Their Hero Academia

by Zylly

Twenty-five years after Izuki Midoriya and the rest of Class 1-A first set foot in the halls of U.A., their children begin their own hero academia. What adventures and challenges await the newest generation of future heroes? Can they possibly live up to the standard their parents set? Will they put Aizawa into an early grave? Or will this be the most Plus Ultra class of them all?

90. Chapter 82: Dog Days of Summer

Their Hero Academia – Chapter 82: The Dog Days of Summer

A lot of things happened very quickly. Aunt Mahoro's illusion dropped, revealing that Boost-Rush, Aizawa, and Uncle Kacchan were interrogating… a dog?

"OMIGOSH!" Fukidashi let out a high pitched squeal, covering her mouth with her hands. Toshi swore that her eyes actually turned into hearts for a moment. One of these days, he was definitely going to have to figure out exactly how her Quirk worked. "He's so cute!"

"You're seeing that too, right?" Kocho asked. Her antenna flipped up, seemingly scanning what was going on before them. "This isn't just me, right? That's definitely a dog there."

"Like, not unless the fruit smoothies we had for lunch were like, totally gnarly," 1-B's bat student, Koumori said.

"Is he a talking dog?" Shota asked, excitedly, practically vibrating. "That'd be so cool!"

"No, not a dog," Monoma said, with surprising certainty. "He's almost certainly got some kind of dog-type Quirk, probably a transformation one, but he's definitely human."

"Aw," Shota grumbled, kicking the dirt. He looked up. "How can you tell?"

"My Quirk doesn't work on animals," Monoma explained. "And it doesn't really work on him either. But Transformation-type Quirks always make my eyeballs feel a little… fuzzy, when I see them in use."

Okay, Toshi was going to file that interesting factoid away for later. He was definitely learning a lot about everybody's Quirks here. But there was a lot more important stuff going on.

Fortunately, the tension was beginning to drain out of the members of the two classes. Even Katsumi started visibly relaxing, though in her case it was changing from enraged and battle ready to just annoyed.

"Better be a damn good explanation for this," she growled, crossing her arms.

"Don't you mean a doggone good explanation?" Sero asked. Toshi recognized his tone of voice. He was using humor to calm himself down. Of course, bad puns weren't exactly what he'd call humor…

"I hope he doesn't get in trouble for this," Mineta added. Her voice too, was shaking slightly, but growing stronger by the moment. A sinking feeling began to spread in Toshi's stomach. "This is the kind of thing that could hound a guy's career."

Sero shot her some finger guns and a grin. Whatever fear he'd had was clearly gone now. "Oh, definitely. That would be pretty ruff."

"Either way, he's probably going to be in the doghouse with his teacher after this," Mineta volleyed back.

"They'll probably keep him on a short leash for a while," Sero replied.

"Maybe they'll throw him a bone and go easy on him," Mineta added.

"I hope so. I'd hate to see it put his Hero career on paws," Sero finished.

Tensei, meanwhile, was staring at the two of them slacked-jawed, as though unable to believe what he was witnessing from his boyfriend. Sato patted his arm in a sort of consoling, "there, there," gesture.

It didn't look like it helped.

"So let me see if I've got this straight," Boost-Rush asked the Shiketsu dog. "You're a Shiketsu student and you missed the bus to the training camp."

The dog nodded, then skewed up his eyes in concentration. There was a brief puff of smoke and a slight bang sound and when it was gone, there was a red-haired boy standing there. He was of average height, but even with the Shiketsu uniform, it was clear he worked out. He was athletic, like a professional swimmer or volleyball player, not like a bodybuilder. Koharu didn't have a great baseline for male attractiveness, but she suspected men-attracted people would have found him so.

"Oh no," she heard Sero wail. "He's hot!"

"Takuma," Tensei Iida said, sounding annoyed.

"Right, right, sorry babe," Sero said. "Heat of the moment."

"Oh, hey!" Mineta said, snapping her fingers. "I remember him now! Shinji talked about him before. He didn't say how cute he was though!"

As crazy as it was, Koharu was grateful for the distraction of her classmates' antics. It kept her from feeling like her heart was in her throat. Sure, she'd been up close and personal to more action than she seen in her entire life during her Internship. And sure, she understood, in concept, the dangers that came with being a Hero Course student.

But in the moment when she'd thought they were going to be attacked, just like the legendary assault that had occurred on U.A.'s training camp twenty-five years ago, she'd been scared, genuinely, truly terrified And yet, in the moment, she'd found the courage not to run, but to stand ready with her friends and classmates. Her Quirk may not have been much compared to some of theirs, but she'd been willing to give it everything she had. She'd seen their courage too, 1-A and 1-B both. All of them had been ready to do or die, if it called for it. Being surrounded by so many courageous people was truly humbling.

She just hoped she could one day consider herself as brave.

The fact that, if it had not been a friendly dog-student, she could have died, was not far from her thoughts. She pushed it down. The others were slowly dealing with the tension in their own ways, though most were watching the display in front of them.

"What'd you say your name was?" Boost-Rush asked.

"Hachi Inuzaki, sir!" the boy said. He was grinning, as though he didn't have a problem in the world. Aizawa and Ground Zero exchanged a look, as though sharing in some long-suffering pain.

Boost-Rush turned and looked at Vanish-Veil. "Can we confirm that?"

Vanish-Veil pulled a handheld device from her belt and checked it. "Pulling up the Shiketsu files… Hachi Inuzaki, Quirk: CaniMorph, first year Shiketsu student, Class 1-Alpha. Picture matches too."

Aizawa's hair rose up as he stared at the boy. "Not a shapeshifting or illusion Quirk. Beyond the obvious, of course. He couldn't maintain that form if it were."

"You're Eraserhead!" Inuzaki cried out, his grin somehow getting even wider. "So cool!"

Koharu saw Kirishima-Bakugo give Shinso a look. "There's two of them now?!" the muscular girl growled, throwing her hands in the air. "Great, just great!"

"I know!" Shinso said, somehow missing the actual point. "I hope we can be friends!"

"However," Vanish-Veil went on, "Inuzaki's not on our list. According to this, he wasn't even considered for this camp. He's supposed to be at Shiketsu's usual summer training center."

Inuzaki's head tilted to the side. It was a very adorable gesture. Behind her, Koharu could hear Fukidashi muttering about how cute he was again.

"I know it was a last minute decision," Inuzaki said. "But I overslept and missed the bus! So I tracked it down! I'm so sorry I was late!"

"You tracked the bus?" Ground Zero said. The Pro wasn't even bothered to hide his disbelief.

"Yes, Sir!" Inuzaki said.

"Halfway across Japan?"

"Yes, Sir!" Inuzaki said again.

"And got past all our defenses?" Boost-Rush asked.

"I thought it was a test!" Inuzaki said, maintaining the same level of enthusiasm. "I mean, I'm not that big when I'm in dog form, so I could sneak past a lot of it, but I did have to fight some of them!"

It was Vanish-Veil who burst out laughing. "Okay, I like this one."

"That still doesn't explain why you thought you were going to be at this camp," Boost-Rush said.

"Oh, well," Inuzaki said, still looking confused, "Kaz said "See you at the camp, Inuzaki!", so I thought I had to be going to the same one as him! I figured they just forgot to tell me!"

Aizawa just sighed. Ground Zero even face palmed. Vanish-Veil started laughing again, while some of the other Rookies just looked stunned.

Koharu wasn't sure how it was possible, but the boy perked up even more, waving at someone. "There he is! You can ask him! Hi, Kaz!"

Koharu turned to follow his line of sight and saw Locksmith with the Shiketsu students.

Tsuchikawa, the purple-haired cat-boy of the Shiketsu students, startled at the sight of the dog-boy. He stopped suddenly, causing the giant Tatsuma to run into him. When she saw what had been the cause his distress, her eyes went wide.

"I don't know how," Tatsuma said, "but I just know this is your fault!"

"I didn't think he'd believe me!" Tsuchikawa said, wilting under the large girl's glare.

In spite of the big fight in the morning and then the very scary moment in the afternoon, Shota was actually feeling pretty good. The Shiketsu students had been allowed to return to training with them, and he was pretty sure Uncle Shota had let the Shiketsu teachers know that Inuzaki was with them. He'd seen him on his cell phone and itt looked like there had been quite a few serious conversations and more than a little bit of yelling at Tsuchikawa. But it had been decided that the dog-boy could stay. So he was happy everyone was able to work together again, even if he still found Tatsuma and Park kind of scary. Hopefully things would get better and they'd all get to be friends by the end of camp.

Shota really hated it when people fought. He just wanted everybody to get along and be friends. Was that so wrong? And he really didn't understand Tatsuma. Her mom had been a Hero! How could she not like Heroes too? Sure, a lot of people said a lot of mean things about Ryukyu, but a lot of people still thought really highly of her…

There was a lot about the world he didn't understand sometimes.

But he knew Toshi was going to talk to Tatsuma, and he trusted his friend to make things right. If anybody could do it, Toshi definitely could! And speaking of friends…

Inuzaki was getting his cot ready. He'd taken up a spot near Shinji and him. "Hi!" Shota called out. "It's Inuzaki, right?"

The red-haired Shiketsu boy looked up and smiled. He was a bit taller than Shota, though since he was the shortest one in Class 1-A, it wasn't a high bar to clear. Kirishima-Bakugo and Ojiro weren't much taller than him, but still enough to make a difference. And people like Shoji, Koda, and Sora Iida just utterly dwarfed him. Shinji too, was much taller, and would have towered over Inuzaki too.

"Hi yourself!" Inuzaki said. "And that's right. Hachi Inuzaki!"

"And I'm Shota Shinso," Shota said, introducing himself. He spotted a clip hanging off of Inuzaki's bag and his eyes went wide. Hero-themed bag clips were common, sold just about everywhere in frequently released blind bags. But he'd only seen this one on MeBay before! "Is that a Sequoia Rose bag clip? That's the chase from that wave! I've probably bought two dozen bags and still never gotten that one!"

He had definitely bought a lot, not just from that wave, but from all the previous ones too. Sometimes it took a lot to find the really rare ones. Sometimes he even had to acquire them secondhand, sometimes spending all his allowance in one go. Mom said he was "mad whack" for them.

Inuzaki looked down at his bag, then back up and smiled again. "Oh yeah," he said. "Did you know I got this in the very first one from this wave I bought? That kind of thing happens to me all the time!"

"Oh, man," Shota said, giving the air a little punch. "You are so lucky!"

"She's one of my favorite Heroes too," Inuzaki added. "I mean, Deku and all the Top Ten Heroes are super cool! Who wouldn't like them? But a lot of the ones who aren't that high up are really awesome too!"

Shota found his head nodding along with Inuzaki's assessment. Uncle Izuku and everybody else were really amazing. But so were so many other Heroes! "Oh, she's really awesome," he agreed. "My friend Haimawari actually met her!"

It had been back during the I-Island thing, which he knew had been really serious and really scary. But Haimawari had been nice enough after everything to get him a bunch of autographs, even though Shota could tell he'd been more than a little shaken up by how crazy it had been. The taller boy was a really good friend like that.

"Whoa!" Inuzaki said. "That's awesome! She's so cool!"

"She is!" he agreed. "Haimawari said she's really nice too."

Inuzaki nodded. "I bet! I've seen her on her mom's talk show!"

Shota nodded along. He'd seen those episodes too. He always made sure to record Mount Lady in the Morning when she had a Pro or former Pro-Hero on as a guest. "Speaking of parents, what about you? Are yours Heroes?"

"Nope," Inuzaki said. "I'm the first Hero in my family. A lot of my family are police officers or firefighters though."

Shota had to quickly push down a thought of people turning into Dalmatians or German Shepherds. Fortunately, he was quick enough not to actually say it. That would have been really bad. He knew he tended to say whatever thoughts came into his mind without much of a filter, but it was really hard to keep all his thoughts inside his head!

"Oh, wow," he said. "Almost everybody in my class has a Hero parent. Except for Haimawari and Kocho. That's the tall guy with the pink stripes in his hair and the moth girl. They're both really nice. Haimawari even won the Sports Festival! And Kocho came in third with Toshi! She used to be in General Education, but now she's going to be a Hero too!"

"So are your parents are Heroes?" Inuzaki asked. If he was bothered by all the talking Shota was doing, he didn't show it.

"They are!" Shota told him. "My mom actually went to Shiketsu! She's Camie Utsushimi!"

"Your mom is Glamour?!" Inuzaki said, eyes growing wide. "She's amazing! She even came to talk to our class once, with Gale Force and Sisicross!"

Shota had to grin. Not a lot of people knew who either of his parents were, since they were mostly Underground Heroes. Mom did do a little bit of merchandise and did have a decent online presence, but it was nothing compared to a lot of other Heroes. And Dad shunned the spotlight the same way that Uncle Shota did.

"Dad's a Hero too, the Voice, but you probably haven't…"

"The Voice too!" Inuzaki blurted out. "Oh, man, I saw a clip of him on ViewTube once! He made a Villain stop fighting and punch another Villain! It was one of the coolest things I ever saw!"

"Ha ha ha ha!" Behind them, Shota heard a deep, booming laugh. He turned and saw Shinji staring at them with a grin of his own. "I see you two are getting along like crazy!"

Shota and Inuzaki joined in the laughter for a moment. "Well," Inuzaki said, "Shinji's not wrong! Do you want to be friends, Shinso?"

"Of course!" Shota told him. It wasn't a hard choice at all! Inuzaki seemed like a great guy and it sounded like they had so much in common.

Shinji let out another boisterous laugh. "The beauty of newly forged friendships!"

"Yeah, that's great," someone else said, and Shota turned to see it was Sasuke Kido, the red-haired force-field user from 1-B, who had fought Haimawari during the Sports Festival. "But maybe quiet it down? Some of us are trying to get ready for bed!"

"And go!"

As soon as Vanish-Veil gave the word, Koharu flapped her wings hard and launched herself forward. After a week of camp, her speed and endurance has already improved. This was supposed to be a test of her speed and reaction time. All she had to do was make it to the end of obstacle course they'd set up. She had to keep her flight ceiling low—Vanish-Veil called flying over it "cheating"—but she could still handle it.

The first part was easy: it was made of floating hoops set up in various combinations that she had to get through as quickly as possible. Her wingspan complicated things, but she could launch herself through some of them and rely on momentum instead of flapping. The rest was just keeping up with the twists and turns. In no time, she had passed through those. Maybe this would be easy.

Whump!

Or maybe not! The wooden posts that shot up out of the ground forced her to flip up and flap hard, pushing herself back before she smacked into it. Just as quickly, she kept flapping and adjusted her flight path, circling around it.

Whump! Whump! Whump!

And there were more of them! They were getting faster and more numerous the further she got.

Left! Right! Left! Left! Right! Back! Dodge! Turn! Left! Right! Right! Back! Up! Left! Left! Right! Right! Left! Left! Left! Dodge! Dodge! Barrel Roll! Left! Up! Back! Right!

Finally, she was past the maze of posts, her heart pounding in her chest, her breath coming in sharp, quick gasps. But the dangers were far from over.

"Fire!" a voice called out, and Koharu watched as several students from 1-A and 1-B sprang from hiding places behind bushes and trees. The air was quickly filled with a volley of different beams and projectiles.

There was Kimiko Dashi from 1-B, the tri-haired girl who could stop, slow down, or speed up other objects. From her right hand, she unleashed a barrage of vibrant red beams.

Also from Class 1-B was Joichiro Koichiro, a dark haired boy who had two pupils in each eye. His Quirk, she had seen, allowed him to duplicate inorganic matter. With a dramatic flourish, he threw a boomerang, duplicating it a half dozen times just before he released it.

From 1-A, there was Haimawari, with those blue-white bolts of his. And there was Mineta, who'd beaten her at the Sports Festival, firing those sticky purple balls from her horns. Finally, there was Aoyama, lit up like a small sun and triggering all kinds of mothy instincts, firing pinpoint laser blasts.

Five of them. One of her. And all of them between her and the finish line.

Time to show the Rookies that their training to bring her up to speed had paid off.

She darted this way and that again, up and down and right and left, each time sidestepping one of their attacks. But her classmates and the 1-B students were relentless. She didn't think any of those attacks would cause serious injury, but as she quickly pulled her right wings out of the way of one of Dashi's blasts, she knew they wouldn't feel good either. That last one had been close. She could feel the static electricity the stop-beam had left in its wake, strong enough to send a tingle up her wings and down her spine.

Tactics were something else that had been drilled into her this week, not just endurance and basic combat. Take out the biggest threat first, if you could, then work your way down. And when under fire, keep moving and don't give them a chance to get a fix on you.

Dashi first. If her stop -beam hit her, the rest wouldn't matter. Koharu twisted out of the way of another beam, took in a deep breath, and fired off a volley of her String Shot. She shaped it as best she could, and it hit Dashi like a sticky net, pinning her arms to her sides.

"Looks like you can't help but lose to 1-A, Dashi!" Mineta laughed, even as she fired off more of her own sticky attack.

"Does she ever shut up?" Koichiro growled. He seemed to have quite the array of throwing weapons, continuing to duplicate them just before he threw.

"Not that I've been able to see," Aoyama said. His own light bursts were making it hard to dodge. He wasn't just using them offensively now, but was also creating a strobe effect with one hand. It hurt her eyes and made it hard to focus.

So she closed them. Her antenna flipped up, expanding her senses. She could still tell where everyone was and could even since the projectiles. But she still needed to do something about her attackers.

Koharu flapped her wings hard, releasing her Sleep Powder and Paralytic Powder. She flew in fast circles, faster and faster, until she was practically engulfed into a cloud of it. Only then did she stop circling, flapping her wings hard enough to set up a gust that blew the powders towards her attackers.

"Hey, what the…?!" Koichiro called out, dropping to his knees, before slinking to the ground. Aoyama and Haimawari went down too, both of them falling into a deep sleep.

"At least… buy me… dinner… first…" Mineta muttered sleepily. The girl had to have the constitution of a horse! She'd gotten a huge dose of powder! But she soon went down just like the others.

Opening her eyes, she could see that the finish line was in sight. Koharu zipped forward, just in time for something to wrap itself around her legs and snap her to a stop! Deprived of her forward momentum, she hit the ground, letting out a small grunt. Mindful of her wings, she rolled over to look for the source of her trouble. There was a grey cloth of some kind wrapped around her legs tightly, one she recognized immediately. This could only be one of two people...

Tracking the capture cloth to its source, she quickly discovered it was the safer option: Shiro Monoma. "You know," he said, his lips pulled back in a smug sneer, "you don't belong in 1-A!"

How could he say such a thing?! He'd been nothing but supportive of her during the Sports Festival!

"A superior Hero student like you belongs in 1-B!" he finished, rearing back his head to laugh. "Which is why I agreed to help test your limits!"

Koharu just laughed at that. She'd been warned he could be a little weird. "Sorry, not my decision! This is, though!" She pushed off the ground, flapping her wings to get airborne. The last time, she'd been able to drag him along.

But this time, it didn't work. Instead, Monoma snapped the cloth back in one simple motion, then launched himself forward in a series of leaps and bounces that looked like something she'd seen Pinky do in some old videos. He landed and instantly snapped the cloth out again, both ends flying out, just like something she'd seen the Hieroglyph Hero: Mummy-Man do with his bandages. One end wrapped around her upper body, pinning her wings to her sides and knocking her back to the ground. The other end wrapped tightly around her legs, keeping her from getting up.

"You're doing well," Monoma said, sounding genuinely encouraging. "You're really made impressive progress; you should be proud. I really am sorry I have to stop you. But you're not the only one who's improved."

She almost hated having to do it to him. But as he got closer, she hocked a blob of String Shot right in his face, covering his eyes. He let out a cry of alarm, taking his hands off his capture cloth and letting it go slack. It gave her just enough wiggle room to flex her wings and escape from it, taking back off into the air. She rocketed towards him, then flipped up, hitting him with her feet and knocking Monoma on his back. As she flew towards the finish line, she could swear she heard him muttering "Bravo…"

Her feet touched ground just on the other side of the finish line. Vanish-Veil was already there waiting for her, checking a stopwatch.

"Not bad, kid," the Rookie told her. She looked over to wear the other students were still on the ground. "Are they going to be okay?"

Koharu grinned sheepishly. "The ones I hit with my powders might be out for a while yet. Sleep Powder usually knocks somebody out for at least a half hour, but it's probably getting stronger. Though the Paralyze Powder might take a little longer to wear off. They got a pretty big dose of both." She rubbed the back of her head. She still wasn't completely used to using her Quirk on people. Getting the dosage right was tricky. "Monoma should be fine too… my Sting Shot dissolves after about an hour."

Vanish-Veil just laughed. "I'll get my brother on it. He'll have fun coming up with a solvent."

"Then I passed?" Koharu asked. It had to be good news, right? They were supposed to tell you right away if it was bad news, right? That had to be in the rules, right?

The blonde Rookie just laughed again. "You did great, Kocho. We'll make a Hero out of you yet."

At the end of the first week, they were finally given an evening off. Their teachers, even Aizawa and Sandblast, had recognized that they needed time to recharge. And damn if Chihiro wasn't grateful for it. She had definitely been pushed to her limits and beyond, using her Quirk like never before. But it had been worth it: she was already increasing her resistance to the detrimental effects of her Quirk.

Maybe that was one of the reasons she found herself getting along so well with Monoma. His Quirk put tremendous stress on his body and he had to keep himself fit in order to replicate moves without tearing his tendons or breaking bones. He knew what it was like when the limits of what your Quirk could do and what your body could actually take were not the same thing.

Plus, he had a cute butt and fancy hair. That was nice too. Especially since it was always a gamble as to whether or not anything out of his mouth was going to set her off.

"It's unfair," he said, "Kocho should be joining our class, not yours. No offense, but you already have two fliers. Koumori's a more than capable representative of that for ours, but you have two jet-powered Iidas already."

Chihiro shrugged. "I don't make the decisions," she said. She hadn't had a lot of conversations with the moth girl, but she seemed like she'd fit in well enough. From what she'd seen, Kocho was becoming pretty good friends with Ojir, Sero, and Sato, so she'd probably fit in just fine.

"C'mon, Shinji!" a voice called out. "They're letting us use the pool!"

"I'm coming, babe!"

She and Monoma turned their heads to see Mika and Yoarashi running past, holding hands, both wearing athletic swimsuits emblazoned with the Rookies' logo. Mika's hugged her every curve and was struggling in the battle to prevent bouncing. She half-expected to hear boing sound effects. She could see several of the male students who were around openly staring or doing a double-take. The jerks. Distracted by a giant pair of boobs and more curves than a backcountry road! Who did they think they were?!

And Yoarashi was…shirtless, with the swimsuit clinging to his muscular thighs. And he had pecs you could crack a walnut with. And an eight pack. And a tight butt. And was tall enough you could climb him like a tree. And…

Suddenly, she was broken from her trance by Monoma snapping his fingers next to her ear. "Kaminari!" he said, sounding irritated.

She nearly jumped out of her skin, her Cords flailing and sparking wildly. Monoma was actually ready for it this time, ducking and dodging out of the way until she'd settled down. She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Sorry," she said. "Yoarashi is just…very distracting."

Monoma frowned, eyes downcast. "Mika certainly seems to think so."

She gave him a look. "You're telling me you weren't staring at Mika?"

He shook his head. "Mika is one of my oldest and closest friends. She's got a passion and lust for life and an exuberance that's practically unmatched. Objectively? She's a knockout. But I'm much more interested in what she looks like when she smiles or the face she makes when she's pouting because she's being a brat."

Okay, maybe he had a point there. And maybe it was a little bit reassuring to know he couldn't be completely waylaid by all of that. Of course, that made her own case of being distracted by the sexy worse. "They seem happy together," she said after a moment. "They clicked pretty much right from the moment they met."

Monoma hesitated a moment before answering. "He and Mika really are quite compatible." Was he jealous? He and Mika had been friends a long time, both before and after they'd dated. Which was the two of them trying this thing out was still kind of weird, since Mika was also her best friend. But they could unpack that later.

"Given she can't swim," he went on, "I'm sure Mika either intends to just watch him from the shallow end or else fake needing to be rescued. It's a bit like watching the leads in some high school drama when they're together."

"I think the film they're in carries a higher rating than that," Chihiro said, before she could stop herself. Monoma stared at her for a moment, wide-eyed, before chuckling.

"A fair point," he said. He brushed a few strands of blond hair out of his eyes. "Besides," he said, "let Mika have her romance with that attractive muscle head. I'm far more interesting in the story you and I are staring in."

He said it with such earnest that she felt bad for the giggle that escaped her lips, instantly clapping her hands over her mouth. Who just said stuff like that? Why did she have to have feeling for such a dramatic weenie?!

"So, ah," she asked, trying to diffuse the awkwardness, "what did you want to do this evening?"

"There's a cliff not far from here, if you go through the woods," Monoma said. "My cousin told me there's a fantastic view of the fireflies from there once it gets dark. I thought you might like that."

"You know," she said, "that does sound nice." Low stakes. Just watching the fireflies with a guy. Nothing weird or fancy about that.

"Of course, he also said, "it'd be a good spot to kiss your girlfriend,'" Monoma went on. He looked embarrassed by it, if the way his cheeks flushed was any indication. Not to mention he looked away from her when he said it. How could he be so smug and confident so much of the time, but flounder around her? She wasn't the kind of girl that boys got goofy and tongue-tied over. Was she? "But, ah…"

"Yeah," she agreed, blushing a bit herself. "Not there yet."

They started walking, their fingertips nearly brushing against each other. She felt the heat spread up her face again. "Oh, sorry, I…"

"No, my fault, sorry," Monoma said. He was blushing again too.

"I mean, we could… hold hands," she said. Stupid pretty boy, making it hard to think clearly. What happened to her razor sharp wit? "Just so it doesn't happen. You know?"

"We, ah, we could," Monoma agreed. He stopped and held out his hand to her. There was a slightly rakish tilt to his head, and a smile on his face that reached his eyes, not like the smug smiles he used when trying to tout his class's superiority.

She put her hand in his. It wasn't soft, she knew that already, but the nails and skin were well cared for. Mika always said had an extensive beauty regimen

She hated to admit it, but their hands fit together pretty damn good.

Toshi could barely believe that the camp was almost over. Under Uncle Kacchan's direction, he'd increased his speed and skill several times over, switching up his gravity at record speeds. He was still working on getting out of the habit of relying completely on techniques like Great Granpa Torino, but there had been a lot of progress.

He was proud of all of his classmates; they'd shown remarkable growth with their Quirks and skills too! Some, like Kaminari, had increased their limits. Others, like Sora and Tensei had focused on new skills, improving not just speed but control and reflexes. Shota had shown great improvement, pushing his sonic powers like never before. He'd even seen Sato working closely with Uncle Katsuma, eating new things and apparently trying some different supplements to see what affect they had on his Quirk. And Haimawari was learning how to use his Quirk to fly! How cool was that? And their newest classmate, Kocho, was proving she had what it took to be a Hero.

Things with the Shiketsu students had been… interesting. Shinji, of course, had never met someone he didn't like. He'd spent most of his free time with Mineta, of course, but he'd spent time hanging out with just about everyone at some point over the camp. In what had been one of the highlights of one of their evenings, he'd even challenged Katsumi to an arm wrestling match. She'd beaten him quite handily, but he'd accepted the loss with his usual good natured laugh and a bear hug for Katsumi that had left her threatening him with every injury imaginable.

Inuzaki and Shota had become such good friends that, if Toshi didn't know any better, he'd have sworn that they'd been friends their entire life. The dog-boy's enthusiasm was incredibly infectious. There was just something about him that made you feel better, just for being around him. Toshi had even caught Uncle Kacchan smiling around him. That he was a huge Hero fan was an even bigger bonus. Ojiro and Fukidashi also seemed to really like him, but just about all the girls had seemed to find him cute. Toshi had also gotten a chance to see Inuzaki in action and he was no joke. He could change forms in the blink of an eye and was equally skilled in either.

Shida had fit in well too, bonding nicely with quite a few of the others. The spider-girl seemed friendly, if somewhat at odds with deciding how much friendship with U.A. was too much. She'd mostly spent her free time with Park and Tatsuma, seemingly acting as a buffer between the other two girls and everyone else. But she'd been incredible to watch in training, especially when she was paired with Shoji, whose Extendo-Arms were very similar to her spider-legs. Kocho was still a little scared of her though.

Tsuchikawa had gotten into it a few times with Sero, Monoma, and Aoyama, but their spats seemed to have been minor in the scheme of things. He hated to use the analogy, but it really was like a bunch of cats fighting over territory. Ojiro seemed like him though, which just annoyed Sero even more.

And then there was Tatsuma and Park. No one had picked any fights, and at least some of the girls had said they'd been able to engage them in civil conversation. But neither had gone out of their way to interact with the U.A. students. Perhaps it was for the best. After talking with Asuka, Kana, and Awase, they'd agreed it was pretty much best to just leave it be and not risk pushing anything.

He still felt bad. It had been pointed out to him, by several people, but most especially Asuka, that he'd been kind of insensitive with Tatsuma. He hadn't meant to be, and he didn't think he was completely wrong, but he'd definitely been too quick to dismiss her view on things. He wasn't always as aware of the lofty position he held as the son of Deku, not when his dad had always just been Dad to him. He wanted to talk to her, to tell her that his dad really did understand what it mean to fail, the sleepless nights he'd had because of people he hadn't been able to save… but he wasn't sure if that would just make things worse or if she'd even want to hear him.

He was also, admittedly, grappling with the question of whether or not he actually wanted to make the situation right or if he was just bothered by the fact that there was someone out there who didn't like him. And he wasn't sure if he knew the answer to that, or if he'd like it if he found it. Sure, he'd had people he hadn't always gotten along with in school prior to U.A., but he'd also spent much of his formative years in the company of truly close friends.

Right now, however, all seventeen students of Class 1-A, all sixteen of Class 1-B, and the six students from Shiketsu were assembled in front of the Rookies' compound. Boost-Rush, Uncle Katsuma, Aunt Mahoro, and Sandblast were there from the Rookies, along with Uncle Kacchan, Aizawa, and Super-Ball.

"Okay," Uncle Katsuma said cheerfully, clapping his hands once. "You're all here. Good! You've all been working really hard this week. I'm really proud of all of you!"

"Eh, you're not bad," Sandblast said, deadpan. "Still a bunch of little shits."

Boost-Rush turned to look at his fellow Rookie. "A little decorum, Hokori, please?"

She shrugged. "They haven't proven they're not little shits."

"Anyway," Uncle Katsuma said, "we've devised one final test for you, as a way of 'graduating' from our training camp. You'll have to put everything you've learned so far to use if you want our seal of approval."

Aizawa stepped forward. "Working with Ground Zero, Super-Ball, and me, the Rookies have devised a relay scenario on the outer grounds of their property. Six pairs will have to transport a dummy representing a wounded civilian through hostile territory, while under Villain attack. Those of you in the relay will be playing the Villains."

Well, that was… interesting. It made sense. A lot of their work during the past term, especially during their final exam, had been focused on teamwork. It was only logical to keep up with that. And Aizawa was nothing if not logical. But how had they split people up? Toshi wasn't sure he had the kind of mindset to play a Villain!

Aizawa went on. "One half of each pair will be a Shiketsu student. The first leg will be Inuzaki and Shinso."

"All right!" Shinso called out, waving his hands in the air. He turned to Inuzaki. "Did you hear that?! We're going to get to team-up!"

Inuzaki was no less exuberant. "Awesome! We're going to do so good!"

Aizawa cleared his throat, silencing the two of them. "The second leg will be Shida and Kocho."

If she was startled by that, Kocho did a good job of hiding it. She cast a quick glance in the spider-girl's direction, but otherwise just nodded.

"And the third leg," Aizawa said, "will be Sero and Tsuchikawa."

"Just gives you and me a chance to get closer, handsome," Tsuchikawa told Sero, teasingly.

"Excuse you," Tensei said, "I am right here. Please do not flirt with my boyfriend in front of me."

"So… in private, then?"

"Look, Tsuchikawa," Sero said, "flattered, but taken. …But call me handsome one more time, I really like hearing it."

Aizawa let out a sigh that conveyed a considerable amount of long-suffering frustration before moving on. "Fourth leg with be Haimawari and Park."

Next to Toshi, Haimawari let out a frightened squeak. The Shiketsu girl was imposing, especially after she'd been able to beat Katsumi so easily, but she also hadn't gotten into any other altercations. He put a hand on his friend's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "I'm sure you'll be fine," he whispered.

"Fifth leg with be Kirishima-Bakugo and Yoarashi."

"Holy hurricanes!" Shinji bellowed, throwing his head back and laughing. "Katsumi, let's give them a real show!"

"Will you shut up, you sorry cyclone?!"

"Aizawa-sensie," Monoma called out, raising a hand. "Why aren't you giving Class 1-B a chance in any of these pairs?"

Aizawa didn't rise to the bait. He did give Super-Ball a look that seemed to say why are your students like this? Though. "Rest assured, we put considerable thought into these pairings and the opposition. After all, how better to show off your class's skills then deny mine their victory, Monoma?"

Monoma jerked visibly in surprise. "Y…yes, sensei"

"And the final leg," Aizawa said, "will be completed by Midoriya and Tatsuma."

Well.

That probably wasn't good.