As the sun rose over the horizon, painting the sky in hues of pink and gold, a new day dawned at The Hero Academy. Excitement buzzed through the corridors, echoing the eager chatter of students and the hushed whispers of anticipation, at what this new semester would bring them.

Amidst the throng of pupils eagerly making their way to class, one figure stood out—a newcomer, her footsteps quickened by nerves and determination. Unbeknownst to the students, she was already late, the weight of unfamiliar hallways slowing her progress as she navigated the maze of the school seemingly for the first time, even though she had been there before, as a student herself. With each passing minute, her heart raced, a slow, calming breath exhaled though her nostrils, the anxiety of tardiness threatening to overshadow the promise of a fresh start; and as she finally stepped through the classroom door, a momentary pause hung in the air, hinting at the unexpected journey that lay ahead.

She was unlucky Aizawa had told her to simply step into the classroom the moment she arrived, he had start of the semester paperwork to get done, he could leave them alone for a couple of minutes to wait for her. New people scared her, and children made her anxious.Why did she think she could do this job again? Keigo had a point telling her to reject the job.

She placed her things quickly behind the podium, and grabbed a piece of white chalk from a box of them that already lived there. She was gonna do the classic cliche of writing her name on the board; but what was she to do, she was anxious and still terrified to attempt to look at the students. Taking a second to adjust to the admosphre, and get their attention withought looking at them seemed the most apropriate.

She hadn't meant to be late, she woke up this morning at the UA dorms like she was supposed to, with plenty of time to spare, she was even having a lovely talk with her new co-worker about how to approach the students of class 1A; but there had been a sudden emergency at the agency and Endeavor was already split with work. As talented and powerful as he is, he can't be in two opposing places at once; and she was still the second to call there.

The coffee was sweet, with an adequate amount of creamer, it tasted... perfect nutty with a creamy texture "This is delicious," My eyes brighten intensely making direct eye contact with Aizawa, Sh was truly not expecting it to be so good "thank you for the coffee" I'm never going to a coffee shop again.

He ignored her and started talking about his students, giving careful insight into the ones he considered harder to handle "Bakugou can be a little rough, he might sound aggressive, but he's truly just a dedicated person" She nodded signaling that she was listening, but never forgetting her coffee.

As calming as the morning might seem from an outside perspective, she wasn't feeling calm at all, and she didn't know why. She woke up with waves of anxiety washing over her, and as the hours passed, anxiety turned to determination and slowly... a weird mixture between happiness, satisfaction and sadness. Where it al came from she didn't really know. What she did know is that she was thankful Eraserhead had taken time out of his morning to help her out not just with advice, but with company, allowing her to control the conflicting shift of emotions. Even if she didn't really know where they came from.

She was about to open her mouth, to ask a question about the best way to structure lessons for them, to add to the previous insight she was given, but she was stopped by the loud ring of her phone, the ringtone she had for any calls coming from the agency.

She quickly picked up the phone, excusing herself from her co-worker "This better be important, Heatstroke" She took one sip of her coffee as she heard the intense response, "Endeavor is busy in a meeting with the commissioner, emergency fire at a building, too hot for any of us to walk into...it's the bluefire quirk" immediately putting the mug down (regretfully), she hung the phone and got ready to leave

Before she could she quickly turned to Aizawa, before leaving "I might be a little late... any chance you'll keep the students entertained until I get back?" A hopeful expression covering her face.

"Just walk in, they won't burn the classroom down, or I'll make them suffer; a couple of minutes won't hurt" I laughed running out the door, his reply calmingly amusing and grateful my hero suit was my uniform.

She took one final deep breath when her name was finally written on the board, time to turn around...

She cleared her throat attempting to get the attention of the members of the class, not noticing that she already had it "Good morning students, sorry for the wait," she greeted them with her usual bright smile, hero work had it's perks outside of using your quirk freely; it provided professional level acting experience "I'm the temperature hero, Thermiforst, and I will be your teacher for the new class 'Alternative Strategies' it's a pleasure to meet you all"

She looked down at the paper in front of her, presenting the name of all the students and that they were all in attendance, she scanned the list carefully; assuring she had gotten the information about them right when lesson planning, from what it looked like, it seemed correct.

She finally looked back up at the students, and scanned over their expectant faces, the best way to approach it (according to Aizawa) is "controlled curiosity"... So let's let them ask questions.

"Any questions, you can as many as you'd like, if you wanna ask personal questions you can only do it today" The moment she finished talking eager hands flew up in response, thank you Aizawa.

She scanned the group and decided that she would also take this opportunity to learn their names properly, she really wasn't one to keep track of what UA was doing, and she wasn't super in the know about the sports festival. She turned back to the paper and scanned the names.

"Ida Tanya?" She looked back up expecting to identify the student.

"Here!" He spoke rather loudly, which made her smile, the excitement truly was contagious.

"what's your question?"

"What is the "Alternative strategies" class about and how will it be graded?"

Every time she interacted with the students she seemed calmer and more at home with them, they seemed like a lovely bunch; and she was glad it wasn't as scary as she though it would be, the anxiety of a new place always overwhelmed her.

"The heroes though, relaying only on your quirk and standard hero maneuvers wasn't too useful and it wasn't giving you all the tools you needed to be protected, fighting head on isn't the only way to take down a villain; we will concentrate on stealth, infiltration, adaptability, risk assessment and contingency planning; she looked around the room and the amount of focus it's mostly an in field class, we will be going to training grounds often, but only after theory has already been passed"

She took a little bit of a break to look over her notes to answer the last part of the question "10 modules, each module has two assessments, one on theory and one in field, other than that we have a midterm and a final" She looked back to Ida to confirm the question had been answered sufficiently and he nodded and he nodded.

I went back to the list to request next question "Midoriya Izuku?"

"What's your quirk?" I looked over at him, to confirm who he was, as he hadn't even given me the opportunity to look up from the page before he asked his question. The sparkle in his eye was endearing

"I can control temperatures, anything between absolute zero or the Planch temperature, I can't create ice or fire, but I can cause them; I can also withstand extreme temperatures BUT I can still get harmed by ice or fire if I am not prepared for an attack"

"You did good, the students seem to like you" She looked up from her paperwork to make eye contact with Aizawa, making her relax just a little bit. She had been overthinking all day about the impression she had made of the students of both class A and B.

"Thank you, it was all thanks to you really, "controlled curiosity"? Was not expecting that to work" He sat down a cup of lavender tea (the smell was quickly feeling her nostrils, she didn't even need to get close to the cup to identify the type) next to the paperwork she was working on, following it up with a plump and juicy looking peach. She smiled and looked up at him carefully, with a soft smile, she felt so welcomed "Thank you". He simply waved her off over his shoulders as he walked away to his own desk.

Going back to your old school always sounds like such a lame thing to do. Sort of like reminding yourself of all the times graduated students would come back to the school to visit to seem cool, and it just ended up seeming stupid; it's different when you're coming back to teach, but it still gives a bad feeling at first.

Also, the whole thing with Hawks the week before had undeniably rattled her, at first she was just mad that he was implying that she couldn't take care of herself as well as the students, but now, with fresh eyes and a new perspective of the situation... she was just worried. Hawks was over protective of her, so was everyone else around her, but this was unusual, he'd never question her heroism, or her ability to take care of herself. He knew more than he was saying, and if she knew anything about Keigo and his background, the hero comission was one-thousand percent behind all of this, and that scared her; it appeared he was in a lot more danger than she could possibly be.

The league of villains. She could see how the comission could care about them, currently they are a danger to not just society but the hero community, and there was no chance, the hero comission was simply going to let that go...

Kaigo... what the hell did you get yourself into...

Her thoughts running so high she once again started to feel a slight bothersome in her soulmate mark, it always demanded attention when she seemed to be running high on emotions. She always thought, it was simply her body asking for her soulmate for comfort, but she didn't have the ability to do that; and she hated the constant reminder.

ding

She got snapped out of her thoughts and her eyes went to her phone freshly lit up screen. A fresh message from Keigo. Speak of the devil.

'How was the first day with the brats?' She looked over at the time realizing that she was due to clock out, and started packing up her things before she took the time to answer the message. Quietly thanking him for reminding her she did't have to sit there indefinitely.

She placed the straps over her shoulder, the weight of the one strap she used causing her to lean slightly to the side. She took the clip off and dropped it on her desk, if she forgot to take it off, she would have nothing to hold her hair up with it.

She finally took her phone to finally reply to her messages; as she did she remembered the blue flames from earlier in the morning, and how for some reason they had caused a sense of familiarity and a deep longing.

She was used to walking on fires, and extremely cold temperatures; nothing to worry about. What she was worried about what the fire felt like, on her skin, it felt like she could stand there for hours and feel at peace. She felt comfort. She'd have to look into it later.

'It was really fun, don't call them brats, they're really sweet kids'

'yeah yeah, whatever. I'll see you this weekend for coffee as usual, right?'

'of course loser, stay alive till then, ok?'

'Sure, See you Tomorrow at the usual place"

'see you tomorrow'

Weeks later

In the hushed confines of the darkened living room, a rhythmic tapping sound reverberated as the back of laptop was lifted the back of her laptop, her fingers clutching the sleek device with a hint of tension. Her gaze remained fixed, unwavering, on the solitary blue radiance emanating from the unassuming coffee machine stationed on the kitchen counter. Yet, amidst the ambient glow, her vision faltered, blurred by the shimmer of tears that veiled her eyes, from her perspective, casting twin reflections of the light. As they spilled over, tracing a silent journey down her cheek, the world seemed to blur into a poignant symphony of emotion.

She had a feeling that something was off, her soulmate's name on the inside of her arm burned, it burned so much it made her resolve falter. She went into the blue flames enveloping the building, with the intention of finding survivors, she was the only one who could walk into them; and Endeavor had been in the middle of a reunion with the commissioner when everything started.

The feeling of the fire on her skin felt... calming, almost comforting, and it shook her to her core but she ignored it and pushed herself to walk to save people. Through out the entire event, the more she stood in the flame, the more her soulmate mark screamed. Once the job was done, and the reports are written she gave herself the time to look over the person behind the fire.

Dabi, member of the League of Villains, quirk? Bluefire. Similar to Endeavor's.. but hotter, much hotter, so much hotter it seems, that it slowly burns away his own body from the inside out. No one knows where he came from, who he is or even what his name is; all we know is that he's... Dabi.

The current knowledge was making her overthink, what she was thinking was insane, absolutely fucking crazy. yet, if it was true... it wouldn't be hard to believe. Sure, Endeavor helped her out, basically raised her and allowed her to use the family name after her own parents ditched her... but she wasn't delusional. Enji Todoroki wasn't a saint, and she knew it. The state of the family was definitely a tall tell sign of that.

You're crazy, years without a soulmate has made you delusional.

But, the feelings, the soulmate marks, the quirk similarities with Endeavor, the seeming obsession with Shouto and Endeavor...

She had to find him, he was out there and she had to find him. She was going to ask him, and she'd let him go, just this once... for his troubles, just in case she was wrong. She needed to tell him, even if she had no response from him. Because if she was right, he already knew who she was, and that killed her.

She quickly snapped herself out of her trance, and looked around the even darker room, random scattered lights all around from multiple appliances; she took a deep breath to snap herself out of the heartbreak she had caused herself and opened her laptop again; quickly accessing Endeavors agency database and into her profile, placing a pin on the villain and setting notifications to be sent to her phone.

With the process over, she looked around her inmediate area, attempting to find her phone. She hadn't had any confirmation in the next few weeks, but she was sure of who could give her the information she wanted, and he was going to help her.

She scrolled through her phone's contacts looking for his name, once she spotted it, she quickly proceeded to click on his name and placing the phone in her ear.

Ring

Ring

Ri-

"Hey Birdie, it's kind of late for a call, you ok?" His voice was gentle, you could hear the clear worry.

She looked up to the clearly visible time in her microwave '3:00 am', she swallowed guiltily, she hadn't even noticed; but she wasn't gonna wait anymore.

"Hey Keigo, I need something from you"