"Need a hand?"

I turned around, my eyes finding a pair of dark grey ones sporting a fleeting purple shimmer courtesy of a stray ray of sun. I blinked, she had short, beautiful violet hair, and wore a black jacket, ripped black jeans, and an oversized purple t-shirt. She looked and dressed differently than most of the people I'd met since leaving the LOV, but she was also the first person who looked around my age that I'd met other than that Midoriya boy Eri knew. Something about her was intriguing.

I remembered something Mic had said about being wary of strangers, but this particular stranger didn't seem like any dangerous villain. Besides, I wasn't going to get much further on my own, and my arms were starting to get a little sore.

After thinking for a moment I nodded to her and held out my hand with the stone in it.

Her steps stuttered a little on her way over, but she took the rock from my hand and sat down behind me. She crossed her legs and held it up to my hair about where I'd left off.

"You want about this much cut off, right?"

I nodded. She started moving the sharp rock against my hair in sawing motions, her brows furrowing when she was met with the tough, nearly un-breakable material.

"May I ask- why are you cutting your hair.. and with a rock?"

I figured there wasn't much harm in telling her a little, she was helping me after all,

"Well I'm trying to figure out a way to.. contain?.. a certain side affect of my quirk. I have an idea, but I'll need some of my hair for it to work and it's too tough to cut with any normal tools."

The purple-haired girl let out a little sigh as she managed to sever a few strands, adding them to my pile, "Oh, I see. But why in the middle of a forest?"

"I'm here with my, um-" I tried to remember what he'd called himself, "With my.. guardian? He's a teacher at the school up the hill and he had a meeting today. I'm just waiting down here for him."

"Oh he's a teacher at UA? I'm a student there!"

Her eyes sparkled as she turned her head.

"Really? What's school like?" She asked, face glowing with excitement and curiosity.

"School? What do you mean?" I asked as I continued cutting her hair. Or, attempting to cut her hair. Seriously, what is this stuff made out of??

"Oh, I've never been. It sounds a little scary, but really interesting!" She smiled a little, leaning forward onto her hands and looking up.

Her statement surprised me, but then I remembered, "So you're homeschooled?"

"Nope, I've never been to any sort of school."

"What, really?!" Is it even legal to keep kids from an education??

"Mmhm."

This was definitely an odd encounter, and with a very odd girl. She tapped her chin with a finger,

"I knew that not attending school was abnormal, but your reaction makes it seem even more so. Hmm, even Eri goes to school."

"We- Wait, Eri? Oh that's where I know you from!" I exclaimed, looking back at her face. She was definitely the girl from the mall. She looked at me, confused,

"I.. know you?"

I shook my head, "No, no, you don't. Nevermind."

She mouthed an 'oh' and turned her head back to the sky.

Though I was more than a little curious about her, especially after that realization, and wanted to ask her more questions I kept silent for a while.

"Almost- And- There, done." I tossed the stone aside and stepped back to admire my work. It was awfully choppy, but it actually looked kind of cool, sort of like the guitarist's in my favorite band.

"Wow, thank you so much. Thanks to you I have plenty of time now." She smiled at me. I felt my cheeks heat up a little at her sweet, almost childish expression.

"Of course, it was no problem." I replied, turning my face slightly so she couldn't see the pink hue across my cheeks. She looked up at me and patted the spot next to her, motioning for me to sit down.

I joined her on the ground and watched as she began braiding the severed hair.

My plan was to braid the hair into a sort of rope that I could keep with me at all times. I figured that if it counted as part of me then when my blood touched it it wouldn't have the same reaction as touching a foreign object. So, if I could wrap the rope-like thing around whatever injury I might acquire, and if it didn't trigger the poison, then my blood could be contained by the thick material and kept from turning lethal.

"So, what's your name mystery girl?" The intriguing purple haired girl suddenly asked, interrupting my train of thought.

"(y/n)." I answered.

"No last name?" She asked. I shook my head. "Well I'm Kyouka Jirou, it's nice to meet you (y/n)."

"Likewise, Jirou." What a pretty name, I thought.

Once I was done twisting and securing the makeshift rope I asked Jirou to step far away. She didn't have to go too far because I was only going to draw a little bit of blood, but I still wanted to be safe. She was a little confused, curious I could tell, but she listened none the less.

I tossed the improvised rope around my shoulders and crawled over to the rock Jirou'd used to cut my hair. I picked it up and then turned over so I was sitting with my knees brought up just a little ways away from my chest. Jirou tried to protest from where she was standing with I brought the sharp edge of the rock to one of my knees, but I assured her that it was fine and to stay where she was.

I flinched, but the tiny cut only drew a single droplet of blood. Perfect.

I took the braided rope of hair from my shoulders and wrapped it tightly around my knee.

Now, in a few moments I'd know that it worked based on the smell. The moment that my blood touches anything other than something containing my own DNA and triggers it's poisonous properties it releases a sour sort of smell.

A few minutes passed and I couldn't smell anything out of the normal. Jirou came closer and seemed completely fine. It'd worked. Now I had a tool that could keep me from hurting people if I acted fast enough when injured.

I wiped any remnants of blood off my knee with the rope and then folded it in on itself, tucking it roughly into the pocket of my, what'd Eri call them? .."overalls".

"Thanks for watching after her, we'll be on our way now." I told my colleague, taking Eri's hand and heading to the exit. She giggled as I dragged her along,

"You're smiling, Zaza."

I frowned, I guess that nickname really is sticking, but I still couldn't help feeling a little happy. "Your sister might get to go to UA, Eri." I told her. The little girl gasped,

"Really?! That's awesome!" She exclaimed, swinging our interlinked hands giddily.

Once we'd gotten outside I called out to (y/n), knowing that it could be dangerous to go looking for her if she was messing around with her quirk as I'd told her to.

"(y/n)!"

After waiting a few minutes for a response or appearance from the girl I sighed and figured we had to go in after her. "We'll just have to keep an eye out, Eri. We can't get to close to her so if you see your sister make sure to stop far away from her and tell me." I explained to my fun-sized companion.

We wandered around the forest for a while before Eri spotted her. I looked over to where the little girl pointed and my eyes widened at the sight. The last thing I had expected to see was (y/n) sitting with my purple haired, dark humored, often unenthusiastic, deceptively strong, easily irritated and sarcastic hero course student, Kyouka Jirou.

"Um, hello?"

I turned to the sound of the familiar rough voice slowly. My eyes landed on the permanently exhausted looking teacher and my suspicions were confirmed. "Oh.. hey Mr. Aizawa."

"Hello Jirou. What are you doing here, didn't I suggest that you all take the break to rest and train away from UA?" He narrowed his eyes at me.

"Yes sir, sorry." I apologized, rising and dusting my jacket off before offering a hand to help (y/n) up. She took it and stood up next to me, her eyes wide,

"So you're Shota's student?" She asked excitedly. Shota? Wait..

"Mr. Aizawa do you have a daughter?" I turned and rose an eyebrow.

"I don't think that my personal life is any of my student's business." He responded with a glare, "Yes, I am taking care of (y/n), and we need to leave now. I'll see you in five days then, yes?"

I scowled and nodded, waving goodbye to (y/n). Before I could begin walking away though I heard a very annoying voice scream my name.

"JIROUUUUUUU WHERE ARE YOUUUUU??! MY FEET HUUUURTT!"

I growled, but before I could do anything Mr. Aizawa turned to look at me with a dark look on his face, "Leave, now. No way is (y/n) prepared to meet that."

I had to cover my face to keep from bursting out laughing, then ran to find Kaminari before I could get yelled at.

"So, any breakthroughs?" I asked after Jirou had disappeared through the brush. I could tell from (y/n)'s face that she was a little disappointed to see her go, but if all went well, she might get to see her again after all.

"I figured a little something out, yeah." She said softly, a hint of pride in her smile. Even if it was just a little, having any sort of reassurance when it came to her quirk's side effects must make her feel so relieved. I patted her on the shoulder,

"I'll leave you to marinate with whatever you've come up with for a while and then I want to know all about it." Despite being exhausted, I managed to conjure a small smile. Hizashi'd told me that I didn't always express my emotions very clearly without looking scary or intimidating, so even though he's an idiot, I guess it couldn't hurt to smile every once in a while.

Eri ran over to (y/n) and clutched onto her arm, making my smile grow just a little wider. Every time she'd done that before I'd seen (y/n) flinch, but this time -though she still seemed a bit uncomfortable- I didn't see her flinch at all.

"Well, let's get going, I have something to talk to you about when we get back (y/n)."

"Oh, okay."

After a while we arrived at the apartment. I unlocked the door and swung it open, gesturing for the girls to head on inside. Once we'd all taken our shoes off I turned to Eri, "Eri, why don't you head into you and your sisters room and put those new crayons to good use." She nodded, hugged (y/n), and skipped off to their room to draw.

"So what'd you want to talk to me about?" (y/n) asked. I gestured for her to sit down on the couch and took a seat on the chair across from her.

"In my meeting today Nezu, my school's principal, brought up enrolling you in UA. Now, I know it's short notice, seeing as school starts in less than five days, and you'd still have to take an entrance exam, though it'd be heavily modified. You'd also likely be moving into dorms. I pushed for you to stay with me if you decided to attend, but Nezu thought it best that you spend as much time around your peers as possible and I can't say that I disagree. It'd all be very new and possibly overwhelming to you I know, but I think it could be for the best." (y/n) hadn't spoken yet, so I raised my head to gage her reaction.

She was staring intently at me, eyes sparkling, "I'd get to go to school?"