Coming back to 1-A's homeroom felt weird after the USJ, but seeing Iida sitting at his desk with his serious school face put Ikumi at ease. "First one here as always, Iida," she said as the rest of their classmates filed in with varying levels of enthusiasm.

"Of course!" Iida practically vibrated. "As students at the most famous Hero school in Japan, we must strive to live up to U.A's high expectations! Part of that includes being in class ten minutes before it starts!"

I don't think anybody expects that much - not even Aizawa-sensei's that strict, Ikumi thought.

Still, she was happy to see Iida back in his slightly overbearing state. Looking at her classmates, she cleared her throat. "Well, um… Homeroom's about to start so… make sure you're all seated!"

"No probs, Class Prez." Sero gave her a thumbs up. The rest of the class made similar noises, most people already sitting in their places.

Double-checking to make sure that was true, Ikumi sat down. She half wondered if Aizawa-sensei was going to be back today or if he was going to be taking a break.

That question was answered when the door slid open, and Aizawa-sensei walked through, one arm in a sling but otherwise no worse for wear. Tsuyu and Mineta let out a small sigh of relief as he looked out at the class. "Morning."

"Good morning, sensei," they said, just happy to see him in the class. He swept a tired eye over them, before apparently being satisfied.

"Um… sensei?" Yaoyorozu put her hand up hesitantly. "Are you sure you should be teaching with a broken arm?"

He gave her and the class a flat stare. "I told Recovery Girl I would be fine, but she insisted I stagger the healing process since I have that luxury. However, my well-being isn't what's important. After all… your battle is far from over."

As one, the class tensed up. Ikumi clasped her hands together anxiously. What was Aizawa or U.A planning?

Aizawa-sensei narrowed his eyes. "The U.A Sports Festival is in two weeks."

The class let out a collective breath. "That's so ordinary!" Kaminari cried.

She couldn't see Sero's face, but his shoulders tensed up. "Wait, is this such a good idea after being attacked by Villains?"

"The Principal thinks it's necessary to show that our crisis management protocols are up to date to stop other Villain attacks like that." Aizawa gave them a steely stare. "We are aware of the risk, so there's going to be about five times the police presence this year compared to normal, not to mention the Heroes in the stadium."

Ikumi was barely aware that the entire class was listening closely, Aizawa giving them a small, leering grin. "The U.A Sports Festival is not an event that can be cancelled by a few Villains."

She couldn't help but wonder how the other classes were taking this information.

—

"Our Sports Festival cannot be cancelled by the actions of a few Villains." Togaru grinned when he heard Kan-sensei say that, their teacher giving them a determined frown. This was the kind of stuff he'd signed up for when he became a student.

If he'd heard that U.A was going to back down from a couple of Villains, then he would have probably transferred.

The rest of the class mostly shared that sentiment. "Of course it can't be cancelled just like that!" Monoma crowed, a huge grin on his face. "After all, this is our great chance to show the Heroes out there what we can do!"

Over at the front of the class, Kendo grinned. "The U.A Sports Festival really captures people's imaginations - though I have to admit, me and my family still watch the Olympics when they happen - after all, they are a contest of strength and skill several hundred years old."

"If you like that kind of thing, I guess. But the Olympics has so many restrictions on how Quirks are allowed to be used, it just results in all the same Quirks being seen," Monoma muttered.

"He's got you there!" Setsuna cackled, brushing off Kendo's dirty look. "Seriously, the Olympics have so many restrictions that you only see enhancer Quirks, maybe a heteromorph if you're lucky. Barely any variety!"

Togaru snorted as he remembered that. He'd watched the Olympics ages ago, and he had to admit he couldn't really see the appeal. Some countries still held the Olympics in high regard - at least Greece did, he remembered that much from one of Ikumi's mumble storms.

Kan just shook his head. "Getting back to the Sports Festival itself, this is a huge opportunity for you to sell yourselves to Heroes. Depending on how well you do, you may be picked up for an internship by a big name Hero. Just remember, you only have three chances to make an impression. Use them wisely."

The class went so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Then Tetsutetsu threw a fist in the air, a manly grin on his face. "Hell yeah! We're gonna go Plus Ultra, sensei!" he crowed, Kendo chuckling at the display.

Kan-sensei just sighed. "In any case, you have two weeks to prepare for the Sports Festival. Don't forget to do your best."

Monoma grinned at that. "And if we can take out the arrogant 1-A, then that will be even better!"

Togaru glared at Monoma. "Wait, arrogant? Where'd you get that idea?"

The other boy sniffed haughtily. "Well, they're so proud of how they dealt with a Villain attack-"

"No, they're really not."

Monoma actually looked surprised at that, before responding. "What makes you so sure of that?" The rest of the class looked over, curious as to how Togaru was going to respond.

He hesitated, but pushed forwards. "Unlike you, I actually know some people in 1-A. Neither of them were bragging about the USJ."

When he had gone back to the apartment, he'd caught a glimpse of Midoriya and Bakugou. Midoriya had looked like she was about to collapse from exhaustion, red-eyed and drained. And Bakugou, surprisingly, hadn't responded to his barbs beyond a 'we beat up Villains.'

Togaru just glared right into Monoma's eyes. "Maybe you should actually get over yourself and talk to them rather than making assumptions."

Monoma looked somewhat contrite. "Okay, so maybe not all of them are boasting about it…" Then his smirk came back. "But nevertheless, the rest of them have to be proud of such a jumpstart to their careers!"

Kendo just facepalmed at that declaration. Togaru slumped back down as Kan called the class to order.

Well, he'd tried. But if Monoma talked smack about his rival and other buddy, he might have to cut Monoma down to size.

—

Before homeroom finished and his class could leave, Shouta made eye contact with Midoriya and Ashido, gesturing for them to stay. "Before you leave, a word."

Midoriya flinched at that, head bowed. Ashido gave him a troubled look, the rest of the class filing out. When everybody was gone, Shouta looked them both in the eye. "At the USJ, when All Might was being attacked by the Noumu you ran into the middle of an active combat situation, despite me ordering you to regroup with your classmates. Why?"

"B-because All Might might have needed help and… I didn't think about it - my-my legs just moved on their own," Midoriya muttered, looking like she wanted to sink into the ground.

Ashido simply nodded, guilt written all over her face. "What she said."

Shouta sighed. "I see." He gave them both a stern glare. "Now, that was a good, heroic thing to do. I won't punish you for trying to help people."

Midoriya let out a shaky breath, then jerked up as he continued. "However, you put yourselves in danger when All Might was handling the situation and disobeyed an order made to protect you and your fellow students. If things had gone wrong, then neither of us would have been able to help, and they nearly did."

"But they didn't!" Ashido cried, almost getting up from her desk. "We were able to help-"

"Yes, but you took far too great a risk when you tried to attack Shigaraki and Noumu." Shouta sighed. "It was a mess of a situation that none of you should have been put through, but mistakes happen, and in future I would prefer if you didn't make that mistake again."

"...Are we getting punished for running in?" Midoriya asked softly, almost too quietly to hear. She hunched over as much as she was physically able.

Shouta shook his head. "While you have damaged my trust in you for disobeying an order like that, going through a traumatic situation like this is punishment enough." Midoriya jerked her head up, staring at him with tears in her eyes. Ashido gave him a similarly wide-eyed look. "Just remember that when your teachers give you an order like that, it is for you and your classmates' safety. Understood?"

(As long as he drew breath, no kids would die on his watch.)

When Midoriya and Ashido both nodded, clearly processing what he'd said, he nodded stiffly. "Good. Now, make sure you get to your next class."

Watching them leave, he pinched the bridge of his nose. This class was probably going to be the death of him.

—

When Modern Literature was over, Ikumi got nudged by Kacchan, who had been waiting to interrogate her over the entire period. "What'd Aizawa Sensei want?"

Ikumi chose not to comment on him not giving Aizawa a nickname. "He-he just wanted to lecture me and Mina about running at the fight. I'm not in trouble!" She hastily added upon seeing Kacchan frown.

"Still can't believe you didn't tell me you got punched by that thing until later," Kacchan grumbled. "

Ikumi winced. Kacchan had gotten in her face about that when they had gotten home. "I-I know. I just - I just didn't want you to worry. I was fine-"

"Bullshit you were fine, you said it got through your Quirk! Fuck's sake, took me ages to get through it!" Kacchan shot back.

"Bruised is… fine?" Ikumi shrank away from Kacchan glaring at her.

"Okay, enough with the arguing!" Kirishima shouted. "I mean, sure, the USJ was scary but now we've got a chance to really show our stuff!"

"Indeed!" Iida boomed, and Ikumi felt a bit bad about snorting when he started doing a little dance. "This is our chance to add our names to the ranks of the greatest Heroes of Japan, so we should all be in high yet school approved spirits!"

"I-I know that, but-"

"Midoriya, Iida." Ikumi was startled when Uraraka turned to face them, a determined frown on her face. "Let's do our best at the Sports Festival!"

"What's with the serious look, Uraraka?" Mina asked. "Normally you're just really cheerful."

Uraraka ignored that comment, throwing a fist in the air. "Hey, everyone! I'm gonna crush it!"

Ikumi and a couple of other people in the class copied the gesture, some more enthusiastically than others. But she had to admit, she completely got why Uraraka was so excited - Ikumi had watched the U.A Festival almost every year, starry-eyed at seeing all these future Heroes prove themselves.

—-

Mina stared at All Might with wide eyes, a dark pit opening in her stomach. When All Might had asked her to have lunch just when she was about to interrogate Uraraka, she hadn't expected bad news quite like this. "Wait… you're down to just over an hour a day?"

All Might nodded with a solemn expression. "My time limit's growing shorter by the day, since I transferred One for All. I'm trying to restrict myself so that I can teach you students, but it's hard to ignore people in need." He chuckled darkly. "Ironically, that almost happened with the USJ."

She looked down at her knees. A part of her felt horrible that All Might couldn't keep going like he used to. "Oh - oh no - I - should I give it back or-"

He shook his head sharply. "What's done is done - I knew that this would happen when I gave you One for All. It's just happening a bit quicker than I thought it would since I've pushed myself so much." All Might pointed at her directly. "Back to the matter of the Sports Festival… how much of One for All do you feel you can use?"

Mina held up a fist, letting One for All fire up. Pink lightning sparked along it as she thought about it. "About… five, six percent? Maybe a bit more?" She winced when she said that - when All Might had said that he could use it at full force when he got it, she had felt terrible for not being able to use it like he could. Like she had failed him as a student.

All Might gave her a thumbs up. "That's good! You don't have to master it right away - just being able to use it without blowing your limbs off is good enough for me."

That made her feel a little better, but not by much. "I know. I still feel like I should be able to use more but… I really don't want my limbs to pop off."

"Combined with your existing Quirk, you should have no trouble with the Sports Festival." All Might gave her a shrewd look. "You know how the Sports Festival works, right?"

Mina laughed. "Yeah, totally! We get mashed up with the other courses and then do some preliminary challenges to compete, right?"

"There's more to it than that, but yes, those are the basics." All Might pointed at her dramatically. "But back to the matter at hand… Be sure to give it your all."

Mina grinned. "Of course, All Might-sensei! Wasn't planning on giving anything less!" She paused. "Though I kinda wonder why when I've already got you for a mentor."

All Might coughed up blood as he laughed. "Just because I'm your mentor, it doesn't mean you can slack off like that!" He gave her a serious look. "There's only a tiny difference between those who always aim for the top and those who don't - but once you debut as a Hero, that difference will matter."

She looked him in the eye, a determined smile on her face. "Trust me, All Might. I always give it my all. Maybe not on Bakugou level, but close enough!"

—

Round Cheeks squeaked when she opened the door to leave. "W-what's going on?"

Katsuki took a glance out the door, where a bunch of people from other classes had gathered, staring in like they were on TV and blocking Pink Cheeks and Glasses from leaving.

"Why're there so many people out here?" Grape Bitch whined.

"Isn't it obvious? They're scoping out the competition." Katsuki stomped to the front, keeping as nice an expression on his face as he could. "We're the class that survived a Villain attack. Course they want to check us out before the Festival."

He glared at them contemptuously. "Not that it matters. Piss off, losers."

Midori gasped, a hand clasped to her mouth. "Kacchan!"

The mass of people in the corridor looked pissed off. Not like he had much respect for people who wanted to gawk at him and the rest of the class like they were there for their entertainment. Behind him, Glasses let out a huge gasp. "Bakugou! Please refrain from calling people you don't know 'losers'! It is unbecoming of a Hero student!"

"Wow. Are all the kids in the Hero Course like this?"

Katsuki felt his temper spike as somebody pushed their way to the front. A tall, skinny guy with messy purple hair and dark bags under his eyes came forwards, a disinterested leer on his face.

—

Hitoshi sized up the guy who had opened the door. Blonde haired and perpetually angry, this guy - Bakugou - was everything that he really hated. He could see it written all over him - the guy had a powerful Quirk that let him breeze through the entire exam.

"Cause I gotta say…" he cast a disinterested eye over the people he could see, before deliberately locking eyes with him. "I'm not impressed if this is the best you can do."

Bakugou glared at him. "You clearly have something really interesting to say, so say it."

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I do, yeah. See, those of us who couldn't make it through the Hero course get shuffled off to the other courses. There's quite a few of us who weren't able to break robots as well as you guys."

(It was one thing to know that you didn't make it into the course of your dreams. It was another to hear All Might tell you that you were a failure.)

Hitoshi's eyes bored into Bakugou's and the other Hero students."But if we do well in the Sports Festival, we could get moved up into the Hero Course. And as I understand it, the reverse is true as well."

Bakugou grinned at that. "Is that a challenge, Zombie?"

Hitoshi raised an eyebrow at that. "A challenge? Sure, you can see it that way. I see this as a great chance to knock you Hero course students off your pedestals."

"O-our pedestals?" Midoriya poked her head around the corner, an awkward look on her face. A couple of people in the crowd looked a bit shocked - and if he hadn't already met her, he would have shared their stunned reaction. It wasn't every day you met somebody as tall as Midoriya even in this increasingly superhuman society.

"Yep." Hitoshi managed to leer in her general direction. "Consider this a declaration of war."

Honestly, he didn't have much of an issue with Midoriya. People with complex mutations like her got almost as much flak as people with 'Villainous Quirks' like his in the cities.

Bakugou glanced back at Midoriya. "I got this, Midori." She raised an eyebrow, but simply nodded as Bakugou turned back. "Nice to see you've got some balls at least. More than the rest of these losers at least."

The rest of the crowd gasped, offended. Hitoshi wasn't sure how to take that other than a raised eyebrow.

Bakugou leered. "You try and topple me at the Festival, you Zombie looking fucker-"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, WE DON'T HAVE BALLS?!"

Hitoshi winced when he saw some grey haired guy with sharp teeth push his way forwards. He glared at Bakugou with an angry snarl on his face. "JUST BECAUSE WE HAVEN'T ISSUED OUR OWN MANLY CHALLENGES YET, DOESN'T MEAN WE DON'T HAVE BALLS! SPEAKING OF, I WANT TO ASK YOU GUYS ABOUT THAT VILLAIN ATTACK!"

Bakugou glared at the guy, but Miodirya stepped forwards. "W-why do you want to ask us about that?"

"I want to hear more about it, that's why!" Spiky haired guy grinned at her. "My name's Tetsutetsu! See, I'm from 1-B next door, and I've got my own declaration of war for 1-B! But first, I wanted to hear more about how you guys fought those Villains! How'd it go?"

Midoriya winced. "I-I don't think that we really want to talk much about the attack itself…"

Tetsutetsu frowned. "What? But you guys fought Villains! Shouldn't you be proud that you did such a cool thing in the first week-"

Midoriya stomped forwards. And Hitoshi suddenly became very, very aware that Midoriya could loom.

—

Kacchan backed down as she stomped forwards. She glared Tetsutetsu down, the grey haired boy shrinking away. "It wasn't cool, what we did. We-we barely got out alive thanks to All Might. If he hadn't been there, we-we could have been killed."

He flinched at that. Ikumi pushed forwards, stepping forward. The crowd collectively backed off. "Right now isn't a very good time for us to talk about the attack. Just - please understand that. Maybe somebody else wants to talk about it but I really don't."

Tetsutetsu, at a loss for words, looked at the floor. "'M sorry," he muttered, browbeaten into submission.

"That's okay - just - just save it for another time and I think we'll be able to talk about it. It's too soon for that." As she wound down, she was aware that everybody was staring at her. Ikumi squirmed as they looked at her - oh, and she could see now that some of them must have backed away when she walked up…

Ikumi glanced back desperately at Kacchan, who simply gave her a thumbs up. Shrinking down as much as she could, she gave the group outside a desperate look, her heart pounding in her ears. "P-please? Can-can we save this for the Festival?"

The crowd looked at each other, then went away with nervous looks (A small part of Ikumi hated that - it wasn't like she had intentionally intimidated them into leaving.) Shinsou looked up at her for a moment longer, then sauntered off with the rest of them.

As soon as everybody went she slumped down, sighing in relief. "Oh god, that was so stressful," she moaned.

With the way clear, the rest of the class started to make their way out. Tsuyu looked at her with a sideways glance and raised eyebrow. "You faced off against a bunch of Villains in the Shipwreck seems pretty minor in comparison."

Kacchan shook his head, patting Ikumi on the back. "Get up, Midori. Stop giving a shit about them."

Kirishima looked at him awkwardly. "Dude, you know you probably got us a hatedom with those answers, right? I mean, those guys-"

"Why do they matter?" Ikumi and Kirishima looked up sharply as Kacchan said that. "Me and Midori are aiming for the top, and the rest of you fought actual Villains. Why should we care what they think?"

With those words, he left. Ikumi couldn't help but stare at her best friend as he left. Behind her, she heard Kirishima sigh dramatically. "Damn it, Bakugou's so straightforward and manly!" He cried, clenching a fist.

As the rest of the class agreed with Kirishima, Ikumi looked at Kacchan as he turned, glaring at her roughly. "Well?" You coming?"

Shaking herself, Ikumi left. "Coming!"

Hopefully the Sports Festival would help everybody feel better after being attacked by Villains.

—

Just after the USJ attack, Kamino

Tomura woke up snarling with rage and pain. His whole body ached, centred on his chest and head. But the pain was secondary to the rage he felt at being robbed of a Hero kill. "Where's that cheating bitch?!"

The short doctor yelped, waving at him to lie back down. "T-Tomura! You've just been in surgery - you should still be unconscious-"

From the darkness, Sensei chuckled. "My, my, doctor. Never underestimate the power of hatred."

With that, Tomura stiffened, managing to calm himself. "Sensei…" He winced as a spike of pain shot through his body.

Kurogiri hovered over him. "Are you alright, Tomura?"

"M'fine," he muttered.

Sensei strode forwards, his oxygen mask wheezing as he took a breath. Looking around the room, he could see it was the medical lab where the weird Doctor did his health checkups. The headless body of the team killer was draped on the table next to him while the doctor looked him over. "It was quite touch and go, but Dr. Garaki has done admirable work."

"Indeed." The rotund little healer sighed, flicking through his notes. "You have suffered extensive trauma to the stomach, lungs and liver, and your spleen has ruptured. Your ribcage is also badly fractured, and a couple of bone splinters have pierced your lungs. Not to mention the extensive bruising," he waved a hand over Tomura's shirtless chest, where a huge, reddish-purple blotch roughly shaped like the imprint of a fist stretched over the centre of his body, "on the point of impact."

He shook his head admiringly. "Just a bit harder or higher, and you would have been killed outright."

Sensei patted Tomura on the shoulder while he stewed in impotent rage. "I have to admit, I didn't expect something like this from you trying to kill All Might like that, even if I didn't think you would succeed."

Tomura stared at sensei, unable to believe what he heard. "You… you thought I couldn't do it? All Might…" He gripped his sheets in a white hot rage. "Well no wonder everything went wrong! First All Might didn't show up, then I had to deal with members of my League going berserk, and now this shit!"

Sensei glanced over at the headless body in the lab. "Ah, yes. Kurogiri said this was the body of one of these berserkers."

"Yeah - Kurogiri said that they were just aggressive for no reason," Tomura managed. "You think it's some bad Trigger or something? Didn't you do something weird with Trigger in Kamino, Sensei? Doctor?"

"We did do a lot of studies on Trigger, yes - and it does sound similar. Nevertheless, I'll do testing on the body later," the Doctor huffed.

Tomura growled. "Yes, yes, the body's probably important. But you know what, sensei? You lied! All Might is still as strong as he was before!"

Sensei shook his head. "No, he is definitely weaker. But you made a mistake, Tomura - you underestimated him… and paid for it by him injuring you so-"

"All Might didn't do this!" Tomura rasped. When Sensei didn't say anything he continued. "I was trying to kill this pink Hero student, not even provoking her, and this huge green shark-fox girl charged and went to punch me! I tried to gank her, but I couldn't touch her due to some bullshit hacks!"

The doctor glanced up. "...That Quirk? Really?"

Tomura stared at the doctor. "You know that hacking bitch?!"

"Oh, indeed I do." The Doctor sighed, a mournful look on his face. "I briefly met her in my civilian identity - such a shame that I wasn't able to acquire a sample of her Quirk. A Quirk like that, so close to Singularity… it would have been perfect!"

Tomura didn't care for this. "I don't care how cool her Quirk is, she stopped me from killing All Might and killing another Hero brat! Sensei-"

He stiffened when he heard the short, clipped tone of Sensei's voice. "That is quite enough, Tomura."

With a click, Tomura's jaw snapped shut. Sensei tousled his hair in a paternal fashion, a smirk on his face. "In any case, Tomura, what's done is done. You must rest… for the next time you act, the world will know of the terror you represent."

—

AN: What's this, more set-up?

Yeah, the Sports Festival is almost here, and we have hints as to whatever the hell is going on. And we've changed what happened with Tetsutetsu. Hopefully the changes made sense.

Who can say what will happen, considering we have like two weeks before the Sports Festival is gonna happen. Plenty of time for some SoL stuff and training.

And we have seen Tomura managing to recover. Ikumi can punch like a small car crash. And yes, somebody with superhuman strength hitting somebody who doesn't have increased durability is going to get ugly. To put it another way, if Ikumi had wanted to, had more training and had her Dragonframe activated, then Tomura would be a donut. Even without the field, Ikumi could have donutted Shigaraki if she really, truly wanted to kill him.

Sorry that this took so long to get ready - I blame my bad habits and procrastination for this, personally. Plus, finding other fics to read and devour. Not just that, but I have an unhealthy fixation with perfection - I really wanted this to be the perfect chapter so I rewrote it a bunch of times. I'll try to have the next chapters out in a more timely fashion. I can promise that much.

As always, thank you Banchoking for helping me edit this.

Don't forget to like and comment, for without comments I cannot hold the Dark One back from taking over the world. You're all winners.

Next time, it's going to be a Training Montage!