singularity

A Chance Encounter

"Are you sure we should let them in?"

"Normally I wouldn't be one to speak up on this, but I'm with Toshinori on this one." Midnight stated, leaning back on her chair as she glanced at Principal Nezu, who sat in his chair sternly with his arms crossed over the table.

"I understand your worries, especially yours," The bear stated, looking at the previous number-1 hero, "however I believe that UA is the perfect place for her to step back into the real world after all the trouble she's been put through."

"I have hopes for her success and I hope that in due time you'll all be in agreement with my decision. UA should be priding itself on accepting people, no matter their quirks or backgrounds, and giving them equal opportunities to grow." The Principal added, looking on towards a mixture of worried and accepting faxes that crowded the meeting room.

"Besides, she'll be in good hands if anything goes wrong. You're all more than capable of interfering if she goes sour, although I can say with the full intent of my heart that it shall never happen."

The teachers nodded in unison, some giving notes of agreement and advice. The student in question was to be put in UA's management course, and it wasn't every day that a meeting like this was held. It had been two weeks worth of back-and-forth between members of staff torn about the decision Principal Nezu had made about letting the student in and today was the day that it was finally set in stone. After being thrown between schools since the day she was born, she was finally offered a hopefully permanent place to stay within the open-hearted walls of UA High School.

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It had been two weeks since school had started - two weeks since Hitoshi Shinsou had joined the hero course. He was expecting the experience to be different but the reality was a decent step further than what he thought it would be.

First off, the classes were surprisingly normal. There was still English, Maths, History as well as all of the other regular classes he used to take in general studies, all of which were seemingly being given the same amount of focus as they were before, give or take the amount of them. It was a given, really, although it was slightly weird to be worried about a math exam whilst being beaten up in a burning building in the third lesson.

Ah yes, the practice classes. They definitely went full-swing as soon as school started, or at least it seemed so. It seemed like they were doing athletics tests almost every day - even his classmates were surprised. He was just glad they didn't do team exercises so often. It wasn't like he hated his new class, it was just that he often found that either he became uncomfortable when faced with the idea of working in a group - which would likely show his inexperience - or that his teammates may be uncomfortable with him. His new class was much more respectable than 1-C, of course, but a part of Shinsou knew that no matter where he ended up, people would always be wary. With that thought in mind, he took his lunch and sat quietly behind a tree by the outskirts of the courtyard alone.

"Aw! Why won't you tell us?"

"It's nothing big, really! I just like to keep to myself-"

"If it's nothing big then what's stopping you? What are you? Quirkless?"

Shinsou heard the muffled arguing from his spot, noticing that the sounds were coming from behind the corner where no-one usually paid attention.

'Quirk discrimination, huh?' He thought, taking another bite of his food. He knew it all too well but he quickly erased the thought of intervening from his mind. It wasn't his business, he told himself, they'll be fine.

"I'm not respecting some quirkless loser!" He heard again, trying his best to ignore the ordeal, until…

"Don't act like you're above us. People as weak as you should shrivel up and die!"

The next sound made was a hard slap, one that sent the small girl to the floor. Swarming with pride, the three that were orchestrating the ambush looked down on her, the prime attacker approaching her slowly with clear malicious intent and stopping when she saw the girl look up to her with a calm glare, turning around when her accomplice tapped her on the shoulder. They were pointing to a lavender-haired hero student who was staring holes in her eyes.

"Want to tell me what's going on?" He asked with his hands in his pockets and an accusatory tone to his voice.

As one of the three slapped her hand on her mouth in reaction, the main perpetrator made her response.

"This girl just appeared out of nowhere transferring in after, what, two weeks of school?" She confidently proclaimed, being met with a confused look. "We asked her what her quirk was and she's totally avoiding it. Probably quirkless or some kind of freak."

"Quirkless, huh?" Shinsou asked, walking towards her slowly, causing the other two to back away. "What's so wrong about that?"

The girl gritted her teeth.

"What do you-"

Bingo.

"Walk back into the cafeteria, you're bothering people."

With a robotic step and a glazed face, she walked away. Her friends walked with her, worried and trying to talk to her whilst giving Shinsou terrified glances, who was staring at them calmly as they left his field of vision.

His attention then turned to the girl on the floor, hands over her ears and head bent towards the floor, her mute-pink curls spilling across the floor like a dropped strawberry milkshake. She didn't look terrified but she definitely looked a bit shaken. Shinsou approached her and kneeled down, only to have her suddenly jump backwards in the opposite direction as if she was reacting to something immediate.

"Ah! Sorry!" She proclaimed, waving her hands as if she was the one causing any issues. Shinsou stood up and stepped back, keeping a calm and slightly comforting demeanor.

"It's fine. Are you alright?"

"Yep!" She said enthusiastically, attempting to find her balance and almost falling onto the wall she was leaning against.

"Thank you for helping me there! I was worried they were gonna keep that up all lunch."

"No problem."

The pink-haired girl seemed decently upbeat despite her experience however it was clear that the ordeal did do some damage to her. She was slightly shaking and was keeping her distance from him, fear dotting her lemon-yellow eyes.

"Oh! My name's Aries Kaneko, but you can call me Aries!" She said with a smile as she bowed slightly, picking up her peach-coloured bag from the floor.

"Thank you again, kind stranger!"

He smiled slightly, turning around to leave before replying.

"Hitoshi Shinsou, and really, it's no problem."