This chapter is dedicated to my first ever best friend, Martin. Fly high brother. May you rest in peace.

"Can anyone solve this algebra problem on the board?" Mrs. Nagamoto asks as she turns away from the chalkboard and towards us.

I stare at the board. 4X+25= 41, solve for 'x'?

Easy.

I raise my hand.

"Anyone else?"

I take a look around.

No one makes an effort to raise their hand.

"Come on up Tamura."

I get up and walk towards the board.

"Nerd," someone mutters as I walk from the back of the class to the front.

Just ignore them. It is not your fault they cannot complete a simple algebra equation.

I get to the board and quickly solve the problem.

"Well done Tamura. As diligent as always. You may sit down," Mrs. Nagamoto comments, causing a small smile to grow on my face as I hurry back to my seat. I move some of my black hair out of my eyes and face Mrs. Nagamoto.

"Alright class, it is now time for lunch. You are dismissed," Mrs. Nagamoto says.

I gulp.

Lunch time. The worst time of the day.

I wait until everyone walks out of the room, then I retrieve my lunch from my backpack and slowly walk towards the door.

When the weather is nice out, the teachers let all the students eat lunch outside while they 'supervise' us from the window of their lunch room.

Laughter and voices fill my ears as I open the door.

After waiting a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the sun, I take a look around.

Most of the benches have been taken.

I sigh as I begin my lonely search for a spot to sit.

As I walk through the sea of benches, I can feel eyes watch as I walk by. I find a bench with two empty spots, and begin to walk over.

"Don't even think about it!" A boy sitting there spits out.

"My apologies," I whisper as I continue my search.

As I near the last of the benches, I find an empty one farthest from the school.

"This will do," I mutter to myself as I begin to make my way over. As I'm about to sit down, someone sneaks beside me and pushes me off the bench, knocking me to the ground.

"Get lost weirdo!" The girl who pushed me off yells as her friends join her at the once empty table.

I bite my lip to keep it from quivering. I close my eyes for a brief second and take a deep breath.

Do not cry. It is unlady-like and childish to cry.

I pick myself up, dust off, and pick up my lunch and walk away from the benches towards the courtyard. I step onto the ground and make my way over to a big shady tree. I take a quick look around, then sit down.

If I eat my lunch quickly, maybe I'll make it back inside before they see me. But eating quickly is rude and unlady-like.

I sigh.

I'll just hope they do not find me today.

I carefully unpack my lunch, pull out my chopsticks, and begin to eat.

...

I let out a big sigh as I lean against the tree, full.

I haven't eaten all my food during lunch in a long time. Now, I should hurry back inside before those third year students come looking for me.

I wipe my face with a napkin, then begin packing my things. As I am looking down at my lunchbox, a pair of dirty shoes come into view.

I gulp.

I was too slow.

"Well, lookie here. Little Suki-Dukie here ate our lunch."

I look up, and standing in front of me is Legoshi Mamona. He is a third year middle schooler who towers over me and is covered in grey fur. Unfortunately for me, his favorite pastime is bullying me.

I stand up and look him up in the eyes.

"For a third year student, you certainly have the vocabulary and creativity of a small child," I responded.

Mamona begins to growl.

I know better than to make a boy with a wolf quirk angry. But Suki-Dukie? How old are we? Six?

Mamona grabs me by the arms and lifts me off the ground. I wince as I feel his claws dig into my skin.

"I demand that you let me go," I croak out.

Mamona grins.

"As you wish," he responds, as he tosses me towards the tree.

I let out a small cry as my back makes contact with the tree trunk. I wheeze as I try to regain all the air that was knocked out of me. As I try to sit up, two of Mamona's friends join his side and together walk towards me.

"You are worthless. Any food given to you is like throwing it in the trash," Legoshi says as he bares his fangs.

"Now we're gonna punish you for wasting our food."

One of his friends stomps on the ground, activating her quirk. A chunk of earth launches into the air. She then makes a punching motion towards me, and the chunk of dirt comes straight at me. I lift my hands up and close my eyes, waiting for it to make contact. I hear the earth make contact, but oddly enough, it does not make contact with me.

She has launched rocks at me a dozen times. There's no way she missed.

I open my eyes, and standing in front of me is a tall girl with long silver hair standing with her back towards me. Her hands are glowing white, with a dark blue hue surrounding them with small specks of white. It is as if she has a small galaxy revolving around each of her hands.

In front of her are pebbles and dust from what I assume was the ground attack.

"How dare you hurt her! Apologize or else!" She exclaims.

"Or else what? Are you going to blind me with your pretty lights?" Legoshi taunts as he charges right at her.

The silver haired girl lifts up her right hand, and a large beam of blue energy shoots out, hitting Legoshi square in the chest, knocking him down on his back. He rolls into a ball and begins to whimper.

"Legoshi!" His friends yell as they rush to his side.

"They're more than just pretty," the girl comments before turning towards me and giving me a smile.

"Hey. Need a hand?" The girl asks, as she offers me her hand, which is no longer glowing.

I nod as I take her hand and get up to my feet.

"My name is Mei Yoshino," Mei says as we both face the third-year students.

"I am Suki Tamura. It is a pleasure to meet you, Yoshino," I say.

Legoshi still lays curled on the ground, with his friends confused on what to do.

"You hurt him."

"Really? I thought he was tough, so I assumed he could take a hit. I guess not," Mei says nonchalantly.

I frown.

Mei notices and gives me a look.

"What? Don't tell me you feel sorry for the guy! He literally threw you into a tree!"

"Harming another student is against the rules," I say.

As if on cue, Mrs. Nagamoto comes running towards us.

"What is the meaning of this?" She demands as she approaches us.

Immediately, both of Legoshi's friends begin to talk, attempting to shift the blame on Mei.

"Oh shut up!" Mei yells, startling Legoshi, his friends, and even Mrs. Nagamoto.

"If there's one thing I hate more than bullies, it's liars. So unless you want to end up like Wolfie over there after school, I advise you tell the truth," Mei says, her hands glowing once more.

The nerve of this girl! I can't believe she threatened them in front of Mrs. Nagamoto!

"Yoshino, I need you to calm down. First, let us take Mamona to the nurse. Then we will all go take a visit to the Principal's office and get to the bottom of this," Mrs. Nagamoto says as she carefully helps Legoshi up, and ushers all of us to the Principal's Office.

...

I stand by the school's gates, waiting for my ride to pull up.

"Hey Tamura! Wait up!"

I turn and see Mei running towards me.

"Yoshino! Is everything alright? You spent an awful long time with the Principal," I ask.

"Oh, don't worry about me! I explained everything to him, and he let me off with a warning! Those third year students though, I heard they have detention for a whole month! That's what they get!" Mei says.

I stare down at my shoes.

How can she be so excited about what happened? Such a ruckus occurred, and I was right in the middle of it.

There is still one question unanswered.

"You ok?" Mei asks as she gently grabs my shoulder.

"Y-yes, I am fine. I am just confused."

"Confused? Confused about what?"

"Why did you stand up for me? No one else has since I started school here last month. You also engaged Legoshi in combat, and any type of physical contact is strictly forbidden on school grounds," I say, looking at Mei's dark blue eyes.

She stares blankly at me, then begins to laugh.

"Combat? That wasn't even a fight!" She exclaims in between her laughter.

Her laughter quickly dies off as she notices my lack of response.

"I'm sorry I didn't notice earlier that those third years were picking on you. If I did, I would have acted sooner," Mei explains, giving me a small smile.

"Why?"

"Because that's what heroes do! They stand up for those who cannot defend themselves! And if I want to be a hero, I have to start practicing now, so I can get into U.A. once the time comes!" Mei says, her eyes sparkling a bit in the sun.

I smile.

She's really great.

"Thank you Yoshino."

"Don't worry about it! And call me Mei! My first name is a lot prettier than my last," Mei says, stealing a laugh out of me.

"As you wish Mei."

I turn towards the street as the family car pulls up.

"I apologize, but I do have to depart. My driver is waiting for me," I say.

"Driver? Wow, fancy!" Mei says as I step into the car.

"Bye friend! I'll see you tomorrow!" Mei yells as she waves goodbye.

Friend? I did not realize we were now friends. Hopefully that means I will no longer need to have lunch in my lonesome.

"Who is that, Young Tamura?" Senki, the family driver, asks.

"Exactly what she said Senki. A friend," I responded with a smile.

...

***Later that Day***

I take a deep breath as I stand in the middle of the dojo.

Relax.

I am here to train my body, and to maintain focus while doing so.

I pick up my saber and practice my form. It has been sloppy since I learned this new form.

Suddenly, someone bursts into the room.

"Hey kiddo! How was school?" Auntie Ami says as she runs over and picks me up in a hug. I quickly drop my saber, to ensure no one gets accidently stabbed.

A laugh escapes my body.

I can't remember the last time someone was this excited to see me.

"Good! You will not believe what happened today!" I say as she carefully puts me down.

"What happened?" She asks as she sits on the phone across from me.

"I made a friend!" I say as I take off my fencing mask.

"Yes! See! I told you you would make friends! You just had to give it time Suki! Congrats!" Auntie Ami says as she gives me a high five.

"Thanks! I cannot wait to tell Mother and Father!" I say.

Auntie Ami then shifts awkwardly as a frown appears on her face. This is a look I have become very familiar with.

"They are not going to be home for dinner, are they?"

Auntie Ami sadly nods.

She begins to explain why, but I step away and pick up my saber.

It was silly of me to think they would be home today. They've been gone for three weeks for work. They are not magically going to appear because I have something to tell them. I should know better.

I quickly put on my fencing mask as my vision begins to blur from the tears. I again begin to work on my footwork.

So stupid. They have more important things to do than to hear about my day. That is why they told me not to call unless it was an emergency.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Auntie Ami asks.

I shake my head and continue practicing. However, my form does not improve.

"Why can I not do this stupid form correctly?" I yell.

I can feel Auntie Ami's glaze on me as I try my best to fix my footwork.

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. In the meantime, would you like a sparring partner? Back in my day, I used to be a menace with a saber," Auntie Ami says as she flexes her bicep.

I nod.

"Perfect! You'll get this form down in no time, and while we do you can tell me all about how you met your friend! Then we can go out for dinner! My treat! I'll go get my stuff!" Auntie Ami says as she runs out the room.

I chuckle as I watch her excitedly run out the room.

I'm grateful for her. She is one of the few people that treat me like a normal human being. Not some quirkless weirdo.

But hopefully this small group will grow. Mei recently joined, so why not! Despite not having my parents here, I can help but feel that things will turn for the better.

Author's Note:

Whew! I know it's a long first chapter, but thank you so much for reading! I hope to stay on schedule and get the next update on schedule!

Question: Did you meet any of your friends in an interesting way? I know I started talking to one of my friends after I got in an argument with him during a soccer game. Everyone thought we would be rivals or arch nemeses, but we became pretty good friends instead!

Character Spotlight: Mei Yoshino

Quirk: Starstream

Likes: Boba tea