The following morning started with a bang...which was the sound of (Y/n) hitting the floor when she tripped on her covers while getting out of bed.

Sort of expected because the unexpected happened: Aizawa, All Might and Midnight strolled into the dormitories and knocked on everyone's doors at five-thirty in the morning with the excuse that they had to get up bright early so that they'd be able to make to Isami latest at eight and in time for their first lesson, which started at eight forty-five.

Reasonable as Isami was an hour away from their school.

After being given strictly one hour to prepare themselves, eat their breakfast and pack their books and costumes, the students, both from class 1-A and 1-B, met at the buses by six-thirty. They were quickly briefed by Aizawa and Vlad King, who didn't have much to say other than 'behave and don't cause trouble'. When they were done, the students lined up to pack their bags into the bus compartment before boarding the bus to find their seats.

(Y/n) covered her mouth to yawn. Blinking away the tears that had gathered in her lidded eyes, she looked around the parking lot. Parked in front of their bus was Class 1-B's, with its students similarly waiting in line to pack their bags and board the bus.

Getting a good look at them, she noticed that they too weren't so pleased with the morning's rude awakening. I mean even the sun wasn't out and yet there they were, out in the cold, freezing their asses off while sleepy as fuck.

If only she knew, she wouldn't have done that movie marathon with Shouto until midnight.

Averting her eyes away from the class 1-B's students and back to the steadily moving line, she groaned.

"God, I could fuck a coffee right now."

Her fellow classmates, who had been unnaturally silent, murmured in agreement.

Scoffing under her breath, she tucked her freezing hands into the pockets of her jacket.

Finally, she made it into the bus along with a few others. While at the front, she spotted an empty seat in the middle row and was grateful that at least one good thing that came out of that morning was finding a seat next to the window. Passing by Jirou and Yaoyorozu, who occupied the seat in front of hers, she sent them a small wave, which was returned.

Gripping the top of Jirou's headrest, she used it for balance to swing into the seat before scooting over to the window. She leaned her head back against the chair and looked up at the bus' lit up ceiling. Slightly turning her head to the side, she watched as the rest continued boarding the bus.

When she saw familiar tufts of spiky, ash blonde hair appear as the owner boarded the bus, she frowned. Despite common sense to avert her eyes away before he could see her, they remained glued on him as he walked down the aisle to find a seat.

It was dawn. She was unwillingly awake. She was tired. She had zero fucks to give.

Katsuki decided to sit next to Tokoyami and was just about to plop himself down in the seat when he caught a pair of eyes staring at him from the corner of his eye. Snapping his gaze to the culprit, he found (Y/n)'s dead eyes boring into him.

His eyes narrowed at the girl in a challenge. (Y/n)'s flat expression didn't change and she didn't attempt to break the eye contact. No movement was made, no words were said.

Then:

She raised her middle finger.

Katsuki's eyes widened, taken aback by the bold gesture. His upper lip curling in a snarl, he made to turn so as to stomp over towards her when an arm extended out in front of him, blocking him from going any further. Turning to the arm's owner, he was met with a sheepish smile.

"Don't mind me," Uraraka said as she squeezed through the narrow space between him and the seats on the opposite side. "Just passing through."

Katsuki glowered at the back of the brunette's head while she made her way to the empty seat next to (Y/n). His eyes then fell back on (Y/n). She wasn't looking at him anymore but at Uraraka, who was greeting her as she took a seat.

Clicking his tongue, he also sat down before he began holding up the line. Crossing his arms over his chest, he leaned his head back against his seat and closed his eyes. His lips twisted into a scowl and his eyebrows drew closer together, causing deep, vertical lines to appear in the middle.

That was too fucking close. If it hadn't been for annoying Round face, he would've opened his fucking mouth and damned it all to hell.

"Oh God," Uraraka leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes with a loud sigh. "Did they have to wake us so early?" raising both arms over her head in a stretch. "We don't even wake up this early when we're going for normal classes."

Silently agreeing with her, (Y/n) leaned her cheek against the cold surface of the window and stared lifelessly into the distance.

"I could've been in my bed right now," she despaired, more to herself than to Uraraka. With every word she spoke, her warm breath would fog up the patch of glass closer to her mouth. "I would've been on my fifth dream."

Uraraka put down her arms and folded them over her stomach. She sent the girl next to a sideways glance. "Yeah, well, too bad."

"Morning Uraraka!"

Said girl looked up at the person who had stopped next to their seat and her face brightly lit up.

"Oh, Deku!" a small blush accentuated her rosy cheeks. "Morning."

(Y/n), whose heart had long ago stopped working once she heard his voice, kept her now wide awake eyes out the window as if something outside was the most interesting thing she'd ever seen. Maybe if she stayed like that for a few more seconds, he'd quickly move on to his seat.

"Hi (Y/n)."

Well, fuck my life.

While internally screeching like a pterodactyl, (Y/n) reluctantly straightened up and turned to Midoriya.

He had on a shy smile. Even in spite of the fact that they had woken up before the rest of the world, he still looked refreshing with his green curls crowning his head, the freckles that dotted his maturing but still baby face and his beautiful round, emerald eyes that peered expectantly back at her own panicking (e/c) ones.

"How, um," he paused to clear his throat. His smile steadily widened as he gathered confidence. "How are you? This morning..."

Well, fuck me.

Rendered speechless while trying to compute why he was greeting her, why he was blessing her with his smile and why his hair looked so gorgeous in the morning at the same time, (Y/n)'s lips dumbly parted as her brain began to short wire. She felt Uraraka's gaze fall on her and combined with Midoriya's waiting ones, the pressure on her started to become unbearable. She realized that she had to answer. And fast.

"I'm thanks!"

...

Letting out a puzzled 'huh?', Midoriya tilted his head to the side. Uraraka choked down a loud snort and she looked down at her lap, her lips tightly pursed to prevent herself from bursting out laughing.

A fierce blush crept up (Y/n)'s face when it dawned on her what she had said. She smacked her cold hands to her cheeks and turned away from him. She could've heard the small apology Uraraka had given Midoriya on her behalf and the disheartened sigh Midoriya released when he left for his seat if she weren't busy simmering in her internal self-loathing.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuuuuuuccckkkk! (Y/n) repeatedly cursed as her nails dug into her heated up cheeks. Her heart was still threatening to break her rib cage over how fast it was beating but that was the least of her problems at that moment. Her main problem was her useless brain.

Oh my God! What is wrong with me?! I'm thanks?! Why would I say that?! This is so embarrassing!! Why can't the ground just open up and swallow me alive...but why did he have to say hi. Why did he have to say hi?? Her eyes widened with a silent gasp escaping her lips. Her blush intensified. Oh God, he said hi to me and smiled at me. He smiled at me!! Maybe he-no! Don't go there (Y/n)! You're just having an overreaction to a simple greeting. I mean how many times has he said hi to you?! Even though this one sounded more concerned and thoughtful and-Ahhhh!!!

Screwing her eyes shut, she mentally squealed in happiness. Seeming to have gotten over her earlier humiliation after managing to overthink a simple greeting and turning it into something worth throwing a party over, (Y/n)'s spirits soared higher than a kite. Nothing could spoil her day now.

Uraraka stared at (Y/n), like she had been for a while. A ghost of a smile remained on her lips.

"Uraraka?"

The brunette turned her attention away from the fangirling female to look up at the girl standing next to her seat.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Can I borrow your seat for a bit?" Mina requested with a smile.

Knitting her eyebrows, Uraraka went to speak but Mina stopped her with a raised finger.

"It's just for a few minutes, please," she said. She then bent forward, leaning closer to her to whisper. "I need to talk to her about something important," straightening up, she gestured towards one of the seats at the front. "Meanwhile, you can sit with Tsuyu while you wait."

"Um," Uraraka sent (Y/n) an unsure glance. The girl had heard Mina's request and had long ago snapped out of her daydream to listen to what she wanted. Looking back at Uraraka, she reciprocated with a shrug. Sighing, Uraraka turned back to Mina and lifted her shoulder in a shrug. "I guess, okay?"

Mina put her hands together in a grateful manner. "Awesome. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Uraraka said as she got up from the seat. Mina stepped aside to give her some space to pass before quickly sliding into the empty seat next to (Y/n).

"Yo!" she chirruped.

(Y/n) grinned at the enthusiastic greeting. "Yo."

The pink-haired girl let out a low hum, the corners of her lips stretching into a grin.

Feeling a bit self-conscious, (Y/n) forced out an uncomfortable chuckle. "What?"

"Nothing much. You just...seem like you're in a much better mood today," the girl pointed out with a careless shrug. She then delved in the pocket of her jacket and fished out a box. Popping it open, she offered it to (Y/n). "Pocky?"

Muttering a 'thanks', (Y/n) humbly took one out and popped the end of it in her mouth. The sweet taste of chocolate danced on her tongue, raising her spirits further as she savored it.

Smiling to herself, she looked out the window. They had begun moving. Holding onto the end, she broke off a piece of the stick before turning back to Mina.

"So, what was it you wanted to talk about?" she asked between chews.

Mina's expression dulled, causing (Y/n)'s forehead to crease in concern.

"It's...about yesterday," the girl started. "I'm sorry about what happened."

"Oh," (Y/n) said. She then broke another piece in her mouth. "It wasn't any of your fault, Mina. So you don't have to apologize."

"Yeah well, Bakugou is my friend and what he did kinda makes me look bad...In a lot more ways than one so..." she shrugged and started playing around with the box, watching as the sticks moved from side to side inside. "I'm sorry about all that."

What does she mean in a lot more ways than one? (Y/n) swallowed. She went to open her mouth to ask when Mina held up her finger, much like she did with Uraraka, and began speaking before she did.

"And before you say anything, I just wanna let you know that-" Mina placed a hand on her chest. "-we, as his friends and squad, took the responsibility of reprimanding him and making sure that such a thing never happens again."

(Y/n) scoffed a disbelieving laugh and glanced outside the window. Well, that wasn't what she wanted to ask or cared to know but sure. "How can you make sure such a thing never happens? I mean it's him. He never listens to anyone." Even his own mother.

"He will this time."

Sending a sidelong glance at the girl, she heaved out an exhale through her nose before shoving the rest of the pocky in her mouth. She then started to rub her fingers together to dust off the small biscuit crumbs from her fingers with a frown forming on her lips. It was nice of them to scold Katsuki over what he did, probably would explain why he didn't go off on her when she flipped him off but, why go through the trouble?

"It's not like it matters..." she muttered under her breath. Apparently, it wasn't loud enough for only her to hear as Mina had caught her words.

"It doesn't?" Mina tilted her head forwards to try and get (Y/n) to look at her as she wasn't making eye contact with her. She opened her mouth to add something else but instantly snapped her it shut. Her eyebrows then furrowed as she debated with herself. Finally coming to terms with her conclusion, she asked. "(Y/n), don't you...have feelings for him?"

(Y/n)'s eyes darted up from her fingers, her fingers pausing from rubbing each other.

Mina, having caught on to that small action which spoke a lot of volumes, quickly backtracked before things got tense.

"I-I'm...guessing that's a, um, sensitive question to ask at this time, ha ha..." inwardly scolding herself for asking such a question, Mina placed the pocky box on her lap and put her hands together with a smile gracing her lips. "But, how about I make it up to you on his behalf?"

(Y/n) folded her hands on her lap and shook her head. "No, it's alright. You don't have to," she sent Mina a sympathetic look. "Dealing with him must've been already enough and I don't wanna put you through the trouble."

"Psh," Mina waved her off and laughed. "What are you talking about? Scolding Bakugou was one of the best things I've ever done in ages."

The corner of the (h/c)-haired girl's lips tugged up in a lopsided grin.

"So, how about it? Hmm? Movie this Friday? Your pick. And don't worry. I'll handle everything from the bus fare, the snacks, the drinks, the tickets...the snacks..."

(Y/n) let out an airy laugh and leaned her head back in her seat. "Mina..."

"Come on, (Y/n)," Mina placed a warm, pleading hand on (Y/n)'s folded ones. "You gotta let yourself be treated nicely once in a while, you know?"

"Yeah, well," the girl glanced at the hand. "When you get treated like you're nobody by most people for like half your life," she looked outside the window with dull eyes. "You pretty much get surprised when someone sees you. And that kinda makes you gullible, coz you never know what kind of shit you'll get into once you finally accept those nice things."

Mina pursed her lips and slowly took off her hand from on top of (Y/n)'s. Taking the pocky stick box in her hands, she frowned to herself. She didn't need to be told, she already knew that she wasn't so innocent on the matter. Hell, she hasn't been innocent, to begin with. Constantly swarming (Y/n) with teasing and wrongful assumptions of her and Katsuki was her first wrongdoing. And here she was, adding another.

Plastering a believable smile on her face, she tapped on (Y/n)'s shoulder and the girl turned to her. "But I'm here to change that, aren't I? So, please accept my offer."

(Y/n) chewed on the inside of her cheek as she considered it for a moment. She figured a movie wouldn't hurt. Especially if it's all paid for.

Sighing, she nodded. "Fine," she then added with a pointed look. "But I'm picking the movie, right?"

"You're picking the movie."

"Cool, I can get behind that."

Mina nodded to herself.

"Well, thank you for having this talk with me," she said, causing (Y/n) to chuckle.

"You're welcome."

"Gotta go back to my seat now," tucking the pocky stick box back into her pocket, she rose up from the seat. She sent the girl a wave. "Bye!"

(Y/n) returned the gesture before turning to look back outside the window. A tiny frown tugged at her lips.

She should've taken more than one pocky stick.

"I'm back!" Uraraka announced while she plopped next to the girl. She beamed at her. "Missed me?"

(Y/n) sent her a funny look.

Meanwhile, Mina settled back in her seat, which was next to the window, and after exchanging a few words with Tsuyu, she took out her phone from her other pocket. Opening up the messaging app, she quickly sent a text.

Mina:
She's in the bag 😜

***

Alien Queen👽👽:
She's in the bag 😜

Kaminari's phone chimed in his hands.

He held it up, his eyes landing on the message that had popped up on his screen and smirked.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we got her. Now for the hard part," Kaminari muttered under his breath before pushing the pocky stick to one corner of his mouth with his tongue. He lightly nudged Kirishima's side with his elbow and angled the phone's screen towards him for him to read the message. "Your move, bro."

Kirishima took the phone and read it. He let out a satisfactory hum, a smile growing on his lips. Looking up from the phone, he went to say something to the boy when another chime sounded off from Kaminari's phone.

He looked back at the phone and saw another additional text from Mina popping under the previous one. On reading the first five words, a line appeared between his brows.

He stopped himself before he could finish.

"Oh, hey, she sent another text," the redhead said and sent Kaminari a sideways glance. Kaminari broke off the end of the pocky stick and leaned closer to the redhead to read it. Kirishima moved the phone in between them so that they could read it together.

Alien Queen👽👽:
Not that I'm backing out or anything but are you sure we should go through with this? Especially after everything Baku told us? She won't be happy ya know

Kirishima and Kaminari exchanged looks. Kaminari, who was slowly chewing, shrugged before leaning back in his seat to finish his biscuit. Kirishima understood his non-verbal cue and looked back down at the phone in his hands.

Setting his mouth in a hard line, he tapped on the messages, bringing him to the messaging app so that he could reply to her.

Kaminari:
Long text coming up right now-Kiri

Kaminari:
I know it's hard. K? But we're not the ones trying to change her perspective of him. What we're doing is simply setting the scene and giving him support, like a coach. Whether he listens to the advice and changes for the better is all him. Remember, you can lead the horse to the river but you can't make him drink. At least if everything fails, we'll give up knowing that we tried our best and that the problem is him ignoring his issues and not him failing to get help on something he's not familiar with-Kiri

Kaminari:
So, yeah, I'm positive about this-Kiri

Once he hit send, he returned the phone to the strawberry blonde to read the sent texts. Also leaning back in his seat, Kirishima grabbed one pocky stick from the box that was on Kaminari's lap and put one end of it in his mouth.

Looking back at Kaminari's phone, he saw his fingers nimbly gliding over the virtual keyboard as he composed his own texts to send to her. He read through them while the boy typed.

Kaminari:
It's me now. Don't feel bad about it. If Kiri fails to convince Bakugou, we drop it and look for anotha way to get em in the same room without makin it easier for any of them to escape

Kaminari:
But if he says yes, then it's all systems go

***

Pika⚡⚡:
But if he says yes, then it's all systems go

Mina stared at the last message and blew out her cheeks. She pressed her phone to her chest and looked outside the window at the trees whizzing past them. She still couldn't come to terms with what Katsuki had told them the previous night, right from (Y/n)'s confession down to the last interaction he had with her before their public argument. It wasn't her place to judge but it'd take a lot of effort and a forgiving heart to look past all that. But maybe (Y/n) was different than what she gave her credit for.

People make mistakes and Katsuki was no exception. If given a second chance to correct it all, maybe he would. He was her friend and despite her doubts, she wasn't about to give up on him without going Plus Ultra on his emotionally-constipated ass, as cheesy as it sounded.

Placing her phone face down on her lap, she leaned her head against the window to watch the outside pass by while her cluttered mind swirled with different thoughts.

***

"Welcome!" a pudgy, short man announced while he spread his arms wide. "Welcome, esteemed UA students to our humble school, Isami High! It is such a pleasure and an honor to have you here!" he gestured to himself. "I am Mr. Ogino Kin, but known around here as Principal Ogino. We're most glad to host you!"

A couple of 'thanks', 'thank you' and 'yeah sure' came from the first-year students as they diverted between listening to the Isami principal and taking in their new surroundings. Gathered at the front gate, they noted that the school compound was much smaller compared to UA's. If (Y/n) could make a better comparison, she'd say it reminded her a lot of her middle school, but with more trees, more lampposts, and a taller fence around it. And unlike UA, each year didn't have their own door leading to their classes but shared a humongous, castle style, iron double door stationed at the center of the building's entrance. The school's building itself wasn't also large, more like four times smaller than theirs, made of brick and giving off a country vibe in relation to the general quietness of the surroundings and the fact that it was within the outskirts of the city.

She wasn't the only one who thought it, ninety-five percent of the students also thought it; they were in a totally different scene.

"I'm sure you all know why we're here," the principal continued. "We'll be administering a benchmarking between your school and ours today and I can assure you that you will get the most out of this activity. If you take a good look around, you will notice that there's a difference to the usual learning atmosphere you're used to."

Yeah, no doubt. The students thought in unison.

"But not to worry," Principal Ogino chuckled and entwined his fingers together in front of him and rested them on his potbelly. "What we learn here is the same as what you learn in school. Even though we only offer the Hero course here unlike you, we do it so that we can focus on teaching only the best of heroics to the students and getting the most out of them."

(Y/n) was slowly getting bored with the man's droning voice. Sighing, she shifted her weight to her other foot. She was also getting tired of standing, especially with the weight of her bag on her back and the costume briefcase in her hands weighing her down. She decided to look around at her other classmates to see if she was the only one who was bored.

Half of the population was no better. Kaminari was worse. He was half asleep, with his forehead leaning against Kirishima's back, in between his shoulder blades. He had taken advantage of Kirishima's kindness and taller form to hide behind him as he snoozed away like the dumbass he was.

(Y/n) shook her head with a small smile on her lips. She looked away from them and back at Principal Ogino. She then glanced back at Kaminari, only to do a double-take when her eyes met with green ones staring back at her.

She felt a sharp thump in her heart, the force and shock nearly punching all air from her chest. She looked over her shoulder to see who he was looking at. Tokoyami was the only person next to her, having had stood at the edge of the group. After him, there was no one. Which could only mean, either he was staring at her or Tokoyami. Puzzled, she turned back to Midoriya.

The boy rose a hand, being careful not to raise it so high, and sent a shy wave at her. (Y/n)'s eyebrows rose, her mouth parting in a silent gasp. Shifting her briefcase to carry it in one hand, she sent back her own unconfident wave.

The return of the gesture made Midoriya's eyes gleam, both in surprise and joy that she had actually reciprocated.

None of them could find the urge to look away from one another. There were about six people in between them but their tunnel visions were only focused on each other.

Being the first to snap out his daze, the freckled teen smiled and subtly tilted his head towards the duo standing among the people between them. (Y/n)'s eyebrows furrowed together as she followed his line of vision to see who he was referring to. Upon seeing that it was Kaminari, who had now begun to drool, she snorted.

The sound pierced through the silence, garnering unwanted attention on her as some of the students next to her snapped their heads towards her. Embarrassed, (Y/n) cleared her throat and shook her head at them to say 'it's nothing'. Probably passing her off as weird for finding something funny in the boring ass speech, the students resumed listening to Principal Ogino.

The embarrassment started to slowly ebb away and (Y/n) glanced back at Midoriya's direction. He was still smiling, albeit apologetically. The girl shrugged, her own smile growing the longer she looked at him.

Briefly glancing at the cobblestone ground beneath her feet, she tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. She bit her bottom lip and looked back at him. Her eyes darted to the front of their group where the teachers were standing and made a blah blah gesture with her hand. She then pouted.

Midoriya nodded then started to pretend like he was dozing off. (Y/n) nearly snorted again. She also noted that Midoriya was struggling to hold in his laughs. Quickly looking to see if any of the teachers had noticed them and finding none, she looked back at the freckled teen and held a finger up to her lips before pointing to the front.

Midoriya's eyes widened a bit and his mouth went into a silent 'ohhh'. Nodding, he turned away from her to focus on the speech. His smile, though, remained.

(Y/n) spared him one last sidelong glance before doing the same. Feeling the butterflies swarm wildly in her stomach, she pursed her lips to stop her smile from growing as a blooming red color remained on her cheeks.

"Now without further ado, let's have one last word from your teachers before we start," Principal Ogino, thank God, concluded his speech and gestured at two men, Aizawa and Vlad King, standing beside him.

"Alright," Aizawa began, his voice throaty and toneless. "From what he said, you're going to be divided. Class 1-A will be joining one of the first-year classes and class 1-B the same. You'll be learning alongside them. For the rest of the day, I want you to maintain the highest form of discipline. I don't want to hear anything that ranges from disrespecting the other students to fighting with them. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

The tired man looked at Vlad King to say something, who instead simply folded his arms and shook his head.

"Good," Aizawa said. "Now follow Principal Ogino. He'll be guiding you to the class. Meanwhile, we'll be in the teachers' lounge...lounging."

"Alright students! If that's all," Grinning brightly while turning his body to the side to give the students a clear view of the entrance, Principal Ogino stretched his arm towards the large, open doors. "Let's begin the day!"

***

Not to sound dramatic but I think I nearly used up all my remaining brain cells rewriting this chapter seven times. Damn, I cut so many scenes out, enough to write two chapters ^^;