I woke up in a daze, somehow still feeling tired despite having several hours of sleep. Rubbing my blurry eyes, I let out a loud yawn, and with a satisfied smack of my lips, I rolled out of my sleeping bag. The second my face touched the cold tile floor, I jolted awake, eyes snapping open. I frowned, disgusted that I laid my face on the ground, and pushed myself up to my feet. I stumbled over to the coffee maker on the counter, clumsily shoving a cup of grounds in and starting a pot. With the familiar sound of coffee brewing in the background, I changed out of my gigantic blue pajama-shirt and pulled on my neatly folded school uniform. Undoing the braid I'd left my hair in last night, I watched the final few drops of coffee fall into the pot with a sleepy smile.

Pouring myself a cup of liquid caffeine, I sipped the too hot drink and waited for the sound of Missus Yukihime entering the shop. I had fallen into a morning routine now, much more pleasant than any routine I'd had before. When I'd lived with my grandmother, my routine had involved putting on a painfully tight binder that hid whatever curves I'd developed and carefully picking my appearance apart in the mirror, wondering how my grandmother would react to me today. On the streets, creating a routine had been near impossible, but I'd still had a general schedule of wake up, check stuff, go to library that had been (somewhat) comforting in its familiarity.

Now, I could roll out of bed, drink a pot of coffee, and wait for Missus Yukihime to arrive so I could discuss my chores for the day, before taking the bus towards Yuuei and walking to school with my friends. Giving a small smile when the bells strung to the front door chimed, I finished off the last of my cup and stood up.

Life was a lot more pleasant now in general.

I stepped off the bus, hearing the doors click shut behind me. With practiced eyes, I spotted a unique head of red and white hair in the crowd of people near the bus stop. Weaving through the mob, I popped up between Izuku and Ochako with a bright grin.

"Good morning!" I sang, just to see Ochako jump and spin around. The others jerked in surprise as well, eyes averting from each other to look down at me. I pretended I wasn't bitter about having to crane my neck to look upwards. "How's everyone doing this fine morning?" I chirped.

Ochako examined me suspiciously. "Why are you behaving so weirdly?" she asked upfront.

I grinned, manic glint in my eyes. "I drank a whole pot of coffee this morning before Missus Yukihime could stop me," I declared, remembering the sweet triumph of gulping down cup after cup.

Tenya chopped his arm down emphatically. "You should not consume so much caffeine before school, Ichigo! It can damage your ability to focus," he scolded. I blinked, unperturbed since I didn't usually pay much attention anyways.

Momo frowned, seeing how ineffective that argument was. "It's also unhealthy," she added, looking at me with concern. "Too much caffeine is bad for you, Ichigo, and you know that."

"My quirk will keep me alive," I assured her happily, bouncing on the balls of my feet from the buzz of too-much-coffee (who was I kidding? You could never have too much coffee, Mister Aizawa told me so).

Izuku glanced between Momo and I like he was watching a tennis match, and Ochako let out a loud, dramatic sigh. "Let's just head to school," she declared, turning around and forcing everyone to head forwards.

Per usual, Shouto and I fell behind. I glanced up at him a little awkwardly, the normally comfortable silence we shared stilted and unfitting. "Uh, morning Shouto," I started, words feeling thick and difficult to get out. "Are you ready for class?"

"Yep," Shouto answered shortly, killing the uncomfortable conversation quickly. I tried to pretend I wasn't relieved, but the watchful glances Shouto directed my way told me I was anything but subtle. The rest of the walk to school was quiet, with the conversation of the four people ahead of us filling in the gaps between car horns and the random passerby. When we finally reached the classroom, I gratefully separated myself from the situation, heading towards my desk.

As I passed by the podium, I noticed Bakugo sitting rigidly in his chair. I narrowed my eyes at him, and then turned my nose up, flouncing past him and ignoring the hateful gaze burning behind me. Spinning into my seat, I crossed my legs and pulled out my notebook, doodling randomly and firmly refusing to acknowledge Bakugo's building fury.

Before the blonde could finally snap, the classroom door slid open, and Mister Aizawa came shuffling in. The class was instantly silent and at attention, waiting patiently for Mister Aizawa to take his place at the podium. "Good morning," he announced tiredly, taking out a stack of papers and laying them on the podium.

"Good morning, Mister Aizawa," I recited with the class, glad he'd arrived just in time as a distraction.

Mister Aizawa took another few moments to organize himself, before beginning. "Now, about your end-of-term exams. I hate to say it, but some of you failed the practical portion," he said, and my cheeks burned as I felt the other students look to Bakugo, Shouto, and I without subtlety. "Accordingly, all of you will be going to the summer camp," Mister Aizawa continued easily, and a shock ran through the classroom. I shook my head, sadly unsurprised that he had lied (again). "Those of you who failed will be receiving extra training to cover your weaknesses at the camp, however, so I wouldn't feel too excited," he added, thoroughly smashing whatever hopes I had about my first summer camp experience being pleasant. "On the bright side, no one failed the written exams. So congrats," Mister Aizawa finished, voice so dry he could've been talking about a financial report, except with even less enthusiasm. "Now, Midoriya, Iida, distribute these papers, they're parental consent forms and packing lists for the camp," he ordered, waving around the papers.

As Izuku and Tenya stood up to pass out the papers, I leaned back in my seat, biting my lip thoughtfully. I wasn't sure what sort of "extra training" Mister Aizawa could be referring to that would "cover my weaknesses." Bakugo, Shouto, and I had displayed absolutely incompetent teamwork abilities, would be running through cooperative exercises? If that was it, summer camp was going to be an awkward, icey hell.

"Here, Ichigo," Izuku said, handing me one of the papers. I took it from him, muttering a quiet thanks, before scanning the list of items. My eyebrows creased. I didn't own more than half of the required things, and buying them all would put a serious dent in my savings. A waterproof flashlight, mountain climbing boots, and single-person tent?! That was a good two hundred dollars out of my pocket from the get-go.

I tucked the list into my backpack, turning in my seat. "Hey, Momo? Ah, could you see about making some of this stuff for me?" I asked hopefully, waving my hand to catch the other girl's attention. Momo glanced up, and I added, "I understand if you can't, it's just that I'm not sure if I'll be able to get everything…"

Momo smiled and shook her head. "I am more than willing, Ichigo. Please write down the things you need me to create," she said helpfully. I grinned and nodded, turning around in my seat to scrawl out a list of the items I needed to obtain and couldn't afford.

At the end of the day, I walked out of the classroom with my bag over my shoulder. Normally, I'd walk back to the bus stop with Ochako, but a brief explanation, we hugged and headed in opposite directions, her towards the door and me further into the building. When I reached the athletics field where Mister Aizawa had originally orchestrated the Quirk Assessment Test, I dropped my bag on the bench and removed my jacket.

"Hey," Shinsou greeted from behind me, and I turned around to see him standing awkwardly near the exit, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

I smiled. "Hey," I responded, before pointing towards the locker rooms. "You should go change into your gym uniform," I suggested.

Shinsou blinked, and then grimaced. "Sure thing," he agreed, strolling towards the locker rooms. I watched him go carefully, mind rerunning the plans I'd made in my head. I needed to assess so many things before I could create a physical training regimen for him to follow while I was at camp, so when I returned we could start combat training immediately. Stamina, strength, speed, reflexes, decision-making, flexibility, dexterity, and so much more. This was going to be so difficult… for Shinsou.

Now I understood why Mister Aizawa enjoyed training me so much. There was a certain sadistic pleasure in ordering someone else around, especially when you'd been forced to do the same thing before. Shinsou would share my pain.

When the purple-haired boy came out wearing his blue jumpsuit, I smiled at him apologetically. "You think you're ready?" I asked, already feeling sorry for what was coming next.

"Yeah," Shinsou confirmed, tensing as he unconsciously picked up on the waves of empathetic regret I was radiating.

"Great," I began, taking a deep breath. "I need you to go do the fifty-meter dash, do it three times so I can get an average score. And… and then you'll do the grip strength test, and then the ball throw, and then I'll lead you through some stretches… and then you'll just run laps until you can't?" I finished on a questioning note, seeing the almost pained look on Shinsou's face. I smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, but that was about how my training started out. I need to get a good basis for your skills before creating a training schedule for you."

Shinsou's face twisted up like he'd just bitten into a cherry and cracked his teeth on the pit. "This is going to be a theme, isn't it." It wasn't a question.

I paused for a moment, and then nodded slowly. "Ah, pretty much," I said, and then winced when I saw Shinsou slump in defeat. "On the bright side, it gets easier!" I assured him. "I mean, I've been doing it for almost a year now and I definitely have a easier time now."

"Kurosaki, you could be considered a martial art prodigy," Shinsou deadpanned. He looked frustrated and angry, like my ordering him around wasn't what he expected at all.

I bit my lip and narrowed my eyes. "That doesn't mean anything!" I declared, raising my voice angrily. "Don't discredit me or yourself with excuses. I worked hard to get where I am, I trained for hours every day. You said you want to become a hero, right?" I challenged, staring him in the eyes and watching Shinsou's gaze solidify. "Tenacity will get you much farther than talent. If I didn't work for what I wanted, I wouldn't have ever even reached the academy gates. So, we'll do the stupid tests, we'll figure out where you are, and then move from there."

Shinsou raised an eyebrow. "We?" he repeated mockingly. He was the only one being tested, after all. I was speaking from a hypocritical standpoint, in his eyes.

"Yes," I said tersely. "We." I unzipped my backpack and dug out my gym uniform, stalking past Shinsou into the locker rooms, dropping my skirt to the floor and ripping off my shirt in record time. I was changed in under a minute and raced back out. Shinsou looked disbelieving, so I dropped my folded uniform on my bag and faced him, jaw set.

I wasn't Mister Aizawa, and I couldn't teach like him. Eraserhead was an established hero, I was just a student. I had to take a different approach from Mister Aizawa, if I wanted to train Shinsou successfully. Copying Mister Aizawa wouldn't work here, I needed to teach Shinsou from a different standpoint - as his peer and equal. I had to do this on my own merit.

I pointed towards the fifty-meter dash first, forcing Shinsou to meet my eyes. "We are going to do the fifty-meter dash three times, and we will do the grip strength test and the ball throw. We will do a series of stretches together, and then we will run laps until you drop," I said firmly, emphasizing each word. "It's going to suck, but I've done it before, and it'll pay off. So do you want my help training, or do you want to stop here and now?"

Shinsou stared at me a moment, clearly stunned. Then, he smiled and shook his head. "You're going to do this… with me?" he repeated, sounding amused. "What is wrong with you, Kurosaki?"

"How would I know? Crazy people don't know they're crazy," I answered, relaxing my stance as I realized Shinsou wasn't going to give up. "So, are we doing this?" I asked, just in case.

Shinsou lifted his chin, expression determined. "Yes," he said, clenching his fists. "Let's do it."

I grinned. "That's the spirit!" I cheered, bee-lining for the fifty-meter dash.

Mailbox/Explanation

TO THOSE IT MAY CONCERN: You may have noticed the chapters were getting shorter recently. Very soon, you will notice they are much longer. This is because I originally wrote this story in "seasons" and had a schedule with deadlines to meet (this site will be catching up very soon). "Season 1" ran until Episode 40, and at that point I had actually fallen behind in writing. Because of this, the chapters were shorter. This chapter, titled "Another Beginning", was the start of "Season 2", so if it seems a little repetitive, and out of place, please keep in mind it had been my first update after a month long hiatus, and it was supposed to be the intro to returning Shatter The Sky to normal. Thanks.

animefairy299: I plead the fifth.

AllisBlanche: You just graduated?! That's awesome! I'm still in my first year of university, I have a lot of time left! I'm glad I contributed to your day, hope it was amazing! As for future Shouchigo interactions, this chapter probably speaks for the future. At least for a little while. They just hit a major stop gap in their friendship, much less a possible relationship. I promise though, that whatever ship is in the future will have a lot of buildup and development. I want Ichigo to have a healthy, long lasting relationship, and I'll try to keep the eventual romantic elements of this story as down to earth and natural as possible. Plus, I don't want to declare anything yet, the final pairings could still change.

xenocanaan: Oh, she still is! Always remember: Aizawa lies. He is a lying liar who lies.

Guest: Thank you! And yes, Aizawa and Ichigo's relationship is just so great to write. Aizawa is the closest thing to a father Ichigo has ever had, and he's so awkward about it. They are the BEST!

GreenDrkness: You're being too hopeful. But I have a good reason. And Shigaraki hates Ichigo with a passion, think of that what you will.

The Independent Variable: Firstly, here is your more. Secondly, thank you :) Glad you appreciated my story, and that it continues to be enjoyable! A lot of this is me experimenting with different ideas and styles. Good to know my efforts are paying off!

Rinto: Thanks, I hope you continue to do so.