Chapter 3

Present Day

Every waking moment of the next week was one of stress and anxiety for Katashi and Ochako as they desperately waited for the letters that contained their acceptance or rejection to U.A. Her parents eventually threw them out of the apartment to go train or anything really that would take their minds off the pending judgment of their futures. So Katashi took his friend to the beach where he had met Izuku to train every day, mostly aiming to get the gravity girl into fighting condition.

Since he started earning money through his anonymous contracts to write codes, Katashi took on grocery shopping for the Uraraka family to pay them back for their hospitality, and he learned from Ochako never to pass up the opportunity for a good sale. It still amazed him how abundant and unrestricted food was in this world despite how large the population was and all the wars he read about in the news. One day on his way to the local grocer, he was going over what to buy with his budget in his mind when he ran right into the pink heroine that had been lingering in his mind for the last six days since the exam.

"Eep!" she chirped the startled noise as the distracted Avatar bumped into her backside. "Watc- wait, it's you, Katou-san!"

"I'm sorry for being distracted!" he gave a deep bow with an embarrassed blush.

Mina huffed, annoyed by her acquaintance's actions, though she could probably let it go after how rudely she ran away from him in the aftermath of the exam rather than stick around to get his number like she wanted. "For someone who's not Japanese, you certainly know how to be respectful and formal like one," she observed, "But you can be more casual and less apologetic around me, please."

This caught the young Avatar off guard, she was being very friendly for only meeting him twice now, one of which resulted in the both of them falling into an awkward position. "Well, I really must apologise for how things ended up last time, Ashido-san, you looked upset by what happened, and it was my fault," He confessed, resisting the urge to bow again.

"It's fine really, and it wasn't that bad of a position to be in," she smirked to hide her flushing cheeks, and Katashi was definitely not prepared for such a response. "Besides, I would have reacted very differently had it not been for all the stress built up by the exam. It was on hell of a mess, I don't know how the school, even one as prestigious as U.A., can get away with an exam as dangerous as that." He had to agree with those sentiments, and he had been suspicious of what the administration was up to since the exam. She then pulled the blushing mess that was Katashi aside to sit at a bench. "So, what has you out here in the commercial district, my multi-talented friend?"

"I could ask you the same, Ashido-san," he managed after pulling himself back together.

"Ashido-chan, if you please, we're definitely pretty close after everything that happened," Mina corrected. "I was on my way home from the arcade, spent two hours playing Just Dance. Now, what about you?"

"Er, I was on my way to the grocer, I do the shopping for Uraraka-chan and her family to pay them back for letting me stay with them," he explained.

"Oh, that's the brunette girl that was with you during the exam orientation?" she recalled, now pink girl wanted to have some fun. "Judging by how she was looking at you, she must have been heartbroken when she heard how far we got together after the exam."

Katashi froze at the statement, exposing how deep Mina hit him, "That's actually one of the details that I left out when I told her about our exam."

"Oh you sly dog!" Mina clapped him on the back. "You want her too! Don't worry, I can be fair and would be willing to share, she just needs to catch up to me!"

The young Avatar was on the verge of exploding with embarrassment, but he was ready to strike back, "More like you have to catch up to her, we're already living together!"

The acid quirk user mockingly gasped in fake surprise, "She truly has me beat, but this is not over! Wanna head back to my place and seal the deal? That'll one-up her for a while," she joked, winning the war in embarrassing each other. She had gotten the best of him and he practically curled up trying to hide his red face, he could not believe that she would go that far.

The life of a soldier did not prepare me for any of this, his scrambled mind thought. However, her forwardness and playfulness were aspects of her personality that he liked.

"Well, I better be heading home and you have shopping to do," Mina moved on, still laughing to hide her dark pink cheeks. "Can I have your number? That'll make it easier for us to hang out and keep in touch rather than randomly meeting on the street." He silently obliged, still too embarrassed to say anything. "It was good to see you again. I hope we get to go to school together soon, Kata-kun!" and she was gone with a flirtatious smile.

Half an hour later while he was shopping for ingredients, his phone buzzed with a text message, unsurprisingly from an unknown number. It stated that it was from Mina and that she hoped that the shopping was going well followed by a little yellow face with wide grin. He smiled silently before replying that he was finding everything and added his own smiley face.

He was happy just to have genuine friends for the first time in his life, but there was something different about his feelings that he had for the two girls, he felt complemented by both of them. Eventually he would have to meditate on it and consult Raava about such feelings, though she might just mock him before telling him to find out on his own. Either way, he would have to properly introduce the two girls to see how things would flow.

~Elemental~

Katashi was in the middle of writing a complex code the following day when Ochako sat next to him and leaned up against his right side. She was still warm from the shower she took after their morning training and her damp hair stuck to his shoulder. "Today is the day that letters come in," she started, "No matter if one or both of us get rejected, can we stay friends? You have come to mean a lot to me, and you have inspired me to do better and be better with all that you have done for me and my family." Her sudden boldness was surprising despite her normal straightforward nature.

"It's what I can do to repay you for not leaving me in that alley, and I want to see you succeed as hero," he countered, still focused on his coding. "Heavens knows that the world needs heroes as kind and cheerful as you." He did not need to look over at her face to know that her face was flushing red.

"But you know my reasons, how is it heroic to save people for money?" she asked, looking up to him.

"There's nothing wrong with trying to improve your living conditions, as long as you work hard then you deserve the rewards," he answered, "Besides, it would be no different than being in law enforcement, fire rescue, or being a doctor, you just have a more dangerous job." Tensions were high with the anticipation for their results that could arrive at any minute and it clearly was eating away at Ochako's confidence. Katashi definitely felt the pressure weighing down on himself as well, more so than when he had taken the written portion of the exam.

"You always seem to know the answer to every problem," the gravity girl observed.

"Try meditating, it will help you focus your mind and clear it of distracting thoughts, that's how I usually resolve problems." Ever since his first meeting with Raava, he had used a method meditating she taught him so he could clear his mind for more logical judgments and to develop his connection to the Avatar State. It was thanks to this meditation method that he was able to recompose himself following Fumiko's murder, even though he still spent restless nights crying over memory on a few occasions.

"So, a clear mind is all I need," she pondered aloud, "Though it probably won't help that much with how poor my performance was in comparison to yours."

"I've been meditating every night to help with my anxieties over the exam results, once you have cleared yourself of anxieties and stopped worrying about others you'll open up to greater possibilities," Katashi added, taking a moment to look curiously at his friend. He really did like her, she was cheerful and pure in her intentions of being a hero despite her cover for doing it for the money. It disheartened him that a promising hero like Ochako felt discouraged by her low self-opinion and how she buried it deep within herself when she was around others.

The gravity girl suddenly sat up straight and gave him a playful glare, "There you go again, knowing exactly what to say like you have a script or something."

"Well, I did have two amazing teachers that taught me a lot about life. We all have to learn somewhere because bumbling about on our own can only get us so far," he countered before he turned back to his computer.

"I'm starting to think you should be a philosopher rather than a hero," she jabbed him in the stomach lightly, causing a heated poke war to ensue.

It was at that moment that the door to the apartment burst open and Ochako's mother rushed in with a letter in her hands, almost like she was cradling a baby. She looked like she was about to explode with excitement, meaning it must have been the exam results that finally came in the mail. "It's here! It's here!" she chirped with overwhelming enthusiasm.

Both the teens were on their feet instantly as the mother reached them to deliver the prized message. "It's addressed to both of us," Katashi noted with confusion.

"They must have realised that we had the same address and decided to put our results together," the gravity girl reasoned. And without further questioning, Ochako took the envelope and ripped it open, letting a small black disc fall onto the coffee table.

A projection popped up into the air with an image of an overly buff man in an ugly yellow suit with thin black stripes taking up most of the screen. Besides his over the top buff physique, his hair was an even more odd trait that drew most of his attention; perfectly blond and styled to stand up like bunny ears. Katashi instantly recognized the man from the many images and videos he found when he had researched the best heroes in this world: the number one pro hero, All Might.

"They live together? How bold of them at their age. And they both passed to make it into my class? That means we can make one acceptance recording for them," the man spoke in a boisterous voice towards somewhere off camera. His face suddenly turned to one of shock, probably because of something the cameraman had said. "What do you mean you already started recording?!" He then turned back to the camera with a strangely composed grin, "Well, I guess I spoiled the surprise for you two. Young Uraraka Ochako and Young Katou Katashi, you both have passed the U.A. Entrance Exam with flying colours and have landed yourselves in my class. Yes, you heard me correctly, the number one pro hero, All Might, will guide you two on your paths to becoming pro heroes."

Katashi could not produce any words to express how happy he was with this news, but Mrs. Uraraka made up for him with the amount of cheering she was doing. Ochako did her own little dance to show her excitement for a few minutes before jumping the Young Avatar in a tight embrace, reaching up and planting a quick kiss on his cheek. Realising what she had just done, the gravity girl relinquished her grip on the older boy and proceeded to bow repeatedly faster than he could comprehend while babbling some sort of apology. This caused another round of squealing cheers from the matriarch of the house.

Katashi did not care about embarrassing it was, though he definitely liked the kiss and hug, he was just so happy that he was one step closer to his goal and he was on that path with one of his best friends. He stopped the flurry of bows by taking Ochako into a bear hug and joining in on the cheering. It was probably going to be a late night of celebrating, because who could put a thought to work on such a joyous occasion.

All Might was an amazing stage performer knowing to give a few moments of celebration in the recording before continuing. "Yes! This is a wonderful time to celebrate as the future of two promising heroes shines bright with the start of your journey!" the pro hero lauded with booming voice. "You both have reason to be proud of your accomplishment, scoring excellent grades on the written portion and both ranking in the top five of the practical portion." He paused to let that information sink in with the shock of the surprise. "Young Katou took first place in the practical with seventy-six villain points and twenty-five rescue points, while Young Uraraka took fifth place with twenty-eight villain points and forty-five rescue points. And you might have guessed it already, but there was a secondary scoring system judged by the heroism you show on the battlefield. The two of you will be joining my class, Class 1-A, So I personally welcome you to your hero academia!"

The recording cut out with one last look at the number one pro hero as he signed off his performance of an acceptance letter. The living room was silent as the three gleefully grinned to each other, too stunned to decide what they should do next. Katashi and Ochako both blushed profusely due to the passion for each other, knowing that Mrs. Uraraka was going to embarrass the hell out of them once Mr. Uraraka returned from work.

~Elemental~

Katashi and Ochako walked closely together in their brand new U.A. emblazoned uniforms as they made their way through the entrance gate of the aforementioned school. As they passed through the school foyer and halls, the Young Avatar eagerly watched all the milling students to see all varying quirks and guess their capabilities. It amazed him still that quirks could be so different and unite the people at the same time, though he knew better than to believe that this was all there was to it. He sadly expected something to occur eventually to prove him right, that there was something deeper that was rotten and undermining the benevolent purpose of quirks.

Those thoughts immediately left his mind as he opened the to Class 1-A, only to be greeted by Midoriya Izuku as he watched a heated argument between two other students: the tall, engine-legged boy with black hair and glasses, and a fierce-looking boy with wild blond hair. They must have entered at the tail end of the argument and Izuku must have arrived seconds ago because the boy with glasses detached himself from the argument when he took notice of their presence.

He started to introduce himself to Izuku but stopped when he realised that his introduction had probably already been heard. "Midoriya, you… you perceived the true nature of that practical exam while I did not. I misjudged you. I hate to admit it, but you were the superior candidate," he acted out his lamentation in complete seriousness. How could someone be so serious about such a ridiculous topic and act out that seriousness without faking the attitude? He wondered.

"So, what's going on between you and scruffy over there?" he nodded in the direction of the wild haired boy, earning a growl from him.

"Oh, nothing too problematic, he was just disrespecting school property," the glasses kid explained. "I don't think we've met before, my name is Ida Tenya, I'm from Somei private academy. What about you?"

By this point, Katashi pretty much had his back story memorised along with false details to cover up any holes. "Katou Katashi, I went to public school up in Otaru Prefecture," he answered calmly, not expecting the reaction it would receive.

"You mean the Katou Katashi that took first place in the practical exam with one hundred and one total points, beating the school's all-time record?" Tenya asked in his over-expressive shock.

"Yeah, I guess so, though I didn't know that I broke any records. Please don't get too crazy with blowing my score out of proportion, we all did pretty great to get into this school," he attempted to diffuse the situation. Tenya looked like he was on the verge of a rant of questions, the wild hair boy looked ready to kill Katashi with his murderous glare, Izuku was busy blushing and eyeing Ochako who paid him no mind, and several other students were attracted to the commotion by the mention of the name of the famous first place student, including a certain pink heroine. A grinning Mina was overtly waving at the young Avatar from her desk with such enthusiasm that she probably could have start flying if she were using both arms.

Any further action was cut off as the door behind them suddenly slid open again to reveal a giant orange caterpillar with a man's greasy and unkempt face that was sucking on an apple sauce pouch. A hand reached out of the sleeping bag to take away the pouch, "Go somewhere else if you are looking for a social get together," his unenergetic voice scolded the group of students. He then unzipped the bag and stepped out, showing his true form to be a tall, lanky man with messy shoulder length hair that looked like he just rolled out of bed, which he probably did considering the sleeping bag. The group of students near the door looked at the strange man in shock of his sudden and strange appearance, and Katashi could not tell whose reaction was the best.

Even if he had been a more impressive teacher, the young avatar would still not have trusted an authoritative adult farther than a cabbage cart could go without being smashed by an errant air-bender. The man's disturbing demeanour only added to Katashi's suspicion of what the man could be scheming behind his cover motives for teaching. How could such a creep be pro hero as well as a teacher when he looked like the law required him to stay five hundred feet away from schools at all times. He shouldn't put too much thought in how much he distrusted his teacher, he distrusted all of those in control, even those who seemed beyond reproach in the public eye, like All Might. Rather, he should stay focused on completing his schooling while keeping an eye on the teachers, he wanted to make sure his friends and fellow students stayed out of the crossfire of any political scheme.

The teacher took his place at the class's lecturing lectern while the standing students found open seating; Izuku took a front row seat between a cute girl with frog-like features a haughty blond boy, Tenya sat curtly on the other side of the frog girl, and Ochako took the last front seat next to the engine boy. The gravity girl sorrowfully whispered an apology to Katashi as he walked over to the last available seat in the back between Mina and a beautiful, mature-looking girl with a wild, black ponytail. Mina seemed thrilled to sit next to Katashi as she gave her brilliant grin towards him and patted the empty seat next to her with excitement.

"It took you ten seconds to sort out yourselves and get quiet," the teacher started as soon as the Avatar sat down, "Time is a precious resource and it's irrational for you lot to waste it." He couldn't argue with the man's logic, but it still was a bit harsh for the first day of class. "I'm your homeroom teacher Aizawa Shota. Pleased to meet you." The pleasant greeting did not sound right coming from the grungy teacher, but no one cared as surprise briefly rippled through out the class. "Quickly now, change into your gym uniforms and head out to the grounds," he demonstrated by pulling out an extra set of the standard uniforms from his sleeping bag.

The girls and boys separated out so that they could take turns to change in the classroom. When it came to his turn, Katashi tried to change as quickly as possibly to hide his numerous battle scars, but he could feel the gazes from his male classmates as they caught sight of the horrifying canvas of mutilated skin. "What happened to you, Katou-san?" Tenya ventured with a voice full of concern.

"Power like mine usually comes with unwanted attention," he answered, signalling that he did not want to discuss it. It hurt Ochako when he told her the same answer, so he could only guess that it would have similar results with his classmates as they all grew closer. The boy with the scarred eye and dual coloured red-white hair seemed to make an expression of sympathy, which was not surprising judged on his own burn mark.

The boys tried to distract themselves with small talk as they finished and followed the girls out to the training fields, but the young Avatar had no doubt that rumours would soon be spreading like wildfires. A short conversation between Shota and Ochako about their class skipping the entrance ceremony reaffirmed that the teacher did not care for formalities nor anything else that wasted time.

Shota began to list off different fitness tests that seemed pretty basic and Katashi knew that he could score well above average on them without his powers, but what came next was a surprise. "Bakugo, I want you to throw the softball. You can use your quirk, just don't leave the circle," he instructed as he tossed the test ball to the fierce-looking blond that approached the circle. "Give it all you got."

"Awesome," the boy muttered as he wound up for the pitch. "Die!" he roared as he unleashed his assault. In the split second that the ball began to leave his hand as he threw with all his might, a loud boom ripped through the air with an explosion that erupted from his hand, propelling the ball farther than naturally possible. The teacher showed his reader that supplied a distance of seven-hundred-and-five-point-two metres, adding to the chorus of amazement.

"It's important for us to know our limits. That's the first rational step in finding out what kind of heroes you're going to be," Shota began, his voiced filled with a little enthusiasm for once. "You think the next three years here are going to be all fun and games? Well, let's get serious now. The student with the lowest score across all eight tests will be judged hopeless… and expelled."

Such a statement was met with expected response of protests and cries of unfairness; Katashi felt the same as everyone else, but he could not help but agree with his teacher's logic. Mina, who had stuck close to him since they left the building, suddenly grasped his wrist with a muffled cry. He could feel fearful chakra emanating from the pink heroine, more so than the others.

"There is no place in the world where you can't find unfairness, but it's the job of heroes to correct that unfairness. The next three years will be hell for you, so U.A. will throw you through the wringer if you expected anything less," Shota continued his lecture, his voice reaching the pinnacle of emotion. "That's plus ultra! So, use everything you got to make it to the top!" Despite the teacher's appearance, Katashi was impressed by how inspiring the speech was, and he could feel the fear in Mina and their classmates fade into determination.

~Elemental~

All the events were blood-pumping and fast-paced with the air filled with the same competitiveness as the entrance exam. No one held back given what was at stake, with the exception of Izuku, but the young Avatar could tell that something was up with his friend. Katashi did exceptionally well in the tests compared to others, winning the standing long jump and the side-to-side stepping, while scoring second in the fifty-metre dash behind Tenya with three point fifty seconds.

Watching his other classmates complete the tasks, he had no doubt that the exam had truly picked out the best students as they all found ways to use theirs quirks to improve their capabilities. Mina surprised him with an exceptional fifty metre dash score, using her acid quirk to quickly slide across the track. A kid with several tentacle-like arms crushed the grip strength test using several of his tentacles to smash out an impossible score, by normal standards. When it came to the softball throw for every one else at the end of the examination, Ochako took the gold using her gravity quirk to throw the ball for an infinite distance. Katashi gave her a high-five on his way up to take the test, smiling humorously to garner her embarrassment.

Shota threw him a softball the moment he stepped into the ring without much care if he was paying any attention. Catching it with ease, the young Avatar took a brief moment to consider how he would go about completing this test. Like all his previous tests, he thought that only his fire-bending and air-bending would prove to be of any use and decided to go with fire-bending even if it looked similar to Bakugo's performance. As he began to wind up for the pitch, he felt a leering gaze trying to ensnare his powers, and a quick glance over his shoulder in its direction revealed it to be from Shota with his now blood-red eyes. The strange teacher was definitely up to something.

The cheering from Mina and Ochako drew him back into reality as he pulled back his arm and threw the ball with everything he had, giving it an explosion of his own at the very last second. Watching it soar far and high like Bakugo's, Katashi noticed his teacher's silent expression of shock along with the rest of the class's exhibition of amazement at the spectacular performance. Aizawa quickly corrected his gaping face and unenergetically read off his score of seven-hundred-and-two-point-three metres.

"I knew you would pull something cool off like that," Mina cheerfully clapped him on the back as he returned to the crowd. "I don't think anyone had a chance of beating Uraraka-san's infinite score, so taking third place is a damn good job."

"Thanks, Mina-chan, though I wonder if I could have gotten a better score if had used the wind instead of fire to propel the ball," he contemplated aloud.

"Either way, you would have had one of the best scores," Ochako added in as she moved next to him, her face constituted with her normal optimistically bold demeanour as well as a light blush. "I didn't even throw as hard as you did, I got my score because of my quirk."

Katashi raised an eyebrow in question, "And where is the problem in that? Aizawa-sensei told us to go all out and use our quirks."

"He has a point," Mina remarked, leaning against the young Avatar's shoulder. She did not get to elaborate any further as their teacher called up the last contestant to the circle: Izuku Midoriya.

Katashi kept an eye on Shota, waiting to see if the creep would try something to sabotage the green-haired hero. Sure enough, Izuku wound up his pitch like everyone and looked like he was preparing to ignite his quirk to launch the ball. The young Avatar never really found out what his friend's quirk was, but, judged on the bulging muscles and lines of light spiderwebbing across his arm, he could guess it had something to do with super strength. If Izuku had super strength, then why had he been struggling with moving all that trash before the entrance exam? A question to be solved at another time when he could do a proper investigation into the younger boy's past and his relationship to All Might, who must have been than buff man he met at the beach.

As soon as the kid began to unleash his pitch, the spiderweb of light disappeared from his arm and no quirk activated, letting the ball fly half-heartedly and land less than fifty metres away. What no one else except Katashi noticed were Shota's sudden blood-red eyes and his leering gaze that could be felt even though it was not directed at the Avatar. He had cancelled Izuku's quirk and had tried to do the same to him, except his Avatar powers did not work the same as quirks.

The poor boy looked horrified, downright distraught, that his quirk did not work when he summoned it, and Ochako gave a simultaneous gasp of shock at the results. Some students paid little attention to the poor performance while others looked gleeful that someone was taking a fall to cover their own underwhelming performances, and Bakugo even scoffed with laughter at the victim. Katashi could tell there was a tense relationship between the two. He would have to watch in case something exploded between the two, he owed that much to Izuku being his friend.

"I erased your quirk," Shota announced the beginning of his lecture aimed at Izuku. "Your performance at the entrance exam was ridiculous and pathetic. In my honest judgment, the same I gave in the school's evaluation of your test, it was completely irrational to accept someone like you into the school." The teacher was on a roll of derisive judgements, to say the least, and he had kicked up some discussion among the other students, including the mention of his pro hero name being 'Eraser Head.'

As much as Katashi wanted to jump to his friend's defence, he lacked enough information about how he did in the entrance exam to provide a proper defence in the scrutinising gaze of the creep. The young Avatar suddenly caught sight of a yellow suited person in the far corner of his vision. A quick glance over his shoulder and a check of the massive amount of chakra radiating from the location informed him that it must have been All Might peeking out from around the corner of the building to watch the students test. The man's gaze was fixated on Izuku, confirming Katashi's suspicions that something connected the two.

"I noticed that your control over your quirk is pathetic and you would just incapacitate yourself again by using it in this test," the creepy teacher continued as he approached the boy. "You planned on someone helping you out afterwards," he accused, his blood-red gaze narrowing on his victim. Izuku tried to stammer an excuse, but the teacher silenced him by throwing out the end of the cloth bands, which loosely hung on him like a scarf, and controlling it to wrap around the boy's stomach. "Your plan would only cause more problems for those around. You've got the same reckless streak as a certain hot-blooded hero from a few years ago but are completely useless after saving one person You cannot become a hero with such a self-detrimental power and a selfish mindset."

Everyone was silent in the wake Aizawa's critical analysis of the young hero, not wanting to break the tension nor rub any salt in Izuku's wounds. Katashi guessed that this must be a learning challenge: if Izuku could not overcome such a harsh critique, then there was no point in him continuing. "You've got your quirk back… give it another go so we can get this over with," the teacher instructed with his guise softened and the cloth bands withdrawn. He suddenly tilted his head back with opened eyes, pulled out a bottle, and squeezed out some eye drops into the irritated oculi.

As Izuku prepared for another pitch, Ochako switched between casting a concerned glance at the green-haired boy and giving a pleading look to the older Avatar. Katashi had forgotten that he was almost three years older than some of his classmates with his birthday coming in May, definitely looked the part, so it was still surprising that Ochako along with some of the other students looked at him with reverent attitudes and expectations of authority after less than a day of class. "Don't worry Ochako-chan, Midoriya-kun is smart to get out of the predicament that he's in."

"Perhaps, but he definitely looks rattled by what Aizawa-sensei said," Mina commented, still leaning against Katashi's shoulder. "He won't last another day here if he can't get over it." Despite her free-spirited nature and socialite character, Mina hid a very intelligent side to her that Katashi adored and had exposed while texting her.

"It also seems that he gave Midoriya-kun instructions hidden in his critique," Tenya, who had joined the group, observed while rubbing his non-existent facial hair, "like he was trying to break him down, but provide something to reconstitute himself."

Izuku suddenly wound up for the pitch, but his quirk appeared to focus on his index finger instead of his whole arm. Katashi smiled, he figured out how to overcome his problem, for now at least. As he unleashed the pitch, the ball shot out off his index finger like a bullet out of a gun, arcing into to the distance in the same fashion as Bakugo's and Katashi's performances. Seven-hundred-and-five-point-three metres, red the measurer.

Everyone stood both shocked and amazed by Izuku's superb performance, the teacher included, though it was mixed with pride as well. The green-haired hero grimaced back at Aizawa with pained triumph charging his face as he clutched the destroyed index finger on his right hand, which only Aizawa, Tenya, Tsuyu the frog girl, and Katashi noticed. "Everyone can go back to class and get changed, class is dismissed for the rest of the day," Shota announced with surprising cheerfulness. "And could someone please escort Midoriya-Kun to the nurse's office?"

A guttural growl drew Katashi's attention to a livid Bakugo nearby, glaring at Izuku with murderous intent and small explosions lighting up his palms. Izuku's success had clearly upset the beast of a boy, practically pushing him over the edge of sanity. The Avatar had to act quickly before the boy attacked. With a subtle swipe of his hand, he took control of the explosions and killed them, then manipulated the earth beneath Bakugo's feet to trap him. Wild eyes immediately fixated on the Avatar but were met by a battle born scowl that made him recoil somehow. "Cool you're fucking jets," Katashi clearly mouthed, earning a begrudged nod.

"What about the expulsion?" a boy with electric styled and coloured hair complained on behalf of the rest of the class.

"Oh that?" the teacher mused suspiciously. "That was a lie. It was a rational deception to bring out the best in you." The entire class, except Yaoyorozu Momo the wild ponytail girl, Bakugo, and Katashi, exploded in frustration and anger. Shota merely grinned his creepy smile as the students protested.

"Of course it was a lie. It didn't take much to figure that out," Momo scolded the other students. The young Avatar had come to the same conclusion early in the tests but had decided to withhold the truth in order to let the tests serve their purpose.

Katashi released Bakugo as everyone began to disperse and retreat to the school building, but before he could approach Izuku to offer his assistance, Tsuyu reached him first to do the same. He let the two go, thinking it would be a good opportunity for the green-haired hero to make a new friend on his first day.

"Katou Katashi!" Aizawa called the boy before he could join his group of friends.

"Yes, Sensei?" he answered.

"I need to see you in my office once you're changed," the creepy man instructed, "Now go."

~Elemental~

After they all changed, Katashi told his group of friends to go on home without him since he had a meeting with their homeroom teacher. Ochako tried to protest, but he reassured her that he would be home as soon as possible so they could work on personal study. The gravity girl grudgingly accepted and gathered her things to join the group of Tenya, Izuku, and Tsuyu heading for the school's entrance. What concerned Katashi was that Mina was nowhere to be seen as he headed out to find Aizawa's office.

His mind wandered to contemplating over the composition of Class 1-A, and how they all seemed like promising heroes. He could tell that he had been put in a class of exceptional classmates after just one day of session, with various quirks and personalities that he got some impressions of in his brief observance of everyone. There was the cute, cheerful, and honest gravity girl, Uraraka Ochako; the vivacious, intelligent, and lovely acidic heroine, Ashido Mina; the earnest, intelligent, and serious engine hero, Iida Tenya; the timid, polite, and over-expressive super strength hero, Midoriya Izuku; the straightforward, laid-back, and helpful frog heroine, Asui Tsuyu; the arrogant, brutal, and aggressive explosion hero, Bakugo Katsuki; the boisterous, out-going, and honest hardening hero, Kirishima Eijiro; and the level-headed, intelligent, and dedicated creation heroine, Yaoyorozu Momo, were the only ones that Katashi could gather any substantial impressions on in the first session. For the most part, he was probably too distracted by these students to learn anything about the others, with the exception of Todoroki Shoto, who was all around aloof and distant from everyone else. But it was only the first day of school, so there was plenty of time to interact with everyone and come together as a class. With the exception of Bakugo and Todoroki, everyone acted kindly and friendly to each other, even showing support their goals of becoming pro heroes. It was also evident that he was gathering a social group around himself, including Ochako, Mina, and Izuku, with Tsuyu and Tenya being drawn in by Izuku.

Katashi knocked politely as he arrived at his destination. "Enter," Aizawa's unenergetic voice commanded from inside. He opened the door, entered, and closed it behind him to find his homeroom teacher looking over lesson plans on his desk.

He knew there was no point in expecting the teacher to ask him to sit, so he jumped directly into the meeting, "You wanted to see me, sensei?"

As expected, Shota did not bother with any formalities, "There's something different about you, Katou. What the hell are you?" he demanded curtly. "You noticed my attempt to erase your quirk and Izuku's with some sort of precognitive sense and you even stopped me from erasing your quirk. Tell me, what sort of power is the quirk 'Avatar?'"

Straight to the heart of the discussion then, no surprise with Aizawa's attitude towards wasting time. "I can't tell any more than my ability to control the four elements, I have to keep some secrets," he answered, obviously irritating the teacher. "Let's just say that my powers and their origins are beyond your reach or that of anyone who would like to control or take them."

Shota conceded the point with a shrug before moving on, "Don't we all have our secrets," he admitted, taking on an almost friendly attitude, only for it to be suddenly replaced with a face of seriousness. "After observing you today and during your exams, I can tell that you have matured beyond what is normal for your age, so I believe you can handle this information. This is intel that I've dug up from the criminal underworld, but your performance at the exams have caught the attention of some unsavoury villains. U.A. will do anything within its power to keep you safe, myself included, but you need to be on your guard, these villains might try to recruit you or force your conscription with blackmail."

He was not that surprised that someone would catch on to how powerful he was and would try to get control of it, but he was disheartened that it was happening so soon. "I understand, sir. This isn't the first time someone has tried to exploit me for my quirk, so I think I know what to look for," Katashi replied in a sturdy voice.

Aizawa almost looked saddened by this information, "Go on, get out of here, you have a life of youth to live," the teacher sighed. He stopped the young Avatar once more with a raised hand before he left "Also, be careful of your relationships with Miss Uraraka and Miss Ashido, they are still only fifteen and you're almost eighteen," he smirked. "Don't think I didn't notice how they both acted around you or how you acted around them. I may not disapprove of it, but that's mostly because I don't care unless you do anything to hurt them or hamper their careers as pro heroes. However, some parents are not as accepting as me, so tread lightly and know the consequences of what you are getting into."

Katashi blushed profusely with no idea of how to respond such an assumption, though he was not wrong about the Avatar's feelings for the two girls. The teacher did not wait for an answer for a response, he winked with his odd grin and shooed the student out of his office. Aizawa liked the kid, he was a logical person with outstanding maturity and potential to become a great hero, even greater than All Might and his successor, Midoriya Izuku. He turned back to the lesson plans for the rest of the week, and he suddenly had a great idea for testing the potential of Katashi's powers in All Might's test tomorrow.

~Elemental~

Katashi, still red from the last part of his discussion with Shota, was caught off guard by the pink blur that jumped him the moment he stepped out of the school's front gate. "All mine now!" Mina declared with glee as she clung to the shocked Avatar.

"Wha-What are you doing here?" he managed to ask through the pink heroine's tight grasp around his chest.

She loosened her grip and stood back on her own feet but kept both her hands on his shoulders, "Well, I thought, since we don't have any homework tonight and we don't really hang out as much as I think we should, we should go to the arcade today, just you and me. A date if you want," she explained as lively as ever.

"A d-date?" he stammered. It felt like he was never going to get a break.

"Yeah, come on, cutie, let's go see how good you are at Dance Dance Revolution," Mina took his hand and abruptly took him down the street without asking, though was planning on saying yes.

She adeptly guided him through the maze of streets, showing her years of experience in navigating the same streets. It was a new view of the city to him and it was amazing how different it was from his old world: vibrant signs and building everywhere, lively crowds of people going about their business freely, and all the chakra he felt from the people that was free of the stress of war. Sure, this world may have its scars from the past and plenty conflicts, but a certain positivity hung in the air, like they knew there was danger around every corner but they were ready to face it.

They finally arrived at a lively shop lit up with bright signs and lights advertising games, but inside the shop was filled with an uncountable number of gaming consoles and dozens of teens playing at the games. There had been video games in his old world, but there were never large locations for children to gather and play the games like this arcade.

"Let's see what moves you got, Nishi-kun," Mina proclaimed her challenge as she dragged him over to a dancing game.

"Challenge accepted, Pinky! Get ready to have your butt kicked!" he countered with a laugh.

"Heh, 'Pinky,' that's a good idea for a hero name," she contemplated as she fed a few coins into the game slot.

They played the best of five games and Katashi did pretty well for his first time, but he was nowhere near the level of skill that Mina had as she won the gold for the match, beating him by a longshot in all five games. To be fair, they danced to fast paced songs that he had never heard before: he would to invest some time later to discover the popular music of this world and see what he liked.

The next hour and a half passed in a flash as they skipped from game to game, both having fun and trying to earn as many tickets from the machines as possible (Mina said that if they earned enough they could turn them in for prizes at the desk). He never knew he could have so much fun with video games, and Mina playing alongside him made it even more of a blast. Despite how many tickets it gave away, Katashi moved on to the next game everytime they approached one of the shooting games; they terrified him even though they may have had inaccurate and over-exaggerated animations. The pink heroine took note of all the times he flinched whenever shots and explosions rang out from the closest shooting game being played.

They eventually burned through all the Yen they had brought, so they took their tickets to desk in the back that was cluttered with cheap prizes and handed them over to the employee for their rewards. Mina chose a pair of colourful headphones styled with caricatures of some vocaloid while Katashi picked an interesting red device called a yo-yo and some chocolates for them to share. "You may be good at arcade games, but you ain't got nothing on me when it comes to Dance Dance Revolution," the girl recounted as she popped what was called a Hershey Kiss in her mouth.

"Perhaps, but how could I compete against a pro like you? Your feet were flying across the platform like they had minds of their own!" he tried to shove off how poor he did in comparison to her.

"Oh, how sweet of you. I've just had years of practice and have spent more money on that game than I should have," she blushed. They continued down the surprisingly empty street in silence for a few minutes, neither sure how to continue the conversation. As Katashi began to try and break the silence, Mina suddenly grabbed him by the tie of his uniform, pulled him down to her level, and planted a kiss on his lips. It was pretty brief, but it was enough to feel the passion before she pulled back and let him go.

"I… Er… Was… I mean-" he started as a stammering mess.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry, I just couldn't hold myself back," she tried to explain with waving hands and dark pink cheeks.

"That's not the problem, I liked it. It was just kind of unexpected," he responded in a similar manner, reminiscing on the taste of her lips.

"You did?" the embarrassed girl suddenly stopped.

"Yeah," he scratched the back of his head in a flustered manner.

"Does this mean we're…" she started off.

"If you want to…" he finished off, but no sooner than a second later he was engulfed in another hug with a kiss, this one lasting about a minute.

"Alright, lover-boy," Mina finally let go, savouring the memory of the moment they shared. "We should get home, it's getting late."

"Agreed, and we probably shouldn't stand in the middle of a sidewalk, even if it's empty," he consented absently, his mind stuck on the thought of her. "Mind if I walk you home?"

"Sure, only if you text me when you get home afterwards," she winked with her vivacious grin. She continued to hold his hand all the way back to her apartment, stealing glances at each other every so often.

~Elemental~

"So, this is the person of interest that you and our master have been rattled about recently," the shadowy man in the suit asked the only other person in the bar that was holding up a picture for him to see. It was a picture of tall European boy with black hair and a nose that looked like it had been broken and improperly set.

"Yes, we first saw him during the U.A. entrance exam," replied the unkempt man with a single hand covering his face. "He has immense powers stronger than anything we've seen before. We need to recruit him or capture him as soon as possible. He will be a good pawn in our game." He scratched at his cheek absently.

"I will see what we can do, but if he is as powerful as you say, then it may take some time and a lot of effort," the shadow informed. The other man nodded. It was time to set things in motion.

A/N: Wow, I wasn't expecting to get another chapter done until the end of term, but here I am with the continuation of the story. There might be more flashbacks if you all think they need to be done, but they are done for now. Before any of you kill me, yes, Mina is very OCish, that's because I feel she is a better character like this but I won't make her completely different. Please review to let me know how you liked the chapter and if you think something needs to happen. Don't forget to Follow/Favourite if you liked it! Until Next Time

~Grandmaster Robin~