False alarm on that character sheet. I left the 80% finished work back home and my butt's back in college now haha. Will get to it when I have the chance! Super sorry x

Disclaimer: Boku no Hero Academia characters and plot events belongs to Horikoshi Kohei.

To Be a Hero

if you think it's that easy

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"This building is bigger and more confusing in person..." Shiro commented as her team scouted out their base. It was similar to the first one in terms of the long and winding hallways, but this one featured many pipes going around the side of the walls. The heroes were outside, and like them, were getting familiar with the building layout. "Memorizing this in five minutes is hard, but I think it'll help if we have to locate each other when we need backup. We should decide who should be on defense and who should be on offense... Also the weapon..."

"Aisaka-chan's really intense," Hagakure said as she walked alongside Ojiro. The tailed male nodded his head.

"Like All Might-sensei said, this is a real battle. Our opponents are strong," he said. "Shoji-san possesses immense strength and his Quirk allows him to replicate and heighten any of his senses. Todoroki-san's ice Quirk must be very powerful, too, if he got recommended."

"Then, I'm going to get serious, too! Let me be the nuclear weapon," the transparent girl said and started to take off what was left visible of her costume. "I'll take off my gloves and boots!"

That's the correct decision as an invisible person, but that's not so great for a girl, morally speaking... They both thought as Hagakure set aside her boots. Since the 'nuclear weapon' is not allowed to attack, the only choice the girl has is to be strategic at hiding or have someone there to fend the heroes off. Shiro weighed her options before voicing her plan.

"Ojiro-san, you should stay with Hagakure-san on defense. I will be on offense because my Quirk can give me a better chance at finding our opponents," she said. "I'll intercept them to make it harder for them to reach you two."

Her plan was mirroring Bakugou's, but she was determined to not have it end the same way. She tapped the earpiece as a reminder for herself. "The most important thing will be communication, right? I'll remember to update you two frequently."

The male gave her a gentle smile and nodded along with Hagakure. "Alright."

"Now," All Might's booming voice traveled through the speakers around the premises. "Let's start the second indoor person-to-person combat training match!"

BEEP!

They now have 15 minutes on the clock to keep the heroes away. Giving her teammates one last look, Shiro took off.

Shoji and Todoroki infiltrated the base at the sound of the alarm. Expanding his wing-like arms, the Dupli-Arm Quirk user used it to gather information. Eyes and ears twitched around the tentacles before morphing into mouths that started talking to each other.

"Two are moving around on the north side of the sixth floor."

"The invisible one is barefoot. She's the weapon."

"The third one is coming towards us. Which one is it?"

"The other girl. She's wearing boots."

"An ambush, huh?"

"Go outside. It's dangerous," Todoroki said after he got all of the necessary information from his partner. "I'm sure our opponents intend to fight a defensive battle..." Placing a hand on the wall next to him, ice crystals immediately started to form and expand across the building. It will take less than a few minutes to cover the entire building and trap anyone inside of it. "But that does not matter to me."

"She's reaching the third floor now," Shoji signaled before backing off and walked outside.

Shiro's brows furrowed further as she ran down the third floor. Was it just her or did the building suddenly drop several degrees? She saw the first glimpse of what was happening when she breathed and fog came out, and then the tell-tale sign when crystallized ice started to freeze the walls and was expanding towards her at a fast pace.

"Guys, the entire place is freezing over! Don't let your feet get caught in the ice!" she yelled into her earpiece as she reached for the small kusarigama (chain-sickle) on the side of her belt. Using the sickle end, she started to race the ice cover and slash open the pipes above both sides of her so that jets of water spurted out before it got frozen over. She didn't stop until she was satisfied with the extent of her masterpiece.

Now I just have to get to them before they reach Ojiro and Hagakure... she thought as she looked at the glistening ice-covered windows. If this wasn't a battle, she might've appreciated the beauty of it. Wait, is that someone standing outside?

Her ruby eyes took a second to focus past the thick film of crystal patterns, but her perception was right. "There's only one hero in the building—?" she whipped her head around at the sound of a pair of boots stepping down the hall and grew alert at the laser red glow coming from Todoroki's half-covered ice mask.

"I'm surprised you thought of wrecking the pipes before the ice got to it," he said from the other side of the maze of sharp icicles protruding haphazardly in every direction. "But this defense will not stop me."

"Oh, I wasn't planning to use this as a barrier between us," Shiro revealed with her eyes concentrated on the male. In a swift movement, she whipped the chain above their heads the same time the dial in her left eye swirled and she charged as the icicles fell around them like meteors. "I'm using my resources to attack you!"

Todoroki had to jump back to avoid the first few that came crashing down at him, but more started to fall as Shiro's weapon made contact with the extensive row of icicles. He realized that the girl was using her probability Quirk to avoid and receive the least amount of damage to herself as she shortened the distance between them under the ice shower, and Todoroki quickly used his Quirk to form a shield above him as he focused on deflecting her incoming blows of fists and ice.

He had to admit that she was really smart to use his ice against him, as he had underestimated her when he judged that her Quirk wouldn't do much against him. She was proficient at incorporating her probability manipulation with trained combat skills. The strength wasn't there yet, but her fast thinking and technique was something to respect. That also meant that he had to abandon his first plan, as she had thwarted it.

I'll have to capture her, he dodged the kick that was aimed at his face and allowed it to land on the shield, thus cracking it and it crumbled around them with the added pressure of the falling icicles. She halted her attacks for a second to avoid the debris and he took this small gap of opportunity to throw the binding tape around her, but he was surprised to find that she was fast enough to get out of it by wrapping her kusarigama on a pipe and swung above him. Impressive... he thought monetarily before he sent another blast through the wall to freeze her weapon in place.

Shiro immediately released herself and dropped down to the ground. She let out a foggy breath. Her opponent was fast, but not as fast as Aizawa with his restraining bandages. All the years of training with the capture Pro Hero really paid off here, but in terms of strength, she was no match for the bicolor haired male. She eyed him wearily as he stepped towards her.

The Bluetooth suddenly glowed in his ear, indicating that his partner was talking to him. He seemed to nod at something Shoji said. "Yes, and stay back."

However, his terse reply struck a nerve with Shiro and her ruby eyes twitched. Was he telling his partner to stay back because he was enough to take down both her and Ojiro? But she didn't have time to question it as he suddenly attacked with his icy right hand reaching at her.

She quickly ripped the ribbons from her hair. The ribbons were far from just hair accessories; it was made of carbon-fiber material and it specialized in capturing her opponents. She'd learn this little trick from watching and experiencing Aizawa's technique numerous times, after all.

"You're mistaken if you think it's that easy to defeat us without backup, Todoroki-san," her eyes narrowed as she pulled on the ribbons to tighten its hold on his ice-welding hand.

"I told Shoji to stay back to minimize harm on our side," Todoroki said calmly as ice crystals quietly traveled up the bindings that was restraining his hand. His calmness seemed to work on distracting her and before she was able to react again, his ice had shot up and encased her entire right arm in ice.

Though stunned from the icy pain, she pulled at the ribbon to release him before twisting around to land a roundhouse kick at his stomach. At the same time, the ice below his feet shot towards her and quickly worked to encase her other foot in ice. While she did managed to graze him, her own limbs were now immobile and burning from the icy sensation. I c-can't move...!

"Sorry," he apologized after capturing her with the tape now that she was slowed down. He walked up to her, the broken pieces of ice crunching under his boots and touched her right arm with his left hand and she watched with awe as the ice melted into a puddle of warm water. He did the same for her leg before standing back up.

Todoroki Shoto, Quirk: Half-Cold, Half-Hot.

"You're a commendable opponent, but the difference in our abilities is still too apparent," he said before leaving her.

She couldn't even get mad at him for his words because it was true. He's so strong... No wonder he got in through recommendations, she thought as Ojiro and Hagakure's voices came through her earpiece.

"Aisaka-san? What happened down there?"

"We heard a lot of shattering! Are you okay Aisaka-chan?"

Shiro regained her senses at her teammates' voices. "Sorry, Todoroki-san captured me and he's on his way up..." the dial in her left eye was turning again. She stared at her captor just long enough before he was out of sight to calculate some stats. If Todoroki finds them, they had a 100% chance of losing, but she couldn't give him that satisfaction.

"Ojiro-san, Hagakure-san, head towards staircase E and go down. He's least likely to use that route, and then..."

If they can't win in combat, they'll just drag it out until time runs out.

Meanwhile, the class and All Might had watched the two team's interactions carefully. It was incomparable to the magnitude and intensity of Bakugou's and Midoriya's battle, but Shiro's and Todoroki's was captivating with its own beauty and technique.

She's grown up all right, Aizawa-kun... the hero thought with a giant grin.

In the end, the hero team still won. Todoroki found the rest of her team and the fight between him and Ojiro was relatively quick before he freezed them in the same manner. Despite Shiro's attempt to help after she was captured, she had discounted Shoji's role as the hero team's tracker because she was under the impression that Todoroki was working solo. Her plan failed beacause the Dupli-Arm user heard their every movement and reported it back to Todoroki, who had suggested he do so as a backup plan to the original one.

He's not easy, she glanced at the bicolor haired male as they listened to All Might's review of their performance. I was too careless.

"The hero team caused minimal damage to the building while successfully capturing the villains and retrieved the weapon unharmed, but the villain team also did a great job at planning out their attack with using the building's waterpipe feature to their advantage!" the hero congratulated both teams with an encouraging thumbs up.

Shiro, although still upset for losing, stared at Todoroki with a determined look. "You said there's a difference between our abilities... That'll change the next time we're up against each other," she vowed. The male's cold stare morphed into a slight smirk.

"Sure."

"What's up with that Quirk, though?" Kaminari chimed in and expressed his amazement at Todoroki. "You're too cool, man! Literally!"

"Shiro-chan, you guys were really awesome too!" Uraraka encouraged.

Everyone raved about the battle under the shower of icicles, how manly it was for Ojiro to carry around Hagakure so her feet wouldn't get frozen by Todoroki's ice, much to the male's embarrassment, and someone even commented on how sexy and ninja-like Shoji's information gathering was. But all throughout the ordeal and the rest of the trial battles, Bakugou stayed silent.

"Good work everyone!" All Might announce at the end of the class period. "We didn't have any major injuries other than Young Midoriya, either! You all did a good job for your first training!"

"To have such a proper class after Aizawa-sensei's class..." Tsuyu looked thoughtful as she mirrored most of her classmates' thoughts. "It's kind of anticlimactic..."

As suspected, Eraserhead has a bad rep among the students... Shiro sweat-dropped.

"We're free to have proper classes, as well!" All Might threw his hands up in a welcoming manner as he grinned. "Well then, I must review the results with Young Midoriya! Change and return..." the rest of his sentence trailed into a muffle as he had dashed halfway across the training ground to the staff exit, "...to the classroom!"

"All Might's so cool!" Mineta raved while Ojiro looked confused.

"Why is he in such a hurry?"

Shrugging, the students all filed out of the training grounds as well. On her way out, Shiro paused briefly as the electric Quirk user called out to her. "Hey Aisaka, wanna grab a bite to eat later?" he asked brazenly with his arms behind his head. "What do you like?"

"Ice cream..." Shiro answered before a small frown made its way to her face when she thought back to her encounter with ice today, making it sound like a terrible idea. She was just about to apologize to Kaminari when Bakugou her cut off as he walked past her, bumping into her shoulder in the process. "Hey, watch where you're going!"

When her attention shifted to the offending male, Kaminari, seeing that there's been two fights that almost happened each time they were near each other since the start of school a day ago, he smartly left them alone. However, even as Shiro was glaring daggers at the blonde, he kept on walking as if he didn't hear her.

What's up with him? I admit losing hurts, but... she watched him disappear within the darkness of the exit tunnel. She could empathize to an extent because she hated losing as well, but the difference between Bakugou and her was that he's never lost before.

His pride was something unmatched by most people, and there's nothing more fragile than a heart that's swelled to bursting.

During the break period before their last class, Shiro had volunteered with Ojiro to bring some workbooks back to the classroom. After the hero training, it felt so weird to go right back to normal classes. And normal classes assigned homework.

"I can take more from your stack, if you want," Ojiro said and scratched his cheek meekly when she stared at him with her ruby eyes. "N-Not that I'm saying you're weak or anything... You must be tired from the battle."

"It's okay," she offered the male a small smile before continuing to walk down the hall. She had found Ojiro to be a very gentle and calm individual, and it was easy to be on good terms with him. "By the way, sorry I didn't say this to you or Hagakure-san back there, but good job. I know we lost because I couldn't stop Todoroki-san—"

"No, you did a great job, Aisaka-san," Ojiro insisted, cutting her off. "You made the inevitable just a little possible. If you didn't warn us back there and helped us navigate through the building, Todoroki-san would've ended the match within minutes. You got us farther than we would've because you didn't give up, and that's really admirable."

At all of his encouraging words, Shiro didn't know what to say or how to properly reply to it, so she only hid her face behind the stack of notebooks and nodded her head. She had no idea he thought that highly of her! "Thanks, Ojiro-san..." she mumbled, hoping she didn't make the male feel like she was suggesting that he didn't help. "I've never been on a team before, but you and Hagakure-san were understanding and easy to work with. I really enjoyed being on your team," she added earnestly.

Ojiro only blushed silently as he slid open the classroom door. They walked in on the some of their classmates staring out the window out to the courtyard. "What's going on...?" Shiro asked curiously as she set down the stack on a desk. Making a beeline towards where Uraraka, Tsuyu, and Mina was standing watch, her eyes trailed to the two figures below. "Midoriya-san's out of the nurse's office?" And isn't that Bakugou?

"Ah, Shiro-chan! You're here to watch the battle between men, too?" Uraraka said with ambiguity.

She could faintly hear the two if she strained her ears, since they were practically shouting at each other. Well, Bakugou was, anyway.

"What are you trying to say? Today I lost to you... That's all there was... All there was...! But as I watched the ice guy, I thought, 'I can't beat him'! Even Pigtails put up a shitty good fight against him, all without destroying the building! Can you believe it? I even ended up agreeing with what that ponytail girl said! Damn it! Damn it!"

"Did he just..." Compliment me in the form of an offhanded insult? Shiro blinked.

"You too, Deku!" Bakugou finally raised his head and she thought she caught a glint of something fall from his angry, scowling face. But it must've been the trick of the afternoon light... "I'm just getting started! You hear?! I will become number one!"

It was when Bakugou turned to walk away did they witness All Might speeding towards the blonde, nearly knocking Midoriya off his shoes. The hero's giant form blocked their view, so they weren't able to see that Bakugou was wiping away the angry tears that had gathered in his eyes. However, knowing the hero, Shiro knew that he was probably on his way to console the blonde in some way. Maybe this will be a new chapter for him.

"What was that?" Mina wondered as she plastered her forehead on the glass. All Might had let go of Bakugou and allowed him to walk out of school grounds. Next to her, Uraraka pumped her fists excitedly.

"The fated battle between men!"

Tsuyu titled her head, "It looked like Midoriya-chan was just giving excuses one-sidedly, though."

"The fated battle between men!"

"See you tomorrow!"

"Yeah, see ya!"

The students were all bidding each other goodbyes and parted ways after stepping out of U.A.'s massive security gate. Shiro was adjusting the strap on her backpack when someone bumped into her. A blonde male turned his head back slightly, his gray eyes glancing at her briefly before letting out a small "oops" and was on his merry way again.

What's with blondes and bumping into me today... her eyes twitched.

"Yo, Shir—err, Aisaka! You heading this way, too?" Kirishima was waving at her as he took a few quick strides to catch up. Behind him were two more of her classmates. One of them was bulky in stature with big lips and the other one she remembered had a Quirk that allowed him to shoot tape from his elbows. "Good work today! You and Midoriya were both fired up against Bakugou and Todoroki. I can't believe we have so many strong people in our class! By the way, I'm Kirishima Eijiro!"

"Well, she did tie with Bakugou in the entrance exam. I was really surprised with Midoriya, though! He fought evenly with Bakugou," the tape Quirk male nodded, his triangular grin prominent on his face. "Oh, and I'm Sero Hanta!"

"I'm Sato!" her burly classmate introduced. "Seeing how the first two matches were so intense, the rest of us had to give it our all, too."

Shiro had never had so many people compliment her all at once and so many times in a single day, especially since she didn't win the combat training at the end. But like Ojiro said, she supposed she did make the impossible possible against Todoroki's overwhelming power... Well, that is her Quirk. "T-Thank you!" she said, and she truly was filled with pride. "And it's fine if you want to call me Shiro," she added, noticing that the redhead was about to since he must've heard Uraraka say it often.

"Shiro-chan, then! We were going over the training together," Kirishima revealed with a grin. "How'd you escape Todoroki's capture the first time? He was so fast and we thought for sure he got you there!"

"Ah," Shiro thought back to the training and gripped the straps of her backpack. "I've had lots of practice with—" she paused and wondered if she was supposed to tell people this. It wasn't really something top secret, but maybe her classmates would think it was weird? At their wide and anticipating stares, she offered them a smile. "With a really amazing mentor."

"Cool!" they said and didn't press further, switching to other aspects of the training. She walked along with them, content to be just listening to their animate conversation. When they passed by a dark alley, there was a small chill that ran down the back of her neck and she paused to take a quick, confused glance.

"What's up?" Sero noticed her moment of attention and looked at the alley as well. "Isn't that the alley where the Sludge Villain took a kid and terrorized the city?"

"Oh yeah," Kirishima also craned his neck over. "The villain All Might took down with his Detroit Smash! You must've heard about it. It was pretty big news."

Shiro nodded slowly, remembering that Aizawa had told her about it and it was even printed on the newspaper at that time. She also remembered reading that the villain had almost killed two innocent kids her age when he tried to steal their bodies after attempting to escape the hero.

"Villains really are despicable..." she frowned.

"Well, that's why we're in U.A. It'll be our jobs to take them down. All Might-sensei said we're heroes now!" Kirishima said with a wolfish grin, and to that, they mirrored his expression with agreement.

Yeah, we're heroes now!

The week's newest print of the newspaper was thrown on the table with a certain news segment on the front page. The title read: "All Might Becomes U.A. Teacher! Closes Agency Temporarily". The man who threw it set down his glass of half-filled liquor on top of the hero's picture and allowed the condensate on the glass to stain the thin material.

"Did you see this? It says he's a teacher... At that school..."

He was mumbling the last part mainly to himself with annoyance, as the topic always made him angry. The bartender at the counter was used to the ramblings from the man with many disembodied hands gripping his body and face, and he continued to clean glasswear until he was addressed.

"Hey... What do you think'll happen... If the Symbol of Peace...

"...is killed by villains?"

Todoroki is too OP to not win the match, so it wouldn't make sense if Shiro won. She's good, but she still levels below our ice prince. On another note - I love Kirishima! He's like the perfect combo of Natsu and Elfman (both Fairy Tail) if their personalities were mixed together.

As usual, please leave a review :)