It was July 2nd, a Sunday. It was around noon and Kirishima had sauntered downstairs just a few minutes earlier. Most of their class was already up and about, just because it was still the weekend didn’t mean you could slack off, but the late risers only woke up sometime around noon or later. For Kirishima, it was around mid-morning at that time.

As soon as he got off the elevator, he made his way to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water, with the hopes of waking himself up a little more for his first-thing run. Just as he had finished filling his glass and was about to take a sip, Mina approached him with a cheerful pep in her step.

“Hey! Going on a run?” Mina asked cheerfully, noticing his exercising attire and the water bottle he got out of the fridge.

“Yeah! I figured I needed it to get me going for the day. Didn’t get much sleep last night.” Mina gave him a small knowing smile and nodded. But, as fast as it appeared, the smile was replaced with a grin.

“Mind if I join you? Oh! Unless you already planned to go with Bakugo?”

Kirishima laughed. ‘ Never one to keep the mood down ’, he thought, still in peaceful drowsiness. Today would be a good day.

“Nah, that guy always goes on his runs crazy early – even earlier than me! And even if I invited him, he’d never agree. Always saying something like, ‘Don’t want you extras to slow me down’ or something.” Kirishima leaned from his place in the kitchen to see Bakugo eating lunch in the dining area.

“Ain’t that right Bakugo!”

“Fuck off!” Bakugo hollered back, glaring at their direction before going back to eating.

Kirishima laughed again and turned to Mina.

“So yeah, you can come! If you can keep up, that is.” Kirishima teased. She returned the tease with a devious grin.

“Don’t worry, I think I’ll be fine.”

The pair laughed and chatted as Kirishima finished his water and ate a small breakfast. When he was done, he started heading for the door, Mina following close behind.

“So, what’s the track today?”

“Just around the dorm building. I’ve been thinking about doing three laps this time, you know, to increase my endu—"

Kirishima was abruptly cut off by a loud whooshing and crackling noise coming from the common room. Everybody was immediately alarmed and jumped to their feet, ready for action as gusts of wind seemingly appeared out of nowhere and swirled around what appeared to be some sort of cloud with electricity crackling in it.

And it was all in the middle of the common room.

“What’s going on?!”

“Someone call Aizawa-sensei!”

“It appears to be a small storm?!”

Everybody started bracing themselves as the gusts of wind grew stronger, blowing objects around the room and breaking them.

“Get behind me!” Kirishima yelled as he activated his quirk. Mina complied and activated hers as well, acid forming around her body.

The “storm” grew bigger as a bright glow started forming in the middle of it. Suddenly, three figures fell from the cloud, as well as what seemed to be three bags of luggage. As soon as the figures hit the floor, the “storm”, which was then concluded to be some sort of portal, dissipated and the students could then clearly see who had just come through the portal.

Who were not only unconscious but also very, very bloody.

Of the figures who appeared, there were two boys and one girl. One boy was a brunette and was lying on his back, blood seeping from the back of his head and mouth, face flushed, and moaning from pain. The other boy had red hair and was holding the girl in a half embrace. His right arm was broken, blood flowing from his head and side, where there appeared to be a knife lodged in. Contrast to the other boy, he was concerningly pale, but the girl he was holding was even worse. She was so pale that one would question if she was even alive anymore. Blood flowed from several deep cuts down her arms and legs but what was most concerning was the large cut on her back which seemed to be where most of the blood came from. All three of them were wearing high school uniforms and appeared to be around their age.

The students immediately jumped to attend to the unconscious teenagers.

Yaoyorozu was the first to react and started barking orders to the others. After checking their pulses to make sure they were alive, they promptly started to stop the bleeding of the larger and more concerning wounds with whatever medical supplies Yaoyorozu made with her quirk.

As Kirishima and Mina approached them, Yaoyorozu instructed the former to attend to the red head while Mina helped the girl. Kirishima nodded and they made their way to the unconscious pair.

As Mina started to move the girl from the boy to attend to her wounds, the boy slowly regained consciousness. Kirishima immediately started talking to keep him awake.

“Hello? Can you hear me? You’re badly wounded. I need you to stay with me, okay?”

The boy squinted his eyes and seemed to be concentrating on something before they abruptly widened. He shoved Kirishima away and tore the girl from Mina’s grasp before he promptly started scooting away from them. He held the girl protectively, or as well as he could with one arm, and glared at them.

“Don’t… touch her…!” He practically growled, in a way that reminded Kirishima of Bakugo.

Kirishima slowly stood up and approached the weary boy who was still trying to move away. 

“I’m not going to hurt you, I promise! I just want to help. If we don’t get those wounds cleaned up soon, they could be fatal.” Kirishima sent him a reassuring smile. The boy still glared at him, but he glanced at the girl for a moment before looking back up.

The boy was in pain, he could tell. He was still frightfully pale, but then he was sweating and slightly panting, which meant that he was probably overexerting himself just to stay conscious.

“We’re not going to hurt you…” Both boys looked over to see Midoriya walking over with a placating smile and tense eyebrows. “Please let us help!”

The boy narrowed his eyes at him before looking back at Kirishima and then the girl. Eventually, he nodded, and they started loading them both up on stretchers, courtesy of Yaoyorozu.

Kirishima looked around and saw that the other boy was already on a stretcher as well.

Seconds later, Aizawa, along with several other teachers, had come barging into the common room. Upon seeing the wounded teenagers, the teachers got to work and took them out of the students’ hands. After assessing the students and confirming that nobody else was injured, Aizawa made his way to take the wounded children to the hospital.

“I expect a full report by this evening.” He waited for several murmurs of affirmation before he finally left.

“That was scary. I hope they’re okay…” Murmured Uraraka off to the side.

“They’re in the care of sensei, now. I’m sure they’ll be fine, kero. I am curious about who they are though.” Asui replied, pressing her index finger to her chin in thought.

“They just came out of nowhere… Do you think they were attacked by villains?” asked Jirou with a shudder.

“There’s a high possibility they were…” Yaoyorozu looked down with a concerned frown, “For now, let’s just clear out of the area. The police need to inspect the scene.”

At that, everybody either retreated to their rooms or outside and left the police to deal with the mess.

Kirishima and Mina met eyes as they started moving out of the common room.

“I expect a full report by this evening.”

Kirishima sighed, ‘I guess we won’t be going on that run any time soon.’

Ever since the war ended, Uraraka had learned to expect the unexpected. Not keeping your guard up was how many heroes have fallen, after all. However, Uraraka had decidedly not expected three teenagers to fall out of a strange storm portal, bloodied and possibly dying.

Uraraka and Asui walked side by side on their way to the store. After handing the wounded teenagers to their teachers, they gave a small report to the police and were allowed to leave with instructions to write a full report later.

Uraraka couldn’t help but think about the wounded individuals from that afternoon. Who were they? Would they be okay? The girl, who had silver hair, lost a lot of blood. And the red headed boy, he reacted so aggressively when Kirishima tried to help them. They must have been attacked, but by whom? A villain? A—

“Ochako-chan, are you okay? You’ve been spacing out, kero.” Asui commented. Snapping out of her thoughts, Uraraka jumped.

“O-oh, have I? Sorry, I was just thinking about the… incident from earlier.” Uraraka scratched the back of her head in embarrassment as Asui pressed her index finger to her chin in thought.

“Me too, kero. It was certainly frightening.”

“Yeah…” Uraraka frowned. Asui placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and gave her a placating smile.

“They're fine. Sensei took them to the hospital. He wouldn’t let them die, kero.” Uraraka returned her smile with an appreciative one.

“Yeah.”

Six days later, July 8 th , Saturday. Aizawa had called all of class 2-A to meet him that evening in the common room.

“I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’ve called you here.” Uraraka, as well as several of the other students, murmured in affirmative and curiously looked around. Aizawa sighed tiredly.

“I don’t want to stall any longer, so I’ll cut to the chase.” The students quieted down and waited in anticipation.

“I’m sure you all remember that six days ago, three individuals appeared through a portal in the common room at noon, unconscious and injured. All three of them are alive and well. However, when we questioned them we came to realize some… interesting conclusions.”

The students murmured quietly in confusion.

“First of all, the three of them were indeed attacked, but not by villains. In fact, the perpetrators don’t even exist. At least not in our world.”

…Wait, what? Even more confused murmurs piped up.

“Not in our world?”

“What is he saying?”

“Wait… He doesn’t mean…”

Aizawa continued, not even batting an eye at the not so quiet murmurs.

“The portal the individuals fell through is a portal from another world. Meaning, the individuals themselves are from another world.”

Several students, including Uraraka, went quiet in shock and disbelief. The door to the dorms opened and four figures walked inside, behind Aizawa.

“Someone sent them here against their will and now they’re stuck. Until we find a way to send them back or find a better solution, they will be staying in these dorms and attending UA generals department, so they stay out of the public and we can keep an eye on them. They will answer any questions you may have.” At this point, Aizawa looked up from his paper and gave all the teenagers in the room a pointed look. “It is advised they do not go out on their own or interact with anyone besides those who made initial contact with them. We don’t know the nature of what is happening so their presence is considered dangerous. If they do need something that the school can’t provide, go with them or get it for them .” With that last comment, he glared at the red-head in particular.

Aizawa stepped out of the way to reveal Yamada standing beside a girl and two boys. Six days ago, Uraraka wouldn’t have been able to tell you what they looked like beyond hair color, but seeing them then, she didn’t know how anyone’d miss them in a crowd. The girl was around average height and had long, wavy, silver hair and violet eyes. The boy to her left was quite tall, taller than most of the boys in the room, and had light brown hair and blue eyes. His hair was slightly long, but not long enough to reach past his neck. To his left was the other boy who had red hair and even darker red eyes. His hair was shorter than the other boy’s and in a basic style, except for the fact his bangs were longer over his right eye. They were all wearing the PE uniforms, except they had taken the jackets off and were then carrying them.

“I’d like to introduce to you Elena Bell, Arlo Keen, and Nikolaus Brandt.” And with that, Aizawa turned around, apparently ready to leave.

“Mic will lead you to your rooms. Get comfortable while you can.” The three of them thanked him as Yamada set three duffle bags, which appear to be their luggage, down beside them. Aizawa sharply turned, his eyes glowing red from his quirk.

“Behave.”

The three of them stiffened as well as some of the students. Aizawa turned and made his leave.

“ …That doesn’t work on us. ” The red head, Nikolaus, huffed in English, to the class’s surprise.

“ I think he just does it to scare us, whether it serves as a real threat or not. ” Said the brunette, Arlo, also in English. He let out a nervous laugh as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Uh…”

Everybody turned to see Midoriya walking towards the three teenagers.

“Y-you’re really from another world?” He asked, visibly shaking. Whether it was from nerves, shock, or excitement, Uraraka couldn’t tell. It was probably a combination of all three.

“Yes!” Elena said cheerfully, Japanese this time. “I’m Elena Bell! Nice to meet you all.”

Elena bowed slightly in greeting as some of the students greeted her in turn. Midoriya was beaming and was about to say something when Todoroki put a hand on his shoulder and held him back.

“Wait, Midoriya. I’m sure you’ve got a lot of questions, but we should let them get settled before we start asking them all at once.” Todoroki spoke in a calm and monotonous voice, as if this wasn’t something worth freaking out over.

“Todoroki-kun is right! This situation is quite overwhelming!” Iida piped in enthusiastically. He then sharply turned to the three teenagers and deeply bowed.

“Welcome! Please, allow me to help you bring your luggage to your rooms!”

“Oh! That’s okay we’ve got it! Thanks though!” Arlo said as he waved his arms in front of him frantically.

“Nonsense! You just came from the hospital, it’s only polite to carry your luggage! And Bell-san’s arms are still covered in bandages!” Iida insisted, trying to reach for their bags.

“Really, it’s fine! You don’t have to bow so deeply either! And we really don’t mind answering any questions you have.” Elena said with a placating smile. Nikolaus smiled in amusement at the scene.

“Um…” Uraraka stepped forward, nervously playing with the hem of her shirt, “If you’re from another world… then does that mean you don’t have quirks where you’re from?”

Nikolaus looked away from his companions, who were too busy trying to placate the enthusiastic Iida to really notice who had spoken.

“Yeah, there’s no such thing as quirks where we come from.” Nikolaus replied, “But there's still some… paranormal qualities.”

“What do you mean?” Yaoyorozu asked.

“There’s no such thing as quirks… but there is a thing called magic.” Said Elena, having apparently left Arlo to deal with the insisting Iida.

“Magic?” Several students spoke at the same time.

“Yup!”

Suddenly, little wisps of air formed around Elena’s arms as she lifted them. She situated her hands and made it look like she was holding something as the wisps of air gathered in them and swirled into a little ball. All the while, her violet eyes glowed and a soft light emanated from the ball of air in her hands.

“I am what you’d call a witch.”

Sunday, July 2nd.

During the drive to the hospital, Aizawa called Recovery Girl; for good reason seeing as he needed to keep three kids from dying before they got there.

The brunette’s face was flushed and whined at every loud noise. Considering the bloody wound on the back of his head, he definitely had a concussion. The red-head, who fell unconscious at some point, had a knife lodged in his side. Although they were able to stop the bleeding, that knife was a huge problem if it wasn’t taken care of soon, especially if it hit any organs. The girl was in the most danger. Although all the bleeding from her wounds had stopped, she was frightfully pale. She must have lost a lot of blood beforehand. Aizawa periodically checked her pulse.

When Aizawa and Yamada arrived at the hospital with the injured kids, Recovery Girl was already there. All three children were sent to the ER, the old woman following close behind. Aizawa left the hospital while Yamada stayed behind to meet up with Detective Tsukauchi at the police station.

Monday, July 3rd.

“They’re names are Elena Bell, Arlo Keen, and Nikolaus Brandt.” Aizawa looked through the evidence as Tsukauchi relayed out loud what he found out, “They go to Kuran Private High School. They’re in their second year and attend the same class.”

“That’s all you’ve found out? Just information from their school ID?” Aizawa asked.

“That, and information such as their birthday and blood type from their regular ID’s. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find much else.”

Aizawa narrowed his eyes, “And why not?”

Tsukauchi sighed, “Well, first, I tried going through their emergency contacts, thinking I might reach their parents. Instead, I got this.”

Tsukauchi placed a phone before Aizawa, set to call one of the kids’ mother. Tsukauchi pressed “call” and folded his hands back in his lap. After three rings, someone picked up, but instead of hearing them on the other side, a high-pitched ringing sound came from the phone, causing Aizawa to flinch. The screen started glitching and the ringing got more and more high-pitched until Tsukauchi ended the call.

The two of them sat in silence for a moment.

“…That is certainly weird.” Aizawa said, still trying to figure out why it happened, “Are you sure it isn’t broken?”

“I already called tech support; the phones are perfectly fine.”

“Have you tried the other two?”

“Yes. Same thing happened.”

Aizawa bustled in thought, “Have you tried looking up the school and getting their phone number?”

“That’s another thing.” Tsukauchi sighed tiredly and ran a hand down his face, “It doesn’t exist.”

Aizawa blinked at him.

“What?” He asked incredulously.

“Well, as far as I know. There is no record of there being or ever being a Kuran Private High School in Japan. We haven’t done an international search yet, but it doesn’t even come up with a simple online search.”

Aizawa narrowed his eyes at him again, “Are you suggesting that these heavily injured kids are fake students at a fake school wearing fake uniforms and carrying fake IDs?”

Tsukauchi sighed, “It’s too early to make any conclusions right now, but I’ve also found that none of them are registered citizens in Japan. That, and the souvenirs from Kyoto that I found in their bags make it seem like they’re from a foreign school and came to Japan on a school trip or something.”

“So, they’re either students from an overseas school and were attacked right in Japan for some reason or they’re part of some elaborate lie?”

“With the information we have right now, those are the most valid conclusions, yes.”

“And what about their attackers?”

Tsukauchi pulled a knife in an evidence bag from the evidence pile on his desk.

“This is the knife that was lodged in Brandt’s right flank. Luckily it wasn’t a fatal wound. The only fingerprints on it are his own, meaning the attacker was wearing gloves. We were also able to discern that it was the same knife used to injure Bell.”

“I see. Anything else?”

“Both Brandt and Keen had head injuries, however, Brandt looked more like he was hit by a blunt object while Keen looked like he was thrown back into a wall. His spine was cracked, and his head injury was in the back of his head while Brandt’s was on his right temple.” Tsukauchi paused and frowned.

“This is another weird thing. Keen’s concussion was severe. If he was thrown back so hard, he should have more than just a slightly fractured spine.”

“Maybe one of them has a healing quirk.” Aizawa suggested.

“Possible but improbable. Healing quirks are quite rare...”

He was right. Recovery Girl’s quirk is so rare she travels from hospital to hospital to help, despite her primary vocation being UA’s school nurse.

Aizawa’s phone suddenly rang. “Aizawa Shouta.”

“YO!! Eraserhead!!” Aizawa abruptly moved the phone away from him, checking the caller ID this time. And, assuredly, there said “Yamada” in all its glory. Aizawa groaned.

“Mic, what have I said about shouting into the phone? You’re going to burst someone’s eardrums.”

“Sorry, Eraserhead!” Yamada responded loudly. Aizawa made an annoyed noise and shook his head in disapproval.

“Why are you calling?”

“Recovery Girl wants to talk to you. One of the kids woke up!”

Aizawa met eyes with Tsukauchi, whom he’s sure heard everything. The detective nodded resolutely.

“Let’s get the police chief.”

By the time Aizawa and Tsukauchi arrived at Arlo Keen’s hospital room, with Tsuragamae Kenji, the chief of police, it was already evening. Recovery Girl was waiting for them outside of Arlo’s room.

“How is he?” Tsuragamae asked.

“Better than he could have been. He suffered a lot of head trauma, but it seemed like his injuries were already partially healed before I got to him.” Recovery Girl responded.

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, “Someone got to him before you?”

Recovery Girl shook her head, “None of the other doctors tending to him had a healing quirk. However, it does seem like someone healed him beforehand.”

“Is he awake right now?” Tsukauchi asked.

“Yes, he’s been awake for several hours. He’s been given some ibuprofen, so he should be okay for questioning.”

Tsukauchi gave her an appreciative smile and nodded. The four of them move to enter the room.

“Where’s Mic?” Aizawa asked, suddenly realizing the sound hero was notably absent based on the lack of noise.

“I kicked him out. The poor boy kept covering his ears and even asked for a pair of muffs the last time that man talked to him.”

Aizawa smirked under his scarf. Of course. Yamada couldn’t shut up to save his life.

Recovery Girl frowned as she reached to open Arlo’s room, “The child has sensitive hearing, and I highly doubt his concussion is helping.” she warned, “If he weren’t tended to as soon as he was, he would have been in critical condition.”

The other three adults nodded as she opened the door. They were greeted by Arlo Keen turning his head, which had bandages wrapped around it, to see the adults entering the room. He smiled brightly and looked like he was going to say something when his eyes landed on the police chief and he froze.

The adults looked at him questioningly as Arlo’s eyes roamed over Tsuragamae’s dog-like form, seemingly in shock.

“Good evening! I am Tsuragamae Kenji, the chief of police! Ruff!” Greeted Tsuragamae brightly. Arlo startled, smile slowly dropping, before taking a deep breath.

“I’m dreaming.”

The adults blinked in surprise. Tsukauchi stepped forward in a placating manner, “I can assure you, you’re not dre—” Tsukauchi was cut off by Arlo pinching his cheek, followed by a loud “OW!”

“Are you trying to cause more problems for yourself? Stop that!” Recovery Girl pointed her cane at him in warning.

Arlo winced and turned to her with an apologetic expression, “Sorry! I was just testing something.” He sharply turned his head back to Tsuragamae. The adults watched him curiously.

“So… I’m not dreaming.”

“I’m afraid not, young man. Why would you assume so, ruff?” Tsuragamae asked.

“Well…” Arlo scratched the back of his head as he tried to find the right words, “Um, t-this is gonna sound… obscenely rude but… A-are you a dog?”

“That is correct. My appearance is part of a mutation quirk.”  Tsuragamae replied.

“A… a ‘mutation quirk’?” Arlo’s brow furrowed in confusion.

Tsukauchi frowned, concerned. Aizawa watched in interest as the former stepped forward and offered a kind smile.

“Hi, I’m detective Tsukauchi Naomasa. We’re going to be asking you some questions regarding yesterday afternoon, is that alright?”

Arlo blinked and turned to Tsukauchi, seemingly snapped out of his confusion for the moment, “Yeah, I don’t mind. I don’t know how much I can tell you though. I blacked out at some point.” He furrowed his brow, in thought this time, “I honestly don’t know how I got here.”

“Where do you think ‘here’ is?”

“Kyoto?”

“I’m afraid not.” Tsukauchi gave him a kind smile, “You’re currently in Musutafu, Japan. You arrived here in some sort of portal yesterday.”

“A por— Wait, where did you say I am?”

“Musutafu, a major city in Japan. You’re currently in the Musutafu hospital.”

Arlo brought his hand to his chin in a thinking manner and tilted his head, “Musutafu? That’s—Hmm… I don’t recall there being such a city in Japan.”

“Really?” All four adults reared back in surprise. Musutafu was a large city, plus the home of UA, one of the best hero schools around. Every kid his age, even foreigners, would know where the home of UA is.

Aizawa narrowed his eyes in thought. This kid had been acting quite strange. First, he acted as if he’d never seen a mutation quirk before, which was impossible considering one sees them left and right, and then he’s never heard about a primary Japanese city? He’d understand the latter to a degree if the kid was from another country, which was likely considering he wasn’t a registered citizen, but the first one just didn’t make any sense. It was almost as if…

Aizawa's eyes widened and stepped directly in front of Arlo.

“I have a very important question that I need you to answer honestly for me, okay?”

>Arlo nodded meekly, anxious at the sudden change of mood, “O-okay.”

“Do you know what a quirk is?”

“Uh…” Arlo’s eyes darted between the adults nervously, landing on Tsuragamae before returning to Aizawa’s piercing stare.

“Well, I know the definition of the word ‘quirk’, but in this uh—” he gestured to Tsuragamae, “—context, I don’t believe I’m familiar with the term?”

Arlo averted his eyes, nervously rubbing his neck as the adults stared at him in disbelief. Tsukauchi was the first to break the silence.

“…He’s not lying.”

This kid genuinely didn’t know what a quirk is.

Arlo thought about it.

And thought about it.

And yet none of it made sense.

Sure, it was ‘possible’ to change a person’s anatomy with magic and make them look like animals. The thing was, it was not only super illegal, but it was also super dangerous.

So, he had stared, unabashedly, trying to figure out why a dog that looked like a cop was standing before him.

And then the dog introduced himself as the chief of police, which just complicated things more, because why would the chief of police be part of a practice of illegal magic? Unless it was forced upon him which was entirely possible considering what Frederick’s experienced and—Did he just say “ruff?"

…Okay. He was definitely dreaming.

Because if he wasn’t then either this person, Tsuragamae, was super into his role as a dog or he was fused with a dog. And if changing a living thing’s anatomy was super dangerous and illegal, then fusing two living things was straight up inhumane and a warrant for life in prison. That was how werewolves were made.

The only logical explanation was that he was dreaming.

Except he wasn’t if the hard pinch he gave himself was anything to go from.

When Tsuragamae explained that his appearance was part of his quirk, it only confused Arlo further.

Sure, he may have not been all that well versed in Japan’s laws so it’s possible that they had released a new law recently legalizing the practice of magic fusing, even though he thinks he would have heard of it anyways ‘cause that’s a big thing to just legalize, but he’d never heard anyone use the term “quirk” in this context.

And then they told him he was in Musutafu, a city in Japan that he had also never heard of.

As he expressed his confusion, the adults started to get confused as well. That’s when the weirdly dressed man asked him in a low, almost bored, but serious voice, “Do you know what a quirk is?”

Arlo answered honestly.

But he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing, because then all the adults were staring at him openly, clearly shocked, until the detective said in disbelief, “He’s not lying.”

Arlo looked away, a little embarrassed from all the staring. He peeked at the black-haired man from under his bangs. The man wore black, baggy clothes, his hair was long and unruly, and he wore some type of white cloth around his neck. He’d say it was a scarf, but it was the beginning of July, and it was way too thin to bring any warmth. But then again, his clothes looked warm too, and he seemed to have an abundance of the cloth, so maybe he was wrong. He also had an eyepatch, one that reminded him of the one Youko made for Nikolaus.

All in all, the man didn’t look like a cop. Arlo was about to ask who he was when a voice interrupted him.

“Well, isn’t this an interesting development? A child without knowledge of quirks, in this day and age!”

Arlo faced the adults fully again trying to place where the voice came from. It sounded like it came from the man, but it was way too high pitched.

“Wha—” He was about to ask, when a small creature popped out of the man’s scarf.

“Good evening! I am principal Nedzu of—"

“HAHHH?!”

Arlo jumped back, almost falling over the edge of the bed, which he would have if it wasn’t for the white cloth that suddenly wrapped around him. He stared in slight shock as the man maneuvered the cloth with expert ability, his hair then blown from his face, giving Arlo a clear view of his scars, and his one eye glowing red.

“Aizawa!” Oh, so that’s his name, “Be careful with the patient. He’s still injured! And you—”

Recovery Girl pointed her cane at Arlo, “—What did I say about injuring yourself?”

Arlo waved his hands placatingly as he situated himself back on the bed, “Sorry! I didn’t mean to this time! And…” he rubbed his neck, embarrassed, “I’m sorry for screaming too. I was just… surprised.”

Understatement of the year.

“No, no, it’s my fault for frightening you.” Nedzu jumped off Aizawa’s shoulder and landed on a chair beside Arlo’s bed, “Let’s start over! I am the Principal Nedzu of UA high school!”

Arlo reached over and hesitantly shook Nedzu’s paw, “Arlo Keen.” He tilted his head in confusion, “Why is the principal of a high school here?”

“You and your friends fell in UA’s dorm building. It’s only natural that we’d come and take the case!”

Take the case? What kind of school took an official police case?

“We?” Arlo said instead, turning his head to look at Aizawa.

“That’s right! This is Aizawa Shouta, pro hero, and homeroom teacher at UA high school.” Nedzu relayed cheerfully.

Arlo’s brow furrowed in confusion, “Pro hero? What’s that?”

The adults shared glances among each other, “Professional hero. As in, I was professionally trained and hired to be a hero,” answered Aizawa.

Arlo tilted his head thoughtfully, “Hero? As in, the police?”

“Not quite.” Tsuragamae answered this time, “On the field, the police force is not allowed to use their quirks before, during, or after fighting a villain, or criminals in general, unless explicitly ordered to. Heroes, or other individuals such as Recovery Girl, are permitted to use their quirks as a part of their job. Heroes specifically, are permitted to use their quirks to fight villains or rescue civilians.”

“I see…” Arlo placed his hand on his chin thoughtfully, “And, this is little late but, what exactly are quirks?”

Tsuragamae shared a look with Tsukauchi before stepping back. In turn, Tsukauchi stepped forward, apparently taking the reins.

“Before that, I need to ask you some more questions, okay?”

“Oh, okay.” Arlo straightened, a little disappointed he wasn’t being given answers at that moment but he didn’t complain and prepared himself to answer any questions.

“Based on your accent and appearance, I can assume you’re not from Japan?”

“Yeah! I’m from the UK. My class went to Kyoto for a school trip, which is where I’m supposed to be.”

“Do you remember the events that led to you blacking out?”

“Uh… Yeah, but it’s a little fuzzy.”

Tsukauchi nodded in understanding and gave him a kind smile, “Can you relay them for us?”

Arlo returned his smile, “I’ll try my best.”

If Arlo was being honest, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to recall the events all that well. The hit he took was hard", but he said he’d try, so try he would.

They had just arrived in Kyoto the day earlier. Everyone woke up early so they could frolic and look around as much as they could without falling behind schedule. The teachers took them to the National Museum of Modern Art and he remembered being amazed by the paintings. Early on, Arlo and his group, Elena and Nikolaus, broke off from the rest of the class to do some of their own exploring. At some point, they realized it was around the time the teachers made the class agree to meet back up for lunch, so they hurried to the meeting point.

They didn’t see how empty the museum had gotten.

They didn’t see the attack coming.

Not until Nikolaus had blood pouring from his head, knees buckled and leaning on the wall for support.

Two figures emerged from hiding then, both wearing a black hoodie, pants, a mask, and sunglasses. One was holding a knife while the other appeared unarmed. The one with the knife, a girl based on her voice, said their names as if asking if they had the right people. Elena responded aggressively, asking why they attacked if they weren’t even sure they had the right people.

The girl lunged for Elena without answering while the other lunged for Arlo and Nikolaus. While the latter straightened himself out, Arlo blocked the punch the person sent him and punched their stomach in a counterattack. The person stumbled back, clutching his gut before lifting his head and abruptly brought his arms out in front of him, moving his hands in such a way that made it seem like he was manipulating something invisible.

Arlo was confused before realizing he was being lifted off the ground.

Nikolaus tried to grab at him but was too slow and Arlo was slammed against the ceiling before he was dropped back to the floor, effectively knocking him out.

Aizawa groaned tiredly as he leaned back in the guest chair of Tsukauchi’s office. For the past six hours, the two of them had been going over the evidence, and for six hours they hadn’t come up with any other conclusions than “something is up with these kids.”

He was only made aware that it was past midnight when Yamada had informed Aizawa that his students were all in bed by then. He would have been there to check himself but he needed to go over this mess of a case at least one more time before returning to the school.

Except it had been six hours and there was still little to zero progress.

Aizawa stared at the file before him with frustrated contempt. Tsukauchi had put together three files, one for each kid, of everything they knew about them. Which extended from their ID to their race and practically nothing else.

“Their school?” Aizawa asked in tired repetition.

“Checked the UK and the surrounding countries. There’s no record of there being or ever being a Kuran Private High School.” Tsukauchi calmly responded.

“Their family?”

“No clue. The only one that has contacts labeled as her parents in her phone is Elena Bell and contacting them has come up fruitless.”

“Are the phones still not working?”

“That, and we tried using a quirk to find any blood relatives of theirs. The quirk allowed the owner, if given some DNA, to track down the source. If she focuses, she could even track down close relatives. However, it has a range, so we sent her to Europe yesterday, and then instructed her earlier today to go to the UK.” Tsukauchi sighed, “No luck so far.”

Aizawa hummed as he narrowed his eyes, “What about citizenship? Wouldn’t that narrow the search even more?”

Tsukauchi shook his head, “No luck on that one either. If it wasn’t for the fact we just saw them in the hospital, I would have assumed they didn’t exist.”

A lot of things didn’t seem to “exist” at that moment.

Aizawa scanned Elena’s file repeatedly. It had her birthdate, blood type, race, social security number, and a full report on her injuries. Speaking of…

“It says here that Bell needed a blood transfer.”

“Yeah. Recovery Girl couldn’t heal her much because her energy was practically drained, so they needed to do everything manually. They were worried they wouldn’t be able to save her because her blood type is on the rarer side, but they managed.”

All of her energy was drained? That was odd. Aizawa scanned the file until he found the column labeled “blood type” and noted that Elena’s was type B.

Blood type B was fairly rare, so it was good they were able to manage. If he recalled, some of his students had blood type B as well. If all else failed, they could have called them in, even if they weren't a registered blood transfer; but it probably would have been too late anyways.

His attention moved from her blood type to her birth date. For some reason, he had a feeling he’d seen it before. It was in the middle of the holidays, so it was the kind that was hard to forget. But then again, he never cared to remember people’s birthdays.

Aizawa picked up the other files and scanned the other two’s birthdays. Yeah, he definitely recognized their birthdates, but from where? It was like he learned them from somewhere but didn’t deem it important and let it slip his mind in favor of something else.

Then it hit him.

Her blood type was B.

And her birthday was—

No. No, it didn’t make any sense; they weren’t even the same race! But the way Arlo talked… It was as if he was from a completely different world.

Before Aizawa could voice his concerns, Tsukauchi’s phone rang.

“It’s Recovery Girl,” he told Aizawa before he answered and turned slightly away.

“Detective Tsukauchi. Oh, don’t worry about it, I was up anyway. …I know, I know. …Really? Is he—Ah, that’s good. So, we can talk to him tomorrow? Okay. …Lunch? I’ll ask him.”

Tsukauchi turned to Aizawa, “Nikolaus Brandt woke up. Are you okay with meeting up with him tomorrow in the afternoon? I know you have class in the morning—”

Aizawa sighed tiredly; looked like another questioning was in store, “I’ll have to find a substitute, but I should be able to make it.”

Tsukauchi gave him a grateful nod, “Thank you.” He said before returning to his call, “Around lunch is good. Yes. Don’t worry, I will. Goodnight.”

He ended the call and turned back to his desk.

“Sorry you’ll have to miss your class, but we want to get the questioning done as soon as possible. This case was already strange, but it seems to be getting weirder the longer we wait.” Tsukauchi said with an apologetic smile.

Aizawa gave him an understanding nod, “Don’t worry about it, I could use the extra sleep anyways.”

Aizawa looked back down at the files and grimaced.

Well, that’s only if he’d have the time to get to sleep in the first place.

For the second questioning, principal Nedzu didn’t come along. Understandable, considering that he was the principal of a school and had a lot more to do than interrogate a teenager. However, it seemed that someone else was going to take his place.

As Aizawa approached the hospital room, he noticed Yamada standing outside it. Aizawa eyed him curiously.

“I thought you were kicked out.”

Yamada snapped his head up from the spot on the ground he was staring at with undying boredom and beamed.

“Eraserhead!” Yamada seemed to have had the foresight to not activate his quirk in the hospital; Recovery Girl probably had to beat it into him. “I thought I was gonna die of boredom.”

Aizawa rolled his eyes, “don’t be so dramatic. And you didn’t answer me.”

“I suppose ‘kicked out’ was an exaggeration.” Aizawa turned to see Recovery Girl walking up to them, “I actually just sent him away to watch over this room instead.”

Aizawa raised an eyebrow in mirth, “And I assume you’re the one who got him to be quieter?”

“Hey! She whacked me with her cane at least ten times,” Yamada responded pitifully.

“I wouldn’t have to if you stopped yelling! We’re in a hospital for goodness’ sake!” Recovery Girl scolded as she whacked him once on the head. Aizawa sighed and shook his head tiredly.

“Let’s just get this over with already. It’s past noon and I’m already tired.”

“Gotcha Eraser!” Yamada mock saluted him, “I’ll see if the patient is done with his lunch!”

Yamada turned and barged into the room, loudly announcing his presence, “Yo—"

Suddenly, a plastic food tray flew out of the room, hitting Yamada square in the head.

‘You’d think a pro hero could dodge that...’ Aizawa thought as he stalked into the room behind Yamada, who was crouched on the ground in pain. He sighed, feeling as though the bags under his eyes were growing heavier.

Aizawa stepped around Yamada, who was still frozen in shock, to see Nikolaus who was kneeling on his bed in a semi-defensive stance. In contrast to Arlo, who was completely English, Nikolaus looked to be mainly Japanese in terms of appearance; despite his German name. His right arm was in a sling and his left arm was outstretched slightly, clearly the one he used to throw the plastic tray. A bandage was wrapped around his head and when they met eyes, Aizawa couldn’t help but notice the large scar stretched over his right eye.

“You’re awake,” Aizawa stated.

The boy scanned him scrutinizingly. “And you’re not a cop.”

Aizawa raised an eyebrow inquisitively. Something about his tone reminded him of someone, though he couldn’t quite name who…

“He isn’t, but there’s nothing to worry about,” Tsukauchi said as he stepped into the room with Tsuragamae and Recovery Girl. “He may not look like it, but he’s here to help with the investigation.”

Nikolaus glanced at the detective as he settled back in his bed.

“I’m Detective Tsukauchi,” He gave the boy a small smile and bowed in greeting. Nikolaus nodded in acknowledgment but didn’t say anything before he looked over to Tsuragamae.

His eyebrows drew together in confusion slightly as he took in the dog-man's appearance. It wasn’t until Nikolaus’s eyes flicked to Tsuragamae’s did he speak.

“I am Tsuragamae Kenji, the police chief! It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Nikolaus’s eyes widened slightly, clearly in shock. The police chief bowed in greeting as well, but this time, Nikolaus didn’t nod. He simply turned away from them and slapped himself across the face.

“SMACK!”

The adults flinched, surprised both by how loud it was and the fact he did it in the first place.

Immediately, Nikolaus pressed a hand, the same one he used to slap himself, to his cheek and made a pained face.

“Ooww, that actually hurt. Dammit.”

“Of course it hurts! What were you expecting?” Recovery Girl reprimanded as she approached Nikolaus. “I swear, kids these days. Getting themselves nearly killed and then hurting themselves even more!”

Nikolaus glowered softly but didn't say anything as Recovery Girl inspected his then red and swelling cheek.

Realizing this conversation would most likely go like the one with Arlo, Tsukauchi stepped forward, “We would like to ask you a few questions regarding what happened to you and your friends a couple days ago. Is that okay?”

Nikolaus’s eyes flitted to Tsuragamae for a split second before landing on Tsukauchi.

“Sure.”

Tsukauchi smiled warmly and took out his notepad, all the while Recovery Girl sprayed ointment on Nikolaus’s cheek.

“Okay, first off, how much do you remember?”

Nikolaus tilted his head and furrowed his brow in thought, “Hmm, all of it? I mean, I got hit in the head, so the beginning’s a little blurry, but pretty much everything.”

Tsukauchi nodded, “Good, so could you tell me what happened right after you were hit?”

Nikolaus nodded and began telling his story.

When the object, most likely a large rock, hit his head, it took him a moment to process what had happened. He could tell something hit him, but the shock was great enough that he couldn’t feel it right away. Nikolaus’s knees buckled as he stumbled into the wall. Elena and Arlo shouted in alarm but froze when something else caught their attention; Nikolaus was too distracted by the blood coming out of his head to notice.

(Tsukauchi asked if the cut was deep, but Nikolaus simply shook his head and said, “Head wounds bleed a lot.”)

An unfamiliar voice said something, to which Elena yelled something back. To this, Nikolaus turned his head and saw two figures standing before them, dressed in black hoodies, masks, and glasses, most likely to conceal their identity. Suddenly, the shorter one, who apparently had a knife, lunged at Elena, who easily defended herself with magic.

Nikolaus stood, bracing himself against the wall, as the other lunged at him and Arlo. His form was weak, so Arlo was able to dodge and counterattack with ease. However, when the attacker stumbled back, he lifted his arms and moved them in a way that seemed like he was manipulating something. As Arlo watched in confusion, Nikolaus stepped forward to join him and he saw Arlo floating up slightly. When he realized what was happening, Nikolaus lunged forward to grab Arlo, but was too late as he was abruptly shot up. His back hit the ceiling with a concerning “crack”, and his body fell to the floor limply.

In a panic, Nikolaus kneeled on the ground next to Arlo and began to check his wounds. Arlo’s head was bleeding and his breathing was becoming irregular. He needed medical attention.

“One down, two to go,” said a male voice.

Nikolaus looked up and glared at their attacker, who then crouched in an offensive stance, ready to attack again. Nikolaus stood up and took a defensive stance in front of Arlo.

He glanced at Elena for a moment. She was still fighting the one with the knife and he wondered briefly why she didn’t just use her magic to take the attacker out.

He looked away just in time to dodge a burning projectile their attacker had sent his way. He must have used some sort of fire magic.

Nikolaus kept his distance, dodging what appeared to be blades made of fire left and right. It wasn’t too hard, considering the attacker’s aim was a bit off, but he was still wary, knowing that the fire blades could produce some nasty injuries.

Eventually Nikolaus decided he had enough and ran up to the man. Based on what he saw with Arlo, the other wasn’t that good at close combat, hence why he was trying to take him out with long range projectiles.

The attacker was surprised at the sudden change and reared his arm back to send another fire blade but Nikolaus ducked below to set his aim off. He then reappeared in front of the attacker and sent a punch straight to his jaw.

The man stumbled back, allowing Nikolaus to grab the front of his hoodie and roughly pull him forward as he kicked him in the stomach. The attacker let out a pained yell as Nikolaus grabbed his arm, twisted it, pulled it behind his back, and used it to throw him to the ground.

The attacker’s face was pressed into the ground as Nikolaus pressed one knee into his back. He was still holding his arm, which was twisted and pulled back.

“Why did you attack us? Are there more of you?”

The attacker glared at him and attempted to use fire magic on the arm Nikolaus had a hold of. However, he saw it coming and simply pulled on the other’s arm, causing the guy to exclaim in pain and pause his magic immediately.

“I don’t think so.” Nikolaus pressed his knee hard into the guy’s back further, causing him to grunt, “Answer my question or I’ll break your arm.”

The attacker opened his mouth, about to say something, when a knife flew past Nikolaus, barely grazing his cheek.

Nikolaus swiveled his head and saw Elena angrily attacking the other one with fire. He then felt the one under him shift and he realized he had loosened his grip on him.

The man yanked his arm away, twisted his body, and used his other arm to send some fire in Nikolaus’s face. The attack was weak, it barely made a mark, but it was enough for Nikolaus to jump off of him in alarm.

As soon as Nikolaus released him the attacker got to his feet; not before grabbing the knife, which had landed within reach.

Now that his attacker had a weapon, Nikolaus knew he had to keep his distance. He knew how to disarm someone with a knife but that didn’t mean he could just charge up to him.

The attacker lunged forward, with his knife ready for attack. Just as Nikolaus was about to parry, his body froze. In a panic he tried to figure out the reason why and noticed that the attacker’s free hand was in a fist.

Before he could analyze it further, the attacker stabbed him in the side and pushed him to the ground. As his back hit the ground, Nikolaus let out a pained grunt through clenched teeth.

The attacker straddled him and Nikolaus attempted to throw him off, only to then realize he was still frozen. He surmised that his attacker must have been using puppet magic to manipulate his body.

The attacker grabbed the knife that was still lodged in his side and plunged it deeper. Being unable to move, he couldn’t do much to react to the pain than close his eyes and clench his teeth harder as he tried not to scream.

Nikolaus was panting from pain by the time the other stopped moving the knife. He opened his eyes and glared at the attacker, who didn’t seem to react, not that Nikolaus could tell much when his face was covered. However, he did unclench his fist and Nikolaus felt control return to his body. The relief only lasted a second though as the attacker then flicked his wrist and Nikolaus’s arm twisted back, lifting his shoulder in a weird angle.

“Now, I have some questions I want you to answer,” the attacker began closing his fist again, “or I’ll break your arm.”

He closed his fist and Nikolaus’s arm snapped; his elbow bending the opposite direction. Nikolaus screamed in pain before clenching his teeth again. He opened his eyes, having closed them before and sent another teary glare in his attacker’s direction. Absently, he registered Elena yelling his name in alarm.

“Do you know someone named Ethan Wright?”

Nikolaus blinked, before confusion settled on his face. “What?”

“Ethan Wright. Do you know him?” The attacker repeated.

“Why do you want to know? Who’s asking?” Nikolaus demanded, glaring at him. Even if he didn’t know, he wasn’t about to answer this guy unless he knew the risks.

The attacker twisted his fist, crushing Nikolaus’s arm a bit more, “I don’t have to answer you. Now, I was informed you were friends with Ethan Wright. I’m here to see if that’s true.”

Nikolaus scoffed, though the sound came out sounding more like a gasp, “A little overdoing it, aren’t you? A simple talk over lunch would have been just fine.”

The attacker glared, or at least he assumed so based on his tone, “Don’t patronize me, you—"

He was then cut off by a boulder hitting him in the head, knocking him off Nikolaus.

He turned to his side, the one without a broken arm and knife, and moved away as he attempted to stand up. Elena came to his side and helped him.

“I’m sorry I took so long. Are you okay?” Elena asked as she held his good arm to help stabilize him.

“I’m fine.” He said painfully, “What about you? You’re bleeding a lot there.”

He scanned her body and saw many cuts and gashes on her arms and legs. They must not have been too bad, since she’s moving with only a slight limp.

“These didn’t take as much out of me as my magic did,” she said simply.

The attacker she just hit with a boulder groaned and sat up. When he faced them, they noticed that the attack must have knocked his glasses off because they could clearly see golden eyes glaring at them now.

“I’ll get you for that you little bitch—”

Elena sent him a furious glare and let go of Nikolaus to send a wave of water at the man, only to freeze it once it hit him.

“How dare you refer to a young lady that way!” she huffed once she was done.

‘At least she didn’t freeze his head,’ Nikolaus noted absently as the man yelled at her to release him.

Elena stumbled a bit and Nikolaus reached out for her.

“I-I think I overdid it…” Elena panted as she held her head. She leaned on him for a second before she straightened up and scanned Nikolaus’s wounds. “How are your injuries?”

“They’re…” He looked down at his injuries. His arm was broken, hanging limply at his side and the knife wound was still bleeding. However, he had a feeling that pulling it out would make it worse, so he left it alone.

“I’ll manage,” he said simply. Elena gave him a look and was about to say something when Nikolaus decided to divert their attention somewhere else.

“Arlo is in a worse condition than me.”

Elena’s eyes widened as she swiveled her head around, looking for Arlo. “He took a bad hit earlier, didn’t he? How is he?”

When she spotted him, they both limped their way over and knelt beside him. Nikolaus checked his pulse and breathing; the former was slow and his breathing was ragged and low.

“I’ll call the police. We can’t do much for him now, but we can stop the bleeding from his head at the very least,” Nikolaus decided.

Elena was silent as Nikolaus pulled out his phone, which had cracked a little, and started calling the police.

“I-I think I can heal him,” Elena said after a moment.

>Surprised by the unexpected statement, he promptly turned his attention back to her and eyed her in confusion. “You can heal?”

Elena nodded, “My mother taught me. It drains a lot of my energy though.”

Suddenly a loud noise came from the attacker encased in ice, causing them both to flinch.

Nikolaus eyed the male attacker warily, before turning back to his companion. They needed to take care of Arlo first.

“Are you sure? You seem pretty tired already,” he asked, feeling weary and worried.

“I’m sure.” Elena nodded in finality and carefully set her hands on Arlo’s back. A light emanated from her hands, and, after a moment, Nikolaus could see Arlo’s breathing evening out.

Nikolaus was so distracted by her healing that he forgot to call the police for a moment and even dropped the phone to keep Elora upright when she started tipping from exhaustion.

“He… should be… better…” She said in between pants; her magic had taken more out of her than she seemed to have expected. She fell sideways and Nikolaus found that it’s really hard to hold someone with one arm, even if they’re sitting.

As he laid her down beside Arlo, her face seemingly going paler by the second, he deduced that she must have used up too much of her energy. Then he saw blood trickling under her and he paused.

Ah.

She’d been losing blood the entire time.

Hurriedly, he flipped her over and clearly saw the large cut on her back that he somehow missed earlier; probably too busy with other things to notice. He cursed as he attempted to stop the bleeding but then he realized that he didn’t have anything to wrap it up, much less to disinfect it with or any of the other basic medical procedures one would do in medical emergencies.

After the bleeding slowed significantly, he remembered that Arlo had brought a small first aid kit in his bag, so Nikolaus stood up to go get it.

Or, at least he attempted to as he simply fell back on his knees the second he tried.

Nikolaus clutched his side, the pain from the knife more noticeable the more he moved. He tried to ignore it earlier, he’s used to masking pain with a neutral face, but he couldn’t say the same for the rest of his body.

Just as he was about to try standing again, a loud crack came from behind him, and he realized it was the sound of ice breaking.

The same ice Elena had encased their attacker with.

He turned to see the attacker breaking away the ice, all the while shivering. When he turned to the three teenagers, he had a furious glare on his face and if his mask was down Nikolaus probably would have seen him snarling as well.

“Since you refuse to answer our questions…” The attacker started, turning his shivering body toward Nikolaus menacingly, “I suppose we have no use of you anymore.”

Nikolaus narrowed his eyes. His heart raced in anticipation as he propped himself up with one knee on the ground. He grabbed the handle of the knife in his side, ignoring the pain, and decided to stab the attacker once he got close enough.

That, however, never happened.

The man had just started to lunge at him when a strong wind had picked up, causing him to pause because…

…Well, because wind doesn’t exactly blow indoors.

The wind blew harder, swirling around the three teenagers. Forgetting all about the attacker, Nikolaus knelt beside the other two. He grabbed Elena, holding her close, all the while keeping an eye on Arlo. As the wind blew harder and lightning formed, a light started to glow all around them. Nikolaus shut his eyes as the light grew bright and the wind continued to swirl harshly around them. Suddenly, he was falling and all he could do was hold Elena closer as he blacked out.

“I must have blacked out at some point.” Nikolaus said as he finished his recollection, “When I woke up, I was in an unfamiliar room and some strange looking people were staring at me."

“Strange looking?” The black-haired scraggly looking man with the scarf asked.

“Well…” Nikolaus tilted his head in thought, “I really only got a good look at one of them. Maybe two. The one I remember the most clearly had gaudy red hair, and it was styled in an… absurd way.” Nikolaus used his good hand to make motions around his head with a slight grimace, as if to demonstrate the spiky hairdo, “He also had spiky teeth.”

The man in black nodded thoughtfully.

Nikolaus looked him over curiously with a raised eyebrow. He was told that this man was here to help with the investigation, but he was never really told who he was.

“Who exactly are you?” Nikolaus asked. The question was sudden, but blunt and emotionless. When the man met his eyes, he seemed to think for a moment, as if he was choosing his words carefully.

“I am Aizawa Shota. My alias is Eraserhead. I’m a Pro Hero.” He stated, matter of fact.

Nikolaus stared at him for a moment. A Pro Hero?

“What in the world is a pro hero?” he asked in confusion.

“Well, it depends on the type of hero, but generally our job is to protect innocents from villains.” Aizawa stated again.

At this, Nikolaus furrowed his brow in confusion. At first, he just thought this man was part of the police force and “Pro Hero” was just a misleading title. But now, he’s talking about protecting civilians from villains? It’s almost like he’s—

“So… you’re like a superhero?” Nikolaus cringed slightly at the childish take on Aizawa’s explanation, but he couldn’t think of anything else that matched.

Aizawa shared a look with Yamada before turning back to Nikolaus, “We’re more commonly known as just ‘heroes’ but basically, yeah.”

“We’re not vigilantes though.” Yamada cut in with a grin. Oh, so the blonde one’s a hero too?

Nikolaus nodded in understanding despite not really feeling like he understood. They’re like superheroes except they’re not vigilantes, which means they were professionally employed and work inside the law. Which lines up with the title “Pro Hero”, implying they were professionally trained as well. Which also means being a literal “hero” is a professional occupation here.

Which, okay, that’s all fine and swell, except for the fact that he’d never heard of such an occupation. And while that would explain their weird attire, it wouldn’t explain any other abnormalities, such as the dog-like police chief. Last time he checked, transformation magic practiced on humans was illegal.

At that moment, Tsukauchi took the pause to ask another question, “In your recollection, you mentioned your attacker and friend using ‘magic’ multiple times.” Nikolaus nodded, not sure where this was going.

“Can you elaborate on what you meant by ‘magic’?”

Nikolaus looked at the detective as if he was stupid, which he was seriously considering to be a possibility, but then he looked around the room and saw the same expectant eyes on everybody else's faces. He turned his attention back on the detective and wracked his brain for the best definition of magic.

“Magic is an energy that exists in the air around us, though it’s impossible for pure non-witches to tell. Witches and some Impures are able to use it through a mutation genetically passed down from their parents.” Nikolaus answered, reciting from a textbook on magic he’d read once in the school library.

“This is common knowledge.” he stated as if it’s a fact, which it was. He watched their reactions carefully.

Ignoring the added statement, Tsukauchi moved on, “What do you mean by ‘witches’ and ‘impures’?”

Nikolaus blinked before furrowing his brow in thought, “Witches are people who are able to absorb the magic from the air and use it to their will, with some exceptions of course. Impures are just people who have both witch and non-witch blood, though only about half of them can use magic.” Suddenly switching gears, he glared at them suspiciously, “Why are you asking me this? What does it have to do with the investigation?”

A bit put off by the change of tone, Tsukauchi smiled placatingly and opened his mouth to most likely divert his attention, but Nikolaus wouldn’t give him the chance to.

“You know something I don’t. You know I have questions and you know what they are, but you’re purposefully diverting my attention to something else to keep me from asking them. Why?” Nikolaus’s tone was more demanding at this point, but he knew they couldn’t prolong answering him.

After giving him a considering look for a moment, Aizawa sighed, “That’s a fair question. You’re probably even more confused than we are.” Nikolaus raised an eyebrow, annoyed at the continuous beating around the bush, but patiently waited anyway.

“Have you ever heard of quirks?” Aizawa started off, catching Nikolaus off guard. He’s asking if he’s heard of quirks? As in, unique behavioral habits?

“I know the definition of the word. Why?” he asked with the tilt of his head.

Aizawa went on and explained how quirks are unique abilities that over 80% of the population of the Earth had. He explained that heroes were formed to protect innocents from those that abuse their quirks, who were called villains. Tsuragamae jumped in at some point and explained how heroes are different from the police force, who were not allowed to use quirks. Aizawa then explained how magic isn’t a thing; How quirks are unique for every person and work very differently than what Nikolaus described. He also said it all just sounded like a fantasy cooked up by some Potterhead.

Nikolaus glared indignantly at the last comment but didn’t voice his protests.

“So basically, it seems I’m from another world?” he asked blankly.

The adult’s eyes widened in surprise, even though they were thinking the same thing. Aizawa is the only one who seemed to expect this conclusion.

“Well…” Tsuragamae started, a little apprehensive but hiding it well, “From both yours and Keen’s recollections, it certainly sounds like it, but without concrete evidence, we can’t determine anything at this time.”

“But it’s not impossible. I mean, both our worlds, or dimensions, maybe? Both of them contain people with powers, some of them with really powerful powers.” Nikolaus concluded with a furrow in his brow.

They were silent for a moment, unable to answer to the implications of possibly being from another world. Nikolaus felt as if he was getting a headache as he thought about his situation. Eventually he decided that overthinking it wasn’t going to get him anywhere and thought of Occam’s Razor Theory to clear his mind, ‘Simpler theories are easier to verify…’

He’s in another world. Possibly. Well, it would certainly explain the dog chief.

And he should have honestly probably been a lot more worried, maybe even a little panicked, but at that moment, he couldn’t bring himself to do anything beyond accepting the possibility and the fact that if it was true…

‘...then we are monumentally fucked.’ he concluded, passively. He wondered how the others were doing, or what they thought about their predicament.

“Do you have any idea as to why your attackers targeted you?” Tsukauchi asked, moving the interrogation forward.

“Other than the fact that they wanted to know about Ethan, no clue.” Nikolaus said with the shake of his head.

Tsukauchi nodded, “You’ve mentioned him in your recollection. Do you know him?”

“He’s a friend.” Nikolaus furrowed his brow in thought before adding, “Of a sort. Me, Arlo, and another friend of ours lived with him for a couple of years in an orphanage.”

Tsukauchi nodded again, writing down the new information in a notepad. Nikolaus considered clarifying that he’s not an orphan, but decided not to, not wanting to bring light to another implication.

“Well, I think that’s all of the questions we have for you at this time.” Tsukauchi smiled kindly. Nikolaus simply responded with a “’kay” and a nod in acknowledgment.

Tsukauchi and Tsuragamae said their goodbyes and made their way to the door, Aizawa following close behind. Tsukauchi made a surprised sound when he opened the door.

“Keen? What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in bed?”

Nikolaus perked up at his friend’s last name. He hadn’t heard any news about him other than that he was awake, and despite having woken up later, he was honestly still a little worried.

“Detective! Y-yeah, I suppose I am, but I heard Nikolaus was awake, and I wanted to see him, and I know I’m still injured, but I thought ‘well, it can’t be that bad, right?’—”

“Boy, if you’re overexerting yourself—” Recovery Girl warned, a hard look on her face.

“I’m not, I’m not, I promise!” Arlo responded immediately, rubbing the back of his neck, “Anyways, I just wanted to see Nikolaus, but I saw you were talking with him, so I thought I’d just wait outside…” Arlo trailed off, “Sorry, should I go back?” he asked, smiling sheepishly.

Tsukauchi smiled reassuringly, “No, no it’s fine. We were just leaving anyway.” He turned to Aizawa, who nodded.

“Before we go though, I’d like to speak to you, Recovery Girl.” Aizawa stayed to which Recovery Girl nodded and started following the rest of the adults out of the room, including Yamada.

Recovery Girl fixed Arlo with a stern glare, “Don’t cause any trouble, young man.”

Arlo smiled at her, “Don’t worry, I won’t!”

As Arlo walked past them and into the room, Aizawa called out before the door closed, “That goes for you too, Problem Child."

Nikolaus blinked at him, “’Kay? Wait, what did you just call me—”

The door closed before his question was finished.

Before Nikolaus could think about it any longer, Arlo enveloped him in a big hug, “Nikolaus! Man, I was so worried!”

Nikolaus attempted to push him off, but his efforts proved fruitless as the other only hugged him more.

“Yeah, well I’m clearly alive, so can you stop hugging me? You’re on my broken arm!”

Arlo pulled away and took a good look at Nikolaus, “Wow, you’re right. You look terrible.”

“Thank you for your sympathies.” the other said dryly.

Arlo laughed good-naturedly before backing away and sitting on the edge of the bed. They sat there in silence for a while, neither wanting to break the peaceful silence, but the questions brewing in their heads kept them from truly appreciating it.

Nikolaus was the first to break the silence, “How much did you hear?”

Arlo smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck, “Almost all of it. I arrived when they were introducing themselves.” Arlo’s smile turned teasing, and a playful tone filled his voice, “I also heard this really loud slap. Any idea what happened?”

Nikolaus rolled his eyes fondly, “Oh, shut up. I thought I was dreaming.”

Arlo laughed, “I did too, honestly. Except I settled for just pinching myself instead of slapping myself as hard as I could.”

“In my defense, dreams can trick your mind into feeling things such as pain, so if I’m gonna use pain to check. . .”

Arlo just chuckled and shook his head, “You’re a lot, you know that?”

Nikolaus huffed, “Like you’re any different. Remember when Youko dared you to jump off that indoor balcony back at the orphanage?”

Arlo scoffed playfully, “Ah, ah, ah! Like she hadn’t also dared you to backflip off of said balcony and you also complied without a second thought!”

Nikolaus rolled his eyes, “At least I didn’t end up with a dislocated shoulder.”

“How were we supposed to know the couch wasn’t cushy enough to be a proper landing pad?”

“With observational skills?”

The two stared at each other for a moment before they burst out laughing.

“H-hey,” Arlo started through his laughter, “do you think we really entered another world?”

Nikolaus calmed himself down and thought about it, “Well, it sounds like a really crazy theory at first glance but considering how different things are…?”

Arlo nodded mutely, not needing Nikolaus to finish his sentence to know the implications. They sat in silence once again before Arlo’s face lit up with another question.

“Hey, earlier that guy in black, Aizawa I think, called you ‘problem child’. What’s up with that?”

Nikolaus tilted his head in thought. Good question. What was up that?

“I’m not sure…” he trailed off, recalling how he had a strange feeling when talking to Aizawa, as if he knew him, “Actually, now that I think about it, doesn’t he remind you of someone?”

“Remind me of someone…?” Arlo trailed off, thinking deeply, “Hmm, I guess he does give off that same stern, no funny business vibe as Warden, but his uh, fashion… choices are a lot more, uh…”

“You can say ‘poor’, or ‘unkempt’, or even ‘abhorrent’—”

“Okay, you don’t have to list every adjective to describe his bad fashion sense.” Arlo cut off with a look, “And yeah, I guess he does kind of remind me of Warden, but they’re a little too different in other ways, don’t cha think?”

Nikolaus nodded, “True.”

With that, the pair spent the rest of the afternoon conversing about random things, all the while the same question lingered in Nikolaus’s head.

Where do I know Aizawa from?

It wasn’t until he had closed the door that he processed what he’d just said.

The only reason he could think of as to why he’d called a teenager he’d just met “problem child” was that it was instinctual. That, and the fact said teenager slapped himself, threatened to break a man’s arm, and reminded him quite a bit of someone who’s probably the literal definition of a “problem child”.

“What did you want to speak to me about?” Recovery Girl asked once they were a good few feet away from the room.

Aizawa and Recovery Girl were walking in step with each other while Tsuragamae and Tsukauchi were walking ahead of them. Yamada had stayed outside Nikolaus’s hospital room.

“Could you get a DNA sample from each of the kids?” he asked.

Recover Girl turned to him suspiciously, “What do you need them for?”

“There’s something I need to check.”

Recovery Girl sighed, “Since I trust you wouldn’t do something unethical, I’ll get them for you. But I’d prefer it if you’d tell me why.”

Aizawa sighed but nodded, “I want you to compare them to the DNA of three other people. I’ll call you later and tell you who."

At that point, they’d already arrived at the hospital lobby, where Tsuragamae and Tsukauchi were waiting for them.

“I need to get back to UA and look at some files. I’ll come by the police station later to continue with the investigation.” Aizawa told the two cops, ‘I should also get All Might’s report on homeroom.’ he thought idly.

Tsukauchi nodded and Aizawa left the hospital.

Back at UA in the teacher’s office, Aizawa sat at his desk looking over three student files and compared them to the mystery kid’s files.

It was late evening then, classes had ended hours ago, and All Might had given him a full written report three hours earlier.

Aizawa wondered how he had missed it earlier, especially when he’s spent so long with all his students. Though, he’d never cared about birthdays, and even less so his student’s birthdays, but that wasn’t exactly an excuse now, was it?

Aizawa picked up his phone and called Recovery Girl, “It’s me. Yes, I know it’s late. I need you to get DNA samples of these three UA students …No, I didn’t know you were here earlier. You can get them tomorrow then. Also, I’d like it if you refrained from telling them what the samples are for. …I’m sure you can think of something. The students are…”

It wasn’t until Thursday morning, July 6th, did Elena wake up, still in a state of such disrepair that Recovery Girl didn’t clear her for interrogation ‘til early evening.

The day earlier, Recovery Girl was able to acquire the DNA samples Aizawa asked for and got them tested. The results were simultaneously surprising and exactly what he expected.

That evening, Aizawa, Tsukauchi, Tsuragamae, and Recovery Girl entered Elena’s hospital room. Yamada wasn’t there that time, instead an officer stood outside of the room.

Elena had bandages wrapped around her arms and legs and, aside from a few scratches, those were the only noticeable injuries. Her hair was just below her shoulders but seemed to have been cut unevenly, one side being longer than the other.

Elena’s reaction to Tsuragamae was similar to the others, except this time she didn’t attempt to hurt herself to check if she was dreaming. Luckily, Recovery Girl had informed her beforehand that she was going to see a “person who looked like a dog”, but she was still rendered speechless with surprise, nonetheless.

Before the interrogation, Aizawa and Tsukauchi decided to tell her about quirks, heroes, and how magic was an unheard-of term, so that there wasn’t as much confusion on her part and so the questioning would go faster.

“So, you’re telling me…” Elena said after they were done with their explanations, “That not only does magic not exist but is replaced with what you call ‘quirks’ which is some type of mutation which affects a person’s physical abilities and sometimes appearance?”

The adults nodded.

“And that people are trained professionally to use these quirks to save and protect people as a professional job?”

They nodded again.

“And you are one of those people?” Elena pointed at Aizawa.

“I am.”

Elena sat back in her bed, staring blankly at the wall.

“Wow. Okay. Superheroes exist.” She then nodded to herself, as if confirming something, “That’s… pretty cool actually.”

The adults shared a look with each other but didn’t comment on her words.

“Well, if you’re okay with it, we have some questions for you regarding what happened when you were attacked.” Tsukauchi informed.

“Some questions? Sure.” Elena readily agreed.

Tsukauchi opened his notebook, ready to start the interrogation, “Why don’t you start from the beginning?”

Elena’s recollection didn’t really give them much new information, but was informational nonetheless. Unlike the one Nikolaus was fighting, the attacker Elena fought did not have magic, for she would have used it if she could. The woman was also quite skilled at fighting with knives, for she was able to give Elena quite a few deep cuts as they fought. Elena was apprehensive about using magic in their fight, especially since she wasn’t the most skilled witch, but ended up restraining the attacker in vines anyways.

After that, it went about the same as Nikolaus’ recollection, from her throwing the boulder at the male attacker and her passing out.

“That’s about all I remember.” Elena concluded.

Tsukauchi nodded, “And did you see your attacker’s face? Brandt already described what he could, but we’d like to get as much information as we can.”

“Of course!” Elena chirped, “As far as I remember, the one that fought Nikolaus had golden eyes, but that’s it. As for the other one, well, her face was mostly covered but I think her hair started falling out of her hoodie when I used fire against her. It was… blonde? I believe?”

Tsukauchi smiled, “That was very helpful, thank you.”

Elena returned the smile politely.

“Earlier, you said that you were worried about using too much magic on your attacker,” Recovery Girl said as she stepped forward, “and you passed out after using a lot of magic. Why is that?”

Elena tilted her head, “Because in order for a witch to use magic, they need to use energy.”

At the adult’s confused expressions, Elena continued, “Uh, so you know how certain parts of the human body function passively or actively?”

They nodded.

“Okay, well the mutation that allows magic to collect inside of us and then manipulate functions both actively and passively.”

This only served to confuse the adults even more, and apparently Elena could tell as her cheeks flushed from embarrassment and looked away.

She then muttered something to herself, but eventually straightened with renewed determination, “Okay, so the mutation inside witches is actually treated like two different muscles. One allows magic to enter and collect inside the body, while the other allows the witch to release the magic as they wish. To an extent, of course."

“And that is?” Recovery Girl inquires.

“Well, that extent relies on energy. The more energy you have, the more magic you can use. The muscle that allows magic to enter the body functions passively. No energy is needed for that to happen. It just does. But the other muscle functions actively. You need energy to use magic, and if you use too much of it, you’ll grow tired. When that happens, the best-case scenario would be getting sleepy and maybe a headache, but the worst-case scenario would be if you died.”

The adults’ eyes widened in concerned shock, remembering her pale complexion when she first arrived and her need for a blood transfer because she didn’t have any energy to heal.

“Young lady…” Recovery Girl shook her head in disapproval, “You could have died.”

“But that’s the worst-case scenario!” Elena yelled, attempting to defend herself, “You usually pass out first!”

Recovery Girl fixed her with a stern glare, “Yes, but with that type of overexertion on top of blood loss put you in a very risky situation. If you had gotten help any later, you could have died.”

Elena winced and lowered her head, only now realizing the gravity of the situation she was in.

“There’s no use mulling over it now, as long you don’t do that again.” Aizawa sighed, “It’s fine to want to protect your friends, but you should realize your own limits as well. As a hero, making reckless moves that only hinder yourself further may not necessarily help the situation but make it worse. What if the attackers got out of their restraints and you weren’t there to help?” Aizawa belatedly realized that he was lecturing her like he would his students but decided that she needed to hear this anyways.

Elena pouted slightly, obviously wanting to object but unable to, knowing full well that he was right.

“…I’m sorry.” She mumbled quietly.

Pleased with her answer, Aizawa nodded, letting the matter go.

“Okay, I think that’s all of the questions we have for now.” Tsukauchi said with a kind smile.

Elena returned the smile sheepishly and nodded, “Okay. So, you were able to get all the information you needed?”

“While some things are still a little unclear, we did get the information we wanted.” Tsukauchi said.

“For now, get some rest. It’s late, dear.” Recovery Girl said as the adults exited the room, “I’ll be back in an hour or so for your check up.”

“Okay.” Elena responded before the door closed.

It wasn’t until they walked several feet away that someone spoke up.

“What are we going to do now?” Tsukauchi asked.

“I’d like to have a meeting with the three of you and a few others to discuss what to do with them.” Aizawa responded.

Tsuragamae nodded, “Tell me when and I’ll clear my schedule.”

“I’ll have to make a few calls to confirm that, but I’ll call you all to tell you the details.”

“And not a quarter before midnight this time, I hope?” Recovery Girl said.

Aizawa sighed tiredly, “I’ll make sure to make the call at a more appealing time of day.”

The next day, Friday July 7th, Recovery Girl, Detective Tsukauchi, Chief Tsuragamae, Pro Hero Hawks, Pro Hero Endeavour, retired Pro Hero All Might, and Pro Hero Eraserhead all gathered in Principal Nedzu’s office for their meeting.

“Thank you all for coming.” Aizawa started. He stood holding two files in front of Nedzu’s desk, facing the other’s, not including Nedzu himself who was sitting with his hands clasped together behind the desk.

“And thank you for calling us.” Nedzu says, “What is it you wanted to speak to us about Eraserhead?”

Aizawa nodded, “I wanted to speak about what’s to happen to the individuals that mysteriously appeared here in this school’s dorms.” He opened one of the files and picked up three photos, turning them to show the others.

“Arlo Keen, Nikolaus Brandt, and Elena Bell.”

It was July 8th, a Saturday and a couple of days after Aizawa had interrogated Elena. She was sitting on her bed, awaiting the arrival of Nikolaus and Arlo.

During her early morning check-up, Recovery Girl had told her that the three of them were going to be receiving some news from a “certain group of people.” When Elena asked her to elaborate, she just told her she was going to see soon enough.

But before that, Nikolaus and Arlo were supposed to come to her room for lunch.

To be honest, Elena had been worried about the two of them since she woke up. Sure, she could have died from blood loss and overexertion, but the same could have been said for the other two. She tried not to think of what would have happened if she hadn’t healed Arlo.

Just then, her hospital room door opened and the two boys walked in. Elena smiled brightly and waved, which Arlo reciprocated on both accounts.

“Hey! How are your wounds?” Elena asked as Arlo walked over and sat down on the bed; Nikolaus pulled up a chair to sit in.

“Good! Recovery Girl pretty much healed me already.” Arlo said as he grinned, “What about you?”

Elena flexed her bandaged arms loosely, “I can walk at least!” She laughed and lowered her arms, “It still hurts a little to move, but Recovery Girl said I should be able to fully function by this evening.”

“And your back?” Nikolaus asked.

“The first thing she healed.” Elena said as she nodded, “And you? You had a broken arm and a knife in your body the last time I saw you.” Elena said this in a joking way but the worry in her eyes was evident.

Nikolaus laughed a little and lifted his shirt to show the bandage around his abdomen, “I was told it will leave a scar, but other than that, it’s practically healed. As for my arm, I don’t need a sling anymore, but I was advised not to move it too much.” He gestured to his bandaged elbow.

“That’s good.” Elena said with a sigh of relief but then made a little anxious smile, “That was pretty scary, wasn’t it? When those people attacked us...”

Arlo sported his own smile and nodded, “Yeah. I was knocked out at the beginning though.” He turned to Elena, giving her a brighter smile, “Speaking of, I heard you healed me! I seriously owe you.”

Elena waved her arms placatingly, “Oh no, you don’t owe me anything! I just—”

“Uh, I beg to differ.” Nikolaus interrupted, “You could have died for him. The least he could do is make you pancakes.”

“Yeah!” Arlo yelled enthusiastically, “You saved me! It wouldn’t be right to not repay you.”

“Alright,” Elena relented with a sigh before smiling at Arlo, “Maybe you can make me those ‘super special pancakes’ Youko told me about?”

Arlo turned bright red, “She told you about those?!”

Nikolaus laughed, “Oh, you mean the legendary pancakes made exclusively for and only ever tasted by Youko herself?” he smirked, “Yeah, good luck getting him to make those for you.”

Elena raised an eyebrow, “We... are talking about pancakes, right?”

Arlo fixed her with a confused expression, “What else would we be talking about?” he asked honestly.

Elena laughed and shook her head, “Nothing. It’s just, that when you say stuff like that, it sounds like you’re talking about something perverted!”

Nikolaus gave her a dubious look, “If anything, the person interpreting the conversation as something perverted is the actual pervert here.”

Elena blushed and glared at him, “I am not a pervert!”

“Oh, really?” Nikolaus taunted, smirking, “We were just talking about pancakes, but your mind went straight to the gutter, huh?”

“Shut it!” she yelled, moving to slam her hand on the bed; before realizing how much of a bad idea that was and just awkwardly lowered it, “And we weren’t just talking about pancakes. You were the one who described Arlo’s ‘special pancakes’ as a treat only his girlfriend ever got to enjoy! Anyone could have interpreted that as something perverted!”

Arlo sputtered with a furious blush.

“Wha– Fwuh– You– My pancakes are pure!” Arlo yelled indignantly, a little too loud for a hospital.

At the outburst, both Elena and Nikolaus stared at him for a second before bursting out laughing. Arlo stared at them in confusion but the laughter was contagious and he eventually joined, laughing along.

After they eventually came down from their high, none of them spoke for a while. Eventually, Elena sighed, and faced the other two with a serious expression.

“I think it’s time to talk about the elephant in the room,” she started grimly. “Are we in another world?”

“...Maybe?” Arlo responded hesitantly.

“I think… we probably are.” Nikolaus confirmed anxiously.

Elena gripped her sheets tightly, “What are we gonna do…?”

“The best thing we can do for now is to not panic,” Nikolaus stated, “If we really are in another world, we have to go about this as logically and rationally as possible. Otherwise, we’re just going to get ourselves in an even bigger mess.”

“But how do we even know if we can trust anyone here?” Arlo questioned, “If we are from another world, then won’t they try to experiment on us? What if the government takes us away to use us? What if they see us as a threat and kill us?! What–”

“What did I just say about not panicking?” Nikolaus stated as he grabbed Arlo’s arm to shake him out of his panic spiral.

“...Sorry.” Arlo apologized, to which Nikolaus sighed and rubbed his arm to calm him.

“When that man was with us…” Elena started, getting the other two’s attention, “Aizawa. When he questioned us, didn’t you feel… reassured? Like you would be safe with him.”

The other two thought about it for a moment, “Well, I guess I did feel as if I’d known him already,” Arlo confirmed, “And I did feel as if I could trust he wouldn’t lie to me."

“He did remind me of Warden, so maybe that’s why?” Nikolaus suggested.

“Maybe…” Elena trailed off, deep in thought.

After that, the three decided it was a topic for later and idly talked about school as they finished lunch. Sometime later, someone knocked on the door, catching the three teenagers’ attention.

“Come in!” Elena called loudly, assuming it was Recovery Girl.

The door opened and Aizawa walked in behind it.

“Oh! Aizawa-san?” Elena exclaimed in confusion.

“Hey! Good morning!” Arlo greeted with a wide smile.

“It’s the afternoon,” Nikolaus corrected.

Arlo kicked him lightly, to which Nikolaus responded with a halfhearted glare before returning their attention to Aizawa.

Aizawa entered the room along with several other people they didn’t see earlier behind him.

“Good afternoon. We’re here to talk to you three about your situation,” He stated before gesturing to the crowd behind him, “I’m sure you’ve noticed some new faces today. Besides Detective Tsukauchi, Todoroki Enji and Takami Keigo—two Pro Heroes—and All Might—a retired Pro Hero—have decided to accompany us today.”

Aizawa turned his attention back to the kids, “They’re mostly here to confirm information so feel free to ignore them. You’ll be mostly talking to just me and the principal.”

Enji was a tall man and had a constant glare on his face, accompanied by a large scar which stretched from his hairline down to his jaw. This may have intimidated and slightly concerned Elena if she hadn’t been so distracted by the fact he was on fire too. Takami was much shorter and had a more soft and happy-go-lucky expression on his face. He looked relatively normal, except for what seemed to be red wings folded behind his back. All Might was the tallest; he was quite thin and sickly looking to the point Elena wondered for a second if he was a patient too before dismissing the thought.

“Yeah, don’t mind us! We’ll just be quietly watching in the back,” Takami cheerfully assured. Enji didn’t say anything, only nodded in affirmation.

Elena met eyes with the sickly-looking man for a moment and he smiled kindly at her. For some strange reason, she felt comforted; she brushed it off quickly.

They took a moment to take in the adult’s appearances, that is, until Arlo spoke up, “Wait, then where’s the principal?”

Just then, an animal popped out of Aizawa’s scarf, “Hello children! It is I, the cute and lovable mammal, The Principal!”

Nikolaus and Elena visibly jumped in surprise at the animal’s sudden appearance while Arlo didn’t show much of a reaction, having expected him to appear the same way he did when they first met.

“Sorry if I startled you! Most people aren’t surprised by my appearance, but I suppose you three are a little different, huh?” The principal said as Nikolaus and Elena just stared with shocked expressions, all the while the small, white rodent stood on Aizawa’s shoulder with poise and authority.

“Uh…” Elena very intelligently said, apparently at a loss for words.

“The principal… is a rat?” Nikolaus asked, a little incredulous.

“Who could say?” The principal chirped, ever so cheerfully. This didn’t seem to relieve any of their confusion though.

“How about I formally introduce myself?” The principal suggested, apparently sensing their apprehension.

The teenagers exchanged looks with each other before nodding in agreement. Nikolaus moved from the chair to the bed next to Arlo, giving the principal a place to sit—or stand, seeing as he couldn’t come up to their shoulders whether he stood or not.

The principal took the seat, “I am Principal Nedzu of UA High School. The three of you first appeared in the dorms of my school.” Nedzu held out his paw to Aizawa who promptly put a thick folder in it.

“A few days ago, after Brandt-kun’s questioning, Aizawa-kun tested out a theory regarding your case,” Nedzu opened the file and held out what appeared to be medical papers to the kids, “And it seems his theory is correct.”

There was a medical file for each of them, so the three kids each took their own respectively.

As they read the papers, Nedzu started speaking again, “As you can see, on the papers are the results of some DNA tests Aizawa-kun asked Recovery Girl to conduct.” Elena balked at the papers, barely registering Nedzu’s words.

“She, with the help of an officer in the force, compared the DNA of the three of you to the DNA of three other individuals,” Nedzu gestured to the papers Elena was then holding limply in shock and confusion. “As you can see, the DNA was a perfect match!”

“What?” Elena asked dumbly. The test results were handwritten, but were printed as official medical test results, and was even vouched for by someone named Shuzenji Chiyo.

“That’s impossible,” Nikolaus stated in response to Nedzu.

“One would assume so!” Nedzu chirped. Before any of the kids could say more, Nedzu reached into his folder again and set his voice into a more serious tone.

“As impossible as it may seem, I can confirm that these test results are absolute. You three do indeed share the same exact DNA as these individuals,” Nedzu took three photos out of the folder and handed one to each of the kids, reciting the name corresponding to the subject of each photo.

“These three are your, quote-unquote, ‘dimensional counterparts’ respectively.”

Elena stared at the girl in the photo, uncomprehending.

‘Dimensional counterpart? This girl? As in, we share the same DNA?’

Elena looked back up at Nedzu, looking as cheerful as he did when he first presented himself. She took a deep, calming breath.

“WHAT?!” she shouted, “What do you mean we share the same DNA! That’s not how it even works! It’s literally impossible! In fact, it’s more than impossible, it’s–”

“Calm down Elena!” Arlo tried, his arms stretched out to calm her but afraid to actually touch her and inadvertently harm her.

“You can’t tell me that any of this makes a lick of sense!” Elena yelled indignantly, “I mean, falling into another world? Fine, sure, I guess; but it’s a scientific fact that no one person’s DNA is the same!”

“Well, clearly, that’s not entirely true.” Nikolaus commented, scrutinizing the picture.

“Could you please just stop shouting? We’re in a hospital!” Arlo pleaded.

“I understand that this development is quite unsettling,” Aizawa started, Grabbing the three teenagers’ attention, “even adults would freak out about this. But I assure you, we’re doing everything we can to fix your situation. Meanwhile, we will answer any and all questions you may have.”

At his words, Elena finally calmed down and the three nodded.

“So, you’re saying we’re really from a different dimension?” Arlo asked.

Aizawa nodded, “That is the only conclusion that makes the most sense.”

Elena looked down at the picture in her hand before looking back up, “Wh- B- how?”

It was natural to be skeptical, Aizawa knew. Even though the test results confirming this were right there, the idea that someone completely different having the exact same DNA as them was just too ludicrous to accept.

Aizawa sighed tiredly before nodding again, “As ridiculous and impossible as it may sound, those test results are irrefutable. With that in mind, including some other variables, the conclusion that could be made is that you three, are in fact, from another dimension.”

The three teenagers listened intently as Aizawa explained what else brought him to said conclusion. The way they arrived, their testimonies, the way they spoke, and their other identifying information that clued him in in the first place. He explained it all in great detail.

Elena hummed at the end of it, “So these three are your students?” She asked, gesturing to the photos.

“That’s right! He’s their homeroom teacher,” Nedzu chirped.

Aizawa sighed irritably, narrowing his eyes at the mammal.

Nikolaus looked between the two of them with a calculating look in his eyes.

“Why exactly are you here?” he asked, addressing Nedzu, “I mean, I understand that we crashed into your school and that our ‘dimensional counterparts’ are students of yours, so we obviously have a connection, but why is the school part of this investigation?”

Nedzu didn’t seem very surprised at the sudden question. In fact, he seemed intrigued.

“When you accompanied my interrogation…” Arlo started, “…it was because you had to make sure we weren’t a threat to your school, right? It made sense for you to want to be present for that. Now, however, we’re obviously no longer considered threats. It doesn’t make sense for you to go out of your way just to tell us all of that. Aizawa-san would have managed whether you were here or not.”

“Not to mention, any questions you’d have about us could have been easily answered by the police,” Nikolaus continued, “Making this trip seem even more pointless. What do you want from us?”

Elena seemed surprised at the sudden accusation, but didn’t say anything to refute it; knowing that, all in all, their questions were reasonable.

Aizawa was a little surprised at the distrust in their eyes. Well, Nikolaus and Arlo’s, that is. Elena just seemed skeptical, apprehensive at most. Aizawa briefly wondered why they would be so distrustful before recalling how Nikolaus said they used to live in an orphanage, so he decided to put the thought aside. It wasn’t any of his business.

“My, I have to say I’m surprised. I didn’t think any of you would have figured it out so fast!” Nedzu exclaimed. The teenagers immediately looked quite offended at that but a little intrigued as well. Mostly offended though.

“You’re right though,” Nedzu addressed them with an air of seriousness, “I’m not here for the sake of it. But you’re wrong in your assumption that I want something from you. It’s more like I have something I want to discuss.”

Once he made sure he had the three teenagers’ full attention, he continued, “As of right now, we have no way to get you home. Consequently, we have no idea how long you’re going to stay in this world.” The kid’s expressions turned grim, as if they already knew this. “Which means we have to find you three a temporary home for an extensive period of time!”

The three of them made curious motions, encouraging Nedzu to continue, “With your safety in mind and convenient efficiency, we have decided to let you live at and attend classes in my school, UA High!”

The teenagers blinked at him.

“How is living in the school dorms the safest option?” Nikolaus asked skeptically.

“UA High is a prestigious school for building the next generation of heroes,” Aizawa answered, “After some… disastrous events last year, our principal here decided to build the dorms specifically for the protection of the students. Currently, the dorms are probably the safest place anyone could be.”

“Wait… If you want us to live at the school, then doesn’t that mean we’re going to be living with our ‘dimensional counterparts’?” Arlo asked.

“That is correct!” Nedzu confirmed, “However, in order to protect you from future possible threats, we cannot let the fact that you’re from another dimension get out to the public. If you decide you don’t actually want to live at the school, then this shouldn’t be much of a problem. But if you do, then we have to ask you three to not speak of the fact you’re from another dimension.” Nedzu paused as all three of them shared the same concerned expression.

“I’d understand if one or all three of you would find this too stress inducing,” Nedzu continued, “But if we want to keep you safe as much as possible, this is an absolute necessity.” He pinned all three of them with a hard look.

“If you aren’t up for it, tell us now and we’ll switch you to a different location.”

They were silent for a moment, mulling over their options. Eventually, the three of them shared a look, seemingly coming to the same decision.

“We’ll live at the school.” Nikolaus stated, Arlo and Elena nodding along. “Personally, I don’t think we’ll have any problems keeping our origins a secret, but I do have some concerns I think we need to address.”

Nedzu nodded encouragingly, “Please do!”

“First of all, what exactly are we gonna tell people if they ask questions?” Elena asked, “I mean, it’s not everyday that a group of foreigners transfer to a school like this, right?”

Aizawa nodded, “That’s right. However, the students are the only ones we’re going to be hiding your origins from. In order for this to go smoothly, the staff will need to be informed. Your cover stories for the students have already been taken care of.”

“Cover stories? As in multiple?” Arlo inquired.

“We made two cover stories, one for your dormmates and the other for your classmates.” Aizawa informed, “The cover story for your classmates isn’t too far from the truth, just that you’re in a special situation that requires extra protection. If anyone asks about it, just tell them you’re not legally allowed to convey any more information than what they’re given.” The kids nodded in understanding.

“As for your dormmates, unfortunately, it’s highly unlikely you would be able to hide your origins from them. Consequently, we’ve decided to only give them a half-truth. They’d know you three are not of this world, and why you’d need extra protection, but they wouldn’t know you’re from a separate dimension specifically.”

“Um…” Elena started, confused, “How would they know we’re not from this world but not that we’re from a different dimension?”

“Well, there is a difference between a ‘world’ and a ‘dimension’,” Nikolaus stated before Aizawa could, “A separate dimension suggests a reality parallel to ours. One that’s different but the same. A separate world, however, suggests a reality that’s just different.”

At that Arlo raised a hand, “Why couldn’t we just tell them that we’re from another dimension, then? I mean, wouldn’t it be easier?”

“One would think so,” Aizawa said in exasperation, “But I have reasons to believe that it would most likely have the opposite effect. If discovering that other dimensions exist wouldn’t already freak them out, then finding out that you are their classmates’ ‘dimensional counterparts’ would. Maybe even more so. It’s also another safety precaution. We don’t know what other effects your presence in this dimension may have, so it’s better to be safe than sorry. That being said, we implore that you engage in the least amount of contact with your ‘dimensional counterpart’, so as to not trigger any possible reactions.”

Nikolaus considered Aizawa for a moment with a light furrow to his brow before speaking up, “What do you mean by ‘other effects’?”

“During our investigation, we discovered that both your and our technology have been reacting to your presence in a bizarre way. While I don’t have your phones to show you, we do have this.”

Aizawa brought out another piece of paper, only holding it up for the three teenagers to see instead of just giving it to them. It’s not like they could read it anyways.

“What in the world is that?” Nikolaus asked, his voice laced with bewilderment. The other two don’t look much better.

What looked like used to be words and information on the paper was completely glitched over, as if the computer that was printing whatever was on the paper crashed while doing so.

“These are your original DNA results.” Aizawa explained. The kids seemed a little miffed at the unhelpful response.

“Is that so,” Nikolaus snipped sarcastically, “But why does it look like that?"

Aizawa just shrugged, “We’re not entirely sure.” His brow furrowed in thought, “Despite everything working perfectly, the equipment we would usually use for DNA testing completely glitched out. The same thing happened with your phones, except in a different manner.”

The teenagers looked a little more anxious at Aizawa’s explanation. Each of them periodically glancing at the picture in their hands before moving their attention elsewhere throughout the whole thing. For a moment, Nikolaus just stared at the boy in the picture, as if analyzing it would give him answers, before lifting his head and stating matter-of-factly, “We don’t belong here.”

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, as if asking him to elaborate, and Nikolaus must have gotten the hint because he continued a second later, “I mean, it’s like your dimension is consciously aware that we don’t belong here. That we shouldn’t exist. That’s what some of the safety precautions are for, right? You’re worried it might try to get rid of us.”

Both Elena’s and Arlo’s heads shot up to stare at Nikolaus with wide eyes.

“‘Try to get rid of us’?” Elena nearly shouted, clearly having not come to the same conclusion as he had and was now faced with the grim possibility.

Aizawa sighed, and in an attempt to keep her from panicking again, said, “While it’s a possibility, there’s little evidence that it will actually happen. Aside from your injuries you acquired before your arrival, nothing is wrong with you physically and none of you seem to be having strange reactions to your new surroundings. As of right now, it’s only a matter of time to see if you’ll have a reaction at all. However, to answer your question Brandt, yes that is what the safety precautions are for.”

That seemed to have consoled them a little bit, though Arlo and Elena were still clearly uneasy and Nikolaus was biting his lip a little.

It was silent for a moment as Aizawa allowed the three kids to digest the information. While none of them looked ready to have a panic attack, they didn’t look at all comforted by the information either. Aizawa supposed, considering their situation, there was nothing that could be done about that.

“If you have no further questions, here are the forms for your school applications.” Aizawa handed the forms over to Arlo, “You’ll have to fill them out to officially start attending the school and then take the test. Of course, you’ll get in whether you get a good score or not, but this is all for legality and to make your sudden transfer looks more real.”

“Speaking of legalities, are you going to assign a legal guardian to us or something?” Elena asked, “We need to have a legal guardian in order to attend school, right?”

Aizawa suddenly felt significantly more tired as Nedzu announced in a more cheerful voice, “We’ve already taken care of that!”

Elena blinked, “You did…?”

“Yep! Due to efficiency, I’ve already decided that Aizawa-kun here will be your temporary legal guardian!”

For some reason, Aizawa had a strange feeling the rat was taking full enjoyment in Aizawa’s displeasure of that fact.

All three of the teens’ eyes shot to Aizawa.

“Oh. Really? Why?” Arlo asked, eyes wide.

Aizawa sighed, “I’m already technically class 2-A’s legal guardian since I oversee their dorms as their homeroom teacher. Since the three of you are going to be living in the dorms as well, it’ll be my job to watch over you too.”

‘More damn kids...’

Arlo nodded distantly, staring intensely at Aizawa, clearly deep in thought, “I see…”

Suddenly a metaphorical light bulb popped up over his head and he beamed. He turned to Nikolaus with a bright smile, “Hey, you were right! He is just like Warden!”

“I thought we already established that.”

Arlo playfully rolled his eyes, still smiling, “I mean, kinda, I guess? It was just a theory, but now it’s been confirmed!”

Elena gave the two boys a puzzled look, “A theory…? Wait, you mean you already guessed that this was the case?!” she asked with bewilderment on her face.

Arlo froze and Nikolaus frowned in thought, “Well, it was just a feeling but…” Nikolaus started to explain, “While you were still unconscious, Arlo and I talked a lot about what could be happening and came up with multiple possibilities. Whether we were actually in a separate dimension was one of them.”

“Nikolaus was the one who came up with it, though,” Arlo admitted.

Elena just nodded mutely.

“If you three don’t have any more questions, then I believe it’s time for us to leave.” Aizawa spoke up, grabbing the three teenagers’ attention.

“Yeah. I think that’s it,” Elena confirmed.

“Yeah, there’s nothing else I really need to know about,” Arlo agreed.

“Please fill out the forms as soon as possible then. You two,” Aizawa gestured to Nikolaus and Arlo, “head back to your rooms. Recovery Girl will give each of you one more healing before you move into the dorms tonight.” Nedzu hopped back onto Aizawa’s shoulder, “Present Mic will escort the two of you to your rooms.”

“Okay—Wait, tonight?” Arlo exclaimed, “We’re moving in tonight? Why so soon?”

“We want to get you in the dorms as soon as possible,” Nedzu explained, “After Recovery Girl is done with you, you’ll have no reason to stay here other than to rest, and you’ll get plenty of that at the dorms.”

Arlo looked surprised and rather confused, stuttering as Nikolaus just stood up and grabbed him by the elbow to pull him off the bed.

“What happened to ‘no shouting, we’re in a hospital’?” Nikolaus said, already brushing past the adults as he dragged Arlo behind him. It was a little amusing to see a 6-foot teenager getting effortlessly dragged away by someone at least four inches shorter.

“It’s been a stressful week! I think I’m justified in my complaints!” Arlo shot back weakly, to which Nikolaus only scoffed and rolled his eyes.

As soon as the door closed again, Aizawa sighed and turned to Elena.

“I’ll call Recovery Girl to let her know we’re done. We thank you for your time,” Aizawa bowed, as well as everyone else. Elena returned the action.

“Ah, of course!” she exclaimed.

With that, Aizawa finally turned to leave, the other adults following. He sent a text message to Recovery Girl, informing her they were done, and then opened the door.

He briefly greeted the cop stationed outside the door, seeing that Yamada already left with the other two and walked out.

Takami sidled up beside him, “I like these kids.” He stated with a grin.

Aizawa raised an eyebrow at him, noticing that All Might and Enji were a little farther back, conversing about something inane.

When only silence followed, Takami continued, “So, what’d you think of the newcomers?”

“They seem like a lot of trouble,” the other answered tiredly.

“Oh, come on! You know you like them already! Especially after you found out who their counterparts are, I bet.”

Aizawa only huffed irritably in response, which must have been enough for Takami who lagged back to converse with the other pros.

Even before he learned who their dimensional counterparts were, he already knew they’d be trouble. Their conversation today only proved it.

Aizawa was, however, quite intrigued. Their time at UA was certainly going to be interesting.