"He's doing that shake again." said Todoroki with a hint of concern, gazing at the excited Deku.
Akko appreciated Deku's enthusiasm for Luna Nova, but was certain that Bakugou was going to ignite the entire academy if he continued for another minute. Deku's nonstop rambling caused Lotte and Sucy to excuse themselves a quarter of the way through, leaving her, Diana and Amanda the only ones to guide them out of obligation. Ursula herself was accompanying them, but her smile seemed to be wearing thin.
Deku would frequently start muttering words in Japanese at the rate he was speaking at, forcing Akko to remind him that he should be speaking English during his stay.
"Oh my God is it true that your dungeons are filled with lost treasures and dragons!" squealed Deku, frequently leaping between paintings and displayed artifacts in the hall.
"Yep, we even ended up having to fight one!" smiled Akko.
"Ohhhh!" gasped Deku, facing Akko for once. "And the Sorcerer's Stone is held on one of the Castle's Towers?"
"Not the Sorcerer's Stone, more like a Sorcerer's Stone." winked Amanda, trying her hardest not to laugh at Deku.
"You might want to protect that better," muttered Todoroki. "Leaving it open like that means that the demons could have gotten to it had they spotted it."
"Not if you three got to it first." whispered Diana, who was promptly ignored.
Ursula glanced at Todoroki, smiling but eyes closed. "Don't worry, that dragon Akko talked about tried to snatch the stone once and got soundly defeated."
"Thanks to Akko no less." grinned Amanda.
Deku gasped even louder, hands on his face. "You fought a dragon! You are so cool!"
Akko gave Deku a bright smile, eyes closed at the positive reception she just received. It was one hundred percent perfect to have a star hero in training admire her, for it was a sign that the worlds of magic and quirks could live in harmony rather than suspicion.
The moment was ruined however, by Bakugou's little quip.
"So you can do something right." chuckled Bakugou.
Akko gave a pout and was about to make a remark until Todoroki elbowed Bakugou on the shoulder to keep him in line, which Akko figured would be happening a lot on this trip. Even Ursula seemed to tolerate the physical action because words wouldn't get through the hothead.
Diana didn't raise her voice about the dragon, because the last thing she needed was Bakugou mocking her for accidentally contributing to its rampage.
To lighten things up, Deku took a deep breath and asked his next question. "So, like, we were skydiving and all that and saw a town nearby. Are they all wizards and witches too?"
Akko chuckled. "Nah, but they're more involved in magic than the average town. Most of the girls our age just go to a nearby co ed school next town over and.."
Amanda cut off Akko. "While all the guys go to Appleton Academy which is right next door in case you three get tired of all the girly stuff like I do."
Bakugou grunted. "All girl and all boy schools? Gee we really did go back in time."
Diana winced. "I'll have you know that both academies are going to desegregate by the end of the decade AND have produced research that is always held in high esteem."
"Yeah I'm sure our world notices too." grinned Bakugou.
Akko and Deku glanced at each other and gulped, trying to both find a way to diffuse the situation. The two were really excited by this opportunity, while the rest were either ambivalent or were totally against it.
"Bakugou!" called out Ursula. "I know words won't get to you and you're understandably mad, but be on your best behavior before the Academy rethinks its punishment to mean expulsion from UA."
"You mustn't submit yourself to this Professor," assured Diana. "We can take these three to their dorms just fine on our own."
"True, but it's clear that our attitudes are not in the right place yet." noted Ursula, looking straight at Bakugou who turned around faced the teacher, not even flinching.
"Like you said, they're a little shell shocked. We got this!" defended Amanda.
"Nah," shrugged Todoroki. "But your friends won't stop staring at us."
Akko, Deku and their friends looked around the halls and saw the student witches, either out in the open or hiding behind their dorms, staring at them with curious intent. Heck, even a teacher seemed to be spying on the group.
Ursula bit her lip. "Well, if they know I'm watching I'm sure they'll calm down."
And with that the group continued to the guest dorms.
"So, everyone is okay right?" asked Deku to Ursula. "We're still really sorry about what happened."
"Just like the headmistress said, no one got hurt, relax my dear." smiled Ursula.
"But it will take a more than a moment to forgive." noted Diana.
Akko glanced down a bit in shame for her role amid all this. "I really hope Lotte and Sucy aren't too mad."
"I overheard them when they walked ahead, and you were distracted by Izuku. They think our little heroes are kind of funny." explained Ursula.
"Not at them!" exclaimed Akko, waving her hands wildly. "AT ME! I'm the one who tore open a portal to hell and summoned satan spawn! I'm the one who freaked messed up the airplane's radar, I'm the one who scared the heroes and got our academy's beautiful facade all screwy."
"Not to mention the theological crisis you probably just spawned considering there are a few churches and a synagogue nearby." teased Amanda.
"I'm sure the demons were scared of us." responded Bakugou to Akko's rant.
"Well, this isn't the first time you've recovered from something dreadful." smirked Ursula.
"And we've been in our share of bad situations too," assured Deku. "Plus, it doesn't make a difference to me if we're not training with special forces anymore, we're gonna be part of the first cross hero-magic training course!"
"Yay!" cheered Akko, spirits lifted.
"We might as well make history while we're here." noted Todoroki, glancing at some rather historical artifacts himself as he spoke.
"I agree," muttered Diana. "I guess it's Luna Nova's honor to be the first school for witches or wizards to host heroes in training."
Ursula clapped her hands in approval. "See! Now that's the spirit I want."
Akko was happy that Diana gave into the situation, but noted that the latter's expression was still stern, as if she was merely trying to avoid getting into trouble for her attitude like Bakugou was bound to be.
The mention of first heroes also caused Deku to remember something he had been meaning to ask Akko before he got distracted, especially given how relatable it was to him.
"So you're the first student at Luna Nova that doesn't come from a registered magical family right?" checked Deku.
"Yep, first in my family to practice magic!" confirmed Akko.
"How does that exactly work?" pondered Todoroki.
Todoroki himself was clearly interested in the subject given that his family's prestige in the hero realm matched the prestige once held by magical families centuries ago. Diana, who came from such a magical aristocratic family, had also put her focus on Todoroki as if he was a sort of rival which was fitting considering that Todoroki's clan contained the literal number one hero.
The difference was that Todoroki was less of a fan for such dynastic concepts.
"What do you mean by that Todoroki?" asked Akko.
"I thought that if you had a quirk, you could never practice magic." clarified Todoroki.
"Oh yeah, I'm quirkless!" answered Akko.
Deku's eyes shot open as he gazed at Akko.
There she was, a girl who had no quirk in a society full of them, the country she grew up in especially notable for the heroes it produced to further insult any quirkless Japanese person. Deku himself had been such an outcast until a fateful encounter with All Might, who himself was born quirkless, allowed him to inherit one for all.
The more Deku thought about it, especially when he considered his meeting with the young and quirkless genius Melissa Shield, the more he realized that people were bending the rules to a world where success was mostly guaranteed by a good quirk.
Todoroki all the while nodded at the response and asked a follow up to the witches in general.
"Magical ability doesn't have to be inherited?" he continued.
"Akko proved that any quirkless individual can learn it." answered Ursula.
"For better or worse." muttered Diana.
Deku's mouth dropped. "That's amazing! Akko, you're the future! No longer will quirkless kids grow up thinking they're doomed to mediocrity."
Akko's eyes sparkled, she had thought about it before, but hearing it was always nice.
"YAY! You're so sweet Deku." chirped Akko, placing a hand on Deku's shoulder which caused his face to turn red.
"You know, we thought Deku was quirkless too." brought up Bakugou, in his accusatory tone that he'd always use when discussing the touchy subject. He was perhaps the only person who knew the truth about Deku's quirk but refused to make it explicit just yet.
Deku yelped, but Akko remained oblivious, looking at him with awe.
"You were considered quirkless once?" gasped Akko.
Bakugou explained, unfortunately for Deku. "Yeah, he was just some runt who thought he could get into the hero course at UA without a quirk. Then all of a sudden he shows up to the exams with a quirk that lets him charge up parts of his body to deliver powerful hits, but it's like he had no control over his quirk in the first place since he kept getting himself hurt."
Amanda put a hand on her lip as she glanced at the nervous Deku. "That could explain your uh, breakdown-y face you have a lot."
Deku didn't say anything, but then Akko brought up the point he really wish she didn't.
"You know your quirk is a lot like All Might's." noted Akko.
Deku bit his lip and tried to catch his breath, not realizing his nervous look was only making things worse.
Todoroki then had to speak up about his own theory. "Still not unconvinced you're not All Might's secret love child."
"Hey, that's actually a good one Icy Hot." admitted Bakugou with a sharp grin.
Deku realized now was his chance to defend himself. "I mean, my quirk does have a similar premise to All Might's, which is why he's a little interested in me you know."
"I would say it's more like the exact same." accused Bakugou.
"You know it's not unreasonable for two people to have the same quirk," pointed Diana. "I mean the odds of you and Todoroki being able to set things on fire and be at the same class should be small but here you two are."
"Hey!" growled Bakugou. "My explosion quirk is nothing like his!"
"Yeah, my fire is a lot more versatile." chided Todoroki, annoyed at Bakugou.
"Well, my explosions can do a whole lot more than burn." hissed Bakugou.
Akko decided to give Bakugou a little tease. "You know, I watched you two fight at the UA Sport's Festival on the internet..."
"You actually watched that? Thought you were all magic." frowned Amanda.
"It's a lot of fun! And it's super popular where I'm from!" defended Akko, "Anyway, you were yelling about using his fire against you to make it more of a hard fight, but I was way more entertained by the ice vs explosion match. Burning vs. Burning is boring."
Bakugou growled, Todoroki smirked for once.
Akko continued on. "It would be like that fight between...what are their names….oh yeah Kirishima and Tetsu something right?"
"Correct." nodded Todoroki.
"Or a fight between Deku and All Might." teased Bakugou.
Deku strung his words together. "No! There are differences, of course. I…mean..well, I don't turn into a giant slab of muscle like he does."
Ursula then threw her own quip into the conversation. "Don't worry Deku. It's your quirk no matter how similar it is. Don't get all those people comparing you to All Might constantly get you down."
Deku smiled sheepishly and tousled his hair, happy that he found a way out of the accusation. "Yeah, I'm getting used to it. In fact, one of the reasons I thought I was quirkless was because I never considered that my quirk could have been just like my idol's."
Bakugou's grunt indicated that he didn't buy Deku's lie however, much to the latter's worry.
Akko continued on with a subject that was touchy for all three of the heroes in turn. "I do really feel sorry for what happened to All Might though. After that fight with that All For One guy, he got really messed up."
"Oh yes, I saw his picture on the internet to," noted Diana. "He looked absolutely dreadful."
"Total skeleton," added Amanda. "Shame because I like my boys all beefy."
"So did I until I settled for the more Princely look." laughed Akko.
"Woman of culture as well I see." giggled Diana, much to Akko's surprise.
All the while, Bakugou, Todoroki and Deku didn't know what to say at that exact moment. They had not only witnessed the fight between All Might and All for One, but were effectively a reason why the fight had to happen. All of it had to be done to rescue Bakugou from the clutches of villains, and he hadn't exactly stopped blaming himself for the incident. Deku did hold the view however that All Might's deterioration had to happen anyway.
Still, given that it was all just a short while ago wasn't doing the three any favors.
Ursula decided to lighten up the mood regarding All Might. "Still, he was a great symbol of peace. You heroes were really lucky to have him."
Deku chuckled. "Well, he's still around at UA and can bulk up for like a second or two. But yeah! He's who we all wanna be. Every hero looks up to him."
Akko made a happy noise as this was the perfect time for her to talk about her own All Might.
"I know just how you feel Deku!" cheered Akko.
"Oh boy." sighed Amanda.
"Here we go again." whispered Diana.
The boys noticed Ursula visibly twitch for some reason, but Akko went on.
"See, I always loved magic a whole lot more than the world heroes and quirks," told Akko. "It all started when I was a little girl and saw Shiny Chariot perform live in Japan!"
Much to Akko's surprise, the boys actually knew what she was talking about.
Deku's eyes were practically glowing. "You saw Shiny Chariot live! I only saw it on tv and I'm still blown away by the recording."
"I actually saw it live myself," brought up Todoroki. "My dad didn't want to be there, so my mom had to sneak me out, but she insisted on mostly recording my reactions than Chariot herself."
"That's pretty funny Todoroki." chuckled Deku.
"No, it's not, my dad got really angry and my mom didn't record any of the good stuff." said Todoroki, which nearly killed the mood.
"Well, I still have my signed shirt." bragged Bakugou, whose haughty expression was cut off when he heard Ursula welp.
His statement was a major surprise. Bakugou of all people bragging that he had an item from a witch when he had just been trashing the magical academy the whole time.
Akko was extremely happy, however. "Oh my gosh, you all three are Shiny Chariot fans!"
"Eh, more like she was just really popular when we were kids." noted Todoroki.
"Yeah, she kinda dropped off everyone's radar, which is a shame because it was a great show." noted Deku, looking a little solemn at the fact.
"It was a great show." muttered Ursula.
"Huh?" collectively went the students.
Ursula faced the students with a sheepish smile. "Come on, she was popular amongst people my age too you know."
"Well maybe amongst the non-magic folk." replied Diana.
"What do you mean non-magic folk?" frowned Deku.
"She never really took off amongst the magical realm." explained Amanda.
Diana's face went into rant mode. "And for good reason! She was sending the wrong idea about witches and wizards to the public. Ideas that we're nothing but entertainers and that magic isn't a powerful or even dangerous force if not understood correctly."
Akko glared at Diana, while the boys noticed Ursula's hand forming a fist.
"Oh, lighten up." said Bakugou.
"Excuse me?" scoffed Bakugou.
"Face it sugar," laughed Bakugou. "Shiny Chariot was the only witch people gave a damn about in the last one hundred years. You wanna know why? Because she didn't restrict herself to stupid traditions and codes so that she could be known! She had style! She was awesome! If she didn't disappear off the face of the map, other witches and wizards would've gotten off their ass and proved to the world you all have something to offer, but even that's no excuse to be a lazy punk."
"Yeah, the world would be different if she was still around." agreed Todoroki, raising an eyebrow at the fist of Ursula that was now shaking rapidly.
Akko pouted. "Well, that's the world I wanna live in and create."
"And I wanna see it happen too!" cheered Deku.
"Yay!" smirked Akko, getting to close to Deku once more.
"Heh heh," gulped Deku. "You know, it's a shame about Chariot though because she was my first crush as a kid."
"Same actually." admitted Todoroki.
"She was hot." nodded Bakugou.
Ursula blushed, but kept her face hidden. "Really?"
The students frowned at her once more.
Ursula adjusted her glasses. "I mean, the first crush of three young heroes in training was a witch? That's so cute! I know a lot of guys my age and even a few girls who tried to ask her out."
"Yeah, but she probably got old and had her kids anyway." laughed Bakugou.
"Old?!" blurted Ursula.
Bakugou formed a smirk after a moment of hesitation. "Oh, I get it."
"You...you do?" gulped Ursula.
"Yeah, you're her age so if she's old, then you're old." Said Bakugou, which made Ursula calm down for some reason the students didn't get.
"Does he talk to his teachers in UA this way?" asked Akko.
"Sometimes." whispered Deku. It was more like a lot.
"He's going to be a total pain isn't he?" sighed Diana.
Bakugou was elbowed by Todoroki for his remark, but he ignored it and finished up with his joke. "But hey miss, looking at you I take it all back."
Now it was Ursula's time to joke around. "Well thank you Bakugou, but I would suggest refraining from making such remarks to women like that if you're going to find a flame here."
Bakugou's eyes widened. "WHAT?"
Ursula winked. "Yeah, I bet some young witches here are just fascinated by the hero realm if you know what I mean."
Bakugou was too shocked to respond, while Akko, Amanda and Diana were totally red faced.
Before Ursula could continue, another professor approached her and tapped her on the shoulder.
"What is it?" asked Ursula.
"We need you to draft your first lesson plans for our joint class with our guests by tonight." explained the other professor.
Ursula took a deep breath. "Of course. I trust the guides of these heroes can escort them to their guest dorm without much hassle or destruction."
Diana glanced at the bubbly Akko, smug Amanda, brooding Todoroki, angry Bakugou and chirpy Deku while she thought about the infinite bad scenarios that could arise.
Still, Diana forced a smile and nodded. "We'll be okay."
"Great! See you all very soon." beamed Ursula, finally taking off in another direction.
For the rest of the walk the group remained silent sans Deku's continued ramblings and Akko or sometimes Diana answering his questions.
In order to stop the young Midoriya from going on for another hour, Diana made sure to remind them all of something crucial.
"Listen, you all are representing the realm of heroes to witches that most likely lived in their secluded communities for most of their life." explained Diana.
"Not my fault y'all couldn't get out there." retorted Bakugou, who once again was met by a smack from Todoroki.
"See!" yelled Diana. "You all need to behave unless you want a major PR disaster."
"Chill Diana," groaned Akko, rolling her eyes. "We gotta be careful to."
"Exactly!" agreed Diana. "So unless you want to prove that our worlds are incompatible, don't mess anything up!"
Diana faced Todoroki and Amanda. "And can you two please at least pretend to care."
"Of course I care. I get extra credit from all this." defended Amanda.
"I mean it's an interesting experiment." admitted Todoroki.
Diana looked at Deku, but really couldn't reprimand him for anything that she hadn't said. He could stop ranting on and on, but she figured that was a general personality quirk of his like it was to punch things with his physical quirk.
"And Diana!" called out Akko. "Could you at least not be a total snob for the next month!"
Diana gasped and was about to make a response, only for Amanda to cut her off with a sudden pointing of her hand.
"Oh look, here we are!" called out Amanda, facing the door of the guest room.
"We are!" cheered Deku, opening the door in an instant and looking inside.
The dorm was surprisingly modern, and besides magical accessories and books scattered here and there, resembled a modern hotel room than the more 'witchy dormy' look Akko was accustomed to at Luna Nova.
Deku wasted no time looking at every little trinket in the room, which was to say a few of them and certainly decor given that the room was meant for guests.
"Nice place you got there." approved Amanda, noting how the room was slightly more spacious than a typical student dorm.
Diana raised her voice once more. "Just remember, you three are extremely lucky to be here and not deported, so at least keep things orderly in your room."
Bakugou blew her off and headed in the room. "Yeah, so lucky to be in an academy with a bunch of beady little eye anglo witches and their burning hatred for modern civilization."
"I am like the only anglo student in my grade!" countered Diana, missing the point on purpose.
"Keep this up Bakugou and no one's gonna take you as top hero seriously." warned Todoroki.
Bakugou ignored him and started to unpack. Deku on the other hand headed back to the doorway to say his good bye.
Deku gulped and tried to string his words. "Listen, I know we got off on a rough start and all.."
"I'm sorry too." interrupted Akko, regarding her own mess up.
Deku formed a sheepish smile. "I just wanted to say that this is really huge right? No one has done this before and I wanna say that it's an honor that you're giving us this chance."
Even Diana grinned at his cute display and Amanda tried hard not to give a girly giggle.
"Don't worry, I'm gonna use the next month to prove magic can still exist in our world of heroes." smirked Akko.
"And so will I!" said Deku with more confidence.
"Yay!" Akko beamed her smile and waved the boys goodnight, while Amanda gave a smirk and Diana tried her best to keep her half smile.
Deku returned the favor with his own adorable expression, before Bakugou slammed the door shut.
Akko's eyes widened at the sudden jerk of the door, but decided not to let him get to her. Still, he would be the toughest nut to crack on the side of the heroes if Akko wanted to prove her ideals to the quirk run society. The same could be said for Diana as Akko glanced her furious demeanor, not used to someone being so flippant to her.
The young witches gave their own sighs and made a break for the main dorms. Now that it was late in the afternoon, the witches would have had their time off anyway. The professors meanwhile were surely working on contacting UA High and the SAS to inform them of the sudden change in plans, as well as drafting new study lessons to account for the presence of the three heroes.
There was one thing that was plaguing Akko's mind, something about Deku that seemed off while they were talking about his quirk.
As if Diana could read Akko's mind, she spoke up with the same thoughts Akko had.
"Just to be clear, all three of us are on the same page that Deku has All Might's quirk, but he can't tell us for reasons that are none of our business, right?" checked Diana.
"Oh yeah." nodded Amanda.
"Totally." added Akko.
Meanwhile in the dorms, Bakugou slumped on his bed, the single mattress bed specifically so he wouldn't have to share a bunk with Todoroki and Deku.
To perfectly illustrate how they felt about the situation, Deku was speed reading a book on magic that had been left on the shelves, while Todoroki was just browsing social media on his phone, probably updating his the class on his situation.
Bakugou all the while had been pondering something about professor Ursula and raised his concern to his so-called friends.
"Just to be clear, you two idiots know that Ursula is really Shiny Chariot, but can't tell us for some reason that isn't our business, right?" checked Bakugou.
"Oh yeah." nodded Todoroki.
"Totally." added Deku.