Hotaru:

"They're here! They're here!" I shout as I jump up and down. I look out the common room window and see them coming to the building with their suitcases. "Bakugo they're here!" I shout again as my mentor reads his math book instead of looking up.

I look back into the common room area at my fellow 1-A alumni- like that word, alumni? I just learned it!

Anyway, I look around at the TVs, the couches, the... everyone sitting around doing homework in the middle of a weekend day. I typically wait until five because I have REAL stuff to do. Things like working out, playing sports and video games with Bakugo and his crew, or playing games with Ochaco. The rest of the students are so dull. They seem to do the same things, but they don't want to do much with me, so for me, it's boring.

But as I see THEM walking up the sidewalk, I know it won't be the same. Even Bakugo and his friends only want to work with me for so long. For instance, they're so much stronger than me, so they don't like competing with me in anything- cause we all know they're not really competing; I'm just being humored or coached. But finally, I see someone against whom it will matter how hard I try when I play a sport or compete in trivia. Fellow middle schoolers!

From a distance, I see them as Bakugo stands over me with his arms folded.

Henry, as I can see, has brown hair and a slightly reddish tan. He's lean, which is easy to tell in his purple tank top and black jeans. I don't know his eye color just yet—wait... hazel. It's hard to tell at first because he keeps his black cap pulled over his face, which has to limit his vision a bit, but to each his own.

Then there's Tori, with reddish brown hair, pale skin, chubby, and a little smaller. She's wearing a pink cardigan over a white shirt and blue jeans. I like her casual style, like my red sweater and blue jeans.

I'm shaking with anticipation at meeting them, and I look up at Bakugo with a grin. He raises an eyebrow but shrugs, saying. "Well, you've certainly made progress in the social department. You need me to come with you?"

"Nope! I got this!" I then open the door, run down a few steps, and down a brick path.

Wow, even though I was on the first floor of the dorms, these two looked a lot smaller from there. Um... maybe it's better to back down before-

"Hey, do I know you?" Henry asks.

I bite my lip. Maybe I should have asked Bakugo to come with me? "Um... probably not too well," I say.

"Oh hey!" Tori perks up. "It's that nice, quiet girl!"

"Yeah, you're um... um... I was, um... told who you are, right?" Henry asks.

"Hotaru," Tori says, then pats her brother on the shoulder. "You'll get it." He looks down and away on that note.

"Rrrright..." I say, not sure what that interaction meant. "Anyway, c'mon, you're both carrying big black suitcases; I guess you're moving in like they say." I peek over their shoulders, "Though I wonder where the rest of your stuff is." Indeed, they both have backpacks and decent-sized suitcases, but that's it- and school will be in session for at least another six months! "Well, the dorms are this way, so follow me!" I say, putting on my best friendly smile, a toothy grin I'm told no one can mistake.

I start walking towards the 1-A dorms, and Henry immediately follows as I head back to my school home. However, I notice quickly that I'm soon alone. I look back to see Tori holding her brother's arm. "That's 1-A. Henry and I are assigned to the top floor of 1-B, opposite sides of the top floor."

"I- oh..." I look over at the brick, reddish brown, two-tower building to my left that looks the same as the one I just came from- only it belongs to them. 1-A and 1-B are rival classes. Most of my classmates consider them sworn enemies, no joke! The only ones who seem to be friends across the lines are Tetsutetsu and Kirishima, and I imagine that's fraught with tension. "Does this mean we have to hate each other?" I ask, disappointed. "We have rival classes." My shoulders slump as my eyes widen a little.

"Well, if that's all it takes to make you hate someone," Henry says with a raised eyebrow. He looks between the two dorms. "But it's up to you." He walks over to me and leans towards me a little. "Hey, ya know what?" He gives a knowing side smile. "Screw the rivalry. Come with us."

"I don't know..." I say.

"Awww... C'mon, live a little. Everyone is an aspiring hero here; the three of us are kids anyway, so it's not like anyone will feel good attacking us; what's the worst that could happen? Anyone attacks us, their reputation is in the toilet."

"You think?" I ask, giving a nervous grin.

"I know," Henry replies. "Besides, my sister and I are convicts, so if you need an excuse to break a few rules- here we are!"

"I don't know..." But as I repeat that little mantra, Henry grabs my hand and pulls me along as Tori leads us to the 1-B dorms.

Outside, I see them, the leaders of class 1-B.

I rarely see 1-B's students, only at competitive rallies. Their quirks are amazing, and boy, are they aggressive on the field! My classmates came back from skirmishes, bruises, and bleeding. I'm only allowed to watch intense quirk matches from the sidelines, and seeing 1-B in action, I'm happy with that. I've even seen Bakugo have trouble with these teens—he always overcomes them, but it takes a lot to even challenge him.

First, there's the orange-haired Kendo with blue eyes and orange hair, a strong figure, a responsible hairstyle, including a very well-kept long ponytail, and finally, a modest dress and jacket; really, everything about this girl screamed professionalism. She was the class rep, and in many ways, she seemed more professional than our president, Ida Tenya. She's outside helping one of her classmates, Kaibara, a black-haired boy who I can only guess is struggling with math.

Next, there's her vice president, Shoda, a rather short young man, who gets up and stands before the door as we approach. He has an unfortunate egg-like figure and minimal blue hair, but don't let all that fool you. He's brilliant and very well disciplined, as you can tell by how he bows to us as we come up to his class dorms, always looking to make a good impression.

Those two are their own intimidating brand since you always feel beneath them without them saying anything. Maybe it's comforting if they're on your side, but when you're on the outside... I wonder how Tenya is seen by people he doesn't support. Course... didn't I use to be afraid of my class president myself?

The third, and to me, most intimidating member of class 1-B now rears his face. Skinny, tall, blonde hair, blue eyes, and often wearing out that hero costume of his, a double-breasted tux with two long tails of some kind, a white shirt with an upturned collar, and a blue spotted tie. I would think it looked cool if the guy himself weren't so in-your-face.

"Well, hello!" Monoma yells as he bows with his arms open. "Well, I see my two new class tag-a-longs are being charitable and deigning to entertain the tag-along of our inferiors in 1-A! Hotaru, the little girl who always hides behind everyone else's skirts—there she goes again!" I move behind Henry, unsure I want to interact with this guy.

"Back off, she's with us," Henry says.

Monoma pauses and folds his arms. "Oh? Well, look at the stones on this one, Kendo," he says, looking at his class leader. Kendo gets up and looks down at us, Henry in particular. "Definitely an improvement over his counterpart, isn't he? A dark aura, a little more style, and he speaks when spoken to or about." The teenager fixes me with a smirk as if daring me to respond. I stay behind Henry, looking down at my simple outfit.

"Get out of our way. We need to move in before our curfew," Henry says, staring into Monoma's eyes.

Monoma stands to the side, giving a nearly complete European-style bow. "But of course, this is where you belong. Vlad himself seems eager to meet you tomorrow." He returns to standing but keeps out an inviting hand. "He says you and your darling sister will be checking us out as if there's a chance you'll want to go somewhere else once you've been with the best class."

Kendo rolls her eyes but then gives a nod. "We're a colorful bunch here, but you won't find better friends. C'mon inside, I'll show you your dorms."

"She means you two, not this one. " Monoma grabs my arm and starts to pull me back, but then he falls to the ground, doing a near summersault. He comes up spitting, and we both notice Henry's clone that suddenly appeared in his path and tripped him up.

"I said, she's with us. You hard of hearing?" Henry says. I wish I had his courage as he stares down Monoma despite their obvious difference in height and age.

Monoma shrugs. "Very well, I see no reason to fight. And no outcome from a fight that will benefit my standing, so I'll just come along and make sure she doesn't mess anything up."

Henry turns his back and continues after Kendo, saying, "Yeah, you do that." In a tone that dares Monoma to go further in defying him, maybe Henry is that good, but I suspect he's just arrogant—he has no idea what Monoma is capable of.

We head through a common room resembling 1-A'a own, with couches, games, and a few entertainment systems. I would explore out of curiosity, but the group just moves through. I don't want to be left behind with the strange students here, so I keep with my brave champion, Henry. Well, he's on my side for now, right?

We come to the stairs as Kendo starts narrating. "Honestly, the dorms are pretty nice here. We have games, TV, the company of our classmates- just don't let it all distract you from your studies, okay?" she says, as we all come into the stairs area. "We have an elevator, but that's only for visitors and medical purposes. Have fun going up and down stairs every hour around here!" she laughs at the end of that statement. It's true enough, stairs are becoming the bane of my existence.

I remember these two saying they lived at the top, so I look up the five flights of stairs and sigh dejectedly. However, Henry separates from the group with a big grin on his face, walks to the middle of the first staircase, and reaches up to touch it.

What is he do-

A double of him appears on the stairs above him. The double snaps his fingers, and Henry disappears. Wait... what? The duplicate replicates Henry's action and then disappears as a new version continues the process until there is only one version of Henry—five stories up from us, grinning down. "C'mon, slow pokes!" He yells down.

"Body swapping," Tori says, rolling her eyes. "My brother's most confusing and most abused ability." She starts hiking up the stairs as Monoma looks up at Henry. He feels along the stairs to where Henry began his assent.

"Interesting. Some kind of psychic network ability. It's not simple replicas- it's the next best thing to teleportation," Monoma says. "Well- let's give it a whirl!" A replica of Monoma appears on the stairs above him- and then Monoma disappears in favor of his own clone. He repeats the process Herny just went through and appears next to Henry. "I have a feeling I'm gonna like you," Monoma says with a grin, Henry cringing. That's Monoma's quirk, copy; he can replicate up to four quirks at once and store them for minutes at a time.

Kendo runs up the steps and grabs Tori from behind in one hand. "What the!?" Tori yelps, but she doesn't have much time to resist before Kendo grabs the railing, spins around, and jumps, enlarging her other hand and grabbing the next set of stairs and yanking herself up, basically bypassing two flights of stairs in one maneuver. Tori screams the whole time until she's finally set down. "Warn me next time!" she yells at Kendo.

Kendo just chuckles at her as I start hiking up the stairs myself. "Sorry," Kendo says, stepping back, but not losing her big smile. "You can walk the rest of the way if you want..."

"As long as I'm not panicking, that was actually kind of fun..." Tori says. Then she is grabbed and slung up the stairs, two staircases at a time, this time screaming and laughing as she goes.

It's all enough to make a girl forget she's only one and a half staircases up... almost. "Um, someone gonna help me?" I ask. "Kendo? That looked like fun... guys?" But Monoma opens the door to the fifth floor, and he and Henry file in without saying another word.

Kendo looks down with a smile but then shrugs. "You can be in here and all, but you're not one of us, kiddo. Have fun hiking up the next three flights. I'm going to help my new classmates get settled. See ya!"

As she leaves, my heart starts thudding away as I grip the railing, knuckles almost white with all the pressure I'm using. I'm alone. Every sound amplifies, every scent heightens, and I can even taste the air. "Guys? Guys?" I start running. "Please don't leave me!" Tears start streaming down my cheeks. I hate that I do this, I know somewhere in my head that I'm fine, but I can't help it. I know how dangerous the world is. I know what's in the dark. My vision starts to blur as I pass the flights and- run into someone.

I'm then hugged and gently guided to my knees as I try to fight the urge to cry. "There there..." I hear. Wait... Tori never went inside. "Hey, aren't you a big, strong hero alumni? Just being left alone on a staircase gets to you?" She asks me, but somehow, it doesn't sound judgmental.

I sniffle. "I'm a disappointment, aren't I?"

Tori slowly lets me go, steps back, then gives me a gentle smile. "Nah. My big brother is kinda my security blanket. Long as I know he's within screaming distance and can get to me, I'm fine, but otherwise, well... to tell the truth, all this is freaking me out." She looks up the remaining stairs case. "Even for me, it's a lot all at once, ya know?"

"Yeah," I say, getting up. "That's just how this school is."

"C'mon, let's catch up to my bro and the weirdos, eh?" She starts hiking up the stairs with me in toe. "I had to leave my suitcase on the landing up there when I saw you freaking out."

I just follow her with a grin. What is this feeling? It's not as warm as with my dad, and it's not like Ochaco watching over me... but Tori feels special to me. She didn't need to stay behind. In fact, from what I understand of our quirks, mine is a MUCH better weapon than hers, but she still went out of her way for me. She's not really "taking care" of me. She's just sort of helping.

There's a security and a power in this feeling. I could do the same for her sometime. I don't feel overwhelmed, like a child with her mother. No... I feel more like... I don't know. Is this what it feels like to have a friend?

Tori and I navigate to her big brother's room in just a few minutes. We go in and... "What is this?" I ask

"What?" Henry asks. He shrugs, lugs his suitcase onto a twin-size bed, and starts unpacking.

"What?" I ask back. "I thought my room was primitive." Well, the room isn't primitive, so much as, rigid. The five-drawer dresser is brown, the floor is brown, and the bed, pillow, and sheets- are all brown. There's a smell of cleaning products like this was just set up. There's a mirror in the corner, but again it's just brown. The bed posts come up to the fifth drawer of the dresser, and the nightstand is precisely half a foot taller than the bed.

I look at the outside of the door and notice a deadbolt. "They can lock you in?" I ask.

Henry just looks over his shoulder at a small window. "As if it would make a difference," he says. He looks over at his sister, whose face suddenly shows worry.

"It would trap me..." Tori says.

"Don't worry. The lock is programmed to disengage in emergencies like fires or whatever. It just engages about curfew time, so it's no biggie. There's a reason we have our own bathrooms," Henry says, sticking a thumb in the general direction of a small bathroom area.

"Most of us have a balcony..." I walk over to the window and look out, seeing that, indeed, there's a balcony on the other side— just walled off, and this small window is the only way to see out of the room.

"I guess this is as close to a prison room as UA is gonna get," Henry says, cracking open his case and unloading. "If they're not gonna shackle my arm, it's a suggestion more than an imposition. I could get out of this in my sleep."

"The place isn't exactly Fort Knox- I wonder why they even bothered," Monoma comments. "Really, this is just sort of- depressing." He slumps his shoulders a little.

"It's probably just for the newspapers. If Henry and Tori have full suites with balconies like the rest of us, it'll look to all the world like UA isn't taking their convict status seriously," Kendo says. "Still... not sure I would want to live here..."

"It's fine," Henry says, putting his clothes away. Once she gets a feel for which drawers he's using, Kendo joins him in doing this task.

"Yeah, I mean, put up some decorations, and you won't know the difference, save for the balcony," I comment.

"We have to get those approved, actually," Henry says.

"Hey, where's your laptop?" Monoma asks.

"Not allowed," Henry says flippantly.

"I guess that makes sense..." Monoma says under his breath.

"Where are your toys?" I ask as I start pulling out Henry's clothes. "Or maybe DVDs or games or kid books or- anything? This is just clothes and a few basic textbooks."

Behind me, Tori finally speaks up. "That's all I got either."

"Not quite," Henry says. He grins and puts a few toy cars on top of his dresser. "Dad says he'll figure something out for both of us, but he did give me some cars and dinosaurs, and he gave Tori some stuffed animals for now."

I look and see all he has—two cars, a T-rex, and a small triceratops. None of them even look like they're matched in size or make; they're just random toys. I'm not judging Present Mic; I'm not; it's just... "But what about toys from... before?"

"Yeah well... Charles burned most of those," Henry says, not looking at me. "And what survived is probably in an evidence locker somewhere."

"Well—okay, I'll just write a few letters and get the ones in evidence for you, no problem," Kendo says with a cheerful shrug. I can tell she's trying to sound friendly and upbeat, but this is depressing her, too.

"Doesn't matter," Tori says behind us. "I mean, you accumulate toys over childhood right? You forget you have some you don't care about, like legos or crayons. That's what Charles let us keep. Anything that meant anything to us he got rid of." She looks down. "I guess it was to demonstrate how far he would go to hurt us."

"Are you fishing for sympathy, Tori?" Henry says, slamming one of his drawers, and everyone jumps when he does.

"It's what happened..." Tori says.

"Right, well, they don't need to know everything that happened. We're not pathetic victims anymore- if you ask me, we never were," Henry turns around, gritting his teeth. "Okay, so you know, we lived in hell. Charles destroyed our belongings, beat us, scared us, and he was working on re-freaking-programming us. Truth is, he was buying us new toys- well, he stole them for us from his victims. I had a huge trove of toys I never touched, and neither did Tori. He wanted us to accept the lives he was putting us in, and we both knew that was part of his convincing us. The toys in evidence aren't stray legos; they're stolen goods that should be returned." Henry walks out of the room, "Whatever. Thanks for helping me unpack everyone. Let's head for Tori's room."

He heads down the hall, and the group follows him. Kendo shuts his door. "What do you mean, you never were victims?" Monoma asks. "Hawks saved you two. I can imagine how horrible you both looked when he-"

"When he what?!" Henry snaps. He glares at Monoma, giving a look that almost locks us all in place. "When he almost screwed up my escape plan? When he nearly got Tori killed 'cause he didn't kill the guard?" Henry throws up in his hands. "What did the papers report? He didn't pull us out of a burning building; he practically arrested us. We got out despite Hawks."

"Well- it's not quite like that..." Tori says.

"Point remains, we saved ourselves," Henry says, pushing forward, shouldering past Monoma, almost like he's daring the older boy to fight. "So no, we're not victims." We start to follow him as he heads down the hall. "Tori and I got out, and we became witnesses and informants against one of Japan's most powerful and dangerous gangs. So don't look down on us. Look at us and remember Tori and I got ourselves out of hell- so don't mess with us..." He grabs a door knob with a sense of purpose.

"Um... that's the door to the stairwell..." Kendo says, giving Henry a half smile.

Henry looks down, clearly embarrassed that he seems to have forgotten which way he was going, especially after his big speech, but he just hides his face.

Tori's room wasn't much different. I found myself respecting both of them for what they had survived, but nothing about them spoke of the invincible empire crushes Henry wanted to be seen as. Henry was formidable for sure, tougher than me anyway. But I kept noticing little things, like how he kept forgetting little things or building up himself and his sister- who barely spoke for herself. I had to imagine most of what happened with their escape was on him, and if that was the case- even more respect... but still... it felt like I needed to do... something.

When I come back out of the dorms, I see Bakugo and Ochaco waiting for me. Bakugo is reading a book and practicing his blasts at the same time... somehow.

I race over to hug Ochaco, and Bakugo gives his normal "Tah" like he doesn't care.

"You good, Hotes?" Ochaco. She stands up, holding my hand. "I'm surprised you went in there with just two strangers as company. Very brave."

"I think I have friends now," I say. "Well- at least one."

"Right, well- you're fine; I'm going back," Bakugo says, walking away without another word.

We both watch him go, Ochaco giving a subtle hiss. "Never will understand that jerk."

"He's not a jerk- he cares. He came, didn't he?"

"You are a freaking angel sometimes, kid," Ochaco says, messing up my hair.

"Um... Ochaco, can we and the girls do something?"

"Getting everyone together isn't always easy, but I'll see what I can do," she says, leaning down on my level. "What's up? You need something?"

"I mostly want to hit a toy store, and it's not about what I need..."