Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Much like a quirk, yet another gift appears around the age of four. The tie that binds those whose fates are intertwined, be it as lovers, friends, enemies, or in some other fashion. Words inked upon skin, invisible thread, shared feelings or pain, a multitude of ways to bind one to another (and another, and another, if fate wills it so). 

And just as with quirks, there are seemingly infinite possibilities, though some are similar enough to appear identical. These methods evolve as the world does, as quirks do, and so may find their place within the modern world. And as with quirks, sometimes they do not appear at all, unneeded and unnecessary. 

For Midoriya Izuku, it started with a glimpse of purple in the mirror while he was brushing his teeth, getting ready for bed one night. His All Might branded toothbrush fell into the sink in a flash of yellow, red, and blue as he stared, confused to see another child staring back.

Said child was wearing pajamas, looking about the same age as him, and looked just as confused.

“Mom?!” Izuku called out, extending the word long enough that he nearly got out of breath. “There’s a boy in my mirror!” He shouted.

Said boy just waved hesitantly at him with confused purple eyes.

-

The boy in the mirror wasn’t Izuku’s quirk. He didn’t have one, and wouldn’t ever have one, the doctor said. Izuku’s mom was sad about it, but she was happy about the boy in the mirror and called him Izuku’s soulmate. 

His best friend forever and ever, she said, smiling at him, ruffling a hand through his hair and promising that it’ll all be okay. 

It didn’t seem like it would be okay, Izuku thought, because his mom cried when he asked if he could still be a hero. 

Izuku stood up on his stool in front of the bathroom mirror for hours after watching The Video of All Might rescuing so many people. He stood and watched, waiting for the mirror boy to return. His own reflection was of a flushed face, eyes puffy from crying, hair a curly mess. 

When the mirror boy did return he looked startled, doing a double take as if not expecting Izuku to be real. 

Izuku waved excitedly, and then leaned in, breathing on the mirror in one big gust of air, watching it fog up on the corner. He wrote careful clumsy kanji with his finger, other hand bracing against the sink’s edge.

‘My name is Midoriya Izuku.’

Izuku watched the boy’s eyes look down to what Izuku wrote. He could see it as well! 

On the right side of the mirror, fog bloomed, and shaky kanji appeared.

‘My name is Shinsou Hitoshi.’ 

Izuku grinned wide, as wide as he did when he pretended to be All Might, and waved again. 

Izuku wiped away his own writing with a sleeve, tongue out in concentration as he wrote again. 

‘Do you like heroes?’

Shinsou-kun nodded, smiling with a closed mouth as if shy. Izuku couldn’t stop smiling back. 

They would spend hours writing out questions to each other, both using their limited vocabulary. Izuku wanted to get good at writing and reading just to talk more with his soulmate! 

He forgot all about the doctor’s appointment from that afternoon, instead talking to his new friend until they both got tired and his mom made him say goodnight and go to bed.

-

The next day, Izuku came back to the bathroom mirror, eyes puffy and hurting from crying so much, and waited to see Shinsou-kun again. His mom tried to distract him, offering to put the All Might video on again for him, but Izuku didn’t want the video, he wanted his new friend.

His only friend, now, because Kacchan said he wouldn’t be friends with someone who couldn’t be a hero with him.

They’d stay up late and send shakily written words back and forth, until Izuku’s mom came in and told Izuku to say goodbye, because it was past his bedtime. This pattern would continue for years, even after they met in person, even after they got phones, it would just lessen in quantity, but there were still times they would feel nostalgic, and write in the mirror to each other.

-

Izuku sighed as he buttoned up his gakuran for school and then grabbed his current analysis notebook off his desk and stuffed it into his backpack. New heroes would be debuting soon as another year of students graduated from their hero schools. Most of them would start as sidekicks, but he was still excited to see new heroes and their quirks at work, whether in person or online.

On his walk to school, he even got to see a hero’s debut in person! It sucked that Mount Lady stole the spotlight from Kamui Woods, but that’s just how the hero industry was sometimes. It was a big reason as to why Izuku and Hitoshi planned on going underground together, after all.

Izuku reflexively checked his phone, right next to his compact in his pocket. As he walked away from the crime scene, still buzzing from excitement, he checked his notifications, swiping and unlocking his phone when he saw some from Hitoshi under the ones from the forums talking about the new debut.

7:30 Catboy Supreme: gm zuku

7:30 Catboy Supreme: if u did wake up

7:30 Catboy Supreme: u might not have since u were up at FOUR in the MORNING 

7:30 Catboy Supreme: anyway

7:31 Catboy Supreme: remember the hs application thing is today

7:34 Catboy Supreme: and we’re meeting @ 5 for library time dont go chasing heroes or youll forget 

7:46 Catboy Supreme: just saw that a new hero debuted. REMEMBER. LIBRARY TIME IS SACRED. 

Izuku smirked to himself, unable to help it. He kept walking to school, picking up the pace as much as was safe while paying attention to his phone.

7:47 Dogboy Supreme: do u think i could get the first autograph ever from mount lady though 

7:47 Catboy Supreme: zuku i swear to All Might

7:48 Dogboy Supreme: you have to admit hero chasing mt lady would be really easy if she keeps getting that tall for every fight. tho it might be as dangerous as endeavor w/ that property damage

7:48 Catboy Supreme: ur not wrong but also: studying to be a hero in a library where u wont die of hero manslaughter via giant woman

7:48 Dogboy Supreme: you drive a hard bargain 

7:49 Catboy Supreme: and u drive me into an early grave (ー_ー )

7:50 Dogboy Supreme: library. 5 pm. hero law!!!!!! 

7:51 Catboy Supreme: thank god. GL @ school. 

7:51 Catboy Supreme: give kacchan my love (its a middle finger) 

7:52 Dogboy Supreme: and here i thought you didnt want me dead smh

7:52 Dogboy Supreme: also when did you change our names again?? AND you slander me for being up late?? did you even sleep??? 

7:53 Catboy Supreme: (^・ω・^ ) ( V●ᴥ●V) <- us

7:53 Dogboy Supreme: that answers nothing hitoshi

Izuku reached the school gates, far more alert, looking from side to side to ensure he wouldn’t get jumped. His heart instantly picked up the pace, anticipation of the inevitable setting him on edge. He sent off one last text, and pocketed his phone. He had another day of classes to survive, and then he and his soulmate could hang out and prepare to be heroes. 

-

Izuku was having, as Kacchan would say, a fucking bad time. 

Not only did he just almost die, he almost died twice , because he has zero impulse control when it comes to heroes and latched on like a barnacle to All Might’s leg as the number one launched himself into the stratosphere, after almost dying the first time via suffocating on a villain trying to make him a meatsuit. 

And then the number one hero dropped a state secret in his lap, said he couldn’t be a hero, and left. 

Izuku’s hands trembled as he unlocked his phone, some distant part of him registering the time and that he had missed his train over to Saitama. 

4:13 Dogboy Supreme: mirror

He sent the text and fumbled for the compact in his pocket, opening it up. The ring of LED lights at the bottom flicked on, the mirror showing his own teary face far too close for comfort. Izuku set the mirror on the ground and sat down, arms wrapping around his knees. 

He sniffed, smelling the sewagey remains of the gunk that made up the sludge villain. The sunlight warmed his back through the black gakuran’s fabric, even with the cool breezes of late spring rushing over the rooftop.

Hitoshi’s face replaced Izuku’s reflection, thin eyebrows narrowed in concern. He was walking somewhere, a medical facemask covering his expression. 

Izuku raised his hands and began to sign. 

“Needed to see you.” He signed, tears overflowing. 

Hitoshi nodded, still worried, though his eyes glanced around, always wary in public spaces. He raised an eyebrow at the mirror, and Izuku could already tell the question, after ten years of seeing each other everyday.

“Missed my train.” He signed, then hesitated. “Villain attack. I’m fine.”

Hitoshi immediately raised his eyebrow again and gave a look that Izuku knew meant his soulmate knew he was full of shit. Considering Izuku’s vision was still blurred by tears, Hitoshi was definitely right. 

Izuku frowned (he didn’t pout, no matter how much Hitoshi claimed otherwise!) at the mirror. He raised his hands again and signed quickly. 

“You go home, I’ll call you.” 

Hitoshi nodded in response, eyes still concerned. His gaze locked for a moment below Izuku’s face. Izuku remembered the burn on his shoulder. It’s not like he could’ve somehow hidden it in time between leaving school and getting to the library, but he had totally forgotten about it in favor of the whole ‘almost dying twice and learning state secrets and getting his dreams crushed’ thing.  

Izuku closed the compact mirror, shoving it in his pocket. He slung his backpack onto his unburned shoulder and took a deep breath, tears finally abating. Another deep inhale and exhale, and then he walked to the roof access door.

He turned the knob, feeling the resistance and the click of it being locked. 

Izuku took a deep breath, tried not to cry again, and internally thanked Hitoshi for insisting that lockpicking would be a vital underground hero skill. 

When the door slammed shut behind him, he didn’t notice the booming explosions echoing across the city. 

-

“What the fuck is your life.” Hitoshi deadpanned at his camera. 

“I don’t know!” Izuku said helplessly, leaning back in his desk chair, watching his soulmate on the computer screen. A voice call would be simpler, but both of them were far too used to seeing each other. 

Both of their parents hadn’t allowed them to get mirrors on their walls in their bedrooms, saying it was too codependent, but it didn’t stop the fated pair from doing essentially the same thing with modern technology. Besides, this way they had sound, though they learned Japanese Sign Language anyway, as it was useful as future heroes. 

“One minute I’m walking to the train station, the next I’m on top of a roof! And- and he said no when I asked if someone quirkless could be a hero! And- and- and-” Izuku felt tears welling up yet again, because when he cried once, his stupid overactive tear ducts decided it was open season for hours afterwards.

Hitoshi stared at him, unphased by the tears and knowing that if he fussed over them, Izuku would just get frustrated. He gave Izuku the time he needed to get control over his breathing, far more patient than Izuku thought he deserved.

“He’s wrong.” Hitoshi finally said, voice cracking and wavering. 

Izuku looked back up, catching Hitoshi’s gaze. 

Hitoshi looked to the side, a hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck, a tell both of them shared. “All Might… he doesn’t know you, Izuku. He doesn’t know how good you are, how smart and kind and compassionate, how determined you are to help people. He probably thought you meant you wanted to be like him, but we both know that can’t happen.” 

It had been one of their first big arguments when they were kids. When Hitoshi said Izuku could never be a hero like All Might, phrasing it badly and trying to say that Izuku didn’t have a quirk to let him do all that All Might can, that he might not be that strong or fast or powerful. Izuku refused to talk to him for days, covering the mirrors in the house.

Hitoshi had just meant that neither of them were able to copy All Might, not without strength quirks, without anything beyond natural human capability. Hitoshi knew better than anyone that Izuku will be a hero, it’s not a matter of if he can. He meant that Izuku will save people, even doing it with a smile, but not at the scale All Might could accomplish. It took Hitoshi writing it all out in a letter and giving it to Izuku for them to understand each other, and make up. 

“Yeah.” Izuku sniffled, bringing his legs up onto his chair and wrapping his arms around his knees again. “All Might said if his injury was that bad, that it wouldn’t be realistic -” His breath hitches, a sob bubbling up in his throat, “-for me to be a hero.” 

“That’s not fair.” Hitoshi frowned. “If he meant it like that, no one would be a hero. He’s the most powerful man, like, ever.” 

Izuku let out a shaky exhale. “At least I got his autograph.” A weak smile spread across his face.

A smirk bloomed on Hitoshi’s face, the mere sight of it calming Izuku. If his soulmate was smirking, everything must be right in the world, normal. 

“How much do you think an All Might autograph goes for these days?” 

“Toshi!” Izuku nearly shrieked, letting his legs stomp onto the floor in outrage. He began to rant about priceless merchandise and once in a lifetime experiences, devolving into a mutter storm about the current going prices of All Might merchandise in online auctions. 

Hitoshi watched him, smirk sliding into a full grin, teeth and all, as his soulmate seemed to shake off the despair of the day. 

Even All Might couldn’t stop Izuku from being a hero. Nothing could, Hitoshi knew that. Being a hero was just what Izuku was , not something he could become. While Hitoshi had his selfish moments, his spite and resentment, he saw heroism as a goal, a career. Izuku saw it as everything . 

That’s why Izuku would always be the lead of their underground duo when (not if!) they got their licenses.

-

As months passed the pain eased marginally, bit by bit. Izuku had to pack away any of his merch with All Might’s face on it, because any time he saw it, he could just hear his voice. 

You have to be realistic. 

Hitoshi thankfully agreed to keep the numerous boxes of posters, figurines, plushies, and other ephemera, knowing that Izuku might want it all back some day, but having it in his apartment was too much. 

Izuku’s mom thankfully never asked why, understanding well enough from looks shared with Hitoshi about how bad of an idea that would be. Inko was always so good about understanding what she could help with versus what Hitoshi could do. Sometimes a mom was needed, sometimes a soulmate was needed. 

Izuku threw himself back into their hero studies, law and policies, procedures and media trends. He analyzed all he could trawl up from the depths of hero forums in order to understand what made underground heroes good at their jobs, what they did and why they hid in the shadows and night. 

He started a new notebook, the other one prematurely ended. Now he was onto Hero Analysis for the Future, No. 14. 

As always, the first entry was Hitoshi’s quirk, [Brainwashing], as well as mockups for potential costumes and hero codenames. The analysis evolved over the years as they quietly tested more of Hitoshi’s quirk together, finding new limits and being able to research more on mental quirks, considering most of the papers on them were dense with neurological studies. 

Ideas for support gear for the both of them littered the first pages of Izuku’s notebooks, from ripoffs of current heroes’ gear to designs of their own, though it was all without the technical knowledge needed to even begin blueprinting the concepts. They had to focus on the more concrete abilities they could harness in preparation for UA. 

Athleticism, combat skills, strategy, quirk use, teamwork. 

There was precedent for a soulmate hero duo. The WaterHose duo was one, as well as all of the Wild Wild Pussycats, who had the rarer group of soulmates, though the exact nature of their relationships weren’t public knowledge. Or even the pro heroes Thousandfold and Deadeye, who were engaged and known soulmates but only teamed up occasionally, as they were sidekicks under different agencies. 

Izuku and Hitoshi just needed to pass the entrance exams, and then they could finally go to the same school and work together, becoming closer to being heroes. They spent all of their free time studying or training. 

The only reason either of them took breaks was when they saw their soulmate beginning to flag, but that was also the only reason either of them didn’t collapse from exhaustion at some point.

As the exam drew nearer, Izuku found himself uncaring of his classmates’ opinions. His third and final year of middle school drew ever closer to a close, Winter giving way to Spring, and most of his usual bullies had buckled down to focus on final exams and then entrance exams for high school. Whenever Izuku saw them all chattering about the top rated hero schools they were applying to, he couldn’t help but remember the numerous scathing remarks Hitoshi had regarding ‘their destined mediocrity’ and how ‘they couldn’t pass a licensing exam unless the requirements were shoving civilians into lockers and calling them derogatory names’. 

Izuku had to push those thoughts to the back of his mind, lest his face adopt a Hitoshi-like smirk, and invite the harassment of his peers. Keeping his head down and in his notes were for the best. 

February loomed, and nearly every night was spent obsessing over Izuku’s compiled notes on previous years’ entrance exams for UA. He had notes for the other top schools, Shiketsu, Ketsubutsu, and the less glamorous options. 

They had their hearts set on UA since both of them were kids, though, and the other schools had never gone on record as to whether they accept quirkless students or not, and so Izuku wasn’t going to risk putting their hopes in another school that might just reject him on principle. UA was the only school that declared they would accept students without quirks. 

Besides, the best of the best came from UA. And Hitoshi and Izuku would be the best underground duo hero society had ever seen.

-

The day had arrived, and Izuku was walking side by side with his soulmate. Both of them were quiet, Izuku with his head in a notebook, as if any last minute studying could actually ease his anxiety, and Hitoshi with a hand on Izuku’s arm, looking around warily.

Hitoshi had never had the misfortune of meeting Bakugou Katsuki, but had heard nearly eleven years worth of horror stories about the kid. Izuku insisted that ‘Kacchan’ wasn’t that bad, but considering Hitoshi regularly insisted his own bullies weren’t worth worrying over, he took that with a grain of salt. 

Hitoshi’s bullies weren’t on track to enroll in Japan’s top hero course. His bullies didn’t have an explosion quirk. 

Hitoshi had seen online that Kacchan (and he insisted on calling the kid Kacchan out loud, because 1) it was funny and 2) the bastard insisted on calling Izuku ‘Deku’) had been attacked by the same sludge villain that had gotten Izuku, the same day, because All Might wasn’t just a dream-crushing hero, he was incompetent. 

Izuku said Hitoshi wasn’t being fair in judging All Might so harshly, but Hitoshi figured the number one hero could cope with some harsh judgment from a fifteen year old. 

Bakugou had been stuck in the hospital for weeks with some kinda nasty pneumonia or something purely because the heroes on the scene decided to treat an active murder as a hostage situation. Afterwards, he seemed to have cooled his temper a bit, though Hitoshi could only tell because Izuku wasn’t having to patch up and replace his school uniforms. 

It was one of the things they never really talked about, because they knew they would argue about it. They just didn’t mention their respective bullies in serious conversations. Passing jokes and references was fine, but actually confronting each other about their treatment in school?

They were both too stubborn for that. 

So when Hitoshi did see a head of spikey blonde hair, faint scent of boiling caramel on the breeze, he nudged Izuku to the side. Izuku, head bowed as he mouthed words, reading his notes to himself with pinched eyebrows that only appear when he was intentionally focusing, went along with the nudge without complaint, not even looking up and assuming Hitoshi was keeping him from running straight into a lamppost or trash can. Both had happened in the past.

Instead Hitoshi subtly turned towards Izuku, his slightly broader shoulders useful in ensuring Bakugou didn’t catch a glimpse of the distinctive head of forest green curls. He resisted the urge to turn and check if it really was him, not willing to take the risk. No matter how much Izuku downplayed it, Hitoshi could read between the lines. 

They moved at a slower pace for a minute or so, then Hitoshi nudged Izuku along again, down the long brick path to UA’s front door.

Izuku tripped on a loose brick, nearly pitching forward onto his face, but Hitoshi’s grip around his arm tightened, fingers digging into a substantial bicep hidden under a gakuran sleeve. He pulled up harshly and steadied Izuku who had a look on his face as if he had already accepted death. 

Hitoshi raised an eyebrow at Izuku.

Izuku just blushed and muttered about nervousness, then devolved into their strategies for the entrance exam. 

Hitoshi was well versed in Izuku Mutter Storm, which even Mrs. Inko couldn’t decipher. In return Izuku could decipher Hitoshi’s most deadpan of empty expressions and his own dad couldn’t, so maybe it was just a soulmate thing. 

“Head out of the notebook, Zuku.” Hitoshi murmured under his breath. He released Izuku’s bicep, instead hooking their arms together. “Tell me about what the plan is if we’re in the same testing area again.” He said, even though they’ve gone over the plans hundreds of times, and they both know that plans never survive contact with the enemy. 

Izuku gave him a smile, one of the bright ones that emulated All Might when they were kids but changed over time into something more genuine. Not covering for pain or reassuring when there was no hope, but true joy of existence, of being here. Being with Hitoshi. 

Hitoshi smirked back and listened contentedly as Izuku chattered on about how they could work together to scout the objectives, whatever they may be, and determine a plan of action that got both of them into the hero course. 

They both stopped, craning upwards to see the entirety of UA as they reached the fountain in front of the school.

“We’re really here, Toshi.” Izuku whispered, disbelieving. Fellow middle schoolers walked past them and into the school. Some seemed on the verge of panic attacks, while others had the kind of determination that belied a need to be a hero, or a brand of arrogance Hitoshi particularly despised. 

“As if there was any doubt.” Hitoshi drawled, purposefully overconfident just to make Izuku smile again. 

Izuku’s own brand of unsteady confidence creeped into straightened shoulders, head held a bit higher than usual, as if to copy Hitoshi’s casual lie of confidence he implemented as easy as breathing these days. 

They didn’t wish each other luck when they parted. They didn’t need that until the practical. 

-

Izuku’s heart raced, thudding so hard in his chest he wondered if it was possible to bruise the inside of one’s ribcage. His fingers skittered across the pamphlet depicting the robots they’d have to fight to gain points. 

Fucking robots . 

Rather than think of how he would fight UA’s robots with his own bare hands, the twist in his gut and tsunami of panic rising and looming above him was all for Hitoshi. 

Hitoshi’s [Brainwashing] would not work on robots, and he wasn’t allowed to use it on other students. 

Izuku thought about the little loophole right there, that it could be used on teachers, but the mere idea of convincing Hitoshi to [Brainwash] a pro hero was ludicrous. He would never do it and the loophole was probably only there because no one was stupid enough to use their quirks on teachers, essentially attacking them no matter what kind of quirk it is. 

Some kid shouted at him for muttering and he didn’t pay it any mind, instead wringing his hands and trying to just think . 

One, Two, Three pointers. A zero pointer designed to be an obstacle. Named Victory, Imperial, Venator, and Executor, in that order. Destroying the robot gains a participant the designated number of points. No unapproved support items, which can only be medical devices for safe quirk usage. Students from the same middle schools have different testing sites. He doesn’t know which one Hitoshi will be in. He and Hitoshi had their compact mirrors, but those could break easily, and technically might be contraband anyway. There were so many unknown variables, it felt almost cruel, a puzzle not intended to be solved by anything but brute force. How could anyone without a physical quirk succeed? Was it intentional, to simulate how much harder mental and non-combat oriented emitter quirks have it in the field of combat heroics? He could name a dozen heroes that wouldn’t be able to keep up with the expectations. 

No wonder most of those heroes he could name weren’t UA alumni. 

But Izuku had seen a number of hero course students in the UA Sports Festival over the years without physical quirks, or with quirks he didn’t think would be able to complete this exam. Did the exam change from year to year that drastically? 

He hissed some choice swears as everyone began standing up, clamoring towards the changing rooms. He stumbled in the row of seats, keeping a healthy distance between him and Kacchan, who seemed as confident in his own victory as always, which made sense, because knowing Kacchan he’d be the top scorer of the exam, and Izuku would get zero points, and the world would be as it should, hierarchy established, and- 

A cold and familiar hand grabbed Izuku’s wrist, long fingers pressing against his pulse point, tapping a steady beat. 

One two three four. One, two, three, four. 

Izuku’s breathing evened out and he surfaced from his panicked spiral, eyes focusing on Hitoshi, who was right at his side. Hitoshi raised up his own card, a question in his eyes.

Izuku nodded. They shared a testing site.

The most infinitesimal of mercies. 

“The plan, Zuku.” Hitoshi’s voice wavered as he spoke in an undertone right by Izuku’s ear. 

Izuku inhaled again, exhaling shakily. The plan, right. The plans he made because he knew he was in over his head. Those ones. 

“Scouting the area. Improvised weapons. Watching for weak points, if they don’t have any then it’d be too unfair.” Izuku managed to get these words out as they exited the amphitheater. 

Hitoshi snorted lightly and then scoffed under his breath. “We knew it wouldn’t be fair. But at least we can show them we’re not a duo to fuck with.” 

Izuku laughed under his breath, the tone slightly manic, making some other students turn to look at him with worried eyes. Well, at least it wasn’t pity. Yet.

“City simulations… there’ll be plenty of rubble for our weapons.” Izuku muttered.

“Time to show them what we’ve got, Zuku.” Hitoshi knocked his head lightly against Izuku’s, letting go of his wrist as they reached the locker rooms. 

Izuku breathed again, wringing his hands, then cracking his knuckles.

He and Hitoshi can’t afford to lose, so they simply won’t. 

-

It went like this:

Izuku was in a dark green tracksuit (he may or may not have lost a bet, shut up), wringing his hands and biting his lip, looking around almost frantically for Hitoshi as the rest of the UA hopefuls gathered at the gate to testing site B. Some of them were sending him looks, obviously surveying their competition and finding it wanting. 

Izuku fiddled with the zipper of his tracksuit’s stupid windbreaker. He should learn not to bet on rigged games with Hitoshi, but in his defense, the arcade was fun and he had really thought the crane game was going to let him get at least one prize. 

Fingers twitched, and he grabbed his own hand, intertwining his fingers and holding them down, trying to straighten his shoulders and just breathe again. They had a plan, he just needed-

There he was! Hitoshi was looking around, purple hair wild as always. He was wearing the pastel Wild Wild Pussycats colorblock jacket that Izuku had given him as a birthday present last year, alongside black tracksuit pants.

Izuku rushed to his soulmate, only to feel a firm hand grab his shoulder, yanking him back. He almost fell if not for the hand gripping him. Izuku jerked his head upwards. The boy who grabbed him looked vaguely familiar, navy colored hair and a square jawline, dark blue eyes piercing behind rectangular glasses. 

“Are you harassing other participants-!” The young man’s voice was jarring, every word enunciated perfectly. Izuku should probably pay attention to the fact that the dude wasn’t letting go of his shoulder, but no one accused him of having his priorities in order literally ever. 

“Oi, Izuku, is this guy harassing you?” Hitoshi drawled, sounding bored and eyes keen on the boy next to him. His expression was near blank but Izuku could see the lines of tension in his jaw, the tilt of his mouth that belied a lot of annoyance bordering on anger.

“I-!” The boy started. 

Izuku ducked under his loosened grip and practically launched himself at Shinsou, intertwining their fingers and dragging him closer to the gate. 

“That dude also yelled at you during the orientation.” Shinsou was a little amused, but still mostly annoyed. Izuku didn’t even have to see his face to know that.

“I was too busy panicking about fucking robots to notice.” Izuku’s voice descended into another vehement hiss, before jumping back up to a casual tone. 

Shinsou huffed, fully amused now. They stood shoulder to shoulder against the jostling crowd and faced forward. They nudged each other, bumping elbows into soft sides just as another little reassurance. I’m here. We are together. Nothing can stop that. 

“Here goes nothing.” Shinsou finally said as Present Mic’s voice blared over the speakers.

Izuku tapped his own fingers against the inside of Shinsou’s wrist, and they both bolted forward the moment the gates opened, too focused on the plan to wait for permission. 

They split off immediately. Izuku raced down an alleyway, jumping up and grabbing onto the ladder of a fire escape to scale it. The sounds of screeching metal and whirring robotics filled the air, monotone voices and youthful shouts warring for dominance. He could see several students taking flight, some only able to boost their jumps, others with the unsteady grace of baby birds, a few with confidence, soaring up onto rooftops.

Izuku reached his own rooftop and ducked low behind the various pipes and tubing meant to simulate air conditioning systems. Wind blew past and ruffled his hair as Izuku peered over the edge onto the side street. 

At the end of the day, these were robots, confined to code. While UA might be ostentatious enough to delegate entire city blocks to their entrance exams, Izuku thought making a form of freethinking AI and pitting it against middle schoolers seemed a bit beyond the extent they would go to. He was right.

Izuku’s eyes scanned the street, watching a laser streak down the street and slam into the head of a three pointer robot, the Venator. Venators weren’t as mobile, with tank-like treads, and they seemed to be stationed near the back of the site. It made sense from a mechanical standpoint, don’t swamp the kids with your strongest robot. That meant…

His gaze raked across the facsimile of a city block. The two pointers, Imperials, were balanced on two wide legs, a scorpion-like tail whipping behind them, a similarly flexible neck leading up to a thin head. 

The one pointers (Victories) were wobbly, unstable with their mass resting on one thick wheel. Simply destabilizing the Victories likely wouldn’t be enough when the condition to gain points is ‘destruction’. 

Seeing all of the ‘villain’ robots in motion was far different from silhouettes on a screen. He tried to scrounge up some semblance of a plan to fight against each type of robot, but it wasn’t a simple task. 

This would be so much easier if Hitoshi could use his quirk. 

Fucking. Robots.  

Izuku couldn’t hesitate. It was time for phase two of the plan. He scampered back down the fire escape, hopping down steps and skipping the ladder altogether, rolling to reduce the impact once he landed.

That kind of move took a while and several sprained ankles on both Hitoshi and Izuku’s behalf to perfect, but it was evidently worth it.

Izuku circled back within sight of the gates to find Hitoshi, whose pink jacket was dirtied with oil and dust. Hitoshi nodded back to where he came from, and Izuku ran to catch up, grabbing one of the signs that Hitoshi had from who knows where. 

Hitoshi wielded a metal signpost with the bright red triangle of a stop sign blaring above him as the bludgeon. Izuku’s sign was a blue circle sign for pedestrians- though the humanoid silhouettes were replaced by the distinct shape of the pro hero Mr. Principal, Nezu. 

Running through the side street onto the other side of the testing site was simple, dodging around the piling debris and other participants.

“For the one pointers- knock them off balance, the other one gets the kill. The two pointers- one of us takes the tail, the other the head. Avoid the three pointers, they’ll be further out.” Izuku rattled off the analysis quickly. 

Hitoshi nodded and they entered the street, shoulder to shoulder again, heads on a swivel to watch out for danger.

A Victory model bot rolled up, its arms wobbling slightly. Izuku struck with a swing below the robot’s center of gravity, swiping at its wheel. The bot toppled easily and Hitoshi pounced, twirling his sign with utilitarian efficiency to stab the steel post into the red camera lens. The bot immediately cut all function with its head and arms clattering against the asphalt, adding to the cacophony of battle.

“Again.” Hitoshi said, grinning wide. 

Izuku nodded with his own smile. 

He didn’t keep count, too busy watching their back to ensure another robot wouldn’t roll or skitter out from the alleyways, too busy avoiding the falling rubble of other students’ battles. Hitoshi shoved another participant out of the way of a falling pipe, jumping backwards, where Izuku pressed a hand between his shoulder blades to steady him before they leapt back into combat.

They downed more robots, all Victory and Imperial models. They had to move to the next street when a Venator trundled up, its explosive rounds far too intimidating for the pair.

Minutes passed and felt like hours, Present Mic’s voice became the only connection to the world outside of this exam, calling out their dwindling minutes. Adrenaline was electric in Izuku’s veins, pulse thudding a quickstep dance he followed instinctively with maneuvers practiced and easily implemented, ducking, dodging, rolling. 

An Imperial model robot’s head swayed, snake-like and locking onto another participant who had their back turned. The participant was occupied by tending to a long scrape of road rash down their arm. Without need to communicate Hitoshi lunged forward to bat at the tail of the Imperial with his sign, catching its attention so Izuku could circle around. The Imperial proved the simplicity of its AI by turning almost comically to focus on Hitoshi, though its head was too high up for Izuku to get the leverage to destroy it like he needed to. 

Izuku ducked under the winding neck of the Imperial, staying in its numerous blind spots. The joint at the base of the neck was far too sturdy for his road sign.

So Izuku did something Hitoshi would probably scold him for later. Izuku clambered up onto the base of the Imperial’s neck, sign dropping to the ground. He used the segments of the Imperial as handholds, and by the time the thing noticed him, he was too high up its neck for it to shake him off. Izuku clung under the joint of head to neck, ankles crossed and thighs tensed around unyielding metal. His fingers scraped against the green paint as he grasped the head of the Imperial, clinging to a ridge under the lenses on the sides. 

He let his legs dangle so his full weight pulled at the drooping head of the Imperial, and it promptly snapped off of its thinner joint, sparking as the red lights of its lenses died.

Izuku landed on his back with a whoosh of air leaving his lungs, winded. He gasped, throat dry with dust and exertion. When he opened his eyes, hands still clutching the Imperial’s head, he saw Hitoshi looking down at him, casting a shadow and blocking the sunlight.

His expression said it all, and Izuku winced, trying to huff a laugh and wheezing yet again. Izuku let go of the robotic head, letting it roll to its decapitated body, and grabbed Hitoshi’s proffered hand, letting his soulmate pull him up. 

“Ridiculous.” Was all Hitoshi had to say currently, though his tone belied a lecture to come about recklessness and stupid stunts that work in theory but never as good in practice.

Present Mic’s voice echoed across the testing site, telling them all they had one minute remaining. His declaration was punctuated by a loud, ominous rumbling, the street bucking and rolling underfoot alongside it.

Izuku’s mind raced, automatically grabbing his sign back when Hitoshi shoved it into his hands. It was too late in the exam for a disaster simulation, an earthquake or something similar, though it would make sense to have some rescue component to this seemingly only combat focused exam. 

Then it clicked, and Izuku’s stomach dropped. His head whipped around to meet Hitoshi’s gaze. 

“The zero pointer.” Izuku’s voice was hoarse and barely recognizable as his own.

Hitoshi’s eyes widened and he cursed so severely it would make Kacchan blush. 

Izuku reoriented himself, mentally cataloging the landmarks of destruction he had noticed before and then he led Hitoshi back towards the entrance. By the sound of it the Executor was massive. Though it would be just like UA to have such a huge production and then roll out tiny robots, he wasn’t going to risk that they’d double back on their own subversion of expectation.

The race towards the exit quickly became a stampede and Izuku hung back, Hitoshi following him, both of them still clinging to their now battered and scraped road signs. Various hopefuls in their athletic wear were mobbing the exit now, some visibly injured.

A titanic shadow was cast over them and Izuku looked up to see the Executor. It towered, twice the size of the largest building in the fake city. Terror trapped them both in place for one moment, but they were pushed into movement by another step that made the buildings shudder and asphalt crack.

Izuku ducked into another alleyway and dropped his sign to the side with a clang, the echo of Hitoshi doing the same following right after. This fire escape was built the exact same as the one before and jumping to reach it was a simple matter, though it made several aches and pains make themselves known quite viciously. With a groan, Izuku pulled himself up onto the first landing, leaning against the brick wall the fire escape was built into. 

Hitoshi was soon at his side with his chest heaving and hair wild. They both just sat there and breathed for a moment, peace in the midst of chaos, unable to do more than they already had. 

A loud buzzer sounded and Present Mic’s voice resounded yet again, signaling the end of the practical exam. 

“We did good.” Izuku croaked. 

“We did fucking fantastic, Zuku.” Hitoshi was giddy and high on adrenaline, hands obviously shaking. 

Izuku grinned, resting his head on Hitoshi’s shoulder for just a moment before breaking into giggles. 

Hitoshi nudged him with a shoulder, asking an unvoiced question.

Giggling filled the alleyway, bouncing against the walls until Izuku could calm himself, the laughter dying off.

“ Fucking robots.” He finally said.

Hitoshi laughed, a startled snort devolving into chuckles, and Izuku began giggling all over again. 

Fucking robots.

-

Hitoshi took the train over to Izuku’s place, the envelope stowed in his backpack, unable to stop thinking about it. 

He would’ve opened it at home but his dad was across the country at another operation. His expertise as an anesthesiologist was necessary, especially with his quirk that could be used in the place of anesthesia. It worked for those who couldn’t have more drugs in their system or whatever, his voice able to lull a target into a deep sleep for however long he decided. 

Hitoshi unlocked his phone with his other hand gripping the vertical handrail. 

1:20 Stopsign Slayer: this is the longest train ride of my fucking life zuku

1:22 Robotic Rampage: my mom hasnt stopped pacing since she got the mail im going to lose my mind 

1:22 Robotic Rampage: also let me change the fricking nicknames you alliterative dork

1:23 Stopsign Slayer: your gonna make it our hero name ideas though（；¬＿¬)

1:25 Robotic Rampage: wow its almost like if you dont like seeing the name in a text conversation you wont like it out in the field. Toshi. It's almost like thats how it works.

1:26 Stopsign Slayer: i hate when ur right.

1:26 Robotic Rampage: so you’re constantly full of hate??? (･o･｡) What an unhealthy lifestyle toshi 

1:30 Stopsign Slayer: oh wow look im @ the station byeeeeeee (￣︿￣) 

Hitoshi didn’t look down at his phone as it buzzed from the array of smug emojis Izuku sent him. He shook his head and followed the tide of people exiting the train, unable to stop the smile on his face from under his facemask. 

-

Izuku’s mom had resorted to peeling and cutting up fruit to get rid of her nervousness. The tray was shaking in her hands, revealing that it definitely didn’t work. Hitoshi still thanked her with a soft smile that was reserved just for Izuku and his mom and brought the tray with him.

Izuku’s bedroom had changed over the past year or so. Almost none of the merchandise with All Might’s face survived after the Sludge Villain incident, all of it packed away and in Hitoshi’s closet. One of the few posters remained up on the wall only because Sir Nighteye was the focus of it. 

The walls were still plastered with merchandise, the shelves full of quirk science books, hero figurines, and Izuku’s own notebooks. 

There was a large banner of the entirety of the Wild Wild Pussycats in their signature poses, the large cat tattoo that was their shared soulmark imprinted boldly on each of their right thighs, proudly on display above Izuku’s desk. Around it were several smaller Wild Wild Pussycats pieces taped up on the wall. 

A smaller piece of merch made to look like an old western wanted poster depicted Snipe, his gun at the ready near the door. 

Plenty of other heroes were up on the walls or posing on Izuku’s shelves, from the Japanese top ten to the obscure international heroes, or underground heroes that maybe a handful of dedicated forum dwellers could name. Hitoshi knew them all because it mattered to Izuku. 

Hitoshi noticed a new piece of merch, staring at it as he set the tray of fruit down onto Izuku’s desk right next to Izuku’s envelope from UA. He dropped his bag next to the desk chair and Izuku took the cue to rummage through it to find Hitoshi’s envelope. 

The new poster was small, lower quality, but that was par for the course for sidekicks, especially less prominent ones. Thousandfold and Deadeye were standing back to back, one of Thousandfold’s signature origami swords hefted high in his hand. Deadeye’s lipless mouth spread wide in their skeletal approximation of a smile, hands clasped together as if to activate their quirk. Both of them had an obvious ring on their finger in pale silver, the focus of the photograph, a promotional poster after their engagement announcement.

The sudden laugh of All Might started Hitoshi and he turned to where Izuku had fallen off of his desk chair onto the carpeted floor, gaping at the hologram display that had fallen out of his envelope.

While Hitoshi was tempted to say ‘ Fucking All Might ’ in the same tone Izuku might use for ‘ Fucking robots ’ (which has become one of Hitoshi’s favorite inside jokes, though it has to be carefully implemented), he restrained himself and just watched the hologram number one in a really atrocious yellow pinstripe suit. Who dressed this man?

Hitoshi sat down, crossing his legs and lounging next to the still awkwardly collapsed form of his soulmate. 

Izuku’s score was finally displayed in neon green. Thirteen Villain Points. 

Hitoshi and Izuku both began to tear up at the sight. Hitoshi wasn’t a crier, especially not when compared to his soulmate, but this sight hurt more than anything else. They tried so hard for years, training and studying and fighting for the chance to become a hero, and they got tripped up at the starting line. 

“Fucking robots.” Hitoshi hissed as his sleeved wrist wiped at his eyes.

“That’s not all!” All Might boomed from the hologram. Another number popped up in acidic green.

Twenty-Six points in a different category, Rescue. Izuku’s combined thirty-nine points put him at twenty-fifth out of the top thirty-six spots. 

He had gotten into the hero course. 

“This is your hero academia!” All Might extended a hand forward, towards the camera. 

Izuku began breathing heavily, still choking on tears, disbelief coloring his expression. He began to laugh just this side of hysterical, hands coming up to cover his still crying eyes. 

Hitoshi scrambled and pulled his own envelope off the desk. He ripped the paper in half, the circular disc falling onto the carpet and beginning a hologram in the same way with a laughing All Might. Hitoshi slung an arm around a still shaking Izuku, holding him tightly and not taking his eyes off of the hologram, catching the words that he had missed in Izuku’s in his surprise.

So All Might would be teaching the hero courses. That could potentially be awkward. Hitoshi wouldn’t hesitate to attack the number one if he dared even think that Izuku wasn’t worthy of being a hero, let alone say it again . Especially after months of healing from the damage their first encounter had done. 

Hitoshi’s points were displayed on screen. Sixteen Villain Points. He tuned out All Might’s voice, focusing on the numbers on screen and waited for the inevitable second set. 

Twenty-Nine in Rescue, for a combined score of forty-five, putting Hitoshi at eighteenth of thirty-six. The scores must’ve been competitive, if a six point difference was enough to separate twenty-fifth and eighteenth. Maybe some people tied their scores.

Izuku was already off, mumbling and grabbing his most recent notebook to try and break down the scores as best he could with his own memories and the two categories. 

Hitoshi watched as All Might did the exact same gesture at the camera. Had he done it thirty-six times? Maybe all forty if he included the recommended students? 

“This is your hero academia!” All Might proclaimed with his signature grin, which looked so empty and painful once Hitoshi learned of the man’s injury. 

The hologram shut off, and Hitoshi felt like his entire body was buzzing, like he could run a marathon, like everything finally clicked into place. 

“We’re going to UA.” He said quietly, breathlessly, still staring at the place the hologram had been displayed in, now just empty space midair. 

Izuku smiled at him, infectiously joyful. “We’re going to be heroes.” 

-

Going back to Aldera Junior High after being accepted into UA felt like a fever dream. Walking through crowded, stuffy hallways, wearing his uncomfortable gakuran, being shoved around and insulted. Izuku didn’t pay attention to most of it, lost in his own head. 

He was going to UA! Even thinking about it gave him a rush of giddy excitement, fingers twitching for his notebook to finalize his first costume design. The only thing that held him back was the knowledge that his peers would never leave him alone if they saw personalized designs and he didn’t have time for their relentless taunts.

Izuku was called to the principal's office alongside Kacchan, which wasn’t a good sign, but he couldn’t think of anything they legitimately could punish him for. Most of the school’s staff ignored Izuku’s entire existence, not even grading his work, just giving him a barely passing grade so they wouldn’t have to hold him back and deal with him another year.

Izuku still did all of his assignments to the best of his abilities, his mom insisting on photocopying them as proof of corruption and negligence. Izuku didn’t think it would ever lead to much, but his mom insisted, so he made copies of his work dutifully and went on with barely passing in his records. 

Thankfully, UA had a policy of disregarding previous grades, only caring about their intensive written exams, ones he felt he did pretty damn good in. 

This couldn’t be a behavioral concern either because basically everyone was busy with final exams and their own high school applications, not paying him any mind. This was the most peaceful school experience Izuku had since his diagnosis. 

The actual meeting with the principal was mind numbingly boring, the man spending most of the time talking about Kacchan’s achievements. Izuku only tuned in upon hearing that Kacchan scored first in the entrance exam. Then the principal revealed that Izuku had gotten into the hero course as well, though he implied some kind of cheating.

As if Izuku was able to outsmart the most intelligent being on the globe, who happened to run the same school he applied to? 

It was ridiculous how many mental gymnastics people would do in order to continue believing in their own bigotry. 

Izuku was relieved to be dismissed as the bell rang for the end of the school day, only for Kacchan to follow him. He was only warned by the scent of burning caramel when a hand grabbed his shoulder, shoving him into the brick wall of the school.

Kacchan began threatening Izuku, telling him he shouldn’t dare go to UA, that he’s ruining a perfect backstory. 

Izuku could only think of the sarcastic remarks Hitoshi would have for this situation. He barely registered the scent of burning fabric and the heat increasing against his skin, staring dead ahead as his mind went fuzzy. 

Kacchan released a small crackling explosion from his other palm, close enough that small sparks stung against Izuku’s face like oil droplets popping out of a hot pan. 

“Got it, nerd?!” Kacchan barked out as he shook Izuku by the shoulder.

Izuku nodded, blinking slowly. “Got it.” He mumbled, thinking about the shades of green and purple he and Hitoshi were using for their hero costumes, and how he hoped Kacchan wasn’t in the same class as him at UA.

Izuku didn’t really come back to himself until the scent of burning sugar faded. The excitement about UA was dulled, but he knew it would be worth it. He knew Kacchan would be accepted so this confrontation was inevitable, but somehow knowing and experiencing was different.

Izuku could remember one of Hitoshi’s comments about how his own bullies should never become heroes, that his soulmate wouldn’t trust them to rescue a cat from a tree, let alone someone’s life. 

He thought about if he would put his life in Kacchan’s hands. 

-

Sekijiro stared at the class rosters and resisted the urge to gnaw at the end of his pen, a bad habit he couldn’t shake. He racked his gaze across the school pictures of his future class, one too many. Already he had gotten attached to the idea of them being his class, and giving one up felt almost painful.

“You get Kaibara.” He finally said. 

“Yeah?” Aizawa drawled, unimpressed as always. He hadn’t looked past the names and pictures on his own roster, nineteen kids worth of files underneath. 

Sekijiro looked over his own list again. He dropped his paper, grabbing for his cup of tea. “Yeah.” He wished it wasn’t so late in the day, he could do with some caffeine.

“One last go over the rosters then.” Aizawa muttered, marking something on his own page. Sekijiro passed over the packet of files for Kaibara Sen, knowing it wouldn’t be read beyond the basics. 

That was Aizawa’s method, and it did work for him and his students at least.

They went through the lists by seat number. By watching the exams they could tell where some of the students belonged immediately. Some would need Aizawa’s hands off, yet strict approach, or his expertise in underground heroic skills like stealth or surveillance. Some needed a more attentive teacher like Seikijiro, supportive and encouraging competition, patient enough to sit down and talk about the technical aspects of a quirk and give ideas. 

Some just had very destructive and potentially difficult to control quirks, and would benefit from being around someone who could use [Erasure] and keep them from hurting anyone in training. Others didn’t have that issue, but had to deal with the stigma of a ‘villainous’ quirk, and would be more receptive to The Blood Hero: Vlad King, instead of a hero they’ve never heard of. 

“Number Seven, Kaibara Sen. Quirk: [Gyrate].” Aizawa muttered, tapping his own pen against the school photo of Kaibara, who had a slight frown as if annoyed at the photographer. 

Sekijiro flipped through his own papers and sighed. He would need to rearrange the seating order later, considering some rather tall students like Bondo Kojiro would need to sit in the back, and he had no clue how Fukidashi Manga’s speech bubble mutation would act in a classroom setting, and might also need to be in the back if it provides a distraction.

“Number Twelve, Shiozaki Ibara. Quirk: [Vines].” Aizawa wrote a little note next to her empty expression, changing the number to a twelve. 

Sekijiro would also need to see if any of his students were skilled in English to translate for Tsunotori Pony, who was noted to still be learning Japanese. And maybe something similar for Rin Hiryu, though Chinese dialects got more distinct in the past few centuries and were practically different languages. A student could know a dialect and Rin wouldn’t be able to understand them at all. He was noted to be fluent and have essentially grown up going between the two countries, but Sekijiro liked encouraging proper communication. 

If any of them were fluent enough to test out of Yamada’s English classes they could also help Tsunotori for extra credit, and it would integrate her better into the class as a whole. Being an outsider would defeat the purpose of foreign student programs like this one. 

Aizawa finished with his own list. Sekijiro nodded at him, flipping his own papers back to the roster. 

“I’ve got Awase Yosetsu, quirk: [Weld].” Sekijiro put a little star next to his own annotations, that the boy seemed excitable, but likely didn’t know the limits of his quirk by his exhaustion at the end. 

“Kamakiri Togaru, quirk: [Razor Sharp].” The boy’s hot-blooded personality might cause some problems, but Sekijiro couldn’t truly judge that until he saw how Kamakiri acted in a classroom. 

He went through the list, focused. Kuroiro Shihai, Kendo Itsuka, Kodai Yui, Komori Kinoko, Shinsou Hitoshi (was very determined and did well despite his quirk), Shishida Jurota (may benefit from meeting Ryo, not even for counseling), Shoda Nirengeki, Tsunotori Pony, Tsuburaba Kosei, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu (just what the hell were his parents thinking?), Tokage Setsuna (recommendation student), Fukidashi Manga (his abstract quirk had so much potential), Honenuki Juzo (recommendation student), Bondo Kojiro, Midoriya Izuku (the first quirkless student in the hero course! Sekijiro couldn’t wait to see how far the kid could go, after his performance in the exam), Monoma Neito (Sekijiro really hoped the others would accept him trying to copy their quirks), Yanagi Reiko, and Rin Hiryu.

Aizawa was already halfway out the room when Sekijiro had gotten to Rin, his canary yellow sleeping bag slung over one arm. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” the man waved casually behind him. “I’ve got All Might first for hero lessons, remember.” 

Sekijiro rolled his eyes. All Might wasn’t the kind of man anyone could forget, especially now that he knew about the man’s wound and smaller form. He couldn’t help but imagine the skinnier form of All Might trying to run around in that baggy suit going through costume checks with his first years. He snorted quietly under his breath, Aizawa already gone.

He checked the time on the clock and turned back to his papers, making more annotations about a better seating chart than alphabetical order. Their original seating would be the number on their costume cases but that didn’t mean much. 

The nervous expression of Midoriya Izuku peeked out from the edge of his papers. It looked like whatever photographer had taken the picture had startled the boy right before taking it. He pulled Midoriya’s file out from the pile to look at it in depth now that his place in Sekijiro’s class was finalized.

There, right under the bright red ‘QUIRKLESS’ label, was his soulmate status, likely updated on his application because he’d be going to school with his soulmate. It was policy to know these things, because some soulmates physically couldn’t or shouldn’t harm each other. Granted, they had no clue what kind of bond Midoriya had with his soulmate, as legally he wasn’t obligated to disclose that. 

Shinsou Hitoshi’s name was printed right there. 

Sekijiro smiled at the kanji right in front of him. Now that made a lot of sense. Midnight had already made a bet in their little staff betting ring that the two were soulmates. They apparently had already known of their soulmate bond going in, not just randomly meeting beforehand as Kayama had theorized.  

He was more excited than ever to teach this new crop of hero hopefuls. All of them had so much potential already, he could just tell. 

Midoriya Izuku’s file was placed to the side, right next to Shinsou Hitoshi’s. 

-

For Izuku, the first day of school was always terrifying. Not only because of his chronic and inescapable anxiety about nearly everything, but also because it led to so many unknown variables, things he couldn’t account for. In the past years it was the question of what if there was a new teacher who somehow hated him even more, what if there’s a new transfer student who was worse than Kacchan (not that Kacchan is that bad, it’s just, well-). 

This first day of school was more nerve wracking than terrifying, but that element of bone deep fear still remained, twisting his gut into knots and burning coldly in his marrow. What if he walked into the classroom and they all laughed? Told him to turn around, that it was just a big prank, how could he ever think he could be a hero, he should just be realistic-  

Thankfully his mom was there for him, fussing over if he remembered his lunch money, if he had his uniform, if he had all his new binders and notebooks. Izuku smiled at his mom, a wobbly thing he couldn’t make stay still, but it was close enough. 

“I’m so proud of you, Izuku.” His mom said as she teared up. 

Izuku’s face warmed, his own vision blurring with tears, but he sniffled a bit and held them back, hugging his mom goodbye. 

-

Hitoshi had that tired, sloppy grin that betrayed his lack of sleep when Izuku saw him. Izuku smiled back, the wobbly nervousness bubbling up again. They walked side by side down the wide brick path to UA’s entrance. The school looked taller than ever. 

Izuku nudged Hitoshi with his elbow, a question. Hitoshi’s silence was a signal of nervousness, fear locking his tongue. 

Hitoshi raised an eyebrow and shook his head. He wasn’t that nervous, just tired from the early morning then. The nonverbal exchange took all of a second, barely noticeable to anyone else. 

Izuku glanced around at the other students, all of them walking towards their first day of the school year. He tried to catalog all of the differences, the nervousness of likely first years, the differences between school uniforms (it seemed to be just the number of buttons on the shoulder. Could someone just rip off their other buttons if they transferred to the hero course, or did they have to get a new blazer?). 

Izuku was lost in thought with only Hitoshi as his anchor as they went through the halls. 1-B’s sign next to a massive doorway snapped Izuku out of his thoughts. He was really here in the top hero course of the country with his soulmate at his side. A thrill trailed up his spine, the bubbles of nervousness rising and popping like little bubbles of carbonation.

They really did it.

The classroom looked almost too normal, aside from the giant wall of windows overlooking picturesque grounds. On the whiteboard was a drawn seating chart. Several students were already seated, some engaged in conversation.

Izuku glanced at the chart, still standing in the doorway. Some part of him was relieved that his name was really up there, as if a prank would last this long. Hitoshi knew this and sent him a look, one of the quietly reassuring ones that didn’t mean to be so. Hitoshi tilted his head, towards his own seat, and Izuku took in another breath and ducked his chin in a nod, determined glint cast over his eyes now.

He took his own seat, the front of the furthest row from the door. Seat number seventeen. 

“Hello, I’m Monoma Neito, he/him, a pleasure to meet you!” The blonde student seated behind Izuku said, his sudden enthusiasm startling enough that Izuku dropped his yellow backpack onto the floor. 

Izuku looked down at Monoma’s hand outstretched for a handshake- rather uncommon, he might have a five-point touch quirk and intended to use it on him- but this was UA, no one in the hero course would do that without asking, right? And then he looked up at Monoma’s gray eyes, wide and guileless.

Izuku hesitated enough to accidentally be rude and then grasped Monoma’s hand, shaking it. “Midoriya Izuku, he/him.” He said.

Monoma’s gray eyes widened, all innocence fleeing from them as he peered down at their joined hands. Maybe he really did have a five-point quirk, and it hadn’t worked when he expected it to? “A pleasure.” Monoma said quietly, echoing himself, and then released Izuku’s hand.

Thoroughly unsettled, Izuku focused on picking his backpack off the floor and hanging it by one of its straps on the back of his chair. He already felt the instinctive need to text Hitoshi and then realized they were at the same school now. Izuku turned to Hitoshi in the seventh seat. 

Hitoshi was talking to the student to his right, who had a mutation of purely black skin, white hair and silvery pupils making them stand out starkly. Behind Hitoshi was another student with a broad build, meticulously going through their own bag, shaggy brown hair hanging like a curtain around their face as they hunched over.

More students arrived, one or two double checking the sign at the door, only one of those students running off, apparently in the wrong room. Izuku made note of all of them, but didn’t officialize anything in his head, knowing there’d be some form of introduction. 

The bell rang and The Blood Hero: Vlad King stepped into 1-B’s classroom. 

-

Hitoshi could tell Izuku was super excited, staring enraptured at their homeroom teacher, Vlad King. Izuku was practically vibrating in place, fingers twitching, definitely resisting the urge to grab his notebook and ask for an autograph. 

“Hello, class 1-B.” Vlad King said, mouth set in a grim line, though that might be from his quirked teeth, bottom canines poking out over his top lip. “I am pro hero Vlad King. You’ll all call me Kan-sensei, or Vlad-sensei, if you insist.” His mouth twitched, making the x-shaped scar on his left cheek jump. 

Hitoshi tried to remember what Izuku had told him about Vlad King only to come up with nothing aside from the blood quirk, which not many heroes have so it stuck in Hitoshi’s mind. The man was tall, broad, and had a severe countenance. His welcoming tones conveyed something completely different, though not in the artificial manner some strict teachers implemented to catch their students off guard.

“Orientation will be starting in ten minutes, but before that I’d like everyone to introduce themselves, going by seat number. I’ll be rearranging the seating chart to better accommodate our needs as a class in a few days. I’ll go first.” He said, voice stilted as if he was actively overthinking the words. “My name is Kan Sekijiro, my pronouns are he/him, and I have a bulldog named Princess.” 

Kan-sensei’s serious face combined with that series of words almost made Hitoshi snort out a laugh. He turned to the left to catch Izuku’s gaze, who had automatically looked back towards him. 

They shared a look. Hitoshi was grateful that Kan-sensei didn’t say his own quirk in his introduction, letting Hitoshi and Izuku fly under the radar for a bit longer. If it was intentional or not, they’d have to see. 

Kan-sensei gestured to the first seat in the class. A kid with downturned eyebrows and dark hair stood, a headband at his hairline, white crossed with royal blue Xs. “Awase Yosestsu, he/him, my quirk is [Weld].” The boy bowed just a bit, sitting back down.

A tall kid with a full-bodied insect mutation stood next, yellow-green exoskeleton standing out against the grays of the UA uniform, the bright red tie contrasting against a lime green mohawk. Their mandibles jutted out at the edges of their mouth. “Kamakiri Togaru, he/him and it/its. My quirk is [Razor Sharp].” 

His voice was harsh, defensive in a way Hitoshi knew well from his own years of having to introduce his quirk. Intentionally threatening, to get everyone to back off.

Kuroiro, the one student Hitoshi had actually spoken to before class started, stood, a toothy smile creeping over his face. “Kuroiro Shihai, he/they. My quirk enables me to become one with the darkness.”

Behind him a muscular redhead stood, a confident set to their shoulders. “Kendo Itsuka, she/they. I practice a lot of martial arts in my free time!” their side ponytail swayed as they looked around the classroom, bowing slightly and then sitting back down. 

The student at the front of Hitoshi’s row stood up, looking forward. Black hair reached to just above their shoulders. 

Vlad King spoke up then. “This is Kodai Yui, who uses she/her pronouns.” 

Kodai nodded once and hummed under her breath, sitting back down. 

The brunet student in front of Hitoshi stood, visibly trembling. “I’m Komori Kinoko- ah, she and her please!” She looked about to sit back down, before straightening up and speaking again, voice still tremulous. “Ah-! Um, my quirk is [Mushroom]!” 

Hitoshi resisted the urge to look towards Izuku again as he stood, hands in his pockets. “Shinsou Hitoshi, he/him. I have a cat named Aiko.” He sat back down, swallowing nervously.

Behind him, a broad shouldered and tall student stood. They adjusted their glasses with a single brown furred finger and spoke. “I am Shishida Jurota, my pronouns are he and him. My quirk is called [Beast].” 

Hitoshi just knew Izuku would be itching to dissect that quirk and analyze it, purely because the name was probably a misnomer. His own [Brainwashing] wasn’t actually brainwashing, and Izuku was endlessly annoyed by the quirk counselors that named it. 

The next student rose, noticeably rather short. “Shoda Nirengeki, ah- he and they pronouns, and my quirk is [Twin Impact].” He nodded, sitting back down.

Instantly the next student popped up, long blonde hair bouncing against their back. Lyre-shaped horns were atop their head. They spoke with a thick accent, fumbling endearingly through their Japanese. “I am Pony Tsunotori-” they stopped, “ Wait-! ” They said in English under their breath. “Tsunotori Pony! Ah- I am a girl. I am from America. I am learning Japanese.” She bowed, the movement unpracticed and inelegant. “Please take care of me!” 

The next student stood and carded a hand casually through their short spikes of brown hair. “Tsuburaba Kosei, he/him. My quirk is [Solid Air].” He sat back down in the desk to Hitoshi’s right.

“I’m Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu.” The next student stood, their silvery hair and wide eyelashes drawing Hitoshi’s attention. “He/him, and my quirk is [Steel]!” 

Hitoshi bit his lower lip. He would not laugh at someone’s name. That was very rude. 

The student next to Izuku stood up, long green hair a couple shades darker than Izuku’s flowing down their back. “Tokage Setsuna, she/her! My favorite dinosaur is a stegosaurus.” She turned to look around the class and grinned with sharp canines. 

“I’m Fukidashi Manga, he/him.” The boy’s speech bubble head was wobbly around the edges, strangely two-dimensional no matter what angle it was viewed at. He was the shortest in the room, though maybe he could shift his height with his speech bubble. “Ah, my quirk is [Comic].” 

The next student had ashy blond hair, and the same kind of tooth mutation of pro heroes like Ectoplasm or Deadeye. “Honenuki Juzo, he/they, and my quirk is [Softening].” They said.

The person behind them stood, easily the biggest kid in the class. They had some sort of full body inorganic mutation, skin a soft yellow and not actually skin. Their head was shaped strangely, the top half opening a bit like a puppet when they spoke. There were seven holes, four in a line where one’s eyes would go, and three in a line underneath it. They wrung their large hands, introducing themself. “I’m Bondo Kojiro. Um… he/him and she/her, are fine, interchangeably I mean. My quirk is [Cemedine].” She sat back down, hands in her lap. 

Hitoshi’s heart rate increased sympathetically for Izuku as he stood, hands held at his sides, tension in his arms and shoulders obvious to anyone paying attention. “Midoriya Izuku, he/him. Ah- I like doing quirk analysis?” His voice raised in pitch, another nervous habit. 

The student who had spoken to Izuku before class started stood, grinning broadly as he turned on his heel to look around the room. “I am Monoma Neito, he/him. My quirk is [Copy], so essentially, it’s your quirk!” He sat back down after a theatrical bow. 

Hitoshi raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

The next student stood, their silvery hair covering one eye, hands limp and held out in a pose almost like a zombie. “Yanagi Reiko.” They said quietly. “She/her, and my quirk is [Poltergeist].”

The final student had wide eyes and small, slitted pupils, their black hair pulled back into a small braid. “Rin Hiryu, they/them. My quirk is [Scales].” 

As soon as Rin sat down Kan-sensei clapped his large hands, smiling at them all. “Now that we’re all introduced, I’ll get onto today’s activities. It’s a half day, just for orientation. We’ll be going to a gymnasium where everyone will be standing and listening to Principal Nezu’s staff introductions, and some general school rules. If you need accommodations, like a chair, let me know, though after the first hour Nezu doesn’t mind people sitting down on the floor anyway. The principal can be rather long-winded in his excitement so he allows headphones or earbuds, provided you are not distracting others or playing on your devices. I don’t mind what order you all choose to stand in, as seat number would be inconvenient. Now I’ll be leading you all to the gym, you can leave your bags here in the room.” 

Everyone shuffled, some standing and others pulling devices out of their pockets or bags. Shinsou slipped his phone from his bag into his pants pocket as well as the coil of wired earbuds. He knew Izuku would want to actually listen and pay attention, but he’d still offer. If the smartest being on Earth thought his own speeches required giving teenagers leave to listen to music, then it was probably warranted.

-

The massive gymnasium was full of hundreds of students. Only one class appeared to be absent, in the spot that likely went to 1-A. 

Izuku, quietly, was very thankful for that. 1-A was definitely where Kacchan would be, and who knows what other students would be there. 

There was the misconception in the general public of 1-A being the students who scored higher in the entrance exam, or otherwise were simply ‘better’ than their 1-B counterparts. Izuku knew that wasn’t the case (otherwise, why would they split the recommendation students?), though he had no clue how exactly the students were distributed. 

Some thought it was a random draw but that seemed far too chaotic for a good class composition. Though it did feel like luck to be in the same class as Hitoshi, their soulmate status would be on their files now with them attending the same school, so it may have been taken into consideration. 

The orientation started with an introduction from the pro hero Mr. Principal, or Nezu, as most called him and as he introduced himself. The pro heroes standing behind him in a line were all in costume as well and Izuku really hoped he’d be able to get their autographs at some point soon, before it became too awkward.

So many of them! The 18+ Hero, Midnight! The Voice Hero: Present Mic! Hound Dog, Ectoplasm, Power Loader, Cementoss, Recovery Girl, Snipe! 

Snipe was even cooler in person! He rarely was seen on the field, and though he had some merchandise it was in short supply and bought up quickly by his superfans. 

More heroes stood on the stage, some even Izuku couldn’t name! They were probably underground, which was awesome. He’d be able to meet actual underground heroes and ask them about their work! 

Nezu finished introductions and a round of applause spread through the gymnasium. He then began a slideshow presentation, talking about the school’s general layout and the availability of maps. He went on to the key rules of the campus right after.

Izuku, unfortunately, got pretty bored with Nezu’s speech pretty quickly. It was fascinating! In its own way, if one cared about fur hygiene and care, or tea preparation and the differences between steeping times for different kinds of tea. 

Izuku didn’t. 

Within ten minutes, he took the other earbud from Hitoshi, listening to the study playlist his soulmate had put on. It was stimulating enough to ensure he wasn’t bored, but not overly distracting. 

Izuku and Hitoshi stood close together, far closer than the rest of their classmates. They were likely complete strangers to each other, considering they were from all across Japan in order to go to the best heroics school in the country. Izuku was so excited to talk to all of them! Their own local hero scene must be so different, especially in rural places, and for Tsunotori, in a different country! 

Izuku knew a bit about the American hero industry if only because of All Might’s years over there. International heroics could be so different, like how in Mexico they only allow a number of licensed pros per state, with allowances for larger metropolitan areas or rising crime rates. In the United States, their heroic laws could vary from state to state, as well as differing laws from sovereign first nations within said states. 

Hitoshi nudged him, a sign that Izuku probably looked like he was going to start muttering, so Izuku took a breath and centered himself, listening in again as Nezu spoke on pedagogical theory. He’d have to look online to learn what pedagogical meant, but he thought it had to do something with running a school, considering the references to UA the principal was making.

This would be a long few hours. 

-

Hitoshi was dead on his feet by the time Nezu freed them from his orientation speech. No wonder 1-A wasn’t there, if he had to listen to that every year, he’d find a way to escape and even spare his class. 

Kan-sensei guided them all back to 1-B’s classroom, telling them they were free to stay and socialize or leave, and that he’d take any questions people have. Already Shishida and Monoma were talking to Kan-sensei, Monoma saying something about 1-A, and Shishida talking about class schedules.

Hitoshi snagged his own backpack, slinging the black bag over his shoulder, and went over to the windows next to Izuku’s seat. Izuku was overwhelming the American student, Tsunotori, with questions, slipping out of fluent English and back into Japanese with his mutters.

“Slow down Izuku.” Hitoshi nudged Izuku. 

“Ah-! Sorry, Tsunotori-san-!” Izuku went back to English. “ I got a bit excited, I’m really interested in different styles of heroics. ” 

“ I don’t mind! ” Tsunotori shifted, her skirt swaying and fluffy tail twitching. “ I’m just relieved that someone’s fluent in English too! ” 

“ Hitoshi- ah, Shinsou is as well! ” Izuku gestured to Hitoshi. 

Hitoshi just nodded. “ I am not as good as Izuku, but I will help you translate. ” His accent was thicker than Izuku’s in English, at least according to Izuku’s dad on video calls he joined in on. 

Tsunotori bounced in place excitedly, grinning at both of them. “Thank you!” She said, accent thick. “ Also, you can call me Pony. ” 

Izuku instantly began to blush red, so naturally Hitoshi stepped in, though not without a smirk. “ Thank you, Pony-san. If you want, I can teach you Japanese curse words.” 

Pony’s eyes sparkled and she giggled. “Thank you Shinsou-san! Here, put your number in. ” She passed over a phone, which had a bright yellow case with pink daisies. A phone charm dangled, a little plastic chibi hero that Hitoshi couldn’t name. 

Hitoshi put his number in the new contact, a bit baffled. He’d never had his classmates' numbers before, and no one, especially not girls, were handing over their phones for his own number. 

“Is that Cow Lady ?! She was one of the longest running top ten heroes in the States, and her agency is still running decades after her retirement! I didn’t know you could still find her merch around!” Izuku enthused, hands flapping a bit in excitement. Hitoshi bumped his hip against Izuku’s to remind him to speak slower, or in English.

Pony tilted her head, “ Cow Lady? Yes, my favorite hero!” She stopped for a moment, frowning in frustration. “ I can’t find the words in Japanese, but I like her a lot! Her career was one of the longest running for female heroes, even when people wanted her to retire when she began to age. ” 

Izuku nodded, and he and Pony began talking about Cow Lady’s long, apparently storied career, mostly in English, though Izuku stopped to say some things in Japanese, especially if they were hero-centric vocabulary words that Pony would need. 

Hitoshi sat on Izuku’s desk as they continued to talk, sometimes chiming in, but mostly leaving Izuku to actually make a friend on his own. Their conversation moved from Cow Lady and other classic American heroes to anime, apparently a passion of Pony’s. Hitoshi didn’t recognize anything but the basics, and even Izuku didn’t know many of them unless they were really popular or hero-centric, but Pony seemed to be able to carry the conversation herself, slipping from stilted Japanese to rapid fire English.

The speech bubble kid, Fukidashi, cut in when Pony mentioned a show he recognized. Fukidashi’s English was middling at best, but they seemed content to keep trying to communicate, talking about a show (or manga? Maybe both?) that they both enjoyed.

“We’re gonna head home. See ya, Pony-san. Text me whenever, I’ll give you Izuku’s number too.” Hitoshi said, speaking slower than usual. 

Pony watched him speak, nodding when he finished and smiling again. “Thank you! I will see you tomorrow!” 

Izuku waved goodbye as well, grabbing Hitoshi’s sleeve as he followed him out of the classroom. Most of the students had left already, but he still needed the security blanket. It was fine that he needed it. Hitoshi did too, not that he would be as blatant. He had been on edge during the introductions, and in the assembly, surrounded by so many strangers who didn’t know his quirk. Not knowing how people would react to his quirk, which they eventually would need to know, was nerve wracking.

Neither of them spoke until they were walking out of the school. 

“The first day of our real hero’s journey.” Izuku mused under his breath.

“Just three more years to go.” Hitoshi said, just a bit teasing, and hip bumped Izuku, who let out a quiet squawk, throwing out an elbow to attack him back and missing. Hitoshi grinned and jogged ahead to avoid Izuku’s continued attempts, and Izuku chased after him, breaking into laughter. 

-

Izuku really didn’t like that Kan-sensei called this a Quirk Assessment. The man had to know that Izuku didn’t have a quirk to assess! 

Kan-sensei was in his hero costume just like yesterday, a red bodysuit with white gauntlets and boots, a wide silver belt, and a mustard yellow domino mask that reached up to his hairline. The man wore his perpetual frown (there was not a single piece of Vlad King merchandise where the man smiled, Izuku had checked online last night), arms crossed as the rest of 1-B continued trailing out from the locker rooms in their PE uniforms.

Hitoshi was right at Izuku’s side. They shared a look, and then Hitoshi’s purple eyes narrowed towards Kan-sensei, assessing the hero right back.

“This test isn’t assessing the suitability of your quirks for heroics.” Kan-sensei started as the last student, a slightly lost Yanagi, joined the group. “This is to test the physical capabilities, as well as your problem solving skills, with standardized athletics tests as our benchmark, as all of you have done these tests before, without actively using a quirk. I’m aware that some of you may not find any way to use your quirk in a straightforward manner, and I encourage you to think out of the box, or to accept that not every situation needs quirk use to solve it. There is no one way to be a hero, as you’ll all learn in your years here at UA.” 

Izuku looked at Hitoshi who appeared at least a bit approving of this speech. Izuku appreciated it as well, heartened by the subtle acknowledgement of a quirk not being necessary in heroics.

They did everything alphabetically, the same as the seating order. Izuku did pretty damn well in his opinion. He and Hitoshi had always focused on athletics as they only had one quirk to practice between them. Both of them had rather lithe builds in comparison to some heroes, and knew they’d have to focus more on agility than strength. 

After all, strength quirks as well as vestigial mutations that increase strength were frequent in villains, if only because they had the power and wanted to use it against others to prove they could. It was better that Izuku and Hitoshi would dodge rather than take a hit, because they would not actually be able to tank a hit made with quirked strength and it would take them out of the fight.

Izuku and Hitoshi both did poorly in grip strength, but all the other tests focused on agility over strength so they played to their skillsets. Izuku spent most of his time analyzing what he could see of his classmates’ quirks. 

Kamakiri seemed to have an all around increase in strength due to its insect mutations, and was clever enough to grow long, thin blades from its fingers to increase its score in the toe-touch. Izuku wondered just how much variety Kamakiri was capable of. The name [Razor Sharp] wasn’t descriptive, was it just able to manifest blades? What qualified as a blade to its quirk? What were the blades made of ? A metal alloy? A mutated exoskeleton? Were his mandibles and blades made of the same thing? 

Izuku would have to note all his questions down for later, when it wouldn’t be seen as deranged to interrogate someone about their quirk. Hitoshi would tell him when a good time for that would be, because otherwise he’d be tempted to do it at the first opportunity. 

And that was just Kamakiri! So many of his classmates had such cool quirks, and were creative in using them! And even without their quirks, they were so strong and athletic! 

He made notes of his questions mentally. Did Fukidashi have a list of viable onomatopoeia to use? Did animal noises count? His use of ‘Zoom’ to increase his own speed, little quirk-made constructs of the kanji trailing from his feet, was so interesting! Even if he did stumble at the end of the fifty-meter dash, it was cool!

And Kendo’s quirk, increasing the size of her hand! She almost crushed the grip strength test, registering a score far beyond what unquirked strength could accomplish. How did she incorporate it in her martial arts? 

Hitoshi had to hold onto his sleeve, keeping him back, when he saw Tokage’s quirk in action, splitting her own body and individually moving- even floating! - her own parts, able to fly! 

And Monoma’s [Copy] was so cool, he had asked Kendo and used her quirk for the grip strength test, and his usage of the quirk was seemingly instinctual- most children getting their quirks would misfire, or exhaust themselves, and he managed to act nearly as naturally as the user who had at least eleven years of experience with it! 

Izuku was surprised at how a few of his peers flagged by the end during the long distance run. Though most heroes in mainstream media didn’t show off endurance running, unless in a prolonged chase. Even then, those chases would likely be from heroes suited to mobility against villains with mobility quirks as well. 

Maybe they had overcompensated in strength training, anticipating their own immobility and catering to it? 

He had muttered this part under his breath, and Hitoshi had nudged him out of it with an eye roll. “Not everyone over thinks like you, Izuku. Some of them probably focused on quirk training over athletics as well, or weren’t allowed on sports teams because of discrimination.” 

Izuku nodded, biting his own lip to stop a different muttering rant at that , because he’s been down that road and it led to a lot of researched statistics on the downfall of professional sports due to the rise of quirks, and the uneven distribution of school sports in Japan due to favoriting hero-preparation related programs instead. 

Hitoshi elbowed him lightly in the side to bring Izuku to attention again. Kan-sensei was speaking to the class, which had all gathered around him in a semicircle again.

“-So think about what this showed you. What are you capable of? What are your strengths, weaknesses? And I don’t mean getting better at these specific tests- I mean did the dash show you how someone can aid or hinder themselves with their quirk? Are you suited to strength or speed? And there’s more to heroics than just that, of course, and you’ll be shown that over the next few days when you get a glimpse at what heroics can be. Think about the kind of hero your quirk helps you become, but also the hero you want to be. Your quirk isn’t you, and it isn’t what makes any of you a hero. You make yourself a hero, by choosing to be heroic, and honing that so you can save lives the best you can in a disaster or attack.” 

Kan-sensei paused, stance suddenly shifting, a bit awkward, as if he hadn’t intended to go on an inspirational tangent. He cleared his throat. “You’ve all done well today, whether you think so or not.” He said, and then dismissed them.

-

Pony’s Collection Of English Knowers

4:48 Ponyponi: welcome to the group! I got all the people in class who are fluent or close enough in English, and now you’re all stuck with me! ヽ( ⌒o⌒)人(⌒-⌒ )ﾉ 

4:50 Purpleguy: I will DM you that list of vocabulary words soon, pony-san

4:51 Ponyponi: Thank you Shinsou-san! ヽ(・∀・)ﾉ

4:51 Purpleguy: just doing my heroic duty 

4:56 Greenguy: toshi please tell me you aren’t sending a classmate we’ve known for two days a list of curse words

5:01 Purpleguy: 1) people can’t lie to her about the meanings to make her say something she doesn’t mean and 2) its funny

5:02 Ponyponi: And I can pretend not to know what something means and fuck with people!

5:20 Ponyponi: so! @Purpleguy is Shinsou-san, @Greenguy is Midoriya-san, @centerstage is Monoma-san, @HJhero is Honenuki-san! You are all fluent in English! I made a group chat with you four so I can get help even out of school.

5:22 Greenguy: That’s a great idea, Pony-san! 

5:27 centerstage: I am always willing to help my fellow hero hopefuls shine! 

5:28 HJhero: Glad to help, Tsunotori-san. 

5:36 Ponyponi: Rule 1 of the group: call me pony! We are friends now! (＾▽＾) rule 2: i give name change permission to shinsou-san! 

5:37 Purpleguy: permission is ‘permission’. 

5:38 Ponyponi: This is why! Thank you! (⌒▽⌒)☆

5:38 Purpleguy: Anytime.

5:42 HJhero’s display name has changed to ‘Honenuki’ 

5:43 Greenguy’s display name has changed to ‘Fluent Tryhard’

5:45 Purpleguy’s display name has changed to ‘ProfanityProvider’

5:58 Fluent Tryhard: Hey! 

5:59 ProfanityProvider: am i wrong?

6:14 centerstage: My username passes the muster, then? Excellent. 

6:17 Ponyponi: You two knew each other before UA, right? You seem close. 

6:20 Fluent Tryhard: Hitoshi and I have been best friends since we were kids! We never got to go to the same school until now, though! (´ ∀ ` *) 

6:23 Fluent Tryhard: toshi change my name or i’ll teach pony-san swears before you do.

6:24 ProfanityProvider: …

6:31 Fluent Tryhard’s display name has been changed to ‘Midochan’

6:32 Midochan: (￣ヘ￣) I’ll allow it.

6:32 Ponyponi: (⌒ω⌒) cute! 

6:40 Ponyponi: Having someone you know sounds so nice, UA is so big and intimidating!

6:46 Midochan: Me and Hitoshi are going to be a hero pair, so it is good we got into the class together! 

6:48 centerstage: oh? True hero duos are rare in Japan unless you have a gimmick, what will yours be?

6:53 Profanityprovider: we’re going underground, no gimmicks 

6:53 centerstage: interesting

6:59 Ponyponi: underground? What does that mean?

7:07 Midochan: Underground, or night heroes, I think they are called in the U.S.  

7:07 Ponyponi: oh! Like FightKnight in America!

7:12 Midochan: Yes! FightKnight is so cool! The way they manage to rank in popularity without anyone knowing anything about them is so cool!

7:14 centerstage: I wonder if anyone else in our class is planning to go underground?

7:17 Profanityprovider: Kuroiro-san might, but they also might want to be a limelight hero purely because no one expects them to 

7:20 centerstage: hmm, it would be a good idea to get everyone’s numbers to make a class groupchat to ask such questions! 

7:20 Profanityprovider: good idea

7:28 centerstage: being united as a class is paramount! Especially if we’re to all grow and train together for the next three years! 

7:28 Midochan: !!!

7:28 Profanityprovider: Izuku agrees. 

7:41 Ponyponi: (＾▽＾)

7:52 Ponyponi: I have a question! Did you all finish Ectoplasm-sensei’s homework? 

8:05 Midochan: yes! Don’t worry, he said it was just to see where we are individually and as a class, just do your best!

8:06 Ponyponi: Oh! I didn’t catch that in class, thank you Mido-chan!

8:10 Ponyponi: ah , is it rude to call you Mido-chan?

8:10 Midochan: it’s fine! 

8:12 Ponyponi: (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ 

9:22 Ponyponi: It’s getting late, I’ll be going to bed. See you all tomorrow in class! (ᵔ◡ᵔ)

9:22 Ponyponi: Goodnight! 

-

Before the bell Monoma began going person to person in their class, compiling a list of numbers for a class groupchat. He was so enthusiastic and intense, though he obviously knew how to be subtle, considering he bothered asking for Hitoshi, Honenuki, Pony, and Izuku’s numbers even if he already had them. Probably to ensure people didn’t feel excluded. 

Some of their classmates seemed overwhelmed by Monoma’s focused attentions, though a few like Kendo and Fukidashi were more receptive, probably because he had chosen to use their quirks in the assessment yesterday. Hitoshi had no clue how Monoma managed that extra layer of social interactions. 

Probably through years of trial and error (a lot of error). There was this people-pleasing quality to it that Hitoshi noticed, because he knew Izuku used the same strategy at times to survive elementary and middle school. 

Hitoshi couldn’t blame Monoma for doing what worked, even if the layers of facades seemed excessive. His own methods were blunt, but a shield didn’t have to be sharp. Monoma and Izuku had to use more delicate strategies, but that was likely because they didn’t have the ‘villainous’ threat of their quirk to rely on like Hitoshi did. 

Kan-sensei walked into the room, a stack of papers that seemed almost comically small in his hands. He set them down on the teaching podium, and turned to the whiteboard, pulling on the projector screen to make it roll back up, revealing a similar seating chart to the first day’s. 

“I’ve changed only a few seats.” Kan-sensei said once everyone had sat down. “This is mostly to keep the taller of you in the back, as well as having some students fluent in English near Tsunotori if she needs assistance. If anyone needs a different seat, let me know by the end of the week. Now, the new seats. Yanagi, stand please.”

The girl stood, her black messenger bag jingling lightly with charms and keychains at her side. 

“Monoma, to Yanagi’s seat behind you. Tsunotori, to Monoma’s seat. Yanagi, move to Tsunotori’s seat.” Kan-sensei paused, letting everyone move, and spoke again. “Fukidashi, swap with Kendo. Rin, swap with Kamakiri.” 

Once everyone settled again, Kan-sensei pulled the projector screen back down. “There’s not much in the way of announcements, aside from your introduction to heroics class this afternoon, the entire block after lunch. I’ll also advise you all to start thinking about who you’d like to have for class representative and their vice.” 

-

After a morning of classes (taught by pro heroes!), it was lunchtime when Izuku really realized he was still going to the same school as Kacchan. The subtle rumble, and then crackle- pop ! of Kacchan’s explosions was a pattern he knew very well, the accompanying jump of his heart rate making his hands tremble. 

Hitoshi immediately knew what was happening, following Izuku’s line of sight to an occupied, rowdy table. The familiar spiky head of ash blond hair and shouting would’ve given it away even if Izuku hadn’t reacted.

At Izuku’s other side, Pony blinked and continued chattering in English to Monoma, who was speaking just as fast, his hands moving in exaggerated gestures to go along with it. Both of them would sometimes slip in a japanese word, either asking a question or giving a definition and English equivalent. 

Pony was able to match Monoma’s intensity and passion easily whereas Izuku got overwhelmed. He was kinda glad that Pony would be sitting between them in class now, if only because he could still remember how Monoma had looked at him after that handshake. Some small sinking fear told him that Monoma must know he was quirkless, that he’s going to lord it over Izuku, but that didn’t make sense with Monoma’s character as far as he’s seen it. 

They waited in line with a number of other students from 1-B, all shuffled together. Izuku really hoped that Kacchan didn’t see him, and the anxiety twisted something in his gut, making him nauseated. He grabbed a simple lunch of rice, miso, and fish.

“We’ve got heroics later today, Midoriya-kun. Wouldn’t you like to grab more?” Monoma asked, some undertone to his question that Izuku couldn’t decipher.

“I… had a big breakfast.” Izuku lied, very obviously from the look Monoma and Pony gave him, Hitoshi just sighing slightly. 

“He’s nervous for heroics class, don’t worry.” Hitoshi lied for him, significantly more believably by the way Monoma and Pony both relaxed a bit. 

They moved to a table that was half filled with their 1-B peers. Izuku sat next to Kodai, giving her some space. She didn’t even look at him, which he preferred, considering how anxious he already was. He didn’t need to add interacting with a near complete stranger onto that. 

Hitoshi sat at Izuku’s left, Pony and Monoma sitting across from them. Shishida, Kendo, and Shoda all sat down near them, everyone digging into their lunches and talking idly. 

“Oh yeah, Monoma-san, when are you making the group chat?” Pony asked as she put extra pickles onto her sandwich. 

Monoma blinked, hand going to his pocket. “No time like the present!” 

Izuku could hear Kacchan’s voice over the din of the cafeteria, hundreds of kids and he still could hear that specific voice. He didn’t realize his shoulders were hunched until Hitoshi tapped him lightly, four times. Their reminder to breathe.

Izuku nodded to himself, breathing in through his nose. He was too far away to smell caramel, just the scents of his lunch, as well as the others near him, filling his senses. Lunch Rush really was a great cook, he thought, distracting himself. 

He was lost in thought, eating his serving of rice mechanically, when his phone buzzed.

1-B Groupchat

12:13 Monoma Neito: hello 1-b! This is Monoma. I made the groupchat for all of us, and I’ve changed your display names to your name. once we get more acclimated to each other, i’ll put name changes back on. tonight i’ll post and pin some ground rules for the chat, but everything can be changed later if it needs to be. 

Izuku looked up from his phone to where Monoma was trying to find the English word for ‘acclimate’ to tell Pony. 

“ Acclimate , to get used to. ” Izuku said, receiving a blinding smile from Pony and what he’d dare call a pout from Monoma. 

Izuku silenced the chat on his phone, which was already buzzing with silly jokes going back and forth between Awase and Tsuburaba. 

Hitoshi nudged him with an eyebrow raised. He heard a small crackling explosion again and shook his head, but grinned weakly, his way of telling Hitoshi he’d just grin and bear it for now and avoid it next time. 

“The cafeteria is loud. I wonder what people with quirked hearing do to deal with it.” Hitoshi mused aloud. Izuku could see right through his brand of subtlety, but it seemed no one else could.

“It is rather distracting.” Shishida nodded, pushing his glasses up. “There are also a great deal of different scents that I find myself overwhelmed by, personally.” 

That tempted Izuku to ask questions about Shishida’s quirk, but a light tap under the table, Hitoshi’s sneaker against his own, reminded him about social etiquette. Asking near-strangers about their quirk was frowned upon, right. 

“We could always ask Kan-sensei about staying in our homeroom. He seems really accommodating. I’ve never had a teacher care enough about changing around seating, even if it makes sense!” Kendo was emphatic, a piece of tteokbokki wiggling a bit where it was held between her chopsticks. 

Monoma spoke up, “Yes! Kan-sensei seems really-!”

Alarms blared throughout the cafeteria, startling everyone. Students stood up and began rushing for the door.

Izuku stood, unsure of what to do. He linked his arm with Hitoshi, clinging as they were pushed by the tide of other students. The others in 1-B were disseminating through the crowd unwillingly, even the large students like Bondo who didn’t want to resist and knock anyone over by accident. 

It was times like these that Izuku remembered just how short he was, upperclassmen crowding around him as he stumbled, fingers digging into Hitoshi’s bicep, Hitoshi’s own hand gripping his wrist tight enough to bruise. The commotion was all consuming, the world compressing to just a cacophony of sounds and the same gray of UA blazers everywhere he looked. Izuku was suffocated, pressed into the glass of the hallway at one point, his hold on Hitoshi failing, feeling his nails rake across fabric until he held onto nothing.

A loud, commanding voice barked out words that Izuku couldn’t make sense of, just feeling the cold glass of the window against his face, the crush of bodies, and the emptiness of his hand where his soulmate was supposed to be. Panic consumed him, even as quiet and order fell over the crowd. The pressure against him had abated, but he still slumped, leaning against the window in an attempt to catch his breath. He held his own wrist, tapping one-two-three-four, but his own movements were too fast, unable to calm him like Hitoshi could.

“Midoriya-kun?” A familiar feminine voice called out, nearby but infinitely distant. “Midoriya-kun, are you okay? Do you need to see Recovery Girl?” 

Izuku shook his head, blinking, trying to breathe. 

The person crouched down next to Izuku, their green skirt shifting over their leggings. “Midoriya-kun, can you breathe with me? Here.” They placed one of Izuku’s hands over their chest, right on top of their heartbeat. “In… and out. Slowly, just like that. You’ve got it.” 

Izuku breathed, blinking the haze out of his eyes, now looking at a hallway full of scattered students, some of them looking at him in concern, others moving back to the cafeteria or who knows where. The alarm had stopped. His hand fell back to his side.

“Midoriya-kun, it was just the press. Do you remember this morning, the press bothering us? It was them breaking in, they’re already being escorted out. Do you need anything?” 

Izuku looked at Kendo, who was staring at him with concern, their side ponytail in disarray. 

“I-” Izuku croaked out. Kendo handed him a plastic bottle of water, cracking the lid open for him. He grabbed it with shaky hands and drank. “Ah- sorry-” 

“It’s okay, Midoriya-kun, you’re okay.” Kendo’s voice was soft, reassuring. Izuku thought they’d make a great hero, if they could comfort civilians like that. “Are you hurt at all? Did you get trampled?” 

Izuku shook his head, moving to stand, Kendo helping him up. “Ah- no, I’m fine. It was just- too much.” 

Kendo nodded sympathetically. “C’mon, let’s get back to the classroom. We’ve got heroics class coming up, we can’t miss out!” 

A smile wobbled onto Izuku’s face. “Yeah.” He turned away from Kendo, looking forward as they went through the hallways. “Thanks, Kendo-kun.”

Kendo smiled warmly, one of their strong hands placed between Izuku’s shoulder blades, nearly as comforting as Hitoshi’s, before they gave him some space. “Anytime, Midoriya-kun.” 

-

Their heroics teacher was All Might. Which made sense, since he had said in their acceptance videos that he would be teaching at UA. Hitoshi wished it weren’t the case, but there was nothing he could change about it. 

That didn’t mean he would ever allow a situation to happen where All Might was alone with Izuku. 

They were going to be doing battle trials, which was cool, but it also meant that Hitoshi would likely use his quirk, which was terrifying. Maybe it would have been better to say his quirk before, and give his classmates time to get used to the idea before seeing it in action? 

But that had never helped him before, and he had wanted to not share his quirk in solidarity with Izuku, so thinking about how things could be different was unproductive.

At All Might’s push of a button the wall opened to reveal racks of costume cases, all metal with green numbers. Hitoshi hung back in the crowd, and Izuku met him at his desk holding two cases, one emblazoned with Hitoshi’s number seven, the other Izuku’s number seventeen.

Izuku was vibrating with excitement, grinning shakily. He had been escorted into the classroom by Kendo, whom Hitoshi’s mental estimation of increased tenfold by her actions. She hadn’t been fussing over Izuku, just being there for him, and helping calm him. She seemed to be a genuinely good person, at least from Hitoshi’s judgment. 

Hitoshi walked by Izuku’s side as they all trailed towards the locker rooms for 1-B, feeling at least somewhat at ease, despite the presence of All Might.

-

Izuku’s dread at the sight of his once role model and now… something else… was easily overcome by the fact that he would be able to wear his hero costume, the same one he and Hitoshi designed together, iteration upon iteration of colored pencil sketches now given form. All those hours staring at different shades of purple and green and black, finding just the right ones to make their costumes appear to be of the same set. 

The costumes of professional heroes went through years and years of evolution, even after a debut. There would always be signature colors and shapes, but sometimes a hero would have different ‘eras’, like All Might’s silver and bronze ages. 

Izuku had known his and Hitoshi’s costumes would not be of the same quality, designed by his amateur hands with amateur skills. He still couldn’t stop the excitement bubbling up again, just like it had on the first day of school. This just felt so monumental, another beginning in a journey that’s been comprised solely of beginnings so far. 

The inspiration for their costumes came from the standards of most Japanese underground heroes. Dark colors, usually with a signature color accenting it. Typically a bodysuit, as a majority of underground heroes were agility-based in nature, ambush predators lying in wait in every dark alleyway and shadowed rooftop. 

They both wanted masks, both to protect their civilian identities and to conceal their youth. While beauty standards in heroics demanded a certain youthful quality, a hero looking fresh out of school drew criticism easily and condescension from civilians even mid-rescue. 

Izuku had detailed respirator style masks on each of their designs, hoping that some form of support item could be integrated with Hitoshi’s when they came up with a way to disguise his voice without electronics that nullified his quirk. His own mask was of sturdy matte black metal, cushioned inside to not cut into skin. A stark line of green made up a triangle shape, its top point at the tip of his nose, equilaterally trailing down his cheeks to the corners of his mouth. Hitoshi’s mask had the same markings in dark purple. 

The costumes weren’t skin tight, like most female heroes tend to implement, and some male as well. Neither Izuku nor Hitoshi were comfortable even with the concept, let alone actually trying it. Instead Izuku pulled on an armored shirt with half sleeves cutting off above the elbow, as it was his warm season variant of the costume.  Dark green triangles marked the bottom of the sleeves, compact in an unending pattern, individual triangles trailing upwards, drawing attention upwards from his hands. 

The pants were comfortable, black fabric cinching tight at the ankle above his boot, but loose enough that he knew his written comments were paid their due attention. His kneepads were dark green, strapping around his legs and over the pants. 

Excitement made it hard to even finish examining his gear, his mind going blank and then rebooting quickly. He had a task to complete, and muttered under his breath to keep himself on track, no matter how creepy it might seem to others. 

Izuku’s boots were heavy duty, with a tread designed for urban exploration and parkour, flexible enough without compromising the integrity. The laces were his green, the soles were Hitoshi’s purple. 

His black climbing gloves fit the exact specifications he had written down, with the ability to cover his fingertips and form clawlike points if he needed them to. These had a line of purple around his wrist, where he velcroed the glove tight onto his hand. The palms of the gloves were in his signature dark green, and he knew Hitoshi’s would be the same but reversed, as they designed. 

Izuku’s utility belts were next, the purple accented one around his waist- partially to break up the black, for his own aesthetic sensibilities- and another with green accents crossing from left shoulder to right hip, buckled tighter to ensure no one could grab it and strangle or pull him around. Each was full of medical supplies, though later as they got proper training he hoped to add actual weaponry to his arsenal. 

The walk out of the locker rooms was slow as students got used to moving in their costumes, everyone complimenting each other as they saw them. Izuku walked with Hitoshi at his side, his costume looking just as they specified, exactly like Izuku’s but with their signature colors swapped in favor of Hitoshi’s purple and Izuku’s green as an accent. 

Izuku could tell Hitoshi was smiling behind his own mask, wrinkles up around his purple eyes. Izuku grinned back, pulling down the respirator. 

“ Wow !” Pony’s voice echoed in the tunnel out to ground beta, where they were told to meet. 

Izuku turned and saw Pony’s outfit, a cream and peach colored dress over leggings, with leather bridle-like accessories. 

“ Wow to you too, Pony-chan.” Hitoshi drawled, an arm coming up to sling over Izuku’s shoulders. 

Pony giggled, a blush rising against her fair skin. She did a twirl, hands out to show herself off, her hooves clacking against the concrete. “ I know, right?! ” 

“C’mon, we’re running late!” Tsuburaba shouted, running slightly down the hall. Izuku couldn’t note all the details of his hero costume, just the pale blue jacket and tan pants as he kept running. 

Izuku hurried up, dragging Hitoshi slightly, who gave a put upon sigh just to make Izuku and Pony laugh again. 

1-B crowded around All Might, who explained the parameters of their battle trial. Randomized teams, with a hero and villain simulation defending or capturing a bomb, with a time limit and provided capture tape. The hero team would also be provided a blueprint, and the villain team would be given five minutes to move their bomb and prepare their strategy. Each team would be decided now, though the matchups would be determined round-to-round. 

Izuku was excited to see everyone’s quirks in actual combat! Even though not all of them would be purely suited for combat it would be awesome to see how everyone applied their quirks!

The viewing room was interesting, dark with a wall of screens above a console and set of microphones for the communications systems during training. Izuku stood next to Tetsutetsu, his partner for the trial. 

Tetsutetsu was taller than Izuku, and rather imposing even with his wide grin, considering the sharp teeth on display. Metal plates framed his face with a jaw-guard, the same steel crossing over in an X over his chest, and down into a dark green-gray jumpsuit. Izuku returned his grin with a wobbly smile, wishing he had pulled his mask back up to hide his anxiety. 

On the screens, the hero and villain pairs were preparing for the battle trial. Kendo wore a cyan sleeveless cheongsam with a black corset and domino mask over her eyes, the same side ponytail trailing down to the right. She was looking over a sheet of blueprints with Kuroiro, who wore a simple black jumpsuit and white shoes and white bracelets, managing the strange illusion of blending into himself. 

Kuroiro’s grin widened as he spoke to Kendo, no sound transmitting to the room as they watched, but several people shivered at the sight of a smile that very obviously meant nothing good.

Shishida and Kamakiri were acting as the villains, keeping the bomb where they found it on the third floor and discussing a strategy, though it didn’t appear to be much of a discussion. At some point Shishida threw his hands up in frustration and left the room, stalking away in his costume of just pants and black tinted goggles, leaving Kamakiri to the room storing the bomb. Kamakiri began moving the furniture in the room aside, perhaps to try and lessen the shadows in the room, though he had no way of knowing the exact details of Kuroiro’s quirk.

The exercise began at All Might’s word, the man hunched over a microphone at the console, his back to the room. Izuku preferred it that way, still uncomfortable with the sight of that face who looked at him with so much pity once upon a rooftop.

Kendo went in seemingly alone, with Kuroiro hiding in the tails of her domino mask using his quirk. She rushed to the third floor for some indiscernible reason, though maybe she had heard something they couldn’t with the lack of audio.

Shishida was lying in wait at the entrance to the third floor, blocking the staircase with his transformation quirk, body bulking up until his shoulders brushed each wall. 

“He’s blocking her way in, but he doesn’t have enough room to maneuver without structural damage.” Izuku muttered, eyes trained on the screen. Every once in a while he could catch a glimpse of white, Kuroiro’s eyes peeking out from the black 

domino mask. 

Shishida swung wildly, not uncoordinated, but seemingly unrestrained, a potential mental component to his quirk which was common with more animal-based mutations and transformations where instinct could overrule reason in high stress situations. Shishida’s form didn’t seem to be of a specific animal species, though. Perhaps a general hybrid, if both of his biological parents had differing animal quirks, or a mutation in the bloodline altogether?

Kendo blocked Shishida’s telegraphed swing with ease, her hand growing to act as a shield. She was nimble in comparison, and seemed to be at ease even against an opponent larger than her. She blocked a second one of Shishida’s swings, then turned on her heel, the tails of her mask and her ponytail fluttering like flags behind her. 

Shishida followed her movement, unwittingly turning to allow access past him into the hallway, no longer an obstacle. Kendo grew her hand even larger, and her palm struck Shishida in the chest to send him crashing down the stairs. 

His thrashing took chunks out of the walls as he struggled to catch his breath, and Kendo turned to sprint onwards, head on a swivel as she looked through doorways to where the objective was located. Kuroiro’s eyes were out as well, likely acting as eyes in the back of Kendo’s head, an interesting application of his quirk. 

Could he potentially do infiltration on an ally’s clothes without detection? What about an unsuspecting person wearing dark clothing? What happened when someone took that clothing off, how did it affect him? Could he leave, or was he trapped?

Eventually the hero team reached the room with Kamakiri guarding the bomb. Kamakiri’s dark cloak was tattered, and he wore black boots and pants as well. He had a black domino mask like Kendo, though his mask was at his hairline, forcing his mohawk up higher, spikes falling slightly forward. 

Kamakiri stalked around the room, the furniture cleared and the bomb stood between two windows, casting the least amount of shadow possible. He did seem to have some level of strategy, even if he wasn’t communicating well with Shishida. 

Kamakiri extended blades with his quirk, mouth moving as he shouted something, and Kendo lunged forward. She was quickly stuck on the defensive against what appeared to be blunted blades, using her hands to deflect and shield herself from them, Kamakiri slowly forcing her to step out of the room. He seemed to have the upper hand, a grin crawling up his insectoid face, mandibles at the corners of his mouth gleaming in the fluorescent light of the battleground.

Shishida was on all fours and running down the hallway, the cameras shaking as he passed, face twisted into a snarl. His goggles had fallen off somewhere, and his eyes were wild, nose twitching. 

Kendo startled at what must have been roaring from Shishida and Kamakiri took advantage of that with another blunted strike, catching across Kendo’s enlarged knuckles. 

Kuroiro took this moment in the chaos to strike, falling out of the tails of Kendo’s mask, rolling on the floor and racing to the bomb. Kamakiri’s mouth was open in another shout, swinging a significantly larger blade grown out of his forearm towards Kuroiro. Kuroiro jumped into what little remained of the bomb’s shadow to duck under the blunted blade, and surfaced with a black hand touching the bomb. 

All Might declared the heroes’ victory and everyone in the viewing room cheered. On screen, Shishida was hunched over, chest heaving as he ended his transformation. He appeared disoriented, shaking his head rapidly, looking around as his body shrunk. Kendo was nursing her hands, which had blue and red lines up and down them, welts and bruises. She seemed in good spirits, smiling and talking to Kamakiri and Kuroiro, and then going to find Shishida as they left. She spoke to Shishida, and he seemed to calm further, conversing with the girl as they all walked out of the building.

Once they were back in the viewing room, All Might clapped his hands and began speaking.

“That was amazing work on both sides! Now, could anyone say who the MVP of this match was?” All Might asked the class.

“Kuroiro-san won it for them, right?” Tsuburaba asked, his hand half-raised. “So he’s the MVP?” 

“But Kendo did most of the fighting.” Tokage argued without raising her own hand. “She fought Shishida and Kamakiri basically by herself.” She crossed her arms, the scaled pattern on her skintight indigo bodysuit shifting. 

“The hero team played to their strengths.” Izuku found himself saying, all the attention turning towards him, making him blush. “I mean- Kendo-san is combat focused, with training in martial arts. Kuroiro-san found a clever way to utilize his quirk to ensure he wasn’t getting in her way, or else he would’ve been a liability, potentially, especially when they had to move around Shishida-san at the stairs. They were able to take the battle and put it on their own terms, one on one battles and an ambush maneuver. Kamakiri-san and Shishida-san were also playing to their own strengths, but both of them required space to use their quirks effectively, and close-quarters combat isn’t to their advantage. If they were really villains, they wouldn’t have a base like that, but we can’t account for that in this particular simulation…”

Izuku trailed off as the class stared at him, most of them shocked. He blushed a deeper red, feeling the heat from his face and looking downwards. He pulled up his respirator mask, trying in vain to hide his face.

“...What he said.” Awase said, tone joking but also a little awed.

Someone murmured about not expecting Izuku to talk that much. Monoma was translating in quick English to Pony, and she nodded encouragingly at Izuku. 

“When he said he likes quirk analysis, he meant it.” Hitoshi drawled. “He knows what he’s talking about.” His tone was prideful.

Izuku blushed harder, feeling a bit lightheaded. “Ah-” He stuttered out, voice a bit metallic behind his mask.

“With that, I believe young Kendo is the MVP, though perhaps a trip to Recovery Girl is needed?” All Might asked Kendo, who nodded sheepishly, still cradling her hands delicately. 

“Don’t wait up.” Kendo said, smiling at Izuku and then towards Kuroiro. 

The next teams were pulled for the trial, and Izuku felt his stomach drop, the immediate whiplash from going between embarrassment and anxiety to dread making him feel slightly ill. 

He exchanged a look with his soulmate, who just gave a determined nod back, leaving with his partner for the trial, Awase. 

Pony and Komori left as well, struggling already with Pony’s limited Japanese and Komori’s barely conversational (and definitely not combat or strategy focused) grasp on English. They end up leaning over the blueprint together, trailing lines with fingers and gesturing broadly in charades. 

Hitoshi and Awase appeared to be talking, much more communicative than the previous villain team. They carried the paper maché bomb up the stairs to the fourth floor. Hitoshi began dragging the furniture to the middle of the room, stacking it up. He gestured to the bomb, and Awase seemed resigned, climbing up the furniture while Hitoshi dropped back to the floor, picking up the bomb. 

“Oh.” Izuku said as he stared at the screen. “They’re gonna [Weld] it to the ceiling!” He grinned. 

The bomb fused to the ceiling, and they both hopped down, most of their preparation time already gone. Hitoshi began shoving the furniture back to the sides of the room, and Awase used [Weld] again to stick the furniture to the floor, keeping the heroes from using it to climb up to the bomb. Considering Pony and Komori hadn’t shown any mobility uses for their quirks, it was a smart idea.

Awase and Hitoshi were talking the entire time, and Awase seemed annoyed. Hitoshi’s face was hidden behind his respirator, likely intentionally due to the conversation needing to turn towards their quirks. Izuku wished he was there to intervene, but he couldn’t, and he knew Hitoshi could handle himself anyway. 

Kendo walked back into the viewing room, a few bandages wrapped around individual fingers and a slump to her shoulders, but still in good spirits. Tokage caught her up on what she had missed so far as the battle trial truly began.

Tsunotori and Komori ran in, doing casual searches of each floor. There was a lot of obvious head shaking and nodding when they checked in with each other. Komori’s large mushroom cap hat nearly fell a few times. Her matching dress and boots of red with white polka-dots were cute, fitting an aesthetic niche. 

Hitoshi left Awase to the bomb, likely intending to catch an unsuspecting Pony or Komori with [Brainwashing]. Pony would be easier to ensnare with his quirk, considering their existent rapport, but Komori would just as likely respond without any knowledge of [Brainwashing]. 

The rest of 1-B were theorizing about Hitoshi’s quirk. They all assumed it wasn’t physical in nature, or he would have used it during their quirk assessment, but they had no clue as to what it would be. Nervousness made Izuku try to wring his hands, but it was far less effective with his gloves and he stuck to just fidgeting in place instead.

Hitoshi was at the top of the third staircase, chunks of the wall still littered around from the previous trial. He called down the staircase, and on another screen Izuku could see Pony making her way upwards, stopping in place at the sound.

Pony responded, and her wide eyes went blank, prussian blue irises clouded with white. Whispers rose in the viewing room. Izuku just grinned, watching as Pony pulled capture tape out of her belt and wound it around her own wrists. 

“Tsunotori is out!” All Might called into the mic, tone professional, though he seemed to be staring at Pony’s blank face on the screen just as much as everyone else.

“What was that !” Fukidashi shouted, flailing his hands dramatically. Murmurs started up again, a low rumble of noise that was easy to tune out.

“It had to be his voice, she talked back to him and subsequently froze, right?” Monoma questioned aloud. 

Most of 1-B turned to Izuku for an explanation, but he was staring at Hitoshi on the screen, gaze flickering to where the other students in the trial were.

Komori was running down the second floor hallway, towards where she had left Pony. Pony was sitting down, shaking off [Brainwashing] after Hitoshi had nudged her shoulder.

Mushrooms began to rapidly grow as Komori raced up the stairs, following a sprinting Hitoshi. Little mushrooms in a variety of colors and shapes began to grow from the walls, the floors, and even on Hitoshi’s costume, stark against the black fabric. 

Hitoshi was breathing heavily, not from exertion but likely from a small shred of fear that remained from using his quirk against someone, from someone else chasing him down for it. He pulled down the respirator and shouted something at Awase, stumbling into the room. 

Awase used [Weld] on the door to their room, and they seemed set to just bunker down for the next few minutes and claim the win. 

Komori was opening doors on the fourth floor, mushrooms trailing behind her, some poofing out spores in small clouds, growing more of their species. Komori’s mouth was moving, perhaps talking to the villains, or centering herself?

She reached the door that Hitoshi and Awase hid behind, trying to open it and finding it jammed shut, fused to the doorway. 

Mushrooms began to bloom in earnest, and Komori pulled out a bottle holstered in her belt, spraying it at the door from a distance. More and more mushrooms grew, spores flying in visible particles, the camera obscured by more of the fungi. 

From inside the bomb room, Hitoshi was talking to Awase, maybe explaining his capture, or what he had seen of Komori’s quirk. He was brushing off the few mushrooms that had sprouted up on his costume and forearms. 

Komori kicked at the door, which collapsed in, rotten throughout. A cloud of spores filled the room, closed windows keeping it all circulating inside. Hitoshi and Awase were at the ready, but they inhaled the spores that had burst towards them with Komori’s entrance and were coughing on them.

A massive bloom of the spores in the room caused mushrooms to crop up again and again, some of them much larger than what was normal. Komori focused on the center of the room, and a mushroom the size of a table grew. She climbed up it, fingers digging into the soft flesh of the mushroom cap, and reached on her tiptoes to slap the bomb fused to the ceiling.

All Might called the hero team’s win. Komori jumped down from her large mushroom, saying something, and then her face turned very concerned. She placed a hand on her ear, talking in the comms unit. 

“Escort both of them to Recovery Girl, Young Komori. We’ll debrief once they’re healthy.” All Might said into the microphone. 

“ Are they okay? ” Pony asked in English, walking into the viewing room and staring at the feeds on screen.

“Young Komori had an unintentional quirk effect on the boys, they’ll be fine! ” All Might assured Pony in English, then turned to the rest of the class. “This is why we are having battle trials! To learn what you are all capable of in combat in a controlled environment!” 

All Might gave a wide grin, the kind that still made Izuku feel sick to his stomach. Izuku turned away from him, focusing on the video feed of Hitoshi and Awase both leaning on Komori, who was helping them out of the building now. A set of robots carrying two stretchers rolled up to her, and she helped both boys onto them, looking very apologetic, though Hitoshi waved her off. 

“It appears we will be moving buildings!” All Might said with a laugh that no one joined in on. “Once all three of them return, we’ll debrief, likely after this next round!

The next teams were pulled and All Might began pressing buttons on the console, changing over the camera feeds to the next arena for their trials.

Honenuki was talking at Kodai at the entrance to the new building, a complex with the same layout. Kodai stared at the blueprints impassively. Honenuki was wearing an armor suit of black and orange, a helmet under their arm. Kodai was in a red and white dress with matching cap that had a white fin down the middle. 

Tsuburaba and Shoda were talking as well on the third floor with the bomb beside them. Both of them were gesturing with their hands, outlining a strategy. Izuku got a better look at Tsuburaba’s costume, which could be mistaken for street clothes, a jacket, shirt, and pants. The knee pads were the only aspect that stood out. In contrast, Shoda’s costume actually looked like a hero costume, a tight black bodysuit with silver piping along muscle lines. 

Together the villains shoved the bomb into a corner, Tsuburaba using [Solid Air] to make two walls to close it in, both as tall as the bomb.

They walked down the stairs together onto the second floor, and All Might started the match.

Nearly immediately the teams met and began to battle. Tsuburaba took point for the villains, blowing a wide shield in front of himself, a flat nearly clear pane of [Solid Air]. 

Honenuki crouched, their hands splayed against the floor. Kodai reached for her utility belt, slipping something into her hand and throwing it almost like one would skip a stone. The item expanded as she used [Size] to grow it, revealing a red marble the size of a melon, launching with the same momentum she used to throw it despite its mass. 

The [Solid Air] shield shattered, Shoda lunging forward as Tsuburaba reeled back. Shoda used an open palm, slapping at the enlarged marble, and then using his quirk [Twin Impact] to send the marble rocketing into the wall, slamming and cracking against concrete.

Tsuburaba began to run away and Shoda followed in his retreat, boots sinking slightly in the stairs.

Honenuki’s [Softening] hadn’t caught the villains as they had expected, and the stairs hardened again, now drooping and uneven. Honenuki led Kodai up the stairs at a run, both of them stumbling slightly but able to keep pace.

Tsuburaba fell back to the bomb room, but Shoda held the line at the top of the stairs, implementing a similar strategy to Shishida from before. Shoda pushed at Kodai, mouth moving as he said something. He activated [Twin Impact], and it was weaker than before, just shoving Kodai to the side. 

The uneven stairs worked in the villains favor, and Kodai toppled into Honenuki.  They steadied Kodai in a smooth movement and pressed their other hand into the ground to use [Softening] again. 

Honenuki had apparently put much more power into [Softening], because the floor immediately sank and Shoda fell through onto the second floor with a startled yelp.

The heroes had to leap over the gap Honenuki had created, now free to find Tsuburaba and the bomb.

Tsuburaba was hunched over, out of breath and sweating. He had created a large, thicker looking wall of [Solid Air] in front of the door, and was straining from the effort. 

Honenuki melted the wall instead of going for the door. He gestured to Kodai, face obscured by their helmet so Izuku couldn’t tell if they were speaking.

Kodai threw a handful of marbles from the pouch at her belt, all growing to the size of baseballs, their momentum faltering only slightly through the soft wall. One hit Tsuburaba straight in the gut by pure luck, causing him to hunch over further, coughing or gagging. Kodai quickly used her capture tape, efficient movements winding the white tape around Tsuburaba’s wrists. Tsuburaba said something, and didn’t get a response.

Honenuki tried to use [Softening] on the walls of [Solid Air] that were protecting the bomb, but the quirk interaction didn’t work, interestingly. Izuku would need to note that, and ask Honenuki if his quirk worked on other quirk-made constructs. Could they soften a construct from Fukidashi’s [Comic]?

Kodai slung a last marble, growing it and shattering a wall of [Solid Air]. Honenuki touched the bomb. 

All Might declared the heroes’ victory and several people clapped in the viewing room.

As they waited for the four students to return, the others from the previous round returned from Recovery Girl. Izuku made eye contact with Hitoshi, who still had his mask around his neck. Hitoshi sent Izuku a sloppy grin that spoke of tiredness and a bit of self deprecation as he stood at Izuku’s side.

“You did great.” Izuku whispered, nudging Hitoshi with an elbow.

Pony was speaking to Komori, reassuring her in stilted Japanese. Komori sniffled, nodding, her mushroom cap of a hat under one arm, the other wiping her face. Awase was also reassuring Komori, though him saying how badass the move could be when taking down villains didn’t seem to help as much.

Honenuki, Kodai, Tsuburaba, and Shoda returned for the debrief. All Might started with asking again for an MVP.

“Honenuki-san. He took Shoda out, and got them through the wall to the bomb room.” Rin said.

“But without Kodai, he’d have no way to get through Tsuburaba’s quirk. And Tsuburaba did well, slowing down the enemy and making them change tactics.” Kendo debated. 

“Shoda also did good!” Tetsutetsu pumped his fist, grinning. “He was able to keep them back so Tsuburaba could shore up their defenses!” 

“Do you have any thoughts on this, Midoriya-kun?” Kendo asked Izuku, startling him with the sudden attention.

“Ah-” Izuku stuttered. “I think ah- as heroes, Honenuki-san’s actions were rash. They used their quirk at every opportunity, and it probably weakened the building’s structural integrity. They weren’t thinking ahead, and it nearly cost them the match when Shoda got them on the stairs. Tsuburaba also was thinking mostly with his quirk, and his strategy of walling in the bomb was a good one. In a real situation heroes wouldn’t risk activating the bomb by attacking the shields because breaking through could hit the bomb itself. I can’t really say much about Shoda’s quirk, as I don’t have enough data to determine the exact mechanics of [Twin Impact], and the timings versus strength of the secondary impact…” Hitoshi tapped Izuku once, telling him he was going on a tangent. “Ah-!” Izuku stopped himself. “So- uh- I think Kodai was the MVP.” 

Kodai looked at Izuku, then turned away, that still indecipherable and impassive expression on her face. 

Honenuki seemed disappointed, frowning with their helmet in their arms. Izuku didn’t mean to dishearten them, or anyone! 

The discussion continued a bit, All Might explaining about reinforced doors, and that even if they’re solid and impassible, if the wall right next to it is weaker, then it would become a new door. Honenuki’s [Softening] meant that using their quirk could bypass not just the [Solid Air] barrier in front of the door, but also if [Weld] were used on the door.

Then All Might pulled up the footage from the match before, with Hitoshi, Awase, Komori, and Pony, and asked for the MVP.

“Shinsou-san, man, what even is your quirk?” Tsuburaba asked, sending the room back into a different debate.

Hitoshi shifted his weight towards Izuku, falling back onto his standoffish mask to hide from the attention, mouth twisting into a slight frown, an unimpressed eyebrow raising. “That’s not the question All Might-sensei asked.” Hitoshi said dryly.

Izuku took over. “Unfortunately the hero team had communication problems, but that’s something that can happen in the field, in international heroics or with civilians that don’t speak a language you know, like tourists. They coped well with it by developing their own nonverbal communication. Awase-san and- ah, Shinsou- had a good plan utilizing both of their quirks, as well as their environment to their advantage, and their existing knowledge on the hero team. Hitoshi had an efficient capture of Pony as well. Komori’s quirk is- um, really cool, and powerful- um, and she used it well, though a bit recklessly, but learning our limits and potential is part of the purpose of this exercise. I think even though the villains lost, Awase was the MVP for working well with his teammate and being key to the protection of their objective.” 

They all moved on after that, All Might agreeing and everyone else still busy speculating on Hitoshi’s quirk and making him uncomfortable. Izuku glared at Awase, who was talking to Tsuburaba. Awase caught his eye and looked to the side, suddenly sheepish.

Pony moved to Hitoshi’s side, telling him how cool it was that he could take someone out of the fight so nonviolently, quickly switching to English when her Japanese vocabulary failed her.

The next set of heroes and villains were sent to the complex.

Tokage and Yanagi immediately went into motion, Tokage’s [Lizard Tail Splitter] and Yanagi’s [Poltergeist] working in tandem to bring the bomb up to the roof, working on the opposite side of the building so the heroes couldn’t see. 

“Neither Monoma or Rin appear to have any mobility to get up there quickly, though it could change if Monoma uses [Copy].” Izuku muttered, glancing over at the heroes, who were testing out Monoma’s quirk on Rin.

Monoma manifested [Scales], sleeves of his black tuxedo rolled up. [Scales] sprouted in a bright robin’s egg blue, coating his right arm. Monoma tilted his head from side to side, examining it, while Rin appeared to be speaking to him, motioning to their own yellow gauntlets. Rin’s sleeveless costume made sense now, allowing room for [Scales] to grow on their arms. They were dressed like a jiangshi, a talisman acting as a veil over their eyes and a loose black jumpsuit with clouds the same yellow as their gauntlets. 

Monoma gestured broadly, both of his hands encased in blue scales, and then held up one of the pocket watches at his belt. 

“So there is a time limit, and maybe the three clocks are for three different quirks?” Hitoshi asked quietly, and Izuku nodded, humming in assent. 

“I wonder if he has a longer time limit if he focuses on one quirk. And if quirk training could increase both the number of quirks and the time limit.” Izuku thought aloud.

All Might started the match. Tokage peeked over the edge of the roof with a single floating portion of her face, spying on the hero team. The rest of her body was together, and her mouth moved, speaking to Yanagi.

Yanagi adjusted her mask, one that obscured her face from the bridge of her nose down, appearing to be just fabric. Though maybe it had some kind of filtration in the specific composition of the fabrics. Yanagi’s knee-length kimono fluttered in the breeze, wide sleeves flapping a bit around her arms. She must have said something, because Tokage was nodding, a strange sight with just the bottom half of her head.

The first eight or so minutes of the match were boring, Monoma and Rin scouting through the floors, opening doors and listening in. They were moving quickly, likely expecting Tokage and Yanagi to use their quirks to hide the bomb somewhere unconventional, like Awase and Hitoshi had done.

Monoma took point, every once in a while holding out his hand for Rin to tap, refreshing [Copy], most likely. The time limit probably wasn’t so short, but they’d need to have the most time possible with their opponents potentially around any corner.

Tokage and Yanagi were prepared as well, Yanagi crouched behind a large series of pipes, Tokage’s body split into parts, floating around, her eyes sometimes peeking through windows, mouth moving to update Yanagi on the hero team’s location. 

“[Lizard Tail Splitter] is good for mobility and scouting, with stealth potential, though it seems she can only split in about a dozen pieces.” Izuku muttered.

The hero team reached the roof access, Rin opening the door and rushing forward, only to fall prey to Tokage’s trap. Her disembodied hands surged around Rin from where they had been lying in wait at the doorway, twisting and tangling the tape around their legs. Rin’s [Scales] sprouted, spiking out from their arms as they slashed down at the tape, scratching at Tokage’s fingers, but they toppled over.

Monoma stumbled over himself, trying to help but unable to do anything with [Scales] that wouldn’t potentially hurt his teammate.

All Might announced Rin’s capture.

Monoma’s fingers brushed against Tokage’s retreating hands, using [Copy]. [Scales] sunk back into Monoma’s skin as he said something, smiling widely, Rin now just lying down in defeat. 

Everyone had gotten somewhat used to Tokage using [Lizard Tail Splitter]. She seemed hesitant to use it casually, but after the initial shock (or awe, in Izuku’s case), of her splitting and flying for the fifty-meter dash yesterday, most everyone appeared to treat it as just another quirk. A few more squeamish students tended to avert their gaze, though it was easier for them to watch through a screen rather than in person. 

The sight of Monoma using [Lizard Tail Splitter] was vastly different. There was no simple split in the flesh, floating upwards and towards a goal. This was more like a lizard dropping its tail in panic, autotomy in action. A startled jerk of muscles, and then Monoma’s hand was flopping onto the concrete of the rooftop, fingers twitching like a spider in its death throes.

Monoma stared at the hand, horrified, and Tokage was doing the same, gathering her pieces together and running towards him. 

A roll of capture tape was shrouded in a pink glow, controlled by Yanagi’s [Poltergeist], and had been sneaking up behind Monoma. As Monoma froze, the tape wound around his legs in a quick movement. He fell to his knees, legs giving out. 

“Villain team wins!” All Might announced. 

Tokage was hovering near Monoma, hands outstretched as if she wanted to comfort him, but was reluctant to make contact. Eventually she crouched near him, mouth moving in conversation. 

Yanagi helped Rin untangle from the tape, both of them near Tokage and Monoma, but not close enough to crowd him. His arm began regenerating rapidly, the detached hand lying pale and dead on the rooftop.

Tokage guided Monoma out of the building, the four students moving in one unit. Monoma looked pale on the screens, still staring at his own regenerating hand. 

By the time the group returned to the viewing room, Monoma had his entire hand back, moving each finger carefully. Tokage talked to him in low tones, her voice raising a bit as she cracked a joke, and Monoma’s mouth twitched into a weak smile. 

All Might cleared his throat, getting 1-B’s attention. “Now, who would you call the MVP?” 

“Tokage’s machinations ensured our victory.” Yanagi said quietly, then stepped back away from the center of the room.

“Monoma was doing well, he just had a bad quirk interaction that no one could have anticipated.” Izuku said, trying to sound reassuring. 

“Unfortunately, quirk incidents can happen on the field. And the matchup between hero and villain is not always in the heroes’ favor, in fact some villains and criminals will target patrol areas of those who they feel they can outmatch in a contest of quirks!” All Might gestured broadly. “Young Tokage is the MVP of this match, but all of you did very well!”

-

Izuku walked side by side with Tetsutetsu, heart already in his throat. His respirator was pulled up to cover his nose and mouth, leaving only the eyes. Internally he debated the merits of goggles as a way to protect and enhance his vision. 

In Izuku’s gloved hand was the rolled up blueprints, slightly crumpled from the previous four teams’ attentions. His and Tetsutetsu’s boots were loud, stomping against the sidewalk of the simulated city.  

“So, my quirk is pretty straightforward. I’m a straightforward guy, so it fits. [Steel] coats my body in steel, increasing my weight and strength. What about you? Another mental quirk, like Shinsou?” Tetsutetsu grinned at Izuku, and began stretching out his arms, leaning against the wall by the complex’s front door. 

“Ah-” Izuku stammered, “-not quite, um…” He trailed off, and then opened the blueprints, looking down at them with a jerk of his head.

“Don’t worry about it, man- there’s no such thing as a bad quirk! Or a weird one! As long as you use it to help others, I’m on your side!” Tetsutetsu did an enthusiastic thumbs up and returned to stretching, reaching for his boots. 

Izuku tried to speak, a little choked squeak echoing from inside his respirator. He huffed, actually focusing on the blueprints in front of him. “We need to focus on the battle.” He said, an inelegant subject change.

“Sure thing, dude.” Tetsutetsu shrugged good naturedly. 

Izuku felt himself relax and backed away from the blueprints. He followed his teammate’s example and began to stretch as well, thinking about their enemies’ quirks.

“Bondo-san and Fukidashi-san are villains. I think Bondo will be using [Cemedine] a lot, it’s perfect for capture in this situation. Fukidashi probably won’t be able to use his quirk in close quarters if he can’t modify the size of his constructs from [Comic]. And, last round the villains won without seeking out the hero team, so they’ll likely implement the same strategy, because it’s the only way the villain team has won so far.” 

Izuku got into the relaxed space of analysis, confidence pouring back in a wave, the anxiety over his quirk status quickly ebbing away as Tetsutetsu hadn’t pushed him for it. He wasn’t comfortable with his teammate, but he could predict what would happen and account for it. 

The round started, All Might’s voice booming into the comm in Izuku’s ear. Tetsutetsu cheered and kicked open the front door with [Steel] activated. Izuku grinned behind his mask, jogging forward to keep up with his teammate. 

Tetsutetsu charged down the corridor, Izuku following. His teammate yelled something, a taunt to the villains, and that’s when something in Izuku’s instincts made him stumble, slowing just enough to pull back. “Tetsutetsu, maybe-!”

At the foot of the stairs was a puddle of glue from [Cemedine], gleaming in the low fluorescent light, and Tetsutetsu stepped right in it. The glue pulled at his boot, and he could barely lift it from where it was stuck fast. Izuku backed up, knowing he didn’t have the strength to pull his larger classmate out, especially as he still had [Steel] active.

Thick strands of [Cemedine] clung to Tetsutetsu’s boot and he stumbled, hands out to break his fall against the first flight of stairs.

Fukidashi peeked out from the stairwell, and cheered. His mask of a manga panel against his speech bubble helped conceal his inner monologue, but the exclamation points were visible in the wavering bubble. The ink bottle shaped armor on his chest gleamed, reflecting Tetsutetsu’s upturned face. His large and clunky looking white boots thunked against the floor as he stepped forward, at the head of the stairs. 

“Sorry, heroes! Slosh! ” Fukidashi used [Comic], and a wobbly three dimensional construct of kanji manifested, its effects making themselves immediately known as the puddle of [Cemedine] began to ripple and rise, waves of the glue rising up and encasing Tetsutetsu’s legs. 

“Tetsutetsu has been captured!” All Might’s voice came through the comm unit, startling Izuku, who had just been standing there watching this happen, useless.

He wasn’t strong enough to pull Tetsutetsu out, and he hadn’t anticipated the villains being so proactive, and he hadn’t thought about the potential quirk interactions of [Cemedine] and [Comic], or even with [Steel] and how it could be a disadvantage. 

Fukidashi took a step forward, down the stairs and towards Izuku, who turned on his heel and ran for the front door of the complex. 

This had suddenly turned from a confrontation to a stealth operation in broad daylight, when Izuku’s opponents knew he was trying to attack. Maybe he could climb the outside of the building?

He has no idea where the bomb could be though, they had five minutes and could have left the traps as they went, moving upwards and then sending Fukidashi back down to catch their team off guard. And he would have to look through the windows which could get him caught, a single strike enough to send him crashing down.

The building was five floors, windows at every side, and with no fire escape to clamber up like he had done in the entrance exam. He couldn’t waste time looking for a fire escape on the other buildings either, the chance of not finding one too high when he had a time limit.

How much time had passed? Izuku’s breath caught in his throat and he swallowed roughly, stalking around the building’s outer walls, needing to move. The entire point of the exercise was indoor battles, and that should be to Izuku’s advantage, with [Cemedine] having the potential to catch Fukidashi as easily as it did Izuku, and [Comic]’s dramatic effects being unpredictable. 

Izuku had gotten overconfident, thinking of the most obvious plan and assuming the villain team would use it because they were all students, because this was their first combat exercise. He had been too sure of his first instinct, not thinking of all the possibilities. 

He wouldn’t be able to peek into the windows, the risk too great. The villains had entered the building through the same door he and Tetsutetsu had, and moved upwards laying traps. They had known that Izuku and Tetsutetsu would enter the same way and accounted for it. 

Izuku looked up the wall, craning his neck, eyes darting to each window, to the pipes and gutters, to the little ledges of concrete sunk into the walls. The concrete used in the building’s construction couldn’t be that strong, as it didn’t withstand Shishida’s thrashing, and melted quickly under Honenuki’s quirk, and Kodai’s marbles had cracked and chipped the walls.

Izuku clapped his hands together, activating the tech in his gloves. Where the climbing gloves had been fingerless, now the top of each finger was encased, fabric flipping up and latching to the bottom. Izuku flexed his fingers, looking at the clawed tips of his gloves, reflective green metal gleaming in the sunlight.

Izuku’s grin returned and he grabbed the lower ledge of a window, claws sinking into the concrete, and began pulling himself upwards.

The ascent to the roof was hard work, but he favored speed over safety, leaping to a pipe to shimmy upwards, jumping to cling to the next window ledge. His heart raced as the sidewalk got further and further away, and he stopped looking down at the third floor.

He didn’t need to do this, it was just a training exercise. But it really wasn’t just anything. This was the first heroics class of their high school career, this was the first time everyone got to show off what they could really do, even if they didn’t know their limits. This was finding their limits. 

Izuku needed to do this. He had so much to prove. He needed his class to think him limitless, so the shock of his quirklessness when it inevitably came to light was more disbelief than pity, was anything but pity.

He needed this, because All Might’s voice was in his ear, and the man hadn’t recognized him in the slightest after causing one of the worst days of his life. The man had looked him in the eyes and saw him as just another hero student, not the quirkless kid who needed to be realistic . Had the man even looked at his student files and seen his quirk status? 

Izuku pulled himself over the edge of the rooftop, rolling across gravel (why did they put gravel on rooftops, anyway? He’d have to research that), and his grin widened, unseen behind a respirator, but stretching at his skin as he breathed hard.

“ Plus Ultra .” Izuku’s voice was harsh with breathlessness, hands aching and arm muscles straining, forcing himself upwards into a kneel, standing on shaky legs.

Now he just had to find that bomb.

Izuku walked to the rooftop access door, noting that Monoma’s hand wasn’t there- the robots had likely picked it up already, considering it was a biohazard, and there were laws about regenerative quirks when it came to leaving behind human biological matter. The door was still unlocked, and he gripped the side, pulling it open carefully, tension pushing at the hinges to minimize creaking. 

Most of the villain teams had moved the bomb, maybe a floor at most, limited on time and focused primarily on strategy. Tokage and Yanagi had been able to use their quirks to move it up to the roof, and the robots likely had placed it back inside the building as that was the intention of this trial. 

Already Izuku knew that Bondo and Fukidashi had a strategy going in, perhaps from having four previous rounds’ worth of time to quietly talk in the viewing room, though Izuku hadn’t seen that because of his fixation on the screens. He wouldn’t make that mistake again, when his opponent would be right there for the analyzing, when the match had really started the moment the fourth round’s teams had been pulled, already determining that their teams would go head to head, if not what sides they would be on.

Bondo and Fukidashi were primarily focusing on their quirks, the interaction and clever traps evidence of that. Bondo was also the largest student in the class, though, and she could easily have carried the bomb wherever they needed to go, the size and shape not as unwieldy in her hands. 

But their trek up had to take time as well if they stopped at the stairs, if they left a trail of [Cemedine] lying in wait.

Izuku crept down the stairs to the fifth floor, constantly watching for glue traps. This building was well lit, and he had no clue where the breaker could be, and no way to hide himself in these wide, empty hallways. 

He almost wished he still had Tetsutetsu, if only to hide behind him, but the callous thought was dismissed out of hand. Tetsutetsu was out, and Izuku’s climb had eaten into most of his remaining time. He couldn’t take this as cautiously as he would in a real situation that would have lives on the line. 

Izuku ran through the hall, towards the stairwell to the fourth floor. He glanced at each open door, seeing nothing but piles of furniture. 

Voices in conversation rose up from the stairwell, Fukidashi’s loud, bouncy tones reaching higher volumes in his dramatic frustration. Bondo’s quieter timbre could barely be heard as she spoke in response. 

Izuku froze, that same fear upon seeing Tetsutetsu step in that glue trap washing over him, a sort of helplessness that hollowed him out.

The voices weren’t coming closer, they ebbed and flowed in a way that foretold pacing, patrolling around their objective. He could hear Fukidashi talking about invisibility and camouflage. 

Ah, so that’s what they thought his quirk was. Izuku felt a little bit of pride blossoming in his chest at that, knowing he’d outmaneuvered the opponent, at least for the moment. 

They were both in the hallway. The probability of them seeing him entering a window was low, but he’d have to hope the windows could be opened from the outside.

He couldn’t wait for more intel, so he backtracked to the middle of the fifth floor, choosing the right side, and scrambling back out onto the walls, clawing at the ledge of an open window. He’d have to drop down, or shimmy over to another pipe and slide down that carefully.

Izuku’s stomach fell when he caught a glimpse of the ground. Hitoshi was going to be so mad at him for this. He jerked his head back up to search for footholds, lowering himself into a crouch and then reaching out, grasping a water pipe. He swung himself over, feet bracing against one of the strips of metal molded to keep the pipe in place, listening to metal creaking and groaning under his weight.

“Okay. Okay! I’ve got this.” Izuku’s voice was far higher pitched than usual, and he carefully shimmied down to the next level. Going from window to window required dexterity and a long reach, only one of which Izuku had. 

Eventually, he saw the dark shape of the bomb in a room that’s door had been coated in glue, the entire wall splattered, likely in response to All Might’s lecture earlier. 

Izuku perched on the ledge, fingers scrabbling at the window’s bottom, only to find it unresponsive, unable to get even his gloves’ claws under the metal to pull it upwards.

Izuku hissed in frustration, then reached up, slamming the metal claws into the concrete above the window, then reaching higher as he stood to make another set of holes, testing his hold to ensure he could put his weight on it. 

He swung backwards, his full body weight (as little as it was) acting as a wrecking ball, and he slammed back boots first at the window. A loud bang echoed, the reinforced soles of Izuku’s shoes cracking the glass, fractures spiderwebbing out from the impact.

Izuku swung back out again, gritting his teeth, preparing to let go. 

The shattering of glass and the give of the window beneath his boots felt surreal. The world tilted on its axis as he sent himself through the window, feet first. The scrape of glass shards against his back was felt even through his suit, nearly catching on his utility belt. 

Izuku skidded against the floor. He stumbled up on shaking, strained legs, glass skittering with faint plinks, blood roaring in his ears, adrenaline making his fingers numb, his mind race.

The door to the room had begun to open, struggling against the glue but making progress, so Bondo had some ability to control the viscosity of her [Cemedine] even after she used it. Izuku lunged towards the bomb, slapping it and falling to his knees.

“Hero team… wins !” All Might’s excited voice blared in Izuku’s ear. 

Izuku wheezed, breaths rasping out of his throat. His hand slipped off the bomb, and he used it to tug the respirator off his face, and then snapped his fingers to declaw his gloves.

“Woah! Midoriya, where did you come from?!” Fukidashi didn’t sound angry or disappointed at the loss, instead amazed. “We didn’t see you, and then the window shattered, and boom ! You won!” He didn’t use [Comic] on the onomatopoeia, but his words wavered with power, as voice quirks were liable to do. 

A breathless chuckle left Izuku, and he went to stand, but his knees buckled and hands trembled. 

Bondo placed a large, gentle hand under Izuku’s arm, letting him grab onto one of the red gauntlets surrounding her wrist. “Thanks.” He said, standing up with her help.

Fukidashi continued chattering at Izuku, but seemed to realize he was exhausted and barely paying any attention, because it abated by the time they left the complex, having to skirt around a number of glue traps at the stairs and lines of glue down the middle of the hallways.

The viewing room was loud as the three of them entered, Izuku still clinging to Bondo’s gauntlet. 

“ Dude !” Tetsutetsu rushed forward, hugging Izuku, slapping him on the back. “That was awesome!” 

Pony was right beside him, bouncing and waving her hands, talking in fast English about Izuku.

“Kicking in the window was so cool!” Tsuburaba shouted. 

The rest of 1-B was joining in, aside from the quieter ones. Bondo seemed overwhelmed as well, taking a step backwards and hunching her shoulders, her bright yellow skin and jumpsuit not helping her efforts to fade into the background in the slightest. Fukidashi joined in, giving his own commentary of the match, a testament to his energetic nature.

All Might cleared his throat. “If we could settle down, class?” He sounded unsure, like a substitute teacher.

Izuku gave a quick smile up at Bondo, and slipped out of the main crowd and to where Hitoshi was standing beside Monoma. 

Monoma’s gray-blue eyes bored into Izuku, intense as a storm on the horizon, a look on his face that Izuku couldn’t parse.

Izuku pulled up his respirator again, as if to hide behind it, and turned to Hitoshi, away from everyone else. He stood right at his side, their arms intertwining impractically, but they could feel each other’s pulse beneath their fingers. Hitoshi tapped four beats, the timing regular, familiar. 

Izuku took a breath and faced where All Might was standing at the console, asking for the match’s MVP.

“It’s gotta be Midoriya-kun!” Kendo said, smiling at him. 

“Yeah, he really carried our team!” Tetsutetsu didn’t seem frustrated at him, “He practically did it all on his own! I’ll work harder, so next time I can stay at your side.” Tetsutetsu did a flex, clenched hand encased in [Steel] for just a flash of silver metal, receding back to his pale skin tone.

“Sir Bondo did excellent, controlling the entire battlefield. And Sir Fukidashi was the one who captured Sir Tetsutetsu.” Shishida interjected. 

Izuku nodded, not willing to share his thoughts on his own match, leaning a bit more into Hitoshi.

“I think Midoriya gets MVP.” Monoma said. 

“Bondo nearly got them both within a minute, though!” Awase argued. 

“What even was Midoriya’s quirk, though? Did he use it?” Someone asked. 

Izuku felt his heart climb back into his throat, fingers digging into Hitoshi’s wrist.

All Might clapped as 1-B nearly devolved into more arguments, voices raising. “Everyone, we all saw the match, we don’t need to rehash all of it. We can’t talk of what could have happened, however. We must put this in the context of what this trial was meant to simulate. Think about it for your own matches as well. You heroes entered in a team of two, with no backup coming, and fifteen minutes until a bomb was set to wipe out a city, against two villains. In some of your matches, you did not act as if it was real , with consequences. When your partner was captured, you did not think they could be harmed, or arrested, just that they were out of a game. Heroism is not a game.”

All Might’s smile dropped just a margin, his tilted head cast in shadows, until he looked back up, grin widening. “You all did admirably, as students, and I’m sure you will all learn from this. The final MVP is young Bondo, who was able to use his quirk to control the battle to the extent that young Midoriya had to attempt a dangerous maneuver to complete the objective. In a true battle, Bondo’s actions would have caused a hero to either focus on rescuing their trapped teammate, or retreat and call for backup.” 

1-B cheered and Bondo ducked her head, bashful. 

“All of you, you did excellently, and I can’t wait to see you all become fine young heroes! Now, class dismissed, and remember to visit Recovery Girl if you need to!” All Might laughed, and 1-B’s cheering renewed.

“C’mon, don’t think you can get out of visiting Recovery Girl.” Hitoshi let go of Izuku’s wrist, slinging an arm over his shoulders instead, holding him tightly. 

-

The sun was setting by the time Hitoshi and Izuku were leaving UA. Izuku had to nap in Recovery Girl’s office after she used her quirk on his strained muscles. 

Hitoshi had changed into his school uniform, and then spent some of that time on his phone to scroll through websites and send articles to Izuku’s account that he’d want to read. Eventually he did end up joining Izuku in a nap, dozing off.

Recovery Girl had awoken both of them from where they were leaning against each other on a hospital bed, shaking her head and trying not to smile at the sight. 

Izuku changed into his school uniform, and they left with only a few pieces of unsolicited health advice from Recovery Girl. 

Izuku was still leaning on Hitoshi, more out of affection than exhaustion now, and Hitoshi bore it with a smirk. “D’you think your mom would let me stay over for dinner?” He asked.

“Yeah, definitely. Don’t know what we’re having, but she’ll have made enough anyway. I’d let you stay over, but you don’t have another uniform at my house for tomorrow.” 

“I’ll ask my dad to put in an order for another one, all the info should be saved by UA, so he’ll just use his card online. Next time we’ll have a sleepover.”

“Where was he working again this time?” 

“Out in Iwate, he left after our first day of school. He should be back by the weekend, but y’know, if he’s in the area other hospitals are gonna ask for him.” Hitoshi shrugged, looking off into the distance at the front gate. 

The golden glow of the sun setting reflected off of UA’s mirrored surface. Hitoshi and Izuku would have to see if the windows were reflective enough to work with their bond, though there likely wouldn’t be a reason when they carried their compacts everywhere, even hero-grade reinforced ones hidden in the utility belts of their costumes.

“It’s really good here.” Hitoshi said plainly, an understatement, but it was true. 

“Yeah.” Izuku had a lopsided, tired smile, but he looked at the UA grounds with affection, awe fading to be replaced with a sense of belonging. “I’m still…” He trailed off as they exited UA’s gates, turning towards the train station. “Still kinda scared of what our class will think. But I think… they’re all going to be amazing heroes one day. And maybe they’ll understand that I want the same as them, to save people, you know?” 

Hitoshi smiled fondly at his soulmate. “I hope you’re right.” 

He was too cynical to be as optimistic as Izuku. He didn’t have the innate faith in heroism that Izuku did, something beyond fervor once, and then tempered by time and a bit of disillusionment, courtesy of All Might. 

But Hitoshi had faith in Izuku, as much as he had faith the sun would rise in the morning. If Izuku believed that wholeheartedly in their classmates, Hitoshi would give them the chance to prove themselves. 

It would hurt, if they weren’t as kind as Izuku believed. It might shatter them both, to finally have gotten to the start of their hero career, only to know that they were surrounded by quirkist children, who would become quirkist adults, ones who would have lives in their hands every day.

“I really hope you’re right.” Hitoshi murmured under his breath. 

-

Private Chat: centerstage & Greenguy

6:49: centerstage: midoriya?

centerstage is typing… 

6:56: Greenguy: monoma 

centerstage is typing… 

centerstage is typing… 

centerstage is typing… 

7:23: Greenguy: Monoma.

7:24: centerstage: listen this isn’t easy!

7:25: Greenguy: if you can’t even say it then im not gonna waste my time talking around it. 

7:28: centerstage: the only other quirkless people i know are my parents and a bunch of old people okay its not easy to talk to someone My Age about this 

7:29: Greenguy: well the only quirkless person i know is me so you’ve got me beat there

7:30: centerstage: what?! 

7:32: centerstage: im getting off topic i had a whole thing written out

7:33: Greenguy: that tracks

centerstage is typing…

7:38: centerstage: you are not making this easy 

7:40: Greenguy: I mean I could’ve made a groupchat to add Hitoshi to this conversation instead of him reading over my shoulder but okay

7:42: centerstage: Midoriya please 

centerstage is typing…

7:50: Greenguy: this is shinsou saying to spit it out already or ill shut off izukus phone and youll have to talk to him in person about this tomorrow instead

7:51: centerstage: FINE

7:53: centerstage: Midoriya-san I think you becoming a hero is really really good and I wanted permission to tell my parents about you because they are also quirkless and also I was wondering if theres a specific quirk you’re pretending to have because if so I can help by ‘using [Copy] on it’

7:55: Greenguy: Hitoshi wants me to say “there you go, was it that hard?” 

7:55: Greenguy: but aside from him being a jerk-

7:56: Greenguy: !!! i think thats really kind of you to ask. but im not hiding anything so you can tell your parents. if you want i can give you my mom’s number and they can talk to her as well. and also im not pretending to have a quirk at all. 

8:01: centerstage: wait so you just havent mentioned youre quirkless to anyone and no one’s asked??

8:03: Greenguy: oh tetsutetsu-san asked during battle trials today. he was really nice when i hesitated and said me having a ‘bad or weird’ quirk didnt matter. so i guess he’s not quirkist against other quirks but u never know if someone will do a 180 if you have no quirk at all. 

8:05: centerstage: what are you going to do when people learn you’re quirkless? You can’t hide that for three years from people who see you almost every day. 

8:03: Greenguy: in our defences we didnt think people would go without the whole first day quirk intro and now it’s just easy to not mention it. Eventually itll get too awkward for them to ask.

8:05: centerstage: with full respect, midoriya: what the fuck 

8:05: Greenguy: (*/_＼)

Greenguy is typing…

8:10: Greenguy: we didnt think we’d get this far!! And now its like im a normal student yknow! Kan-sensei knows and he doesnt pity or hate me but what if everyone else DOES?! what then! what if they tell the press??? or try and sabotage me somehow?? 

8:12: centerstage: if you want i can tell people about my quirkless parents and you can gage their reaction from that. maybe i can lie and say one of them wanted to be a hero growing up and we can see what they think of it. 

8:13: Greenguy: i dont wanna have to LIE to our classmates!!! We’re gonna be on the field together in a few years we gotta trust each other! 

8:13: centerstage: technically im the only one lying to them. and you wont have to work with them that much if you’re in an underground duo 

8:14: Greenguy: but you WOULD have to work with them, and theyd have to trust you enough to let you use [Copy]! 

8:17: centerstage: ah.

centerstage is typing…

8:26: centerstage: youre a really good guy, midoriya 

8:27: centerstage: our peers already know you’re good, and they respect you a lot 

8:30: centerstage: honestly with how many of the quirks in our class being unwieldy or based in physical mutations, i dont think therell be a lot of whatever type of person hurt you in the past. 

8:32: centerstage: if anything therell probably a majority who understand what its like to be judged for a quirk, or lack thereof in your case. 

8:32: centerstage: youve probably been busy after school since you didnt check in on the groupchat

8:34: centerstage: but a lot of our classmates wanna be heroes just to help people and to keep people safe and i think whatever small majority might theoretically be quirkist we could talk to Kan-sensei about 

8:36: centerstage: he would understand at least a bit, and you said hasnt treated you any different, right?

8:40: Greenguy: you’re really good too, monoma.

8:43: centerstage: dont go spreading it around i have a reputation to keep

8:45: Greenguy: hitoshi says ‘sure (◔_◔)’ 

8:46: centerstage: was the kaomoji necessary 

8:46: Greenguy: hitoshi says it is

8:48: Greenguy: anyway i do have an idea of a plan now so dont worry, weve got this

8:53: centerstage: im glad. Goodnight Midoriya. and Shinsou too i guess.

9:07: Greenguy: see you tomorrow morning then, monoma! ( ･ω･)ﾉ

-

Private Chat: Ponyponi & Greenguy

11:10: Greenguy: Hey pony-san

11:12: Ponyponi: Hey Mido-chan! It’s pretty late, whats up? 

11:13 Greenguy’s display name has changed to ‘Midochan’

11:16: Midochan: I had a question about America. 

11:20: Ponyponi: yeah?

Midochan is typing…

11:27: Midochan: How do people in America feel about quirklessness?

11:30: Ponyponi: I’m kinda biased on that. 

11:34: Ponyponi: two of my siblings are quirkless, and one of my uncles is as well. It’s not easy for them, but the twins are years older than me so we don’t talk about… that kinda stuff, and my uncle lives across the country. As far as I know, it’s about as “bad” as having a mutant quirk, but I can’t say anything for sure.

11:36: Ponyponi: Why do you ask? I know it’s not as good for quirkless people in Japan, but in America we didn’t have such a drastic population loss in the ‘dark ages’ or whatever, so the 20% statistic holds pretty true. 

11:38: Midochan: I was just curious, thinking about questions to ask you. 

11:36: Ponyponi: Well, ask away anytime! Maybe when it’s not so late. Go to bed! (`⌒´)

11:38: Midochan: Yes ma’am! (･x･)ゞ

-

Izuku sat down at his desk, pulling out his analysis notebook, taking more notes on what quirks and strategies he had seen during the battle trials yesterday as well as the performance of his own gear. 

He was currently debating the pros and cons of protective eyewear. His first thought was goggles, like Hawks or Selkie, but they had specifications that made it make sense. There was the underground hero Eraserhead, who had a vision based quirk, so that gave ample reasoning for goggles. 

There were also just normal glasses that were technically hero-grade support gear, like Sir Nighteye, or even Present Mic with his sunglasses. They were only  hero-grade because otherwise they’d be shattering every battle, though. Izuku already had dismissed that out of hand, it wouldn’t go with the aesthetic he and Hitoshi were cultivating. 

A full face mask, like Snipe or Power Loader, could be an option. Or a visor, lots of heroes had visors. Recovery Girl had one, so did the Wild Wild Pussycats, and Manual. 

He’d have to sketch up some concepts, and see if they looked too visually busy on his face. Though anything he went with, he’d have to see if they could tint the glass green, and consider if the glass should be reflective or not. He didn’t want to distract himself and Hitoshi by seeing a disorienting soulbond effect on the field when there’d already be so much chaos.

Izuku flipped through his notebook, sketching the various shapes of visors and goggles and masks, the rough outline of his respirator under them to see if it would clash.

“ Whatcha doin’ , Mido-chan?” Pony said.

Izuku jumped in his seat, hand jerking and carving a line through his page. 

“Oh! I’m sorry!” Pony bowed awkwardly, taking a step back towards her seat behind him.

“Ah- no, it’s okay. I tend to get pretty lost in my notebooks, and I startle easy .” Izuku waved his hands in front of him as if to ward off the apology, babbling his own rapid-fire excuses. 

“You were, ah-? muttering -” Pony cut herself off. 

“ Muttering , Muttering.” Izuku said patiently. “I was muttering and sketching.” Izuku grabbed his eraser, carefully dragging it through the line of graphite. “I was drawing different ideas for my hero costume.” He elaborated.

“Ooooh, I wanna see!” Tokage said enthusiastically, leaning over from the desk to Izuku’s right, detaching her hands and making grabbing motions at his notebook.

“Ah-!” Izuku startled again. He looked at Tokage, and then glanced around the room to see most of 1-B had gotten to homeroom already, Hitoshi running late but that was expected as he was still sending Izuku memes and articles at three in the morning, long after Izuku had gone to sleep. 

“Oh, sorry!” Tokage reattached her hands, putting them flat on her desk. 

Izuku flushed. “I- ah- these are just sketches, trying to see if I could use eye protection for my costume, or if it’d be too much.” 

“Some heroes are in full armor, I think you could probably get away with a lot if it fit an aesthetic.” Kendo interjected, smiling at Izuku.

“Well- yeah, but also some heroes specifically have their face or eyes visible so civilians can connect with them, y’know? It depends of course, it’s different on the hypothetical civilian and hypothetical hero, and there’s also connecting to your fellow heroes and establishing trust easier- and even then, that doesn’t matter if you’re efficient with enough seniority that social connection or networking isn’t needed, but that’s for your Endeavors and Mirkos, who don’t work with anyone and don’t need to. Technically Hawks as well, but part of his hero persona is his charisma, so he needs to be approachable, even if he doesn’t spend that much time actually socializing with civilians despite how easy-going he portrays himself as. And-” Izuku took a breath, waving his hands, trying to get back on track. 

“Well whatever you pick, ‘Zuku, I’ll be matching, so it better be good.” Hitoshi drawled from the doorway of the classroom.

“Toshiii, you wouldn’t have to just match if you actually could help me pick!” Izuku whined, putting his head on his desk, probably getting graphite smudged onto his skin. 

He knew Hitoshi would be shrugging right now, his soulmate’s voice right by him. The weight pressing on his desk shifted, and he figured Hitoshi would be leaning on it. “You know how this works, Izuku. I handle our civilian clothes, you our hero clothes. Otherwise you’d be running around in ironic t-shirts and I’d be wearing a black jumpsuit looking like a bad villain cosplayer.” 

Izuku snorted, lifting his head to see that Hitoshi was leaning on his desk. Pony, Tokage, and Kendo just watched the interaction happen. 

“Why must I be the responsible one in our hero duo?” Izuku complained, resting his head on his hand, elbow bracing on the desk, and looking up at Hitoshi.

“Because if I didn’t make you the responsible one, you’d be doing things like- I dunno, climbing up a five storey building with no possible way of saving yourself if you slipped!” Hitoshi’s sarcastic drawl raised in pitch, scolding but not the full lecture. Izuku had gotten the full lecture over dinner, because of course Hitoshi was cruel enough to rope Izuku’s mom into lecturing him about dangerous stunts. 

“ What ?” Pony shouted, getting a running commentary of translation from Monoma, who shared a look with Izuku and the barest of nods. Pony was still talking loudly, “ I thought your quirk would keep you safe! Why else would you make climbing gloves in your hero gear! Mido-chan! Tell me you could’ve done something if you fell!” 

Izuku had not expected that extreme of a reaction. He raised his trembling hands as if in surrender, twisted in his seat to face Pony. “ I- ah-” He really did not want to upset Pony.

“Pony-chan.” Hitoshi grabbed Pony’s attention. “Izuku and I have been climbing for years, doing - parkour?” Hitoshi turned to Izuku.

Izuku nodded, continuing for him in English. “Parkour and urban free-running. I have climbed taller, less stable buildings before, Pony, and my costume was made to help lessen the impact of potential falls.” 

Honenuki spoke up from their seat to the right of Monoma, “Midoriya-san, do you not have a mobility quirk?” 

“No, he obviously has somethin’ to do with his analysis!” Tokage interrupted before Izuku could answer. She put a finger on her chin, thinking aloud. “Is it just quirks, or could he see stuff like where it’s safe to climb on the building?” 

“I thought it was an intelligence thing, like Principal Nezu, y’know? He’s fluent in English, so it’s not just quirks and strategy he’s good at.” Kendo tilted her head, ponytail swaying as she did. “Or something like enhanced senses, maybe?” 

Izuku was blushing, immensely flattered by people thinking his skills were so good there must be a biologically enhanced advantage to explain it. 

Most of 1-B was now paying attention to his corner of the room, as planned, but he had underestimated the intensity as many of his classmates started debating what his quirk could be, most having to do with enhanced agility or intellect. 

And to think, his classmates in every year before this one had said he was impaired, weaker than someone with even the weakest of quirks. 

(Not that Izuku believed any quirk was particularly weak or strong, as it all depended on what you measured a quirk by.)

Hitoshi subtly looked at his phone, as if bored, and checked the time, giving Izuku a little eyebrow raise that others would see as unimpressed and even annoyed, but Izuku knew what it meant. Izuku gave Hitoshi a shaky smile, closing his notebook and taking a breath as Hitoshi cleared his throat, silencing the room.

“You guys know you can just ask him what his quirk is, right?” He drawled, a knowing smirk twisting at his mouth as he went over to his own desk. 

The class turned to look at Izuku as Hitoshi sat down. 

“Midorya-kun, what’s your quirk?” Monoma asked.

Izuku shrugged, his wobbly smile settling into a genuine grin, if out of mischief than actual happiness. “Oh, I don’t have a quirk.” He said, voice trembling just a bit but still casual, as if it was common knowledge, as if he hadn’t said that before and flinched away in fear. 

The bell rang, and Kan-sensei stepped into the classroom, closing the door behind him. He looked up at the silent classroom, eyes wide. Everyone was looking at Izuku, aside from the most stoic of the class, like Kodai and Rin. 

“...Is there something I should be informed of?” Kan-sensei asked delicately, gaze flicking in a telling way to Izuku.

“Nothing you don’t already know, sensei.” Hitoshi said with a shit-eating grin as he went back to his desk. 

Kan-sensei took the answer, frowning just a tad more than usual, then looked back to his papers and walked to his teaching podium. He glanced around the room again, giving Izuku a moment of eye contact, to which Izuku just smiled a bit more genuinely and gave the same small nod he had to Monoma. 

“Well, good morning class. I’ve got a few announcements, hmm-” Kan-sensei thumbed through his papers. “There will be an on-campus field trip on Monday at our disaster rescue training facility, the Unforeseen Simulation Joint.” He paused for just a second, as if expecting a comment, and continued with a blink. “Today class 1-A will be having their trip to the facility, so I’d advise you all to make contact with our sister class, as gaining advanced information of your missions whether in official channels or not is part of being a professional hero. You will be going through the same exercises, so it will be worthwhile to be forewarned, even if just through one liaison.” A slight grimace pulled at his mouth, his fangs jutting out at his lip from it.

Kan-sensei slipped the page back into his stack of papers, looking at the class as a whole now. “I warned you yesterday morning, but as a class you will need to find a way to elect your class representatives, as well as who those representatives will be. There will be a president and their vice, how those roles are filled and what they mean are up to you to decide. Being a leader among heroes is seen as glorious, but I’m sure once you realize you’ll be in charge of and responsible for nineteen of your fellow classmates at times, it will be infinitely less glamorous. If you’d like my input, feel free, but I would prefer this be a class discussion and choice. You all have the rest of your homeroom period. Go.” 

Kan-sensei sat at his desk, bringing his papers with him. He pulled a red pen from a cup (a majority of the pens also red), and turned his attention away from his class.

Several students turned to look back at Izuku, as if intending to continue where they left off before homeroom started. Anxiety made Izuku wring his hands under his desk, head tilted down, glancing only from time to time at Hitoshi, who gave off a relaxed air, but was just as tense.

A loud clap startled Izuku, and he whipped his head around to look at the source. Monoma stood, a smug and toothy grin forming. He gestured broadly, arms extending out as if to embrace the room. “Come now, my peers, surely we can focus on the task at hand?” He asked rhetorically, stepping out from behind his desk, and towards the teaching podium to stand behind it, grabbing a marker. “Now, how will we decide upon our leaders, and whom shall they be?” 

Tokage raised an unsure hand, not even using her quirk to split and levitate it higher as she had done in class the past two days, “We should nominate them, right? And if they don’t want the responsibility, they can decline?” 

Monoma pointed at Tokage with the marker. “Excellent idea, Tokage-kun! We’ll require our method of selection, however.” 

“Um.. we could just vote? I mean that’s what normal classes do?” Rin asked, glancing at the class and then back at Monoma.

“Sound reasoning.” Monoma nodded, turning to everyone else. “How do we all feel about some classic democracy, and to add in Tokage’s idea, we nominate our candidates first?” 

Komori raised a hand, not speaking until Monoma gestured at her. “Ah- can we have anonymous nominations?” 

“That’ll take a while, yeah? We already have to take one vote, and if there’s a tie we gotta figure that out.” Awase adjusted his headband, leaning back casually at his desk. He had turned his head slightly to the left and behind him, to speak to Komori. 

“I have to agree, we’re on a time limit, so apologies, Komori-chan, your idea would be used if not for that.” Monoma nodded his head towards her. She nodded back, ducking her head and hiding behind her brunette bangs.

“Will our Vice President be the runner up, or selected by the President themselves, Sir Monoma?” Shishida asked.

Monoma wiggled the marker in his hand, looking thoughtful. “Insightful, Shishida-kun. I believe a runner up would be a good way to avoid potential favoritism, despite our limited time together to form bonds.” He turned to the whiteboard, and drew several slightly uneven lines, a chart to keep track of votes.

“Now, any nominations?” Monoma grinned as a number of students raised their hands. 

“Tetsutetsu-kun, your nominee?” Monoma pointed again with the marker, using it more like a conductor's baton than anything else.

“Midoriya-kun!” Tetsutetsu shouted, pumping a fist. 

Izuku squeaked in shock, freezing like a startled deer, as if that would stop everyone from looking at him again . 

“Do you accept this nomination, Midoriya-kun?” Monoma asked, something softening in his eyes, less of the showman’s sparkle in them.

Izuku squeaked again at being addressed directly. “Um- no?” 

“Okay!” Monoma whirled on the rest of the class, “Anyone else?” 

-

The nominees ended up being Tokage (nominated by Tsuburaba), Kodai (nominated by Shoda), Shishida (nominated semi-jokingly by Awase ‘because of his glasses’), and Kendo (nominated by Shishida). 

Hitoshi, Bondo, and Monoma all turned down their nomination. Hitoshi with a simple “No.”, Bondo with rapid head shaking, and Monoma with a gracious but long winded monologue. 

Unfortunately the nominations took too much time, so they couldn’t have each candidate speak on why they should be voted for, but when the voting began Izuku already knew who he wanted as representative. He wrote down the characters for ‘Kendo’ and folded his paper.

-

Kendo won with seven votes, blushing and standing to bow as 1-B cheered. Tokage and Kodai had tied at five votes, Shishida trailing at three, though he seemed rather unbothered, congratulating Kendo. 

“Shall we vote for vice representative?” Monoma asked.

“Um…” Tokage stood up, waving awkwardly. “I- um, get that some people probably thought I’d be good at this, but I really don’t… want to deal with being responsible. It doesn’t sound like fun to me. So, uh- I’ll, bow out, and you can give it to Kodai-chan, yeah?” 

“Understanding your own strengths is part of being a hero, Tokage-kun! I’m glad you know that positions of authority must not be taken on lightly! Kodai-kun, is that satisfactory to you?” Monoma turned to Kodai.

Kodai stood and walked to the front of the room to be at Kendo’s side. It was enough of a confirmation to the class to have them cheering again, albeit with a bit less rowdiness than for Kendo.

By the time homeroom ended, Kan-sensei congratulated them all on not resorting to battles to the death and specifically congratulated Kendo and Kodai, telling them that he’d be giving them any information they’d need for their positions. 

Izuku grinned to himself, a bit giddy. No one was talking about his quirklessness, instead still fixated on their new representatives, and then classes were starting. 

-

Lunch was when 1-B seemed to remember the pre-homeroom revelation. Monoma sat at Izuku’s left, glaring at anyone who stared at him too long regardless of if they were in 1-B or not, looking haughty and entitled instead of angry. Hitoshi was at Izuku’s right and they passed his phone back and forth, attempting a new puzzle game he had downloaded last night. 

Izuku’s head was bowed, trying to match colorful blocks, when Pony started speaking, sitting in front of him across the table. “Mido-chan, I apologize for… causing a scene in class this morning.” She used the phrase in English, slipping back into Japanese with more confidence than she had just days ago.

Izuku smiled at her, “Don’t worry about it, Pony-chan. I’m flattered that you were so worried on my behalf.”

Pony blushed, looking back down at her burger, picking at her fries. “ I can’t have the only other person who knows about Cow Lady to up and die on me. ” She muttered, pouting slightly. 

Izuku blushed as well, picking up his chopsticks and pretending to focus on his food.

Hitoshi and Monoma seemed far too amused by Pony’s sentiment. Izuku huffed at their shared looks. “Hey, I’m right here! At least text each other or something instead of conspiring over my head!” 

Hitoshi grinned, leaning on Izuku, “You make it so easy, though, Zuku-” He rested his chin on top of Izuku’s curls. 

Izuku snatched Hitoshi’s phone off the table now that his soulmate wasn’t paying attention so he could retry the level they left off on. Hitoshi grumbled and turned to his own food finally, grabbing his chopsticks. “It was all part of his master plan.” 

“You know, you could download it on your own phone instead of stealing Shinsou-kun’s.” Monoma said.

“More fun this way.” Izuku mumbled, staring at the screen, swiping and tapping at the puzzle. Some text notifications buzzed on Hitoshi’s phone and he swiped them away. 

Monoma shook his head, his smile nearly genuine. “Sure.” 

-

Hitoshi was tapping his pencil idly against his paper, listening to Kan-sensei talking about identifying potential dangers to civilians in the field. The theoretical portion of their Foundational Heroics class was interesting, giving a concrete basis for so many things Izuku had rambled about over the years, and revealing just how tangled the obscure mess of laws for the hero industry were, created in a time of vigilantes and civil war and adapting over the past century or so until it was a beast that made most heroes have a lawyer versed in heroic law on retainer. 

A rumbling sound passed by their classroom, the door closed and window only showing a flash of movement. It caught nearly everyone’s attention, startling those who had dozed off like Fukidashi and Tsuburaba. 

Kan-sensei didn’t pause in his lecture, impassive. It was likely a support course student trying something out that they definitely shouldn’t use inside, or someone running late and using their quirk even if it was against the rules.

Then Principal Nezu’s voice came on over the P.A. system, his usually squeaky and pleasant tone discarded. “I need all UA staff to go to the USJ facility urgently. This is an emergency.” 

Kan-sensei dropped everything and ran out, adjusting the tubing on his gauntlet. “Kendo, Kodai, you’re in charge! No one leave this room!” He called out over his shoulder, slamming the massive door behind him. 

1-B looked at Kendo, who blinked, then collected themself and stood, striding to the podium and looking at their class. “Ah-” They cleared their throat, a blush dusting their cheeks. “Study hall, anyone?” 

-

When Kan-sensei returned, hair a mess and eyes glaring unrelentingly at the floor, he stood at his podium and scowled down at it. “Dismissed.”

Everyone stood, slinging their bags over their shoulders or onto their back, and rushed out. Whatever had made Kan-sensei so mad, none of them wanted to know what it was.

“It had to be the press again, right?” Awase asked from his place at the front of the crowd as they left. 

Other students were also exiting their classrooms, a bell ringing and an automated voice declaring the school day over despite them still having an hour of Foundational Heroics left. 

“What else could it have been?” Kamakiri shoved his hands in his pockets, glaring at the windows as they all walked.

“He was gone for nearly thirty minutes, though.” Komori piped up, then ducked her head again, hands going to her red backpack straps to grab them.

Honenuki shrugged, “Maybe they were arresting some reporters because they had  a warning and still trespassed.”

Hitoshi hung back, letting some of his classmates pass him and only moving again when he was at Izuku’s side, subtly grabbing his hand in support. Izuku looked up at him, a worried tilt to his mouth, and Hitoshi kept them moving so they wouldn’t get overwhelmed by the crowd as they left UA’s front doors.

By the gates, there were several police vehicles, ambulances, and news vans.

“...I don’t think it was just trespassing, guys.” Kendo stared at the cars. 

-

1-B Groupchat 

2:39: Monoma Neito (He/Him): I’m just saying, 1-A didn’t DO anything to warrant this level of attention!! They were just in the right place at the right time, and that’s not FAIR

2:40: Shishida Jurota (He/Him): Sir Monoma, while you are correct, we do not know the exact details of the incident.

2:43: Tsuburaba Kosei (He/Him): only 13 and their homeroom teacher got hurt right so like they probably ran and got help its not like they were fighting off villains or theyd all be in the hospital 

2:44: Tsuburaba Kosei (He/Him): i mean its week 1 of hero school its not like theyre somehow able to fight with zero injuries while pro heroes werent

2:45: Monoma Neito (He/Him): EXACTLY Tsuburaba! 

2:46: Awase Yosetsu (He/Him): Tsuburaba theyre not gonna share the info of minors in the press they mightve been injured 

2:48: Rin Hiryu (They/Them): We could just ask them on Monday. 

2:50: Kendo Itsuka (She/They): making contact w/ our sister class is a good idea. Me & Kodai can try to organize a meeting with their rep & vice rep.

2:51: Monoma Neito (He/Him): As if they’d lower themselves to speak with us after their big debut. 

2:52: Midoriya Izuku (He/Him): I’ve read through all of the articles I could find on the USJ incident, and I think since so many people are criticizing UA, if they found out a student got injured, they would be spreading it around as much as possible.

2:52: Midoriya Izuku (He/Him): That’s just what I think though!! I might not be correct (＞﹏＜;)

2:54: Kamakiri Togaru (He/It): from what ive seen over the past few days your usually right midoriya

2:54: Midoriya Izuku (He/Him): !!! (*/_＼)

2:57: Shinsou Hitoshi (He/Him): ur probably right izuku but consider: UA protecting their students either by hiding it or threatening the press if they reveal student info

3:00: Midoriya Izuku (He/Him): I didn’t think of that! 

3:02: Kuroiro Shihai (He/They): how underhanded if it is the truth! 

3:02: Kendo Itsuka (She/They): Midoriya could you DM me the articles you found? 

3:03: Midoriya Izuku (He/Him): !!! sending the links right now! (っ＾▽＾)っ

3:10: Tokage Setsuna (She/Her): anyone else find midoriya so precious 

3:10: Yanagi Reiko (She/Her): indeed.

3:10: Midoriya Izuku (He/Him): ( ///▽///)

3:13: Shinsou Hitoshi (He/Him): welcome to the midoriya izuku protection detail, we have matching jackets and there’s a collection of hero merch to bribe him out of doing reckless things

3:15: Midoriya Izuku (He/Him): BETRAYAL!! I cannot be bribed! 

3:15: Shinsou Hitoshi (He/Him): izuku you 100% can 

3:18: Kuroiro Shihai (He/They): the truth behind his refusal of authority, he knows his vices and how susceptible to bribery he is… 

3:20: Shinsou Hitoshi (He/Him): true if he were rep you could toss a holographic hero card his way and hed let you commit murder 

3:21: Shinsou Hitoshi (He/Him): he might even help if the card was signed

3:22: Midoriya Izuku (He/Him): Would not!!! 

3:22: Midoriya Izuku (He/Him): … unless it was out of print… then maybe… 

3:25: Tokage Setsuna (She/Her): so you really are a huge hero fanboy!!! 

3:26: Tokage Setsuna (She/Her): how do you feel about Godzillo?? hes one of my favorites!! (>ᵥᵥ<)

Midoriya Izuku (He/Him) is typing…

3:31: Shinsou Hitoshi (He/Him): here we go. apologies to everyone else but consider this chat forfeit for the next hour 

Midoriya Izuku (He/Him) is typing…

Midoriya Izuku (He/Him) is typing…

-

4:22: Midoriya Izuku (He/Him): And his movies! While it isn’t fair to compare pre-quirk cinema to modern cinema, the parallels between his films and the original Godzilla series are really interesting, though it’s hard to find good files of the original series/movies for comparison. There’s this one hero film Yotube channel that goes in depth on it though the video essay is several hours long, it’s worth watching! They talk about what the original movies mean versus the current movies Godzillo acts and directs in. If you already know about japanese history regarding the world wars you might end up a bit bored in the like twenty minutes they spend going over that but still, it’s worth a watch!

-

5:29: Midoriya Izuku (He/Him): AND his political statements advocating for mutation and transformation type quirks in heroism! After the laws passed in Japan requiring skin coverage, he argued against them as they hinder his work as a hero and would add additional unneeded costs because he would inevitably ruin his costume simply by using his quirk if it were more than the cape it currently is! Him moving to the States and working as a hero there in protest when they didn’t change the laws was really impactful! 

-

6:01: Midoriya Izuku (He/Him): NOT enough people talk about his career over in the states. They act like he retired!! He’s still working and has been a steady presence in Houston, Texas ever since he established an agency there! It’s so rare to have heroes moving countries, as so many regard it as a patriotic duty in some sense, so while longer stays (Like All Might’s years in the States, or Pankration’s European tour) are regarded in a good light and give good publicity, people see moving countries as a betrayal! Ex-pat pro heroes are only ‘allowed’ if they live on I-Island, which is technically international territory, even if it was created by an american. 

-

6:32: Midoriya Izuku (He/Him): In summary, Godzillo is an awesome hero and deserves more recognition for his work in advocacy, cinema, and heroism. 

6:35: Tokage Setsuna (She/Her): … wow. 

6:35: Tokage Setsuna (She/Her): mido you are the ultimate hero fanboy. all hero fanboys must bow before you 

6:32: Midoriya Izuku (He/Him): i dont know about that (*/ω＼)

6:35: Kamakiri Togaru (He/It): gonna be honest i didnt read all that but it was impressive 

6:37: Rin Hiryu (They/Them): I’d never even heard of Godzillo before now and I’m a fan. 

6:38: Tokage Setsuna (She/Her): YEAH!! Us reptiles gotta stick together Rin!!! 

6:40: Tokage Setsuna (She/Her): speaking of sticking together!! 

6:41: Tokage Setsuna (She/Her): how do we feel about prepping for the sports fest together? its so early in the year but we gotta do our best! 

6:45: Kendo Itsuka (She/They): that’s a really good idea Tokage! I’ll look into gym rental times for on-campus training, and perhaps we could do study groups to keep up with schoolwork at the same time? We shouldn’t compromise our education after all. 

6:50: Shinsou Hitoshi (He/Him): peeks in here. okay izukus rant is over. i always end up underestimating rant times i should stop trying but one day ill get it right.

6:53: Shinsou Hitoshi (He/Him): also yeah i think training together could be a good idea. should make sure to split up groups though so we can focus instead of it being chaotic. we could switch between gyms and stuff to go to other groups if we know where everyone is and what theyre focusing on. 

6:56: Kendo Itsuka (She/They): thank you for the input shinsou, ill keep it in mind! anyone else with concerns can leave them here, or my DMs which are always open. 

6:57: Shinsou Hitoshi (He/Him): (￣ー￣)ゞ 

7:02: Tokage Setsuna (She/Her): you can really tell midokun and shinsoukun are childhood friends huh?

7:03: Kodai Yui (She/Her): mhm.

-

Monday rolled around, and Izuku was more excited than ever to get back to hero training. Tokage had reminded them all of the Sports Festival coming up, so Izuku compiled all his notes on the past years as well as his current ideas on his classmates’ quirks, and hoped everyone would tolerate his input.

They seemed to, what with his accidentally three hour long rant in the groupchat, but maybe it was just because they could easily mute the chat. 

Izuku did have ideas he couldn’t resist sharing about training his peers’ quirks, and he was excited to see if Hitoshi could work on his as well, now that they had more potential subjects for testing his quirk on. Izuku hadn’t seen Hitoshi’s quirk used on others much, as it didn’t work on Hitoshi’s dad, and Hitoshi wasn’t comfortable testing it on Izuku’s mom. 

Homeroom was a bit tense, as Kan-sensei explained what he could about the USJ incident, as well as saying their own trip to the facility would be delayed to after the sports festival and their internships, as they had to investigate and repair the facility, and by that time they’d all be too busy training for the sports festival. He then outlined some of the rules for reserving UA’s gyms and other training grounds.

Kendo made her own little announcement about group training, saying that right now they had to unite as a class instead of competing against each other to get noticed by pro heroes, because most of them would be focused on 1-A, and pulling each other down instead wouldn’t help anyone. 

Izuku was excited for the sports festival, to see everyone showing off what they could do. He and Hitoshi planned on not getting too far, to stay unnoticed as underground heroes, and to keep Izuku from being outed as quirkless.

Not that he never planned on hiding his quirklessness, he just wanted to wait until he was more established, when he had his provisional license in second year maybe, or even in third year. When it had been too long to call for Izuku to be pulled out of the hero course, when he had proven his potential if only because he had survived the rigorous UA curriculum for so long. 

Next period was math, and things moved smoothly along, most of their teachers appearing stressed, but still in high spirits. 

It was when they were supposed to leave for lunch that things got out of hand.

“Oi!” Tetsutetsu shouted, exiting the classroom to a crowd of general education students who were peering into 1-A’s classroom.

Most of 1-B left the classroom, some of the shier students staying behind. Izuku grabbed onto Hitoshi’s arm, standing on his tiptoes to see over most of the crowd in vain.

“You extras need to get out of my fuckin’ way!” A familiar voice shouted, small crackling pops punctuating his words. 

Izuku froze like a startled deer, and tugged Hitoshi’s arm. Hitoshi was already pulling them out of the crowd, bony elbows swinging harshly to clear a path through the gen-ed students. 

“Still can’t believe he got into the hero course.” Hitoshi hissed under his breath. 

Izuku just shook his head, and they went towards the cafeteria, some of the others in 1-B following along. 

“See, they’re getting so much undue attention!” Monoma was gesturing widely to an annoyed Awase and intent Tsuburaba. 

“Didn’t sound like that explosion dude really liked it, Monoma.” Awase said. 

“Regardless, they are getting attention, and in turn we are shunted to the side, the shadows!” Monoma continued.

“The shadows are not the worst place to be.” Kuroiro hummed, their smile wide. 

“Truly.” Yanagi said quietly beside them. 

“This just means we have to be better! In the sports fest, we do so well they forget all about 1-A!” Fukidashi pumped his fist in the air. 

Tokage cheered, “That’s the spirit!” She pumped her own fist, detaching it and raising it up in the motion before bringing it back down to rejoin her elbow. 

“They see 1-A as a class that has united under peril and can withstand anything. If we beat them, 1-B will be cemented as the better class!” Monoma grinned. 

Kamakiri huffed. “It doesn’t have to be about beating 1-A. It can be about showing off what we can do. If we get better internships than them, then who cares how we placed at the festival? We’ll be seen next to some of the best in the industry.” His scowl was still prominent, and he seemed annoyed.

“We could try and make situations to show off our quirks and skills.” Izuku said. He blushed at the sudden onslaught of attention his words caused, stuttering again. “I-I mean, we’re half the playing field, right? We can control what’s happening to some extent, and-and then they’ll see what we can do! Even if we’re supposedly competing, we can make situations happen if we’re interacting.” 

“...That’s a brilliant idea, Midoriya-kun!” Monoma rushed him, throwing an arm around his shoulder, dislodging Hitoshi slightly. “We’ll devise a strategy to give 1-B the spotlight we so deserve!” 

Hitoshi seemed amused when Izukus sent him a helpless glance. Traitor.

Izuku ducked his head, blushing steadily. “I do have a few ideas…” He trailed off, waiting for the inevitable rejection and being surprised when it didn’t come. After a week with his new class, he still expected the worst and was surprised when it was better than he could have hoped. 

“Lay ‘em on us, Mido-kun!” Tokage grinned, sharp teeth on full display. “We’re gonna crush the festival!” 

“And crush 1-A!” Monoma cheered, tightening his arm around Izuku’s shoulders and shaking him in excitement for a moment, before they all separated to join the lunch line.

Izuku couldn’t stop the goofy grin on his face. Was this really what it was like to have so many friends? It was amazing! 

-

The next two weeks were intense. They were all preparing for the Sports Festival, an international event that had long since surpassed the Olympics in popularity. Everyone would see them, and probably would be paying far more attention to the first years than in the past due to the USJ incident. 

Izuku had a lot of fun being able to hang out with 1-B outside of classes. They all would stay behind after heroics, which was mostly independent training with a few competitive exercises in their practical classes. 

People would turn to Izuku and ask him for his analysis on how they did that class, what mistakes they could avoid in the future, what they could improve on with their quirk. All of them knew he was quirkless and still looked to him for his input on quirk related matters, and it still baffled him.

Already people were improving and it was awesome to see. Izuku felt a little bit of pride every time one of his suggestions worked, or even when he saw his classmates improving on their own without his analysis. 

He was just so happy to see future heroes growing and improving, a meteoric rise he was right alongside them for. 

Izuku knew he’d have to work twice as hard to keep up, to be more than a liability on the field, but he was ready for that, he’d known that for years. 

“Hey Mido-kun, look!” Tokage shouted, her mouth separated and floating closer to Izuku. The rest of her body was also floating, broken up into pieces of flesh. 

Izuku did some quick counting in his head. “You’re up to twenty pieces already?!” He said, shocked, amazed, face splitting into a grin. 

Tokage’s mouth smiled as well. “It’s about splitting the pieces once they’ve already split off, not breaking small pieces off of the main body!” She wiggled her fingers, all of them floating separately from her palm, which drifted lazily. 

“This is so cool Tokage, you’re doing so well! Do you think you’ll move faster in the air with more pieces, is it gonna be about the weight or the aerodynamics- ooh, could you try and split them specifically in more aerodynamic shapes? Can you determine the shape that much aside from simply the body part in question?” 

Tokage came back together, her shoulders shrugging before her head fully attached at the neck. “I dunno, but I’ll find out!” 

Izuku nodded, “This already is amazing, Tokage, so don’t push yourself too far! If you’re too tired at the festival you can’t show them how amazing you’ll be as a hero!”

Tokage blushed, turning away, not that Izuku noticed, looking down at his own notes for Tokage’s quirk. 

“Oi, Midoriya!” A rough voice barked out, and Izuku turned, grinning and already flipping his pages.

“Yeah, Kamakiri-kun?” He asked.

Kamakiri huffed, wearing just a tank top, the jacket of the PE uniform long gone. “Just, tell me if I’m gettin’ the shape right.” 

It took a stance, arms bent, and then a blade ripped outwards, up from its elbow and along past its middle finger, extending past. 

Izuku examined the blade, the thinner edge at its elbow, the wider middle portion up to its finger, and the sharp edge past and outwards, not pointed but rounded at the tip. 

“It looks perfect! So you settled on the parang for your multi-tool right now?” Izuku asked, looking at the quirk-made blade.

Kamakiri nodded. “I tried a few other blades you recommended, looking them up, but anything with more complex shapes was uh- a bit too much, right now.” 

Izuku smiled at it. “I figured, going from your instinctual straight blades made for slicing and chopping to something more curved or even bent like a kukri or sickle seemed like it would be difficult. It’s definitely possible, but just finding one thing to do well for the Sports Festival will be more useful than expanding your quirk’s boundaries.” 

Kamakiri’s fingers flexed, and the blade sank back into its exoskeleton as if it hadn’t been there. “You’re right.” 

“When you do get all-purpose blades like those, you’re gonna expand your capabilities so far, especially for wilderness rescue, or fighting plant-based villains! A proper axe blade too- it’ll be so cool to see!” Izuku bounced in place, grinning. 

Kamakiri returned the smile. “You know a lot about knives, Midoriya.” It didn’t phrase it like a question, but Izuku knew it was meant to be. 

Izuku shrugged, then sat down on the gym floor, his notebook in his lap so he could draw the parang blade into his notes on Kamakiri’s quirk. “I’m gonna be an underground hero. Most of the more cowardly villains, or criminals, will strike at night. Lots of them have knives or other weapons statistically, because they’re not confident in their quirk’s capabilities, hence the cowardice. I need to know how to fight people using blades, and I need to learn how to fight with them, as I’ll need to have my own weapons on the field. I’m not exactly built for hand-to-hand.” He added with a self-deprecating huff as he finished the sketch, making a little note next to it, drawing lines to indicate where the blade edge changed for different purposes.

“Do you have any weapons training?” Kamakiri asked.

“Nah. It’s hard to get any kinda classes anywhere serious if the first thing they see on my I.D. is a big red ‘Quirkless’. It’s not even that they hate me, or anything. They don’t want the liability right there handling dangerous objects, especially if they’re a kid.” Izuku shook his head. “I’m looking forward to the weapons training we’ll get next year. I don’t need anything fancy, just somethin’ that’ll help me fight back when I need to use force.” 

“Hm, well if you want some swordsmanship tips, I’ll help you out.” 

“As long as Shinsou can come too.” 

“Fair enough, go for it. After the sports festival, we can see about getting you at least the basics in handling some blades.” 

“Thank you, Kamakiri-kun!” Izuku smiled.

Kamakiri looked to the side, huffing. “Don’t mention it. Think of it as a thanks for the research you did.” 

Izuku did another round through the gym, talking to Tokage again, watching Awase and Yanagi train their quirks together, Awase trying to [Weld] together objects to make them too heavy for [Poltergeist], but [Poltergeist] being used to try and pull things apart before Awase could [Weld] them. Izuku was glad they liked his idea on improving their quirk reflexes, and both seemed to be having fun, Yanagi’s impassive face now holding the smallest of smiles behind her long bangs. 

Shoda was trying to use [Twin Impact] with more predictability, despite whatever angle and timing he had to use, but it was difficult. Pony’s [Horn Cannon] shot her horns in a straight line, and she used her telekinetic control over them to make them spin around, attacking Shoda at odd angles for him to try and bat away, then use [Twin Impact] to send them flying back. 

Izuku cheered Pony on for a minute, and watched [Twin Impact], still trying to decipher its timing. 

“Midoriya, hey!” Monoma jolted him out of his focus, slinging an arm around Izuku’s shoulder as he’d begun doing regularly. 

Izuku wasn’t used to anyone but his mom or Hitoshi actually wanting to interact with him, let alone initiate physical contact, but he found himself getting more comfortable with it among class 1-B. Pony’s sudden grabbing of his arm to show him something, Kendo’s steadying hand on his shoulder, Monoma’s dramatics usually ending up with him leaning against whoever was closest, which happened to be Izuku about half the time. 

“Hey, Monoma-kun.” Izuku said, still staring at the quirk training in front of him. 

“Midoriyaaa…” Monoma trailed off on purpose, to make Izuku turn and pay him his full attention, and Izuku let it happen, making purposeful eye contact with Monoma. 

“Yes, Monoma-kun?” He smiled slightly at the pout receding from Monoma’s face.

“I’ve got an idea! A perfect plot to ensure we all get some spotlight in the festival!” Monoma’s conspiring grin was infectious, his intensity focused. “We’re going to give the world an underdog story. People love underdog stories.” 

“Let me grab my other notebook, then tell me all about it.” Izuku nudged Monoma with his hip, but Monoma clung to him. 

“I can’t bear to part with my fellow mastermind, Midoriya, don’t you dare ask!” He gasped out, dramatic as always. 

Izuku laughed, dragging Monoma behind him towards his backpack with another notebook. “C’mon then, let’s get plotting, puppetmaster.” 

Chapter Text

Two weeks felt like no time at all. Hitoshi was hunched over, head in his knees as the time ticked down towards their international screentime. Everyone would see him. His old classmates, old bullies. He could prove them wrong, yeah, but what if he didn’t ? What if he fucked up, and everyone knew he wasn’t suited to be a hero? What if that dragged Izuku down, and everyone knew he was dragging Izuku down?

His dad would be watching, taking a vacation day just to sit in the stands and support him. What if he fucked up right in front of him and let him down?

“Sh-Shinsou-kun?” The soft, stuttering voice of Komori echoed a little in the waiting room. It was early, too early to be here. Hitoshi knew he was probably gonna freak out and accounted for that, but didn’t account for other people to get here so soon. 

Hitoshi’s words were stuck in his throat. He focused on breathing, ignoring his classmate. 

“Shinsou-kun? Do I need to go get Recovery Girl?” Komori asked, concerned and painfully genuine. Hitoshi wasn’t used to anyone caring, not unless they were his dad, his soulmate, or his soulmate’s mom. 

Hitoshi raised his head slightly, shaking it. He felt lightheaded, and kept his eyes closed in case the world was spinning. 

“Oh-Okay. Okay, this is fine.” Komori said to herself, a bit frantic. “Shinsou-kun, do you want me to leave?” 

Hitoshi shook his head again, feeling all the weaker for it, but he couldn’t help it. 

“Okay, I can do that.” Komori was trying to encourage herself, a bit of false cheer in her voice now. “Ah- um, how about some water?” She said awkwardly.

Hitoshi nodded, leaning back in the chair, no longer keeping his head between his knees. He didn’t feel nauseated anymore, where before he had focused so much on it that the roiling in his stomach was all he could feel. He swallowed roughly, carding a hand through his hair. 

A plastic bottle of water entered his vision, the nervous face of Komori following. “Ah- h-here?” She looked away the second their eyes met, her bangs shifting to cover her brown eyes again.

Hitoshi thought he saw some kind of mutation, and realized he hadn’t seen her eyes before, and that might’ve been for a reason. He focused on keeping his hands steady as he grabbed the bottle, unscrewing the cap with a plastic click. He took a sip, then another, realizing how thirsty he had become. 

He screwed the cap back onto the bottle, setting it on the table. “Thanks.” Hitoshi said, voice rougher than usual. That’s how losing his words worked sometimes, when he realized he was nonverbal, he panicked, unable to force words out. Almost like hiccups, it felt like he forgot about them, and then they were gone, and he hadn’t noticed the moment they left. 

Hitoshi still didn’t feel very verbal, but at least he’d have one-word answers. Maybe the rest of his class would think he was being a jerk, or too nervous. Izuku would understand.

Komori was still standing near him, hovering a bit and wringing her hands. The silence stretched too long.

“Thanks, Komori-chan.” Hitoshi repeated himself.

“O-Oh! It’s no problem, really!” Komori said, hands coming up as if to ward off the gratitude, something Hitoshi had seen Izuku do many times. “I-I just know how it feels, and wanted to help, that’s all!” Her voice raised in pitch, before she cut herself off with a self-conscious squeak, ducking her head. 

“Mhm.” Hitoshi toyed with the water bottle on the table, making it spin slightly.  

Komori’s shoulders relaxed and she sat down across the table from Hitoshi, a weak smile on her face. Hitoshi did his best to smile back, but it was probably just as shaky. 

The silence was more comfortable now, at least.

-

Izuku had some of his strategy notebooks in his arms as he entered 1-B’s waiting room, opening the door to see that nearly everyone else in the class were already there. Everyone was in their PE uniforms, and he could almost pretend this was another training session after school. 

Hitoshi was tapping away on his phone, head down in a way that meant he really didn’t want to talk to anyone, so Izuku didn’t go over and say good morning. Instead he went to where Monoma was holding court, rehashing their plans, and set his notebooks on the table.

“There’s our master strategist!” Monoma declared. Izuku had gotten so used to Monoma’s over the top compliments that he hardly blushed, instead focusing on the matter at hand.

“We have three minutes until the festival starts, everyone.” Izuku said, voice trembling just a bit, but still loud enough to be heard over their conversations.

A few people quieted down and looked at him. Hitoshi’s head snapped up from where he was staring at his phone, his gaze meeting Izuku’s for just a moment before his shoulders relaxed. 

“Everyone knows the plans.” Monoma said grandly. “They’re loose enough that we won’t fall apart if things don’t go our way, but keep the general idea in mind. We want a certain story to be told, and if we play it right, even those of us who don’t advance to the finals will still be noticed.” 

Izuku nodded. “While the first round will be more elimination focused to narrow the field, the second round will probably be a team game. And heroism is best done in a team. This isn’t just about medals and fame, it’s about getting heroes to notice us. Even if they notice you, they have to want to teach you. They’ll need to know you can play well on a team. So let’s show them that.” 

Hitoshi applauded as Izuku stopped talking, inciting the others to clap or cheer as well. Izuku glared at him, definitely not pouting, and Hitoshi sent a smirk right back.

“Alright, 1-B! We’re gonna show them what we can do!” Kendo pumped her fist in the air, grinning at them all and getting cheers in response. 

The air was buzzing with energy, everyone ready to go. People were chattering about the plans they had, and even the quiet members of 1-B were visibly excited, Bondo rocking on his feet, Kodai smiling, Komori nearly bouncing in place, Yanagi mumbling to herself, Rin talking to Awase and Tsuburaba. 

They exited their waiting room as a crowd, pushing and too close but they all found comfort instead of panic, because this was their class, the people they spent the last two weeks training and studying with, and for a brief second, it was like they were one moving thing with twenty hearts, the corridor closing in, darkness blanketing them.

Sunlight broke through as they exited the tunnel into the arena, Present Mic announcing them, not nearly as enthusiastic as he had been for their predecessor. There were gritted teeth, tensing jaws, but a quick look to the others reminded them that there were plans in place, that their time was coming soon. 

That today, the world would see 1-B, and see the future of heroism, standing right beside, and even above, their 1-A counterparts.

-

Bakugou was called up for a speech, and instantly Izuku tensed from where he stood at Hitoshi’s side.

The others surrounding them picked up on it, sending questioning looks to Izuku, who ducked his head slightly. Hitoshi wanted to say something mean, say Bakugou was a bully and not worthy of being at UA, let alone giving a speech to represent the first year. 

“I’m going to win.” Bakugou said, and Hitoshi couldn’t join in with 1-B’s and the other courses’ jeering, keeping a hand on Izuku’s shoulder. 

“We have a plan.” Izuku said, teeth gritted with resolve. His verdant eyes stared into Hitoshi’s, unwavering.

Hitoshi gave Izuku a lopsided grin, and found more words than he had been able to say all morning. “They’ll never see us coming.” 

Others in 1-B heard him, and shared conspiring looks of their own, obvious even for those like Fukidashi and Bondo. 

They ‘spun’ a wheel, though that was all just showmanship, and Midnight-sensei announced an obstacle course race. A tunnel on the other end of the stadium opened.

Everyone was tense, taut as wires all strung together in one big machine or an instrument. They all had their purpose, their part to play in a larger plan, orchestrated by Monoma and Izuku. 

Izuku had a look in his eye as they waited, and Hitoshi tilted his head, but Izuku shook his in response, gaze locked on the tunnel instead. 

The moment Midnight-sensei raised her arm high and began to bring it down felt like an eternity. It felt like those last few minutes of the entrance exam, like when Hitoshi had started choking on fungus in the battle trials, like when he had watched Izuku climbing a five storey building with nothing to catch him. 

Then it was over with a sharp crack, sending everyone running as surely as a starting gun would. 

1-A pulled ahead, their numerous mobility quirks coming into play. One boy leaped forward and sent his quirk from his elbow, hanging from the roof of the tunnel by tape, cutting it and swinging forwards. Bakugou’s explosions boomed, catching even his own classmates in the crossfire as he launched himself and stayed in the air.

The crush of bodies was completely different from the one they had experienced when entering the arena. This was suffocating, elbows thrown into faces and feet stomped on. 

Then the wave of ice trapped all of them in place. 

“Fukidashi, Honenuki!” Izuku barked out, “Melt the ice!” 

Fukidashi’s sizzle made the ice start popping and crackling from the sudden heat with his use of [Comic], and Honenuki used [Softening], freeing the group around him and running forwards. Fukidashi was coughing, probably from trying to limit [Comic] and keep it from burning people.

The rest of the class that hadn’t been freed was bashing at the ice, Kamakiri using ice picks created by [Razor Sharp], Kendo enlarging her hands, Tetsutetsu activating [Steel] and bashing his way through, his heavy steps cracking the ice as he ran forward. 

Hitoshi and Izuku were freed by Honenuki’s [Softening] and started running. 

Present Mic’s commentary blared in their ears, talking about the obstacles. Hitoshi tuned it out, knowing Izuku would be listening and would tell him anything important. They raced along the packed dirt, classmates catching up and some of 1-A trailing behind in front of them. 

They passed a few 1-A students, a blonde kid with a large belt, a big guy with a rock shaped head, and paid them no mind. As long as they didn’t surpass too many students from 1-A, the plan was still ongoing. There would always be those who weren’t suited for an obstacle course, and passing them was inevitable. 

“Robots.” Izuku said shortly, and they rounded a turn into a clearing where a downed and partially frozen zero-pointer was lying. 

Tetsutetsu and another kid were climbing out of the wreckage, returning to the fight. 

Izuku and Hitoshi couldn’t go over the massive machine, especially as it was slippery with ice, so they split up around each side. If they stayed as a pair, the chances of being spotted by the remaining robots were higher, and they didn’t have any road signs this time. 

Hitoshi ducked under the whipping tail of a two-pointer, feeling almost nostalgic about it as he rolled on the dirt, coming up in a stand and breaking back into a sprint, feeling the burn in his lungs. 

Hitoshi startled at the loud zap of electricity, the hair on his arms raising from the static, and he saw a boy down a three-pointer robot with just a touch, grinning cockily at him before turning and running. 

That spurred him on, face twisted in annoyance as he met back up with Izuku, finally passing the zero-pointer. 

Izuku was tucking some wires into the pocket of his UA tracksuit, giving Hitoshi a look, one that told him to use whatever negative emotion he was feeling and pour it into something more worthwhile than whatever had made him feel that way. 

Hitoshi’s snarl turned into a confident grin as they raced forward, enough distance that they wouldn’t get in each other’s way, but perfectly in sync regardless. Kamakiri passed them, sending a wild fanged grin as he did. 

“Somethin’ with heights.” Izuku muttered under his breath between pants as they rounded the next curve. 

“Shit.” Hitoshi breathed out upon seeing the giant pit covered in tightropes, columns of stone rising up as anchors. 

“Zipline, or balancing act?” Izuku muttered, eyes darting between the columns, watching a student with six webbed arms launch themself, swinging easily between each of the ropes, able to hold their own substantial body weight. 

“Slow and steady, ‘Zuku.” Hitoshi took this moment to catch his breath, shrugging off the jacket of their uniform and tying it around his waist. 

Izuku nodded, a slow thing as he seemed to make a decision. “Follow my lead.” He said, shoving a small bundle of wires into Hitoshi’s pants pocket, half of his own spoils from the robots.

“Always.” Hitoshi didn’t hesitate. 

Izuku pointed him to a starting rope, and Hitoshi stepped in front of it, suddenly realizing just how far down the pit went. He turned to Izuku instead, seeing him standing at a nearby rope that ran parallel, hand outstretched.

Hitoshi grasped his hand with a grin, both of their arms going taut as they began to walk the tightrope. 

They were slower, being passed by those with higher mobility that had been caught up by the ice or the robots. Kendo passed them, her upper arm strength easily giving her an advantage as she swung from rope to rope with her own momentum. Awase also passed them, using [Weld] to keep his grip on the rope. 

They got to a column, standing on it together, and Izuku examined the ropes in front of them. “There’s none close enough. Make sure to have enough momentum to swing yourself up, or you’ll need to climb the cliff.” 

Hitoshi couldn’t keep up with his thought process until Izuku pulled the bundle of wires out of his pocket.

“Zipline.” Hitoshi’s heart began to race when Izuku nodded grimly and directed him to the other rope that would bring him forward. 

The first drop, weight causing the rope to plunge downwards, then bouncing upwards as a natural consequence, made Hitoshi feel like his stomach dropped out onto the netting at the bottom of the pit and stayed there as he kept going forwards. The wires were tight around his wrists, the tension making his hands cramp as he ziplined. 

Then the exhilaration hit, the same kind he had when they practiced parkour, when they raced across abandoned rooftops in their freerunning. Adrenaline making his brain soar, almost detached from his body except for the buzzing that shook him to his core. 

The end of the pit was rapidly approaching, the cliff face looking far more jagged and deadly than it had at a distance. Hitoshi began shifting his weight, pulling down with one arm, and then the other, swinging his body from side to side. 

He could hear Present Mic’s voice over the speakers yelling about something, saying some names in rapid succession and declaring them first, second, and third. 

At the arc of his last swing, he managed to bring a leg over the tightrope, foot hitting the packed dirt of the pit’s edge. He laughed, high on adrenaline, and forced himself up, throwing himself away from the pit to land on stable ground. 

“C’mon!” Izuku’s voice caught his attention immediately, and he scrambled to stand, breaking in a run to follow it. 

They raced onwards, and Hitoshi’s breathless laughter filled the air when they exchanged another look, Izuku’s eyes bright with excitement. 

“Minefield coming up.” Izuku said unnecessarily, booms filling the air in front of them, bright puffs of pink smoke and glitter towering, right where the next turn would lead them.

The minefield was full of pink smoke wafting around and students being launched back or upwards from the mines, some with their own strategies to race through.

“Slow and steady.” Izuku echoed Hitoshi’s previous words, and they both began to make their way across. 

Shishida launched towards them, having fallen on a mine. Hitoshi and Izuku had to duck, both wincing as the larger student made a heavy impact behind them on yet another mine, launching him again. 

They picked through the mines, sometimes able to rush through in spots previous competitors had landed on. Present Mic was regularly calling out names- most of them unfamiliar, from 1-A, but some from 1-B as well.

Tetsutetsu made ninth, which made sense considering how impassioned and competitive the guy was. Something had probably riled him up enough to forget the plan. 

Honenuki was fourteenth, probably restraining himself from getting higher up, but he was pretty prideful despite his calm nature. He could’ve easily gotten a number of competitors stuck with his [Softening] and surpassed them, but didn’t. 

They were about halfway across the minefield when Tokage’s name was called, placing seventeenth, and then Kamakiri in eighteenth. After a moment, Awase was called in nineteenth. 

Izuku sped up just a bit, most of the field clearer the further in, where people had gotten more desperate and reckless and triggered more mines.

They cleared the field when Tsuburaba’s name was called, not hearing his placement as they raced forwards. Kendo and that same electric blonde kid were neck and neck ahead of them, until Kendo enlarged her hand and shoved the 1-A student behind her, shrinking her hand in a smooth motion and crossing the finish line.

The 1-A kid got their footing pretty quickly, so Izuku and Hitoshi couldn’t catch up. 

Izuku sent a challenging glance towards Hitoshi, and began sprinting fully, pulling ahead. 

Hitoshi tried his best, but he was never as fast as Izuku, who spent years focusing on agility just to stay relatively unscathed in middle school.

Izuku crossed the finish line, exiting the tunnel into the arena, Present Mic yelling his placement, twenty-fifth. Hitoshi crossed the line right after him, tackling him and laughing, Present Mic calling out his placement of twenty-sixth. 

Hitoshi and Izuku tumbled on the arena floor, both laughing and breathless and covered in dirt and pink powder and sweat.

“That was awesome .” Hitoshi wheezed out. 

They both rolled out of the way, Izuku coming up into a stand and grabbing Hitoshi’s arm to haul him up as well so they didn’t get in anyone else’s way.

-

1-B gathered, separating purposefully from 1-A. All of them had qualified into the second round, and spirits were high, a sort of secret camaraderie between them all that 1-A was not matching, their top competitors looking sullen or completely impassive.

The first place student, Shiozaki, had long vine hair and a placid expression, hands held together. Her classmates were congratulating her, and she seemed demure and humble about her victory, but her lack of excitement seemed to rub her peers the wrong way. 

Bakugou had gotten second, and was visibly fuming, hands smoking and popping erratically, tense like a wound spring, others avoiding him. 

Todoroki- the son of Endeavor, Izuku’s mind supplied him- looked nearly as impassive as Shiozaki, but this barely noticeable trembling betrayed him, fists clenched at his sides. Getting third place likely grated at him and his pride, Izuku thought. As a legacy hero, he had a lot to live up to and he was currently failing with a more versatile quirk than his father’s could ever be. 

1-A was fragmented into friend groups and pairs, some of them obvious outsiders. It seemed like the USJ incident, whatever the details of it were, wasn’t enough to fully integrate them all into a cohesive unit, at least not under the stress of competition to set them against each other. 

Undoubtedly as future heroes they would bind together when push came to shove and lives were on the line. But secretly Izuku thought, what about when they’re heroes and there’s the constant competition of rankings? Public approval, arrests, rescues, when those became numbers on a chart to rank them by, would they care more about being in first, or saving lives?

That was too cynical of him, he knew. He shook his head. They were first years, just like him and his class. He couldn't expect them to be without flaws, and the Sports Festival wasn’t as much of a microcosm of heroism as UA pretended it was. 

Midnight-sensei cracked her whip, getting everyone’s attention again, and Izuku stood at the ready, attentive and ready to find every little loopholes in the rules of whatever group competition this would be. 

-

Izuku’s eyes narrowed towards Shiozaki, who was isolated among the crowd with her revealed point total for the cavalry battle. Ten million points, so whoever teamed with her would automatically be on the winning team and hunted for fifteen minutes, constantly on the move in the arena. 

Izuku’s own points weren’t much, his ninety and Hitoshi’s eighty-five would only  give their team one hundred and seventy-five points. They wouldn’t be seen as competition, especially without intimidating bulk or physical quirks on their side. 

Already most of 1-A was crowding around their star students, Todoroki, Bakugou, and even Shiozaki for those brave enough, though only two of them were. 

Izuku mentally pushed that all aside, focusing on what mattered. 1-B’s team composition would need to be more thought out, strategy versus a popularity contest or seeking to cling to the coattails of those with ‘stronger’ quirks. 

He spoke, voice low enough that 1-A couldn’t hear him, but it would spread like wildfire among 1-B’s close knit group. 

“Shoda needs to pair with a projectile quirk, Kodai and Yanagi will face off against them. Shishida can act as a horse with whoever, with a max of two riders. We know 1-A has mobility, we can’t bank on height as a factor, but skill and maneuvering will be key. We need to control the field against Todoroki’s ice, Shiozaki’s vines, and that electricity kid. Fukidashi, Bondo. Reenact the battle trials.”

Hitoshi spoke as well, something Izuku hadn’t anticipated. “Watch out for Bakugou, the explosion guy. He has more maneuverability than you think, and he’s even smarter and prouder than you’ll expect. One team will need to play distraction, riling him up so he can’t steamroll the entire field.” 

Murmuring rose in their class, and people peeled off to be the foundation of their groups. Shoda and Shishida separated, and Pony trotted over to Shoda with a grin. Monoma was calling specific people to his group, a calculating look on his face. 

Izuku nodded sharply, tugging at Hitoshi to pull him away from the crowd. Everyone in the class knew they wouldn’t be aiming for the next round, not wanting their quirks or lack thereof announced to the world, and not needing the attention as future underground heroes. They’d work with whoever would host them. Every student got an internship, so it stood to reason that even if they got zero offers, they’d still get an opportunity, even if it didn’t totally fit their intended field.

Working with a variety of heroes would be necessary anyway, as future underground heroes. They’d be called to work on any number of operations and raids if they gained enough notoriety in their own field. 

Izuku had not accounted for Komori breaking off and walking towards them with a confident set to her shoulders, one Izuku had never seen on her before.

Komori’s head was tilted to still hide her eyes behind her bangs, but she seemed sure of herself as she said, “I’d like to join your team, Shinsou-kun, Midoriya-kun.” 

Hitoshi raised an eyebrow, looking at her and then to Izuku.

“Sure, Komori-chan.” Izuku said. She knew they wouldn’t be winning, they’d be creating opportunities, trying to get their class to pass. “Could you be our rider, then?” 

Komori jumped a bit in place, as if not expecting them to just accept her into the team. “Ah- sure!” She blushed, head tilted up to look at them both with a smile, her bangs falling to the side slightly to reveal brown irises and tan, X-shaped pupils sparkling with excitement. 

“Okay!” Izuku clapped his hands, not intending to comment on the show of trust given to them, because he knew acting like it was normal would help her adjust. “Here’s the plan, Komori-chan!” 

-

Komori sat across Izuku and Hitoshi’s shoulders, both of them with one arm looped around her calf respectively. Hitoshi was a bit surprised she had joined their team, but he figured it was stage fright.

Or something deeper. But that wasn’t his business, and psychoanalyzing his classmates was a bad and unproductive habit, he knew that from middle school. 

“Everyone ready?” Izuku asked. 

“Hmm!” Komori nodded.

“Ready as ever.” Hitoshi drawled. 

Their own point total wasn’t much to sneeze at, a measly two hundred, as much as third place from the obstacle course had on their own. It meant no one would target them as heavily, not with bigger fish in the pond. A few of the more cobbled together teams might realize that it wasn’t worth duking it out for the ten million and turn on them, but they had contingencies for that.

Another team from 1-B had two hundred exactly, not even on purpose, but it would make things interesting when 1-A scrambled and realized they’d have to choose on something other than points. Shishida had Rin and Tsuburaba on his back, already in beast form, huffing and on all fours. Tsuburaba had the headband, likely because he could create shields right in front of his face as a last resort. 

He glanced around to the other teams from 1-B. Fukidashi somehow tied his headband around his speech bubble, eighty points on it for him and Bondo, who acted as the horse easily to carry Fukidashi on her shoulders. 

The other teams were the full four, with three horses and a rider apiece. Pony had her headband, three hundred and sixty-five points emblazoned on it in scarlet, and was carried mostly by Kamakiri, though Shoda and Honenuki were also acting as horses, Kamakiri had the innate mutated strength to ease the burden and let Shoda and Honenuki focus on the game.

Monoma was perched atop of Tetsutetsu, Awase, and Kuroiro, grinning madly with his headband of four hundred and five points, enough that he’d just have to snag one more to get into the tournament round.

Lastly came Yanagi, carried by Kendo, Kodai, and Tokage. Kendo would likely be acting the same as Kamakiri, bearing the brunt of the weight for Kodai and Tokage.

All of them were good compositions, as long as Monoma could [Copy] something long range. Considering he would ‘accidentally’ get opportunities to do so from the others, it wouldn’t be a problem.

Hitoshi felt a grin rise as the timer counted down to start, he and Izuku both crouching a bit in sync, preparing to run. Midnight-sensei’s whip came down with another gunshot of a crack, and they were off. 

The first few moments were pure chaos, a majority of the teams going for Shiozaki and her group. Shiozaki’s rider, a girl with hot pink dreadlocks, cackled maniacally as they launched up in the air somehow, Shiozaki’s vines drifting out without gravity and making her team look like an eldritch squid beast, a shadow above the rest of the arena. 

Bakugou launched himself upwards, his team still on the ground. 

That wasn’t Hitoshi’s concern, so he stayed focused on the ground, watching Todoroki try the same ice move and fail, most teams steering clear of him, and the others able to melt or break themselves out of the ice. Todoroki was focused on the sky, likely intent on that ten million points.

Bondo and Fukidashi were doing their job well. Bondo was strategically glue-trapping in some parts, a thin enough layer to trip up a team of interlinked people when one of them stumbled. When Todoroki’s wave of ice came towards them, Fukidashi’s sizzle did enough to keep their path clear, though some of their glue traps bubbled obviously, the water washing them away. 

Yanagi’s team was a nightmare, a moving machine of Tokage’s flying body parts, Kendo batting away anyone foolish enough to come close, Kodai’s enlarged rubble, and Yanagi’s control over said rubble, be it shards of concrete or ice, to launch at her opponents, face as impassive as ever, her long gray bangs pulled back with a barrette. Yanagi already had a second headband around her neck. 

Komori giggled as her mushrooms began to sprout in earnest with the evaporated water from Fukidashi’s melting of Todoroki’s ice. A few popped up on 1-B students, but most of them concentrated around 1-A, or growing in large patches to cause more disruption on the field.

One of the students from 1-A, who was completely invisible before, now showed up as an outline of fungus, feminine screams echoing around the arena as they frantically batted and brushed off the mushrooms.

Yanagi used [Poltergeist] on the invisible student’s headband once she got in range, her team quickly retreating. She brushed the mushrooms off of the headband casually before dropping it to rest around her neck.

Hitoshi watched Kodai enlarge a mushroom cap and throw it like a massive frisbee, forcing Bakugou to explode it now that he was back on the ground, and so was Shiozaki’s team. 

Shiozaki tried to get her vines in the ground, trailing them around her group, but with the combination of existing glue traps, hot concrete and water, remaining ice, and softened patches from Honenuki, she seemed to be struggling, face breaking from its impassive mask to show a glint of frustration, before her vines whipped around, one of them grabbing at Fukidashi, another at his headband. 

“They’re still in the game.” Izuku muttered, watching as Bondo reared back and sprayed a deluge of glue towards Shiozaki’s team, forcing them to run and leaving a massive obstacle for others.

“C’mon, let’s get some points from 1-A, then lose ‘em to 1-B.” Izuku said, and Komori cheered, her mushrooms popping up in earnest.

Hitoshi grinned as well. It was nice to be on the other side of Komori’s quirk, he knew she wouldn’t go as far as she accidentally had before, but he still found it mildly terrifying to know that [Mushroom] could easily kill them all. Granted, most quirks could, so she wasn’t special, but he knew it far more intimately than the general concept of danger around most quirks.

“Onwards!” Komori cheered, laughing as they carried her forward, towards one of the 1-A teams.

The team appeared to be the large 1-A student with six webbed arms, holding their teammate encased in their arms protectively, mushrooms growing from their skin. 

Hitoshi knew that a low blow would cause an easy reaction, but he also knew that shouting something quirkist wouldn’t be able to explain away by just his quirk needing a reaction, and he was better than that. 

“Hey, you’re not supposed to play alone!” He shouted, voice humming with his quirk, mind anticipating a response to pull at, connecting his brain to theirs.

People cannot resist correcting something blatantly wrong, he had learned over the years. 

“He is not alone!” A muffled voice from inside the student’s arms shouted.

“Grab your headband and throw it towards us.” Hitoshi said, voice reverberating in his own chest, making his mind buzz as he yanked his tether to the other mind, his command for them to follow. 

The blonde student with the large support belt peeked out of the small opening created by their horse’s arms, irises a blank white and face slack. They threw the headband.

A pink tongue shot out, trying to grab the headband. The frog student that Hitoshi had seen high up in the ranks, but hadn’t kept track of.

Izuku clearly knew they would be there. “Now, Komori!” He shouted without hesitation.

A large mushroom sprouted on the student’s tongue, weighing it down and throwing off their trajectory. Komori snatched the headband out of the air, leaning forward and nearly overbalancing before Hitoshi and Izuku ran off, towards the 1-B teams. 

They were essentially acting as a ferry for the points, to ensure 1-B students could get into the tournament round. 

A few of their classmates had said it was cheating, when Izuku had told them days ago that he and Hitoshi planned on throwing the group round and trying to keep 1-B in the festival. Izuku had explained it hadn’t followed the spirit of the rules, but they were all going into this with different intentions, just like heroes went into the industry for different reasons, and used different methods.

What might be immoral and underhanded to a limelight hero could be what saves the life of an underground hero, allowing them to save more lives themself. Subterfuge, espionage, even breaking the law at times, all of them could be aspects of heroism. 

As long as these methods are used with the intent of saving the most lives, eliminating the most dangers, arresting the most villains. Intent mattered, Izuku said, and his class agreed with him.

Time continued to tick down as Izuku and Hitoshi worked to avoid the hazards on the field and the 1-A teams, finally finding a 1-B team that had a headband still, one that needed their points to get through.

“Oi, Pony-chan! I heard you prefer dubbed anime, is that true?” He gave a shit eating grin as Pony visibly restrained herself from shouting back at him, her face flushing.

Then she ducked her head, sending a pair of horns towards his own team. 

Komori squeaked, and some mushrooms grew, but without the humidity of the other area it was far more sparse, not enough weigh down the horns.

Another horn was thrown their way, not from Pony, but from Shoda, who likely had activated [Twin Impact] on the object. He threw it, the arc of it spinning tip over base slowly, until it wasn’t, and it launched straight towards them, base first.

They tried to dodge, but it hit Hitoshi in the chest still, winding him just slightly. He wheezed quietly, still trying to move and make this look like a fight. 

He wouldn’t have to pretend any longer, because Honenuki was pressing his hand to the concrete, using [Softening].

Hitoshi and Izuku sank to their calves in the concrete, both struggling. Komori kicked free of their arms in her panic, but couldn’t go anywhere, as touching the floor would disqualify their team, and she had no mobility quirk.

Pony controlled a horn to lift the headbands from Komori, ruffling her hair in the process by accident. “Sorry guys! But we’re gonna win!” She grinned at them all, too cute to be mad at. 

Hitoshi let his shoulders slump in a fake defeat. Izuku did the same next to him, and Komori pouted from her perch.

They were stuck in the concrete for maybe half a minute more until Present Mic called time, right after a burst of flame from Todoroki’s team. 

Izuku’s eyes were wide, tracking the 1-A contenders. “He burned his own headband?” Izuku muttered, disbelieving. “He doesn’t have any more- how did he mess up?!” Izuku was confused. 

Everyone was separating finally, so Komori jumped off of their shoulders and onto solid ground, helping pull them out of the softened concrete. 

“I had a lot of fun!” Komori said.

“Thanks for teaming with us, Komori-chan.” Izuku said sincerely, still not taking his eyes off of Todoroki, who was staring at Shiozaki.

“Thanks, Komori-chan.” Hitoshi said as well, keeping his eyes on Komori. She gave him a firm nod, smiling with determination. 

“I plan on winning next year though, so don’t expect me to team up with you again!” She said.

“I can’t wait to see it.” Hitoshi said, smiling lightly.

Komori blushed, either from her own enthusiasm or embarrassment, and she went to talk to the girls of 1-B, who were crowded around and congratulating Yanagi’s team and Pony. 

It was then that Hitoshi looked up at the jumbo screen, the points on display next to the team leader.

Team Shiozaki was in first with ten million and four hundred points.

Team Yanagi was second, with one thousand, two hundred and fifty points.

Then came team Bakugou, to Hitoshi’s annoyance, who had one thousand and eighty points.

Finally was team Pony, who had nine hundred and five points, meaning they gained points solely from Izuku’s play of giving over headbands.

Hitoshi grinned, nudging a still concentrating Izuku out of the thought spiral he had muttered himself into. “Plan worked pretty damn well, huh?” He asked.

Izuku swayed slightly at the nudge, catching himself and snapping his head towards Hitoshi, blinking. “Ah. Yeah.” 

“C’mon, Izuku. Don’t focus on Todoroki, he’s not in the tournament. Besides, we’ve got lunch to get to.” 

“Yeah. Yeah!” Izuku forced some cheer until it became real as he remembered where he was. “Oooh, I saw a stand for boba, can we get some?” 

“Students eat free, Zuku. We can get whatever we want.” Hitoshi said as he and Izuku walked out of the arena.

“Yes! We should grab a tray from the cafeteria to carry it all!” Izuku bounced in place slightly, his curls bobbing, unable to be forced into matted submission by a bit of sweat. 

“Maybe a shower first?” Hitoshi asked, glancing at their sweaty, dusty uniforms. 

“Ah. Yeah. And we can change into new uniforms for the recreational games!” Izuku grinned at him again, and turned towards their waiting rooms. “Ah- we should also get mochi! And dango! And taiyaki!” 

“Any actual food with those desserts?” Hitoshi drawled.

“Hmm… Lunch Rush’s katsudon.” Izuku nodded to himself.

Hitoshi shook his head with another smile, and followed after his soulmate. 

-

Izuku grinned at the cafeteria table, surrounded by people and at ease, bubbling with excitement for the tournament to come, ready to have fun instead of focusing on strategy. He and Hitoshi would be playing the recreational games with his classmates who also weren’t in the tournament. 

“I can’t wait! “ Pony was bouncing, drinking a frankly absurdly large slushie in a rainbow of colors. There was a number of fair foods from the booths in front of her, including boats of takoyaki, skewers of yakitori, okonomiyaki still steaming on its own plate. She also had a separate plate covered in deserts, folded crepes, dango, and what looked like different hero-shaped cake pops. “Me and Yanagi-chan get to fight! It’ll be like our spars and quirk training!” She grinned. “Except I won’t go easy on her!” 

Hitoshi picked at his funnel cake, having already finished a smaller healthy lunch to have room for all of the street vendor foods the festival had. He grinned, the look in his eyes betraying some upcoming mischief. “That’s one of two matches in the tournament’s first round that’s 1-B on 1-B. Planning on showing off a bit more?” 

Pony had a determined glint in her eyes, picking up a cake pop that was frosted to look like Thirteen’s helmet and using it to point at Hitoshi. “I plan on doing my best. I’m not gonna just be the mascot of a cavalry battle. I plan on winning. ” She took a bite of her cake pop decisively, thoroughly intimidating Izuku and Hitoshi.

“All of 1-B are going to do so well, and did you see?” Monoma was excited, barely touching his pasta. “We have eight students, while 1-A only has seven !” He nearly bounced in his seat, a kind of boyish excitement overtaking the usual manic intensity he had when talking about 1-A. “Of course, it’s all thanks to the brilliance of our strategist and analyst!” Monoma raised his cup of water in a toast towards Izuku.

Izuku rolled his eyes at the joke, but to his surprise, most of 1-B around him also raised their glasses to him, even Hitoshi. 

“I-I really didn’t do that much, everyone! I just-” Izuku stuttered out, blushing.

“Just helped us train our quirks more comprehensively than we ever have in the past?” Shishida raised an eyebrow. 

“Just gave us team compositions for the group event, because you had the foresight that there even would be a team event?” Shoda asked.

“Just, y’know, helped us all think of the bigger picture, because this isn’t just a school festival?” Kendo grinned at Izuku. “Face it, Midoriya-kun, your help was invaluable. It’s what got us into the spotlight, right beside 1-A.” 

“And we’ll push them out of that spotlight!” Monoma cheered. “It’s our time!” 

They all broke into cheers, everyone grinning and laughing. Izuku couldn’t help smiling wider when he saw Hitoshi snatching a chocolate strawberry crepe from Pony’s pile of them. 

Pony laughed and waved him off, returning to her feast of street food, some of the class watching as she tried things for the first time. 

Izuku bit into his taiyaki, savoring the red bean flavor, when he realized Tokage was staring at him. 

“Wha- do I have something on my face?” Izuku asked, grabbing a napkin and dabbing at his cheek, not seeing anything on it.

“Ah-” Tokage startled. “I was just- wondering. Um, when Shinsou-kun mentioned the second place guy, Bakugou or whatever, you tensed up. Do you guys both know him?” 

“Oh, yeah! I was wondering how you knew that, Shinsou-kun.” Monoma’s statement was more of a question and they all knew it.

Hitoshi looked at Izuku, a ‘do you want me to lie?’ look. 

Izuku put the last of his taiyaki back onto his tray, staring down at his food. “Ah- you guys know me and Hitoshi have been friends since forever and didn’t go to the same schools. Um- Kacchan- Bakugou- went to school with me, though. His mom and my mom are friends.” He trailed off, frowning at his crumpled napkin. “I should probably text Auntie Mitsuki about the sports festival, actually.” He mumbled. 

“He doesn’t seem like… the nicest guy.” Rin said, hedging their words. 

Hitoshi scoffed, and Izuku sent him a look.

“I knew him since before his quirk came in… he’s always been that brash. But he’s also intelligent, and a good leader, and he’s good with his quirk.” Izuku said defensively. 

“That doesn’t mean he’s a good person though.” Hitoshi grumbled. 

“He- He isn’t nice . But then, Endeavor isn’t nice! And he’s a good hero, and Bakugou will be too.” Izuku started eating his food again, trying to end the conversation. Most of 1-B seemed to pick up on it, leaving the topic alone.

A moment of just eating, quiet conversations starting up again. Then Tetsutetsu came running into the cafeteria, pulling along a 1-A kid who had an identical grin. 

“Guys! This is Kirishima Eijiro! He’s my soulmate!” Tetsutetsu shouted at them. 

1-B was stunned into silence, and Izuku exchanged a wide-eyed look with Hitoshi, and then they burst into congratulations, a few of the boys mobbing around Tetsutetsu. 

“Woah!” Tokage said, staring and frozen in place.

Pony was looking around, confused, then looked to Izuku with that same ‘translate, please?’ expression she had sometimes. 

“Ah- Tetsutetsu-kun found his soulmate, the 1-A student Kirishima Eijiro.” Izuku said to her.

“Ohhh.” Pony nodded, then got up to congratulate the pair as well.

Hitoshi gave Izuku a look, and both of them stood to join in on the congratulations. 

“Yeah, neither of us noticed! But the mark showed up sometime during the obstacle course, and when I was showering I saw it, and was like ‘woah!’ and I just knew .” Kirishima was saying, grinning toothily to the 1-B students. 

“So it’s a mark? Don’t those usually show up around a quirk manifestation?” Tsuburaba asked.

“Nah, sometimes they only manifest when soulmates make first contact.” Honenuki said.

“Yeah! It was so cool! I wish we could’ve seen it manifest, but that’s just how things go.” Tetsutetsu had his arm around Kirishima’s broad shoulders, Kirishima returning the gesture. 

“What is the mark- wait, is that private here?” Pony cut herself off. “In America, it’s fine but…” She turned to Izuku, Monoma, and Hitoshi. “ Is it rude to ask that here? ” 

Monoma shook his head. “ It’s not rude, Pony-chan . People in Japan will show off their soulmarks, as long as it’s- ah- appropriate.” 

“Ohhh. Can you show us?” Pony turned to Tetsutetsu and Kirishima, looking up at them and smiling. 

“Ah- yeah! It’s gonna be seen in our hero costumes.” Kirishima answered, and Tetsutetsu nodded. 

Kirishima pulled down the collar of his tank top, showing the top of his left pec where a silver shield and red spear glimmered, about the size of his palm. Tetsutetsu showed his as well, a red shield and a silver spear. 

Most of 1-B, a few general studies students, as well as one or two from 1-A were now crowded around, staring and complimenting and congratulating. Izuku shared an uncomfortable look with Hitoshi, and they both grabbed the smaller desserts from their trays and left. 

Izuku took a sip of his taro bubble tea as they left, skirting around the crowd. Hitoshi had his crepe held in the fold of one arm gently, the other holding his own to-go cup of boba tea, which was essentially a sugary iced latte with boba pearls. They exchanged this special discomforted look, one that conveyed a lot more than usual, one that only popped up when soulmates were mentioned, which was rare. 

People usually didn’t talk about soulmates aside from in a fictional context, or about adults. Statistically, unless a bond was very obvious when it manifested and essentially showed who was on the other side, they wouldn’t actually meet their soulmate until later in life, when they’re moving around, traveling the world, meeting more people. 

And even then, nearly half of the world population didn’t ever meet their soulmate, which is why so many that studied the phenomenon argue against the current cultural view of soulmates. To say one person is destined to meet another is even less probable now, in the time of quirks. So many die before their time, and more people than ever stay to their insulated communities, feeling safe where they are, unknowing if the next time they travel somewhere, they’ll be caught up in a villain attack, or a quirk accident, or a quirkist riot, or just collateral damage from heroism. 

Some scholars argue that meeting one’s soulmate or soulmates isn’t the point . That the bond is of one person to another, both of them being impactful on each others’ lives. That can happen without ever knowing the other, without ever seeing them, touching them, or speaking to them, the most common bond activation requirements. They argue that one person half a world away can take an action that changes the destiny so drastically of a different person the other half of the world away, and thus they’re bound by this ‘soulbond’, yet will never meet. Their impact is not lessened by their anonymity, and they are bound by whatever machinations one could call fate, but they are not some romantic prophesied lovers that so many view soulmates as.

Izuku knew that Hitoshi had a special place in his heart reserved for resenting those who romanticize soulmates. 

Hitoshi’s mother had left his father because she had met her soulmate and she never looked back. She paid child support, but other than that she couldn’t care less about the man she had divorced and the child left behind. Hitoshi purposefully refused to contact her at any given opportunity, because he was spiteful and hurt by her actions, by growing up without a mother purely because she had found something ‘better’. 

The only reason Hitoshi accepted Izuku even after his own mother left was because he had been too young to fully realize that she wasn’t coming back. 

Izuku’s parents were separated, but only in that they weren’t really married except legally, even though they were soulmates. Both of them were his parents, even if not husband and wife, and both of them still loved each other as friends. The bond wasn’t a guarantee, no matter what anyone said it was. 

The matter of soulmates, when it was anyone but them, was one that left both of them feeling uncomfortable, vulnerable, as if someone could just look at them and tell how they’re connected and use that to hurt them. 

They never planned on telling anyone the nature of their bond, because it had been taught to them so young that it could be used to hurt them. Even if it was just other kids harassing them, telling them to look into mirrors. Now, the danger was much more real. They were going to be heroes, and they weren’t anywhere close to being ready yet. Villains had infiltrated UA once, and they might do it again, and if people knew, then villains would know just exactly how to get rid of two up and coming heroes. 

In a way, their weakness being each other wasn’t a weakness at all, because all they had to do to nullify it was becoming stronger. 

Another look was exchanged, green and purple eyes meeting, flickering in a kind of fear they knew so uniquely. 

They hoped Kirishima and Tetsutetsu were prepared for the potential consequences if their bond became public knowledge, their hearts literally on their chests. 

-

The recreational games were beginning, so Izuku and Hitoshi stopped brooding in a hallway and joined back up with nine of their classmates, the other eight mentally preparing for the one on one tournaments. 

Tetsutetsu hadn’t joined in for the recreational games, and that made sense with his new life development and all. 

Izuku walked back out into the sunlight on concrete that was the arena, and couldn’t help smiling excitedly, prepared to actually have fun. 

A lot of the games were to ridiculous extremes, and with the addition of quirks it became so chaotic Izuku had a hard time keeping track of it all. His favorite part was just being able to play games with his classmates, no bigger picture to look at, no training or studying, just doing something because it was fun . 

Izuku and Hitoshi ran around a lot, especially for the scavenger hunt. Izuku laughed himself to tears when someone frantically threw their rabbit shaped keychain right in Hitoshi’s face when he yelled up at them for hero merchandise. Izuku managed to collect some stuff for the hunt, but then Bondo had picked him up for her own objective, ‘something green’ and he ended up laughing again, clutching onto her and giggling as Midnight-sensei nodded with professionalism as the game’s referee, her mouth twitching in a smile as well. 

Izuku stayed up in Bondo’s arms, still giggling, when the next game was announced, one where they all had to keep as many of the beach balls in the air for as long as possible. 

Izuku heard one of the 1-A students grumbling about Uraraka, which he only recognized as the student who’d be facing Tokage in the first round of the tournament, and ignored it. 

He smiled up at Bondo. “Do you mind if I get on your shoulders for extra height?” He asked, and Bondo laughed and nodded.

One of the bright blue beach balls came their way, imprinted with ‘UA’ in massive letters, and Izuku jumped using Bondo’s shoulders as a springboard, kicking the ball up higher and tucking to roll against the concrete as he landed. 

“Nice one Midoriya!” Tsuburaba shouted from where he was trying to make air platforms for the balls to bounce off of instead of hitting the ground.

Izuku grinned despite himself, running towards where Fukidashi was. “Think you can give us a woosh ?” Izuku asked with fake casualness. 

“Ohoho I definitely can do that! I never get to use the really big ones!” Fukidashi was rubbing his hands together, his speech bubble full of exclamation points. 

Izuku saluted him, continuing his run over to Kuroiro, who had managed to hit the balls up by gaining momentum from jumping into shadows, leaping up from behind someone to hit the ball. 

“Havin’ fun, Kuroiro-kun?” Izuku asked breathlessly. 

Kuroiro gave him a wide grin, a slash of white against black. “One must have merriment and rest before returning to their scheming, you would know, mastermind of our success that you are.”

Izuku nodded, a bit of a blush joining the natural flush from exertion. “Of course!” 

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, we may be finding one or two people tripping on shadows in the near future.” Kuroiro chuckled darkly, sinking into another shadow, eyes peeking out from behind someone else when two students’ shadows crossed. 

Fukidashi’s massive Woosh! launched upwards, a pale white line of kanji that carried the beach balls upwards, then dissipated just below the arena’s opening to the sky, the balls falling down, scattering. 

Some fell into the audience to their enjoyment, a few tossing it around the stands before it came back to the arena. 

Izuku nearly cackled at the chaos his suggestion caused, and he could see Fukidashi giving him a thumbs up, the other holding his throat. 

He had ended up next to the electric kid from 1-A, the black lightning bolt in their blonde hair obvious up close. “Come here often?” The kid said with a joking grin.

“Oh, all the time.” Izuku said back, a bit breathless from laughter and exertion.

Midnight-sensei’s whip cracked through the air, an alarm ringing out. “And that’s time!” She called out. “With only two beach balls touching the ground, they did pretty well for their first time, don’t you think?” She cocked a hip, turning her head up at the crowd, which roared in approval, whether of her or the students no one knew. 

“And that’s the last of the recreational games!” Present Mic’s voice boomed around the arena. “We’ll need just a quick break for the cleanup, and then we’ll go on to the first match of the tournament round! Are you ready ?!” 

The audience roared again, like one strange beast, almost unfathomably large.

“No pressure or anything.” The electric kid joked as the students cleared the arena, heading towards the tunnels. 

“Nope, none at all.” Izuku nodded, a sly grin on his face. “I’m Midoriya Izuku of 1-B, he/him. Nice to meet you, sorry for my class inevitably kicking yours’ butts in the tournament.” 

He was too high on adrenaline and giddy from actually having fun to think through his words, and they struck him immediately after he said them. Why did he say them ?!

The 1-A student just laughed in response. “Kaminari Denki, he/him and she/her. I wouldn’t bet on it.” She winked at Izuku, and ran off to catch up with her own classmates.

“Let’s grab a snack before the tournament!” Awase was shouting, to the cheers of Tsuburaba and Komori. 

Fukidashi just pumped a fist, alternating between his water and his throat spray.

“Snacks! Snacks! Snacks!” Tsuburaba started a chant, which the rest of them joined in on. Izuku found himself laughing, stuck in the pack of his classmates. 

“Let’s make Nezu regret letting students eat for free.” He said, voice a bit quiet, but still heard by them all. 

Another round of cheers started up, and they all moved towards the food stands. 

At some point Hitoshi rejoined Izuku at his side, probably when he had been contemplating just what other milk tea he wanted. 

“Get both.” Hitoshi said simply. “They’re free, Zuku.” 

“Oh yeah!” Izuku bounced slightly in place. “I’ll have the honey milk tea with boba and… the strawberry milk tea with strawberry jelly stars and strawberry popping boba.” 

Hitoshi just smiled, only rolling his eyes a bit. “I’ll have a pomegranate slush with boba, thanks.” He said to the stand worker, who nodded, using several of her eight arms to make drinks, another one marking something down, probably to keep track of how many students went to her booth. 

Izuku watched her arms move in slight awe at the economy of movement, how practiced she’d half to be to not be tripping over herself and spilling things, a spatial awareness to where everything was as well as what she had changed. 

“He thinks your quirk is awesome, he just is the ‘silently stare in awe’ type.” Hitoshi explained, making her blush and making Izuku startle, an embarrassed flush creeping over his face. 

“Hitoshiiii.” Izuku whined as they left the booth, their drinks in a little carrier that Hitoshi was cradling. 

“Izukuuuu.” Hitoshi returned, his low drawl so different from Izuku’s higher pitch that he huffed in amusement instead of staying embarrassed.

“C’mon, I think the rest of them were busy debating about popcorn, or something, over there.” Hitoshi jerked his head towards the end of the food stalls, to where the arena entrance was. 

“ Still ?!” Izuku asked shrilly. “How much time can anyone spend debating kettlecorn  versus regular popcorn?!” 

Hitoshi and Izuku returned to the 1-B students, a few of them holding far too many snacks. Bondo had an entire armful, and considering how much arm she had, it was a lot. She quietly said it was for the others in the tournament who didn’t have time to get food, and Izuku smiled at her, saying how thoughtful it was. 

They all moved back into the arena, going towards the student and staff area to head up to 1-B’s box, when a loud shout stopped them. 

Well, it stopped Izuku and Hitoshi, and the rest of them stopped to avoid stumbling or trampling anyone. 

“DEKU!” 

Izuku instinctively shrinked back, head hitting Bondo’s back when he hunched down a bit, shoulders raising around his ears. 

“You! Shitty 1-B extras! Where is Deku!” 

“What are you talking about?” Rin asked, arms around a bucket of popcorn.

“You! Tall glue fuck! Where is he, I saw him usin’ you as a steppin’ stone in the stupid intermission games for extras!” 

Bondo squeaked, taking a step back, shifting slightly in a way that still hid Izuku.

“It might help if you used whoever you're looking for’s actual name .” Hitoshi drawled, a barely contained tremble of anger in his voice that Izuku knew would lead to some fighting words being said.

Izuku could hear the grind of Kacchan’s teeth. “Midoriya.” He gritted out as if it pained him.

Several of the students in their pack turned too visibly, even if it was just their gazes flickering or their heads shifting, Kacchan was too clever to not take it as a sign. Izuku moved to Hitoshi’s side, no longer hiding behind anyone, head still ducked. Hitoshi was holding their drink carrier in one hand, the other going behind, between them so Izuku could reach back and hold it, hands trembling and nails digging in.

“Hey, Kacchan.” Izuku muttered.

“WHAT?! You don’t fucking listen to me, lying to me and looking down on me for a month , and that’s all you got?!” Kacchan shouted, drawing the attention of festival attendees, both heroes and regular civilians in this main hallway.

“Kacchan- I-I- I never said I wasn’t going to UA!” Izuku’s voice rose in pitch, throat catching on his stutters. 

“Yeah, well you’re just as pathetic as always, and UA has to be crazy to let you pretend to be a hero. I saw you out there just dragging others down to get ahead, because that’s all you’ll ever be, a fuckin’ anchor.” 

Izuku ducked his head, tears already welling, face flushing. Logically he knew Kacchan wasn’t right, but he had spent so long hearing Kacchan’s harsh words every single day, it was hard not to just take this as another insult, one to be carried around, brought back out when it would hurt most. 

“That’s not true!” Bondo said, voice louder than anyone had heard from her before. 

The rest of them agreed, shouting down Kacchan. 

“He’s the best in our class!” 

“We’re lucky to have him here!”

“You’re just jealous he has actual friends!”

“He’s gonna be a better hero than you could ever dream of being!” 

That one seemed to strike a cord, and Kacchan stepped forward, one of his hands rigid, fingers curled into claws, sparking. 

“Oh, what, you’re gonna threaten him again?” Hitoshi’s voice cut off everyone else behind them. “Gonna burn him, show that you’re a big man? A hero that hurts his future colleagues for disagreeing with him?” 

Izuku could hear the barely there hum of Hitoshi’s quirk, and whipped his head up to stare at Hitoshi, giving his best ‘please don’t murder Kacchan’ look, one he had perfected over the years when coming to their sleepovers and study sessions bruised or burned.

Kacchan’s hand sparked again, glowing with heat. “None of you get it! Has he told you, hah? He’s a quirkless weakling who thinks he can be a hero! He’s nothing ! He’s looking down on me, and probably on you extras too, because you’re letting him!” Kacchan’s voice was a growl, the everpresent anger and annoyance twisting deeper.

Monoma surged forward, Shishida having to hold him back as he swung out. The rest of their little group was a roiling little pod of anger, everyone moving, riled up, on the verge of violence.

“Kacchan.” Izuku said, voice quiet. His friends quieted as well around him, behind him. Standing up for him like no one else had in the past. Hitoshi would’ve, but he was a prefecture away in middle school. 

Izuku hadn’t thought anyone else would, but even the quiet Bondo was looming menacingly, and Komori was huffing air out of her nose angrily like a bull, and Monoma was ready to try and fight Kacchan. Izuku had seen over the years that no one won a fight with Kacchan, not kids years older than them, not those he bullied, and definitely not Izuku. 

“Kacchan, what do you want .” Izuku’s voice was devoid of feeling or inflection, despite how his heart trembled and skipped, despite how he wished so desperately he hadn’t let go of Hitoshi’s hand to step forward.

Kacchan was huffing, hands sparking, eyes narrowed in anger. He didn’t answer Izuku, so Izuku spoke again.

“You want me to drop out of the hero course, after I earned it?! You want me to drop out of UA, after spending a month making friends for the first time in my life, because you sure as hell made it impossible before?!” Izuku found himself channeling all of the rants Hitoshi had about Kacchan before, the joking ones that still contained truth, because Izuku hadn’t been able to handle him being genuinely angry at Kacchan before, hadn’t been able to handle himself being angry at Kacchan and still having to see his face every day in class. “You want me to not be a hero, when I’m going to save lives? You’d deprive those people in the future, just for your own pride?! Because you think I’m looking down on you, when I only looked up to you?!” Izuku’s chest was heaving as he slammed a hand on it in his passion, eyes wild and unfocused, staring at Kacchan, waiting for the inevitable snap, waiting for the crackle-boom-burn of [Explosion]. 

“How dare you?” Hitoshi’s voice hummed again with his quirk as well as restrained rage, stepping up behind Izuku, a hand on Izuku’s shoulder, finger subtly tapping that one two three four that let Izuku’s brain remember to breathe.

“Hah?!” Kacchan’s face twisted, anger and disgust and confusion melding into an ugly shade Izuku couldn’t name. “I-” 

Kacchan’s red irises went white, his quirk dying in his hands, arms going slack. 

“Go back to your seat.” Hitoshi said clearly, having slid into that mask of emotionlessness he had to carry when using his quirk, when expecting the backlash from the people around him for it, even if he was safe with their class.

Kacchan turned around neatly on his heel, walking away. Civilians parted, giving him a path. 

Izuku’s gaze whipped around, his breathing picking up as he realized people had their phones out, were talking, were staring .

“C’mon, Zuku.” Hitoshi’s voice was soft in his ear, and Izuku was guided to the staff and student halls, blinking dazedly. 

-

Hitoshi’s anger and pride warred within him as he watched Izuku half-disassociating his way through the halls. He kept a hand on Izuku’s shoulder, guiding him carefully, both of them walking ahead of the nine other students who had participated in the recreational games.

“I talked back to Kacchan…” Izuku murmured, blinking. 

“Yeah, Izuku. And he can’t do anything about it.” Hitoshi said, trying to be reassuring. “If he tries, he’s got all of 1-B, the UA staff, and your mom to deal with.” 

“And his own mom.” Izuku added automatically.

“And his own mom.” Hitoshi repeated back, a grin pulling at his mouth. 

“Midoriya-kun… are you okay?” Komori stepped forward.

“I’m fine.” Izuku said, a reflex and all of them could tell. 

“Midoriya, that… student is not a hero. Endeavor is standoffish, yeah, but he’s not aggressive towards heroes and civilians.” Monoma said.

“I- Kacchan’s gonna be a great hero.” Izuku said weakly, shoulders slumping, still barely in the moment.

“Is he, Izuku?” Hitoshi asked, voice painfully gentle despite how much he knew the words would hurt his soulmate.

“I-” Izuku’s tears came back, trailing down his cheeks. He sniffled. “I don’t know!” 

Hitoshi pulled lightly at Izuku, and his soulmate buried his face in Hitoshi’s chest, crying in earnest. 

Hitoshi nodded to the rest of their classmates. Komori helpfully grabbed the drink carrier from Hitoshi so he could wrap both arms around Izuku. 

It was just the cold concrete halls, the buzzing of fluorescent lighting, and Izuku’s desolate sobbing. 

Hitoshi didn’t have the words for it, the right thing to say to make this all okay. There wasn’t a right thing to say. Nothing could erase ten years of Bakugou’s treatment of Izuku, nothing could make it right. Hitoshi didn’t even know the extent of it, Izuku rarely divulging the insults slung his way, let alone the physical actions that led to the bruises and burns on his body.

It was bad, Hitoshi knew. He had also known that Bakugou had somehow carved himself a pedestal in Izuku’s mind, on par with All Might, but a single meeting wasn’t enough to send this one tumbling down. Hitoshi didn’t know what the final blow was, if it was something Bakugou had said in that last confrontation, or something Izuku realized, but that pedestal was crumbling rapidly.

Hitoshi just wished Izuku didn’t have to crumble with it. 

Izuku sobbed in his arms, against his chest, hands curled tight between them in their embrace. He inhaled, a sniveling ragged gasp, only to sob harder, head pressing into Hitoshi as if he could just meld them together, as if they could become one. 

What could he say? Any reassurance would fall flat and shatter. Any praise would guilt him. Hitoshi knew Izuku needed time to cry, time to feel the depth of his own pain so he could know it, could pick it apart later and analyze the root of it. 

He had never truly analyzed his own emotions regarding Bakugou before, though. The blame had always fallen on himself. Hitoshi hoped Izuku’s painful disillusionment held true, at least, to understanding that someone he looked up to could be flawed. To not have to hurt this way again.

Hitoshi let his head fall onto Izuku’s, forehead pressing against curls, their breaths intermingling into a too-warm little pocket of air in the hallway.

Izuku sniffled, hands moving, and Hitoshi loosened his grip, letting Izuku worm his arms free of their hug. 

“I just-” Izuku’s voice cracked heavily, tears already falling again. “I’ll never be good enough…” His breath hitched on a sob, before he spoke again. “I just wanted to stand at his side, once. I wanted to be his friend.” His voice cracked.

Izuku knocked his head against Hitoshi’s chest, speaking into it a bit louder. “It would be easier if he just hated me.” He said with a little self-deprecating huff. “If he just wanted me dead. Instead I can’t understand what he wants from me. If I leave him alone, he inevitably harasses me and hurts me, because I’m looking down on him. If I follow after him like a lost puppy, he snaps and tells me to stop and that I’m looking down on him. I just… I don’t even know why I still care so much about what he thinks. I thought, by being at UA, a class away from him, that it’d all somehow fade away, that he’d look and see I was worthy of being a hero, that I was never looking down on him. I still don’t know why I cared… why I can’t bring myself to stop thinking of him as ‘Kacchan’ even though Kacchan was a four year old I went bug catching with. Kacchan was…” 

“He was the world before you were diagnosed quirkless, Izuku.” Hitoshi said. 

Izuku nodded, a bitter and sad thing, and hugged Hitoshi. 

“Kacchan might’ve been a good kid, who was gonna be a good hero.” Izuku said. “But that Bakugou guy is a real asshole.” 

Hitoshi broke into a startled laugh, and Izuku did as well, tears still streaking down his face as his semi-hysterical laughs echoed down the halls.

Present Mic’s voice came over the speakers, declaring the first match of the tournament round.

“Let’s go.” Izuku said, pulling Hitoshi along, smiling as if his eyes weren’t still rimmed red and face flush and wet with tears. “We have people to cheer for.” He said, determination coloring his voice more than anything else, the kind of resolve that he used to focus and let emotion fade away, the kind that made Hitoshi look at him in awe of the hero he was going to be. 

-

“From the left! The acid slinger of 1-A! The pinkest girl around! Ashido Mina!” Present Mic announces, and the crowd cheers as the first contender in the tournament walks out of the tunnel, her pink skin contrasting against the deep blue of the UA tracksuit. 

In the box beside them, 1-A was cheering.

“From the right! The calm, collected recommendation student of 1-B! He really softened up the competition in the cavalry battle, Honenuki Juzo!” 

1-B broke into cheers, stamping their feet, yelling. Everyone besides Honenuki was there, as the next round didn’t have anyone from 1-B. Izuku was seated in the back row of their box, leaning against Hitoshi heavily, exhausted from crying, but so happy and proud to watch his classmates succeed, fighting on stage for everyone to see. 

Both students entered the painted lines over the concrete of the arena, the four braziers at the corners crackling and sparking. Cementoss was seated in a throne of concrete beside where Midnight-sensei stood to referee, both of them acting as safety measures to stop the battle if things got out of hand.

“Honenuki’s got this!” Tsuburaba crowed, leaning over the edge of their box. 

“Without any obstacles, all he has to do is use [Softening] on the entire arena besides where he stands and he’s done.” Kamakiri crossed its arms in its seat as it spoke, eyes still intent on the battle with a seemingly foregone conclusion.

“[Softening] that large of an area isn’t as easy as it looks, especially if it’s concrete.” Monoma said. “And they can’t just do that every battle, eventually someone will be able to combat that strategy, or they’ll have quirk exhaustion anyway.” 

“Ah, you’ve used [Softening] before, yeah?” Tokage asked, not even turning to Monoma despite asking him a question.

“Mhm. It requires more control than you’d think.” Was all Monoma said in response.

The battle began, and Izuku leaned his elbow on the armrest of the chair, inching forward even with a big screen up top to see a better angle of the battle.

Honenuki had started the match by kneeling down, both hands flat against the concrete, head bowed. Usually he used his quirk with such ease, but the precision and intensity of it made him work harder than Izuku expected from him. From the straight-forward way he had gone about the battle trial, Izuku had really thought he might do what Kamakiri said, [Softening] the entire battlefield for a decisive win that would impress the heroes. 

-

Juzo had knelt, tensed up like a runner at the starting line. They could feel their heartbeat thudding in their chest, calmer than they expected. They were more sure of their actions, and it no longer rested solely on their pride as a recommendation student. Now it was because they had honed their skills, their quirk, to a fine point. 

Midoriya’s critique after the battle trials had struck a chord in them. After years of quirk trainers and tutors supporting them, none of those people had actually criticized them in the slightest, they realized. Juzo was always the intelligent, level-headed young man in their praise. As long as they weren’t having quirk accidents, which they had under control at age seven, they could do no wrong.

Midoriya hadn’t been mean about it, either. Juzo almost wished he had been, if only so the bruise to their own pride could be justified in the slightest.

But they had made a mistake, and it was recognized. To use their quirk as a panacea to every problem would be foolish, and to use it at whim would only endanger people as a hero. 

So they honed their quirk in the past two weeks, taking Midoriya and Monoma’s advice. They couldn’t take the easy way out, just melting the field.

It would impress, surely, but that wouldn’t last when Juzo passed out of quirk exhaustion or used the same strategy every round. 

So instead Juzo waited, eyes keen and lightly clacking their teeth, a nervous tic they couldn’t shake despite how unnerving others found it. They watched the pattern of Ashido’s movement, how she had a dancer’s grace but a hero’s determination, sliding across the sizzling concrete with a grin.

She was grinning wide, golden irises and black sclera making her joy stand out even more stark. She slid on a trail of acid, gathering some off white acid from her hands as well, preparing to throw it towards Juzo.

Juzo activated their quirk, directing it like an arrow shot from a bow, a straight line that cut across the arena towards Ashido, viscous as water and deep enough to encase her hands and feet, the source of her quirk.

They grinned, though most wouldn’t be able to tell they had done so. 

-

From this high up, and through the camera’s lens, the softened concrete couldn’t be told apart from its normal counterpart until Ashido sank right into it to her shoulders, shouting in alarm. Her mouth moved rapidly on the screen, no audio coming through. 

“Honenuki wins!” Present Mic called the match, and 1-B burst into cheers, ecstatic. 

To them, this was proof that they could stand on their own, they didn’t need Midoriya’s brilliant strategies to win the entire festival. Honenuki could do it, they could too. Soon enough they’d get all of 1-A out, and it’d be just 1-B’s time to shine. 

Izuku muttered about the match, hands twitching for his pencil and notebooks, and Hitoshi looked at him fondly, before returning to his own cheering for Honenuki. 

-

Hitoshi had tuned out the battle-turned-advertisement about a minute in, growing bored of watching the kid with drill hands try to break the support girl’s equipment as she showed it off.

Eventually the support girl just stepped out of the ring, which was a total power move that Hitoshi approved of. She bowed and talked about Hatsume Industries one last time, and then Kaibara Sen was declared the winner, though the hunched 1-A student didn’t look like much of a winner from where Hitoshi sat.

Kamakiri and Kodai left as the first match ended, slated for the third match. 

“That was… something.” The normally eloquent Shishida said, blinking at the field.

“Well, I’m just glad I didn’t have to sit through all of that.” Honenuki muttered, having gotten back a while ago but still had the fortune of missing part of the match.

Shoda had been lucky too, leaving near the end of the match to go prepare for his own. 

Hitoshi leaned back, drank his slushie, and prepared to cheer his classmates on during this 1-B versus 1-B match.

“From the left! Succeeding with only his sharp wits and sharper blades, it’s the swordsman of 1-B, Kamakiri Togaru!” Present Mic’s voice echoed through the arena. All of 1-B were already on their feet, and they all cheered for Kamakiri, who looked up towards their box and grinned, his uniform jacket gone and wearing just a tank top.

“From the right! Never underestimate the silent types, folks! The girl who can make mountains out of molehills- literally! It’s Kodai Yui, vice representative of 1-B! That’s right, it’s a classmate-versus-classmate smackdown!” 

A different voice was on the speakers, flat and drawling and unfamiliar. “There better be nothing happening in that arena that counts as a ‘smackdown’, Mic.” 

“Aww, c’mon Eraser! Let me have a little creative liberty! Now, are you all ready for the third match!?” Mic riled the crowd right back up.

Midnight-sensei cracked her whip, and the battle began.

-

Togaru wasn’t as confident in this fight as he tried to appear. 

Kodai was scary in her own way, silent and impassive. Togaru made a point of getting a read on all his classmates, he always had. He needed to know who would try to bully him, who would throw him under the bus, who would flinch in fear just looking at him. 

None of those kind of people were in 1-B, and it was almost weird to not feel on edge, to not expect those looks he got from his peers and sometimes even teachers. At UA he was treated like just another normal kid, and it was weird but also mildly infuriating, because it meant that at all those other schools they could’ve been treating him like this the entire time and just didn’t. 

Kodai was impossible to read. Her eyes glittered like chips of obsidian as she glanced around from the other side of the ring, mouth in a neutral line, body relaxed as if she couldn’t burst into movement in a second flat. 

He had seen her in the battle trials, how even without communicating she could read a teammate or an enemy and find the best place to be. How she took out Tsuburaba with one enlarged marble, socking him in the gut with it. 

Togaru couldn’t afford giving her anything to use her quirk on, so he couldn’t tear up the concrete with his blades, even though he was sure he could. He wouldn’t use sharp blades either, because she had no natural armor like himself or others, and he didn’t want to make a mistake and hurt someone that badly on international television. 

He already had so many people expecting something like that from him, he couldn’t give them the satisfaction. 

Togaru extended blades from his forearms, not the parang blades he had trained to make and used in the obstacle course, no need for something with any purpose aside from combat. He extended saber-like blades from his wrists, right at the base of his palms.

He made the first move, not willing to give Kodai the advantage of putting the battle on her own terms. He’d need to get up close and push her out of the ring. Thankfully he wouldn’t have to worry about [Size] working on his blades, as they were part of his body and so technically were organic.

When he got within two meters, Kodai made her move, and the world went dark. The sound of fluttering fabric filled his ears right alongside a cheering crowd. Instinctually he slashed out, retracting his blades and sending new ones out that were actually sharp, shredding the enlarged fabric of Kodai’s PE jacket. 

Ripped royal blue fabric fell around Togaru like confetti and he found himself grinning, feeling the pull of his exoskeleton right against his mandibles in his wide smile. 

He tried to lunge towards Kodai, who had gotten closer. Then his world flipped in a sickening whirl, and his back was flat on the concrete. He wheezed, air leaving his chest as he looked up to Kodai, who still stared at him impassively even after judo flipping someone much larger than her. 

Togaru scrambled back and onto his feet, retracting the sharp blades and releasing blunted ones he could actually use against Kodai. He couldn’t let her get another opportunity to use his own weight and strength against him, next time she could easily pin him and get him out if he were stunned sufficiently, if his head slammed against the concrete next time instead of just his back.

Kodai’s head tilted at him, almost mocking but something genuinely intrigued in her eyes, calculating behind those obsidian eyes. Now that she wasn’t wearing her jacket, he could see the muscle definition that most hero students had in some manner. Regardless of her quiet nature and smaller stature, she was still a hero course student at UA, and wasn’t to be underestimated.

If she had been paired off against anyone from 1-A she surely would’ve trampled them. Her ability to use others’ quirks against them with her own was terrifying in its own right. She had the bad luck of facing a classmate, one who had gone to every single training session in the past two weeks, who had heard Midoriya raving over her quirk and its potential. 

He had to strike quickly, decisively. He couldn’t afford another mistake, or she would take advantage of it with silent ruthlessness. In a way, it was admirable. To show only her skills, no taunting or boasting. 

Togaru ran forward, feinting to one side and attacking at the other, skirting around her shorter reach to strike her at the nape of the neck with the side of his own hand, knocking her out cold.

He caught her limp body as Present Mic’s declaration of his victory echoed through the arena, and the cheers started up. His heart raced as he grinned, adrenaline high and yet exhausted, mind still racing.

-

Hitoshi watched with fondness as Izuku ranted over the battle, going over every single move as if they all hadn’t just watched it happen. 

“And she did a judo throw! I think it was a classic osotogari, but maybe it was an osoto guruma…” Izuku broke off into mumbling. “The large outer reap, it makes sense. She couldn’t use her own strength with his increased weight due to his exoskeleton, potentially, and couldn’t risk a drop or throw that actually injured him, but she put so much momentum in it she couldn’t pin him immediately, but he wasn’t that stunned so he could’ve used his own blades to push her back if they were blunted…” 

A lot of their class were listening to Izuku instead of Present Mic’s post-match announcing that kept the crowd entertained as robots swept away the large fabric shreds still in the ring. 

“Your fourth match of the tournament is beginning, listeners! Now, from the left! This guy sure knows how to make an explosive entrance, it’s the demolition expert of 1-A, Bakugou Katsuki!” 

1-B was noticeably silent, which Izuku was confused by, and Hitoshi was gratified. This meant their classmates had informed everyone else in 1-B about the confrontation down in the halls, and everyone was on their side. They really would back Izuku up when it came to Bakugou.

“And from the right! The kid who can double his attacks in an instant! Shoda Nirengeki of 1-B!” 

1-B was back on their feet, cheering. Izuku looked hesitant, but cheered with the rest of them, telling Shoda to do his best. Shoda looked up to their box, his face up on the big screen as he gave a determined nod towards them.

-

Nirengeki wasn’t an angry guy. People have been surprised when he said he was going to be a hero, saying he was too passive, too… whatever else they said when really they looked at his physique and decided he was out of shape or unhealthy with one glance, as if he hadn’t been boxing since he was a kid. 

He was very angry right now, however. The feeling was as foreign as it was powerful, making his hands tremble at his sides, his nails biting at the meat of his palms.

When the others in 1-B got to their box, looking shaken and angry, Nirengeki hadn’t expected the source to be Midoriya . Not that it was Midoriya’s fault, but instead the fault of a kid from 1-A, the one they talked about at lunch, who was more than ‘not nice’, evidently, from what he had yelled at Midoriya.

Midoriya wasn’t even that angry, from what Nirengeki had seen, sitting in the box and sending a glance back towards him every now and then. He seemed exhausted, but had bounced back and was already analyzing again, as if the entire breakdown their classmates told him about hadn’t happened. 

But it had, and Nirengeki had seen Midoriya’s red eyes, puffy from crying. 

Midoriya was the keystone of 1-B, even more so than their representative and vice. He and Monoma were leaders in their own way, both intense with unique brands of charisma that Nirengeki couldn’t even begin to understand, let alone describe. Something about the way they spoke to someone like they were the center of the world, the only thing worth focusing on in that moment, it was magnetic. 

Nirengeki never claimed to be friends with Midoriya. They had only spoken a few times, primarily about quirk training and theory, sometimes about homework. But Nirengeki cared, just like everyone else in 1-B cared for Midoriya. 

To know that there was someone in 1-A- the class that had already been given undue attention, the ones who were being cheered on the most by the audience, the ones that didn’t even seem to notice the extent to which they were favored- was a quirkist bully to Midoriya? 

Nirengeki was a patient, passive person, but there was a limit to his restraint. His own indignation on another’s behalf was enough to ensure he had no grasp on his temper.

Bakugou Katsuki was a quirkist, bullying piece of shit in Nirengeki’s humble opinion, and he wouldn’t let Bakugou get any further in the tournament. 

It wasn’t about winning at this point. It was about ensuring Bakugou lost. 

Nirengeki could feel his quirk rising in his hands, a little whisper in his mind. He’d have to be patient just a bit longer, he knew, but even looking at Bakugou made him seethe. He hadn’t really known what people meant when they said they were seething with anger before, but now he knew it intimately, the way it made his entire body exist solely to contain the anger, how it roiled and buzzed like a swarm of hornets. 

He stared at Bakugou, anticipating the crack of a whip to start their match, and when it finally came, Nirengeki immediately juked to the side, watching as Bakugou blasted off the ground into the air and then towards where he had stood.

Nirengeki needed rubble. He hoped Bakugou wasn’t as cautious as Kamakiri had been in the last match, but considering how arrogant the boy was he doubted Bakugou had even bothered to learn what Nirengeki’s quirk was.

Nirengeki dropped into a roll when Bakugou managed to turn midair, course correcting with small explosions, eyes never leaving his opponent now that the match had started. Bakugou returned to the ground, a blast sending concrete shrapnel flying behind him, and he reeled back, telegraphing a right hook. 

It was tempting to block and try to get his own hit in, but Nirengeki wanted to be underestimated. It was petty, something he really shouldn’t do in a school event where he was supposed to be heroic, but damn it he wanted to see Bakugou realize how much he screwed up, even if it was just this match, even if it didn’t change how much he had hurt Nirengeki’s classmate. 

So instead he stayed low, ensuring Bakugou would destroy more of the concrete ring and give Nirengeki more ammunition. 

He tossed a chunk of concrete, purposefully activating [Twin Impact] on a delay so it would be weaker.

“Is that all you got?!” Bakugou was shouting after easily exploding the rubble into smaller pieces. 

Nirengeki kept his distance, always on the move, throwing rubble and activating [Twin Impact], explosions making his ears ring, his teeth rattle. He couldn’t let Bakugou get in close or the match would be over. He increased the strength of his throws, his activations of [Twin Impact], changing up angles to overwhelm and hopefully get a hit in. 

Bakugou was too good, able to blast away every piece of rubble to tiny shards the moment they hit his range, dodging other volleys and launching himself above some, trying to get the height advantage, but always having to come back down to try and attack Nirengeki.

All the while, Nirengeki slowly decreased the range he was attacking at, never taking his eyes off his opponent, feeling his mind strain slightly with the effort of his quirk being used in so many consecutive activations. 

Finally he got in close enough, and Nirengeki ducked under a wild swing of Bakugou’s fist, using his own perfected boxer’s form to clock the other boy in the jaw, feeling the skin of his knuckles split as he did so. He activated [Twin Impact] one last time, and Bakugou’s head snapped the other way as another punch’s force hit him, exponentially stronger. 

Bakugou slumped to the ground, unconscious. Nirengeki stood over him, listening to Present Mic declare him the winner, and felt the anger ebb away, dissipating as if it had never been there at all. 

Nirengeki looked up to the 1-B box, and saw all of his classmates cheering, pumping their fists and clapping and stomping their feet, going wild for him , the quiet one (though not the quietest) who hadn’t done much aside from losing a battle trial. 

Nirengeki grinned up at his class and walked out of the arena with his head held high.

-

Hitoshi’s heart thudded in his chest, screaming his throat raw beside the rest of his class as Present Mic announced another of their victories over 1-A, Bakugou crumpled like a ragdoll on pockmarked concrete, Shoda walking away without a single look back. 

It was so stark compared to how Kamakiri had caught Kodai before she even hit the ground in her unconsciousness. Maybe it wasn’t as heroic, but Hitoshi was just so ecstatic he couldn’t bring himself to care. He’d be mentally replaying the moment Shoda clocked Bakugou in the face for the rest of his life. He wanted to frame a gif of it on his wall. 

Everyone was cheering, even Fukidashi, who seemed to immediately regret it as he hacked out a ragged cough. 

Everyone besides Kodai, who was still resting in the infirmary, was here in the box together. The next round was two 1-A students fighting, so they all got to witness this in near-unity.

Izuku was silent, staring awestruck at the scene still as robots loaded Bakugou onto a stretcher. 

Hitoshi nudged him slightly with an elbow, wiggling his eyebrows dramatically and grinning.

Izuku snorted, a smile of his own growing as they all sat to wait for the next round.

1-B started sharing their food hauls around as they waited, all chattering and smiling. There was an electric excitement in the air, more than the conspiratorial looks before, more than a sense of camaraderie. This was a victory, already hard won, even if they didn’t end up with a 1-B student getting the gold medal. 

Shoda and Kodai returned to their box, and 1-B broke into cheers again. Awase and Tsuburaba were slapping Shoda on the back, expounding on how cool he had been. He still had some bandages wrapped around his knuckles, but smiled shyly at all the attention. 

Monoma began regaling Kodai with the previous match, giving a play-by-play. Kodai didn’t seem to mind, eating some popcorn as she listened to her classmate, nodding every once in a while. At some points Shoda would put his head in his hands, flushing red, but he never stopped smiling.

Tokage left as the cleanup neared completion, waving away the well wishes from her class, grinning as she went down to mentally prepare for her own upcoming match.

“Thank you all for being patient! Now, the fifth match is starting, so get back in your seats and hold onto them! From the left, the frontrunner of the entire festival, the girl worth ten million, it’s Shiozaki Ibara!” 

Raucous cheering filled the stands, and Shiozaki simply stood at her side of the ring, head bowed and hands pressed together. 

“From the right, the tape-slinging kid you all saw in the background, finally in the spotlight! They’re also from 1-A! It’s Sero Hanta!” 

Sero waved up at the crowd from their side of the ring, a good natured smile across their face. They took a casual pose, arms behind their head, the round circles of their mutated elbows on display. 

The match started, and Sero moved quickly, tape whipping out of their elbow towards Shiozaki, grin switching to an intense concentration.

Shiozaki’s vines stabbed into the concrete, surfacing like roots from a tree, returning back into the concrete, writhing under her control. One vine rose up like a snake and struck the line of tape, colliding with it and bringing it to the side, out of the ring. 

Sero cut the line of tape with a mild frown, preparing for another volley when Shiozaki decided the match was over. A wave of thorned vines reared up and engulfed her classmate, a few vines rising and holding a cocoon. 

Mic called the match in Shiozaki’s favor, and she gently placed Sero back on the ground, bowing her head deeper for just a moment before leaving the arena.

When the audience began chanting “Don’t worry about it!” to Sero, Hitoshi and some of 1-B joined in, not even taunting. They felt bad for them, to get this far and have a match that lasted less than a minute. 

Thankfully Cementoss’ repair of the ring didn’t take too long, and soon enough the next match was underway, 1-B far more invested in their own classmate’s success. 

“From the left! A gravity defying gal, she helped her team soar in the cavalry battle, it’s Uraraka Ochako of 1-A!” Present Mic announced, and the brunet down in the arena waved cheerfully up at the crowd, her own class chanting her name.

“From the right! The reptilian recommendation student, the girl who also defies gravity, it’s 1-B’s Tokage Setsuna!” 

1-B broke into cheers again. Hitoshi’s throat was starting to hurt, but he couldn’t stop smiling, drawn in by the energy of the festival, by the competition and how it felt to finally win . 

-

Setsuna breathed out her nervousness, and convinced herself it was excitement. She did a mental check, scanning from her toes to her hair to ensure she had every piece of her, and waited for the match to start, still smiling at her opponent.

Uraraka grinned as well, something sweet and innocent when combined with the pink cheeks and shorter stature. 

It didn’t mean for a second that Setsuna was going to go easy on her, or anyone else. 

Setsuna worked far too hard for far too long to not give her all to everything , as a hero should. She kept her grin, but her eyes narrowed as she calculated a path towards victory.

She had seen Uraraka’s quirk in action in the obstacle course and the cavalry battle. A five point touch quirk with a floating, zero-gravity effect able to be ended at will. She could float objects inorganic and organic, as well as people and even herself, but she had no direction or control aside from the deactivation. 

If Uraraka thought she could win an aerial battle, she was sorely mistaken, and Setsuna would take advantage of that. 

Setsuna rolled her shoulders as Midnight-sensei raised her whip, wiggling all of her fingers as she prepared to use [Lizard Tail Splitter].

The crack of the whip sent Setsuna splitting apart, limbs separating cleanly, the bottom half of her torso separating to float away from her main body to give her more speed with just her head and chest as the primary portion of her body leftover. 

Uraraka squeaked at the sudden movement, but her brows narrowed and she ran to meet one of the hands that rushed to grab her. 

The sensation of her fingers grabbing at Setsuna’s wrist, tight enough to bruise, was nearly too sudden for Setsuna to react as planned. But she did it, separating half of her palm and her lower forearm from the section just as Uraraka placed all five fingers on it, rendering it weightless no matter how Setsuna mentally prodded the part to wiggle. 

If Setsuna were in Uraraka’s position, she would be trying to use her quirk on every part she could grab, until enough of Setsuna’s body was rendered weightless that she couldn’t fight back and had to yield. But Uraraka was going into this without one key piece of information.

The regeneration innate in [Lizard Tail Splitter] ensured that her autotonomy and control over those split parts would never result in such an obvious weakness.

Setsuna let her wrist fall limp, mentally disconnecting from the part, leaving a now dead section of flesh floating in the grasp of Uraraka’s quirk. She returned her right arm to her body and held it behind her back, positioning the top half of her hand, feeling as her body recognized the missing section and regenerated.

Uraraka seemed satisfied with herself as she got a chunk of Setsuna’s thigh floating lazily upwards, Setsuna maneuvering her main body and appearing as if she was without a plan, simply trying to punch or kick or grab her opponent. 

Setsuna was never without a plan. 

She used her left arm to grab Uraraka’s jacket by the collar at the nape of her neck, not hard enough to choke her, but enough for her to realize it was a liability and get rid of it. She did, slipping out of it and ducking down, accidentally using her quirk on it too. 

Setsuna didn’t know what limits Uraraka’s quirk had, but there had to be some. She could render three other teens completely weightless though, so Setsuna didn’t anticipate reaching it during this fight.

Setsuna decided to enact the last portion of her plan, rising up and flying far out of reach, forcing Uraraka up into the air. 

Uraraka’s jaw twitched as she kicked off the ground and floated upwards, reaching towards Setsuna. 

She didn’t realize the arm that had held her jacket was back, grabbing at her shirt. Completely weightless, it was easy for Setsuna to throw her out of the ring, towards the ground. 

Uraraka released her quirk, rolling on the ground roughly as she landed. 

Setsuna came back to the ground, assembling her body, all of the pieces merging back together as one, the background sensory information from every part melding back into one continuous body’s senses. She grinned, sharp teeth on display. 

-

Both Yanagi and Pony had left as Tokage’s match started. 

Hitoshi watched Tokage outsmart the 1-A girl and realized just how much of a strategist Tokage was. He was used to Izuku’s genius as a strategist, and hadn’t realized how clever Tokage could be. He felt bad for underestimating the girl, she had been a recommendation student for a reason, and it was growing more obvious as she played her opponent and won handily.

A few people in the crowd appeared to be queasy about [Lizard Tail Splitter], turning away at the sight of it in action. More turned away once the match ended, and Uraraka released her quirk in full, small pieces of Tokage’s flesh falling to the ground lifelessly. 

A set of robots cleaned the ring, a bright red biohazard bin in their arms. Tokage had walked away with her head held high, but Hitoshi really hoped she wasn’t secretly affected by how others seemed disgusted by her quirk, a natural function of her body.

He did understand how disconcerting and unnerving it could be, but like all quirks, once you saw the person using it, the quirk faded away and they were just a person using their abilities, doing their best. And here they were using their quirks to become heroes and save lives.

If anyone started giving Tokage shit for her quirk, Hitoshi and the rest of 1-B would back her up, just like they would for Izuku, just like they would for anyone else in their class. 

-

Kendo and Tokage passed each other, high fiving as they did. Tokage took back her seat and made grabby hands at the kettlecorn, which Awase gave to her with a put upon sigh. Kendo left to go prepare as the seventh match began.

“Yanagi-kun versus Pony… ah, I don’t want to even think about either of them losing, but-!” Izuku put his face in his hands. 

“Support Pony. She’s scarier.” Hitoshi said completely seriously. 

“Really?! But she’s so cute and innocent!” Tsuburaba’s shock was evident.

“You don’t understand a word of English then.” Honenuki said dryly. 

“Oi! I do!” Tsuburaba lied. 

“From the left! The ghostly girl of 1-B, the one who could snatch points right off of her opponents’ heads in the cavalry battle, it’s Yanagi Reiko!” 

1-B was cheering for her, still standing in anticipation of Pony’s entrance.

“From the right, allll the way from America, you mess with this girl and get the horns, it’s Tsunotori Pony of 1-B!” 

Pony was practically skipping out of her tunnel, grinning with a sparkle of mischief everyone else mistook for joy or innocence. She made a heart shape with her hands, to the continued cheering of the crowd, and got to her side of the ring. 

-

Pony couldn’t help the ruthless smile across her face. There was nothing but ruthlessness and this push to win by any means possible. She was competitive, more so than those like Tetsutetsu who got riled up and shouty. 

One thing about Pony, she hated losing. Her mom had always laughed about it when it came up, saying it was a good trait for a hero. “As long as you know gettin’ backup and needin’ help isn’t losing, sweetheart.” she would say, placing a hand between Pony’s horns. 

Years of sports back home didn’t prepare Pony for the intensity of the Sports Festival, no matter how athletic she thought she was, now that quirks and complex strategy came into play it didn’t matter. 

This wasn’t as simple, but it was far more satisfying. It sated her need to prove herself, to rise above and be recognized for her hard work and skill. And then people started saying she was ‘so cute’ as the rider for her cavalry battle team, like a little mascot.

Pony knew she wasn’t going to rank on the ‘Most Villian-Looking Heroes’ list anytime soon, but it still grated at her to be called cute like it was all people saw of her. Cute was for family reunions, getting her cheeks pinched by old ladies who cooed over her. 

She was going to be a hero, and she didn’t want to be a hero that was cute . She wanted to be a hero so strong that villains never dared step in her path, that they’d rather surrender than face her. Pony was small, yeah, but she was also always ready to fight. 

Growing up with five brothers ensured she enjoyed fighting, play wrestling with her siblings who also had strength mutations, even her older sister would get her head out of the books and tackle her twin brother if push came to shove, and they’d all end up laughing and someone would be victorious, whatever petty prize in their hand, be it the last donut or the television remote. 

Pony wasn’t violent , per se. But there was a reason boys stopped tugging the tail of mutation quirked girls at her school, and it wasn’t teachers intervening. 

Pony had honed her horns to a razor’s edge, honed her body to be even stronger than its natural inclination, honed her mind to a brand of ruthlessness that meant she’d never let a villain escape. 

She hated losing, so she simply wouldn’t . 

Midnight-sensei’s whip came down with a thunderous crack, nearly hurting Pony’s more sensitive hearing, but she ran forward anyway. Her head was lowered slightly, an instinct she couldn’t shake, but she held back from releasing [Horn Cannon]. 

Yanagi’s [Poltergeist] was based on weight, and Pony couldn’t waste time tearing up the arena to get enough rubble for Yanagi to strain her quirk, so she’d have to get creative. Her own horns weren’t heavy enough, and though she could shoot volleys of them, she wouldn’t be able to control any more than four and the rest would be solely Yanagi’s weapon at that point. 

Yanagi stumbled back, then dodged to the side when Pony almost tackled her. Everyone knew from the assessment tests that Pony, like Kamakiri, had enhanced strength from mutations unrelated to her quirk, and Yanagi likely remembered that little fact.

Yanagi wasn’t the type to grapple anyway, so Pony expected her to dodge, but it still would’ve been a quick and decisive victory if she had just stayed still. 

Pony was breathing quick, light on her hooves and always ready to move. It felt a bit like a dance, a bit like a game, but she never forgot this was a fight. 

Nearly everything was a fight, when you got down to it. Pony never forgot that. 

“C’mon!” Pony shouted, not bothering to speak Japanese, too focused to translate in her head and then clumsily pronounce things, always feeling a bit like a stupid foreigner, even though she herself was half Japanese, her dad had never learned the language, couldn’t pass it down to her or her siblings. 

Yanagi muttered something in Japanese, drowned out by the crowd’s roaring. 

Pony saw a pink glow emanating from her clothes, and then was yanked upwards by them. She kicked her hooves out, squawking like when her brothers would jokingly pull at her horns as a kid. 

(Jokes on them, she always pulled their horns right back, twice as hard. She was the baby of the family, and never got in trouble for it.) 

Pony tried to slip out of her jacket, but it was resisting her under Yanagi’s control. Pony’s hands were forced to cross behind her back. 

Pony snarled and released [Horn Cannon], sending her horns flying around Yanagi’s head, one of them trying to bash her over the skull. 

Yanagi used [Poltergeist] on the horns as well, unable to keep pulling Pony out of the ring by her clothes, her focus waning. 

[Horn Cannon] released again, a painful pressure in Pony’s skull at releasing two sets in such rapid succession. She sent these horns flying faster, point first, fully taking Yanagi’s attention.

Pony struggled in earnest, knowing Yanagi would reach her limit soon. She had focused more on technique than pushing the limits of her quirk during their two weeks of training for the Sports Festival, and Pony was willing to take advantage of that. 

There would be no forgiveness for mistakes or weakness when they were heroes, and Pony wasn’t going to get in the habit of expecting it now when it wouldn’t come later. She’d teach her classmates that as well, if she had to. 

Another pair of horns from [Horn Cannon], and Pony felt herself lose her grip on the first set she had sent out. She felt [Poltergeist] begin losing strength, and struggled in earnest until she broke out of its grip and fell back to the concrete of the ring, landing hoof-first and cracking it slightly. 

Yanagi tried to grab hold of Pony’s clothes again, but from the hand she pressed to her temple, she had pushed her quirk as much as she could.

Pony ran forward and tackled Yanagi, all of her floating horns now collapsing with a clatter onto the concrete. Pony pinned Yanagi, knees digging into the meat of her thighs and hands gripping her wrists probably a bit too tight.

Yanagi’s wide, slightly scared blue eyes were gratifying. Present Mic announced Pony’s win, not that she understood the rapid, excited words aside from her own name, and Pony slid off of Yanagi, standing up and offering a hand with a smile.

Yanagi smiled slightly as well, and spoke slower in Japanese, a kindness to Pony considering how fast paced the language could be. “ That was a good match, Tsunotori-san. ” 

“ Call me Pony !” Pony grinned, and they both walked out of the arena together. She felt like she may have made a new friend! 

-

“Did you see how fast [Horn Cannon] could go?!” Izuku was practically frothing at the mouth, shaking in excitement. “I wonder if with the force applied, Pony could pierce metal?” 

Tsuburaba looked unnerved, Awase and Rin both also sharing his slight discomfort at the combat skills Pony displayed. It was more that they hadn’t expected it from her specifically rather than because she was a girl.

Hitoshi, personally, was proud of Pony, and resolved to never get on her bad side. 

Or the bad sides of the rest of 1-B’s girls, apparently. Tokage and Komori had cheered their classmates without hesitation. At one point Tokage said “Choke her out!” when Yanagi had used [Poltergeist] on Pony’s clothes.

Bondo hadn’t done much, but she was harder to read.

Kodai hadn’t said anything, but she was as impassive as ever, and if anything that was more terrifying than Komori’s sparkling eyes and wide smile, or Tokage’s shouted suggestions. 

Girls were scary, Hitoshi concluded. Hero girls were even scarier. 

Present Mic was working the crowd, keeping their attention as Cementoss fixed up a few cracks in the concrete (which had also been terrifying, just how many bones would be broken if Pony kicked a person?), and some robots clearing out the scattered horns. 

“The final match of the first tournament round begins, listeners! Are you ready?! ” Mic shouted the last bit in English, still getting a screaming crowd response. 

Honenuki waved quietly as he left, anticipating his own match after this.

“From the left! His quirk makes him a shield and a spear! The vice representative of 1-A, Kirishima Eijiro!” 

Tetsutetsu was at the edge of their box, shouting for his newfound soulmate to do his best.

“From the right! The class representative of 1-B, a student with fists of fury, Kendo Itsuka!” 

Izuku was on his feet right beside Hitoshi, cheering again, telling Kendo to do her best.

-

Itsuka didn’t want to beat up Tetsutetsu’s soulmate, and she really hoped he wouldn’t be mad about it. 

Kirishima stood braced at his side of the arena, quirk already activating and turning his skin into what looked like rocks, [Hardening] so similar yet different to what she had seen of [Steel]. 

If Kirishima thought he could win just by outlasting her [Big Fist] and stamina, he’d find himself sorely mistaken.

Itsuka swung an enlarged fist, testing the waters. Kirishima’s block was standard, expected of someone with a bit of martial arts training, but it seemed as if he focused more on using [Hardening] than perfecting the block. 

She took a step back, bouncing on the balls of her feet, gaze sweeping his stance. Her hand shrunk back to normal size, little scratches across her knuckles.

If [Hardening] worked similarly to [Steel], then Kirishima’s weight would increase alongside his durability and strength. Itsuka didn’t know if he practiced fighting with and without his quirk interchangeably, if he was used to the shift in weight and his center of balance. 

Kirishima punched back, and Itsuka dodged easily, whirling around for a kick, to keep him guessing. Her sneaker hit [Hardening] and it felt like kicking a boulder. 

Itsuka bit back a curse, and began attacking in earnest, a volley of punches, shoving him at times as well. Kirishima’s feet dug into the concrete as if it were dirt, crumbling up around his ankles.

If this were a different opponent, she would try to leg sweep or throw him, but here she just had to get him off balance and pin him. 

Itsuka took a step back, as if to catch her breath, and then struck in a feint. She forced Kirishima to use [Hardening] in preparation of another quirked punch, but instead she shoved at him, tackling with her full weight. She pinned his chest with [Big Fist], and her orange ponytail hung to her side, nearly long enough to touch Kirishima’s face with how she was hunched over him for the pin.

Present Mic announced her victory, and she stood up to offer a now shrunken hand. Kirishima bounced back up and congratulated Itsuka, complimenting her manliness. 

She smiled, walking out alongside Kirishima towards Recovery Girl’s office.

Maybe she wouldn’t have to give Kirishima that shovel talk after all!

-

Tetsutetsu was the only one a bit bummed about Kendo winning, but that made sense to Hitoshi.

“There’s only two 1-A students in the tournament!” Izuku drank the last of his honey boba tea, tossing the cup in an empty popcorn bucket after doing so. “And I don’t think Kaibara’s quirk will be that effective against [Softening], as long as Honenuki-san can trap him in it!” 

“What about Shiozaki?” Tokage asked. “She’s been winning every round, and she could get me like that .” Tokage snapped her fingers, pouting. “I’ve been tryin’ to think of a way around it, but depending on how much control she has with those vines, even flying might not work.” 

“My first thought is fire, but of course in this kind of one on one scenario, it’s near impossible.” Izuku pouted, his expression almost mirroring Tokage’s.

“What about the braziers?” Shishida asked.

“Those are outside the ring lines, and Tokage can’t bring them in without technically leaving the ring and losing. If it were Yanagi-san, or Pony-chan, maybe they could get away with it.” Izuku began mumbling. “Maybe staying near the fire is enough? How much instinct does Shiozaki have, considering it’s not an animal mutation but a plant one? What about her human instincts around fire too?” 

“I mean, Shiozaki seems pretty religious.” Hitoshi offered. “There might be a different psychological angle aside from fire with that, to get her off balance.” 

“I’ll think on it.” Tokage nodded, face set in a grim line, a far cry from her usual smiles. 

Izuku was still mumbling, and Hitoshi tapped him on the shoulder as the next round of the tournament began.

Kamakiri and Shoda both left as Present Mic began announcing the match’s competitors. 

“From the left, they’ve been showing off precision and control with their quirk, it’s 1-B’s Honenuki Juzo!” 

“From the right, his first match wasn’t much to watch, but he’ll surely redeem himself now, it’s Kaibara Sen of 1-A!” 

-

Juzo couldn’t afford to stick to the same strategy, not when his opponent was essentially an unknown factor, not having to actually fight for the first round. The match started, and Juzo began running, trying to get an angle on Kaibara, to get him caught in [Softening] when he least expected it. 

He knew that Kaibara had to be a close quarters fighter, with how he had tried to get in close to Hatsume, but not much else aside from that he teamed up with Shiozaki in the cavalry battle, acting as a horse. 

Juzo doubted it was a five point quirk, people with those quirks tend to have a specific way they hold themselves, how they position their hands and ready their quirk. He knew from years of seeing his mom using her quirk, the little white pads on her fingertips that let her use [Malleable]. 

Kaibara ran at him, arm cocked for a punch, but Juzo rolled, coming up in a crouch and pressing his palm to the concrete, activating [Softening] to create a kiddie pool sized area around where Kaibara stood. 

The activation of Kaibara’s quirk sent liquified concrete sludge flying like water behind a boat’s rudder and Kaibara was quickly pulling himself out of the softened area. His arm rotated rapidly like a drill bit, flinging the softened concrete away from him.

Juzo stepped back instinctively, not wanting to be struck by the sludge, even if he logically knew it wouldn’t be as heavy or dense as concrete under the influence of his quirk. He manually deactivated [Softening] on that area, mentally letting go of the power he had flooded into the area. 

Some of the bits of remaining concrete re-hardened around Kaibara, weighing him down, annoying him. He turned to Juzo and broke into another run, trying to get in close to actually attack.

Juzo used [Softening] on the ground around him, focusing on depth and just how soft he could go, nearly water-like. 

Kaibara sank almost cartoonishly fast once he stepped foot onto the softened area, all the way down to his elbows. Instead of leaving it softened like he had for Ashido, Juzo deactivated his quirk so Kaibara was trapped in concrete.

A breath later, he was declared the match’s victor, and Juzo used [Softening] again so Cementoss could pull Kaibara out of the concrete. Cementoss gave Juzo a nod, a smile on his usually stoic face, and Juzo felt a little giddy about the approval from a hero, even if he already saw Cementoss nearly every day in literature class and the starstruck feeling around most of UA’s staff had faded.

Juzo’s teeth clacked together as he grinned, going back into the tunnel and intending to rest up in his class’ box. He was a semi-finalist now. 

-

Kendo returned to their box to catch the tail end of Honenuki’s match, her knuckles bandaged much like Shoda’s were after his match. She cheered on with the rest of them, and once the match was over some of their classmates congratulated her personally, and she took it all gracefully.

Hitoshi waved to a still thoughtful looking Tokage as the next fight began.

“On the left! He’s faced off against a classmate before, can he do it again? It’s the bladed boy of 1-B, Kamakiri Togaru!” 

“On the right, after an explosive battle in the first round, they’re still up and punching, it’s Shoda Nirengeki!” 

-

Togaru was not looking forward to this match. It could still feel the ache in its arms from the rapid shifting of blades it had to do to win the first round, and it knew it would have to be even quicker this match. 

Just like the first match, it couldn’t make rubble and change the field or it would be giving its opponent an advantage. It gritted its teeth, and let blades unsheathe from its arms, little claw-like blades jutting out from its fingertips.

Togaru had resistance with its exoskeleton. It could do this and weather any hit Shoda sent its way.

-

Nirengeki wasn’t fueled by anger this time. They didn’t have high hopes for this battle- they could feel the strain in their hands and mind after the fight against Bakugou, and while it lessened from Recovery Girl’s quirk, it was replaced with exhaustion. 

They could still stand, still fight, but they weren’t going to win and they knew it. They also knew that Kamakiri deserved their best, to earn the victory even if it was inevitable.

The match started, and Nirengeki ducked under a blunt blade, hands up to guard their face, elbows tight in a perfect boxing guard. They sent a quick jab, right at Kamakiri’s ribcage, and ducked under a swinging arm, hands back up to guard.

The activation of [Twin Impact] thudded dully, making Kamakiri wheeze slightly, stumbling. It wasn’t as strong as before, but Nirengeki was under threat from Recovery Girl to not strain their quirk, so they had to restrain it.

Kamakiri tossed his head, green mohawk flipping to fall along the other side. His eyes were calculating, watching Nirengeki. Nirengeki lunged forward, feinting to the side, but Kamakiri didn’t fall for it, and they dodged away from a blade, a second one from Kamakiri’s other arm striking them in the back. 

Nirengeki grunted at the blow, gritting their teeth as they backed up. They and Kamakiri circled for a moment, and then Kamakiri struck forward again, a whirl of blades that Nirengeki could only hope to dodge. One of the blades hit their wrist, breaking their block and clipping their chin. 

Blood filled Nirengeki’s mouth after they bit their tongue. This was going on too long. Nirengeki’s elbow struck hard at Kamakiri’s shoulder, immediately followed by [Twin Impact] to keep him off balance. They kicked at Kamakiri’s knee, trying to get them to topple, but Kamakiri released a blade that sunk into the concrete, keeping him upright as it grew and pushed against gravity.

Nirengeki was impressed, but they weren’t giving up yet. They prepared to strike again when Kamakiri lunged unexpectedly, still using the momentum of the blades pushing him upright to tackle Nirengeki.

The world spun when their head hit the concrete, and they blinked at the mass of green above them. Kamakiri was grinning down at them, crossing blades at Nirengeki’s neck.

“Yield.” Kamakiri said, and it wasn’t mean, just an order, just them both knowing that this was over and Nirengeki would only hurt themself if they kept fighting.

“I yield.” Nirengeki said, and the audience burst into cheers as the match ended.

“Let’s get you to Recovery Girl, and hope she doesn’t kill me for roughing you up.” Kamakiri’s smile was still victorious, but a little teasing, as if they were both in on a joke together.

“Yeah.” Nirengeki rasped out, letting Kamakiri pull them up, feeling the world spin as he did. “Good match.” He managed to say.

“That was badass.” Was all Kamakiri said, nodding in agreement. 

-

Kendo and Pony were both leaving after cheering for Kamakiri’s victory, he and Shoda likely both going to the infirmary, so Hitoshi didn’t expect either of them back soon.

From what Hitoshi heard of Izuku’s mumbles, the likelihood of Shoda having a concussion was pretty high, and it didn’t seem like Kamakiri had noticed his exoskeleton cracking at the shoulder, but Izuku did. 

Honenuki came back as Present Mic began announcing the next match.

“On the left! The last member of 1-A to stay in the tournament, the saintly Shiozaki Ibara!” 

1-A was cheering for her, even if she didn’t seem the most popular or sociable, she was the last chance for them to get a spot on the podium, so it made sense. Hitoshi smirked at the thought.

“On the right! She’s beaten a 1-A student before, can she do it again? It’s Tokage Setsuna of 1-B!” 

Hitoshi grinned, and leaned back a bit in his chair. He remembered the thoughtful look on Tokage’s face when she contemplated her match against Shiozaki, and then he remembered her grin as she shouted for Yanagi to choke Pony out when watching their fight. 

Yeah, Tokage had this in the bag. 

-

Setsuna felt a low level hum of panic trapped in her chest, and really really hoped she had strategized correctly for this. 

Shiozaki had never looked so intimidating, placid black irises staring out from her face, surrounded by thorny green vines, mouth set in a neutral line that betrayed nothing of her thoughts. This wasn’t Uraraka, who had been a bit of an open book, but the girl who had decisively won the first two rounds of the entire festival, and seemed to be on track to win the third as well.

But 1-B needed to win. They had worked so hard, coming together as a class, and now they deserved a win, right? Maybe that was selfish, they didn’t inherently deserve anything , but Setsuna still wanted to win. Even if she didn’t get the gold, she wanted to see one of her classmates with it, wanted to see them all smile.

Setsuna prepared, mentally envisioning the splitting of her body along the pre-existing fault lines of her normal autotonomy, some at the joints and others bisecting her. 

When Midnight-sensei’s whip cracked downwards, Shiozaki started saying something, but Setsuna didn’t listen, using [Lizard Tail Splitter] and flying, her parts spreading outwards, a hand flying towards Shiozaki’s face to test the waters.

Shiozaki seemed perturbed at best, a light frown tugging at her mouth as a wave of vines erupted from her, roiling and whipping around. 

Setsuna was suddenly very glad she wasn’t afraid of snakes as she flew up higher, keeping her head and body together if only because she hadn’t shown off that she could separate her face yet. That could come in handy. Like what Shinsou said, there was a psychological aspect to this, not just physical ability or quirks at play.

Setsuna didn’t like to think about what other people saw when she used her quirk. She didn’t like thinking about what they must be saying, thinking, how they flinched away at the sight of her just existing, knowing what she was capable of. 

Right now it would be useful, and Setsuna knew that she had to win, for herself, for her class. For the heroes watching who would choose to mentor her, seeing what she could do and deciding they wanted to take part in helping her become a hero.

After Shiozaki’s initial attack her vines began to writhe, rising up and growing towards the sky, whipping around trying to catch Setsuna, but she was good enough at least to keep most of her parts intact, weaving through the vines. She could feel the bottom half of her torso being caught, tangled in thorny vines and hurting, but the pain was distant, she could decide whether to fully drop the part and regenerate it later. 

Setsuna kept her head low, out of Shiozaki’s view as she sent her arms out to grab at the girl, pushing at her and then trying to grab a vine and pull it, only for it to whip away, knocking one of her hands skyward.

While Shiozaki’s eyes tracked the flying hand, Setsuna let her head fly in, just the head, knowing how terrifying it could be for some people to see a human head out of nowhere, no matter how they knew intellectually what her quirk was capable of. 

Setsuna made her head lunge forward, purposefully letting her eyes go glassy and tongue loll out, and then snapping to attention with a shout, startling Shiozaki into stumbling backwards. Using her floating hand, she pushed Shiozaki, bringing her own body parts back towards her and using their weight as they combined with her to continue pushing.

Present Mic’s voice screeched over the speakers, and that was when Setsuna realized she must have pushed Shiozaki out of the ring. 

Setsuna let herself relax, falling slightly, feeling her regeneration kick in much faster without her also using up energy by moving. 

Shiozaki was sitting on her butt, staring at Setsuna and crossing herself, mouth moving silently. 

Setsuna gave her a toothy grin. “Good match.” She said, aiming for something casual and easy to respond to, even in Shiozaki’s shock. 

Shiozaki didn’t say anything, finally standing up on shaky legs and leaving.

-

Honenuki left, and Kamakiri hadn’t come back. Monoma had gone down while they were fixing up the arena and checked the infirmary, Shoda was sleeping off Recovery Girl’s quirk, and Kamakiri was fine and off somewhere mentally preparing for his match. 

Upon watching the end of Shiozaki and Tokage’s match, Monoma was crowing obnoxiously about their class’ superiority, even leaning over the divider to bother 1-A. Hitoshi had to drag him by the back of his jacket, telling him to shut up and sit down. 

Monoma looked slightly cowed, but he would definitely do it again, so Hitoshi threatened to tell Kendo, which had Monoma blanching significantly and nodding silently. 

Hitoshi shoved a bag of kettlecorn in Monoma’s lap and told him to behave, shaking his head. Izuku was watching in amusement, a teasing grin widening.

“You shut up too.” Hitoshi grumbled, stealing Izuku’s milk tea and drinking some in retaliation, to his soulmate’s squawking disapproval. 

“Who will be our last semifinalist, folks! This battle determines just that! On the left, the martial artist class rep who packs a punch, 1-B’s Kendo Itsuka! On the right, the horns aren’t the only thing you gotta look out for, it’s 1-B’s Tsunotori Pony!” Mic announced.

Pony was no longer skipping out onto the field or throwing around little heart hands. She stood tall, head high as she stared across to Kendo. Her shoulders were squared, and her face was determined, laser focused. 

Hitoshi cheered alongside 1-B as the match started, feeling his heart pound in anticipation even if he wasn’t the one fighting. 

-

Itsuka ducked under a horn as soon as the whip cracked and started the fight, feeling her heart in her throat, eyes widening. Another horn sailed through the air, and Itsuka waved an enlarged hand to send it off course using the wind generated, only to watch it veer back. 

She slammed the horn down with [Big Fist], trying to get in close, but she hadn’t even kept track of Pony because Pony was sending razor sharp horns towards her face , and she had to block them-

-

Pony grinned in satisfaction when her horns hooked under Kendo’s armpits, lifting her up and into the air. 

“ Sorry, Kendo-chan !” Pony called out in Japanese, unable to stop the cheery note in her voice that probably seemed more taunting than anything else, but she was so happy that her plan went well! 

Using [Horn Cannon] to harass Kendo into blocking, using her limited vision against her to sneak up with another pair of horns. Using those horns to lift her up, knowing it was possible because she had used them to haul and toss robots in the entrance exam.

Kendo struggled, kicking out her legs and trying to set Pony’s horns off course with air currents from her massive hands fanning. 

Pony knew how she felt, having been held up by Yanagi’s [Poltergeist], but other than mild commiseration, there was no regret. She wouldn’t regret winning.

She set Kendo down gently on her feet, outside of the white line of the ring, and Present Mic shouting about Pony’s victory. Pony grinned, bouncing in place slightly, wanting to cheer but not wanting to rub her victory in Kendo’s face.

“ That was a great strategy, Pony-chan !” Kendo said, coming across the ring to walk out of the arena with Pony. 

Pony grinned up at her. “ Thanks, Kendo-chan !” 

-

Hitoshi grinned as the semifinals of the Sports Festival started. This felt like the longest, most fun day of his life. He and everyone else were smiling, an infectious joy and excitement filtering through the air. 

“On the left! They’re fighting a fellow 1-B student for the first time in the tournament, it’s Honenuki Juzo!”

“On the right, he’s slashed through the previous rounds, it’s Kamakiri Togaru!” 

-

Listen, Togaru knew he didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of beating Honenuki. 

Togaru was a close combat fighter, with a quirk he can’t even fully use- unlike that blasty bastard, he understood the merits of holding back and not potentially maiming fellow hero course students. Shoda had made him earn his spot in the semifinals, and broke some of his ribs in the process. 

He wasn’t down for the count, not yet, but his exhaustion combined with Honenuki’s quirk, he had no chance. At least in this specific arena. He’ll offer to kick Honenuki’s ass in a training exercise in heroics sometime to return the favor that was definitely coming his way.

Togaru rolls his shoulders, getting annoyed with the constant noise of the arena. He’d have to go dig his headphones out of his backpack after this, there was too much chaos in here and it’d only get worse during the final battle.

Honenuki stared at Togaru, the combination of tiny pupils and a lipless mouth making him look all the more unsettling, not that Togaru had any room to talk about unsettling mutations. 

Togaru scoffed, shaking his head lightly, and took his stance, preparing for what was hopefully a quick loss. 

-

Juzo could tell by the tilt of Kamakiri’s shoulders, the resignation in his frame, that this wasn’t going to be as intense as Kamakiri’s other battles. Kamakiri had been put through the wringer, and maybe in a different venue, Juzo would be the one looking like that. But this was such an advantage with his skillset and quirk, and there was nothing either of them could change about that.

The whip cracked, and Juzo ran forward enough to not be in danger of Kamakiri pushing him out of the ring, and slapped his hand down on the concrete. 

Kamakiri was running towards him, blades shining in the sunlight and nearly blinding Juzo with their gleam, but it wasn’t enough. He brought his blades down to crack the concrete, trying to make rubble and disconnected pieces that Juzo couldn’t use his quirk on, but he was already sinking up to his calves. 

Kamakiri stared at him, before sighing and shaking his head. “I yield.” He said, eyes shut as he did so, as if it pained him.

Present Mic’s voice echoed around the arena, but Juzo tuned it out.

Juzo pulled Kamakiri out of the softened concrete, letting it go back to its natural state, and then looked hesitantly at Kamakiri.

Kamakiri scoffed. “What, you think I’m gonna be mad ‘cause your quirk’s better for this?” He slung an arm around Juzo’s shoulders, a wry smile on his face. “We can have a rematch in heroics class, I’ll kick your ass for sure next time.” 

Juzo chuckled under his breath, feeling awkward and off-kilter, but let Kamakiri lead him down the tunnels where he’d wait for the finale. 

-

“On the left! The 1-B girl who crossed oceans to get here! Tsunotori Pony!” 

“On the right! This girl really knows how to divide and conquer! 1-B’s Tokage Setsuna!”

Hitoshi felt irrationally nervous about this match. 

Tokage and Pony were both good at what they do, they’re both nice and kind people, and good future heroes. But both also have a competitive streak running right next to a ruthless one. 

Hitoshi wasn’t sure if either of them knew when to stop when the gloves came off. It wasn’t that either of them are excessively violent, or cruel. It was that neither of them would give up or give in. Neither would be yielding, and neither would stop for a little pain. Hitoshi knew Pony just had enough grit to power through it, while Tokage had a regenerative factor to her quirk, meaning she likely didn’t take her own injuries seriously.

He watched with trepidation as both girls walked onto the field with smiles that didn’t reach their eyes.

-

Pony liked Tokage, she did! That didn’t mean she was going to go easy on her, not in the slightest. 

Tokage gave her a toothy, fanged smile, just this side of patronizing, as if she knew exactly what would set Pony on edge. 

Pony thought Tokage was a nice, funny girl. She talked a bit too fast most of the time for Pony to understand everything, but the more she’s able to parse, the more Pony thought they would be great friends. Tokage was smart too, a recommendation student. And she was here to win, which Pony could respect.

Pony almost wished this were the finale, because it would make sense. Heroes loved pitting women against each other, rating them by how sexy their outfits are, how cute they are, how catty they could be to each other. So few women in heroics get to the stage where even the average person knows their name, their costume. Here in Japan, it was Ryukyu and Mirko for the country’s best women in the industry. There were other notable ones, three fourths of the Wild Wild Pussycats for their gimmick, and even Midnight-sensei for her gimmick. 

They had to hit the extreme of their chosen field to even become noticed. The sexiest of them all, the hottest, the most violent, the cutest. No matter how deadly a hero honed her quirk, there would always be someone detracting from her, making jokes about her. 

If anyone dared say the same kinda thing about All Might, they’d find themselves shouted down, attacked. Because that was a hero. The hero. 

Stars and Stripes was a woman so powerful that no one dared tell her to smile, for the camera or otherwise. She was a force of nature, and Pony wanted to be like her. 

Like Stars and Stripes, like Cow Lady, like Mirko. Uncontrollable, powerful. A woman others would follow into war. 

Pony knew she and Tokage were likely cut of a similar cloth. That Tokage was someone who didn’t just want to be a hero, but needed to. That she felt this urge to use her power for good, for saving lives. 

All of Pony’s matches had been against the other girls of 1-B, and in a way she regretted taking them out of the tournament, it wasn’t a big deal, really.

This wasn’t a matter of a stronger will, or a better dream. 

It was just a Sports Festival. Midoriya had told them all about the bigger picture. 

This fight would be inconsequential when Pony had already shown the world what she was made of, when everyone knew she was more than a mascot, more than a little girl playing heroes and villains. 

That didn’t mean it wasn’t personal in a sense. 

Pony hated losing, even games that didn’t matter. 

-

Setsuna knew she wasn’t the only one here with something to prove.

If anything, all of them had something to prove, something that spurred them onwards to become a hero, to choose one of the most dangerous industries in the world where it was a crapshoot if you actually made it big and became a celebrity. 

Hair rose at the back of her neck, and Setsuna twitched, fingers curling. She took another deep breath, mentally scanning her body. She wasn’t injured, not with her regenerative capabilities, but she could feel her energy levels, and knew that if she had to regenerate more than a limb’s worth of her body she would be down for the count and sleeping it off. 

Setsuna swallowed, tuning out the arena, the roiling masses of people cheering her and Pony on, some of them choosing a girl to root for in particular, but even then that’s more like choosing a horse in a race. Impersonal, looking at statistics, at capabilities. Not seeing them, who they are. 

Setsuna knew that some of them didn’t care who won, they just wanted to see violence. The same way people chased hero and villain fights, those without an intellectual interest like Midoriya, but who just wanted to see bloodshed. Whether it was true sadism or not, Setsuna didn’t know, and didn’t care.

She wasn’t here for them, or even for those who chose to cheer her on in particular. She was here to get internship opportunities, and those were probably in the bag. Anyone who refused to mentor her unless she got a gold medal were probably horrible to intern under, anyway. 

Setsuna wanted them to see her, not [Lizard Tail Splitter], but the girl using it, crafty and smart and fun. 

Anyone who would see her had probably already done so. This battle didn’t really matter, it wasn’t as high stakes as the last, where she was focused on keeping 1-A off the podium. 

This one was just for her. This one was her being allowed to go all out on a big stage. More like a dance than a fight, and her partner seemed just as willing to tango.

Setsuna mustered her limited English knowledge, it had never been her best subject. “ You ready, Pony-chan ?” She called out, accent heavy and words clumsy on her tongue. 

Pony’s eyes lit up, and she stomped a foot down, hooves clopping loudly against the concrete. “Are you?” She asked coyly in Japanese, her grin turning smug. 

Oh, so that’s how they were gonna play. 

Just because a dance was bloody doesn’t mean it’s not a dance.

-

Pony crouched in a runner’s stance, tapping a hoof against the concrete, the feeling jolting up her bones all the way to her hip. She watched Midnight-sensei’s arm in the corner of her vision, just a smidge of prey instinct awareness slipping in, making her not just want to know, but need to know everything around her, lest the smallest inattention end her life.

The crack of the whip signaled Pony to release her quirk. [Horn Cannon] fired, straight as an arrow, both carving a line towards Tokage in parallel. 

Pony was already readying another pair of horns to be fired, though she kept her mental link to the first two, watching as Tokage used [Lizard Tail Splitter] to fly upwards, separating her body into a dozen pieces. Pony’s gaze flicked to each part, thinking. 

What had ensured Tokage’s victories before? How could Pony stop that from happening? 

She knew she had already done that, really. In just being familiar and comfortable around [Lizard Tail Splitter], she had taken the element of surprise from Tokage, something the girl seemed to relish given how she would play little pranks from time to time. 

Pony wished Midoriya didn’t talk so fast when he was analyzing, because she couldn’t remember almost anything from when he spoke about [Lizard Tail Splitter] and Tokage’s strategies. 

She did know for sure that Tokage had regeneration, and that was something Pony could use.

Two more horns were sent flying, joining her other horns to form a swarm of four. She sent them all flying in different directions, stabbing towards larger body parts, forcing Tokage to either take the attack or split further into smaller pieces, straining the limits of her quirk, or forcing her to withstand pain and the energy loss of regeneration.

Tokage bisected her own thigh to send both pieces flying away from one horn. She dodged nimbly from another, the unidentifiable blue clothed piece dropping altitude and rising quickly. Another horn caused her to split up her torso, making it fly away from her head.

The last horn struck true, either because Tokage was overwhelmed or she had to make a sacrifice to continue fighting. 

Pony’s pale yellow horn stabbed into soft flesh, and Tokage yelped in pain. Pony shoved away the worry and regret, instead focusing on stabbing the horn down, point first, into the concrete, thoroughly pinning the piece of flesh. 

Pony’s stomach roiled a bit with nausea. She remembered her great aunt’s butterfly collection, all pinned to boards and macabre, lit under soft lamps that made the pins look almost gentle in their cruelty. 

Pony blinked hard, and kept moving, controlling the three horns to continue harassing Tokage, sending another two out, only one of them under her full control and the other just stabbing forward and skittering on the concrete outside of the arena once it lost momentum. 

Tokage was grinning, all fangs as she looked down at Pony, hair fluttering wildly in the wind. 

Pony wanted so badly to be able to go up there and attack, but she couldn’t.

Could she?

Pony shoved the thought aside to sit with her worry and regret, and continued directing her horns to stab towards Tokage, even the smaller pieces of her body no longer safe. 

Tokage was flying so fast, every individual part moving as if in some larger dance that Pony couldn’t begin to comprehend. 

Pony urged her horns onwards. She had to be faster. She couldn’t give Tokage an opportunity to pick her up or push her out of the ring. 

She was almost tempted to taunt, to yell upwards for Tokage to just come down here and fight her, but it wouldn’t do anything but waste her breath, and the likelihood of Tokage knowing all the choice words Pony had were fairly low. 

Another horn stabbed into a floating slab of flesh, blood spilling from the wound as Tokage shook it off. The piece fell with a splat, dead and its replacement now regenerating. 

If it was a war of attrition Tokage wanted, that’s what she would get. 

At some point Tokage began floating lower to the ground, her movements slower, controlling larger pieces in a smaller quantity. 

Pony gritted her teeth, feeling her jaw ache in a pain that bloomed up her skull, and raced forward, jumping up and launching [Horn Cannon], letting two of her previously controlled horns fall lifeless onto the concrete. She jumped farther than most expected, and Tokage probably knew that from their quirk assessment test, but that was jumping for distance, not height. And granted, Pony didn’t have the vertical leap some of her brothers had, but she could clear a decent two meters at least. Not much to anyone with a jumping quirk, but plenty to take down Tokage right now, and that’s what mattered.

She watched Tokage’s eyes widen in shock as she bared her teeth, arms wrapping around Tokage’s shoulders, a bear hug that kept her arms pinned to her sides. 

If Tokage thought she could just use [Lizard Tail Splitter] to split off her hands, she was wrong.

The two horns Pony had sent flying now pierced through the centers of Tokage’s palms, and Tokage went rigid with pain as they sank to the ground with Pony’s added weight. Pony could feel the shuddering vibration in Tokage’s chest as she restrained a scream, instead releasing a pained groan.

Tokage landed roughly on the ground, back first, and her hands split off anyway with [Lizard Tail Splitter], but fell limp and disconnected as she began regenerating two more. 

“Yield.” Pony summoned one of her horns into her hand, and placed it point first at the hollow of Tokage’s throat.

“I yield.” Tokage managed to say, staring up at her with something indecipherable in her gaze. 

Pony stood up, and Tokage followed her lead. Present Mic announced Pony’s victory, something uncertain in his tone that she paid no mind to. 

Blood was splattered against the concrete, red hoofprints where Pony stepped through the puddles that oozed around dead pieces of flesh Tokage had shed the moment they were attacked, doing her quirk origin justice. Horns laid haphazard across the ring as well, a few scattered outside, maybe ten in total, Pony had lost count. No wonder her skull hurt so much, it wasn’t just a headache from the waves of sound coming from the audience. 

The same audience seemed wary, quiet for a telling moment after Present Mic announced Pony’s victory. Then they burst into cheers all the same. 

Tokage smiled at Pony, a dazed thing, her hands still regenerating.

“We should spar sometime soon.” Tokage said, obviously woozy either from blood loss or the quirk backlash of regenerating so much of her body. 

“Definitely.” Pony managed, still reeling from the intensity of their battle. She’d love to be able to do this again, especially on a field with obstacles where she had more of an advantage.

They walked off side by side. It would take a while for the robots to clean up their bloodbath, so Pony knew she could at least escort Tokage to the infirmary.

-

Okay, Hitoshi felt very vindicated in his fear of Pony. And Tokage for that matter.

Several students of 1-B had to look away at the battle, squeamish at the sight of the gore. Even if it could be regenerated, it wasn’t any less disturbing to see what should be inside a human body now on the outside, splattered across the concrete. 

Even Hitoshi flinched away at some points, mostly when Pony’s horns actually made contact and stabbed Tokage. 

Izuku never looked away, he had spent years chasing hero fights and documenting every gorey detail of quirks and what they were capable of. He watched the fight as easily as any of the others, eyes focused and his genius mind whirring away like a finely tuned machine. 

Little robots began swarming the ring, most of them with biohazard buckets, others with some kind of vacuum for all the blood.

It really was a lot of blood. 

Hitoshi turned back to Izuku, who was drinking the last of his strawberry milk tea, mumbling around the straw. 

“Tokage and Kamakiri are going to share third place.” Izuku muttered. “Actually, every single person on the podium is gonna have visible mutations, I don’t remember the last time that happened at the Sports Festival, hmm.” He said thoughtfully, beginning to gnaw at the plastic of his straw now that there was no drink left. 

“Here’s the grand finale you’ve all been waiting for! The battle to determine first place in the festival! From the left, Tsunotori Pony!” 

Pony got sporadic cheers, some people evidently still unnerved from her previous battle. Pony waved cheerfully, not minding it. 1-B gave it their all, going crazy for their finalists. 

“From the right, Honenuki Juzo!” 

Honenuki’s cheers were slightly more enthusiastic from the general audience, but 1-B hadn’t stopped cheering after Pony’s introduction, still shouting and screaming for their classmates. 

It was time for the tournament to end, and a winner to be crowned. Hitoshi was swept back up into the excitement, and shared a grin with Izuku as the battle began.

-

Juzo’s teeth clacked again in nervousness as he pressed his palms together, fingers pressing into the backs of his hands. The source of his nervousness wasn’t the battle- Pony had no flight capabilities, he knew he had this in the bag- but it was the audience.

He remembered how Midoriya had spoken about the tournament rounds of the Sports Festival. How clinical yet passionate he could be when he said that the last round or two didn’t truly matter, not in a sense of showing off their skills, but instead as showmanship. 

No one wanted it to be anticlimactic. 

And the penultimate fight had been… bloody, a struggle between two young women who wanted to win above all else. 

Juzo couldn’t get away with just [Softening] the ring. Even if that ensured his gold medal, the crowd wouldn’t want to see Pony losing like that after such a hard fought win. 

But it was all he could do . 

Pony’s physical strength far outpaced Juzo’s. He had a height and reach advantage, but those were nullified by her quirk. He had basic training in mixed martial arts, but hadn’t chosen a specialization for his close combat style, thinking he’d have time to choose in UA’s classes.

Pony was standing there across the ring from him, staring with wide blue eyes. Her horns never looked so intimidating until now, until Juzo knew how easily they could stab into flesh, and he had none of the armor of his hero costume.

She still had splatters of blood on her UA tracksuit, jacket unzipped and fluttering slightly, just like her long blonde hair.

Juzo swallowed nervously, teeth clacking again. 

Midnight-sensei’s whip cracked downwards, and it never felt more like they were animals forced into movement, like it seared against his skin and spurred him onwards. 

-

Pony had been thinking about how much weight her horns could carry. She’d used them to heft hay bales in the past, when her grandpa insisted they all help at his ranch. She’d used them to push back creeps on the street who got too close for comfort to her or her friends, whenever there wasn’t a cop or hero around to snitch about quirk usage. She’d used them to carry people heavier than her. She used them to throw robots around in the entrance exam.

Was it that much of a stretch that she could carry herself? 

She hadn’t ever tried that in her personal quirk training, all of it done at home due to quirk laws, and her parents and siblings didn’t have anything like [Horn Cannon], most of them with transformation or enhancement type quirks in addition to their mutations. So there was no familial information to be passed down, and paying for quirk training wasn’t something she was going to burden her family with. 

Pony was well aware this could end with her falling on her ass on international television. But at least it would be funny and make an impact if she did.

She didn’t have much choice in the matter, really, when Honenuki could easily use [Softening] on the entire ring and take her out in moments. 

That was a lie. Pony knew Honenuki wouldn’t do that, either because of quirk overuse or it just wouldn’t feel like a win or they got it into their head that they had to do something worthy of a finale match.

Pony had tested it! For about a minute in her waiting room, but she had tested it! So this was technically not trying a new quirk technique for the first time!

Midnight-sensei’s whip came down, and Pony ran forward, and jumped, and then flew .

She released [Horn Cannon], directing the horns to drop beneath her hooves, slotting neatly underneath her. They held her weight as before, and she wobbled just a bit before using them to help maintain her balance. 

Present Mic was yelling over the speakers in rapid Japanese, sprinkling in English words, mostly just to express shock.

Honenuki’s eyes were wide, pupils down to pinpricks. They stared up at Pony in shock, teeth parted and in a half-crouch as they had prepared to use their quirk. 

“Come on, Honenuki-kun!” Pony shouted in English, knowing Honenuki was fluent, even if they were definitely insecure about not fully knowing the pronunciations and stuck to written instead of spoken.

Pony launched [Horn Cannon] again, another pair flying down, towards Honenuki with the intent to carry them up and out like she had Kendo. 

Honenuki ducked and rolled, and Pony mentally maneuvered herself around, closer to the ground but far enough away that she could rise again if they lunged towards her.

Pony launched another volley of [Horn Cannon], these ones just a straight shot and out of her control, using the second pair to continue harassing Honenuki, who appeared completely off balance and unable to adapt. 

Well, adapting was a part of being a hero! They’d have to keep up! 

Another straight shot, her previous pair sinking into softened concrete. Honenuki was overwhelmed, dodging and rolling, and Pony was able to corner them further back, towards the white lines. 

She finally caught one on Honenuki’s jacket, but they used [Softening] on the jacket in a panic, and it sloughed off of them. Pony could feel her connection to the horn waver and snap as well, and watched the pale yellow horn soften as well.

“Not enough, Honenuki-kun!” Pony shouted, a bit incensed now. She flew on her horns towards them, sending another volley that they ducked and rolled under.

Right over the white line.

“ Tsunotori Pony wins!” Present Mic shouted. 

Pony hopped down from her horns, letting her mental connection from the four of them cut off so they’d clatter to the ground or sink into softened concrete, and cheered, hands up in victory. 

The crowd was roaring, shouting and screaming for her ! She had won!

“Good match, Pony-chan.” Honenuki said in stilted English, offering out a hand. 

Pony shook it, grinning, and as she was about to let go, Honenuki raised her hand upwards, like they were showing off the victor, her . 

It didn’t feel real as the arena shook with cheers. Her heart still raced from the battle, her mind nearly blank, just repeating the same words, feeling the shape of them.

Tsunotori Pony wins. Tsunotori Pony wins. 

-

Izuku couldn’t stop cheering for his friend. He was leaning over the barrier of 1-B’s box, watching as Pony and Honenuki left the arena.

Present Mic was talking about the awards ceremony, which Kamakiri was leaving the box to attend as one of the two students in third. Tokage was likely going straight from the infirmary to the ceremony, but they’d have plenty of time to congratulate her later. 

All of 1-B was still moving around, the more touchy of their classmates hugging one another. Monoma was grinning maniacally at his phone, texting someone with rapid taps of his fingers. 

Izuku went back to his seat, lightly kicking aside the popcorn bucket full of garbage from their drinks and snacks. He would have to toss that away later, it would be rude to make the robots have to when they were already cleaning up the whole arena!

Soon enough, Midnight-sensei was standing at the center of the arena, microphone in hand as she announced their award winners and the podiums began to rise. 

Pony stood at the top, in a new uniform and with freshly brushed hair, probably because they didn’t want her to look wartorn in promotional pictures later. She waved at the crowd, turning to look at them all and grinning.

To the left on a shorter podium stood Honenuki, who had their hands behind their back in a parade rest. 

To the right was Kamakiri and Tokage standing together on a podium. Tokage had an arm slung around Kamakiri, who was visibly annoyed by it but not shoving her off, the roll of his eyes evident on their closeup on the big screen. 

“Toshi, d’you-” Izuku started, turning to his left, expecting his soulmate there only to see him gone.

He looked around, and saw Hitoshi standing in the hall, talking to someone out of Izuku’s view.

Izuku stood up, all attention gone from the awards even as All Might landed in the arena with the medals in hand.

“I’m just saying- you guys look pretty close, I don’t think it’d sound as good from a stranger like me-” The familiar voice from the end of the recreational games, Kaminari, spoke to Hitoshi.

“This is bad . We’re trying to go underground, and this- this ! Is not underground.” Hitoshi said, aggravated. 

“Hitoshi?” Izuku asked, coming up behind his soulmate.

“Zuku.” Hitoshi turned to look at Izuku, and he had a phone in his hands that wasn’t his, and his face wasn’t his usual impassive mask, but a cobbled together attempt at it that he usually resorted to. The same kind of face when he talked about his mom, or the things people said to him at school. Trying to hold it together but failing. 

“Toshi, are you okay?” Izuku’s first instinct was to ask this, and it apparently was the wrong one.

Hitoshi’s mask broke, and he had a strange mixture of anger and a lost expression on his face.

“I- It’s not me, Izuku. It’s- some assholes took videos of Bakugou yelling at us. And- ah-” Hitoshi was stumbling over his words, stuttering in a way he hadn’t in years.

“It went viral!” Kaminari blurted out, and then slapped a hand over his mouth. 

“It went… okay. Okay. Hitoshi, what do they know?” 

“They know you’re quirkless, that I have some kind of mind control quirk, and that you and Bakugou have history. People are already trying to dig up your social media accounts, but those don’t exist. They’ve found mine, but I already cultivated those public accounts to be as boring and normal as possible, and they don’t have any actual pictures of me or mentions of UA, so people aren’t sure. People are scouring through the footage of the festival about all three of us, and they’re also dragging up the sludge villain thing for Bakugou. It’s…” 

“A shitshow.” Izuku understated. “Okay, well- this is a matter of UA’s PR and their students’ privacy, so they’ll help. And t-technically I never confirmed I was quirkless in that argument, right? And they can’t legally make me drop out or expel me, and it’s going to be okay, right?” Izuku began to spiral, breathing harder.

Hitoshi grabbed his shoulders, tossing the phone back to Kaminari, who fumbled it onto the floor. Hitoshi looked him in the eyes. “It’s going to be okay, Izuku.” 

Izuku felt the panic drain away, already exhausted. “I just… let’s- let’s send an email to Kan-sensei, and then your dad can drive us home, and-” 

“And we’ll have your mom’s katsudon, and watch those B-rate hero movies you like.” 

“They are not B-rate!” Izuku’s voice went shrill, and he began grinning. 

“We’ve got this, Izuku. What’s a bit of attention when we’re gonna disappear after graduation, yeah?” Hitoshi pulled Izuku into a hug. “They don’t know our hero names yet, or our costumes. This just compromises our civilian identity, not our hero ones.”

“Yeah.” Izuku breathed out, nodding as the hug ended. “Yeah. It’ll be fine. It’s just the latest hero news, there’s gotta be something more shocking happening soon. It’ll blow over when some new intern fucks up in a few weeks.” 

“Within the week, no one’ll care.” Hitoshi said, soothing him. 

Izuku blinked slowly, breathing in and out, and felt reassured. 

-

Somewhere in Hosu, a hero is in surgery for a katana wound to the spine. His attempted killer will go free for a while yet. He won’t walk again, but he’ll still be a hero. 

Somewhere in Kamino, a kid in a bar is frowning at the television, at the unfamiliar children on the podium. He scoffed in annoyance, baleful gaze focused on All Might, on the symbol of all he hated.

Somewhere in an underground complex, a young boss checked his phone and was sent a news article on the scandal of UA’s Sports Festival by his wakagashira, and tilted his head thoughtfully.

Somewhere in Otheon, a cult leader is handed a tablet with a video of a pure human, horribly afflicted with heroism disease, and yet being yelled at by the infected. 

Chapter Text

Transcript and Video Description for Yotube video posted by user ‘PollyAnalysis’ titled ‘FIRST YEAR SPORTS FESTIVAL VIRAL VIDEO: ARE THE HERO KIDS ALL RIGHT?’ 

[POLLY SITS IN HER DESK CHAIR, ROLLING INTO THE CAMERA’S VIEW WITH A WRY SMILE.]

POLLY: Hey! [ Laughs.] I didn’t expect to be back so soon in the scandal section of my channel! [ Shrugs. ] Some things are inevitable, and one of those is definitely hero drama. 

POLLY: So, if you’ve been living under a rock with particularly bad wifi, you won’t know what this video is about. If you do know, bear with me as I explain the situation. 

[A SIMPLIFIED DRAWING OF POLLY POPS UP ON SCREEN, HOLDING A STUFFED BEAR]

POLLY: … I paid good money for that art commission, okay! I can’t just use it for that one video on toy based quirks! 

[THE ART DISAPPEARS. AN AWKWARD PAUSE ENSUES AS POLLY STARES INTO CAMERA]

POLLY: Anyway! So, the viral moment everyone’s been talking about, let’s get into it! 

[A PICTURE OF UA’S LOGO FOR THEIR ANNUAL SPORTS FESTIVAL APPEARS ON SCREEN.]

POLLY: Just this weekend, UA High School hosted their annual Sports Festival! Just, y’know, the most viewed event globally. Every year. That little thing. [ Polly waves away the graphic on screen ] As always, the first day is the festival for the first years, then the second the next, then the third for the finale, as they’re the students who will graduate into the hero industry in less than a year. 

POLLY: This year, more eyes than usual were on the first year’s festival, which usually is more of a warm up act than anything, letting those fresh from middle school hero students debut as students of UA in a low pressure setting- well, comparatively, to like, putting them on patrol as some hero’s intern right off the bat. This also gets them their first internship opportunities for experience in the field, though that is also relatively low risk and low pressure, as they are not licensed for combat or detainment of villains, and will instead be shadowing said hero. 

POLLY: …I’m already getting off topic. 

POLLY: Regardless, the stakes are much higher this year for UA’s first year class, as the USJ incident- which I already said I would not do a video on, stop bothering me about it, I can’t just pull confidential evidence and minors’ personal information out of my ass, thank you. [ She takes a deep breath and smiles perkily at the camera ] Anyway! So everyone’s paying attention to the first years, particularly class 1-A, the students who were at the site of the USJ incident, and so are rumored to have faced villains whose only known goal was ‘killing All Might.’ 

POLLY: [ Rolls eyes ] I’m aware of how ridiculous that is, but considering the fact that two pro heroes involved in the incident were hospitalized, we should all temper our incredulousness. Especially because said villains supposedly knew that class 1-A would be at the facility and so knowingly attacked a bunch of fifteen year olds. Which is lame, in my professional opinion.

POLLY: Everyone was watching the first Sports Festival of the year, regardless of how lackluster it usually is in comparison to the students who have one or two years of training and workplace experience under their belts, some of whom have already essentially made their debuts. This time everyone wanted to see what 1-A was made of, and how they may have reacted to the USJ incident, and this was their first time in the spotlight since said incident, which occurred a little over two weeks beforehand. 

POLLY: So! [ Claps once. ] The incident at the Sports Festival that caused a viral moment across the internet! Why was one of 1-A’s front runners shouting at a group of 1-B students? Is he quirkist? Does UA really have a quirkless student in their hero program? Why did no one in 1-A even get close to the podium for the whole festival, if they’re the reason everyone’s watching? I’ll try to answer these questions and more! 

[POLLY SPINS IN HER DESK CHAIR, LONG MULTICOLORED HAIR FLUTTERING BEHIND HER AS SHE GRINS AT THE CAMERA KNOWINGLY] 

POLLY: Let’s set the scene now. It’s the intermission between the official second and third rounds of the tournament- there’s a substantial amount of time here for both the students in the third round to strategize, for all the students and attendees to get lunch, as well as a recreational game round for the rest of the kids- considering the last round usually has twenty students at most , this is a good way to keep the others involved, especially those not of the hero course who are just here to have a good time.

POLLY: The recreational games have ended- it was actually rather entertaining to watch, and will come into play later, so I’ll be showing off some clips, but I do recommend going and finding a compilation of it somewhere. Anyway! [ Polly begins to use a fidget toy, clicking the buttons silently as she explains ] Our viral moment takes place in the break after the rec games, and before the third round’s tournament- likely so all the kids can get back to their seats to support their classmates.

POLLY: I won’t be showing any of the viral videos here. UA’s PR team has made a statement reminding the public of their policies regarding the filming of their official events- they are not to be published in a public space. They allow filming for personal use by family and friends of the students, and have an allowance for those whose quirks cause them to be constantly ‘recording’ in some sense, be it audio, video, both, or even memory. So to not get my ass sued and my channel taken down, I’m not gonna give you any non-official clips of the Festival! You’ll have to deal with my artistic abilities. 

[A DIAGRAM OF ONE STICK FIGURE WITH BLONDE HAIR AND ANGRY RED EYES STANDS OPPOSED TO A GROUP OF OTHER STICK FIGURES WITH A VARIETY OF FEATURES]

POLLY: [ Deadpan ] Sorry, I spent all my art budget on that one piece of me holding a teddy bear. 

POLLY: So! Who are our actors in this? Well, one of them you’ll recognize, the rest are new to us! 

POLLY: You may recognize this little guy. [ Polly points to the side of the screen, where the angry blonde stick figure stands ] Sludge Villain Incident ring any bells? Yeah! That kid! The one that almost died in that God awful quote-enquote “hostage situation” and was saved by All Might. I’ve got a video on the Slime Villain Incident, if you want to hear me ranting about how as the senior heroes on the scene, Death Arms and Backdraft should’ve faced a suspension at least - [ Polly takes a centering breath ] but I digress.

POLLY: As mentioned in that video, Bakugou Katsuki is the son of the owners of a major fashion house in Japan, and so has been technically a public figure for a while, but I won’t dive deeper into his life, because I’m not stalking a fifteen year old. Or any of the other fifteen year olds. 

POLLY: So, Bakugou Katsuki. Quirk: [Explosion]. He placed second in the first round of the Sports Festival, doing pretty well for himself! His quirk seems to have far more utility than I had assumed in the Sludge Villain Incident video, Sorry Bakugou! Anyway, he also placed third in the second round’s team event, so he’s moving onto the third round. But wait, [ Record scratch noise ] why is he here, yelling at some 1-B students, if he probably should be preparing for the tournament? 

POLLY: No spoilers! I’m explaining who the other people here are, because there’s a fuckton of them. Eleven 1-B students are standing in a little pack, y’know how teenagers move in packs. [ Polly shudders dramatically ] Terrifying. 

POLLY: I’ll put up the actual pictures beside my stick figures so you actually know who I’m talking about. Apologies in advance for my pronunciation, my quirk lets me understand spoken language, not speak it. In Japanese alphabetical order we’ve got Awase Yosetsu, Kuroiro Shihai, Komori Kinoko, Shinsou Hitoshi, Shishida Jurota, Tsuburaba Kosei, Fukidashi Manga, Bondo Kojiro, Midoriya Izuku, Monoma Neito, and Rin Hiryu. 

POLLY: Why these kids? They’re almost all of 1-B, as twelve of them didn’t make it to the tournament. You may be asking, “Polly, where’s that one kid, the one people’ve been memeing about because his parents actually named him Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu?” 

[POLLY STARES AT THE CAMERA WITH A HAUNTED EXPRESSION.]

POLLY: The answer is I don’t have a god damned clue. He isn’t seen on camera after the second round aside from being in 1-B’s box seats to cheer on his friends. 

POLLY: Now! This is all of 1-B that participated in the recreational games together, and that’s also important! And then they appear to have gone and gotten snacks for themselves as a little group. 

POLLY: The two main players from this group are Midoriya Izuku and Shinsou Hitoshi. [ Polly pauses as two headshots of these students appear on screen temporarily ] Why? Because Bakugou decided to yell at them. Let’s figure out why he did that. 

POLLY: Midoriya and Shinsou appear to be close friends. They are seen in the first round running side by side, only separating when necessary, and they work together to pass ‘The Fall’ obstacle, keeping each other’s balance, and then Midoriya passed Shinsou some wires scavenged from the robots to zipline across the obstacle, which is fuckin’ sick to watch, frankly. [ A clip of Midoriya ziplining across a cavernous pit is displayed for five seconds. ] They both do relatively well. Midoriya placed twenty-fifth, and Shinsou twenty-sixth. 

POLLY: There’s even this cute moment people are sharing around now that they’re viral, where after they pass the finish line Shinsou tackles Midoriya, and they both appear to be laughing. 

[AFOREMENTIONED CLIP PLAYS SILENTLY IN THE CORNER AS A GIF, LOOPING A SECOND TIME BEFORE DISAPPEARING]

POLLY: Then we have the second round and- okay, this is the part where I might be going crazy. My partners are saying I’m right, but who knows, maybe we’re having a collective hallucination. 

POLLY: So check this- the points and game are announced, and 1-A is not a cohesive unit. [ Footage of the Sports Festival fills the screen, cutting to the clips mentioned. ] They appear to be all trying to make teams, and as we can see in the actual game, their team compositions leave… a lot to be desired. 

POLLY: Now, 1- B . They are not scattered- they’re all grouped together, and look to one guy! [ Zoomed in footage of 1-B students looking to Midoriya Izuku, who is talking and gesturing, appears .] Yup! So, he’s talking to his class, and the students all end up in pretty damn good team compositions for having only five minutes to make them. And then Midoriya splits off with- yeah, Shinsou Hitoshi! After a minute, Komori Kinoko shows up, and they make a team. 

POLLY: You may be saying “Polly, get to the fucking point, I’m here to hear the tea spilt about fifteen year olds in hero school because my life is pathetic and I need to listen to something as I play video games so I can actually pay attention to something for once in my life-” [ Polly shushes at the camera .] Listen . I get it. But here’s the crazy part. 

POLLY: I’m convinced Midoriya’s team threw the second round. Why? I can’t say for sure. Either way, they are running under the radar, just happen to get some points with a good strategy, and then just so happen to lose said points alongside their own to their own class ?! I don’t buy it! Clearly the kid is respected by his classmates, and clearly he knows how to make a good team, so why not put himself on one of the good teams?

POLLY: Fuck. Okay- this is getting off topic. Tell me if you believe me or not in the comments, let’s get back to the- the stupid drama. 

POLLY: Midoriya and Shinsou lose the cavalry battle in the second round- don’t seem too torn up by it- and then they’re back with like, half of their class for the rec games. The important part of this is when Midoriya is picked up by classmate Bondo Kojiro, for the scavenger hunt objective “something green”, which is hilarious. For those who don’t have a language quirk, ‘Midori’ means green, and the kid has green hair and eyes. The scavenger hunt ends and the last game is keeping these giant beach balls in the air. Not that important, except little Midoriya gains some serious air jumping from his classmate Bondo’s shoulders, and fuckin’- launches that ball, god damn. [ A clip of Midoriya kicking a ball midair and landing with a neat roll plays .] This gets announced by Present Mic, and that’s what’s important.

POLLY: So before now, Midoriya’s name was only announced in the deluge of students finishing the obstacle course, and wasn’t even the team leader to be announced for the cavalry battle- that was Komori because she had the headband. So, this is the first time his name is clearly announced and it is stated that he is a student of the hero course, 1-B. This is important. This is why the argument happens. Or why it happens at the time it does, at least.

POLLY: So, back to the scene at hand. [ Polly waves her hand, the stick figure diagram returns on screen .] Bakugou was noted to have been stomping around the arena’s interior hallways, shouting for a “Deku”, which the general consensus has concluded is a derogatory nickname for Midoriya Izuku, based on how one could read the characters of his name as well as the meaning- “Useless” or “Worthless”. 

[JAPANESE CHARACTERS DISPLAY ON SCREEN WITH THEIR RESPECTIVE DEFINITIONS.]

POLLY: There’s social media posts from people attending the event at the time, who were wondering who the kid running around yelling was. Welp, here’s why. He was looking for Midoriya Izuku. 

POLLY: And he finds him- or more accurately, finds the 1-B students and assumes they know where Midoriya is. Midoriya is hiding behind some larger students- I would be too, if I were him. I’m only currently not scared of Bakugou because I’m a thirty-three year old woman. I’m only scared of teenagers if they start roasting me, because I know they’ll say something so on point and devastating I’ll have to run away and change my name- again . 

POLLY: Bakugou shouts at the 1-B students, of which, notably, one Shinsou Hitoshi appears to recognize him and also knows who “Deku” is referring to. These kids are confused, and Shinsou essentially forces Bakugou to not use the derogatory nickname, but because Bakugou says Midoriya’s name, the other students of 1-B reveal that he’s with them, even if unintentionally. 

POLLY: This leads to Bakugou and Midoriya confronting each other. Midoriya calls Bakugou ‘Kacchan’- which is a pretty cutesy nickname, if you’re not aware. Both kids are obviously very familiar with each other, though not on good terms, obviously.

POLLY: This is when most of the videos circulating online- which are being quickly taken down by UA- start, because Bakugou starts yelling in earnest at Midoriya about how Midoriya shouldn’t be going to UA- a bunch of garbage, essentially. Imagine getting into the top hero course in the country and someone tells you “Hey, drop out because I hate you personally.”

POLLY: Bullshit, right? So as Bakugou insulted Midoriya, 1-B starts supporting the kid, with some pretty sick burns slid in there. Basically everyone aside from Shinsou- who has his own moment later, don’t worry- and Fukidashi- who most are assuming had some kind of quirk backlash and can’t speak well after overuse- have their own two cents to put in, saying Bakugou’s being a jackass and that they care about Midoriya, who’s gonna be a great hero. 

POLLY: And this is when the real drama starts- because Bakugou activates his quirk . Y’know, the one called [Explosion]? That one? In a crowded hallway, at a school event, in public ? As a threat? 

[POLLY STARES INTO THE CAMERA WITH WIDE, STARTLED EYES.]

POLLY: YEAH. THAT ONE. 

POLLY: So, I’m gonna start quoting them all now, because the wording gets important here- [ Polly lifts up a piece of paper, reading from it .] Shinsou says “Oh, what, you’re gonna threaten him again ?” [ Polly looks at her camera with a serious expression, and continues to quote Shinsou Hitoshi. ] “Gonna burn him, show that you’re a big man? A hero that hurts his future colleagues for disagreeing with him?” [ Polly moves the paper out of frame .]

POLLY: Yeah. Fuckin’. Mic drop or whatever. The implications of this are serious , considering Shinsou appears to be a close, and presumably long term, friend of Midoriya’s, and so would know best about his relationship to Bakugou. 

POLLY: While most reasonable people would probably turn tail and run, as that’s a pretty darn big accusation, threatening people with your quirk, especially one as volatile as [Explosion], Bakugou doesn’t shut his mouth . 

[POLLY LIFTS UP THE PIECE OF PAPER AGAIN THEATRICALLY, CLEARING HER THROAT.]

POLLY: Bakugou Katsuki says, quote: “Has he told you? He’s a quirkless weakling who thinks he can be a hero! He’s nothing !” [ Polly stares intensely at the camera, gray eyes blank of emotion .] So. Bakugou Katsuki retaliates by outing a fellow student as quirkless. If you are unaware, Japan has one of if not the lowest percentage of quirkless people in the world. The normal twenty percent statistic doesn’t apply, as their population was so heavily depleted in the rise of quirks and the subsequent civil unrest and rise of villainy- in the legal sense of using one’s quirk to cause intentional malicious harm to people or property.

POLLY: The percentage of quirkless people in Japan’s population sits at around nine percent, a majority of those people from older generations. The percentage of quirkless people in the recent generations are at one point two. That’s less than- I could use a lot of statistics here, uh- [ Polly grabs a second piece of paper off her desk, abandoning the first to fall to the floor in order to read from this one .] That’s less than all the officially recognized time quirks in the world… uh, the amount of confirmed clairvoyance quirks, um- yeah. So essentially, you’d be more likely to find someone who can control time in some aspect than a quirkless kid in Japan. 

POLLY: You might be thinking, well- okay! So what? There are quirkless heroes! Brazil’s got one! There’s that hero in Aotearoa who just retired, she was quirkless, right? And you’re right, but there’s never been a Japanese quirkless hero.

POLLY: Being a very small minority in anything , anywhere leads to problems. Due to Japan’s culture around quirks- which could be its own video- being quirkless in Japan is one of those things that you don’t hear about, because quirkless people die . They die, or hide, or find some way to move to a country where they don’t need to die or go into hiding to have some peace. 

[POLLY STARES SOLEMNLY INTO THE CAMERA, UNBLINKING]

POLLY: The only public quirkless figures in Japan are from news stories running on their deaths. You don’t hear about people living happily in Japan without a quirk. The same could be said for some other countries- [ Polly fakes a cough. ] France [ Polly fakes another cough .] Spain- [ Polly fakes another cough .] but the fact is Japan is seen as the forefront of heroics as an industry, the birthplace of All Might, all this shit. 

POLLY: Bakugou outing Midoriya, a heroics course student in the premier school in the country of premier heroics, could end very badly. That’s why I’m happy to comply with UA’s policy of not sharing around clips of this! This kid was intentionally not trying to gain public attention, probably because he knows better than anyone how his entire career could be compromised if he were known as quirkless too early- and then this other kid, who he seemed to know - fucks it up! Midoriya is upset by it, and I would be too! His classmates seemed to have known- because most of them seem like they’re about to throw hands with Bakugou, especially Monoma. 

POLLY: Here- here’s what Midoriya says in response to Bakugou, not even knowing the full impact of Bakugou’s words, as he didn’t seem to notice the phones recording him. 

[POLLY REACHES DOWN AND ALMOST SLIPS OFF HER CHAIR SNATCHING THE PREVIOUS SHEET OF PAPER FROM THE GROUND. SHE WAVES IT TRIUMPHANTLY AT THE CAMERA AND THEN BEGINS READING FROM IT, EXPRESSION SMOOTHING.]

POLLY: “Kacchan, what do you want .” [ Polly sends a look to the camera, then glances back down at her paper .] “You want me to drop out of the hero course, after I earned it? You want me to drop out of UA, after spending a month making friends for the first time in my life, because you sure as hell made it impossible before? You want me to not be a hero, when I’m going to save lives? You’d deprive those people in the future, just for your own pride ? Because you think I’m looking down on you, when I only looked up to you?”

[POLLY LOWERS THE PAPER, LOOKING INTO THE CAMERA AGAIN.]

POLLY: Yeah. Mic drop, again. Who needs a quirk when you can verbally eviscerate someone so succinctly? Midoriya hit on everything, probably from knowing this other kid for so long- from what he implied, it could’ve been years of dealing with this guy specifically, so he knew it was a matter of pride. And Midoriya says it all, he earned his place at the top hero school without a quirk, something no one’s ever done. He made history , and he was going to hide it until it was safe, or just never mention it at all, and then it got revealed in a viral video because people saw the hero course kids arguing and decided filming teenagers getting into a catfight would be worth posting online. 

[POLLY LOOKS VERY DISAPPOINTED.] 

POLLY: Frankly, I think UA would be in the right to sue whoever posted the initial videos, which they probably could find. If a grown adult thinks it’s in any way okay to film minors- no matter what school they go to, they are minors who have a right to privacy- without their consent and post it online for- what, attention? It’s ridiculous. 

POLLY: That’s not the end of this confrontation. Shinsou had his time to say something after Midoriya’s speech, and Midoriya looked really distressed- yet again, I’m disgusted by whoever thought they should continue filming a very upset child and post it online, for whatever reason- and so Shinsou steps in to say. [ Polly’s gaze flicks down to the paper and back up again .] “How dare you?”

POLLY: Many people are theorizing about this, but we all know it has something to do with Shinsou’s quirk. People are debating about if it was ethical, legal- whatever, for him to use his quirk in this situation. You want my opinion? It was fuckin’ smart. He deescalated the situation immediately with whatever mind control quirk he’s got, removing the aggressor non-violently and so he immediately can comfort his distraught friend- [ Polly’s tone gets far more frustrated ] that people are still filming, come ON people! What the fuck! 

POLLY: Whatever happened after, we don’t know. All of the 1-B contingent went through the student and staff only section, and appeared back in the 1-B box seats once the tournament started. Good on them, they shouldn’t have to deal with the public demanding anything of them when they were just at an event to get a hero internship and then play some silly games. 

POLLY: I want your main take away from this video to be- none of those videos that went viral should have ever been posted. They shouldn’t have been filmed in the first place! Of course, I’d rather Bakugou not confront his fellow students and cause a shitshow at all, but posting videos of said shitshow online helps no one , and in fact, actively harms the victim of the situation ! 

POLLY: I want you to report all instances of the videos to UA’s PR staff, delete whatever videos and god forbid memes you have of this confrontation, and fuckin’- don’t go looking for these kids online. They’re kids . They don’t even have hero callsigns yet! No official accounts! Don’t! Stalk! Kids! Online! This shouldn’t be so hard for you people to grasp! Sure, it’s not illegal or whatever, but it’s fuckin’ immoral, and you’re a sack of shit if you think any of them deserve your harassment. 

POLLY: Yes, that includes Bakugou Katsuki. Is he quirkist? I don’t know! No one knows! The only things we know about him are- [ Polly lifts a finger.] an attempted murder against him in broad daylight that nearly succeeded due to hero negligence and inexperience, [ Polly lifts a second finger .] and a video of him saying some dumb shit in public. He said some quirkist shit, but we don’t know why, or where he learned that from! [ Polly points a finger at the camera accusingly .] That is not an invitation to harass his parents about this, either. The kid is fifteen. Think of yourself at fifteen. Now imagine one of the worst things you said is now a viral video. Now imagine getting endless harassment for whatever dumbass shit you said, because everyone knows your face, your name, and your parents’ names, and probably a bunch more shit, you stalkers. 

POLLY: Fuckin’- for once, can the internet just chill . Let the kids go back to learning the basics on being a hero instead of insisting they drop out of their hard earned spot in the best school in the country for whatever reason- be it that you think one of them is quirkist, or if you are quirkist and think Midoriya and/or Shinsou shouldn’t be there. Let them learn how to be heroes. If they’re not good enough they won’t get the licenses- and even if they do get the licenses, heroics is one of the deadliest industries in Japan, right next to forestry, construction, fishing, and agriculture. Sure, the stats are a bit skewed due to differing populations, but c’mon. If they’re not good enough heroes, it’s sad, but they’ll end up dead . Even the thought of that has most people who aren’t cut out for heroics dropping out of school or quitting after less than a year in the field. 

POLLY: Now that that’s settled. Let’s get into the aftermath- there’s not much that pertains to this argument specifically. The tournament was kind of awesome to watch- everyone predicted 1-A to dominate the entire festival, because having a real life experience does give them an edge, at least in decision making skills, in theory . Of our main players in this confrontation, only one is in the tournament round, and that’s Bakugou Katsuki.

POLLY: He faced off against Shoda Nirengeki, a 1-B student with a physics based quirk of unknown specifications. An interesting match up, even without the pre-existing teenage drama to spice it up. This was the fourth match of the first round in the tournament, so Shoda definitely had time beforehand where he was informed of the confrontation. Shoda seemed to also exhibit that 1-B protectiveness of their friend. In this match, they were not nearly as sportsmanlike as they are in the next round- because oh yeah, Bakugou lost.

POLLY: Shoda was acting very intentionally in this fight, you can tell by how hard he strikes in the next match that he could’ve ended this first fight far quicker than he did. Regardless of how he drew out the match, he ended it with clocking Bakugou across the chin- a really beautiful right hook, if I’ll be honest- and then using his quirk to hit Bakugou a second time, knocking the kid unconscious. He then left Bakugou in the ring, walking away without a single look back. 

POLLY: And 1-B? They were cheering for Shoda, losing their minds. It’s shown in a few short camera switches, mostly in the aftermath of the battle, but 1-B was going crazy for their boy! If I’m going to be honest, I didn’t even know about the viral videos or the argument, and I was going crazy for Shoda! Fuck yeah dude, knock someone out on live international television, you little badass! 

[POLLY PAUSES, COLLECTING HER THOUGHTS AND KICKING AT THE FLOOR SO HER CHAIR SWINGS FROM SIDE TO SIDE ON ITS SWIVEL.]

POLLY: In summary, 1-B kicks ass in the tournament round, despite being in the lower half of the rankings for the obstacle course, and having a varied cavalry battle. It’s all 1-B on the podium, with All Might himself presenting the medals. 

POLLY: Shortly after the awards ceremony, UA released a PR statement about the viral videos, resulting in said videos being taken down en masse. Other major hero schools in Japan have also released statements addressing quirklessness in their students. Shiketsu, Ketsubutsu, and Seiai have all stated that they do accept quirkless students in their hero programs! Even if they’ve never explicitly said so before. 

POLLY: We’ve got no official statements from hero agencies, or Japan’s Hero Public Safety Commission. 

[SMASH CUT TO THE OUTRO] 

POLLY: My final message, and the one you should all remember: stop sharing those videos, because one day Principal Nezu’s going to sue your ass, and you won’t survive. 

[POLLY GLANCES UP AT THE CAMERA, SMILING.]

POLLY: Thanks for watching, and indulging in my tangents as I tried to clear up all the confusion around this. Remember! Like, share, subscribe, thanks for the donations as well, they really help in my boyfriend and I’s transitions. This has been PollyAnalysis, just a polyamorous polyglot tryin’ to make sense of heroics and quirks! See you next time!

[POLLY WAVES, LINKS POPPING UP ON THE SCREEN AS WELL AS AN OUTRO GRAPHIC. THIS FADES TO BLACK.]

Chapter Text

Pony & the english knowers: swearing edition

10:13: Ponychan: guys. 

10:14: Midochan: im scared @Shinchan i need emotional support

10:14: Shinchan: what 

10:14: Shinchan: (⊙_⊙) 

10:15: Ponychan: (≖､≖) you two are such scaredy cats! 

10:15: Ponychan: I haven’t even done anything yet!

10:16: Shinchan: its that ‘yet’ that scares us pony-chan

10:16: Midochan: (•﹏•)

10:16: Ponychan: ANYWAY, 

10:17: Ponychan: I… may. or may not have… forgotten it was my sixteenth birthday on thursday. 

10:17: Shinchan: WHAT

10:17: Midochan: WHAT!!!!!!!! 

10:17: Midochan: (」゜ロ゜)」

10:17: Midochan: (ʘᗩʘ’)

10:17: Midochan: （○Ａ○）

10:17: Midochan: (0.0)

10:17: Midochan: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10:18: Shinchan: what he said 

10:20: Ponychan: listen!! I was busy!!! Preparing for the festival!! And may have forgotten some stuff! Including that my family was going to call me after the festival!! And I slept through their calls (＠_＠) im a terrible daughter and sister!!! 

10:21: Shinchan: pony-chan

10:25: Shinchan: call your family whenever timezones make it reasonable. Before that: remember that you WON the festival. You passed out for like, twelve hours after that. You used a whole new quirk technique for the first time after a day of using your quirk for other stuff. They probably didnt expect you to pick up and be awake. 

10:25: Shinchan: now that’s settled. izuku its your turn

10:26: Midochan: YOUR BIRTHDAY!?!!?!?!?!?? o(≧∇≦o)

10:26: Midochan: we should go out and do something! We could combine it as a celebration for doing so well in the sports festival if you want!! 

10:27: Midochan: we could do a small thing, or bring the whole class in on it? We’ll have to do it soon, before everyone starts buckling down for the final exams!!! We could go to a hero cafe, or find a retro movie theater playing something you like, or just hang out at the mall!!!

10:28: Shinchan: zuku has a list of group hang out ideas for when we finally got friends

10:28: Midochan: HITOSHI !! (*/﹏＼)

10:29: Midochan: hitoshi were gonna need to get pony birthday presents now what do you get a girl as a birthday present?!! 

10:29: Ponychan: mido-chan. Im right here. 

10:31: Ponychan: dont worry about it though! I don’t really need any presents, I’m not materialistic. Not to be a sap, but being my friend is worth more than anything. I expected to be lonely and homesick at UA, but i wasn’t because of you guys.

10:31: Midochan: ( ; ω ; ) 

10:37: Shinchan: not to also express emotions but pony-chan. You’re one of the first friends either of us had aside from each other and we appreciate you as well. Happy sixteenth birthday pony.

10:38: Ponychan: YOU TWO BETTER TELL ME YOUR BIRTHDAYS BECAUSE I WON’T LET YOU FORGET THEM. IM DISREGARDING THE SAPPY EMOTIONS ABOVE BECAUSE I’VE JUST WOKEN UP AFTER FIFTEEN HOURS OF SLEEP AND CAN’T PROCESS THEM. ITS TOO EARLY IN THE MORNING FOR THIS MUCH FEELINGS.

10:40: Shinchan: understandable. Izuku’s birthday is July 15th. Mine’s July 1st. 

10:40: Ponychan: aww, even your birthdays are close together thats cute. 

10:42: Shinchan: you do realize that’s not a choice in the slightest, right. 

10:43: Ponychan: its the universes choice, shin-chan. It knew you were destined to be best friends. Bestined, even 

10:44: Ponychan: where’s mido-chan?

10:44: Shinchan: probably still crying

10:46: Midochan: SHUT UP IM NOT CRYGN YOUR CRYING!! 

10:46: Shinchan: mhm

10:47: Midochan: im beign slandered pony help 

10:47: Ponychan: lol.

10:47: Midochan: (×﹏×) 

-

Private Chat: ClassiestRep & Mastermind

9:43: ClassiestRep: hey midoriya im just checking in because you haven’t been in the class groupchat, are you doing okay? 

9:44: ClassiestRep: ah sorry, monoma convinced me to change my user 

9:44: ClassiestRep’s display name has changed to ‘Kendo’

9:50: Mastermind: yeah monoma’s gotten me too. 

9:50: Mastermind’s display name has changed to ‘Midoriya’

9:51: Midoriya: anyway

10:02: Midoriya: im doing fine kendo-kun, the groupchat is just very overwhelming. i do read through the backlogs, but talking to so many people is a lot. im too used to just texting one person or talking in a forum instead of the… chaos. 

10:04: Kendo: yeah, i understand that. lots of people seem to have made smaller chats as well to avoid the larger group, which is fair. 

10:05: Kendo: a lot of us are worried because of the whole sports fest viral video, and how it might be affecting you, and im glad to know you’re okay

10:09: Midoriya: thankfully hitoshi’s the designated social media person, i stick to hero and quirk based forums and stuff, and after the UA announcement the moderators delete the videos if they pop up. 

10:11: Kendo: do any of them know its you in the video?

10:15: Midoriya: nope. me & toshi are pretty anonymous online for safety. Were probably gonna have to make some official accounts if this media attention keeps up, but i really dont want to. another good thing about underground heroics is im not expected to do that kinda stuff.

10:21: Midoriya: toshi has been keeping an eye on like. what people think and stuff. i know a lot of people are saying UA shouldn’t let me be in the hero course, piling it on next to the stuff about the USJ. i dont care about what they think though, and i have a lot more support than i thought i would. none of it changes that im gonna be a hero.

10:26: Kendo: even if none of them supported you, we would. it’s only been a few weeks, but i like to think all of us in 1-b are friends now. thats partially because of you, your training ideas that made us work together in new ways. 

10:28: Midoriya: (//ω//) i cant take all the credit there!!! the training was Tokage-chan’s idea and you organized it!!! 

10:31: Midoriya: youve done really well as a class rep kendo-kun. im really glad i voted for you and that were friends. thanks for checking in, but its getting late and im heading to bed. ill see you tomorrow in homeroom! 

10:33: Kendo: !!!! (ᵔ◡ᵔ)

10:33: Kendo: goodnight mido-kun

-

Hitoshi took one of the earlier trains in, sacrificing precious hours of sleep to reach Mustafu before Izuku left for school. He was wearing a face mask, but that didn’t stop people from seeing his UA uniform, then his purple hair and eyes, and trying to talk to him about The Video. 

He had taken to thinking of the viral shitshow that outed his quirk and Izuku’s quirk status as The Video, even if there were different angles from different people, all of them showed the same thing. Some people tried to berate him about his quirk usage, or about Izuku being quirkless, but Hitoshi just pulled his noise canceling headphones out of his backpack, putting them on as he made an uncomfortable amount of eye contact, and then ignored them. 

He really hoped Mrs. Inko had gotten his text about coming over and started their coffee maker. She rarely drank coffee and caffeine just made Izuku feel too wired or too sleepy, so Hitoshi was really the only reason they had one. 

Getting off the train and going into the station was its own affair, and Hitoshi wished he had brought a hoodie or a beanie, even if his hair got even messier afterwards. It might’ve been worth it, given the nasty glares and the one person who tried to stop him and talk to him, though thankfully a security guard intervened, if only because an adult tried to accost a teenager. The guard seemed to realize who Hitoshi was after that and probably said something rude, but Hitoshi’s noise canceling headphones did their job. 

He couldn’t keep the headphones on when walking the streets, too paranoid for that. People weren’t as overtly hostile in such an obviously public place, thankfully.

Hitoshi stopped by a little bakery, picking up a little box of matcha cookies for Mrs. Inko, a chocolate croissant for Izuku, and a raspberry filled donut decorated to look like a cat for himself. He deserved a treat for waking up this early and resisting the urge to sass strangers who decided to bother him. Even those that weren’t quirkist were annoying, trying to tell Hitoshi he was so brave for protecting his little quirkless friend, as if Izuku needed his protection.

As if Izuku couldn’t kick all of their asses and turn their own quirks against them if he were so inclined. 

When Hitoshi knocked on the Midoriyas’ front door, Mrs. Inko opened it with a smile. She gave Hitoshi a hug, taking the box of baked goods to go put them with breakfast. Hitoshi took off his shoes, smiling at the scent of coffee. 

“Izuku’s still sleeping.” Mrs. Inko called over her shoulder, checking on breakfast. 

“Thank you.” Hitoshi called out, leaving his bag on the couch and going to wake Izuku.

Hitoshi knocked lightly at the door out of habit more than anything, entering Izuku’s dimly lit bedroom. Curtains blocked most of the early morning sunlight from entering the room, but Izuku had several nightlights, unable to resist using the hero merchandise even if he didn’t really need them. 

The All Might nightlight had been gone ever since meeting the man nearly a year ago now, but the ones for Wash and Mix Cube remained, one by his bed and another by his desk. 

Izuku was sprawled over his bed, a large comforter with the Wild Wild Pussycats logo tangled up with a smaller fleece blanket depicting Ryukyu in flight and bordered with little white and yellow dragons. Just a tuft of Izuku’s hair was visible, as well as a dangling arm off the side of the bed.

Hitoshi shook his head slightly and his smile widened at the sight. He checked Izuku’s phone, picking it up from where it was charging next to his pillow. The homescreen had been changed from the picture Mrs. Inko had taken of them standing side by side in their UA uniforms. Now it was a screenshot of the Sports Festival, from when Hitoshi had tackled Izuku. Hitoshi checked the alarms on Izuku’s phone, seeing the one for just a few minutes from now. He unlocked the phone and played the preview of the alarm’s noise.

The Smile Hero: Ms. Joke’s voice blared from the phone’s speakers, breaking into laughter and then speaking boisterously, her smile audible, “C’mon sleepyhead! Can’t laugh if you’re busy snoozing!”