Nova panted slightly from the fight. Adrenaline rushing through her veins. Her arm burned and her ribs groaned.

Iida's arm braced on the ground right beside Nova's head. Half his body was leaned over hers, his head almost right over hers. Having to tilt up just slightly since she was higher on the ground then he was.

What happened? Did... Did she lose? Did he force her past the line? Nova couldn't see the line. The boy overtop of her took up all of her view. He seemed just as shocked and confused as she did... Both of them were waiting...

"WE HAVE A PERFECT DRAW!!!"

Iida's eyes widened in confusion, looking at the line.

"Both Nova Kurayami and Tenya Iida passed the line at the same moment!! Down to the millisecond!! You guys know what that means!!! After we finish this round of fights they'll have to do a tie breaker to decide who will move on to the semifinals!!!"

Iida sat up and looked around. He seemed to catch a glimpse at the screens showing them falling over each other. Slowed down and zoomed into where her head and his hand clearly passed the line at the exact same moment. He frowned, clearly displeased. But his heart was beating with a rush of excitement he hadn't felt during the festival yet.

That had been a good match. He had gotten to actually fight, actually prove how strong his quirk was. And he still had an opportunity to win! He wondered what they'd do for their tiebreaker, Kirishima and Tetsutestu arm wrestled. But it was likely UA would have them do something simple, but still different to keep things exciting.

He squinted at the image of them passing the line. Wondering for just a moment why it was so blurry. We're the cameras unfocused...

"I'm sorry..." Nova whispered, on the ground beside him. He looked over, eyesight still blurry.

She held something up in her palm, looking nervous. "I think I broke your glasses... Again." Sitting in her palm were a pair of mangles glasses, though this time it was the frames and the lenses that were broken.

Iida looked at them and then back up at her nervous expression. She was a blur of pale skin and red hair through his eyes at the moment, but he could still somehow picture her expression. Maybe it was in the tone of her voice, or the memory of the last time his glasses broke.

He remembered that with a sudden... Guilt. He had been unfair towards her last time, and rude. Angry at her when it was the crowd that pushed them together.

"...That's alright." Iida stood up with a grimace of a smile. "It wasn't your fault, besides... I have plenty."

Nova looked up at him, slight confusion in her expression. He... Wasn't mad?

He extended a hand down to her, a gesture she hadn't seen since her first day of school. When she walked away from his extended hand because she felt it would be a lie to accept friendship before he knew who she was... But now... He did know who she was.

Nova smiled shyly and reached up to take his hand. Allowing him to help her off the ground. Earlier she thought that this fight would make him hate her more, she couldn't understand why all of a sudden...

He didn't completely hate her.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

"What. Were. You. Thinking?!"

Nova looked down in shame, avoiding eye contact with her teacher. She felt guilty and disappointed, as disappointed in herself as Aizawa sounded. She suddenly hated herself.

Nova only had one teacher she knew for a fact didn't hate her... And now he was mad at her. She hated it.

"I'm sorry..." She whispered.

"You went behind our backs! Purposefully! You impersonated Recovery girl and lied. Even though you were directly instructed to stay put and rest!" Aizawa continued. He was really mad... Nova didn't look up at him and he groaned.

"Do you not understand the situation you're in? You were attacked and you're hurt. You can't just do whatever you want! You could have been severely injured!" He hissed out, running a hand through his hair.

The teacher still had a few bandages, over his forehead shadowing his eyes and around his arms. But it wasn't as severe as it had been previously.

"I'm sorry..." Nova whispered again, picking at the skin around her thumb nails. She bit her lip as well. She had known she'd get in trouble, but being lectured by a genuinely mad Aizawa was worse than any lecture from a teacher she'd ever gotten before.

Because... She actually cared about what Mr Aizawa thought of her. Which wasn't a relationship she was used to having with her teachers.

Aizawa let out a long sigh. He felt angry, at her, himself and above all Kain. Several pros that had been patrolling were send out to look for him, along with the police being called. Aizawa wished he'd could also go after the kid. He had been his teacher for an entire year, he'd know better than anyone how to capture him. Not too mention his quirk, it was too dangerous to let him keep it.

But Aizawa himself was still injured from the USJ attack. He wouldn't be able to keep up with the other pros, he'd only slow them down. He came back in after talking to the police only to see Nova brawling with Tenya Iida during their match. Which was meant to be cancelled. He was even more pissed off when he found out that she had done so behind Recovery girl's back!

Nova rubbed her nose and he almost groaned in frustration. Nova wasn't an easy child to lecture. Because she always automatically assumes everything she does is bad anyways. Aizawa preferred it when a kid put up at least a small amount of resistance. But Nova didn't. He could lecture her for breathing and she'd apologize just the same. With just as much genuine guilt.

"Listen to me Nova..." Aizawa sighed. "I'm angry because you're my student and you're hurt. I don't like it when people hurt my students, even if it's you hurting yourself." He said in a calmer tone. Trying his best to get through to her.

It was very obvious to him that previously Nova didn't have teachers that cared about her actual well being. Looking at her school records and seeing how many times she was expelled made that obvious. Originally when he saw those files before the school year started he himself had made a few assumptions.

But honestly having Nova in his class was a dream. She was resilient, a hard worker and talented. Her grades were steady, she wasn't at the front of the pack in that regard but she was smart and made mostly Bs with a few As sprinkled in the mix. She didn't disturb class, she didn't talk back and she didn't usually get into trouble.

How could a kid like that get expelled three times in the span of just a few years?

He looked into it more. The excuses were pathetic.

First it was for starting fights. That in itself seemed unlikely, especially the fact that Nova was eleven when the event supposedly took place.

Second it was for cheating. While Aizawa couldn't disprove this it didn't seem to make sense why she'd cheat if she had consistent grades that weren't perfect... But weren't all that bad either.

Third it was for extreme infringement on the dress code. Which he actually understood perfectly what happened, especially after today. Somehow, thirteen year old Nova managed to get a tattoo on her shoulder, which was a significant violation of Salty bank's dress code. Leading to expulsion. That he couldn't exactly discount because... Well she did break a rule that the school had always had.

Then she attended Junshi, that was of course after she was arrested over the summer for stealing jewelry from a neighbor and served two months in Juvie.

Stealing jewelry seemed to be so out of Nova's character Aizawa had raised his eyebrows when hearing about it. Especially the method.

The neighbor claimed she left her necklaces in her bathroom which had a window facing Nova's own home. When she came back the lock on the window had been picked, a vase on the window seal had been knocked off and broken as someone entered the house through the window. They took the necklaces and then climbed back out.

Why in God's name would a METAL bender need to pick a metal lock, and climb through a window to steal a metal necklace?!

Nova could have simply used her quirk to disable the latch, then pull the necklace through the window towards herself, not breaking the vase and then cleanly locking the window behind herself.

Either Nova was a really shitty burglar.... Or she didn't even do the damn crime.

That question doesn't matter much in court though when she literally confessed to it. Even if it was obvious it wasn't her, a confession was a confession and all the court needs to hear.

"Listen just... You're not in trouble." Aizawa sighed again after a long pause between the two of them. "But we're going to let Iida continue without a tie breaker."

"Okay..." Nova whispered, looking very obviously disappointed. But also ashamed of herself.

"Can I ask you something?"

Nova glanced up and wiped her nose on her sleeve. She seemed to be on the edge of tears, but Aizawa's assurance of her not getting in trouble or expelled had calmed her down. She nodded at him to continue.

"... why'd you do it?" Aizawa asked seriously, leaning forwards just a little. "Why'd you sneak off to your match?"

"...I..." Nova frowned and rubbed her nose again. "...I wanted to win."

Aizawa paused and looked at Nova for a moment. She wanted to win. This was the same girl that had purposefully scored lower in the entrance exams. This was the girl that only fought during her first training exercise for the sake of her teammate's feet. And now... She actually was motivated to win.

"Shit..." Aizawa mumbled under his breath. As much as he liked her shift in confidence, he couldn't exactly go back on his decided punishment. She had broken rules after all, and recovery girl was angry too. "That's good. That's a good thing."

"It is?" Nova asked, tilting her head.

"Yes. Just... Hold onto that feeling for training and stuff. I'm sorry you can't win the sports festival but-"

There was a small knock at the door and a familiar boy with green hair popped his head in. "Um... M-mr Aizawa?"

"Midoriya? What are you doing here?" Aizawa asked with a frown.

"Sorry to interrupt!" Midoriya stammered, staring at Nova for a few moments. "But um... Iida had a family emergency."

"What?" Aizawa asked, standing up. "You mean..."

"He left... He..." Midoriya said with a small frown.

"He dropped out of the festival."