'Oh, Okaido!' Midoriya called from the common living room inside the Class 1A dorm. 'You're here!'

'And I have some cake!' Mariko announced and took off her shoes and then stepped inside, carefully carrying the small tray with a soft, cocoa cake on it. 'Eri helped me make it.'

'That's so cool!' Mariko heard Occhaco's voice and soon saw the girl, as she stepped into the living room from one of the corridors.

'Mr. Aizawa kind of invited me, but I wanted to come early and ask if that's fine with you all?'

Mariko glanced around the room and waved her hand to a few people, currently busy in the kitchen: she recognized Sugarman, Iida and Todoroki.

'We would love to have you on dinner as well, do you know when will Mr. Aizawa come?'

'I have no specific timeframe and thank you for having me.' Mariko bowed in a gesture of gratefulness. 'Can I help you with anything?'

'That depends what would you want to do, we have divided the class into three volunteer teams, decorating one, with Yaoyorozu as the leader, cooking team, so mainly the three of us in here with some additional help and the rest of the group will take the dishes and things like this,' Iida informed, after dashing from the kitchen all the way in front of Mariko.

'I could help you cook if there is anything to do at the moment, otherwise I will just help around with anything.'

'Alright, right now we are waiting for some meals to finish cooking or roasting, and Bakugo was supposed to help us cut vegetables. He is very good with a knife, you know?'

'That's kinda cool,' Mariko admitted.

'We could use some help!' Occhaco said and stood next to Iida, smiling to Mariko.

Okaido nodded and handed over the cake to Iida, whose face brightened. He took the tray from her hands and turned around, then walked to the kitchen area and showed the cake to Sato, who grinned widely.

'More cakes! Fantastic job, Okaido!'

'Thank you!' Mariko responded and smiled at the boy, then followed Uraraka to one of the corridors.

As they passed a few doors leading to student's rooms, they heard multiple voices, laughs, conversations, slightly echoing through the dorm. Even though Okaido wasn't very fond of Christmas, the hustle of holidays put her in a weirdly excited mood.

The two girls continued down the corridor, turning left at it's corner, until eventually they saw another opened door. They stepped inside the room and greeted a few girls from the class 1A, who were gathering some decorations created by Yaomomo and were leaving, one by one, to decorate the common dorm area. The girls were chatting about the decoration plans, while Occhaco led Mariko to two ironing boards, with two irons, on which a big, snow-white tablecloth was stretched.

'Can you help me with the ironing?' Uraraka asked and Mariko nodded vigorously.

'Sure thing!'

They refilled the irons' water container to create steam while ironing the tablecloth and got to work. In no time, the cover was ready and both of the girls carefully grabbed it and without folding it, carried the cloth to the common living room. After they did so, a few boys, including Tokoyami, Kirishima and Midoriya started setting the table, placing cutlery, plates, bowls and the meals which cooking team has prepared.

Around an hour and a half later, the living room was covered in various decorations: Christmas lights and tinsels. The dining table was fully loaded with hot, steamy food, filling the air with delicious scent of holiday meals. There was even a beautifully decorated Christmas tree, a few meters to the left of the dining table, with lots of boxes and other gifts wrapped in green, yellow, red or blue papers and small name tags on them.

Mariko looked around the common area, as some of the students disappeared in their rooms to change to a Christmas uniform, which Yaoyorozu created. She found herself admiring all the effort that went into putting the decorations together, creating a unique atmosphere and mood she had never experienced in her life. She took of her hoodie, revealing an elegant, black, perfectly ironed, long-sleeve shirt, which nicely accented her muscular arms.

As the students gathered back around the table, Mariko helped with serving some tea and a few moments after that, the feast started. The class sat on the couches and chairs they brought from their rooms and began eating. Mariko couldn't help but compliment everyone on their fantastic work.

'Don't forget that you helped as well!' Izuku reminded and Mariko responded with: 'A tiny bit.'

As the first meal was finished, Okaido got up to gather the plates along with Todoroki and Jiro. After that, she volunteered to wash the dishes, as later on they will pile up and will be annoying to deal with.

When she approached the sink and grabbed the dish sponge, she noticed a movement to her right, and turned her head towards someone heading her way.

'I'll help,' Bakugo informed and grabbed the other sponge. He then silently pulled out one of the bowls from the pile of dishes and started washing it.

Although Mariko was in a state of pure shock, she stopped her jaw from hitting the floor. Instead, she nodded slowly and thanked the boy next to her, who did not respond.

They cleaned a few more dishes and placed them in the empty compartment of the big sink, just to rinse them and place the dishes on a drying rack. Mariko shook her hands, splashing the water from her palms to the inside of the sink, where a much smaller dish pile was.

'Thank you again, Bakugo.'

'Yea,' he murmured.

Mariko glanced at the boy from the corner of her eye and noticed him not wearing the holiday uniform.

'Maybe we are not so different after all,' she thought to herself and recalled how angry and hostile the boy was, when she first met him, much like herself.

'You know,' she started slowly, trying to phrase her emotions as genuinely as she could. 'When I first met you, I misjudged you. You are cool. And I don't mean it just because we are doing the dishes now or because it's Christmas.'

Katsuki glanced at her with his red eyes, pouting slightly. He grabbed another plate and slowed down his movements, as if buying them some more time for a conversation.

'You are a very talented hero. And one day, maybe I will be as strong as you are.'

There was a slight sight of a smile on his face.

'Tch,' he snapped, but his eyes were soft and there was no sight of hostility. 'That would be impossible.'

Mariko turned her head towards the sink and smirked, then grabbed another plate to wash. She looked behind her shoulder and watched the students talk, laugh and eat at the table.

'I misjudged you as well,' she heard Katsuki say and slowly turned her face towards him. 'But I won't anymore.'

A few thoughts raced through Mariko's brain, until she took a deep breath and nodded to Bakugo. She swallowed her pride and decided that she does not want to know what made him feel that way, but accept the fact that he has changed his mind about her.

'I appreciate that,' she admitted and both of them returned to cleaning the dishes in a calm, comfortable silence.

A few moments later, Kaminari carried more of the dishes to the sink, making Bakugo snap from his peaceful mood.

'HOW MUCH DO YOU EAT?!'

Mariko chuckled and sped up the dish washing.

When they both finished, they dried their hands and headed towards the dining table. The second they stepped closer to the group that was currently taking a break from eating, the entrance to the dorm opened and they saw Mr. Aizawa, holding Eri's hand. Both of them walked inside.

'Sorry we are late,' Aizawa announced and the little girl stepped into the light, revealing her adorable, Christmas-themed dress. She was even wearing a holiday hat!

'So cute!' Uraraka called and somehow slid across the floor all the way to the Eri, as Izuku, Jiro and Iida dashed towards the teacher and the child.

'Will Togata come as well?' Midoriya asked, clearly excited.

'No, Togata is with his class.'

Aizawa glanced around the room and noticed Mariko, who nodded at him from behind the dining table. The man looked back at Eri, and heard her say.

'Happy Halloween!'

The man crouched next to the kid and placed a hand on her shoulder, bringing her attention to himself.

'Eri, you mixed the holidays,' he said with a soft look in the eye and a slight smile.

On the other side of the room, Mariko stared at the man's face, her chest filling with warm, sparkling feeling. Every time he was around the small girl, he was so adorable. She was basically his adopted child at this point.

'Sprits in, spirits out,' Eri responded and looked as if she is throwing something on the ground.

'No, that's in two months,' Aizawa reminded and noticed Uraraka walking to Eri.

'You look so cute!'

'I painted some eggs,' Eri informed and handed four eggs over to Uraraka, each in a different color and pattern.

Aizawa shot a glance at Mariko, who covered her mouth and smiled brightly. The man shook his head slightly to the sides and slowly stood up. Mariko boiled some eggs for Eri to paint this morning, after they finished making the chocolate cake and she did not expect her to bring them here.

'That's Easter, it's in April,' Ochacco said and smiled at the kid.

'Alright, go have some fun,' Aizawa informed Eri and gently pushed her towards Class 1A.

Mariko slowly walked around the table and put her hands behind her back, heading towards the teacher, still standing at now empty spot, close to the entrance of the building. Eri was currently the main attraction of the evening, as everyone in the class showed her the food and tried giving her some cookies and other treats.

'You two have plates on the table, sir. Would you like to eat something?'

He looked down at her, seeing her soft expression. He had noticed some time ago, that even though she could be a softie in many situations, her gaze towards him was always on a whole another level.

Shota didn't respond.

'Your plate is on the right side of the table,' she repeated and pointed her chin towards the common dining room.

'Alright.'

She peeked at Aizawa from the corner of her eyes, noticing him still looking at her.

'How long will you stay here, sir?' she asked.

'Until Eri is tired. So, most likely until nine or ten.'

She nodded and slowly walked towards the table, seeing Midoriya approach Eraserhead. She smiled at the boy passing her and kept walking, until her plate was within her arm's reach. Then, she grabbed a few deep-fried tofu balls and some delicious rice, with a holiday salad on the side.

Mariko started a conversation with Jiro, who was standing close to one of the sofas. After a few minutes more people joined and the group started talking about many different things, eventually focusing on a hero-work related topics. Then, Iida jumped inside the group and told them to relax themselves and forget about the creepy events which were recently reported in the TV, concerning the Deika City. The group split up and some of the students walked to the tree, taking care of the rest of the paper-wrapped gifts, or finished eating their meals.

Time was flying by and Mariko had a feeling that she only managed to eat and talk for nothing more than half and hour, but in reality she had spent almost four hours in Class 1A's dorm.

'Thank you so much for having me,' she said in the late evening, after helping the class with some of the cleaning after the holiday dinner.

'You are very welcome. Sleep well!' Kirishima waved goodbye to the girl and joined the rest of his class.

Mariko turned on her heel and looked at Eri and Aizawa, standing at the door. Ochacco, Tsu, Mina and Izuku bid them farewell and then Shota and Eri left the dorm with Okaido, saying goodbye to everyone.

When the door closed, both Mariko and Aizawa sighed with relief; the woman chuckled, noticing the same reaction from the teacher.

'It was wholesome, but so loud, right?' She smiled brightly.

'Yeah,' he admitted and closed his eyes.

Eri grasped their hands and all three of them headed to the teachers' dorm.