[Emilia Hall]

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Emi had felt like recently she was falling behind the rest of the class. In her recent experiences, whether it was combat exercises or just actual field work, she couldn't help but feel that if she continued at this pace she wouldn't be able even to move up a year let alone graduate. She hadn't done much to work on herself and from what she learned in classes, you couldn't just depend on your quirk. Even if hers was particularly suited for hero work, she sometimes felt so lame that she couldn't do anything more fancy than throw her weight around.

So here she was off in the wooded area near the physical education grounds in a spot where she could throw her weight around. The school may have been built for people like her but that was only considered in the USJ or Ground Gamma/Beta. The woods were secluded enough that she wouldn't be interrupted by any other students' training. A loud crack could be heard as she slammed her fist into a tree, cracking the tree down the middle with a follow up causing it to split and fall over completely. "Not...enough" she said panting trying to figure out what she could do to improve herself further

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[Sora Nakoma]

Sora turned his head towards the distinct crack he heard in the distance, arching an eyebrow curiously. The young hero was out for a bit of training; back in his time at UAU he would often head into the woods to practice with his Quirk in private. He had hated people watching him, always worried he would mess up and make a fool out of himself. Since he had decided to train today, he figured that he could pay a visit to his old little hideaway in the forest. Nowadays he still tended to train on his own, but rather than because of embarrassment or shyness it was more because the upper reaches of his Quirk had increased by leaps and bounds since his time as a student; if he wanted to push himself, it was best to do so where other people couldn’t get caught up in it.

But from the sounds of things, he wasn’t alone out here like he had expected. Curiosity overtaking him, he decided to follow the sound to its source. On this day Sora was dressed more lightly than he usually would on a normal day; a plain black tanktop with a white and green jacket tied around his waist, a pair of comfortable jeans with obvious wear, and some rough but reliable tennis shoes.

It wasn’t long before he found the source of all the noise (the search made easier by the sight of a tree splitting and falling over in the distance). Crossing the final gap he reached the spot, where he saw a young woman with long, sandy blonde hair tied in a side ponytail, training. Maybe a few years younger than him, breathing hard from the exertion she was putting into some training of her own. He could see her muttering something but was too far to hear. ”Hey there!” Sora called out, not wanting to just stand there watching her silently. If she turned to him he would give a small wave, smiling a bit. ”Sorry if I’m interrupting you. I was out here looking for a spot where I used to train and I heard some noise so I came to check it out.” He made his way over to the girl and the tree she had felled, taking a moment to look over the damage. He whistled, impressed by her strength (or at least he assumed it was strength; he hadn’t seen anything from his distant perspective that led him to believe she had done something more.

At that moment he stood up, realizing that he had explained why he was there but hadn’t bothered to introduce himself. Sora rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed by his intrusion on her training. lAh, sorry. Forgot to introduce myself; I’m Sora Nakoma. Just Sora is fine.” He held out a hand, offering a handshake as he gave his name.

Emilia Hall

[Emilia Hall]

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"Eep!" Emi let out a shrill shriek as she literally jumped startled by the sudden appearance of another person. She was so deep in her thoughts that anyone would have gone unnoticed, whether they snuck up or came barreling in. Immediately her face turned a bright red as she whipped around to face the new arrival. He was at least a few years older than her and perhaps a little taller with black hair. Maybe a fourth year? "S-Sorry, you're not interrupting; you just scared me. I didn't hear you coming!" she could feel her face burning up, and she slapped her cheeks lightly to try and bring her anxiety levels down.

Extending a hand back to shake, she would introduce herself, having been caught up in the moment and forgetting to do "Emilia Hall, but people call me Emi. It's nice to meet you" She would also throw in a bow, as was customary in Japan, just in case he was more traditional than he let on. "I should have known an upperclassman would have a spot like this to train. I'll find another spot so you can train in peace!" With that, she began to turn and leave, feeling even more embarrassed by the whole situation. She was 0-4 when it came to making a good impression on her seniors so far.

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[Sora Nakoma]

Sora flinched a little at the girl’s shriek when he made himself known, startled and feeling bad for catching her off guard. He offered her a sympathetic smile as she admitted to being scared. ”Well, I’m sorry for frightening you in that case. I just didn’t want you to turn around and see me watching you. Feel like that would have been even worse, yeah?” He hoped she took it as a joke, since that’s how he intended it (though the reasoning was genuine).

She introduced herself as Emilia Hall, a name that more or less confirmed that she wasn’t from Japan. She shook his hand, and even added in a bow afterwards. He chuckled a little bit. ”A pleasure to meet you as well, Miss Emi. I like your name.” The girl continued, noting that she should have expected an upperclassman to have such a spot. Well, he was her senpai at least, so she wasn’t too far off the mark. Still, as she turned to leave, promising to give him space to train, he shook his head. ”Ah, hold on! That won’t be necessary.” He assured her, jogging over so they could continue talking face to face. ”Let me explain a bit; see, I am a student at UAU. Or rather, I was a few years ago; I graduated a while back. Spent some time doing hero work with my sister’s agency in America, and I only recently got back to Japan.”

Sora paused to give her time to process, and perhaps to ask questions if she had any. He smiled. ”As I said, I didn’t mean to interrupt your training. So don’t leave on my account; finder’s keepers, first come first serve, whichever of those sorts of expressions you prefer, heh.” His eyes fell to the split tree again, his curiosity flaring up again. He hadn’t seen many of the school’s current students yet, in action or otherwise. It was tempting to see if… actually…

”Oh, here’s an idea!” He said, clapping his hands together as an idea occurred to him. “Actually Emi, if you’re not opposed to the idea, would you be interested in a training partner? I won’t impose if you’d rather continue on your own. I also tended to keep a lot of my training to myself when I was at UAU, to tell you the truth. Especially for my first year or two. But if you’re willing to give it a shot I’d be happy to help! After all, there’s only so much that you can learn from striking a training dummy… er, tree, I suppose, in this case. Believe me.”

He laughed a little bit at his own correction and awaited a response. ”If you like, I could give you a demonstration of my Quirk and you could decide from that? See if you think I could help you with anything you want to improve on.”

Emilia Hall

[Emilia Hall]

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The misunderstanding of Sora's actual age immediately made Emi even more embarrassed over the situation at hand. An upperclassman was already a lot but an actual pro hero? How could she be so dense! Her gait would increase as she wanted to leave this uncomfortable situation as fast as possible before she said or did anything else stupid. Unfortunately for her Sora had other plans.

As to not be rude when he approached her again she would slow down considerably to a walking pace so that Sora wouldn't strain himself. "A training partner?" she would stop completely in her tracks, albeit forgetting all of the earlier embarrassment. He made some good points, and she didn't really have much of a focus right now. Her training wasn't getting her anywhere given that she was just doing what she already could do. Perhaps a Pro Hero would have more insight. "I don't see why not?" she was at least eager to see what the quirk of a UAU graduate could do. Maybe the gap between them would give her more insight as to what level she would need to reach.

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[Sora Nakoma]

Sora smiled a bit as his words managed to convince Emi to stop leaving, glad he hadn’t just shown up and ruined her training. That would have made him feel awful. He waited patiently as she considered her offer, and after a brief lull she agreed with his idea. His smile grew and Sora nodded, happy that he would get a chance to help her out, and hopefully make up for interrupting her.

“Glad to hear it, Emi!” He said, looking around the clearing for ways he could demonstrate his abilities to her. The wind blew some leaves by his face, and it gave him an idea. Sora held up a hand to Emi. “Okay, I’ve got a way I can show you pretty easily. Would you mind standing back a bit, please?” He asked as he took a few steps away from her, so that he was in the middle of the small clearing. He took a calming breath to concentrate and steady himself, and as he did so a pair of antler-like blue horns emerged from beneath his messy black hair. He opened his eyes, looking over at the girl. ”My Quirk is called Wind Dragon. And as for what it lets me do…” he trailed off for a moment. Sora then pointed both hands at the ground, and suddenly the leaves around his feet were blown into the air and began to circle around the two of them overhead, forming a halo of foliage in the air. “My Quirk allows me to manipulate the wind. I can perform subtle, softer gestures like so;” he continued. In tandem with his explanation, some of the leaves flew down to Emi, swirling around her as the gentle breeze carried them. But the breeze didn’t even muss her clothes or hair, demonstrating his fine control as they left her alone.

“… as well as more substantial maneuvers, such as this.” He noted. a heavy jostling of leaves and wood could be heard as the split remains of the tree Emi had been practicing on was lifted into the air by nothing but the wind at Sora’s control. It even spun the tree around in the air a couple of rotations, before he made a sharp, slicing motion with his hand. A blade of wind shot towards the tree, slicing through it and causing the cut part to fall to the ground, blown away from the two by Sora’s wind. Satisfied with his demonstration, Sora gently lowered the tree back to the ground, but out of the way so that they had space to work with. He smiled, turning to look at Emi again. “Is that sufficient to give you an idea of what I can do?” He asked in a pleasant, conversational tone. ”And if you don’t mind my asking, I’m curious about your Quirk as well.”

Emilia Hall

[Emilia Hall]

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Emi's curiosity had gotten the best of her. She did have a twinge in the back of her mind that it was odd that someone who was a Pro would be out here training by themselves, but he seemed like a good person! Perhaps he was also uncomfortable with the spotlight? Either way it didn't throw out any red flags and her eyes would widen clearly impressed by his display of his quirk. Now, THIS was someone who was definitely meant to be a hero!

"Uh..." Emi felt much more nervous than usual when it came to her quirk. She was always dealing with self confidence issues but being face to face with a Pro Hero for the first time. Breathing out to calm herself down she would activate her quirk in full "It's called Star Power" she said sheepishly as she walked over to the tree that Sora had used for his own demonstration and she lifted it with a bit of effort "It boosts my strength by a lot!" she would place the tree back down with a thud. Clenching her fist, she would swing down at the tree, shattering it partly as it cracked from the force of impact. She would show the hand to Sora, which didn't have any damage aside from a few scuff marks. "And toughness"

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[Sora Nakoma]

Sora waited patiently as Emi worked up the nerve to start explaining her Quirk, offering her a friendly smile as she took a breath to steady herself in the hopes it would ease her tension. Sora didn't consider himself a particularly imposing person, and he tried to be approachable as a hero. Once she did begin, he watched with great interest as she spoke, demonstrating her power in the process as she lifted and set down the tree, before smashing into it with a single powerful blow.

When Emi held her hand up to show how much it improved her durability, Sora leaned a bit closer to get a good look at her hand and examine it, staring intently. He fought the urge to grab her hand for his inspection, knowing how rude and "forward" such a thing would be despite his curiosity. Once he had finished looking he stood up straight and smiled again. "I see! That's a very nice power! Strength and durability can seem simple to someone outside looking in, but it's a potent combination and surprisingly flexible." He scratched his chin as he thought for a moment, sitting down on one of the halves of the unfortunate tree they had been using for their respective demonstrations.

He leaned forward and rested his hands in his lap. "So, is there any area in particular you would like to improve on or work on, Emi-san?" He asked, wanting her to set the pace of the training since he had offered to help her in the first place. "Perhaps a way I could use my Quirk to help you with yours? Or we could just do sparring, if you prefer. I'm no master martial artist and I'm certainly not as strong as you, but I can handle myself in a fight well enough, if I do say so myself."

Emilia Hall

[Emilia Hall]

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Emi felt rather embarrassed by the compliment on her quirk and her face reflected this having turned a rosy red. "Thank you" she managed to squeak out. Having a Pro Hero give her a compliment on her quirk was a dream come true! She just needed to get out of her own way about it. "I haven't had any luck with finding new ways to use it." which was absolutely true even the addition of the gauntlets made by Kei couldn't be considered as making her quirk more flexible.

"Well...I'm really not all that skilled in fighting. Usually I get by with my strength and toughness so..." she wasn't really sure what training exactly meant to Sora and wondered if this meant more pointers or if they'd be in an actual fight. The idea of that was extremely intimidating but...she did come out her to improve. "Okay! Count me in!"

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[Sora Nakoma]

Sora simply gave Emilia a small nod when she managed to let out a thank you for his compliment, going on to admit to having had difficulties determining additional ways of using her power. He hummed thoughtfully; he could offer suggestions and ideas, but without seeing more of her Quirk in action it might wind up being stuff outside her reach; that would definitely be more discouraging, so for now he decided to hold off on voicing his opinions. Instead he offered a reassuring smile. "Experience breeds ingenuity; the more you come to grasp your limits and the nuances of your Quirk the more you'll be able to figure out. Of course, I'll try and help where I can as we train together."

Emilia continued, explaining that she tended to rely more on her brute strength and resilience than technique or skill. But while she seemed embarrassed and unsure of herself, she nonetheless enthusiastically told him that she was up for whatever he had in mind. "That's the right attitude!" He commended her with a pleased laugh, thinking about how exactly they could begin. After thinking on her words, he nodded. "Well, by your own account, you say you aren't an especially skilled fighter, yes? I have some martial arts training; as I said before I'm no expert, but I do know proper form and how to take advantage of my strengths. I will admit that some of what I know won't be of use to you, as it's tied to my own Quirk, but I think we can get you started on your own path, so to speak. Does that sound agreeable?" He asked in his usual polite, friendly tone.

Once he did, Sora stood up from his seat on the fallen tree and taking a few steps away from it, turning to face the hero student. "Personally, I think the best way to learn something is by seeing someone else do something, and then trying it for yourself. Learn by doing, and all that. Though I'm not sure how good a teacher I am of this sort of thing, I promise to try my best." He told her, waving his hand in the direction he had come from. The tree they had been practicing with before was suddenly sliced across its trunk in several places, splitting it into a series of disks.

"For the first step of our training, I was thinking we could do with a way to test your reflexes. My idea was that, first, you would throw these disks at me, while I attempt to divert or destroy them before they hit me. Then I will do the same to you; I'll use my wind to guide them to you at various speeds and angles to see how well you can fend them off. If I see a way I think you can improve, I'll provide advice where I can. Plus I think this could help you practice something requiring more finesse and technique, when you're doing the throwing. Does that sound good to you?"

If Emilia agreed, Sora would make his way to the opposite end of the clearing and turn to face her, ready to begin. Truthfully he wasn't sure his idea for training would be worth anything; it was just the first thing that came to mind, and it sounded good in his head as he thought of it. Hopefully Emilia could find some worth in such an exercise.

Emilia Hall

[Emilia Hall]

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Emi nodded along feeling a bit more confident thanks to Sora being understanding of her situation. A kindred spirit in a way and not too much older than her just meant that a few years ago, he was likely in the same predicament. Maybe he got someone to instruct him as well? Either way, to not only get into UAU but graduate as well was impressive.

She watched with awe as he cleaved through the tree like it was nothing and suggested they have an exercise in agility and reflexes. Internally, Emi was screaming as this was precisely where she struggled the most. Even Freja, who was working without a quirk could outpace her which was saying something. Not that there was anything wrong with not having a quirk! She would grab the disks as Sora brought them to her and watched him take his place. She would throw the first one with about 25% effort and then nervously called out, "How was that? I don't know how hard you want me to throw these and I can do less if that's too much for training!"

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