-With Izuku-

Kacchan came at him, but Izuku managed to predict his movements. He gave Uraraka instructions to go find the bomb and that he could handle the explosive teen himself. Of all of the people he's researched, of all of the heroes he's studied, the one he knows best is Kacchan. He knows his fight pattern, his how his quirk works, all of it. Being on the receiving end of it for so long, it would be strange if he didn't.

When he was five years old, his dreams were crushed by the diagnosis of 'Quirkless', and though understandable, no one supported his dream to be a hero afterwards. No one. But... one doesn't just give up on a dream so easily. Every day after that Izuku hoped he would somehow gain a quirk, and it was around that time that he started researching other peoples' quirks and heroes alike.

Everyday he'd hear people talk down on him for being quirkless yet still trying to go after such an impossible dream.

Was wanting something so bad?

Was being quirkless so bad?

He wasn't worthless, he... he wasn't a Deku, he was going to prove that to them. He wanted to prove it to everyone who didn't have faith in him. He wanted to prove to Kacchan that he wasn't a worthless loser.

Kacchan... what went wrong with them? They used to be so close, he never did wrong by him. But after he found out he was quirkless, they stopped being friends. He started to bully him, taunt him, and tell him to stop trying to be a hero. Every time he did that however, even though he was malicious and mean, Izuku could see the look in his eyes.

Kacchan was a very explosive person. He's crass and rude and loud, but underneath all of that he has a kindness that he doesn't like to show off. It was because of that that Izuku stuck with him despite what he was doing. He could see it in his eyes, the message that Kacchan was almost desperately trying to send. He didn't need to say it out loud for the observant greenette to get it.

Katsuki may wear a scowl most of the time, but his eyes, if you looked hard enough, held his true intentions. That look was almost pleading for him to just stop. Do anything else. There was anger, worry, irritation, and regret. The eight year old was not good at hiding his emotions from the greenette who had been with him since they were toddlers.

Izuku never won a fight between him and other kids. As much as he hated the way his teachers talked about him, he didn't say anything. It was because deep down he thought they were right. What hero doesn't have a quirk? Heroes needed quirks, that was how society was. Everything he'd been taught leaned towards that fact.

Izuku had started to lose hope at that point. Silently, he started to lose faith that he'd be able to achieve that dream that now truly seemed impossible.

And it was at that very moment that he met the five year old Yuuma Kageyama.

The child was a genius in his own right, being in the third grade class despite his age. He was quiet and always studying and taking notes. As smart as he was, however, his handwriting was true to his age and was messy. It was cute when he tried to eat his food and the utensils just wouldn't listen to him. He also seemed to be the happiest child alive when he got to drink vanilla milk.

He would offer help around the classroom when he saw someone having a bit of trouble, and the older kids would let him help because he was just too cute to say no to. And then they would be pleasantly surprised that he was, in fact, able to help them out greatly. It proved to them that despite his chubby round cheeks and toddler stature, he was also a capable student within their grade.

He was also kind and generous to a fault, aiding even the useless Deku of the class, Izuku. Izuku was smart and didn't actually need help with his classwork, but they would sit together and talk about their studies like the nerds they were.

Yuuma was simply the very young boy in their class to him at that point.

The moment he got his quirk he would drift away from Izuku, the quirkless freak. Izuku was sure of it, because that was what everyone else did. He would enjoy this small normalcy until the moment Yuuma saw he wasn't like him and left him like the rest did.

That day, just like any other day, students were being praised for their good grades. It didn't matter that Izuku scored higher than most of them because he didn't have a quirk. Because he didn't have a quirk he didn't amount to much even if he was smart. Subconsciously, he'd accepted that fact.

Until a little boy with a bob cut spoke up.

"How does getting an A on a test have anything to do with being a great hero?" The greenette's ears perked up at this interesting inquiry. No one had ever said it before, it was new and foreign even though it was suppose to be common knowledge that the two subjects had nothing in common.

"Well, of course future heroes would be great in school." The freckled eight year old peeked up at this point to look at the boy. Yuuma looked completely baffled as he actually pointed to him and continued to speak, his brows creasing to a frown laced heavily with confusion.

"Well, Midoriya's score was higher, I don't see you saying the same thing to him. Are you lying?" Said boy let out a quiet gasp. No one had acknowledged that he had indeed gotten higher scores on the test they took. No one wanted to acknowledge it, and Izuku didn't want to speak up. It would just be inviting bullies to torment him. So, he was awed by this small child who admitted to them the fact that he had a higher score with an accusing look.

In that moment he looked like the most mature in the room despite his smaller stature.

"But he's—"

"Deku?" This is where Kacchan cut in, a menacing look on his face. "He's a quirkless loser, no way he's going to be a hero." Izuku looked down in shame, not refuting him just to get laughed at again. His shame, however, couldn't stop his curiosity as he once again peeked at the child.

A sense of complete bewilderment flashed across his chubby face as he responded to the ash blonde. "What does not having a quirk have to do with being a hero?"

Izuku's eyes widened.

"Only those with the best quirks get to be heroes!" Kacchan responded, a proud look on his face. A few of the other students nodded, and Izuku looked down, ashamed as he wasn't included in that statement. But the moment he looked up at Yuuma he saw the most deadpan look he'd ever seen in his eight long years of life.

"...That ridiculous. Are you saying that to be a doctor you have to have a healing quirk? Or that to be a teacher you have to have a quirk that makes you smart? To be a swimmer do you have to have fins?" Yuuma barrage of questions hit everyone in quick succession. The younger boy waited patiently for their response to them, wanting to hear more of their opinions.

It threw everyone for a loop, including Izuku. He hadn't ever thought of it like that. In society today, it was automatically thought that as long as you had a quirk being a hero was a dream worth trying. He never thought about it logically that skill was also needed even though in the back of his mind he knew this. It was the way he was raised, it was what all of the adults were saying, telling him. And it was why they always discouraged him and belittled him.

But Yuuma had just taken all of that and politely chucked it out of a window.

"...No?" Izuku's eyes widened more as the ash blonde struggled to come up with an answer. He even baffled Kacchan! But the boy wasn't finished.

"Does a police officer need a quirk to do their job? Or do they need guns for hands or to magically make handcuffs?"

"They don't... but it could help?" Another child answered.

"Yes, it could help a lot, but it isn't needed to be a police officer, right? So why is it that only those with quirks can be heroes when their situation is the same as every other job? Sure, villains use quirks and having a combat-based quirk is extremely helpful, but to say that only someone with a quirk can be a hero is irrational. Their are heroes who have quirks that don't help them fight at all, that didn't stop them from being a hero."

It was at this moment that Izuku started to have hope again. Someone was saying that it wasn't impossible. Someone was stating that you didn't always need a quirk to do great things. Why hadn't he thought like that before? Doctors don't need quirks to be doctors, athletes don't need quirks to be athletes, so why does a hero need a quirk to be a hero?

They... they didn't.

They didn't.

"That... actually makes sense...but wai—No, even then it still makes sense..."

That little spark of hope was ignited in the greenette after years of others telling him it wasn't worth the effort. But then the child continued with his points, putting a realistic point to his statements.

"I'm not saying that just anyone can be a hero either. That's just as irrational. You have to work hard and try your best, but don't waste effort in something you just aren't good at. That will just hurt you and that isn't something I want for anybody. I'd rather everyone be happy. Being happy is the best."

Yuuma was confirmed precious and surprisingly rational. He smiled softly as he went back to turning in his test, receiving his own praises from an equally stunned teacher and leaving with his backpack to go home.

Everyone in the class had gotten reality checked, and this was especially true for Izuku. All of his life, without realizing it, he had conformed to everyone else's way of thinking. He didn't train anything because he thought 'if only I had a quirk'. He'd been accepting that he was a worthless waste of time. He had biased opinions on himself, he didn't believe in himself.

How was he expecting anyone to believe in him if he didn't even believe in himself?

And now that he was thinking about all of the things he had been possibly doing wrong, a question he had been asking himself since the day he was diagnosed as quirkless resurfaced.

'Can't I still be a hero?'

The rekindled fire was burning in Izuku, and the same way that Katsuki had sought out the cause of the change, Izuku sought out Yuuma to ask him his honest thoughts. And just like Katsuki, he also got something he wasn't expecting. Although he didn't get admonished like he thought he was, he didn't get praised either.

"The Kageyama way is to improve in areas we lack so we aren't dependent on just one thing. At least that's what my auntie said. I'm still too small to start our martial arts training and I get sick a lot. You're big, do you train?"

"Um... no, I haven't."

Yuuma had a look of confusion painted all over his face. "...Why do you think anything is going to change if you haven't done anything yet? Being a hero isn't going to magically fall into your lap."

Stab!

"I thought that maybe m-my doctor was wrong and t-that I'd get a quirk l-later, so I s-studied instead..."

Yuuma's deadpan worsened.

"What kind of hero are you trying to be?"

"O-one that save people with a smile!" Izuku said with a bit more confidence.

"How are you gonna save them if you can't lift them if they're hurt? How are you gonna fight villains if you don't know any basic defense? Writing notes on strategy is good, but you'll only get as far as your body can take you. Midoriya-san, I don't think you're strong enough to reach a goal like that, and I don't think what your doing right now is helping you at all."

A BARRAGE OF STABS! Izuku felt like crying. Yuuma, however, was unapologetic. He asked, and Yuuma answered, it was that simple.

"I'm not strong either. I get tired really quickly, and I get sick a lot. I can't even play with Ritsu how I want to. So as soon as I'm big enough, I'm going to start training with Mommy and Auntie. I don't know what I want to do yet... but it'll be better to have a stronger body than not to, right?"

This child was better than him and he was three years younger, Izuku wasn't sure whether he should feel proud of Yuuma or ashamed of himself. Izuku was more used to being ashamed.

"Midoriya-san? Why do you look so sad? All you have to do is what you can for now. Trying to do a lot all at once will just make you really tired. Do what makes you happy, because being happy is the best! Having a quirk isn't what matters most, what matters most is you!" Yuuma smiled at him, a wide and vibrant smile that seemed to light up the room.

"Studying and vanilla milk make me the happiest! Oh, and Mommy, and Daddy, and Ritsu, and Auntie, and Grandma... oh, a lot makes me happy." He realized. "What makes you happy, Midoriya-san? You like to write in your notebooks a lot, what's in them?"

"Heroes!" Izuku beamed. "You wanna see my notes?" After realizing that Yuuma wasn't like the other kids, that he wasn't going anywhere, that he was honest in all of his feelings, Izuku felt comfortable around him. He felt like he could finally have a friend, a really good friend. A friend that wouldn't abandon him like the rest.

When Yuuma beamed at the proposition of seeing his notes, Izuku was sure of it. He and this kid were friends, and it seems that they had been friends since the moment they started hanging out. It was him that was scared, not Yuuma. It was him that was pushing him away, not Yuuma. Yuuma... Yuuma was his friend, and he could say that with pride from that moment on.

[A/N] AH, MY PRECIOUS BABIES!

"Sure!" And that was where their conversations began. It went on to different things the same way Katsuki's talks did. They talked about heroes, school work, random things they liked. It was around that time that he found out that Yuuma was also friends with his childhood friend turned bully, Kacchan. Because he didn't want to stop hanging out with Yuuma, he also put up with hanging around Kacchan.

It seemed that Katsuki was the same because he also put up with Izuku. The green haired teen noticed that Katsuki was a little nicer when Yuuma was around. He noticed that even when Yuuma wasn't around he stopped bothering him. Of course, they still had confrontations here and there, sometimes his ego would get the better of him and he'd explode, but he didn't openly harass the quirkless boy anymore.

Kacchan, he was trying. Slowly, in his own way, he was trying to change. They still kept their distance, but Izuku had begun to steadily notice that fact.

Yuuma of course, being the observant little one that he was, knew that the two had a very complicated relationship. He'd always try to have them make up and be friends, he'd defuse any little fights that would happen between them when he could, and he didn't pay more attention to one than the other.

Yuuma always said that no one could say that a dream was useless, not even themselves, unless they honestly tried first. Yuuma always believed in him, even when he occasionally gave him blunt jabs on how something was not going to help him achieve much in regards to his dream.

He regularly told him he should study martial arts and tactical strategy rather than quirks. Why? Simple. Why would you try to implement the strategies that use quirks to their advantage when you yourself do not have a quirk? It was 'irrational', he said.

Yuuma was honest, he was kind, he was blunt, and he was unbiased. It was because of all of these traits that the boy had learned about Yuuma that he was able to trust his words. Yuuma never lied or tried to give false comfort, he didn't baby other peoples feelings when it came to the truth. Even if he came off as cold, he gave you the truth to any questions you had or opinions you wanted from him.

You asked, he answered. Unless he didn't like you, which was rare. Yuuma was like sunshine to everyone, even some bullies ended up being converted into Yuuma's... um... cult Protection Squad.

His name, Yuuma, meant 'Permanent Truth'. His parents named him as such in hopes that he was always truthful with himself and others, and that he would always seek out and uphold the truth. It was their sneaking desire for him to follow in their footsteps to be detectives and heroes. but they never said that out loud.

However, one could proudly say that he was upholding his name's meaning quite well.

Yuuma's honesty was endearing. He always spoke up when something was happening, he never left things unsaid, and his belief about friends was that they trusted each other and always told the truth. He was the type to support others when he could, but he would not support something he felt was wrong. When something was bothering him, he spoke up, and he hoped that his friends would tell him their problems too.

So when that horrible incident happened and he left without saying anything to either of them, Izuku was very worried. Their teacher couldn't even say anything about the subject without crying, it seemed that she had lost someone to the incident. A lot of people had lost someone, it was one of the most tragic villain attacks that had happened in a long time.

The two boys were worried sick about the boy as it didn't take them long to learn that he was there when the incident happened. And they got confirmation when the teacher was finally able to answer a few of their questions about the missing addition to their class. They said that Yuuma wouldn't be attending their class anymore as he'd been transferred to homeschooling. The only other piece of information they managed to squeeze out of the teacher was that Yuuma had moved to a different city due to his family.

Nothing else was said, and that was when Izuku did his own research on the matter. It was around that time that both of the boys had realized how little they really knew about the boy. He often talked about his mom, his dad, his cousin Ritsu and his aunt, and another Uncle that he said came by sometimes and his Grandma. But he didn't ever say what they're jobs were, and because of how busy they often were they hadn't ever visited the young boy's home.

Now they regretted not ever being able to do so.

Izuku being the nerd that he was knew a few extra detail about the villain attack that had been dubbed 'The Kamino Tragedy'. Lots of stores and other buildings were destroyed in the area, many people died in the area trying to get to one of the shelters nearby. The deceased included a hero team that called Dual Omniscience. They were a detective team that dealt more with police work than the popularity that came with being heroes, which is one of the reasons that Izuku didn't know much about them. They kept their personal information very confidential, so the only things known about them was their record, hero placement, and hero name.

There was nothing on their family, where they lived obviously, or even random facts about where they went to school. It was a measure they took to protect their family and close friends, which was understandable. It was the same case with All Might and all of his secrecy about his quirk and even his real name.

[A/N] Oh? Is that PLOT you see? Yes, yes it is.

After the incident, however, they were seen as true heroes by the public and became more well known as the ones who gave their lives protecting as many citizens as they could. It was mentioned on many news networks, online hero sites, and lots of theory sites that if they hadn't of led the villain away like they did... that a lot more people would have died.

Izuku admired and respected them greatly. Yuuma had mentioned in passing, before everything had happened, that his favorite heroes were Dual Omniscience. He had this sparkle in his eyes when he spoke about them with the two older boys, it was hard not to think that he had more than just respect for them. It must of hurt him greatly when they were killed in that tragedy...

But Izuku never got to find out just how true his statement was because Yuuma never returned to school afterwards, not until six years later.

Izuku was still being picked on by bullies, the only one who really didn't care to antagonize him anymore was Kacchan. Maybe... maybe they could be friends again? Like before... maybe they could go back to how things were before it all went wrong? Izuku was too afraid to try and test that theory. He was fine with this neutrality, it was much better than fighting with him.

He had seen Kacchan looking as if he was about to say something, but then stop himself and turn around again. What was he going to say? Izuku didn't know, and he was honestly too scared to up and ask. He still didn't want Izuku to be a hero and would still get mad every so often, but it wasn't as bad as it used to be. He was still a ball of pride and ego, but it was more tamed after becoming friends with Yuuma.

People still talked his dreams down and belittled him, but he didn't care about that as long as he was following his dreams. No one could tell him his dreams were impossible except him, and even he couldn't say they were until he tried first, right? So he was going to give it his all.

And then Yuuma returned, and Izuku could immediately tell the difference. His eyes weren't shining with innocence and sunshine at the level they used to. The smile that used to feel natural on his face was repressed into a thin line. He seemed a lot more closed off than he used to be, but when he saw then they could see his eyes light up just a little bit more.

He was still very small, but Izuku could see that he'd gained a bit more form and lost some baby fat. He was still the same honest, blunt, and kind child they remembered.

Only now, he was more forward with his opinions on things. Like the bullies. It had been the first time, one of the very few times, that he'd seen Yuuma use his quirk. Those guys had no chance. It seemed as if Yuuma had spent most if not all of his time away training his quirk to an insane level.

Why he would need to train it so much? Izuku didn't know. But being protected by the younger boy made him feel like he was being a burden. The child was always keeping him safe from the bullies that would try to make a move on him, he got on the teachers and openly threatened their jobs if they didn't change their action, and even unknowingly started a "No Bullying" Movement within the school where the weaker quirk user banded together to stop the unjust treatments.

Yuuma, without even realizing it, was always keeping Izuku safe. Even from Kacchan when he would get mad with him and they'd end up fighting over something. When he asked again after years of not seeing him if he still thought Izuku could be a hero, Yuuma's answer was the same.

"As long as you work hard for it, as long as you try your best, the only one who can say you can and can't do something is you, Izuku-nii. Don't let others tell you what you can and can't do." He said with a small smile. He flared up Izuku's hopes again, but he followed it with logic about how he was at that moment, before he'd met All Might.

"But Izuku-nii, I don't see you train at all and you don't know any self-defense tactics. Studying is good and learning from observation is great, but it won't mean anything if your body can't keep up."

Stab!

"A quirk is not going to come from your notebooks."

Stab! Stab!

He then had this far away look on his face, continuing on. "The title hero... It's not something you are given. There are no naturally born heroes in my opinion. That title, it's earned through hard work, through a lot of sacrifice. And sometimes, those sacrifices are too great..." He paused for a moment before continuing. "I know that you, just like everyone else, have the potential to be heroes. You just have to work hard at it, harder than everyone else if you need to."

It was after he'd said those words, after Izuku had pondered them over and over again, that Izuku had met All Might. At first, the number one had admonished his dream to be a hero, but he could understand where the man was coming from. Yuuma had said something similar and told him how hard being a hero was, and that someone like him who didn't train at all would have a very difficult time.

Then he saw Kacchan drowning in that slime, and he stopped thinking about any of that. The heroes weren't moving, so he was moving. All that mattered in that moment was Kacchan, and even though his attempt to save him failed and they got rescued by Yuuma and All Might, his idol saw something in him, just like Yuuma had.

He told him he could be a hero.

Yuuma admonished other heroes when they tried to yell at him for running in. It was the first time he'd ever seen him so angry. And then Yuuma said he wanted to be a hero too.

After he'd taken the Yuuei exams and didn't get a single villain point, he thought he'd let their expectations down. When Kacchan confronted him after school, asking him why he applied to Yuuei and how he even passed, he shouted back at him that he was going to follow his dream.

He wanted to prove that them believing in him wasn't the wrong decision. He trained harder than All Might planned for him, pushed himself farther, he wanted to—no—he needed to prove that he was worthy of their time. He wanted to prove Kacchan wrong, that even someone like him could be a hero too.

Despite what Yuuma had said, the opportunity really had fallen into his lap, and he was going to make the most of it.

Now he was here, facing the one who he wanted to prove himself the most to, Kacchan. In that book he'd burned and thrown out the window, were a few of the many pages he'd had on Kacchan. He knew he always goes for a powerful right hook first, he know the signs to look out for when he was charging up an explosion, he knew how he liked to follow up.

If there was anyone that Izuku knew the most, that person would be Kacchan. Even though Yuuma had told him about the different things he could possibly do with his quirk, he'd never seen up except for the few times he was forced to use it. Kacchan on the other hand was more than happy to show off his quirk and fighting skills.

"I won't do so much damage that this fight get's stopped but I'm gonna get close!" The ask-blonde roared at his, readying up his right arm for a big swing. Izuku was ready for it, and grabbed it, flipping him on his back. Katsuki landed on the ground with a thud, and everyone witnessing it was shocked.

"Kacchan, you usually start with a big right swing." Izuku started, catching his breath a bit. "How much do you think I've been watching you?" The boy's red eyes widened a margin as he watched the green clad wanna-be in front of him.

"Kacchan, my "Deku" means "You can do it!"" Izuku clenched his fist and readied himself for the next attack. He was going to prove those words right. To Kacchan. To All Might. To Yuuma.

And to himself.

"Uraraka-san, go!" Said girl left the scene as Kacchan concentrated on his without even acknowledging her. Their one on one fight began.

-With Yuuma-

With his eyes closed, he sensed that one of the three people on the lower floors had left while the other two engaged each other. He knew thanks to his familiarity with them that the two fighting were currently his hard headed and uncooperative partner, Katsuki, and currently a member of the enemy team, Izuku.

That meant the one headed steadily closer to him was Ochaco Uraraka. What did he know about her? She was wearing a pink and black skin-tight suit with a visor helmet and thick soled boots. Not much protection when it came to physical attacks which was good for him. From what he could see from the quirk assessment test the other day, she was average when it came to other physical aspects. Stamina, speed, flexibility, all of these were either not helped or only helped slightly by her quirk.

Her quirk? He figured it had something to do with either weight or gravity itself. It could be used offensively, but only if she had something that she can touch and use. Even if she does manage to get something, this match up was not in her favor.

How did Yuuma know all of this about his opponent? He'd been watching them during the assessment. Potential friends, potential opponents, no matter what they were he observed them all the same. It was something he picked up from years of being with his aunt.

'Always be vigilant, you never know when something learned about someone else can come in handy. The most dangerous thing one can have isn't a quirk or a weapon, it's information.'

Yuuma took a deep breath as Uraraka made it to the same floor as him. He got behind a pillar, hiding himself away from the archway so that she wouldn't see him. The bomb was in plain sight, and everything had been set.

30 meters.

20 meters.

10 meters.

5 meters.

"The bomb room! I found it! Where's Kageyama-chan though...?" Why was she announcing her presence like this? Was she not taking this seriously?

Her stepping into the room without her guard up was her first mistake. Yuuma reached with his telekinesis for each marble he'd spread on the floor. Because of their clear color, their smaller size, and the vastness of the room, they were harder to notice. That and the fact that she was only looking at the bomb.

It was the reason he left it in plain sight. "You should always have your guard up in enemy territory, Uraraka-san."

"W-what the-ack!" The marbles mobilized as Yuuma stepped out from his hiding spot. His fingers flicked up, down, left, right, and the marbles followed. Tens of them followed his will and bombarded Uraraka as she tried to block them. But their small size made that next to impossible with the speed in which they were attacking her.

Yuuma was simply standing in place, he didn't need to move an inch from where he stood as he watched Uraraka try to fight off his marbles. He didn't hold back anything, nor was he planning to.

'If you hold back because your opponent is a woman, you are insulting them by thinking of them as lesser. A woman can kick butt just as well as a man can, so no need to hold back because of a worthless reason like that. The way you respect a woman in a fight is to not hold back and fight like you normally do.'

Yuuma didn't really need to hear this advice however. An enemy was an enemy. Why would he hold back on an enemy because of their gender? Irrational.

"Dang it! Ugh!" She rolled on the ground, escaping from the trap she'd stepped in. Yuuma did not hit her face because he did not want to cause a serious injury to her eyes or chip her tooth with the marbles. He hit her in places where nerves were sensitive. If she blocked, he simply hit what she was blocking with.

Smack! Pow! Whack! The elbows, knees, ribs, ankles, wrists, places where pain is a bit harder to ignore, he aimed for these areas relentlessly. He did not hit hard enough to break anything, but he did hit hard enough to leave a very noticeable bruise if she didn't get healed later. Her getting healed later did not mean he would just break her bones because it could be fixed.

That's mean. He did not like to be mean. He didn't want to hurt anyone more than he had to, even if he was playing the part of villain in this.

But that was as much as he was going to hold back.

Why would he show her mercy? He didn't need to have words with his enemy, he didn't need to give her a chance to breathe. Plus, he was a bit upset right now.

"Ugh! Deku-kun. I-I found the bomb, but I got caught the moment I stepped into the room! I can't get close! Ack! Ouch!" More marbles bombarded her, pushing her to run to the opposite side of the room and further away from the bomb.

Unlike his team, their team was communicating properly and more than likely had a plan against theirs. Izuku knew a bit about Yuuma's quirk form what he'd told him for his notebook, and Yuuma was sure that he knew Katsuki almost like the back of his hand. Yuuma tck-ed as he decided to quicken his plans, maybe he'd try to contact Katsuki again?

"Katsuki, I've engaged with Uraraka. Do you think you can come back?"

"I'm handling the nerd, don't bother me." The connection then zaps out, and Yuuma's eyes widened. Did he... did he just destroy his comm?

During a team exercise...

He ignored Yuuma.

Left him on his own without so much as a word.

And had now completely thrown away the only way for them to communicate from a distance while both of them were engaged with the enemy?

Yuuma's cheeks burned and his ears turned a tint of pink. His eyebrows furrowed deeply into a expression that one would think was a vicious eye glare, but it wasn't that. One wouldn't notice from the cameras, and they would have to get in really close to see the tiny pin pricks of tears at the corners of his eyes, as they were hidden by his hair for a brief moment.

Yuuma... he was embarrassed.

He was absolutely embarrassed that something like this was being watched by his classmates as well as the number one hero, who was their teacher at the moment. How would this clear lack of teamwork affect his grade? This exercise at that very moment turned into an absolute disgrace to the image Yuuma wanted to display of his team.

This was supposed to be a teamwork based exercise against real opponents. Yuuma had a thought that this was because the school wanted them to know how different fighting real people was to fighting robots. He wanted to prove that he could do a good job! He also wanted to prove that he was a good friend and help Katsuki and Izuku, or anyone else that ended up on his team!

He wanted to prove that he was capable, and if he could he wanted to help others prove that they were capable by communicating their plans, working together, and... and having fun! But right now, Yuuma was not having any fun.

90%

He wanted to be seen as capable and he wanted Katsuki to look well in front of his idol, along with Izuku. He wanted them to be able to make a good impression on the man who he knew they looked up to most. So he wanted a fair and fun display of each of their skills during this team exercise. Even if Izuku didn't use his quirk, which Yuuma didn't want him to until he had proper control, he'd be able to show off his smarts. Katsuki would be able to show off his battle prowess in a fight and Yuuma would learn something during his time in the class.

91%

How was he going to tell this to his Auntie when she called to check on them tonight? This... this... This was insulting to someone who was trying to make things work! Yuuma was always trying to make things work out. He didn't like conflict, he didn't like violence. But the world was not kind, and he was not naïve.

If there was one thing that Yuuma took pride in, it was his honesty. He was honest with himself, he was honest with others, and right now, if he was being honest...

"Katsuki you idiot!" This upset him greatly. In. Out. Think about it later, address it later. He was in the middle of a school assignment and he wasn't going to compromise his own performance because he was currently upset. He wasn't going to take out anything on Uraraka either, he was not mean. In. Out.

He would continue to think rationally and in the moment, he'd continue with his plan. He began running forward to Uraraka, who was still engaging the marble barrage and was currently being backed into the next phase of his plan.

Right now he was a villain, and he needed to deal with a hero.

93%

-In the Monitoring Room-

"Hitting a girl like that isn't manly!" Kirishima exclaimed, watching as Yuuma ruthlessly bombarded the poor girl with those marbles they finally knew the purpose of. In truth though, all of them were kinda amazed by the kid. It was common knowledge that Yuuma was much younger than all of them. Just an eleven year old, they thought. They didn't pay much attention anything else about him, they didn't really think to notice anything about it.

They didn't think of how strong he'd have to be for the school to accept him despite the fact he was younger, or how smart he really was for the same reason. Everyone had subconsciously thought, 'oh, he's younger, we should go easy on him not to hurt him.'

They were sure this was how Uraraka thought too. But they were currently seeing the consequences of walking into that battle with that type of mindset. No matter how young he was, Yuuma was more than capable.

Most of the girls thought that the boy was very sweet, and from their brief experience in being around him, the boys knew this was in fact true. Yuuma was very kind, a bit shy, and faithfully drank that 'Respect To Women' juice.

All Might heard Kirishima's exclamation and responded to him proudly. "On the contrary, Young Kirishima, He is treating her as he would any other in battle. It is his way of being respectful to the other party." He explained, recalling Airi's philosophy about fights.

'A fight is a fight. If you know how to hit, then you should know how to get hit. That simple.' She was with her team, and some new recruits were going easy on their peers of the opposite gender. She taught them a very painful lesson in gender equality that day...

All Might ignored the shivers down his spine and once again stated his R.I.P.'s to their pride, which was lost on that day.

'So the way I was thinking was the unmanly way... How did Kageyama get so dang manly? Who taught him this level of godlike manliness? Teach me thy ways!'

Kirishima Respect +15

"Midori's running away!" Ashido announced, and the others could see that he was indeed crawling his way away from the feral explosive teenager on his trail.

"I can see why though. Midoriya's amazing, but Bakugou is..."

"A beast?"

"Look look, Kageyama forced Uraraka out of the room!" Kaminari exclaimed, hyped by their epic fight.

"It seems that was his plan, using the marbles to attack her, he was forcing her back and away from the bomb and into the hall. Maybe he's planning on directly engaging her there to try and capture her without having to worry about the bomb getting in the way?" Yaoyorozu said, earning looks of realization and understanding.

"Oh? I think you're right!"

"Guys guys!" Hagakure shouted. "Bakugou just destroyed his comm! I saw him make it go boom!"

"What?! Why would he do that?" The class was in an uproar at the unexpected development. Bakugou had completely thrown away his teammate by doing that!

"You can't just abandon your partner like that! Especially if your partner is as manly as Kageyama! Why would Bakugou do that to himself?" Kirishima was baffled and appalled, and their gaze shifted to Kageyama versus Uraraka to see how the younger boy was handling what had just happened. They were sure that he'd just been talking to the older boy.

What they saw shocked them to silence.

His face was frowning deeply, his eyes were sharp, and his if looks were enough to kill, they were sure that whatever he was looking at would be ash by now. (they had no idea that he was actually really embarrassed, not glaring at anything.) He charged forward towards Uraraka, who was now in the hall, and began to attack directly.

They didn't know that the child could be that fast and nimble. They could see a subtle glow coming from his body as he rushed Uraraka. His fist were balled up, but not completely, he had two knuckles out and bent. It went with his gloves as the two fingers he had bent had a small metal piece on it.

Tap. Tap. Tap. He hit her arm in three places, he ducked before she could swing with her other arm, squatting down in an almost split before spinning on his hands, swing his legs beneath her and tripping her up. Tap. Tap Tap. Tap. He hit her leg the same way he hit her arm before kicking off the floor again and upright on his feet.

All of this happened in the pan of ten seconds. Uraraka was on the ground, unable to use the arm and leg he'd hit. They could see her visibly panic at that startling development. She'd managed to touch him, however, and took away all of his weight and he was floating in the air. She used that lapse to get back up on her feet and limp away.

Yuuma was able to change his tactics quickly, using his quirk on himself and going back to using what they thought was his favorite attack in this fight, the marble barrage. The class had begun to call the attack "Marble Assult."

Though they could see that he was looking a bit tired from having to control both himself and the marbles. It must of took an insane amount of concentration, but he was holding out and pushing through it. Uraraka put her hands together, releasing him as it took a lot out of her to hold him and she could see he'd already had a plan for it if he was touched.

Even though she was at a disadvantage, she was holding her own too. The two separate fights were raging and the time was ticking down, everyone was on the edge of their figurative seats waiting for what they'd see next.

-With Uraraka and Yuuma-

She was backed into a figurative corner with this kid! She'd really underestimated him! She couldn't get close, and even if she did and managed to touch him, his quirk made up for the lack of weight and balance. She had no way to get to him, but that wasn't the same for him who was currently attacking her with little marble menaces! The hits themselves weren't that detrimental, but that didn't mean they didn't hurt!

Getting hit in the elbows, knees, and ribs with little heavy marbles hurt a lot! It felt like she was being pelted by rocks from everywhere! Dodging was meaningless because they followed her. How was he even seeing her when she got out of his line of sight!? And blocking? He'd just hit what she was blocking! More pain! Her arms and legs were extremely sore at this point, and her stamina was running on fumes.

Yuuma on the other hand, didn't look nearly as tired as she was.

It took a lot of concentration to use the marbles in this way, thus he wanted to get in close to wrap her with the tape. But if he got close she would touch him and that would throw off his sense of balance. Making himself float and the marbles and the tape at the same time while in a battle like this was difficult. Of course, he'd tried to simply get her with the tape but she was tenaciously elusive.

If she trained a little more he was sure she would be very good at hand-to-hand combat. He should tell her about his observation later. They could talk about how their fight went when it was all over. Maybe he should invite his new friends out to get ice-cream? He'd put it on his to do list later.

This was not going to work, so he went with his secondary plan.

Make her tired.

Milk the time.

Stall.

Why would he waste energy getting in close when he didn't have to? He was not going to give her the chance to breathe, and even if she got out of his line of sight, he could just sense her out and follow her using the marbles. Though he quickly got rid of the option of running away for her when he led her to this dead end.

It went from being in a figurative corner to a literal corner, he wasn't just pelting her with marbles for nothing. He was leading her into yet another trap and further away from the bomb! When she noticed, she cursed. "Damn it!"

"That is a bad word, Uraraka-san! No bad words!" He scolded. She didn't have the time to call his scolding cute as she was trying to ward off the evil marbles. Evil little demons they were!

If he couldn't capture her, he'd immobilize her in this way. While Katsuki was stalling (trying to almost murder) Izuku, he was stalling Uraraka, and they would be able to win through the exhaustion of the time limit which had now hit the three minute mark.

He could easily keep this up for that long.

Katsuki may have destroyed their way of communicating and made a complete mockery of their teamwork based exercise, but Yuuma was trying very, very hard not to let that bother him. "Please surrender, Uraraka-san. I do not want to keep hitting you with marbles. I don't want to keep hitting you at all, actually. I do not like this exercise."

"Ack! N-no can do, Kageyama-chan! Deku-kun's counting on me! I won't give up just because of this!"

Yuuma felt just a little better hearing that. At least Izuku had a partner that he could work with and was willing to work with him. His team's teamwork was a complete joke. Katsuki had made it a complete joke.

95%

He was really going to yell at Katsuki for this later. He really, really hoped that whatever it was he and Izuku were going at each other for would be resolved after this. His aunt always said that when words didn't work fists did, and as much as he didn't like it it seemed that her words were ringing true for his two self-destructive and... just destructive... friends.

A long sigh escaped him.

Nothing else could possibly go wrong that hasn't already, right?

-Back in the Monitoring Room-

Silence for a moment. And then that silence erupted.

"What the heck was that!?"

"Crazy! Insane!"

"He's strong..."

If one turned, they could see a certain tailed hero-in-training, Ojiro, staring at the screen with stars in his eyes and his hands clasped together over his mouth as if he'd just seen something sacred and beautiful. "That... t-that technique... Could it be? Oh my god... Nerve Break Martial Art?!" He almost squealed, no, scratch that, he did squeal.

"Nerve Break? What's that?" Asui was the first to ask.

"It's only one of the most beautiful and effective martial arts forms ever!" He gushed, immediately catching himself before he went into a full on fan boy rant. "Ehem. Excuse me. My uncle took me to his job to see his training when I started martial arts with my dad, and that was the first time I'd seen it. His commander evented it, and let me just say that it was the most glorious form of martial art I've ever seen." He spoke with a level of admiration that they didn't know they'd get to see from the boy.

Ojiro Respect +35

"It seems Airi taught her nephew her fighting style and Young Kageyama found a way to incorporate it with his quirk. Truly a genius tactic." All Might said to himself with a smile as he mentally commented on the child's amazing growth since the last time been able to see the boy.

He did not acknowledge the fact that a chill went down his spine at the possibilities that came from Yuuma learning that technique. Nor did he acknowledge the memory of being a potato sack at its mercy.

The amiable and impressed atmosphere was cut short, however, when All Might noticed what the ash blonde was doing beyond the screen. He heard the words being said, and saw the boy about to pull the pin on his oversized grenade in the direction of his successor.

He wanted them to be able to fight, get it out of their system, and then be on better terms, but this was too far! "No! Stop! You'll kill him!"

"He'll live if he dodges!"

Oh no.

-With Yuuma-

He could feel it, the spike in his partner's anger and a morbid sense of humor. Izuku was feeling despair and fear. Both of these energies were currently clashing with each other when he heard something he was dreading over the comms that were in the building.

"No! Stop! You'll kill him!"

Yuuma completely forgot about the exercise for a moment as he ceased his attack on Uraraka. "Uraraka-san! What's happening with Izuku right now?! Check your comm!" She was just as worried as she quickly tried to connect her comm to her partner's, but she didn't get the chance when the entire building shook.

BOOOM!

Yuuma could feel that Izuku had been hurt by it, and he did a quick inner map check by spreading out his energy. Part of the building had been blown away and its stability was now in the balance. That moron! Idiot! Hothead! Stupid! Crazy!

'Katsuki you dummy! What were you thinking using a giant blast indoors?!'

98%

The ground was shaking and pieces of the walls were cracking severely. He rushed back into the bomb room to protect the bomb. And now Uraraka had her own set of projectile worthy weapons to work with and his advantage had been ebbed a bit. Another plan of his ruined because his of his teams poor (non-existent) communication.

In the midst of all of that he did not hear Uraraka give the bomb location nor did he think to feel out Izuku's emotions as he was trying to salvage what he could from the mess that Katsuki had just made. If he had, he probably would have ran towards them instead of the bomb. He would have abandoned the exercise right then and there and he would of told All Might to stop it immediately.

Katsuki wasn't the only crazy idiot he was friends with.

Yuuma moves on to plan C: Moving the bomb with his telekinesis while avoiding Uraraka. Because of everything that had happened, he didn't want to risk engaging with her at close range. He was minding his own fatigue while trying to increase hers. With the bomb in sight, she would of course try to go after it. All she needed to do was touch it.

"Uraraka-san, I really recommend you just surrender. I can't get close to you, but you definitely can't get to me or the bomb. It's pointless to continue." He said, trying to persuade her kindly to give up.

"You're doing your best, so I'm going to do my best too!" She smiled, fatigue written all over her face but smiling all the same. At least one of them was enjoying trying to prove themselves. He was happy she felt happy giving her all like this. "Thanks for not holding back on me. Sorry about before, I wasn't really taking this seriously."

"It's fine. Your welcome. Let's continue." He said, and their conversation ended.

Yuuma plays his game of keep away featuring a bomb and his opponent Uraraka. She tries to throw the loose debris at him, throwing them while they're light and then giving them their weight back to add momentum. But Yuuma is unfazed by this, he can just make a shield to block the incoming debris. They broke on impact, but them breaking did not hurt him in the slightest.

As the keep away game went on and the time ticked down, he noticed something strange.

'...Why was she using such an attack with a bomb present? If it was real that would be very suicidal.' Yuuma thought as he blocked yet another attack. He felt something was off though. Why was she doing this if she knew she wasn't going to be able to get to the bomb that way. He was too fast for her. Then he realized it.

'It's a trap?' Izuku was up to something.

"Roger!" She said, responding to something Izuku must of said over the comms. Then Yuuma felt it. The surge of power. The power that had so much force behind it that Yuuma did not want Izuku to use it at all. That dangerous mix of bright colors that made Yuuma dizzy looking at it.

"No no no! Izuku! Why would you use it?! All Might, why aren't you stopping this match if those idiots are being this crazy?! This training isn't worth people getting hurt like this!" But his voice went unheard by everyone as the ground beneath them was completely destroyed, followed every floor above it.

Everything was shaking now, the building couldn't handle the impact! It was rumbling violently as it was now completely unstable. But Uraraka, not noticing that Yuuma was no longer paying attention to the exercise, launched her haphazard attack at the bomb.

"Improvised Attack! Comet Homerun!" She used a broken pillar to hit a bunch of floating debris towards the younger boy. Yuuma was way too focused on Izuku's current chaotic state and the inevitable collapse of the building to prepare anything and ended up noticing the attack too late.

Uraraka regretted her impromptu decision as soon as she realized that Yuuma wasn't paying any attention to her and had instead been looking down at the bottom of the fathomless hole created by her partner. She was already jumping over the hole to grab the weapon. "Kageyama-chan! Look out!"

"Ack!" A piece of debris hit the temple of his head hard, the force knocking him backward. The fresh wound began to bleed, running down towards his eye. Uraraka landed on the bomb. But she wasn't concentrated on the fact that her team just won the exercise and instead wanted to help Yuuma who her rash decision had just hurt.

But the boy wasn't there anymore, just small traces of blood where he was once standing. He'd gone down to meet two idiots. One looked like the world ended, and the other looked like damaged goods. The little wound on his forehead was nothing compared to how... how wronged he felt at the moment.

99%

It took a moment for them to notice the small boy, head bleeding and all, was coming towards them from above like divine retribution. Izuku was about to topple over, All Might had just announced the hero teams win, but Yuuma wasn't caring at that point. He used his quirk to hold Izuku right where he was, not letting him fall, and healing his bruises.

"IZUKU, DON'T EVEN THINK OF PASSING OUT YOU MORON!" Yuuma sent a connection to his mind, sending his energy through the beaten and battered boy not caring if it took his remaining stamina. He would not allow the boy to pass out before he was done with him. Said boy retained enough energy to stand, looking up shocked as he noticed red eyes and floating hair landing before him.

They'd only seen him in a similar state once before, the slime villain incident.

Katsuki was equally as shocked as the smaller child glared at him just as viciously. He completely forgot that he was in the middle of having a mental breakdown from being predicted and led around by Izuku, losing to him. If looks could kill... He was sure he'd be ash in the wind by now.

"IDIOT! SELFISH DUMMY! DID YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT ME? YOUR PARTNER? IN YOUR ONE SIDED REVENGE QUEST?" They had never heard the younger boy raise his voice before. The power was rippling off of him in waves and he'd inadvertently connected his energy to both of them. He turned back to face the greenette, who was staring wide-eyed at the small kid.

"AND YOU! EQUALLY STUPID! YOU HAVE NO CONTROL OVER THAT POWER SO WHY DID YOU USE IT? WHY? YOU JUST ENDED UP HURTING YOURSELF AGAIN AND WHY? FOR AN EXERCISE? BOTH OF YOU ARE SO STUPID I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FATHOM IT!"

The building was rumbling again now, and by this time All Might had arrived to retrieve the children only to be smacked in the face by energy. The small one's glare was then sent to the older man. He immediately saw a glimpse of Airi before it was then replace with a small, very upset child. "AND YOU!"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP THE EXERCISE KNOWING THAT THESE RECKLESS DUMB STUPID MORONS WERE DOING SOMETHING SO DANGEROUS?! WHY WERE YOU JUST WATCHING!? YOU SHOULD OF ENDED IT WHEN STUPID KATSUKI EXPLODED THE PLACE AND THE STABILITY OF THE STRUCTURE WAS COMPROMIZED!"

"Eep!" The man yelped, gulping down dry saliva as he'd just been admonished by a child.

Yuuma was 100% Annoyed at everything. His sharp gaze bore into Katsuki once more, no longer caring that the building was rumbling even more violently than before. He didn't care about their worried and anxious expression right then.

Katsuki was looking promptly ashamed as what had happened during the entire exercise had just sunk in, but Yuuma wasn't having any of that.

"WHY DID YOU TRASH YOUR COMM?! WAS ME BEING YOUR PARTNER THAT WORTHLESS TO YOU OR WHAT?! INSULTING! YOU THINK YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE THAT HAS PRIDE? I DO TO! AND EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED TODAY WAS JUST A MASSIVE INSULT!"

Yuuma was livid, embarrassed, stressed out, and many others. The two boys listening to him were feeling all of that, almost drowning in it. Yuuma's emotions. They never knew how deeply he felt them and why he worked hard to keep them in check until that moment. They were being completely overwhelmed right now, enough to the point they couldn't even breathe.

Yuuma didn't know though, and in that moment he honestly didn't care.

"EVERYONE WAS WATCHING OUR TEAMWORK AND WHAT DID WE SHOW THEM?! HUH?! YOU TELL ME, KATSUKI! DON'T BE SILENT NOW, SPEAK!"

This is what Yuuma was feeling? This is what was building up until now? Is this why he said that he wanted space the other day?

And they had just been in their own world, not caring that Yuuma was spiraling. The signs were obvious, he'd been stressed since a few days ago.

He'd told them, honestly, how he was feeling.

It went in one ear and out the other because they were too focused on the problems they had with each other.

The building. That was when they finally noticed the building was collapsing... in reverse? At that same time, the energy that Yuuma had unknowingly connected to the two teens present released its hold on them, allowing them to once again breathe a bit.

But what they were seeing was just as suffocating.

Yuuma, he was crying. Angry, hurt, frustrated tears. "Even when I try my hardest to hold in my emotions, they just come out anyway. I'm tired of holding them in."

He'd kept the cap on the faucet for way too long, it was time to let the water flow out.

All Might finally got his wits about him when he finally realized what was happening. Uraraka had already left with the robots to get her injuries treated. He took the two other teens out of the building and to a safe distance. Once they were outside and he turned to make his way back in to try and calm Young Kageyama down, they all could properly see the chaos that was happening.

They wanted to know how strong Yuuma was? Well, they're getting a glimpse now. Yuuma's eyes were glowing white as his power reached a peak, the tears at the corners of his frowning eyes rising with the debris. The building was being completely upheaved. Breaking at the seams and crumbling into debris, floating in the sky as if they defied the law of gravity.

Yuuma was the center of this devastation. Yuuma, the boy they had been neglecting until that very moment. Their eyes were wide as the reality of what they were seeing began to settle in.

At that moment, everything seemed to go in the opposite direction. Instead of up, it went back down. The walls connected themselves together on the atomic level as if they had never been broken apart in the first place, the camera's came back online as they were reconnected. The people in the monitoring room were wondering what all of rumbling and earthquakes were about, the camera's having gone dark and them not seeing a thing.

At the center of all of it, was a very frustrated and very sad young boy. All of that had happened in the span of less than fifteen seconds. There he stood, crying his little eyes out with flushed cheeks and burning ears, his eyes frowning as he furiously wiped them away.

0%

He didn't feel like passing out in front of them. He didn't want to look at them. He didn't want to talk to them. Right now he wanted nothing to do with any of them. Not with Katsuki, not with Izuku, not even with All Might.

He, he just needed to go.

With tired steps, he walked passed them, not even giving them a sideways glance as he made his way to the nurse's office to get his head wound treated. He didn't care if they were shocked and saddened by his tears, nor did he give them the chance to give their apologies.

He was ashamed. He was irritated.

He wanted to watch the others, but he felt like he'd just get upset because his own exercise was... embarrassing. He's just as bad as they were letting his feelings catch up to him during their Battle Trial.

So, his angry and irritated tears did not stop even as he got to the nurse's office.

He hoped they got over whatever was going on with them with this grand display of irrationality and personal agendas. His team lost, of course, and he didn't know how they'd be graded on this disaster of an exercise. But, he was happy that it seemed as though they got it out of their systems. They weren't friends or proper rivals right now, but at least they weren't flat out enemies anymore and that was a good thing.

That did not change the fact that he was super upset with both of them.

He wanted to go home.

He wanted to see his cousin and get a hug.

He wanted to see his aunt and ask how she was doing.

He wanted to drink vanilla milk with his grandma.

...He really wanted his mom and dad.

[A/N] OH MY GOD THIS WAS LONG. ? My brain is hurting. But hurray! We are here! Finally... I hope that wasn't really bad or boring, I'm terrible at fight scenes... No, I will not being going into the other's battle trials, I apologize for my laziness. So this is the official end of the battle trial!?

...Thank god.?

I will see you in the next chapter! And then we are off to the next arc of the story!