Welcome back! Season 5 is here AND we're getting a new movie this summer. How exciting!

Thanks for all the new favorites/follows, and thank you to those who reviewed the last time!

Chapter Three

In Plain Sight

Nomi awoke the next morning with a dry mouth and an ache behind her demon eye that felt as if someone had hammered a nail through her skull and then left it there overnight. She shuffled through her morning routine, downing a couple of aspirin before descending the stairs in the small two-bedroom apartment she shared with her father in downtown Musutafu.

The apartment was empty, as it was on most mornings, with only a note in the kitchen indicating that another person lived there at all: Working late. Transferred money to your bank card so you can get food. Have a good day! – Dad

Nomi smiled at the neat handwriting; despite the odd hours and long days her father worked, he still always managed to take care of her needs. They both knew she was more than capable of handling herself, but the thought that someone cared for her was enough to keep her going. It was for his benefit as well that she would become a hero and provide for both of them. They would never have to want for anything again if she could just do that.

She crumpled the note and threw it away before leaving the apartment.

The walk from the station to the school was unexciting, but when Nomi reached the gates of U.A. with Watase, Momote, and Sanda, they were stopped in their tracks by a mob of reporters crowding around the school's entrance.

"What on earth…?" Nomi muttered.

"They must've heard about All Might coming to teach," Momote said, tilting her head. "You're so lucky to have had a class with him, Nomi."

"I didn't, though," she pointed out. "The rest of the class got to do battle training with him while I got stuck with Aizawa."

Sanda strode forward before anyone could respond and began shoving reporters and cameramen out of her way. Complaints mixed with shouts of All Might's whereabouts, but when people saw the stony look on the second-year's face, they all but jumped out of her way, especially when Watase's huge form loomed behind her as he, Momote, and Nomi followed Sanda through the crowd.

"Excuse me!" A male reporter leapt into Nomi and Momote's path and thrust a microphone under their noses. "U.A. students! Can you give us a word on what it's like receiving lessons from All Might himself?"

Momote smirked and pointed at Nomi. "I can't. But she can."

Nomi nearly went cross-eyed as the mic pressed even closer. "Er, he's very…enthusiastic? And, um, big."

Momote laughed as she pulled Nomi away from the dumbfounded reporter.

"Enthusiastic and big?" she said, giggling, as they entered the school grounds. "We need to get you a better vocabulary."

Ahead of them, Sanda tossed her hair. "If I wasn't so worried about being late, I would've stopped for an interview."

"No reporter's gonna want to interview you if you rudely shove them out of the way first," Watase replied with a chuckle. "Your people skills need work, Chi."

"Don't call me that!"

"See you at lunch?" Momote asked Nomi once they entered the school.

"'Course." Nomi waved as she headed in the opposite direction. "See ya later!"

She was one of the last stragglers into the classroom. She flashed Midoriya a quick smile when she passed his desk, and he returned it kindly. She took her seat behind the girl she'd learned was Momo Yaoyorozu, glad that she leaned toward the taller side, otherwise it would've been impossible for her to see the blackboard through the other girl's extremely high ponytail.

Her butt had just touched the seat when Aizawa walked in, his yellow sleeping bag slung over his arm and looking as tired as ever as he faced them from the podium at the front of the room.

"Morning," he grumbled. He slapped a stack of papers on the podium. "Good work on yesterday's battle training. I've looked over your grades and evaluations. Bakugo."

Nomi's eye darted to the blond boy in her row. He gave no indication of surprise that his name was called out, but she thought she noticed his shoulders tense a little.

"Grow up already," Aizawa told him sternly. Nomi ducked her head to hide her amusement at the angry boy being called out in such a way. "Stop wasting your talent on petty grudges."

"Got it," Bakugo muttered sullenly.

Aizawa shuffled his papers. "It seems Midoriya ended the day with another broken arm, too." Midoriya jolted in his seat when the class turned to look at him. "Learn to control your Quirk, because just trying isn't going to cut it."

Aizawa's eyes flickered to Nomi, and she bent her head again to escape the penetrating gaze.

"I hate repeating myself," Aizawa continued, "but you do have potential, assuming you can overcome this. Work at it, Midoriya."

"Yes, sir!"

Nomi received the message as if he'd said her own name, as well, and she frowned at the plastic top of her desk.

"Now, on to homeroom business," Aizawa said. "Today, you'll be choosing your class representatives."

The effect was immediate. Nearly everyone jumped to their feet, their hands raised as the classroom swelled with cries of "Me! Pick me! I wanna be class rep!" Every arm was up besides four—even Nomi's. Sanda had beaten her to become the class rep last year, and she was itching to prove herself once again, her father coming to mind as she stretched her arm into the air.

"Quiet down, everyone!" Tenya Iida shouted over the clamor. He stood up, his chest puffed out. "Leading the many is a task of heavy responsibility. This sacred office demands the trust of its constituents. If this is to be a democracy, then I put forward the motion that our true leader must be chosen by election!"

"Your hand's literally raised the highest!" Kirishima pointed out with a wild laugh as Iida strained his raised arm with a grimace.

"But, Iida, we haven't known each other long enough to build any trust," the girl who resembled a frog said with a finger to her chin. Nomi remembered her as Tsuyu Asui.

"And everyone'll vote for themselves, anyway," Mina added.

"That's precisely why anyone who manages to get multiple votes will be the best person for the job," Iida said. When no one objected, he turned to Aizawa. "Sensei, will you allow this?"

"Whatever," Aizawa said, already curling up in his sleeping bag. "Just have someone chosen by the time the bell rings."

"Everyone." Nomi climbed to her feet, garnering the attention of the class. It was strange to have all eyes on her, but she forced herself to raise her chin. She needed to step up again and stop hiding herself in the shadows. Her confidence had been shaken terribly after her final exam of her first year, but she had to move forward. She had to be bold. Even if it's only for a moment. She put her hand over her heart. "As your senior, you should leave the role of class rep to me."

Across the room, Asui tilted her head in confusion. "But you failed the hero course the first time, right, Katsuragi?"

"Yeah, sorry, but I don't think you can pull superiority here," Kirishima said apologetically.

Nomi stared. They stared back.

She sighed. "You know what? That's fair."

Conceding her classmates' embarrassingly valid points, she sat down again as the voting process commenced.

When the votes had all been tallied, she craned her head around Yaoyorozu's ponytail to read the results on the board. Her name was written toward the bottom with a total of one vote—the vote she had cast for herself. She had to laugh at herself. Asui was right; she'd failed the hero course once already. It was small wonder no one had any trust in her to lead them. She wasn't angry about it; she couldn't blame them at all. She just had to work harder and be better in order to gain their trust.

"I got three votes?" Midoriya yelped. "I got the most?"

"WHO THE HELL VOTED FOR DEKU?" Bakugo shouted.

"Iida, you got zero votes?" Yaoyorozu asked. "You voted for someone else?"

Iida grimaced. "Three votes…Midoriya, that means you're class rep. Yaoyorozu, you got two votes and came in second, so that makes you the deputy class rep."

In front of Nomi, Yaoyorozu sighed. "What a shame. By one vote…"

Nomi put a hand on her shoulder bracingly. "It's better than nothing, like Iida."

"I heard that, Katsuragi!"

When the lunch bell rang, Nomi gathered her things and bypassed Yaoyorozu and the small boy who sat in front of her—Minoru Mineta—to reach Midoriya before he could leave. "Hey!"

"Oh, hi, Katsur—Nomi," he corrected, relieved when she smiled and nodded encouragingly.

"Congrats on becoming class rep," she said. Ahead of them, Bakugo scoffed and threw back a glare before leaving the classroom. Nomi rolled her eye at him. "I know you'll do great!"

"Thank you," Midoriya said, flushing. He scratched at the back of his head as they followed Bakugo to the cafeteria. "I'm surprised, though. I wasn't expecting anyone to vote for me."

"I would've voted for you if I wasn't allowed to vote for myself," she said. "You're nice and you seem responsible."

"Thank you," he repeated, baffled, "but we haven't known each other that long…"

Nomi pointed to her normal eye. "It's all in the eyes. You know, 'windows to the soul' and all that. There's some truth to that saying. People reveal so much with just their eyes alone."

Midoriya seemed like he didn't know whether to be impressed or unnerved. "Wow, um, I never really thought of it like that—"

"Deku!"

Nomi and Midoriya turned. Heading toward them was a group of people consisting of Iida, Mina, Asui, and the round-faced girl, Ochaco Uraraka. Uraraka had been the one to call for Midoriya, and Nomi crossed her arms.

"His name isn't Deku," she said to Uraraka.

The short girl stopped, confused, as Midoriya leapt between them.

"No, no, it's not like that, Nomi!" Midoriya said, waving his arms wildly. "Er, Uraraka pointed out that 'Deku' sounds like 'You can do it,' so, really, Deku's okay if you think about it that way—"

"Oh." Nomi blinked. "I guess if you're okay with it…" Nomi stuck out her hand to Uraraka. "Sorry. Nomi Katsuragi, but call me Nomi. I never introduced myself properly to you before."

Uraraka looked relieved. "Oh, that's okay. Ochaco Uraraka. It's nice to meet you."

"Nomi," Mina broke in as they all resumed their walk to the cafeteria, "are you going to eat with us today? You should! That dinner we all had last night was super fun!"

"Not today, sorry," Nomi said. She twirled a piece of hair around her finger. "I promised my friends from my old class that I'd eat with them still."

The others stared at her in awe. She dropped her hair. "What?"

"You mean students who are now second-years?" Iida demanded. "Our upperclassmen?"

"Yeah…?"

"So cool!" Mina squealed. "Oh, Nomi, you'll have to introduce us! Second-years—they're so much closer to being pros!"

"Sure, I'll introduce you," she said. "Tae and Senzo are really nice, but Sanda is…something."

They all cheered as they entered the cafeteria. Nomi didn't see how meeting her friends would be so much cause for excitement, but she figured to the kids who had only been middle schoolers until this week, any upperclassman in the hero course would be cool. She held back a sigh. If only they felt the same way about her…

Nomi spotted Watase's enormous frame instantly. "Oh, look, there they are. C'mon."

She led the group to the table where Watase, Momote, and Sanda had already taken residence with their food. The three glanced up when Nomi approached with her new classmates in tow.

"Hey," she said. "Sorry, but I told these guys I'd introduce you to them. They're from 1-A."

Momote shot to her feet instantly. "Nomi! Is this the boy you were telling me about yesterday? Midoriya?" She practically pounced on Midoriya, whose face was slowly turning redder and redder as Momote clasped his hands. "Oh, you were right! He's adorable! Look at those freckles! Hi, I'm Tae Momote. Nice to meet you!"

"I-I-Izuku M-Midoriya!" Midoriya said, sounding strangled as Momote continued to fawn over him.

"Tae Momote, as you heard," Nomi said, indicating the bouncing blonde. She gestured to Watase. "Senzo Watase."

"Whoa!" Uraraka said. "You're so muscly! You're like All Might!"

Watase laughed that echoing laugh of his. "Thanks, kid. What's your name?"

Uraraka drew herself up (which wasn't by much—she was a rather short girl). "Ochaco Uraraka!"

"I'm Tsuyu Asui," Asui said, raising her hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Tenya Iida!" Iida said pompously. "It's an honor to make the acquaintance of our upperclassmen at U.A.!"

Watase looked bemused, but he pointed to Sanda. "Pleasure's mine. This is Chizuru Sanda. She won't introduce herself, so I'll do it for her."

Sanda set down her rice with a scowl. "Whatever. You, with the horns." She jabbed her chopsticks at Mina. "Who are you?"

"Mina Ashido!" Mina said proudly.

"You're very pink." Sanda frowned. "It's hurting my eyes."

"Ignore her," Nomi said, putting her hand on Mina's elbow. She glared at Sanda. "Doctors have yet to find the stick that's buried up her ass, so she's forced to be insufferable."

Sanda leapt to her feet as everyone held back laughs. "You little—"

She was cut off when Momote reached across the table with her elasticity and slapped her stretched hand over Sanda's mouth. Sanda yelled, but her voice was muffled behind Momote's hand, which held fast despite Sanda's fingers trying to pry it off.

"Anyway," Momote said cheerfully, "we won't keep you. Enjoy your lunch! It was lovely meeting all of you!"

Nomi herded them away toward the lunch queue before Sanda stopped using her words and started using her Quirk instead. She was quite proud of her joke, in all honesty, but she knew Sanda was going to make her eat it right back up later.

"Wow, they're so cool," Uraraka gushed. "And Momote's Quirk! Wow!"

"They all have great Quirks," Nomi said as they joined the lunch line. "Even Sanda."

"You two don't get along,"Asui said.

Sheesh, this girl is blunt, Nomi thought. She really doesn't sugarcoat anything, does she?

"No, we don't," Nomi said. "She's hated my guts since our first day, whatever the reason."

"Iida, do you have a pen?" Midoriya asked as he rifled through the pages of a bent, worn-out notebook. "I want to get down Momote's Quirk before I forget—"

Nomi tuned out the two boys, speaking instead to Mina and the other girls. "Like I said, Sanda's something. If she ever says anything to you, it's best to just ignore it."

"What are Sanda's and Watase's Quirks?" Midoriya asked, his pen held at the ready.

But Nomi's reply was drowned out when an alarm rose above the din of the cafeteria, freezing everyone in place. A disembodied voice spoke into the sudden hush that had fallen over the students.

"Security Level Three has been breached. All students, please evacuate in an orderly fashion."

"Three?" Iida said. "What does that mean?"

"Someone's infiltrated the school," Nomi said. Her heart began to pound. "We should leave—"

A sudden rush of bodies stampeding past knocked her off-balance, interrupting her sentence. If it wasn't for Iida's quick reaction to grabbing her arm, she would've been shoved to the floor and probably crushed underneath the dozens of feet that were now rushing for the exit as the cafeteria erupted into absolute pandemonium.

"As expected of U.A. students!" Iida said above the din as they were swept along by the crowd. "They're all quick to react in a crisis!"

"I don't think panicking is as great as you're making it sound!" Nomi said, but her voice hardly carried over the cries and shouts. She'd already lost sight of the group she'd been standing with, and soon, Iida's grip was forced to loosen as the bodies swarmed closer. "Iida!"

But the boy had disappeared, along with the rest of her classmates. Nomi had no choice but to push along with the crowd, or risk being trampled. She couldn't see anything but bodies upon bodies as everyone flooded the exit, and she wondered what had triggered the alarm. The thought of villains entered her mind, and she tried to swallow past her dry throat. What could she possibly do against a villain in her state, when she was basically starting from scratch with her Quirk all over again?

Someone stepped on the back of her shoe, tripping her up, and a shove from behind sent her toppling to the floor, her shoe dangling off her foot. Legs rushed around her as she struggled to regain her footing, not even bothering to put her shoe back on, but the bodies were so thick and so cramped that she couldn't breach them to stand again. She crouched on her knees, one hand on the back of her head, and tried to yell at the people around her, but her voice was swallowed entirely.

"Shit!" she swore. She began pushing and shoving at random knees and thighs, trying to fight her way back to her feet. "Move, idiots!"

A knee clipped the side of her face, and her eyepatch slipped. Light and images flared in her demon eye, details emerging sharper, clearer, and there was a brief moment where she thought she could see everything before she looked up and met the gaze of the boy who had grazed her.

Too late. Before she could close her demon eye, it locked on to him, and he screamed. The strangled sound sent the panicking students into a frenzy, and the crowd became more jumbled and more frightened. The boy was swept away, still screaming, as Nomi clapped a hand over her throbbing eye, struggling to stand and put her eyepatch back on at the same time.

She realized she was crying now, either from the panic of not being able to get back to her feet or the guilt from exposing that boy to her Quirk, she didn't know, but her breath was becoming shallower and shallower, and the bodies were so close, packing her in, and there wasn't any air—

She was suddenly encompassed by two great arms, and then she was being lifted off the floor. She recognized Senzo's muscles as he held her close to his chest, protecting her from the onslaught of students, his wide arms also shielding Tae and Sanda.

Senzo was like a rock in the ocean, standing still and unbreakable even as the waves of students kept coming, crashing around him. Nomi clung to his neck, finally managing to secure her eyepatch once more, but her other eye still leaked tears, and her demon eye smarted and stung.

"Are you okay?" Senzo asked.

She nodded weakly against his chest. "Thank you."

Tae gasped. "Wait! Is that—?"

Nomi looked up and gaped when she recognized Iida perched above the glowing exit sign, his pants torn below the knee and the engines in his calves smoking.

"EVERYONE!" he bellowed above the noise. "EVERYTHING'S FINE! IT'S JUST THE PRESS!"

The crowd faltered. Iida continued.

"There's nothing to panic about! We're fine! This is U.A.! Behave in a way that is fitting for this great institution!"

The crowd slowed, beginning to murmur. "It's just the press? That's what that first-year is saying."

"Kid's got guts," Senzo said, his voice rumbling against Nomi's shoulder. He chuckled. "I like him."

"Oh, thank goodness," Tae said as the panic fizzled out in the wake of Iida's announcement. "That was madness!"

"What a bunch of idiots," Sanda sneered. "And so many of them want to be heroes… Give me a break."

Nomi said nothing. All she could think about was that boy and his screams after he'd made eye contact with her.

She hid her face in Senzo's shirt, even when she could hear Iida calling, "Can someone help me down from here?"

Nomi only stuck around long enough to congratulate Iida on becoming the new class rep after Midoriya passed the mantle to him in the wake of Iida's crisis management during lunch before she claimed to have a headache and would be going to Recovery Girl's office.

In reality, she was going home. It was true that her demon eye had given her a headache in the aftermath of the lunch panic, but more than that was the guilt that churned in her gut every time she pictured that boy and the terror on his face. She couldn't bear to look at anyone else that day, least of all Aizawa. Undoubtedly, he would learn of what happened soon enough, but today was not the day she wanted to have that inevitable conversation with him about controlling her Quirk—again.

She slipped out while the others were still congratulating Iida for his help in quelling the panic and becoming class rep, hoping no one would notice her leaving without permission and bring it up, but no one said anything or followed her.

She fingered her eyepatch as she trudged down the staircases and silently thanked Senzo once more. If he hadn't saved her, she probably could've been injured from that crowd—or worse, had harmed more people with her Quirk by accident. She pictured that terrified boy again and bit down on her lip, hard, as she exited the school building.

She came to an abrupt stop when she realized that a group of U.A. teachers were standing at the school's front entrance. She wondered what they were doing until she saw the crumbled, ruined barrier beyond them. She stared. Had the press corps really destroyed the U.A. barrier to get to All Might?

"Someone instigated this whole affair," said a voice, and Nomi tensed when she realized it was Principal Nezu who had spoken. She spotted his tiny, furry body between the legs of the other teachers, and she backed up a step, sensing that this was something not meant for her ears. "Did some evil-doer manage to slip in? Or was this intended to be a declaration of war?"

Nomi's eye widened. War?

Her shoe scuffed the sidewalk, and Principal Nezu's animal ears twitched. He turned, and so did the other pro hero teachers, finding Nomi frozen behind them.

"S-sorry," she stammered. "I, uh, I was just going home, I didn't mean to—"

"Ah, Katsuragi," Principal Nezu said in that perpetually cheerful voice of his. "Everything all right?"

She nodded, swallowing when all eyes continued to bore into her. "Yes, sir. I'm just not feeling well, so I…"

She trailed off, unable to keep her gaze from straying to the broken barrier. Principal Nezu followed her line of sight.

"An unfortunate incident," he said. He turned back to her. "One that your teachers will resolve immediately."

She gleaned the unspoken warning in his genial tone. Do not mention this to anyone.

"Of course, sir." She nodded. "Er, I'll be going now…"

She practically fled, slipping out from the barrier and making absolutely sure not to touch or otherwise disrupt the scene. She glanced back once she was out of sight of the principal and teachers, shuddering when she remembered the principal's words: a declaration of war.

The apartment was empty still when she returned home. She shucked off her shoes and backpack and went straight to the bathroom for more aspirin. She swallowed the pills and left the faucet running while she peeled off her eyepatch. She set it off to the side and stared at her reflection in the mirror.

Her eyes still looked the same as they had the first time she'd looked into a mirror after her Quirk manifested, one blue and normal and one red and monstrous. The only difference now were the deep scars gouged into the skin just above and just below her demon eye, faded white but still jagged and rough. She doubted they would ever go away at this point.

She cupped some water in her palm and pressed it against her demon eye, letting the cool sensation soak into her burning, pulsing skin. She wasn't used to using her Quirk so much, and the last two days had made her eye sensitive and agitated all over again.

When she was done soaking it, she turned off the faucet and dabbed a towel on her skin, mindful of her scars. She ran a finger over them, and Principal Nezu's voice echoed back to her. "Did some evil-doer manage to slip in? Or was this intended as a declaration of war?"

She switched off the lights and crawled into her bed, knowing for a fact that she would not be getting a wink of sleep that night.

Some fun facts about this chapter:

- I think Senzo is shaping up to be my favorite second-year. Dude's built like a tank but is actually a teddy bear? I love him. I can't wait to write more about him and Tae and Sanda, and their Quirks. I have a lot planned for them so far even though they were supposed to just be minor characters. Oops.

- The manga makes it seem like the press incident and USJ happened on the same day but I'm not adhering to that. Next chapter will definitely begin the USJ arc, though, and I'm excited to get to more of the action behind Nomi's Quirk. She'll also have an unexpected team during that arc and it'll be fun to explore how they all work together. (Any guesses on who she'll be teaming up with? Hint: they're rather minor...)

Thanks for reading! Until next time!