"You're an idiot."

"No, you're just a chicken."

The day after Kugisaki's shameless declaration of war, Megumi and Kugisaki received nothing but hostile stares, not that they are both threatened by it but it is still quite troublesome. Deeply troublesome. Megumi is not used to so many students around him. His middle school was a private one, hence the few students and Jujutsu Kōtō has three first year students and their seniors are only more than a handful, less then ten, actually, so to say Megumi is not used to the students surrounding him is an understatement. Bakugō's deep stare directed to Kugisaki is not helping. In fact, Megumi wants nothing more than to hit Kugisaki across the head at her shamelessness and her sheer talent and ability at riling people up.

"Look, one of us is going to be number one, anyway, so why hold back? Our backgrounds are clean, the Hero Commissions are going to fix everything for us," Kugisaki mutters, stretching her shoulders in exhaustion. They had been up all night with Nitta, wandering in the streets of Tokyo with Sukuna's finger with them. When Nitta had found out that they were literally walking around with it, she had never felt so scandalized but after lots of convincing from the two, she calmed down. But not before telling them that the Hero Commissions cannot know the truth about Sukuna's fingers. All they know is that Sukuna's Fingers are Cursed Objects. As simple as that, nothing that involves being the King of Curses, nor Itadori being a vessel for him. They cannot give the Hero Commissions more power than they should have. They are going to take as much as they can from the Hero Commissions but never the other way around. "We're going to keep the Hero Commissions on their toes."

Megumi sighs. He does not know where Kugisaki gets that mindset of hers but Megumi does not want anything to do with it. He had originally thought of finally relaxing. Their other classmates are just children, at the end, who know little of the world and of their own experiences but as long as they are near All Might and as long as they aspire to be Pro-Heroes, they will always be involved or dragged to danger in one way or another. And Megumi not doing anything to help with that is not okay. He likes to think that this is the ranking of their 'need to help people': Itadori, Megumi, and Kugisaki. Kugisaki should not even be in the rankings and though she has her own way of helping people, she is not empathetic enough to actually be on par with, say, Itadori's obsession. Megumi does not know what pushes Kugisaki to be a sorcerer, why she saves people, why she does what she does but what Megumi knows is that Kugisaki does what she wants, what she needs, and occassionally, what her 'precious people' need. (The hand on his. All Might. The shame. The guilt. Is he really going to let civilians die because of his prejudice?) Megumi sighs. Again.

But Megumi still is not going to sit still. They did something wrong to their classmates. They are a year older than them, know better, have more experience, and mocking them for not going through the dangers they did is not okay. So Megumi drags Kugisaki by the collar, following Midoriya and his group of friends as they head towards USJ, or the better part of USJ that is still available for the students. "Hey, you're chok—" Megumi pushes a hand on Kugisaki's mouth to keep her quiet, peeking from behind a wall.

Midoriya, Īda, and Uraraka gather together. It is Midoriya who speaks first. "Back in the USJ incident... it really made me feel useless," he says and Kugisaki calms down in Megumi's arms, "Seeing Fushiguro-kun and Kugisaki-san doing things that Pro-Heroes can do—it made me think if this is really all I could do right now. I made excuses in my head: that I couldn't fight as well as the other Pro-Heroes because I'm still in training, that everything was going to be alright because All Might was there and—and when I began moving, it was always too late. Always at the last minute but Fushiguro-kun and Kugisaki-san—" He purses his lips. "They managed to do things that I thought only Pro-Heroes can! And Kacchan... Kirishima-kun and Todoroki-kun... all of them..."

The look on Īda's face reflects Midoriya's. He grits his teeth in an annoyance directed to himself. "Even I," he does not continue his words.

Uraraka looks from Īda to Midoriya and pumps her fists in the air before she slaps her companions on their backs. "I think we all felt the same way watching All Might get bloodied! And all of us too, in one way or another felt like we were lacking but the fact that we know that is more than enough for now," she beams, "Let's all train together, okay, Deku-kun, Īda-kun?"

The three of them share a sweet moment, one that makes Kugisaki roll her eyes and whisper an ingenuine 'aww'. Megumi hopes she just keeps her mouth shut. "Why are we doing this again, 'shiguro?" She grunts under her breath, pulling herself away from her classmate's chokehold. She fixes her blazer, straightening it with a quick tug. "Ah, right. 'Megumi-kun's' being friendly, isn't he?" She scoffs.

"They're civilians, Kugisaki," Megumi replies. Kugisaki flinches at how fast he had replied, eyeing him warily. Megumi shakes his head, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "I'm not trying to pick a fight but look—Midoriya can't even throw a proper punch and that's his main weapon. All of our classmates—most of them, have no fighting experiences and aren't even trying to fix that. All of them rely on their Quirks too much. And they're going to be encountering those Villains a lot. Kugisaki, we know better. We have experience. We should be helping them."

(Megumi denies trying to be Itadori. In a better world, Itadori is the one to tell him this and Megumi will be the first to agree, albeit reluctantly. He will think thoroughly about it but Itadori will slap his back and tell him that since they are the ones who have power, they are the ones who are supposed to be helping those without. Megumi and his eagerness to protect civilians will prevail and Kugisaki, who will deny and deny, will eventually relent. She will sigh and grumble: "If we get scolded, it's your fault, Itadori," and then they will get distracted. Somehow. They always will after some eureka moment and then, it will go back to Itadori and Kugisaki ganging up on Megumi.

And then the cycle will repeat.)

Kugisaki scowls, looking at Megumi in disbelief. "You and your pity," she grumbles. (Or maybe he is just trying to be Itadori because the Megumi from before would have considered but would have never proposed this.) And Megumi expects Kugisaki to storm off. She obviously does not want anything to do with their classmates. She just wants to get this mission over and done with but Megumi became a Sorcerer because he was needed. Because he thought of Tsumiki and thought that she was the only one left in his life. He has no memories of his mother nor his father, and Tsumiki has been the only one in his life ever since. Megumi became a Sorcerer because he had massive potential. Gojō said so himself. But when Kugisaki just relaxes and huffs, Megumi looks up. "Stop acting so surprised. I'm not heartless—"

"Fushiguro-kun? Kugisaki-san?"

Kugisaki groans.

...

Īda Tenya had never felt so useless in his life until Fushiguro Megumi was forced to fly him to the teachers as soon as possible. He had even been scared at the height that he was lifted up from, and the moment he stumbled upon All Might, he had stammered on his words, and All Might had to calm him down too. When he heard that Fushiguro ended up with a couple of broken ribs, he wonders what would have happened if he just ran, if he just let the shadow-bird stay with Fushiguro, if Īda was just a little faster, a little less hesitant, a little more determined, a little braver. And now, as he watches Fushiguro say that he does not mind helping them with their training for the Sports Festival despite the fact they are going to be competitors, despite his so-called duo having announced a declaration of war just yesterday, Tenya feels even more in despair.

Somehow, it ends up like this: Kugisaki with her annoyed expression and Fushiguro switching from hesitant to awkward to nonchalant.

Kugisaki looks like she wants to be anywhere but here, crossing her arms as her hammer hangs on her hands but Fushiguro is looking more and more approachable with each minute that pases. "Midoriya still can't punch correctly," Fushiguro criticizes, the boy flinching the moment he was called out, "Uraraka also relies on her Quirk too much and isn't using her Quirk creatively enough. And Īda—" Tenya tilts his head up, eyes shadowed in shame. Fushiguro shifts awkwardly. "You actually have a good hold on your Quirk. You know it very well but—"

"But you have no technique," Kugisaki points her hammer at Tenya and he almost instinctively jumps away. He had seen what that hammer can do and he does not want to be in the receiving end of that. "Do you know Taekwondo?"

"Ah—I'm afraid I do not have experie—"

"Why not?" Kugisaki immediately counters. "Īda is from a Hero family, right? That means you have three things: privilege, support, and inspiration. You already knew what your Quirk was when you were young and you already knew that you were going to be a Pro-Hero. Taekwondo is the best choice but you—" She bends over when Fushiguro elbows her roughly on her stomach. "What?"

Fushiguro glares at her but Īda is stuck. Midoriya did not grow up with a Quirk and he knows what happens to people without them. Uraraka grew up in a household with less than adequate financial support but Tenya has everything. He has a supportive family system, a brother he knows he will aspire to become, and connections that will readily aim to please his family but what did he do with that? He lives in a family that had been heroes for generations. The Īda name is famous for that and is even more famous thanks to the popularity of his older brother. Sure, Tenya is one of the most skilled in terms of Quirk Mastery in their class but aside from that, does he have actual formal training in order to apply technique to his skill? Tenya grieves for the time he did not do better. (Why did he not do more again?) He clenches his fists.

Tenya catches Uraraka's worried look. "Īda-kun is much better in using his Quirk than the rest of u—"

"Kugisaki-san is right, Uraraka," Tenya finally admits, ignoring the way Kugisaki sends a known look to Fushiguro, "What can I do to improve this?"

For once, a grin actually settles down to Kugisaki. "Ojiro has experience with karate, he can give you tips on how to improve your kicks. We can't help you out on that part—I'm a middle to long-ranged fighter, and even though Fu—Megumi seems like a long-ranged fighter, he also focuses on hand-to-hand combat and some occasional weaponry," she explains, surprisingly helpful in that aspect, "Uraraka can learn some basic stuff with Fushiguro, and Īda, you can learn to maneuver better with me. As for Midoriya..."

Said green-haired student jolts the moment he hears his name. Tenya looks at him worriedly. Megumi speaks for him: "He can stick with me."

Kugisaki raises both of her eyebrows. "Megumi-sensei has two students, huh?"

"Shut up."

Tenya looks at them and sees people out of their league. They are competitors in the Sports Festival and yet, here they are, helping Tenya and his friends, and for what? Are they mocking them, implying that even if they improve, Fushiguro and Kugisaki are still going to defeat them because of the strange experience that they have? And as if hearing the thoughts swarming in Tenya's head, the thoughts that had been weighing in him since earlier, Midoriya steps forward, eyes resolute and fists tight. "Fushiguro-kun, Kugisaki-san, I really appreciate what you're doing but why? I mean, thank you! I—I really need this but Fushiguro-san and Kugisaki-san could be training with themselves too so why—" His words are put into a halt when Kugisaki raises her hand.

She points her finger to him. "Do you really need a reason to help people? Isn't that what a real 'hero' is supposed to be?"

Tenya freezes.

Oh, he thinks. He should have noticed it earlier. When Kugisaki and Fushiguro talk, even during class recitations, they put a distinct difference between a 'Pro-Hero' and a 'Hero'. At first, Tenya had thought that it was just nothing—they are quite interchangeable, after all, but this time, Kugisaki puts her foot down and sets the differences. He is not blind to the hypocrisy. He may seem like it but he was born and raised in a Pro-Hero Family and thus, he has been in the front row seat all his life. There are things such as Quirk Marriages, incidents that involve the deaths of students when Villains are involved, human trafficking, mysterious kidnapped children, but it is easy to forget about all of those in a position of privilege, in a position of power, in the delusion of a fantasy. Just because his brother is a hero, doesn't mean all Pro-Heroes are like that. But Tenya never found the need to truly absorb and register that fact.

Tenya entered UA to become a Pro-Hero like his brother; his brother who is hardworking, kind, has the most sidekicks and thus, ranks as one of the Pro-Heroes with the most solved cases—and Tenya wants to become like him. He wants to become just like his brother who is not just a Pro-Hero but a real hero.

He looks at Kugisaki in awe. Her gaze meets his and he jumps, stomach tightening out of nowhere. Her eyebrow rises in question as Midoriya inquires Fushiguro of something. Tenya looks down to his legs, his Quirk throbbing. He decides: he will prove to Kugisaki—and Fushiguro—that he can be someone they can rely on, someone who they do not need to protect but someone they can fight along side with, someone they will call a Hero instead of a Pro-Hero!

The next day, Tenya approaches a very startled Ojiro and expectantly looks at Kugisaki.

(Nobara shudders.)

...

The apartment Nobara lives in is shared between her, Fushiguro, and Nitta. The apartment is rather large in size, courtesy to the Hero Commissions' accomodations but they do not really need that much space, considering that Nobara and Fushiguro share a room (more like: cannot get separated but Nobara will never admit that)—something that Nitta does not mention, even as she goes to Fushiguro's room to wake them up for school but finds the both of them there instead. Nitta only smiles and calls for them each day, waking them up like a guardian will and Nobara is genuinely thankful for that. She learns that Nitta has a younger brother who she complains about regularly, saying that they really look alike. She says his name is 'Arata', written as 'new', and he has the same short hair as her and the same shock of blond. Nitta misses her younger brother, no matter how much she grumbles about his disobedience.

Nitta also wants to go home as much as they do.

And Nitta, ever serious with her job, works more than they do. She ushers them away at around nine in the evening in the midst of purging the Curses in Musutafu even though she will probably stay until midnight. Fushiguro tries to say that the Hero Commissions is overworking her but she smiles, puts both hands on their shoulders: "Fushiguro-kun and Kugisaki-chan are both getting overworked in their own way, you know. The two of you go to school, put up personalities, and after that, you have to exorcise Curses—you need to get rest as much as you can especially with the Sports Festival coming up," her smile widens and Nobara feels like sobbing again, "Leave it to the adults for now, okay? You've worked way toohard for the past few months."

Nobara and Fushiguro relents because nobody can say 'no' to Nitta, especially since she is the only adult in their lives and is much more worthy of respect than, say, their Gojō-sensei. And speaking of their teacher, Nobara feels like they are not even in a different world with how similar Gojō-sensei and Hawks are, always, always pestering them over the smallest of things and forcefully entering their apartment, sitting in between Nobara and Fushiguro as they lounge in their couch. He slings an arm around them and ignores how loud Fushiguro clicks his tongue. Nobody wants him here. "Sooooo?" Hawks drawls and Nobara rolls her eyes. "What do you think of modern dramas? Any improvement from the 20th century?"

Fushiguro grunts. "We're from the 21st."

"Shōwa?"

"Heisei," Nobara hisses.

Hawks raises both of his hands, elbows still on Nobara and Fushiguro's shoulders. As much as they want to leave, they are most definitely not allowed to do anything against the Hero Commissions' Pro-Hero, much less the famous Number Three Pro-Hero. So Nobara crosses her arms, bites down the words threatening to spill from her mouth. Briefly, Fushiguro glances at her. I'm not dumb! She thinks. Fushiguro always somehow expects her to slip up first, to be the more volatile one, to be less careful around their classmates when Fushiguro was the one who let them approach them first, who initiated the coaching to their enemies in the Sports Festival! Nobara's finger taps furiously on her elbow.

She almost jumps when she feels Hawks' large wings tickle her skin. "Akari-chan's still out?" Nobara becomes reallytempted to sock Hawks in the face for daring to call Nitta by her given name. "Awww, I thought she was going to be home but I guess she left the kids in the house, huh?" Nobara is this close to hammering him down through the ground.

"Nitta-san prefers to be called by her surname," Fushiguro, surprisingly, speaks for the both of them. Nobara turns her head to his direction and nods approvingly. Fushiguro looks away. This guy—Nobara feels Hawks shrug.

"But Akari-chan and I are close enough to call each other by our given names, you know."

Liar, Nobara thinks.

Nobara, though she may be short-tempered and easily baited when mocked, that mostly happens during battles. Most of the times, she is the one doing the baiting, Itadori even complimenting her and saying that her mouth really does a good job bringing out the worst in their enemies to which she takes it as a compliment so of course Nobara knows when someone is baiting her outside of battles. She wonders what Hawks is trying to get from them—why they want to find Itadori? They already made an excuse, saying that he has the most Cursed Energy out of all of them and thus, will be prone to creating more Curses; they add another lie, explicitly implying that Itadori is untrained and cannot control his Cursed Energy as well as them so he will definitely create Curses, even though in reality, this rarely to never happens among sorcerers but the Commissions do not need to know that, nor do they need to know that Sukuna's fingers are more than just 'Cursed Objects' but the King of Curse's Fingers, not to mention that Itadori is the host of said Curse. Nobara grimaces just by thinking about it.

The Hero Commissions obviously have secrets they are not telling Nobara and the others. The constant presence of Hawks must be related to that. Are they trying to get him close? To fish for information because he is admittedly charismatic and charming? The handsome Pro-Hero who will whisk you off your feet? Nobara scoffs internally—she may have positive opinions concerning All Might and Aizawa-sensei but that is them and not a Pro-Hero groomed by the Hero Commissions and still refuses to do anything about the problem despite having more influence on the crowd than them. If Hawks just speaks, many Pro-Heroes will support him because the Hero Commissions not being very heroic is more than a common knowledge in the industry. It is one of the first things that Pro-Heroes find out in their debut.

Nobara spots Fushiguro slapping Hawks' finger away, the same one that had been poking him. "Megumi-kun has a shadow-bird, right? Which one of us do you think is faster? I am the fastest Pro-Hero around you know?" This catches Fushiguro's attention, the both of them eager to soak in as much knowledge as they can from this man.

"More than Ingenium?"

Hawks grins, eyes barely seen with how wide it is. Nobara wants to punch him in the face and get rid of that self-satisfied look. (But he can be so blinding sometimes.) "I am the fastest hero," and Nobara has seen his interviews. It is the first thing Fushiguro dragged her in doing when they met him. Hawks is the laid-back Pro-Hero, the one who wants to make a world wherein he can laze around and not be needed. Nobara does not know what she feels about it because despite his shit-eating grin and his annoying tendencies, Nobara does not feel like Hawks is lying. That still does not make her like him though.

She stands up all of the sudden, Hawks dropping his arm along with her movements. "I'm going to sleep," she announces.

Fushiguro perks up. "You're on the futon."

"Not if I get there first."

Hawks whistles. "Megumi-kun and Nobara-chan both sleep in the same room?" He cackles. "I wonder what Akari-chan is going to say about tha—"

Nobara slams the door of her (Fushiguro's, honestly) room shut. She has no patience for this man. Not when he shines like Itadori and speaks like Gojō-sensei. Not today.

...

Shinsō Hitoshi met Fushiguro Megumi and Kugisaki Nobara in the middle of winter. They both come out from the same cubicle in the internet café and his first instinct is to be embarrassed at the connotations: in the cubicle—did they—but theylook his age but—but people his age do that kind of stuff already right—and then the brunette pulls him away, her neck exposed with the shortness of her hair which is why Hitoshi almost does not recognize her the next time he sees her. Fushiguro looks the same as he had more than six months ago but Kugisaki's hair is much longer.

Hitoshi should have known though.

He should have known early enough. There is a strange confidence oozing from Fushiguro and Kugisaki, a confidence that the likes of Bakugō has. These people are born with powerful Quirks; powerful and heroic Quirks. Hitoshi should have known from their callous way of asking him back then if his Quirk was the reason for his bullying. He should have known that Kugisaki is the same Kugisaki that ranked first in the Practical Exam, Fushiguro lagging at the third place but still overtaking most of their fellow students with staggering numbers of killed robots. Hitoshi had lingered at the letter that he received from UA, the bold letters of 'General Education' almost mocking him, spitting on him and calling his Quirk alright but not kind. He knows he can be powerful. He knows why they are afraid of him. He knows more than anyone that his Quirk is more powerful than other people but—"Shinsō-kun is kind of creepy, isn't he?" He flinches, the voices of his former classmates overlapping in his head.

Kugisaki could never understand.

Fushiguro could never understand.

He hears from murmurs that Fushiguro has had formal training in the art of the sword, is proficient in hand-to-hand combat and has a powerful and heroic Quirk to add to that and Hitoshi wonders why he was born like this. Why Fushiguro, despite his dark looks, his glares, his arrogance, he is deemed suitable to be a hero when Hitoshi is stuck with people glancing at him worriedly. He looks like a Villain, they say, has a Villainous Quirk too. And now, Hitoshi ends up in General Education, rubbing the back of his head and faces Bakugō who he thinks is the worst of the lot. Arrogant, dirty-mouthed and petty—and then Kugisaki. Kugisaki Nobara had given him hope as much as Fushiguro did. Their words had been kind, very, very kind that Hitoshi cried himself to sleep that night and lingered in the entrance of the convenience store they used to work in, wondering if he can go in, wondering if they can be friends, wondering and wondering.

"This guy. The Entrance Exam scouted out the flashy Quirks because it's the easiest to pick out the strongest that way but that doesn't mean it's the most effective. So the Sports Festival is the only way to let out your complaints. If you manage to 'pull out the rug' from us 'Heroic kids' then that means we never deserved it in the first place so go on. Work hard. Train. Because right now, all I can see are barks and no bites. This 'arrogant kid' you're spitting on? He's been biting since Day One." Hitoshi learns to dislike Kugisaki because of course she won't understand! She was born with a powerful Quirk! She was born good-looking and she was born with that confidence who knows where it came from! Of course she can talk like that! Of course she will demean him like this because she doesn't understand!

Fushiguro lingers behind, exasperated at Kugisaki but not doing anything to reject her words. He agrees, obviously, and judging by that uncaring look on Bakugō's face, so does he.

You don't understand, Hitoshi wants to spit out.

(This world is unfair.)

But in the tround of the Sports Festival, in the infamous one-on-one fights, everyone is of equal footing and Hitoshi knows. Hitoshi knows that once he opens his mouth, the tides will lean to his favor so for now, he keeps quiet. For now, the anger simmers and becomes silent. The world is unfair and Hitoshi will do something about it.

...

・ shōwa (昭和, shouwa) is the period in japan ruled by emperor hirohito from 1926 to 1989.

・ heisei (平成, heisei) is the period in japan ruled by emperor akihito from 1989 to 2019. the current era is the reiwa (令和, reiwa) ruled by emperor naruhito.

...

the mouth is the source of disaster