Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The blaring of my alarm pierced my ears, shocking me awake. I groggily lifted my head up and squinted at my alarm clock, the numbers flashing on the digital screen reading 7:00. I groaned and buried my head in my pillow. It was too early for this. But after a minute, I got up. I did have work today after all. Need money to survive in this day and age.

I sat up, reaching to rub the sleep out of my eyes, but something was wrong. My hands were pink. That was weird. Must have been more tired than I thought. Need to go to sleep earlier. But as I looked around blearily, I noticed something else. This wasn’t my room. It looked like it belonged to a teenage girl, with pink and black as the main colors, sometimes striped together. Honestly, pretty tasteful, if a bit gaudy.

I sighed as I observed. This seemed like something Anne would pull. This elaborate kind of prank was up her alley. But the sigh was off, higher pitched. I looked down. Not only were my hands pink, the rest of me was too. Oh, and I’d become a girl. That got me stumbling out of bed, which I just now had noticed was softer  and nicer than my own.

There was a hand mirror on the desk (it was a feat I could see it with how messy it was), which I snatched up quick. What I saw was certainly interesting. Explained why I was pink, too. Reflected in the mirror, eyes half lidded but still distinct, and hair fluffed and messy from sleep, was Mina Ashido, a favorite character of mine from My Hero Academia. Huh. I pinched my arm, and yep. Not a dream.

I shook my head a bit as I thought about it. If I was in Mina’s body, that meant I was in MHA’s world, which didn’t exactly mean good things for me.

Okay then, first things first. Gotta find the date. Need to know what I’m working with here. My-Mina’s phone was sitting on the side table near the bed, and I picked it up and clicked it on. Luckily, the lock screen showed the date. February 19^th. One week before the UA entrance exam. I shook my head again, confused. Where had that come from? The series had never given specific dates like that, so that was strange. I just knew it no feeling of intrusion or anything. Weird.

That was something to check later. I needed to get to school, or else people would be worried, and I wasn’t keen on exposing myself. The day had been listed as Saturday, and I knew that was a school day in Japan. I could figure everything out later. I started toward the closet before I noticed a school uniform folded neatly near my bed, a note sitting atop it:

You left this on the floor yesterday, So I put it here, so you don’t forget it. Your father and I will be gone this morning, so make sure you get to school on time.

Love you,

~Mom

P.S: I made breakfast and left some for you, sweetie. It’s in the fridge

-Dad

Okay, that made things a bit easier. I grabbed the uniform and did my best to change quickly, a bit embarrassed. I did catch one weird thing though, that made me stop a minute. A tattoo. It was ink black and in the shape of an eye, located on my shoulder. Under it were ten thick black lines. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t something Mina normally had. Maybe something to do with why I’m in Mina’s body? I shook it off and continued changing.

Mina’s backpack was easily located as I exited the bedroom. Breakfast was easy enough to find and warm up, and surprisingly good too, guess tastebuds are pretty different. Bathroom routine was done quick enough, hair was brushed to the best of my ability (Honestly not much to do, seems like Mina’s hair took the fluffy shape naturally).

I checked my-Mina’s phone. 7:30. Might as well get going. I’m not that close to the school, so it might take a while. I need to work out how to act like Mina around others too. Really don’t want people thinking I’m crazy. So I took a step out the door, wondering just how I got into this mess.

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 I forgot how much I hated school. Before, it was because I struggled for a good while before I met Evan and Anne, but now it was simply because I was bored out of my mind. This was freshman stuff, so I already knew it all. That left me with little to do, and so the day dragged. The only good part was lunch, since I could at least socialize.

Acting as Mina wasn’t too difficult, since I just had to up the energy a bit, and I was an actor, so I didn’t think they were worried or tipped off that something was different. Still, it was a welcome relief from the boring hell that was normal classes.

The end couldn’t come soon enough, and I almost bounced out the door before it hit me that this was Japan. So cleaning it was. Honestly not bad, let me work off the restless energy that had built up, and a little socializing. Had to dodge a hang out offer with the excuse of preparing for UA’s entrance exam, but it was done. Now I could use the next day to plan, or at least do my best to.

But as I walked out the door, I spotted a familiar face. I grinned and ran up to him, calling after him.

“Hey, Kirishima, right?”

The black-haired boy turned, and yep, definitely Kirishima. He looked unsure though.

“Yeah. What’s goin’ on Ashido? There something you wanted?”

I smiled back at his question.

“I heard you applied for UA’s hero course, am I right? You wanna be a hero?”

Kirishima uncertain look turned determined at that.

“Yeah, I don’t want to be weak, like what happened before. I won’t regret anything anymore! I’ll save people just like Crimson Riot!”

He finished that off by pumping his fist up before he stopped and looked a bit embarrassed. I let a small laugh escape as I patted his shoulder.

“No need to act all embarrassed, that was a great answer. With that kind of enthusiasm, I’m sure you’ll be a great hero!”

He blushed a little, color not unlike his future choice of hair dye.

“Thanks Ashido.”

He shook his head before he spoke again.

“But anyways, what’s that got to do with why you ran up to me?”

Perfect. I gave him a sly look.

“Wanna meet up to train this week? I know it’s a bit short notice, but we could get it in if we plan.”

He looked a little surprised, and stuttered a moment before responding.

“I, uh, sure. But why?”

I shrugged.

“Why not? We’re both trying for it, and if we get in it could be fun to have someone we know. Plus, we might be able to help each other. Couldn’t hurt to train with another person.”

Kirishima looked a bit hesitant before he smiled back at me and said,

“Maybe tomorrow? My parents would be okay with that.”

I gave him the finger guns and winked. Too much? Maybe, but hey, go with the classics.

“Gotcha Kiri. We need to communicate so,”

I stopped, pulled out a piece of paper, and scribbled down my number.

“Here’s my number. Text me soon and we can work all the little things out. See ya!”

I shoved the paper into his hands before running off. I really wanted to look back and see his face, but I decided against it. With how he is he might think it was a prank or something if I did that.

That was fun, but the smile slipped off my face as the circumstances actually hit me. What the hell was I going to do? I was in a fictional world, with seemingly no idea how I got there, no access to my friends, and to top it all off, I was in someone else’s body and I wasn’t sure what had happened to the actual Mina.

I needed a plan, but those were always so hard. Evan was better at those than I was. Gah! I wish he was here. Then again, it’d probably take him longer to stop freaking out.

I shook my head. Well he wasn’t here, so I had to do something. I had knowledge of the future; I could do a lot. But where to start? Ugh, this was hard!

I shook my head again, more violently this time, trying to get off that thought train. I could worry about that later. Now I needed to get through interacting with Mina’s parents. Unless of course, I was so lucky as to have them be gone for the day.

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It turned out I was not that lucky. Mina’s parents were home, and I was forced to interact at the very least with her dad. I had to say, some things made sense now.

Mina’s dad was a certified himbo, tall and pretty well built, with blue skin and purple hair. He was also pretty cheery and bright for an adult, never seeming to get upset, and always having a joke or story on hand. He seemed like a pretty loving father, so that made sense.

Mina’s mom seemed the sterner type, the one who would keep the other from acting impulsively, and dole out the punishments when needed. It wasn’t that she was harsh, but she was a bit more serious than Mina’s dad. She was also pretty normal looking, a tan skinned average height woman with shoulder length hair. The only striking thing was the shade of her hair, a bright, loud red. It seemed Mina took a lot more after her dad in terms of looks, with the most prominent feature she got from her mom was her eye color, a golden yellow, though the  black sclera came from her dad.

Dinner was fine, Mina’s dad doing the cooking as he joked around with me and Mina’s mom, who was writing something as she sat at the table. I matched him joke for joke, and it was honestly fun. I had taken a lot of improv classes so it was an easy flow, and one I suspected was similar with Mina. Neither parent seemed to notice a difference, though that wasn’t surprising with Mina’s dad. He didn’t seem the observant type. I must have been a better actor than I thought to fool Mina’s mom though. The woman seemed sharp, which is the reason I left as soon as I had a believable opportunity.

Once I was safely in Mina’s room once more, and changed to some casual clothes, I sat down at her desk. Lucky for me, she had an extra notebook. I pulled it out, flipped it open, and paused.

What do I do? I’m not a plan guy. I tapped the pen against the desk for a bit before I thought of something. I started to write immediately.

Instead of a concrete plan, I wrote what was best seen as a series of goals. I made sure to rate them by how likely I thought I could succeed at them by emoticons, just because:

Help Kirishima build confidence (Likelihood- 😊 )

Help Shinso get into 1-A (Likelihood- 😊 )

Prevent USJ Incident (Likelihood- ☹ )

Prevent Mr. Aizawa’s injury in USJ Incident (Likelihood- :I)

Capture Shigaraki (Likelihood- ☹ )

Get Kurogiri his memories back (Likelihood- :I)

Prevent Ingenium’s Injury (Likelihood- ☹ )

Help capture Stain (Likelihood- :I)

Help Midoriya develop FC and SS early (Likelihood: 😊 )

Prevent Bakugou’s kidnapping (Likelihood- :I)

Capture any LOV member (Likelihood-:I)

Stop Camp incident (Likelihood- ☹ )

Stop Kamino Incident (Likelihood- :I)

Stop Nighteye’s death (Likelihood- 😊 )

Save Eri (Likelihood-:I)

Kill Punch Overhaul (Likelihood- 😊 )

Stop MLA (Likelihood-:I)

Stop PLF formation (Likelihood-:I)

I finished after about thirty minutes. Looking over the list, it was comprehensive, but I had no idea where to start. I sighed. This was going to be a headache. A lot of work had to be done, but it needed doing.

I flipped to a new page. Had to start somewhere. I got a lot to do, and so little time to do it.

Chapter Text

To say finding myself in a blank white void was surprising would be an understatement. The last thing I remembered was my head hitting the desk while writing, my “planning” having bored me to the point of just passing out. So this was probably a dream.

I looked around, trying to see what this was. The entire place was a stark, almost clinical white, like some sort of hospital room or lab or something. To be honest, it was kinda hurting my eyes. I brought a hand up to shield them, only to see my hand, was, well, my hand. Looking down, it was my body too. 5’10”, tanned skin, black hair. Even my clothes were familiar, one of my favorite t-shirts along with a pair of sweatpants I had owned since high school. Huh. Well it is a dream.

My onceover was interrupted as I heard a sound behind me. Sounded like a girl, panicked and yelling. The voice was familiar. I turned to see the form of Mina Ashido, pounding on one of the walls and yelling incoherently. She seemed really scared. Shit, hope she wasn’t aware the entire day. That would put my day into a whole new perspective of suck.

I needed to talk to her, calm her down, especially since she was pretty loud. So, as evenly as I could, I made my way over to her. Getting closer, it was clear she was in a lot of distress. She was shaking as she tried to pound on the wall, and her yelling was slightly hoarse. She still hadn’t noticed me, so I did my best to stay at least a small distance away. Unwanted contact right now would not fly.

I cleared my throat loudly and she stopped for a minute, turning to see me. I waved and offered her a small smile.

“Hi.”

Her eyes went wide, and she sprang up immediately, looking surprised.

“Who are you? How’d you get in here?”

I shrugged as I replied “Name’s Jake. And I know about as much as you do.”

She drooped a bit at that. Guess she was pretty desperate for answers.

“Oh, dang. I hadn’t seen anyone here, so I thought…”

I decided to try and finish for her.

“If anyone did come here, they would know something?”

She perked up as she responded “Yeah, pretty much. But I guess I wasn’t that lucky.”

I smirked. Right on target. Still got it Jake. I tried not to look too smug as I kept going.

“You been here long?”

She shook her head.

“I haven’t been keeping track, but I don’t think so. I got here a short bit ago. I guess I panicked and started trying to get out, and that’s how you found me. But you already knew that part. But something kinda scary happened just before.”

I raised an eyebrow. I had a bad feeling about where this was going.

“What happened?”

She continued, beginning to look less sad.

“Well, I woke up this morning like usual, but when I tried to move, I couldn’t. And then my body started moving on its own. It was like I was a passenger in a car, but it was my body.”

So she was awake. That’s not great. I grimaced, but prompted her to keep going.

“What happened then?”

She thought for a minute, before responding.

“Well, whatever was controlling my body went about my day as if it were me. Heck, it even fooled my parents. Then when it got to my room, it took out a notebook and started writing weird stuff, before my head hit the desk. Then I woke up here, and then you showed up…like ten minutes later.”

She seemed to have calmed after finishing, sitting down onto the floor of the room and sighing.

“I’m not even sure this place is real though.”

Okay, so she knows some of it. I decided to jumpstart her realization.

“You think this is a dream then?”

She nodded almost automatically as she looked deep in thought.

“Yeah, I mean it makes no real sense. One minute I’m watching my limbs move without my control, and the next my head hits a desk, things go black, and then I’m here.”

Mina stopped and her head turned slowly toward me, her eyes wide. I simply stared back; eyebrow raised expectantly. She didn’t disappoint.

“Wait, if this is a dream, and I’m dreaming, how are you here? Are you even real?”

I shrugged.

“I mean, how can any of us know if we’re real? I don’t think I’m fake.”

Best to just let her finish her train of thought to the end of line. Her eyes got even wider as I could practically see the wheels turning in her head.

“If you’re real, and you’re in my dream, that means you must be in my head, and if you’re in my head then…”

She gasped.

“Were you the one walking around in my body?”

I gave her another shrug and a slight smirk. She really caught on quick.

“Yeah, you got it. Though I do want to head things off and say I didn’t try to steal your body or anything.”

Mina glared, her eyes portraying skepticism.

“And why should I believe you?! You could be some sicko who gets kicks from taking girl’s bodies!”

I gave her a look that said ‘seriously?’

“Did I do anything weird like that the entire day?”

She faltered.

“Well, no, but- “

“And remember when I woke up in your body? How surprised I seemed? Did those seem like the actions of some sick body snatcher?”

She thought for a minute, before nodding hesitantly.

“No, I guess not. But then how did you get in my body?”

I gave her yet another shrug.

“Like I said before, I know as much as you. One minute I’m going to sleep in my apartment in America, the next I’m waking up, pink, in Japan, and in a different world.”

The last part must have grabbed her as her eyes went wide again.

“Different world?”

I sighed. This was going to take a while.

“Yeah. Should probably put this out front. I’m from a different world. This world was a manga and an anime where I’m from.”

Silence for a bit.

“Seriously?”

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 It took a long time to really explain everything, and even then, I’m not even sure she believed me, but eventually Mina wasn’t outright disbelieving, at least. She looked curious.

“So that stuff you were writing, those were things that happen in the future?”

I nodded.

“Yeah. Was trying to make a plan, but I’m not great at that. So I passed out. Probably why we’re here anyways.”

Mina laughed at that.

“Yeah, I’m not great at plans either. Mom always says I got more from Dad than her.”

She sighed heavily as she lay back onto the carpet. Honestly it had taken a bit before we had discovered we could change the look. Right now it was some mix of Mina’s room and my apartment. Honestly wasn’t too bad, the calmer blues of my stuff mixing okay with the louder colors of Mina’s.

“So what do we do then? I mean, neither of us are really that great at thinking ahead, so we might mess things up.”

I simply sighed back.

“Not sure. Guess we’ll just have to wing it until we can figure something out.”

Mina snickered.

“Great plan.”

I gave her a look and smirked.

“Like you had a better one.”

She gasped in mock offense.

“How dare you imply I of all people wouldn’t have a better plan. And how dare you be right!”

We both ended up laughing at that. It was comforting to know I at least got along with Mina. Would mean I wasn’t really alone here. Even if it did really suck to be away from my friends. Especially Evan. He has to be freaking out by now. Can only imagine how he’d handle something like this.

Eventually we just stayed in silence for a bit before I spoke up again.

“So, I guess we’re working together then?”

Mina sat up and nodded, giving me a wide smile.

“Yeah, I mean can’t get rid of you, and you seem cool. So let’s go!”

We shared a high five before plopping back down. Mina piped up after another short beat of silence.

“Wait! I never gave you my name!”

I rolled my head to look at her, unimpressed.

“I know your name, Ashido. I was in your body for the entire day, remember?”

It took a minute of embarrassed silence before she responded.

“Oh. Right.”

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Okay, you can do this! I believe in you! You’re the best!

‘Appreciate the encouragement, Ashido, but you’re going to distract me.’

Fiiine. I’ll just lend you my encouragement silently.

Mina’s voice in my head was certainly not something I had expected after returning from the ‘dreamscape’ as we decided to call it, but I wasn’t bad, really. But it could be a distraction, especially in school. And I really didn’t need a distraction when I was about to spar with Kirishima.

The future red head had shown me the place he had been training at, and boy did I find where he got the whole manly thing from. The place reeked of testosterone, and honestly it was a bit weird being stared at, but it did have a wide, open place we could spar, so I could tolerate it, even if it did smell like stale sweat. Besides, Mina didn’t have a place to match so…

Hey, it’s not my fault Mom signed me up for an all-girl dance place and not a gym!

‘Speaking of dance, did you practice fighting at all, or just dancing?’

A bit of both. I tried to kind of mix them together, you know?

‘Good to know then.’

Kirishima seemed almost excited as he took his place, looking over to me.

“So, uh, how do you wanna do this?”

I shrugged.

“How about we start off no quirks, see how that goes?”

He nodded, and took a simple ready stance.

“Makes sense. You ready then?”

I nodded and gave him a lazy smile as I took a stance of my own.

“Come at me.”

No surprise, but Kirishima’s aggression did catch me off guard. He rushed forward, throwing his all into his first hit. Luckily for me, I dodged, instinct taking over as I moved with grace away from his fist. I followed up by shoving him forward, causing his already off momentum from his aggressive swing to go all the way forward and causing him to stumble. He recovered quickly, and I smirked at him.

“You gotta be careful with those big swings. They leave you open if they miss.”

This time we both raced forward to clash, and we met in the middle. Honestly not my best idea. I had overestimated my own strength and was thrown back by the collision, sliding and trying to regain my balance, which I managed to do relatively quickly. Kirishima grinned at that.

“Come on, come at me again!”

I grinned. Oh, you’ll see.

The next few minutes were a blur as it felt as if I had a hand guiding my actions. Kirishima was strong and surprisingly fast, but I was definitely more agile. I leveraged that by dodging and trying my best to redirect him, use the momentum of his hits against him. It was a lot more fun than I thought.

The match ended in more of a draw, both of us breathing heavily before collapsing and sitting down for a water break. I smiled at Kirishima.

“You know, you’re pretty good Kiri.”

He smiled at that, pumping his fist as he spoke enthusiastically.

“You’re great too! You’re so fast, and the way you dodged was so graceful! I’m glad we did this. I think we both have got a lot to learn, but we’ll definitely pass the exam!”

I grinned right back. That kind of enthusiasm was a good sign.

“That’s the kind of spirit I like to see! I believe in you too!”

He smiled softly.

“Thanks. I’ve been trying to be more confident recently, different from how I was before. Still a work in progress though. If I pass, I want to have a real fresh start, be someone new.”

I thought for a minute before I piped up.

“I mean if it helps your self-esteem, what if you dyed your hair? Something louder? I’ve heard a change in looks can give you more confidence, so maybe that would help.”

Kirishima looked like he was thinking for a minute before he smiled at me.

“That’s a good idea. What about red? That’s completely different from black!”

I put my finger to my lips and grinned at him.

“Whatever you think. Just remember not to hide from the past too much.”

He nodded.

“Alright. You ready to get back to training?”

I jumped up.

“Yeah! Let’s go again! Hope you’re ready to get your butt whooped.”

He laughed.

“We’ll see about that.”  

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It turned out I would not in fact be whooping Kirishima that much. He was a good fighter, and got the better of me a fair few times. I would blame it on adjusting to a new body, but that’s a lie, and I’m not a fan of lies. I learned a lot about how my situation worked from the training (For instance that I had Mina’s muscle, memory, and in a combat situation tended to make me move on instinct), and we parted way after making plans to hang out after the entrance exam.

Speaking of that, the week blurred together and before I knew it, it was time. Mina’s parents sent me off with encouragement and a good bit of hugging, and I was off to the train station. Lucky for me, Mina didn’t live too far away from UA, so just one train and I would be there with some breathing room. I was anxious to get there, my head buzzing with excitement, though I really couldn’t tell whose.

That had been discovered the second day. Mina and I’s emotions could sometimes bleed into each other if one or the other felt too strongly. Guess it wasn’t too surprising considering we were almost sharing a brain. It was still a little weird to feel something and know it was from someone else. Then again, maybe it could be both of us. Or from me. The irritating thing about it was it could be hard to tell where something came from, since, well, both of us were feeling it.

So I waited it out, doing my best to calm down. And it was on the train platform, practically bouncing on my feet, that I spotted a familiar head of blonde hair. My eyes widened and I made my way over the short distance between us. There, standing casually with a grin on his face, was Denki Kaminari.

You know him?

‘Ashido, may I introduce one of our future classmates.’

Him, really? He doesn’t seem like much.

‘Appearances can be deceiving.’

I walked up to him, smile on my face. Best to just go for it. Kirishima said he’d meet me at UA, so I’m alone for now. Best try to make some friends.

“Hey, what’s up?”

 Kaminari turned toward me, a bit confused.

“Uh, who are you? Not that I mind a pretty girl talking to me at all.”

I laughed at that.

“I guess I should take that as a compliment. I saw you and just decided why not talk? You were alone and so was I.”

He chuckled as he looked around.

“I guess that makes sense. My name’s Denki Kaminari, you?”

I mock bowed as I replied “Mina Ashido, good to make your acquaintance Kaminari!”

I straightened up after doing so, giving him a curious look.

“So where are you headed this morning?”

He pumped his fist, seeming excited.

“I’m headed to take the entrance exam for UA’s Hero Course!”

I gasped and jumped up and down, before finally saying “Me too!”

Just as he was about to say something in reply, the train arrived. He smiled at me as he gestured to the door.

“Wanna talk on the train then?”

I grinned as I stepped on.

“Nothing better to do.”

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The train ride was filled with chatter as I matched Kaminari beat for beat. It was honestly a fun test, though honestly it was a bit weird I could keep the energy going this long. I chalked it up to the excitement of today as we reached the gates of UA, where I quickly saw Kirishima, looking a bit nervous. I threw caution to the wind as I raced up to him, making him jump as I shouted out.

“Kirishima! What’s up?!”

“Geez Ashido! You scared me!”

I laughed and punched him in the shoulder.

“Really? Guess you still need to get used to me then because I’m going to do that agai. It’s really funny seeing you jump!”

Kirishima decided to give me a half-hearted glare in response. Kaminari approached us and piped up, seeming curious.

“You know this guy, Ashido?’

I turned, just remembering that Kaminari had been walking with me.

“Oh, right. Kaminari, this is my friend Kirishima.”

Kaminari gave an enthusiastic wave back as he responded.

“Really, nice to meet ya man. Me and Ashido met while we were waiting for the train.”

Kirishima gave me a look that said ‘only you’ before he held out his hand for a handshake, returning Kaminari’s smile.

“Good to meet you too. I guess I really shouldn’t be surprised, Ashido’s great at making friends.”

There was more said, some banter that I missed due to someone catching my eye. A large mane of purple hair, always looking perpetually wild. Hitoshi Shinsou. He was walking in at the same time as us, and brushed past quickly, though something seemed…off. The mischievous smirk didn’t really seem very Shinsou, but he did sort of share Eraserhead’s smiles, so maybe he wasn’t trying to look that way.

Lemme guess, another ‘future classmate?’

‘Not exactly. It’s a bit complicated.’

Sounds like you’ve got a fun story for that! Tell me!

‘Maybe. I guess it all starts with this exam, so- ‘

My explanation was cut off as a hand tapped me on the shoulder. Making me jump.

“Ashido, you okay? You spaced out and just sort of stared blankly for a bit.”

Kirishima and Kaminari looked a bit worried. I shook my head at them and tried to smile reassuringly.

“I’m fine. Guess I just got caught up looking at all the people here. There are a lot of students just like us who wanna get in, so we have to try our hardest.”

Kirishima agreed, enthusiastically pumping his fist.

“Yeah! A man always puts one hundred percent into everything he does, so let’s get in there and show ‘em what we can do!”

Kaminari, his hand behind his head, laughed a little, grinning.

“Man, you guys sure are high energy, aren’t you?”

I shook my head at that, though that comment did strike me. This was a bit weird for me. But I played it off cooly.

“Nah, I just have to match Kiri here. He’s the enthusiastic one.”

Kirishima looked a bit confused at that, but still seemed a bit grateful for the compliment. Kaminari in turn looked a bit skeptical, but didn’t pry.

“If you say so. Shouldn’t we go in? Don’t wanna miss the exam just because we were talking. I don’t really want to tell my mom I missed another test.”

I nodded, and started to walk in, hearing Kirishima and kaminari follow, though just before we got in, I did get a glimpse of Uraraka saving Midoriya.

That seemed important to you, I guess they’re also future classmates. I’ve gotta be right this time.

‘Believe it or not, the green kid is the protagonist, and arguably one of the most powerful quirk users ever’

There was silence for a moment, at least in my head, as we saw Midoriya sputtering in front of Uraraka.

He seems like a dork.

‘That’s pretty spot on’

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I hate school. The UA written exam was in no way easier than the practical, and in fact I’d argue it was worse. Sure English was fine, I was American after all, but then math came and wrecked that. And Mina was no help there, her knowledge even more limited than mine.

Uh, carry the four there? Or is it multiply? Maybe divide it?

I really should have paid more attention in high school.

Surprisingly, the slog that was the math portion gave way, and I surprisingly found the Japanese section to somehow be less arduous than the last. Sure, it tested the limits of the surface memories I had, but Mina’s coaching helped, though having a teenager have to help me through a test in a grade I had passed years ago was not exactly good on my ego, not that I had much of one to begin with. Plus, I wasn’t sure even she knew all that much, but I couldn’t truly dispute her information.

What seemed like an eternity was actually around three hours, after which it was time for the practical exam. The show and manga both stated that there were hundreds in the auditorium, but it was really understating how that looked in real life. I nearly got lost looking for a seat, but luckily Kirishima saw me, and Kaminari’s pretty bright hair along with his waving managed to help me find them.

Present Mic was…not as cool in person. Not that I didn’t like him, but his voice did leave me with a light headache. Luckily, I was able to focus enough to get the gist, even if I already knew.

Robots? That seems like a piece of cake! We can melt em’ easily.

‘Yeah, seems easy. But we should also find ways to help people out and earn rescue points’

Present Mic didn’t say anything about rescue points

‘Supposed to be a secret. Lucky for us, I know the future.’

Isn’t that kinda cheating though?

‘As our future homeroom teacher would say, it’s only logical to use any resources you have at your disposal. Knowledge counts there.’

Huh. He seems interesting.

‘Not the word I would use, but I guess that also works.’

I unfortunately was not in a zone with either of my new friends, so I ended up sitting alone, though not for long. A set of floating clothes sat down beside me, and we got to talking on the way. It was a good distraction, and soon we were in front of the gates leading to the ground.

I was really glad Mina already had a good set of athletic clothes, but that was about it. No real weapons or anything I could use, though they weren’t really needed. I looked out over the gathered crowd. Aside from Hagakure, who I guess waved when I saw her, it was hard to tell. I didn’t notice much in the way of familiarity… aside from an explosive blonde set of hair.

‘Oh. That’s…not great.’

Blondie? He does seem a bit intense, but what’s the problem?

‘Let’s just stay out of his way. Don’t want to die.’

Must be charming if that’s what you’re saying about him.

I shook my head as I readied myself, stretching and prepping, getting myself ready. This was it. Make or break. Evan would probably have a route all set up, a set of steps to get where he needed to go, but me?

The voice of Present Mic shouted out, signaling the start of the exam.

I was just going to have to improvise.

Chapter Text

I expected a lot out of the top hero school in Japan’s Entrance exam, but for it to breeze by and yet be the most exhausting thing I’d ever experienced was not. The entire thing felt like a blur of movement, crunching and melting metal, Mina’s advice, and pure adrenaline. By the end, I felt like I could run a marathon, but once I started to slow down, all the energy seemed to leave my body and I felt like I would pass out then and there. It took all my remaining will not to pass out then and there. Even Mina, who had been very talkative during the test, was silent now. Honestly, I think she could have just passed out before I did.

The walk back to my house was a haze, like fog in my brain. I barely even acknowledged Kirishima, which probably made him worry, the good guy that he was, but I only really had one priority: get to bed. And as soon as I did, I was out like a light.

It took a monumental effort to wake up the next day, let alone actually go to school. The strange feeling of exhaustion followed me through the entire week after the entrance exam. It did concern people, and while the teachers wrote it off, Mina’s friends didn’t, especially Kirishima. But I managed to wave them off by telling them it was because I wasn’t feeling well. I had to miss a dance practice because of it too, though the course was ending soon. Overall, not a fun week.

Mina was pretty quiet for most of it, and she only really got back to normal around Thursday. I finally got back to full function on Friday (though I was left with some pretty big eyebags weirdly enough), much to the relief of everyone around me, including Mina’s parents, who had been pretty worried about me-her. The only good thing about the experience was I didn’t have to be acting for a while. But it was back to it soon enough. Luckily though, it was only two days, and I had a day to relax once school was done on Saturday. As soon as I got home (Empty, guess Mina’s parents were working a bit later, not unusual), I let the mask drop.

Slouching a bit, I went to Mina’s room to change. Mina’s wardrobe was… not really my thing for casual wear, so I used a (fairly generous) allowance to get a few things, which I now wore as I hopped onto the couch and turned the tv on. Gray sweatpants and an oversized green t-shirt were easy enough to find and buy, and that was what I wore. I sat there for a while, just relaxing and watching tv, before I got a text from Kirishima.

Rock Dude: Can I come over to your house for a bit?

That was strange. We had hung out for a while yesterday, and we had planned to meet up next week to talk, so for Kirishima to text me out of the blue was a bit weird (Kaminari did it all the time, after we had exchanged numbers, mostly to spam me memes). I looked at it for a minute before shrugging. Why not?

Acid Girl: Sure. Head on over.

I heard a knock on my door ten minutes later. Hopping, up I made my way to the door. I didn’t bother changing my behavior, this was Kirishima after all. He could handle the difference. Swinging the door open, there as expected, was my shark toothed friend. With a letter clutched in his hand.

Ooh, did he get his UA letter?

‘Probably. It looks a lot like the letter we found on the doorstep today.’

Do you think he wants you guys to open the letters together?

I pondered that question as I gestured inside.

“Come on in.”

Kirishima looked me up and down, looking a little bewildered. Sure he too had changed to some casual clothes, a red t-shirt and some shorts, but I looked for all the world like I hadn’t left the house when I had been at school about two hours ago.

“Are you okay Ashido?”

I looked myself up and down before giving a simple thumbs up.

“Yeah. Now are you going to come in or are we going to talk on my porch?”

Kirishima started before he shook himself off and stepped inside, putting his shoes with the rest as I led him through the dining room and into the family room.

“Mom and Dad are working late today, so we have an empty house for a while.”

I hopped onto the couch, sitting cross legged as I gestured to a nearby chair, which Kirishima sat down in, letter still clutched in his hand.

You sit weird.

What, this? It’s really comfortable

Yeah, but it’s still weird

Ignoring Mina, I looked to Kirishima and leaned back into the couch.

“So what’s the problem? You came here in quite the hurry.”

Kirishima shifted before he showed me that the letter he was holding had a UA seal on it. I gasped in mock shock.

“You got your letter? I did too! Did you look at it yet?”

He shook his head.

“No, I was nervous. My mom wasn’t home and I wanted to see it soon, so…”

I finished the thought.

“You wanted to open it with a friend. I’m flattered. Wait just a minute though.”

I jumped up and ran to my room, and looked around. Where had I put it?

The dresser? No, I think it was the mirror! No wait-

I spotted it on the desk and grabbed it before racing back to the couch, jumping over it and landing with a soft thud. I held up my letter, still unopened.

“We should watch them together.”

Kirishima cocked an eyebrow.

“Watch?”

Oh, right. people didn’t know about the hologram thing. I tried to recover and simply waved dismissively.

“I don’t know. These things are pretty heavy. Maybe they’re hologram letters?”

Kirishima hummed in acknowledgement.

“That actually makes sense. UA has the budget, and that would be so cool! Could you imagine if our letters were presented by a famous hero or something? So manly!”

I chuckled a bit at Kirishima’s excitement. He had no idea how right he was.

What? Is a famous hero really presenting these?

‘Yep, and a previous student too.’

Oooh, you’ve gotta tell me!

I ignored Mina’s question and motioned for Kirishima to open his. He did, and unveiled a small holographic disk that quickly shot out a projection of All Might’s face.

“BOOYAH I AM HERE AS A PROJECTION!”

Kirishima and Mina had the exact same reaction…

ALL MIGHT?

“ALL MIGHT?”

Followed by freaking out. As All Might spoke, they calmed down, and Mina questioned me.

That’s All Might!

Yep.

You don’t seem surprised at all. Wait, he’s the previous student who’s presenting?

Yep

But why? He’s the number one hero, he has so much to do, why would he-

You’ll see in about 5 4 3 2 1-

“You’re looking at the newest UA faculty member!”

Kirishima and Mina again had similar reactions.

“WHAT?”

WHAT?

Followed by a bit more freaking out as All Might rode through pleasantries. I already knew Kirishima’s score, so I focused on Mina for a minute.

ALL MIGHT’S TEACHING AT UA?

okay calm down. That felt like you shouted in my ear. Yes, he's teaching at UA.

Why not tell me sooner?

What, and ruin the surprise?

I could feel Mina’s pout as I refocused. All Might was explaining rescue points, and then-

“Young Eijiro Kirishima, Welcome to your Hero Academia!”

Kirishima gave me the biggest shark grin he had as he turned excitedly.

“I did it Ashido! Second place in the ranks too!”

I returned the grin and gave him a big high five that made my hand sting. It was worth it though. Kirishima’s excitement was contagious. Good on him for coming out of his shell. Kirishima pumped his fist as he stood up.

“Starting next school year I won’t be weak! I’ll be a hero and save people, just like Crimson Riot! I’ll be a new me!”

I laughed a bit.

“Well I like you just fine the way you are, but I won’t try to stop you. But-“

I punched him in the arm and smirked.

“Stop looking down on yourself like that! Make sure you let me know when you’re sure of it. And let me know if I can help too. That's what friends are for, right?”

Kirishima smiled back.

“Yeah, friends. Thanks Ashido.”

I waved my hand dismissively at him.

“Just call me Mina. Kaminari already does it. I don't get why you haven’t yet. But anyways, you’re done. Time for mine.”

I ripped my envelope open carefully. I knew Mina normally got in, but I was in the driver’s seat. So it was uncertain. Still, I took out the disk, and soon enough, an image shot out. Only it wasn’t All Might. It was-

“Hello there cutie. If you don’t know me, I’m Midnight, and I teach here at UA High. I’m here to give you your practical exam results.”

Huh. I thought All Might did all of these. But whatever, maybe it’s Midnight because I’m a girl. Or Mina’s a girl. Or- you know what sorting out my gender identity can wait. I focused back on the smirking R-Rated hero, who was currently smirking as she talked.

“Mina Ashido. You scored around thirty villain points. On its own, not bad.”

Kirishima fist bumped me, smiling.

“Nice Ashido! You did pretty good!”

I simply nodded, my smile from earlier persisting. “I did train, so…”

Midnight continued.

“Now, already, that may be enough to qualify, however, at UA we don’t judge on combat ability alone.”

I knew that. It had been an active part of my plan to help people out and earn rescue points, plus All Might had explained them earlier. I kind of tuned out Midnight’s explanation until the end.

“Mina Ashido, twenty-three rescue points!”

Okay, so twenty-three plus thirty is-

Fifty-three

I was going to say that!

I know

I looked at my rank. Eleventh, huh? Not too bad. Plus that means-

“Mina Ashido.”

Midnight looked serious for once.

“Welcome to your Hero Academia”

Yes, we did it!

Yeah. Thanks for all the coaching. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.

No problem. You know…This situation isn’t great. It’s hard just watching and commenting.

…Sorry.

No, it’s alright. It’s not your fault really. And for what it’s worth, I’m glad it was you, rather than some sicko.

…Thanks Mina

No problem.

I felt…happy and excited at the same time. I was in. In a couple months I would be in Class 1-A. In the story.

You ready, Mina?

You bet. I’m super ready!

Then buckle up, and let's prepare. Because once we start, it’s gonna be a wild ride with no stops.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It turns out the effect of knowing you’ll be going to a hero school in a few months and that you’ll be getting involved in an anime plot that was still ongoing at the time you woke up was to make school even more of a slog. Days would feel so long that I swore I saw the clock move backwards a couple times. But nonetheless, I pushed on.

There were bright spots though. Mostly Kirishima and Kaminari. I hung out with either of them almost every week, and it was gratifying to build up a friendship like that. I really missed my friends in my world, but it was great to have people like that here too. Kaminari turned out to get along well with me and Kirishima, and soon hangouts included all of us. It was awesome to go out and explore the city with friends (they both thought I was weird for being so curious about a city I lived in my whole life.

Mina’s parents were interesting too. I had lost my parents early, as I told Mina in one of our later Dream Room meetups (boy was that conversation awkward, and it had involved a lot of tears), so to experience having parents was weird. They genuinely seemed to care, and I grew to care about them too (it helped Mina had a lot of love for them too, which bled in more and more as we interacted). I found when I had time, I was spending it with them or my new friends.

Thanks to all of them, I was able to push through the hell that was Japanese middle school to the short summer break.

Well, it felt short to me. With Kirishima and Kaminari hanging out more now that school was out, plus my parents taking me out for trips and just time to spend, the days flew by until I found myself standing in front of the mirror in Mina’s room, looking both at the UA uniform, and examining the tattoo on my shoulder. It had changed. What was ten lines was now…eight.

Weird. Maybe it’s some sort of timer?

I don’t know, maybe? But for what? My exit?

Hmmmmmm.

I shook off the strange feeling as I changed into the UA uniform and looked in the mirror.

We look great in this.

Yeah, we do. Now let’s get out the door and greet the first day.

Yeah!

I noticed something odd. Mina’s voice was trembling. At this point, we had spent around two months together, so I could tell when she was bothered. I was silent for a bit as I prepped everything, seeing if she would broach the subject. As I went to leave, I finally decided to bring it up.

Are you nervous?

Well duh? This is a big step!

Yeah, the first day of Highschool is pretty big.

How old are you again?

About twenty-four. I graduated six years ago.

Ohh. Okay. Did you go to a hero school?

No. There weren’t any. Didn’t I-oh.

What?

I never really told you about my world did I?

Now that you mention it, you’ve talked about your friends a lot, but not your world.

How about on the way I tell you some stories from my world to help you calm down?

Sure!

Alright. So There was this one time my friend Evan fell asleep, and me and my other friend Anne took his bed and…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

By the time we’d gotten off the train and arrived at UA, I could tell Mina was a bit less nervous. That was good for a number of reasons, notably, it meant her nervousness didn’t bleed into my emotions. I hated when that happened, it made it incredibly hard to differentiate myself from Mina. But nevertheless, I was also glad she was feeling a bit better. Getting to know Mina had made me care a lot, like a little sister I’d never had.

Kirishima met me at the gate, and after a bit of banter about his new hair style (I wasn’t surprised at the color, but I said he took the horns from me, which he strenuously denied), we made our way inside.

As much as I thought UA looked big on the outside, it felt a lot smaller inside. A posted map helped me and Kirishima get to classroom 1-A in a short time, and soon we were pushing open the door to a half-filled classroom.

There was a bit of chatter, but the room was otherwise sedate as we made our way to the front, finding a seating chart. With a fist bump, Kirishima and I separated to find our seats. I quickly plopped down into mine, and surveyed who was already here. Aside from me and Kirishima, Tsuyu sat behind me, and then there was Ojiro, Bakugou, Tokoyami, Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, Shinso, Shoji, Ser- Wait Shinso?

I looked back to where I had seen him, sure I was mistaken, but no. Sitting in Mineta’s seat, feet up with a sly grin on his face and hair as wild as ever, was Hitoshi Shinso.

I thought you said he was complicated, but he’s sitting there like another classmate. Were you trying to misdirect me so I was surprised?

No, Shinso shouldn’t be here yet. He’s in General Studies and joins the Hero Course in your second year.

Then why is he here?

I have no idea, but just go with it for now, we’ll get answers later.

I turned around to face Tsuyu, and offered a smile to the frog girl.

“Hi, my name’s Mina Ashido, what’s yours?”

Tsuyu blinked and stayed silent for a moment, seeming almost surprised, but still responded.

“I’m Tsuyu Asui, but you can just call me Tsu, kero.”

I simply nodded and offered a fist bump. She took it, awkwardly.

“Cool, if that’s the case, you can just call me Mina. No offense, but is your quirk..?”

Tsu answered quickly.

“Frog. That’s my quirk. And none taken. I get that a lot, kero.”

I nodded in understanding.

“Yeah, a lot of people will ask why I’m pink too. I get it. For future reference though, my Quirk is Acid, that’s why I’m pink.”

Tsuyu stayed silent for a moment before offering a question.

“What about the horns?”

I looked up and poked my horns. That is a good question.

Mina, do you know why we have horns?

Beats me. Dad always seemed confused when I asked. None of his family had them, so it must be a mutation or something.

I shrugged As I responded to Tsu’s question.

“No idea. No one in my family has them. It’s just kind of a mystery.”

Tsu nodded sagely. I nodded back, like we had just had some deep conversation.

“Anyways, good to meet you. Hope we get along.”

“Me too, kero”

And with that, and a thumbs up, I turned back to looking around. There were some new arrivals while I was talking. I waved at Denki, who returned it with a huge grin. Iida had arrived and was lecturing Shinso, who then directed him at Bakugou, and I saw nearly the rest of the class arrive.

Alright, now we’re just missing Midoriya and Uraraka

The protagonist or whatever?

Yeah, and his main love interest I guess

Love interest? Ooooh I smell romance, you’ve gotta tell me about it!

I’d forgotten that part about her, but Mina was a romantic, so it was bound to happen, especially here. I spotted them while Mina was still distracted.

Maybe later. Here they come.

Fine. But we will talk about this.

I decided to make a good first impression, so I hopped up and wandered over to the two. Midoriya still appeared distracted by Uraraka, so he didn’t even notice me approaching.

“Hey.”

He practically jumped out of his skin as he turned to face me, offering a slightly amused grin.

“O-oh. Hi. I’m Izuku Midoriya.”

I offered a fist bump. He took it, still a bit shaky.

“Mina Ashido. Nice to meet you. Are you nervous?”

He stumbled over his words as he tried to gain some mental footing.

“N-no, not really. I guess this is all just…a bit overwhelming.”

I shrugged.

“Guess that makes sense.”

Uraraka moved to stand next to Midoriya, beaming at me.

“Hi, I’m Ochako Uraraka. Great to meet you Ashido!”

I returned her smile as I heard Iida come up to the group, walking up to a nervous Midoriya.

“Excuse me, you are Izuku Midoriya, right?”

I decided to get back to my seat and let the trio talk. That proved to be a good decision as not moments after I got back to my desk, waving to Aoyama who’d gotten there in the meantime and was sparkling to himself, than I saw the three startle, and moments later, Shota Aizawa in all his irritated grumpy man glory came strolling in.

Who is that?

Mina, meet our homeroom teacher-

“I’m Shota Aizawa, I’ll be your homeroom teacher.”

Really? He looks homeless.

Yeah, I know. But he’s a great teacher.

To be honest, Mina’s doubts were fair. Aizawa had looked like an insomniac in the anime and manga, but here he looked downright bad, the bags under his eyes immense, his stubble unkempt, and his hair was wild and while it looked clean, it also looked frayed and dry. To put it lightly, he looked like he needed some serious self care. He also looked exhausted. I was surprised he could muster any energy at all. Whenever Evan got like that, which would happen around once a month, he would be gone as soon as he stopped moving. But I guess Eraserhead was made of sterner stuff than my nerdy friend.

Aizawa went through his short lecture, sounding utterly bored and left the room, leaving everyone but me a bit confused. Well, almost everyone. I saw Shinso snickering, hiding it under his hand. Okay, that was weird.

I was one of the first to move, jumping up and grabbing a gym uniform (I nearly went to the wrong box, but Mina warned me away) and heading to find the locker rooms.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Changing, despite my seeming rush to do it with no one there, wasn’t really that bad anymore, though that had to do with a strange phenomenon. Over the few months I’d been here, adapting, something had happened, and I suspected it would continue to happen the longer I was here, likely the effect of having to live in Mina’s body. My gender identity had slowly shifted somewhat. While I didn’t see myself as a girl, I didn’t feel like a guy anymore either. To put it best for now, I had gotten used to the idea of living as a girl.

My own perception of myself was changing, evident most in the dream room. I had lost a few inches in height, and my body looked more androgynous than my previous look. Heck, I had even started to pinken a bit in the hair and skin. I felt like something in between, but I wasn’t even sure that would last, as it didn’t feel like the last stop to this. But for now, I would push on. Not like I could really do much about it.

Soon enough, we were lined up on the athletic field, Aizawa giving a spiel I already knew. I focused on surveying the rest of my class. They all seemed nervous, like Midoriya, or determined, like Bakugo. Aside from Shinso, who again looked completely relaxed. Really odd.

What’s going on, is this a test?

Yep, a physical exam where we use our quirks

Ooh sounds fun!

Yeah, it does. But Aizawa would not want to hear that. You said that in the anime and he went off. The guy is really serious’

How serious?

“Whoever scores the lowest has no potential, and thus will be expelled immediately.”

That serious.

WHAT?

You know your throat’ll get hoarse if you yell like that. Well, I mean-never mind. Anyways, don’t worry. He’s lying to make us push ourselves.

Ohhh, that makes sense. Let’s do our best then!

You betcha.

At the same time, Aizawa was finishing his speech, so I looked around at the class again. Like I expected, Uraraka protested only to get shut down, and everyone seemed to either be in a state of shock, like Uraraka, thought, like Yaoyorozu, or determination, like Bakugou or Kirishima. But again, not Shinso. Not a single reaction. He just stood calmly, like he’d been expecting it. Huh. Not even the visible gear turning I could see with Yaoyorozu, who was quickly figuring out that Aizawa was lying.

Something’s off here, but I don’t know what yet.

Jake, focus! The tests are about to start!

Right. Let’s go then

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I would like to think eighth was a decent score. I wouldn’t say things were easy either. They were certainly enjoyable, it was good to move, I’d always liked that, but it was still a test. Luckily for me, Mina was quite the fit one, and I managed to get decent scores even on ones where I couldn’t use our quirk. The only really bad scores I got were grip strength and the ball throw. Mina was agile and dexterous, not overly strong. Still I found myself exhilarated at the end. Maybe that had to do with Mina’s own reaction.

Whoooo! That was awesome!

Yeah, I guess I am awesome.

What? It’s my body, you should be saying we’re awesome!

Probably, but I won’t.

Mean.

The rest of the day was alright, with my dad cooking up Mina’s favorite (and now mine too) meal and having an animated conversation. I went to sleep that night feeling pretty good.

The next day was an interesting one, the first full day of school, and I knew things were weird from the start.

Something was definitely going on with Shinso. He was just acting…very un-Shinso like. Maybe it was the effect of getting into the hero course the first time, but still, Shinso had always struck me as a serious, if sarcastic guy. But that day he was surprisingly social, all smiles and jokes. He and Kaminari had already started bonding over bad puns and he actively got involved in a lot of conversations (he even flustered Iida by flirting a bit with him. That was the big tipping point for me).

I didn’t get to talk with him before lunch, when I sat with Kaminari and Kirishima (he sat near Midoriya), but he seemed pretty cool. The best one was that he made Bakugou’s shit list almost immediately when the blonde started to heat up in math class (“Settle down Boom Boom Boy”. “WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?”).

By the time Heroic Fundamentals came around and All Might burst through the doorway like a comic book cliché, I had a theory, but it was a little…

You have to be kidding.

No, I know it sounds weird, but it would make sense.

You really think that…

Shinso is like us, has someone else in his body with him in the brain? Yes. Well, it’s the theory anyways.

How do we test that though? Walk up to him and go “I know you’re actually another person in Shinso’s body”?

No. Well I guess maybe. Sort of. We just need the right opportunity and I have something we can use. And now is a good one

Combat training? Are we fighting him?

No. Well maybe. It depends on the random matchmaking. The important part is, we’ll be spending most of the class watching the other matches in an enclosed room. It would be the perfect time to talk.

Yeah, and in this class we get to show off our costumes!

Right, speaking of which, let’s grab our case and get changed.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Guess my luck was better than I thought (maybe the Irish part of me shining through even here), because drawing lots, my partner was Shinso. Our opponents? Yaoyorozu and…Ojiro. Weird combination, but since Mineta isn’t here, guess she was paired differently.

Who’s Mineta? You keep thinking about him, and he seems important.

Believe me, he isn’t. He would be here if Shinso wasn’t. He’s a pervert with big purple orbs on his head.

Doesn’t sound that bad.

You wouldn’t be saying that if you met him

Anyways, of course Izuku and Bakugo’s teams were the same, and with them clashing first, I knew the outcome (“Just watch,” I had told Kirishima and Kaminari. “Midoriya’ll pull a last minute save to win.”), so I decided to find Shinso. And find him I did, in a more isolated position at the back of the room, leaning against the wall. As I approached, he opened his eyes and acknowledged me with a nod.

“Ashido, right? I don’t think we’ve been really talked before”

I nodded.

“Yeah. I guess we’re teamed up so I wanted to talk with you. I like your costume.”

And that was true. Shinso’s hero costume was cool and practical. Sleek black and purple jumpsuit, combat boot, gloves with what looked like circuitry in them, and a purple overcoat overtop. Plus, he had a utility belt with what looked like various tricks and weapons. The lower half of his face was covered up by a familiar device, the artificial vocal chords (I think they were called persona chords or something?), and his eyes were covered by a black domino mask not dissimilar to Gran Torino’s. It made him hard to read, but as he chuffed at my compliment, I could tell he was amused.

“Thanks. Had to spend a while on it when I learned I would be getting in. I like yours too.”

I looked down at my own costume. It mostly followed Mina’s original design, with a few small changes. I had used the winter design as the main costume, and added a yellow star to both the back and sleeves of the jacket and to the center of my mask. I was proud of it, so hearing that made me smile.

“Thanks, but I think you know I’m not just here for complements, nice as they are.”

Shinso nodded.

“Yep, strategy, right? Then let’s talk, friend.”

I could tell he was smiling under the mask. This was my chance, and I decided to go for it.

“Well that and another thing. You seem familiar. Have we met before?”

Shinso hummed in thought for a moment before responding.

“No, I don’t think so. Maybe it’s the hair? People mistake me for young Einstein sometimes.”

He chuckled at his own joke. That was a bit of an obscure thing to reference casually, at least for a fifteen-year-old. I probed a bit more.

“I mean, I’m not sure. Just since the moment I saw you- “

He cut me off, and wiggled his eyebrows.

“You fell in love? I get it. I’m pretty irresistible”

I shook my head and continued, ignoring his snickering.

“No, it’s not that. It’s like I was expecting a different person entirely in that chair.”

He quirked an eyebrow.

“And who were you expecting? Someone more handsome?”

I smirked.

“Not really. Maybe someone else purple, but a lot shorter. With a lisp? A pervert with a spherical hair style. Know anyone like that?”

He stiffened and the snickering stopped.

“What? How would you-“

My smirk grew wider. Got him.

Guess you were right?

Guess I was

I was expecting more smugness from you there.

I ignored the comment and continued.

“I was really interested in you when I saw you because at some point, I thought you may be like me. So I tested you. And it turns out I was right.”

I got a bit closer.

“Shinso isn’t driving, is he? Someone else is, someone not from this world.”

Shinso-no, his driver, tore off his mask and gave me a shocked look.

“You too? I thought I was alone.”

I offered a thumbs up.

“Well you aren’t. Mind telling me the driver’s name?”

The driver looked relieved as they spoke.

“Anne. Anne Ilyanovich.”

My eyes went wide at that. It couldn’t be.

“Anne?”

Anne looked confusedly at my shocked expression.

“What, what’s with the shocked reaction? Is it ‘cause it’s a girl’s name? Or do I know you?”

“Know me? It’s me, Anne. Jake. Jake O’Hara.”

“Jake?”

Shinso’s confusion turned to a huge smile.

“Oh my god I’m so glad to see you.”

I smiled back.

“Glad to see you too. Even if it’s weird to meet like this.”

I gestured to both of us.

Anne laughed.

“Yeah, who knew when we met next you’d be pink?”

I sighed.

“Among other things. Shinso’s in your head?”

“Yeah, he’s almost comatose from this shock. Mina’s in yours?”

“yep. She’s-“

What is going on?!

“Also shocked. You got an eye tattoo too?”

“Palm of my right hand. You?”

“Left shoulder.”

“Lucky, that’s way easier to hide.”

I laughed then sighed again.

“You got a plan?”

“Not much of one. What about you?”

“I have loose goals.”

Anne laughed at that.

“Typical.”

I thought for a moment.

“So, uh, what should we call each other? I mean, along with the whole gender thing.”

Anne shrugged.

“I’m used to being a guy by now, so I’m fine with nothing changing. You?”

I shrugged back at him.

“About the same. Neither of us have much of a plan, so let’s stick together and not mess things up too much.”

Anne nodded.

“Alright, now about the battle trial…”

I felt a grin split my face. Anne had always had some amazing ideas.

“You’ve got an idea?”

Anne mirrored my grin as we turned to see the climax of Midoriya and Bakugo’s match.

“Yep. They’ll never know what hit them.”

Chapter Text

Anne and I spent the wrap up of the first match and most of the second simply enjoying each other’s company, glad we had found someone else. Soon enough though, the third match, ours, was up, and we stood outside of the building, readying ourselves as Yaoyorozu and Ojiro set up. We were silent a minute before I began stretching and readying myself. Mina was still in shock, but I could hear her muttering something, maybe some anime? I did catch something about this being just like that one where a guy and his crush get reincarnated as each other. I decided to break in while I stretched, and watched Shinso as he grinned to himself.

To be clear, Anne and I do not have crushes on each other. We’re friends. Trust me, we tried that and decided we didn’t click

To say the squeal I heard was deafening would be an understatement.

So you guys were together?

Yeah, for like a month or so. We tried it out after Anne said she had liked me. We mutually broke it off, though we tend not to talk about it.

Why?

Not exactly something I want to say now, but I know you’ll bug me until I do because you love gossip.

Damn right.

I’m not sure I can explain it better than we just decided we were better as friends. We were fine as a couple, we just…didn’t have the spark to it that justified us being together when we worked great as friends.

Hmmmm…

I left Mina to ponder and looked to Anne, who appeared to be in thought.

He might be talking to the guy in his head too.

That makes sense actually. Huh, guess that’s what I look like when I do it.

I waved a hand in front of his face, and he turned to look at me.

“Yeah?”

I gave him a look.

“Talking to Shinso?”

He nodded.

“Yep, not exactly chatty, but we’ve warmed to each other”

His grin grew wider as he stopped a minute.

“He’s saying how much he loves me and thinks of me as his best friend.”

I chuckled and turned to the building.

“So how have you been adapting?”

He shrugged.

“About as well as you, if not a little worse. I mean, we both woke up as the opposite gender, but you’ve always been better at rolling with changes, so I figured you would be better at it than me.”

I nodded as I continued my stretching.

“Thanks. It’s been hard though, without you, and Evan and Ben. I’m glad you’re at least here. I have someone to share this with at last.”

“Same, though I have to wonder…”

He trailed off and I looked over.

“What?”

“You think Evan and Ben are here too?”

I thought for a moment.

“Maybe. But who would they be? Evan’s good at being subtle, but Ben?”

Shinso snorted as he picked up the conversation thread.

“He’d get into a fight on the first day, and we likely would have seen it on TV. He’s…not subtle at all”

I laughed a little. Shinso sighed and looked at the ground.

“Would still be nice to see ‘em though.”

I nodded.

“Yeah. You know- “

I was cut off as All Might’s voice rang out.

“Match Three! Begin!”

I looked over at Shinsou and grinned.

“So that idea you mentioned. Is it what I think it is?”

He grinned back.

“Exactly what you think.”

My grin grew wider. Time for a trick from the two Evan had called ‘the demon duo’

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The halls were surprisingly complex for what was supposed to be a fake building, but we made our way through floors quickly, searching to make sure we didn’t pass the bomb room or one of our opponents by.

“I think Yaoyorozu’s gonna hole up in the bomb room, but Ojiro? I’m not sure. He didn’t get much of a chance in the match before before Todoroki froze him to the ground”

Anne hummed in response.

“He’s an up-close fighter. My guess is he’s either with her for maximum defense, or- “

He cut himself off as he stopped before we rounded a corner. I peeked around, curious, and saw Ojiro. Out in the middle of the hall. I breathed out and finished his proclamation from earlier.

“On the hunt for us?”

He nodded, before looking at me. We gave each other a nod before Anne took off, disappearing quickly. I waited there, watching Ojiro, before his voice sounded in my ear a minute later.

“Ready. On your signal then.”

I smiled a bit before jumping out from my place, nearly startling Ojiro.

“Hey there. How’s it going? Nice day, maybe to find a bomb?”

Ojiro answered by charging. I waited as he got closer, before dodging his tail whip at the last second and running, but not too fast, as to let him keep me in sight. I gave the signal by shouting out “Going, going…”

I sped up and disappeared around a corner, breaking Ojiro’s sight at same time as I shouted “Gone!”

It was an old joke between us. Whenever we had one of some food left, we would say that to indicate we were taking whatever was left. Anne hadn’t specified a signal, so I used one he would recognize. And he struck as soon as I was out of sight. My voice rang out from the opposite direction after I had disappeared, causing Ojiro’s steps to stop.

“Yoohoo! Ojiro! You’re going the wrong way! I’m over here silly!”

Our opponent’s steps seemed hesitant for a moment, before he took off toward Anne’s calls. I followed, and watched as Ojiro walked right to where we wanted him to, a large junction with many different places to hide. At that point, I began to call out to sync up with Anne.

“I’m over here Ojiro!”

“Nope, now I’m here!”

“Wait, now I’m here!”

“Nope, I’m over here!”

Ojiro’s head whipped around, trying to track us as we circled, before I saw a small cylinder roll across the floor. We kept calling out, keeping him tilted until a flash went off, and at the same time we leapt, capture tape at the ready, and Ojiro’s feet and hands were bound. He seemed dumbfounded as Anne walked over and took the earpiece he had, and began adjusting the knobs on his voice modulator, Ojiro managing to stammer out “How did you do that? It was like you were everywhere.”

I smirked before looking over at my partner. He finished adjusting the dials and spoke up.

“I sound convincing?”

He did, like another Ojiro, though it might have been a little off, maybe due to Anne’s cadence or inflection. Ojiro for his part widened his eyes in realization. Anne put in his earpiece and tapped it.

“Yaoyorozu, are you there?”

He was silent as I heard a muffled voice on the other end. He responded once she fell silent.

“I chased down the heroes, but they lost me. I’m doubling back to make sure they haven’t found the bomb or you.”

Yaoyorozu said something else, before Anne nodded at me.

“Okay, I got it. See you soon.”

He nodded and we took off, leaving Ojiro in a nearby room with a thumbs up and some finger guns from Anne. It didn’t take long to find the bomb room, as it was on the same floor. The front door was covered in a metal slab, which Shinso knocked on and spoke, still using Ojiro’s voice.

“Yaoyorozu, are you okay?”

There was a moment and the sound of movement before the aforementioned girl spoke up.

“Yes, I am fine. Have you found- “

She was cut off as Anne activated his quirk, and moved out of the way for me. I burned a hole using my acid, and we both stepped through into the rather large room, seeing the bomb near the back, and Yaoyorozu standing there listless, eyes blank. Anne and I high fived and he walked over to Yaoyorozu and I went to the bomb, him wrapping up her wrists while I touched the bomb. I had to admit, it was satisfying to hear All Might’s booming voice announce that “Heroes Win!”

We smirked at each other as Anne released his hold on Yaoyorozu. She blinked confused a moment, before seeing her arms bound. He undid the bindings as she seemed dismayed.

“I-I lost. But how did you- It was like I was in a trance.”

Anne patted her shoulder and pulled down his mask and persona chords, giving her a smile.

“My quirk lets me control people who respond to questions, and this,”

He pointed to the support equipment hanging around his neck.

“It lets me mimic other’s voices in a way that still lets my power work.”

He gave her another pat as we walked out to go get Ojiro, who couldn’t move without undoing his bindings.

“You just didn’t know what I could do. Not really something you should feel bad about.”

Yaoyorozu was silent for a minute, a look of contemplation visible on her face as she walked. You could practically see the gears turning in her head.

That idea seems like it’s really new to her, but I learned that in like second grade.

Yeah, but didn’t Kirishima still have to learn that? We all learn lessons at different paces, and Yaoyorozu’s background means she probably holds herself to an unhealthily high standard. Happens to a lot of people in rich backgrounds actually

Huh. Good point. That seemed uncharacteristically wise of you, Jake.

Uncharacteristic? Oh, young grasshopper, you have much to learn

What? Have you been holding out on me and been a super guru this entire time? For shame! You need to share your guruisms with me!

You will learn them in time, young alien.

Fine then, keep your secre- hey! Only I get to call me an alien!

I smirked as we entered the room we’d left Ojiro in, finding him still sitting there, looking a little bored. Getting him free, we made good time to the observation room, and found a few people congratulating us. I made sure to fist bump Kaminari and high five Kirishima of course, but I was surprised as a couple of the girls I’d talked to, like Hagakure and Tsuyu, came up as well. Sure, it wasn’t much, but it was nice, plus All Might’s enthusiasm was good too.

“Great job young Ashido and Young Shinso! Quite an efficient plan you had!”

We both looked down, a bit embarrassed as despite being grown adults, it was still good to have work you did acknowledged. The rest of the day was…good, it was like the others before it, but knowing I had someone to share this burden with made me feel…lighter.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The next morning felt…boring, though talking about boring in a world where a man who had a fire mustache existed was a little weird. It was enjoyable to see Yaoyorozu’s face as she made class rep, beating out Izuku who had gotten four votes by one, which I thought was odd. I knew Todoroki had voted her, and both Anne and I had voted for her, plus her, but the last one was a mystery.

That made Yaoyorozu class rep, with Midoriya as lieutenant. I surprisingly had gotten third, with three votes to my name. I turned and looked around, shocked, and noticed both Kirishima and Kaminari looked a little weird. They both quickly turned as my gaze ran across them. Looks like I found who two of them were, but who was the last one?

Oooh, maybe one of the guys likes you!

I don’t think that’s the case, but I won’t rule it out.

Then there’s a possibility of romance?

Look, I still haven’t figured out where I see myself gender wise at the moment, so romance needs to wait.

Awww…but fair enough. Even if it’s boring.

I appreciate you accepting boredom then.

No problem, but we are definitely gossiping about romance later, maybe some couples if they happen in this class?

Oh most definitely. I have some info that might surprise you.

Oooh tell me!

In time, you will know.

Ughhh. you have to choose now to act like a mysterious mentor?

Yep.

All things about the voting aside, time dragged, and lunch couldn’t happen sooner. Once it arrived, I waved down Anne and we got in line for lunch together, before sitting down at the table I’d used for the last two days. Already there, Kirishima and Kaminari both greeted me easily.

“Ashido, what’s up!”

“Hey there, beautiful. Maybe you wanna sit next to me, this time?”

Honestly, I usually laughed off Kaminari’s flirting, but I decided to cut in this time.

“You know Kami, keep talking like that and you might end up with a girl slapping your head off.”

I kept up my serious face for about ten seconds before I cracked and started giggling. Anne joined me sitting down on my right before raising an eyebrow at Kaminari.

“A ladies’ man, eh?”

Kaminari seemed embarrassed by that line

“Well uhhh… Yeah, I guess.”

Shinso smirked.

“Yeah, I can tell, that was some A+ flirting there. You must have to beat the girls off with a stick.”

I laughed at that one. A little more sardonic than Anne’s usual fare, but hey, it was funny. Kaminari’s face seemed to go red at that, but he recovered quickly and gave a smile back to Anne’s smirk.

“I like this guy already. He was your partner during the lesson yesterday, right?”

He put a fist out.

“Nice to meet ya, I’m Denki Kaminari.”

Anne accepted quickly.

“Hitoshi Shinso. Same.”

Kirishima piped up at that moment.

“I saw you yesterday dude, you were pretty manly!”

Anne raised an eyebrow at that.

“Trickery and subterfuge aren’t usually called manly, but thanks.”

Kirishima thought for a moment but gave him a full on grin, punctuating his next words with enthusiastic hand gestures.

“There’s more than one way to be a man! Anyone can be manly, and we all have our own way to do it, you just have to try!”

I nodded at him, smiling. For someone who talked a lot about manliness, Kirishima wasn’t close minded about what that could mean to different people. Truly a paragon of healthy masculinity, even if he was awkward about it. He’d sputtered about the subject for a while when I’d pointed out him calling me manly during a training session we had just before the school year’s start. That was a good memory.

The conversation flowed naturally after that, and Anne easily slotted into the group dynamic, but then I hadn’t expected anything less than that. Anne had always been good at fitting in.

Kaminari was cut off mid joke by a loud alarm. Me and Anne exchanged a look as Kirishima tried his best to find out what was going on. Eventually he did, a panicked student telling him it was a level three breach. After that, he and Kaminari looked worried, and started to move, but I held out my hand to block them. He gave me a look.

“What are you doing Ashido, we need to-“

Anne cut him off.

“That hall’s going to be congested, and all the people panicking are going to make sure it’s dangerous. We should stay here, at least until it’s cleared a bit. We’re not even sure this isn’t a false alarm either. The best thing to do is stay here.”

My redheaded friend was silent before nodding. We all sat down, and waited. Before long, the alarm had shut off, and it was announced that it was simply the media who had gotten past the barricade, and Kirishima and Kaminari looked at Anne like he was a psychic. He just smirked, like usual.

The rest of the day, it was uneventful, much as I would like to say it wasn’t. The most interesting thing was Midoriya giving his place as lieutenant rep to Iida. But as I walked out the gates alone (Kirishima had to go early, something about “man things”), I heard Anne shout behind me.

“Hey *huff* Ashido! Wait up!”

I turned to see him run up and stop, a bit out of breath. I tilted my head in confusion.

“Hey, Shinso, what’s up?”

He straightened up, seeming to have recovered.

“I think we can walk home together. Are your parents home?”

I gave him a smirk.

“If this is a way of asking me out again, I think I need to work on my own feelings before I go for anyone else.”

H’s eyes widened before he blurted out quickly.

“Oh no I didn’t mean that way! I meant we should talk more.”

I waved my hand dismissively.

“Yeah, yeah I know. Just messing with you. We should, considering, you know, the thing tomorrow.”

He nodded, and we started a long walk. After a minute he spoke up again.

“You gonna pay for the train or should I?”

“Maybe we split it?”

“Nah. How about we go rock, paper, scissors?”

“Best two out of three?”

“Deal”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

That night was somehow both frustrating and the most fun I’d had in a while. Anne and I had brainstormed as hard as we could, but there really wasn’t much we could do to prepare. We were currently teenagers, it really was hard to think of anything other than ‘expose ourselves as not technically the rightful owners of our body and likely get locked up until we could prove we weren’t here on purpose’.

It honestly did get to me. Aizawa was a great man who didn’t deserve to be injured as badly as he was, and our classmates were kids who didn’t deserve to be traumatized. So our plan essentially at the end of our brainstorming was essentially ‘keep Aizawa from getting too injured and ensure our classmates were safe’. Once we agreed on that, both of us, plus Mina (Anne said Shinso didn’t understand what we meant) decided we needed to relax, and cracked open a classic: horror movies.

At least the ones I could find. Turns out streaming services in the future were still a thing, though not the ones we knew. Had a lot of fun just watching horror movies we’d never seen, a whole new trove we didn’t even get a tenth through by the night’s end. It definitely helped that when Mina’s parents got home, her dad jumped right in, apparently happy his daughter had taken an interesting something he’d always liked (Mina said she hadn’t really given them much of a chance. Her thing was romantic comedies apparently). It was quite the night.

The next day came with a lingering sense of dread to it. I got dressed as always and headed out, though Anne met me at the station near UA, and we walked together, Kirishima having gone ahead. It was strange thinking about what was to happen. No one around me had any idea of what was about to happen, but I did. Not even our normally cautious teacher had any compunctions as homeroom began, looking tired as ever. Makes sense, he did still work as an underground hero, so he was double timing it.

He still works as a hero? But I thought they were teachers.

Eh, I’m not totally sure, but it makes sense with his personality to pull things like that

The day passed quickly, despite my objections. Anne and I exchanged looks a few times, but that was about it. Before I knew it, I was on the bus, but before I did, I stopped by where Aizawa was sitting.

“Mr. Aizawa?”

He looked straight at me, seeming bored.

“What is it, Ashido? If it’s not important, save it for after class.”

I nodded and gave him a nervous look.

“I wasn’t really sure I should say this, but there’s just… I have a bad feeling about this class. Like there’s something bad just ahead of us.”

He seemed unimpressed.

“So it wasn’t important. It’s just nerves. Get to your seat.”

I reluctantly nodded and headed to the open part of the bus, sitting near Aoyama. Anne took the other side, while Kirishima and Kaminari both waved at me when they sat almost across. Soon enough the bus was going, and conversation started up, once Iida had stopped lamenting his boarding strategy of course. Yaoyorozu had left that one to him, after he had asked. I decided to cut in at one minute into his lament, and Tsu spoke up after that.

I simply watched as things unfolded, enjoying the chaos around me. From the looks of things, Anne was enjoying it too, smirking. He had chosen not to wear his hero costume’s overcoat, giving me a better look at the jumpsuit he wore, not missing that it resembled Eraserhead’s in a few ways. It wasn’t all that complicated, but the design was quite a good (and practical) one. I even spotted a spiral icon, the same one on his coat, on his back. Good branding there. Then again, Anne was always good at that sort of thing. Shinso likely had an idea of what he wanted, and Anne had likely taken that and added to it. I’d have to talk to them about it, but if I knew Anne, my theory was likely the truth. I chose not to ask in favor of leaning back a bit and grinning.

It didn’t take that much longer for the bus to pull up to the USJ, and for us to disembark. The class grouped up by Thirteen, and the spiel began. I knew it all by heart, so I instead looked around and thought of the upcoming situation as we headed inside. The USJ was quite the sight in person, and it really did give me pause to see this kind of thing.

Geez, how much money does UA have that they can build this kind of thing?

I dunno, I think they get some of their money from the government. I know as much as you on this one.

I paused as we walked in. I swore that near the top of the USJ, I saw movement. Just something small, like someone ducking out of sight. But that couldn’t be. Right?

You see that Mina?

What, did I miss something?

I thought I saw…oh forget it. Was probably nothing. But we should probably keep an eye on the ceiling.

Roger that!

Thirteen continued talking, and gestured to the inside of the USJ like it was their magnum opus. Made sense, but they talked and talked and talked. Sure, it was a good speech that the class really needed, but I only half paid attention, since I had heard it before, and the anticipation of the attack was getting nearly unbearable. Time seemed to be moving at a crawl as I tried desperately to keep my cool. I’d dedicate the majority of that to Mina, whose nervous energy was combining with my own, forming a big ball of nerves.

Finally, I heard a sound, and the class gasped as lights began shattering one by one. I felt my anticipation release, even as the tension remained.

Here we go…

Right, let’s go I guess…

Nervous?

Well duh! Why wouldn’t I be? We’re gonna be fighting villains! We shouldn’t have to do that until like a year from now!

If it makes you feel better, this attack is pretty unplanned and sloppy.

That does not help!

I couldn’t help the smirk, even as I tensed and looked over at Shinso. We watched as the portals opened, and villains stepped through, including the hand man himself, Shigar- wait what the hell is he wearing?

Shigaraki looked like he did Post-Kamino, trench coat and all, plus a pair of black gloves. He slouched as Nomu walked through with him, even more monstrous in person. He already was disturbing, but seeing it like this made the thing even more viscerally disturbing.

You didn’t tell me about that thing!

There are a few details I’d like to keep to myself right now. The Nomu are one of them.

Nomu, what, is that its name?

More like the kind of creature it is.

Okay, now I’m confused, is that thing a person?

In a manner of speaking. Look, I’ll tell you later, okay?

I focused on the scene happening in front of me, as the villains finished emerging, and Aizawa walked forward, ready to fight.

“Thirteen! Protect the students!”

Kirishima stepped forward, looking worried.

“What’s going on? Is this part of the exercise? I thought we were rescuing people.”

Aizawa immediately responded, throwing his hand out and looking deadly serious.

“Stay back! This is real! Those are villains!”

And with that, a wave of fear swept across the class. Even I felt a chill down my spine at those words, despite knowing this would happen.

And with a few more words exchanged with Midoriya, Aizawa dropped down to engage the villains. I braced myself, ready to do my part as we started watching our teacher briefly. Things seemed to be going according to plan.

That is until a faint shattering sound came from above and a figure dropped down for the top of the dome, landing on a villain and flipping to land near Shigaraki.

Okay, I give up. I have no idea what’s going on anymore.

Chapter Text

This was not exactly ideal. Anne and I hadn’t really even had much of a plan, but we had something, and that was based on the idea that we knew what was going to happen. But Shigaraki’s outfit? A mysterious figure crashing the party? That wasn’t part of it at all. 

I looked over to Anne, who was just as confused as I was, his eyes wide in shock. We watched the fighting briefly, seeing a few villains begin closing in on the mysterious figure, before my attention was jerked away by a concerned Kirishima grabbing my shoulder.

“Come on Ashido! We have to go!”

I nodded, despite knowing what happened next. Maybe I could stop us from being scattered? I followed Kirishima as we made our way toward the doors, but we were of course stopped by Kurogiri, who appeared in front of us.

“Greetings UA High School. We are the League of Villains.”

Anne snorted at that and moved forward a bit, staring the mist villain down.

“Really? You make this grand terrifying entrance, and you chose that name? Guess villains aren’t known for being smart.”

Yaoyorozu, who was near him, seemed caught off guard by his provocation and immediately whispered something in a panicked tone, which he heard, and stepped back. His statement of course caused Kurogiri to glare at him, but not comment, aside from continuing his statement.

“We have invited ourselves into this hallowed place of learning with a single goal: we seek to kill the Symbol of Peace.”

His eyes narrowed at us.

“Now, where is All Might? We received word he would be present, but he is not here.”

This time it was Kirishima who stepped forward, spitting a defiant response that made me smile a bit.

“Even if we knew, we would never tell a scumbag villain something like that!”

Kurogiri seemed silent a moment before he responded, not even seeming phased.

“It seems UA really does have remarkable students. Two of you speaking out of turn to insult a dangerous opponent.”

“I’ll give you more than words!”

I held Kirishima back as he stepped forward, his body hardening. He looked back at me confused.

“Mina, what are you- “

He was cut off by the colossal explosion our angry classmate had unleashed, having charged as I held Kirishima back. It threwup a massive cloud of smoke, obscuring our vision of the villain for about ten seconds. Bakugou was smiling, but that dropped as the smoke cleared, revealing that Kurogiri wasn’t harmed at all, simply reforming.

“Ah, you students are more impressive than I had thought even a moment ago”

“All of you, get out of the way!”

Thirteen’s shouts came from behind us, and I immediately leaped away, while Kirishima and Bakugou seemed frozen for just a minute. But it was enough, as I saw Kurogiri stretch out toward us. I threw my entire body away, landing hard on the ground and just barely missing being engulfed, and saw nearly my entire class- Shinso included get hit and a dome of darkness form around them.

“I will scatter you across this place, leaving you to your deaths!”

Soon enough, the dome dissipated, and I saw who was left of the class: Shoji, Uraraka, Sato, Sero, and Me. Shinso was gone. My friend had just been separated from me again, and I wasn’t sure he was going to be okay.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Shinso/Anne

That dome was not exactly what I had been expecting. Sure, it had looked kinda windy, but inside it was like a full-on windstorm, and as a resident of the midwest, I knew something about wind storms. It felt like the center of a hurricane, but soon enough it dissipated, only for me to then feel an abrupt change, as I felt like I was falling. No wait. I was falling. I definitely handled it well.

“Oh Jesus I’m gonna die!”

Never mind.

Yep. Handling this thing beautifully. Didn’t you tell me you “Had this in the bag?”

Shut up Shinso

By some miracle I didn’t die on impact, instead calling on the bit of knowledge I had from the internet to at least not get that hurt. I held my head up, and rolled as soon as I hit the ground. Still hurt, but I was okay. From the sounds around me, it seemed I wasn’t alone, and as I got up, rubbing my arms that had been out as I fell, I saw that both Yaoyorozu and Jirou had landed with me, and from a look around, we were in the mountain zone. At least it wasn’t the flood zone.

You hate water or something?

Bad experience from youth. Nothing you need to know about right now. Especially since we’re going to be punching bad guys.

Fighting villains, you mean.

Same difference.

Speaking of said bad guys, I saw that it wasn’t just us around. There were some guys (and girls too, whatever Shigaraki’s foibles he wasn’t a sexist. Then again, he is a gamer.) closing in, with sadistic looks on their faces. I couldn’t help my smirk. Even if it was a life-threatening situation, this was going to be fun.

By this time Yaoyorozu had reacted and begun rapidly forming weapons for us, and the villains were charging. I caught the staff she gave me and swept one guy off his feet as he came at me, fist cocked back with claws growing from his knuckles. Who did he think he was, Wolverine?

By the time I had done that, the rest were attacking, and the others started fighting as well. I ran into the fray, weaving, dodging, and parrying, and as I blocked the attack of another thug, I looked him in the eyes and laughed. Now that made him angry.

“What are you laughing at you little shit? I’ll pound you to dust!”

My smirk failed to leave my face as I responded.

“What makes you think you can do that? You’re just a thug with some fancy fists.”

I swore I could see steam rising from his head at that point, and his next strike was even sloppier, though it did actually graze my cheek as I moved to dodge it, him having swung from nowhere nearly catching me off guard.

“Why you little- “

That was all I needed, and I activated my quirk. He froze in place, and I chuckled.

“Glad that worked. Now, go attack your allies, will you?”

He turned and began to run toward the nearest villain, who, seeing an ally running for him, was understandably confused. That confusion was broken as he was clocked across the face and effectively done for. The brainwashed villain then turned and attacked again, and I watched as chaos began to make its way through the ranks. The villains weren’t really organized, but this? It caused any order to break down.

I dodged the attack of another villain while I asked a question.

Shinso, how many people can you brainwash at once?

That’s…a good question. I’ve never tried more than three.

Well now’s as good a time as any!

I do not like the sound of that.

I smirked again, and quipped at the next villain who came at me, this time forming a blade out of one arm. I blocked it with the staff I had and threw out a query.

“You must be great at opening cans with an arm like that. Must be all the rage with the ladies too, am I right?”

That made him pause a moment, before his voice, irritated and confused, rang out.

“The fuck are you-“

I activated my quirk, and I felt a light tug in my head. Like a string, attached to each of the two I’d brainwashed. I immediately jumped into action, running off as I gave orders to the blade guy.

“Take out as many of your allies as possible, just don’t kill ‘em!”

I saw he was moving as I ducked and weaved looking for another potential candidate. It was time to cause some discord.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Mina/Jake

This whole situation was weird, and I had woken up in the body of a pink girl who looked like an alien and could shoot acid.

I resent that remark!

It’s the truth though

I know but I still resent it!

Shoji was listening, and told us our classmates had been scattered. I grimaced, dropping my normal look at that. I knew that already, but it was still worrying. Still, I couldn’t do much about it.

I took a battle stance as Thirteen told Iida to get out of here. He protested, and I cut in along with the rest of the class.

“Isn’t it part of your duty to help the class? The rep is out, so it’s up to you. It’s what a hero would do!”

He fell silent at that as the rest of the class speculated about how the villains had gotten in, still preparing to fight to help Iida. That was when a voice cut in, sounding slightly muffled and distorted, after Sato’s comment about alarms.

“Yeah right. If there were alarms outside, I wouldn’t be here.”

Our heads snapped to the side to see the mysterious figure from earlier, standing just a few feet away. They themselves seemed surprised, as if they hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but quickly recovered and gave an awkward wave as Thirteen glared, trying to keep an eye on both the figure and Kurogiri, who seemed a little shocked himself.

“Who are you, another villain?”

They waved their arms in a non-threatening way as they moved forward.

“Whoa whoa. I’m on your side here. Name’s Bloodrush. Heard of the scheme that was being pulled and came to mess up these guys’ days”

I furrowed my brow at that. A vigilante maybe? That was weird. Why would they be here now, and not in normal canon?

I like their outfit.

Of course that’s what you would say here.

Hey! That’s not the only thing! ...I like their hair too!

Examining their outfit after Mina’s comment, it did seem well made too. Blue and yellow cardigan, red skirt, boots, a scarf, and an Edgeshot style ninja mask, plus a pair of goggles. Didn’t seem familiar, but then I hadn’t done research into vigilantes.

Bloodrush pointed toward Kurogiri, and I snapped out of my thoughts and dropped back into a ready stance.

“First things first, I’m helping you out against that guy to give Mr. White Knight here time to escape. That was your plan, right?”

We all nodded, though Thirteen seemed wary as we all took a battle stance, the vigilante unsheathing a knife they had on their person. Iida unfurled and revved his engines, ready to go, before Uraraka turned to Bloodrush. I managed to catch a bit of what they said, even from the distance I was.

“We can handle this, at least I think so. Can you find our classmates? I’m worried about them.”

The vigilante thought a moment before nodding, and taking off their gloves and tossing them to Uraraka, saying something else, and running off. I turned back as Kurogiri seemed enraged.

“Are you really so arrogant as to discuss plans in front of your enemy?!”

Iida took off at that point and we rushed to defend him. Kurogiri surged, ready to send him away, but Shouji tackled him, even before Thirteen had time to act, though he only held him for a moment before he broke out.

I ran forward and did the same, though he dodged and I ended up falling on my face. Luckily Uraraka capitalized on that moment, and grabbed the metal collar within Kurogiri, shocking him.

He tried to pull away, but he seemed stuck, and Uraraka dug her heels in. Sero, seeing what she had done, shot tape out, managing to get his metal collar too. Sato joined him, pulling on the tape he’d shot out, while Shouji and I steadied Uraraka, who had both hands on him now. Iida surged forward and made it to the door, Kurogiri doing his best to get out of our grip, succeeding just as Iida began opening the door. Lucky for us, Thirteen chose that time to help.

We leapt out of the way as Thirteen activated their quirk, keeping Kurogiri restrained long enough for Iida to get out.

He seemed annoyed at that.

“You students are more stubborn than I had thought. And you, Thirteen.”

He formed a portal in front of him.

“You are a rescue hero. You aren’t combative.”

A portal opened behind them.

“Which is why I can turn your own quirk against you.”

They began to suffer their own quirk, parts of their suit rapidly being sucked up, but I ran as quick as I could, and in a move I’m fairly sure could have killed me, tackled Thirteen, causing them to deactivate their quirk, and  I looked them over as I got up. Their back still seemed injured, however, it wasn’t as bad as the original result. Still, they would be down for a while. I stood up as Kurogiri ceased the portal and reformed.

“Our plan may be done for. I must inform our leader.”

He disappeared as I saw Tokoyami and Kouda round the steps, and come up to join the group. Both gave a concerned look to our teacher, but Tokoyami was the one who spoke up.

“Is Thirteen alright? We were saved by a strange being of mystery and told to come here. Where is everyone else?”

I shrugged as I attended to Thirteen’s injuries the best I could.

“They got scattered like you. But I wouldn’t worry. Iida just got out and he’s getting help. Plus that vigilante is gathering people up.”

I motioned to Thirteen.

“Not sure how injured they are. That portal guy turned their power on them, and I can’t imagine that feeling good. They’ll be out for a while.”

Tokoyami nodded seriously, while Kouda seemed even more concerned, kneeling down by me and telling me in sign language he may be able to help. I nodded to him and got up, letting him examine things while I saw the battle still going on in the main plaza.

I caught Bakugou and Kirishima running toward the landslide zone, while the vigilante’s figure was headed to the landslide zone in the chaos. They would distract people on the way with small explosions or thrown rocks, letting Aizawa take them out. The guy was still going strong too.

Wow, our teacher’s kind of amazing

Yep. He kicks butt

I hoped that vigilante would find Shinso soon. I was worried about Anne, though knowing her, she was probably having the time of her life.

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Shinso/Anne

Now this. This was what I was missing. The pure movement, weaving through the villains, sweeping around to knock some over, and knocking a few down as the brainwashed took them out, causing a panic as I watched Yaoyorozu and Jirou fight back-to-back.

I saw one thug about to strike Yaoyorozu as I ran near her,  and took the opportunity to take him down by kicking his knee backward and giving him a swift staff strike to the face. Yaoyorozu gave me a grateful look and a quick thank you before blocking the hit of another villain who had approached.

I kept it up, even as we struggled to keep going. I was starting to tire, and both my classmates were as well. That cost me as a villain managed to get me in the side with a punch. He tried to follow it up with another, but I dodged and returned it. It was at that point he was downed by a kick from a person I hadn’t seen before. They gave me a nod and engaged the other villains. I shrugged and rolled with it.

We worked surprisingly well together, with our fighting styles matching well, and we worked around each other. With another fighter, the tides turned and we managed to start pushing back. Yaoyorozu and Jirou joined us shortly and soon enough, we were done. While there were probably more villains around, the area around us was cleared. I knocked out my brainwashed villains, and we turned to the new figure. I spoke up, sounding curious.

“Thanks for the help, mysterious person, but who exactly are you?”

They ignored me, instead talking to my classmates. Rude.

Maybe they know how my quirk works?

Maybe, but the other villains didn’t. How would they know? And isn’t it technically our quirk?

Still mine, no matter how much you complain.

You don’t share well, you purple meanie

Really? That’s your best?

I shook off the bullying as the figure came over and looked me over, along with Yaoyorozu. They must have seen me get hit and were concerned. I waved them off. They seemed satisfied by my nonverbal cue and instead turned to Jirou.

“Nice sword, where’d you get it?”

Before she could even answer, they walked away, and began to pace around the border of the mountain, looking for something.

“What are you-“ I tried to say, but they put their hand up, cutting me off as they stopped, looking down at a patch of dirt. They raised one of their boots and stomped down hard, a muffled voice groaning in pain before a villain rose out of the dirt. Oh. I’d forgotten about him.

How do you forget about that kind of thing?

Look, I didn’t watch the first season recently, can you blame me?

Of course the figure took them down with a quick series of moves. I snorted, seeing a grown man fall over like that was kinda funny.

They turned to us and gestured to follow them as they started to explain.

“I’m here to get you back to your class. Follow me, I know a quick way down.”

I shrugged. Might as well. They did indeed know a quick way down the mountain, and we found ourselves at the foot really quick. The figure, who had told us their name was Bloodrush on the way down, looked around the battlefield, focusing on a point where Aizawa was facing down Shigaraki (in the weird trench coat he rocked much better than the t-shirt). Their eyes widened and they pointed out the entrance and exclaimed “Go there. I have to go save your teacher!”

And with that, they ran toward the action. I wanted to follow, but Shinso spoke up in my head,

We should do what they said.

But Aizawa’s in danger!

We are kids with no license, we need to stay out of it for now. Besides, that vigilante is on it.

Ugh, fine.

I followed Yaoyorozu and Jirou to the entrance, albeit reluctantly. As we ran, I sidled near Yaoyorozu.

“Hey, would you mind if I keep the staff?” I said, holding it up as I did.

She simply shook her head, smiling a little.

“I don’t mind, though you could probably get a better one from the support department.”

I shook my head and smiled at her.

“I think it’s pretty good. Plus, it can commemorate the day I kicked butt with my friend.”

She seemed surprised, but her smile became a full one and she nodded.

I think I just threw up in my mouth.

Oh hush you. You know you like having a friend.

I’m not sure you count as a friend.

Hey, I thought I was growing on you.

Yeah, like a fungus.

He said that with irritation, but I knew better. 

We moved quickly and soon enough, we found ourselves at the entrance, where I saw a small gathering of my class. That included Jake, who I ran to excitedly.

“Mina-er, Ashido!”

She turned around and gave me a smile as she saw I was okay, before spotting Yaoyorozu and Jirou, who I had left behind to run towards my friend. She waved to them as well.

“Yaoyorozu! Jirou! You’re okay!” She said with relief. I turned to look and see who we had. There was the group who stayed here, plus Tokoyami, Kouda, and as I turned, we saw Hagakure and Aoyama coming up toward us. That was a majority of the class, minus the heavy hitters as well as Ojiro, Tsu, and Kaminari. And they were accounted for as we heard a cry of “SMASH!”, turning to see all of them over near Shigaraki. They appeared to be in a confrontation, as Nomu had Midoriya by his arm, before just letting him go. Weird.

Things seemed tense, as two groups seemed ready to clash, before I heard the door behind us burst open and a cry came from it.

“It’s fine now! Why?”

I couldn’t help the smile that came to my face, just like everyone else.

“Because I AM HERE!”

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Mina/Jake

All Might was quite the sight for sore eyes, especially since it seemed Aizawa wasn’t injured. I smiled and looked to see that All Might wasn’t doing the same.

I…I’ve never seen All Might not smiling.

I think that means he’s serious. Attacking students? That is not going to fly.

Yeah, I guess that makes sense.

I watched as he walked over, and in an instant, the group ready to fight, along with Midoriya, Tsu, and Kaminari were delivered near the top of the stairs. All Might said something to Bloodrush, before turning to Aizawa, and then walking toward Shigaraki, fists clenched.

He approached, and Shigaraki said something that made the Nomu charge. All Might met him blow for blow, and the battle was spectacular. It threw up dust and I could feel the force of the blows from here. They separated for a moment, All Might breathing heavily, but my attention was grabbed as I saw Aizawa and the others coming up.

Uraraka ran up to Aizawa and Bloodrush, who was standing next to him, excitedly, and started talking to them. They made their way over to the middle, and it seemed like an interesting conversation.

My attention was grabbed again as All Might re-engaged the Nomu, but that didn’t last, as through the doors in the back came a loud and triumphant Iida, along with the UA Faculty, who seemed just as shocked by the scene in front of them.

I noticed Bloodrush jump over a railing at that time, probably using that as a distraction to leave. They did wave to Uraraka though. How cute.

I like them

Me too. They seem nice. Wonder who they are though.

You said they weren’t originally here, right?

Yep. I’d remember something like that

What if they’re like us then?

I stopped at that. That made far too much sense. That would explain their appearance, but what about Shigaraki?

I watched as the heroes started cleaning up the remaining villains, staying out of All Might’s way. He had the Nomu on the ropes, and with a final yell, sent it through the roof.  

Watching then, I saw All Might standing there, saying something to Shigaraki, who simply bowed his head, and before anyone could react, fell into a portal created by Kurogiri.

Yeah, something’s off here. But I didn’t have time to think for now, as Anne grabbed my shoulder and said “We can talk later. Aizawa told us to get out of here while they clean up. Come on.”

I nodded as we walked out. We walked back and ended up right outside, where we ended up until the police arrived, and a detective greeted us, Tsukauchi.

Have to be careful around him.

Why, does he have a dangerous quirk?

He can tell when people are lying.

Oooh yeah. That doesn’t sound good

He went to each of us, and asked for a simple explanation of what happened. Then he thanked us, and Uraraka walked up to him.

“Um, detective, I think there’s something you should know.”

He looked at her with curious eyes, yet his face was unreadable.

“What is it? Any information you have may be helpful.”

Uraraka seemed hesitant, but kept speaking.

“Well, there weren’t just villains there. There was a vigilante too.”

Tsukauchi nodded.

“We already talked to your teacher about that, Bloodrush, right?”

He furrowed his brow as he kept talking.

“Why they were here is quite a mystery. This kind of thing isn’t their usual operations, so we’re still trying to put together how they knew to be here, and why exactly they decided to intervene.”

Uraraka nodded and smiled.

“They helped gather my classmates, and helped out Mr. Aizawa too!”

Tsukauchi smiled too.

“Well then, hopefully they know they did good.”

Conversations continued, but I kept to myself. This entire thing had been tiring. Looking out at the sky, I wondered what could be next. Sure the sports festival, but what else would change? Things weren’t always going to be how I thought they would. It seemed someone else was out there.

I pondered. Who else could be out there?

And what were they planning next?

Chapter Text

Things can blur together a lot, especially if you’re anticipating something. Of course, the opposite can happen too. Your anticipation can slow things down, make it feel like an eternity, even if whatever you were anticipating was only an hour away. Once the USJ was over, and the sports festival was announced, I had two whole weeks to wait before an event I was massively looking forward to. 

Normally, I’m pretty good with waiting. Things came to me, best to just let it happen, and this didn’t entirely go away really. Mina whined and moaned the entire time, but I think I rubbed off on her, because as the days wore on, she seemed to complain less, though she never stopped entirely. At the same time, I started to see her point. Waiting became harder as time ticked by, which felt new to me. I chalked it up to Mina rubbing off on me as I rubbed off on her.

Luckily for my own health, training was there to make up the time. Anne and I hung out of course, but Kirishima and Kaminari were the ones I trained with, though he was sometimes with us as well. 

Training with Kirishima was old hat, we’d done so before school started, but now we were practicing skills as we learned them. Plus, Kaminari was thrown into the mix. He was quite an interesting fighter, with a quirk like his, though he was vulnerable and new to fighting. Kirishima had some form of fighting lessons he went to, I had dance to fall back on, but he had clearly never done it aside from basics.

It made me worry a bit. The downside from his quirk may even be detrimental to his brain if he overused it, though he tried his best to tell me it wouldn’t, though it had been when he first used it. That may have explained a few things, though I didn’t say anything to him. It wouldn’t have been nice to say out loud “Maybe your quirk damaged your brain and that’s why you fail at school”. 

Besides, not like I could judge. I was confident I knew what was coming, I had graduated highschool already, but already I felt like I was drowning. It was just…harder than I thought, and though I wasn’t catastrophically bad, it still wasn’t good.

But I digress. Once I started training and hanging out, getting to know some classmates (it’s amazing how much you can fit into a seemingly small time), the two weeks passed by, and it was sports festival time. 

One of the things Anne had been doing was convince me of an idea he had had shortly after the USJ. Both me and Mina, plus Shinso, were reluctant, so he was facing an uphill battle. I was coming around a little, but Mina and Shinso still needed convincing. That was the situation we’d found ourselves in while we were changing for the sports festival.

It wasn’t as awkward this time. I wasn’t sure why, maybe my identity had shifted again? Or the conversation? Maybe both.

That’s crazy.

Yep

Completely insane and and and-

Mina, calm down

Right. It’s just so crazy. Why would he even tell us that? Shinso was even against it, he has to talk his body’s owner into it!

I get it. Still, we should hear him out. Maybe it’s more elaborate than we think. That was usually the case before.

Huh. So his plans were always smart?

...No, but they always had thought behind them.

Bluh.

Understandable.

I looked around after I’d gotten ready, and headed into the shared waiting room from the lockers. Most of the guys were there already. I gave Anne a high five, Kirishima a fist bump, and Kaminari gave me finger guns, which I replied to with a light punch to his shoulder, before I sat down to watch the fireworks. This was gonna be good in person.

Oooh. Drama?

You bet. Should be happening as soon as…there he is.

Anne knew too as his eyes watched Todoroki’s entrance

“Midoriya”

Said greenette turned to see Todoroki approach him, looking as intense as always.

“Hey Todoroki. What’s up?”

Everyone in the class was watching now too. Curious as to what was happening. I kept myself from grinning too hard at seeing a moment like this. Already you could feel the tension.

“I think it’s fairly clear from an objective standpoint that I’m stronger than you.”

Bold. I think that’s the most he’s said to anyone.

He gets better…a little.

“Uh, yeah.”

Midoriya’s great speaking skills strike again

“However, you’ve got All Might in your corner helping you out.”

Midoriya gasped, as if this was some big secret.

He’s not very subtle about it. Even you figured that out, right Mina?

Yeah, he was- wait. Hey!

You’re getting quicker on the uptake.

Thanks, I’ve been- was that another insult?

Way quicker

I ignored the vile things Mina said in response and watched the rest of the scene unfold. The tension only got thicker as Todoroki said he would beat Midoriya. Kirishima got up and went to inquire about the reasons, only to get brushed off.

“Don’t forget, this isn’t a team effort.”

I snorted a bit, but it was Anne who spoke up next.

“Man, aren’t you charming. You know part of heroics is working with other heroes, right?”

Todoroki fixed him with an unreadable expression, before turning and walking away without a word. It was then Midoriya responded, and now you could tell it was on.

Ah the good old Shonen speech. Gotta love how they say “It’s on!” with so many words, with a healthy dose of inspiration.

I liked it. Midoriya’s pretty cool. He gets me pumped to win.

Let’s do it then.

“I’ll be aiming for the top too.”

I grinned as I jumped out of my chair with Midoriya’s last statement.

“You’re not the only one.”

Once everyone had their eyes on me, I smirked.

“You guys and your posturing. Can’t let you have the top that easy.”

Todoroki’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Are you challenging me?”

I shrugged.

“Maybe it’s to you. Maybe to everyone. Either way, It’s on.”

I kept standing as Anne did the same, a more competitive grin than usual on his face.

“Good speech. But I do have to say Midoriya, it's a bit rude to put us all down. Potential isn't really something you can measure like that.”

He smiled and clenched his fist bringing it up to his chest.

“Guess I’ll just have to prove you wrong.”

He turned to the rest of the room.

“You guys going to do the same? Push yourselves and prove we have what it takes. Let’s make this a day to remember.”

Kirishima chimed in after.

“Right! A man never gives up! I’ll give it my all!”

Everyone else cheered too, similar declarations coming from all over the room. Todoroki showed the most emotion I’d seen of him thus far, seeming a little shocked, before he closed his eyes and sighed.

“Fine.”

He was the first to walk out, followed by a smiling Midoriya. I fist bumped Anne as I followed, before giving Midoriya a pat on the shoulder when I caught up.

“Good job starting to get people pumped. You sure you aren’t the leader type?”

Midoriya blushed a bit.

“O-oh it was nothing. It wouldn’t have had the same effect if you and Shinso hadn’t jumped in, Ashido.”

I smirked a bit, and drifted backward to walk with the girls. They’d insisted, and I guess it would be good to talk to them. I did leave one last parting reply though.

“Don’t sell yourself short. See you on the competition field, Midoriya.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It was quite exhilarating to walk out to such a huge crowd. It can be hard for animation to convey a sense of scale like that, so it was shocking and exciting. I was never one for stage fright, so I smiled and waved as we walked out and gathered around the stage where Midnight now was. The pro was smiling rather strangely, though I guess when your brand is “The R-Rated Hero”, you don’t get by by acting normal.

I kind of ignored the awed statements from most of the guys (and a few girls). Sure, she was attractive, but that was her brand. 

Why is she hosting the games?

Because she’s a teacher? It’s usually been hosted by UA staff in the past. You know that.

I do?

Yeah, because I do. Your memories have been leaking into my brain, remember?’

…right. I don’t like thinking about that.

Fair. But let’s hear Bakugou speak. I bet it will be…great.

That isn’t helping, ya know?

Yep.

All I want to say is that…I’m gonna win.”

Truly an oration for the ages.

Ooooh, you were being sarcastic. I get it now!

Great job Mina

Thanks! 

Within the erupting crowd of students, I noticed Anne, barely holding in laughter. I shared the sentiment, my own face twitching slightly as I tried not to grin like an idiot at the class hothead’s blunt declaration. The guy was just…special in a way that was hard to describe.

Once things calmed, and the relay race was announced, everyone lined up. I waved to Anne, who just grinned and went to talk to Iida, saying something that Iida responded to, and then went blank. Looks like he was taking a note from the original timeline and using someone as a horse to get through this one.

Me? I didn’t have that luxury. I had to win on my speed. Luckily one of the things I’d been practicing had been my acid slide, so speed wasn’t going to be a problem really. I just worried about the obstacles.

I shook my head when the worry started to hone in. Not the time. We could do this. I could do this. Whatever obstacles I encountered, I would melt through and get to the finish! I would give this my all!.

Yeah! Let’s do it!

I grinned and stretched a bit as the countdown began. Time to do this.

“GO!”

And it was with those words that the sports festival really began, dozens of students cramming themselves into the doorway, Aizawa commentating on that fact. I stood back a bit, and then pulled a maneuver I had practiced way too much, in anticipation of situations like this.

A full flip onto the shoulders of several students was hard, but I pulled it off, hearing several grunts and shouts as I did so. At the same time I heard cries of surprise from further ahead as Todoroki’s ice hit those in the doorway. Taking advantage I moved from person to person, before reaching the end of the door, leaping down, and turning any momentum left into a slide. The ice may have had a slightly different feel, but it was as slippery as the acid I used for my acid dashes. And that meant I was gliding easily, watching as others made it over the crowd, and had their own solutions for the ice, Yaoyorozu pole vaulting, Tsu doing something similar to my strategy, and Bakugou…flying on explosions. Looked like it was mostly 1-A in the lead too, with a few 1-B kids. I saw Anne holding onto Iida’s back as they raced past me, nearly bowling me over. He looked back and gave me a mock salute as they passed, which I returned.

Shouts of alarm alerted me to the next obstacle ahead, the robots. Had to admit, it was cool seeing Todoroki freeze them like that, though only barely avoiding getting crushed by coming out the other side was harrowing, with me only looking back briefly to see Kirishima burst out of the rubble before I had to leap to the side to avoid a strike from the smaller faux villains.

Right. Almost forgot about them.

Let’s melt 'em and get going!

Right.

I followed the leap back with a concentrated blast of acid that left one of the villain's legs disabled,and followed that with a seamless transition back to my dash.. Adrenaline fueled my actions as I moved, dodging, blasting, and just going fast. 

Still, I wasn’t the fastest. Todoroki was already at the next obstacle and I knew a few others were as well. I wasn’t that far behind, but I needed to step up the pace. So I did, I ignored the burning in my muscles, a bad sign already, and pushed myself harder. 

Pulse pounding, I had to slow down to avoid falling off the wide cliff before me. Obstacle two. I really, really hope there was some sort of precaution or else there were going to be bodies. Then again, this was UA.

Putting aside those thoughts, I began making my way across the pits, not looking down and focusing on my balance. Lucky for me I had the body of someone who had exceedingly good balance and it wasn’t a huge problem, it was just slow going, no quirk aiding me here, just my own reflexes. My quirk would only make it harder to cross, in fact.

Ahead I could see others making their way across, Todoroki already gone, with a muffled furious voice confirming Bakugou was close behind. I could see the unwilling Iida and Anne tag team making their way across. Would’ve thought the brainwashing would cause some decrease in Iida’s ability to grind across ropes like that, but no. Shinso’s quirk was way less limited than I thought. Kinda scary.

I nearly jumped when I heard faint voices behind me, before a pink haired girl in goggles zoomed past, cackling like a gremlin. I nearly lost my balance too, wobbling in place for a moment. The sheer terror I felt at that moment was unimaginable.

But I did manage to catch my balance again, but it was time that cost me. I could see several people ahead of me now that hadn’t been before,Including Tsu, and so with a huff I kept moving. I had to do this, I wasn’t going to let this pass me by. The feeling of soreness did not help my balance at all but I pushed it down yet again.

It was a few more moments before I reached the end, and had to keep moving. I had already heard the minefield announcement, so I had to move faster than before. More acid came from my feet as I raced forward in the fastest dash I had used, rapidly throwing me past a few people, nearly hitting a few that I struggled to dodge, the momentum making control difficult. I could hear some explosions going off in the distance, making me go even faster despite the already waning control I had.

Things were passing by fast as I nearly missed the edge of the minefield, but the plumes of smoke and sound were what alerted me. Lucky for me I stopped just short of hitting a mine, but it left me stunned for a moment, which one person took advantage of to race past. I didn’t get a clear look, but from the hair it looked like one of Class B.

I shook off the shock and moved, carefully, though likely faster than I should have, just narrowly jumping away from mines I had set off. It was halfway through I heard the massive explosion behind me, looking up to see Midoriya fly past. I saw his small form catch up, and slam down, only to be propelled further by another explosion.

Oh my gosh, was that Midoriya?

Yep

He used the explosions to throw himself forward?

Yep

That’s crazy

Par for the course for Midoriya really.

Really? He’s cooler than I thought!

I know. But let’s focus. We’re almost there.

Yeah! Let’s go!

One last burst was all I needed as I raced forward, dodging a couple explosions and moving past two more of my classmates. I heard the announcement of first place followed by second and third. Finale time.

“Hey Ashido! Race ya!”

Looking to my side, I saw a strange sight. A head poking out of the ground was grinning at me, though it was hard to say if he was actually grinning. Juzo Honenuki. I had never even talked to the guy, so why was he acting like he knew me? Whatever, the cocky aura the guy was giving off made me want to take him on. My eyes narrowed and I pushed on as he leapt out of the ground and did the same, doing this strange dolphin like movement, diving in and out of the ground to give himself momentum. And it was working.

He was moving faster than I was too, putting aside the fact that I had to take care where I stepped lest I get my foot stuck. But I was not going to be beaten, so I went faster, and pulled off a few fancy moves to help get ahead, managing to just make it ahead as we reached the tunnel back to the stadium, Honenuki having to get up and run normally there, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to beat him, my pushing starting to catch up as my legs were burning, but finally…

I crossed the line, making it in, hearing an announcement of Honenuki crossing the line soon after. I nearly collapsed on the spot, relieved. I barely even heard Anne come up and pat me on the back, but I looked up and smiled regardless. He smirked back.

“Good effort. I guess we all can’t have horses to get us through tough spots.”

I nodded before looking over at Iida, who seemed completely bewildered, but glad at the high placing, around fifth place. He was waving stiffly in his Iida like manner, though people didn’t pay much attention. 

“He seems rather cheerful considering he doesn't recall the entire event.”

Anne shrugged.

“I sense I’m going to get a lecture later, but hey. Use your resources.”

I grinned at him.

“You know that’s what every cheater says.”

“You mean every bad cheater.”

“You’re implying you cheated and were bad at it.”

“Touche”

We both ended up giving giggles though mine were a bit less enthusiastic, being sore and tired already. Not a good sign. I think I may have overdone it.

But we did it! We’re moving to the next round!

But the soreness may mean we bring ourselves down at the next event.

Oh. But we still made it through the first event! Go us!

Heh. Yeah. Go us.

Positive as ever. But I shook my head and looked back at Anne.

“So, I wanna team for the next event. The cavalry battle?”

He grinned.

“I wouldn’t know who else to pick. Let’s rock ‘em”

Chapter Text

I was grinning like an idiot as the forty-two who made it to the second round gathered around the stage for the announcement of the second game. Jake had run off after we had agreed to team, saying something about “Needing to hang with the gals”. I didn’t get why, but hey, I never did get what she did, even before all this.

Weren’t you best friends? I would think you know them the best out of us both.

Eh, kinda. Jake’s never been the most..open. Sure, he’ll talk, but he’s a master at using a lot of very mystical language to say nothing. Getting a straight answer can be the hardest thing in the world if he doesn’t want to give it.

Sounds annoying.

Trust me, that we can agree on.

World must be coming to an end if we just agree.

Oh hush.

I kind of…ignored the explanation of the cavalry battle. I had heard it and only paid attention once score listings came in. I had gotten sixth place thanks to my clever use of Iida, moving him up the ranks by guiding him. From what I could tell the mine field had pushed him back, so with me directing, we made it in quick.

Admittedly not a bad idea.

Got it from you ya know, though yours wasn’t as bold.

I used some people as horses?

Yep. Guess you couldn’t get anyone too useful so you used some schlubs for a bit.

Huh.

Shaking things off, I looked to see my score. One hundred and eighty-five points. Not bad.

Especially considering you just rode piggyback to get it.

You must be fun at parties.

So you’ve said. Five times already.

You kept count?

Yes.

I ignored my own head partner as I looked around, seeing the moment Midoriya’s score total was announced. I tried to hold in the laughter as I saw literally everyone’s head turn to him simultaneously, plus the expression of absolute terror on his face. I could practically see the anime exaggeration and it was kind of strange to not see all the little touches the animated version had, but it was still a very funny moment.

Soon enough, I was looking for some teammates, though it appeared I didn’t need to. Jake was already talking with Tsu and Kaminari, the latter of whom seemed pretty psyched. I jogged over to them, giving them all the look I normally had when I was curious.

“Hey, Mina! You already got us a team?”

She nodded, giving me a knowing smile.

“Yep. Caught Kaminari on his way to talk to Bakugou, and he was down for being a good front horse. Then I saw Tsu and it just clicked. You think we’re good then?”

I thought for a moment. Kaminari was a good catch, though what effect that would have on Bakugou’s team, I wasn’t sure. Then again, Mina wasn’t there either. So we’ll just have to deal. I nodded my assent.

“Sounds good. Now we just need a rider.”

Mina nodded, looking thoughtful before Tsu spoke up.”

“What about Shinso? He seems like he could be a good rider, Kero.”

I thought it over. Yes, I could be a good rider, though that meant Tsu would be a horse. She seemed like the best choice.

“Actually Tsu, I think you might be our best rider. You’re small…no offense (“None taken, kero.”), and agile, plus you could use your tongue to grab headbands. “

Mina seemed thoughtful, before she nodded enthusiastically.

“Yeah, Tsu! You’re our best choice!”

Kaminari agreed, pumping his fist.

“You got this, Tsu!”

Tsu was silent for a short time, before replying.

“If that’s what you think, kero. I’ll do it.”

We all cheered, and I smiled. This was gonna be fun. Aside from that, we still needed a good strategy. But I had one in mind already. And from Jake’s face, she had thought of it already too. I let her speak first.

“Alright, now that we’ve got that…we still need to plan what to do.”

Kaminari shrugged.

“We could go for Midoriya. If we get him, that's a guaranteed win.”

I nodded before shooting that down.

“Once we had It though, we’d need to protect it, and then everyone’s gunning for us. Not the best idea.”

Mina and Tsu both nodded.

“That’s what I was thinking.”

“Me too, kero.”

I smirked.

“Alright, good to know we’re mostly on the same page.”

Kaminari seemed put out by having his idea shot down so quickly. I patted Kaminari’s shoulder to comfort the poor boy. 

“So, I propose we stay away from the mess that’ll be near Midoriya, plus the other top two. Not sure if we could take them on really. We pick off other teams, and watch out for ice. Sound good?”

Everyone nodded. I turned to Kaminari.

“Kaminari, I cannot stress this enough, please do not short circuit yourself. We need you. Okay?”

He nodded, seeming the most serious he’d ever been, before returning to normal.

“No worries Shin-Bro! I got ya!”

I smiled. Good nickname.

I hate it.

Of course you do. You’re…Shin-bro.

Please no.

What’s wrong Shin-bro?

I hate you.

No you don’t.

I really, really do.

I can still read your emotions, liar.

Those emotions are lies.

Whatever you say, Shin-bro.

He groaned loudly in my head, as I noticed Jake running toward Kirishima. Curious, I of course followed. She caught up to him, and they high fived, before I got in speech range.

“So, you’re with Bakugou?”

Kirishima nodded, giving that full smile I had grown familiar with. The one that meant he was pumped.

“Yeah. I’m his front horse.”

Jake nodded, before looking away.

“I guess we’re gonna fight then?”

Kirishima seemed a little sad, but he kept the fire in his gaze.

“Hey, come on. This is just a chance to see how far we’ve come already. Plus, we knew this was coming. You’re pretty great. And I’m gonna beat you to prove I’m great now too.”

He finished this up with a determined look and an outstretched hand. Jake smirked back and took it, fire in her eyes now too.

“I was gonna say something similar. So I guess we’re like rivals now?”

Kirishima nodded. She simply grinned wider.

“Then it’s on. See you on the field, Eijiro.”

He seemed surprised, but didn’t protest.

“You too Mina.”

And with that they parted ways, Jake walking back toward me.

“Enjoy the show?”

I shrugged as we returned to our team.

“Maybe. You seemed pretty intense back there. Guess we better not lose.”

She nodded, fire in her eyes.

“Yeah. we’d better not.”

Returning to our team, it was only a short time before the last call was made. Tsu had registered us and gotten our headband in Jake and I’s absence, so we were ready. We grouped up, Kaminari in the front, Mina and I in the back, and Tsu as our rider. Everyone was tense as things were to begin. I could see Kaminaris’ nervous excitement and Jake's determination written on their faces. Tsu was hard to read, but I could tell even now she was at the very least a little nervous.

“It’s time for an arena thumping UA battle royale! Everybody scream!”

Are you sure we have this?

“Okay all you first years, I hope you're happy with your chosen teams!”

No. But we stay focused, and work together.

“ Let’s get this party started!”

Heck, that even means you. I need you to warn me if you notice something I don’t. That sound good?

“One final countdown before the game starts!”

Sure. Let’s do this.

“Three!”

Alright then.

“Two!”

Time for our first big hurdle.

“One!”

“Let’s do this guys!”

Everyone else responded in the affirmative.

“Right!”

“Okay, kero.”

“You got it!”

And then the announcement came.

“Begin!”

And it was off to the races.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As expected, everyone gunned straight for Midoriya. Well, almost everyone. I noticed Monoma’s team circling around, looking for targets.

“Looks like we aren’t the only ones hanging back”

“You mean Monoma? He looks like he’s waiting for a chance, like us, kero.”

I nodded as we began looking for targets, keeping moving so as to not be too suspicious. We just needed a first target. To be honest, we didn’t need much to stay in fourth place, our point total was already higher than a few other teams by far, so we just needed to snatch a band or two then play defense.

But playing it safe was boring. Our strategy, while safer meant we might piss people off, so why play defense? Go big or go home. We were in for a fight by the end, I had a feeling.

In just two minutes, I heard Jake speak up.

“I see someone! Team Kodai is distracted!”

I nodded.

“You heard her, let’s get that headband! Tsu, I trust you can grab it if we get in close enough?”

I saw her nod.

“Yes, my tongue could get it if we get a little closer, kero.”

I smirked.

“Alright guys. Let’s get Tsu in close. Let us know when we’re close enough, Tsu.”

“Right, kero.”

So us horses picked up the pace, headed for team Kodai, who were looking to make a pass at Midoriya. Tsu looked like she was thinking as we got closer…closer…

“I’m close enough, kero.”

All of us horses echoed “Right!” before slowing down. Tsu jumped and threw out her tongue, managing to grab hold of Kodai’s headband. The girl had just a moment to turn her head before the band was yanked off and flew to us, caught by our rider, who quickly put it on her neck. We turned around and fled, hearing a shout from behind. I didn’t know those guy’s quirks well, but Jake did, seeming to be keeping track of them as we ran, before throwing some acid out to counter an attack. She didn’t comment aside from a quick “acid beats glue!”

Isn’t glue acidic? 

Wait, is it?

I read about acids in school. I think it is.

Your point?

Ashido’s comment was nonsensical.

Hey, heat of the moment kinda thing.

Still not a good comeback.

Whatever.

It seemed team Kodai, aside from a spray of glue from the big guy, wasn’t all that interested in pursuit. That let us get back to picking our next target, all the while on the lookout for attacks. That paid off as Shinso warned me of Monoma passing by, trying to swipe at Tsu, who dodged the attempt. I decided to take advantage and shouted back at him.

“Monoma, right? How’s it feel to have a rivalry only you care about?”

He turned and unsurprisingly opened his mouth to respond. 

“You arrogant-”

I activated my quirk, shutting him up. Tsu took the opportunity to snatch a headband from the three he had already, and we made our way out of the blast zone, seeing Bakugou near us.I get that Mina had a thing with Kirishima, but we did not want to piss off Bakugou.

It seemed like Bakugou noticed us too, a grin on his face as his team made a beeline for us. Taking a good look, he had replaced Mina with Jirou, looking thoroughly done. Luckily, I had the solution to keep Boom Boom Boy from us. Monoma shook his head, seeming confused a moment after my quirk was released, before he saw Bakugou and smiled, intercepting his charge. With that, we ran off. It was time to pick off some more targets.

Though that seemed to have worn thin already, only seven minutes of twenty had passed and already it seemed nearly everyone was disarmed aside from us, Monoma (though that was going to change quickly), Midoriya, Todoroki, and Rin. So it looked like we would be on the defense, like it or not. Though…

I looked to see Team Rin engaged with another,  Team…Mineta? Guess he must be in General studies or something now. They were attacking furiously, distracting him long enough for a steal. I signaled to Tsu, and we moved in, being bold too. Instead of the tongue we rode by and Tsu manually snatched it. The shock on Rin’s face was quite a sight, though we didn’t want a pursuit, so Kaminari stunned them with a shock.

That left four teams with points, though the furious exclamations meant Monoma was about to get knocked down a peg by our resident rage boy. Still this was dangerous. It meant the focus, while split, was going to be on us as well as the other three. 

Though it seemed Todoroki had a solution to that as his team moved around. I spotted him preparing an attack, and looked at Jake.

“Think you can counter an ice sheet?”

She smirked.

“Oh ye of little faith..”

It wasn’t long before the sheet of ice was coming toward us, and with a shout, Jake shot out acid around our feet, melting the ice as quick as it formed, creating a safe zone for us and a few others, though some teams still got caught up.

I spotted Todoroki looking at us, though he quickly snapped his attention back to Midoriya. That kid has a mission.

I can respect his determination. I feel the same way about becoming a hero.

And that is something I like about you.

Thanks. You’re okay.

I ignored the provocation as we moved, looking around. It seemed some of the few free teams had caught on to us, and were now bearing down. Kaminari smiled.

“I got this.”

And with that he unleashed a powerful blast that stunned nearly every team. That is, except Team Rin, the rider and singular powerful horse bearing down at us quickly. I smirked as we moved, just managing to get out of the way of the charge. I made a motion to Jake, who sprayed out some slippery, low stinging acid in front of us, before shouting over at the horse, Shishida, I think? 

“Hey, big guy! Nice charge there! You born to be ridden or what?”

He seemed to ignore me, but he did charge faster than last time. I smiled. Perfect.

As soon as he hit the slimy acid, he seemed to lose control, just barely avoiding falling over. Even without toppling though, he was still sliding out of his control, Rin just barely holding on as they moved fast. We had already moved, leading to him sliding right past and into one of the teams who had recovered from the shock Kaminari had given them and were trying to sneak up on us.

I would like to say the rest was exciting, but it wasn’t really. We were smart, for the most part anyways. We stayed on the defense and fended off any attempts to take us on, including a clever near taking of our headbands from Reiko and Team Kendo, until around the five minutes to end mark. By that time we had seen Bakugou take Monoma down, and the top three were beginning to clash.

It was truly something to behold. Then an idea came to me. One that made me smirk.

“Guys, how do you feel about taking a risk?”

Jake took one look at my smirk and returned the expression.

“If it’s the idea I think it is, then I’m in.”

Kaminari agreed, nodding as he blasted an attack from team Kodai back.

“Yeah! Let’s go for gold! Whatcha got?”

I nodded and began to explain.

“Trust me on this. First things first, we need to get closer to the big clash over there.”

Everyone looked to the confrontation between Teams Midoriya and Todoroki, with Teams Bakugou charging in on it as well. Kaminari got a look on his face before he spoke up.

“I..think I get what you have in mind.”

Tsu nodded, seeming indifferent as always.

“Me too, kero. It’s really risky.”

I nodded, still moving closer anyways.

“That’s why it might reward us. The big two over there are keeping themselves and their teams busy. We head in, keep a distance, and snatch the million when they’re distracted. Time it right and they won’t be able to mount an attack. But we need to move now.”

Everyone else seemed to think it over before nodding. We began to slowly move around the fight, getting closer and closer. The time was ticking down, and I saw several of the more big moments. Soon enough we were in range, the back of Todoroki’s bands visible, but we needed just the right moment. 

“Wait for it.”

Midoriya cut through Todoroki’s defenses, it was almost time.

“Wait for it…”

I saw the snatch. Midoriya had a band in his hand and Todorki had his head turned away.

“Now.”

Tsu’s tongue shot out and grabbed onto the ten million band. Todoroki barely had time to process what had just happened before it shot away, our team already booking it. Tsu caught the band, and even the crowd wasn’t expecting this, going nuts.

“It looks like Team Asui has rocketed to first in an astonishing maneuver!”

We were in first place, and now we just needed to stay king of the hill for a little bit. I heard two separate shouts, as both Midoriya and Todoroki were headed our way, faces scrunched in determination. We prepared to meet them, watching as Bakugou careened through the air, yelling in rage. 

“Damnit!”

They had nearly been on us when I heard the announcement.

“ Time’s up!”

It seemed like it took everyone just a moment to process, though they all seemed to be in their own groups. Midoriya was crying as Tokoyami revealed a headband he’d snatched. Bakugou was screaming in rage as his teammates tried to assuage him. And Todoroki? He looked…genuinely shocked. 

As for us, it was all cheers.

“We did it! We got first place!”

Kaminari pumped his fist as he yelled, seeming jubilant.

“Yeah we did! And all thanks to teamwork!”

Jake seemed absolutely pumped, though more calm than Kaminari’s cheer.

“We did work well together, kero.”

Tsu was…Tsu, meaning she was hard to read, though she did seem happy. And she wasn’t the only one.

We did it.

We did. How’s it feel to be a winner?

I…don’t know. I never thought I'd make it this far.

Guess that makes two of us.

Thanks.

No prob- did you just thank me?

I can take it back.

No no no. No need. Just…I don't think you’ve thanked me before.

I’m pretty sure I have.

I don’t know, my memory’s bad, okay?

So that’s the excuse.

Oh shut up.

I nodded at Tsu, deciding to ignore Shinso’s smug face for now.

“We made a good team, huh Kami? And you didn’t even short circuit.”

He paused a moment before he smiled.

“I did! Maybe I'm getting better!”

I shrugged.

“We all are.”

“You think Yaomomo will go on a date with me yet?”

I stopped a moment before laughing.

“No. I think you’re still not in her league.”

He slumped, Jake patting him on the shoulder and comforting him.

“Hey, you’ll find the right girl one day. Or guy. I won’t judge.”

He looked over at her, hopeful.

“How about you, beautiful?”

Jake giggled at how fast he bounced back, before shaking her head.

“No.”

“Aw man.”

And with that, we got off the field, still talking. With that entry, we now had one last round, after lunch and some halftime games of course. One on one matches. I couldn't help the smile. I had known I couldn't rely on my quirk for that kind of thing, so I had trained. And I was ready. 

I walked off to get some lunch, contemplating what would happen next, though one thing caught my eye. Midoriya and Todoroki, heading off alone. Hmm. Some things don’t change, do they?

Whatevs. I turned and rejoined the group, which now included Bakugou’s team, along with Bakugou himself, who was grumbling.

Whatever happened next, it was going to be crazy.

And I couldn’t wait.

Chapter Text

Mina/Jake

I was still coming down off the thrill from the cavalry battle as we walked to lunch, our group having crossed with Bakugou’s on the way. Said teen was still seeming to be enraged, grumbling as Kirishima tried to get him to engage.

“Third place isn’t bad man. We’re still in the finals”

The angry blonde didn’t reply, only looking away sullenly before stalking off to spy on Midoriya. I simply smiled as I turned to Anne, who had a similar look on his face. It had been his strategies that brought us through that successfully, so he kinda deserved a lot of credit, and he seemed to know that. 

I still can’t believe we got first place!

Me either. Anne came through big time.

Your friend is pretty smart.

Yeah. Always been that way. Evan and Anne were always the brains. Evan was the planner, Anne was always best on the fly.

Sounds like they made a good team.

‘ou have no idea.

I couldn’t help the nostalgia that came from reminiscing over that. The projects they had done together. It was sad too. I missed Evan. We had been sharing an apartment, the two of us hadn’t gone a day or two without seeing each other for years at this point. I could only imagine how much he would panic if he was left behind. To find two of his friends missing. At the very least Ben would be there, but he probably wouldn’t react much better either. Lots of swearing.

I hope you find them again.

Thanks. Who knows what happened? They could even be here in the world. But we don’t even have a lead besides the eye tattoo.

Ughhh. Why did it have to be so cryptic? Why not a note that said “Hey, this is why we shoved you in Mina’s body”?

I have to say, you’re right on that. Being cryptic is my thing.

Lunch wasn’t bad really, plus we could check out a few of the food stalls. Our parents had given us a little money to spend, so I experimented. Not bad, Japan, not bad.

All the finalists talked, even Midoriya, who turned up late with Todoroki. The latter boy just silently grabbed lunch and sat alone. Honestly, he looked a bit sad. Bakugou showed up just a bit later than that, to Kirishima’s relief.

It felt comforting, despite the fact that we were all going to be fighting in just a bit of time. No reason to let that ruin some good food. Kirishima was the one to break the ice.

“So, you guys ready for the finals?”

Anne nodded.

“You bet. No hard feelings when I kick your butt?”

Kirishima laughed.

“That’s manly confidence right there! I’ll have to step it up to match!”

I smirked at that.

“Don’t think Shinso will even get the chance to kick your butt if I do it first.”

Kirishima looked shocked, before his look regained the normal positivity.

“Hell yeah! That’s the spirit! Let’s all do our best!”

Everyone around nodded, the atmosphere charged even as we returned to finish eating. Everyone here was going to be doing their best. Me included.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Gathering up after lunch, I was tense. It looked like it would be a very different final round. All we could do was wait as Midnight began to explain the final round. One on one fights, whoever gets disabled or pushed out of the ring loses. 

Then the brackets came up. I squinted as I checked things over. It seemed my first opponent was going to be Aoyama, like normal. But looking over, Anne wasn’t matched with Midoriya. He was fighting Asui, and from the look of the brackets we wouldn’t be fighting unless we made it to the finals, which I doubted. If I won both of my first two matches, I would be fighting Todoroki in the semi-finals. And I had little chance there. Not like I wouldn’t do my best though.

Okay! We’re up first! Let’s give it all we got! 

Right. Let’s just get ready in the waiting room

Aoyama spoke as I looked over, sparkly and confident as ever.

“Sorry Mon Cherie, but it looks like this is the end of the line for you!”

I simply gave him a lazy smile and a simple reply.

“We’ll have to see sparkles.”

I could feel Mina’s excitement as I walked off to wait in one of the provided rooms. It was making me feel fidgety and a bit energetic, though it was hard to tell our feelings apart from one another, especially during times like this, high energy, when the adrenaline was pumping.

Ohhhh, right. Did any more memories leak over?

Ehhh, a few. I have a theory about that too.

Oooh. Tell me.

It’s a bit complicated to say in a short time.

Then shorten it!

I’ll try. My idea is that two brains weren’t meant to share the same space, so they can’t stay apart forever. So our minds are being forced together. We’re kinda being forced to merge.

Oh. I…I don’t know what to feel about that. Are we going to die?

Not exactly.

What the heck does that mean?

That’s the complicated part. So-

I heard a cheer from outside. It appeared to be time. I jumped up and walked to the door.

I’ll explain when things are a bit slower. For now, we need to get to the match.

Alright. Let’s go win!

Right.

Giving the room one more look, I smirked. Time to kick some sparkly butt.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Match 1: Mina Ashido Vs Yuga Aoyama

Walking out to cheers was quite the experience, especially having Present Mic hype us up.

“On one side we have Class 1-A’s Mina Ashido!”

I waved as he said that.

“And in the other we have another member of 1-A, Yuga Aoyama!”

Aoyama smiled in a very Aoyama way, and I couldn’t help but feel bad for what was about to happen. The guy was just too funny. Then, considering what I’d heard from manga readers, maybe there was more to him. I’d have to talk to him later. But now? 

He was going down.

I watched as Midnight smiled from the sidelines and Present Mic gave his rules spiel. Soon enough the R-rated hero raised her whip.

“Ready? Then begin!”

Aoyama didn’t waste time, trying to keep me away with his lasers, but I dodged quickly, turning it into a dance for the crowd, spinning and ducking between the slow telegraphed projectiles. I just had to find the right opportunity to take him down. My eyes focused on the belt. His big obvious weakness.

It only took a short time before I saw my chance. Aoyama had to pause a bit longer after several volleys of his lasers. He was vulnerable, and a simple spray of acid left him further vulnerable. He cried in surprise before looking up to see me smirk.

“I think it’s about time for the…how would you say it? The Coup de Grâce?"

I saw him gulp as I raced forward, propelled by my acid in a dash. A punch felt a bit mean, so instead, I opted for something that would still take him out.

Then again, me colliding with him at full speed to shove him full force out of the ring might have been worse. Still, it got results, as Aoyama flew out of the ring, landing in the grass. Midnight raised her whip to announce the end.

“Aoyama is out of the ring! The match goes to Ashido!”

I jumped down and walked over to Aoyama, offering the flamboyant boy a hand.

“You need to work on your durability.”

The boy accepted the hand, smiling at me as if he hadn’t just taken a quick defeat.

“Thank you Cherie. I’ll…think about that. Go far for moi, won’t you?”

I nodded.

“I’ll do my best.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I entered the box for Class 1-A to a couple cheers and a high five from Kaminari. Kirishima was already gone, getting ready for his match. I simply sat down, glad I got a break for a while. Now I got to scope out the competition while I waited for the next round. I looked over to see Midoriya scribbling in a notebook and muttering. It was weird to see now, but I leaned over and tapped the guy on the shoulder.

“You okay Midoriya?”

He perked up, realizing what he was doing, and smiled apologetically.

“O-oh! Sorry!”

I shrugged.

“Eh, it’s fine. Just do whatever. I think it’s kinda cool you can make notes so detailed from just watching a fight.”

Iida, who was sitting near Midoriya’s seat, nodded.

“Indeed. Midoriya is quite thorough. One of the things that makes him a good student!”

Uraraka interjected too.

“Yeah, he’s…pretty cool.”

Midoriya went a little red, hearing the praise from his friends. He apparently didn’t notice the look on Uraraka’s face afterwards. I smiled.

Ooooooohhhhh! Crush?

Yup. She’s got it bad.

We gotta do something to help them!

Maybe. I find it kinda funny to see them both flail

Nooo! We need to help love blossom!

Maybe

That wasn’t a yes!

I know.

Uugghhh. You are vague at the worst times!

I know.

Our attention was pulled back to reality as the next match was called to begin.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Match 2: Kirishima Vs Jirou

Kirishima was as confident as I’d ever seen, walking on with his widest smile, though how real it was was up for debate. Jirou seemed indifferent, though it was hard to tell the specifics from where we sat. Still, both of them looked ready.

I had a feeling I knew where this was going to go. Jirou had practically nothing on Kirishima without her support equipment. As long as he was hardened, she couldn’t really hurt him.

And Kirishima seemed to know that too. As soon as the match began, he hardened and rushed right at her, seeming to catch her off guard. 

Jirou tried to fight back, and she did seem to have some hand to hand, but Kirishima just bowled through it, pushing her back relentlessly. She desperately tried to dig her heels in, but it wasn’t much use.

I’d given some advice during training to him, just as he had to me. Use yourself like a battering ram. And he was taking that to heart.

It wasn’t long before the relentless push paid off, and Jirou was shoved out of the ring.

“Jirou is out of the ring! The match goes to Kirishima!”

He of course helped her up to applause, and they walked out together. The guy was a real humble winner too, aside from the usual celebrations, he didn’t go too wild. I high fived him, offering a seat next to me. He obliged, smiling as everyone was talking. Midoriya and Kaminari had left as Kirishima and Jirou had walked in, Kaminari high fiving Kirishima on the way out. 

Jirou had sat down with some of the other girls, and I made sure to give her a thumbs up as she did. She only gave me a small smile and a shrug.

It was only after he spoke up that I realized Anne was behind me.

“So, how’s it feel to be moving up?”

I snapped my head to look at the purple trickster, and met a grin. He looked over and offered a fist bump, which I returned.

“Me or Kiri?”

He shrugged.

“Both, I guess.”

I shrugged.

“Not bad. Just gotta keep going, right?”

Kirishima nodded as I said that, making his own answer.

“It gets me pumped! I always wanted to be here, and now I am!”

I laughed a little, patting him on the shoulder.

“Well, you are. And I hope you’re ready to get your butt kicked next round.”

He returned the grin.

“Only if you are.”

I shrugged.

“Guess we’ll see.”

Anne chimed in.

“You guys gonna make out now?”

Kirishima sputtered, and I just laughed.

It was about that time that the next match was called. And it was going to be interesting.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Match 3: Kaminari Vs. Midoriya

This was a match that could go either way. If Midoriya broke too much here, he might get knocked out, but Kaminari could very easily short circuit. Still, I really hoped Midoriya won. It was kind of integral to help Todoroki if he didn’t then it was going to throw things off massively.

The two looked pretty determined as they came out, and it seemed like tension was building.

Soon enough, the match was called, and it was time to fight. And neither one of them wasted time. Midoriya with a smash that nearly blew Kaminari away, but then Kaminari recovered and sent a blast of electricity at Midoriya, which he dodged.

Huh. Normally Kaminari would go all or nothing. But he seemed to hold off, as Midoriya ran at him, just a regular punch. That played to Kaminari, who shocked him, the green haired boy jumping back, and seeming to reassess things. 

Kaminari seemed to take this as the time to go all in. He seemed to unleash all his electricity at once, briefly blinding us. 

But when the smoke cleared, Midoriya was still standing, and Kaminari was short circuited.

Midoriya walked up, seeming awkward, and put a hand on his shoulder. Kaminar just kept giving a thumbs up.

There was a moment of silence before Midnight called the match.

“Kaminari is unable to battle! The match goes to Midoriya!”

It was only Midoriya who walked back to the box, saying Kaminari was in the nurse’s booth. I shrugged. Anne sighed.

“He really needs to stop doing the all or nothing stuff.”

I nodded at that. But enough. It was time for the shortest match so far, as I saw Sero and Todoroki walk up to the arena.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Match 3: Sero Vs. Todoroki

This one was going to be hard to watch.

Sero looked confident as he stretched, but Todoroki looked as cold (pardon the pun) as ever.

As soon as things started, Sero wrapped Todoroki up and tried to throw him out of the ring, but it was no good.

It was almost terrifying to see the glacier Todorki created when he took out Sero. It nearly reached the stands, and was taller than the arena.

I heard a quiet ‘holy shit…” from Anne. It was one thing to see something in a piece of media, and another to experience it.

Todoroki is really strong!

Yeah. Wait until he uses flames too.

Why hasn’t he?

Family stuff. I’ll tell you later.

You don’t sound happy

That’s because it isn’t a happy story.

I remembered what was up next as a break was announced to clear the glacier. I thought a while on it, but once things were cleared for the next match, I made up my mind. I got up as I saw Uraraka and Bakugou walk out, and walked over to see if Kaminari was good to come back to the seats. 

Wait, why are you going?

I can’t watch this one.

Why?

I…just can’t

Okay.

Thanks for the understanding.

No problem. We’re friends, right?

Yeah. we are.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Shinso/Anne

Match 5: Uraraka Vs. Bakugou

Gotta say, Jake getting up at the start of the match was weird, but then, this was one that wasn’t going to be pleasant.

Why not?

Ehhh. You’ll see.

I settled in and braced as I watched the match begin, and Uraraka charged Bakugou recklessly, getting shot down each time, but throwing up dust each time. She kept doing it too, and to be honest it did start to feel like bullying, if I didn’t know the context.

Even Kirishima started to say something about it.

“It’s not very manly to treat a lady like that.”

I shook my head. 

“I’d argue it would be unmanly to not take her seriously like he is.”

Kirishima looked contemplative for a moment.

“I guess. Still doesn’t feel right.”

I shrugged. He wasn’t wrong there. I turned my attention back to the arena, where the same scene was still playing out.

Soon enough, the pro heroes and some of the crowd were making a fuss, which Aizawa silenced with his little spiel, matching something I’d said already. I gave Kirishima a look.

“Aizawa said what I meant to better.”

He thought about it and then nodded.

“I get it.”

Soon enough the final charge was done, and Uraraka’s plan was enacted, the rocks falling rapidly, before being blasted with a massive explosion. When the smoke cleared, Uraraka stepped forward, and then collapsed, tried to move, then fell down.

As Uraraka was escorted off to the medical center, Midnight called the match.

“Uraraka is unable to battle! The match goes to Bakugou!”

Well, that was that. Bakugou seemed to be in shock as he walked in, and then sat down, ignoring the rest of the class, though he did respond to someone calling Uraraka delicate.

“Nothing about that girl was delicate.”

I smirked. Finally, the jackass ws learning. 

It was around the same time that Jake came back with Kaminari. Midoriya and Iida came back soon after, having checked on Uraraka. According to them, she’d be fine. Uraraka herself came back soon after, seeming chipper as ever.

Soon after, the next match was called.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Match 6: Yaoyorozu Vs. Tokoyami

This one was quick. As soon as the match began, poor Yaoyorozu was on the defensive, having to constantly defend against Tokoyami’s attacks with Dark Shadow, pushing her back all the while.

It was a good move. Yaoyorozu, much as she was smart, did not do quick thinking at this stage. Keeping her on the defense, not giving her time to form a plan, that was the way to throw her off. 

And that was what was happening. Yaoyorozu kept getting pushed back and back, never being able to even hit Tokoyami.

Even with Dark Shadow’s diminished state in the daylight, he was still strong enough to take on Yaoyorozu right now.

Before long, she was out, with not even the chance to form a counter attack.

“Yaoyorozu is out of the ring! The match goes to Tokoyami!”

It was sad, especially with how this would affect her in a bit. Still, she would learn. 

It wasn’t long before both the fighters returned. Yaoyorozu was immediately swarmed by the girls, offering reassurances, which seemed to help a bit, but I could tell she was bummed. That kind of defeat wasn’t something you recovered from easily.

Then again, it was time for humiliation of a different kind as I saw Iida’s match was getting ready.

At least this one was going to lift our spirits.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Match 7: Iida Vs. Hatsume

This was one I was looking forward to.

That Hatsume girl has no training. How is she going to beat Glasses?

She doesn’t. You’ll see.

They both walked on, though Iida was loaded down with gear. He exchanged some words with Midnight beforehand, then the match started.

And boy was it humiliating for poor Iida. He was jerked around repeatedly as Hatsume used him as a living billboard for her support equipment.

It was amusing at first, though once it hit ten minutes, it started to drag. Luckily, it was only after another five that Hatsume finally was done, and willingly stepped out of the ring.

Everyone was in shock, and a moment of silence rang loudly before Midnight called the match.

“Uhh…Hatsume is out of the ring. The match goes to Iida?”

It was that questioning tone that finally broke me, an uncontrollable laughter breaking out as I struggled to breathe. I had started to get bored, but the end got me. Jake giggled a bit as well, though we both got a dirty look from Iida as he walked in to see us laughing.

He handled it the best he could, though I didn’t see, as I went to wait for my match. The last of the first round.

I had to admit, I was wary. Tsu was no slouch in the fight department. 

Alright. Let’s do this.

Are you sure we can?

No, but we gotta try, right?

I guess.

I shook off the hesitation quickly, and put my smirk back in its place. Do not let fear show. 

Soon enough, I heard the call for the match, and I got up.

Make or break time.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Match 8: Shinso Vs. Asui

It was to an ecstatic crowd that I came out to face Tsu. We were the first place team in the last part of the sports festival, so a fight between two of that same team was going to be anticipated.

I smirked and stretched a bit as I faced Tsu, and Mic went through a few preliminary things. Tsu looked the same as ever.

I felt the tension building, ready to explode, before the match was finally called.

And with it, Tsu jumped right at me, with me barely dodging. If I got hit too many times by those kicks I would be done.

I had to duck a tongue too. She had that as well.

I didn’t really have much of an advantage, especially with her not being the talkative type and knowing my quirk’s weakness.

I still did try.

“Geez, right into it, aren’t you? Didn’t know you jumped that high. You have to train that?”

She of course didn’t respond. Worth a shot. I had to quickly dodge another hit, before I finally managed to retaliate with a right hook that caught Tsu in the side. She recovered quickly, jumping away and shooting her tongue out. It grabbed me around the waist, but I smirked. That was the idea. I grabbed onto the tongue, and pulled, pulling Tsu toward me. I used the momentum to aim a kick that hit her in the stomach, causing her to fall over.

She got up though, still up. She responded to that with a kick that sent me off balance and stumbling, which she took advantage of to try and grab me with her tongue and throw me out of the ring.

I very nearly did, managing to stop just at the edge.

It was pure luck that I moved just as Tsu went to kick me out of the ring, leading to the force she put behind it pushing her out.

I just recovered my marbles when I heard the match called.

“Asui is out of the ring! The match goes to Shinso!”

I rubbed the back of my head as the crowd cheered.

I walked and helped up Tsu, who had fallen on her way out. She looked unperturbed, though I detected a little disappointment. I patted her shoulder as we walked out.

“No hard feelings?”

“None, kero.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Mina/Jake

I couldn’t help the smile as Anne walked back into the box. That was interesting. With that match, it meant the next round was going to start. I looked over at Kirishima, who nodded at me, grinning confidently.

“I guess it’s happening soon.”

I shrugged.

“Yep. No hard feelings, right?”

He nodded as Present Mic announced a short break before the quarter finals. I got up and stretched a little, walking toward the door. I stopped once I heard a few voices calling after me, and turned to see a couple of my classmates encouraging me.

“You got this Mina! Show ‘em what ya got!”

“Put on a good show, yeah?”

“You can do it, kero.”

I smiled and gave them a thumbs up before walking out. It wasn’t going to be long before the next match, and I needed to be at my best for this one. This was likely going to be my last match, since if I won, I would be going against Todoroki, and well, I wasn’t sure I even had a ghost of a chance.

Maybe you can explain what you wanted to say earlier.

What was it again?

Something about merging, I think?

Right.

Soooo? What did you want to say?

I was trying to say that I don’t really know what it would be like for two people to merge.

Gee, thanks.

That doesn’t mean I don't have a theory. From the way things are going, I think we’ll end up taking on so many aspects of the other person that our thoughts will be completely indistinguishable.

Huh. I don’t get it.

I know. The best way I can explain it is that by the time any merge happens, we’ll be basically the same person, so there wouldn’t be any difference to kill.

That doesn’t help!

I guess. Just saying what I think might happen.

I stretched a bit in one of the rooms absentmindedly, feeling a little restless. Looking around, it was quite a sparse room, so I had the reins. I walked and plopped down in the chair, letting out a sigh. It was weird being here. That wasn’t something I got to reflect on often, really. There always seemed to be something going on that had my attention, but during quiet moments I had the chance to really let it hit me.

I missed Evan. I know it seemed silly, but he was kind of a good anchor for me, letting me put my head in the clouds without floating into space. Without him, it felt like it was hard to keep focus. 

Anne was nice, she was a great person to scheme with, but she wasn’t…anchored. I sighed and shook my head. Don’t think about that now. 

Do you…wanna talk?

Maybe later. We have a fight to get to.

I hopped up and headed to the arena exit soon after. Time to face down my rival.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Match 9: Ashido Vs. Kirishima

The crowd was just as exuberant as the last time I had come out, and I felt a grin tug at my face as I walked out, staring down my red haired friend, who seemed similarly pumped.

I tensed and got ready to explode into action. This was it. Go time.

The call came, and we charged each other. Kirishima swung, already hardened, but I ducked under it, moving quickly to sweep his legs out from under him. He moved away at just the time to dodge, and charged, hardened, trying to act as a battering ram just like he had done to Jirou.

I smirked, and moved aside from the charge easily, delivering a swift kick to his back to send him off balance and stumbling. Taking advantage of the momentary stun, I tried to shove him back and out of the ring, but he recovered before I could, blocking my shove with his arms.

I jumped back, not wanting to stay in close, and waited. Let him come to me. 

And he did, running and engaging me up close. I blocked, at the price of some pain. His arm was hardened after all. He smirked at that. I did the same, before we jumped back to survey each other.

I narrowed my eyes. He was being more cautious than I thought, though not by much. I didn’t have much time to think on that before I was dodging again, on the back foot as he’d charged. He had control of the flow of the fight, he had the momentum, and that I needed to rectify.

Ducking one of his swings, I moved behind him and kicked his leg, trying to put him off balance. It worked, he stumbled, and I took advantage, spraying some acid in front of him and shoving him forward, into the patch, causing him to slide out of control toward the edge of the arena.

Kirishima managed to stop before hitting the edge, but in the time he took to steady himself, I pulled a gambit. I charged him, using an acid dash to rocket toward him and push him out of the arena.

That didn’t go as I had thought, my momentum halting as I crashed headfirst into him, hitting him like a wall. It made me see stars, stumbling back and taking a moment to recover, almost not catching the cry as Kirishima charged me again. I barely moved out of the way, my vision blurring. I shook my head as my sight cleared in time to dodge a punch, returning one of my own to his unhardened chest. 

We clashed like that for several minutes. We knew each other too well to get an edge, and nearly settled into a stalemate. I smirked after I realized that. A battle of attrition favored him, but if I could stay at it, he might exhaust himself.

So I switched tactics. I dodged, weaved, and spun around attacks, focusing entirely on defense. I blocked and redirected attacks, and generally made myself a nuisance.

Soon enough I noticed some of the hardening fading, and a swift right hook to Kirishima’s face confirmed he had eased off on those areas to focus on the more important ones.

I wasn’t cruel, so I tried not to hit him in the face too much. Still, a punch now and again to stagger him was useful in reacting to his attacks.

I could tell he was getting tired, and to be fair, so was I. Sweat was starting to drip down my face as I focused on a way to take him down now. And I had an idea. Kirishima seemed to be reaching his limit, and put it all into a final charge. I smirked. I knew he would do that, and with effort, threw myself out of the way, revealing the patch of slippery acid I’d left behind. I saw him try to stop, but it was too late. He stepped on, and the ride began, ending with him landing just outside the ring.

I let out a woop as Midnight called the match.

“Kirishima is outside the ring! The match goes to Ashido!”

I walked over, offering a hand to my friend that he took, smiling at me.

“Well, guess we know who’s manlier.”

I shook my head.

“I think we’ve both earned the right to say we’re manly.”

He nodded back as we both walked back to the nurses station, a few injuries needed to be healed.

“Sorry for punching you in the face, Kiri.”

“No need to apologize, Ashido. Sorry for bruising your face.”

I hadn’t even noticed, but now that  adrenaline was wearing off, I could start to feel the dull ache on my face. I just shook my head.

“Same to you. No need to apologize.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 Getting back to the box hand in hand with a friend was the best I had felt in a while. Sitting down next to Tsu, I sighed, smiling slightly. Anne noticed and grinned at me.

“Happy?”

I nodded a little, conserving energy. I would need it to give my best against the next match. Anne seemed to notice my quietness, and gave me a questioning look. I responded with a thumbs up. He accepted it and went back to normal. I sighed in relief, seeing Kaminari pat Kirishima on the shoulder.

“It’s alright man. You did your best.”

Kirishima smiled and responded by doing the same to Kaminari.

“You too, Kami-bro.”

Kaminari seemed shocked, before smiling. I couldn’t help but smile at that. Good to see them being there for each other.

Present Mic’s voice called to me, and I looked back to the arena to see a match I knew was going to be climactic.

Midoriya and Todoroki had already left, and if I remembered correctly, Midoriya should have had an encounter with Endeavor right now. 

I shook my head and looked out with a grin. This one was going to be fun.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Match 10: Midoriya Vs. Todoroki

Watching two of the main characters walk out to face each other for a pivotal moment was tense, I could feel the fire from here, even if it was metaphorical.

Kaminari leaned over to whisper to me.

“Who do you think has this one?”

I shrugged.

“Probably Todoroki. But Midoriya isn’t going to make it easy on him.”

Kaminari nodded. I turned back in time to see the match called, and Todorki sent out waves of ice at Midoriya, only for them to be smashed by Midoriya’s powerful air blasts. I had to admit, for air to be able to smash ice like that, that must have been a lot of power he had concentrated in his fingers. Guess that’s why he breaks them. One For All is no joke.

One For what?

Right. I’ll explain later, but the short version is Midoriya is All Might’s successor and has been given his quirk, which has been passed down through eight generations before Midoriya to fight evil.

…Huh.

I’ll explain more later. We have a fight to watch.

Then again, it wasn’t much of a real fight, Midoriya was on the defensive, Todoroki had full control of the fight, but he couldn’t quite get him, all because he didn’t use his fire.

And Midoriya knew that too, I could hear his shout at Todoroki to come at him with full power, but he didn’t seem to get it, so the battle kept going until Midoriya shouted something else.

Those are the words.

What words?

And within seconds, Todoroki was on fire.

The words that did that

I’ve never seen him use that before.

He refused to, but Midoriya got him to use them

And with that, things went wild. Both of the combatants used their final attacks, a massive wave of ice and fire rushing toward an exuberantly charging Midoriya.

Cementoss tried to put a wall between them, but impact turned it to cubes and shattered it in a glorious display. Like I had been saying, it was one thing to see it on a screen, but in person? Mind blowing.

And when it cleared? Everyone uncovered their eyes, the bright white flash fading as we saw that Midoriya had been knocked out. He was carried off to the nurse as Midnight called the match.

“Midoriya is unable to battle! The match goes to Todoroki!”

Said boy seemed in shock as he came back later, not talking to anyone even as he was pestered by the entire class.

“Whoa! That was awesome Todoroki! Why didn’t you  do that before?”

“That was manly as heck Todo-bro!”

“Nice light show you put on.”

“Tsch. It wasn’t that good.”

“Powerful and versatile! Just as expected from a recommendation student!”

Todoroki didn’t respond to any of them as he simply looked at his hands, deep in thought. I let him be for now. I knew I would have to fight him, but I had a feeling he was going through something I shouldn’t disturb for now.

Aw, but he looks sad.

‘I know, but he’s got things to think about. Let him be.’

Fine 

I saw Bakugou and Tokoyami leaving, getting set up for the next match. I let them go, and simply rested a little, closing my eyes and just…being for a bit. I’d get up soon enough, but for now? I needed to rest.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Shinso/Anne

Match 11: Bakugou Vs. Tokoyami

I winced in sympathy when I realized this was the one up next. Poor Tokoyami.

Does Boom Boy mess him up or something?

I had to try really hard not to burst out laughing, but I continued.

Okay, first? Please keep the jokes down low. I nearly burst out just now.

No promises.

Figures. Second, not really. It’s just a bad match up.

It happens. Like the fact we’re fighting Speedy over there next.

I nodded a bit as I looked down to see the fight had started, Tokoyami on the defensive immediately as Dark Shadow defended him from explosion after explosion, but shrinking each time.

It wasn’t long before Dark Shadow dissipated, and with that poor bird boy was rendered completely defenseless, Bakuguo gripping his beak in one hand and a roiling explosion in the other. Tokoyami’s head was bowed in defeat as he conceded, Midnight calling the match.

“Tokoyami has conceded! The match goes to Bakugou!”

Almost as soon as that was said, I sprang up from my seat to go, before I noticed Jake passed out. I shook her shoulder a little, causing her to make a little groan, but to wake.

“Uhh…How long was I out?”

I shrugged.

“Long enough for Bakugou to beat Tokoyami. Now pay attention. I’m about to lose.”

She made a face like she was going to say something to the contrary, but I turned tail before she did.

She was going to encourage us, you know.

Yeah, don’t need it. We’re going to lose. It’s better here than next time.

Why, exactly?

Would you rather lose to Iida or Bakugou?

…Good point.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Match 12: Iida Vs. Shinso

I made sure to wave at the crowd as I walked out to cheers, winking at Iida as he walked up, causing the other teen to redden a little, but shake it off quickly. He was getting used to it. That meant I needed to change tactics.

I stretched a bit as Present Mic went over the normal spiel, Aizawa chiming in occasionally to add commentary that I honestly found kind of funny. Why wasn’t he the host? 

Oh, right. He was Aizawa.

I tried my best to stay aware as things counted down, and then I raced forward as the match was called, trying to get to Iida before he could-

And then a whoosh, as I felt myself be pushed. I couldn’t stop it either. In seconds, I was over the line, and Midnight was calling the match.

“Shinso is out of bounds! The match goes to Iida.”

I blinked. Then I did it again. Well. That was humiliating. I couldn’t help the stab of disappointment, even as I reminded myself that losing had been the plan. Even with that, it was still…underwhelming.

Still, it was all to plan, so I stuck out my hand for a shake, and then gave a confused Iiad a knuckle bump when he moved to reciprocate.

“Good job, Speedy. Better not make me look bad in the next round, got it?”

He nodded.

“I will be doing my best, Shinso! I will make everyone who believes in me proud!”

I nodded, feeling a bit better as we walked back.

“Alright. Thanks.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  Mina/Jake

I patted Anne on the back as he came in, but I couldn’t stay long before my match was up, and I noticed Todoroki heading out too. 

It was a spur of the moment decision, but I called out to him as we both left.

“Todoroki!”

He turned, not seeming that responsive still

“What?”

I winced, realizing he was still mostly in his colder mode. I didn't turn back though.

“I…noticed you seemed…quiet after you fought Midoriya. Well quieter than normal.”

He didn’t respond to that, merely narrowing his eyes slightly. I continued, rubbing the back of my neck slightly.

“I’m guessing it was something he said, right?”

He nodded slowly. I nodded back.

“Well whatever it was, it gave you something to think about, and I guess what I wanted to say was…whatever he said, Midoriya’s probably right.”

I patted his shoulder as I passed him.

“That was it. See you in the arena.”

I didn’t hear a response as I left, but I figure I gave him something to mull over. I myself was readying to give it my all, even as I knew I was probably gonna lose. But hey, third place. Not bad. Not bad at all.

I narrowed my eyes. I wasn’t going to make that win easy on Todoroki. Time to push into overdrive.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Match 13: Ashido Vs. Todoroki

Walking out of the arch into the arena this time felt different, like I was walking to an execution, though I guess that was a bit too dramatic a way to put it.

I gave Todoroki a confident smirk as we stood across from each other, tensing to begin. Even if there was a high chance to lose, I still needed a strategy. A full on charge wasn’t going to work, his defense was too strong there. I’d need to focus on dodging until I saw a chance, then melt through any obstacles he threw up. Time was on my side. The more he used his ice, the more likely he was to be knocked out.

Of course, that strategy only worked if he only used ice. If he used fire? Well I was, to put it lightly, screwed. He could defend easily against any attacks, both physical and from my quirk, able to simply burn up any acid I used.

As soon as the match began, Todoroki was on the offensive, sending a wave of ice right at me, likely to try and push me out of the ring fast. I all but threw myself to the side, dodging and using the momentum to charge toward him, which he responded to with an ice wall. Of course I melted through it, forcing him to replace it to keep me away. 

I moved forward, only to spot and just barely leap back to avoid an ice wall popping up under my feet, avoiding being frozen completely. I followed the dodge up with a flip that sent me over the shorter walls, and continued moving toward him, forcing him to move back and send more ice at me, which I dodged again. 

This process continued for a good while, though it was hard to keep track of time in the arena really. 

I dodged yet another blast of ice, panting a bit as some sweat dripped down my face. Still, that didn’t stop me from using some of my acid to break through another wall and actually manage to get close to actually hitting Todoroki himself, the guy just barely throwing some ice to force me away.

At this point I felt like my limbs were aching, all the pushing from today was catching up to me, but I kept going. Todoroki himself was slowing down too. I could see a light layer of ice crystals forming on his left side, meaning he was close to his limit. I just had to-

One of Todoroki’s ice blasts caught me in the side as I was dodging, forming ice over part of it and causing me to cry out. It was cold and made me feel a bit more limited in what I could do, just barely managing to stumble out of the way of the next ice wave, but I was still standing. If I could just-

It was like my limbs refused to move. I tried and they just refused to do anything at all. The ache had become a fire and I just. Couldn’t. Move. Todoroki seemed surprised, but he seemed to prepare to end this, but before he could, my limbs went from locking up to giving out, as I tumbled down, my vision going blurry as I hit the ground hard, my vision going even blurrier as I felt the impact on my head. Black crept into my vision, and then, nothing.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Shinso/Anne

I felt my heart drop as I saw Jake do the same onto the ground of the arena. It had been so unexpected no one seemed to know how to handle it for a moment. Even Todoroki seemed shocked. There was silence over the arena, like every single one of the people in the arena had just seen their specific pet be run over right in front of them and couldn’t believe the audacity. Even Present Mic had no idea what to say before Midnight, looking concerned, called the match.

“Ashido is…unable to battle. The match goes to Todoroki.”

It was then that the arena erupted again, chatter and cheers and the usual cacophony as Jake got taken to the nurse on a stretcher. As soon as she disappeared, I just felt shocked. That…what had just happened?

Our-your friend just passed out for no reason.

You can just say she’s your friend too.

Yeah, okay. Just go make sure she’s alright

Can do buddy.

I got up from my seat and walked to find the nurse’s station, only stopping when I heard Kirishima.

“Shin-bro! Make sure Ashi-Mina’s okay, alright?”

I turned and nodded, giving him a smile.

“I’ll make sure she’s alright. If I’m not back, tell me if Bakugou gets his ass kicked.”

I ignored the shout of “What was that?!” from Bakugou and walked back to see Jake.

On the way there, I passed Todoroki, who seemed to be contemplating something. I tapped his shoulder as we crossed paths, and he gave me a look.

“What?”

I shrugged.

“Wanted to congratulate you on getting so far. If I’m right, Bakugou’s gonna be next for you. Kick his ass for Mina, yeah?”

He nodded slowly after a moment. I smiled at that.

“Good.”

And with that left. He probably still had a lot to think about. 

And I had a friend to check on.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The small nurse’s office was impressive, given it wasn’t used year round. A couple beds and some other supplies. One of the beds was currently occupied by Midoriya, who looked a bit contemplative, before startling at seeing me there. Recovery Girl also seemed surprised I knew how to get there. I just gave her a concerned look.

“How’s Ashido?”

Recovery Girl smiled slightly before gesturing over. 

“Your friend is fine, if that’s what you were worried about. Simply overworked herself. She should be alright after a little rest.”

I nodded.

“I was just worried about it. Just passing out like that…it scared me.”

Recovery Girl shook her head.

“This happens at least once every year. Some hero student has a fire under them and they push until they burn out. Sometimes more than once.”

She made a point to give Midoriya a look, and the broccoli boy had the decency to look embarrassed. I simply sighed.

“Guess I just didn’t expect it from her. She’s always been good at pacing herself.”

Recovery Girl simply resumed her work while answering.

“I’m not sure what motivates young people these days, but perhaps she felt she had something to prove. But enough questions.”

I nodded.

“Mind if I stay here a bit, see if she wakes up?”

Recovery Girl nodded.

“You can stay for now, but if another person comes for treatment, I’ll have to ask you to leave. And don’t make too much noise either.”

I nodded, before sitting down near Jake. There was a TV showing the next match, Iida and Bakugou clashing at high velocity to decide who was going to the finals. I watched a bit of it, the clash itself was entertaining, but was interrupted by Midoriya, who was looking at me.

I gave him a look before saying something.

“You need something?”

He seemed to startle before recovering.

“Oh, I was just curious about you and Ashido.”

I shrugged.

“We’re friends. Anything else?”

He shook his head before he responded.

“N-no it’s not that. It’s just…you guys hadn’t met before UA, right?”

I shrugged.

“I guess not. We just kind of clicked.”

He nodded, and we both went back to watching the match, one that was heating up, though it was clear Bakugou had the power advantage. Still, Iida wasn’t making it easy on him. He nearly had him at some point too, but by the end, Bakugou had knocked poor Iida out of the ring with a big explosion.

It was around the same time that Jake groaned, slowly opening her eyes.

“What?”

I looked over and smirked.

“Good job knocking yourself out and missing the last of the semi-finals.”

Getting up, she shook her head and rubbed her eyes before responding. Recovery Girl came over and gave Jake a kind smile.

“Glad to see you awake young lady. How do you feel?”

She looked over, seeming still a little out of it.

“Fine… I guess?”

Recovery Girl smiled, then wacked her in the head with her cane. Jake cried out in surprise, but Recovery Girl simply scowled.

“Don’t push yourself so hard young lady! It’s not healthy.”

Jake rubbed her head, then stopped before looking over at me. I nodded. She nodded back before smiling and nodding at Recovery Girl.

“Message received, Recovery Girl.”

She nodded, seeming satisfied. 

“Good. I’ll let you go back to watch the last match, but please do not push yourself for a time.”

Jake nodded, and with my help, she got up, and we headed to go back to the box. Everyone greeted us as we settled back in, and I waved off concern with a quick explanation for Jake’s state.

“She just pushed herself hard until she gave out. She’ll be fine.”

Kirishima gave me a concerned stare, but I waved him off. He stayed staring for a bit before the announcement went out, and we all found our eyes on the figures approaching the arena. Last fight of the time, better be a good one.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Mina/Jake

I was pretty out of it the entire match, but it was still quite the spectacle. I still felt tired beyond belief, so I missed a bit, even with the loud sounds. I barely noticed Anne shaking me a bit, to see the match be called in Bakugou’s favor, the teen objecting loudly, but after a few of the teachers talked to him, he settled for grumbling as he walked out.

There was a brief time before awards were called, and I used that opportunity to rest a bit, closing my eyes and leaning back. I was in third place alongside Iida, though he might not be here to accept-

My eyes opened as I realized I still heard Iida talking with Uraraka. Iida was still here. He should be gone by now, his brother getting injured by Stain. But he wasn’t. Maybe the call was later? Maybe something else had happened? I made a note to check that when I got home, but I was still tired, so I fell back into a light rest.

By the time I woke up, it was around the time for awards, and let me say being in front of so many people wasn’t the best experience. I still wasn’t the best on my feet, but I did stand, though Iida was looking at me concerned as we stood side by side on the third place podium. I caught Todoroki looking at me too, a quick flash of concern in his eyes before he looked back out. 

I admit, even now, seeing All Might come bounding into the stadium was still exciting, even if I was still just a little out of it. He approached us first, giving Iida his medal and some encouraging words before coming to me, helping me steady myself as he placed the medal around my neck.

“Young Ashido, you showed great resilience, and fought hard to overcome all obstacles in your way, like a hero should.”

His smile flattened just slightly as I blearily nodded at him.

“Though…moderation is also an important quality for a hero. Please take care of yourself”

I gave him a thumbs up. Still wasn’t sure why I had pushed so hard. 

Maybe it was me?

Don’t blame yourself. We’re fiiine.

But maybe I made you push so hard because I wanted to win!

I wanted to win too, ya know. I guess we just fed on each other’s excitement in a bad way. Let’s learn from it and move on.

Mina was silent a moment as I watched All Might move on to Todoroki and a thankfully unchained and less wild Bakugou. She did speak up as All Might was talking to Bakugou.

I guess you’re right, as always.

Hey, you’re right too. Sometimes.

Hey!

You know I’m right.

Yeah, but it’s still mean!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I basically passed out as soon as I was home, having nearly missed my stop if Kirishima wasn’t there. We parted ways soon after and I fell onto my bed, out like a light.

It was the next day, and when I woke up, I took it easy, as Recovery Girl had said. Mom and Dad were all over me with concern (they had been watching on tv and just about had heart attacks when they saw me pass out), but I managed to get them to give me space by lunch. And it was around that time that I got a call from Anne.

I picked up, smiling when I heard the worry. It wasn’t often I worried Anne, so to have him be concerned was…novel.

“Are you doing okay?”

I nodded, then responded when I realized he couldn’t see it.

“I’m fine. Still sore, but I’ll be alright by the time school’s back. Can you believe we get two days off?”

I heard him chuckle over the receiver.

“Yeah, crazy. Just wanted to make sure you were okay. I know you’re tough, but Shinso was worried.”

There was a pause for a moment, and I could hear the smirk as he continued.

“Yup. Was practically beside himself.”

I laughed a bit at that, before he went on.

“Yeah, anyways, I didn’t just call to check on you. You said you needed time to think about my plan. You still need more?”

I paused for a moment.

I…I’m still not sure about it.

I think we should take it. They’ll just do it without us, and we kind of need to reign them in.

I guess. 

I nodded to myself before responding.

“We gotta be careful about it, but we’re in. If only to make sure you don’t get hurt.”

I heard a mock gasp of shock on  the other end.

“Me? Not be careful? Madam, you wound me.”

He paused for a moment, before going on.

“Shinso says you should stop being such a bully”

I giggled a bit.

“Well, I’ll stop, but only for him.”

He laughed too, and then his voice turned more serious.

“I’ll start drawing things up. We can make a move once internships are done. Let's meet up tomorrow to start drafting things.”

I smiled.

“Gotcha.”

I looked out the window to see the world below. Things were going to change soon, and if everything went right, we would be part of that.

Let’s do it.

Chapter Text

Jake/Mina

When I looked forward, it was kind of a relief to be in school normally after the chaos that was the sports festival. After my talk with Anne, I slept like a rock for two days, and woke up on the first day back to a flurry of worried texts from Kirishima, a confused one from Anne, and a few pages worth of memes from Kaminari. The UA girl’s group chat had been a little confused too, but otherwise things seemed in order.

Still, there was a concern. Iida had been on the podium to accept his medal this time, but that still didn’t preclude his brother from Stain. I really, really hoped things would go better now. While Iida’s revenge was the catalyst for Stain’s capture, I wasn’t sure rooting for that was the best idea. It resulted in a lot of emotional turmoil for all involved. Still, if none of them were there, Native would have been murdered.

The Hosu incident itself was also a big problem. I wasn’t sure how many people were killed (anime isn’t usually concerned with how many bystanders die in stuff like that), but it was a hefty amount. Still, not like I could do much. Unless I decided to intern with Manual, I wasn’t going to be anywhere near Hosu.

Apparently my sleeping through our break came at a cost, as I didn’t see the news. So it was quite a strange thing to be greeted with the news that Pro Hero Ingenium had been saved from The Hero Killer by two vigilantes. Most of the class was talking about it as I walked in. Uraraka especially seemed to be well informed as one of them was that vigilante that had crashed in during the USJ. Didn’t make her slight blush any less weird though.

It wasn’t bad news, really. It meant Iida wasn’t going off half cocked in a quest for revenge.  I made sure to greet him as I came in, giving him a look of concern.

“Hey Iida! Heard about what happened with your brother. You alright?”

He looked over, seeming surprised at that, before nodding and giving a small smile.

“I am alright Ashido. Though it is…concerning that my brother was attacked, he did not  suffer any major injuries.”

I nodded, and looking him over, he seemed genuine too. Okay then. Guess he’s probably going to do an internship with him then. Speaking of which…

I made sure I was in my seat by the time Aizawa walked in…looking as tired as ever. He gave us all a long suffering look before he spoke.

“Welcome back. Today’s class is going to be on Hero Informatics.”

I couldn’t help but smirk a little as I saw the class seem to deflate a bit, before Aizawa clarified.

“You’re going to be picking hero names.”

The class erupted in cheers, I could see almost everyone seeming excited about that, even Todoroki seemed to be a little cheered at the positive energy, though he stayed in his seat. I had seen him talking to Izuku for a little bit when I entered, so it looks like the Dekusquad was already forming. To be fair, so was the Bakusquad, though at this point I think the only one Bakugou actually liked was Kirishima. He more just tolerated me, Kaminari, and Anne. Less so in Anne’s case, since he really enjoyed making Bakugou mad.

Aizawa seemed to be annoyed at the noise, and with a single glare, everyone sat back down. I had stayed in my seat when everyone had leapt up, as had a couple others like Shinsou, Todoroki, and Bakugou, who seemed just as annoyed as Aizawa.

Why do you call him that?

Call him what?

Just… Aizawa. He is our teacher, ya know?

I dunno. Force of habit.

Aizawa seemed to be glad for the end of the noise, and continued with his speech.

“This is related to the hero draft picks the last time we were together in class. Normally, first years wouldn’t have to worry about the draft pick, but your class is different. In fact, by extending offers to you, pros are essentially investing in potential. Any offers could be rescinded if their interest dies down before graduation, however.”

I nodded to myself. I’d heard this before, but it was good to have it refreshed. I didn’t always remember the small details, so it was good to pay attention to things like this, along with the daily classes. I was still having some trouble with those, mostly math and english, but Anne was helping out, so things seemed to be gradually looking up.

Hagakure seemed to catch onto the meaning of Aizawa’s words too.

“So you’re saying we’ll still have to prove ourselves even after we’ve been recruited?”

He nodded to her.

“Correct. Now, here are the number of offers for those who got them.”

He gestured toward the board, which displayed a couple names and the number of offers. It seemed like there were more than last time at least. Kaminari, despite losing in the first round, had a few offers, though not many. Probably due to him expending himself so quickly. Todoroki, Bakugou, and Iida all had a substantial amount, though the first two had by far the most.

Kaminari leaned back in his chair and groaned a bit.

“It’s not fair. Why do they get thousands while most of us don’t even get one?”

I looked over and raised an eyebrow.

“You did get offers though. Just a few more than Sero.”

He shook his head and smiled at me.

“I was simply mourning for the rest of our class, Ashido.”

As I suspected, no offers for me. Probably because I passed out. Same as why Midoriya didn’t get any. 

I turned to gauge everyone’s reactions. Todoroki didn’t seem very happy as Yaoyorozu congratulated him. Then again, if I could never be sure whether people saw my talent or just my parent’s, and add in the fact that said parent was an abusive prick, I guess I might not be enthused either.

Uraraka was practically crying at her twenty recommendations, shaking Iida all the while who seemed just as proud despite being shaken around.

Poor Midoriya seemed pretty bummed, while Anne simply patted his shoulder. Neither of them had gotten offers, though I was surprised that Anne hadn’t gotten at least one. He had handled Tsu pretty well.

Everyone else was a mix. Sero seemed happy he had gotten any offers at all, while Bakugou was yelling about how pros that got scared of him were weak. Kirishima was pumped as always, and Kaminari, despite his own lamentation, was smirking. Everyone was looking forward to this.

“Despite these results, you’ll all be interning with pro heroes.”

Midoriya seemed surprised, though I would think he of all people would know how this works.

“We’re all interning?”

Aizawa nodded.

“Yes. You all experienced real combat with villains during the USJ attack, but it will still be helpful to see pros at work. Up close and personal, in the field firsthand.”

“So for that we need hero names!” Sato said, fistpumping. I smiled at the guy’s enthusiasm. I didn’t know much about him, but he seemed like a good enough guy.

Uraraka seemed to have recovered well from her loss too, chipper as she was next to speak up.

“This is starting to get fun!”

Aizawa seemed unperturbed as he continued, though he rolled his eyes a little at the word fun.

“These names will likely be temporary. But take them seriously or…”

“You’ll have hell to pay later!”

Midnight finished Aizawa’s trail off as she walked in. I saw the smirk on his face before it returned to normal. He totally planned that.

Midnight caught everyone’s eyes as she walked in. Even I had to admit, she was good looking. Did that make me gay? I guess it could. Just another question to ponder.

Maybe we’re Bi?

I guess.

The R-rated hero continued her eye-catching stroll to the front, continuing to talk.

“What you pick today could be your codename for life.You better be careful, or you’ll be stuck with something utterly indecent.”

Aizawa nodded, seeming completely used to Midnight’s mannerisms.

“She has a point. Midnight is going to have final approval over your names. It’s not my forte.”

I smiled. He was right about that.

Story?

Aizawa was classmates with Present Mic, and he didn’t care about a codename, so Mic came up with Eraserhead.

Oh. That makes waaay too much sense.

“The name you give yourself is important. It helps reinforce your image and shows what kind of hero you wanna be in the future. It tells people exactly what you represent.”

He punctuated this as whiteboards were passed around. I took mine and thought for a while.

I know exactly what we should put down!

Midnight would reject Alien Queen.

Awww.

‘Maybe we should think in terms of quirk. What could we use there?’

Acid Girl?

Too generic.

Ooh! How about Dancer?

Again, Generic…hmmm. Acid, plus dancing.

Do you have something cool?

Maybe…

I took to writing down my idea before explaining it.

I looked it over and smiled. It was perfect. Mina seemed to agree.

OHHHH. That’s a good one.

Knew you’d like it.

I leaned over a little to see Kaminari thinking hard. I leaned over a little to whisper.

“Maybe something like Chargebolt?”

He thought it over and smiled. 

“I like that. Thanks Mina!”

I nodded, then Jirou sighed from Kaminari’s other side before saying  “Dang. I was gonna suggest Jamming-Way.”

We both looked over as Kaminari seemed to think before realizing it.

“Oh, like Hemmingway the author, the one who wrote A Farewell to Arms , right?”

Jirou seemed to be cracking up before shaking her head.

“Nah, I meant cause your brain jams and then you go ‘way’”

I chuckled a little as Kaminari had a look of sheer betrayal on his face. 

“Sorry Kami, you kinda walked into that one”

He gasped.

“Betrayed by cute girls! My worst nightmare.”

We all couldn’t hold it and started giggling, before a glare from Aizawa silenced us. Right. Back to work.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Anne/Shinso

I leaned back in my chair as I looked at the blank whiteboard. I hadn’t really given hero names much thought.

I got nothing. Shinso, any ideas?

No.

Wait. Seriously?

Yes. 

Why? You’ve wanted to be a hero forever.

Shut up.

Maybe you have names but they’re just embarrassing

I said shut up.

What? Is one of the names Eraserhead II or something?

I hate you.

Oh my god it is. You’re a fanboy just like Midoriya.

He didn’t reply, but I could still feel the poor guy’s embarrassment. Still, we did need a name. Probably shouldn’t be that obvious considering our quirk only works well if it’s unknown.

Ooh, that’s a good idea, play up the mystery part!

Are you sure that’s a good idea? That might just make people more curious, and dealing with the press would just be a headache.

Maybe, but if we do that we get to act all brooding and dramatic in a cool way, ya know?

Not convinced.

We could also tell any press we do get sniffing around to fuck off.

I’m in.

With that settled, I began to wrack my brain. What could I use that would sound cool as hell? Mystery would just be too obvious, plus I’m fairly sure there has to be some hero named that. Conundrum? Eh, doesn’t roll off the tongue. Persona? Reminds me too much of JRPG’s. Mockingbird? Makes me think of the Hunger Games (wait weren’t those mockingjays? It doesn’t matter), but I like it. Audible? Gives too much away. Mindjack? Even less subtle.

Still, I kept thinking, still keeping an eye on the rest of the class. Aoyama was up first as people finally began actually coming up. I still couldn’t help but gawk as he introduced his hero name as a full sentence. Even the shortened version Midnight came up with was still kind of a mouthful.

At least Tsu’s was normal. Though I had to wonder where she got the name Froppy from. Still, good name. 

Jake was next to walk up, though I suspected the name she chose wouldn’t be rejected this time around. She grinned a little and showed her board to the class.

“Acid Hero: Breakdown!”

Midnight considered for a moment, before nodding.

“Recognizable and memorable. Good job Ashido!”

I smirked to myself before looking back down at my board. I still needed my name, but it continued to elude me. It seemed my search for a good mysterious name was an enigma. Isn’t that ironic.

Wait.

I like that. Rolls off the tongue, more specific than just mystery, I think I’ve got it.

I wrote down my idea quickly, ignoring as Kirishima and Jirou both gave their names, before getting up and walking to the front before anyone else, a smirk on my face.

Facing the class just made me more sure of this, though some of Shinso’s own nerves bled in. Or maybe they were my nerves? It was a bitch to tell.

I turned my board around and announced my name with all my certainty.

“Mysterious Hero: Enigma”

It seemed to confuse several of my classmates, though Midnight seemed to like it.

“Vague, but it’s snappy and doesn’t give much away. I’ll approve it.”

I nodded before going back, though I did spare a glance at Aizawa. He gave me a nod. I took that as a win.

As for internships? I had no clue where to go. I hadn’t gotten a single offer. Seemed like the real deciding factor for that was the finals. Doesn’t matter how impressive you are with the previous events. Not bitter. Nope. Not at all.

I kind of zoned out as the rest of the names went, though, it did catch me by surprise to hear Iida announce his name as Velocitas. Right, no Stain attack. Does that mean Stain won’t be caught? Is that something Jake and I can change? 

That little panic lasted to the end of class, only really waking me up when Aizawa handed out the sheets for internships. I kind of stared at it for a bit. 

I ended up a bit too silent at lunch, I guess. Kaminari seemed weirded out.

“You okay Shin-bro? You’re not always this quiet.”

I shrugged before giving him a smirk.

“How can you tell anyone else is talking with you around Kami?”

He gasped in betrayal as Jake and Kirishima chuckled. It was just us today. Bakugou seemed too pissed after five of his names got rejected. Then again, they all involved ‘murder’ or ‘death’ in the name, and not in a tasteful way. Makes me wonder if the final name was just UA throwing up their hands and giving up on rejecting his names.

Kaminari recovered quickly and grinned.

“Great. You’re still you. I was wondering if you’d been body-jacked or something.”

I dropped my fork as those words left his mouth.

He’s not wrong

Shut up Shinso

I was glad it had only been a momentary lapse. 

“I’m fine. Just a lot to process, you know?”

Kirishima nodded.

“I get it. I gotta decide from all these offers. It’s kinda overwhelming.”

He seemed to look apologetically at Jake, frowning slightly. It really didn’t feel like it fit with who he was, but then who was I to judge that?

“Sorry you didn’t get any, Mina. I mean, you’re obviously manly. You beat me!”

Mina simply shrugged and gave a lazy smile.

“Nothing you gotta apologize for. My fault for pushing so hard.”

Kirishima’s frown grew a little deeper at that.

“I’m glad you’re okay. Please don’t scare us like that. We all need to work together to be strong, and if you get hurt, I don’t think any of us could stand it.”

He grinned again.

“So be manly, but in moderation, I guess.”

I chuckled. 

“Kiri and moderation. Two words I never thought I’d see together.”

Kirishima seemed almost offended by that.

“Just because I want to be manly doesn’t mean I don’t know how to pace myself. You can’t grow if you get hurt!”

I shrugged.

“Makes sense.”

We all shared a moment of chill silence before we resumed discussion.

“So yeah, I have to pick from this list of approved agencies, and I’m not even sure where to start.”

Mina nodded sagely.

“Same. Not sure where to go really. I was thinking of working with some rescue heroes. Acid could be really helpful there.”

Kirishima seemed mystified at that.

“You’re an awesome fighter though!”

She nodded.

“Yeah, but just because I want to fight villains doesn’t mean I can’t also help rescue people. You can do both. A bit of training on one side could be good, since the only bit we’ve had hasn’t been all that much since…ya know. Though, maybe I could use an official combat lesson or two.”

We all just nodded in understanding. We’d only had one or two rescue lessons since the USJ, and we’d barely scratched the surface. Still, it wasn’t the path I thought would be best for me at least. I wasn’t sure how much good I could do aside from calming people down.

So rescue was out. Where else could I go? Maybe do some combat focus? While I could fight it was slapdash at best. Don’t get me wrong, slapdash was fun, but fun wasn’t going to keep me alive. Probably for the best. I looked over the list. It did list a few of the specialties of each, and I did recognize a few names. Manual, Backdraft, Kamui Woods, etc. Although most others? Not a clue. Eel Boy, His Purple Highness, Drop Zone, Whiplash, Majestic, and… Robin? That’s just a character from DC. Then again, do those comics exist here?

Still, I looked them over. I had options, and some of these looked viable. Eventually my eyes fell on one that looked safe enough. Memento Agency. Well rounded specialties, it wasn’t too far away, and as a bonus, it seemed to be one of the few underground agencies. Think I found the right one for now. Then again, I still had time to decide. I tucked that one away and returned to reality, where lunch was almost over. I still had a week to go through with it.

Chapter Text

To say I made a good first impression on my new mentor would be an exaggeration. A bit of a fib. A master stroke of hyperbole. 

In short, I kind of messed up and accidentally insulted him as I first laid eyes on him.

But that isn’t where things started, really. 

The day had been pretty okay before then. It was the day everyone was to leave for internships, and I was practically vibrating, a little excited. It kind of hit me that I would be getting a first hand look at how hero work actually…well, worked.

Needless to say, it was going to be cool. I tried my best to be the picture of calm. Mina was doing a better job, admittedly. We had met up at the station and now sat, waiting. We were early, so our trains wouldn’t be in for a little while, and we could see off our friends. 

Jake smirked slightly at me in my seat.

“You’re excited right? I can feel you vibrating, Anne. Not that I blame you.”

I nodded, a little embarrassed. Shinso was pretty embarrassed too.

You could at least try to be professional. 

Oh like all that ten year old excitement was just me. Don’t act like you aren’t hyped.

“Guess you got me. Where’d you decide to intern anyways?”

Jake shrugged.

“Decided I might as well learn how bad I am at combat first. Or at least hone it. I mean, I don't wanna pass out again like I did at the festival. Figured at least refining my combat might help with that. Gunhead was a combat specialty. So I’m heading there.”

I tilted my head curiously.

“That means you’ll be going with Uraraka?”

Mina nodded. 

“Yep.She seemed a little nervous about it, since we don’t talk enough. I swear, she’s scared she’ll be shown up compared to me or something. Girl really doesn’t know her own potential.”

I felt my mouth quirk up into a smile at that. 

“You can say that. I decided to go with the Memento Agency. Apparently, they specialize in underground heroics.”

Jake snorted.

“You? Being stealthy?”

I gasped in mock offense.

“You wound me. Who was it that managed to sneak into Ben’s apartment and cover it in rainbow duct tape, all while not waking him?”

She chuckled. 

“You got me there.”

Things kind of trailed off after that. Not that it was uncomfortable. We just didn’t have much to say to each other. And we waited in comfortable silence. Soon enough, the rest of our class was flooding in, dragging luggage with them. I smirked as I saw Uraraka walk in, seeming to be texting someone. Jake got up, and I followed, curious. She approached the brown haired girl with her usual subtlety.

“Hey Uraraka.”

Uraraka jumped, seeming surprised. She must have really been into that conversation. She smiled brightly at us.

“Hi Mina, you know you can call me Ochako right?”

Mina shrugged.

“Right. Have a good morning?”

She nodded.

“I’m really pumped to get this going!”

Jake nodded in understanding.

“Yep.”

I looked over at her phone. 

“Texting your parents?”

She was startled again.

“O-oh. Hey Shinso. No, I was talking to a friend from outside of school. She was wishing me luck. She’s always so nice like that.”

She had blushed a little, and I raised an eyebrow.

“You sure she’s just a friend?”

At that she seemed to go bright red and start babbling, like she did with Midoriya. I exchanged a look with Jake, who gave me a mischievous smile.

“Well, I guess that settles that.”

Uraraka covered her face and whined into her hands. 

“You aren’t gonna tease me about this while we’re on the train, right Mina? I think I might explode.”

I snickered slightly, before patting her on the shoulder.

“Does she seem like the type to drop something like this? I pity you. Lucky I’m not going with any of you. Agency that accepted me is in Yokohama.”

Uraraka just whined into her hands again, before we heard a few more voices calling for her. Midoriya and Iida ran up, seeming eager. Iida greeted us with his usual manner, seeming stiff, although he seemed more relaxed than he had at the start, a genuine smile on his face.

“Ah, good morning Ashido, Shinso. I hope you are both ready to work your hardest!”

I nodded, Jake doing the same.

“Yep, work hard, that’s me.You seem to be in a good mood.”

Iida nodded honestly as Midoriya talked quietly with Uraraka, giving her encouragement. 

“I admit, it is quite exciting to be able to work with my brother and parents for the first real time. They had trained me, and I have visited the agency before, but never as an intern. I feel accomplished, though I know we still have much to do.”

Jake shrugged.

“Hey, you made it here at least. Be proud of that. I’m sure your family is.”

Iida nodded seriously as he gripped his luggage and left toward his train.

“Yes, thank you. Good luck to you all.”

He raced off after his train, slowing down to say goodbyes to Midoriya and Uraraka. Jake chuckled.

“Even formal as he is, the way he’s running tells me how he feels. Like a kid on Christmas morning.”

I nodded at that.

“Not like any of us are any better.”

I pointed over at Kaminari and Kirishima, plus Sero, who were walking in a group with Bakugou, who seemed to be in a better mood than usual, given he wasn’t shouting. I gestured with my head to them. Jake nodded, giving me another smile.

“Good luck prankster. Don’t get in trouble.”

I shrugged.

“Won’t make promises I can’t keep.”

We both laughed at that before parting ways, Jake heading towards her little group, while I slowed to make one more stop, heading to Uraraka and Midoriya, who were still talking.

“Hey, just wanted to say bye, and good luck. Especially with Mina. She will not leave you alone about that crush.”

Midoriya tilted his head curiously.

“Crush?”

His face turned red slightly.

“Wh-what crush?”

This of course caused Uraraka to turn red and start sputtering like a broken faucet, before I patted them on the shoulders.

“Calm down. Uraraka has a girl she’s texting from outside school that she likes.”

Uraraka of course tried to deny, but her embarrassed state made her response incomprehensible, her body almost floating toward the ceiling of the station if I didn’t grab her leg and pull her down. Midoriya seemed at a loss as to how to respond.

“W-well. Good for you Ochako?”

I laughed, patting his shoulder.

“Good encouragement. Very inspiring.”

He just looked at me. I gave a mock salute as I started to walk away. 

“Welp, see you guys in a week! Don’t die!”

And with that, I was running to find my train. Oh yeah. It’s hero time.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I had to admit, Yokohama was a place I had to appreciate, even in the daytime. Still more confusing than it had to be. Took me longer than I’d like to admit to find the right building. Of course my new mentor couldn’t be bothered to actually pick me up, just sending me a card with directions. And they were vague as well. Great.

Still, I made it, and the place was admittedly pretty unimpressive. Looked like your average office building, not even an outside sign. The only indicator that this was the right place was the skull symbol I’d noticed on the door.

I pushed it open, and was greeted again with a pretty standard lobby, complete with a front desk. No one was there aside from the receptionist and a few other loiterers. I walked up to the desk, looking at the card. This was the next step, I was pretty sure. The woman looked at me, pretty normal looking for this world, and raised an eyebrow.

“Do you have an appointment.?”

I looked down at the card, then at her, and in as serious a voice as possible, recited the code.

“Does the Black Moon howl?”

Her eyes went wide, before she composed herself, and responded.

“Only when waning. Follow me.”

She got up from her desk and began walking toward the back. I followed, curious.

She spoke only once we’d reached a door.

“I’m guessing you’re the kid Ryoichi said he’d be mentoring then.”

I nodded hesitantly. She seemed satisfied by the answer. 

“Well, he’s waiting inside the main office. Just take the first hall you see, then right.”

She pushed the door open and gestured for me to head in. I did, and she closed it from the other side. 

It…wasn’t what I was expecting. Not many decorations, but it was functional. The room I’d entered seemed to be a connecting one of sorts, with three separate halls leading out from it, and some furniture and books dotting the room itself. I took the middle or first hall, and took a right, before pushing open the door and stepping inside.

Memento’s office was…formal. That was how I could best describe it. Imagine your typical executive’s office, with a desk made of nice polished dark wood, then shrink it to half the size. That was Memento’s office. And behind the desk…

“Woah. What's with the shades? You blind or something?”

The man I was talking about raised his head curiously. He was tall, lanky, and very much not the hero looking type, though looks can be deceiving. Wild unkempt mint green hair framed an average face, eyes covered by a pair of custom aviators. I couldn’t see most of the rest of his attire, but he seemed to be in some leathers from what I could tell.He regarded me curiously.

“Is that how you start all conversations with new people, Mr.Shinso?”

I sputtered for a moment as I realized how my comments may have sounded.

“I- no, thats- I’m-”

I was cut off as he chuckled slightly.

“Teenagers.”

I narrowed my eyes.

“You’re Memento, right?”

He nodded.

“Masahiro Ryoichi, aka The Reaper Hero: Memento. For the duration of our internship, you may call me Memento or Mr. Ryoichi, though while on patrol, please use my hero name.”

I nodded. Made sense at least. He seemed to be reading my file.

“UA student, Hitoshi Shinso. Quirk: Brainwashing. Hero Codename: Enigma. Is that all correct?”

I nodded again.

“Yep, that’s me.”

He hummed in thought.

“Your quirk…Brainwashing…how does it work?”

I felt a bit of anxiety, likely from Shinso. He seemed tense.

Relax. He’s already read our file. He knows. He just wants us to explain in our words.

Oh.

“My quirk allows me to control anyone who answers a question I ask them. It kinda flips a switch in their head and they’ll do whatever I tell them.”

He nodded.

“Can anything break them out?”

I nodded.

“Pain or hard physical contact. I can also release them.”

He seemed to be thinking. 

“A quirk like that…”

Shinso tensed again. 

“You must have had a hard time in school.”

Me and Shinso both startled.

“What?”

He continued on.

“I am all too aware of the stigma around ‘villainous’ quirks Mr. Shinso. While I am not a believer in such drivel, I believe a quirk like yours would qualify in the minds of many. Was school difficult for you?”

I hesitated for a moment before sighing.

“A bit. People were always mentioning it. Even teachers would tense up when they talked to me if they knew. It…made it hard to make friends before UA.”

He seemed to nod in understanding.

“An unfortunate part of our modern world, one that unfortunately has roots from far back.”

He waved his hand.

“But that isn’t all that important right now.”

I raised an eyebrow as he continued.

“What is important is a simple test. Follow me.”

He got up from his desk and walked to the door. I followed him out as he began to walk and talk, showing off parts of the building as he did.

“My agency doesn’t employ heroes in the traditional sense. Of course, we do have some paid heroes and such. Not many, though. Instead, we act as a hub of sorts for underground heroes. We in general don’t get much support from the wider community.”

He sighed, seeming disappointed.

“Our work isn’t flashy enough for them, unfortunately.”

He waved his hand dismissively. 

“But that isn’t really important. What is important is that we provide support where the system hasn’t. If you haven’t noticed as we walked, this building is large enough to accommodate at least thirty heroes at the same time. Not large for a daytime hero agency that regularly employs sidekicks, but large enough to act as a meeting place, where heroes can train and coordinate efforts, a rarity in our line of work.”

He stopped at a door and pushed it open, revealing a gym, currently empty aside from two other heroes, who didn’t even glance at us when the door opened, and we stepped inside.

“Now, we’re here. Time to begin our first task, Mr. Shinso.”

I nodded eagerly. 

“And that is?”

He gestured toward the lockers.

“Change into your gym clothes. Then, we’ll have an introductory spar.”

My eyes widened a bit. I had sparred with my classmates before, taken on villains. But somehow the ease and confidence Memento exuded made me scared to take him on. But he was my mentor. No way this could go bad, right?

Changing wasn’t an issue (though my nerves did cause me to knock my head on a locker), and I tried my best to steady myself as I walked back to Memento. He simply smiled at me, seeming to have replaced his aviators with a pair of goggles. 

“Take your place over on that side, and we’ll begin.”

I nodded, and did so, taking a simple ready stance. He did the same, dropping into a seasoned combat stance.

“Don’t hold anything back Mr. Shinso. I want to know how you fight. That way, I can teach you.”

I simply narrowed my eyes, and with a simple word from my new mentor, the fight began.

“Go.”

Take the initiative, right? I charged forward, feinting a punch at him, before dropping into a leg sweep, trying to trip him. He easily moved away, almost a blur of motion before striking out with a kick of his own, which I just barely dodged, trying for a jab at his face, which he leaned out of the way of, before lashing out with a punch of his own, one that hit me square in the chest, causing me to stumble back.

He followed up with a charge and a powerful kick that probably would have hurt if it had connected. I was about to follow up when he said something that made me freeze.

“Are these the moves you used to combat the bully who cornered you? Said he’d be ‘doing everyone a favor by taking out a villain in the making’?”

I wasn’t frozen for long, but it was enough of an opening for Memento, who legs out from under me and pinned me beneath a boot.

“Well, I’d say that you did well, but I dislike lies. Rather, I’d say you still have a lot to learn.”

I looked up at him, and chuckled.

“I can’t argue there sir. Still, how’d you know about that bully?”

Memento responded to the question by pushing his aviators down on his nose, revealing his eyes. To say they were off putting was an understatement. They had no pupils, or even an iris. They were simply a completely solid amber color. Looking at them made a shiver go down my spine. Memento seemed nonplussed by my reaction.

“My quirk is related to my eyes. It’s called Soul Sight. By looking at anyone around me, I can discern psychological weaknesses. Their fears, incidents that will make them uncomfortable. Anything that would throw them off. It’s not particularly suited for combat by itself, but it does have its uses.”

I nodded. That was kind of scary, honestly. Apparently, that feeling was showing, because he sighed and looked away.

“I know what you’re thinking. It’s the same thing I heard growing up. I scare people. Make them feel vulnerable.”

He turned his head back to me, giving a sincere look of sympathy.

“That's why I asked you about your schooling. I had a feeling your experience was similar.”

I nodded as I started to get up, Memento helping pull me to my feet.

“When I received your application, it was the first internship I’ve had in two years. I intend to do my best to teach you, and that includes this lesson.”

His look turned even more serious.

“Your quirk does not define you. Neither does what people think of that quirk. Your quirk is a part of you. Never let other people define what that part of you means.”

I nodded, a slight smile on my face. Shinso seemed shocked too. It was like he’d never heard that kind of talk before. 

“Thank you, sir.”

Memento nodded.

“Think nothing of it. For the next week, you are my student. I will do my best to teach you as much as I can.”

He walked toward the locker room.

“Rest for a moment, then get changed and meet me in the mission room. It's down the hall then right of this room.”

I nodded, then sat down, breathing slightly. The spar hadn’t been long. Though I guess that had been the point. For all I had accomplished, I still wasn’t the best at fighting. I still had a lot to learn. 

I sighed and shook my head, before I jumped up and headed to the locker room. No point in sitting around when I could be doing stuff. Wonder what Memento wanted in a meeting room…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Once I’d changed, it wasn’t hard to find the ‘meeting room’, or as I would call it, the ‘room with a table in it and nothing else aside from the chairs’. Geez, Memento is such a minimalist. Said hero was sitting calmly, waiting for me. He nodded as I sat down.

“Good. That didn’t take long. You’re quite efficient, Mr. Shinso.”

I smirked slightly. 

“That’s me, Mr.Efficiency!”

Memento didn’t in any way show he got the joke.

“Good. That’s a quality you’ll need in hero work.”

He turned and placed down a map, which I leaned over to see. It was a map of the city where the hq was. Several routes were drawn around the city itself. Memento pointed to them.

“These are the usual patrol routes I take around the city. I will not always follow them to the letter, but they have proven an efficient starting point.”

I nodded, and he continued on.

“We will be going on patrol at least once everyday while you are here. As well, you will accompany me to any and all incidents I am called for. There are not many, but it is likely there will be at least one.”

Okay then. Seemed pretty cool. I smiled slightly.

“Seems about what I was expecting, boss.”

Memento raised an eyebrow at me, an unspoken question in his gaze. I simply shrugged as if to answer. He sighed and turned back to the sheet, pointing to what looked like a warehouse on the east side of the city.

“My intelligence tells me that there is a weapons deal going down in this warehouse tonight. You will accompany me and observe. There is an essential lesson I wish to teach you.”

I tilted my head curiously. He simply gave me a shrug.

“I’ll show you to the room you are to use for the next week. You can settle in, then meet me here at 6:00 PM. You will be given your equipment then. No questions?”

I nodded, giving him a mock salute.

“Good. follow me. I can already tell this will be quite an interesting week, Mr. Shinso. Don’t disappoint me now.”

I smiled.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, sir.”

Chapter Text

Being out in the night air was freeing in a way I hadn’t felt for a while. I nearly whooped in excitement, but I got drawn back in pretty quickly.

This is awesome!

You’re supposed to be stealthing right now. 

Right.

….It is fun though

I quieted down after that, though a smug grin was on my face. If Memento noticed, he didn’t acknowledge it. Once we had exited the agency, both of us in uniform (and him carrying what looked like a large duffel bag), he’d gone into business mode and told me to follow him as he scrambled up the side of the building. Thanks to the gloves and boots he’d loaned to me, I could do the same, and we ran along the rooftops toward the warehouse where the arms deal was taking place. 

Honestly, it baffled me that these kinds of things would take place anymore. Most organized crime had been quashed years ago. I said as much to my mentor as we ran. I made sure to match his pace as I gave him a curious look.

“So, who’s doing this arms deal anyways?”

His reply was quick, not even looking at me as he went.

“We aren’t sure exactly. Most gangs are gone, but some manage to hang on through sheer willpower. We suspect they have some benefactor helping them, but we haven't made much progress on finding who that could be.”

I nodded and went silent. Criminal benefactor, huh? I had an inkling, but that could just be a coincidence. No way Mr. Darth Vader Mask would have his fingers in something as crude as an arms deal.

We arrived in good time, using the rooftops saving time as we approached, though we had to climb down about two or three blocks away, skulking through alleyways and using shortcuts to go by mostly unnoticed.

Memento signaled for me to climb up the building. Easy as pie. Getting near, I couldn’t even see a guard really. These guys must have been stupid or arrogant. Or both. Both was always an open option. Still, the point stood that it was far too easy to sneak right up to a building where an illegal arms deal was going down. I made my way there, surprised at what I’d found. Not a glass ceiling per say, but windows on the sides of the building. And a near perfect staircase made by large containers. I perched myself there and waited for my mentor to join me.

And join me he did, his usual more form fitting outfit hidden under a long black hooded cloak. It reminded me of the stereotypical grim reaper costume. He had carried it in the bag he’d been wearing, likely due to it restricting his movement.

“Is that a necessary thing, or…?”

“Part of the lesson Mr. Shinso.”

He looked through the windows, assessing things. There were already the expected thugs, along with several crates, likely the weapons themselves in the deal. The rest of the warehouse was stacked with boxes and crates as well, but these looked…different.Maybe it was just intuition since they were in the middle of the floor.

Memento turned to me next.

“What’s one of the deciding factors in a fight?”

I thought for a moment.

Strategy?

Hmmm. Makes sense, but it seems obvious 

Strength?

Nope, that’s the even more obvious answer.

I gave him a curious look.

“I’m guessing even if I say something, it’ll be wrong.”

Memento chuckled lightly. 

“Self aware too. You did have a chance to guess correctly, but I doubted you would.”

He shook his head lightly. I could tell under the mask he was smiling.

“No, one of the deciding factors of battle is the circumstances of said battle.”

He pointed to the guards in the warehouse.

“Tell me, do you think we could take those guards down if we went in guns blazing?”

I shook my head slowly. He nodded back.

“This battle would be a losing one, but if we even the odds in our favor, we win.”

He tilts his head a little.

“Sometimes what you do before you fight guarantees victory before a single punch is thrown.“

His eyes gained a dangerous gleam.

“That’s what you’ll be training in, Mr. Shinso. How to tilt the scales in your favor.”

I felt my grin before I realized I was smiling.

“When do we start?”

Memento gestured inside.

“Now.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I shifted slightly in place from my vantage behind some boxes. I was just waiting for the signal to start. No matter what, I was filled with nervous, excited energy. This was going to be fun.

Once we had finished, Memento had given me a task: Make my way into the warehouse quietly, and when the signal hit, use my quirk and whatever other means necessary to disrupt and confuse the gang members.

He had of course given his full permission to use said quirk. He trusted me to be responsible. Or was throwing me into the deep end to sink or swim. Either one could be true, but I preferred to think positively.

Getting to my vantage point wasn’t all that hard, and that just made me even more confused. How had these guys persisted for so long when they seemed this incompetent? 

Probably that benefactor Memento mentioned.

Yep. Still, you’d think someone bankrolling gangs would at least go for competent goons 

I could feel Shinso give me a mental shrug as I watched from my perch atop some boxes. Guess it was true when they say people never look up, because despite my exposed position, not one of the goons spotted me.

Then, the lights cut out, and Memento’s voice rang out across the warehouse, sounding cold and angry.

“Interlopers. You defile this ground with your criminal presence.”

My head swiveled around, searching for the hint of my mentor’s presence, before I spotted him, having entered through the front doors of the warehouse, walking slowly and deliberately. His goggles had lit up with red light, becoming the most discernible feature about him, as his face was hidden by the hood, and the rest of his body was obscured. 

The intimidation clearly worked as once my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see the group of thugs trembling. A couple who saw Memento directly had even dropped the weapons they were holding in shock and fright, and one guy had straight up tried to bail. 

“You have one chance. Surrender now, or face the Reaper.”

Out of his robes, he pulled a collapsible staff, which he then extended, before with a click, a badass scythe blade unfolded from it. At this point, he really did look like the grim reaper.

A couple more of the guys bailed at that point, and I began to move, getting a better position to strike.

The rest of the guys, while looking rattled, seemed ready to fight, some of them hefted blunt weapons or firearms, while others summoned some kind of quirk. Memento seemed unfazed. 

“Very well then. Know this could have been avoided.”

Memento gripped his robes, and in a move that had to have been practiced at least a hundred times, pulled them off in a single smooth motion, flinging them aside, revealing his normal hero outfit. He took a combat stance, and looked toward me, uttering a single word.

“Now.”

I took that as the signal, and detached a smoke bomb from my belt, throwing it right into the middle of the largest group of thugs, before jumping down from my perch and running closer to the group, hiding near the confused goons. 

Numerous shouts of panic erupted from the group as I saw their vague shapes in the smoke, frantically trying to gain a footing. In the midst of the chaos, one of them seemed to try and take charge. 

“You dumbasses! Don’t fall for the fear tactics! Find ‘em and kill ‘em”

I chuckled loudly and called out to him.

“What makes you think you’re any better than them, rocks for brains?”

I saw his head whip around, searching for me, before he responded.

“The hell did you-”

I activated my quirk and he froze in place, before I called out again.

“Knock out as many guys as you can.”

The thugs around him shouted in alarm as he slammed a fist into the nearest one of them’s face, before turning and doing the same to the next nearest.

Chaos erupted as shouts rang out, both from those who thought a colleague had betrayed them, and from those who were being ambushed and taken down by Memento, who had taken advantage of my distraction to vanish and begin his work.

I moved from hiding spot to hiding spot, periodically calling out and brainwashing thugs to turn on others, causing mayhem, occasionally tossing another smoke bomb to keep things obscured, and having the time of my life as I did so.

Soon enough, the warehouse was clear, the goons knocked out and cuffed, and Memento had contacted the police, who would serve as an ambush to the secondary party that would be showing up soon. 

Memento stood up from where he’d squatted, examining some evidence, and turned to me.

“I think that went well, and demonstrated my point to you. You understand, don’t you, Mr. Shinso?”

I nodded eagerly.

“Yeah. That was awesome! Those guys didn’t see it coming!”

I could tell Memento was smiling under his mask at my enthusiasm as he continued.

“Exactly. Disruption is a key factor when you’re an underground hero. We don’t often have the raw power that Daytime Heroes can bring to bear, so we give ourselves every advantage we can.”

I nodded. That made a lot of sense, especially for me. Brainwashing was powerful, but it had no physical benefits.

Memento checked a device on his wrist and looked back at me.

“We should hide. If my intelligence is correct, the secondary party to this arms deal will be here soon. Our job will be to delay them until the police can surround the warehouse and snap our trap shut.”

I smirked. I guess I had chosen my mentor wisely.

I still think Eraserhead is better

That’s because you have a homemade costume of his in your closet and you want to justify it. 

How do you-

;) 

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

What walked into the warehouse after a time was not exactly what I was expecting, but then, I don’t think anyone quite expects a bunch of thugs in suits led by a dude in a devil mask when they were staking out a weapons deal.

Devil Mask looked around the warehouse silently, before he held his hands up, stopping the maybe five thugs he had with him. None of those guys were really very notable, aside from the one with what looked like ice crystals for hair. Oh, and the one with a dog’s head. That was a bit notable as well.

Devil Mask was silent after he stopped his men, but then he suddenly spoke.

“I know a trap when I see one. Let’s go.”

He turned back toward the door, and just as planned, Memento dropped down, blocking his way out. He had waltzed right in, and now his exit was cut off. Devil Mask tilted his head curiously before he spoke again.

“Ah, Memento. Good to see you again. I thought this may have been your doing. The Tigers never were smooth operators.”

The Tigers? Must have been the gang we took out. Couldn’t they have picked a more creative name?

Considering how pathetic they were?

...you’ve got a point.

More importantly, do Memento and this guy know each other?

It seemed like it, considering Memento wasn’t the least bit surprised when Devil Mask knew his name. 

“Azazel. These kinds of weapons deals aren’t usually in your wheelhouse. Why are you here?”

The now named Azazel chuckled as his thugs seemed to prepare for battle.I tensed too. I know I wasn’t allowed to fight, but I was ready to aid in any way I could. 

“I simply thought I’d branch out a bit. Understandable, considering how many of my old schemes you saw dashed, no?”

Memento didn’t respond, only dropping into a combat stance.

“I never liked fighting you, Daisuke.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. Seemed like there was an even deeper connection there than I’d thought.

Azazel let out a hearty laugh.

“Same, Masahiro. But business is business.”

He snapped his fingers.

“Deal with Memento.”

Memento charged as the thugs did, spinning his staff and taking one of the forgettable ones out with a single strike, before dodging a fist from another, sweeping his legs out from under him, and moving to dodge a blast of ice from Ice Hair.

The other forgettable thug tore a chunk out of the ground and threw it at Memento, who seamlessly ducked under the debris, leading to Dog Face, who was charging to insert himself into the fight, being hit by it, the piece of concrete shattering as he fell over, though he seemed not as damaged as you’d expect.

All the while, Azazel navigated around the melee, walking at a steady pace toward the door. I moved around slowly, keeping an eye on the fight as I made to block the door.

Mento seemed to be holding his own rather well. Concrete Throwing Guy was down on his face, and Ice Crystal Hair was tossing blasts desperately as he closed in on them, While Dog Face was slowly getting back up.

I dropped down in front of the door, seeming to surprise the villain, who stopped and tilted his head curiously.

“Hmm. A trainee. Ryoishi isn’t usually one for those. You must be quite special.”

I immediately set the trap.

“You know him? How? You guys boyfriends or something?”

Azazael didn’t respond directly to me, unfortunately.

“Hmm, quite a mouth on you too. I wonder…I don’t suppose you have some sort of quirk that allows you control of others?”

He shakes his head as he chuckles.

“Of course, it’s not like you’d just tell me your power , right?”

Something felt off about his words, but for some reason my mouth moved before my brain processed what I was saying.

“I ask a question, and if you respond, I can control you.”

My hand flew to my mouth and my eyes went wide. The hell?

What was that?

I don’t know!

Azazel shook his head and laughed.

“People always seem pretty shocked by that. Not sure why.”

I dropped into a stance. I didn’t have a license, but Memento had given me limited permission to engage if the situation called for it. Looked like this was one of those situations.

Azazel seemed quite casual as I did so.

“Ah, and he thinks he can take me on? Someone needs to teach him not to punch above his weight class, I’d think. Someone like him would probably try an aggressive approach and fail.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, ignoring his taunting, waiting for him to make a move. He seemed amused by this, but just came walking toward me, deliberately slow.

My eyes flicked behind him, to where Memento was still tangled up fighting Azazel’s minions. I was the only line of defense here. I didn't have time to set up some traps or subterfuge. 

I made my move, running forward, and trying to sweep Azazel’s legs out from under him. He just barely sidestepped the attempt, and I immediately jumped up from my low position on the ground, attempting a jab right to his stupid grinning mask.

He casually leaned out of the way of it, and used the opening I’d left to step around me and continue his way to the door, still at a casual pace. 

I looked behind me, seeing that the minions were down to one guy, and that guy was flagging as Memento wore him down. I just had to keep him busy for a little while longer. 

He’d left his back open, and I tried to take advantage, directing a kick right to the middle of it, but he seemed almost psychic as he moved just fast enough in his walk that my kick failed to connect. 

I tried again to trip him up, but he again seemed to guess my move and easily avoided it. 

He was almost to the door, and I ran forward and in front of him, blocking him from escaping. I glared at the guy and my eyes flicked over to Memento, who had just knocked out the last minion. I just had to block him from the entrance for a little while longer.

Azazel was approaching me, again unconcerned, and he tilted his head curiously.

“He stands in front of the door? Shouldn’t he be checking on his mentor ? The poor man could be hurt, after all.”

My eyes unconsciously looked toward Memento, who was making his way over. He was limping, and I started to catalog his injuries. There was a gash across his face, and he was holding an arm. Maybe it was hurt?

I was taken out of my analysis by a sharp shove that sent me to the ground, and I just caught as Azazel ran out the door. Memento sped up his approach and leaned down to examine me, goggles pushed up as his eyes pierced into me.

“Are you alright, Enigma?”

I nodded as I accepted a hand up.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Shouldn’t you go after Azazel?”

Memento shook his head. 

“You are my student. Your safety is important. Especially since I needed to make sure you weren’t too affected by his quirk.”

He looked out the door.

“Besides, there will always be another chance to catch Azazel. He’s not one to stay clean for long. Especially when we ruined his chance for profit.”

I nodded as I rubbed my head, a slight headache having formed, and I looked Memento over again. That cut I had seen was just a scar that appeared fresh from a distance, and he seemed perfectly fine otherwise, though I noticed as he turned back to take care of the other criminals we caught that while he wasn’t limping, he was favoring his right leg just a little bit.

Had I just been exaggerating everything I was concerned about? That was weird.

No shit.

Shinso sounded legitimately angry. I furrowed my brow at that as I helped Memento tie up the thugs.

What did I do? You sound like I kicked your puppy or something.

I heard his huff of annoyance as he seemed to cool a bit before he responded.

You were ignoring me.

I tilted my head curiously, thinking back. Had I?

I was practically yelling at you to stop charging that villain without a plan.

Huh. Now that I thought about it, I kind of had been doing that, hadn’t I? But had he been talking? I certainly didn’t hear him if he did, but thinking back, maybe I did? I could think back now, and he was talking, seeming to get more and more fed up with me as things went on.

That’s weird. It’s like my mind filtered you out at the moment, but now that I think about it, I can remember it clearly. That’s…

Strange.

I unconsciously nodded my head as I thought it over, and looked over as Memento approached the doors, a couple police officers having arrived.

Memento did mention Azazael’s quirk affecting me, and there was that weird thing where I told him our quirk…

I think he might have a similar one.

Yeah, that makes sense. Now that I’m seeing it from the outside, it kind of scares me.

Yeah. Me too…

That last word was said thoughtfully, as if he hadn’t thought from that angle before. I looked up as Memento approached me with the officers. He tilted his head, gesturing to the officers to go toward the thugs, and then he looked back to me.

“Good job. You did well for your first night.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Letting a villain escape is doing well.?”

Memento shook his head.

“Following my instructions, causing chaos among the ranks, and helping in the capture of eleven wanted criminals is doing well. Azazel is slippery. He’s managed to escape experienced pro heroes before. So I’m not faulting you for failing to catch him.”

He checked his watch, then gestured toward the door.

“The police will handle the arrests. We’ll have some paperwork to fill out later, but for now, we have another hour of patrol. Come on.”

I nodded and headed out the door and into the night.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Let’s just say I wasn’t feeling great the next morning. Even after Memento’s comfort that I hadn’t failed, and that I shouldn’t feel bad for letting Azazel escape, I still felt mad at myself.

The guy had jerked me around like a puppet on a string, manipulating me to do just what he wanted me to, and I hadn’t even noticed!

I sighed over breakfast, and one of the other pros there seemed to notice as he walked by, stopping and looking me over.

“First failure, kid?”

I shrugged and nodded. The guy nodded thoughtfully before patting me on the shoulder.

“Happens to everyone. None of us are perfect. No need to beat yourself up over it. Dealing with that stuff’s part of the job too.”

Makes sense. Pros are people too.

I shrugged at Shinso’s comment and gave the pro a nod of gratitude. He just nodded back and went back on his way. I smiled slightly at his advice and nodded.

No one was perfect. I just had to learn from this failure. 

I finished up my meal quickly and Memento came to fetch me soon afterwards. He lead me to the gym immediately, and nodded for me to change like last time. I did so, and he walked up to me and looked me over.

“You did do well last night, Mr. Shinso, but you still have a lot to do in front of you before you are a hero.”

I nodded in understanding.

Memento took that as a cue to keep going, walking to the opposite side of the mat.

“The next two days will be spent training here, and not just in direct combat. Sometimes, direct is not the best way. You might think you know this already, afterall, you came here, didn’t you?”

He shook his head. 

“And yet there is still a lot to learn. I said before that sometimes what wins a fight is what happens before a punch is thrown, but your second lesson is an addition to that. Sometimes you can win a fight without throwing a single punch at all.”

He stood up, and stood casually on the other side of the mats.

“Come at me, and I’ll show you what I mean.”

I nodded, and took a combat stance, prepared for the lesson.

Maybe there was something I could learn from how Azazel had torn me down. It was time to find out.

And if I could have a second round with that demon mask wearing bastard?

Well, it would be pretty fun to use his own tactics against him, now wouldn’t it?

For once, I think we can agree.

For once? We agree on a ton of things!

No we don’t.

Okay, fine. We don’t

Glad we can agree.

Yeah, glad we can- wait a damn minute!

Shinso’s chuckling threw off my offense, and I was immediately flipped onto my back. By Memento.

Damn that mischievous bastard.  

Chapter Text

When we parted ways with Anne at the train station that day, I’ll be honest, I thought he’d have a more eventful internship. 

Underground heroes were far less strict than aboveground heroes when it came to quirk use, so he’d probably be getting his hands dirty more than I would.

But then again, I’d be learning martial arts. So who was the real winner here?

Uraraka was pretty nervous on the train, but she’d relaxed pretty quickly once I assured her I’d leave her crush alone (for now).

Out of all the girls, I had to admit, we had talked the least. Sure, I wasn’t hugely close with anyone but Jirou (We like to vibe to the same songs, sue me.), but I had at least hung out with most of them. There was the study session over at Momo’s, Hagakure and I’s mall adventure, and Tsu’s comfortable silence anytime we were together. But Uraraka, while she was peripherally with the girls, mainly hung around Midoriya, IIda, and Todoroki, so we hadn’t had many deeper conversations or anything.

I leaned back in my chair, looking at my fellow intern as she looked out the window, watching things go by.

“So, Gunhead. Why him?”

Uraraka hums in thought for a moment, looking back at me seriously.

“I…I wanna become stronger.”

I nodded, though I still gave her a skeptical look.

“You looked pretty strong already. You nearly took out Bakugou during the sports festival. Not everyone could do that.”

She smiled slightly at me, but I could tell she wasn’t convinced. 

“Well yeah, but I still lost. I just…”

She trailed off, and was silent again for a bit. I didn’t push her. Some people needed time to get these things out. It wasn’t long before she spoke again, though.

“I’m surrounded by strong people. I want to show that I’m strong too. I-”

I cut her off, smirking a little.

“Want to show your friend your strength?”

She spluttered for a moment, face red.

“Ashido! You said you would leave that alone!”

I laughed at that, and patted her shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tease you that much.”

Uraraka whined into her hands again, before she calmed down and looked over at me again, eyes serious.

“I guess you’re right though. I want to help my parents too, but I do want to prove myself to her. I want to prove to all my friends that I can be strong. And I guess getting better at fighting is a good way to do that.”

I shrugged and layed back in my chair.

“Makes sense. I guess my reasons aren’t as deep as that. I want to get better at hand to hand fighting, and Gunhead’s known for that.”

Uraraka nodded, seeming to think, before a look of realization came over her and she began to talk excitedly.

“Maybe you can help me out and I’ll try and help you out! We can get better together!”

She was smiling again, wide and cheerful.

Oh my god she’s an angel.

Agreed

I nodded, before returning her smile.

“Sounds like a deal, Uraraka.”

She nodded back, before seeming to realize something.

“Oh, right. You can call me Ochaco. All my friends do.”

I gave her a set of finger guns and nodded my understanding.

“Then just call me Mina.”

There was another moment of silence, before I decided to speak again.

“So, you didn’t deny having a crush on this friend of yours…”

“Mina!”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Gunhead was… both exactly as I’d pictured him and not at the same time.

Sure, the guy was jacked and you could clearly tell he’d been in a lot of fights, but he was also kind and really friendly as he greeted us and showed us around. We’d stowed our bags in the rooms we’d be using for the Internship, before he showed us to the Dojo, where a couple other people of various ages were, and gestured for us to get in position.

Friendly as he was, he wasted no time starting us off on some basic drills, all while lecturing about proper form and strength. It led me to the realization that Ochaco and I had a major difference in strength, at least to start. She was by no means weak, but it was clear this was the first time she was realizing how tough this would be, as she was struggling by the end of them. We were next to each other doing the drills, and I offered her a reassuring smile, which seemed to help a bit. 

Most of the first day was just that on repeat, and as much as I had an advantage on stamina to start, even I was tired by the end.

The second day started with a patrol around the city, with Gunhead explaining some of the basics of how his work usually was, and the basic functioning of a hero agency focused on combat. It made sense, and the guy was jovial throughout, telling jokes and reassuring us that we’d get the hang of things quickly. 

As the Battle Hero was talking about something or the other, Ochaco leaned over a bit and whispered to me.

“He’s a lot friendlier than I imagined.”

I shrugged.

“Same, but hey, would you prefer him to be scowling all the time or something?”

Gunhead didn’t miss a beat as he had seemed to hear our little exchange.

“Public relations are important even for Battle Agencies, ya know. So is good hearing.”

Ochaco seemed like a deer in the headlights for a moment, before he chuckled.

“You might not be surprised to hear that that’s a pretty common reaction to me, but there’s not much I can do about it, aside from just do what I already do.”

My classmate sagged in relief and nodded at him, smiling.

Once we were back from patrol, it was more drills, then some one on one training. I was stuck doing more Basics while Ochaco went in first, and ended up staying there for about two or so hours.

Once she was out, it was my turn, and I did my best to stay relaxed as I walked into the more secluded part of the dojo. Gunhead waved to me, and I gave him a lazy smile in return.

“Alright, Mina Ashido, right?”

I nodded and rolled my shoulders, ready for whatever he was going to teach me. I saw the knife in the corner, so maybe it would involve that? 

Gunhead noticed where my eyes were trained and shook his head. 

“Oh, that's just from your friend's lesson. I like to teach based on strengths, and you two have definitely given me a lot to work with, considering the data I got from your teacher, as well as the sports festival.”

I flushed a little red at the mention of the sports festival.

“Eheheh. Not my best showing honestly.”

Gunhead just shook his head.

“I'd say it was a good showing for someone so young. You just have more to learn. No shame in mistakes.”

Damn this guy was nice.

I think he’s a new favorite.

Maybe. I still think I’m putting Mirko at the top of my list.

Why her?

I think we both know why.

Ohhh. Fair point.

I shook off my little conversation to focus on what Gunhead was saying.

“-mportant thing is you learn from your mistakes. And it's my job to help you start that process.”

I shrugged.

“Alright. Where do I start?”

Gunhead rolled his shoulders and took a stance across from me.

“From what information I received, your quirk is one that would be most useful in a defensive situation, so what I’m going to help you learn is a defensive style that’ll help with that.”

I nodded and took a slightly relaxed combat stance. Gunhead did the same.

The lesson began.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Dodge. Duck. Weave. Block. 

Block. Weave. Dodge. Duck.

I’d barely managed to avoid the last strike, before Gunhead caught me as I was straightening back up, knocking me to the ground. I grunted slightly. He hit just a little harder than Kirishima, but that made so much of a difference. 

It wasn’t all that hard to catch on to what Gunhead was trying to teach. I was a dancer, movement came naturally. I’d already utilized it in the few fights I’d already been in and in training with Kirishima, but Gunhead was…demanding. 

For such a big guy he moved deceptively fast, and he kept finding ways to keep me on the backfoot. I’d be able to dodge for a good amount of time, but he’d always manage to catch me before I could deliver more than a couple blows.

Still, it wasn’t hard to stay positive. I was still learning, I wasn’t supposed to get this on the first few hours, heck, not even by the time the internship ended. 

Mina wasn’t as positive.

How is he so fast!?

Training, probably.

But he’s gigantic!

I just mentally shrugged at her confusion, which just frustrated her more.

Gunhead offered a hand, and I grabbed it, pulling myself up. 

“You’re doing pretty well so far, but your biggest problem seems to be that you’re too defensive.”

I tilted my head in confusion. He promptly elaborated.

“Your defense is good for someone your age, but you’re too passive. You dodge too much and attack too little. You fight as if you’re trying to outlast your opponent, not take them down.”

He seems to think for a moment before he continues. 

“It's the reason I keep getting the better of you. If you wait for the perfect moment to strike, that moment won’t come fast enough most of the time.”

He chuckles.

“I know, I’m teaching you a defensive style, but in a fight, you can’t be just one thing. You can lean to one side or the other, but you have to have the other.”

He places a hand on my shoulder.

“Take some risks. It’s the only way you can win some fights.”

He sighs and then walks to the door.

“One on one’s done for the day. We’re doing some exercises, then a patrol.”

I nodded, then followed him to the larger dojo space, where everyone else is, including Ochaco. She perked up on seeing me, and waved, before one of the older trainees reminded her to keep at her exercises. She, completely red faced, returned to her exercises. 

I joined the rest of them, and shared a look with Ochaco. She seemed worried for some reason, but I just smiled at her, which seemed to relax her.

We both returned to our exercises with renewed confidence, and all the while, my head was swirling as I thought over Gunhead’s words. Too passive, huh?

He’s kinda right. I mean, the only time we took the initiative was during the Sports Festival, and even then…

We were kind of feeding off each other’s excitement. 

Huh. Guess there is something there.

My thoughts wouldn’t quiet themselves even as we finished up and headed out of the dojo.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ochaco seemed worried about something as we headed back to our rooms, fidgeting nervously, like she had something she really needed to do, and she kept looking at me, like I could help her. I figured it was probably harmless, so I waited, and sure enough, after an hour or so, as I left the room to go get some food, she jumped up from her bed and bounded up to me, expression nervous.

“Mina, wait! Can you help me with something?”

I raised an eyebrow, but went along with it.

“Sure. What’s up?”

She nodded and seemed to think for a moment before she spoke.

“Can you help me find Gunhead? I need to ask him about some of the techniques he taught me, but I was too nervous to ask before he left, and now I feel awkward without someone else there, so…”

I thought over her babbled request, then shrugged. Nothing better to do.

“Alright.”

The relief was palpable as she seemed to relax, and smiled at me gratefully.

“Thanks.”

With that, we started walking, looking for our Mentor. He wasn’t in the gym or the offices, and we ended up going through most of the agency before we ended up at the front desk, where we finally spotted Gunhead talking to a pretty normal looking lady, who was standing near said desk. I assumed she was the receptionist. She had green hair and solid black eyes, but other than that, she was quite normal.

I managed to catch the tail end of what they were talking about as Ochaco and I got near.

“-sure you’re okay, Mizuki? You can take the day off if you want.”

The woman, Mizuki I guess, smiled politely as she shook her head.

“I’m fine, sir. Just a little tired is all. I can last until my shift is over. You don’t have to worry.”

Gunhead sighed slightly.

“I can’t help it. You’ve been acting a little off recently. Just want to make sure you’re okay. You aren’t in any trouble, are you?”

Mizuki shook her head again, and gave Gunhead a kind smile. 

“I’m not. I’ve just been a bit under the weather. Nothing serious.”

Gunhead simply nodded. 

“Alright. You can let me know if you need anything. You’re a valuable employee, Mizuki. I’d hate to lose you.”

It was at that point Ochaco and I had made it closer, and both Mizuki and Gunhead turned, seeing us approach. Ochaco smiled and waved.

“Hi Gunhead!”

I nodded in greeting, but didn’t say anything. Gunhead turned as he heard Ochaco’s voice, and raised a hand.

“Uravity, Breakdown. There something you needed?” 

Ochaco nodded and began asking Gunhead a question about his techniques, which I tuned out, looking over at Mizuki. She smiled pleasantly at me and extended her hand. I raised an eyebrow, but shook it anyway. That wasn’t the usual greeting, but hey, people do different things sometimes.

“You’re Gunhead’s interns, right? I’m Mai Mizuki, I do some secretary work here. It’s very nice to meet you.”

I gave her a smile and with a quick turn to see that Ochaco was still talking with Gunhead about one of his martial arts moves, I turned back to Mizuki.

“Mina Ashido. Likewise.”

She nodded and began tapping her fingers on her nearby desk in a rhythmic pattern as she kept up her smile, which seemed to switch from generally cheerful to curious in an instant.

“Finding things okay here? I imagine it’s quite overwhelming for you.”

I shrugged.

“It’s not too bad. Gunhead’s a good teacher, and patrols aren’t that bad either.”

Mizuki giggled at that.

“I guess he’s as good a teacher as he is an employer. I’ve seen a lot of interns come through here, and they all leave with a good impression, if I recall correctly.”

“Yeah, he’s not really what I expected, but he said he gets that a lot.”

Mizuki nodded, looking a little sad.

“People assume a lot about others based on how they look. I suppose that’s not something you can help, even in as diverse a place as we are now.”

I chuckled.

“I guess you’re right there.”

If you look different, own it! That’s what I say!

Would’ve guessed you’d say that, “Alien Queen”.

That was a great name and you know it!  

Mizuki chatted with me for a few more minutes about some rather mundane things, before Gunhead headed back over to both of us, Ochaco in tow, the latter thanking him profusely, which he brushed off.

“Alright. If you ladies have nothing else to do, there are some patrols that could use some extra eyes. Aside from that, I think that should be it for the day, for you at least.”

He chuckles.

“Tomorrow you’ll be learning one of the most important aspects of combat heroics.”

He paused dramatically between his lines. Ochaco was hanging on his words, seeming really excited. I had a guess as to what he was going to say, so I braced.

“Paperwork.”

The excitement drained out of Ochaco’s face so rapidly it was like someone had told her we were going to spend the day watching paint dry. Gunhead chuckled even harder on seeing that.

“I know, I know. It’s the least glamorous part, but it’s also the most important. I’ll explain more tomorrow. For now, just head to meet up with some of the sidekicks, okay?”

She seemed to shake off her dread and nodded rapidly, a serious expression on her face. 

“You got it Gunhead Sir!”

We turned to go, but Mizuki called out.

“Excuse me, Uraraka, was it?”

Ochaco turned and looked at Mizuki, who was holding a small pin.

“I believe this is yours. I think you dropped it?”

Mizuki placed the pin in her hand. Ochaco looked it over, and shook her head.

“Sorry. This isn’t mine.”

Mizuki seemed surprised and then her face scrunched up in confusion, then changed, as she seemed apologetic.

“Oh, sorry. Could have sworn I saw you drop it. Guess my eyes were playing tricks on me. My brain must be more scrambled than I thought. Maybe Gunhead was right about taking that leave!”

She chuckled and Ochaco and I shared a look. I shrugged and we both walked away, waving goodbye to the perky woman.

It wasn’t long after we left that Ochaco spoke, seeming confused.

“I don’t wear pins. Why’d that lady think I dropped that.?”

I shrugged.

“She’s a desk person. Would you expect her to know us and our clothing after like, four days?”

Ochaco nodded, seeming in thought.

“I guess so. Just kind of weird, ya know?”

I greeted her with my third shrug in a short time. She seemed annoyed that I didn’t follow it up with anything. I let her complain, a small smile on my face.

She’s pretty cute when she’s like this.

Yeah, I hear that. If she wasn’t all crushing on Izuku I would totally be going for it. 

Eh, she may be into Izuku, but he doesn’t strike me as a good fit for her.

WHAT.

Calm down. Just think he might be more on the side of guys, ya know? Have you seen how he blushes at Todoroki? And don’t even get me started on Bakugou. The only reason that boy tolerates our favorite angry boi has to be a crush the size of Japan.

…Huh.

I think you get it.

How have I not seen this before!? I’m a romance expert.

Are you?

Don’t you start!

I chuckled to myself as the rant  continued for a good ten minutes, persisting through meeting the sidekicks and part of the patrol.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I couldn’t say what woke me up later that night. Maybe it was a bit of restlessness, or maybe Gunhead’s words were still unsettling me. I don’t really know.

What does matter? What I saw when I left our room.

It wasn’t the first time I’d even left in the middle of the night. Sometimes nature calls and you have to answer. But it was the only time something actually happened to make me seek out other areas of the place.

It was soft. Tapping. Like that of a keyboard. I almost didn’t catch it, but for some reason, I just couldn’t ignore it once I had. 

It got louder as I followed the trail of the sound toward the offices, before I found an open door, and inside, lit by the faint light of a computer, was…

Ochaco!

What’s she doing up?

My friend was hunched over and tapping at the keyboard on said computer, a look of concentration on her face that seemed very unlike her.

I entered quietly, hardly making a sound, before I said anything.

“Ochaco?”

She jumped and her head snapped toward me at speeds I didn’t know were physically possible, a look of shock and embarrassment on her face.

“Mina? What are you doing awake?”

I just raised an eyebrow at her.

“I could ask you the same question.”

Ochaco laughed, seemingly nervous, and leaned on the desk, her right hand beginning to tap rhythmically on the desk as she looked at me. That just made things all the weirder.

“Well, I kind of couldn’t sleep for a bit, and then I decided to find the bathroom, and got lost, and then I got curious about the computers in this place, and well…”

She rubbed the back of her head, seeming really embarrassed. I kept my eyebrow raised.

Something isn’t right here.  

Was thinking the same thing.

“So what were you looking up? You seemed pretty into it when I saw you tapping away.”

Ochaco just kept smiling and shrugged.

“Oh, you know, catching up on some news. Wanted to make sure things were still okay while we were over here, ya know?”

Yeah there was something wrong here. How to put it, though?

Ask her a personal question?

Worth a shot.

I nodded at her explanation and then…

“I get it. Have to make sure your parent's restaurant is doing okay, right?”

She nodded quickly.

“Yeah, you know how hard that kind of thing can be, so-”

I cut her off with a punch to the face, whoever this was wearing Ochaco’s face stumbling back, crying out in pain. Is Toga up to something?

‘Ochaco’ looked shocked.

“Mina! What was that for?”

I just smirked.

“Ochaco’s parents don’t own a restaurant. Now who are you, and why are you wearing my friend’s face?”

Just like that, the imposter’s face changed. The shock vanished, and their face showed…nothing. It was like I was looking at a mannequin with the face of my friend.

“Hm. I thought I’d been doing a decent job of imitating her. Perhaps I should have done my research better. Oh well.”

They tilted their head, eyes seeming to be curious, though it was hard to tell any emotion from them.

“Oh well. I’ve nearly accomplished my mission anyways. Perhaps…there is an opportunity here.”

I took a fighting stance, glaring at the imposter. They did the same, posture completely unlike Ochaco’s. It was perfect.

Well…Gunhead did say I needed to take more risks.

The Imposter easily caught my fist, before blindsiding me with one of their own, making me stumble back. They followed up with another punch I barely dodged, then a roundhouse kick that caught me square across the chest, knocking me to the ground. I struggled to my feet, and they just stared at me.

Not taunts. Not even cracking a smile. It was disturbing. 

“Your skill at fighting is decent for someone of your age.”

Not a single change in their voice. They were starting to wig me out something fierce. I just glared at them, and aimed a kick of my own square at their chest. Much as I would have liked to aim a jet of acid at them, I didn’t want to damage Gunhead’s office. Hopefully someone would hear the fight and come in, though…I’d hate for someone to think Ochaco was a villain. She didn’t need that kind of mark on her just starting.

They easily dodged my kick and countered with another of their own, that I dodged, aiming a right cross at their head, which they took easily, their head snapped right before they simply continued with another punch that I blocked, not a single indication of pain.

The heck is with them? No emotion, not a single indicator of pain…are they even human?

I backed up after blocking their punch, the imposter tilting their head, looking…curious? I couldn’t be sure, considering their face was still stone.

“Hmm. Perhaps my choice of form is making you hesitant. That must be why you aren’t showing me what you can really do.”

And with that, they changed. 

It’s hard to describe how they changed. It wasn’t like a physical, all the body parts shrink and grow sort of thing. It wasn’t exactly like how Toga would shift either. More like their image distorted for a moment, before it snapped back, and they were different.

And I was staring at myself.

Is that really what I look like? Damn.

The imposter nodded to themself and took a stance again.

“Perhaps this form is more to your liking. I believe there is a phrase that would fit here. Something about being your own worst enemy?”

I could have sworn that that was supposed to be a joke, but their tone was so flat I couldn’t tell. I stepped backwards but then shook my head. I had to get back in the game. Hopefully someone had woken up by now. Maybe one of the sidekicks who stayed here.

They went on the attack this time, charging and attempting a leg sweep that I jumped to avoid, before kicking out at their face, still positioned low. They just barely ducked my kick, my foot brushing their nose, and they rolled backwards, body contorting in ways that really should not have been comfortable at all. I could have sworn I heard a crack as they did so, so they had to have broken something, but they seemed completely at ease.

I tried not to let that faze me as I rushed them, an uppercut aiming at their chin. They blocked it and in one smooth move, grabbed my arm with both hands and yanked hard.

I heard a pop, and then my arm exploded with pain, before a punch was delivered to my face,blood spraying out of my nose with another sickening crack.

I landed hard on the ground, barely managing not to scream, before I staggered to my feet. I wasn’t losing to whoever this was. They just stared, eyes flashing with curiosity.

“I dislocated your shoulder and broke your nose. By all rights you should be down on the ground. Impressive.”

I didn’t say anything, fighting to stay standing as dark spots were appearing in my vision.

I charged. I didn’t have much of a plan, I just knew I had to take out this villain. Whatever they were here for could not be good.

“Unfortunately, I think I am done humoring you.”

They dodged my desperate punch with my good arm and reached out, hand touching my stomach, before their form distorted again, and they were wearing Ochaco’s face again. I barely had a second to realize what that meant, before my feet left the ground, and I was hitting the ceiling with a grunt.

They walked over to the computer, took a small device that had been plugged into the computer out, and walked to the doorway, before they turned to look at me.

“Best of luck Mina Ashido.”

And then they were gone, footsteps walking quietly down the hallway before from the sound of it they hit something large, destroying it. There was a flurry of other sounds and shouting as more and more footsteps could be heard, but I was starting to black out. 

The zero gravity wore off about five minutes later as I listened to people shouting and running around frantically.

I hit the ground hard, landing on the shoulder the imposter had wrenched, and this time I screamed in pain.

I registered a flurry of footsteps and a concerned face before I passed out.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The next time I woke up, I was in the hospital. 

A nurse noticed I was awake and rushed out to alert someone, and a doctor came in, telling me what I knew already. Broken nose, dislocated shoulder, bruising all over my body. Apparently I had been passed out long enough to really worry people too. It was nearly three now. And it took nearly another half an hour as they fitted me with a sling and such. I wouldn’t have to stay the day, but the doctor had a few things to make sure of before I could leave.

That jerk! Beating us up and wearing our face! We’re definitely finding them and having a rematch!

Maybe not hunt them down, but if we get the chance…

Glad we agree!

The first people aside from doctors and nurses that I saw were Ochaco and Gunhead, both entering soon after the doctor left, Ochaco rushing over, seeming worried but glad I was awake. 

“Mina! Are you okay?”

I nodded, wincing a bit. Still sore.

“I’m as good as I can be, considering, you know…”

I gestured with my arm in the sling, hissing a little as a jolt of pain went down my arm from my shoulder. Gunhead sighed, and I looked him over, hero uniform on, though his mask was off. His face wasn’t exactly pretty, looking kinda beat up, nose crooked and a scar across his right cheek. He grimaced at me.

“Geez. You should try not to move that arm. A dislocated shoulder hurts like hel-ck. It hurts like heck. I would know.”

I chuckled, despite the situation.

“Sorry for worrying you. Guess you want my explanation?”

He nodded, face serious, Ochaco still looking worried.

I sighed and began.

“Well, it started when I woke up to go to the bathroom…”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Once I’d finished, Gunhead seemed even more serious. He was silent for a moment. Ochaco looked like she was feeling guilty, almost about to cry.

“Mina-”

“Nope. Don’t start. It wasn’t your fault Ochaco.”

“But-”

“Would you be at fault if Monoma hurt someone when he copied your quirk?”

“Well, no…”

“Exactly.”

We were both silent after that, but not for long, as Gunhead coughed politely.

“Miss Ashido, I think you got really unlucky. What you just described matches a villain currently on the loose.”

I grimaced. I’d figured that part out.

“Do you know who they are?”

Gunhead made a ‘sort of’ motion with his hand,frowning.

“We’ve given them a name, but as for identity? We have not a clue.”

He sighed.

“Normally, I wouldn’t be allowed to share the information on an open case like this, but since you appear to have been personally injured, I argued you should at least get a name.”

He sat down in a nearby chair.

“The villain doesn’t go by any name, but people have taken to calling them ‘The Shell’. Something about how blank their face is, like a person, but without anything that makes you human. Hollow.”

That…made sense. The way they acted, it was like looking at a mannequin that could move and talk.

“They can copy people’s appearances and their quirk, making them dangerous, and they’ve been using it to frame heroes for crimes. I’m not sure why they decided to steal from me, but you got caught in whatever their scheme is. I’m sorry.”

He bowed his head, seeming ashamed.

I…wasn’t sure what to say. I felt Mina mentally nudge me to do something, but I could tell even she didn’t know how you responded to that.

“There’s…no reason for you to apologize, sir. It wasn’t your fault.”

He shook his head and chuckled bitterly.

“Thanks for trying, kid. Anyways, once you’re discharged from the hospital, your internship’s been suspended. Sorry, but you need to heal. Your teacher’s already been informed, so good luck with that.”

Damn couldn’t even make it to day six. I sighed.

“I get it. Thanks for everything you already taught me, Gunhead sir.”

He nodded.

“You have another internship next year, and I’d be happy to have you, so keep that mind.”

He smiled. 

I did my best to smile back.

Ochaco looked at me sadly as they left. 

It wasn’t long after that I was discharged, and headed back to the Gunhead Agency to collect my things. 

I was on the train home an hour later, still feeling a bit like crap. 

It could be worse?

‘I guess’

Mina huffed, but I could tell she was just as bummed as I was.

As I was on my way home, to wait out the next two days, there was a thought that crossed my mind.

How was Mr. Aizawa going to react to this?  

Chapter Text

I would like to say things changed massively as a result of Anne and I’s decision to join the league, and the unveiling of our two friends occupying the bodies of villains (especially since one of them seemed much further along in the mental merger than the rest of us), but I would be lying.

Sure, visiting Kamino twice a week to train and get to know our fellow Leaguers was new, but other than that, things didn’t change much. 

School was still a bitch.

Internships had given me a brief reprieve from the hell that was high school classes, but now we were back in it. 

And I was drowning.

I’m not sure how surprised I should be that I would struggle, I had barely passed high school last time, but add onto that hero training and other responsibilities, it made for a bad combination.

I was barely keeping up a passing grade, Anne being my only real anchor here. He had always been smart, so he helped me as much as he could.

Didn’t help me move up from sixteenth in the class though. It was enough to keep me from sinking further. 

Mina certainly wasn’t much help. She had never been an academic student, and her interjections were less than useful.

At the very least, final exams were coming up, and those were more practical, though if things were to go as I thought they would, that would not be a good time.

I contemplated that as I looked at a math worksheet, and chewed on the end of my pencil anxiously.

Whoever invented algebra was going to pay one day when I figured out who they were.

“That worksheet must be really interesting. You’ve been staring at it for like a minute.”

I looked up at Anne, who was giving me a smirk, looking like he had already finished said worksheet while I was worrying over other things.

I glared at him and he kept his grin.

“Aren’t you supposed to be helping me?”

He just shook his head.

“You won’t learn as well if I just tell you the answers.”

I groaned and planted my forehead firmly onto the table.

We had both decided to do homework together after school, and Anne had offered his place, since with his mom being out, it would be a good place to get work done and discuss more…private things.

But so far we had just done homework, having flown through the english and social studies easily enough only to trip and fall face first over the massive rock that was our math homework.

I grumbled and picked up the pencil again and set to work.

It was another fifteen minutes before I put it down and let out a massive sigh of relief.

“It’s over…”

Anne just gave me a grin.

“Having fun being back in school?”

I reached across the table to swipe at the back of his head but dodged swiftly.

“Nice try.”

I chuckled a little and then sat back.

“You know my answer. Should be pretty obvious.”

He shrugged.

“Eh. Guess so. What were you worrying about earlier?”

I sat back and let out a breath.

“Finals. If things go like they did, then…”

Anne finished for me.

“You’re up against Nezu.”

I nodded gravely.

“I am so dead.”

Anne nodded back, just as gravely.

“My condolences.”

I sighed forlornly.

“At least if I do well enough, I’ll probably still posthumously pass.”

Can you please not talk so certainly about dying?!

 ¯_ (ツ)_ ¯

Since when could you mentally shrug like that?!

Dunno.

“In all seriousness, you got a strategy?”

I thought for a moment.

“Yeah.”

Anne arched an eyebrow. 

“AnD what is that?”

I grinned.

“Adapt.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

While I was reasonably confident when it came to the practical final exam, it didn’t hurt to get some extra help in the academics department.

That was how I found myself sitting at Momo’s frankly massive dining room table, along with almost the entire class.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure how it had gotten to this point. It seemed like one thing had lead to another, from Momo inviting Kaminari and I along with a few others, to Kaminari roping in Jirou, then Ojiro, and Toru had to come if Ojiro was, which in turn got Sato, who then invited Tokoyami, who was followed by Shoji, and it snowballed. 

The only ones who weren’t there were Midoriya and his small friend group, which now included Todoroki, and Anne, who said something about a ‘favor’ for his mentor from the internship.

Even Bakugou was there, grumbling at the edge of the table about ‘extras’, while Kirishima seemed to be doing his best to get the prickly porcupine to drop the sour mood. 

I was surprised he’d shown up, but then, I guess even he couldn’t resist Kiri’s charms.

I looked back to my sheet as Momo was going on about one of the subjects we were here to study, and sighed.

She was clearly enthusiastic about it too, and yet it still didn’t really click.

I looked up as Tsu sat down next to me.

“I saw you were having some trouble, kero. Need some help?”

I nodded eagerly.

“Yes please. Mom’s doing her best but…it just isn’t like, clicking, ya know?”

Tsu nodded sagely and I set down my sheet. She looked it over for a moment before pointing to one of the problems. 

“You used the wrong formula here, Kero. That’s the one for the area of triangles.”

I leaned closer, then looked at my notes, then a bit of sweat dripped down my forehead as I realized why I’d been confused.

“Oh, yeah. I…think I forgot to label which one was which.”

Tsu didn’t say anything, just nodded, not judging me, which I was thankful for.

“The formula for circles is Pi times Radius Squared. Try it with that one, Kero.”

I nodded back and began to write, Tsu coaching me through the problems, seeming to have come here to tutor rather than be tutored, I guessed.

Eventually, I laid back and sighed.

“I think I get it now. Thanks Tsu.”

Tsu just shrugged.

“Not a problem Kero. I only came because it seemed like a couple of you could use the help.”

She gave a pointed look over to Kaminari, who was slumped over, head in his hands, as Jirou seemed to be trying (and failing) to explain one of the problems.

I chuckled.

“Not sure if I should be flattered you decided to help, or a bit put out you could tell I needed it.”

Tsu just shrugged once more in liu of a response, and I flipped through my notes, pointing to one of the other bits I’d been struggling with.

“So, think you could help me with this part too?”

She nodded, and began to say something, when very suddenly, someone plopped down in the chair next to me.

“Saw you guys over here. You mind if I get in on this little help session?”

I looked over to see Sero giving me a smile, and shrugged.

“Sure, you mind, Tsu?”

She shook her head.

“Nope, Kero.”

He sighed in relief.

“Thanks. I gotta admit, this stuff’s complicated. Feel like my head’s gonna explode.”

I huffed a laugh.

“Don’t I know that feeling…”

He chuckled as he looked down and picked his pencil up.

“Glad someone else seems to be having trouble. Swear we have such a concentration of huge brains in here I was starting to feel pretty inadequate.”

I nodded and Tsu proceeded to point out where we’d been going wrong, both of us nodding as we filled it in.

Tsu was honestly a pretty good teacher. To be honest, with her level head and patience she might make a good teacher at UA when we were all older.

 When we were all older, huh? Now that was thought. Spending more time in this body than I did in my original one. Or did I still think of it like that?

I shook my head and got back to my math. Now was not the time to ponder those kinds of questions.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

This was it.

It had been an exhausting few days as we took our finals, all with the practicals hanging over our heads

But still, I had to admit, as we lined up in front of UA’s staff, I was feeling less nervous now than I had going into the written exams, despite my impending death at the hands of UA’s principal..

Why do you keep acting as if we’re going to die?! It’s really scaring me!

Have you ever met Nezu?

I think? He was at the USJ.

And you still don’t get why I think we’re going to die.

No?

You’ll see…

That’s just scaring me more!

I ignored Mina’s terror as Eraserhead began speaking, saying we likely had an idea as to what our final exam was. 

It had been talked about a few times at lunch, Denki saying he’d asked about it to some of the older students, and Anne and I had just given each other knowing looks as he’d excitedly told most of the class about it. It was no surprise that now Denki was saying it would be robots.

That was swiftly crushed by Nezu, who popped out of Aizawa’s Scarf, declaring we were the first for the new practical finals, announcing the basic rules, which were as I knew them; handcuff the teacher or escape in thirty minutes.

We were then paired up, as our opponents were revealed, Denki seeming to regain his confidence as Nezu revealed himself to be ours. I couldn’t help the slightly dark chuckle that escaped. He had no idea what we were in for, though I was going to do my best to make sure we got through this.

Anne was paired with Sero against Midnight, as I suspected. Midnight may not have been a hard counter to Shinso’s Quirk like she would have been to Mineta, but considering every other student had already been assigned, she was good enough in regards to it. He gave me a wink as they were handed their cuffs, which I returned, a wish of good luck. He seemed confident, but it was going to be hard for him, going up against an opponent who knew how to avoid his best weapon.

Everyone else was the same, including Midoriya and Bakugo vs All Might. Oh to be a fly on the wall for that one. But I had my own battle to fight.

Denki was giving me a curious look as we boarded the bus, sitting together, like most of the other groups, aside from Midoriya and Bakugo.

“You’ve been acting weird Mina. Are you really worried? He’s so small!”

I shook my head.

“If he was really weak, would he be the principal of UA? Something tells me he’s got something up his sleeve. Like maybe he’s super smart or can predict what we’re going to do or something.”

He thought about it for a moment.

“Guess you’re right. So what do we do?”

I shrugged and leaned back.

“Best I have is we wait to see what he’s gonna throw at us and then adapt.”

He nodded.

“Guess that makes sense. I’ve never been a plans guy anyways. Best to wing it, ya know?”

I shook my head and chuckled.

“I know, Denki.”

I fiddled with the set of cuffs we had, doubtful they’d be used, since we weren’t likely to even get close to Nezu.

Still, maybe if we needed to, we could try and locate him. He was likely to be in a central location, though not likely to be in the exact center.

Spending our entire time trying to escape would be the things he expected, likely the one we’d go for once he’d start dropping pieces of concrete on our heads. Then he’d slowly block off our exits, likely with stone too big to burn through without overuse of my acid.

I turned to Kaminari and gave him a smile. He seemed perturbed by that.

“You have a new plan, Mina?”

I nodded.

“Yeah, but you’re gonna have to trust me.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The cityscape was huge. That was for certain.

And it was quiet as the voice sounded to begin our test. Kaminari seemed confused.

“So, how are we even supposed to find him?”

I sighed.

“Not sure, but I feel like he’ll probably give us some kind of indicator. They wouldn’t make it impossible to pass, right?”

That was when there was a crash as debris began to rain.

Kaminari was screaming and frantically dodging and I was too for a moment, before I found a short moment. I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. Stay calm. He wants you to panic, to stop thinking.

I dodged to the right to avoid some rubble, and began to run alongside Kaminari.

“Mina, what the crap is happening?!”

“I don’t know, but Nezu’s gotta be behind it!”

We were immediately blocked in our straight path by a large amount of rubble, and there was a brief lull.

I thought for a moment. What direction had the debris been coming from?

It had been hard to tell, but it had followed us, that was for certain, and it had started behind us. 

I wasn’t sure if that told us anything, but I turned to Denki.

“We should head for the center. He’s the most likely to be there.”

He shrugged and by that time rubble began falling again.

I ran as fast as I could, all the while making sure Denki was still following me.

We were blocked on our way by some rubble, but I burned through it as fast as I could, my acid the strongest I ever recalled it being. It even stung me a little, but I kept going.

It took us maybe five minutes of non stop running before we spotted something. Nezu’s wrecking ball, practically towering over the rest of the cityscape, a wonder we hadn’t seen it before, though as its arm extended and swung, creating more debris we had to dodge, I didn’t dwell long on that thought, especially since my hands were starting to sting pretty badly from the strength and overuse of my acid. We needed to do this fast.

“We found him!”

“Yep, but I think now’s the hard part!”

Denki barely had the time to utter a confused “Huh?” before I pulled him and myself down to avoid the wrecking ball itself, having swung right above us.

I pulled him with me as I rolled to avoid the rubble created as the wrecking ball crashed into the wall to our side, before quickly standing up.

“We’re already close, we need to go for it!”

“I hear ya! Just tell me when, and I’ll go off!”

I smiled at Denki, and he returned it and we rushed toward the towering structure.

We nodded at each other and split, him running one way and me going straight toward the tower, creating an acid slide I used to get out of the way of the next few debris blasts and swings of the wrecking ball.

I could hear Nezu cackling from down here, so the principal clearly still wasn’t worried, though that in itself wasn’t exactly unusual. He’d probably calculated almost every scenario as soon as we started heading toward him. He hadn’t even changed his pattern as we got closer either, probably not to give it away. We’d gotten lucky by guessing where he’d be, even if it was obvious.

I was nearly at the bottom of the thing, and I didn’t see a ladder.

No way to climb to him, so I’d have to bring him down.

I sprayed out some acid at one of the struts of thing, and it began eating through the metal slowly, but I just barely managed to duck as a blast of debris flew past, and a yelp confirmed he’d been targeting Denki with that swing, the debris just hitting me as a byproduct, one he’d probably planned.

I looked over, and I saw Denki just barely leap back from the wrecking ball, before our eyes connected, and he gave me a thumbs up, which I returned.

I sprayed out more acid to cover another of the struts, the metal beginning to creak. 

I looked back, and it seemed Nezu was focused on Kaminari, which wasn’t hard to see. I was right under him, and he was more in the open, and reacting more.

Nezu may have been smart, but even being smart doesn’t stop you from getting tunnel vision, especially when you were maniacally laughing and enjoying some tea as you inflicted panic on someone.

It seemed he noticed as I sprayed the third pillar, and the giant machine began to tilt, the creaking of metal loud.

I ran quickly, hoping not to be in the blast radius as the thing fell, jumping and rolling as with a loud crash, the machine fell.

The dust kicked up was blinding, but I heard Denki;’s voice and managed to find him.

“Mina, are you okay?”

“Yeah!”

We were both dusty as we looked around.

“So, you think Nezu’s okay?”

I nodded.

“I doubt he’d not put safety precautions in case that thing fell apart.”

“Right you are!”

Both our heads snapped to the source of the cheerful, high voice, which was revealed as Nezu emerged, completely unscathed.

We both sweatdropped. Great, this wasn’t over yet, was it?

Nezu laughed, and clapped his hands together.

“I have to say, you both exceeded my expectations. The way you kept cool heads in such a situation is impressive for students so young.”

He walked up to us, and nodded.

“Good job. Both of you.”

I nodded, smiling as Denki and I fistbumped.

“Now then, I believe you pass. After all, I am handcuffed, am I not?”

We both looked back to see Nezu wearing one of our sets of handcuffs around one of his wrists, smiling knowingly.

Neither of us had noticed him do that. 

He was definitely still terrifying.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It wasn’t long after we had passed that most of the class had gathered together, and it was easy to tell who had passed and who had failed, just from their faces.

The only frowning ones appeared to be Kirishima and Sato, looking beat up too. So nothing much had changed there. I made sure to give Kiri a pat on the shoulder as I passed, him giving me a ‘I’m bummed but I don’t want to show it’ smile.

Anne and Sero were both smirking at each other, seeming pretty psyched about what had happened in their test. I just gave them a smile as I approached.

“So I take it you guys passed?”

Sero nodded.

“Heck yeah we did! We showed Miss Midnight a thing or two!”

Anne smirked and shrugged.

“Might wanna put that another way. Sounds like a very different kind of lesson happened.”

Sero turned a bit red at that and coughed before returning to normal.

“But yeah. We passed.”

I raised an eyebrow at Anne, and he just returned it with an eyebrow raise of his own.

“Must be quite the story.”

Anne chuckled.

“You have no idea.” 

Chapter Text

To say I was confident going into the final exams would be a bit of an over exaggeration.

It would be more apt to say I was sure I could pull something clever enough that I’d pass them.  

The written finals? Easy. I’d been through highschool once already, so remembering the material to pass those was easy enough. Jake wasn’t as lucky as I was, but hey, at the very least she wasn't dead last in terms of academics. 

The practicals? I wasn’t as sure about them. Sure, I was confident in my abilities, but this thing was going to be rough, considering what Jake had told me about them (I’d only seen the anime up to the sports festival, so sue me) I was in for it.

If there weren’t any deviations, I’d be against a teacher meant to challenge me on my greatest weaknesses, likely Midnight, if what she said was true.

I’d be fighting someone who knew all my quirk’s tricks, meaning there was little to no chance of Brainwash coming through.

I was really starting to get annoyed by my quirk’s limitations.

Sorry for that.

No need for sarcasm, sheesh.

That meant this test would be reliant on me being able to pull as many tricks as I could, along with my partner.

So confidence was off the table. Still, I was going to try my hardest. And fake being confident, hoping it would eventually trick my brain into actually being confident. 

Clever.

You’re kind of an ass, you know that?

Takes one to know one.

…Touche

Accordingly to my thoughts, I faked a smirk as we lined up and received our assignments.

Me and Sero, vs…. Midnight. I closed my eyes and suppressed the sigh that I wanted to let out. Looked like Jake was right. Damnit.

Still, I kept the smirk up, and winked at Jake when we made eye contact. Didn’t want her to know that I was having doubts.

Sero seemed surprised that I was his partner, but he gave me his usual more laidback smile.

“So, got a plan? You always seem like you do.”

I shrugged at him.

“I knew as much as you do. I have ideas but no plan. You’ll be the only one who can use his quirk effectively.”

He nodded as realization crept across his face

“Right, ‘cause Midnight knows how your quirk works, so she won’t fall for it.”

He chuckled.

“Guess that would be too easy, huh?”

I shake my head.

“Just our luck, huh?”

Sero shrugged, smiling.

“Guess we’ll just have to wing it.”

I nodded, sighing. Winging it was more Jake’s thing. But if I had no other choice, I would improvise.

“Maybe we could make a trap for her with your tape?”

Sero rubbed his chin, seeming to think.

“Maybe, and maybe you could use that voice mimic to get her to respond?”

I nodded. That was a good point, but it would be unlikely for her to fall for it instantly.

“Is that helmet of yours sealed? Like does it have an air filter?”

Sero kept thinking.

“I…think? I didn’t specify, but I guess they might’ve put it in anyways.”

I nodded.

“You might be the only one of us who can get close, then. I don’t have a gas mask or anything.”

And my persona chords weren’t air tight. They couldn’t be while still being functional.

Sero just nodded as his visor slipped down. I looked him over.

“Ya know, I don’t think I’ve said this, but that helmet’s pretty great.”

I could practically see Sero beaming under his visor.

“I know, right? It’s sick!”

I shrugged.

“Yep. Too bad you’ve got those goofy shoulder pads, though.”

“Hey!”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Looking our arena over, yeah this was definitely picked with Sero in mind.

Small rocky hills, nothing too big, meaning he had nothing to latch onto with his tape. Not a problem for me, but he was definitely going to be struggling.

The buzzer had sounded but it had been nearly a minute, and no sign of Midnight.

I stayed near Sero, and constantly scanned the area. I didn’t trust this.

“Man, where is she? Isn’t this supposed to be a fight?”

I nodded.

“She might be trying to sneak up on us. Catch us by surprise. That way she can take us out in one fell swoop.”

“Man, that’s kinda-”

I yanked Sero back, dodging a whip strike, and began to move.

Midnight had been taking the stealthy approach at first, in the time I hadn’t been looking behind Sero she’d nearly gotten close enough to knock us both out.

“She was going for stealth. We can’t let her get close!”

“Yeah, okay. Have a plan yet?”

“Still thinking. Let’s focus on running for now!”

So we ran, unfortunately a lot slower than if Sero had been able to swing like Spiderman.

Who’s that?

Holy crap you guys don’t have marvel? Wait, that's not important right now!

I shook my head furiously to get my focus back.

Midnight was fast, and so we just barely stayed ahead of her. To be honest, we likely had a pretty good chance of making it to the escape gate if we could just slow her down.

Sero shot a stream of tape at her, trying to grab her whip, which she just used to cut said tape and keep walking, all the while her expression caught in a malicious grin. It was pretty disconcerting.

Sero swore under his breath.

“She just keeps coming!”

I nodded, before taking one of my flashbangs and tossing it.

“Don’t look behind you.”

I heard a startled cry ring out along with a loud bang, meaning my ploy had worked. I grabbed Sero’s hand and dragged him fast away from the crazy lady who happened to be our teacher.

We eventually crouched behind a rock, and looked at each other. To be honest, I was kind of at a loss. What were we supposed to do? She wouldn’t respond to my voice, and if Sero's voice came without him there, she might suspect it was me. How would I…

A lightbulb flashed in my head, and I smirked at Sero. He seemed to realize what that meant, and smiled back.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I made sure I was firmly behind the rock as Sero walked out and stood, obviously in Midnight’s path.

I frantically adjusted my persona chords, hoping I’d set them right. If they were off this whole plan would fall through.

I heard Midnight chuckle, and her steps getting closer.

“Thinking you can distract me darling? That’s quite a basic strategy for your partner.”

Sero’s voice came next, accompanied by the whiz of his tape, likely trying to bind Midnight’s arm.

“Hey, I’m a simple guy.”

I risked a peak, and saw Sero jump away from Midnight’s whip, before he threw out another stream of tape, which she easily dismissed, continuing toward him.

“Ah, you’ll need to be better than that, sweetie. You’re not proving to be very entertaining. Why not go back to running? It’s so much more…stimulating than this.”

“Geez. Laying it on kinda thick, aren’t you Miss Midnight?”

She laughed as she struck out at Sero with her whip, and he countered with a quick stream of tape as he dodged.

This time, it wrapped right around her whip, sticking, and before she could try to do anything about that, he yanked, taking the weapon out of her hand, which I took as my que to launch my first part of this little plan.

Jumping up from my hiding place, which Sero had lured Midnight past as they fought, I launched all of my remaining flashbangs, with a shout of “Now, Shinso!”, throwing my voice as best I could.

I ducked down, just in time to see the shocked look on Midnight’s face and Sero turning away.

A loud series of bangs rang out across the arena, and I could hear Midnight stumble back with a cry, after which I emerged, and seeing as she was still blinded, I spoke.

“Ah crap, I think we overdid it! Are you okay Miss Midnight.”

Her hand came up to rub her eyes and she unwittingly sealed her fate.

“Concerned for your teacher? How-”

She had just a moment of sight to see who she’d just replied to before I activated my quirk, and she froze in place.

Sero gave a cheer and raced over to slap a pair of handcuffs on her.

Promptly after they were on, I released my hold, and Midnight’s face went from confused, to a bit shocked, to an immediate smile.

“Hmm. An interesting trick. Good job boys.”

Sero reached his hand out for a high five, and I returned it. I hoped Mina’s went just as well.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Two out of twenty failed, which I’d say was a pretty good record for our first set of finals.

Kirishima was pretty put out by his failure, but Mina managed to cheer him up, though there was only so much she could do when he thought he wasn’t going to be coming with us on our class trip. 

Still, he was never one to stay down for long, and by the time we gathered to go to the mall, he seemed in better spirits.

“Hey, Mina, come on! There’s a place I wanna check out!”

“Slow down Eijiro! We have to meet up with everyone first!”

I chuckled as we made our way to the main plaza. I was definitely glad Mina’d invited me to come with her, Kirishima, and Kaminari to the mall. It was already proving entertaining. 

“Be careful, Kiri. Might pull her arm off.”

He nodded a little embarrassed as he let it go.

“Sorry. Just some workout stuff I wanted to check out.”

Mina shrugged.

“You’re good. I have a few things I wanna find too.”

She looked over to Kaminari, who was clearly distracted ogling any girl he saw.

“Though I think Denki might have already found what he was looking for.”

Said boy seemed to realize what he was doing and went a little pink.

“Don’t mind me. Was just appreciating the crowd.”

We all just chuckled.

“Never change, Kami.”

It only took another minute or two to locate the rest of the group, and another two to split up, to which I found myself sticking around for a bit, Jake immediately being dragged off by Kirishima with Kaminari following.

It was just in time to see a shock of blonde hair intercept Uraraka and start excitedly moving away with her.

I smirked in amusement and headed in that direction. Might as well make it easier to be seen with her in public later.

I was able to close the distance relatively fast, since I was taller than both of them, and had longer legs, and soon enough, I heard what they were talking about.

“-proud of you! I mean, you passed!”

“It’s not that big of a deal, Himiko. I mean, almost everyone passed.”

“Still, I’m sure you were great!”

Uraraka just laughed, and I cleared my throat loudly as I came up behind them.

“Ahem…What's up Uraraka?”

My classmate seemed pretty startled by me, spinning around so fast I thought she’d get whiplash. Evan turned too, giving me a knowing smile.

“O-oh, hi Shinso! I’m you what about fine? Wait I mean-”

I cut her off with a laugh.

“No need to freak out. Who’s your friend here?”

Evan took my hand and cheerfully shook.

“Himiko Toga! You’re one of Ochaco’s classmates, right? Nice to meet you!”

I nodded at her.

“Hitoshi Shinso. Likewise. You must be the friend Uraraka was talking to Mina about.”

Evan giggled.

“Hope she was saying good things about me.”

I nodded.

“Lots of good things. In fact it seemed as if she had a -”

I was immediately cut off as Uraraka began to talk loudly, her face a dusting of pink.

“Hey look at that! That store seems cool! Why don’t we go over there?”

I shrugged and nodded.

“Lead the way. I got nothing better to do than to tag along and tease you.”

.Uraraka sputtered as we walked, but she managed to regain her composure, and began to talk again.

“We were just talking about our finals. Himiko ws excited I’d passed. I was just telling her it wasn’t a big deal.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Pretty sure dropkicking Thirteen, near single handedly winning your fight is a big deal.”

Evan gasped.

“Is that true?”

Uraraka laughed.

“I guess you could call it that. It really isn’t that impressive. It was more of an accident.”

She turned to look at me.

“What about you, Shinso? I saw part of your match. You were pretty impressive too.”

I shrugged.

“It wasn’t much. Just some trickery. You gotta use every resource you can with a quirk like mine.”

Evan nodded with a knowing look on her face.

“I get that. My quirk isn’t really useful in direct stuff either.”

Uraraka seemed curious.

“You…don’t talk about your quirk that much Himiko. Do you mind telling me what it is?”

Evan laughed and just shook her head.

“Maybe one day. That’s a bit heavy for mall talk, dontcha think?”

Uraraka frowned, seemingly wanting to ask more, but before she could Evan perked up and pointed over at one of the stores.

“Ooh! Let’s check that one out!”

She grabbed Uraraka’s arm and practically dragged the girl over to it, with me chuckling to myself as I followed behind. 

Kinda a heavy handed way to distract someone, but if it works, it works.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I ended up following Evan and Uraraka around for most of it, mostly just trying not to laugh at how obvious Evan’s crush was. It was like every time Uraraka seemed excited or happy, she was just giving the girl a look that said ‘I am so helplessly attracted to you’

Is that what it’s like?

What, never had it happen?

No. Never. I didn’t ever really have much interest in that kind of thing. 

Huh. Now that you mention it, neither have I, even when I was dating Jake. It was kind of a big reason we decided to end things… Aro/Ace solidarity?

I guess.

Disregarding the revelations going on in my head at the time, it was a pretty fun time, especially since it seemed Uraraka returned the crush, but was somehow oblivious to Evan’s. 

God those two were idiots.

Still, by the end of an hour or so, we were heading back to the plaza, several bags in hand each, Evan and Uraraka chatting happily about some girl thing. 

Huh. When did that distinction happen?

Again disregarding another major revelation, we arrived just in time to see a shock of grayish-blue hair walking away and disappearing into the crowd behind Midoriya, the boy looking like he had a lot he needed to think about, looking at something in his hand, before swiftly shoving it into his pocket when Uraraka called out to him.

“Deku! Are you alright? Who was that?”

Said boy smiled and tried to reassure us.

“It was no one. Just a fan. We talked for a while.”

Evan shrugged.

“Seemed a little creepy to me. You sure you’re alright?”

He nodded, before his face turned to confusion.

“Toga? What are you doing here?”

Evan shrugged.

“I was going to get some stuff from a clothes shop, and thenI saw Uraraka. Shinso joined up, and that’s that.”

Midoriya nodded.

“Right. Hi, Shinso.”

I nodded back to him.

“Hey. Y’know, I’m kinda jealous. You have fans?”

Midoriya laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Y-yeah, I guess so. It’s a surprise to me too.”

I shrugged.

“Good for you. Wanna come with us and pick out some stuff? Looks like you haven’t yet.”

He nodded and pulled out a list.

“Sure! I’ve got this list of things I need to get, like a new set of shorts, and some extra camping supplies just incase, and…”

He started mumbling to himself and we all just shrugged and began towing him along. 

Midoriya was going to Midoriya.

Still, as we headed out to start picking things up, I couldn’t help but share a smirk with Evan.

Looks like Ben had done his job. Things were definitely sliding into place.

Uraraka saw our shared smile and curiosity flashed in her eyes.

“Is something wrong? You two are smiling at each other.”

I shook my head, still smiling.

“Nah. Just thought of something that made me a little excited is all.”

Evan just smirked back.

“Yeah. We both have the feeling that things are gonna get exciting soon.”

Midoriya and Uraraka seemed a bit confused. We just kept smiling.