''Wh-What? Wait hold on-'' She was tripping over her own words as she brought her hands up to defend her and partially hide her increasingly red face as it speedrun turning tomato red. She didn't know what to say that entire time. People impressed with her? The heart of what makes a hero great? That couldn't be right, Freja was by far the weakest student here from her perspective! At the very least in the hero course. Miroru was just saying all that to be nice, right? Surely? But then why did she sound so sincere? Why was Freja so embarrassed?

Oh.

In a split second, it dawned on them.

As Elias, they were always chasing validation, but only from people that would never give it to them.

''I-I'm not used to being complimented like that! I-I'd point at you!'' She quickly added, pointing an index finger at Miroru. Such a good comeback! Genuinely though, a quirk with such an impressive visual presentation and the amount of kindness Miroru had to hand out? Even to a quirkless nobody? If that wasn't the heart of a hero, Freja would call BS.

''It did.'' She agreed, returning the grin. Had she really been scared of Miroru when she was this nice? She hadn't been counting the seconds or the minutes, but it felt like she was making a new friend at record time.

''Yeah. That's a relief.'' She smiled. Miroru had no doubt suffered more than most kids their age, particularly when it came to gender identity and fitting your family's expectations. Yet somehow through all that, she was happy and had presumably found happiness. Maybe Freja could learn how to do that too, in a super selfish way. Find happiness. What she said next caused the gray-haired girl a moment of pause. ''I-...'' Could they do that? Elias didn't even know if the real Freja was still alive or not, but they had lived their life since the incident as someone who tried to carry out Freja's dream. Who didn't mess around and got hurt, or went on dates, or did much of note to further their own happiness. This was Freja's body after all, her life, even if Elias was the one who survived.

She looked down at the ground. Letting out a small defeated sigh, still smirking through it all. ''No one has ever said that to me. I- yeah I want you to continue calling me Freja. It's the easiest since I don't want everyone to know about this. Not yet. Maybe not ever.'' She looked down at her palms. Elias was a no good talentless loser after all. He was best left forgotten. ''I- uh-...'' She felt kind of awkward, having such a huge realization drop like the most casual bombshell. She looked up at Miroru. ''Thank you? I'm not sure how to do that, but thank you?'' It was that word again. Happy. She needed to make herself happy first. ''Is part of being a fox that you get some crazy wise sage powers or something?'' She teased to lighten the mood.

Miroru

When those words came from Ana, it actually wasn't hard to believe. To her knowledge she hadn't seen any of the genius's inventions in use, but with how she was being hyped up they had to be nothing short of astronomically incredible. It almost felt like cheating to know someone like Ana would be backing her up. Now it was just a matter of whether Freja could take it, whether she could pull her own weight in their little experiment. ''I'd believe it!'' Now that she was fired up she could feel herself actually believing in this thing. She just needed to work harder than she ever had before, Plus Ultra so hard that she would make Ana's gear shine and make everyone else thing she actually had a quirk! Something cool like that!

''E-Explosions? No way! If I were to use stuff like that, I would definitely need armor first.'' How could she best explain her idea? ''The problem with being a blunt weapon fighter is my lack of range. A bat can only reach so far, but...'' She held her arms out as if she was holding an invisible rifle. ''What if I had a ranged extension?'' She took a hit to her pride when Ana called her simple. It was one of those cases were Freja both felt insulted and relieved. On one hand, she didn't want any unnecessary attention, so being called simple was kind of a great thing, but on the other she also did have her pride, even if it wasn't much. ''I hope this isn't too complicated but.. A grappling hook bat! The top of the bat opens and a grappling hook attached to a wire flies out! I just aim it using the bat, I can use it for firing at an enemy as a surprise, or climbing walls, or...'' She was getting way ahead of herself before cutting herself off a she looked back at Ana. ''Is that too complicated? Simple enough?'' Surely a simple mind could come up with a simple idea. She just needed a genius to make it a reality.

Ana Borovsky
Raiomaru Toshigawa

She was starting to feel hopeful about this. If she had a proper weapon, there was nothing she couldn't accomplish! Sure, she would never be as strong as her quirked peers, but a proper weapon would go a long way in making her few strengths even stronger. It wasn't until Leonid spoke up again and weighed in that she realized she might have been a bit hasty, but... Armor? Now of all times? So soon? It made a lot of sense, but right now Freja felt like a fish trying to climb a tree. The way forward she envisioned for herself was a better weapon that could help her climb said tree. She couldn't deny that armor was important, lord knows her peers were a powerful bunch, but would that help her ascend? Wouldn't she just be a fish splashing around in a suit of armor. Sure, she would be able to take hits, but where would that leave her growth in other areas? She didn't want to become a glorified target dummy for everyone else.

Then again, the suit of armor would make sure she didn't accidentally break any bones during sparring matches with others.

Aaah!! What a pain in the ass! Did Freja really need armor just to be able to stand at the starting line with everyone else? Freja's expression had grown from hopeful to thoughtful. She was really mulling over this issue as she looked between Leonid and Ana. Unlikely scenario, but what if Ana like super started hating her and didn't want to make anymore gear for her after the first piece was complete? Armor or bat? What's more important? With her hand on her chin she thought about it one more time before turning to look at Leonid.

''T-Thank you for your input, sensei!'' She bowed deeply, wanting to show her appreciation all the more because- ''But I'm gonna have to go with the weapon first.'' She straightened her back again and turned to Ana. She had no clue who Gen was, but she liked that saying. Freja did want a suit of armor, but she was also a bit scared it would make her too soft. That getting one too early would make her unable to tolerate pain. It was a gamble and a half and she was probably making a mistake, but she was choosing to go the route of the glass cannon. ''You can make a special bat right, Ana-senpai?''

Ana Borovsky

''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

''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

How could someone be so bold to attack in broad daylight? In a park with kids running around of all places? Last time he struck it was in Shinjuku and it was out of the public eye. Freja never thought, even for a villain, that he would attack her again here. As she gasped for air she looked around for a stick. Any sort of wooden stick, didn't even matter if it was a brittle one. Anything she could use to defend herself. That voice... Was the guy on the bench calling out to her?

Oh no.

This only further complicated things. With him sitting so close he would no doubt see all of this go down and get involved in their fight. Or worse, the stalker might take control of him and force him to kill her or someone else against his will. From the way he was talking he sounded oblivious to what was happening. ''I-I wasn't! It's a villain attack!'' She panted, finally getting up to her feet. ''You have to get out of here sir, you're going to get caught in it!'' The disembodied mannequin flew at her to tackle her again, but this time she managed to dodge out of the way.

Stick, stick, where was the nearest stick? Goddamn it, what would a woman have to do to be allowed to carry a baseball bat around in public? ''You need to run and call the police! It's dangerous here!''

''Hang on.'' The stalker spoke up, his approach remained slow, each step methodical. ''You there, what is your name?'' He pointed at Rei. ''I'll use you to kill her.''

Rei Ijuin

There were many reasons Freja was motivated to go out into the world! Being that she had only moved to Japan recently, her language proficiency was surprisingly high. However, that was only because she had studied a lot from home and there were certain things that were just impossible to study from the confines of home. Culture was one of the big ones. Freja had already set herself up to be unlikable among the student body. Quirkless, awkward, boring, there was nothing about her that was especially presentable, but if she was this boring and mundane of a person, the very least she could do was try to learn and experience the culture she was actually living in.

She hadn't made any particular plans for the day. Since she had just about no friends and Tokyo was a big city, Freja figured things would just sort of happen and that would be her experience, or maybe she could go down some new roads and discover some new sights in the process.

What she didn't bank on was the fact that she walked directly into a public mugging??? Sorry but, where were the heroes right now? The cops? Wasn't dealing with this kind of stuff their job? Wait no! Here was one hero approaching just now! What clutch timing! His choice of hero outfit was a bit odd to the say the least, a penguin pajamas and a headband over his eyes? Was his name Sleepwalker or something? Wait a second, that was no hero... It took Freja a moment, but she knew who this guy was. He was that sleepy guy from orientation! There was no doubt about it, he just had a recognizable and memorable aura about him. What was he doing out here in his pajamas? What was he doing out there getting involved in a mugging?! She could only watch in horror. Didn't he realize the guy was armed? Was this all part of some grand plan or was one of her schoolmates in trouble? She could feel her hands shake. Could she get closer without being seen? If only she had thought to carry her bat with her.

''..Wait!'' She called out, regretting it right as the words left her mouth. Sleepy guy, don't...

Sebastian Sinclaire