Chapter 2
The next day, the hero class waited for instruction in tense anticipation. The Number 1 Hero, All Might was rumored to be teaching at UA and today they would get to learn with him.
"You think the rumors are true?" Yayarouzo asked Kaiya behind her. "It would be really beneficial to learn from him."
"Anything is possible in this school. I'm surprised he's not too busy saving people to teach though." Kaiya pondered as All Might came bounding into the class excitedly, strutting his Silver Age costume.
"Welcome to Hero 101! In this class you will learn all it means to be a hero and how to fight in the name of good! Let's get into it!" He remotely controlled the wall and suitcases appeared from it. "One of the key things to being a hero is looking good! These were designed for you! Get yourself suited up and meet me at training ground beta."
"Yes sir!" The students exclaimed.
Kaiya was fixing her new costume but cursed the designers in her head. Her burgundy leggings were tighter than she originally thought they would be and her camo crop top was slightly more revealing than she wished it to be, plus the sleeves only went down to her bicep instead of her full arm like she requested. "Well...at least I am comfortable in my own skin." She murmured to herself as she followed the rest of the girls to the battle ground, letting her black hair fall loosely down her back.
"Oh my gosh! You look amazing Ayumi!" A sweet voice sounded from behind her. Uraraka smiled while bounding up to her quickly. "These costumes are amazing!" Her pink and black suit made her look like a space hero, but she was being too adorable to say anything.
"Please, call me Kaiya. You look good too." Kaiya smiled back, a slight blush on her cheeks. She subconsciously pulled at her shorter sleeves but thankfully, Ururaka didn't notice.
"Oh thank you! It's a little tighter than I wanted, but I can manage!" She smiled back, shifting slightly in her costume.
"Mine too! I must have gained weight between the design I submitted and now." I laughed, earning a giggle from Ururaka. "Come on, we don't want to hold up the class."
The students all met up with All Might, waiting for the teams to be assigned. The hero pulled out two different balls with letters on them and assigned the teams to be the villains and the heros. "Todoroki?" Kaiya mused, hearing who her partner would be. She stole a look his way a few students down from her in line and waved slightly to the stoic boy who stared back. "What the hell is he wearing?" She whispered to herself. She knew that she could use this opportunity to see what the mysterious boy could do.
Everyone stood analyzing Bakugou, Midoriya, Iida and Ururaka's intense battle sequences, amazed at the relentlessness of Bakugou. He was attacking Midoriya constantly and everyone was getting worried that they would hurt each other; but All Might refused to stop the match. One move that Bakugou did against Midoriyia stunned the room into a collective silence as Kaiya analyzed each move the explosion teen did. Todoroki had moved his way closer to her during the intense battle that she hadn't noticed until he spoke up beside her.
"He doesn't come off as a guy with a strategy. However, he's actually quite intelligent with his attacks."
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Kirishima asked Todoroki.
"He changed his trajectory while in midair using a blast that doubled as a smokescreen. Very clever." Todoroki explained.
"You're right. An attack like that requires an extreme amount of precision. He had to calculate the physics and control over his Quirk." Kaiya replied, earning a nod from Todoroki. "It's impressive how much control he has over such a powerful Quirk." She mumbled more to herself, even though Todoroki heard the jealousy under tone and narrowed his eyes in thought.
"Ugh Bakugou is uber talented. I hate it." Kaminari sighed.
"Yeah, but it doesn't give him a right to be a bully to Midoriya at this point." Kaiya replied, seeing Bakugou throw Midoriya down to the ground.
"This is hard to watch. All he had to do is wrap tape around him, not kill him!" Mina cried to All Might.
"Bakugou seems like a natural at this stuff." Kaminari said, analyzing the fight closer as Midoriya took off down the opposite hallway, away from his pursuer.
"He's running away!" Mina exclaimed.
"Not very manly, but he doesn't have much of a choice. He's out gunned. Unless he has another plan, it's possible." Kirishima speculated.
"What would you do?" Kaiya asked Todoroki next to her.
"I wouldn't have let it go on this far." He shrugged his shoulders.
Kaiya scoffed at his nonchalant tone and queried, "You're that confident?" arching her eyebrows to the stoic boy who nodded. "This will definitely be interesting then."
Further into the battle, Kaiya noticed Uraraka leap from across a crumbling level after Midoriya set off one of Bakugou's blasts perfectly and claimed the bomb from the villains. "Good for her. Oh wait, now she's puking." Kaiya winced, hearing the girl being sick.
"Todoroki, Ayumi, Shoji and Ojirou! You're up!" All Might announced, letting them into their battle ground for the assessment. Kaiya was stretching her arms and hands out while Todoroki looked up at the building silently.
"How do you want to proceed?" She asked the boy while they stood outside the test building waiting to begin.
"For your own safety, please stay outside." He instructed her, walking into the building and placing his hand on the walls. "Our rivals will be doing a defensive tactic."
"Wait. This is a team thing Todoroki." Kaiya argued, setting her hands on her hips. She tried to approach the building behind Todoroki; but he held his other hand up to stop her. "We need to work together!"
"Trust me, we've already won." Todoroki ignored her and froze the building. Kaiya stiffened at the sight of the giant glacier building, marveling at the sheer power of his Quirk. Todoroki went into the structure and Kaiya assumed that he had claimed the bomb for them to win as All Might announced the conclusion to the battle. Kaiya growled to herself as she returned back to the viewing room.
"That guy is kinda intimidating." Kaminari said, seeing the melting building on the screen. Bakugou was in the back of the room, frozen at his own visuals as Kaiya brushed past him.
"Don't look so impressed." Kaiya growled to a stunned Bakugou. "We're all good. Not just you."
"He got in on a recommendation so he must be good!" Tsu said to the class. Kaiya bit her bottom lip in anger when she saw Todoroki walk in. "But wasn't Kaiya recommended too?"
Annoyance bubbled within her while the chorus of compliments for Todoroki flew around. "Good job." Kaiya seethed to her partner, crossing her arms over her chest roughly. Todoroki turned to her slightly, looking at her curiously.
"Problem?" He asked quietly. She groaned and grabbed the boy's left arm which was warm to the touch and he tensed at her grip, expecting her to pull her hand away from the heat; but she tugged him away from the group who had begun to stare at them.
"This was a team simulation. I didn't get a chance to do anything. Your Quirk is awesome, no lie; but come on. You didn't even let me come up with a plan." Kaiya growled at Todoroki who didn't look phased at her annoyance.
"You asked me how I would like to proceed. I proceeded."
"Without asking me! We could have easily used my Quirk to float me up to the second floor quietly and subtly to claim the bomb while you could have frozen the second floor and the villains. Easy. But no. You took it upon yourself to think of just yourself and how good you are." Kaiya didn't let the boy respond and stalked back to the group of students angrily.
Todoroki stood in a stunned silence from Kaiya's sharp tongue; mostly how her eyes burned red as she spoke; not her usual green color. He continued to watch the remaining fight from behind the group of students; his mind thinking over his actions. Kaiya was right, he had thought just of himself but he was trained to do that. There were no friends in the hero world; not if you wanted to be number one. Kaiya's plan had made sense to him but they weren't here to work together; or make friends.
Todoroki showed interest in Kaiya the first day of school to see what information he could get about her to beat her as an opponent; but she didn't relent easily. She was shy but also argumentative as she just showed; she was smart and defensive for a reason that he wanted to find out. How she spoke to Mineta during the first five minutes of class piqued Todoroki's interest at first; but then her interaction with Bakugou during the Quirk assessment was when he had realized he needed to know more. Now the fact that she didn't flinch away from the fresh heat that was coming from his left side, made her even more mysterious. Maybe it had something to do with the burn mark on her forearm she tried hiding. "Very mysterious."
The school day ended and Kaiya was still very irritated with Todoroki. She felt his eyes on her in Midnight's class and during Present Mic's class, but she kept her focus on the class. He also hadn't dared to join her for lunch for which she was relieved.
She understood that some people would be out for themselves in certain situations to stand out; however during an assignment where your grade hangs in the balance, there was no time to be selfish. Being a hero meant having to work with people even if you didn't want to. Kaiya sighed heavily and heard footsteps running behind her, praying it wasn't Mina asking her about her Quirk again.
"Kaiya!" An excited voice squealed. Uraraka came up beside Kaiya, out of breath from catching up to her. "Are you okay? I saw that you were upset after All Might's class." Worry painted her round face as she caught her breath.
"Yeah, I just didn't appreciate Todoroki taking over the entire operation. I wanted to show off my skills too." Kaiya explained, gritting her teeth to keep her temper in check.
"Boys will be boys I suppose. They love to show off." Uraraka smiled, shrugging her shoulders. "Like you saw Izuku and Bakugou today! Intense!" Kaiya rolled her eyes and scoffed at her example.
"That was ridiculous on both parts. Midoriya got really hurt but I'm sure Bakuguo's ego was hurt more." Uraraka laughed at Kaiya's words and continued to walk with her. Realization hit Kaiya as the girls kept chatting; ff she kept walking with Uraraka, she'd figure out Kaiya wasn't going to the train station like most of the students do after school to go home. "Erm, I just realized that I forgot something back in class. I'll see you tomorrow Uraraka!" Kaiya smiled at her, retreating towards the school.
"Oh okay! Bye Kaiya!" Kaiya sighed a breath of relief as she took the back paths to get to where she needed to be. Half an hour later, the training facility came into view as she prepared herself for the night ahead. The middle of the week was when the facility was the busiest, which meant messiest. She pulled open the door to the main dojo and saw towels sprawled around, half finished water bottles lying around, and the musky smell of sweat hung in the air like the day before.
"Ugh...gross." Kaiya groaned, changing into her cleaning clothes and got to work on the disaster around her. Hours went by and her stomach was growling painfully. She checked to see how much money she had, but her school payment had taken most of the money she saved and her pay day wasn't for a few more days. She'd have to wait to eat until the morning when she passed by a bakery to grab the old loafs before they tossed them out. Kaiya showered and shuffled under her blanket, eager to get some sleep from the day's activities.
The next day, the students' class with All Might the day before was still fresh in everyone's memory; more so Midoriya's mysterious Quirk. Despite still being irritated with Todoroki, Kaiya smiled a greeting to him when they sat down for class. "Good morning Ayumi." He spoke softly to her.
"Kaiya." She reminded him as he nodded his head to her. Kaiya had debated all night whether or not to let their argument linger to prove a point; but decided that it wasn't very mature to let it go on. She sighed and rubbed her head in frustration as she relented. "I apologize for my tone yesterday. However, I do not regret what I said to you. I should have told you I had a plan...but still." Todoroki couldn't help but crack a smirk at the defensive tone still in her voice.
"No need to apologize. I should have talked to you before. You were right; it was a team assignment." He shrugged his shoulders. Kaiya's tense demeanour melted and a smile crept on her lips when Mr. Aizawa entered the classroom quietly, still in his sleeping bag as the class quieted down.
"Decent work on your class with All Might yesterday. I saw the video feeds and went over each team's results. Bakugou." Aizawa announced, finding the blonde boy sulking. "You're talented. So don't sulk like a child about your loss, okay?" Kaiya stifled a giggle from behind him.
"Yeah whatever." He responded, casting a glare over his shoulder to Kaiya.
"And Midoriya, I see the only way you won the match was messing up your arm again. Work harder. And don't give me the excuse you don't have control over your power yet. That line is already getting old. You can't keep breaking your body here. But your Quirk will be really useful when you get a handle on it, so show a little urgency yeah?" Midoriya nodded his head quickly. "Right, let's get down to business. Today's class will decide your future. Today, you will all vote on your class representatives. I don't think I have to tell you how important those roles can be; so choose wisely." Aizawa mumbled, returning to his nap. The class erupted immediately with people volunteering for the job as Kaiya shrunk back into her seat, unenthused for the potential decision.
Iida's voice erupted over the class's voices, silencing everyone. "Silence everyone! The class representatives job is to lead others; that's not something just anyone can do. You first must have the trust of every person in the classroom. I think we should vote democratically!"
"It's pretty obvious you want us to vote for you." The class said in unison.
"Everyone will just vote for themselves." Kirishima pointed out.
"Probably, but those who do not vote for themselves will vote for the person deemed more worthy of the position." Iida explained.
Kaiya could care less about who the representatives would be so she voted for Yayarouzo; knowing she was smart and more mature than the others. The votes were tallied once all had been decided and Midoriya got three votes.
"Alright you losers! Who voted for him?" Bakugou exploded.
"What did you think anyone would vote for you?" Sero asked him. Iida ended up with zero votes afterall, fuming in his seat.
"You voted for someone else huh?" Yayorouzo asked the steaming boy.
"What exactly were you trying to prove here Iida?" Sato asked him. Todoroki shook his head and noticed that Kaiya was glaring at the chalkboard, mouth gaping as she read the results off the board. She had gotten two votes.
"Ummm, I'm the vice representative?" Kaiya asked quietly, earning a confused look from her neighbor. "Who would vote for me?" She asked under her breath.
"You don't want to do it?" Todoroki asked her quietly. Where was her confidence from yesterday? Or even a few moments ago?
"These people don't know me, why would they pick me as a deputy?" She asked him, confusion evident in her eyes. She started twirling her black hair in her fingers nervously when Aizawa called her up to the front with Midoriya who looked just as scared as her.
"I think we have good representation!" Mina cheered and others around her agreed. Aizawa looked less than interested in the subject and instructed the students to pull out their notes for class.
During lunch, Kaiya remained by herself, too lost in thought to be around her class. Kirishima and Kaminari noticed her alone and she could sense that they would sit with her.
"Are you still wondering who voted for you?" Kaminari asked, setting his tray down, followed by Kirishima. Kaiya nodded quickly, stuffing a rice ball in her mouth. Kirishima smiled and pointed at himself.
"You did? Why?" Kaiya mumbled, rice still in her mouth.
"Dude; you are one of the recommended students; and you're pretty good with your Quirk; you came in first for the assessment test the first day." Kirishima explained, stuffing pork into his mouth. Kaminari blushed at his friend's explanation and scratched his head nervously.
"I voted for Ochako because she's super pretty." Kaminari smiled.
"Thanks for your vote Kiri, I hope I don't dissapoint." Kaiya smiled, easing her worries. "But who was the second vote?" She asked herself. The two boys shrugged their shoulders but continued to eat. Suddenly, alarms blared, stirring the entire cafeteria into a frenzy.
"What is that?" Kaminari asked, whipping his head around at the panic riddled room. Kirishima and Kaiya spun around and saw second and third year students running from the lunch room, yelling that this has never happened before. Kaiya could hear people screaming about a break in.
"Someone broke into the school?" She asked, trying to evacuate the cafeteria with the others. People were panicking and screaming; causing more ruckus than necessary, tripping over people. "Calm down everyone! We're safe!" Kaiya called out, but her cries fell on deaf ears. Kirishima reached for her, trying to keep the trio together, but a stampede pulled them further apart. "Shit, someone's going to get hurt. Where's the damn teachers?" Kaiya growled.
"Everyone calm down!" Suddenly, Iida's voice erupted over the crowds reaching everyone. He stood at the top of the exit sign and calmed everyone down saying it was just the press outside that triggered the alarm. Cries died down and people stopped running as Kaiya sighed heavily and found Kirishima and Kaminari crouched near the emergency exit.
"You brave boys okay?" Kaiya smirked as the boys regained their footing and narrowed their eyes at her. "Come on, let's go to class." She laughed, reaching for Kirishima's hand.
Back in class, Midoriya had given his representative position to Iida after seeing his emergency exit performance and how easily he calmed everyone down. The engine teen was so happy and promised to live up to the role; while Kaiya wished someone would take the role from her. She didn't like the spotlight or the additional responsibilities. She could tell Todoroki could sense her apprehension and whispered to her, "You're going to be fine. Just be yourself." Kaiya rolled her eyes heavily and waited for Aizawa to speak again.
"Now, we are going to work on your Quirks again in a different facility; rescue training. Get your costumes and follow me to the bus." Aizawa yawned, leaving the room. Iida took it upon himself to direct everyone to follow a strict line to the bus and seat accordingly; Kaiya found herself ignoring her fellow rep and sat where she chose; Todoroki following her lead.
A few minutes into the bus ride, Kaiya could hear Tsu, Kirishima, Kaminari, Ururaka and Mina talking about Midoriya's quirk and how it resembles All Mights slightly. "You guys are so lucky to have flashy Quirks! It's easier to be a fan favorite with one." Kirishima groaned, thinking that his hardening wasn't flashy enough to stand out.
"Honestly, your Quirk is pretty useful Kirishima, as a rescue and a battle hero." Kaiya piped up, earning a grin from the red head. "You could protect a lot of people with it." Kirishima beamed at her comments and blushed.
"Yeah! Your Quirk is super cool Kirishima, you would be totally popular with that!" Midoriya told him excitedly.
"If anyone has flashy Quirks that's easy to notice, it's Todoroki and Bakuguo." Kirishima replied, earning a scoff from Bakugou.
"I have to say though, Kaiya's quirk is pretty cool too." Tsu pointed out. Kaiya tensed at her words but kept her ears on the conversation. "If she can work with the wind or weather, it's pretty useful in almost every situation, and it can be pretty sneaky too." Tsu pointed out, earning agreements from the others. Kaiya felt her cheeks heating up hearing the compliments and began toying with her hair again.
"You do that when you're nervous." Todoroki murmured in his sleep next to her. Kaiya turned to him slightly, her fingers tugging her hair. "You play with your hair. You did it when you found out you were the deputy rep." He opened his eyes, seeing her blush.
"They don't even know what I can do and they've already made me a rep, and decided I can be a top hero." Kaiya whispered to him, her eyes glued to the floor. "They don't know me. They don't know what I can do." She could hear Bakuguo yelling at Kaminari by this point, but tried to focus on what Todoroki was saying to her.
"People's opinions don't necessarily make you who you are." The boy replied then furrowed his brows. "Wait, what do you mean they don't even know what you can do?" Kaiya froze at his question and thanked god silently when Aizawa announced that they had arrived as she tore off the bus.
Inside the USJ, Rescue Hero, Thirteen was explaining to them what they were going to be training for today. As a rescue hero, Thirteen wanted the students to have all bases of training covered for any situation; regardless of their Quirks. Aizawa and Thirteen stood in front of the group, preparing to start the simulations, but a large barrier of purple and black smoke appeared at the center of the facility. Hoards of people emerged from the smoke and began to make their way to the group. "Is this the simulation?" Kirishima asked from beside Kaiya.
"No, those are actual villains." Aizawa told him, concern evident in his voice. The students looked around panicking by the approaching hoards. No alarms sounded which Kaiya thought was strange.
"Why aren't the alarms going off?" Kaiya asked the rescue hero.
"I'm not sure." Thirteen told her.
"Is the entire campus under attack? Or just the USJ specifically? If the alarms aren't being triggered, then one of the villains must have a Quirk that blocks communication." Todoroki deducted from behind Kaiya.
"Thirteen, get the students out of here, I'll take care of these guys. Kaminari, use your Quirk to try to contact the school and tell them what's going on." Kaiya braced herself as Aizawa took off to the crowd below them and saw him take each villian down easily.
"He's not suited for long term hand to hand combat." Midoriya groaned, watching their teacher fight.
"You can't be a pro hero with only one skill." Kaiya told him, marvelling at the speed and agility of Aizawa.
"We have to move." Thirteen announced, corralling the kids. Suddenly the area around the group was engulfed by purple smoke and a deep voice sounded.
"There is no escape for you. We are the League of Villains. We were supposed to meet All Might here today, seems there was a miscommunication." The smoke villain growled. Thirteen tried to start a defensive maneuver when Bakugou and Kirishima erupted from the student crowd and swiped at the villian.
"Did you think we were going to stand around and watch you tear this place to shreds?" Kirishima asked the smoke villain who started cackling.
"You live up to your school's reputation. But you should be more careful children; otherwise someone might get hurt." The smoke villain growled as more smoke circulated. Todoroki came up beside Kaiya, aware that things were about to escalate.
"Can you control that smoke?" He asked Kaiya who nodded, stretching her palms to gather strength.
"You two! Get out of the way!" Thirteen called to the boys as Kaiya tried to circulate the wind to protect them from the stronger smoke.
"I'll scatter you all across this facility where you will meet your ends!" The villain snarled, engulfing the students in a purple smoke tunnel. Kaiya clenched her teeth as the smoke pulled against her wind attack, completely overpowering it. The world spun as she felt herself rise into the air and then suddenly drop to the ground.