Chapter 179 - 26-28

Chapter 26: Interlude four: Shouto Todoroki's Cooking adventure

MONDAY:

Shouto adjusted his small backpack as he made his way through the street. It wasn't like he had much to bring with, but he at least had enough clothes to last the week, plus a few books to read.

(By his estimate, Endeavour was probably busy grumbling right now, either at home or in his agency. Shouto could tell his father was angry that he wasn't interning under him, but the man's pride prevented him from commenting on it, since the logic of learning from multiple people was sound. It had costed him a pretty painful week of extra training, but by his estimate, this week wouldn't be all that bad.

It was satisfying to know that it was still driving Endeavour up the wall, of course, considering now he couldn't even use Shouto as an excuse to skip out on that art show.)

Well, if he ever got free time, he could at least use his father's credit card to buy an extra book or two.

He made his way through the streets of Musutafu, one of the few of his class that didn't end up going all that far from U.A.

Just after their year began, Midnight-sensei had done a seminar with the more (annoyingly) famous members of their class in order to help them blend in with crowds, and Shouto was happy to take advantage of it, his typically obvious hair concealed by baggy clothing he had borrowed from Natsuo.

(Natsuo had seemed very enthusiastic when he told him about his internship plans. He had offered to drive him and everything, but Shouto had insisted he was alright.)

Finally, he arrived at the location he had been given.

The apartment was on the edge of what Shouto would consider 'middle-class'. The walls were dilapidated somewhat, and the garden in the back area was decidedly overgrown, but it wasn't like it was messy. He could spot a few people walking around, standing on balconies or simply chatting to friends.

He pulled out the page which had the address he was meant to go to.

Alright. Third room, fourth floor.

Time to see what the fuss was about.

~---INTERLUDE FOUR - TODOROKI SHOUTO---~

ONE WEEK AGO

Shouto wasn't one hundred percent sure if Nedzu's office was meant to be intimidating or welcoming. Sure, the man had a certain… aura to him, sure, but he was also… friendly, in a way that Endeavour wasn't.

"Ah, Todoroki-kun, sit, sit! This won't take too long. Tea?"

Shouto stepped forward, nodding. Nedzu seemed to pull teacups and a small, already boiled kettle from the ether, quickly preparing two cups of tea as if to imply Shouto probably didn't have a choice either way.

He simply took the cup as his principal offered it to him. "What did you need to speak with me about, Sir?"

Nedzu's face shifted into a small smile. "I suppose there is no point in beating around the bush. You are aware of the quantity of cameras I have access to within U.A, yes?"

"That is… ah."

He should have known spilling his guts to two people he barely knew would have consequences. It was a spur of moment choice, but he should have checked for cameras first...

Kamakiri-san and Midoriya-san had been unendingly friendly since the day, greeting him in the halls whenever they passed by, but... the idea of someone else knowing...

Nedzu nodded. "I hold a great many secrets, Todoroki-kun."

"Shouto, please."

To his credit, Nedzu continued unperturbed. "Right, Shouto-kun. I can tell you now that I won't be telling anyone unless I am forced to."

That meant... Nedzu was on his side.

Shouto nodded. "Thank you, sir."

The principal did the closest thing he had to a shrug. "Of course, that doesn't mean I won't be… doing something about it, of course. It will take time, you understand, but protecting my students is perhaps my largest priority."

…what?

"Of course, for now, my plans are mostly just… hampering, if you will. The problem can be permanently dealt with in, say, three years? That sounds about right. For now, you should focus on your studies."

Oh. It was a rather unsubtle threat, even if it wasn't aimed at Shouto.

That would…

Nedzu shook his head. "But I see you aren't too interested in that topic for now. Shall we move on to the other topic of our meeting?"

Shouto nodded. Get this meeting done, then process.

"You have yet to put forward your internship of choice, no?"

"No sir. I was considering interning under my father, but…"

Nedzu chuckled. "Oh, I wouldn't recommend that! Endeavour's taught you enough already. Of course, the choice is yours, but I would be remiss not to point you in the direction of an offer a friend of mine sent out not too long ago!"

The principal was quick to put forward a small page, which Shouto took.

He knew he needn't bother reading it now, considering he'd probably accept it either way. Instead, he nodded, moving to stand up.

"Thank you, sir."

"Of course. Apologies for taking your time, Shouto-kun! Could you call for Yaoyorozu-chan on you way out?"

"Of course."

Shouto shut the door behind him, and that was that.

He took a look at the page.

'Absolutely Definitely Real Hero Agency'

Oh boy.

MONDAY (STILL)

The 'Absolutely Definitely Real Hero Agency' was… upon Shouto's research, certainly something.

For one, it was an underground agency. It had a few members of staff, all names neither he nor Endeavour (Upon prompting over dinner, which was not fun, but it did work.) recognised. Endeavour had protested, initially, but Shouto argued the skills an underground Hero would teach him would be undeniably valuable. Afterwards, his father had done his own research and had seemingly been… less opposed to the idea. Considering the number two Hero definitely had access to case files… it was a vote of confidence, at least.

He can't say he had heard of "Beastman" or "Gun Guy" before, but they weren't going to be present, so he hadn't bothered looking them up.

There was no official agency location, so the email Shouto had received after accepting the offer instead pointed him in the direction of the home of the member who had sent the request.

Tanaka Gisou, Steelbrand. He wasn't a Hero he could find much info on, supposedly never actively patrolling and instead acting on commission, but considering he was a friend of Nedzu and an Underground Hero…

With nothing better to do, he knocked on the door.

"It's open!"

The voice he heard was muffled, but he shrugged, opening the door.

The home he found was… serene.

A simple American style wooden floor and pale green wallpaper backed a hallway filled with pictures and memorabilia. The pictures depicted various people he didn't recognise (A few of the looked familiar… but he couldn't place them.). Amongst the collection, he spotted a single Silver U.A sports festival medal, framed next to a picture of a teenager smiling next to figures he couldn't recognise.

Walking further in, he passed three closed rooms, likely bedrooms and a bathroom by his guess, before arriving in the main room, which split in two.

On the left, he found a rather obscene kitchen for the size of the house. What one man needed two fridges? Shaking the thought away, he turned to the living room, looking to the figure who sat there.

Tanaka sat in a rather comfy looking lounge chair that looked rather large considering the man's short height, looking calmly to Shouto. Dressed in casual clothes, He had shock brown hair with tinges of grey, placed into a bun. His face, meanwhile…

"That's the reaction I get a lot. Are you going to come sit?"

Shouto shook his head, realising he had been staring at the man's face, which… did not look pretty, marred by a deadly burn. To his left he spotted a breathing apparatus, which connected to his face via a pipe, covering his nose and mouth.

(It reminded him of the own mark that covered his face... but the wound was far, far older.)

He sat in the chair opposite the man's own. "Thank you for sending an offer, sir."

Tanaka chuckled, face crinkling over his scarring in a familiar way. "I should be thanking you, Todoroki-kun. I was pretty convinced my offer would be skimmed over. I'm not exactly exciting... either way."

Shouto shrugged. "Nedzu recommended you, Steelbrand, sir."

At that, Tanaka's eyes widened. "I… see. Heh. Well, what do you think you'll be getting out of this?"

Shouto shrugged.

He leaned forward. "Well, Endeavour's mostly taught you to fight, I'd guess? Well, I'll be teaching you the parts of Heroics he won't,"

"And what would that be, sir?"

"There will be quirk training, sure, but I'll mostly be teaching you how to be Heroic."

(That was… logical. Shouto didn't really need training, considering his father had certainly insured he was ahead of most of his classmates, which meant…)

"Alright. What will we be doing?"

At that, the man stood up. "There's a room to the side where you can put your things, Todoroki-kun. Dress in clothes you don't mind getting dirty."

Shouto raised an eyebrow. "Where are we going?"

Tanaka chuckled. "We're going to go make some food!"

Nedzu's phone rung with a simple buzz. He picked it up, smiling. Midoriya was currently on his way back from the station, and he had about two minutes before Iida showed up for his own first meeting, so he had plenty of time to answer.

"Nedzu speaking, hello!"

"Nedzu, when you told me to send Todoroki an offer using my underground license, I expected you to tell him what he was getting into. I got this licence to do missions anonymously for U.A, not to somehow trick a kid into thinking I'm not Lun..."

"Ah, Hayato, or, well, should I call you Gisou? Has Shouto-kun made it safely?"

Nedzu smiled as a deep, world-weary sigh was heard through the phone.

"dodging my complaint... I should have seen this coming. I gather I shouldn't be telling him of my normal Hero identity?"

"If you can avoid it, I'd recommend it. Shouto-kun requires… a very specific kind of development. Notably, said development is mostly on the mental side, as I'm sure your already set to work on. I considered having Hound Dog or Ectoplasm use their own Underground Liscences, but..."

"Yeah, Yeah, I've got it. He's changing in his room. We're off to the kitchens."

"Excellent! I've got your substitutes in place, so you needn't worry!"

"Good… heh. Well… I'll do my best."

"And you'll get paid for it!"

"Fair enough. See you in a week, Nedzu."

The phone shut off with a satisfying click, and Nedzu looked to the cameras, a nervous Iida approaching.

Ah, he so liked things coming together!

Shouto could pretty confidently mark this activity as 'Endeavour cannot find out about this'.

The Musutafu Soup Kitchen was humble, sat in the middle of one of the city's poorest areas.

When the two of them entered, a woman was quick to approach the two of them.

"Gisou! It's good to see you! Who's the kid?"

"Just someone I'm looking after for a little while! Is my spot open?"

The woman grinned. "Like always."

Steelbrand quickly moved through the room with practiced ease. Shouto spotted a few people staring at the two of them, but many greeted his mentor like an old friend, with him responding in kind.

Eventually, the two of them entered the kitchen, where Shouto was led to a small corner.

Tanaka stretched, adjusting his smaller, portable breathing apparatus which was attached to his back. "The people here don't know I'm a Hero. I prefer to keep it that way. Do good because I can, not because people are watching, you know?"

"Right."

His mentor leaned down, scanning through the ingredients available. "How much cooking have you done in your life, Todoroki-kun?"

He shook his head. "Very little. Mother cooked, and then Fuyumi did."

The man clicked his tongue. "Tsk. Well by the end of this week, we'll have made you a master."

A moment later, the man's hands began to glow a faint orange.

The cutlery surrounding them began to rumble, before rising into the air right in front of Shouto's eyes, each gaining the orange glow his mentor's hands had.

Tanaka smirked. "Steel Manipulation. Pretty nifty quirk, huh?"

He moved, picking up a large loaf of bread, moving to the next task as a fork and knife worked to cut it into smaller slices.

"It took a lot of practice, you know. Getting such control over them."

The quirk was… powerful. Undeniably so. And it was being used to… cut bread?

"Yep. Seems silly, doesn't it?"

Oh. He had said that out loud.

Thankfully, his mentor seemed unbothered, simply chuckling as he moved to start working on a soup stock, collecting vegetables from the fridge. "Why use your all-powerful quirk for cooking? You could stop so many Villains with it! I thought that to." He pointed a free hand towards his scarred face. "It's how I got this."

Oh. Shouto could relate.

"But… there's more to our quirks than just combat, you know? Ninety-five percent of the populace will never use their quirk against someone else. Instead, upwards of thirty percent will find a way to use their quirks in their work."

Tanaka sighed, but he smiled. "I found a while back that doing good for others was just as fulfilling as stopping a Villain. I won't pry as to what your troubles are, Todoroki-kun, but I was there during the sports festival. Something about using that quirk of yours irks you."

Shouto simply nodded, not feeling the need to say anything.

*Clap*

"You know what that means, no?"

Shouto raised an eyebrow, and Tanaka smirked, flashing him a gloved thumbs up. "We're gonna multitask. You've mastered your ice, and although as far as I know you don't use it much, you can at least use your other side to warm things up."

The man moved over to the power switch, immediately unplugging everything but the fridge.

"We're going to help these people, and we'll train you to be able to use that fire side with a little less hesitation!"

Huh.

Shouto moved forward, looking at the pot his mentor had placed on the table.

He lit a small fire in his hand, moving it towards the bottom.

A few quiet moments passed, and Tanaka smiled as the liquid began to bubble.

"There we go, kid! Now, let's see how precise you can make that. For starters…"

Shouto smiled, before shifting his face to a determined one.

He had trained under his father for years. He could certainly figure out cooking.

TUESDAY

"Perhaps cooking was a little out of my league."

Shouto's mentor laughed airily, smirking from his position on the mat opposite Shouto. "Chin up, Kid! I screwed up a solid half of my first attempts. You only burnt one meal! And you managed to put the fire out!"

"I suppose that's true…"

"Exactly. Now, let's get to practice."

The two of them were sat in the middle of the living room, the furniture cleared to the side, with at least three fire extinguishers placed around the room.

His mentor could supposedly go without his breathing assistant for about half an hour. Shouto could see a whole lot more of his face now. Despite it's damage, he looked... happy.

"Try and summon a fire for me, in the palm of your hand."

Shouto complied, bringing forth a small blaze in his hand-

"You flinched."

Shouto looked up, and Steelbrand looked back, a small cube of steel spinning around him as his own practice. "Your act of summoning fire is something you considering separate from yourself. Much more deliberate than summoning your ice. Am I right?"

He nodded. (His) Fire was… still unnatural.

"Right. Now let's try again, and I'm gonna help you a little. Close your eyes."

Shouto complied. Where was he going with this?

"Perhaps unconsciously, you see your fire side as something very much separate from yourself. When I've seen you use your ice, it stretches like it's almost a third arm until the moment its job is done."

Shouto felt ice prickle his arm, arcing out.

"See? Summoning ice is real easy. Before we can get even close to making your two halves work together, you need to get your fire to act like that."

But how? (His) Fire was so completely tied to his thoughts about Endeavour. He-

"Do me a favour, alright? Think of a moment where you used your fire without inhibition."

["The only person winning by you gimping yourself is Endeavour! Fire or no Fire, he still gets the Hero son he wants! So own Half Cold Half Hot for yourself, be the Hero YOU want to be! IT'S YOUR POWER, IDIOT!"]

"Judging by the expression you have now, you've thought of one. What feeling was there that made it so easy? Try and harness that."

That moment… it was just… Shouto. No Heroics, no Endeavour. He was just… him.

He took a deep breath, willing his fire to burn. Endeavour was irrelevant. All that mattered was-

"WOAH, WOAH! That's enough, buddy!"

Shouto opened his eyes to find himself sitting with a… rather heated left arm, currently burning a hole in one of his mentor's chairs.

"Huh. Whoops."

WEDNESDAY

"So, that's we make a cake! Pretty easy, neh?"

Shouto nodded, leaning down to look into the oven, the cake he had worked on for the last hour slowly rising.

It was rather lumpy, but…

Fuyumi was gonna be so impressed.

Tanaka leaned downwards, chuckling lightly.

"Now… we also gotta do the not fun part, Shouto-kun."

Shouto stood up, looking at his mentor. "What do you mean?"

They turned to face the kitchen.

There were at least three eggs on the floor, about a third of a wasted bag of flour, and a single whisk that Shouto had accidentally frozen solid.

"Clean up."

"I see."

Tanaka sighed, pulling back his sleeves. "Alright. How about I teach you a bit more about thermodynamics while we do this?"

Shouto nodded, moving to get to work on clean up. "That sounds good."

"Sweet! Now, where were we? Right, that big explosion at the sports fest. You see…"

THURSDAY

"This is the price I pay for not actively patrolling anymore, Shouto-kun."

Shouto nodded sternly, looking over the gigantic pile of paperwork sitting in front of them.

"You offer to help your buddies with the filing side of Heroics once and you never. Look. Back."

Shouto patted his mentor on the shoulder, knowing full well that the fact that he would likely inherit Endeavour agency meaning he wouldn't exactly need to handle day to day paperwork. "Um… can I help?"

Tanaka looked to him like he had hung the stars.

"Please do."

SATURDAY

Shouto sat in his bed, considering.

The last five days had been… strange.

He had come into the internship expecting something dramatic. He expected to have learnt how to use his fire, how to fight better. Instead…

He probably learnt more.

His control hadn't increased dramatically, but the idea of using his fire was getting easier to swallow.

He had spent a lot of time milling over the words his final opponent in the sports festival had said to him.

There's a million ways to rebel against your father. Use that quirk of yours to become, like, a chef or something! But did you pick those? Nope! You're still striving to be a Hero! Which means I can bet with a whole lot of confidence that, like the rest of us, somewhere in the core that defines you, a desire to save lives burns bright! Are you going to let that spark die out?"

He had the feeling the Nedzu very much knew what he was doing when he sent him here.

Shouto had never been given the choice of doing anything that wasn't Heroics.

He had chatted to his mentor about it, a little. According to the man's advice, he was going to have to figure out how to sneak a pair of knitting needles past Endeavour, but… he was feeling a little rebellious as of late.

And…

Above all else, Shouto wanted to be a Hero, but… maybe he could also be… Shouto.

Shouto was shook out of his thoughts by shrill laughter coming from the direction of the living room where his mentor had gone to watch the news, followed by violent swearing.

"HAH! Shouto's gonna laugh at this! Wait, shit, that's bad… Uuh…"

Shouto stood up, stretching. He had made a choice, and he was going to stick with it.

He opened the door in front of him, ready to take the coming days as they came.

"Fuyumi did WHAT!?"

Chapter 27: A return to normalcy doesn't help when normal is still weird

Silence permeated the classroom.

Izuku felt the sweat fall down his back. He was the vice rep! Should he say something? Everyone had kind of just slipped into class quietly basically as soon as opening time! He…

*SLAM*

Togaru stood up from his own desk, scowling. "Alright, that's it! We're making the circle again!"

And just like that, the tension dissipated instantly.

"Probably wise." "THANK YOU!" "I'm sure Sensei won't mind, Kero."

Izuku simply shrugged, moving his own desk to the side of the class alongside his friends, before slotting into his standard slot for what had become the norm for 'the circle'.

Tooru quickly threw herself down next to him, clapping.

"So! We've seen the news reports and slash or have played an active role in creating news reports!"

Drones of agreement spread through the group, and Tooru continued. "Right. Some people had… more trouble than others…" She sent an unseen look around the circle, mainly at the three of them that had been in Hosu and the two of them that had been on Nabu, before continuing. "But the point is that we made it back in one piece!"

She pulled out her phone, paging to the notes app. "So instead of talking about that ugly stuff, because we're all fine and we can unpack it later, we're gonna chat about the places we went too!"

She pointed a gloved (She had long since added them to her uniform, at Izuku's suggestion) finger at Yui and Mezou, who certainly looked… worse for wear.

He couldn't blame them, though. Pretty much everyone was at least a little tired. They were all getting there, though.

"You two are gonna start, since you went to the middle of nowhere!"

Mezou nodded, bringing out his own phone to find pictures. "Our experiences on Nabu island outside of the attack were fairly pleasant and novel. Should the opportunity present itself, I believe it would be a pleasant outing for anyone."

Yui smiled softly, smile just about meeting her eyes now that she was amongst her friends again. [Cute children. And ice cream.]

Kyouka smirked. "And also a Dog Hero. Which was apparently fully sapient."

Tooru huffed. "My bad, ok? How was I supposed to know!? I thought it was a cute Dog! Not like, a PERSON!"

Mezou shook he head. "Tooru, whatever your thinking, it's fine. Tetsudou liked your compliments. They were very creative."

"NOT HELPING!"

As the class chuckled, Izuku breathed a sigh of relief, feeling any remaining stress fade away, for now. He hadn't been overly worried about any problems with his classmates, of course, as any anger would have been directed outward, but there was the fear of tension, so… it was nice to simply listen to his classmates talk.

As Mezou continued his story, he felt one of Togaru's hands on his knee. He looked up to find his friend smiling gently (Well, as gently as he could, at least. He always looked a little angry with his mandible blades, but it was about intention and all that)

"How's your arm?"

Izuku shrugged, looking over his arm, which was still bandaged. "I still have one more session with Recovery Girl this afternoon, but she says the scarring won't be too bad."

Togaru nodded, rubbing his neck nervously. "Good. And, um… sorry. About Saturday."

Izuku shook his head, chuckling slightly. "No, no, it's okay! It was reassuring to have someone come so quickly to check on me."

His friend simply smiled.

"Well, if it helps, I got a real talking to from Mr. Brave for making the trip so early in the morning… I just couldn't sit still, you know?"

Once Mezou finished his explanation of the various parts of his internship that weren't traumatic (With Tooru adding them to a note file, simply labelled 'Holiday plans for gang', which was certainly looking ahead, but that was neither here nor there) she whooped. "Great! Yousetsu! You next!"

Awase smirked. "Well, I'll have you all know I am now the master of baby handling!"

"EH?"

~---FINAL EXAMS: THE RETURN---~

"And that's what me and Enigma-Sensei got up to."

"Woah…" "What a dramatic adventure…" "A story for the ages!"

*Shrt*

Togaru couldn't help but grin as he turned to the door, looking to his teacher.

"Sensei, you're… Oh dear."

Aizawa-Sensei walked into the room at just above a snail's pace. He was still in his Hero Uniform, minus the capture weapon, and he looked dead on his feet.

1-T quickly sprang into action, reverting the desks to their standard positions before diving into their chairs.

Sensei snorted. "Ten seconds. Not bad."

Mashirao, always the brave one, raised a hand. "Sensei? Are you… alright?"

Their teacher only shrugged. "I'll live."

"Not reassuring…"

Sensei yawned. "In the last forty-eight hours, I have been on two boat trips to and back from Nabu island, have made four separate trips to Hosu, and have had to file seven different sets of incident paperwork. When this homeroom is over, I am going to curl up into a ball in my sleeping bag in the teacher's lounge, and if anyone deigns to touch me, I will stab them."

"Fair enough!"

"Right. That aside… welcome back. I'll be going over your internship results individually, but as a whole, despite troubles, you all did quite well. Be proud."

"Yeah!"

"With this performance in mind, your next goal starts at the end of July, giving you just over a month. Your final exams for the trimester."

Togaru gulped. That was… gonna be hard.

Sure, he had Izuku as a great tutor, but this was U.A. And that wasn't even thinking about the practical.

"I trust all of you to handle your studying for the theoretical side. Just because you're aiming to be Heroes doesn't mean we can ignore normal schoolwork. As for the practicals, me and All Might will be running you ragged."

That, he could do. He was looking forward to showing his stuff!

"Lastly…" Aizawa-Sensei pulled out a small piece of paper. "It wouldn't do us good to not add on a motivator, illogical as it is. After the exams comes summer break. It's time to unwind, sure, but more importantly… it would be illogical to waste all that time. Thus…"

Aizawa-Sensei raised the page, smirking slightly.

"SUMMER CAMP!"

Tooru leaped into the air. "YATTA! NORMAL SCHOOL ACTIVITY! KINDA!"

From his position behind Tooru, Hitoshi smirked. "We'll get to menace the A and B class. Hell yeah."

"Ninja training in the woods! Just like that one show!"

Sensei ignored their outbursts, looking to the class with a small smile. "Right. Keep in mind, if you fail your finals… you'll spend your nights in remedial hell."

Tooru pumped a fist with determination. "Alright! Let's do our best, everyone!"

"YEAH!"

GROUND OMEGA

All Might-Sensei's booming laughter erupted through the air as the class moved forward. Sen did his best not to wince.

Now that he thinks about if, if he was trained by the Old Man back when he was young and probably a whole lot more intense… sheesh. Poor guy.

"Welcome back, everyone!"

A chorus of greetings spread through the class, and Sen had to remind himself that this was All Might. Number one Hero, saviour, blah blah blah.

The man was out of costume, instead wearing normal clothing that looked rather tight on his form. Even still, he managed to cut an imposing figure standing in front of the doors of the training site, forested trees behind him.

"Now that your internships are over, we'll be easing you back into your normal schedules with some… COMPETITION!"

All Might turned to the wall next to the entrance, where a map of the grounds had been laid out. "You will all be spread out across U.A's Forest zone! When the timer starts, you're free to start running! Your goal is simple… outlast your opponents, be it by running… or fighting!"

He pulled out a large (Blame Mezou making it hard to tie things around him) wad of standard capture tape. "Like usual, wrap this stuff around someone's arms or legs, and their out! Do try and avoid major injury, if you can… you've all got studying to do!"

Don't remind us, All Might…

"A large part of first year internships is practising physical skills. In other words, use what you've learned! And… have fun!"

Sen smirked. This was the perfect exercise to use his training!

Mezou raised a hand. "Sensei, why are we at ground Omega? Wouldn't ground Beta or the U.S.J work better for something like this?"

All Might seemed to flush, nervously scratching his head. "Well, uhm…"

"The U.S.J is under maintenance, and Ground Beta is still under repairs from another exercise. Besides, variety will do you all good."

Sen turned to face the new arrival.

Hound Dog waltzed forward from out of the grounds, standing next to All Might, who smiled.

"Hound Dog is here to assist me, in, Achem…"

Hound Dog nodded. "Class 1-B got to attempt this exercise first, and…"

[

"Shouda! There ya` are, pardner!"

Ryou couldn't help but sigh as he looked to the scene in front of him.

Yano ran forward, climbing up the tree, all while the other boy was dead silent.

The boy was quick to shift his finger into a small knife, cutting the other's capture tape, allowing them both to drop to the ground safely.

Yano smiled awkwardly, adjusting his Hero costume's Stetson to mostly cover his nervous face.

"Sorry about that, Shouda. Ya` know how I am with directions…"

Shouda patted himself off, before calmly walking towards Yano.

*THAWP*

"OW! What was that for!?"

"YOU TIED ME TO A TREE AND FORGOT WHERE I WAS!?"

*TWING*

Ryou grunted as the second impact sent the other boy reeling, but he made the choice not to intervene. Hopefully, it would be a learning experience for him to maybe work on his sense of direction. He'd just have to make sure they made peace later.

"GAH! I'M SORRY, ALRIGHT!?"

]

Hound Dog huffed, growling lightly. "I'll keeping track of all of you so that I can pick you up when you're eliminated."

Sen politely chose not to ask, and All Might laughed again, although this time it was remarkably more forced.

"3!"

The voice of All Might echoed over the small radio secured in his ear.

"2!"

Mashirao stretched, bracing his tail to leap forward. There was a decent distant between each of them, but he knew his classmates. Staying still was a death sentence.

"1…"

He was grateful for his Hero uniform being decently baggy, though. It was starting to get warm.

"GO!"

He dashed forward, quickly building up speed. Ground Beta was only so big, and he knew for a fact that there were a good number of opponents far more long lasting than he was. Izuku, Mezou…

*FWOOSH*

Reiko.

*THWIP* *THWIP* *THWIP*

Mashirao jumped forward, dodging the array of small rocks, switching to a swerving path. Of course, Reiko had the best ranged combat in the class by a massive margin, and it wasn't like he could get her without knowing where she was-

He felt a small prickle of cold on his neck.

That was it!

The volley slowed for a moment, likely Reiko grabbing a hold of more ammunition, and Mashirao took a deep breath.

*FWOOSH*

He felt the blast of cold air appear again… right from where Reiko was.

He turned around, leaping towards the direction where his opponent was likely hiding, before leaping forward with his tail.

"REPLICATION: GYRATE!"

he landed with a spin, smacking away the last of the projectiles that were heading towards him. He looked up, finding Reiko standing a short distance away from him.

Her eyes were wide, briefly, before she frowned. "Did my temperature reveal me?"

He nodded, and she scowled. "I must find a support engineer to get a solution to that…"

Mashirao smirked. "Nonetheless, that was a lot more projectiles than I'm used to from you…"

Reiko smiled. "I've upped my precision. I'm able to handle a decent few more things at once, now."

"That's great! But… it won't be enough!"

Mashirao leaped forward, and Reiko nodded, returning to a battle-ready posture. "Right!"

*THUNK*

Before Mashirao could get close to Reiko, however, he felt a solid impact against his head, sending him tumbling forward, reeling.

Reiko snapped to attention, looking around for their surprise attacker…

But she wasn't fast enough.

Hitoshi walked slowly through the forest, minding his step and keeping his ears open. He wasn't all that fast in the bumpy environment, and Tooru could show up at any moment.

As he walked through the forest, he kept his staff braced. The fancy piece of tech had all manner of different ways it could be used (He hadn't questioned how it was paid for, but who was he to guess U.A's budgeting.), but he was already favouring the polearm option, since he hadn't had much time to learn the other options.

But it would be good to learn the rest of the forms to trip people up. He'd practiced splitting the thing in half and using it as two batons like before, but from reading the manual Kenranzaki-san had given him and fiddling with the extensions that now lined his belt, he knew there were all sorts of different modes. Nun-chucks, a Hammer… heck, there was an option to make the things into taser knuckles that he hadn't figured out how to turn on yet.

He was slowly turning into a slightly less insane Izuku in terms of gear, and he didn't know how to feel about that. Nevertheless, rather try and ditch stuff later than not try at all.

"GAH!"

Speaking of…

Sticking to the darkest shadows he could find, he approached the noise. Optimistically, he could check out who had just gotten knocked out, and maybe surprise whoever had gotten them. If not, he can book it in the opposite direction.

"Alright, who got decked…"

"Bloody hell…and I was so close to getting to be cool, too…"

Poking his head out of the side of a tree, he spotted the source of the noise. Sen was lying flat on the ground, groaning in pain, with his legs tied with capture tape.

"Well, that's not good at all."

*thump*

Hitoshi winced as he heard the distinct sound of something landing behind him.

"And that's not good either."

*THUNK*

"Four competitors have been eliminated! If you see Hound Dog, don't mind him!"

Huh. Well, Tsuyu wasn't going to complain.

She continued hopping through the forest, moving from tree to tree. People were burning fast, which made her optimistic that she had an opportunity to win.

She just had to stay on the move-

*SHLINK*

Oh dear.

Tsuyu was already moving through the air by the time she noticed the flash of sparks coming from her left, and it was all she could do to twist her body out of the way of the oncoming cable.

She managed to dodge, but it was enough to send her crashing into the ground.

As she righted herself, she spotted the cable rapidly rewinding, returning to its owner.

Yousetsu smirked, but he looked nervous. "Darnit. I was hoping that the S.H.O.E would be able to get you before you saw me."

"That's what you call it?"

"I haven't thought of a better name, and the irony is funny!"

he dashed forward, already pointing his arm towards her. "Sorry, Froppy, but I want to win!"

Another cable came flying forward, forcing Tsuyu up and out of the way, and she had to think on the fly.

Yousetsu kept up the offense though, moving towards her in order to keep up the moment. "I even set the heads to be the impact ones rather than the piercing ones! Aren't I nice?"

He swung his arm to the left, moving the cable in an arcing motion, forcing her to leap over it. She would need to end this fight quickly, before-

Another cable shot out of Yousetsu's second arm, hitting her square in the chest. Like he said, it wasn't enough to cause any proper injury, but it was disorienting, and-

"Urk!"

It was enough to distract her from the rapidly approaching Yousetsu.

He quickly grabbed a hold of her, tackling her into a tree, before activating his quirk on her clothing, binding them solidly to the tree, binding her feet to the floor for extra measure.

It was a rush job, and one she could theoretically break out of, but that would probably result in her tearing off some skin, so…

She sighed, smiling lightly at her friend. "Good job, Kero."

Yousetsu stood up, puffing as his gauntlets drew in their cables. "Hoo. I'm getting the hang of these things!"

He began to dig into his pockets, looking for the capture tape. "I've still gotta get down the wrapping motions… maybe I should ask Sensei?"

She would have shrugged, but she couldn't exactly move her arm. "Sure, Kero. Now can you eliminate me so I can get out of this forest?"

Yousetsu blushed slightly, finally pulling out his tape. "Right! My bad-"

*THUNK*

"Ow!"

Yousetsu looked around as he rubbed the back of his head. Looking down, Tsuyu made out the presence of a small rock on the floor.

Before she could look back, she felt a tug on her legs, finding them quickly being tied together via capture tape.

Yousetsu turned around to find her already eliminated, and his eyes went wide, before transitioning to an angry expression. "Hey! That was my win!"

Tsuyu couldn't help but snort, finding the situation rather funny. "I don't think you'll be getting any wins, today."

Yousetsu raised an eyebrow. "What do you… oh, phooey."

*WHAM*

"HEY!"

Six people were already gone. Yui would take getting halfway.

"Aw come on, Tooru! I know it's you! Come on out!"

She stood just out of sight, watching Togaru shout into the forest. It had admittedly been fairly easy to tail him, but he had had finally figured out someone was following him.

Not her, of course, but someone.

Togaru crossed his arms, expression upset. "Aw, man… I was so excited to try my new moves…"

A moment later, he snapped around, swinging into nothing. "Damnit! I thought that would have-"

"HIYAH!"

Only to be grabbed from behind.

Togaru's eyes widened as he was lifted into the air, before coming to the ground equally fast.

Tooru cheered. "Hell yeah! Invisible Lady Suplex for the win!"

She looked down at Togaru, who was groaning in pain, but was nevertheless still conscious. "How's that, `Garu? Pretty cool, Huh!?"

"Never, call me that… ever again. How did you… get even more… like that…"

She could feel Tooru's smirk, even if it was unseen. "I had a great teacher!"

As she leaned down to reach into Togaru's pockets, Yui prepared to dash forward and surprise Tooru, but-

"URK!"

Yui looked up again, finding Tooru having been knocked to the ground next to her opponent, both quickly being tied up by the new arrival.

"Aw, come on!"

"HAH! How's it feel, you-"

Yui was forced to tune out Togaru's sort-of gloating, considering their new arrival had turned… and was now looking her straight in the eyes.

Oh-oh.

Izuku took a silent breath from his hiding place. The exercise had been going on for about forty minutes, and needless to say, people were eliminated a lot faster than he expected.

He had a few guesses about who would have made it to the final three with him, but they all mostly fell flat. He had snuck past Mashirao and Reiko fighting each other, and two people had been eliminated soon after, so he could only guess someone else had dealt with them. As for Tooru and Togaru… neither of them were quiet as they were carried out by Hound Dog.

Which meant he was pretty much guessing when it came to who was still on the field.

He felt the small buzz of the radio he had been given.

"Alright, the third last competitor has been eliminated! Two remain!"

Izuku sighed, hopping out of his tree. Might as well end this now.

He had all sorts of gear, but none of it would do much in a situation like this where he was dreading a surprise attack.

(Add proper infrared goggles to his gear… he has enough pocket space, surely?)

The best option here was to get himself into an open area, keep his ears open, and hope like hell that he could take whoever was about.

In the end, he found himself fairly close the entrance, exit gate in sight. He spotted Hound Dog walking near the door, leading a quiet Mezou, holding onto a long strand of capture tape that was likely previously used to bind his arms.

He braced, extracting a taser from his pockets, taking a deep breath. Mezou and Hound Dog had turned around now and were eyeing him.

Just in sight, he noticed Hound Dog's eyes widen, followed by him covering his ears his ears.

Which meant…

He snapped around, pushing his taser forward, but he was met with nothing.

Instead, his eyes met with a smirking face.

*click*

"Too late."

*KATHOOOOOOM!*

Toshinori did his best not to balk as Inui emerged with the final three students. Shouji was using his now free arms to carry the dizzy Midoriya. From the looks of it, the blast of sound had likely concussed the boy, but a trip to Recovery Girl would alleviate any potential damage.

As for the winner…

Ah, right. He was probably supposed to say something.

"And our competition is over! The winner is… Beat Up! Congratulations, Jirou!"

Jirou smirked, patting off her thoroughly dirty Hero costume. "Thank you, sir."

Her gaze turned to her classmates, who were all in varying states of disbelief, mostly due to the various head injuries they were all sporting.

She chuckled nervously. "Uhm… I guess the stealth training from the Pussycats paid off? I need to update my costume a little, now… a pair of solid gloves would do nicely…"

Toshinori smiled. "That's all for today, then! Your free to go! I will take Young Midoriya to Recovery Girl."

He took the boy out of Shouji's hands. Midoriya was mumbling something about 'double All Might sundaes', but he chose not to question it.

"You'll be going over this with Aizawa tomorrow, so make sure to rest and recover! Have a good day, students!"

Silence uttered for a moment as the crowd of students seemed to process his words, but a moment later, they erupted.

"Kyouka, what the hell?!" "That was incredible!" "TEACH ME YOUR SECRETS!"

As the group flocked to complement their friend, he turned to face Inui, who grunted at him, flashing a thumbs up.

"I'll make sure they get out of here. Go get him to the nurse!"

Toshinori smiled, waved goodbye to the students even if they were too distracted to notice him, and hopped away.

Teaching victory!

Shouta sat in the meeting room, quietly looking over his papers.

"Asui's internship went well, not much outside of the Innsmouth incident… complement her on ingenuity but warn against independent action…"

"What're ya` working on there, Shouta?"

Shouta looked up from his notes to find Nemuri at the door.

"Internship reports."

Nemuri chuckled as she sauntered in, sliding into the chair next to his. "Ooh, productive, aren't we? Usually you're napping before the final exam meetings."

He shrugged. "Slept most of this morning. Stuff needs doing."

He had successfully gotten a little bit of sleep, at least. He was groggy, but it was nothing he wasn't used to. He always dreaded this time of year, though. So. Much. Paperwork.

He wasn't thinking about compiling the theory exam for ethics yet. That was a problem for later Shouta. Preferably one who didn't want to go outside and murder every single Villain ever like come on is it that hard to give his bloody students a break-

"Shou, dear, you're about to snap your pen."

He took a resounding breath, putting his pen down. He wasn't going to make any more progress on his internship reports. "Sorry."

Nemuri shook her head. "Eh, I've been worse. Your students will be fine, Shouta. They've got no reason to go anywhere until finals are over, and Nedzu is working his… does he have an ass? Anyways, metaphorical ass off to make sure nobody finds the location of the camp."

Shouta sighed. Nemuri was always good at reading his mood, because of course she was. "Is it wrong that I'm hoping that the stupid whale asshole wakes up and tries to escape so I can sock him for Shouji and Kodai?"

"Not if I beat you to it, Aizawa-San."

Nemuri scoffed. "That sounds weird coming out of your mouth, All Might."

Yagi chuckled, adjusting his baggy clothes as he slid into his own chair opposite theirs on the table. "I'm not All Might, what are you talking about? All Might's twice my size."

While Nemuri burst into a fit of laughter, Shouta looked up, putting his files away and clearing his desk. "How was today's exercise?"

Toshinori smiled. "I'd say it went fairly well. No major injuries. We are going to have to do a check through of Young Jirou's training, though. Put more emphasis on non-urban Heroics."

"The good kind or the bad kind of emphasis?"

Ryo slid in next to Yagi, the other teachers approaching behind him. "The very good kind. Eleven eliminations."

"Huh. I guess the W.W.P's training paid off."

He should have seen it coming, honestly. Jirou was a bit of a wallflower, but she was certainly expressive, and she had been one of the people who got the closest to lethal harm during the U.S.J…

Not a good line of thought, but the logic still applied. The girl was determined. The Pussycats as a collective had ranted and raved about her when he had checked up on her. Hopefully she would be excited to see them again soon.

Shouta was able to tap out of the conversation, instead managing to pull out his notes on the meeting they were about to have.

Finally, Nedzu walked in, taking his spot at the end of the table, smiling.

"Hello, everyone! Shall we get this meeting underway?"

With no opposition, Nedzu smiled. "Excellent. Now, as I'm sure you know, Today's topic regards the Hero practical exam. Typically, this would be done with robots, but…"

Kan finished Nedzu's sentence with a huff. "The rise of Villain attacks sets a dangerous precedent. While Aizawa's kids have had their share of trouble, mine and Nemuri's haven't had much."

Shouta couldn't tell if that was an insult or a compliment, so he stayed quiet.

Nedzu nodded. "Correct. While the sports festival worked well to ignite their determination, especially with quite a few losses, but they need something big."

Silence permeated the room until Shouta heard a light cough.

"I do have an idea, although it may need some work."

Shouta and the teachers turned to face All Might, who had pulled out a small U.S.B, passing it through the row towards Nedzu, who quickly plugged it in.

Shouta let him speak. Yagi tended to have good ideas, although they usually needed to be put through a layer of experience.

"Robots wouldn't be enough, and many students simply don't have the quirks to combat them. Thus, instead, how about…"

As Shouta listened to Yagi's plan, he couldn't help but grin.

This would be difficult to get right, but…

He had the feeling it was going to be fun.

Chapter 28: Operation Talk to other people (Warning: Dangerous)

"Alright, what's on the agenda, Prez?"

Hitoshi leaned back on his chair as Tsu took to the stand at the front of their class.

Sensei was… somewhere. Probably in some fancy meeting for Heroics, by his guess, but it happened often enough that all their teacher needed to do was send a cryptic message to either Tsu or Izuku and they'd be left to their own devices during homeroom.

Speaking of, Tsu began to prattle on about various class related things. Training plans, study sessions, et cetera. Hitoshi wasn't going to lie and say he was paying attention, but he noted all the dates and paid a little attention whenever his name was rarely mentioned.

Finally, conversation died down with a few minutes left on the clock. At least English was going to be easy enough.

Tsu stretched, folding up her notes. "With that out of the way… I'd like to bring forward a… noted complaint."

He looked up at that. He was fairly confident that none of the had screwed up anything.

Tsu looked the page at the top of her stack. "I've been asked, as our class's representative, to discuss the topic of our quote 'emotional development' unquote, Kero."

From his seat at the front of the class, Hitoshi heard a groan from Yousetsu. "Ugh… here we go…"

Tsuyu, meanwhile, simply shrugged. "It's a formal note by Hound Dog-Sensei. You can ignore it, but I'd say it would be a good thing to consider."

Hitoshi huffed. "Alright, lay it on us, then. What level of screwed up are we?"

Tsu nodded, cleared her throat with a croak, and looked to her classmates. "To be blunt…most of us have next to no friends besides each other."

Eh.

Tooru stood up. "Hey! We're perfectly social!"

"When was the last time you talked to someone our age outside of the twelve of us for more than a few minutes?"

Tooru raised a finger, ready for a retort, but fell short, instead standing up for a few seconds, sputtering, before flopping back onto the ground with a flop. "Point taken."

Hitoshi prepared to make a remark of his own, but Tsu did have a point.

She shook her head. "I'm aware this sounds outlandish, but Hound Dog-Sensei says it's bad to limit our socialisation like this, Kero. You don't have to force yourself to do anything or talk to people you don't like, heck, you can keep bothering them. Just… try and talk to someone, or join a club, or something. We're not adults yet."

Hitoshi wanted to say something along the lines of 'doesn't feel like it' but that kind of felt like the asshole thing to say, and he was working on that, so he kept quiet.

As the bell rang, Tsu shrugged as she moved to her chair. "Just try your best. Even if it's only one thing, it'll be a good way to take a break from studying for finals."

A chorus of agreements spread out throughout the class. Some people had ideas for things to do. A few people were talking about joining clubs. Sen was lording the fact that he already did have a friend outside of 1-T over Yousetsu.

Hitoshi meanwhile simply thought to himself. This wouldn't be too bad, surely. He could follow someone around until a social thing happened, and then he could go back to hiding behind his group of way more cheerful friends.

It couldn't be that hard.

~---FINAL EXAMS: SOCIALISATION---~

"Alright, Yo… Time to make a good impression."

Yousetsu adjusted his clothing as he walked through the light halls of U.A.

He had managed to switch into a more movement ready outfit than his U.A uniform, switching it out for a simple shirt and pants combo, letting his bandana fall to his neck.

 Considering it was late on a Wednesday afternoon, not too many people were around, but it certainly wasn't quiet.

After all, it was one of the two designated Club Days.

It had been a fairly recent decision, made at the beginning of the year, to allow Hero course students to join clubs. The Hero course already had two days, Wednesday and Saturday, where Practical Heroics wasn't held, so it was fairly easy to slot in their meetup times to incorporate them.

(According to Nedzu, who had mentioned it in their leaflets and likely in the orientation that they had skipped, it was to 'promote inter class activity'. Apparently, it had worked well enough, since the first year General Education students didn't look at the Hero course students with nearly as much dislike as the second and third years did.)

Yousetsu had wanted to join one, try to learn some new skills and all that, but he never felt the needed boost, and then the U.S.J had happened, and the sports fest, and Internships…

Ah, that was besides the point! He was here now, and he was going to do the thing! Without Sen or Tsu!

He slapped himself as he made it to the door. It was go time.

U.A CLUB ROOM NUMBER #3 – COOKING

With nothing more to it… he knocked.

"I'll get it!"

The voice he heard was muffled through the door, but it sounded friendly enough, and he only had to wait a few moments before the door slid open-

He was met with a… rather large boy standing in front of him.

He stood around the same height as Mezou, but he was certainly wider.

Taking a step back, he looked up. "Uhm… hi?"

The boy's eyes widened as he looked down, before he smiled. "Shoot, that was Today! Awase, yeah?"

Yousetsu nodded, regaining his composure. "That's me!"

"I'm Satou, but you can call me Rikidou! Come in, everything's pretty casual here!"

Satou led him into the small club room.

To his absolute (zero) surprise, it looked about what he expected it to. It was a fairly plain room, lined with workstations. A corner of the room contained to fridges and freezers, and the opposite corner was the same but with ovens and stoves.

There was nothing fancy to it. It wasn't like he was expecting anything more, though. Even in U.A, some things just had to be… normal.

He managed to spot a few different faces in the dozen or so students in attendance. Most of them he didn't recognise, being in the non-Hero courses, but he could at least recognise some people.

Most people were focused on their setup or were talking to friends, but a few people walked forward when he entered.

"Ah, I see a new member has joined us! Welcome, sir!"

The second giant boy walked up to him, smiling. His fluffy fur was covered with a rather large apron and gloves. "Satou-Sama, I thought Awase was only to arrive during our next meeting."

The second member, all but dwarfed by the other two, was a lot quieter.

Shouto damn Todoroki (Giant Ice Pillar guy, Togaru said he was fine enough but Yousetsu had doubts) waved softly, doing his best to look inviting. "Hello."

Satou winced. "My bad, Shishida. Must have gotten the timings wrong."

Shishida shook his head, smiling. "It isn't a concern! Nevertheless, welcome, Awase-Sama. Please get your number to me once this session is over! I must add you to our newsletter!"

The boy took that moment to leave, returning to his station. Todoroki, who appeared to be his partner, simply nodded before following him.

Satou chuckled. "Don't mind them. They're both…"

"On opposite ends of the scale?"

"Yeah. That. Now, how about we get you settled before Sensei gets here and we get started on today's project?"

Yousetsu nodded to the larger boy. "Alright!"

(Hell yeah! Social part complete! And he even had a free track into getting their phone numbers! This socialisation stuff was easy!)

Satou clapped, smiling. "Great! Now, over there is your…"

Tsuyu stretched lightly, moving through the packed halls of the cafeteria. Various conversations passed by her as she meandered, but she ignored them.

She was grateful her classmates preferred to eat outside generally, though. It was all loud.

Hitoshi, carrying their lunches behind her, grumbled. "Sheesh. These people really like to gossip."

She shrugged. "So does everyone. There's just different levels of subtlety to it."

"Fair enough. You spot our table yet?"

"There, Kero."

They both turned, finally approaching the table they were told to go to, sitting near the edge.

Looking up, Uraraka smiled at her. "Tsu-Chan! You're here!"

She nodded, sitting down on the other side of the table from the five occupants.

Yaoyorozu simply smiled at her. Iida, meanwhile, sat up, ramrod straight, nodding. "Midoriya-San doesn't seem to be here today! Where-"

To his left, Shouda winced. "Voice!"

The taller boy stopped, before blushing lightly, speaking in a softer tone. "Right, sorry. Uhm…"

Tsuyu shrugged. "Izuku has a meeting with Nedzu today. He sends his apologies."

Kendou nodded. "Of course. There's nothing to talk about today, really, so it's no big deal. Today's pretty much a friendly day!"

They had begun having meetings between the representatives of the three Hero classes once a week after internships, mostly thanks to the budding bond between Iida and Midoriya. The first one was fairly productive, but she was fairly confident it was mostly an excuse to not have to deal with their classmates for a while. By Tsuyu's guess, this one was likely to fit into the latter far more than the former.

As for Uraraka… She had kind of just sat with them. She stayed silent during important bits, though, and she was perfectly pleasant, so no one bothered to kick her out.

When prompted, she had simply answered. "N-no reason at all, don't worry about it, you know!" Judging by the blush, it was probably something embarrassing. Tsuyu hadn't questioned it any further.

(The friendship between her and Yaoyorozu was… strange, to say the least. Talk about a wealth gap…)

Shouda looked towards Hitoshi, who had slid into the seat next to her. "Uhm… sorry, but who are you?"

Hitoshi shrugged, grabbing a sandwich. "Shinsou. Here because I got nothing better to do."

A gasp from the other end of the table burst out. Uraraka looked to Hitoshi with a bright smile.

"Bored buddy!"

Hitoshi raised an eyebrow at the girls enthusiasm, before he smirked, raising a fist, which Uraraka matched.

They were probably bonded for life, or something.

Tsuyu shrugged, grabbing her own food. "I heard you all discussing your internships before we got here?"

Shouda perked up again, continuing his discussion where he left off, and Tsuyu took a breath, relaxing.

She sent a look to Uraraka, who had swapped seats to be able to whisper to Hitoshi. They were chatting about… something. Uraraka seemed to be grilling him on whatever their whispering conversation was about, but Hitoshi looked over to her, letting off a dry chuckle.

Whatever it was, it probably wasn't her problem, and Hitoshi was talking to someone outside of his usual group. Therefore… progress.

She'd make vaguely healthy individuals out of her classmates yet.

The halls of U.A's Hero tower had already begun to feel like second nature to Izuku. While identical on the surface level, there were little differences.

The route between the 3-B and 2-A homerooms had a single tile with a massive crack in it, credited to a first year some fifteen years ago. The hallway that led to the teacher's lounge held an abstract painting that none of them had been able to figure out the meaning of.

But most importantly, the are right outside his own classroom and the ensuing hallway were blocked by a wall and door, which meant he could easily listen in to see if anyone was there.

Mostly he used it to avoid Bakugou, who, despite everything, was still incredibly loud, but he often could use the longer alternate route if someone too loud or obstructive would be there.

Annoyingly, said alternate route was busy being cleaned, so…

"You know you can just ask him, Monoma?"

"And look needy!? Of course not! This is our path to victory over 1-A!"

Oh boy.

He schooled himself, sliding the door open.

"He's coming! Get into position!"

Whoever that was really needed extra stealth training, but that was neither here nor there.

Before he could walk past, the door to Class 1-B's homeroom opened with a dramatic flair.

"Oh? Midoriya-san! I've been meaning to talk to you for a while now!"

Izuku probably should have seen that coming. "G-good afternoon, Monoma-San."

[Monoma Neito. Copy. Seat eighteen, 1-B, Birthday May thirteenth. Considered for 1-T at rank seventeen but rejected due to aptitude for spotlight Heroics and loud personality. Suffers from imposter syndrome, inferiority complex, OCD, ADHD. LOUD.]

Monoma bowed. "I've heard over the grapevine that you were the student who was in the announcers booth during the festival, yes? Guidance?"

He nodded. "That's right… I wasn't really in it, though! More like adjacent-"

Monoma waved him off. "Ah, details. You are an analyst, yes?"

"1-T's support Hero, which includes that job, yes… I don't have my licence on me, but…"

The blonde's eyes widened. "My oh my, already licensed? Impressive beyond compare. You see, I must request something from you."

He saw where he was going with this, but he let him continue.

"My class and I would be oh so grateful for your help, you see. After the sports festival, we have been working to a great degree, and-"

"Not so fast!"

Monoma's winding speech was interrupted by a shout close by within the hall.

Looking out, the boy's expression soured.

"Grimmswald."

On the other end of the hall, the other boy approached them. They had bonelike structures lining their arms, legs, and face, covering pale skin, making them look like their skeleton was poking out of their body.

[Elias Grimmswald. Bone Growth. Seat eighteen. Birthday December twenty-fifth. Considered for 1-T at rank thirty-five but rejected due to aptitude for spotlight Heroics and loud personality. Suffers from imposter syndrome, inferiority complex, OCD, ADHD. LOUD… wait a second.]

Grimmswald (Half-Japanese. The name came from the father, the quirk from the mother) stepped forward, crossing his arms with a click. "I see 1-B is far behind enough that they are forced to seek out unscrupulous methods to attempt to get a leg up on us!"

(He had analysed most of both classes, and they were honestly pretty much evenly matched, but he wasn't going to say that out loud. If the two of them had waited a week at most...)

Monoma scoffed. "Oh, do you fear for your seat at the top so much that a change such as this would put it at risk of being stolen, then?"

From somewhere within 1-B, he heard a groan.

"Not this again… hey, who's turn is it?" "Not mine! I thought it was Yano's!" 

Monoma stepped forward, glaring daggers at his A class contemporary, who was seemingly happy to return it. "You can consider yourself lucky that you are closer in the hallway than we are. My words would be far more likely to stir Guidance to the side of 1-A."

"Oh, are you so sure about that?"

"Of course, I-"

Izuku blinked as the stream of insults all but blended together. "Uhm…"

"This happens often enough. Their classmates will split them up eventually!"

Izuku turned to face the voice behind him. The figure was tall, had blonde hair, and was smiling brightly. He plumbed through his memories of the U.A students that he had done analysis from, before finally coming to an answer.

Togata [Lemillion. Permeation, Sir Nighteye's… was on track to being the tenth One for All Holder but that would have been bad probably, but we don't know for sure-] smirked as his statement proved correct.

Two tired looking boys, one from 1-A and another from 1-B, emerged, both beginning to pull the bickering pair apart.

"I was looking for you already, but it seems like my timing was perfect! Now, how about I get you out of this pickle, and we can chat? I've been meaning to talk to you for a while, Midoriya-kun! O-only if you want to, though! I know you're super busy!"

Well, it would tick off that socialisation thing Tsu brought up last week…

"A-alright, Togata-san."

"Wow, you even know my name! I should have known, what with your teacher. Now, come on! I know a few good hiding spots that I've learnt in my last few years! Well, you probably know them too, circa Nedzu, but still!"

He was… very excitable, at least. Izuku got the feeling he was shaking the hand of a very excitable Devil.

As Togata began to walk away, Izuku took one last look towards his bickering year-mates. "Uhm, I'll get my analysis to both classes soon! I just wanted to finish it completely before I sent it and gave someone an unfair advantage!"

Both boys went silent, looking at Izuku and then each other.

Izuku took the moment to turn around and book it after his Senpai. "O-okay! See you later!"

"DAMNIT!"

*WHAM*

"Woah, nice hit, bro!" "Totally manly!"

Kyouka winced, rubbing her hand. "Ow."

Cementoss lifted up her wrapped fist, looking at it closely. "Nothing's damaged. Probably just muscle strain, so you should take a break."

"Alright, sensei."

Kyouka flopped onto one of the chairs spread out around the room, taking a breather as Cementoss moved to help Shouda and Kirishima with their own exercise.

Tetsutetsu (who had some very creative parents, apparently) slid onto the chair next to hers, cracking open his lunchbox, revealing a sandwich made of more meat than bread. "You did really well today, Jirou! You're a natural."

She shrugged. "I learnt a few moves from Chatora - Tiger, during my internship. Figured I'd work on the ideas."

He grinned. "It was a good idea. You better keep coming!"

"Maybe."

The Boxing Club had been a shot in the dark, honestly. Kyouka needed to find some kind of non-1-T activity at the behest of Hound Dog and Tsu, and it was a style of combat that would match well with her quirk. She was fairly confident that Tooru would always have her beat in strength, but close up defence would be useful.

As for the people…

"WOO! YEAH! MANLY!"

Tetsutetsu whooped. "Hell yeah, bro!"

Kyouka sighed. At least Cementoss-sensei and Shouda were quiet.

The gentle sprinkle of water flowing onto plants was remarkably relaxing.

The U.S.J as a whole was, really, when you weren't fearing for your life.

Mezou turned to his teacher, flicking off the hose. "These plants are watered, sensei. Where can I assist next?"

Sensei flashed him a toothy grin and a thumbs up. "Great job, Shouji-kun. If you're free, can you come help me by the mountain zone? There's some more rocks that need clearing!"

Seeing Thirteen out of costume was… strange. They were a certainly a whole lot smaller, a least. They had swapped out their costume for a set of overalls, already peppered with dirt.

When he had seen the post asking for extra help in cleaning up the U.S.J (Supposedly a rather Sisyphean task), he had been happy to accept. Talking to Thirteen was nice, it was easy for him to do, and it got him extra credit. A win-win.

Mezou followed his cheerful teacher as they practically skipped through the grounds towards the mountain zone. Practically all evidence of the attack here had been removed. Instead, a few students were spread around the zone, using it as what was functionally a public park while not in use by the Hero course. Besides the, a number of maintenance crew members and robots were peppered throughout the building, prepping for the building to return to standard use.

As Thirteen walked, they held a finger to their chin. "Ketsubutsu has a session here in a few days… gotta clean that, and…"

As they mumbled, Mezou looked back to the fountain. In the centre of the area, now devoid of Villainy.

"I couldn't tell you… but we can hope."

"You're thinking about that mist Villain, aren't you?"

Thirteen looked to him with a concerned look on their face. Mezou simply shrugged.

"It's good thoughts, at least. I managed to save one… maybe we can save another."

Thirteen gave him a calm pat. "I suppose you're right. We've got all sorts of people looking for them, though. It doesn't have to be you."

It doesn't have to be you…

Mezou shrugged, following his teacher into the mountain zone.

That didn't mean he wouldn't try his best, anyways.

*CLUNK*

Thirteen snapped back over to near the centre of the fountain, where Tooru had been sent to sweep. "Is everything alright?"

A gloved hand rose from ground where Tooru lay. "I'm okay, I just tripped... and it feels like I ruined some kind of cool moment..."

Much to Togata's chagrin, Izuku did in fact know about the little alcove the pair ended up in, wedged between two shelves in the library.

Togata had laughed it off, saying something about how he had found it with a friend in their first year.

They were only allowed to bring food that didn't make crumbs into the library, so Izuku looked to his Senpai while holding onto his bunch of grapes. "So, w-what did you want to talk about, Togata-senpai?"

He could fairly easily guess, but that wouldn't be polite, so…

Togata smiled, but he looked a little nervous. "Now, this is gonna sound rather awkward… but I was under the expectation until a little bit ago that I would be seeing you at Sir Nighteye's agency."

Ah. That sounded about right.

He seemed to take Izuku's silence as a sign to continue. "See, Sir was super excited near the beginning of the year; talking about a student he wanted to send an internship offer too, from the new extra first year Hero course. It was fairly easy to guess that was you, especially after the fest, but one day he came to U.A to talk to Nedzu, and he came back super upset. After that, you never came to the agency during internship week, so…"

Alright… how to word this without revealing a national secret…

Izuku shrugged, looking to Togata with a small smile.

"Sir Nighteye and All Might had a… disagreement. Sir Nighteye said a few things he probably shouldn't have and I… intervened. Nedzu decided that said bias would lead to a rather unpleasant internship for me, s-so I went with him instead."

Izuku expected Togata to be upset, but his smile only dimmed briefly. "That tracks, unfortunately. Sir Nighteye is… steadfast, sometimes. I won't ask what the problem was, since he hasn't mentioned it to me, but I can at least say that I think he feels kind of bad, though."

Togata extracted a small envelope from his pocket, passing it to Izuku. "He gave this to me and asked me to give it to you. I wanted to talk to you before, but this gave me the excuse, you know?"

Izuku nodded, excepting the letter. "Thank you, Togata-San."

The smile returned, then. "Ah, call me Mirio! Now… you've gotta let me be the cool senpai, since we're here! You've got to have at least a few secrets I can lord over my friends with!"

It appeared that Mirio was pretty much state based, immediately flipping back into cheerfulness once the upsetting conversation was over.

Well, having a friend in a higher year would be useful, and Mirio was certainly a powerful ally to have.

(He had gotten a good look at the students of U.A. Mirio could probably beat most of them, which was scary, especially since he'd probably be smiling the whole time.)

Well, it wasn't like he had anything else on for the rest of lunch. He put the letter into his bag… and talked.

"Well, you know…"

"What are you working on there?"

To Hatsume's credit, the girl didn't flinch, not even looking away from her sketch. She did at least smile, though.

"Co-presenter! This is my… Hatsume Sniper rifle!"

Sen let out a low whistle. "Cool. You got time for a few minutes worth of a break?"

"Noooope."

Sen raised the coffee and noodles he had gotten from the cafeteria on the way here.

Hatsume's nose flared, and she grinned. "On second thought, maybe!"

She folded her blueprint, pushing it to the side of her cluttered desk before taking the food. Sen looked to Power Loader, who simply sighed and flashed him a thumbs up.

It was a good day, then.

"You seem chipper."

Hatsume immediately began drinking her coffee (Precooled to avoid her burning her tongue off when she did exactly that), grinning, before digging into her bag.

She pulled out a ticket, and Sen's eyes widened.

"Bloody hell, Hatsume… aren't these expensive as all hell?"

The girl nodded. "I've been saving up for ages. It'll be worth it, though… so many cool babies!"

Sen wondered how the girl got her money. The I-island expo was pricy, especially considering this one got her into the pre-show.

"You're going on your own? Neither of your parents?"

Hatsume shrugged at that, because of course she did. "Too busy. Not on my own, though! Principal Nedzu upgraded my ticket so I could go with him!"

Ah. That explains the pre-show. Probably when Nedzu wanted to go. If it meant Hatsume wasn't unsupervised it was probably a good thing, though.

"A few other U.A students are going too, so it's not like I'll be the only person my age."

Ah, right. A pretty big chunk of U.A's students were socialites, or whatever.

None of 1-T were going, as far as he knew. Izuku had mentioned he knew someone who was going, or something, but he hadn't read that message properly. Besides that, they had all agreed that they'd avoid going all too far away during the holiday. Enough activity had happened already.

He was going to hole up in his room and play games, mostly. Maybe they could rope Reiko into the Spinweldfrog raid group.

He'd wheedle Hatsume into taking pictures of the event later, though.

"More power to you, Hatsume. Have fun, or something. Now, you mentioned a Sniper rifle?"

Hatsume perked up at that, swallowing the last of her food. "That's my co-presenter! You see, I was working on the scope, and…"

A gentle wind flowed through the trees, supported by chipper birdsong.

Yui calmly worked through her math homework; book placed on her legs while she sat against a tall tree.

A small bird landed next to her, chirping lightly. She offered it a few seeds from the satchel next to her, which it happily ate before hopping towards the more interesting person.

A scant distance away, Kouda fed his own rapidly growing hoard of animals, chittering quietly away, speaking some unheard conversation with a fox.

He looked up at her, smiling lightly. She returned a simple thumbs up, and they both returned to their own tasks.

Hell yeah. This friendship stuff was easy.

*POKE*

"Yaoyorozu wins!"

Togaru huffed. "Damnit! That was way too close!"

Yaoyorozu smiled, taking off the helmet she had procured from U.A's equipment supply. "It was. Your swordplay abilities are exemplary!"

He sighed. "Thanks. It's a lot harder to fence then it is to just fight with my quirk, though…"

Momo nodded. "I suppose so. Practice in a limited environment should lead to better habits for the real thing, though, and you learnt the basics much faster than I did!"

"Weren't you like, four when you learnt it, though?"

"Uhm… I suppose so…"

Right, rich person. "Don't worry about it. It was fun!"

Maybe fencing wasn't for him, but it was enjoyable enough to attempt.

Mashirao, who had been acting as their referee, took their blades and helmets, moving to put them back were they had pulled them out from. They didn't have much more time left in the gym they had rented, after all.

the girl smiled, bowing. "Right! I don't get to fence all too often anymore."

Togaru returned the smile. "it's a little different from fighting with Razor Sharp. A lot more… structured."

Yaoyorozu took out her phone, looking at the time. "Perhaps we can do this again?"

Mashirao emerged from the room then, smiling. "It's good training. Next time Togaru's going to referee, though."

"Fine…"

Yaoyorozu chuckled lightly, but it petered out towards the end.

"Is something the matter, Yaoyorozu?"

Noticing that she was caught, Yaoyorozu scratched her neck. "Uhm… could I maybe talk to the two of you about something before you leave?"

Oh boy. 

Togaru nodded. "Sure."

He moved, sitting himself down on the gym bench, Mashirao and Yaoyorozu following suit.

Yaoyorozu fiddled nervously, taking a deep breath. "Asui tells me you are all working on talking to others more, yes?"

Togaru chuckled. "Yep. Don't want to turn into a group of mini-Eraserheads."

The visual clearly landed as the girl chuckled before returning to a brief sigh. "Well, you'll be happy to know it's… mostly working. The reception of your class has gone up considerably among my classmates; most of them believe you were playing up the brooding for the sports festival."

"I suppose that's true. A big part of our plan was banking on confusion."

"I see. That's all well and good, but… you all still seem to... strongly dislike one of my classmates?"

Ah. That's what this was about.

Mashirao answered for him. "I'd assume this is about Bakugou?"

She nodded. "Yes. I gather it isn't my business, so I won't ask, but… would it please you to know that he's doing better?"

Mashirao raised an eyebrow at that. "Hm?"

Yaoyorozu looked up. "After his win at the sports festival, he's been a lot quieter, and… nice? Yeah, nice."

"Huh. I guess Mashirao's kick in the ass did the job it was supposed to."

She shrugged. "He's been helping around a bunch. He talks about making up for past screw-ups a lot. I gather your frustration has something to with that?"

Mashirao nodded. "Not my story to tell, but I can give you a message to pass to him, if you'd like?"

Yaoyorozu nodded. "That would be appreciated. He tries to avoid approaching you, but I think he wants to."

Togaru's friend's face was serious. "Tell him he can seek us out when he thinks he's earned it. Then I'll fight him again."

Yaoyorozu nodded. "I'll relay that message."

"Thanks."

Well, that was… something. He did feel kind of sorry for Yaoyorozu, though. Trying to wrangle the nightmare selection of her classmates sounded hard. He'd need to get Izuku to slip a message through to Midnight-Sensei to make sure she wasn't working to hard.

(That was something good friends did, right? Probably. He always thought it was better to ask forgiveness than permission, though. And if nothing came of it, it was no skin off his back.)

Togaru clapped. "Alright! With that done, let's get out of here! Do you want to grab something to drink before you get on home, Yaoyorozu?"

The girl hesitated, still used to much more formal meetings by his guess, but she eventually nodded.

"Ok!"

(Mashirao claimed that Bakugou could seek them out, but the real test would be Togaru. He wasn't letting him in ten feet of Izuku before a whole lot had changed, if he could help it.)

"And then, when it was all looking intense… BOOM! Convoy bursts in and saves the day by knocking right into Sero! We managed to get the objective after that! Pretty cool, huh?"

Reiko nodded, paging through her textbook. "I see. Class 1-A's training exercises certainly sound much more… intense than ours."

Ashido chuckled, smiling from her own spot on the table. "Really? I figured all you being, like, ninjas would lead to some super cool fights!"

"I suppose that… is a descriptor for us. But I think it cancels out when everyone is."

"Ah! What about you, Shiozaki?"

The green haired girl (who had made a habit of appearing whenever Ashido sought Reiko out, for reasons unknown) smiled softly. "Our training is often rather chaotic. With the variety of quirks we have, things tend to go rather wild, but calmness inevitably returns. Vlad King is an excellent teacher."

Ashido flumped. "You make us sound so unprofessional!"

Reiko shook her head. "Unprofessional isn't exactly the right word to use. I'd much rather call 1-A… spirited. I'm sure your training will pay off."

Ashido cheered, taking a sip of her drink (Some bright smoothie mix, but she couldn't say for sure what the flavour was other than sugar). "Thanks! I've been training my acid super hard! Those robots are going to be DOOMED!"

Reiko raised an eyebrow. "Robots?"

Shiozaki nodded. "You haven't heard the rumours? It is believed that we will be combating robots again for our final practical exam for the trimester."

Reiko raised a finger to her chin, lowering her book. "It could be… but why would they repeat the same thing we did before? Would they not want us to do something that better demonstrated what we have learnt?"

"Huh…"

Ashido raised a hand, thinking quietly for a moment, before she practically flopped, her head falling into her hands.

"Aw, mannnnn…"

Shiozaki offered her a small pat, clearly unsure of what to say as she milled over the facts herself.

Reiko shrugged. "Perhaps it would be wise to practice for other possibilities. I am sure we can find a slot to use a gym for practice, should you wish to practice outside of your own classes…"

Instantly, both of them perked up.

Ashido grinned sharply. "OH, HELL YEAH! I wanna see That move you pulled off against me in the fest again! This is gonna be AWESOME!"

Shiozaki, meanwhile, smiled the same way as usual, but it was fairly obvious she was interested. "I suppose if shall have to attend as well… if only to make sure nothing… uncouth happens, of course. I shall claim victory… in combat. Yes."

Reiko chose to ignore the last comment, quickly typing a reminder into her phone (oh, her energy in that mobile game was recharged- right, you don't do that in front of people. Later.), before looking back up. "Alright. I'll make sure to ask sensei."

Ashido whooped out a "Hell yeah!", matched by an equal in energy smile from Shiozaki, somehow.

Woah… is that what it's like to be Asui? So high energy…

The class sat in 'the circle', chatting quietly. They were supposed to have gone home by now, but they had stayed back to discuss some 'socialisation thing' that had been going on for the last two weeks that Shouta hadn't really been attention to, instead crawling into his sleeping back in the corner of the room.

(He was lying, of course. He had been watching the whole thing. He was glad they were getting out a little more. Despite the jokes thrown in his direction, the world did not, in fact, need twelve more Eraserheads.)

Eventually, Asui took control of the discussion again. "Well, in the end, I'd say we've all successfully completed our goal."

"Whoop!" "See, mom, I can talk to strangers!"

Asui presumably smiled, even if Shouta couldn't see it. "Of course. Don't drop your newly found extracurriculars now, though."

"Fine…."

"Good. Now, what did we learn, Kero?"

"That friendship is magic or something?" And that was Shinsou.

Asui laughed (Dry, yet full of Mirth). "Sure. I am of the opinion that I'd like to never consistently eat in the school cafeteria ever again if I can avoid it, Kero. Not worth it."

"Exactly!" "I can agree on that much." "I wanna go back to eating outside again! It's so relaxing!"

Shinsou cleared his throat. "Achem. Now that we've successfully built a decent reputation of being nice on occasion, I'd say we need to go be weird and cryptic again to balance it out."

Midoriya, of all people, answered, to Shouta's surprise. "No one made friends with Monoma, right? Maybe we can mess with him? Oh, and that one from 1-A..."

A chorus of agreements reverberated through the class. As a teacher, he should probably have said something, but the kids could self-govern. Maybe. If not, it would be extremely funny to have Kan try and fail to complain about it.

"Good idea, Boss. But first… food."

A moment later, the class rose, shifting their desks back into position and grabbing their bags.

"I want Sushi!" "Oh, good idea. There's a good place close to the station we can stop at, save us a trip?" "No complaints here!"

A moment later, they were gone, and Shouta could stand up.

They managed to completely forget he was there. That would be an extra awareness training session for them.

(Good kids. Problem Children, but good kids nonetheless.)

A little earlier:

Izuku's room had changed a lot over the last year. It was a whole lot less yellow, for one.

He had ditched a whole lot of All Might merch. None of it was overly expensive, of course, it wasn't like his mother could afford the ultra-expensive stuff, but he had managed to sell most of it in a bulk batch. He had kept a few items, sure, but it felt weird to own merch of a guy who sometimes popped into the house for dinner and a chat.

(Yagi was… cool. As All Might, he was a bit of a goofball who did his best to teach, but as Yagi, though… He was oh so very human, in all the ways the Symbol of peace wasn't. When the time came to reveal that form to the world… he hoped his classmates would like to get to know the Hero as himself.)

The empty space had been fairly easy to fill. Other pieces of Hero merch, diagrams, a second bookshelf to store his nonfiction… but the most important part of his room now was his picture wall.

It was looking a little empty at the moment, but in comparison to before?

A picture of himself and his mother, one of him and Togaru eating a meal (It was a shoddily taken photo by his friend, but he cherished it), pictures from the sports festival…various other outings…

Looking at them reminded him that he was part of something now.

He was… happy, and he was going to be a Hero.

No matter what.

He stopped his reminiscing, leaning forward in his chair. He opened his drawer, pulling out the letter he had received the day before but hadn't gotten around to reading.

He understood on a surface level why Sir Nighteye had resorted to physical means of sending it. It felt much more… impactful than sending an email.

With nothing better to do, he tore it open and began to read.

"Dear Midoriya Izuku…"