The next day dawned warm and sunny. Weather-wise, it was still fall. We were back to our old routine, in Class 1-A, listening as Mr. Aizawa stepped up to give our homeroom lecture.

"All right. We're back to our regular classes. A lot's happened. Too much, really, but now it's business as usual. Today in class we'll just have a lecture, but look forward to some even harsher training throughout the second semester."

At the front of my row, Ashido leaned back and whispered to Asui "Borrrring, right?"

The disrespect! But before I could chastise her, Sensei appeared like a beacon over her shoulder and told her off. "What was that, Ashido?"

"Eep! Haven't had that feeling in a while!" she gasped.

Asui raised her hand. "May I ask a question, Sensei? We just heard about work studies at the opening ceremony. Could you explain that a bit more?"

"Oh yeah, the principal was talking about that," recalled Sero to Tokoyami.

"I'm also curious, actually."

"He mentioned that many of our upperclassmen are engaged in work studies," said Yaoyorozu."

"I was planning to go over all that at a later date, but…well, fine," said Sensei. "I suppose it makes sense to explain it now. Put simply, it's hero work outside of school. A more immersive version of the internships you already did with pro heroes."

"Ooh, didn't know we got to do that sorta thing," said Uraraka from behind me. Then suddenly she jumped to her feet and started shouting. "So what was the point of trying so hard at the Sports Festival?!"!

Oh -

"Indeed! I cried. With these work studies, it seems that getting scouted at the Sports Festival was hardly our only option."

"Hey, calm down!" said Sato. "You're acting really Un-Uraraka like, Uraraka."

"You'll be using your networking connections from the Sports Festival to se cue your hero work studies. It's all at your discretion to start with and is unrelated to classes here. Those of you who didn't get scouted at the Sports Festival will have a hard time finding positions anyway. It used to be that every agency would seek out applicants, but the competition to win over UA students caused a lot of issues. So that's why things are how they are now. If that's all, then take a seat."

Uraraka gave a respectful bow as she stated "Sorry for jumping to the wrong conclusion…"

Sensei continued, "Earning those provisional licenses will give you extended in-depth experience when it comes to this stuff. But keep in mind that there's virtually no precedent for licensed first-years. With the sudden outburst of villain activity, the possibility of first-year work studies is being given cautious consideration. We'll revisit this later, at which point you'll get a more complete explanation and some actual testimonials. When circumstances allow." With that he turned to the door. "Right…sorry to keep you waiting, Mic."

Present Mic came bursting in through the door. "FIRST PERIOD IS ENGLISH, THE CLASS I TEACH! IT'S BEEN A WHILE, SO I BET YOU'RE EAGER TO SEE ME TAKE HTE STAGE AGAIN BRUH! WE'RE PACKING IN A TON OF STUFF TODAY! LET'S DO THIS! YEAH!"

"Yes, sir!"

And with that class resumed again. I did my best to concentrate, of course, on our studies, but throughout it all the tantalizing word "work studies" was there in my head.

After school that evening, we all headed back to Heights Alliance, where our two problem children had been alone all day. Sero, amused, rubbed some dust off of a window.

"Care to explain this dust, Bakugo?" he taunted him.

"THAT WAS S'POSED TO BE DEKU'S JOB, SO SHUT THE HELL UP! HEY YOU! CAN'T YOU EVEN CLEAN RIGHT?"

"Sorry!" Midoriya called back as he collected the trash. "If you guys could all put your garbage outside your doors, I'll collect it."

Serves you right for breaking the rules.

Over on the sofa, Sato leaned forward and said to Kirishima, "Hey. Mic's class today…"

"Yeah, I know. You too?"

"I had no clue about some of those sentence patterns, but he was using them like it was no big deal."

"Yeah! Took me by surprise too!"

"S'what happens when you forget to prepare fro class…."

"Trip up just once, and following along after that suddenly gets real tough."

"Y'know those works studies?" said Jirou. "I never got scouted, but I'd still like to try."

"Same here," said Ojiro.

"I wonder if we'd be able to get placed under the same heroes we did our internships with?"

MIdoriya was following all this with an increasingly panicked look on his face. "It's only been a day, and I'm already falling behind!" I imitated him. "It's written all over your face, Mr. Lockdown!"

"Mr. Lockdown? That's just mean." he complained. "But what's this work-study thing anyway, Iida?"

"Yes, well, I'm still angry! And Sense forbade us from telling you two anything from our classes! I'm sorry, but this is just an experience you will have to endure! Are you listening, Bakugou?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know - so shut up, you freaking four eyes!" he snapped back.

It was three days later that Midoriya returned to us, and he seemed deeply fired up. "So sorry for all the trouble!" he shouted, bowing elaborately.

"Deku, good job serving your time!" Uraraka reassured him.

"Serving time, really?" said Jirou. "And why so worked up?"

"Iida, I'm sorry!" He stomped over to me. "I really disappointed you!"

"Um…it's enough to know that you reflected on your actions. But what's wrong now?"

"I've gotta make up for these three days of lost time!" shouted Midoriya.

"Oh, yeah!" Kirishima pumped his fist. "I admire your passion, dude!"

The commotion died down as class started and Sensei appeared. "Now that Midoriya is back, let's talk about work studies for real." He turned to the door. "Come on in. Here to tell you how work studies differ from internships are some people who've gone out there and experienced it all. They're taking time out of their busy schedules to be here, so give them your full attention. Out of all the students at UA, these are the top three reigning third years. We call them…the Big Three."

The door opened. And there they were.