'Where are we going to set this up?' Mariko asked, carefully walking up the stairs, the box with lizards in her arms.

'In the common room on the first floor,' Aizawa replied from behind her back.

She stopped and turned around, eyes wide open.

'There is a common area on the first floor?!' she tried to exclaim and keep her voice low at the same time.

'Yeah. You didn't know?'

'No.' She shook her head to the sides, stepping to the left, making more room for the teacher to climb the stairs.

'And I thought I'm the one barely leaving my room when I'm here,' he replied with a nasty smirk. 'There is a gym as well.'

'What? That's insane! I was always going to the school one.'

'I am sorry for you,' he said in a slow, monotone voice. 'No wonder I never saw you there.'

Aizawa led Mariko to the corridor leading towards her room and then continued down the hallway. At the end of it, he turned right, heading towards a smaller passage, slicing the southern wall of the building in two.

'That is crazy, when I had the house arrest I wasn't cleaning in here,' she admitted.

He looked at her from the corner of his eye.

'I will keep that in mind.'

She shot him a challenging glance and adjusted her grasp on the box. They walked in to a vast, open room, which was almost empty. Apart from a huge, dark green carpet, Mariko noticed an empty, long table, which was most likely already set up for the terrarium and lizards and three light-green couches, surrounding a small, square coffee table. The ceiling was quite tall, seemed to be taller than the one of the common area on the ground floor.

As they stepped inside, they noticed All Might sitting on the couch, waiting for them. Mariko smiled to the Pro Hero and greeted him politely.

'Hello, Young Okaido, Aizawa-kun.'

'Morning, All Might,' Eraser responded.

'On the table?' Mariko asked, slightly lifting the box in her arms.

'Yeah.'

The two of them turned to the wall close to the entrance and placed the box and terrarium on top of the wooden surface. Mariko checked on lizards and sighed with relief, seeing them peek at her with curiosity.

'They seem all right,' she informed and glanced at Shota, who grabbed the knife from his holster on the back, and carefully sliced through the duck tape, securing the terrarium inside the box.

She walked around him and reached to a plastic bag, examining it's contents; there was a thermo-regulator with built-in thermometer, a lizard-friendly substrate, a big piece of wood for the small pets to climb on, some feeders and a water dispenser. Mariko carefully removed everything from the bag and glanced at Eraser, who placed the terrarium on top of the desk, sliding it across the surface towards the nearest socket. He lifted the lid of the terrarium and looked at Mariko, staring at him patiently.

'Can I start?' she asked.

'Go ahead.'

Without a word, Mariko grabbed the bag of substrate and handed it over to Eraser, who without hesitation sliced the corner of the packaging with his knife. He stepped to the side, then grabbed the small box with the thermo-regulating device and opened it. At the same time, Mariko lifted the bag of substrate above terrarium and carefully shook it a few times, making a pile of soil on the bottom of the glass rectangle, to spread it evenly with her hand.

As the two of them entered a synchronized flow of work, somehow being able to understand each other without a single word, All Might observed them with a slight smile. They were so invested in the process, that when they got into mounting the thermometer, they did not notice Midnight, leaning on the doorway of the entrance.

'Working in harmony, ey?' she asked with a slightly teasing tone.

Their heads snapped to the woman - the big difference in their expressions making Midnight laugh. Aizawa's gaze was focused, but still sleepy, and Mariko at first looked startled but then grinned brightly. Somehow, Midnight read through the student and winked at her, observing with a smirk as her brows twist into a frown.

'We have something to catch up on, I think,' the teacher informed and walked to All Might, stretching her arms behind her back, knowingly exposing her chest.

Mariko glanced at Aizawa, squinting her eyes suspiciously. He looked at her, raising one eyebrow meaningfully.

'What?' she asked quietly, clearly confused.

'Later.'

She stared at him, then nodded slowly and returned to work, reaching towards the piece of wood, which she inserted inside the terrarium. A few minutes later, the lizards were inside their new house, curiously examining the branch and soil on the ground.

'Let's go get some water,' Aizawa said and grabbed the dispenser in one of his hands, then swiftly left the room.

Mariko glanced at All Might and Midnight, who smiled at her suspiciously. The second she stepped on the other corridor, the glance Eraser gave her made her want to evaporate.

'What?' she whispered.

'You are being too obvious,' he said, as both of them slowly started walking towards the common kitchen on the ground floor.

'With what?'

He scolded her with his gaze.

'We should have discussed one more thing,' he said.

'But what am I doing?' she asked him, the inner corners of her eyebrows slightly raised. 'Please tell me.'

'This.' He simply pointed at her face, confusing her further.

'Hm?'

'You have a dreamy-smile plastered on your face ever since we left the car. You make things very obvious,' he accused her.

She stopped near the staircase, swiftly turning on her heel towards his face. Her expression was challenging, but there was a smirk on her face.

'Sensei, let me remind you that you were the one to carry me out on your shoulder not so long ago, while Mic, Midnight and All Might were all in the room and saw everything.'

He approached her with the same, dangerous look in his eyes and raised his hand with intention of sliding it across her hair, then tightening it in a grasp to pull on her roots, but he stopped mid-air and dropped his arm to the side. She watched his reaction, widening her smirk. His eyes turned red and his hair started floating, making her realize that she actually annoyed him. He grasped her arm and turned her towards the stairs, trapping her body between himself and the guardrail.

'Watch your step,' he said to her ear, sending shivers down her spine. His voice was quiet, low with a threatening tone to it. 'Be thankful that we are on the school property, otherwise I would be already teaching you some manners.'

She felt her knees go weak. Her eyes shut and she would have slid to the ground, if it wasn't for his firm grasp on her forearms behind her back.

'Is this supposed to stop me from teasing you?' she asked with a breathy voice.

'I don't reward brats,' he responded and pulled her arms, inflicting a little bit of pain. 'There is nothing else but punishment awaiting such behavior.'

He let go of her and casually started walking down the stairs, fixing his Binding Cloth, which was floating just a few seconds ago, along with his raven hair. Mariko grasped the guardrail with both her hands, still feeling the warmth of his breath on the side of her neck.

'GOD,' she screamed internally, shutting her eyes for a moment.

She took a few deep breaths before joining the man in the kitchen, making sure she is not blushed and her heart beat returned to normal. When they entered the common room, they were surprised to see Eri sitting alone on a couch. Aizawa looked around, searching for Togata or Amajiki, but there was no one else, but the kid.

'Eri, where are the boys?' Shota asked.

'I asked them to leave me for now. I know that we will be starting the training soon, right?'

'Yes. Are you feeling alright? For how long are they gone?'

'I am fine, but a little stressed,' Eri replied.

Mariko hopped from the second step to the ground floor and headed towards Eri and Aizawa, dragging her feet as slow as she could without looking stupid.

'A little bit of stress is a good sign,' he said.

'Really?'

He nodded and closed his eyes for a short moment.

'Increases your awareness and focus, but only if there is a little of it. Have you changed your mind about the training?'

'No, I really want this.'

Mariko smiled to the kid and showed her thumbs up. The child looked up at her with her red eyes. Even though she was expressionless, Okaido could tell she is stressed out a lot more than just a little. She knelt beside the kid and offered her a hand, which she accepted.

'The stress also shows that you have pure intentions. You are afraid, aren't you?'

The kid nodded and soon after, both of them saw the tears forming in her eyes.

'I just don't want to hurt anyone.'

'You won't,' Aizawa smiled at her softly. 'Remember what I can do?'

Eri covered her eyes with her hands and sobbed quietly.

'Eri, what is my quirk?' Shota asked in a soothing voice, gently petting the kids head.

'Erasure,' she replied after a moment, her voice still shaky. She stopped trembling, but kept her hands pressed to her face.

'And what does it do?'

'It cancels the quirks.'

'Exactly, very good. So, there is no reason for you to be afraid, I am here to help you stop your quirk in case anything unplanned happens, yes?'

Eri lowered her hands and looked at the man with teary eyes.

'Yes,' she said quietly.

They sat in silence for a while, then the kid extended her arms towards the man, who picked her up and stood up. He handed the water dispenser to Mariko, who accepted it without a word and swiftly crossed the room, heading towards the kitchen sink to fill the tank with the water.

'It's gonna be alright, you will see. The horn is going to get smaller and will no longer be itchy,' he assured.

'Pinky promise?'

'Pinky promise,' he responded and raised his hand to the kid, who wrapped her palm around his small finger.

Mariko joined them with a smile on her face; both Eri and Aizawa had the softest spot in her heart. The three of them climbed the stairs and soon after, appeared in the other common room, right in front of All Might and Midnight.

'Eri, would you like to be alone with me for the first training?' Aizawa asked in a reassuring tone.

The girl moved her face away from Eraser's neck and looked around the room, seeing the rest of the teachers and Mariko.

'Please, stay.'

'Alright,' Midnight said with a smile. 'Don't be afraid, Eri. We got you covered.'

'Yeah!' All Might nodded vigorously. 'You got this.'

'Wow! All Might himself, the number one saying that! Damn, Eri. You got yourself some nice supporting team,' Mariko commented and Eri smiled shyly.

'Heh, former number one.' All Might reminded while scratching the back of his neck with closed eyes.

Mariko straightened herself as if she heard the 'Attention on deck!' command, tightened her right fist and slapped it on her chest.

'Number one forever in my heart!' she announced, staring ahead, her eyes not focused on anything in particular.

All Might's eyes twisted in a happy expression along with his lips and a small blush appeared on his face. Mariko glanced at the man, her eyes going wide for a second, feeling absolutely shocked at the fact that she made the most iconic hero of our times flush.

She turned her head to Aizawa, who crouched next to Eri and in front of the terrarium.

'They are so cute!' Eri commented, seeing the lizards happily run around their new home.

Eraser pointed at one of the lizards, currently resting on top of the branch, catching some light and heat from the artificial lights mounted in the lid of the terrarium.

'And this one lost it's tail.'

As if able to interpret human speech, the reptile turned it's head towards Eri, watching her with pure curiosity.

'Do you think you could help get it back?' Shota asked and placed his hand on kid's shoulder.

Eri looked at him worriedly, not knowing how to phrase her feelings.

'Remember our deal? In case you are not able to stop the Quirk, you signal me to do it for you, yes? Do you remember our code?'

Mariko and the two teachers listened carefully to their conversation, not wanting to interrupt. The atmosphere was not tense, but there was something resonating from Eri, that only Okaido could place. None of the teachers here knew how it is like to not be able to control the activation of the Quirk. None of them knew, how is it like to have power that can unintentionally kill.

'I need to squeeze my fist tight,' Eri said in a quiet voice, dropping her gaze from Aizawa's face to her tiny feet.

'Exactly. Would you like to start?'

Mariko closed her eyes, recalling the faces of the two children at the orphanage, whom she wanted to protect, but ended up almost killing. Eri already killed someone. Not willingly, of course. But there is a chance that part of her conciousness knew about it and this is what was causing her constant anxiety. Not to mention the fact that she was placed under care of a manipulative, sadistic psychopath who gaslight her into believing she is cursed and brings only pain and death to others.

She released a small sigh, making Midnight gaze at her focused face. She knew that the teachers had the purest of intentions, but this particular case required a different kind of experience and a different perspective.

'It is so small,' Eri said, while looking at the lizard. 'I can kill it.'

'Eri-' Aizawa begun.

'She is right,' Mariko interrupted.

All Might and Shota looked at Okaido, both of them confused.

'We have no way of telling how much a small creature like this can take,' she reminded. 'Eri is absolutely right. She just wants to be cautious.'

The kid looked at Mariko, a relieved expression appeared on her face. The student slowly walked over to Aizawa and extended her hand towards him.

'Can I have your knife, please?'

'What for?' he asked her, suspicious.

'Trust me, please,' she replied softly.

There was a moment of hesitation, but the man grabbed the hilt, pulling it out from the holster. He twisted the blade and gave it to Mariko.

'Appreciate it,' she said and accepted the blade in her hand. 'The horn is a sign of the accumulated power. And because this it the first Eri's training, she does not know how to release the power at let's say 5 percent, just the maximum.'

'It's like your Drain,' Eri said, looking at the woman in front of her.

'Exactly. That is why I understand, because I could do the same thing when I was your age.' With those words, she raised her left hand to her hair and tilted her body, then sliced the strands off, cutting her hair very short and uneven. 'I, on the other hand, can take a lot more than any lizard in this world.'

Midnight and All Might looked at each other, pleasantly surprised, while Mariko dropped her cut hair into an empty terrarium's packaging. She tilted herself to the other side and chopped of some more strands, making the haircut less messy. After a short while, she handed the knife to Eraserhead, who was visibly impressed. He stood up and moved to the side, watching Eri turn towards Mariko, who knelt in front of the kid.

The young hero grasped kid's hands into hers and looked her in the eye. When she spoke, her voice was slow and calm but confident, washing away the child's anxiety.

'I know you never had bad intentions. I know how it is like to hate your own power and yourself because of possessing it. But I promise you, Eri, and I mean it, the second you learn how to control it and you will learn how to control it, you will never want to get rid of it ever again. You can do wonders, Eri. ' She looked at the girl completely seriously. 'You will save countless of lives.'

The kid dropped her head and shut down her eyelids. The grip on Mariko's hands tightened and a small tear escaped Eri's eye. When it fell to the ground, her head snapped to the young hero before her.

'I am ready!' she announced, still gripping her hands.

Mariko nodded with a smile and soon after felt a warm touch of two small hands on both her cheeks. The kid looked to the side, checking if Eraser is watching. The man nodded once and focused.

A tense silence fell in the room. Midnight and All Might moved closer to the kid and Shota, both of them holding their fingers crossed at the sign of support.

'You will not be able to tighten your fists this way, so how about you let go of Okaido in case you will feel any pain or you will want to stop?' Aizawa suggested and Eri nodded vigorously, her eyes still shut.

The room went silent again, the only sound being the faint buzzing of artificial lights from the terrarium and the lizards chasing around inside of it.

'It won't activate,' the girl replied after some time, still holding Mariko's face.

'When I activate Drain knowingly, I always feel at least slightly angry at the person I want to go up against. Do you like my new haircut?'

Eri looked up at Mariko and shook her head.

'It's awful,' she said honestly, making everyone chuckle.

'Focus on that. Think, it's so bad I wish it was the longer hair again.'

'OK,' the girl responded and stared at her intensely.

A few seconds later, her horn started glowing and Mariko felt a weird, tingling sensation spreading from her face, to her head, then the rest of the body.

'It's working!' Mariko informed and looked to the side seeing her strands extend.

'Yea!' The kid exclaimed and immediately regained her focus.

As the power slowly kept rewinding Mariko, a faint sizzling sound could be heard. The horn on the side of Eri's forehead kept glowing in a bright, yellow aura, sometimes releasing a few golden sparks.

'The hair is back to how it was, now try to stop it, Eri,' Aizawa informed and the kid nodded again.

As a few dozen seconds have passed, a wave of pain sliced through Mariko's shoulder. She remained still, not allowing her body to react in any way. The expression on her face remained unchanged - she was still smiling slightly at the child.

'I can't!' the kid said and Mariko felt as if something stabbed her into her side and forearm. She gritted her teeth but remained silent.

Eri frowned and moved away from Mariko, then everyone in the room saw an instant red flash - Erasure being activated. The tingling stopped, but slight pain remained. Okaido slowly raised her right hand to her head, examining the regrown hair; as she did so, Eri shut her eyelids, clearly afraid of looking at the results of her using Rewind.

'I am alright, Eri,' Mariko said and stroked a hair strand in front of her shoulder. 'So is my hair.'

The kid slowly looked up at her, still being scared. As they made eye contact, a wide grin twisted kid's face - a sign of her being happy to see the student alive and well. The young hero grasped the girl under her arms and ignoring her slight pain in the shoulder, forearm and side of her body, picked her up and spun around once. Eri's face brightened and the teachers in the room looked at each other meaningfully.

'Great work, Eri!' they complimented.

'I think we got another one,' Midnight said, as Mariko placed Eri on the floor and watched her jump towards Aizawa with excitement.

'Hm?'

'Another teacher,' the woman clarified and crossed her legs, leaning backwards towards the couch.

'What do you mean?'

'You would make a great teacher, that's what I mean.'

'Stop.' Mariko swung her hand and blushed.

All Might laughed and looked at the woman next to him, smiling happily at her. As Eri embraced Aizawa, Mariko allowed herself for a slight grimace, making sure that the little girl cannot see her reaction. The pain in the forearm, side and shoulder was still there and made her very uncomfortable. She turned her head towards the terrarium and approached the small packaging of reptile feed, masking her discomfort. Midnight noticed Aizawa staring intensely and Mariko's back and touched All Might on the shoulder, then moved her head towards the exit, signaling him that they should leave.

'Great work, Eri!' Midnight complimented again and the kid's head turned to the other teachers. 'I bought some ice cream for you previously, I think you deserve it for such a great work!'

The kid smiled at Midnight, then looked at Shota, as if asking him for permission to go.

'Well done, kid.' He patted her head.

'What about Mariko?'

'I will join you in a few moments, I need to throw away my cut hair,' she turned around and said.

'Come on,' Midnight requested and extended her hand towards Eri, who quickly walked over to the woman and soon after left the room together with her and All Might.

Mariko placed her left hand on the desk next to the terrarium and inhaled slowly through the pain. Eraserhead stood up and placed his palm on her right shoulder.

'Are you ok?' he asked in a concerned tone.

'Yea. I think the rewind lasted a few seconds too long and it returned me to the state before Christmas, where you punched me while my buff was active, remember?' She flinched and looked at his face above her right shoulder.

'I do. You should go see Recovery Girl. Do you need help?'

'I will be fine, I am not in the state of an actual injury, just a bit before it fully healed. Plus, Eri is a very smart kid, if I leave the dorm now, she will know what happened. I cannot allow on that,' she said in a convinced tone.

Shota's frown immediately relaxed. He looked towards the entrance to the common room, then felt her rest her head on his chest. His gaze shifted and both of them felt a slight tug in their hearts the second their eyes connected. For a long while, they didn't say a word, savoring each other's company. Their breaths and heartbeats seemingly synchronized and even though Mariko was only resting the back of her head on his chest, she felt the heat resonating from his body. She wanted to lean into his skin, but knew better not to ignore his words from before. They still had to be careful. She breathed in his scent and closed her eyes, listening to the faint buzzing of the terrarium lamps.

After a while, she moved her body away from the man and sighed, then raised her left hand and rubbed her sore forearm.

'I agree with Kayama,' he said quietly. She peeked at him from the corner of her eye, then felt him wrap his arms around her and pull her closer to his body. Her heart dropped to the ground and a second later, she felt as if something was lifting her chest up. He placed his chin on top of her head. 'You could make a good teacher.'

'I appreciate it, especially coming from someone like you.'

She placed her hand on top of his palm, gently caressing his skin. The texture under her fingertips was rough, but not dry, with many small cut scars around the fingers - most likely from the times when she was figuring out how to use the Binding Cloth. They stood like this for a few seconds, Mariko still tracing his long, strong fingers.

'Also, you are full of shit,' she said suddenly.

'Oh?'

'You are quite affectionate.'

She could tell he was smiling by the way his jaw moved on top of her head.

'A moment of weakness, I guess.'