"This is one of the rare days. The Spirits feel absolutely neutral today."
This was foreboding. Rarely are the Spirits ever neutral towards anything. As a victim of their constant fickleness, Kyoya didn't know what to make of the present circumstances.
'Something isn't right.'
The second year put his pointer fingers together and contemplated the wave of information.
'Yesterday, they were incredibly happy. Now, they're neutral. What's up? Why is it always the critical days?'
He went about his morning routine as usual, reminding himself that he had to be careful.
'They'll come at me hard.'
Although the group he was fighting were his juniors, they were still highly capable. One wrong move on his part would spell disaster.
'This will be a lot of fun.'
The members of Class 1-A received the message from their sensei. There was no need to head to class. Instead, they were to change into their gym clothes and come to the designated gymnasium.
Various emotions ran through the group.
"I'm pumped!" Kirishima punched his open palm. "This is gonna be so manly!"
"We're going up against an older student," Iida reminded everyone, "Stay on your toes and do not underestimate our opponent."
"Tch, stay out of my way, and Psycho will be down in minutes," Bakugo stated.
"Psychic, not psycho," Momo reprimanded the blonde.
"Did I stutter, Ponytail?! I don't care if he is your boy toy. He'll be needing his grandma after I'm done with him."
"Sure, Pomeranian," Momo smirked. She felt like a queen with the way her class parted upon hearing her retort.
"THE HELL YOU SAY, PONYTAIL?!" Bakugo roared, forcing Kirishima, Sero, and Kaminari to hold him back while Momo kept walking like a queen.
"Kitty got claws," Mina commented.
"Let's hope she puts them to use against her teddy bear," Jirou retorted. "I'm not looking forward to this."
"We can take him," Uraraka was eager as well. They had brainstormed last night, using Midoriya's detailed and incredibly organized notes as a bible, and came up with several ideas.
"We have a plan, but let's see if it bears fruit," the green-haired powerhouse stretched his arms.
"You know, I just had a thought. What are the chances that the quiet giant is a monstrous ogre on the battlefield?" Mineta inquired, to which his classmates paused.
"…Crap," Kaminari and Sero started to sweat.
"Are we marching to our deaths?" The short pervert began to panic.
"Don't be ridiculous," Ojiro pushed Mineta forward. "Even if senpai is secretly insane, I believe he's only interested in measuring our growth."
"Before the fight even begins, we are already battling our minds," Tokoyami recited.
"We just have to stay focused. Even with psychic powers, there's still a limit to what he can do with it," Izuku assured them. "He mentioned lifting a thirty-ton building one time, but that was most likely at his most concentrated state. With all of us attacking, he's forced to divide his attention."
"And while he's trying to keep tabs on all of us, we bring him down," Mina grinned.
It was sound, but only time would tell if it would work.
When the class walked into the gymnasium, their opponent was already there, sitting on the floor in the middle of the room. His eyes were closed, head leaning on his knuckles, and just generally happy to be in this moment.
Aizawa was also present.
"Is everyone here?" he asked.
"Everyone is present and accounted for, sensei," the class representative answered.
"Alright, then I'll let him have the floor," Aizawa pointed to the rising Kyoya.
The almighty whiteboard received its master's inscription.
"Good morning, everyone! How are we today?"
He received various greetings and laughed at the apple of his eye being held back from giving him a hug.
"Good to hear. First, congratulations on earning your license. I hope the advice we gave you was useful."
"Very useful," Izuku spoke up. "We were ready for the ambush of U.A."
"Is that a yearly thing?" Hagakure inquired, to which Kyoya nodded.
"Jealous of the prestige."
"We're thankful for the advice, senpai," Iida bowed.
"My pleasure, but this is where the fun really begins, my friend."
Kyoya couldn't contain his excitement.
"As a reward for your hard work, let me show you what I am capable of."
"About time. I thought you'd never get on with it, Psycho," Bakugo ignited sparks. "Let's see how tough you really are."
Kyoya levitated his whiteboard over to the side for safety and revealed his sharp teeth.
"Careful, Pomeranian, you're barking into unknown territory," a mysterious voice entered Bakugo's mind.
Startled for a second, the bombastic blonde growled at his senior and lowered himself into a battle stance.
"Stay out of my fucking head! I'll blast you to smithereens!"
Everyone else got into formation with the ranged fighters in the middle and the physical fighters spread out to form a protective wall.
'Oh? They already have a formation. Not too spread out to leave others vulnerable but not too close as to get caught in any crossfires. I do need to be careful then.'
Kyoya's quirk came to life, emitting a flame like aura that burned around his figure. He pressed his hands together in prayer and let the energy envelope his arms.
'Kinetic Dance: Third Step.'
He focused his mind and tucked his arms to his side, molding the energy around his fingertips to form ten sharp claw talons.
'Tiger's Ballad.'
Class 1-A watched in astonishment as their senpai showed off his quirk.
Claws were not part of the equation.
"Now then," Momo jumped.
"Shall we begin?" Midoriya flinched, also taken aback by the sudden voice in his head.
Kyoya dropped down into a sprinter's stance.
"I'll start with you."
Psychokinesis propelled Kyoya at an incredible speed. He easily ran past Bakugo and the wall of melee fights. His target was Jirou, who was taken aback by the giant's sudden burst of acceleration.
His tiger claws sang as they came down towards the earphone jack girl, but coming to her rescue, an ice wall erected itself. Then, aglow with green electricity, Midoriya quickly grabbed and brought Jirou to safety. The way Todoroki's ice split apart and crumbled did not leave a good impression.
"Momo! Your boyfriend almost killed me!" Jirou cried.
"HEY!" Bakugo roared, his explosions rocking the building as he circled around Kyoya. "I'm the one you should be focused on!"
A powerful explosion blasted Kyoya point blank. Everything went quiet, a sea of smoke blanketing Kyoya's presence. Bakugo got some distance but knew it wasn't enough to bring the senior down. He kept his guard up, waiting and watching for any shifts in the smoke. Before it cleared, something lunged for the blonde. Bakugo tried to move; however, a psychic force kept him grounded.
"That was weak."
Kyoya emerged from the smoke without a mark on him and snatched the blonde by the face, which was followed by a vicious body slam to the floor. Following up, Kyoya lifted the bombastic student off the ground and punched him in the gut.
Bakugo flew like a bird towards his classmates, one of whom raced across the floor to his position. It was none other than Midoroya who stopped his flight, caught his hand, and threw him right back at Kyoya with more momentum.
"We're not done yet, Psycho!" Bakugo stated.
At the same time of Midoriya catching Bakugo, Kyoya projected a psychic barrier to absorb the impact of a laser, thunderbolt, and tape combo.
All close-range fighters converged on the senior with Bakugo getting to him first and more furious. He danced around the psychic and unleashed another big explosion.
"DIE!"
"Is that all you got, Pomeranian?"
Kyoya was proud of his defenses. He moved around Bakugo to intercept his fellow redhead, Kirishima, slashing at the junior's reinforced body. It ripped through the hardened shield and sent him spiraling.
Iida's axe kick failed to break through the psychic's shield.
"Not bad, not bad."
Kyoya levitated Iida to the side and projected another barrier to block Bakugo's assault.
From above, Midoriya closed in while from below, Uraraka joined for the pincer attack.
'They have good synergy.'
From the back, Ojiro, a Dark Shadow'd infused Tokoyami, and Seto cut off escape and rushed the psychic with a flurry of attacks.
Kyoya smiled.
'Let's dance.'
The long-range fighters moved into another formation while the psychic was distracted. They didn't know how he did it, but he was keeping the group back. He was big but still speedy, an easy target but still somewhat hard to hit.
"We're not getting anywhere like this," Jirou stated.
"I'll try to pin him down," Mineta responded. Using his sphere as a catapult, the smallest member of 1-A took to the air above his classmates and deployed a grape storm assault.
Kyoya's instincts flared when the students suddenly moved away. He immediately erected a barrier to catch the falling shower.
'The adhesive one. Trying to restrict my movements.'
His barrier was covered, the spheres rendered useless but not ineffective.
'Sorry, Teddy.' Momo, with the help of Jirou and Sero, made and hefted a bazooka.
"Isn't this a little overkill?" The tape dispenser chuckled.
"He'll be alright," Jirou stated.
"Let's hope so," Momo open fired.
The missile slammed into Kyoya's barrier with tremendous force.
'Shit!' Kyoya's thoughts blared in his head.
"His shield's down!" Shoji confirmed and used the smoke to get close. He ensnared the psychic and held him in place.
"You're really strong, Senpai," Shoji complimented him.
"And you guys aren't too bad yourselves." Kyoya returned the gesture. "However."
The psychic flame returned, and Shoji found himself being slowly overpowered.
"While I'll commend your performance, do not forget that this whole time, I've been on the defensive."
Kyoya's psychic energy spread to his legs, creating a pair of three-toed feet. With more stability, he won the power struggle and kicked Shoji away before reforming and strengthening his barrier.
Class 1-A's long-ranged fighters attacked, bombarding his shield with all they had. Todoroki's ice having the best chance, the half hot half cold prince of 1-A unleashed a frozen incursion upon his opponent's shield.
"Senpai is ramping up his power. I can't pierce through," Todoroki stated.
"Not a bad attempt." He telegraphed to Todoroki.
'Kinetic,' he condensed his barrier and then released and expanded, 'Blast!'
A great explosion of psychic energy damaged all within its fifteen-yard radius.
'I did say push them.' Aizawa watched from the sidelines.
The blast subsided, permitting the stunned to regain their bearings. It was a shocking result, where only two of the melee fighters remained standing, albeit barely, Izuku and Bakugo. The rest were rendered incapacitated by the eruption.
"I knew he was a monster," Mineta commented.
"Is it too late to use Momo as a bargaining chip?" Mina inquired.
"More like it's no longer an option," Jirou answered.
"Is," Bakugo panted, "that all you got, Psycho?"
Kyoya folded his arms and took a deep breath.
"You're made of tougher stuff than I thought. Allow me to congratulate you."
Bakugo snarled. He loathed when people looked down on him. His senior's cocky grin and nonchalant stance infuriated him.
"Don't fucking look down on me!"
He was already airborne before Izuku could suggest a plan.
"Howitzer!" He came down like a meteor, "Impact!"
Kyoya didn't move and instead used his psychic shield to brave the impact. Several cracks split the barrier but left the manipulator unharmed.
'I'm starting to get a headache. I can't expend any more energy.'
"Stop hiding and fight me, coward! What hero hides behind a shield?" Bakugo yelled, his ire increasing to the point his breathing was getting erratic.
Kyoya shook his head.
"If that's how you feel," Kyoya turned his barrier inside out and encaged the blonde within it.
Multiple ranged attacks came forth, but instead of using more energy, Kyoya made a hole in the barrier and positioned it in their path, leaving poor Bakugo to take the brute of the onslaught.
Electrocution, sound blasts, and laser beams made him yell out.
Izuku powered up and rushed the red headed giant, but his charge was quickly halted by the psychic's abilities.
"It's time we end this."
Kyoya tossed Izuku inside the sphere and placed the bottoms of his hands together. He focused his center and gathered energy to his hands, where an orb rested between his palms.
'Kinetic Storm!'
He spun and leaped forward, dropping the barrier that the duo were trapped in, and thrust his hands forward. A powerful stream blast of psychic energy devoured the duo and forced the others to duck for cover. Meanwhile, on the sidelines, Aizawa sighed and resisted the urge to pinch his temples.
"Why do I always deal with the destructive ones?" he sighed.
Silence dominated the gymnasium. Sensing it was okay to move, Todoroki and the others observed the surroundings. Lying in front of them were an unconscious Izuku and Bakugo.
"Whoa," Kaminari was the first to speak. He kneeled before his friends and hissed. "Okay, he can shoot Kamehamehas now."
"Stop," Aizawa put himself between Kyoya and his class. "I think that's enough. If this continue, the entire gymnasium will be destroyed. We'll wait for the rest before going further."
Kyoya released the breath he held during the attack and let the psychic energy dissipate from his body. The stress gone, Kyoya relaxed his muscles and winced at the headache knocking at his cranium.
'It's minor, but I need my medicine.'
"I couldn't afford to take it easy on them."
"Yeah, you almost killed me!" Jirou yelled at him. "The heck was that about, jerk?"
"Nothing personal, just trying to throw everybody off. No one excepted me to go for you first."
"Oh yeah? And had you cut me open like Todoroki's icicles?"
"You would've stayed in one piece but knocked unconscious."
"Like heck I would've! Did you see how you cut through that ice wall? Thank you, by the way, Todoroki and Midoriya."
"Y-You're welcome, Jirou-san," Izuku replied, albeit bashfully. He had picked up the girl so instinctively that he didn't realize what he did and how close they were until now.
"As Izuku said," Todoroki nodded the earphone jacks.
"You guys are lucky I only used one Kinetic Dance technique and not all twelve."
"Twelve?!" a collective shout erupted.
"Kinetic Dance: Third Step - Tiger's Ballad."
He showed off the tiger claws.
"I got claws too, Kitty."
"So, this is why you prefer a more direct approach to combat," she hypothesized.
"I see," Iida fixed his glasses, "It would come as a shock for a psychic person to attack head on rather than from afar where they have the advantage."
"Ding ding."
"You're scary," Kaminari stated. "That kamehameha at the end was ruthless."
"Kinetic Storm, not exactly part of the twelve dances, but something the kids like seeing."
"That's a cool name," Sero complimented.
'If only I had the voice to say it with.'
"Go ahead and wrap this up," Aizawa advised. "Class is almost over."
Kyoya nodded. "Line up everybody."
Everyone did as such, and Kyoya gestured to Iida.
"Repeat everything I'm about to relay to you to your class."
"Yes, senpai," the class rep imitated Kyoya in pacing back and form. "Alright, my little kouhais, this is where we part, but before we go, I have but one question. To you, what does it mean to be a hero?"
Iida also traded a curious glance with his senior. He wasn't expecting such a broad question.
"What does it mean to be a hero?" Izuku parroted.
"Not what society dictates as heroism but in your own words," Iida relayed the message. "Something to think about as you get more field experience."
"Will you enlighten us about your take on heroism?" Momo raised her hand.
Kyoya's wisdom knew no bounds.
Iida was prepared to pass on the message. "What do I define as heroism? When willpower goes against fear and our sense of duty throws the gauntlet down to fate, when honor spits at the notion of compromising with death – that is heroism."
The class, minus Bakugo, gave a round of applause.
'What does it mean to be a hero?'
It was a question that would follow the class for the entire school day. It was an inquiry that would stalk Bakugo until his brash decision to drag Izuku out after curfew for a brawl that would end up with both getting put under house arrest.