Ayumu pulled her books out of her locker and shut it tightly. She turned to head toward class , but paused when she caught sight of Bakugo, she bit back a laugh. His hair laid flat against his head, combed neatly to the side. It was the signature look of the sidekicks of Best Jeanist. All of whom were well mannered and styled to the exact look Best Jeanist expected of all those who were going to work with him, from sidekicks to the receptionists in his agency. It was a style that was neat and symbolized perfection, exactly what the number 4 hero expected. However, on her hot-tempered friend, the look was comical.

"So is this going to be the new look?"

The glare he sent her could have struck her dead, "What did you say?"

She motioned to her own hair, "I didn't realize you liked your new style that much."

Bakugo gritted his teeth before slamming his locker shut. He didn't bother to reply before he started off toward the class. Ayumu caught up with him. She reached out to lace her arm with his, but stopped herself in time. She dropped her hand back down to her side.

"I thought you were just wearing that hairstyle home to be polite to Best Jeanist." She teased again.

Bakugo shot her another deadly look, "If you don't knock it off, I'm going to blast you out the window."

Ayumu smirked, but didn't look at him, "I'd like to see you try."

He set off a small explosion in his hand to punctuate the threat before adding, "And I'll tell Deku who your mom is."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Try me." A second small explosion popped in his palm.

Ayumu grabbed his wrist and pulled him to a halt. "Hold on."

She pulled her backpack out in front of her and opened the bag. She pulled out a spray bottle and a comb. Bakugo took a step back when she raised the bottle to his head.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Ayumu pulled the bottle back before holding it up with the comb, "Helping you, obviously. Now come here."

She sprayed water onto his hair and ran through it with the comb. She spent a few minutes in silence messing with his hair before she took a step back. A frown on her face, she put back the tools.

"Well, I can't really get it to look like it usually does, but it doesn't look as bad." She pulled out a compact mirror and handed it to Bakugo.

He examined himself in the mirror and handed it back to her, "It's not going to stay, just watch. I spent forever trying to fix it earlier."

By the time they sat in their seats in the classroom, sure enough Bakugo's hair had laid itself flat again, back into Best Jeanist's perfect style. The class was already chatting excitedly about the week they had spent apart. Ayumu could hear Sero and Kirishima laughing loudly beside Bakugo.

"Suzuki!" Mina called her over. "Jiro just told us how she got to face actual villains! It's super cool!"

Ayumu smiled, "Really? That's awesome!"

"Well, I didn't fight." Jiro said, twirling her earpiece, "All I did was help people evacuate and provide logistical support."

"That still sounds like so much fun!" Mina gushed.

"I spent basically the whole time training and cleaning the ship deck." Tsyu paused to think for a moment, "Well there was this one day we caught some drug smugglers."

"Okay, that's cool." Mina's jaw dropped.

"That's amazing!" Ayumu exclaimed, "All I did was train and we went on patrol a few times, nothing actually happened though. It was pretty boring."

"Mine was pretty much the same," Mina shrugged.

Tsyu turned in her seat and the other three girls followed her eyes, "What about you Ochaco? How was your week?"

Uraraka seemed to be off in her own world, still practicing punches, "I'd say it was very enlightening."

"I think she found her fighting spirit." Tsyu whispered to the other girls.

Jiro nodded, "Yeah that battle hero must have been something else."

"Oh yeah! The Hero Killer!" Sero's voice caught the attention of the class and the attention went to Midoriya, Iida, and Todoroki.

"Glad you guys made it back alive. Seriously." Kirishima added. It was only then that Ayumu realized that the two boys were being held by the back of their school jackets by an irate looking Bakugo.

Yaoyorozu looked back at the three with concern, "Yeah, I worried about you too."

Naturally, the class gathered around the three boys, mumbling their looked down. Something about the way he looked made Ayumu sad, but Ojio quickly took her attention.

"Did you guys hear the news about the Hero Killer? Everyone's saying he was somehow connected to the league of villains. Can you imagine how frightening it would have been if that creep had been there when they attacked the USJ?"

"He's scary, yeah, but did you see him in that weird video?" Kaminari questioned. "It's all over the internet."

"I didn't even know there was a video of him." Ojiro admitted.

Kaminari nodded quickly, "Yeah! Stain's a super evil villain, but pretty tenacious. He's almost kind of cool, don't you guys think?"

Ayumu felt her heart skip a beat, "Dude!"

"Kaminari!" Midoriya scolded.

Kaminari seemed to realize his mistake. His eyes fell on Iida and he covered his mouth, "Dude."

"No, it's okay. You're fine" Iida reassured. "It's true that he's quite a tenacious villain. I understand why people think he is cool. But instead of helping the world, his beliefs lead him to cold, blooded murder. No matter his motives, killing cannot be condoned. To keep anyone else from suffering like me, I promise I will strive to be the perfect hero!"

"Yeah, let's do it!" Midoriya cheered behind him.

"It's time for class to begin! Everyone, please take your seats!" Iida commanded before continuing with his motivational speech.

Once the class started to fan out and take their seats, Ayumu made her way to Iida. She leaned over his desk and spoke quietly, "Hey, I think you handled that really well. I don't think I could've done that if it was me."

He nodded but his expression didn't change, "Thank you."

Ayumu placed her hand gently on his shoulder and offered him a small smile, "Again if you ever need to talk, you know where to find me."

Ayumu sat down just in time for Mr. Aizawa to slide open the classroom door, "Okay, let's get started."

Their hero training lessons took them outside for the day. All Might stood proudly with his hands on his hips in front of an elaborate training site. Pipes and small buildings were all enclosed in the space in front of the students. They stood on the platform overlooking the facility, a huge TV showed the UA High emblem as its screensaver. Familiar enough with training on the campus now, Ayumu knew that she would be able to watch her classmates' attempts at whatever the training was on the TV. She found a comfortable spot near Mina and waited for instructions.

All Might stood at the front of the class and explained that they would be broken up into groups of five, one group would be a group of six because of the odd number of students. Their goal was to 'rescue' All Might at the center of the maze. Each student would be at one edge of the arena and would need to find their way to the center. Ayumu felt a little nervous and looked around. She hoped All Might had thought the groups through. Her quirk wasn't exactly built for speed like Iida and she wasn't naturally quick like Bakugo. All Might announced the first group: Sero, Ojiro, Midoryia, Iida, and Mina.

"Well, I'm off! Wish me luck!" Mina headed off.

Ayumu took the opportunity to head over and stand with Bakugo and leaned against the railing behind them. Kirishima, Kaminari, and Mineta sat in front of them. The screen turned on and split to show each member and their location.

"Iida hasn't completely recovered yet, right?" Kaminari asked the group, "He should sit this one out."

Ayumu shrugged, "Maybe that will give the others a little bit of an advantage. He is usually the fastest one, even with a group like this."

Kirishima chimed in, "Yeah, everyone in this group has really good mobility."

"It would make the teams even." Jiro chimed in.

"I'm not sure the number of team members matters that much." Sato crossed his arms looking at the screen. "We're only split up so he can observe us better,"

"I'd say Midoriya is at a heavy disadvantage against those four." Yoyaroza decided, still looking at the screen.

Jiro nodded from beside her, "That's what I think. Moving around quickly isn't really one of his strong suits, that's for sure. And whenever he uses his powers he always gets badly injured."

Kirishima turned to Kaminari, "Who's your pick? I'm betting on Sero."

Kaminari smirked at him, "Oh yeah?" He hummed, "I got odds on Ojiro."

"I chose Ashido, cause she's got a super athletic body!" Mineta broke in and Ayumu kicked him.

"I know Deku will be last." Bakugo spat.

Ayumu laughed once and looked up at him, "I don't know, maybe he learned a thing or two at his internship. I don't think he'll be last."

Bakugo scoffed at her, "If you think he's going to win, you're dumber than you look."

"I didn't say he'd win, I said he won't be last." Ayumu clarified shooting Bakugo a look.

Uraraka spoke up from her spot by Tsyu, "Even if he's still recovering, I think Iida's got this one." Tsyu made a noise of agreement.

A horn blared through the arena and blared and the five students in the arena jumped into action. The class watched as Sero used his tape to leap from pipe to pipe, Mina slid on her acid, using the pipes as railing, Ojiro used his tail to bounce forward, and Iida ran through the obstacles as quickly as he could.

"Look at 'em go!" Kirishima shouted jumping to his feet as the camera panned back to Sero. "In a maze like this it makes sense to be above everything else."

"So that means Sero's at an advantage and can take to the sky."

Ayumu jumped at Shoji's voice coming from one of his appendages. He was usually so quiet she often forgot he was there. Her gaze went from him back to the screen just in time to see a blur of green fly past Sero. Midoryia came up quickly from behind him and was propelling himself forward quickly. Everyone's jaws dropped. He was moving with skill he hadn't shown before.

Kaminari was the one to voice everyone's feelings, "Since when can he do that?"

Ayumu glanced from the screen to Bakugo standing in stunned silence beside her. His eyes were blazing and stayed glued to the screen watching as Midoryia flew through their air using moves Bakugo had been using since their first day at UA. Bakugo clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. Ayumu turned away from him and continued watching the screen, she had learned it was better not to talk to him when he looked like that.

The other contestants stopped to watch as Midoriya ran and jumped through the course. Usually when he did anything, his bones broke and Recovery Girl was called to the scene. Ayumu was starting to think she had made the right call to bet on him when he suddenly lost his footing and plummeted to the ground. Before anyone knew it, the race had been called and, as Kirishima had predicted, Sero came in first Might dismissed the first group and called for the second group to the arena.

Ayumu took her place along with Kirishima, Jiro, Denki, and Mineta. She was grateful that All Might had paired her with the four that he had. She knew each of their quirks were not built for speed and the race felt more even. She had been worried she would have been paired with someone like Tokoyami or Bakugo or one of the others who would have easily beat her. With the four she had, she at least had some chance.

Ayumu had been so lost in thought she almost missed the horn being blown. She started running, each time she hit a wall she had to turn back. After she hit what felt like the millionth deadend, she paused to gather her had to get higher up. She raced to a nearby ladder and started to metal felt cold against her palms and she wished she had incorporated gloves into her costume. She'd have to remember that for the winter. She climbed up the last ladder and rubbed her hands against her pant legs and looked around. She could see Jiro kneeling not terribly far away from her, her head bowed to the floor. Without warning, Jiro hopped up and started heading toward her left.

Suddenly Ayumu realized Jiro's advantage in the course. Jiro could always use her quirk to hear where All Might was hiding. Still, she'd have to navigate the maze, but she would probably have a better idea of where exactly to go. Ayumu headed off after Jiro, making sure to stay on the upper levels of the course to try and keep an eye on her. Ayumu wondered briefly if the others were making bets on the winner as they had in the previous race and who they thought the likely winner would be. In her brief distraction, Ayumu lost sight of Jiro. Ayumu skidded to a halt at the edge of the level she was on and looked around. She could finally see the center of the arena where All Might stood on a platform waiting to be rescued.

Ayumu climbed down the ladder and raced toward the direction she had seen All Might standing. She ran as quickly as she could before coming to the bottom of the platform All Might waited on. Finally, Ayumu made her way up the stairs to find Kirishima and Jiro had both already found their way to him. Denki followed shortly after, finally followed by Mineta. The race hadn't been as exciting as the previous one and she hadn't been able to show off the progress she had made, but at least she hadn't been last.

The team was given the same speech All Might had given the others, Jiro was given a special congratulations on her victory, before they were dismissed only to be replaced once again with team three. Each team went yielding more winners and the class retired to the locker room.

"You did so well! I was really impressed by how well you are able to skate with your acid." Ayumu smiled at Mina as she opened up her locker to pull out her uniform.

Mina slipped her arms out of her costume and started to button up her shirt over it, "Thanks, I really-"

"Hush!" Jiro commanded, standing near the wall, "Do you hear that?"

The girls listened for a moment. They could hear Iida more clearly than they should have been able to through the wall.

"Iida and Mineta?" Uraraka questioned.

"There must be a hole in the wall or something." Tsyu suggested.

Tsyu covered herself with her costume shirt and Hakargure moved behind her. Jiro nodded and pointed to a small hole she had discovered next to the lockers. Mineta's cries as he spoke of each of their bodies came through the hole, just as Jiro pushed her earphone jack into girls could hear Mineta's screams as she stabbed him in the eye.

"Ugh, thanks Kyoka." Hakakurge said in disgust.

Yoyaroza wrinkled her nose, "Despicable. We'll close up this hole immediately."

"Can you believe it? I hate that kid." Ayumu shook her head.

Shinso stayed quiet, thinking over the retelling of the locker room incident he had just heard. He hooked his arm through Ayumu's and felt her relax slightly, but he could tell she was still on edge. There were options. Shinso had his own ideas on how to deal with Mineta.

Shinso sighed, "Do you want me to take care of it for you?"

Ayumu looked up at him and Shinso was relieved to see she was finally smiling, even if it was just a small one. "Oh no, I can take care of it."

"You sure?" Shinso gave her a sideways glance, "I could make him do some pretty embarrassing things."

Ayumu gave his arm a squeeze, "Thank you, Hitoshi, but I have something else in mind."