Published: 24/08/17

Edited: ?/?/?

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*Mai's POV*

After that commotion, we went through a few more bothersome tests such as sit-ups and and distance run. I noticed Midoriya passing out from exhaustion since he was walking near me.

"Midoriya are you alright...?" I couldn't help but poke him with my foot while checking if he was even alive after everything that happened.

I noticed everyone crowded around Aizawa-sensei. Dragging Midoriya's corpse with my hand I managed to move him towards others.

"Midoriya come ooon..."

'Am I a bad person if I whine over my classmate who is half dead from exhaustion?'

"Alright, I will tell you the results." Aizawa-sensei informed the class just as I finished dragging Midoriya towards the crowd.

"The total is simply the marks that you got from each test. It's a lot of time to explain everything verbally so I will just show you the final results."

'Oh right, I nearly forgot... The last person with the lowest score will be expelled from the Academy...'

Aizawa-sansei then shows us the scores, I deadpanned once I saw that I was on sixth place.

'Oh well... Better try harder next time I guess!'

I was about to glare at the blonde only to notice that he was alredy glaring at me. 'Why the hell is he the one glaring?! He is the one that got a higher score?!'

My eyes widened when I saw the name written on the last place. Izuku Midoriya...

'The last place will be expelled.'

I looked at him, noticing that his expression was as pale as mine if not worse, his eyes wide in fear as he stood frozen. He clenched his fist tightly, I could tell he was regretting something.

"By the way, I was lying about the expulsion."

...

...

Now that's just cruel!

Aizawa smirks at our reaction while smiling widely at us. "It was a rational deception to draw out the upper limits of your Quirks."

'He didn't have to encourage us with a lie though... I think he is scary enough to make people do things just by scaring them with the elastic bandages on his neck and his dry eye.'

"Of course it was just a lie." I looked toward the voice to spot a girl with a high ponytail, Yaoyorozu Momo. She looked at Midoriya, Iida and Ochako in disbelief while the three had shocked expressions on.

'Alright... Don't show them that you are confused... I need to look smart... I need to look smart... Yeah! Like I already knew everything...Today is a nice weather...' 

"A little nerve wrecking huh?" A boy with dark hair, Sero Hanta sighed.

A red headed boy beside him, Kirishima Eijirou, smirks in response. He holds up a fist and places in on his left hip."I'll take up a challenge anytime!"

"With that, we're done here." Aizawa-sensei turns away, as he starts to walk he adds. "There are handouts with the curriculum and such in the classroom so when you get back, look at them."

I notice Midoriya letting out a sigh of relief but looking back up when Aizawa-sensei calls him.

"Midoriya, have the old lady fix you in the nurse's office." Flipping through a paper he looked at the class. "Tomorrow we will be packed with even more rigorous tests. Prepare yourself."  

'Wait. Did Suki say that she wanted to go out after school? Did she even say that?! Am I starting to hallucinate... Danny it I should really start listening when she blabs about stuff...'

::

I notice Midoriya coming in, both me and Iida start to surround him. He jumps slightly when Iida taps him on the back.

"Is your finger healed?" He asks, completely obvious to Midoriya's tense shoulders.

"Can you move it?" I appeared besides Iida while looking at his his finger, which was bandaged. He gave the two of us a small smile in return.

"Yeah, its alright thanks to the Recovery Girl."

"I see. Well that's good." And so we started walking away from the school entrance.

"I was really taken by Aizawa-Sensei." Iida admits while placing his hand on his chin and holds up his finger. "I even thought 'This is the best of the best' and such... I didn't think he would encourage us with a lie..." He muttered while crossing his arms.

I shrug in reply. "I guess everyone has their own methods of teaching. There is a reason why he became a teacher in UA."

"Saito! Deku! Iida!"

"Uraraka?!" Midoriya looks quite taken back and seems to be blushing a bit.

"Nice to see you again, you're the infinity girl." Iida acknowledges respectfully.

"Hi Ochako!" I smile while waving slightly.

We looked up to see Uraraka running towards us with a smile on her face. "I'm Uraraka Ochako! Are you going to the station?"

She opens her eyes and looks at me. "Um, you're Saito Mai. You're Iida and you're Midoriya Deku, right?" She looks over the three of us.

'Wait, I thought his name was Izuku? Did I miss him saying it was Deku before..? No. I am pretty sure it was Midoriya...?'

"Deku?" Midoriya echoes with a tone full of disbelief.

Ochako raises her eyebrow in confusion. "Huh? But during the fitness test, the boy named Bakugou said..."

"Deku you bastard!"

'When did he say that?'

Turning even more pink, Midoriya or Deku or whoever, starts to fiddle with his fingers while avoiding anyone's gaze towards the ground.

"Uh... My real name is Izuku, however D-deku is what Kaachan calls me to make fun of me.." Gesturing his hands left to right while trying to explain everything.

"An insult, perhaps?" Iida guesses, Midoriya starts to rub the back of his head while, Uraraka struck with realisation soon starts to mimick his actions.

"Oh, is that right? Sorry!" She apologises. "But 'Deku' sounds like a Japanese word for 'You can do it!' So I kinda like it.." She confessed while making a fist, giving Midoriya a closed-eye smile.

"I'M DEKU!" He blurts out of nowhere, his face even redder than before.

I take a good look at Midoriya, then at Ochako, and so back and forth until realisation hits me.

'Oh I see! Somebody has a crush already on the first day~' The stared at me weirdly while I wiggle my eyebrows slightly at the two.

"You're accepting it too easily! Wasn't that an insult?!" Iida questions him.

Clasping my hands I smile at the three. "Alright then, I am calling you Deku-kun from now on! Have something against it? No? Then it's settled."

Midoriya turns away from Uraraka while desperately trying to cover up his blushing face.

"It's like a Copernican Revolution..." His body shaking while he stammers out.

I stay mostly quiet as the other three talk, but they do include me in their conversations sometimes which makes me feel quite happy, despite not spending so much time in the academy I think I can be happy having friends like this...

When we were nearly the station I stopped walking making the other three focus their attention on me.

"Saito-chan, how come you stopped?" Ochako raised her eyebrow at me while the other two gave me the same questioning looks.

Smiling sheepishly I scratched the back of my head. "Well I leave near here and I just remembered I need to visit an old family member in a cafe near by! I will see you tomorrow guys! Hope you get home safely!"

I waved while walking changing my direction to the right. After they said they're goodbyes and I got a hug from Uraraka we parted our own separate ways.

::

As I continued to walk, a familiar aroma echoed through the street, turning around the corner I a cafe appear.

'Hmm~ Coffee and pastries...'

I looked at the name of the old bakery that was now rebuilt into a cafe. The same place that nearly ten years ago got burned into ashes, the same place where my brother said a final goodbye to me...

'Alchemy...'

Twitching her eyebrow, I  mentally scolded myself.

'Shut the hell up Mai and smile for God's sake properly for once at least!'

Opening the door, I was met by a waitress with short blonde hair and a pair of green eyes lighting up as they landed on me.

"Mai! It's so nice to see you again!"  The young woman ran up to me, a kind smile flashing on her face which I am sure, could make anyone fall for.

"Hi Ayame! It's nice seeing you here! Are you helping Miss-Cho with the cafe?" I smile gently while hugging her.

She hugged back while tucking a strand of her golden hair behind her ear. "Yeah, grandma hasn't been feeling well lately and I wanted to do something productive!" She chipped while leading me towards the second floor, towards the meeting room.

"She wanted to see you so badly! But we heard that you've started the Academy now, so we didn't want to interrupt any exam preparations!" Ache tugged my arm tighter while opening the door with 'Mrs. Cho' on it.

Ayame burst through the door with a wide smile, hiding me behind her back.

"GRANNY CHO! LOOK WHO CAME TO VISIT US!!!" My eyes widened as she shouted towards the short figure sitting near the window.

"Ah yes, yes Ayame I can hear you properly! No need to shout."

I looked closer to see that Mrs Cho was sitting in a wheelchair, after the accident she has been using walking sticks but it seems that it's too much energy for her now.

"Ah Mai! My sweet Mai! How are you? We missed you so much!" A wide smile spread on her wrinkled face as she hugged me slightly, making sure not to add too much pressure I hugged her back.

"Where is my little Hiro? That trouble maker has to be somewhere near by if you came!" She laughed while squishing my cheeks.

"G-granny Hiro he- he..." Ayame looked at me wearingly, she was scared that I will feel offended or sad.

Gently taking Mrs Cho's hands I gently held them while giving her the best grin I could manage.

"Sorry Granny Cho but Hiro couldn't come to visit you today. He is very busy with school exams..." I lied smoothly while I could feel Ayame flinch next to me.

'So its true huh... Granny Cho is starting to suffer from memory loss already...'

"Oooh! Do you wanna go and drink some coffee?! It's on the house darling!" She beamed happily while guiding me out of the meeting room. 

"Oh sure! But is it alright if I wait here for a very close friend of mine?" I scratched the my cheek slightly while looking down.

"Of course! Remember I want this to be your second home! Everyone here is your family too so please don't be afraid to come anytime!"

Ayame guided me back downstairs, while I was waiting for Suki to arrive, Ayame sat beside wiggling her eyebrows as she tapped the table with her nails.

"Sooo! You are seventeen already, you are a young lady now! And a cute one too may I add!"

I blushed slightly but just played with the edge of my skirt while looking down.

"So when am I gonna meet your boyfriend?!"

I choked on my own spit as while sending her a small glare which was ignored.

"N-no I don't have time for such nonsense things as relationships! Besides I need to focus on my training..." my voice became more of a mumble as I whispered the last part.

"Plus all the guys are always scared of me, or either they dislike me because I can beat they're butts..." I whispered the last part but Ayame seemed to hear it since she started to pinch my cheeks while whining that I am too 'cute' for any of those jerks.

'Ha ha. Besides I don't need a guy when I have a best friend who is just like me-'

I heard a bell sound, which meant that someone arrived. A wide smile formed on my face when I saw Suki, however my eyes darkened when I saw a boy walking with her.

She laughed with him while he sent her one of those 'cute' grins and opened the second door for her.

'TRAITOR...'

Menacing aura surrounded me as Ayame looked towards the person I was glaring at and laughed nervously while excusing herself.

Suki waved at me, her eyes gleaming with excitement before she became as pale as a sheet of paper. Her eyes landed on the corpse I was glaring at and she quickly hid him behind her.

Approaching me while holding the boy's hand. Smiling nervously she tapped me on the shoulder making all the dark aura disappear.

"Hey Mai! I wanted to introduce you to one of my school friends."

She gestured for the boy to come out and introduce herself.

He looked average height with short, messy, dirty blonde hair with dark roots and brown eyes. He wore quite bright clothes while sending me a friendly smile.

"Hello, I'm Hideaki Azuma! It's nice to meet ya."

My smile nearly twitched but I grabbed his hand and started to shake it... Maybe a but too violently... But he doesn't seem to mind anyway!

"Hi! I am Saito Mai! Its a pleasure to meet you too!"

And so the next hour the three of us kept talking and all. As soon as Suki had to go to the bathroom I took it as my chance.

"So listen here. You break her heart or even if you upset her in ANY way possible I will personally rip all your limbs apart and make you rot in a freezer forever. Understood?!" I made the scariest face I could manage while looking at the shivering Hideaki.

"Y-yes m' am!"

"Good"

'... I was still friendly though..'

::

Hideaki Azuma

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AN: This is what the cafe looks like (Yes I am fully aware that's Anteiku but just roll with it, it will make sense.) Oh and for those who are a bit confused, 'alchemy' is the name of the cafe!

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Thank you.