Toshinori stood before the cloud of smoke as it filled the gym. Out in the midst of it was Bakugo, turning in a circle, crouched in battle position, waiting for Midoriya's attack.

"Don't use so much right away if it's not necessary!" Toshinori called to his pupil. Midoriya was vanished somewhere in the gloom, still generating smoke from his body.

"It is necessary. He's gonna need all of it," Bakugo snarled, a grin on his face.

When Midoriya came darting from the upper left, a green streak of light, Bakugo was ready for him, whirling and slamming an explosion square on target. Toshinori winced. KA-BOOM!

Through the burst of fire, Midoriya leapt up, but he was further away than he should have been, indicating that Bakugo's attack had landed. He tried for a kick to his opponent's head, but Bakugo slid sideways and climbed into the air with two small explosions, getting over him. Midoriya launched himself across the ground and backward into the gloom, dodging the next blow.

"Predictable today," Bakugo commented. "Slow. What's up, Deku?"

Toshinori frowned. He's correct.

Midoriya tried three more times to sneak attack using the smoke screen, but Bakugo predicted all his moves. After the third failure, Bakugo went on the offensive. Midoriya was forced to generate more smoke…and appeared to reach his emitting limit, running out. The stuff began to dissipate. Bakugo gave chase. They streaked about the gym. Midoriya used Blackwhip to pull himself up into the rafters, and then Fa-jined himself down past Bakugo, but whiffed the kick.

All Bakugo had to do was blow himself out of the way, and Midoriya slammed into the ground hard enough to knock himself over. He windmilled his arms and fell on his ass, and the smoke cleared.

Bakugo landed, cackling. "I'm too used to fighting through my own smoke!" he said. "It's just an unfair matchup, I'm afraid. And good luck finding a fair one!"

Midoriya pulled himself to his feet, and let out an uncharacteristic huff of frustration. He punched the air. "HYAGH!"

Toshinori flinched, taken aback. Even Bakugo's eyes widened. "Jesus, Deku, get a grip…"

"Sorry. Sorry." Midoriya repeated himself, rubbing his face. "I'm just…I don't know. I don't have an excuse."

The boy turned to All Might, and in his green eyes was terror. He knows he's disappointing me, and hates it, and won't be able to focus while that's taking him over.

"Young Midoriya, if there's something bothering you today, you can tell me," Toshinori said. He felt bad.

Izuku's eyes darted over to Bakugo for a second. "There's nothing bothering me. I'm just off my game, that's all."

Bakugo snorted. "If there's something you don't want me to hear, you can just admit that out loud-"

Midoriya turned on him, that flash of anger resurfacing. "Fine then, Kacchan, why don't you leave!?"

Bakugo's face twitched. He said nothing, but he went to the door and walked out, obliging.

Toshinori eyed his pupil with consternation. His chest was rising and falling. "Young Midoriya…"

"Go ahead and critique me. I'm listening."

All Might shook his head and sighed. "Something's got you riled up. You can't let that happen, Midoriya. You have to calm down and focus."

"Focus on what?" Midoriya asked, quietly.

"Focus on wh-..." Toshinori was baffled. "On training, of course. That's what we're doing here."

"Okay. I'll do that."

Worried, confused, and feeling like much was left unsolved, Toshinori doubtfully nodded and took a step back. "...Alright, then. How about you just practice sequences of moves without an opponent. Deploy the smoke…"

…

Later, exhausted from the training, his head buzzing with hot frustration, Izuku left Gym Gamma.

Bakugo was leaning against a wall outside. "That took a while. You get yourself back under control?"

"You were waiting out here the whole time?"

Bakugo shrugged. He opened a bag of sunflower seeds and popped one into his mouth.

"That is insane, Kacchan. We have so much classwork you could have been doing. Why did you stay?"

"In case All Might called me back in. I guess you guys never got ready for me, though."

"You could at least pretend to not still be obsessed with beating my ass every chance you get." Izuku winced at his own words, absolutely certain that Bakugo was about to scream at him to shut up now.

Instead, his rival just looked disappointed.

"I'm doing this for you," said Bakugo. "I'm the only one left at the school who can compete with your reflexes, now that Togata graduated. You can't train with anyone else and face a challenge."

"Every other week I think you've finally humbled up, and then I get disappointed by the next thing that comes out of your mouth."

"Deku, come on. All these years and you've hardly ever gotten furious at me like that. Mad, sure, but not mad enough to say that kind of thing." Bakugo's face softened. "Which means you aren't mad at me at all. You're mad at yourself."

"Wow, you understand me so well," Izuku said sarcastically.

"You know…" Bakugo looked back at the gym door. "There's nothing stopping you from just telling All Might that you don't feel like training on certain days. It's not like it's for a grade. And you're pushing against a skill ceiling, anyway."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that training constantly like this isn't accomplishing much. You won't catch me saying that to the man's face, but…"

"Oh, but you expect me to do that. I see."

"You're the one with the magic Quirk. But all you have to do is tell him you want to do it less. He may be a teacher but he can't like…punish you, or something."

"I can't." Izuku knew that this was something he could NOT consider. Kacchan, telling me I should take a break? Ha. No. He'd already forgotten about training a few too many times, and hadn't had enough good sessions recently. Asking for a break now would be so lazy of me. And I CANNOT be lazy. There were other punishments besides the ones written on paper. And they're often much, much worse. Surely Kacchan of all people understood that?

Besides, what would All Might's face look like if he asked that? He may not even be surprised. That would be the worst. What if he just looks resigned…like his worst suspicions about me being a failure have been confirmed.

"I'm going to hang out with Yui," he said out loud, walking faster ahead of Bakugo. "Good night, Kacchan."

"Bring her to training, then," the other boy called.

Izuku stopped and looked back at him. "Huh?"

"Kodai. If you can't be bothered to break from training, then bring her tomorrow. I want a rematch against her, anyway."

"But, what if All Might says…"

"Screw what the old man says! He can't kick her out! If he tries, we'll all just go somewhere else and fight. All three of us."

"I mean…okay…" I told her maybe tomorrow anyway. Those were my exact words. That she could maybe train with us tomorrow. He'd just have to preface to All Might to not say anything explicitly about One for All and maybe they'd have to limit the things they practiced and change the schedule and…

Katsuki Bakugo shook his head as he watched Deku walk off. He will never stop that fucking muttering, will he.

…

Izuku shot Yui a text, telling her she could come over if she liked, and walked into the dorm.

There were a few people about. Ojiro and Tokoyami were washing dishes, while Jiro and Kaminari appeared deep in the throes of homework, papers scattered around them on the table. Todoroki was throwing something away, but he looked up when he saw Izuku enter.

"Midoriya," he greeted. "I went out today and bought the supplies for our physics project. Poster board and markers and things like that."

"Oh, huh?" Izuku felt like he was climbing out of his brain fog.

"Remember? We were working together on it-"

"Yes, Todoroki, I remember." He rubbed his eyes. "You didn't have to…I mean. Do you want me to pay you back? I'm sorry I wasn't able to help."

"It's fine. Using Endeavor's money. Anyway, my thought was that we could just knock all of it out tomorrow night. Or most of it. Since the big math test will take up everyone's time next week."

"Uhh…yeah. Sure. Sounds good." I'm so tired. He walked past Todoroki. "Knock it all out in one go, yeah."

"Alright." Todoroki's eyes scanned his friend as he went toward the stairs. "Are you okay, Midoriya?"

"I'm fine. If Yui shows up at the door, let her in and up."

He went up the stairs, and his phone buzzed.

Yui: Okay. I will bring some work I'm doing, though. What time?

Izuku: Come over in like 20 mins. I'm gonna take a quick shower.

…

"That sounds like a lot," Yui said. She wrapped her arms around his midsection and leaned her head against his arm. She could feel how hot his blood was. Good Lord, he's stressed.

"It was…I mean. It's over now," Izuku told her. Then he let out a long sigh, and sank into her a bit. They were cuddling on his bed, the lights out, not really able to see each other.

"Does Bakugo really have your best interests at heart?"

"Ah, at this point there's been so many ups and downs that I don't even know anymore. He does want you to come train with us, though."

Yui swallowed. "He'll beat me up."

"I'm not gonna let that happen."

"I don't want you to save me, though. You didn't last time."

"Ah, yeah…I know. And I feel bad about it-"

"Don't you dare feel bad." Yui poked his nose. "I'm just saying…last time I did it. On my own. I don't want it to get any easier, but…I don't think I can do that again."

"Well…why not?"

Yui did not respond right away. Her grip-hug on him slackened a bit. "I don't know…just a feeling, I guess." Being realistic.

"Well, what kind of training would you like to do, then?" Izuku asked, not pushing further on the previous topic. Oh, Izuku. I love you. If only she could bring herself to say that out loud.

"I'd like to practice my reflexes. Close combat. That's what I need to keep improving." It was true enough that she'd had a few good fights during classes and training…but in all the real villain and disaster situations that they'd encountered, Yui Kodai had never done much beyond distant support. Throwing projectiles with Reiko. If she wanted to not choke up in the event that she ever had to do more than that, then she had to practice.

"Yeah…I think we're in the same boat in that regard," said Izuku. He sounded wistful.

"Do you want me to fight you?"

"Gah! I mean…not really? The idea scares me."

"Why?" Yui's lip curled up. "Elaborate."

"...No. I sense I've made a mistake of some kind."

She giggled, and leaned in to kiss him. She'd meant for it to be a quick peck, but they…ah…got carried away.

…

It wasn't until the next morning that Yui realized she'd forgotten to actually finish her homework that she'd taken to Izuku's room. She frantically finished it in the few minutes before class, leaning over it feverishly at her homeroom desk.

"Mornin', Kodai…oh."

"Don't talk to me right now," she muttered to Shoda. "Fast girl mode."

Nearby, Itsuka snickered. The confused Shoda just walked on to his seat.

She put her pen down with a minute left before homeroom started. Itsuka was watching her. "You got back pretty late last night."

"Yeah."

"You and Midoriya have fun?"

Yui gave Itsuka her best death stare. "You could say that."

Setsuna, sitting on her other side, made a show of slumping into her desk. "I'm constantly torn between being proud of you and jealous of you. On one hand, Queen Yui. On the other hand, why can't I be in my hot girl season too?"

"You're always in your hot girl season," Yui told her honestly.

Setsuna blushed. "You can't just compliment me so straight-up like that."

"Are we still on for tonight? The picnic?" asked Itsuka. "It's the weekend, so…"

"Oh yeah. We're definitely on." Setsuna wiggled her eyebrows. "You bringing your toy, Yui?"

"He's coming. Let me just text to make sure." She pulled her phone out and sent Izuku a message: Do you still want to go to Setsuna's picnic tonight on the grounds?

There were mere seconds left before class started, so she didn't expect him to be looking at his phone, but the message came back pretty quickly. Sure.

"He's coming," Yui repeated.

Setsuna whistled. "Whew! Bad luck, Tetsutetsu. You won't be the only boy there after all."

Tetsutetsu, sitting across the way, shrugged. "I'm honestly kinda relieved. You guys are a lot to deal with."

Behind him, Tsuburaba and Kuroiro were watching them. Yui met eyes with the latter, briefly. He did not seem happy. How much did they hear? Kuroiro's dark gaze shifted to Kinoko, sitting in the far corner of the room, and then he focused his attention to the front. Elsewhere, other boys seemed to scatter their eyes, as if they'd all been eavesdropping and were now acting like they hadn't been.

Yui turned back around uncomfortably. She could feel the weight of resentment on the back of her neck. This class has felt more hostile ever since I started dating Izuku. She wished she could just be in Class A. Other than Bakugo and the pervert, they all seemed well-adjusted. But I'd miss the girls, I guess.

Things only got worse when Vlad King went up front and announced, "We're doing a free for all exercise today as a class. A melee of sorts."

Excited whispers washed over the room, all from the boys. Yui felt the weight of the pressure she'd been feeling increase tenfold. She cast dark, doubtful glances over to Reiko, then Itsuka. They seemed similarly confused.

"You could call this exercise a warmup for a similar one we're planning to do soon. It will be much larger in scale, but today it will just be the twenty of us." Vlad King's eyes passed over the room. "Like I said, it will be a free for all. You cannot make direct alliances. Things don't end until there's a last man - or woman - standing."

…

Class B were spread out around the edges of the arena, and directed to enter in groups of three, where they would then split up.

Yui was joined by Honenuki and Kamakiri. Rising up ahead of them, past the gate, was the twisted industrial nest that made up their fighting ground. They awaited the signal. The two boys were stretching. Yui felt as if she was about to retch up her breakfast.

"You look pale, Kodai. Everything okay?" Honenuki asked her.

"Mmm." She nodded.

"Good. I'm not looking forward to being close to you in there. After seeing what you did to Bakugo," he joked.

Yui could only nod again, and smile uneasily. He had no idea how much more nervous that made her feel.

And of course, Kamakiri only watched with those narrowed, ever-frustrated eyes.

"SIXTY SECONDS."

"In we get," the bug boy muttered, and went through the gate. Yui and Honenuki followed.

There were three ways to go - right, left, forward. Kamakiri went forward, not bothering to consult the other two.

"See you," Honenuki told her, and went right. Yui went left, toward the residential quadrant of the arena.

She thought she felt eyes on the back of her neck again, but when she turned back, Honenuki was far down the street, not paying her any attention.

Heart pounding, she kept moving. "THIRTY SECONDS."

She went through the automatic doors of an office building, which was attached to a parking garage. I'll go up the stairs here and go the top of the garage and stake out. It would be easy to retreat and hide in the building if anyone she felt like she couldn't fight decided to show up.

Are the boys going to target me? She knew they were resentful of Izuku for some reason, but she didn't quite know if that extended to her. Surely they weren't that petty. Surely not. She'd known them for two years.

Whatever the case, I have to focus. Focus on lasting a while. It's a survival game.

She went up the internal stairs of the office building. Fifteen seconds. Ten. An alarm sounded, indicating the exercise had begun.

Almost immediately, she heard a loud explosion. Well, that's not Bakugo. Who in her class could create an explosion? Something else crashed. Whatever it was, it was far away, not in this building. Yui kept climbing.

On the fourth floor, she crossed the office space and went to an industrial-looking door, opened it, and found herself in the parking garage. Only a few fake cars were occupying scattered spots. This side of the garage was dark and under flickering yellow lamps, but the other side opened to the outdoors, and sun was streaming in. A high view of the arena was available from over there. Yui went to it.

Down below, she could see Shiozaki's vines crawling up a building. Shishida roared in the distance, passing along a wide street, chasing someone who Yui didn't identify before they darted into an alley.

She scanned the scene, wondering what her next move would be, when the ceiling suddenly collapsed.

Yui gasped and moved sideways, her whole body flailing in terror, as Manga Fukidashi plummeted down, one of his text-attacks slamming through the concrete like a hammer. He landed light on his feet, stood up straight, and his bubble read: HELLO, KODAI. His manner seemed almost smug.

Yui pulled out one of her bolts instinctively, throwing it at him and enlarging it. Manga created a BOING! shield, and the massive piece of metal bounced harmlessly off of it. In the meantime, Yui ran back. Her mind flipped over. Need distance. Need time to think.

"WHOOSH!" Manga shouted, and a gust of wind roared through the tunnel of the parking garage. Yui nearly fell over from how strong it was. Shit. Why him, of all people? Why'd it have to be him?

He was giving chase, too. Gaining. She passed a car, touched it, shrunk it. Picked it up. She turned and threw it at him, but her aim was off. Shit! The car bounced off one wall, enlargened, and fell harmlessly far off to the side of where Manga was with a loud CRASH!

"ZZZZZIP!" Manga created some kind of fast-moving piece of text that he immediately hopped on top of, and closed the distance to her, riding on it. Yui spun sideways, getting grazed by it, and he hopped off in mid-air just past her. "SLAM!"

Another text-hammer, smaller, but aimed at her head. Yui bull-rushed forward, attempting to bypass it and tackle Manga at the same time, but he only said, "BOING!" and she bounced off like it was nothing. The hammer swung about.

He's outmaneuvering me!

Panicked, she threw three more screws in a scatter, and grew them all. They rolled on the floor, one of them clanging near Manga's feet, causing him to halt just briefly enough for her to run for the door, into the office.

Unbelievably, in the open office space, there was another fight going on.

Itsuka and Awase were duking it out amidst the empty cubicles. Itsuka's fist came down one of them with a SMASH! Before they both turned to notice Yui.

"Kodai!" Awase shouted. "Don't you dare interrupt-"

"Oh God!" Itsuka backed off, as if she meant to run away. From me? Do they truly think I'm that scary? Just because I beat Bakugo once? I have no idea what I'm doing right now!

Yui ran down to the right, away from all of them. Another SMASHing sound of Itsuka's fist when off back there. She passed office desks. Manga was riding on another piece of text, choosing to come for her instead of interrupting the other fight.

He closed the gap. He's too fast. I have to use that to my advantage!

Yui banked a hard right, so quickly that Manga didn't have time to react, and he crashed into the far wall. She slid low underneath a desk and backed into the cubicle. Close quarters. Need close quarters so he doesn't have room to make big attacks.

"SIZZLE!"

Cartoonish flames leapt up nearby. FWOOOOOSH!

Yui paled. She could feel their heat; they were spreading surprisingly fast.

"Why would you do that?" she asked Manga as he appeared around the corner. She surprised herself by how frail and desperate her voice sounded.

Manga rarely spoke with his voice, but here he did. "The robots will clean it up in the end. I have to prove I'm willing to go all the way. Just like you."

No, no, no, you've got the wrong idea. Whatever came over me last time was all thanks to Izuku! Compared to him, I'm nothing! You can't possibly think that this is what I would do! The fire was spreading too fast.

Yui hopped over the cubicle divider behind her, and then shrunk the file cabinet that was in her way. She turned back and threw it. Another bad throw, another easy Manga dodge.

He kept coming. She grabbed a stack of papers and tossed them into the air, letting them cascade, and then enlargened them.

"SNIP!" Manga shouted. A pointy sharp piece of text sliced through the big papers. But when he got through them, Yui was already running down the stairs.

I just need to keep this up. I can use my Quirk indefinitely, as long as I don't get totally exhausted. Already sprinting so much was taking a toll on her, and the excessive adrenaline usage from being so nervous would cost her in the long run. She knew that, she knew that right now, so why couldn't she calm down?

I just have to get him to use up his vocal chords. He can't have that many big attacks left in the can!

She made it to ground level, and suddenly Manga appeared from through the ceiling again, his text-attack this time spinning like a pointed drill. Debris rained down. Yui tried to attack him in the chaos, swinging a punch, but he ducked low and kicked her in the shins. "FWOOOSH!" he roared.

A liquid piece of text blasted at her, pushing her back like a high-pressure fire hose. Yui slid along the floor on her butt, her body crying out in pain from the blow. That's bruises. That's a lot of bruises.

She forced herself up, her tailbone screaming at her, and went out the door of the office to once again gain some distance…

…And she stepped right into Honenuki's trap.

"Aw, Kodai, it's you?" The lipless boy stood at the edge of the street, having used his Quirk on all of it, turning the whole place into a pit of quicksand. Yui struggled as she slowly sunk down, feeling the stuff tighten around her legs, making it impossible to escape.

"I heard a lot of people fighting in this building so I figured I would catch someone. A shame it had to be you, though. Did you at least take someone else out?"

Manga appeared at the doors. He did not step out fully, having seen what happened to her. NO, his face read, aimed at Honenuki. BUT YOU'RE NEXT.

Honenuki hardened the ground around Yui, and then the two boys began to fight each other, leaving her stuck there.

Her face was red-hot with anger. The fights continued all around her, but she'd been one of the first out. It's happened before. I never have been able to split my attention very well. So why am I so frustrated now? What could I have done differently?

So many things, another part of her said. Izuku would have found a way out of this.

For now, she was stuck until a robot or teacher came to get her, as the exercise went on, and she was left with nothing to do but mull over her failure. All it took was one time rising above my mediocrity, and now I hate the taste of it. But this was her normal state, wasn't it? To be one of the early defeats. One of the low supporting players of the class.

Izuku liked her pretty face, but there was just no way he respected her as a heroine. She couldn't believe it. How could I have deluded myself into thinking otherwise?

She loved him. But even if he stayed with her, even if he didn't get tired of her eventually…she would always play second fiddle. That truly sunk into her now, as she herself sunk into the ground, and it hurt.