I awoke to a dark room. Very dark. I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. Very quickly I rolled onto my back and began regressing into my old thinking. Where am I? How do I get out? Is there a way out? But then a small light lit up the space.

A little purple phone with a guitar keychain, lighting up with a good morning text from Kaminari. Jirou's phone. I recognized it from when we were at Aizawa's apartment.

With the momentary illumination of the phone screen I glanced over to my right, and immediately my worries calmed and, like a warm blanket, a sense of safety fell over me.

Jirou lay on her side beneath her red comforter, sleeping peacefully. Her hair fanned out on the pillow and her hands were clenched onto- well they were holding onto my shirt. Upon realizing the former I felt myself grow very embarrassed, or at least the only reason my face had gotten this red in the past was from embarrassment. Still, despite transforming into a living tomato I couldn't help but smile. For some reason it made me happy that she felt safe enough to fall asleep next to me. Maybe because I knew a thing or two about how difficult it is to find someone you feel safe with.

A familiar little prickling sensation began at the base of my horn, which I recognized as my quirk's attempt to gage the power of whoever was so close. It'd been dormant lately, but had gotten so overwhelmed last night while I was meeting everyone that I'd had to suffer through a splitting headache the whole time. My head didn't hurt now though. Even if it did, I doubt I would notice with this little fluttering feeling in my stomach taking over most of my senses.

I shifted back onto my side so that our foreheads were almost touching, and decided to try and fall back asleep if I could. Because wherever Jirou had gone in her sleep seemed so peaceful all I wanted was to join her there.

She smelled sweet, and her features were just so- Now this is definitely embarrassment, I thought as I buried my face as far as I could into the pillow beneath my head.

"Wake up lovely it's time for a new da-" I was broken from my peace at the sudden invasion of light as the door opened. Standing there halfway in the room was the pink girl I'd come to know as Mina, who had halted mid sentence and stride as soon as she saw me.

"Jirou! I went to go check on (y/n) since she's new to our whole wakeup schedule, but she wasn't in her room or downstai- Oh hi (y/n)." Uraraka said, surprised, as she joined Mina at the doorway.

"Hey guys." I responded quietly, propping myself up on my elbows. I made sure not to sit up all the way so that Jirou could continue holding onto my shirt, as it almost seemed to comfort her.

"U-uh well, we'll let you wake her up, because, y'know-

"She's not much of a morning person and she'll be much less likely to yell at you!" Mina interrupted a nervous Uraraka cheerfully before dragging her away, not bothering to shut the door behind them. Mina quickly reappeared to give me a thumbs up and a wink before leaving again.

"What was that about?" I whispered to myself.

Before I could think anything of the interaction I felt the girl next to me move. She appeared to still be asleep when I checked, though, so I figured I'd have to wake her. I could honestly stay there all day and feel completely content, but the truth was I was really excited for school, and I didn't want to be late on the first day. I wouldn't want Jirou to be late either, though I got the feeling she wouldn't care very much.

"Jirou?" I hesitated nervously before moving some hair out of her face. In a sleepy response she leaned into my hand and yawned. I chuckled, she looked.. cute when she yawned. Toga used to always call things cute, and I never really understood what kind of feeling brought to life that label, but now I think I get it.

She opened her eyes lazily and they widened upon seeing me before she sat up and looked away, a little hint of pink dusted across her cheeks.

"Uh, sorry. I would've woken you to take you back to your room, but you seemed kind of tired and I didn't know if you were the kind of person who couldn't fall back asleep after you'd woken up. Um, were you uncomfortable?" She asked as I sat up next to her. I paused for a moment before responding, because I was struck by the thought that I'd ever met someone that considerate. Other than maybe Shota, but he had odd ways of showing it.

"No, not at all. I actually haven't slept that well in a while." I admitted, causing her to smile.

"Good. Same here actually."

There was a comfortable moment of silence before Jirou spoke again,

"We should get ready. Do you have a uniform?"

I nodded, "It's back in my room though."

"Alright, well then why don't you go get changed and then I'll meet you there and we can head out together," I nodded and she checked her phone, "We've already missed most of breakfast though, so I hope you don't mind just grabbing an apple on the way to class or something."

"I like apples." I stated, to which Jirou chuckled. I smiled, then swung my legs off the edge of the bed and walked back to my room on her suggestion.

There must be something in the air here at UA. Eri hadn't smiled a day in her life not spent with me before being saved by the students and teachers here, but now thanks to them she's become the joyful little girl she is now. And now here I am, almost forgetting about all that's happened to me just by being around someone- well someone like Jirou.

I got to my dorm quickly, as it was just a few doors down, and then set about retrieving my new uniform from where I'd folded and tucked it away in the dresser.

I pulled on the black tights and then the skirt. They'd given me an option between socks and tights, but it was kind of a no brainer, as I was always cold. So I of course opted for the warmer option. I then threw on the jacket after tucking in the button up and finally, I secured the red tie and slipped on some black flats. I'd never actually tied a tie before, but Shota had shown me how before I had left.

"You ready?" Jirou called from the hallway. I hummed in response and opened the door. "No bag?" She asked, brows furrowed, as we began walking down the hall. I shook my head.

"Shota said the school is providing me with supplies and I'm supposed to pick up a bag at the office."

"Okay cool, we'll stop by there after the dining hall then."

We took the elevator down and then made our way to the dining hall, which was somehow even livelier than it had been last night. Luckily for me, because the noise was a little too much, we did indeed just pass through the line and grab two apples before going on our way.

"Hey Jirou, (y/n)! Aren't you two going to stay and eat?" Kirishima called from next to a very intimidating looking, loud, spiky haired blonde boy who was chucking rice at Kaminari.

"Nah! We're going to the office to pick up some of (y/n)'s stuff!" Jirou replied. Kirishima nodded and returned to the chaos at his table.

"Who's the angry Pomeranian-looking guy?" I asked, not in attempts to insult the unfamiliar student, but because I genuinely thought that's what he looked like.

"Pfft." Jirou burst out laughing, "That's Bakugo, but if I were you I'd stick with 'Angry Pomeranian'."

I nodded, embarrassed, and we turned away from the lunch line to make our way towards the exit, passing by their table.

"I'm just saying, don't you think the color's a little off?" I overheard Sero muttering to Kaminari as he rolled a strand of his hair between two fingers, a pensive look on his face.

"I can't believe I forgot the bleach," Jirou groaned as soon as we'd left the cafeteria, "Oh well, at least it's thrown him off a little." She chuckled maniacally, confusing me to no end.

"Hm?"

"Hm?" She repeated, turning away from me innocently whilst twirling one of her ear jacks around her pointer finger.

As we walked around UA I noticed that the school was much, much larger than I'd initially anticipated, and I expected to get lost at least once in the near future.

Finally we arrived at what I assumed was the office, and Jirou knocked on the large door politely.

"Come in." A high pitched voice called from inside. Jirou obliged and opened the door with me following behind.

"Oh good, Ms. Jirou, Ms. (y/n), it's wonderful to see you both!" The small animal-like persona I'd seen at the entrance exam cheered from behind a much too large desk.

"Good morning, Principal Nezu." Jirou greeted. I followed her lead and bid him a good morning as well, to which he smiled warmly.

"I assume you're here for the bookbag and supplies?" I nodded, "Good, they're just over by the door. Now you better run along to homeroom, I believe it starts in five minutes and you don't want to be late on your first day."

"Yes sir, thank you."

"Of course, and welcome again. I hope this year brings great things for the both of you."

We thanked him again and left after I'd shouldered the heavy (f/c) bookbag.

"Luckily for you, our homeroom teacher's Aizawa, so you'll be starting the day off easy." Jirou told me as we walked.

"Yeah, I'm glad. He told me he was worried about me jumping right into school after so long, but I don't think it will be that difficult if he's my teacher."

"Oh right, I'd almost forgotten you'd never been to school before.." Jirou said, almost too quiet for me to hear. Suddenly I felt bad, the last thing I wanted was for her to pity me, but before I could say anything Jirou stopped at a door marked '2A'.

"Is this it?" I asked. She nodded and let out a long exaggerated sigh, "Is everything okay?" I questioned. She only sighed longer in response.

"I'm not sure I have the emotional capacity or stability to endure another year of this," She turned to me, "Last year was... eventful to say the least. But I guess we're already here so.." She opened the door and held it before moving to the side to allow me to pass through.

"Well maybe this year will be better." I tried to assure her optimistically.

"Mmhm." She hummed, not sounding quite convinced.

I walked into the classroom and she followed.

"Welcome or whatever." Shota greeted from his spot on the floor cocooned in a familiar yellow sleeping bag.

"Hey, (y/n) we set up an extra desk for you over here by me!" Mina called from the closest side of the classroom.

"Oh um, my seat's over there." Jirou pointed to the far side of the room, looking a little disappointed. "The bell's about to ring, so I'll talk to you afterwards, okay?"

I nodded and watched as she made her way over to her seat in front of Sero, where she sat down and then proceeded to make some nonchalant comment about his hair.

"I know right, it does look different!" He exclaimed.

I then walked over to where Mina was gesturing for me and sat down at the empty desk. It looked like the desks had been pretty even before, so to make room for the extra one they'd ended up pushing Aoyama's seat up a space. He didn't seem to mind though, as I'd overheard him boasting about being 'in the special seat'.

I looked around. Behind me was Tsu, in front was Mina, and to my left were Kirishima and Kaminari. I shed my beg and hung it on the back on my chair before Mina turned to me excitedly.

"So! I didn't really get to talk to you much last night, and Jirou's been hogging you ever since, I was thinki-" Mina was cut off by the bell. She whined.

"Alright everyone, sit down and hush." Shota spoke from the head of the classroom. Miraculously, the class obeyed. "Good. Welcome to your second year at UA."

The class cheered.

"Yeah, I wouldn't be so excited. I find it's my responsibility to inform you that now that you're not first years anymore and actually know how things work, all the stunts you pulled last year will no longer be tolerated. You're now expected to be more mature and set a good example for the new first years." He spoke in his usual monotone voice as he slowly made his way to a standing position. The class shifted nervously.

Just what all happened last year? I wondered.

"Now, on to the next order of business, let's all welcome our new student, (y/n). Wave to the children, (y/n)." He said. I waved awkwardly from my seat and he nodded. "Okay, now she's a little behind on school, as well as quirk training, so I expect you all to help her out when you can. And if anyone hurts her I'm coming for you." The last part he whispered so quietly I couldn't hear, but some of the kids in the front row cleared their throats nervously.

"So, let's get started."