Going back to school seemed more like a half-formed dream than an actual happening. My uniform felt strange against my skin. My leg was sore as hell, and my wing was still bandaged from the Stain incident after I ripped the stitches open at I-Island. So, you can guess I was pretty miserable on my *walk* to school. Papa had forbidden me from flying until all of my injuries were gone, and then for a week after that because my ass was grounded. He'd even confiscated my phone, for hell's sake.

I did, however, manage to get to school well before the bell rang. As I plopped into my seat, I took off my blazer and wiped beads of sweat off my face with the sleeve of my blouse. Someone sat down softly at the desk on my right. I glanced over, too lazy to turn my head. Bakugo. "Hey," I mumbled. He grumbled, "Are you o-kay?" He ground it through gritted teeth, like he was being forced to say it. I turned my head, smiling lazily, "Fine, I suppose." Then I saw it. His HAIR! I burst out laughing at the smooth (almost shiny), combed dome on his head. Kirishima and Sero soon joined me in cackling at Bakugo's hair. "The hell did Jeanist do to you?" I wheezed through tears, "Use napalm as hair gel?" Bakugo hauled Kirishima and Sero off of their feet as his hair exploded (quite literally) back into his spikes.

I decided to busy myself with bothering Iida. Heaving myself out of my chair, I plodded over. He, Todoroki, and Midoriya were doing some kind of staring contest fueled by testosterone. I squished myself into the middle, perching on the corner of Todoroki's desk. Iida sighed, but didn't bother yelling at me. "How are you today?" I asked boredly. Some mumbles. "Healing up alright?" Iida shoved his bandaged hands into his pockets. Todoroki leaned forward, hiding his arm under the desk. Midoriya clasped his hands behind his back. "Geez," I grumbled, "That well, huh?"

We looked up as Kaminari singled us out to the whole damn class. I scoffed, "Trust me, Pikachu, I haven't changed much." Sero added on to Kaminari, "Yeah, I heard about the Hero Killer." Kirishima echoed, "Yeah, you guys are pretty lucky you got out alive." Hagakure posed dramatically, "You're so lucky that Endeavor saved you! I'd expect nothing less from the number two Hero!" My temper flared, "Saved?!" Iida snagged my sleeve before I could say something stupid. Todoroki smiled, but it was very clear that it was a strained smile, "Yeah. He saved us." I glared at him over my shoulder. He glared back.

Sero sat on the desk next to Todoroki's, "Did you guys hear the news about the Hero Killer? Everyone's been saying that he was connected to the League of Villains." I shook Iida's hand off, "The dumbasses who attacked the USJ?'' He nodded gravely, "Can you imagine how bad it would have been if that creep had been there when they attacked the USJ?" Kaminari cut him off, "He's scary, yeah, but did you see him in that weird video? It's all over the internet." I perked up, "I didn't know there was a video." Kaminari grinned, "Yeah! Stain's a pretty evil villain, but like, super tenacious. He's almost kind of cool, don't you guys think?"

Alright, I'm not super happy about my reaction to that, but I jumped up and balled the front of his shirt in my fist, a sudden storm raging outside, and slammed him into the wall. Lightning sparked through my hair and at the corners of my eyes. "Say that again, and we'll see who's tenacious," I snarled. He flinched, "Okay! I'm sorry! Dude…" I shoved him (hard), and retreated to my previous perch, glaring daggers at everyone. Midoriya whined at him. Iida stopped them short with, "No, Kaminari's right." I gasped, then whined exasperatedly, "Iida!"

"It is true that he was quite a tenacious villain. I understand why people think he was 'cool.' But instead of helping the world, he turned to cold-blooded murder," Iida murmured. I sighed, folding my arms. Kaminari had turned beet-red and slapped a hand over his mouth, cringing. Iida was kind of pale. Then he did his signature karate-chop and shouted, "But I promise to become the perfect Hero!" Midoriya whooped. I grinned and propped my head on my hand, "Badass!" Iida went and ruined it. "It's time for class to begin! Everyone please take your seats!" I sighed, jumping to my feet, "I revoke my badass," I grumbled. Scooching past everyone else was a bit of a challenge, but I made it to my seat before the bell.

The first class of the day was Hero basic training. Someone had retrieved my costume and fixed all of the little rips and tears in the fabric from the Stain incident. And there was a new feature! A golden utility belt with tiny steel magnets hiding in the packets. Someone needed a raise in the costume department. They were for scattering around a battle area so I could electrify the whole damn thing. I think I showed the girls the magnets too many times, because Momo eventually took me aside and told me to calm down. All Might was waiting for us at a new-looking facility.

Turns out, we were doing more rescue training! Everyone was back in their costumes except for Iida, whose armor was completely shattered and had to be repaired. Speaking of, his hand shot up, "Why aren't we training in the USJ?" All Might chuckled, "As I said, this is a race! The USJ focuses on disaster relief." I shivered, "And I don't want to go back there any time soon!" A few of my classmates grunted in agreement. All Might posed dramatically, "Now get ready! You're about to step into Field Gamma! Inside is an area full of factories that form an intricate labyrinth!" He winked, "Good luck finding your way around!" We were going to compete against four of our classmates at finding All Might hidden somewhere in the area.

All Might's pointer finger swiveled to Bakugo, "And let's keep the property damage to a minimum!" I snorted and leaned my elbow on his shoulder, "Guess you need those sparkles, after all!" Bakugo growled. All Might's smile (if possible) widened as he exclaimed, "All right! First team, to your places!"

I was in the first group, running against Midoriya, Iida, Sero, and Mina. All Might pulled me aside right before I took off, "Haruto!" I paused and saluted, "Yessir!" He looked me dead in the eye, "Think before you act! This course is tougher than it looks!" I held back an eye roll, "Yessir." He let me take off to my starting spot. I thought about what he said. Truth be told, I almost never think before I move. My feet practically think for themselves!

My spot was slightly farther away from All Might than the others', for a bit of an added challenge. Before All Might gave the signal to start, I did that lightning thing I'd done at I-Island, where I imagined it running through my veins. With a little zap, I was set. A good twenty meters of space around me was electrified, too. As the buzzer sounded for us to begin, I launched up like a rocket. A huge tailwind roared after me. With the boost from the lightning, I was basically moving as fast as I possibly could. I zoomed over Midoriya and Sero, who were roof-hopping. Midoriya was fast, sure, and so was Sero, but I felt like I was about to break the goddamn sound barrier. I landed in a tuck-and-roll and barreled into All Might. He begrudgingly handed me a ribbon sash embroidered with "Thanks for saving me!" I took it with a forced smile and draped it over my wings awkwardly. Uraraka and the rest of the class were huddled on a platform in front of a jumbo-tron where footage from my run was being displayed. The poor little drone camera couldn't keep up, and was blown into a wall by my gale.

The rest of the training flew by like nobody's business, and soon we were back in class. Aizawa moped onto his podium, "As you all know, it's almost time for summer vacation. But that doesn't mean that you get to relax for a month." I squished my face in my hands, slumping down in my chair. He continued, "You'll be training while you camp in the woods." Perking up again, I bounced a little in my seat, "Like… outdoors? With no hallways?!" He smiled a bit as the class chuckled. The class was actually getting pretty pumped up about the camping trip when Aizawa fired up his Quirk. That awful feeling shut us up pretty fast. "However, those of you who do not pass the final exam will have summer school." Kirishima leapt out of his chair, "Do your best, everyone!" I whooped and pumped my fist in the air.

So we went home to study for the written part of the exam. My brothers (thank whatever gods there were) left me alone all weekend to pore over textbooks and shovel ramen into my face.

Classical Japanese was my weakest subject, and it was mind-numbing. MIND-NUMBING. I passed third in the class, but it wasn't really the best I could do. Like at all. Momo was tutoring some people who did poorly, but I was relatively fine with my score, so there was nothing I could do.

At lunch, I sat with my usual buddies, but we had joined up with the rest of the class at a bigger table. "Ew!" I said, plopping down next to Todoroki, "Is that cold soba?" He looked up, chewed once, and nodded. I stuck my tongue out, "I can't stand it. All I can imagine is eating worms." Bakugo slammed down on my other side with a plate of steaming noodles laden with hot sauce. I dropped my elbows on the table and mashed my hands into my eyes, "Why can't you people just eat normal food?!" Uraraka giggled. Midoriya nodded, swallowing a bite of plain white rice. I gestured to him, "See! Midoriya understands!" Suddenly, a blonde boy marched past and elbowed Midoriya in the back of the head.

Midoriya screeched, and his face went straight into a bowl of soup, completely ruining his uniform top. "The hell is wrong with you?" I snapped at the boy, the girls and I shoving paper towels at Midoriya's mess. The boy rolled his eyes with a grin, "Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I just couldn't miss a head that big." I barked a laugh, but eventually trailed off, "Shit! You're not joking!" Midoriya rubbed the lump on the back of his head, "Ow! That really hurt. Hey, you're from class 1-B! Monoma, right?" The boy- Monoma- turned and looked down his nose at our table, "I heard you guys stumbled across the Hero Killer." I pushed back my chair with a screech and planted my hands on the table, my intimidating glare aimed straight at Monoma, "Choose your next words wisely," I growled. Monoma's smile didn't falter, "Just like at the sports festival, class 1-A isn't happy unless it's the center of attention." His grin actually widened, "But you do realize that you're not in the spotlight because people think you're good Heroes, right? It's just you keep getting into so much trouble." I snarled, "That's it!" and vaulted my legs and wings over the table, putting my face super close to Monoma's. He was quite a bit shorter than me, but he wasn't fazed. I glared down with all of the rage I could muster, "If you're going to be an ass, take your bullshit somewhere else."

He opened his mouth to continue, but a hand cracked down on his shoulder. Monoma was out in less than a second. I deflated a little bit, "Thanks, Kendo. I didn't really want to get in trouble 'cause I knocked his lights out." She smiled and apologized to the table, dragging Monoma's limp form away by the collar of his shirt. I flopped back into my chair, poking at my forgotten chicken. "Y'know," Bakugo mumbled, his face centimeters from his food, "You don't have to stand up for us." I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, you guys should be standing up for yourselves." He looked up, "That's not what I meant, idiot. I meant that you don't have to attack them." I blinked. My classmates blinked. "Hold up," I said slowly, "Did I just get an anger management tip from BAKUGO?!" He grumbled something incoherent and went back to his food.

I laughed with my nearby classmates at him. Then I nudged him with my wing, "No, like, seriously. That means a lot, sparkles. I can see what you mean. I can also see how you might take the same advice sometimes." I smiled, "Thanks." Bakugo rolled his eyes, "Stop whining. Now you owe me one." I sputtered as he laughed and left the table with his empty plate.

Back in class, we were buzzing over the next day. I moaned, "I can't believe we have three whole days of written exams!" The girls shrugged in unison. Mina piped up, "Well, if you did well on the midterms, you should be fine!" She was kind of cut off by Momo bouncing into our group huddle, "Are you guys ready for the study party at my place?" I grimaced, "Study party?" Mina grinned sheepishly, "Yeah, Momo's gonna help us, remember?" I nodded slowly, remembering their conversation earlier.

We all paused and looked up as Bakugo growled, "Dekuuuuuuuu." I facepalmed and strode over as he spouted off at Midoriya and Todoroki about how he was going to crush them and yada yada yada. I grabbed the strap of his backpack and dragged him- still cussing up a storm- out into the hallway. "Why can't you just be nice?" I demanded, standing square in his path so he couldn't escape. He scowled, "I won't be beat by another half-assed-" I rolled my eyes, "I beat you! Do you honestly think that I do anything half-assed?" He shrugged. Winking, I shoved him to the side, "Gotcha! Now be nice or I'll fry your brains." Bakugo stomped off.

The testing days went by so quickly. I was pretty sure that I did well on the written section, but until the scores were released, I had no clue what my score was. Most everyone else was moping around the classroom. "I feel like I've used all of my brain power for the week," I groaned, dropping my head on my desk. A few people moaned in response. Bakugo was clicking his pen. Over. And over. I eventually dragged myself to my feet and swatted it out of his hand. He didn't really respond, just kind of huffed and looked away. So, for the rest of the day, we were effectively brain dead.

I walked home kind of dejectedly, my leg and wing basically healed. My feet were killing me, and my wings were stiff. I kicked open the door and chucked my backpack onto the couch, flopping down next to it. My mom had taken me to get my haircut the day before testing, so it was still soft as I ran my fingers through it. I wrestled my shoes off, grumbling. My brothers' shoes were lined up in neat little rows, and their backpacks were already unpacked. "Hey, kids!" I shouted. No response. Last time they did this, they tried to jump out and scare me in the bathroom, so I was not amused. Mom's pumps were also there, so I called for her next. Nothing. Honestly, I was starting to freak out a little bit.

Taking a scalding hot shower always seemed to clear my head, so I tiptoed to the bathroom. I was trying to be as quiet as possible, listening for any signs of my family. When I turned around to open the bathroom door, I was greeted by a very startled intruder. I screeched and stumbled back, slipping on a discarded sock. The intruder grunted as my feet went over my head and my wings buffeted them. Next thing I knew, the barrel of a pistol was jabbed into the side of my neck. A gruff voice barked, "If you move or attempt to use your Quirk, I'll shoot you and order my men to shoot your family." My heart skipped a beat. Shi-i-i-i-it.

Ok. What did I know about this crapfest? The intruder with me was male. Short but ripped. Unknown Quirk. Black on black and a ski mask. At least one gun. He said "men," so there were at least two more dudes. Also probably armed.

The intruder used his gun to shove me forward. I stumbled out into the hall, looking all over for some kind of plan. Everything within reach was either too small to inflict damage, or too heavy for me to swing. Why the hell were my parents so bad at weaponizing interior design?! I was starting to get frustrated and scared, which screwed with the weather like always. The sunny spring day turned gross pretty fast, with a crap ton of rain and wind. I really hoped that someone who knew me would interpret the sudden change. It was going to be tough to get out of this myself. The guy muscled me into my brothers' bedroom, where the other two intruders were. My brothers and my mom were sitting against the wall, their hands on their knees. Sure enough, the other two douchebags had a rifle each.

I growled, "The hell do you fuckwads want?" The guy nearest me poked me with the barrel of his pistol, "Get down. Stop talking." I blew a raspberry, plopping down on my butt. One guy, with the head of what looked like a goat, snarled, "There's someone who wants to have a talk with you, Miss Thunderbird." I rolled my eyes, "Are they still pissed at me for the Stain thing? You from Hosu? Did the Chief hire you or something?" The guys sputtered. I sighed, "Who in their right mind would try to take on my family and me?" The goat guy snapped, "Shigaraki. Tomura Shigaraki of the League of Villains. He's offering a lot of money for your presence." I rolled my eyes, "Well, he can shove his money up his-" The butt of a gun cracked across my face. Mom gasped and flinched forward. A trickle of blood ran over my lips from my nose.

Mom started laughing. It started as a little chuckle, then grew to be actually crying, she was laughing so hard, "You fucking idiots!" She laughed, "You don't realize what you've just done!" I echoed my Mom's giggles and stood up, bracing against the wall. I stopped laughing suddenly and fired up my Quirk, "No. You don't." I looked back at my brothers, "After you, boys." Six evil little grins. "Fantastic." The intruders were starting to get what was happening. My brothers and I had put together hundreds of battle plans for situations just like this. Well, not the four-year-olds, but they helped as best they could.

Taine and Tait froze the guys up, and Hades and Mienai started sneezing all over the place. Mom thickened the cloud with some of her own. Weird mini-power of my Mom, my brothers and I: we could see perfectly fine in fog or bad weather. So the burglars couldn't see shit. We could.

I darted forward and relieved them of their weapons. They were shouting and cursing, struggling against my brothers' control. I gave them all a lovely shock, glaring at them as they flopped around on the ground. The little guys ran off to find the giant zip ties, so Mom, Hades and I sat on top of the intruders to keep them down. "This seems too easy," I grumbled, jabbing my elbow in between the shoulder blades of the squirming goat man, "Last time I dealt with the League of Villains, they were much better prepared than… this." I gestured to the defeated guys scattered around my brothers' bedroom. The goat guy laughed hoarsely, "You thought we'd take on the kid who almost killed Stain with no back-up plan?" Mom's head snapped up, "You did what?!" Another guy chuckled, "You don't know. Most people don't know. The other children know. They did it, too." His laugh grew manic, and Hades had to shove him down.

The little ones returned with the zipties, and Mom and I tied the guys up as tight as humanly possible. The one was still laughing, which was absolutely unsettling. All of a sudden, a terrified little kid scream blared from the main room of the apartment. I jumped up and sprinted out into the hall, slamming into the doorframe. Eichi was being manhandled by a fourth guy in the kitchen. Eito was on the ground screaming, clutching at the stump of his left hand. Little spikes were flying everywhere from Eichi's flailing. A couple grazed my arms and wings as I cried out and charged for the guy. His mouth took up his entire torso, and he was angling to fit all of Eichi in it.

"You sick fuck!" I roared, diving into and grabbing Eichi. We rolled into the cabinets. I deposited him and grabbed a carving knife from our block, chucking it at the mouth dude. His torso peeled apart, revealing a shit ton of sharp teeth, and swallowed it up. I ran past him to scoop up Eito while dragging Eichi behind me, busting through my bedroom door. The twins were shoved onto my bed for safekeeping with a large blanket over them. I barked to my other brothers and Mom, who were poking their heads out into the hall, "Get off the floor! Don't touch metal!" Mom realized what I was doing, shouting directions to the older ones.

I stalked back into the main room, eyeing the mouth dude, whose gaping maw was slurping up metal utensils. A smirk flashed across my face, "Your mouth is so big. Your brain isn't." And fried that sucker. Lightning blazed from my outstretched hand, angling toward the mess of metal this fuckwad had swallowed. Some unholy screech came out of it, and it curled outward like some kind of demonic abomination. The thing was still alive… I think.

Right on fucking cue, Papa bust through the door in his Hero costume, flanked by Hosu police officers. "Papa," I shouted, my voice breaking, "We- we need an ambulance for Eito!" Papa's face went white as a sheet, "There's one out front. Where is he?!" I was crying too hard to tell him, so I grabbed his arm and dragged him to my room. Eichi and Eito were still huddled under the blanket. "I tried to keep him from going into shock, but I think I was too late!" I sobbed, hiking Eichi onto my shoulders as Papa scooped up silently crying Eito. We thundered downstairs and crammed Mom into an ambulance with them. "Follow the car, keep your brothers and me updated," Papa barked before heading back inside.

I took off and trailed the truck to the hospital. Mom and Eichi were escorted to a waiting room while Eito went straight to surgery. I was sent straight to a recovery room once I arrived. Mom and Eichi soon showed up. Both of them were crying a ton. I braced my elbows on my knees, mashing my face into my hands, "I was too late. I wasn't able to save him. All this is my fault." I scrubbed tears from my eyes, burying my face in Mom's shoulder. She turned and said tearfully, "No, honey! It's all of our faults. We can't rely on you and your dad all the time. It's the criminals' fault." Her expression darkened, "In fact, if I ever see those pathetic excuses for human beings again, I'll kill them myself." Eichi squeaked, "Mama!" His little finger was pointed to the door, where a pint-sized hospital bed was being rolled in.

"Eito!"

Eichi leapt from his seat and practically flew into Eito. Eito screeched and giggled. Then suddenly, everyone was crying and laughing at the same time. The nurse stood smiling quietly until the twins settled down before explaining the situation to Mom and I. She perched on the end of a chair, "Your son, Mrs. Arashi, did lose his left hand to the wrist. His Quirk will be largely unaffected by the loss, as our healer discovered that he can produce larger ice structures with the wrist." She gestured to the twins excitedly babbling about a huge spike sitting in Eito's lap. "The healer was able to completely fuse the wound shut, so he's good to go! I'll go get some discharge forms for you." She smiled again and left.

Mom and I immediately ran to the twins, squeezing Eito and Eichi so tight. Eito showed us how he could make a HUGE spike, like the size of a super sharp baseball. Eichi refused to leave Eito's side the entire way home. When we got back, Papa and the police had already hauled off the bad guys to be interrogated. Taine, Tait, Hades, and Mienai were silent in the apartment. I flung open the door only to be met by a few water guns exploding on me. "Excuse me but what the hell?" I demanded, shaking water off my wings. Mienai shrugged, "You have to be prepared." I growled at them, "You could hear me land. This isn't a time to screw around." They did look slightly chagrined, but refilled their water guns as Mom and the little guys came in.

"Are we going to move or something?" Taine asked suddenly, "Pop said that the League of Villains knows where we live now." I scowled, "This isn't for us to decide, Taine. Let Mom and Papa figure it out. Besides, if they dared to show their sorry mugs around here ever again, we'd cream 'em!" The middle twins whooped, and I got smirks from the oldest twins.

My parents ended up deciding to move into a hotel overnight. I went to pack up some clothes for the night, but discovered something fucking terrible. "No!" I screeched, digging through the mess of papers on my desk. Mom ran into my room, "What! What!" I plopped down on my bed, fuming, "They stole my fucking radars! And my BASS!" Boy, was I pissed. I'd bought four weather radars with my own money a few years back, and I'd been learning to play bass since I was like eight. "They were so nice," I whined. Mom scowled, "Maybe let's not scream bloody murder unless we're being attacked, m'kay?" I mumbled a sorry and jammed my balled-up school uniform into my duffle bag.

Papa's Agency was sponsoring the hotel, because there was no way we could afford a hotel room fit for nine people. I chucked my bag onto my bed. My brothers all had to share beds, but Papa, Mom, and I got our own. Hooray for wings! I sat cross-legged on the bed, pulling out my phone.

I texted the group chat, "Hey, is everyone okay?" A couple confused messages popped up. "Wat" "Are you okay?" "What u mean?" Then a message from Bakugo, "No." I typed furiously fast, "What happened?" Typing…. "Some idiots broke into my parents' place." Me. "No fucking way." Then Midoriya. "You guys, too?" I was typing again when another message from Bakugo popped up. "LoV, right." Mom called from the other room, "Haruto! Get some shoes on! You're gonna come with us to file a report!" I texted the group again. "Tomorrow, 0830. Front commons of UA. Be there."

The rest of the day flew by. The police took a statement from my brothers and me, and I got another earful about controlling my Quirk. We only got back to the hotel room at 2300. My brothers were a pack of zombies, so I helped Mom herd them through their bedtime routine. I now understand why people say, "Herding cats." I went to bed at about 0300 after making several patrol laps above Hosu. What a day to be attacked by idiots. I was going to be sore during the practical, now.

I landed at almost exactly 0800 at UA. The entire class except for Bakugo was there. Uraraka practically knocked me over with a huge hug. I sputtered, "What's up? Are you okay?" She squealed, "I saw what happened on the news! Six other houses were broken into!" I approached Midoriya, "Is your mom okay?" He shrugged, "The police made it there in time to stop the break-in. We were able to stay." I huffed, "Lucky." Finally, Bakugo slowly sauntered into view. "Hey, sparkles! You okay?" Bakugo growled, "Fine. Shut up." I stuck my tongue out at him, "How's your family?" He grunted, "Mom's pissed. Dad's fine. You?" I shrugged, "Fine. Pissed. My little brother lost his hand."

Horrifyingly awkward silence.

"He lost what?" Iida finally breathed. "His hand," I replied hotly, "But he's fine because apparently that amplified half of his Quirk." All the other people with siblings were really pale. Tsu finally asked, "How old?" I groaned, "Which one? The one I was just talking about? Four. Five in two weeks." It was way too quiet for my liking. "Well," I sighed, "I fried the dude responsible, so…" Bakugo nodded approvingly, and I got a fist bump from Kaminari and Kirishima. That seemed to relax everyone except Koda, who still looked a little freaked out.

After checking in with everyone else, we headed to the practical test venue. I got my costume back on. It was starting to feel natural to be in Hero-mode. We trooped up to the huge building, greeted by a gathering of Hero teachers. This was starting to get interesting.

So, the test was two-on-one against a teacher. They were restrained, but these were PRO HEROES. They worked for years to be the best. I really felt bad for Bakugo and Midoriya, who were fighting against All Might. Yikes.

Jiro and I were up against Present Mic. That kind of worried me. It seemed like we were paired with these teachers for specific reasons. The best thing I could come up with was that our Quirks wouldn't mesh at all. We were great at working together, though.

"Alright!" I said through a big stretch, "What's our strategy? Got anything?" Jiro toyed with one of her jacks, "My Quirk is similar to his. Loud. I can try to blow him back with a competing shockwave." I finished my stretch, "But you'd have to be louder than him. We're talking about Present Mic, studs." She rolled her eyes, "Finally, my nickname." I shrugged, "Alright, Medusa. I can't fly within range of either of your attacks, because I'll be blown out of the sky." I facepalmed, "That's why we were put together! Our attacks would cancel each other out! I can't fly in a sound attack, and any wind would scatter the sonic boom!"

Jiro scowled, "So let's avoid direct combat. We'll head straight for the escape gate. Sound good?" I whooped just as the buzzer went off, signaling the start of our match.

We were in a forest area. Birds were all over the place, squawking and singing. "That's good," I whispered, "They'll give us some cover." Jiro nodded with a tiny grunt. We took off running toward the escape gate as quickly and quietly as we could. After a solid thirty seconds, a huge, deafening yell slammed through the forest. I threw up a bubble of tornado-force wind around us. "Is this some kind of metal echolocation?" I shouted over the drone. Jiro shouted back, "I don't know! We have to keep moving! Ugh! It feels like my eardrums are going to burst!" I agreed as loud as I could. When the sound petered out, Jiro braced against a tree, "He's better than I thought he was. And he's probably waiting for us at the gate. What to do…"

A few more shouts from Mic screamed into us. Both of our ears were bleeding by the time he was done. "Alright," I panted, "I'm gonna put him in a tornado and chuck him away from the gate so we can leave." Jiro shook blood off of her jacks, "Why didn't you do that earlier?!" I laughed and called down a mini tornado, sweeping it toward Mic. He tried to shout at it, but the sound was carried away. I scooped him up and flung the tornado to the other side of the test area. Then Jiro and I booked it to the escape gate.

"Team Jiro and Arashi pass!"

I went to the viewing room after I was cleared. Iida, Momo, Midoriya, Tsu, and Uraraka were already there. Another buzzer sounded right as I entered. "Team Mineta and Sero pass!" I paused behind Uraraka, "Hmm. Tell me about it. How'd they do it?" Uraraka squeaked and jumped, "Hey, Haruto! Great job, by the way!" I started to say thanks, but she cut me off with an in-depth analysis of Mineta's plan to sticky-trap Midnight and run for the hills. "Sweet," I mumbled, already looking back, "Hey, Midoriya!" He looked up. "It's yours and Bakugo's turn. Tell him that if he tries to blow you up, I'll fry his brains." His face went a shade paler.

He left, so we were left watching the screens with Recovery Girl. I actually fell asleep against the wall, and I was quite happy and at peace until Uraraka shrieked, "They passed!" I stumbled and fell over, knocking my elbow against the floor, "Shit!" Momo looked down, confused, "Are you okay?" I looked up tearfully and wailed, "I hit my goddamn funny bone!"

I flew to the hotel happy as a clam. Mom and Papa greeted me at the door with hugs and surprise ice cream! They'd gone to a shop around the corner and grabbed a pint of matcha- my favorite! I ate most of it myself, with everyone else stealing bites here and there. My brothers were elated. Taine asked, "So are you like a Hero now?" I said around a mouthful of ice cream, "One step closer, squirt!"

Falling asleep again was super easy. I was tired even though I hadn't really done much. It'd been an eventful couple of days.

The next day, we received our results! I passed third in the whole class! Here came the snowflakes! We were super pumped about the summer camp, and received booklets about what to bring. Even the few who didn't pass were allowed to come! We were buzzing about everything after class when Hagakure suggested we all go shopping together. "C'mon, sparkles! I saw a pair of light-up sneakers that you'd just love-" He cut me off by shoving past, "That sounds annoying." Todoroki bailed to go visit his family. His mom, I think.

I flew back to the hotel as fast as I could and changed into a black tank top, khaki cargo shorts, and a beat-up black baseball cap with my sneakers. The class was already there when I made it to the mall, splitting up to go buy different stuff. "Hey, bubbles!" Uraraka turned around, "Hey!" I looked at the crumpled list in my hand, "Wanna come with me to buy bug spray and sunscreen?" She shrugged and smiled, "Sure!" Midoriya popped up behind her, "Can I come, too?" Uraraka squeaked and grabbed my hand, sprinting away.

When she finally ran out of breath, I stopped her, "The hell was that?" She held up a finger, panting. Big breath, "N-nothing. I just… it's just-" I sighed, "You have a crush on him, don'tcha?" Her face went tomato red, and she began babbling. I folded my arms until she stopped. "I'll leave it be… for now. Away!" I hooked my arm in hers and dragged her into the outdoorsy store.

We bought a bottle of bug spray each, and a couple tubes of sunscreen. "Should we go back to hotshot?" I asked, digging through my Pokemon tote bag for a candy bar. Uraraka leaned over a railing, looking down to the main floor, "Yeah, I kinda feel bad for leaving him like that." I shrugged and had an "A-ha!" moment when I found a Kit-Kat. I gave her half as we shuffled onto the escalator.

It took us a minute to locate Midoriya's signature mop of green curls. "Hol' up," I hissed, catching Uraraka's elbow, "Who's the shady dude?" We finally came within range. Midoriya's eyes shot up to us, then darted back to the guy. Black hoodie, silver hair. Bad vibes. He was kind of hugging Midoriya really close. Midoriya's face was getting paler as we slowly inched closer. "Hey, Deku. Is this a friend?" Uraraka asked shakily. The silver-haired dude looked up with bloodshot red eyes.

No no no no no no no no no.

No fucking way.

I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and a couple zaps of lightning skate across my skin, "Let him go, sir." The guy didn't move. "Now," I growled. Now we could see that Tomura Shigaraki had Midoriya in a choke hold. Midoriya was really sweating now. Shigaraki looked up with a strained smile, "Oh, Izuku Midoriya! I didn't realize that you came here with friends!" He released Midoriya and stood up, walking speedily past us. I rammed my shoulder into his as he passed. He paused to look me in the eye, "If any of you try to follow me, I'll get very angry." He disappeared into the crowd.

"I'm gonna follow him," I announced, turning to follow. A hand closed around my arm. "Let me go, hotshot," I warned, cutting a glance back at him over my shoulder. He was heaving for breath and crying, "Don't. Let's let the authorities take care of him." I huffed, "Fine. But next time, I get to kill him."

Uraraka and Midoriya took care of all the administrative stuff as I flew back to the hotel. Papa was waiting for me in the lobby, and he. Was. Livid.

"Why can't you stay out of trouble, Haruto?" he demanded, grabbing my ear and dragging me into the room, "I swear, I leave you alone for eight hours and you manage to find Shigaraki in a goddamn shopping mall!" I huffed a sarcastic, "Ow." He let go on plopped down on his bed, muttering angrily. Mom poked her head in, "Ah, Haruto. Punch anyone today?" I growled, "Not yet." She shrugged and laughed, "That's a win in my book!" Papa joined her as they left the area, corralling the twins through bedtime.

I flopped down on my bed, staring at the ceiling.

Boy was this going to be fun.

All right! Time for some excuses! Pls don't hate me!

I am so sorry for the completely unannounced six-week hiatus! I am drowning in online school right now, and I haven't had much time to post, because I review the entire chapter right before I do so.

Also, like the idiot I am, I may or may not have started a total of three new fanfictions which will be debuting sometime in June. Don't riot just yet, I've also prewritten the next six chapters of Thunderbird, so be expecting more regular updates!

Again, I am sooo sorry ~The Graceful Egg