I wrote this bad boy on my phone so if there are typos,,, that's why.

Third person pov

"...Is she okay?" Hitoshi squinted at Lillian, who had been staring unblinkingly at her bowl of rice for a solid minute or so now. She looked as though her entire soul had left her body, leaving her as nothing more than a pathetic shell. An empty husk with no traces of life. Hitoshi actually wasn't sure she was breathing anymore, actually. He momentarily wondered if she'd accidentally offended someone somehow, and had simply decided to die because of it. It seemed like something she'd do.

"Does she look okay to you?" Neito raised a brow, leaning back in his seat and folding his arms over his chest. Hitoshi gave a half-hearted shrug in response.

"Well, no, but I thought I'd ask anyway." Hitoshi offered, purple eyes shifting back to his freckled friend. He reached out and nudged her shoulder. "You in there?"

Lillian gave no reaction to show she'd even felt the nudge. Honestly, they weren't sure just how she gotten to the cafeteria. They'd found her standing out in the middle of the hall staring at the floor with her hands clenched around her backpack straps. Hitoshi had taken it upon himself to drag her to a table while Neito got their food. Even now, she clutched her bag's handles in an iron grip.

"Should we take her to the nurse?" Neito squinted, not sure if this warranted a trip to Recovery Girl or not. She didn't seem particularly... injured, per say. Just braindead or something along those lines.

"I really don't think this is something Recovery Girl can fix." Hitoshi whipped out his phone. "Give me two seconds."

Neito nodded, pursing his lips and experimentally prodding the girl's arm. She didn't seem to notice, gazing down at her lunch as though she weren't seeing it at all. The blonde had to wince just a little. What form of torture did one have to go through to reach this state? Not that it took much to trip Lillian up, which wasn't her fault, really. He'd had his share of experiences with anxiety. His was never so... Extensive, but he still understood.

"Here." Hitoshi pushed her food out of the way and shoved his phone within her line of sight, pressing and earbud into her ear. Neito leaned forward as Hitoshi tapped play. The Baby Shark song began.

At first it didn't really do anything. Lillian didn't even flinch as the song blared in her left ear, so loud both Neito and Hitoshi could hear it just a little. They both mentally crossed their fingers and held their breath in anticipation. If this didn't revive Lillian, nothing would.

Lillian was still a little trapped in her own thoughts at the moment. Her mind was abuzz with the fresh memories from her first English class with the Third Years. She hadn't embarrassed herself horribly bad, but she still must have looked like a total idiot. A First Year in a room of Third Years? It was like putting a goat in front a lion and hoping the poor thing wouldn't get ripped apart alive.

The song hit Grandpa Shark, and Lillian took a deep breath of air, head snapping up. Hitoshi and Neito gazed expectantly at her as she blinked rapidly. She looked reasonably disoriented, and a mildly horrified. The latter wasn't particularly new, unfortunately, as most things involving people tended to mortifying the girl on one way or the other.

"You with us?" Hitoshi asked as she pulled the earbud from her ear, brushing some hair haphazardly from her eyes.

"I-I-I started English w-with the Th-Th-Third Years." She squeaked, her voice at least six pitches higher than it was supposed to be. Both boys winced.

"Ah... that explains quite a bit." Neito cringed.

"It couldn't have been that bad, right? You're probably better at English than the whole if them combined anyway." Hitoshi said, pulling his phone back towards him. Neito lightly pushed her food back in front of her in hopes that maybe she'd begin to eat on autopilot out if sheer stress. She clearly needed some sustenance.

Lillian stared at him incredulously. "Hitoshi," she whispered, "They were... Third Years."

"I got that part."

"F-From the Hero Course."

"Oh, that's worse."

Neito massaged his temples. He really hoped Lillian wasn't going to fall into a catatonic shock everyday, because he wasn't sure what they'd do if she built up an immunity to Baby Shark. There were only so many songs with a powerful enough energy to save her from... whatever that there was.

Lillian went on to tell them exactly why she was a horrible person who made herself look like an idiot, to which try retaliated by saying she was perfectly fine and was probably blowing the entire thing out of proportion. It really didn't seem to help her worries, but at least she'd begun to stress eat and regain some color in her cheeks. The last thing any if them needed was her face planting because she hadn't eaten enough.

Personally, and they would never tell Lillian this, they'd both be completely petrified if they were shoved into a classroom of Third Year hero course students. They were the top dogs of the entire school—the next generation of heroes. The best of the best. The elites of UA, if you would. They were intimidating, and strong to have made it that far. A lot of people in the Hero course didn't make it past their second year.

"Th-They were r-really nice." Lillian was still a little shaky from the experience, but had calmed down a lot. "But th...they're Third Years."

"Hey, it'll be okay. You're just stuck in the adjustment period is all." Hitoshi patted her shoulder. Neito nodded.

"You were nervous on your first day here too, right?" Neito cocked his head a little.

"N-Not to this extent." Lillian admitted.

"Well, you had more time to process them. More than five minutes." Neito combated, and Lillian nodded, frowning a little. Hitoshi shared a look with his blonde friend.

"Seriously, you'll be okay. You can always as Present Mic to switch you back if it really makes you uncomfortable. You know he would." Hitoshi assured, and Lillian hesitantly nodded.

"Y-You're both right." She smiled a little, looking vaguely embarrassed. "Thanks, you guys."

"Anytime." Neito allowed, and Hitoshi gave a noise of agreement. Lillian's gaze shifted to the blonde hero course student suddenly, and she looked a little embarrassed.

"A-Ah... Can I walk to Art History with you?"

Neito blinked.

"...What?"

~~~~~~~~~

Hitoshi was a little jealous that Neito and Lillian got to have a class together. Sure, they were both hero course students, but they were still must as separated from one another as Hitoshi was from them. That knowledge had been mildly comforting for some odd reason, but now he felt almost afraid he'd be left behind.

He wasn't in the hero course, and he wasn't a pretty boy like Neito was. Neito was a handsome guy, and even now, this early in the year, he had girls trailing after him. In comparison, Hitoshi was the lanky kid with unruly hair and horrid bags under his eyes. His self esteem didn't exist at this point and he was beginning to have a slight fear of mirrors due to the fact that he never knew what he'd be seeing.

Hitoshi liked Lillian and Neito, but Lillian was his first friend. He was glad to have a third person in their little meme squad. It felt better as a trip, but that didn't mean Hitoshi wasn't insecure. What if Lillian and Neito got closer and closer and slowly drifted away from him? What would he do then? He didn't really... have anyone else.

"We're still walking home together today, right?" Hitoshi asked Lillian before she and Neito could skip off to their Art History class with Midnight.

"Y-Yeah!" Lillian peered up at him brightly, but faltered after a moment. Hitoshi felt his chest constrict threateningly. The girl continued, "A-Ah, my parents want to meet you..."

Hitoshi released a breath of air, and Neito snickered. "Meeting the parents already, I see." The blonde teased, and Hitoshi gave a scoff, rolling his eyes. Lillian didn't seem to get the joke. Hitoshi shrugged it off with ease.

"That's fine. I probably should." Hitoshi admitted. He was bound to fall asleep on her floor one of these days.

"A-Alright!" Lillian's overjoyed face was a comfort, as was the fact that Hitoshi lived just around the corner. He watched Lillian and Neito set off down the hall, telling himself vehemently that be needed to brush his jealous insecurity aside. They were all friends, and he was just being a nervous twat. And who knows, maybe one day soon he'd be sharing almost every class with one of them.