Being in UA's main campus building felt almost like last time. Walking down the halls of a school I knew, while it wasn't one that I attended, was almost similar to the feeling of entering the building of an alma mater post-graduation. It felt foreign. Weird, even. I looked at Aizawa who looked straight ahead as we walked behind Nezu. I wanted to get his attention somehow, but what he said echoed in my head.

"In order for us to continue doing this, we must unfortunately maintain secrecy."

Still, my heart was dying for a little affection before "Plan A" started, even though the risk was there. I was already a bit of a troublemaker. I figured it was time to test the waters and see what I could get away with.

I slowly reached my hand over to his, and quickly, but playfully, glided my fingers along his. While I heard no reaction, I glanced at him and saw him peek over to me before looking back ahead as we walked. I tried again but let my fingers grace his a little longer, lingering there in an effort to show him it wasn't a mistake. I peeked at him again but noticed that he didn't look at me this time. Before I could feel disheartened, I felt his rough fingers gently play with mine as subtly as possible. My heart fluttered to the feeling of his reciprocated touch as we continued to walk down the hall behind Nezu.

But before I could live in that content feeling, we had reached our destination, forcing Aizawa to quickly withdraw his hand away from mine before Nezu turned around.

"We're finally here." he announced.

I looked to the room, and it was similar to the one I was in before. The only difference being that instead of a bed and giant machinery, there was a treadmill, a chair, long tubes, and a screen.

I raised a brow.

"If this is your subtle way of telling me to lose weight, I don't approve." I said sarcastically but with a bit if a smile.

"HA! Such spunk! I like her!" I heard a booming voice behind me.

I jumped and saw both Nemuri and Hizashi behind us.

'Shit! How long have they been there behind us?' I thought, 'Did they see what we were doing? Alright, don't panic. Act cool.'

"Seems like Aizawa's attitude has started to rub off on you." Hizashi teased.

"Not like we need two of him." mused Nemuri, as she rolled her eyes before winking at me and whispering, "Seriously, he can be such a stick in the mud."

"If you two are done, I'd like to carry on with today's objective." groaned Aizawa, who looked unamused as usual with their antics.

I chuckled.

"Thank you, Aizawa." said Nezu before continuing, "Now, today we'll be monitoring your activity and energy expenditures. In the event that we use Recovery Girl to solve this problem, we need a better understanding of how much energy you possess. We'll be doing a VO2 Max Test, along with a few others. Given that her quirk requires a great deal of energy from the recipient for it to work, if we're not careful, we-"

"Run the risk of accidentally killing me?" I interrupted, "I figured as much." I was already aware of the limits Recovery Girl's quirk had. I personally hadn't seen the consequences, but I knew of them, and that was enough for me.

"Correct." he said, "We'll be taking data of your REE, TEF, and AEE. Essentially, your resting energy expenditure, your thermic effect on food, and your activity energy expenditure. With the other tests, I'll be logging in all this information to a formula to get a better understanding of your total energy expenditure." Nezu saw the unease on my face, "I know I'm throwing a lot of terms at you, but don't worry. I'll explain everything as we go along."

"You said there were other tests involved. What exactly are they?" I asked, curious about what else I was about to get myself into.

"The other test will involve the DLW method. While the VO2 Max Test is a wonderful tool, it doesn't tell us everything we need to know. This test will require a blood and urine sample, and an oral administration of the DLW solution."

"What's in the solution?" asked Aizawa, who seemed a little on edge about all of this.

"It's a mixed dose of deuterium oxide with a second dose of H218O." he answered, nonchalantly.

I blinked in confusion.

"I'm going to pretend I understood what you just said, and spare myself the details." I said, scratching my head.

Nezu hummed with a large grin.

"It's safe, I assure you. I know this is cumbersome, but this method is still considered the gold standard for the measurement of something like energy expenditure. We'll also have you do some self reporting of your daily activities, in order to get a better understanding of your physical activity habits, something the DLW method can't specify."

'I might need to exclude any physical activities that include Aizawa.' I thought to myself, trying not to giggle.

"Wait," I said, "How long are we doing these tests for?"

"A week." answered Nezu.

"A week?!" I repeated, shocked by how long this will take.

"I'm afraid so, Miss Doe." said Nezu, as he bowed his head regretfully for a moment, before lifting it again to meet my gaze, "While I know this is a lot to ask of you, it's better to be safe than sorry. Recovery Girl's quirk, while extremely useful, is not something to take lightly. She and I need to know exactly what we're dealing with."

I sighed as I felt the weight of it all on my shoulders. I knew that this was necessary, but I didn't expect to be UA's new guinea pig.

I felt Aizawa's hand on my shoulder, making me look up at him.

"You'll get through this. I know you can handle it." he said, calmly. His demeanor was collected and soft, though his eyes were filled with concern. I knew he was concentrating on keeping his emotions in check, which made me feel all the more need to keep myself in line and stay calm.

"If these tests just involve me, then why are Hizashi and Nemuri here?" I asked.

"They're here to discuss the next step with me." said Nezu, "They won't be involved in these tests today."

"Don't you fret, kiddo! You'll see us again soon enough!" said Hizashi, smiling with his usual chesire-like grin.

"Looking forward to it, as long as you're not screaming in my ear." I said dryly. While a part of me was joking, the other part was quite serious. I'm pretty sure I've lost a good amount hearing from our last test.

"Wow, she is starting to sound more Iike him." noted Nemuri, unenthusiastically as she looked at me and then Aizawa.

"If you two will wait in my office. I'll be with you momentarily." said Nezu as he gestured them to proceed down the hallway.

"Catch you two later." said Nemuri, winking at Aizawa, who rolled his eyes before they both walked away.

"Now," began Nezu, "if you'll please step inside. We can get you started." He then offered for me to enter the room first, as Aizawa followed me and Nezu closed the door behind all of us.

What followed was something that was more mundane and awkward than scary, like I had assumed before. I basically became "plugged" to the treadmill, with sensors stuck to me to monitor my heart rate, a monitor around my arm to check blood pressure, and a tube wrapped around my face, monitoring my breathing as I jogged for ten minutes. The best way I could describe it was like the exercise junky's version of being plugged into the Matrix. Less cool, and more effort than I'd like to contribute. Nezu popped in and out of the room from time to time to check on me and the data, while Aizawa waited outside after everything was set up, in an effort to not distract me. By the time the ten minutes was up, I was slightly winded. As fit as I was, I didn't typically run, unless it was for buses or ice cream trucks. So this was a little embarrassing, to say the least.

"Fantastic work, Miss Doe." said Nezu as he entered the room, turning the treadmill off. "You may now rest while I gather this data."

"Can I take the rest of this stuff off?" I asked in between a few breaths.

"Not yet. We still need to measure your REE, or your resting energy expenditure. But in the meantime, you can have a seat and rest for five minutes." he said, as he pushed a few buttons on the screen and headed out the door, leaving me in the room alone.

As I took a seat, Aizawa entered the room and walked towards me.

"Trading places with Nezu?" I asked, watching him as he took note of the readings for my blood pressure.

"For now." he answered, "He needed to get things ready for the next round of tests and asked me to gather the information for him while he was out."

"So...it's just me and you in here, huh?" I asked, a hint of flirtation in my voice.

He raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Behave, Miss Doe. Now is not the time or place." he mused as he took the last bit of information down. As I was about to whine in protest, his lips got close my my ear, "Besides, we can discuss what I can do to you later when we have actual privacy."

Just as a shiver ran down my spine, the monitor started to beep faster, causing Aizawa to chuckle.

"Getting a little excited, aren't we?" he asked as he walked to the screen and jotted down those notes, "But seriously, you should calm down before Nezu questions why your heart rate randomly jumped."

I huffed as I rolled my eyes.

"It's your fault! How am I supposed to remain composed when you say things like that?" I asked, folding my arms as I stayed seated.

"By taking deep breaths." he responded before turning around to face me, "And working on your poker face."

I smiled, but then paused.

"Is that how you got good at yours?" I asked, curious to know more about him than just what I've seen on screen and on paper, "You know, so you could be alone all the time?"

He paused for a moment before leaning next to the nearby wall.

"In a way, yes. Though I've always prefered to be by myself rather than in the company of others." he said, folding his arms.

"Why?" I asked.

"Less opportunities to be disappointed. Or annoyed." he said. I could tell there was something more to that than just what he said, but I didn't want to push too much. I had a feeling it was pain that kept him as withdrawn as he was, but could I blame him for it? I don't know what I would do if I had lost my friend at that age.

"I can relate to that a little bit." I replied, trying to leave the door open for him in case he wanted to say more, "Making friends wasn't exactly a strength of mine. Hell, it still isn't." He looked at me as I continued, "Even so, I hated feeling alone."

There was silence in the air. I had a feeling talking about stuff like this didn't make him feel comfortable. Now I felt kinda dumb for bringing it up, seeing as the energy changed in the room a bit.

"Sorry for asking. It's none of my business." I said quietly, feeling slightly embarrassed for putting us both in this awkward position.

"Don't worry about it." he said, "You're the first person who's asked me in a long time."

Before I could say something, Nezu came in with various supplies in his hand.

"Thank you for your patience and so sorry for the delay. You may go now, Aizawa." said Nezu as he came over to the monitors and jotted down more information.

Aizawa nodded as he began to walk towards the door. We made eye contact as he was opening it. The look in his eyes felt like that of being understood. Soft, warm, and open. I saw the tiniest hint of a smile before he looked away and walked out the door, closing it behind him.