Well, this is it. Time to start looking for the purple kid.

UA's doors had closed in his face. Literally, the security system had been triggered when Touya tried to step in. He had hoped if he mixed with the crowd of students he'd be able to pass, but no. Of course not. The metallic wall that covered the entrance had left him outside. Only when he got away from it, it opened again.

So yeah, he was gonna kill the puppeteer wannabe.

Maybe I should start with UA, since I'm already here, he thought.

"Dabi-kun!"

When he turned towards the voice, he saw the green kid halting to a stop in front of him.

"Your burns…" Midoriya muttered in surprise as looked at his uncovered forearms.

"Yeah, they miraculously healed. What do you want?"

The boy was startled. He didn't mean to sound so aggressive, but he couldn't say he cared either.

"I-I just wanted to apologize for yesterday," the kid stuttered nervously, before he started rushing his speech. "It was unfair that I got a second chance to prove I could improve and you didn't. I should have fought more, but I didn't want to get expelled either so I got scared and I'm sorry. I was going to tell you after I came out of the infirmary, but you were already gone so…"

He was talking so fast Touya had to focus to understand what he was saying towards the end, but he appreciated the feeling.

"At least you tried. That's more than the other 19 can say," he replied.

That little show of kindness was what made Midoriya the only member of class 1-A he didn't resent. Actually, he felt like they would have gotten along if they had time.

He hated this. He was looking forward to bothering Shouto everyday and having his rematch with the explosive kid, but Eraser had to ruin it.

He's a hero. What was I expecting?

"Anyways, I saw you are having trouble with the UA barrier. Maybe your student ID is deactivated or something like that. I can go talk to Sensei for you if you want."

Oh, so that's why he was talking to him. The kid got the wrong idea, probably from seeing him in uniform again.

Let's see if he keeps this up when he learns the truth.

"I'm still expelled. I thought if he saw I'm fine he would change his mind."

"Then, why don't I call Recovery Girl? I heard she's very influential at UA. If you get her to back you up, I'm sure you'll be able to come back to class."

Touya raised an eyebrow at the determined spark in the boy's eyes.

"That'd be nice. I hope she listens, she wasn't very happy with me last time."

"Yeah, I don't think she's happy with me either," the boy said, accompanied by a trembling smile, "but I'll try. Wait here."

"Sure."

He shoved his hands in his pant's pockets as he saw the green child walk away and into UA.

It almost seemed like he wanted this to work more than Touya did. He really felt bad about the expulsion, didn't he? Or was this about playing hero?

If that was the case, that guy was already ahead of his class on that.

Which meant they weren't that similar.

And he was very abundantly made aware of that fact when he saw the purple-haired boy crossing the door that had closed for him. The rage consumed him, he promised Eri he would try, so he couldn't go rogue yet.

Not when he had the chance to burn him in school grounds, where UA would be in a real deal of trouble for letting it happen.

Two birds, one stone, as they said.

Because he promised he'll try to go back to UA.

Not that he'd be a hero.

"Hey, guess who's back!"

He knew he had a bastard grin on his face, but he was overjoyed.

His eyes zeroed on Shouto, clearly giving him a 'you can't get rid of me' look. However, his little brother couldn't care less about his arrival.

"It's good to see you again, mon camarade," the sparkly blond guy greeted him.

"Oh, did Sensei change his mind?" the navy-haired boy questioned.

"Welcome back, Dabi-kun," Midoriya smiled from his seat next to the window.

The attention was nice. He could delay bothering Shouto for this.

Or maybe…

"Yeah, nice to see you all," he said, walking to the back of the class to sit on his own desk, to Mr. Class Police's dismay. "Anyways, I don't know about the teach, but the nurse and principal said I could come back to class, so here I am. Did you miss me, icy-cold?"

"No," he said plainly, giving him a side-eye.

Touya smiled from above, though, because he could see how little he liked being swarmed by his classmates and he bet this little interaction made Shouto less likable in their eyes.

Actually, some went back to their seats, probably intimidated by the cold aura he was giving.

"You're looking better, Dabi-kun. Did Recovery Girl heal you?" a short-haired brunette asked.

"Nah, the principal said it must be a part of my quirk that hadn't manifested until now," he shrugged, mindlessly drawing a hand to the seam-like mark along his cheek. "I mean it's called 'Phoenix'. It kinda makes sense."

That's the explanation he had come up with. He became able to produce blue flames at 13, so there was no reason why his fake quirk couldn't develop further with puberty as well. The principal seemed a bit suspicious at first, but he ended up buying it.

"If Aizawa-kun's concern is the damage, you should be fine as long as you leant to control this new part of your quirk," he had concluded, promising to inform the teacher before the class started.

"What I don't understand is why it was 'Phoenix' before you knew about this," Midoriya pointed out as he came over.

He honestly didn't have an answer for that, he hadn't thought that far ahead.

"Wanna guess?"

And with that, he triggered his speed-talking.

"Because of how it manifested? The phoenix is reborn from its ashes, so maybe those scars are from when it manifested? That would mean it wasn't a drawback, just how your quirk works. It sets you on fire so it can heal you. The 'death' here could be when you accumulate enough damage. But if that's it, shouldn't it be immediate? Maybe it's a metaphorical death like the expulsion. Dabi-kun seemed—"

"Breathe, kid," Touya, stopped him with a chuckle, amused at how he accidentally consolidated his lie.

Yeah, we will get along.

"Sorry—"

He was interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

Everyone scrambled to their seats so fast, he was the last to do it.

"Dabi."

The teacher used his quirk on him for no other reason than to intimidate him.

He rolled his eyes.

"What? I'm expelled again?"

"Come outside."

He did as told, putting his all into conveying he wasn't scared.

He was not.

After all, UA had more to lose than he did.

"I wasn't planning on letting you back here."

"Yeah, I'm aware, but—"

"But," the hero cut him off sharply, "I know your type. If I can't stop you, I'd rather keep an eye on you myself."

Yeah, good excuse.

"Is that all?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"No, here are your curriculum sheets," he said, handing him the papers, "and I've updated the scores of yesterday's test."

The teacher took out a projector and showed him a hologram with the new ranking of said test.

He was 4th.

The only people with a higher score were creation girl, Shouto and Bakugou.

So he DID well enough. That guy just didn't bother to check.

Looks like I'm doomed to not be acknowledged.

"You've got a second chance, Dabi. There won't be any more," Eraser warned him, seriously.

"Sure, sure. I'll think of each day as a test."

"I hope you do," he said, making abundantly clear it was an expectation Touya must live up to. "Let's go."

The teen nodded as he was led back into the class.

It turned out before lunch they had normal classes and the heroics part started in the afternoon.

So yeah, Touya was dying for some action.

"I am… coming through the door like a normal person!"

Touya felt his eye twitch. All Might was his heroics teacher? He was already regretting coming back.

The rest of the class, however, was delighted with this development.

He made his presentation as a teacher and then announced today's lesson:

Combat training.

Easy enough for someone that's been doing it for all their life like him.

And another chance to show he could surpass Shouto.

All Might instructed them to go put on their costumes and meet him at Ground Beta.

His hero costume…

When he was a kid, he wanted one that resembled his father's.

Of course, that wasn't an option anymore and, while letting Eri design it was tempting, he would be surprised if he liked the result.

So, instead, he took inspiration from the people he knew and gave it his touch.

That's how he ended up with a long dark blue coat, reminiscent of Duster's, that looked like it was burnt and matching pants. They were both loose but made with thick cloth; so, he had a worn-out-looking black belt with metal buckle to keep the coat from sliding off him completely, since the elbow-length sleeve didn't help matters. Under it, he wore a skintight white suit from neck to wrist and ankle, a little reminder of Eri's bandages meant to keep the flames from directly touching his skin more than necessary. Finally, a pair of black boots with a thick sole that gave him a few centimeters.

Not bad. I may keep it as my villain or vigilante costume. I haven't decided yet, he told himself as he joined the others at the training grounds.

He hadn't been paying attention to the other boys' costumes, but oh if he wished he had.

He couldn't contain his laughter at Shouto's.

"What the hell is that? I get you don't want to use your fire; but, damn, if someone came to save me looking like that, I'd run away."

His brother frowned, refusing to reply to the provocation.

"Oi, answer when I talk to you," he insisted, getting annoyed.

"Do you have a problem with me?"

It was delivered in his usual deadpan, as if he didn't really care about the answer.

However, Touya hesitated. If he told him, there was a chance he'd realize who he was…

But maybe he wanted him to.

"You're Endeavor's masterpiece. That's all."

Shouto's gaze hardened, became colder, but he showed no signs of recognition.

Guess it makes sense, he didn't actually know me.

Still, it made him mad.

Because, once more, it was his father's fault.

Even if it was his too…

It was then that All Might called their attention and explained what the exercise was about:

A battle 2 vs. 2 inside a building, one team playing villains and the other heroes.

The heroes could win by either capturing the villains with the capture tape they were given or by touching the 'nuclear weapon' the villains had to guard. The villains won by time out or if it was them that captured the heroes.

Fair and simple, but there was a problem.

"There are 21 students. We can't split on even teams," he said when All Might announced they would be drawing lots to decide the teams.

"Ah, right, right," the hero pathetically struggled. "There will be a 3 vs. 2 battle, the rules would be changed to make things fair for the 2 people team."

It was obvious he had just come up with it and the rules for drawing lots confirmed it.

The box must have had 2 balls of each letter; so, to make it fair, they had to let the ball back in the box. Once the same letter was pulled 3 times, the other letters could only be pulled 2 times. Whoever pulled the letter of an already completed team had to redraw.

And because that's his luck, he ended up on the 3 people team.

A bitter reminder that he was the extra student.

Then, it came the time to decide the battles.

His team was the villains, while Shouto's was the heroes.

Just as it is, Touya thought as he made eye contact with him.

However, he wasn't the only one from his team that was throwing daggers at the other. As the other students started to leave as per All Might's instructions, he realized Bakugou was giving a very notorious glare to Midoriya, who was doing his best to control his shaking and hold his gaze.

"Oh, so soon?" All Might muttered, turning around to check his notes again.

Seriously? Who let him be a teacher?

He hadn't even noticed this was the 3 vs. 2 battle until he saw he was left with 5 students instead of 4.

"Can I offer a suggestion?" the third member of his team, the rules-lawyer, asked.

"Yes, go ahead."

"The villains won't be able to win by capturing the heroes."

Bakugou and him let out twin sounds of indignation.

"I'd rather they give them an advantage. That'd be more of a challenge, don't you think?" Touya expressed, with his blond teammate agreeing by his side.

"Yes, that's the plus ultra spirit," the man said with his booming voice as he nodded. "However, having a single option to win is a greater challenge. It makes it a battle of endurance on your part."

He had a point, endurance battles were the worst for Touya.

"Can we still beat them up?"

Mr. Number 1 Hero was a bit taken aback by the explosive boy's battle hunger. "Yes, but defeating them won't make you win."

"It'd be a 'you've won a battle, but not the war' situation," their full-armored teammate clarified.

"Yes, does everybody agree to the terms?"

With their approval, All Might told them, the villain team, to go inside the building and start preparing.

They had a head start of 5 minutes before the 15 minutes of the exercise started.

However, rather than planning, the armor guy was complaining about having to play villain, while Bakugou was grumbling about Midoriya.

So, it was just him plotting the hero team's downfall.

A power they would regret giving him.

"Oi, engines," he called him over.

"My name is Iida Tenya."

"I know," he replied with a mean smirk. "Anyways, since Blasty here will go against Midori-kun no matter what we say, you should go too to split them off. It shouldn't be hard, with how overconfident that icy bastard is."

"It seems like you've got some issues with Todoroki-kun."

Touya snorted. Was it that obvious?

"Don't worry, I won't let them get in the way. Actually, this plan is all about using our… issues to our advantage. You in, speedy?"

"Alright. What do you want me to do after they split up?"

The black-haired teenager looked at the ball of anger that Bakugou was at the moment.

"I'm counting on you to keep Midori-kun busy."

"Good," the blond kid replied, with a smile proper of an actual villain.

That settled it.

He'd show UA and Shouto how much of a villain he could be.

Bakugou and Iida rushed out of the room as soon as the exercise started.

According to the armored student's report, Shouto had entered through the main door, but Midoriya wasn't with him.

Not much later, ice covered the whole building.

However, Touya didn't unfreeze the place. Instead, he focused on his listening.

The sound of quiet, almost imperceptible steps alerted him.

"Hero on the fifth floor."

"Deku!"

The ground under him exploded as Bakugou made his way up. Touya took the fake bomb and descended through the hole he came from, landing with his fire and creating a hell pit as he left to avoid being followed.

Then, he placed the bomb in the biggest room, where he would have it easier to both escape and fight.

"Todoroki-kun's is going upstairs and I'm immobilized," Iida informed through the communication device in his ear.

"We'll have to switch, then. Be quick," the fire user answered, breaking one of the windows in the room with his quirk.

Without losing a second, he threw himself out of it and impulsed himself back into the building through the one below it.

Once on the third floor, he created a fire wall before each door there and intercepted Shouto at the stairs.

"I was waiting for you, hero!" he screamed as he forced him into the hall with a steam of fire.

Still hidden behind the ice he had used to guard himself, the bicolored teenager looked around.

"The bomb isn't here," he stated. "This is a distraction."

Should have expected it.

"Yeah and the speedster is on bomb duty," Touya replied, making it sound like a mock to confuse him. "Now, less talk and more fight. You ain't running off on me!"

He made a ring of fire around them and went for another attack, which melted the frozen barrier as his opponent rolled away to dodge.

"Bakugou and you are similar," the ice user pointed out as he made the air in the room become colder. "You're so absorbed by your personal grudges that you aren't focusing on the exercise."

"Like you're one to talk."

There wasn't a trace of a smirk or evil grin on the eldest brother's face as he spoke. There was only concealed anger, festering and threatening to spill with each word.

"You walk around thinking you're better than everyone as if your daddy issues weren't holding you back."

"They aren't. I don't need his quirk."

The declaration was accompanied by an icy assault.

His brother's voice was cold, but the untamable fury they had both inherited from the Flame Hero slipped through the cracks.

He just needed to keep pushing him until it broke free.

With this thought, the black-haired teen moved out of the way and out of the fire ring, letting the attack create a giant wall that blocked the access to the stairs.

"Good luck getting out of here, then."

"I can unfreeze it," he replied, trying to spot him through the curtains of golden flames.

"Without your fire? I don't think so."

"That doesn't count."

Shouto launched a freezing wave towards his rival, who burned his way through it and managed to strike him with a blast of fire that melted off his headpiece.

Any other person would have gotten away by reflex, but Touya didn't realize Endeavor had beaten those out of his brother until it was too late.

Before he could react, he was encased in ice from head to toe.

A direct attack to make sure he doesn't miss, he noted.

"Sorry, we are at different levels," the overconfident brat said.

However, despite his current predicament, the fire user wasn't even getting chills. Instead, his body kept heating up; and, once the ice cracked and his temperature escaped to the frozen room, the sudden shift created an explosion that left Shouto plastered against the wall of the middle room of the floor.

"Don't be," he breathed as he pulled his sleeve back in place. "To think that Endeavor spent all his time and attention on you."

There, his constant taunting finally got to him. He could see it in the way his eyes glazed over.

"Shut up!"

The ice quirk wielder hit the wall, making frost spread from his fist to the floor, where it started to rapidly crawl up the other student's legs.

"C'mon, you can do better," he said as he kicked it away, aided by his quirk.

However, that gave his rival enough time to free himself and sneak behind him.

He turned around just in time to provoke another crash of temperatures that left them on opposite sides of the fire ring; or half ring, since the ice attacks had put off the fire on the side he was on now.

It was fine, however. The oldest Todoroki was still having a blast seeing his little brother lose his cool.

"I hate that man! So keep your issues with him for him!" the boy shouted as he sent another wave of ice towards him.

"No can do," he mocked as dispersed it with his quirk.

Frost had started covering Shouto's right side.

Likewise, red burns were claiming back the skin of Touya's arms.

That's when he noticed something strange.

Something he hadn't felt in so long:

The sensation of burning.

What the hell did Eri do?

"Dabi-kun, I'm in position," Iida said through his earpiece.

He took a hand to it while he aimed the other at his opponent, who was also ready to attack. The sound of the raging flames behind him drowning his words for anyone other than his teammate.

"So is he."

They shot at the same time and both missed each other. However, the fire reached its real target: the wall covering the stairs.

A kick from the armored student broke through it and connected with Shouto's back. He managed to stay on his feet; but, before he could try anything else, his brother sprinted forward and threw a punch to his stomach, making him pass out and puke a little.

"Wasn't that too much?" the newcomer questioned.

"Nah. We are villains, remember? Not even killing him would be too much for real villains."

"Right, for this exercise I must dye myself in the darkest of blacks."

Touya nodded, eyes fixed on the fallen hero.

"Anyways, good job," he congratulated. "I'll watch him while you go guard the bomb. It is on the next floor."

"On it, boss."

He waited until they were alone to kneel beside his father's precious child.

"Now, did you learn your lesson, little hero? Underestimating your rival is the easiest way to lose," he preached as his hand patted his defeated rival's head condescendingly. "What did you say? We are at different levels? I agree, I am over you. Wanting to prove myself doesn't mean I've forgotten my goal."

There was no use in talking to him when he wasn't listening, but he didn't care. He just needed to talk his heart out, and the people in the monitor room would likely take it as a villain monologue anyway.

After all, he was a villain at heart.

This game made him realize it.

Villany was the path for him.

Welcome to Deku using his MC powers to get Touya back in UA and him being a menace to Shouto.

Some notes about his costume:

- It's fire-proof, obviously.

- Looks like the one he wears on the second part of the war (the write one), but with some modifications and the color palette of the first costume.

Disclaimer: My Hero Academia and its characters are property of Kōhei Horikoshi and Studio Bones.