Nezu hopped down from Aizawa's shoulder and grabbed his smartphone, immediately typing a number on a dial pad. He took a few steps away from the gathered people and brought the cellphone to his ear. Mariko looked at students passing her to go to the breakfast, all of them greeting her with a smile and a nod or a wave of the hand. She was smiling and nodding back, trying to remember their faces.

The boy with spiky, red hair seemed to also have spiky teeth; Mariko noticed that when he grinned at her in a friendly smile. There was a girl that had a very soft face with big eyes and a tongue sticking out of her wide mouth. She kind of reminded Mariko of a frog.

'Is that her Quirk?' she asked herself.

Mariko felt the wind blow on her face, pushing her black hair into her eyes. She glanced after the group that left the area and went inside the school, then she turned her head towards Mr. Aizawa. He was looking at her from above his scarf, almost completely hiding his face.

'We are trying to ensure your safety as well,' he explained. 'Bakugou is a very capable hero with a powerful Quirk.'

'Mine can get very dangerous, too,' Mariko responded, Nezu joining them after finishing his phone call. 'I was getting into multiple fights during my time in orphanage. I never lost,' she said, staring deep into Aizawa's eyes. 'And we had some crazy Quirks around. I just don't want to hurt anyone. I'd rather hurt myself.'

'We won't let that happen. Both ways,' Nezu said and Aizawa glanced at the Principal from the corner of his eye.

'Just please, be on the lookout,' she bowed in front of them with respect. 'The only thing I know about it, is that I lose complete control and I have some negative aura around me. Some people can't move, some fall to the ground, some stop breathing. Knock me out the second you see it being too dangerous,' she pleaded, still bowing.

Some time has passed and Mariko entered a bus, which stopped in the side parking lot of school. She picked a seat in the middle, not too close to the teachers, but also not too close to the end of the bus, where she assumed most students will want to sit. She crossed her legs and slightly slid down the bus chair, which was facing the side of the bus.

'What a weird layout,' she thought to herself and pulled the fabric of her sleeves over her hands, crossing her arms on her belly.

She was about to put the headphones back in her ears, but she noticed students from before, making eye contact with her. Mr. Aizawa was standing in front of the entrance to the bus, possibly explaining all of the details of the, so called, special class. Mariko jumped with her gaze from face to face, until she met angry eyes of Bakugou. He looked less mad than before, she almost thought that he might be slightly intrigued.

At some point, the teacher turned around and entered the bus, taking a seat in front of the vehicle. He was alone this time, as Principal Nezu had to get back to some of his duties. The rest of the students followed him inside and most of them sat around Mariko.

She straightened herself and lowered her shoulders, relaxing her posture. She did not expect that, but she did not want to scare them away from her. It seemed like even though it was not yet decided if she will end up at the school or not - she still might get to hang out with cool people. The bus driver closed the doors and immediately started the engine, pulling over to the school's road.

'Hi, I'm Uraraka,' a girl with a very cute, friendly appearance greeted her. 'Mr. Aizawa told us some things about you. You are trying to enroll in the course?'

Mariko nodded and the next person introduced themselve, leaning forward to make himself seen from behind Uraraka's shoulder. It was the boy with green, curly hair - Izuku Midoriya.

'I saw you on the sports festival,' Mariko said to the boy. Then, she looked around the faces and added: 'well, all of you, but you were the reason I reached out to Principal Nezu.'

'ME?' Izuku's jaw dropped and he blushed.

'I saw your Quirk. You weren't really able to control it, were you?'

'Oh,' Izuku sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. He scratched the back of his head and then looked Mariko in the eye, smiling. 'I got a lot better with it!'

'I am happy for you. It gives me some hope,' Mariko nodded and returned a very subtle smile at the boy.

Bakugou snorted with a cocky smirk on his face. Mariko looked in his eyes, crossing her legs.

'Don't respond,' she ordered herself in her mind.

'So you have met some of us, let me introduce you to the rest,' Mariko looked to her left side, glancing at the boy with rectangular glasses, who was constantly doing laughable, extremely energetic gestures. 'This is Tsuyu Asui,' he pushed his back to the back of the seat, making it easier for the frog-like girl to greet Mariko. 'This is Todoroki Shoto,' he introduced the next person sitting right beside Tsuyu - a handsome teenager, with a burn scar around his left eye and two-colored hair. 'This is Bakugou Katsuki, but you've sorta already met him.'

Bakugou didn't greet her in any way. Mariko looked at the young man, took a deep breath and looked away.

'And I am Tenya Iida, I am the class representative!' blue-haired boy introduced himself, swinging his hand in front of Mariko's face. 'So nice to meet you!'

'Likewise,' Mariko replied and they felt the bus stop.

'Alright, class,' they heard Mr. Aizawa. 'Head to Ground Beta and prepare yourself.'

All of the students stood up and lined up towards the exit, leaving the bus one by one. As the last person left the vehicle, Mariko stood up and immediately felt a hand on her shoulder.

'I will not hesitate to stop you if needed. You can go all out safely,' he assured and she thought that she heard a concerned tone in his voice.

'I will do my best,' she responded and left the vehicle.

The sun was shining, warming the skin of their faces. Mariko took a deep breath of fresh air and joined the group of students, who were currently grouped at the tall entrance gate of Ground Beta - a special playground for aspiring heroes, where they can polish their quirks and learn urban combat.

'Hey, umm,' she heard and lifted her gaze to look at Izuku. 'Do you have any idea what your Quirk is, or how it behaves? Maybe we could come up with a careful strategy on how to make you use it?' Izuku asked.

Mariko lifted her hand to her chin, not noticing Bakugou standing behind her. The blond boy flinched and frowned, gritting his teeth and tightening his fists.

'From what I know-' Mariko started, but the second she spoke, she heard a shout behind her.

She was not given time to fully turn around, as a blast with a shockwave came towards her, followed by a strong punch straight in her stomach. She instinctively clenched her abdomen muscles, minimizing the impact, but the strength of the blow, sent her flying a few meters behind. She landed on her feet, loosing balance. She leaned forward and helped herself with her hand, sliding on the ground, as the force still pushed her a few meters backwards. She was now around twenty meters away from the entrance gate, looking at the group of students that were supposed to face her.

'Bakugou!' Iida yelled at the boy, who disappeared from Mariko's sight. Aizawa straightened his shoulder, signaling the rest of the students to not engage just yet.

She heard another explosion right above her and jumped backwards, barely avoiding a kick from Katsuki.

'Use it!' he screamed at her. 'Unless you are just another extra!'

Mariko stepped forward, sending a punch towards the boy. He immediately blocked her and grabbed her arm. With his other hand he unleashed an explosion, which gave him a lot of momentum that sent him forward. He kicked Mariko's foot, making her loose her balance, and grabbed her arm with both hands, swinging her above him, just to slam her body on the ground.

She spat the blood out of her mouth and caught his foot before he managed to kick her. She rolled backwards and quickly stood up, trying to learn her opponent's movements.

'You really think you could possibly join UA?' Bakugou grinned at her, taunting the girl.

She did not reply. She knew that she was about to loose control and it seemed like the boy knew it as well. She swallowed, feeling the metallic aftertaste of her saliva. They were staring at each other, ignoring the group of spectators behind Bakugou's back. Mariko stood on slightly bent knees, covering herself from a possible blow. Her heart was beating so fast, she heard her pulse in her ears.

'Man, it's crazy,' Bakugou said, putting his hands behind his neck, leaning onto them, as if trying to get some rest mid-combat. 'Age-wise you are at a third class level or above, but abilities wise? I don't think I ever faced someone weaker,' he said, his voice full of hate.

Suddenly, something inside Mariko snapped. She felt the familiar warmth on the tip of her fingers. She gritted her teeth, trying to control the Quirk.

'He's just taunting me, he is doing it on purpose,' she said under her nose.

'Wouldn't it be fun to wipe this dumb smile from his face, though?' a voice in her head appeared.

She lowered her defenses and chuckled. An invisible force wrenched her body, her posture lowered to the ground.

'You had to, didn't you?' Mariko asked Bakugou and lifted her head up. The boy dropped his expression for a moment, when he noticed tears in her eyes.

The next second, the girl fell to her knees, a green flame and an aura appeared surrounding her body. The flames reached her eyes, completely covering them behind the green color, making her appear demon-like. Bakugou launched forward with a big right swing, but he was not able to reach the girl. She dodged the second he gained momentum and was already grasping his arm, slamming him to the ground in the next moment. She stood above the boy and after a quick look tried to stomp him to the ground. Bakugo used his hand to unleash an explosion, that made him avoid the impact. He carefully looked at his opponent, but the distance between them was smaller than he expected.

'Is she faster? No, my blasts are weaker,' he quickly evaluated.

Mariko jumped after him, running straight at her target. Her Quirk's aura kept increasing, weird waves of dark-green energy pulsing from her body, reaching Bakugou.

'I'm dizzy,' Katsuki thought and blinked a few times, almost loosing balance. He put both of his hands in front of himself and created an explosion, jumping away from the opponent's drain ability.

'Join them!' Aizawa lowered his hands and all of his students immediately went forward, activating their Quirks.

Izuku jumped ahead, heading towards Bakugo. Iida propelled himself forward with exhaust pipes sticking out of his calves. Todoroki created a wall of ice spikes, headed straight for Mariko. As she dodged the wall, she lost sight of Uraraka and Tsuyu, but she was not given a chance to look around. Iida immediately went forward, jumping high in the air. The sun blocked Mariko's vision and for a second she felt more tears falling from her eyes, but she was barely able to see things around her. From her perspective, the pain spreading over her body, caused by her Quirk, was almost entirely clouding her vision to a degree where she thought that all of it is just a nightmare and she will soon wake up. Somehow however, she launched herself forward and dodged a fireball made by Todoroki. With each second spent in combat, the aura started spreading further and further. Iida landed behind Mariko and rotated his body with his Quirk, by standing on one foot and swinging the other. Even though the young woman was facing the rest of the group, she instinctively reached backwards and grabbed Iida's leg, then pulled him towards her and smashed his chest with her knee. The student fell to the ground and immediately kicked Mariko's feet, making her loose her balance. Iida quickly backed up, getting some distance from the enemy.

Izuku flicked his fingers, sending an air shockwave towards Mariko. She fell to the ground and was immediately attacked by Bakugo and Todoroki. From the corner of her eye she noticed Uraraka and Tsuyu, both of them standing on top of the closest building. Tsuyu jumped high above Mariko's head, her tongue grasping onto a piece of debris. Uraraka released her Quirk and the boulder lined up perfectly with Mariko's body. Okaido looked above her, as if giving up on the battle. Time seemed to have slowed down, as the huge rock started falling down towards her. Tsuyu safely landed on the ground and a split second after that, the boulder slammed the ground.

Izuku jumped forward, concerned about Mariko, but before he realized he moved, the boulder changed into dust, the green flame-like figure barely visible from behind the cloud of dirt.

Todoroki did not hesitate and activated his flame side, aiming the fire straight at Mariko.

'What?' he asked, looking at his hand, the temperature of the flames significantly decreased.

Izuku glanced at Todoroki and quickly tried to send another wind pressure shot, but it came up as a light, summer breeze. The green-haired boy frowned, Katsuki jumping over him with an explosion. He shouted with anger and launched a powerful blow connected with an explosion towards Mariko. The girl slowly stepped forward and grabbed his hand through the shockwave that he created. She pulled the boy towards herself and almost grabbed his throat, but was interrupted by Uraraka. The girl jumped from the building and touched Mariko on her shoulder, making her float. Mariko, completely not prepared for what has happened, let go of Bakugo, who kicked her on the bottom on her jaw. Uraraka lost her balance next to Tsuyu, who wrapped her tongue around her and jumped away, but the jump was not as high and fast as she intended. Mariko, who was now floating, felt as if someone was constantly pushing needles inside her body and each second it seemed like the needles were reaching deeper and deeper inside her skin. She gritted her teeth and shouted with anger, struggling against the invisible Quirk that made her float slightly above the ground.

Tsuyu released Uraraka from her grip, feeling her tongue getting numb. The second Ochaco fell to the ground, she vomited and the floating effect was gone, putting Mariko back on the ground. Iida tried to grab Asui and Uraraka, but even his regular movements without the Engine Quirk became slower. Mariko stood on the ground, barely being able to remain balance. She took a step forward, feeling the dizziness on her entire body. But the body, except for the pain, didn't even feel like hers. She felt as if someone was operating her, and she was just a suit for a pilot inside.

She took another step forward and noticed Bakugou with Midoriya falling to the ground. Katsuki pointed his hands at her, but the explosions he was able to release from his palms were merely those of a firecracker. Todoroki frowned and sent a path of ice towards all of his classmates, trying to scoop them and make them retreat. The ice burst from the ground and quickly reached the aura, but the second it passed an invisible barrier, the ice became smaller, weaker and the closer it got to Bakugou and Izuku, the smaller it became, until eventually it turned into a pile of snow at the boys' feet.

Mariko took another step forward, unable to hear anything now. All she could feel was an immense pain, paralyzing her entire body with each movement of her tiniest muscles. Iida's eyes started feeling heavy, as if he wanted to go to sleep. A few second after that, all of the students from the group, except for Todoroki, felt extremely exhausted.

Mariko pushed herself to take one more step forward and looked up at the gate. Her knees were shaking, she could barely keep herself up.

'Please,' she whispered under her nose and the green flames disappeared for a split second, uncovering her eyes from behind her Quirk.

With her blurry vision she managed to see Aizawa, standing before the constantly expanding aura. Mariko looked at the man pleadingly and in the next second, she noticed a red flash coming from his eyes. In the same moment, his hair and scarf floated and she fell to the ground, loosing consciousness.

When she opened her eyes, she saw a light grey ceiling. She blinked a few times and moved her feet, feeling the warm duvet laying on top of her.

'Were you affected as well?' she heard Principal Nezu's voice.

'Yes. The range was incredible and it was increasing with time. I have spoken with the students and Midoriya said it was getting bigger and stronger each three seconds. I initially thought it was four seconds, so still not entirely sure,' Aizawa said quietly, with less of a sleepy voice than what it was before the duel.

Mariko tilted her head to the side and noticed an empty hospital bed next to her and a white side table, with a glass of water and a plate with slices of an apple on it. She slid her elbows across the bed and pushed her body to lift herself just so she could see the teachers in the room.

The exact moment she moved, she heard a raspy voice of a woman.

'Wow, wow, take it easy on yourself!'

'Mr. Aizawa, is everyone safe?' Mariko asked, realizing mid-sentence how dry her throat is.

The man stood up from other side of the room and walked across it, stopping in front of her bed.

'Yes, everyone is fine,' he replied.

They looked each other in the eye, not saying a word. Mariko saw the flashback of his red, glowing eyes and floating hair. She looked at his other eye and only then she noticed a scar. Somehow, it added to his already pretty face. As she gathered her thoughts to form a question, the man turned around and said.

'I'm gonna be late for the lesson.'

After that, he disappeared behind the entrance door. Mariko laid her head back on the pillow, staring at the ceiling, the vision of the red eyes stuck in her brain.

'How did he do that?' she was asking herself in her thoughts. There must have been a detail that she knew was there, but she was missing. 'Did he manage to land a hit on her?'

Mariko heard small steps heading towards her and tilted her head to the side, trying to make eye contact with Nezu. When she saw him, he spoke up.

'Okaido, can you please tell me why did you decide to reach out to us? Why do you want to be in the hero course?' Nezu asked, sitting down on the empty bed to her right. He looked at her worriedly and she felt tears forming in her eyes.

'When I saw the Kamino incident,' she started, trying to keep her voice steady. 'I saw the All for One villain. He scared me. He scared me so much I couldn't move. And I was so far away from Kamino. So far away, in front of the TV,' she clenched her fists, grabbing onto the bed sheets. 'And then people were talking about how he can steal Quirks,' she looked at Nezu with glossy eyes. 'And I was always perceived as a villain in my orphanage. People didn't like me. They were scared of my Quirk,' she explained, keeping eye-contact with Nezu. 'And the reality is, I never wanted to fight good people and I cannot imagine becoming a villain,' she continued, her shaky hand wiping a tear escaping her eye. 'And I do not want to become a part of the villain. I think he- he would really like my Quirk,' she covered her eyes, tears freely falling from beneath her palms. 'I do not want that, I would rather take my own- my own life, than let him have it. I want to know how to defend myself. I want to be helpful and even if I will not be good enough for a hero, I do not want to be on the other side of the coin.'

Mariko covered her eyes with her forearm and gritted her teeth.

'It's so hard to live with it this way. No one has ever heard of it, it is a mutation. But with the current state I might also cause issues for other, actual heroes,' her voice was shaking from emotions. Nezu wiped a tear from his face, but Mariko didn't see it. 'I don't know what to do, Principal Nezu. I understand if you don't want me here. But I am... I am so lost.'

The school nurse turned her face around and wiped her eyes with the fabric of her sleeve.

'That is not why I ask,' he started speaking with a calm voice. It almost felt like he was hugging her, even though he was still sitting at the bed. 'I just wanted to make sure your heart is in the right place. And it most definitely is.'

Mariko looked at him from the corner of her eye, twisting the head slightly to the side.

'What does that mean?' she whispered.

Nezu connected his tiny paws on his lap and looked at her with a warm smile.

'Welcome to U.A., Okaido Mariko.'

The young woman immediately slid from her bed to the floor and kneeled in front of the Principal, putting her hands together in a gesture of gratitude.

'I promise you will not regret this decision. Please let me help around the school, I will do anything that is needed, I am forever grateful for this,' she rocked her body back and forth, trying to stop herself from crying, but the tears escaped her eyes either way.

Nezu smiled at the girl, closing his eyes for a second.

'We will keep you outside of media attention,' Principal said after a moment, letting the girl cry from joy for a moment. 'And because you have the general knowledge, you can only attend the hero-related lessons. It will leave you with plenty of time, so we will need to find you some additional tasks.'

'Please, I can clean the entire school, Principal. Just please let me stay here.'

'Don't worry about that,' he said and jumped down to the floor. Mariko got up to her feet and bowed before the Principal again. 'We have a few additional rooms in teachers' dorm. You can live there.'

'How much would it cost me?' she asked, looking at the Principal. 'I can look for some work around, there is plenty of sto-'

'That will not be necessary, please focus on your improvement from now on.'

'Thank you!' she exclaimed and quickly bit her lip, wiping the tear in the corner of her eye.