"Wow Izuku, your notes really do cover just about everything. Even your notes on recent Huntsmen and Huntresses from other Kingdoms are pretty precise. You even have stuff on Shinji Nishiya here!" Pyrrha marveled at Izuku's collection of notes on the various Huntsmen and Huntresses from the Kingdom of Mistral as the two of them got down to tutoring. While he'd been fine with using slightly older examples to start off with, even Izuku could admit that as much as there was to learn from the older generations of Hunters that the profession had changed a good deal and so understanding their immediate predecessors, or heck even their contemporaries, would be a boon to their understanding of the profession as a whole.

Thus he had decided that he'd focus on tutoring Pyrrha as it concerned more modern Mistrali Hunters and had handed off the notebook with the majority of that information in question. Izuku smiled and nodded as his own mind recalled how he'd used his memory of his notes on Shinji Nishiya to try to save Kacchan all those months ago now. It had only been a momentary distraction for the Grimm but... well, it turned out that a momentary distraction was all that was needed in that moment.

He still didn't do much but it gave enough time for Toshinori to make it to the scene and do his thing, so he could be proud of that at least.

"Well I really do try my best to keep up with what new Hunters are coming into the profession so that I can see what I can learn from them. After all, almost every Huntsman and Huntress is different both from each other and their predecessors, even if they might have similar Semblances to another Hunter. It's all in how you use it and... well, new people bring new ways of thinking to even old Semblances or common ones." Heck, wasn't that the logic behind One For All, in a sense? That each new user brought not only raw power to the Semblance but a new way of thinking about it and using it? Izuku knew he was looking forward to whatever Toshinori might have to teach him and he could tell that Toshinori thought that coming up with the Glenn Smash was some new, out of the box way of utilizing what little control he had over it.

Pyrrha, on the other hand, just smiled as she nodded her head. "I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised. Of course you'd be this dedicated, you've never shown anything less than your best when it's come to being a Hunter." He went red in the face at Pyrrha's praise, waving his hand off as he sheepishly smiled. "... Though that can get a bit rough sometimes, like with your fight with Yang." That sheepish pride turned into a slight wince as he nodded in agreement with his partner. Still, Pyrrha went right back to smiling as she turned to the book and flipped the page to the next section.

"... Oh." Izuku reflexively turn to take a gander over at what Pyrrha's flipped the page to... let's see, if she was on Shinji, then by his memory that would mean that the next page was... ah, of course. Yu Takeyama's notes.

What were some words he'd used to describe her back when he wrote that again... riiiiight...

"Y-Yeah, Shinji's partner, Yu Takeyama. The two of them have been a pretty effective Hunter duo so far from what I've heard. Something about being able to traverse Mistral pretty easily?" Pyrrha's somewhat tense body language immediately melted away as she turned back to look at him, an easy smile on her face as she nodded her head.

"Yes, and I've actually seen a little bit about them so I know what you're talking about." Pyrrha raised a finger up. "Because Mistral's construction is so focused on the more vertical side of things as it concerns the city's layout, it can make it harder for Hunters with more traditional sets of powers to get around when chasing people, especially because a lot of the criminals they encounter will have deep seeded connections in the city." Pyrrha tapped her finger down on the page. "Shinji and Yu effectively negate that difficulty in traveling vertically along with runaway criminals through a combination of their Semblances; Shinji's able to call upon the abundant plant life that Mistral's built around in order to construct their own shortcuts and, in the most extreme examples, Yu's just able to hurdle them across or up long distances when trying to make it to the scene of a crime." Izuku actually smiled nice and wide as Pyrrha laid all it out.

"Wow Pyrrha, I didn't think you'd be so well informed. You said you didn't know too much about Hunters." Pyrrha nodded sheepishly as he spoke, her face momentarily turning as red as her hair.

"Oh, I still very much am Izuku, but I had the good graces of having an interview of mine schedule right behind one of theirs. I got to sit in and listen to them discuss the nature of being a Hunter in Mistral and the difficulties they had to overcome after graduating from Haven Academy. I was still... technically in the Hunter Program myself, though you wouldn't know it from how much of the program they allowed me to skate through thanks to my tournament performances, so I listened in to hear about the profession I was ostensibly a part of." A slight frown that had formed on Pyrrha's face gave way to a smile as she looked back to him. "It really was fascinating to listen to the two of them discuss how they worked together in order to overcome some of the unique challenges even Mistral's geography presents to them." Izuku nodded his head in ready agreement.

"Yeah, it really is. You wouldn't think that a pair of Semblances like that could have that sort of synergy but I guess you never know until you start actually applying your training in a live situation."

"Indeed... I suppose that it's not like every partner pair has obvious synergies right from the get go." Izuku blinked somewhat as Pyrrha looked over to the other beds in the dorm room. "Weiss and Nora... well, after this week's exercise, I think it's safe to say that they're going to end up being a 'very' successful partner pair. The synergy they have between Weiss' capabilities with Dust and the nature of Nora's Semblance... once those two get going, you have to wonder if there'd be any single Grimm on Remnant that'd be able to stop them."

Izuku couldn't help but shiver; Pyrrha's assessment wasn't far off, as far as he knew. The capabilities Nora and Weiss have for working together were truly terrifying if Nora's little performance was anything to go by. Put them into single combat with any large Grimm and the two of them would probably be able to tear it apart by combining their talents.

"But then there's others that have kinks to work out or who might not have an obvious synergy. Tenya and Blake come to mind most obviously though I have to imagine with how much Tenya thinks about things like this that they'll come up with something." Izuku nodded in agreement.

"You worried that we don't have a strong synergy?" It was fairly easy to see where Pyrrha was going once the conversation started down that track and, no surprise, his partner nodded a bit, though with a slight chuckle.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not panicking over it. We're barely into our first semester of our first year, it's not like we're facing life or death challenges in the immediate future. It's just... I'm not used to thinking of how to use my Semblance to assist others." Pyrrha commented idly as she brought a hand up to stroke a strand of her hair. "For Weiss the idea of applying her Dust and Glyphs to Nora have to come fairly naturally; it makes up the very foundation of her family's Semblance. Your Semblance greatly empowers you on its own, even if it does hurt you for now... but you can use it to help keep others safe. Polarity is a strong Semblance, don't mistake my thoughts for thinking it weak... but I've only ever needed to... or perhaps been able to conceptualize it as a way of helping myself and hurting my foes. Tripping them up, sending a swing the wrong way, forcing them off their footing, putting me on a solid footing. It's all fairly focused on my nature as a Tournament Fighter..."

"It makes me wonder... how much experience and thought have I lost out on my having the focus of my Semblance be so solely on my previous career rather than having actually gone to attend the Combat School. Perhaps actually having my education have been geared towards being a Hunter, like you or Ruby or Tenya, would... I dunno, maybe I wouldn't be so stuck for ideas on how to help you all with my Semblance." Pyrrha smiled wryly as she continued. "After all, when we're up against large Grimm like the Ursa Major from before, I can't exactly be stuck like I was there, taking pot shots that miss, in the future."

"Well... then by the same standard, I'm pretty much in the same boat as you are Pyrrha. In fact, I might even be worse off." Pyrrha turned to meet Izuku's gaze as his eyes drifted down to his fists, clenching them slightly. "Huntsman don't just operate in the wilderness killing Grimm out in the wild Pyrrha. Grimm can often times infiltrate settlements in order to try to kill innocent people and, in this day and age, a Hunters are also expected to operate in urban areas as well, protecting people from natural distastes and criminals. My Semblance as it is now... it'd be unacceptable for me to use it in almost any situation where innocent people's lives would be at stake. It'd almost be a sure thing that I'd hurt them while trying to save them." Pyrrha frowned as Izuku spoke so plainly but she didn't move to disagree with him.

"You on the other hand have a lot more room to work with because your control over your Semblance is more precise. Your Semblance is 'Polarity', the fundamental force of magnetism is in your control! You could do a lot with it. I mean, let's just start with equipment; Polarity gives you so many options that not a lot of Hunters have. You have the ability to work with tools that are more unwieldy or just outright impossible for people to normally wield either because of their size and power or the fact that you basically have an entire field of hands to work with. Shields and blades that you could extend out from your body in order to protect people or to damage Grimm outside of your immediate range for example or, heck, if you wanted something whose power could easily equal or, let's be honest, surpass my Smash, you could even use Polarity to help you wield a huge rifle that, ordinarily, would knock most people on their butts trying to use it! I'm sure Ruby or Mei would love to talk to you about it!

"Then there's the ways you could contribute to our team's mobility, awareness and defense. You helped me a lot during Initiation by helping me cover areas and dodge out of the way of moves that I'd have no chance of avoiding on my own! If everyone wore some kind of metal that you could manipulate on their arms and legs you'd, essentially, be able to make snap decisions about things that might be outside of their immediate range of vision for them to make calls on... we'd need to introduce some squad lead training into your schedule of course because those would be the kinds of skills you'd need to make those kinds of snap judgment... but only if you're okay with it of course!

"And then there's the fact that it's 'Magnetism' which also effects electricity and substances like plasma! If you worked with Weiss on how to integrate some differing Dust types into your Semblance then Pyrrha, you'd be swinging around some considerable force that not even a Grimm would be able to ignore!" Pyrrha seemed slightly blown away by the amount of thought and passion Izuku'd put into these considerations as he himself felt how excited he was thinking about these possibilities. Izuku supposed he'd always be a nerd when it came to Hunters, no matter who they were.

"Pyrrha... I understand your misgivings. Honestly, I've been thinking about how lucky I am to have my own Semblance, drawbacks and all... but I've been being reminded that my Semblance isn't all there is to being a Huntsman, that it's just one tool in the trade." Izuku looked up to her and gave her a smile. "So maybe you spent more time learning about direct combat than how to use your Semblance... that's okay! Because they're tools just like anything else... and if someone like me can figure out how to make something work out of his Semblance, then I know you can do it too! Don't worry about what could've been or what choices you made or were made for you... just... look to the future." He did his best to give her a winning smile... and admittedly, his own nerves and shyness still prevented it from being something on Toshinori's level. Still, he wanted his partner to feel more sure about herself, to not have these doubts hanging over her head.

So when he saw a smile form slowly across Pyrrha's lips, one that reached all the way up to her eyes, he felt accomplished.

"Izuku... hahaha... it's like you've put more thought into what I can do than I have... I suppose that says a lot about what I've been putting my thoughts toward instead of improving, huh?" Pyrrha hummed to herself for a moment as she closed her green eyes in thought, before opening them back up. "I suppose that you're right; wallowing in what I've been doing rather than focusing on what I can do... it's not going to make that situation any better. You're right; there's a world of possibility for me to improve at with my Semblance and everything about my abilities as a Huntress. I hope you don't mind if I start by taking your advice, Izuku."

"Of course not Pyrrha. I'm your partner and team leader after all. Any advice I give I'd be glad for you to take." The two of them took a moment to discuss the matter a little bit more before Pyrrha turned her attention back to what the two were actually supposed to be doing at the moment; studying. He got back to his own books as he prepared to continue his tutoring, only for Pyrrha to speak up again.

"Also, Izuku, I have to admit to being a little bit surprised."

"By what?" Izuku asked, blinking curiously as Pyrrha kept her eyes forward on the book.

"That you referred to Yu Takeyama as 'sexy'." Izuku resisted the urge to slap himself on the forehead as Pyrrha brought this up. Oh right, there it was...

"Er, yeah, surprised you say? Nothing wrong with that, is there?" Izuku's chuckle nervously as his cheeks remained thoroughly pink.

"Oh no, nothing at all it's just that, well, I mean, I've been told by some people that boys are really intimidated by girls who are taller than them..."

"Well... that doesn't make any sense to me at all." Izuku said bluntly, watching as Pyrrha blinked in some surprise at the frankness. "I mean... if you think a girl's attractive, you shouldn't really be worrying about stuff like their height, right?" At that Izuku rubbed his chin in curiosity as he pondered the mystery. "Besides, I always thought being tall was really cool... kind of wished that I was taller myself, you know. So I really don't see how that could be considered a bad thing. If a person's really intimidated by that kind of stuff then... well, to me, that just says that they can't appreciate the person for who they are."

When he saw the slight shade of pink that formed on Pyrrha's cheeks Izuku realized that he might've said something that sounded really dorky or forward, so he just chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. "Besides, I already get a little jumpy around girls to begin with... in a manner of speaking. So a girl's height is really the 'last' thing I end up noticing anyway." Izuku saw Pyrrha grin a little bit at that, an amused twinkle to her eye.

"Oh, it's the last thing you notice? What would be the first then, Izuku?" At that Izuku went beet red but before he could devolve into some embarrassed ramblings about how he didn't mean it like that, Pyrrha just chuckled good naturedly and nodded his way. "Thank you Izuku."

"Uh... thanks for what? I-I really didn't say much of anything there..." Izuku looked down to the side, still slightly sheepish at the particular topic, as Pyrrha just shrugged her shoulders.

"I just appreciate hearing that is all." With that Pyrrha turned back toward his notes and continued to take copies of her own, his face still scrunched up in confusion as he shrugged his shoulders and turned back to his own book, the tutoring continuing.

'I still don't get girls at all.'

Izuku took a deep, relaxing breath as he walked along Beacon's hallways. At the moment, he was actually on his way to the library to turn in some books and to get some new ones for his studies in the week ahead. He really didn't have much specific on his mind; he knew that there were still a lot of areas he had to cover, on top of being able to get everything necessary for the upcoming classes, but even beyond that he wasn't quite sure as to what he wanted to read. Thankfully, it seemed that the hallways was relatively empty and quiet, allowing him to ponder these possibilities without too much of an interruption. Not that he'd mind some company of course, but considering how big Beacon was and all the different kinds of people who could be around... well, who was to say he'd run into his friends instead of someone like Cardin Winchester. So while the silence could be a bit heavy, it was definitely preferable to bad company-

"Oh, hello there Izuku."

"Ah!"

Of course, what was even more preferable was familiar company... just not familiar company that felt like it came right out of nowhere. Izuku ended up back on his feet, only stumbling slightly, as he turned to face the person he'd, ostensibly, just passed on her way down a nearby hall; Tsuyu Asui, Yang's partner. As he took a moment to get his bearings, by God could she be quiet on her feet, Tsuyu brought one of her fingers up to her mouth in that curious gesture of hers.

"Sorry about that, didn't mean to spook you, ribbit ribbit."

"O-Oh, don't worry about it! I guess I just wasn't paying attention was all. It's good to see you, Tsuyu." Izuku offered with a polite nod as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head, the frog Faunus' even gaze just looking straight on at him.

"Please, call me Tsu." Izuku nodded, distantly remembering that little tidbit coming up anytime any of his friends tried to call the girl by her full name. It was appreciated, at any rate, while the frog girl just continued on. "What brings you around here then Izuku. Going off to train?"

"Er, no, why would you assume that?" Tsuyu just shrugged.

"I usually end up saying the first thing that comes to mind and that's what popped into my head when I thought of what you'd be doing, ribbit." Izuku deflated a little bit but chuckled as he shook his head.

"No, afraid not. I was actually going to head off to the library to exchange out some books for class next week. Thought I'd get a jump on that while I could. What about you?" Tsuyu just shrugged her shoulder slightly as she took a moment to look around.

"My own team's busy doing a bunch of their own stuff at the moment. Tenya's been busy setting up for your next Leadership Council meeting-"

'Already.'

"-yes, already."

'Holy woah, how'd she do that?'

"Yang's taking it easy after your spar in Glynda's class and she's doing a bit of maintenance work on Bumblebee to get it ready for some upgrades she and Tenya have in mind and... well, Blake's actually in the library doing some reading herself. I've already called home earlier today so I thought I'd look around for Ruby, see if she'd be interested in just hanging out for once." Ruby had been talking about how much she and Tsuyu were working out together.

"Oh, that's pretty neat!" Izuku offered with a slight nod which the frog girl returned.

"Anyway, I won't keep ya if that's what you got planned Izuku so I guess I'll see you later. Tell Blake I said hi." With that Tsuyu turned to walk off in the direction of Team RSBR's dorm room. Izuku paused in thought for a moment... honestly, out of all his friends he pretty much hadn't talked to Tsuyu much, if at all. Sure he and Ren hadn't really hung out but, well, given how close he and Nora were it was almost like he was doing it by proxy; Nora sharing stories about his team with Ren and her bringing back stories from Team RSBR. He hadn't spoken to Kacchan either but... that was probably for the best, all things considered.

Tsuyu was the one friend of his he hadn't spent much time at all with...

"Hey, Tsu!" The frog girl paused as she turned to face Izuku while he suddenly felt a bit sheepish for having called out so loudly to someone who wasn't even a full hall away from him. "We haven't really had much of a chat ever since we came here. I didn't even really get the chance to introduce myself on our first day during Initiation, except after the whole thing. So, how about we hang out for a bit, actually get to know each other."

There was a moment where Tsuyu just stared off at him with that stare of hers and he had to stop himself from getting worked up. After all, that was Tsuyu's expression toward 'everything'. It's not like it meant she was annoyed or was averse to his proposal. In fact, lo and behold, Tsuyu cracked a slight smile as she nodded.

"Sure thing Izuku, I'd like that. There's been something I've been interested in talking about you with too." Izuku blinked, slightly surprised that Tsuyu already had something in mind, before she waved him on. "Come on, I don't want to keep ya so we can talk on the way to the library." Izuku quickly nodded as he waited for Tsuyu to make her way back towards him and, with a quick turn, the both of them head on back towards the library.

"So, you wanted to talk to me about something?"

"Yeah actually. It's been something I've been pretty curious about ever since our first day when you talked about your ideas about being a hero." Izuku quirked his eyebrow real quick as he gave an amused chuckle.

"Tsu, I think I've pretty well said what you'd be interested to hear when it comes to that, I think. I've kind of been going on about it too..." He sheepishly scratched the back of his head as Tsu nodded.

"Yeah, you do tend to go for the big speeches if Yang or Blake is any indication." Izuku very nearly tripped over his own feet at Tsuyu's rather blunt assessment as the frog girl brought her finger back up to her mouth, looking up to the ceiling in thought. "That's not really what I'm interested in myself though. I can understand what your ideals are perfectly fine. They're good ideals and Toshinori's a good guy to look up to as far as being a Hunter. No, what I'm more curious about is the 'why'." Izuku blinked in confusion before he tilted his head to the side.

"Why? I mean, I'm from Mountain Glenn, so-"

"Well a lot of people are from Mountain Glenn Izuku and you don't see most of them running off to be Hunters... heck, those who live there that thought they were Broken were probably even less inclined." Again he couldn't help but feel a bit tripped up by how 'bluntly' Tsuyu put all of that, especially calling out his previously Broken nature... or to her what she 'thought' was his Broken nature,

"I guess you've got a point..." Izuku admitted as the frog Faunus just looked back over to him with that expression of hers.

"If I'm coming off as a bit harsh, well, sorry. I have a tendency to just say what's on my mind without thinking, ribbit. A lot of people tell me that it makes me come off as abrasive, ribbit." Izuku just waved it off, not wanting her to think he'd been insulted, before she continued. "But yeah, just because you're from some town doesn't give a good reason why you chose your reasons for becoming a Hunter. I mean, look at Bakugo; he comes from the same town that was saved by Toshinori, but he's 'definitely' not turning out like you are. Kind of always seems like an angry person if you ask me."

"Well you aren't wrong." Izuku admitted cautiously, as if doing so would summon Kacchan right to him.

"His beliefs and why he has them are different from yours, if Ruby's right about him." Tsuyu continued as he nodded along. "This is just kind of a topic of interest for me because of my own family and its history. Talks about what's heroic and what's right... well, these past few generations they've been a bit more complicated, ribbit ribbit." Izuku quirked a rather curious brow but it seemed like Tsu was not going to get too much into it. "So when I meet someone who has such... well, heroic ideals and who really believes in them with all their heart, it makes me wonder 'why'. What makes a person like this in specific when they could've turned out just like any other average Joe on the street."

"So, would you be willing to entertain my curiosity, Izuku? Why be a hero anyway, especially when it would've seemed impossible? I mean, that alone is worth asking if you ask me, ribbit."

...

"... Because people need hope." Izuku stopped for a moment as he looked out a nearby window, out in the general direction he knew Mountain Glenn to lay. "When I was a kid, my mom would often tell me about the day when everyone in Mountain Glenn was saved. She looked so happy when she talked about it, so relieved that, in the end, that day hadn't been the end. Around then... I guess that's when I started to think that I wanted to be able to make people feel like that. When the doctors pronounced me as Broken... well, that didn't change my ideals at the time. Don't get me wrong, it hurt at the time and... well, there were times that I really did nearly give up hope." He clenched his fists as he gave a firm nod. "But in the end, someone fought for my hope... and that's the entire point. Hope 'needs' to be fought for and I was lucky enough that I found out I could pursue my dream. I want to show everyone that anything is possible! I want to protect people and inspire them to hope and make the world a better place."

Tsuyu just kept looking at him with that expression of hers and, as he came down from his determined facade, he ended up scratching the back of his head. "Well... that's more what I think and feel about the 'why' of it, I guess. If I were to try and look at the root of where it comes from though..."

"There's stories about how every Great Huntsman became what they are... and most of them start the exact same way. That when they found people in danger, they'd rush in to save them; their body would move without them even thinking about it.

"And today, that's what happened to you."

"... My body always kind of moves on its own whenever I see someone suffering or in need of help. It's been that way ever since I was a little kid even... and it still is like that. I just feel compelled to do so, without even giving it a second thought... even when common sense of fear might tell me to do otherwise."

Izuku saw Tsuyu nod her head as he finished and, again, a slight smile formed on her lips. "So you're kind of a natural born hero then, huh?" Izuku went a bit red as he sheepishly scratched at the back of his head.

"Well, I wouldn't say that..."

"Except you kind of did Izuku, ribbit ribbit." Well... okay, she had him there, but still, he wouldn't really claim to be much of a natural born 'anything' considering how much work he'd had to put in to just catch up to his peers or to master even a small fraction of One For All. "I don't even really doubt your sincerity; with how Blake and Tenya described your actions against the Giant Nevermore, I'd honestly believe that you were exactly the kind of person you described." Izuku smiled a bit, glad to know that he made such an impact on Tenya and Blake even for so little as he actually did. It was his plan that had failed in the first place, after all.

"So what about you? What's your 'why' for becoming a Huntress?" Tsuyu nodded, perhaps having anticipated his question, as she placed a finger just below her mouth.

"Honestly, it's kind of tradition at this point. My family didn't always live in Vale; for a long time we actually lived in a neighboring village that was settled in a bog. Most of our family usually ended up picking up Faunus traits that made it pretty easy to live there so it was a natural spot. Of course, being outside of Vale's wall, it meant that it was open to all kinds of Grimm invasions... and this was before the whole Academy system was set up for making Huntsmen and Huntresses 'official'. So if anyone in my family was born with Faunus traits that wouldn't hinder them in a fight, they'd usually sign up to help protect the place. It was mostly a Faunus community, after all why live in a bog if you didn't 'have' to, but for the humans who lived there... well, you can't exactly irrationally hate someone who's busy protecting you from the Grimm."

"So we stayed there up until the Faunus Rights Revolution and then, after that, our family ended up packing up and moving to Vale when my dad was still a tadpole. Now that we lived in the city that meant that if we wanted to continue the old family tradition, we'd need to be certified to become Huntsmen..."

"... Which wasn't a right won until Ghira formed The White Fang." Tsuyu nodded.

"I've said before that The White Fang started off good and my dad definitely agreed. Heck, he joined up as a member of The White Fang in its early days. He really admired Ghira and his message. The fact that Faunus were allowed to join the official Academies was one of the biggest wins of the early Fang... but it was also one of the 'only' wins." Tsuyu stuck her tongue out for a moment in thought.

"So then Ghira just up and quit on everything he said he believed in. 'Wasn't making enough progress' and he wanted to leave to 'let other people act in his place for the Faunus to get results'. Guess that meant leaving it to someone like Sienna Khan." Izuku saw Tsuyu shake her head. "My dad was pretty devastated... and I can definitely see your point about needing to fight for hope because when Ghira quit, my dad kind of gave up hope in the ideas. Not that he joined the radicals or anything, no... but he gave up on the idea that there could be a lasting peace between humans and Faunus thanks to the SDC and Sienna Khan's White Fang. It was the same way for a lot of people, which I guess is why so many people stuck around to fight. They had to do something, right? It's just that, instead of joining with Sienna, he decided to just quit all together."

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that..." Tsuyu shrugged as she looked at him with that blank expression of hers.

"Oh, don't be. I didn't exactly follow in my dad's footsteps if the fact that I'm here at all is any indication. Heck, I have lots of friends who're humans like Yang, Blake, Tenya, you, Ruby, Nora, Pyrrha, Weiss... which is the really weird one now that I think about it, ribbit ribbit. Still, even that proves that peace is possible... even with folks like Adam Taurus on one side and guys like Jacques Schnee on the other. But fighting humans hasn't gotten us closer to that peace. It's gotten us rights which I'm not going to complain about having, but we're no closer to peace now than we were at the end of the Faunus Rights Revolution. Humans and Faunus need to be able to trust each other if we're all going to survive... otherwise we'll just end up bleeding each other dry for the Grimm to come in and scoop us up. That's the lesson my family picked up living in that bog for so many generations."

"So that's why I'm following in my grandmother's and my other ancestors steps and becoming a Huntress. You know, put up and actually work for what I believe in or shut up, ribbit ribbit."

Izuku couldn't help but smile as he heard Tsuyu give him her own reasons for becoming a Huntress. Honestly, as far as he was concerned, it was a pretty great story and a fantastic reason for wanting to become a Hunter. He gave her a short nod as he continued to smile, a slight shine in his eyes.

"I'm really glad to hear that. With things the way they are now, with the White Fang drawing the kind of ire it is, it's important that people are reminded that we're really all in this together and that it's important we work with one another. It's also one thing to believe in it... but I'm really glad that you told me about your reasons and about how hard you're willing to fight for it. It makes me feel certain... I just know that you and your dream will be able to go far Tsu!"

Tsuyu's neutral expression, or perhaps her 'normal' expression now that Izuku thought about it, once more cracked into a smile as he spoke, the frog girl just nodding firmly as she looked over to him.

"Thank you Izuku, I appreciate the confidence, ribbit ribbit." She scratched her cheek as she thought. "For the record, I think you'll do well with your dream too. Your Semblance is pretty powerful and it's clear that you really believe in your dream. Heck, Yang's pretty much convinced that you're going to be a great Hunter one day, and I don't really have much reason to disagree, ribbit ribbit." Izuku really couldn't help himself as his smile grew even wider, stretching the limits of his face as he offered Tsuyu another nod. The two of them continued to walk along in some silence as he let these thoughts settle in, before Tsuyu's face broke out in that smile again. "Speaking of your dream, I really can't imagine how excited you've been."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked somewhat as Tsuyu smiled.

"I mean, I can understand it somewhat; being able to get into Beacon Academy wasn't a sure thing for me but I still managed it, even with all this tension rising up between humans and Faunus over the White Fang, so I was excited. You, on the other hand, thought you were Broken... and now here you are. A Huntsman-in-training at Beacon Academy... heck, at Beacon Academy while Toshinori's teaching here at the same time, your big hero." Izuku couldn't help but grin as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. Yep, it really was kind of a dream come true when he thought about it. A once in a lifetime opportunity, a stroke of luck, that let him-

"And to top it all off, your Semblance ended up being a lot like Toshinori's, eh Izuku?"

...

'Huh?'

Izuku immediately snapped his head over to Tsuyu, doing his best to reign in his nervousness as the frog girl scratched her chin a bit and looked up.

"Yeah, I mean, it'd be one thing if it was just a pretty powerful and flashy Semblance, that'd be cool enough for someone who started off thinking they were broken on its own... but then you add onto that the fact that it's a lot like your big hero's. You're able to hit the air so hard that you can create shock waves even with just your finger. Plus you even call your attacks 'Smashes'. That's pretty... 'cool', Izuku." Izuku was guessing that she was probably thinking of another word instead of cool, but he was a little too scatterbrained to think about what Tsuyu could've possibly thought at this moment.

'Crap, crap, crap, crap, okay, gotta think of something, gotta think of a way around this…'

'OKAY DON'T PANIC, THERE'S NO NEED TO PANIC! I MEAN, WHY PANIC? JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE USED BASIC OBSERVATION TO KEY INTO THE FACT THAT YOUR 'SEMBLANCE' IS SIMILAR TO TOSHINORI'S?! I MEAN, WHY WOULD YOU PANIC? IT'S NOT AS IF EVERYONE HAS BASIC SKILLS OF OBSERVATION AND LOGIC, RIGHT?!'

...

'OH GODS, HOW MANY OTHER PEOPLE FIGURED THIS OUT JUST BY LOOKING! OKAY, DON'T PANIC! JUST DIVERT HER ATTENTION! POINT OUT SOMETHING RANDOM?! MAYBE A FLY? SHE IS A FROG FA-OH GODS, WAS THAT RACIST TO THINK? I MEAN, YOU'D HEARD FAUNUS LIKE THE SORTS OF FOODS THEIR BASE ANIMALS LIKE TO EAT SO YOU JUST ASSUMED-STOP THINKING ABOUT THIS AND START THINKING ABOUT HOW YOU'RE GOING TO LIE YOUR ASS OFF!'

...

'No... no wait. This was okay. You could do this... just... just play it cool.'

Izuku chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his head, a sheepish expression on his face. "O-O-Oh? That's... that's a pretty neat way of thinking about it. I mean, I haven't really thought of it that way before..."

'Yes. Use that nervous energy.'

After he nervously chuckled while Tsuyu fixed him with that neutral look of hers, he just snapped his fingers. "Ah, okay, you caught me. I admit it, I've noticed how similar they are too. Sure it's just... well, I guess it's not 'just' a basic enhancement Semblance when you consider the results, but it seems to work like Toshinori's. So... I've been kind of training it up to make it look as much like Toshinori's as I can. You know, follow the example of a great Hero?" That was easier than outright lying... because it wasn't a lie, not really. He was basically telling the truth... just with a small, but hugely significant, chunk cut out.

"And yeah... I call them Smashes because that's what Toshinori calls all his moves... though, I don't think any of my moves are anywhere near as strong or as good as his... mostly because I keep breaking my body whenever I try to use my Semblance to any significant degree. I can't even really risk using it to a large degree without making sure I won't break someone or something else important... so it's... not that great. Still though, that just means I have to work hard to get better control of it, right?"

"Yeah. I mean, not everyone is going to get control over their Semblance within just a couple months of even unlocking their Aura. Heck, the fact that you've come this far says a lot, ribbit ribbit." Tsuyu admitted as she scratched her cheek slightly. "Certainly farther than what I've come up with concerning my own Semblance." Izuku perked up noticeably as Tsuyu mentioned hers and the frog girl noticed immediately. With two round blushes on her cheeks the frog girl demurred for a second before speaking up again. "Have you ever heard of a literary device called hammer space?" Izuku blinked for a moment in clear confusion as Tsuyu just sighed. "Well... to put it simply, I can basically store items in my stomach in excess of what it should be able to hold without their weight affecting me. It takes a small amount of Aura to maintain but so long as I keep the space small enough then I can usually break even every hour when it comes to how much Aura my body naturally recovers and how much Aura it takes to maintain the space."

'Oh. Oh! Oooooh!'

"That's... no way, are you for real?" Izuku asked, genuinely surprised, as Tsuyu stopped for a moment. He watched as her mouth contorted a bit before he heard her swallow multiple times. It took a moment for him to realize that Tsuyu just swallowed her own tongue... and a moment later he watched as Tsuyu leaned back a bit and, from out of her mouth came her tongue holding onto her folded up Machete.

"Yep, completely and totally for real. It's not flashy but at this point I can hold about ten cubic feet of stuff in my stomach all at once... provided I end up exhausting my Aura maintaining a space that huge, ribbit ribbit." With a swish and flick of her tongue Tsuyu's machete disappeared back down her gullet. Her face strained for a moment as she shook her head. "I can't fit anything down there that I can't actually swallow of course, but still, it can be handy."

"That's... REALLY COOL!" Izuku couldn't help but have little stars in his eyes. "A Semblance like that could be used to transfer all kinds of things around for a survival group! Your team could pack who knows how many extra supplies around without even having to worry about being encumbered by your material plus there's not even covering the possibilities of what you can carry on your own person I mean you'll never get taken off guardeverbyanyopponentyou'llalwalysbeabletohavesomekindofweapononhandpluswhoknowshowmanyextrasand-" By that point he'd long since pulled his notebook out and began taking quite liberal notes on Tsuyu's page in his Hunter Analysis For The Future Notebook #13, muttering to himself as he considered all the various potential uses a practical Semblance like that might have.

"Izuku." Tsuyu's flat voice snapped him out of his trance and he looked over at her, seeing those round blushes still on her face before he snapped his gaze back over to his own notebook. Soon enough he put two and two together and realized what he'd just done. He was not even a few seconds into his rushed and humiliated apology before Tsuyu waved him off. "It's cool, I just didn't want you to pass out from a lack of oxygen or something." Izuku laughed nervously as he sheepishly scratched at the back of his head. "Plus it's pretty cool that someone with a flashy Semblance thinks my Semblance has a lot of uses. Most people usually just comment that it makes me seem more like a frog... and they're not wrong. Semblances are weird like that, ribbit ribbit." Before he could comment back, they were both in front of the library.

"Oh hey, this would be my stop." Tsuyu nodded as her long fingered hand gave him a quick wave.

"Well, talk to you later Izuku. Good to finally be able to discuss this with ya, ribbit ribbit." Izuku nodded in agreement as he offered Tsuyu a small wave as well.

"Yeah, I'll see you around Tsu." With that the two of them parted ways.