Koto's POV

I'm finally able to stand long enough this afternoon to take a shower. I take my wet hair out of the towel as I sit on my bed. I brush the soaked light golden strands as I rummage through my bathroom box, taking items out and arranging them on shelves. When everything is organized, I put product in my hair and fluff it, ready for it to be curly again.

I spend the rest of the afternoon unpacking and setting up my dorm. By the time I hear another knock at the door at 4, I have all my clothes put away and I'm in the middle of organizing my movies on the bookshelves.

I go to answer it, debating if Bakugo is coming back early, which then leads me to question whether he's planning on coming back at all. Maybe I'll actually have to get my own dinner tonight.

When I open the door, I'm no less confused.

Tokoyami and Shoji stand in the hallway. My bird friend offers me a small smile.

"Yamada," he greets, dipping his head. "May we come in?"

"Uhh...um s-sure," I say, eyebrows furrowed.

The two share a confused glance before walking in. "We weren't aware you were talking," Shoji says, standing on my grey carpet. "Of course I made my assumptions from what happened at that party. I knew whoever Bakugo was talking to was talking back, but when I saw you yesterday it occurred to me that that really was you. I didn't know if you were using your quirk or not."

I tense when I realize I didn't actually say anything yesterday. So this is gonna be the first time my classmates hear me speak.

"Words are s-st-still hard," I say quietly. "B-but I needed t-to go back. I needed t-t-to heal."

"We understand," Tokoyami says. "And we wanted to talk with you about what happened yesterday."

I feel my face heating up as I touch my neck self-consciously, just to make sure my choker is still in place.

"The thing is," Shoji says, reaching out to gently lower my hand. "We both know what it's like to hide something too."

Tokoyami puts a hand on my shoulder. "It's nothing to be ashamed of if there are parts of you you don't want to show. Especially when people haven't earned the right to see them."

"Only you can decide who you want to present yourself to be," Shoji says softly. "And you can't worry about how others feel when you're just being yourself. We hide things too, but it doesn't make us any less of who we are."

"I still have fledgling feathers that haven't fallen out yet," Tokoyami says, putting a hand over his own choker. "And people always looking at the transition between my feathers and my skin is unnerving. I decided it was better to cover up."

"I made a little girl cry once," Shoji whispers. I can hear repressed pain in his voice. "Just by looking at my face. I can't help how I look, but she thought I was some sort of monster. I never want to make anyone feel that way again. And I definitely don't want another incident like that to happen. I know I'll be a better hero if this part of me is hidden. It makes people trust me more."

"If any of the others make you feel bad for wanting to hide something, just know that they'll never understand," Tokoyami continues. "I'm sure Todoroki has wanted to hide his scar, but it's more difficult in his case. With where it is, he physically can't hide it. I'm sure he's never had the option to. He can't know what kind of safety comes with hiding your secrets away."

"I have no intention of taking my mask off around others."

"Nor my choker."

"We just wanted to let you know it's okay to make that decision because we'll support you in it, even if the others don't," Shoji finishes the statement.

I take a deep breath and nod, putting my hand on Tokoyami's where it still rests on my shoulder. "Th-th-thank you," I manage to say, looking between the two of them. Otherwise, I'm at a loss for words.

"You're welcome, Yamada," Shoji responds, bowing his head.

"The last thing we wanted was for you to feel alone right now," Tokoyami adds. "We've noticed you haven't been coming downstairs at meal times and you missed training this morning. We wanted to make sure you were okay."

I look between them quickly in confusion. "Th-there was t-t-training this morning?!" I ask, fearful that I missed something required.

"Since yesterday, we've been training from 7am to noon," Shoji explains before he seems to realize something. "But you had a meeting with Principal Nezu this morning, right?"

I nod worriedly and Tokoyami continues, "I'm sure it's an excused absence since Mr. Aizawa was there too. Don't worry too much about it."

"So w-what did I miss?"

"We've been training with Mr. Ectoplasm on our ultimate moves," Tokoyami says. "We have to prepare for our provisional license exam after all."

My heart drops in my chest. "I totally forgot about th-that!" I stammer.

"It won't be for another week and a half," Shoji says calmly. "You'll catch up before you know it. It's only been two days and not all of us have made extensive progress. I know firsthand all the things you can do with your quirk. I'm sure you'll just be perfecting what you can already do and give the attacks a name."

I nod, thinking, I already have Echolocation that I've been working on with Uncle Mic. Maybe he's been trying to give me a leg up and I didn't even realize. Well, I can't use it to get ahead of my classmates now, but at least it puts me on the same level as them.

At least I'm not behind.

"Thank you, g-guys. You d-don't know how much th-th-this means to m-me." I pull both boys into a hug which they readily reciprocate.

"Maybe we'll see you at dinner tonight?" Tokoyami asks.

"Sato and Bakugo are actually really good cooks," Shoji says. "We've decided to take turns when it comes to meals. They made a huge feast the first night. I know I speak for everyone when I say we can't wait for the meal tonight."

I smile and nod. "I'll b-be there."

Shoji gives me a thumbs up as Tokoyami smiles slightly.

"Good luck unpacking," the bird boy says as they walk out and close the door behind them.

I smile to myself and continue organizing my movies.

•°•°•°•

After another hour and a half, I've set up my decorations and broken down the cardboard boxes. All I have left to do is set up the projector screen. I know I'll need a ladder and maybe two other sets of hands to set it up.

I leave the white screen rolled up on my floor as I grab the cardboard boxes to recycle them. Sadly, the recycling bin is all the way at the back of the neighborhood of dormitories. Stepping off the elevator, I'm greeted by a bunch of people as they lounge about the common room. I find my way to one of the couches where Ochaco sits.

I gesture to the pile of cardboard in my hands. "A l-little help?" I stutter out quietly.

It's as if the whole room stops moving. I still hear Bakugo moving around and cursing in the kitchen, but otherwise, everyone has fallen completely still. I see Shoji give me a little nod from the corner where he's been reading.

"Yeah," Ochaco gasps out, breaking the spell over everyone. As they all begin muttering to each other, my friend stands to walk around the couch.

We walk outside and she touches the bottom piece of cardboard, making the whole stack float. I push it along in the air.

"When did you start speaking again?" She asks, visibly shaken.

"America," I respond quietly. "There w-was just some s-stuff I had t-to do."

My friend nods, a tear falling down her rosy cheek. "I was just so worried about you. You...you left without a word."

"I know. I-I'm sorry."

"But after everything that happened," she sniffles and continues, "Bakugo getting kidnapped, you losing your happiness. I was worried that...that this wasn't enough. That I wasn't enough for you to stay. I know you grew up there and it wasn't really your choice to move here in the first place, so it's really selfish of me to keep you back. But I'm just worried that one day you'll go back and forget about all of this. You'll be somewhere without the League of Villains so you'll be safe. I know being a student at UA is risky and I don't want to keep you somewhere you don't want to be."

"Ochaco..."

Looking at me with red eyes, she wipes her nose with the back of her hand.

"I was worried that they had taken you like they did with Bakugo," she whimpers, reaching out to engulf me in a hug. "When we couldn't find you..."

I comb my fingers through her hair, hugging her close. "I'm so s-sorry for worrying you. I j-just haven't b-been right lately. I needed t-t-to confront my p-past if I was going to heal."

My friend nods weakly, holding me closer. "I know. And I know you can handle yourself just fine, I was just worried."

Both of us don't breathe for a moment as we squeeze the living daylights out of each other. Ochaco is a small person, but she's surprisingly strong, especially when it comes to hugging. I don't doubt she could crack somebody's ribs if she wanted to.

After a long moment, we let go and are about to start walking. Instead, we get the crap scared out of us.

"You two are so wholesome!" The boy says, his blue eyes sparkling with what I can only describe as insanity as his head sticks out of the wall next to us.

We both let out a blood curdling scream. I illuse a loud bang at the boy's head and it retreats through the wall as Ochaco and I run away. The cardboard had floated a little ways forward as we were talking, so we catch up to it and continue running towards the dumpster area.

When we get to the large metal recycling bin, Ochaco places her fingers together, gasping "release" as we both hunch over, out of breath. The moment we make eye contact, we both burst into hysterical laughter.

"You...you attacked him!" Ochaco exclaims through her laughter.

"I g-got scared!" I respond, trying to be serious at first, but I can't hold my cackling in. "You wanna t-t-take the long way back?" I ask, wiping the tears from my eyes and still chuckling. I point to the left, down the back lawns of the third year's accommodations.

"I couldn't deal with that again," she says, still laughing to herself.

"I think I rec-r-recognized him," I mention. The blue eyes and joyful demeanor make me think he's that blond third year that looks like All Might. "He t-talked to me b-b-before about my per-performance during internships."

"Well, he was terrifying," she states, chuckling. "I like your hair by the way."

I run a hand through the curly strands. "Thanks! I have so m-much t-t-to tell you..."

•°•°•°•

Ochaco and I sit next to each other during dinner, me telling her about my adventures in America. Our classmates had pushed the tables together so we could all have a "family meal," much to Bakugo's disdain. There were a couple conversations going on, but eventually, everyone just listened as I described my new friends and meeting the family I never knew I had.

As we were cleaning up, Sero had volunteered to take the trash to the dumpsters.

Coming through the front door, he says, "Hey guys? Does anybody know why there's a massive chunk taken out of 3-A's wall?"

I turn to Ochaco as we're both cleaning the plates and we dissolve into laughter.

------Author's Note------

Hey guys!

I sure do hope you're enjoying the story. We have some more fan art!

These lovely drawings of Koto are from angela_medenilla! Thank you so much!! They're absolutely lovely and they really capture Koto's essence. The ballerina one is awesome! Such a beautiful action shot! Thank you again!

Have a lovely week!