Izuku'd been fooling around with the idea for a while.

Every now and then a stray thought would cross his mind. 'Will channeling One For All into my lungs allow me to blow out strong gusts of wind? Would channeling it into my heart let me pump blood faster and boost my performance? What about my mind? Wasn't it also technically a muscle? However, understanding just how badly my body handled One For All has dissuaded me from really ever trying any of these out. After all, if what happened to my arm happened to my lungs, my heart or my brain I don't really suppose that I'd be making it out of that situation alive.'

Izuku had already guessed what would happen to him if he tried to channel One For All into his legs. It was a simple enough transfer. However... thinking of those other ways of channeling One For All, he realized that he'd been so far limiting himself. Yes, channeling One For All into an entire limb would let him pull off feats of strength similar to Toshinori's. His punch against the Giant Nevermore showed that. However, one question that remained steadfast on his mind was... did it only have to be limbs? Did he have to blow his entire arm on a shot with One For All, or could he limit the blow back somehow? Maybe by limiting where he channeled One For All to?

"SMAAAAAAAAAASH!"

As he screamed in pain following his smash, that was the question he was trying to answer. He reached down and grabbed at the middle of his forearm, the bruising having gone all the way up to the middle that time. He sweated and bit at his lip as he worked himself through the pain, Glynda already to start patching him up.

"It looks like your theory is sound, at least." Glynda said aloud as she immediately moved to begin bandaging the broken parts of his arm. Indeed, his entire arm hadn't been broken with that smash. Rather than going so close to his shoulder, that one drifted down to his forearm and was at its worst the closer it was to his fingers. He had something there, he knew he did... but there was something he was missing. Some piece that he didn't quite have a handle on yet.

It was that, after Glynda finishes treating his wounds, that got him to stand back up and get ready with his other arm. If Izuku could limit the damage One For All did to him in a blow, even if that blow would be weaker than a typical Smash... it gave him options. It gave him a way that he could use his Semblance in a situation where it was needed that 'wouldn't leave him completely helpless. He couldn't do much with One For All just yet, not with how little control he had...

However, he'd use what little he could control to the best of his ability. That was just how it was going to be.

Izuku tapped his foot slightly as he swayed in place, back and forth, as he waited for Toshinori to show up. It was actually a bit weird; Toshinori had been pretty good about showing up on time for stuff like that, so much so that he was generally there before Izuku was. Still, it's not like he minded; Toshinori was a busy guy and the fact that he was running a little late for once wasn't anything he could hold against him, given his previous good track record.

So he decided he'd just wait for Toshinori to show up...

'What am I doing here?'

Her name was Blake Belladonna. Former White Fang, Daughter of Ghira Belladonna, yes, 'that' Ghira Belladonna, and... and what was she doing here?

She sighed as the thought crossed her mind, scratching at the back of her head as she kept hidden in her little spot a ways down the hallway from where Izuku was currently standing. She realized that from an outsider's perspective, she looked completely ridiculous. She was currently hanging out far away enough from Izuku to, hopefully, keep him from noticing her and yet close enough that between her hearing and her eyes that she would be able to keep a good eye and ear on whatever he was muttering to himself or getting up to.

To anyone who knew her, but didn't know her secret, it'd just look like she was just following Izuku for whatever reason. Maybe trying to pick up on the secret of his Semblance or what he'd been doing on his own time away from his team, but whatever the case, it'd look ridiculous. After all if she really wanted to know anything, she could have just asked Izuku Midoriya right? Not like the guy wasn't open about talking to people... when he wasn't stiff as a board from his nerves.

But if anyone knew her secret then they'd get a better idea of what she was there for... and reminding herself of that got her to shake her head.

'Right. I'm currently stalking someone who considers me a friend and that, yeah, I thought was a good person over all so that I can get blackmail on him. Because I, being the 'idiot' that I am, blurted my secret out at him because I thought he'd pieced it together.'

Honestly, she was kind of surprised; literally everyone else seemed to have bought into her disguise hook, line and sinker. No one knew she was a Faunus, not even her Faunus teammate Tsu. Seriously, it was almost bewildering how well that had gone over.

It would've been literally everyone too if she hadn't slipped up with Izuku. Now he knew and she wasn't in much of a position to allow him to keep knowing. People finding out she was a Faunus was just one itsy bitsy step away from them figuring out she was part of The White Fang. She couldn't have that get out. She couldn't let people know about the sort of things she'd done or what she was a part of. She was here at Beacon very specifically to get away from that life and to try to start one as a Huntress. She couldn't afford to let one little slip up get her involved in a whole world of trouble with Beacon's staff or the students.

She wasn't a criminal anymore. She'd gotten past that life, she'd had a chance to truly be a better person. If her past got out... she'd have that new life ruined. So no matter what, Blake could not allow for her redemption to be ruined.

So she needed blackmail on Izuku.

If she had been taught anything from her time in the White Fang, it was that at times you just needed the right leverage to get yourself from over the barrel. Once she found his secret, she would be in a position to threaten him to silence if he ever even thought of revealing her secret. Now...all she needed was to find the dirt on her classmate.

It hadn't been going great.

She couldn't stalk him twenty four hours a day of course. She had her own team that she was responsible for training with and a partner who would probably notice, sooner or later, that she was slipping off if she did it too often. She had to be there with... Team TABY, seriously she still couldn't believe of all the names... anyway. She wanted to be there for them too. So that stopped her from doing it as much as she would've wanted given the seriousness of the situation. Then there was the fact that sometimes... Izuku was just involved in very innocuous stuff. One of the times she'd caught him was him working with his team on their combo attack that they used a couple days ago, Flash Freeze. It certainly hit hard and... well, while it was clear Izuku wasn't as much of a natural leader as Tenya, it was plain to see why Ozpin might've picked him.

'Say what you will about his nervousness, when somebody gives Izuku a task to work on and a purpose, he will get stuff done and Flash Freeze... well, I've see its results first hand.'

Before that she'd come across him in the library. Honestly, that was meant to be the first time she'd stalk him but... well, when he just sat down to study Aura, she pretty much figured that'd be that... and besides, even if she was trying to figure out one of his secrets, she did still have something on her mind. Something she'd wanted to talk to him about...

Their little conversation had made it hard to keep it up because it again showed just how much of a strange person Izuku was. Not in a horrible way, mind. Just strange in the way that he carried himself and his dream. The guy was genuine about wanting to be a hero and wanting to help people... and he was genuine about just wanting to be friends with folks. About seeing the best in them.

He honestly thought she would come to help him if he were in the same kind of danger she had been in... honestly, she didn't know for certain if she would. She'd want to, of course, she'd want to help people... but she didn't exactly fool herself into thinking that she wouldn't be terrified. Would terror and hesitation overwhelm her morality?

Izuku didn't seem to think it would.

Which of course made continuing with her plan all the harder but... well, hey, if she could just get one secret then it'd all be fine, right?

Which brought her to these past couple days... to call what she'd stumbled upon interesting... well, that may or may not be overstating it, depending on what was happening. She'd snuck up on Izuku when he was quietly trying to make his way to that area of the school. Now, she knew for a fact that that part of the school was pretty much where the staff did their training. They'd made that much clear in pamphlets and the general rules of the school. Students, while they weren't expressly forbidden from being back here, generally didn't have much of a purpose.

So when she watched as Glynda Goodwitch came around, opened up one of the arenas and followed Izuku in, she thought she had something juicy.

And she did...

Just not with something she had a mind to being reminded of again.

"SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"

It... was a disquieting thing. Sitting for a couple hours, or more, listening as someone shattered the bones in their arms again and again, crying out in horrible pain again and again and then listening as they tried to rationalize the results, spoke about how they'd improve on not breaking their arms every time they used their Semblance. Around when it was time for her to slip off before Izuku and Glynda noticed her, she had phantom pains in her own arms.

She'd seen the results first hand. She didn't have to 'imagine' what was going on just beyond the door. She'd seen the force of the blow as Izuku Midoriya one-punched a Giant Nevermore into non-existence. She'd seen the end results too; an arm shattered, ropy and bruised nearly up to the shoulder form the blow back from the punch. It... made sense why that was happening there and under Glynda's supervision. In the normal student arena, those... 'Smashes' would potentially devastate the much smaller arenas meant for the students. Having a teacher on hand nearby was smart too; it obviously kept Izuku from doing too much at once, from hurting himself while he tried to gain control over his Semblance.

It was weird for a teacher to go out of their way to help a student in such a personal manner... then again she supposed it was weird for a student's Semblance to actually 'actively hurt them' whenever they used it, especially if that wasn't part of the Semblance's design. Sure, Yang's Semblance required that she take some hits, but that was part of the balance of it all. If Yang got hurt, she could throw that hurt right back into an opponent's face and more to boot. It was an exchange that worked in Yang's favor.

From the way Izuku spoke about his Semblance... breaking his entire arm wasn't supposed to happen. Heck, not even Yang's Semblance required that she pretty much maim herself in order for it to work.

So as she found Izuku standing outside of the teacher's arena again, kicking his feet around as he waited, she sighed. If that was going to be another moment of him breaking his arm with his Semblance in order to try to get better with it, she didn't think she needed to stick around. Honestly, at that point, she was just sticking her neck out. She knew what was going down so why stick around where someone could possible find-

"I AM HERE!"

"AH!"

Blake nearly jumped out of her skin as she swung around on the spot, turning to face the sudden voice behind her. Her amber eyes went wide and her heart very nearly stopped as she caught sight of who it was, exactly, that'd found her.

Toshinori Yagi. The Symbol of Peace and Hope. A man who, scant months ago, was on her 'if you see him, RUN' list. A man she had considered closer to an enemy than a teacher at the time as well.

"Ah, ah, ah, Mr. Yagi, I mean, Toshinori, sir!" She saw his smile grow as she remembered that he preferred to be called by his first name, sheer panic on her face as those eyes of his looked down at her. "I'm terribly sorry for getting in your way sir, I'll just, I was just, I'm gonna go ahead and-"

"AH, HA HA HA HA!" That laugh of his again as he just shook his head. "Worry not Miss Belladonna, you didn't get in my way. I was just on my way here because young Midoriya has asked me to oversee some personal training for him. Well, I couldn't very well stand aside and let a student's request fall through the floor like that. So I informed him to come meet mere here so that we could do this training in an environment more suited to my own... style of training." She shivered slightly as he said that last part. She could only imagine what someone like Toshinori Yagi did for training.

"O-Oh! O-Of course!" It was simple enough, she supposed, and it did sound like Izuku." W-Well sir, don't let me stand in your way. I-I-I'll just go ahead and-"

"Not so fast Miss Belladonna. I think you and I need to have a word..." She froze in her tracks as Toshinori spoke up, swallowing a lump in her throat as she saw him arch his eyebrow. "Now, I'll admit, I'm an old man Miss Belladonna-"

"You aren't that old Toshinori..." She mumbled slightly, hoping that a little brown nosing might get her out of the trouble she was about to be in. Like she said, she knew how it looked... and by the Gods it'd look even worse to a teacher.

What's more, even worse to a Huntsman like Toshinori Yagi.

"AH, HA HA HA HA! Thank you, but at any rate, I've been out of the youth culture for some time now, so I don't quite understand how stuff like this is supposed to work." She... stopped being nervous and just started being confused. "Back in my day, you didn't stalk someone of interest to you. You just walked up and asked them what you wanted to know... or I guess for you all, what you feel like you 'need' to know." She... tilted her head to the side a bit. Was he... just saying to go up and ask Izuku what she was curious about. How did he even have an idea about what she was curious about.

"I'll say this Miss Belladonna, that you don't have nearly as much to worry about as you think you do." Seriously, how did he know? He couldn't be 'that' good, even if he was the Symbol of Peace.

"After all, Young Midoriya was quite flustered and worried not too long ago too. He asked... a close friend of mine about advice. While he said it wasn't advice about stuff like this, he did say that he was worried he made a bad first impression on you and messed up." Yeah, the two had talked about that, but she didn't know that Izuku had gone asking for others advice on talking to people like-

"He was quite intent on figuring out what he could do better about talking to girls, even if he later insisted that it wasn't for these reasons." -right, talking to girls like...

'Oh.'

'Oh no.'

'Ooooh nooooo.'

"T-Toshinori, sir, it isn't like that! I'm not-"

"Now Miss Belladonna, like I said, I may be old but you tell me; what else would I think walking up on this situation?"

... Crap.

Her mind immediately went back to Ninjas of Love. A young woman stalking a young man, just watching him without him noticing...

Yes, she supposed it would look like 'that' to anyone who had seen her stalking Izuku for any amount of time.

"Now like I said, if you're nervous and trying to figure out how young Mr. Midoriya might feel, then I assure you that it's quite alright! You just need to go up there and be blunt!"

If she hadn't had her own talk with Izuku about that last week, she'd be pretty sure she'd be freaking out right about now. Izuku made it pretty clear that it wasn't about 'that'... or at least, she really thought he didn't... unless he was better at hiding his emotions than she thought.

Nah, it was Izuku, the guy wore his heart on his sleeve. Still...

"Sir, please! I assure you it isn't like that!"

"Oh? Then tell me Miss Belladonna, for what other reason might a young woman such as yourself be doing stalking a young man like Mr. Midoriya here in these halls?" It's clear he wasn't accusing her of anything. It was clear that he just thought he had her cornered.

God, she was completely mortified. She could feel the red on her face...

...

'OH NO!'

Hearing Toshinori laugh again confirmed that he was of the same mind as she was, seeing her blush in embarrassment. Okay, so she was stuck in a corner... what the Hell did she do here to get herself out of this?

'Okay, okay, okay.'

'Let's consider your options.'

First things first, there was always the option of just telling the truth and getting it out there. She really thought about that option... on the one hand, it was just the truth. She could tell Toshinori the truth and then she didn't 'have' to keep dealing with it. All the lies, all the sneaking around. It would just be out there and could be dealt with…

On the other hand, she'd be exposed as looking to blackmail another student because she thought he knew some secret of hers. Then would come the question of what that secret was and why she's keeping it and why it was so important that she felt the need to blackmail a student and potentially get kicked out of Beacon for. I mean, what sort of secret could drive an otherwise well-behaved and talented student to such illegal ends.

What other illegal ends might she have pursued if that came so easily to her?

What would be even worse would be if they actually got her secret out of her. She'd already played out how that little game would roll in her head.

No thank you.

So then her other options came down to; lie by just blatantly lying, lie by playing along and lie by... running away. She didn't think she could run away from Toshinori though. As fast as she was and as stealthy as she could be, he was the greatest Huntsmen in the world and she'd seen, first hand, some of his speed. The guy probably wouldn't be all that thrown by her initial use of a clone either, so he'd probably just end up following her, catching her and then... who knows, maybe he'd drag her in front of Izuku and try to prod her into 'admitting' her 'real feelings'.

So that wasn't an option... and she really wasn't sure she could make up a lie that'd be good enough to convince Toshinori that was actually her intent. Either he'd see through her lie and think she was just trying to hide her feelings... ooor he'd see through her lie and realize that she'd been hiding something a little more detrimental than a school crush.

She resisted the urge to place her face into her hands and groan. She really didn't want to do it, she really didn't to give Toshinori those sorts of ideas... but it was her best option.

God even thinking that felt awkward. She really hoped she wouldn't have to talk to Izuku for a while after that.

"Y-Yeah... you're right Toshinori, sir." She did her best to sound embarrassed which, given the circumstances, was quite easy as she did feel a mortified blush come to her cheeks. "I... I kind of do maybe have a crush on Izuku... but it's really... silly. I mean, I don't know much about him and I only have these feelings..." She tried to keep herself from choking on her own words as she spoke.

'Ninjas of Love don't fail me now.'

"... So I wanted to know if there was more to an attraction to him than just him saving my life in the forest. I was too embarrassed to just walk up and talk to him though so..."

'Gods, please take the bait, please don't make this for nothing, 'please' don't say you just coughed that up only for Toshinori to just see right-'

"AAAH, HA HA HA HAAA!" She almost sighed in relief as Toshinori laughed again, patting her on the back. "Fear not little miss, I understand more clearly now. I've seen more than my fair share of young women swoon at the sight of a Huntsman who had saved their lives. I understand your concerns as well and, in fact, I find it admirable that rather than throw yourself into something unknown you've decided to verify if Young Midoriya would be a person of interest to you."

'Gods above, thank you. Thank you so much. I promise I'll start going back to church... next week. I have some books I want to read this weekend.'

"Still, I would have to advise that you not take this indirect approach. Instead of stalking a young man to learn things about him, you really should just walk up and talk to him. I know with these emotions and hormones-" ... Wait, was that the talk? She'd actually left home before her dad could give her the talk...

Oh Gods, that was the talk wasn't it?!

"T-T-Toshinori, sir, I-I understand! It's just, well, it's so nerve wracking and I-"

"Understand completely, good. Then how's about you and I walk over there and-"

"NO!" She shouted out, though she immediately slap her hands over her mouth and duck around the corner as Izuku turned his head to look in her direction. Thankfully it seemed like he missed her and she sighed in relief before turning to Toshinori. "Please sir... I'm really not comfortable with... this with an adult around. I'd like to do this on my own... I promise I'll... be more... proactive..." Her face was getting more and more red but she just had to get through it last bit and 'hopefully' she'd be off free. "But I want to do it on my own and at my own pace, please?"

She saw Toshinori paused as he rested his fingers on his chin, nodding carefully at her words. Finally she saw his smile widen as he gave her a bit of a salute.

"I understand completely Miss Belladonna! Very well, I shall honor your request... but do make haste. You never know when another young woman might sweep in and steel Young Midoriya's heart. Time and love wait for no one, Miss Belladonna." She was stuck between groaning in embarrassment and sighing in relief.

"Yes, right, absolutely, well I'll see you later Toshinori, sir!"

"And don't worry young Miss! I won't leave you entirely in the dust! I'll be sure to ask Young Midoriya some things for you!"

"PLEASE DON'T!"

With that she quickly departed, running around the far larger Huntsman as she sought to get distance between herself and that spot. Between Izuku training his semblance and now Toshinori, she didn't think she'd be coming back to that area to stalk Izuku again. She'd find other spots to be able to watch him so she could find out stuff about him for blackmail.

Footsteps alerted Izuku to someone approaching as he turned her head, his emerald eyes shining slightly as he saw Toshinori approach. He had to admit, he'd worried that something had changed or that an emergency had come up. He was glad to see that he was just running late. His excitement only dimmed slightly when he saw the grin on the emaciated man's face, his blue eyes looking right at Izuku as he just shook his head and chuckled.

"Huh? What's up Toshinori?" Izuku asked, honestly curious, as the skeleton-like Huntsman approached him.

"... Ah, it's nothing Izuku. You sly dog you." Izuku barely moved when Toshinori lightly patted his shoulder and walked past him, a slight bit of laughter in his voice as he did so.

"... Okay?" He asked, slightly perturbed, before he shook his head. "A-Anyway, you said there was also something you wanted to talk to me about, right?" He saw Toshinori stop as he thought for a moment, the blond man stroking his chin in a gesture he'd come to realize was his 'thinking pose'.

"... You know what? I'm in too good a mood for that discussion. We'll save it for another day." He saw Toshinori grinned nice and wide as he turned to face him. "For now, let's just get to your training... gonna be putting you through your paces today young man." A dark chuckle escaped Toshinori's lips as he said this, Izuku himself swallowing nervously as he followed the older man into the training arena.

He wasn't kidding either.

"Really, I've got to thank you again for doing this for me Pyrrha."

"Izuku, don't start. You're tutoring me as well, so this is hardly a one way street."

Izuku smiled a bit as Pyrrha said that, the both of them going through some meditative motions as they tried their best to push and pull their Aura through their entire body. It was definitely hard; he could feel it moving but... it wasn't moving to a degree or with an amount that would allow him to effectively channel it into himself to improve his performance. In fact, if anything, the exercise had been getting harder and harder as it'd gone on. He wasn't feeling exhausted, per say... quite the opposite, he was still feeling quite fresh. It just felt like he was pushing up against a wall, something that was impeding him from continuing on.

It was a hassle but it didn't keep him from expressing his honest to goodness gratitude.

"I know... but what I'm teaching you is hardly as fundamental to being a Huntsman as flat out Aura. The fact is that what I'm tutoring you in probably won't save your life anything soon... what you're giving to me here definitely will. It feels a little bit unequal, even if you insist it isn't... so I do have to thank you." Pyrrha just smiled as he said that, sighing as she shrugged.

"Honestly, you'd probably work just as hard at this if you 'didn't' have me here. If I wasn't giving you what help I could, you'd probably just be doing this on your own and making progress anyway. I'm only offering guidance here Izuku... the person who's giving you the tools you'll need to save your own life is yourself." Izuku nodded slightly as she said that.

"I suppose. Still, I feel like I would've definitely had a harder time without your help. Heck, your insights are making up a lot of my notes on Aura so far... besides my own personal study..." Pyrrha smile broadened as he muttered that last part, a small snort escaping her.

"Uh-huh. Tell me Izuku, what, exactly, would you say the margin of that is then?" His emerald eyes turn to face her green ones as he stammered a bit.

"Oh, I dunno, I really don't keep 'that' specific of a track on my notes and... and..." Izuku saw the amused quirk of her eyebrow as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "... When I say mostly your insights I might mean... almost mostly... or... used to be mostly... a quarter of the notes now..." Pyrrha chuckled a bit as she nodded.

"You see? You would've done just fine without me." He shook his head at that.

"It isn't just about the amount of notes. Your initial insights helped give me a lot of ideas about my Aura, not to mention that you teaching me has helped me along in actually practically applying these. I wouldn't sell you short either Pyrrha." Izuku frowned slightly as he felt the flow of his Aura slow even further... almost to a point of stopping. He kept trying to push it past that block and he just found that it wasn't going anywhere, no matter how hard he tried. The frustration on his expression seemed to catch Pyrrha's eye as she moved to walk over to him. Eventually he decided that if pushing his Aura wasn't going to get it moving again, he might as well give it a solid pull...

All at once he felt a surge run through him. One that was all too familiar to him. He had felt it, or something very similar to it, the moment that Toshinori fed him a strand of his hair and One For All became a part of him. A surge of power, familiar yet foreign all at the same time, as it pulsed through him. It wasn't as massive that time around, it didn't 'feel' as overwhelming. Indeed, if the far dimmer shade of white he shined was any indication, it wasn't a surge comparable to the last in any regard. But he could 'feel' his Aura more deeply now. Rather than just sitting on top of his skin, only seeping in when he was injured, he could feel it reach into his muscles, filling them with strength. They didn't swell, not like they did when under the power of One For All... but they felt stronger, more substantial. He could feel his Aura being pulled and pushed through his body and he felt like, at any moment, he could grab out at it with his mind and bend it, pushing it toward a purpose in his body.

His soul felt stronger now too.

He blinked as he took deep, gasping breaths, his face flush and his body coursing with adrenaline. He had felt positively 'alive' at that moment, less so than the first but... well, it was hard to describe.

"Well, I'd certainly say that I think you've earned a break." He heard a clearly amused and clearly quite pleased voice from behind him and realized, why yes, Pyrrha was still standing just behind him. He turned to look at her, his body still lightly aglow with his surging Aura, as Pyrrha's lips arced upward into a full blown smile. "Congratulations on your Second Awakening, Izuku Midoriya."

He swore he was not crying as he smiled like an idiot.

"Izuku Midoriya has volunteered to fight Mitsu Bachi! Report to the arena upon arming yourself."

Izuku nodded slightly as he stood up from his seat, his team again offering him assurances and well wishes, as did the rest of his friends. Yang offered up a slightly teasing remark about letting the fight run a little longer, which he laughed off. Still, the sentiment is one that was on his mind. The last fight was one that wasn't exactly going to be great for him; his opponent wanted to run and get as far from him as possible so that they could get a clean shot off on him... which they did. He didn't want a repeat of 'that' performance... and he sincerely hoped there wouldn't be one. Not when he'd finally awakened his Aura to a new level, at least. He turned his head to look through the crowd to see if he could find his prospective opponent and, funnily enough, Mitsu Bachi turned out to be one of Owari's teammates.

Again, it had been too soon to know much of anything about the guy. A lot of students weren't as insistent as he was that they went into the arena each week, many looking for an excuse to just hang back and relax when they weren't specifically called. Still, he needed to do the work in order to get better, so he had been volunteering... just not against opponents he did 'know' could beat him really easily. To that end, he'd been going for more 'unknown' opponents or people who generally hadn't caught most people's eyes. That meant it had been harder for him to know what he was in for but the thought was that, hopefully, those people would also more on his level.

So as he looked over to try and get what kind of a read he could on Mitsu, ignoring the sleeping Owari and his parrot, he kind of recoiled. There were a lot of red marks and welts on Mitsu's face and, for a moment, Izuku swore it was acne. It was hard to tell what exactly it was from as far off as he was though but, when the two approached each other, Izuku could at least figure out that he wasn't breaking out. Izuku glanced over at opponent's team and saw that, besides the sleeping Owari, the other two teammates seemed to be looking at Izuku with suspicion... he supposed it was a bit weird that, the week after one member of their team absolutely destroyed Izuku, that he had volunteered to fight one of their own again... maybe they thought he had a grudge?

Izuku really didn't, he just wanted a good chance at a fight that could help him learn and grow. He hadn't been looking for trouble.

As they both eventually reached their lockers, Izuku peaked around at his gear as he prepares. Mitsu had a... an auto rifle, by the looks of it. A light machine gun.

Izuku swallowed a bit nervously as he saw him put its strap over his shoulder, the young man just kind of 'hmm'ing to himself as he scratched his chin. He nodded as he worked around in his locket a bit, a few cooing sounds being made as it sounded like he was stuffing some things into a sack. It was a backpack to be more precise, a very 'large' one that hung in such a way that it was down to damn near his ass. He pulled on a balaclava before he shut his locker door, turning to Izuku and offering our hero a small wave.

"Good luck out there friend, you might be needin' it." Izuku watched him as he walked by... he could swear he heard buzzing as he passed him.

Eventually Izuku armed himself with Emerald Gust and the both of them arrived in the arena. As Glynda explained the rules and they both agreed that, yes, they both understood them they were quickly put about six yards apart as Glynda stood off to the side, eyeing them both before she raised her arm.

"Izuku Midoriya versus Mitsu Bachi! Begin!"

Izuku quickly bent down and prepared himself... as he watched Mitsu's movements versus his own, he realized something with a smile.

He was faster than him!

Izuku thought it was a surprise to his opponent and to much of the rest of the crowd when, upon the signal going off, he had been the one to immediately break off into a sprint. The action had caught Mitsu off guard, the young man startling back a bit as Izuku brought one of his fists back and prepared to slam it into his gut. The young masked man, however, suddenly snapped out of his reverie and ducked away from the fist, just barely moving out of the way as the air rushed past him. Izuku grunted, having thrown himself ever so slightly off balance, which allowed Mitsu to immediately back off as he prepared his LMG. The young man quickly snapped the safety and, with a quick mantra, sprayed and prayed in Izuku's direction, a volley of nine bullets sent to try to strike him down.

However between his hectic movements and the distance the entirety of the automatic fire had missed, going around his position rather than going squarely for it. With that opening made Izuku gritted his teeth and sprinted forward, a more determined edge to his movements as he reared his fist back. Mitsu attempted to dodge again, however, a slight recoil from his gun firing one last bullet knocked him off balance. The opening presented to Izuku, and he slammed his fist into his gut and felt the mechanisms of Emerald Gust move into position.

He'd never actually seem the shotgun of Emerald Gust go off into a person's Aura before. It was a bit of a show as a spray of shotgun pellets immediately impacted Mitsu's Aura, along with his fist, causing a bright spark as the spiritual shield absorbed as much of the hit as it could. He saw Mitsu wince from the blow, his balaclava starting to get damp as, he imagined, sweat was forming from the blow. Mitsu, dug his heels in and reached into his pack behind him, Izuku unable to do much to stop him as he reached his hands back and pulled out...

A whole Hornet's Nest.

'What the Heck was this guy keeping in his locker?!'

Before Izuku could ponder the logistics of keeping a nest of hornet's in a rocket locket, Mitsu slammed the nest onto the ground, immediately causing it to crack and break. Out from that nest pours forth hundreds of large hornets, angrily buzzing about from having been disturbed. Izuku watched as Mitsu's eyes immediately met the swarm, his hands moving in time with the beat of tiny insect wings as Izuku felt his Aura pour off from his body, no doubt him using his Semblance. Despite having been the one to upset the nest in the first place, the hornets didn't turn on Mitsu.

'THEY'RE COMING FOR ME!?'

Immediately all he could hear, see, feel and taste are the buzzing of wings, a swarm of shapes that moved to surround him, the sting of hundreds of stingers as they attempted to pass through his aura and... well, he choked as he felt a few stray hornets fly into his mouth to try and sting him from the inside out. Needless to say it is a 'wholly' unpleasant feeling and the sooner Izuku could get out of that fight so he could take a shower, the better. He'd never felt so unclean in his life.

If the sound of Weiss gagging from the audience above was any indication, he wasn't the only one.

The hornets were taxing his Aura, the hundreds of stings too much for its naturally protective nature to bounce them back. It was draining but they weren't stinging Izuku directly yet. Deciding that he really didn't want to spend 'more' time under assault from hornets, he reared his fists back and launch both at Mitsu, one punch followed up rapidly by another. Mitsu, with a burst of Aura, is able to dodge the first but the second catches him square in the chest and, once his shotgun went off, another flash of his Aura was clearly visible. Mitsu was breathing deeply now, Izuku's blows clearly having had an impact. All he had to do was land one more good hit and that fight may very well have been his.

Then Mitsu did something unexpected... which considering the guy had pulled a hornet's nest out of his bag and thrown it on the ground, that was saying something.

He reached up and pulled his balaclava off his head and Izuku saw...ew... his welts were shaking. Mitsu took a deep breath, almost sounding like he's churning something up from his chest.

'Oh Gods, he isn't going to try to spit at me to distract me is he, that's pretty low for-'

Izuku's thoughts are interrupted when he spat... spat...

'Did he just spit a mass of bees at me? In the shape of a bullet?' Izuku was almost in a daze, before he felt a graze along his aura.

'And did those Bullet Bees just take a chunk out of my Aura with the impact they had?'

Deciding that he was no longer in the mood to deal with Mitsu or his super weird Semblance, Izuku managed to keep himself held together despite the stings and attacks of the bees and the hornets and reared both fists back again. It was clear that Mitsu was banking on that hit seriously knocking Izuku off balance for he seemed unprepared to dodge the next assault. More than that, it looked like both punches were on course to strike him dead in the chest. Izuku didn't notice how tired he was as the bees and hornets swarm him, making it hard to keep focus.

Thankfully, someone else was watching the fight for Izuku. He felt a slightly, by now, familiar grasp of energy surround him, stopping his motions. It similarly grabbed at each individual bee and hornet, pulling them away from Izuku and pulling him away from Mitsu.

"I do believe that Mr. Midoriya has carried this battle. Now, Mr. Bachi, please see to it that your... friends will behave..." Glynda sighed as she shook her head, Mitsu just numbly nodding his as he reached into his bag and pulled out a few other nests. Izuku watched with some odd fascination as Bachi reached his Aura out again, seemingly whispering to the bees and hornets before guiding them into new nests. Izuku hadn't read up on bees and hornets but he was pretty sure that mixing hives wasn't supposed to be able to work... maybe it has something to do with his Semblance?

Izuku was slightly spooked by the idea that Mitsu might've raised all of these insects from one source. That... that was a little much for right now, especially after having bees spat at him.

"Mr. Midoriya, you've taken your previous lesson to heart I see. You recognized your opponent's range and sought to move into your own before he could retreat into his. You still nearly lost but, again, expecting an unknown's opponents surprises is a tall expectation of a first year. That you took his surprises and rolled with them rather than panicking was a good show. At most, this fight just shows you still have some work to do on your form. Mr. Bachi was probably not the best match up for your skill set once you forced yourself into his circle... but the fact that you learned from your previous mistake in not doing so shows growth, well done." Izuku nodded at Glynda's approval as she turned to Mitsu Bachi and began giving him his own critique. Izuku on the other hand just turned his head up towards the crowd and smiled as he saw his circle of friends give him some thumbs up. This was the first spar he'd won and, after that rather short-lived fight before, it was good to actually be 'in' a fight for once. Izuku had taken a pretty big hit himself from the bees...but he had won.

He desperately tried to hold back the tears that seemed to want to gush from his face.

He had finally won.