain cursed his luck. He had meant to take Noikari and leave, but now he had to fight a pro hero.

Or did he?

Gears turned in the man's head as he concocted a plan, grinning to himself. In a fight with a pro hero like Mirko, he didn't stand a chance, but if could get some leverage. . . That was it! Stealing a glance at Aizawa, the villain put his hands up and dropped to his knees, pretending to surrender. The teacher, though a little suspicious, still took the incentive and readied his capture weapon to restrain the villain until he could call the police.

"You must be pretty dumb breaking into a place like this."

The villain merely shrugged "On the contrary", he began. "Did you really think I wouldn't come here unprepared?"

In a surprising move, the man smashed a fist into Aizawa's gut. Although it didn't hurt too much, the punch was enough to make the Erasure Hero stagger back, allowing the villain to execute his plan. Turning to the two children, the man charged at them. Noikari instinctively put himself in front of Eri, only to be smashed into the wall by the attacker, granting the villain the chance to grab Eri. The little girl cried out as she was held in the villain's grasp, but Eri's voice became quiet as the aggressor generated another knife from his hands, holding it up to the girl's throat. Seeing both Noikari and Aizawa recover, the villain held out a single hand.

"Ah, ah, ah," he mocked. "Either of you make a move and I kill her. We don't want that to happen now, do we?" He chuckled darkly.

Eraserhead was furious, hardly able to control his fury. "How can you hold a child hostage? You're not just a villain, you're a monster!"

The kidnapper laughed. "My, my, such a bold claim. I'm sure my little 'friend' here wouldn't like those words, right?" He pressed the knife close enough to where it nearly touched Eri's throat, the girl whimpering as tears flowed from her eyes.

Noikari stood silently as emotions and thoughts swirled around in his head. Flashbacks of his own past overwhelmed him. The torture, the pain, he wouldn't allow anyone to feel that way ever again, especially someone who had saved him before. He had to use the power that the doctor had granted him.

And then, something snapped inside. Aizawa, Eri, and even the villain holding the latter hostage all turned to the young child as a sound similar to hissing steam hit their ears, Noikari being the cause. His flesh began to change. Screaming in pain, the boy fell to the ground as the skin on his arms started to pulsate and morph, becoming more muscular and changing to a deep purple color. Lavender-hued blood dripped from his hands as his body briefly was unable to contain the raw power. Howling in agony, Noikari stayed this way for roughly two minutes, feeling more like two hours for him.

And then, the pain stopped.

All of a sudden, Noikari's screams lessened, before muting entirely. The boy straightened up, his eyes no longer holding any fear within them.

In fear for Eri's life, Noikari's quirk had awoken.

Conversion Furnace

Faster than anyone could see, Noikari lunged forward. The villain had no time to react as a powerful fist smashed into his face, nearly breaking his nose from the hit. The attack not only sent the evil man flying back, but it also forced him to release his grip on Eri. Grabbing her in his arms, Noikari briefly looked at her shocked face, a warm smile shining from his visage as his face then hardened once more. Gently placing the girl down, Noikari pointed at a shocked Eraserhead and said one word.

"Go."

Eri briefly stared at him in awe before nodding, running over to Aizawa and allowing the mentor to take her.

Now with that taken care of, Noikari turned back to his enemy. The villain was on his feet and charging toward Noikari, his face full of rage. With inhuman speed, Noikari grabbed the man's legs, throwing him to the floor. The villain rolled away as Noikari continued to advance on him, kicking and punching at the villain's weak areas repeatedly. Finally reaching the man's neck, he attempted to grab his head, only to jump back as the villain materialized two knives in his hands, slashing them across Noikari's robust hands. The child yelped as violet-colored ichor was expelled, before grabbing the weapons and tossing them aside, allowing him to land a devastating punch to the villain's cheek, blood being forcibly ejected from his mouth as he was once more sent flying backward.

Jumping at the villain with inhumane speed, Noikari prepared to bring his powerful fists down on his chest, only to shriek in pain as the purple skin across his hands began to flake off, revealing the original white color of his normal skin. His quirk had worn off. It was the first time he had ever used it, and it had exhausted him completely. Noikari stumbled backward before falling flat on his back, utterly drained of strength.

The villain rubbed his bruised cheek and chuckled. "That is quite the power you wield, boy. Know that this isn't over. I will be seeing you again soon. ." With that, he left in a burst of smoke, concealing his escape.

"Damn it, he got away!" exclaimed Aizawa. Shooting a worried glance to Noikari, Mirko picked him up and helped the child to his feet.

"What. . what happened?"

Eraserhead raised an eyebrow. "You don't remember what you did?" Noikari shook his head no. Before he could question it further, Eri walked up to the boy. "Um. . excuse me?"

Kneeling down in front of her, Noikari waited for the little girl to speak, only to be stunned as she softly wrapped her arms around his neck, embracing him in a hug. "Thank you for saving me," she said in gratitude. Noikari's eyes widened, tears starting to form in his pupils before he returned her embrace with his own, trying his best not to cry as his heart was touched by the gesture.

The two children, each previously facing tragedy of their own, formed a silent bond.

At this point, several students from Class 1A had emerged from their dorms, the commotion of the battle waking them up. Upon seeing the situation, they all rushed towards Noikari, helping the boy stand. As everyone tried to calm the crying child, Noikari thanked them all, though he was still dazed from using his quirk.

Staying back was Katsuki, who simply watched in confusion and a little bit of anger. Whatever happened had just woken him up from a good night's sleep.

"What the hell did you guys do out here? I'm trying to sleep!"

Although they were busy helping Noikari gain his bearings, they also thought the same thing. Just 𝘸𝘩𝘰 exactly was this kid? Turning to his teacher, Todoroki decided to speak what everyone was thinking.

"Sensei," the red and silver-haired boy began, "who is this child?"

Aizawa rubbed his temple and sighed. He really didn't have the energy to explain it right now.

"I'll explain everything to you all tomorrow. For now, I want all of you to return to your dorms and back to bed. I'll see you in class tomorrow."

With that, he gave Noikari a small pat on the shoulder, which prompted the child to follow suit. However, Noikari paused for a moment to look back at the group, giving everyone there a quick wave. All in response, he received a few waves and a glare from Bakugou. Turning away, Noikari heard Aizawa say, "Come on, kid." Taking his hand, Noikari followed Aizawa alongside Eri back to the little girl's room to sleep.

Once inside, the two children climbed under the covers of the bed. Well, Eri did at least. Noikari, exhausted from the previous events, fell asleep almost the moment he got on the bed. Eri took part of the blanket and gently placed it on top of the sleeping boy. Aizawa turned his attention to Eri. Looking at him, Eri gazed at the man, who smiled gently at her.

"The kid's been through a lot today so just try to be quiet while he's sleeping. But if you need anything, just come find me, okay?"

Eri nodded.

"Goodnight, Eri."

"Goodnight, Mr. Aizawa"

With that, Eraserhead left the room and closed the door behind him, once again leaving Noikari to rest.

Hopefully this time, he wouldn't have to deal with any interruptions.