As Mariko climbed the stairs, she noticed that the first door on the right is open. She looked inside the room, noticing a small, green table, nicely fitting slightly desaturated, violet walls. She straightened her back and tried sticking to the external wall, avoiding the people inside, as she stealthily walked to her own room.

Okaido quickly left the towels at the radiator and put the shampoo and shower gel bottles back in her small toilet. She turned on her heel and then froze, realizing that her mirror is still covered. She reached towards the small, brown towel and hesitated.

'Well, no one said healing journey will be easy,' she thought to herself and made herself take the cover off.

She frowned, looking at her reflection, inspecting her now short, still slightly wet hair, with a parting a few centimeters to the left of the middle of her head. Mariko looked herself in the eye, tilting her head. She had also nicely shaped eyebrows.

'Kayama did a great job,' she admitted, looking at her.

She sighed and left the room. Okaido approached the opened door and knocked on it, stepping into the light shining from the inside.

Mr. Aizawa was crouching next to a girl, who was sitting at the table, with an orange colored pencil in her hand. When they heard the knock, both of them turned their heads to the entrance. Mariko could swear, that Shota's expression changed for a split second. He stood up and Eri slid down from her chair.

'Hi!' the student greeted. 'I'm Okaido Mariko.'

The girl walked to Shota, hiding herself behind his right calf.

'Eri is still very shy,' Aizawa explained.

'That's OK, I will not pressure.' Mariko looked around the room.

There was a small girl's bed with some nice, flower ornaments, a drawer, a smaller version of the sofa that was placed in the common areas of the dorms and a flower-patterned carboard box, containing a lot of different things. Mariko noticed a page of paper, covered in some drawings. She leaned forward and tilted her head, trying to see Eri's illustration.

It was an orange cat with a big head, blue eyes and a red nose.

'Do you like cats, Eri?' Okaido asked.

The girl didn't reply, but pushed herself even more into the teacher's leg.

Mariko chuckled and slowly turned around, looking back at Shota.

'I'll go to sleep, then. Thank you for the introduction.'

'Get up early tomorrow, we have a training.'

'Will do, sir.'

In the morning, Mariko walked downstairs, dressed in a hoodie and a pair of comfortable pants. She was hoping that there will be not many teachers in the common area, as she wanted to start cleaning. Fortunately for her, her prediction was right. It was a little bit too early to be up during the weekend.

She stretched her back, feeling the sore muscles from the yesterday's training.

'Alright,' she said to herself and accessed a small storage next to the staircase.

She grabbed a small broom and a dust pan, along with some clothes and cleaning detergents. She then found a brush, that was perfect for cleaning kitchen and bathroom. The woman nodded with approval and strolled to the common kitchen, spraying the cooking station with grease-removing spray, then did the same thing with canopy. And then, she got a nice idea.

'I could warm up before the training.'

She lunged to the side with her left leg, cleaning all of the kitchen counter in her reach. She lowered her body until she felt her muscles tense.

'That's so nice,' she approved and smiled to herself.

She managed to found a suitable stretching position for each chore that she did and because she enjoyed it so much, she didn't even notice how quickly the time passed by.

Before she realized, she heard some teachers heading to the common area.

'We will see what will happen, it's not like it's his only choice, you know?' she heard Mr. Snipe's voice.

'Exactly, he could always go somewhere else,' Ectoplasm responded.

'But I must say, I will vote for him joining the hero course, why not. He seems extremely determined.'

'As expected of someone under Aizawa's wings.'

When both men appeared in the common area, they both complimented Mariko on her great work and left the dorm, heading to the school cafeteria for breakfast.

Okaido proceeded to sweep the floor with the small broom. As she moved towards the living room area, she looked outside of the window and saw Mirio. She stood up and opened the door, helping the boy out.

'Thank you! Oh, wow, Okaido, you look great!' Mirio complimented, stepping over the threshold. He was holding a few takeaway paper boxes and some Styrofoam ones. 'Is Mr. Aizawa and Eri up?'

'We are up,' they heard a sleepy voice from the staircase.

'Great,' Mirio commented. 'I thought that you might be here as well, so I brought an extra.'

Togata pointed his chin at the boxes, while Shota led Eri to the couches. The little girl was dressed in a simple, yet very lovely red dress, perfectly matching her eyes.

'Can prisoners accept gifts from the outside world, Mr. Aizawa?' Mariko asked.

She tilted her body just enough to look at the teacher from behind Mirio. The tired man nodded with a sigh.

'Prisoner?' Eri asked quietly.

Mirio's eyes brightened and he momentarily dashed to the kid, trying to gesture even though he was holding so many items:

'Prisoner is usually a bad person that had to be locked up in a special building because they did something illegal.'

Mariko put her hands on her hips.

'Mirio, don't say that to her, I didn't do anything illegal,' she bridled.

Aizawa slowly turned his head towards the young woman; a murderous look in his red eyes.

'I mean,' she jumped, startled. 'It's like not that serious.'

'Oh?' Shota asked, raising his eyebrow.

'Compared to a murder!' Okaido, clearly embarrassed, lowered her head, hiding her face behind the curtain of her dark, short hair. 'I'll just go back to the cleaning.'

Mirio placed all of the take-away breakfast boxes, stuffed with rice, miso soup and tamago-yaki and opened all of them, covering the table with food. Mariko, still looking away from Aizawa, stretched her left leg forward, placing her heel on the floor. The right foot was glued to the ground, while she leaned forward, swiping the carpet around the sofa.

'Do you guys don't have a vacuum cleaner?' Mirio asked, seeing the young woman.

'There is one, but this way I can multitask. It will take me slightly longer that way, but I can also be more precise and I can work on my mobility and core strength,' Mariko explained and shifted her body to the left foot, stretching her other leg.

'That's so smart, I love it!'

'Please don't wait for me with the breakfast, I will be done shortly with the cleaning,' Mariko requested.

As the group sat down and started eating, Okaido noticed that Eri, sitting next to Aizawa, has a very hard time focusing on eating. The little girl was nervously glancing at the woman, pulling down the sleeves of her long-sleeve shirt, which she was wearing under her red dress.

'Do you want some rice or soup first, Eri?' Shota asked nicely.

The girl played with her hair, taking a long break before responding.

'Rice, please.'

As Aizawa grabbed the box, handing it over to Eri with a set of chopsticks, Mariko moved closer to the child, being extremely cautious of her personal space. She swept the floor around one of the armchairs and placed the dustpan on the carpet, pushing both of her sleeves above her forearms, revealing her knife scars. Then, she leaned on her right leg and raised her left foot above the ground, slowly moving it behind her back. Eri observed Mariko carefully, sparks of curiosity appearing in her big, red eyes.

'Sorry to keep you waiting,' Eri said to Shota, accepting the box.

Okaido smiled to herself, stood up and walked over to the container for mixed waste; she emptied the dustpan and looked into each of the trashcans. She then pulled out the waste bin for plastic garbage and changed the trash bag to a new one. She pushed the container back in it's place.

'Where are the dumpsters, Mr. Aizawa?' she asked.

'Outside of the hedge and to the right.'

She followed the instructions and soon after was back in the dorm. She quickly entered the bathroom and carefully washed her hands. Later, Mariko joined Mirio and the others to eat her breakfast. When they finished, Mariko offered to clean up after the meal. She collected some of the boxes and chopsticks and decided to pick up the rest once she takes care of the ones she was already holding.

The new student walked to the kitchen and threw re-useable chopsticks in the sink, then, she smashed all of the boxes and put them in the paper or mixed containers. While closing the trashcan, she noticed Eri standing right next to her.

'Yes?' Okaido asked politely, leaning towards the girl with a soft smile.

Eri handed her three, dirty glasses.

'Thank you!' Mariko bowed politely and accepted the dishes, putting them in the sink. She quickly started cleaning all of them.

The woman glanced at the child from the corner of her eye.

'Do you want to sit on the counter?'

Eri nodded and Mariko picked her up, placing her next to the sink.

'What happened to you?' the girl asked, pointing at woman's scarred forearms.

Okaido started cleaning chopsticks. She thought for a few second, trying to phrase an answer.

'There was a guy at the orphanage, who didn't particularly like me,' she began. 'He had this Quirk, where his arms, from elbow all the way to his hands, would grow huge, knife-like blades.'

'He was hurting you?'

'Yes. Not just me,' Mariko confirmed.

Aizawa and Mirio sat in silence, observing the two girls.

'Are you an orphan?' Eri asked after a while.

'Yes,' Okaido rinsed the dishes and placed them in the dryer, wiping all of the water drops around the sink. 'Ready to go down?' she asked, stretching her arms to Eri.

The child grasped Mariko's neck and was safely transported to the ground. Eri quickly returned to Shota, climbing onto the sofa next to him. She grasped his arm and glanced into his eyes, without saying a word.

'Eri, we will be having a training with Okaido. You could go hang out with Mirio.'

'Can we watch?'

'The training?' Shota asked.

'Yea.'

Aizawa looked at Mirio, who showed him thumbs up. Mariko nodded and quickly sprinted to her room, to change her clothes into the sports uniform.

Upon her return to the common living room, she noticed that Midnight has joined the group. The second Okaido stepped on the ground floor, Kayama turned towards her.

'Oh, there you are!'

'Were you looking for me?'

'I was.' She walked to Okaido, standing so close to her, their hips touched. She ran a hand through Mariko's hair. 'Do you regret or not?'

'Not at all,' the young woman grinned.

'Ms. Midnight cut your hair?' Mirio's jaw dropped.

'Yea! Amazing job, right?'

'Of course!' Mirio agreed, performing a right hand swing full of energy.

'Even Shota agrees, but he will not admit it because he's so stiff,' Midnight announced and hit Mariko with her hip, sending her one meter to the side.

Aizawa looked outside, hiding half of his face behind his Binding Cloth.

'It doesn't matter,' he responded with a slow, tired voice.

'Of course it does! Do you think All Might could have been a number 1 hero if it wasn't for his presentation skills?' she argued.

'She should focus on her Quirk first,' he countered.

There was a moment of awkward silence. Mirio glanced at Mariko, holding confused Eri's hand, his smile slightly fading away. Midnight looked at the sleepy teacher with an annoyed expression on her face. Shota, completely unaffected by the tension, opened the door and stepped over the threshold.

'Though, considering how it works, it might be of great help here,' he said quietly, as if hoping that none of them would hear it.

Midnight smirked at Mariko, who lowered her head, hiding a smile.