"Oi," Bakugo had said. "Are we leaving or what?"

He'd caught her so much by surprise she just stood there gaping like everyone else for a couple of seconds.

"Yeah," she finally said.

And regretted it immediately.

She felt a blush starting to creep towards her face because the others were all staring at them. What the hell was she thinking accepting just like that after what that asshole had said about her dad not once, but twice?

She wanted to slap herself so bad, but there was no rational, normal way to backtrack on the fact that she had just agreed to go with him, so she grabbed her backpack and pretended like there was nothing weird about her and the boy leaving school together.

Nobody said a single word, which made things even more uncomfortable.

"See y'all tomorrow!" she chirped, trying to ease off the awkwardness of the whole situation as she followed Bakugo out of the classroom. He would hear a piece of her mind as soon as they abandoned the crowded area, though, Saya decided.

She had to jog a bit to catch up to him in the hallway. She caught him looking at her sideways while taking a sip of water from a plastic bottle.

She opened her mouth to speak, but he beat her to it:

"What's with the blush." It was phrased as a question, but spoken like a scoff. "I'm only babysitting you because the old hag will not let me hear the end of it if you get lost on your way home," he said. "Don't get any stupid ideas up your air-head."

A vein popped on Saya's forehead.

"Like you could ever get a chance with me," she retorted with a snort. "I was just embarrassed our classmates might think I'm friends with someone like you," she lied.

What she was really embarrassed about was the possibility of the rest thinking she and that piece of shit were dating, but she wouldn't even dare say something like that aloud.

"Huh?" his voice had raised. "What's that even supposed to mean?"

"Well, for starters," Saya voiced, "you were so nasty to Midoriya today, you were acting like a literal child, and don't even get me started on last—"

Bakugo stopped walking all of a sudden.

"Shut up!" he said. He set off his quirk and exploded the empty water bottle he had still been carrying. "Don't talk about that fucking Deku."

Deku.

So he did know Midoriya from before, Saya thought. That explained a few things.

"Listen, you idiot," she said, her patience running dangerously thin. "I have no idea what your deal with Midoriya is nor I care in the slightest, but don't go dreaming you can tell me what to do, or else!"

"Or else what?" he scoffed.

"Or else I'm gonna kick your ass so hard your grandchildren will be born bruised!"

"You think you can beat me?" he threateningly stepped towards her.

Saya felt the urge to step back, but she didn't, holding his stare defiantly.

"I'm positive," she let her backpack fall on the ground.

She was ready to fight him in the school hallways and deal with whatever consequences that would have later.

"Heeeey," Kirishima had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. "Are you guys heading to the station? Mind if I join you?"

"Get lost!"

"We're in the middle of something."

Both sentences were said simultaneously.

If Saya hadn't been so worked up, she would've pointed out that that was the first time they agreed on something.

"I insist," Kirishima got in the middle of them and grabbed Saya's bag.

"We're heading for the station too!" Ashido's voice came from behind.

Soon, both her, Sero, the blond guy from earlier and a girl with short dark blue hair had caught up to them.

Kirishima handed Saya her bag.

"C'mon," he said. "I don't think any of you wants to get in trouble on our very first day now, do you?" His sharp toothed smile was a bit tense.

Saya appreciated his concern. She grabbed her bag and put it on one shoulder.

"Alright," she said. Sharing the walk to the station with them honestly sounded like a much better idea. "But only if we stop to get something to eat on the way" she added. Her stomach rumbled as if on cue.

Ashido giggled, "that sounds fun!"

"There's a takoyaki stand near the station," the blue haired girl said.

They started walking, the heavy atmosphere from earlier almost completely dissipated.

"Let's go, Bakugo!" Kirishima asked when it was clear the blond was not about to move.

"If you losers want to band together like a bunch of idiots, then do it. But don't count on me to join!" was Bakugo's retort.

He started strutting in the same direction, but quickly passed them and went on his way.

"Hey asshole!" Saya called.

She didn't even know why she was doing it, but acting on impulse was not a strange occurrence for her. Bakugo stopped walking, but he didn't turn around.

"Stick with us and I'll tell your mom you were really nice today," she suggested. "Who knows? She might even leave you alone after that," she shrugged.

For a second, it seemed like he would just ignore her and go on his way, but he turned his hands into fists instead.

"Well get moving then, the sooner this shit is over the better!"

Both Kirishima and Ashido smiled excitedly and they all started walking together.

"Kirishima," Saya asked as they exited the school grounds, "how did you know what was going on?"

He scratched the back of his head.

"Let's just say I have really good hearing," it was the blue haired girl who responded. She pointed to her ears to show some mutated attachments that looked like earphone jacks.

"So you spied on us?" Saya asked, half-joking, half-annoyed.

"It was all Kaminari's idea!" Ashido confessed, pointing to the blonde guy.

"Hey!" he tried to defend himself. "You were the first one to agree we should do it!"

"Sorry, Hayashi," Kirishima said. "It was just really weird that you two were leaving together. We didn't realize you were friends."

"We're not friends!" both her and Bakugo responded at the same time.

"Then you're, like, dating?!" Ashido's mouth made a perfect 'o'.

"Hell, no!" Saya hurried to say.

"Do you wanna fucking die?" was the simultaneous response Bakugo gave, a threatening expression on his face.

"Eek! No, thanks" Ashido quickly ran to hide behind Kirishima.

"But you're close," this time, it was Sero's turn to ask. "I mean, didn't you say something about talking to his mother?"

Saya sighed.

"We're not close, I just met him last night," she told them, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Our moms are friends, though," she explained. "My mom did a campaign for his parents' fashion brand one time and then they just liked each other, I guess."

"Your mom as in, Oyuki Hayashi, actress, model, entrepreneur, fashion icon and all-around celebrity, right?" Ashido just had to specify.

Saya sighed again.

"Yeah," she mumbled.

Her cheeks were hot. She was probably blushing again.

Although the topic of her very famous family being brought up was always a bit uncomfortable, it wasn't so hard when people asked about her father or her parents as a couple. It hadn't even been that hard when Ashido and Hagakure had asked her about Sadao earlier that day.

When people talked about her mother, though, and how gorgeous, talented and just overall wonderful she was, Saya couldn't help but feel like she'd never get out of her shadow.

It was different with her dad, because she knew if she trained hard enough, studied hard enough and just worked hard enough, she had a chance at becoming just as good a hero as he was. Maybe she could even surpass him one day, as was actually her goal.

She would never be as beautiful as her mother, though. Never even closely as charming, elegant and graceful as she was. She would always end up falling short because there was just no way of even coming close to her in any sort of way.

For almost all of her life, Saya always felt the weight of the comparisons people made between her and her mom. In fact, the only thing that seemed to free her from that burden was focusing on training to become a hero.

"So you're like, childhood friends? Sort of?" Kaminari's question brought Saya back to the present moment.

"Ugh," the blue haired girl facepalmed. "Haven't you heard a thing she said?" she voiced. "They're not friends, they met last night."

"I'm gonna explain myself to you losers only this one time so pay close attention" Bakugo said. "Her super star of a mom called my super annoying mom and asked her for help finding a place for this nerd here to rent in order to attend UA," he started. He sounded super condescending, like he was explaining apples and oranges.

Saya was taken aback by him calling her a nerd, but let him continue anyway, because she was interested in knowing his side of the story, too.

"So my mom was looking for apartments in this area, but then my stupid neighbors moved out and she had the brilliant fucking idea to suggest this dumbass live across of my goddamned house so that she and my dad could keep an eye on her in case she needed anything." He looked all of them in the eye. "That's it, so don't go assuming any fucking kind of nonsense, you bunch of idiots," he finished.

"Yep," Saya said. "That pretty much sums it up," she nodded. "Except he missed the part when his mom invited me to dinner last night and this shithead had to be an S tier asshole and pretty much make the whole thing so horrible his mom forced him to make it up to me by accompanying me to school today," she finished.

"What did you just call me?" Bakugo yelled.

"Okay, okay, let's all calm down," Kirishima intervened again, stepping between both of them, and extending his arms. "Sounds like any misunderstandings have now been cleared," he added.

"You'd still look quite cute as a couple, though," Ashido had to go on and say.

Bakugo started chasing her and she ran for dear life, everyone else following behind them.

"She honestly asked for it," the blue haired girl said.

Saya had to agree.

"I didn't hear your name," she said.

"Kyoka Jiro," the girl answered. "Hey, look," she added. "That's the takoyaki stand I talked about."

Saya's attention shifted to the food stand. They all headed there, even Ashido and Bakugo who had passed right by it during their chase came back in order to get a savory treat.

"This is sooooo gooood," Ashido talked between munches.

She was right, Saya thought.

The only time she'd ever had takoyaki on a stick like that had been on a school fair a few years ago.

Back in Sapporo, she didn't really have any friends. Most of her classmates didn't really like her and she didn't attend any clubs or extracurriculars because she preferred to hang out at her dad's agency to train with him or his sidekicks and just dream about being an awesome hero like them.

She never really hung out with people outside of school and both her parents were far too famous and busy to be able to casually stroll around on the streets or fairs. They were always mobbed by fans the minute they set foot in public places.

Saya was used to all of that, but this, she thought, this felt nice.

"So, Hayashi," Kaminari said, he had an odd smirk on his face. "What do you like to do on your free time?"

Saya shrugged.

"Training," she said.

"What else?" he pressed.

"I like studying, too."

"Are there any things you like to do that aren't related to school or being a hero?"

"Uhm, I do like exercising," she said. "My dad has the coolest gym at his agency in Sapporo," she told him. "I really should get a treadmill or something for my apartment here," she kind of thought aloud.

"You're really dedicated, Hayashi," Kirishima complimented her.

Saya smiled.

"You are," Kaminari agreed. He sounded a bit frustrated though. "Still, I meant other stuff like, I don't know, watching movies, going out, that sort of stuff."

"Dude, chill," Jiro shook her head. "She's not interested."

Saya scratched the back of her head. Was he trying to flirt with her?

She did have many other hobbies besides the ones she mentioned, like cooking and playing video games and the normal stuff people her age liked to do. She just didn't think those things were very interesting to mention.

"What do you guys like to do?" She asked, in an effort to divert attention from herself.

"I love dancing!" Ashido said, excitement seeping from her voice.

"You're really good at it, too," Kirishima said.

Kaminari looked vexed.

"You've seen her dance?" his tone was incredulous.

Ashido laughed.

"We were classmates in junior high," she explained.

"What?" Kaminari's jaw almost dropped. "That's insane!" he exclaimed. "What were the odds that you would both end up in the same class in the hero course in UA?"

"I know right?" Ashido laughed. "People apply from everywhere in the country in order to get a chance at studying at UA!"

For some reason, that seemed to trigger Bakugo's anger, as he crumpled his takoyaki paper plate and burst it to ash next to them.

His face was contorted with barely contained rage again.

"What's his—" Jiro was starting to say.

"It's okay, he has probably just ran out of social battery," Saya quickly cut her off. "We'd better go home before he kills us or something," she added a smile to her statement in order to ease off the tension.

Why she was doing this was beyond any kind of logical explanation at the moment. Perhaps she was a better human being than she gave herself credit for. Perhaps, she just felt responsible for him because she had been the one who had gotten him to tag along.

Saya adjusted her backpack and walked towards Bakugo.

"It's been really nice meeting y'all! See you tomorrow!" she exclaimed, enthusiastically waving her hand at the group.

They waved back. By the time she turned around again, Bakugo had gone on ahead and she had to jog to catch up to him for the second time that day.

They didn't speak as they entered the station and got their tickets, the silence dragging on for the entire ride home.

It wasn't rush hour yet and they had sat on seats across from each other.

Bakugo had stopped looking like a ticking bomb, but the depth of his frown revealed whatever ideas were swimming in his mind were not exactly the peaceful kind.

Saya only checked on him from time to time, but spent most of the commute lost in her own thoughts of trying to piece together what she had seen and heard today regarding the boy's relationship with Midoriya.

It was probably a waste of her time, but at least it provided a distraction from her disappointment in herself about having been unable get the top scores in more of the tests.

It was apparent that Bakugo knew Midoriya. Perhaps they had even attended the same junior high, which could explain why the conversation earlier had triggered him.

He had seemed annoyed the moment he saw Midoriya get in the classroom, so they probably didn't get along so well. Also, he had been shocked when he saw Midoriya use his quirk and had previously made a comment about the boy being quirkless.

Saya looked up to him as the voice from the speakers announced they were approaching their station. She found he was looking at her and quickly looked away when she met his stare, but she didn't think much about it.

They both exited the train and Saya let him lead the pace towards the street.

Neither of them said a thing.

It was frankly not as awkward as it probably should have been, especially because she felt she had an idea about what was on his mind.

Still, she couldn't just not say anything about it at all. Even when she knew it would just serve to annoy him and get into another argument with him.

"So," she finally broke the ice. "What's the deal with Midoriya?"

He turned to look at her and tsked.

"I'm gonna kill that bastard," he said. "And this is none of your business."

"Oh, I'm nosy," she admitted. "With a passion for other people's dramas," she gave him a condescending smile. "So spill the beans, didn't you say he was quirkless?" she prodded.

She had grown up with two brothers. She knew how to push people's buttons to get them to start talking.

Bakugo growled.

"That useless piece of shit lied about not having a quirk this whole time." His voice was naturally low and hoarse, but he seemed to have gone down a whole octave when he spoke about that.

"That's messed up," Saya had to admit. That wasn't something people would just lie about. It was akin to lying about your name or who your parents were."Could he have been planning to become a villain or something?" she ventured. It was the first reason that came to mind.

People would sometimes exaggerate their quirks just the same way people would sometimes try to make others think they were richer or more popular than they actually were. Pretending to be powerless when you weren't, though…

That could be a sure fire sign of wickedness.

"You don't know the bastard," Bakugo said. "He's been a nerd obsessed with Allmight and becoming a hero since we were in kindergarten," he spat. "He wasn't planning on becoming a villain, he was just mocking me this whole time!" he yelled and kicked a rock with such viciousness he must have sent it a good hundred meters away at the very least.

Saya's mind processed the information. Bakugo had started to walk faster. His legs were longer than hers and it made her have to power walk in order to keep by his side.

Admittedly, she didn't know Midoriya. It was certainly relieving to know Bakugo didn't think he was a villain in the making, but she also didn't think anyone would make up that elaborate a hoax only to mock someone else.

Besides, judging from what she had seen from Midoriya, the guy was scared shitless when it came to the blond.

"Perhaps he didn't know he had a quirk," she theorized. "Maybe he never knew how his worked till recently."

It was unlikely, but there were cases where it took some kind of particular event for a quirk to manifest.

"With a quirk like that?" Bakugo scoffed. "I saw him pretend to try and activate his quirk for years! If it wasn't an act, it would have shown!"

Saya was running out of ideas.

"Well, his quirk did seem to hurt his body," she said. "Perhaps he was embarrassed or too scared to—"

"You don't know Deku!" Bakugo's fury was directed at her this time. "And I already said this was none of your business!"

Saya raked through her mind trying to find something to retort.

But he was right, she understood.

She didn't know Midoriya. She didn't know Bakugo either. But the most baffling thing she didn't know was why she was so invested in knowing what bothered him so much or why she was being kind of friendly with him.

She didn't even like him. In fact, quite the contrary.

She would rather eat crap than admit he was right in what he had said, though.

"Relax, dude," she resorted to the kind of low tactic Sukenobu used to use on her when they argued. "You don't have to be so emotional."

"I AM FUCKING RELAXED!" Bakugo yelled. "AND YOU DON'T GET TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

"Okay, keep yelling."

"I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!"

"Yep, do as daddy says," she whispered, adding a wink for some extra sass.

He went red with rage.

Saya burst out laughing. Teasing him was more fun than she had ever expected. She now kind of understood why Sukenobu would always do it to her.

Bakugo came at her with explosions bursting on the palm of his hand, but before Saya could do anything to neutralize the attack, a flying bag of groceries smashed against his face, carrots and tomatoes flying everywhere on the sidewalk.

"KATSUKI," his mom's voice came from behind them. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT?"

They started screaming bloody murder at each other in the middle of the sidewalk. Saya started picking the veggies that had fallen and placed them back inside the bag.

"DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO BE NICE TO SAYA-CHAN?!" Mitsuki was enraged.

"Oh, he was really nice to me today, actually," Saya intervened.

She had promised to say that and, besides, people were staring. It was probably best to just calm things down.

"He was?" Mitsuki's head turned towards her so fast it was surprising her neck didn't snap in half. "Katsuki was… nice?"

"He was," Saya confirmed.

"Has he threatened you to say that?" Mitsuki asked. "'Cause if he has I'm gonna—"

"Oh, no, no, nothing like that," Saya's smile was tense. "He even took me to get takoyaki after school," she said.

"He did?" Mitsuki's face went through so many emotions it was hard for Saya to assess how she was actually feeling. "I think I'm his new best friend or something," she added for good measure, lest the woman thought there was any sort of romantic crap involved.

"We're not friends, nerd!" Bakugo clarified.

Mitsuki messed with his hair and he started complaining and pouting and trying to get away from her.

Saya thought it was hilarious.

The three of them walked the rest of the way to their respective homes together.