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

Did he just stick his tongue out? How rude! Why were his childish taunts working anyway? It's not like it was above her to do the same given the right scenario. Actually, maybe that was what made her so angry. ''U-Uh..'' She wanted to say something as he stood up and walked closer to her, definitely too close for comfort, but she immediately felt the introvert in her come out, refusing to tell him to just back off. All she could do was stare back at him, slightly terrified. Was he going to do that quirk thing that he used to jump away? Was he going to launch her or something? ''You do?''

''W-Well you..'' She was dumbfounded by his response, nothing to explain?? ''You left! You just got up and left while you were still bleeding out. I tried to follow you, but you just flew away, I was worried! I thought you might have died or something!'' The guilt she had felt ever since she let him get away that day had been steadily building up over the week. ''How did you do it? Did you go to the hospital yourself? Do you have a healing quirk? I mean you're obviously fine now, so you must have done something.. You're right! It is nonsense. None of it makes any sense.'' The more they talked the more she remembered from the incident.

''And didn't you insult heroism too? What's your deal anyway?'' She pointed an accusatory finger at him. ''You're studying here to become a hero, same as me, we're the same, we're on the same side.''

Sebastian Sinclaire

The thought that she might bleed even more if the knives were pulled out was enough to turn her face pale. ''R-Right it's like that isn't it? It's one of those movie myths where sometimes it's better to leave it in!'' It was clear that she was scared. Being a hero student entailed rescuing civilians and indeed, skirmishing with villains. They had been through several training exercises already, but there was really no way to prepare or train yourself for getting stabbed or being turned into a human knife-pincushion. ''O-Oh right, I see! I wouldn't want her getting the wrong idea.'' Freja blushed just the faintest bit out of embarrassment. The way she saw herself she was still a guy, so hanging out with Farrin in other words, it was just hanging out with one of your bros. She could easily see how their situation might be misconstrued.

She had never been happier to see the trees that separated UA from the city. This entire time she had been biting back the pain and trying not to whine and complain too much. Even though Farrin took great care and still managed to go at ridiculous speeds, every little bit of movement that rocked her also moved the knives, which only made it hurt more. ''All thanks to that temporal speed thing you did.'' She smirked, ''I don't know how it works, but it works.'' She was still convinced it had contributed to making her a lot more exhausted too, not that she minded. If anything, she couldn't wait to pass out in one of the infirmary beds and put this whole thing behind her. Hopefully it was the last the both of them would see of those weird crow people. ''Thanks for carrying me back, Farrin. I think I'm gonna go pass out now..''

Farrin

The villain wasn't the only who stopped to look in the direction of the voice as it called out for him to stop. There was a nervous quality to their tone, but there was no doubt, someone had come to help her. She looked up, was it a hero? Maybe if she was lucky it was a pro who had come to save her, who could handle this all on his own. A man in shining armor, who better to save the day? She felt a sense of relief wash over her. She had no clue how she was going to match this huge villain alone, but now that someone else was here to take over she could finally breathe easy. With the way the sunlight was reflecting off of her hero, it was almost like the heavens themselves had sent him. She watched, mouth open in awe as he jumped and swung from the building. Was he about to do one of those trademark superhero landings? This guy had to be the real deal! A real pro hero...

The villain who was in the trajectory of Ren, calmly watched him as he came sailing towards him, activating his quirk just before the young man would slam into him. Like little flowers, bucklers sprouted of his arms and torso, before flying out to put a very visible barrier between the two of them, leaving Ren to unceremoniously splat all over the hard ground below them as Freja watched in abject horror. Shit that looked brutal was he... Was he dead? Part of her was relieved to hear him whimper, but part of her was also horrified at the implication. This guy wasn't a strong pro hero at all! He was just some dude in armor!!

''Are you... Okay?'' She asked carefully, the villain glancing over his shoulder back at Freja to gauge whether she knew Ren or not, to which she just gave a shrug. ''If you're so eager to die..'' The villain growled, making more bucklers sprout from his hands so that he could use them to squish Ren into a fine paste. However, before he could do any of that, Freja used the opportunity Ren had afforded her to strike from the back, swinging her bat into the back of the villain's knee with all her might. The giant staggered for a moment and rather than crush Ren, he turned around to face Freja instead. ''L-Listen I don't know what your name is Knight guy- but his shields only come out of his front! I think? I-I know it hurts but I really need your help right now!''

REN

''It's fine really, all is forgiven. It's not like I waited here for hours.'' She smiled, moved by the fact that Miroru valued and respected Freja's time so much that she felt the need to hurry for her and own up to being late. Usually people didn't care that much about her. ''Is that so? I didn't mean to make any assumptions, but I suppose you're right, it's a big and confusing world. F-Feminine stuff like that.'' She looked down at the ground as they walked further into the festival, almost as if she knew she would be blinded by Miroru's radiance if she looked for too long.

''I see, even a quirk that might give you an advantage, still comes with its own problems to work out.'' She couldn't say it so directly, but Miroru looked more than okay. They were hardly the only ladies wearing yukatas or kimonos for the festival, but somehow Miroru shone brighter than everyone else. Kei, Junsuina-senpai, they were people she didn't know, but she assumed from the context that they were their classmates. ''Yeah, we're lucky there's so many talented people at school, aren't we?'' She wasn't even sure where she would be herself if it wasn't for the amazing super bat Ana had made for her.

''Of course!'' The way her ears and tail flickered upwards was impossibly cute. ''I'm not hurting for money and besides, that's what friends do right? Buy each other things every now and then.'' She gave her shoulder a playful nudge. ''I'm not a picky eater so I'll have pretty much anything.'' She gestured to the food stalls. What was Miroru feeling like today? ''The choice is yours.''

Miroru

''I'd hate to be, but stuff like this is to be expected for heroes, right? Inevitably, we end up making enemies of a lot of bad people out there.'' She blinked her eyes as he mentioned running her back to campus. ''No it's fine I can walk-'' She insisted, but quickly learned she couldn't even sit up on her own, letting out lots of little ow ow ow's as she lowered her back down against the pavement. ''Th-That's a relief, for a second there I was really scared it was some bad stuff.'' She wasn't exactly knowledgeable about gasses, but seeing her friend choke on it in front of her, her imagination ran wild with how bad it could possibly be. ''Sada?'' It wasn't a name she had heard before. ''Don't worry, I won't say anything.'' She closed one eye and endured the pain as he picked her up. ''Sorry for the inconvenience..'' She still felt weak, having to be carried back to safety like this. When he told her to hang on, she didn't question him.

''Don't push yourself too hard, we can call a taxi too.'' Even though looking around them, she could have sworn they were going faster than any car could carry them. Of all the people she could have been ambushed with, Freja was actually happy that it was Farrin. Thanks to him they both escaped with a lot fewer injuries than they might have otherwise. She needed to think of a way to properly thank him in the future.

Farrin