[Freja Helt]

There was no rest for the wicked students at UAU. The orientation, aside from her blunder in revealing herself to be quirkless and getting harassed for it had overall been pretty nice. She hadn't only met bullies since the start of the semester, in fact there were a lot of nice people too, like Raito. Raito was someone Freja felt she clicked with pretty much immediately, he was nice, smart and as far as she knew, didn't mind that she was quirkless. He even used a sword for his own fighting style, which made him a great sparring partner for Freja and her bat.

Which was exactly why she was in the training fields to begin with. As the hot spring sun of Japan bore down on her Freja tied her hair back, dreading to think what summer was going to be like. With a training bat by her side and fitted out in some standard gym wear, she was ready to face her sparring partner for the day. She had arrived early because she was also a bit anxious about the whole thing, and being there early somehow always helped to calm her nerves.

While she waited she checked her phone one last time, checking chatrooms, texting home and doing a quick read of some news headlines that had been going around Tokyo. Thankfully her and Rin's incident in Shinjuku hadn't been anything newsworthy. The less people knew about it, the better. One trip to Shinjuku and never again. How people could grow up in an environment like that was beyond her.

Kousoku Raito

[Kousoku Raito]

Studying at U.A was still a little bit weird for Raito, for a guy like him who never had formal education besides the last two years of intensive education, being at one of the best universities in the country and possibly in the world was something that still felt a bit off. He didn't know if he would ever feel right in a classroom, but he was enjoying the practical side of the training. And speaking of training, today he was going to spar with one of his colleagues, Freja Helt. She seemed to be nice and cool to hang around, but as far as he knew, she was quirkless, so he was kinda curious on what she could do.

Raito had decided to cook something before going, so that they would have something to eat after they were done sparring. But doing so made him almost lose track of the time, making him hurry in packing everything up as he noticed that he was going to be late at this rate. He quickly changed into the school’s gym uniform, buckling up a sheathed training sword on his hips and made haste for the training grounds.

As he entered the training grounds, at a distance, he could see Freja’s figure. “Hey Freja! How’s it going?” He waved at her with a smile on his face. “Hope I’m not too late! I was making something to eat after the training and almost lost track of the time!” He said, as he placed a lunchbox on a shaded spot, protected from the scorching sun. “Probably gonna be a hot summer this year, no?” Raito asked,looking up a bit, before returning his gaze towards Freja. “So, you’re ready to start?”

[Freja Helt]

''Hey Raito-san!'' She called out, offering him a wave. ''Or was it Kousoku-san?'' Whichever one he preferred she would go with. Some people preferred to be addressed by their last name and others their first name. The culture here was truly different from what she knew back home. ''Not at all! I'm not a stickler for being on time.'' She smiled, blinking her eyes at the lunchbox. Okay, so he was late, but he had a legit excuse. One that she really hadn't expected. ''R-Really? That's so thoughtful of you.. Now I feel bad I didn't bring anything.'' She half chuckled, her face growing red from embarrassment as she rubbed the back of her neck with her hand. ''I'll cook something for next time! How about that?'' She quickly added. Nice save, Freja!

''Tell me about it!'' She sighed, fanning herself with her hand. ''In Scandinavia it's usually, cold, windy or raining during spring and summer. Oftentimes it's all three at the same time. This Japanese heat is something else.'' With her bat in hand she gave it a small casual swing at the air. Hot weather aside she was pretty much ready to go. ''Is it usually this hot in spring?'' In any case she would just have to learn to deal with it. Not like the villains were going to wait around for her to recover during a heatwave or anything like that. With her gaze meeting his she raised her bat at him. ''Yeah. Show me what you can do. Don't think about holding back just because I don't have a quirk either.''

Kousoku Raito

[Kousoku Raito]

“Either is fine by me!” Raito wasn’t one to care much about the whole naming thing,whenever someone called him by his first or last name it didn’t matter much, as long as he didn't get any weird nickname. He couldn’t resist but giggle a bit when he saw how embarrassed Freja was about the food. “Hey, hey, don’t worry too much about it! I just like to cook, really!” He said while raising both of his hands, trying to calm her down. “ Although if you want to cook next time, I will not oppose it!” He said with a smile on his face, accepting her offer.

“Well, to be fair Freja, I think unless you’re going to visit some penguins or polar bears, most places' heat will be something else compared to Scandinavia!” He joked, hoping it wasn’t a bit insensitive of his part. “Eh, sometimes it’s like this, but we also get some quite chill days.” He then adjusted the shared-sword on his belt with his left , readying it for their incoming battle, although unlike Freja with her weapon raised up, he did not unsheathe his. “Don’t worry, I don’t plan on making that mistake!” He announced, with a warm smile on his face.

Raito face then turned into an expression of concentration, closing his eyes for a few moments, while his right hand twitched a bit, suddenly he opened his eyes again, with his gaze meeting Freja’s and in a moment’s notice, he dashed towards her, closing the small distance between them and as soon as his dash ended, he he quickly drew his blade, doing a vertical slash attack agaisn’t his opponent’s torso. He would then try to keep the pressure by constantly attacking with a flurry of slashes to try to set her on the defensive, as he believed that if he gave her enough room for her to swing that bat and get momentum would probably means trouble for him because of the sheer difference of weight of that metal bat and his sword.

Freja Helt

[Freja Helt]

''I see. Raito it is!'' She chimed in. It not only made sense when she already felt like they were friends to call him by his first name, but it was what she was the most used to as well. ''Yeah?? Do you cook a lot of your own meals?'' The fact that her face was red only made her more embarrassed, but she quickly calmed back down. ''Mhm! Next time's on me!'' She proclaimed proudly, pointing back at herself with her thumb. What was she going to cook? Well, the anxiety of choosing that would have to come later. For now it was all about training.

''No way, you're totally right.'' She smiled, before confidently putting both of her hands on her hips. ''That settles it, I'm creating the world's first Antarctic hero agency!'' She joked back. As much as she couldn't handle the heat, she also didn't love extreme cold either, so the Antarctic hero agency would most likely remain a silly joke between the two of them. When he announced what he did she smiled back at him. That was what she liked to hear! She always hated it when others got concerned for her just because she didn't have a quirk.

When he dashed at her, Freja's eyes widened for a moment, shocked that he could spring into action so quickly. So shocked in fact, that she subconsciously backed up one step, already going on the defensive as she narrowly managed to parry his first blade strike. Then for the next consecutive ones, she did her absolute best to try and dodge and parry the flurry of slashes that came her way. It was unfortunate for her that Raito was so good at being on the offensive, since Freja herself was also someone who fought with a more aggressive style. She was struggling, one of his slashes even connected with her arm, causing her to stagger and almost drop her weapon for a moment, but she hung on and swiftly threw out a counter of her own, trying to jab him in the shoulder with the tip of her bat. Raito was crazy talented, but at least she had the height advantage? That had to count for something right? One thing was for sure, at this rate, their fight wasn't going to last long on account of how she was already panting. Being put on the defensive was exhausting!

Kousoku Raito

[Kousoku Raito]

He nodded in approval of her decision to call him Raito. “Usually yeah. I worked part-time at a small restaurant a year ago, learned some tricks there.” Since that time, cooking had been a passion of his, but well, that was a tale for another time. “I will be looking forward for it!” He said, imagining if she would bring something from her homeland, well that could prove interesting!

Raito let a hearty laugh at her joke of creating an Antartic hero agency, that was definitely not a place he would like to work though! “Well,when you do, I guess the penguins and polar bears will be safer than ever! “ He joked, completely unaware that penguins and polar bears didn’t even live at the same place.

---------

As the battle raged on, Raito felt a little impressed that she could could keep parrying and dodging his strikes as well as she did, sure she was struggling to do it, but most people would struggle to hold the flurry of attacks he was unleashing unto her, but still she was doing something wrong on his view, she was too focused on just defense instead of trying to break through, punishing him for attacking so aggressively. When she tried her first counter-attack, Raito managed to dodge it by a sliver,having to crouch, forcing him to back a bit. “Good! That’s it!” he shouted before restarting his flurry of attacks. “Do not let me dictate the pacing of the fight!” His sword would strike against her metal bat, as the sound of the metal clashing would fill the training area. “Find an opening! If you cannot find one, be creative, create one!” He would keep saying his words, amidst the sound of the clashing metal. “And when you do, strike back with all your heart!” He hoped those words would encourage her enough to turn the situation around, Raito firmly believed the had the potential to do so. Either way, he would to wrap that fight soon, as he was also starting to feel tired, panting a bit from trying to keep up his flurry of slashes to pressure her

[Freja Helt]

''Honestly if you should work part-time anything, the food industry sounds like the most useful one. It directly teaches you a really useful life skill.'' Not like delivering newspapers or something like that which Freja used to do. You could argue there was something to learn there too, navigating your local neighborhoods, occasionally chatting with people along your routes, but it didn't seem as immediately useful as cooking did. ''You better! I don't wanna brag or anything, but I'm one hell of a cook too.'' She smiled proudly.

''They would! Someone has to look after the little fellas out in the cold corners.'' She continued, also not knowing that polar bears and penguins didn't just live side by side. Either way it was nice that they could joke around and chat casually before their training match. She didn't know why, but she had imagined the moments prior to their match would have been a lot more intense. They were just friends training at the end of the day, but the training itself could get rather intense.

When he backed up after dodging her counter-attack, even if it was just for a couple seconds, Freja took a deeper breath as she worked hard to keep up. Was this finally a moment to catch her breath- nope okay, another flurry of strikes. She immediately shifted back on the defensive again. She liked hanging out with Raito, but deep down, in a fight she felt the same way about him as she did all her peers. She was terrified of him. Terrified to fight anyone with a quirk, of what they might be capable of doing with it. ''I-It's not that easy! You're too fast!'' Find an opening? No, if she couldn't do that how could she create one?

Acting on a reckless idea she just got, Freja would try to close the distance between them, inching closer with each sword strike until she got close enough. Then she would let go of her bat entirely and attempt to tackle him to the ground. Any flurry attacks from his sword she would take with her own body. In a real situation against a real swordsman she could never pull a move like that, but here? It was just training and she wasn't exactly the most creative person. Come to think of it she was probably more headstrong than smart.

Still, Raito said strike with all her heart and so, she attempted to tackle him with her entire weight! ''How about this attack?!''

Kousoku Raito

[Kousoku Raito]

“I… Never looked at it that way, but I guess you’re right!” A sheepish smile formed on Raito’s face as he scratched the back of his head, what Freja was saying was true, but it was kinda funny that he never thought of it, at the time he took the job, his only reasons were to find a way to sustain himself and to help the kind old lady who used to run the place. “Guess I won’t expect anything less than a perfect meal then!”

“Good! It’s not supposed to be easy!” He would say as he kept the pressure on her to keep forcing her on the defensive, without room to gather momentum to swing that bat of hers against him. Then he noticed that she started trying to get closer to him. Did she formulate a plan or did she just believe that it would be easier to block his attacks if got closer? Well, regardless of her intentions, he wasn’t going to ease up on her. But then she did something he wasn’t expecting, she just dropped her bat all of a sudden. “What ar-” He didn’t even get the chance to finish talking before she tackled him with all of her weight. “Yaaa-Yeeet!” Raito screamed as he got hit by the full force of her attack and fell to the ground.

As he laid down on the ground, Raito let out a hearty laughter, it was almost embarrassing but he couldn’t help but be kinda amazed that she would try something so simple yet so bold at the same time. “Never expected you to charge at me like that!” Truly, he expected her to create an opening and do a full swing at him with that bat, he even had adapted his fighting style, not giving her enough room to swing and avoiding dashing around her so he didn’t get home runned by her bat. He then let out a small sigh, he was tired from all the intense slash attacks he had been doing until now, and he would be more than happy to take a break. “So, I guess you got the better of me this time, guess you’re full of surprises huh?”

[Freja Helt]

''Basically, you're on your way to becoming some kind of survival expert.'' She smiled, teasing lightly. ''Am I hyping myself up too much now?'' She chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck with one hand. Never! She was at least a decent cook! ''Expect perfectly perfect!'' She flashed a thumbs up.

''I-It's not even remotely fair!'' But of course, combat really wasn't ever fair. Especially not if you were a hero. Were you going to face off against one bad guy, or five? There really was no way to tell, or ensure fairness on the battlefield. You know what enemies also wouldn't expect on the battlefield? A sudden tackle from an armed enemy! Well, in this case it was more like a tackle hug. Was it an effective method of attack? Not really, but it got the job done! Tumbling down on top of him, Freja quickly pushed herself up into a sitting position, blushing ever so slightly at the sudden close proximity to Raito. If anyone was watching them, how could it be misconstrued?!

''You didn't?'' She smiled, feeling a little less embarrassed about the simplicity behind her counterattack. ''What? N-No way! I was struggling the entire way through, that was totally dumb luck! You're so fast I had a hard time even following you.'' She just couldn't walk away from this training session saying she had gotten the better of him, not when he was so talented and her only successful attack basically abandoned all that she knew about blunt weapon fighting. ''I guess I'm kind of full of surprises, though!'' She looked down at the ground, scratching the back of her head as the red stayed in her cheeks. If only Raito knew. Knew that Freja actually wasn't a girl. Could she tell him? Would he see her differently because of it? ''So! Uh, how about that lunch you prepared? I'd say you bested me today and leave it at that!'' She smiled, at best she was willing to concede and end it in a draw.

''How did you get so good with a sword anyway?''

Kousoku Raito