Naught but the clicking of heels can be heard in the dead silence of the bomb room at the start of our allotted pre-battle prep time. I watch Yaoyorozu move over to stand firm in front of the doorway, her intelligent gaze roaming up and down its surface. I think I can tell what she's doing based on what I know of her so far.

My guess? She's already working out a strategy in her head on how best to confront our opponents. Based on how she's sizing up the door right now, I'm sure it has something to do with barricading the room off from them entirely. From what I've managed to gather of her quirk so far, she's able to produce things from her body to meet the current challenge. During yesterday's quirk assessments, she'd produced anything from a scooter to a pole vault to help her make the most of the situation. A very formidable quirk, to be sure. It's no wonder she's managed to excel right from the beginning.

In fact, I'm sure her quirk's good to the point where the plan she's mulling over might even be enough to win the match all on its own (depending on if the other team can overcome it). Which would mean...a great showing for her, but not for me...

An image of nervous, verdant eyes hardening into orbs of determination pounds heavily at the forefront of my mind, causing my own eyes to narrow somewhat. And again with that feeling...No—I just can't let it be that way.

So against my (admittedly) meeker inclinations, I can feel a new resolve taking root.

"Okay, so...I believe I've thought up a viable strategy. Before the match begins, I plan to set up a barricade here that will allow us—"

"No."

The confusion is written all over her face as she pivots away from the door to pin me with a questioning look. "Pardon?"

My eyes close as I allow myself a moment to stew in my decision. This girl's brilliant; I'm sure her plan could steer us to the win. But I also know that there's something equally important to me: becoming the person, the hero, I hope to be. And I can't do that by standing idly by under the shadow of everybody else. But I think this doesn't have to be a competition between the two of us; we are on the same team, after all. So why not act like one?

With that thought, my lids lift to the tall girl in front of me. She seems pleasant enough in temperament, but I wonder if she'd be willing to go along with it?

"What would you say...if I told you I had something I'd like to try out?"

Her body turns to face me fully, giving me her full attention. "I'm afraid I don't quite follow. What do you mean?"

"It's something that will allow the both of us time to shine. How's about we engage in a little stellar teamwork?"

There's a brief pause before her response: an amicable smile in my direction, a slight rueful edge teasing its borders. "Yes, that sounds fine to me. Forgive me, I hadn't intended on leaving you out of the planning process. What exactly did you have in mind?"

I'm nearly tempted to welcome her acceptance with a smile of my own. I settle for a basic rundown instead.

Her smile brightens enough for the both of us. "Brilliant."

-oOo-

All Might's voice is more booming than ever so close to my eardrum as he announces the beginning of the fight through our ear comms.

"Alright! Team G vs Team C—let the fight commence! BEGIN!"

And just like that, our 15 minutes have begun. Time to get busy.

"I'll leave it to you, then, Yukie-san."

I nod at Yaoyorozu—standing tall and composed next to the faux weapon—over my shoulder then turn back to face the doorway. Let's have some fun, then. Time to test out my new gear.

An ever so subtle hum emits from the amplifier around my waist as I nudge its switch to the on position, cranking the singular dial up to around a fourth of maximum output. Should be plenty for now. Now that it's on, I can feel the tug on my energy as the amplifier does its job of interacting with my quirk. According to the instructions included along with my hero apparel, it works akin to something like Bluetooth technology, in which a connection is established at the moment of first activation between the device and a nearby source of energy. It makes sense considering my quirk pretty much is just an internal field of energy—hence, the name: Field.

It was also noted that once the amplifier has a lock onto something, it's almost impossible for the connection to be severed for another. It'd either have to be sent back to the manufacturer for connection deletion or replaced entirely. It's the reason why I had to make sure not to activate it until now, when I could know for sure that no one else (or nothing) is in my immediate vicinity that it could react to. Some might think this a detrimental design, but I don't. Because it also means that no one but me will ever be able to exploit this thing.

Now for the accompanying piece, the goggles. Their design is quite simple for what they can accomplish. They're shaped a lot like safety goggles, with a wide, slightly convex lens tinted a sort of ombré sheen of pink and white that reminds me suspiciously of my own eyes. That is a detail I had not specifically requested, by the way. Looks cool, though. Goes well with the sleek blackness of the body.

The strap snaps in place against the back of my head as my thumb locates the small button on the underside of the lens. The world around me disappears as the screen comes to life before my eyes in a display of color and light, and, man, is it ever cool-looking.

Earlier on, I mentioned how this thing is meant to mimic the sensory capabilities of my quirk. That might not have been entirely accurate? Sure, it displays the signatures and characteristics of people within sense range—it's doing so with Yaoyorozu right now, in fact—but it also does more than what I can do on my own. It takes my quirk's level of perception and cranks it up a notch.

Prime example—I usually have to rely on the specific feeling I get from people's auras in order to perceive much of anything about their quirk, like with Hagakure in the entrance exam. Now? That stuff's displayed to me in full, clear cut detail as a readout on the screen next to the accompanying signature.

"How does it look?"

"Reeeeeal good." A soft chuckle sounds behind me as our opponents' signatures blip onto the screen. They must have just entered the building.

This is the important part, our Phase One. During my explanation earlier, I'd taken the opportunity to make an educated guess on the powers of the other team based on what I've been able to gather about them up to this point. I saw Kaminari using electricity to trick the reader into giving a false high reading during the grip strength test. Electricity user. As for Jirou, her appearance is enough of a hint; the aux cords attached to her earlobes indicate that her quirk is sound-based. Relaying that information to Yaoyorozu had been enough for her to know what to create without a single suggestion on my part. She really is quite sharp.

As it now stands, I only need to confirm the information we've already gathered. Their signatures prowl side-by-side several floors down below us, eventually coming to a stop. Based on the suspicious placement of Jirou's reading next to a wall, I can already figure what it is she's doing. Don't need to, though; the words "perception by sound" are clear enough in front of me. And besides that, based on the flashing warning message next to her reading, it's indicating that her quirk is currently in use. She's most definitely using her sense of hearing to locate where we are. Moving my eyes away from her over to the electric yellow signature at her side, as if its color weren't enough, the words "wide area, paralyzing shock" give me another positive confirmation. That's all I need.

Turning around to face Yaoyorozu, I give her the silent signal with a firm nod, facing forward again after she responds in kind. Looks like we're good to continue to Phase Two, or what I like to call, Time For Some Dope Battle Shenanigans.

As if in agreement with the timing, Team G's signatures suddenly launch off in our direction, traveling quickly. They're certainly not wasting any time. I estimate it won't be long at all before they reach us.

Soon enough, the both of them have made their way to the bomb room floor and are right outside the unbarricaded door, their readings visibly prickly with tension.

I take the precious moment before it all begins to observe their placements. Jirou seems to be crouched a fair distance away from both the door and Kaminari, who's plopped himself right in front of it. I'd suspected this earlier, but a person with a quirk like his would seem likely to burst in guns blazing in an attempt to quickly immobilize us. And if his electricity is really as wild as the display says it is, then Jirou's positioning gives their plan right away. Amazing what you can glean with just a bit of attention to seemingly minor details.

My only sign to ready myself is the screen flashing an angry warning at me of Kaminari's quirk being active before the door clamors open with a deafening boom, blinding yellow streaks splaying out in all directions.

Solidify!

That familiar warmth tears out from my body, and I almost have to marvel at how much more eagerly my energy seems to respond to my call as violet flashes near instantly before my extended hands in the din of the chaos, electricity immediately arcing off of it in unforgiving waves. That's a big wow. Seriously, this gear's great.

Crouching down behind my shield for better coverage, my eyes zoom in on Yaoyorozu's still, pink signature behind me, still shining as bright as ever. The large object directly in front of her pings on my display in the same shimmering shade of pink, the tell of its nature as a creation. Her own shield stands firm and unmoving under the violent assault. Good, then all that's left is to wait for the opening.

Quirks are mysterious, powerful things, but that doesn't mean they're free of limitations. Back during the planning phase, we'd already figured it wouldn't be likely for Kaminari to be able to go long portions of time with his foot shoved on the gas, so to speak. And witnessing the sheer amount of electricity snapping over our heads right now, I'm more certain than ever that this guy has to be reaching the limit of how long he can dish it out.

Like it's confirming my thoughts, the little bar that's been visible next to his signature since his attack began plummets from red down to a noticeably less threatening range of green as the streaks of energy simultaneously slacken before petering out entirely. Go time!

My barrier rushes forward to impact with his body in front of the doorway, knocking him off his feet and up against the adjacent hallway wall almost quicker than my eyes can follow, a painful-sounding thud audibly forcing the breath out of his lungs as his body remains suspended behind the shield against the now cracked wall. ...Good gravy grief, that impact was harder than I was expecting it to be. This amplifier's stupid good. Betcha I might even stand a chance against those stupid three-pointers now.

I can't help the involuntary pause that takes me as a strange shift occurs in Kaminari's signature. It sputters oddly, almost like a short circuiting appliance or something...What the heck?

I have no time to wonder about it further, though, as Jirou's reading comes tearing around the corner at the sight of her immobilized partner. I can tell that she's alarmed at the sudden course of events by the splotch of stark white coloring her signature, just bright enough that I can perceive it over her already pearl white shade, a thing I like to call the Heart Hue, the color representing a person's most base essence.

The sound of something fitting into place in a socket can be heard before I'm warned of a building energy coming from Jirou's direction the same time her quirk description shifts from "perception by sound" to "sound wave generation". Wait, now it tells me? Hm...Seems like this thing can be slow to pick up on stuff like this. No matter. Not a problem.

I say that, but there's something important here that shouldn't be ignored—the fact that my quirk is preoccupied holding Kaminari in place.

I was aware from the beginning that catching Kaminari like this would be tricky since it leaves me without a proper means of attack until my barrier disappears. And in the face of Jirou's steadily skyrocketing power reading, that's dangerous. ...Or it would be if we hadn't come prepared for this very possibility.

"Now, Yaoyorozu-san!"

"On it!"

I hurriedly pull back until I'm positioned right next to the bomb in Yaoyorozu's place, the other girl assuming my place a few feet ahead.

Jirou's reading spikes violently into the red zone right as the both of us brace for impact, my fingers shoving the objects in my ears in more deeply.

"Get a load of this! Here!"

I can feel the ground beneath my feet tremble as if underneath the weight of an earthquake as what feels like hundreds of sound waves shower my body in surprisingly tangible vibrations. Pretty strong, but it's clear to me that her quirk relies less on pure power and more on stunning enemies subjected to the sound waves, which is bad news for her, in this case.

There's a minor fit of static in my ears as my earbuds strain under the weight of all the vibrations, but they hold their own against the assault. Heh. It looks like Yaoyorozu's creation, noise cancelling earbuds, wins out in the end once again.

Speaking of the black-haired brainiac, the warning flashes under the telltale sign of quirk activation as another shimmering pink object manifests.

Before the sound waves can even dissipate—

"What?! Ngh—!"

Yaoyorozu is shooting off after Jirou, striking at her with a pole. Jirou's got no choice but to go on the defensive now.

I'll put my trust in Yaoyorozu's combat skills. Right now, I've got a sparky boy to apprehend.

-oOo-

"Yaaay."

Soooo, remember when I suspected that Kaminari wouldn't be able to handle doing his electric attack for long?

"Yaaaaay..."

Yeeeah...This isn't really what I meant.

I was so curious of the idiotic sounds coming from this guy that I just had to lift up my goggles to get a good look at him. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I flinched somewhat at seeing the absolute derpiness that is Kaminari's face right now. ...I just hadn't been expecting it, okay?

"Muhuhuhu…"

I was actually kinda concerned before. I mean, in hindsight, I guess it is all starting to make sense; that weird shudder shooting through his aura?

"Muhu…"

Looks like "short-circuited" was riiiight on the money...Seriously, this has to be the dumbest-looking face ever he's making. I came over here expecting him to maybe still put up a fight against me, but...

"Yaaheeey...Yaaay!"

...Somehow, I don't think that'll be happening.

The sound of a grunt echoes behind me before a body hits the floor.

"I've got her, Yukie-san! Please get the other one!"

"Right!"

I allow my barrier to vanish, and his body drops straight down to the floor. A snap of the capture tape around his wrists, and both our opponents are effectively caught.

"And that's it! Villain team WINS!"

Game, set, and match. Booya.

"Hm! Well done, all of you! Buuut...can anyone tell me who the MVP for this match was?"

"It should be one of the villains, right? Ribbit."

"Mmhmm. Any ideas?"

"I kinda think it was Yaoyorozu. Gotta say, it was pretty darn manly how she managed to take down Jirou there at the end."

"Yeah, and it was kinda hard to tell, but she made something that kept them both from getting hit by Jirou's sound wave attack, right?" the guy called Sero questions. From the monitor room, it must not have been so easy to see her make the tiny earbuds, especially with no sound available to the students.

"Oh, yeah! That part was actually pretty clutch. It pretty much gave them the win, too," Ashido says.

"Yaaaaaaay," is Kaminari's most helpful contribution, still in a state of short-circuited idiocy with both hands forming a thumbs-up gesture. He's at least able to do that, apparently. According to Jirou, it shouldn't last for much longer, though. Clearly this is a known drawback of his quirk. Makes me wonder if he taught himself how to maintain the thumbs-up gesture during this state as a means of not worrying others.

"All very true! However…"

"It was Yukie."

All heads turn toward the lone figure standing at the edge of the group—the guy who'd completely dominated his own match within a matter of minutes by encasing the entire building and his opponents' feet in a prison of ice, Todoroki.

"Care to explain, Young Todoroki?"

This boy's been too cool for school since classes began, never saying much of anything, never even interacting with anyone. He's even more withdrawn than I am. I can only imagine what type of life he's led.

His expression doesn't shift once as he launches into his explanation.

"Yaoyorozu might have been responsible for forming the thing that gave them the advantage in the end, but she wasn't really the one responsible for the strategy itself."

Maybe it's just the frigid air this guy gives off, but everyone's hanging on to his every word as much as they were Yaoyorozu during her explanation earlier. I guess it might also be because we now know how insanely powerful he is; there's been this silent sense of respect toward him permeating the air since.

"I could tell even without sound that it was Yukie who was ultimately able to analyze their opponents enough to formulate an effective plan against them," he intones, all without much inflection in his voice. "She must have at least known about their abilities beforehand and used that knowledge to her team's advantage. Of course it'd be her."

Silence.

"...You know, I guess that makes sense."

"She did seem to have something in the works when they were talking, ribbit."

"Huh. Guess Yaoyorozu's not the only brainiac here."

"Really nice job, Haruna-chan!"

Under all the praise, a feeling like intense satisfaction begins to well up within me. This...this is what I'd been going for. I can definitely get used to this.

All Might's grin stretches even wider as he gives a hearty nod. "Right you are, Young Todoroki! Young Yukie had the ability to assess the quirks of her opponents. And, because of that, a little bit of planning set Team C on the path to victory!"

"Oh. Well then, no wonder you guys knew how to prepare for my quirk beforehand. And this bozo's ("Yaaaaay!")," notes Jirou, seeming only mildly put out by it as she thumbs over at Kaminari.

"But, wait, does she have, like, two different quirks or something to be able to do that? I've been thinking the barrier was her quirk this entire time." The question comes from Ashido.

"Oh yeeeeah, good point," comments Kirishima. "Now I'm curious, too."

A pause occurs as the group turns its attention to me, quite clearly expecting a response. ...And I suppose I should oblige, then, huh?

With a small sigh, I decide to do just that. "I don't have two quirks—just the one. My quirk's called Field. I can send out my own energy from my body and then manipulate it when I do. I just do it in different ways. I'm psychic, so…"

"Ohhhhh, so that's it. Huh..." Ashido says, expression thoughtful.

"It's no surprise she'd be another smart one, then," Sero remarks wryly. I can only assume he's referring to the propensity of psychic type quirk wielders towards intelligence. Though rare, those with psychic quirks have gained a reputation for being reasonably more intelligent than their non-psychic peers, as demonstrated by sources such as standardized test results, basic IQ exam scores, and aptitude test performance in general (especially cognitive ones). It's noted that we tend to score comparatively lower in the physical capability department, though, especially compared to some heteromorphic types. My thoughts on the matter are a mixed package.

On one hand, it's totally possible that the speculations are all an accurate representation of where psychics tend to fall performance-wise compared to our peers. On the other, the smaller sample sizes for these observations have always been a bit concerning to me. Experts agree that such thin sizes can tend to misrepresent a population in terms of how likely the results can be applied to the group as a whole. It's not for no reason that there's a standard for how small samples can generally be allowed to get, after all. In reality, it's totally possible that all the people surveyed were just a bunch of freaking overachievers. But I digress.

"Let's get back to the matter at hand, shall we?" All Might prompts. "Now that that's out of the way, it's time for the last match of the day!"

The final battle concludes rather anticlimactically with the team of heroes taking the win against the villains. Our period of battle trials wraps up underneath the gentle, spring sun as we brace for All Might's final words just outside the exit to the battle center.

"Excellent work, everyone! You all performed very well and set the standard for what can be expected of you from here on out. We even almost managed to cruise by without any big injuries, besides Young Midoriya."

Asui remarks on how much different All Might's energy is from Aizawa and his creep-tastic display from before, causing the class to nod their assent. Hey, the guy outta keep things interesting, at least. I kinda like him.

Some final words of encouragement, and our superhero instructor is speeding off down the tunnel like an especially beefy bullet, cape billowing in the wake of the wind and his dust cloud. Always one for dramatics, that guy. He's always doing that during footage of his rescues, too. Somebody even went through the trouble of making video compilations of his tendency to dramatically beat it after the job is done. Apparently, he didn't actually use to do it all too often. Most of the clips come from within the last five years or so.

...Some people are just really into All Might, I guess.

Anyway, the class doesn't stick around for long after his departure, heading on out of the battle center as one as upbeat chatter recounting the day's events reverberates around the dim tunnel walls.

My position near the end of the group allows me to take notice of the gloomy figure bringing up the far rear, booted feet shuffling along like the weight of the world weighs them down.

In the end, he hadn't managed to come out of his dejected state once.

"Hey, you, kid! Got a second? Are you in All Might's class? Give us some words on how he is as a teacher!"

God...It is way too early in the morning for this. The most jovial morning person that I am, it's just my luck to have something like this crop up out of nowhere. I wonder if I could have managed to dodge it by coming here super early? I would have gladly risen with the sun, in that case.

Upon hitting the illustrious gates of U.A. this morning, what do the students and teachers have to stumble into but a hoard of ravenous reporters apparently chomping at the bit to get whatever kind of scoop they can on U.A.'s newest and most famous instructor. One can hardly even step near the entrance without having to contend with getting a thousand mics practically shoved halfway up their nose. Certainly not my idea for a relaxing walk to school, that's for sure.

Not that I'm in the mood to entertain them anyway, but the fact that the time on my phone says I'm already cutting it a bit close to being late cements my choice to simply squeeze by them all as best I can, ignoring their annoying pestering.

"Wait a minute, where are you going?"

"Hey, just a second, kid!"

Don't these people realize we've got a school to attend? Try as I might to ignore them, a couple of them cling to my heels like a scrappy, ankle-biting chihuahua. They certainly are persistent.

My feet lock in place as a woman with short, brown hair and an angry look on her face abruptly inserts herself into my path, once again shoving a mic into my face.

"Okay, look here—we've been out here all morning with practically nothing to show for it! Can't you spare us even just a statement or two?!"

Geez, why is this woman so irate? Do I seriously have to put up with this…?

A large hand lands on my shoulder before I'm hauled back a few paces away from the microphone. Aizawa's tall, dark figure appears between myself and the reporter. Thank freaking fudge.

"That's quite enough. I can't allow you to continue harassing my students." The reporter's begun backing up at his words, thankfully. Don't blame her. Our teacher has to be the master of looking intimidating and droopy all at once.

"Besides, All Might won't be on campus today. Now get lost, the lot of you," he orders, shooing them away with his free hand.

The hand on my shoulder applies pressure, and I find myself being forcefully guided in the direction of the school and away from the crowd of vultu—ahem!—reporters.

Our walk up the cherry blossom-covered walkway is silent until a blaring alarm pierces the silence like a gunshot in the stillness of night.

I glance over my shoulder to find the U.A. Barrier stretching upward over the front gate in all its big, steel glory, completely blocking off outside access. One of the reporters must have attempted to step onto school grounds, thereby activating the school's defense system.

The U.A. security wall, otherwise known to the public as the U.A. Barrier, is pretty well known. As the top hero school, there have been tons of stories and documentaries done on its legacy. When talking about its operations, you never hear those shows neglect to mention U.A.'s first line of defense, the gate itself. Should anyone ever attempt to cross over its threshold without proper authorization, it's programmed to initiate the school's defenses. Even though it's not obvious, the giant barrier isn't the only part of it at all. In a world where people can have any kind of power possible, it could never be. Flying quirks, quirks that might allow you to phase through matter—you name it. U.A. has accounted for just about anything with one other element to the system, infrared lasers, which are supposedly stationed all over the courtyard and everywhere else. There's apparently even some set up underground to handle the possibility of any quirks that would allow a person to tunnel underneath the gate. And that's not even saying anything of the surveillance system they've got set up literally everywhere. Like everything else, U.A. certainly doesn't pull any punches when it comes to maintaining safety.

It wouldn't be a lie to say that this is one of the safest places on earth to be. One would have a tough time trying to infiltrate this place, that's for sure.

Author's Notes

Bit of a shorter chapter than usual. It was originally meant to be longer, but then it started to get super long, so I had to cut it. I thought it'd be kinda nice to leave off on some ironic foreshadowing here. On the bright side, this means it probably won't be too terribly long before the next one goes up. Anyways, time for some side corner stuff.

Side Corner

Quirk: Field. Haruna can project an internal, psychic field of energy out from within her body to interact with the world around her in different ways. Overuse of this ability causes extreme headaches.

The bar mentioned in the chapter is a simple way that her goggles are programmed to assess the power of an incoming attack. Ranges from green to red.

Heart Hue Series: These are the colors that tend to correlate with a person's inner nature, which, itself, also tends to correlate to a person's quirk. Just for funzies, I will be including each new one in that chapter's side corner.

Hagakure: Transparent. And on that note, a slight correction has been made to a description of her hue back in chapter one. If you're curious, the word "translucent" has been substituted out. This was in error, as "transparent" would be a more accurate description—like a window that you can see but is still totally see-through.

Jirou: Pearl White.

Yaoyorozu: Shimmering Pink.

Kaminari: Electric Yellow.

Emotion Colors: Strong emotions are capable of momentarily painting splotches of another color throughout the base shade/Heart Hue of a person's signature depending on the emotion in question. Case in point—Jirou's surprised shade of white. Colors fade or sharpen depending on the strength of the feeling. Haruna knows how to interpret this because it's how her own quirk works.

For anyone curious, major emotion colors are as follows (SPOILERS for those who would like to find out through the narrative for whatever reason. Feel free to look away!):

~
Surprise/Shock: White

Anger: Red

Love/Affection: Pink

Happiness: Yellow

Fear: Purple

Envy/Jealousy: Green

Sadness/Grief: Blue
~

That's it for now!