Dance to the Rock, Roll with the Flames [Shouko]

The foreigners had arrived! While Shouko was a bit put out to not see any first years from the schools which had attended last year... The new schools which had agreed to attend had her full attention! The Brazilian and Australian schools were a year behind, how would their training programs compare with UAs own? It was a total blank spot, you know? She had all her footage from last year to show how the other schools did things... But these two! They were new, and she didn't have the faintest clue! A problem which could not be allowed to stand! Armed with the undying enthusiasm she had always been known for, Shouko would set forth!

The training grounds were, of course, the natural place to look! While the foreign students had practically free range of the facilities... If she wanted to see them in action, that was the place to go! She wouldn't learn much by stalking the cafeteria, you know! And wasn't it just her luck... Hidden away in a corner of the room, as though to stay out of the way of people who weren't there... Was an unfamiliar girl! Scooooore!

And it was not long after the spotting that the brunette became enthralled. A dance that was like martial arts! Martial arts that was like a dance! She had heard the phrase before, but to see the theory put in practice took the battle analyst's breath away! The smooth way she transitioned from dancing to striking and back... It would not be wrong to suggest that her heart skipped a beat? But just as Shouko was getting into the show, it came to an end. Had she been spotted?

As the other began looking around, she wouldn't think that deeply about it! Bounding forward, the brunette would stand in front of her, chattering excitedly... In Japanese. Hopefully the foreign students had been availed of the translation technology which had been made available to the UA students... If even that could keep up with the energetic first year!

"Heya! I couldn't help but see you training! Capoeira, that was Capoeira, right?" She guessed. Capoeira was a style she was a bit familiar with- It's incorporation of dance and acrobatics was impressive to her! In fact, she had learned a lot from watching videos of that dance-like art! The way the actions flowed together, was a basis of her own Yaogun style! "So pretty! You've trained a lot in it, right?" Don't underestimate an analyst's eye! This sort of thing was impossible to hide from her, the undeniable polish behind the moves!

"En, it's nice to meet you!" The girl would finish with a grin as wide as her face would allow. However, perhaps that was not what stood out the most about her- Which was undeniably her choice of clothes! What she wore was not the school uniform of any of the three schools, but instead, a thick cloth garment that was folded around herself, highly reminiscent of a gi. However, rather than pants, the top itself extended, a single piece of cloth forming both skirt and sleeveless sleeveless shirt. Closer inspection yet would reveal that it was not merely a lack of sleeves- There were no holes at all in the garment, which was a single cloth wrapped about and tied at the waist. Unusual, to say the least.

While her clothes did not betray which school she came from, Shouko's Japanese was too natural to have been from Australia... It would be clear that she was from UA. "Nyehehe, getting warmed up before the tournament? I can't wait! It's gonna be so awesome, you know? Last years was incredible too! I wonder how we'll compare to them? Ahhh, and they're getting a rematch over in England, too! I can't wait to see how everyone has grown!"

A bright smile would spread across Shouko's face at the affirmation! Of course, as a career battle analyst, she had been confident in her guess... But even a professional could make mistakes, you know! "Wow! That's amazing!" At four years old... What had Shouko even been doing? Sleeping? Watching TV? Had she even discovered manga when she was that young!? This was a real martial artist, and the brunette's eyes sparkled at the idea of seeing the results of a decade's practice! She herself had hardly been practicing for more than a year! Although the way she improved, the late start was practically inconsequential.

That said, the imagery of a tiny four year old attempting the smooth movements of the Capoeira style... Did make Shouko chuckle a bit, inappropriately. Fortunately, she was always so chipper, that it would be difficult to tell if she was laughing at something or just under a giggling fit! "Teehee, I'm Iwasaka Shouko, of UA's class 1-A! Nice to meet you, Izakyun!" Even the foreign students were susceptible to Shouko's habit of immediately granting a nickname to those she met! However, it was clear she wasn't much one for formalities, as she returned a broad grin in place of the traditional bow.

Alas, Shouko shared the other's dismay on the next subject. "I know, right? Sure, there's the official footage, but it's just not the same as the stuff you film yourself! I just hope they don't have the same cameraman as last year! Yeesh!" This summed up Shouko's opinion of the official footage of last year's festival. He'd missed all the important stuff! And this year she wouldn't be there to fix it with her own footage... Eh? Had joining UA been a mistake, after all?

Of course, this sudden realization completely ignored that even if she wasn't participating in the Sports Festival, she still couldn't afford to fly to England to see the Exhibition Festival.

However, even without noticing this key fact, Shouko soon forgot about it. Sure, she would miss that one, but she'd get to see this one! And the only matches she couldn't film, she was in! Or ran at the same time as her own. But this time, she had companions to help out! Right? Right?

On second thought, Mianon was also in the tournament, and Hanamin had left... Shouko's camera squad wouldn't be available!

However, of all these thoughts, all Izabel would witness was the rapid warping from sadness, to acceptance, to excitement, to pure horror... And back to excitement! "Nyahaha, I know what you mean! Those senpai are really strong! Tetsuko-senpai and Yumi-senpai especially! It's a shame Darren-senpai left, he would be the one who could challenge those two!" Especially having defeated Yumi once before. He simply had the type advantage. With his quirk, it was nearly impossible to create a gap, and his strength was far more than Yumi's defenses could stop! But that was neither here nor there, as he was gone and Yumi was in England!

"But we first years aren't just for show, you know! We'll steal the show from England by giving it all we've got!" Naturally, she included Izabel in the 'we.' All three schools would display the strengths of their first years! "I'm looking forward to it too! Not a lot of news from Australia or Brazil gets to these parts, so it's a total gap!" Plenty of news came. Shouko just didn't pay attention to any of it. "I can't wait to see it, Izakyun!"

She really couldn't. In fact, she nearly followed up by saying so... But she was getting better! She wouldn't just challenge people to matches randomly anymore! She had to make a good impression as a representative of UA!

But she reaaaaaally wanted to try her hand against that capoeira she saw! A desire which, while held back in her words, was plain to see on her face!