With a small reply, he would shed a bit of light on what her quirk was and, potentially, a bit about his own speed. The question about his quirk would go unasked as Natsumi herself often omitted things about her own; she never knew who she would have to face off against for training and found it rather nice to have the element of surprise combined with an underestimation factor that most people had in regards to her combat ability. It was in his past, and his intentions were only to move forward, a noble way to deal with the loss while honoring his mother. Natsumi would give a light head nod in agreement with his statement.

The two sparring students would return to their starting positions, leaving Natsumi with the hope that the goofy combatant would learn from his early mistakes, but they wouldn’t stay and find out.

"I hope he learns. It would be a shame for anyone to give up on their dreams."

Natsumi would respond as Farrin would stand up and offer his hand to help her up, which would also include taking the time to brush a few stray strands of grass and dirt from her clothing. Heading down the hill, they would follow the path to the university’s cafeteria, and although they held a large variety of food, Natsumi was still a very planned and boring person when it came to her choices. Salads with varying amounts of protein, fruits, and, depending on the day, the occasional dessert to spoil herself As they walked, the duo continued to talk, with the topic now switching to something much less gloomy than the one prior: adjusting to life on the academy campus.

"It’s actually been pretty fun. Everything is so nice and well maintained here. It did take a bit of getting used to being away from home, though."

She would respond with a lighthearted laugh. Her parents were at times a bit overbearing, and even when out, they would make the time to contact her every few hours or so. But this wasn’t to say that they had stopped their check-ins; just the frequency of them had been greatly lowered to the exchange of text messages and a weekly video call. Natsumi herself had never gone to her prep school and received her training prior to taking the exam from a private tutor in the form of a pro hero, but she had overheard a few people talk about it.

"What about you? I assume the campus has to be a lot bigger than the prep school too, right?"

Natsumi found herself focusing more and more on the fight, leaning in, and finding herself becoming just a tad fixated. She wondered about the exact use of the goop, as the circle he had created around himself seemed to be a way to draw in his enemy. With the flame-fist student quickly running towards the goo-circled student, she would feel a sudden build of excitement. His movements were precise, which she fully attributed to his discipline, as those movements had probably been practiced for days on end.

As he crossed over the circle, he fully expected to see the totality of the goo’s student quirk, assuming they would somehow manage to land a surprise strike, only to see them not only allow the first student to cross the circle but also land another blow, making their total of two strikes unanswered. Another sigh would escape her lips as she was beginning to think that the goo-spitting student had been using his quirk incorrectly; possibly using it to counter and overwhelm the fire-fist student would be the best option. She would pause as Farrin would make his comment, which she couldn’t help but agree with. His slower thinking would be his downfall if he couldn’t figure out a better strategy.

"His quirk doesn’t seem too offensive, so he should try a different approach. Maybe trying to use his quirk more defensively to impede his opponent’s movement more like a counterattack."

Her eyes would seem to quickly scan over the duo as their spar would continue, her observation stopping for a moment to give Farrin a warm smile as he mentioned not only the welcome of her competition to be the number one hero but her slight traumatic backstory. After all, it wasn’t every day that a child would go against the wishes of their parents and actively put themselves in harm's way, something she was sure her parents wanted to know. But her life was her own, and the world didn’t need more politicians right now; it needed defenders, and she would lobby in stuffy rooms when she had reached a ripe old age and decided to retire from hero work.

As Farrin told a bit of his own story, Natsumi’s question about his partner and what they were like quickly faded away as she began to wonder about his mother. It was an often-occurring occurrence for her to sit and wonder what it would have been like had her parents been heroes instead of politicians. Would they still have the drive for her to lean into politics? Or would they have understood her desire to be a hero? Or perhaps with a different outlook on seeing her parents come home tired and possibly broken after putting their lives on the line night after night, she would have grown to despise the hero society for constantly putting her family in danger. But something he said seemed to ring over and over in her ear—a small word that would make her feel as though there was a lump in her throat, she just couldn’t get rid of.

"Your mom. Is she still?"

Pausing a bit at the end to insinuate if his mother has simply retired from her time as a hero or if she has been taken from him.

Her smile would widen a bit as Farrin would repeat her whole name, exchanging pleasantries. In response, she would lightly nod her head, giving a hum of approval. Before turning her attention back to the rest of the training grounds. Yet another warm breeze would push past as Natsumi would let out a sigh of relief before taking a deep breath. Something about being slightly elevated on such a wonderful day would make the air quality seem so much more pure, although with the pollen, she was certain that it was all in her imagination. From their small interaction, she was starting to believe less and less that Farrin was responsible for the aforementioned altercation she had heard about.

As Farrin spoke again, Natsumi would set her bottle off to the side, hugging her knees close to her chest as she took in the scenery from the hill for its beauty alone instead of its tactical position. With her smaller stature, she wouldn’t be able to take in as much of the campus as Farrin could, but she was still content with what she could manage to see. Unknown to her, they would seem to be near complete opposites in their initial thoughts, one geared towards tactics and the other more interested in the beauty of the world around them, possibly in part due to their upbringings. With a bit more time passing, she had finally managed to fully cool off from her run.

It would appear that not only herself but a few other classmates had also decided to take advantage of the nice weather to get a bit of practice outside. Although it seemed some had worked a bit harder than others, his stomach growled, audible enough to cause Natsumi to laugh and chuckle again, though she was sure that given her own training, the rumbling of her stomach would eventually follow suit.

"Mind if I tag along?"

She would ask, admittedly a bit more curiously, about her classmate. Natsumi could understand his aversion to being around others after the incident but not why others seemed to steer clear of him; had it all just been a misunderstanding created through gossip? She didn’t find him frightening at all when compared to some of the others in this class; actually, quite the opposite. With the sudden burst of flames engulfing a student's fist, her eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to it as she would slightly lean in in anticipation. It wasn’t that she enjoyed fighting; she enjoyed analyzing others fights. Through her own training, she had based her combat style around exploiting others weaknesses and gaps in their defenses to bring the fight to an end, and it always helped to see potential opponents in action.

After a few moments of watching them spar, she would seem to lean back, returning to her lax posture, letting out a bit of a sigh of disapproval.

"He’s leaving his right side open."

She would mutter calmly to herself. A large yet easily correctable error. Natsumi would turn her attention away from the spar fully as he asked another question, to which she would grin widely before responding.

"Heroics, you’re looking at the future number one hero, Sprite! I’m guessing you’re in the heroics class too, right?"

She was confident, or at least that was the guise that she showed. After her answer, she would let out a light hum, as if thinking. She felt as if the conversation was one-sided and decided to ask a few questions of her own in return.

"My turn! Your last name seems foreign; did you move to Japan or were you born here?"

On a near perfect day, from the warm air to the green hue of the grass down to the perfectly timed and well-welcome breeze, Natsumi was preparing for another day of self-led training. With a rather large water bottle in comparison to her own size gym uniform, she would do her best to remember the stretches she had learned from another student who had taken her under his wing for a time. Her stretches were slow and deliberate to make sure she wouldn’t hurt herself as she prepared for her typical training run, a routine she had developed as a way to not only keep her active but to engage with others. As she finished her stretch, she would wave to other students who would also be exercising and would cheerfully stop and have small conversations with Natsumi before returning to their own exercises.

Popularity was something that had to be constantly maintained, much like fitness, and she wouldn’t allow herself to be so easily forgotten by her fellow students. After all, with her ambitions of becoming the class president as well as the next number one hero, she would need to hone her skills. A warm smile would be on her face as she would begin to run at a steady pace around the track. She wouldn’t necessarily be so focused on her speed as much as her form and overall endurance, but her speed was still nothing to scoff at. It didn’t take much time for one lap around the track to become two and two to become four until she had worked up a bit of a sweat.

Coming to a stop, she would wipe the sweat from her brow, still smiling, as she would take a few big gulps of water from her bottle, pausing to not only catch her breath but also to take in the scenery of the training ground. While looking, she saw someone she hadn't seen before—a rather tall student. Much taller than herself, which wasn’t much of a feat but was still imposing none the less. She couldn’t quite tell if she had ever introduced herself to him. But the campus was large—even larger when you were quite as small as Natsumi.

Making her way over to him, she would take a seat on the grass nearby. Taking another drink from her water bottle before giving him a warm smile and talking.

"Hiya, I’m Natsumi; nice to meet you!"