Last edited 15 December 2021
ii. heroes vs villains
U.A. was first and foremost a training ground for heroes, so it made sense that the next generation's most anticipated persons would learn from the best of the best.
Sesera had heard some of the rumors last year, but it was the kind of thing she dedicatedly overlooked, and so it had slipped her mind until today. To think that it truly was the number one hero himself teaching them the fundamentals of being heroes—it was an altogether surreal experience.
All Might slid open the door to Class 1-A's room with much gusto, and the blue-and-red cape of his Silver Age costume wrapped around him as he awkwardly hung from the doorway at an angle.
"I am here," he exclaimed as he entered, "coming through the door, as is normal!"
Whispers abounded in the classroom of how different seeing him in real life was, but all Sesera could think about was how he was sucking every ounce of energy from the air and leaving none for others. It didn't help that she was hyperaware of his every movement, and processing his very presence took up a large part of her mental faculties.
Watching him prance around was quickly making her tired.
All Might sauntered toward the front of the class and struck a pose before continuing to speak without missing a single beat. "I will be in charge of your Hero Basic Training! Here, we'll be building up your Fundamental Heroic Skills through Various Exercises! For today, we'll be jumping right into Battle Training!"
The charged energy from everyone's excitement filled the classroom at the prospect of "battle." Pitting Quirk against Quirk was the very essence of heroics, but it was difficult to create a controlled environment for its safe practice. If there was one thing U.A. stood out for, it was the high-level combat proficiency displayed by its students and graduates.
Recovery Girl was the biggest pillar that supported the school's Plus ultra philosophy, but the presence of heroes like Eraser Head, Midnight, and Snowdrop in their faculty was also critical. Raising heroes was equivalent to developing living weapons—neutralization ability and constant vigilance were the most important aspects of the work.
In that sense, her being put under Eraser Head's watchful eye was such a perfect setup that it had to have been intentional.
In all honesty, thought Sesera, it probably is.
"Moving on—to go with your first battle, we've had the gear you requested delivered for you!" All Might pointed a remote at the far wall, and a series of shelves slid out. Numbered cases were neatly arranged in ascending order, secured by steel, fiberglass, and automatic locks. "Come and get them, young ones!"
Everyone excitedly raced to the front, eager to get their first look at their new hero costume. Sesera waited for the stampede to clear out before getting up to grab the case with a big 19 slapped on it.
Once everyone had their costume in hand, All Might told them to go change and then gather at Ground Beta, where the exercise would be held.
Sesera headed over to the locker rooms with the other girls so they could change into their hero costumes. She was pretty sure she'd never filled in any sort of form for equipment, but she had a good idea of what was supplied to her.
Sure enough, inside the case was a cool-gray bodysuit made of the conductive fiber specially developed to contain her Quirk. It had white and electric-blue accents, and the long gloves and thigh-high boots that completed the outfit were a deep purple.
The support equipment included an extendable version of her usual baton and a pair of white bracers mounted with small-scale versions of an assortment of electric-powered weaponry. There was also a set of four surface electrodes disguised as hair accessories—designed to better transmit her brainwave activity to her regulator for optimized control and monitoring. Lastly, there was a belt with a pouch of marbles made of a nickel-based superalloy that she could use as projectiles and another empty pouch that she could put her regulator's main unit in.
It was a bare-bones set consisting of only her utmost necessary gear. Reading through the instruction manual confirmed that everything had indeed been supplied by Miyaka Manufacturing Ltd., but it looked like her most powerful device hadn't been included.
"Ooh! Miyaka, you look so cool!"
A pair of gloves hovered in the air to her right, and Sesera couldn't help but think that Invisible Girl must've been cold.
"It looks super high-tech!" exclaimed the other girl, jutting out a thumb. "You're like a cyborg who came right from the future! It totally suits you!"
"Your costume really lets you use your Quirk to its fullest," Sesera found herself saying in reply, but even then, she had to wonder if that could count as a compliment.
"Thanks! That's what I was going for," replied Invisible Girl heartily, her gloves balling into fists in front of where Sesera supposed her chest was. "I bet the boys're gonna come out guns ablazin', but I'll do my best to stand out!"
"…Good luck…?"
At that, Invisible Girl bounced away to Frog Girl, who had just finished changing, to gush over the latter's outfit as well.
Shaking her head, Sesera closed her costume case and slipped it into the locker. She hung her blouse and blazer to prevent creases. Then, she pulled out a pillbox from her skirt pocket before putting the garment to hang as well. She popped a blue-and-white gel capsule into her mouth and swallowed it dry.
She closed the locker door and followed the other girls out.
It took a bit longer than changing into gym uniforms did, but once everyone was dressed, they headed out to the indicated area. All Might was waiting for them right at the entrance with his arms akimbo and a wide grin stretched out on his face.
"Shall we begin, you embryos?" shouted the number one hero as he pumped a fist into the air. He was met by a fairly enthusiastic reply from around half of the class, excluding Sesera. "We'll be doing Indoor Battle Training today! You'll be split into Pairs, and then you'll face off in Two-on-Two Clashes!"
As All Might finished his spiel, a handful of people raised their hands, blurting out questions and comments all at once. Their teacher seemed rather rattled by the onslaught, his hands forming fists and shaking visibly.
He might have been the number one hero, but he clearly wasn't the number one teacher.
All Might pulled out a small piece of paper from a pocket in his suit and began reading from it.
"Listen up now! This is the plot: the villains are hiding a nuclear weapon in their hideout, and the heroes have to go in and take care of it!" said All Might. "The heroes have a limited amount of time to either capture the villains or secure the weapon. The villains must either capture the heroes or protect the weapon until the time is up."
The situation was easy enough to wrap their heads around, considering it was a rip-off of the most clichéd hero story line ever. There was a variety of tactics that they could employ depending on which side they ended up on, but it was essentially a race against the clock.
"Finally, your battle partners will be decided by drawing lots!" said All Might, holding out a bright-orange box with a hole on top.
"Is that really the best way?" exclaimed the guy in full white armor. Based on the voice, it sounded like it was Glasses in there.
"It makes sense," commented the boy in the green suit. Ah, that one sounded like Seaweed Head. Looking at the two tufts sticking out from the hood of his costume, it was likely homage to All Might. Now that she thought about it, he must've been a fan since their Quirks were pretty similar. "Pros often have to team up with heroes from other agencies on the spot during emergencies."
"Oh, I see!" Glasses nodded, understanding his point. Bowing a perfect ninety degrees, he exclaimed, "I apologize for getting ahead of myself. It was my mistake. Please carry on!"
"It's fine, it's fine." All Might held out a hand. "Now then! Let's start!"
He handed the lottery box to Glasses, who stood closest. From him, it was passed around until everyone was able to draw lots.
"Ahhh… Ummm… Uhhh…"
Seaweed Head stuttered, struggling to speak as Sesera approached him with the plastic ball bearing a bold, black A cradled in her palm.
"Good to be working with you." She greeted him casually, and he threw her a stiff smile in return.
"A-Ah! Yes! Same here!" he said, bending at the waist. "Please take care of me!"
Considering they both had Quirks with severe backlashes, that was going to be a tall order. Seaweed Head probably wasn't going to be able to use his Quirk much, if at all, so Sesera would be left with a lot of the heavy lifting.
Oh well. As long as they weren't put up against troublesome people like the delinquent or Endeavor Jr., she could probably take care of it without much difficulty.
"M-M-M-My name is I-I-Izuku M-M-Midoriya!" he said, stiffly bowing repeatedly. True, she had some centimeters on him, but he was still being excessively formal considering they were the same age. The lidded gaze behind his mask as he looked up at her was nervous and just a bit irritating. "And, um, y-you're, uh, M-Miyaka… Sesera Miyaka, right?"
"Just call me Miyaka."
"Yes, of course!" He twiddled with his fingers, eyes shifting from side to side.
It was hard to believe that this kind of timid and meek personality had been fostered in him despite the obvious raw power of his Quirk. The mystery behind his ability nipped at her curiosity, but interacting with him like this, she didn't feel much motivation to deal with him.
She blamed her lack of energy on All Might.
"Moving on then!" shouted their teacher once everyone had greeted their partners. "First up we have… Team A as the heroes! And Team D will be the villains!"
Seaweed Head stilled as the announcement was made, and his eyes darted to the side to meet the intense gaze of the spiky-haired delinquent. From where Sesera stood, she could see the explosive boy looking back at him with a dangerous glare fixed on his face.
Well, shit.
"The villains will be entering the designated building first. There will be a five-minute interval for both sides to make any preparations they see fit." All Might was reading from his cheat sheet again. "You four will have fifteen minutes to accomplish your respective goals! The rest of us will be watching via CCTV!
"Let's begin the training!"
Sesera studied the blueprints All Might had given them, and beside her, Seaweed Head did the same. The villain pair had already entered the building, and they, the heroes, were waiting outside of it until their five-minute prep time ran out.
If the situation had been as straightforward as it was made to seem, then Sesera could've just remotely disabled the nuclear weapon, and they'd be done in two seconds flat. But in the end, this was a test of cooperative combat ability and situational adaptability, so the practical, heavy-handed answer wasn't the one All Might and the school were looking for.
She was pretty much out of her element with this activity.
"You're familiar with both of them, right? Do you have any sort of strategy in mind?" Sesera asked the nervous-looking boy.
"I'm not that familiar with Ida's abilities, but Kacchan… is strong," said Seaweed Head. His eyes were trained onto the blueprints in his hand, but it was obvious that his mind was on something else. "This isn't going to be easy."
It was all too clear that the two had bad blood between them, and being shoved in between their rivalry wasn't the least bit appealing. But compared to her partner, Sesera objectively stood a better chance against the loud delinquent.
He was the top scorer of the Hero Course's practical entrance exam, and he ranked third on yesterday's appraisal test. The idle thought of He's strong was at the forefront of her impression of him, but she'd seen plenty of strong people before, and he didn't stand out among them in any particular way.
But she supposed that to meek little Seaweed Head, his rival was larger than life.
Peering at the expression on his freckled face, she asked, "Shall I take him on then?"
"He's a jerk, but he's amazing." Seaweed Head made the admission a bit scornfully, and the piece of paper in his hand crinkled under his tightened grip. "Miyaka, you have a versatile and powerful Quirk, but in a real fight, Kacchan won't be easy to take on. He's… something else."
Statistically, in the current society filled with people with all sorts of bizarre abilities, only around five percent of the population had Quirks that could be considered "superpowers." When the "extraordinary" became "ordinary," then of course the standard for what was truly "extraordinary" would change.
Despite how they were being thrown around, those words were defined by very concrete numerical values.
The delinquent was arrogant and boastful, but his confidence in himself wasn't baseless. Sesera would readily admit that he probably had more trust and control in his abilities than she did in hers, but that sort of thing was a matter of percentages.
Raw power was, naturally, measured in raw numbers.
"Then, do you think you can beat him?" she asked.
Seaweed Head stopped his mumbling and turned his head. His dark eyes bore into hers.
There was a complicated expression on his face.
He probably intrinsically understood that between the two of them, she would be the better matchup for the delinquent. It was easy to see that Seaweed Head's grasp over his Quirk was mediocre at best, and with his tendency to get injured at the drop of a hat, adding explosions to the mix was a very bad idea.
"This is a two-on-two battle," said Seaweed Head, and there was solid conviction in his words as he continued speaking, "but they won't be working together. They'll definitely split up. Kacchan will come for me. It's a chance for him to beat me up, and after yesterday's appraisal test, he's not going to let that pass. In that case, Ida will be left to defend the weapon on his own.
"I… don't know enough about Ida to face him head-on, and I still have difficulty with regulating my Quirk," he said, staring at his gloved hands. He shifted his gaze to meet hers, and Sesera stilled at the determination she saw. "Miyaka, you deal with Ida and secure the weapon. While I… I will distract Kacchan. I know how he moves, so I should be able to do something without hurting myself too much."
Sesera found herself a bit surprised. Despite how afraid he acted and how highly he talked about his rival, it seemed Seaweed Head thought he stood a chance against the delinquent after all.
She figured it was only reasonable, considering the kind of Quirk he had.
"And also…" Seaweed Head gave her a smile that was all too familiar, and Sesera froze. "I don't wanna keep losing to him."
All Might's voice echoed in their earpieces, announcing that the battle would soon begin.
"Ten seconds to start!" shouted their teacher. "Nine seconds! Eight! Seven!"
Sesera tore her gaze away from her partner, stretching her arms out in front of her. "Let's do this then."
Seaweed Head nodded. "Yeah."
They headed towards a window on the first floor. Once the timer started running, Seaweed Head pried the latch open and hopped in. Sesera followed at his heels.
Like the blueprints indicated, the inside of the building was a mess of corridors, with lots of blind corners. She and Seaweed Head carefully moved toward the stairs, on guard for the surprise attack that was sure to be launched against them.
It didn't take too long. Barely three minutes in and two turns away from the staircase, the delinquent suddenly leaped out from the corner they were about to head into, an explosion sparking in his open palm.
Seaweed Head had quicker reflexes than she expected. He immediately turned around, moving to tackle her to the ground to dodge the delinquent's attack.
"Miyaka!" he shouted.
Still, after everything he said, Sesera had been expecting the blitz attack and had had more than enough time to prepare for it.
She grabbed Seaweed Head by the shoulder and pushed him down behind her. She aimed the end of her bracer at the delinquent and shot out the blast of electricity she'd been charging it with for this very moment.
"Fuckin' bitch!"
The delinquent met her attack head-on with an explosion, and the recoil of the impact threw him back down the hall he had come from. She and Seaweed Head would've been blasted away as well if she hadn't magnetized herself to the spot and held her partner down.
Smoke filled the corridor they were in, but she could still vaguely see the delinquent's silhouette behind it. Judging by the size of the shadow, he ended up closer than she thought he would, and that told her he'd been able to match the power of her attack better than expected.
Sesera had never really fought normal people head-on like this before, so she wasn't all that sure about how much power to use. Perhaps that last attack had been a little too weak? It figured that the delinquent could take a hit.
"Sorry about that," she said. She let go of her hold on Seaweed Head's shoulder, and he rose a bit unsteadily, coughs escaping from him. "Are you OK?"
"Yeah, I'm good…" He wheezed while getting to his knees. "What about you?"
"I'm fine," she replied, and they both stood back up. "He's not down yet though. Keep your guard up."
"R-Right!"
Red sparks flashed behind the dense cloud that filled the corridor, and Sesera readied herself for the next attack. She whipped out her baton and began building up power.
"Hiding behind girls now, are ya, Deku?"
The delinquent suddenly blasted forward, clearing a path in the smoke as he jumped at them once more.
Sesera snapped her wrist forward, and a long whip of lightning extended from the end of her baton. It cracked against the floor, singeing its surface as the delinquent deftly maneuvered to avoid it. The nuanced control he had over his Quirk and the high mobility it resulted in caught her off guard, and by the time she realized it, she was within range for one of his blasts.
"Eat this, bitch!"
"Miyaka!"
Before the delinquent could blow her face off, Seaweed Head suddenly leaped out from behind her, catching the delinquent by his grenade-shaped bracer midflight. Using the opponent's momentum, Seaweed Head spun around and threw him back down the other side of the hall.
Seaweed Head's mask had been caught up in the small blast the delinquent had made after grabbing onto the former's head when he'd been caught. If it'd been any bigger of an explosion, part of her partner's scalp probably would've been burnt off.
The delinquent's control was indeed disgustingly impeccable, and with that last attack, she was starting to understand why Seaweed Head so begrudgingly looked up to him.
As of this moment, she kind of did, too.
In any case, the fact that Seaweed Head's counterattack worked so perfectly seemed to stun both himself and the delinquent so much that neither of them moved for a few seconds.
Sesera took the temporary pause in the battle as a chance to recompose herself. She placed a hand on the wall and hacked into the CCTV system. Filtering through the video feed, she was able to find the weapon in the northernmost room of the fifth floor. Glasses was busily pacing in front of it, completely unaware of the current situation.
He was easily the most isolated piece, and she figured his partner wouldn't bother giving him regular updates. If she slipped away now, she could take down Glasses, grab the weapon, and this entire farce of an exercise would finally be over and done with.
But there was a little problem in that the staircase was past the delinquent's side of the hall, and Sesera had the feeling that the walking bomb wasn't as shortsighted as she'd initially pegged him to be. She wouldn't be able to sneak away that easily, so she needed to create a diversion first.
Sesera reached into one of the pouches hanging from her belt. She grabbed a single marble and loaded it into the barrel on her left bracer. The delinquent seemed to notice her movement, and his eyes narrowed onto her as electricity ran down the length of her arm.
"Fuck you—"
She shot the makeshift bullet at the floor in front of him, blowing it to bits. She was careful to use just enough power and aim it at a distance he could still avoid. A cloud of dust filled the hall once more.
"I'll secure the weapon," Sesera told her partner as she moved for the staircase. "Take care of him."
Seaweed Head's attention snapped to her, and he nodded.
"OK!" he said. "Leave it to me!"
"You think you can take me on alone, huh, Deku?" The delinquent's voice echoed from behind the smoke. "You're just a piece of shit! You'll be all over the floor when I'm done stomping on you!"
His control over his Quirk was certainly admirable, but his command over words was less than. He definitely needed to work on his metaphors.
"I'm not gonna be the Deku who can't do anything anymore," said Seaweed Head. He slid one foot forward and brought his fisted hands up into a textbook fighting pose, readying himself for their inevitable brawl. "From now on, I'll be the Deku who always does his best!"
The delinquent snarled. "You're seriously fucking pissing me off."
With them so focused on each other, Sesera used the opportunity to slip away. Sticking to the wall, she ran down the corridor to pass the delinquent and duck into the staircase.
At least, that had been the plan.
"Miyaka, watch out!"
The delinquent swiped his hand to the side just before the actual explosion, but the force from it still threw Sesera back.
She crumpled against the wall, her head banging hard against it. She'd automatically cut off all haptic feedback when she realized there was no avoiding his attack, but she could still smell the burning tips of her hair and taste the tang of iron from the blood oozing from her split lip.
The hit had frazzled Sesera enough that it resulted in a lapse of the conscious connection she maintained between her body and Quirk. Everything in her line of sight was blurred together into one fuzzy mess, and she automatically started the troublesome request process to get all her systems back under her control.
Sesera was essentially a helpless lamb until she regained control over her motor functions. She could do nothing but watch as the delinquent's hand reached down to wrap around her neck, the muscles in his arm stretching out tautly as he pushed her against the wall.
She could smell the faint undertone of fire in his grip.
Sesera was still disconnected enough from her sensory systems that the words he was speaking to Seaweed Head seemed like something she was observing from afar.
"Miyaka—!"
"Don't move, Deku." The delinquent didn't even need to raise his voice to freeze Seaweed Head in place. "Not a single step unless you want the pasty-faced bitch to get it."
"T-This is just a training exercise!" Seaweed Head stuttered as he spoke. "You can't seriously mean to—!"
"So fucking what? Villains take hostages all the damn time. You and I both know that," said the delinquent in an oddly flat tone.
Sesera didn't need to see the look that twisted onto Seaweed Head's face to know that there was a story behind those words. Her morbid sense of curiosity had her taking down a mental note to do an Internet search about it later.
Seaweed Head could only weakly protest. "E-Even so! This is taking it too far!"
"You can't even be bothered to fight me seriously in a controlled exercise." The delinquent scoffed. "Hey, tell me. You hid that flashy Quirk of yours all these years. Was it fun? Was tricking me the whole damn time fun for you?! Huh?!"
Sesera shut her eyes and held back a groan, because Hoooly crap, this bullshit situation is spiraling into an utter train wreck.
She was going to keep her damn mouth shut because there was no way she was getting herself involved in this particular can of worms.
"Use it, Deku." The delinquent growled, his voice shaking with all the anger and frustration that built up inside of him. "Use your damn Quirk and fight me! Or are you really looking down on me that much, you fucking pebble?!"
"That's not—!" Seaweed Head gritted his teeth. "I… It's not that I don't want to use it. But… I really can't control this power yet."
The tone Seaweed Head used was so regretful that Sesera had to wonder why.
He then said, "I can't say much, but I will say this: I've never lied to you, nor have I ever looked down on you! It's because you've always been so awesome that I wanna beat you!"
There was a beat of silence, and Sesera bit her lip, cautiously glancing between the two boys.
She couldn't say that she knew either of these two all that well, but she could confidently proclaim that Seaweed Head was a blithering idiot hiding under a veneer of superficial cleverness because it didn't take a genius to know that that was the absolute worst thing to say to the delinquent right now.
She couldn't even blame the walking bomb for blowing his top. These honest-to-a-fault hero-types might look good on paper, but their complete lack of pragmatism just made them pains in the asses to clean up after for the people who had actual power.
"So you are fucking looking down—!"
As soon as the delinquent's grip around her neck loosened, Sesera sent a roundhouse kick to his head. He'd jerked back at the last second, but it wasn't enough to avoid her foot. She still managed to get him good, and because she'd enhanced her leg muscles with a bit of electricity, he was sent flying back into the other end of the hallway.
She really, really did not want to have to play the role of home wrecker, but they were taking a tad bit too long in getting all their relationship issues sorted out. Not to mention that the scene they were making was worse than the fuss she and her cousin Hokuto had made at that one company dinner party over the last serving of tofu pudding with sweet ginger syrup.
And that was saying a lot if one considered the fact that she and her cousin had made sure to escalate their fight to such an embarrassing degree precisely so they would get kicked out and therefore not need to socialize with all the hoity-toity business people who'd been invited.
Sesera sighed dramatically. "You two were yap, yap, yapping for so long that I managed to recover quite a bit."
Straightening her back, she opened a compartment in her bracer and took out a small, hexagonal device. She made a few adjustments to its settings before tossing it back at Seaweed Head, who fumbled the catch.
"Change of plans," she said. "I'll take care of this bastard here. You go up and secure the weapon."
"But—!"
"Just find a way to stick that onto Glasses, and it'll do the rest of the work," she told him, bending down to pick up her baton from where it had fallen to the ground. "He's in the northern room of the fifth floor. We have only six minutes left, and we can't waste any more of it for your little heart-to-heart session."
Besides, it was obvious to any bystander that the delinquent came to the fight with his mind already set on what he wanted to do, damn the circumstances. There was absolutely no way Seaweed Head wasn't going to get completely trashed if Sesera left the two of them alone together, and she was even less willing to have that sort of responsibility shoved off on her.
"I don't know nor do I particularly care about what's going on between the two of you, but what's clear is that your conversation wasn't going anywhere," she said, tossing back one of her pigtails. "I don't think that either of you is really ready to listen and talk to each other at this point, so don't waste other people's time. Right now, we each have a job to do, and if you won't—can't play with him seriously, then I will."
"You wanna fucking play, bitch?"
At the other end of the hallway, the delinquent had pushed himself back up to his feet, stretching out his right arm before him. There was a soft click as he pulled on the metal piece extending from his grenade-shaped bracer, revealing a small pin with a looped end.
"Fine then!" he shouted. "We'll fucking play!"
He hooked a finger into the loop and pulled.
"Miyaka!" Seaweed Head seemed to have sensed that something bad was going to happen, and he grabbed onto her arm to pull her back, but the delinquent's dramatic buildup only resulted in silence.
"The fuck?" The delinquent snarled, and he glared at his bracer as if it had betrayed him. "Piece of shit!"
"I don't really know all the details of how your Quirk works, buuut"—Sesera pressed the tip of her baton against her cheek, smiling a bit smugly—"I fiddled a bit with the safety protocols on that gear of yours when you had me up the wall earlier. So, whatever you do, it's not going to go off. The other one as well."
"Fucking bitch." The delinquent was practically vibrating in his anger, and she could feel Seaweed Head tense behind her.
"M-Miyaka… I don't think this is a very good—"
The delinquent launched himself forward with a mighty roar, and Sesera shook Seaweed Head's hand off, stretching out her right arm and rapidly charging the laser gun built-in to the bracer. When their opponent was close enough, she raised her arm just a bit more to aim the center of the blast over his head so he could avoid a direct hit.
Gleaming white energy fanned out in front of her, and the sheer heat of it practically melted through the walls and ceiling. Sesera was able to magnetize herself to the floor, but Seaweed Head had taken a good brunt of the recoil. He rolled around on the ground about three meters behind her, a stuttered groan escaping from him.
"Sorry. You OK?" she asked.
He coughed as he pushed himself up to his feet. "Y-Yeah… I think…"
"You've got five minutes," she told him. "I think I can keep myself from dying a bloody death for that long."
Seaweed Head offered her a dry smile, but his entire expression still looked a bit pinched.
"OK." He breathed out. "OK then. Good luck."
"Thanks. I'll probably need it." Sesera waved her baton at him. "Get going already."
With a brief nod, he quickly ran off and ducked into the staircase to head up to where Glasses and the weapon were. Sesera waited a few seconds after his footsteps were gone before walking through the debris.
Her attack had blasted away a good chunk of the second floor, a bit of the third, and had even eaten into the next building over. The delinquent was probably buried somewhere under what was left of the wall of the neighboring structure. Technically, the exercise was about indoor battles, so Sesera wouldn't be completely surprised if she got a red card for the attack just now.
Either way, she probably had points taken off for this much destruction of property, but oh well.
Sesera stopped at the edge of their assigned building, standing over the rubble as her pink eyes roved over the area.
"Did you die…?"
One of the larger pieces of broken building rolled off the pile it sat on, and the delinquent's spiky head poked out from underneath. He crawled out with heavy breaths, looking pretty winded and more than a little scratched up.
Part of his mask had been burnt off. There was a trail of blood running from his forehead, over his exposed left eye, and down his cheek, where a purplish bruise from her earlier kick was forming. He wasn't bleeding much despite seemingly having a head wound, and he didn't seem to have a problem standing straight or maintaining eye contact either, so she figured he was clear of a concussion.
There was a bit of an ugly gash on his shoulder, but it didn't look too deep. His clothes had been torn in some places, revealing a good expanse of his chest. His hero costume didn't hide the fact that he was plenty ripped for a high school student, but seeing him like this made it obvious that he was actually quite impressive.
But holy fuck, he looks so fuckin' pissed.
"I will murder you," swore the delinquent.
Sesera raised her bracer and threw him a half-smile. "Get in line."
"Young Miyaka." All Might's voice echoed from their earpieces, making them both pause. "Need I remind you that this is an indoor battle training session? Use that attack again, and I will forcibly end this match. Your team will lose."
Sesera held back her groan, inhaling sharply and pursing her lips. Well, not like she wasn't expecting that.
"Heroes must always be aware of their surroundings and take the utmost precautions in preserving the dignity of their environment," said All Might. "This much destruction is unseemly."
She sighed. "Understood."
Lowering her arm, Sesera blew on the stray strands of hair that stuck near her mouth. She turned on her heel, hopped down from the pile of rubble, and headed back into the corridor.
Expectedly, the delinquent came for her the moment she turned her back to him. Using magnetism to tug on the metal beams in the pieces of the broken wall, she formed a crude shield to protect her back from the explosion he aimed at her.
Sesera shoved her hand into the pouch of superalloy marbles and took out a handful. She tossed them in front of her, letting them spin lazily over her head.
"I admit you're pretty skilled, but your attacks are too straightforward." She taunted the delinquent loudly. "That's why that guy was able to read you like an open book."
"Shut up!"
The voice came from her right, and Sesera flicked her wrist in the same direction. Some of the marbles floating around her head zipped towards the ground, crushing the tiled floor beside her to pieces just as the delinquent was about to hit her with a right hook.
The debris shot up into the air and formed a barrier between them, forcing him to pull back. She quickly dashed forward to keep her distance.
There were three minutes left on the clock. She could survive that long with hit-and-run tactics.
"You don't know anything, so stop acting like you know everything!" he shouted at her.
Sesera figured she knew enough. Even a blind man could see that he was being driven by a personal grudge. Despite what the layman would think, having both a superiority and an inferiority complex at the same time wasn't impossible, and more often than not, one was the result of the other. The delinquent's case wasn't all that unique.
Society inherently created a hierarchical structure to preserve order within itself, because even though free will was a thing, group mentality was even more of a thing. In Japan, especially, that way of thinking was prevalent due to the cultural norms.
And since the Quirks that defined the pecking order manifested at around ages four to five, the minds of easily influenced children were brought up geared towards ranking the strength of these abilities to determine their places in the world. But like the people who held them, Quirks also needed time to mature, and by puberty, entire worlds could be flipped on their heads.
Not to mention that the experience of climbing out of the small pond of childhood and into the large ocean of adulthood was jarring for everyone. Kids were put up on a pedestal only to be knocked down later on. Children were told they were good but then were told that they weren't good enough.
Those who received the brunt of the adults' whimsies were most often the ones who grew warped beyond reason.
But fortunately, with the amount of these types it attracted, U.A. was a veritable expert at cracking them. Sesera was at least assured that the delinquent was in good hands. He was almost sickeningly straightforward and pure with his intentions of becoming a hero despite the twisted way he displayed them, so she supposed he wasn't completely incorrigible.
And honestly, it was relieving to know that she wasn't the odd one out. After all, she was the exact kind of person people would expect to never become a hero, and yet here she was.
"You said you were gonna play seriously, so stop fucking spacing out, Pigtails!"
Returning her attention to her current situation, Sesera waved her baton in the delinquent's general direction. Several more marbles hurtled toward him, whizzing through the air. He brought his arms up and crossed them in front of his face to block the attack. His left bracer shattered into pieces as it took the hit.
"I am taking you seriously," lied Sesera through her teeth. "That's why I'm carefully considering my every move."
"Then stop fuckin' running away and fight me!"
"Close combat isn't really my style."
This was sadly true. She figured it out back during the summer of her second year of middle school, when she'd been conned—nay, volunteered by proxy on short notice—into becoming Usagi—nay, Big Sis Rumi's personal kickba—practice partner when Hokuto was developing specialized equipment for her as one of his required third-year projects.
Because of course Hokuto only took on the crazy customers.
"Then die!"
Strangely, the delinquent jumped back. It took a moment for Sesera to register the fact that he had thrown something at her.
Flying through the air was one of the grenades that had been attached to the delinquent's belt. Sesera was a bit ashamed to admit that she'd thought they were there purely for the aesthetics. Her eyes just barely caught on to the tiny sparks forming around it.
Shi—
She swung her arm, swatting the bomb away from her just before it exploded. She didn't have the time to magnetize herself to the ground, and the blast threw her to just within the delinquent's range. He grabbed onto her upper arm, and while using her as a pivot, he spun them around with a series of explosions from his free hand.
He used the centrifugal force generated to throw her over his head and slam her into the ground like a sack of potatoes.
The breath was knocked out of her as her back hit the floor. Sesera was thankfully able to shut off her pain receptors in time, but she could still feel the aftershocks of the attack making her body reel. The delinquent was nothing if not a tightly wound ball of pure fighting instincts, and she was regretting getting on his bad side just a tiny bit.
His hand was around her throat again before she knew it. He had one knee digging harshly into her stomach, and his other leg kept hers pinned down. He raised his free hand over his head, an explosion ready and sparking.
She stared impassively up at him.
"Die, bitch!"
The grin that split his face was manic, and the gleam in his red eyes was almost mesmerizing.
The delinquent brought down his hand just as a shrill bell rang across the area. Heat and smoke caressed her face as she stared at the open palm hovering not even an inch away.
"The weapon has been secured!" All Might's voice echoed from both their earpieces and the remnants of the speaker system in the building. "The heroes wiiiiinnnnn!"
Sesera had been monitoring the struggle between Glasses and Seaweed Head through the CCTV feed with about a quarter of her attention. She almost thought her partner wouldn't be able to follow through, seeing how Glasses was tossing him around at the start, but Seaweed Head showed some pretty impressive analytical and manipulative skills at the end. He hadn't even needed to use his Quirk, and the two of them eking out the win without any major injuries was a big achievement, if she did say so herself.
Though considering there were less than thirty seconds left on the clock, he sure cut it pretty close. Timing things got tricky at the end there.
The hand in front of her balled into a fist, and without it in the way, Sesera could see the angry expression that made its way onto the delinquent's face. He seriously looked like he wanted to hit something, and she was in a prime position to become his punching bag.
"You heard him. Mind getting off now?" she asked airily.
The delinquent threw her the dirtiest, most disgusted glare she had ever received before standing up with a click of his tongue. He kicked away a piece of rubble as he got to his feet and then turned his back to her. He wasn't gentlemanly enough to lend her a hand, so she got up by herself and dusted off the back of her costume.
All Might's voice came rustling into her ear. "Any major injuries?"
Other than to a certain someone's pride?
"All good here," replied Sesera.
There was a brief click, and she heard Seaweed Head's voice speaking up. "Ah, Ida would need to sit down for a while but he can still move."
"Then, for now, I ask that all combatants return to the observation building for the review," said All Might. "Good work, all of you."
The communication ended there, and Sesera turned her head to glance at the delinquent's retreating back.
"I'm going to go fetch the other two," she said. "Are you going on ahead?"
"Shut up." He didn't even turn around. "Don't fuckin' talk to me."
Sesera pursed her lips as she watched him walk away. He had a clear victory over her and a dubious loss against Seaweed Head. He won the battle with his own strength and lost the war not due to any direct failure on his part. At the very least, he should be pacified.
She exerted a decent amount of effort to spare his feelings, so it better have been damn worth it.
Turning on her heel, she headed towards the staircase and climbed up. She met up with Seaweed Head and Glasses on the third-floor landing, and the latter was being supported by the former as they hobbled down the steps together.
"Ah, Miyaka! Are you alright?" asked Seaweed Head upon spotting her.
Sesera shrugged. "Almost got my head blown off, but you made it just in time."
He blanched at her words. "I-Is that so…? Um, I'm glad then…"
"I believe a congratulations is in order," said Glasses. "You two coordinated magnificently to bring us down. Though All Might kept emphasizing this as indoor battle training, the team component should not be overlooked."
Seaweed Head smiled wanly. "This would have turned out a lot differently if Kacchan had been cooperating from the very beginning. He's not exactly the type to do so, though. Sorry about that…"
"It was my fault as his partner for failing to reach out to him." Glasses bowed his head. "The blame of our loss lies with me. And there's no need for you, of all people, to apologize on his behalf, Midoriya."
"We better hurry back," said Sesera. "There are still a lot more battles to go through."
They managed to return to the observation building in good time, and the rest of their classmates erupted into applause as they entered the monitor room.
"That was a seriously heated battle!" exclaimed the pink girl excitedly. "I was on my toes the whole time watching!"
Spiky Hair #2 balled his hands into fists, for some reason looking like he was about to cry. "I could feel the manliness all the way from here!"
The six-armed guy came forward with a wooden stool. "Yaoyorozu Created this for you. Have a seat."
"Many thanks," said Glasses as Seaweed Head helped him settle down on it.
"Excellent work from all of you," said All Might as he took a step forward. "Let's proceed with the review now."
The delinquent pushed himself off the far wall he'd been leaning on and lined up with the three of them at their teacher's instructions. He was being uncharacteristically quiet and had an almost pitifully sullen expression on his face, but Sesera supposed it was better than having him snapping at anyone who looked in his general direction.
"Let's start with some comments from your classmates." All Might clapped his hands as he swept his gaze over the rest of the class. "What do you have to say about the battle?"
"Miyaka versus Bakugo was totally awesome!" Invisible Girl's gloves shot up into the air. "The way they kept going at it was super hardcore!"
"It was super hardcore how he kept getting on top of her—urgh!"
"Their power and combat abilities are around the same level, so it was a very interesting match to watch, with all of the technical skills they displayed, ribbit," commented Frog Girl.
"Certainly, with the kinds of attacks they kept using, it wouldn't have been a surprise if someone got seriously hurt, but they avoided any major injuries," said Junior. "That takes a lot of skill, from both the one doing the attack and the one receiving it."
"Midoriya versus Ida wasn't bad either," said Tape Dispenser Elbows. "Ida had a clear advantage from the very start, but it was impressive how Midoriya was able to predict and force his opponent's movements. It's no surprise he managed to catch him in the end."
"Yeah, and he didn't even need to use his Quirk once," added Earlobe Girl.
"In the end, the match was decided by how well each member of each team performed their roles," said Ponytail. "It was clear that there was no unity between the villain pair, but the heroes were able to assign the appropriate task to each member, which resulted in their victory."
Sesera could sense Seaweed Head fidgeting at the words from beside her, but she made sure to maintain a placid expression. The way things turned out was the exact opposite of their original plan, but nobody else needed to know that.
"Well said, all of you." All Might praised them sincerely. "I believe I've also explained how important it is to avoid needless destruction, so I hope you take that to heart."
Sesera shifted her eyes to the side as All Might threw her a pointed look.
"Finally, please take note that teamwork isn't just about how well you can directly cooperate with others, but also in how well you can perform the role assigned to you," said their teacher. "As heroes, there will be plenty of other people with varied skillsets around to help you. How well tasks are designated and how well each person delivers on their responsibilities are also important.
"In short, communication is key!" All Might did a quick one-two. "If you're not willing to listen and talk, nothing's going to get started!"
"Tsk." The delinquent turned his face away with a click of his tongue as All Might sent him a pointed look as well.
"This concludes our first match! Thank you, and good work to the four of you!" All Might gave them one last round of applause, and the others followed. "Now, we'll proceed with the second match! Are you ready?"
Seaweed Head helped Glasses up, and Gravity Girl bounded over to grab the chair. They headed to an empty spot near the back of the room to give Glasses enough space to breathe.
"Excellent work, Miyaka." Ponytail complimented her as she approached. "It was certainly an exciting match to watch."
Sesera smiled faintly. "Could've done better."
"The fact that you were able to keep up with Bakugo at all is amazing enough," commented the other electric type. "That guy's a total beast."
"I suppose," said Sesera. "It was a hard fight."
"Are you sure that was the only thing that was hard—humph!"
Spiky Hair #2 shoved his way into the conversation. "I guess that's to be expected from the top two scorers of the practical entrance exam. Taking out robots must've been a cinch with a Quirk like yours!"
Sesera thought back to the entrance exam. "Yeah, pretty much."
Spiky Hair #2 grinned at her, thumping a fist against his chest. "I'm Eijiro Kirishima! Nice to meetcha!"
"And I'm Denki Kaminari." The other electric type waved a hand. "Our Quirks are pretty similar, so we should hang out sometime!"
Tape Dispenser Elbows smirked.
"Saying that your Quirks are similar is an insult to Miyaka," he said, and the other electric type turned to him with a whine of "Why would you say something like that?" that went ignored. "I'm Hanta Sero, by the way."
"Minoru Mineta!"
"It's a pleasure to make all of your acquaintances." Ponytail inclined her head. "My name is Momo Yaoyorozu."
"Sesera Miyaka."
Just as everyone in their little circle of friends finished introducing themselves, All Might called everyone's attention to the front.
"The second match will begin shortly!" he said. "It will be heroes Todoroki and Shoji versus villains Ojiro and Hagakure!"
Oh. So, Junior was up.
"This'll probably be quick," commented Sesera.
Spiky Hair #2 sent her a curious glance. "What makes you say that?"
"We were in different testing batches, but Todoroki was admitted through recommendation like myself," said Ponytail. "We had to run an obstacle course, and I'd heard that he finished three minutes faster than the average time."
"Seriously?" The other electric type's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. "How strong is this guy?"
Tape Dispenser Elbows furrowed his brows. "But you scored better than him on Aizawa's appraisal test, didn't you?"
"Those are rather arbitrary measurements of our Quirks' capabilities, after all. In a battle setting, I don't doubt that many others here are stronger than myself," said Ponytail honestly, yet she wasn't at all self-deprecating. "Even Miyaka didn't place in the top ten, yet she was able to go toe-to-toe with the third-ranked Bakugo."
"True that." The other electric type scratched his chin with a finger. His gaze shifted over to Sesera. "Though it kinda felt like you weren't taking the test seriously. With what you showed today, shouldn't you have been able to do more back then?"
Sesera blinked, tilting her head with a smile. "I was plenty serious?"
"Were you really?" he asked with a bemused look.
"Ah, they're starting," suddenly said Spiky Hair #2.
They all turned to the monitors in front, watching as the timer began counting down. Tail Boy stayed beside the weapon to defend it, and Invisible Girl was nowhere to be found on-screen. Junior and the guy with six arms stood boldly by the main entrance of their assigned building, engaged in conversation.
"How do you think they'll move?" asked Tape Dispenser Elbows.
Elemental types were usually pretty straightforward. Sesera could attest to that. And based on Junior's frigid disposition, he seemed like the type to do things by force.
She was proven right when not even thirty seconds after the timer started running, the entire building was encased in ice. Junior's partner remained perfectly safe and warm outside while the two villains were literally and figuratively frozen where they stood.
Invisible Girl must be so cold, thought Sesera dryly. She also wasn't all that good at dealing with lower temperatures, so going up against Junior was going to be such a pain when it came to it.
Tape Dispenser Elbows let out a low wolf whistle. "Talk about overpowered."
"No, seriously, is that even allowed?" The other electric type groaned. "I was thinking it back during yesterday's appraisal, but this guy's Quirk is way too unfair."
The match was over in less than five minutes. It probably could've ended even earlier if Junior hadn't taken his sweet time going up the stairs.
Sesera was still sort of trying to get a grasp on the class's overall level, but if this was the upper limit, she figured it'd be fine even if she used more forceful methods. The delinquent definitely wasn't going to be pulling any punches the next time they had to go at it, and there was a limit to the amount of power she could expend while still maintaining perfect control.
Should've just gone to Shiketsu, thought Sesera grimly.
