Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mikumo groggily opens his eyes to the nagging sound of his alarm going off. With a groan, he reaches over to turn it off and sits up in bed. Rays of sun peek through his closed window blinds, casting a dim glow throughout his small apartment.

It feels weird to be living alone, but he's not complaining. It's nice to have this whole little place to himself, to know that it's just him and his thoughts here. He slides out of bed and starts making his way over to the bathroom to freshen up. Today is a big day—the U.A. Entrance Exam.

Mikumo heads right to the sink and splashes some water on his face, banishing any lingering sleepiness. Turning the sink off, he gazes at his reflection in the mirror. His messy, curly black hair flops over his right eye, which is kind of annoying, but he's getting used to it.

Speaking of his eyes, he frowns at the mirror when he sees jade green eyes staring back at him. That won't do. Mikumo Akatani has red eyes, definitely not green. He opens the sink cabinet and grabs his case of red contact lenses, washing his hands before putting them in. There, that's better. He wishes he could do something about these freckles, but concealer probably won't last very long on him if he's going to be a hero student. It's just too risky.

After studying his reflection for another moment, he nods to himself and continues to get ready. Not wanting to draw attention to himself, he decides to wear a simple gray and black tracksuit—nothing too bright or conspicuous.

Once he's eaten his breakfast, Mikumo heads out. Thankfully, U.A. High is only a twenty minute walk from his apartment. As he walks, he keeps an eye out for any other teenagers heading in the same direction—possible future classmates. If there are any living nearby him, it would definitely be good to know as soon as possible.

Feeling the warmth of the sun on his skin and the soothing breeze lightly tousling his already untidy hair, hearing birds chirping and leaves rustling and cars whirring by—it’s almost surreal. It's just so nice, he can't help but smile softly.

Soon enough, the prestigious building starts coming into view. Once he approaches the massive, imposing gates, he can't help but pause and take it in. It's been Mikumo’s dream to be a real hero student here for as long as he can remember. A regretful, bittersweet sense of excitement and pride rushes through him, and after taking a breath, he steps through the gates and onto the pathway leading up to the school.

“Hey, you! With the messy hair!” A very familiar girly, high-pitched voice calls from behind him.

He nearly stumbles upon hearing the girl, and it takes considerable effort to keep his expression neutral as he turns around to face her.

A blonde girl with two messy buns in her hair skips up to him, beaming from ear to ear. She looks him up and down with her catlike, golden yellow eyes before giggling. “Well, hiya stranger! You look so interesting. Ooh, we should walk together! I'm Akane Jounetsu, but you can just call me Akane!”

“Akane Jounetsu?” He repeats with a forced smile. “A little on the nose, huh? Well, I'm Mikumo Akatani. What are you doing here, Akane?”

She grins widely, showing all her teeth—including two small but sharp fangs in the front. “Taking the Entrance Exam for the hero course, silly! Just like you.” Her smile falters a little when he gives her an unimpressed stare. “Aw, don't be like that. I didn't want to be lonely, Mikumo! I signed up for it a few days before the deadline, I just couldn't help myself.”

After staring at her for another moment, he sighs in defeat. “Fine. Not like I can stop you at this point. Just don't mess me up, don't get yourself in trouble, and remember that I'm Mikumo Akatani and we've never met before today, understand?” He speaks very carefully, giving her a look.

As he speaks, she brightens up and nods quickly. “I know, I know. Now c’mon, let's go already!” She grabs his hand and starts pulling him along with her up the pathway to the school. “Y’know, you have such a gloomy name, Mikumo Akatani. Why didn't you choose something more pretty?”

“I didn't choose my name,” he replies tiredly, pulling his hand out of her grasp but continuing to walk beside her. “I was born with it. And don't say stuff like that in front of other people.”

She frowns. “Are you mad at me for coming?”

He glances at her briefly before facing forward again. “I’m not sure what you mean by that.” They walk in silence for a moment before Mikumo speaks again. “It's kinda reckless,” he admits.

She looks at him and giggles. “Reckless? I think I get it from you, ’Kumo!”

He can’t help but chuckle a little at that. “Maybe. But don’t call me that, we’re supposed to be strangers.”

“But I call everybody cute names! It would be more suspicious if you were the only exception,” she points out with a grin, knowing she’s right.

“...fine,” he concedes as they enter the building and start heading in the direction of the school auditorium. “So tell me, Akane. What junior high are you from?”

“I was homeschooled,” she replies easily. “I’m really excited to make friends here!”

He nods in approval. That’ll also help explain her various…oddities. “Oh really? I was homeschooled too. And why do you want to attend the hero course here?”

“I want to learn all about how heroes work and learn cute tricks with my quirk!”

“And?” he prompts.

She frowns and tilts her head. “What do you mean?”

Mikumo sighs. “Akane, you can’t go to the most prestigious hero course in Japan just to explore your quirk. There’s supposed to be a goal here.”

After thinking about it for another moment, she brightens up with understanding. “Oh! Because I want to be a hero so that I can help people, right?”

“There you go. Make sure you say that first the next time someone asks you that.”

“Gotcha!”

He shakes his head in exasperation, though he’ll admit he’s a little amused with her. When they reach the auditorium, Mikumo checks his exam ticket to see where he's supposed to be sitting and starts heading there, though he's surprised to see Jounetsu following him. “You do have an exam ticket, right?”

She holds the small slip of paper up with a nod. “Sure do! I'm just heading to my seat too.” Surely enough, they both stop and settle in seats right next to each other.

“Huh. I know they organize seating by which junior high you're from, so I assume all the homeschooled kids are in this area,” he muses. A glance at Jounetsu finds her looking around excitedly.

“Ooh, there are so many cute people here! I wonder if they're going to get all beat up and bloody during the exam,” she exclaims, passion glowing in her eyes.

Mikumo grimaces. “Hey, try not to say things like that here. You can think it, but just keep it to yourself, okay?” With a sigh, he leans back in his chair. “I don't think there'll really be blood, though. The school probably wants to keep injuries to a minimum, so I doubt the practical will be too dangerous.”

She pouts. “Aw, bummer. I wanted to see it.”

He's just about to scold her for not listening to him when a loud voice echoes throughout the auditorium. “What’s up, U.A. candidates?! Thanks for tuning into me, your school DJ!”

Mikumo's focus is immediately drawn to the man on stage, and the low hum of students talking fizzles out as well. Though he makes sure to keep his expression only slightly interested, his inner fanboy is screaming. That is Present Mic, right there on stage.

“C’mon and let me hear ya!” The hero exclaims, gesturing to all the teens sitting in the auditorium.

The awkward silence that follows is nearly suffocating. Mikumo wants so badly to stand up and cheer him on, but he wouldn’t dare in the midst of all the unimpressed teens around him. He cannot draw that kind of attention to himself.

“Someone is excited, hm?” Jounetsu says in a hushed, sing-songy voice, nudging him with her elbow and giving him a knowing grin, but he barely notices it because Present Mic.

“Keepin’ it mellow, huh? That's fine, I'll skip straight to the main show,” he finally declares, accenting each sentence with a flamboyant pose. “Let's talk about how this practical exam is going to go down, okay? Are you ready?!”

After another awkward silence, Present Mic clears his throat and proceeds to explain the rules of the exam—students will be participating in a 10-minute mock battle where they will try to earn as many points as possible, and they can do so by destroying villain bots. There are three different types of villain bots that are worth 1-3 points each, based on how difficult they are to defeat, and students are split into different battle centers.

Jounetsu pokes his arm with a giggle. “Hey ’Kumo, don't those little cartoons for the villain robots look like the little guys from Mario Bros? That's so funny!”

“Keep your voice down,” he reminds her in a low voice. “But yeah, I think so.”

“I wonder if they're even allowed to do that!” she exclaims, though at least she's whispering now.

Mikumo shrugs and gestures to the stage, pointedly looking at Present Mic in an attempt to remind her to pay attention.

But of course, the subtle message goes right over her head. “Hey, I wonder if we got into the same battle center,” she murmurs excitedly. “Lemme see your ticket!” Before he can object, she snatches his ticket from him and holds it up next to her own. “Aw man, we're going to be separated,” she says with a pout, and then hands him back his ticket.

He hums quietly in response, folding his ticket neatly and sliding it in his pocket. She seems to be done talking for now, so he focuses back on Present Mic. Three villain bots worth 1-3 points…but if I remember correctly, aren't there four types of bots? he thinks with a frown. Before he can pursue that thought further, a boy with dark blue hair suddenly stands up with his hand raised high in the air.

“Excuse me, sir! But I have a question,” the boy announces, pushing his glasses up his nose with his finger. Huh. For some reason, he looks familiar, but Mikumo can't tell from where yet.

“Hit me!” Present Mic replies, pointing at him.

“On the printout, you've listed four types of villains, not three,” he declares without hesitation, holding up said piece of paper. “With all respect, if this is an error on official U.A. materials, it is shameful. We are exemplary students. We expect the best from Japan’s most notable school. A mistake such as this won't do.”

Seems like they were thinking on the same wavelength. Suddenly, the boy turns to face Mikumo and Jounetsu and points at them with a cold, hard glare. Mikumo's stomach sinks at the sudden attention—he feels as if every pair of eyes in the auditorium are on him. Which, they probably are. “Additionally, you with the unkempt double buns in your hair!”

Jounetsu tilts her head curiously, not looking the least bit embarrassed. “Are you talking about me? Hiya!”

Somehow, the boy glares harder. “You have been talking to those around you this entire time and distracting the other students. Stop that. If you can't bother to take this seriously, then leave.”

A few students around them start chuckling, but Jounetsu ignores them and stands up herself, crossing her arms. Oh no…Mikumo thinks in horror, silently sinking into his seat. What is she doing?!

“Well, I think you're just being a killjoy,” she declares, pointing back at him defiantly. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for some of us, so I'm not sorry for being excited!”

“All right, all right, no need to get heated up about it, listeners,” Present Mic interrupts. “Examinee 7111, thanks for calling in with your request!”

“Akane, sit down,” Mikumo says in a hushed voice through gritted teeth, not daring to look around at the other students.

She frowns, but reluctantly does so. The hero goes on to explain that the fourth villain bot isn't worth any points, and that it would be better to simply ignore it. As Present Mic begins to finish his speech, Mikumo can feel the nervous energy buzzing around the auditorium.

“Let's hear a Plus Ultra!” he exclaims once he's finished, only to be met yet again with silence as students start getting up to head to their respective battle centers. “Good luck! Hope you've practiced hitting more than just books!”

Seeing the auditorium quickly emptying, Mikumo stands and takes a look at his exam ticket once more. “Hey ’Kumo, I know you'll do awesome! See you later!” Jounetsu chirps, waving at him as she turns and skips away.

He shakes his head tiredly and starts heading out. It's not a very long walk to his assigned battle center, and by the time he gets there, there's a small crowd already gathered. Observing those around him carefully, Mikumo notices a few people fidgeting nervously in place, while others cross their arms and tap their feet impatiently. He promptly begins to imitate their subtle behaviors, shifting his weight from one foot to another in a seemingly nervous manner.

Suddenly, he feels someone tap his shoulder. Mikumo makes sure to appear visibly startled at the action before turning to face them. “Excuse me, apologies for interrupting your mental preparation,” the blue-haired boy from earlier says, his rectangle glasses glinting in the sunlight. It looks like they both got assigned to this area.

“Oh, it's fine,” he replies, shaking his head. “What did you need?”

“I wanted to ask you if you know the girl that was sitting beside you. She appeared to be talking to you the most,” he states, his gaze rather intense.

“No, I just met her today. She really liked me for some reason, though,” he says with a shrug.

The boy nods seriously. “I see. I'm sorry that you had to deal with such a distracting presence during Present Mic's instructions.”

Mikumo hums in response, idly putting his hands in his pockets. “What was your name again?”

“Ah, I completely forgot to introduce myself,” the boy exclaims, straightening up. “My name is Tenya Iida. And you?”

“Nice to meet you, I'm Akatani.” Tenya Iida…why does that name sound so familiar… “Oh! Iida—like Ingenium.” This boy must be related to him. That explains why Mikumo felt like he knew him from somewhere.

“Wha-?” Iida stammers, gaping at him for a moment before clearing his throat and composing himself. “Yes, that's correct. I hadn't expected anyone to recognize me so quickly. Actually, do you mind keeping this to yourself? I don't want any of my fellow students to know about my status just yet so that we can take the exam as equals,” he states, punctuating his sentences with a hand-chopping motion.

Uh oh. Did Mikumo recognize him too fast? Was he supposed to take longer to call him out? “Ah, sure thing. I probably recognized you because I saw a news article on Ingenium this morning, so I had him on my mind,” he rambles, attempting to cover up for his momentary lapse in judgment. “Your brother is an amazing hero, by the way. It's so cool to meet his younger brother.”

“Thank you. Yes, I really look up to him, and my goal is to one day be the type of hero he is,” he states, a fond smile forming on his face.

This is a vast difference from the guy that was yelling at Jounetsu earlier. Mikumo thinks this was a successful conversation, especially since he already got someone from a high-profile family to be comfortable around him.

Just then, Present Mic’s voice booms from the speakers. “Right, let's start! Get moving!” Without hesitation, Mikumo leaps into action, dashing past the students around him and entering the battle center. “There are no countdowns in real battles! Run, run, run, listeners! You're wasting air time here!”

Huh? He glances back to see the other students snapping out of some collective daze, looking quite frazzled at first—but their faces quickly change into expressions of determination as they finally start moving forward. Dang it, he reacted too fast to Present Mic's instructions earlier, didn't he? And now he's drawn attention to himself. Making a mental note to show more hesitation next time, he looks forward again and is immediately met with a villain bot—a one-pointer.

It proceeds to swing a clunky metal arm right at him, but Mikumo promptly catches it with one of his hands. He can feel his palm absorb the impact of the punch, as the now stored-up energy buzzes through his hand and causes it to glow. In a quick but precise manner, he pulls his arm back and holds his glowing palm out towards the one-pointer, releasing the force from bot’s earlier punch to now destroy its head. The rest of the bot follows suit and creaks as it crumbles into a still-sparking heap of metal.

Before he can even catch his breath, a red beam of light whizzes right by him. Crap, it's coming from the side where this annoying bang in my hair is, he realizes, snapping his head to look in that direction. I have to figure out a way to compensate for that blind spot in my field of vision.

This time, a three-pointer is headed straight for him, and it's bigger and bulkier than the bot Mikumo just destroyed. It shoots another laser at him as it approaches, but he suppresses the urge to dodge and instead reaches out to put his hand in the line of fire. Like before, his palm absorbs the laser without taking any damage and begins to glow. He then faces his palm toward the center of the bot and releases the laser back at it, destroying it instantly.

Absorb-and-Release is certainly a useful quirk to have for what he's trying to accomplish, allowing him to absorb attacks with his hands and fire them back. It's not too flashy, but it gets the job done, and that's exactly how he wants it to be.

That's four points, and it's only been about forty seconds, he notes, not wasting a second before dashing off to look for more bots. If I want to finish with around forty-five points, I need to earn four or five per minute, so I'm on track for now.

Akane skips through the streets of the fake city with a large, sharp piece of a broken bot in her hand, humming a little tune to herself. She likes her name. She even came up with it herself! It's so pretty.

A two-pointer suddenly comes crawling out from in between two buildings, its two scorpion-like tails raised high in the air and poised to strike. In the blink of an eye, she lunges forward and uses the piece of metal to stab right through its head, easily destroying the robot. Oh, how she wishes these villain bots could bleed! It would make the exam so much more fun.

“Six minutes remaining, listeners! Better keep racking up those points!” Present Mic announces as Akane straightens up with a pleased grin. The exam is nearly halfway done, and she already has twenty points! ’Kumo would be proud of her. She wonders how many points her best friend has over in his battle center.

After destroying another bot, Mikumo whips his head to the side in an attempt to get his darn hair out of his face. He's really regretting growing that bang over his eye right now. It's making fighting rather difficult.

As the students approach the final stretch of the exam, he realizes that there are less and less villain bots left to defeat, especially three-pointers and two-pointers. While taking a second to stop and observe his surroundings, his eyes are drawn to a glint of metal coming from in between two buildings.

Mikumo takes off for that alley, and just as he approaches the entrance, a one-pointer lunges forward. He easily catches its robotic arm and then releases a blast at its head, giving himself another point.

He supposes these bots must be set up as traps or for surprise attacks. If there are more villain bots hiding in alleys like this one, then finding points will be easy. Using his new strategy, it doesn't take Mikumo long to bring his point total up to thirty-seven.

Just as he's leaving an alley, however, the ground starts to rumble faintly, then more and more prominently. Whatever is causing it sounds a lot bigger than any of the villain bots he's seen here. With a frown, he slows down to a stop and turns to face the source of the tremors. Looming over the fake city is a humongous bot that grabs onto the surrounding buildings and crushes them as it comes down the main road.

The zero-pointer, he realizes with a grimace. He had heard that the zero-pointer was the toughest villain bot in the exam, but he didn't think it'd be an issue for him because there’s only one, and he also hadn't expected U.A. to be this bold.

That doesn't matter now, though. What matters is how he responds to the unexpected obstacle. U.A. always has a reason for everything it does, especially with someone like Nedzu as the school principal. This bot isn't just some pointless obstacle, he's sure of it. There's some sort of purpose or goal behind it.

“Less than two minutes remaining!” Present Mic announces as students rush past Mikumo, desperate to get away. He doesn't have time to figure it out, it seems, seeing as he still needs eight more points to get to forty-five. Based on exam scores from previous years, that's a safe amount of points—not high enough to be on the leaderboard, but not low enough for him to be worried that he won't make it into the hero course. But right now…he's certainly cutting it really close.

He's about to leave for another alley when he hears a girlish voice cry out in distress. Snapping his head toward the voice, he spots a brown-haired girl trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building. She seems like she's about to push it off, but then another chunk of rubble falls on top of it as well.

What should he do? He can't afford to use up the little bit of time he has left just to help some random girl, especially since he still needs to earn more points. Besides, the bot won't actually hurt her, right?

The girl is clearly struggling to get out, but the bot isn't showing any signs of slowing down. She'll be fine, he tells himself as he again turns to leave. She'll be fine.

The bot isn't stopping.

Screw it. He shakes his head in frustration before rushing over to the girl and kneeling down in front of her.

Mikumo gets straight to the point. “Are you hurt?”

The girl blinks at him in surprise. Now that he's looking at her up close, he can see that she has brown eyes and blush-like pink circles on her cheeks. “Huh? Oh, no I'm not really hurt. I just overused my quirk, and now I can't get out of here.”

After studying the pile of concrete and mangled metal for a second, Mikumo is certain that he can lift it off of her using just his physical strength. However, the question is, would a normal teenager be able to lift something this heavy by themselves? He doesn't think so. Well, he supposes he could also try…no, that would be too risky. As the bot gets closer, the ground tremors violently again.

“I'll help,” comes an unfamiliar, deep voice from behind him. A rather tall boy with indigo hair kneels down beside Mikumo and takes hold of the lowermost slab of concrete.

He’s surprised by this turn of events, but he's not complaining. “Okay, on three,” he states with a nod, grasping his own side of the concrete. “One, two, three!”

They both start to lift the slab up, doing so just enough for the girl to crawl out. “Thanks a bunch, you guys,” she says breathlessly, staggering a bit as she straightens up.

The zero-pointer smashes a giant, robotic hand down right beside them, causing the purple-haired boy and the girl to exclaim in surprise. She looks conflicted for a moment, but then turns to look at the two boys with wide eyes. “Quick, give me your hands! Trust me on this!”

Both Mikumo and the other boy seem to hesitate for a moment, before conceding and holding their hands out. The girl shudders slightly before slapping each of their hands, causing them both to start floating in the air, and the feeling of weightlessness that rushes through him is certainly startling, to say the least. She then shoves them away with all her might, sending them drifting away from the zero-pointer’s path of destruction.

“Hey, what about you?” Mikumo calls out, looking back at her.

“One…sec…” she groans, her face twisted in distress. Her hands shoot up to cover her mouth as she quickly stumbles to the side and throws up.

“And that's it! Time's up,” Present Mic announces, accompanied by a blaring siren sounding throughout the battle center. At that, the zero-pointer stops advancing, its destructive rampage now over as it powers down.

“Release,” the girl murmurs, pressing her fingers together. Mikumo and the other boy drop down from where they were hovering just a few feet in the air, sending up a cloud of dust as they land with a thud.

Mikumo straightens up with a grimace. He hadn't achieved his goal. Granted, he got an average number of points, but will it be enough? He had been aiming for forty-five, not thirty-seven.

Still, that girl saved him. “Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry about that,” the girl says as she hurries up to the boys, though he can see that she's limping. “My quirk makes me really nauseous when I use it too much. Are you guys okay?”

“Just peachy,” the purple-haired boy mutters, a frustrated expression on his face. But then he sighs and nods. “Thanks.”

“I'm okay. Thank you,” Mikumo replies, turning to look at the girl.

Her gaze lingers on the other boy, however—she seems to be rather bothered by his response. “Oh…I bet you guys could have earned more points if you hadn't gone back to help me,” she murmurs, eyes downcast. “I feel so bad. I'm sorry if I ruined the exam for you.”

“It's fine. I only had a few points, it's not like I would’ve passed anyways,” the purple-haired boy replies, his tone resigned. While they were speaking, a crowd of curious students has begun to come forward to get a better look at what happened.

The girl looks like she's about to say something more, but another voice speaks up before her. “Very nice, good work all around! You're heroes in my eyes, every one of you,” an elderly woman says, handing out gummy bears as she makes her way through the crowd. He immediately recognizes her as the Youthful Heroine, Recovery Girl, who now makes her way towards the brown-haired girl. “Oh my goodness, is your leg hurt, dearie? Can you walk?”

“It hurts to walk,” she admits sheepishly. “I think I might have sprained it under the rubble…”

“You poor thing.” Recovery Girl takes her hand and gives it a big smooch, healing the girl's leg instantly. “There, all better. Is anyone else injured?”

While Recovery Girl walks off to help other students, Present Mic's voice comes on over the speakers again. “Alrighty, listeners, it's time for the written portion of the exam! If you haven't already, please start clearing out of the battle centers and head to your assigned testing rooms! Better hurry before all the seats in the back are taken!”

Before leaving, he glances back to where the girl and the other boy were standing. While she’s still marveling at her now-healed leg, the boy has already vanished, presumably to take the written exam. Mikumo takes that moment to also slip away, into the crowd and towards the exit. He's already drawn enough attention to himself by going back to help the brown-haired girl, and now it's a whole spectacle. It's best to lay low for now.

The written exam is easy, but he makes sure to get an average amount of questions wrong. He's fairly certain that he got a high C or a low B, depending on how each question was weighed. When it finishes, Present Mic sends all the students home with the promise that their results will be sent in the mail within two weeks.

And just as he said, one week later, a white envelope with the official red U.A. High seal arrives in the mail. Mikumo immediately snatches it up and goes to sit on his bed, turning the envelope over in his hands. After a moment of staring at it, he impulsively rips it open, and a small circular disk falls out and lands in front of him.

A projection of All Might himself shoots out of the disk, his everlasting smile plastered on his face. “Booyah! I am here, as a projection now! Bet you weren't expecting me to reveal your Entrance Exam results!”

All Might? So…the rumors are true, Mikumo realizes with a grimace.

“You're looking at the newest U.A. faculty member,” All Might declares, confirming his suspicions. “Surprise! You passed the written test and got 37 points in the practical exam. Not too shabby! But is it enough to stand out from your peers? Well, there were also other factors that were taken into account when grading your exam. Before we get to that, I've got another surprise! Here, look! A short clip for your viewing pleasure.”

The projection cuts from all of All Might's yellow-suited glory and instead shows…the brown-haired girl from the Entrance Exam?

“Um, do you have a sec? Sorry to interrupt,” she says, walking into a room or office of some kind. She seems to be wearing a normal middle school uniform, so this video wasn't taken during the Entrance Exam.

“She showed up after the exam to talk about you, young man,” All Might states, as if reading his mind. “What did she have to say? You'll have to stay tuned to find out!”

The girl continues, speaking to someone behind the camera. “You know that tired-looking boy with hair that stuck up everywhere? And that other boy with all that messy hair covering one of his eyes?”

Wait, she means the purple-haired boy and me, Mikumo thinks, now intrigued by the conversation.

“I was wondering, would it be possible to give them some of the points that I earned in the exam?” The girl gazes at the person she's speaking to earnestly, a look of resolution gleaming in her eyes. “I heard one of them say that he only had a few points, and…they would have had better scores if they hadn't stopped to help me. They saved me, I have to make it up to them! Please, sir, can't you just give them some of my points?”

The projection then cuts back to All Might. “It's your actions that inspire others. And that's why I am here. You see, the practical exam was not graded on combat points alone,” he reveals, wagging a finger at the camera.

Oh? This is news to Mikumo. How didn't he know about this earlier?

“Thanks for showing up to the station with your request,” Present Mic's voice comes from the video as it cuts back to the girl again. So that's who she was talking to. “But there's no reason to give them your points, those kids are charting well on their own.”

“Being committed to saving others, regardless of the consequences to oneself—that is what makes a hero,” All Might continues. “And that's what my alma mater is all about: training those who risk their lives for the greater good. So we have rescue points! A panel of judges watches, and they award points for heroic acts beyond just fighting villains.”

A chart shows a ranked list of ten names, each with a column for villain points and a column for rescue points.

“Mikumo Akatani: 40 rescue points! Ochako Uraraka: 45 rescue points! Hitoshi Shinsou: 40 rescue points!”

Mikumo makes a mental note of those names, then focuses his attention on the chart. With wide eyes, he takes in the two names tied for first place.

Katsuki Bakugou with 77 villain points and no rescue points.

And Mikumo Akatani. With 37 villain points and 40 rescue points for a total of 77 points.

This can't be happening, he thinks, feeling himself die a little inside as he rereads the top two names over and over again, desperately hoping for them to change.

“Congratulations—you have certainly proven yourself and earned the spotlight! And yes, all three of you have passed the exam. Welcome, Mikumo. You have made it. You are now part of our hero academia.”

With that, the projection turns dark and disappears back into the disk, leaving Mikumo in a state of stunned silence as he simply stares at the empty space where All Might’s face was.

He just wanted to blend in—no, he needs to blend in—but of course, he had to get first place. And of course, he had to tie with none other than Katsuki Bakugou.

What a way to start off the year.

With a sigh, he finally moves off of his bed and heads over to his dresser, where a generic shoebox sits at the top. Standing on the tips of his toes, he reaches up to grab it and pulls it down. He then rummages through the shoes and tissue paper inside and pulls out a plain black phone, immediately powering it on and opening up his messages.

Leaky Faucet
I'm in. Some complications, but I'll handle it
6:13 PM

Handyman
good. you better
6:15 PM

Chapter Text

It's early in the morning at U.A. High when Mikumo walks up to the rather large door labeled 1-A—the door to his new class. Of course, with the vast variety of quirks out there, he knows that the school must be accommodating to people of all types and sizes, so it makes sense that the door would reflect that. It makes him wonder what his classmates will be like and what quirks they'll have.

That's why he got here half an hour early. It'll give him a chance to survey the other students as they settle in and to observe their various behaviors and interactions.

Before entering the classroom, he fiddles with his tie once more. No matter how much he's practiced—and he's practiced a lot—he's never actually been able to tie a tie. He thinks it must run in the family. So he ended up just wearing a clip-on and calling it a day. Hopefully, it's not too obvious.

Finally, he opens the door and takes a look around the classroom as he walks in. So far, there are only four people here. He immediately recognizes the boy with glasses, Tenya Iida, but he doesn't recognize the other three.

He moves to take a seat towards the far right side of the room, putting his yellow backpack down at a desk around the middle of the row. Not long after Mikumo sits down, Iida gets up from his own seat and starts walking over to him.

“Good morning. Akatani, was it? I'm glad to see that you passed as well,” he states.

He nods and turns to look at him, but still keeps an eye on the door as a few more students walk in. “Oh, hey Iida. Yep, that's me.”

“Well then, I noticed that you earned first place in the exam,” he says, chopping his hand in the air. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” he replies, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. He has to take the focus of the conversation off of himself. “It’s not a big deal. You did pretty good too, I saw that you were in the top ten. You must have gone to a good junior high,” he says, trying to probe for more information about the other boy.

“Oh, yes. I come from Somei Private Academy.” Mikumo logs that detail away in case it becomes useful later. “However, Akatani,” Iida continues, adjusting his glasses as he speaks, “you realized that there was something more to the practical exam, didn't you? You must be very perceptive. I admit, as a student, you're far superior to me.”

Mikumo quickly waves a hand at the comment. “No, not really. Are you talking about how I went back to help that girl? That was more impulsive than anything else, getting secret rescue points never crossed my mind.”

He nods, a thoughtful expression on his face. “I see. Still, your actions prove your inherently heroic nature, whereas my actions leave much to be desired. I see now that I have a lot to work on.”

Before Mikumo can respond, he notices the classroom door open again as a boy with ash blond, spiky hair walks in with his hands in his pockets.

Kacchan.

Mikumo doesn't dare make eye contact with him, instead keeping his attention on Iida. “Don't beat yourself up about it, it's just an exam. Besides, learning how to be better heroes is the whole point of taking this class.”

While he speaks, the spiky-haired boy settles in the seat in front of him and puts his feet on the edge of the desk. Oh, why did he have to sit in front of Mikumo, of all people?

Upon seeing the new arrival's behavior, Iida frowns. “Excuse me,” he says to Mikumo, before turning and walking up to the other boy. “Please take your feet off that desk!”

“Huh?” he replies in an obnoxious tone, looking up at him with a dangerous grin.

Iida bristles at his response. “It's the first day and you're already disrespecting this academy by scuffing school property, you cretin!”

He makes no move to put his feet down. “You're kidding me, right? Your old school put a stick up your butt? Or were you born with it?”

While he and Iida bicker, Mikumo glances at the classroom door again, where the boy with indigo hair from the Entrance Exam is silently walking in. Hitoshi Shinsou, he remembers. He goes all the way to the back of Mikumo's row and settles in the very last seat in the corner.

The next person to open the door is not as reserved. “’Kumooo!!” Jounetsu waves excitedly from the doorway before rushing to him, drawing the attention of everyone in the classroom, to his dismay.

“A-ah, Akane—oof!” He stiffens up as she hugs him tightly for a moment and then pulls back from him.

“Wow, I can't believe you got first place! I mean, I knew you could do it, but I didn't think you would,” she exclaims, beaming at him as she settles into the seat right behind him.

“Neither did I,” he mutters.

Iida looks appalled at Jounetsu’s lack of respect for personal boundaries, but it's Kacchan the boy with spiky hair who speaks up first. After hearing Jounetsu's comment, he immediately whirls around in his seat to face Mikumo with a scowl. “So you're the loser who stole my spotlight. I was supposed to be the only student to get the top spot, but you had to go and ruin it by tying with me!”

“You must be Bakugou, then,” he replies with a nervous chuckle. “I saw your name on the leaderboard. I'm Mikumo Akatani, it's nice to meet you.”

Bakugou narrows his eyes at him, seeming to be studying him carefully. Thinking.

Internally, Mikumo is freaking out, feeling as though Bakugou is staring into his very soul.

After a long moment, Bakugou speaks up again. “Yeah, the name’s Katsuki Bakugou, and don't you forget it. I just want you to know that no matter what we scored in the stupid Entrance Exam, I'm going to be the Number 1 Hero one day, got it? You're all just extras in my story, so you better not get in my way.”

Iida gasps. “Bakugou! It's rude to refer to your classmates as extras.”

“Go cry about it,” he replies with a scoff, leaning back in his chair once more.

Another voice suddenly cuts in from the classroom door. “Hey, I recognize that messed up hair!” The girl from the Entrance Exam, Ochako Uraraka, walks in with a bright smile and starts going up to Mikumo's desk as well. “I'm so happy that you passed. Not that I'm surprised, you were super amazing out there!”

Mikumo is more than a little uncomfortable with all the people crowding around his desk. “Thanks, I'm happy you passed too.”

She then turns to look at Shinsou in his quiet little corner of the room and brightens up. “Oh, Tired Boy! You passed too! I'm so glad that we all made it.”

Shinsou looks a little startled to be addressed, but simply nods in response.

Looking back and forth between Uraraka and Mikumo, Jounetsu grins. “Ooh, did you meet ’Kumo already?

Uraraka turns to Jounetsu with a nod. “Yeah, him and the guy back there helped me out during the Entrance Exam!”

“Really? I didn't know that! I need details,” she proclaims, looking at Uraraka intently.

Before Uraraka can elaborate, the classroom door opens again. But this time, it's not a student. An exhausted-looking man with long, disheveled hair stands at the entrance, his body fully cocooned in a yellow sleeping bag.

“If you're just here to make friends, then you can pack up your stuff now. Welcome to U.A.’s hero course.” All the students gawk at the newcomer as he pulls out some sort of pouch from inside his sleeping bag and slurps it up.

Mikumo's eyes widen when the man unzips it and steps out. Wait a minute, is that…?

“Eraserhead?” Jounetsu blurts out, as if reading his mind.

The man stares at her for a moment, his expression unreadable, but then nods. “That's right. I'm Shouta Aizawa, your teacher.” Mikumo and Jounetsu exchange a knowing glance, then Aizawa starts rummaging through his sleeping bag. “Right, let's get to it. Put these on and head outside,” he says, pulling out a gym uniform with the letters UA emblazoned on it.

Mikumo follows along as students line up at the door and take their uniforms before heading to the changing rooms. How did all these uniforms fit in that sleeping bag? he wonders, examining his own uniform thoughtfully.

“You-know-who is going to go crazy when he finds out who our teacher is,” Jounetsu whispers to him with a giggle as they walk through the halls.

Mikumo chuckles, and then shakes his head. “Akane…I already told you that you can't say things like that,” he cautions.

“You worry too much,” she scolds, pouting a bit. “I could be talking about anybody, and no one's paying attention to us anyways.”

“Hey you guys!” A smiling Uraraka hurries up to walk beside them. “What're you laughing about?”

He gives Jounetsu a look that says I told you so before turning his attention to Uraraka. “Aizawa-sensei’s sleeping bag.”

“Oh! It’s pretty ridiculous,” she replies, laughing lightly. “Isn't it kind of an ugly yellow?”

Jounetsu laughs too. “It is! And what was up with that weird pouch thing he drank from?”

“Beats me,” she says with a shrug. “Hey, I don't think I ever introduced myself! I'm Ochako Uraraka.”

Jounetsu squeals with delight. “That is such a cute name, Ochako! My name is Akane Jounetsu. And this is ’Kumo!”

“Mikumo,” he corrects, as the three of them start to approach the locker rooms and come to a stop near the doors. “Mikumo Akatani.”

“Nice to finally meet you!” She looks at the two of them curiously. “I was wondering, do you guys know each other? Outside of U.A., I mean. I hope I'm not being rude by asking, it's just that you seem so close already.”

“Actually, we just met during the Entrance Exam,” he replies before Jounetsu can say anything. “But we'll talk more later—here are the locker rooms.”

“Right! See you,” Uraraka says, turning to go into the girls' room with Jounetsu while Mikumo heads into the boys’ side.

Aizawa is already waiting in the middle of the field outside by the time the students arrive, now changed into their gym uniforms.

Mikumo had been a little uneasy about undressing in front of other people, but he prepared ahead of time in case he was put into such a situation. Under his school uniform, he was already wearing a black long-sleeve compression shirt, so he was able to change into his gym uniform without showing any skin. Thankfully, none of his classmates have questioned it yet—to them, it probably just looks like he enjoys wearing activewear.

To everyone's shock, Aizawa explains that instead of going to the school orientation, today Class 1-A will be doing a quirk apprehension test. The whole time, Mikumo can feel Bakugou staring at him from the other side of the field, his gaze boring into him, until finally Aizawa calls on the other boy.

“Bakugou, you managed to get the most villain points on the Entrance Exam,” he says, prompting Bakugou to tear his eyes away from him and look at their teacher instead, to Mikumo's relief. “What was your farthest distance throw with a softball when you were in Junior High?”

“67 meters, I think,” he replies.

“Right. Stand here,” says Aizawa, gesturing to the middle of a big, drawn circle on the field. “Try doing it with your quirk. Anything goes, just stay in the circle.”

After collecting the ball and going to stand at the center of the circle, Bakugou looks back at Aizawa, as if waiting for permission to do anything further.

Aizawa simply stares back at him with his hands in his pockets. “Go on, you're wasting our time. Time is precious.”

“Alright man, you asked for it,” he mutters. Drawing his arm back, he hurls the ball into the sky with his quirk activated. Thundering explosions propel the ball out of sight, accompanied by a furious “Die!”

“All of you need to know your maximum capabilities. It's the most rational way of figuring out your potential as a pro hero,” Aizawa says, holding up a device that measures how far the ball went. 705.2 meters.

Around him, the students make various exclamations of awe and excitement upon seeing the numbers on the screen.

Aizawa glares at the class. “So this looks fun, huh. You have three years here to become a hero. You think it's all going to be games and playtime? Idiots.” His lips curl up into a devilish grin that sends a shudder down their spines. “Today you'll compete in eight physical tests to gauge your potential. Whoever comes last has none, and will be expelled immediately. Like I said, I get to decide how this class runs. Understand? If that's a problem, you can head home right now.”

Well. This is an unexpected development.

While Aizawa continues to speak, Mikumo thinks through his current situation. His absorb-and-release quirk requires an input in order to actually do anything. Unless some of these tests are combat oriented or pit him against other students, he won't really be able to use it. This puts him and students without physically enhancing quirks at a significant disadvantage.

He's not too worried about the tests though—he knows he can perform well enough to stay out of the bottom few, at least.

The first test is a 50 meter dash. A few students with quirks that boost their mobility, like Iida and a girl with pink skin, particularly excel at this one. However, while waiting for his turn, Mikumo observes that many of his other classmates fall between 6 and 8 seconds. So by the time he's called up along with Bakugou, he has an idea of how fast he needs to run.

From the lane beside him, Bakugou glares daggers at him as they get into their positions. As soon as they get the go-ahead, Mikumo dashes forward while the other boy launches himself forward with his explosions. Of course, sporting a vindictive grin, Bakugou makes it across faster than he does with a time of 4.13 seconds—but that's how Mikumo wanted it to be anyways. He finishes with a time of 6.92 seconds, a little faster than he originally intended but not too out of the ordinary.

Next is the grip strength test, in which students have to squeeze a hand-held device a few times. Once again, after observing some of his classmates take their attempts, he determines what measurement he should aim for, and ends up with a reading of 61 kilograms.

The next few tests go similarly. For the standing long jump over the sandbox, he makes it to about the middle of the area. Then, Aizawa has the students do repeated side steps and the ball throw that Bakugou did earlier. For that one, Mikumo gets around 72 meters, and then for the distance run, he finishes in 10th.

Finally, the students have to do seated toe touches and sit-ups. Mikumo gets paired with Uraraka for the latter—while one does the sit-ups, the other holds their feet, and then they switch places. He finds himself doing the sit-ups a little too fast and too easily, so he adjusts himself to a slower pace, making sure to look like he's struggling a bit.

Jounetsu, on the other hand, has not held back in the slightest. During each of the activities, she fully showcased her exceptional agility and seemingly natural speed without even using a quirk.

Throughout the tests however, Mikumo would sometimes randomly look up to find Bakugou just staring at him with an analytical expression on his face. It's starting to freak him out, but he's trying his best not to show it.

“Alright, time to give you your results,” Aizawa says, once everyone is gathered in the field again. “I ranked you all from best to worst, you should probably have a good idea of your standing already.” He then pulls up a projection of where everyone in the class ranked.

The person in first is a girl named Momo Yaoyorozu. It makes sense, since Mikumo saw her using her quirk in almost every test. Creation is such a versatile and powerful quirk in the right hands. For example, she made literal rocket shoes for the 50-meter dash and the long distance run. He can't help but think about all that he could accomplish with a quirk like that—the possibilities are endless. In addition, her movements were very swift and precise, as if she had been well-trained.

In second is the youngest son of Endeavor, Shouto Todoroki. Mikumo recognized him in the locker rooms earlier, but he has yet to speak to him. For a boy that comes from such a prestigious family, Todoroki seems to be very reserved and mostly keeps to himself. A while ago, Mikumo had been doing research on Endeavor’s training regimen when he came across an interview about his family. Intrigued, he ended up going down a rabbit hole of Endeavor’s home life, and it's not a pretty picture. Granted, there's not much information about it out there—the hero commission has covered it up well—but he's got his sources. Now that they're in the same class, though, it'll be a good opportunity for him to glean more information about the Number 2 Hero’s darkest secrets.

Mikumo isn’t surprised to see that Bakugou came in third place, but from the way he’s giving the projection a death glare, he can tell that he’s really ticked off about not making first.

Regardless, he's relieved to see his own name in the very safe and unassuming spot of 15th place. A sniffle comes from the unlucky student who landed in dead last—an invisible girl named Tooru Hagakure.

“And I was lying. No one's going home,” Aizawa says nonchalantly, prompting various gasps from the class, before turning to them another wide, self-satisfied grin. “That was just a rational deception to make sure you gave it your all in the test.”

“I'm surprised the rest of you didn't figure that out,” pipes up Yaoyorozu, looking around with sympathy at the students around her. “I'm sorry, I guess I probably should have said something.”

Mikumo bristles upon hearing her comment, not out of annoyance toward her but out of frustration with himself. She's right—he should have realized what was going on, but he had just accepted Aizawa's words at face value and proceeded accordingly. I suppose…I have such a high view of heroes that the thought of Aizawa deceiving us hadn't even crossed my mind, he realizes with a grimace.

“That's it, we're done for the day. Pick up a syllabus in the classroom, read it over before tomorrow morning,” instructs Aizawa, turning to leave. But then he pauses and glances back. “Shinsou, Jounetsu. I have something to discuss with you two, so please follow me.”

Shinsou looks slightly alarmed at this, while Jounetsu seems to be completely unbothered. “Yessir!” she replies cheerfully. With a nod, Aizawa resumes walking away, his two charges following close behind him as they quickly disappear around the corner of the building and leave the class in the field.

At the moment…Mikumo can relate to Shinsou’s feelings of alarm. His gaze lingers where they turned the corner and out of view, anxiety and worry nagging at him. Why in the world does Aizawa want to speak to her specifically? Jounetsu isn't the only student he wanted to see though, so maybe it's nothing to be worried about, he tries reassuring himself.

Just as all the students begin to disperse, a demanding voice suddenly cuts through the low chatter. “Oi, Emo Hair!”

Hearing Bakugou's voice, Mikumo tenses, hoping in vain that he's calling to someone else. Several of their classmates’ heads swivel their way to see what the commotion is about. This can't end well.

An irritated Bakugou marches right up to him, and without warning, grabs his chin roughly.

“Hey! What’re you—” protests Mikumo, jerking back.

“Shut up and stay still,” he interrupts, tightening his grip on the baffled boy and pulling his chin up so that they face each other directly. Bakugou carefully scans his face, his intense red eyes clearly searching for something.

“Let go,” Mikumo says in a firm voice, shoving his hand away and taking a step back, but Bakugou doesn't resist anymore. Rather, he must have found what he was looking for—because now he only stands there dumbly, staring at him with uncharacteristically wide eyes.

“...Deku?”

For a split second, Mikumo freezes, his own eyes widening almost imperceptibly at the familiar nickname before he quickly composes himself. “What? Bakugou, what’s going on? You're acting really strange,” he says with a frown.

“Don't you give me that crap, Deku. The look on your face just now only made it more obvious,” retorts Bakugou, having finally snapped out of his shock. By now, the interaction has attracted the attention of some of their classmates, a few of which have even begun to gather around the two.

Mikumo shakes his head in apparent confusion. “Made what obvious? And why do you keep calling me that?”

“Stop pretending like you don't know what I'm talking about! It's really pissing me off,” he snarls, taking an intimidating step towards him. “I know it's you. Where the hell have you and Auntie Inko been all these years?”

That's when a boy with red, spiky hair steps forward and holds his hands out to each of them in a placating gesture. “Hey, hey, let's take it easy.”

Bakugou scowls at him. “Stay out of this, Weird Hair. It's none of your freaking business.”

“Well, there's no need to get aggressive, man,” the boy says cautiously. “Let's just talk this out, yeah? Why don't you tell us what you mean, and then we'll figure this whole thing out from there.”

With an eye roll, he crosses his arms. “I mean that this stupid nerd has been lying to all of our faces. His name isn't Akatani, it's Deku!”

The red-headed boy takes a glance at the bewildered Mikumo before turning to look back at Bakugou skeptically. “You’re saying his name is…‘Useless’?”

“Yes! Wait, no, that's just what I call him,” Bakugou says with a frustrated shake of his head. “His real name is Izuku Midoriya, he's some quirkless loser that went missing when we were little kids. And his hair isn't black, it's green! His eyes too.”

At Bakugou's accusation, Mikumo's face pales a bit, his mouth suddenly becoming very dry. He’s trying to figure out how to respond when the other boy speaks up first.

“Quirkless? Green eyes?” he repeats, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. “Bakugou, just take a second to think about how you sound right now. I mean, it's super manly that you're still holding out hope for your old friend, but it just doesn't sound like Akatani is this…Midoriya kid.”

“Deku is not my friend,” Bakugou snaps, before turning to glare at Mikumo again. “But no matter how you try to hide it, I know you're him. And I want answers.”

“Look, I'm really sorry about what happened to your frie— uh, this kid you knew, but I've never heard that name before,” Mikumo says in as steady of a voice as he can muster, an apologetic expression on his face.

“That’s bull, and you know it.” Huffing in frustration, he stuffs his hands in his pockets and turns away with a troubled expression darkening his features. “This isn't over, Not-Deku. I’m gonna get the truth out of you sooner or later.” Without another word, he stomps off, presumably to the classroom.

To Mikumo's surprise, Uraraka comes forward from the crowd that had been observing the scene, bearing a concerned expression.

“What was that all about?” she asks with a frown as she approaches.

He rubs the back of his neck. “I guess Bakugou just thought I was someone else.”

The boy with red hair sighs and gazes in the direction that Bakugou had gone before looking back at Mikumo. “Man, that guy is intense. Honestly, I feel kinda bad for him, though—he must have been pretty close to that kid.”

“Maybe,” murmurs Mikumo, his tone soft and almost melancholic. But he quickly snaps himself out of it and clears his throat. “I just hadn't thought Bakugou would care all that much about some random kid he knew years ago, you know?”

“Yeah, he doesn't really seem like that kind of person,” Uraraka agrees. “Kinda weird that he singled you out even though you look a lot different from what he said his friend looked like.”

He simply hums in response, then turns his attention to the other boy. “Hey, I don't think I ever got your name, by the way.”

The boy’s eyes widen, then he grins, revealing rows of sharp teeth. “Oh yeah! I completely forgot, haha. I'm Kirishima!”

“Nice to meet you,” he replies with a nod. “I'm pretty sure you heard it earlier, but I'm Akatani, and this is Uraraka.”

“Nice to meet ya!” Kirishima chuckles and then gestures toward the school. “Hey, we should probably head to the classroom too. Aizawa-sensei might get mad if he finds us out here still.”

“Right! Let's go quick,” says Uraraka with a nod, starting to head towards the building as the two boys follow close behind.

“Alright, take a seat,” Shouta Aizawa says, settling into the couch and gesturing to the two chairs across from him, separated by a coffee table in between. A vase of slightly wilting flowers sits in the middle of the table, and a small jar of mints is nestled beside it. Jounetsu and Shinsou promptly do as he said, the former looking rather curious while the latter seems stiff and generally uncomfortable.

The other day, Shouta had been briefly skimming over the files of his students this year, and these two had caught his eye. Hitoshi Shinsou, in particular, had caught his eye because of his quirk: Brainwashing. Akane Jounetsu had stuck out to him because the word “blood” had appeared in her quirk description multiple times, prompting him to read it more closely than he normally would.

And so, the three of them now find themselves sitting in one of the various conference rooms at U.A. There's a large window from which rays of sun cast light on the room. Still, the air feels stale, smelling of manilla folders and fresh printer paper.

“Are we in trouble for something, Sensei?” the girl, Jounetsu, pipes up, before popping a mint in her mouth.

“No. I brought you two here to talk about your quirks,” he replies bluntly, watching them closely for their reactions.

As if he flipped a switch, Jounetsu’s demeanor immediately changes as she drops her gaze and avoids further eye contact with him. Though Shinsou tries to keep a disinterested face, Shouta can see how he tenses even more than he had been before.

“I'm aware that both of you have what some might consider to be…problematic quirks,” he continues carefully, though all three of them know what he means: villainous. “First, let me ease your minds a bit. Here at U.A., we take quirk discrimination very seriously—so don't hesitate to let me or any of the other teachers know if someone is giving you trouble. We're here to support you. With that said, there are some more specific things regarding your quirks that I wanted to discuss with you two. Now, would you rather me talk to each of you separately, or do you just want to get it over with at the same time? Completely up to you.”

The teens exchange a glance, to which Shinsou shrugs unsurely.

“Hm…together, I guess,” says Jounetsu after a moment.

Shouta nods. “Alright, I'll start with you then, Jounetsu,” he decides, mainly because she seems more comfortable at the moment than Shinsou does.

It's a bit odd—sure, meeting with a teacher, especially someone intimidating like himself, is nerve-wracking for any kid. However, Shinsou seems more anxious about it than his students usually are. In fact, Shouta doesn't think the kid has said a single word to him all day beyond nodding or shaking his head tersely.

Well, he'll get to Shinsou in a moment. For now, he turns his attention back to Jounetsu. “From what's listed in your file, your quirk is called Transform—you can turn into someone’s identical look-alike for a certain amount of time by ingesting that person's blood, correct?”

While she only nods in response, he notices Shinsou cast a wary glance at her, though he quickly looks away so as not to be caught staring. An understandable reaction—even with the overwhelming range of quirks out there, blood-related quirks have always been a taboo in today’s society.

“And how exactly do you plan on using that power as a hero?”

A wide, unsettling grin spreads across her face, her gaze becoming intense. “If there's a group of bad guys, I’ll cut up one of them, then I'll drink their pretty blood and become them! All the other bad guys won't know it's me, so I'll be able to cut them up easily too.” Upon seeing Shouta and Shinsou's similarly perturbed faces, she blinks once before letting out a sheepish chuckle. “Um, kidding! I won't do that, because heroes don’t like to cut people up. Obviously.”

She seemed a little too enthusiastic about that, he thinks, resisting the urge to rub his temples. “Actually, I’m not going to tell you that you shouldn't take a villain's blood. It’s a perfectly rational way of using your quirk. However, to make full use of your quirk, you would need to find a safe way to obtain your opponent's blood. Remember that our goal as heroes isn't to kill villains, but just to detain them and to prevent any civilian casualties.”

As he speaks, Jounetsu looks at him in surprise at first before listening intently. “So…you’re not mad at me? For what I said earlier?”

He shakes his head before continuing. “No. I figured you'd have to use that kind of fighting style, which is why I called you here today. I was thinking it would be a good idea for you to receive some specialized training in non-lethal combat with knives, and also in human anatomy. What the school curriculum covers on these topics is basic enough, but if your fighting style is going to be centered around knives, it would be a good idea.”

She appears to be intrigued by his suggestion, thinking it over with a small frown. “Extra schoolwork? But I already know how to use a knife.”

Shouta nods. “I was observing you during the Entrance Exam. The way you carried yourself showed that you do have some previous training or experience, but tell me. Do you know where you should stab a person without seriously injuring them?”

“Um…their arm?” she says unsurely.

“That was a trick question. You don't stab, you slash.”

“Oh.”

“Kid, just to be perfectly clear, I'm offering to give you more personalized lessons after school. And you too, Shinsou,” he states, turning his attention to him. He'd been listening quietly this whole time, but now he hesitantly peers up to meet Shouta's gaze. “I noticed how you were struggling during the Entrance Exam. If it hadn't been for the rescue points, you would’ve failed—and even with them, you just barely managed to squeak by.”

Shinsou grimaces as Shouta lets the words sink in. The kid had finished with a mere nine villain points—the lowest score of his students in Class 1-A this year. Even today during the quirk apprehension test, he had landed in the bottom three, followed only by Kyouka Jirou and Tooru Hagakure.

“Listen kid, your quirk is one that can be extremely powerful if you're smart about it. But unfortunately, the Entrance Exam is heavily biased in favor of physical quirks. I've been trying to get Principal Nedzu to change it for a few years now, but the rat is stubborn,” he says with a frustrated sigh. “Regardless, your physical capabilities could use some work. The test I had you all take today proved that. So, if you’ll accept, I’d like to personally train the both of you.”

“I’ll do it!” Jounetsu chirps.

After thinking about it for a moment longer, Shinsou nods in agreement. “I’ll, uh—” he clears his throat, finally speaking up— “I’ll join too.”

Satisfied, Shouta nods and sends them off with instructions on when and where they'll meet. He watches as they leave and shut the door behind themselves, and then he lets out a deep exhale, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat. The room is still and quiet again, so he takes the opportunity to collect his thoughts regarding his two new proteges.

The girl, Jounetsu, certainly seems…eccentric. To be fair, a person's quirk usually has some influence on their behavior and personality—take Present Mic, for instance. His quirk lets him amplify the sound of his voice; but on a deeper level, it also makes him a naturally loud person. Since Jounetsu has a blood-related quirk, it’s logical to conclude that she'd be fascinated by blood.

Still, by now she should have grown out of outbursts like the one she had earlier. If she continues to let herself be so easily influenced by her quirk when she's a pro hero, it could result in a lot more villain—and even possibly civilian—casualties. As her teacher, it's important for Shouta to teach her now how she can use her quirk with minimal risk.

Then there's Shinsou. Shouta can relate to the kid to some degree, considering neither of them have physical quirks. As a teen, he had to start from scratch and figure things out on his own, over time developing a fighting style with his capture weapon that has proved to be both efficient and effective. Seeing Shinsou in a similar situation, it's only rational to share his knowledge with the kid and give him a headstart on his path to becoming a hero.

Speaking of which, he has to talk to Power Loader about making some copies of his capture weapon. He’ll go do that now.

Chapter Text

A few years ago…

Katsuki sits on his bed in silence, absentmindedly fiddling with an All Might toy. It's already past midnight, so the room is dark except for a small crack of light coming from his door. He does have an All Might nightlight sitting on his bedside table, but he doesn't need it anymore. He's seven years old already, way too old to be scared of the dark.

After a moment, he brings the toy up close to his face and studies the scratched and chipping paint on the hero’s unwavering smile. Deku always complained about it whenever we played with it, he thinks, setting the toy aside with a troubled frown.

He remembers when the paint chipped. It was probably a year or two ago—one day, Katsuki had been holding the toy out of Deku’s reach, laughing along with his friends as the nerd tried to grab it. He made a swipe for it that knocked it out of Katsuki’s hands, and the mini All Might went flying. Unfortunately, the hero landed face first, his award-winning smile taking the brunt of the damage.

The jangle of keys coming from outside brings him out of his thoughts. He quickly gets up from his bed and creeps into the hallway—standing just out of sight from his dad, who’s anxiously drinking tea at the dining table with a second, untouched cup of tea in front of him. Katsuki peeks around the corner as the front door opens and his exhausted mom walks in.

“Mitsuki,” Dad murmurs, immediately getting up from the table to meet her. “How did it go at the police station?”

Mom lets out a heavy sigh, taking off her shoes and purse. “They were asking me all kinds of crazy questions about her. Questions about drugs and gangs, or if I've seen her meet with anybody suspicious lately—they even asked me about her exes. God, Masaru—what kinda things do they think Inko got caught up in?” Frustrated, Mom heads for the table and sits down with another weary sigh. Dad follows close behind her and takes a seat as well, gently handing her the second cup of tea, which she gratefully accepts. “And apparently, they still haven't been able to get ahold of that crappy husband of hers to let him know that his wife and son are missing. ‘Working overseas’ my butt. I told her that man was bad news! He probably ran off and started a whole new family by now.”

Dad grimaces, quiet for a moment before responding. “It’s hard to believe those two have been missing for a month already.”

“Yeah. I hope Inko and Izuku are okay,” she replies in a strained, wavery voice. “It’s awful not knowing a single thing about what happened to them. And those idiot officers don’t even seem that concerned or urgent at all! They almost seemed bored, it just makes me so—” Mom slowly exhales in an attempt to calm herself down. Seeing his wife so distressed, Dad reaches out and squeezes her hand.

Deciding that there must not be any other news on the situation, Katsuki slowly backs away before turning and slipping back to his room, climbing onto his bed with a frown.

He doesn’t understand—why is he so bothered by this? By Deku and Auntie Inko’s sudden disappearance? It's not like he ever cared about the stupid nerd, even before he was diagnosed quirkless. That crybaby annoyed the heck out of him from the start. Always sniveling and sniffling, getting his snot and tears all over his grubby little hands. Always shouting at Katsuki in that squeaky voice of his whenever he pushed some of his classmates around. Always gazing at Katsuki with those innocent yet patronizing eyes, eyes that were secretly laughing at him all the time. Always pretending to be some righteous hero when he was really just a powerless wimp that Katsuki could shove down whenever he wanted.

And he did. Countless times, Katsuki would push him, taunt him, leave him crying on the floor in the playground. Yet no matter what Katsuki did to him, that Deku wouldn’t stop following him around like a little puppy, desperate to keep up with him. He’d even call him that stupid, cutesy nickname, Kacchan.

So when Deku just stopped showing up for school, Katsuki thought he should’ve been happy or something. But whenever the school tried to contact Auntie Inko about it, she never answered their calls or replied to their emails, and then they found out that she stopped coming to work the same day too.

Something else that makes the whole situation even weirder is the rumor that’s spreading. There's an upperclassman that used to bother Deku all the time, and apparently, his quirk suddenly stopped working the same day that Deku disappeared. He's been insisting that Deku somehow took his quirk, but everyone just thinks he's crazy. Katsuki doesn't believe him either—how the heck would Deku be able to do that? And even if he could, the nerd would be too nice to actually do it.

Mom has been taking their disappearance the hardest, he thinks. She’s been best friends with Auntie Inko since they were in high school, so Katsuki and Deku have known each other since they were babies. Sure, Katsuki doesn’t want that stupid nerd around him all the time, but somehow his disappearance feels wrong. To have such a constant figure in his life suddenly be gone—it’s had a bigger impact on him than he’d like to admit. Where is Deku? Is he alive okay? Why does Katsuki care?

What might be the hardest part is hearing Mom cry at night. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen her cry before all of this happened. When she’s around him, she acts all brave and tough, but he knows that she’s devastated.

Katsuki finally lays down and pulls the blanket over himself. He can’t stop thinking about the last thing he said to Deku, the day before he went missing.

Everybody would be so much happier without you around, useless Deku! Maybe it'd be better for everyone if you died in a ditch somewhere.

Guilt swirls inside his stomach.

He wishes he could take those words back. All the times Katsuki hurt him, burned him, all the nasty things he said to him—he wishes he could take it all back.

Only now that Deku’s actually gone does Katsuki realize that he doesn’t want him gone. That he actually misses that stupid nerd’s constant rambling about heroes, the way he’d look up at him in awe and excitement whenever he did something cool, how Auntie Inko would bake cookies whenever he came over, how Mom would take them out to the mall to buy hero merch and trading cards, and afterwards they’d go out for ice cream.

And while he’d never admit it, he would give anything to have him back, if only it meant that Mom wouldn’t cry anymore.

Hesitantly, Katsuki reaches over and turns on the nightlight. A dim red, yellow, and blue glow fills the room. Just this once, he thinks.

While the teacher drones on and on about stuff he already knows, Katsuki tunes him out, idly twirling a pencil in his hand. The various students around the classroom are largely quiet as well, except for a bit of scribbling here and there, maybe a yawn or two.

Katsuki is bored. As usual.

He sighs and leans back in his chair, impatiently waiting for class to finish already. After the teacher finally wraps things up and dismisses them, Katsuki gets up and shoulders his backpack, heading straight for the door with his hands in his pockets. “Outta my way,” he grumbles to some extra in his path, deliberately bumping against the guy’s shoulder.

The two idiot classmates that always hang around him for some reason—Long Fingers and Shark Teeth—follow close behind, snickering at the unfortunate extra that was in his way. The pair jokes around with each other as they walk behind Katsuki, and the three of them soon leave Aldera Junior High and find themselves wandering along the streets of Musutafu.

“—right, Bakugou?” Shark Teeth is saying, looking at him expectantly.

“Huh?” he replies, his tone a bit exasperated. Honestly, he's been tuning them out this whole time. It's not like they ever have anything interesting to say, other than the usual crap that they go on about.

The two boys look irritated at Katsuki’s lack of interest. “Seriously? I'm getting tired of this, you know. You never listen to us anymore,” Long Fingers says with a frown.

Shark Teeth nods. “Yeah, man. What happened? We used to talk all the time, and then we just—I dunno, stopped.”

“The hell are you talking about?” Katsuki turns around with a frustrated huff, feeling strangely defensive. “I never asked you idiots to follow me around all the time. Would you quit yapping about it?”

“So that's what you think of us?” Long Fingers scoffs. “Should've known. After all the years we've been friends, we're just those two annoying idiots to you.”

“Oh shut up, Long Fingers. I don't care about any of that sappy friendship crap,” he snaps, glaring at them. “Besides, after this year, I'm going to be at U.A., and you nobodies are going to be at some third-rate high school in the middle of nowhere. So don't waste my time.”

Shark Teeth shakes his head in dismay. “Let's just get out of here,” he mutters to the other teen, and without another word, they turn and walk away.

Katsuki feels a tinge of regret as they leave, but shakes it off and continues down the sidewalk with a scowl etched onto his face. It's better this way—if anything, he should’ve gotten them off his back sooner. He doesn't need nor want any stupid extras slowing him down. No, he needs to put all his focus into becoming the Number 1 Hero, which means he doesn't have time for something as pointless as friends.

As he’s cutting through an alley, a faint but strange rumbling sound seems to be coming from behind him. He slows to a stop and turns around, immediately coming face to face with a large, looming mass of dripping green sludge, on which eyes and a mouth start to form. “You seem like a perfectly-sized host,” it declares with a sinister grin, before lunging at him.

Crap, a villain?! Katsuki grits his teeth and shoots his hands out, blasting the villain head-on and causing it to flinch and pause. “Oh, you just picked the wrong guy to mess with,” he shouts, returning the villain’s earlier smirk with his own vicious grin and setting off some crackles and pops from his hands. Though it seems like it’s just an intimidation tactic, it’s also something that helps Katsuki warm his hands up and prepare to release another explosion.

“And you have a powerful quirk? Even better.” The villain rushes toward him again, to which Katsuki responds with another powerful blast at what he thinks is its head. However, under the cover of the smoke, the sludge lowers itself to the ground and manages to snake around his feet.

“The heck?” He tries to shake the slimy ooze off his legs, but it continues to travel up his body, wrapping around him and completely engulfing him. Without warning, the thick slime forces itself into his mouth, and he can’t help but gag as it shoves itself further and further down his throat.

Katsuki can't breathe. In an effort to free himself, he sets off a few random explosions, but the viscous slime just tightens around him and further traps him in place. “Stop struggling. It'll be over soon,” the villain says, as if to reassure him in some twisted way.

As the sludge slowly smothers the life out of him, a crowd of onlookers begins to gather around, looking on in shock or calling for a hero. Katsuki continues trying to blast the villain away, but all that does is start fires around him and make things worse. Soon enough, some heroes start arriving at the scene—and while he doesn’t want to be saved as if he’s some helpless kid, even someone as prideful as himself can realize that he can’t escape on his own this time. However, he quickly notices that the heroes aren’t making any attempts to free him. Instead, they’re busying themselves with putting out the fires and keeping the civilians back! He thinks one of them was saying something about none of their quirks being able to help?

Honestly, he’s not sure. His head is spinning, his vision blurry…that’s probably not good.

He needs to breathe.

In desperation, he claws at the slime around his throat. God, he feels so humiliated and pathetic. Weak. As the future Number 1 Hero, Katsuki should be able to easily save himself before completely and utterly obliterating the stupid villain. But here he is, choking on this disgusting sludge that fills his lungs and constricts his limbs, about to freaking cry.

He can’t breathe.

Is he going to die today?

He hasn’t even made it to high school, never made a name for himself.

What will his mom think? Even though they get on each other’s nerves more often than not, he doesn’t want to leave her like this.

He isn’t ready to die yet.

Ashamedly, he’s blinking back hot tears, his consciousness slipping away—when he happens to lock eyes with somebody in the crowd.

Somebody with green eyes.

He doesn’t know why, but their vibrant color sticks out to him in his oxygen-deprived state.

The next thing he knows, something is whizzing right by his head. He’s vaguely aware of the villain crying out in pain, and then finally, finally, relief comes. The slime starts to recede from his throat, the sickening feeling of the action causing him to gag again.

With renewed determination, he harshly hacks and coughs in an attempt to completely rid the vile substance from his airways, briefly looking up as he does so to find a knife lodged in the distraught villain's eye. That must be what flew by his head earlier. The sludge is still trapping Katsuki in place, but its hold on him has definitely weakened.

The green-eyed kid rushes forward from the crowd with a hand outstretched, eliciting shouts of protest from onlookers and heroes alike. As he runs towards Katsuki, a seemingly invisible force pulls the knife out of the villain and it flys straight into the kid's grasp, causing the villain to cry out again.

“Argh! Little brat, you're gonna pay for that,” the villain snarls, swinging a slimy tendril at him. The kid dodges the attack with ease, moving into the villain's recently-acquired blind spot—and in a swift, precise movement, he swings a fist down on its hurt eye. The villain slams into the ground with such force that the sludge making up its body immediately scatters in every direction, covering the alley and anybody nearby in green ooze. Katsuki himself is even thrown back from the impact, landing hard on his back with a gasp as the air is abruptly knocked out of him.

The crowd erupts into cheers, but he barely hears it, slowly sitting up and rubbing his head with a groan. His ears are ringing and his whole body is throbbing, but he has to get a better look at this kid. The kid that was able to defeat that villain when Katsuki couldn't.

At first glance, he looks like a little kid, maybe twelve. The kid turns around to face him, and they lock eyes. A strong sense of déjà vu rushes through him—he knows this guy from somewhere. The look of recognition that flashes through the other boy's eyes only makes Katsuki more sure of it. That freckled face, the curly green hair, the big green eyes…it's so familiar. But from where?

Before Katsuki can say anything, one of the heroes—Death Arms—calls out, running up to him. “Hey kid! You okay?” The hero kneels down to help him up, but Katsuki shakes him off and stands up on his own, albeit a bit wobbly.

“Yeah, yeah, I'm fine,” he mutters in a hoarse voice, his throat sore and icky from the slime. Ugh, he can still taste it when he swallows.

Death Arms appears to be unconvinced. “We've got some medics on their way right now. They'll be here any moment now, and they're going to need to check on ya, so just hang tight for a bit.” He grins and gives Katsuki a thumbs up. “You were real brave out there today, kid. With your fighting spirit, you'll make an exceptional hero one day!”

Katsuki nods stiffly, glaring at the ground. He knows he was useless just now. He was the one who had to be saved, by a little twerp no less. He hates it.

As the other heroes start collecting the remnants of the sludge villain, Death Arms moves on to the other kid, a stern expression on his face. “Boy, do you understand how reckless that was? Still, you took the initiative to defeat the evildoer and save this young man, and what's more, you actually did it. That's more than I can say about the rest of us. You have a good heart and a strong quirk to match. You're going to be an outstanding hero! What's your name, boy?”

The kid's eyes flicker back toward Katsuki's for a brief moment before returning to Death Arms’. He almost seems overwhelmed by the attention—panicked, even. “I-I…um…”

“Still shaken up, eh?” Death Arms chuckles and reaches out to ruffle the kid's hair, but he nervously steps back to avoid his hand.

Watching the scene, Katsuki scowls. He can't take this anymore—he needs to know who this guy is. “Answer his freaking question, twerp,” he demands, marching towards them. “Who the hell are you?”

“I'm sorry guys, I really have to hurry home,” the kid stammers, very blatantly avoiding the question as he turns to leave.

“No.” Katsuki takes a step forward, glaring daggers at him. “You're not getting off that easily.”

“Hey now, before you go, we have to get you looked over first,” Death Arms points out. As if on cue, some ambulances are finally arriving at the alley and responders start to come out of the vehicles. “Some officers probably need to talk to you too.”

The kid shakes his head, eyeing the medics warily. “I'm not hurt, the villain didn't even touch me.”

“It's just procedure, kid,” the hero replies. “You’ll be good to go in no time.”

Something flickers across his face, but he quickly smoothes his expression out and looks up at them with a pleasant yet somehow unsettling smile.

Katsuki suddenly feels the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and he has to repress the urge to shudder. While it looks perfectly normal at first glance, there is something very, deeply wrong about that smile. Something that makes his body tense, his heart pound faster in his chest.

“No,” he says simply. “I'm leaving now. My parents are waiting for me.” Without another word, he walks away, and neither Death Arms nor Katsuki can bring themselves to object. Only after the boy rounds the corner does that inexplicable feeling of danger disappear.

By the time Katsuki is finally able to start heading home, he’s more confused than ever. As he walks, he replays the whole scene in his head, trying to figure the kid out. He’s sure that it was him who threw the knife at the villain’s eye, but right after that, didn’t it fly right back into his hand? That must have been a quirk, some sort of telekinesis power. However, the kid was able to take the villain down in one punch, and there’s no way someone could have done that by normal strength alone, especially a runt like him. Katsuki supposes he could have used telekinesis to aid his punch and scatter the sludge everywhere, but that just doesn’t feel right. If you ask him, it seemed more like two completely different quirks.

Approaching the front door of his house, he sighs in frustration and takes out his keys to unlock it. After entering, he closes the door behind him and drops his backpack on the floor. Neither of his parents are home yet, so the house is quiet and still. He hadn’t realized how tense and exhausted he was until now, feeling his shoulders relax and his expression soften once he’s in the comfort of his home. He knows his parents are going to bombard him with questions and relieved scoldings once they hear about what happened, especially Mom, but for now he enjoys the calm.

Even though the medics treated his throat and gave him some antibiotics to take home, it’s still pretty sore. He heads into the kitchen to get some cold water, but suddenly stops himself when he’s about to open the fridge.

There, pinned to the fridge by a magnet alongside some other photos and papers, is an old picture of himself and that quirkless kid he knew when he was little, Deku. It’s a stupid little picture, one that’s been on his fridge for so long that Katsuki hardly thinks anything of it anymore. There’s Deku and a much, much younger Katsuki, standing outside in a field or something, arms around each other’s shoulders. They’re both muddy and dirty, but Deku is beaming at the camera, and even Katsuki is reluctantly grinning.

He doesn’t remember what happened that day, but Mom says that she and Auntie Inko had planned a picnic for the four of them. It had unexpectedly rained that morning, so the grass ended up being pretty muddy—but apparently, the two of them were so caught up in their pretend game of heroes that they didn’t care. Their moms weren’t thrilled about them getting all filthy, but they were happy to see the two of them getting along, so they let it be.

With wide eyes, Katsuki snatches the picture off of the fridge and brings it closer to get a better look.

Because the freckled boy staring back at him from that photo is, without a doubt, the same kid that defeated the sludge villain today. Of course, he looks older now, but there’s no denying the resemblance.

Which means that little quirkless Deku is alive, and he’s not so quirkless anymore.

Mind whirring with questions, he takes a moment to let that and its implications sink in. Deku was right there in front of him. And Katsuki had just let him walk away and disappear again.

His shock quickly gives way to anger. He’s frustrated with himself for letting Deku slip out of his grasp, but he’s even more furious at Deku and Auntie Inko. Mom searched for those two for months, years. She never gave up on them, even when the police stopped caring. Yet, have Deku and Auntie Inko been around here this whole time? Right here in Musutafu, under their noses? If that’s true, why didn’t they even try to reach out to Mom? To let them know that they're okay? They had to have realized how heartbroken she’d become. Didn’t they care at all?

Unless they aren't okay. Deku was acting really strange earlier, and there’s the matter of how he even got a quirk in the first place.

Katsuki doesn't know what to think. One thing he knows for sure is that he can't tell Mom about Deku being alive. She'll go crazy looking for them, and he doesn't want to see her go through that again. But if Deku thinks he's not going to try to find him himself, then he is sorely mistaken. Not because Katsuki cares about him or anything, of course. He's just doing this for Mom. And because yeah, after all these years, he does deserve answers.

The present…

“I am…” All Might’s voice booms through the classroom, “coming through the door like a normal person!”

For the first time in his life, Katsuki gets a good look at the current Number 1 Hero in person. He knew the guy was huge, but seeing him up close…he’s massive. This is what a hero’s presence should feel like. Everyone in the room seems really excited to see All Might, and Katsuki doesn't blame them. He'll admit, it's pretty cool to be able to be taught everyday by the best of the best. When All Might declares that today they'll be doing combat training, he instantly perks up. Oh this is right up my alley, he thinks with a vicious grin.

“And to go with that,” All Might continues, pointing to a wall where shelves begin sliding out, “are costumes made based on your quirk registrations and requests you sent in before school started! After you change, gather in Ground Beta.”

Eager to see his hero costume, Katsuki gets up to grab his case and makes his way to the changing rooms. There's a low hum of chatter in the room, the conversations mostly centered around having All Might as a teacher or what the combat training will be like, but he ignores them in favor of getting into his costume. The first thing he notices when he opens the case is the huge, grenade-like gauntlets. He picks one up and examines it with a pleased smirk. They're exactly how he'd imagined them—better, even.

After putting on the rest of the outfit—which looks awesome on him, as it should—he’s about to leave when he spots Not-Deku finishing up with his own costume, a simple black jumpsuit with red accents. It actually looks pretty boring, in Katsuki's opinion.

“Oi. Not-Deku.” The nerd looks up, trying to play it cool—but Katsuki can tell that he's faking it. He can see the brief panic that flashes in his eyes as he approaches.

“Good morning, Bakugou,” he says. “Still going on about that, huh?”

“Listen, nerd. Deku or not, you still tied with me in the Entrance Exams.” He sets off a few sparks from his hands, just for good measure. “So whatever we do in combat training today, I just want you to know that I'm going to beat you. I'm going to prove to everyone here that I'm better than you. Got it?”

Not-Deku nods a bit, never breaking his gaze. “Alright.”

Just like that? No fight at all? What a wuss. “Don't hold back, or else. I need to see why a wimp like you was able to get such a high score.” Or, rather, how a once-quirkless person now has such power. At that, Katsuki turns and leaves, his scowl transforming into a satisfied grin as he walks out of the changing rooms with a confident stride. In his new costume, he feels untouchable.

Once everybody gathers in Ground Beta, All Might explains that while most public fights take place outdoors, more villains actually appear indoors than out. “For this class, you'll be split into villains and heroes, and fight two on two indoor battles,” he explains. Oh great, Katsuki's going to have an extra dragging him down. The premise of the exercise is that the villain team has to guard a fake nuclear bomb in a building, while the hero team can either capture the villain team or deactivate the bomb by touching it. To determine the teams, they have to draw lots.

He gets stuck on Team D with some purple-haired guy that looks like he hasn't slept in years. He’s got eyebags to rival Aizawa’s, and—wait a minute, is he wearing Aizawa’s scarf thing? Weird. Whatever, it doesn’t matter, because Katsuki’s going to win regardless of who his teammate is or who his opponents are.

“The first teams to fight will be—” All Might digs into the bucket of villain teams and the bucket of hero teams and pulls out two lots— “Team D as our villains and Team A as our heroes!”

Team A…that was…

Deku, he realizes. Deku and his little pink-cheeked friend.

Katsuki meets his eyes and stares him down—stares down the boy with freckles and big round eyes and a headful of curly dark hair. Features that feel so familiar, yet aren't quite right. This battle is exactly what he was waiting for. I’m going to wipe the floor with you, and once I do, you’re going to tell me everything.

Not-Deku doesn’t flinch, holding his gaze for what feels like a long moment as if to acknowledge Katsuki’s challenge, before finally turning and leaving to prepare.

Oh, that nerd is so going down.

Chapter Text

Crap.

It's only Mikumo's first day of hero training and he's already up against Bakugou.

Crap.

Mikumo sighs as he stares up at the building where Bakugou and Shinsou are setting up. Uraraka, his partner for the exercise, is beside him, looking over the building’s floor plan with a concentrated expression on her face.

It's not going to be pleasant, but he has to do this. At this point, Bakugou's constant insistence about his identity is getting too dangerous, and Mikumo can't let him keep going at it. The only way he'll get Bakugou off his back is if he speaks his language—and unfortunately, that language is violence. Mikumo needs to win this match.

“Wow, it's a lot of work to memorize this thing!” Uraraka exclaims, breaking the silence as she looks up from the paper in her hand with a sheepish smile.

Eh, he only needed a few seconds to memorize it, but he doesn't say that.

She continues, “It's so cool how All Might is just the same as when he's on TV, though!”

Mikumo swallows hard and then nods. “Yeah. The same.” He really doesn't want to think about All Might right now—which is kind of impossible considering All Might is literally overseeing the battle, but he’d still rather not think about it—so he changes the subject. “Listen, Uraraka, we need to start thinking of a strategy here. Bakugou isn't someone we should underestimate.”

“Right,” she says, her demeanor becoming more serious. “He's the one that got really mad because he thinks you're some other kid, right?”

“Yeah. I have a feeling he's going to come for me right off the bat,” he replies. Briefly, he studies the roll of capture tape in his hand, an idea formulating in his mind. “Think you can get us both up to that window with your quirk?” He gestures toward an open window a few stories up. It seems like the quickest way to get in quietly, without having to break anything.

She follows his gaze, spotting the window. “Yeah, that should be easy.” Mikumo nods, remembering the stunt she pulled during the apprehension test when she threw the ball into infinity.

“Okay, good. I think the best way to go about this is if I keep Bakugou busy while you look for the bomb, assuming he comes after me right away. I'll use the capture tape to secure him, then I'll join you to fight Shinsou,” he states, looking back at Uraraka as he speaks and trying to gauge her reaction to his plan.

She nods eagerly in response, looking more relieved than anything. “That sounds good! I like it. You sure you can handle Bakugou?”

“I think so,” he replies, his tone remaining neutral.

Just then, All Might announces the start of the exercise—and that they have 15 minutes to complete it. Just like they agreed, Uraraka uses her quirk to float herself and Mikumo up, and they're able to easily enter through the window.

“We've infiltrated successfully,” she whispers. “Now we just have to look for that bomb.”

“Alright, keep an eye out for Bakugou,” Mikumo mutters, looking around as he begins quietly moving forward. “There are a lot of blind spots here.”

Like he said earlier, he highly doubts Bakugou stayed behind to protect the bomb, which means Shinsou is likely defending it alone. To his frustration, he doesn't know what type of quirk Shinsou has yet. He didn't see him use any quirk during the apprehension test, so maybe his quirk is mental?

“Hey Uraraka,” he whispers, as they turn a corner and continue walking through the halls, “do you know what Shinsou's quirk is?”

She frowns. “No, sorry. But I—”

Before she can finish her sentence, a flash of black and orange lunges out of the hallway up ahead and hurtles towards them.

A surprise attack? Mikumo pulls Uraraka out of the way just in time, barely able to keep his footing as explosions blast the wall where they were standing only a moment ago.

Through the smoke, he can see Bakugou's figure straightening up. “There you are,” the angry teen says, stepping into view with a scowl.

“Okay, go on ahead Uraraka,” he says firmly, not daring to take his eyes off of him.

She hesitates, but seeing the surety on his face, she relents with a nod. “Alright, good luck,” Uraraka says as she turns and hurries off in the opposite direction. Just in time, too, seeing as Bakugou is starting to get impatient.

“Well? Are you just going to stand there? Or are you going to fight me with those two quirks of yours, huh?” He demands once Uraraka is out of earshot, rushing forward with his arm pulled back and sparking.

Reflexively, he shoots his hand out to catch Bakugou's. The explosion that he'd been releasing disappears into Mikumo's palm as his fist collides with it, accompanied by a resounding smack.

Bakugou's face twitches in confusion, his attention snapping towards the glowing hand that halted his punch. Seeing an opportunity, Mikumo lets go and moves his hand to face Bakugou before blasting him with his own explosion.

“What the-” he exclaims, using his quirk at the last second to launch himself to the side—the side that Mikumo's bang covers, unfortunately—and then from there, Bakugou swings a harsh kick at his back.

Upon impact, he stumbles forward but quickly recovers and whirls around to face him again.

“That wasn't like any of the quirks you had back with that sludge freak,” Bakugou says, eyes narrowed. Belatedly, Mikumo realizes that he hasn't seen him use his absorb-and-release quirk up until now. “How do you have so many quirks, Deku?”

“Oh, so first I'm supposed to be quirkless, but now I have multiple quirks? Make it make sense,” he replies, exasperation masking the tension in his tone.

“For crying out loud, just drop the act already,” he snaps. “Who do you think you're fooling? There's no one else around, and those extras watching the match through the cameras can't hear us either. It's just you and me. So tell me the truth.”

He can't do that.

“What happened to you while you were gone?”

Mikumo lets out a frustrated huff. “Stop. Just stop, it's pointless.”

“I'm not stopping until I get answers!” Bakugou declares, before coming at him again.

Hitoshi is all by himself.

He's currently standing in front of the “nuclear bomb” he and Bakugou are guarding—or rather, supposed to be guarding. Because that arrogant bonehead decided to ditch Hitoshi and go off on his own. He tried to convince Bakugou that they should make some sort of plan, but no. The guy just doesn't listen. Nobody does, really.

Why did Hitoshi have to get stuck with the worst possible teammate? And it figures he got assigned to the villain team. It's like the world is always out to get him, scheming to make his life miserable. He hopes the universe at least finds his suffering amusing.

Now Hitoshi has to possibly fend off the other two by himself, if they survive Bakugou's rage-driven rampage. To make things worse, Aizawa told Hitoshi not to use his quirk yet, for some inexplicable reason. Well, there probably is a reason, but he supposes he's too stupid to figure it out. Which again makes him wonder why Aizawa even decided to help him in the first place.

Maybe he shouldn't think about it too hard. After all, Aizawa also offered to help that creepy girl, so the bar must be kinda low.

Still. He can’t help but wonder. Is it to keep an eye on him, the potential future villain? Or is it out of pity? Or maybe it's because he sincerely wants to help him?

…nah. He almost audibly scoffs at that last thought.

Starting to feel restless while he waits, Hitoshi adjusts the scarf—uh, capture weapon—on his neck. Even though they haven't started their extra lessons with Aizawa yet, he had given one to him and Jounetsu each before the exercise started.

“Even if you don't know how to use it yet, get used to how it feels on you.”

So. All Hitoshi has is a quirk he can't use and a weapon he doesn't know how to use. Awesome.

In all seriousness, Aizawa probably told him not to use his quirk because he doesn't trust him in using it on another student. It makes sense, after all, the guy barely knows him. Of course he doesn't trust him. Why did Hitoshi expect anything different? He's dangerous, and Aizawa is a pro hero, it's as simple as that.

A rumbling sound suddenly comes from one of the floors below, shaking the building a bit with the force of it.

Bakugou probably found the other team, he thinks with a grimace. As more booms echo through the building, he pushes down his unease and lifts a hand to turn on the earpiece. “Bakugou, what's going on down there?”

No response. After waiting a few more seconds, he tries again. “Bakugou. Tell me what's happening.”

It takes another moment before the device finally crackles to life. “Would you shut up and just guard the bomb? I'm trying to focus on beating this nerd’s—”

“No,” he interrupts. “We’re supposed to be a team, so you need to keep me updated with things on your end.”

He hears Bakugou groan in annoyance, followed by some crackling static and an indistinct voice in the background. “I gotta go,” he says, then the line goes quiet.

Hitoshi sighs. He can only hope Bakugou manages to keep the other team occupied for most of the exercise, because from the sound of it, that is not a fight he's ready to handle yet.

What was he even thinking, entering the hero course? Everybody here is on another level compared to him. Really, it was just pure dumb luck that he happened to hear that “infinity girl” chick cry out during the exam. He's not here by his own strength, he's only here because he got those extra points. And anybody could have helped her, Hitoshi isn't special.

Wait. Infinity girl. Is she there with Akatani and Bakugou? He doesn't think Bakugou mentioned her at all. Either he's completely ignoring her, or she's somewhere else in the building.

Thoughtfully, he turns around to look at the paper mache bomb placed behind him. If he remembers correctly, she makes things float if she touches them. So really, all he has to do if he encounters her is avoid her hands and keep her away from the bomb. And she doesn't stick out to him as particularly strong, so…he could probably take her in a fight, right?

If she comes alone, maybe he's got a chance. Then again, the other team might not even find him at all, so he might be stressing over nothing.

He turns back around to face the doorway again, wondering how long it's been since the match started. It's probably only halfway done, but it feels like he's been standing here for longer. Suddenly, Hitoshi becomes aware of just how quiet it is. What happened to all the explosions?

The silence is making him feel a bit uneasy. He's debating whether to try contacting Bakugou again when he hears something clatter behind him. Hitoshi immediately whirls around to find a wincing Uraraka frozen in place, not too far from the bomb. The source of the sound—a small, rusty metal pipe—lies at one of her feet, as if she stepped on it by accident.

Ah. That’s where she is.

Akane eagerly watches as her best friend and his fated rival (Friend? Bully? Hero?) battle it out, her sharp golden eyes glued to the screen along with the rest of the class.

“Woah, look at those two go!”

“Hm. A face off between the top scorers from the Entrance Exam.”

“They both move so fast, kero.”

She's always enjoyed watching him fight. He has a certain precision, a certain grace about it. Once he's focused on what he has to do, there's no stopping him.

On the screen, Kumo and Kacchan are still going, constantly dodging and attacking and dodging again. She knows this fight must mean a lot to Kumo. Then Akane turns her attention to the other monitors, looking for her new friends Ochako and Hitoshi.

Ochako is super sweet and very cute, she thinks. And she's a girl. Akane never gets to hang out with other teenage girls, so she’s really excited! On the other hand, Hitoshi is way more quiet to be around so far, but it's not really a shy type of quiet. It's more like…a scared quiet? Akane doesn't like it, not one bit. She just wants to give him a big hug and some nice fluffy blankets and maybe even some hot chocolate. That always makes her feel better.

From the looks of it, Ochako found the room where Hitoshi is, and she's waiting outside the doorway just out of his view. Her lips are moving…she must be whispering or something, probably talking to Kumo.

Glancing back at the monitors with the boys, Akane sees Kacchan letting off a particularly powerful explosion, which Kumo takes in and reflects back at him. The combination of both explosions leaves the hall full of smoke, making it nearly impossible to see what's happening.

The boy next to her, a blond boy that she hasn't met yet, peers at the screen. “Dang, where'd they go?”

“There's Kumo!” Akane exclaims, pointing at another monitor that shows him running out of the smoke and into another hallway just as Kacchan emerges from the other side of the smoke.

Kumo is…running away?

She watches as he stops in another hallway. A bit confused, she looks back to the monitor with the other two students and sees Hitoshi briefly look away from the door—and that's when Ochako creeps into the room.

“Hey! Don't run off on me!"

Mikumo ignores Bakugou’s shouts, looking over his shoulder as he darts into a hallway a little bit away from the explosive teen. “Alright, I'm fine now,” he says lowly into the communication device as he stops to lean against a wall. “What were you saying, Uraraka? You know where the bomb is?”

“Yeah, it's in the middle of the fifth floor. Shinsou is by himself,” she replies. Earlier, she’d tried contacting him while he was fighting Bakugou, so he had to take his leave. After a pause, she continues. “I'm going to try to get it myself.”

“By yourself? But will you be able to handle Shinsou? We don't even know his quirk yet,” Mikumo points out.

“I’ll sneak past him. If he spots me, all I need to do is touch him once to get him in the air.”

Uraraka sounds confident, but he’s still not sure. Shinsou is a huge unknown. On the other hand, Mikumo doesn’t think it would be a good idea to leave Bakugou here to go meet Uraraka. Not when he could follow Mikumo or show up unexpectedly. He needs to deal with him now, and time is running out to get the bomb.

“Okay then,” he relents. It's an unexpected change of plans, but it might be for the best. “I don’t think I have to remind you to prioritize touching the bomb over fighting Shinsou.”

“Leave it to me,” she replies firmly, before disconnecting.

He’s about to go looking for Bakugou again when he hears his voice coming from another hallway. “So you’re hiding again, huh? Is that all you’re good at?” A door slams in the distance, likely from his unrelenting search for Mikumo. Creeping along the hallway, he follows the sound as Bakugou continues ranting. “That’s all you’ve done for years! Hide from me, hide from the world—just collecting quirks like it’s nothing, right?”

Alright, now he’s pissing him off. And Mikumo’s usually good at handling his emotions, but when it comes to Bakugou, it becomes so much more difficult. The guy needs to cut it out. Or something bad is going to happen. And Mikumo won’t be able to stop it.

“Y’know what? You don’t have to tell me anything,” Bakugou says, heading into another hallway with an air of authority as Mikumo silently shadows him from a distance. “I don’t even want to know anymore. I just wanna beat you, so come out and fight me already!”

At that, Mikumo jumps into action, rushing forward from where he was lurking. Bakugou quickly turns around to face him, likely having spotted him in his peripheral vision, and aims an explosion at him—but Mikumo darts to the side and jumps off the wall, using it to propel himself and throw a harsh kick at his head. The kick lands like he wanted it to, but Bakugou still manages to grab hold of him and yank him down onto the floor, knocking the air out of him as he lands with a thud.

Even as he’s on the floor, he kicks Bakugou in the back of his legs, causing him to stagger forward and giving Mikumo enough time to scramble back up on his feet.

“Look who decided to come back.” He rolls his shoulders as he straightens up. “Maybe you aren’t a total wuss.”

“Bakugou, this has gone on long enough. I'm not your Deku. If we're going to fight, please respect me as my own person,” he states evenly.

“Tch. Alright then, Akatani, I wonder how much power that quirk of yours can take at once,” he says, lifting an arm up and directing it towards Mikumo, drawing his attention towards the giant grenade-shaped gauntlet on his arm. “Do you know how my quirk works? Of course you do, you little creep. It lets me make nitroglycerin-like sweat from my palms.”

Uh oh. He thinks he knows where this is going. Ever since he first saw the costume, Mikumo had wondered why Bakugou had chosen such an impractical feature for it, since those gauntlets must be bulky and heavy. At first, he'd figured that he was just being showy, but now, with the way he's holding it…

Bakugou grins, putting his finger on what seems to be a pin on the gauntlet. “And if this works correctly…”

He wouldn't, he thinks unsurely, his body tensed in preparation to run at any moment. The teachers wouldn't let him anyways.

After saying something into his communication device, he starts pulling the safety pin in what seems to be slow motion.

Oh, he would, Mikumo realizes, his heart dropping in his stomach as he braces himself to either absorb the coming blast—which he's not sure his quirk will be able to handle—or get out of the way. Then, the speakers crackle to life, causing them both to pause and look up.

“The match has ended! The winners are the hero team!”

Surprised, Mikumo glances back at Bakugou—just in time to see him pluck the pin out of his gauntlet.

A deafening explosion blasts through the hallway.

Shoot. How did she sneak past me? Hitoshi wonders, not wasting another second before bolting towards the bomb. Uraraka quickly does the same, but he makes it there first and blocks her path.

“That won't be enough to stop me,” she declares, not slowing down. She taps herself as she runs, taking away her gravity and using the momentum from running to launch herself into the air.

She's gonna float right over me and get to the bomb, he realizes. Hastily, he reaches up and grabs her leg just as she's about to pass him.

“Hey!” With a grunt, she tries to kick him away with her other leg, but he holds on firmly and pulls her farther away from the bomb as she floats in the air. He's about to get the capture tape from his pocket when Uraraka puts her hands together and cries out, “release!” Immediately, she drops to the floor, taking Hitoshi down with her. Yanking her leg out of his grasp, she gets up and makes a beeline for the bomb.

Scrambling up, he races after her, desperately looking around for something to slow her down with. Despite having longer legs and therefore longer strides, she still manages to remain just out of his reach. That girl might not seem all that intimidating, but wow she is quick.

In a last, desperate attempt at stopping her, Hitoshi spots some small piece of metal junk laying around–he doesn't even know what it is—and immediately slams his foot into it, kicking it as hard as he can and aiming for her. It successfully slams into the back of her leg and she stumbles right when she's about to touch the bomb.

His relief is very short-lived, however. As she falls, he watches in horror as she reaches her arm out and brushes the tips of her fingers against the bomb, activating her quirk and causing it to slowly begin floating in the air.

“The match has ended! The winners are the hero team!”

Hitoshi stands there numbly, his shoulders sagging a bit as the fight goes out of him and resigned acceptance comes over him. He knew this was going to happen. God, this is so pathetic. He really wanted to prove himself to the class and his new teachers today—not only that, but prove to himself that he deserves his spot in the hero course. Yet he couldn't even beat this one girl.

At the very least, Hitoshi figures he should preserve some of his dignity and be mature about his loss. He steps forward, intending to go help her up and say good job or whatever, when the ground underneath him suddenly shakes violently once more, this explosion being the biggest one yet and almost knocking him off his feet.

What? Isn't the match over now? His team lost. So why…?

Hitoshi's confused gaze meets Uraraka’s equally confused and concerned one as she sits up, before they both turn their attention to the doorway leading to the rest of the building.

“Are they still fighting?” Uraraka murmurs, standing up with a frown while he distractedly walks over to her. “Is that even allowed?”

He shrugs in response, hesitating before replying. “Probably not.”

Toshinori lets out an English curse under his breath, jumping out of his seat and rushing out of the monitoring room, heading straight for Ground Beta.

“Young Akatani, come in!” He demands, worry swirling in his gut. No answer.

This isn't good. That blast was strong enough to actually kill a person, and from the looks of it on the cameras before they shattered, it completely engulfed the hallway.

Gritting his teeth, Toshinori tries speaking through the earpiece once more. “Young Bakugou, what's going on? Are you both okay?”

Again, no answer. He knows he should have stopped the fight when he saw Bakugou get ready to use that gauntlet of his, but his gut told him to let the fight play out naturally. Besides, after he'd given the boy a warning, he thought he would come to his senses and not actually do something so reckless. Clearly, he was wrong.

Finally reaching the building in which the exercise took place, Toshinori charges inside, stopping when he comes to the area where the two teens are. He's relieved to find Akatani getting up from among some rubble, while Bakugou appears to still be standing in the same place he was earlier. The stunt he pulled managed to demolish the hallway, leaving behind piles of rubble and still-rescinding smoke. That kid has some power.

“Young Akatani,” he calls out, ignoring Bakugou for now and deciding to prioritize the other boy first. He quickly approaches the young man, looking him up and down for any major injuries. Thankfully he appears to have none, other than some small scratches and burns. That could have been a lot worse. Still, he'd better ask just in case. “Are you seriously hurt anywhere?”

The boy shakes his head in response as he brushes himself off. “I'm fine,” he replies simply. “I jumped out of the way in time.”

Satisfied, Toshinori nods and reaches out to pat his shoulder reassuringly, not noticing how the gesture makes Akatani tense up just a bit. “Good. If all’s well, I don’t think you need to see Recovery Girl. You can start heading back.”

Not waiting for a response, Toshinori pulls his hand back and turns around again, focusing his attention on Bakugou.

“That was very reckless of you, young man,” he scolds, a stern expression on his face as he approaches him. “You used an unnecessarily excessive attack after the match was over. That's not how a hero-in-training should behave.”

Bakugou doesn't respond. In fact, he hasn't even acknowledged his presence this whole time, his gaze blatantly avoiding him. Now that Toshinori is up close, he can see that his shoulders seem to be shaking, in anger he presumes. The boy must have taken the loss hard.

Just like he did with Akatani, Toshinori places a large hand on his shoulder, unsuccessfully trying to draw his gaze to him. “I understand that losing isn't fun, but what you did is unacceptable. Outside of school activities and training, using your quirk on another student with the intent to harm them is strictly forbidden. When I announced that the match was over, that meant all sorts of physical attacks on each other had to stop. Especially one that powerful.”

Upon seeing that the boy still refuses to look at him, Toshinori sighs and pulls his hand away. “I'll have to talk with Aizawa to determine an appropriate punishment for you. Until then, we'll head back inside and continue with the rest of the matches.”

Katsuki hadn't meant to.

Well, he had. But he regretted it immediately afterwards.

He was just so—so upset. On top of being a coward and hiding away all these years, that nerd suddenly shows up in Katsuki’s dream school with his god-knows-how-many stupid quirks and his stupid black hair, ruining everything for him. Tying with him at the Entrance Exam and then winning against him in their very first activity in the hero course…how has that useless Deku he remembers changed so much?

Still, he knew he’d made a mistake as soon as he plucked the pin from his gauntlet. The flash of anger he’d felt at that moment had overshadowed his reason. Some part of him in the back of his mind knew that it wouldn’t actually do anything to Not-Deku, since he could probably dodge it in time based on what he’d observed from him while they were fighting. Even so, school has barely just started up again, and he’s already in trouble. He’s used to teachers giving him the benefit of the doubt and letting him off easy, but clearly that’s not how it works here.

He sighs as he trudges into the monitoring room with All Might close behind, not missing the way the room lapses into silence as soon as he enters. Feeling their gazes on him, he ignores them and focuses on heading off to a spot on the side, away from all his nosy classmates. He briefly got a glimpse of Not-Deku hanging around those annoying friends of his, which only serves to anger him further. It’s not like he cares about having any friends, but it’s frustrating how everyone seems to eat his little act up. No one believes Katsuki. Then, as if to rub salt in the wound, All Might announces they'll be reviewing the match.

“Now, I'll start off by announcing that the MVP of this battle was young Uraraka,” All Might states, his previously stern expression now replaced with the grin that he’s known for.

“Me?” She exclaims incredulously, glancing back at Not-Deku before returning her gaze to All Might. “Was it because I'm the one who got the bomb?”

“Actually, no,” All Might says. “Does anyone know why this young lady is our MVP for the battle?”

A girl with black hair tied up in a ponytail raises her hand seriously, know-it-all energy practically radiating off of her. Katsuki has to resist the urge to roll his eyes.

“Yes, young Yaoyorozu?”

“It's because Uraraka took the exercise for what it was and took it seriously. She was productive with her time and showed herself to be a team player by relying on her teammate to play his part,” Ponytail explains, her tone factual and blunt. “Akatani also performed well in these aspects, but it’s clear he let himself get too personally invested in the fight by engaging in what seemed to be a heated conversation with the villain. On the other hand, Bakugou went off on his own with no regard for his teammate and seemingly no real plan. He was pursuing a personal grudge over working with his teammate to guard the bomb. In addition, both Akatani and Bakugou’s use of large explosions during the fight showed no regard for the building’s structural integrity or how the bomb would be affected. Lastly, Shinsou seemed to have been too lost in his thoughts at first to notice Uraraka sneaking in. He lacked situational awareness, and then his performance against Uraraka also left much to be desired.”

Katsuki clenches his fists as he listens to her self-assured spiel, thoroughly annoyed with the way she thinks she’s got everyone all figured out. But no, she’s not even finished yet.

Ponytail then turns to Pink Cheeks, whose cheeks are even more pink now. “Uraraka showed a level head throughout the match. She coordinated with her teammate and kept in contact with him, and she also took advantage of every opportunity she found when it came to overcoming Shinsou to get to the bomb.”

“Well, uh, young Uraraka could have been more aware of her surroundings as well, since she alerted the villain of her presence by accidentally making noise,” All Might says, his tone rather sheepish. “But, well, your analysis is correct!”

After that humiliating experience, All Might proceeds to send off the next two teams that will face each other, taking the attention off of him. The class resumes its low chatter from earlier while they wait for the new match to start, but Katsuki can still feel occasional glances at him. He can tell most people here are avoiding him for now.

Whatever. He doesn’t care. And he doesn’t feel like interacting with any of these extras anyways. He’s still replaying the events from earlier in his mind, unease swirling in his gut. Everything has been so weird and wrong ever since he got into U.A. No, ever since he first saw Deku back with the sludge villain. That’s when everything started to change.

It’s all Deku’s fault.

“Wow, I can't believe I got MVP,” Uraraka exclaims, smiling and bashfully rubbing the back of her neck.

“You deserved it,” Mikumo replies, smiling a bit. “And you're the one who got the win for us.”

He's still reeling from the fight with Bakugou. It didn't feel…right. There was no closure. Neither of them actually “won.” He knows Bakugou is just as dissatisfied with how it ended as he is.

“Yeah! Awesome job, Ochako!” Jounetsu exclaims, excitedly clapping her hands. “And you too, Kumo!”

Uraraka nods eagerly, turning to look at him. “I wouldn't have been able to get to the bomb if you hadn't kept Bakugou distracted for so long! Too bad your costume got pretty roughed up.”

Mikumo shrugs, looking down at his scorched and worn costume. “It's not heavily damaged. I'm sure it can be fixed relatively quickly. Bakugou's got messed up too.”

Then, he notices another girl approaching the group, her attention focused on Uraraka. He’s seen her around, but hasn’t officially met her yet. “Hello there, kero,” she greets. “Congratulations, Akatani and Ochako. Can I call you that?”

Uraraka seems startled by both the girl’s sudden appearance and by her request to use her first name. “Huh? Oh, sure! I don’t mind,” she replies, her smile returning to her face along with a faint blush. “You’re…Asui, right?”

The girl nods. “Please, just call me Tsu. Nice to meet you, I admired you during your match.”

“Tsu? Ooh, cute nickname! I love it,” Jounetsu interjects, jumping into the exchange. “I’m Akane!”

“I know,” Asui says with a nod. “That's why I came over here. You and I are on the same team. It's our turn after this next match, kero.”

“Ohhh, so you're my teammate,” Jounetsu replies, brightening up. “We get to be heroes together, yay!”

Mikumo silently observes the interaction, feeling rather out of place as the three girls converse. But he doesn’t know how to leave without being rude or something, so he just awkwardly stays put and listens to them talk.

“Akane, I always speak my mind,” Asui states, an unreadable expression on her face. “I noticed you wearing Aizawa-sensei’s scarf, and that boy on Bakugou’s team too. Why is that?”

“That’s because Eraser—I mean, Aizawa-sensei is going to teach us how to use it,” she replies with a happy smile. “He says we need extra training.”

“I see,” she replies, thoughtfully putting a finger on her chin. Jounetsu has already filled Mikumo in on it, to his relief. “And one more thing, if I may ask. Back when we first met him, you recognized Aizawa-sensei as his hero persona ‘Eraserhead’ immediately, even though the rest of us had never heard of him before, kero. How did you know about him?”

“Oh yeah, you did recognize him right away,” Uraraka chimes in, a curious expression on her face as she also awaits Jounetsu’s response.

Alarm flashes through Mikumo’s mind upon hearing Asui’s question. This girl is a lot more observant and intuitive than he’d realized. In the future, he’s going to have to be careful with how he acts and what he says around her, maybe tell Jounetsu to distance herself from her as well. But knowing her, she’s probably not going to want to.

“My friend is a huge fan of him,” she explains easily, unfazed and unbothered. “He saw Eraserhead save somebody once, and he thought he was cool.”

Asui nods, seemingly satisfied with her answer. “That makes sense. I'm going to stay here with you all until it's our turn, if that's okay.” This time, she looks at all three of them in turn, including Mikumo.

“Of course,” Uraraka replies cheerfully, while Mikumo just nods.

“That’d make me soo happy!” Jounetsu agrees, already going in for a hug. Asui seems a bit startled by the sudden affectionate gesture, but happily returns it. Mikumo can't help but smile just a little at the sight, knowing that this has been something Jounetsu has been wanting for a long time.

After they pull away, Asui speaks up again. “We should talk about our rivals before the match. During Akatani's match, I was able to speak to them a bit, kero,” she reveals, briefly glancing at him in acknowledgement before turning back to her teammate.

“You're so smart, Tsu,” she gushes, eagerly nodding in response to her suggestion. “That sounds good!”

While Jounetsu and Asui continue that train of thought, Mikumo steps away a bit and focuses his attention on the screen showing the two current teams. Shouto Todoroki and Mezou Shouji as heroes against Mashirao Ojiro and Tooru Hagakure as villains. He's curious to see the son of Endeavor in action. Frankly, his costume is rather ugly, and severely limits mobility. The guy is clearly going through an edgy phase.

He can feel Uraraka come stand beside him, probably having felt like she was intruding on the other girls’ planning. He doesn't mind, but he doesn't turn to look at her either. The match is over nearly as quickly as it started, as Todoroki completely dominates the round with a single strike of his foot on the ground.

And just like that, it's time for Jounetsu and Asui to go. Mikumo doesn't doubt her abilities in the slightest, but he does hope she doesn't go overboard.

“Hey,” he says, reaching out and getting her attention before she goes. “Be careful.”

Jounetsu glances back at him and grins, giving him a thumbs up. “Tsu and I got this!”

You know what I mean, he thinks, giving her a look.

She only chuckles and heads off with Asui. Eijirou Kirishima and Hanta Sero, the villains of the exercise, also leave to get situated. Mikumo watches the boys go with slightly narrowed eyes. Kirishima seemed nice enough when they met the other day, but they're going to have a problem if he gives Jounetsu a hard time for any reason other than the exercise. And the same goes for Sero.

Honestly, Mikumo has no idea what to expect from this match. He'll just have to watch and see as it plays out.

Chapter Text

Akane hums to herself as she makes her way down the hallway, her light and carefree steps echoing off the concrete walls.

She feels so cute in her hero costume. So cute. So cute! So girly! With a delighted grin, she does a little twirl in her dress—though her smile is hidden by the black mask over her mouth. It's supposed to help transport blood from her canisters right into her mouth, like the one she has back home, except this one has cat whiskers on it! Lifting up a gloved hand, she finds the pressure point that activates her cat "claws" and presses it, causing them to come out. Beautiful. Making people bleed will be easier than ever.

Well, making bad people bleed. People who want to hurt her or her friends. And Eraserhead said not to go overboard or use her quirk yet. Bummer. She kinda wanted to go all out with her new gear. Like, come on, cat ear blades? How can she not want to try it? But...

"Try not to kill or maim any of my students today, please."

She feels like he said it sarcastically, but it also felt serious enough that she got a little nervous. Even Kumo said not to get carried away, so she has to dial it back. Besides, she doesn't want to hurt any of her new friends. Kumo has always told her that when she has those thoughts, she needs to just let them pass. Not suppress them, just satisfy her urges in "healthy" ways. She's definitely gotten better from what she used to be like. They're just...thoughts. Thoughts she doesn't have to nor want to actually act on, even if she lets them slip sometimes. Her quirk is always going to be a part of her, and she's always going to be fascinated by blood, but she doesn't have to let it control her.

It's so hard trying to find a balance. She just wants to have fun!

So, she's going to have fun! Today! With her new bestie, Tsu!

"It's okay to have multiple besties, right?" She thinks out loud, glancing towards the side as she passes another door. "Kumo, Ochako, Tsu..." Yeah, school life is great. Maybe she'll even get a real crush.

Hearing faint voices coming from further down the hall, she stops. The villain team must be in one of the rooms further down. She reaches up to activate her earpiece, now stalking through the hallway in the direction of the voices. "Tsu, I think they're on the third floor. I hear them," she says, her voice hushed as her head turns to look around. "I think I'm close to the far left corner of the building from where we came in."

"Got it, heading over," comes the response. Everything is going according to their plan. Tsu is so smart!

Approaching one of the doorways, she stays out of sight and strains to hear any sounds coming from inside. After a moment of quiet, she dares to peek in, finding it empty.

"—hit a girl. It's not manly," a voice says, coming from the next door down. She quickly moves toward it, keeping her footsteps silent and deliberate.

"Well, right now we're villains, and villains don't care about that stuff," another voice reasons. "And when we're heroes, we can't not fight girl villains."

"Of course not! A villain is a villain!"

"Dude, you have to make up your mind here."

Now just out of view, Akane stops and reaches into one of her multiple dress pockets for a throwing star. Time for her to play her part in Tsu's awesome plan!

"So, Akane," Tsu starts after they're a good distance away from the others in the observation room, "let me tell you a little about my quirk, kero."

Akane grins, looking at her intently. "Sure! Aren't you like a frog? You always say kero and you move like one sometimes too."

She nods, meeting her gaze evenly. "That's right. My quirk lets me do whatever a frog can, including stick to walls. With that said, I have an idea on how we can approach this exercise, kero."

"Really? What is it?"

"First, let me ask you about your quirk." Tsu pauses, thoughtfully observing the other girl. "It would be good to know what you can do first, before we make a plan."

Her smile turns sheepish at that, and she starts to sway in place a bit. "Aizawa-sensei said not to use it yet. I don't know why. But I don't think it would help right now anyways."

Tsu tilts her head, but doesn't press for details. "Alright, don't worry about it. Then, we should split up. I can look for the bomb from the outside of the building by crawling along and looking through the windows. You can search from inside. Whoever finds the bomb first can let the other person know."

"Ooh, okay. And then we meet up and fight them together?" Akane suggests, perking up at the thought.

Tsu considers the idea for a beat before speaking again. "That might take too long, kero. I was thinking the first one of us to find them could be the distraction. Then the other can sneak in and touch the bomb. What do you think, Akane?"

Her face brightens in understanding. "Oh, I get it. I like your plan, Tsu! You and me are gonna win for sure."

Tsu smiles and nods. "Yes, we've got this. I'll tell you what I've seen of the others' quirks too so you know a little about what to expect."

The metal star whizzes through the air straight towards Kirishima, who just barely activates his quirk in time to protect himself, causing the star to bounce off him with a little clink. He's standing guard next to the bomb, with Sero on the other side of it.

"Woah!" Kirishima exchanges an alarmed glance with his teammate. "Careful, someone's here!"

As he's speaking, Akane lunges in Sero's direction from where she was hidden, her claws shooting out as she lightly slashes him in the side.

Or maybe not so lightly.

Unable to react in time, Sero gasps in surprise and pain, hands immediately reaching towards his injured side. Which was definitely bleeding more than she intended it to. She's not used to holding herself back!

"Sero!"

She spins around towards the voice and finds Kirishima already charging at her. Before she can defend herself, he lands a solid, rock hard punch right into her tummy, sending her flying into the wall behind her and knocking the breath out of her as her back makes impact. "Owie..."

Maybe she should have thought this out more.

Seeing that he successfully punched that girl into the wall, Eijirou takes a moment to turn and check on his teammate. He hates hitting a girl so hard, but she hurt his friend, and he needed to defend his team as part of the exercise anyways.

"You okay, man?" His eyebrows furrow as he tries to get a better look at the bleeding wound, taking a step closer to him.

Sero is still standing thankfully, so it must not be that bad. "Yeah, I'm okay," he replies with a wince, clearly hurting even if he's able to stand. "I don't think it's that deep. Let's just finish this exercise, yeah?"

Eijirou frowns, not feeling quite good about letting his teammate stay in pain, but he doesn't really know how to help. He reluctantly turns his attention back to Jounetsu, only to discover that she's gone.

His eyes widen. How did she sneak away so quietly in such a short period of time? Eijirou only looked away for a few seconds! "Wait, where'd she go?"

"Look out!"

Hearing Sero's sudden warning, Eijirou whirls around with his quirk activated just in time to defend against Jounetsu jumping at him with a knife in her hand, her eyes glinting with excitement. A knife? The death claws weren't enough?? And is she having fun right now?

He maintains his defensive stance, standing his ground as she jumps back and lunges in again and again and again, pushing him further back each time. This girl is relentless! In the midst of it, he locks eyes with Sero, who is now behind Jounetsu. Despite his wound, the other boy looks determined. It only takes a moment for his tape quirk to shoot out and wrap around Jounetsu's arm right before she can make another lunge at Eijirou, yanking her away and causing her to fall backwards onto the ground. Eijirou immediately takes the opportunity to pull out his capture tape, and Sero also starts to approach them—but then he pauses when he gets a look at her face.

Even with the mask on, she looks like she's still smiling happily, not a single bit worried.

That's when the speakers in the building click on. “The match has ended! The winners are the hero team!”

"What?!" Eijirou and Sero exclaim at the same time, their heads snapping towards the bomb.

There's Asui, perched on the side of it. She must have come in through the window and jumped onto it while they were fighting Jounetsu.

"Yay, we did it! I was just the distraction," the girl in question announces smugly, getting back up on her feet and unwrapping Sero's tape from her arm.

"We forgot about Asui," Sero realizes regretfully, looking towards him again.

Eijirou nods, sighing in disappointment. "Man... that was intense."

Asui lets herself down from the bomb and starts walking up to them while Jounetsu turns to Sero, her expression shifting into something more apologetic as her gaze flicks down to where he's bleeding. "Did I cut you really bad? Sorry! I'm not used to these claws."

"Nah, it's all good," Sero is quick to reassure, trying to play it off. "Gonna get hit with a lot worse if I'm going to be a hero, y'know? Recovery Girl will fix me up."

But the whole thing still leaves Eijirou uneasy. For their first real practical exercise, it seems like a pretty bad wound. Bakugou and Akatani's match got rather dangerous too, but at least no one had any real injuries. No one had to go to Recovery Girl.

Jounetsu's intense gaze is still locked onto Sero's injury. "Really, I'll be fine," he insists, a little off put by it.

She seems to snap out of her thoughts and finally meets his gaze again. "Can I walk you to Recovery Girl? To make up for it? Please?"

Sero blinks in surprise at her offer. "Uh, sure I guess..."

Jounetsu beams. "Okay! See ya, Tsu! Let me know the results later," she calls out, heading out with Sero as they follow a medic bot that appeared sometime while they were talking earlier. Eijirou watches them go with a frown, then he and Asui quietly start to head back to the observation room.

"Hey Akatani, you're making a pretty scary face..."

Mikumo continues to frown deeply, ignoring Uraraka's comment as he stares at the monitor.

At Jounetsu leaving with that tape boy.

What in the world is she doing? It's already bad enough that she sliced him like that. Most watching in the room here were shocked by her lack of hesitation in doing so.

A bleeding boy.

An excited Jounetsu.

Alone.

It is the very definition of a recipe for disaster.

He's not sure if she's been keeping up with her usual diet, which normally helps her quell her bloodlust and extreme emotions. Maybe he should have been more on top of her about it while they've been in U.A. He thought she could be responsible about it, but no...

Stop. He has to stop thinking like that. Maybe she has been keeping on track with her diet and therefore is perfectly capable of making good decisions. Jumping to conclusions won't be beneficial.

Before he realizes it, he's already turned around and started walking towards the exit of the observation room.

"Huh? Hey, where are you going?"

"Restroom," he tells Uraraka in response, not looking back at her. He doesn't notice someone else watching, too.

He's dead set on finding Jounetsu and talking to her.

It doesn't take too long to make it to the main campus. Even though he passes a handful of people on his way to the nurse's office, no one stops him. He looks directly up into one of the cameras as he walks by it. They look like normal cameras. There's at least one in every hallway, but they're pretty spaced out from each other. That's good. It'll make things easier for him.

He's almost at Recovery Girl's office when he sees none other than Jounetsu herself turning into his hallway from up ahead. She brightens up and waves, hurrying to meet him. "Kumo!"

His expression doesn't waver. "Akane." He stops walking as they reach other. "What did I tell you before the match?"

"But I was careful," she insists, unfazed by his seriousness. "I didn't mean to cut him so bad. Promise!"

Mikumo sighs, but he can tell she's being honest. "Alright. Have you been eating well?"

It's a normal but pointed question that causes her to frown a bit. "I guess. They don't make the meat as bloody as I like it here. And I'm running out of those iron supplements."

Ah. That's the problem. That's why she's been extra intense lately. He's quiet for a moment as he thinks over her situation. "He hasn't been able to get you any?"

She shakes her head.

"Okay." Mikumo guesses she probably doesn't have any money either, given how hastily she had made the decision to attend U.A. "After school, I'll take you to that one place you like to eat, and then we can pick up some more supplements. Sound good?"

Jounetsu grins, clapping her hands delightedly. "Yeah! You're the best!"

Mikumo huffs. Figures she'd get herself into this kind of situation, considering how impulsive she is. He's going to need to keep a closer eye on her.

"Oh, actually, Eraserhead wants me and that purple guy to meet with him after school. For training or something."

Mikumo nods. "That's fine. I'll wait for you, we can go eat afterwards. And I think you should stay with me at my apartment from now on." He has no clue where she's been staying until now, and honestly, he doesn't think he wants to know. Regardless, it's not a conversation they should be having in the middle of the school hallway where it could be monitored. "But let's talk about that later. We have to get back."

"Mkay," she agrees, starting to walk beside him. "That Recovery Girl lady sent me back right when we got there since she said I didn't need to stay with Sero."

"Yeah, I don't know why you decided to go with him," he says bluntly.

"Because he was bleeding~" she replies happily. "It was so pretty. I think I have a crush."

"Of course you do."

"I love my hero costume. It has so many sharp things."

"Use them responsibly."

Jounetsu pouts. "You're no fun sometimes. How are we even friends?"

He ignores the question. After a moment though, he decides to indulge her. "The...goth cat theme you've got going on is...cute."

Her expression lights up. "Right? On the form thingy I said I wanted a vampire cat costume. Maybe I could be a hero for real!"

Mikumo is quiet after that last remark, and it almost seems like he's not going to say anything. "Don't get too attached," he finally states, firmly but not unkindly. His eyes flicker up to a camera in the corner before he looks ahead again. "I've been...thinking about it a lot. But I don't want you to feel too disappointed...if it doesn't work out like that."

Jounetsu frowns a bit, the air growing more serious. But both of them know their conversation is reaching dangerous levels of openness, with Mikumo being especially selective of his words at this point. The conversation dies and they walk the rest of their way back to Ground Beta in silence.

The remaining matches go by quickly. Mikumo takes the opportunity to observe and learn more about his classmates quirks and personalities. It's very insightful, and a good distraction if nothing else.

Kaminari and Jirou somehow almost win against Tokoyami and the highly overpowered Yaoyorozu, but the latter team end up prevailing. Her Creation quirk continues to intrigue Mikumo. He wants it. If only she was more decisive. She acts self-assured in the classroom, but during the practical exercise, he noticed that she let Tokoyami take the lead—and Jirou was able to hear them coming.

Interestingly, Kaminari's quirk took down Tokoyami's Dark Shadow easier than Mikumo thought it would. But Yaoyorozu came through, getting to the bomb in the midst of the chaos with the boys. Jirou tried to stop her, but it came down to Yaoyorozu being more experienced and ranged in her abilities.

Lastly, Iida and Ashido take the win against Sato and Koda. The losing team just couldn't communicate effectively, and Iida and Ashido are both very proactive people in general. Sero came back in the middle of their match, all healed up. Jounetsu apologized again for hurting him, which seemed to ease some of their classmates' apprehensions about her since her match. Good.

Then, with all the battle trials out of the way, the class returns to the main campus. Not surprisingly, Bakugou continues to completely avoid Mikumo. And all their classmates, really. He hasn't built up a great reputation for himself, and it seems like no one wants to stir something up by trying to talk to him in his volatile state. He's quite intimidating, and clearly not in the mood to speak to anyone anyways.

It's not Mikumo's problem. He has more important things to worry about, and as long as Bakugou drops the whole Deku thing, Mikumo can't afford to waste mental energy on him. He needs to stay focused.

He has a job to do. A job he never wanted.

After school, Akane and Kumo are leaving the classroom when Ochako comes up to them, with Tsu following close behind. "Hey, you guys! Wanna walk together?"

They want to be with her? That's so exciting! Akane really wishes she could go, but... "I have to do extra lessons with Aizawa-sensei," she laments. "I'm sorry! Next time for sure, kay?"

Ochako frowns. "Aw man!"

"It's okay. Hope it goes well, kero," Tsu pipes up. "And you, Akatani?"

Beside her, he shakes his head. "I'm going to stay behind too."

This would have been the perfect opportunity to level up her friendship with Ochako and Tsu! What a bummer.

"Kumooo... I'm so sad... I wanted to walk with them..." Akane complains as they head to her meeting spot with Eraserhead.

"You'll have other chances," he says simply. "They like you. But be especially careful around Asui. She's perceptive."

Akane huffs. He's always worrying and nagging. "Can't I just have fun? All I want to do is make friends and have fun. Stop worrying so much. Most people aren't constantly suspicious of everything all the time, y'know. I mean, yeah, we're just like that, but I don't think that's normal. And aren't you trying to pretend to be as boringly normal as possible?"

Kumo is quiet, meaning she must have gotten him with that one. Finally.

When they arrive at the gym, Eraserhead is already waiting there along with Hitoshi, so she waves cheerfully. "Hiii! You guys got here fast!"

Eraserhead turns his head to face them, his unreadable gaze lingering on Kumo. "Jounetsu. Akatani." He regards them for a moment longer. "Is there a particular reason you're joining us today, Akatani?"

Kumo meets his stony expression with a seemingly bored one of his own. "Just going to wait for Akane so we can walk home together after this. We live in the same area and it's not exactly the safest."

Their teacher hums but doesn't press any further, gesturing for Akane to join them. She takes off her bag and tosses it on Kumo—who begrudgingly catches it and goes to sit down against the wall—before dashing over to the others. Hitoshi looks away when she notices him staring, as Eraserhead speaks up again.

"Right then, how was it participating in the Battle Trials without your quirks?"

Akane is the quickest to reply. "Turns out I didn't need my quirk! My team won."

Eraserhead nods in acknowledgement, before turning expectantly to Hitoshi. The other teen blinks under his gaze, but clears his throat. "It sucked."

He seems to accept this answer, continuing with his train of thought. "That's more or less what I expected. Jounetsu, I know your team technically won, but if it had been a real conflict, you would have been captured. Your quirks are unique in the sense that once someone knows their specific activation requirements, they're significantly less effective. And as pro heroes in the public eye, how do you think that will affect you?"

Akane frowns, but surprisingly, Hitoshi is the one to speak first. "Villains can easily avoid our quirks if they know how they work," he mutters. "Then our quirks are useless."

Eraserhead nods. "And you could end up with an outcome similar to today's. Which is why our first priority in our training sessions will be learning how to fight quirkless."

She supposes if someone knows how her quirk works, they're less likely to be deceived by it. Then it won't matter if she looks like someone else or not, because they'll already suspect that it's her. "But so far, no one knows about how our quirks work, so it hasn't been a problem."

"That's also true," Eraserhead replies. "And it would be wise to keep it that way. My recommendation is to keep your activation requirements secret, or even misdirect others with false activation requirements. Of course, it's completely up to you, but that element of the unknown has helped me a lot in my career as an underground hero. It's easier to keep the specifics of your quirk private when you stay out of the spotlight. On that note, considering a career as an underground hero may be worthwhile. Your quirks are well suited for it."

Akane and Hitoshi are both quiet with contemplation. Being an underground hero? Eraserhead is treating all of this so seriously... and it just makes everything feel more real. She has to remind herself of what Kumo said to her earlier.

"In any case, you both are still young and have a lot of time to think about what you want to do. Just throwing different ideas out there so you know you have options. You don't necessarily have to be a traditional hero. However, you should have some semblance of a plan by the sports festival this year, since that will be your first big debut to the public. You don't want to have any regrets about it in the future." After letting that sink in for a long moment, he sighs. "That's all. Let's begin."

"I'm sooo sore..." Akane whines the next day, slumping over the lunch table.

"Training with Aizawa-sensei sure must be tough," Tsu says sympathetically from where she's sitting next to her.

Across from them, Ochako can't help her curiosity. "Are you allowed to talk about your training, or is it secret?"

"Hmm..." Akane sits up straighter as she responds. "He didn't say it was secret. And he didn't mind that Kumo was there, so I guess not. It was just a bunch of martial arts stuff. It was fun, but now everything hurts."

"Akatani was there?" Tsu tilts her head. "Is that why he stayed behind yesterday?"

Ochako seems to remember something suddenly and interjects. "Oh! I was wondering, where is he, anyways? After classes this morning finished, he disappeared."

Akane remembers what he told her to say if someone asked about him today. "He's eating by himself today. Had a big headache and didn't want to talk to anyone," she says with a concerned frown. See, she can be a good actor, because Ochako and Tsu's expressions become worried.

"Oh no! Tell him we hope he feels better," Ochako says.

"Yes, please," Tsu agrees. "You two seem close."

At that, Ochako nods earnestly. "Right? That's what I thought too! But apparently, they just met."

"Yep," Akane clarifies, "I just decided we were gonna be besties and now we are."

"Wow, that's impressive, kero. He doesn't seem like the type to get very close to so quickly."

She grins. "But enough about Kumo, congrats on becoming vice president, Tsu!" The class voted on the class president today, with that super smart girl Yaoyorozu getting four whole votes and taking the title. Coming in second, Tsu got two votes.

"Yeah, that's so awesome!"

"Thanks, you guys," Tsu replies happily. "I know I voted for myself, but I'm surprised someone else voted for me too. I wonder who it was."

Akane's grin grows, mischief glinting in her eyes. "Hm, I wonder," she says cryptically, resting her chin on her hand. Just in case she doesn't get the hint, she makes eye contact with the other girl, waiting to see her reaction.

Tsu blinks at her, understanding dawning on her expression. "It was you, wasn't it? You voted for me, Akane."

"Hehehe." She claps her hands together delightedly. "I did! You were so amazing in the thing yesterday."

A warm smile spreads on Tsu's face, and it seems like she's about to say something when an extremely loud, blaring siren begins to go off, bringing all conversations in the cafeteria to a halt.

"There has been a Level 3 security breach. All students please evacuate outdoors promptly."

Everyone processes the situation for a single, surreal moment, before the hall devolves into chaos.

Eyes wide with concern, Ochako looks around at all the students fleeing from the lunch hall, starting to stand up herself. "Wait, what's going on? Security breach?"

The ringing of the alarm bell echoes through the empty hallway.

Just out of sight of the nearest camera, Mikumo stands alone, knowing he won't encounter anyone else on his way through.

(Tomura is making sure of that.)

He activates his quirk.

Hi̲ș ̬bo̞d͇y ̬s̼tarts t̫o̻ be̠com͈e b̤l͇u̹r̗ry and ̲in̻dis͚tiṇc̤t̫, c̪onst̤antly ̖c̝ḥa̦ngi͈ng an̫d ̖sh̥ift̺i̩n̳g̙.̰ Gl̞owi̬ng̭ ͓dif͙f̤er̦enṭ dis͖tinc͉t̙ ̟color̗s, ̦ye̥t ̞one ͙c͎o̱ul̳d͈n̘'̝t ̩p̝o̺ss̼i̲bly ̩disce̗rn̘ exa̼c̺tly̻ w͈hich ͉on̝e̬s.
̬
̼He d̖o̝e̻s̩n̙'t need̖ ̩t̺o̱ ͅl̥o̳ok̬ ̬down ̫a͕t͖ ͉his̺ ̼ha̖n̹d͔s ̜to ̪know th̰a͔t̠ ̭th̩ey'v̖e͖ t͕ur͖n̻ed i̙n̼ky͙ ̼blac̪k,͔ s̭o̟mehow̜ b͎o͖t͈h ̫sharp͕ ̬a͓nd̞ for̗m̗l͔eͅss͖ ̪a̜t ̳the͍ ͉s̘amḙ tim̗e͈.̟
̜
H̱e͚ ͔wal͇ks ̫o̻ut ̱in͍t͚o͓ ͓th͓e open͚, ̟k͔nͅo̦win͉g̮ tha̤t ̙th̼e ̣c̫a͕mera͓s͎ ̹w̥i̹l̻l ̘not ̬see h̬i͙m͍. ̬

̺H̖e͙ ̟ma̭k̮es̤ h̜is̱ ̩w̮a̤y̘ ͎t͇o̳ẉa̯r̼d̟s th͙e̟ ̰s̫taf͉f ̭ro̭o̲m.
̞
͈He ͇o̱pe̬n͉s̲ t̹h̖e̪ ͈doͅor̘,̣ fi̘nd͉i̪n̖g t̖he̻ room̜ e̩m̯pt̠y.
͕
He m͖o̝v̥e̱s ̜wit̺h̠ pu̖rp̥os̠e̥,̹ ͉endin͖g̥ up̗ ̗a̙t̬ Eraser̗h̞ead'̳s̝ ̤d̥e͎s̺k. A̠ ̙shee̗t ̭of̣ ̝pap̭e͇r l̦i͍es on̼ ̗t͕o͚p of i̼t͔.

Class 1-A: USJ Excursion Schedule

H̹e pul̯l̹s̤ aͅ ͈ph͈on̘e o̟ut̝ o͍f his̹ p̻o̹cke̤t ̼a̤n͚d̞ ̹t̘akes̞ a͈ ͓p̠ịc̲ture͇, s̯e̱nd̗i̠ng̭ ̳i̯t̠ ̣t̟o oͅn̝e ̱of̻ ͓the o͔nly contac̼ts ̠t͉h̦e̘r̫e.̮

̳H̜e͎ tu̘rns ̝to̲ ͙l̬ea̗ve̯.̘
͕
He ̥sto͇p̥ṣ.
̘
(͙Iz͉u͍kͅu i̘s ͙no̰t su̻pp̗os͎ed͚ ̝to ̙s͎t̩o͔p.)

He fin͉d̝s͇ h͚i͎ṃself̞ b̟ack ̩at ̻Eras̹erͅhea̳d̯'̜s̘ ̜d̺esk.͖ ̳S̳ti̟c͕ky no̖t̯e͇.̣ ̬H͈e nee̩ds̼ ͈a̖ s̙ṱic̤ky͇ ̥ṉot͕e.̰ ̠T͔h͎ere͖'s a͔ pad͙ ̻o͚n ͙Pr̘esent ̺M̼ic̤'s ̩d̥esk̞. ̜A̳fter͈ a̜cq̫u̹i̞ring̼ ͉o̦ne, ͓h̟e͈ ̝g̜rabs̻ a ̝p̥en ̜th̳a͔t was ̘l͈y̲i̥n̫g ͈a͍r̳ou̪nd̗ ͖a͈nd ͕h͚a̲stil̰y star̺ts writi̟n͔g̳.͓ ͉
͔
B̦ef̜ọr̜e̻ ̹he͕ can c̤h̪a̦nge͔ ͍hi̝s mind͖,̪ Izṳkṳ ͙s͕tick͕ș ͔the ̲not̤e̙ on̫t̫o ̟th̥e ̞US̥J̗ s̬c̣h̰edụle.ͅ
͚
̯And̩ the̮n he le̪av͎e̳s̺.̰ ͖Walk̪s̫ ͙ouț o͓f ͅth̖e ̤staff̖ ṟo̫o͍m.̱ Hea̤ds̬ ͙do͚w̱n the hal̩lw̪ay͙.͓ Ro̙und̞s the̩ co͔rn̟er.͕

And turns off his quirk.

"Go ahead, little one. Take it."

Izuku looks down at the man restrained on the medical table. The man is still awake, his fearful eyes flitting between the boy and the person standing beside him.

"I don't want to."

"But it's yours, Izuku. This man here doesn't deserve it. He tried to use it to hide from me. How foolish of him, don't you think?"

Yes, that was foolish. No one can hide from him. No one can hide from Izuku's father.

"Izuku."

He tenses. His father is waiting. "What...did he do?"

A smile. "Ah, but it's more about what he didn't do, Izuku. He didn't do what he agreed to."

Izuku looks at the man he doesn't even know the name of. Looks at the dried blood on the side of his face and clothes. With his mouth gagged, he'll never be able to explain himself.

A heavy hand comes to rest on Izuku's shoulder. "It's okay to take what's yours, Izuku. You know you want to. You feel it, don't you?"

Izuku can't deny it. He wants it. But this man is already in so much pain. "I don't want to hurt him..."

"But this is a bad person, little one. Don't you want to be a hero? This is how you can be a hero. We've gone over this before, haven't we?"

"Heroes don't steal quirks," he protests. "This isn't...being a hero."

"But I'm telling you that it's yours. It's not stealing if it belongs to you. Think of it as a gift, from me to you."

"You're just going to hurt him after I take it. I don't want to."

"What happens to him isn't important. What matters is what you want, Izuku. Do you want his quirk?"

Izuku stays silent, tearing his gaze away from the terrified man.

"You're testing my patience." His tone is disapproving now. He sighs. "I just want you to have what you want. To learn to take what you want." He pauses to let Izuku feel the weight of his words. "Think about what you want. A new quirk to learn and analyze, or a day in our favorite room?"

Izuku freezes. Not there. He looks back at the man on the table. Remorsefully, he reaches out to touch the man's arm. He stiffens under Izuku's touch, but he's helpless with those restraints. Now there's uncertainty mixing with the fear in his eyes, likely unsure of what to expect from the young boy. Glowing, green tendrils begin to reach out from Izuku's arm towards him.

"That's it. Good."

Realizing what's happening, the man starts to struggle. Izuku almost lets go, but a chill goes down his spine when he thinks of where he'll end up if he doesn't do this now. He can feel the man's quirk transferring to him, a strange, electric feeling that he's only experienced a handful of times. Once the transfer is complete, Izuku lets go of the panicked man and quickly steps back, feeling sick to his stomach.

"See? That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Despite his father's reassurances, he feels like he did something bad. He just stole that man's quirk.

"Congratulations, Izuku. Now you have five quirks, don't you? You should be proud of yourself." His words sound empty to Izuku's ears. All he feels is guilt. "Now, why don't you go practice your new quirk with Kurogiri? I'll join you once I'm finished here."

Izuku doesn't dare look back at the man on the table again as he leaves the room. He knows he's a dead man. And Izuku doesn't think he has it in him to look him in the eyes after what he did.