Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Two pairs of steps paused once reaching the main entrance of UA High. One wore black pantyhose and regular brown school shoes whilst the other sported black polished formal shoes.

“Dad, you didn’t have to come with me right up to the gate.” The girl sighed, running a hand through her dark curls.

The man simply grinned at his daughter. “Yes, I did. It’s your first day at UA. I’d feel guilty if I didn’t accompany you.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Hmm. Sure.”

He sighed fondly. “Listen little spider, this is the school your mother went to, it’s how she started her journey and I just...wanted to be with you for this little moment alright.”

She looked at her father’s eyes, the melancholy they held as he gazed at the large H-shaped building. Her father’s eyes were bright cyan like hers but, in that moment, they seemed a little darker.

“You should’ve just said that from the beginning.” She leaned on his arm, providing as much comfort as she could.

“I was trying not to make things sad.” He turned towards her, a soft smile on his face. “It’s your day, not mine Kumoroi.”

Kumoroi smiled as she felt her father’s embrace, warmth enveloping her. “She’d be so proud of you.”

“Thanks dad.” She replied, pulling back from him, now holding his hands. “I should probably get going.”

Her father sighed deeply. “Yeah, I know. Report during dinner?”

“Would never miss it.” She grinned and let go of him.

As Kumoroi walked to her classroom, she couldn’t help but take note of some of them. A girl with pink dreadlocks fiddling with some piece of machinery in her hands excitedly, a tall blond guy talking cheerfully with his pointy-eared buddy with an anxious demeanor, a guy with a damn lego for a head. He didn’t have a face, but she could tell he was nervous once her sensitive ears caught his heart rate.

UA truly had a little bit of everything. Kumoroi only prayed that the ‘decent’ part of everything was in her class, remembering someone from the Entrance Exam. She pushed the door to her classroom open.

“Fuck my life.”

Now, you’re probably wondering why that thought, well it’s very simple actually. Right before the practical part of the Entrance Exam, she noticed this boy very shamelessly checking her out as she stretched and unfortunately heard his little ‘comments’ towards her body that he was mumbling to someone else.

That perverted guy? He’s in her class. Short as hell, pointy nose and a hair made up of purple blobs, she thinks. She had no idea what his hair actually was, but she knew it wasn’t normal hair from how she vaguely remembered him pulling them off and more popping back in their place and she absolutely knew she didn’t want those or him to touch her. Ever.

Her eight eyes examined the room, taking note that most of the class was already present and seated, 20 to be exact. There were little conversations here and there but nothing particularly notable. That is until she felt some people looking at her, including the damn pervert.

Kumoroi took a deep breath. “Good morning, everyone.” She said as a general greeting.

“Good morning fellow student!”

She jumped a little at the sudden loudness of one of her classmates. She looked at the guy as he was approaching her. He was a little taller than her with broad shoulders and was probably really built under the uniform. Short dark blue hair, blue eyes, square jaw and square glasses. For some reason his face seemed familiar to her.

“I am Tenya Iida from the Somei Private Academy, it is a pleasure to meet you.” He greeted while, for some reason, moving his hands in a stiff manner.

Somei? She remembered her father talking about how expensive it was when they were picking a middle school for her, but she ended up going to a different private academy. This guy was most definitely loaded, at least his parents were. Not to mention she was almost sure she’d heard the surname Iida before. Maybe a hero family? She reached the conclusion that she might remember once she sees his quirk and put that thought aside.

“Kumoroi Nakamura, likewise.” She replied, sporting a polite smile.

Kumoroi heard the door open, which caught Iida’s attention. She took the opportunity and slipped right past him, straight to her seat. A girl with ginger hair snorted at her move.

Kumoroi had a seat in the back, thankfully. She looked to her right and noticed it was empty, for now at least and at her left sat a very familiar face, the dual coloring of his hair was a very easy reminder. It was Endeavor’s youngest son; she didn’t recall his name, but she’d probably hear it later on.

Kumoroi decided to allow herself to relax until class begun. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, trying to drown out the anxious heartbeats she could hear across the room. She hummed one of her favorite songs. It was working, this could be a good day.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

She bit back a groan.

Kumoroi opened her eyes and looked at the source of the noise. Tenya Iida was on full scolding mode on a guy more to the front who had his feet on his desk. The guy had spiky ash blond hair and sharp red eyes; he also wasn’t wearing his tie. Bold move for the first day.

She heard the door open as Iida kept scolding the guy. “Take your feet off of that desk now!” 

The ash blond gave him a cocky look. “Huh?”

“It’s the first day and you’re already disrespecting this academy by scuffing school property, you cretin.” He said sternly.

Kumoroi eyed the guy who had just arrived. The poor boy was somewhat hiding by the door only staring in disdain at the altercation between Iida and the other guy.

“You’re kidding me, right? Your old school put a stick up your ass or were you born with it?” The ash blond shot out, arrogance clear in his tone.

That last comment made Iida stiffen and pause, probably rethinking his approach on the situation.

He placed a hand on his chest. “Let’s start over, I’m Tenya Iida from the Somei Private Academy.” He greeted calmly, trying to defuse the situation.

The other guy had a different agenda. “Somei, huh? So, you think you’re better than me.” He grinned at Iida. “I’m gonna have fun tearing you a new one.”

Iida gasped in shock. “You would threaten me? Your own classmate.”

Personally, Kumoroi thought he might be overreacting a little, but she didn’t dare voice those thoughts. She just sighed lowly and rubbed her temples.

“Are you sure you’re in the right place?” Iida questioned the other guy.

The guy scoffed and turned away from him, towards the door, both guys noticing the audience there and pausing.

“It’s him.” Iida said. That prompted everyone in the class to notice the new arrival. She heard his heartbeat spike up at the sudden attention and she felt a little sorry for him.

The green-haired boy gasped softly and blushed nervously. “Uhm, hi!” He squeaked out.

Iida started to approach him by the door in robotic movements. “Good morning. My name is Tenya Iida from th- “ 

Kumoroi idly wondered if Iida introduced himself so formally to everyone on a daily basis or if it was simply because it was the first day in a new school.

“Yeah I-I know.” That made Iida freeze, and the boy gave him a tired smile. “I’m Izuku Midoriya, it’s super nice to meet you.”

“Midoriya.” Iida sounded off, all serious. “You realized there was something more to the practical exam, didn’t you?”

Her curiosity peaked, Kumoroi wondered what he was going on about.

“You must be very perceptive, and I completely misjudged you.” Iida admitted, talking as if it pained him to say that and making arm chopping movements. Seriously were his fingers glued together or something. “I admit as a student you’re far superior to me.” 

Considering how Midoriya’s only response was to sweat drop, she doubted he believed that as much as Iida did.

She could faintly hear someone’s excited steps close to the door.

“Hey, I recognize that messed-up hair.” She heard an excited female voice. “Falling boy.”

Midoriya turned towards the brown-haired girl with pink cheek marks standing behind him by the door and gasped in surprise.

Kumoroi couldn’t help but snort at the situation. This was becoming more ridiculous by the second and she knew she wasn’t the only one who thought so. As the girl by the door kept gushing to Midoriya, who responded all pink and bashful to all she was saying, she noticed a dark-haired guy muffling his chuckles with his hand, a blond in her row holding his desk and shaking in silent laughter and a couple of idle snorts and giggles across the room.

Except for the guy who was previously arguing with Iida. He was staring, no, glaring at Izuku Midoriya for a while before he scowled and turned away.

“What was that about?” She turned her attention back towards Midoriya, Iida and the brunette.

“What do you think we’re doing today besides orientation?” The brunette questioned, moving her arms in excitement as Midoriya covered his flushed face. “I wonder what our teachers are like I can’t wait to meet everybody.”

“If you’re just here to make friends, you can pack up your stuff now.”

Kumoroi stiffened at the new voice, along with everyone else in the classroom. She managed to partly see the source of that voice. It was a man lying on the hallway floor in a yellow sleeping bag.

“Welcome to UA’s Hero Course.” He said tiredly before opening up his sleeping bag a little, to take out a juice pouch and drink it.

“What the hell?!” She imagined that was the general thought flying around.

The man got up and got out of his sleeping bag. “It took 8 seconds before you all shut up. That’s not gonna work, time is precious. Rational students would understand that.”

Kumoroi guessed that this guy was their homeroom teacher, why? Because she had enhanced hearing and if this guy managed to just pop up without her or any of her classmates noticing until he made himself known, it was probably because he was a pro-hero and one good at stealth. The nearly all black clothing also helped her theory, although she was concerned about his deep eyebags and tired expression.

He turned towards the class. “Hello, I’m Shota Aizawa. Your teacher.”

She heard a couple of gasps and held back a smile, after hearing her theory confirmed.

“Right, let’s get to it.” He pulled out a P.E. uniform from his sleeping bag. “Put these on and head outside.”

That raised a couple of questions. Shouldn’t they be heading towards orientation?

“What? A quirk assessment test?”

Mr. Aizawa had decided to gather all of his students outside for a quirk assessment test instead of hurrying them to orientation like a regular teacher. It was probably a Hero Course thing for him to get a general idea as to where we stand and what we can do.

“But what about orientation? We’re gonna miss it.” Questioned the cute brunette.

“If you really wanna make the big leagues, you can’t waste time on pointless ceremonies.” Mr. Aizawa responded, eliciting a few gasps. “Here at UA, we’re not tethered to traditions.” He glanced at the students over his shoulder. “That means that I get to run my class however I see fit.”

Kumoroi noticed a few nervous expressions as the teacher kept talking. “You’ve been taking standardized tests most of your lives, but you never got to use your quirks in physical exams before.” He showed the program on his phone.

“The country is still trying to pretend we were all created equal by not letting those with the most power excel.” Kumoroi pursed her lips as she remembered that she wasn’t allowed to play sports because of her abilities and decided to get into acrobatics and dance classes instead. 

“It’s not rational. One day the Ministry of Education will learn.” Aizawa brought the attention towards the ash blond. “Bakugo, you managed to get the most points on the Entrance Exam.”

She raised her eyebrows in surprise at that new piece of information. In her acceptance letter All Might had informed her that she’d placed second best on the Entrance Exam. She’d been wondering who placed first, now she knew. She wondered what his quirk was, he’d been emanating a consistent smell of burnt caramel. Either he really liked caramel, or it had something to do with his quirk.

Bakugo stepped up to the designated spot to demonstrate his throw with a softball. “Anything goes just stay in the circle.” Mr. Aizawa informed blandly. “Go on. You’re wasting our time.”

Bakugo gave the teacher a look and stretched his arms. “Alright, you asked for it.”

Kumoroi kept her eight eyes fully focused on him. That was a bad idea.

“DIE!” Bakugo yelled, an explosion going off at the same time he threw the softball.

The blast took her off guard and the light and bursting sound overwhelmed her senses, she blinked out the spots in her vision and took a step back to ground herself. She could hardly listen to what Mr. Aizawa was saying as she felt a hand on her back, helping her steady herself.

She turned towards a girl with green hair in a braid and brown eyes giving her a concerned look. “Are you okay?”

Kumoroi gave her a soft smile. “Yeah, just took me by surprise.”

The girl was about to respond before many gasps arose in the little crowd. “Holy shit.” She mumbled in disbelief.

Kumoroi blinked at the reactions surrounding her before she noticed the number on Mr. Aizawa’s phone.

“Holy shit indeed.”

“Whoa, 705 meters. Are you kidding me?”

“I want a go. That looks like fun!” 

“Aw, hell yes! This is gonna be awesome.”

“This is what I’m talking about, using our quirks as much as we want.”

“So, this looks fun huh?” Mr. Aizawa cut in through the excitement. “You have 3 years here to become a hero. You think it’s all gonna be games and playtime? Idiots.” He grinned in a way that unsettled her a little. “Today you’ll compete in 8 physical tests to gauge your potential, whoever comes in last has none and will be expelled immediately.”

Noises of surprise rang through the air.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

 “Like I said, I get to decide how this class runs, understand?” Mr. Aizawa commented, pushing his bangs back to show better his tired eyes. “If that’s a problem, you can head home right now.” 

She didn’t know any of her classmates yet, but she knew that they had to earn their spot in UA for them to be there; yes, even the perv. Was this teacher seriously going to put someone’s efforts to waste right on the first day. He was putting everyone through the ringer, why was he doing this? 

The brunette from earlier voiced Kumoroi’s thoughts and was met with a confronting answer.

“That isn’t fair!” She’d said, heartbeat racing.

“Oh, and you think natural disasters are?” The dark-haired teacher responded, causing gasps to ring out again. The ‘shocks’ were getting tiring in Kumoroi’s opinion. “Power hungry villains? Hmm? Or catastrophic accidents that wipe out whole cities? No. The world is full of unfairness. It’s a hero’s job to try and combat that unfairness. If you wanna be a pro, you’re gonna have to push yourself to the brink. For the next 3 years, UA will throw one terrible hardship after another at you. So go beyond, plus ultra style. Show me it’s no mistake that you’re here.”

As much as Aizawa had a point, Kumoroi couldn’t help but wonder if maybe that threat of expulsion was all a trick to make them work harder. For the sake of whoever got last place, she wished it was.

Test 1: 50-meter dash

Tenya Iida and a girl with long dark green hair name Asui went to their places. Now that she’d taken the time to pay attention, Kumoroi noticed that Iida’s uniform pants only went to his knees instead of his ankles like everybody else, it was probably due to the metal holes on his calves like an engine’s.

“Runners, on your marks.” Announced the robot at the finish line. “Ready.”

“Wait, an engine?”

POP!

Iida shot off the start line, speeding along with smoke coming off his legs and in the blink on an eye went through the finish line. “3.09 seconds.” Said the robot.

The surname Iida was suddenly a lot more memorable. Tenya Iida was the latest in the line of speed-based heroes in his family. Considering how similar he was to his older brother was Ingenium, she should’ve probably guessed sooner.

Asui wasn’t exactly slow either, 5.58 seconds was pretty good for a 50-meter dash except she didn’t exactly ‘dash’, she hopped across the finish line. Maybe some sort of frog-related quirk.

“Well, he’s definitely in his element.” She heard Aizawa comment to himself. “But speed won’t help him in every test.”

Aizawa was right, the second test relied on strength and the seated toe-touch on flexibility, amongst other things.

The cute brunette (whose name she heard was Uraraka) and a ginger girl named Suarashi were called upon and went to their spaces. As Suarashi stretched some more, Uraraka was more focused on her clothes.

“I’ll lighten up my clothes.” She touched her shirt, the point of contact emitting a small pink glow. “Oh, and my shoes too.”

Lighten up? What did she mean by that? Did her quirk make things lighter?

POP!

Kumoroi shook her head, she needed to get her head in the game and prepare for when it was her turn instead of listening to idle talk. She knew how she was gonna use her quirk on this challenge, it was actually quite simple and decided to stretch to get ready, whilst successfully ignoring the stare and mumbles of the midget menace.

“Nakamura, Shoji, your turn.” Aizawa called out.

She walked to her spot, beside her was a large guy, clearly over 6 feet, with white hair, a blue mask covering the lower half of his face and six arms which connected like a membrane.

Cool-looking dude.

“Runners on your marks.” Said the robot. Kumoroi bent her knees a little like she’d jump and had her wrist out in front of her, her gaze focused on a nearby tree.

“It has to be long enough to reach the tree but short enough to pull me forward instead of stagnating. Make it a stretchy one.”

“Ready.”

POP!

SHLICK!

Kumoroi willed her wrist to release a web which reached a tree and allowed the web to pull her forward quickly, feeling as though she was gliding on air. She stopped a little over the finish line, her feet skidding on the ground.

“4.21 seconds.” 

She smiled to herself and ripped off the web still attached to her wrist.

Kumoroi Nakamura. Quirk: Spider. She can do almost anything a spider can. She has heightened senses, increased strength, speed, agility and flexibility and can release webs from her wrists.

Shoji reached the finish line a couple seconds after her, having ran normally but she didn't really pay attention to his score and simply went back to the group.

“That was awesome.” The green-haired girl told her. “Yo-“

“Jiro, Kanzaki.” Aizawa called.

She froze and gave Kumoroi a wobbly smile. “My turn.” She turned and headed to her place.

Test 2: Grip strength

Kumoroi stared at the person on her right, Izuku Midoriya. He had his eyes closed whilst holding a grip receiver in his right hand, probably trying to focus. His erratic heartbeat told her he was nervous, which was valid considering the possible stakes.

The beep from the machine made him open his eyes and he looked at it and seemed disappointed. 

“Wow! You hit 540 kilograms?” She heard and looked up to see the one being talked to was Shoji. “You’re such a beast!”

That particular comment made Midoriya seem more dejected.

Kumoroi looked away when he glanced her direction, holding her receiver to her chest and hiding the number written on her grip receiver.

She later showed Aizawa the result: 3175 kg.

She smiled sheepishly at Aizawa whilst his eyebrows raised slightly in surprise and the blond guy behind her nearly dropped his grip receiver.

Test 5: Ball throw

Kumoroi watched as Uraraka used her quirk on the softball she held. She threw it happily, everyone watching it rise in the air, disappearing from view, never to be seen again. She wondered what Uraraka’s score would be.

Aizawa showed the result on his phone to everyone.

“INFINITY!?” Nearly everyone exclaimed, including her.

“That’s insane. How’s that possible?” 

“No way.”

Chatter sparked from her classmates. Kumoroi glanced at Midoriya who looked somewhat terrified and conflicted. She knew this had to be stressful and she had yet to see him use his quirk but he was more physically apt than several people, logically, he would make it.

He would unless Aizawa was basing his grading system on how versatile they are at using their quirks rather than just their own fitness, in which case, he could very well be doomed.

“Nakamura!”

She grabbed a softball and went to the designated spot. She could throw the ball then use her webs to swing it around before releasing it but she wasn’t sure if it would give her a better score than a normal throw, not to mention that the web could rip itself off the ball if she swung it too hard. Should she risk it?

“What’s she waiting for?” She heard someone ask.

Kumoroi took a deep breath and decided. If it was versatily Aizawa wanted, it was versatility he was gonna get.

She rolled her right arm and wrapped the softball with a web, leaving some string behind for her to grab onto. She swung the ball in a wide arc in a horizontal manner before releasing the web from the grasp, letting the softball soar through the wind with its web trail. Once she saw it hit the ground she turned towards her teacher.

Aizawa turned his phone and showed Kumoroi and everyone the result.

“701 meters? That definitely beats my junior high record.”

Kumoroi smiled, pleased with herself, as she heard some gasp and walked back to the group, standing next to Kanzaki, the greenette she’s been talking to today.

“You’ve been getting amazing scores all day.” Kanzaki pointed out. “You definitely won’t be the one in last place.”

“True, but neither will you. “ She replied easily, watching Shoji throw his softball. “You did pretty good in the repeated sidesteps and from what you told me about your quirk you’ll probably rock this test too.”

Kanzaki pursed her lips. “Is doing well in two tests really enough though?”

That comment caught the attention of the red-head in front of them. “That’s kinda hard to say.” He smiled at Kanzaki. “Everyone’s trying their best so just do the same.”

She cracked a smile, showing her dimples. “That’s sweet…uh…Kirishima, right?”

He grinned at her showing his sharp teeth. “Yup, and you?”

“Kanzaki!”

She gestured vaguely to Aizawa once he called her before walking towards the spot.

Kanzaki stood there for a couple of seconds and Kumoroi watched as several glowing green spheres of energy the size of soccer balls were produced from her hand one by one. The spheres floated around and positioned themselves behind her, hovering.

Kanzaki took a deep breath and threw the softball as hard as she could…which wasn’t exactly much. Kanzaki stared avidly at her softball as one sphere stood close to the ball as the others hung back, that one exploded propelling the ball forward.

Kumoroi watched as Kirishima’s eyes shone with amazement at that.

A different sphere did the same once the softball started to descent, followed by another and so on. Once the last one exploded and the ball finally hit the ground she turned to Aizawa. He showed everyone the score.

“1092 meters?” Kanzaki squeaked out.

Hikari Kanzaki! Quirk: Plasma Grenade! She can create spheres of concentrated plasma that she can move around and blow up on command!

Aizawa nodded. “Now move along.”

“Ah, yes.” She curtly nodded at the teacher before walking to Kumoroi and Kirishima with a wide smile.

“That was so manly!” Kirishima grinned at Kanzaki.

Kumoroi raised an eyebrow. “Manly?”

Kirishima beamed at her. “Yeah, manly.”

Kanzaki didn’t seem to notice that interaction, her eyes focused somewhere else before she turned back to them.

“What is it?” The spider girl turned her head in the direction Kanzaki was looking before.

“It’s nothing.” Kanzaki waved her arm at them both.

Bakugo was staring at their little group, though she was guessing it was more at Kanzaki due to her recent display of explosive power. Was he interested in her because of the similar properties of their quirks or did she think of her as a threat?

Once he noticed her downright staring back at him and Kanzaki glancing to him every five seconds he looked away with a huff. It was probably her second guess.

“And you were nervous, you definitely did a lot better than me.” Kirishima commented, completely unaware, wrapping an arm around Kanzaki’s shoulders, to which she moved away a little.

“Too close too fast.” Kanzaki said, prompting the redhead to remove his arm altogether and a lot of apologies, from both parties.

Kumoroi smiled at their interaction, watching friendships develop was interesting. 

“Alright time to give you your results.” Aizawa announced monotonously as everyone convened. “I’ve ranked you all from best to worst, you should probably have a good idea of your standing already. I’ll just pull up the whole list, it’s not worth going each individual score.”

Kumoroi did her best to drown out the nervous heartbeats from most of her classmates and focused on the holographic scoreboard that appeared in front of them.

“First is Momo Yayorozu, the girl with the ponytail and creation quirk I think, then Endeavor’s son, oh right, his name’s Shoto. Bakugo is third, not surprised, he may be an aggressive dick but he did pretty well.”

“I’m fourth.” She said, her eyes still scanning the list.

“Hmm eighteen.” Sero mumbled to himself. He’d joined their little group once he’s truly taken note of the similarities between parts of his and Kumo’s quirks.

“Twelfth, dead center.” Kanzaki sighed in relief before turning to Kirishima. “And you’re tenth.”

Kirishima grinned as Kumoroi took note of who was dead last. Izuku Midoriya.

She turned towards him, his dejected face standing out to her as she fought back the urge to hold him in her arms and comfort him. Aizawa turned down the hologram. “And I was lying, no one’s going home.”

Everyone froze. Several blank stunned expressions characterizing the group.

“That was just a rational deception to make sure you gave it your all in the tests.” He explained with a grin which still unsettled her.

Noises of surprise rang from a lot of her classmates, Midoriya, Uraraka and Iida being the most notable in her opinion.

“I’m surprised the rest of you didn’t figure that out. I’m sorry, I guess I probably should have said something.” Yaoyorozu said to the three.

Several people gave her the stink eye and Kumoroi kind of felt guilty, she’d considered that option in the beginning but hadn’t voiced it to anyone either.

“That was pretty nerve-racking huh?” Sero told them.

“Nah I’m always down for a challenge.” Kirishima replied with a determined grin.

“It was interesting.” She admitted with a small grin. Kanzaki frowned at her.

Kanzaki gave them a sour look. “You two are adrenaline junkies.” 

“That’s it, we’re done for the day.” Aizawa announced, starting to walk away. “Pick up a syllabus in the classroom. Read it over before tomorrow morning.”

As they were walking past the gates, Kumoroi, Kirishima and Sero watch as Kanzaki sprints over to a girl with a peacock tail. If she’d ran like that during the long-distance run test, she would have been ranked higher.

“Kira!” Kanzaki nearly crashes into her but manages to simply hug her instead.

Kira laughs and hugs her back. “Hey Kari.” Kumoroi and the boys decided to approach them.

“Hey there. Who’s this Kanzaki?” Sero asked.

Kanzaki turns to them with a sheepish smile, as if just realizing what she’d done. “This is Kira Hayashi, a friend from middle school. Kira, these are Kumoroi Nakamura, Eijiro Kirishima and Hanta Sero from my class.”

Hayashi smiles at them. “Hi.” Hayashi was a little shorter than Kanzaki, with big soft teal eyes, a honey skin tone and shoulder-length hair which went from blue to green like the large peacock tail trailing behind her.

“Nice to meet you.” Kumoroi smiles back.

“Same here.” She replies before turning towards Kanzaki. “You already got new friends on day one? Should I be concerned?” She questioned with a teasing tone.

The greenette snorted. “Of course not.”

As they continued their walk to the train station, Kirishima spoke up. “Which course are you on Hayashi?”

“Same as you, hero course.” She replied.

“So, you’re in class 1-B then.” Kumoroi deduced and got a nod as an answer.

Hayashi turned towards Kanzaki. “I didn’t see you at orientation, where were you?”

Kanzaki let out a groan. “Our homeroom teacher made us take a quirk assessment test.”

“You’re still salty?” Kirishima chuckled.

“Of course, I’m still salty. It happened today.” Kanzaki puffed her cheeks.

Kumoroi let out a laugh. “You’re adorable.” She looked away a little embarrassed and Hayashi raised an eyebrow at the exchange.

“Sucks to be you guys.” Hayashi commented. She was met with several protests.

Chapter Text

SLAM!

“I AM HERE…”

Hikari jumped at the sudden broad voice; the attention of the class directed towards the person that had just came in.

“...Coming through the door like a hero!” Godforsaken All Might leaned on the door, sporting his trademark broad smile.

Sounds of amazement went through the class.

“I can’t believe it’s really All Might.”

“So, he is a teacher, this year’s gonna be totally awesome.” Kirishima grinned.

“Agreed.” Hikari nodded. She saw him in the message she received saying she had gotten into UA but seeing the All Might in person? She felt a shiver of excitement go down her spine.

“Hey look, is he wearing his Silver Age costume?”

“I’m getting goosebumps it’s so retro.”                              

All Might marched to his stand. “Welcome to the most important class at UA High! Think of it as Heroing 101!” He introduced with his cheerful baritone. “Here you will learn the basics of being a pro and what it means to fight in the name of good. Let’s get into it!” He flexes before showing the class a card written ‘BATTLE’. “Today’s lesson will pull no punches!”

Hikari felt her stomach drop. She knew that when she chose this career, she’d have to fight others and she was willing to do it, she’d even practiced with Kira in the months leading up to the entrance exam, but this was different, she knew Kira and what she was capable of, she could not say the same for her new classmates. She prayed that it wouldn’t be particularly harsh, at least, not today.

She couldn’t say some of her classmates felt the same way though.

“Fight training.” Bakugo grinned from his seat to her left.

“This is gonna be awesome.” Kirishima practically vibrated in excitement.

All Might continued his boisterous introduction. “But one of the keys to being a hero is…” He dramatically pointed at a wall. “Looking good!” The slots on the wall came out to reveal several cases with numbers going 1 to 24, to represent their class seats she guessed. “These were designed for you based on your quirk registration forms and the requests you sent in before school started.”

The excitement in the room only kept escalating including Hikari’s once costumes were brought up. She had already had a general idea of what she wanted from the beginning, the details had been the funky part, and she really hoped it had turned out well. What were the chances of some sort of screw-up or that it wouldn’t fit well or-

“Hey, Kanzaki.” She felt someone poke her shoulder.

Hikari turned towards Kirishima. “Uh…yeah?”

“You good? You kinda zoned out.” He asked starting to stand.

“I’m fine.” She gave him a tight-lipped smile.

His brows furrowed but he didn’t question more. “Ok then, see ya girls at Training Ground Beta.” Hikari blinked at Kirishima as he took his case.

“Training Ground Beta? Where is that again?”

She watched some of her classmates collecting their cases before she stood up and did the same, turning on her heel and following Nakamura to the changing room.

“What’s with the crown?”

Hikari jumped at the sudden question. She turned towards the voice; the girl in front of her had short straight purple hair, purple eyes, red marks painted under her eyes and her earlobes looked like aux cords.

“It’s complicated.” She replied simply, lightly adjusting the crown.

Yeah, not really an answer. But how the hell was she going to explain that it was because her initial option for her hero name was something as cringy as ‘Queen Emerald’ and that she lowkey had it in mind when she was designing her suit and it kind of just made the cut…and she really wanted a crown for no actual logical reason.

Well, that and it’d be pretty cool to whip it out of her head and smack someone with it mid-battle. She placed in the back of her mind the mental image of her flipping onto the scene, rolling down, taking the crown off her head with flair, her hair flowing with the wind, turning and seamlessly hitting someone with the crown before promptly placing back on her head with a satisfied smile.

“Focus! You’re in the middle of a conversation remember?”

The girl raised an eyebrow. “Okay? But won’t it fall pretty easily?”

Hikari stared at her as she ran her hand across the golden crown sitting on her head, before pulling on the green elastic band going from it and under her head and letting it snap back with a resounding smack.

The room went quiet for a moment as all the girls turned to look at her before going back to getting dressed. Hikari flushed and stared straight at her locker, neatly folding her clothes to distract herself from the embarrassment.

“Why did I do that?! Couldn’t I just have shown it in a more conspicuous way?”

“I didn’t even notice that was there.” The girl said tilting her head to get a better look.

A smile tugged at her lips. “That’s…kind of the point, I asked the designer to make it as close as possible to my hair color so it would blend in.”

“Cool.” She nodded before turning back to her locker.

Hikari sighed and looked herself over. A green leather jumpsuit with a large golden four-pointed star on her front and back, short puffy sleeves, yellow belt, shorts, green boots, yellow palm less gloves only connecting to her middle fingers and of course the golden crown on her head littered with little green gems.

She couldn't help the little laugh that escaped her lips. She was wearing an actual hero suit, one she practically designed; how she dreaded remembering the day she sent it in, her mom and sisters had had a million suggestions for it before she had the final product and now, she was wearing it.

She’d had so many doubts about how it’d be like. If the crown might’ve been too heavy, if the suit would fit well, if it would fit her well, if the boots would feel comfortable, well, she was breaking them in, but it didn’t bother her as much as it might’ve.

Maybe she could do this, she could actually become a hero. She already looked the part, one step was done, she just had a shit ton left.

“We better start going ladies.” Nakamura announced, her voice bringing Hikari out of her thoughts. “I can hear the boys starting to leave.”

Hikari took a good look at her, black skintight bodysuit made of what she thought was spandex with a red spider insignia on her chest, red lines going from the spider’s limbs to her shoulders and becoming a web weaving across her muscular arms stopping at her wrists. She had a little red webbing on her neckline too and she could see red coming from under her feet along with a black mask with a red outline that covered all of her eyes.

Instead of letting her brain truly acknowledge how hot she looked, Hikari opted for silently nodding and following her and the other girls out of the locker room.

“They say the clothes make the pros young ladies and gentlemen and behold you are the proof.” All Might told the students as they entered Training Ground Beta. “Take this to heart, from now on you are all heroes-in-training.”

“I’m getting all amped up, you look so cool!” The hero complimented everyone, and Hikari smiled to herself. “Now, shall we get started you bunch of newbies.”

Training Ground Beta was some sort of mock city with tall buildings and apartments. The buildings seemed to almost loom over her as she walked.

Hikari did her best to ignore the pressure on her chest and instead focused on her friend. “Hey, Kirishima what’s with the shirtless look?”

The red head turned and gave her a sheepish smile. “My quirk tends to ruin shirts so…” He gestured to his toned chest and belly.

She nodded with a hum. “You still look pretty cool though.”

Kirishima grinned, showing off his sharp teeth. “Thanks, you too. Didn’t think you’d be the kind for such a flashy look.”

Hikari sighed softly. She’d already half-expected that kind of reaction given her reserved nature, but she thought it’d be a while before someone pointed that out.

“It just matches the theme my quirk has.” She gave him the streamline answer before deciding better. “I also like wearing bright colors and even if I don’t seem like it, I wanna be seen so…yeah.”

His eyebrows raised and he went quiet for a moment before giving her a soft smile. “Yeah, I get what you mean.”

She smiled back at him as some of the tightness on her chest eased.

All Might cleared his throat. “Now that you’re ready, it’s time for combat training!” He announced.

A guy in a white suit of armor raised his hand. “Sir, this is the fake city from our entrance exam. Does that mean that we’ll be conducting urban battles again?”

”Wait, that’s Iida? Didn’t recognize him.”

“Not quite, I’m going to move you two steps ahead.” All Might replied, showing two fingers. “Most of the villain fights you see on the news take place outside. However, statistically speaking, run-ins with the most dastardly evildoers take place indoors.”

So much for feeling a little ease, the pressure came back ten-fold. She never used her quirk indoors, why would she? She’s a walking grenade launcher and now she’d have to figure it out how to minimize her damage on the fly. But what if she does too little and then doesn’t manage to land a proper attack or-

“The best training is what you get on the battlefield!” The greatest hero’s regular bolster broke through her mind. “But remember, you can’t just punch a robot this time. You’re dealing with actual people now.”

”Wait, what did I miss?!”

The questions only flooded both through her own head and her classmates who’d actually heard the hero.

“Sir, will you be the one deciding who wins?”

“Will there be some sort of time limit?” She heard Nakamura ask.

“How much can we hurt the other team?”

“Do we need to worry about the losers getting expelled like earlier?”

“Will you be splitting us up based on chance or comparative skill?”

“Isn’t this cape trés chic?” She snorted at that last one.

All Might seemed frustrated at the bunch of questions but simply pulled out a little notebook. “Listen up, the situation is this.” Hikari made sure to pay attention this time. “The villains have hidden a nuclear missile somewhere in their hideout. The heroes must try to foil their plans. To do that, the good guys either have to catch the evildoers or recover the weapon. Likewise, the bad guys succeed if the protect their payload or capture the heroes.”

“Sounds like a simple enough setup but I’ll need to be careful because if this was the real deal, my quirk would be pretty dangerous.”

“Time’s limited, and we’ll choose teams by drawing lots!” The hero showed everyone a yellow box written ‘Lots’.

“Teams? Oh man I hope I get paired up with someone cooperative, like Nakamura.”

“Isn’t there a better way?” Iida asks.

“Think about it! Pros often have to team up with heroes from other agencies on the spot, so maybe that’s the reason we’re seeing that here.” She heard Midoriya provide an answer.

“I see, life is a random series of events.” Iida conceded before bowing to All Might. “Excuse my rudeness.”

“This guy’s real serious about everything.”

All Might turned away. “No sweat. Let’s draw!”

Hikari stared at the small ball written ‘E’ and looked around before hearing a loud laugh behind her. She turned around to look at Kirishima grinning widely at her, showing her the ball in his hands identical to hers.

“Yes!” Hikari cheered and pumped her fist in the air. She was with someone she’d interacted with before; it would at least be less awkward than with someone she’d be having a first conversation.

She looked for Nakamura and saw her nose scrunching at the tiny guy with purple blobs in his head. She immediately felt bad for her when she noticed him staring straight at her chest and nod. As much as she agreed that those were some fantastic boobs, she wasn’t going to just stare at them, that was rude and creepy.

She mouthed a “good luck” to her to which Nakamura just shook her head, if Hikari could see her eyes, they probably would be showing her deadpan expression.

“Sero’s paired with Suarashi.” Kirishima hummed.

“Suarashi? Who’s that?” She asked turning towards where she thought Sero was. She saw him talking with a ginger-haired girl. “Oh, ginger. ‘Kay.”

Kirishima snorted. “Ginger?”

She shrugged. ”What? It’s literally day 2. I don’t know everyone’s names.”

“Fair.”

All Might rummaged through two boxes written “Hero” and “Villain”. “I declare that the first teams to fight will be…” He pulled out a white ball with an “A” from the first box and a black one with a “D” from the second one. “These guys!”

Hikari let out a sigh of relief. She didn’t want to go first; she’d rather see how some of her classmates fared before getting into it.

“Team A will be the heroes; team D will be the villains.” He announced. “Everyone else can head to the monitory room to watch.”

“Yes sir.”

“All right, let’s begin the indoor combat training! Team A and team D, your time starts now!” All Might said into the microphone in the monitory room before addressing to the students in the room. “Pay attention kids, think about what you would do.”

As Hikari watched both Midoriya and Uraraka entering the building through a window and Bakugo running down to encounter them, she made sure to pay attention, she’d drink in as much as she could to come up with something so she and Kirishima could win.

Looking back on it, not her greatest idea.

She flinched when Bakugo jumped out of a corner and swung his right arm, hitting them with an explosion. They’d both dodged but half of Midoriya’s mask was gone.

“Is the mask made from a weak material or are Bakugo’s explosions just that strong?”

“He almost got the jump on him.” She heard the tiny guy say.

“A sneak attack Bakugo?” Kirishima chided. “What kind of man pulls cheap crap like that?”

“It’s a viable strategy.” All Might commented. “He’s playing the part, acting like a true villain would.”

Hikari sighed; All Might really wasn’t helping. Several heroes did those kinds of tricks, and it didn’t make them any less heroic or dignified.

“It didn’t work though, Midoriya dodged it!” A girl with pink skin and horns exclaimed.

“Not sure if that’s going to last.”

She watched as Bakugo ran towards the pair and went for a right hook again, Midoriya meeting up with him midway before…grabbing his arm and fucking judo-flipping Bakugo.

“Or maybe it is.”

Bakugo got up to face Midoriya, they seemed to be talking but she had no idea about what due to the feed having no sound. Her eyes wandered to the feed from the room with the weapon where Iida seemed frustrated given his movements.

“Hey, who’s Bakugo talking to?” Kirishima asked. “I’m not hearing anything. Can we get any sound with this video?”

Since one of the cameras caught his side profile, Hikari caught the little black and blue earpiece on Bakugo’s ear. He was probably connected to Iida.

“He’s got a radio in his ear so he can talk to his partner. I gave it to them before the match started along with a map of the building.” All Might informed them, pointing at a similar device in his ear. She guessed he was in their frequency as well; it made sense to also judge their communication skills with a partner.

This also gave her some sense of ease, it was good to know that even if she got separated from Kirishima during the battle, she’d still be able to talk to him.

“Also this, a roll of capture tape.” The hero held a roll of white tape in his hand. “Wrapping this around your opponent means you’ve apprehended them and they’re out for the rest of the game.”

“So, there’s a 15-minute time limit and the good guys have no idea what floor the nuclear weapon is hidden on, right?” The pink girl questioned.

“Correct!” All Might exclaimed.

“Then the heroes are clearly at a disadvantage here! A big one!” She complained.

“Real pros have to outwit villains on a daily basis.” All Might replied. “That’s life. Even when the odds aren’t in our favor, we fight!”

Low gasps came from several people at that declaration, Hikari included.

“All together!” All Might exclaimed.

“Let’s hear a plus ultra!” Everyone chanted.

Hikari’s excitement was at a high as she brought her attention back to the ongoing fight. Bakugo propelled himself forward and tried to hit Midoriya with a kick only for him to block.

“He’s pretty good at reading Bakugo, almost too good. It’s like he really knows him.”

Bakugo did almost attack him the previous day during the softball throw and he seemed to be targeting him, even allowing Uraraka to go. This fight was personal, Hikari could only wonder what had happened between these two. The only thing she knew for sure was that she did not want to be Midoriya right now.

As Bakugo still searched for Midoriya, she noticed that Uraraka had found Iida and the fake weapon. How would she manage to sneak by him?

…Apparently, she wouldn’t since she laughed at whatever it was Iida said and revealed her position. She mentally added that to her “what not to do” list.

Hikari mentally braced herself when she noticed Bakugo finally found Midoriya, one of the former’s gauntlets flashing red. What did that mean?

She saw him pull back his gauntlet revealing a pin and ready himself as if he was going to create a blast; but he couldn’t hit Midoriya from that distance, or could he?

“Young Bakugo, don’t do it!” All Might spoke up, making her jump. “You’ll kill him!”

Her head snapped towards All Might before focusing on Bakugo again. He pulled the pin, right before a massive fireball rolled out of his gauntlet, tearing apart the walls of the corridor as it raced towards Midoriya.

Hikari felt the room shake as Kirishima exclaimed. “Oh woah, this is nuts!”

“This guy’s insane!” She uttered. She was worried about how her quirk would do indoors and this guy just goes on and fucking blows everything up.

“Come in! Come in Midoriya!” All Might yelled into his microphone.

She was too afraid to look at the monitor and see the state the green haired boy was in until she heard several sounds of relief and looked up to see Midoriya, mask and one sleeve gone, sitting on the ground staring at Bakugo who loomed over him.

“All Might will probably stop this now. It’s gone too far.”

“Sir isn’t this getting out of hand?” Kirishima asked.

“Exactly.” Nakamura spoke up as she walked up to All Might. “Bakugo’s going too far, at this rate he will seriously injure Midoriya if not kill him.”

“Not so.” All Might replied before speaking into the microphone. “Bakugo. Use that stored-up power again and I’ll stop this fight. Your team will lose.”

“What?! This should’ve already been stopped! What is he thinking?!”

She pushed down her concerns and focused back on the screen where Bakugo looked up in disbelief at what he heard and started shaking - in rage she guessed - as All Might elaborated on why that attack was a poor strategy.

She tensed when Bakugo rocketed towards Midoriya. The former made a blast in front of the latter and maneuvered himself above him, before blasting Midoriya in the back.

She gasped, that was amazing. As brutal as Bakugo was, he was also smart and talented. Given how two other people in her class broke down the move and reached the same conclusion, she felt a little validated.

She flinched when Midoriya’s back was slammed into the ground, that had to hurt so much.

“Why won’t you end this already?!” She heard Nakamura yell, but she was too centred on the battle.

She watched as Midoriya ran away almost crawling; she had to swallow the lump in her throat at the scene, he looked helpless.

“It’s the only option he’s got.” Everyone turned towards the voice, Suarashi. “He’s outmatched.” Her voice was heavy, weighing down the room like a shroud.

Hikari suppressed a shiver at her tone and watched as Midoriya stopped by a window, Bakugo walking closer to him. Her breath hitched when they charged at each other.

“This will end soon. Just bare it a little longer.”

“They’re gonna kill each other!” Kirishima warned the hero. “Sir!”

“Both of you stop!” All Might finally ordered before gasping.

Hikari felt her jaw open as Midoriya directed his punch upwards, the force blew the air skyward and tore a massive hole through the concrete over every floor, all the windows shattering and concrete and rebar scattering through the destruction.

“What the fuck?!”

She felt the exact same way as whoever said that.

“Look! Uraraka!”

She gave her attention to a different camera feed, which showed Uraraka using a pillar as a makeshift giant bat, hitting Iida with several bits of concrete and distracting him enough for her to leap across the room straight towards the fake weapon. She pressed her fingers together and dropped onto it, hugging it with a relieved smile.

The silence in the room was heavy as a beep was heard indicating the timer had expired.

“Your indoor combat training…is over.” All Might hesitated as if he couldn’t quite believe it. “The hero team…WIIIIINS!!!” He declared.

Hikari let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Holy shit, it’s over." She mumbled.

“I feel ya.” Nakamura replied. Hikari turned towards her for a moment in surprise, wondering how she heard her before remembering her heightened hearing.

As Yaoyorozu gave everyone an in-depth explanation as to why Iida was the MVP of the match - seriously this girl was insanely perceptive - Hikari focused on Bakugo. He was quiet, looking down, not particularly paying attention as far as she knew, if he wasn’t dressed so flashily, she wouldn’t even know he was there.

“What happened? Does he feel guilty or something?”

Hikari wanted to ask him if he was okay, her brain quickly providing memories of his explosive disposition making her rethink that desire. She really didn’t want to make things worse.

“Now then, time to blow this joint! Let’s move on to the next match!” All Might announced, catching her attention. “Think about everything we saw and discussed as you tackle this training for yourself.”

“Yes sir!”

Taking a deep breath, she decided to give her focus to the next match. She needed to pay attention and learn, but a small part of her hoped Bakugo would be fine.

“Maybe he just needs time to process.”

“Team J will be the heroes and team E the villains!” All Might announced, making Hikari’s stomach drop.

“Alright, let’s do this thing!” Kirishima cheered, grinning at her.

She managed to give him a wobbly smile back. “Ok.”

After All Might handed them their radios, capture tape and the map of the building, they both studied the latter as they headed towards their training building.

“Looks like the floors all have the same format with the exception of the sixth one which is where the nuke will be.” Kirishima told her. “So, it won’t be too hard to navigate the corridors at least.”

Hikari nodded as they entered the building. “It won’t make a difference if we don’t have a plan.”

“All I know is that I should probably stay with the weapon since my quirk is better in a defensive position.” He hummed in thought. “But I don’t exactly have any ideas for a full drawn-out plan.”

Hikari sighed deeply. She’d been dreading this but there was no other option. “So, you stay with the weapon and I…” She gulped. “Stay out to hold back the other team.”

“Great! It’s a plan!” Kirishima cheered, before he could stride ahead Hikari grabbed his arm.

“It’s not that simple!” She chided him. “We need to think this out a bit more. What do you know about the other team’s quirks?”

“Well, Kaminari, the blond, can make electricity but I’m not sure about his range.” He informed her with a thoughtful look. “The girl though, I think she’s got a…a really good ear.”

Hikari ignored the sheepish look she received after that last sentence. “Heightened hearing and electricity? Tricky.” She took her eyes off the map just to walk up the stairs. “An electrical attack can take out just about anybody with enough voltage and precision and they could pinpoint where we are with the girl’s quirk.”

She groaned and buried her head in the paper in her hands. “How are we gonna do this man?”

She felt Kirishima pull the map from her hands. “Well, couldn’t you just overwhelm them with your quirk before they have a chance to react?”

Hikari felt dread pull at her. “Not exactly, the girl would still hear me coming and she has these amplifiers, I think, those won’t be easy to get around and if she has some sort of sonic attack, it’ll be hard to call for you if I need it and it’s not like I can just send my grenades in from afar. I can’t be sure of their surrounding if I can’t see them and…” She paused.

Kirishima raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“What if I was already there?” Hikari inquired, an idea starting to form in her head.

He grinned at her. “I think I like where you’re going with this.”

“Team E and team J, your time starts now!” All Might’s voice sounded off in her radio.

Hikari took a deep breath as she hid in a corridor on the second floor. 15 minutes was all they had to succeed, and she would do her best to achieve that, even if she felt as if her heart would come out of her chest.

Neither of the two in the hero team seemed to have any sort of ability that would let them fly so they would most likely have to just walk up the stairs, they’d have to go through where she was.

She decided against creating preemptive plasma grenades considering their glow would probably give away her position but stayed alert and with her ears open for footsteps.

“You okay?”

Hikari jumped and almost cursed loudly. “Kirishima!” She hissed in a hushed tone through her radio. “What did we agree?”

“No talking to you unless you talk to me first.” She heard him sigh. “But you seemed really antsy the whole day and I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”

She paused. Kirishima had noticed? “We’ll talk later, okay?” She whispered.

“Okay.” He replied, but she didn’t hear the click of the radio turning off.

She smiled at his concern, didn’t last long since she heard steps coming from her right, the direction where the stairs that came from the first floor were.

“Don’t mess this up, don’t mess this up.”

Hikari didn’t even allow herself to breathe as she heard the steps coming from the other side of the wall. She needed to wait for the right moment to strike, she really didn’t want to fail right now. No other sound besides her beating heart, the approaching footsteps and…electricity?

“FUCK!”

She moved from the wall in time to see the electrical discharge going through it, narrowly missing her. At the same time, Hikari created two plasma grenades and sent them around the corner, blowing them up as they reached the other side.

She heard someone curse and moved. She created five more plasma grenades as she rounded the corner, coming face to face with Jiro sitting up and Kaminari behind her, an expression of shock on his face.

“Hey hero.” Hikari drawled, sending two of her grenades.

That was a mistake.

She felt herself being pushed back, she couldn’t stay put and was blown back along with her grenades. As she fell on her butt, she finally acknowledged the ringing in her ears along with the sound of her grenades blowing up on the wall behind her.

“A sonic attack! So, I was right.”

Hikari took note of how one of Jiro’s earlobes were extended and connected to the amp on her ankle for before getting up and running behind a different wall.

Jiro’s soundwaves were strong enough to make her grenades self-destruct so just throwing them at her could make it so she’d get hit by her own quirk and Hikari did not want that.

“What happened? There was some interference.” Kirishima questioned, his concern almost palpable.

Kanzaki heaved as she looked around. “Ambush went south. I don’t…”

“Shit. I’m coming down.” He decided.

“Wait.” She took a breath and tried to remember the outline of the floor.

“Let’s see, I turned a right out of my hiding spot then went back and right again, then…”

If she kept on straight and turned left, she’d head to the stairs to the next floor, maybe this could still be salvaged if she kept ahead of them.

“I’m not done.” She told him with a confidence she didn’t even have.

“Alright, I’ll trust your judgement.” Kirishima sighed.

With the added weight on her chest from Kirishima’s statement, Kanzaki sprinted across the hall, praying that she’d manage to keep his trust. She almost ran into the wall before skidding and turning to the right, right as she heard ushering steps behind her.

“Come on!”

Hikari ran up the stairs, creating four grenades and splitting them by the two walls on each side as she entered the third floor and took a sharp left, once again hiding behind a wall waiting for them.

“Where is she?” Kaminari questioned.

“Maybe if you quiet down I’ll find out.” Jiro snapped at him.

Hikari peeked her head out of the corner but didn’t see them yet.

“What’s taking them so long?”

Maybe they were waiting for Jiro to pinpoint where she was before moving but there was only so much time in this exercise.

Once she saw a foot stepping into the third floor, she commanded her grenades to smash against each other, turning away to avoid the bright light before turning back just in time to see Kaminari hit the floor and groan loudly.

“One down.”

The sound of a thud brought her attention as she realized that she hadn’t seen Jiro. Had she fallen down the stairs? Hikari hoped Jiro wasn’t too injured as she pulled out her capture tape.

Hikari decided to take a risk and ran over to Kaminari, pulling him to the side and away from the entrance.

“Uh…fuck.” He muttered. There was a burn on his shirt and his earpiece was shattered, his face was also a little red.

She grimaced as she wrapped her capture across his torso. “Sorry man.” She whispered.

“Denki Kaminari from Team J has been captured!” All Might announced through the earpiece.

“One down, you’re doing great!” Kirishima praised her. She could imagine his beaming expression quite easily.

Hikari smiled and patted Kaminari on the head sympathetically before tiptoeing back to the entrance of the third floor. She created three plasma grenades, ignoring the light chill in her bones, and paused, listening.

She heard nothing so she peeked at the staircase and saw nothing. Had Jiro went ahead while she wrapped up Kaminari?

“Jiro’s in the wind. I think she’s heading in your direction.” She told her partner through the radio.

“’Kay, I’ll be ready.” Kirishima assured her.

“Kirishima?”

“Yeah?”

“Stay close to the door so when she comes in you can just conk her out.” Hikari advised as she walked to the location of the nuke, her grenades trailing behind her.

She heard him sigh. “That kinda move’s really unmanly.”

She rolled her eyes as she walked up to the fourth floor. “No, it’s not. It’s just smart and if you manage it, then we can win this.”

Kirishima hummed in thought. “I get it.”

Hikari didn’t really have a notion of time so she wasn’t entirely sure how much time there was left but it couldn’t be that much.

She walked cautiously through the fourth floor, listening for any unusual sound, her grenades on her right, ready to be launched.

“Where is she? Kirishima’s on the sixth floor, I doubt she was able to run that far.”

Hikari caught a flash of white right before she felt herself being blasted back, her feet left the ground and her back hit the wall hard before she unceremoniously crumpled on the floor.

Distantly she heard steps and saw some bright green flashes but that didn’t matter, her back hurt like hell, she had a headache, her ears felt muffled, and the cold was starting to seep in. Nothing felt broken at least, not that she would know how that felt, she’d never broken or even dislocated a bone in her life.

She took a shaky breath as she tried to get up. She didn’t need to tell Kirishima that Jiro was coming, he was already expecting her, so she focused on herself.

Hikari sat up, leaning her head on the wall. “I fucking hate this.”

“What’s wrong?” Kirishima sounded off.

She jumped before groaning from the jolt, nothing was broken but something was definitely bruised. “She got me, didn’t take me out though.”

“I’ll end this for you.” He declared, probably clenching his fist or something.

“Good luck.” She replied.

Hikari stared at the ceiling, thinking about her options. She could either stay there and leave the rest to Kirishima, but Jiro had a long-range attack and she wasn’t sure just how though Kirishima’s quirk ‘Hardening’ was; or get off her ass and try to assist even though she’s not in the best shape. She was already feeling the aftereffects of her quirk after all, given the chills creeping up her spine.

Jiro had made the decision not to take her time wrapping her up with capture tape, it must be because time is close to running out and she’s hurrying.

She might not end up being of much help, but she could help buy some time though.

Hikari groaned as she stood up, using the wall as support. “Kirishima, I’m heading your way too.”

He was quiet for a moment. “Be careful.”

The softness in his tone surprised her but she focused on the task at hand. “Try not to make noise and listen for Jiro, okay?”

“I’ll be ready.” He grunted.

Now that she was standing, moving seemed a little more feasible. Hikari promptly ignored the bruise she knew was on her back and jogged towards the stairs.

As she was in the middle of the fifth floor she winced from interference in her radio.

“What the hell?...Shit.”

Hikari sped up and walked through the wide-open door of the sixth floor. It was a somewhat open space with a couple of columns with the fake weapon being off to the side. In between the door and the weapon was Jiro blasting Kirishima with soundwaves from her amp, he had activated his quirk and was trying to fight through it. Unlike her, he wasn’t being immediately blasted into a wall and somewhat managed to hold his ground, although giving that the muffling in her hearing was getting worse, she assumed that Jiro was upping her force.

“What do I do? Think brain! Why the hell is she even being so aggressive?”

Something clicked in her brain.

Jiro had lost her partner and was now alone in a two vs one battle exercise, it was the first day she could truly demonstrate her abilities and like everyone else she was probably antsy to show what she’s made of and now time was closing in.

Hikari made a decision. She created a grenade and directed it straight at Jiro’s face.

“In a situation so damning, one’s first instinct is to protect themselves.”

She saw her opponent’s eyes widen before she tried to block by placing her arms in front of her however, there was nothing to dodge since she stopped the grenade right before it collided into her.

The soundwaves had stopped as soon as she’d thrown her grenade.

Jiro looked up from her defensive stance slowly. “Wha-“

Kirishima crashed into her, bringing them both to the ground with a thud.

Hikari moved from her spot by the entrance, closer to the pair. Jiro struggling and squirming as Kirishima held onto her tightly. She took out her capture tape once more and wrapped it around her shoulders given the restrictive position.

“Kyoka Jiro from Team J has been captured!” All Might boomed through the earpiece, although his voice sounded a little faded in her ears. “The villain team wins!”

“Yes!” She yelled before lying down in a heap.

Chapter Text

Kumoroi looked on as Kirishima, Kanzaki, Kaminari and Jiro walked inside the monitory room in differing states. Kanzaki was hunched, hugging herself and rubbing her arms as if to warm herself. Kaminari had a black mark on shirt, his face was red and he was holding his broken earpiece in his hand with a sorrowful expression.

Jiro was rubbing her arm as she glared softly at Kirishima, who seemed to be in the best shape and mood.

“Does anyone want to volunteer for analysis?” All Might inquired, looking around the class.

Kumoroi raised her hand amongst a few others. “Go ahead.”

She nodded politely. She looked over her four classmates, her gaze focusing on the purple haired girl. “Jiro started fine, going on a stealthy approach and responding quickly when Kanzaki first attacked, but when the tide started to turn, she started acting recklessly.”

Kumoroi gave Jiro a critical look (not that she could see it since she had her mask on) as she tensed and ducked her head. “She used excessive force on both her opponents. She’s lucky she didn’t cause more damage and if this were real, that nuke would’ve detonated due to close contact with soundwaves.”

She noticed Jiro’s grip on her arm tightening, but she gave a small nod, her jaw set in determination. So, she was more frustrated than embarrassed, good, that meant she’d try to improve.

She took a breath. “Kaminari managed to nearly land an early on attack on Kanzaki in a very effective way but the rest of the time he showed his high level of distraction and was taken out.”

The blond boy slumped his shoulders and grimaced at her words.

“I wasn’t too harsh, was I? He needs the criticism to grow.”

“Spot on young Nakamura.” The greatest hero nodded animated. “Anyone else for the villains?”

Several hands went up as Kanzaki’s head snapped up to attention. “Yes, young Iida.”

Iida cleared his throat. “Kirishima did his job efficiently, staying behind to protect the weapon given the defensive nature of his quirk and doing his best to protect it against Jiro’s best efforts.”

Kirishima gave him a toothy grin. “However…” His grin wavered. “He also decided to charge head on to someone with a kind of attack he couldn’t avoid instead of taking a more cautious approach.”

Kanzaki turned and gave Kirishima a judgmental look. “You what?” She heard her question him. He gave her a sheepish smile and a shrug resulting in her burying her head in her hands for a moment.

“Kanzaki had a good reaction time, responding quickly to her opponents’ counterattacks.” Iida praised her friend, making arm-chopping gestures at her. “She knew when to retreat and managed to continue with her plan of ambushing the heroes and captured one of them quite masterfully.”

The mentioned girl had a look of surprise as she stared at Iida, not that he noticed anyway.

“She also used her quick thinking during the last part of the battle where she used Jiro’s own survival instinct to trick her and allow her partner to finish off their opponent.” He nodded in approval, finally looking at Kanzaki’s bewildered expression. “What?”

She opened her mouth and closed it before waving him off.

“I guess she didn’t truly understand just how much she did. Pretty easy to given the setting.”

Kumoroi had been a little worried about her when she got knocked into a wall and also when she got up to follow Jiro. That hit seemed like it hurt, she knew she’d probably have been easily incapacitated with a sonic attack given her heightened hearing.

 “While she performed greatly, she also hesitated in moments that could’ve given her the advantage and made a couple of risky moves that should have been handled in a more pragmatic way.” Iida finished as Kanzaki nodded along.

“She’s critical of herself. Insecurity issues probably.”

“A stellar analysis young Iida.” All Might nodded along before straightening, his eyes scanning the room before his booming voice rang out.“I believe there is nothing more to say and given her performance, the MVP of this match is young Kanzaki!”

Kanzaki gaped at All Might, blinking in disbelief as Kirishima patted her on the shoulder. She managed a wide smile after a moment.

“She seems so soft-spoken, yet she practically aced this exercise. The exact opposite of-“

Her eyes drifted towards Bakugo. He was in the back of the class, not looking at anything in particular and a somewhat dead look on his face. He’d been pretty quiet since he came back from his battle trial and whilst Kumoroi had only known him for a day, this seemed unusual. His silence felt heavier than mere disappointment. She knew that defeat had to hurt at least somewhat but she hadn’t expected him to act like a decorative object. Okay, maybe that was a little harsh.

All Might stopped in front of the four participants. “Do any of you need to go to Recovery Girl? Some of those impacts weren’t exactly soft.”

“I’m fine, my suit took the greater damage.” Kaminari waved him off.

“Just some small bruises.” Jiro replied.

“I’m great!” Kirishima grinned at the hero.

Kumoroi noticed Kanzaki, lightly touching her lower back. “I’ll go after the class is over. It’s nothing too serious.” The green haired girl informed the hero in a soft tone.

“Are you sure?” All Might inquired, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Kanzaki glanced at the hero’s hand with a mild frown. “Yes, I’m sure.”

“Very well!” All Might turned back to the rest of the class. “Let’s move onto the next one.”

He rummaged his hands through the boxes before pulling out two balls and showing us. “Team H are the heroes and team C are the villains!”

Kumoroi felt her pulse quicken. It was finally her turn! She could show All Might what she was made of and hopefully make a good impression. Kanzaki had managed to conquer the challenge and was even the MVP and given the way her heartbeat wavers at times, it was probably with a great amount of anxiety. Why couldn’t she?

“Already?!” She heard the shorty known as Mineta whimper.

“Oh, right…”

Kumoroi glanced in her partner’s direction before taking a deep breath. She could handle this; she could manage to get through this exercise even with him . 

“Murder is illegal. Murder is ILLEGAL. MURDER IS ILLEGAL!”

Kumoroi and Mineta were on the eighth floor of one of the fake buildings. The room was fairly spacious with narrow windows lining the walls and discarded equipment in the corners.

They’d managed a decent plan; they would stay on the defensive. As she was about to use her quirk to web shut the door, she froze, feeling them, his eyes, staring straight at her backside.

Kumoroi pulled off her mask and turned, glaring at him. She had 'spider eyes'; a pair where 'normal' eyes should be and three other smaller pairs around them, they were all bright cyan with black sclera and no pupils. She knew the kind of effect her eyes could have on people; the jumpy reactions and comments she'd overheard told her enough. The result was Mineta paling and taking a step back.

She sighed and placed her mask back on her face. “If we’re gonna win this, I need you to be useful, not creepy.”

Instead of responding in a positive way, he trembled like a leaf. “You got it covered right? I mean you already shut the windows and you’re gonna shut the doors. So, they can’t get in and the timer will run out.”

She resisted the urge to facepalm. “I only have a vague idea of Tokoyami and Asui’s quirks. We don’t know how strong they are or what they have up their sleeves. We need to think this through fully to make sure they don’t get here.”

Mineta sighed sorrowfully, his hair bouncing as he swayed. “You’re right. But what am I supposed to do?!”

She glanced at his hair, at those blobs . “You’re the only one who can’t get stuck by your quirk, right?”

He blinked in confusion. “Uh, yeah.”

“Think you could place some of them on the other side of the doors, preferably hidden.” Kumoroi suggested.

Mineta nodded a little too fast for her liking. “On it, babe!”

Kumoroi pushed down the flare of irritation that passed over her as Mineta walked out of the room.

“Murder is illegal!”

“Team C and team H, your time starts now!” All Might’s voice sounded off in her radio.

“Alright, game on.” She mumbled to herself as she positioned herself in front of the group of webs and purple blobs surrounding the fake weapon.

Next to her, Mineta quaked. “I hope this works and that I don’t have to fight anyone.”

Kumoroi sighed softly. She honestly couldn’t blame him for that desire. It was probably his first time going up against other people, and these were people who trained and got accepted into the most prestigious hero school in the country. It made sense for him to be nervous.

"What would mom say?"

“Take a breath and focus on what you can control.” She advised him. “Your actions.”

Mineta took a shaky breath. “I’ll try.”

“That’s all I can ask.” Kumoroi responded, if she could keep him steady maybe she could win this.

After seven whole minutes had passed, Kumoroi started to hear the telltale noise of footsteps growing louder.

“They’re getting closer. I can already hear them.” She informed her partner.

Kumoroi cocked her head to the side as she tried to pay attention to what they were saying. Neither Asui nor Tokoyami said anything, but she could hear them as they stepped closer.

She held her breath as she stared at the door, she heard the faint sound of something sticking and unsticking, it was probably Asui crawling on the wall but what really caught her attention was a soft thud followed by a croak.

“Did she get caught?”

She wanted to tell Mineta that Asui might have been caught to at least get him to ease up a bit but she held off on it, closing her eyes as she tried to focus on her opponents to make sure.

The sound of metal tearing made her eyes fly open to witness black shadowy claws tearing into the sides of the door, moments before it was pulled away with so much force it broke a little of the concrete surrounding the doorway. She faintly heard Mineta whimper but ignored it.

She noticed Asui’s tongue rocketing towards her seconds before she caught it only for her to feel it tugging her forward. 

“Shit!” She involuntarily leaned forward before she stuck her feet to the ground and tugged it back, forcefully dragging Asui into the room, a few meters in front of her.

The frog girl managed to pull her tongue back to her mouth and Kumoroi noticed the easily recognizable purple blob stuck on her leg and on a piece of concrete.

So, Asui had gotten stuck, and Tokoyami had used his opening move to provide a distraction as she freed herself. Well, as much as she could free herself.

“Mineta!” She nodded towards Asui. Kumoroi didn’t even look to see his reaction before movement caught her eye.

“Wha-”

She dropped into splits to avoid the figure about to hit her before realizing her mistake. She’d opened the path to the weapon but thankfully, the dark floating bird-like creature hesitated once it got in inches away from the web cluster surrounding the weapon. That gave her the time to launch a web at it and attempt to pull it towards her.

Attempt because she was still doing the splits and that was not a good position for doing what she was doing. She saw Asui jumping to the wall on her right, narrowly avoiding a purple blob as she’d tried to touch the weapon. At least Mineta was doing something.

“Dark shadow! Keep fighting back!” Tokoyami ordered his quirk; she assumed since it fought harder against her hold.

After some more tug-o-war with the shadow bird, it retreated closer to Tokoyami, and she released the web before closing her legs and rolling into a standing position.

“Focus.” She mumbled to herself. 

“In tandem!” Tokoyami stepped into the room, the shadow bird heading once again for the weapon, only this time from above at the same time Asui jumped up.

“It’s not that easy.”

Kumoroi crouched before jumping and sticking her hands to the ceiling. She swung herself and kicked Tokoyami’s quirk in what she guessed was his face, making it squawk as it reeled back. She vaguely acknowledged Asui approaching her before she grabbed her by the arm, her tongue narrowly missing the weapon and went down with her, letting her roll away.

She wanted to web her up, but Tokoyami wasn’t giving her the chance, the shadow bird pushed her back once she landed, trying to make her get stuck in her own trap. Kumoroi planted her feet, grabbed it and wrestled it back. She almost smirked when she heard the surprised sound the shadow bird made once she did that.

Kumoroi heard a yelp from the other side of the room as she let go of it, flipping forwards and kicking down hard on the dark creature, the floor cracking from the force. The pained sound it made made her think she might’ve hit it a little too hard. The creature retreated to Tokoyami until it disappeared.

She didn’t hesitate, webs flew from her wrists until Fumikage Tokoyami was fully bound to the wall with no way of escaping. 

She turned towards Mineta, only to see him be thrown into their own trap. She acted quickly, she caught him with a web and spun before throwing him back at his hopping assailant. Asui and Mineta both hit the wall, the former taking most of the blow.

“Use the capture tape.” Kumoroi ordered Mineta before pulling it out and wrapping it around Tokoyami’s head since his body was covered in webs.

She only heard him pull it out and his low chuckle. “MINETA!”

Seconds later, the sound she was waiting for rang through her earpiece. “The villain team wins!”

She heard Mineta’s cry of relief as he lied down in a heap. “Finally.” Kumoroi walked closer to him, taking note of the light bleeding on his scalp, the several purple blobs scattering the walls and two other blobs on Asui's body.

“Good job partner.” She smiled at him genuinely.

“You too.” He gave her a thumbs up.

“Stoooop.” Kanzaki dragged out as she leaned forward on her desk.

“Nope, not until you admit it.” Sero stood his ground with a wide grin.

Kumoroi let out a soft chuckle. “Stop messing with the poor girl, she clearly doesn’t think the same way you do.”

“But it's the truth.” He insisted before turning to our pink classmate. “Ashido, you agree with me, right?”

Ashido does a sorta movement with her hand. “Eh, I mean calling her an ‘evil genius’ is a bit much, but I can see where you’re coming from.”

“Not a genius.” She mumbled, her voice nearly drowned out by the chatter in the classroom.

“Even if that’s the way it is, you shouldn't force that label on her.” Kumoroi commented before gesturing to Kanzaki’s slumped form. “Look at her, she’s anxious now.”

Sero sighed deeply and patted Kanzaki’s shoulder. “Sorry Kanzaki.”

She raised her head with a sigh. “It’s fine.”

The sound of a chair scraping on the floor shifted their attention. Katsuki Bakugo stood up, bag in hand and walked towards the door.

Kirishima walked in front of him. “Where are you going man?”

Bakugo shoved past him. “Home.”

Kumoroi ignored the faint whispers between her classmates as she debated with herself whether or not to intervene. Bakugo seemed pretty determined to leave but it didn’t feel right to just let him go just like that given his earlier behavior. Once she glanced downwards and saw Kanzaki’s worried expression, her decision was made.

“We haven’t been given our textbooks yet. It would be better for you to stay for at least until that.” She advised, making sure to not make it sound like she was ordering him. She doubted he’d like that implication.

He didn’t even spare her a glance. “I’ll get them tomorrow.” 

“Doesn’t that just give you more work?” Uraraka warned but he ignored her. He stomped his way out, not letting anyone else get a word in.

The silence left in Bakugo’s wake was heavy but no one knew what to say until their homeroom teacher walked in and requested two people to collect their textbooks. Uraraka and Kaminari volunteered, probably to escape the tension that was in the room.

“Is it weird that I’m a little worried?” Kanzaki whispered, probably to no one in particular.

Kumoroi understood where she was coming from, something about Bakugo seemed off. “No, I am too.”

Her head turned to Kumoroi with wide eyes before relaxing. “It’s gonna take me a while to get used to that.” 

As conversation picked back up in the classroom, the door opened to reveal Midoriya, still wearing his tattered hero suit, his arms wrapped with bandages, the right one in a sling. Why he hadn’t been completely healed, Kumoroi had no idea, she wasn’t sure of the limits of Recovery Girl’s quirk but he definitely seemed better than when she’d last seen him.

“Hey, it's Midoriya!” Kirishima smiled at him. “Good to see ya back, super!”

The new center of attention gasped as Kirishima, Sero, some others and even Kumoroi herself approached him by the door.

“Ha! Man, I don't know what you were saying during that match. But you were all fired up, huh?” Kirishima leaned forward as Ashido bounced around. Both of their excitement was nearly palpable.

Kumoroi’s lips quivered in an amused grin as she fully gauged Midoriya’s surprise at all of the attention.

“I can't believe you held your own against Bakugo. He's super strong!” Sero pointed out, admiration flowing through his voice.

“You did a great job dodging!” Ashido praised him with a cute grin.

“You guys really turned up in the first match, so none of us held back in our rounds, either!” Sato informed him as Sero nodded.

Kumoroi made a high-pitched sound. “Well…no one went as hardcore as you did but you get the spirit.”

“You were far from elegant, but I suppose‐‐” A pretty blond boy pitched in before getting interrupted.

Ashido hopped up and down. “And the dodging was like, whoa!”

Kumoroi snorted as Midoriya gasped again, looking around at the gaggle of students with a bewildered smile and she heard his heartbeat speed up a little.

“Guess the greenies here didn’t realize the impression they made.”

She waved at him. “Kumoroi Nakamura, nice to formally meet you.”

“I'm Eijiro Kirishima.” He introduced himself before he pointed at himself, Sero and Kumoroi. “We've been goin' over training results while you were in recovery.”

“Hi. I'm Hanta Sero.”

“More importantly, I'm Yuga Ao‐‐”

“I'm Mina Ashido!” Ashido interrupted the blond once more, shaking her arms with a wide smile. “And I just gotta say, your dodging was awesome!”

“She’s so excited she’s not even realizing she’s cutting the poor guy.”

Asui showed her presence by moving from Ashido’s back. “Tsuyu Asui. But please, call me ‘Tsu.’”

“Hey, Sato.” He gave Midoriya a thumbs up.

Midoriya, who seemed a little overwhelmed, managed a shaky response and a small wave. “Um…Hey, guys.” 

“And my name's Mineta!” He jumped in front of everyone, startling some of them.

“Where the heck did you pop out of?” Kirishima questioned him.

“Seconded.” Kumoroi added, pushing him down before the easily recognizable sound of Iida’s voice diverted her attention.

“Tokoyami!” Iida declared as he strode towards the bird-headed boy with his arms making stiff motions. “Stop using that desk as a chair! Get off of it this instant!”

“Dude, you need to chill.” Jiro told him bluntly. Kumoroi was sure she heard someone stifle a laugh right after that.

Iida jerked backwards in shock. “Ah‐‐”

“You're carrying a lot of tension.” Ojiro pointed at his tensed shoulders.

Iida hunched inwards. “No one understands.” He muttered before speaking up. “I cannot condone actions that disrespect these desks!” He declared, chopping his hand at the three. “Not when great men and women, our upperclassmen, once used them!”

“Also noisy.” She heard Tokoyami grumble.

“Does he never relax or something?” Kumoroi inquired to no one in particular.

“Unclear.” Sero replies with a snort.

It’s in that moment that Kaminari and Uraraka walk back in with their textbooks, chatting about something before the latter notices her green-haired partner.

“Hey, Deku!” Uraraka dashed towards him, leaving behind a dejected-looking Kaminari. “Why didn't she heal your injuries?” She asked, concerned.

Midoriya stammered an answer, his eyes darting around. “Well it has to do with how much stamina I'm using.”

“Stamina?” Uraraka questioned.

“I guess that makes sense, healing still takes a certain toll on the body.”

He ignored her question, his eyes set on something across the room. “Um, Uraraka. Where's Kacchan?”

Kumoroi raised an eyebrow, her curiosity for Recovery Girl’s quirk long forgotten. “He left.” She answered, looking to gauge his reaction.

Midoriya’s eyes widened. “What?”

“We tried to stop him from leaving but he wouldn't listen.” Uraraka informed him in a sympathetic tone. “You just missed him.”

As soon as the brunette finished her sentence, Midoriya turned on his heel and ran out of the classroom. Kumoroi’s curiosity spiked more than ever. That fight between Midoriya and Bakugo had seemed personal, not to mention, Midoriya called him ‘Kacchan’, meaning that they had some kind of familiarity. They’ve probably known each other for a long time for him to call him that, so why was there so much animosity between them? What the hell was going on?

“What was that about?” Kanzaki asked her once the group by the door dispersed.

“No idea.” Kirishima replied, leaning back in his chair. “Whatever’s going on with them feels deeper than a simple fight.”

“Better not to get involved, it’s none of our business.” Sero added with a sigh.

Clearly Ashido didn’t have the same idea since she was gesturing the class over to the windows where she was looking outside. “Midoriya caught up to him guys.”

Uraraka and Tsu, who were close to the windows, joined her and as unsure as she felt about this whole thing, so did she. 

Midoriya had his back to them, so she couldn’t even make a poor attempt at reading his lips whilst Bakugo was a few meters away looking back at the green-haired boy. They were too far for Kumoroi to be able to hear them without them raising their voices. Midoriya was probably saying something given that Bakugo was simply staring at him and after a few moments she faintly heard his shaky tone.

“But I can't tell you who I got it from, so don't ask!” She heard him say.

“Got what from who?”

Kumoroi stared at them as she subtly moved her ear closer to the window right as she heard someone else walk up to her side. She looked to her left to see Kanzaki looking at the two conversing at the school entrance. She guessed her curiosity took the best of her as well.

“-it's real.” She heard after a few seconds.

“What is he saying?” Ashido mumbled, sounding frustrated.

“But in the end, it was the only way that I had a chance of winning.” Midoriya seemed to be trying to justify himself for, she assumed, that final attack of his. It was probably useless since it seemed to irritate Bakugo.

“Why would he feel like he needs to do that? He was just defending himself and Bakugo was overpowering him for most of the exercise anyway.”

“-I know that.” Midoriya kept talking as Bakugo seemed to be shaking in rage, if he punched the former right then and there it wouldn’t surprise her. “That's why I'm here.”

“-and I'll finally beat you with my own power!” Was the next thing she heard from Midoriya which resulted in, from what she could see, Bakugo’s wide-eyed stare. If this situation didn’t seem tense, she would’ve laughed at the expression he was making.

Kumoroi didn’t have much time to dwell on it, given that Bakugo had fully turned around to face Midoriya and was answering to whatever he said. She couldn’t make out the first few words since he was speaking in a low tone but she could hear his volume increase.

“So? Did you come here to rub it in? I lost. And to make matters worse, it was to you.” He spat out, his head down.

Kumoroi could tell those two had issues and that Bakugo hadn’t taken the loss easily but this seemed excessive.

“I came in first in the exam, but that's not enough.” He admitted and she swore she heard his voice crack. “When I was watching that ice guy, I realized I couldn't beat him in a head‐to‐head fight. Crap! I even agreed with what that girl said. My attack was so stupid! Damn it!” 

Kumoroi felt her heart drop. The way he was saying that as if he was supposed to win it all, as if he was supposed to be the best. It felt a little heart wrenching. She shouldn’t be listening to this, she knew she shouldn’t but she didn’t move, she simply took a breath, trying not to let Bakugo’s emotions affect her as she kept listening.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it!” Kumoroi could see him shaking from frustration. “Enjoy that win, Deku. You won't get another! I'm just getting started! Got that?! I'm gonna end up the number‐one hero, no matter what!” He barked out at Midoriya, his voice raw with emotion and his eyes seemingly sparkling in the distance, wait, were those tears?

She felt oddly inspired by his words, the tenacity in which he spoke was astonishing and it told her he’d do as much as he could and more to make sure what he said came true.

“What just happened?” Kanzaki questioned, her tone soft and concerned.

Kumoroi noticed her looking at Bakugo as he turned and wiped his face as he walked away. “Was he…” She mumbled, letting the question hang in the air.

Kumoroi sighed deeply, leaning her forehead and closing her eyes against the glass.

“There you are!” She jumped.

The other four girls next to her, moved their attention towards her. “That was nothing, don’t worry.”

Kumoroi ignored their curious glances as she saw All Might with his hands on Bakugo’s shoulders as the explosive boy had his back to him. “Just so you know, pride is an important attribute to have, but while you certainly have the abilities to become a pro hero, there's still plenty you have to learn!”

The symbol of peace had such a loud and distinctive voice it was unusually easy to tell what he was saying even from that distance, although she felt his words were a little out of place after all that she heard.

She couldn’t see what Bakugo’s reaction was since All Might’s large body was blocking him but since the hero took his hands off her classmate and let him walk away she guessed that whatever he looked like or said was impactful of sorts.

“Huh, I wonder what that was all about.” Ashido inquired.

“The fated battle between rivals.” Uraraka clenched her fists and furrowed her brow.

“Whatever Midoriya was saying, it looked like Bakugo really wanted to punch him.” Tsu turned to look at the other girls.

Kanzaki made a sound of doubt. “I dunno about that.” Kumoroi agreed with her, this was way more emotional than that. “I don’t think he’s ok.” She whispered so softly Kumoroi was probably the only one who heard her.

“Childhood friends turned enemies!” Uraraka added to herself as she pressed her forehead to the glass.

Kumoroi glanced at the cute brunette. “I think you’re a little too invested in this.”

“And I’m a little hypocritical too.”

Whatever was going on between Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugo had spiked her interest. Kumoroi wasn’t going to actively try to figure it out, they’d probably both shut her down. All she could do was watch and wonder, piecing together fragments of a story that didn’t belong to her.

Chapter Text

“Hop to it Missy, you’re gonna miss the train.”

Misora side-eyed him from where she was shoveling a sandwich down her mouth. “I still have time, Hayate.”

Her brother walked up to her and leaned over the counter. “Have you checked the time?” He questioned her, his ginger hair like hers falling over his face.

She glared sharply at him as she swallowed her bread. She picked up her phone calmly. “It’s…”  Her green eyes widened. “7:24!” She shot up from her seat.

“The train will get to the station in 6 minutes. Shit!”

Misora skillfully ignored Hayate’s smug expression as his purple eyes followed her frantic movements. She slung her backpack over one shoulder and practically sprinted to the front door to put on her shoes.

“Heroes are supposed to be punctual.” Her older brother pointed out as he leisurely walked up to her, handing her the remains of her sandwich wrapped in a napkin. He gave her a wicked grin which made her want to throw her sandwich at his white outfit. 

It was a white bodysuit with black details and a hoodie, a black belt filled with whatever, white gloves going up to his elbows, large black boots and a dark white-lined visor resting on his head. He was ready for work sure as hell, he was going to save people, the Airborne Hero: Hurricane.

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you gonna keep staring at me or are you leaving?”

She glared at him one last time, resisting the urge to either hurl her sandwich at his pristine outfit or using her quirk to ruin it. One blast of sand and that stupid grin of his would be history but she had bigger problems, like not missing her train. She slammed open the door to his apartment, heading to the elevator without bothering to close the door.

She groaned loudly as the elevator moved at a snail’s pace, it was something she still hadn’t gotten used to. Misora had lived with her parents in a big house up until a month prior when she’d moved to her brother’s apartment since his place was closer to UA High.

She glanced at her phone screen. “3 minutes.” She muttered, placing her phone back in her pocket.

Ding!

Misora ran out, barely acknowledging the security guard at the front before turning and heading for the station. Her legs burned with every step, she silently cursed her short limbs, feeling her backpack bounce wildly.

“Please, please, please! I cannot be late on the first week.”

She would not make a fool of herself this early on, Hayate would never let it go and after Aizawa’s “logical ruse” she wasn’t going to risk it.

“What the hell?”

Misora blinked at the scene in front of her, the entrance to UA was brimming with reporters and their cameramen. They were questioning whatever student they could spot and corner. That had to be stressful and that wasn’t something she’d like to deal with today.

She spotted Iida talking up a whole review of something she couldn’t hear due to the excess of noise, the reporter interviewing him was probably regretting their decision. She did not want to be bugged by people today.

Misora took a deep breath, shouldered her bag, corrected her posture, looked straight ahead and walked with one thought going through her mind.

“Murder.”

People unimpeded her path like she was Moses parting the sea, one guy even vaulted over the crowd. She reached the inside of the school and sagged in relief.

“The murder walk always works.” She smirked to herself before making her way to her classroom.

She sat down, her seat was by the wall, behind her was Ochaco Uraraka, a spunky brunette and soon enough, in front of her sat Tenya Iida, who seemed to have one hell of a stick up his ass.

It wasn’t too long before Aizawa with his general tired expression. “Decent work on yesterday's combat training, you guys. I saw the video feeds and went over each of your team's results.”

Misora frowned at that, remembering her loss. That super smart and pretentious girl, Momo Yao-something, had totally outsmarted her and Sero. She’d had the advantage given that she and Sero were on the villain team but smarty pants and Aoi – who was way more dangerous than she’d thought – still snagged the win.

“Bakugo. You're talented. So don't sulk like a child about your loss, okay?” Aizawa advised her explosive classmate which prompted a wince from her given her earlier thoughts.

“Hayate keeps telling me I’m a sore loser. Maybe I should get a better handle on that.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Bakugo replied in his usual gruff tone.

“And Midoriya.” The boy jumped once called upon.

“He’s a pretty anxious guy, isn’t he?”

“I see the only way you won the match was by messing up your arm again. Work harder. And don't give me the excuse that you don't have control over your Quirk. That line's already getting old. You can't keep breaking your body while training here. But your Quirk will be really useful if you can get a handle on it.” Aizawa admonished him, ending with a little encouragement which prompted an excited expression from Midoriya. “So show a little urgency, huh?”

“Right!” He nodded.

“Let's get down to business. Our first task will decide your future.” The teacher informed the class.

Alarms blared in Misora’s mind as she stiffened. Was this another quirk test? Aizawa couldn’t possibly make them do another one so soon, it would be kind of pointless.

“You all need to pick a class representative.” Aizawa said.

The tension in her shoulders decreased significantly. It was just normal school stuff. However, it seemed it would be a little hard to determine that role given that several people were raising their hands and claiming they’d be the best pick for the job. 

Misora knew that being class representative demonstrated that one could lead a team and could make you get noticed by agencies easier. But it simply wasn’t in her repertoire. Misora already knew where she wanted to go and she didn’t need this role to get there.

Hayate told her that she had to prove to him she could be a good hero to be in his agency, but this wasn’t necessary. 

“Silence, everyone, please!” Iida demanded, his loud voice silencing the bustling classroom. “The class representative's duty is to lead others. That's not something just anyone can do. You must first have the trust of every student in the classroom. Therefore, the most logical way to fill this position is democratically. We will hold an election to choose our leader!”

Iida stood shakily with his hand in the air. It was obvious that he wanted the class to vote for him and Misora was fine with that. Iida seemed like a pretty capable and responsible person.

“Is this really the best idea?” A blond boy asked.

“We've only known each other a few days, how do we know who we can trust?” Tsu pointed out.

“Besides, everyone'll just vote for themselves.” Kirishima added.

“Not everyone wants to be class pres.” Nakamura pointed out, leaning on her desk.

“That is true, and that means whoever does receive multiple votes must truly be the most suitable person for the job.” Iida backs her up. “It's the best way, right, sir?” He turns to Aizawa who was already inside his bright yellow sleeping bag.

“Where the hell was he keeping it? I didn’t see it before.”

“Do what you want, just decide before my nap's over.” Is all Aizawa says before lying on the floor.

Misora blinked in confusion. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.” She mumbled.

Everyone was given a little paper to write who they were voting for. Misora had quickly scribbled ‘Tenya Iida’ on hers before handing it in. Iida wrote the results on the board. It revealed that several people had voted for themselves, only having 1 vote. Iida had 2 and at the top stood Yaoyorozu with 3 and Midoriya with 4, much to the shock of the latter.

“How did I get four votes?” He shrieked, mouth agape.

Bakugo stood up, glowering at the board. “Okay, you idiots, who voted for him?”

“What, did you honestly think anyone was gonna vote for you?” Sero replied.

Misora snorted as Bakugo yelled at Sero. “What did you just say?!”

In front of her, Iida seemed frustrated. “Two votes? It wasn’t enough for the position but I can't argue with the system I chose!” He sighed deeply. “I can only thank the two people who voted for me!”

“Wait, you didn’t vote for yourself?” Misora questioned him, leaning forward in her seat. “I thought you wanted this man, what gives?” She teases him.

He sat straight, like a ruler was replacing his spine. “I voted for who I thought was better for the role.”

She sat back. “If you say so.” She didn’t understand him, but it wasn’t really her business.

Midoriya and Yaoyorozu stood in front of the class, the former shaking and muttering to himself while the latter was the image of grace. Some people looked a little doubtful but others seemed willing to consider. Misora wasn’t gonna pass judgement straight from the bat.

“All right, the class rep is Midoriya, and our deputy is Yaoyorozu.” Aizawa announced.

“This might not be so bad.” Tsu commented.

“Yeah, I can get behind Midoriya I guess.” Kirishima replied to her.

“This year’s gonna be fun.” Misora laughed to herself.

Misora looked around the cafeteria, food tray in hand and looked around for her classmates. They were scattered, some in big groups. She spotted a table where only one person of class 1-A was and headed over to him without any thought. She gave him a nod in greeting and sat down right in front of Shoto Todoroki, who was very indulged in his soba.

Sluuuurp.

Misora snorted and began eating her food. She wasn't expecting someone with such a deadpan face to eat in that way. 

“What?”

She looked back up, Todoroki stared at her with a raised eyebrow.

“The way you’re slurping your noodles.” She pointed at his bowl with her chopsticks. “It’s just kinda funny.”

“Why?” He questioned, before doing it again.

Misora shrugged. “It’s your expression paired with the sound.”

Todoroki furrowed his brows but nodded slowly before going back to his food. Misora did the same, savoring her gyudon.

“Damn, Lunch Rush is a cooking God!”

Misora looked up at Todoroki, still slurping his noodles. He was a hero legacy like her, but it was even worse, he was the son of Endeavor, the number 2 on the ranks, not to mention how easily he stood out with his half and half hair. She was Hurricane’s baby sister, most people were probably unaware of her existence, or even what she looked like. 

During middle school she’d hidden her brother’s identity for as long as she could due to previous unsavory experiences regarding friends . Once she’d been discovered because of some snoopy moron, she became the talk of her school and all people wanted was to meet her brother.

Misora ended up separating herself from most of her friends and the ones that remained, weren’t really all that strong friendships. They hadn’t even texted since middle school ended. She was so wary of making friends but here, at UA, that didn’t really matter as much. Sure, the connections helped and nepotism was still a thing but it wasn’t as relevant to people here. At least it didn’t look like it.

Could she allow herself to genuinely trust her classmates? Was it worth the risk? With someone like Shoto Todoroki who probably went through the same things she had, maybe it was.

“Hey Todoroki.”

He looked at her expectantly, still slurping his noodles.

“Your fire side.” She says carefully. Todoroki’s chopsticks froze halfway to his mouth. His gaze flicked down to his bowl before meeting hers, colder than before

“You ever reach a temperature high enough to turn sand to glass?” Misora questions, leaning her head on her propped up hand. She wasn’t just trying to make conversation, she genuinely wanted to know, to see if maybe she could test out a theory she had about her quirk.

“No.” He replies in a monotonous tone.

“You wanna try?” She offers, trying her best to sound welcoming.

“It’s not my intention to increase my use of my left side.” Todoroki says cryptically. The finality in his tone warned her not to push, if it weren’t for the fact that she didn’t want trouble on her first week she probably would’ve pushed.

Misora was never the best at reading people, that was more Hayate’s department, but she felt like there was a story there. He had some issue with his fire, she could tell. Maybe it had to do with his scar, maybe he’d overdone it with his quirk in the past and burnt himself on accident. Or it could be something completely different.

She nodded. “Unders-”

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

She looked up as she heard the sudden loud sound. That couldn’t be right, why was the bell ringing? Lunchtime wasn’t done yet, was there some sort of emergency or was this a drill?

“Warning, level three security breach.” A robotic female voice sounded off the speakers. “All students please evacuate the building in an orderly fashion.”

“Level three security breach? What the hell is going on?”

Several students proceeded to get up and run towards the exit, some even overturning their chairs in the process. Misora looked at Todoroki but he’d already gotten up, she just followed him and walked beside him to one of the exits.

It was pandemonium. People were shoving each other, trying to get out without much success. Had they never had a drill or something? Was there an attack happening? Was a villain on campus?

Misora felt she was having it specially bad, she was a fairly short girl, if she wasn’t careful, she could get trampled pretty easily in this chaos.

Someone elbowed her ribcage. “Hey!” Misora snapped, returning the favor without thinking. It most certainly did not help her situation.

She couldn’t move, she was trapped, the crowd was practically moving her along. She wasn’t scared but the lack of control made her uncomfortable. She’d noticed several of her classmates in similar positions, she’s pretty sure she heard someone crying. This wouldn’t end well if it kept on the way it was. What was goi-

Tenya Iida zoomed in circles in the air, probably floating because of Uraraka’s quirk. Most people ignored him, she heard someone yell his name. He slammed against the wall, above the exit, in a position that made him look like the emergency exit sign.

He held onto the pipe above him, to steady himself and yelled. “Listen up, everything is okay!”

Gasps fill the hallway as people finally stop moving, giving her a moment to breathe right.

“It's just the media outside. There's absolutely nothing to worry about. Everything's fine!” Iida declared, his legs shaking, though from nervousness or just the poor feet support she couldn’t tell. “We're UA students. We need to remain calm and prove that we're the best of the best!” 

Misora exhaled shakily, shaking off the numb feeling in her arm. People seemed to be calming down, some starting to move back to the cafeteria. The distant sound of police sirens permanently eased the situation as the crowd fully started to disperse.

“Thank God for Iida.”

She stayed there for a moment, leaning against the wall with her eyes closed and enjoying the feeling of not having bodies involuntarily clinging to her.

“I’ll take her to Recovery Girl.” Misora recognized Sero’s voice easily, his somber tone though? Very unusual.

She opened her eyes and turned to see a gaggle of her classmates surrounding someone, Sero stood up, Aoi in her arms. The latter’s usual going from dark blue to a lighter tone had brown surrounding it, one of her twin drills undone and the other flattened. Her jacket was nowhere to be seen and her almond skin was bruised on her arms and legs. There were small pieces of glass scattered on the floor.

She couldn’t see her face but from the way her shoulders were shaking, she guessed Aoi was crying silently into Sero’s shoulder.

“Oh shit, I hope she’ll be okay.”

Sero walked away with her, Iida quickly following as soon as he got to the ground. Misora just stared at the scene, Aoi had been insanely dangerous the day before during the battle trials but she was still a small girl, shorter and thinner than her. She was also a quiet girl, a little hard to notice at times. Her quirk was dangerous in close combat so she probably didn’t use it to not hurt other people.

The small crowd started to move, grim looks coloring all of them. “I don’t think I can go back to eating.” She heard Uraraka comment, her voice small.

“Me neither.” Midoriya sighed.

Misora agreed with the sentiment.

Misora stared at her phone, the name “Yate” shining at her face as her phone rang. One, two, three, four-

“Hey Missy.” His relaxed tone went through the speaker.

She held her phone next to her ear. “Hey Hayate.”

“What’s wrong?” His tone immediately shifted to a more serious one. She could hear him moving, walking, probably to his office.

“All I said was ‘hey’.” She pointed out, leaning on the wall of a random empty hallway.

“I know you Missy, I can tell something’s wrong just from your voice.” He told her, his care for her clear as glass.

Misora took a shaky breath, she told herself she wouldn’t cry. Not at school, not at UA. She was expected to see so much worse in her future as a hero, a trampling couldn’t crack her like that. Even if it could’ve been her in Aoi’s place, even if she knew the mere fact that Aoi had chosen to protect others from her quirk rather than herself proved she didn’t deserve it.

Her chest tightened as she remembered Aoi’s trembling figure. The kind of resolve one needed to have to not even accidentally use her quirk in a situation like that, it was no joke. She respected her so much more for that alone and wished she could be like that.

“There was a…a…a level three security breach. I think that’s it?” She clutched her phone tighter, her nails digging into the smooth case.

“What?” His voice rose before he evened it. “Are you okay? Was anyone hurt? Are you still at school?”

Hayate was talking in that clinical tone he did when he wanted nothing more than to act but preferred to get all the information first. His concern eased her a little.

“It turned out to be a false alarm. It was just reporters.” Misora answered, gulping down her tears.

“But?”

“Wh-wh-when everyone was trying to leave…” She sighed heavily, her vision blurred as tears welled up in her eyes. “A classmate of mine got hurt and-”

“Hey, hey, hey, Misora.” He spoke softly. “Take a breath for me. In through your nose, out through your mouth—slowly.” He instructed her, she could almost feel him placing his hand on her hair and stroking it.

“C’mon, with me. In and out.” He breathed deeply and she followed.

After doing that a few more times, Misora managed to steady herself. “Is your classmate going to be okay?” He asked after a few moments of silence.

“I-I think so. From what I saw it didn’t seem like anything was broken.” She ran a hand through her hair in frustration.

“ And she has Recovery Girl healing her, so she has good chances either way.” Hayate added, his voice soft, centering. “She’ll be okay physically, I can’t speak for emotionally.”

“An experience like that will probably stick to her for a while.”

Misora nods, even though Hayate can’t see her. “Okay, I get it. I get it.”

“Good.” She could hear him smile through the call. “Wanna hear a little about my day?”

She smiles. “Sure.”

As Hayate talked about his day and some stupid thing one his sidekicks had done, Misora felt the pressure on her chest ease. She might’ve freaked out a little today but she had Hayate to help her through things, of that she was sure.

The Next Day

Rescue training. It was something she was expecting although she assumed she wouldn’t be particularly good at least in the beginning but she would do her best, that’s a certainty.

Misora gave herself one last look to see if everything was alright with her hero costume. A dark red undershirt, a brown crop top with sleeves going to her elbows and orange edges, a red and orange belt, brown camo pants, dark red combat boots with spikes on the bottom, an orange respirator and a black visor with thermal imaging.

She smoothed down her shirt and walked to the front of the school with the rest of her classmates. She stood on some corner as she waited for the bus before she heard a whistle blown.

“Gather around, Class 1‐A!” Iida called on them. “Using your student numbers, form two neat lines so we can load the bus efficiently.”

He blew on his whistle several times to get the point across, he was taking the class president title way too seriously. Misora will be honest, she laughed when she saw the look of disdain on his face once he realized the layout of the bus was different than what he expected.

She sat in between Kaminari and Tsu, watching Iida’s dejected figure.

“Iida, you really need to chill.” Ashido advised him.

“If we're pointing out the obvious, then there's something I wanna say…” She turned to look at Midoriya on her left. “About you, actually.”

“About me? What is it, Asui?” Midoriya flushed from the attention.

“I told you to call me ‘Tsu’.” She corrected him.

“Oh. Yeah, right.” He hunched his shoulders.

“He’s always so nervous.”

“That power of yours. Isn't it a lot like All Might's?” Tsu questioned, prompting a fidgety response from Midoriya.

“All Might doesn’t hurt himself while using his quirk. That’s a key difference.” Misora pointed out, giving Midoriya a once-over.

Kirishima nodded. “Yeah, but I bet it's cool to have a simple augmenting‐type a' quirk. You can do lots of flashy stuff with it.” His gaze turned to his raised arm, activating his quirk on it. “My Hardening's super strong and can destroy bad guys in a fight, but it doesn't look all that impressive.”

“Oh, no way, I think it's really awesome looking. You're definitely pro material with a quirk like that.” Midoriya praised, beaming at him.

“Yeah, plus what really matters is how good you are at the job, not how noticeable.” Misora added, patting him on the shoulder. Kirishima gave her a toothy smile.

“My Navel Laser's got the perfect combination of panache and strength.” Aoyama piped in. He always made her think of those hair product commercials for some reason.

“But it's way lame if it gives you a stomachache, sweetie.” Ashido pointed out, placing her hand on the shoulder of his armor. Aoyama gained a dejected look at the comment.

“She’s got you there.” Misora laughed.

“Well, if any of our classmates have pro Quirks, it's Todoroki and Bakugo.” Kirishima claimed, looking at said classmates.

“Sure, but Bakugo's always angry, so he'll never be that popular.” Tsu stated and Midoriya flinched.

“What’s up with that?”

“What'd you say?” Bakugo snapped at him as he got up from his seat. “I'll kick your ass!” Misora felt sorry for Jiro, who was sitting next to him and inching away in discomfort.

Tsu stuck her tongue out and pointed at him. “You see?” Misora snorted.

“Y'know, we basically just met you. So it's kinda telling that we all know your personality is flaming crap mixed with garbage.” Kaminari smirked, rubbing salt in the wound.

He leaned towards Kaminari whilst holding the railing. “You're gonna regret the day you applied to this school, you loser!” He barked.

Misora couldn’t help it, she erupted into laughter, her sides aching as she doubled over in her seat. 

“What the hell are you laughing at ginger?!” Bakugo yelled at her but she ignored him, continuing to laugh.

“Hey, hey, we're here.” Mr. Aizawa informed the class, his voice halting Misora’s laughter. “Stop messing around.”

“Yes sir.” Everyone bar Bakugo replied in unison.

Misora got off the bus with the rest of her classmates. Wherever they were, it had a big circular shape with glass panels. However, what she and the rest of the class focused on more was the hero in front of them.

“Hello, everyone, I've been waiting for you!” The Space Hero: Thirteen greeted everyone.

Gasps and excited murmurs flowed through the class as Misora felt herself getting hyped up. She’d met Thirteen before, two years ago, when Hayate had partnered with her for a rescue mission. It was awesome, she was such a sweet and energetic person.

“I can't wait to show you what's inside!” She gestured towards the entrance to the building.

“This is gonna be awesome!” Misora grinned as they all followed Thirteen inside.

“Oh my God.” Those words weren’t enough for what she was seeing.

It was a massive space with a fountain plaza and different kinds of areas, for rescue training, she assumed. One had a lake, a large slide and a boat, other some collapsed buildings half-buried by dirt, there was a red and a blue dome that she couldn’t see the interior of. Misora wanted to go and explore each and every one.

“A shipwreck, a landslide, a fire, a windstorm, et cetera.” Thisteen spoke up, bringing the attention to her. “I created this training facility to prepare you to deal with different types of disasters. I call it the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. But, you can call it, USJ!” She spread her arms before pointing at the students as she formally introduced them to the facility.

“Like Universal Studios Japan? Was that on purpose?”

Misora smiled to herself at the pun before she noticed Mr. Aizawa talking covertly with Thirteen. It was probably about the exercise so she didn’t pay much mind to it. As they finished talking, Thirteen turned to the class.

“Before we begin, let me just say one thing.” Thirteen began before backtracking. “Well, maybe two things. Possibly three, four, or five.”

“We get it.”

Misora forced back the urge to roll her eyes since her visor was on top of her head as to not show disrespect.

“Listen carefully. I'm sure you're aware that I have a powerful Quirk.” The Space Hero stated, raising her gloved hand in emphasis. “It's called Black Hole. I can use it to suck up anything and turn it into dust.”

“Yeah, you've used Black Hole to save people from all kinds of disasters before, haven't you?” Midoriya asked as Uraraka next to him nodded her head fervently.

“She must be a big fan of Thirteen’s.”

“That's true, but my Quirk could also very easily be used to kill.” Thirteen stated, as the truth of her words sunk in the class gained more serious expressions. “Some of you also have powers that can be dangerous.”

“Most quirks can be dangerous in the wrong hands, even quirkless people can pose a threat with enough effort.”

“In our superhuman society, all Quirks are certified and stringently regulated, so we often overlook how unsafe they can actually be.” She warned the students. “Please don't forget that if you lose focus or make the wrong move, your powers can be deadly. Even if you're trying to do something virtuous like rescue someone.”

Misora knew her quirk could be fatal if used without caution, she could easily constrict one’s airways with her sand, even herself. That was why she had a breathing mask included in her hero costume, no need to suffocate mid-heroing.

She also found herself drifting towards the previous day, when Aoi prevented herself from using her quirk to protect others. If she had used it, nobody would have blamed her, it would’ve been completely justifiable, self-defense, but she didn’t. She got hurt, healed and headed back to class before the day was over. Considering the way several people glanced at Aoi, she wasn’t the only one thinking that.

“Thanks to Aizawa's fitness tests, you have a solid idea of your quirk's potential.” Thirteen continued. “And because of All Might's combat training, you likely experienced how dangerous your powers can be when used against other people.”

Misora grimaced, remembering Bakugo’s and Midoriya’s fight. That was certainly brutal.

“Carry those lessons over to this class. Today, you're going to learn how to use your Quirks to save people's lives. You won't be using your powers to attack enemies or each other, only to help. After all, that's what being a hero is all about. Ensuring the safety of others.” The Space Hero announced, her words carrying over the students. “That's all I have to say. Thank you so much for listening.”

She bowed as most of the class cheered, Misora did too, particularly loudly. Thirteen might not be her kind of hero but she was filled with integrity and realism, Misora respected that.

“Right.” Mr. Aizawa spoke up. “Now that that's over…” 

The sound of static hit the air before the lights went down. Confusion rippled through the class.

“A short circuit maybe? Was this the beginning of training?”

Misora’s eyebrows shot up once she saw the space in front of the fountain in the plaza distort as a swirling purple and black mist formed.

“Wha?” She heard someone mutter.

Mr. Aizawa turned to look at the mist as it expanded and two yellow lights (eyes?) appeared in the mist. Misora tried to get a better look as someone walked through the mist, maybe a portal of sorts. She had doubts whether this was the exercise or not, it seemed a little ominous.

“I don’t think this is right.” She heard Nakamura comment.

Mr. Aizawa spun toward them, his voice sharp and urgent. “Stay together and don't move!” Gasps rippled through the class. “Thirteen. Protect the students!”

“What’s going on? Who’s that guy? Is he a villain?”

“Whoa, what is that thing?” Kirishima asked, noticing the misty portal as more people started to walk out of it. “Wait, has the training started already? I thought we were rescuing people.”

Dozens of mean-looking people walked out, some with masks and everything. Misora felt her stomach drop as the possibility of what was happening started to sink in.

Midoriya tried to move forward but Mr. Aizawa yelled at him in warning. “Stay back!”

Misora flinched, the force in his tone, the steely look in his expression as he put on his glasses. She’d seen it before, in Hayate, no Hurricane on the very few occasions villains had attacked with her or her parents nearby. This wasn’t training, they were in trouble.

Eraserhead’s declaration only confirmed her thoughts. “This is real. Those are villains.”

Next to the first guy that had walked out of the mist portal, a huge being stepped out of it. Definitely as tall and buff as All Might if not more, dark skin, shirtless and a huge beak, though the detail that frightened her the most was the fact that she was certain she could see its brain from a distance. What was that?

“We’re in deep shit.”

Chapter Text

Sumiko was panicking. Heroes were supposed to be brave but she felt every bit justified with her feelings. It was her first week at UA and she’d seen a classmate practically try to kill another, got trampled by a crowd because she was small and now a horde of actual villains had appeared out of nowhere to attack her class.

You know what? She wasn’t panicking, she was just done with everything. What the hell were they gonna do?

Out of the dark mist expansion in the middle of the USJ, two yellow lamps (were those eyes?) revealed themselves.

“So you scumbags used the press as a cover and sneaked onto campus.” Eraser Head accused as the horde of villains walked through the central plaza towards the class.

Sumiko felt her knees shaking. She could still feel the bruises from yesterday, the pull on her hair, how hard it was to breath. All that happened because of these guys?

“What? Real villains? No way.” Kirishima inquired, his voice oozing disbelief. “How could so many of ‘em get into a UA facility this secure?”

“Yeah, Thirteen.” Yaoyorozu stepped up. “ Why aren’t the alarms going off?”

“Good question.” Thirteen responded. “I’m not sure.”

Sumiko squeaked. “Oh no, this can’t be good.”

“There’s way too many villains for Eraser Head and Thirteen to deal with on their own. What are we gonna do?”

“Is the entire campus under attack?” Nakamura questioned, placing a hand on Kanzaki’s shoulder. “Or is this their only target?”

“Either way, if the alarm sensors aren’t being triggered, then one of these villains must have a quirk that’s masking their presence here.” Todoroki claimed, eyeing the situation. “They carefully chose this isolated facility as an entry point at a time when a class was being taught. They’re fools for trespassing here, but they’ve thought this out. Whatever their plan, they must have a concrete objective in mind. But what is it?”

Several of her classmates look on in fear at the villains, Sumiko in particular hugging herself.

“This is bad, this is so bad.” She mumbled. The danger of the situation was easily getting to her.

Eraser Head walked towards the steps. “Thirteen, get them outta here. And alert the main campus.” He dictated.

“Is he gonna hold them off ALONE?”

That thought gave her a bad feeling, mostly due to the muscly bird head that was close to the portal. He didn’t seem like a regular heteromorph, something was off about him.

“Actually, if they’ve got the ability to block our sensors, then they might be jamming our regular communications, too.” The teacher deduced, probably mulling over the best course of action. “Kaminari, try using your quirk to contact the school.”

Kaminari gasped before palming his head piece. “Yes, sir.”

“What are you gonna do? You can’t fight them on your own!” Midoriya warned, his panic evident. “There’s too many of ‘em. Even if you can nullify their quirks, your fighting style’s not suited for this.”

Sumiko wasn’t good at dissecting fighting styles but the mere number of villains approaching them told her enough. This wasn’t going to end well.

“Your power works best in stealth and one‐on‐one fights. That’s not gonna help with a group.” Midoriya looked down disheartened.

Eraser Head looks back at him, his expression unreadable with the goggles. “You can’t be a pro if you only have one trick.” He states before turning back to the danger. “I’ll leave it to you, Thirteen.”

Those were the last words she heard from her teacher that day.

Sumiko and the class watched with baited breath as Eraser Head leapt into battle, holding both ends of his capture weapon, his dark hair floating.

Sumiko watched as the first three villains to approach suddenly couldn’t use their quirks, followed by her teacher lassoing them in and slamming them together.

The villains hesitated, now wary of the hero. “Idiots! That’s Eraser Head, a pro!” One of them scoffed as the hero pulled his weapon in. “He can cancel your quirks just by looking at you.”

“Cancellation?” A large man with four arms inquired as he barreled towards Eraser Head. “Bet you can’t erase the Quirk of a heteromorphic‐type like me, can you?”

The villain jumped and threw a swing only for the hero to dodge. “Yeah. You’re right.” He punched him in the face, sending him away before pulling him in. “But a villain like you is only dangerous if you can reach me.”

Sumiko gasped watching as someone tried to hit him from behind. He leaned downwards to avoid the hit and kicked him back. “Good thing. I’ve taken measures to make sure that never happens.” He threw the four-armed villain to the other, taking them out. “Now, which one of you gutter punks is next?”

“Our teach is a badass.” Suarashi laughed, eyes gleaming in excitement.

Sumiko wondered what was wrong with her that she managed to be that joyful in this situation but she completely agreed with her statement. Eraser Head was amazing, he made the villains doubt themselves and was defeating them one by one. The pessimistic part of her wondered how long that would last.

Thirteen’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts. “Kids, let’s go!” She ordered.

She tore her eyes away from Eraser Head and swiveled towards the entrance. Sumiko moved as fast as she could, as much as she was worried about her teacher, she was also very much worried about herself. It was way too soon for her to start dealing with villains, especially ones that seemed so dangerous.

“Does God hate me or something?”

Purple mist emerged from the floor a couple of feet in front of the class and Thirteen, halting their tracks. Fear crept up her spine as the smoky figure with its bright yellow eyes peered down at them. “There is no escape for you.”

She wanted to see if Eraser Head was heading their way but she was frozen, panicking, only paying attention to the villain in front of her “It’s a pleasure to meet you. We are the League of Villains.” The mist man’s deep voice was clear and concise. “I know it’s impolite, but we decided to invite ourselves in to this haven of justice to say hello.”

“And besides isn’t this a fitting place for All Might, the Symbol of Peace, to take his last breath?” He mused. A whimper left her mouth as his words processed. “I believe he was supposed to be here today, and yet I see no sign of him. There must’ve been some sort of change in plans we could not have foreseen.”

“They’re after All Might? They wouldn’t have come here without some sort of plan. And what are they gonna do now that they know he’s not here? Are they gonna hold us hostage until he gets here?”

“Ah, well, in the end, I suppose it doesn’t matter.” The villain concluded, his mist starting to spread. “I still have a role to play.”

Sumiko heard the sound of a pop, right before two cries of battle. Bakugo and Kirishima leapt past her, heading straight towards creepy mist man. The next thing she heard was an explosion, she had her arms in front of her to protect her face, forgetting the fact that she was wearing a visor.

As the smoke started to clear, she heard Kirishima’s voice. “Did ya think we were just gonna stand around and let you tear this place to shreds?”

“Did they hurt him?”

“You live up to your school’s reputation.” Her blood turned cold at the impassive deep voice. “But you should be more careful, children. Otherwise, someone might get hurt.”

“You two, get out of the way, right now!” Thirteen warned, the cap on one of her fingers open and directed at the villain.

“I’ll scatter you across this facility to meet my comrades, and your deaths!”

Purple smoke obscured her vision as some wind blew in their direction. Sumiko breathed heavily, looking around trying to see something, anything. Some screaming reached her ears, it was probably her.

After a couple of seconds the wind stopped. Then the heat wafted through her body.

Sumiko yelped, panic surging through her. Bouts of fire went across the area, buildings burning fiercely as sweat started to drip down her face. She looked up and saw a red dome similar to the larger one in the USJ.

“Wait I’m still inside the facility? Did that guy teleport me to one of the disaster areas? Where are the others? I need to get away from these fires first.”

“Found one!”

Sumiko’s eyes widened as she turned, spotting a woman run towards her. She immediately booked it, which wasn’t a good idea given that she tripped after five steps trying to avoid the fires. She rolled on the ground, scraping her knees and elbows before she scrambled to get up.

“Shit, shit, shit. Get up!”

She gasped as something pulled on her arm, glass shot out of her arm reflexively, ripping off whatever had grabbed her.

Sumiko Aoi! Quirk: Glass Body! She can release glass shards from anywhere on her body!

As the glass popped off of her body, Sumiko heard the woman curse, looking back to see her holding her hand, red dripping down from it. “Sorry!” She yelled, getting up and running away again.

Her heart raced once she heard more unknown voices, how many villains were there here? She couldn’t beat them on her own, she wasn’t nearly strong enough, she’d barely had any training, she was weak, why did she decide to become a hero, why-

Sumiko yelped when she felt herself be yanked to the side.

Misora was ashamed, ashamed of the fact that she was having fun. She cackled, the sound reverberating from her respirator as she willed her sand to swirl and trip up several villains.

Todoroki followed up by freezing them, successfully immobilizing them. “Aren’t you embarrassed to lose to children? For God’s sake, you’re adults. Put up a real fight.”

Misora Suarashi. Quirk: Sand. She can create sand from her palms and control it.

“That’s a little mean.” She quipped at him, dodging a villain’s swing and kicking them in the back of the knees. “But I can see your point.”

The villains they were fighting were surprisingly inadequate given not only how many of them there were but also the whole planning of the situation. Although to be fair, both Misora and Todoroki were trained by heroes so they had an advantage of better skills.

Misora blasted two of them with sand straight in their faces, she ignored their noises of complaint as she kicked one and punched the other back.

Another moved in from behind. She made a pulling motion with her hands and the swirl from before barreled at the enemy, whipping him on the head.

Todoroki side-eyed her as he froze the villain to the floor. “They’re lackluster.” He dodged a spike headed his way.

“Agreed.” She used her sand to push the spike back to the sender, knocking her down. “So let’s finish this quickly, so we can get to the main event.”

Hikari stumbled, her feet momentarily without solid footing before touching the ground. She felt sturdy hands hold her arms to keep her steady, taking note that she was no longer in the same place.

She was in a large decrepit room with broken floor tiles, cracks in the walls and ceiling, one sad little light bulb an inch away from dropping and the glass had been removed from the windows. Where was she?

“FUCK!” That made her jump and also remember that she was not alone.

Feeling the hands on her arms leave, her head swiveled towards her two companions. Kirishima, who had been holding her steady and sported a frustrated look and Katsuki Bakugo, growling and clenching his fists, rage emanating from him.

“I’m gonna kill that smoke bastard.” Bakugo sneers, small explosions popping on his hands.

Hikari mentally debated whether she should talk to him. After the whole thing at the battle trial and how he seemed to keep an eye on her during the first day, she was incredibly wary of interacting with him. On the other hand, he’d seemed so downstricken in the aftermath that she began to wonder if there was more to him than aggression. She also low-key wanted to smack him and Kirishima for the stupidity that made them launch themselves at that villain.

Before she could decide, figures came through the windows, the door kicked down and others entering. They were surrounded and the sound of more people approaching from the distance brought more tension to her body.

Kirishima and Bakugo both went into fighting stances, she followed, arms up and palms out to release her plasma grenades.

“Don’t get yourself killed. Don’t be a burden. Do something useful.”

Everyone stood frozen, darting glances, readying themselves for the fight. They were outnumbered, the villains sporting cocky grins. Her heart hammered against her rib cage, the sound traveling to her ears.

Would this be it? Would she die today?

“Hero course? Are you insane?” Her mom, Hoshiko Amano, had questioned her with an incredulous tone. “Whose idea even was this?”

“It was mine.” She’d answered as calmly as she could, her trembling hands gripping her jacket. “I want to do this, I want to be a hero.”

“You hardly get out of your room and you want to go out and fight criminals?” Her mom huffed. “How do you expect to deal with press when you barely even talk to your own family? You’re going to regret that.”

Hell to the no. She refused to prove that woman right.

Bakugo made the first move. An explosion sent someone flying back, heat bloomed on her palms as she released two plasma grenades, and blew them a couple feet in front of her, knocking down two villains. She stepped left to avoid a charging villain who ended up decked by Kirishima.

Hikari swiped her hand, generating two more grenades which blew up right on someone’s chest, sending them flying with so much force the wall cracked. As she ducked to avoid something that looked a staff, she tripped the attacker and stepped back, bumping into Bakugo.

“Out of my way!” He screamed at her before blasting one of the villains.

Hikari inched away from him. She yelped as she narrowly dodged something red. “Was that blood?”

Kumoroi felt herself get pulled by the waist, her feet leaving the floor for moments due to the speed of the movement. The smoke clouding her vision turned into bright lights, she shut her eyes and groaned, the shift disorienting.

“What’s going on?” She heard someone yell beside her.

She rose slowly, opening her eyes to see the mist barrier surrounding the area her classmates and Thirteen were in. Sato, Uraraka and Iida were beside her, the latter most likely the one to pull her out, she’d thank him later.

Kumoroi watched the smoke barrier dissipate with a racing heart. She did her best not to start heaving as realized the number of heartbeats in near vicinity had dwindled. The villain had done it, he’d separated her classmates.

“Where are they? Did he actually scatter them throughout the USJ or was that a bluff? His range seems wider than that.”

The mist villain stood in his spot, golden lamp-like eyes peering down at them. Where her 20 classmates (she wasn’t counting the ones beside her) had been, now only three remained along with Thirteen: Shoji, Ashido and Sero. Shoji had used his arms to shield the latter two which began to peer over him cautiously.

“Come on.” She motioned to her classmates next to her and they grouped up with the others, staying behind Thirteen. She settled into a fighting stance, awaiting any move the villain might make.

“Oh, this is bad, this is so bad. Breathe Kumo, don’t panic, just breathe.”

“Class rep!” The hero called to him. “I have a job for you. Run to the school and tell the faculty what’s going on here.”

Iida looked affronted at the suggestion. “Yes, but – It would be disgraceful for me to leave you all behind.”

As much as the sentiment behind his words were touching and noble, she had to agree with Thirteen. Iida was the fastest person in their little group and probably the whole class. They needed the backup or else this could go very wrong very quickly.

“Use your quirk to save others. Be a real hero!” She advised him, stepping towards the villain. As purple tendrils approached them, she pointed an uncapped finger towards the enemy. “Black hole!”

The tendrils were concentrated to Thirteen’s finger, her quirk sucking them in and decimating them seemingly effortless. Kumoroi was in awe, videos didn’t do the Space Hero’s quirk justice. It was incredible to see live; to feel the destructive power so close to you and be so glad it was on your side.

“So the plan was to scatter us and then kill us. You were woefully unprepared.” Todoroki says, his breath as cold as his words.

He and Misora stared down the group of criminals, all encased in ice up to their shoulders, some had a coat of sand under the ice for extra uncomfortableness. All in all, they’d done a spectacular job.

“In fact, it looks to me as though you’ve had no training.” Todoroki scolded, calmly walking towards the frozen villains. “You haven’t the slightest idea how to use your quirks.”

“How cold.” Misora teased, as she followed him to the shivering victims. “They were trying their best.” The only response she got was an eye roll.

“This power…” One of the criminals looked aghast. “He froze us the instant we warped here.”

“He’s not a kid, he’s a monster!”

“So cold…”

Misora felt off put by that word. “Not a monster, it’s all hard work and a little talent.” She corrected, poking the guy who said that. “Not that you’d guys know what that is.”

Todoroki glanced back at her with a curious expression.

“So that got a reaction? What’s up with him?”

“RAHHH-”

Her head snapped towards the noise. She swiped her hand back, unleashing a wave of sand from her palm whilst ducking to avoid the metal pipe that narrowly struck her head. He got sent back and as soon as he touched the floor was immediately frozen to it.

“Y’know, we make a pretty decent team.” She commented, smiling at her impromptu partner, not that he could see it due to her respirator.

“I suppose.” He nodded, stalking to their latest ‘enemy’. “Listen well. If you stay frozen, your cells will slowly die as your body succumbs to frostbite and hypothermia.”

Her eyebrows shot up as the villains whimpered. She didn’t know much about temperatures but she was fairly sure Todoroki had the skillset to be able to leave them in place for at least a while without causing permanent damage.

“Luckily for you, I wanna be a hero.” Todoroki remarks, placing a freezing hand close to one of the villain’s tearing faces. “So I’d like to avoid any unnecessary cruelty. But I can only do that if you tell me how you plan to kill All Might. That’s the only way you’ll survive.”

“Using intimidation and an image of sympathy to force him to talk. What a cunning boy you are Shoto Todoroki.”

Misora barked out a laugh, her voice reverberating. “I think my brother would like you Todoroki.”

He gave her an inquisitive look but didn’t question her, focusing on the task at hand. She stared at the frozen villains. “You also forgot to mention the fact that they’ll also have to deal with the wet sand on top of that. Not fun.”

“Okay, okay! I’ll tell you!” The villain wails, Todoroki dropping his hand.

Misora walked over to stand next to him. “Tell us everything.”

Kumoroi stood few feet behind Thirteen as she kept sucking in the villain’s black mist, holding him in place. Things were looking up, the villain would be defeated, they’d be able to leave and get backup. Yes, this could work, no one had to die.

Her hope dwindled seconds after that thought.

Kumoroi watched in horror as dark mist materialized right behind Thirteen. “Wa-” Her warning died in her throat as the back of the hero’s suit pieced off and disintegrated, followed by some pieces of skin being torn off.

“I’m sorry. He got me.” The hero apologized weakly, her quirk deactivating as she collapsed on the ground.

Thud.

“Thirteen!” Ashido cried out for her.

Kumoroi did her best not to heave as she spoke, keeping her eyes on the threat. “Iida, leave! Now!”

“Get outta here! Go! Now!” She heard Sato encourage him.

She heard him stammer; his hesitance palpable even though she wasn’t even looking at him. Kumoroi was immensely close to picking him up and throwing him to the door before she heard the sound of an engine roar.

“Engine!” Iida yelled as he sped past her, their classmates and the villain.

“A sheep trying to escape from the wolves. I simply can’t allow that.”

The villain probably would’ve whipped his head towards Iida if he had a head given how part of his mist and his golden eyes turned towards her speeding classmate.

She caught a glimpse of silver under all that darkness but it disappeared as quickly as she’d seen it. What was that?

A purple portal materialized in front of Iida. His metallic boots ground on the ground, trying to stop himself from entering the portal.

Kumoroi’s heart leapt to her throat, Shoji moving quicker than her and tackling the portal with his membrane-like arms, taking it with him as he rolled away.

“Run!” Shoji shouted. “I’ve got him!”

“You impertinent child!” The enemy chastises as the mist expanded and moved towards Iida. “You won’t set a foot outside those doors!”

Kumoroi wasn’t sure if she’d actually seen anything as she aimed her wrist at the supposed object. What if she was wrong and ended up making this worse? Her enhanced eyesight could have just caught something past the villain instead. Her wrist trembled as she mentally debated.

“I have no time for this. Be gone!” The villain bellowed, a blanket of darkness covering Iida.

“No!” She ran towards the villain.

“Say goodbye!” Bakugo yelled, blasting back two villains with an explosion, knocking them out as they roughly hit the wall.

Hikari watched Kirishima use a hardened arm to break in half a villain’s sword before neck chopping him. As the three of them panted, she took a moment to herself and sat on the floor, ignoring the unconscious criminals littered around the room. She still couldn’t believe she contributed towards that.

“Think that’s the last of these guys.” Bakugo scoffed, seeming annoyed. “Buncha weaklings.”

“All right.” Kirishima turned towards the other two. “Let’s hurry and find the rest of our class. If the three of us are still in the USJ, then everyone else probably is, too.”

Hikari nodded, stretching her arms above her head. “Not everyone has good offensive skills like us, we should at least try to protect them.”

“Especially since we screwed things up when we got in the way earlier.” The red head clenched his fists, shoulders tensing in frustration as he held his head low. “If Thirteen had been able to suck up that villain, then we never would’ve been separated like that.”

Kirishima looked so much like a kicked puppy that she wanted to comfort him and tell him it wasn’t his fault but she couldn’t. Not without lying at least.

“We have to make it up to the others!” He declared, offering Hikari his hand, which she accepted and got up with a small smile.

Bakugo had been eyeing the two of them with a critical expression. “You two wanna track everyone down, have fun.” He grunted. “But I’m gonna go destroy that warpy bastard.”

Hikari moaned in frustration. She wasn’t really surprised but she had hoped for a little more cooperation given the situation.

Kirishima made a sound of confusion. “Huh? Our physical attacks didn’t hurt that guy. C’mon. Don’t be an idiot, man.”

“Shut up!” The blond snapped, making her reflexively step back. “I’m gonna take him down because he’s their way in and out. If I cut off their escape route, they’ll be stuck here and have to pay for what they’ve done.”

She canted her head side to side in agreement. Bakugo had a point, that warp villain was their guaranteed way in and out of the facility although she was doubtful as to how he would manage to take him down given how his last attempt went.

“We’ll just have to figure it out!” Bakugo proclaimed.

Movement registered in the corner of her eye and she moved almost automatically. A plasma grenade made contact with someone at the same time an explosion went off. A flash of green and orange occurred seconds before a body hit the floor, the faint scent of caramel wafting in the air.

Hikari caught Bakugo’s gaze; they both had their palms out to the side barely having actually moved their bodies before their hands dropped. Hikari gave him a sheepish smile as he stared at her with narrowed eyes.

“Anyway.” Bakugo glanced at the chameleon-like villain they’d just taken down. “If all these villains are small fries like these guys were, then our classmates can handle ‘em.”

Kirishima gaped at the two of them. “That reaction time was insane, also…” His face twitched into a nervous smile. “Since when do you act so calm and rational? Usually you’re all like…”

An echo of Bakugo screaming the word die went off in her mind as he trailed off. Hikari pursed her lips to stop herself from smiling and focused on the conversation.

“I’m always calm and rational, you red‐haired loser!” Bakugo shouted, proving the red head’s point.

“Yeah! There you are.”

Hikari looked down to hide her expression, her eyes catching onto one very irrelevant detail.

“Holy shit, his waist is tiny.”

She would forever deny it to anyone except Kira Hayashi that she was very much staring at Bakugo’s slender waistline. She would further deny that she very much wanted to grab said waistline. Him moving brought her out of her trance.

“Go find the others if you want to.” He began to walk out of the decrepit room.

Kirishima held out a hand, making the explosive boy pause. “Wait, hold up! I think what you’re really saying that you believe in our classmates. And that’s thinkin’ like a man, Bakugo.” He smirked, clashing his hardened fists with a sharp sound.

Hikari glanced at her two bold classmates. She believed she was very different from them, going for a head-on approach and heading straight towards danger wasn’t exactly something she ever did. She was often the one to tap out of tests of courage back in middle school but something about this felt different.

She groaned loudly before standing straight. “Lead the way, Bakugo.”

Kirishima grinned at her. “Yeah, let’s do this thing!”

Sumiko held her breath as she waited by the alley. Her suit almost entirely clung to her sweaty body, a result of the high temperatures that accompanied the area she was in. She did her best to focus on the sound of steps instead of her hammering heartbeat.

“Come on! This way!”

She stiffened, muscles tensing.

“Don’t panic, you’re not alone Sumiko. Remember.”

Sumiko knew Ojiro was close-by and she trusted he’d protect her. He’d pulled her away from the villains sight earlier, his demeanor was sincere and calm. He gave her a sense of peace and was doing these sneak attacks with her.

The choices were either run, fight or hide. They chose all three. Running would be difficult with who knows how many criminals looking for them and they couldn’t hide forever, their numbers were bigger. Neither of them were particularly strong so they settled on doing sneak attacks as they moved to leave the area.

Three large men walked past the alley and she moved. Glass protruded from wrist, slicing one man’s side. He hissed in pain as he dropped his club, blood spreading on his shirt. The other two turned, one raising his knife towards her.

Sumiko stepped back as Ojiro leapt down from a streetlight, knocking down the one with the knives. She used the same shard to slice the first man’s arms as she angled one from her back at the final villain. Ojiro hit both with his tail, the men dropping to the ground.

She released the bloody shards from her body, ignoring the bile threatening to rise from her throat. Why did her quirk make things messy?

“You okay?” Ojiro asked as they both ran away from the scene.

Sumiko sidestepped into an alley with him, panting as she hunched in on herself. “Just worried about the others.”

He hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder. “I am too, but I meant your back.”

She blinked at him in confusion before realization hit her.

“Right, seeing glass come out of a person’s body does look painful.”

“It’s fine, I’m not hurt.” She tried to smile at him reassuringly, but she’s sure it came out wobbly at best.

The glass shards she could release felt more like flexing a muscle than pain, although they could hurt her if she did it too much in one spot. She was physically fine, even her hero costume was fine. She’d had it designed with several Velcro patches in spots she memorized so she could avoid wearing an ‘inappropriate’ outfit just so she could be useful.

Ojiro nodded before sighing. “Let’s go, we need to keep moving.”

Sumiko let out a small whimper as she stood straight. “Okay.”

Kumoroi felt her desperation climbing to its peak. Iida couldn’t fail, she had to make sure of it. She took a chance and leapt towards the warp villain, skillfully flipping through the air she braced for impact.

The place of impact was solid, metallic given the sound it made. The villain got pulled to the side, triumph flooding through her briefly before she skidded and rolled on the ground, her back hitting the rail.

She hissed through her teeth as her eyes caught a flash of pink. Uraraka ran and placed her hands on what she could see was a metal brace of sorts, causing the smoke to retreat from Iida as the villain begun to float.

“YES!”

“I don’t know what his Quirk is, but he’s wearing some kinda weird armor.” Uraraka looked at the brace, a determined look on her face. “So he must have a physical body inside here somewhere.” She threw it up, the villain moving back with it. “Now! Run, Iida!”

The smoke attempted to move closer to Iida again as the villain yelled. “You pest! How dare you!”

Kumoroi stood, wincing at the flare of pain in her back and the scrapes she was sure she had under her bodysuit. She watched as Iida reached the door and hurriedly pried it open.

“Sero!” She yelled, keeping her eyes on the villain. “Aim at the brace!”

The warp villain inched towards Iida. “I’ve got you!”

She released a web from each wrist, sticking them to the metal brace right before a long string of tape reached it as well. She stood her ground, wrapping her hands around the webs for extra grip and pulled back, her feet sticking to the floor.

“Not so fast!” Sero yelled, she glanced at him and noticed Sato pulling the tape back.

Kumoroi grunted, feeling her back muscles burn from the strain. She yanked hard on the webs, swinging the villain over them and slammed him on the other side of the corridor. The floor cracked from the force and she released the webs from her wrists.

The tape holding onto the villain was pulled. She turned to see Sato using it to swing the villain in circles before letting it go. The smoke man soared through the air towards the plaza.

She heard the sound of door hinges moving followed by an engine roaring to life. Her body flooded with relief as she grinned towards the open doors.

Iida was out. Help was on the way.

Chapter Text

Kumoroi winced as Sero held her arms. They felt like they were on fire but at least she wasn’t bleeding and nothing felt broken. He dropped them with an apologetic expression once he noticed her reaction.

“You’re really strong y’know?” He pointed out.

“Spider’s proportional strength.” Kumoroi gave him a weak smile. “How’s Thirteen?” She asked Ashido, who was sitting beside the fallen hero.

The pink girl trembled a little. “She’s still passed out but at least she’s –” She gulped, hand tracing the side of Thirteen’s suit.

“Alive.” Uraraka finished solemnly, moving to hold Ashido’s other hand.

In a mental attempt to be helpful, she looked out at the plaza. Most of the villains that had seemed to almost swarm Eraser Head were either unconscious or writhing on the floor, as for the hero himself…

Her breath hitched. “Oh God.” She whispered before clamping her mouth, trying to keep down the bile rising up her throat.

Eraser Head was being held down, the hero too far for her to hear his heartbeat and he didn’t seem to be moving. A pool of blood seemed to be emerging from under him.

A muscular black-skinned man – she knew it was quirkist but she used the word man very loosely – with a large beak and an exposed brain was the one holding down the hero.

The mist villain had materialized close-by, simply watching.

To make matters worse, there was also some guy – were those severed hands latched onto his body like accessories? – crouched on the bank of the lake, right in front of Midoriya, Asui and Mineta.

Water splashed, blocking her view and she barely had any time to register the movement before a large gust of wind rippled through the air, throwing her and her classmates off-balance. Kumoroi faintly registered the sound of the lights shattering as she fell into a crouch, holding her arms out in front of her. Whatever bruises she had on her arms screamed in protest, her groaning through gritted teeth in response.

The discord ended as abruptly as it began. She moved her arms away slowly, glancing around to see how her classmates were.

Uraraka and Ashido had used their bodies to protect Thirteen and were moving away slowly as to not jostle her injuries. Sero, Shoji and Sato had covered themselves in similar ways to her and were getting up to look at the origin of the commotion.

“Was that Midoriya?” She heard Sato question.

Uraraka’s head snapped towards the plaza, her heart racing with fear. “Deku…”

Kumoroi looked out again, focusing on finding that green mop of hair. She took a deep breath and readied herself. It didn’t matter that she was just a student, she couldn’t just leave him and her other classmates out there, so close to those creepy villains. She had to hel-

CRASH!

She tensed at the loud sound. The metal doors of the USJ crashed a couple of feet behind her as she turned to see the smoke-covered entrance. A large figure emerged from the wreckage, the pure rage that emanated from him registering in her brain before the actual person.

A smile of relief broke through her stunned expression as the man walked past her, suit jacket on one hand. Kumoroi faintly heard Ashido crying, completely understanding how she felt.

All Might stepped through the entrance, bringing a surge of hope to her body. “I couldn't shake the feeling that something had gone wrong here when Aizawa and Thirteen didn't answer my calls.” He informed them as he threw away his jacket. “So I hurried over, running into Young Iida along the way. He told me of the villainy at work here.”

“Have no fear, students.” All Might declared, sporting a dangerous sneer instead of his usual broad grin as he ripped off his blue tie. “I am here!”

Far from the first time in her life, Hikari cursed her weak lungs. Her calves burned and feet ached as she ran as fast as her painfully non-athletic body would allow her to. Hikari was not built for cardio much unlike the boys ahead of her.

“Note to self: Never tell Yozora she was right about going to the gym.”

Hikari, Kirishima and Bakugo had left what seemed like the area of the USJ simulating a collapse and had raced straight to the plaza, taking down whatever “extra” – as Bakugo so fondly called them – they came across. The silver lining was that running increased her temperature and therefore gave her more ammunition.

Her heart dropped as she finally caught sign of their objective in the distance.

All Might had arrived, rescue had arrived but it wasn’t looking good. His positioning was odd, there seemed to be one of those warp gates underneath him, his arms were wrapped around the torso of dark-skinned body held as if All Might had attempted to suplex him. He’s clearly failed given that the upper part of the enemy’s body had gone through the portal and appeared right underneath him, arms gripping the hero’s sides.

Hikari’s feet stopped moving as she noticed two very important details. One, there was a guy – the leader she guessed – who was using several severed large hands as a very bold fashion statement. Two, the guy gripping All Might? She could see his brain.

“Does it smell? Do brains even smell like anything?”

Was…was All Might bleeding? She was still somewhat far from the skirmish but she could see hints of red spreading on the hero’s white dress shirt. It was obvious, the number one hero was losing.

If All Might was losing, what chance did she – someone who’s barely a week into the hero course have? She’d get herself killed, she can’t die just yet, that wasn’t the plan, if she died she wouldn’t be of any use to anyone, she’d still be–

“Kanzaki!”

Kirishima’s voice brought her out of her spiral, she looked at him, aware that she was hyperventilating and had yet to move from her spot. A flash of white passed through the corner of her eye.

BOOM!

“Get the hell outta my way, Deku!”

Her head snapped towards Bakugo – who’d already reached the battle scene somehow – grabbing the smoky villain and slamming him on the ground with a yell. Midoriya, who had his back to her, was right in front of him.

“When did he get there?”

A chill went through her spine as ice crystallized on the floor trailing quickly towards All Might’s opponent and mostly incasing him.

“Wha…?” Hikari turned to see Todoroki and Suarashi a couple feet to the side, having arrived from a different direction than her and the boys.

Kirishima tugged on her arm. “Let’s go.”

Hikari’s anxiety stilled as she watched All Might release himself from the villain’s grip and jump away to stand next to Todoroki. Suarashi followed, blasting sand at the leader, who backflipped away from the attack her attack, landing with incredible grace.

She took a shaky breath, eyeing the man with hands for accessories and shook her head.

“Be useful. Be a hero.”

Hikari felt the familiar heat leaving her palms as five plasma grenades materialized, hovering above her as she ran to assist her classmates and teacher.

Kirishima – who was much faster than her – leaped forward with a war cry to strike the hand villain. The man dodged effortlessly much to the red head’s dismay.

She stopped next to Midoriya, gaze lingering on Bakugo. “Guess I found your body that time, ya smoky bastard!” He grinned wickedly at the semi-contained villain. Now that she was close, Hikari could see some sort of metal neck armor tangled in the mist, Bakugo having a firm grip on it.

“I’ll admit it, Bakugo keeps his word.”

“Now, you didn’t think we’d just let you take out our teacher, did ya?” Suarashi taunted the villains, her voice reverberating through her mask as sand swirled around her wrists like small vortexes.

“The Symbol of Peace will not be defeated by delinquents like you.” Todoroki declared monotonously, staring down the final obstacle for this nightmare to end.

Hikari straightened and held her palms out, she tried to ignore the way her legs burned, the way her suit clung to her back with sweat and the way the pit in her stomach just kept growing, instead focusing on the issue at hand.

“Just a little more and we can go. Push through dammit.”

Kumoroi felt her shoulders unwind as she saw Kanzaki and the others arrive to assist All Might. The fight had started well, All Might dishing it out like he usually does and pummeling the villain – it was pretty awesome seeing it in person.

Then things went south rapidly, he got tricked and trapped and the only thing that stopped Kumoroi from going and interfering herself was the fact that she noticed her classmates already close enough to help.

They would be enough, Bakugo, Todoroki and Midoriya were powerhouses – even though the latter had control issues – , Kanzaki wasn’t too far behind and had much better focused attacks, Suarashi seemed always flowing, always moving and Kirishima was a mighty shield. Those six along with All Might could totally take them down. She had to believe in them.

A low groan brought her out of her thoughts.

“Let them handle it, we need to hurry.” Tsu’s voice carried to her enhanced ears.

“Yeah, okay!” Mineta replied, followed by the sound of footsteps.

Kumoroi stepped forward, looking around for them. It wasn’t difficult to find them, they were heading her way with…with a seemingly unconscious Mr. Aizawa being carried by both of them.

“So that’s where he went…”

“Tsu! Mineta!” Kumoroi called out to them, earning the attention of her classmates.

“Hey! We're all up here!” Uraraka waved to them.

“Hey! Can you come help us out?” Mineta pleaded. “He's super heavy and bleeding all over the place!”

Kumoroi went to step down but an arm covered her path. “What?”

Sero leveled a look at her. “Your arms still hurt, don’t they?”

She watched Uraraka and Sato go down the stairs as she lightly touched on of her still-stinging arms. “Alright.” She walked away from the steps.

Misora was both terrified and elated. She got to fight her first criminals today, it wasn’t some training exercise, it was actual genuine crime-fighting but those guys in the Landslide Zone and the guys on the way were all chumps. They were fairly easy to beat, barely put up a challenge, but the one in front of her, the creepy-looking dude who seemed eerily calm? This guy would prove to be difficult and she couldn’t wait for it.

“Kurogiri.” Creepy dude called out with his scratchy voice. “How could you let this brat get the best of you? You've gotten us into a real jam here.”

Bakugo grinned at the smoky guy – Kurogiri she guessed – as he kept him at bay with his palm in his odd piece of armor. “Heh. You got careless, you dumb villain. It wasn't hard to figure you out. Only certain parts of you turn into that smoking warp gate. You used that mist to hide your actual body, as a kind of distraction. Thinking that made you safe! That's why we missed.”

Misora blinked at him in surprise, mind briefly taken away from the incoming fight. She hadn’t really rationalized much about this villain’s quirk, she just assumed he could create portals and left it at that. She did wonder why he dropped her and Todoroki so close to the floor instead of higher up in the USJ since he seemed to be able to teleport them anywhere. That would’ve definitely caused more physical harm.

“But if you didn't have a body, you wouldn't be wearing this neck armor, right? You're not immune to physical attacks if they're well aimed.” Bakugo pointed out, setting off small blasts on the piece of armor to drive his point home as the villain – Kurogiri had tried to move.

Her explosive classmate’s grin reached maniacal levels. “Don't move! You try anything funny, and I'll blow your ass up right now, you got it? They'll be cleanin' you up for weeks.”

“Oh, that doesn't sound very heroic.” Kirishima quipped, prompting a snort from Kanzaki.

Misora barked out a laugh, bringing her attention back to handman. “I think it’s very appropriate considering all the shit that’s been going on.”

The main guy didn’t make any sudden moves or try to attack them, instead he calmly turned towards the remaining warp gate with his stuck comrade.  “Nomu.”

The man? Thing? Who the fuck knows? The brain guy screeched and began move. He – it? – pulled himself out of the warp gate, ice still half-encasing him.

“H-hold on, stop!” She heard Kanzaki sputter but she couldn’t take her eyes off of the – the Nomu? That’s what creepy man called it.

Her belief that the creature in front of her was more it than he only bolstered as the arm and leg that were in ice broke away at the shoulder and below the knee. The limbs dropped without it making any noises of pain, the Nomu continued moving, trying to stand upright.

“What the fuck?” She mumbled, swallowing down her lunch that threatened a reappearance.

“Stay back, everybody!” All Might warned, arm spread out to attempt to keep the students away.

The horror continued. The remaining ice on its body broke away as it flexed, red tendons forming and extending. They continued up until they reached a reasonable length, skin growing above them and without even a full minute passing, this…this thing had lost two limbs and grown new ones.

“What is this?” All Might bellowed. “I thought you said his power was shock absorption.”

“I didn't say that was his only Quirk. He also has super‐regeneration.” Handman responded easily.

Her blood went cold. More than one quirk? That wasn’t possible, that wasn’t natural and yet here she was witnessing exactly that.

“Nomu has been modified to take you on even at 100% of your power.” The villain continued, was he seriously giving out information of his ally’s abilities? “He's basically a highly efficient punching bag that hits back.”

Misora moved her sand that she hadn’t even realized she’d dropped and held her arms out, readying herself for a fight. This wasn’t going to be easy. Shock absorption and regeneration, maybe even more and to top it all of she had no idea what the leader’s quirk was.

“First, we need to free our method of escape.” Her breath hitched once handman said those words. “Get him, Nomu.

One second she was staring at the two enemies, the next she was blown back by a surge of wind. She yelped in surprise as she dropped and rolled to a stand, bringing her sand up again. She distantly heard a crash and looked up to see smoke and drag marks on the ground leading to a wall separating the areas.

The smoke faded, revealing Nomu in front of the now free Kurogiri.

“Wha–”

“BAKUGO!” “KACCHAN!” Kanzaki and Midoriya screamed in near succession, her body tensing in response to the panic she felt. A grunt to her left dimmed that panic.

Misora turned her head to see Bakugo sitting on the floor, staring at the scene in front of him, eyes wide with fear.

“How did he get here? He’s not that fast.”

Kanzaki got up, wincing as she moved and crouched next to the ash blond. Misora distantly noticed that the grenades she’d created were nowhere to be seen, having probably been blown up by the sudden impact.

“Kacchan? Whoa, that's awesome, you dodged him!” Midoriya praised, visibly less tense than ten seconds ago.

“Shut up, no I didn't, you damn nerd.” Bakugo replied, waving off Kanzaki as her hands hovered hesitantly around him. “I’m fine, stop fussing glowstick.”

The green-haired girl lowered her hands, her face scrunching up with distaste. “Glowstick?”

Kirishima stared at both of them. “How'd you get over here?”

Misora’s stomach dropped as realization hit her. “Oh no.” The sound of coughing reaching her ears as her head snapped towards the broken wall.

All Might had moved too fast for any of the students to register and took Bakugo out of the way, tanking the hit head on given the fact that his shirt sleeves were mostly gone.

“These are kids, and you didn't hold back?” All Might panted, staring down the villains.

Creepy handman took a step forward. “I didn't have much choice. He was threatening my companion.” He replied before pointing at the students. “Besides, these kids are no angels. The plain‐looking one? He tried to kill me with a maxed‐out punch.”

Misora almost laughed. Midoriya, Midoriya tried to kill someone? She only knew the guy for three and a half days but there was no way he’d tried to kill this guy. Attack and take him down? Sure, especially if he had been threatening someone’s life, but attempted murder? No way Jose.

“Well, you know what, All Might?”

She focused her mind back on the villain that was fucking monologuing. Misora wanted to just douse him in sand but All Might was the seasoned pro here and as much as she hated it, she had to wait and follow his orders. Not to mention she couldn’t exactly solo KO the villains, she needed to cooperate with her classmates.

“That pisses me off. Why do people get to decide that some violent acts are heroic and others are villainous? Casting judgment as to what's ‘good’ and what's ‘evil’.”

“Right, cos a lawless society is exactly what the world needs.”

“You think you're the Symbol of Peace? Ha. You're just another government‐sponsored instrument of violence. And violence always breeds more violence.”

“Then stop being violent and encourage others to do the same dude. Why do people even listen to people like this?”

“I'll make sure the world understands that once you're dead.”

All Might finally interrupted the guy’s driveling. “You're nothing but a lunatic. Criminals like you; you always try and make your actions sound noble. But admit it; you're only doing this because you like it. Isn't that right?”

“Thank you!” Misora exclaimed, gesturing her arms at All Might. She heard someone snort but she didn’t know who it was.

“We've got them outnumbered.” Todoroki spoke quietly, ignoring her little outburst.

Midoriya nodded placing his hands up in a sloppy fighting stance. She needed to give him some pointers later. “And Kacchan found the mist guy's weakness.”

“These dudes may act really tough, but we can take 'em down now with All Might's help.” Kirishima pointed out, hardening his arms.

Misora grinned, feeling her excitement reappear at the thought of an all-out fight. “Let's kick his ass.”

Kanzaki glanced at them, conflict in her expression before looking at the villains they were about to face. “Ah fuck it.” She shrugged.

“It’s not like we’ll force you to fight lady.”

“Don't attack.” All Might’s voice cut through her thoughts as he walked up, getting in the middle of them and the villains. “Get out of here.”

“Excuse me?” Misora replied immediately. She was not getting benched thank you very much.

Todoroki stared at the hero blandly. “You would've been in trouble earlier if it weren't for me, remember? You need our help.”

All Might didn’t even look back as he answered, keeping his eyes on his enemies. “I thank you for your assistance, but this is different. It's gonna be all right. Just sit back and watch a pro at work.”

“All Might you’re injured.” Misora remarks.

Midoriya voiced his concerns, talking over her. “But you're too hurt. You're bleeding. And you're almost out of ti–” He cut himself off.

She raised an eyebrow at that. Almost out of time? Was that what he was going to say? Yeah, All Might’s hurt but he’s not about to keel over unless there’s something she doesn’t know.

“You can’t always tell the whole story just by looking, but you can find out part of it if you pay attention.” Hayate had told her the day she got her admittance letter and video to UA, after finding out about the existence of ‘rescue points’.

All Might stood up straight, fists clenched as he eyed the villains.

“Sorry Yate, but I don’t got time for that right now.”

Handman ran forward with incredible speed, heading straight towards her and the others. Misora planted her feet and held out her arms.

“Heads up, we’re fighting after all.” Kirishima warned them.

“Alrighty, let’s dance bitch.”

The air vibrated with energy as the wind picked up. The number 1 hero raced forward, blitzing past handman and going to clash straight with Nomu.

Their fists met with a shockwave.

Once again Misora was blown back. “Oh come on!”

Hikari cursed so much in her head that if any telepath had been nearby, they’d be blushing. Why? Just why? She’d never had this much action in her entire time at middle school, let alone one afternoon yet today she’d gained several scratches and bruises up along her body.

She fell down in a roll, crawling up to her knees as the shockwaves kept coming. She flinched at the loud sound, her ears popping in response as she tripped trying to get up.

“Hey!”

She barely realized she’d hit Suarashi’s legs and tripped her up too, focusing more on scrambling for some kind of support.

Hikari felt cold creep up behind her, yelping as her back collided with a wall of ice. Suarashi glared at her from where she was also sitting on the ground, Todoroki holding onto her arm as she stood up. She’d thank the half and half boy later since at the moment she could barely hear herself.

Bakugo and Midoriya were kneeling down a tad in front of her and Kirishima was standing next to her. How the others were still somewhat upright was a mystery to her.

Her heart jumped as debris begun flying, the clash between All Might and that brain guy elevated. She could barely see the fight, the damage obscuring the visibility. She had no idea if All Might was even winning.

That thought scared her.

Hikari might be more of a daydreamer but the thought of All Might losing horrified her. How could he lose? He never lost. She knew realistically that that streak would have to end someday but it couldn’t be today. She had to believe it wouldn’t be today.

“If you can really withstand me firing at 100% of my power...” All Might thundered, fists flying out at a speed she couldn’t process. “...then I'll have to go beyond that and force you to surrender.”

Hikari wasn’t the best battle analyst but it seemed like the brain guy was starting to falter. She couldn’t believe she was witnessing All Might battle it out with this much intensity live. Kira would freak; her siblings would ask her for a bunch of details she wouldn’t be able to give.

To be fair, she could barely process this fight. Watching All Might fight the way he was was indescribable. She might survive this experience but her little sister Sora would definitely kill her for not giving her details, she was a huge gossip girl.

All Might bellowed, his shirt in tatters as he punched brain guy away, the man crashing a few feet away. The hero leapt towards his foe as he rose. The two clashed and tumbled in the air and in the ground, breaking apart the floor with every contact. The tussle ended with All Might grabbing the villain’s arm mid-air and throwing him down. The floor caved with the force of the hit, chunks of concrete flying up as she and her classmates stared in amazement.

“Now for a lesson.” All Might said as he reached the ground in front of his enemy. “You may have heard these words before, but I'll teach you what they really mean.”

Hikari felt the air vibrate, or maybe it was just her shaking from anticipation as All Might pulled his fist back.

“Go beyond!” The number 1 hero declared, she wouldn’t dare take her eyes away from him. “Plus Ultra!” His fist connected with the villain’s gut.

In a second the villain was gone, rocketing away from the hit so far, he crashed through the large dome encompassing the USJ. Just like that, the brain guy had disappeared from view, flying off to God knows where.

Sumiko watched Ojiro kick down the last villain, ready to keep moving. Then she felt it.

The whole area trembled, the ground vibrating as her heart rose to her throat. “What’s going on?”

“I have no idea.” Ojiro replied, looking around cautiously.

Whatever it was, she hoped it didn’t mean more trouble.

Kumoroi’s mouth hung open as she stared at the new opening on the ceiling. She could barely formulate words, having seen the whole encounter.

“Um, did a villain just fly by? Or am I goin' crazy?” Sero questioned as he helped Thirteen stand along with Sato.

“It was that brain dude.” Sato replied.

“Such power.” Shoji commented.

“Ah... That's All Might for you.” Mineta exhaled. “That's why he's the most amazing hero in the entire world!”

Kumoroi let out a laugh. “He’s out of this world.”

“I hope you’re seeing this mom.”

Misora was floored. “Holy shit, that was – AH!” She struggled for words, flailing her arms.

Kirishima nodded. “That was like the finishing move in a video game. He beat the shock absorption right out of him. I've never seen that kind of brute strength!”

“Imagine having power like that.” Bakugo’s admiration was clear in his voice. “He must've been punching that monster so fast, he couldn't regenerate.”

“I…” Kanzaki gaped at the hole in the dome. “This is who we have to live up to? How the hell–”

“We can’t.” Misora cut in, completely understanding what she was saying. “No one can.”

All Might was number 1 for a reason and they’d all just witnessed it.

“I really have gotten weaker.” The Symbol of Peace noted as the smoke cleared. “Back in my heyday, five hits woulda been enough to knock that guy out. But today, it took more than 300 mighty blows.” He held out his fist, his shirt sleeves gone, blood dripping down his mouth and a little on his face but victory was obvious. He’d won.

“I’m so bragging to Hayate that I got to see this.”

All Might turned to the remaining two villains. “You've been bested, villains. Surrender. We all want to get this over with quickly.”

Chapter Text

Misora kept her eyes on the last remaining threats, rolling her shoulders in preparation just in case All Might needed her to enter the battle. She doubted it would happen; All Might had obliterated Nomu who seemed much tougher than handman and Kurogiri but there’s the chance – an infinitesimal chance – he could be running on fumes and she wouldn’t be caught unprepared.

Silence stretched for a couple moments, neither heroes nor villains making a move as handman scratched his neck.

“What's wrong?” All Might broke the silence, smoke still dissipating around him from the previous fight. “Not attacking me? Didn't you say you were going to clear this level earlier? Well, come and get me, if you dare.”

“Man, this is...” Bakugo exhaled shakily. “…intense.”

“No shit.” Kanzaki mumbled.

“As I expected.” Todoroki piped in. “There's no reason for us to fight now. He'll handle this.” The pointed look directed her way felt a little uncalled for.

Misora glared at him even though he couldn’t see it through her goggles. He probably guessed her reaction given his unimpressed eyebrow raise.

She huffed and slouched. “Ugh fine, let’s go.”

Kirishima called out to Midoriya, the green-haired boy standing frozen staring at the showdown.

“What’s up with him? Can’t be fear, he wouldn’t have jumped in like before if he could be stopped by fear.”

“What? Are you scared?” She heard All Might question the villains.

The two villains seemed to be discussing between themselves but they were too far for her to hear. Handman looked distressed if she had to guess from his body language and Kurogiri was…reassuring him?

“I mean the quicker he either attacks or gives up, the quicker this whole thing is done with.”

The sounds of groans had her straightening her spine. She heard Kanzaki curse as Misora turned to see the previously taken down henchmen begin to wake up.

She grinned. “Looks like we’re on for a little more action.” Sand hummed on her palms, ready to be released. If these guys were anything like the ones from before they’d be easy to beat.

“I think All Might can hold his own against those two main guys.” Kirishima hardened his arms as Kanzaki’s plasma grenades floated above her. “Let's make sure these dudes don't hurt anybody else.”

Todoroki raised his eyebrows in surprise before quickly recovering, turning to Midoriya. “Will you be joining us?”

Midoriya didn’t answer or give any sign that he’d even heard Todoroki, only stared at All Might.

“Weird.” Misora murmured as she glanced at him.

She saw both villains charge at All Might and did her best to ignore it, focusing on the fight ahead of her.

That proved to be fruitless since Izuku Midoriya just vanished from her sight. Her eyes darted around in surprise before she found him mid-air, barreling to collision with Kurogiri.

“Holy – ”

“Whoa, Midoriya!”

Her heart leapt to her throat as Midoriya fell towards the warp villain. “Don't you touch All Might. You stupid villain!”

Something shifted and a warp gate appeared right in front of Midoriya, a hand exiting from it. The creepy villain’s hand. What kind of quirk –

BANG!

Blood spurted from the hand as Midoriya fell to the ground harshly.

“What in the hell?”

“Fuck yes!” Kanzaki yelled.

Misora’s head snapped to the direction of the USJ entrance, the place where she’d originally been before being teleported without consent and the place where now stood most of the UA faculty.

The Gunslinging Hero: Snipe shot his gun in a different direction off to somewhere she couldn’t see but if her account of his skills was right, he was helping someone. The Winged Hero: Pixie spread her pink fairy-like wings as she took flight.

Iida stood next to the grounded heroes, he was yelling something but she couldn’t hear from the distance. Kirishima barked out a laugh and she couldn’t help but follow.

“They’re here.” She smiled, a weight she’d been ignoring releasing from her chest.

Kumoroi allowed herself to relax ever so slightly. The heroes had arrived. Backup had arrived and they were going to finish this nightmare. After all, they’d made it personal.

She was the kind of girl who liked gossip so of course she knew her homeroom teacher was married and of course she knew it was to her English teacher aka The Voice Hero: Present Mic.

She saw the way he stared at Aizawa’s bloody unconscious form draped on Shoji’s back the second they arrived, the way his eyes hardened behind his golden shades, the way his muscles tensed and heard the way his heart sped up along with several others, most notably Midnight and Impulse.

Kumoroi knew he wanted nothing more than to take his husband and check him over but they had a job to do.

The newly recovered villains stared at the junction of heroes that awaited them before quickly charging to attack, the emitter types blasting whatever at them.

Present Mic and her Physics teacher the Shockwave Hero: Impulse stepped forward, stopping in front of the stairs.

“Yamada twins special?” Impulse questioned.

Present Mic nodded with a hum. He inhaled deeply as Impulse held out her hands in front of her.

Kumoroi knew what would happen, she clamped her hands over her ears even though she knew it wouldn’t be directed at her. Heightened hearing could suck at times.

A voice released and hands clapped.

The resulting of a sonic voice and a rippling shockwave was the faint sound of screaming people being deafened and blown away in unison. The sound resonated in her brain at the volume, shoulders hunching as her arms complained for her to stop tensing them.

She obliged as Ectoplasm clones materialized, heading down the stairwell to engage whoever had remained standing from the hero twins’ attack.

“Our priority is to protect all of our students!” Principal Nezu affirmed from where he was perched on Vlad King’s shoulder.

“Does he do that a lot? He seems way too comfortable for it to be a one-time thing.”

“Yes, sir!” The heroes responded before most headed down.

Kumoroi watched in amazement as the UA faculty worked in tandem, efficiently taking down every obstacle in their way. Snipe shot at the boss villain, bringing him to the ground before the warp gate villain used his malleable body to wrap around him and protect him.

“They’re trying to leave.” She realized. “They can’t.”

“We need someone who can capture 'em from a distance.” The Gunslinging hero kept shooting at the smoke barrier, his voice reverberating through his mask.

Sero and Sato walked up to the edge of the stairwell with a now conscious Thirteen. “I'm on it.”

She gulped, looking away from her bloody back. She and Sero had made a makeshift bandage using Ashido’s jacket and his tape just to staunch the bleeding but it was still a little harrowing to look at.

Thirteen held up an arm, caps on the finger popping open as her quirk activated. A vacuum sucked in the smoke villain as he tried to portal away the other villain. The smoke collection was slowly pulled in closer as the villain struggled before it vanished.

Her despair came back full force. “No.”

Arms wrapped around her waist from behind, two small things poking her shoulder blades. “They’ll get them.” Ashido murmured.

Kumoroi sighed, slumping back on the pink-haired girl. “I hope so.”

“…19, 20, 21, 22.” Detective Tsukauchi counted the students as they all stood in front of him. “Everyone seems to be mostly unharmed except for that boy whose legs were all messed up and the girl who hurt her arms.”

Sumiko sighed as the detective let them be, turning to talk to one of his colleagues. She and Ojiro had been helped by Powerloader, a teacher for the Support Course and brought outside to stay with their classmates. She’d been so relieved when she realized that it was all over, however her panic came back once she heard about the mastermind of the whole thing had escaped along with the warp gate guy.

What if they came back and tried to do worse? She’d only survived this time because she got lucky enough to be close to Ojiro but someone wouldn’t always save her. She felt the pressure in her chest increase as she remembered the fact that she’d signed up to be a hero. She needed to defend herself not wait for others to do it or push her towards it.

For now, she just smiled politely as she witnessed Ojiro and Hagakure’s chat.

“I heard you were a really good fighter.” Hagakure complimented. “You too Aoi! I had no idea you were so strong!”

Sumiko blinked in surprise. Where had Hagakure heard that? Maybe she assumed because of how the battle trials on their second day had gone? She wasn’t that great.

She shrugged, face flushing from the praise. “We survived doing hit-and-run. Ojiro did most of the heavy lifting.” She waved her hand at him.

“Not true. We both did a good job.” The tailed boy smiled kindly at her. “So where did you end up fighting, Hagakure?”

“The landslide zone! You wouldn't believe how strong Todoroki and Suarashi were. They’re amazing!” Her glove pointed at the two mentioned who had their backs to them.

Sumiko remembered Todoroki’s massive display and Suarashi’s behavior during the battle trials. A shiver went down her spine at the thought of anyone having to fight both of them at once.

“You don't say! Well, I'm just glad you didn't get hurt.” Ojiro smiled at Hagakure, Sumiko nodding along.

“Same here.” The invisible girl replied.

Kumoroi walked out of UA high school rubbing her arms through the school uniform. Drowsiness pulled at her, her eight eyes squinting when she accidentally caught the glare of the setting sun.

“Nakamura!”

She jumped three meters before landing down, backpack bobbing with her – if she had been inside, she would’ve attached herself to the ceiling. She cleared her throat, eternally thankful that melanin helped cover the way her face heated up as the few lingering people stared at her.

“Oh sorry.” Sero smiled sheepishly as he approached with Kirishima and Ashido. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

She waved him off. “It’s fine. I’m just on edge.”

He sighed. “Yeah, I get it.”

“What’s up?” She smoothed down her skirt, looking expectantly at the three.

“We were waiting for you to walk to the station.” Kirishima smiled at her. “Kanzaki’s really sorry she couldn’t stay, her mom insisted on her going home as quick as possible.”

Kumoroi nodded with a hum. She couldn’t blame Kanzaki’s mom, her daughter could’ve died, not everyone was like her dad who already knew how to deal with someone you love being in a dangerous line of work.

Not that it did much, she couldn’t get him to end the phone call until Recovery Girl reassured him she was okay three times. Her arms were a little sore but all the bruises, scrapes and the apparently twanged ligaments were gone.

Ashido bumped hips with her. “You doin’ okay?”

She rubbed her arms. “Just a little sore and tired.”

“Then we should get going.” Kirishima shouldered his bag, gesturing to the entrance. “Ladies first.”

Kumoroi snorted as she walked past him. “And they say chivalry is dead.”

Ashido laughed alongside her. “Clearly not for Kirishima.”

Hibiki pulled her jacket closer as she felt a chill creep up her spine in the elevator.

“Why are hospitals always so cold?”

She sighed as she thought over the day’s events. It had been a normal day with regular classes up until the afternoon. She wasn’t one for constant communication and neither was Shota so she hadn’t thought much of it when he hadn’t answered her text. She figured he’d answer later and that they’d just laugh with Hizashi and Nemuri about whatever shenanigans his class had done during their first rescue training session.

She smiled to herself as she remembered that the previous Class 1-A had a student who fell into the lake during theirs. The four of them had laughed for days about that.

“Why couldn’t it just have been like that.”

Ding

Hibiki stepped out, fixing her straight light blonde hair with black bangs as she walked through the bland white and blue corridor until she reached her first destination. She knocked on the door, awaiting an answer.

“Come in.”

She pushed the door open and smiled, doing her best to maintain it as a flash of a bloody back went through her mind. Anan Kurose was lying down on her side, bandages wrapped covering the entirety of her back as she smiled weakly at her.

“Hey Hibiki.”

“Hi.” She approached the bed. “I know Recovery Girl came by. How are you feeling?”

“Better than before, Recovery Girl did a good job.” Anan sighed softly, eyes blinking slowly. “So did the drugs.”

She snorted. “I can imagine, you do not look like you want to be awake right now.”

She hummed, reaching out for Hibiki. “Go see Eraser. I know you’re worried.”

Hibiki held her hand gently. “You’re my friend, I had to check on you too.”

“I know, but Mic’s probably driving him up the wall.” Anan teased, a smirk forming on her face.

She nodded solemnly. “True true.” She squeezed the Space Hero’s hand. “I’ll come back later, okay?”

“Okay.” Anan smiled.

Hibiki squeezed her hand one more time before making her leave, sure to not make any sudden noises due to her friend’s drowsiness. She walked further down the hall, nodding at a doctor who passed by her as she reached Shota’s room.

She didn’t really need to knock since she’d texted them when she arrived, but good etiquette is good etiquette.

“Come in.” Came her brother’s voice.

She walked in, immediately grimacing at the sight of the head to waist bandages covering Shota. She couldn’t even see his face, he looked so much like a mummy that if it weren’t for the way Hizashi was looking at him and Shota’s dark hair, she would never have guessed who it was under there.

“Is he awake?” Hibiki placed her hands on Hizashi’s shoulders where he sat on a chair next to Shota’s bed.

He sighed. “He fell asleep a while ago.”

She hummed. “Nemuri?”

“Cafeteria.”

Hibiki slowly massaged his shoulders, an attempt to get her twin to unwind even if just a little. “What’s the prognosis?”

“Granny will be able to heal him completely but it’ll take some days so it won’t be too much for his body.” He leaned back into the chair, eyes still glued on his sleeping husband.

She felt some of her own tension dissipate. Shota would be okay, he’d still be able to teach and bicker with Hizashi. “Good.”

“Any leads?” His green eyes met her silvery-yellow ones.

Her shoulders slumped. “No. There’s no prior record or known appearance of either of the main villains. We did get names though, the warp gate is named ‘Kurogiri’ according to one of the students and the other is ‘Tomura Shigaraki’.”

He frowned as he mulled over her words. “Never heard those names.” He sighed deeply. “Nezu asked me to tell him when Shota is awake and alert so they can interrogate him.”

“It’s protocol.” Hibiki chided him, hands leaving his shoulders. “And you know Shota would ask for it if Nezu didn’t.”

He scoffed. “Of course I do.” He grumbled something along the lines of ‘stubborn’.

The door opened and Nemuri walked in with three coffee cups. “Hey there.”

Hibiki nodded at her and watched her hand one of the cups to Hizashi before sitting down on the couch on the far wall. “Didn’t know you were already here or else I wou –”

“Eh, doesn’t matter.” She cut Nemuri off shrugging. “I don’t really do caffeine anyway.”

Her dark-haired friend snorted. “Right, you and your caffeine avoidance. I don’t know how you do it.”

“I just don’t like it.” She shrugged again. “Not all of us are like Shota, who drinks it like water.”

Hizashi barked out a laugh. “He scares me sometimes.”

“Right?” She grinned at him.

“One of these days we might have to stage an intervention or something.” Nemuri chuckled, sipping what was probably a latte.

Hibiki smiled as the mood lightened, the villains might’ve escaped but it was only a matter of time before they were found, there were no casualties or permanent injuries. UA had been invaded but the students and teachers stood tall and worked hard to survive, they proved that they were not to be messed with and that was all Hibiki could’ve asked for.

She was distraught at everything of course but she was also proud of the outcome, it could’ve been so much worse. She could’ve lost a close friend or her brother-in-law, but she hadn’t, and she knew they’d just grow stronger from the experience, as would the 24 students of Class 1-A who’d fought valiantly.

Chapter Text

“This is such a downplay!” Her mom exclaimed.

Hikari stared blandly at her mother, as she ranted about UA’s lack of security whilst watching the news coverage of the ‘USJ Incident’. She’d been going at it intermittently for hours, talking on the phone with her friends, telling her how dangerous that was and it was getting tiring to hear.

“Of course I know it was dangerous! I was fucking there a couple of hours ago!”

It didn’t help that her dad had practically interrogated her through the phone like she had been the one to attack UA. She knows it’s because they care but there are limits.

This whole thing had been both good and bad for her. Good because it proved to her parents that she can take care of herself in a life-threatening situation and bad for literally everything else.

“According to police investigation, the criminals call themselves “The League of Villains” and have been plotting to kill All Might, who has been a teacher at U.A. since spring of this year.” The news lady said, voice and expression monotonous as always. “Police have arrested 72 villains, but they still do not know the whereabouts of their ringleader.”

She glanced at the tv with a raised eyebrow.

“72? Felt like more than that.”

“The attack placed 24 students and three teachers – including All Might – in danger. The students were forced to defend themselves due to the circumstances and managed to survive without any permanent injury.”

Hikari smiled softly at that. She was so glad nobody had died or anything, she was scared out of her mind not knowing what was fully happening but the end was as good as it could get, even if that warp gate guy and handman had escaped.

“Not to the surprise of many, due to the fact that amongst the students of that class are several hero legacies.”

Sora Amano, her twelve-year-old sister, plopped down next to her, wavy fuchsia hair bobbing with the movement. “Hero legacies? Why didn’t you say your class had hero legacies?” Her dark blue eyes trained on her. She leaned back a little, sometimes she forgot that Sora took after their mom in everything except skin color – Sora’s was darker because of her dad (Hikari’s stepdad).

“Because it’s none of my business.” She replied pointedly, to which Sora just stared harder. She was so nosy at times.

“Not to mention I doubt Todoroki would’ve appreciated it.”

She ignored Sora’s grumbling and tuned back into the news channel. “Shoto Todoroki, the youngest child of the number 2 hero Endeavor.” An image of Endeavor in his flaming hero suit and his signature resting bitch face appeared next to an image of Todoroki’s neutral face. He had his uniform on so it was probably taken from that day the press showed up.

Hikari shivered at the thought. She had been so tempted to just skip school altogether that day but she didn’t want to ditch and possibly miss something important in class.

Thank God for Kira and Class 1-B’s class president – Kendo maybe? She didn’t remember her first name, all she knew was that the ginger was incredibly cool. The two had the crowd parting the way easily for them and some others using their quirks and leveled glares.

“Tenya Iida, part of a family of speed heroes, the most notable his older brother Ingenium.” A chord struck within her at the realization. A picture of Ingenium with his silver armor was next to one of Iida, also taken during that reporter hell, hand raised in a hand-chop.

“Makes sense now that I stop and think about it. It would certainly explain some of his attitude.”

“Misora Suarashi, the younger sister of the Airborne Hero: Hurricane.” Hikari eyebrows raised in surprise. An image of Hurricane in his black and white suit, hoodie down showing his ginger hair and smiling at the camera next to one of Misora – although somewhat blurry – of her walking to the entrance of the school, if it weren’t for the dark red backpack she might’ve not recognized her.

“…and Kumoroi Nakamura, the sole child of the late Arachnid Hero: Scarlet Spider.”

Hikari could almost hear the record scratch.

An image of Nakamura was displayed – this one from social media she guessed due to her casual outfit. It was next to an image of a dark-skinned woman with six arms, two large braids going down her hair tied with red ribbons, wearing a mask exactly like Nakamura’s and a mostly red suit with black details.

Her phone almost slipped from her hands as her jaw dropped. Even though Scarlet Spider had her eyes covered and had more limbs she could tell her and Nakamura looked incredibly alike. Hikari mentally justified not noticing this resemblance before because she wasn’t big on following celebrities and it’s not like her classmate had mentioned anything.

“Your classmates with Endeavor’s son and Scarlet Spider’s daughter?!” Yozora Kanzaki, her eighteen-year-old sister, questioned from the other side of the living room.

She shrugged. “Apparently.” It’s not like it changed all that much about them.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Yozora almost sounded offended with the tone she posed the question.

Hikari rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does!”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“It kinda does.”

Hikari frowned. “Sora.”

“What?” Sora crossed her arms. “It does.”

Yozora smiled in satisfaction. “There you go.”

“Where’s Rikuya?” She asked, getting on her knees on the couch to look around. “I need someone on my side.”

“Don’t bring your little brother into this.” Her stepdad chided lightly from his armchair.

“Fine.” She leaned back on the couch. Hikari could have played the ‘I could’ve died today’ card but she’s not that kind of person.

Yozora snickered at whatever expression she was making.

Correction, she won’t play that card today because she’s too tired to argue but she absolutely will one day.

Two days later

Misora groaned softly, head on her desk and brain far away planning to murder whoever told the news stations she was Hurricane’s sister. She wanted to reveal that on her own! Not have it broadcasted to literally the entirety of Japan just like that!

One thing that gave her solace was the fact that her mom had been furious about it. Her mom, who was also a lawyer, had several contacts and the kind of attitude one couldn’t refuse. Whoever spread that was about to get legally eviscerated and it greatly pleased her.

“Are you okay?”

Misora slowly raised her head, she hadn’t expected anyone to come talk to her just yet considering the way she’d stormed in and her classmates had wisely backed away from sandstorm Suarashi.

“What do you want Uraraka?” She asked, not even bothering to hide her sour mood to the brunette.

Uraraka’s brows furrowed. “I’m just a little worried.” She said, sitting down on her seat behind Misora.

“Did you see the news?”

She didn’t seem surprised by the question. “I did. That’s why I’m worried.”

Her irritation lessened slightly. “I’m angry.”

“No wonder! That was so wrong!” Uraraka cried, surprising Misora. She hadn’t interacted much with the brunette but maybe she should. “Aren’t there laws for putting minor’s faces on tv or something?”

Misora couldn’t help the grin that graced her face. “There are.”

Uraraka’s expression shifted from indignation to slight concern; she was probably grinning like a maniac. “My mom’s a lawyer.” She whispered with poorly concealed glee.

“Oh.” Uraraka said in realization before grinning. “Oh, I see. Then good luck to her.”

“I’ll pass on the message.” She nods excitedly. She was definitely going to talk more with Uraraka.

Kumoroi walked through the halls as quick as she could without seeming like she was in a rush to leave the general populace of the school – which she was. She kept her eight eyes straight ahead and muffled the voices whispering her name by humming a random song.

She’d never actively hid who she was but she hadn’t been planning on it being announced on national tv and then having to deal with the inevitable fallout. Why in the hell had they even talked about that? It was unnecessary and invasive.

Her dad had been livid. It was very rare that she’d witness her dad, calm and joyful Syouma Nakamura storming out of the room. He’d yelled at people through the phone for half an hour, came back with a serene smile and hugged her saying it would be alright.

Sometimes she forgot she was the daughter of a pro-hero and a CCO (Chief Communications Officer). She hoped this wouldn’t amount to much trouble, especially with the upcoming Sports Festival but that was probably why these people had taken the risk of talking about her and her fellow hero legacies – to build up the hype.

Kumoroi paused in front of the door to her classroom, hearing the sound of conversation.

“Please don’t hassle me too much.”

She pushed the door open and walked inside.

Silence.

“Ah well, it’s been a while since I’ve felt self-conscious.”

All eyes were on her, most filled with pity – nooooo – others with curiosity. Kanzaki was flat out avoiding not looking at her, Kumoroi could tell she was pretending to go through her phone but she wasn’t going to point it out. Instead, she addressed the whole class.

“Good morning classmates.” Kumoroi did her best to sound like she was doing a presentation. “Yes, I’m Scarlet Spider’s daughter. No, I didn’t purposefully hide it, I simply didn’t want to broadcast it –” She got the last part out through gritted teeth, she’s pretty sure she saw some people flinch. “– I didn’t want it to seem like I was using my parentage to obtain special treatment and to be treated as my own person instead of just being someone related to someone important.” She caught Todoroki nodding along to her words.

“Fucking thank you!” Suarashi yelled, followed by Iida almost immediately admonishing her for her language. “Christ on a stick Iida! I’m expressing myself!”

A snort escaped Kumoroi before she cleared her throat to bring the attention back to her. “Continuing, please don’t treat me any differently and please no pity. My mother’s been gone for over two years. Yes, it was painful and it still is but keeping me stuck on it won’t help me. Thank you and have a good day.” She bowed to them and went to her seat without another glance at her classmates. She did fist bump Suarashi on the way though.

Commotion recommenced and Kumoroi managed to enjoy a couple few minutes of peace before Iida barreled to the front. “Attention! Homeroom class is about to begin! Everyone stop talking and take your seats!”

“Uh…we’re all sitting.” Kirishima replied, confusion in his voice.

“Yeah, you’re the only one standing.” Sero added. Kumoroi pursed her lips to keep herself from laughing – Suarashi had no such restraint and snickered loudly once Iida sat down in front of her.

It was barely a minute before Mr. Aizawa arrived. Well, more like the ghost of Mr. Aizawa if she was being honest with herself.

His face was so covered in bandages that she had no idea how he could see, both arms were fully wrapped and in arm slings and she assumed there were more bandages under his hero suit. How in the hell did this man expect to teach a class in this condition? He should be in bed rest, not in a classroom.

“Good morning class.” Mr. Aizawa greeted monotonously.

“MR. AIZAWA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” Most of the class, including her, questioned him.

Kumoroi watched with slight horror as her partly mummified teacher walked slowly into the classroom. If she focused she could hear the bandages scraping against one another and how heavy his steps were – she’d only known him for a week but he’d been silent enough to sneak up on her the whole time, today she could’ve heard him from down a hall.

“Mr. Aizawa! I’m glad you’re okay!” Iida announced with his arm raised.

“You call that, okay?” Uraraka questioned.

“He is not okay.” Kumoroi stated, eyes not leaving her teacher.

“My wellbeing is irrelevant.” Mr. Aizawa said – she disagreed. “What’s more important is that your fight isn’t over yet.”

Quiet chatter went around the class, mostly fearful reservations and speculations. Their homeroom teacher’s general dread-filled tone didn’t really help reel any of it in – Kumoroi in particular was fairly calm though.

“Is he talking about the Sports Festival or PR stuff because of the break-in?”

“The UA Sports Festival is about to start.”

The room quieted for a solid ten seconds before everyone exploded.

“WHY WOULD YOU SCARE US LIKE THAT?”

Kumoroi thought she saw Mr. Aizawa shrug but with the slings it was hard to be sure. He seemed too serious of a person to purposefully mess with his students but this was also the same guy who napped randomly with the brightest yellow sleeping bag she’d ever seen.

Lunchtime

“Kanzaki?”

The sounds of the cafeteria rushed back into her ears and the blurry surroundings set into solid shapes. Hikari blinked away the last of the fadeout and looking up to whoever called her.

“Yes, Nakamura?”

“Are you okay?” Nakamura’s eyes crinkled with concern – which was a little odd since she had eight of them.

“I’m fine.” She replied automatically. She felt the shame flood through her nearly instantly. This was the first time they were talking after finding out about Nakamura’s mom. Hikari hadn’t said anything mostly because she had no idea what to say and they’d only known each other for a week anyway – she still felt ashamed though.

“You’ve been staring at your empty plate for a while now.” Nakamura said in a soft voice.

“Shit. How long did I zone out?”

Hikari kept her face carefully neutral. “Was I? I was just thinking.”

“About the Sports Festival?” Sero butted in.

Hikari was suddenly acutely aware of how the attention of the table was fully on her. She felt her cheeks heat up as she ducked her head. “…yeah.”

“Don’t be.” Kirishima affirmed, placing a hand on her shoulder. She jumped, startled by the touch. “Sh–sorry!” He abruptly moved his hand away.

“God, I’m just making it worse.”

“It’s fine.” She whispered before clearing her throat to speak normally. “I’m kinda jumpy.”

“And lowkey pathetic.”

Kirishima shrugged unbothered. “As I was saying, you don’t need to be nervous. You rocked those Battle Trials and you were awesome at the USJ. You’ll do great.” He smiled brightly at her.

“Thanks.” Hikari couldn’t help but smile back – even if it was wobbly and she didn’t really feel his optimism.

Conversation picked back up on the table much to her relief. She pitched in some words here and there, enough for them not to question her again but she wasn’t truly listening – her mind was elsewhere.

The Sports Festival. A school event with a live audience and is televised nationally. Hikari suppressed a shudder as her anxiety took over – was she really about to show up on tv? Was she really about to fight on tv? If she did poorly her mom would never let her forget it, she’d blame her for embarrassing the family – for embarrassing her. Mom would use it as an excuse to make her quit the Hero Course – Hikari wouldn’t allow that.

She couldn’t allow that.

If she did it would just to prove to everyone that she’s useless. She couldn’t stay useless. She couldn’t keep going whichever way the wind blew and accept it.

Hikari took out her phone and texted Kira.

Kiki <3

Wanna train together for the Sports Festival?

Hell yeah

My house after school?

We can ask your mom so you sleep over some days

U think she’ll accept?

She’s kinda on edge after the attack

She trusts my parents

And if not we’ll work around it

We can train together at school after classes at least

Ok

She sighed as she put her phone away.

“Hopefully it will all work out.”

“You gotta be kidding me.”

Kumoroi stared at the crowd of students gathered in the hall, right in front of her classroom’s door. She knew why they were there – to scout the competition – but it still annoyed the hell out of her.

“Why the heck are you all here?!” Uraraka questioned loudly to the crowd of vultures.

“Do you students have some sort of business with our class?” Iida asked calm but stern.

“Why are you blocking our doorway? I won’t let you hold us hostage!” Mineta protested with a raised fist.

Kumoroi sighed. “That’s not –”

“They’re scouting out the competition, idiots.” Bakugo cut in, moving to the door. “We’re the class that survived a real villain attack. They want to see us with their own eyes.”

Kumoroi thought it made them seem a little desperate and hypocritical but whatever. It’s not like this wasn’t reminiscent of the reporter barrage a couple of days ago or anything. It’s not like pretty much everyone had been complaining about being ambushed by those guys or anything.

“At least now you know what a future pro looks like.” Bakugo spoke to the crowd, not an inch of hesitation – his heart didn’t even stutter. “Now move it, extras.”

“No, don’t do that.” Kanzaki whispered with desperation – in contrast her heartbeat was doing somersaults. Kumoroi was half-sure she had anxiety but she was no psychologist.

“You can’t walk around calling people extras just because you don’t know who they are!” Iida scolded doing his hand-chop motions.

“I think it’s funny.” She commented to no one in particular.

Sero snorted. “Honestly, same.”

“So this is Class 1-A.”

Kumoroi stiffened at the condescending tone. She leaned forward to see a guy pushing his way towards the front of the crowd. He had messy purple hair and eyebags that could rival Mr. Aizawa’s.

“I heard you guys were impressive but you just sound like an ass. Is everyone in the Hero Course delusional, or just you? How sad to come here and find a bunch of egomaniacs.”

“Who’s this asshole?”

“I wanted to be in the Hero Course, but like many others here, I was forced to choose a different track – such is life. I didn’t cut it the first time around, but I have another chance.” He kept talking in the same disdainful but somehow still monotone way.

“Are we supposed to just sit here and listen to his woes?” She heard Suarashi say.

Kumoroi didn’t really know what to think as she heard the guy who looked like he needed some serious sleep talk about how he could steal their spot in the Hero Course and essentially declared war on her class.

“So you came here to bitch.” Suarashi stated, moving to stand by the door next to Bakugo.

The guy recoiled. “What?”

“You came here to bitch.” She repeated. Kumoroi couldn’t see her face but she could hear her smirk. “You talk a big game, and all that tells me is that you’re either compensating for something or that you’re definitely going to be interesting to beat. I’m assuming it’s the first one.”

The guy stared at Suarashi in what she thought was annoyance but before he could say anything a voice spoke up from the back.

“Hey, you! I’m the Class 1-B next door to you!” Some guy with silver hair spoke demandingly. He reminded her of Kirishima. “We heard you fought some villains, and I came to see if that was true! But you’re just a bunch of brats who think you’re better than us!”

“And harassing us makes you feel better about it?” Kanzaki asked loudly before slapping a hand over her mouth as everyone turned to her.

Kumoroi raised an eyebrow, hearing her green-haired friend’s hammering heartbeat. She knew there was more to Kanzaki than the mostly quiet girl she seemed to be, the way she’d seen her behave around Hayashi proved that. Kumoroi assumed she only needed time to fully become accustomed to UA and her classmates and they’d eventually see who Kanzaki really was.

“Very good point Kanzaki.” Suarashi grinned at Kanzaki in a way that unnerved her before turning back to the crowd. “How do you guys feel, being students of such a prestigious school and deciding to corner a bunch of your classmates out of sheer jealousy and bitterness? That doesn’t sound like proper behavior of UA students.” She practically hissed those last few words and Kumoroi had to admit – she was impressed.

“She’s good.” Kaminari mumbled.

“I know, right?” She replied.

The crowd of students looked heavily uncomfortable. Some scattered away while others lingered, shifting where they stood.

Bakugo took his opportunity and shoved his way past the now dispersing crowd.

Kirishima slid to the front of the class. “Dude, where are you going? You gotta say something! It’s your fault they’re all hating on us, Bakugo!”

Her explosive classmate paused and glanced back. “These people don’t matter.” She felt her eyebrows raise. “The only thing that’s important is that I beat them.” He walked away without another word.

“Woah.” Kanzaki whispered, her eyes shining with recognition.

“Yeah.” She mumbled, watching Suarashi purposefully shoving the purple-haired guy out of her way as she also left the classroom.

Kumoroi kind of felt inspired by what he said. He was so laser-focused on it all that all that truly mattered to him was reaching the top – she could respect that.

The Day of the Sports Festival

Misora stretched her arms, relishing in the light pops of her joints inside the waiting room that had been reserved for her class. Most of her classmates were stretching or psyching themselves up, all dressed in their PE uniforms – it would be such a hassle needing to actively worry about breathing in her sand or having it in her eyes.

“You nervous?” She asked Todoroki, who was staring blankly at whatever.

Todoroki turned to her with his usual stone-cold expression. “No.”

Misora stared at him for a moment. “…alright then.” She focused her energy on finishing her stretches instead of worrying about her emotionally stunted friend – scratch that, she was still worried.

Todoroki had become quieter and quieter as the days had gone by for the past two weeks of training. He’d accepted and actively participated in training with her – even if she still hadn’t managed to convince him to try turning her sand to glass – but the past few days he cancelled on her and barely talked to her.

Misora had no idea what to say or do. She wanted to know what was going on but she didn’t know how to do it without being her usual pushy self. She didn’t want to overdo it and push him away even more.

Iida barged in the room, pulling her out of her thoughts. “Everyone, get your game faces on! We’re entering the arena soon!”

Todoroki moved with purpose, walking until he was in front of his objective. “Midoriya.”

“What’s this about?”

“Hey, Todoroki. What’s up?” Midoriya looked at him nervously.

The attention of the room veered towards the two, curiosity and tension both rising. Misora in particular was just plain confused.

“From an objective standpoint, I think it’s fairly clear that I’m stronger than you.” Her half and half friend presumed. Misora felt herself frown at those words. He wasn’t wrong but this felt like a little much.

Midoriya nodded along dejectedly. “Yeah.”

“However, you’ve got All Might in your corner helping you out.” Todoroki pointed out. “I’m not here to pry about what’s going on between you two. But know that I will beat you.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Damn Todoroki, what’s up with the intensity?” She knew he was a very forward person but she wasn’t expecting this – especially aimed at Midoriya. Annoyance replaced surprised once she realized he'd ignored her.

“What’s with all these declarations of war lately?” Kaminari asked around.

Kirishima got up to intercept. “Yeah, what’s the big deal? Why are you picking a fight all of a sudden? And right before we get started?” He placed a hand on Todoroki’s shoulder.

“We’re not here to be each other’s friends.” Todoroki shrugged off Kirishima’s hand, walking away. “Don’t forget this isn’t a team effort.”

Misora felt a pang go through her heart. Did that include her? She thought all the time they ended up spending together the past few weeks, the random conversations, how he didn’t mind her attitude meant that they were becoming friends. Did he not see it that way? Had she just assumed wrongly about the state of their relationship?

“Wait a sec, Todoroki.” Midoriya whispered – the silence in the room made it easy to hear. “I don’t know what’s going through your head or why you think you’d need to tell me that you’ll beat me. And yeah, of course you’re better than me. In fact, you probably have way more potential than anyone in the Hero Course. That’s why you got in so easily.”

She stared at Todoroki whose attention was fully set on Midoriya. Something was off about this – about him. There was something else going on with Todoroki which prompted him to this, there was no other explanation. Maybe his dad? Maybe the pressure was getting to him?

“Midoriya, maybe you’re being a little hard on yourself and us.” Kirishima countered with a nervous smile.

“No, he’s right, you guys.” Midoriya spoke up, voice rising with determination. “All the other courses, they’re coming for us with everything they’ve got. We’re all going to have to fight to stand out and I’ll be aiming for the top too.”

Todoroki stared at him for a couple of seconds before replying. “Fine.” He left the waiting room without another word.

Misora followed almost instantly, speed walking to keep up with his pace. “Hey!”

“What?” He barely glanced at her.

She moved in front of him to stop him from walking away. “Is everything okay? That whole thing was…interesting.”

Todoroki just stared at her. “I’m fine. Don’t get in my way.”

Her shoulders tensed. “In your way?” She whispered, anger beginning to surge through her. “In your way? Why are you being such a dick all of a sudden? I thought we were friends.”

“We’re not.” He brushed past her without a second thought.

Misora froze, brain reeling. Had she honestly let herself believe she’d made a friend? Had she been so desperate for connection with someone her age that she tricked herself into it? Had she blinded herself into not seeing how cold Todoroki was?

No, that wasn’t it. She wasn’t the problem, he was.

Todoroki had been fine talking to her – she’d done most of the talking – and hadn’t seemed to mind being around her, especially after that dreadful news report. She assumed he felt the same sense of kinship that came with both of them being hero legacies even if neither of them vocalized it.

What went wrong?

Chapter Text

Kumoroi rolled her shoulders, the sound of the crowd deafening even across the hall. Present Mic was the announcer for the Sports Festival, she could hear his voice resounding and riling up the stadium.

“Time to go Class 1-A!” Iida announced, standing ramrod straight in front of them.

She took a deep breath and walked alongside her classmates. Once they walked into the stadium arena she had to stop herself from flinching and looked down.

The feedback in her ears tripled. The random flashes she could see out of the corner of her eye nearly blinded her.

“Come on Kumoroi, keep moving. Just keep moving.”

“Welcome back to the U.A. Sports Festival! Where up-and-coming heroes will leave everything on the field as they fight for the chance to achieve worldwide fame and celebrity!” Present Mic hollered through the speakers. “This first group are no strangers to the spotlight. You know them from withstanding the villain attack. They’re the dazzling students lighting up their TV with star-lit gold scales! The Hero Course students of Class 1-A!”

“That’s a bit much.” She mumbled as she kept walking. Kumoroi was somewhat used to the spotlight but the way eyes tended to follow her just because of her parentage will never stop unnerving her.

She knew her classmates were conversing but she couldn’t tell what they were saying, the cheers overwhelming her senses to an uncomfortable degree.

Once they’d stopped at their spot on the center of the arena, a hand landed on her arm. She looked up to Sero next to her with a concerned expression. “Is it the noise?”

Kumoroi blinked in surprise, she thought she had a handle on hiding her discomfort but maybe not. That or Sero was more perceptive than she gave him credit for. “I’ll be fine.”

His lips tightened, but he didn’t argue. “Fine but if it gets too much tell someone.”

She smiled at him, touched by his concern. “I will.”

Kumoroi vaguely paid attention as Present Mic introduced the other First Year classes, nodding at Hayashi with a smile. Kumoroi pretended she didn’t see a blonde guy glaring at Hayashi as she nodded back and moved next to Kanzaki, holding her hand.

She raised an eyebrow at that - Kanzaki had been particularly touch avoidant since she’d met her.

“Touchy best friends or sapphic? Kanzaki introduced Hayashi as her best friend but she could’ve lied to not stand out.”

Kumoroi put that thought on the back burner once she saw Miss Midnight strut up the podium fully decked out in her hero suit. Dark blue crop top, shorts and boots with red gemstones, a skintight white bodysuit under that, making her curves more noticeable, a red mask outlining her eyes and a red belt holding a fan and a whip.

Damn.

“Now, the introductory speech!” Miss Midnight announced, raising her whip with flair. She was thankful that the noise was dying down and the distraction helped too.

Kaminari whistled lowly, a blush clear on his cheeks. “Miss Midnight is seriously…”

“Sexy.” Kumoroi finished.

“Eye-catching.” Kaminari exhaled. After a moment, his head snapped towards her. “Wait, what?”

She just grinned at him.

Mineta, who had been busy ogling their teacher, shuffled towards them, eyes trained on Kumoroi with startling intensity. “Do you…” He inhaled sharply. “…bat for the other team?” He whisper-shouted.

Kumoroi rolled her eyes. What she said wasn’t that big of a deal. “I bat for every team.” She side-eyed her purple-haired classmate sharply. “And even if I didn’t, what I said would still be true.”

Mineta opened his mouth, closed it, seeming to ponder his words, and opened it again. “Fair enough.”

“Silence, everyone!” Miss Midnight called out, the students beginning to quiet down. “And for the Student Pledge, we have… Katsuki Bakugo!”

“Oh no.”

Everyone turned towards Bakugo, who seemed unfazed by this development. He’d probably been told in advance to prepare himself. Even as her brain acknowledged that possibility she still felt dread creeping up her spine as he walked up the podium.

“He’s the first-year rep?” Midoriya questioned aloud with palpable anxiety.

“I guess that hothead did finish first in the entrance test.” Sero countered with a shrug. Kumoroi nodded along.

Some girl from General Studies - she thought - scoffed. “Only for the Hero Course exams.”

“Rude much?”

“Oh…right.” Midoriya shuffled uncomfortably.

“That girl obviously hates us.” Sero sighed.

“Jealousy isn’t a good look, y’know?” Suarashi replied to the girl, loud enough for all the first years to hear. She grinned as the girl scowled and blushed in embarrassment.

Kumoroi couldn’t help the small smile that came.

“Ruthless.” Kaminari glanced at the ginger.

The stadium quieted as Bakugo reached the microphone, standing there with his hand in his pockets and a relaxed posture.

“I just wanna say…” Bakugo trailed off, her body tensed in anticipation. “I’m gonna win.”

Kumoroi cringed, watching her classmates gain varying expressions of shock.

“I knew he’d say something like that!”

The other classes begun yelling, throwing insults and jeers at Bakugo who didn’t react.

Iida stepped forward, chopping his arm in Bakugo’s direction. “Why would you be so disrespectful? You’re representing us all!”

Her explosive classmate turned and did a thumbs down. “Not my fault the rest of you are just stepping stones to my victory.”

Kumoroi facepalmed as the shouting continued. This guy was just burying himself a deeper hole and dragging the class along with him!

She glanced at the guy as he went down the stadium. He didn’t look bothered whatsoever, no irregular heartbeat, no signs of fear. She wondered how he had it in him to do this.

“Without further ado, it’s time for us to get started!” Miss Midnight announced with a wide smile, leading the attention back to her.

“This is where we begin feeling the pain! The first fateful game of the festival!” As Miss Midnight talked, a screen appeared behind her, rolling through options like a game show. “What could it be?”

Kumoroi rolled her shoulders, eyes glued on the screen as it chose the first game. She couldn’t afford to get distracted, she needed to do good, she needed to show how capable she was. That she wasn’t some nepo-baby, that she could be a hero with her own merit.

The rolling stopped, the words “Obstacle Course” showing up in bright green letters.

“An obstacle course? I can do that.”

Her quirk gave her incredible physical abilities so she had somewhat of an advantage and a good chance to show what she could do to everyone.

The screen shifted to show the outline of the obstacle course.

“All 11 classes will participate in this treacherous contest.” Miss Midnight explained. “The track is 4 kilometers around the outside of the stadium. I don’t want to restrain anyone, at least in this game.”

The R-Rated Hero licked her lips and gave them a look that made Kumoroi shiver. “As long as you don’t leave the course, you’re free to do whatever your heart desires! Now then, take your places, contestants!”

Kumoroi went to stand in front of the doorway with everyone, watching as the green lights above it dimmed. Two lights.

She looked around at all the first years - over two hundred students - and glanced at the doorway that lead to the obstacle course.

“Yeah, there’s no way in hell.”

One light. She took a deep breath.

Zero lights. “Begin!” Midnight yelled as a blare sounded through the stadium.

She raced towards the doorway, sprinting past her peers, arm up in preparation.

Shlick!

Kumoroi’s web stuck to the ceiling and pulled her along. She rose above her classmates who were pushing and shoving each other and held her palms out to stick herself to the ceiling.

She inwardly lamented that she couldn’t go on all fours since she was wearing the gym uniform shoes and taking them on-and-off would just waste her time.

The sudden drop of temperature was her only warning.

She yelped as ice coated the floor, bunching up into herself on the ceiling instinctively as cries of the ones who got stuck filled the narrow corridor. Thankful that the ice didn’t reach the ceiling, Kumoroi built up her momentum as much as she could, swing back and forth before unsticking her palms.

She let herself fall, releasing a web and swinging out of the corridor.

Kumoroi landed in a slide, taking advantage of the ice to move forwards as she checked out her surroundings. Seemed like plenty of people had been halted by Todoroki’s ice, the ones who’d escaped - mostly Hero Course students - doing fairly fine.

She launched a web to the ground, a couple meters ahead of her and allowed it to drag her, doing it one more time to escape the ice. Once she was out she raced ahead, jumping over a rolling Mineta to find the first obstacle.

Robots like the ones from the Entrance Exam swarmed the area, several zero-pointer robots looming over them from the distance.

Kumoroi leapt over a two-pointer, high enough to avoid its attempts to grab her. She paid the robots no mind as she landed in a crouch, determined to keep her momentum.

She spotted Todoroki and bolted right after him, leaving enough distance between them that he couldn’t carelessly launch ice at her.

“They obviously went through a lot of trouble, but I wish they’d prepared something a little more difficult.” Todoroki talked to himself. “Especially since my dear old dad is watching.”

“What?” Kumoroi mumbled, but before she could even process the words, cold air filled her lungs. She watched as Todoroki launched a massive wave of ice to halt the zero-pointer in front of him in a single move.

“Damn dude.”

Todoroki ran ahead, going underneath the robot he froze. Kumoroi was quick to follow through the same path, there was no way she was staying behind.

“Careful now.” He glanced back at her. “I froze them while they were off their balance.” Metal creaked above her as his voice faded from distance. “On purpose.”

Kumoroi froze, looking at the slowly descending hunk of metal with wide eyes.

“Shit!”

She tried to run, to escape, but she was too close and the shadow cast over her only grew. Frost coated the floor and the metal groaned as it approached her. She mentally calculated the weight of the stupid thing as it fell before planting her feet, arms up and ready for impact.

Kumoroi made a mental promise to annihilate Todoroki if she got the chance to in the Sports Festival.

She groaned loudly, holding up the zero-pointer. Her legs tensed and her arms burned, it was heavier than she expected. She shook as frost fell over her, some pieces falling off due to to the ice, her hands gripping onto the metal like a lifeline. She took quick breaths, doing her best to stay calm and trying to get out of this.

“Don’t go into diapause, don’t go into diapause, do -”

“Whoa.”

Kumoroi stilled, head turning slightly to see a guy with metal-looking skin - it was that guy Kanzaki had yelled at when the other classes had come to cope them out. At that moment, he was staring at her with his mouth agape and wide eyes, shock and amazement shining clearly.

It took a moment for her brain to process that he was just sitting there. “A little help?” She croaked out.

Metal guy seemed to snap out of his daze as he moved to her. “Oh shit, right.” He paused. “What do I do?”

Kumoroi hissed between gritted teeth from the strain in her limbs, she could feel some of her energy leaving her due to the cold. Before either of them could do much else a green light filled her vision as the stupid robot was blasted out of her hold.

She stumbled forwards, the sudden shift messing up her balance. Kumoroi managed to stay upright, the burning in her biceps alleviating.

“Way to go Kanzaki!” Kirishima hollered, Kumoroi turning to see him not too far from her - he probably would’ve been caught under the robot if she hadn’t held it up.

Kumoroi turned back to where the other first years were fighting the robots. A little ahead of the rest, Kanzaki was lowering her hand and seemed to be relieved to see her.

Her eyebrows shot up as she processed what had happened. Kumoroi had seen Kanzaki’s grenades before and she knew she could alter their size but she’d never witnessed one of that intensity.

She turned back towards the fallen zero-pointer, a chunk of it gone, charred edges around the sizzling hole.

“How come she’s never done something like that before? Maybe it’s a matter of stamina?”

Right then she watched Bakugo rocket past them and above the other robots, wasting no time to catch up to Todoroki.

“Class 1-A’s Bakugo is rockin’ past those obstacles!” Present Mic commented, his voice refocusing her mind.

“Right, race.”

Kumoroi shook off the coat of frost that had settled over her, making sure she wasn’t feeling sluggish before releasing a web as high as she could to the nearest zero-pointer. She rose off the ground, swinging above it. From that height she could see Bakugo still blasting himself forward, faintly registering the sound of tape sticking - Sero was probably not too far behind her.

She released web after web, weaving through the robots without too much issue - the things were big and clunky, not very good for catching a rapid-moving target. She slid down the leg of the last of the zero-pointers and continued ahead even as she heard a large boom behind her.

Kumoroi was ahead of most of the contestants although a few like some guy whose teeth she could see like a skeleton’s were pretty close.

Her lungs seized and worked overtime to keep up with her movement. Or at least they were until she skidded to a stop right before a gaping hole in the ground.

There were several rock platforms across it with tightropes connecting them like a giant web. She noticed Todoroki was most of the way through - some of the tightropes covered in ice. Bakugo seemed to be about halfway through, blasting himself above the canyon.

Kumoroi inched forward to look at the drop, her eyes couldn’t see the bottom but there was something down there - maybe nets to catch whoever fell?

“For those of you who thought the first obstacle was easy, let’s see how you feel about the second one!” Present Mic’s voice came from around her. “If they take a spill, they’re out! If they want to pass this test, they’ll have to get green, and… It’s The Flow!”

The sound of the large collection of students approaching shook her out of her thoughts. Kumoroi took several steps back, taking a deep breath. She could manage this, she just had to time it right.

She didn’t.

Kumoroi yelped as she nearly rolled off the platform, scrambling to hold onto it. Her hands dug into the rock, cracking it as she held firm and found footholds. Her arms shook, still sore from holding up that giant robot.

She managed to pull herself up, sighing in relief once she’d reached solid ground before getting up just as some girl with some sort of rocket boots landed two platforms to her right.

“Not my best idea.” Kumoroi mumbled to herself as she rose. “Swinging is probably safer than that.” She rolled her wrists, eyeing which area was better to move in.

Kumoroi jumped once more, trying to clear as much distance as she could before allowing herself to fall a little below the rock formations. A web escaped her wrist, latching onto something ahead of her and letting her swing below The Flow before rising above it once more.

The wind whistled in her ears as she continued through the obstacle, doing her best to pay attention to not hit someone. She finally landed on a platform close to the end of the obstacle, a girl with vine-like hair going up the stairs to the next challenge.

Kumoroi had no issues, clearing the distance with a good leap since there was no risk of her falling.

She heaved as she began to run again, running was always particularly tiring for her.

“Next obstacle, here I come.”

“And now we’re finally approaching the last obstacle! Everyone had better tread carefully!” Present Mic announced, Misora breathing heavily as she ran to said last obstacle. “You’re stepping onto a minefield! If you look carefully, you can see where those little bombs are buried, so keep your eyes on the ground, folks!”

“A minefield? Interesting but it might be a little tiring.”

Misora was having the time of her life. She’d gotten to tear through the robots in the first obstacle and finally put to good use her middle school rope climbing record. She wanted to keep going until she crashed but there were still other stages to the Sports Festival and she did not want to miss out or lose. She knew better than to think she could win this first game from the moment Todoroki froze the zero-pointer but there was still a chance in the next one.

If she was being honest with herself, the only reason why she wasn’t caught by his ice at the beginning was because she was already expecting it since she would’ve done the same in his place.

Something about his attitude still bugged her but she couldn’t afford to think about that at the moment. If she couldn’t win, she’d be placed the highest she could.

Misora gave the stink eye to Ojiro who passed by her, his long legs and tail carrying him farther than her short legs could.

“By the way, those landmines were designed for the game, so they might be loud and flashy. But they’re not all that powerful.” Present Mic added enthusiastically. “Just enough to make you wet your pants!”

“Get a hold of yourself.” Mr. Aizawa’s deadpan through the microphone made her snort.

“How did Present Mic even convince him to be a commentator?”

Misora reached the final obstacle, glancing at the large signs with “Danger Mines” written on them. She stopped right at the edge of the field, leaning down to spot the landmines.

Present Mic had been right, the parts of the rock in which the landmines were buried was visible since the earth had been dug up and placed back.

Misora stepped forward, eyes glued on the floor as she began to carefully thread through the minefield. She only stopped and looked up when she heard someone set off one of the landmines somewhat close to her - she’ll gladly admit she laughed at a student or five.

“Just like that, a new student takes the lead!”

Misora’s head snapped upwards, eyes locking onto Bakugo and Todoroki who were mostly trying to bat each other away as they moved forward.

“The media here is going crazy! There’s nothing they love more than an upset!”

She saw Iida straight up sprinting through the minefield, trying to outrun the explosions he left behind. It was a good effort but it didn’t work well for him as they eventually caught up and threw him back.

“Hey, hey, hey! The riders from the competitors are catching up, too!”

Misora felt a flare of boldness, her adrenaline pumping as picked up her speed, weaving through the field a little less careful than before.

“What’s this? Can our two leaders fight each other and stay in front of the competition?”

Various explosions set off as she continued, others getting impatient just like her and trying to reach the front.

“Come on, come on! Maybe I can still win first place!”

Pink smoke clouded her vision as she fell back on her ass. Hard.

“Fuck!” Misora screamed, even if she was glad that she hadn’t accidentally fallen on another landmine.

“Think before you act Missy.” Hayate’s voice echoed in her mind.

“I know, I know.” She grumbled, standing up.

The ground rumbled and she turned around to see a huge cloud of pink smoke erupting from the beginning of the minefield.

“What the hell?”

Pink light enveloped her vision and wind rippled through the field, Misora covering her face with her arms and planting her feet as hard as she could. Once the initial blast subsided, she managed to see a green panel soaring above the dissipating cloud with a guest on it.

Misora’s mouth hung open as shock settled in her. She couldn’t see the person’s face from that distance but she saw the bright red shoes and she instantly knew.

“Midoriya, you little fucker.”

“That was way more powerful than it should be! What just happened?” Present Mic shrieked.“Whatever the case, Class 1-A Izuku Midoriya is suddenly in hot pursuit of first place!”

Misora watched as Midoriya flew past all of the contestants, and then past Todoroki and Bakugo, effectively changing the placings.

“Placings! Keep moving!”

She started moving again, power walking across the field with the might of an exercising grandmother and eyes glued to the floor like it was her last meal. She couldn’t get caught up in an explosion again.

“Look at that plot twist! Those two aren’t fighting anymore! They’re chasing Midoriya! That’s what having a common enemy will do in this competition! This fight is still far from over, though!”

Misora followed the path with purpose, not bothering to pay attention to the random explosions around her. She had to keep going. She had to get closer!

A trail of ice minorly shifted her concentration - Todoroki probably got restless - but she didn’t risk it. It could easily go wrong and she could slip and waste time.

Clang!

Her eyes went up as pink cloud obscured the three front-runners at the end of the field.

“Go, go, go.”

Misora vaguely heard Present Mic praising Midoriya and roasting Mr. Aizawa but she couldn’t focus on that - she was too close to the end to get distracted.

Her feet stepped around the darker patches of dirt which outlined the landmines, teeth grinding as she heard people ahead of her being done with this crap, heart hammering in her chest with anticipation and rage, brain praying that she wouldn’t misstep again.

She just took one step after the other, fists clenching in frustration at the never-ending torture.

“Come on, come on, co-”

The ground was clear of minefields.

Misora instantly sprinted down the path, going past a struggling Yaoyorozu, Mineta attached to her back with his sticky balls. Her face scrunched in disgust, that li-

“NO! FOCUS!”

“The first to make it back into the stadium is the first-place winner! Izuku Midoriya is our champion!” Present Mic declared, the loud cheers of the stadium already within earshot.

She pushed down the swell of disappointment from not getting first place - or top three at least and kept running. Her calves screamed at her to slow down but she didn’t, she kept running, shoving past some guy with a headband into the doorway and sidestepping the ice trail Todoroki had left behind.

Triumphant music blared through her ears as she finally entered the stadium. She heaved, finally stopping as she wiped away the sweat dripping down her face. Her legs felt a little unstable and her lungs worked overtime as exhaustion went over her.

She wanted to do that course all over again.

Misora wasn’t sure what her placement was but given the number of people it couldn’t be lower than 15. She looked at Todoroki, cold air wafting from his right side as he breathed heavily.

“The contestants are pouring in one after the other.” Present Mic announced. “Let’s hear some applause for all our competitors as we prepare the results.”

Todoroki stared at Midoriya - who seemed not to notice - before walking away.

Why was he so stuck on Midoriya? Yeah, the guy was outstandingly powerful even if he couldn’t control it - she’d been there when he destroyed the zero-pointer with a single punch at the Entrance Exam - but that didn’t justify singling him out and outright declaring war on the guy.

Misora didn’t have nearly enough understanding of people to make any guesses - she had to talk to Hayate.

It took a while for everyone to trail inside the arena which was good for her since it gave her more time to recover. However the amount of students was now much less than before - the others were probably cut off.

“The first game for the first year is finally here!” Miss Midnight’s voice resounded across the stage. “And what a game it was! Now let’s take a quick look at the standings, shall we?”

The ranking showed up on screen, scrolling slowly from the first: Izuku Midoriya, downwards. Misora felt miffed that she wasn’t at least in the top ten, frustration gnawed at her when she saw how close she’d been - she was in 12th place.

“Next time it’s gonna be first place.”

“Only the top 50 were the best to the next round.” Miss Midnight stated with a flourish of her hand. “But don’t be too let down if you didn’t make the cut. We’ve prepared other opportunities for you to shine. Now the real fun is about to begin.”

Misora grinned in excitement. The first stage had been amazing, even if she hadn’t won it got her blood pumping and really pushed her.

“The chance to fully move yourselves into the limelight. Give it your best! Let’s see what we have in store for you next!” Miss Midnight smiled at the students as the screen showed a rolling through options so quickly she couldn’t even guess what the possibilities could be. “Will your wildest fantasies come to life? What could it be? The waiting is torture! Prepare yourselves… For this!”

The words “Cavalry Battle” appeared in yellow letters.

Misora cringed, she was terrible at those. She paused, the Sports Festival was an individual event so how was everything going to be distributed? She hoped it wasn’t randomly, people tended to take a while before she grew on them.

“Allow me to explain. The participants will form teams of two to four people as they see fit.” Miss Midnight talked as an honestly kind of funny image showed up on the screen. It was a cavalry battle formation with All Might on the top and Snipe, Thirteen and Present Mic carrying him - she kind of felt sorry for them, All Might looked heavy. “In theory, it’s basically the same as a regular playground game. But there is one difference. Each player has been assigned a point value based on the results from the obstacle course.”

“I get it.” Sato commented from behind her. “A point-based system like the entrance exams. That seems pretty simple.”

“So that means each team will have a different point value based on which students are on it.” Uraraka added up as Ashido nodded along.

Something clicked in her head as she glanced at Midoriya who was off by the edge.

“This is gonna be a bloodbath.” Misora grinned. Uraraka and Ashido turned to her with confused expressions - they hadn’t realized it yet.

The crack of a whip brought their attention back to the stage. “Maybe you should shut up and let me explain things to you!” Miss Midnight yelled before shifting back to a calmer demeanor as the screen showed the amount of points of each rank. “Now, the point assignments go up by increments of five, starting from the bottom. For example, 50th place is worth five points and 49th is worth ten.”

“And the point value for first place is…”

“And the point value assigned to the first place contestant is…Ten million!”

Misora slowly turned towards Midoriya just as everyone else. TEN MILLION? That meant that if her team took down Midoriya’s, she’d win this stage by a landslide and move on to the next one.

She felt slightly sorry for him but this was the price of being at the top.

“That’s right. It’s a life-and-death race with a chance for those at the bottom to overcome the top!” Miss Midnight grinned down maliciously at the hungry-for-battle students.

“I’m so kicking greenie’s ass.”

“First years! These are the rules that you’ll abide by.” Her teacher gestured to the screen with her whip as the screen changed. “The game itself will last 15 minutes, individual point values will be added together to reach your team total - everyone will know how much you’re worth thanks to your headbands.”

Misora captured all the information with a degree of attention she reserved for fighting only.

“Swipe as many headbands as you can to raise your teams score.” The screen showed a headband example. “Stolen headbands must be worn from the neck up, so the more you steal, the harder it will be to manage them.” Somehow she managed not to laugh at the image of All Might covered neck up in headbands.

“And another thing, even if your headband gets stolen or your team falls down, you can keep playing until time’s up!”

Her eyebrows rose, she wasn’t sure if that was good or not. It could be for her if things went south, so she still had a chance to recover but if others kept pressing on with no headbands to lose that would make them desperate enough to try crazy things.

“This might just be really exciting.”

“This is going to be rough. You may use your quirks as much as you like.” Miss Midnight stated with a move of her whip.

Misora felt herself grin, this would definitely be a bloodbath.

“But…there are still rules.”” The teacher continued. “Make a team fall on purpose and I’ll slap you with a red card. You’ll be disqualified!”

She frowned, that would make things a little more challenging but she always preferred a straight up fight anyway. Plus if things got dire, sand in the eyes is inconvenient for anyone, even her.

“Now, you’ve got 15 minutes to build your teams.” Miss Midnight stated as the screen shifted into a countdown. “I recommend you get started.”

Everyone almost immediately dispersed, heading straight for friends - people they knew could work well with them. There were two particular swarms of her classmates surrounding Bakugo and Todoroki.

If this had been literally yesterday, she would have beelined to Todoroki but after his little display earlier she wasn’t going to go over to him and grovel for his help. Was it petty and unpractical? Yes. Would she do it anyway? Also yes.

Misora started to walk around, heading for Uraraka. She went for the brunette because she was nice, cooperative and her quirk could be a big help but mostly because she liked the fire in her spirit. She watched the gravity girl approach Midoriya and paused.

Misora had initially wanted to fight Midoriya for the top spot but if she was on his team instead, she would become a massive target alongside him.

“You know what? Hell yeah.”

She kept her pace to the two friends before someone stopped her by holding her arm. “Hey! What the hell?” She snapped as she turned around.

“Hello to you too.” Said the guy she’d ripped a new one two weeks ago. Misora was never particularly good with faces but he was pretty hard to forget: messy purple hair and tired purple eyes with a dash of boldness that invited her curiosity.

“Would you like to join my team?” He asked monotonously.

Misora scoffed, tugging her arm out of his hold. After his behavior from before, she’d rather beat him. “I’m good, th -”

A fog overtook her brain as all her senses abruptly went numb. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t move, could barely think. It was like she was stuck in her own body and was simply a spectator to everything around her.

The guy gave her small smirk. “Come on, let’s go get the others.”

Misora wanted to punch him in the face, she wanted to kick him in the nuts, she wanted to tear that smug little smirk of his off his face but she couldn’t. Her body was no longer her own, and so she followed him without hesitation.

Chapter Text

“What?”

Todoroki spoke with a straight face – no sign of joking whatsoever. “I want you on my team.”

Hikari stared at him, mouth agape. She’d been planning on asking Kira to join her and work it out from there but life had thrown her off. Shoto Todoroki, the arguably most powerful person on Class 1-A was asking her to be part of his team for the Cavalry Battle, for an event where teamwork and efficiency was pivotal.

She looked at Yaoyorozu, who was next to Todoroki and looking at her expectantly. “Can we please have an answer?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll join you guys.” Hikari nodded vehemently, shaking off her disbelief.

Todoroki nodded before turning, beckoning for someone to come closer. Hikari looked around, searching for her best friend midst the sea of students. Spotting her was easy due to the telltale blue and green of her hair and her peacock tail.

Kira was talking to a girl with hair that looked like vines and a guy with silver hair – oh shit it was that guy Hikari’d yelled at two weeks ago, Tetsutetsu, Kira had told her later.

“She already has a team. Good.”

She turned and the two of them locked eyes. Hikari smiled and gave her a thumbs up – I’m good, good luck. Kira smiled back and made a heart with her hands – Same here, good luck to you too.

Iida walked over to join her, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu, a determined expression on his face. “Glad to see you decided to join us.”

She nodded silently. She had no clue what to say now.

“Iida’s with us? I thought he’d pair with Uraraka and Midoriya.”

Todoroki eyed all three of them. “I chose the three of you because I believe we’ll make for the most stable formation possible. Kanzaki, you’re our left wing, you’ll use your quirk to keep enemies at bay and attack from a distance.” Hikari felt something swell in her chest, she wasn’t sure if it was pride or fear. “Yaoyorozu, you’ll take the right wing, focus on defense and support. Iida, you’ll take the front, we’ll rely on you for mobility and physical defense.”

“And you’ll be attacking and creating diversions of ice and fire, is that right?” Iida questioned with a tilt of his head.

“Not quite.” Her half and half classmate looked away, up at the crowd. “When I’m in battle, I never use my left side.” The anger in his voice unsettled her.

Now that she stopped and thought about it, she’d never actually seen Todoroki use his fire while fighting either in class or when she caught glimpses of him training with Suarashi. What was that about? Maybe it was trauma-related?

Hikari’s eyes landed on the scar over his left eye.

“A quirk accident maybe? Looks like it hurt.”

Kumoroi the small crowd around Bakugo, eyes solely on her target. There was a really low chance that he wouldn’t accept her offer, it was a good plan and she had ranked 5th on the obstacle course so her points were really high.

She walked over and jabbed her finger in his shoulder, surprise flashing across his face as he turned to her.

“Hey Kaminari.” She started, giving him no time to speak. “Did you know a spider’s webs can conduct electricity?”

Her golden blond classmate opened his mouth, looking confused before gasping sharply. “Holy shit! I don’t have to worry about hurting you.”

“Exactly.” Kumoroi beamed at him. “Now, come on. I already know who I want for our last member.”

Kaminari nodded along, allowing her to take the lead without question. He seemed a lot like a “follower” type - she’ll have to talk to him about that sometime. He walked alongside her as they headed towards the edge of the central arena, right to a short girl who was looking around with a nervous expression, her heartbeat speeding up irregularly.

“Aoi.” Kumoroi addressed the girl in a gentle tone. “I would like for you to join our team and be the rider.”

The blue-haired girl stared at her in bewilderment. “O-okay but why me on top?”

“Because of your glass. It’s a pretty nice deterrent for anyone who would try to take our headband.” She held out her hand for Aoi.

“You really thought this through, huh?” Kaminari grinned at her as Aoi took her hand.

Kumoroi wrapped her arms around the the two’s shoulders. “Yes, I did. I provide a strong foundation and can snatch people’s headbands from a distance and provide Kaminari a conductor.” She smiled at said guy. “Kaminari will be our main attacker, using his electricity to attack people and throw them off - electrocution looks painful.” He nodded along, matching her smile. “And Aoi will be our defender, guarding our headband with her glass. Good for you?”

Aoi looked up at her with a hesitant smile - they did have height difference of nearly 20 cm - and nodded. “Yeah, good.”

“Great!” Kumoroi released them. “Now let’s beat their asses.”

Kira took a deep breath, anticipation building up in her body as she and her team awaited for the start of the match, the headband on her forehead almost itching. On her left was Shiozaki, hair gleaming in the sunlight as she muttered a quick prayer, on her right was Honenuki, eyes darting around as he attempted to size up the teams. Leading the charge in front of them was Tetsutetsu, probably grinning ear to ear.

Tetsutetsu had initially wanted to be the rider but they decided she was the better option since she was not only the lightest but also the one with the better defense - although the feeling of her tail mostly hovering instead of dragging on the floor was a little odd.

“No hard feelings, right Tetsutetsu, Hayashi?” Monoma asked, on top of his own team to their right.

Kira would’ve questioned why Monoma addressed her and Tetsutetsu specifically instead of their whole team or even just their steel classmate - who was apparently a middle school friend of his and Kendo’s - but there were better things to worry about at the moment.

Plus, she was still mad at the prick for insisting that she back off from her friendship with Hikari. She’d known her longer than she did Monoma and the rest of Class 1-B, there was no way in hell she’d even consider it.

Tetsutetsu responded affirmatively but Kira just huffed and shot him a glare. Monoma at least had the decency to look sheepish but didn’t say anything.

“Good, feel ashamed.”

“Let’s get this party started!” Present Mic hollered. “One final countdown before the games starts.”

Kira took a deep breath, ridding her mind of the annoyance that was her classmate to focus on the task at hand. She’’d managed to get in the top 10 during the first challenge and she fully intended to keep up that high.

“Three!”

Honenuki rolled his shoulders.

“Two!”

Tetsutetsu cracked his knuckles.

“One!”

Shiozaki’s vines hovered in anticipation.

“Begin!” Midnight’s voice echoed in her head.

She felt her breath almost get knocked out of her as her three classmates moved quickly towards the prime target: Izuku Midoriya and his team.

“It’s basically one big battle for ten million points!” Her steel classmate yelled.

Kira separated some of her feathers from the collection that was her tail, the feathers zipping right past them and to Midoriya - maybe she could just sneakily tug off their headband with them while they were distracted.

Kira Hayashi. Quirk: Peacock tail. She can remove, sharpen and manipulate the feathers on her gorgeous tail.

She watched as the targeted team whispered to each other before Midoriya yelled. “We’re running away!”

“I don’t think so!” Tetsutetsu replied as their team and all the others sped up. “Honenuki!”

The ground in front of Honenuki warped and muddied, the trail moving until it was affecting the ground beneath Midoriya’s team. As they slowly went down in the quicksand that her teammate’s quirk formed, her feathers moved avidly, going to nip at the their prize on Midoriya’s head.

“Come on, come on, come on!”

The first feather that reached him, pulled apart the headband and Midoriya had to scramble to catch it as he pressed a button she hadn’t seen before.

“Wha-”

A loud sound striked her ears, wind buffeting her face as she covered it with her arms instinctively. When she managed to look out, Kira saw the team flying over them with rocket boots and a jetpack.

“No!” Kira exclaimed, eyeing them fly away. “Turn, turn!” She urged her team.

“He flew?!” Tetsutetsu growled as the team skidded to a stop, then turned around. “Come on, after him!”

Kira let out a sigh as they moved after the top team once more. On the way, she managed to swipe a headband from someone’s neck.

“Forgive me Tsunotori.”

Her feathers brought it to her hand and she wrapped in around on her neck.

“Nice.” Honenuki praised with a nod. Kira just hummed in response as they moved.

They were closing in on Midoriya’s team, the poor things were getting boxed in by them and another team composed of this big guy with membrane looking arms who initially looked alone until a purple blob shot out of the gap between the closed arms, heading towards Midoriya’s team and stick to one of the boots.

Her eyebrows rose, watching some small guy grin to them from between the arms.

“Is that even allowed?” Midoriya unknowingly voiced her question.

“Judges say yes!” Midnight’s voice rung through the field.

Kira had to admit it was a good strategy even if she thought it was totally unfair. A blur of pink snapped past her cheek, barely giving her any time to duck under whatever it was. She cautiously looked up to see a tongue retreat between the arms.

“C’est quoi ce bordel?” She mumbled, pulling out more feathers out of her tail. She yelped, dodging one of those purple blobs.

“Language.” Shiozaki chided with a sharp glare. Kira bit back a laugh, thinking it was funny how quickly Shiozaki had picked up when she was cursing in French even though she had no knowledge of the language.

“You deal with Midoriya, I’ve got the other team.” She told Shiozaki.

“Of course.” The vine girl nodded, hair extending towards her target.

Kira’s feathers zipped past the two teams as she narrowed her eyes in concentration.

Kumoroi cursed, dodging the bird’s swoop. She hissed as it clawed on her hair - she would’ve crushed the damn thing on principle alone if she wasn’t aware of how much Koda adored animals -, trying to distract her from the fight for their headband.

She snatched it up by the legs, flinging her assailant at Sato before sticking a web onto Koda’s chest. She took the opportunity to connect a web to another team close by composed of Class B members, ripping them away with each link and shoved them in Kaminari’s hand.

“Light ‘em up!”

The blonde grinned almost maniacally, arcs of electricity running through her webs before shrieks and screams rung around her.

“Damn you Kaminari.” Jiro gasped through the static.

Aoi huffed as she adjusted herself, jagged glass sprouting from her cheeks and scalp, making her look like some sort of mystical nymph - her quirk truly worked anywhere on her body.

“Let’s move!” Kumoroi yelled over the noise, placing webs on the legs of their opponents.

The blond wooped and moved in tandem with her, weaving past the struggling forms of their classmates. Green flashed behind Kaminari, Kumoroi barely moving quickly enough for something sharp to nick her hand with which she’d forced the blond to duck his head.

“Ow dude.” She shook her stinging hand, a web releasing from her wrist to the guy’s arm, which was covered in scales. “That could’ve seriously hurt him!” She chided, shifting her arm so the web glued onto his teammate with a hairy body before breaking it off.

The guy at least had had the decency to look apologetic as they briefly moved close enough for Aoi to take their headband.

“Thanks.” Kaminari smiled at her as they ran along, rubbing the spot where the scale would’ve hit him.

Kumoroi smiled back. “No pro-”

She leaned back from a shot of light, Aoi yelping as she struggled to regain her balance. Both her and Kaminari took hold of on of her hands to help her.

Kumoroi turned, eyes landing on an unusual sight. Aoyama, Suarashi and Ojiro as a team with some purple-haired guy as the rider, no headband in sight. Something felt off.

“That guy Suarashi burned like hellfire? Why are they teaming up?”

“Let’s make this quick, yeah?” The unknown guy said, looking almost bored.

“Yeah, n-”

A fog settled over her brain.

Hikari bit back a shriek as they stopped. Yaoyorozu had figured that roller blades would make them move faster, which was true but they’d had a bit of trouble figuring out the kinks of it - mostly her - since neither her nor Iida had ever used them - ice skates didn’t count. After some adjustments and a change into extra secure roller skates for her, they’d managed to find their - Todoroki’s - prime’s target.

“I’ll be taking that now.” Todoroki declared to Midoriya.

Midoriya and his team looked nervous bar Tokoyami - she could never tell what was going on with him - and one of the large mechanical boots they were wearing was broken on the bottom.

Hikari almost startled herself as she realized that her team had a massive advantage. Midoriya couldn’t control his quirk, Uraraka couldn’t use hers on them from a distance, she had no idea what the pink-haired girl’s quirk was but from what she heard back at the Obstacle Course she was from the Support Course, chances were she wasn’t the combative type. Their only real danger was Tokoyami and Dark Shadow.

“I didn’t think this confrontation would happen until later in the contest.” Tokoyami told his team, Dark Shadow a barrier in between the teams. “He seems to have it out for you, Midoriya”

“He has been pretty laser-focused on Midoriya considering his declaration of war earlier.”

“The game’s only halfway over, we can’t stop now!” Midoriya exclaimed, arm tracing an arc in the air.

“Now Iida, forward!” Their leader ordered, leaning down to brace himself.

Hikari braced herself, having to actively stop herself from holding her breath.

“Just follow what Todoroki says and it’ll be fine.”

“Right!” Iida replied, engines sputtering to life as they rolled ahead.

Hikari glanced back, seeing other teams heading not for them, but for the ten million - getting in Todoroki’s way.

“Yaoyorozu, be ready to protect us, just in case.” Todoroki told her.

Gym shirt open and sleeves rolled up, pink sparks formed over Yaoyorozu’s arm and belly. “On it.”

“Kanzaki, you’re up.”

Hikari almost jumped, heart leaping to her throat. “Right.”

She took a deep breath, flipped her hand that was holding onto Iida and used it to reach out to the heat inside her. A grenade began to form, the amount of power she needed flowing into it from her. Then she made the outer shell expand, extending her fingers to follow the movement. Iida made a sound of discomfort, before sighing softly when the grenade hovered away from him.

Hikari felt a smile form on her face as several teams halted, the sphere continuing to grow at her command. She mentally raised it, shimmering emerald engulfing their section of the field.

“Are you crazy?!” She heard someone yell, along with several other complaints.

“Sometimes.”

A pair of shades was carefully placed on her face, her attention never leaving on her massive creation even as her sight was tinted in a darker shade by the specially made Yaoyorozu-style glasses.

“What is this display from Class 1-A’s Hikari Kanzaki?”

“Todoroki’s plan.”

Cold tickled her right.

She closed her fist and blew up the grenade.

Kira stared mystified and incredibly jealous at Bakugo as he was pulled back to the ground, having blasted himself upwards to reach Midoriya’s team. She might have a peacock quirk but it was only partial, otherwise she would’ve been able to fly too although only for a short amount of time.

Shaking off the distraction, she secured her headbands, heading for another team. Kira vaguely acknowledged Present Mic saying it was already halfway through - so quick? - and talking about the current scores.

“Other than Midoriya, Class 1-A isn’t doing so hot! Even Bakugo is losing.” Present Mic sounded astonished by this fact.

“Looks like Monoma’s strategy is working.” Honenuki commented.

Kira hummed, not bothering to pretend to care about that as she scanned the field and caught sight of an interesting standoff. “Midoriya looks rankled, let’s go make it worse.”

“Alright!” Tetsutetsu cackled as she braced her arms on him.

The announcement that the time was down to half must have made people lose some of their cautiousness since several teams now headed for the standoff between Midoriya and Todoroki’s team.

Kira’s plucked feathers, which had been hovering over her, now moved to Todoroki. He was the one with his back to her hence easier to steal from even if it would make Kari lose. She’d apologize later with some chocolate.

At least that was the idea until her darling best friend begun creating the largest grenade she’d ever seen from her.

“This is unbecoming.” Shiozaki looked up at it with fearful eyes.

“More like insane.” Honenuki took a step back, wobbling her a little. “Maybe we should, I don’t know, run for our lives.”

“Wait.”

There was no way Hikari would detonate something that large atop them. She could, she was certainly powerful enough to create a grenade of this size but it would cost everything in her reserves.

Hikari was staring up at the grenade but she had her back to her so she couldn’t see her face. There was not an inkling of fear in her posture though, nor of her teammates. Pink sparks glinted from the girl with a ponytail on their team, before she handed each of them something.

“Sunglasses? Why sunglasses?”

Her eyes caught on the black pole that materialized from the ponytail girl as she handed it to Todoroki.

The realization hit her like a well written plot twist. Sunglasses. Light. Pole. Connection. Ice.

“Putain.” Kira hissed, waving her hand in an arc to release her longest feathers, allowing them to hover around them at a certain distance. “Shiozaki, surround us!”

“Wh-”

“NOW!”

Light brighter than anything she’d ever experienced overcame her sight. She instinctively covered her eyes, hearing something - hopefully Shiozaki’s vines - rustle around her.

“Fake outs.” She blurted out before she could think too hard on it.

The three turned their heads towards her. Hikari hunched in on herself instinctively, anxiety pressing on her chest.

“I-I can do fake outs. The size and power of my grenades are naturally proportionate to one another but I can make it so they’re not. I only figured out I could do that at the beginning of the year and I don’t have much practice with it - it takes more concentration. I’m only really telling you because I thought it might be useful, even if just a little.” Hikari explained, words tumbling out so quick she wasn’t sure they were understanding her - her mom always complained about the speed of her speech.

Todoroki stared at her for a moment before asking. “Does the amount of stamina your quirk leeches off more dependent on size or power?”

“Power.” She answered quickly. “But the outline of the grenade itself also needs some amount of it.”

He nodded at her. “Be ready to use that.”

“Okay.” Hikari agreed, relief flooding through her. She was contributing! Her stomach plummeted - and she was possibly an ace in the cards which meant this could rely on her. The thought made her squirm.

Cries and groans went through the stadium both in and out of the field, Hikari was sure she could hear some shouts from the very top row but that didn’t matter right now - even if the fact that she could affect that many people at once made her proud of herself for once.

“Less than six minutes left, it’s time to make a move.” Todoroki declared, using the pole Yaoyorozu had given him to freeze all of the teams behind them to the ground. “Sorry but there’s no other way.”

“I’m pretty sure there’s less fear-inducing ways.”

Hikari suppressed a shiver as she looked up at Midoriya’s team. Dark shadow, was unusually small, almost trembling as the rest of the team recovered from her attack.

“What’s that about?”

“Well, look at that!” Present Mic’s voice was almost a blur in the background. “He stopped all those teams cold in their tracks!”

“But only after Kanzaki had distracted all the students by inducing a panic and blinding them.” Mr. Aizawa praised in his usual tired tone. “In the Obstacle Course he was surprised by how many people avoided his attack. He’s adapting his strategy.”

Their team rolled around the area, Todoroki taking the headbands of the closest teams before freezing their paths. Hikari simply did her best to hold on and focus, they probably had enough to pass onto the next round but she wasn’t going to tell them that. Her classmates seemed pretty adamant about wanting to be in first place.

Midoriya’s team hovered in reverse using their jetpack and one boot to move away from them as quickly as they could.

Hikari yelped when Dark Shadow suddenly lunged at them, only blocked by one of Yaoyorozu’s creations - something metallic that was shaped like a large pizza spatula.

As their opponents continued to evade them, ice shot out of Todoroki’s right arm, spreading behind them and the near vicinity in a circle. Hikari quickly noticed what was going on once she saw the white line on the floor, a little behind Midoriya’s team.

They were reaching the edge of the field and the ice was blocking their escape.

This could end.

“Honenuki would you be a dear?” Kira requested in a sickly sweet tone after Shiozaki unwrapped as many as her vines as she could, some having to break off due to the ice.

“Yeah…” He trailed off, glancing up at her before placing a hand on the ice. It melted like it was from a cartoon, the now mud-like substance clearing out the way.

Kira clasped her hands, bringing her feathers back to her tail. She’d removed them because she hadn’t wanted to risk Todoroki freezing them too - plumage and extreme temperatures didn’t mix well.

“That was such a cheap shot!” Tetsutetsu groused, kicking the mud off his shoes. “Let’s go after them!”

“No.”

“But-”

She lightly hit his head. “We’re outmatched.”

“She’s right.” Honenuki conceded. “There are teams to go after, let’s do that instead of fighting a losing battle.”

Kira despised the idea of running away from a fight but time was running out and choices had needed to be made for their betterment, she could kick their asses in the next round - she would kick their asses in the next round.

“Only one minute left! Todoroki has cornered the ten million points and is poised to seize the ultimate prize!” Present Mic announced enthusiastically, heightening the tension. “At least that’s what I predicted five minutes ago! Unbelievably Team Midoriya has been able to keep away from the ice master for the last half of the game.”

Hikari took a shuddering breath. She’d underestimated how much heat her little display would take, adding that to the fact that she was surrounded by ice and that she’d been tossing some grenades at Midoriya’s team over the past few minutes, she had become fairly debilitated. Chances were, she wouldn’t be able to do many more grenades without going into the danger zone - mild hypothermia was not fun.

“Stay back!” Midoriya yelled, Dark Shadow standing as their only defense as they moved to the left.

Left…

Oh.

Hikari glanced at Todoroki’s contemplative expression before her eyes dragged back to their opponents. The way they’d positioned themselves made it so if Todoroki tried to freeze them he heavily risked hitting Iida - that wouldn’t be good.

“Everyone.” Iida’s voice jolted her out of her thoughts. “We have less than sixty seconds. I’m gonna do something that’ll make me useless to you, but it’s worth it.”

Her mind reeled, eyes gluing on Iida. He had a trump card? Since when? Why didn’t he mention that earlier?

“What are you gonna do?” Todoroki questioned, only for his question to be ignored as Iida readied himself.

“Make sure you get that headband.” He said, engine roaring to life. “Brace yourselves. Hold on tight!”

She didn’t have to be told twice. Her hands gripped Iida and Todoroki like a lifeline, muscles tensing as she awaited whatever the hell was going to happen.

“Torch…” The sound of an engine exhaust was almost deafening. “Over!”

The world blurred, colors moving quicker than she could process. Someone screamed, maybe it was her.

Then it stopped.

Hikari’s knees shook, heaving as she tried to regain her senses. The blotchy colors of the world began to make sense again, her brain catching up to her as she realized a couple of things.

One, Todoroki had gotten the headband.

Two, the only reason her body hadn’t been dragged or her arms weren’t pulled out of her sockets was because of the roller skates.

Three, Iida’s engines were smoking a lot.

Four, since it was less than a minute away from ending, they’d just won the Cavalry Battle.

The last one baffled her the most.

“Iida…” Todoroki gasped, placing the ten million headband around his neck along with the others, turned so the number wasn’t visible. “What was that?”

“Forced my torch and RPM into overdrive which gives me explosive power.” Iida explained, breath labored. “Unfortunately the recoil stalls my engines for a while. It’s a secret move I’ve been saving. No one in the class knew about it.”

“No shit dude.”

Midoriya and Uraraka, who seemed to be close friends with Iida, were looking at back at them with Tokoyami and the other girl with the glasses all equally flabbergasted. She felt that exact same way.

same way.

“I told you, Midoriya.” Iida smirked at the green-haired boy. “I’d do my best to beat you.”

It was like a switch was flipped, the crowd around them erupting in cheers as Present Mic hyped up the events through the speakers. She squirmed, fighting back the urge to rub her ears, the cacophony of sounds beginning to become bothersome.

“A couple more seconds and this is over. Just breathe through it.”

Clearly Midoriya and his team didn’t think the same way - they were about to drop out of the Sports Festival - since they were rushing towards them much to her chagrin. They approached quickly, Midoriya’s arm glowing with power.

“He’s gonna use his quirk? His HIGHLY DESTRUCTIVE quirk!?”

Hikari gasped, watching flames rise from Todoroki’s left arm which she was thankfully away from her even if she automatically inched away from him. Heat bloomed in her palm, forming a weak grenade and rocketing it to Midoriya’s chest. His arm sliced through the air, the force blowing her grenade away and forcing Todoroki’s arm back, leaving him wide open.

Midoriya managed to grab one of the headbands at Todoroki’s neck, his team moving past them to avoid another attack from her discarded grenade which exploded inches away from them.

“We did it!” Midoriya yelled from behind them.

“With just eleven seconds left, Team Midoriya’s back in the game!”

Hikari winced at the new round of cheers from the stadium.

“Keep enemies at bay” had ordered Todoroki. “The most stable formation possible” had said Todoroki but how could that be true with her as a weak link? She’d failed at the job she’d been specifically assigned to and allowed them to take the ten million.

She fucked up, they’d still pass the game but she’d fucked up and they’d rightfully blame her for letting the ultimate prize escape their grasp. Why did she accept if she was just going to be a bur-

“We mixed the headbands up.”

Hikari’s head snapped towards Yaoyorozu, hope threading in her chest.

“There’s no way we’d leave the prize on top.” The dark-haired girl informed Team Midoriya. “You underestimate us.”

She sighed in relief, almost sagging against Iida before remembering the exact position she was in - holding Todoroki up. She hadn’t screwed up too badly, they were still in the top spot.

“Todoroki, better watch yourself.” Iida warned their leader who was staring at his left arm looking frustrated with himself. “That was too close.”

“Agreed.” Hikari mumbled.

“Oh no! Team Midoriya didn’t get the ten million points after all!” Present Mic’s voice was almost too much for her. “The game is almost over! Time for a countdown!”

A buzzer went off, signifying the countdown. Dark Shadow sped to them and she reacted. Three separate grenades sprouted from her palm, moving straight to it before bursting. Dark Shadow wailed, reeling back and retreating into Tokoyami.

BOOM!

“DEKU!” Bakugo roared from behind her but she couldn’t focus on him.

“Uraraka!” Midoriya yelled, prompting his team to rush in.

“Let’s go!” The brunette yelled back.

Hikari gulped, glancing behind her at the approaching Team Bakugo, Bakugo himself blasting through the sky, to Iida’s stalled engine sputtering smoke and back to Team Midoriya.

“Yaoyorozu.” Todoroki commanded to which he was given a pole created on the girl’s arm.

She created six grenades, moving them to go around their team at a safe distance.

“Damn it Icyhot!” Bakugo shouted, rocketing towards them.

Todoroki covered his pole in ice.

Half of her plasma grenades headed for Bakugo with a wiggle of her fingers. She’d take him out first - he was a wildcard - and let the others handle holding back Team Midoriya.

“I can do this, I c-”

“Time’s up!”

Hikari yelped, tossing her grenades away from her ash blond classmate at the last second. She distantly felt them explode as she watched the teams halt and Bakugo unceremoniously hitting the ground - she would’ve laughed if she didn’t feel like doing the same.

P“And with that the second round is officially over.” Present Mic gave her the news she needed.

The moment Todoroki got down from their formation, her knees gave in and she fell on her butt.

“Are you alright Kanzaki?” Iida stood beside her, a hand hovering over her.

“Just a little tired.” She waved him off. “And happy that we won.”

“Ah, I see.” He nodded earnestly. “I feel the same way.”

Hikari frowned as the fact fully hit her. She’d been part of the team who had the top spot.

Which meant she’d be one of the prime targets on the next round.

Chapter Text

“What do you mean you don’t remember?”

Kumoroi stared blandly at Sero. “Exactly what I just said.” She sighed, bumping shoulders with Jiro at the cafeteria table. “Kaminari and Aoi don’t either. Whatever the hell that guy from General Studies did left a blank.”

She was naturally nosy - thank you enhanced hearing - so not knowing what happened to her out of all people was annoying the hell out of her. Maybe she could ask? The guy seemed kind of an ass but it’s not like it would hurt his chances if he answered since she was already out of the competition.

“Where is Kaminari anyway?” Kanzaki asked, leaning back on her chair to take a better look around.

“Last I saw him, he went off with Mineta.” Jiro replied, absentmindedly twirling an earphone jack with her finger.

Ashido leaned forward on the table with a face-splitting grin. “On a more important subject, you guys ready for the next round?”

“Hell yeah!” Kirishima had a matching grin as he shot up from his seat, contrasting heavily with Bakugo’s scowl at him for jostling the table. “This is going to be great.”

“Please sit down.” Kanzaki pleaded, head hung low by her tray.

“Yeah dude, you’re kind of making a scene.” Sero nodded sagely.

The redhead looked around at some of the people staring at him, blushed and plopped down. “Sorry.” He whisper-shouted.

“If you can’t handle the spotlight, you shouldn’t be competing.” Bakugo said bluntly, gesturing at him with his chopsticks. This kind of relieved her.

Her explosive classmate had been weirdly quiet when he got their table and was also the last one to get there - usually he was one of the first. Whatever it was that had him quiet hadn’t affected his mood by much so it was probably fine - that, or he was a really good actor.

“No need to be mean about it, he’s just excited.” Ashido patted Kirishima on the shoulder, in an attempt to comfort him. “Plus, if you can’t deal with a little attention from classmates, how will you do with the whole stadium of people out there? The numbers have gone down a lot, so now it’ll be easier to get noticed and stand out.”

Kirishima hummed in agreement, nodding as if her words were secrets of the universe. She couldn’t help but smile, friends were moving on and would get to showcase themselves more. Yes, she was a little jealous and maybe a tinsy bit bitter that she got taken down in a way that she can’t even remember but she’d cheer on her friends and wish them the best. Kanzaki, Kirishima, Sero, Bakugo and Ashido would rock this.

Ba boom! Ba boom! Ba boom!

A frantic pulse shook Kumoroi out of her thoughts, her eyes latching onto the source easily - Kanzaki.

The green haired girl still had her head down, her bangs, blocking her face from sight but she could see her fingers gripping onto the edges of the table, could hear the still speeding hear rate, could see her arms trembling.

“Ka-”

She stood, a smile plastered on her face. “I think I’m going to go get some air.” She announced cheerfully, picked up her tray, turned and walked out of sight so startlingly fast that she couldn’t even try to stop her.

Misora heaved on the ground, the heat radiating off of her being offset by the faint cold mist surrounding Todoroki.

She scrunched her nose at him as he sat next to her downed form. “That’s cheating. Suffer with me.”

“No.”

Misora huffed dramatically. The two had just finished their training session, both just working more on their physical abilities rather than quirks for the day and then this asshole dared to do this. If she had any energy left, she would’ve tackled him out of spite.

“Todorokiii, being unfair isn’t very hero-like.” She said in the most annoying tone she could, which was pretty notable since she was the youngest sibling.

Todoroki side-eyed her with a raised eyebrow. “Guilt tripping isn’t very hero-like either.”

She gaped at him - he was right, but she wasn’t going to admit that. “Then at least give me something too.”

He shook his head amused as he placed his right hand above her. Mist and small ice flakes began dripping over her, she sighed softly as the cold relieved at least the unforgiving heat she had been feeling.

After a bit Todoroki pulled back his arm and laid down next to her. Misora looked at him as he stared at the ceiling blankly. For once that weight that seemed to always follow him was gone, at least mostly, and he looked at peace with himself.

She couldn’t help but feel happy that she’d managed to get him to feel that way.

Todoroki glanced at her. “We should probably get up.”

“Yeah, we should.” She groaned, moving to sit up.

“I don’t know what to do!” Misora’s fists clenched and unclenched rhythmically as she paced across the rooftop.

Hayate hummed, leaning back on the edge with his eyes closed and fully suited up even if he wasn’t doing any actual hero work. “Is this about Todoroki or Shinso?”

Her head snapped towards him, rage clouding her frustration. “Of course it’s about Todoroki! I already know what I’m gonna do to that purple jackass.”

“Which is…?”

She pounded her fist to her open palm. “Kick his ass into next week.”

“Or you could handle it diplomatically.” Hayate suggested with a wave of his hand.

“No.”

Hayate opened his eyes and stared at her. Misora didn’t back down, holding his gaze for a long silent minute. “No permanent damage.”

“I know that.” Misora huffed, moving to sit next to him. “But back to Todoroki, what do I do? You get people better than me. Any advice?”

“I don’t get people, I study them and act accordingly.” Hayate corrected with a poke to her shoulder. “I’m just better at hiding my social ineptitude than you are.”

“Then study him.” She rebutted.

He sighed, beginning to fidget with his fingers. “I’ll try to talk to him for you.”

“Re-”

“But,” He stressed the word with a tug to her hair which she batted away. “I won’t force him to talk to me. He asks me to leave him be, I’ll leave him be.”

“That was easy. Too easy.”

“What do you know?” Misora asked without hesitation. Hayate’s eyes narrowed and she knew she’d caught him.

“I have…” He pursed his lips. “Suspicions. Nothing concrete. And if I get my answers, I won’t tell you unless Todoroki lets me.”

She wanted to argue, to complain, this was her friend after all but if Hayate managed to get Todoroki to open up and let out whatever the hell it was that was inciting his behavior…

“Fine.” Misora agreed, leaning her head on his shoulder. “Just talk to him, that’s all I want.”

“I’ll try.” Hayate assured her. “After the Sports Festival though, I don’t want him out of his game because of emotional revelations.”

“Okay, I get it!”

Hikari fumbled with the door handle, jerky hands working to further distress her. Once she opened the door to an empty classroom, she closed it behind her as quietly as she could. Pressure built up in her chest as her thoughts went faster by the second.

Stadium. People. Audience. Failure. Failure.

She reached the window and shoved it open, allowing sunlight to filter clearly through a section of the room.

Hikari took in a shuddering breath. “Come on, not here. Not now. Please.”

Unfortunately the universe declined her request, her body shaking involuntarily as she slid down on the floor by the open window. The feeling of heat settling over her didn’t help like she expected.

Tight. Her head felt like it was going to be crushed.

Hikari whimpered, pulling out her golden scrunchie by the end of her braid and throwing it somewhere she couldn’t be bothered to care about. Her fingers dragged through her hair, undoing her braid in messy pulls before taking out her P.E. shirt to join her discarded scrunchie.

Nails raked through her arms, something, anything to distract her from the fear. It wasn’t fucking doing anything so she just scratched harder, occasionally pulling at her hair to try to offset her agitation.

She wasn’t sure how long she stayed there, how long she was trying to get her breathing under control, how long she was trying not to cry.

Hikari’s panic halted momentarily once she heard the door open. Her eyes shot up to Kaminari, who stood frozen like a deer in headlights probably trying to gauge what to do with her. She could only imagine how she looked, hair undone and disheveled, curled into a ball by the wall, visible scratches on her arms.

Kaminari looked conflicted, eyes flitting between her and the hall for a few moments. Hikari didn’t move, barely breathed as he made his decision and closed the door behind him.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, looking around the room nervously.

She opened and closed her mouth, trying to clear her choked throat. “My quirk depends on my body temperature.”

His eyes flitted to the open window above her, before moving back to her. “So, you’re recharging?”

“Pretty much.”

“Why are you still here? I don’t want you to see me like this.”

“Wouldn’t out-” He cut himself off with a grimace, running a hand through his golden hair. “Do you want me to stay with you?”

She didn’t want to be alone, but she didn’t want to bother him either. “Do you want to stay with me?” She inwardly flinched at the way her voice cracked.

“Yes.” The speed of his answer surprised her. “I-you-” He sighed loudly. “I wanna help.”

The worried, almost pleading look in his eyes wasn’t what she was expecting. “Get over here.” Hikari replied softly.

Kaminari slowly inched away from the door, walking to her tentatively as if he was trying not to scare her away - like she was some wild animal that would run away at any moment. He sat down next to her, putting some space between them as the rays of sunlight made his hair almost glow.

“What’s wrong?” He tentatively reached for her shoulder, eyes flickering to her arms in concern.

Hikari stared at him, stared at his hand and back at him and came to a conclusion. “Hug me.”

“Huh?” Kaminari looked confused but shrugged and opened his arms.

She was quick to move closer to him, wrapping her arms around his midsection and burying her head in his shoulder. She felt an arm wrap around her waist, the other slowly stroking her hair.

Hikari took deep breaths, willing herself not to cry as he held her. He was so warm, so gentle, so nice. They stayed like that for a while in silence, him occasionally fiddling with her hair strands and humming songs she didn’t recognize.

When she finally found it in herself to pull back, she rubbed her cheeks in an attempt to avoid whatever tears wanted to come out - she wouldn’t cry this day. “Thanks.” She whispered, gaze glued on the floor.

“You’re welcome.” Kaminari’s hand moved from her hair to her shoulder, where he rubbed circles absentmindedly. “Wanna talk?”

Hikari sighed, going back to hunching in on herself. “It’s just-I-I’m scared.” She tugged on her hair. “I’m terrified of fucking up in front of everyone.”

Kaminari opened his mouth to say something but the flood gates had opened. “I thought I was fine you know, already freaked out and talked it through with Yozora but no, this crap comes back at the worst time possible. I went through the obstacle course just fine, I mean the challenges took up most of my brain so I barely remembered I was being watched. The cavalry battle? I was laser-focused on Todoroki since he was the one calling the shots and on not falling because of those roller skates. It was fine, I was fine! Then Ashido mentions how it’ll be easier to stand out since there’s so little of us now and I-I panicked and I didn’t want to go bother Kira - she looked so down to have lost, I couldn’t do that to her. Then it was just too much being around everyone and…well, here I am.”

He stared at her for several moments - oh God, she’d said too much - before pulling her into a side hug. “Sounds like your brain’s overworking.”

Hikari scoffed, leaning her head on his shoulder. “No shit.”

“You’re pretty cuddly.” He randomly mentioned, placing his head on top of hers. “Kirishima’s gonna be so jealous when I tell him.”

She lets out a small laugh, the tightness in her chest alleviating a little but sighed right after. “I don’t mean to jump and push him away. It’s just a little hard to get used to people and it takes some time for me to get used to physical affection with people so…” She shrugged helplessly.

“But you’re fine with this.” Kaminari pointed out, before pulling back to look at her face. “…right?”

Hikari smiled as reassuringly as she could. “I am now.” He moved back in. “When I do get used to people, I really like stuff like this - I don’t know if you’ve seen me with Kira but we do stuff like this a lot. I think I would be okay with everyone else of our little group but…with the way I’ve been and just vocalizing it at all…” She slinked a little down the wall.

“I can help if you want.” He offered with a tap on her arm. “I know Kirishima would be glad not to scare you off anymore, Ashido, Sero and Nakamura would definitely be okay with it. Jiro and Bakugo don’t seem like the most physically affectionate though.”

She hummed. “I won’t force it on anyone, but I don’t wanna bring it up…at least until after the Sports Festival.” She shuffled to take her phone out from her back pocket.

“Understandable.” Kaminari nodded as he pulled away.

One look at the time told her that she had less than 15 minutes to pull herself together. “We should get going. People are going to be wondering where we are.”

“Are you sure you’re okay now?” He leaned forward to look at her phone as she glanced at concerned texts from Kira and the others - had she worried that many of her friends?

“No.” Hikari admitted, she still very much felt like the ground would give in at any moment. “But I’m better than before.”

“Maybe you should talk to someone.” Kaminari cautiously suggested, starting to get up. “Someone like, qualified for this.”

She winced, mind flashing back to two years ago when she went to the school counselor and that after only two sessions, her mom had suddenly assumed she hated her. She never went back for a third session.

“Not for now. Bad experience.” Hikari kept it brief, getting up to look for her stuff she’d carelessly thrown.

She picked up her P.E. shirt, hesitating before placing it on again. It still felt a little restricting to put it back on and she could just excuse it by saying it let her absorb the sun’s heat better - even if that was factually untrue since she wouldn’t retain it better - but she had visible scratch marks on her arms that she really didn’t want to explain or have people staring at her because of them.

Kaminari had found her scrunchie and she tied her hair back into a loose low ponytail, she didn’t have the patience to re-braid her hair at the moment.

As she was about to open the door, a thought occurred to her. “How did you know someone was here? There’s no windows to the hallway.”

Kaminari pursed his lips, looking away from her. “I heard you.”

Hikari blinked, had she really been that loud. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Currently unimportant.” She sighed, opening the door. “Let’s go.”

Relief and concern simultaneously crashed through Kira once she saw Hikari heading for the stadium, elbow linked with Kaminari’s. She’d left her gym shirt open, her hair was in a low ponytail instead of its usual braid and she walked slowly, looking to be dreading going anywhere.

“What happened to her?”

“Kari, hey.” Kira smiled at her, trying to convey her worry without actually saying it. She had no idea how much Kaminari knew and she would rather not reveal her best friend’s personal business.

Hikari’s eyes softened - she understood. “I’m…functional. We’ll talk later okay?”

Functional.

Functional meant that something happened and that she wasn’t over it. Functional meant that she believed she could push through the Sports Festival with whatever it was weighing on her. Functional meant that Kira couldn’t whisk her away and hug her while they talked through the issue until after there was nothing to do.

That gnawed on her but she wouldn’t argue. “Alright.” She sighed, reaching out to take her away from the blond with a pointed look. “Give her to meeee.”

“Hmm, nah.” Kaminari smirked, pulling Hikari closer.

Kira’s eyes narrowed, the audacity of this boy prompting her to snap a feather to her palm. “You’re giving her to me, the easy way or the hard way.”

The blond’s eyes widened, immediately unlatching from her best friend. “Woah, no need for violence.”

“Kira.” Hikari sighed, giving her a tired look.

“What?” She shrugged. “He was keeping you away from me Kari.”

“I’m sorry about her.” Hikari told Kaminari, patting him on the shoulder. “Let’s just go.”

Kira frowned, watching the green haired girl walk towards the entrance. Usually she condoned whenever she behaved a little possessively, said it made her feel like she was in a dark romance book. Was she that bad?

She exchanged concerned looks with Kaminari and moved to follow her.

Once she reached her, Kira held her best friend’s hand, squeezing to silently show support. Hikari squeezed back and the two headed outside with the rest of the contestants.

“Get those pompoms in the air, it’s almost time for the last round!” Present Mic’s excited voice resounded throughout the stadium, the audience cheering in response.

Hikari’s hand squeezed harder, her eyes trained straight ahead instead of looking at her.

Oh. The audience was the problem.

“But before that, good news for everyone who didn’t make the finals!” The Voice Hero announced. “Since this is the Sports Festival, we prepared some super fun side games everyone can participate in.”

Kira tilted her head, she might participate in these just for the hell of it but others in her class like Mori and Kamakiri would probably opt out of it on principle since it could feel like a pity gift.

Her eyes drifted over to the cheerleaders, she wasn’t sure where they were even from but they seemed good. Then her eyes latched onto Kanzaki’s blob-haired classmate whose name she forgot. The guy had a massive bruise on the side of his face and lip trembling as he walked along.

“Mineta?” Kaminari beckoned him closer, to which the guy followed. “What happened to you?”

“You ditched me, that’s what happened.” Mineta grumbled, hunching in on himself. “I tried the prank by myself but Nakamura figured me out and I couldn’t lie my way out of it.”

“So, she hit you?” The blond questioned looking confused. “Doesn’t sound like her.”

“No, Ashido hit me.” He corrected.

“Now that makes sense.” Kaminari said, Hikari nodding along.

“What kind of prank?” Her best friend asked, making both boys tense. Kira vaguely wondered if they’d forgotten the two of them were there.

“Have fun competing on these little side games everyone!” Present Mic pivoted her attention. “After they’re over, the 16 students who have made it this far are duking it out in a tournament-style fighting competition. I promise you’re not gonna wanna miss these epic matchups.”

“One-on-one fights?”

She glanced at Hikari, seeing her stare up at the giant screen showing the empty tournament bracket with a thoughtful expression.

“I think…” She mumbled. “I think I can do this.” She looked away, smiling at her and Kaminari.

Kira grinned, bumping hips with her. “Great, because the only one who can take you out is me and I can’t face you anymore.”

“Alright, let’s determine who’s going up against who!” Miss Midnight smiled at them before gesturing at the screen.

“Hold on!”

All heads turn to a girl from Hikari’s class. She was about the same height as Kira, if not a little taller, with a lean frame, shoulder-length ginger hair and sharp green eyes. She recognized her as one of the contestants of the final round which was odd since she looked heavily displeased with something.

“What’s the matter?” Miss Midnight questioned.

“I’m withdrawing.” She announced, prompting several gasps across the floor.

“What?” A brunette inched closer to the ginger. “Why?”

“But Suarashi, this is your rare chance for you to get scouted.” Tenya Iida countered, looking just as confused as everyone else.

Someone cleared their throat, another of Hikari’s classmates - a blond boy with a tail. “I’m withdrawing as well.”

“Ojiro?” Midoriya gasped.

“It just wouldn’t be right.” Ojiro sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I barely remember anything from the Cavalry Battle until the very end of it. I think it was that guy’s quirk.”

“What he said.” Suarashi gestured to Ojiro, sparing a glare at a guy with messy purple hair. “Point of the matter is, it doesn’t feel right to move on if I don’t believe I earned it.”

Kira could respect that. She had no idea what exactly was going on with them two of them but if that was their reason for quitting, she understood. She also kind of felt she was intruding given that Class 1-A was surrounding the two dropouts and she was just closer because Hikari was still holding onto her hand.

“Just think about this.” Midoriya tried.

“We have, okay?” Suarashi snapped, slashing her arm in an arc. “Just accept it.”

“Everyone gave their all in round 2, but I was just someone’s puppet.” Ojiro continued, looking down. “No way, I don’t wanna advance if I don’t even know how I got here. It wouldn’t be fair.”

“You’re making way too much of this.” The invisible girl exclaimed. “Just kill it in the finals and prove you should be here.”

“Enough.”

Class 1-A went quiet, Nakamura walking to the epicenter of the commotion, placing a hand on Ojiro and Suarashi’s shoulders. “They’ve clearly made their decision and they’re not changing their mind. Allow them the peace of mind of not being disputed anymore.”

Suarashi nodded as Ojiro gave her a thankful look.

Miss Midnight looked down at them thoughtfully. “That sort of talk is incredibly naive, my dears.” Suarashi scrunched her nose at that as the teacher lashed her whip down. “I like it! Suarashi! Ojiro! You’re withdrawn!”

“Because she liked it?” Kira mumbled, sporting a frown.

Hikari shrugged, sighing in acceptance of their odd selection of teachers.

“Now, let’s see.” Miss Midnight hummed, tapping the corner of her lips absentmindedly. “We’ll have to move up two students from the fifth place cavalry team so we’ll have enough contestants.”

Kira grinned in a way that would certainly make the average child cry - she was on that team. She was going to annihilate these guys and show how good she is with her quirk. She’d heard some comparisons being made between her quirk and the Winged Hero: Hawks’ which was fair, they did seem to have pretty similar abilities bar her inability to fly and she fully intended to prove she was just as speedy and great.

She turned to look for the others, Tetsutetsu quickly approaching her with a grin to match hers. “Yeah!” He raised his hand for a high-five and she responded with the same enthusiasm.

Hikari snorted, using her free hand to cover her mouth.

Shiozaki and Honenuki walked closer a lot slower than Tetsutetsu, looking over both of them with fond smiles.

“Guess we know which two are moving forward.” Honenuki told them.

Shiozaki nodded along. “I agree.”

Kira froze. She’d forgotten that only half of their team would go to the finals and got ahead of herself. Even if her teammates had agreed, - which she was incredibly grateful for, thank you very much - they could’ve not and she had the gall to assume that she’d be one of the two chosen.

“Wait, seriously?” Tetsutetsu turned to them with his mouth agape before clenching his fists, tears prickling at his eyes. “Thank you!”

She shook herself out of her quasi-self-deprecation and smiled at her teammates. “Yes, thank you.” She turned to Hikari. “I’m so gonna beat you.”

Her best friend gaped at her before shoving her shoulder. “Why are you this way?”

“So, it’s decided?” Miss Midnight’s voice echoed as she looked at them expectantly. They all nodded. “Hayashi and Tetsutetsu have advanced to the finals.”

The cheers going around the stadium made her feel giddy. People out there actually wanted to see what she was made of and she wasn’t intending on disappointing them.

“Now feast your eyes on the bracket to check your opponents.” Miss Midnight gestured to the screen. The names of the sixteen contestants were displayed before they were spun around and separated, slotted into each point of the bracket.

Izuku Midoriya vs. Hitoshi Shinso

Hanta Sero vs. Shoto Todoroki

Kira Hayashi vs. Hikari Kanzaki

Mei Hatsume vs. Tenya Iida

Mina Ashido vs. Yuga Aoyama

Fumikage Tokoyami vs. Momo Yaoyorozu

Eijiro Kirishima vs. Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

Katsuki Bakugo vs. Ochaco Uraraka

Kira stared at the screen with wide eyes. Hikari? She was fighting Hikari for the first match? She wasn’t sure if she felt excited or disappointed. Of course she wanted to battle her in the Sports Festival but not for the first match. It’s a little too much hoping to think it would be in the finals but the first one?

She slowly turned to her best friend only to find her already looking at her with a mixed expression. “No holding back.” She requested, squeezing her hand.

“No holding back.” Kira squeezed back, a grin pulling at her lips. “Let’s rock UA’s stage.”

Chapter Text

“You’ll do great.”

“He’s gonna turn me into an icicle.”

“Have faith in yourself.”

“Would you?”

“…I’d try.” Kumoroi argued, poking Sero’s chest.

Sero stared at her unimpressed. “Very convincing.”

She couldn’t help but smile sheepishly. “I do think you have a chance.” She tried, this time jabbing her finger in his shoulder. “As long as you play it smart and don’t stupidly try to overpower Todoroki.”

“I knooooow.” He groaned, dropping his head on the table.

“Good.” Kumoroi gently patted his hair before standing up. “Good luck Sero.”

He sighed, raising his head to give her a a small smile. “‘K, thanks Nakamura.”

“Anytime.” She left the waiting room, leaving Sero to focus completely on his upcoming fight.

“So, his quirk is that he can control other people.” Midoriya gulped, looking down at his lap anxiously. “Can I beat something like that?”

“As long as you keep your mouth shut.” Misora replied, leaning back on her chair. “I asked Ojiro and Aoyama and from the looks of it his quirk only works when you answer something he says.”

He looked stressed, propped up hands clasped in front of his face. “So, I have to be careful not to say anything or I’ll lose for sure.”

“Most likely.” She sighed, thinking if what she was going to say would be helpful or not and decided to bite the bullet. “Actually, Ojiro mentioned…” He looked up at her with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. “That at some point close to the end of the second round, he bumped into another person and it woke him up.”

“Huh, so that bump broke his hold?” Midoriya leaned forward, his eyes shifting to something more analytical.

“Maybe it did, maybe it didn’t. It’s just a guess.” Misora shrugged helplessly. “For all we know, it could’ve been a number of things.”

He hummed in thought. “True. Plus we don’t really have a measure of how much force it would take to break his hold and in a one-on-one I can’t really count on a third element. On the chance Ojiro was wrong, Shinso could’ve just overdone it and accidentally released him or maybe he has a time limit or even just lost hi—”

“Midoriya.” She flicked his hand. On a regular day, she would’ve let him talk himself out, maybe suggest any ideas he’d missed - she’d gotten too used to hearing Hayate’s ramblings - but today they were lacking on time.

Midoriya blinked, his current string of thoughts broken. “Oh, right.” He smiled sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“S’fine.” Misora waved him off as she stood up. “Anyway, that’s all we’ve got.”

“Thank you so much.” He stood up as well, beaming at her with gratefulness before pausing. “Not that I’m complaining about your help - I’m definitely not -, but I kind of expected Ojiro to be here too.”

“He wanted to.” She reassured. “But I asked to talk to you alone.”

Midoriya’s expression shifted into confusion. “Why?”

I took a step closer to him. “Physically, you easily outmatch Shinso which means that if you can keep quiet, it’ll be an easy win.” He nodded along with my words. “I hope that’s how it will go - you’re not one for unnecessary excessive force anyway - because I am going to be the one to kick his ass into Recovery Girl’s office. Good?”

Midoriya’s eyes widened with concern. “I don-I don’t think you should do that.”

“Too bad.”

“Suarashi, that’s a seriously bad idea.” He tried, doing his best to convey my apparent recklessness - she knew exactly how reckless that was. She was bold, not stupid. “You could get suspended.”

“I’ll deal with it when the time comes.” She looked at him as defiantly as she physically could. “I know what I’m doing., so just beat him and leave me be…please.”

Midoriya seemed like he wanted to argue with her more but sighed deeply instead. “All right, I’ll do my best.”

She power-walked out of the room before she could blurt out the rest. That she wanted this victory to be easy for him so it would be humiliating for Shinso, she wanted it to hurt so that she could be the final nail in the coffin.

“Hey sports fans, are you ready?” Present Mic hollered, followed by the deafening cheers of the audience, most of her classmates included. “After all the action these past trials, it’s time for the real battles to begin. Can you feel the excitement?”

Misora couldn’t feel the excitement, just her rage and her desire for vengeance. She shifted in her seat, fists clenched on her lap. On the other side of the scale was Uraraka next to her, in the exact same position as her only grinning enthusiastically, supporting Midoriya. She was also supporting Midoriya, although mostly for a selfish reason: she wanted Shinso to lose.

“Our contestants are on their own now. Sometimes heroes have only themselves to rely on. Heart, skill, strength, wisdom, courage! You need all these things to rise to the top!”

Flames rose on each corner of the arena which signified the matches were about to begin. She leaned forward instinctively, eagerness beginning to pull at her.

“Alright audience, let’s get to the good stuff and not delay these finals any longer! Welcome our first fighters!” A picture of Shinso looking nonchalant appeared alongside one of Midoriya looking like he was being held at gunpoint - she laughed a little. “He looks kinda scared in that picture, doesn’t he? It’s Izuku Midoriya from the Hero Course! Versus…Hitoshi Shinso from General Studies who really hasn’t done anything to stand out yet”

“That you’ve noticed.” Misora grumbled, watching the boys walk to the arena. She pretended not to notice Uraraka and Iida’s concerned glances, keeping her eyes on the stage.

“The rules are simple. Immobilize your opponent or force him out of the ring! You can also win by making the other person give up.” Present Mic declared in his usual cheerful tone. “Bring on the injuries ‘cause we’ve got our very own Recovery Girl waiting on standby. So put your morals aside and don’t be afraid to play dirty! But of course, no life threatening blows folks, it’s not allowed.”

“Real heroes use their powers to throw heroes in jail, not kill them!” He pointed out in a tone that made it sound stupidly obvious - which it was.

“I’ll stop anyone who tries to get too rough.” Cementoss’ voice went through the speakers as he was shown on the large screen.

“Ready!”

Midoriya and Shinso were inside the arena and it looked like maybe Shinso was saying something, she was much too far away to even hope at hearing whatever bullshit he was spouting but if Midoriya simply didn’t respond, he’d be fine - Shinso didn’t seem all that much physically.

“Begin!”

Her moronic green-haired classmate was stomping to Shinso and yelled something she couldn’t hear before abruptly stopping.

“No!” Misora facepalmed.

“Ah! I thought you warned him not to say anything!” Ojiro burst out on the row behind her.

She stood up, turning around to him. “I did! That asshole is just too good at riling people up!”

“What exactly is going on here?” Nakamura asked, glancing between both of them.

“HUH?! What’s the dealio?” Present Mic’s voice brought their attention back to the hopeless match. “This is the first match, it should start off with a bang! The fight has just begun and Izuku Midoriya…“ She groaned loudly, plopping back in her seat. “…is completely frozen! He’s not moving a muscle.”

“Come on Deku.” Uraraka pleaded out.

“Why isn’t he moving?” Iida questioned worriedly, so Misora gracefully provided an answer.

“Brainwashing. We—” She gestured to herself and Ojiro. “—think it works by answering him in conversation. I told him not to say anything but dude must’ve said something to set him off. He looked angry before he stopped.”

Misora watched the full realization of what was happening settle in Midoriya’s closest friends. How now that he was trapped it was hopeless - that he’d lost.

“He didn’t stand out the first rounds at all but it’s possible Shinso’s crazy powerful! Who could have imagined this turn of events? That’s the festival for you!” The way her English teacher screamed every word was starting to get on her nerves.

“This is a perfect example of why the entrance exam isn’t rational.” Mr. Aizawa’s voice cut through her gloom.

“Huh, why is that?” Present Mic asked, energy tuned down.

“Since we’re onto the individual matches, I had some information compiled about our final competitors.” Misora perked up at that. “Shinso failed the practical exam to get into the Hero Course, since he also applied for General Studies he probably figured that would happen. His quirk is incredibly strong but that entrance test consisted of fighting foe villains - robots. It gave a huge advantage to those who had physical superpowers they could show off. Despite his abilities, Shinso never stood a chance at passing.”

She narrowed her eyes, pausing to think through the new information. He hadn’t passed because there was no way he could but that gave him no excuse to treat her class like shit or to force her to do his bidding on an exercise that was supposed to be as a team. This gave her some more insight but it did not in any way change her opinion on what she was going to do after the Sports Festival was over.

Misora looked down to see Midoriya turn around and begin calmly walking out of bounds.

“Huh? WHAT? Midoriya’s obeying him!” The Voice Hero shrieked through the speakers.

“No.” Uraraka moaned, looking at her for answers. “Is there seriously no way for him to break out?”

“I dunno.” She shrugged, hating the fact that her revenge would have to wait another round.

“We can’t be sure.” Ojiro sighed.

Misora looked down at Midoriya as he reached the line that signified the border of the arena. This would end and then either Sero or Todoroki - most likely Todoroki - would end up facing Shinso. Neither of them were at the stands, preparing for their match which was next. If Todoroki was the one who won, would she go and tell him what she knows about Shinso’s quirk?

The answer was an immediate no. Ojiro would have no issue explaining it, that is if the half and half douche decided to even listen to anyone. No matter what was going on with him, he had no right to ta—

Boom!

Misora tensed, watching a cloud of dust erupt from where Midoriya was at the edge of the ring. “What in the hell?”

“What’s this?” Present Mic gasped, her eyes locked on the screen where her green-haired classmate was hunched over. “Midoriya stopped just in time!”

“That’s the way to do it!” Iida cheered with his arms raised.

Uraraka cheered. “Yes! He did it!”

“How did he break out?”

Nakamura made a sound of discomfort. “Holy crap, did he break his fingers?”

Misora turned to her in confusion before peering closer at the close-up feed the large screen was showing of her classmate, two of his fingers looking a little misshapen and noticeably red.

She cracked up. “He did!” She ended up hunched over, peals of laughter leaving her due to the incredulity of it all - the sweetie pie somehow overpowered brainwashing - as she watched Midoriya rush forward and begin pushing Shinso to the edge of the ring.

“Are…” Iida glanced concernedly. “Are you alright?”

“I’m…” Misora wheezed. “…fine.”

Her class rep’s expression didn’t change and she knew others were staring at her, but she couldn’t care less as she witnessed Shinso punching Midoriya and his injured fingers in an attempt to stop him. Midoriya pushed through, and once they got to the edge, he grabbed Shinso’s arm and judo-flipped him out of bounds.

One last cackle left her before she whooped and clapped her hands as Midoriya’s win was announced.

“Shinso is out of bounds! Midoriya advances to the next match!” Miss Midnight relayed, followed by cheers from the audience, although her class’ were subdued probably because of her little outburst.

“And with that extra throw, we have our first victor of the finals: Class 1-A’s Izuku Midoriya!”

“That was so nerve-wracking.” Her brunette classmate slumped back in relief.

“Turning the tables at the last moment, a classic Midoriya maneuver.” Iida praised with a proud smile.

Misora froze as it fully hit her before a grin spread on her face.

Midoriya did it. He beat Shinso and now, she would finish the job.

Kumoroi waved at Midoriya as he arrived at the stands. He smiled shyly at her and waved back before going to sit with Iida and Uraraka. She eyed his two bandaged fingers, wondering the exact specifics as to how he won. Chances were even he didn’t have the answer so she decided to just ignore that for now and focus on cheering on Sero.

Kanzaki abruptly stood up. “I should probably get going.”

“Right, you and Hayashi are throwing down next.” Kirishima gave her a toothy grin. “Good luck.”

“You’ll do great.” Kumoroi assured honestly, she was pretty impressive.

“Even if Hayashi is kinda scary.” Kaminari commented casually. Bakugo frowned, looking like he wanted to complain about that statement.

Kanzaki chuckled softly. “Thanks, and I have at least a decent chance. Our spars have a mostly equal tally anyway.”

“Wait, what?”

Kirishima blinked in surprise. “Spars? You and Hayashi train together?”

“Yeah, for over a year now.” She replied absentmindedly.

Kumoroi shot up in her seat, brain reeling. “That makes so much sense! You’ve been dodging those feathers for so long, no wonder they’re so good.”

Kanzaki squinted her eyes perplexed. “What’s good?”

“Your reflexes.” Bakugo retorted, glancing at her briefly.

She gestured to the green-haired girl. “Yeah, your reaction time is insane!”

Kanzaki opened her mouth in shock, closing it for a moment before speaking up, still looking confused. “I-I-I guess?”

“Is she that unaware of her skills?”

Kumoroi let out a sound of frustration but didn’t push. “Just go.” She sighed, covering her face with her hands - she needed to have a talk with this lady later. “Good luck and play it smart.”

Her eyes went through each of them. “Alright. Thanks.” She shrugged and turned to leave.

She spotted Kaminari about to ask her something out of the corner of her eye. She raised a finger and wagged it. He raised his hands in surrender and turned back to the arena.

“Enough standing around, now welcome to the ring our next player!” The announcement made her look up, the desire to cheer on her friend speaking higher than her exasperation. “He’s got skills but at the expense of some really pretty looking elbows. From the Hero Course, it’s Hanta Sero! Versus, an early front runner in the competition who’s way too strong for his own good. Someone who’s rightfully gotten into the Hero Course based on recommendations, it’s Shoto Todoroki!”

Kumoroi thought that comment about Sero was a little mean but there wasn’t much she could do about it. Looking at him through the screen, her friend had a slight grin as he stretched - he could’ve done that earlier! - but at least he didn’t look particularly nervous or even worse, overconfident.

“And now for the second match of the finals.” She prepared herself for what could be a really quick match. “Ready! Begin!”

The moment the match begun, Sero launched his tape, wrapping it firmly around Todoroki’s midsection and dragging him across the ring, close to the edge.

“He’s going in quick to try and throw him out of bounds! A brilliant surprise opening from the underdog. Way to start up strong Sero!”

Kumoroi pumped her fist, elation running through her. “Yes, t—”

Todoroki’s movement halted unexpectedly, ice spreading from his spot up to Sero faster than she thought possible.

Cold.

“Fuck!” She used her seat for a back handspring, feeling goosebumps on her skin as she landed at the edge of their seating area, automatically moving away from the chilling sensation.

A giant iceberg had formed in the arena, going as tall, if not taller than the stadium - she couldn’t see the end of it from her position. It had ended up covering most of their view to the arena which meant that the frost was wafting right up to her temperature-sensitive body which was not enjoying the sudden shift.

Kumoroi shivered, taking another step back only to hit a wall as several of her classmates, particularly the ones in the front row moved back as well. Besides their shuffling, the stadium was mostly quiet.

“Tell the truth, Sero.” Miss Midnight’s voice echoed. “Can you move at all?” It was quiet for a moment, probably Sero answering the question.“Sero has been immobilized, Todoroki advances to the second round!”

After that display, the fact that Sero lost was hardly a surprise but it was all she needed to hear. She spun on her heel and went down the hall to somewhere warmer; she’d wait until everything unfroze to go back and console her friend.

“Welcome back to the finals everyone! Sorry for that long wait.” The cheers from the audience were loud but somewhat muffled since she was in the hallway to the arena. “The insane amount of ice from the second match has finally been cleared so it’s time to welcome new competitors.”

Kira took a deep breath, smoothing out her shirt before walking out to the view of the audience. She smiled and waved at them as they cheered for her and Hikari, taking note to keep a close eye on the flames at the point of the rings - her feathers and fire didn’t mix.

“Class 1-B’s bird of prey, Kira Hayashi!” She pursed her lips to stop herself from loudly pointing out the fact that peacocks weren’t birds of prey. “Versus…the explosive lady of Class 1-A, Hikari Kanzaki! A battle between best friends? This ought to be worth watching.”

Kira paused, giving Hikari a questioning look - How does he know? Hikari shrugged, glancing at the commentator booth with a weirded out look - Hell if I know.

She shook her head, ridding her head of however the hell Present Mic found out about that tidbit of information - probably from watching them walk around a lot together - and waited for it to begin, arms folded behind her back. Hikari was similarly positioned, - their hands tended to give away their moves - only she was glancing at the ground a lot.

“Why i—”

“Ready!”

Hikari smiled at her and she couldn’t help but correspond - a final reassurance that the result wouldn’t change anything.

“Begin!”

Kira willed several feathers to release, leaving two long ones hovering next to her and blitzing the rest towards Hikari. She yelped, stepping to her right as she swiped her hand in an arc. Two plasma grenades exploded upon contact with her feathers, emerald sparks dropping to the ground.

She held back a flinch as half the feathers turned to ash, the rest pushing through to their target. Hikari dropped to avoid them, a glimpse of green her only warning before the rest of the feathers joined their brethren in dust.

Kira huffed in frustration as she surged forward, feathers already zipping through the air on both sides - attempting to overwhelm her was her best option - plasma grenades heading right back at her.

“Nope.” She was barely able to halt her feathers, making them dodge the explosives.

Hikari raised an eyebrow in curiosity, then moved one of her grenades to purposefully collide upon a still feather. Clearly they had very different ideas.

Light brighter than she expected came from the unstable explosion forced her to squint and back away from it, but she still cautiously moved to the side to try and get her eyes back on Hikari.

“A smokescreen? Is that what you’re trying to do?” Kira mumbled to herself, grabbing the long feathers in case anything got close. She didn’t have the talent to solely “see” with her feathers yet so trying to go at Hikari without at least partial visibility of her could end up in a serious injury - her plumage could be sharp.

“This smart bitch.”

She caught a glimpse of blue. She didn’t hesitate.

Feathers went in that direction, even if she barely saw them, she could feel that some snagged the target - not to mention Hikari’s hiss of pain as her vision cleared.

She could hear Present Mic commenting on them, but she couldn’t be bothered to focus on what he was saying.

Hikari was now to her left, she had multiple cuts on her left arm and leg, small trails of blood dripping from two of them. She received a pained glare and being knocked back on her ass as a reply.

Where the hell had that come from? It wasn’t particularly strong given how the skin on Kira’s back only stinged and it only made her roll a little to the side, so it was probably a small one Hikari had moved around after impairing her vision.

Kira grunted, rolling away from a speeding grenade before surging upwards with feathers aimed at Hikari’s right, one going behind her to take care of the explosive she dodged.

Hikari raised her arms, wincing at the movement as the remaining grenades - plus more that she now generated - went between them to protect her. She backed up, widening the space between the them. She shifted her feathers to attack and Hikari used her plasma grenades as a barrier.

Hikari went along the ring continuing to block her feathers and she moved too, leaving them looking like they were fighters in a boxing match.

They now circled each other, far enough that the explosions wouldn’t affect either of them but the possible lack of visibility was an issue, not to mention that if the plasma grenades were set off by an outside source they were more unstable than when Hikari did it. Hikari could’ve already set them off but for some reason she wasn’t and that was beginning to bother her.

“A standstill?” Present Mic gasped dramatically. “How will this end?”

Kira glanced at the gaps between the grenades as they moved. They weren’t touching each other but they were close enough that if something tried to infiltrate through there, one of them could easily be shifted to cover the gaps temporarily. She had to admit Hikari had gotten better at de—

Something crunched under her feet.

POP!

Kira shrieked, jumping back at the burning sensation on her shoes?!

“The fuck?”

POP! POP! POP!

Unfortunately all that did was set off more of those tiny fucking green bursts and her little surprised noises as she frantically retreated from the minefield she was apparently in.

POP! POP! POP!

“Pourquoi y en a-t-il autant?”

“Wha-OOF!” She was pushed onto the ground.

Kira groaned, looking up at Hikari just as Miss Midnight’s voice reached her ears.

“Hayashi is out of bounds! Kanzaki advances to the next round!”

She blinked. Out of bounds? OUT OF BOUNDS?!

Kira looked down, easily finding the white line that was the edge of the ring. The ring which she was clearly out of.

She lost…

Hikari hesitantly reached out a hand to her. “You…okay?”

Kira stared at the hand, disbelief still running through her, then at her best friend’s eyes. The eyes of the person who had just outsmarted her and defeated her in front of who knows how many of pro-heroes.

Did she still make an impression even if she lost? Would she get a decent internship?

Her best friend’s eyes crinkled in concern and her brain pushed back those thoughts. Hikari first.

“Kari, what the hell?” She laughed, taking her hand. “What was that?”

Hikari pulled her up, her lips twitching up into a smile. “Later.” She gave her a once-over. “Are you hurt?”

Her vision drifted to the thin slices on her best friend’s arm. “I’m fine, you should look at yourself first.” She gently took her right hand in both of hers. “Come on, let’s go to Recovery Girl and you can tell me there.”

“Alright, let’s go.”

“So lemme get this straight.”

“Hmm.”

“You used the previous explosions as a smokescreen to create itty bitty plasma grenades, placed them on the ground where I wouldn’t be bothered to look because I was too busy paying attention to you and forced me to move where they were so I’d set them off into unstable bursts when I stepped on them.”

Hikari nodded, feeling proud of herself for coming up with that. “Exactly.”

“I-how?” Kira asked as they left Recovery Girl’s office.

“Well, I did that really big one earlier that got everyone’s attention, so I thought I could um…reverse that effect.” She shrugged, brows furrowing at the soreness on her arm.

Kira shook her head fondly. “That was a good strategy.”

“Thanks.” Hikari glanced at Kira’s thoughtful expression. “Spars are going to get interesting, aren’t they?”

“They are.” Her best friend agreed before her smile widened in a way that made her want to run away. “Speaking of interesting…”

“Oh God.”

“What’s up with Denki Kaminari?” She leaned in conspiratorially.

Hikari pushed her face away. “There is nothing. We’re friends and he helped me through something, just that.”

“I understand.” Kira nodded. “But from what you’ve told me about him, he is your type.”

She furrowed her brows, they’d been over this before! “I don’t have a type.”

Kira scoffed. “Your historical of goofy blond boys and buff girls say otherwise.”

Hikari felt her face flush remembering all those crushes. “Even so, not this goofy blond…and at least I don’t have a thing for dramatic ass boys.” Kira had a thing for figurative peacocks and it honestly drove her insane sometimes.

“I can’t help it!” She waved her hands at her. “It’s in my biology.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.”

“No, it isn’t!”

“Yes, it is!”

“No, it isn’t!”

“Yes, it is!” Kira tugged on her ponytail.

“OW!” Hikari slapped her hand away, taking off her scrunchie to re-do the now unevenly tight ponytail.

“I’ll braid it.” She took the scrunchie from her hand. “I’ll just sit with you for a bit.”

Hikari rubbed at her scalp where her hair had been pulled, looking at Kira’s suddenly pleading expression - Let me be here for you. She smiled softly, pulling her along to her class’ seats - Of course.