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Chapter Five

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"I!"

"AM!"

"HERE!"

Kazuya's eyes widened in shock at the sight of the country's number one hero standing right in front of her. To say she was fangirling would be beneath her…but she was totally freaking out.

"I'm gonna pass out," Kazuya whispered, face red from withheld enthusiasm.

"You look like a balloon about to pop," Kirishima noted. When her gloved hands flew up to cover her face, he chuckled behind closed lips.

"Welcome to the most important class at UA! Think of it as Hero-ing 101!" All Might stood victoriously on the podium before flexing his way into a short speech, "Here you will learn the basics of being a pro and what it means to fight in the name of good! Let's get into it!"

"Today's lesson will pull no punches!"

When the hero pulled out a card with the word BATTLE! written on it, Kazuya felt a swarm of butterflies burst to life inside her stomach. This could either go horribly wrong or awesomely right.

"One of the keys to being a hero is looking good! These were designed for you based on your quirk registration forms and the requests you sent in before school started," All Might explained while pointing to a wall that opened up and revealed several cases marked with student numbers. Kazuya's legs bounced restlessly under her table, much like a dog wagging its tail when excited.

Upon opening her case, she let out an excited squeal that caught the attention of the other girls in the locker room. Looking up, she cringed sheepishly.

"Sorry," she apologized softly. A ponytailed girl, Yaoyorozu Momo, smiled at her kindly.

"No need. This is exciting for everyone," she spoke with a twinkle in her eye. Kazuya admired the girl's red bodysuit for a moment before going to change into her own.

She quickly slipped off her everyday uniform, applying the wrappings to her arms and hands first. Her outfit was simple compared to some of the others, but she had designed this look with Kagami she was a child and it meant a lot to her.

The black jumpsuit she put on had vertical line accents running down the sides of her body. The left was coloured blue while the right was red. Finally, she threw on some black combat boots and a red oni mask.

On her way to Ground Beta, a pink-haired girl with yellow antennae hopped up to Kazuya with a big grin. Ashido Mina, if she wasn't mistaken. She was great with names, horrible with faces.

"You look awesome! I mean everyone here does, but you've got this edgy assassin vibe and I am living for it," she intertwined their arms and pulled her up to the group of conversing girls. Kazuya's cheeks turned scarlet as she was squished in between the two of her classmates.

"Hah, thanks…I guess. You look hot — I mean good!" her eyes snapped wide open, "Good. I meant good," she repeated as if reminding herself.

Her sputtering went unnoticed, "I'm Ashido, but you can call me Mina."

"Imai Kazuya." she deemed it appropriate to offer up her first name as well. A few of their classmates shared their names, easing into light and less awkward conversation.

"This outfit is a tad more revealing than I imagined," sighed Yaoyorozu Momo gazing down at her bodysuit. Kazuya instantly averted her wandering eyes out of respect.

Don't think about boobs. Don't think about boobs. Don't think about — she stared directly at the girl's cleavage — SHIT!

"Guys, don't worry," Mina put her hands on her hips like All Might and stood proudly at the front of the pack, "We're total badasses."

"Yeah, we've got this," added a brunette named Ochako Uraraka, despite the nervous look on her face.

Everyone met up at Ground Beta and Kazuya stayed close to Mina in fear of being alone. They were all allowed a moment to admire one another's costumes before getting started.

"Imai, is that you under there?!" Kirishima squinted, trying to see under her Oni mask. She pulled her jumpsuit's hood down and lifted the mask so it sat on her head.

"In the flesh," her smile could have rotted teeth, it was so unnecessarily sweet.

"You look like some sort of villain," Kaminari joked, earning a surprised look from the redhead beside him.

"Dude, not cool!" he hissed under his breath. Kazuya quickly shook her head in his defence.

"No, no, no, he's right! My sister helped me make this when I was little and she loved its edgy aesthetic. This is perfect," she smiled up at her new friends. They stared at her for a beat, then the three of them made their way to the front of the group.

"You look so obvious," All Might snickered behind his head. Kazuya followed his line of sight to find the kid masked in a teal costume. There weren't many kids with masks on, but judging by height and build, she guessed it was that green-haired boy, Midoriya. Now that she looked at it, his costume did have a few nods to the number one hero…

"Y – Yes?" he stuttered, noticing her staring and confirming her identity suspicion. Kazuya raised a brow, intrigued.

"I like your costume. It's cute and somehow reminds me of All Might," she gave him a small smile. Midoriya seemingly burst to life from her compliment.

"Really, you think so?!" he gasped excitedly. She nodded quietly. "Thank you…"

"No problem, Midoriya." He seemed a little thrown off by her already knowing his name but class resumed before he could say anything.

All Might chuckled deeply, seemingly satisfied with the first years, "Shall we get started, you buncha newbies?"

"Sir," a suit of armour that could only hold Iida raised its hand, "This is the fake city from our entrance exam. Does that mean we will be conducting urban battles again?"

"Not quite. I'm going to move you two steps ahead! Most of the villain fights you see on the news take place outside. However, statistically speaking, run-ins with the most dastardly evildoers take place indoors," All Might explained, impressing Kazuya with his devotion to the dramatic.

"For this training exercise, you'll be split into teams of good guys and bad guys and fight indoor battles. Teams will be two-on-two except for one team of three. The heroes must try to foil the villain's plans. To do that, the good guys either have to catch the evildoers or recover the nuclear weapon hidden in the building. Likewise, the bad guys succeed if they protect their payload for seven minutes or capture the heroes!"

With All Might's long-winded explanation out of the way, the students' names were entered into a box. Teams were drawn by the pro hero himself. Because of uneven numbers, Kazuya was put into Team J, with Kirishima and a boy who introduced himself as Sero Hanta.

When the first fight of the day was drawn, everyone else was ushered into the monitoring room to watch. Instantly, the gears in Kazuya's brain began to turn and she started to strategize.

"I'd like to know what everyone can do before we get called up," she whispered after pulling aside her teammates.

"I shoot tape from my elbows."

"That's surprisingly useful."

"I can harden."

"There's a joke in there somewhere."

"What about you?" Kirishima asked, completely oblivious.

"I can push and pull things I've touched in the last hour. It doesn't work on me or any other living being," Kazuya explained briefly. She thought it was best to leave out the part about her being unable to control the direction or speed of her pulls. They didn't need to know that, right?

She sat in the back of the room, watching the tension unfold in Midoriya and Baugou's fight. To say those two had some issues that needed to be worked out would be a gross understatement. The villain versus hero roles were taken a little too far, even All Might could see that as he tried to stop the arguing duo from breaking each other's bones.

The second battle of the day was Todoroki Shoto and Shoji Mezo versus Hagakure Toru and Ojiro Mashirao. As soon as the clock began, team Todoroki and Shoji entered the building cautiously. The latter used his quirk's extended set of ears to locate the "villains". Some inaudible words were exchanged between him and his teammate before he completely exited the building.

Holy hell…is this the level we're supposed to be on?! Kazuya's breath hitched as she watched the entire building glisten, thick layers of ice growing up the walls and floors. A bead of perspirant fear dripped from her brow when Team B was declared the winner. All Might called her group's letter once the frost was melted away by the same peppermint-haired boy who had created it. How was she supposed to follow that up?!

"I hope you've got a plan ready because I sure as hell don't," Kirishima admitted with a defeated sigh when they left the monitoring room. Kazuya silently narrowed her eyes, running over previous battle scenarios in her mind. There weren't many tactics she could apply to her quirk, but she was praying that she'd at least make it the full time without throwing herself out of the building.

As Team J passed the exiting Team B, she caught sight of the dual-wielding Todoroki boy. For the sake of good sportsmanship, she decided to compliment him on his skills, but when she passed by, she found he was much more intimidating than she initially gauged. Unfortunately, the words she had planned fled her brain the moment she felt the cold (but also hot?) air that surrounded him.

Hey, you were pretty cool out there!

"Hey, cool. You were pretty out there."

There was a brief moment of silence, during which Todoroki watched her with wary eyes and Kazuya questioned why the universe hadn't put her out of her misery yet. Kirishima thankfully ushered her forward before she could say anything else.

"What was that?" Sero choked back his laughter with a strange-sounding cough.

"The death of a young soul, my friend." Kazuya's Earth-coloured eyes didn't dare leave the ground as she shuffled into the building, red in the face. Thoroughly embarrassed, she kept up hopes that she'd be able to get through the seven minutes without incident.

Five minutes after her group was sent into the building, Team H's Tokoyami Fumikage and Asui Tsuyu were allowed to enter. She wasn't sure of their quirk or skills, but she had an ace up her sleeve that she hoped would make up for it.

The plan was that she would stay on the lower floors for surveillance while the boys hid and protected the weapon. Kirishima argued that it wasn't right to let her fight two-on-one, but she shot him down by saying it wasn't very "manly" to undermine the power of a woman, either. That shut him up fairly quickly.

Come time for the mock battle to start, the cobalt-haired girl situated herself in the shadows of the third floor. She crouched in a corner until Bird Boy stalked into the room. Based on how little she knew about him, it would be optimal to fight from a distance, but she had to make contact first. His long cloak gave him a dark sorcerer vibe and provided her with an excellent opportunity.

After pushing a button on the side of her demon mask, built-in gas canisters released a non-toxic smoke that quickly covered the room. It wouldn't hurt anyone and was added strictly for stealth; it even smelled like strawberries!

The fog kept her hidden as she crawled along the floor, grabbed the hem of her opponent's cape, and pulled him to the ground. With her contact established, she quickly backed away in time for her smokescreen to be dispersed by a bird-like shadow that came out of Tokoyami's cloak. She felt her lips twitch upwards and into a small smile as she watched it wave its arms around and gripe about not being able to see.

"There you are, villain," Tokoyami narrowed his eyes in her direction.

"You know, I'm getting pretty tired of all this hero and villain roleplay," Kazuya threw her hood up, leaving only her mask visible from underneath.

"Should we skip right to the combat, then?" her enemy's personified shadow turned to face her with battle-ready talons. She cracked her knuckles, took a deep breath, and tried to push Tokoyami, but was denied that surge of power that came with every activation. Of course, her quirk would choose to instantly screw her over.

"Actually, there's supposed to be two of you. Where's Asui?" she stalled anxiously. Tokoyami did not indicate where his teammate might be, but his shadow seemed to grow impatient.

"Come on, come on, come on! Let's fight already!" it screeched.

"It talks?" she raised her eyebrows, genuinely surprised. She was caught even more off guard by the sudden lunging of the shadow. Luckily, her reaction time was quick enough and she rolled out of the way, the only casualty being a slash in her left pant leg. It was the first day of training and she already ruined her costume!

"Dark Shadow, calm yourself! We'll get a battle, soon enough," Tokoyami called, straining to restrain his quirk. Kazuya didn't comment on his control, but she couldn't help feeling bad for him. She completely understood, after all.

Finally, she felt her quirk sparked to life. The moment she was hit with that familiar tingling in her arms, she slammed her hands onto a nearby wall and pulled the corner of Tokoyami's cloak to the wall. His quirk, apparently named Dark Shadow, quickly moved to shield the part of his body that would have hit the wall and cushion his landing. This gave her enough time to inform her teammates of their situation.

"I've got the bird. Asui's heading your way," she spoke quickly, noticing that the "hero" was getting onto his feet. Dark Shadow grabbed some rubble from the wall it broke and hurled it towards Kazuya, who shifted the object of her quirk's focus. Sliding under the debris on her back, she forced her glove to attract to the wall behind her opponent.

"Crap!" she yelped when she realised she couldn't stop. Her legs swept her classmate's feet out from under him, sending him into the air and knocking off her demon mask.

"I assume…you don't have the best control, either?" he grimaced as he hit the ground.

Kazuya felt the vein in her forehead throb with irritation, "Not a word about this to the others."

"Agreed," Tokoyami nodded and dusted himself off before regaining his fighting stance. With strengthened resolve, she tapped her hand on the rubble from the broken wall and sent it flying toward him. He dodged but didn't account for the cement's sudden change in direction. Seeing as it was a complete accident, neither did she.

Kazuya winced and averted her eyes when she released her control over the debris and pinned Dark Shadow to the ground. It hurt to watch Tokoyami try and pull his partner out of its rocky tomb, but she had a timer to beat.

"Just – uh – stay down…okay?" she apologized sheepishly then bounded up the stairs, grabbing her fallen oni mask on the way out the door. With her headset back on, she was able to activate her communications headset, "Birdie's taken care of. I'm coming up."

"Hurry, please! I don't know how long I can hold her off — God, why is she so fast?!" Sero shouted into her ear.

It didn't take her long to get to the top floor, but cutting through the tape in the doorway took more time than she cared for. The struggle, however, was worth the hilarious sight inside.

Sero was grumbling curses to himself while attempting to hit a hopping Asui with his tape like it was a game of Whack-a-Mole. Meanwhile, Kirishima had somehow gotten himself taped to the ceiling. He flashed his teammate an awkward smile and she rolled her eyes in response.

With her gas canister empty, there was no way of sneaking up on Asui like she did with Tokoyami and Sero's tape surely couldn't go on forever. So, what was the most logical solution?

Rocks.

Very fast rocks.

Kazuya snatched up some nearby gravel and repelled it in Asui's direction. It didn't hit her but still forced her to slow down and manoeuvre around the projectiles. She stopped long enough for Sero to catch one of her feet with his cellophane and pull her to the ground. Trying to hop away just entangled her legs further, so she just relaxed and waited for the timer to end.

"No hard feelings right? This was my first fight," Kazuya admitted as she crouched down in front of her captured enemy and carefully helped her out of the tape. Asui took the hand offered to her before standing.

"Of course not. I think this is a first for a lot of us, ribbit," she noted with a close-eyed smile. Kazuya's heart melted when she tilted her head slightly.

"I always thought frogs were adorable, but this is just too much," her head dropped into her hands to hide the scarlet flush on her cheeks. She was certain she had a new friend…as long as she didn't explode first.

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The rest of the day was tame compared to combat training. Afternoon classes passed by, with Midoriya arriving after their final class finished. Kazuya wouldn't admit it but she was worried. She didn't want her father's identity to be revealed just yet, but if she needed replacement limbs for a classmate, she wouldn't hesitate to call. They were starting to grow on her.

"So, Kazuya," Ashido, Kirishima, and Sero casually slid up to her desk. The pink-haired girl leaned in close with her arm around her new friend's shoulder and whispered in her ear, "What do you think of Todoroki?"

"Oh, um, his fight was alright, I guess. Super intimidating, but quick and effective when it came to getting things done," Kazuya shrugged while fidgeting with the velcro strap on her glove.

"Aw, sweetie, that's totally not what I meant!" Ashido threw both her arms around her and ensnared her in a bear hug. It had been a while since someone outside her family hugged her, Hitoshi included. He was family at this point.

"What did you mean then?" she squeaked once released from the lung-crushing hug.

"I may or may not have let it slip about your…introduction," Sero explained, awkwardly scratching the nape of his neck.

"She ran with it," Kirishima's sheepish sweat dripped from his brow. Kazuya stilled, eyes darting between the two boys in front of her and then to the restless girl to her right.

"W – Why are you staring at me like that…?" she felt a shiver crawl down her spine when she saw the stars in Ashido's eyes.

"I understand completely if you have a crush on him! He's super hot — " the pinkette's words were muffled by a hand suddenly covering her mouth.

"I haven't even talked to the guy. I assure you that is not what's happening here," Kazuya bit out through her smile. Her happy face was hiding the vein that was about to pop out of her forehead. "Besides, my dad says I'm not allowed to date until I'm like twenty." When she noticed a green head of hair enter the room, she immediately diverted her classmate's attention, "Oh, Midoriya's back."

"Hey! Good to see ya back, super!" Kirishima was the first to approach the bruised and broken boy with a massive sharp-toothed grin. "Man, I don't know what you were saying during that match, but you were all fired up, huh?"

"I can't believe you held your own against Bakugou. He's super strong," Sero followed up.

"You were super great at dodging!" Mina bounced around excitedly.

"Mina, you're gonna have a heart attack if you don't settle down," Kazuya placed a gentle grip on her shoulder. When she realised there was no stopping the endless energy that radiated from her, she sighed in defeat. Midoriya's eyes turned to her after the others had introduced themselves.

"You were the one who commented on my costume, right?" he tilted his head slightly and squinted.

"Kinda hard to tell with the mask, I know. I'm Imai Kazuya, nice to meet ya," she held out her hand for the boy to shake. As he did so, she caught sight of something purple shuffling by the door. With a hasty goodbye, she excused herself from the conversation and slipped out the door.

Because she decided to stay late to check on her classmate, she expected Hitoshi to go home without her. Much to her surprise, there he sat, waiting for her down the corridor.

"Took you long enough," the violet-haired boy scoffed as she got closer.

"Quit sulking, you look like a sad puppy," she scolded him with a playful elbow to the ribs. He smiled slightly when she turned down the hall with their arms linked. Despite their hometown, Shizuoka, not being far from UA, train rides were always uncomfortable for her because of her space issues. She was glad to have someone suffer through it with her.

"What was the hold-up, anyway?" Hitoshi asked, hands buried in his pockets.

Kazuya waved dismissively, "We had mock battles in All Might's class today and I had to make sure my classmate wasn't dead."

"All Might's your teacher?" Hitoshi asked with a raised brow. He spoke calmly, but Kazuya could sense his jealousy. A tinge of guilt struck her heart and she unconsciously tightened her grip on his arm.

"Yeah, but he's a bit loud and egotistical. I thought it was cool at first but then he kept shouting because he was walking through the door like a normal person," she scrunched up her face and shook her head, earning a genuine Shinso Hitoshi laugh.

"And here I thought it couldn't get worse than Present Mic," he snickered. Kazuya couldn't help but crack up as well.

"Oh, and I met a kid who I'm pretty sure was a nineteenth-century poet in a past life. He's cool and all, but the girls in that class are just — whew. I felt so out of shape standing next to them because wow, they allow teenagers to show a surprising amount of skin here," she emphasized her point with eyes as wide as saucers.

"It sounds like they're growing on you," Hitoshi glanced at her smugly through his peripherals, "What happened to that whole lone-wolf routine?"

"No worries," she grinned like an idiot, "This is me keeping up pretences. They'll find out I'm wicked smart in due time."

"More like incredibly insecure," Hitoshi scoffed jokingly.

"'Toshi, I love you but I will throw you out of a window," Kazuya's warm smile did not match the threatening undertone of her words at all.

"You're making me blush," her best friend deadpanned. They stared at each other for a beat, stopping their walk. It was only a few seconds later that they burst into a shared laughing fit. Neither minded the stares they got from passersby.