Midoriya and Bakugou had gone out to have a fight that night. Mr. Aizawa had caught them and placed them on -

"Lockdown?!" cried Hagakure.

"Idiots!" Kaminari shook his head.

"Nonsense," added Yaoyorozu.

"What were you thinking?" said Sero

"The stupidest, that's for sure." snarked Jiro.

"Uh, but dig make up in the end?" Uraraka asked Midoriya.

"Make up? Not exactly, but…hard to put into words…" he stammered.

"A fine job you've made of it, getting punished! I suppose you two will be absent at today's opening ceremony!" Iida reprimanded him.

Amidst all this, I could only think of one thing.

"Bakugou, what about that special course for our licenses?"

"Shaddup, mind your own business!" he shouted back at me.

That Midoriya and Bakugou business...which I'm not a part of...I suppose I'll never really understand it. I guess all I can do is stay out of it, for now.

Honestly, I was kind of already dreading going back into class as one of only two failures...and now I'd be the only one without a license. At least if Bakugou had been there I could've been one of two.

"Listen up, everyone will need to get in line quickly and not mess things up!" said Iida as we headed down the halls. "Time to head for the grounds!"

"You're the only screwy one around here," said Jirou.

"As class president, such is my burden!"

"So Mr. Aizawa's not coming to this opening ceremony either?" asked Uraraka. "Must be busy."

"Well, things are a little different compared to last April," said Ojiro.

Monoma's smarmy voice interrupted them. "Hey Class A, I heard the news! Two of you! I hear two of you failed the licensing exam!"

Oh, no.

"Monoma from Class B! You're just as charming as ever!" said Kirishima. Then he smirked "Wait, don't tell me you were the only one to fail in your class again?"

Monoma burst out laughing and then turned to face the wall.

"Not gonna answer?!" cried Kirishima.

Then Monoma, as Class B Joined him, turned around with a smirk. "Every single one of us passed! The tables are turning, Class A."

I looked away. I could hardly stand to face the others. "Sorry, you guys."

"Hey, he's the one making a contest outta this," said Kirishima. "Don't sweat it!"

A girl from Class B with big horns said, in broken Japanese, "Our teacher Vlad says we will have classes together this term. It will be much fun!"

"Ooh! I'm ready and raring to go!" said Kirishima.

"Hey, you notice, she's a foreigner!" said Kaminari.

Monoma whispered something in her ear and she said "We are going to - GRIND YOU INTO DUST!"

"Stop teacher her weird phrases!" came Kendo.

"Hey, the line's backing up here!" came a weirdly familiar voice, and we all looked around to see a boy with spiky purple hair.

"So very sorry!" gasped Iida. "Enough idle chatter, everyone! We're holding up the procession!

"Good to see how lame you guys really are," said the purple haired boy, who I still couldn't quite place.

"Shinzo," said Tokoyami.

"Hey's the guy who fought Midoriya at the Sports festival," said Jirou.

"Huh, looks like he's gotten tougher," said Sero.

It wasn't long before we had all filed out and were standing in the boiling hot courtyard of UA facing the platform where Principal Nezu was waving to us.

"Hello! IT's everyone's favorite small mammalian principal! Lately, the fur I pride myself on has been looking rather shabby, so I've made great efforts to improve myself in that regard. This can apply to you too, humans. Don't forget to eat balanced meals with plenty of zinc and other vitamins, but remember that the most important thing , above all else, is a good night's sleep. A chaotic lifestyle is the worst thing imaginable for fur quality. If any of you are concerned about your hair, then be sure to get enough sleep."

That's not terribly helpful...

Then the inevitable. "And the biggest recent disruption to our lifestyles, as yo all know, was the incident that took place this past summer. The loss of our pillar. We're seeing the effects of that emerging a rate beyond expectations. Our society needs to prepare for unparalleled hardship in the near future. That applies especially to those of your in the hero course. Including you second and third years on work study. Going forward you must be more aware than e ver of the threats out there."

Work study?

"Work study?" Ashido asked Asui.

"I'm guessing that's the next step after the internships we did," she said, touching her face.

"Such gloomy talk makes us all heavyhearted, I know," the Principal went on. "Which is why we adults are doing our best to keep things from getting too dreary. We hope to inspire an industrious ethic in you young men and women so that you may go on to become capable members of society. The business course, the general studies course, the support course, and the hero course. Do not forget that it's all of you who will inherit this society."

At last he got off stage. Vlad King go on the mic and said, "Finally, here are a few reminders from our school life supervisor, Mr. Hound Dog."

Hound Dog Sensei got on the mic. But instead of talking he started barking really loudly into the mic. All we caught were a few words. "UNACCUSTOMED" "DORM - LIFE!"

Vlad King sensei explained, "Um, what he meant to say was 'we had a fight between students last night. We understand that some of you are still unaccustomed to dorm life, but we ask you to control yourselves and make this work for everyone.'"

"They sure are treating Midoriya and Bakugou like a couple of naughty children," sighed Yaoyorozu.

Between that speech about All Might and now this, it's probably a good thing for those two that they're not here today.

At long last, the announcers said, "Everyone back to class, starting with the third years."

We headed back to class and MR. Aizawa stood up to lecture.

"All right. We're back to our regular classes. A lot's happened. Too much, really, but now it's business as usual. Today in class we'll just have a lecture, but look forward to some even harsher training throughout the second semester."

Ashido leaned back and whispered to Asui "Borrrring, right?"

Mr. Aizawa appeared like a gloomy cloud over her shoulder and told her off. "What was that, Ashido?"

"Eep! Haven't had that feeling in a while!" she gasped.

Asui raised her hand. "May I ask a question, Sensei? We just heard about work studies at the opening ceremony. Could you explain that a bit more?"

"Oh yeah, the principal was talking about that," recalled Sero to Tokoyami.

"I'm also curious, actually."

"He mentioned that many of our upperclassmen are engaged in work studies," said Yaoyorozu from next to me, raising her hand as well.

"I was planning to go over all that at a later date, but…well, fine," said Sensei. "I suppose it makes sense to explain it now. Put simply, it's hero work outside of school. A more immersive version of the internships you already did with pro heroes."

"Ooh, didn't know we got to do that sorta thing," said Uraraka. Then suddenly she jumped to her feet and started shouting. "So what was the point of trying so hard at the Sports Festival?!"!

"Indeed!" said Iida. "With these work studies, it seems that getting scouted at the Sports Festival was hardly our only option."

"Hey, calm down!" said Sato. "You're acting really Un-Uraraka like, Uraraka."

"You'll be using your networking connections from the Sports Festival to se cue your hero work studies. It's all at your discretion to start with and is unrelated to classes here. Those of you who didn't get scouted at the Sports Festival will have a hard time finding positions anyway. It used to be that every agency would seek out applicants, but the competition to win over UA students caused a lot of issues. So that's why things are how they are now. If that's all, then take a seat."

Uraraka gave a bow as she stated "Sorry for jumping to the wrong conclusion…"

Sensei continued, "Earning those provisional licenses will give you extended in-depth experience when it comes to this stuff. But keep in mind that there's virtually no precedent for licensed first-years. With the sudden outburst of villain activity, the possibility of first-year work studies is being given cautious consideration. We'll revisit this later, at which point you'll get a more complete explanation and some actual testimonials. When circumstances allow." With that he turned to the door. "Right…sorry to keep you waiting, Mic."

Present Mic came bursting in through the door. "FIRST PERIOD IS ENGLISH, THE CLASS I TEACH! IT'S BEEN A WHILE, SO I BET YOU'RE EAGER TO SEE ME TAKE HTE STAGE AGAIN BRUH! WE'RE PACKING IN A TON OF STUFF TODAY! LET'S DO THIS! YEAH!"

"Yes, sir!"

We went back to class. I buried my face in the book and tried not to look Yaoyorozu in the eye from next to me. Sure, she, and everyone else, could go to a work study program now like a professional hero...but not me...

I was quite impressed with Midoriya and Bakugou's cleaning job when we came back. Sero, however, rubbed some dust off of a window.

"Care to explain this dust, Bakugo?" he taunted him.

"THAT WAS S'POSED TO BE DEKU'S JOB, SO SHUT THE HELL UP! HEY YOU! CAN'T YOU EVEN CLEAN RIGHT?"

"Sorry!" Midoriya called back as he collected the trash. "If you guys could all put your garbage outside your doors, I'll collect it."

Over on the sofa, Sato leaned forward and said to Kirishima, "Hey. Mic's class today…"

"Yeah, I know. You too?"

"I had no clue about some of those sentence patterns, but he was using them like it was no big deal."

"Yeah! Took me by surprise too!"

"S'what happens when you forget to prepare fro class…."

"Trip up just once, and following along after that suddenly gets real tough."

"Y'know those works studies?" said Jirou. "I never got scouted, but I'd still like to try."

"Same here," said Ojiro.

"I wonder if we'd be able to get placed under the same heroes we did our internships with?"

MIdoriya was following all this with an increasingly panicked look on his face. "It's only been a day, and I'm already falling behind!" Iida imitated him. "It's written all over your face, Mr. Lockdown!"

"Mr. Lockdown? That's just mean." he complained. "But what's this work-study thing anyway, Iida?"

"Yes, well, I'm still angry! And Sense forbade us from telling you two anything from our classes! I'm sorry, but this is just an experience you will have to endure! Are you listening, Bakugou?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know - so shut up, you freaking four eyes!" he snapped back.

Things are going to be a bit tense for a while, I suppose.

On day three, I went to my first remedial class. It was honestly rather boring, and excruciating at the same time. Both getting told off by our instructor for failing, feeling guilty and like a problem child, having to avoid Yoarashi's glare from a distance, and being there alone. NO one else from Class 1A.

Leaving alone like some disgraced kid. I felt pretty bad for Midoriya and Bakugou's position the last few days and even worse now. They'd been stuck alone getting punished for fighting while everyone else moved on ahead, and here I was in the same place. But as badly as they usually got along, at least they'd been punished together.

Sitting there the only UA kid among older students...getting the occasional 'Hey, that's Endeavor's famous kid, how come he failed?' looks...and going back alone too to the silent dorm while everyone else was asleep. I felt like it was never going to end.

That morning, I'd gone over to Bakugou as he cleaned the common area.

"Have you thought about -" I started.

"I'll figure it out."

"You'll miss the first one."

"That's my own business. Don't think I'm gonna fall behind for long."

"I'll take notes. You can see them."

I waited for him to snap back at me that he didn't need my help like usual. He looked like he was going to, but stopped himself. "Sure. Do it if you want."

I was a little taken aback. I gave him a nod and left. While I was in class, I tried to keep my mind on class. But afterwards, as I returned, I thought about it.

Did something happen during that fight? Something pretty big between those two? Are they going to behave differently from now on?

On the morning of the fourth, I went over to Bakugou as discreetly as I could and handed him the copies of my notes I'd made. He took them and muttered something that sounded like a very, very grudging 'thanks.'

He was there alone today, with Midoriya being on lockdown for only three days. We left him there alone to clean the place.

While Bakugou seemed chastened, somehow less angry, Midoriya seemed spun into hyperdrive. "So sorry for all the trouble!" he shouted, bowing elaborately to Iida and the rest of the class.

"Deku, good job serving your time!" Uraraka reassured him.

"Serving time, really?" said Jirou. "And why so worked up?"

"Iida, I'm sorry!" He stomped over to our class president. "I really disappointed you!"

"Um…it's enough to know that you reflected on your actions. But what's wrong now?"

"I've gotta make up for these three days of lost time!" shouted Midoriya.

"Oh, yeah!" Kirishima pumped his fist. "I admire your passion, dude!"

It's as if Bakugou has somehow taken part of Midoriya's politeness in exchange for Midoriya taking part of his anger and passion.

The commotion died down as class started and Sensei appeared. "Now that Midoriya is back, let's talk about work studies for real." He turned to the door. "Come on in. Here to tell you how work studies differ from internships are some people who've gone out there and experienced it all. They're taking time out of their busy schedules to be here, so give them your full attention. Out of all the students at UA, these are the top three reigning third years. We call them…the Big Three."

The door opened. And there they were.