"Would Benihama Ai and Benihama Mai please come to Principle Nezu's office? Thank you for your time."

The iconic gentle voice of UA High's principle politely rang across the school lunch room, causing every nearby eye to rotate towards the twin first years.

Mai blinked in confusion, pushed her glasses more firmly on the bridge of her nose, and turned to stare at her sister, whose identical red eyes stared back behind similar black glasses.

"What did you do?" Ai joked in an accusatory tone.

"Maybe I committed a crime and framed you," Mai responded, not missing a beat. "Or maybe it was against the rules for you to turn down being class president."

"Hey, don't bring me into this," Okanate, the actual class president of class 1-G, said, holding her hands up.

"Well, at any rate, I'll wait here for you –"

"Oh, no, I'm taking you down with me." Ai cut Mai off and dragged her out of her seat. "See you!" She waved to the classmates they had been eating with, and received a chorus of 'goodbyes' from them all.

"We'll see you in class," Shimoue said, brushing his metallic blue hair from his eyes.

"As in Ai," Okanate covered as she punched Shimoue under the table. "We'll see you around, Mai." She waved and used her Flexifingers quirk to arrange the tips of her fingers in the shape of a thumbs-up. Sometimes it was a bit weird for Mai to always sit with her sister's friends, but she did love hanging out with the dark-skinned Okanate with her kind purple eyes and nurturing demeanor.

"You're the best Okanate," Ai grinned. She gave a final wave and she and Mai took off down the hall.

"Interesting that he wants both of us though," Ai said, taking on a more contemplative tone.

"Yeah," Mai nodded. "Especially since we're not in the same department, let alone class." Although she ate with Ai and her fellow classmates in Support Department Class 1-G, Mai was actually in the Management Department Class 1-K. Despite the fact they had gotten similar grades in middle school, Ai liked to solve problems by making something, while Mai preferred to solve problems by organizing and optimizing it. Both of the twins wanted to help hero society in the best way they could and, even though their dad wanted them to take the college route, he was very proud when they both were accepted into UA.

"So that would cross off discussing a failed exam," Ai continued.

"Failing something, acting up in class, even getting in trouble should only summon one of us to Principle Nezu's office."

"Maybe one of us broke a rule in front of a teacher who couldn't tell us apart?"

This could be a possibility. Mai and Ai were very identical with their paler than pale skin, unusually bright blonde hair, and deep red eyes with black glasses. Of course, people who knew them well could differentiate between Mai's crimson eyes and more yellow hair and Ai's ruby eyes and more white hair. And there were always context clues, since Mai was quiet and reserved with her personality, keeping it to the people she trusted, meanwhile Ai, on the opposite side of the same coin, was very sociable with her boldness.

"Well, I guess we're about to find out," Mai said as they approached Principle Nezu's office door.

"Do you think Erasurehead is in there too?" Ai smiled, feebly attempting to diffuse the tense apprehension with her schoolgirl crush on the UA teacher. She insisted it was purely support interest in his capture scarf, but Mai had seen her spend way too many hours researching his history as a hero to not mercilessly tease her sister about it.

"Just open the door," Mai muttered. She really hated having no clue what to expect from this meeting or how to prepare herself. She grabbed the back of Ai's sleeve and the two walked inside.

Principle Nezu's office was simple and professional. In the back a perfectly centered desk stood in front of a wall of windows overlooking UA's campus and two nice chairs sat in front of it ready for a conference with the principle. The center of the room had a small couch and an upholstered chair on opposing sides of a table with all the desired items to make tea laid out on it.

"Ah, Miss Benihama and Miss Benihama, I didn't hear you knock."

Mai could hear Ai's breath catch in her throat realizing they forgot to knock. "Where would you like us to sit sir?" Mai's voice slowly became steadier with each word as though she hadn't spoken in days.

"Wherever you would be comfortable."

Mai waited for Ai to choose, but she seemed to be too overwhelmed to think. Right, Mai had forgotten how much of a teacher's pet Ai was; she was terrified of getting in trouble. Generally she played it off well, but Mai supposed directly facing the possibility would overrun everything else. With a small tug on Ai's sleeve, Mai directed her to Principle Nezu's desk and sat down in one of the chairs.

His white animal features (what was he a mouse, a dog, a bear – probably no one really knew) made it difficult to determine his body language, let alone interpret it, and his polite voice was no help at all. Mai folded her hands and just waited, preparing herself for the worst.

"I've been meaning to talk with you since you applied, but it's been a busy start to the year, and even now we have the Sports Festival coming up, but there's no time like the present," he said with a small laugh.

If this was about something before the school year started, then they couldn't be in trouble, but Mai didn't dare feel hope as Principle Nezu continued.

"I wanted to talk to you about your grandmother, since she was also a rare animal possessing a quirk."

"Oh, Marcela?" Ai asked, perking up. "Did you know her?"

"Not personally, but your grandfather set up a meeting for us once many years ago."

It wasn't surprising, Mai and Ai hardly saw their mother's parents since they didn't live in Japan, though Mai did vividly remember what she was like. Marcela was a bat whose quirk was Human Transform. It's pretty self-explanatory, and her quirk also gave her below average human intelligence where she was able to learn sign language and participate in most conversations. She did, however, only answer to the name 'Marcela' and couldn't speak human words. Mai remembered thinking she was kind of like a weird anime girl since even in her human form she had distinct bat-like features and a small amount of fur all over her body, plus she mostly communicated in excited gestures and tended to cling to their grandfather, her husband, as much as possible.

Their grandfather was Marcela's caretaker and spent most of their relationship teaching her how to live in a human society until one day, as their mother told them, she borrowed his mother's wedding ring, handed it to him, and pointed to her left ring finger. Mai had no idea how her grandfather managed to marry and have a daughter with what was legally a near-threatened spectral bat, and to be honest it was extremely uncomfortable to think about, but it was what established her family so Mai mostly ignored the implications.

"Has that heritage impacted your genetics?" Principle Nezu asked.

"Well, not much, because her quirk gave her human biology," Ai said while Mai hoped she wouldn't go into detail. "I mean, we like eating primarily meat, and we'll eat weird stuff like insects and doves –"

"It's had a direct influence on my quirk, and our mother's quirk too," Mai interrupted. Ai's quirk came from their father's genes so Mai doubted she'd immediately think about their family's bat-related quirks. "My quirk is Bat Transform, it's the inverse of Marcela's quirk, and it lets me transform into a bat. I can fly and use echolocation in my bat form, and I've even been able to echolocate a bit in my human form."

"She even flies to school and back, leaving me behind, by the way."

Mai shrugged off Ai's accusing look. Ai's quirk, Blood Energy, allowed her to gain energy exponentially by consuming blood. It was helpful for late night cramming, but not so much for transportation.

"Yes, thanks for mentioning that very important detail." Mai rolled her eyes. "Our mother's quirk is Bat Arms where she can transform her arms into proportional bat wings."

"I see. Now, Miss Benihama Mai, if you would permit me to ask, what happens to your clothes when you transform?"

"Anything inanimate on my body or in my hand goes into my bat form, then returns to its original position when I transform back. I can't access it as a bat, but it's secure while I have my quirk activated."

"It's the same thing for our mother," Ai inputted. "She sometimes transforms her arms when she's holding her keys so she won't forget them."

"Interesting, interesting," Principle Nezu nodded. "It seems Marcela's quirk allowed her to have a normal family, and your grandfather saved her normal life."

"He – what now?" Ai tilted her head to the side and Mai had to bite her lip when she realized she had tilted her head in the same way.

"Having your grandfather as her caretaker and husband saved Marcela from what would be a – a very rough life."

Mai noticed some deep sorrow and resentment behind Principle Nezu's eyes, the first trace of emotion she had seen him show. She always figured life was difficult for him being a unique animal in a human society, but this was something more, clearly he had experienced something horrible. She wanted to say anything to make him feel better, but her thoughts were jumbled together.

"I'm, thank–ry." Mai's words tumbled out of her mouth before her brain could decide on them.

"We appreciate you taking the time to talk with us, Principle Nezu." Ai gracefully managed to pick up where Mai failed. "We really love having you as the head of UA High and all the work you do for it."

"Is there anything else you would like to discuss with us, sir?" Mai asked to cover over her previously failed attempt.

"No I believe you gave me the perfect amount of information." Principle Nezu said, returning to his polite personality. "Thank you for humoring me, and I believe it's time for you two to return to your classes."

"Sports – fest! Sports – fest! Sports – fest!"

Mai narrowly dodged the excited hero course students leaving class 1-A for the day and bumped into one of her sister's friends.

"Oh yeah, can't wait to have an all-important school festival celebrating one department," he complained, not even noticing Mai.

"Hey, I know the perfect tea to go with that salt," Okanate's voice retorted.

"Isn't it cool though? We might get to meet the next generation of heroes and see them in action!" Shimoue appeared next to Mai with his brown eyes shining in abrupt excitement.

"Yeah, that's whatever, but –"

"Oh there you are Mai." Ai suddenly linked her arm with Mai's. "Ready to head home?"

"I'm going now." Mai activated her quirk – it was kind of like flexing a specific group of muscles – transformed, and flew off, Ai yelling at her back. Mai just ignored it; when Ai walked home by herself she was able to use her quirk and run the distance, arriving home less than ten minutes later than Mai in her bat form. Of course, Ai didn't think of that, she just wanted someone to chat with the whole way.

It was a nice clear day, which was perfect for flying home. Mai passed a few heroes in action, but she was too ready to get home to stop and watch. With her parents both needing space for their work they were fortunate to have a house not far from UA, and Mai was very grateful for the relatively short flight. When she reached her front doorstep she transformed back and pulled the key from her backpack. She didn't bother fully shutting the door behind her because her echolocation caught a figure sprinting not far behind her, which she knew had to be Ai.

After kicking off her shoes she hurried up the stairs to the main landing. She could hear her father's voice coming out of his workroom and called "I'm home" before she even reached the top step.

"And I assume Ai's not far behind?" Benihama Tadashi's workroom was in full view of the stairs and the door was wide open, emitting a feel of constantly stirring dust and revealing a mess of papers spread over tables, chairs, and household research machines. "Sir, this is one of my daughters, Mai," he said as he put his arm around Mai's shoulders and walked her into the room, where she realized another man was standing. Her breath caught in her throat when she recognized him as the pro-hero Sir Nighteye, who, in addition to being a successful pro-hero, was also the sidekick to the number one hero All Might up until this past year.

"Mai's a first year at UA High," Tadashi said, his deep brown eyes sparkling with pride. "She probably has a blueprint in her room now for her own hero agency."

"So you have an interest in hero society?" Sir Nighteye looked up from his papers and locked eyes with her. Mai was too overwhelmed to answer and instead found herself focusing on his blinking. Sir Nighteye leaned closer towards her face. "Tell me a joke."

Mai felt her mouth drop in confusion, but instead of coherent words a small squeak inched out and, in a panic, she accidentally activated her quirk. Flapping around like a baby bird, she briefly flew into her father's black hair, and was soon escaping out the front door. Before she reached the end of the sidewalk, she flew into Ai running at full speed and both girls fell off balance.

"Ugh, Mai!" Ai exclaimed, patting the walkway looking for her glasses. "How hard is it to echolocate where you're going? You know I'm blinder than you without these things."

Mai hit the ground and transformed back into her human form. "Our father's got a pro-hero in there!"

"What – a pro-hero?" Ai shoved her glasses on her nose.

"Sir Nighteye! When he saw me he demanded I tell him a joke." Mai paused to swallow. "How am I supposed to respond to that? Like with a knock knock joke? Knock knock, who's there, a world famous pro-hero, make sure you have pants on!"

"Wait, he just told you to make a joke?" Ai frowned and Mai suddenly felt a wave of dread as her twin took the situation on as her own problem. "Even if you were a social butterfly, that's just rude! Alright, let's go." She grabbed Mai's wrist and went on the warpath.

"Ohhhh don't drag me into this pleeeease don't drag me into this," Mai moaned as she was towed into the house and upstairs to their father's workroom.

"Excuse me, Sir Nighteye pro-hero sir, did you just tell my sister to make a joke?"

Sir Nighteye hesitated, glancing between the twins.

"Yes, he did," Tadashi answered. "This is my other daughter, Ai."

"Hi nice to meet you and lest you think my sister is an antisocial loser I'm going to tell you what she said outside." Ai finally paused to take a second breath. "She said, almost word-for-word: 'how do I respond to that, like with a knock knock joke? Knock knock. Who's there? A world-famous pro-hero, make sure you have pants on."

Sir Nighteye stared at Ai for a moment, then he smiled a little and gave a small chuckle. "Not bad."

"And what kind of request is that anyway, demanding someone tell you a joke, who does that?" Ai's tone of voice made it clear she was not at all intimidated by Sir Nighteye, and her firm grip on Mai's hand made sure neither of them were leaving their spots.

"As future members of the hero society, I believe it is important for you to have an unyielding sense of humor to comfort civilians."

"Wait, did you assume we're in the hero department?" Ai demanded, her voice becoming even more dangerous.

"Ai, that was probably my fault." Tadashi intercepted her wrath. "I mentioned Mai's plans for her future hero agency. I apologize Sir Nighteye, my daughter Mai is in the Management Department of UA and her plans for her hero agency are purely from the business side of things."

"It's really more of hero dispatching unit with its current design," Mai added.

"And I'm in the Support Department," Ai said, now completely nonchalant as if she hadn't been close to fighting a pro-hero a moment ago. "I – uh, I don't have many plans beyond that. So, why are you here sir hero?"

"That's classified." Sir Nighteye said coldly. Mai was glad Ai had asked him; if she had gotten an answer like that she might have transformed and flown away again. Ai opened her mouth with an indignant response at the ready, but their father saved her from worsening the pro-hero's impression of her.

"He needed me to analyze a blood sample." Tadashi's quirk was Blood Knowledge, which allowed him to know certain details of a person by ingesting their blood (blood type, age, gender, general appearance, sometimes he could even detect an illness). "Alright, girls, you should probably start on your homework."

"Nice to meet you Sir Nighteye." Ai and Mai bowed respectfully and went off to their rooms, Mai glad to have the ordeal over with and Ai just happily going on with life.

"You know, it's a shame they're not training to be heroes." Mai heard Sir Nighteye say as the door began to shut. "I would have loved to see them shine in the UA Sports Festival."