Scritch, scratch, scritch, scratch, scritch, scratch.

The sound of solid keratin grating on worn-down skin fill the decrepit yet tidy abandoned bar. The white-haired teen, who made up half of the total percentage of people present within, was digging into his neck's thin layer of protection as though wanting to draw blood. The other tenant, a dark amorphous mass of particles in the vague form of a human bartender, betrayed no emotion in watching the teen's habit while wiping a glass clean.

"Feeling nervous?", asked the 'bartender'.

Live sunken eyes looked into a pair of glowing yellow slats, dry lips cracking into a smile.

"No. I'm…excited."

A barely visible brow was raised.

"Oh? And why is that?"

A low chuckle escaped the teen's lips then his sunken eyes grew wide, his red irises like bloody spots.

"Because, Kurogiri, the game is about to begin," he said slyly. "We have finally met the prerequisites needed to take on this quest! We've got the intel, we've got the pawns needed to summon the legendary dungeon boss and, most importantly…"

He took a deep breath and hissed through a toothy grin, picking up a disembodied gloved hand and placing it beside him by the bar counter.

"We have the special weapon we need to defeat him!"

The bartender, Kurogiri, continued wiping the glass he was tending to and formed a knowing expression with closed eyes.

"I see. However, there must be something else that must be on your mind. You've known the plan for a long time now and never in my life have I seen you this enthusiastic about anything other than video games and the time Sensei first suggested the plan to you," he said in a sage manner.

"Because, Kurogiri," the teen replied, his neck craning towards the bartender. "I have a feeling that we might be able to witness a Quirk that I can only describe as a glitch in real life."

"Is that so?", said Kurogiri with a raised brow.

"I don't how, and I don't know who, but on the day of the U.A infiltration, I experienced something that I could only describe as life having an internet problem: lag. Everything was normal then, out of the blue, everything had progressed several seconds in an instant, like lag compensation."

The bartender, whose knowledge in transporting people was vastly greater than that of the gaming terminology that the teen spouted daily, was confused but did not show it.

"I see."

"Right?! Imagine having a person with that Quirk on our side? We'll give our enemies the true feeling of despair upon experiencing first-hand the infuriating phenomenon known as lag but in real life!", he exclaimed, now standing up with open arms. He seemed to be genuine in the prospect of this supposed 'interesting' Quirk.

One question, though.

"How are you sure that it is the work of a student's Quirk?", inquired Kurogiri.

The teen, taken aback, clammed up and sat back down.

"Well, it's a hunch but…we've had intel on the Quirks of the staff of the school and such an event must be that of a Quirk. When I asked Sensei about it, even he seemed intrigued, so it must be interesting!"

Kurogiri sighed and nodded. For someone whose main emotion was angst, this was a refreshing sight once in a while. Still, a Quirk that even got Sensei interested. The white-haired protégé may be immature in decision-making but this one was rather sound. Well, he would cross the bridge when it got to it.

"Well, I take it that you are prepared for today?", he asked.

The teen appeared to sober up and his enthusiasm was replaced with a sullen smirk. He picked up the disembodied hand beside him and used it to cover his face.

"Of course," stated the teen. "I was prepared to kill All Might regardless of plan."

Glancing at the clock, he bided his time until the hour came. The hour when he would rip apart the secure image the Symbol of Peace held. And when that time came, Shigaraki Tomura would be the first to witness it.


The morning was a peaceful one. Sure, there were three different incidents that morning, but all were taken care of by none other than newly-employed Symbol of Peace on his commute to his workplace. Izuku, too, had a nice start to the day going for him. He woke up early; the Italian man in his head was quiet; his Stand-summon tests were good; his mother was happy; the weather was good; all were smooth sailing for the green-haired teen.

He was glad that things were turning out okay for what seemed to him was a sudden turn of events in his life; having a Quirk, that was not technically one, that was able to skip/erase time plus a secondary ability that allowed him to see a few seconds into the future. That, and finding out an Italian mob boss who has been dead for centuries was living in his head the whole time. He expected some sort of life-changing twist like having his body mutate or being possessed by the man or being forced to hide his abilities, but everything was alright in the end.

Although, the first two did almost happen. His hair was still a bit long.

Nevertheless, taking in things as they come and go was a part of life, so he might as well seize the day while the opportunity to be productive was still present. Thus, when he stood in front of the looming door of class 1-A, he steeled himself to greet his classmates with an energetic vibe as his first act as president.

He gripped the door handle and swung it open, beads of sweat forming on his face as he bid, "Good morning, everyone!", with a smile.

"Hello, Deku!", replied a bubbly voice from the corner of the classroom.

"Hello, Uraraka! Eh?"

He looked around and noted that Uraraka was the only person in class. The urge to curl up was strong. His face was sweating bullets as he tried to think up of ways to initiate small talk.

"W-w-well, you're quite e-e-early, Uraraka!", he stammered.

He felt his body threatening to turn into a ball when he heard her laugh. First day as president and he had succeeded in embarrassing himself. Hurray. Maybe he should have given it to Iida. At least he was fine with dealing with this sort of thing. How did he do it? Oh god, he was not worthy of the title, wasn't he? Man, he was going to disappoint Diavolo like this. Wait, he was a leader, right? What would he do? But wait! He had not seen his leadership in action! What would he do then? Oh no…

'Just laugh it off, boy! God…', came a gruff voice in his head, causing him to yelp.

"Deku? You okay?", asked a worried voice.

He turned towards it to find Uraraka looking at him in a puzzled yet concerned way, her head tilted to the side and her brows furrowing lightly.

"O-oh, I'm fine!", he replied an excuse. "Just feeling a bit antsy, you know? Being class president and what not."

"You're just overthinking it, Deku!", she laughed, her brown locks bouncing to the rhythm of her laughter before looking up to him with a serious grin. "I know you can do it, because the 'Deku' I see is one that gives me a 'you-can-do-it' vibe!"

"Uraraka…", Izuku sputtered as his cheeks flushed a bit.

"Good morning, Midoriya, Uraraka,", said croaked a person from behind him, making the greenhead jump.

"Hi, Tsuyu!", cheered Uraraka, followed by Izuku who did the same after sheepishly turning around and apologising to the frog-like girl.

"Just call me Tsu," Tsuyu bluntly stated as she smiled and looked on with her big eyes. She had long green hair with a large bow tied halfway down.

"Okay," replied Izuku and Uraraka. Being surprised at their impeccable timing, they both called out, "Jinx!", got surprised again and laughed, diffusing any worry the class president had earlier.

xx

The rest of the class came trickling in as it got closer to the beginning of the first period. He felt that, as class president, it would be better for him to know his classmates better. So, he greeted and had a small chat with them as they entered the class aside from Bakugou, he knew him for years. But, he greeted him anyway and got a scowl and an insult for his troubles.

He worried that his social ineptness would be hindrance in his efforts but, as it turned out, people were surprisingly nice if you greet them with the best of intentions—except Bakugou, because Bakugou. From there, he got to know his classmates a little bit better and felt more comfortable in calling them his friends.

Kirishima liked manly things; Kaminari, while a bit of a bumbling goof, was well-meaning in nature and was well-versed in quite a few fields, granted they were trendy (he surprised Izuku by replying to his greeting with a lengthy greeting of his own); Mineta was a pervert; Satou was good at cooking by virtue of his Quirk's need of sugar intake; Tooru and Mina were talkative and easily reeled in by the prospect of gossip; his vice-president and Iida, while both differ greatly in character, were serious when given the task.

The last one he got to greet was Kyouka—it was already close to first period when the others came in. Despite his initial apprehension of being given the cold shoulder, she was a pretty relaxed person. He also got to know that she had an affinity for music, specifically rock, when he jokingly said that she was an avid listener of music because of the earphone-jack extensions off her ears.

"Did the ears give it away?", she chuckled.

"A-ah, n-no, I mean, yes, and I thought that…", Izuku stammered.

"Relax, I'm joking too,", she coolly waved it off. "On a serious note, do you like rock?"

"Um…yes?", he answered, unsure of what to say.

"Really now?", she grinned slyly, placing a hand on her chin. "How about I test you for a bit?"

Izuku glanced behind him to check the clock. He had time. He nodded.

"[Rock You like a Hurricane]?", she suddenly fired away, beginning the test.

"Scorpions," he answered in a heartbeat.

"[Welcome to the Jungle]?"

"Guns N' Roses."

"Oh, you're pretty good, Midoriya, pretty good," she smirked, her eyes lighting up.

"Haha…it's nothing really," he sheepishly said. "I just—"

"[Comfortably Numb]?"

"Pink Floyd!"

"Ohoho! You know some of the old stuff too?", mused Kyouka.

At this point, Izuku was looking rather shocked and tried to dissuade Kyouka from continuing but got shot down when she fired another volley of song titles at him.

"[Roundabout]?"

"Yes!"

'I've never heard of these songs before, let alone these bands!', he thought, inwardly panicking. 'I only Scorpions and Guns N Roses but that's only because my mom plays them on the radio every now and then! How am I answering these—"

"[In the Court of the Crimson King]?", shot Kyouka, a fire burning in her eyes, slamming her hands on her desk as she stood up. Izuku had surprised and impressed her in his knowledge but only she and her father knew of this band as far as she was concerned. If he was able to answer this, then he would be—

"King Crimson!"

Kyouka's jaw dropped. No way. Her shock was so great that she completely glossed over the fact that Izuku's voice dropped a few octaves in his answer.

"Izuku…"

"Y-yeah…?", trembled the class president. He should have known that the mafia don in his head would the one to know all those songs. He lived centuries ago, damnit! How could he not guess that? Of course, he was going to know his Stand's namesake, that was a given!

"You are now my best friend."

"…eh?", was his answer to the rock lover's declaration.

"It's official," gushed Kyouka, her hand on his shoulder with proud smile. "You are a certified man of culture."

He could only give a shy chuckle as he gulped. He could feel his classmates' stares on his back. No doubt they heard a glimpse of Diavolo's voice earlier. Just as he heard the beginnings of a question form, the bell rang, and Present Mic strode in to give English lessons.

Talk about saved by the bell…

xx

It was 10 to 1 in the afternoon when class 1-A's scruffy, wrapped in cloth homeroom teacher, Aizawa, entered. Fortunately for Izuku, the brute force of back-to-back English and Mathematics classes, both of which were 2 hours long, had sapped the memory of any classmate of his about his abrupt change in his voice. If there were any others that still remembered, they were sure bound to forget with the announcement Aizawa was going to make.

"For the foundational skill of heroics today, it is decided that you will be supervised by a three-man team comprised of me, All-Might and someone else."

All ears were on the Quirk-erasing hero. What sort of activity would require the supervision of three pro-heroes?

Sero shot up and asked the question on everyone's minds. The homeroom teacher said nothing but reach into his pocket to pull out a card that had 'RESCUE' printed on it.

"What you will be doing? Be the hero everyone needs, whether it's a flood or any disaster. It's the Trial of Rescue!", he announced with stern eyes.

As usual, his class went abuzz with chatter. He could pick out Kaminari, Kirishima and Mina from the noise as they were saying some interesting things. Things like how exciting the trial was going to be or how difficult it was going to get. Tsuyu chipped in to highlight her Quirk's suitability in floods. It was nice to hear his students' enthusiasm, but he was a teacher; they need to be remain grounded to the floor to avoid lofty ideals.

"Don't get ahead of yourselves," he stated, bringing order back into the class. "As I was saying, it is up to you whether you want to wear your hero costumes. Some of your costumes are probably not suited to the task, after all. The training area is fairly far so we'll be getting there by bus. That is all."

With that, he left the classroom, expecting to meet up with them in the courtyard in 20 minutes time. Enough time for him to catch a few winks in his sleeping bag.

'The Trial of Rescue…', thought Izuku, his eyes bright and brows furrowed with anticipation. He grasped onto a metaphorical ball of the dreams before him and held it tight. 'This is training to reach my dream… to become a top hero! I'll do my best!'

Why not just use King Crimson the whole way?

'Eh?'

Izuku stopped to consider Diavolo's point. He was right; it would be a lot easier for him to just use King Crimson as it was strong, had a broken and confusing ability and allowed him foresight to some extent. But…it just did not feel...right. Like he was cheating or failing to use his potential to the fullest. At the same time, he needed to think up of an answer…

Well?

'I think…' he replied. 'It'd be better for me to practice using the power All-Might gave me.'

Oh? And why is that?

'You said so yourself, right? That you wanted to remain hidden? What better way of concealing your existence to the world outside of class 1-A than having the perfect smokescreen? That way, I get to train myself to use One for All better and you get to stay out of sight.'

For a while, his mind was quiet. Then, he heard an impressed low hum followed by a whistle.

Impressive, boy, impressive. That was exactly the kind of answer I wanted to hear, and you exceeded my expectations with that implication.

Izuku was puzzled. What?

'I don't follow.'

If you use King Crimson less and use One for All more, what do you think is possible?

"Deku! Come on, we need to get to the bus!", Uraraka called out to him.

"Oh, right! Coming!", he called back, hastily checking his belongings before exiting the class and went for the courtyard. He felt a pit in his stomach. He really needed to stop getting too engrossed in his own inner conversations. His friends might not want to voice out their concerns, but he had already noticed Uraraka's eyes occasionally darting towards him whenever he began muttering.

She must think he was weird. Everyone around him must think he was weird. But, this was what he wanted, right? Was this what he wanted? The neat lines of his students in front of the bus were all smiling at him except Bakugou. He returned the smiles with his own and kindly told them to take their seats despite Iida's insistence on informing seating formations first (then stewing in embarrassment because the seats were off the side rather than the conventional arrangements), but he could not help doubting the happy faces his friends were casting.

"Hey Midoriya, I always say what I think no matter what's on my mind," said a girl beside him.

He snapped out of his inner monologue and turned towards Tsuyu, who he absentmindedly called her Asui with a look of surprise.

"Call me Tsuyu," she bluntly states.

Big eyes stare into his bewildered look, trying to think up an answer but, with an expressionless smile, she shot a question straight at him.

"Your Quirk reminds me of All Might's."

His hairs stood on end, he had no idea how to deal with this situation!

"W-well, t-t-t-that s-s-so!? But mine isn't like…", he squeaked.

"That's not true!", Kirishima interjected. "All Might never gets injured whenever he uses his Quirk and that's where the likeliness ends!"

'Kirishima!', thought Izuku.

"And All Might doesn't have a floating angry thing following him around so that makes him unique!"

'Kirishima!', screamed Izuku's mind.

Iida and Uraraka smile worriedly upon the return of the memory of seeing the Stand.

"Hmph! Your other Quirk isn't special!", chimed the blonde that could shoot lasers from his navel as he whiffed his hair to the side. "It isn't elegant and is brutish, unlike mine that dazzles with beauty!"

"Wouldn't it be bad for your stomach to collapse if you used your Quirk?", teased Mina, causing the boy to clam up and glare at her. Then, he noticed the class president staring him down with furrowed brows. It was as if he was trying to stare into his soul, unnerving him.

And indeed, Izuku was looking at the flamboyant blonde with such intensity. However, it was for a completely different reason.

'Who is he again?', he frowned. 'No really, who is he? I know him, but what was his name? I hope someone here mentions his name because it'd be really embarrassing if the class president forgets the names of his fellow classmates!'

His frown furrowed further upon noticing Bakugou's own incensed glare a little too late.

"Oi, Deku…", growled Bakugou. "What's this talk of a second Quirk?"

Izuku's throat tried to gulp but it was dry. He opened his mouth to stammer an answer but…

"You mean you didn't know?", Kirishima asked the fuming blonde. "He won the trials against your team because of this new Quirk he had!"

"What?!", Bakugou snapped.

"Yeah! We have no idea how it works, and he can summon this cool, angry-looking dude!", added Kaminari with a grin. "Come to think of it, it looks as angry as you are if not more!"

"Hey! What'd you say about me?", barked Bakugou.

"Jeez, man, chill! It has been but a brief moment in our socialisation and, yet we have made apodictically cognizant of your personality, redolent as it is of a magnificent turd steaming away in a sewer."

Bakugou stood up and gripped the guard rail in front of him, veins visible along his arms as he threw a menacing growl towards Kaminari.

"Huh?! What the hell is that vocabulary? I'll fucking kill you!"

"What do you know? Your attitude stinks and, your intellect is that of an uncivilised savage. Go figure."

"Oh, I'll show you savage, idiotball!"

"Ha ha, you're funny, Bakugou!", chuckled Kirishima as he slung a shoulder over him. "Glad to see you and Denki becoming fast friends!"

"Oi!"

Izuku, on the other hand, sighed in relief then watched in awe at the scene unfolding before him. He was glad that Kaminari managed to distract Bakugou off the topic of his Stand, but he would never imagine in his lifetime that he would ever see his childhood friend/bully get teased in such a manner. 'That's U.A for you! I can't believe my eyes!'

Meanwhile, in the backrow seats of the bus, Uraraka was giggling the entire time while Yaoyorozu frowned at the ongoing verbal assault between Bakugou and Kaminari.

"What a vulgar conversation…" whispered the class VP in disgust.

Uraraka, still giggling with pink cheeks, replied, "But they make me laugh!"

"Alright, settle down," commanded Aizawa tiredly. "We're almost there."

"Yes sir!", shouted the whole bus.

In the midst of the chaos that erupted earlier, the only casualty was the one who sat next to the explosive boy: Kyouka.

May her interrupted nap rest in peace.

Then again, this was the kind of noise that was nice. A tolerable chaos. A part of high-school normalcy. It would be fun to learn the rescuing aspects of heroism and that was indeed why everyone was rowdy.

Would be kind of messed up for the people if they were the ones that needed rescuing…right?