Their Hero Academia

by Zylly

Twenty-five years after Izuki Midoriya and the rest of Class 1-A first set foot in the halls of U.A., their children begin their own hero academia. What adventures and challenges await the newest generation of future heroes? Can they possibly live up to the standard their parents set? Will they put Aizawa into an early grave? Or will this be the most Plus Ultra class of them all?

85. Chapter 77: Kids Will be Kids

Their Hero Academia – Chapter 77: Kids Will be Kids

It didn't take long for Kenta to find Bioshock. He was talking at the first aid station that had been set up with another Hero that Kenta didn't recognize. Bioshock had explained early that, while he couldn't turn back time so that an injury had never happened in the first place, like Doc Clock's Rewind, his Cell Activation could speed up the normal recovery process of routine injuries (Provided you didn't have type AB blood.). An explosion in the near distance reminded Kenta that this meant The Rookies could keep working him and his classmates right up until the point of exhaustion, however much punishment they took. He swallowed as he approached them.

"Uhm, Boost Rush told me to report to you, sir."

"Hi there!" Bioshock turned away from his conversation and then gestured to the other hero. "This is Bezoar. His Quirk, Tongue Tank, is also tied to what he eats, so I wanted to use it for a demonstration."

Bezoar raised a hand in greeting. "Hey kid. How's it going?" He was tall, though not on the order of All Might or even Boost Rush, but more like the size of Kenta's father. He was more rounded at all the edges though. He had muted facial features, hardly any presence of a nose, and his hair was brown and fluffy. He was also somewhat pudgy for a Pro Hero; not to the extent that it had to be the result of his Quirk like Fat Gum, but just a normal heavyset person.

Kenta raised a hand in return, a little confused but paying attention. This guy must have been busy elsewhere so far, as he didn't remember Shinso gushing about him previously. His classmate's Hero Worship (Heh. He'd have tell Takuma that one.) was useful for identifying Pros. "I'm... good."

"Okay, so, here's his Quirk being used a couple of days ago, after improper nutritional-" Bioshock began.

"You mean eating like a /normal/ person." Bezoar cut him off. "Nobody likes your kale and oat smoothies, Shimano."

"-after improper nutritional intake." Bioshock continued, turning his head away from his coworker indignantly. He turned a tablet he'd been holding towards Kenta, and a video played. Kenta watched as the Bezoar in the video unhinged his jaw and his tongue transformed into a tank cannon. He fired some sort of projectile that shattered a large rock to bits. "Not bad, but now, after a meal that was centered around iron and calcium content..." He turned back to Bezoar.

The heavy-set man smirked. He then dropped down to brace himself on all fours as he activated his Quirk and took aim at a nearby boulder. Bioshock covered his ears and called out "Firing range in use!" just moments before the shot was released. There was a roar of air as the projectile took off. This time, the rock didn't shatter, but the one about a hundred yards behind it DID, as the first one now had a neatly created hole in it. Bioshock looked smug as Bezoar brushed himself off and stood back up. "Thank you. You can go back to the long-range group." Bezoar gave him a brief nod and trundled off.

"...I don't mean to be rude, sir, and I get that was impressive, but I'm not sure what it has to do with me." Kenta furrowed his brow. That was about as far from his Quirk as Suneater's had been. All three involved eating, but there wasn't much more to link them.

"So," Bioshock said, "let's start with this? What's your Quirk?"

Kenta blinked slowly. "It's officially registered as "Appetite." I can eat just about anything, whether or not it's really food."

Bioshock drew himself up, grinning. "I studied your medical file from Eri—excuse me, Doc Clock. There's more to your Quirk than just 'eating stuff'. You're able to intake /way/ more than a human normally can, with no apparent ill effect, with highly efficient processing since you're not the size of a small house, and more than that-" He moved forward, clearly becoming excited now, and took Kenta's face in his hands, pulling his jaw open and examining him. "Your teeth are practically indestructible, and the interior of your mouth, esophagus, and connected digestive elements are similarly impervious."

Kenta could swear he'd seen the same gleam in the Iida twins eyes when they started talking about some piece of technology. "I see..." He managed to awkwardly respond around the fingers pulling at his mouth, before Bioshock finally calmed down somewhat, turning to gesture at the table behind him.

"What this means, is that your body is capable of incredibly fast absorption of consumed materials, as well as withstanding certain things that would be... well, let's say /volatile/. We're going to test your responses to things to elevate your adrenal levels, blood oxygen, and other measurable statistics... before we move on to the fun stuff." He grinned, and Kenta wasn't sure if he should be scared or not.

"I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm just going to lie here and be dead."

Chihiro just sighed. Despite the theatrics, Mika had a point. They were all pretty much exhausted from having spent the day training. There'd been a short break for lunch, but it was been almost non-stop training otherwise. She'd spent considerable time unleashing powerful discharges of electricity, stopping just before she reached the point where it started to affect her brain. Well, almost. One particularly bad discharge had left her a sputtering mess until Bioshock had applied his Quirk and accelerated her recovery. That had been embarrassing. She'd been pushing her limits for a while now and hadn't had any issues with blowing out her brains. Of course, she'd also been relying more and more on the Support equipment built into her costume as well, making use of the different tools and outlets for regulating her electricity. Her costume, along with those of a few others who made more extensive use of Support devices, was here, currently stored away until the Rookies decided it was time to train with it.

Maybe she'd been relying on it too much. There was no shame, she knew, in using whatever it took to be her best and most effective self. But what was she going to do if there was an emergency and she didn't have access to that? It was something she was going to have to chew on.

Of course, Mika had to go and try and be extra during dinner…

"Hey!' Anime Fukidashi shouted, pulling her plate out of the way. The plate and food somehow turned animated as soon as she touched them. Chihiro was making a concentrated effort not to think about it. Fukidashi was just confusing at the best of times. "If you're going to be dead, watch the horns!"

Slowly, Mika raised her head back up off the table. "Fine, I'm not dead. I haven't made a will yet anyway. Who knows what might happen to my porn collection if I don't make a plan for it!"

That got a booming laugh out of Yoarashi. "Oh, babe," he laughed. "You really are too much!" The giant boy somehow managed to still have entirely too much energy. "I would be happy to take possession of your collection should anything unfortunate happen!"

Chihiro stared down at her plate. "Can we not talk about porn while we're eating?" She still couldn't believe Mika had somehow managed to have her giant boyfriend at the summer training camp. The odds of that were so astronomical that she wouldn't have been able to figure them out even if she'd been good at math.

Not that she had any right to complain, of course. Her own not-quite boyfriend was here too. Her not-quite boyfriend who was already making her jewelry and who had all but promised that she'd want to kiss him again.

Which she didn't. Just to be clear.

Yet.

"Fine," Mika whined. "Just be a downer, Chi."

She rolled her eyes at that. "Right. So sorry to bring down the mood."

"See that you are."

"I do have to say, Mika," Fukidashi said, "you really hit the jackpot with Yoarashi here. Especially compared to Monoma. It's just like I Upgraded My Boyfriend and I Never Looked Back!"

"You do realize I'm sitting right here, don't you?" Monoma asked irritably, from where he was sitting next to Chihiro. She could understand his irritation at the comparison. Yoarashi had at least a foot of height on him and a considerable amount of muscle as well. And nobody liked being considered a poorer version of someone else. She felt inadequate enough compared to some of her friends (usually Mika) sometimes.

"That's what makes it more fun," Fukidashi said, rubbing her hands together. "You're so easy to rile up, Monoma."

"Oh, please, do not tease Monoma!" Yoarashi boomed. He looked over at the smaller boy. "But I want you to know, Monoma, that as Mika's current boyfriend, I hold you, her ex, no ill will! I hope we can be friends!"

Monoma held his gaze for a long moment, blinking slowly. "Friends," he said, utterly deadpan. "Sure. Right."

Yoarashi let out another laugh, completely blind to Monoma's sarcasm. Or possibly being deliberately obtuse. She wasn't one hundred percent sure. "Holy Hurricanes, thank goodness! I was afraid you would hate me!"

Monoma's jaw clenched for a moment before he responded. "Of course not," he said, still deadpan. Yoarashi still didn't notice, but Fukidashi was stifling a laugh. Even Mika was rolling her eyes.

"So, Shiro," Mika said, likely trying to prevent a fight, "you look mostly dead yourself."

"Oh, thanks," he snapped.

"No," Mika said, and here her tone shifted to something more sympathetic, "I'm serious. You look beat to hell. Training taking that much out of you?"

Monoma frowned. Chihiro had to admit, Mika was right. They were all exhausted, but he looked like he'd been through an extra kind of hell. "My asshole cousin," he said. "He takes particular delight in beating the stuffing out of me. 'Evasion practice,' he calls it."

Chihiro frowned. She gave him a slight nudge with one of her Cords. "Is that all it is?" she asked. He sounded pretty defeated again.

"Oh, no, never enough for him," Monoma groaned. "He had to get all psychological on me too. Telling me I don't have to prove anything. As if that was going to do anything but make me try harder. Or that I need to stop being jealous of people with greater raw power."

There was an awkward pause. Mika gave Fukidashi a stern look that silenced anything she might have added to the conversation. Yoarashi seemed completely oblivious.

"It just makes it worse that he's right," Monoma said, causing Mika to breathe a sigh of relief. "I just wish he wasn't so damn smug about it."

"You know what you need, 'Ro?" Mika asked. And now it was Chihiro's turn to groan. No good ever came of Mika starting a sentence with "you know what you need." She had plenty of personal experience getting drawn into crazy schemes when that happened.

"Extensive psychological counseling?" Fukidashi asked.

"A distraction," Mika said. She pointed across the cafeteria, where Koda was sitting and talking with Aoyama and Shoji. "We're going to get Koda and Aoyama together. Operation: Summer Love."

"Now I know why you didn't invite Tetsutetsu to sit with us," Chihiro said. "She'd have put a stop to this." She really needed to start hanging around with Izumi more. This kind of thing never happened with her.

"You okay?" Isamu asked. "You've been staring at that table for a while now."

Kana shook her head, her orange ponytail swaying. "I'm not sure. I know Mika and Fukidashi are up to something. And they're probably looping Monoma, Kaminari, and Yoarashi in. This has disaster written all over it."

"Do we need to do something about it?" Midoriya asked. "Mineta wrangling is actually on the official list of Class Representative duties."

Isamu was pretty sure that was a joke. Given how Kana laughed at it and that Midoriya was smiling, it probably was. Probably.

"Eh, we can probably let it play out," Kana said. "She and Monoma will mostly cancel each other out. Mika's 'zany schemes' usually backfire anyway." There was the slightest hint of doom in her voice, like someone who's decided to step out of the way of a runaway train, but knew that train was still going to hit someone.

"Yeah, I guess," Midoriya said.

"She does occasionally give good advice," Sora Iida, sitting next to him, said. "She did suggest the bikini on our trip to Todoroki's resort. You did enjoy that, did you not?"

Midoriya went several shades of red, fast enough that Isamu was concerned he might combust. "Ah, yeah," Midoriya said when he could speak. "That was… good."

"What about you, Shinso?" Isamu asked, in-between bites of food, to give Midoriya time to recover. It wasn't anything special, served from the Rookies' mess hall, but there was plenty of it. Bioshock had apparently designed the menu to provide them with the maximum amount of nutrition and energy, though he was pretty sure he'd heard Vanish Veil refer to it as 'health food junk.' He looked over at the purple-haired boy. "You doing all right?"

Shinso was drinking from a steaming cup of tea that Bioshock had provided him with. Even with the protections his Quirk offered him, the kid could only scream so much before it started hurting his throat. He nodded and flashed a thumbs' up, being under instructions not to talk until he was back in training. Given how much he liked to talk, it had to be killing him.

Isamu gave him a thumb's up in return. "So, Midoriya," he said, "is Ground Zero always that scary?"

"What?" Midoriya asked, surprised. He quickly shook his head. "Oh, oh no. He's not usually scary. He's just intense. But really… this is him being pretty sedate." Beside him, Shinso's head was bobbing like one of those novelty drinking birds.

Isamu gulped. If what they'd seen so far—shouting instructions, generally giving off scary vibes, arguing with and insulting Aizawa, Super-Ball, and the Rookies—was sedate, he wasn't sure he wanted to see intense. At one point, Ground Zero's argument with Vanish Veil had gotten so intense, he'd been certain they were going to come to blows. Only Bioshock's intervention had staved off violence.

"Relax," Kana assured him. "I'm friends with Katsumi, remember? At least twenty percent of all that… Ground Zero-ness… is just an act."

He shook his head. "Why am I not as reassured by that as I'd like?"

A large shadow fell over the table and Isamu turned to see the Shiketsu girl, Tatsuma. She was, in a word, imposing, with powerful arms and legs. But the most imposing thing about her didn't seem to be raw physical might. Instead, she just seemed to possess an aura of power and menace that was impossible to ignore. He gulped.

"Oh, hi," Midoriya said. "Do you want to sit with us?" He waved in Kana's general direction. "I'm Toshinori Midoriya, and this is Kana Tetsutetsu, we're the Class Reps for Class 1-A and 1-B. And these are my friends, Sora Iida, Isamu Haimawari and Shota Shinso."

Shinso perked up and started to open his mouth, but then seemed to remember he wasn't supposed to talk. He seemed to settle for giving a friendly wave.

Tatsuma looked down at them, food tray in hand. "I know who you are," she said, with a gaze that seemed especially fixated on Midoriya. "Some of you are practically royalty to some people."

Midoriya swallowed hard. "It's, ah, it's really not like that…"

"I am not accusing you of asking for it or even enjoying it, but let's not pretend it doesn't exist," she said in a neutral tone. After a moment she sat down. "My name is Chie Tatsuma, class representative of Shiketsu 1A."

It had taken nearly most of the first term, but Isamu had gotten used to living and training with the children of some of the world's greatest Heroes. But it didn't change the fact that Midoriya, Iida, and Kana were all the children of highly ranked Heroes. All of them had a parent in the Top Ten even. Shinso's parents were Underground Heroes, of course, but still well known within the right circles.

"Looking forward to working with you," Kana said, diplomatically.

Shinso reached over and frantically patted Midoriya's arm. When Midoriya gave him his attention, Shinso made several complicated gestures with his hands, first pointing at Tatsuma, then making some kind of gesture that ended with him flapping his hands like wings.

Somehow, Midoriya seemed to figure it out. "Oh!" he said. "Right, thanks, Shota. Tatsuma… are you related to Ryukyu?"

The Dragoon Hero? Now there was a name Isamu hadn't heard in a long time… He vaguely recalled she'd been a rising star for a quite a few years, before slowly falling out of favor.

For a moment, a small half-smile crossed the tall girl's face. "Yes. She's my mother." She looked at the other students, all of whom were children of the generation after Ryukyu's time. "Mother was keen to not have children until she retired."

There were a few Pro-Heroes like that, Isamu realized. If he remembered the Sports Festival right, Vlad King had a daughter in Class 1-C. And the Shiketsu students also included Pixie-Bob's adopted son.

"I thought so," Midoriya said. "Mom was always sorry they didn't get to work together more."

The smile grew by a small bit. "The feeling was mutual. I remember sitting in the den watching the news as a child. Uravity had just rescued a large number of people from a boating accident. Mother looked at me and said "I knew that girl was going to be great."

Midoriya nodded and smiled at that. "She does a lot of great work. We're all proud of her."

"Both admirable women," Iida agreed. "My uncle also worked with Ryukyu a few times. He always spoke very highly of her. The youngest woman ever to reach the Top Ten. She likely inspired many up and coming female Heroes."

The moment the ranking system was brought up, Chie's eyes flashed into a gold, slit-pupiled shape. A tearing of wood could be heard. Chie's hand had dug into the table, causing the small area to splinter. When she spoke again, it was in a tone of cool anger.

"The Ranking System is a slap in the face to every Pro who takes on the role of hero. It claims to give you something to aspire to, when in fact it promotes inferiority in everyone who is not considered part of the elite. My mother spent her whole career thinking she wasn't doing enough. Thinking she didn't deserve the things she earned." She took a deep breath, then let it out, traces of smoke escaping her nostrils. "You said it in innocence, so I will not hold it against you, but kindly please do not bring up that travesty of a system in my presence again."

It had taken nearly everything Isamu had not to jump when Tatsuma had splintered the table. He must have been getting better. Then again, compared to Kirishima-Bakugo's explosive rage, Tatsuma's cool anger was much less harsh on the nerves. But she was still definitely scary, just in her own way.

"My apologies," Iida said.

"I can't say I agree," Midoriya said. "Dad always said the rankings were mostly to give people a little bit of a show, remind them they've got people watching out for them. Make things a little less scary if there was something there that regular people could get invested in. There's people who took it too seriously, like Endeavor, but most Heroes aren't after the rankings. Dad bounces back and forth from the top spot with Uncle Mirio all the time, and it's no big deal for him."

Isamu winced. He liked Midoriya a lot, and he knew Deku was about as humble a person as could exist, especially considering his power and ranking, but he had to know that wasn't how it looked from the outside...

Chie slowly rose from the table. Her eyes remained reptilian in countenance, and a slow trickle of smoke exhaled from Chie's nostrils. A definite hint of sulfur could be smelled in the area.

"Really? Back and forth to the number two spot? My, what a fall from grace. Has he ever had to deal with the fact that no matter how many lives he's saved, how many disasters he's averted, and no matter how many villains he's helped capture, that it's just not enough for people to respect you the same as those above?"

She stared into Midoriya's eyes, her tone still cool, but now with a definite hint of contained rage. "Has he been so convinced by the system that he is somehow unworthy of even the paltriest scraps the Hero Commission throws his way? To work his absolute hardest for the people, and then be demoted for something that was no fault of his own?" She then let out a bitter chuckle, which briefly showed hints of sharpened teeth. "A show. Yes. That's what the system is. Something for the people on the street to speculate and make bets on who's going to rise, and who's going to be a "nobody who will never sniff the Top Ten." She leaned very close to Midoriya then, the smoke much thicker. "Don't talk to me of the good of the Ranking System unless you've heard your mother cry herself to sleep because it makes her feel she's not good enough!"

It was then that words in a foreign tongue could be heard. Chie turned to the girl with the white streak in her hair. Chie said something back in the same language. The girl replied, her voice soft, consoling. Chie gritted her teeth, nodded, and walked away from the table.

Midroiya gulped again. Shinso just sat there, wide-eyed and shell-shocked. There was an awkward silence in the air for a moment. "I…" Midoriya began, but he couldn't seem to find the right words. "I think I messed that up," he said finally. It was the closest Isamu could ever recall to seeing him look defeated. Even back on I-Island, when things had looked pretty damn desperate…

Iida gave him a small squeeze. "You could not have known," she said.

Kana gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm sure you'll have a chance to make it up to her," she told him.

Isamu held up a hand. "Speaking as the closest thing to normal at this table, maybe… don't?" he tried. "I mean, I know you guys aren't all arrogant or high and mighty or anything, but maybe… just don't poke the hornet's nest here? Be friendly, sure, but I don't think this is a difference of opinion or anything simple. I don't think you're going to be able to fix it."

Midoriya shook his head. He just looked so defeated, like his whole worldview had taken a punch. "I guess…"

"You okay there, Kimmie?" Takuma asked. The invisible girl had gone stiff for a moment, a bite of food halfway to her mouth. She was definitely starting at something, but he couldn't tell what. When she wasn't wearing anything in her hair, it was almost impossible to tell where she was looking. Of course, Kenta seemed to have figured out the secret.

"Yeah, something up?" Kenta asked.

Kimiko set her chopsticks down. "Someone, somewhere here, is trying to ship people. I can feel it in my bones."

"Oh," he said.

"Oh?!" Kimiko shouted. Her arms started to flail through the air. "Is that all you can say?!"

"Why's that such a big deal, Kimmie?" Kenta asked desperately. He was scooting slightly outside of his girlfriend's hitting range.

"Because they're doing it without me!"

GLUP!

"Ah, Ojiro?" Rika Bondo asked. "Mind taking your fist out of my head?" Takuma had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. Kimiko's fist was buried in the slime-girl's skull up to her wrist, having pierced it during her flailing.

"What? Oh, ew! Ew! Ew!" Kimiko quickly withdrew her hand, enough slime sticking to her fingers to coat them like body paint. "Oh, ewwww! It's sticking to me! Eeeewww!" She shook her hand wildly, trying to dislodge the slime.

"Ojiro!" Tensei said, his own arms flailing through the air, albeit much more mechanically than Kimiko's. "Please be careful, lest the slime contaminate our food!"

"Hey!" Bondo said. "That slime is me! I'm perfectly sanitary!"

"Ha ha ha!" Kitiara Kaniyashiki let out a laugh. "Oh, we definitely gotta start hanging around with you guys more. You're a lot more fun than Haimawari. Dunno what Tetsutetsu sees in the guy. He's a real nervous wreck compared to you all!"

"Hey," Kenta protested, "Haimawari's a good guy.

"Yeah," Kaniyashiki said, "I'm sure he is. And that's what makes him boring. He's so 'aw shucks' it's ridiculous."

"Speaking of shipping," Bondo said, now that Kimiko had stopped flailing everywhere, "any new shipping gossip, Ojiro?"

Kimiko seemed to light up at that. Takuma could hear the smile in her voice. "Oh, you like my show?!"

"Fukidashi got us turned into it," Bondo told her.

"Hey, what about our parts?" Takuma asked. "Me and Kenta have shows too you know!"

"Eh," Kaniyashiki said, waving a hand in the air. "I like the part where you slam into a wall when you're swinging around. Bet Doc Clock hates patching you up after that."

Takuma winced at that, countless memories of Doc Clock yelling at him and occasionally hitting him on the head with her reflex hammer flashing through his head. Most of the time, U.A.'s doctor was a sweet woman, but when her temper got up, it was very easy to see that she was Aizawa's daughter. Words like "you idiot" and "what were you thinking?" and "if it was up to me, I'd expel you!" came readily to her lips. And she really didn't seem to understand that fame was worth any amount of bruises and broken bones.

"She… might have had some choice words about it," he admitted.

Kenta practically choked on his food. His friend had an unusual spread in front of him, both regular foods and a bowl full of miscellaneous small objects like nuts, bolts, and screws. "Is that what you're calling it?"

Tensei likewise winced. "I have advised against such reckless behavior many times. Every time you injure yourself, my heart nearly skips a beat!" He considered this. "Or rather, it would if I possessed an underlying heart condition. As it is, it simply creates an accelerated heartrate and additional levels of stress, which when paired together, are not healthy."

"Aw, babe," Takuma said, batting his eyelashes at his boyfriend, "you really do care." He focused his attention back at Kenta, pointing menacingly. "And you… no comments from the peanut gallery!"

"I thought I was a co-star?"

"Stop bringing logic into this!"

Koharu took a long sip of her smoothie. It was sweet, the way she liked it. Having an all liquid diet was limiting sometimes, so she was always grateful for options that were filling and tasted good.

"You were right," she said. "I can't recall ever being this tired before, even after the Sports Festival." And she'd gotten the stuffing nearly knocked out of her several times there. But the Rookies and their teachers had definitely been pushing them hard, her included. On the one hand, she was happy to be treated no differently than the more experienced Hero students. On the other hand, talk about being thrown in the deep end… She brushed her antenna out of her face, as they were starting to droop.

Tokoyami nodded, looking very tired as well. Her familiar, Frog-Shadow, had retreated inside her when she'd sat down, saying that she was "going to her room for a nap". Tokyami hadn't even rolled her eyes in annoyance at that, which just showed how tired she was. She was carefully angling food into the side of her beak, mechanically and lifelessly. It looked a bit odd, but Koharu didn't have a leg to stand on when it came to commenting on how other people had to eat. "Even hearing my parents speak of it, I hadn't expected it to be this grueling…"

"Mmm-hmm," Todoroki agreed, slurping noodles into her mouth. She'd taken several large and colorful pills when they'd sat down to eat. Koharu didn't know what they were, but Todoroki had taken them with such little fanfare or effort that it had to be a pretty regular thing. She wasn't going to be so rude as to ask about them though. It definitely wasn't her business to pry into, though Todoroki did look especially tired, compared to everyone else.

Todoroki swallowed. "My apologies. I should not try and talk with my mouth full. But I hope you are not finding the training too difficult, Kocho?"

She shook her head. "No, I can keep up, it's just… intense. And you guys do this kind of training every day?" She wasn't about to admit that she'd never worked this hard in her life, especially not in front of the kids of Pro-Heroes. She didn't need them thinking she couldn't cut it. She didn't need herself thinking she couldn't cut it.

"Not quite," Tokoyami said. "Some of our Heroics classes are purely theoretical, dealing with law and history. But the physical training is still very demanding and often mentally exhausting as well, depending on how complex it is."

Well, that made sense. Not everything could be punching the bad guys in the face. And there were plenty of stories in the news of Heroes who failed to follow policies and procedures and were censured, suspended, or even stripped of their licenses on fair occasions. It usually made mention of what Hero School they had graduated from and it had rarely, if ever, been U.A. or Shiketsu. Better to study hard now than end up on the news.

"So basically," Koharu said, putting on a small grin, "I'll be feeling this exhausted pretty much for the next two plus years. Is that what you're saying?"

"You did join us of your own volition," Todoroki said. "You knew the job was dangerous when you took it."

That got a laugh out of Koharu, and a chirping one out of Tokoyami. "Yeah, okay," she conceded. "Good point."

"Hello? Pardon me, I don't mean to interrupt." The voice seemed to come from out of nowhere as there had been no sounds of footsteps preceding it. There stood the multi-eyed girl from Shiketsu, her six eyes blinking in a bit of a shy way, but with a beaming smile. "My name is Akira Shida. I thought it proper to introduce myself."

Koharu nearly let out a small yelp, but she clamped her mouth shut hard. No matter how much she told herself the other girl was no threat, there was still some animal instinct that prompted the moth to fear the spider. Though even without the spider-thing, the ninja-sneaky thing was pretty startling all on its own. Even still, she would also admit, the other girl was otherwise kind of cute.

"Not at all," Tokoyami said, giving the spider-girl a polite nod. "It is a pleasure to meet you. I'm Asuka Tokoyami."

Todoroki gave a small wave. "Likewise. I am Izumi Todoroki."

"And I'm Koharu Kocho," Koharu added. "Nice to meet you."

"Please," Tokoyami went on, gesturing to the bench beside her, "sit. Join us."

"Thank you kindly." Suddenly the "spikes" on her back extended into eight spider-like limbs which carried her over in just a few seconds. They made no sound as the legs scurried across the ground, easily lifting Shida's body up and placing her down at the lunch table. It reminded Kocho a bit of seeing Shoji extend and walk on his extra-four arms. Once she was seated, the legs quickly retracted into her back, once more looking like a set of eight spikes. "I wanted to apologize for Tatsuma's behavior earlier. She's very.. intense, but she has her reasons."

"Oh, we wouldn't know anything about having intense classmates like that," Todoroki said, the corners of her mouth tugging upward in a mischievous smile.

"She is correct," Tokoyami went on. "I'm reasonably confident Kirishima-Bakugo will behave herself, especially with her father here, but it isn't impossible she'll react violently if provoked enough."

"She sure seemed like she didn't like us," Koharu said. She took a last drink of her smoothie, slurping up the remains. "Sorry. Noisier than I thought it was going to be."

"Quite alright," Shida assured them with a friendly smile. She frowned a bit at Tokoyami's statement. "You may wish to advise her not to act on that impulse. Tatsuma is very strong."

There was a small shift in Todoroki. Koharu knew that she and Kirishima-Bakugo were friends, but just based on what she'd seen of the two of them, it seemed even deeper than that. Todoroki seemed to be the only person who could make Kirishima-Bakugo back down from anything.

"As much as I am able to occasionally steer Katsumi," Todoroki said, "she will ultimately make her own decisions. Especially where her pride is concerned." She frowned in concern though. "But she is also too stubborn to know when to give up. How strong is 'very strong'?"

Shida seemed reluctant for a moment. "I have a loyalty to my school, and to my classmates, so I can't give you specifics. However, I don't want any incidents that could impact the importance of this trip. It's not broadcast like UA's, but you're aware Shiketsu has a Sports Festival as well?"

Todoroki nodded. "Yes. I have even attended a few of them, at Shinji's father's invitation. Very intense completion, if less focused on spectacle than ours."

"Tatsuma won this year's, but she did not just win. She dominated the tournament in a way no one has in decades. This tournament included myself, Kaz, Seung, and Shinji. Shinji's stronger than his dad was at his age. He made it to the finals as well. He unleashed winds that damaged the very stadium, but Tatsuma still beat him with little trouble." Akira's eyes seemed like they were looking somewhere else for a moment. "She's not someone you want to be across the ring from."

And Kirishima-Bakugo hadn't even made it out of the first round of the tournament, Koharu remembered, defeated by Todoroki's elemental power, though it had been a very close thing. But Kirishima-Bakugo's real power was in her ferocity, not her physical strength. Regardless, Koharu was grateful that she hadn't had to fight either of them. Against fire, ice, and explosions, moth-powers probably wouldn't have added up to much.

Yet, she told herself. Wasn't much good yet. Once she got more training, maybe she could keep up.

"Shinji is incredibly powerful," Todoroki replied. "Anyone who could take him down easily is formidable indeed."

Tokaymi let out a frustrated sigh. She pinched the bridge of her beak with her fingertips. "Of course, that's who she'd pick a fight with."

"Maybe it won't happen?" Koharu tried. She didn't believe her own words, but it never hurt to be hopeful.

Todoroki frowned again. "I will tell her to use all caution. That is all I can promise."

"Thank you. I will speak to Seung, if Tatsuma will listen to anyone it's her. Granted Seung has her own reasons to dislike the status quo," Shida said off-handedly. She was clearly someone who liked to talk, but probably didn't always realize how much she was saying. Seung must have been the foreign Shiketsu student, Koharu realized.

"She was definitely giving us the evil eye when we got off the bus," Koharu said. Like she'd been judging them actually, and assigning them a failing grade. "What was that us in particular or…?"

"That's a very long story." Shida thought for a moment. "It's not you specifically, but she has little love for the Pro Hero system. At least Japan's version of it."

And yet she was enrolled in a Hero school? Maybe she was trying to change the system from within? The system wasn't flawless, but it sure seemed like it was better than it was a couple of decades ago. "Ah, I won't pry then," she said.

"Are there any of your other classmates we should be concerned about?" Tokoyami asked. "Mineta's boyfriend seems exuberant but harmless enough."

"Oh Shinji's a sweetheart," Shida agreed. "Kazuchika's a huge flirt. The only problem you'd have with him is him possibly hitting on you, but he gets the message if you're not interested. That doesn't mean he'd stop being flirtatious, just that he's not actively trying to sweep you off your feet anymore. He means no harm, it's just who he is."

"Good," Tokyami replied, seemingly satisfied with that. "Beyond Kirishima-Bakugo, I doubt you have anything to worry about from our class. Some of them can be a bit annoying or egotistical, but none of them would mean you any real harm." She seemed to consider something. "Well, there is Mineta. She can be rather flirtatious as well."

"There is Monoma," Todoroki said. "That's the blond boy, from 1-B. He may try to start something."

Koharu frowned. "He seemed nice enough at the Sports Festival. He took losing to me pretty gracefully." He'd even brought her snacks between matches. Though she knew interclass rivalries could get pretty intense. It did remind her she hadn't spoken to him since then. She really should.

"Katsumi certainly does not like him," Todoroki said. "Though the whole of it is a bit more complex. But he does believe in trying to make his class successful and proving their superiority. He may try to start an additional rivalry."

Ah. A little too much class pride then. That'd do it.

"You may wish to try and keep him away from Tatsuma and Seung," Shida advised. "I don't "think" Tatsuma would care about it enough to do something, but Seung has a short fuse for, and I'm quoting here: "Stupid hero penis-jousting." I probably horribly mangled that. I'm trying to learn Korean better, but it's slow going." She says this with a nervous chuckle.

"A bit blunt," Todoroki said, trying and failing to hide a smile, "but quite accurate really."

"I'll speak to Tetsutetsu," Tokyami said. She didn't have the facial structure for a smile, but it sounded like she was trying not to laugh or groan in frustration and had somehow managed to split the difference. "She usually has a handle on him."

"And I'll talk to Chihiro," Todoroki added. "Perhaps she can influence him now."

There was the strong suggestion in their tones that neither of them had much confidence in that endeavor. But Koharu really didn't have the context to make any real guesses as to how it might turn out. It certainly sounded like there were a lot of potential tinder boxes waiting to go off. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that...