AN: Thanks for reading and leaving reviews everyone!


"Emily," Himiko didn't bother to hide the annoyance in her voice. "It's the second day!"

"Exactly!" The other girl exclaimed as she looked up from her tablet. "It's gonna take time to build profiles for all of the first years! I need to start early."

"You knew this was coming," Hideo pointed out as he separated his chopsticks.

"I know," Himiko sighed as she glared across the table. "That doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Oh come on!" Emily crossed her arms and glared across the table. "You're seriously gonna keep this up for another year?"

"Maybe. And next year!" Himiko replied playfully. "I still tease Izu about it, too."

"Yes, but he's your brother!" Emily replied. "You're supposed to do that!" She threw her hands in the air as if to emphasize her point.

As Himiko watched the American girl rest her hands on the table, she was struck with a mischievous thought. Reaching out, she scratched her friend's arm with a sharpened fingernail, drawing a singular drop of blood and collecting it.

"Wh– ow! Himi!" Emily protested as she realized what was going on.

With a far-too-wide smile, Himiko licked the blood off of her nail and activated Transform. She felt the usual sense of warmth, like a ray of sunlight, as her quirk wrapped itself around her and changed her appearance to match the other girl.

"There!" Himiko said as she crossed her arms to match the other girl's previous pose. "Now we're twins! So sibling privileges now apply!"

"That's not how–!"

Emily's protest was drowned out by the sound of the alarm going off. As their instincts kicked in, the group of five jumped out of their seats as they prepared for danger.

"What's going on?" Atsuko asked as she raised her hands, ready to defend herself and her friends.

"This is a level three alarm," Tomoe said. Himiko shot her friend a quick glance and saw that she was shaken by the sudden noise, but she already had a pair of earplugs in her hands. "That means someone's breached the campus walls!" With practiced ease, she inserted the plugs and the effect on her posture was immediate as her shoulders untensed. Feeling better, she turned around to face her friends. "We should head to the shelter."

The group surrounded Tomoe protectively, knowing that the noise and crowds made her the most vulnerable of the five. They then began to move as one towards the exit, only to see it was crowded, with dozens of first-years and upperclassmen from other departments caught in a disorganized mess.

As they regrouped to come up with a new plan Himiko noticed a blue-haired student that had suddenly begun floating. A moment later she recognized it was Iida, one of Izuku's new friends! The real stuck-up one who was far too concerned with how things should be for Himiko's liking.

Personal opinions aside, she watched as he ignited his leg Engines and spiraled over the crowd until he slammed into the exit sign. Unphased, he pulled his head away from the wall enough to turn toward the students and called out that it was a group of reporters who had made it through the gate.

Himiko tapped on Tomoe's shoulder and the group walked over to the windows, where they looked out and examined the scene for themselves. Sure enough, there was a large crowd of reporters currently being contained by Hound Dog and a group of Ectoplasm clones.

"How'd they get in?" Habiki asked.

"I'm not sure…" Atsuko said, looking at the destroyed wall. "Something happened to the wall?"

"I'm sure the teachers will tell us all about it," Emily said.

"Or they'll tell the student council, and I'll report it to you," Tomoe agreed.

"So, crisis averted," Emily said as Himiko felt the other girl grab her by the wrist. "Now then, time to deal with this."

She began to lead Himiko to the restroom, the two girls weaving through the crowd as people slowly returned to the cafeteria. Once there she guided her twin-in-appearance to the shower stalls and slammed one open with her free hand before finally letting the other girl go.

"Ok, time to drop the Transformation."

"What?" Himiko gave her friend an innocent smile. "It's not like I've never been you before!"

"I know!" Emily protested and Himiko swore her neck was turning red. "That's for training though! It's weird seeing me just… like this!" She gestured wildly before she turned around to give Himiko privacy. "Besides, you're cuter than me." She muttered under her breath.

Himiko's jaw dropped.

"What was that?"

Did she really just…

"I said hurry up!" Emily spun around and threw her hands in the air. "We're already missing lunch and our food's gonna be cold!"

Giving her friend a knowing smile, Himiko finally relented and stepped into the shower. She dropped her transformation and felt the other girl's form begin to slough off of her, the relief immediate as the fabric of her uniform was no longer fighting to contain her shorter, slimmer form.

"So how long have you been waiting to go off on that Bakugo kid?"

"Huh?" Himiko blinked as she spun around. She saw Emily had once again turned away from her, guarding the shower door as if to give Himiko privacy – not that she needed it.

"Tomoe told us what happened," the other girl replied with uncharacteristic quietness, "and I couldn't help but think about last year."

Himiko sighed. She hoped she'd just be able to avoid this conversation. She had grown closer to the American girl, but they never really reconciled over their early differences, both in silent agreement that it was better to just move on.

"You know what my life was like," Himiko said quietly as her fists clenched at her side. "He… his mom's well-known in the fashion industry, and– you heard what I said! He had all of that and still–" She let out a frustrated growl.

Emily turned around, her piercing blue eyes locking with Himiko's gold. "And when we first met you thought I was just like him, didn't you?"

Himiko opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Closing it, she wondered when her throat and mouth dried out. She really should probably drink something. Swallowing a few times, she managed to wet her mouth enough to finally speak.

"Yes," Himiko felt her cheeks burning, but she refused to back down. "I… what was I supposed to think?" She found herself regaining her composure with every word you spoke. "You were this loud, boisterous rich girl who had it all! And you just came in like a typhoon saying you were going to be the best."

"Aren't you glad I defied expectations and turned out to be wonderful instead?" Emily asked as she crossed her arms and leaned on one foot.

Despite the bravado in her tone, Himiko could hear the threads of uncertainty woven into her question. She felt a surge of mixed emotions as she realized just how important her opinion was to Emily. It felt… good, but also confusing. It was so unlike her!

She would have to figure out what was going on later, though, because right now the girl in question stood there waiting for an answer.

"Somehow," Himiko giggled and wondered why it came out far more high-pitched than she intended. "You've got us to thank for that, though!" She felt her lips curling into a fanged smile. "And Aizawa, I guess."

"But that's what I like about… all of you," Emily admitted as her arms slowly uncrossed. "You… you're the first person to really call me out like that." She hesitated for a moment before she continued quickly. "And Atsuko reached out to me and Tomoe's so patient with all of his and Habiki's good at disarming the tension between us and…" She deflated slightly.

"I'm sure someone would have called you out," Himiko replied lamely. "Or Fuwa, once you and she started up your whole rivalry thing."

"Maybe," Emily tore her gaze away. "I'm not sure it would have worked though."

"I'm sure you'd annoy each other enough that she would have said something."

"Himi!" Emily huffed as she turned back to glare at the other girl. "I'm trying to be–" She let out a frustrated sigh. "I'm trying to say I'm glad it was you. I… don't want to be like that Bakugo kid."

"Me neither," Himiko agreed before she snickered. "Although then I'd have more excuses to stab you."

Emily took a reflexive step back as she let out a strangled noise. "H-Himi!"

Himiko's snickers were replaced with full-throated laughter at the girl's response. "Oh Emmy, never change." She gave the girl a warm smile before she looked down at the sludge surrounding the drain. "There, no more transformation."

"Great!" Emily said before she reached out and grabbed Himiko's arm again. "And Himi. Next time you want to confront that Bakugo guy, tell me. I can hold him down for you."

Himiko froze at her admission, unable to form a coherent response as the other girl dragged her out of the bathroom and back toward their table.

Am I really getting to her that much?

—-

That afternoon the second years donned their costumes and made their way to one of the training grounds. There they were to meet with their Heroics instructor for an afternoon of practice sparring so that he could gauge how far they've come from their first year.

As she walked she spotted their teacher, an aging hero who went by the name of Skywalker. His rugged features, salt-and-pepper hair, and unkempt gray beard told of a hard life, but she saw the fire behind his blue eyes as he went over the syllabus on the first day. Today he stood there in his old costume - a battered and worn set of dark brown monk's robes with an oversized belt lined with pouches.

Himiko couldn't help but wonder what kind of gear he used, but she did make note of the sword hilt that hung off his right side. Like her and Tomoe, his quirk didn't seem particularly heroic. It allowed him to walk on the air as if it were solid ground, but he leveraged it into a long career before finally retiring to teach at UA.

Himiko made a note to ask Izuku about him later. And maybe Emily – once she had profiled his support gear.

"Well, you certainly look the part of heroes," Skywalker spoke with a gravelly voice. "But looks aren't enough, are they?" He nodded toward the path leading to Training Ground Gamma. "Time to show me what you've learned."

Himiko was caught off-guard by his attitude. Didn't Hado say he was really strict and eccentric? Looking towards Tomoe she shot the other girl a questioning look, only to receive a shrug in response. She decided to trust her instincts anyway and kept her guard up as the group made their way to the training ground.

Once they arrived the hero called for the students to halt. Spinning on his heel, he once again looked at the class. "Do we have any volunteers?"

Himiko's hand shot up instantly. "I'm facing Ryo!"

If her enthusiasm caught the teacher off-guard, he did a great job of hiding it. Turning a wary eye towards Kenji, he spoke. "Are you okay being volunteered?"

"Of course!" Kenji replied confidently as he took a step forward. "It's not like I'll have a choice out in the real world, right?"

"I see," Skywalker said with a noncommittal tone. "Show me."

Himiko glanced over to her classmate and met his gaze, only to watch him tilt his head past their teacher. She gave him a curt nod before the two of them walked into the open street past the teacher, giving the two of them plenty of room to maneuver.

There weren't any good places for Himiko to vanish on her opponent, but she'd figure something out.

Drawing her knives, she twirled one idly in her left hand as she struck a casual pose. "You ready?"

"Bring it on, Midoriya," Kenji boasted as he slid into a casual stance, his hands spread out in front of him.

Here I come! Himiko announced in her head as she dashed forward.

As she approached, she saw Kenji's massive palm lash out as he sought to use his larger range to land a palm strike that would knock her hand away and open her up for a counterattack. Dropping to her knees, she used her momentum to carry her under the attack, retaliating with her knife to land a deep cut along his stomach. If it was a normal opponent she'd have to be more precise with her strike, but given Kenji's quirk and the teacher's instruction, she knew she had to go all out.

As Himiko scrambled back to her feet, she imagined her classmate gritting his teeth while his quirk healed him. She was proven partially right when she spun around only to see his hand pressed against his side.

"You think a little cut like that's gonna stop me?" Kenji asked as he removed his hand, to reveal the wound already stitching itself closed.

"Nope!" Himiko chirped back before she leveled a knife at her opponent. "I know you still get tired though!"

"I guess I've gotta beat you before then," Kenji shot back with a smirk on his face before he charged forward.

The two continued their deadly dance, Himiko slowly cutting away at her classmate, causing streaks of beautiful crimson to appear. Unfortunately, the fight wasn't as one-sided as she would have liked, and she felt every one of Kenji's hammer blows as he connected, each successive hit threatening to send her to the ground. And then she'd really be in trouble!

After one such blow, Himiko felt herself losing her balance. Using the momentum of the blow she continued to stumble backward, putting some distance between them until she was able to finally plant her feet and steady herself. Her classmate wasn't giving her any chance to recover, however, and was already moving toward her. Her eyes darted to the knives she had thrown away on the ground as her hands moved toward her holsters when she suddenly felt the hair on the back of her neck standing up.

The strange metallic hissing sound was Himiko's only warning. Whirling around, she held up her pair of knives in a defensive 'x' position, only to catch a glowing black blade.

"Good," Skywalker said as he hopped backward. Now that she had a moment she saw that the black blade was attached to the hilt that was previously on his belt and he held the weapon in both hands, his style reminiscent of an ancient Samurai. "Your instincts serve you well."

Himiko would have loved to say something, but with Ryo behind her she opted to drop to the ground instead, falling under his palm strike. She rolled to the side and sprung to her feet, only to see Skywalker step in, attacking Kenji next.

"Ryo," Himiko called out. "Stop his sword for me!"

"Why do you get the easy job?" Kenji snarked back.

"Because if I get hit by that it'll leave a nasty cut and I'm too cute for those," Himiko replied.

Kenji groaned at her reply. "Fine, but you owe me!"

"Of course!" Himiko replied.

She knew Skywalker would take the bait and turn his attention toward her. As she darted forward she watched his eyes following her, taking a step back to point his blade in her direction.

It was all the opening her classmate needed.

"Not so fast!" Kenji roared as he stepped forward, grabbing the black blade with his hand. He let out a roar of pain, but the move did the job and surprised Skywalker. The hero's eyes turned toward her classmate, giving her the moment she needed.

Taking a deep breath, Himiko cleared her mind as she rushed forward. Flipping her knife in her hand, she hit the hero in the back of the knee with the hilt of the weapon, causing him to stagger backward. Kenji didn't waste the opening, swinging in with his free hand to hit the instructor's shoulder with a palm strike and send him to the ground.

"Coordination and on-the-fly thinking," The hero called out from the ground. Before Himiko or Kenji could respond he kicked himself off the ground, flipping in the air until he was standing again. "I've seen enough."

"Are you sure," Himiko asked warily as she held her knives defensively in front of her.

"Yes, I'm sure," The hero gave her a crooked smile. "I've already had my fun."

"What about the rest of us?" Habiki called out from the crowd.

The hero turned toward the class. "You'll have to see when it's your turn to spar. Who's next?"

—-

As the rest of her classmates proceeded to spar, Himiko watched from the sidelines. In some matches their teacher jumped in with a new and creative way to attack the students, but in other matches he simply stood and watched, until he inevitably called for the match to end – or one of the students surrendered. There was no rhyme or reason for his decisions, which frustrated Himiko.

She was sure it was intentional.

Himiko wasn't the only one frustrated. As she stood next to Emily, the American girl grew similarly agitated by the teacher's inconsistency.

"He didn't attack the students for the last two rounds, which means…" Emily mumbled to herself before her hand shot up. "I volunteer for the next match."

Skywalker turned toward Emily with the same calm expression he had given all of the other students so far that day. "Do you have someone to spar against?"

"Nope!" Emily shook her head. "It's better if it's someone random, isn't it?"

"Just because you don't have a regular sparring partner," Himiko needled, her voice quiet but still loud enough that she knew her classmate would hear.

Emily glared at Himiko out of the corner of her eyes before she turned toward her classmates. "Any takers?"

"Sure," one of the boys, Hayato Riki, stepped forward. "We haven't sparred in a while."

"Perfect," Emily shot the teacher a confident smile. "Does that work?"

Instead of saying a word he simply shrugged and gestured towards the area where all of their fellow students had been sparring.

Himiko watched as the tall lanky boy dressed in blue spandex with fingerless red gloves and dark red boots matched Emily's stride as they walked to the unofficial starting positions the class had made. Riki did not attempt to hide what he was doing, his head darting every which way as his black irises searched out debris that would be suitable for his Personal Magnetism quirk. Emily, on the other hand, was perfectly content to give the perception that she was casually strolling to her starting position.

Once she reached the designated spot, she finally turned her attention to her opponent. "Just so you know, I've upgraded my Gauntlet over break!"

"And I've got a new maneuvering system thanks to your suggestions!" Riki said. He then raised his hands for emphasis, showing the wrist-mounted cable launchers he now sported on the back of each. "I've also upgraded my supply of cubes. If they hurt you've only got yourself to blame."

"That's fine," Emily tossed her hair back confidently. "I don't plan on getting hit."

Himiko had a good idea of what Emily was doing and looked over at their teacher. She saw his hand resting casually on the hilt of his weapon, but for now, he felt content to watch the duel play out.

Or he knew Emily wanted to face him.

"Let's see about that!" Riki said as he opened a pouch on his belt.

His hand reached in and pulled out a handful of small metallic cubes. As his fingers grazed over the surface of each cube, they became attuned to his personal Magnetic field and attached themselves to his palm. When he was ready, he could reverse the polarity on each of the cubes, turning them into deadly projectiles as they launched themselves away from him.

Emily started running sideways, her free hand already raised as she fired orbs of coherent light at the cubes, each one leaving a dazzling trail in their wake as they flew through the air. Each orb found its mark and caused the cubes to explode in the air, small fragments of superheated metal falling harmlessly to the ground. Finally, she raised her left hand and activated her Gauntlet, the device splitting her Light into a dozen small lasers that flew toward her opponent, filling the space around him.

Riki was already on the move. He easily avoided the lasers as he ducked behind a large piece of debris, placing his hand on it to Magnetize it. Activating his quirk a second time, he pushed the block forward, the massive chunk of stone rumbling toward Emily. She easily dodged out of the way, but it bought her classmate the time he needed to start running again.

"Stop moving!" Emily exclaimed, firing another laser-like burst in a wide pattern as she hoped to catch her classmate, but to no avail.

The battle descended into a game of cat and mouse. Riki was running around and touching as many loose objects as he could get his hands on. Some pieces, like a manhole cover, he attached to himself to form makeshift armor and a shield, for all the good it would do him. But most of them were simply thrown at his Light-wielding classmate.

Emily was staying similarly mobile as she ran around, dodging and destroying as many of the impromptu projectiles as she could. She didn't manage to stop them all, but she refused to let any injury slow her down as she relentlessly attacked her opponent. Whenever one of her Arrows connected, it left a searing black mark behind, a grim reminder of the wounds Riki slowly accumulated.

Unfortunately, their deadly dance couldn't go on forever, and the class watched and waited to see who would be the loser.

And this time it was Emily.

Riki launched a cloud of debris at his classmate and despite her best efforts, she missed the small, dense cube that was mixed in. So instead of simply being pelted by dust and pebbles like she anticipated, Emily cried out in pain as a cube slammed into her leg, connecting just below her kneecap. Losing the stability of her leg, her momentum carried her forward, sending her crashing to the ground in an ignoble heap.

Himiko's eyes darted to their teacher as she wondered what he would do. She saw his hand hovering over the hilt of his weapon as if he were asking himself the same question. After several agonizingly long seconds, she saw the hero's hand loosen up before it fell limply to his side.

He's not attacking? Himiko thought to herself. What is he looking for?

Himiko was so lost in thought, trying to work out her teacher's motivation that she had momentarily lost track of the fight until the sickening sound of meat slammed against concrete brought her attention back to the duel going on in front of her.

"Where's… Emily?" Himiko asked herself as her eyes darted to and fro across the battlefield. She saw Riki with his hand outstretched, and followed the direction it was aimed until she found Emily.

Or, more precisely, she found the massive cement block that had currently pinned her to a wall.

Is she okay?

Himiko felt her heart speeding up at the sight. The block looked far too close to the wall - there's no way a human could be back there, could there? Emily's somewhere else, right? She's not–

"Do you yield, Song?" Riki asked as he slowly walked toward the block, his hand still held up, palm out as he kept up the constant pressure on his opponent.

Himiko's eyes darted to their teacher. Skywalker casually stood there with his arms folded across his chest.

Why isn't he doing anything? Emily isn't responding! She could be hurt or–

Himiko knew the irony of worrying about her classmate. If the boisterous girl ever heard her thoughts, Himiko would never hear the end of it. But right now worry was overriding her concern for their petty bickering.

Despite the worried thoughts that plagued her, Himiko continued to watch the scene play out. With his free hand, Riki reached into his pouch, pulling out another cube and Magnetizing it. The cube stuck to his palm as he paused about half a meter from the cement block.

"I know you're in there Song, there's no way–"

He was cut off by a brilliant light that suddenly spilled out from around the edges of the cement. Himiko instinctively threw an arm in front of her face, causing her to miss the sight of the concrete exploding. But the sound was more than enough to tell her what had happened.

Lowering her arm, she saw Emily and gasped.

Himiko was very proud of herself. Over the past two years, she had worked very hard to separate out her emotions. Ever since she discovered how much her quirk had influenced her, she had vowed to never let something like that ever happen again. Sure she occasionally indulged in some bloodlust, letting her control slip at the sight of blood in the middle of a fight, but it was her choice. Not the other way around.

The fact that she could do that and quickly reign those feelings in at the end of class made her feel accomplished! It meant she was in charge of her life.

When she saw Emily limp toward Riki, bloody and bruised but unyielding, her heart began to race. Her mouth hung slightly open as she took in the sight of the other girl's face, her bright blue eye shining even brighter through the beautiful red that stained the right half. Her blush marks spread as her eyes trailed down to the Light-wielder's right hand, where two crimson trails ran down a pair of her fingers, accentuating her pale skin.

"Emily…"

Himiko's eyes were transfixed on the (beautiful angel) stubborn classmate as she approached the downed Riki and raised her Gauntlet, a bright light already swirling around her palm as she spoke to her classmate. While she didn't hear what was said, she heard their teacher saying he'd seen enough, only for Emily to give their teacher a satisfied look before she collapsed on the ground, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Himiko was so focused on the scene that she instinctively jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder before she spun around to come face-to-face with Tomoe.

"Are you okay Himiko?"

Himiko blinked twice and opened her mouth, only for an awkward yowl to come out. Taking a moment to compose herself, she tried again. "Yeah…" She glanced over her shoulder at the two students on the ground, medical robots already moving in. "Just worried about Emmy. That was much worse than usual."

It was a lie, and she was silently thankful that Tomoe appeared to accept it. The girl peered around her to look at their wounded friend before she returned her attention to Himiko.

"She'll pull through, you know how stubborn she is."

"I know…" Himiko let her voice trail off as she returned her attention to the girl on the ground.

As she saw the stubborn girl refuse assistance as she pulled herself onto the stretcher, leaving a bloody handprint on the side of the white metal, her heart continued to race.

Why did her quirk and emotions suddenly decide to betray her like this, working in concert to make her feel this way?

And why, out of all people, did it have to be Emily Song?


AN: So about 8 months ago I was browsing through the MHA wiki looking at quirks and I was suddenly hit with the startling realization that there were a criminal lack of heroes named 'Skywalker' who possessed the Air Walk quirk that Nagant was given. Especially given the sheer number of other Star Wars references in MHA. So this is my small attempt to correct that problem.