There was a crowd of reporters outside UA as Doko, Hagakure, and Sero arrived that morning. The three of them had to jostle their way to the gate in order to scan their ID's to be let in. "Excuse us, excuse us," Sero repeated, leading the way.

"Hey, students!"

"Oi! Kid!"

A reporter stopped Doko as he attempted to follow the others. "Excuse me, what is it like to be taught by All Might?!"

Doko blinked at her. "I don't know. I'm in general studies."

"Oh." The reporter made a sour face and left him alone, allowing him to get through the gate.

Safely on the other side, Hagakure wagged an invisible finger at him. "Katayama-kun, you can't just lie to reporters like that!"

"Oh, they lie to us."

Mina was waiting further up the steps. "Morning, Dokkun, Toru-chan. Oh, and...Sero too?"

The tape quirk user gave Mina a relaxed wave. "I take the same train as these two."

"Oh? That's great! Man, I wish I shared a train with someone!" Mina stretched and turned to look up the steps. "Let's get going!"

"Aren't we excited for class today," Doko commented, raising an eyebrow.

"Can you blame me? That class with All Might was awesome! I mean, sure, it may not have gone well for everyone, but..."

"Half the class was statistically destined to lose," Sero pointed out. "It's no big deal, though. We will have three years worth of chances to prove ourselves."

"Provided we don't die of exhaustion," Toru supplied, yawning.

"Yeah..." Doko became lost in thought as the four of them entered the school. Mina and Sero were both pretty mid tier in the assessment, so they want to climb the ranks and show off a bit. I understand that, but...

They'd all gotten a perfectly acceptable passing grade just for participating in the battle trial, regardless of the outcome of their match. As long as he got the education he needed to become a hero and save people with his power, did it really matter if he was the best hero ever? Why was it a competition in the first place?

Doko hadn't enjoyed the atmosphere of resentment that had slightly intruded into the class during the battle trial, especially from people like Bakugo and even Midoriya. In a quest to be the best, you sacrifice...he looked up at Mina and Toru and Sero, who were having a light discussion a few paces ahead. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves for now.

Maybe I'm just paranoid. Maybe it's easier for everyone else to be super competitive and still be friends. That does seem spot on for Mina, in fact. Doko shook his head, dismissing the troubled thoughts, and moved to catch up to the others.

...

When homeroom began, Aizawa looked out at the class and said, "Today we're picking a class representative. And by we I mean you. I can't be bothered." Then he sat back down.

The room erupted.

"MEEE, PICK ME!" Mina declared happily, doing a little jig.

"I'm the best for the job, clearly," said Kaminari.

"You're all too extra for this!" Bakugo snapped, his eyes filled with killing intent as if he was about to release an explosion.

Doko squirmed uncomfortably. This is exactly what I was afraid of. Suddenly, he made eye contact with Aizawa by complete accident.

The homeroom teacher raised his eyebrows, as if he was surprised by something. But he made no effort to quell the chaos in the room.

That fell to Iida.

"CLASS! CLASS!" The bespectacled boy got up in front of the room, waving his arms. "Instead of nominating someone directly, we should hold a vote."

Jiro rolled her eyes. "Everyone will just vote for themselves."

"Then whoever receives more than one vote will surely be meant for the job, no?"

"...I guess."

Iida looked to Aizawa for approval. The teacher sighed and pinched his eyes between his fingers. "Alright, sure, whatever. Just make it snappy."

"Alright. Everyone write your votes on a slip of paper and pass it forward."

Doko sighed in despair, staring at the blank piece of paper in front of him, then the pen. It's just class rep, it doesn't matter. But it, like everything else at this damn school, had been turned into a contest.

He ended up voting for Tsuyu and passing it forward. When I don't get a vote, people will realise that it was me who did the right thing.

The results were written on the chalkboard.

Momo Yaoyorozu: 3

Izuku Midoriya: 2

Doko Katayama: 2

Denki Kaminari: 1

Mina Ashido: 1

Tsuyu Asui: 1

Tenya Iida: 1

Rikido Sato: 1

Shoto Todoroki: 1

Toru Hagakure: 1

Eijiro Kirishima: 1

Yuga Aoyama: 1

Ochaco Uraraka: 1

Hanta Sero: 1

Katsuki Bakugo: 1

Mashirao Ojiro: 1

Doko's jaw dropped. He'd gotten not one, but two votes? Who from? Who in the fuck...

"Okay, Yaoyorozu will be the class president, and..." Aizawa glanced at the two names on the board. "...Katayama will be vice president. Any objections?"

Doko raised his hand. "I object. I didn't vote for myself and don't know who voted for me. I would make an awful class rep. Let Midoriya do it."

Aizawa blinked at him. "Alright. Whatever."

Midoriya was now going up to the front of the room while stuttering under his breath and trembling. Standing next to the taller Yaoyorozu, he didn't look any more like class rep material than Doko did, but still.

Doko scanned the room. The class was muttering; a few were giving pointed glances his way. Did people vote for me as a prank? Am I some big joke to them? Maybe they'd voted for both him AND Midoriya as a prank...Midoriya didn't seem like the type to vote for himself. Quickly, Doko scanned the list for the people without votes at all. Jiro was one; was she the type to do that? Tokoyami, Koda, and Shoji all had no votes as well...it was hard to tell anything. Those are three of the quietest students in the class, but I'm pretty sure Shoji is my friend, right?

"Dokkun," Mina whispered from behind him. "What's the matter with you? Why did you turn it down?"

Doko raised an eyebrow at her. "What's the big deal?"

"Class reps at UA get noticed by pros and stuff. They have actual duties and it goes on their record. It's a lot better than being a rep at a normal school."

"Oh. I didn't know that."

Mina rolled her eyes, grinning. "Honestly, sometimes you just...I don't even know. It's a wonder two people voted for you."

"Huh? You weren't one of them?" Doko made a show of pouting.

"Hell nah. I voted for me, myself, and I." She pointed her thumbs at herself, eyes closed. "Didn't really work out, though."

In any case, Doko was determined to get to the bottom of this. I know I made a piss-poor showing in the battle trial but was this really necessary? He was certain that someone was pulling a prank on him. It was perfectly plausible that some people had gotten one vote from someone else, so it didn't necessarily have to have been one of the four who got zero votes.

At lunchtime, Doko went to sit with Shoji again, but now his heart was racing. The multi-armed boy only nodded silently in greeting, continuing to eat.

Doko picked at his food, feeling sort of confused about all this. "Hey, Shoji-san," he said, testing the waters. "It was pretty cool of you not to vote for yourself."

Shoji swallowed and cleared his throat. "It was the noble thing to do. It's a shame my vote ended up going to waste, though."

Doko's eyes widened. "You voted for me?"

"I did. There wasn't any particular reason behind it. I wonder who the other person was. I suppose you were telling the truth when you said you didn't vote for yourself, since you turned down the position. Who did you vote for, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh, uh, Tsu."

"Ribbit."

Doko nearly jumped out of his seat in surprise. Tsuyu was right behind him, holding her lunch tray, that blank stare on her face. Her wide mouth stayed flat.

"Ahhhh, Tsu! I d-d-didn't s-see ya there...heyyyya, why don'tcha sit down, ehhhh?" Doko felt the violet energy stir up again, and his speech came out all garbled.

Tsuyu sat down next to him, not next to Shoji like she'd done the day before. "Dokkun, did you say you voted for me?"

"Uhhh...yeah." Meanwhile, Mina had sat down on the end of the table.

"Ah. I voted for you, ribbit." Her cheeks were faintly red, and she actually broke eye contact to look down at her food.

"Well, that solves the mystery," said Shoji. He turned to Mina. "Hello, Ashido-san."

"What's up, Sho? How are you?"

"I'm doing well...Sho?"

"Hehehehe."

Meanwhile, Doko and Tsuyu were trying not to look at each other, silent and awkward. What's with this atmosphere?

Hagakure showed up, with Sero in tow. "Hey, everyone! Is it okay if he sits here?" she asked perkily.

Sero scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Yeah," Doko said, chewing. "Just let the man sit if he likes. Come on, Sero. No one's got a problem."

"I do. I hate Sero, a whole, whole lot," said Mina in a fake childlike voice.

"Silence, you."

Hagakure and Sero sat down, and now they were six. Doko felt a strange feeling inside him, different from the purple. A...golden feeling. Shoji and Tsu both looked up from their food in confusion, looking around the table. As if they'd sensed it too.

Everything in its right place...

"So," said Mina, breaking into the silence while loudly chewing, "whoooo did everyone vote for?"

"Myself," said Sero bashfully, at the same time that Toru exclaimed "Myself!"

"Same here," Mina sighed. "I guess we exposed ourselves with that. But heyyyy, Mr. Teleport here got two votes! Aizawa was fully ready to give you the position and everything!"

"It was these two," Doko said plainly, flexing his finger back and forth between Tsu and Shoji. "Can't imagine what their reasons were."

Shoji shrugged. "Like I said, no particular reason."

"Dokkun and I voted for each other, ribbit," Tsuyu said, more quietly than usual.

There was a moment of silence at the table, and then Toru gasped. "That's crazy! What are the odds? It's like, ohh..." she swayed back and forth in her seat dreamily. "Like you're meant for each other..."

Sero half-choked on his food, and Mina started laughing like a maniac. Tsuyu's blush deepened.

"Hagakure," Doko scolded. "You're embarrassing the poor girl. Now she'll be thinking of nothing but dating me, and how awful that would be."

"There he goes again with the self-deprecation." Mina rolled her eyes.

Tsuyu seemed to have regained her composure. "I wonder why Aizawa-sensei picked Katayama over Midoriya initially, ribbit."

Sero scoffed. "It's Aizawa. There probably wasn't any thought process behind it. He just picked the first name he saw."

"It is possible that his attitude is just a front, though," Shoji suggested. "You never know."

Doko swallowed, remembering how he'd made eye contact with his homeroom teacher in that moment. "Whatever. I'm sure Midoriya will do fine."

"Ehhhhhh..." Sero squinted his eyes and tilted his head in order to show indecision. "The verdict's still out on that, I think. At least Yaoyorozu will make an excellent president."

"Oh, definitely," Mina drawled. "She seems so refined and classy."

Toru began to say, "I don't know if..."

BRRRRRRRRRRRR.

All the students in the cafeteria began to look around wildly. The sound repeated.

BRRRRRRRRRRRR.

"It is the intruder alarm," Shoji said calmly. "We have to move."

Doko's heart skipped a beat. Intruders? Truly? The cafeteria had begun to go wild. The alarm continued to blare, and students surged toward the exit en masse.

Mina let out a little yelp. "We gotta go!"

The six of them abandoned their lunch and joined the crowd. Doko kept an eye on Mina, with her bright pink skin, jostling through other students ahead of them. If I could just warp to the front...

The crowd compressed, moving slower and slower. Doko had lost sight of Mina. All around him, students were chattering. He thought he recognised a few voices, but...

"Sero! Tsu! Is that y..." someone bowled past him, nearly knocking him over into getting trampled. Students were closing in all around.

The purple had begun to panic, threatening to burst out. Doko was sweaty and short of breath. Am I having another panic attack? He couldn't even see if they were out in the hallway yet. The alarm was so loud. And everyone around him wouldn't shut up. Just shut up, shut UP...

"EVERYONE CALM DOWN!" A voice RIPPED through the crowd, and suddenly everyone went silent.

Doko looked up. Iida was floating against the ceiling, pointing out the windows.

"IT IS ONLY THE PRESS! PLEASE FOLLOW PROTOCOL!"

Doko craned his neck to peer out the windows, just as everyone else did the same. Indeed, a stampede of reporters was approaching the school. That was all.

The crowd began to disperse, and Doko let out a gasp of relief. Iida had managed to calm them all down, just like that.

Later in class, Midoriya gave his class rep position to Iida. No one argued.

...

The teachers of UA stood in an arc around the destroyed gate. Beyond the school, the sun was setting. All the students had gone home.

Nezu, the animal hybrid that served as principal, stepped forward. He was seething, and every other staff member knew it. They all hung back warily, knowing how the principal could get when his emotions ran high.

"Does everyone understand how this happened?" he asked, quietly.

Midnight gulped. "...The press could have gotten a student ID somehow. That they dropped, or..."

Nezu shook his head. "There were no reports of a lost ID to the office today. And...did anyone have any absences in their classes?"

"Nope," said Eraser Head.

"Nada," Snipe echoed.

"Not me," said Ectoplasm. The other teachers all murmured agreement.

"That means..." Cementoss's eyes widened. "Every student used their ID to enter the building today. There were none the press could have used."

Power Loader was investigating the scanner. "It's been rusted through somehow," he announced. "Probably someone's Quirk."

"No one has a Quirk registered like that," said Midnight, confused. "Certainly no one from the press."

"Then we are dealing with an unregistered Quirk," Eraser Head declared. All the teachers went silent.

...

The next day, Class 1A boarded a bus to go to rescue training. Aizawa told them that All Might and a surprise teacher would be helping out.

Doko was pumped. Rescue was what he'd been wanting to do the whole time! There was no way it could possibly become a competition like battle trials. And he felt focused as well, the purple energy ready to spring in a collaborative way that wouldn't screw him over. He felt confident in his ability. Saving people is where I will shine. People like Bakugo and Todoroki can handle fighting for all I care.

"Dokkun," Mina prodded as they sat down on the bus, "you seem really happy. You're smiling!"

"Rescue training is what I've been wanting to do this whole time." No sense in lying about it to her.

"Ohhh, I see. Your Quirk could be super useful in that kind of situation. You can get to trapped people really easily, and move debris, and stuff like that..."

"Hey, you'd be no slouch in moving debris as well. Just burn right through it."

"Hehehehe..." Mina had a glint in her yellow eyes. "We could be a rescue team, like the Wild Wild Pussycats!"

"The who in the what now?"

"Yo, let me in on this," said Sero, sitting on the other side of Doko. "I always thought my Quirk would be good for being a rescue hero."

"What's the matter with you guys?" asked Kaminari from across the aisle. "Afraid to fight villains or something?"

Mina rolled her eyes. "We were just joking around, you dummy."

Oh...Doko thought. We were?

"Ok, fine, whatever." Kaminari held his hands up in surrender. "Kind of presumptuous to decide what you want your hero career to look like this early, that's all I'm saying."

"What do you mean?" asked Jiro.

"Well...you know. Maybe not everyone here wants to really be a hero when they get out."

"Are you serious?" Yaoyorozu leaned forward incredulously. "After how difficult it was for everyone to get into this school?"

"It wasn't difficult for you," Sero mumbled, but only Doko heard him.

"Hey, you never know!" Kaminari exclaimed defensively.

"He does have a point," Sato put in. "If this hero thing doesn't work out I may just become a chef. That would be fine."

"And not everyone becomes a hero just to rescue people." Everyone whirled to look at Uraraka, who didn't usually speak up. She flushed red and squirmed in her seat, mumbling, "some people have other reasons, that's all."

"Well," said Doko, "my reason is to rescue people, because my powers work so well for it. Imagine you did become a chef, Sato-san. Think of all the people you COULD be helping with your super strength!"

Sato shrugged. "There's lots of heroes out there. With All Might active, there's a bit more choice in the matter, you know? Villains aren't as bold anymore."

"Speaking of All Might," Tsuyu croaked, "Midoriya. Your Quirk is really similar to his, isn't it?"

The green-haired boy practically jumped out of his seat, freaking out. "I don't know what you're t-t-talking about! They're completely d-d-different!"

"Yeah," Kirishima put in, slightly derisively. "All Might's Quirk doesn't destroy his body when he uses it."

Doko watched Midoriya closely. He REALLY didn't like that line of questioning. Or maybe this is just his normal level of jumpy? Tsu certainly did have a way of catching you off guard. It's probably nothing.

"Still, Midoriya, you're lucky," Kirishima sighed, holding up a hardened fist. "Your Quirk is super impressive. You'll be a popular hero. My Hardening isn't really all that flashy."

"Huh? Hey, th-that's not true!" Midoriya declared. "I think your Quirk is super cool and versatile, Kirishima! You'd be a great hero with it! I mean, just off the top of my head, I can think of several uses..."

Doko sat up a little straighter. It's like he just...turned on. And his stutter went away, too.

"Still," Hagakure was saying, "as far as flashy and powerful Quirks go, Todoroki and Bakugo take the cake."

"But Bakugo-chan gets too angry, ribbit."

"What the FUCK just came out of that flat mouth, Frog Face?!"

"See?"

Half the class laughed, Doko included. He gazed at Tsuyu for a moment. Maybe she does realise what she's saying. There's a method to the bluntness.

"Dokkun," Mina mumbled next to him, under the shadow of the larger conversation still happening. "Can I ask you something?"

"Huh? Yeah, sure."

"What do you think of Tsu-chan?" her face was bright and mischievous.

Doko blinked. "She's a good friend, so far. It's only been a few days." This kind of shit doesn't work on me, witch! Begone with your foul tricks!

Mina pouted. "It's just...yesterday you just kind of dismissed the idea of dating her...what if that had hurt her feelings? Are you really so against it?"

"I mean...like I said, it's only been a few days. I've never dated anyone before and have never given it much thought. Pushing it off as a joke is just kind of my default response. Why do you ask?"

"I mean, I..." she seemed taken aback, flustered. "Just...wondering, that's all. You know. It seemed w-weird to me."

Doko lowered his eyebrows, glancing back at the frog girl. "I seriously doubt I hurt her feelings. But if I did I might talk to her. Maybe. That would just make things awkward, you know! But if that would make you feel better, then..."

"Ugh! Never mind, it's fine!" Mina turned away from him in a huff, crossing her arms.

"What are you guys talking about?" Sero asked, leaning in and noticing.

"NOTHING!" they both exclaimed.

"Everyone shut up," Aizawa announced from the driver's seat. "We're here."

The class got off the bus, and many of them gasped. They had arrived at a huge glass dome, as large as a city.

"This is the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, or USJ for short," Aizawa explained. "The others will be inside. Follow."

USJ? Doko raised an eyebrow. "Oh man. Can't wait to ride Flying Dinosaur and Hollywood Dream."

"Shut it," said Mina. "That was the most obvious, easy joke you could have made."

"I liked it," Sero mumbled.

They followed Aizawa into the massive building, finding themselves on an entry bridge of sorts. It was decorated with red carpet and led to downward steps that went into the center of the dome. Surrounding them in a grand ring were various biomes and sets. At a glance, Doko saw a mountain, a jungle, a city on fire, a boat on a lake...

Standing at the edge of the steps was a person in a heavy space suit. Who's that?

"Oh my god," said Uraraka. "That's Thirteen!"

"They're a famous rescue hero!" Midoriya added.

Thanks for being my exposition devices, you two. They were really perfect for each other, weren't they.

"Greetings, Aizawa, Class 1A," Thirteen said in a warped, disguised voice. Their face was not visible through the space helmet. "Today we'll be doing rescue training."

"Where's All Might?" Aizawa asked. Thirteen held up three fingers. He nodded.

The fuck was that? Doko looked around wildly, to see if any of the other more hero-aware kids knew what that meant. Midoriya in particular had gone pale, but everyone else looked as confused as him.

"In any case," Thirteen announced to the whole class, "you are all aware of what my Quirk is?"

No.

"It's Black Hole!" Uraraka jumped up and down excitedly. "It lets you vacuum up anything with the power of gravity!"

"Very good," they said, nodding approvingly at the brunette and perhaps giving a cursory once-over of her similar space-like costume. "My Quirk is very useful in disasters, but if turned on another person, it could be deadly. I'm sure many of you have similar powers. The goal of today's training, and many other sessions going forward during your time of UA, will be to focus your powers on doing what they're good for. Striking that balance between help and harm, do you understand?"

The class murmured agreement. They understood. Doko liked the idea as well. It was similar to his own ideals. Next to him, Mina also seemed excited and interested. That makes sense. Her Quirk can BURN THROUGH people, after all.

"Now," said Thirteen, "if we could begin by..." a sound from down the steps broke her off.

They all turned to look. Doko's eyes widened.

A dark purple circle was forming in the plaza. It was opaque and cloudy, swirling like some foul soup. Ummm...

And then, people began to walk out of the circle.

They gasped. There were dozens of them, mutants and people in strange costumes. Leading them from the front was a man in all black, with blue hair and disembodied hands covering his face. To his right was a great hulking monster with an exposed brain.

"Get behind me," said Aizawa, stepping in front of them and sweeping his arm back.

"Is this part of the training?" asked Yaoyorozu.

"No. Those are villains."

END OF CHAPTER SIX

A large part of the bus conversation was somewhat inspired by a Tsuyu-focused fic called "What Lies Beneath." It's served as something of a larger inspiration for some of the elements you see in this fic and if you haven't checked it out I really do recommend it. It's quite good.

Next time, the battle begins. See you then.