Welcome back! I hope that everyone is enjoying their dry, cracked hands and isolation from society. Thank you so much to Junkers for their two reviews; you really made me laugh with "Grouchy Poppa Aizawa and Vodka Aunt Hizashi". Thank you as well to M— I hope that you continue to enjoy how the Shouta-Koharu-Hizashi dynamic progresses!

Chapter 8: Cheering for the Villains

Koharu's mouth felt dry. Around her, the class stood in silent awe, transfixed by the screens before them.

The hero team had won, but no one would have been able to guess it. On one screen, Uraraka was on her knees, a hand pressed against her mouth and Iida rubbing her back. On another, Midoriya was sprawled, undignified, across the floor in front of Bakugou. The building was in ruin.

"What the heck?" Kaminari said, too pure of heart to swear. "The losers are practically uninjured, and the winners are on the ground…" On screen, even Bakugou looked shocked.

Someone clicked their tongue. It was Tokoyami, Koharu's seat-mate, who spoke up. "They lost the battle, but won the war."

Tsuyu, who had been assigned to be Tokoyami's partner and was thus standing with him, shook her head in disbelief. "This was supposed to be training, though…" she countered.

"Shouldn't we go check on Midoriya?" Koharu loudly interrupted the crowd, her eyebrow ticking in frustration at their offhand remarks. "Maybe get Uraraka a ginger ale?"

"Ah, of course! Thank you, Young Aizawa!" shouted All Might. Placing the small microphone that he had been favouring onto a nearby console, All Might swooshed through the room with a proclamation that he would be right back after checking in on 'his bright young pupils'. His absence left the class in another bout of silence.

That silence did not last.

"EHH?!"

"Did All Might just call you 'Aizawa'?"

"Like, Aizawa-sensei?!"

"Have you been a spy this whole time?!"

"Ohmygosh! That's why your costume looks like that!"

Koharu blinked at the onslaught, the class' attention now on her with the revelation of her surname. After a moment, the teen shrugged and said, "I mean, I wasn't trying to hide it." She gave a casual tilt to her head and smiled. "Sorry to deceive you, I guess."

"You don't have to be so cool about it," Mina exclaimed with a bright grin spread across her pink cheeks. "I bet you can get us all sorts of test answers!"

"Yeah!" cried Kaminari. "You must have access to answer sheets!"

Koharu scoffed and replied, "I'm probably worse off than the lot of you. You've met the guy— do you really think I'm going to be getting special treatment, let alone test answers?"

Kaminari visibly deflated. The pout on his face was prominent. "No, I guess not."

Already seeing the questions on the tips of her classmates' tongues, Koharu was quick to continue. "Exactly. So, there's really nothing exciting about it. But you know what was exciting?" She asked, leaning on one hip and pausing only slightly for dramatic effect. "How about that punch?"

No one needed her to elaborate, and the hype of Koharu being an Aizawa was quickly lost to the excited chatter about Midoriya and Bakugou's performance, stretching until All Might inevitably returned to corral them. Bakugou trailed into the surveillance room behind the Pro Hero, his posture screaming 'angry kitten' as he settled near the back of the room.

Iida and Uraraka joined at a slower pace, Uraraka still swaying on her feet and looking ready to upchuck her breakfast. Koharu was quick to wave them over, and gave them two big thumbs up as they approached.

"You guys did great! I didn't know who to root for!"

Seeing a bus, Kirishima was quick to throw her under it. "That's not true. She bet that Uraraka would win."

Koharu let out a small gasp, clutching her chest. "Ugh, utter betrayal. And I'm expected to work with this guy."

"Well then," All Might boomed, effectively ending all conversations with a voice decisive as his punches. "Shall we review the first battle?"

~ o ~

Koharu's team would be facing off against Tokoyami and Tsuyu, with Koharu's team earning the privilege of playing Villains. They would be given five minutes to prepare before the Heroes were allowed in, and Kirishima had been quick to find a spot for them to squat and strategize.

While Koharu couldn't say she knew much about Tokoyami's Quirk, she had a fairly firm grasp on what Tsuyu could do. Tsuyu had explained in the locker room the previous day that her Quirk granted her frog-like abilities, including sticking to walls and extending her tongue. As a Mutant-type, Koharu's Quirk would be useless against hers. Not only that, but in the fitness test, Tsuyu had beaten Koharu by one rank. Meanwhile, Tokoyami had scored fifth.

After watching Todoroki make fools of his opponents by simply freezing the entire building, Koharu was going into her battle with a pit in her stomach. Would she be enough against the Hero Team? Koharu's Quirk couldn't be properly utilized against Mutant-types.

A shoulder bumped against her own, and Koharu stumbled with her next step. Beside her, Kirishima was grinning through sharp teeth. "Relax. I can hear you worrying!"

Koharu's brow twitched beneath her bangs, and she was quick with a retort. "Then you've got great hearing, for a shark."

"Whaa—?" Kirishima's look was utter betrayal, and one of his hands pointed to his mouth. Koharu mirrored him, pointing to her own mouth with a solemn nod. "That's so mean, Aizawa!"

Already grimacing, Koharu looked towards Kirishima inquisitively. "Did I hurt your feelings? I'm really sorry if I did."

He was quick to shake his head, erasing his put-out expression like an Etch-a-Sketch. "You didn't hurt my feelings or anything! I'm just glad that dark look is off your face." Kirishima defended, and the grin was back on his face. "It takes way more than that to hurt me, anyway."

"Speaking of," Koharu quickly interjected, eager to change the subject before she inadvertently acted like an asshole again, "Your Quirk is Hardening, right?"

Kirishima nodded, and held his hands out for her to see as he activated his Quirk. His skin became jagged and sharp, pointed like he was made of rock rather than flesh. Koharu shamelessly reached out and touched his forearm, unsurprised to find that it felt distinctly inhuman and like it could take a hell of a punch.

"D'you think you can fight without it?"

To her second question, Kirishima's nod came slower. The redhead was an open book, and his eyes shone clear with confusion. "Sure, 'course I could. Why?"

"If you can avoid activating your Quirk, I can probably stop Tokoyami from using his Quirk," Koharu quickly explained. One of her hands reached up to fidget with the goggles atop her head, feeling their round rims and fingering the edges nervously. "I can switch people's Quirks, but if you're using it when I do, then Tokoyami will end up with your defense."

Kirishima tilted his head thoughtfully, considering her words before he asked, "Would I get Tokoyami's Quirk, then?"

"Well, I'm hoping not. If I can switch your Quirks before either are activated, you'll both be essentially Quirkless, y'know. That's what I'm aiming for."

Kirishima furrowed his brow, and crossed his arms over his chest. "What if his Quirk is already activated when we meet them?"

"About that," Koharu said with a creeping smile. "How would you feel about acting a tad unmanly?"

~ o ~

Koharu's plan worked like a charm. With the intent of borrowing Bakugou's bold move of a sneak attack and backed by Kirishima's surprisingly strong fighting abilities, Koharu and Kirishima were on the Hero team within a minute of them entering the building. Unsuspecting, Tokoyami had yet to activate his Quirk, and from behind her goggles, Koharu's orange eyes ensured that he wouldn't be activating it anytime soon.

At Koharu's signal, Kirishima pounced upon the two, luring Tsuyu to attack him with a snap of her tongue. The frog-mutant was left defenseless against Koharu's capture device as she sprung onto the scene, and Tsuyu had no chance of standing her ground against the pull of the two villain's weight. Forced to let Kirishima go, Tsuyu became tangled in Koharu's capture device and laid immobile on the ground, struggling against the hard metal alloy.

Meanwhile, Tokoyami had been experiencing the unpleasant feeling of being unable to call forth his Quirk, and then the even more-so unpleasant feeling of receiving an uppercut to the jaw by Kirishima's bare fist. Whilst initially taken off guard, for a short while, Tokoyami was able to hold his own against the steadfast redhead, dodging his punches and throwing his own series of blows. However, when Koharu joined the fray, the two were quick to overpower him, and Kirishima successfully bound Tokoyami with the school-supplied capture tape.

"Villain Team wins!"

The fight was over before the Heroes even realized it had begun, Koharu thought smugly as she and Kirishima stood over their prey, their palms meeting in a satisfying high-five above the heads of their classmates. There was no way their classmates could have anything but praise for their performance.

Still, she thought. It would have been nice to see their Quirks in action.

At the thought, Koharu glanced downwards and locked eyes with a bemused Tokoyami. A nervous laugh bubbled from her chest, followed by a pooling guilt. "Ahh, sorry, guys!" Koharu chirped as she bent down to release the Hero team.

Tsuyu gave them a lopsided smile as Kirishima untied the slim tape from around her, the teen having been swift to follow suit in releasing their classmates. "Do you have the same Quirk as Aizawa-sensei, Koharu?" She asked with a tilt of her head.

Freed from his restraints, Tokoyami sat up, and Koharu rolled back onto her heels. "Nah, I can switch people's Quirks. Kirishima couldn't use his Quirk either, not that either of you knew that." Mirroring Tsuyu, Koharu tilted her head and smiled. "I'm just glad that Tokoyami didn't figure out how to harden his skin!"

"Wait," said Kirishima, an expression of surprise flitting across his face. "That was possible? I thought you said that we would be Quirkless!"

"Well, yeah. I did switch your Quirks, y'know." Koharu stood as she answered, missing the hand extended to her by Tokoyami until it was too late. She offered him an apologetic smile before she continued to explain, "It usually takes a minute to figure out how to use someone else's Quirk, if you can at all. Just think of how long it took you to master your own Quirk, and your body was built for that."

"I suppose that's true," Tsuyu said thoughtfully. One of her fingers tapped lightly against her chin now that her hands were freed. "What happens if someone's Quirk is already activated, then?"

The group exchanged glances as Koharu noticeably winced. "Then you just have to control it right away."

"And what happens if someone can't?" Tokoyami asked, his voice tight. Koharu's eyes slid to focus on him, and his twisted expression. His eyes darted continuously back to Kirishima.

White bone. Red skin. Scorched clothing. Shouta choking.

Shouta's voice, rasping. Different.

Scarred.

Koharu's smile was full of all the confidence she didn't have. "Then I take the Quirk back."

chapter end

For some reason, this episode just really didn't excite me to write. You know when you have so many ideas for a story, but you just have to get through that damn beginning first? I feel like that's always been my problem, and this chapter was really a part of that. I probably could have made it longer (as in, not broken up into three parts whoops), but it would essentially be filler ripped straight from canon which seemed unnecessary and boring. I'm sorry if the writing reflects my lack of passion. Thank you very much for reading thus far!