During the time Yoshihara had been taken in by Nemuri Kayama, she had gotten accustomed to the new suite she would be living in for the foreseeable future. The suite had been located at the top of a famous love hotel: Love Love Deluxe. Nemuri, or as Yoshihara called her, Kayama-san, had a hand in creating Love Love Deluxe as it was now, due to having been friends with the architect and the person who had owned the land it was built on.

Once it had been built, and after the original proposed owner had died from complications of Lung Cancer, Kayama-san became its owner. That was what she had told Yoshihara when she arrived at the suite, and Yoshihara had been inclined to believe her. After all, what had she to gain by lying to her?

As a way to thank Kayama-san, Yoshihara took up a job at Love Love Deluxe as one of the receptionists, mostly for the 2-hour night shifts from 9 pm to 11 pm so she could keep up her routine. Aside from that, Yoshihara's offering to help was something that Kayama-san had been thankful for. She had already been overworked as it was thanks to her job as a Pro Hero, so the extra help had been nice.

Yoshihara saw no reason to not lend a helping hand, especially after what she had already done for her, what with taking her in despite not needing to. As a bonus, Yoshihara even helped clean the bedrooms as a way to make some extra money after school, and as a further way to show her appreciation, which Kayama-san was thankful for.

Then came the suite itself, which Yoshihara shared with Kayama-san. The suite was accessed via an elevator and a special key that Kayama-san had hand-crafted by the person who owned the land, along with a spare, which she gave to Yoshihara.

When she first saw the suite, Yoshihara had been blown away. Right off the bat, she noticed that it was quadruple the size of the apartment she used to live in, which had been ten square meters in size. To say it was an upgrade was an understatement, and that alone had been a good omen.

The first thing she saw when entering was the massive living room which had taken up a majority of the space in the suite. It had two couches, a loveseat, a wooden low-to-the-ground coffee table, and a TV near a massive window that covered the length of the entire left wall. As breathtaking as the view was, the part that had caught her attention, and the part that had confused her greatly, was the fact that there was a hot tub in the living room.

When Yoshihara questioned Kayama-san as to why she had decided to have a hot tub in her living room, she simply replied "Why not?" And quite frankly, Yoshihara couldn't argue with that logic. It was her suite after all, and up until Yoshihara had come to live with her, she had been living alone, so there was no reason to not have it.

The next thing she saw was the kitchenette, which had been located near the back of the suite. It had a full-sized fridge and a stove with an oven attached to it—something that Yoshihara was not used to seeing, seeing as her stove back at her apartment didn't have an oven. It was something that Kayama-san had been shocked to hear about, but she digressed.

There were also more than a handful of cupboards to store dishes, around fifteen cupboards in total when Yoshihara had counted. The countertops were made of granite, and the sink, which was a part of the granite countertop and up against the wall, was made out of cast iron.

The kitchenette even had an island in the middle of it with even more storage space and, strangely enough, bar stools bolted to the ground around it. Although, it was obvious why it was like that. Kayama-san sat there to eat when she wasn't watching TV, and seeing as there wasn't a dining table it was the next best thing, Kayama-san's words, not hers.

Then came the "second floor" which wasn't much of a second floor more than it was a staircase with an indoor balcony, which gave them access to the rest of the rooms in the suite. The stairs were made of wood, and rather than having a base, they were attached to the right wall of the suite. The stairs had a metal railing, the sturdiest kind of railing and perfect for leaning against.

On the "second floor", there was a bathroom at the right end of the hall. It had a shower and tub, a porcelain sink with a granite countertop and table cabinets. There was a large 30-inch by 15-inch mirror and a towel rack attached to the back of the door. Oh, and of course, a toilet, though that had been obvious. Further up the hallway was Kayama-san's bedroom, but next to that was a second bedroom. Yoshihara's bedroom.

It might not have seemed like much, but to Yoshihara having a bedroom was something she had wished about having for the longest time. She got to sleep in a bed all her own, a place to store her clothes, and to have privacy. Something she never had as a child. It was a dream come true for her.

Before Yoshihara came to live with her, Kayama-san used to use it as a place to store things. But when Yoshihara moved in with her, over a few days Kayama-san converted it into a place for Yoshihara to sleep, before moving those aforementioned things to a storage locker within the city.

Next to Yoshihara's bedroom was a guest bedroom that Kayama-san lent out to her friends who stayed over on the odd occasion. They were usually only there when Yoshihara was at school, so she never got the chance to meet them. Although, Kayama-san had described them to be nice people, and considering she hadn't been wrong so far, she took her at her word.

Finally, at the opposite end of the hall was a closet, which had a washing machine and a dryer. Their uses were self-explanatory. It also acted as a place to store small things like a vacuum cleaner, extra blankets and pillows, as well as random odds and ends, such as yet-to-be-hung-up photos, boxes of junk, and even what appeared to be an urn full of someone's ashes. Yoshihara hadn't bothered to ask, mostly because it wasn't any of her business.

When she first moved in with Kayama-san, Yoshihara hadn't been too keen on the idea, only going through with it because it was the only thing left in her life that she could do sans dying. But after seeing what she was being given to work with, all in all, she didn't regret her decision.

But with moving came change, and one of those changes was her schooling situation. At least, it would've been, had Yoshihara not been so adamant about staying where she had previously been going, that being Aldera Junior High.

Even though she had moved an hour away from where she had previously lived, and by extension over an hour away from Aldera Junior High, she refused to change schools. She was too far into her final year to switch schools. That had been the explanation she gave to Kayama-san when she asked why she didn't want to switch to the closer, more reliable Musutafu Private School. And while Kayama-san disagreed, she didn't fight her on it, which was good.

As for her routine at school, it had remained largely the same with one minor change. Her routine was simple: She went to classes, quietly did her work, ate lunch alone as preferred, and then drifted about the rest of the day doing what she was told to do by the teachers. But, at the end of the day, rather than staying at school to study, she went home to do so, namely because it was quieter and more comfortable than sitting in the library.

All in all, her life had remained mostly the same. The keyword there was "mostly," because there was one new addition to her schedule that was put in thanks to her new living arrangements.

That new addition was that she had begun training with Kayama-san.

To summarize, Kayama-san was a tough teacher, but a damn good one at that. Despite her projected personality to the world, that being an aloof, sexually charged hero with a kinky attitude, she was surprisingly harsh when it came to teaching Yoshihara how to fight. Namely with how she had forced her to not use her "Quirk" during combat training.

It wasn't because she wanted to make it unfair, but rather so that her body would be able to withstand the beatings that it would get on the regular in the line of work as a Pro Hero. While at first Yoshihara didn't understand and found it unnecessary, she later thanked Kayama-san for the way she trained her.

The training started with basic stance practices, making sure her footwork was good and that she at least knew what she was doing. That part of the training went by fast, as Yoshihara already knew the proper fighting stances and the basics in combat; something Kayama-san had been surprised to learn that she knew, although she didn't question it.

After that, it slowly evolved into dodging punches and kicks while standing still. It was meant to get her to pay attention to how the human body moved during combat, which would allow her to properly defend herself and retaliate in kind. As embarrassing as it was to admit, it took several days to dodge a single punch—let alone a kick! And they had hurt, too. It wasn't like she hadn't been pulling her punches either, the funny part was that Kayama-san had been. Yoshihara simply hadn't built up the endurance required to handle them, though she managed.

And that wasn't even mentioning the fact that Kayama-san was fast. Extremely fast. It had caught Yoshihara off guard just how flexible and dexterous Kayama-san had been, though considering she was a Pro Hero, that made sense—especially for someone in the top a hundred.

And that right there, the fact that Kayama-san was a part of the top a hundred, was half of the problem. Kayama-san was an extremely fast, close-quarters kind of fighter. That was because her Quirk, Somnambulist, was a non-lethal support Quirk that put people to sleep, with the odd side-effect of it working better on males than females.

Even though Somnambulist was strong, she couldn't rely on it in fights due to her status as a support hero, which often had her paired with other Pro Heroes. Therefore she had to practice how to fight.

As a result of seven straight years of practicing and learning martial arts, as well as becoming a master in kickboxing, karate, and Brazilian Jujitsu, by the time she was done training, she was found to be pretty damn good at fighting. She was experienced in a way that most people weren't, and that alone made her a better trainer for someone who had already known a thing or two about fighting.

Now, with that being said, Yoshihara was not someone who knew her way around fighting. She knew how to fight, but she wasn't exactly great at it. The most she could do was beat a kid her age with very little combat training. That was what made her so strong at school. Her opponents were weaklings.

Now imagine taking someone who was an amazing hand-to-hand fighter, and giving them someone to train who only knew the bare bones basics of combat. It sounded like a good idea, but in truth, it wasn't. It would be safe to say that it would inevitably result in the person who was being trained to seem to have less potential than they otherwise would have. And that had been the case with Yoshihara's training. Despite that, Kayama-san had faith in her ability to get better, so at least she had that going for her.

Even after getting the option to stop this kind of training and redirect it to something else, Yoshihara persevered, refusing to back down even after having zero success at the beginning. This was the only good thing that had happened to her in her life, so why would she drop it just because it was difficult?

That was the response she had given to Kayama-san when she was asked if she wanted to pivot the way she was being trained, and it shined a new light on Kira from Kayama-san's perspective. It was then that she finally took Yoshihara seriously. In the beginning that hadn't been the case. But after getting that kind of response from her, Kayama-san decided to truly give her a chance.

Almost immediately after Kayama-san did that, after two more days of taking punches and kicks from her, Yoshihara could finally dodge anything she had sent her way, so long as she was standing still. It didn't sound like much, but it had been progress. Progress that Kayama-san had said that she didn't expect her to make so quickly.

Of course, that was where her parade of pride had ended. The next step was training her to dodge attacks whilst both hero and villain were on the move, which had made dodging Kayama-san's already fast-moving kicks and punches exponentially harder. It took her an additional two weeks to get the hang of that. Nonetheless, she was able to do so, and thus they moved on to the next step of her training which had been the easiest part of it by far.

The next thing Yoshihara practiced was shadowboxing. It was meant to help her practice the types of close-ranged attacks and blocks that she could use to her advantage when she was unable to use her "Quirk." And while Kayama-san was unaware of it, it had also helped Yoshihara's "Quirk" become stronger as well.

The techniques she was learning were mostly kickboxing techniques such as low kicks, roundhouse kicks, hammer kicks, jabs, right and left hooks, and some throws, on top of bettering her ability to properly read her opponent. This process took five months to master, on top of lifting weights, doing basic exercises, and going on morning and nightly runs.

All of this was to increase her stamina and ability to go at things for long amounts of time. One simply couldn't be a Pro Hero without the stamina to stay alive for long periods against strong villains. That was what caused a lot of deaths for young up-and-comers like Yoshihara. It was a sad, but humbling truth that Kayama-san had been sure to drill into her head, and one that she would not soon be regretful for taking to heart.

It was around that time when Kayama-san believed her to be at a passing level of skill, as the rest of the introductory level stuff would be built upon during her time at U.A. It was also around that time that Yoshihara had been fully caught up with other academic things such as projects, tests, studying, and homework.

That gave her the all-clear to finally start to train Yoshihara in her hand-to-hand combat skills. No Quirks, just pure skill. The final barrier between Yoshihara and her potential spot at U.A.'s coveted Recommendation Exam which had been the purpose of all of the training she had been put through; To see if she was worthy of being given one of the very few spots in the recommendation exam, which had been five months away.

Four months went by far too quickly for either of them to notice. After school, each day was the same routine for both of them, giving it their all. They trained from the moment Yoshihara got home, to by the time that it was in the wee hours of the night. It was gruelling, it was difficult, it was tiring, but it was necessary.

If Yoshihara was going to be a Pro Hero in the future, she needed to know how to fight, and the best way to do that was by taking on a Pro Hero head to head, and who better than the person who had been training her for the better half of a year?

By the time the four months came to an end, Yoshihara was able to knock out Kayama-san. And while out of all the matches that they held, it was only once, and even then, it was a fluke as she had accidentally left herself open to an uppercut, allowing Yoshihara to score a knock-out blow, a win was a win, which had been the win-conditions set by Kayama-san.

If Yoshiahra wanted to have the position in the recommendation exam, she had to knock out Kayama-san five months before the recommendation exam would be held. If she failed to do that, then she had to participate in the standard exam, which would have given her far lower odds of going to U.A.

To Yoshihara, her win had felt cheap, and it felt like she hadn't earned it. Yoshihara had even said to herself that she wasn't ready, and even after many discussions about how that wasn't true, she still felt inadequate to be a part of U.A.

Despite all of that. Despite the cheapness of the victory, and despite how Yoshihara had felt like she hadn't earned it, Kayama-san had deemed her worthy enough to go to U.A. and gave her a recommendation. Because, in her eyes, she was more than worthy of being a Pro Hero. All it would take was the push that U.A. gave to make it a reality.

Even though Yoshihara had viewed her recommendation as unearned, in the end, all of her training had paid off. And while there was still one month away till the recommendation exam, that didn't mean there still wasn't more to do… And she learnt that the hard way.

[Present Day – 6 AM, Monday, March 12th, 2123]

The sound of an alarm clock echoed throughout a moderately sized bedroom, originating from a cell phone sitting atop a brown bedside drawer. The window to the room was open, allowing the white drapes that framed the window to flow in the calm morning winds. Rays of sunshine entered through the window, illuminating the once-dark bedroom. Off to the side of the room, lying in a single-sized bed bundled in a set of heavy fibre blankets, a figure shifted around underneath.

A light groan came from underneath the covers, as a hand reached out to the bedside drawer. The hand grabbed hold of the phone as it lazily swiped up on the screen as a means to stop the incessant noise before placing the phone gently back down on the drawer, the hand retreating underneath the blankets.

Afterwards, the figure, a teenage girl to be exact, who was still underneath the blanket sat up, stretching out her arms as she let out a soft, barely audible yawn. Bangs of her golden blonde hair covered her eyes as she stretched, not noticing that the covers had fallen off her top, exposing that the blonde had been wearing a shoulderless fluffy pink blouse.

Pushing her hair out of her face, sky-blue eyes lazily opened to greet the early morning. Looking around the room, the teen's eyes glanced over a dresser with a mirror attached to it, then to a closet, and a bookshelf filled to the brim with pre-Quirk Era Shojo and Shonen Manga like Sailor Moon, K-ON, and Soul Eater. Next to the shelf sat a TV, which had been hooked onto a wall—walls that had been painted light orange with a "skyline" of a dimmed-down yellow, mimicking that of a sunset.

Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, the teenager flipped the rest of the covers off of her body, revealing her to be wearing a pair of trimmed pink shorts underneath. Her legs were toned and slightly muscular from the training she had endured over the last nine months, though they were leaner than outright bulging with muscle.

Jumping out of bed, she stretched out her back, bending backwards as she groaned a tad bit louder than when she did upon waking up. She had been sore from doing a sparring session with the Pro Hero Midnight, aka Kayama-san.

She had even remarked to herself last night how she was going to hurt in the morning. Lo-and-behold she was right. Afterward, she corrected her posture, standing up straight as a smirk found its way onto her face. The reason why she was smirking was because of a calendar hanging just adjacent to her closet.

The calendar was hero-themed, with each of the twelve months being themed after the top twelve heroes in all of Japan. Since it was currently March, the calendar was themed after the Pro Hero – Hawks, one of the teenager's personal favourites for reasons that would be obvious for any teenage girl, or teenage boys for that matter, into hot blond twinks or twinks in general.

But that wasn't why she was smirking. No, because she didn't care for that kind of thing, not entirely anyway. She was smirking because of today's date. Today marked the second week of March, and on April 1st, the entrance exam U.A. held would be available to the public, but just before that, a special exam was held for those whom other Pro Heroes recommended being a part of the hero course, and that exam was only two weeks away, landing on March 24th.

She had been both nervous and excited for that day. On that day, she would be able to test her merit. To show that she was ready to become a Pro Hero and prove to herself that the training she had endured meant something.

"Just two more weeks, and I'll be able to take on the recommendation exam!" The teenager said, her voice sounding slightly rough due to a dry throat and a lack of water. She had an hour and a half to get ready for school, catch the bus, and show up on time.

Usually, going to school was something that Yoshihara had no real care for. She might have been extremely good at school, always handing assignments in on time, among other things, but that didn't mean she liked it. School to her was a drag, at least the practical lessons they taught. And while usually, she would feel the same as she would any other day, today was different.

Over the past nine months, Yoshihara Kira had been looking out for the green-haired boy from the video she had watched all that time ago. Despite his bright poofy green hair, he was more elusive than a camouflaged snake. A part of Yoshihara believed that he might've gone to a different school. However, the fact that he wore the same uniform as the other males at her school seemed to disprove that.

The more she thought about how she was acting toward trying to find him, the more she realized that it was kind of stalker-ish. That little disturbing tidbit of self-reflection aside, her mindset remained untainted with the kind of association a "stalker" would have. It wasn't as if she wanted to follow him home and take pictures of him. All she wanted to do was meet him and potentially get a friend out of the encounter.

After all, Kayama-san did say that being alone wasn't exactly a good thing and that having connections with people would make her quality of life better.

If only she knew…

The bit about her strange and… unhealthy behaviour aside, it led her to believe that he did go to Aldera. However, no matter how hard she tried to find him, he was never around. It was like looking for Waldo in those old pre-Quirk eras Wheres Waldo books.

Today, however, she was determined to find him, more so than any other day. She didn't know why but she was. Her curiosity was at its peak, and she needed to have it satisfied sooner rather than later.

Opening up her closet, she grabbed her school uniform before exiting her bedroom, watching Nemuri walk out of her room in her pro-hero uniform. She waved at her before heading down the stairs and into the living. In response, Yoshihara waved at her before walking to the bathroom, which was just two rooms to her bedroom's left.

When she entered the bathroom, she quickly turned on the bathtub faucet and let the water run on hot for a while as she stripped down to nothing, looking at herself in the mirror.

Her body was rather muscular for a girl her age, shoulder muscles defined, though only slightly. Her arms were moderately sized similar to that of a professional swimmer, her back muscles were slightly prominent, though she'd have to flex to show off anything, and the startings of a six-pack were beginning to form on her stomach region more so than they had when she had just been casually going to the gym.

Yoshihara wasn't a buff semi-truck—she was more lean than mountain-sized—though if a person looked at her the way she was right now, they would think more than twice to pick on her. Most girls in the changing rooms at the school learned that pissing her off led to bloody noses or spun jaws. Despite this, no one reported her to the principal because of her connection to Kayama-san.

Then, and more prominently, there were the scars.

Scars of varying shapes and sizes covered her upper arms, parts of her shoulders and lower neck—specifically, there was one that looked awfully like a star. Scars covered her upper and lower back, and there were even some on her knees and near her waist.

She hated looking at her body for too long in the mirror. It always brought her back to a time she'd wish to forget. A time when her life hadn't been so nice. A time even before that crappy sex-worker job and before the crappy apartment.

A past that she had run away from, and buried for a reason.

Quickly looking away from herself in the mirror, she checked the water to find that it was indeed hot before she turned the faucet handle a tad over to the left, and after a few seconds, she checked the water again. When it was at the right temperature, she turned on the showerhead before stepping in and closing the curtains around the shower.

The shower was short, sweet, and to the point. She soaked her hair for about a minute, then put conditioner in to make it healthier and less brittle. Then, she rinsed out the conditioner before putting in shampoo to do the actual cleaning part. Afterward, she rinsed her hair for the second time before scrubbing down her body and rinsing the soap off of her body, before stepping out of the shower and drying off with a towel. Then and only then did she put on her school uniform.

She didn't like wasting time in the mornings, as to her, wasting any time was like wasting one's life. Even though Yoshihara lived a better life, some things that had been ingrained in her during her time on the streets and living in that crappy apartment had stuck. No matter how much better her life got, she assumed that those feelings would never go away, ever.

Just before she left the bathroom, she turned on the fan to clear the steam from her shower. Afterward, she grabbed her dirty clothes, exited the bathroom, and walked over to the closet at the opposite end of the hall. She opened the closet and found a pile of laundry that Kayama-san had most likely planned to do later today. Putting her dirty laundry in the pile, she closed the closet door before making her way downstairs.

As soon as she entered the living room she was met with Kayama-san skinny dipping in the hot tub, a sight that she had most definitely not been expecting to see. "Good morning, Yoshi-chan~! How was the sleep?" Kayama-san teased her with the nickname she utterly hated, causing Yoshihara to puff up her cheeks with indignation.

"I told you to stop calling me that!" Yoshihara bit out, which earned a chuckle from Kayama-san, who sunk deeper into the water with a relaxed sigh, completely ignoring her complaint.

"You know, you need to try this hot tub out on your own one of these times. It's the best way to relax those aching muscles of yours that you keep mumbling about in the mornings," Kayama-san commented as Yoshihara sighed, before turning away from her and walking into the kitchen.

"Yeah, right, like I'd do that with you around. Besides, aren't you supposed to be heading out on patrol, or did someone else take up your spot again?" Yoshihara avoided the topic by asking her a reasonable question, which earned her a slight frown. Kayama-san seemed to be annoyed that it had been brought up, but at the very least it was a good way to pivot from whatever that conversation would've turned into had she not.

"Why yes. A newbie, Mt. Lady I think her name was, took my position for the morning. She's just starting her career as a Pro Hero, so I let her. Besides, she needs the exposure," Kayama-san replied as Yoshihara hummed, going to the fridge before grabbing some milk, walking over to one of the cupboards for a bowl, and then going over to yet another cupboard and grabbing a box of All-Might-O's, Chocolate edition.

Kayama-san watched it unfold from the hot tub, right eyebrow raised as she fully turned around to face the direction of the kitchen, her arms folded against the porcelain lining of the hot tub. "Having a cheat day, I see?" Kayama-san questioned as Yoshihara grunted in response, pouring the cereal into the bowl, followed by the milk.

As soon as she did so, two slices of toast popped out of the toaster near the stove, causing Kayama-san to curse under her breath. "Oh, shoot, I forgot about that. Uh, hey, Yoshi-chan, do you mind buttering those up for me, please and thank you?" Kayama-san asked, a dopey smile on her face as Yoshihara scoffed.

There she was with that nickname. How many times now had she asked Kayama-san to stop calling her that? It had to be at least in the triple digits by now, right? Yoshihara sighed, "Fine," she muttered, earning a smile from Kayama-san.

"Thanks~! You're the best, you know that," the ravenette commented as Yoshihara's cheeks were stained a slight pink from the compliment, a rarity in her lifetime.

The only time she ever got compliments was when— "No, don't think about that. That stupid job is long behind you, don't bring it up!" She thought, her eyes narrowing as she did what she was asked. She grabbed a plate from the cupboard next to the sink before walking over to the toaster to retrieve the pieces of toast. She placed them on the plate before opening the drawer on the opposite side of the sink and grabbed a spreading knife.

Walking back over to the fridge, she opened it and grabbed the margarine container, placed it on the counter, opened it, then dipped the spreading knife into the container and got a small swab of margarine. When she was done spreading the margarine on the toast, which was still warm, she tossed the spreading knife into the sink, and put the margarine back in the fridge, before putting the toast into the microwave above the stove to keep the toast warm.

Yoshihara walked back over to her cereal and grabbed the milk jug that had been next to it. She returned to the fridge and put the milk away, then walked over to the drawer with the utensils to grab a spoon and closed the drawer. She walked back to the counter, grabbed her cereal and walked into the living room, placing the bowl down on the coffee table, grabbing the TV remote, turning on the TV, and finally kneeling on the floor to eat her breakfast.

The first thing that switched on was the news, and the moment it came on, it showed a fight happening in downtown Esuha with the pro hero Fatgum and a sidekick or intern or whoever that person had been with a weird chimera Quirk, as well as another with a psychic Quirk, fighting against a few Yakuza thugs. The reporter commented on it like it was a football game, which annoyed Yoshihara, though she assumed it could've been worse.

"You see that Yoshi-chan," Kayama-san spoke up, gaining Yoshiahra's attention if only because she used that awful nickname she disliked. "One of these days, you're going to be doing that with a Pro Hero once you get your provincial license," Kayama-san said, getting out of the hot tub as she wrapped herself in a towel that she had on hand. Yoshihara responded with a hum, shovelling some of the chocolaty cereal into her mouth.

She wasn't very talkative in the mornings, usually just wanting to keep to herself so that she could move on with her day—something that Kayama-san found bothersome—though it was normal for her. Unless something truly caught her attention and she wanted to speak about it, trying to start a conversation with her in the morning was like trying to thread a needle.

It didn't take long for Yoshihara to finish breakfast and prep her bag for school. By that time, Kayama-san was upstairs in her room—the sounds of pleasure echoing from said room, indicating to her that she was hornier than a succubus at the moment, which irritated Yoshihara to no end.

It didn't have anything to do with the fact that Kayama-san was… doing that at the moment, but more with the fact that it was happening this early in the morning. Though she supposed it was better now than later. It was a side-effect of her Quirk. If she wasn't bored, happy, drunk or otherwise in some other mood, she was hornier than a rabbit during mating season, which was weird since her Quirk was sleep-gas.

It wasn't a bad thing. She didn't mind it happening. She saw it as a kind of interesting thing to behold. How someone could even get that emotionally excited over something was beyond her. And if it ended there everything would've been fine. But, that wasn't the case, and it was at this point that things got a little dicey.

See, it was when the Kayama-san tried hitting on her that it became problematic. While this wasn't a side effect of her Quirk, it was more or less a problem with Kayama-san's traumatic past as a sex worker, though her Quirk didn't make it any better. Whenever Kayama-san was excessively horny thanks to her Quirk, it triggered something in the back of her head that reminded her of her past as a sex worker. A time that Kayama-san had gone on record to say was one of the worst times in her life.

Yoshihara didn't ask. She didn't need to ask because she already knew what it was that had happened to cause her mental anguish, coming from a place of similar experience. Being a sex worker was a lot more dangerous than what people gave it credit for. It was all too common to hear about sexual assaults or some of the dancers being raped by customers who didn't know how to keep their hands to themselves.

And unfortunately, as was her abhorrent luck back then, Yoshihara had been a victim of that as well. It only happened once, around the beginning of her career, and that person ceased to exist after the fact thanks to her "Quirk", but she digressed. The point was that it happened, and like most things in that regard, it was traumatic.

It was more common than people thought. It wasn't wrong to say that sometimes, customers tended to get carried away, especially drunk customers. There was no doubt a time during Kayama-san's bout as a sex worker when she had most likely been sexually assaulted by an extra rowdy customer, and her brain's coping mechanism for that became… whatever the hell this had been. Her Quirk most likely didn't make things any better, so Yoshihara really couldn't blame her.

After all, Yoshihara's coping mechanisms weren't that much better. As a result of what had happened to her, her sex drive was a lot more amplified than most. However, she was able to keep a lid on it due to her… other coping mechanism for what had happened to her. But that still didn't stop her from having her moments too. Though they were mostly internal instead of external.

Tangent aside, what she was trying to get at was that the issue wasn't because of her past or the fact that it happened at all, but rather it was a morality issue, and the fact that Yoshihara was a minor and Kayama-san was an adult. It should've gone without saying, but it was problematic due to that fact.

Granted, the age of consent laws stated that it was legally okay because of the age gap being regarded as "legal," but morally, it wasn't. If anyone found out that this had been happening, Kayama-san's career would go up in flames.

Besides, it wasn't like anything happened during her horny-infused-fugue states. And if anything did start to happen then she had all the means at her disposal to restrain the woman until it wore off. Thankfully, that hadn't happened yet, and it probably never would, but on the off chance it did, she always kept a little bit of rope under her bed just in case.

Whenever Kayama-san would snap out of her fugue state, she would profusely apologize to Yoshihara for it. Again, Yoshihara didn't exactly mind it happening, and she knew it wasn't her fault, but Kayama-san got extremely embarrassed whenever it happened.

No matter what Yoshihara said to try and alleviate the situation, it usually ended with Kayama-san trying her best to distance herself from Yoshihara for a week. Not only that, but she would punish herself. She didn't know how, but if Yoshihara had to guess, she would overwork herself. On top of that, she would up her medication dosage, which wasn't healthy at all.

It didn't matter what Yoshihara said to her. She had tried to talk her out of doing stupid stuff like that, but in the end, it always fell on deaf ears. Out of everything that Yoshihara had to put up with in regards to Kayama-san, that was the most annoying part. Not the fugue states, but the self-punishment she imposed upon herself.

Again, Yoshihara didn't hold anything against Kayama-san. It was completely out of her control. Thankfully, there was an upside to all of this, and that was that she was seeking Quirk counselling to hopefully prevent the issue from getting worse.

What she did in those fugue states was gross, and it was borderline pedophilic with the kind of stuff she said to her in those states. But again, it wasn't something that Kayama-san could control. Her medication helped it happen less frequently, and Yoshihara hoped the Quirk counselling would also help it become far less frequent than it already was, but that was all that she could do about it.

Quirks often impact a person's personality. Kayama-san simply got unlucky when it came to her Quirk and what it did to her. The golden underline about it all was that she was at least trying to find a way to make things less problematic.

By the time Kayama-san came out of her room, Yoshihara had already exited the building and began to make her way to school. The walk wasn't all that long, nor was it short. It was a reasonable distance considering she didn't just walk, she took a bus.

If she wanted to be on time for her classes, the bus was necessary, even if she didn't like using the bus due to the amount of people that rode on it. After all, the last thing she wanted was to be late this far into the school year. She had a perfect attendance record, and she didn't want it to be tarnished.

Not only that, but she could use the extra time that she had in the mornings to try and find the green-haired boy she had been looking for. Her luck thus far regarding that had been piss poor. She hoped that today that would change, but she didn't keep her hopes up.

On her way into the school, just before she got to the entrance, a boy with grey hair styled in a crew cut, and wearing the school's uniform slammed into her shoulder. The two's eyes made contact with each other, her sky blue eyes staring daggers into his bright orange eyes, his eyes narrowing as she stared at him. "The fuck you lookin' at? Piss off," The boy spat, walking past her in a slouch.

"Asshole…" Yoshihara cursed under her breath. Sighing, she brushed the encounter out of her mind. No use in saying or doing anything about it. Besides, she didn't even recognize him. He was either a student who never came in on time most of the time, or he was a transfer from another school. Considering his delinquent attitude, she assumed the latter.

Yoshihara looked at the time on her phone and frowned. She wasn't going to have enough extra time to try and find the green-haired boy. It was annoying, but she guessed she wasted too much time getting ready in the morning. She blamed Kayama-san's toast for that.

Upon entering the school, she went straight to her classroom—Class 3-C—and took her seat at the back of the class. Moments later, the teacher came in, the bell rang, and classes began.

xxXXxxXXxx

To say that Izuku Midoriya was having a bad day was an understatement. Morning classes had just ended for the lunch break, and already, before he could get to his locker, one of Kacchan's friends decided it was a good time as ever to start picking on him. While he was used to it by now, that still didn't mean it was any less annoying.

The boy's name was Takime Shinguichi, and his Quirk was called Stretchy Long Fingers. The ability was in the Quirk's name. Takime had extremely long fingers that could stretch up to twenty meters in length. Any longer, however, and they'd snap back like one of those toy stretchy bands, causing knuckle pain.

Takime was your stereotypical lanky teenager. He had shoulder-length brown hair covering his eyes and an abnormally pointed chin. In terms of lankiness, the two teens were relatively similar in appearance in that regard, as Izuku was just as lanky as Takime, though unlike him he was only five foot five inches tall, whereas Takime was five foot eight inches tall. That, and Izuku's hair was more puffier than long and thin. So the only thing they had in common was their lankiness.

Both teens wore the male version of the Aldera Junior High School uniform. It was a black blazer with yellow buttons, and black pants, and while usually most kids kept with the normal black indoor sneakers, Izuku took it upon himself to wear a pair of red indoor sneakers. That way, he didn't look like he was about to attend a funeral.

But that wasn't exactly important right now. He was a little preoccupied at the moment to bother paying attention to those kinds of details. Why, you may ask? Well currently, he was being lifted into the air thanks to Takime lifting him by the collar, while another boy who was probably friends with Takime used a water Quirk to spray him—no—douse him in water.

Before, he'd used to ask why the other students did these kinds of things to him. But by now he was beyond the point of asking. He already knew the reason. It was to make him look even more like a loser than everyone already said he was. While Izuku was annoyed at his current predicament it was better than being pelted with explosions by Kacchan.

Actually? Now that he thought about it, he would've preferred that then this. At least then he could just dust off his clothes rather than having to, hopefully, get a new uniform from the staff, and that was assuming they would be generous enough to give him that.

"See, Deku?! This is what happens to Quirkless shits like you! Useless trash is all you are and ever will be!" Takime spat, dropping Izuku in the puddle of water created by his friend, who then kicked him in the ribs as a sharp pain shot through his body, making Izuku wince. After a few seconds of the pair laughing at him, they walked away satisfied with what they had done and left the once clean and non-soaked Izuku by himself.

His teachers were going to scold him for being drenched. Even if he tried to defend himself and explain what happened, they wouldn't even bother listening to him. They would just blame Izuku and move on because it was easier than having to hunt down the people who were responsible. Besides? Why would they waste time on Quirkless trash like him?

It was awful, but he was used to it. Such was his life, and there wasn't anything he could do to change it. He had resigned himself to his fate as the forever punching bag for everyone at the school. That was the price of being Quirkless—to be mocked and shamed for it. For something he wasn't even in control of.

He would forever be worth nothing to the world. Forever be seen as nothing more than a faulty product. A mistake that fell through the cracks. A hiccup in the system. It was something that he was used to being. He was used to being a mistake, a hiccup in the system.

He was destined to be a failure….

Picking himself up off the floor, Izuku made his way to a nearby bathroom in a vain attempt to dry off. As soon as he entered, he was greeted by a messy, unclean, and, more importantly, full bathroom. People were smoking out of vapes, listening to loud rock music, and… whatever the heck those groaning and moaning sounds were. He hoped it wasn't what he thought it was, but considering this school's reputation, it probably was.

"Note to self I should probably report that to the Headmaster… if he'll even take my complaint seriously, that is…." Izuku noted to himself mentally as he ventured further into the bathroom. Nobody paid him any mind, which was a good thing seeing as the last thing he wanted to have to happen to him was being called out for being soaking wet. Making his way past a few people who didn't so much as acknowledge his existence, he got what he had come for, that being a few things of paper towel.

Once he had what he had come for, he left the bathroom. As soon as he got out, he started wiping himself down, muttering under his breath about how "he'll never get dry enough before class" and "his teachers are going to rip him a new one" over and over again. It was pointless, that much he knew, but he had to at least try. That way, maybe his teacher would at least see the effort he made to dry off.

He had been so caught up in his mind that he hadn't noticed people talking about him, muttering and giggling at his expense. Another thing that he had been used to. He was going to ignore all of it, and he had been. At least, he was, until…

"Hey!"

Izuku immediately perked up at hearing someone call out to him. He saw a bunch of people, all of which staring at him like some kind of pitiable animal. It wasn't one of them, but rather, the person who had been standing in front of him.

It was a girl as was obvious by the uniform, and she was around the same height as him although he was a smidge taller. She had chin-length blonde hair, and she had sky-blue eyes. For whatever reason, a smile on her face. However, he noticed that it almost looked forced.

He knew what a forced smile looked like, hell he had worn a forced smile a lot at home to make sure his mom didn't worry about him, and that smile was a forced one. But it wasn't malicious. It was sort of like how he smiled. She was trying to push past something. Maybe mocking laughter?

That aside, Izuku sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke. "U-Uh… Are you talking to me?" Izuku asked, pointing to himself as the girl's smile faltered for a few seconds, her eyebrow raised for a split second before her expression returned to what it was before.

"Well, duh, who else would I be talking to, the invisible nudist kid behind you?" She quipped which, admittedly got a snort out of him, though the girl didn't seem to notice as she continued. "No, dummy, I'm talking to you," The blonde-haired girl said, causing Midoriya's eyes to widen.

"OH MY GOD, A GIRL'S TALKING TO ME!" Izuku thought, his mind racing a mile a minute thinking as to why she would even so much as want to look in his direction, when the girl clapped in front of him, getting his attention. "O-oh, sorry, I-I u-um…."

"No, it's okay, hey, you wanna walk and talk? I kinda don't want all these people staring at us," the girl said as Izuku stood up straight, still dripping wet with water. It was at that moment that he realized all eyes were on them, causing his face to flush red in embarrassment.

"Y-Yeah! Let's!" He felt as if he was screwing up massively, but instead of her rolling her eyes or acting like he was being a nuisance, she… giggled? Was this some sort of setup? No one in their right mind would just walk up and talk to him. Any moment now, he half expected her to turn around to beat him up.

But as they walked away and out of the hallway, she just seemed to be in her own little world, humming to herself with that same faux smile on her face. It was… almost unnerving just how normal this interaction was going. Not once did she so much as glance at him with a hint of pity in her eyes. There were no snide remarks about his appearance, no comments about how he looked nerdy, and she hadn't even addressed him by his school nickname of "Deku." There was none of that.

It was… quite nice actually.

After walking in silence for a few minutes, and after they exited the building from the rear entrance, she turned to him and kept that same faux smile on her face. He kind of wished the smile was real, it had made him think that something bad was going to end up happening to him. They were alone now, and she could do whatever heinous thing she wanted to him.

But instead of that, instead of whatever dark, depressing thing he had been thinking about, she instead asked him a question. A question that had taken him off guard.

"You're the kid from that video online. The kid who threw the bag at that sludge villain not too long ago, right?" The blonde asked, catching him off guard. There was a video? Was she here to humiliate him? He hoped not. She seemed nice, and a part of him thought they could be friends, but then he remembered what Kacchan told him a while back.

"Quirkless losers like you don't have friends, Deku! So stop following me around and saying that we're friends, 'cause we're not! And we never have been you damned loser!"

Of course, he didn't believe that. Kacchan was just in a bad mood that day. He was sure they were still friends. Even if he did use his Quirk on him whenever he so much as looked at him the wrong way. He was sure that was just a mistake….

That aside, he cleared his throat and answered her question. "U-Uh… Yeah. That was me… um, why do you ask?" As soon as he said that, the blonde pumped her fist up in the air. Why? She had a goofy grin on her face too, and this time it wasn't fake. Why was she so happy? Was it because… was it because of him? And… why was her face a little red? And, was it just him, or did her eyes just now show some form of light in them? Before they looked dull and lifeless, but now she looked… alive? Was that the right word?

And then she started to talk. Well, it was more like she had started rambling, but it was virtually the same thing.

"Dude, I can't believe I found you! Do you know how hard it was to try and track you down? I swear, even with that weird hair of yours, you blend in with everyone else here. It's nuts! I've been meaning to ask you a bunch of questions about what happened that day." As she spoke, there was an air of excitement permeating around her. It was almost as if she was meeting a hero or something along those lines.

Before he could interject, she continued. "I don't know what it was, but the way you ran in there and tried to save that kid, all the while the actual heroes who had been called there do something, but instead did nothing was awesome! Or, well, actually it was kind of upsetting since you were the one who saved that kid…. Well, before All Might swooped in, but that doesn't matter! If you hadn't been there to give the kid a chance to breathe he probably would've died, but… gah, whatever it's all semantics! I just can't believe I'm talking to you!"

Was she fangirling over him? Why? He didn't do anything remarkable. All he did was make a stupid mistake and end up getting hurt in the process. For a second there, her face lit up as if she was talking to an actual hero.

He… wasn't a hero. He was just a Quirkless loser, with nothing going for him. Well, no, that wasn't true. That wasn't true at all. He did have one thing going for him. He was going to become a hero, no matter what. He just wasn't a hero yet. After all, he was still training with All Might to prepare his body to receive his Quirk. He still had a long way to go, but until then, he was still a pitiful, useless, Quirkless loser. Just like Kacchan had told him he was.

Just like Kacchan told him he was… If it wasn't for meeting All Might, he probably would've— "Nope! Let's not and say we did, yeah?" Izuku interrupted his thoughts before clearing his throat. It was only now that he realized that the girl was still staring at him with expectant eyes, waiting for him to say something. And… again, her face was a little red.

Why was her face red? Did she have a fever or something? If she was sick, then why was she at school? That wasn't exactly healthy, now as it?

"U-Uh… are you okay? Your face is a little red…" Izuku muttered, causing the girl to stop staring and freeze up like she had been caught doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing before she looked away with an embarrassed expression on her face.

"O-Oh! Oh my god, I'm sorry. I… I'm just excited, you know. I usually don't do this. It's normal for me to just fangirl over a guy I just met, but… It still amazes me that you saved someone, all without using your Quirk!" The girl said, causing Izuku to freeze. So that was what it was. She thought he just didn't use his Quirk, not that he hadn't had one.

"Well… it was fun while it lasted, I guess…" Izuku thought solemnly as he sighed. "Oh… Um, sorry. All I did was just mess it up for the other heroes and get caught by the villain. That, and I'm Quirkless…" As soon as he said that, her expression dropped completely. She was probably going to walk away, call him a loser and maybe even spit on him for wasting her time. It was what most people did.

Whenever he told someone he was Quirkless and they didn't know, they were usually shocked. They would have a confused and shocked expression on their face—like the one on the girl's face right now—and then huff before turning away and apologizing to him. It had happened so many times, that he wasn't exactly surprised that—

He stopped that train of thought, noticing that the girl hadn't left. She was smiling. The girl was smiling. This time, it was a bit wider than the last one, and it looked a little less forced than before. It had confused Izuku more than anything else. Namely, because why was she smiling? He was a pathetic, Quirkless loser! How could anyone find that worth smiling about?

"That's so cool!" The girl exclaimed, catching Izuku even more off guard than before. "You did all of that without a Quirk! I knew there was something off in that video! Either you were Quirkless or you just didn't want to use your Quirk because of some arbitrary reason that made no sense at all whatsoever. The amount of bravery someone has to have to do something like that is more than I think most people have!"

The girl paused, humming to herself whilst she cupped her chin in thought. "Also, I'm pretty sure that if you didn't throw that bag at the villain's eyes and allowed that kid to breathe, he probably would've died. From what I saw in the video his face was starting to turn purple. You saved his life, did it in front of a bunch of people, and humiliated those lazy heroes!"

"B-But all I did was ruin the hero's approach. I-I'm not a professional, so I had no reason to step in… All I did was make things worse. I didn't help at all… I'm sorry, I'm just wasting your time…" Izuku mumbled just loud enough for the girl to hear. He had remembered what Death Arms had said to him. That he should've just left it to the professionals.

Suddenly, the girl's expression became serious, and before he could ask why, she slapped him across the cheek. But, notably, it wasn't in the same way as the other students slapped him, which had been in an attempt to try and hurt him. It was a playful slap. The kind of slap you did to someone when they were acting or saying something stupid.

"Don't say that! Did you not hear a single word I said? You were the reason that kid got to live another day. Plus, I thought it was cool of you to do that. You risked your life knowing you wouldn't get anything in return. My guardian said that doing something like that was the mark of a true hero. So don't put yourself down just because a couple of idiots don't know what they're talking about," the girl admonished, though Izuku clocked out the moment she said something that had caught him, once again, off guard. A pattern he was starting to notice with this girl.

She thought that what he had done was cool. No one, aside from his mother, thought that anything he did was cool. Most people thought that breathing the same air as him would get him to spread his Quirklessness. So for someone to say that something he did was cool… It made him feel just that much better about himself.

"She thought… that was cool?" Izuku, unknowingly, said out loud, earning him a raised eyebrow from the girl.

"Huh? Of course, I did! I mean, think about it! A Quirkless kid doing a hero's job better than the hero! How can that not be cool!" The girl said, causing him to gasp, stumbling back slightly, his face flushing with embarrassment.

"Gah, I said that out loud! Oh god, I'm sorry!"

"Stop apologizing!" The girl shouted, making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

The two stared at each other for a second, Izuku expression filled with concern as the girl glared at him for a full minute. He was about to apologize again for making her mad, when she burst out laughing, confusing Izuku even more than he already had been. Seriously, what the heck was going on?

Wiping a tear from her eye, the girl calmed down before her face lit up in realization. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. Jeez, in all the excitement of meeting you, I forgot to even introduce myself. My bad, hehe… A-hem, my name is Kira Yoshihara. It's nice to meet you, uh…." Kira gestured for him to speak, and when she did, his voice came out a bit more squeaky than he would've liked it to be.

"Ah, oh, um, my name is Midoriya Izuku. It's nice to meet you, Kira-san!" Izuku said, bowing as Kira-san giggled again, causing him to straighten himself out.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Midoriya-Kun, maybe we can talk after school—" As soon as she spoke, the bell rang, signifying them to return to class. "Oops, that's the bell, gotta go, talk to you later, Midoriya-Kun!" And with that, Kira ran off to class, leaving Izuku with a sense of confusion, more so than he had felt before.

Out of all the things to have happened today, this was not something he had expected. He had expected something far worse to happen. Instead, he met Kira Yoshihara. As that sunk in, a single burning question permeated throughout his mind.

"Did I just make a friend?"

xxXXxxXXxx

Sitting in her class, Yoshihara felt a bit flustered. Not because she was almost late, but because of what had just recently happened not but a few minutes ago.

She finally did what she had set out to do since the beginning of the semester, the thing in question having been finally getting the chance to meet Midoriya Izuku, the apparent Quirkless pariah of Aldera Junior High. When she had met him, she hadn't been expecting a socially awkward, self-belittling, and quite frankly sad individual.

Not sad as in the emotion, nor sad as in disappointing, but sad as in, he didn't have a lot of confidence in himself—hence the self-belittling he was doing back there. She was sure that it could be ironed out as their hopeful friendish continued, but it felt almost… upsetting. It was like he wasn't even trying to acknowledge his accomplishments.

It was quite concerning all things considered, though she wasn't going to assume anything. Although it was something she'd keep in mind going forward regarding Midoriya. The last thing she wanted to do was scare him off because she was coming on to him too strong. Nervous people tended to be more skittish and afraid of building meaningful relationships with others.

As she jotted down the notes on the chalkboard, all she could think about was Midoriya. He was, for all intents and purposes, a funny guy. He was a bit of a dork, and he was very, very socially awkward. That was usually something that most people avoided. Most people didn't want to put up with that kind of person, but Yoshihara was nothing if not patient with others. Sure, he was a little weird, but that was because he was just nervous, and he had little to no self-confidence.

Then came the part about him being Quirkless. That probably didn't help with the lack of self-confidence that he had. She knew how Quirkless people were treated. They were treated awfully because they were seen as mistakes by a wide majority of people. Being born Quirkless was like being born black in America during the 1800s, minus slavery. If you were Quirkless, then you were seen as less than a person in the eyes of most or lived a pitiable existence in the eyes of the rest.

Yoshihara didn't care much about that kind of stuff though. She fell into the camp of "having basic common sense" rather than the other two. Was it really so hard to treat others with dignity? Apparently so, if the way he was treated her was anything to go off of.

She wondered if he had any friends. Bah, who was she kidding? Of course, he didn't have any friends. If that was the case, she would be his friend. She honestly wouldn't have minded that. Even if she liked being alone thanks to the peace and quiet it provided, if she wanted to be a worthwhile hero then having friends that could turn into allies in the future was a good idea.

After all, making friends meant building connections. Building connections meant getting to know future partners and branching out to agencies. That was, of course, assuming Midoriya was aiming to be a hero. Quirkless or not, in her opinion, she believed that he could become one rather easily.

Sure he'd have to rely on support gear, but at least it was manageable. In the past, there were comic book heroes like Iron Man who did just that. While Midoriya's heart wasn't an artificial nuclear reactor, technology nowadays made it possible to become a hero without the use of a Quirk.

All Midoriya needed to get was a boost in confidence, and he'd be good to go. With enough confidence and smarts, anyone could be a hero. But even if he decided that being a hero wasn't for him—which considering his heart of gold made no sense to her if that video was anything to go by—knowing people her age was better than not knowing anyone.

Kayama-san did say she needed friends, after all. So at the very least, it would get her off of her back.

As Yoshihara sat in her seat, humming to herself as she tried to get the thought of Midoriya out of her head, she heard giggling coming from the opposite corner of the classroom. Her eyes quickly glanced over to where it came from, and sure enough, she saw two girls of similar appearance huddled together, both of them whispering to each other like some kind of gossip girls.

Yoshihara wasn't one to care about gossip. Most of it was immature rumours spread about to ruin other's reputations. In other words, it was something that people did to secretly make fun of other people behind the backs of others. It was scummy, and she wanted no part of it. But, seeing as they had gotten her attention, she had no reason at all to not listen in. And so, that was exactly what she did.

"Did you hear? Kira-chan talked to that Quirkless loser Deku!" The girl on the left said as the girl on the right giggled, covering her mouth like some sort of dainty princess.

"Oh my god~! Why would she ruin her reputation by talking to that defect? Oh, you don't think they're dating, do you? That would be super embarrassing~! Imagine dating someone like him. If he's defective, I can only imagine what else is defective about him," The girl on the right said as Yoshihara narrowed her eyes.

For one, no, she wasn't dating him. She just met the guy. And for two… that was just gross. This was Junior High. Not college. Then again, who was she to talk, what with her past job as a sex worker, though that was neither here nor there. A part of her wanted to jump down their throats and rip them a new one, but she also knew that getting a smear on her perfect record at school would be a bad choice.

But at the same time, protecting her new friend's dwindling dignity…

Yoshihara Frowned. If she continued to listen, she'd get far too angry to control herself. Even with her… predicament, anger seemed to be universal no matter who or what you were.

After she stopped listening, she looked up at the board, continuing to jot down the notes. The Hiragana on the board was not exactly the easiest to read—the teacher had bad penmanship—but that didn't stop her from doing her best to try and copy it down on a piece of paper.

As soon as she got the last sentence down, the bell rang, signifying the class change. As the teacher wiped down the board and made his way out of the room, Yoshihara felt someone tap on her shoulder. Glancing behind her, she saw the two girls from before who were talking about Midoriya standing behind her.

"Hey, not trying to pry or anything, but, tugging on that boy's heartstrings, ya' know, pretending to be his buddy and all, isn't that kind of cruel?" The girl on the left asked as the girl on the right, who looked identical to the girl on the left, giggled.

The two girls had short black hair, and brown eyes and both of their mouths looked like puppet mouths. These two girls were the Tiyama twins, and their shared Quirk was called Puppeteer, which allowed them to turn anyone they wanted into puppets. The activation required them to kiss their victim, so she wasn't exactly afraid of being turned into a puppet.

A side note about them was that the more they used their Quirk, the more they would progressively become more puppet-like until they too became puppets as well. The reason she knew that was that she had overheard the teacher talking about them, seeing as they got into trouble regularly. Apparently, every twenty-four hours it resets, as did they, so it wasn't like anyone would remain trapped as puppets.

"Yeah, you know that isn't nice, right? I mean, the poor guy gets led on by some many people, why would you add to the pile" The other twin said, fake sincerity in her voice and a vindictive gleam in their eyes as Yoshihara glared at them.

Bullies. She hated bullies. She couldn't stand them. To her, they were a nuisance to society. A nuisance on the same level as low-level street thugs. If she had her way with anyone who hurt those under them, or weaker than them, she'd gladly teach them a lesson they'd never forget.

A lesson that left nothing behind…

Yoshihara bit the inside of her cheek, clenching her right hand into a fist. "Keep it together Yoshihara…" She thought as she frowned, maintaining her glare as she spoke.

"What makes you think I'm pretending to be his friend? Unlike you two, I'm not a manipulative bastard. Do me a favour and scram back to your seats before the teacher catches you up and about. You wouldn't want to upset Mr. Hariyama, would you?" Yoshihara said, her voice monotone and casual as the two twins huffed, levelling glares at her before returning to their seats.

Yoshihara wasn't too fond of bullies. Before her "Quirk" awakened, she had been diagnosed as Quirkless, and for two years of her life, she was mocked and harassed by everyone around her, including her mother. It wasn't until after she fled her house that her "Quirk" awakened. All of a sudden everyone who hated her suddenly loved her and wanted to be her friend during elementary school. Of course, she ignored them and blocked them out of her life.

That was why she knew what Midoriya had most likely been going through. But unlike her, he hadn't been lucky enough to get that reprieve that she got. She genuinely felt bad for the guy, or as bad as she could feel for him, anyway.

There was no doubt in her mind that he was getting bullied—after all, being called a pariah wasn't a good thing, and it often led to a lot of negative attention. And in her mind, Bullies were just that, bullies. They could never be friends, nor could they be trusted. Oh, sure, they could be redeemed, but Yoshihara was petty. Very, very petty and would count even the smallest things as mistakes for their potential redemption.

What the twins said was objectively wrong. But it did get her to think about her meeting with Midoriya, and when she did, she felt a little bad for just introducing herself to him and then leaving as soon as the end of lunch bell rang. That was why she had been hoping that he would show up at the entrance after school so that she could make it up to him.

Of course, then there was the part where she had practically embarrassed herself in front of him, which was something she would never let herself get over. Yoshihara never fangirled over anyone's actions at all in her entire life, even All Might's. So for her to just… do that in front of a guy she didn't know the name of made her feel uncomfortable and it probably made him feel uncomfortable, too.

At the same time though, she saw what he did to be extremely cool. He saved a kid's life while the heroes did nothing about it. Sure, All Might swooped in right in time to take out the villain like he always did, but even from the angle of the camera that the guy had recorded, she could see just how purple the hostage's skin was. Just a single moment more, and that kid would've been dead.

It wasn't anyone else's doing that saved that boy. It wasn't a hero with a Quirk that saved that kid, but rather it was plain old, Quirkless Izuku Midoriya. Some random who had just appeared out of nowhere to try his best to help someone when no one else could or would.

She didn't know what happened to him after the fact, but she hoped Izuku got a lot of applause or maybe a tip or two from the pros on the scene because if it weren't anything but that, she'd be pretty angry otherwise. Then again, there wasn't much Yoshihara would be able to do about it if that hadn't been the case.

"Still…. That was pretty cool of him to do."

Her thoughts were broken by the sound of chalk scribbling against a blackboard, and the sound of Mr. Hariyama's low voice talking about today's lesson filled the room. Grabbing her binder from under her desk, she pulled it out, opened it, took out a piece of paper, and began to write down what the teacher was putting on the board as instructed.

Not much happened aside from that. As a result, the class went by faster than usual, seeing as she was focused more than she typically was. Frankly, she just wanted to get outside and see if Midoriya would show up. If he didn't, then she wouldn't be too upset. Though she would be a little annoyed. Although, considering the kind of guy he was, that being a nervous wreck, maybe it would've been better if she approached him instead.

When the bell rang, she quickly packed all of her stuff into her bag, and then, just before she could leave, the sound of an explosion rippled out through the school, causing the other students to stand up. Muttering began to spread through the rest of the class as the teacher clapped, getting everyone's attention.

"Don't mind that. It's just Bakugo-Kun. He's most likely venting again. Everyone, remember, today's assignment is simple. Please use the textbook if you have to. This is due Friday. After that, we'll take the next week off of work and watch some movies. Then you'll graduate. Everyone, have a good day!" The teacher said as everyone bowed out for the day.

"Someone else who can use explosions, eh? Interesting…" Yoshihara thought, glancing across the hall. The classroom adjacent to hers was the class the loud boom had come from. Stepping out of her classroom, bag in hand, she watched as the door opened, revealing the inside of the classroom to be a mess, and for Midoriya to be looking scared up, terror on his face as a blond-haired boy glared at him, sparks flying off of his palms as he scowled.

"Listen here, shitty Deku. If you don't pull your fucking application from U.A., I'll make you wish you hadn't, ya understand?" The blond boy growled, which caused Yoshihara to clench her fist in a seething anger that smouldered in her very soul. She might not've known Midoryia for more than a few minutes, but if there was one thing that she couldn't stand, it was bullies. And that kid was the textbook example of one.

Walking into the other classroom, she narrowed her eyes at the blond-haired kid before clearing her throat and catching his attention. "Hey, asshole. Look over here!"

As soon as she said that, the blond-haired boy did as she asked, followed by everyone else in the room as muttering began to erupt from the other students in the class. He was tall, with blond spiky hair that erupted out in every which way, kind of like Midoriya's hair.

His uniform was sloppy, and his buttons were mostly undone near the top of his blazer. He gave off the exact kind of aura she had expected a guy like him to give off, that being of a complete and total asshole. Crimson-red eyes met sky-blue eyes as the blond-haired boy snarled, glaring at Yoshihara with enough vitriol to drown out an entire city.

"The fuck do you-"

Before he could continue his sentence, a pink, black-gloved arm zoomed out from Yoshihara's shoulder as a fist slammed into the boy's face, blood exploding from his nose as the boy was sent flying back into the wall near the windows, smashing through two desks as Izuku looked at her wide-eyed.

A violent pink aura flared around Yoshihara as the class gasped and muttered more. The boy began to stand up, only for Yoshihara to close the distance, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, angry blue eyes burrowing into his, blood leaking down his lip and nose as he stared up at her, dazed but angered.

"Now you listen to me, asshole, if I hear another threat towards Midoriya one more time, next time, I'll punch you so hard that the wall won't save you from falling, do I make myself clear?" Yoshihara spat as the boy didn't speak. Instead, he placed a hand between them, and before Yoshihara could do or say anything, an explosion erupted between the two, knocking Yoshihara away from the boy as she stumbled back, catching herself before she fell from the pain in her chest.

The blond-haired boy snarled at Yoshihara, rubbing his nose as he grunted. Flecks of blood covered his fist as he scoffed, glaring at her as he cracked his neck from side to side, spitting out blood from his mouth.

"Whatever, fuckin' extra. Defend Deku all you want, but you just earned a target on your back, watch yourself, bitch," the blond snarled, grabbing his bag as he wiped his nose and mouth. All the teacher could do was stare with wide eyes as Yoshihara's aura died down. She coughed into her hand as Izuku scampered over to her, a worried expression on his face as he grabbed her shoulder.

"Kira-san, are you-"

"I'm fine, Midoriya-Kun. Let's go," Yoshihara said, shrugging the boy off of her, and sending a glare in the teacher's direction. The man immediately shrunk in on himself, which only made Yoshihara's glare worse.

"You watched a poor, defenceless student get bullied, and it took another student to step in to stop it. You're a disgrace to the profession of being a teacher, and you should be ashamed." With her peace having been said, Yoshihara grabbed Midoriya's hand, dragging him out of the classroom as Izuku was just barely able to grab his bag just before they left the room.

Upon making it out of the room, Yoshihara let go of his hand as they walked. She had more of a sense of annoyance in her step, whereas Izuku was more anxious. How dare that teacher just stand there and let something like that happen? She knew the Quirkless were treated like trash, but even then, it was the teacher's job to stop that kind of behaviour!

"I wonder how that man sleeps at night. You know what? Now that I think about it, seeing as he let that happen the way that it did., he probably sleeps just fine. What an absolute waste of space…" Yoshihara thought as the pair exited the school. As they did, Midoriya finally spoke up.

"Y-You know, you r-really didn't have t-to do that Kira-san…." As soon as Izuku said that, Yoshihara stopped, causing the soft-spoken boy to make an "eep" sound as she turned around to face him.

"Midoriya, let me level with you. I may not know you that well, but you strike me as the kind of guy who wants to be a hero. So, correct me if I'm wrong, but you want to go to U.A., yeah? I mean, that asshole said that you had applied, so I'm not just spitting nonsense, right?" Yoshihara asked as Midoriya sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

"I know… pretty stupid, right? But I made a promise to someone, so I can't break it. I'm going to go to U.A. regardless of what anyone says!" As soon as Midoriya made his proclamation, Yoshihara poked him in the chest, hard, making him stammer.

"Oh yeah? Well then, as your one and assumedly only friend, it's my job to push you. Besides, you look like you could use it. From what I saw back there, to me, that doesn't look like someone who's ready to go to U.A. Not to be rude, but you don't look like you've trained a single day in your life. But, that's beside the point. So, you know what I want you to do?" Yoshihara asked as Midoriya chuckled nervously.

"U-uh… what do you want me to do?" He asked, trepidation in his tone of voice as Yoshihara put both of her hands on her hips, staring him down with an almost expectant gleam in her eyes.

"I want you to prove to me you got what it takes. By the end of this semester, once we all graduate, I want you to stand up to that bastard I just punched in the face and say, "I'm going to U.A., and there is nothing you can do to stop me," to his face without stuttering, or flinching, or in any weak-ass muttering voice. I want to hear that from my classroom across the hall. Think you can do that?" Yoshihara challenged as Midoriya swallowed, looking at the ground with a dejected expression.

"But… Kacchan is also my friend…." Midoriya muttered, causing Yoshihara to raise an eyebrow.

"Then, where the hell was this "Kacchan" when you were getting bullied by that blond prick?" Yoshihara asked as Izuku looked away, shame written all over his face. Yoshihara raised an eyebrow in confusion, and just as she was about to ask, Midoriya spoke up.

"That was Kacchan…." It was at this point that Yoshihara pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out an annoyed sigh. The world just seemed to hate this kid, didn't it? Stockholm syndrome was a bitch, wasn't it?

"This poor guy…." Yoshihara thought, gritting her teeth beneath her lips, before facing Midoriya with a steely-eyed stare. There was no way he genuinely thought that this "Kacchan" person was his friend, right? That just seemed stupidly optimistic and or outright wishful thinking. Because what she saw back there were not the actions of a friend. They were the actions of someone who wanted him dead.

"Midoriya, I'm just gonna say it like I saw it. That guy wasn't your friend. I'm sorry I have to be the one who tells you this, but that asshole was not, nor will he ever be your friend. He's just an asshole who probably gets off by pushing you around. If you thought that guy was your friend, then I'd hate to see what you think a bully is," Yoshihara said dryly, causing Midoriya to flinch.

"But—"

"No "buts," Midoriya. He isn't your friend. The sooner you realize that the better you're life will be. Okay?" Yoshihara stated, turning around as she began to walk away. "I have a bus to catch. I gave you my number. It's in your blazer pocket. Call me!" Yoshihara called out, running to catch her train as she heard the flabbergasted voice of Midoriya off in the distance, letting out a small chuckle as she left.

Meanwhile, back in the school, a boy in class 3-B sat all by his lonesome, his purple hair styled like that of a pompadour as he looked at a picture of a blonde-haired girl. The picture was taken in the morning, around the time she had exited a Love Hotel named Love Love Deluxe. The boy wasn't going to pry into the reason as to why, though he had admittedly been curious.

The girl in the photo was wearing the Aldera Junior High School uniform, and the girl in the photo shared a striking simulatary with the person who had just stormed out of Classroom 3-A just a few moments ago. If he hadn't known any better, he would say they were the same person. And if that was the case… if the information he had on her was correct….

The boy frowned, staring out into the hallway as he stuffed the photo into his blazer pocket. "There's no doubt about it. She's a Stand User." And without any other words, the purple-haired boy grabbed his backpack and walked out of the classroom he was in. He had a job to do.

-To Be Continued-