I sat on my sleeping bag still in my gym clothes, staring at the blank sheet of notebook paper laying before me on the floor. I tapped my pencil against my cheek, chin propped up on my knee. I couldn't think of anything to write: how would I organize the information? By day? By test? What information would I write about at all? Narrowing my eyes at the paper, I bit my lip thoughtfully.

I could easily identify changes between the tests, so that would be the simplest chronological organization. The first was terrible, the second was okay-ish, the third was efficient. I scrawled a quick "test 1" through "test 3" across the bottom of the paper. Then, I shrugged and wrote each of my team-members names down the side. Tracing out dividing lines, I decided that I had a nice, simple graph to fill out.

Now if only I actually had any comments to make.

"Whatever," I mumbled in defeat, throwing my hands into the air and falling backwards onto my sleeping bag. What had changed for each of us? We'd all become more cooperative, I guessed, but what made each of us unique? Normally, analysis came easy to me, but I felt so mentally and physically exhausted after my long day of training and trials that nothing came to mind. My brain was a blank slate at the moment.

Ochako, having already unpacked her toiletries and changed into her pajamas, looked up at me. She frowned. "Icchan, why aren't you getting ready for bed?" she asked.

"Sleep is penance for weak souls," I muttered bitterly, shutting my eyes and continuing to futilely brainstorm.

"Icchan," Ochako said with false patience. "Go put your pajamas on and brush your teeth."

I opened my eyes, turning my head just enough to stare at Ochako with pleading eyes. "But Ochachan," I begged. "I need to analyze the changes in Monoma's, Bakago's, Shouto's and my behavior before tomorrow evening. And I can't think of anything!"

"Well maybe after a full night's sleep you'll be able to think properly," Ochako reasoned.

I blinked, then stared at her for several long seconds. I rolled to my feet, snatching up my backpack. "You may have a point," I agreed begrudgingly, not missing Ochako rolling her eyes and sighing in response. Too tired to argue, I shuffled off towards the bedroom, prepared to get some sleep and think in the morning.

It wasn't until the next morning that I realized to create the best analysis possible, I'd need assistance. Sitting at the picnic table waiting for Ochako to grab breakfast for us both, I knew just who to call. Spotting said boy from the corner of my eye, I leaned back and waved my arms around wildly. "Izukun! Over here!" I called, and Izuku immediately glanced over. His eyes widened for a moment at my frantic movements, before scurrying over.

He sat down next to me and quickly asked, "What's wrong?"

I slapped my empty graph down. "I need to complete an analysis of the changes in all four of our behaviors over the course of the past three trials," I prefaced. "If I can give you a summary of each test, can you help? I need this done by this evening."

Izuku scanned the paper, and then looked towards me with a wide grin. "Of course!" he agreed, holding up his clenched fist. "Let's do this, Ichigo!"

I smiled happily, eager to have a partner in this. Izuku and I always worked best together. "Great!" I chirped, offering Izuku his own pencil. "Then let's start with the first test! So, it was like an upscaled trust fall…" As I explained the first trial to Izuku in detail, second by second, Ochako returned. When she noticed Izuku and I mumbling together, huddled over a sheet of paper, she let out an aggrieved sigh and glanced over her shoulder at Tenya. The two shared a nod of agreement, and then, dropping off the extra plates they'd grabbed for the both of us on the table, sat as far from us on the same bench as possible. Neither Izuku or I noticed, although I did unconsciously grab an apple, not questioning its origin.

"It sounds like Monoma became more cooperative from the first to second test, and maintained that through the third," Izuku said, making notes on the chart. "Kacchan took a step forward in leadership during the second trial, and then a step back for the third."

I crunched on my apple. "Shouto became more cooperative during the second," I pointed out. "But I think that's just 'cause we failed the first so badly. And he didn't know how to cook." As I spoke, Izuku scrawled away on the paper, nodding his head.

"Ichigo spoke up in the second trial," a new voice suddenly added from behind. Both Izuku and I flinched, spinning around to see Shouto holding his own breakfast plate. He nodded his head politely, stepping around the table to sit across from Izuku and I. "It's part of why the last two trials succeeded," Shouto continued.

I flushed, looking off to the side shyly. "I doubt I was a large factor," I excused. "I think the biggest part was everyone becoming willing to cooperate."

Izuku glanced from me to Shouto, and then narrowed his eyes. He muttered something, and then look to Shouto. "Shouto, why don't you give me your account of the three trials?" he suggested. "Ichigo has already given me a description of each trial, but maybe your observations of everyone can help."

"Getting two perspectives is a good idea," I agreed, bobbing my head happily, eager for the new distraction.

Shouto didn't hesitate. "Alright," he agreed easily. As he began his description, which was short and to the point (unlike my rather long and wordy narrative earlier), both Tenya and Ochako left the table to clean up, stealing my and Izuku's nearly untouched plates as they left. Izuku and I didn't even look up.

When Shouto finished his recall of the events during each trial, Izuku nodded. "I would agree, it looks like Ichigo smoothed communications between everyone in the second and third trial," he said, scrawling away on the paper.

I huffed, trying to hide how my face heated up at the (in my mind, undeserved) compliment. "W-well, thanks, I guess," I said. "B-but more importantly, what ties it all together? Monoma became less abrasive, Bakugo took a step back, Shouto was more cooperative, and I helped everyone talk, but Mister Aizawa suggested there was an overarching theme that was responsible for our improvement." As I spoke, I realized that the more uncomfortable I got, the more eloquent I became. I made a mental note to reflect on that later, Mister Aizawa always said I had too many tells.

Izuku hummed thoughtfully. "I would say that you simply improved your teamwork," he began. "But that seems to simple."

"That's what I thought!" I agreed emphatically. "So, if it's not just that, then what? Because Shouto and Bakugo didn't improve communication-wise, and my willingness to cooperate didn't change…" my voice dwindled off thoughtfully. As I stared off into the distance, watching the others clean, I spotted a familiar head of spiky blonde hair. I perked up. "I know! Izuku, can I see the chart? I want to get Bakago's opinion," I declared.

Izuku glanced at me nervously. "Uh, okay," he said. "But... please don't hand it over to him." I nodded in agreement, snatching up the chart and running off towards the sinks, where Bakugo was dropping off his own dirty plate.

"Hey! Bakago!" I called.

Bakugo glanced over his shoulder down at me, eyes narrowed. "What?" he growled.

I held up my chart, babbling, "Izuku and I have been trying to figure out the commonality between the changes in all of our behaviors over the course of the trials but we haven't had any success in finding an overarching theme. We've determined individual changes, but I was wondering if you could maybe offer a different perspective on-"

"Ichimi," Bakugo cut me off, eyebrow twitching. I flinched, wondering why his voice sounded almost sweet. It was the same sort of tone Ochako would adopt right before she chewed someone's head off for bumping into me on the street. "You're overthinking it."

I stared at Bakugo blankly, and then my head slowly tipped sideways. "... Huh?"

"We improved our fucking teamwork, Ichimi," Bakugo grunted, spinning around and marching off towards the training fields. "That's it!"

I stood there for a moment, stunned. Izuku and I had overanalyzed everything? That was… extremely plausible, actually. Slowly, I turned to stare at the chart hanging in my grip. Both Izuku and my extremely small, messy scrawls covered the paper, overlapping until one could barely tell if the paper was white or grey. I blinked. "Oh."

After training with Izuku in the afternoon, Bakugo, Monoma, Shouto and I decided to spend our break time reviewing what information we'd gotten. It had taken a little convincing on Bakugo and Monoma's parts, but eventually we all were gathered in one of the empty classrooms in the main building. I'd already copied the graph Izuku and I had made earlier onto one of the whiteboards in a slightly neater fashion, still brainstorming information to add.

Bakugo huffed, legs resting atop his desk and tilting his chair back. "I don't see the fucking point of this," he said. "We already have the damn info, what's a shitty meeting going to do?"

"Mister Aizawa had requested a full analysis," I answered importantly, glancing away from the board to stare at Bakugo stonily. "Which means he wants individual strengths, weaknesses, and changes we've undergone in the least." I wrinkled my nose, turning back to the board. Knowing Mister Aizawa, even more would be necessary if I really wanted to impress him. Which I did. Always.

"Easy," Bakugo snarked. "Everyone shut up and I took charge. Done." I tossed him a skeptic look before returning to my thoughts.

Monoma glared at Bakugo. "Actually, I think I contributed the most," he argued. "You Class A kids can't cooperate to save your lives!"

"Hah?" Bakugo narrowed his eyes back at Monoma, and the two shared an intense stare off. My eyebrow twitched. "The fuck are you talking about dumbshi-"

I whirled around, deciding to stop this before the two could start fighting. "Will you both pay attention?!" I snapped, stomping my foot.

The two blondes stared at me for a long pause. Then, Bakugo smirked. "Did you just stomp for your foot, Ichimi? Fucking seriously?" he pointed out.

I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms defensively and looking away to hide my flushing cheeks. "That isn't important," I said. "You guys need to pay attention. I've mapped out everybody's changes, but we need the strengths and weaknesses for everyone for this evening."

Bakugo jerked his thumb at Monoma. "He's socially awkward," he accused.

"Everyone in this room counts as socially awkward," I deadpanned, before shrugging. "But I guess Bakago is right, Monoma is overly abrasive." Uncapping the EXPO marker, I scrawled 'abrasive' under the weakness(es) column for Monoma.

Monoma squawked. "I'm not abrasive!" he protested, slamming one hand on his desk and pointing at Bakugo. "He's abrasive! And confrontational!"

I bobbed my head in agreement immediately, writing both "abrasive" and "confrontational" under Bakugo's weaknesses. This was going very well, already two down! "Okay, now to figure out mine and Shouto's weaknesses," I decided, ignoring Bakugo's sputter behind me. I needed to keep the ball rolling if I didn't want them yelling at each other.

"Half n' Half Bastard's too fucking quiet," Bakugo pointed out immediately. I looked to Shouto questioningly, hidden in his seat in the back.

Shouto shifted awkwardly in his seat, looking away. "I don't communicate well," he said finally.

"I just fucking said that," Bakugo insisted angrily. I ignored him, and he glared at both Shouto and I in turns. I firmly turned my back, instead focusing on my final task: listing my weaknesses. Oh, where to start? I lack any powerful offensive abilities, I'm indecisive and passive more often that not, and I'm too late when I finally pull my shit together. I felt tempted to just write 'sucks at life' under my own name, but decided against it. I didn't want to have to explain my choice. Finally, I simply wrote: indecisive. I didn't bother to say anything further.

There was a long, awkward pause, and then Monoma said, "... so, strengths?"

I sighed in relief. Strengths I could work with much better. "Sounds good," I said, already gathering my thoughts. I could give out compliments to everyone all day, it was much harder for me to point out their weak-points.

First, Bakago. Bakago was tactical and confident, and although that sometimes transitioned into cockiness, he was undeniably talented. Shouto was less vocal in his confidence, but he still radiated an air of surety, which in combination with his displays of efficiency made him an excellent combatant; in time, I was convinced he'd be a wonderful teammate as well. Lastly, I finished up Monoma's box. Despite his need to over-inflate his own greatness, he was very capable, and his near-constant annoying quality of spouting self-accolades did a great job defusing tension as well. As for me… well, I hadn't fainted, so there was that.

Capping my marker, I stepped back from the board. "Uh… I think that's it, right?" I confirmed, scanning each of the boxes. Everyone had something written in for their strengths, weaknesses, and transitions over the course of the exercises.

"'Not-fainting' isn't a strength, Ichimi," Bakugo snorted. "Try a-fucking-gain."

I frowned angrily, inexplicably embarrassed. "Well sorry! It's harder for me to think of something for myself," I protested, spinning around and pointing the marker at Bakugo accusingly. "Besides, since you did such a great job pointing out everyone's flaws, why don't you come up with a compliment!"

"Fishing for something, Ichimi?" Bakugo bit back, meeting my glare with one of his own.

"You're a good coordinator," Shouto said suddenly. "And you react quickly."

Although his words were simple and curt, I flushed bright red and stared at Shouto with wide, shocked eyes. Shouto met my gaze calmly. Biting my lip, I uncapped the marker and hurriedly turned away, copying his words onto the board quickly. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Th-thanks, Shouto," I stuttered, feeling my face burn. Apparently I needed to learn how to take a compliment. Taking a step back from the board, I tried to focus on my task. Back to business. "So, for our complete analysis, I'd say we're done. And to answer Mister Aizawa's overall question about what changed overall…" I paused, and then offered an olive branch. "I'd say Bakugo phrased it pretty well."

"We improved our teamwork," Bakugo finished promptly, smirking. "Which was the fucking point anyways, and therefore a stupid-as-shit question."

Monoma looked from Bakugo to me, and then nodded begrudgingly. "I think that's everything," he said. "I guess you Class A kids didn't do too badly."

Spotting Bakugo's head snap towards Monoma, clearly ready to take offense, I jumped between the two immediately. "How about we go present this to Mister Aizawa then?" I suggested, smiling nervously. I didn't want to listen yet to another arbitrary argument.

"Fine," Bakugo growled. "Then let's fucking go." Swinging his legs off the desk, he smoothly stood up, and then contrastingly stomped his way out the door.

Monoma sniffed. "I guess that's acceptable," he ceded, following Bakugo in a more dignified manner, but his footsteps were just as loud. It was almost as if he were competing with Bakugo on who could walk louder, but that would be stupid (I valiantly ignored how Bakugo's stomps grew louder in ratio to Monoma's).

I watched the two exit the classroom, before sighing in relief. Crisis averted, conflict prevented. Hands on my hips victoriously, I glanced over to Shouto. "You coming?" I asked. Shouto nodded, calmly standing up from his desk and padding over to the door. I dropped my marker on the whiteboard's ledge, and trailed after Shouto quietly.

"QUIET YOUR FUCKING FEET, DUMBSHIT!" I heard Bakugo scream from outside the building, apparently having already raced outside.

"OH? IS CLASS-A DEAF NOW AS WELL AS ARROGANT?! YOU'RE LOUDER THAN I AM!" Monoma challenged. Shouto looked down at me expectantly, as if somehow I could stop this.

I facepalmed.

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GreenDrkness: Hopefully the upcoming events will help improve your opinion of Monoma. I have quite a bit planned for him, and he will come to understand Ichigo's pain quite a bit better than I think anyone expects. Ichigo has a future as a great leader, she just needs to climb out of her shell a bit. Unlike Midoriya, she has a legitimate talent and love for conversing with people (not a jab at Izuku, but just saying that boy is such an introvert it ain't even funny. Talking doesn't come naturally to him and I empathize deeply.) that will get her far, once she gets over her fear of, well, talking.

xenocanaan: Thanks! Hope this chapter lived up to your expectations. I wanted it to be a bit more emotional, but then I realized that it really didn't fit the situation or characters. Ichigo will be on her deathbed and denying she's in pain, so revealing anything seriously personal would be... well, impossible for her at this point.

Prince: Shouto and Ichigo are friends again! Yay! And now that Shouto is a little more up front, they'll probably be better friends than before. Ichigo needs someone to give her a confidence boost. Also, it was because the boys weren't in the same vicinity. Ichigo helped, but there's nothing like a distinct "lack-of-being-present" to prevent an argument XD This chapter certainly proved they haven't given up on fighting, for sure, they just hopefully won't do so while on the battlefield. Baby steps.

18. NekoMimi .27: Aizawa was very mean, but I think this went smoother than anyone expected... including me. It was more mental strain than anything, but I think this finally gave them all a chance to really reflect on their progress, which is good considering that their next task is "leadership", and you can only have one leader... Ichigo is not very good at apologizing. Ichigo is not so good at the talky-thing yet but she's getting there. Like, at least she tried to apologize. And accepted blame for the situation, so we didn't get Private-War-Sports-Festival 2.0. Ichigo is pulling herself together more quickly. The self-doubt is definitely there, but I think the others acknowledging her will help quite a bit. The issue is if what comes up next will cripple her progress (don't mean the next trial, btw). Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

wierdunusualchick: You actually aren't the first person I've heard that ships Bakugo and Ichigo. I hadn't thought of that before, but you're right: the name Bakugo's chosen really isn't an insult. I always thought of it as one just because Ichigo hates when people get her name wrong, so I never considered the meaning. Good catch! :) I actually have analyzed Bakugo and Ichigo's counter-balances before. I think, no matter the final pairing, they will make excellent comrades in the future. As for why Bakugo chose not to cooperate... heh, that's my secret to keep. But maybe it'll be explained in the future? I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and just so you know, the final pairing for Ichigo is still up in the air! I had never really realized how many people would start shipping Ichigo, so every pairings has a chance in my book. In the end, I just want Ichigo to have a happy ending, especially everything I have (and will) put her through.

UltimateFan-girl15: Hopefully you continue to keep up. Thank you, I'm glad you loved the story! :)

HarleyQuinn312: I am actually working on Part 2 right now; sadly, I've hit a stop-gap with my lack-of-practice writing romance. On another website I've begun a short story so I can get more comfortable writing romance, but as of right now I've had to delay finishing the Soulmate AU. I tried to write it all out but it seemed so... wrong? I don't want you guys to get a crappy follow-up to Part 1, especially since I made you all wait so long. But don't worry, I fully intend to finish the AU once and for all!