The Blossoming Rose

by IcePhoenix2005

Sequel to Crimson Roses. MUST READ PREVIOUS STORY BEFORE THIS ONE. Detailed summary inside. Announcement: Changing update schedule to biweekly (every two weeks) on Fridays due to the lack of time for making chapters. I highly apologize for this, but I promise it will be the last big change.

9. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"What… the hell just happened?" Sato whispered out. "The losers are practically uninjured, and the winners are all on the ground."

"They lost the battle, but won the war, huh?" Tokoyami summarized.

"This is just training though," Asui pointed out. "It's not even… the real thing."

'Is this… what we have to face as heroes?' Was what went through everyone's minds. Scarlett's speech from the other day rang in their minds. Destruction and even death was always a possibility. Even for the best. Even All Might isn't completely invincible, as much as they would like to think so. But it scared them too much to think what would happen once he's gone.

All Might and Anna left the room to go to the destroyed building. A couple of nurse robots were there to accompany them as they inspected Midoriya.

The blonde apprentice sighed. "I don't know if my quirk can heal him up all the way… but I'll do my best."

The number one hero nodded, looking at his protege anxiously. "That's fine. Don't push yourself. Anything helps."

The blonde girl took out a vial of golden tears from her utility belt and opened it up. Slowly, she poured the liquid onto the heavily bruised and broken arm. It glowed golden as the wound started healing. After using the entire vial, the arm looked significantly better, but the bruising was still there in some areas, and they didn't have an x-ray to see how many broken bones were left.

Sighing once again, Anna said, "I can use more tears, but my supply is very limited right now. And it'll take a lot more effort to create more. But the fresher the tears are, the more effective their healing abilities will be."

All Might shook his head. "No, young Anna. That will do. Thank you." He looked to the robots and nodded for them to take Midoriya to the nurse's office.

Anna clenched a fist. 'I have to get stronger if I want to save people. Right now, I'm just a laughing stock. If I can't heal a wound like this, how about when there are countless injured heroes?'

Meanwhile, Bakugo was still standing in the same spot, slightly shaking in shock. 'He… predicted my move? On top of that… he found a way to win the exercise… I lost?' He started hyperventilating and sweating profusely, denying what he just thought. 'Does that mean… even if we fought all-out… Deku would completely beat…?'

He snapped out of it when All Might suddenly put a hand on his shoulder. "Come, young Bakugo. It's time to review the results. Whether you win or lose… looking back and learning from your experiences is a part of life."

Bakugo didn't say anything and merely brushed off the hand as he stomped away, his shock and disbelief slowly transitioning to stewing frustration.

"Geez, Bakugo doesn't look too good," Sero commented from the security room.

'It's probably the first time he's actually lost at something, and to someone who he thought inferior at that, which just adds salt to the wound. Of course he would be shocked,' Scarlett mused. 'Will he take it to heart though, and be forever stuck on it? Or can he learn from it and move forward from there? Could I even move on?'

"Anna's quirk is cool though!" Hagakure gushed. "She does have a healing quirk like Recovery Girl! I bet it's super useful in battle!"

Soon, all the students minus Midoriya gathered in the monitor room. The three who participated in the exercise certainly looked better other days. Bakugo was refusing to make eye contact with anyone while Uraraka still had a pale complexion from the use of her quirk. Iida simply looked ashamed at letting his guard down as well as not being able to act fast enough.

All Might cleared his throat awkwardly. "Ahem. Well, even if I say that… The MVP for this battle goes to young Iida!"

"W-what?!" Iida stuttered out, stunned, snapping out of his shameful demeanor. "Me?!"

"It's not either of the winners, Uraraka or Midoriya?" Asui thought out loud.

"Yes!" All Might responded. "Can anyone explain why?"

As Yaoyorozu opened her mouth to explain, she then slowly closed it and looked at Scarlett, who was quiet. "Um… why don't you explain it, Scarlett? I'm sure… that you would do a much better job at it."

Looking at her with a slightly puzzled look, Scarlett sighed. "Well… Iida was the one who played the role the best out of all four of them. Bakugo was very irrational and clearly acted due to his grudge and went with his own plans without talking about it to his teammate. Villains also need to do teamwork to have success. There were also plenty of times where Bakugo could have captured Midoriya but chose to just beat him up instead, wasting time unnecessarily. Not only that… but that giant attack Bakugo released was just as All Might said: foolish. Midoriya was also similar in that his punch that caused them to win the match was just as chaotic and idiotic. How the building was still able to stand is anyone's guess. Heroes need to keep damage to a minimum. Money doesn't grow on trees and if there were civilians in the vicinity, it would put them at a risk. And for villains, it would also be in their best interest to have little damage. The last thing they want is more attention."

After taking a little break for them to process it, she continued. "Uraraka was also very reckless with that move she did to capture the weapon. The only reason why she did it was because it wasn't a real weapon. But you need to not think of it as a training exercise, but as a real job. She also blew her cover rather easily, a rookie mistake. She also took little initiative and mainly followed what Midoriya instructed her to do. And then there is Iida. While he still needs plenty of improvement, he kept a level head for most of the exercise, especially when Bakugo went rogue. His acting was… unnecessary, to put it simply. He did put in a good effort to act villainous though and put up a decent fight for the heroes. His defense against Uraraka wasn't bad either. He utilized his speed when she attempted to capture the weapon. However, his performance could be better. He let down his guard when Bakugo made that giant explosion and allowed Uraraka to take advantage of that. Overall though, Iida was the one who had the best results out of this exercise, despite being on the losing side."

Iida was gaping at her, but then soon puffed up his chest in pride. He might not be proud of his results, but he'll gladly take the compliments. Especially from someone who is leading the class by a margin as of now.

All Might was shaking slightly at just how much she said. 'W-well, this is the 2nd time her analysis was… more than I expected. How scary…' "Ah, y-yes, young Iida had some parts that could have used improvement, as young Evans has stated. But that all was very correct!"

"Call me Scarlett please," she said in reply, closing her eyes. "I'm more accustomed to being called that."

"Ah yes," All Might nodded in agreement. "Young Anna and my friend David said something similar…"

Yaoyorozu looked down. 'What is this feeling inside my chest? I feel so… defenseless and incapable… and envious. I'm a recommended student! I should be better than this. Keep your head up, Momo! This is just one time! We still got three whole years ahead of us. As a Yaoyorozu, I cannot let this discourage me!'

All Might once again took out the black and white boxes labeled heroes and villains. "All right everyone, let's change locations and start the second match! Make sure you take what happened from the previous match and learn from it!"

"Yes, sir!" All of them chorused.

Anna had reentered the room after properly making sure that Midoriya got to the nurse's office without any trouble. She looked at Bakugo, who was staring at nothing, completely stunned.

'Maybe I should talk to him… no. That'll make him explode at me… he's truly an enigma though. Well, he's definitely an asshole, but I feel as though there's something more to him. Something that you can't see on the surface.'

All Might reached into the boxes and pulled out two teams. "Team B will be the heroes and Team H are the villains!"

Scarlett tensed slightly when she realized that it was her turn, as well as who the opponents were.

Asui looked at her partner. "Looks like we're up, kero."

Scarlett sighed. "It appears so. And unfortunately, it will likely not be a clean win. Not with Todoroki and Shoji."

"You're right," Asui agreed, noting that despite her words, she hardly seemed fazed. Well, she wasn't fazed by much at all from what she's seen. "Let's talk strategy when we get to the building though."

Kirishima looked hyped. "This is going to be a battle of the elite! The heroes have Todoroki, who placed 2nd in the recommendation exam and Shoji's got some serious muscle strength and awesome senses! While the villains have Scarlett, who placed first in the entrance exam and the battle trials! Asui's also smart and resourceful and extremely observative!"

Scarlett took out her katana, and shocked everyone near her.

"Wait… it's black?" Sato whispered in surprise, flinching a bit when she raised it higher. She raised her eyebrow in response to his cowering.

Tokoyami nodded in approval. "A fine color for a weapon. Perfectly embodies the element of darkness."

"You really like your edgy stuff, don't you?" Sero remarked.

The ravenette then grabbed a strange roll of black tape from her belt that had been specially made with cursed demon blood. She then proceeded to wrap her katana with it tightly and securely.

"Huh?" Hagakure was confused. "Why are you doing that?"

"I'm sure that you wouldn't want to suddenly have a limb or two cut off by accident, right?" Scarlett replied irritatedly. "I have plenty of control over my weapon, but it's best to be careful, isn't it?"

"Eep!" Hagakure flinched. "U-uh, probably yes! That would probably be ideal."

Shoji looked at his partner, trying to ignore the pang of fear he felt from Scarlett's words. "Should we go?"

Todoroki gave a single nod, narrowing his eyes at Scarlett. 'You may have gotten first on the entrance exam and even the trials the other day, but this is when I'll show you who's the better one. I'll win… with only my right side.'

He analyzed her outfit. The katana was a bit worrying, if he was being honest with himself. Same with the kunais. But the bow shouldn't be much of a threat. In such a confined space with narrow hallways, a bow wouldn't have much use. It's much more effective in an open environment, the exact opposite of this place. What could she possibly do with the curved weapon?

Shoji looked over at Todoroki once they were outside the building. "What do you want to do? What should I do?"

"I can handle the attacks," Todoroki replied coolly. "But you can use your hearing to scout out their locations. Don't worry too much. It'll all wrap up in just a few minutes. No, less than that."

Hesitant, the muscular teammate nodded. He felt as though perhaps his partner was underestimating the other team too much. Especially Scarlett Evans. But then again, Todoroki placed 2nd on the recommendations and 3rd on the trials. Maybe he was being too paranoid. He should place more trust in his teammate.

.

.

.

Scarlett and Asui were in the building, strategizing about what to do. They had just finished placing the fake missile in a room that was close to the top of the building.

Feeling a bit awkward, Scarlett managed to say in a neutral tone, "So… Do you have any ideas, Asui?"

"Just call me Tsu," Asui responded, her tongue flicking in and out. "That's what I let friends call me."

"...Right," Scarlett agreed, moving from that topic quickly. A small part of her was strangely warm because Asui always considered her a friend despite hardly knowing each other, but she pushed that down. This wasn't the time to make acquaintances. "Although, do you have anything you want to say first? Any thoughts?"

Asui sighed. "I wish we didn't have to go against Todoroki, kero. I'm at a huge disadvantage, not just from his unbelievable ice ability."

The ravenette was confused as to what she meant until it clicked. "Since your quirk is essentially being a frog… does that mean you are also vulnerable to the cold as well? Do you start to hibernate?"

Asui nodded. "And I bet Todoroki would guess that as well and take full advantage of it."

"That is a problem…" Scarlett scowled as she leaned against the wall. "For now, you should deal with Shoji. I'll handle Todoroki."

"It'll be difficult, but not as much as with the other one," Asui agreed. "But what are you going to do with Todoroki? Your quirk is basically just telekinesis, no?"

Scarlett smirked a bit, although her high collar prevented her teammate from seeing it. "I do have a few tricks up my sleeves, with both my quirk and utility. Just worry about Shoji. And we need defenses for the weapon."

The frog girl didn't like that answer, being vague as it is. But she didn't expect the enigmatic person to say anything outside of general courtesy. "Right. In order for them to win, they have to capture both of us or capture the weapon." Asui looked at the fake missile. "So even if they're extremely close to the weapon, if they aren't able to touch it, they can't win, right?"

"Smart," Scarlett remarked. "I just came to that conclusion as well. And I have a good solution to that."

"What is it?" Asui asked.

While it didn't feel good to reveal her cards to someone, even if it were a teammate, Scarlett knew this was essential to their win. Asui shouldn't be completely left in the dark. "I told you I had a few tricks up my sleeve. The other ability I have is to… create barriers." It wasn't false, but it wasn't the only potential her energy manipulation had. She had to keep a few things to herself after all.

Asui flicked her tongue in and out, intrigued. "Interesting, ribbit. That'll be useful."

"Yes, but I shouldn't have it running all the time," Scarlett said. "It'll be a waste of energy, and it makes me a bright red beacon. My attire can only do so much to hide me. I'll do it when they get too close. Besides, I'm sure that it would throw them off as well."

"That's a good point," Asui replied, keeping another note at the replacement of the word costume with attire. "Your utility is quite impressive though. Clearly a lot of thought went into its creation."

Scarlett nodded absently, readjusting her utility belt. "I had good people make it." She connected her personal earpiece with Asui's instead of using the ones that All Might handed out.

Asui and her sharp observation skills notice a strange glass contraption as she moved her belt. "Hey, what's that?"

Scarlett looked to where she was pointing at and stiffened slightly. "... It's just an empty glass vial. Just in case I need to store evidence."

"Oh," Asui said. "That's interesting. Never thought of a hero using that."

'Well, my case is a bit different,' Scarlett thought darkly.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Flashback

As Ray and Gilda walked around Scarlett in her newly made costume, they explained each part in perfect detail. Overall, the suit felt very good on her. It was a simplistic design that is made up with the amount of gadgets and utility it comes with. Regarding the mask issue, they decided to compromise by giving the shirt a high collar with a zipper so that it at least covers a decent amount of her face without limiting her vision. The trench coat was snug but not constricting on her, though she kept it unbuttoned to have more movement, much to Gilda's disapproval.

Scarlett sighed as she held the black bow. "I like the design and it's very light. And my aim's decent. It's not the same as my sniper though…"

"We talked about this," Ray said, sitting on a chair. "If your quirk doesn't relate to guns at all-"

"Then your reputation goes down because guns are seen as taboo in the hero world, I know," Scarlett finished irritatedly.

"The bow has nothing to do with your quirk either, but I think people would understand that it's a weapon to fight evil. A bow is not nearly as controversial," Gilda explained.

Scarlett grumbled and crossed her arms in frustration.

Ray straightened himself as he then added, "Oh, I forgot. Here." He tossed some sort of glass object, which Scarlett caught easily.

She narrowed her eyes once she realized what it was. "A syringe?"

"Just in case you need to get some DNA samples," Ray briefly clarified while also handing her some needles. "Also, you can use them to draw your own blood."

The air grew very cold.

"...And what do I need to do that for?" Scarlett hissed quietly, her eyes glowing a dark and ominous red.

Ray didn't flinch or hesitate at all while Gilda was having trouble keeping eye contact.

"You know what," Ray replied, his eyes flashing warningly. "Your blood can give others not just a special ability, but certain demon characteristics. That includes regeneration. While it may be weak or strong, it's a guarantee. It may save someone's life."

"Or give them a burden to live with!" Scarlett slammed a fist on the desk, her gaze deadly. "Are you joking with me? First of all, it's a risk because the secret may be exposed! We don't have a guarantee that they would stay quiet unless we silence them, in which case there was no point in giving them the blood anyway! What if they can't give consent? That's just wrong! If they don't want it, they have no choice but to just live with it! I don't want to be the one who makes their lives miserable!"

"If you save their lives and they are ungrateful for it, then they can shove it way up their conceited asses!" Ray retorted. "If they're that stupid to resist the help you provide, then ignore them! Don't give them any attention! You underestimate others. You think that they're so hostile and defensive when you're not even giving them the benefit of the doubt. Not everyone is like the Ratri clan or those other humans that worked at the farms! You need to trust more."

'Trust?' Scarlett thought incredulously.

Ray sighed, knowing she was still on edge about it. "Anyways, just take it. It's only for emergencies and you can obtain DNA samples with it. It's not just for extracting your own blood. If any of our desirables come into contact, it'd be useful to get any sort of DNA. In fact, that's probably going to be our best evidence."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Scarlett shook her head a bit, focusing on her teammate. "I say we go for an offensive attack since the other team will likely believe we'll go on defense. Of course, we still need to protect the weapon to a certain extent." 'I'm 80% sure that Todoroki will go for an all out attack right away to just wipe us out. I've seen how dangerous his ice is. And I can definitely tell he thinks he's better than us. He radiates confidence for sure. That's what is going to be his downfall.'

Asui nodded. "I can agree with that. Although we need to discuss about Shoji before we run out of time. Todoroki is the bigger threat, but Shoji isn't someone to underestimate either, judging from how he performed in the trials."

Scarlett agreed. It would be a bad habit if you focus too much on one enemy, no matter how much more troubling that enemy was. "Shoji's strength is impressive. However, strength can only do so much and it won't be able to do a lot if we keep our distance. It'll be a bit hard in this building, but we can manage."

"With my ability to stick to the walls, I have the advantage, kero," Asui said. "His senses are a bit worrying as well though."

'Well, at least I have enhanced senses as well,' Scarlett mused. 'Though I don't know who's better in that department. Most likely him.'

Asui continued talking. "With his hearing, we'll have to be quiet. From what I've seen, your telekinesis doesn't make much noise so he'll have a hard time picking it up. Though they might guess what we're doing, at least they won't be able to trace us so easily. We can try and dupe them with that."

The ravenette nodded. 'To be honest, I wish I had Iida and Bakugo as my opponents. Even if they're strong, despite me not knowing them for that long, it's pretty easy to read them. Todoroki and Shoji show very little expression and it's definitely more difficult to understand those two. The fact that their quirks are strong and very versatile doesn't help either. Even if I have the advantage in experience and smarts, I can't underestimate them.'

"Are both teams ready yet? If you're not, too bad because the 2nd round begins… NOW!" All Might's voice boomed.

Todoroki and Shoji quickly entered the building. The hot and cold male nodded to Shoji to use his hearing.

Shoji spread out his arms in response and grew some ears, listening carefully to the opposing team's movements. Surprisingly, he heard very few signs of them. He knew that the other team would know of his abilities, but to hear almost nothing… no. This was Scarlett Evans that they are up against. And Asui was no pushover either for sure. Scarlett was likely using her telekinesis so that he would find it more difficult to locate them. But even so, surely she has a limit. But there was also limited time on the clock. There was no time for them to wait around.

"Well?" Todoroki uttered quietly, his impatience showing slightly. "Did you find them?"

His teammate shook his head. "No. They're likely using telekinesis to make little sound in order to combat my hearing."

"Tsk," Todoroki sighed in annoyance. "Well, it doesn't matter. I was hoping that I would be able to just freeze what was necessary. Oh well. I just need… to cool down the temperature a bit more is all. Step outside unless you want to get frostbite."

Shoji did so quickly, feeling perhaps a bit dejected at how his teammate basically just used him for his needs and threw him away. But no. This was probably for the best.

Todoroki prepped himself to bring on an unforgiving wave of winter. "They're probably going for a defensive stance, which only leaves things in my favor. This match will end right here." 'Even if Evans somehow manages to survive it, surely her teammate will be down. The cold is one of her biggest weaknesses.'

As he said that, ice shot out and spread from his right hand that was touching the wall as well as his right foot. Within no time, the whole building was being frozen as it was coated in ice like frosting on a cake.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Unfortunately, the coldness spreaded to the monitor room where the rest of the class and All Might were watching. All of them were rubbing their arms and the room became filled with the sound of chattering teeth.

"I d-d-don't Env-v-y y-you H-H-Hagak-kure," Ojiro shivered, looking at the boots and gloves that indicate her location.

"I-I d-d-d-d-on't either," Hagakure replied, the coldest out of all of them.

"Here e-everyo-one!" Yaoyorozu called out, using her quirk to create a few space heaters for all of them. Everyone started gathering around them.

"T-thanks, Yao-Momo!" Ashido grinned. "I feel better already!"

"Todoroki really just went all out, huh?" Kaminari commented in awe.

"I wonder how the villain team will counter this?" Jiro wondered out loud. "Todoroki basically made the terrain to his advantage!"

"I don't see Scarlett or Tsu on any of the cameras!" Ashido complained.

"They're likely right underneath the cameras, or in other blind spots," Yaoyorozu explained. "I bet they're going to ambush the heroes once they come up."

"A smart reasoning, young Yaoyorozu!" All Might complimented. "Indeed, that is likely what they are planning to do!"

"Man, what's with everyone and doing surprise attacks?" Kirishima complained. "It's effective, but not manly at all!"

All Might laughed. "Perhaps one day, young Kirishima, you will realize how much the element of surprise can turn the waves of a battle. Manliness or being macho is not everything to a hero. You'll understand someday."

Uraraka was trying her hardest to focus on the battle, but her eyes kept on darting to the door, as if expecting someone.

'I hope Deku will be ok… he's really amazing! To come up with such a reckless but working plan and how strong he was! His determined look and his encouraging voice...' Her face immediately turned red as she frantically shook her head. 'W-what am I thinking?! That's not important at all! Oh, I hope he'll be alright…'

She jumped up suddenly when she felt a hand on her shoulder. The brunette turned to see Anna there with a sympathizing smile.

"Don't worry about him," Anna reassured her. "I healed him up a decent amount and Recovery Girl will finish it off. I heard he was in worse condition at the entrance exam. And she'll have less work to do as well since I healed him partially." 'Besides…' Her gaze turned to a certain blonde that was just watching the current battle in a daze. 'Deku's not the one I'm most concerned about at all.'

Uraraka smiled weakly. "Y-yeah… you're right!"

"Wait…" Hagakure said slowly. "Something's strange! Todoroki intended to freeze the entire building, right?"

"Of course…?" Sero replied in confusion, as was the rest of the class. "Didn't he do exactly that though?"

"Look!" Ashido exclaimed, understanding what her friend meant. "The room with the weapon isn't frozen at all!"

"She's right!" Kaminari looked at it, baffled. "But why?"

"It surely cannot be a coincidence!" Iida declared. "The villains must have done something to counteract it!"

"But with what?" Yaoyorozu murmured. "What could stop that monstrous wave of ice?"

~0~0~0~0~0~

Scarlett was hiding around the corner in one of the nearby hallways to the weapon room. She reached for her listening device and muttered quietly into it, "Asui. I'm going to disable the barrier now. No ice got in there, right?"

"Everything's good here, kero," Asui responded, hiding behind a pillar in the weapon room and just so happened to be in the camera's blindspot. "It was a good idea for you to block the weapon room from the cold. Now I don't need to worry as much about going into hibernation early. Thank you."

The ravenette coughed a bit awkwardly. "There's… no need for you to thank me. It was just a logical idea. So just stay in that room, ok? And don't make any noise in case Shoji picks it up. I'm going to try and sneak up on them. My scouter has a heat seeking function, so they won't be able to hide."

"I know you said we should take them straight on and be on offense, but be careful of Shoji," Asui warned her. "I'll wait here in case one of them sneaks past you."

Scarlett nodded, then slapped herself internally after realizing that her teammate couldn't see it. "Right." 'Sneaking around? That's essentially the basis of what we did in the demon world. If you wanted to survive, you had to learn to at least not attract any unwanted attention. If I get caught now, Mike would have been hella pissed. I would be too. It's embarrassing to think about.'

With silent footsteps like a ninja, Scarlett quickly ran through the hallways, always making sure to check around corners just in case. But her scouter sensed their heat signatures a few floors below her. Her bow remained on her back since it would not be of use here, with the narrow corridors. She vaguely hears footsteps underneath her. Two pairs of them.

~0~0~0~0~0~

"Wait!" Kirishima suddenly pointed to the monitor with the weapon. "There's Tsu!"

"Looks like you were right about her being in the camera's blindspot!" Toru said to Yaoyorozu. "You're so smart!"

The rich girl blushed as she looked at the ground. "Anyone could guess that…" She tried to reason, although a smile was also present on her face.

"No way!" Ashido grabbed her hands and made her look back up. "Someone as stupid as me could never even think smart like you or Scarlett can! If this school focused more on academics than heroism, I wouldn't have made it in for a million years!"

Anna watched their exchange with slight amusement. Yaoyorozu really did remind her of a younger Scarlett. That girl who was always scared to even just state her opinion or simply make eye contact with them. She used to always be so humble and not think too highly of her own ideas and theories, especially back when they planned to escape from Grace Field. The Scarlett they know now is still the same one at the core, but a more evolved version.

'Sigh…' Anna suddenly looked dejected, causing the other students to send her confused and strange looks. 'When did she turn into such a demon? …No pun intended. Day after day of non-stop training and dieting... Mike must have influenced her too much. If I have to do any more spars with her, I'll never survive!' A demonic and sadistic looking Scarlett popped into her head.

Everyone flinched as she suddenly shivered with a haunted look on her face.

"Uh… Anna?" Sero leaned towards her tentatively. He stopped when her shivering increased.

"T-the ice is just getting to me!" Anna replied in defense.

"Oh…" Sero managed to say, not mentioning how she was the closest one to the space heaters. "You… just do you, ok?"

"Ew!" Jiro looked disgusted at the screens.

"What is it, young Jiro?" All Might questioned her.

"Do you guys not see what Tsu is doing?!" The earphone jack user exclaimed.

All of them looked at the frog girl and immediately had varying reactions of vulgarity and looking appalled at the sight.

"WHAT IS SHE DOING?!"

~0~0~0~0~0~

Shoji's eyes widened slightly. "I heard footsteps coming from the very top floor. Although they're almost nonexistent."

Todoroki frowned. Something wasn't right. "Was it Evans then? No, it has to be. Asui couldn't have escaped my ice. But we can't be too sure. You should probably come."

His partner nodded, and the two of them started walking.

As expected, they didn't encounter anything on the first few floors. Shoji kept on listening for more sounds, but there was hardly any. The quiet atmosphere made him feel unnerved and tense.

After a few minutes of silence, Shoji spoke up. "Are you absolutely positive that Asui is stuck in the ice?"

"Very. Although Evans might have gotten her out. Even if that's the case, Asui should be in hibernation or close to. That's what frogs do," Todoroki said curtly. "And Asui is not our main focus."

"That's what I assumed as well," a voice suddenly sounded out.

Todoroki and Shoji immediately tensed as Scarlett suddenly appeared around the corner and launched herself at them.

'So fast!' Todoroki barely managed to dodge her katana blade by leaning back. He felt a strong whoosh of wind fly past him, sending chills down his spine. This was a feeling he hadn't felt in so long. That feeling… of being absolutely overwhelmed by power.

"Get up, Shoto! This shouldn't faze you at all! If you can't even handle this, you'll never be able to surpass All Might!"

The hot and cold male's eyes narrowed. Oh he'll surpass All Might one day. But not the way that man wants.

Shoji ran behind her and attempted to bring his fists down onto her. In return, Scarlett hopped forward to avoid it while spinning around and leapt up to give him a spin kick to the head, making it bent in an awkward position. He made a choking sound in response and he had no time to recover as his now exposed neck was attacked by her blunted katana. If it weren't handicapped, his head would have been gone. As the ravenette was about to give a finishing blow, she felt a drastic decrease in temperature behind her and dodged a sudden wave of ice.

"Do you take us for easy opponents?" Todoroki scowled. "Me and you on different levels, you know."

Scarlett nearly snorted in disbelief. "Change that ridiculous and tacky costume, and then we can talk."

The temperature in the room seems to have gotten even colder once she finished talking. Todoroki's gaze was sharp and looked as though would kill someone in cold blood with no mercy. But Scarlett knew that despite his cold demeanor and heavily trained quirk, that he was still a greenhorn. He had no idea what the world was like, just like the rest of them. He was probably one of the most unhinged of the group, just second to Bakugo.

"I don't have time for this talk." Yet another wave of ice raced towards her which she dodged by using telekinesis.

As soon as she landed on the ground, Shoji immediately went to punch her. Scarlett sidestepped out of the way almost casually. She conveyed her emotions very clearly with her bored expression. He almost half expected her to yawn too, just to spite him.

As fast as lightning, Scarlett suddenly then grabbed his outstretched hand while putting her katana back in its sheath. Then she judo flipped him flawlessly and he landed on the ground rather painfully.

'How…?' Scarlett was definitely strong, but he didn't expect her to be able to overpower him just like that! Surely he had dozens of pounds on her!

Todoroki too was shocked at how easily she managed to lift him before snapping out of it and charging forward with more ice. "Shoji! Get to the weapon room! I'll deal with her!"

Shoji nodded as he raced off. The ravenette didn't even try to chase after him. Asui can at least hold him off for a bit.

Because of the close proximity, Scarlett was not able to completely dodge the sudden ice wave, and ended up with a scrape on her left cheek. Blood slowly oozed out of the newly made cut, but she didn't even flinch. A small cut like this didn't amount to anything at this point.

The stoic male then took this chance to encase her in a dome of thick and hard ice. Satisfied, thinking that he caught her, he was about to then leave to go to the weapon when he flinched a bit as a katana blade suddenly stabbed right through the ice and nearly hit him. He noticed that the black tape was gone from the blade in order to cut through the cold substance.

'Her blade is actually black? Not paint, but it's made of an actual black metal alloy?' Todoroki was completely blindsided. 'What kind of metal can just cut through a foot of ice like butter?!'

With a clean swipe of the blade, Scarlett cut off the top half of the dome easily as she kicked it away, causing it to shatter on the ground.

"Really?" She raised an eyebrow as she rested the katana on her shoulder. "Now I'm starting to think you think of me as an easy opponent. Did you really think that would stop me that easily?" Her katana was stowed away as she grabbed three kunais from her belt between her fingers on the other hand and threw them at the ice user.

Todoroki stilled, stunned, as the three kunais stuck to the wall, making only small cuts and stabbing through the clothing, causing him to wince a bit at the sudden pain. He was stuck to the wall, thanks to the sharp little things.

'She missed… no. Obviously Evans can't actually stab me, which was why she covered her katana in the first place. No, she aimed for them to stick me here on purpose! What terrifying aim… but just this won't bring me down! I'll show you how much stronger I am than you!'

He grabbed the kunais and yanked them off, tossing them onto the ground. As he was preparing for another ice barrage, his eyes widened as Scarlett was holding a smoke bomb in her hand above her head.

She activated her telekinesis to retrieve the kunais on the floor and back into her belt.

Todoroki gritted his teeth. "Not on my watch-!" He went for an ice attack, but the ice was easily shattered by the katana once again.

Scarlett smirked internally. "You really should have done more strategizing with your teammate instead of thinking you're all high and mighty. Also, maybe try thinking ahead some more. Your moves are too obvious." And with that, her fingers released the smoke bomb from its grasp.

The male coughed as red smoke engulfed what seems to be a decent chunk of the floor the two of them were on.

Dammit! Now he couldn't even see her! Aiming his ice randomly wouldn't likely help either and would just give away his spot. No. There was no point! The smoke was a diversion to get away! Probably to capture his teammate! Even if he did not like relying on others, Shoji's abilities would definitely be useful. He hasn't said anything to him since he left for the weapon room. No other choice. He reached for his earpiece and called for his teammate.

"Shoji. Do you copy?"
.

.

.

Shoji ran through the hallways and up the stairs to where the weapon room would supposedly be. He was thoroughly embarrassed by how easily Scarlett overpowered them, despite their powerful quirks and numbers. They underestimated her far too much. But surely Todoroki would triumph in the end? But Scarlett also scored higher than him on the trials… and with how she managed to evade all their attacks, even with the two of them… Should he go back? Todoroki might not be able to handle her. ...No. He said to go to the weapon room. He shouldn't argue with that, right?

As he approached a large room, he immediately noticed that the room did not have a single patch of ice in it for whatever reason. Something was wrong. It made him feel uneasy as he slowly entered the room. His guard was up and he grew some ears to listen for any suspicious sounds. There was none other than the clear fighting between the other two. Then he grew some eyes, but nothing popped up that was out of the ordinary. But where was Asui? Todoroki had assumed that she would be taken care of when he did that giant ice barrage. But seeing as Scarlett was completely fine and unscathed, he had to assume the same thing for the frog girl.

The large male had the fake weapon in sight. He quickly started running towards it. Time was running out fast. He was so worried about the time limit that it never crossed his mind that it might have just been a trap. It was too late by the time he realized it.

His running suddenly stopped as he felt a sticky substance on his shoes.

'What? What is this stuff? It's not like I can't get out of it, but it's slowing me down… No!'

Shoji's eyes widened as he realized the trap. But before he could do anything about it, he was coated in more of the sticky stuff… and it made him flinch in disgust as he realized exactly what the substance was.

"Sorry, kero," Asui apologized as she coated him in the spit on her tongue. "But I can't just have my teammate do all the work. And I'd better do this quickly." Suddenly, her tongue lashed out again, but instead of lathering him in saliva again, it knocked something away from him.

'My earpiece!' The muscular male realized. Not only that, but just before the earpiece was taken away, Shoji could have sworn he heard his teammate's voice come out from it. What if it was important? His anxiety rose even more as he then struggled to free himself from the spit.

Shoji thought it would be fine as he was strong and he could get out of the… spit easily. But as he tried to move, he found that his movement was now a lot more limited and it was very hard to even move the smallest bit. But why? Even when it was just his feet stuck on the substance, there was still a bit of leeway for movement. Now, though, he was completely immobilized.

"You look confused, ribbit," Asui commented as she was sticking to one of the pillars. "Well right now, I need to capture you." She had the tape in her hands as her legs pushed off the wall towards Shoji. 'Let's get this over with. The cold is starting to get to me. But I have to push forward!'

Shoji berated himself for getting stuck like this. It was pathetic! Was this the end? Did he lose? No… No way! He wasn't going to just stand still and let Asui take the lead! He couldn't just let Todoroki do all the heavy lifting!

The frog girl's tongue flicked in and out as she started unraveling the tape. As she was about to place it on, her eyes grew wide as a fist came out of nowhere and hit her right in the stomach. Shoji was panting due to the struggle of getting his fist to move.

"Cough!" Asui choked as she was sent flying halfway across the room. 'No way! How could he move?! Not only does his quirk do nothing against the cold, but even though there's no ice in the room, the cold temperature should have frozen my saliva! Shoji is strong, I admit that. But even then, that shouldn't be so easy to break free from!'

'I did it.' Shoji felt a feeling of triumph. 'It wasn't easy to move, but now I get why the spit made it hard to move. The temperature. That's what it was. She used the coldness to her advantage, which is clever of her, trying to make the most of the negative situation. However, I haven't forgotten that she is weak to the cold! Even now, her movements are a bit sluggish. She's not as agile as she was during the trials.'

Slowly, he flexed his muscles, and broke free from the frozen spit, bit by bit. The cold substance showed cracks as it fell off his skin like sheets of ice. Asui hadn't quite recovered yet, but he needed to free himself quickly. Adrenaline was what was giving him the ability to do this. Eventually he freed himself from the stuff and quickly stepped back from the rest of it that was on the ground. It took a lot more energy than he thought it would have, but it's fine! Unfortunately though, there was still plenty that had surrounded the weapon, likely in a circumference. And his jumping ability wasn't something to write home about like Asui's.

If he had decided to go for the weapon now, he would likely not make it and trap himself again. Sure, he might be able to free himself again, but he wanted to save as much strength as possible if he had to go against Scarlett. Not only that, but Asui is recovering fast. So the best thing to do… is take care of Asui first and hope that Todoroki has handled, or at least weakened, Scarlett! Asui had thrown his earpiece somewhere in the room, but there was no time to search for it.

Shoji looked over at Asui, who seems to have finished recovering, now standing up and jumping back to attach herself onto a pillar. He launched himself and started running towards the girl, going in for another punch. She responded by jumping above it and landing on the pillar behind him.

He continued throwing punches at Asui, who dodged them in return. That was pretty much their entire exchange. Every now and then, Asui would attempt to attack back, but her punches were too weak and Shoji would avoid her tongue flicks, thanks to the eyes he had grown to combat it.

The gray-haired male grew more and more confident. Asui's attacks were already weak, but now her speed is decreasing rapidly. Just a bit more and she'll be too tired from the cold to even move. She wasn't given the chance to spread her spit either, pushing her further into a corner. Not only that, but she could no longer attack him, not if she wanted to be hit in return. Her movements were now too sluggish to afford that. It was clear who had the advantage here.

Asui knew very well how bad she was losing. But she trudged forward. 'Come on… I have to just hold on…'

Shoji threw another punch that just barely grazed Asui. 'Just a bit more! I can take care of Asui and then hopefully Todoroki can do his part as well!'

Letting out a shout, the dupli-armed male went for a right hook on the frog girl's side. She avoided it as fast as she could, but froze, realizing her mistake.

It was a bluff. A bluff for Shoji to wrap the capture tape around her green and black-clad torso. And with that, Asui was officially captured, no longer able to fight against the hero team nor help her partner.

"Sigh, ribbit," Asui lamented. "Well, I tried. Well played. Shoji." Her eyes started to droop as hibernation drew nearer.

"Thank you," Shoji replied in good-nature. "You put up a good fight as well, despite the odds stacked against you."

'This is good,' Shoji thought, assured of his team's victory. 'The villain team's chances of winning are slim now. Asui's down for the count and I'm sure Scarlett was weakened as well at least. The only way for them to win is if Scarlett and fend the both of us off. Just a bit more-!'

Suddenly, his muscular arms were pressing around his figure in a very constricting way. The action almost didn't register for a bit, before his eyes widened at the capture tape wrapped around him.

"Wh- How…?" He finally managed to say.

"Kero," Asui sighed. "Sorry, Scarlett. I couldn't hold him off long enough and ended up getting captured."

"That's fine," a cool voice replied. "You wouldn't have been able to last much longer with this temperature anyways." The room was completely silent minus the small click-clacks of boots walking across the hard floor.

Shoji slowly turned around, shocked at the sight of the ravenette a few feet away from himself. Not only was she here, but the girl didn't look injured in any way whatsoever, minus a small cut on her cheek.

He then processed what Asui said. "Hold me off…?"

"Of course," Scarlett said nonchalantly. "Her objective wasn't to defeat you. It was to buy time for me to come over. I'm sure you gave my partner a good punch, but did you not think it was strange at how long it was taking for her to recover?"

Shoji paused, recalling it. A small part of him was confused as to why it had taken a while for her to even retaliate. However, he was too focused on escaping from the trap to really think it through. He did hit her pretty hard, so it would only make sense she would be down for a while, no?

"So while I was getting myself out of the trap, you two were conversalizing?"

Scarlett snapped her fingers. "Exactly. You're a strong person, Shoji. But I'm afraid that you cannot win against us with just strength. Observation, thinking outside of the box, strategy, and a working relationship between you and your teammate. Those are just as important. But there was also a big issue with your team… I bet you just thought that you'd put all of your trust in your partner, right?"

"Y-yes, but isn't that natural?"

"Of course. But that's not the issue. The problem is that you mistake trust with insecurity. You didn't follow all of his instructions because you trusted him. You hardly know him at all. It's impossible to get on some sort of basis at this stage. But you also seem to be quite unsure of yourself. So you just decide to follow Todoroki's lead because you do not have faith in yourself."

'Faith… I don't have faith?' "Todoroki!" Shoji realized when she mentioned his partner. "Is he-?"

"No, he's not," Scarlett responded shortly. "If he was, then All Might would have announced the victory for the villain team, wouldn't he? I left him behind in the dust to come here. Although..."

Suddenly, she brandished her black katana in a split second and somehow it stuck to the wall outside in the hallway, making Asui and Shoji flinch at the sudden action. The sharp object stuck onto the wall firmly.

The two captured students gaped at Scarlett's position. Her black bow was in her hand, with her fingers tugging on the string.

'D-did she just use her katana as an arrow?!' Shoji exclaimed internally. He was having difficulty comprehending the insanity of the idea.

But that wasn't all. The katana had cut off a small chunk of white hair.

"...It's not very nice to eavesdrop. And if you are going to, make sure you completely conceal yourself," Scarlett finished, going back into a simple casual stance, throwing her bow back onto her back.

Todoroki breathed out scarcely, stunned by the sharp sword and the fact that she knew he was here. Frustration rose though when he realized that she could easily stab him with her kunais or her katana any time she wanted. Was she just playing with him? It certainly seemed like it was nothing more than a tedious chore to her. Not only that, but there was no point in using her bow to throw her sword. It wasn't strategic in that sense at all. No. It was a pure intimidation tactic. And it actually did make him feel on edge.

Slowly, he stepped forward and into the room, his right arm prepared to bring an ice storm. Scarlett noticed and yet didn't even put up a stance or placed her hands near her weapons. It was a show of confidence that no matter how fast he attacks, she can still counter it in a flash. Whether intentional or not, it did not make Todoroki feel better. Especially after the fact that she just ran off, even though she could have finished- no. He refused to accept that.

Todoroki turned his gaze to Shoji. "What happened? Why didn't you respond."

Shoji looked down in embarrassment and shame. "I apologize. Asui removed my earpiece before I could register what you wanted to say to me."

The hot and cold male refrained from sighing in aggravation. He had a pretty good stroke of luck, getting Shoji as a partner. He was one of the best in the class in terms of physical strength as well as his versatile quirk that makes it harder for enemies to sneak up on them or try to pull a fast one on them. Unfortunately however… they just had to get Scarlett as their opponent. Somehow, she's able to bypass his senses with ease as well as dodge all of their attacks as well. The only damage he inflicted on her was but a mere scratch on her cheek. And even then… she could have easily dodged it.

Which led to his other realization. The ravenette was holding back. That was clear as day. The only question was, by how much? How much is she hiding? Judging by her casual stance and nonchalant moves, it must be by a significant amount. But he won't let that discourage him! He wasn't going all out either! The only reason why he was refraining from stronger attacks was because his partner would have gotten hurt. It wasn't like there was a feeling of concern for the muscular male. But the possibility of losing points because he hurt his own teammate. This match proved that Shoji was more of a hindrance than of assistance. It showed that it really was true that working with others would only hold you back. Well, not that he had any doubts about that in the first place.

Now that Shoji is officially unable to help him now though… maybe it's a good thing, having one less thing out of his way. The weapon was within reach and Asui was also down for the count. The time limit wasn't much but there was still a chance.

"At least you got Asui out," Todoroki said out loud. "But I'll take care of things from here."

"Will you, now?" Scarlett commented offhandedly. "You can certainly try." Even though she said that, her stance still did not change.

Todoroki's right arm and leg moved forward with no hesitation. "Is that so? I'll take you up on that then!"

Ice raced forward not towards her but rather the unattended weapon. Scarlett raised an eyebrow at that.

'I can see it from here,' Todoroki thought. 'The trap that Asui laid around the weapon. It's faint but the cold helps make it more visible. I wouldn't be surprised if Shoji fell for it before since it must have been less clear earlier. But I won't be brought down by such a measly trap.'

"Smart of you to go after the weapon instead of capturing me," Scarlett had… complemented? It was hard to tell with her monotone voice. "It's important to throw your pride away in situations like this. Your ice travels fast. Faster than a speeding car. It's truly impressive that you've trained your powers to this extent. (Todoroki's left eye twitched, which she took note of.) Unfortunately though… I'm faster."

In a flash, Scarlett moved and intercepted the cold substance. The other two finched, stunned. How? They didn't even see her move! It was as if she teleported! Was it a part of her quirk? Why didn't she show this during the battle trials? Well… seeing as she got first place, there really was no point, was there? They shivered at the fear of being on the opposing end of her. Todoroki's position wasn't one to be envied.

With a swipe of her blade, ice chunks flew everywhere, as though it was shattered glass. What on earth was that blade, for crying out loud?! It wasn't made of any normal metal, that was for sure. But there's nothing out there that could just cut through thick ice so effortlessly, right? The red glow it emits every time she swipes it only adds to the confusion and mystery of the weapon, no, Scarlett herself.

Todoroki gritted his teeth and made an even bigger wave of ice, this time aiming for her feet instead. Like he hoped, the ice completely encased her lower body and left her stuck there. Even if she could cut through the ice with no problem, it should buy him some time! Enough time for him to get the weapon!

The ice user raced forward, sliding on his ice with his specially made boots. There! It was in close proximity! Just a bit more, and victory was-!

Just as his hand was about to touch the faux weapon, it made contact with something else instead. In his vision was a clear red bubble like field that covered the missile. What on earth was this?

"Sorry," Scarlett called out in an unapologetic way. She used telekinesis to pull herself out of the icy restraints. "I'm afraid you're gonna have to try harder than that."

She looked loftily at the male, who was still staring at the red barrier, stunned in place. The other two were also completely blindsided from this new development. Shoji had never seen it before either, so it's not a surprise that he was shocked. Asui knew of it and saw it earlier. But she didn't think that Scarlett could prepare it that quickly. How much had she trained her quirk for it to be powerful to this extent? How much did Todoroki train? Either way, it seems as though Todoroki didn't train enough as Scarlett clearly had the control.

"Oh, that?" Scarlett brushed some icy particles off of her coat, her hair still a flaming red, indicating the use of her power. "That's right, I didn't show any of you that ability, did I? It's very useful, especially in situations like this, where you can't win unless you touch the weapon. It's not very easy to break either."

It seems as though her little explanation broke Todoroki out of his daze. "We'll see about that!" Another barrage of cold rammed into the barrier. When nothing happened, he gritted his teeth in frustration. He then coated his right arm with ice and started punching the barrier repeatedly. No matter how hard he attacked it, not a single crack had shown. He got more agitated when he noticed how Scarlett wasn't even attacking him, despite how open he was.

'Damn!' Todoroki cursed. How could it be? How was it this durable? It was clear that no matter how hard or long he attacked it, it's not going down anytime soon. That would only waste more of the little time they had left. In that case…

"I'll just go after the conjurer!" Todoroki finished his thought out loud, launching himself towards the ravenette.

"Since you couldn't break the barrier, you decide to go for the source," Scarlett remarked, not making a move. "Not a bad idea. But I'm afraid this match's winner has already been decided."

The male had just about enough of her talking down on him. How ironic since he had done that to her at the beginning. But of course, that wasn't acknowledged in his mind. His pride refused to take any more damage than it already has.

As he grew nearer to the ravenette, she still hadn't made a move. But that didn't matter because his ice would reach her first. As the ice spread of the floor, it suddenly spiked up towards her and as it neared her chest-

"ANNNNND TIIIIMMMMMEEEEE IIIIISSSSS UUUUUPPPPP!" All Might's voice suddenly rang out like a meteor's impact. "The Villains have taken this round! Congratulations to Young Evans and Asui!"

Scarlett let out a sigh of annoyance, the ice only a centimeter away from her. "About time it's over."

…What? It didn't quite register in Todoroki's mind for a good few minutes. The round was over… but Scarlett wasn't captured, nor had they acquired the weapon… did… Did they lose? No, no it can't be. There was no way that he, with his powerful quirk, with his sheer power… lost.

But there was no other explanation. And All Might's announcement sealed the result. They, Todoroki and Shoji, the hero team… had lost. Lost to Scarlett Evans and Asui Tsuyu. No, he might as well not include the frog girl. Even if she wasn't there, the dominating power Evans had… would have still crushed them easily. He just knew it. The entire time, Evans hadn't put in any effort, and still completely wiped the floor with them. She didn't regard them as significant. Her cold and uncaring stare was etched into his mind clearly, haunting him.

It wasn't just that they lost. It was also how they lost. Unlike the first round, where the heroes got the weapon, they lost because they ran out of time. Not even because they were captured. It was because they were too slow. Too weak. He himself wasn't even that injured, and he still lost. It was utterly humiliating on multiple levels.

The ravenette started walking towards the exit, using her telekinesis to remove the bindings off of Shoji and Asui, who was asleep for a good bit now. As she passed Todoroki, he staggered back a bit in shock.

As she was about to leave the room, she looked over her shoulder towards him. "...Well you were right about one thing. We are on different levels." And without another word, she left just like that.

That was the final nail in the coffin for Todoroki. And it made him focus back to reality. Scarlett Evans… he gritted his teeth. He would not accept this. There was no way that he would just let this result be. He has, no he needs to show how capable he is. Especially to that man.

The sports festival was coming up soon. It was a perfect opportunity for students, especially those of the hero course, to show their potential to pro heroes. And it was a perfect opportunity for another two things. One, to show that man that he didn't need his left side to be a hero. And two… to show Evans that today was a mere fluke.

A raging flame exploded throughout his body as he was thinking. He used that to touch a nearby wall with his left hand, using heat to warm up the building again. Not enough for fire to bloom of course. His eyes darkened. Just you wait. This was only a warm up for what's to come. That's a promise.

Shoji stood up, feeling quite dejected at himself. Well, he knew that the chances of winning were up in the air. Of course, he didn't think it was to this extent. He felt enough shame to not want to face the rest of his classmates. There was no other option though. That was just what they got for losing.

Scarlett, meanwhile, was walking through the hallways with an even step. As she slowly made her way down the building, she ran across All Might and Anna.

"Ah, young Scarlett!" All Might looked at her with surprise. "Excellent work today. You and Asui have the makings to become great heroes!"

"Coming from you, that is great praise," Scarlett replied evenly, bowing slightly.

All Might sweatdropped at her emotionless and blunt tone. He cannot deny the uneasy feeling he feels whenever he thinks or looks at the red eyed teen. It wasn't a lie when he said that she had the potential to be one of the greatest heroes. The prowess and sheer skill she showed since her enrollment in UA spoke for her loudly. But the gaze those crimson eyes give when he looks at them…concerns him to a large extent.

She was not your typical teenager, that was clear. She did not have the same attitude as the rest of the class. Unlike the other students, who were still naive and clueless about the world, the ravenette had a look that mirrors what she's seen. They say eyes are the windows to the soul. Hers were no exception. They have seen many things, as if she was a veteran hero. All Might didn't know what, but it must have been a lot. He wouldn't be surprised if Aizawa had also seen those eyes. A part of him wants to comfort her, but it's difficult to tell whether that would help or not. For now, distance was likely the best option.

Anna stood in front of Scarlett, a vial of tears ready in hand. "All Might, I'm going to heal up Scarlett first. It's only a cut, but we don't want it to get infected. You can start looking at the other students for injuries."

"I'll leave that to you then, Young Anna!" The number one hero consented as he continued on his way towards the top floor.

"...You don't seem happy about your win," Anna remarked as she stared into the other's piercing red gaze.

"Of course not," Scarlett replied, her eyes closed. "Why would I be happy about a win that's so insignificant? I don't have time to celebrate these little wins. There's bigger things out there. Bigger things that we've faced."

The blonde sighed as she unzipped her collar and drizzled a bit of the healing liquid onto the small wound. "But Scarlett, wasn't that a bit too much? You completely obliterated Todoroki's pride! What if he can't recover from it?"

She scoffed a bit in reply, the cut closing up. "Not likely. He's the type of person who would retaliate immediately with no hesitation. He's also the type that you need to be extremely blunt with in order to get through to him. And if a little bit of taunting affects him that much, then he doesn't deserve to be a pro-hero. It's as simple as that."

"But did you really need to go that far?" Anna demanded exasperatedly. "Did you count the psychological damage it might have caused?"

"Like I said, if it breaks him, then there's no way he could be a hero," Scarlett said. "He's extremely overconfident as well. I just knocked him down a peg or two from his self proclaimed throne."

"So in the end, you were helping him?" Anna clarified.

Scarlett scowled a bit behind her collar. "As if. He just annoyed me with that attitude. Why do I need to help him? Just because I'm a hero in training, doesn't mean I'm obligated to help every person I meet."

Anna was exasperated by how much Scarlett was a… tsundere, was it? At least that was what Emma called it. She didn't have the push to continue arguing however. Instead, she said, "You're really arrogant, you know that?"

Scarlett gave a single mirthless chuckle in response. "Of course I have to be. If I wasn't, I wouldn't be alive right now."

~0~0~0~0~0~

None of them obtained that many injuries, unlike the last team battle. Shoji was the least injured out of all of them, although he definitely needed to warm up again after practically being coated in ice earlier. Asui had gone into full hibernation and was currently slowly waking up from it. Todoroki himself only had a few cuts from where the kunais cut him a bit.

As all of them headed back to the monitor room, the others who were watching the entire fight were completely silent. Not even the chatty ones like Ashido or Hagakure could say anything.

Todoroki was strong. That was obvious. And had he faced against anyone else, no one had any doubts that he would completely abolish them. It was simple bad luck that his opponent was Scarlett, who was even more powerful than him. But with the two of them faced against each other, everyone else saw how much difference there was between them. Between Todoroki, and especially between Scarlett.

Sero was the one who spoke first. "So… that was a cool ability, Scarlett," he started awkwardly. "I didn't know you could make barriers like that!"

"I never even saw you use it during the entrance exam!" Hagakure added. "Getting first place with just your telekinesis is really impressive!"

Bakugo made a tch sound and turned away.

"I just didn't need to show it before," Scarlett said tersely. "It's nothing too special."

…

Well, with such a blunt answer that left no room for discussion, it was hard to keep the flow of conversation going. And so they were left in another deafening silence.

"... Awkward?" Kaminari laughed nervously to bring the mood up.

"It's only awkward if you make it awkward, idiot," Jiro replied snarkily.

"Hey, what's with you going after me all the time!?" Kaminari whined.

"Well maybe if you weren't such an idiot, I wouldn't have to!" Jiro fired back.

Ashido was secretly grinning. 'Another couple that was just meant to be! And another one for me to mess around with…'

A few people near her grew a bit uncomfortable with her quiet and mischievous chuckling under her breath.

The rest of the battles didn't have anything truly interesting to show. The first two battles completely took the show for that. Scarlett liked to think that her talk the other day had also given the others a push to become better heroes. All of them had this strange determination about them that she felt would definitely not have been there otherwise. The two battles might also have done something about it.

'However, even if they do start to realize what they're getting into, they won't fully understand until they experience it themself,' Scarlett added to herself.

By the time class ended, Midoriya was still not back from the nurse's office. It must have been a really bad injury. Anna explained that you needed to have enough stamina in order to heal with Recovery Girl's quirk. He looked completely wiped out as well, so it must have taken a bit more time to get his stamina up enough for Recovery Girl to actually heal him.

'Healing quirks in itself are rare,' Scarlett mused. 'While Recovery Girl's quirk heals a fair amount, it can only work if they have the strength. So she probably cannot heal someone that's half or close to dead. I wonder how that must feel.'

"Alright, everyone!" All Might addressed all of them. "Would someone say who the MVP of this battle was?"

"It's obviously Scarlett," Ojiro pointed out. "I don't think it's hard to figure out."

"Indeed! But can someone tell why she was the one who performed the best?"

This time, Iida shot his hand up and answered. "For one, she contributed the most during the entire duration of the battle. She showed her skills and proved to be a challenge to the other team, even though she was going in a one on two exchange. While Asui's plan, by using her… saliva, was an ingenious idea, she didn't prepare anything, not expecting Shoji to be able to break free. Although she was able to hold against him on her own for a while, she couldn't exchange blows and ended up tiring herself. Although it was meant to buy time instead, which is another smart idea."

Yaoyorozu finished the analysis. "Meanwhile, the hero team had hardly been communicating with one another, which is crucial for victory. Todoroki took the lead, which was a good start. However, Shoji did not contribute any of his own ideas and instead followed whatever Todoroki said. This was not a subordinate following the leader situation, but an exercise for teamwork. Not to mention that both of them underestimated Scarlett and even Asui to a degree. It's better to overestimate an enemy rather than the other way around."

'These kids are terrifying,' All Might shivered. But it wasn't of fear. Rather, it was of excitement. If these were the future of hero society, he already knew that it was going to be a bright future. For now, he ignored the pang and uncertainty about his eventual retirement, or possibly even death, fearing what would happen afterwards.

Shoji looked down in pure embarrassment while Todoroki merely stalked off into a corner. Everyone avoided eye contact with him, his menacing aura almost tangible. Scarlett merely gave a slight scoff at that. He really was a sore loser. Not that she herself wasn't either, but it really was annoying. She wanted to win of course. Losing on purpose made little sense and would just fuel Todoroki's ego. But at the same time, she may as well have gotten yet another target on her back. As if she didn't have enough to deal with already.

After everyone finished their battle trial, they all headed towards the exit back into the main building. Before they were dismissed, All Might had a bit to say.

"Excellent work today, all of you! There were no major injuries minus young Midoriya, and young Anna did a superb job at healing the minimal injuries that did occur! All of you also took it very seriously, which I did not expect, coming from a fresh batch of heroes in training! I expect great things in your future!"

Asui then spoke up about what half of the class was thinking. "To have a proper class after Aizawa sensei's…"

All of them shivered as they remembered his sadistic smile. To think he was going to be their homeroom teacher for the next three years. Meanwhile, Scarlett was scoffing at the fact that she would have to deal with him for three years. Well, you have to deal with the cards you got, right?

"It was somewhat anticlimactic, not including the first two battle trials we had," Asui finished sheepishly, with several others nodding in agreement.

'Well, I certainly would not teach things the way he does…' All Might's grin faltered for a moment, thinking of the underground hero. He then raised his arms up and boomed out, "WE'RE FREE TO HAVE PROPER CLASSES AS WELL!"

'I should think so…' Anna sweatdropped at his words and his volume.

He then raised his arm in a waving gesture. "Well, this is the end of your first hero training class! I must now go and reveal the results to young Midoriya! Change and return…" He went into a running position. "TO THE CLASSROOM!"

Those in the front coughed as a bunch of dust flew in their faces from All Might's rapid dash through the tunnel exit.

"Woah!" Kaminari exclaimed, recovering first. "All Might's really amazing!"

"But why was he in such a hurry?" Ojiro raised an eyebrow in confusion.

'Took the words right out of my mouth,' Scarlett agreed quietly. Although Ojiro was simply confused, she was more suspicious of his actions instead. Why did he suddenly just rush out like that? He was a very dramatic person, but it's usually for a reason. This made no sense at all. Perhaps he had somewhere to get to? Maybe she was looking into it too much.

But then Scarlett remembered the strange connection between All Might and Midoriya. For one, when she first met the both of them, they already seemed to know each other. Not only that, but their quirks are actually quite similar. The main differences are that Midoriya's quirk hurts himself while it also generates green electricity around him when using it. But was it really a coincidence that they have similar quirks and somehow knew each other before the school year started?

The thought of the two of them being related had crossed her mind, but she immediately debunked it. All Might's family members might not be known, but Midoriya being one isn't likely. For one, they do not look alike at all. Well, you can't really judge on looks, especially in this day and age. But the few interactions she's seen with them do not seem like one of family. If she had to describe it… perhaps student and mentor?

Scarlett wasn't denying how suspicious the two of them are. But there are bigger things to worry about. Her eyes darkened at the thought of the smoke intruder and its comrades. She didn't have time to satisfy her curiosity. Not only that, but it was hardly her business. They were terrible at keeping secrets, but that doesn't mean she has to uncover them. They were secrets for a reason and everyone had a right to privacy. So unless it somehow had to do with her current predicament, it was not worth looking into.

As All Might was running through the hallway, he began reviewing certain individuals in his head. 'Young Bakugo… he is a being that is made out of pride. There's nothing more fragile than that. And he must have taken quite the blow today after his loss. As his teacher, I must educate him properly so that he remains on the right path. The same goes for young Todoroki. As the son of Endeavor, he must have quite a lot of expectations placed on him. I hope it does not drown him in the end. He himself also has a lot of pride that must have been destroyed from going against young Scarlett. Young Scarlett… She has the most potential out of everyone in the class, other than young Midoriya of course. I must make sure she remains on the right path as well.'

The hero teacher quickly turned a corner and entered a room that said 'staff only'. He immediately pressed the close button once he was in, panting in exhaustion. As soon as he was clear, his buff form disappeared in an explosion of smoke, and he was left as a mass of skinny flesh and bones.

'I barely have enough stamina to teach a single class!' All Might thought. 'Sigh… this is going to be a long year. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks that.'

Author's Note:

~Too lazy and exhausted to write one right now, will edit this later when I feel a bit more motivated. But I hope you enjoyed this chapter!~