After lunch on the second day, the class received what could only be described as a special visitor. There had been rumours circulating around the school that the Number #1 Hero, All-Might, had started teaching at UA, but nobody had seen him on campus yet. When he marched into the 1-A classroom wearing an obnoxious red outfit with a flashy blue cape, those rumours were confirmed. The other students were incredibly impressed with the aesthetic. Akiko wasn't, but understood its value. The flashy outfit helped make All-Might into a symbol that the general public could look to for reassurance that everything was okay and heroes were there to protect them. From Akiko's perspective, however, it was a symbol that was used to keep people complacent. All-Might himself was certainly one of the heroes who tried not to neglect the poorer parts of society, sure, but his presence allowed people to more easily ignore such issues if they weren't personally affected. Even many of those who were felt like everything was fine because of the incredible publicity All-Might had. Akiko put their feelings on the matter to the side, and resolved to learn as much as they could from All-Might, so that they could one day make things better.
"I teach Hero Basic Training," All-Might declared. "It is a subject where you train in different ways to learn the basics of being a hero. Let's get right into it! Today we will be doing… Combat training! And to go with it are these!"
All might pointed to the front wall of the classroom, just to the left of the blackboard. On cue, the grey panels along the wall started moving outwards, revealing that they held a series of numbered lockers. "In here are your hero costumes, which were made with your quirk registrations and special requests in mind. Now, go get changed and gather in Ground Beta!"
Akiko walked out onto ground Beta alongside Izuku, still admiring their own costume. They wore a long sleeve violet shirt that matched their hair, which was tied back into a tidy ponytail. Over the shirt was the most perfect black bomber jacket, with a fake fur collar that really added to the aesthetic. They had dark blue cargo pants that tucked into their combat boots just above the ankle, and a simple utility belt with various sections to store whatever tools and other items Akiko needed.
Izuku wore a green jumpsuit with a sleek white pattern that ran across various sections. They also had a utility belt, coloured red with a pouch on either side. What was most interesting about it was the helmet, with a chin piece that not-so-subtly resembled All-Might's face and hair style. Having gotten to know Izuku better over the last couple days, this wasn't surprising. He clearly had a special interest in heroes, with All-Might being his absolute favourite. Akiko loved to listen to him info dump about heroes, battle strategies and anything related to heroism - his passion made the way he spoke incredibly engaging.
The duo were apparently the last to arrive - which wasn't surprising. The old staff bathroom they used to change was further away, and Akiko was definitely going to find time later to push the school into making facilities that were more gender-inclusive. The first person to notice their arrival was Uraraka, who ran up to compliment Izuku on his costume. Unless she just wasn't saying anything about it, she appeared oblivious to the design's inspirations. Her own outfit was also pretty neat - it was a pink, black and white body suit with a sleek-looking helmet that had a clear piece protecting her face. Around her wrists were some sort of brace that must have been designed to reinforce her grip strength, which made sense since her quirk required her to touch objects in order to be applied. This way she could extend her hands and wrists more without as much risk of injury. There was a clear running space theme, which was undeniably cool.
With the whole class finally there, they all gathered around All-Might. "Now, it's time for combat training!"
Ida, encased in a flashy metal suit of armour, immediately put up his hand, without even waiting for All-Might to explain anything. "Sensei! This is a battle center from the entrance exam, so will we be conducting urban battles again?"
"No, we're going to move ahead two steps! Most of the time, we see fighting with villains taking place outside, but if you look at the total numbers, atrocious villains appear indoors at a higher rate. Imprisonment, house arrest, backroom deals - in this society filled with heroes, truly intelligent villains hide in the shadows! For this class, you'll be split into villains and heroes and fight 2-on-2 indoor battles."
"Without basic training?" Asui Tsuyu asked.
"This is a real battle to understand those basics! However, the key this time is that there's no robot you can just beat up." All Might answered. Akiko felt like that answer was a bit vague - it didn't really explain how this would lead to an understanding of the basics.
Then came the tirade of questions from everyone else.
"How will wins and losses be determined?"
"Can we beat them up anyway?"
"Will the punishment be expulsion like with Aizawa?"
"How shall we be split up?"
"Isn't this cape crazy?" The last input didn't really seem like a relevant question, and its absurdity given the context helped to break Akiko's feeling of overwhelm from everyone asking all these questions and not giving All-Might a chance to answer.
"I'll answer all your questions!" All-Might shouted, but not at anyone in particular. He pulled out a sheet of notes, and started reading. "The situation is that the villains have hidden a nuclear weapon somewhere in their hideout. The heroes are trying to dispose of that. The heroes need to catch the villains or get the nuclear weapon back in the allotted time. The villains need to protect the nuclear weapon for the whole time, or catch the heroes. Teams and opponents will be determined by drawing lots!"
"They're being decided so haphazardly?" Ida complained.
At this point, Izuku was more than happy to jump in and excitedly explain why. "Pro's often have to create makeshift teams with heroes from other agencies, so that's probably why!"
"I see. The discernment to look ahead… please excuse my rudeness!" Ida bowed in apology towards All-Might.
"It's fine, lets do this quickly!" All-Might turned and posed with a fist up in the sky, and Akiko couldn't for the life of them understand why.
Once all the lots were drawn, Akiko found their teammate: Shinso Hitoshi, the one whose quirk they were particularly curious about. Izuku had been paired off with Uraraka, which was good because they already had some experience working together. The first match was announced to be between Team A - Izuku and Uraraka - as the heroes, and Team D - Bakugou and Ida - as the villains. Everyone else was directed to a viewing room, with screens where they were able to watch the battle. Akiko hoped everything would be okay, especially since Bakugou seemed to have it in for Izuku.
When the battle commenced, Akiko watched the screens as Bakugou attempted to jump Izuku as soon as he and Uraraka turned a corner. The two began to fight, and Akiko couldn't restrain themself from jumping with excitement when Izuku intercepted Bakugou's first strike and slammed him into the ground without even using his quirk. As the two childhood acquaintances began their showdown, All-Might apparently thought that was a good opportunity to show everyone else a small roll of tape.
"For the purposes of this activity, this is 'capture tape'. If the heroes are able to wrap this around a villain, the villain is considered captured and therefore out of the match. The same is true in reverse for the villains capturing the heroes."
The conversation continued in the viewing room, but Akiko tuned it out. They were more interested in watching Izuku's fight. Izuku seemed to be accurately predicting all of Bakugou's moves, and proceeding to dodge all of the explosive 'villain's strikes, before running to hide. When Bakugou found Izuku, things started getting intense. He launched a too-powerful explosion from the grenade-shaped contraption on one of his arms, which blasted through the corridor and knocked Izuku into a room at the end. All-Might had called for him to stop, but he didn't listen.
When Izuku lay flat on his back, and Bakugou kept walking forward as though to keep up the fight, others in the class seemed concerned for his safety. Akiko wasn't. They knew he would be fine. Izuku was resilient as fuck . He tolerated worse pain to use his quirk and just kept going, and from the expression on his face it was clear that this fight was important to him.
All-Might began issuing instructions to Bakugou, at least laying down some rules for the fight. "Young Bakugou, the next time you use that, I'll stop the fight, and your team will lose. To attack on such a large scale inside is inviting the destruction of the stronghold you should be protecting. That is a foolish plan for both heroes and villains. You will lose a lot of points for it!"
Bakugou seemed receptive to this, instead launching towards Izuku to fight in close range. While it wasn't looking good for Izuku, Akiko watched intently to see what their friend would do. He was certainly taking a beating for a short while, and it wasn't looking good. And yet, Akiko's feeling that it would be fine didn't go away. Akiko turned out to be right to trust that feeling. In what ended up being the two combatants' final clash, Izuku activated his quirk. Instead of hitting Bakugou with it, he punched upwards at the air. The strike had enough force to completely demolish several layers of ceiling. Akiko looked over towards the display showing Uraraka and Ida in another room, just in time to see Uraraka use the destruction as material for her quirk, distracting Ida and reaching the bomb, thus ending the combat round with the heroes' victory.
After the class reviewed the first match, reflecting on each participant's performance, the next match's participants were revealed: Team B - Akiko and Shinso Hitoshi as the heroes - versus Team F - Hanta Sero and Kirishima Eijiro as the villains. They were directed over to 'Battle Building B', and the villains were let in early to prepare. While they stood outside, Akiko approached Shinso. His costume was pretty straightforward, a black two-piece outfit with a closed jacket and track pants. What was different was the mask he wore over his mouth, that appeared to have some kind of complex technology pressing onto his throat. Akiko couldn't help but find his whole appearance kind of pretty, but tabled that thought for later.
"Hey, since we're working together, can you tell me a bit about your quirk? Mine is called 'Vector Manipulation' - by touching an object, I can change the direction and speed it moves, and that includes my own body. It directly saps at my energy, though, and I can't change directions too fast or I'll get whiplash. And I can only use it on physical things that I can touch. What about you?"
Shinso seemed hesitant to answer. "I… didn't want to talk about my quirk, but I guess there's no avoiding it. I hope you won't jump to any conclusions about what kind of person I am like most people do."
Akiko smiled, trying to be reassuring. "I promise I wouldn't do such a thing!"
And so Shinso explained. "My quirk is called Brainwashing. If I talk to someone, and they respond to me, I can put them under my control so they have to obey whatever I tell them to do."
"Oh! So that's how you saved those people during the entrance exam. That's incredible!" Akiko didn't have a care in the world for the implications they were sure people saw in such a quirk. What mattered wasn't the quirk, but how it was used. And so far, they'd seen Shinso use it to keep people safe.
Shinso relaxed. "I can only order one person around at a time, but I can keep multiple people under control. Also, I can't make them do anything particularly complex. I also have a device as part of my outfit that modifies the sounds of my vocal chords, so I can imitate other voices to trick people."
"Yooo, with a quirk like that, we've totally got this! And if anyone gives you shit for having a quirk like that, I'll set them right. Okay?" Akiko grinned and flapped their arms around, excited to work with Shinso.
"Okay," Shinso grinned back, his tension now practically gone. "So, what's our plan?"
The duo discussed how they could best work together for the few more minutes they had until the match started, and then ran into the building together. They searched a couple floors before finding the room with the bomb, with five minutes to spare on the timer.
Sero and Kirishima had been waiting there the whole time, and there was tape set up around the bomb. That would make it really difficult for Akiko to get close to it, at first. But if they got enough of an opening, they could break it away and clear a path. Seeing that the tape was coming from Sero, Akiko pointed at Kirishima. Shinso nodded, and made a move towards the redhead, fists balled. Leaving Kirishima to Shinso for the moment, Akiko launched at Sero. The latter responded by launching tape at Akiko to try and grab them. Mistake. Akiko grabbed the tape, and activated their quirk to make the tape fly towards them, pulling Sero along with it. He didn't even get a chance to break the tape away and dodge before Akiko planted a knee right in his gut. They let go, and Sero doubled over.
Akiko grabbed the capture tape and wrapped it around Sero before he had a chance to recover, and then looked over to see how Shinso was going - just in time to watch as Kirishima did Shinso the favour of wrapping himself in capture tape. For extra emphasis, Shinso ducked under the tape and put a hand on the bomb.
"The winners are the heroes from Team B!" All-Might's voice boomed through the PA system.
"Good work, everyone," All-Might praised the class once the fights were all over. There were a lot of displays of partially-refined quirks that, over the next few years, would be moulded and trained a great deal. "You all did a good job for your first training session! There were no major injuries other than young Midoriya, who I will now go and review the battles with, since he missed out! All of you should go and change back into your uniforms and return to the classroom."
And then, All-Might vanished in a cloud of kicked-up dust. He seems to be in such a hurry - I wonder if he actually has some kind of connection to Izuku? Akiko contemplated while they went to get changed.