Ignited Spark

by 3PeopleInACoat

When Midoriya Izuku was four years old, his quirk finally manifested - not a combination of his parents' quirks, but an entirely different mutation of its own. With the ability to blast lightning out of his body, a horrible accident convinces Izuku to give up his dreams of becoming a hero. But with the help of two girls, Izuku finds the inspiration to fight and become a true hero!

13. Calm Before

"Do not be ridiculous!"

"Dad!" Her mom as her daughter cried into her shirt, feeling her mother's arms wrap protectively around her as though to physically shield her from the bellows that were being directed at the five-year old girl. "That's enough! We can have this discussion when we're calmer, you don't have to shout at her!"

"What choice do I have, daughter?!" Her grandfather roared, louder and angrier than anyone had ever seen him as his fury-filled eyes turned back to his granddaughter. She clung to her mother like a lifeline, staring fearfully up at the older man as he slammed his fist against the kitchen table, her father raising his hands as though about to go over and restrain him, "Talking about such foolish dreams, as though she doesn't realize what they actually do! She only watches them on the TV and thinks they look flashy, she has no idea what it even takes or means to be one!"

"Teko, please -" Her dad tried to intervene, but her grandfather was quick to whip a glare at him to silence his son-in-law, before looking back at the crying little girl staring up at him like he was a monster.

"Do you understand what I am trying to tell you, Itsuka?! Do you understand?! I will not allow you to pick a profession that will get you killed! Choose to become a mechanic, like your father! Take over the dojo from me when you grow older! But you are not to get yourself killed over a glorified popularity contest!"

"G-Grandpa -"

"You will not become a hero! Do you hear me?! I forbid it! You will not be a hero!"

With a small gasp, Itsuka's eyes shot open, jolting from where she had been laying on her side in her bed. From the complete lack of light outside her window - wait, she realized, she could see the sky beginning to lighten up now that her eyes had adjusted somewhat to the dark - it must've been pretty early in the morning. The memory of her dream was fresh on her mind - it was almost as though her grandpa was above her, yelling as loudly as he could, but soon enough, she realized that she was no longer dreaming, her grandfather wasn't shouting at her, and her mother wasn't holding her.

Closing her eyes briefly again, she let out a small sigh, trying to calm down the small shake in her hand from the dream and the hammering of her heart, and reached over to tap her finger against the phone screen on the bedside table. Leaning over, she grumbled when she saw there was only five more minutes before her alarm went off, so, grumbling, she switched the alarm off, swung her blankets off her, and stood up on shaky feet, shuffling over to grab her uniform from where she had left it on her desk chair while yawning and shivering slightly from the early morning air coming through the open window.

The memory of that day … god it had been such a long time since that day, she thought with a frown as she gathered up her brazer, dress-shirt, tie, skirt and socks so she could get dressed in the bathroom after her shower. Years and years ago, when she had come home after playing heroes with the kids at the playground, excitedly telling her mom and dad about how she had wanted to become a hero in real life, and then her grandfather's … very loud reaction to that proclamation. Honestly, in all the years she'd known him after that day, he hadn't raised his voice like that since, she recalled as she tiptoed out of her door, lowering a hand to brush against Gūdo's head as the dog looked up at her questioningly - she was used to cold disappointment from her grandfather if she ever messed up (the few times she had done that) but could never recall, outside that day, an instance where he raised his voice at her.

Still though, she wondered what exactly had happened after that to change his mind. She remembered how she had sobbed throughout the night after he had screamed at her, went out onto the porch to sit the next morning, and then her grandfather had sat down with her, apologized for yelling at her (probably the only time she'd ever heard her grandpa apologize to someone), and had hugged her. After that, he had never brought up a complaint about her being a hero again.

Well, she'd probably have to think about that another time, she sighed as she turned on the light to the bathroom and stepped over to turn on the shower, raising a hand to the water as it shot out of the showerhead and wincing at how cold it was. Right now she kind of needed to think about something else, of much more importance than past hurt feelings - she needed to figure out how exactly she was going to bring up to Izuku and Ochako that All Might just so happened to have handed over his quirk to her.

When she had gotten home last night, Itsuka hadn't really felt all that different at first, helping her mother out with making dinner and saying hello to the students being taught in the dojo downstairs when she had gone out to play with Gūdo in the yard. It had been when she had come inside to work on her bike in the garage, however, that she felt the 'tingling' that All Might had mentioned - and it was less of a 'tingle' and more a huge shot of adrenaline that coursed through her entire body, the shock of it making her sit up and hit her forehead on the bike's handlebar. Groaning in pain and irritation, by the time she had gone upstairs to put some ice on the small swelling, the weird humming that pulsed through her body had disappeared, but after texting All Might, she got the confirmation that 'tingle' was what he had also felt when his own mentor had given him the quirk.

One for All had been passed successfully to her. It was her quirk now.

Pushing the shower curtain aside, Itsuka sighed in relief as she stepped into the warm water, letting it shower over her as she pushed some of her hair out of her face. Now that she had One for All, she knew that things were probably going to get very complicated from here on out. Her own quirk was pretty simple to master and control, but even she knew One for All was an entirely different beast. All Might was going to take her out this weekend to the beach to let her practice with it for the first time - and she knew that, probably after how she saw her new quirk did in action, she'd have to bite the bullet and tell Izuku and Ochako.

All Might did raise good points yesterday during his explanation - Izuku was observant when it came to quirks, and Ochako was a lot smarter than a lot of people gave her credit for. It wouldn't take long for them to see her use One for All and put the pieces together that something was different, and it'd be better for her to tell them instead of them figuring it out and thinking that she deliberately kept that from them.

But … how? How exactly was she supposed to go about this? Just go 'hey guys, what's up, oh me, nothing much, beautiful morning, and oh yeah All Might gave me his quirk yesterday, what's for breakfast?' No, it couldn't be that simple, she thought. And that wasn't even considering the possibility that they might not even believe her if she told them the truth bluntly - the very idea of someone being able to give their quirk to someone else was outright laughable, let alone the idea that the Symbol of Peace had given her his power.

But they will believe her, she insisted to herself as she scrubbed her hair with shampoo and winced when some got in her eyes; Izuku and Ochako would at the very least hear her out, and all else fails, she could just throw All Might at them to explain everything; if they didn't believe her, they would probably believe him. Now she just needed to - she didn't know, find a good time to tell them. Should she ask them to come see her sometime on the weekend and let her explain things? Maybe at a café, or something - or maybe she could ask if they wanted to come over to her home and hang out?

Well, she could think of that later, she sighed as she turned the dial on the shower to turn it off - they still had three more days of school left, and if they were going to be as crazy and unexpected as the last two days have been, what with surprise threats of expulsion and All Might giving her a quirk, she was probably in for an exciting time today as well.

Once she had stepped out of the shower, shivering until she grabbed her fluffy towel from the stand and began drying herself off, she glanced around to where she had put her phone on the counter, and blinked when she saw it lighting up with messages. Crinkling her brow, and wondering who would be awake at this time sending her texts, she walked over to check, entering the code and bringing up her messages app, and then nodded in understanding when she saw it was just Momo and Tenya talking.

After Momo had given them all a ride home on the first day, she and Setsuna had the idea to add their new friends to their group chat, and had quickly added Tenya, Momo, Nejire and Yuuyu after getting their numbers. Honestly, the group chat had become rather busy now that there were about ten people in there - Nejire constantly blew up the phone (to the surprise of absolutely no one) asking questions, which Izuku took as his responsibility to answer and Yuuyu to reprimand her best friend for talking so much; Setsuna had a ball of a time last night sending memes to the chat and confusing Momo and Tenya with how cryptic; and Yui had gone completely silent in the chat when Tenya had asked her a question, which made Itsuka feel a bit confused about her friend's behaviour towards the bespectacled boy - but of course, she'd have to ask her about it later, when she wasn't so busy.

Anyway, it looked like Momo and Tenya were early-to-bed, early-to-rise kind of people, since it was still pretty early in the morning. Still, what were they talking about? Tilting her head, she scrolled up to where the messages began, rolling her eyes slightly at Setsuna's blatant trolling of Momo where the messages left off last night, and started reading the messages that had started about ten minutes ago.

TENYA IIDA

Good morning, fellow students! My apologies for reaching out to you all a bit earlier than what some of you may prefer, but my brother brought something to my attention when I arrived for breakfast that I believe everyone should be made aware of.

MOMO YAOYOROZU

Good morning, Iida! What exactly is the problem?

TENYA IIDA

Well, I had woken up this morning to go for my early run, and when I had returned home Tensei had informed me of something that he had heard from one of the teachers from UA - apparently, those reporters that had shown up after school had started yesterday and the day before, and might I say have had a high risk of interrupting our education, decided to arrive at the school gate a bit earlier than before. This means that when we arrive at UA today, there may be a crowd of reporters waiting for us. My brother warned me and by extension all of you to be careful getting to school today!

MOMO YAOYOROZU

Oh dear! That does sound like a complication. Thank you for letting us know, Iida!

Itsuka carefully read through the long line of text that Tenya had sent all at once, furrowing her brow - apparently he didn't believe in cutting up his sentences while texting - and once she got to the end, she let out a tired groan and closed her eyes, having only been awake for about fifteen minutes and already over today.

She had almost forgotten about those reporters - they arrived after school had begun yesterday, yelled for All Might to come out and give them a statement, and only left when one of the teachers stormed out and ordered them to leave the premises before they called the police on them for disturbing their classes. But from what Tenya was saying, they were going to arrive sooner than expected today, and it was more than likely that they would be held up by them if they were going to camp right outside the school gate.

YOU

aw man

that's definitely going to hold us up

morning, y'all

MOMO YAOYOROZU

Good morning, Kendou!

TENYA IIDA

Indeed, good morning, Kendou! As for the reporters, I would recommend arriving a bit earlier than you usually would - from how Tensei was describing it, the teachers think that it's going to be a much larger crowd compared to the one yesterday. As well, I believe that they do not know about the UA barrier - one step inside might cut us off from getting into the school, should we arrive a bit later than usual, and then we would definitely be late, and at their hypothetical lack of mercy!

YOU

great

yeah, i'd much rather avoid that

so in that case, Midoriya Uraraka Tokage Kodai when you see this, i'mma be leaving earlier to see if we can get there before it gets too crazy

try to leave early too, and i'll try to meet up with you at the train station

Kirishima Hadou Haya i'd also recommend leaving a bit earlier

YUUYU

why are you people blowing up my phone, it's six in the fucking morning

YOU

read up haya

YUUYU

...

ah for fucks sakes

fine i'll let nej know, she's been up for a few hours now getting her hair ready before school anyway

that shit's gotta have high maintenance if she wants to keep it that long

YOU

preach

and just because i know she's still asleep, Uraraka

get up

GRAVITY GIRL

fjekfjeknefhekarjeaofjeafeaffvefc

YOU

awake?

GRAVITY GIRL

spwn of satan

yes, im gettn up

YOU

good girl

With a small smirk at ruining Ochako's morning, and a weary sigh at what they would have to deal with very soon, Itsuka shook her head as she put her phone back on the counter, and grabbed another towel for her hair. Looks like she wasn't going to have time to play with Gūdo this morning - she was going to have to leave a bit earlier for the train today than she had expected.

It didn't take long for her to get dressed up in her school uniform, sighing as she made sure her tie was on correctly, and once she was sure that her socks matched and came up to just below her knees - she didn't want to look like she wasn't asymmetrical - she left the bathroom, stroking Gūdo's head as he gave her an inquisitive whine, but thankfully remaining silent as though to make sure her parents didn't wake up. After grabbing her backpack from her room, and making sure all her books and notes were in there, she led Gūdo downstairs to the garage, filling up his bowl with food and begin sure to refill his other bowl with water, and gave him and itch behind the ears as she prepared to head out.

However, as she stepped back out into the hall and headed towards the door, she suddenly realized that the sliding door to the dojo was open, which made her blink a bit as she looked around at it. She could've sworn that her grandpa had locked up last night - but here it was, wide open. Faltering in her step a bit, Itsuka steeled herself and peeked her head inside the training room, feeling kind of sketched out and hoping that there wasn't some intruder in the house - and then her eyes trailed to the other side of the large room, to see a light on in the backroom.

At once, she understood who was in the backroom, standing in the doorway to the dojo for a moment before she straightened up, and carefully, she stepped inside. She took her time walking across the dojo to the back room, not wanting to sound like she was charging across the large room. There would only be one reason that light would be on this early in the morning, and she knew who was in the backroom and what he would be doing.

Sliding the door slowly open, she poked her head inside, and, as she expected, there was her grandpa, kneeling down and folding his hands together in prayer. The shrine he knelt before had its candles lit, a bowl of rice and tempura laid there in respect. Her grandfather's eyes were closed, an expressionless look on his face as he prayed - and then he said, without even opening his eyes or looking around, "It's a bit early for you to be awake, Itsuka."

Wincing at how easy it was for her grandpa to know she was there even though he had his eyes closed, she nodded, opening the door properly to enter the room. "S-sorry, grandpa, I was just - well, I got up early. I was going to leave a bit earlier for school, but then I noticed the light was on."

"Mmm. Well, science you're here and leaving a bit earlier, come pay your respects."

Nodding again, Itsuka walked forward, moving to kneel down beside her grandfather on the mat, and folded her hands together. After a small moment of silence in which they both prayed, Itsuka opened her eyes, taking a look at the woman in the picture on top of the shrine, seeing her smiling and laughing at something the cameraman must've said.

Honestly, looking at this picture of her grandmother always made Itsuka feel a little sad - she looked so young, so full of life, and she had died decades before Itsuka had even been born, when her mom was just a little girl. It was clear that it was her grandmother that she got her eyes from - her mother and grandfather's eyes were dark, and her dad's eyes were a bright blue, but it was her grandma's teal eyes that told her where she had gotten her own from. It felt strange, to feel sad for a woman who had passed away long before she was born, but she had such kindness in her eyes that it made her heart pang.

"Something on your mind, Itsuka?" Teko asked as he continued to pray for his late wife, not opening his eyes at all as the younger girl looked around at him. "I know you well enough to know when there's something that has your mind going a mile a minute."

"I - uh -" She stuttered for a moment, taken out of her thoughts for her grandmother. She cursed how well her grandfather knew her, well enough that he could figure out easily that something was bothering her. The problem, of course, was that there were more than a few things bothering her, and not a lot of things she could actually tell him - One for All, telling Izuku and Ochako about it, her fears of them rejecting her or not believing her.

But it was what she had woken up from this morning that suddenly came to her mind, and she let out a small sigh as she returned her gaze to her grandma's picture, not wanting to look at Teko for this.

"Grandpa, why were you so against me becoming a hero when I was a kid?" She decided to ask bluntly, not looking at the older man as he kept his head down. "And … and what exactly changed your mind?"

"..."

"It's just ... well, I had a bad dream last night about it," She explained a bit sheepishly, blushing in embarrassment, "and it was just reminding me of what had happened. I just … I'm not sure what exactly happened. One day you were against it, and the next you were okay with it. I was just - I was just wondering why you changed your mind about it."

"..."

"... Grandpa?"

"It does not matter," He shook his head, sighing as he put his hands down on the mat so he could stand up, "I was wrong, granddaughter, for yelling at you that day. And I apologize if remembering what had happened brought up any insecurities you may have. I support you as a hero. Now then, it's getting late, and if you are going to get to school early today you'll have to leave for the station soon. Don't let me keep you."

"But -" She tried to protest, but her grandfather was already stepping around her and moving out the backroom, sliding the door shut behind him. She could hear his bare feet moving across the dojo as she stared after where he had left, taken aback by how quickly he had shut down that conversation - and then she let out a small, defeated sigh, and got up as well.

She … supposed he was right, that the matter had already been put to bed, and she shouldn't bring it up. It was clearly something her grandpa didn't want to talk about. Straightening up, she looked back to the picture of her grandma, and gave it a small smile as she adjusted her backpack on her shoulders.

"I'm off now," She told the picture, and quickly moved out the door to the backroom, hurrying out of the dojo, and then out the door of her house to start jogging towards the train station. Her grandpa was right, she didn't want to miss it and risk being late, and caught up in the sea of reporters that were probably gathering outside the school right now.

---

With a tired sigh, Ochako slowly opened the door to her apartment, tiptoeing out so she didn't wake up her parents, and quietly shut it behind her. She was awake … a lot earlier than she wanted to be, she thought with a frown, only having been woken up by the group chat going off on her bedside table beside her head, which got her to raise her head groggily when the light kept flashing in her eyes every other ten seconds, and she had whined when she saw Itsuka's message that she was leaving early to get to the train station.

Still, she knew that her friend was right, and they did not want to get caught up in a sea of reporters and end up being late for school, she had no idea if that was something Aizawa thought of as an expulsion-level offense. So she had gotten up, washed her face, got dressed, and left her warm, tempting bed to head over to Izuku's to wake him up.

Knocking softly on the door to let the occupants know she was coming in, Ochako used her key to their apartment to unlock the door, and quietly opened it so as not to disturb anyone sleeping inside. Thankfully, the light was on in the kitchen, and she could distantly hear the shower going, which must've meant that Izuku saw the message as well and was getting ready now. Walking in after slipping off her shoes, she entered the kitchen, putting down her backpack as she saw Inko standing at the counter and using the coffee machine, looking around to hear who was coming in and smiling when she saw who it was.

"Oh! Good morning, Ochako," She greeted her, yawning a bit as she put down her coffee cup on the counter, "I suppose you're here for the same reason Izuku's awake right now?"

"Yeah," Ochako nodded, going over and hugging Inko in greeting, "we're gonna be leaving early. I'd have liked to have another hour of rest, but I really don't wanna deal with those reporters."

"Well, Izuku's just getting ready now," Inko pointed over to the bathroom, where her son was presumably inside, "and I'll make you both some toast before you have to go. It won't be a full breakfast, but it'll hopefully be enough to keep you two satisfied until lunch."

"Awesome, thanks, Mama Inko. I'm - actually," Ochako blinked, thinking of something, "while I'm here, I think I'll go see if Deku's done with that book I leant him."

"Alright, sweetie. It should be on his desk, I think he was reading a little bit of it last night before bed."

"Great!" Quickly, she headed over to his bedroom to see if she could check where he was in the novel she had let him borrow to read - she and Izuku had always been cool with sharing their things, although Ochako had always been hesitant to accept them after the All Might toy broke not ten hours after he had given it to her, but she at least felt comforted that he was still more than happy with giving her his things.

Entering his room, she smiled around at the various All Might merchandise decorating his walls and desks - it was a pretty familiar sight to her now, having grown up pretty much sharing this room with her best friend whenever they had sleepovers or hang outs or late night talks about how scared she was when her parents didn't get a lot of jobs to pay rent, with Izuku comforting her and hugging her. Although, she blinked as she stared down at a few of the All Might bobble heads on the counter, how long had it been since they had a sleepover? A few years now? She didn't think the stay overs at the Kendous really counted - how long had it been since it was just him and her?

Had it been … god, it would've had to have been a few years now, she realized with a small frown. Ever since they both really hit puberty, they hadn't exactly been … well … not as close as they used to be. Like, no more cuddling or wrestling or anything physical they did when they were about ten years old - they still hugged or grabbed each other's hands if they needed it, but it felt more sister-brotherly. And that was - well, that was what they were, weren't they? Like brother and sister?

Yeah, yeah, she nodded to herself, Izuku was like a brother to her. Obviously. Nothing more than that.

Heading over to his desk, she hummed as she took a small glance around at the various books and pens, and then her eyes landed on the book she leant him, letting out a small 'aha!' as she opened it up, looking for his bookmark. Oh, it looked like he was almost done - he just had another two chapters to finish, and then they could chat about it. She had been really excited to lend him this book - it was her favorite fantasy novel, about a hobbit teaming up with a young witch and a knight to go stop an ancient evil. The series was currently in its eight installment, so she was excited to see that Izuku was reading through them so they could squee about it together when he caught up.

Putting the novel back down, Ochako let out a small sigh as she glanced around the desk again, and then blinked when she saw the journal that she had gotten him for his birthday last year. Smiling, she absently opened it, smiling when she saw the picture of Itsuka drawn inside, and quietly read through his notes on their mutual friend. He'd always been a good artist, with him usually asking to draw her in hero costume concepts when they were little and her being more than happy to sit around and read on his bed while he doodled her. Flipping through the pages absently, she smiled at the latest instalments that he had drawn in over the last few days - she could make out Tenya and notes about his quirk, Yui, Setsuna, Eijirou, a hastily started page of what looked like Yuuyu, and -

- and Nejire.

Flipping to the latest page, she faltered when she came across the picture of their new friend. She was drawn in her hero costume, smiling goofily as she raised her hands to form peace signs beside her face. For some reason, the smile on Ochako's face slipped as she stared down at the picture, feeling her stomach clench slightly. It was … the picture was a bit more detailed than the others, she realized, almost on par with the illustrations Izuku used to draw of her. As though he had put a lot of attention on this drawing.

She … honestly wasn't sure what was going on with her, when she thought of her new friend. It was like - Ochako frowned and sat down in the desk chair, furrowing her brow. She had no idea why, but whenever she saw Nejire getting in Izuku's face, her stomach felt like it was filling with lead, her heart hammering and not in a pleasant way, and a shot of … something pulsing throughout her body. She couldn't help but feel angry at herself for feeling this way - what, was she angry at him having a new friend? That made her feel disgusted at herself - she knew full well that he had gone years with just her for company, she shouldn't be upset that Nejire was so enthusiastic to be his friend, she should be happy for him.

And - and it wasn't like she was insecure about his other friends! She was happy that Tenya seemed to have mellowed out and befriended Izuku. And Momo was nice too! Setsuna and Yui liked to tease him, and Eijirou was his bro, and not to mention Itsuka -

- Itsuka.

Slowly, Ochako's eyes shut, letting out a small sigh as she leaned back in the chair. Itsuka. She was … well, Ochako would be an idiot to say that Itsuka wasn't one of Izuku's closest friends. And for good reason, too. She was probably one of the kindest people Ochako had ever known - she heard Izuku's story and immediately resolved to become his friend, and for that, she had Ochako's respect and admiration. And there was no doubt that Ochako liked her too - Itsuka could probably be considered her best girl friend (best friend who was a girl) after all they had been through together, training on the beach and in the dojo together, and the entrance exam and the battle trial yesterday, she sometimes felt attached to the hip with her.

And yet … and yet, back at the New Years party, when Izuku had complimented Itsuka's hair. And when they sat together on the porch later than night, and they had given each other those ... looks.

Ochako … wasn't dumb, she supposed. She knew about crushes and feelings. At the time, she had thought … well, when she had met Itsuka, there was a part of her that might have thought, in the back of her mind, that she and Izuku might've been … together. It had been easily debunked when she had been sat down by them and explained everything about why they had been on the beach, but she knew Izuku. She knew when he had dumb crushes on celebrity heroes, like that Wild, Wild Pussycat magazine he thought had hidden from her under his mattress, and was sure to tease him about it too, just like he did when she got starry eyed around heroes that caught her attention and made her feel starry-eyed. And it wasn't like she disliked it when Itsuka made Izuku blush a bit while being in contact with a girl - honestly, she found it as hilarious as Itsuka did when she could touch Izuku without any problems, but when Itsuka did it he would light up like a firework, sputtering and flailing.

And yet … for a moment, on that porch, when those two had smiled at each other like that, she couldn't help but feel like she had been … left behind. That Izuku and Itsuka had shared something without her.

And that made her feel awful for feeling that way, she pouted at herself. She shouldn't be upset that Izuku was close with Itsuka, and she shouldn't be upset that he was getting closer to Nejire. He deserved it. She'd been his only friend for years … he deserved to have more than just her for company. And she shouldn't feel upset that Nejire gets up in his face, and should try to get rid of those feelings of hurt and -

"Occhan?"

She squeaked at the feeling of a finger poking her shoulder, jumping in the seat and whirling around in shock as she heard her best friend call her name. Sure enough, Izuku was standing right beside where she was sitting at his desk, dressed in one of his dorky shirts and shorts, and giving her a concerned look.

"Uh … are you okay?" He asked, tilting his head somewhat, "You were kinda … uh … staring into space."

"O-oh, no, I'm - I'm fine!" She tried to say evenly, hopping out of the chair and giving him a grin that was a little too wide, as though trying not to give away that she had been thinking somewhat about him. "Just - yeah, lost in my head for a few minutes there. I'm okay."

"Alright, if - if you say so. Anyway, my mom says that our breakfast is almost ready - I just need to get dressed and put my stuff in my bag, and we can get going. We wanna be sure to meet up with Kendou, and make sure she doesn't have to wait for us at the train station."

"Right, I'll - yeah, I'll go help out Mama Inko."

Quickly, she moved around him, giving him a weak smile as he grinned back at her, and quickly walked out of the room so he could have some privacy. As she shut the door behind her, she glanced around, and blinked when he leaned over the desk, seeing his open notebook and Nejire's picture, and a small smile crossed his face at the sight of the page and closed it to put in his backpack.

Frowning, she closed the door, feeling like her heart was slamming angrily in her chest, and took a small breath as she turned from the door to head into the kitchen.

It took another five or so minutes, but the two of them got their breakfasts from Inko, the smaller woman kissing Izuku on the cheek and hugging Ochako bye, and soon they were off, quickly texting Itsuka to let her know that they were on their way. They chatted a bit aimlessly after that, Ochako trying to push away those weird feelings she had been going through this morning as they talked, and soon enough they had boarded their train, looking at the group chat to see Setsuna, Yui and Eijirou gripe about how much it was going to suck to get through those reporters when they arrived, or Nejire promising that she would fly Yuuyu over the reporters, which earned a long text from Tenya lecturing about inappropriate usage of quirks.

Soon enough, they had reached the station, and quickly climbed off to look for Itsuka. They found her quickly, leaning against the wall near the exit and taking off her earbuds when she saw them, giggling when they both gave her dorky grins.

"Mr. Midoriya," Itsuka pointed at his chest with a smirk, "your tie is wrong. Again."

Pouting, Izuku crossed his arms pointedly across his chest, looking away as Ochako likewise gave him a look, before Itsuka laughed and shook her head.

"Well, I'll let it go for today, since we have to hurry. From how Iida described it, it looks like there's going to be even more reporters there today then there was yesterday, so I wanna get in before they even know we're there."

They did not, unfortunately, get into the school before the reporters knew they were there. In fact, contrary to what Tenya had said in the group chat, instead of a handful of people starting to gather at the front of the school, there was already a large crowd of reporters already outside the gate, with film cameras, shutters, and microphones flying everywhere as they talked and argued amongst each other. Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka briefly froze in panic and considered having Ochako use her quirk to float them over the wall, but alas, it was too late, as someone noticed them and recognized the uniform, and they were promptly ambushed by the crowd.

"What's it like learning from All Might?!"

"Tell us what the Symbol of Peace looks like in front of the class!"

"What's he like as a teacher?!"

"Tell us about 'All Might, the teacher'!"

"Juko News here! Is it true that he and Midnight have begun an affair?! Have you seen them together?!"

"How does All Might get along with the other teachers?!"

"All Might was seen talking with a scruffy looking man on the campus! Is All Might allowing the homeless to take shelter there?!"

"I - come on, let us through!" Itsuka tried to insist, grabbing Ochako's hand and Izuku's sleeve to pull them through the shouting crowd, and doing her best to ignore the microphones and cameras being shoved into her face. Honestly, she had been a little flustered at the beginning when they had rushed them, but now she was more than a little annoyed by all the shouting.

Unfortunately, one of the reporters ended up pushing through the crowd a bit too roughly, and collided into Ochako, making her slip from Itsuka's grasp with a small squeak.

"W-whoa -!" She gasped, feeling herself trip and fall over, and then grunted when she collided into someone standing behind her, hearing that person let out a small noise of surprise as they instinctively raised their hands to stop Ochako from falling over. "Oh, I - I'm so sorry -"

"No, no, it's alright." The reporter laughed a bit, putting down her microphone so she could help Ochako straighten back up, "I understand that this is - well, not exactly how I would've gone about this, but you gotta do what you gotta do."

"O-oh?" Ochako managed to straighten up, looking around at who appeared to be the only sane person in this crowd. Itsuka and Izuku also noticed the commotion, and quickly headed over to help Ochako straighten up as well, smiling gratefully at the one reporter who didn't seem to be as intense as her colleagues - she was a bit busier smoothing out her purple blouse to interrogate them, giving the students a small smile. "S-so you're not going to ask us for an interview?"

"No, no, I'd rather ask a teacher for that." She picked back up her microphone, looking around at someone who just appeared at the gate, and gave a radiant smile, "Such as you, sir - tell me, what All Might like as a colleague?"

The three students blinked, and quickly looked around to see who she was talking to. To their surprise, Aizawa was standing at the gate, giving the crowd of reporters a sullen look as a few of them awkwardly shuffled away from him, as though not entirely sure what his deal was as he looked around at the crowd.

"All Might isn't on duty today," He informed them, using his hand to make a 'go away' gesture at them, "the principal sent me out to inform you of that fact, so there's no point standing here and disturbing our students. Please leave. Kendou, Uraraka, Midoriya," He gestured for the three students to follow him, "class doesn't start for another hour and a bit, so you're free to walk around for a while. I expect all three of you to be in class by the time I get there."

"Y-yes sir!" Izuku quickly nodded, and gestured to his two friends to follow him and the teacher inside. Quickly, they left behind the sea of shouting reporters now aiming their questions at Aizawa ("Don't you think you're too scruffy?!"), and politely waved goodbye to the one friendly reporter that Ochako had bumped into, who smiled after them as she raised a hand to tuck some of her long, red hair behind her ear, the rest tied up into a large bun.

As they hurried through the gate, however, Aizawa suddenly stopped in his tracks, and looked back around at them with a small frown.

"Actually, Midoriya," His red eyes flickered to the boy in question, "before anything else, I want a word with you. Alone."

Blinking, Izuku stared up at his teacher in shock for a moment, and then looked around at Itsuka and Ochako, who likewise looked surprised that Aizawa asked for a moment with him. Still, the two girls knew better than to argue with their strict teacher, and after confirming that they would text Izuku where they would be when he was done, they turned to hurry towards the school, walking behind a tree as Aizawa led Izuku away -

- and then both girls promptly hid behind said tree, peeking around the corner to eavesdrop on what exactly their homeroom teacher wanted from their training partner.

As the other two remained unaware that they were being listened in one (or at least, Izuku was unaware), Aizawa sighed as he leaned against against another tree, turning his gaze to his student.

"So Midoriya," He raised a hand to scratch some of the scruff on his cheek, "I had done a quick review of your performance in the battle trial yesterday, and there was something I wanted to talk to you about."

"O-oh?"

"Well," His lips thinned, staring down towards his student while being clearly unpleased, "I couldn't help but notice that you didn't use your quirk once during yesterday's exercise."

At that, Izuku immediately winced, already knowing where this was going and feeling his shoulders tense - their evaluation had been done without them yesterday, mostly because they had to lead Ochako and Nejire slowly back due to their injuries, and had only gotten cliff notes about what the rest of the class had discussed before the second battle trial had begun. So Izuku knew that one of the points against him yesterday was because he hadn't used his quirk at all, and of course Aizawa would want to know what was up with that.

"I … well … no, I didn't." He muttered, not really sure what else he could say as Aizawa shook his head.

"Care to tell me why?" He raised an eyebrow. "Don't think I didn't notice this isn't something new either - you didn't use your quirk at all during the tests on the first day either, at least up until the ball throw. Is there a reason why you weren't able to use it at all yesterday?"

Izuku stayed quiet for a moment, not entirely sure what he could say to placate the teacher - he definitely knew the reason why he didn't use his quirk, but also considered that Aizawa wouldn't be interested in a blatant sob story - so he let out a sigh as he slumped his shoulders slightly, deciding to make this brief.

"W-well," He twiddled his thumbs, "it's - well, it's a long story, obviously, but I - well - I have a - a kind of a - a complex with my quirk. It's - like I said, it's a long sotry, but I don't have - well, I don't have a lot of control over it."

Aizawa nodded, already knowing this after overhearing Izuku talking about it to Ochako on the first day of school.

"So I didn't - well, I didn't trust myself to use it during the battle trial yesterday, because - because I didn't want to hurt Occhan or Kendou with it. I - I know that it hindered our process, but I really only considered that using my quirk might've hurt Occhan or Kendou if I used it against them."

Even though you have a support item," Aizawa raised his eyebrow again, "that's specifically meant to bring your power down?"

He got his answer from how Izuku winced again, clearly not having thought of that excuse, and the teacher let out a sigh.

"Well, Midoriya, I imagine you'll be happy to know that I'm going to let this time fly since it was your first battle trial, and you did lose the match because of your mistake. But you should know that I'm not going to tolerate this kind of thing from here on out - choosing to not use your quirk in a real life situation against villains will not only endanger yourself, but anyone else that may be around you. I'm not exactly sure what your deal is, and what exactly this 'long story' of yours is, but if it's something you need to get over, we'll have to get to it soon. We have Shimura, a teaching assistant that's specializing in quirk analysis, for you to talk to if you need to, or else Hound Dog, our guidance counselor. Hell, you'll probably have to have a talk with him anyway, he didn't like how you put your life in danger during the entrance exam. But know this, problem child," He pointed a finger at Izuku's face, "you can't not use your quirk during exercises because you're afraid of it. You'd be better to learn this lesson now rather than on the field when lives are in danger. Understood?"

"I - yes, sir," Izuku nodded, staring down at the ground in shame as he was reprimanded. Aizawa studied him for a moment, pretending not to see the two girls trying to be sneaking and glancing around the tree at them, and realized that he may have been a bit too blunt. Letting out another sigh, he opened his mouth - only for the sound of a familiar siren to blare behind them as one of the reporters shouted at his colleague.

They both looked around at the gate as several thick, metal walls shot up from the ground, blocking the entrance to the school and beginning to line the outside walls.

"Oh, great," Aizawa groaned, "one of the idiots triggered the barrier, and now the rest of the students won't be able to get in. I can't believe All Might is able to get any work done with those clowns running behind him screaming questions a mile a minute. Midoriya, head to class, I have to go deal with that."

"Yes - yes, sir," Izuku quickly nodded, and began to hurry away - but then Aizawa called out to him.

"Midoriya." The boy in question paused in his step, glancing around as Aizawa turned towards the barrier. "You have potential. I'm not going to deny that. But just trying isn't going to cut it. Learn how to control your quirk. And Uraraka and Kendou, you both need to work on your stealth."

Izuku jumped a bit as two high-pitched squeaks sounded out from behind the tree, and quickly looked around as Aizawa began walking back to the gate to bring down the barrier and let the rest of the students in. Looking around, he saw Ochako and Itsuka awkwardly come out from behind the nearby tree, looking embarrassed and a bit sheepish as they scratched the backs of their heads.

"Wha - wait, you guys were eavesdropping?"

"Er … maybe a little." Itsuka shrugged, looking a bit guilty. "Sorry, Midoriya."

"Uh - er - no, it's okay."

"Deku," Ochako glanced up at him, and then back around at their teacher's back, "shouldn't you - I don't know, tell Aizawa what exactly is up with your quirk? It's not like you've been hesitant telling people before - you were okay with telling that Tenko guy and Kendou."

"I … uh …" Izuku faltered for a moment, staring at the ground - and then he sighed and shook his head, "... I don't know, Occhan. I just - I kinda feel like he's not going to accept that for an excuse, you know? He'll just tell me to get over it, or just tell me to - to stop wasting time. I just - well, if he asks, I'll tell him, but for now I - I don't want it to seem like I'm just making excuses."

The two girls glanced between each other, and then back to Izuku as he looked down at the ground. They felt like they could probably argue with him about opening up to their teacher and getting him off Izuku's back, but he probably wouldn't appreciate it right now - not when his mood was obviously brought down by the small lecture. So they both sighed and nodded at each other, deciding to drop it for now and bring it up at a later, better time.

"Well, anyway," Ochako decided to take charge of changing the topic, leading the two of them away from the tree and towards the entrance of the school, "I guess we can leave it alone for now - Deku, are you nearly done reading the novel I leant you?"

"H-huh? Oh the - the fantasy novel. Yeah, they - the group just met the barbarian king and his dragon, they were making their request to ally with them to head to the mountain."

"Oooh, that part - god, the barbarian king is such an asshole. People request help and he tries to immediately set them on fire."

"I mean - well, they are strangers, Occhan, would you just drop everything to go do whatever a stranger wanted if they knocked on your door and asked? He might be kind of a jerk, but I at least get it."

"I mean, I would if it was the entire kingdom in danger!"

"You two are such nerds." Itsuka shook her head at them, smirking as Izuku stuck his tongue out at her and Ochako flipped her off.

---

About an hour later, after all the students managed to get through the sea of shouting reporters and the bell rang, the door to their classroom was slammed open, Aizawa standing there with a noticeable grimace and clearly mentally preparing himself as he walked into the classroom. And lo and behold -

"Good morning, Aizawa-sensei!" Nejire happily greeted him from her seat on the right side of the class, not noticing everyone else sitting in absolute, painful silence as he walked over to the podium to start homeroom. "How was your night? Exciting? You look really tired, does that mean that you were out doing hero work? I hear that some teachers prefer to go out and patrol at night once school lets out, so it kind of makes sense why you'd feel so tired if you were doing that. But did you get enough sleep? I think I can see your sleeping bag in the corner, so if you need to catch a few 'z's, you can do that! But wait, then who would teach us? Would you get a substitute? I think Midnight would be pretty cool, she -"

"Hadou." Aizawa cut in once he had enough Nejire he could take, making the blue-haired chatterbox quiet down in curiosity as he raised his index finger and thumb to his lips, and then made a zipping motion, giving her a glare to further enunciate what he was wanting her to currently do. Understanding, Nejire nodded with a smile, and likewise imitated him by zipping her mouth closed and pretending to throw away a key.

Relieved for a little bit of silence (for however long that would last), Aizawa turned to face the rest of the class.

"Alright then," He sighed as he tapped his papers against the podium on the desk, "we managed to get the issue sorted out with the reporters out near the gate - we're going to keep the barrier up now that all the students have been accounted for, so we won't have to worry about them while we get classes started. Now, before we get started with today's assignment, I want you all to know that I reviewed yesterday's combat training through the recordings, and looked over your grades and evaluations."

Such a casual remark delivered with such a lack of emotion was enough to strike a bolt of terror throughout the entire class, everyone stiffening up a bit at the unamused look on their teacher's face as he slowly looked around at his students, from Nejire looking curious, Tenya straightening up in his seat, Setsuna biting her lip a bit in anxiety as she thought of how she failed yesterday, Yui continuing to stare blankly at him, Kyouka attempting to peek over Mezo's shoulder where she was sitting behind him, and Pony nervously nibbling on her pencil.

"Needless to say," Aizawa nodded at them, "good work."

He tried not to roll his eyes at everyone letting out sighs of relief, slumping over in their seats.

Okay, maybe this was a case of them not being able to read their teacher's expressions yet - it seemed like he didn't really have a 'pleased' expression, what with the apparently limited ways he could shift his face into something that could express happiness.

"From what I saw, you all did a good job working together," He continued to lecture, "and I trust that those of you that didn't get the results you wanted yesterday did a bit of retrospective to see how you could improve next time. Jirou, Kaminari, Shouji, Tsunotori, you four may not have been able to carry out the strategies you came up with, but sometimes heroes are given bad matchups against villains that may not fit the scope of your abilities. Work on your ability to adapt on the fly, and don't be afraid to visit the support studio to see if there's any work you can do with support items."

"Yes, sir!" "Yes, Aizawa-teacher!" Four responses came.

"Bakugou," Aizawa's dark eyes flickered to the blonde student as he glared at his desk, "grow up. You're talented, so stop acting like a toddler everytime you don't get your way."

Katsuki didn't bother to respond, merely huffing and crossing his arms across his chest. At least he wasn't challenging him or screaming about the others being extras, so Aizawa would have to put that into consideration. He'd have to wait for another time to properly supervise him in a class, however, so he supposed he'd have to wait until then to properly see how he acts in class, he sighed as he closed his eyes.

"Now then," He put the papers down on the podium, "on to homeroom business. I'm sorry to announce this so suddenly, but …"

The entire class, who had somewhat relaxed when they realized they weren't in trouble, immediately stiffened up as Aizawa slowly opened his eyes, staring at them with the utmost seriousness and fearing another brutal pop quiz was on the horizon for them, with even Itsuka and Momo gulping a bit nervously.

"... you'll have to pick a class representative this morning."

Such a normal, school-like thing! Seemed to be the class's collective, relieved thought as everyone sighed.

"I wanna be the rep!" Eijirou immediately hopped to his feet, both hands in the air to show his enthusiasm as everyone began loudly volunteering. "Lemme do it!"

"I'd like to do it." Kyouka raised her hand at least a little politely.

"I wanna be the leader!" Mina shouted. "Pick me!"

"Let me be the rep and you can all call me by my first name!" Pony offered while hopping up and down behind Izuku, the sound of her hooves clopping against the ground audible even as everyone shouted over each other.

"Jokes on you, I'll do that either way, Pony!" Setsuna immediately shot her down as she disconnected her arm from her body to shove up into the air. "Anyway, pick me!"

As the class descended into chaos, Aizawa staring at them in annoyance, Izuku chuckled awkwardly, keeping his hand half-in the air as he glanced around, seeing Itsuka raising her hand determinately and Ochako looking around in surprise as her hand remained unraised. Yeah, that was what he had figured - he knew that Itsuka would throw herself into this kind of role while Ochako wouldn't, evidently not comfortable with leading the class. They all knew that in normal schools, the position of class representative usually entailed mundane, boring tasks that no one wanted to do, but in the hero course at UA, it would mean that who would be in that position would be the one leading the entire class - a top position suited for a top hero in training.

… wait. A position suited for a top hero in training?

Izuku blinked, and glanced back over at Itsuka as she tried to get everyone to quiet down a bit while keeping her hand in the air, and slowly lowered his own hand, staring at her for a moment while the gears in his head turned. A student training to be a top hero … Itsuka would fit that bill, wouldn't she? If she was going to be All Might's successor … wouldn't this be the right position for her? A way for her to practice being a leader, or some kind of top hero? That made sense, at least, to him. Besides that, he knew that Itsuka was studious, she was charismatic, she was tough. So … in that case …

From her own spot, Ochako glanced around the classroom, giggling awkwardly at all the shouts, and then her gaze flickered to Izuku, seeing him looking at Itsuka. She tilted her head in curiosity, which got Izuku's attention as his gaze flicked to her as well. The two had a silent communication between each other, with both of them glancing at Itsuka and then back to each other - and then Ochako smiled, knowing exactly what her best friend was thinking, and flashed him a thumbs up, which made Izuku grin back at her as well as he also gave a thumbs up.

"Quiet down, everyone!"

At the loud shout at the other side of the classroom, the yelling and pleading to be the class representative quieted down at once, everyone looking around at Tenya as he stared ahead in determination, slowly nodding to himself.

"Leading the many is a task of heavy responsibility," He reminded them all sternly, looking around seriously, "But ambition does not equate to ability! This position is a sacred office that requires the great esteem and trust of its constituents, so if we are to choose, then I put forward the motion that our true leader must be chosen from a democratic choice reflecting the will of the people! Which is why this must be settled by a vote!"

"Even though your hand is up higher than the rest of us?" Setsuna asked while tilting her head, looking up at the bespectacled boy's hand being shot straight upwards and trembling slightly to show how much he wanted this position. "Besides, we don't need to take this kind of thing so seriously, it is just a high school class rep thing - it's not like we're going to be running for congress here."

"And even if we did that," Reiko put her hands down on her desk as she looked around at Tenya, "it's not like we've known each other long enough to build the kind of trust you're talking about. It's only been about three days, so won't everyone just decide to vote for themselves anyway?"

"That is precisely why," He pointed a hand at the ghost girl as though she had just proved his point, "anyone that manages to earn multiple votes will be the individual best suited for this position! Will you allow it, sensei, if we take votes?!"

"I don't really care," Aizawa had already zipped up his sleeping bag and flopped over on the floor to take a nap ("I knew it! Sleep well, sensei!" Nejire cheered for him), "as long as you decide who's the class rep before the end of homeroom."

"Thank you very much!"

Itsuka let out a weak chuckle at her seatmate's antics, and then shook her head, standing up and pulling out her notebook.

"I guess if Aizawa-sensei's cool with it," She said, which drew the attention of the classroom as she began pulling a piece of paper out of the notebook, and then ripping it up into tiny pieces, "we can do Iida's idea to take a vote, even if we're just going to vote for ourselves. I'll give you guys pieces of paper, and you can write who you want to be the class rep on there. Once everyone's voted, we'll have someone unbiased gather them up and put the results on the board."

"Sounds good, Ken!" Setsuna cheerfully nodding, accepting the piece of paper from her as she started going around the classroom. From there, everyone was handed a ripped piece of paper, taking their pens and writing down the name of the person they wanted to be the class representative, with everyone glancing around suspiciously before scribbling the name of the person they wanted.

Honestly, Tenya might have been a little … eccentric about it, but to a lot of people in the classroom, they kind of thought reluctantly that he had a point. It would be alright to vote for themselves, but wouldn't it be better to think about who actually stood out as a leader in the class? Eijirou glanced at Katsuki, who was obviously scribbling his name with violence; Nejire glanced over at Izuku while bouncing in her seat a bit; and when Momo had volunteered to gather up the votes, Yosetsu glanced up at her as he gave her his folded piece of paper, hoping that he didn't just waste his vote.

After a few minutes of her looking through the papers and writing the names up on the wall along with a tally-mark, eventually they came up with the election results, with Momo taking a step back to show everyone where the votes had gone:

Itsuka Kendou - 5 votes

Momo Yaoyorozu - 5 votes

Katsuki Bakugou - 2 votes

Izuku Midoriya - 2 votes

Mina Ashido - 1 vote

Fumikage Tokoyami - 1 vote

Reiko Yanagi - 1 vote

Hanta Sero - 1 vote

Tenya Iida - 1 vote

Denki Kaminari - 1 vote

"... wait, what?" Itsuka blinked from her seat, straightening up in shock as Izuku and Ochako slumped forward in their seats with relief, "It's a tie?"

"Oh, my!" Momo gasped a bit, blushing and looking around the classroom in gratitude for those who must've clearly believed in her enough to want her to lead their class.

"What the fuck?!" Katsuki leapt to his feet, eyes widened and teeth barring at the results on the board clearly not going his way. "You've gotta be shitting me! Who voted for the fucking ponytails?! And how am I fucking tied for points with Shitty Deku?!"

"Are you really that surprised?" Hanta raised an eyebrow as he leaned back in his seat. "It's not like you're the person anyone in here would vote for. Honestly, I'm surprised you actually got someone else to vote for you. Besides, I'd take Midoriya over you any day."

"Yeah," Setsuna sniggered teasingly, "I'd just consider myself lucky that someone pitied me enough to vote for me and call it a day - y'know, if I were you."

"What did you just say?! No one's fucking pitying me!"

As Katsuki screamed his head off at both the people teasing him, Izuku shrinking in his seat behind him and Pony looking like she was getting a headache from all the yelling occurring in the seat two desks in front of her, Tenya slumped forward in his own seat, staring at the board in shock as he stared at his name printed there, completely taken aback.

"I received a point?" He muttered quietly to himself, taking his glasses off briefly to rub the lenses and then bringing them back up as though to confirm. "But I didn't vote for myself … does that mean that there's someone in this classroom that believes I had the credentials to lead?"

As happy tears swelled in his eyes, putting a hand to his chest and trying to control how flattered he was over this, Yui absently doodled in her notebook, humming and trying not to look too conspicuous.

Still, they had to deal with the matter of the two people receiving the most votes were currently tied, so they quickly decided to wrap this up with a friendly game of rock-paper-scissors. They made the deal that the one who got to five wins first would be the class representative, and the loser would become the vic-rep of the class. At Setsuna calling 'go!', Itsuka and Momo quickly played through a few grueling games, and to Izuku and Ochako's relief, Itsuka managed to score five wins first, Momo looking disappointed but conceding defeat gracefully as she shook her hand.

Once that was settled, Aizawa peeked up from where he was lying on the ground, nodding as best he could since the zipping bag was currently zipped up to under his chin.

"Then Kendou is the class representative," He surmised, "and Yaoyorozu is the deputy class representative."

"This might not be too bad." Tsuyu put a finger to her chin, at least alright with her own loss as she sat back in her large blue chair and smiled at the two girls at the front of the class.

"Yeah, Kendou's got that manly class rep spirit," Eijirou clenched a happy fist, "and she's super reliable too! Plus, Yaoyorozu was super cool when we were going over our battle results, they both got pretty fired up during yesterday's test."

With that, the two girls went to return to their desks, so AIzawa could wrap up the homeroom class. As she took a seat, Itsuka sighed a bit, and then turned in her seat to give a knowing look at Ochako, suspecting where her friend's vote had gone. The brown-haired girl innocently whistled and glanced away, not meeting Itsuka's eyes as she raised an eyebrow, and then she turned to look at Izuku, who was likewise pretending not to notice anything as he imitated his best friend and whistled innocently.

"Idiots." Itsuka shook her head as she muttered to herself, unable to stop herself from smiling a bit, and feeling a slight blush burning on her cheeks.

---

Soon after the results for the class representative were revealed, and Itsuka was made the class representative, homeroom was quickly dismissed, with Present Mic strolling into the classroom for their English lesson while Aizawa slid out like some weird caterpillar, evidently either too tired or lazy to get up and walk. Thankfully, their classes after their hectic homeroom went by in the blink of an eye, everyone trying to stay awake or pay attention as Mic kept screaming English phrases at them, evidently undeterred from how quiet and awkward they were, until finally the bell called for lunch and they were promptly excused.

At the cafeteria, sitting down at their table with her bowl of rice, Ochako sighed as she broke her chopsticks apart, smiling as Izuku took his seat on the other side of the table with his own tray of food. From the looks of things, the cafeteria was just as busy as it had been yesterday, with everyone from the hero, support and management courses taking seats at the various tables around the eatery. As they both started eating, Izuku glanced up at his best friend, taking a moment to look around before subtly clearing his throat.

"So, uh," He glanced around again, before looking back at his best friend as her eyes flickered up to him, "you voted for Kendou too, didn't you?"

"Mm-hm," She nodded through her mouthful of rice, swallowing and smiling happily at the taste as she looked back up at him, "I thought she would've been the best pick for class rep. Just - y'know, didn't expect that it'd come down to a rock-paper-scissors match to decide who was gonna be the rep."

"Well, we couldn't exactly account for that," He chuckled along with her, breaking apart his own chopsticks, "but at least she won, I guess - even though being the deputy representative wouldn't have been so bad."

"What's that?" Itsuka raised an eyebrow as she walked around Izuku to her own seat, making sure to flick Ochako's ear teasingly and giggling when she stuttered, "You guys talking about me? I'm flattered, really, but I'm sure there's more interesting stuff to talk about."

"W-well, we were just talking about the class rep votes," Izuku hurriedly explained as their other friends moved to the table to sit down around them, Nejire taking a seat beside Izuku and Tenya putting his own tray down beside Ochako's, "we were just thinking that we weren't really expecting - y'know, for it to come down to a rock-paper-scissors contest."

"Indeed," Momo shook her head a bit as she sat down beside Tenya, Itsuka taking a seat on her other side, "I wasn't quite expecting us to tie, though - I'm very happy to see that so many people believed in us, though, even if I'm a little disappointed that I am just the vice rep - but that's not to say that I'm bitter! I was just - well, I was classroom representative during my time in middle-school, I just wasn't expecting to be the deputy representative this time."

"Yeah, I get what you mean, Yaoyorozu," Itsuka smiled at her, "it might be a bit of a change of pace, but I'm pretty sure since this is an actual hero class instead of a regular middle school classroom, I think I'm gonna need all the help I can get."

"Indeed," Tenya nodded in agreement as Nejire began digging into her own lunch, "looking after an entire class of heroes may be far more hectic than anyone may suspect, but I believe that you two will adapt quite well. You've already shown excellent leadership skills, Kendou, in taking charge of the election, so you have already shown that you have what it takes to step up and lead this class."

"Yeah," Ochako nodded, "you'll be great, Kendou. And I mean, I know me and Deku voted for you, but you also had three other people vote for you, too. That means you've got other people who believe you can lead us."

"Yeah," Itsuka looked around to give her training partners a skeptical smirk, "and I'm sure that your votes were completely and utterly unbiased, no chance it was due to personal reasons you two voted for me."

Izuku and Ochako innocently whistled.

"Ah, don't be too hard on them, Ken," Setsuna giggled as she broke her chopsticks apart, "I mean, it might've been lowkey biased, but it's not like your under-qualified for the position - you were the class rep for our class back in middle school, y'know, before you stepped down so you could concentrate on training last year."

"I guess so," Itsuka shrugged, and then turned to smile at Momo, "in any case, Yaoyorozu, I'll be looking forward to working with you from now on - I'm expecting you to keep me in check and make sure the power doesn't go to my head."

"I look forward to it as well!" Momo put a hand to her chest, smiling back at the orange-haired girl, "I'll be keeping you on track."

"Still," Izuku shook his head slightly, going slightly red as he picked at his lunch and scooped up a piece of lettuce from his bowl, "I'm kind of surprised that I of all people got two votes. I mean, it's not like I'm not happy about it, but I'm not exactly sure who would've -"

"That was me!" Nejire immediately shot her hand up into the air, finally being able to talk once she had paused her scarfing down her lunch to turn to Izuku with a grin, seeing him quickly look around at her with a blush. "I know I was one of those votes for you, Midoriya! I mean, to me it was a no brainer, since you were so cool and badass during our battle trial yesterday, and during the entrance exam too! Plus, you're kind of charismatic, in a dorky, doesn't-really-mean-it kinda way, but yeah!"

"I - uh - er -"

"It wasn't just Hadou that voted for you," Tenya put down his own spoon to reach over and pick up his orange juice, giving Izuku a serious look, "I also voted for you. Not only because of your performance during the test yesterday, but because your courage and good judgment during the entrance exam made me believe that you were worth following. With that said, even though Kendou is now the class representative, I do not regret having voted for you."

While Izuku stuttered and blushed at the praise, wrapping his arms around his head as Nejire beamed at him, Itsuka and Ochako very casually stabbed at their food with their chopsticks, frowning a bit at how close Nejire's face was to Izuku, and Ochako resisted the urge to reach over and pull Nejire back by the hair. Before she could give into that temptation, though, they heard a long, tired sigh above them.

"Yo," The group blinked and looked around to see Yuuyu walking to their table with her own tray of food, looking absolutely exhausted as she put the tray down in the seat beside Nejire's and flopped into it, slumping forward and putting her elbow on the table to hold her head, "long day, am I right?"

"It's … only been three hours." Yui pointed out.

"Has it? Feels like it's been longer," The pink-haired girl shook her head, pouting as she picked up her wooden chopsticks to break apart, "we had to pick our class rep this morning before homeroom dismissed."

"Oh! As did we!" Momo clapped her hands together happily, leaning forward, "And how did it go?"

"Terribly." Yuuyu shuddered at the memory, popping a piece of teriyaki into her mouth, "We ended up doing, like - an election type thing where everyone went up and talked about why they should be the rep, and then we voted on it. It ended up taking freaking forever because one dude just wouldn't shut up - he kept going on and on about how he would lead us to success, how under his leadership we would thrive, and gain the attention of the entire hero community, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I ended up having to finally go up to the podium and giving him a good shock to the back of the neck to get him to finally shut up and let someone else go."

"Huh," Itsuka winced on her behalf, watching as Yuuyu tossed another piece of teriyaki in her mouth while looking absolutely done with today, "so in that case, who did you guys end up deciding on?"

"You're looking at her," Yuuyu shook her head, looking miserable at that, "everyone saw me shock the annoying dude and thought 'hey, she can keep us in line'. And me, being an idiot, was too polite to say no. So here I am, class rep of Class 1B. Yay."

"Well, it's a great opportunity!" Tenya tried to assure her, chopping his hands in her general direction. "Becoming a class representative means that your class trusts you with the serious responsibility of leadership. This is a task laden with responsibility where you must carry and pull everyone else's weight. And of course, wanting to do it and being suitable for it are two different issues - just because you'd like to do it doesn't mean you can do it. If you feel that you are not suited for leadership, Haya, I assure you that there would be no shame in backing down from the position."

"I … guess you're right, Glasses," Yuuyu gave him, letting out another sigh as she straightened up somewhat, staring down at her food, "if I end up not liking the position, I can just hand it over to someone else. And it's not like I can just lay down and whine for the next half hour, we've got our first Hero Basic Training coming up after lunch. In any case, Nej -" She turned to look at her friend, raising an eyebrow as she played with one of her earrings, "- you didn't vote for yourself during the class rep selection in your class, right?"

"Nope! I did as instructed!" She was sure to salute her friend, who nodded in satisfaction.

"Good. You're not cut-throat enough for politics, no need to poke your nose in that kind of business."

As Nejire gave her friend another salute to confirm, the table giggling a bit at their antics, Ochako was unable to stop herself from looking around at Tenya, feeling her smile falter and her head tilt slightly. She had been thinking a little bit about something that she noticed about him before, and now that she was remembering it, maybe now was a good time to bring it up. Something about the way he talked just now, and back in the classroom, was making her kind of suspect something.

"Hey, Iida," She leaned forward slightly, catching Tenya's attention along with the rest of their table looking around at him, Yui pretending not to notice the attention shift to the boy in glasses as she stared at her food, "I've been thinking about this for a while, but I'm wondering … you're a rich boy, aren't you?"

"Rich -?!" Tenya gasped, taken entirely aback for a moment as though completely surprised that she had figured it out, and then closed his eyes and looked back around, sighing a bit to himself, closing his eyes in defeat. "I see … I tried to change how I talk because I didn't want to be called out on that."

The entire table gave him an odd look at that remark - that was him trying to change the way he talked? Still, Tenya sighed again, and then straightened his back out in his seat as he looked around at the table, deciding to answer before Nejire went on the questioning spree she was obviously starting to build towards when the conversation shifted to him.

"To answer your question as to my social background, Uraraka - well, yes, I consider myself to be well off in regards to other students," He put down his spoon again, looking around the table somewhat as he pushed his glasses to the bridge of his nose, "I simply tried not to bring it up as I have known a few people that look down in this type of subject. But yes, mine is a renowned hero family, and we have been that way for over four generations now. I am currently the second son of my family."

"Whoa, cool!" Izuku sat forward at once, eyes wide and attention entirely focused on Tenya the moment the world 'hero' escaped his lips. "Your entire family are heroes?! I had no idea!"

"Indeed. Would you happen to know the Turbo Hero, Ingenium, by chance?"

"Of course!" He quickly nodded, while Ochako and Itsuka rolled their eyes but still smiled at his dorkiness and Nejire began practically vibrating with all the questions she was now attempting to hold back. "He employs over sixty-five sidekicks at his office in Tokyo alone, and he's well liked as a popular hero that's great with children and likes going on talk shows to discuss various charities he's supporting! But wait," He suddenly stopped his fanboying, realizing something and looking at Tenya in shock, "you're not saying …?"

"That's right!" Tenya swelled proudly, a large smile on his face as he put his hands on his hips. "He is my elder brother!"

"He's so frank about it now." Ochako noted.

"That's amazing!" Izuku refused to be deterred from his fanboying.

"My brother is a likable hero," Tenya explained to the others at the table, Setsuna leaning back to listen somewhat while Itsuka and Momo looked interested, Yuuyu continuing to eat while half-listening, and Nejire on the edge of her seat with questions about to spill from her mouth any moment now, "and leads his agency with unwavering adherence to rules and regulations. Truly, he's a beloved hero! It's my admiration for my brother that inspired my own desire to become a hero." Turning in his seat, he smiled at Itsuka. "Although I realize that I am not quite ready to lead yet. As the superior candidate, it was right that the role should go to you, Kendou."

Everyone at the table blinked at the natural smile on Tenya's face as he looked around, with even Yui unable to keep up her cold act as she stared at him with her mouth dropping open slightly.

"Wow," Yuuyu raised an eyebrow, "honestly, I think this is the first time we've seen you smile, Glasses."

"Huh?" He blinked in shock. "I-is that so? I do smile on occasion!"

"Ooooh, but Iida, Iida, Iida, tell me more about your brother!" Nejire finally broke, practically jumping up to lay over the table and grabbing his arms, which made the bespectacled boy yelp as she got in his face. "What's his office like? Is he really that nice? I bet he is, but is he like a teasing older brother to you? Does he do the arm things you do too? What's his favorite food?"

"H-Hadou! Please refrain from laying across the table!"

As Tenya attempted to get her back into her seat and Yuuyu attempted to drag her back while loudly reprimanding her, Izuku and Ochako chuckled a bit, glancing at each other while the rest of the table laughed at Nejire's flopping. The way Ochako gave him a knowing look made Izuku blush a bit; both could probably tell what the other was thinking - the way Tenya talked about his brother inspiring him reminded them of how Izuku talked about All Might inspired him. She smiled a bit teasingly at him as she picked up her rice bowl to keep eating, and Izuku was about to give her an annoyed smile as he opened his mouth -

- and that was about when an alarm suddenly went off above them.

"What the -?" Itsuka quickly looked up in surprise, hearing Ochako choke on her food and seeing Izuku jumping to his feet as well, Nejire looking up from where she was laying on the table in confusion.

"Security Level 3 has been broken," An automatic voice came on over the speakers, "all students please evacuate outside promptly and in an orderly fashion."

"Wait," Tenya quickly looked around at the older students as they got up and started hurrying for the exit, several panicked voices filling the room from the announcement as it repeated, "what is a Security Level 3?"

"It means someone's infiltrated the school!" An upperclassman answered as he ran by. "This hasn't happened in all the time I've been here! Anyway, stop sitting around and get outta here!"

Quickly, the group at the table stood up and moved around their chairs, Izuku reaching out and grabbing Ochako's sleeve just to be safe, and they hurried to join the crowd of students beginning to push out the door of the cafeteria and into the hall.

And very quickly, they ran into a problem.

"Ow, ow!"

"Stop shoving!"

"Don't push me, you prick!"

"Wait, I'm gonna fall over! Stop!"

"I said quit pushing me!"

"Ow!" Ochako cried out as she was squeezed between two older students in the large crowd that squished together in the hall, unable to move as their group was swallowed in the large riot beginning to grow out of control. Quickly, she reached out to grab Izuku's hand so they didn't get separated. "What's going on?!"

"Such a rapid response to danger!" Tenya remarked even as he similarly struggled, Setsuna grunting when she was shoved into his back and almost knocked over by the struggling crowd. "I'd expect nothing less from this great institution!"

"Yeah, well, it just seems like a regular panic to me!" Yuuyu called out in an annoyed voice, keeping hold of Nejire's hand so she wasn't swallowed up in the crowd either. "It's a fucking riot! If they don't calm down, someone might get hurt!"

"Just keep calm!" Itsuka instructed them, even as she herself was knocked around by the wild mass of bodies trying to get to the exit, "I'm sure the teachers are on this, so we just have to -"

"Ah!"

Ochako gasped as Izuku's hand was suddenly ripped out of hers, and she and Itsuka quickly looked around in shock and a bit of terror as Izuku was dragged away from their group, eyes wide in panic as he reached out for Ochako. "Guys!"

"Deku!"

"Midoriya!"

Tenya's eyes widened, and he attempted to use his own hand to grab Izuku to ensure he wasn't swallowed up in the horde - however, he felt his feet slip out from under him as someone slammed into his back, and he yelped as he tripped and fell straight towards the window. Before he could collide against the glass surface, squeezing his eyes shut, he felt himself collapse into someone, hearing a small grunt of surprise as he ended up accidentally pinning someone against the wall, his hands pressing against the window.

"Ah, I - I apologize -" he quickly opened his eyes, looking down to apologize to whoever he just pushed into the wall - just as Yui also glanced up, blinking in shock when she realized who had pinned her.

It was about then that it registered to Tenya what position they had just landed in - Tenya pretty much pinning the smaller girl to the wall, both of his hands planted on the window on either side of her head, and Yui leaning back slightly so they weren't pressed against each other. Going very red, Tenya was about to apologize to her and back up, his eyes unconsciously trialing up above her head -

- and then he blinked.

"The press!" He gasped in realization. "It's just the press!"

Yui wrinkled her brow, and looked around as well. As he had said, there was a large crowd of reporters gathered around near the entrance of the school, shouting at Aizawa, Present Mic and another teacher with dark hair and red shoes. The former two teachers looked bored with denying all the reporters' questions, while the third, younger guy was looking uncomfortable as he gently pushed some of the microphones away from his face.

"I see! There's no danger, it's just the media!" Tenya confirmed, and then quickly looked around to shout at the crowd, "Everyone, please calm down! It's just - gerk!"

A good shove to the back stopped his train of thought and rammed him back into the window, and this time he was unable to stop himself from leaning against Yui, the quiet girl letting out a small gasp as he pressed up against her and unintentionally pinned her against the wall with his weight.

Unfortunately, she couldn't quite take any embarrassment (or pleasure, whichever) from this - everyone was panicking and shouting, and it was clear that their friends were starting to get separated as well. She could make out, from leaning over to peek around Tenya's arm, Setsuna and Ochako still together, the girls hanging onto each other to prevent them from being separated; Yuuyu having Nejire float in the air with her quirk, holding her hand like Nejire was an oddly shaped balloon; and she couldn't make out Itsuka, Izuku or Momo anywhere in the chaos. She could've sworn that she saw Eijirou, Denki and Yosetsu trying to calm the crowd as well, but they were quickly swallowed up in the riot as well.

"Ow!"

"Wait! Someone fell over!"

"Stop shoving!"

Tenya grunted, trying his best to get off of Yui while his cheeks burned redder and redder by the second - and then Yui shook her head, tired of being shoved around and looking up at Tenya.

"We need to stop this," She told him, which made Tenya blink in surprise and look down at her as though to confirm that she really was talking to him, "we need to get to Itsuka, she'll know what to do."

"R-right! Yes!" With a grunt, he finally managed to push himself away from her, pushing against the crowd that was trying to keep him shoved face up against the window.

"Get me over to Set - she can use her quirk to look for Itsuka."

With a nod, as best he could, Tenya began to push against the crowd, looking around for where he last saw Setsuna. The two of them began sliding against the wall together, before finally managing to find a place they could slip into the riot. As quickly as they could, they began shoving and making their way through the crowd towards were Setsuna and Ochako were still struggling, Ochako looking like she was about to be dragged away herself and Setsuna looking annoyed enough that she was going to start biting with her sharp teeth.

Finally, they managed to squeeze through the crowd to get to them, and Yui looked back up at Tenya.

"Grab hold of Set's body so it doesn't get trampled."

"Er - of course!"

Quickly, Tenya took a hold of Setsuna's shoulders, making the green-haired girl sputter in confusion and look around in shock as Yui leaned in slightly, trying to keep herself from being knocked off her feet again by grabbing Setsuna's arm and the front of Tenya's blazer to keep her stable.

"Press is making trouble," She explained shortly, "use your head. Tell Itsuka."

Setsuna blinked in confusion for a moment, not really sure what to make of that - and then she got it. Quickly nodding, she detached her head from the rest of her body, letting it float up into the air above the crowd as Tenya kept a hold on the rest of her body to prevent it from being knocked over and trampled, and quickly began scanning the crowd for her other best friend. Thankfully, it didn't take long to find her - she was pushing through the crowd with Momo towards Izuku to rescue him from where he was pinned by a few upperclassmen, growing out her hands to shove her way towards him.

Quickly, she zoomed down, hovering in front of the orange-haired girl as both class representatives looked at her in surprise.

"It's the press!" She quickly explained to them. "Yui says it's just them! They got on the campus!"

"The press?!" Itsuka looked angry at that, staring up at her scandalized, "We're gonna fucking die because of the fucking media?!"

"Oh, this is ridiculous -" Momo shook her head, having had absolutely enough of being shoved around, and quickly pulled up her shirt to reveal her stomach, facing away from the crowd in case some pervert looked her way. With a pink glow, she used her quirk to create a microphone, and once it was created, she quickly raised it to her mouth to shout.

"Please stop! Everything's fine!"

Thankfully, the loud voice of the deputy class representative made everyone in the crowd freeze as Momo's voice echoed through the microphone. They quickly looked around as Itsuka acted quickly, using her grown out hands to lift Momo up by the waist above the crowd so everyone could see her, and witness the sharp glare she was throwing at them.

"It's just the press!" She explained quickly, and in a stern tone. "The reporters from outside the gate have just gotten onto the grounds! There is nothing to panic about, we're fine! This is UA! We can't just shove our fellow students out of our way, people might get trampled! Behave in a way that would befit this institution, and please exit the school in an orderly fashion!"

After a moment of tense silence, they could feel the crowd begin to settle down, everyone muttering and looking around at each other. After Momo was put down by Itsuka, they began to adhere to her order and began exiting the school in an orderly fashion. Now that everyone wasn't shoving their way through, the small group got back together, with Ochako quickly giving Izuku a one-armed hug after he managed to finally get back over to them, Izuku hugging back while shaking a little bit.

Once they finally got outside, letting out relieved sighs as they got some fresh air, Tenya cleared his throat awkwardly, unable to stop his cheeks from going slightly red, and turned to look at Yui, her back still to him as she put her hands in her pockets.

"I, er - I feel I should apologize to you, Kodai," He said in a small voice, glancing away from her, "back in the crowd, I ended up accidentally - er - well, in any case, I apologize for -"

"It's cool," She interrupted him quickly, making Tenya sputter a bit and look back around at her as she straightened up, "wasn't your fault. I'm just gonna go grab a drink from the water fountain. Be right back."

With that, she quickly walked away from their small group, intending to go around the corner and get herself something to drink - and try to calm down the massive blush on her cheeks, making sure she was around the corner before she raised her hands to smack them and get some of the color out.

Once the police arrived to escort the press off the school grounds ("Goodbye, bad mass media!" Present Mic gleefully taunted them as they were forced to leave, with Tenko trying in vain to calm him down), the school day quickly resumed, with everyone returning to class and bidding Yuuyu good luck as she returned to her class for All Might's first lesson. Once Aizawa was back in class, looking annoyed and a bit cross with what he had to deal with, he congratulated Itsuka, Momo, Yui and Tenya for their quick thinking, albeit in his usual deadpan manner. From there, everyone was relieved to just use the rest of the day to have a normal school experience, with Midnight and Ectoplasm shuffling in to teach their own classes until the bell finally run to confirm that the day had come to an end.

After their group met back up with Yuuyu, the delinquent girl covered in bruises and scratches and cursing under her breath ("Fucking Monoma," they could have sworn they heard mixed in with the other threats of violence directed to the ground), they started to head home for the day, heading out the entrance to UA and walking towards the UA barrier.

Or at least, what remained of the UA barrier.

"Whoa," Ochako stared up in shock at the slashes on the gate, looking through the hole made in the metal sheets and gulping, "it kinda looks like someone just … sliced through the barrier like butter."

"Yeah," Itsuka tilted her head some, giving some of the other pieces of cut up metal lying on the ground before them a wary look before glancing back around at her confused friends, "it looks like one of those reporters really wanted to book an interview if they were willing to get through the gate this way."

"Reporters, huh?"

The group blinked in surprise, and looked around at the sound of a familiar voice. Who was walking towards them, staring at the gate with slightly narrowed eyes, made them look surprised to see her so far away from the clinic.

"N-Nurse Toga?"

"Ah, ah, ah, I'm off duty - it's just Toga-senpai to you cute kohais," Himiko giggled a bit, before turning her gaze back to the barrier. It was kind of weird to see her wearing the same school uniform as them, and not the weird nurse's outfit from the first day, "I heard about the gate, so I decided to come have a look. Doesn't look very pretty, eh?"

"Indeed," Tenya rested a hand on his chin as he thought, "it's a stain on UA's reputation that someone used such brute force to enter our school. Quite disdainful!"

"Were there any arrests?" Yuuyu raised an eyebrow at the nurse as Nejire inspected the hole in the metal, experimentally reaching out to poke it with her finger before Itsuka hastily pulled her hand away, not wanting her to get cut accidentally, "I know the police were here, but I didn't see anyone being led away in cuffs."

"Nope," Himiko shook her head, "whoever did this pretty much got away scott free."

"How distasteful!" Tenya proclaimed. "For a reporter to use their quirk like this for a mere interview - I recognize that they may have been desperate to do their job, but deciding to risk a panic amongst the student body could be worth this trouble!"

"An interview, huh …" Himiko hummed, which made Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka blink and look around at her. It was rather strange to see no weird cat-like smile on the nurse's face, only dead seriousness and narrowed eyes as she studied the gate. Hastily, Izuku gulped, and turned back to properly look at her.

"Uh … Toga-senpai?" He asked timidly, which drew her yellow eyes to him. "Sorry, but - do you think - do you think someone - uh - someone else might've come into the school? Someone - someone other than the reporters?"

Himiko studied him for a moment, seeing some of the gears turning in his head - and then shook her head, smiling a bit as she leaned forward and patted his shoulder airily.

"Ah, don't mind me, cute kohai," She giggled, seeing his cheeks heat up slightly, "just lost in my head, that's all. Whoever did this, the police'll catch them. You shouldn't put much thought into this kind of thing. Anyway, you guys should head home, you've still got two more days of school. Just be careful going through the barrier."

Hesitantly, Izuku nodded, and obeyed his senpai's instructions to walk carefully through the barrier with the rest of his friends, Itsuka being sure to make sure he didn't lean up against the walls of the hole. Still, he couldn't help but glance back at Himiko, seeing her cat-like smile fade again as she stared seriously at the barrier, and played with something solid and long in her pocket, almost looking like the handle of a boxcutter - and he couldn't help but feel a weird sense of foreboding shoot through him.

---

Thankfully, it appeared that the reporters that had surrounded the gate for the last few days had finally gotten the message that they weren't wanted, because the next day they were nowhere to be seen. Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako were at least thankful for that, stepping through the now repaired gate of the school so they could enter the main building and get started with their day. After an uneventful English lesson and getting back from lunch, they were surprised that, unlike last time when All Might had hammily greeted them for their Hero Basic Training class, it was Aizawa leaning against the podium waiting for them as they retook their seats.

"Alright," He said as everyone sat back down, "for today's Hero Basic Training, this lesson will be supervised by myself, All Might, and one other teacher."

Izuku blinked in surprise at that, staring up at the teacher as Aizawa flipped through the pages of his work and tried his hardest to ignore Nejire immediately questioning why he was coming along and who was helping and where All Might was and if it was going to be fun. So today's class would be special or something along those lines? It must be, if Aizawa and another teacher were coming with them to do … well, whatever it was they were doing.

Thankfully, after Aizawa subtly told Nejire to zip it by glaring at her with his quirk activated, as though hoping that he could somehow shut her up with one glowing red glare, Hanta had the same thoughts as Izuku as he raised his hand in question.

"So, uh, what are we doing today, exactly?"

"Preparing you for disaster relief," Aizawa briefly explained, "from fires to floods and everything in between."

With that, he raised a similar card that All Might had used in their last class to announce what they were doing - but instead of two bold red words, it was one blue word titled: 'RESCUE'.

"Rescue training?" Itsuka blinked in surprise, sitting up.

"Yes. This specific class covers the types of situations you'll find yourselves working through in the future. From disasters to shipwrecks, this class will prepare you for every type of situation."

"Whew …" Setsuna chuckled a bit, leaning back and glancing at Mina as the class began muttering amongst themselves, "... sounds like we're gonna have to put in a lot of work this time. Rescue training's a lot different than combat training, this is gonna be tough."

"Right?"

"Oh, come on, man," Eijirou leaned forward with a grin as Setsuna glanced behind her shoulder at him, seeing him leaning against Denki's back, "this is what a hero's all about! I'm getting pumped up! Let's rumble!"

"Well, I'm looking forward to this," Tsuyu also sat up in her seat in anticipation, a froggy smile on her face as she looked behind her shoulder at Nejire, "I've been looking forward to doing flood training, kero."

"Hey." Aizawa snapped at the front, glaring at the class harshly. "I wasn't finished talking."

At once, silence fell.

"Anyway, it's up to each of you whether or not you wear your costumes for this exercise." He pressed the button on the remote he kept on the podium, bringing out the briefcases that would contain their costumes and equipment. "Especially since you may have costumes that'll limit your abilities in these kinds of situations. The training site we'll be going to is a bit remote, on the other side of the campus, so we'll be going there by bus. That's all - get ready and meet me out front."

Quickly, everyone nodded in confirmation and got up, running over to grab their costumes. Izuku debated briefly with himself, staring at the briefcase that would contain his costume, and then shook his head to get up and go grab it from the glass container.

He knew that, if they were going to be doing exercises that simulated disasters, they might have to deal with a situation that included water. And lightning and water … tended not to mix, but he knew that he also needed to test out how exactly his equipment would be able to handle flood situations should he ever get in one. That, and with Aizawa there with his quirk, he should be fine if he got in water and accidentally began electrocuting himself - of course, assuming Ochako or Itsuka would even let him and his quirk anywhere near water.

About twenty minutes later, and a quick visit to the changing room, everyone trooped out to the front of the school where the bus was waiting for them to get on, being piloted by an AI to get wherever they needed to go. Aizawa was already climbing on the bus to sit down, grunting as he leaned against the window and immediately began napping. Izuku had decided to put on his equipment and costume, but left the mask and reciperator down, sighing as he raised a hand to brush through his hair and making Itsuka and Ochako, who were dressed in their hero costumes sans their head accessories - Ochako's visor and Itsuka's domino mask missing - look over at him in surprise.

"Hey," Itsuka smiled a bit, grabbing the loose mask by the ear and lifting it up with a teasing look, "where's the bunny ears? I thought that was gonna be your look."

"Er - w-well, I was just thinking that for this exercise, I should - y'know, keep my face visible this time," He explained quickly, going a bit red, "especially if we're going to be doing rescue simulations, it'd be better for people to see my face just in case something goes wrong."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Ochako agreed, tucking some of her hair behind her ear, "I think it's better if we leave anything that blocks our face behind too - plus, y'know, my visor still needs to get repaired after it broke a few days ago."

"Oh, that's right!" Izuku brightened up, looking around at her, "You had some of your stuff sent to the support studio. How'd that go?"

"Okay," Ochako shrugged, although she did shiver a bit, "Power Loader-sensei said that he'd get some of his students to repair my stuff. They were - uh - kinda enthusiastic about repairing my visor, though, so I might have to check it before I put it back on."

"Yo, Mido-bro!" Eijirou suddenly called to him, and Izuku looked around as the redhead walked over, Denki and Hanta walking towards him as well. "Quick question, but are you busy this weekend?"

"This weekend?" Izuku blinked, unaware of Itsuka blinking as well and straightening up slightly. "Er - no, I shouldn't be. Why, Kirishima?"

"Well," He grinned back at Denki and Hanta before looking back at his friend, "me, Kaminari and Sero were thinking of hitting up the arcade sometime this weekend - y'know, before we have to go Plus Ultra on school - and I was wondering if you wanted to tag along! We were thinking of inviting Awase too, if he's free."

"O-oh!" Izuku blinked in surprise, looking at the other two boys grinning at him, and then felt a bit of red tingle in his cheeks as he smiled and nodded. "Y-yeah! I'd - I'd love to come with you guys."

"Ooh, are we talking about this weekend?" Nejire bounced over to the group, being followed by Setsuna and Yui as the green-haired girl fastened the purple mask around her eyes. "I was just thinking, we could hang out or something! Ah, but you just said you're busy, aren't you, Midoriya? Oh, man, I wish I had asked you to hang out before Kirishima did! Although it's cool if you wanna hang out with your bro, we can hang out another time! Maybe Sunday?"

She continued to babble on, not noticing Izuku gulping and going a bit red. Ochako, meanwhile, looked at Izuku as he glanced away with a small, bashful smile, and let out a small sigh as her own smile fell, although she was quick to shake her head.

She tried to remind herself of what she had thought a few days ago - this was a good thing, Izuku now being surrounded by people who wanted to hang out with him and spend time with him, and she shouldn't feel sad about that. He deserved more than just her, she continued to remind herself as she looked around at Itsuka, and her being a little lonely shouldn't -

- wait a minute.

Ochako blinked as she finally looked around at her other friend, seeing Itsuka staring at something while … also frowning, a small, disappointed look in her eye. Staring at her in surprise, Ochako felt confused, and then quickly followed Itsuka's gaze - and realized that she was also staring at Nejire, seeing her bouncing around and talking to Izuku while he blushed and tried to answer back as best he could.

Wait a moment … Ochako looked back at Itsuka, feeling her eyes widen slightly. Wait, could it be possible …

"- Uraraka? Helloooo?"

"Huh?" Ochako blinked, shaken out of her shock, and looked around at Nejire giving her a curious look, raising a hand to poke her own cheek.

"Spacing out?" She wondered out loud. "I mean, that makes sense, if that's your quirk, but anyway, I was actually wondering if you were busy this weekend?"

"Uh - er - busy? This weekend? I - I don't think I am."

"Oh! That's great!" Nejire lit up, smiling widely and clapping her hands. "In that case, wanna hang out with me and Yuuyu? I really wanna get to know everyone better, and if Midoriya's busy, I wanna see if you and Kendou and Yaoyorozu are good with hanging out! We can go to the park, or the movies, or a restaurant to eat, or to a sleepover! If that's the case, my house has the room for us all, but I also kinda wanna see where you guys live! Do you have pets? I know I have a cat, if you guys come over you can pet her all you want, she's such a -"

Her invitation, however, was suddenly interrupted by the loud clash of lightning above them. The entire class jumped a bit at the loud rumble, and quickly looked back up at the sky. Unlike this morning, with bright skies and the sun twinkling, dark storm clouds slowly circled above the school, lightning briefly flickering within, and they could suddenly feel the wind pick up.

"Jeez," Eijirou wrinkled his brow, looking up at the clouds, "I thought the forecast said it was gonna be sunny today. Where'd this come from?"

"Yes," Reiko also looked up at the storm clouds, keeping her face mask down around her neck as she raised an eyebrow at the skies, "I believe the news said that it would be sunny skies until next week at the latest. I wonder where this darkness has manifested from."

"Indeed," Tokoyami crossed his arms in agreement, standing beside the ghost girl as he also looked seriously at the sky, the shadow creature that was his quirk peeking from around his shoulder, "what strange omens manifest above us?"

"... guys, it's just the weather being weird," Yosetsu pointed out, chuckling a bit awkwardly at their dramatics, "it's not like dark spirits are about to suddenly come down from the sky."

"If we were only so lucky." Reiko shook her head sadly.

"Er … Midoriya-san,you wouldn't happen to control the weather too, do you?" Pony asked, gulping as the wind picked up a bit, with her brushy long hair blowing around somewhat. "Looks kind of ominous."

"Er … no, I don't control actual lightning storms," Izuku shook his head, and then stopped briefly, staring contemplatively for a moment, "at least, I don't think so."

"Well, in any case," Itsuka shook her head, turning to walk towards the bus and wincing as another cold wind hit them, "we should probably get going before the rain actually comes. C'mon, everyone, let's pile on the bus!"

"Right!"

With that, everyone quickly obeyed Itsuka's instructions, Katsuki with gritted teeth, as they quickly moved into the bus, taking seats so that they could get going. Izuku took a seat in the middle of the bus, being quickly joined by Nejire sitting beside him with a smile as she made sure not to sit on any of her hair, and Mezo on his left side. Both Itsuka and Ochako stared down at them for a moment, feeling themselves frown, before they moved towards the back of the bus, sitting together. Once everyone was sitting down, Aizawa woke up from his nap long enough to press the button on the bus to get it moving, before slumping back down again and starting to snore.

As everyone chatted amongst themselves, either about what they were going to do for the weekend or what they were about to do for class, Ochako and Itsuka glanced over to see Nejire start to ask Izuku more questions, which he tried to keep up with and answer, both of them sighed as Itsuka leaned against the window, staring out of it, and Ochako sat back, glancing between her and Izuku. The image of Itsuka's face a few minutes ago was still on her mind, and she let out another sigh as she folded her hands in her lap.

"Uh … hey, Kendou," She muttered, staring down at the floor, "could I ask you … uh … can I ask you a stupid question?"

Itsuka shrugged a bit. "Sure, go ahead."

"Um … is it just me," She hesitated for a moment, not exactly sure how to ask her this without sounding weird - and then sighed and shook her head, leaning over to where Itsuka was leaning against the wall of the bus and muttered, "or do you - uh - do you not like seeing Hadou hanging around Deku?"

There was a small silence, with Itsuka staring out the window for a moments while clearly thinking, and Ochako fidgeted a bit embarrassedly, worried that she might have just said something stupid or mean - and then Itsuka sighed as well, glancing back at Ochako with a small, unsure look.

"What, uh … what do you mean? Do you not like seeing them together?"

"I … well …" Ochako hesitated again, not exactly sure how to explain as she absently played with her hair, "... it's just … whenever she gets up in his face, I just … well … my stomach feels kinda uncomfortable. And my heart starts hammering, but not in a nice way. I just - I don't know, I just kinda feel uncomfortable and weird whenever they get talking, and I don't know why. Do I - am I the only one who feels that way?"

"..."

"..."

"... no," Itsuka admitted, not looking very pleased about that fact as she glanced back out the window, "you're not, Uraraka. I - I think I know what you mean. It's just - I don't know. I'm not even sure what my problem is, I just … I don't like when she gets too close or gets up in Midoriya' business. I - I don't know why, I just - I don't like it."

"It's - it's not like we dislike her, though," Ochako quickly made clear, feeling relieved when Itsuka nodded in agreement, "it's just - I don't know, either."

"No, no, I like Hadou well enough. She's - well, she definitely likes talking, but she's nice, and I'd like to hang out with her a bit more. It's just … the two of them," Itsuka frowned again, glancing back out the window at the dark clouds and sighing, "I don't know either."

"W-well, it definitely makes me feel better to know that - y'know, that I'm not alone about - about being weird." Ochako chuckled weakly, relieved when Itsuka nodded and turned back to her with a smile.

"Yeah, you're not alone being weird. Don't worry, we can both be weird together."

As both girls laughed and giggled together, Kyouka leaned against the window in the seat in front of them, letting out an exasperated sigh at how dense both girls were, and then turned to look at Setsuna beside her as she nodded in agreement.

"Yep," She said without Kyouka even saying anything, "they're a pair of dumbasses."

Thankfully, it didn't take them too long to reach their destination, Aizawa ordering them off the bus as it slid to a stop as he hopped off before them. As everyone trooped out, blinking at the sight of a large, oval building with large glass windows, and walked towards it. Soon enough, they stood at the entrance, and walking out to greet them was - well, as that person opened the doors and waved at them in greeting, Izuku's jaw dropped, Ochako gasped out loud, and Itsuka snorted a bit at her friends' reactions.

"Hello, everyone, I've been waiting for you. Welcome to the USJ!"

"Oh, my gosh!" Izuku gushed at the sight of a hero in a puffy white space costume, yellow sneakers, and a black helmet with white eyes as she opened her arms as though to envelop the entire class in a large hug, "It's the Space Hero, Thirteen! Occhan, it's her!"

"Oh ... my ... god," Ochako shook in excitement, grabbing Izuku's arm in a tight grip, and feeling her knees weaken at the mere sight of the hero in front of them, "it's Thirteen. It's - it's really Thirteen. The greatest rescue hero there is. My - my favorite hero. It's Thirteen. It's - it's really Thirteen?"

"Is that right?" Nejire bounced in excitement, looking around at Ochako with interest. "You like Thirteen, huh, Uraraka? I bet you know a lot about her! Do you know when her birthday is?"

"February 3rd."

"What're her hobbies?"

"Museum visits and documentaries."

"Is she dating anyone?"

"She's aro-romantic."

"Where was she born?"

"Tanegashima."

As Nejire continued to ask questions and Ochako absently answered, still staring at the pro hero in awe while Thirteen chuckled good-naturedly at her fangirl ("I suppose that's 'Occhan'," she muttered to herself, remembering Tenko asking her for a specific autograph a few months ago around Christmas), Aizawa took a moment to look around the entrance, wrinkling his brow somewhat, and then leaned down to mutter to his colleague.

"Where's Shimura?" He muttered, "And All Might, as well. I don't see either of them here, I thought Shimura would've at least met with us outside."

"Tenko has a meeting with the principal right now, to discuss how things have been going during his training," Thirteen explained quietly, looking around at the taller teacher as she also raised a large hand to cover her mouth, "so he won't be able to attend this lesson. And All Might ended up accidentally reaching his limit during his morning commute, especially since he had to take a route half-way across the city to pick up something that came to him overseas from the post office. He's resting in the break room right now."

"The height of irrationality." Aizawa shook his head. "Fine, if there's nothing we can really do about it, we'll get started without them."

Still, he thought with a small frown, at least they took precautions just in case something like this happened, especially after what had happened yesterday. He certaintly wasn't supposed to be here with the class, but after yesterday's break in, he insisted on accompanying his class to their next Hero Basic Training class just to be safe. The students had been unaware, merely thinking one of the reporters had gotten desperate and cut through the barrier to get an interview with All Might - but the teachers had been more than a little suspicious about how easily it had been for someone to break down their door.

The students could think it was just some desperate reporter - but Nezu, after taking a look at the hole in the hole cut through their defenses with Midnight, Recovery Girl and Thirteen, suspected that the break in wasn't orchestrated by a reporter. So right now they were on guard. They hadn't been able to catch the one who sliced through their defenses and instigated the break in, but they were at least going to keep an eye out.

"Now then," Thirteen clapped her hands together, knocking Ochako out of her fangirling state and making her realize that she was making a scene, gulping and covering her face in embarrassment while Izuku, Itsuka and Setsuna chuckled a bit, "before we begin, I wanted to say a few things to the students - but perhaps it'd be better if we did that inside," She glanced up at the sky, "it looks like it's about to come down."

As if on cue, the students jumped as they felt a few drops of rain suddenly hit them, and the winds started to pick up even more, somewhat pushing Pony around. With that, the two teachers led Class 1A into the facility, and they were relieved to get out of the weather - hell, it was almost like the wind itself was eager to get them inside, pushing against their backs to get them into the large building.

Once the doors sealed shut behind them, the entire class stared in complete awe at the sight that greeted them. It almost looked like a theme park - they stood on a small platform above the facility, the stairs leading down to a small pavilion, and surrounding it were six large areas - they could make out a few destroyed buildings in one area, another with what looked like a landslide, a rocky terrain, a city covered in a dome and looking like it was being assaulted in a heavy rain, a large lake with a shipwreck placed in the middle, and an enclosed area with flame patterns painted on the dome.

"Holy crap," Eijirou looked excited, "it looks like Universal Studios Japan!"

"A flood zone." Thirteen explained, sounding pleased with how impressed the first years were as she stared down in pride at the facility. "A landslide zone. A conflagration zone. A downpour zone. A ruins zone. And a mountain zone. I built this facility myself to simulate every possible disaster and accident you can imagine to serve as a training ground for you students to prepare for real life accidents. I call it - the Unforeseen Simulation Joint! Or, if you would prefer to call it, 'USJ' for short!"

There was a pointed silence at that, as everyone mentally noted that it shared the exact same initials as Universal Studios Japan, and wondered briefly if UA had ever been sued at any point since Thirteen joined their staff.

"Now then," She continued on with her presentation, "before we begin, I do have one or two points to say. Or three. Or four. Or five … six … seven …"

Everyone gulped as she mentally counted on her fingers, before she shook her head somewhat and raised her hand to show them the caps on the ends of her fingers.

"As I'm sure many of you are aware," She explained patiently, "my quirk is called Black Hole. I can use my power to suck up and turn it to dust."

"Right!" Izuku nodded enthusiastically, while Ochako practically vibrated beside him while nodding fervently and Itsuka gave both of them a small smirk ("Dorks," She muttered affectionately), "And you've used it to save people in all sorts of disasters!"

"You're right," Thirteen nodded, her voice suddenly turning serious, "I've used it many times to save lives. But it's also a power that can easily be used to kill." Everyone stopped at that, staring at Thirteen as she put her hand down at her side. "And I imagine that there's no doubt that there are some among you with similar abilities - the ability to use your quirk to kill as easily as you can use it to save."

Both Ochako and Itsuka furrowed their brows, looking around at Izuku in concern. They knew that Izuku already knew all about this kind of topic, and he was clearly taken aback by where this conversation was going, his smile slipping off his face as their teacher continued to explain her point.

"In our super-powered society, the use of quirks is heavily restricted and monitored. It may seem that this system is a stable one, but we must never forget that it only takes one wrong move with an uncontrollable quirk for people to die." Katsuki's frown deepened, feeling the scars on his chest ache slightly as he glanced at Izuku out of the corner of his eye, seeing the green-haired boy's shoulders slump slightly and his face fall as he stared at Thirteen. "And that, students, is part of the reason why you're here. During Aizawa's physical fitness test, you came to learn of your own hidden potential. Through All Might's battle training, you experienced the danger that your respective quirks can pose to others. And here, you will learn how to utilize your quirks to save lives."

While the rest of the class listened to Thirteen's speech, Aizawa found himself glancing at Izuku as well, seeing the boy stare at Thirteen and listening to her words with a small, hurt frown, and narrowed his eyes somewhat. From that reaction, it was clear that something might have happened to Izuku with his quirk … and if he was reacting like this to Thirteen's speech about using their quirks carefully, he was starting to get a better picture. Frowning, he made a mental note to have a look at Izuku's old files from his middle school later.

"Always remember," Thirteen finished her speech, throwing her arms out again, "your powers are not meant to inflict harm. They're meant to save lives. I hope you leave her today with the understanding that you're meant to help people. That is all! Thank you for listening!"

As the class gave Thirteen an enthusiastic round of applause as she sank into a bow ("So gentlemanly!" Ochako fangirled while shaking Izuku, with that at least knocking him out of his bad mood by making him laugh), Aizawa sighed and straightened up from where he had been leaning against one of the supports for the building.

"Alright," He tried to bring order back to his overly enthusiastic class, rolling his eyes at Setsuna whistling for the teacher, "now that we've got that out of the way, let's get started. We'll begin with the -"

KRACK-BOOM

Before he could finish that sentence, a loud clap of lightning interrupted him along with a bright flash of light. Everyone jumped again at the cloud clash of thunder, and quickly looked up at the glass ceiling of the facility. The rain was practically beating against the window, lightning flashing ominously and powerfully in the sky, and the howl of the rain rattled the glass threateningly.

And then, suddenly, there was the sound of electricity surging, and the lights surrounding the walls of the USJ suddenly began exploding in tiny pops of glass, the background hum of energy running suddenly stopping.

"Holy whoa!" Nejire jumped in surprise as the power went off to the facility, shutting off the fountain in the foyer below and casting the entire USJ into darkness, with only flashes of lightning outside briefly illuminating the facility. "Is this a typhoon or something? I thought the weatherman would've let us know if something like this was coming! Do we have a sleepover in case we can't get back to the school?"

As she continued to question aimlessly, however, Aizzawa and Thirteen slowly turned to look at each other, the quirk-erasing teacher getting up from where he had been leaning against the wall and looking around with a frown. Something was wrong.

And then, down below in the facility, something caught their attention, making Aizawa quickly look around with a small grunt, his eyes widening as Thirteen gasped. The students were quick to notice, with Yui straightening up, Mezo tilting his head, Tokoyami looking up from where he had been trying to keep Dark Shadow calm in the dark, and Momo pausing her notetaking, and they all hurried over to the top of the stairs to see what was going on.

Looking down at the pavilion, they all stared at the sight of a swirling, black hole hovering in the middle of the dark foyer. They could've almost sworn that this was something of Thirteen's creation, but Izuku wrinkled his brow - the edges of the black hole were brimmed with purple, something that Thirteen's quirk wasn't capable of. The hole slowly began to widen by the second, briefly illuminated by another flash of lightning - and then it suddenly flickered, and blasted out.

The students jumped as the black and purple darkness suddenly morphed into a large figure, a pair of bright yellow eyes briefly flickering to life within the mass of darkness, and turned to look up at the students. It was then that Izuku realized with eyes widening that it wasn't a black hole, but some kind of … teleportation quirk that had just manifested in the middle of the USJ.

And then, within the depths of the dark shadow, something shifted.

Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka stared as, coming out of the dark wisps of mist, a steel-toed boot came out of the portal, and stepping out came a person wrapped in a large, brown cloak that reached their feet. Izuku furrowed his brow and squinted his eyes - due to the hood covering their face, the cloak covering their entire body and the darkness of the facility, it was hard to make out what they looked like underneath the cloth - but the mysterious person tilted their head up to stare at them, and Izuku could have sworn that he saw a flash of glowing yellow eyes, similar to the portal, peeking out from the darkness under the hood.

As the cloaked person emerged fully from the portal, staring up at the students, the portal behind them shifted again, and another person walked out behind them. This one, however, didn't wear a cloak, and was in fact a woman with long red hair reaching down to her thighs that she was absently playing with, with a small domino mask over her eyes. She wore a short, navy blue dress secured to her waist by a thick brown belt, and underneath the dress she wore a pale purple blouse and a pearl necklace, as well as dark red gloves and thigh-high purple socks, along with a pair of black boots.

From behind them, more shapes began emerging from the darkness, and out came two more people. One was a tall heteromorph man, his head resembling a wolf with blue fur, yellowish eyes looking around with a sneer as he strolled out out the portal, and from his brown trenchcoat, he pulled out a cigar, putting it to his lips and taking a small puff. Beside him came a tall, lanky man with short gray hair, wearing several burgundy-coloured bandages wrapped around his entire body, with the exception of his hands and eyes, and a dark-gray combat vest strapped to his upper body, and a sword strapped to his back.

As the two men stopped near the people who first emerged from the portal, from behind those two, Izuku could make out more shapes continuing to come out of the weird portal, including another hooded man wearing black pants and a jacket obscuring his face similar to the cloaked man, and a weird mutant-type person with a tall, muscular body, dark skin with red scars lining its body, and a beak like mouth with his brain clearly visible.

"What is that?" Eijirou tilted his head slightly, echoing the thoughts of the class as the six people stared up at them, the lightning flashing from the storm clouds above illuminating the dark USJ. Both Izuku and Ochako gulped as the yellow eyes of the person in the cloak faded, only to be replaced by a pair of glowing red eyes instead. And then, from behind them, more people of strange appearances came out, including a man in a green-jumpsuit, a gas mask and horns, a man with strange bone-like structure, and a ghoulish looking woman, leading out a large group of people while the six who came out first continued to stare up at them.

"Is this like the entrance exam, where the test starts the moment we walk in?" Yosetsu wondered out loud, raising his hand above his eyes to try and see if he could make out any of the strangers' appearances.

"That's weird," Setsuna tilted her head curiously, taking a small step forward, "I thought that we were doing a rescue lesson -"

"Don't move!" Aizawa suddenly barked, making his class jump and quickly look around at their teacher. He was staring at the small group as well, narrowing his eyes with a grimace as he slid the goggles from his neck up to cover them. "This isn't part of the test. Those ... those are villains."

Everyone gasped out, and Itsuka quickly whipped her gaze back to the group as more people poured out of the portal, reaching out to grab Izuku and Ochako's arms as they tensed. The person in the cloak raised an arm, halting the hulking man with the brain as it took a step closer towards the stairs, and raised their red eyes to the ceiling to stare up at the thunder clouds - and then he turned their gaze back to the group they just emerged from the portal with.

"Well," He said, his soft, lethargic voice somehow reaching where the students were standing at the entrance of the training building, "this is certainly an unexpected complication. I don't see All Might with them at all."

At the name of their mentor, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka tensed up again, their eyes widening.

"Are you kidding?" The wolf-like man growled, clenching his fists. "We went to all this trouble, got all these people together, and the bastard isn't even here?!"

"Patience, Chimera," The cloaked man reached out to pat his comrade's shoulder, looking around at the woman, "everything's not lost yet. Slice, the teachers that are up there - who are they? Did the schedule say?"

"I don't recognize the one in black, but I do recongize Thirteen." The woman answered in a deep, smug voice, huffing a bit as she smirked and flipped her hair behind her shoulder, "The teacher's schedule I grabbed the other day said that she'd be here in addition to All Might. There was supposed to be a teaching assistant, but he would have a meeting with the principal that would mean that he wouldn't attend this lesson. And Thriteen don't have powerful ability - she has a Black Hole quirk, but she doesn't use it lethally. So we have nothing to fear from her."

"How perplexing," The black smoke that had been swirling around suddenly re-morphed again, and out came a head with the narrowed, glowing yellow eyes staring up at the students, "All Might not being here, and another teacher we didn't count on ... perhaps there was a change in the schedule?"

"It doesn't matter," The man in the cloak shook his head, allowing more of the sinister looking villains to stroll out of the portal while his glowing red eyes studied the small group at the top of the stairs, "we went through the trouble of bringing our entire cabal to meet the Symbol of Peace personally, and that's what will happen. We needn't if he's running a little late ... he'll come as fast as he can when he hears the screams of the children."