Disclaimer: I do not own Boku no Hero Academia in any way except for my OC, Minamoto Morie.

Chapter One: Of Notebooks and Art Supplies

One by one, the cool marbles spun smoothly around her fingertips, and there was a rush as they clunk consecutively onto the surface of her table. On her table there were insults hastily scribbled on, and she scrunched her nose at one particular insult.

'Quirkless idiot.'

Morie easily recognized the handwriting. It was from the boy who sat two sits in front of her, with indistinguishable features and a nasty smile. Briefly, she contemplated shooting one of her marbles at him as payback, but she stopped herself. No point lowering herself to his level, right?

After all, there was no need for her to respond to that insult at all. She did have a quirk, just not one that was obvious. Not only that, she wouldn't even use it at all if becoming a hero wasn't so important to her parents.

It wasn't that she hated her Quirk, using it was impossibly complicated. Using it required a whole ton of theories and calculations- most of which she could hardly bother with. But alas, she had no choice. Unless she slowly mastered it now, it would be a pain to use a few months down the roads should she successfully get into U.A High. With that thought, the marbles spun around her fingers once more.

"Class rep, do you have a problem?" The old geezer who was her teacher squinted his eyes at her and on instinct she smiled. Shit. She had been too obvious in not paying attention.

"There's no problem, sensei. In fact, I was wondering if you would like me to help give out the forms on your table. " Morie placated amiably. She did not attempt to bring up or clean her graffiti-covered table- there was no point in doing that if they were going to doodle on her table everyday until graduation.

The teacher smiled, buying her excuse as he shook his head.

"No need, Minamoto-san. I'm almost done explaining as it is," he said, before he turned away to face the blackboard.

"Now. Career aspiration forms," he spoke, and his voice sounded vaguely like sandpaper. "I'll give you twenty minutes to fill them out, though I think I already know what most of you want to be."

The snickers became more pronounced over the silent class, and twenty minutes later the forms were in and the old geezer was skimming across the pages with a practiced diligence. His shuffle of pages came to a halt as he peered over a particular form in question.

"Minamoto-san. You're aiming to go to Yuuei Academy?" His glasses glinted as he sent a curious look at her general direction. Morie's lips curled up in a smile.

"Yes, sensei."

The outburst of whispers was expected. U.A was an amazing school, with standards leaps and bounds above Sakurazawa Middle School. Some of her classmates snickered. Most remained quiet. She appreciated that.

Mister-indistinguishable-features turned around and gaped at her from two seats in front.

"She doesn't even have a quirk!" He protested. Morie resisted the urge the flick her marble at the back of his rusty head. No doubt that this outburst would fuel the rumors for the next two weeks or so. After all, her quirk wasn't exactly something that was obvious. If the treatment she got in class was an indication on how much quirkless people suffered, she was truly sorry.

"Enough." The teacher frowned. "If I remember correctly, you have a fine quirk Minamoto-san. If you do get into U.A, you would bring honour to Sakurazawa Junior High. Maybe we might even overtake Oridera next door by having a student here get into U.A. Now then, let us split up for career guidance counselling..."

A smile split onto her face. Her teacher was pretty cool, after all.

.

Sakurazawa Junior High was a humble school, not only in the school motto, but also notably in its achievements. It was an average school, even more average than Oridera Junior High that was a mere few blocks further down the street.

While her school was closer to her home, it meant that she had to walk more if she wanted to visit the shopping district to buy herself some new ink brushes, she had to walk about 10 minutes longer. Oh, the horror.

Currently she was walking past Oridera Junior High School. It seemed that they had just ended school as well. Normally she wasn't nosy about what went on in other schools, but it seemed that today was an exception.

As she was walking past the building, she vaguely made out yelling. But not just yelling. She heard explosion noises, which made her whip her head towards the direction it came from.

Why was she so particular about that you ask? For the past eleven years of her life, she has been hearing the infuriating explosion noises at home everyday, and to her the source of the explosions might as well be one of the Wonders in the World. She knew that it came from a neighbour perhaps, but she never got to identify who was actually the cause of those insufferable explosion noises.

She highly doubted that whoever was setting off those explosion noises here was the same person who set off explosions back in her neighbourhood, but nevertheless it did make her somewhat curious.

Stopping in her tracks, Morie looked up and stared at the open window on the side of the building. She certainly didn't expect a notebook to come flying out of the said window.

Woah, when was she in Death Note?

Morie gawked at the mystical flying notebook- until it decided to fly straight towards where a tiny pond was.

On instinct, the artist within her panicked. Hell no. Water and paper did not mix. It was a big gigantic 'nope', it was a recipe for disaster.

Before she knew it, she was screaming silently (because actual screaming ruined vocal chords) as she scrambled towards the side of the pond, snatching the notebook away before it could become soggy fish food.

Exhaling in relief, her eyes skimmed across the cover of the notebook, thankful that no, it wasn't a crazy supernatural book dropped by some divine entity. Instead, the soaring notebook was called 'Hero Analysis for the Future- no. 13'. Something churned inside her unpleasantly as she flipped through the pages- there were well-documented strategies and analysis of official Heroes.

Impressions ran across her mind as she thought about whoever's notebook this was. Hardworking- even details about Mount Lady, the new hero who had just debuted that very same day was already in the notebook. Meticulous- there were even sketches of the heroes, along with features of their costumes. Even though the drawings were somewhat crude, the numerous eraser markings made it evident that a lot of effort was put in. Who would dishonor such a lovely piece of art?

As she flipped through the book, she stopped at one particular name and frowned.

Who the hell was 'Bakugou Katsuki'? Morie was sure that she was as much as a nerd as the person who wrote this book, but she had never heard of a hero with that name.

Shrugging, she flipped back towards the cover page. Deliberate scorch marks on the books burnt the sides but the rest of the book was untouched.

"Ah." Morie sighed as comprehension dawned upon her. It seemed like she possibly has just found the source of the explosions.

Tilting her head upwards, she glanced up towards the second story window.

"... Now, how do I give this back...?"

.

With the use of her quirk, she was currently half-supported by the tree next to the window and she leaned onto the window frame. It was an awkward position, but since there wasn't any pedestrians walking past or cameras around, it should be fine.

Morie sighed. It was not her fault that the security guards refused to give her entry, and at the same time she didn't trust them to actually return them to the person if she asked them to.

She hoisted herself nearer to the window frame. It would seem that she was now looking into a classroom. Morie shifted around uncomfortably. Only her arms were supporting her and her legs were resting on the tree branch.

A few tables in front of her, a bunch of dudes surrounded a boy with freckles and green-black hair. Propping herself up further, on instinct she hunched her back so she would not be that easily discovered.

Eh. Two of the people there reminded her of that indistinguishable guy from her own class. The green-haired boy looked timid and fidgety, while the other guy had spiky ash blonde hair and looked like a delinquent.

Mr. Spiky Hair stepped forward towards the green-haired boy, slapping his hand onto the smaller boy's shoulder. It seemed that quite a bit of dialogue had passed when she was struggling with the tree, for what he said sounded much like a hanging threat.

"... So don't apply for U.A, nerd." The blonde's voice was smooth and menacing, and while she couldn't see his face, Morie imagined the same disgusting face that all bullies had when picking on a target.

The apparent nerd's lips quivered, his eyes widening. Before long, his eyes returned back to the floor quickly, and Morie swallowed when she noted that he didn't attempt to fight back. Would that mean that this has been going on for a long time?

The group of bullies began to shuffle out, snickering under their breaths as they did so.

When they reached the door, the ringleader turned around, sneering at the smaller boy. It was lucky that those who looked down on others noticed less things going on around them, because it seemed that she had gone somewhat unnoticed.

Mr Spiky Hair then snarled, revealing sharp teeth and dark red eyes.

"If you want to be a hero that badly, there's a quick way to do it," his lips curled upwards unpleasantly and she blanched at his words, and she felt sick as he continued on. "Believe that you'll have a quirk in your next life and take a last chance dive off the roof!"

The green-haired boy turned around, his fists shaking by his side, but no words escaped his mouth. He seemed so utterly defeated that her heart ached for him.

Aggressively, Mr. Spiky Hair whirled around, sneering. Flames erupted in the palm of his hand as he did so.

"Have a problem?" He said, his smile stretching menacingly. Immediately, the green-haired boy sputtered in reply but remained silent. The open threat seemed to satisfy him, and Morie glared at the back as the ringleader turned to leave.

Unfortunately, she watched, horrified, as red eyes darted towards the window- where she was. His eyes met hers, and immediately, he stopped in his tracks.

Shit.

"Who the hell are you?!" The bully's eyes narrowed and he let out a roar. The green-haired boy turned around and regarded her with wide, green eyes. Morie stared back with wide eyes before her gaze darted back towards the blonde boy.

Okay. I've been caught. I just need to stay calm. Fake it till you make it. Right.

Breathing in heavily, she calmed herself down before pushing herself onto the window and jumping down with an air of grace she did not know she possessed.

"Well," Morie spoke, dark brown eyes focusing on the blonde boy as she did so. "I was just minding my own business when this hit me in the face." Her lips curled upwards as she made a show of pulling out the worn notebook from her bag.

(Don't make it seem like you're defending the boy, if not they might seek payback on the him afterwards.)

"I come up to see what the whole commotion was, only to see you three picking on this guy over here. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not playing hero here, but I did overhear some major drama going on here." She paused, and made an innocent smile appear on her face.

Morie willed her legs to move towards where the blonde guy was standing, and she ended up leaning against a nearby table. The boy must have took her approach to be an attempt to threaten him, because suddenly he snapped into a fighting stance. Flames sparked across his hands, and his eyes snapped to hers.

"Why, you asking for a fight?" He growled. The flames sparked in his hand menacingly like a series of rampant firecrackers. He loomed over her closer and closer- the gap in their height and physical abilities was made clear as she stared at the boy who was a mere inches in front of her.

Lightly, she cleared her throat and shook her head coolly.

"No, I'm not. But I wonder what would happen if somehow the principal of Oridera Junior High caught wind that not only did you engage in acts of unruly behaviour against a student, you also harmed a student from another school. Furthermore, if that little friend of yours did take 'a last chance dive off the roof', not only would you be deemed a no-good delinquent, you would have instigated a suicide."

The corner of her lips curled up as the flames in his palm ceased to spark. It seemed that this guy wasn't without reason, after all.

"I'm sure U.A High wouldn't accept someone like that, don't you think so too?" Morie's voice sounded innocuous to her ears, and she wondered if she could actually get through this with her bullshit.

It seemed that that was the final prod she needed to give, because Mr. Spiky Hair withdrew his fist, his eyes narrowing. In response, she tucked her hand behind her back. She almost made the mistake of sighing in relief, which would have betrayed the fear she actually felt. Quickly, she caught herself and smiled at the boy in front of her amiably.

Her eyes widened as he suddenly leaned in, his face looming a mere inches away from his. His eyes bored into hers and she marvelled at how filled with malice they were.

"You're full of shit," He spat, obviously not appreciating her silent threat, though with a final flower he released her and turned to walk away, kicking the door open and trudging away as he did so. His lackeys trailed after him and she was finally able to relax, before Morie stepped forward and shut the door. Somehow, she got an impression that one day he would be back for her blood.

There was a thud as she slumped against it and took a long, much-needed breath.

"I'm alive." She breathed out, as if she was trying to confirm the fact. Seconds later her eyes landed on the person she was defending only a few metres away.

"Dude." Brown eyes shut as she sighed in open amazement. "How the hell do you deal with that guy for so long? He's fucking intense, you're pretty amazing to be able to stand his shit."

The green-haired boy shifted on his feet, obviously not used to attention of any sort. His face showed all her feelings of amazement perfectly.

"W-Who are you?" He squeaked out and in response she flailed her arms and stepped towards him, now beaming.

"Um, I swear that I usually don't go looking for death threats like an idiot. I'm Minamoto Morie, but just call me Rie, please."

His shoulders relaxed and she let out a sigh. Then she remembered why exactly she had bothered coming up here in the first place. Shoving the notebook towards him, she tried to smile but instead she ended up stuttering.

"A-ah, look at the time! I have to go now!"

Morie started towards the window when she heard the boy reply.

"Thanks for helping me, Rie-san! I'm Midoriya Izuku, by the way."

She was halfway out of the window when he said that, and awkwardly she turned back to face him.

"No problem, Midoriya. See you at U.A- " Her foot slipped and she silently screamed as she fell- breaking in and out of windows was nasty business, especially with tight uniforms restricting your movement.

(Damn, maybe she just really sucked at this whole hero-business thing.)

"Rie-san?!" Izuku hurried over to the window and was admittedly surprised when he noticed that she was perfectly unscathed and was already hurrying away. She turned around at the mention of her name, seeming pretty surprised when she saw him looking at her through the window concernedly.

"Oh, I'm okay. No need to worry Midoriya!"

Waving at Izuku, Morie hurried away, unashamed pumping her fist as she did so. She felt impossibly happy. If she wasn't wrong, she might have actually made a friend!

Well, now that those five minutes of drama and almost getting scared shitless was over, it was time to head over to the shopping district to get her art supplies. Her precious art supplies. Their fateful meeting has been postponed for absolutely far too long.

.