13:35 at classroom 1A

"Please lend an ear, everyone" Momo announced. Standing at her Class President's side, she suppressed a sigh as she assessed his rigid posture. His ears had turned a bright red (though without any influence from his Quirk, as it seemed) and he looked very much ready to bolt, despite his display of calm when facing the actual crisis twenty minutes ago.

Unfortunate, albeit understandable, she supposed. Fighting prowess and academic excellence made up the bulk of U.A.'s entrance requirements, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that some people – who didn't private tutors on public speaking, to boot – would struggle with some of the less obvious parts of Heroism. She could only assume that U.A.'s curriculum would cover PR lessons as well. If not, the careers of at least a third of her classmates were already at stake – she couldn't imagine Midoriya would fare all that well in front of a camera, judging from his shivering.

Still, why was it that someone as blatantly talented as Midoriya had such a… conspicuous lack of self-confidence? It could not have been the environment of his middle school, not if it had bred an ego as enormous as Bakugo's. Neither could it have been the abrasive blonde himself – for all their bickering and squabbling, their friendship was clear as day to everyone. So, what then?

A thought for another day, maybe. She shouldn't forget that even amongst the very strongest there were still people who were shy by nature. Her mother's tales of Doomsday, the American top Hero, came to mind.

"Before we announce the remaining student council members, I propose a short applause for Midoriya-san's quick acting during the alert. He prevented what could easily have developed into a much more serious situation."

Of course, natural shyness didn't mean she shouldn't help him get adjusted to his new position, did it? Thus, she watched Midoriya's face turn scarlet the moment the class started to applaud, silently amused (and a bit abashed because of said amusement, which had all to much in common with schadenfreude). There was no doubt about him being deserving of recognition, though. Iida in particular appeared to share that opinion, having stood up and clapping his hands vigorously while exclaiming, "Bravo, Midoriya-san! You truly are the rightful candidate to hold the office of Class President! Bravo!"

After a while the acclamations subsided and they could move on to the student council members. They'd selected Iida for secretary, having the best writing in the class (although it did indeed bear an unsettling resemblance to a printed document). The bespectacled boy accepted that duty without hesitation – for which Momo was grateful; she was less than sure if anyone but him could be trusted with the mountains of paperwork the job brought with it.

As treasurer, they had appointed Shoji. He actually had been their second choice, after Asui, but she had told them in no uncertain terms that she had enough on her plate without dealing with a position in the student council. Thankfully, Shoji's answer had been a simple "Sure" and four thumbs-ups. The main reason for that choice had – admittedly embarrassingly – been that they had considered the six-armed boy to be the least likely out of their class to be careless with the money (especially when considering that their third candidate would presumably have been Kaminari, who seemed amicable and all, but was still not someone Momo would necessarily have deemed trustworthy).

When it came to the position of Class Representative, however, things had become a bit more complicated. It had to be someone who was both good with words and sociable, excluding the otherwise eligible Bakugo and Todoroki. They also had to have presence and a strong personality, be able to handle crowds and – last but certainly not least – they needed to be able to draw attention to themselves and their class.

Inexplicably, and for reasons Momo couldn't even begin to comprehend now that everything was said and done, the person they had appointed for Representative in the end was…

"Bien, I accept the position. Who else could hope to lead this class to a victoire éclatante better than moi ✩?"

"I would have trusted of this as beyond even the workings of destiny," Tokoyami commented drily.

Momo was inclined to agree with him, but with her, Iida and Midoriya holding offices, Kirishima and Kaminari lacking focus and Jiro and Tokoyami lacking positivity, Aoyama was, mystifyingly, their best bet.

Perhaps the workings of destiny really were too vast to be comprehended by man.

After a few seconds of awkwardness (which had the majority of the class simply sitting and gaping at the new Representative, with but a selected few offering a weak applause) the class went over to busying themselves with the mission reports, while Aizawa took a nap.

Not even a minute after being sure their teacher wasn't about to get up again, Hagakure turned around on her seat.

"Alright… so, Bakugo-kun, Izuku-kun?"

First name basis? What did I do to you?

Deal with it already, Deku!

"Y-yes, H-hagakure-san?"

Hagakure's sleeved moved together and apart, indicative of her tapping her fingers together in… bashfulness? Hesitancy? Something along these lines.

"Well… y'see, Izuku-kun, you told me that you two had this, uh, training routine going on each day, right? Which made both of you into kickass fighters? I mean, even Todoroki-kun didn't stand a chance against you, let alone me, so…"

"Cut through the shit already, Uniform. What do you want?" For some reason, Katsuki shot Izuku a withering look even though he hadn't even said anything this time. (In all honesty, though, how could Izuku have known about the Inner Deku Syndrome?)

"Well… and now… I kinda wondered if I could, you know, join you?"

WAIT, WHAT?

Katsuki looked at her dismissively (well, tried to. That annoying invisibility really got in his way there). The first thing that came to mind was, obviously, "Fuck no!" – it was their time of the day after all; how dared she try to sneak her way into it? – however, after a glance in Deku's direction, he sighed and forced himself to reconsider. His friend's face contained enough blood to treat a hospital full of anemics and if proximity to an invisible girl already rendered him effectively brain-dead, he'd never be able to function in this class.

(Alright, never mind their class – Deku wouldn't survive the first time he'd be forced to so much as talk to Ponytail. Which looked like it'd be inevitable, him being Class President and all.)

(And wasn't that a weird thought? Seriously, Deku getting this much more votes than him even though he probably didn't even vote for himself… Katsuki would've lied if he'd said he hadn't been mildly pissed off, but 'mildly pissed off' was pretty much his default state anyway, so he'd just crush him in sparring the next days).

(Plus, at least he'd get to experience the trainwreck that was Flustered Deku.)

"… sure," he said, ignoring the expression of betrayal coming from his right side. "Why not?"

"Training with you and Midoriya?" Kirishima butted in. "That sounds manly as hell! Can I tag along?"

That simultaneously relieved and unnerved Izuku – it would be significantly less distressing to interact with Hagakure if there was more than one new member at their training, but at the same time… well, in all honesty, Izuku couldn't even remember the last time he'd talked to someone his age (apart from Katsuki, who didn't count) for more than eight consecutive minutes. So the prospect of spending his afternoon training with not only one, but two of his classmates was…

Well, on the other hand, making friends was something he'd put on his high school to-do list, so he might as well start with it now. "Y-yeah, of course!"

Kirishima beamed.

"You wanna come too, Tokoyami-kun?" Ashido asked.

"AT LEAST ASK ABOUT YOURSELF FIRST!" Izuku was quickly overcome by panic. Was "inviting oneself to training with one's friends" now a thing? He'd know if that was a thing, right?! Well… okay, he probably wouldn't, but still! Why did she have to do that to him?

"Nah…" she laughed it off. "You'll manage."

Izuku sighed. Somehow, his high school experience seemed to deviate from what he'd envisioned. Quite significantly, too.

"While I do express my gratitude for your invitation, I must decline." Thanks, Tokoyami-san! You're my favorite person in this room right now! "After experiencing the mad banquette of darkness the less illuminate call society, I crave for the sweet serenity of solitude."

"Translation: He's too busy with being all emo and mysterious to condescend to having fun!"

"It is you who is the primordial reason for said craving of solitude." Tokoyami primly folded his arms. "And it is you who denies me it."

"Alright, so it's you two, then me, Hagakure-san and Ashido, alright?" Kirishima asked. "When and where?"

Katsuki seemed less than pleased at how things had slipped out of his control, but he did manage to not blow anyone up.

Izuku marveled at that feat of willpower.

03:43 p.m. at the cherry tree – HEROES session (featuring The Lesser Three)

"34! 35! 36! 37! Oi, Shitty Hair! What the fuck d'you think you're doing? Your sniffer has to kiss the ground, got it?"

"Alright, bro, but we already were at 'Kirishima' once!"

"Tsk."

"Don't tsk him, Kacchan!"

"Deku…"

Contrary to his words, Katsuki actually was feeling somewhat… well, pleased. Or, failing that, something approaching 'content', at least. And that feeling mainly originated from the opportunity to walk along the length of his 'recruits' – something he'd wanted to do ever since watching an old war movie at the age of six – as there were enough of them now to form a short line while doing their push-ups. First was Deku, then came Shitty Hair, Uniform and finally Raccoon Eyes.

Kacchan!

How the fuck did you turn an Inner Deku off?

Kac! Chan!

Katsuki rolled his eyes. Alright, alright. Kirishima, Hagakure… and Raccoon Eyes. Newbies didn't get to complain, right?

Inner Deku had nothing to say about that. He'd count that as a win.

Katsuki had noticed that, while the three of them were definitely in worse shape than him and Deku when it came to stamina, they didn't fuck up as much as he'd thought. Well, Kirishima and Raccoon Eyes at least. Hagakure seemed to have the muscle equivalent of rice pudding in her upper arms.

A grin threatened to split his face open. That was something they was going to… rectify.

"Alright, everyone, get up and do sixty tuck jumps! If you ain't done in a minute, that's forty on top of that, got it? Now get your asses in gear, and don't you think about slacking off!"

Collective sighing.

"Whew… Katsuki-kun… sure is intense," Hagakure wheezed.

Izuku, who had barely broken a sweat, looked at her with sympathy. She didn't have the faintest idea of what she'd signed up for, did she?

At some quite remote period…

"I'm… so… dead!" Ashido uttered before collapsing flat on her back, gasping for air. She was no slouch by any means – that would've made breakdancing impossible – but that had been something else entirely.

Everyone else had slumped down in a similar fashion and struggled to recover their breaths, all in various states of exhaustion. Katsuki excluded, of course; the blonde hadn't exerted himself all that much, which was why he'd gone for an additional set of reps to burn off some leftover energy, battering the valiant punching bag with vigor and nitroglycerin.

"This was… SO MANLY!" Kirishima grinned between puffs. He'd shed his shirt at some point and rested his elbows on the grass, his hairstyle resembling a bird's nest from being pushed down by Katsuki's boot during their push-up session. "You didn't… exaggerate, Midoriya." He laughed hoarsely. "You two are… awesome!"

"And… you, ha, you two… really do… this, phew, each day?" Hagakure had lost her ability to form coherent sentences more than anybody else here. After about two hours of exercise at a pace many people would see fit for interval training, she was pretty sure she'd started to get moderately delirious. She felt rather certain that at the beginning of the training, there had only been one Izuku, not two or three.

"Y-yeah, more or less," Izuku admitted sheepishly. "Tuesday and Friday are our strength training days; that's why we didn't do much else today. Usually, we'd go through strategies and plans and that on the way home now. W-well, except for Monday. That's theory day; we hold off on physical training there. Wednesday and Saturday are for Quirk training, Thursday and Sunday for fights and sparring."

The others looked at him in puzzlement, until Hagakure slowly and incredulously asked, "No… phew, no days… off?" That at least explained why Midoriya's and Bakugo's strategies had worked so well during battle training, and why the latter had been so sure about the former's winning chances. But… seriously? She'd heard of athletes from the pre-Quirk era, training since they were five or six to reach their peak potential, but…

Izuku looked at her as if the idea of a day off never crossed his mind before – which, to be fair, it hadn't. "N-not really, no. Should we? I mean, usually training is more interesting than the alternatives… plus, before we were enrolled at U.A., we didn't actually have that many P.E. classes, so we had to stay in shape that way. And since we started this back when we were four, it's like the routine is carved into our brains by now." He laughed nervously. "Of course, we do take resting days sometimes. For example when we're injured or ill" (though Katsuki usually didn't if he wasn't at least hospitalized) "or when there's an event like a birthday or Christmas or something like that" (if only at their families' insistent command).

"But… Midori-kun!" Ashido seemed incredulous. "You gotta enjoy yourself sometimes! Life is more than just training, you know that?" She poked him into the chest. "What point is there in working your butt off if you don't treat yourself for your troubles once in a while, huh?" Another poke.

Needless to say, Izuku was utterly unprepared for the sudden invasion of his personal space. Aaargh! Ashido-san! Why, you- Admit it, you're doing that intentionally!

Wait… Midori-kun? MIDORI-KUN? Kacchan! Help! Please!

"Yeah, Izuku-kun!" Hagakure chimed in from her spot on the meadow, thankfully making no move to join Ashido in her quest of invading his personal space.

And now the first name again! If there's any God in this world, please make them just call me Midoriya-kun!

"She's… totally right, y'know?" Tooru continued, still painfully winded and oblivious to Izuku's inner breakdown. "Phew, I mean, you two, totally… kicked ass, yesterday – including mine – but, phew, how long, has it been since your, last time in a, theme park?"

She took a few deep breaths in and out, trying to get out more than two or three words at once. The gap to her classmates couldn't be more obvious – Mina, while also visibly exhausted, had already regained some of her stamina, as had Kirishima. Izuku was so obviously and outrageously used to it that it didn't seem like he was that worn out in the first place. Her, though? She still hadn't gotten back her ability to talk.

Izuku, however, was thinking about what she'd just said. For quite a while, actually. Our last time in a theme park? Hmm… so, this year the two of them had been too busy hauling around garbage at night, so they hadn't done stuff like that. Last year… no, last year Katsuki had had lots of Karate competitions. They hadn't found the time. The year before that they had cancelled their plans on that front in favor of an exhibition about the dawn of heroes – in his defense, there had been rumors that Friedefürst himself had been spotted that day. And the year before that…

"That would be four years, I think."

"WHAT?! You're pulling my leg, right, Midori?" Ashido shook her head in disbelief, getting even closer to him and non-existing God, there's way too much pink in my vision, please, someone, save me! "You just don't like theme parks, right? You prefer movies, right? Or dancing? The Arcade? Water ski? Skydiving? Volcano watching? Anything?" With each word she'd lean closer and closer, until her accusing expression was barely five centimeters away, making Izuku's face take on all kinds of interesting colors.

Luckily, Katsuki chose that point to come back from the punching bag and thus prevented Izuku from… however his reaction to prolonged Ashido exposure would have turned out.

"Alright, backgrounds! Since you've signed up for this now, you'll get your asses back here tomorrow at the same time, understood?"

"Eh? We don't get a choice in that matter?" Hagakure asked, put-out.

"'Course not," Katsuki said flatly. "Waste of time."

"I'm alright with it, dude," Kirishima beamed. "You're the pinnacle of manliness, both of you! I'll be ready!"

"Doubt that," Katsuki huffed. "Your performance was mediocre, at best. Your start was shit already and it only went downhill from there."

"Here's a piece of advice", Izuku whispered. "Take it as a compliment. I needed three years to reach that stage."

"Wait… so you just order us to do this again tomorrow, as if we don't have a say?" Ashido asked. "Not all of us are so career-minded as you two are! What about after-school activities? Clubs? And-"

"Not my problem," Katsuki grunted. "You wanted to do this, now suck it up and deal with it, you sorry lot."

Izuku sighed. "You've seen how he gets once he's set his mind on something, right?" he said. "So… er… how do I put this? There… there kind of isn't a way out of this anymore, for you?"

A/N: Hello again. [Excuse Excuse Corona Excuse Excuse], if you haven't heard yet.

And the Squad progresses! The jobs are decided! And this, good people, is why you don't let a group of freshmen determine important positions in the first week! Ah well. At least Aoyama will leave an impression on the crowd, won't he?

Next time: USJ! Will the students of 1-A kick the Villain League's collective ass, thereby determining this to be a light-hearted story, or will they suffer death, defeat, disfigurement and dismemberment, heralding a fuckton of angst? Or will nothing happen at all because Class 1-B got attacked instead? So many options... oh, the fun I'll have. *chuckles*

The usual: Constructive criticism is welcome, flames aren't.

Remember to go beyond...

PLUS ULTRA!

Ramses, over and out.