Tori:

  I bang on my brother's dorm room door. "Henry-Henry-Henry!"

  Eventually, the door cracks and my sleepy big brother looks down at me. "The crap is-"

  "LOOK!" I hold up a stuffed doggie toy. It's a husky puppy that's so soft and cute and- I hug it to my chest and spin around, "Toys! It's been so long since I had more than a few. A whole freaking bag was left outside my room! Mostly stuffed animals for me- but look at this- look look look!" he opens the door a little more, and Henry peaks down. "See, a big brown sack with dinosaurs, cars, pretend weapons- all kinds of boy stuff."

  He looks at the bag curiously. "Does it say who it's from?"

  "Just get it yourself, lazy!" I say as I step back from the door.

  "I'm not dressed. I don't wanna run out there like YOU."

  "What do you mean? I got my shirt, my jacket, nice shoes-"

  "And your pajama bottoms..." Henry comments.

  "Well, I'm still decent..." I say, looking down at my pink spotted pj pants.

  A boy with black hair walks past me, himself in a full gray school uniform, saying. "Cute..." And keeps moving as my face turns pink.

  I fidget with my ankle monitor; the subtly blinking electric shackle is annoying. "Well- how am I supposed to get around this thing?" I ask my brother. "A lady came by my room last night and said they couldn't hold off the restrictions any longer and made me put it on. It's huge!"

  Henry looks down at his ankle, which I can't see because he won't open the door any further, but I can guess he has the same arrangement.

  A big shadow falls over the two of us, and the bag of toys by Henry's room is picked up and- handed to him. He takes it.

  A deeper voice speaks up. "Ya know, you could have just asked what to do about the ankle monitor." Henry takes the toys as I look up.

  A big man in a red costume with gray bracers and a substantial yellow visor looks down at me. I give him the best cute, innocent wave I can manage. "Hi..." I say. "Um- when? Our doors lock from the outside, and we're not allowed personal phones."

  "Oh good lord, and I thought I was risque," says a woman approaching our small group. She's dressed in white with a black corset that pushes up her breasts and disconnected handcuffs on each wrist. Her outfit is skin tight, just like the man's, but where his spandex costume emphasizes his muscles, she emphasizes a more natural figure... for some reason, not sure why. It looks weird. "You know you didn't have to bust out of your room the second the lock disengaged; I was coming to get you," she says.

  The man rolls his eyes. "Honestly, we allow you to wear THAT. I don't see why the kid can't go to every class in her PJs—or a bikini," he says. Still, he pushes me to the strange woman. "I guess you have her key. Help her out, will ya?" He knocks on my brother's door. "I hope you're not the kind to sleep in your underwear or something because I gotta come in and look around. It's the rules—for you anyway."

  After getting dressed and meeting Vlad in the common room, my brother and I headed out for our first day of trying things out around campus. Technically, I had violated school policies by being underdressed, but Vlad let me off the hook because he believed Midnight was a horrible example. Even though my decision clearly had nothing to do with her, he wasn't taking any arguing on that point. I guess it was just a faculty spat, but take what you can get!

  On our way, we were met by Hotaru- from behind as she jumped on my back and hugged me tightly, screaming "Besty!" as I almost fell on my face. How am I simultaneously the youngest and possibly the most mature person in the room half the time?

  "Hey, you're going the wrong way, Jammies!" she bounces off me and starts dancing like she needs to use the restroom. "C'mon, c'mon, come with me, come with me," she says, grabbing Henry's hand and pulling him towards the 1-A dorms. Okay, we're touring classes, not dorms, so I run ahead of her and stop her as Henry puts up no resistance whatsoever. (It's a thing with him, take his hand, and he'll follow whomever as long as he doesn't think you're hostile.)

  "We're trying to look at classes... wait- Jammies?"

  "Yep! You got your school nickname- you do something dumb, and you get it- yours is Jammies!"

  "Oh yeah... what's yours?" I ask. Hotaru stops jumping and then looks away, whistling to herself. "C'mon, out with it," I say, folding my arms.

  "Um... Ducky Girl..." she says, poking her own fingers. "I accidentally brought a stuffed animal to class once..."

  Henry stifles a laugh. "We're still waiting to make yours..." Hotaru says, giving Henry a sinister smile."

  I smile as Henry looks nervously away from us both. "Anyway, as soon as we decide, we start classes the next day—the heck does that have to do with going to your dorms?" I ask, physically stopping Hotaru by putting hands on her shoulders.

  "Nothing whatsoever- I made a big breakfast for the 1-A family, and you count because you guys are my friends!" Hotaru practically shouts.

  "I-"

  "Wait... you just sorta made breakfast?" Henry asks. "No prompting? Enough for your whole class and us?"

  "I do it a bunch these days; it helps clear my head and makes me feel useful," she says, shrugging her shoulders. "Sides, it's just pancakes, eggs, bacon... sausage if you like."

  "I do like sausage..." Henry says, looking over at the 1-A dorms.

  "Well then, follow me!" Hotaru says.

  "Henry, we have work to do... Vlad?" I sort of wine. I look up at the professor with us, who just shrugs.

  "Look, come with me, and I'll show you around a bit. Go with her, and you're on your own; I got classes to teach, and I'm not your chauffeur," says the teacher, handing me a map. "Honestly, it's not like the school map is that hard to read, and there are signs everywhere- I say have fun." He then gives me a side smile as I'm yanked along by an over-enthused peer and my oh-so-tough brother, who just goes along without a second thought.

  It doesn't take long to get sat down with my plate of meat, eggs, and a separate plate of pancakes. Oh, delicious middle-class food in absurd portions, how much I've missed you! With Charles, it was rich foods, but the portions were tiny because things like snails or caviar might be delicious, but they're always served in tiny amounts cause they look better that way. In prison, you get what you get and barely have time to finish. Cafeteria food at school was pretty good, but there's a feeling of staleness to something made almost on a factory line, even if it is technically delicious.

  But nothing beats the smell, the richness, and the taste of food made by hand just for you! In addition to the chattering of friendly voices and people gathering to eat and talk with you, I missed this from foster care. I'll readily admit that Orphan Care doesn't have much to recommend, but you never have a shortage of friends to eat with daily.

  The big blonde Bakugo sits across from me and Henry, along with a redhead and-

  "DENKI!" Henry shouts as his mentor from prison joins us, sitting next to him.

  "Hey, hey!" the older teen boy says as he sits and messes up Henry's hair, which my brother doesn't seem to mind as he grins at the kid. "You're looking better. Looks like it worked to have someone look in on you. You even kicked Katsuki's butt, ain't that right tough guy?" he asks the other blonde boy, who just growls in response. "Okay, okay, ALMOST kicked his butt."

  "I don't need you to sugarcoat in Kaminari," Bakugo says. He then fixes my brother in his gaze, "And I wasn't joking when we spoke earlier; you and I are fighting again someday- heck, Hotaru needs a sparing partner her age, and so will you. I expect you to show up... seven good?"

  "Seven is our dorm curfew," Henry says, sighing as if disappointed.

  "Really? We'll see about that; I have a feeling your days will be crowded," Bakugo says. "I saw Mirko asking about you last night, and I don't think she's gonna take an early bedtime for an answer." He says while stuffing his mouth with eggs.

  "It's not bedtime... technically. That's nine." Henry cringes and looks down. "Oh yeah- that's a thing, isn't it?" he asks. "How many arrangements did we make while getting into this place, Tori? Just pretend I forgot ALL of them..."

  I hold my head in my hands and smile. It's nice to be needed for something- even if I am a human sticky note. "I got your back, bro," I say.

  "That's actually not how it's going to work," says an all too familiar voice.

  Henry and I both look up suddenly to see Aizawa standing over me. He looks down at the bench near me, and I move quickly. He actually scares me a bit. I don't want to sit beside him, but I want to fight him even less! He sets down a few plates of his own food and starts eating. "You're not in my class; what are you doing here?" he asks.

  "Um... your daughter invited us?" I say, pushing up my shoulders as if to hide my head.

  He looks straight at me tiredly while chewing his food; I feel so tiny next to him. "Hm... why not? Fine." He finally looks away, to my relief. "I guess it's good for Hotaru to have friends she invites over instead of just being artificially attached to them- you're being nice to her, right." He doesn't look at me on that last line, but somehow I realize I better answer right.

  Bakugo looks at me, too, and I get a sense from him that I better answer right. "I um... well..."

  "She's the one who left the toys for us, right?" Henry asks. He gets a nod from Aizawa and a raised eyebrow from Bakugo. "No one is gonna hurt her ever again- if I have anything to say about it. People take care of me; I care for them."

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  "Ya know, continuing to talk like a gangster doesn't help your case around here, you realize that, right?" Aizawa asks.

  "You're on the list because you helped Tori and me," my brother replies without cracking his confident facade. How does he do that? Isn't he sacred of Aizawa, too?

  "I'll keep that in mind," Aizawa says, instead of a thank you. "Remember, we've determined that you and your sister must be separated during classes." Henry pauses while I keep eating. Aizawa smirks. "Don't get alarmed. This isn't like with Charles. You're too protective of each other; you need time apart. You can hang out all you want for lunch, breaks, even after school, or on days off; this isn't about manipulation or hostage-taking but your development. You'll both be perfectly safe and provided for, but you'll have to develop and figure out who you are without each other."

  "But... I..." Henry squeezes my hand.

  "You have my personal assurance that nothing will happen to your sister," Aizawa says. He then gets up as his daughter enthusiastically sits next to me.

  "Besty!" She yells as she wraps an arm around me.

  For some reason, Henry goes quiet for the rest of the meal.

  Henry:

  I'm... I'm fine. I'm totally fine. No one is holding my hand. I don't need someone to hold my hand. I'll be just fine. I, Henry Kikku, brought down a criminal empire and outmaneuvered some of the top heroes in the country. I don't need someone to hold my hand.

  It's not like I perpetrated crimes in random parts of the city without really caring where I was. A sense of direction is not irrelevant to dodging pro heroes. Courthouses, police stations, and jails are not widely known for being small...

  I stare down the first hall on the first floor of the UA building. Every few feet, there's another door. The walls are white with random decorations that I don't know the significance of. The doors have labels like "English 1-H" or "Math 1-G" but no room numbers. I feel lost the second I set foot in the building. I'm holding the map in my hands and feel this way. I envy the teenagers walking to and fro around me, barely even seeming to look where they're going- in fact, many of the teens are so confident, they're having conversations as they go... crap!

  Where—where—where—where am I supposed to go first? I nearly run to the stairs and must breathe hard to calm myself down once I'm in the stairwell. I pull a schedule out of my pocket... the nurse's office to talk about the basics of EMT training—right, because they're holding out that I'll like the idea.

  I look up from my schedule and map. You've got to be kidding! The floors are labeled by what's on them, not by numbers- WHY?!!! I try to get ahold of myself and count the floors on my map- 40. Okay, so then- wait- FORTY FLOORS?!!! Luckily, there's no ban on using my quirk to bypass the stairs. No wonder the school has seven-hour days!

  I repeatedly use my quirk to bypass stairs, and eventually, I have to take a pen and fill in floor numbers myself on my map—which is great since the numbers only exist on my map, not on labels on the stairs' doors.

  I go and go, trying to find just one room—the nurse's office—where she is?!?$# I feel like my brain is being scrambled, and I am just trying to figure out where I am. The sounds around me blur into a cacophony, and I hear random words in English and Nihongo. I want to reach out to someone, but I'm too embarrassed.

  I finally find myself on a floor... I think I'm on the fourteenth floor. I'm now reduced to looking left and right, back and forth over and over, so lost and-

  Someone bumps into me. I look into the eyes of a woman dressed in white with purple vizors over her eyes. She leans on a cane shaped like a medical syringe and smiles at me piteously.

  "Goodness- you're wide-eyed and sweating just navigating a confusing building layout? Either you're having first-day jitters, your condition is worse than I expected... or maybe a combination."

  "I'm fine, I'm fine... I'm-I'm,"

  "Oh... here." She holds out a hand to me, and after a few seconds, I finally take it and let her guide me wherever she's going. At least I'll know where I am—with the nice old lady. "I would tell you to just download a building layout for your phone, but that's not allowed in your case, is it? I mean the phone."

  "I'm the nurse," she says, looking back at me with lowered eyebrows. I look down in shame. "You're lucky I'm being nice; you're thirty minutes late. But then I expected as much." She smiles back at me this time. It's the first time an adult has looked at me with kindness outside the Yamadas in a long time. I get that discipline is a big thing here, but to have someone look at me with patience is nice for a change of pace. "You were severely miss-diagnosed in orphan care, and I doubt Charles improved conditions in that department. I'll withhold punishment for lateness today, but don't make it a habit, understand?" I nod, continuing to walk with her silently. "Now, let me see your map."

  I hand her my school layout, and she takes a pen and starts writing. She continues to talk, "Use this system to label the rooms; I developed it myself some thirty years ago when Nezu and I founded this school. I wanted him to use it officially, but he said a confusing layout will test student resourcefulness- really, I think it just causes headaches, but I never wanted to be in administration, so..." She waves her cane around at the seemingly random room arrangements. She then hands me back my map. "The system is annotated in the corner there. Apply it yourself to the map. I'm taking mercy on you because I know you have a condition, and you're probably feeling overwhelmed, but that doesn't mean I'm going to do everything for you."

  Okay, so she's a little strict, but I can't imagine Aizawa guiding his daughter like this through the halls, let alone me. Also, she has a nice smile.

  Finally, we arrived at her office. "Now," she begins anew, "I highly recommend you don't use your condition as a crutch. If you prove impossible to train, we will release you from programs until you leave school. That being said, let's see what we're working with, shall we?"

  I sit across from her as she sits at a desk. All around me, I see medical equipment, supplies, and several operating tables to my right. The walls are white with the occasionally gray square, and the floor is freshly mopped. All around, I can smell cleaning products, and all medicines I can make out are locked up with labels over the locks that I assume are to say which key they use. I do notice a lack of antiseptic smell- but maybe that's because this isn't a full hospital, just a nursing room.

  "If you're looking for my patients, it's quite early, so no one has an appointment right now, and gym classes are mostly at the end of the day, so students aren't exhausted for classes, hence no fresh injuries for now," she says as I sit down in a chair opposite her own, looking at her over her large desk, which is covered with papers and folders. "This is a school, not a hospital. They sleep at home. If someone needs professional care, they usually go to a hospital."

  "Now, I am Recovery Girl, the school nurse. My name is Chiyo Shuzenji. Please repeat that title to me..." she says, tapping a pen on a paper.

  "I um... um, you're um, Recovery Girl, the school nurse, and your real name is Chiyo Shuz... Shuz..." I slump my shoulders, realizing I can't remember the last name.

  "No pressure, just tell me what you can remember." She folds her hands and smiles warmly at me. "Your academic scores show me you're a hard worker, but held back by well, I'm not sure what by, but it's evident that there is something. Now... here," she gives me a red candy. "Your father says you told him cinnamon is your favorite. Enjoy- relax- I'm not trying to kick you out of the school. I'm just trying to get a diagnosis so the school can adapt its programs for you accordingly."

  "Don't baby me..." I say, almost grumbling as I look down at the candy. I still pop it in cause- who can resist a cinnamon jawbreaker? Not me!

  She chuckles. "I'm not- really, this is just my personality. I hand out candy all the time. You'll find that ensuring a patient is relaxed is a big part of work in the medical field."

  "I thought this was just you showing me EMT work."

  "Oh yes- that's what I put down, isn't it?" she asks, holding a hand. I show her my schedule. "Tomorrow, you and Tori are meeting with me about EMT courses. Ah, yes, I see; I put that down twice as if I needed to meet with you personally twice on the same issue. Well, I didn't want to announce to anyone who read this that you have a disorder; I figured you would appreciate discretion, yes?" She cocks her head.

  Hearing that, I actually do start to relax. I had been worried about that. I don't want people to look down on me. I give her a smile of my own.

  "There we go," she says with another friendly chuckle. "Now, try again, my hero name, title, and full name."

  "Um... You're the nurse, your Recovery Girl, and your name is Chiro Shi... Shi..."

  "I see..." She starts writing. "I've already determined that your condition is real from your grades, and needing me to lead you here by the hand only reinforced that notion. It seems you CAN remember things, and once something moves into long-term memory, it stays there like with other people, but getting it there is the hard part, isn't it?" She looks up from her notes.

  "I mean... yeah, that's kinda how it feels."

  She then taps her pen on the paper again as if to help herself think. "You seem to have an amazing sense of spatial awareness. The speed at which you can execute complex multidirectional attacks- it's exceptional."

  I smirk, "Yep- that's me."

  "I don't think it's part of your quirk."

  I sit back and pretend to look at my nails in a kind of mock pride in myself.

  "I think it's a part of your condition." When she says this, I pause. "Challenges with episodic memory, coupled with enhanced spatial awareness, and the ability to process maneuvers at a blinding speed- these are all part of a condition known as developmental dysmnesia. It's a less severe form of developmental amnesia, but not without severe drawbacks, as your grades and your episode of freezing up in the hallway make clear."

  "It... it's not part of my quirk?" I ask, my mouth starting to go dry.

  "No, DD has been known to help some children excel in sports while they're terrible at many academics." She shakes her head, refraining from rolling her eyes. "Instant restoration, its own psychic network, near teleportation... I think Doppelganger has enough facets. All of them are quite limited on the surface," she gives me a conspiratorial look. "But, for instance, I suppose you could leave that little prison dorm any time you like, day or night, about right?" My eyes go wide looking at her. "I don't need to know the details; just know that if you decide to defy us one day, you better have a good reason."

  I give her a small smile but look down. "Still, that means everyone was just going easy on me. If all those maneuvers I pull off are just the result of a mental handicap, they can't be that good," I fold my arms and sit back, looking away from her.

  She cocks her head at me. "Is that how it is? I might point out that developmental amnesia isn't a formal disability. As much as the brain often compensates, it's more of an abnormality. But even so, if you're given a gift, why cast dispersion on its origin?"

  I sigh and look back at her, leaning forward and dejectedly putting my head in my hands. "I don't know; it's just putting it all in perspective. I thought I had something special- it turns out my brain is just compensating cause it's broken. I can't remember crap, so I think super fast instead."

  "It makes you unpredictable. You don't operate inside the norm." She starts writing again. "I'm going to make a few recommendations. First, if you do enter the EMT program, I suggest you enter class 1-B Heroics formally and study combat maneuvers along with them. Because of your age, you won't be allowed to fight quirk to quirk against the more powerful students, and some of the more dangerous training will be off the table, but you can develop attacks and refine your abilities. I think it will be good for you to learn to appreciate the abilities that you really do have. Besides, you've been robbed of it for too long- I think it's time you were allowed to pursue your own interests for once. I am right in assuming that combat and maneuvers interest you, yes?"

  I nod. "But am I really any good? Now that I think back on it all: I ran over rooftops like nothing, without knowing where I was going. I outmaneuvered pros while forgetting most of their names. I excelled at the practical exam while doing terribly on the written, correct?" She just nods. "I beat Charles and his goons, but that's not because I'm a genius; I just think outside the box is all. Heck, because of that, my victory might not even hold... I talk like I did it all myself, but my goal all along was to use law enforcement as my weapon. I guess that means guys like Hawks and the police really did most of the work. All I did was run to them."

  "So?" She sighs and writes something else down. "What? Did you fancy yourself something above a normal person?"

  "I was hoping I was special in some way."

  "Afraid not THAT special," she says. "In fact, as long as I'm tearing down your ridiculous ego, whoever your homeroom teacher is to be, I will have to recommend he give you a grace period."

  I roll my eyes, "I keep getting those."

  "I've noticed." She keeps writing, "This one will be period to not just throw you out while you figure out how to get a handle on kanji and history- at which you suck."

  I blink at her a few times as she just keeps writing. "You... you're this nice old lady, and you can just say things like that... wow, that stung..." I chuckle. "I kind of like you—respect."

  She grins. "I am what I am—the same as you. We will be trying some experiments, you, the principal, and me, trying to match your schooling to your brain. You'll be a special project for Nezu; he enjoys those."

  I smile again, "I guess that means I really am special if I'm going to be working with the principal."

  "Indeed... you poor, poor thing, you're going to be an educational lab rat."

  "I... what?"

  She doesn't look at me as she starts to talk in a way that sounds... not so comforting. "What? Did you think we were going to go easy on you? Nezu will still want his high standards met. If you get his special attention, you'll be working harder than basically anyone in the school—good luck."

  My eyes go wide, and I swallow.

  "You're kind of cute when you're scared," she chuckles.