2 and a half years later,

Shota's fresh out of middle school and beginning to walk towards the building where he'll make his dreams come true,

U.A. High school.

He approached the front doors along with tons of other students from different middle schools across Japan. Shota was happy, ecstatic even but his countenance expressed a look of great annoyance and boredom, his eyes were a little strained and had dark circles under them since he had been cramming for the past two weeks for the written exam and so, he was constantly yawning. His hair had grown a little but only by an inch since it grew so slowly but, at least he had also gained some height and some muscle from a steady diet and proper excersizing. He went from 4'7 to 5'1.

His off-putting demeanor may have increased in intensity since some students distanced themselves while walking near him, except for a certain blond boy with spiraled green eyes and orange glasses.

Despite all the changes, the blond recognized Shota.

He kept his promise! Why didn't he call, though?! I'm glad to finally see him in person, he's finally, at last, healthy. So they weren't lying when they said he was eating well! Thank God! I should go up to him and see if he remembers me! Haha! But...why am I so shy to do so all of a sudden?

The blond had been dying to see and speak with Shota again and now that he was given the chance, he froze up, fearful of what might happen, how he might react. Would things go back to how they were? Then again, he couldn't really describe in words or truly remember "how things 'were'". The blond bowed his head and stopped walking to simply watch Shota walk in.

They all sat down in the auditorium and were given papers to look over while the practical exam's format was announced. The blond sat himself in the same row as Shota.

The teens were all told that it was going to be robots. A very physical test.

Concerned for the black-haired boy and his non-physical quirk, he turned to face him but saw that he was emotionless. Then again, it was kinda difficult to tell in the darkness of the room.

The kids then all got up and started heading towards the locker rooms with their backpacks to change into something they can fight in then met up again at the entrance to the fake city in which the exam would be held. Suddenly, the green eyed blond started to get a bit nervous while he was a mix of emotions. He saw the scarf on Shota's shoulders and his determined glare at the door.

How far has he come with it?

Then the count down began.

The doors opened and all the teens ran in. Hizashi noticed the scarf shoot towards a building's vent and it automatically coiled around it and launched the black-haired teen towards it and he landed on the roof.

"Ouch!" The blond heard him yelp since he was so close to the building Shota had harshly collided on.

Looks like he hasn't mastered the landing part completely.

All the robots were down the street and apparently on the other side of the buildings Shota was on since he heard crashing there. He ran in that direction and found Shota lifting and smashing together robots using his scarf. The timer was running down fast, though so, Hizashi drew in a deep breath, just as Shota was lowering himself down from the building he stood atop and screamed.

All robots in the path of his screech were destroyed, all windows were shattered, and the blond saw the black-haired boy get tossed away with great force. When Hizashi stopped screaming, he looked at the damaged, originally with satisfaction, thinking about how many villains he could easily take out, then noticed Shota.

Hizashi ran to him and found he was unconscious, ears bleeding, and had acquired several injuries as well from the blast.

When Shota woke up, his hearing was fixed, bleeding was gone and injuries were healed. He turned to his right and saw some old woman with a needle in her bun and to his left was Hizashi. The blond was tearing up to see Shota awake.

"How do you feel?" He frantically asked.

"Fine." Shota expressed clearly mixed emotions in his dull voice.

"Shota, I'm so, so sorry I hit you with my quirk! I swear I never meant for it to hap-!"

Shota put up his hand like a stop sign to get him to cease talking and it actually worked.

"No, I'm sorry." The black-haired boy refused to make eye contact. He was apologizing, yet still seemed mad at Hizashi for the incident. He turned towards the old lady who was organizing her work.

"Can I go home?" He requested in the same bored tone he had used to speak every other sentence he had spoken to Hizashi with and every time the blond saw his face, it was the exact same tired look.

"Let's check your stability first. Firstly, walk in a straight line." She got off her chair to observe closer once Shota was off the bed and began the walking tests.

"Now follow my finger." And she made various strange lines and shapes with her finger in front of the black-haired boy for his strained eyes to follow. When he finished each test, she went back to her desk and marked off his name, waving him off.

"Alright, you're free to go. Try not to get into any brawls or use your quirk too much during your walk home, Aizawa." The old lady told him. Shota nodded, waving dismissively, slinging his backpack over his shoulder, then exiting the office, Hizashi quickly following suit.

The blond had a plastic bag with him and, just as Shota pocketed his hands and entered a slouched position, Hizashi handed the tangled bundle of fabric to the other boy.

"S-sorry I didn't untangle it! I didn't know when you were gonna wake up and didn't want it to look like I was messing with your stuff and-!" Suddenly, the quiet boy's black eyes shot open, flaring red, his hair rose and the scarf began to float, leaving Hizashi's hand and naturally gravitating towards Shota. The scarf coiled around him, closer and closer, nearly encasing his head then he blinked and it, along with his hair fell limp, perfectly draping his shoulders.

"Woah! Cool!" The blond held his throat, feeling as though a chain had been placed on it. He turned to Shota and was facing those red eyes again and anxiously laughed. Then the boy blinked and faced forward, slouching once again. Hizashi's throat chain had been unlocked. Shota didn't say a word.

"Ehehe, still really like the quiet, huh?" Hizashi desperately tried to make the situation un-awkward.

Shota just shrugged.

"Seems you've gotten a lot of scarf practice in the past two and a half years!" The blond grinned.

"Yup. You?" Shota asked.

"Are you asking what I've been up to? Well, a lot of stuff! Guitar practice is going really well, so is my self-defense classes! We should spar some time!" Hizashi excitedly held up to fists and punched the air like an imaginary opponent.

"Neat." Shota muttered quietly, looking out the window as they neared the shoe lockers.

"You seem really down, Shota, if something's bothering you, you can always talk to me." Hizashi assured, patting him on the back with his usual big grin.

Shota didn't respond. He simply began playing with the black lock of hair that laid between his eyes like he usually does when he's nervous.

The two went to their respective lockers, switched shoes, then started their walk home.

Once they were off school grounds, Shota became more talkative.

"Shota, please, why didn't you ever call or text me? For the rest of middle school I was terrified of something happening to you." Hizashi asked.

"I couldn't remember your number or address when they took my phone away. They specifically did their best to cut off our communication since, supposedly, us being together means bad news." Shota told him, clenching his fists and scowling at the ground, still spoken in the same dull voice.

"Well, now that we are back together," Hizashi began and coiled his arm around Shota's.

"Let's try to spite them by me walking you home every day!" The blond exclaimed.

"Uh, 'Zashi...my train ride home takes hours, meaning it'll be 8 hours for you. I appreciate the little gesture but, I don't like the idea of you walking alone at night. You can walk me to the station, though, if you want." Shota nonchalantly told him.

"Sure." Hizashi sighed. The two continued their walk.

"So, are you still living in that child care facility?" Hizashi asked.

"I'm living with my cousins." He absently muttered.

"Are they jerks too?!" Hizashi asked.

"No. But, seriously, I swear my cousins are ghosts!" Shota declared and Hizashi tilted his head.

"Huh?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I never see them. We were introduced to each other when I first moved in a month ago and I haven't seen them since. I think it's their work hours or something but at least they keep the kitchen stocked." Shota elaborated and Hizashi smiled, thankful.

"At least you have food." Hizashi told him.

"It's basically the same as having my own apartment at 15." Shota looked away.

"Well now I wanna see it!" The excited blond declared.

"There's nothing special about it. It's just an apartment with gross beige walls and, sadly, no cats." Shota groaned.

"Sounds like you've been cat-starved." Hizashi joked.

"No, actually." Shota gave the blond a toothy, wide-eyed grin. It looked like the grin of a psycho but the green eyed boy just nervously laughed it off.

I've never seen him smile like that. That's the creepy grin of a person who doesn't know how to or hasn't grinned in a long time. It's freaking me out! Hizashi thought, nervously.

The black-haired boy returned to his tired neutral face and the blond was so relieved.