Saya was already heading for the door when the bell rang.

"Are you kidding me?" she muttered.

She opened it to find a pouting, frowning Bakugo waiting outside.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"That fucking old hag," he said through gritted teeth. "She thinks I bullied you into lying for me!" was his explanation.

"So I have to be punished, too?" she retorted.

"Shut the hell up and start walking, you damn extra! You're wasting my time!"

Saya rolled her eyes.

"It's too early in the morning to be this loud," she complained as she closed her front door behind her.

"I don't care!" he yelled again.

They both started walking towards the station.

"You know, I don't think your mother would really pull you out of UA," she commented after a couple of minutes, thinking of Mr. Aizawa's rational deception.

"Why do you keep talking about people you know nothing about, you damn nerd?" he growled. "It's hella annoying."

"Why do you keep calling me a nerd?" Saya wasn't offended by the insult, but she had noticed it the day before and hadn't understood it either.

"Because you are one!" he yelled. Again.

"Is it because I said I like studying?" Saya pressed.

She was sure that wasn't it. He had used the insult before that part of the conversation the day before.

"The fucking merch," he explained as if it should've been obvious. "You've probably got an altar for that rabbit d-lister in your room or something," he said.

Saya raised her eyebrows.

"Okay, first of all her name is Mirko and she is NOT a d-lister. And second of all, I don't!" she argued.

She totally did, though.

Perhaps not exactly an altar, but the bunny and crescent moon theme was all around her house, from her in-house slippers to her mugs, her blankets and her bookmarks. She even had a collection of Mirko figurines, although she had left most of them in her room back in Sapporo.

"Why do you even like her? Even your old man's better than her," he had the nerve to say.

"What the hell is your problem?" Saya retorted.

A couple of schoolgirls that walked in front of them turned to look at them with weirded out faces.

"I don't have any problems," Bakugo answered. "You're the one with the hurt feelings over the goddamned truth!"

"Well, if you don't stop saying stuff like that," she said, "I'm gonna hurt something other than your feelings!"

"Hah! Try if you dare," he said.

Saya chose not to respond. They had arrived at an intersection and were already attracting too much attention with their banter.

Besides, the syllabus they picked the day before contained a schedule that showed they would have hero lessons that afternoon. If she had any luck, she would have a chance to kick his ass in combat training.

The morning passed as swift as a bullet. English, Math 1 and Computer Tech hadn't exactly been fun, but Saya had always enjoyed those classes at junior high, so she didn't find it difficult to pay attention.

Then, it was lunchtime.

Saya had been a bit nervous about who to sit with at the cafeteria, but her anxiety vanished as Ashido locked arms with her as soon as she headed for the door.

She ended up sitting with the group from the day before. Even Bakugo had reluctantly sat with them, having been insisted on to it by Kirishima.

Even though the food was so heavenly it even moved some of the students to tears with its sheer deliciousness, Saya could not wait for the 5th period to start.

And when All Might himself went in through the classroom door, her heart started pounding so fast with excitement she thought she might die.

He announced they would have their first combat lesson.

Saya smiled. Oh, she only prayed she got a chance to beat Bakugo's ass.

As if the enthusiasm around the classroom hadn't been high enough by that point, All Might showed them something Saya didn't think they'd have the chance to see until later that year: their hero costumes neatly packed in numbered suitcases that came out of the wall.

Oh, she thought, so this was the UA experience.

Everyone cheered.

They all headed for the changing rooms.

"This is too exciting!" Hagakure was saying. She'd been the first one to get ready, but was waiting for the rest of the girls.

"Toru-chan," a short, frog quirked girl said, "are you naked, ribbit?"

"I am wearing my costume!" Hagakure protested, she sounded flustered. "See? I have the boots and gloves!"

Saya thought she must have impressive physical skills in order to be able to study at UA with a quirk that only served to camouflage her. But still, having to fight while completely naked seemed like the most uncomfortable possible scenario, even if no one could see her.

She finished putting on her boots and stood up. She stretched a little bit, just to assess the flexibility of the materials used to make her costume.

A grin made way to her face. This was more than perfect.

Her costume consisted of a black two-piece set of high-performance crop top and high waisted shorts made of a ribbed self-healing rubberlike material that could be pierced and slashed and would just bind itself back together.

The top was shaped like a bandage that wrapped and interlocked around her body, providing the necessary support and coverage while still leaving openings that would allow her to use her quirk with ease.

On top of the shorts, she had a utility belt with two flap pockets that made it look like an overskirt. It had quite a lot of space and, although it was currently empty, Saya knew support items and protein bars could be stored there to help her along whatever missions she would encounter.

Although simpler than some of her classmate's suits that looked straight out of a comic book —in the best way possible—, Saya's also had accessories. Her favorite were the gloves. They provided fantastic grip, were made of the same self-healing material and had openings for her fingertips, knuckles and palms.

She also had some high-performance boots that ended just below the knee and had modified block soles that would provide stability, but were also hollowed in the middle with just a thick layer of self-healing rubber so that she could still pierce them with bone structures without destroying them.

Finally, she had a titanium tiara on top of her head that was currently just for the aesthetics, but Saya intended to make it functional in the future by turning it into a support item.

"Look at my costume!" Ashido said, dancing around in her patterned leotard and cropped jacket.

Saya giggled.

"Looks great on you!" she complimented.

"Yours is super cool, too!"

"Thanks," Saya said.

"I love the tiara," this time, it was the infinity girl who talked. "It looks really good on you, Hayashi," she said.

She seemed a bit uncomfortable.

"You're too kind," Saya smiled. "Your costume is super cute too, love the boots!"

"Uraraka is looking cute AND hot," Ashido poked fun at her because of the skin tight silhouette.

Uraraka blushed heavily.

"I didn't include many specifications for my costume, so they made it like this," she tried to explain.

"C'mon Ashido," Saya intervened. "Your leotard is as tight as hers," she said.

"I knowww" Ashido sang and made a funny pose. "All the boys will be drooling," she said. "Besides, yours shows a lot of skin too, Hayashi," she commented, effectively making Saya blush as well.

"It's so that I don't wreck it while using my quirk!" she hurried to explain.

"I can understand that," Yaoyorozu chimed in.

Saya's jaw almost dropped when she saw the brunette.

That was a sexy costume.

It somehow made her feel a bit better with her own choice of clothes.

Saya was aware her costume would need improvements in the future, but she was quite happy with it for now.

All the girls exited the changing rooms and headed to training ground beta, where they met with the boys and, of course, All Might.

Saya took a look around the whole group. It was, as Hagakure had said, really, really exciting. They all did look like heroes already.

They stood in formation awaiting instructions and promptly received a briefing from All Might.

They were to fight one another in groups of two people, one team playing the role of the heroes, while the other would be the villains. Capturing the other team was one of the ways to win. Capturing the nuclear weapon the villains were protecting would grant heroes the victory. Allowing 15 minutes to pass without losing would do the same for the villains.

They drew lots to determine the teams. Saya was placed on team F alongside Rikido Sato, with whom she had never spoken before.

The first to go were Bakugo and the guy with glasses against Midoriya and Uraraka's team.

Saya had really hoped it would have been her chance to kick that asshole's butt, but she couldn't deny it was interesting to see how the whole Bakugo vs. Midoriya thing would play out.

The rest of the students, her included, headed for a monitor room where there were big screens. All Might told them to watch and analyze the combat.

Saya stood next to Ashido.

"Who do you think will win, Hayashi?" she asked.

"I mean, I don't know," she shrugged. "Seems like the villains' team have the advantage" she added. Ashido had just pointed that out to All Might. "Besides…"

She didn't finish the sentence. It might have been rude if she had, but Uraraka and Midoriya's chance of winning was slim. Unless they had a sound strategy, this was going to be a piece of cake for the villain team. Both Bakugo and Iida's quirks were very impressive, after all.

No one in the room was able to hear sounds from the screens except for All Might with his intercom device.

The signal to start went off. And then came the mayhem. The battle had been an unnerving thing to watch.

Bakugo had seemed to have completely forgotten what the point of the exercise was. He had just been mindlessly attacking Midoriya with all he got. There had been various occasions in which her classmates had asked All Might to stop the battle, but he hadn't.

Maybe it was because of what they were saying, she had thought.

Saya understood why Bakugo was so mad at Midoriya. They had talked about it the day before. Still, she had been as shocked as everyone else at the cruelty of his actions.

She hadn't said a word as they all commented on what was happening and found herself relaxing muscles she hadn't even noticed she had been tensing when it finished, the hero team declared victors.

Saya looked at Bakugo when all of them —except Midoriya— came back.

She had expected him to be even angrier, especially as Yaoyorozu criticized his attack as foolish, but he just stood there silently looking down.

It was a bit concerning.

But no concern of mine, she had to remind herself as they all watched and analyzed the rest of the matches.

She had glanced at him a couple of times just to check on him. He seemed to be paying attention to the screen, but he looked completely out of it and not once did he make any comments whatsoever.

Saya didn't try to talk to him. It just didn't feel appropriate.

She didn't even understand why she cared about what he felt or thought. He had been humbled and that was a good thing. They were not friends and she didn't even like him. She needed to stop worrying about his stupid ass.

Her match came in last, and it was determined that they would go against Ashido and Aoyama, who would play the heroes.

The excitement of having her own opportunity to participate completely exiled any last remains of concern about Bakugo's feelings from her mind, at least temporarily.

"Good luck, Hayashi!" Ashido said. "I like you a lot, but I won't hold back!" she vowed.

"You'd better not!" she laughed. "Good luck to you, too."

They separated and met with their respective teammates in order to go to the designated building.

"Hi, Sato, it's nice to meet you" she told the big guy after they received both their earpieces and the map to their hideout.

"Likewise," Sato said. "I feel really pressured to do well because I'm paired with you," he admitted.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, what Todoroki did was amazing and you were the other student who got in through recommendations, right?" he explained. "You're the number 3 hero's daughter as well, or so I've heard," he scratched the back of his neck.

Saya forced a quick smile.

"Okay, so now you have made me feel really pressured," she said. "My quirk is not as flashy as Todoroki's, but let's just do our best."

He smiled, "you can count on that."

"Okay," Saya said as they entered the hideout. "I think our best bet is to hide the weapon on the top floor," Saya said. "It will take them the longest to get there and time is on our side."

"I agree," Sato said.

They both told each other about their quirks as they transported the big replica weapon to the top floor.

"Now for strategy," Saya said. "We haven't really seen Ashido's quirk," she admitted, "but she was very agile on the tests yesterday."

"Yeah," Sato agreed. "Aoyama's quirk was some sort of laser that shoots from his belly button, wasn't it?"

Saya nodded, "that quirk has middle to long range and can be used for mobility," she added. "I think our best bet would be to engage them in close range battle, but absolutely not here next to our weapon where Ashido can just slip away and capture it."

"So we should go downstairs?"

"Yeah," Saya said. "I think we need to overpower them from the start and avoid them from getting upstairs at all costs. So if any of them escape, one of us has to follow immediately and engage them again before they can find the weapon."

"Sounds simple enough," Sato punched the palm of his own hand in anticipation. "I like it."

"Great," Saya said.

Sato hid around a corner near the entrance of the building. As soon as the opposing team got past him, he jumped them from behind.

That was Saya's sign to close their escape route.

"An ambush!" Ashido complained. "We just got in here!"

"And you're about to get out!" Sato was definitely pumped as he lunged towards Aoyama, 185 centimeters of pure muscle and brute force against the blond.

"So, it's you against me then," Ashido told Saya.

"Bring it on, girl."

Ashido threw some sort of liquid from her hand and in a matter of seconds, it made a huge hole on one of the walls.

Saya frowned. So she had some sort of acid quirk.

"You're not escaping!" she said, enhancing her legs with her quirk and chasing her.

She was running towards the stairs.

Saya made a long curved bone out of her right hand and used it as a hook to bring Ashido closer.

Ashido threw acid on the structure and it soon broke, freeing her.

Saya growled. She had to act fast. Ashido's quirk was exactly the kind her own was weaker against, as she could reuse her proteins only if the tissue she created was still connected to her body. If the protein levels inside her body dropped too low, she could succumb to fatigue and faint.

Saya jumped with her enhanced legs, reaching Ashido in the middle of the stairs and pushing her towards the wall with her body.

"Hey! Take me to dinner first!"

Ashido tried to push her, but Saya's enhanced muscles were stronger and she elongated her ribs, creating a sort of cage that trapped the other girl while freeing Saya's hands.

Ashido threw acid on the bony prison again, but by then, Saya had already tied the lace around her legs and pulled, throwing her to the ground.

"Match ended," All Might's voice said from some hidden speakers. "The winner is TEAM F!"

"Ouch," Ashido said, rubbing her bottom. "You're rough, Hayashi!"

"Sorry, Ashido," she said. "You were strong enough that I couldn't take any chances," she commented as she untied the pink girl.

Saya was glad there seemed to be no bad blood between them.

They went back into monitor room and Saya was declared the MVP because the winning plan had been hers and it had taken into account both her teammate's abilities and the previous knowledge they had on their opponents' quirks. All Might congratulated her on her interesting use of her quirk as well.

"If this had been a real-life situation," Yaoyorozu had said, though "the villains wouldn't have been able to take such a risky approach as to leave the weapon unattended. I think they should have anticipated the possibility of a hero entering the building through the windows and capturing it."

She was right, Saya thought, although not without some annoyance. It never felt too good to be criticized, but she was aware that taking such a thing personally would hinder her growth in the long run, so she did her best to just accept it and keep her mouth shut.

The class was soon finished after All Might's encouraging words and they all headed back to the changing rooms.

"Man, having English again after this just feels so anticlimactic," Kaminari complained.

"Yeah," Saya, Kirishima, Ashido and Jiro had to agree.

The rest of the afternoon was spent between pronouns and adjectives and Present Mic's pronunciation tips.

When the class finally ended, Saya took her time to stretch and let out a yawn she had been holding in.

"Finally," Jiro sighed to her right.

All of the students started standing up and joining in small bunches in order to talk.

"Hayashi, c'mere!" Kirishima called to her.

She smiled and approached his desk, where a few other students had already gathered.

"That ribcage thing was sick!" he commented. "Your moves were also amazing Ashido!"

"Well I loved your costume," Ashido said.

"Man, that hurts," Sero had also joined them and was laughing. "She thinks we were so bad the only positive thing she can say is about our looks," he added.

"I didn't hear her talk about yours, though, Sero," Saya commented.

They all laughed at that and Saya gave the black-haired guy a pat on the back to encourage him.

"It's not that you guys were bad," Ashido explained, "it's just that Tokoyami's quirk is scary good."

"Yeah," they all agreed.

"Let's just not start on Todoroki's" Sato shuddered.

"Oi." Bakugo's voice came from the classroom door. Saya looked at him. His eyes briefly caught hers and then he looked away. "I'm outta here. You coming?" he said.

"Hey, don't go yet," Kirishima said. "We should stay a little longer and discuss today's results."

"Yeah, Bakugo. Your moves were pretty cool, but what was your deal with Midoriya today?" Sero pressed.

Bakugo clicked his tongue.

"I'm not staying here and wasting my time with you extras," he said

Saya sighed.

She wanted to stay and talk to the rest, but she was still concerned about his attitude after the training, so she went to find her bag and stuff. Maybe she would be able to talk to him on their way home, she thought. Maybe knock some sense into him.

By the time she turned around, he had already left.

"This little bitch," she muttered, "bye y'all, I'll go try to make sure he doesn't kill anyone."

She didn't wait for their reply, but heard them saying they'd see her tomorrow.

Bakugo was almost at the end of the hallway when she got out the door.

"Hey, wait you idiot!" she yelled, running to catch to him. "What's the point in you asking me to come with you if you're not even going to wait for me?"

"Just shut up and walk," he said.

"Don't tell me what to do" she complained.

He made a low growling sound, but otherwise didn't answer.

Saya decided not to push him. They exited the school building and were starting towards the main entrance when Midoriya came running after them.

"Kacchan!" he had exclaimed. "Wait up!"

Saya was the first one to turn. She looked at Bakugo and saw his expression completely change once again, as it seemed to be the norm whenever Midoriya was involved.

"What," he said.

"I have to tell you something," Midoriya looked exhausted and it was clear he was still hurt. "Maybe then you'll understand what's been going on."

"Uhm," Saya said, internally happy the both of them were going to resolve whatever issue they had, "I'll wait by the gates so you two can talk," she said.

Midoriya thanked her and didn't speak again until she was far enough not to hear.

She did turn to watch them, though. And when Bakugo started screaming at the top of his lungs, even the distance couldn't prevent her from hearing.

"And I was watching that ice guy… I realized I couldn't beat him in a head to head fight!" he was saying. "Crap! I even agreed with what that girl said! My attack was so stupid! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"

Saya's heart squeezed in her chest.

I don't know him, she reminded herself. I don't care about any of this.

But then why did it feel so awful to hear him say those words and shake with rage and what seemed like grief?

"Enjoy that win Deku, you won't get another!" he said. "I'm just getting started! Got that? I'm gonna end up the number one hero no matter what!" he turned around.

He wiped a couple of stray tears on his eyes and Saya almost gasped.

"You'll never beat me again, you bastard. Don't even try," he said.

He started walking towards the gates not even acknowledging her presence a little bit.

Oh, this was going to be so awkward, she thought.

Just then, All Might appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the blond's shoulders.

It seemed like he was trying to give the boy an encouraging speech, but Bakugo was having none of it.

He got past the gates like he had completely forgotten about her existence. Saya started alongside him without saying a word.

They walked a few blocks in silence.

"So?" he finally said as they were approaching the station. "Are you not gonna try and make fun of me?"

Saya looked at him and withheld her response until his eyes met hers.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

He looked away.

"The shit you heard," his voice was dry and raspy. "The shit you saw."

"What are you talking about?" she repeated, he glared daggers at her. This time, it was Saya's turn to look away. "I didn't hear or see anything."

If she had been looking at him, she would've seen the surprise that washed over his face when he realized what she meant.

She was only able to hear his faint snort, though.

She chose to take it as a thank you.