Hey everyone! Been a while, hasn't it? Well, at least for this story. Anyways, This one took a while, and I'm not that happy with the dialogue, but I did have a lot of fun with other aspects of it. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and I'll see you at the end. There's some new info I have about the future.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTo say finding myself in a blank white void was surprising would be an understatement. The last thing I remembered was my head hitting the desk while writing, my "planning" having bored me to the point of just passing out. So this was probably a dream.

I looked around, trying to see what this was. The entire place was a stark, almost clinical white, like some sort of hospital room or lab or something. To be honest, it was kinda hurting my eyes. I brought a hand up to shield them, only to see my hand, was, well, my hand. Looking down, it was my body too. 5'10", tanned skin, black hair. Even my clothes were familiar, one of my favorite t-shirts along with a pair of sweatpants I had owned since high school. Huh. Well it is a dream.

My onceover was interrupted as I heard a sound behind me. Sounded like a girl, panicked and yelling. The voice was familiar. I turned to see the form of Mina Ashido, pounding on one of the walls and yelling incoherently. She seemed really scared. Shit, hope she wasn't aware the entire day. That would put my day into a whole new perspective of sucking.

I needed to talk to her, maybe calm her down. So, as evenly as I could, I made my way over to her. Getting closer it was clear she was in a lot of distress. She was shaking as she tried to pound on the wall, and her yelling was slightly hoarse. She still hadn't noticed me, so I did my best to stay at least a small distance away. Unwanted contact right now would not fly.

I cleared my throat loudly and she stopped for a minute, turning to see me. I waved and offered her a small smile.

"Hi."

Her eyes went wide, and she sprang up immediately, looking surprised.

"Who are you? How'd you get in here?"

I shrugged as I replied "Name's Jake. And I know about as much as you do."

She drooped a bit at that. Guess she was pretty desperate for answers.

"Oh, dang. I hadn't seen anyone here, so I thought…"

I decided to try and finish for her.

"If anyone did come here, they would know something?"

She perked up as she responded "Yeah, pretty much. But I guess I wasn't that lucky."

I smirked. Right on target. Still got it Jake. I tried not to look too smug as I kept going.

"You been here long?"

She shook her head.

"I haven't been keeping track, but I don't think so. I got here a short bit ago. I guess I panicked and started trying to get out, and that's how you found me. But you already knew that part. But something kinda scary happened just before."

I raised an eyebrow. I had a bad feeling about where this was going.

"What happened?"

She continued, beginning to look less sad.

"Well, I woke up this morning like usual, but when I tried to move, I couldn't. And then my body started moving on its own. It was like I was a passenger in a car, but it was my body."

So she was awake. That's not great. I grimaced, but prompted her to keep going.

"What happened then?"

She thought for a minute, before responding.

"Well, whatever was controlling my body went about my day as if it were me. Heck, it even fooled my parents. Then when it got to my room, it took out a notebook and started writing weird stuff, before my head hit the desk. Then I woke up here, and then you showed up…like ten minutes later."

She seemed to have calmed after finishing, sitting down onto the floor of the room and sighing.

"I'm not even sure this place is real though."

Okay, so she knows some of it. I decided to jumpstart her realization.

"You think this is a dream then?"

She nodded almost automatically as she looked deep in thought.

"Yeah, I mean it makes no real sense. One minute I'm watching my limbs move without my control, and the next my head hits a desk, things go black, and then I'm here."

Mina stopped and her head turned slowly toward me, her eyes wide. I simply stared back; eyebrow raised expectantly. She didn't disappoint.

"Wait, if this is a dream, and I'm dreaming, how are you here? Are you even real?"

I shrugged.

"I mean, how can any of us know if we're real? I don't think I'm fake."

Best to just let her finish her train of thought to the end of line. Her eyes got even wider as I could practically see the wheels turning in her head.

"If you're real, and you're in my dream, that means you must be in my head, and if you're in my head then…"

She gasped.

"Were you the one walking around in my body?"

I gave her another shrug and a slight smirk. She really caught on quick.

"Yeah, you got it. Though I do want to head things off and say I didn't try to steal your body or anything."

Mina glared; her eyes skeptical.

"And why should I believe you?! You could be some sicko who gets kicks from taking girl's bodies!"

I gave her a look that said 'seriously?'

"Did I do anything like that the entire day?"

She faltered.

"Well, no, but- "

"And remember when I woke up in your body? How surprised I seemed? Did those seem like the actions of some sick body snatcher?"

She thought for a minute, before nodding hesitantly.

"No, I guess not. But then how did you get in my body?"

I gave her yet another shrug.

"Like I said before, I know as much as you. One minute I'm going to sleep in my apartment in America, the next I'm waking up, pink, in Japan, and in a different world."

The last part must have grabbed her as her eyes went wide again.

"Different world?"

I sighed. This was going to take a while.

"Yeah. Should probably put this out front. I'm from a different world. This world was a manga and an anime where I'm from."

Silence for a bit.

"Seriously?"

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It took a long time to really explain everything, and even then, I'm not even sure she believed me, but eventually Mina wasn't outright disbelieving, at least. She looked curious.

"So that stuff you were writing, were those things that happen in the future?"

I nodded.

"Yeah. Was trying to make a plan, but I'm not great at that. So I passed out. Probably why we're here anyways."

Mina laughed at that.

"Yeah, I'm not great at plans either. Mom always says I got more from my dad than her."

She sighed heavily as she lay back onto the carpet. Honestly it had taken a bit before we had discovered we could change the look. Right now it was some mix of Mina's room and my apartment. Honestly wasn't too bad, the calmer blues of my stuff mixing okay with the more loud colors of Mina's.

"So what do we do then? I mean, neither of us are really that great at thinking ahead, so we might mess things up."

I simply sighed back.

"Not sure. Guess we'll just have to wing it until we can figure something out."

Mina snickered.

"Great plan."

I gave her a look and smirked.

"Like you had a better one."

She gasped in mock offense.

"How dare you imply I of all people wouldn't have a better plan. And how dare you be right!"

We both ended up laughing at that. It was comforting to know I at least got along with Mina. Would mean I wasn't really alone here. Even if it did really suck to be away from my friends. Especially Evan. He has to be freaking out by now. Can only imagine how he'd handle something like this.

Eventually we just stayed in silence for a bit, before I spoke up again.

"So, I guess we're working together then?"

Mina sat up and nodded, giving me a wide smile.

"Yeah, I mean can't get rid of you, and you seem cool. So let's go!"

We shared a high five before plopping back down. Mina piped up after another short beat of silence.

"Wait! I never gave you my name!"

I rolled my head to look at her, unimpressed.

"I know your name, Ashido. I was in your body for the entire day, remember."

It took a minute of embarrassed silence before she responded.

"Oh. Right."

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Okay, you can do this! I believe in you! You're the best!

'Appreciate the encouragement, Ashido, but you're going to distract me.'

Fiiine. I'll just lend you my encouragement silently.

Mina's voice in my head was certainly not something I had expected after returning from the 'dreamscape' as we decided to call it, but I wasn't bad, really. But it could be a distraction, especially in school. And I really didn't need a distraction when I was about to spar with Kirishima.

The future red head had shown me the place he had been training at, and boy did I find where he got the whole manly thing from. The place reeked of testosterone, and honestly it was a bit weird being stared at, but it did have a wide, open place we could spar, so I could tolerate it. Besides, Mina didn't have a place to match so…

Hey, it's not my fault Mom signed me up for an all-girl dance place!

'Speaking of dance, did you practice fighting at all, or just dancing?'

A bit of both. I tried to kind of mix them together, you know?

'Good to know then.'

Kirishima seemed almost excited as he took his place, looking over to me.

"So, uh, how do you wanna do this?"

I shrugged.

"How about we start off no quirks, see how that goes?"

He nodded, and took a simple ready stance.

"Makes sense. You ready then?"

I nodded and gave him a lazy smile as I took a stance of my own.

"Come at me."

No surprise, but Kirishima's aggression did catch me off guard. He rushed forward, throwing his all into his first hit. Luckily for me, I dodged, instinct taking over as I moved with grace away from his fist. I followed up by shoving him forward, causing his already off momentum from his aggressive swing to go all the way forward and causing him to stumble. He recovered quickly, and I smirked at him.

"You gotta be careful with those big swings. They leave you open if they miss."

This time we both raced forward to clash, and we met in the middle. Honestly not my best idea. I had overestimated my own strength and was thrown back by the collision, sliding and trying to regain my balance, which I managed to do relatively quickly. Kirishima grinned at that.

"Come on, come at me again!"

I grinned. Oh, you'll see.

The next few minutes were a blur as it felt as if I had a hand guiding my actions. Kirishima was strong and surprisingly fast, but I was definitely more agile. I leveraged that by dodging and trying my best to redirect him, use the momentum of his hits against him. It was a lot more fun than I thought.

The match ended in more of a draw, both of us breathing heavily before collapsing and sitting down for a water break. I smiled at Kirishima.

"You know, you're pretty good Kiri."

He smiled at that, pumping his fist as he spoke enthusiastically.

"You're great too! You're so fast, and the way you dodged was so graceful! I'm glad we did this. I think we both have got a lot to learn, but we'll definitely pass the exam!"

I grinned right back. That kind of enthusiasm was a good sign.

"That's the kind of spirit I like to see! I believe in you too!"

He smiled softly.

"Thanks. I've been trying to be more confident recently, different from how I was before. Still a work in progress though. If I pass, I want to have a real fresh start, be someone new."

I thought for a minute before I piped up.

"I mean if it helps your self-esteem, what if you dyed your hair? Something louder? I've heard a change in looks can give you more confidence, so maybe that would help."

Kirishima looked like he was thinking for a minute before he smiled at me.

"That's a good idea. What about red? That's completely different from black!"

I put my finger to my lips and grinned at him.

"Whatever you think. Just remember not to hide from the past too much."

He nodded.

"Alright. You ready to get back to training?"

I jumped up.

"Yeah! Let's go again! Hope you're ready to get your butt whooped."

He laughed.

"We'll see about that."

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It turned out I would not in fact be whooping Kirishima that much. He was a good fighter, and got the better of me a fair few times. I would blame it on adjusting to a new body, but that's a lie, and I'm not a fan of lies. I learned a lot about how my situation worked from the training, and we parted way after making plans to hang out after the entrance exam.

Speaking of that, the week blurred together and before I knew it, it was time. Mina's parents sent me off with encouragement and a good bit of hugging, and I was off to the train station. Lucky for me, Mina didn't live too far away from UA, so just one train and I would be there with some breathing room. I was anxious to get there, my head buzzing with excitement, though I really couldn't tell whose.

That had been discovered the second day. Mina and I's emotions could sometimes bleed into each other if one or the other felt too strongly. Guess it wasn't too surprising considering we were almost sharing a brain. It was still a little weird to feel something and know it was from someone else. Then again, maybe it could be both of us. Or from me. The irritating thing about it was it could be hard to tell where something came from, since, well, both of us were feeling it.

So I waited it out. And it was on the train platform, practically bouncing on my feet, that I spotted a familiar head of blonde hair. My eyes widened and I made my way over the short distance between us. There, standing casually with a grin on his face, was Denki Kaminari.

You know him?

'Ashido, may I introduce one of our future classmates.'

Him, really? He doesn't seem like much.

'Appearances can be deceiving.'

I walked up to him, smile on my face. Best to just go for it. Kirishima said he'd meet me at UA, so I'm alone for now. Best try to make some friends.

"Hey, what's up?"

Kaminari turned toward me, a bit confused.

"Uh, who are you? Not that I mind a pretty girl talking to me at all."

I laughed at that.

"I guess I should take that as a compliment. I saw you and just decided why not talk? You were alone and so was I."

He chuckled as he looked around.

"Not many teens here, so guess it makes sense. My name is Denki Kaminari, you?"

I mock bowed as I replied "Mina Ashido, good to make your acquaintance Kaminari!"

I straightened up after doing so, giving him a curious look.

"So where are you headed this morning?"

He pumped his fist, seeming excited.

"I'm headed to take the entrance exam for UA's Hero Course!"

I gasped and jumped up and down, before finally saying "Me too!"

Just as he was about to say something in reply, the train arrived. He smiled at me as he gestured to the door.

"Wanna talk on the train then?"

I grinned as I stepped on.

"Nothing better to do."

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The train ride was filled with chatter as I matched Kaminari beat for beat. It was honestly a fun test, though honestly it was a bit weird I could keep the energy going this long. I chalked it up to the excitement of today as we reached the gates of UA, where I quickly saw Kirishima, looking a bit nervous. I threw caution to the wind as I raced up to him, making him jump as I shouted out.

"Kirishima! What's up?!"

"Geez Ashido! You scared me!"

I laughed and punched him in the shoulder.

"Really? Guess you still need to get used to me then, because I am not changing that. Besides, its too funny seeing you jump!"

Kirishima decided to give me a half-hearted glare in response. Kaminari approached us and piped up, seeming curious.

"You know this guy Ashido?'

I turned, just remembering that Kaminari had been walking with me.

"Oh, right. Kaminari, this is my friend Kirishima."

Kaminari gave an enthusiastic wave back as he responded.

"Really, nice to meet ya man. Me and Ashido met while we were waiting for the train."

Kirishima gave me a look that said 'only you' before he held out his hand for a handshake, returning Kaminari's smile.

"Good to meet you too. I guess I really shouldn't be surprised, Ashido's great at making friends."

There was more said, some banter that I missed due to someone catching my eye. A large mane of purple hair, always looking perpetually wild. Hitoshi Shinsou. He was walking in at the same time as us, and brushed past quickly, though something seemed…off. The mischievous smirk didn't really seem very Shinsou, but he did sort of share Eraserhead's smiles, so maybe he wasn't trying to look that way.

Lemme guess, another 'future classmate?'

'Not exactly. It's a bit complicated.'

Sounds like you've got a fun story for that! Tell me!

'Maybe. I guess it all starts with this exam, so-'

My explanation was cut off as a hand tapped me on the shoulder. Making me jump.

"Ashido, you okay? You spaced out and just sort of stared into space for a bit."

Kirishima and Kaminari looked a bit worried. I shook my head at them and tried to smile reassuringly.

"I'm fine. Guess I just got caught up looking at all the people here. There are a lot of students just like us who wanna get in, so we have to try our hardest."

Kirishima agreed, enthusiastically pumping his fist.

"Yeah! A man always puts one hundred percent into everything he does, so let's get in there and show 'em what we can do!"

Kaminari, his hand behind his head, just sighed a little, but still kept his smile.

"Man, you guys sure are high energy aren't you?"

I shook my head at that, though that comment did strike me. This was a bit weird for me.

"Nah, I just have to match Kiri here. He's the enthusiastic one."

Kirishima looked a bit confused at that, but still seemed a bit grateful for the compliment. Kaminari in turn looked a bit skeptical, but didn't pry.

"If you say so. Shouldn't we go in? Don't wanna miss the exam just because we were talking. I don't really want to tell my mom I missed another test."

I nodded, and started to walk in, hearing Kirishima and kaminari follow, though just before we got in, I did get a glimpse of Uraraka saving Midoriya.

That seemed important to you, I guess they're also future classmates. I've gotta be right this time.

'Believe it or not, the green kid is the protagonist, and arguably one of the most powerful quirk users ever'

There was silence for a moment, at least in my head.

He seems like a dork.

'That's pretty spot on'

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I hate school. The UA written exam was in no way easier than the practical, and in fact I'd argue it was worse. Sure English was fine, I was American after all, but then math came and wrecked that. And Mina was no help there, her knowledge even more limited than mine.

Uh, maybe carry the four there? Or is it multiply? Maybe divide it?

I really should have paid more attention in high school.

Surprisingly, the slog that was the math portion gave way, and I surprisingly found the Japanese section to somehow be less arduous than the last. Sure, it tested the limits of the surface memories I had, but Mina's coaching helped, though having a teenager have to help me through a test in a grade I had passed years ago was not exactly good on my ego, not that I had much of one to begin with. Plus, I wasn't sure even she knew all that much, but I couldn't do much to dispute her.

What seemed like an eternity actually was around three hours, after which it was time for the practical exam. The show and manga both stated that there were hundreds in the auditorium, but it was really understating how that looked in real life. I nearly got lost looking for a seat, but luckily Kirishima saw me, and Kaminari's pretty bright hair along with his waving managed to help me find them.

Present Mic was…not as cool in person. Not that I didn't like him, but his voice did leave me with a light headache. Luckily I was able to focus enough to get the gist, even if I already knew.

Robots? That seems like a piece of cake! We can melt em' easily.

'Yeah, seems easy. But we should also find ways to help people out and earn rescue points'

Present Mic didn't say anything about rescue points

'Supposed to be a secret. Lucky for us, I know the future.'

Isn't that kinda cheating though?

'As our future homeroom teacher would say, it's only logical to use any resources you have at your disposal. Knowledge counts there.'

Huh. He seems interesting.

'Not the word I would use, but I guess that also works.'

I unfortunately was not in a zone with either of my new friends, so I ended up sitting alone, though not for long. A set of floating clothes sat down beside me, and we got to talking on the way. It was a good distraction, and soon we were in front of the gates leading to the ground.

I was really glad Mina already had a good set of athletic clothes, but that was about it. No real weapons or anything I could use, though They weren't really needed. I looked out over the gathered crowd. Aside from Hagakure, who I guess waved when I saw her, ti was hard to tell, I didn't notice much in the way of familiarity… aside from an explosive blonde set of hair.

'Oh. That's…not great.'

Blondie? He does seem a bit intense, but what's the problem?

'Lets just stay out of his way. Don't want to die.'

Must be charming if that's what you're saying about him.

I shook my head as I readied myself, stretching and prepping, getting myself ready. This was it. Make or break. Evan would probably have a route all set up, a set of steps to get where he needed to go, but me?

The voice of Present Mica shouted out, signalling the start of the exam.

I was just going to have to improvise.
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I sort of imagine Jake and Mina's relationship to be like an older brother and a younger sister. They get on pretty well, at least compared to Evan and Himiko, who I also imagine as a sort of sibling bond, but more on the bickering siblings variety. Anyways, I had fun writing this, planting seeds for later. The initial arcs of both Blood Red and Acid Pink will sort of coincide with each other, both ending at Chapter 4, which is the USJ from two perspectives. After that, the next arcs will diverge, with Blood Red diving into parts of the stain arc and wholely new ideas, and Acid Pink going straight into the sports festival arc, and build some friendships. Though trust me, they won't be entirely separate. Anyways, I hope you enjoy, and I will see you next time.