[Freja Helt]

UA sucked.

The hero course sucked.

Becoming a hero, or being one at all, it all sucked.

Freja was blowing off steam swinging her bat around in the physical education grounds after school. She wasn’t aiming at anything or anyone in particular, just trying to hit the air for even being there in the first place. Her and Rin had been signed up for a rescue mission, a mock scenario where they had to rescue a civilian from some evil robots. They failed because of Freja’s lack of a quirk. Then, there was the encounter at the concert the other night. She got sucker punched because she didn’t have a quirk. She was basically a weakling for being quirkless, and the more time she spent at UA the more obvious it became. It didn’t help that the other students were super curious about her quirk too. The quirk that she didn’t have. Almost as if they already knew she was lying.. Maybe they could see it, if someone had a quirk. Like, ‘there goes that weak quirkless girl again, let’s bully her out of the school and back to her small, cold country.’ That kind of stuff..

It was sort of true, though. As much as she hated it she agreed. Everyone else here was in a league of their own, entirely out of reach for someone like Freja. There was nothing a quirkless person could do that a person with a quirk couldn’t also learn. Her thoughts were racing faster and faster. One body, two sets of thoughts working overtime until she eventually had to let go of her bat and collapse on the ground, breathing heavily to catch her breath. Tuckered out? After this little training? Who else but Freja Helt!! The hero department’s very own water flea tier student, whose very existence was solely to make every other student feel better about themselves when they saw they didn’t suck as much as her.

Staring up at the sky, Elias, the man inside the head wondered.. Why couldn’t Freja have been the one to survive? Why someone as useless as him?

Emilia Hall

[Emilia Hall]

▲

UAU was AMAZING!

Emi held nothing but excitement day after day at this school. She had already been feeling pretty pumped up by the idea of attending this prestigious school and after her entrance exam, this feeling was feeling pretty pumped. It was nerve-wracking at first but she really gave it her all and it showed! She had called her family back home after she got their results to discuss and felt very proud of herself for the praise they gave her. Taking the opportunity to catch up a bit she was informed that in the next few months, they’d be moving to Iceland as her dad’s next assignment with her face telling her family all they needed to know about that decision. Ultimately she was just happy to have her own path forward as she had nothing but respect for the army and wanted more for herself.

After her phone call she contemplated what to do with the rest of her day. She didn’t have any classes, was all moved in, and hadn’t started her new job yet so she chose to scroll through her phone to find out what other students were up to. Most of them either went to train, alone or with others, when they had time off. It made sense as U.A was competitive. She figured it couldn’t hurt to check out the facilities and work out while she was at it. Selecting a training ground she followed the map to it as the campus itself was pretty big in scope. She had checked if there was a reservation before she set out and it didn’t look like it was reserved. Thank god she had some friends who warned her about that as she didn’t want to run into ano-... crap. Apparently, someone had the same idea as her as a girl who looked to be her age was practicing her own technique with a bat? Unusual but not super out of place. Steeling herself as she could feel a little bit of anxiety building she approached the girl with an arm raised to wave her down “Excuse me!” she raised her voice enough to get her attention but not to startle her “Do you mind if I train here as well? I didn’t see the training grounds reserved but if it was I can go elsewhere!” she figured that the area was big enough that she wouldn’t bother Freja IF she didn’t have a problem sharing.

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MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Freja Helt]

Great. Another person out here, exactly what Freja didn’t want. She exhaled her frustration out of her nose as she slowly turned to look over. They were a student? They had to be, looked too young to be a teacher and what kind of school faculty would address her in that way in the first place? With a little more effort she pushed herself up into a sitting position. ‘‘I didn’t reserve anything. I just came out here like you.’’ Probably not a senior student, unless they were overly polite, but they seemed too polite even for Japanese culture standards. Still, if they were a new student they weren’t anyone Freja recognized, so probably not one of the losers, but that just led her spiralling into another line of questioning. Why would a popular kid come train here all alone and not bring their entourage? ‘‘Knock yourself out! I don’t use up that much space.’’ She shrugged, fetching her bat so that it wasn’t littering the ground and getting in the way of the other student.

‘‘Who are you? I don’t recognize you.’’ Maybe she was a little too blunt. Was it that residual anger affecting her mood? Come to think of it, hadn’t she been experiencing a lot more mood swings lately? Sure felt like it. ‘‘I’m Freja Helt from hero studies.’’ She said, throwing up a casual peace sign while the bat rested over her shoulder. She didn’t put any effort into looking happy or cheery as usual, but it was kind of hard to fake it when you were bombing school as hard as Freja was. Resident water flea of the hero department. Not that she said that part out loud. ‘‘School’s tough, isn’t it?’’ She looked up at the sky, both asking the question to Emi, herself and maybe just no one in particular? It was a bit open-ended. She stayed silent for a bit, allowing the other student to talk, gradually changing her attention from the sky and back to Emi.

‘‘Fight me.’’ The request was completely unprompted. Holding her bat in one hand, Freja pointed the tip of it directly at Emi. ‘‘You can admit that you want to fight someone like me. I won’t get mad. I get it.’’ Her voice was cold, void of emotion.

Emilia Hall

[Emilia Hall]

▲

Emi had hoped for a positive or at the very least neutral response to her request and she…well she didn’t get either of those. Her cheeks turned slightly pink due to her embarrassment at the idea of making what her inner voice told her she made a mistake even if that wasn’t the truth. She shuffled slightly uncomfortable at the situation taking a moment to get a better look at Freja now that she had gotten closer. She looked pretty typical except for the silver hair Emi couldn’t help but wonder if she dyed something similar to her own. She toyed with a lock of her own hair as the tension lingering in the air made her fight or flight response come online albeit slightly. “Entourage…?” she said quietly the pink in her cheeks becoming more prominent as she contemplated what Freja even meant by that but ultimately decided that she might have just been mistaken since Emi hadn’t introduced herself.

Her posture became more rigid as Freja was blunt in asking who she was before introducing herself. She was used to this sort of directness as her father sometimes brought work home with him and she was almost conditioned to respond promptly “Emilia Hall, Hero Department. I choose to go by Emi” She gave what she assumed was a customary bow “Nice to meet someone in the same department” she tried to warm up the frigidness Freja was putting out by making small talk but the efforts didn’t change her expression much. “Uh…yeah. Sorry, I’m new so I don’t have much experience with how the school works I just moved in about 2 days ag-...huh?” she was completely caught off guard by Freja’s sudden request, with no intention of fighting anyone today it was odd but perhaps how U.A just worked? “Fight someone like you? Uhm…” she fidgeted uncomfortably with the request especially since she didn’t even know Freja “I mean…I guess if we’re both training we could spar?” her voice wavered as she was still uncomfortable with the idea but was warming up to it seeing as she was out here for training anyways. Unbeknownst to her the following question likely wouldn’t be one that defused the situation “Are we going to use our quirks for this or would you prefer if we did this quirkless?” She began to stretch in place as Freja seemed pretty confident in her request and Emi was just anxious enough not to know how to refuse.

Freja Helt ● # # # ● notes

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Freja Helt]

‘‘Yeah, spar. Students here do that all the time.’’ She said as if she knew, as if she hadn’t just joined a week ago herself. Emi from the department of heroes, huh. Another over-achiever in the her class who was going to leave her in the dust and grow into a monster soon enough, assuming she didn’t already possess some freakish powers. ‘‘Let’s spar, Emi. Don’t hold anything back either.’’ If she did that would just be more annoying. Imagine wanting to genuinely spar with your classmates, but because they know you’re frail and quirkless they will just hold back on you? What a joke. There was a reason she couldn’t tell anyone about her lack of powers.

And yet, even though no one but their teachers knew. What Emi asked as she began to stretch before their match only pissed Freja off more, this girl really was pushing all the right buttons. She held her bat more firmly, arm trembling with rage. ‘‘You think this is some kind of joke?! We use quirks! Don’t you dare hold back on me.’’ Freja didn’t even know where all this anger and frustration came from. Well, she knew she hadn’t been doing great lately, but this behavior felt entirely out of character. What was she hoping to gain from challenging the new girl like this? All things she didn’t have time to consider, because while Emi was stretching and getting ready, Freja just stood there, glaring, holding her bat like it was taped to her hand. ‘‘Are you ready or what?’’ She spoke up after a bit, and once Emi gave the signal, Freja switched to holding the bat in both of her hands, before charging straight at her classmate, bat primed as she swung, aiming for her midsection in an attempt to knock all the air out of her, should her hit land the way she wanted it to.

Emilia Hall

[Emilia Hall]

▲

‘Uh oh’ Emi was unsure what she said but whatever it was it pissed Freja off to the point where she was shaking. “Er…” Emi stammered, finishing her stretching as her cheeks turned beet red. She didn’t like hurting feelings unless someone deserved it or was insulting her. Freja spoke with the answer but what confused Emi was that it didn’t seem like she was angry at Emi. Her language hadn’t once reflected that Emi had done anything to wrong her and yet she still felt the frustration. “I don’t think this a joke I know the hero world is serious” she uttered her voice lowering as she assumed a matched stance by putting her same foot forward as Freja.

Knowledge in battle was everything. From the knowledge of knowing how someone fought to what their capabilities were, there was a strategy for holding back at first. Emi didn’t know the real reason for Freja’s frustration so she figured it was best to play on defense and hopefully get her to talk. As Freja gripped her bat and charged Emi would lower her arm once she observed Frejas trajectory with her bat ‘Maybe the bat is her quirk’ she thought to herself as she crossed her arms with the right overlapping the left and braced for the impact. Emi was physically tough even without use of her transformation so she wanted to see how much of a punch Freja would have and if her “quirk” had any unique properties.

The blow landed against her arms with Emi shifting her body weight back and keeping her stance balanced so she wouldn’t fall if she were thrown backwards. It was the basics of her fighting style to defend and-...’huh?’. She uncrossed her arms to shake them out as the metal stung against her skin but aside from that there wasn’t any damage. She expected to launch right into a counterattack, but with this new knowledge she stopped for a minute, speaking to Freja “If this is a spar and not a “fight", can I ask…is the bat part of your quirk? What does it do?” Freja had the technique for sure as Emi could recognize her skill but she didn’t have the physicality to back it up. It was odd. Freja was the one to say not to hold back and that was all she could muster “I know we’re feeling each other out but I thought you didn’t want to hold back?”. Another scathing insult came from Emi without her knowledge. Poor Freja.

Freja Helt ● # # # ● notes

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Freja Helt]

Emi was stammering? Was she nervous? Intimidated? Maybe she really was one of the losers just like Freja. “Then get serious.” She said harshly.

Knowledge in battle didn’t really mean shit. Whoever won was whoever acted first and fast. Stand around and hesitate, hold anything back and you were practically asking to lose. Not even going to dodge her swing? Emi either had to be confident, strong or slow. Freja gritted her teeth as her bat slammed into her opponent. A blow that was sure to hurt, to do major damage- why was she talking? Asking her questions like they hadn’t even started yet… Really? She stared at Emi’s arms in disbelief. Not even an ‘ow that hurt’?? “I-It hits hard!!” She retaliated, going for another swing in the same spot, this one a little more shaky as her morale had taken a serious hit.

Panting, boiling over with anger and eyes slowly welling up with tears Freja took another few swings at Emi, most of them missing completely. “Shut up!! You haven’t even hit me! Who’s holding back here?” She aimed higher this time, swinging for the side of Emi’s head, regretting it the split second that she did. “Hit me Emi!!” This was getting humiliating. A weak piece of shit like herself in the hero course. She didn’t have brawn, she didn’t have brains and she didn’t even have a good handle on her own emotions.. Here she was, lashing out against a girl who had never done her any wrong.

Emilia Hall

[Emilia Hall]

▲

Emi wasn’t exactly a trained fighter with years of experience she was just a girl who had been taught some moves to protect herself. Even still she could recognize someone being compromised by their own emotions. It was one of the first lessons she learned when she was young that when you let yourself get overwhelmed that’s game over. Freja’s stance had weakened and even though Emi hadn’t put a hand on her she seemed to be weakening herself. Eyeballing her grip on her bit as she noticed the sweat and shaking, Emi took a quick step back to avoid the arc of the bat entirely. She had gotten enough of a feel earlier that even if Freja had hit her she would likely have even less strength than the first swing.

“I’m not holding back Freja.” Emi said getting a little more serious as her expression changed from one of confusion to one of melancholy as she watched Freja struggle “You didn’t put your all into that swing and the first one hurt a bit but if you’re not using your quirk it’s not going to do much at all to me” she rolled up her sleeve so Freja could see the spot where the bat first connected and showed off a slight scuff mark from the bat but no visible damage outside of that. As Freja closed the gap Emi caught a brief glimpse of her face and felt herself getting slightly worked up. She was hurting bad and Emi didn’t even know why. She couldn’t have known why she just met this girl.

Emi didn’t have the will to fight back let alone use her quirk. She would be beating on someone unstable who didn’t deserve it. Even with her heightened frustration, Freja had still not said anything worth retaliation. “Freja.” Emi braced herself while keeping her knees loose to support the impact as she reached into the air and caught the tip of her bat in her palm. This one hurt a bit more and Freja had tried to put more into it, her followthrough was much weaker than before as Emi stood there not moving an inch before she jerked her arm at full strength. “I’m sorry for whatever you’re dealing with but...” yanking the bat would either cause Freja to be disarmed or if her grip was firm enough would cause her to fall onto her face in front of Emi. She didn’t even bother keeping the bat if she could instead letting go as soon as she was done. “If you don’t use your quirk I just won’t use mine. I don’t want to transform unless I have to” she didn’t even have a defensive stance anymore as she grew less and less concerned that Freja could actually do anything to hurt her

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MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Freja Helt]

Freja was weak. How was she so weak? She felt like a flailing toddler trying to fight Emi. No matter what the other girl did she just got angrier too. Dodge? How dare you. Block? You’re still holding back. “Y-You’re not hitting me! You’re not using your quirk!” Didn’t put her all into that last swing? How could she convince Emi that she did? That her all was just that weak. “My quirk?” She took a moment to catch her breath as Emi rolled up her sleeve. “You want to show off- is that it?!” Damn it, how was this little shit so fast and somehow so durable too?

Saying her name set her off again. “Shut up and hit me!!” She pulled on her bat as Emi caught it. “..Let go!” She sneered, trying to pull it back as hard as she could, but to no avail. She simply couldn’t match Emi’s physicality. Why was she being met with so much kindness? She couldn’t understand it, even as she scanned Emi’s face for an answer. It wouldn’t take much effort for the other girl to pull Freja’s bat out of her hands. Well shit, so much for proving she was more than just a weakling, that she belonged at this school too. “I-I…” She stammered weakly, before letting the tears stream down her face as she fell to her knees and curled into herself. “I can’t..” This was her reality, quirk versus quirkless, the quirk always wins. Emi said it herself, she could even transform and she hadn’t yet. The gap between them was just that big. “I-I can’t do it..” She sobbed quietly, she was nothing but a weak liar and a bully, taking out her frustrations on Emi like this.

“..You win.”

Emilia Hall

[Emilia Hall]

▲

Emi had seen this so many times before. It was like looking into a mirror when all the frustration, anxiety, and sadness pooled together it was like trying to overcome a tsunami in a paddle boat. The anger-filled tension left the air entirely, replaced by a looming cloud of sadness as Freja broke down. She knew that whatever had been eating Freja became too much to overcome and whatever this whole ‘spar’ was about was coming to light.

Fighting her instinct for a moment to comfort her as the tiny voice in her brain told her to leave it be it was none of her business, she steeled herself by slapping her cheeks lightly to bring her back into reality. No matter how anxious it made her she couldn’t leave Freja crying alone. Walking over she crouched next to where Freja was balled up and placed her bat in front of her before placing a hand on her back and rubbing it to comfort her. “I’ve been here before.” she paused a small smile coming to her face “Well not here but metaphorically. My mom always used to give good advice when I felt overwhelmed” She switched her dialect to Danish as she had a good hunch it would help Freja “This too shall pass.” it was succinct and perhaps slightly superficial but it had gotten Emi through her most challenging times.

“We can call it a draw.” She had decided at that moment that if she were going to have anyone be her first friend at this school it would have to be Freja. Unusual circumstances call for unusual outcomes and this was one of those. She sat fully on the ground next to Freja. She leaned back looking up into the sky unable to see the stars that brought her so much comfort but knowing they were still there and speaking aloud “... Let's be friends Freja” she pushed past the uncomfortable feeling deep down to try and live up to her goal to be a pillar of society one day. “But only on one condition” Her eyes met Freja “You need to tell me what’s going on. Honestly” Emi felt nervous trying to take charge of the situation like this but clearly, Freja wasn’t going to be able to help herself at this moment

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MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Freja Helt]

Through tear-filled eyes Freja glanced down at her bat as Emi placed it in front of her. Then, she felt something soft rubbing her back, Emi’s hand? She looked up at the other student through her quiet sobs. She didn’t say anything as she continued to let the tears flow and listened to her speak. She blinked her eyes, hearing something familiar in Emi’s voice as she spoke. Something she hadn’t heard in a long time. ‘‘Your dialect..’’ This too shall pass. Freja wanted to believe that, but ‘this’ had been her life for the last half a year and it felt like ‘this’ wasn’t going to pass anytime soon.

‘‘No-’’ She wiped away her tears in her own sleeve as she tried to get ahold of herself. ‘‘You won fair and square.’’ Maybe Emi would one day realize how insignificant this win was. Sure, she may have defeated another hero student, but she had defeated the weakest one by a wide margin. Freja was going to do her best to forget all about this encounter, which ironically for her was going to be hard to do considering all the good Emi and Freja meeting here would retroactively bring into Freja’s miserable and depression-filled existence. As Emi sat down Freja also relaxed a bit, looking directly at her before following her gaze into the sky. A shame they couldn’t see the stars. ‘‘F-Friends? Don’t you hate me?’’ She looked back at Emi, then down at the ground. ‘‘I treated you terribly, I’m a terrible person. Why are you being so nice?’’ Freja couldn’t understand any of it, how was Emi so patient, so kind, so giving even when facing a person like Freja who had done nothing but to try and harm her for her own selfish gains.

Well, not like Freja couldn’t use a friend, but… She still felt horrible about this whole ordeal, how she had acted and even cried in front of her classmate. When she mentioned the one condition, Freja looked up to meet her eyes with her own. ‘‘..I can’t.’’ She averted her gaze again, ‘‘You’ll laugh at me, it’s embarrassing.. You should forget about befriending a loser like me, it won’t do your reputation at the school any good.’’ In the event that she was going to tell Emi she didn’t even know where to begin. With the fact that she was quirkless? Or how about that she still wasn’t used to being a girl yet, but at the same time losing her original identity as Elias, leaving her floating in some kind of weird identity limbo. Was she Elias, or was she Freja? Was she both somehow?? In the silence that ensued Freja was still staring down at the ground, unmoving. ‘‘Sorry.’’ She said plainly, ‘‘Sorry about everything, just now.’’

Emilia Hall

[Emilia Hall]

▲

This whole ordeal did bother Emi greatly. It was easy to put the whole situation on Freja but Emi felt a little bit guilty having actually indulged her in combat without getting to know her first. She had her own struggles with confidence and speaking honestly with others so as not to hurt their feelings, yet this experience had also been a great lesson for her. Perhaps even if she wasn’t truly feeling confident it didn’t really matter? Freja had started to calm down from her words even if Emi was making them up as she went with the exception being her moms advice “I thought with a name like Freja Helt you might feel better with someone talking in your own language” she figured she could explain later about her own backstory but right now she wanted to help Freja.

Emi hadn’t really fought so she genuinely didn’t consider herself a winner in this case. Yes, Freja had technically “gave up” but her heart wasn’t in it anyways so instead of pointing this out Emi thought that it was probably best not to argue aloud. “Hate?” Emi was confused by this notion…well she did understand why Freja was saying such a thing. Self-doubt was an absolute bitch and crept up on you without warning “I couldn’t hate you, I don’t even know you. My dad used to tell me that to hate blindly is a form of ignorance” two in a row she did value the advice of others “Isn’t that what friends do? They fight and make up?” she wasn’t really speaking from experience given that she didn’t really have any friends. This was the first time she had put down any roots so to speak “I’m still figuring out things on my end so even if I don’t understand I’ll always try to. That’s part of the lesson we learn during our hero training…I think” she was largely going off of a giant assumption given that she had only been to 1 class so far.

Bringing her attention fully back to Freja her head titled in confusion. “My reputation? Honestly I don’t think any of that matters. The right thing to do is support others and lend a hand when possible. If people are gonna think I’m a loser for that then I don’t need them!” her face turned a bright pink as she realized how worked up she was getting, this was about the longest she had spoken to anyone since she had arrived here let alone someone her own age. “Don’t worry about it. Everyone has their off days. I can try to help you if you tell me what’s really going on and I promise I won’t laugh no matter what” purple eyes met Freja’s own with a seriousness and determination that Emi had managed to muster up. “Besides once I get to know more about you and what’s bothering you then I can decide to ‘hate you’” she made some air quotes to convey how much this wouldn’t be true regardless of what Freja might have said.

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MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Freja Helt]

‘‘How did you-’’ This was the first time anyone here in Japan had ever recognized where Freja’s name was from and somehow it still wasn’t clicking in her head. ‘‘How do you know Danish?’’ She was in disbelief. Danish being spoken in Japan? She had hardly heard any English outside of a classroom for half a year by now, let alone any Danish at all except when she was making calls home or watching old Danish films. Emi was correct though, through all of it, it was oddly comforting to hear someone talk in her native language. Especially after so long.

She wiped away a few more tears with her sleeve. ‘‘Your parents sound like a nice people.’’ Freja’s were too. Although they had a hard time believing Elias was alive and Freja was dead. She didn’t blame them for it one bit, sometimes Elias had a hard time realizing he was the one who survived too and not Freja. For the first time in a while, Freja smiled at Emi. She was really serious about wanting to be her friend? No tricks? No bullying after getting her hopes up? Emi was just a genuinely, nice person? Freja was relieved, but something else took hold in her stomach too. The painful realization of how much of an asshole she had been to her, and how Emi had only responded with kindness. She was going to think back to this day and cringe. Heck, maybe it would even start tonight, thinking back on this first meeting instead of sleeping. ‘‘Then- if you really want to be friends, I’ll tell you, but you can’t tell anyone else.’’

Oh my god, her dedication to being a good person was so strong, it was almost blinding. If Freja needed a reminder that she was an insecure, hormonal teenager, Emi was it, but in the best way possible. Maybe she could be a bit like that one day too. Not care about what people think and just do her own cool thing. ‘‘Well, let me reintroduce myself.’’ She shifted slightly so that she would be facing Emi, still sitting down, but extending a hand out in a handshake. Emi presumably wasn’t from here either, so a handshake might be more familiar to her. ‘‘I’m Freja Helt.’’ She took a deep breath, unable to make eye contact as she continued. ‘‘My quirk has been sealed away.’’ In the most technically correct way, this was exactly what had happened to Freja and Elias, and even though other students like Rin knew she was quirkless, they didn’t know she once did have a quirk. ‘‘As in- I can’t use it. It’s like a battery that has run out of power.. The teachers know, but I lie to the other students about it.’’ She felt uncomfortable sharing it, but at the same time, strangely relieved? It was a mixture of feelings, but she definitely looked more nervous now than before, now that Emi had that information. ‘‘Please don’t tell anyone..’’

Emilia Hall

[Emilia Hall]

▲

“I’ve never lived in one place for more than a year” with a tinge of sadness in her voice she would continue to explain more about why she knew how to speak danish “I lived in Denmark for about a year, you see my dad is in the military so we relocated a lot. I can also speak English, French, Danish, Japanese, and sign language” She was getting so wrapped up in talking about herself that her face turned beet red when she realized this was not the time nor place for that and twirled a finger through her hair as she looked away “S-Sorry! I got a bit carried away!” it was hard for her not to try to relate others experiences to her own but clearly whatever Freja had going on was a lot more impactful than a lonely childhood.

With the comment about Emi’s parents, Freja didn’t seem upset by the notion of them being friendly people so she figured that hers were likely just as lovely. If not, she probably would have gotten more upset but compared to what she was going to say, it would have likely been a minor footnote. Emi mimed her zipping her lips and let Freja continue, it was likely difficult to say given the lengths she went to hide it. Upon Frejas reintroduction she would reciprocate the handshake, something she hadn’t done in a bit given how the culture was in Japan, and introduced herself again this time including her middle name “Emilia Marie Hall”. Her eyes widened in shock as Freja told her what the secret was. ‘Her quirk was sealed? How?’ she had never heard of this happening to anyone before. Being quirkless naturally was one thing, heck her older brother was one of the few like this, but she had never even read about anyone having their quirk locked away.

Immediately Emis's face turned the deepest red perhaps she had shown all day. “I’m an idiot!” she suddenly shouted, burying her face in her hands. “I said all of those things to you about using your quirk! I am so SO sorry, Freja!” she couldn’t dare face her friend at that moment, but she mustered the courage to peak at her through her hands to reassure her, “I won’t say anything.” pausing, wondering if her next question would be considered insensitive but finding it necessary at the moment, “Did…did your quirk get sealed after you started here? What did it do before?” she didn’t realize Freja was as new as she was, only that she was also a freshman.

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[Freja Helt]

She couldn’t help but sympathize with Emi and her having to constantly move around from presumably a young age, her eyes mirroring the sadness in Emi’s tone. Freja herself had lived in Copenhagen for almost her entire life, but she had always found comfort in having the same home to return to. How would her own childhood have looked if she didn’t even have that? Despite it all Emi appeared so happy too. ‘‘No way, you’re pretty talented, then.’’ When her face turned red and Emi began twirling a finger around her hair, Freja squinted ever so slightly as she realized something… Emi was totally a nerd like herself wasn’t she? She just expressed it in a different way. ‘‘It’s fine,’’ she smiled, ‘‘I was the one who asked.’’

The zipping of her mouth got a silent half-chuckle from Freja as she thought about how to best word it. ‘‘Emilia Marie Hall.’’ She repeated. ‘‘Fancy, you’ve got a middle name and everything.’’ She felt something of a weight lift from her shoulders after confessing to her quirkless nature. She quickly grew a little flustered when Emi called herself an idiot. ‘‘N-No no!! There’s no way you could have known!’’ She waved a hand in front of her own face dismissively before putting a careful hand on Emi’s shoulder. ‘‘It’s okay, I was being a dumbass.’’ The reassurance that her new friend wouldn’t say anything was all she needed. Well that, and then she also needed Emi to forget the first five minutes of them getting to know each other. Just completely erase all that Freja angst from her mind. ‘‘It was sealed away before, I think a few years ago?’’ She was about to continue, but was feeling a little more nervous about exposing more secrets today. ‘‘It’s a long story… Actually, how about this, the next time we hang out, I’ll tell you.’’ She held up a pinky finger, indicating that she wanted to make a pinky promise. ‘‘There’ll be a next time, right? Since we’re friends.’’ It felt a little bit corny, but corny was Freja’s unofficial middle name.

Emilia Hall