CHAPTER 1:

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Middle School, before the entrance exams

—-

CRASH!

Whoops...Yui had forgotten the All Might figurine she received from some random ass secret admirer was well, in the cupboard. She was too distracted trying to look for her old CDs that it fell to its demise. At least it's still in good condition, right?

Right?

At the scene of the crime, poor plastic All Might's head was near to the nightstand—far from the body. Speaking of the muscular body—it was also in a critical state, although the design of the hero costume was still recognizable, it wasn't safe from the damage it endured from the fall.

Must've been a bootleg since it damaged that easily, or maybe it's old.

Lo que sea. It's not like the piece of plastic had any significance to her. The only thing that mattered now is that the old tokusatsu CDs were in her hands. At Last! These little buggers were buried so deep down that she had to empty half of her cupboard to find them. Rei-chan suggested that they watched them when she came over for their sleepover. It was pretty cold despite her being indoors, but to be fair it was 8 p.m. so she quickly grabbed her favourite Power Rangers hoodie and put it on.

Now what is she going to do with this mess? On her bed were some old storytime books from when she was younger, old running shoes from track and field that she most definitely had to throw away, craft material that she has yet to use, merchandise from an Anime Expo, and an old kimono.

Her mom's kimono.

Blinking rapidly before her eyes could even water, she quickly got to work so that atleast her room could not look like a pig's pen whe Rei-chan comes. Partly because too much clutter makes Yui a little too uncomfortable, the other part because Reiko had come back from her vacation in the states, she'd probably want to feel comfortable after a long trip. She didn't want to think of her mom right now; it's supposed to be a fun night.

"Knock knock! It's the boogeyman~"

"Hm?" She couldn't even contain her smile as she opened the door, revealing her best friend. She couldn't contain her excitement to the point where she pulled her in for a bear hug. Despite it being two months, it's been a while since she'd seen her. It felt like a year. All that matters now is that Rei-chan was here, and now they could catch up.

Settling down on the carpet, Reiko recapped what had gone on during her vacation, from visiting Times Square, to almost getting eaten by coyotes in Colorado (Yui had wondered how did that even happen in the first place), to visiting family members in the San Francisco Bay Area. She even showed her pictures of the colorful field of flowers she took pictures of in Oregon.

'Sen would be proud' she figured. Yui had wished she could've tagged along, but she was stuck in Japan with her dad and her rambunctious younger brother and sister, helping him with the restaurant. Federico's was a very busy and popular Peruvian restaurant in Tokyo, her dad originally opened it due to feeling homesick and wanting a restaurant to call his own. He honestly didn't expect it to be that popular. The restaurant was on the brink of closing when a notorious chef and food blogger came and was rather impressed with his skill. Now Federico's currently has 5 locations operating across Japan. To say Yui wasn't proud of her dad was an understatement; he had achieved so much in just a few years and it showed with his hard work ethic and dedication.

Mom would've been proud.

'God dammit Yui, why are you still thinking of her?' She thought to herself. Reiko's here now, no need to make her worry. She was deep in thought when she didn't even notice her younger brother, Takeshi, was on her bed. With his shoes on. Like in those American Teen Movies. That little shit—

"Did you see any American boys that you like?!" The little shit in question wiggled his thick eyebrows, purposefully trying to get under the ghostly girl's skin. She liked talking about boys, in the sense of how stupid they are and how much of menaces they can be; not when it comes to her being with one romantically. 'Men are the cause of most problems in society' Reiko screamed angrily while running. Their middle school P.E. teacher had made them run 7 laps while on the you know what. Yui had loathed male P.E. teachers ever since that day. They were the root causes of 99% of the problems in schools. Along with English teachers. And bullies. And incompetent principals.

"Takeshi…take off your shoes off my bed." The kuudere commanded her younger brother. It was the first time since she spoke for the whole time Reiko was here. 'Progress mama, progress!' she heard her father's voice in her head as she finished her sentence. She did not know why it popped up in her head, but it made her smile internally.

"Okay fine, mandona. Can a boy not be at peace? " She didn't even have to look at him to hear his eyes roll. Yes he was like that. Apparently Reiko found the whole ordeal amusing, because her chuckles could be heard.

"Oh come on, Rei-chan! Why are you siding with her?! She's annoying! And doesn't even wash the dishes! Or clean after her mess!" her little brother complained.

"You must be talking about yourself." the raven haired teen deadpanned, which earned an even louder chuckle that turned into a snicker. Reiko was that type of person who'd laugh at anything if she could—but only people she felt comfortable around knew that.

"Tch…whatever—but I must know about the wild bear who was carrying a co—"

"No. I'm not going to entertain your mischief. Now get out and let us watch our movies."

—-

Timeskip: The week after the Sports Festival

—-

It was now a very windy morning, for some odd reason. Yui hated the fact that the wind was getting in her hair, so while waiting for Reiko at the packed and busy train station, she placed it in a bun. Convenient. Although she finds it unusual that Rei-chan was taking long. Despite looking half dead, usually she'd be here before Yui. Admittedly Yui herself was a little tired from the lack of sleep. So she pulled out her phone to text her

red power ranger

rei rei, are you alive? (6:37 a.m.)

miss. witch

Very much so. Have no fear, I'm near our usual spot. (6:39 a.m.)

red power ranger

you sound like all might, lol (6:39 a.m.)

While waiting for Reiko, she heard a familiar voice.

"Kodai-san! Didn't expect to see you here!" Looking up from her phone, she saw Sero Hanta from her track and field training. Although he was plain looking, he was very recognizable, especially if you paid attention to his elbows. She liked him; he isn't too bubbly and more laid back. She liked laid back. He was also one of the few people who didn't have a bone to pick with her for not being so, verbal. He was accompanied with Kirishima Eijirou, another person who she knew from track and field, and…another guy?

He was taller than both Sero and Kirishima, with spiky looking brown hair (she suspects it's gel), tanned skin, and rather thick eyebrows. Mystery guy was also wearing a U.A. uniform. Must be going to the same school. He looked a little chubby. His lips looked nice too.

'Slow your roll, Yui, why are you thinking of some random guy's lips?'

Aand he was staring at her. His eyes were nice though—

"Are you waiting on somebody, Kodai-san?" Kirishima snapped her out of her staring competition with Mystery guy "You can join me, Sero and Satou on our way to school!" So Satou was his name, okay…Atleast she had a name to a face quicker than she thought.

"Mhm." Was her way of saying yes. Speaking of which, she hasn't seen Reiko yet.

"Oh, that's fine…" Kirishima seemed a little down at the thought. Her face mightn't show it, but she feels bad. She has a little soft spot for him and Sero, but that's between her and whatever God is up in the sky. "Hold on…We can wait with you if you want! I mean we're not in a hurry to get to school." the red haired porcupine instantly replied after being quiet for a while. He was thinking, she supposed.

Yui nodded. Soon after that the three guys were standing next to her, waiting on Reiko. Well they seemed eager… She noticed how Satou was much bigger than her, in size and height. Damn. According to her last clinic check-up, she was 5'3". This Satou guy was atleast 6'1". Jeez.

It took 5 minutes total until the woman of the hour, Reiko, arrived. Finally. Sero and Kirishima had known Reiko for track and field also, hence why they didn't mistake her for no stranger when she came up to them.

"Oh! I didn't know you were waiting for Yanagi-san! Hey!" Kirishima's voice boomed so loud, a few bypassers hurrying to go to work and school looked at the group of students annoyingly. His loud voice, people assumed would probably throw Yui off, but having a reincarnation of the devil as a younger brother, this comes like nothing to her.

"Oh, Hello Yui-san, Sero-san, Kirishima-san, and newcomer. Is he in your class? I kinda recognize him.." Like Yui, Reiko wasn't quite familiar with Satou; the difference is that she'd seen him before. That slightly surprised her. Their train had arrived so they quickly entered before it left them.

For the first time, Satou actually spoke. "Yeah, I'm in the same class as these two…Where'd you recognize me from?" Yui had actually kinda found his voice pretty satisfying, she won't lie. She also heard a slight Kansai accent if she wasn't mistaken, and some foreign one. He should speak more if that was the case, she liked it.

"At the funeral for old man Matsumoto. I saw you there with your family" Old man Matsumoto was a shopkeeper who was also a family friend of Reiko's father, Isamu.

"Oh him! Are you his granddaughter?" Satou pondered

"Nope" Reiko replied

"Oh, well may he rest in peace though."

Reiko was quiet for a few seconds before making a comment "He's probably nagging us in the afterlife. Hell, he doesn't know you guys but he's probably nagging you too" That earned a laugh out of the boys. It almost earned a smile out of Yui. Almost, she doesn't want to break her facade obviously.

The train ride was a little long, but during that time the 5 teens were engaged in conversation. Other than her 'hmms.' and 'mms.', she didn't really contribute that much to the conversation. She learnt that Satou was indeed from the Kansai region, Osaka to be exact. She also found out that he was biracial, his mom is from the Dominican Republic, while his dad is Okinawan. He'd also just recently moved here about a year ago. Interesting to note. It didn't take too long after that for them to reach their stop.

The station was packed like sardines to say the least, as people who were waiting were pushing to get in, and people in the train trying to get out. This is why she preferred to walk, but sometimes walking has her out of breath, and it takes longer.

What kind of pro hero in training gets tired of walking distances?

Probably Monoma.

It was just a short walk from here to inside of U.A. but it felt long, due to the lack of sleep she'd gotten. Now they were in front of 1-B, 'Hopefully Monoma runs late' Kodai especially didn't want to hear one of his many rants about 1-A this early in the morning.

"Well, this is our stop. Bye guys, it was nice talking to you." Reiko said. Between her and Yui, she was more of the talkative one. Even though sometimes she sounded a bit dry. Even though Yui herself wasn't any better.

"No problemo—hey wait" Sero tried to get their attention again, successfully. "Do you want to sit with us at lunchtime?"

"Sure"

"Great!" Sero clasped his hands "See you guys!" And off he went to 1-A, without any further word, leaving his two friends behind.

"Awesome! I hope to see you guys!" Kirishima beamed. They may have known Sero and Kirishima outside of school, but they didn't talk much. So this was a great opportunity to get to know each other better.

Satou was the last one to speak. "Bye Yanagi-san, Kodai-san" Maybe it was just her, but it felt like he hesitated a little on saying her name. Maybe.

For some weird reason, the hook of the Destiny's Child song 'Say my Name' played in her head. She always thought of pop culture things when something random is said or done for a reason. Her mind was random like that.

Wait, did she see him smile just now?

And why does she feel curious about this Satou guy?

—-

Satou's POV:

It was 4:06 a.m.

Rikidou couldn't go back to sleep.

Being a normal teenage boy, he was also hungry for something sweet, but knowing his quirk, anything too sweet would probably activate it.

And he does not want that to happen. Even right now as he feels like shit. Ever since puberty happened, he started to feel a teensy weensy bit of insecurity about his quirk. Teensy weensy is a lie. Going to middle school with kids with crazy insane quirks, kids with quirks that were suited for hero work but didn't necessarily want to be pro heroes and children and grandchildren of well respected and famous pro heroes, he felt inferior compared to them.

He was a kind of moody guy, as much as he doesn't want to admit it. Always pissed at himself for some reason.

'But why are you thinking about that at the buttcrack of dawn, dude?' He scolded himself, but maybe he should get ready for school early. To pass time, he supposes.

Rikidou took a little longer in the bathroom, reveling at the fact that his siblings weren't up yet. Then he quickly put on a shirt and his school pants—he could put on his blouse and blazer when he had to go. As he was packing his bags, he heard his mother's footsteps. She was always up around this time—she worked as a detective after all.

"Oi, why are you up at this hour, huh?" murmured his mother.

"Couldn't sleep."

There was a silence before his mom spoke again.

"Atleast you're ready for school." was all she said before heading to the bathroom to get ready for work.

After that interaction he made himself breakfast, brushed his teeth, did his hair as quickly as he could, then dashed out the door to go to the institution that's called school, aka U.A. High School.

What does U.A. even stand for? Universal Academy? Universe Academia? Whoever named it, that was an ancient secret he'd never know.

During his walk to school, he met Kirishima and Sero. Nice guys from his class—he liked their company. His friends he might even say.

'What the fuck are they doing up this hour?' It was a little harsh thought, but Rikidou truly wonders how some people get up this early all happy and shit.

Could never tell.

"Oh hey, Satou!" you couldn't miss Kirishima's voice, whether you knew him or not. Even the old lady with Alzhimers who always sits on the benches near the school recognizes his voice. Weird.

"Hey Kirishima, Sero, my guys!" Despite his sleepiness, he was happy to see them. And they were happy to see him too!

"We're heading to the train station, wanna join?" It won't hurt joining them on the trip to school, so he agreed. Reaching the train station, Sero had recognized a girl he and Kirishima knew from track and field prior to U.A. Looking up from her phone, she was quite…pretty. She had dark hair that was in a bun, eyes so brown that they were black and the same tan skin he possessed. Isn't that a U.A. uniform she has on? Maybe she's in 1-B, or even the other courses.

He secretly hopes she's in 1-B.

Kodai Yui was her name, according to Sero. A pretty name for a pretty girl, he mused to himself. She was waiting for a friend of hers. That wasn't a problem, they could kill some time. While he stood next to her, he noticed that she was pretty quiet, the only noises that were coming out of her mouth were some "hmms" and "mhms". She was pretty short compared to him too.

And wait a minute—is that a Vox Machina keychain? Oh this Kodai girl definitely caught his interest…

He didn't think of it too long because her friend had arrived and waitaminute—he'd seen her before, but where?

Yanagi, the friend was an attendee for the funeral of Mr. Matsumoto, some old guy his dad knew. She was apparently a family friend. He actually liked Yanagi, even though she kind of creeps him out.

During their conversation, he learnt that both Kodai and Yanagi were in 1-B, thankfully. Even on the train where they talked, Kodai was as silent as a mouse. Rikidou had thought of all possible reasons on why so; 'Maybe she's mute, maybe she has a quirk that affects her voice, maybe—' all those possible maybe's didn't last long, as they were at the stop.

Out of the train, they walked to the gates, then into the building, then they stopped when they were near the classrooms. Sero had invited the two 1-B girls to sit with them at lunch, to which they agreed to. Rikidou would have to thank him later for that.

When they said their goodbyes, he locked eyes with her. It felt like the universe stopped. For politeness sake he smiled at the two girls, before going to class. He'd smile either way though, politeness sake or not.

Now he was definitely waiting for lunch time, and oh my god can Bakugou just shut the fuck up—