Third person pov

"It's always so crowded in here." Ochaco said as they stepped away from the food line. Lillian clutched a bowl of seasoned fried rice and a drink, glancing around nervously in search of Shinso.

"That's because students in the support, management, and hero courses all share the same cafeteria." Iida revealed. Lillian had walked down with him, Ochaco, and Midoriya. She'd gotten acquainted with the green-haired boy, but their conversations were odd. Spiels of apologies would escape them, and they were both far too nervous to initiate eye contact. Ochaco seemed to think it the funniest thing on the planet, and didn't hesitate to practically keel over laughing.

"She's like a girl version of you, sorta!" Ochaco had hooted on their way down. "She even has freckles!"

"Lillian." A cool voice said. The girl turned, brightening when she saw Shinso. He looked a bit nervous, as though calling her out was wrong. With a quiet goodbye to a distracted Ochaco, she'd slipped away from her small group classmates and bounced right over to him with new-found vigor. Shinso was calming in a way she couldn't place, and she liked that about him.

"S-Shinso!" She greeted cheerfully, eyes shining. He was so nonchalant, she felt she could really ask about his quirk without annoying him. He was just that kind of guy. The go-with-the-flow type that really didn't judge. Not that she thought her classmates were judgmental! No, not at all! They were all very kind people who would surely never thing in such a way about her.

"Are you alright?" Shinso raised an eyebrow. "You can go eat with your friends, if you want."

"N-No, I want to eat with you!" She assured. "I-If you still want to. I-If you don't, that's fine! I wouldn't want to p-pressure you into it by accident. N-Not that I would ever try and d-do that on purpose. And th-that's not to say that you'd e-ever let yourself get pressured, of course!" She panicked. He snorted lightly at her.

"Calm down." He smiled a little. "It's nice to have some company when I eat."

Lillian calmed down a little, offering an embarrassed smile when she realized she'd rambled again. Shinso returned it with a small twitch of the lips, though Lillian didn't take offense to it. She was quickly beginning to see that Shinso was a man of few words and of even fewer smiles. Not unlike Aizawa-sensei, she noted to herself. They actually appeared quite similar. Between the bags under their eyes, and the messy hair. Not that Shinso's hair looked bad in the messy fashion, of course! She actually thought it suited him quite well!

"You're zoning out again." Shinso mused as he sat down. She blinked, a bit of panic shooting down her spine and dancing along her ribs.

"Y-You have nice hair!" Lillian sputtered out, quickly looking horrified with herself. She nearly dropped her bowl of rice, and Shinso couldn't hide his surprised look, his hands twitching. With a small smile, he shook his head a little in an exasperated manner.

"Thanks." He said, clearly amused. Lillian ducked her head, her cheeks burning with embarrassment as she set down her food.

"S-Sorry." She stuttered out quietly. "That was rather rude of me."

"It was rude of you to compliment my hair?" Shinso asked dryly, though the mirth Lillian saw when she glanced up and met his eyes told her he wasn't annoyed with her, but rather that he was finding hilarity in her actions. Lillian took a deep breath. Now that she thought about it, Bakugo seemed to be the only one enraged by her stuttering. Which really wasn't saying much if you looked at how often Bakugo happened to get angry... not that her stuttering isn't annoying, of course!

"N-No! Just, ah..." She trailed off sheepishly. "Sorry. I-I'm... not that great at talking."

"You're doing fine." His tone was simple but assuring. He glanced at his classmates, some of which were glancing over. "So, I was wondering more about your quirk. Freeze Frame." 

Lillian looked up at this, blinking at him curiously. "Can you freeze one thing? Or does everything stop." Shinso asked in that same, level tone of his that makes him sound like he knows exactly what he's doing. It isn't a bad voice, Lillian thinks to herself. She wishes she could have that kind of confidence. The kind Todoroki, Iida, and Shinso seemed to have. It... It wasn't even confidence. It was self-surety, really. They weren't prideful, but they knew what they were doing.

"Ah, everything in my field of vision." Lillian smiled a small smile. "I... I-I haven't practiced with it much. B-But you knew that!" She blinked, looking up at him.

"I haven't used mine much either." Shinso admitted. And he really hadn't. It was sort of, you know, illegal to use it on people. Especially since most of the people he hypnotized were pretty aware something had happened after it was done. Hell, some people even stayed conscious during the process if their will was strong enough.

"Yours is so amazing. I still can't get over how cool it is." Lillian awed, eyes alight with the same passion he'd seen on her the day prior when they'd discussed quirks. "A-Aizawa-sensei said something about people getting transferred! That means you could enter the hero course, right?"

Shinso was surprised at this. The fact that she'd bothered to reserve that tidbit of information simply for him was flattering. She seemed to... take him seriously. Most of the kids in class 1-C were fine being in general studies. They'd accepted the fact that they probably wouldn't be heroes, but rather sidekicks and most, or agency workers. People just sort of... brushed general studies aside, but Lillian accounted for his feelings and wants and took them as he gave them.

"Really?" He muttered, blinking. "It's never really really in class."

"W-Well, apparently if you do good o-on your exams, and d-do well in the sports festival, there's a-a good chance you can come in!" She smiled brightly at him, and he gave a small grin back. "You're really smart, s-so I bet we'll be classmates one day."

"You think so?" He asked, glancing down at his food. A smile had spread across his face, so Lillian knew her words had invigorated him somewhat. She was glad. Shinso's quirk was nothing short of amazing. It wasn't flashy, but she could think of hundreds of scenarios during which is could be useful. It being described as a 'villain's quirk' was the dumbest thing she'd ever heard. Yes, it could be used by a villain, but who's quirk couldn't? She didn't see how one power could be more heroic than another! It was all about how you used it.

"Yeah." Lillian smiled cheerfully. He bobbed his head a little.

A loud alarm suddenly shot off, startling Lillian so badly she nearly toppled out of her chair. Shinso's reaction was more contained. Rather than jumping a good foot out of his seat, he simply raised his head in a calm fashion that made Lillian even more sure he'd be a good hero.

"Someone's made it past the gate." Lillian realized, eyes widening. Her mind flashed back to the crowd she'd face this very morning. "D-Do you think it was the press?"

Shinso thought about it. "Probably. They may be nothing more than vultures, but I'm sure some of them have quirks. There's definitely a way they could have slipped past." He stood up as people began to rush out of the cafeteria. Lillian was hesitant, but followed in suit, swallowing heavily as chaos ensued. "Come on. It's probably the press, but it's best not to assume."

"R-Right!" Lillian nodded readily. Like the other fleeing students and Shinso, she left her food and drink at the table. Shinso walked with her. Lillian felt extremely reluctant to try and get out, and soon she realized why as they were sucked into the crowd.

The sheer amount of people was causing a huge panic as they all tried to shove their way out of the cafeteria. Lillian felt her face pale as an overwhelming anxiety dropped onto her chest, and she felt tears fill her eye sat the sheer amount of noise and bodies around her. Shinso glanced down at her, looking heavily annoyed as he got elbowed in the side.

"Don't worry. I'm sure this will be sorted soon." Shinso said. Lillian nearly stumbled into him as she was shoved back by another panicking individual. Shinso grunted as he was... what was that, a kick? He didn't know, or care. He just wanted to get himself and Lillian out of here.

"W-Would it be legal to freeze them?" She squeaked, eyes wide. Her pupils had dilated, and her hands were shaking and pale. Shinso put a hand on her shoulder, partly to comfort her, but also to make sure she wasn't trampled or swept away. She was pretty short compared to most of the people here, a lot of which had quirks that made them bigger in some way.

"I don't know." Shinso admitted over the roar of the crowd. "I almost don't care." He didn't voice it, but he kind of wanted to see her quirk in action.

"I-Iida?" Lillian sputtered as someone spun overhead. Shinso blanched as the kid went flying. What the hell?

Shinso tightened his grip on Lillian as she let out a squeak, stumbling to the side. He pulled her into him as the boy who'd rocketed past them overhead slammed into the wall, grasping at one of the sturdy metal poles above the door. Was that one of Lillian's classmates? He had to assume so. 

"Listen up, everything is okay!" His booming voice made everyone stop for a moment. Shinso stumbled forward, nearly face planting. Lillian tugged on his arm to keep him from teetering over. The boy with the jet legs seemed to be having some trouble balancing. "It's just the media outside! There's absolutely nothing to worry about! Everything's fine! We're UA students! We need to remain calm, and prove we're the best of the best."

"Thank goodness." Lillian squeaked as the teeming crowd finally fell silent in response to the revelation. Shinso let out a breath of air, eyebrow twitching slightly as he tried to shift so this guy with... six arms? Wasn't digging into his back.

"Sh-Shoji-kun?" Lillian stared up at the tall individual as Shinso inched away from him. The six-armed teen seemed somewhat distressed. "A-Are you alright."

Shinso watched with mild interest as one of the hands turned into a mouth. 

"I'm fine." A formal voice said. Lillian didn't look too startled by the quirk, but rather interested. "Are you hurt?"

"N-No, just a little spooked." Lillian laughed sheepishly as the crowd began to move again, this time calmer. "I'm lucky Shinso was here to keep me from getting swept away!"

"Indeed. I'm glad to hear you're unharmed." The mouth seemed to smile at her. Shinso offered an awkward nod, not sure what else he was supposed to do. He glanced down at Lillian, who let go of his arm suddenly, her cheeks going red when she realized.

"S-Sorry." She apologized. He offered a small smile in hopes of reassuring her.

"It's fine." Shinso offered, and that's all that needed to be said, really.

~

Shit's about to get real ig