Hey Guys! Crescent Rider here and I am back with another chapter. There isn't anything for me to say, except that the time skip is about two years and I'm sorry that it took so long. I've been busy with the other stories

That is all, and enjoy the chapter!

In a span of two years, Neo had seen her classmates come and go as they transferred to different schools. Even the bullies that she once retaliated against have all left for another school.

Hagakure, on the other hand, remained as this school was closest to her home, and her classmates, whether new or old, befriended her. But out of all the friends she had, Neo was the one she could never replace as they shared every memorable moment.

From School Events to School Holidays, they even shared various pictures despite Hagakure's Quirk. It also established a friendship between Neo's mother and Hagakure's parents despite the latter's parents possessing the same Quirk as their daughter.

Both girls seem so happy it's like they're sisters rather than friends regardless of whether they're in school or not...

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But it all changes on one particular day...

Neo's School

As the last day of the school year ended, Neo was sitting on a bench overlooking the school field, and beside her was Hagakure. Though most of their classmates have gone home, they've decided to stay a little while longer.

For Neo will be transferred to a different school next year...

The reason behind this transfer is not because of budget problems, family issues, or anything of the sort. Rather, Neo's performance in academics, physical ability, and Quirk Power was top-notch and a middle school with a prestigious background had caught wind of her talents.

Originally, Neo wanted to refuse when her mother trusted her with that choice over making it herself. But due to the offered benefits to this school, she couldn't refuse at all.

Especially when a letter of recommendation to one of Japan's Top Ranking Academies is guaranteed so long as she keeps her performance above average. If anything, this was a hero's dream come true.

For Neo, such a dream requires sacrifice as she'll be leaving everything and everyone she knows in this school behind. Including her only friend.

When they talked about it or rather conversed it through pen and paper. Hagakure looked somewhat desponded upon knowing that this would be their last day together.

After a short period of silence, Hagakure seemingly clapped her cheeks a few times to regain her usual composure, "You know what, Neo? I'm grateful that you've accepted it,"

Neo looked at her friend, seemingly confused by this comment, "I mean, sure, we won't be classmates anymore. But I can't hold you back on what you want,"

Hagakure soon stood up from the bench, and walked in front of Neo, "If anything, I'm amazed that you got into such a school! Where you're going is almost close to U.A. Academy,"

Neo half-heartedly giggled at her friend's comment. Then made a small smile, "Admittedly, I'm a bit jealous. But I won't brag,"

Hagakure then proceeds to hold Neo's hands, "Because I know you're special, and that you'll do great things once you've gone Pro,"

Neo's smile grew a bit wider, then she stood up and hugged her best friend, which the latter returned, "We won't be seeing each other for a long time, but we'll still be friends, Neo-chan and I'll never forget the times we've spent together,"

Neo just nodded her head while she let out the waterworks for this occasion. For it may be the last time before she transfers...

In the end, the two walked together for one last time and went to their separate homes.

Three and a Half Months Later...

As Neo's Mother prepares breakfast for her daughter's first day, Neo is in the middle of preparing her school supplies as well as wearing her uniform. However, Neo relied on her quirk to manifest a clone and have it organize her school supplies.

It saved so much time as she focused on her uniform, then she dismissed the clone as she strapped her bag onto her back and went to the door. Before she left, she momentarily glanced at her desk with a picture frame that contained her and Hagukure from last year's school festival.

Hagukure was visibly seen and smiling alongside Neo, who was smiling with her magician costume on.

Then, she left the room and made her way downstairs for today's breakfast.

After she has eaten today's breakfast, she goes by the door to wear her shoes and her Mother gives her usual tuition and a small kiss on her forehead, "Good luck on your first day,"

Neo nods and walks out the door. She didn't need her mother by her side as she memorized the route to her new school during summer vacation. In just a few minutes, she soon arrives at her destination and finds herself a bit dumbstruck by the size of her school.

Compared to her old school, this place was a bit larger, the courtyard space was much wider, and the exterior much finer than her old school. Regardless, she'd take a deep breath and walk inside.

As soon as she entered the classroom, there were several unfamiliar faces in the room and some set their eyes on her. It made her somewhat nervous but she'd reminded to stay calm and walk her way to her desk.

Though some eyes are on her, Neo remains calm and composed at her desk. To pass the time before Homeroom starts, she would gaze upon the open door and see if anyone new, besides herself, is coming in.

Just as she guessed, the number of people coming and going into class is indeed new to her and it'll require her to adjust to these people as she'll be with these people until she graduates.

After the last student had entered, she recognized no one in her class and hoped that she'd do fine in this school. To calm her nerves, she'd take a deep breath and waited for homeroom to start.

And so it did as their assigned teacher came and everyone greeted him. What followed was an introduction between the Teacher and his students, then followed by a roll call as he listed the names of every student present.

It goes on for a few minutes, then the teacher calls upon Neo's name, "Neo Valentina,"

Due to her muteness, she just raised her hand and audibly tapped her desk twice. This not only got the teacher's attention, but it also caught the attention of every student in the room.

She lowered her arm and then glanced around as she noticed the looks of confusion on her classmates' faces. After a short moment of silence, the Teacher just looked down at his clipboard and kept listing the other remaining students in homeroom.

With everyone present on the first day, the Teacher puts down his clipboard and firmly stands by his desk, "Are there any questions before we begin with today's lesson?"

"I have one," A Male Student that's sitting farthest from Neo's desk, then points his finger whilst his eyes are fixated on the teacher, "Why didn't she call out her name?"

"Well, the board of this school has informed that Ms. Valentine has a disability from birth which makes her incapable of any form of speech," The Teacher explained, "Relatively rare for a student such as herself to be attending this academy, but her grades are spoken for. So I'd advised you to treat her fairly, much as I intend to do with the rest of you,"

That boy would lower his arm while Neo's sharpened senses allowed her to overhear several whispers around her vicinity. It wasn't important to say the very least, but she'd remain cautious should anyone approach her with malicious intent, much like the bullies in her old school.

Without any other questions, Her homeroom teacher proceeded with today's lesson and she paid attention. Not bothering herself with the glances she gets from her surrounding classmates.

Lunch Break

With so many places to go, Neo settled for the School's courtyard and enjoyed a small bento of her mother's cooking.

But as half of her bento was finished, she soon heard a commotion nearby and went to investigate after she closed her bento.

Peeking from an alleyway, she saw a bunch of bullies picking on a boy in their class. Whether it's done out for extortion or entertainment. Neo detests bullies and she needs to do something about it.

Fortunately, she had concocted a plan from the get-go and used her quirk to do so.

Victim's Perspective

This was a routine for him as his respective bullies picked on him for no particular reason and any means of resistance would lead the bullies to retaliate with force, especially when their quirks pale in comparison to theirs.

Before any of them could begin, a voice in particular came and interrupted them, "What is going on here?"

All of them turned to see the Homeroom Teacher frowning upon their behavior and the bullies tried to make several excuses for their behavior, even pointing out that their victim was into it all.

However, the Homeroom Teacher remained firm in his frown and stated the following, "Well, whatever reason you have for committing such misbehavior against your classmate. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves,"

Unable to continue any longer, the bullies apologized to the Homeroom Teacher, though he specified, "And?"

The bullies were hesitant, but reluctantly turned to their victim and apologized to him as well. Without any other words to say, the Homeroom Teacher dismissed to bullies but caught a side glance from the leading bully as well as a tongue click before walking back to the main building.

With that settled, he turned to the victim and the latter stuttered as he couldn't get a word out his mouth, "U-Um,"

However, he unexpectedly got a smirk from the Homeroom Teacher and witnessed him being reduced to pink particles. Once he was gone, the victim soon realized that the Homeroom Teacher was not there, but was a projection of said Teacher.

He looked around the alley to find the one responsible for conjuring such an illusion to fool his bullies. But even as he went out of that alley, no one was there and assumed that the culprit was long gone.

Still, he won't forget this act of kindness as he went back to the school building.

Dismissal

After class was over, students either left with their friends or returned home for the day. In Neo's case, she was in the middle of entertaining a few students, even a teacher, with classic magic. There wasn't any use of quirks in her tricks as she studied the ways of deception and misdirection.

Her current trick was a simple card trick where the volunteer picked a card, showed it to everyone except herself, and put it back into the deck. After some shuffling, she showed the entire deck to them like a fan and everyone noticed that the volunteer's card was gone.

She then closes the deck properly, shuffles them, and starts placing down a row of cards with a message saying:

'Your Card?'

The last card under the message was the 7 of Spades, and the volunteers expressed shock as they admitted, "That's my card!"

The audience gave a round of applause and Neo would prove that she wasn't deceiving them all by sliding the deck onto the table and flipping all the cards over. It was a complete deck and her quirk wasn't involved in the trick.

"Such a magnificent talent, Miss Valentina," The teacher praised, "It's no wonder you're the talk of your school. No pun intended,"

Neo giggled, then gestured the following message, "Thank you, Sensei"

With the show over, everyone leaves school on good terms while Neo walks alone. Though she left an impression on her, she never had any friends to walk with. It's always her walking down the same street, crosswalk, and road.

She never has someone to walk with, and the way back to her home is much longer than her previous route to school. But she wouldn't get discouraged by this and focused on getting home even as the sun slowly set from the distance.

After she returned home, she'd be greeted by her mother, eat with her, and sleep for the next day in school while keeping tabs on her friend, Toru Hagakure, via social media.

As the days went by, Neo had grown accustomed to her lifestyle, school, and popularity in magic tricks...

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Until one particular encounter...

Alleyway...

As Neo passed through a familiar alleyway, she stopped to notice something in front of her. It appeared to be some sort of girl bending her knees to someone lying on the ground.

At first, she thought this girl was examining the person on the ground. But as soon as that girl turned, she saw what appeared to be yellow eyes with slit-like pupils and an ecstatic grin which Neo found unsettling.

"Oh? What a cute girl you are," The girl said as she stood upstraight and held her knife at the ready, "Say, how about we be friends?"

Neo breathes steadily as she takes one step back and becomes wary of this person. It may sound like a friendly request, but Neo somehow knew better as this girl's intentions were made clear by expression alone.

After she's taken another step, the girl lunges at her at such a speed that she closes the distance between her and Neo and slashes her across the waist to the chest upward. The laceration she inflicted started to bleed and Neo tumbled onto the ground.

The girl then pounced onto her, pinned her down with an arm on her neck, and relished that frightened look Neo had in her eyes. From this girl's perspective, she was thrilled by what she was seeing, "Oh, what a cute look in your eyes! And one eye being different from than other makes it even better! I'm sure we'll be great friends after!"

With a knife above the girl's head, she struck Neo's heart and everything felt still as if time slowed down between them. But at that moment, the girl was met with nothing but a physical illusion dissipating to dust.

After the girl stood upstraight, she expressed nothing but confusion at what she saw and looked down at her knife as if she was certain that she cut her. But it turns out, the blood on her blade was also an illusion as it dissipates in the same manner as the body.

"When did she-" The girl muttered, then assumed that a Quirk had a hand in this trick,

Instead of feeling annoyed, she was getting all giddy by what Neo had accomplished and started blushing all over the place, "What a magnificent quirk you have, oh I can't just stop thinking on you could've done it. I hope to meet with you again! And next time, let's be the best of friends!"

After her deranged declaration, Neo wasn't too far away as she hid behind a wall just a few meters across from where her clone once stood. She heard every word that girl said and felt terrified knowing that this girl may not forget her for long.

She couldn't think straight from such a frightful encounter, but what snapped her from her thoughts was the sound of a cat.

She quickly turned to it, stared at it, then saw it blinked at her once. Somehow, she eases down and then scurries away before that girl can find her.

Neo's Home...

As soon as returned home, Neo closed the door and locked it as a simple precaution should that girl trail her from the alleyway to here. She'd take a deep breath, then hear her mother's voice, "Welcome home, Neo! I hope your trip back from school went well,"

After her mother appears by the hall, Neo slowly turns to her with a peculiar expression and she immediately knows something is up, "What's wrong?"

Before any answer was given, Neo retreated to her mother and embraced her with her face firmly pressed against her belly. Neo's Mother soon knew something happened, but she would prioritize comforting her daughter first before having any further discussions.

Therefore, she gently shushes her while caressing the back of her head a few times, "It's okay... I'm here, and I won't let anything bad happen to you,"

This leads to Neo clinging onto her mother a little while longer, and what would follow is the discussion of her trip back home...

Before you all go, I've decided to let you all know that the range of counts between chapters is about 2000 to 3000. Now some of you may ask why should I stick to such a short number for each chapter.

The answer is quite simple, I don't want to drag things out even if long chapters guarantee some level of appeal to readers. So if any one of you tries to change my mind, I say forget it because I'm sticking to this decision through and through.

Lastly, in case you all don't recognize who Neo encountered at that alleyway, here's a hint. It's Little Miss Vampire, just one of the many nicknames I could think of about her.

That is all and I'll see you all in the next chapter!