So, when I originally posted this chapter, I took a much need break from writing. When I got back, I reread the last couple chapters again to make sure everything was flowing nicely... and I found this original chapter a bit too much for me to read. So, I cut it in half.

This time around, the Author's Note for this chapter and the next will be in Chapter 11. Also, there will be news regarding the story, so I would like to encourage everyone to at least read the first part. I'll be sure to keep it shorter than normal.

Thanks again, so much, for your support and your patience! I hope you guys enjoy these chapters!

As a fair warning, this chapter is, like, 85% Class B focus. I do not own My Hero Academia.


Despite the simplicity of his uniform, Izuku was the last one to arrive at the semicircle that had formed around All Might. He couldn't help himself as his eyes wandered around him, eagerly taking in all of his classmates' magnificently unique uniforms. There were just simply so many different styles and designs that he couldn't decide which one he wanted to look at first.

Luckily for him, his own costume design was simple enough that it didn't warrant anyone's attention. But that was fine by him; he preferred it that way because it came with all sorts of perks, like joining the class unnoticed from behind.

Well… he thought he joined the class unnoticed from behind…

Unfortunately for him, there were two people who saw his approach, and both were doing their damndest to not burst out in laughter.

One of them was Setsuna, who had caught his movement out of the corner of her eye from where she stood on the left end of the semicircle with Itsuka. There was a brief moment of confusion as she mentally did some quick process of elimination to see who the newcomer was…

…And then she nearly doubled over into quiet giggles, clutching onto her sister's arm for support as she did her best to smother her mouth with her other hand; if Itsuka was fazed in the slightest by her antics, the only indication would have been the arched orange eyebrow she sent her direction.

Even though Setsuna did find the suit a little dorky, she wasn't laughing to be mean. She just found it insanely ironic that his costume just so happened to resemble a (green) rabbit, the same creature she had compared him to on more than one occasion.

The other person was All Might, and honestly, he wasn't faring any better than Setsuna was at controlling his laughter, albeit for extremely different reasons.

Clearing his throat and shaking his head, the great hero figured that with all twenty students now present, it was time for them to get the ball rolling.

"Shall we begin our lesson today, my wards?"

"Yes, All Might Sensei!"

"Today, we start… your Battle Training! There are many things to cover in a short amount of time, so please let me explain the situation fully before you ask any questions!"

Yesterday, Class A had bombarded him with questions almost as soon as he had opened his mouth. He wasn't about to let that happen again, especially since a few students already had their hands in the air.

Like an actor who had perfectly rehearsed his lines, he began to explain their exercise in detail. He went over why they were doing indoor anti-personnel battle training, and the statistics and real-world applications behind the reason. As he informed them of what the exercise itself actually was, he also declared that it would be the perfect opportunity for them to sharpen their newly obtained basic combat skills. And then he ended his mini-speech by clarifying the terms of victory and defeat against their opponents.

There was a moment in his speech where the hero looked like he was coughing horribly into his hand, but in actuality, he had taken a look at the sticky note hidden inside his palm from Vlad King. The Blood Hero had asked him to include a couple stipulations into the exercise, and since they were excellent points of interest, All Might was more than happy to oblige.

"I have a couple more things for you to keep in mind as you participate in your simulations, my wards. After Class A's performance yesterday, your homeroom teacher and I decided to add a couple more parameters to this exercise."

"First, no one is permitted to cause major structural damage to any part of the building! I hope it should go without saying, but as a general rule, heroes are supposed to limit property damage to a minimum. And, no villain in their right mind would willing destroy their own base of operations, unless they specifically planned for it."

"I mention this to you all because yesterday, we had a couple of students manage to almost destroy the entire fourth floor of the training building during their fight. One of them even managed to blow a chunk out of the third floor as well."

When All Might began explaining the first parameter, Class B collectively gave him a strange look, as if they were unsure if the hero was making a joke or not. But with each word that left his mouth, many of their expressions began to warp into confusion, shock, and awe, as if they couldn't quite believe what they were hearing…

And there was one student in the back of the class who felt an all too familiar bead of sweat drip down his neck at the sound of what was undoubtedly his old friend's exploits…

"Therefore, we have decided that any obvious signs of structural damage will result in an immediate fifteen percent reduction to your grade; of course, in order to remain fair, this will be subject to the relevancy, cost, and the amount of damage that has been caused. Any interior damage- such as broken furniture, doors, windows, and certain walls- is tolerable, but I encourage you to do your best and avoid damaging them if you can!"

Many of the class took his news in stride, but again, there was one among them who felt his mouth go a little dry… Oh… Oh man…

"Secondly, if you are on the hero team, you are not allowed to alter or effect the bomb in any way; your job is only to find it and secure it! As heroes, bombs are among some of the worst things that we ever encounter. They are a bundle of unknowns, and unless you have extensive training, any rash actions could result in the loss of life."

"Yesterday, we had a young man freeze everything in the area, including the bomb. If this were real life, he could have endangered the lives of a lot of innocent people. The charge may have been composed of chemicals that need to maintain exact temperatures, and any sudden extreme deviation could have created a chemical chain reaction within the bomb. Or, the triggering mechanism could have had a gyroscopic sensor attached to it; freezing and stopping the gears and windings in place would have had the same result as detonating it. Those are but a small handful of the many variables a bomb has the potential to have, and you would all do well to keep this in mind!"

As the students of 1B nodded along and eagerly took in the great hero's wisdom, they were all unaware that one of their peers had a subtle shift in behavior and expression at the mention of someone freezing the area. Granted, his costume made it easier for him to hide such things, but if anyone had been watching carefully, they would have seen the change for just a split second.

"And so, to emphasize the importance of this principal, the hero team will automatically fail if they upset the nature of the bomb! Heroes, you are allowed to touch it, but you cannot move it, alter it, or else affect its integrity in any way! Villains are exempt from this rule, as theoretically, they would typically know the contents of the bomb as well as other important information that relates to it, like what to do and what not to do around it."

"Wait, what?!"

"What the heck! That's so unfair All Might!"

Many of the students spoke out to agree with their classmates, but the great hero's voice boomed gently over the noise to settle them down.

"Actually, my young wards... that's just how heroism is. Many things in our line of work will always be unfair, from natural disasters to terrorist attacks. But any great hero can always find a way to pull themselves out of a pinch! And this class is as great a place as any to learn how to do just that!" All Might finished with a strong-armed flourish and a brilliant smile, and even though a few of the students still remained a little miffed, they couldn't help themselves as they got caught up in his contagious optimism.

Sensing that the general mood had been mollified by his words, the hero continued on to the next step in their training. "Now that all the important stuff is out of the way, let's go ahead and decide your battle partners for today's exercise byyyy… drawing lots!" With another flourish of his cape, the hero pulled out a decent sized box from behind him and gave it a little shake as his students only stared on in bafflement.

"…Really?"

"Just… Just like that?"

"Well, it makes sense because a lot of pros often have to team up with other heroes from different agencies at a moment's notice during emergencies…" interjected Izuku as he absently thought out loud.

There was a consensual 'Oooohhhhhhh…' that echoed throughout the group of twenty students as they considered their classmate's reasoning. Tetsutetsu even turned around from the front to give him a thumbs up and a shark-toothed grin. "Nice thinking, Midoriya! That… that is you, right Midoriya?"

Izuku could only bashfully rub his head and nod in response to his classmate's words.

Without wasting another second, All Might began to walk around to each student as he carried the decent sized box in one hand. "Alright now, everyone! In this box, I have twenty different balls with the letters A through J on them- I need you all to reach in and grab one! After you do, go ahead and partner up with the person who matches your letter!"

"I don't think my hand's big enough to grab one of his balls, but it should be a cinch with your quirk Itsi!~ Don't be afraid of that extra credit!~ " Setsuna whispered suggestively to her friend, only to receive a sharp elbow to the chest. She let out an amused hiss as she rubbed her sore spot and her friend shot her a level look.

But Setsuna wasn't fooled- she could see Itsuka trying her hardest not to smile underneath that scowl.

"Ow! My tit!"

"Oh, shut up. You're fine you little floozy."

All Might was none the wiser to their shenanigans as he approached the quietly snickering young women; as they reached into the box to pull out one of his balls, they both had to fight their hardest to keep a straight face. Almost as soon as the great hero had turned his back on them to continue assigning partners, the two young women nearly collapsed to the ground together in quiet laughter.

After about another minute or so of walking around, All Might had finally come face to face with the last person who needed a letter. And as Izuku reached inside the box to grab the last ball, he felt his face light up as his mentor's smile widened just a centimeter more as he sent him a secret wink.

Thankfully, Izuku was wearing the rabbit-like mask to his costume, so his facial reactions were pretty concealed. But if anyone had taken the time to watch their exchange, they would've seen his whole body react with excitement as he not-so-subtly basked in the presence of the great hero.

Which, coincidentally, is exactly what Setsuna Tokage saw.

She recovered enough from her laughter just in time to see their interaction from afar. Eagerly, she began to open her mouth, a joke about getting his fingerprints and a blood sample right at the tip of her tongue…

And then she let it go as she closed her mouth and turned away from them to find her partner, a small smile sneaking its way onto her face as she did.

Izuku never said it out loud, but she had a strong feeling in her gut that told her he was a huge fan of All Might. Granted, that wasn't too out of the park for someone who's favorite hobby was hero watching, but his reactions from yesterday's homeroom definitely indicated that he was, as did his reaction to Kan Sensei's announcement on who was teaching today's heroics class.

And as fun as it would be to say something out of context that a lot of people could and would take wrongly… she wasn't such an asshole that she'd spoil his fun and ruin this for him.

Besides, she literally sat next to him in class, so she could use this beautiful ammunition to get a rise out of him any time she wanted.

She was distracted from her thoughts and her search when All Might spoke to them earnestly from the front of the semicircle once more. "Alright, my wards! Go ahead and find your partners! When you do, come up here to me and return your balls! The faster you move, the faster we can start! Your! BATTLE TRAINING!"

As the class began to excitedly bustle about, Izuku took the time to look down at his ball. Soon, he was also walking around looking for his partner, but many of his peers had already began to team up and get in line. Seeing that almost no one was left, he was about to go see All Might when he spied another lone person looking for their partner as well.

Hesitating for just a moment, he steeled himself and began to walk towards her with a purpose. She remained unaware of his approach right until Izuku had gotten close enough to reach out and tap her shoulder.

As Setsuna turned around, she felt her eyebrows rise from behind her mask. "Izuku?"

"T-Tokage-san! What letter do you have? I-I have F."

As the boy held up his solid white ball with a black F, Setsuna felt her stomach drop.

Oh… F... Fuuuck…

On the outside though, she gave him a friendly smile and revealed her own ball, a solid black one with a white F painted upon it. "Well would you look at that! We match! Shall we go get in line? All Might seems a little eager to start."

"O-Of course, Tokage-san!"

As the duo went to go return their balls, Setsuna's mind frantically began to work overtime. Izuku was a nice guy and all, but… oh man. She was going to have her hands full. Thank God multitasking came so naturally to her...

She was going to have to come up with completely different plans than what she was used to making. At the very least, she was going to have to account for the physical recoil his quirk had on his body, the high probability of structural damage to the building due to his quirk, his lack of fighting experience (she… may have glanced over at him a couple of times during yesterday's disappointing heroics class…), and how all of these would factor in with who they were going to be fighting. Her usual tactics were probably not going to work, she had no idea how well their quirks would work together, and there was no way she was going to be able to deploy her best strategies, and-

Setsuna forced herself to breathe out a deceptively calm and quiet breath, before she began to rationalize their situation the best she could. This isn't as bad as it seems. He has a good head on his shoulders, and I'm sure that if the two of us put our heads together, we can come up with something epic. As long as we don't get those two maniacs… we should be just fine...

As the balls were returned back to All Might, he sorted them out into two new boxes- the white balls went to the box labeled 'Heroes' while the black ones went to the box called 'Villains'. And once everyone had returned their balls, the hero plunged one hand each inside both of the boxes and decided the first battle of the day.

"Alright! Here we go, 1B! Going first today for the hero team iiiisssss…. Team C! And going against them will beeee… Team G! Teams C and G, come over here to get your blueprints, earpieces, and a couple rolls of capture tape!"

Kinoko began to quake and whimper a little at the news of being one of the first ones up, while her partner Shihai simply stuffed his hands into his pockets as his scowl slightly deepened on his face.

Meanwhile, Itsuka turned her eager teal eyes towards her partner as she said, "Ah yeah! We're up, Shoda-kun! You ready to be a bad guy for a little bit?"

Nirengeki gave her a simple nod and a half-smile in response. "As ready as I'll ever be, Kendo-san."

"Ooooh shit! Class Rep's leading the way!" Yosetsu called out as Tetsutetsu hollered incoherently in agreement.

"Good luck everyone! Fight fairly, please!" Ibara called out with a sweet smile that hid her excitement.

As the two teams went forward to collect their gear and the nonparticipants began to chatter animatedly about the fight to come, All Might gathered everyone's attention one last time.

"I am grateful you are all eager to start! But I have one final warning I need to give everyone before we do."

The class stopped moving at the suddenly serious tone of the world's mightiest hero; instinct told them it would have been very unwise to do anything else at the moment.

"If the fight starts to go too far, I will give you one warning to ease up. If you don't, I will personally stop your fight, and everyone involved will lose a third of their total points for this exercise. It's good for a hero to want to win… but it's also just as important to show restraint. You would all do well to remember that."

There was a startling silence after he spoke that made everyone in 1B a little uneasy as they all collectively wondered why this warning had to be said in the first place...

But then the hero was smiling once again, and with almost the same ease as breathing, he renewed everyone's enthusiasm with one final push to get things started.

"Ok! Now that the serious stuff is out of the way… Villain Team! You may enter the building first to get ready for the hero's assault! Once everyone is downstairs in the basement, the Heroes will have five minutes to come up with a plan to get the bomb! The rest of us will be watching the fight courtesy of CCTV! Everyone who is not fighting yet, make sure to wish your classmates luck and follow me to the basement! Be sure to watch them carefully, because before you know it, it'll be your turn to fight!"

As everyone went to their designated place, the discussions between the teenagers ranged from tactics and strategies to bets and trash talk. When the nonparticipants got to their viewing area in the basement, they were surprised to see just how much tech was involved with this exercise.

Leaving the teenagers to their own devices, All Might made his way to the front of the room and decided to go ahead and determine the future matches. Even though he wasn't going to announce the match-ups quite yet, he figured he might as well get it all out of the way right now when he had the chance to do so.

As he pulled out the balls and wrote down his results, the great hero was able to maintain a remarkable level of situational awareness, just out of reflex from his line of work. For example, he could hear some of the boys behind him to his right quietly and excitedly discussing about which girl in class looked the hottest in their costume. He was also able to watch Young Shiozaki and Young Shishida examine the control panels out of curiosity out on the edge of his field of vision.

But the one thing the hero was completely unaware of as he stood in the dark basement was the lone eyeball floating silently far above his head. Its gaze flickered between the piece of paper he was writing on and the balls he was randomly pulling out.

As the owner of the floating eyeball stood next to her fidgety partner, he remained blissfully unaware of her actions.

As they stood together in the back of the room, he didn't notice how she had parted her hair to cover half her face, all the while using the shadowy illumination to her advantage.

He remained oblivious to how her remaining eye had widened as she found the info she wanted, causing her body to freeze up for just a tiny moment.

And had he not been distracted by what was being shown on the monitors, he may have been able to hear the strange sound that was quietly resonating from within her throat. It was somewhere between an annoyed growl and a groan of complaint, something that perfectly described how she felt as she came to terms with who they were going up against.

God… FUCKING dammit…


Itsuka finally set down the paper mache bomb off to the side in the biggest, emptiest room with the most windows on the fifth floor of the building; as she did, she idly wondered to herself how much time they had left before their simulation started.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her partner enter the room as he messed with the device on his arm, occasionally reading out of a small pamphlet as he did.

His costume consisted of a navy blue, high collared heavy jacket with a pale trim that outlined his shoulders, abdomen, and torso. Accompanying the jacket was a set of heavy trousers in the same design, as well as a pair of knee-high combat boots and heavy gloves. With the exception of the device on his arm, she figured that his costume was intended to wrap around his bulk like a spring, to grant a boost to his offensive power while offering a solid defense against physical attacks.

Not wanting to waste any time, the redheaded girl began to walk around the room and tear off all the curtains and blinds that were attached to the windows, making small talk with her partner as she did.

"So… what's that thing on your arm?"

Nirengeki looked up from his pamphlet to give her with an apologetic smile. "It's basically a recording device. I'm sorry I haven't been talkative… or, helpful… I'm, uh, still trying to figure this thing out."

"Oh, it's ok! Is there anything I can help you with?" Itsuka asked as she removed the final few curtains in the room.

"Nah, I think… I got it… probably…"

Nirengeki figured that he had spent enough time reading instructions and decided to test out his device; ideally, he would have been going over every detail of the surprisingly complex machine, but he didn't have that luxury at the moment.

As he approached the wall closest to him, he put his instructions manual away inside his internal coat pocket. When he was within striking distance, he got into a fighting stance and prepared his quirk as he executed a sharp jab and followed it up with a swift front kick. According to the manual, my costume is stuffed with sensors… so…

Instantly, three lights came alive on the recording device. One was a blue arrowhead, which was supposed to signal his position. The other two were blinking yellow dots that were supposed to represent his recorded impacts, and they almost overlapped each other side-by-side.

Out of curiosity, Nirengeki moved in random ways away from his impacts all the while keeping an eye on his screen. He was moderately surprised to see how in-sync the recording device was with his movements, as it kept track of his position in real-time all the way down to the direction he was facing. If he tapped on any of the blinking yellow lights, he was rewarded with the distance he had between himself and that particular impact as well as the overall time in which his quirk had been active there.

Hesitantly, he activated his quirk on the jab's impact. With a resounding snap, a crack had splintered the wall right where he had hit it, and for a moment that light turned green before it disappeared altogether. The impact from his kick still remained, and with a mental command he dismissed the recoil, watching as the light turned red this time before also disappearing from his screen.

Nirengeki was more than pleased with his first trial run, and honestly, he couldn't wait to see what else his recording device could do. Now, I can accurately keep track of all the things I hit with ease! And as a bonus, it's a lot easier to use than I thought it'd be!

He was brought out of his internal glee by the sound of his partner breaking down the door to this room. As he watched her haul the door towards a nearby broom closet with wide eyes, she called out to him in an interested voice. "Dang, was that your quirk just now?"

As he hurried over to finally help the student representative out, Nirengeki took note of his partner's costume.

The main portion of her costume was a body-hugging, turquoise, knee length dress with gold trim that left her bare, muscular arms exposed and free for movement. Accenting her dress was a simple black corset, a simple black domino mask, a pair of fashionable yet sturdy black combat boots, and a brown belt and satchel that was slung around her waist. Overall, her costume was simultaneously stylish and practical… and there wasn't a doubt in his mind that a lesser person with a vulgar mind would have voiced some rather lewd comments over how well her costume suited her.

Luckily, and thankfully, Nirengeki was raised to be a better man than that.

And besides… he had his heart set on another girl going to another school.

"Yeah. I needed to test this bad boy out." He nodded towards his recorder as he took the other side of the door, with a pleased look on his face. "I think I should be good to go!"

"Awesome!"

"Again, Kendo-san, I'm really sorry I haven't helped you out at all-"

"Oh, it's fine! I promise!" his partner said with a cheerful wave of her hand as the two of them finished putting the door away with a grunt.

As they closed the closet door, Nirengeki took the chance to look around the room and was surprised to see how much it had changed in a short amount of time. It used to have a couple of nice tables connected end to end in the center accompanied by a number of comfortable looking chairs set all around the edges; it made the room look exactly like a stereotypical conference room, complete with its own corner plants and a table by the wall that was probably dedicated to refreshments.

But now, the room was completely bare to the point that it was even missing the curtains that framed the windows. Their bomb now stood in the center of the brightly lit empty room.

Wow… Kendo had done all of this preparation while he had tried to make sense of his new toy… no wonder Vlad King Sensei had appointed her as Class Representative.

Remembering that they were on a time frame, he decided he was overdue to contribute to their success; he wasn't about to let all her efforts go to waste if he could help it.

"So, Class Rep, what's the plan? How can I help?"

"Well…" Itsuka turned her teal eyes upward in thought. "From what I've seen, it looks like Kuroiro-kun relies heavily on shadows. So, as long as we stay in this brightly lit room and keep the bomb away from anything that can produce shade, we could probably neutralize a lot of his power."

Oh, so that's why she chose this room and prepared it like she did… Nirengeki thought as looked around, admiring her forethought.

With all the blinds off the windows in the tallest level of the building, sunlight flooded in from three sides of the room. With all the furniture removed, there was nothing that could cast a shadow except for their bodies and the bomb. With the door gone, sunlight entered the hallway and denied him any use of his power upon immediate entry- if he were to enter from the doorway. And, as Nirengeki looked closer at the farthest wall, right next to the door… he spied a small crater with a fist-shaped indent that housed the broken remains of the switch for the lights in this room.

The boxer was so impressed by what he had seen that he almost didn't hear the rest of her words.

"But… I think the biggest problem for us will be Komori-chan."

"Why do you say that, Kendo-san?"

"Well, simply put, her quirk has a lot of varying factors, like the speed at which her mushrooms can grow and how she'll use her mushrooms in the first place. The most troublesome one for us at this point of time is her unknown range. If her quirk only has short-range capabilities, the two of us can both engage her in a fistfight. Buuuut... if her quirk has long-range capabilities, then she could do a variety of things before we even get the chance to counterattack."

"So, I think it's for the best if we stay on the defensive! In this room, Komori-chan will not only have to fight us, but provide support to her partner. And since the two of us are well-suited for close combat, we can both defend the bomb and attack them in this room with ease!"

"Nice thinking!" Nirengeki nodded along with interest. "If it's alright… can I work in a few more defenses for the room?"

"Of course!" Itsuka said delightedly as she clapped her hands together with a bright smile.

"Sweet! So, uh, this is gonna sound weird... but can I stand on your shoulders for a second?"

As Ituka looked at him curiously, Shihai and Kinoko were busy forming a plan of their own far down below them.

Well… one of them was trying to form a plan. The other had already accepted their defeat.

The silence was starting to become overbearingly awkward as they stood next to each other, not speaking a single word. At all.

Kinoko must have examined the exact same area on the blueprints a dozen times over already, waiting to see if he had any ideas up his sleeve. And now that more than half of their preparation time was probably over with, she had begun to shift and fidget uncomfortably next to her pitch-black partner.

It was starting to become clear that he wasn't about to make any attempts to talk, so, with a quiet voice peppered with a little bit of trepidation, she hesitantly cleared her throat and slowly tried to get a plan formed before it was too late.

"U-um, Kuroiro-kun? I-I was, um… uh…"

The boy had slowly turned his apathetic gaze towards her direction, and she felt her confidence waver more than just a little bit. But… they needed a plan. So, with a shaky breath, she continued to do her best to get one formed.

"U-Um… d-do you have any i-ideas?..."

Shihai, who was dressed in probably one of the simplest costume designs in the class (with the exception of Jurota), merely looked away from her as his apathetic gaze began to include a couple of brooding elements. As she nervously observed him in his all-black jumpsuit with white sneakers and white wristbands, he gave her an indifferent answer, much to her slight disappointment.

"It's pointless to form any plans, for we are already doomed to fail in our endeavors."

Kinoko couldn't help the small frown that formed on her face as her shoulders slowly began to sag. "W-why do you say that, K-Kuroiro-kun?..."

"Because not only do we face our great leader and the boy who brought down the strongest in our class, but they also greatly outmatch us in close combat, where the inevitable fight for the bomb will be held."

Kinoko dejectedly looked away from him as she replayed his solemn but true words in her head. Admittedly… a part of her mind had already been thinking something similar to this for a while now, which was why she hadn't been able to come up with a concrete plan yet. But now that her partner revealed that he also felt the same way…-

A ghostly image of the moppy, green-haired boy pushing past the pain of his broken body just to get a couple heroic scores abruptly flashed through her mind, and suddenly, she was slapping her cheeks and shaking her head.

Yeah, she already knew they were outmatched… but so what? If he could find a way to get those amazing scores, even with the blow-back of his extremely self-destructive quirk, then surely there had to be something they could do… right?

"W-What about the s-shadows? You use them, r-right? So, uh… what if w-we uh… scouted ahead first, and then made a-a plan? O-Or, something…"

He acknowledged her proposition with a slow, serious nod. "The shadows will always be in my domain… but for a building this size and the opponents we're up against… I fear that the darkness within would be insufficient for our unobtainable goal."

"Then… w-why don't we, uh… create m-more shadows?"

Shihai turned to fully appraise his partner for the first time with curious eyes as her back slowly straightened under his gaze. She wore a red, long-sleeved turtleneck dress decorated with white polka dots, and frilly knee-high boots of the same design. Completing her costume was a thin brown belt wrapped around her waist and a large, mushroom cap shaped hat that matched her dress. Her entire get-up gave off an innocent, friendly witch vibe that had definitely skewed his initial judgment of the girl.

But he had to admit… the way she stuck her chin out defiantly, the way one of her x-shaped pupils shone with determination from between her bangs, and her suggestion to operate within the darkness… intrigued him. Greatly.

Realizing she was waiting for a response, he cleared his suspiciously dry throat and asked, "And how do you propose we do that?"

"I-I can probably get my spores all around the building, and get them to grow big and strong. T-The shadows they create should be more than enough for you, right?"

With a disappointed sigh, he turned away from her as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I do not think our opponents would be so foolish, nor so kind, to allow you to leisurely walk around inside the building- "

"I-I wasn't… talking about the inside."

He turned back towards her with one of his eyebrows cocked upward in surprise; he non-verbally asked for an explanation, to which she shyly obliged.

"I'm… uh, I'm pretty sure I can b-block out all the windows… And, um… I c-can probably take care of the lights too, while I'm at it. Would that help you any?"

Shihai blinked in surprise; he certainly wasn't expecting that declaration. "I don't know what you have in mind, but… if darkness can reign supreme within the building, then we may have a chance to prevail. The question is: are you certain you can make all of that happen?"

"It wouldn't be any truffle!"

The girl suddenly froze and squeaked out in embarrassment, her face turning as red as her costume while she slapped her hands over her mouth. She swore she hadn't meant to make a pun, but sometimes… they just… slip out. Especially when she gets excited. And right now, she was super excited, because it felt like the two of them finally had some kind of a plan made!

Shihai felt a small smile form at the sight of the tiny girl's excitement turned embarrassment. But then he remembered who he was, and the smile was suddenly gone from his face. Clearing his throat and looking away, he nodded to acknowledge her idea with an uncaring disposition that seemed… just a touch too forced.

"Alright. Let's put your plan into action."

"Really!?" Kinoko's eyes lit up from behind her bangs as a wide, happy smile grew on her face.

Shihai found himself unable to maintain eye contact with her. "…Y-yeah. It's a good plan… better than anything I could have made."

Her face turned a little pink at the compliment as her smile widened just a little bit more. "Ok! I'm, uh, I'm gonna prepare it as fast as I can! Wait for me, ok? I'll be right back, I promise!"

Without another word, she began to briskly jog around the perimeter of the building, her mind set on the goal before her as she made her body produce microscopic spores at an accelerated rate.

As soon she rounded the corner, Shihai immediately dropped the act. He clutched the rail he was leaning on with one shaking hand as the other grabbed for his heart in an effort to keep it from bouncing right out of his chest. His knees were also slightly shaking as he tried his best to prevent himself from hyperventilating. He had no doubt in his mind that, if his skin was capable of changing colors, it would currently be redder than her costume.

Darkness of the Void! That was terrifying! Exhilarating, even! No one told me that talking to a girl would be such an otherworldly experience! And everything about her was cute too! What a hellish nightmare to be trapped in!

Blissfully, Kinoko was unaware of her partner's plight as she continued her jog around the building. But as she got to a particular part of the building, she took a moment to pause, take a deep breath, and smile as she concentrated the production of her spores just a little more in this area. There it is! Right where the blueprints said it would be! Now… I wonder if it'll work…

After she was satisfied, she gave a small nod and once again continued her jog around the building. But not before she heard All Might's voice boom through the speakers.

INDOOR ANTIPERSONNEL BATTLE TRAINING, ROUND ONE- START!

Shihai had thoroughly collected himself by the time his partner had rounded the final corner of the building. She didn't stop her brisk jog until she was right back in front of him, where she took a moment to bend over and catch her breath. After she did, she glanced up at him through her bangs to give him a cat-like grin that made his heart flutter before she asked, "Are you ready, Kuroiro-kun?"

After giving her a resolute nod, she stood back up and turned towards the building to make her hands do little fluttering motions with her palms up. As she did this, she began to call out to her creations in an excited voice.

"Ok girls! It's showtime! Let's do our best, and grow up big and strong now!"

And then Shihai's eyes nearly popped out of his skull as his jaw dropped to the floor.

-(TTAE)-

The villain team stood at the ready, waiting for the heroes to find them. They had their traps set, their contingencies in place, and all that was left to do was defend the bomb…

… And then not even two or three minutes into this exercise, their initial plans began to fall apart.

"Well… it looks like I underestimated Komori-chan…" Kendo said with disbelief as she and her partner stared out the windows and listened to the distant pop!ing sounds of shorted circuits coming from within the building, and the single resounding BOOM from outside. "Ok Shoda-kun, we better play it safe. Plan B."

"You got it, Class Rep."

-(TTAE)-

Shihai couldn't believe his eyes, nor could he stop the grin spreading on his face.

In mere seconds, the entire building became covered in giant mushrooms. They had broad, oyster shaped caps and stalks that attached to the building as they fanned outward, and each were easily the size of a healthy rosebush.

Kinoko, however, frowned a little at her results. Pleurotus ostreatus was supposed to be her fastest growing morsel, and while she knew she would need at least four or five generations to cover the entire building… she was fairly surprised that it had taken more than forty seconds to do so.

Granted... she had never really tried to cover an entire building before, so her expectations might have been a little bit skewed.

Without wasting another moment, she turned to look at her partner. "Kuroiro-kun … is this dark enough for you to use your quirk freely?"

The boy turned to give her a devilish smile, one that made her breath get caught up in her throat as her heart skipped a couple beats. "Absolutely."

This time, Shihai took the initiative as he confidently strode towards the closest shadows at the base of the mushroom-free door. Kinoko had shaken her stupor off just in time to watch him meld perfectly into the darkness; having no idea where he went or what to do, she opted to enter the building herself to start backing up her partner if he needed it.

But no sooner had she walked a few meters past the front door did he suddenly emerge from the shadows in front of her, with the same grin on his face as before. "Found them."

Kinoko's eyes widened momentarily as she gasped out loud in surprise. "Woah! Seriously?! That was so fast, Kuroiro-kun! You're amazing!"

The boy tried to casually keep his tone level as he gave a modest shrug to feign indifference. "Well. Couldn't have done any of this without you."

There was a split second of panic as Shihai froze to register what he just said in his mind.

I did NOT just say that!

Luckily, it looked like Kinoko hadn't fully caught on to his words yet, so Shihai hastily took the chance to clear his throat and report his findings. "Anyway, how do you wanna handle this? The room is dark, but they're both on high alert, guarding the bomb. They also have capture tape clinging to the ceiling for whatever reason, so it makes me think that they made some sort of trap with it."

Kinoko thought for a moment with her eyes upward and a finger on her chin before she got on her tippy-toes to whisper an idea into his ear, much to the boy's silent shock.

-(TTAE)-

Ever since the lights lost power and the windows got covered in mushrooms, the villains had become extraordinarily vigilant, especially of every shadow in their room.

But even though their original plan was in ruins, they weren't out of the fight just yet.

Suddenly, Itsuka felt a presence approaching at shocking speed, and reacted by her expanding her hand to the size of a microwave to do a low lateral cross-chop to intercept it.

Without so much as being phased, the presence evaded her attack while continuing to barrel towards the bomb. The presence would have captured it too, had it not been for the bomb suddenly getting jerked about two meters to the left, as if it had been pushed to the side by an unseen force.

The phenomena made the figure in the shadows pause for slightest of seconds before another enlarged hand attempted an overhead strike. The figure was able to sink back into the ground just in time to avoid the hit.

Quickly, the two villains scrambled to surround the bomb and prepare for the next ambush. Both of them were extremely alarmed by this sudden development.

They didn't really have time to dwell on that thought though, seeing as the presence was rapidly approaching the bomb again, this time from Nirengeki's side.

As the presence suddenly shot out of the ground from right behind him, Itsuka yanked the bomb back with an enlarged hand. Simultaneously, she brought her other in for another lateral cross-chop aimed right for his midsection.

A fraction of a second layer, Nirengeki spun around and lashed out with a quick jab and hook combo aimed for the back of his head.

The shadow not only managed to weave through all three attacks with blinding speed, but it also scored a cheap shot to the back of Itsuka's knee as it sunk back into the darkness. The blow was enough to make her fall onto it, and she was forced to set the bomb down rather ungracefully.

Thankfully, Nirengeki was there to quickly keep it away from harm.

"Did you know he was this fast?!" He called out to her as he extended his hand to pull her up.

"I did no-AHHHHH!"

The same presence as before suddenly grabbed a hold of one of Itsuka's combat boots as she tried to stand, and yanked her back onto the floor. It then swiftly dragged her towards the other side of the room with startling ease and speed before Nirengeki even had the chance to grab a hold of her.

Had anyone been able to pay close attention to the hand that held her black boot, they would have seen how the hand appeared to have merged perfectly into the dark material, just like it did with the shadows…

Suddenly, the floor around Itsuka had shattered as if something heavy had just slammed into it. The black hand gripping her boot recoiled in pain before it sunk back into the shadows. Itsuka used the opportunity to roll away and spring up into a fighting stance.

Almost as soon as she had sprung up, the shadowy figure was once again upon the bomb, and almost got within a meter of it; the sheer speed at which he moved caught both of the villains off guard once again.

Learning from his mistakes, Shihai stayed within the shadows until the very last moment, hoping to deny them the chance to react in time.

But as he appeared from directly underneath the bomb to secure the hero's victory, this time, he was caught off guard again when it suddenly lurched about two meters into the air to avoid his reach. His surprise nearly got the better of him as he barely reacted in time to avoid the two quick jabs at his head. He was forced to sink back into the darkness once more as Nirengeki caught the bomb and started to sprint towards his teammate with it in tow.

And that was when Kinoko had appeared.

Nirengeki had taken no more than four steps before she appeared in the doorway. Before either villain could react, she thrust both of her hands upward and out as a frantic "Get 'em, girls!" escaped from her lips.

Like watching a real-life time lapse video, a meter-wide wall of thick mushrooms suddenly grew between the villains. It ran for the entire length of the room and filled up every space possible between floor and ceiling.

In one move, Kinoko had isolated Itsuka by herself on one side while Nirengeki was trapped with the bomb, Kinoko, and (unknowingly) Shihai on the other.

So far, everything was going according to the hero's plan. And since they knew that they wouldn't have much time before the Class Rep broke through the wall, the two heroes decided beforehand to rush the stocky villain in an attempt to capture the bomb he was holding.

But as Kinoko rushed towards the villain in excitement and desperation, she forgot about one vital piece of information that Shihai had previously warned her about.

About halfway between her and the bomb, the tape attached to the ceiling came to life.

Or rather, bits of the ceiling were suddenly crushed as if someone had punched these sections really hard.

And as the bits of ceiling came tumbling down, the capture tape fell with it.

Realizing it much too late, the mushroom girl simply chose to hunker down right at the last second. At the same time, multiple, big mushrooms began to grow rapidly everywhere on her body just as the tape began to ensnare her. Luckily, the tape got stuck to the mushrooms instead of her… but as a result, she was forced to spend precious time to wiggle her way out of the situation she had put herself in.

The one silver lining in her actions was that it provided Shihai an opportunity to strike. Right as Nirengeki had turned his head towards Kinoko to activate his quirk on the ceiling, he rose from the shadows from directly under him to steal the bomb once more. He was absolutely determined to react in time if the bomb suddenly jerked away from him again.

As luck would have it, the bomb did suddenly lurch upwards once more from within his hands.

And as Shihai quickly moved to grab it in the air…

… He forgot that he was now well within the range of someone who specialized in close combat...

... And Nirengeki took full advantage of the rare opening as he sent a quick and powerful hook straight into his gut.

Shihai suddenly had his breath stolen out of him as he was sent rolling away towards the wall of mushrooms, stopping just short of hitting the wall.

Right as he came to a stop, Itsuka managed to smash straight through the the wall, not a meter away from him.

The dark boy was still reeling on the ground clutching his stomach as the redhead stepped through the hole. And once she saw him lying prone within her reach, she, too, took full advantage of this sudden opportunity.

As Nirengeki caught the bomb once more and Itsuka sent a fist the size of a desk straight at his entire body, Shihai couldn't help but think …I'm not gonna be able to dodge this... And the Darkness shall begin to settle in…

But as he was sent flying and his body landed with several thuds on the floor like a rock being skipped over water... even though he definitely knew her gigantic fist hit home… the blow strangely felt as if it was somehow… cushioned?

He snapped out of his confusion when Shihai heard her voice.

"Let's regroup, Kuroiro-kun! We still have time! We can win this!"

Shihai looked up to see Kinoko carefully squirming her way out from the center of a cluster of mushrooms wrapped up in capture tape. She had one of her hands splayed out in his direction, and she was sending him a smile that was full of determination, and hope, and spirit.

And Shihai couldn't help but smile in return as he activated his quirk.

The mushrooms that had shielded his body popped off of him as he slid into the darkness. He reappeared a split second later right in front of her to offer his hands to help her stand.

"Yeah! Let's win this, Komori-san!"

But as he quickly reached out to pull her from the cluster of mushrooms, he felt a monstrous force slam into his gut right in the exact same spot as before. As he doubled over in pain, he lost both his breath and his balance as he fell right on top of her.

Kinoko was barely able to let out a surprised squeak before Itsuka had finally closed the gap between them. Without wasting any time, she took a portion of the capture tape and flipped it over onto them. Then, she cinched it as tight as she could into a makeshift net to capture the both of them at once, signaling both the end of the match and villain's victory.

"THE VILLAIN TEAM WINS WITH A FINAL TIME OF 7 MINUTES, 17 SECONDS! EXCELLENT MATCH, MY WARDS! COME ON DOWN TO THE BASEMENT FOR YOUR REVIEW! TEAMS A AND H, PLEASE PROCEED TO GET READY FOR YOUR TURN!"

As the Villain team moderately celebrated with a high five and a simple "Whoo!", the heroes simply rolled onto their backs and groaned in defeat. But, their misery was short lived, because soon afterwards the villains immediately bounded towards the heroes to help them onto their feat, showering them with praise as they did.

"Holy crap, you're surprisingly fast, Kuroiro-kun!" Itsuka gushed as she helped the boy stand up. Despite feeling the effects of getting knocked around a bit in the last couple minutes or so, he still managed to give her a shaky thumbs up.

"Seriously! It was almost impossible for the both of us to keep up with your speed! If you would have held out just a bit longer, we definitely would've lost!" As Itsuka talked, she worked her way under his arm to help support him as they walked. His wobbling and simple weak responses left her slightly concerned, and she wasn't about to have another one of her classmates fall unconscious before they received medical attention if she could help it.

"We really didn't expect you to be able to use your quirk like that, Komori-san," Nirengeki said, nodding towards the windows as he bent down to free her from her prison of tape. "It definitely helped tip the battlefield in your guy's favor. It was a really clever move on your part, though I gotta ask: how the heck did you manage to turn off all the building's power!?"

"Thanks, Shoda-kun," she said dejectedly, as she accepted his hand to stand up. As she dusted herself off, she gave a shy shrug before explaining her theory. "I-I just… made a lot of little mushrooms grow in that giant electric box outside in the back of the building. I-I thought that… if I could get them all slimy, it might shut off the power…"

It took a second for Nirengeki to fully realize what she was talking about before he blinked rapidly in surprise. "Wait, hold on… Did you… stuff the transformer with rotten mushrooms?!"

"I-I guess…?"

Nirengeki could only stare at the small but powerful girl in disbelief as he only thought one thing. Oh man… That was really smart, but… I hope that doesn't come back to affect their grade… I don't think blown transformers are easy to fix. Or cheap…

Soon enough, the four of them began to make their way down, all of them talking amicably about their match. The villains were insistent on making sure that the heroes had done a splendid job, and eventually, everyone's mood lifted as they continued to descend down the stairs. Shihai even managed to be able to walk again on his own, although Itsuka was very hesitant to let him do so.

But as the four of them made it down into the basement, Kinoko hung back behind the villains to walk with Shihai. It took his brain a moment to catch on, but eventually, his heartbeat began to quicken as he realized that the small girl next to him had been shyly, kindly smiling at him for a while as her warm brown eyes peaked up at him from behind her bangs.

And then she spoke in a whispered, excited voice, the kind only the two of them would be able to hear.

"You were really cool out there today, Kuroiro-kun! It sucks that we lost, but… I think we could have won! I really think we could've! Let's do our best again in the future, ok?"

Shihai could only look at her with wide eyes as he meekly nodded and stuttered out his response. "… Y-Y-Yeah, of course, K-Komori-san… If the dark currents of f-fate allow it, I'd-I'd like to do our best t-together again as well…"

As he spoke, Shihai was strangely, acutely, aware of his body; he felt like different parts of him were just… off. Like his palms. Why did his palms feel as clammy as a corpse? His stomach was definitely also acting weird; it felt like a bunch of tiny imps were doing a dance of ruin among the remains of his breakfast. It didn't help that his head also felt surprisingly warm and fuzzy… although admittedly, that didn't really come as a surprise. I must have gotten knocked around harder than I thought…

The last thing he noticed as everything started to become blurry and dark was Kinoko's panicked face as she loudly called out something to the others.

And as the Darkness reached out to gently embrace him, all he could think about was how he hoped he wasn't the reason her face was so stricken…


"… Can't believe we gotta use the same exact building, with no goddamn power, and all these fucking mushrooms everywhere…"

"Seriously, dude? Again? Listen, I get it. But whining about something we have absolutely no control over isn't going to help us win this thing."

"… Did you hit your head? Have you already forgotten who we're up against?"

"… I'm trying to stay positive over here, bro…"

"Yeah, whatever…"

Hiryu rolled his eyes as he resumed working on their fortifications in the room the two of them decided to hole up in.

A few minutes before the previous match had started, All Might suggested to the class that everyone should take the opportunity to come up with a couple different plans while they waited for their turn in the simulations. The great hero explained that, since they were only guaranteed five minutes for setup, and the time it took to review each group would be random, they had to be sure to make every second count.

And so, Hiryu and Yosetsu decided to take his advice, and put their heads together to form a respectable plan.

Their plan, if they were to be the villains, was simple. Guard the bomb, play defense, and fortify the absolute shit out of their area in the time allotted, as Yosetsu had simply said.

After wandering around finding a whole lot of nothing in the extremely dark building, they had finally found a room on the third floor of the building that was full of file cabinets, desks, and other objects commonly found in an office building. Better yet, the room only had windows on one side.

It wasn't the perfect place for them to play guard duty, but it was going to have to make do.

The moment the two of them had entered the room, Yosetsu saw the ideal place for their bomb: a small storage closet on the eastern side, halfway between the door and the windows, and barely big enough for the bomb to get in or out of without damaging it… once everything had been removed out of the closet.

And after placing the bomb inside and making a quick but clever distraction, they immediately began to work on fortifying their positions.

The two boys had surprisingly quiet, yet diligent, as they began to build their stronghold, but both of them were more than ok with that. Not because they were antisocial or anything, but because they both knew that sometimes… nothing needed to be said. The only small talk that passed between them was when they causally explained how their quirks worked, the sporadic moan and groan about their situation, or the occasional workshop talk, like 'hey can you hand me that', as they worked on their project.

They discovered that their quirks actually worked remarkably well together, especially for this particular exercise. With Hiryu's sharp scales able to cut up many of the things they needed while offering strong ranged capabilities, and Yosetu's welding more than capable of the utility they required as well as packing some decent defense and restraint abilities, they were quite the force to be reckoned with…

But then again… their opponents were probably just as formidable, if not more…

It was when they were putting the finishing touches on their fort that Yosetsu finally ended up asking the thing that had been plaguing his mind the most in the past couple of minutes.

"Hey man… how the hell are you seeing with that thing in the way?"

The Chinese boy looked up at his partner from the file cabinet he was moving around in slightly offended confusion as he gave a quick retort of his own. "I can see just fine. So fine, in fact, that I can clearly see you repeatedly falling flat on your face as you try to move around in that bulky-ass costume of yours."

True to Hiryu's observation, Yosetu's costume consisted of an extremely baggy full body suit, one that went all the way up to his chin, and was obviously thick and stuffy in every sense of the word. The full body suit, reminiscent of an electrical hot suit without the helmet, was adorned with metal shoulder pads and a big side pouch on his belt.

And honestly… Hiryu was kind of wondering how well his partner' mobility was going to be with all that interference in the way…

Yosetu simply snorted in response as he finished welding the last pieces of their hastily made kick-ass fort together. "I mean, to be fair, this hot suit is gonna protect me from high temperatures, electrocutions, low temperatures, impacts, lacerations, and intense pressure waves, all the while modifying my quirk to be used readily and unhindered. But please, by all means, lets completely shit on my costume's high-quality purpose and protection over the whole 'aesthetic value' thing you did with your costume."

"Seriously man… what's the deal behind your get-up?" Yosetsu thought out loud as he stood up, wiped the sweat off the side of his face, and gestured to the other boy's uniform.

Hiryu's costume was reminiscent of a martial artist's uniform from ancient China, complete with a sleeveless vest with a cloud-like design, baggy trousers made for fighting and acrobatics, and knee-high tan boots that were supple and light.

But the article of clothing that was bothering Yosetsu so much was the boy's headgear; while it was of the same design as the rest of his uniform, there was one teeny tiny little detail that completely boggled his mind…

And that detail was the sheet of paper with some admittedly beautiful Mandarin (Yosetsu thought) calligraphy, that hung from his visor and completely obscured his vision.

Hiryu hesitated for just a second, before he said in a strangely guarded voice, "Do you know anything about Chinese mythology?" As long as he doesn't know what a Jiangshi is, I should be good…

"Not a damn thing."

"Then don't worry about it."

A shocked silence grew between them as Yosetsu turned from his welding to ogle at the other boy after he had spoken in his clipped tone.

Hiryu, so far in the other's mind, had been one of the more reasonable and cooperative boys in Class B; one of the few who could take the insults and shade thrown at him in stride and dish it back out with just as much vigor, without losing any of his decency. The guy was, like, brotherhood personified. To hear him, of all people, get all touchy about a seemingly innocent subject without any warning or context wasn't something that Yosetsu was expecting in the slightest, and idly, he regrettably wondered if he had maybe crossed a line he hadn't seen.

Honestly, he wasn't quite sure how to respond to his sudden change in demeanor… But as it turned out, he didn't need to.

After a couple of awkward seconds, Hiryu cleared his throat before he grumbled out his apology.

"Sorry, Awase-kun."

"Naaaah, it's cool. Don't sweat it, man."

Hiryu fiddled with the top of the closest makeshift barricade with scaled-up fingers as he wondered how to fix this situation without revealing too much of his personal life. "Don't… take it personally, man. –"

"I didn't."

"-… I'm glad. But, uh, yeah… I'm… not trying to be rude. It's just… ya know… A lot of things have influenced us to be in this class. We all got our own reasons about why we want to be heroes… And stuff like why our costumes are the way they are, and the hero names we chose… are often times influenced by them. My reasons are just… a bit more selfish in nature. And personal."

"Hey, mine too buddy!" Yosetsu said with an easy-going grin, as he reached out to clap his partner's shoulder. "But seriously, don't sweat it, man. It's water under the bridge."

Hiryu couldn't help the appreciative smile at the almost dismissive comment. Yosetsu may have been a prick with a foul mouth, but he was still a decent human being. Deep down, he wasn't all that bad.

Sometimes.

"INDOOR ANTIPERSONNEL TRAINING, ROUND TWO- START!"

"Looks like it's showtime."

"Damn! Already?"

"Guess so. Are we ready?"

"Yeah, we should be g- fuck! We forgot about the door! Help me with the door real quick!"

As the two young men scrambled to create one last-minute defense, the hero team had just entered the building to begin their expedited, yet thorough, search.

Or rather, one person was doing all the work as their partner trailed behind, feeling completely useless and highly on-edge.

Why? Well, to put it simply…

He felt useless because his partner was just that good. And he was on edge because they had no plan.

Granted, he was the reason why they had no plan… but honestly, could you blame him for getting so eagerly distracted? They were doing real hero training, they were being taught by the number one hero in the world, they would get to strut their stuff in front of their peers, and! He just so happened to be partnered up with one of the strongest, and one of the hottest, girls in class!...

…Who was, for whatever reason, currently giving him the cold shoulder as she stood in the middle of the first floor's main hallway with her eyes closed in a prayer-like stance.

"So, Shiozaki… san … what exactly are you doing?"

"I'm searching for the villains."

"I mean… I get that… but, what are you doing?"

Presently, Kosei had to watch his step in the area seeing as his partner had stretched out her vine-like hair to incredible length, gently making them wiggle about in every direction.

With her eyes stilled closed in concentration, her expression morphed into one of thoughtfulness as she considered the best way to answer. "I guess… you could consider this to be fishing."

Kosei couldn't quite believe his ears as he continued to gawk at the pretty girl dressed in the simple, yet elegant white toga with black combat boots. "Fishing!? You're fishing for our villains?! Shiozaki-san, there's no way that's gonna work!"

"Tsuburaba-kun, please have but a little faith. I assure you this will work out just fine."

Kosei could only continue giving her a flabbergasted look for a couple more moments as his partner's vines suddenly began to shrink back down to their normal size. As Ibara opened her eyes, a definitive look crossed upon her face as she proclaimed, "The sinners are not on the first floor. Come, Tsuburaba-kun, let us go to the second."

Sinners?! This is a training exercise! "O-Oh, uh ok, Shiozaki-san…"

As the heroes briskly walked through the hallways and up the stairs, Kosei couldn't help but voice some of his concerns. "So, uh, Shiozaki-san… after you find them… through fishing… what's the next step?"

She didn't answer his question until they had made their way halfway through the second floor's main hall and she had resumed her previous stance of prayer. Closing her eyes and stretching out her hair, she said the simplest words in the most obvious, yet polite, manner. "We attack."

There was a moment of awkward silence where the only sound that could be heard was the slight scratching of her vines on the floor tiles. Kosei tried his best to formulate a response and convince her of literally any other plan.

"So, uh… I gotta say… I'm not a big fan of the whole 'frontal assault' route. Why not just, uh, find their positions, and like, I dunno… sneak attack them? Or something…"

"Are you suggesting we overtake them through deception, Tsuburaba-kun?"

Somehow, Kosei didn't notice how her voice suddenly became as chilly as an Arctic wind and as sharp as her thorns.

"Yeah! Why not that idea?"

Ibara opened her eyes and turned her head to address her partner clad in a simple light-colored jacket, matching pants, large boots and a dark undershirt. Her piercing gaze made the boy straighten up a little in fear, and he finally became aware of her tone as her words brought a glacier-like chill down his spine.

"Because, Tsuburaba-kun, trickery is for the wicked. I am not against learning of our opponent's plans, but victory through deception is not something the good should ever strive for. We are heroes, Tsuburaba-kun, and we must uphold the best virtues and tenants of humanity that the world has to offer at every chance we can."

As she paused to make sure he understood her stance on heroism, she turned forward once more and began to recall her hair; she didn't find anything on this floor either, so now it was time to advance to the third. But as she recalled her hair, she felt the need to add in one extra comment.

"Perhaps in the future, should you desire a multi-faceted plan, it would be in your best interests to make sure you use the time that has been gifted wisely enough to put it into motion." Instead of wasting most of our planning period trying to hit on me, and using the rest to complain about the obstacles in our path that the Lord has deemed necessary for our growth.

"Oh…"

Kosei… didn't really have a response to… any of that.

It was only when his mind had registered a receding white robe did he realize that he had been staring off in to space trying to form one. Shaking himself from his inaction, he hurried after his partner, secretly admiring her ass… pirations as he did. That's… kind of a neat outlook to have on heroism… although, that extra shade at the end wasn't needed…

As the two heroes made their way towards the middle of the third floor, Ibara had once again proceeded to send her vines out.

This time, she got a snag.

Suddenly, her eyes narrowed as she turned to face the direction she felt the anomaly with her hair. With a determined expression, she started to march towards the room, calling out to her partner as she did. "Come, Tsuburaba-kun. Our patience and faith have paid off."

"Wait, you found them already?!"

She nodded as she continued to approach the door. "Yes. Although, they seem to have barricaded the door somehow."

"Probably with Awase's quirk… Maaaan, this is gonna be tricky to deal with…"

They both found the door in an offshoot of the main hallway. As it came into view, they saw a couple strands of her vines attempting to open the door to no avail. The door knob was turning easily enough, but as Ibara had mentioned, the door simply just wasn't opening.

Not wanting to waste another second, Ibara had all her vines rear back to strike the door all at once, but was stopped by her partner's raised hand.

"Let me see if I can open the door real quick! If I can, you can attack immediately once it's open; since you've got the most attack power here, I'll lay down a layer of air for your protection that way you don't have to worry about defense. Then, you can really go to town on these guys!"

As Ibara nodded in understanding and agreement, Kosei approached the door to examine it further. He noticed that the cracks around the door were all covered, like something had been shoved (and probably welded) into that space… but what about the doorknob itself? After jiggling it a few times, he suspected that the doorknob, for the most part, had been left mostly untouched.

Kosei couldn't help the nostalgic smirk that spread on his face.

As a child, his parents absolutely hated it whenever he made bubbles in his drinks by blowing air through a straw. It was an annoying pet peeve for the both of them, especially for his mother; naturally, he did it every chance he could.

There was one particular memory that he would always remember, where his mother scolded him over dinner because his milk had almost overflowed from the glass and onto the table as he happily blew bubbles through a straw. After she had told him multiple times to stop, she decided that he wasn't allowed to have any desert for the rest of the week because of his behavior.

As a result, he had gotten mad at her and had purposely blown a lot of air through the straw into the beverage, as a four-year-old would in retaliation. But, instead of bubbling over like it should have done, both the milk and the glass exploded everywhere in the dining room from the force of his breath, leaving a small, transparent sphere the size of a basketball in the glass's place, with milk dribbling down its sides.

That was how he had discovered his quirk, and ever since then, he had been very careful about when and where and, most importantly, how he inhaled and exhaled.

And now, instead of making a drinking glass burst apart, he was going to try to destroy a doorknob from the inside out.

As he knelt down to get face level with the keyhole, he started taking deep breathes. On his third one, he turned back to send a pleading look to his curious partner and desperately whispered, "Hey, so… don't tell them about this, ok?"

"… this is being recorded, Tsuburaba-kun…"

"…Oh. Right… Dammit…"

He turned back around, and with a final deep breath, thought to himself no homo as he proceeded to press his lips against the doorknob. He blew hard enough that his cheeks puffed out and turned red, and once he figured that there was enough air inside the keyhole, he activated his quirk.

There were multiple quiet crunching sounds coming from within the doorknob as it visibly wobbled from the sudden shift of air. Kosei could have sworn he heard a popping sound on the other side of the door, and when he looked through the widened keyhole, he saw blurred movement on the other side when he hadn't been able to see anything before.

Eagerly, he dismissed his first air bubble and repeated the process once more with much greater force. The crunching and popping intensified within the doorknob, and this time, the entire mechanism was shattered from the inside by the power of the sudden expansion and solidification of air, leaving the doorknob broken into pieces.

Excitedly, the brunette grabbed the broken device and pulled, yanking out their half of the doorknob with ease as he did. He then stuck his hand inside the new hole to push out the other side, and their doorknob fell to the floor with a thunk. But before he could withdraw his hand, he was forced to yank it out with a surprised yelp as sharp, stabbing pains began to quickly spread throughout his appendage.

When Kosei took a look at his hand, he saw that no less than eight tiny green scales had been shot and embedded deep into his skin. Each puncture wound bled profusely and freely onto the floor.

"WHAT THE HELL, RIN!?"

"Where some gloves next time, dumbass!"

"Do it again, Rin! AND GET THE HELL OUT OF OUR HIDEOUT, ASSHOLE!"

Before Kosei could angrily reply, vivid green vines had wrapped around his body to gently shift him to the side right as more of the tiny projectiles shot out of the hole. As a couple of vines began to quickly wrap around his injured hand, he heard his partner speak up from right beside him.

"Excellent work, Tsuburaba-kun! Now that we have an opening…"

CREEEAAAKKKKKK! CRUUUUNCH! SNAAAAPPPP!

Kosei temporarily forgot about his anger and his bleeding hand as he saw Ibara's vines shove their way through the new hole, ripping the door apart with astonishing ease as they did.

"… we can deliver swift judgements upon these evil-doers. Are you ready, Tsuburaba-kun?"

"…Y-Yeah! Right behind you, Shiozaki-san!"

And as Ibara gracefully strode into the room, an all-out brawl erupted between the well-fortified villains and the driven heroes who sought to defeat them.

The moment she stepped into the room, scales and other throw-able objects, like staplers and cups, were thrown at her with precision and accuracy.

The ranged attacks never hit her though, as they all seemed to slam into an invisible wall about a half a meter or so in front of her.

The way that the throw-able objects had suddenly stuck to the solidified air made it clear that Yosetsu had ranged options at his disposal. And the way that the tiny green scales began to crack the air wall after ten or so hits made it clear that Rin's quirk had more firepower than they had expected.

As Kosei immediately went to work creating more barriers of air from full cover behind the wall beside the door, he took the chance to glance around their hideout.

The room was surprisingly well fortified. Immediately, he noticed how they had welded broken furniture to the floor and side walls of the door to create makeshift braces and doorstops, making it even harder to open up and get into the room… for most anyone other than Ibara.

Their opponents had also stacked and secured desks and chairs and filing cabinets together in a way that provided sporadic and strategical cover as the villains relied on their ranged options.

Kosei also noticed that they had even taken the time to create a protective shell out of broken furniture, mushrooms, and ruined pieces of construction for the bomb. The shell was so huge that in completely encompassed the bomb like a tomb, or like treasure in a chest, and the curtains that had been on the windows appeared to have been welded together to cover most of the shell, like car covering on a classic automobile.

But… as impressive as their hasty fortifications were, and as strong as their teamwork and strategy was…

Ibara was simply far stronger.

In this room about fifteen meters wide by twenty meters long, she had more than enough room to fully utilize her quirk. And soon after the villain's first initial barrage of ranged attacks, she let her quirk fly loose as every strand of her hair darted out to quickly deal with her challengers.

As the vines swiftly snaked around her barrier and went on a rampage, the defenders were immediately forced to go on the defensive. It took everything they had to avoid getting ensnared by her vines as they destroyed their battlements with ease.

Yosetsu had the idea to pin a few strands of her hair to the ground with his quirk in the hopes of slowing her down at least a little bit.

But… he didn't realize that the young woman could simply detach her vines, and then rapidly regrow them.

Which is exactly what she did.

Yosetu only managed to escape in time because Hiryu had kicked him out of the way and into cover with a short "Hiyah!" Then, he had to evade the vines with a backflip; as he landed himself on top of a desk, the vines suddenly turned to try to restrain him.

Hiryu wasn't faring any better against their opponent. He could barely dodge her large-scale, multi-directional attacks, and his scale projectiles were negated by an invisible defense. The best he could do was crack and destroy the wall with a couple of hits…

…But it was kind of a moot point when Kosei hid behind what was left of their door barricades, remaking his barriers with as much ease as breathing.

Before Hiryu could begin trying to target Kosei, a couple strands of Ibara's hair had attempted to lunge at him from his right.

But as he somersaulted off the desk and tumbled into a firing stance aimed right at the air blower, he felt his feet get yanked out from under him as his chin slammed against the floor.

A fraction of a second later, he was suspended in midair by his ankles, and Ibara wasted no time wrapping her vines around the stunned and disoriented young man.

Simultaneously, Yosetsu sprung up from the ground right as a couple of vines had shot straight at his face. He quickly picked up the chair he had popped up next to and swung it at them in a desperate attempt to create some space.

As the vines caught the chair, his quirk welded the two objects together. And even though he knew that the welds he made were significantly weaker when he used his quirk this way, he naively hoped it would have been enough to buy him a few seconds.

But right as he began to dash towards his partner (who just had his feet yanked out from under him) to regroup, Ibara threw the chair and severed her vines to about two meters in length at the same time.

As the weird combination flew towards Yosetsu, the detached ends of the vines reached out to grab his calf as the chair continued its forward momentum, quickly wrapping around his legs like a bola.

Before Yosetsu could even react, he had taken a chair straight to the face right as he tripped over the vines wrapped around his knees.

He was too disoriented to see himself falling onto the waiting embrace of a bed of briars.

In the space of about 40 seconds, Ibara had successfully cornered and captured both of the villains, shredded their defenses, and spared the bomb.

Right as Ibara finished wrapping up the two villains with her quirk, All Might's voice began to boom through the building once more.

"THE HERO TEAM WINS WITH A FINAL TIME OF 5 MINUTES AND 13 SECONDS! SPLENDID WORK MY WARDS, BOTH TEAMS PERFORMED ADMIRABLY IN THIS EXERCISE! PLEASE COME DOWN TO THE BASEMENT FOR YOUR REVIEWS! TEAMS D AND J, YOOOUU'RREEE UP!"

"YEAH! THAT'S WHAT YOU GUYS GET FOR SHOOTING MY HAND!" Kosei shouted from the doorway as he aggressively pointed at the two villains with both of his index fingers.

He… was mostly ignored though, in favor of the absolute angel who was right before them.

As Ibara gently released the two boys and helped them stand upright, she quickly strode forward with a slightly worried look on her face. "Are you both relatively unharmed? I humbly apologize if my thorns may have dug a little deeper than necessary into your skin, but the both of you were rather formidable opponents, Awase-kun and Rin-kun."

Hiryu was the first to leap up with a handspring from his prison of thorns, absently rubbing out his soreness as he did and waving off her concerns with a friendly smile.

"It's all good, Shiozaki-san! We were on opposing sides after all, so there's nothing wrong with doing a little extra to win. Besides, do you see this guy's bulky costume?" He jerked his thumb over to Yosetsu, who had slowly gotten up from the ground with less vigor than his partner; the headband wearing boy sent an unamused glare to the other at the mention of his name. "His suit's so thick, you probably couldn't even pierce it if you tried-"

"Fuck off."

Ibara frowned slightly at the usage of profanity but opted to ignore it. Simply relieved that her two classmates were- relatively- free from harm, she instead gave a soft, gentle smile and bowed her head to show respect to her opponents. "I am truly glad you are both alright. You guys fought splendidly well!"

Hiryu returned the gesture, and motioned for his partner to do the same, which he did with a roll of his eyes. "Thanks! You were pretty awesome yourself, Shiozaki-san!"

As Ibara was about to respond back in earnest, she was rudely interrupted by her partner.

"Gotta say Rin. I am not a huge fan of you shooting my hand. Thanks so much for that."

Aaaand there went Hiryu's pleasant mood, as he turned to address the cranky brunette who was glaring at him accusingly from behind Ibara's shoulders. Apparently, Yosetsu also didn't care too much for Kosei's attitude, if the grimace on his face were any indication.

"Y'know, Tsuburaba, if you had actually participated in this exercise, I would genuinely feel bad about shooting you in non-vital areas with my low-power projectiles." Hiryu rebuked with a flat look on his face. "But you didn't… so I don't."

"Hey! I did a few things! -"

"Hiding behind Shiozaki's robes the entire fight isn't 'doing' a few things, you fucking idiot. -"

"Way to put yourself out there man -"

"Ok, first of all, I totally helped out! -"

"Slowing down Shiozaki isn't exactly 'helping out', dipshit…"

"Boys!"

Ibara's sharp tone suddenly cut through the air, making all three of them shut up immediately. She took a moment to look around at each of them to make sure she had their attentions before she proceeded to de-escalate the confrontation.

"While it is understandable that tempers may have arisen during our turn, we all fought well today, ok? We all have a few items that we need to work on, but now that we are no longer in the roles of villains and heroes, there isn't a need for squabbles within our class. Let us all travel along the guided path of the Lord once more, as we walk hand in hand with our brothers and sisters to grow in understanding and love."

"I dunno about all that…"

Ibara turned to regard Yosetsu with a level stare, and suddenly he found himself looking away as he absently rubbed the back of his head.

"… but, uh… yeah. You got a good point, Shiozaki. San."

She graced the boy with a gentle smile as she clasped her hands together and nodded at his acceptance. "I'm glad you see it that way, Awase-kun. And now that we are all in understanding… Please allow me to be the first to ask for forgiveness from the three of you, for I know that I have probably wronged each of you during our fight."

She turned to fully face the villains, and, while still clasping her hands, gave them a deep, respectful bow as she closed her eyes. "Awase-kun, Rin-kun. I humbly apologize for any excessive aggression I may have sent your way." She then turned to face her partner, and repeated the same gesture. "Tsuburaba-kun, I humbly apologize if I may have been a bit short with you for this exercise. I will do better in the future to be a more empathic leader."

All three boys stood there in awkwardness as the angelic young woman made 'amends' for things she didn't really have to make them for. But as she stood up from her bow to look at each of them with expectant, hopeful, lovely eyes, all three felt their will crumble as they begrudgingly followed her lead.

To their specifications, of course.

Hiryu was the first to act of the three of them. Turning towards Kosei, he gave a similar bow to Ibara's and gave him a proper apology. "I'm sorry I shot your hand so many times, Tsuburaba-kun. I know how much that hurts, and I probably could have got the same result with one, well-aimed projectile. So, from the bottom of my heart… my bad, dude."

Kosei went next, his face a little red as he coughed a little before giving his apology. "Yeah, uh… sorry for the crappy attitude, guys…" As an afterthought, he gave a small bow to the two of them before he absently rubbed his vine covered hand.

Yosetsu didn't even bother to bow as he grumbled out his apology to the bug-eyed brunette, without making any eye contact. "Sorry I called you an idiot…"

With the three boys seemingly making peace, Ibara clapped her hands together in delight. "I am so grateful that all of you were able to set your differences aside! Truly, it makes me happy, and I can only imagine how the Lord is smiling down on us all, happy to see His children growing up and getting along!"

"Now, please, we've wasted enough time! Let us all work together to free the bomb from, eh… this," she gestured to the protective shell with the welded curtains on top, "so that the next group can have just as splendid a battle as we did!"

As the two villains, turned to look at what she was talking about, Yosetsu turned back around with a smirk on his face. "Oh, there's no need for us to do that."

The two heroes blinked at his sudden statement before Kosei asked the question they were both thinking. "So, uh… why do you say that?"

"Because the bomb's in the closet." Hiryu answered this time as he pointed to the storage closet to his left.

As the two heroes only continued to blink at him in silence, Yosetsu took it upon himself to approach the closet. With a shit-eating grin, he turned to look at them as he opened the it up to reveal the bomb, perfectly in-tact, and hiding in the most infuriatingly obvious place in the room.

The heroes could only stare as their brains began to connect the dots.

By creating a shell about the size of the bomb and placing a makeshift tarp over it, their eyes had been unknowingly drawn towards the object. And with all their battlements positioned in a way that made it look like they were protecting the bomb… the villains had pulled a fast one on the heroes.

Not that it really mattered, since the heroes still won, but… had the match turned to one of attrition, and had they not been able to capture the villains… there wasn't a doubt in their mind that they probably would've lost...

There was a moment of silence before Ibara abruptly, and sharply, said, "… If you'll excuse me… I'll see you boys in the basement." And with the barest hints of a stony expression, she turned on her heel to leave the room, leaving the three other boys staring after her.

"What's her problem? Is she mad she didn't figure it out sooner?"

"Nah… It's just… She absolutely hates deception, and thinks it's for the wicked. And since she probably thinks you guys are cool and all, she's just probably upset that you guys resorted to such a thing… Or, something…"

"You trying to kiss our ass? Because you're not too good at it."

With a roll of his eyes, Hiryu followed Ibara's lead and headed towards the basement, listening to the sounds of Kosei and Yosetsu arguing behind him as they followed, leaving the room and the bomb ready for the next team to use.


So, as I mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, the Author's Note for chapters 10 and 11 will be at the end of Chapter 11! Sorry for the inconvenience!