Written by Aduubo, Buckichamp, and PikachuSpartan.

I OWN NOTHING. KILL LA KILL IS OWNED BY STUDIO TRIGGER AND KAZUKI NAKASHIMA. MHA IS OWNED BY TOHO ANIMATION AND KOHEI HORIKOSHI.

—

Once the drama between Ryuko and Bakugou settled, the students went on to complete the last three tests. Because of his broken finger, Izuku struggled to complete the tests properly as the pain of his broken finger greatly limited his abilities.

Once the tests were over, the students made their way to the front of the gymnasium. Midoriya fell onto the ground, gasping for air as the other students walked past him. Ryuko reached her hand out to Izuku and helped him stand up before they joined the students back to meet with Aizawa.

"Alright, time to give you your results. I've ranked you all from best to worst. You should probably have a good idea of your standing already. I'll just pull up the whole list. It's not worth going over each individual's score," Aizawa announced to the students.

Within a push of a button, a hologram appeared from his phone and projected the entire class' rankings for everyone to see.

1. Momo Yaoyorozu

2. Shoto Todoroki

3. Katsuki Bakugou

4. Tenya Iida

5. Ryuko Matoi

"HA! EAT THAT, EXTRA!" Katsuki triumphantly shouted at Ryuko, which made her blood boil.

"~Congratulations!~ You barely got two places ahead of someone who is ~quirkless~! Do you want a treat for that, boy?" Ryuko retorted before laughing in a condescending manner.

"Wha…? WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Katsuki was both enraged and taken back by the fact that Ryuko was quirkless. The gap between them was too small for him to accept.

The students all gasped together upon this realization, including Izuku.

"Even the quirkless can be badass too!"

'Quirkless?' Izuku wondered. Was Ryuko really quirkless? He had so many questions. But all he could do was smile as he felt hope resurface inside of him. He nearly got emotional about it, but now was not the time for it.

"Do I need to expel you two as well?" Aizawa asked, which shut the two up.

As the students were looking over the results again, Izuku started to panic as he looked further down the list. He was getting dangerously close to the bottom without seeing his name. Izuku's eyes were shut out of fear before he slowly opened his eyes. The worst possible outcome seemed to come.

"NOOOO!" A high pitched scream surfaced as Izuku got down to the last three numbers on the list.

19. Minoru Mineta

20. Izuku Midoriya

21. Toru Hagakure

Midoriya let out a sigh of relief. He barely made the cut and his hero dreams would continue on. But he couldn't help but feel a stinging pain in his chest. Even though he managed to pass, he felt unsatisfied. The hollow win was still too close for comfort.

"Holy balls! I almost got kicked out!" Mineta blurted out.

"Thank god my dream for a harem is still within my grasp," Mineta murmured to himself as he savored just scraping by to keep his spot at UA.

Everyone's attention turned to the invisible girl. Hagakure slumped to the ground as some of the other students tried to comfort her. Seeing the sight of being rejected made Izuku feel that much worse to know someone else's dream had come to an end.

"This feels so messed up. Only a day in and we already lost a classmate," Ryuko muttered.

Aizawa minimized the results projecting from his phone before speaking up.

"And I was lying, no one's going home."

The rest of the students looked at Aizawa wide eyed, dead silence enveloping the entire group.

"That was just a rational deception to make sure you gave it your all in the tests," he explained with a hauntingly wide grin.

Iida, Uraraka, Izuku and Ryuko flipped out as Hagukre perked up feeling relieved that she wasn't going home.

"I'm surprised the rest of you didn't figure that out," said the girl with a large front bang. "I'm sorry. I guess I probably should have said something."

'Yeah, you should have,' a few students collectively thought.

"That's it. We're done for the day. Pick up a syllabus in the classroom and read it over before tomorrow morning," Aizawa said as he walked to his left, with some students beginning to disperse.

As a few students walked by, Ryuko noticed the girl with the bang looking towards her rather quizzically, turning away once Ryuko spotted her gaze.

'What was that about?' Ryuko wondered when Aizawa stood in front of the four-person group.

"Midoriya, take this and go have the old lady fix you up. Things are going to be tougher tomorrow when your actual training begins. Make sure you're prepared," he said before wandering off.

Izuku watched as Aizawa walked off and looked back down to his broken finger. Even if it was a trick, he still performed very poorly. All of that work All Might did for him, Izuku nearly wasted it. He clenched his fist as his eyebrows narrowed. He had to seriously step things up if he were to achieve his dream. No matter what it takes.

...

Classes concluded for the day. A gray sea of students made their way out of the school to their homes. Ryuko didn't have that much to do after just swapping jackets in the locker room, so she decided why not visit Izuku in the Nurse's office? She strolled on over to the entrance and opened the door.

"Hey Izuku, how you holding up-?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Izuku's scream burst out the door like a gust of wind.

"OH MY GOD, IZUKU?!" Ryuko was startled by the outburst.

It turned out that it was just Recovery Girl planting a kiss onto Izuku's cheek. A green glow emanated off of him as his finger was being healed. Her lips then retracted once she was finished.

"What the hell..?" Ryuko's face embodied the term confusion as she watched from the entrance.

"Whoa, thanks, that feels so much better! But, uh, I suddenly feel really tired. I need a nap," Izuku's voice slurred as his posture began to slump.

"My quirk stimulates your body's ability to heal, but healing takes energy. It's not my fault, that's just how the body works. Get too many big injuries, your stamina will be shot and you'll die instead of healing, so be careful," Recovery explained, which made both Ryuko and Izuku's skin crawl.

"You mean this could kill me?!"

'You mean that could kill me?!'

"Well.. Thank you, Recovery Girl. I really appreciate it. I'll try not to make this a recurring thing!" Izuku said as he stepped off the chair and turned to leave.

"Oh, hey Ryuko! I.. didn't notice you there," Izuku called out once he saw Ryuko standing by the entrance.

"Hey Izuku, I decided to drop by and see how you were doing since I had some time to kill," Ryuko smiled as she opened the door for the two of them to leave.

"Your finger's looking a lot better. As strange as it is, I gotta admit her healing quirk is very handy."

"O-oh you saw that, huh?"

"Yep, heard what she said too. I'm a little worried that I'll be making a few trips here and there. It's hard enough already losing my stamina when using Senketsu."

"Senketsu? Oh you mean your uniform?" Izuku asked.

"Wait, you know it's my uniform?" Ryuko wondered as she was rather surprised by Izuku catching on so quickly.

"Yeah.. I happened to see his eye moving around whenever you were in that form."

"Hmm, he's quite observant," Senketsu piped up.

"Well I didn't expect anything less, Izuku. I remember how focused you'd get whenever anything hero-related crossed by you. I'm just glad that was your focus instead of the obvious," Ryuko playfully joked with Izuku, which made him blush like mad.

"W-what?! No, I would never, Ryuko!"

Ryuko laughed while Izuku tried to explain himself as they were walking out of the building together. Suddenly Izuku felt a firm grip on his shoulder, which revealed to be from Iida.

"O-Oh, Hey there, Iida!" Izuku gasped since he was mildly startled.

"Dude, you couldn't have just said hi?" Ryuko asked Iida.

For the moment, Izuku caught Iida up to speed on how Recovery Girl healed his broken finger when a familiar voice echoed from behind them.

"Heeeyyyy! Wait up, you three! Are you going to the station? I'll join you guys!" A voice called out, which caught the attention of the trio. The one jogging towards them was the bubbly brunette from the Quirk Assessment Test.

"Oh, you're the infinity girl," Iida commented as she approached them.

"I'm Ochako Uraraka," Uraraka introduced herself excitedly.

"Let's see. You are Tenya Iida, you're Ryuko Matoi. And your name is.. Deku, right? Midoriya?"

"Deku?" Izuku asked in shock as the name bothered him.

"Uh, yeah, isn't that what Bakugo called you? During the fitness test, he said…"

"DEKU, YOU BASTARD!" A flashback of Katsuki screamed its way into Izuku's memory.

"Right?" Ochako asked.

"Uh, well. My name's actually Izuku. "Deku's" what Kacchan calls me to make fun of me," Izuku sheepishly explained, feeling embarrassed about it.

"That's unsportsmanlike," Iida commented.

"Yeah, he's a dick," Ryuko added.

"That is also unsportsmanlike!" Iida scolded Ryuko, to which she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, I didn't realize that! I'm sorry. But you know what? I like "Deku." It could make a great hero name! Plus, it sounds like "I can do it!" I like it!" Uraraka encouraged, which made Izuku both blush and perk up.

"DEKU IT IS!" Midoriya squeaked out.

"Just like that? Weren't you saying that it was an insult?" Iida asked as he was understandably confused.

"I guess he's taking away the power it held over him?" Ryuko also wondered questionably but started to shrug it off. She seemed content with that. It was his first step to maybe building up the courage to finally stand up to Katsuki after all these years. She was happy that he accepted that name.

"Paradigm shift! My whole world is upside down!" Izuku became flustered, covering his face to hide his embarrassment from Uraraka.

"You know Uraraka, if you met my friend, Mako, you two would totally hit it off. I'd say you're almost as energetic as she is," Ryuko said to which Uraraka chuckled lightly.

"Oh really? You'll have to tell me more about her! Why don't we head out? We can keep chatting on the way," Uraraka suggested before the others nodded and continued their leave.

Ryuko stopped a few feet short of the front gate to the high school, causing the other three to stop and pivot back towards the girl with the red highlight.

"What's wrong, Ryuko?" Midoriya asked.

"Are you not heading to the station with the rest of us?" Ochako questioned, unsure why she wouldn't move forward.

"Well…" she started, trying to find the right words while toying with her hair, "Senketsu and I don't necessarily have a place to stay right now. So I'm currently living in the school."

"Hold on, Senketsu?" Iida wondered aloud.

"He's my sailor uniform. When I said that I don't have a quirk, I meant it," Ryuko explained before motioning toward a few nearby benches.

"Sorry, I meant to talk about him sooner. Let's take a seat and chat if you all have a few minutes."

Once the gang all sat together on the two benches nearby, Ryuko began explaining a bit about herself, though leaving out certain details.

"Basically, I found Senketsu while wandering around and it turns out that he can talk. And I'm the only one who can hear him. Not only that, he needs to drink my blood in order for us to synchronize, which gives me the power that you guys saw during the tests earlier."

"Hold on, is it like a symbiote?!" Midoriya exclaimed.

"Symbiote? Wait, like an ALIEN?!" Uraraka asked.

"What, no of course not...I think. And Izuku, we need to have a talk about your comic addiction when this is done," Ryuko smirked, a red tint covering Izuku's face while she let out a sigh of content and a soft chuckle.

"Anyway, I'm not 100% sure. We're still trying to figure it out ourselves. Senketsu doesn't seem to have all of his memories from before he met me," she shrugged, not having anything else to say.

"That's quite the story Ryuko. Though, what brought you over to UA?" Iida wondered.

"Yeah, plus didn't you say that you don't have a place to stay? What's up with that?" Uraraka pitched in.

"Well, there was a student transfer program that Satsuki signed to have me sent here. And that's how I'm here today."

"Ooh neat! So you basically got recommended here? That's so cool!" Uraraka said excitedly.

"Yeah, something like that," Ryuko shrugged, practically accepting that.

"Wait, Satsuki Kiryuin? THE Satsuki Kiryuin? You're from Honnoji Academy?" Both Iida and Izuku collectively expressed their shock.

"Yup. I wasn't too thrilled about it though. Satsuki had a real bitchy attitude towards me when she sent me away," Ryuko scoffed and crossed her arms.

"It looks like it worked out since you caught up with some old friends. Since you're so buddy-buddy with Deku!" Uraraka said, which made Ryuko smile.

"Oh yeah! Izuku and I go way back!" Ryuko exclaimed confidently as she nudged Izuku's shoulder. Izuku blushed mildly from the attention, but he didn't mind too much.

"I'll say! You're both even on a first name basis already!"

"You also were calling Bakugo by his first name. I assume you knew him before UA as well?" Iida chimed in.

Ryuko's focus wandered for a moment, drifting between past and present before giving her answer.

"Yeah, I thought I did. He was kind of annoying, but he seemed cool enough that Izuku and I hung out with him. But he turned into a real dick after he got his quirk. He basically got a god complex and would lash out at everyone he deemed beneath him. He even roughed up Izuku once shortly after, and I'm assuming he's gotten worse since then," she surmised as the group turned their attention to Midoriya.

The green-haired student gripped at his pant legs and lowered his head, trying to repress all the memories of abuse he'd suffered over the years at Bakugo's hands as the others looked on worryingly. Izuku faced inner turmoil on if he should say anything. Part of him wanted to, but something kept him from letting the words out.

Ryuko saw how emotional talking about Katsuki made him. Seeing this started to put her on edge. She didn't even want to imagine what he did to him after she was sent off to boarding school. Izuku was all alone, and she felt somewhat responsible for that. The growing guilt began to eat away at her, making her rot from the inside.

"Ryuko?"

Ryuko gasped inwardly once a voice called to her.

"Are you okay?" It was Senketsu who asked, as he could detect when she was going through stress.

Ryuko only nodded, keeping silent about what she was feeling at the moment.

Izuku was clearly hurting from this. Ryuko could see that more than Iida or Uraraka did. It was clearly a painful thing to talk about, just like the case with her and her father. She didn't want Izuku to be put in a position where he'd be uncomfortable. She had to think of a way to change the subject fast.

"Oh.. I'm so sorry to hear that. If you want, I can just call you by your real name, Midoriya," Uraraka said apologetically.

"No.. It's okay. What you said about that name.. really helped a lot. I'd prefer not to talk too much about it right now, but.. Thank you," Izuku looked back up as the corners of his lip curved upward, his eyes regaining the hopeful look he usually had.

Ryuko and the others felt a flare of joy to see the hope in his eyes shine once more. Iida then reached over to grasp Izuku's shoulder.

"You have my support, Midoriya. Whenever you need it, feel free to talk to me," Iida reassured him.

"Yeah, me too, Deku," Ochako also said to put Izuku at ease.

"You know I'll be there for ya," Ryuko comforted.

"Thank you guys so much. I really appreciate it. Sorry that I made things emotional here.." Izuku rubbed the back of his head and chuckled, the others joining him in laughter.

"Wait, so you're just living on school grounds right now?" Izuku asked Ryuko.

"Yeah, why?"

"If I remember correctly, a neighbor in an apartment above mine had recently moved out not too long ago. You could possibly stay there for the time being!"

"Really? That's awesome! Definitely a lot better than sleeping in the teacher's lounge!" Ryuko's eyes lit up with enthusiasm.

"Oh, before I do that, I'll have to check with Principal Nezu about it first," Ryuko said as she turned to go back inside UA.

"Principal Nezu?" The trio collectively said together in surprise.

"You know the principal?" Iida questioned, clearly curious.

"Oh.. Uh.. It's a long story. I'll be back!" Ryuko exclaimed before making a light jog to the entrance.

"Wait! We'll come with you!" Uraraka called out before chasing after Ryuko, with Iida and Izuku following behind. Soon after, Ryuko entered Principal Nezu's office as the other three stood outside to wait for her.

"Ah, Ms. Ryuko. It's good to see you again. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Nezu greeted pleasantly as he was organizing his files on the shelves while standing on a high chair.

"Hey, Principal Nezu. So.. about the living conditions, I may have found a place that I can stay at."

"Is that so? Splendid! What did you find?"

"Well, Izuku Midoriya told me that the apartment complex he lives in has an open unit available for me to stay in."

"That's wonderful! I'm assuming that you've decided to stay or not?" Nezu inquired.

"Eh? Uhh.. well.. I'm not sure yet. I'm still deciding.." Ryuko began second guessing herself as she twirled her red highlight.

"I see. Hmm.. the Midoriya's," Nezu shuffled through his cabinet before he began reading a file on Izuku Midoriya and his location.

"Is there a particular reason you've decided to be living near him?"

"I knew him back when we were kids. We happened to get placed in class 1A together."

Nezu mulled over the proposition for a moment before turning his gaze upward to face Ryuko.

"Very well. We can make this work then. However, until you've decided if you'll stay here or not, you still will need to remain here since we don't want to put our budget on your expenses until you confirm it," Nezu added.

"Oh.. alright. I'll be sure to let you know asap," Ryuko agreed before nodding her head.

"By the way, a letter came in for you today. It appears that it came from Honnō city," Nezu said as he handed a messy envelope to Ryuko.

Ryuko took a good look over the envelope, seeing that it had stains and bits of messy writing on it. It wasn't even formatted correctly. There was only one person that Ryuko could guess who sent this to her.

"Good ol' Mako," Ryuko smiled as she felt a sense of warmth that her friend still thought of her, no matter the distance.

Ryuko said her farewell to Nezu for the night before rejoining the trio outside to tell them that she had to stay at UA for a bit more before she would be moving into another location. Afterwards, the gang split as Izuku, Iida, and Uraraka made their way to the station. Izuku looked back to wave at Ryuko once more with her returning the gesture with a thumbs up.

A brighter smile began to shine on Izuku's face. Today was just an upheaval of an emotional roller coaster for Izuku. But he survived his first day at UA, even when he faltered in the tests. He was already making some wonderful new friends that would support him in his time of need. Izuku even managed to regain the one that he had lost so many years ago. Things were finally looking up for him.

...

Evening soon came as Ryuko was getting prepared to sleep as she rolled out the blankets and set the pillows on the lounge chair. But before she would settle into bed, she sat down to read the letter that Mako sent,

'Hey Ryuko! I hope I got the right address. You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find stamps and an internet connection to find UA's address and send a letter down in the slums! Anyway, how's UA? I hope it's treating you good! We all miss you! Even Mataro! Don't feel bad about us though. You're gonna become an awesome hero! We believe in you! Please write us baaaaaaack!'

-From your bestest friend, Mako

"Mako's still doing whatever she can to support me, even when she's so far away. I couldn't have asked for a better friend," Ryuko was smiling the entire time she read the letter from top to bottom.

Her smile faded as she leaned her head back into the cushion. Even with her first day going smoothly, a lot of things were bothering Ryuko. She felt frustrated.

"Is something troubling you, Ryuko?" Senketsu asked.

"It's just.. I don't know what to do. I still have things to figure out back at Honnōji.. But.."

"You're feeling strongly about UA, right?"

Ryuko stopped abruptly and remained silent, essentially confirming Senketsu's point.

"From what I could tell, you've felt happier here over one day of classes than the four days of time you spent trying to go after Satsuki and the Elite Four. Perhaps Mikisugi was right about sending you here."

Ryuko scrunched the sheets, her heart and mind in conflict with each other. On one hand, she wanted to rip Satsuki Kiryuin to pieces and find the answers to her father's death as quickly as possible.

But Senketsu's point was undeniable: She was feeling more free and supported. Mikisugi promised he'd remain in touch, given the Hero Public Safety Commission was involved and even Nezu knew a bit about her father. She might not get everything by staying at UA, but if she got stronger and some of her answers resolved…

"Senketsu."

"Yes, Ryuko?"

"Tomorrow might change a lot, huh?"

"That's up to you," Senketsu replied.

"Well, no need to keep psyching myself out now. See you in the morning," she yawned as her mind began to slow down.

'I feel like I already know the answer, but I want to make sure I don't screw this up.'

To be continued…

A/N: The reason we chose not to have Izuku be set in last place is because it just does NOT make sense. Izuku would have definitely beaten Mineta and Hagakure in the majority of the first set of tests before the ball throw. Even then, we're certain the fatigue didn't start taking its toll until after the situps.

We even debated on who out of Mineta and Hagakure should be last and ultimately decided on Hagakure.

Also! We're going to be taking a one week break before posting the next chapter on the 30th! Every 5 chapters we post, we'll take a one week break in between! So that we don't lose our sanity lolol. We're approaching the events where fighting occurs and those actually take quite a bit of time because we have to factor Ryuko in the mix. So it requires more thinking and planning time! We decided on this so that we can be absolutely sure we can always be 3 weeks ahead of schedule as we were before.

We hope you guys will understand! We will keep you posted on YT, or on twitter! Links are in my bio!