A/N: The title is edited from the "Bizarre! Gran Torino Appears" episode. ALSO, Tokoyami will not be in this part of the arc because the manga describes his experience as one where he didn't learn. Fear not! Hawks will still take Tokoyami for work study because that's a significant part of their relationship building. Still undecided as to where Ai will do her work studies, but that's for a future chapter.

Kyushu is the third largest island in Japan, an appropriate location considering where Ai was interning this week. It was bizarre to finally do something alone for once, but she shook off the longing of her childhood friends and took a deep breath, exhaling sharply before entering the gigantic building of Hawks' Hero Agency. The front desk of the lobby held two secretaries, one of which greeted her only with a glance before returning to typing. Neat, efficient, and cold. Those were Ai's first impressions of this place.

"Ai Shuzenji," the secretary said, "we've been expecting you. Hawks is waiting on the top floor for your arrival."

"H-Hai," Ai said, giving a bow that wasn't acknowledged. "Arigato!" On the elevator ride up, Ai couldn't help how tightly she was gripping the handle to her costume's case. The feeling of not belonging only enhanced the longer that she was here. She didn't know what to expect, but she was ready to take on any challenge thrown her way. With the ding of the elevator doors, Ai bit down on her bottom lip and entered.

The atmosphere changed drastically.

Unlike the serenity of the first floor, everyone was bustling in a frenzy. Ai was almost knocked over several times on her short walk to the middle of the room, where a majestic being with red wings hovered, feet never touching the ground. Employees went up to him and left within seconds, but he handled every one of their concerns with precise language. There were even malfunctions with several machines around the office, all of which were handled with various lengths of separated feathers. His ability to successfully multitask was insane.

"Um, excuse me." Ai's voice was drowned out by the crowd despite her close proximity to him. The overwhelming environment made her dizzy. "Hawks-" A bump to her shoulder caused the case to fall from Ai's hands, and she clenched her fists in annoyance. Her filter was temporarily disabled. "Excuse me!" The abrupt change in volume caught everyone's attention. It felt as if time had slowed significantly as the hero turned midair, fully facing the girl with an off guard expression. Only when she exaggerated her bow did the notorious smirk return to his face. "My name is Ai Shuzenji, and I'm here to intern for you!"

"I appreciate your attention now," Ai said, "but isn't this a bit… much?" The entire top floor had been evacuated albeit the pro hero and student who still stood in the middle of the room. She shifted her weight between legs, uncomfortable underneath the stare of someone of his renown, especially because he was still adrift.

"Not at all." Hawks finally allowed his feet to touch the ground, though the height difference was still large. He gave Ai a cheeky grin upon his next comment. "Especially for my cute little intern." Her face heated impulsively, but the shift in Hawks' demeanor kept her thoughts from spiraling. "Besides, this won't take long anyways. I just didn't want anyone around when we discuss."

"Discuss the internship?"

The smile dropped from Hawks' face, and his eyes spoke nothing but business. "USJ." The acronym drew out a ragged breath from Ai as she subconsciously stepped away from him. "I've been tracking the League of Villains for a while now, and I wanted to have a conversation with one of the students from your class about the incident." Even with the lighthearted grin he gave her, Ai could still feel how heavy her heart pounded with the recollection of past events. "From what I know, you were in the middle of it, and even though Endeavor's son tried to hide it during your battle, it was clear that you're facing the repercussions of the leader's quirk." Ai's gaze dropped from him and to the ground. She felt nauseous.

"Is that…" Ai's voice trailed as she gritted her teeth. "Is that the only reason why you asked for me?"

Hawks' resolve was unfaltering. "Oh, if you're worried about getting hours at an agency, then don't be." He casually waved a dismissive hand, unconcerned with Ai's growing frustration. "You can follow the employees around this week, though they normally get to the crime scene once I'm done." He shrugged as he continued to speak. "Employees, interns, sidekicks… At the end of the day, they're all too slow to keep up with me." Ai looked back up at him with a hardened stare, but he couldn't help but sigh sympathetically at the sight of her tears. However, she wasn't sad – she was furious. "Anyways, my questions regarding USJ-"

"No." Her filter was gone.

"Pardon?" His eyebrows furled in amusement.

"I said no!" Ai wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands, refusing to shed another tear in front of him. "If all you wanted was information of that stupid attack, then you should have just contacted the school directly." As she looked at him, her face was red from her emotions, and her fists were shaking at her sides. "I want to be a hero. I am going to be a hero!" Her volume lessened as she regained her composure, but it didn't make her words any less strong. "You're amazing, Hawks, and I aspire to be as great as you one day… But right now, you're just wasting my time."

Hawks was quiet as he turned. He walked over to the costume case on the ground, widening his wingspan and commanding one of his feathers to lift it off the ground. "It has to be you." Ai flinched at the cold tone he used to state a familiar sentence. When he glanced at her, there was no more compassion in his expression. "That's what you told your friend during the obstacle course." As he fully faced her, he began to fly. He crossed his arms over his chest as both he and the case hovered. "Those aren't the words of an aspiring hero, let alone a great one. If you want to show me that you're worth more than a couple of questions-" His parted feather brought Ai's costume to her, placing it at her feet. "Then prove it."

Ai stared between the case and the hero before reaching down to grab it. Once she looked back at him, her face only held one thing. Determination. "If I win, then we're going to be tied at the hip this entire week. I'm going to learn everything I can from you!"

"Sure." With a condescending smile, Hawks lowered himself and held out a hand to the girl. "But if you lose, then you answer all my questions and stay at HQ with the cleaning crew. No complaints." Ai gulped. It was nerve wracking to hold her own against someone of Hawks' stature. However, her hate for being scared overthrew her fear. Her desire to get better overthrew her anger. She has to do whatever it takes to keep moving forward, and that's why she shook his hand.

"Deal."

When Ai reappeared from the restroom, Hawks' sudden exclamation made her flinch. "Wow, your costume looks so cute, Ai-chan!" He sat at a desk while he waited for her to finish changing, with his cheek against the hand that he propped up on his elbow. His smile was coy as he noticed how she used her cape to hug herself, and he continued his act. "It's a shame they didn't let you wear that during the sports festival, you would have stolen the show-" Ai slammed her hands down on the desk, cheeks flushed but jaw clenched.

"What do I have to do?"

Hawks' smile widened as he stood from his seat. "Straight to the point, huh?" Within seconds, he was in the air again, the consequential wind blowing Ai's cape back. "It's simple. I'll give you ten minutes, and if you can successfully use your quirk and grab me, then you win."

Ai tilted her head to the side, hesitant at how easy the task sounded. "That's it? Like a game of tag?"

His smile was unnerving as he stared down at her with a nod. "Yeah, but it'll be pretty hard considering…" Hawks held up a seed, pinched between his index finger and thumb. "You don't have any way to attack." Ai's eyes widened as she realized that her belt had been emptied, and a multitude of feathers began surrounding her. "Cell manipulation, was it?" Hawks placed the seed into his pant pocket with the rest and locked his fingers behind his head, suspending himself in a laying position. "You were lucky to have so much access to nature during the festival, but all the plants in here are either in my pocket or on the opposite ends of the room. Even if you could make it past my feathers-" His smirk made Ai grit her teeth. "Will you be able to get me in time?"

The challenge began.

"Why do you think you couldn't win at the sports festival?"

Ai immediately booked it for the potted plant at one corner of the office. Hawks merely yawned as he watched her, letting his little feathers take over. She was taken off her feet as they flew and stuck themselves underneath her cape, lifting her towards the ceiling.

"All that bark but no bite," Hawks whined, watching as Ai squirmed against the collar of her hood. He flew forward, suspending himself upside down until their faces leveled. "Hey, are you sure you don't want to give up now? Maybe if you answer my questions sooner, I'll let you tag along on a puppy rescue." With a frustrated growl, Ai removed one hand that was clamped against the material of her cape to slap him. Hawks retreated with ease. "Whoa! We're swinging now, huh?"

"Because Ice King is too strong?" The glare that Bakugo gave Ai made her want to take back what she said. They were at the park early today, considering it was the night before school would start again. The two were in the middle of the empty playground, doing dynamic stretches before their actual training session.

Ai slipped through her cape, bracing her body as she landed and rolled onto the ground. She was almost there, but she stopped in her tracks as something zoomed by and stung her side. One of Hawks' feathers cut her bodysuit at the waist, and she barely had time to register what had happened when they all began speeding by. Ai activated her quirk to avoid anymore injuries upon impact, but it was all she could do to not get cut again.

"You shouldn't assume that I won't hit back," Hawks taunted. "What's wrong?" The separated feathers combined, charging in from behind Ai and knocking her down onto her hands and knees. "I thought you were going to beat me?" He glanced at the clock on the wall, a smug smile on his face as he continued counting down.

Six minutes left.

"No, you idiot." Bakugo's voice was cold but he's learned to control his volume when teaching Ai. Somewhat. "You only had one move." The realization hit Ai like a truck as she recalled her battle with Todoroki. "And you made it stupidly obvious, too. You let Half and Half see every time you reached out for the ground. Because you were so desperate for more power, it showed."

Ai ducked underneath a desk, an action that was responded with a 'tsk' by Hawks. "Even if you hide, my feathers will-" His eyes widened as the table was sent flying through the air, dodging it just in time as he sent reinforcements from his wings to catch it before it hit the ceiling. She's strong, he thought. Ai had her back against the ground, foot stuck out after she had sent her quirk through her leg and kicked the desk at him. She wasted no time as she rolled over and grabbed the leg of a nearby chair, launching the furniture at the hero once again. "Oy! That's dangerous!" He caught each and every one of them as Ai slowly but surely continued her pursuit backwards.

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Ai mirrored Bakugo's side lunges as they continued speaking. "If I didn't have my shoes from the obstacle course, I would have been totally screwed."

"Use your brain, damn it!" A vein was visible on the side of Bakugo's head with Ai's continued pessimism. "After all these years, you barely found out about this stupid garden power, and now it's the only thing you rely on. That's pathetic!" After they stood up straight, Ai couldn't look at Bakugo directly, even when she felt his presence getting closer. "Why do you think I decided to train you?"

"I…" Her hands were clenched at her sides, scrambling her brain for a plausible explanation that never came. She felt defeated as the nails that dug into her palms released their grip. "I don't know."

Almost every piece of furniture was floating midair now, and Hawks pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance as his shortened wingspan kept him afloat. Two of his feathers had secured each of Ai's wrist, suspending her just above the potted plant in the corner of the room.

"Are we done here?" Hawks shook his head at the angry expression that Ai held. "Will you behave now?" The girl exhaled in what Hawks assumed was a seemingly defeated sigh. However, his eyes narrowed slightly as she held her glare.

"I still have," Ai said, turning her fingers and gripping onto the feathers that held her wrists, "one minute left."

There was a sudden flick against Ai's forehead that made her wince, and she looked up at Bakugo with a pout. "You kept up with me." Bakugo wasn't one to spew nonsense, but Ai still couldn't believe what she was hearing. "And you kept keeping up with me, no matter how many times I kicked your ass." He grabbed her wrist, bringing her hand up in between them and shaking it. "This isn't your strength." With his other hand, Bakugo closed Ai's fingers into a fist and placed it against her heart. "This is."

Ai activated her quirk. The power that surged through her fingertips enlarged the feathers and simultaneously made them fall with the added gravity. She kept her grip on them tight, and as soon as her feet hit the ground, Ai spun her body. The backlash of the momentum of the wings' wind propelled Hawks backwards, unable to slow down because of how short his wingspan had become.

She advanced, and it was in that moment that she could hear Bakugo's words.

"Keep going."

Her feet jumped off against each item that was still held in the air, and as she launched herself towards Hawks, the hero gritted his teeth and began flying higher. "Sorry kid, but we're done here." It was his intent to get out of Ai's reach, but a tug on his leg made his eyes widen. Hawks hadn't seen it, but before her ascent, Ai had sent the potted plant's vines through the ground. They reached up and connected to the seeds in his pocket, grappling onto his lower extremity in the process. He was momentarily stuck in his spot, and as he watched Ai's approaching figure, Hawks couldn't help but sigh with a small smile. She got me.

All Ai had to do now was tag Hawks, and she would win. However, she didn't expect him to drop everything. The furniture collided against the ground and shook the entire floor, but it gave him his power back. His returning wings cut her only hold on him, and just as her fingers were about to graze the material of his shirt, he retreated. Ai's breath caught in her throat as her body began to fall. She reached out to create a last minute, vined cushion. The impact knocked the wind out of her as she remained on the ground, turning onto her side and coughing as she clutched her wrist. She had taken most of the landing onto her hand.

Hawks landed in front of her, kneeling down and sighing as she sat up to face him. "That was incredibly reckless, you know." His chastising was met with a quivering lip as Ai dropped her gaze to the ground. Her oncoming despair was stopped, however, when she felt a sudden weight on her head. She looked up to the hero who was petting her. "But you exceeded my expectations."

Ai couldn't help the tears that cascaded down her cheeks in response to his genuine smile. "W-What are you saying?"

"Congratulations, Ai." Hawks helped her up onto her feet, bringing forth her cape and wrapping it back around her shoulders. "You win."

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