During the next few days, the academy had been closed for maintenance. With this supposed "League of Villains" as the media was calling them having broken into U. A.'s security, many things had to be looked over in order to ensure the students' safety. This gave time for the students of 1-A to get so much needed rest, but Tenya couldn't help but feel like this was all just the start of something bigger looming up ahead...

Everyone in class 1-A were surprised to see Mr. Aizawa in class a few days later despite the severity of his injuries. The fact that he was also covered in bandages from head to toe only added to the surprise. He explained to them that his injuries were irrelevant, since something more important was coming up: the U.A. Sports Festival. Some of the students seemed troubled by this news, saying that they were surprised the annual Sports Festival was still being held despite the attack from the League of Villains. Todoroki was quick to point out to everyone that the festival was too important to cancel, since it was the best way for students to get scouted by professional Hero Agencies. Plus, seeing how the public had reacted to the whole incident at the U.S.J., it would be an even bigger mistake to cancel the Sports Festival this year, since their class was the center of attention right now and everybody was talking about their class. Fey was even surprised to see that she had briefly appeared on the news as well. People were talking about her even though she hadn't actually been there during the incident. They must have caught her while she had gone to school to check on her friends. This only fed into her imposter syndrome. She believed that she had no right in getting any kind of press since she had been completely absent that day.

Regardless of the incident and its consequences, the festival would be held in two weeks, which meant that they all had to do their best to train as much as possible for the big event. This meant that Fey would have less time to work during the evenings, but she knew this was going to happen eventually. School would inevitably take priority over her job and this worried her...

Once Aizawa had given them the rundown of how things were going to be for the weeks leading up to the festival, he left the classroom to go take one of his many naps. Soon after, an impressive amount of students started gathering in the hallway outside of their classroom. Fey was shocked by the amount of people there were.

"Oh my god!" exclaimed Ochako. "What the hell are all these students doing here?" she asked, taking the words right out of Fey's mouth.

"Do you have some sort of business with our class?" Tenya asked the crowd.

"They're here to scout out the competition, idiots," Bakugou answered, getting up from his desk and walking over to the doorway. "Well at least now you know what a future pro looks like. Now, move it extras."

"You can't go around calling people extras just because you don't know who they are!" Iida protested, his arms chopping the air furiously.

Fey looked at him flailing his arms as he was so want to do, trying very hard not to burst out laughing. Finally, one of the students stepped forward. He had shaggy lavender colored hair and a tired look on his face. He gave a quick look inside the classroom, then nonchalantly put his hands in his pockets.

"So this is class 1-A? The ones that fought off the League of Villains during the U.S.J. incident," he said in a flat voice. "I heard you guys were supposed to be impressive, but you just sound like an ass." He addressed Bakugou. "Is everyone in this class delusional or just you?"

Katsuki's face twitched with anger, while Iida, Midoriya and Uraraka were fervently shaking their heads in response to his question. Fey shook her head with a discouraged look on her face. What a fucking idiot.

"If that's the case then it shouldn't be too difficult for us then," he started to explain. "You see, many of us would have wanted to be in the hero course, but were forced to pick different paths when we weren't selected. But during the festival, us non-hero course students get a chance to prove our worth and some of our teachers might want to transfer us to your course... This also means that one of you gets booted off the course when this happens."

Tenya stiffened. He had never considered that his spot, or any of his friends', could be in jeopardy. He hadn't heard of this until now and, for some reason, he found himself being worried about Fey. He knew that she had less time than most to dedicate herself to her schoolwork. What if she fell behind and got kicked off the course? How would she realize her dream then?

"I'm here to let you know that if you guys don't bring your A-game during the festival, I'll steal your spot from right under you." The young man paused, looking over each of the students from class 1-A. "Consider this a declaration of war."

The mysterious student stared directly at Bakugou, who was also shooting him a very serious look. The tension between them was almost palpable. Luckily, someone else broke their staring contest by showing up loudly at 1-A's homeroom door.

"Hey I'm from class 1-B next door!" he bellowed. "We heard you fought off some villains the other day and I'm here to see if that's true... But you're just a bunch of stuck up brats that think they're better than us."

Fey pinched the bridge of her nose, exhaling loudly. She hadn't even been there when the whole incident happened and now people were going to assume that she was some kind of person she was not. She lifted her eyes towards Bakugou, who was still standing at the doorway looking over the other students. She wanted to punch him so hard right that moment but quelled her anger for now.

"Talk all you want but it'll be just that more embarrassing when you get K.O'd," the gray haired student continued yelling.

Bakugou had had enough of the rabble and started to walk away. Kirishima stepped in at that moment, yelling for Bakugou to say something. Katsuki stopped walking for a moment, not turning to meet Eijirou's gaze.

"These people don't matter," he said in a surprisingly calm manner. "The only thing that's important is that I beat them..."

And with that he left the classroom, pushing through the crowd of students that had gathered. Fey was somewhat relieved by his departure. At least now he wouldn't say anymore to piss off the rest of the school...

"Aargh I hate that it was such a manly exit," Kirishima complained, clenching his fist.

He was right to some degree. What mattered most was that everyone needed to bring their all to the festival and try their best to beat the other courses if they wanted to keep their place within the hero course. It even was more important than ever that Fey trained as hard as she could before the Sports Festival if she wanted any kind of chance to retain her place in class 1-A.

But what Bakugou had said really pissed her off. Because of him, now every single one of them had a target on their back and everyone would be gunning for them at the festival. Having not been even there during the incident made it just that much more infuriating. So, without saying a word, she stormed out of the classroom after him. This surprised Tenya, Ochako and Midoriya and they soon left after her to go see why she had left the classroom in such a hurry.

Fey looked for Bakugou in the hallways, finding him only a few meters away as he was walking towards the exit. She quickly grabbed hold of his shoulder and slammed him into the wall next to them.

"What the fuck was that?" she spat furiously. "Are you purposefully trying to make a fool out of all us you dumbass?"

Bakugou stared at her with daggers in his eyes, straightening his back so that he towered over her.

"You're the one here looking like a fool, slut..." he retaliated, his eyes growing darker and his shoulders tensing up.

Fey's eyes widened at his insult and, without so much as a warning, planted her fist into the left side of Katsuki's face, sending him reeling. He was so caught off guard that, when he looked back at her, you could see his cheek turning red slowly, then the rest of his face joined in as a crazed look flashed across his face.

"THAT'S IT!" he bellowed. "YOU'RE GONNA GET IT CUNT!"

Bakugou lunged at Fey but before he could even touch her, something else came hurdling towards his face. This time though, it was Tenya's leg drop kicking him to the floor. He had suddenly appeared next to Fey so fast that nobody had seen him arrive. Bakugou was sent flying to the ground while Iida placed a protective arm in front of her, pushing her behind him.

"Don't you dare call her that!" he yelled, burning fury emanating from his eyes.

Fey had never seen Tenya so worked up over anything. Sure, he had a tendency to get animated about things and chop air when he got particularly excited, but she had never seen him so angry before. She looked up at him with genuine shock, then back at Bakugou, who was definitely incredibly pissed right now.

"What... did you say?" Bakugou seethed. He was already cracking his knuckles by now.

"You heard me," Tenya answered coldly, glaring at him.

Fey stood in front of him now, grabbing him by the arms to force him to look at her.

"Tenya you don't have to do this! Now he's just gonna-..."! she started to plead.

Bakugou's roar made her spin around in fear and her eyes widened as she realized he was now charging at them with murderous intent in his eyes. Tenya managed to pull himself and Fey away at the last second before Bakugou's fist came flying by their faces. He was expecting a blast after that and pulled Fey close to his chest to try and protect her from the brunt of the explosion, but none came. Both of them were surprised and so was Katsuki, who was confused as to why his quirk hadn't worked..

"Enough!"

A familiar figure approached them calmly, hands in his pockets. Aizawa had emerged from wherever he had been resting previously and stared deathly glares at the three students. His hair was poking straight up from his head, meaning he had used his quirk to stop Bakugou from blowing Tenya and Fey up with his strike.

"All three of you, stand down," he said more calmly, his hair falling flat on his head.

Tenya stared at his teacher with shock. His bandages completely covered his face and yet he still managed to use his quirk against Bakugou.

"What do you think this is? Some kind of kindergarten playground?" he asked rhetorically. "If you're not gonna stop acting like little brats then you shouldn't be here in the first place!"

He seemed really upset and rightfully so. Tenya couldn't believe he had been so rash in his reaction, but he couldn't just stand idly by while one of his friends was being disrespected so openly. And the way that Katsuki had called her a slut... It was just so out of line, it made him see red for just a few seconds. His body had moved of its own volition to strike him. He lowered his head shamefully. He was the class rep' and had woefully disgraced that title by being so impulsive. Not to mention that everyone that had gathered in front of their class had witnessed what just transpired.

"Honestly, " continued Aizawa. "I wasn't expecting this kind of infantile behavior from the pair of you." He turned towards Iida and Fey. "Especially not you, Tenya..."

He paused, looking over the three of them. Bakugou was still seething with rage but was careful to control his actions in front of his teacher.

"Leave," Aizawa finally replied. "If I catch any of you doing something like this again, I'll personally make sure that you get expelled from this school..."

And with that, he shuffled away, probably to have another nap. Once he had left, Bakugou glared at the pair of them, his voice growling with anger.

"This isn't over," he said, clenching his fists, and with that last sentence, he walked out of school.

Fey sighed in relief. She was expecting a lot worse from her teacher, but she still felt horribly guilty about what had happened. She was the cause of it, after all, and somehow, she had involved Tenya. Speaking of which, he was still holding on to her after the fight had ended and they both simultaneously realized it at the same time. They pulled away from each other abruptly, the pair of them blushing slightly.

"I-I...! Um..." Tenya stammered, looking away from her.

"You didn't have to get yourself involved like that, Tenya," Fey said as she lowered her head. "You didn't have to get in trouble for me."

She knew how much it meant to him to be in this school, how much it meant for him to realize his dream. If they had gotten expelled because of her, she would have never lived it down. Tenya analyzed her words carefully. It was true that he didn't have to step in when he did, but somehow, despite having gone completely against the rules, he felt absolutely no shred of remorse for what he had done.

He shook his head. "No, it was necessary," he declared. "I couldn't just stand idle while he disrespected you, Fey."

Fey seemed... surprised by his reaction. She was used to being disrespected by others, especially by men. Her work, after all, attracted a lot of unsavory types and, for the most part, she had learned to let it roll off her shoulders like it was nothing. Deep down though, it chipped away at her, even if she wasn't conscious of it.

"I... just don't want you getting expelled on my account," she admitted, pulling nervously at the feathers around her wrist.

Tenya simply nodded. "In the future... maybe it would be best if we avoided this kind of interaction with Bakugou."

"Agreed," Fey nodded back.

The pair left the school with the rest of their friends, walking to go home for the day. Tenya instructed Midoriya and Ochako to go on without him, that he would be walking Fey home today. Fey was surprised by Iida's offer, but didn't say anything. She had been meaning to ask him something after class, but Bakugou had completely derailed everything with his shitty behavior.

"Hey Tenya?" she began to ask as they walked along the sidewalk. "I wanted to ask you something..."

"Oh?" Tenya inquired curiously.

Fey seemed embarrassed for some reason. Tenya tried to figure out why that was, but couldn't find any reason why she would be so nervous to ask him something.

"I... wanted to ask if you'd be interested in training with me... for the festival I mean..." she asked, nervously plucking at the feathers around her wrist. They were getting a bit sparse with how much she had been pulling at them recently.

"Oh I see," he replied with a hint of surprise. "Well, I suppose there's no harm in us training together, but what prompted you to ask me, of all people?"

"I mean," she started. "There are a lot of reasons actually. The first being that you're the fastest person in our class. I feel like you'd be the only one that could really challenge me on that front. Also, you're a good runner, Tenya, and I'd like to get some pointers from you on how I can be faster when running on the ground, in case I have to during the festival you know..."

Fey couldn't comprehend why she was suddenly so nervous to speak to Iida about this. Was she afraid he was going to reject her or judge her? He had already agreed to train with her so why was her heart palpitating so much right now? As she pulled at her wrist, she felt a sharp pain as she pulled a more deeply ingrained feather from her skin. She cursed as she pressed over the small wound she had created. Upon further investigation, Tenya could see that she had multiple lesions of that kind around her wrists.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a concerned tone. "That seemed painful."

"It's not really," she tried to play it off. "I have this really bad habit of picking my feathers when I'm... nervous."

"Yes I've noticed you doing that before. I had no idea it was this bad though... You should really stop doing that." He seemed genuinely concerned for her at this moment.

"I-It's nothing, really!" She was very unconvincing. "It's just a tic, something I do absentmindedly. I can't really control it because... I never notice when I'm doing it until it's... too late."

She was bleeding now and tried to contain the bleeding by sucking at the wound and pressing hard against it with her fingers. Iida stopped walking to get at his backpack, unhitching it from his back to place it in front of him on the ground. He then started rummaging through its contents and pulled out a small first aid kit from the front compartment.

"Then, if you'll allow me," he said as he opened the small box, taking out a small spray bottle full of disinfectant. "If I ever catch you doing it again, I'll stop you before you hurt yourself."

Fey reluctantly held out her hand towards him so that he could tend to her injury. He started by spraying antiseptic on it, which made her wince painfully. Then, he took out a band-aid and placed it onto her wrist where the open wound was.

"S-Sure," she said in an unsure tone. "I mean, you don't have to but... I appreciate the gesture."

She could feel the heat rising slowly within her cheeks. She tried to look away so that Iida wouldn't notice her blushing, and after he placed everything back in his backpack, they both continued walking together.

"Thanks by the way," she said, breaking the short silence that had seeped into their conversation. "For the band-aid I mean."

"It is my pleasure," Iida answered with a smile.

"That backpack of yours sure has a lot of different things inside. It's like you're my own personal survival kit."

She started laughing and Tenya joined her.

"I do make an effort to carry around essentials," he replied. "You can never be too prepared."

"That is such a Tenya-thing to say," she chuckled.

He looked at her with confusion, which only made her laugh even more.

"You're always so organized. It's very on-brand of you to be carrying all this stuff with you," she elaborated.

"I... never thought of it that way," he admitted. "But I guess you're right. It is very... how do you say, 'on-brand' of me."

Fey continued laughing. "You know what Tenya? Sometimes you say the funniest things."

"What do you mean?" He seemed shocked by her response.

"You're so 'proper' when you talk. You have like this huge vocabulary but at the same time, there are common words or expressions that we use that you just don't seem to know about. Also, you move a lot when you're speaking... especially your arms."

"That I've definitely gotten comments about... I've been compared to a robot more than once in my lifetime... I've also been told that I have a tendency to speak quite loudly at times."

Fey giggled some more. "I find that it all makes you quite endearing, Tenya. I wouldn't want you to change that about you..."

Her eyes drifted to the floor. She had to admit that hearing Tenya's voice had been one of the highlights during her time at U.A. She couldn't help but feel better whenever he would speak with such fervor. She always thought that he was inspiring whenever he would try and uphold his principles in front of the whole class, or when he would celebrate his classmates whenever they would make an achievement.

Tenya stared at her for a moment. He hadn't anticipated that kind of response from her, but it made him feel accepted. He smiled absentmindedly at her words and could feel his cheeks turning a slight shade of pink. It had probably been one of the nicest things anyone had said to him.

They reached Fey's house all too soon, but before they parted ways, Iida settled for a place and time where they would meet for training, which would start as soon as the next day. After telling her not to be late, he waved his goodbye and started to make his way towards his family's home. What he had failed to mention to Fey since he started walking with her to her apartment was that his house was at the complete opposite of town. Walking her home effectively tripled the time it took him to get to his own home, but somehow, it didn't bother him at all. If anything, he felt guilty whenever he would have her walk alone after school. He didn't quite know why that was, but what he was sure of, was that he couldn't wait to start training with her the next day.