FREE AT LAST! FINALS ARE DONE! And here is your chapter that you've been waiting for. The DRAMAAAAAAAAAAA is split into two parts. Please let me know via review or PM if it's too much or not enough, and i will do whatever I can to make the adjustments accordingly.

I'd also like to give a shoutout to Mystic Martyr for giving me the idea for this chapte's title. He/she's got a kickass crossover fic of BNHA and the Marvel Universe titled Of Quirks and Magic that has an exceptional story line going Plus Ultra, so go check it out. You will not be disappointed.

As always, I own nothing except this here writing.

The students of class 1-A were gathered in Ground Beta for the no-Quirk combat exercise, all wearing gym clothes instead of their hero costumes. With his usual dead-tired look, he produced an empty cardboard box that had folded pieces of paper in them. "Last time you worked fighting against one opponent both with and without weapons. However, one on one does not necessarily happen in the line of work where fighting dirty is how you win. You will be separated into five groups of four by drawing lots."

The rules were simple. Each group would perform three different sparring sessions: two-on-two, one-on-three, and battle royale. A buzzer would signal the beginning, two minute break between each session, and the end. "Remember what you learned last class, the flexibility and limitations brought on by not using your Quirks. Whatever sparring form you didn't do, you do after the break until you finish all of them. Carry on."

With Aizawa groggily stuffing himself back into the sleeping bag, Iida immediately sprang into action, having everyone line up in twos to draw the lots. Izuku unfolded his lot and saw the letter D written on it. "Uh, who's got D?"

"Every guy in here, dude." Mineta piped up before receiving a swift kick in the backside from Jirou.

"Shut it, Grapist. It's too early for your innuendos. Anyways, we're together." She held up her lot with the letter D written on it and winked. Izuku's eyes darted to the left as he felt a blush creep up as events of late last night before the date change resurfaced.

"Oh, we're with you guys too!" Uraraka and Iida walked towards them, with the former waving her hand and the latter holding his lot out as if it were a police badge. "So, you wanna do two-on-two first?"

"I got no problem with that." Jirou said with a shrug. "Let's show the boys how we do."

"I guess…..you're stuck with me then, Iida."

"Nonsense! It's an honor to have you on my side." While his confidence was much appreciated, Izuku's smile twitched. For obvious reasons, he had serious reservations about hitting women regardless of the reason. But female villains definitely existed――namely a messy-haired, hemophiliac blonde with a psychopathic crush on him――and he had to be ready to body-slam them into the ground when necessary.

"Thanks. Good to know." After shaking his head and slapping himself a couple of times, Izuku focused.

The four of them were ushered to an area separated from the other groups by a drone, and they stopped at what appeared to be a house. Apparently it was meant to look run-down and it was presented as such very convincingly, courtesy of Cementoss' Quirk of cement manipulation. "I guess we start now?" The buzzer gave a deafening blare.

"Yup!" Jirou stepped up with her fists within striking range, lashing out with a well-practiced one-two aimed for Iida's nose and chin. Iida managed to sway back out of reach and lashed out with a longer reaching kick of his own, but Uraraka tackled his pivot leg, her full bodyweight knocking him off balance and the kick whooshing through the air. Before he could be wrestled to the ground, Iida grabbed her by the shoulders and placing his foot in her stomach, tossing her over his head through a door.

"I'll take her, you got this over here?"

"Yeah, just stay out of her grappling reach and power through."

"Noted."

Izuku rolled his shoulders back several times before raising his hands in front of himself at eye level. The least he could do was avoid the face and strike without a closed fist as much as possible.

Bouncing on the balls of her feet, Jirou stepped forward again with jabs which he redirected while returning jabs of his own with the base of his palm but frowned in discomfort a kick landed on his thigh. It definitely caused pain, but not enough to make him stumble. Ducking under a jab-hook combination, Izuku returned fire with shots to the body, but only made contact with her knee that rose up to his face, making him step back.

This made Jirou's lips curve into a vicious smile as she charged forward, but her face was contorted in pain as a powerful push-kick blasted her off her feet and into a table. "God…dammit…"

Izuku pressed his palms together as he silently mouthed an apology. A reply came in the form of a broken table being flung at his face which he caught in time before seeing a flying knee headed straight for his face. Instinctively grabbing her and turning his head away from the knee, he swung her around and tossed into a wall.

Quickly recovering, Jirou unleashed a flurry of punches, including the nine-punch combo from boxing with several middle and low kicks mixed into it, but Izuku dodged without much problem. He taught her the basics, after all.

But she was absorbing it well, making it her own. Her hands were kept up, guarding the head area, every punch and kick (sans the jab and push kick) had rotational power added to it, and they were kept sharp, compact. But she still lacked stamina. After the long barrages, the speed in her attacks began to deteriorate. A harmless right whistled past Izuku's ear as he bobbed his head to the left.

Grabbing Jirou's arm, he yanked hard, pulling her off-balance towards him. With a step-in and a pivot, he rammed a palm strike in the trajectory of a hook into her temple, followed by knee kicks to the gut and a downward elbow strike to the back. Gently pushing her away, Izuku followed through with a middle kick, knocking her down into the ground.

The cafeteria, Lunch Rush's Eatery was packed with students from the other courses as usual, but Jirou had managed to snag a table for her partners for the exercise. Seeing Iida and Izuku, she waved them over. Izuku sat down next to her while Iida took the seat across from them. "Aaaah…..food always tastes good after getting the applied quadratic functions smacked out of your head." She sighed as she took a sip of the broth from her bowl of ramen. "I never thought I'd see the day where a kick would actually launch someone through the air and into the wall without a Quirk."

"I did practice that a lot." Iida said matter-of-factly as he scooped a spoonful of curry into his mouth. "Without using my Quirk."

"Plus he's bigger and heavier than I am." Izuku added as he sat down. "I wasn't exactly in a position where I can dodge that one either."

"Well, like Mr. Aizawa says: villains don't fight fair." Jirou shrugged.

"You, Iida and Uraraka triple teamed me without warning!"

"What about me?" Uraraka said as she set her tray of food down at the cafeteria.

"Oh, nothing. We were just discussing the training exercise. But, exactly Jirou's point, Midoriya. If we were villains, we'd have you dead to rights, which is exactly what we are trying to learn how to avoid."

"Fine, point taken. But still…I need to…make adjustments to this half-baked excuse of a style that I'm developing. Maybe I'll ask Mr. Aizawa for advice….He mixes everything that works, particularly silat with and without the sarong which he substitutes with his capture weapon. That and jujitsu, wing-chun, boxing, karate….but I need just one, something that's all-purpose, something efficient. Should I ask him for lessons in silat? Oh but he does have….other stuff to do that are important, but he is a teacher so it makes me well within my right to ask――"

"Deku, you're mumbling again." Uraraka tapped him on the shoulder to snap him out of his almost trance-like storm of mumbles.

"S-sorry, sorry. I just…I mean, I am working on developing Shoot Style, and basing it on existing styles of fighting has worked but…..it-it's frustrating since I never really had any sort of formal training in that regard. Not like Iida or Todoroki or Ojiro or Yaoyorozu. And I'm in need of a breakthrough of some kind."

"Oh, you'll come up with something Deku." Uraraka said with an encouraging smile. "You always have in the end when it needs to count. I could….you know, show you some things. I do train in Gunhead Martial Arts now and I did manage to beat Iida during the two-on-two."

"That was a fluke, Uraraka, and you know it!" Iida grumbled indignantly although he said it with a smile.

"Mmm…I guess…GMA uses a lot of joint manipulation to overcome size and weapon advantage, I'd probably need that. But…are you sure?"

"Yeah, of course! We're…uh, friends….help each other. Right?" Friends. That word made Uraraka slightly wince like a papercut would.

"So…when would be good for you? I have some….plans today, but after that I can go whenever."

"Great! We can do this tomorrow or during the weekend then!"

"Sounds good. Thanks."

"I have some material that I have to help Mr. Aizawa prep for the class, so I'll head on out first. Don't be late for class!"

"We won't, don't worry." With a wave, Iida left, leaving Izuku with the two girls. They continued to eat, but in silence.

"Well then," Jirou broke the silence after finishing off the broth with a satisfied look, "word around the dorm is that there's some….speculation going on about me and Midoriya. Why's that?"

Izuku came very close to choking on his bite of lunch. Guzzling the glass of water, he took a breath and looked at Jirou in disbelief. "Wai-what? Wha-huh?"

"O-oh, that! That uh….well, it just got brought up when you two came back from….whatever it was you were doing."

"We were asked for some help from Mr. Aizawa and it just took longer than we thought it would, that's all. Besides, you think anything like that could happen under his supervision?"

"I-I guess not….um…."In an effort to hide her discomfort and obviously perturbed state, she began wolfing down her lunch with gusto. "I'll….I'll see you guys in class, I just remembered something that I have to do, bye!" Uraraka sped off, nearly sending the tray flying off as she caught herself before she tripped and fell.

"O-kay…..Kyouka, what the heck did you bring that up for? What happened to keeping this under wraps?"

"That's exactly why I brought it up. We dash the rumors now, we avoid having wild imaginations expanding out of control in school, at least temporarily. Make sense?"

"Yeah. Now it does, sorry."

"It's okay." Jirou smiled, squeezing Izuku's hand under the table.

"That does make sense, but what you did last night didn't. At all. It went against everything we just said we weren't going to do."

"That was…..well, I….erm….." Jirou chewed on her lower lip, unsure of how to answer. "I…..was a little horny, to be honest…." She whispered apologetically.

"Wha-I….um…"

"Look, you were….you were good at it, okay? N-not that I had a frame of reference before or anything, but, you knew what to do…and, you know, hit all the right spots. Attentively."

"Erm….uh, thank you I-I guess?" Izuku wasn't really sure how to respond to that except offer a lame word of gratitude for the compliment.

"Plus, I….I'm still trying to get used to, you know, boundaries. I was mostly absorbed in my music until I decided to come here, so…."

"That's perfectly fine. I'm also not used to….affection from other people. In general. I was….well, a late-bloomer in terms of my Quirk. And being Quirkless automatically turned me into a pitiful freak of nature, basically. My mind just feels like….hearing anything else, anything positive is…well, wrong. So I'm sorry if I seem….too clingy or needy, or something like that. I-if that happens, just tell me and I'll stop."

"No, you don't have to apologize for that. I won't press for details about your past, but just know that you have at least one other person that cares about you aside from family. And….I'll give you all the affection that you missed out on and rightfully deserve. When nobody's looking, of course."

Izuku couldn't help but laugh a little at that, and it took quite an amount of willpower to not just kiss her right there in front of everyone, but suppressed that urge and only squeezed her hand back in return. "Thank you."

"Let's go to class, we have less than ten minutes. We're still good for after school, right?"

"Yeah."

Half an hour into their sparring, Jirou finally landed two clean shots to the side and solar plexus strong enough to bring Izuku down to his knees. "Gotcha! Finally!"

"Mm-hmm….oh wow, that hurt a lot worse than I thought…." Breathing slowly, Izuku stood up. "Nice shot."

"I had a good advisor."

"Well, now you just need to be able to do that with anyone."

"Until they're out cold, yeah. I could say the same for you." Jirou said with a reproving look as she handed him his bottle of water.

"Hm?" Izuku furrowed his brows as he took a swig, not entirely clear on what she was implying.

"Using a closed fist."

"Oh….you noticed that? I just…."

"Look, I know you meant well, and having a good heart is what made me like you in the first place. But don't try to act all gentlemanly when someone is actively trying to cause harm to you. Or to anyone. That's a luxury if anything else." One that can be rarely afforded, if at all.

"I'm working on it. Uh….You wanted to do sticks next, right?"

"Yeah. You're actually getting better at it, believe it or not. I'm not smacking you every five times I change up the pace."

"Right, like you don't enjoy smacking guys around with a stick given the opportunity."

"Only those who deserve it." Jirou replied with a shrug and tossed a pair of baston to Izuku as she chuckled.

"Right. Should I apologize now?"

"Nah, later will be fine." Taking their stances, they began their drills, starting with two counts, each strike alternating between high and low points, switching up their lead hand every so often. The key――which Izuku found out through many slaps with the stick on various parts of his body――was not to look at the opponent's hand directly, but through peripheral vision. More often than not her eyes slightly glide towards the direction she was going to attack, and it was only a matter of reacting to it in time with proper technique.

The hard, rhythmical clacking of wood against wood echoed through the training room, accelerating, decelerating, and the rhythm itself changing every so often. And Izuku could hear it. He could feel it as the echoes reverberated with each strike; see it even, like a musician could read sheet music. The sounds were now turning into one long beat, stretching on and on――

"Dude. You're spacing out."

"Huh?" Izuku looked down to see Jirou on her back, pinned down by his knee. Both bastons were gone while Izuku had one left, an inch from her face.

"Sorry! I got…I focused….too much, I think. Did I…I-I-I I didn't hurt you, right? Did I?"

"Nothing that'll leave a mark. That was amazing! You did a kickass disarm. Twice. Now help me up. Your knee's low key hurting me."

"Sorry." Standing up, he offered her a hand, which she took and stood up partially, only to pull Izuku down and wrap her legs around his neck into a triangle chokehold.

"Gotcha, nerd." Though she did not put too much pressure into the choke, it was enough to cause discomfort to make him tap out. "Sorry, I couldn't resist."

"Hmm. Who's childish now? But I did let my guard down. Let's go back."

"Yeah. Today was a good day. We're doing guitar after dinner though."

"I know, I haven't forgotten." Putting the equipment back, they gathered their belongings and left.

"Hm." Jirou mused as she looked at the notifications on her phone.

"What was that 'hm' for?"

"Oh nothing. I just got a text from Yaomomo."

Seeing them getting ready to leave, Uraraka hurried off, clenching her fist at the fabric of her shirt around the chest area.

"Okay, Yaomomo. I'm here. What did you want to talk about?" Jirou spread her hands open in Yaoyorozu's room that was cramped up with a four-poster bed. And a bookshelf of encyclopedias.

"It's…well….I have something that I wish to ask you. Something that's been bothering me slightly. Of course, you are well within your right to not answer, but….. I couldn't really think of any other way to do this."

"Okay…..ask me what?"

"About your…..relationship. With Midoriya."

"Oh. And this has been bothering you why and how?"

"I'm not entirely sure myself, truth be told. But whether you answer or not, and whatever answer you choose to give me, you have my word that this conversation will not leave this room under any circumstance."

"Alright. What did you wanna ask about me and him?"

"A-are the….speculations from last night…..true? In any capacity? At all?" And there it was. Yaoyorozu covered her mouth, exhaling slowly as she stared at her friend, nervous but patiently waiting for an answer. She wasn't sure what to expect or what answer she even wanted in the first place.

"I'm only going to tell this to you because you're my friend that I know I can trust to have my back. And I'm going to hold you to your word."

"Yes, of course."

"Yeah. I'm dating Izuku. Since the day before yesterday."

"Oh. Well….I-I guess, congratulations are in order?"

"Thanks."

"Does anyone else know, by any chance? About you two?"

"Yeah, two other people. Kirishima and Ashido. But Izuku and I have already talked to them to keep their mouth shut, and so far, they've kept their word."

"And I will do the same, as I have stated."

"I have several reasons that I don't want this known. One is simply because it's a hassle to answer all the questions that are definitely going to come our way and I don't need that shitstorm coming my way. Or his. And the other…..is Uraraka." Jirou sat down on the bed, running her hands through her head repeatedly.

"She doesn't exactly make it hard to discern that she has some form of feelings towards him. Although whether it is romantic or admiration and respect of the platonic variant mistaken as love is anyone's guess."

"Which is exactly why I'm trying to keep a low profile. I've known Izuku officially for….a little over a week now, and within that week, I've confessed to him, I've kissed him, and I've….pretty much stolen him from under her nose. And I feel like an Omega-level backstabbing bitch for doing that."

"I do see your point, but…..why should you feel guilty? It's not as if Midoriya is a piece of property. Nobody can really stake a claim on him, as it were. Plus, while I may be inexperienced in romantic relationships, I'm pretty sure a romantic relationship isn't something you can pencil into your life schedule and make it happen in the first place."

"Yeah, I see your point, but still…I basically got together with someone I know my friend has a crush on, and that makes it pretty awkward. For both Izuku and me. I haven't told him about how Uraraka feels about him obviously, but if he finds out, I will bet you anything that he is going to absolutely lose his shit."

"Given his disposition, highly likely. But you do know that keeping silent is-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm prolonging the inevitable and making it worse, I know that. I just….I just need some time to prepare myself. I mean….I've changed everything for the class. We had a good thing going in 1-A and I can't help but feel like I've messed with something that I shouldn't have."

"Well, it indeed will facilitate quite a shift in the class ambience undoubtedly, but I don't see how it could be bad."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, now that I've satisfied myself on the truth of the romantic speculation concerning you and Midoriya, I feel a little relieved. I do still have friends from Horisuma that I keep in touch with, but the people in 1-A are people that I can interact with without having them take a step back due to my….my background and family status. It made me feel like a regular person and not a prissy rich girl for a change. Especially you. You didn't care about any of it and …well, we've survived several major conflicts together and I felt a little….left out, I guess. In some ways, it felt like Midoriya was stealing you from me as well."

"Aaawww, were you jealous of Izuku? About little old me?" Jirou smirked. "Oh Yaomomo, you adorable rich girl. This is why I love you."

"Wha-excuse you! I'm being serious!" She folded her arms over her ample bust indignantly. "You do realize I'm pouring my heart out?!"

"I know, I'm-I'm sorry, I just…it's just kinda funny imagining you all pouty like that. But really, thanks for telling me all this. And I swear, if you feel so left out, we can share him. If you want to, that is."

"Kyoka Jirou, how dare you insinuate such an idea!?" Yaoyorozu exclaimed in disbelief at the idea with a shade of scarlet rising in her face.

"I'm kidding, Jesus!" Jirou giggled.

Regaining her composure, she continued, "But in all seriousness, thank you for your honesty. I am happy for you. Truly. And for him. Just…do tell him to make you happy, whatever that may mean or he will have to answer to me."

"Pretty sure you're scarier than my dad since you can create a mortar launcher, so I'll definitely pass it on. Thanks, Yaomomo. You're the best." Jirou embraced her friend in a fiercely tight hug which she returned with as much ferocity.

"And please do not hesitate to come to me if there is anything further you would like to discuss. As long as it doesn't involve romantic relationships though, since I am…. anything but experienced in that field."

During the same time, Uraraka had stopped on the second floor, pacing back and forth across the hallway of the boy's rooms. She saw them. She saw them. Training. But it was more than that. It felt like more than that.

The way that Izuku looked at Jirou, the way she looked back at him, the banter they were having as they trained; it was…..different. Different than anything that she ever had with the green-haired boy. But why was it bothering her so much? What made her chest sting and not go away no matter how much she rubbed at it?

Ashido had insinuated it once, quite bluntly, that it was love. Love. Not a glove, a dove or a shove. Love. Was it? Was it really? But she had vowed to put those feelings away in a box, compartmentalize it until later. Until she had grown as a person, and hopefully as a Pro Hero. She tore at her hair in frustration and confusion.

"Uraraka."

"Huh? Oh…hey, Tokoyami."

"It's painfully obvious that you are….distressed about something, but would you be so kind as to not pace around our hallway? It's quite distracting."

"Oh…right. So sorry about that! I'll just…Can I….can I ask you something?"

"Yes?"

"Do….do you know uh, if…..um, Deku and…" Her throat began closing up again. No. Don't imagine it. Don't jinx it, her mind blared a warning. Don't say it. "If….um, sorry, never mind….I'll get outta your hair. Sorry for the bother." Tokoyami looked on in silence as his former Cavalry Battle teammate rushed off to the elevator.

"Dark Shadow."

"Yeah?"

"I do believe it's time that I have a talk with Midoriya."

"Alriiiiiiight!"

"I said I, Dark Shadow. I, as in me and me alone. Keep your mouth shut, for the sake of our classmates' mental wellbeing." Tokoyami took a breath and steeled himself, remembering a quote from a book titled Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai: "In the words of the ancients, one should make his decisions within the space of seven breaths. If discrimination is long, it will spoil. When matters are done leisurely, seven out of ten will turn out badly."