IMPORTANT NOTE AT THE END!

- Chapter 15 -

Analysis Paralysis

Telekinetic energy had always been a bit of a hypothetical psychic ability rather than an actual phenomenon within the boundaries of physics.

There were three distinct fallacies in its logic that contested its very existence: the inverse square law, the second law of thermodynamics, and the conservation of momentum. One: the total intensity of any specified quantity decreases to one-fourth of its original intensity in proportion to the area of potential impact. Two: heat will always dissipate if not continuously supplied with energy to prevent molecular entropy. And three: momentum cannot be created or destroyed unless external force is applied to alter the mass and velocity of an object.

However, the laws of physics were hardly any match for the epistemological and ontological nightmares presented by quirk metaphysics.

Quirks had quickly developed over a period of less than three centuries, with 80 percent of the current world population being borne with powers beyond human comprehension. It was a relatively jarring adjustment that completely uprooted previous works of research on human science. The leftover 20 percent of the population had to be classed under the definition of a minority group due to the influx of discrimination they faced, particularly in social settings and job prospects.

The general consensus was that the absence of an interphalangeal joint in the pinky toe signified the lack of a quirk. The scientific basis for it was a quantitative research conducted by Blackwell & Co., with a multidisciplinary team of doctors, engineers, biochemists, and a host of other professionals with unique specializations. They laid out the groundwork for Quirk Theory and its many subfields.

Unfortunately, quirk research did not remain the straightforward field of study it once was. Severe ethical concerns arose when unauthorized third-party organizations, private groups, and unqualified yet morbidly curious individuals started conducting morally questionable human experiments. New international laws had to be drafted for the protection of the general public, though it was growing increasingly difficult to catch illegal activity with the huge spike in human trafficking around the world.

To say that law enforcement was overwhelmed would be an understatement. Quirks only served to intensify border altercations, ethnic wars, and civil disputes. Throw in a sprinkle of greed and corruption into the mix and it was complete and utter hell.

Enter heroes.

Heroes consisted of philanthropic individuals who simply wished to help. They had no lawful obligation to serve and protect, yet they did. It was only later that formal institutions were formed to recognize heroism as a standalone profession, and to increase efficiency by providing training resources to aspiring heroes.

Megumi squeezed her eyes shut, trying to wipe off the blur in her vision. The monochrome pages of the textbooks sprawled in front of her did no favors for her sight, but she could tolerate the sting behind her eyes as long as it wasn't accompanied by a splitting migraine.

She was trying to wrap her head around the concept of plus alpha elements and how exactly they formed a quirk - but there was an astronomical amount to read up on. This universe had experienced a completely different trajectory of history, in addition to the multitude of contradictory research and theoretical perspectives that quirk discovery had resulted in. It didn't help that world governments got involved and infused their politics into the governance of quirks, therefore significantly contributing to the gaps of information in present-day quirk understanding.

Quirk this, quirk that. Her mind was filled to the brim with words and numbers and graphs, so much so that it felt like she was going to burst at the seams.

A hand placed itself on the edge of the library desk Megumi was using, the fragrance of Wedgwood tea and incense greeting her nose. "I don't think these will come up in the exams."

She looked up to see Yaoyorozu leaning over her. The vice class representative ran her dark eyes over the smudged notes pinned beneath Megumi's arm.

Megumi almost had the knee-jerk reaction of flinging everything across the room in a bid to hide her personal studies, but that would have been ridiculous since she wasn't doing anything incriminatory. The pressure she felt within the family mansion was doing a number on her for sure.

"I got sidetracked. Did you need me for something, Yaoyorozu-san?"

The other girl blinked and eased out of her previous stance, realizing that she had been looming over her. "Well, there isn't much time left until exam week. I was thinking of hosting a study party at my house this weekend. Perhaps you would like to join?"

The slight, deliberate tilt of Megumi's head signified that she wasn't immediately sold on that idea.

Yaoyorozu decided to elaborate. "I thought, since you've been helping Ashido-chan and Kaminari-san with math, that they might be more comfortable with you there. And I'd be more than happy to offer advice if you have any questions regarding other studies."

"I wouldn't exactly call it helping," The blonde muttered under her breath. She didn't think it counted if neither specimen showed signs of improving. "A study group sounds good, but I don't think I can make it. Besides, they don't need me there to feel at ease around you, if that's what you mean."

She delivered the last tidbit of her answer with a raised brow, searching Yaoyorozu's face for confirmation of her assumption. Said girl briefly sputtered before regaining her composure, tucking back a strand of her hair in mild embarrassment. "Y-you seem to get along quite well with everyone recently, that's why - I mean, not to say that you didn't before - I mean, you didn't, but - no, wait, that's not what I meant to say, please let me rephrase that -"

Megumi let out a snort so loud it got heads turning. She immediately slapped a hand over her mouth, making eye contact with a very tense Yaoyorozu. Coughing into her fist to be rid of the last remnants of mirth that threatened to explode out of her, she decided to take pity on the dark haired girl. Similar to Iida, Todoroki, and the Original Megumi, Yaoyorozu must have had a hard time establishing common ground with others her age due to her wealthy upbringing. The only difference between them and the Original Megumi was that the Original had a fairly abrasive personality, even worse than pre-sports' festival Todoroki.

"I'll take that as a compliment. By the way um," Since the opportunity had presented itself, Megumi sheepishly pointed to a section of the massive book spread out in front of her. "How do you read this? The kanji are tripping me up."

A low, displeased hiss came from behind Itsuka. Monoma used her as a shield to cower away like a deranged vampire, his eyes fixated on somewhere beyond the classroom.

Sometimes she really wasn't sure if the class representative position was worth it.

She followed his line of sight, to the far end of the first-years' corridor, spotting Pony and Fukidashi with a tall mop of blonde hair. They seemed to be having, from what she could observe, a fairly cordial discussion. Similar to everything else (pertaining 1-A) that Monoma tended to have a raging meltdown over, she could see nothing wrong.

Said boy lifted a finger to point them out, as if she hadn't already drawn a well-founded conclusion from his absurd behavior.

"Traitors," He growled out, face set in a grimace. Her eyes almost rolled out of her head.

Giggles arose from next to them. Monoma turned to face the two perpetrators at once, already giving off an energy that preceded his manic episodes. "You're laughing? The enemy is attempting to infiltrate our class and you're laughing?"

"What." Is what Yanagi oh so elaborately replied with, her silver hair almost bristling at being addressed. Tokage, however, did not have the same qualms as her pale friend, sniggering straight into Monoma's face like a cat that had caught an exceptionally amusing canary. Of course, that only served to further offend him.

His expression spelled the oncomings of a rant (and a headache for Itsuka). "You of all people," He directed at Tokage, prompting her to raise a finger as if to ask 'Me?' "Should know why this is not okay!"

The dark haired girl made a show of inclining her head in feigned confusion, the smile that exposed her pointy teeth betraying her glee. "I do. We'll be so fucked if they find out our favorite genres!"

Monoma's mouth dropped open in outrage at her straightforward mockery of his concerns. He looked around for support, but found none. Nevertheless, he was not dissuaded.

"You had to take the entrance exam with her! How can you be so blatantly dismissive of the threat at our doorstep when you know what lurks behind that facade?!"

Tokage shrugged. "I guess I have a higher tolerance threshold than you."

'You and literally everybody else on planet earth' Itsuka concurred in the safe space of her own mind. Monoma was hardly an ambassador of diplomacy. She had to put a stop to his budding insanity before it took root and turned him into a massive asshole again.

"Okay, that's enough. Monoma, weren't you supposed to draft a list of students who want their gear polished before exam week? Kan-sensei said the deadline is on Thursday." Itsuka illustrated her point by counting the days on her fingers, her other hand set on her hip. The color noticeably drained from his face.

With no small amount of relief, she watched him scamper back to his seat and dig through his backpack for some paper and pen.

Yanagi chanced a dubious glance at Tokage. "I doubt it was as tolerable as you say."

"Eh. She really wasn't all that bad as long as that Todoroki guy wasn't in the same room- her tactless remarks were on a whole another level than Monoma's though."

Itsuka found herself tuning into their conversation with a tightness to her polite smile. "My my! I wasn't aware that my lovely 1-B peers were so fond of gossip!"

Alarm flashed across both their faces at once. They shook their heads in hurried disavowal of that statement, waving their hands in the air in sudden fluster. They knew all to well that 1-B's class representative was more than capable of serving discipline whenever she deemed it appropriate.

With an unhappy shake of her head, Itsuka let them scurry back to their seats. She could tell they didn't have malicious intent behind their words, but she didn't want any teachers to misconstrue her classmates' idle musings for badmouthing. Kan-sensei was very particular about things like that. He would say that whatever they had on their mind, they should be prepared to express it directly to the person in question. Monoma usually did enough of that for the whole class. Hagakure was also pretty outspoken in that regard, but at least she didn't go around intentionally antagonizing people.

She slightly leaned through one of the windows facing the corridor, taking a closer look at the scene of controversy that her foul-tempered schoolmate had so kindly pointed out. Pony and Fukidashi looked neither distressed nor upset, making animated hand gestures in what she assumed to be a bid to explain something passion-related to the ill-reputed 1-A student. She couldn't pick up any signs of hostility from Airashi's body language. That was good enough reason for Itsuka not to interfere.

Besides, she was of the opinion that it wouldn't hurt to be on 1-A's good side. The most efficient way to keep rivals at bay was to have a good understanding of their ever-changing dispositions. Monoma's loud and proud declarations of war on 1-A usually overshadowed the fact that the rest of 1-B were no less competitive.

It is fundamentally wrong to harm another person with one's quirk, which is why using quirks in public areas is prohibited by law. The one exception is self-defense. Due to the wide variety of quirks and the instantaneous lethality of some, the concept of self-defense here differs from the conventional sense.

Because different Quirks can potentially cause varying degrees of harm, it is almost impossible to try to account for every possible Quirk in the law books. "No one may use their Quirk to harm another," is the current heavy-handed law. However, unless the quirk in question could hurt bystanders, the rule prohibiting the use of quirks in public places is not vigorously enforced. Anti-personnel quirk use is only permitted on school grounds for educational purposes. However, even in that case, killing or nearly killing anyone is strictly against the law.

"And how does that make you feel?" The guidance counselor Inui inquired in a low growl, pointing a clawed finger at her notebook entry. His large, furry frame looked comically big in contrast to the normal-sized chair he sat on.

Megumi fidgeted in place. "It makes me feel… guilty?"

"What else?"

"It… it feels bad?"

"Don't phrase it like a question, that's my job. Say it like you mean it." Came his gruff response. "So you feel guilty and terrible in general. That is very common. And you've been trying to remedy these negative sentiments by…?"

She didn't miss the way his eyes darted to the thick notebook laid before them like it was physical evidence at a crime scene. "By excessive studying."

"And you are aware studying these topics will in no shape or form aid you in passing final exams? So you are neglecting your actual studies."

It sounded worse than it was when he said it like that, but she couldn't refute it, so she settled for a sullen nod.

"You're distracting yourself from inevitable introspection by keeping yourself busy with tasks that directly correlate to your failures. These tasks may appear productive, but do not help you process your emotions beyond providing a diversion for you to focus your energy on. How much sleep have you been getting?"

"It's been a busy month," Megumi started to say, before Inui was already scribbling something onto paper. He muttered a vaguely aggravated "Avoidant personality," and "Deflective," under his breath, leaving her to stare at the muzzle around his snout like she wasn't sitting right in front him where she could hear everything he grumbled out.

She was discharged from his office with strict orders to, for the lack of a better word, find other hobbies. Preferably fun ones.

It wasn't her first time at Hound Dog's office, yet she could never shake off how intrusive it felt having to express her thoughts and actions. But their talks seemed to be working, because Megumi had more or less started to tame her rampant remorse. Her quirk had not killed that man. She had been doing just fine fending him off with her chains. X-Less himself had requested her to assist, and none of the other professionals had raised any concerns. Her actions were not dictated by the intention to kill. It was a freak accident.

Still, it would take a little longer for her to come to terms with the experience.

As if she hadn't just received an earful of advice from Inui to take it easy and focus on things that actually mattered, she crawled right back to UA's library. Megumi regretted not frequenting this place sooner. It was a pity that they didn't have computers for security reasons. Cyberspace quirks had increased in number among the population - though having electricity types like Kaminari accidentally fry wires and cause an electric fire could've also been a concern.

She sat down in her usual spot, cracking open her notebook that the guidance counselor had reluctantly issued back to her. She had grown increasingly worried during their meeting that he wouldn't hand it back, citing unhealthy coping mechanisms as reason. But even he must have realized that even if he did, she would just get another notebook to do the same thing with. Besides, she never took it home, instead opting to wedge it into the small space underneath her desk with the rest of her school stuff.

The family estate was just as unbearable as ever. Despite the luxuries of her room and the services that were provided, the constant need to stay alert in case she ran into her mother was extremely stressful. The atmosphere was so cold and soulless that even birds wouldn't perch themselves anywhere near the mansion to chirp next to her windows on mornings. Hell, the maids and servants had crafted their detached personas and poker faces to such a degree that it must have been an incredible feat for the Original to have terrorized them.

Megumi wouldn't wish Airashi Izumi on her worst enemies. Something was genuinely off with that woman. During one of their usual bleak dinners, a servant had come to hand off a message to her parents from her father's mother (that is to say, Megumi's grandmother, who had to be some sort of evil if she shared blood with that wet napkin of a man). Izumi had snatched the envelope right out of her father's hands, eyes roving over the letter in rapt attention. It was the very first time she had seen mother's prideful bearing morph into an expression so murderously hostile that it got Megumi to actually shovel a spoonful of food into her mouth in an effort to look preoccupied. She had to conceal the gag that followed right after, downing Seiichi's drink in one big gulp in addition to her own, despite his protests.

She didn't know much about her grandmother. She hadn't even known they had a grandmother. But the old hag must have been just as uniquely dislikable as the rest of the Airashi bloodline for her to have such an effect on Izumi.

Strictly speaking though, Izumi was the only one who did not belong to the family by blood. And yet, her face was the first thing that people usually associated with their family name, along with Airashi pharmaceutical's logo. Megumi could think of a reason or two as to why the eldest matriarch would not like that. Especially with her father, the supposed head of the company, having such… bland character. Sometimes she wondered if he was the type to breathe manually to keep himself alive.

She could count on one hand the number of interactions she had with him ever since she woke up in this universe, and none of them involved any showcase of personality on his part. Just a soulless corporate overlord who could barely afford to spend his precious time with the offsprings he sired. She liked to call him Doormat Extraordinaire in the confines of her mind, since he didn't exhibit any outstanding characteristic other than existing next to Izumi. He was going to be a puppet chief for the rest of his life - and she had to get out of this nightmare mansion before she ended up the same.

Admittedly, she was looking forward to the summer training camp, mainly because it would be the catalyst that resulted in the hero course students moving to the school dorms. It did make her feel a bit scummy to be excited for an event that would result in a bunch of traumatized kids and Bakugo getting shanghaied, but you win some and you lose some right?

Her focus was brought back to the present when she took notice of a head of spiky hair peeking from above a low shelf. The ash-blonde strands seemed to bristle with every little movement, like an agitated sea urchin that had encountered a particularly slippery rock. As if sensing her growing apprehension, the person turned to look in her direction. Megumi almost huffed out a weary exhale. 'Speak of the devil and he shall appear.'

The neutral downturn of her lips was just as instantaneous as Bakugo's unhappy red glare.

Contrary to her expectations, he abandoned the shelf he had been perusing and instead started walking up to her in long yet rigid strides. She didn't hide her derisive scrutiny of his creased uniform and low-hanging pants. Really, why did he go out of his way to wear them like that? He was making himself a prime target for pantsing. Had he ever gotten pantsed before? He had probably never been pantsed before. He deserved to get pantsed to be honest.

"Schemer." He greeted flatly.

"Grouch." She shot back, leaning into her seat and turning her nose up to look him up and down. "What brings you to my…" She spread out her arms, the pause in her sentence making it blatantly obvious that she was searching for a noun to describe her current location. "… space of learning?"

"You are so unbelievably lame."

"Shut up." Megumi crossed her arms, mildly embarrassed. "What do you want?"

He made no attempt to hide the pointed stare he leveled at her school bag, eyeing the blue of her study binder. "Gimme your notes for math." He grumbled out, straightforward in what he had approached her for. Nothing in his slouched posture indicated any discomfort on his part, his expectant eyes conveying that refusal was not an option. He could be really shrewd sometimes.

A sliver of confusion crossed her face. "But you don't need them." She stated more as a fact rather than a question. He was one of the top 5 exam takers in their class, he did not need her notes.

Bakugo already had a thin tolerance for people in general. But having someone probe his intentions seemed to agitate his temper. "Of course I don't need them!" He exclaimed.

Several heads turned. Bakugo slightly wilted under the librarian's strict stare. He shuffled into the seat across from her, the tenor of his voice strained due to his unfamiliarity with talking at a socially acceptable volume. "Damn it. I don't need your shitty notes. But that dumb hair-for-brains does."

As ungraceful in human interaction as he was, Bakugo was still fairly observant. So when the distinct expression of 'And?' crossed Megumi's face, he had a follow-up exposition on the ready. "Since Raccoon Eyes and Sparky are equal levels of stupid as him, he should be able to follow your ridiculous logic."

"He keeps confusing square roots with logarithms, doesn't he."

"He keeps confusing square roots with logarithms! Those are two different things and yet he still keeps doing it!" Bakugo whisper-yelled, his fingers curling into frustrated half-fists. Megumi nodded sagely, letting him blow off some steam first before attempting a reply.

She uncrossed her arms and braced her elbows on the table, adopting a more open body language. "See here, you can't teach him with this." She pointed at her head, at which point Bakugo also unwittingly leaned forward to hang onto her words. "They don't use that. They use this." She pointed at her heart, tapping the table with her other index finger to make the point come across. "They're simply creatures of intuition. I'll give you my notes, but they won't work if you try to explain them in regular math terms."

And Megumi seemed to lose him there. "Don't tell me what to do. I ain't changing my methods."

He briskly grabbed the notes she slid over to him, standing up to leave. But first, he froze in his tracks and imparted an unprovoked, "Also your running form sucks."

An offended expression morphed onto her face. "The girls told me it looks fine!"

It was as if an imaginary thought bubble manifested atop his head, equating 'the girls' to Komachi and a handful of other general studies students. "If those girls are who I think you're referring to, they would tell you you've got good form even if you were taking a damn dump! Be grateful I was nice enough to tell you." With that said, he left her to stare a hole at the spot he had been standing on.

Megumi really did let out a long exhale this time, her brows furrowed in agitation.

"There's a good way to run?"

The written exams went as well as they could.

Truthfully, Megumi couldn't remember much of them. She had been too busy fighting to stay awake. She could have sworn one of the exams had a back page full of questions. Not that she would know though, considering she had fallen into an open-eyed slumber for half of the allotted exam time.

The Idiot Quintet of 1-A, as Bakugo so lovingly called them, had given each other several cheerful high-fives and proud pats on the back after the written part was over. Although Megumi's first priority was to get the hell out of class and get some shuteye in one of the empty janitors' closets littered throughout the school, her peers seemed to have other plans.

Mina and Kaminari quite literally dragged her to the cafeteria with them, insisting that they absolutely had to buy her some reward snacks for letting them borrow her notes. Tsuyu had shaken her head in refusal when Megumi sent her a pleading look. "You could stand to eat more anyway. It's good for your blood sugar." she had chided.

She wasn't wrong, but having someone help free her poor arms from the vice grip of two hero students with very strong grips would have been nice!

Surprisingly, Jiro and Sero also offered her a couple of chocolate bars. Megumi found it extremely funny that her study notes were much more popular than her actual self.

The written exams were now officially over. The only thing left was the dreaded practical exam.

Not really dreaded per se, because Monoma and Itsuka from 1-B had apparently imparted the knowledge that the practical exams would consist of defeating the robots from the entrance exams. The two had done so during one of the lunches where Megumi had her semi-regular rendezvous with the guidance counselor, so she didn't have the pleasure of personally witnessing that particular debacle. She didn't even know what to do with that information, since her only experience with those robots had been at the Sports Festival. Though admittedly, one of the first optimistic thoughts that popped into her head was that they would be difficult to hurt, unlike human adversaries. The news had Mina, Kaminari and Sero on cloud nine.

"The robots from the entrance exam?!" They exclaimed. "It's gonna be a piece of cake!" They said.

But things are never that easy, are they?

Fast forward to the next day and principal Nezu had the jolliest of expressions on his face when telling them that they would, in fact, be facing the teachers.

The literal professionals. As if getting their ass handed to them by pros wouldn't be humiliating enough, they also decided to make the matches a 2 versus 1. So if they did fail, they would have to live with the fact that the teachers were outnumbered but still managed to hand their asses to them. Fun stuff like that!

Megumi was vaguely frustrated that she hadn't remembered what kind of exam it was going to be. Her previous relief that she would only being fighting some big hunk of metal evaporated in an instant. Her eyes rigidly darted from one teacher to the other, trying to wrack her brain for the faintest memory of who would be paired up with whom, but she came up empty. The only pairings she was sure would not change was Midoriya and Bakugo versus All Might as well as Todoroki and Yaoyorozu versus Aizawa, but she could not say the same for everyone else.

And she was right. Grudgingly, people started leaving in pairs to go to their respective training areas. Bakugo looked downright murderous, while Midoriya seemed more perturbed that they would be up against All Might rather than the ticking time bomb fuming right next to him. Megumi's hands started growing clammy when she realized that every person whom she knew on a somewhat friendly level had gotten paired off, leaving her to wait for Aizawa to announce her fateful practical exam partner.

"Airashi, you're with Tokoyami. Please head to your assigned training grounds. Ectoplasm will be joining you shortly."

Megumi slowly turned her head to the side, where the shape of a dark feathered figure had been lurking at the very edge of her peripheral vision. Tokoyami stared right back, their eyes meeting in a clash of obsidian and seafoam green.

She had never even exchanged a pencil, let alone a single word with this person. Shit.

Ectoplasm slithered over to them, his mask obscuring his face. His looming height and the terrifying rows of pearly whites peeking through his mask greeted them well before his voice did. The only thing Megumi knew about this man was that he gave her extra work when he saw her finish math problems in advance. He was the only math teacher in the department and would use as many clones as physically needed to help struggling students. Again, she didn't know much about this man other than that he had a seemingly limitless capacity to clone himself.

Double shit.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Hello and thank you to everyone who has been following, favoriting, and leaving wonderful comments on this story despite my not uploading for so long. You guys are seriously the best.

I wanted to let you all know that I have moved this story to AO3 because I personally do not agree with this site's decision to use the free labor of fanfic writers to improve AI tools without explicit consent. Most importantly, the site feels very outdated and hasn't been updated in over a decade. This will be my last time uploading on this site and I am sad to do so, but you can always find me on AO3 under the username Konamino (same as here)!

I've also found that AO3 allows me to edit fics without notifying people about every little change, which is a huge complaint I've had from the very beginning (and also the reason I couldn't freely edit previous chapters to fix mistakes). I will not delete the story from this site, but I will simply continue to update it on AO3 only. I will also include that I moved the story in the summary so people are aware. I've had great memories on this site, but it doesn't seem to respect its user base anymore. Thank you so much for reading, and I will always be waiting on AO3 with both this story and any future projects I decide to work on. In the meantime, I also started an art account on Instagram (kona_miron), where I basically brainrot over my ocs (can't promise the art will be good, but it's the effort that counts). You can also bother me about my fics there I suppose lol

That's all for now. I have both bad and good memories on this site, so I'll miss it. And I will definitely miss you guys if you decide that AO3 isn't really for you, or maybe you've lost interest in the fic because it's been so long. Regardless, take care and see you around!

Sincerely, the slowest writer ever, Miro