[Johanna Larsen]

Kneeling down with a smile she quickly put down her backpack and started rummaging through it.

”Hey there, are you hungry little one?”

She always came prepared for emergencies like these when she saw a hungry face with pleading eyes, it was like a switch changed in her mind and she immediately went into caregiver mode. Nowadays she pretty much carried around some emergency supplies with her to ensure that she was always prepared.

”It’s not a lot, but I hope this is enough for now, I can always come back later with some more if you need me to?”

Happy that they started eating, her fingers instinctively started to rub their little head and before long scratch between their eyes and run through their fur straightening out the bits and pieces that they hadn’t been able to clean themselves…

There was something about cats that messed with her head, like some sort of spell came over her and she felt instantly drawn to the curious little felines that always seemed to be living in a world completely alien to her own, uninterested in the weird attitudes of humans and instead busy with their own little weird attitudes.

Her parents never let her own cats, and it pretty much broke her heart, but that hadn’t stopped from practically adopting every stray and non-stray that her eyes set on, because if she couldn’t own one, she’d make sure to befriend every single other one that she couldn’t have.

”You know, I have a feeling I am forgetting something.”

Johanna’s mind was distant, distracted with the furry little friend she had just made, but for a few moments the lightbulb in the back of her head flickered enough to give her a clue about where she was going before getting completely waylaid by cuddly little four-footers.

”Oh no, I’m late for assembly!”

The exclaim was sudden and shocked enough for the cat to recoil for just a few second, nipping a piece of fish from the plate and running off to safety. Johanna’s heart was broken, but it would wait because she was going to get in trouble on her first day of university, so many years she worked for it, and now she was going to waste all that hard work and goodwill on her first day!

Without any armour on she was reasonable fast in a sprint, she wasn’t going to win any track and field medals but huffin’ and puffin’ she’d cross the entrance gate and the shuffling of students all around her made it obvious…

She hadn’t just been late for assembly; she had missed it entirely!

”I’m going to be in so much trouble…”

---

|

[Freja Helt]

So this was UAU. Prestigious hero school for the best of the best. Society's future generation of heroes were all being trained right here, they were all going to graduate and do amazing things.

And there was Freja, who had somehow conned her way in. At least it felt that way to her when she compared herself to her peers.

It became all the more obvious during the orientation. How she had foolishly asked if quirkless people could become heroes too and despite Leonid's attempt at saving her, it was clear what her peers thought when a good amount of the student body laughed at her.

Hey yeah, just reveal that you're quirkless during your first week of school, great idea Freja. She was sulking to herself, head dejected as she thought about what to do next. Go home and cry it out? That felt like a shockingly depressing way to cap off the day. Should she quit? Just silently quit hero school and disappear off the face of the earth? It was an option, but that would break her promise.

Without seeing where she was going, Johanna wasn't the only one that missed something that day, as she immediately walked into the other girl, assuming she didn't react to Freja coming her way of course. When she looked down at Johanna and realized what had happened, white hot fear washed over her. ''I-I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going.'' She bowed her head politely. That was the type of thing you did in Japan right? Be respectful and the bullies might have mercy on you.

Johanna Larsen

[Johanna Larsen]

Despite Johanna’s lamentations and frustrations, she wasn’t completely distracted about her own worries to not see another student walk straight towards her. The other frankly looked like a zombie, and she made sure to raise her hands to stop her at her shoulders before they could topple each other.

As quickly the woman would bow deeply in apologzy, and Johanna awkwardly raised her hands disarmingly because there wasn’t exactly anything to apologize over…

”It’s all okay, no harm done!”

This situation also meant that Johanna’s thoughts about being late quickly disappeared to the rest of the background worries.

”I bet you’re just dazed from such an exciting day, right? I mean, first day of university is always awesome and scary in equal measure!”

‘Especially if you completely fail to attend assembly because you’re an idiot’ Johanna’s inner thought stream would call out through the empty void that was Johanna’s head.

”What department are you in by the way? I’m in the hero department, so better watch out because Ironclad is going to take the world by storm!”

And as quickly as that, Johanna’s excitement quickly peaked as she made sure to grab her arm in a tough pose. ‘Perhaps they were also in the hero classes’ her mind wandered as she was eager to make new friends.

---

|

[Freja Helt]

''Exciting?'' She asked, looking a bit lost, before quickly faking a smile. ''Y-Yeah!! Something like that! Gosh there's a lot happening here at school, what an assembly am I right?'' She gave a bit of a confused look when Johanna asked what department she was in. Not that she was expecting the other girl to just know based on appearance, but if she mentioned she hadn't been to assembly that would make more sense to Freja. If she didn't, then Freja would just have to assume she hadn't embarrassed herself as hard as she thought.

''Uh, I'm in the hero department as well. Retry.'' She said, a lot more timid than the cat-loving woman. ''B-But my real name is Freja! Freja Helt!'' She quickly added. She still felt a bit embarrassed by her hero name of choice and she wasn't about to make it her nickname. ''Ironclad, huh?'' She cracked a smile at Johanna as she struck her pose. With arms like that she could believe it! So far Freja wasn't catching any bad vibes from her. It was kind of a relief already to know one of her strong classmates was this kind. So long as they didn't ask each other about quirks they could probably remain friends. Once Johanna did though, it would be game over. No one wanted to befriend a quirkless loser.

''So, what are you doing now? I was planning to walk around the campus, get acquainted with where the training fields and all that other stuff is. Wanna come?''

Johanna Larsen

[Johanna Larsen]

Johanna’s smile, like so many times, was absolutely beaming positively towards Freja as they talked about excitement.

”Pleased to meet’cha, Freja!” she’d exclaim. ”And ‘Retry’ is an awesome hero name, by the way!” she’d add.

It was cool, it was mysterious too. Definitely matched the cool vibes Freja seemed to have about her, Johanna reckoned to her internal monologue.

”Oh yeah, I’d love to walk around the campus, there’s so much cool stuff I still want to see. Like did you know they have an entire building that can simulate any and all situations, like both holographically but still which you can feel physically!” she’d exclaim.

Undoubtedly Freja had also been through the USJ, as everyone who had done the official entrance exam had to. Although Johanna had heard there were a very select few every year that get in directly because of how talented they are.

---

|

[Freja Helt]

''Aha, you really think so? Most people I've talked to thought it was pretty lame.'' She rubbed the back of her neck with her hand. Retry wasn't even halfway cool, not compared to something like Ironclad. Johanna could probably back it up with her quirk too, adding to the coolness of her hero name. Speaking of Johanna, wow was she excitable. Freja wasn't entirely sure yet, but it seemed like she might have come across an extrovert, or at the very least someone a lot more extroverted than herself. Ironic since she was the one who had extended the invitation to go around campus together.

''I know! How do they do that??'' She would start walking, hoping Johanna would follow her. ''How does it work? I mean, I know the support facilities here are pretty high tech, but that sounds like something straight out of a sci-fi.'' Talking with her like this was helping Freja forget that embarrassing assembly, which was kind of nice. ''How are you liking school so far? Got up to anything interesting?'' Freja certainly hadn't. Unless getting settled and getting her room and all that sorted counted as something interesting, but it didn't in her book. ''The exam was something else too.''

Johanna Larsen

[Johanna Larsen]

”Oh man, tell me about it. I actually busted a few ribs during the practical!” she’d regale as she let out a deep breath.

It had been a while, but the exam had properly kicked her ass something fierce. But if anything it had been a lesson in that everything afterwards would only be harder, and that if she couldn’t take a few lumps facing off against a bunch of drones, then she shouldn’t be a hero anyways!

”We had to save a bunch of civilians from criminals and some nasty monsters during a crazy storm, it was… well… super crazy!” she exclaimed as she further explained her story.

She hadn’t heard anybody else’s experience other than her own and the two students that she had done the exams with. So she was somewhat eager to hear other people’s experiences.

”What about you? Let me guess, one of those firebug villains who tried to set Shibuya on fire!” she pondered with an eager smile.

---

|