ATTENTION: for those of you who have been reading/following/keeping up with this story in any capacity- it has undergone a rewrite as of MONDAY JUNE 12TH. several things have been switched: the chapters are longer, it is now written in first person. after giving it some thought, I decided that I wanted to try first person, as well as flesh out Daichi's character in a slightly different direction. please let me know what you think! anyways, Heaven and Earth, take two...


"We are the Almighty heroes, who have swooped down to save a world in disarray."


"The kid who ranks last… gets expelled?!"

Uraraka's (whose first name Izuku had kindly informed me was Ochaco) voice rang out across the P.E. training grounds, her face mirroring the shocked expressions of the rest of our classmates. After Bakugo Katsuki's violent outburst of competition, he had been ordered to return to where the rest of the class stood- Aizawa-sensei had had a game plan, and had not been at all pleased about having to deal with an unwarranted, fiery interruption.

Having finally gotten everyone settled down, including even Katsuki the fire-spinner, we had been given a speech, which ended in a heavy threat: after completing the physical fitness tests using our Quirks, the student with the lowest score would be immediately expelled from UA High School.

I glanced around aimlessly, feeling fairly nonplussed about the whole ordeal. Aizawa Shouta was well known for being a difficult sort of person, and he had a reputation for failing his students out of UA on the very first day. However, his withholding attitude only served to make me pity the other students, as well as feel a mild embarrassment.

"This is only our first day here!" Ochaco continued desperately. "And even if it wasn't… That just seems too unreasonable!"

Despite my deep and tired sigh, I had to admit that I agreed with her. However, I knew too well that her reasonable pleas fell on deaf ears… Eraserhead was not so easily swayed. Aizawa Shouta released a heavy sigh- it sounded remarkably like my own- running his fingers through his long dark waves before he chose to reply to Ochaco, who had been watching him carefully all the while.

"That's right, it is unreasonable…" he began, looking directly at Ochaco while addressing all of us. "Natural disasters... Massive accidents... Ego-mad villains... All kinds of calamities can happen when we least expect them. Japan's now positively drenched in unreasonable."

Despite myself, I felt a soft smile creep across my lips; even if Aizawa Shouta was an infamous curmudgeon, it was times like these where one could clearly see that, despite his surly demeanor, he truly did care.

"And it's our job as heroes to reverse it all, and restore reason." he said sternly. The class remained silent, watching our teacher with baited breath. "If you were counting on a friendly chat at the local McDonald's after school, that's too bad. From now on, for the next three years, all you can expect from your life at UA is one hardship after the next."

"This is Plus Ultra. I expect for you to overcome these trials, and climb to the top!"

The students around me shifted; some had been overcome with an almost tangible nervousness, others were riding a second wind following the initial shock of Aizawa Shouta's words. Bakugo Katsuki stretched his arms and shoulders languidly, a triumphant smirk breaking out across his face. I felt mildly overwhelmed, though I worked hard to not let my face show it; the ways in which each student was preparing to face and tackle the UA first-year 'baptism' was surprisingly moving. I could feel determination saturating the atmosphere around me. These kids were ready to be heroes. So was I.

"Now then!" Aizawa Shouta began again. "That was the demonstration… I'd only intended for it to be one student…" he muttered, shooting a dry-eyed glare in Katsuki's direction; I let out a soft, airy chuckle through my nostrils. "It's time to step up to the plate!"

"Trial one: the fifty meter dash!"

"You ok?"

To my right crouched Midoriya Izuku, a nervous expression clouding his features. The rest of the students had begun lining themselves up at the starting mark for the fifty meter dash. Some wore confident expressions- you could tell that these kids were the ones with Quirks that worked well for sprints. Others, the ones like me, looked less than enthusiastic about the first trial.

"Mmhmm…" Izuku mumbled sheepishly. "I just… I can't control my Quirk very well, yet…" I arched a single eyebrow, incredulous.

"Really?" I replied. A few students looked my way, as my voice rose several octaves. Having never before interacted in large groups, I could already tell that subtlety was not my strong point, socially. "Quirks usually manifest by the time we're four… What happened?"

Before Izuku could answer my question, none other than Bakugo Katsuki appeared to my left. I frowned, not working to hide my displeasure. His reply was simply to smirk, stretching his thighs by squatting down repetitively; my frown deepened. To Katsuki's left was another boy, one I had not noticed until that moment.

His hair was two-toned: half white, half red. Each color was shocking to my eyes in its own particular way. The boy's eyes- mismatched- slid to their corners, meeting my own gaze point blank. My eyes widened as I realized that I had been staring blatantly in his direction for at least an entire minute.

"Um… Daichi-san?" Izuku cooed from my side, his voice jolting me out of my embarrassed trance. I tore my eyes away from the boy next to Katsuki. "Are you alright? Your face is totally red…"

"What?" I squeaked. The squeak only served to embarrass me further, and I heard Katsuki scoff derisively. I cleared my throat. "I mean… What?"

"Are you sure you don't have a fever?"

"N-no," I replied. I tried to keep my tone level, but it did not work very well. "I'm really fine."

"If you say so…"

Although I was grateful for Izuku's concern, I chose to turn my attention to the subject at hand: the fifty meter dash. I frowned slightly, lost in thought; my Quirk, just as with the softball pitch, did not lend itself to being helpful in this particular physical test. I bit my lip, my blue eyes glancing down to regard the dirt beneath my feet. Staring at the expanse of brown underneath me, a smile replaced my worried frown.

"Go!"

No sooner had I registered Aizawa Shouta's command, a loud grunt escaped my throat, teeth gritting against the strain of my next move. A loud crack cut through the air, dirt and rock crumbling around me as I lifted my body into the air atop a hunk of floating earth. With another grunt, caused both by the size of the rock as well as the speed of my movements, I ushered the chunk of dirt forward.

I was careening towards the finish line, air speeding past my ears in loud gusts. Bakugo Katsuki was neck and neck with me, having sent himself soaring through the air, propelled by blasts of fire from his palms. His maniacal expression was directed at Izuku, who was bringing up the rear. I frowned- a guy like that certainly didn't deserve to rub anymore salt into Izuku's metaphorical wounds.

From atop my floating dirt pile, I sent a single hand up into the air. Katsuki had no time to react as a giant rectangle of earth sprung up behind him. A muffled oof! met my ears as I glided across the finish line, which was promptly followed with a very loud "FUCK!" I dismounted from my chunk of earth, feeling the heat and tenseness leave my body as I allowed the dirt and rocks to settle back into the ground beneath me. Iida Tenya stood a few feet to my left, having been the first to finish the dash. I smiled, letting out a satisfied sigh as I heard other people cross the finish line.

"Daichi."

A stern voice broke through my peaceful come-down. My eyes snapped open, my head snapping upwards. Aizawa Shouta stood over me, arms crossed, dry eyes glowering; he didn't look pleased.

"Y… Yes?" My voice was as small as I felt in that moment.

"I saw that." he said.

I made to retort, a strangled sort of 'wha-wheck' noise escaping my throat. Before I could form a word, he pointed over my shoulder. I turned my head, following the direction in which his finger was pointed. Bakugo Katsuki was crumpled on the ground, expression livid, absolutely covered in dirt. His eyes looked almost inhuman as they fixated on me, steam rising from within the depths of dirt with which he was now covered. I let out a guilty, slightly terrified chuckle.

"W-would ya look at that…" I muttered, nervousness balling in my throat like too-dry food. "How'd that get there?"

"Don't meddle in the tests, Daichi." Aizawa Shouta commanded as I turned back around to meet his gaze; in a very different way, it was just as terrifying as Bakugo Katsuki's. "In some places, that's called cheating. And by 'some places', I mean here."

"Sorry," I mumbled, giving my begrudging apology.

"Bakugo takes your score. Your new score is zero." My eyes widened.

"What?" I gasped angrily. "But-!"

"I don't friggin' want her dirt-ass score!" Katsuki snarled from his place in the dirt. I turned my head, shooting my best glare in Katsuki's direction. He just smirked.

"Do what you want." Aizawa Shouta replied, unamused and, as usual, lacking any trace of enthusiasm. "Daichi will keep her score, then. Good luck with that zero." A loud explosion from Katsuki's direction was all that he received in reply.

"That was cool!"

I glanced to my right swiftly, the sudden compliment taking me by surprise. Uraraka Ochaco stood beside me, her big brown eyes look up at me eagerly; she was around the same height as Izuku, which put her at a level that required me to tilt my head down in order to meet her eyeline. I tried to smile; Ochaco looked relatively uncomfortable, so I reverted back to my normal mask of passivity.

"Th… thank you," I mumbled. Was that right? How was one supposed to receive a compliment? "I'm Daichi, by the way."

"Uraraka Ochaco!" she replied swiftly. "You can just call me Ochaco! So, you have an Earth element Quirk? I haven't seen many Quirks like yours!"

"What d'you mean?" I asked, slightly bemused. There were elemental Quirks all around us- Katsuki, for instance. Ochaco's eyes brightened as she explained.

"Well, yours is kinda interesting, isn't it?" she began. I took it to be a rhetorical question, and so stayed silent, watching Ochaco carefully as she explained. "Bakugo-san has an elemental Quirk, sorta, but he produces the fire! Or Todoroki-san, he produces the ice-"

"Who's Todoroki?" I interjected.

Ochaco smiled; she was a truly pleasant person, which I admired as well as envied. The kind of girl who might be a heroine in a shoujo manga. She pointed to our mutual left, and I turned my head to follow where her index finger was pointing. The two-toned stare of the red-and-white haired boy greeted me, and I felt a mild heat form in the pit of my stomach, which was accompanied by a flutter. I looked away almost immediately.

"Todoroki Shouto," Ochaco said, continuing to point.

Clearly, I was the only one phased by him; Ochaco seemed all but immune to any sort of shame or self-consciousness when it came to Todoroki Shouto, continuing to point blatantly in his direction. I felt his eyes boring holes in the side of my face, though I kept my gaze fixed determinedly in the other direction. Ochaco lowered her finger and looked at me.

"Are you alright?"

"Wh-I-No-Yes!" I spat out quickly. Ochaco looked confused. I also felt confused. "S-sorry… Anyways, so Todoroki Shouto uses ice and Katsuki uses fire- what's your point?"

"My point is: I find it interesting that unlike Bakugo-san and Todoroki-san, your Quirk manipulates things around you, instead of producing the element in question, like their Quirks do."

I pursed my lips thoughtfully; I'd never considered such a thing before. Before I could reply, I felt an offending object shoved into my hand. My eyes met the gaze of our teacher, who let out a small huff before moving on to the next few students. I looked down, noticing the device that I was now holding: trial two was obviously the grip-strength test. I frowned, considering my next challenge briefly.

A moment later, I let the familiar stressful heat that accompanied the use of my Quirk fill me up, and I watched as a multitude of pebbles covered my hand and fingers. My free hand flexed, and I felt the rocks expand away from my hand; next, I balled my fist, and the rocks crushed into my hand that held the device. The pressure of the rocks worked exactly how I had wanted, increasing the strength of my grip. I glanced at the device's screen, which showed me my results: 160 KGW.

"Whadja get, dirt-face?"

I glowered, Bakugo Katsuki's scathing voice breaking through my peaceful state of mind. I put the device down, allowing the screen to go blank before he could get a good look at it. This seemed to piss him off, since his response to the blank screen was to kick the device and drop his own; I heard a few crackles emit from his palms.

"Beeswax Not Yours, Incorporated." I replied monotonously. By my side Ochaco let out a giggle; it sounded more like a hiss.

"Daichi-chan, that was really lame!" she exclaimed, her shoulders bobbing up and down with laughter.

I frowned; I'd heard it said in a television show once, and had thought maybe it would be a cool comeback. Looking at Katsuki's expression, my ears filled with the sound of Ochaco's giggles, I could tell that I had been sorely mistaken.

"You homeschooled kids really are freaks," Katsuki muttered before taking off in the opposite direction.

From across the group of students who were still admiring each other's grip-strength scores, the gaze of Todoroki Shouto once again offended my senses. Yet again, I blushed. Was I defective, or just an idiot?

"Trial three is the standing long jump!"

Aizawa Shouta's voice cut off the few small conversations that were still going on. The class lined themselves up one by one, preparing to jump across the heap of sand that was typical of a long jump test. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and I glanced over my shoulder cautiously.

"Ack!"

A strangled cry escaped my throat, realizing suddenly that Todoroki Shouto was standing right behind me. He was expressionless, just as he had been for most of the day. His heterochromatic eyes stared straight at me, unabashed at having been discovered. Clearly, other people were way less shameless about starring than even myself, which I found somewhat comforting even in the midst of the present situation. Izuku, who was in front of me, turned around; he looked confused.

"Daichi-san?"

"I'm fine!" I said immediately, very loudly. The kid in front of him- a blonde with a weirdly sharp face- glanced behind him curiously. "Totally fine!"

"Your face is super red."

"No it's not!"

"Y-yes it-"

"You're imagining things, Izuku!"

"Please don't be so loud…"

The voice of Todoroki Shouto made its way into my ears, moving languidly through my brain and quieting me instantly. I felt a shiver run up my spine, and I wondered briefly if the shiver was a personal matter, or had more to do with his icey powers and demeanor. The boy in front of Izuku turned around and blasted what looked like a laser out of his naval, propelling him across the sand; Izuku, on the other hand, barely made it a few feet before falling into the sand. I frowned; did he even have a Quirk? I could not imagine that what Katsuki had claimed this morning- that Izuku was a 'Quirkless loser'- was true, since he had made it into the hero course. But was it?

Pushing my questions out of my mind, I concentrated on the grains of sand below me. One step at a time, I lifted my cupped hands through the air; each time, a puff of sand rose up to meet my feet, allowing me to bounce through the air and across the sandbox that represented the no-man's-land between the start line of the standing long jump, and the end. I let my feet touch the ground only I saw Aizawa Shouta.

"Do you know what's going on with Izuku's Quirk?" I asked, keeping my voice low. Silently I praised myself on learning how to be subtle. "He doesn't seem to be doing well in any of the tests… I'm kinda worried for him…"

I watched as Todoroki Shouto landed easily on my side of the sand, having glided across using his ice. His eyes were fixed on my; I couldn't tell if it was anger, curiosity or indifference that I saw there.

"Should you be talking with me so casually around your new classmates?" Aizawa Shouta replied stiffly. "Last night you explicitly instructed me to be discreet." I made a scoffing sound, though my expression showed that I was pouting.

"Fine, never mind, then." I replied with equal stiffness.

I walked away from the teacher, resisting the urge to turn around and see if he was watching me. An extremely tired-looking Izuku greeted me from his place at the end of the long jump course. Sand poured from the folds in his exercise uniform, its bright blue fabric dotted with light specks of minerals.

"It looks as though you're suffering from severe dandruff." I stated matter of factly, my blue eyes serious as they regarded Izuku. Izuku stared at me blankly.

"Don't just say whatever comes into your head!" Ochaco scolded from her place beside the two of us. Izuku looked somewhat embarrassed, his eyes darting between Ochaco and the ground. I pursed my lips thoughtfully.

"Hey, Izuku, do you happen to lik-" I was silenced with a pair of hands, planted firmly over my lips, a strangled cry of panic escaping Izuku's mouth.

"Daichi-san! Please!"

Ochaco looked puzzled as her eyes darted between Izuku and myself, the former still keeping his palms planted firmly over my lips. They were rather sweaty, and it was uncomfortable, to say the least. From a few feet away I felt competitive spirit roll off of Bakugo Katsuki in waves. I was curious about who he hated more: Midoriya Izuku, or me.

Trial four was sustained sideways long jumps, my very least favorite from the familiar set of physical tests from my youth. I lazily allowed puffs of sand to carry me back and forth, finishing rather mediocrely, though to be perfectly frank by that point I had lost most all of my interest in the matter. Trying my best proved difficult when I was relatively certain that I would not be expelled.

Trial five, which I had already completed, was the softball pitch. There were several outstanding pitchers: Shoji Mezo, for example, whose octopus-like appearance was only made more impressive by his outstanding brute strength. Uraraka Ochaco set the record, endowing the softball with zero gravity before sending it soaring into the depths of infinity. I watched the ball lazily as the rest of the class ooh-ed and ahhh-ed.

"Impressive~"

I drawled a lazy praise as Ochaco returned to her place between Izuku and I. The three of us had formed a weird sort of trio, with Iida Tenya cautiously drifting closer and closer as the day went on. Izuku seemed to be a focal point of interest for him; I found his engine legs to be annoying and rather offensive, aesthetically.

I then allowed my eyes to drift over to Izuku. He was looking fairly nervous, eyeing the pitcher's mound with an expression somewhere between desperation and hopelessness. I could guess what was running through his mind: most people in class 1A had been able to excel in one area of the test, at least, and had done fairly average or slightly above in the rest. There were, of course, a few exceptions- Hagakure Toru, for instance, who was invisible. While invisibility was an interesting Quirk, it did nothing to increase your strength or agility. We still had upper body exercises left, as well as toe touches, but somehow I doubted that either of these activities would be Izuku's strong suits, either.

"You feeling alright?" I mumbled from my place next to Izuku. Currently I was floating on a chunk of dirt, which I kept levitating with Izuku's eye line. "You don't look so good."

"I-I'm fine," he replied nervously. "Daichi-san, why are you doing that?"

"It's good practice," I said airily. I moved my hand up and down briefly, causing the heap of earth beneath me to bob. "That, and my legs are getting tired. I'm feeling lazy,"

"You're a strange one, Daichi-chan," Ochaco giggled from my other side.

"Thanks, you too!" I replied enthusiastically. This only made Ochaco giggle even more.

Looking back to my other side, I realized suddenly that Izuku was making his way out to the pitcher's mound. Iida Tenya, who was standing next to Ochaco, followed Izuku with interest.

"Midoriya hasn't been doing too well today, has he?" he mused. I shrugged.

"I don't think that he has practiced much with his Quirk," I said. Ochaco and Tenya both glanced my way quizzically. I sighed thoughtfully. "I just can't figure out why, for the life of me…"

"Of course he's doing a shitty job!" My eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Bakugo Katsuki. Absentmindedly I glanced at a small pebble on the ground, wondering vaguely if it would be worth the trouble I'd get in with the teacher to send it flying into his eyeball. "He's a Quirkless fuckin' guppy!"

"Why do you keep saying that?" I asked. My voice was cutting, but calm as I tried to reign in my annoyance with the fiery blonde far off to my side. "He's in the hero course- how the hell do you think he coulda gotten here if he doesn't have a Quirk?" Katsuki's expression faltered as our eyes met. Just beyond him Todoroki Shouto regarded me with his usual icy stare. "Are you an idiot?"

"Why you-" Before Katsuki could all-out bite my head off, Tenya interjected.

"Did you not see what he did in the entrance exam?"

"Hahh?!" Katsuki let out an enraged exclamation of disbelief. I arched an eyebrow. "What the hell're you talkin' about guy?" Tenya and I exchanged glances; this guy wasn't even bothering with learning our names.

"What did he do, Tenya?"

"Daichi-san, even you don't know?" Tenya replied, surprised. He pushed up his glasses incredulously. "I am unsurprised that Bakugo-san is in the dark, but you seem quite observant!" I shrugged casually.

"I wasn't around for the entrance exam," I muttered. My blue eyes stayed fixed on Izuku, trying to calm myself as I felt more pairs of eyes settle on me. "So I wouldn't know about anything that went on there."

"You got in through recommendations."

I glanced behind me sheepishly, my eyes falling on one of the girls I had yet to talk to; out of the corner of my eye, I saw Todoroki Shouto's expression harden, and Katsuki looked furious. The girl was froggish in appearance and stature, and even her voice was vaguely reminiscent of a ribbit. Her dark hair was shiny, contrasting starkly with the matte blue of our training uniforms. Her large, froggy eyes regarded me calmly; her words had been a statement, not a question. I let out a half-defeated huff. Things certainly did not stay secret here for long.

"What of it?" I replied, my voice muffled from behind my arms. Without realizing it, I had curled into a sort of upright ball atop my floating dirt platform, the bottom half of my face now nesting neatly within the safety of my arms, which were perched around my knees. "I wasn't the only one, I was told…"

"You got in on recommendations?!" Katsuki blurted, clearly outraged. I frowned. "With your stupid sandbox Quirk? People like you should stick to laying concrete!"

"You are aware that there is a teacher here who manipulates cement?" I retorted. Katsuki's only response was to glower.

A sudden tugging at my sleeve drew me out of my brief bickering. Ochaco met my gaze, gesturing towards the pitcher's mound, where I now realized the teacher and Izuku were exchanging heated words. I arched an eyebrow incredulously.

"What's going on Daichi-san?" Ochaco whispered. I understood her concern, now noticing that Aizawa Shouta had Izuku wrapped tightly within his scarf, which I knew he often used for fighting.

"Izuku can't control his Quirk too well…" I mused under my breath, mostly to myself, though I knew Ochaco was listening intently. "If anything, that'll just piss Pa- it'll piss Aizawa-sensei off, I mean." Aizawa Shouta let Izuku go, stepping back from the pitcher's mound and ushering for him to begin again. "I swear, it's almost as if he got his Quirk, like… Yesterday."

Izuku wound up again, and I felt tenseness radiating off of Aizawa Shouta more intensely than I ever had before. Everyone in class was watching carefully, a mixture of confusion and expectancy tainting the air around us. In an instant, and with a loud whoosh! Izuku sent the ball flying until I could no longer see it; Ochaco's smile could have lit up a room.

"You finally got a suitable record for a hero!" Ochaco shouted excitedly.

Izuku was smiling, although from where I was floating it looked as though he were in considerable pain. Aizawa Shouta was smiling, too; that was something you didn't see every day.

"His fingers are swollen," Tenya observed from his place by Ochaco. "Reminds me of the entrance exam incident… What an odd Quirk!"

"It's not glamorous enough." said the naval laser boy from his place behind Tenya.

"Glamour seems stupid when you've got strength like that." I replied. My kind words were quickly overlooked, however, as a feral snarl suddenly erupted from Katsuki.

"What the hell is this Deku?!" he roared, and loud explosive noises met my ears as Katsuki readied his Quirk. "Explain this, now, you shitrag!"

He was charging head on in Izuku's direction- I think the term Americans use is guns a-blazin'. Without thinking, and quicker than usual (so much so that I almost surprised myself), I sent up a wall of earth with a flick of my wrist. The wall of light brown dirt rose between Izuku and Katsuki like a soldier in the Terracotta Army, barring Katsuki's line of fire. With a loud oof!, a crunch, and long string of curses, Katsuki was suddenly laying spread eagle, coughing and spluttering on the ground. The wind had been knocked out of him from the force with which he collided with my wall, and small sparks still sputtered within his palms.

"Quick thinking, Daichi-chan," Ochaco said.

A nervous tone clouded her voice, and she waited eagerly as Izuku made his way around the earthen wall I had built. He was nursing a broken finger and looked shaken by the almost-altercation, but overall he seemed pleased with himself. I smiled, despite Katsuki's angry yells in my direction.

"That's fuckin' twice you've fucked with me today, clay-hands!" he screamed. As I watched Izuku and Ochaco, though, his words easily became nothing more than background noise. "No one humiliates me and fuckin' gets away with it!"

"Enough of that," Aizawa Shouta said calmly. "Let's get on with the tests."


For a group full of future heroes, I had to hand it to class 1A: we were downright lunatics. The physical tests had ended hours ago, Aizawa Shouta having revealed to us that the expulsion threat had been nothing more than a 'logical rouse' to coax out our full potential; I frowned at the memory, knowing he was lying. The setting sun was casting eerie shadows throughout the halls as my classmates packed their bags, preparing to return home at the end of an arduous first day.

I packed my school bag slowly, watching carefully as my fellow classmates exited the room one after another. I did not particularly care to explain why I lived on the UA campus; so far I had managed to keep half of my private information actually private, although frog-girl (whose name I now knew to be Tsuyu) and Tenya had successfully assisted in divesting the secrecy surrounding the circumstances of my enrollment.

The fact that I resided on the UA campus, should it be revealed to any of my new classmates, would be a dead giveaway about exactly who I was. For now, they were all in the dark- but how long was that going to last? The last thing I needed, or wanted, on top of everything else, was people knowing that I was one of the teacher's daughters. A mental picture formed briefly in my head: Katsuki violently thrust fireballs at me as he screamed about nepotism.

"Are you headed home, Daichi-chan?"

Ochaco's eager brown eyes met my blue ones as she passed my desk, making her way to the door to our classroom. I did my best to give her a kind smile as I made up a lie in my head; again, she looked uncomfortable. I must have been really bad at smiling.

"No, not yet," I replied apologetically. "I have to go to talk to an administrator about my hero costume. I haven't submitted it yet,"

"Really?" Ochaco gasped. "Go, Daichi-chan, go! You have to get that done!"

I smiled and waved as she dashed through the door, returning my wave and urging me to get my costume taken care of 'pronto'. My excuse, of course, had been a lie- my father had been nagging me about it months before the entrance exam had even taken place. However, I couldn't very well walk with Ochaco and Izuku to the school gate, only to have to explain why I needed to double back and walk farther into the UA campus to get home.

With a sigh I slung my school bag over my shoulder, making for the door so that I could finally go home and perhaps get some peace and quiet. My temporary solace was interrupted by the realization that I was not, in fact, completely alone.

Shaggy two-toned hair, which hung in his face as he dug in his bag to check that he had gotten everything, met my gaze as I turned my head away from the door towards which I had been previously headed. I watched him for what seemed like only a moment before realizing that I had actually been staring for several minutes. Todoroki Shouto was no longer digging in his bag, and was instead staring straight back at me unabashedly, his icy gaze boring holes into me just as it had done earlier that day. His school bag hung over his shoulder, his hands were stuffed lazily into the depths of his pockets, and his mismatched eyes met my own.

"What?" he said flatly.

I flinched, awkwardness taking over my body instantly, like a hot flash. I felt my cheeks pink up with the sudden attention of the boy I had been engaged in an on-again off-again staring contest with for most of the day. My eyes darted about the classroom as I desperately tried to find something to say in reply- preferably something witty- but I came up empty. I cursed herself for my mediocre sociability. No, scratch that- I didn't even have the right to call my social skills 'mediocre'; damn my old man for making me be homeschooled during my most formative years.

"You got in on recommendations." Shouto began.

I glanced up, realizing that he was disregarding my obvious signs of distress and had instead chosen to close the distance between us. His tone was still low and monotonous; it wasn't a question. I nodded, though I knew he didn't need an answer from me. His hands were still in his pockets; I wondered vaguely if he had anything interesting in those pockets. Had it been me, I would probably put something practical like a stress ball in there, or maybe something fun to break the ice, like a Chinese finger trap.

"Me, too." he said at last.

"O… Oh," I muttered nervously.

My cheeks were definitely getting pinker- I probably looked like I had suffered a terrible sunburn. I was completely unsure of what I was supposed to say. 'Congratulations'; 'Good for you'; 'Go to hell'? I mentally sifted through a compiled list of potential replies, but none of them really seemed all that appropriate. When in doubt, I chose to stay silent. Todoroki Shouto's eyes were fixated on me, not leaving my face as I worked through my social confusion.

"Seems like we might be rivals from now on,"

"I'd say most everyone in here are going to end up rivals at some point," I replied, finally thinking of something vague and non-threatening to reply with. "Wouldn't you say so? I mean, we're all working towards the same goal, after all."

Shouto smirked, a soft laugh escaping his lips, eyes sliding shut briefly as though he were mulling over my words. I couldn't help but notice that the combination of his two-toned hair and mismatched eyes was actually somewhat pleasant; he was almost pretty. Even the scar over his left eye was almost mesmerizing to look at.

"You may be right," he replied at last. "Even so, you and I are the only two in class that got in by recommendations alone." Shouto continued. I pursed my lips sourly; someone singling me out as a rival so soon, and even confronting me directly, had not been on my list of things to do at hero high school. "You beat me in several of the physical fitness categories... A Quirk like yours is impressive, even if that Bakugo guy doesn't get it yet."

Now it was my turn to laugh, though I kept my fingernails dug into my palms nervously; weirdly, the pain helped me stay grounded, calm. The joke did nothing to relieve me of the tense feeling I was feeling throughout my entire body, nor did it cure me of the mysterious butterflies in the pit of my stomach.

"Are your parents pros?"

"What?"

"You've clearly been through a lot of training," Shouto clarified, taking a step forward. "I'm asking: which pro heroes are your parents?"

I swallowed nervously, taking a tiny, nervous step away from Shouto, who I now realized was now much too close for comfort. I did not care to admit it to myself, but being this close to a boy who I was not being told to fight made me incredibly nervous. I felt her cheeks flush, even more than they already had been. What was wrong with me? Shouto took another step towards me, closing what little distance I had managed put between us; I could now see, in astounding detail, the extent of the scar of his left eye. That was how I knew that he was much too close.

"Daichi."

A voice cut through the tense atmosphere of the the classroom. Shouto's eyes shifted towards the classroom door, which had been left ajar. The dim evening light filtering in was blocked slightly by whoever had interrupted us. Shouto took a step back, returning my precious personal space; I looked to my left, blue eyes full of panic as they desperately sought my rescuer.

In the doorway stood Aizawa Shouta, his tall and slender frame dispersing the light of the sunset, casting narrow shadows across the classroom floor. His eyes looked as tired and bloodshot as ever, though they looked slightly more threatening than usual. My eyes were fixated on his, though his dark pupils were fixated on Shouto aggressively. Shouto adjusted his school bag before turning in the direction of the door, clearly recognizing Shouta's presence as his cue to leave.

"I see…" I heard him mutter under his breath. My breath caught in my throat. Did he know?

"Daichi," Aizawa Shouta repeated.

He didn't move from his place in the doorway as Shouto skulked passed him, squeezing by in what little room Shouta had left him between his own body and the door. Shouta waited patiently as Shouto's footsteps disappeared down the hallway.

"What are you still doing here?" he asked me at last, motioning with his hand for me to follow him. "It's time to go home."

My heart still pounding in her ears, I let out a sigh of relief as I made my way towards the doorway where Aizawa Shouta stood waiting. I lifted my school bag over my shoulder, adjusting it due to the weight. Aizawa Shouta lifted it from my grasp with one hand, instead putting it over his own shoulder without saying a word. The two of us walked briefly in silence through the dimly lit halls of UA high school, our footsteps echoing through the now empty classrooms.

"Good first day?" he asked awkwardly. I shrugged.

"Sure." I replied quietly. "I guess… Real school is sort of weird."

"Make any friends?"

"I dunno," I said, just as quietly. "Maybe Ochaco. Izuku is nice." He raised an eyebrow at me. "His Quirk is weird."

"Indeed…" he sighed. He had clearly having run out of things to ask me.

We exited the school, turning to our left and making a beeline for the teacher apartments on the other side of the campus. I stared down at my hands, where I was concentrating on floating a small pebble just above my palms. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Aizawa Shouta gazing at me with a guarded cheerfulness. He was staring down at me with evident fondness, though he had been careful not to show it during class. I was grateful for his discretion, as the fondness he was now displaying was more than mildly embarrassing.

"Sorry for not being around for breakfast," he muttered at last, cutting through the heavy silence. I felt a smile tug on the corners of my mouth, though I was careful not to let it spread.

"It's fine, papa," I replied stiffly. The pebble dropped into my hands and I tossed it away, having at last grown bored of making it float.

"Are we cooking dinner for mom tonight?"

My father nodded glumly, putting a hand on my head and ruffling my orange hair. I frowned slightly, batting his hand away with my own, feeling more and more like a child the closer we got to our home.

"Yeah," he said, staring up at the sunset. "Sorry you had to have your first day on the anniversary." he muttered apologetically. "It just wouldn't have been good to miss your first day." I nodded curtly.

"It's fine. I didn't think about her much." I sighed.

Suddenly to my right I noticed what appeared to be a shadow; I paused, staring in its direction. It shivered, quivering from its place behind a tree before disappearing a moment later. I narrowed my eyes in confusion, though I said nothing. Up ahead of me my father paused, too, glancing back at me with an almost identical expression of confusion. If you looked carefully, our mannerisms were remarkably similar.

"I was too busy policing your class to think about such bummer things." I said, suddenly feeling more cheerful.

I turned to catch up with my father, who I now realized was smiling and laughing, though he could not hide the hint of nervousness in his laughter. We continued walking, the silence of the UA campus a welcome break from a loud and mildly stressful day. I glanced over at my father- my papa, Eraserhead- out of the corners of my eyes. The two of us, however different, were at least alike in our appreciation of silence.

At last we arrived back at our apartment. My father fished around in his pockets for a brief moment before turning towards me, his expression apologetic.

"You forgot your key again…" I sighed, digging in my bag, which still hung over his shoulder.

"Sorry, Daichi,"

The inside of the apartment felt slightly warmer than the cool air of the spring evening outside. My father was already inside and rifling through the pots and pans in the kitchen, quiet muttering and faint curses meeting my ears from down the hallway to the front door. I paused, peering over my shoulder into the trees that dotted the landscape within the walls of UA.

This was one of the safest institutions on earth… So just why was it that I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was out there watching me?


Please read and review! I have put the first two chapter re-writes up this evening, while the rewritten third chapter as well as a brand new fourth chapter will be up ~hopefully~ by the end of tomorrow! (the 13th) thank you everyone who has read/followed/favorited/reviewed so far, it means so much and is always appreciated. if you care to, please review and give me your thoughts on the rewrite!

~Shi-chan