Eijiro Kirishima cracked his knuckles, then his neck, both ways. Behind him stood the bomb. To his left was the frog girl, Asui. In front of him was the one door into this room. The timer had just begun; Sero and Katayama would be on their way.

"Asui-san, I'm not much in the way of plans. You cookin' up any fancy stuff behind that vacant stare of yours?"

"I think we should both stay in this room, ribbit."

Eijiro stopped. He'd just been stepping toward the door, and now he slightly slouched with disappointment. "I want to go meet them in battle! What's manly about standing around and waiting?"

"I'm not a man. You asked if I had a plan, and it's this. Every villain team so far has split up, ribbit. One goes scouting while the other stands guard. So that's probably what they'll expect us to do."

"Well...yea! What's wrong with playing into their hands a little? We're both at a physical advantage, I reckon. Katayama can zap around but he's got no strength enhancements. And Sero..."

"Sero-chan is who I'm worried about. If me or you go out there, he can capture us with that tape. And then we'll be split up permanently while the other will have to guard the room by themselves. Once Dokkun sees the bomb, it's all over, ribbit."

Eijiro ground his sharp teeth together. Dokkun, huh? "Well, that makes sense to me. Howabouts I go into the hallway, but keep my back to the door. Priority is keeping Katayama from getting through. You can handle Sero if he sneaks past me, right?" He was pretty sure Asui's Quirk enhanced her strength a bit, and she was no slouch in the agility department. Being a man is great, but you gotta respect female power too! Even if we're the villains here.

Asui nodded. "I should be able to, ribbit."

Eijiro cracked a smile, and then smashed his fists together, hardening them and sending out sparks. "Let's do this!"

...

"Difficult to predict what they'll do," Sero muttered as the two of them crept into the entrance of the building.

Doko raised his eyebrows. "How's that?"

"If it were me against the two of us, I'd hang back and defend. First of all, you've got some of the highest speed in the class; you manage to get around the back of someone and it's all over. They're gonna want to keep themselves between you and the bomb as long as possible."

"But every villain team so far has split into a scout and a guard," Doko pointed out, feeling kinda useless next to his more strategically-minded partner.

"Right, but me and you have crowd control on lock. We could capture a scout easily while they're split up, and then the guard is left alone. Surely they've thought of this. However..." Sero clicked his teeth. "Based on how Kirishima has acted in response to the other fights, he may just ignore common sense."

"Right," Doko nodded. "If they do decide to split up, I'd say it would likely be Kirishima as the scout, and Tsu as the guard."

"Tsu?" Sero raised an eyebrow.

"Uhh, Asui-san. She asked that we...me and Mina and Hagakure, I mean...call her that. Yeah."

"First name basis with Ashido too, huh?" Sero huffed out of his nostrils.

Doko felt heat rushing to his face. What the hell? "Whoa, I mean...it's nothing like that! Hey, what's your problem anyway?"

"I don't! I d-don't have a problem," Sero suddenly waved his arms defensively. "Sorry. It's just...you seem a lot more comfortable around girls. Some of us guys kinda formed a group at lunch, and none of us have really spoken to you...just an observation I made."

Doko was still kinda irritated, but he suddenly took pause. Am I? More comfortable around girls? Is that a thing? He thought about talking to Mina or Hagakure. Warm, comfortable, easy. Versus talking to this guy, or someone like Iida or Bakugo. Frantic. Panic. Feeling of inadequacy. Gah! It is true! His face had gone cold, and he felt a drop of sweat go down his neck.

"You good, Katayama? I'm sorry, man, I shouldn't have brought it up. I don't want there to be any hard feelings or anything, especially when we're about to fight."

"I'm fine. Everything's great. Good. Yes. No hard feelings, of course." Is it because of my sister? Is this some weird complex that's never occurred to me? But he'd HAD guy friends in middle school. He'd had female friends too, of course, but...

Suddenly he was trying to count. Did it skew horribly towards the female side without him realising? What was he doing, anyway?

The purple was stewing up inside him, threatening to froth about his throat. It was rising and rising and rising and...

Focus, Doko thought, closing his eyes, trying to get the violet energy to settle again. It wasn't working all that well. He was about to go into this fight high-strung to shit, and it was about some silly distraction!

And I talked to Shoji at lunch, so really this is all some big joke. I can make guy friends if I want. I can make friends with you right now, Sero!

"Hey, shouldn't we have found them by now?" Doko asked out loud. His voice sounded funny in his own ears. He had to swallow saliva to keep from drooling when he opened his mouth. His nerves were all tingly.

Sero turned and gave him a funny look. "You're not okay, man. You have a haze around you. It's the same color as when you teleport, I think. Is your Quirk going wild?"

"Very possibly," Doko squeaked, keeping his eyes toward the ground. He had to close his mouth quickly before it felt like he was going to puke.

"Okay, well...focus that shit on our enemies. I think we're..." they turned a corner, and there was Kirishima.

"Asui! They've arrived!" The spiky red-haired boy stood in a fighting stance at the end of the hallway. Beyond was a door. "Hell yeah! I'm pumped up!" Kirishima swung a fist at the air, and Doko saw that he was hardened all over. "Come at me, heroes! Let's brawl!"

"Keep him distracted," Sero muttered to his partner, and then sprang into action, shooting two lengths of tape down the hallway. Kirishima dashed forward, and the tape attached itself to him. Absurdly, battle music began to play in Doko's head. He tried to flash forward and whiffed, falling sideways against the wall, trembling for a moment. The purple wouldn't stop brewing!

Kirishima tried to tear the tape off, gave up with a resigned grin, and then yanked his arms back, pulling Sero towards him. The tape user let out a surprised yelp, skidding along the ground, and then Kirishima swung a hardened fist at his face. Sero's helmet took the main force of the blow, partially shattering, and the boy danced lightly out of the way of Kirishima's second swing, shaking his head as if dazed.

Doko had never been in a true Quirk fight before. He'd trained a bit at the underground lessons, of course, but this was different. None of those Quirks had been as strong as Kirishima's, and they'd been in an open ring, where Doko could maneuver a bit. This hallway was too tight.

Kirishima swung at Sero with his both his fists as the taller, longer-armed boy circled him, trying to increase the range between them. He was too lean and lanky for close range in a tight hallway, and kept running into the walls, taking glancing blows to the shoulder and elbows. He shot out a feathery flicker-like punch with his right, but it only bounced off of Kirishima's hardened skin harmlessly. With a frustrated yelp he blocked the next hit with his forearm, and then shot a short strand of tape backwards out of his elbow...right at Kirishima's face. Briefly blinded, the other boy staggered back, clawing at the tape, and Sero slid under his wild swing and bounced towards the bomb room.

Kirishima tore the tape from his face and lunged toward Sero, getting ready to bodily tackle him with Hardening to keep him out of the room...but then Doko was there in a bright lavender flash.

Who cares about the energy going wild? Use it to your advantage! Doko thought as he flashed in, getting right up in Kirishima's face and slamming into him. Hitting the hardened boy's body hurt like mad, but his momentum was enough to knock his opponent back against the wall. Sero scrambled away into the bomb room, leaving them to it.

"I can't let you go in there!" Kirishima yelled, springing back off the wall and throwing himself between Doko and the entrance. Panicked, Doko flashed back, avoiding a deadly hardened right hook.

Say something cool, do it do it do it! "Fine," Doko replied in an otherworldly growl, crouching forward like some beast, seeing purple dance around the edge of his vision. "Then I'll just go through you."

...

Mina Ashido was annoyed, and confused, and annoyed that she was confused.

First of all, she was annoyed that she'd lost her match, just because she felt like she could have won it if she'd just tried a little harder. No complaints about it being unfair, no resentment to Todoroki. That's just how the dice rolled, but I could have done better with my lot. Second of all, she was confused about who to root for in the match. Both Dokkun and Tsu-chan had been super nice and fun the past two days, and they were on opposing teams. Even worse, Kiri was also on Tsu's team. That meant Dokkun and Kiri were going to fight...and that felt weird to her. She didn't know WHY it felt weird, but it just did. And she was confused by that. Which just made her more annoyed. And thinking about Kiri made her remember how he'd bothered her at lunch earlier, and that made her even more annoyed. What's wrong with the two of us spreading out a bit and making new friends? I mean, Toru and Dokkun both went to the same middle school but you don't see them getting attached to each other's hip in high school. There was also an air she'd detected from Kiri that she hadn't liked one bit. An air of "why are you hanging out with THESE guys? A frog, an invisible girl, some dude with six arms? The friends I've found are much cooler, you should just come stick with us. Just take the easy way out, Mina!"

No, she thought, curling her fist. I'm a freak with pink skin and horns and I'll hang out with the other freaks. Because they deserve a friend too.

"I wonder what Sero and Katayama are talking about," said Yaoyorozu, watching the screen.

"Yeah, maybe they disagree on strategy? Seems like it's getting kinda heated." Kaminari crossed his arms.

"Katayama-kun doesn't look so good, does he?" Toru mumbled.

Mina's eyes seemed to dart in that direction on their own. She'd been watching Kiri and Tsu in the bomb room, but now she was glued to Doko.

He was pale and trembling a little. There was also a funny light around him, like a shimmering glow.

"Wish we could hear what they're saying," Jiro complained, bouncing her earphone jacks.

"Patience, Young Jiro! We shall see the fruits of their planning in a moment!" All Might declared.

Then, the fight started. The class gasped as they watched Kirishima and Sero go at it, but Mina's eyes kept slinking towards a sickly-looking Doko who was hanging back. Then, she watched his eyes begin to glow, and he seemed to steady himself.

"What's Katayama waiting on...oh!"

"There he goes!"

Doko flashed in and landed a solid blow on Kiri. Mina's eyes widened. I've never been able to do that.

"Mina-chan?" asked Toru. "Does Kirishima-kun's ability have a limit?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, like a timer. He's been lengthening it lately, though."

Then, words were exchanged. When Doko spoke, his mouth glowed purple. And the class gasped in sync.

"Fine," he growled, in a strange, echoing tone that hit their ears wrong. Otherworldly. Alien. "Then I'll just go through you."

The class buzzed.

"What the HELL was that?"

"Did he just teleport his voice?"

"It was glowing for a second when he spoke. I saw it."

"Quiet down, students!" All Might frantically waved a hand, not tearing his eyes from the screen. I'm worried, the Symbol of Peace thought to himself. Voice teleportation was not something listed in young Katayama's Quirk notes. He may not even be aware that he can do it. It may only be possible during moments of high emotion.

And after I went through the trouble of warning them, too...

But it's not fair to interrupt just yet. No one's gotten hurt. I have to see if he can sort it out on his own.

...

Hanta Sero heard the strange voice behind him, but didn't stop to react or check. No time for that. He could see the bomb, and it was straight ahead, wide open. Just had to get to it, and...

Another person suddenly crashed into him from above, in a messy heap that sent him to the floor. Hanta rolled, throwing them off. Whoever it was was light. Wait, it's Asui. Duh. Of course.

Hanta sprang to his feet, and saw the frog girl now crouched between him and the bomb, a neutral, blank expression on her face. "No further," she croaked.

"Did you jump on me from above the door? You can climb walls and stick to them, huh?"

Asui only blinked her big eyes, and then she leapt at him.

Hanta sidestepped, but still took a glancing swipe from one of the girl's big hands. The slap stung the side of his face that was now exposed. Damn you Kirishima, for breaking my helmet open. Hanta backstepped, trying to put distance between them, but Asui came on, inexorable.

She leapt again, and this time Hanta ducked. She hit the wall behind them and bounced off it with her hind legs, flipping and turning in mid-air. Her kick landed against Hanta's shoulder, and then she used him as a launchpad, jumping up to the ceiling and sticking there.

Hanta looked up. "Impressive." He shot tape up at her with his right elbow. Asui sprang down out of the way, but he'd anticipated that she'd move between him and the bomb, and he shot out more tape with his left. It caught against her arm, and Hanta began to run in a circle, pulling her in and trying to wrap her. He shot more tape with his right to speed up the process.

He got most of her arm before she tried pulling it in towards her chest in an attempt to yank him. But she was not as strong as Kirishima, and Sero released the tape, letting it tear. Asui sprang forward again, newly free. When he brought his elbows up for a defensive tape attack, a pink thing came shooting from her mouth at impossible speed, hitting him in the face.

"Gah!" Hanta danced backward, avoiding her kick. "Was that your to..."

The tongue in question was coming again, swiping at him from left to right. Hanta ducked under it, but it still slapped the top of his helmet, and Asui was running at him on all fours now, jumping at him with her big palms outstretched. Her tongue killed out behind her, and Hanta saw his opening in that split second.

He rolled low just as she jumped at him, and shot tape upward as he rolled, feeling it hit the desired target. As he stood, he yanked his elbows and spun, pulling Asui by the tongue toward him.

"Arrrgh!" The girl winced in pain, her mouth still open. She tried to pull her tongue back in, but it was stuck to the tape.

"We've both got a mid-range attack attached to our body, huh?" Hanta said with a grin. "Just one problem, though."

"Arrrgh...mmph."

"I can cut mine away," he explained, breaking his tape off at the elbow as he finished wrapping her up. "But you can't."

...

Meanwhile, Doko's brain was going crazy.

Jump! Back! Right! Left! Forward! Come on come on come on, lemme at him! Give em the ole one two! Fight fight fight! A brawl is SUUUURELY brewin'! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

The purple light glowing from his eyes and mouth and ears was impeding his vision. He'd forgotten to activate his new metal mask, and was paying the price for it. I could always do it now. Another swing from Kirishima, another warp dodge. No, there's no time. He mistimed the next flash, and took the hit with a grimace. Every fourth swing or so Kirishima actually would manage to land, and his blows hurt. In a physical fight, Doko had no resistance-related abilities. Two pushes of the button, that's all. He overestimated his next warp a little and ran into the wall.

None of his measly punches would do anything to Kirishima, which left him to either tire his opponent out or try and get past him. The former seemed like a good option, except Kirishima might knock him out first. The latter was all but impossible with Doko's brain going too crazy to focus on doing such a complicated warp. He would have to flash through Kirishima to get to the door, and without a second to pause and focus his overdriven mind, it could end in disaster. Kirishima seemed determined to not give him that second.

Doko gave a little bit of ground with each warp-dodge. Kirishima was driving him back, and although the hardened boy was clearly getting worn out and strained from all the swinging, he was grinning like he was having the time of his life. "Come on, Katayama!" he yelled. "Where's the beast from before? Fight me like a man!"

Yeah yeah yeah let's do it let's fight him! Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah nah nah nah man SHUT UP man

GOD, PLEASE SHUT THE FUCK UP! Doko let out an exasperated, inhuman yell and reached up to activate his mask, pushing the button twice.

It folded over his eyes and nose, and as Kirishima saw it, he faltered and whiffed his punch. The mask closed over him with the sound of compressed air, and all senses seemed to dull like a warm haze. The purple relaxed, and Doko felt the glow leave his face. He'd done it; he'd calmed down. Doko let out a sigh.

Then, Kirishima punched him in the torso.

The warping boy staggered, suddenly trying to take in air through his nose and, failing due to the mask, wheezed in through his mouth. He was crumbling to the ground, all wind knocked from him. He tried to flash away, but his legs refused to flex. The purple had settled much too deep in him.

Through the mask, he saw Kirishima grin apologetically. "Sorry about that, man. I honestly thought you could take it. Hey, are you sure you're okay?" He heard a sound from the bomb room behind him, and whirled to look with a concerned face. "BRB," he told Doko on the ground, running away. Doko only whimpered.

...

Tsuyu Asui felt kinda embarrassed, in all honesty.

The fight with Sero had been going really well, until he'd targeted her tongue, and she'd paid for it badly. He'd rendered her immobile like that, because who would willingly tear their tongue just to keep fighting? It felt awfully violating, too, but it was her fault for trying to use it in battle anyway. With someone with a Quirk like Sero's, she'd basically been asking for it.

And now he's just gonna walk over to the bomb and it's all over.

But as he finished wrapping her and stood up to go claim his prize, Kirishima burst into the room and tackled him.

Sero tried to fight him off, the two boys rolling on the floor in a kind of wrestling match. Tsuyu watched blankly, trying not to move at the risk of tearing her tongue on the tape. Then, the alarm sounded.

"Huh?" Sero stopped, looking at the bomb in confusion. "Was that...the timer?"

"YES!" Kirishima got off of him and jumped up and down, pumping his fist. "We did it! We won! High five, Asui!" He looked over at her, and his expression sank. He lowered his hand awkwardly. "Sorry. Let's get you out of that."

As the two boys unwrapped her, Dokkun came staggering into the room, clutching his stomach. Tsuyu saw that he was wearing a dark metal mask of some kind, but then he punched the side of his head twice, and the mask retracted, revealing weary purple eyes. "Was that it?" he asked weakly.

Sero finished tearing the last of his tape off of Tsuyu and stretched his arms with a yawn. "Yep. We lost. Ran out of time."

"Oh. S-s-sorry."

Sero gave him a laid-back smile. "It's chill. No biggie. Get 'em next time, right?"

Kirishima nodded and grinned, closing a determined fist. "The most manly outlook! It was good fighting you both!"

...

The class was, to put it curtly, mixed.

"Did Katayama just randomly put that mask on mid-battle? Why?"

"I think he must have forgot he had it or something. Still don't know what it's for, though."

"Forgot? Is he nuts?"

"He didn't seem okay most of that battle, actually. I thought he and Sero had it in the bag, too. All he had to do was flash forward to the bomb with his Quirk."

"Warping doesn't much help you if someone like Kirishima lands a hit, though."

"Whatever. Kinda lame, to be honest."

Jiro slapped Kaminari with her ear jacks.

"OW! What was that for?"

"Show some respect. We don't know the full circumstances of Katayama's Quirk. Besides, you're next."

"Oh right, I am. Let's go, Shoji!"

"Koda-kun?" Yaoyorozu called sweetly to the quiet rock-headed boy at the back of the room. "We're up."

The boy only nodded with a nervous face and followed behind her meekly.

Mina watched as the four combatants re-entered the room.

"Hey, Asui and Sero! Great fight, you two! Probably the best to watch so far!"

"Thanks!"

"Thank you, ribbit."

"Don't forget Kirishima. He was the MVP there. He took out both the heroes."

"No biggie! That's how you get stuff done as a man...or, err, a villain, I guess. Haha." The red-haired boy scratched at his neck sheepishly, enjoying being the center of attention.

No one complimented Doko on anything. Tsuyu was watching him closely with her wide eyes. Mina was too. It was hard to tell where Toru was looking. As Shoji left the room, the multi-armed boy also gave Doko a lengthy passing glance.

The warp Quirk user trudged to the back of the room and leaned against the wall, still clutching his stomach.

"Young Katayama," All Might called. "Are you alright? Do you need to see Recovery Girl?"

Doko looked up and saw that most of the class was watching him. Their expressions ranged from concern to confusion, but none of them were positive. Fucking. Hell. He was pretty confident he heard someone snicker.

"I'm okay, All Might. Thanks for asking." Obviously he wasn't going to talk about it in front of a crowd like this.

Then, the last match was starting up, and they all turned their attention to that. Well, all except three.

"You should go talk to him, ribbit."

"Huh? Why me?" Toru asked. The three girls were standing a ways in front of Doko, the two visible ones backlit by the blue light from the screens. They were trying not to glance at him back against the wall, but he could definitely tell they were talking about him.

"Because you've known him the longest."

"Hardly! I think it should be Mina who talks to him."

Mina sighed. She'd sort of predicted this, in all honesty. "I'll do it." Not like it should be someone's burden or anything. Kinda gross to treat it like that.

She walked over to Doko. When he saw her, his expression shifted a bit, but it was hard to tell what that meant in the low-lit room.

"I thought I told you to win," she joked gently.

"Well, you know me. I've got a rebellious streak. Don't want to do something just because someone told me." At least he was still being himself, she supposed.

"Listen, uh, Dokkun..."

"I didn't pity you after you lost your match. Show me the same respect."

"Wha...hey, that's not fair! You don't know what I'm going to say!" A few nearby classmates, notably Todoroki and Uraraka, heard her raised voice and briefly broke attention from the ongoing match.

Doko shrugged infuriatingly. "Sorry, Mina. I'm already over it. This is only our first hero class. I'm sure I'll get more chances to train and power up and not make a fool of myself. Here's to hoping." He pushed himself off the wall.

"Whoa. Hey. Don't shut me out like that. Friends support each other, remember? If you're going to focus on getting better, then I'm right there with you!"

He blinked at her. "Of course. You're going to be a great hero, Mina. Don't let me hold you back or anything."

His behaviour was confusing her. "Stop being...weird about it. Just come on and watch the match."

"Right. Okay."

Shoji and Kaminari had a unique two-pronged assault as the hero team, with Shoji's eyes and ears allowing them to locate the bomb very quickly. But Yaoyorozu had set up traps everywhere, and captured Kaminari in short order, right after he'd managed to electrocute Koda. Shoji, who'd been listening through several walls, ran in to provide backup, but Yaoyorozu captured him too with some difficulty. The villains won, although Koda was out for most of the match. It was pretty much a Momo solo show.

"That creation Quirk is scary, dude," mumbled Sato, who'd just returned from the infirmary to catch the last match. Midoriya had returned as well, though his arm was in a sling. When the four combatants returned, all twenty students were together again.

All Might closed the class by giving them all some pointers and giving general comments on each battle. There had been only two hero wins, which seemed kinda surprising to Doko. There should have been three, he thought, but he was not thinking of himself, but of Mina.

"The villains all had the advantage of having a clear thing to defend, and the time to come up with strategies for that!" All Might told them. "Meanwhile, the heroes had to think a bit more on their feet! As new students to the hero course, you all display a good mind for basic planning, but as far as the quicker instincts go, there's more that can be improved on. Most of the finest moments of heroism spring from pure instinct and lightning-quick thinking. Part of your education will be training your brain into coming up with all those elaborate plans within the span of a few seconds! And then, you can achieve much more! Plus Ultra, you might say!"

The class was eventually dismissed, and it was time to head home. Doko put his costume away and picked up his bag, shuffling his feet as he headed out of the building. For a moment, he felt a sudden strike of fear. I'm going home now. What will my parents say when they find out how I lost? Will they laugh at me? But then he realised that they would have no way of knowing unless he told them. He relaxed, feeling kind of ridiculous.

"Katayama-kun, wait up!" Toru's voice, catching up to his side. "Oh man, that class. Crazy, right? All Might is larger than life! Getting real pointers from him was like a dream! And those battles we had to do were so tense! I felt like my heart was going to burst, and we still have the whole year ahead of us!"

"Congrats on your win," Doko told her. They walked down the steps among the other leaving UA students, the sunset washing everything in orange.

"Ah, it was no thanks to me. Tokoyami did all the work. I served as bait and then got tackled. At least you fought Kirishima for a little while."

"I don't know if I would call that fighting. I mostly just zapped around like some kind of poser."

"Ha...well...you know..." Toru trailed off as they arrived at their train platform.

Great. I just said the thing that she was going to leave unsaid, ruining not only her attempt at a safe compliment but also the atmosphere as well. You're such a fucking genius, Doko, really.

They boarded the train in an awkward silence. Sitting down in two seats next to each other, sensing everything and saying nothing. Doko could hear Toru's foot tap as they waited for the train to depart.

"Katayama? Hagakure?" A voice asked.

The two of them looked up in surprise. It was none other than his partner from the battle trial, Sero.

"You take this train, Sero-kun?"

"...Yeah. Do you guys?"

"...Yeah. We went to the same middle school. Shinobu."

"Oh neat. I had some friends at Shinobu. Did you know Tsukasa or Takuji, by any chance?"

"Oh yeah, vaguely. We weren't like close or anything."

"Yeah, fair enough. They would have mentioned an invisible girl to me." Sero eyed the seat next to Doko. "Do you mind?"

Doko looked up at him. "Nah. Go right ahead."

He sat down just as the train doors closed, and they began to move. The three students sat in silence for a moment. Toru got out her phone and began to listen to music.

"Hey," Sero whispered, leaning in a bit. "I really am sorry about earlier. I think it's my fault that we lost, honestly. I distracted you with that stupid question and put you off your game, and then I wasted time wrapping up Asui and let myself get tackled when I could have just bumrushed the bomb."

Doko gave him a look. "You're as frustrated as I am." It was all in his words, although that same easy smile remained on his face.

"Heh. I guess I am." Sero leaned back in his seat and scratched his neck with his long arm. "I try not to let it show too much, because I was always known as the laid-back guy in middle school, you know? The kind you could come to with your problems? I kinda wanted to keep that up at UA. Especially since we seem to have some...intense personalities in our class."

"Guilty," said Doko lightly.

Sero's grin widened. "Hey, chill out man. I was talking about Bakugo and Midoriya and Iida, mostly. And Kirishima too, I guess. Those four, as well as Todoroki and Tokoyami, were all anybody was talking about. They really commanded all the attention. Those last two seem kinda cold, but..."

"I guess it's inevitable that the people with the most powerful Quirks would be at the forefront of a hero class," said Doko. "I mean, it was like that in middle school, too, just because having some flashy power was a general flex. But at hero school it's even more pronounced." He left the other part unspoken, about how he didn't like it, about how he thought it might lead to unhealthy mentalities in a class of heroes-in-training who absolutely needed healthy mentalities to move forward in their desired career.

Sero seemed to chew on that for a moment. "Yeah, makes sense. My Quirk isn't anything special but it gets the job done. I was pretty happy with my fight with Asui, honestly. I feel like I can hold my own against the mid-tier students. And then there's..." he paused, unsure.

"Me," Doko finished for him. "By all rights I should be up there with the six you mentioned before. But...I'm not." I pursued hero training so I could put the powers that were given to me to good use. But...they're being wasted on me.

Those powers are wasted on you! He remembered his mother saying that once, when he was younger and stupider and had teleported to go take out the trash. Bad moment. Bad memory.

Toru took her headphones out. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Doko's Quirk. How by rights it should put him up with the heavy hitters in the class, but due to the results of the battle trial, no one was really talking about him the way they talked about Todoroki or Midoriya."

"Well, yeah. Katayama-kun just isn't a showoff like that. He never once used his Quirk during middle school."

"Really?" Sero raised an eyebrow at him. "Warping is every lazy kid's dream, though. I often just used my tape to pull soda cans across the room. With teleportation, the possibilities only widen."

"It's not really healthy for me to think like that," Doko explained sheepishly. "I don't like using my powers on something I can just do normally, even if it's not in public." My parents made sure of it.

"Ah, I see. Well, respect to you, then. But it may have helped to get a bit more training in? I mean, your Quirk could be super useful in both combat and rescue situations."

"Did you just seriously just say it may have helped to get more training in?" Doko asked dryly, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "What the fuck do you think I'm at hero school for? Just to sneak peeks at Midnight's changing room?"

Toru was giggling her invisible head off next to him, and Sero cracked a nervous smile in spite of himself. "Sorry, sorry. Dumb thing to say, I guess."

Doko grinned and punched him lightly in the arm. "Whatever, man. I'd be public hypocrite number one if I got mad at everyone who has brainless moments from time to time. I mean, you're looking at the guy who almost walked past UA on the day of the entrance exam."

"It's true, he did do that," Toru supplied between giggles.

The three of them kept talking as their train sped toward home, the sun setting on their long second day.

END OF CHAPTER FIVE

Yo. That's the battle trials done with. Sorry about not writing too much about Momo and Koji vs Denki and Mezo, but it felt more appropriate to skim over it based on the more depressed, absentminded tone of the scene. I also didn't want to get stuck in this arc for potentially another chapter.

Yeah, Doko lost his match, and his mentality has taken a bit of a hit. He's got a lot going on, from the way his Quirk messes with his insides, to how his past makes him feel and act around his classmates. We're going to see something of a shift in him going into the Sports Festival, one that I'm really excited to get into.

The romance will be a slow burn, at least until I change my mind and get impatient. More will develop on that end next chapter, though.

Other than that, next time will also be class elections, the press swarm, and probably the beginning of USJ. Stay tuned, leave feedback. It's very appreciated.