Chapter 4: Icy-Hot Bastard

Inspired by the anime My Hero Academia / Boku no Hero Academia. I do not own any of the characters except for my OC, Okami Shizen, and her family. Credit goes to Kohei Horikoshi, the creator. Hope you enjoy!

Part One

Kyoka, Mina, Ochako, Tsuyu, Yaoyorozu and I sat with the last 1A girl, along with Kirishima, Kaminari and some guy who shot tape out of his elbows. I fervently hoped my brother wouldn't come over and embarrass me.

"I'm Toru Hagakure!" the invisible girl introduced herself cheerfully. Obviously, I couldn't see if she was smiling, but I smiled (back).

"Name's Hanta Sero," tape guy said, shaking my hand. "You did great at the test, can't see how they put you in General Studies."

"Saw your argument with the cold guy just now," Kaminari interjected. "What was it about?"

"He's not the 'cold guy', he's Endeavor's son." I explained. "It was a personal thing."

As I said these words, I heard Todoroki raise his head slightly a few tables down, clearly having heard me. I wasn't happy that I'd talked about him, even though I respected him as one of the students talented enough for official recommendation.

"Ashido-san already filled me in on what happened during the entrance exam, as I wasn't there." Yaoyorozu said. "Apparently you had an argument with Bakugo-san."

"Oh, yeah. That. Wait, you weren't there, Yaoyorozu-san? Are you a recommended student like Todoroki?"

Yaoyorozu blushed. "As a matter of fact, yes, I am. And you can call me Momo." I smiled, but I was thinking of a friend. A certain friend who too had taken the recommendation entrance exam.

"That's not the point," Mina groaned. "What I want to know is why do you bear grudges against the hottest guys!"

I choked on my katsudon as Kyoka patted me on the back. "What? Mina, you can't be serious. Am I even understanding you right? I only learned the meaning of the word 'hot' in that specific capacity toda-" I struggled to remember my conversation with Shinso in the morning. Just then, a small part of it flashed through my mind.

"Actually, that's what the boys in my class called you, too. And just so you know, I agreed with them."

I screamed internally, but it came out as a muffled squeal with my mouth closed.

"Are you okay, Okami-chan?" Tsuyu asked, concerned.

"Y-Yeah, it's nothing." I gulped – everyone at the table was giving me weird looks. "What I meant to say was, do you mean 'hot' or 'hot-headed'?"

"You're so cutely innocent," Mina and Hagakure said in unison, sighing.

"Just 'cute' will suffice, at least for me," said Kaminari, winking.

"Bruh!" Sero half-yelled. "We met her today!"

I was about to scream in frustration as Ochako tried frantically to relieve me from my blushing state. Needless to say, I finished my lunch as I read a book, without talking to anyone. Once I had finished, I returned my tray, picking up my book as I was about to leave.

"Where are you going?" Kirishima asked.

"Aizawa-sensei told me to move my bag to outside the 1A classroom during lunch." He'd told me this when I realized, right after the Quirk Apprehension Test, that the only available seat was behind Momo's, right in the corner of the classroom. I hadn't needed my bag for anything as, unlike 1A's homeroom, the rest of the lessons were just orientation for the various subjects.

I walked to the 1C classroom, where I had left my bag where I was standing at the back of the class. In the middle seat, I saw Shinso, listening to music as he stared into the distance. I walked up to him and tapped him on the back. "Shinso-kun?"

"Oh, hey." He seemed to be a little resentful of something. "What did Eraser Head want with you?"

"I'm to join Class 1A for a day of lessons," I explained. "I'm on probation."

"To join the Hero Course permanently?"

"Yeah, exactly." I noticed he only had one earphone in; it had been that way since I entered the empty classroom – he hadn't touched either of them.

"I thought we could be friends," he muttered after a while.

"Why can't we?" I had a feeling that this was not going to end well.

"Ever since Nabu, our classes had had that big rivalry. Remember that time, they wanted the two of us to compete in terms of grades? Well, I heard that you downright rejected the invitation -"

"Shinso-kun, I never did anything of the sort -"

"You're obviously qualified. You want it. You won't pass up the opportunity. As soon as you're in, you'll forget about me. You'll just treat me like a piece of gum on the bottom of your shoe." His purple eyes were glimmering in the darkness of the classroom. "You'll just see me as that loser, who's destined to become a Villain one day. You? Daughter of a Hero. It was always your destiny. You'll get everything in life you ever wanted"

"No, I didn't say that, ever, and I never wi-"

He stood up, ripping the earphone out of his ear, where it skittered to a rest on the table, continuing to blast music into the air. "Oh, but didn't you think it?"

Sweet dreams of your love

"Everyone does. And I'll show you, I'll show everyone -"

Keeping me up, can't get enough

"- that I deserve this as much as you do!"

Sweet dreams of your touch

"Which is to say, a lot!"

Do what you want, just keep it up

"So, leave me alone."

To the rhythm of the beat

"Riding on the coattails of your famous parents… Don't worry, I haven't forgotten. You're just a fake, and you'll always be."

"I guess this is goodbye," I whispered almost to myself as I turned to leave, tears streaming down my face.

I picked up my bag and left, feeling the venom in my brain creep to my heart.

At Nabu, everybody had known about my parentage. My mother and father… they were some of the best in their various fields. They'd all wanted to be friends with me after knowing, but I didn't care much for friends at all. The only two students in UA who knew about my father were Iida and Shinso; unlike the children of some famous Pros, I didn't want to show my face at official Hero gatherings, preferring to binge-watch anime instead.

It was true that I had famous parents, but my goal wasn't to let them define me. Too many times I'd heard, from the Nabu students, something along these lines:

That's Peregrine's daughter! I mean, do you see the similarity? The eyes, the hair…

She's so cool! You think she'd let me get a picture?

One of the people I'd been drawn to the minute I met them was Shinso himself. He didn't care much for any social stuff, just like me, and although many people knew him as 'the guy who looks like a zombie' or 'that creep from Class 3', he'd managed to stay somewhat friendly to just about everyone. I'd never actually seen him much in person until I heard the speech he gave at one of the Science Fairs. Most of my 'friends' thought it was boring, but from the first word, I was captivated. After that, even without meeting him, I knew him to be a very insightful person.

This was the reason I'd developed a little… crush on him, and on top of that, I'd always admired his steadfastness in brushing casual remarks off easily, all with a little smile.

Something I'd never really been able to do.

I let myself get worked up over small things, and he didn't. I'd been somewhat socially awkward, and he hadn't. Not so much, anyway. He'd been someone I'd aspired to be like.

And to hear that… he thought I looked down on him? It was a shock. But even worse was for him to say I wasn't trying to make a name for myself. That I'd be fine with letting people know me as my parents' daughter, my siblings' sister, my uncle's niece…

That wasn't my goal. My goal – to live up to my family name and surpass the standards that they'd set with their successes. I wouldn't let a crush tell me otherwise.

I walked over to Class 1A to deposit my bag at the back of the class at the table behind Momo's. Only as I was walking out of the back door of the classroom did I see something that frightened me out of my wits.

A gigantic, bright yellow maggot was lying on the floor. I yelped and it turned over to reveal a half-asleep Shota Aizawa in a sleeping bag.

"Got your bag over here already?"

I nodded, still speechless.

"See me after school, in the teachers' lounge."

"H-hai." I stepped over the sleeping bag and quickly walked towards the cafeteria again. Just as I was turning out of the door, I heard someone, probably the sleepy Class A homeroom teacher, say something. "…Mistake…shouldn't have…"

I didn't know what to make of it at all.

I didn't want to walk past the 1C classroom again.

I didn't particularly feel like going back to the cafeteria.

I was stuck in the middle. Both literally and metaphorically.

If I got into the Hero Course, everyone'd just say I was never meant to be there at all. If I stayed in General Studies, they'd think I was pathetic for wasting the opportunity only I had been given, and they'd resent me. Worst of all, Shinso'd still hate my guts both ways.

And so I settled for somewhere in between Class 1A and Class 1C. Both literally and metaphorically. I sat down outside the 1B classroom, and thought of my family.

About twenty minutes later, I heard the familiar noise of students heading back to class after lunch. The grumbling. The heavy footsteps. The racket. I hated unnecessary noise – my ears made me extra-sensitive to it.

I stood up, brushing the dust off my skirt.

"Hey." Kirishima hurried over to me as the rest of the class slowly filed into the classroom. "We were wondering where you were."

"Just talking to someone." Well, it wasn't a lie.

Suddenly, we heard the sound of someone running behind us while we were still standing in the doorway. "All Might?" Kirishima tripped over his own pants and landed on the floor

"I AM -" he was hanging on to both sides of the doorframe- "COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"

"What's your definition of normal?" Kirishima asked as I helped him up.

"Gomenasai, shonen! Should have looked both ways before I entered, ha… and I see we have our probationary student here! Daughter of –"

Giving him a panicked look, I hoped he would get the hint and stop talking in time. I didn't want to repeat history.

Luckily, he cut himself off. "I hope to see you in the Hero Course soon!"

"Arigato gozaimasu, All Might."

We headed into the classroom, All Might following behind. It was surreal to see the number one Pro Hero in a classroom, and as a teacher no less! At least it wasn't number two. Kirishima headed to his seat in the middle of the classroom, and I to mine as the very back, where an unwanted view of Shoto Todoroki's head awaited. As we did so, the class gasped in amazement, not believing that All Might was really a teacher at UA.

The rest of the school day was just All Might explaining what he would be covering the entire year for Class 1A's Foundational Hero Studies and starting a little on the non-physical part of his lesson, and the other Heroics teacher, Pro Hero Snipe, also came in to help with the briefing.

As Eraser Head had said he wanted to see me after school in the teachers' lounge, I headed there once school ended. On the way there, I ran into Present Mic packing up in the 2E classroom. He waved at me to come over.

"Could you give me a hand?" He was struggling under the weight of an enormous pile of papers. I took about half the stack and he sighed in relief. "Thanks. I heard Shota wanted you in the teachers' lounge after school?" As we walked, I replied, "Yes, but I don't know what it's about."

"Hope it's something good." He paused for a while. "You're a good kid, I remember what you did at the entrance exam briefing. One of the liveliest I've had in the last ten years!" I grinned, remembering what I'd done. "How are you finding it here so far?"

I thought for a while about what had happened to me. "I like it here. The people and friends I've found here… I feel like I've known them for so long. The teachers… most of them are great, but Aizawa-sensei-" I cut myself off, almost forgetting that I was speaking to a teacher.

He sighed. "Shota… well, he can come off as a little harsh, but once you get to know him, you'll find that he really cares for his students."

"He threatened to expel the person who came in last for his Quirk Apprehension Test."

"You wouldn't even compare that to what he's actually done to the other students he's taught. Last year's Class 1A, now Class 2A – you may have seen them at the Sports Festival livestream-"

"Yeah, every year. They did really well last year, I think. A lot better than some I've seen before."

"Well, it wasn't random. Shota expelled every single one of them on the first day of school."

"What?"

"The high expulsion rate was only on paper. He told me he did it to let them experience 'death' once, and re-enrolled to make them stronger and more determined."

"He must really like this year's Class 1A."

"Hmm, I did hear he didn't expel anyone today."

Before we knew it, we were at the door of the teachers' lounge. Seeing that Present Mic and I were carrying tall sacks of papers, Midnight held the door open for us.

"Arigato gozaimasu, Midnight-sensei."

"Peregrine's daughter, is it? You look just like you did when you were young!"

"Don't tell me… baby photos?"

"Yup!"

"Oh, no," I muttered to myself.

"Anyway, I heard Principal Nezu wants to see you. Would it be something about your probation? I'd be really glad if you got into the Hero Course!"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I feel that… that if I was meant to be in General Studies, then I should stay in General Studies. Exceptions shouldn't be made for me."

At this, there was an uneasy silence as Present Mic and Midnight looked at each other with knowing looks. The former broke the silence. "The principal says he wants your brother to be around when he meets you."

He stuck his head out of the door and started to yell, his Quirk activated. "STUDENT NUMBER TEN OF CLASS 3A, PLEASE REPORT TO THE TEACHERS' LOUNGE I-"

"Hey, I'm here," My brother was standing at the door, not out of breath in the least. "And with my trademark top speed."

"I'm ninety-five percent sure that last part was copyrighted by Hawks," Midnight whispered to her blond colleague.

"It's on shirts too," Takawa grinned.

"The two of you," Eraser Head called out from behind a brown wooden door at the far right of the room, "in the principal's office, now." I gulped, but Takawa told me not to worry as we headed into the room.

The famous principal of UA, Nezu, was sitting in his swivel chair holding a cup of tea. Beside him on his right, Eraser Head was standing with his arms crossed.

"Konnichiwa, Principal Nezu, Aizawa-sensei." My brother bowed respectfully. I had never seen him so polite – recovering from my shock, I did the same.

"Ah, Peregrine's son and daughter. How is he doing nowadays?"

"Quite well, thank you." Again, more polite than I was used to him being. But after all, he was talking to the principal.

"I presume you don't know why you're here in my office?"

Our slightly anxious looks gave that away.

"Very well, I shall enlighten you. As you may or may not know, Takawa-" the mouse-like principal gestured to my brother- "your younger sister has been placed on probation to enter the Hero Course."

He turned to me. You kept that quiet, his eyes said.

"In any case, we've made our decision, based on the results from Aizawa-kun's Quirk Apprehension Test, which commenced today. Eraser, if you please?"

The ever-lethargic homeroom teacher stepped forward. "Here are the results of today's Quirk Apprehension Test-" he passed a piece of paper to me- "and as you can see-"

I looked down at the paper.

"- you've placed fifth among the Class 1A students."

It was true – I'd placed in between Iida and Mashirao Ojiro, who I vaguely remembered was the one with the large prehensile tail. "Proud of you," my brother whispered, still staring at the paper and grinning.

"What this means," Nezu continued, "is that you are physically fitter than three-quarters of the students in Class 1A. Based on these results-"

I held my breath.

"- it is my pleasure to inform you that you have been accepted into the Hero Course. From tomorrow onwards, you will officially be a Hero Course student in Class 1A and will be permanently so until your graduation two years from now."

I couldn't believe it. Just when I'd thought it was the end, I'd gotten a new beginning.

"Arigato gozaimasu," I thanked Nezu. "I really am grateful for this opportunity. But I have to ask… why would you just put me in like that? There isn't really any guarantee – I mean, you based my entry on the results of one test, and-" It didn't make sense to me. Not at all.

Nezu silenced me with a wave of his paw. "That is because I know you will learn. You will grow, as you have the ability to learn and grow, and that is all we need and are looking for in UA's Hero Course. I am sure you will do your best, which, from what I saw in the entrance exam video tapes, should be outstanding. Don't doubt yourself."

I nodded mutely.

Nezu continued on with the arrangements and changes I'd need to make, such as applying for a Hero costume, telling Takawa that he hoped he'd help me with that.

"That will be all," finished Principal Nezu. "Once again, congratulations, and I look forward to seeing you do well in the Hero Course. Oh, and please report to the teachers' lounge when you arrive at school tomorrow. Do report early."

Just as we were about to leave, I realised I had one last thing to ask the principal.

"Principal Nezu?"

"Yes?"

"Should I just take off the extra buttons?"

"The buttons? Oh, the buttons. Yes. No one's ever asked me that; in fact, I think many people never notice it."

I smiled to myself, just a little.

As I swung the door open to exit the office, there was a dull thump.

"Gomenasai!" I apologised as Present Mic picked up his tinted sunglasses.

"No, it's fine. We're just happy that you've been transferred!" Midnight exclaimed gleefully.

At that point, I heard Eraser Head talking from inside Nezu's office, his voice slightly muffled. "…mistake, I told you… confidence… it's going to be so troublesome in the future, we've exceeded the capacity… complications… shouldn't have started this in the first place…"

I didn't know if anyone else had heard that, and I was suddenly worried.

Then, I remembered what the principal had said. "What do I do about my costume?"

"Oh!" My brother looked like he'd been waiting for that moment. "You need to submit an application to a support company. Specify on the form what kind of costume you'd like, any support items you need and any other details you feel are important. If you need any minor costume improvements, or additional support items after, you can go to Power Loader-sensei's Development Studio, which is mainly used by the Support Course students as a tech lab."

"To be honest, I don't know where to start," I admitted.

"Well, I was going to go to the support lab to request for some tweaks that I thought of over the school break. My costume's over there because I requested a consultation in advance, so I can bring you there to see it, if you need inspiration."

Usually, my brother was quite a sensible person, not including when he was having fun, so I didn't really mind of my costume ended up looking like his. I was also surprised by the fact that he'd given some thought to this in his free time.

"Okay, but how long will we be there? I have to meet someone…"

"I don't know, you'd better tell them to go on without you."

I was a little disappointed – I was hoping to talk to Neito about the probation, and not just that. As we waved goodbye to Present Mic and Midnight, walking out of the teachers' lounge, I sent Neito a message.

Wolfy: Sorry, I won't be able to make it, I have to stay on at school for something. Talk to you tomorrow at lunch?

Copy-paste: Oh, okay. See you then.

Wolfy: I really did want to meet you.

Copy-paste: It's fine, I understand.

Wolfy: If you say so.

Copy-paste: And I do. So don't worry about it.

Wolfy: Okay, bye

Copy-paste: Bye :)

By this time, we'd reached UA's Development Studio, (supposedly) Power Loader's domain. There were clanging and banging sounds coming from inside, accompanied with the voice of two people yelling at each other.

"Get out, Hatsume, it's only your first day and you've stayed here one and a half hours more than you should've!"

"But – But there're so many things to see, and – Ooh! Is that Eraser Head's old costume?"

"Don't you dare tell him I still have that-"

Takawa knocked on the door. "Power Loader-sensei?"

Power Loader turned, looking unsurprised, as if my brother made regular, if not frequent, visits to the studio. "Oh, give me a moment, I have this freshman-" he scowled at 'Hatsume'- "who's just a little too enthusiastic."

"Oh, oh!" Hatsume was literally jumping up and down on the spot. "You're that Hero-in-training who used those high-tech focus beams and the new-and-improved size-changing, adaptable fabric for your costume in that fight last year! I remember you talking about it in an interview."

My brother looked proud to be recognised. "That's me! So, Power Loader-sensei, what do you think of the new updates I had in mind?"

Power Loader moved over to his desk. "Yes, I've seen them. They're not bad, but one would think a third-year would have their combat style set in stone by now." He fished out a form from a large paper tray. "So about those gauntlets…"

This went on for about half an hour, while Hatsume peered over Power Loader's shoulder excitedly as he was working, only reluctantly leaving his side when he bellowed at her to get her salmon-pink locks out of his face.

"You'd be from the Support Course then?" I asked the girl.

"Sure am! Mei Hatsume, Class 1H and proud of it!" replied the girl who stood at roughly the same height as me. "How about you?"

"Hero Course, Class 1A," I told her – I was happy the words were mine to say. "You seem to have a lot of knowledge on gadgets."

"Speaking of gadgets, I was looking through the costume applications for the Hero Course first-years, and they looked so cool!" Hatsume exclaimed, twirling a spanner between her fingers of her left hand, shaking my right one with the other. "Which was yours? Wait a second, don't tell Power Loader-sensei I saw the forms-"

"Actually, I…I haven't put in an application yet," I admitted. "That's what I came here to do."

Her mouth fell open. "Really? Then you must be the last-minute addition whose application we've been waiting for!" How does everybody know except for me? I thought.

"Done." Power Loader suddenly announced. "Now they have a much better coverage. That'll be all?"

"Actually," my brother corrected, "I need to get my little sister a costume application. Last-minute addition to the Hero Course, you see. She said she'd like to look at my costume."

"Siblings?" Hatsume squealed. "That means…matching costumes!"

"I'll think about it," I said dryly as Power Loader headed to a metal cupboard in the corner of the room. "Thanks for the idea, Hatsume-san."

"Ah, your old costume. It wasn't bad for a first try, you know?" the Excavation Hero commented as he placed it on the table. It was a black bodysuit with lines in my brother's favourite color, yellow, running down the sleeves and sides. They converged to make a "Y" shape at the chest area. The back had two vertical slits for his wings. There was also a kind of half-helmet with goggles, which I presumed was for recon. In my opinion, it was awesome, and I only had one problem with it.

"So," he turned to me, "what kind of arrangements would you like to make? Your first physical training session will likely start tomorrow, and the support company won't be able to get it done before then."

"I'll just have to train in my gym clothes then." Flipping the costume over, I said, "I won't be needing the holes for the wings, and I think that's about it. I don't know what I would need in a real fight, so I'll probably request for changes later on in the year."

"Okay," Power Loader dug out another form – "fill this out."

In about ten minutes, I was done.

Looking over and realising that there was one big change I'd forgotten to make, I leant down and changed a word.

Just one.

Part Two

"Ah, you're here! Make yourself at home, there's about twenty minutes 'till school starts," Present Mic welcomed me into the teachers' lounge. I sat down at the cubicle opposite the Voice Hero's, feeling a little nervous.

Sneaking a little glance at the tables around me, I spotted an old class photo that looked to be from over ten years ago. Present Mic and a bright-blue-haired boy were grinning with their arms around an apathetic-looking teenage Eraser Head, all standing in the last row. The letters at the top of the picture read "HERO COURSE, CLASS 1A".

"Who's that?" I asked, unable to contain my curiosity.

"Oh…that's Oboro. Oboro Shirakumo. Him, Shota and I were a trio back then, until…" He sighed. "Until our second year. H-he lost his life to a villain's attack, during our Hero Work-Studies."

"O-oh." I instantly regretted asking the question. "I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that…"

"It's not your fault." He sighed. "It was an unlucky accident." Then, he said nothing more.

About ten minutes later, Eraser Head came in just as the bell signalling the start of homeroom rang. "Come with me," he said.

Present Mic seemed to have regained a little of his normal cheerful personality. "See you for English class later!" he exclaimed, waving goodbye.

I followed the Erasure Hero in silence. When we got to Class 1A, he opened the door and beckoned for me to follow him in. I did so in trepidation.

Upon seeing their homeroom teacher, the class stood up respectfully, except for Kaminari, who had dozed off in his seat. The rest of the class, however, looked surprised to see me. Kyoka, who sat to his left, poked him with her earphone jack. "Get up, sleepyhead!"

"Huh?" he asked groggily, shooting up out of his seat in horror soon after, which elicited laughs from all around the classroom. "Ohayo gozaimasu, Aizawa-sensei," the class chorused.

"You may be seated."

There was a massive scraping of chairs as the other fifteen-year-olds in the room followed his instructions.

"As you can see, we have a new student. She's been assessed to qualify for the Hero Course. Originally in General Studies-" his eyes flashed red – "she performed better than three-quarters of the class in yesterday's Quirk Apprehension Test."

The class looked on in silent shock – I saw more than a little mortification in their eyes – and I wished I could teleport from the room. "She will be joining Class 1A as a permanent member of the Hero Course."

Then, someone started to clap. It was Kyoka, followed by all the girls. Then, it was everybody. I mouthed a silent 'Thanks' to them.

"Mezo Shoji, and all those behind him, move back a place." As he spoke the words, he motioned for me to sit at the seat vacated for me. As I waited for Shoji to move, one of his arms with a mouth on it whispered to me, "That's one less person I'm blocking." I smiled in reply.

I sat down and looked around – Mashirao Ojiro was sitting to my right, while Shoji sat behind me. Had the seating arrangements not been modified, I would have been sitting next to Toru Hagakure, but worse was my luck as she moved back one space and the person sitting at the back of the third row moved to the front of the fourth.

Shoto Todoroki.

Ugh.

I averted my eyes from his mismatched ones at once.

After sitting through four hours of lessons with the heterochromic boy to my left, I was glad for lunch time. The girls waited expectantly for me as I packed up, and I eventually told them to go ahead without me, and that I would meet them at the cafeteria.

After I exited the classroom with my book in hand, I was confronted by a group of girls – General Studies, if their buttons told the truth. I recognised one or two from the previous day, courtesy of my brief glimpse of Class 1C.

"Watch it, you punk," the largest of them, a light-brown-haired girl, snarled, shoving me back into the classroom.

Punk? I thought. Excuse me?

I was boiling with anger already, but I stuck to a simple and collected "Do I know you?"

"Wouldn't expect you to," she sneered. "You're the fake from General Studies. Heard your dad bribed the principal to let you into the Hero Course."

What?

"That accusation is completely unfounded," I retorted, my voice laced with cold fury. "Did a purple-haired guy spread that rumour around?"

"None of your business," a girl with short black hair snapped. "Girls, you know what to do."

The large girl whipped out a pair of long scissors, walking quickly towards me.

Oh, for the love of All Might, not that stereotypical bully-haircut thing.

I disarmed the girl carefully – the scissors looked sharp.

I shouldn't have baited them, but I did. "You shouldn't be running with those," I told her, dropping the shiny metal on the floor and surreptitiously pushing it away with my foot.

Right then, the scissors glowed green and started to move on their own, quickly and unpredictably.

Animation, or maybe Telekinesis. I'd seen and read lots of bully scenes in pre-Quirk books and movies, but this was a whole different ball game.

As the scissors shot towards me, I dodged. Managing to hold the twin blades together with my right hand, I said, "You're picking the wrong fight."

"Like hell I am." She squeezed her eyes shut in concentration, and I gasped in pain, wincing. The scissor blades had shifted to pierce into my hand, leaving a deep cut that bled profusely.

The voice had suddenly come from nowhere.

"Get lost, you bullies!" A floating hand – yes, a floating hand (was I maybe hallucinating?) – slapped the big girl on the back of her head, prompting her to turn around and scream. The rest of her girl gang followed her, shrieking their heads off.

"Oh my All Might," I whispered to myself. "Thank you, floating ghost hand."

As I spoke, a green-haired girl with a sharp-toothed grin like a certain Hardening Quirk user – no, there would be no mistaking her for Tsuyu – missing a hand entered the room. The hand reattached itself. "Whew!" She grinned, reminding me of a komodo dragon I had seen in the park when I was eight. "Never thought I'd scare them off, but I thought I'd give it a try. Oh, you must be the new Class 1A student! Setsuna Tokage, Class 1B." She extended her hand, which thankfully was connected to her arm this time. Then she saw my hand, covered in blood. "Better get you to Recovery Girl pronto."

The Youthful Hero, Recovery Girl looked at the wound when I got to the nurse's office. "It's not shallow," she said, wiping away the blood on my hand. "How did you get it?" she asked, seeming a little concerned.

Tokage and I didn't say anything.

"You're the new addition, right? Class 1A?" I nodded. "Be sure to tell the teachers if it gets to be too much for you." I was glad she understood.

She healed the wound, although it still ached a little and I felt a little tired. "I use your life force to speed up your body's natural healing processes, so I didn't heal it all the way in case you faint during Hero training. It's only the second day of school – here, have a lollipop – and you're the first patient of the day! And don't get me started on that young man Midoriya from yesterday." She turned to the dusky-green-eyed 1B student. "Thank you, young lady, for accompanying her here."

"No problem!"

"Arigato gozaimasu," I called out as I left the nurse's office.

Afterwards, I walked with Tokage to the cafeteria.

"The rumours have been flying around school since this morning, are they true?" Tokage looked curiously at me.

"Some of it is." I wasn't in the mood to specify.

"The bribery or parentage part?"

"I-I don't really want to say."

"Tokage-san, you're so late! And who's that with you?"

We'd reached the cafeteria already, and a few girls were waving at Tokage from a table in the middle of the cafeteria. Yui Kodai and Itsuka Kendo were among them; they were likely the 1B girls.

"Okami-chan!" Yui waved to me cheerfully.

"Yui! I haven't seen you since the entrance exam. How's it going?"

"It's been great, but we-" she gestured to the seven or eight tables where the Hero Course students were sitting – "want to know what's happening."

"Firstly," Neito had made his way over without me noticing and said, "Where were you yesterday afternoon?"

"Meeting with the principal." I felt like I was being interrogated, but at the same time I didn't, and I felt the gazes of many pairs of eyes boring into me. "Look, can we not make a scene-"

"Why?"

"What do you mean, 'why'?"

"Why did you have a meeting with the principal?"

"About the probation thing." I looked desperately at my friend. "The 1A guys already know, Ne-"

And then I felt a push. I turned around only to see the gang of girls standing before me.

"Get away, you bullies!" Tokage yelled, using the hand trick again, but with both hands. Some of the smaller girls recoiled in fear, but the big girl and the black-haired one that seemed to be the leader were unfazed.

I didn't want them to do anything bad to my coursemates. "Look, I was minding my own business and still am now," I said, "so why don't you do the same?"

"If you dare to split on us," the petite, black-haired one hissed with venom in her voice, "we won't make your time at this school a breeze for you."

And then they left to find a table, just like that. There was total silence throughout, save for the group of girls chatting animatedly. And the eyes of everyone in the cafeteria were focused on me. The Hero Course students especially. They probably thought I didn't know how to stand up for myself or something. Momo looked like she was going to say something, but lowered her head, a distressed expression on her face. Even the apathetic Bakugo was wide-eyed at this incident.

I just sat down beside Yui and opposite Tokage, not wanting to make a scene. It already was quite a big scene, so I tried not to exacerbate the situation.

Slowly, all the students went back to their seats. The Copy-Quirk user I'd become fast friends with sat the nearest to me at the table on my left.

"Aren't you going to get something to eat?" Yui asked, looking distressed.

I shook my head, not looking at her.

A male 1B student tried to relieve the tension with small talk. "'Percy Jackson', huh? It's a good series."

"Yeah, I just started on it," I mumbled. "One of the best pre-Quirk series that I never tried until now."

"I guess I won't spoil it for you, then, seeing as you've only just begun." He extended his hand. "Kaibara. Sen Kaibara."

I took it. "Nice to meet you."

Part Three

For today's Foundational Hero Studies class, All Might led us to Battle Centre B, the very same place where Iida, Midoriya and Ochako had taken the entrance exam – but not before asking the class to change into their Hero costumes. Mine wasn't ready yet, so All Might consented to letting me wear my gym clothes.

When my classmates came out of the changing rooms (I was the first one out, naturally, as I only had my gym clothes to change into), I gaped at the awesome costumes they'd requested for. Ochako looked like she was wearing a modern pink-white astronaut suit and Kyoka was the quintessential hard-rock star. Momo and Kirishima's costumes showed a particularly large amount of skin, but that was only to be expected. Even Bakugo's suited him well – he had a pair of green gauntlets that looked like large twin grenades. I hoped I'd get my own costume soon.

"Now that you're ready," All Might announced, "it's time for combat training!"

Iida immediately put his hand up. He was wearing a costume that looked a lot like his older brother's. "Sensei," he asked politely, "this is the fake city from our entrance exam. Does that mean that we'll be conducting urban battles again?"

"Not quite!" All Might exclaimed. "I'm gonna 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. Backroom deals, home invasions, secret underground lairs. The truly smart criminals opt to stay hidden in the shadows.

"For this exercise," he continued, "you'll be split into teams of good guys and bad guys to fight two-on-two indoor battles!"

"Isn't this a little advanced for us?" Tsuyu inquired, a long finger on her chin.

"The best training is what you get on the battlefield! Remember, you can't just punch a robot this time, you're dealing with actual people now."

People started to ask questions rapidly.

"All Might-sensei, will you be the one deciding who wins?" Momo asked.

"How much can we hurt the other team?" This was from, of course, Bakugo.

"Do we need to worry about the losers getting expelled like earlier?" Ochako asked nervously.

"Will you be splitting us up based on chance or comparative skill?" Iida enquired.

"Isn't this cape sweet?" someone asked. I suppressed a laugh.

All Might looked nonplussed by all the questions coming his way.

Lots were drawn and we were put into groups of two, five groups of Villains and five groups of Heroes two groups pitted against each other. These were the results:

Izuku Midoriya and Ochako Uraraka (Team A, Heroes) against Katsuki Bakugo and Tenya Iida (Team D, Villains)
Shoto Todoroki and Okami Shizen (Team B, Heroes) against Mashirao Ojiro and Toru Hagakure (Team I, Villains)

Ugh.

Fumikage Tokoyami and Tsuyu Asui (Team H, Heroes) against Eijiro Kirishima and Hanta Sero (Team J, Villains)
Denki Kaminari and Kyoka Jiro (Team G, Heroes) against Momo Yaoyorozu and Mezo Shoji (Team C, Villains)
Yuga Aoyama and Mina Ashido (Team E, Heroes) against Rikido Sato and Koji Koda (Team F, Villains)

"I don't have a team?" Minoru Mineta protested. "I wanted to be one of the seven lucky dudes who got paired up with the girls!" However, I could tell he was genuinely relieved to not have to battle anyone.

"Mineta-shonen, you will sit out on this one," All Might said, "but I expect to see an excellent essay on your classmates' performances, including their strengths and their weaknesses!" The number one Hero grinned broadly.

"WHAT?" The joke was on him, I guess. And on that happy note, we commenced the battle trials.

The class headed to the monitor room, leaving the two competing teams behind. Iida and Bakugo went into the ruined building first, and five minutes after the villain team was in place, the first battle started.

From the large screens on the walls of the monitor rooms, we could see everything that was going on in the building. Midoriya looked nervous and determined at the same time, and was talking to Ochako – strategizing, I presumed – as they entered the building together.

On the villains' side, Iida was acting weirdly, walking stiffly around the fake nuclear weapon, as if attempting to act as best as he could like a stereotypical cartoon villain. I was fifty percent sure he cackled, as before long, Bakugo turned to him and yelled something that we couldn't hear – the cameras provided no audio.

A few seconds later, Bakugo stormed off. Knowing of the bitter relationship the blond had with his middle school classmate, I presumed he was looking for the Hero team to pick a fight. I turned out to be right, though that won no prizes.

The explosion-Quirk wielder had sneak-attacked the opposing team, blowing up half of Midoriya's light green mask as the green-haired boy saved Ochako from what would undoubtedly been quite a painful injury. Then, Bakugo attacked yet again. Midoriya dodged and shoulder-slammed him.

There was a smattering of applause in the control room.

And then we saw Bakugo yell for a while and cut the comms. Why? Just, why?

Ochako had gone to claim the weapon as her teammate kept Bakugo distracted. On the villains' side, I saw that Iida had cleared the room of any objects that she might use her Quirk on against him. When she got to the holding room on the fifth floor and saw the blue-haired boy trying (and failing miserably) to act like a villain, she snorted in amusement. Iida whirled around stiffly. "Give it up, Hero!" I could imagine him saying. "I've removed all the items from this room, so you can't use your Quirk on them to attack! Unlike some villains, I make it a point to do research on my enemies. Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

On the Heroes' side, Midoriya and Bakugo were fighting in hand-to-hand combat, and the explosive boy wasn't letting up. However, Midoriya managed to dodge a flying kick from his opponent, putting some distance between them to formulate a plan. Then Ochako contacted him and I saw his thinking face.

When Bakugou finally caught up to the freckled boy, he was relentless, first yelling, then pulling off a move like the kind I thought only existed in movies – he leaped, then changed his trajectory with his explosions, nailing Midoriya in the back with a big one. It was impressive, aside from the fact that Midoriya could have, you know, been killed.

All Might seemed to be thinking along these lines as well. He unblocked the mic to communicate with Bakugo: "Bakugo-shonen, I warn you not to use that move again, or your team will lose. I repeat, your team will lose."

Then they started to yell at each other again, and Midoriya pulled out his giant-robot-punching strength (about time, I thought) and shattered each and every one of the ceilings and windows on every floor of the building, shooting a massive gust of air out of the top of the building. Ochako floated the resulting debris to perform some kind of lethal baseball move, using the resulting opening to claim the weapon. And the match was over, just like that.

"You did it," All Might whispered, which I found weird. He cleared his throat. "Anyway… the Hero team… WINS!" Bakugo looked on, crestfallen, as Midoriya collapsed on the concrete floor and Ochako puked.

"I never saw this coming!" Kaminari commented. "The losers are practically untouched, while the winners are both on the ground!"

"There's a certain saying, and these two definitely embodied it," Fumikage Tokoyami muttered. "They lost the battle but won the war."

Midoriya had sustained serious injuries and was brought to Recovery Girl's office by a medi-bot as All Might and Bakugo looked on, the latter still looking very much shaken. Ochako, Bakugo and Iida headed back to the monitor room for a debrief with All Might.

"The MVP of this match is… Iida-shonen!" All Might announced.

There were gasps from the class. Apparently, they thought that the best-performing student should be one of the two on the winning team. I thought otherwise. Sure, the Hero team had won, but only because they'd pulled off risky moves that caused a lot of collateral damage, which could be a threat should this have been a real Villain battle.

"Now, students, can anyone tell me why I have decided that this be so?"

Momo's hand shot up immediately and All Might nodded for her to explain. "Iida-san embraced this challenge. He was the only one who truly conformed to his assigned role. I'll explain; Bakugou-san's judgement was clouded by a personal grudge against Midoriya-san, as I'm sure you all have observed too. Trying a large-scale attack was a foolish move, as he was indoors. It could have been catastrophic. Similarly, Midoriya-san's move caused much collateral damage. He rendered himself helpless; not a smart choice. As for Uraraka-san-" Ochako squirmed uncomfortably- "she revealed her presence and her last attack near the end was far too reckless. If she had taken the weapon to be a real one, I'm sure she wouldn't have found her attack feasible.

"Iida-san, on the other hand, was fully prepared for any sudden ambushed that could potentially come his way." Iida looked stupefied and embarrassed at the same time from Momo's praise. "By staying in character, he never lost sight of his mission, even though he ended up on the losing end." I thought this was an accurate analysis.

Momo continued, "Yes, the Hero team may have won, but this was only because they took advantage of this exercise being just what it is; an exercise. They didn't respect the spirit of the trial." I could tell that All Might was impressed at Momo's keen strategic eye and accurate explanation. So was the rest of the class, myself included.

"Well, to add on to your point," All Might said, trying to keep his dignity while being truly gobsmacked (not an easy thing to do), "Iida-shonen could have been a little less stiff, but otherwise-" he gave a thumbs-up to Momo- "spot on! Great job!"

"One must start with the basics to develop their depth of learning," Momo said serenely, "and devote themselves whole-heartedly to training." The class stared at her in amazement. "That's really one of the only ways to eventually become a top Hero."

"RIGHT! Let's continue with the rest of the battles!" All Might proclaimed.

I stepped out of the control room with the others to head to the designated battle building. Once Ojiro and Hagakure were inside the building, I turned to Todoroki slowly. "So, should we be talking strategy now or something?"

"Just leave it to me," he responded coldly.

"Hey, we're a team. If you don't like it this way, feel free to go back to the control room, back to All Might, and request for a change of pairings. That's sounding pretty tempting to me right now," I told him, glowering.

He didn't respond. I didn't either, and we began the trial without a strategy. However, I thought Ojiro might be the one doing all the work, both attack and defense, with Hagakure going for more of a recon role.

I moved forward a few paces and tried to listen for any movement or scan for a scent, as I'd seen dogs do when they felt intimidated. I was determined not to be so. To my surprise, I heard someone walking above me quietly, but not quietly enough to escape my detection. I made an upwards hand gesture, and crept up the stairs. I'd noticed before that Hagakure's costume was just boots and gloves, and that she might remove even those to fully benefit from her Quirk's nature.

When I got to the second floor, I saw no one. That was only to be expected, but I heard a slight shuffling noise down the hall. I shifted and pounced. Unfortunately, before I could restrain the invisible girl, I was slammed into the wall by Ojiro's unexpected parry.

"Ow," I groaned. I knew I'd have a hard time just keeping up with him. With a fifth limb, his hand-to-hand combat skills would be a lot better. I lunged to try and knock him off his balance, but he moved away quickly. He leaped high into the air and swung his tail at me, slicing the air near my face.

Todoroki appeared in the stairwell. "Get back," he told me.

"How the hell am I supposed to get back?" I demanded, panting. Ojiro stood between me and my teammate. "Don't try anything, or-" Todoroki placed the flat of his right hand against the concrete wall and ice spread outwards from it like food coloring in water. In a matter of seconds, the entire corridor, as far as I could see, was covered in ice. A few metres away from where I was standing, I saw two foot-shaped imprints in the ice.

"C-Cold!" Hagakure muttered, her teeth chattering. "Ugh, my feet are stuck!" Ojiro hadn't been wearing shoes, so his bare feet were trapped in the ice as well. I wondered if Todoroki's plan all along had been to give our opponents frostbite.

As for me, the ice formed a thick column around me up to my midriff, though I was protected from the cold by the nature of my Quirk. "Hey!" I protested. "What was that for, Icy-Hot? We're supposed to be teammates!"

"You'll just slow me down." He started to walk forward, and then paused for a bit. "Besides, didn't I tell you to get out of the way? Why didn't you listen?"

"I was occupied, if you happened to notice."

He ignored me.

Ojiro raised his hands and crouched slightly in a fighting stance as the son of Endeavor walked by. "Try and fight me if you want, but it might be a little hard to do that without any skin on the soles of your feet."

Creepy, I thought.

He walked past us and down the corridor.

It was Ojiro who spoke up after about a minute. "Some teammate he is."

"Yeah, I know, right?" I suddenly felt hungry. Great, I thought, sighing. Just great.

Before I knew it, there was a sudden impact, and shards of ice were flying up into the air all around me. In the flurry of ice chunks, I saw two figures receding into the distance. It was Ojiro – he must have broken the ice with his tail. He and Hagakure were running down the corridor in the direction Todoroki had headed, while I was still trapped in the ice. Luckily, the force from the initial impact had cracked the ice a little, so combined with the radius of energy produced when I shifted into my animal form, I was able to escape quite easily.

I bounded after my opponent and in a matter of seconds, I had him in a chokehold. With one arm around his neck to restrain him, I fumbled for the capture tape All Might had given our team. Then I remembered that Todoroki had taken it.

Would it be better to hold Ojiro off while Todoroki reached the weapon, or should I take my chances and get to the weapon? Ojiro cut me no slack as he struggled to get me off his back, even trying to back me up against the wall. I pushed off him and landed in a fighting stance.

For the next few seconds, we danced around each other, ducking, weaving and trying desperately to find any openings, but we seemed to be evenly matched. I'd never fought anyone as skilled as him in martial arts except for my father and brother. It didn't help that he had soles of ice on his feet that grazed my face more than once. The strain was starting to show on his face – I was sure it was showing on mine.

Ojiro suddenly reached for his earpiece. "Don't let him get close! Ambush him!"

I kicked at his face and he dodged. "You'd better finish this up quickly, Icy-Hot!" I yelled into the communicator. I had Ojiro pinned down, but he flipped his body upwards and sent me flying.

Then the buzzer rang, and the match was over – our team had won. We headed back to the control room for the standard debrief.

"You fight well," I told Ojiro.

"You weren't too bad yourself," he said, smiling. "No matter what they say, you deserve to be in the Hero Course. Don't listen to those bullies."

I was a little embarrassed but touched at the same time. "Thanks."

"Yeah!" Hagakure yelled, teeth still chattering. "You were awesome!"

Todoroki had been walking behind the three of us the whole time. "So, we won."

"No thanks to you," I snapped. "You gave the enemy shoes of ice."

"That's how I knew Hagakure was coming."

"Fine, but it was wrong to restrain your own teammate! And I was left to fight Ojiro one-on-one! It was tough."

He ignored me, and I did the same.

"Race you there?" I asked the opposing team.

"You got it," Ojiro said, smirking.

We took off, leaving the son of Endeavor in the dust.