The next day came way too quickly, Layla enjoyed her weekend more than she thought. Izuku was as great as she thought he would be. Running into Bakugo was stressful, but nice even though she was a little ashamed to have been caught misbehaving so badly. He was prickly and easily angered but the fact he helped her when she didn't ask or even want it showed her what kind of person he really was. Her soulmate was a complex person, she'd have fun pulling apart his layers.
The tall buildings of UA came into view as she walked to class. Thoughts of her teacher and fellow classmates swirled around, was everyone truly okay? Were they that lucky? Almost everyone was chatting away when she finally made it to class. News sources were running the story into the ground, and most of her class were excited about being on tv. She had seen a clip or two herself, saw herself sitting by an ambulance, covered in her own blood. Of course she would have been a feature, the one who seemed to have gotten hurt. It was surreal to see herself vulnerable on television, but not something she cared that much for. Hell if she wanted to just be famous she could have stuck with her mom. Jiro popped their bubble that it was just them caring about the number one hero school being attacked, they were just victims of circumstance.
"Who knows what would have happened to us if the teachers hadn't shown up," Siro commented. Her friends could have died if the pros didn't save the day.
"Why'd you say that!? I'm going to pee myself just thinking about it," Mineta, who had been with Izuku during the attack, started having a meltdown.
"Oh shut up! Grow a pair, loser!" Bakugo yelled over the blubbering mess of a boy.
Layla let out a short laugh that got his attention, she snorted when she saw his glare point at her, "those villains are lucky they got off so easy too. The leader had to have gotten shot close to ten times. It was honestly amazing. Wonder if I can get some guns for my ghosts…"
Mina laughed at that, "maybe not…"
The American pouted a bit, crossing her arms in a huff. Her one woman army dreams were interrupted by Iida rushing to the front, "attention. Homeroom class is about to begin. Everyone stop talking and take your seats!"
"Uh, we're all sitting," Kirishima pointed out.
"Yeah you're the only one standing," Siro joined in, that guy was kind of funny. She noticed he liked to take the wind out of people's sails, give reality checks. As she got to know her class she felt more and more at home, she could honestly see herself being each of their friends. Even moping Iida made her smile, was she actually enjoying school?
Tsu, who's…" Mina leaned so far back in her seat the frog girl had to catch it or risk being squished, "gonna teach homeroom today?"
"No idea. Mr. Aizawa is supposed to be in the hospital recovering from his injuries." Him being beaten into the ground flashed through Layla's mind. But the door opening caught all their attention.
"Morning class," was the muffled greeting from the man wrapped in bandages, sporting casts on each arm.
"Mr. Aizawa, what're you doing here!?" most of the class was in unison as they expressed their surprise.
"Woah, what a pro," Kaminari's face was stuck between awe and horror.
"What the hell, teach," Layla stood, unable to stay seated as her nervous energy rolled through her. "You're obviously not fully healed."
"Mr. Aizawa, I'm glad you're okay!" Iida called out to his teacher, the only one who would think it's fine to come in beat to hell. Well Bakugo probably too but he wasn't expressing much at the moment with his intense stare. Their homeroom teacher hobbled to the front of the class, the slits for his eyes making him look even more serious. Damn he was cool though.
"My well-being is irrelevant," the man droned, "what's more important is that your fight isn't over yet."
Everyone was startled at that, even Bakugo had something to say. Izuku, the poor guy looked a little terrified, and Mineta was likely about to shit himself.
"The UA Sports Festival is about to start,"
Kirishima was visibly pumped at the news, "yes! Let's go kick some ass!"
The rest of the class was not amused at their teacher's ominous phrasing.
"Wait a second," Kaminari slapped a hand over Kirishima's face, literally wiping the expression off.
"Is it really such a good idea to hold the sports festival so soon after the villains snuck inside?" Jiro asked, voicing a lot of their concerns.
"They could attack once we're all in the same place," Ojiro pointed out.
"Apparently the administration thinks this is a good way to show the threat has been handled and the school is safer than ever." Aizawa sounded so tired, Layla felt bad for him. It can't be easy to get your ass stomped in and still show up after such little down time. "Plus they're beefing up security compared to past years. This event is a huge opportunity for all the students of UA, it's not something we can cancel because of a few villains."
Was it really so important? Layla had of course heard of it, just like the Olympics, Eurovision, and the like. She never really tuned into competitive television. When she vegged out she usually would stick to comedies or romance, something to make her happy. Mineta echoed her thoughts, questioning it's importance and Izuku seemed surprised he didn't realize how big it was. Aizawa and the rest of the class all chimed in with how vital it would be for their futures. She could get scouted by some bigwig, apparently all were watching and would offer internships. After class was dismissed and Aizawa left, surely to rest somewhere quieter, the rest erupted into excited chatter.
"What's got your head in the clouds, Seance?" she was honestly surprised he even chose to speak to her.
"I never really cared about watching the Sports Festival before coming here," she gave a little shrug, "I'm excited to prove I belong here, but I have no idea how I'm going to stand out against the rest of our class." She wasn't particularly strong or fast, her powers weren't excitingly explosive like some in her class. Who would want her to be their intern? The girl with the morbid powers.
"You have one of the strongest quirks in class, you just have to use your damn brain for once." Bakugo somehow looked bored and pissed at the same time, that guy was something else.
"Heh, I guess I'm just unprepared for the unknown. I just moved to Japan, started public school for the first time ever, am finally trying my best to embrace my quirk, and now in a couple weeks I'll be in some sort of Sports Festival fighting to get noticed. It's kind of exciting, it's been a long time since I've looked forward to trying something new. It's overwhelming in a good way."
Bakugo rolled his eyes, he was starting to drift into his own thoughts it seemed, "either way, I'm going to wipe the floor with you if we end up having to face off with each other."
"Face off? Do we actually fight each other?" Layla couldn't contain the surprise that flooded her face.
"Well duh," Bakugo grinned, "almost every sports festival ends in a tournament. Better start training." His smile was almost predatory, like he was already ready to stomp a mud-hole in her ass and anyone else that stood in his way.
She would have to be ready too, she had it easy in her match up so far, her ghosts could counter brute strength and animals. Now she could be forced to fight Bakugo, Izuku, or even Tordoroki. She did not want to be a human popsicle or blown up. Would she die in front of thousands? That'd be some quality TV.
"With my new ghost army I don't really have to train," she was partially bluffing, she'd need to go ask if they'd help her in a school yard fight too. God she hoped she wasn't left with just her dad, grandpa, and Akito. But boy, she'd be a contender if she could get even a few to help her out.
Bakugo grinned even wider, "I'll blow you all away, just you wait Seance." Layla stuck her tounge out in response before she stood with Mina to continue their school day. She did need to train though, she didn't want to look like some idiot who was halfheartedly going through the best hero school in possibly the world.
She was Aizawa's student and she was Sir Nighteye's recommendation and had to make them both proud. Had to show her mom this was where she belonged. And had to help herself become a better person too. She overheard Iida and Uraraka talking about Izuku getting to have his lunch with All Might, he was so lucky. She wondered if she could get one of her teachers to take her under their wing too.
She ended her day working out in one of the many gyms of UA, she was able to find an empty one and had summoned the ghosts around her as she did. It would be a good idea to try and multitask, working her body and quirk at the same time was tricky. She couldn't lose her concentration or one of the ghosts would disappear. She blasted her workout playlist as she gave her all in the last hour of school. After cleaning herself up she made her way back to class to collect her stuff. She was chatting with Mina when Uraraka and Iida caught her attention again, there was a crowd forming in front of the door.
"Why are you blocking our doorway?" Mineta chimed in, "I won't let you hold us hostage!" Layla laughed as she went to the growing group and rested an arm on top his grape shaped hair, even she was a good two heads taller than him.
"And what are ya going to do pipsqueak?" she grinned down at him. He didn't seem to mind her intrusion or insult at all. Shorty really liked gazing at her boobs that were perfectly in his line of sight. She rolled her eyes before looking to the barricade.
"I can get everyone out the window if we need to, I don't really want to end the day fighting, unless that's why you came." She moved closer and singled out some kid with elf looking ears, "you come looking for a fight?"
"They're scouting out the competition, idiots," Bakugo cut in calmly strolling past her to also face the newcomers, "we're the class that survived a real villain attack, they want to see us with their own eyes. At least now you know what a future pro looks like. Now move it, Extras." His rudeness had Iida, Izuku and Uraraka all melt down. But it made Layla stiffle a laugh, that dude was really something.
"Yeah, feast your eyes," Layla struck an almost seductive pose at those gathered in the door, sending a wink to a girl with cute lil cat ears. She could see Bakugo's annoyance double but she didn't care, she seemed to feed off his negativity.
"So this is class 1A," a new voice got her attention, "I heard you guys were impressive, but you just sound like an ass. Is everyone in the hero course delisional or just you?" The purple hair and matching eyes were striking, as the boy pushed his way to the front of his side of the crowd.
She couldn't help but laugh at Bakugo's sudden change in expression, he looked beyond pissed. "ooooo, a battle of egos, how exciting." Layla pulled out a lolipop from her bag and watched the two in amusement.
"How sad to come here and find a bunch of ego maniacs," Bakugo looked less than impressed with the guy as he declared war on the whole class, he was ready to take one of their spots he told them.
She had to admit, she was impressed. He was staring down Bakkugo, not backing down at all.
"Hey you! I'm from class 1B from next door to you! We heard you fought some villains and I came to see if that was true!" The guy who started yelling at them made her think of Kiri, they even both had the sharp teeth. "But you're just a bunch of brats who think they're better than us. Talk all you want, it'll be just more embarrassing when you're Koed." Bakugo had the most bored expression imaginable, such an arogant shit. She decided it might be easiest to tail him through the sea of people, so she followed through his wake he left behind him. "Don't you ignore me!"
"Dude, where are you going? You gotta say something," Kiri momentarily made Katsuki pause. "It's your fault they're hating on us Bakugou."
"These people don't matter," whoa, that was stone cold and a little harsh. Kiri was visibly confused at his uncharacteristically mild attitude more than the dismisal. "The only thing that's important is that I beat them." Layla grabbed his bag and let him pull her through the wade of students. He was right, the competition and their dreams shouldn't deter her. She would give it her all, she had to work out her body and mind to prepare for anything that could come.
"You can let go of me now, ya fuckin' parasite," Bakugo's angry voice brought her back to earth.
"Oh, sorry," she gave an apologetic smile, "you know, you're right. I didn't want to care that much about this festival but if I want to be anything like Aizawa or All Might I have to risk it all, I have to put my back into it."
"Heh, you can try but you still won't be able to beat me."
"Eh, probably not, but if we do fight, we'll put on an explosive show!" she shadow boxed an imaginary Bakugo. She grinned wider when he rolled his eyes, she really loved pissing him off and annoying him, it was a bit entertaining to poke the bear.
"It'll be explosive, alright," his threatening grin made her shudder. She wasn't really afraid of pain, especially now that she knew she couldn't die that easily. Hell she almost welcomed it, she remembered the pain from dying on the Tokyo streets the other week. She remembered dying by that Nomu thing. There was a familiar empty feeling that accompanied resurrecting, like coming down from a high. It'd be some morbid television, but the pros would see that not only could she summon people to fight with her, but that she couldn't be taken down that easily.
"Don't pull your punches," her resolute tone had him stop his walk to the school's gate. "I'm not afraid of a little pain, not anymore. You'll probably win, but I'm going to steal the show. Come one, come all, to see the living dead girl!" Maybe she'd listen to some Rob Zombie on the walk home. "See you tomorrow, Bakugo." She put her headphones in and started her walk, ignoring his annoyed glare that was becoming a look reserved for her antics. She'd impress them all, or die trying.
Classes the next two weeks continued as usual, but with the Sports Festival approaching they were allowed to practice their quirks in the many facilities across campus during hero course lessons and even after school let out. Layla split her time between practicing quirk applications with Kirishima and sometimes Mina and Uraraka or working out her body with Izuku. It was at one of her Kirishima quirk workouts that she really felt she made improvement.
"Ready, Kiri!?" Layla was a few feet away, her eyes and hands glowing the silvery blue light signaling her quirk's activation.
Kirishima grinned at her, powering himself up as well, his body becoming more angular and hard looking.
Her dad and grandfather were there, both picking up an arm and taking the boy to the sky, she had summoned Renji as well, who followed the other two. They all had done this several times already that day. It was a win win really, both getting to use their powers until exhaustion. With a smirk she took away all but Renji's corporeal bodies. With a mighty kick, the birdlike ghost sent Kirishima careening to the ground. Renji was a fantastic addition to her lineup, he was physically stronger than her dad and grandad, and more imposing. They also got along famously, he was a lot like Kirishima in temperament and sense of humor.
Kirishima made a small crater next to her, popping out of the smoke with a triumphant fist pump. He seemed to be able to hold that form longer and longer and was able to take more damage.
"Take me higher, Layla!" he called out, eyes determined.
"I don't know if I can, I think I can only send you up 700 meters or so at most," Layla looked down at her glowing fist, limitations were for the weak, All Might and Aizawa went beyond when they fought Nomu. She couldn't give up, she had to push herself too. So she looked towards her friend with determination, "let's give it a try!"
"That's the spirit!" the red head cheered, still in that rock like form.
"Alright, concentrate, you can't just let your weakness keep you back," she was hyping herself up as best she could. With clinched, glowing hands she summoned them again, all the ghosts she could. Her head felt heavy but she had to keep pushing herself past her pain. As Kirishima was taken to the air she felt her eyes growing hot and heavy, but she didn't stop pushing and Kiri was soaring higher. "Keep going!" She yelled half at herself and half at the three flying ghosts. Her head felt like it was going to explode as she kept putting all her strength into the apparitions. She only half noticed her normally silvery blue aura that surrounded her hands turn red, her concentration was on her friend who seemed to be going further than ever.
"Go!" she felt her strength snap like a cord and the ghosts disappeared. Kirishima hollered in excitement as he swiftly approached the ground. The dust that blew out from the impact made Layla have to shield her eyes. When it finally cleared, she saw him standing tall, his rock like skin had some parts chipping away, but he was unharmed. What a badass, Kiri was definitely someone she aspired to be like.
"Layla, you looked so scary," Kiri grinned as he moved to her side, his quirk deactivating.
"Y-yeah," she kicked a rock. She told Izuku her secrets, but for some reason didn't want to share the source of her power boost with Kirishima, at least not yet. "guess I'm tougher than I seem, huh?" her joke was a little flatter than usual but her friend didn't seem to notice, too busy being hyped about the Sports Festival again. If she can use that well of power she acquired then she'd likely make it to the end. Sure, this year she didn't expect to win, but maybe next? Surely with training and improving she could stand out more than ever before. It was the end of the school day and the two friends had to part ways. The next day would be another workout day with Izuku and then the day after was the Sports Festival. She drew herself a bath, putting on Mahler's Symphony No 3, she had been pleasantly surprised at her soulmate's favorite. The bubble bath and her little rubber ducky eased her body and soul. She had to force herself to get out and get ready for the next day.
Izuku grinned as she approached him for their training, "ready, Layla?"
"Better believe it," she flexed a bit, "thanks to your help I feel stronger already. You better watch your back, Izuku. I'm going to be right at your heels." He laughed when she lightly punched his shoulder. They split up to change into gym clothes, and reconvened so they could walk to the gym they frequented together. She loved spending time with the normally quiet boy, she was learning what made him tick. He loved heroes and quirks, almost obsessively. She found him taking notes on her abilities on their third workout meetup. He had stopped his weight training to write something down. She couldn't read Japanese, only speak it. When she had decided to go to school in Japan, the next day she sought out a man who could give her the ability to speak Japanese and understand what she heard back. It wasn't perfect, like someone fluent likely would be able to do, but it was enough to get by in lectures. Akito helped with the written portion.
That led her to decide that she would get him to show her the books he kept, and there were a few. She saw a rough sketch of herself along with some arrows pointing at her eyes and head. He knew so much about quirks and seemed to have studied her, she wondered how extensive they were and what he kept about the rest of the class.
The work out started easily enough, she was getting stronger from her last three weeks at school.
Layla paused Flagpole Sitta (by Harvey Danger) that had been blaring in the small area, Izuku was happy to let her play her music while they worked out. "Izuku?" She got his attention.
"Yea, Layla?" he put up his weights as he turned to give her his undivided attention.
"Well first, thank you so much for helping me train these last weeks. We're rivals in the Festival but you still decided to help me. I appreciate it more than I can put into words," she was being sincere and serious and Izuku seemed to understand her gratitude.
"O-oh it's no problem at all," Izuku chuckled, uncomfortable at being thanked still, "you've been helping me too. I never had so many friends, it's really nice to have someone to train with. Besides, we'll both be pro heroes together, we aren't really rivals." That smile of his was always so sweet, it made Layla want to dissolve into a puddle.
"Also, since we're such good friends… would you mind if I looked at your notebooks you're always jotting in?"
Midoriya was blushing then, his eyes darted to his bag he kept on him, with the notes he was always adding to, "u-u-um, I guess you can look. I didn't know you could read it." Why was he always so receptive!?
It was Layla's turn to blush, "I can't, but I've had a really awesome gh-friend," she corrected herself as she looked at her shadow, Akito. "I have a great friend who helps me with the reading bits heh."
"Oh! A ghost," he supplied the information as his eyes darted around as if he would be able to see her if he just tried hard enough.
"Yeah, oh I'll introduce you," she lifted up a glowing hand, easily bringing forth just Akito. Her features were all blue, but you could tell she had dark hair and eyes before she died. She had a head wound, but it didn't detract from her kind features.
Izuku dipped into a quick bow, "it's so nice to meet you." He was being a little awkward, he hadn't officially met a ghost before and there was a strange feeling that trickled down his spine being in her presence.
"It's nice to finally meet you too," Akito replied with a gentle smile, "Layla really thinks highly of you. Any friend of hers is a friend of mine."
Izuku smiled widely at the compliment and reassurance, "I'm glad she had you to help her too, I'm sure it's hard enough following the lessons as it is."
Akito giggled at Layla's expense, "she's hopeless without me. But I'm always happy to help." The young woman smiled brightly. "So let's see those notes then."
Izuku obliged, though there was still a reluctance. He was used to others making fun of his compulsive note taking. "h-here."
Layla carefully opened the notes like they were a holy text, that damaging them in any way would be sacrilege, "oh you're not a bad artist." She giggled at the rough sketch of Katsuki at the front page, of course he knew most about his explosive childhood friend. Izuku watched her as she flipped the pages, Akito had disappeared but he knew she was still there, telling her everything. She got to her page not long after, she smiled at her own picture of herself, she only got a glimpse of it in passing before. He had quite a few notes in different colored pens like he added more to them each day.
"He writes about you like he looks up to you," Akito smiled as she looked to the scrawling notes. The boy wouldn't want her to read some of the notes, he had put 'beautiful glowing eyes' as a potential quirk factor. Those two were adorable, too bad the whole soulmate being his childhood bully made it even more complicated.
"W-What's she saying?" he asked, she was staying on her page a bit too long for his liking.
"Huh? Oh Akito? Just that you can't decide if my quirk factor is in my eyes or brain. It's brain by the way, you're very perceptive Izuku."
"I think it's important to know about other pros, or future pros. We'll possibly team up, it's good to know how we can help each other." Talking about quirks, about being a pro hero with Layla made him so excited. She listened to him more than most did, though he seemed to be getting on well with Uraraka, Iida, and Asui lately too.
Layla was really dissecting his words, "it is. You're a very smart person, Izuku. You seem good at flying under everyone's radar at the moment, but you're secretly watching us all, trying to understand everyone. It's a great idea."
That blush was back, "y-yeah. Thanks."
"That's it!" her loud, excited exclamation startled him a little, "I'm going to take a page out of your book, so to speak. I need to do this for all my ghostly friends. Need to really sit down and figure them out. Izuku, you help me so much without even realizing you're doing it sometimes."
Izuku nodded excitedly, he would love to read about her ghosts too, maybe even meet some more. She had told him during one of their sessions about her cemetery visit, he was impressed of course and excited for her.
So she did just that, she ended the day at the cemetery. The ghosts flitted back to her and when she pulled out a pen and notebook she noticed the mood shift. They were being honored, remembered, they weren't just lost souls now. They were a part of her army, a part of the fight for justice. They would get their second chance. It took three hours to jot down all the names, specialties, and quirks. She'd get more information on them as she got to know them and see how they truly worked with her and the rest of her rag tag team. She also was able to ask if some wouldn't mind helping at the Sports Festival finally. With the mood high, it seemed they were open to the idea of helping, some had been in the early Sports Festivals themselves. She grinned at her new colleagues, she was going to get to know her army as she fought alongside them, and she made a silent vow that she would also visit them often in their quiet little resting place.
She was glad when she finally made it home, her muscles earned a soak, so she put on some music and fell into a relaxed state. The last two weeks replaying in her mind, would she be ready for the sports festival? She hoped she was, that she wouldn't make a fool of herself. Sleep was fitful as her mind raced. She woke in a cold sweat around 5am the next day. It was the day of the sports festival, and it was useless to try to fall asleep again. So she took another scalding bath and meticulously did her makeup, her war paint. She would make everyone who believed in her proud, most of all she'd be able to stand tall next to her class. No matter the outcome she would try her best.