The number of apparent views verses the number of followers for my stories (not just this one) makes me laugh. Show some support people! Lol just messing. I don't really care if anyone is uninterested or doesn't like the things I write. Can't please everyone. I just write what I want and like. I know my best friend always enjoys reading everything so what more could I ask for, right? Besides, I think, statistically, most people who read on this site don't actually have an account.

With that said, lol, if you're reading this for whatever curious reason, hope you enjoy!

"For today's training, I want to see how well you handle yourselves on your own," the teacher said. "As you can see, we have a battle area set up similar to the sports festival's tournament ring, minus the spectator stands of course. Each of you will fight in one-on-one battles."

"Is our opponent random?" a student asked.

"Your opponent…is the person who acted as your partner during the flag capture training two weeks ago."

There were several whispers and murmurs of surprise. Jaz, in particular, looked mortified and clutched at Michiru's sleeve.

"I want each of you to treat it as a real battle. A fight for your life. Do whatever you need to win. There will be some bloodshed today, but I will stop the fight if it gets too hairy. You win by either knocking your opponent out-of-bounds or by being the only one who can continue. The only random part of this will be the order in which your fights will take place. Now, let's see… Ueno and Kubo, you're up first."

"Bloodshed?" someone echoed. "That sounds a bit extreme…"

"You can't expect not to get hurt, even if it's just training," someone else told them. "Besides, it's not like he's making us kill each other or anything."

"Don't say it like that!"

"What?"

"I want to go home…" Jaz muttered behind Michiru.

She glanced back at him over her shoulder. "But you hate home."

This sentence caught Shota's attention and he quickly looked at them but said nothing. He was too busy trying to figure out how to take down an abnormally large tiger with Quirks… He was not very pleased with the idea that he had to fight her, mostly because he just did not want to fight Michiru. But he also knew that there were likely still many things she could do that he was unaware of. Other than Jaz, who presented the same problem, if it were anyone else in the class, he believed he had a pretty decent chance.

Hizashi looked over at Jaz worriedly. "You, uh, you guys somewhat mentioned something the other day about being forced to be heroes… Seriously, who's making you and why?"

"If we don't, then we won't be able to freely look for…" Jaz shook his head. "Never mind."

"It just makes things easier in the end," Michiru said. "Anyways, I hope your fight won't negatively affect the friendship you two seem to have formed over these past weeks."

Hizashi looked more worried now. "Will it!?"

"Uh…" She looked bewildered by his reaction. "N-No?"

"I hope not!"

"It won't," Jaz said quietly as he stared at the ground. "…Just my permanent hearing…"

When it was time for the match between Jaz and Hizashi, there was an awkward moment where the two of them just stared at each other across the ring even after the teacher had told them to begin.

"Any day now…" their teacher grumbled.

Shota knew that Hizashi had heard, because he glanced very quickly with his eyes in the teacher's direction. So, why wasn't he doing anything? What would be the point of waiting for his opponent to make the first move? Not that Hizashi ever did wait. Shota had noticed that the two seemed to have become close over the past two weeks, but still…

The teacher cleared his throat, and Jaz's ears perked up as if he suddenly remembered what was going on. He suddenly shifted into a tiger and let out a short roar, sending a bolt of electricity at his opponent that surprised everyone. Hizashi was also a bit surprised and was caught off guard; the bolt struck him directly, sending a painful shockwave through his entire body that felt like getting tased as his muscles tightened reactively.

It only lasted for a few seconds, but it was enough to effectively stun him. Once it had worn off, he felt physically fatigued and his legs almost gave out, but he managed to stagger and catch himself to stay on his feet.

Jaz looked utterly mortified. He had not sent out a very powerful bolt. In fact, it was probably one of the weakest bolts he had ever made, but he never really used them on people, either…

"Okay then," Hizashi caught his breath and straightened up. He took in a deep breath. "YEAAAHH! LET'S GO!"

Jaz reactively cringed from the loud soundwaves, shutting his eyes and folding his ears flat as his claws unsheathed and dug into the concrete. He clenched his teeth tightly as he was bombarded with an onslaught of high-volume words, some of which he could not even understand.

The class and teacher had backed away from the area a little. Although they were not in the direct path of Hizashi's shouts, it was still incredibly loud. Jaz appeared to be stuck in place, unable to get himself to move.

He could feel blood beginning to trickle from his ears and wet his fur. A growl rumbled deep in his chest and throat, building up until, finally, he let out a surprisingly loud roar that shook everyone's bodies and reverberated through their chests as a huge bolt of lightning struck down so close to Hizashi that it knocked him back and out of the ring.

They were amazed. The bolt had not come from Jaz himself, but rather, it came from the sky. A small cluster of dark clouds had begun to form and swirl high over the tiger until he let loose that loud roar and the clouds struck down furious lightning in response. Now, the clouds were quickly dispersing, but the lightning had left behind a large black scorch mark on the concrete.

Shota was surprised. It was a good thing that the bolt had not hit Hizashi directly…

"Uh," the teacher was still recovering from the surprise. "Y-Yamada is out-of-bounds! Victory to Jaz!"

Now it was Jaz's turn to be surprised. He was surprised that he had won, yes, but he was mostly surprised that he had let loose that powerful bolt. He hurriedly went over to Hizashi and used his head to scoop and sit him up.

"A-Are you okay?!"

Hizashi held his head, looking dizzy, then started laughing. "Hey! You didn't say you could do that!"

"I…didn't know I could." He sighed, relieved. "I'm glad you're not actually hurt…" He flinched a little as Hizashi reached his hand out to touch him and spark of static zapped him on the nose.

"I got static!" Hizashi grinned. "You messed up my hair."

"Uh, s-sorry!" Jaz pawed at his nose. If there was one place on his body in this form that electricity did affect it was his pink tiger nose.

"You might have won if you didn't wait so long to act," Shota said as Hizashi returned to the crowd.

He smiled and shrugged. "If you say so. But even you weren't expecting that thunder cloud, yeah?"

"…Are you hurt?"

"Nope. Eh, besides… I don't know how I would've actually fought him if it came to it. I mean, he's a tiger!"

Shota and Michiru were the last to be called to the ring. He figured that using his Erasure on her as a tiger would likely not force her back into human form, but if he used it before she could shift… Unfortunately for him, she was much faster at shifting than he was at even blinking. The instant they had the say-so to begin, she had transformed into the spirit-like tigress form. She probably thought the same thing he had about it, and he was right. His erasure proved unable to force her back into a human, but she did appear surprised by something for a split moment before she darted off to the side. He figured he must have erased her Aura Power instead. This was a good thing for him, but he still had to take down a huge tiger or force her out of the ring somehow before he needed to blink.

Michiru wasn't kidding when she had mentioned two weeks ago that she was agile in this form. She had bolted to one side, and when he darted out of the way she quickly turned and lunged at him, nearly catching his hip with her claws. He had to admit, it was pretty nerve-wracking to see a huge tiger lunging at you with claws unsheathed. Tigers were already large animals, but Michiru, Jaz, and Tsume's beast forms were all as tall as most adult humans, and that's when they were standing on all fours. Did he have the physical strength to go against her?

Michiru suddenly stopped in front of him and roared, swiping a large paw down at him and causing him to flinch and jump back. He gritted his teeth, annoyed with himself for falling for her fake-out. She wasn't even within range to hit him, but she still managed to make him flinch and blink. She suddenly formed a purple barrier over her head and shoulders and lunged at him with her head lowered like a ram. He realized that he was uncomfortably close to the edge of the ring; she was going to ram him and push him out.

Michiru was surprised at how acrobatic he was. She halted at the edge as he jumped up high and over her. She watched him fly over her then went to turn to face him, unaware that he had loosed his capture cloth around her chest and paws while she was distracted. As he landed back on the ground, he gripped the cloth and pulled hard, catching her back right leg and front left paw and pulling them out from under her. The big tigress hit the ground hard, clenching her teeth as her bottom jaw hit the concrete.

He felt a sudden rush of concern but kept himself composed. If he could just manage to immobilize her…

Michiru rolled herself onto her side and slashed at the cloth with her free forepaw, catching it between her claws and yanking it towards her to pull him closer.

Shota braced himself, feeling himself being dragged towards her, so he pulled harder. It had suddenly become a very unpleasant game of tug-o-war that worked every muscle in his body as he tried not to trip or lose balance. Luckily for him, Michiru seemed to be unable to right herself with her paws tangled up like they were, but she was fighting hard to give herself leeway. His arms and legs were quickly beginning to tire from her struggling; she did not go down easy…

Michiru growled. He had caught her with his Erasure again, preventing her from using a barrier or forming some kind of weapon. She suddenly stopped struggling, letting herself go limp and taking the opportunity to breathe.

There was a hush as Michiru suddenly stopped and flopped down on her side. It looked as if she had given up, but she did not say anything and she was looking the other way so no one could see her expression now. Shota remained as he was for a long minute or two before he relaxed ever so slightly, still refusing to let himself blink.

Her ear flicked. She had felt the very slight slack. Suddenly, Michiru yanked hard with all four limbs, pulling him all the way over to where she was, then kicked out with her hindlegs. Her back paws hit him hard in the chest and sent him flying back.

He landed hard on his back right near the edge of the other side of the ring. Clenching his teeth tightly, he struggled to push himself up and gasped for air. Michiru was already upon him, and he had to roll out of the way as she brought a broad paw down where he was just moments ago. She still had some of the cloth wrapped around her paws…

Without really thinking, Shota came back and dove beneath her, causing her to rear up like a horse from surprise. He flipped himself over and grabbed the cloth, pulling and turning and forcing her to fall head over paws with a loud crash, almost landing on top of him.

She laid there on her back for a moment before falling onto her side and releasing a huff of air through her nostrils. Shota did not dare relax this time, not even a little, but she appeared to be too exhausted or injured to go on.

"Michiru," the teacher called after a few moments had passed.

Her ear twitched a little and she opened her eyes, but she remained where she was on the ground. "Mm?"

The teacher huffed a little with amusement. "Michiru is unable to continue. Aizawa is the victor!"

Shota relaxed and exhaled with relief. He must have hit her head pretty hard… Feeling bad about it, he offered to escort her to the nurse's office, which surprised a few people for some reason he did not understand. The teacher nodded his agreement and shooed him off while he addressed the rest of the class.

"Michi." His face felt warm when he said her nickname. He sent a quick glance back at the class in the distance then crouched down to place his hand on her neck. He grabbed a fistful of her thick white fur and shook her a little. "Are you awake? Do you need a stretcher or something?"

"Mm?" She grunted and opened her eyes again, blinking. "A what?"

"A stretcher," he repeated. Though, maybe she was currently too large to fit on a stretcher… "Can you stand and walk? We're going to go to the nurse."

She did not respond and laid there for a moment longer before slowly forcing herself to her feet. There was a bit of blood trickling from her head but it was not flowing too much.

He stood up and watched her for a bit, surprised when she suddenly returned to her human form and stumbled. He caught her and helped her stand, letting her put most of her weight against him. "Er, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she told him. "A little dizzy, but I'll be fine."

"Mm." He carefully walked her back to the main building and to the nurse's office. "Uh, excuse us…"

The little old lady swiveled her chair around to look at them. "Oh, what's happened here? Injured during training exercises?" She narrowed her eyes at Shota. "Or did something else happen?"

He avoided eye contact. "Um, she got hit on the head during training. There's a little blood, but she says she's just dizzy."

"Sit her down over here." She gestured to a comfy-looking chair to her right. "You can head back to class. I'll have her fixed up in no time."

He helped Michiru into the chair then lingered awkwardly for a moment.

"What is it?" Recovery Girl asked.

"Nothing." He glanced at Michiru.

"This was your doing, wasn't it?"

He winced.

"Hm. That's why you're so worried about her."

He blushed a little and looked away. "I'm not worried. I just –"

"Good," she interrupted his excuse. "Because there's no reason to be worried. She'll be fine and back to normal in no time. Now, off you go, back to class!" She got up and shooed him out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

"O…kay?"

Michiru rejoined the class later, looking as if she had not almost gotten her skull cracked open. The blood had also been cleaned out of her lilac hair. When school let out for the day, Shota lingered around for a bit and joined her, Jaz, and Hizashi on the way out.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Jaz asked her.

She nodded. "Yeah. Good as new." She looked over at Shota. "You definitely used my own weight against me," she chuckled.

"Sorry…"

She smiled sweetly. "You don't have to be sorry, Shota. It was well-played. I didn't know you were so acrobatic and strong."

The strange fluttery feeling in his chest had returned suddenly. "Mm."

"Yeah," Hizashi said. "My pal Aizawa is always working and training extra hard on his own!"

"Speaking of," Shota said. "Have you even used Michi's property for training like you were offered?"

"Hey, why do you keep calling her that?" he grinned and Shota looked away.

Michiru chuckled. "He has, actually. It's quite humorous to hear a loud shout in the woods then, moments later, see several birds and other animals taking off in the opposite direction. Our local population of deer has migrated over to the other side of the forest for now."

"Whoops," Hizashi said.

"Don't worry. They'll be fine," she assured him with a smile. "Tsume says the exercise will be good for them since they never need to run away from predators or anything. He says they've gotten fat."

He laughed. "That one buck was pretty big. Hey!" He prodded Shota's arm, causing him to leer at him. "You should see Mi-Chan's piano."

"Mi-Chan…?"

She waved her hand dismissively. "Heh, he and Tori have taken to calling me that for some reason."

"She has this grand piano in the sunroom," Hizashi continued. "I thought it was just for show, but she can play it amazingly, too!"

"Really?"

He looked pleased with Shota's show of interest. "Uh-huh."

"When Michiru's playing the piano is when Hizashi is quiet," Jaz said from Michiru's other side.

"Huh. I guess I should see it, then."

"You two have jokes," Hizashi muttered. "Ah, anyways, what are you all doing for the winter break?"

"Jaz is going to come spend the break at our house," Michiru replied. "Tsume should be home the whole second week. What about you?"

He shrugged.

"You don't have your work studies over the break?" Shota asked him.

"Nah. They let me have the two weeks off. I was thinking of spending the first weekend at my cousin's hot spring. She owns a property with a bunch of hot springs and a bathhouse. Heh," he grinned at Michiru and Jaz. "Maybe after that weekend, I'll come bug you guys and stay at your place."

"Did you just invite yourself to stay two weeks at their house?" Shota muttered.

Michiru only chuckled. "Sure, but only if Jaz and I can go with you to the hot springs."

"Okay!"

Jaz flinched. "But that's a…public bathhouse…isn't it?"

Hizashi shrugged. "My cousin lets me have one to myself. Neat, huh?"

"Still…" Jaz's face was tinged pink.

"What about you?" Hizashi threw his arm over Shota's shoulders and dragged him closer. "You wanna come?"

"No."

"Too bad! I'll come kidnap you in the morning that Friday. Cool? Cool!"

"…What?"

Michiru huffed a laugh. "Hizashi, you can't just -"

"Too late!"

To be continued…

My best friend always reads my stories either at my house or over the phone so he can react in real time. He loves reading Hizashi's lines out loud. Especially the yelling parts...