Shinso and I spent the wrap up of the first match and most of the second simply enjoying each other's company, glad we had found someone else. Soon enough though, the third match, ours, was up, and we stood outside of the building, readying ourselves as Yaoyorozu and Ojiro set up. We were silent a minute before I began stretching and readying myself. Mina was still in shock, but I could hear her muttering something, maybe some anime? I did catch something about this being just like that one where a guy and his crush get reincarnated as each other. I decided to break in while I stretched, and watched Shinso as he grinned to himself.

'To be clear, Anne and I do not have crushes on each other. We're friends. Trust me, we tried that and decided we didn't click'

To say the squeal I heard was deafening would be an understatement.

So you guys were together?

'yeah, for like a month or so. We tried it out after Anne said she had liked me. We mutually broke it off, though we tend not to talk about it.'

Why?

'Not exactly something I want to say now, but I know you'll bug me until I do because you love gossip.'

Damn right.

'I'm not sure I can explain it better than we just decided we were better as friends. We were fine as a couple, we just…didn't have the spark to it that justified us being together when we worked great as friends.'

Hmmmm…

I left Mina to her pondering and looked to Shinso, who appeared to be in thought.

He might be talking to the guy in his head too.

'That makes sense actually. Huh, guess that's what I look like when I do it.'

I waved a hand in front of his face, and he turned to look at me.

"Yeah?"

I gave him a look.

"Talking to Shinso?"

He nodded.

"Yep, not exactly chatty, but we've warmed to each other"

His grin grew wider as he stopped a minute.

"He's saying how much he loves me and thinks of me as his best friend."

I chuckled and turned to the building.

"So how have you been adapting?"

He shrugged.

"About as well as you, if not a little worse. I mean, we both woke up as the opposite gender, but you've always been better at rolling with changes, so I figured you would be better at it than me."

I nodded as I continued my stretching.

"Thanks. It's been hard though, without you, and Evan and Ben. I'm glad you're at least here. I have someone to share this with at last."

"Same, though I have to wonder…"

He trailed off and I looked over.

"What?"

"You think Evan and Ben are here too?"

I thought for a moment.

"Maybe. But who would they be? Evan's good at being subtle, but Ben?"

Shinso snorted as he picked up the conversation thread.

"He'd get into a fight on the first day, and we likely would have seen it on TV. He's…not subtle at all"

I laughed a little. Shinso sighed and looked at the ground.

"Would still be nice to see 'em though."

I nodded.

"Yeah. You know- "

I was cut off as All Might's voice rang out.

"Match Three! Begin!"

I looked over at Shinsou and grinned.

"So that idea you mentioned. Is it what I think it is?"

He grinned back.

"Exactly what you think."

My grin grew wider. Time for a trick from the two Evan had called 'the demon duo'

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The halls were surprisingly complex for what was supposed to be a fake building, but we made our way through floors quickly, searching to make sure we didn't pass the bomb room or one of our opponents by.

"I think Yaoyorozu's gonna hole up in the bomb room, but Ojiro? I'm not sure. He didn't get much of a chance in the story before Todoroki froze him to the ground"

Shinso hummed in response.

"He's an up-close fighter. My guess is he's either with her for maximum defense, or- "

He cut himself off as he stopped before we rounded a corner. I peeked around, curious, and saw Ojiro. Out in the middle of the hall. I breathed out and finished his proclamation from earlier.

"On the hunt for us?"

He nodded, before looking at me. We gave each other a nod before Shinso took off, disappearing quickly. I waited there, watching Ojiro, before Shinso's voice sounded in my ear a minute later.

"Ready. On your signal then."

I smiled a bit before jumping out from my place, nearly startling Ojiro.

"Hey there. How's it going? Nice day, maybe to find a bomb?"

Ojiro answered by charging. I waited as he got closer, before dodging his tail whip at the last second and running, but not too fast, as to let him keep me in sight. I gave the signal by shouting out "Going, going…"

I sped up and disappeared around a corner, breaking Ojiro's sight at same time as I shouted "Gone!"

It was an old joke between us. Whenever we had one of some food left, we would say that to indicate we were taking whatever was left. Shinso hadn't specified a signal, so I used one he would recognize. And he struck as soon as I was out of sight. My voice rang out from the opposite direction after I had disappeared, causing Ojiro's steps to stop.

"Yoohoo! Ojiro! You're going the wrong way! I'm over here silly!"

Our opponent's steps seemed hesitant for a moment, before he took off toward Shinso's calls. I followed, and watched as Ojiro walked right to where we wanted him to, a large junction with many different places to hide. At that point, I began to call out syncing up with Shinso.

"I'm over here Ojiro!"

"Nope, now I'm here!"

"Wait, now I'm here!"

"Nope, I'm over here!"

Ojiro's head whipped around, trying to track us as we circled, before I saw a small cylinder roll across the floor. We kept calling out, keeping him tilted until a flash went off, and at the same time we leapt, capture tape at the ready, and Ojiro's feet and hands were bound. He seemed dumbfounded as Shinso walked over and took the earpiece he had, and began adjusting the knobs on his voice modulator, Ojiro managing to stammer out "How did you do that? It was like you were everywhere."

I smirked before looking over at my partner. He finished adjusting the dials and spoke up.

"I sound convincing?"

He did, like another Ojiro, though it might have been a little off, maybe due to Shinso's cadence or inflection. Ojiro for his part widened his eyes in realization. Shinso put in his earpiece and tapped it.

"Yaoyorozu, are you there?"

He was silent as I heard a muffled voice on the other end. He responded once she fell silent.

"I chased down the heroes, but they lost me. I'm doubling back to make sure they haven't found the bomb or you."

Yaoyorozu said something else, before Shinso smiled and nodded at me.

"Okay, I got it. See you soon."

He nodded and we took off, leaving Ojiro in a nearby room with a thumbs up and some finger guns from Shinso. It didn't take long to find the bomb room, as it was on the same floor. The front door was covered in a metal slab, which Shinso knocked on and spoke, still using Ojiro's voice.

"Yaoyorozu, are you okay?"

There was a moment and the sound of movement before the aforementioned girl spoke up.

"Yes, I am fine. Have you found- "

She was cut off as Shinso activated his quirk, and moved out of the way for me. I burned a hole using my acid, and we both stepped through into the rather large room, seeing the bomb near the back, and Yaoyorozu standing there listless, eyes blank. Shinso and I high fived and he walked over to Yaoyorozu and I went to the bomb, him wrapping up her wrists while I touched the bomb. I had to admit, it was satisfying to hear All Might's booming voice announce that "Heroes Win!"

We smirked at each other as Shinso released his hold on Yaoyorozu. She blinked confused a moment, before seeing her arms bound. Shinso undid the bindings as she seemed dismayed.

"I-I lost. But how did you- It was like I was in a trance."

Shinso patted her shoulder and pulled down his mask and persona chords, giving her a smile.

"My quirk lets me control people who respond to questions, and this,"

He pointed to the support equipment hanging around his neck.

"It lets me mimic other's voices in a way that still lets my power work."

He gave her another pat as we walked out to go get Ojiro, who couldn't move without undoing his bindings.

"You were just unaware of my capabilities. Not really something you should feel bad about."

Yaoyorozu was silent for a minute, a look of contemplation visible on her face as she walked. You could practically see the gears turning in her head.

That idea seems like it's really new to her, but I learned that in like second grade.

'Yeah, but didn't Kirishima still have to learn that? We all learn lessons at different paces, and Yaoyorozu's background means she probably holds herself to an unhealthily high standard. Happens to a lot of people in rich backgrounds actually'

Huh. Good point. That seemed uncharacteristically wise of you, Jake.

'Uncharacteristic? Oh, young grasshopper, you have much to learn'

What? Have you been holding out on me and been a super guru this entire time? For shame! You need to share your guruisms with me!

'You will learn them in time, young alien.'

Fine then, keep your secre- hey! Only I get to call me an alien!

I smirked as we entered the room we'd left Ojiro in, finding him still sitting there, looking a little bored. Getting him free, we made good time to the observation room, and found a few people congratulating us. I made sure to fist bump Kaminari and high five Kirishima of course, but I was surprised as a couple of the girls I'd talked to, like Hagakure and Tsuyu, came up as well. Sure, it wasn't much, but it was nice, plus All Might's enthusiasm was good too.

"Great job young Ashido and Young Shinso! Quite an efficient plan you had!"

We both looked down, a bit embarrassed as despite being grown adults, it was still good to have work you did acknowledged. The rest of the day was…good, it was like the others before it, but knowing I had someone to share this burden with made me feel…lighter.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The next morning felt…boring, though talking about boring in a world where a man who had a fire mustache existed was a little weird. It was enjoyable to see Yaoyorozu's face as she made class rep, beating out Izuku who had gotten four votes by one, which I thought was odd. I knew Todoroki had voted, and both Shinso and I had voted for her, plus her, but the last one was a mystery.

That made Yaoyorozu class rep, with Midoriya as lieutenant. I surprisingly had gotten third, with three votes to my name. I turned and looked around, shocked, and noticed both Kirishima and Kaminari looked a little weird. They both quickly turned as my gaze ran across them. Looks like I found who two of them were, but who was the last one?

Oooh, maybe one of the guys likes you!

'I don't think that's the case, but I won't rule it out.'

Then there's a possibility of romance?

'Look, I still haven't figured out where I see myself gender wise at the moment, so romance needs to wait'

Awww…but fair enough. Even if it's boring.

'I appreciate you accepting boredom then'

No problem, but we are definitely gossiping about romance later, maybe some couples if they happen in this class?

'Oh most definitely. I have some info that might surprise you.'

Oooh tell me!

'In time, you will know.'

Ughhh. you have to choose now to act like a mysterious mentor?

'Yep.'

All things about the voting aside, time dragged, and lunch couldn't happen sooner. Once it arrived, I waved down Shinso and we got in line for lunch together, before sitting down at the table I'd used for the last two days. Already there, Kirishima and Kaminari both greeted me easily.

"Ashido, what's up!"

"Hey there, beautiful. Maybe you wanna sit next to me, this time?"

Honestly, I usually laughed off Kaminari's flirting, but I decided to cut in this time.

"You know Kami, keep talking like that and you might end up with a girl slapping your head off."

I kept up my serious face for about ten seconds before I cracked and started giggling. Shinso joined me sitting down on my right before raising an eyebrow at Kaminari.

"A ladies' man, eh?"

Kaminari seemed embarrassed by that line

"Well uhhh. Yeah I guess."

Shinso smirked.

"Yeah, I can tell, that was some A plus flirting there. You must have to beat the girls off with a stick."

I laughed at that one. A little more sardonic than Anne's usual fare, but hey, it was funny. Kaminari's face seemed to go red at that, but he recovered quickly and gave a smile back to Shinso's smirk.

"I like this guy already. He was your partner during the lesson yesterday, right?"

He put a fist out.

"Nice to meet ya, I'm Denki Kaminari."

Shinso accepted quickly.

"Hitoshi Shinso. Same."

Kirishima piped up at that moment.

"I saw you yesterday dude, you were pretty Manly!"

Shinso raised an eyebrow at that.

"Trickery and subterfuge aren't usually called manly, but thanks."

Kirishima thought for a moment but gave him a full on grin, punctuating his next words with enthusiastic hand gestures.

"There's more than one way to be a man! Anyone can be manly, and we all have our own way to do it, you just have to try!"

I nodded at him, smiling. For someone who talked a lot about manliness, Kirishima wasn't close minded about what that could mean to different people. Truly a paragon of healthy masculinity, even if he was awkward about it. He'd sputtered about the subject for a while when I'd pointed out him calling me manly during a training session we had just before the school year's start. That was a good memory.

The conversation flowed naturally after that, and Shinso easily slotted into the group dynamic, but then I hadn't expected anything less than that. Anne had always been good at fitting in.

Kaminari was cut off mid joke by a loud alarm. Me and Shinso exchanged a look as Kirishima tried his best to find out what was going on. Eventually he did, a panicked student telling him it was a level three breach. After that, he and Kaminari looked worried, and started to move, but I held out my hand to block them. He gave me a look.

"What are you doing Ashido, we need to-"

Shinso cut him off.

"That hall's going to be congested, and all the people panicking are going to make sure it's dangerous. We should stay here, at least until it's cleared a bit. We're not even sure this isn't a false alarm either. The best thing to do is stay here."

My redheaded friend was silent before nodding. We all sat down, and waited. Before long, the alarm had shut off, and it was announced that it was simply the media who had gotten past the barricade, and Kirishima and Kaminari looked at Shinso like he was a psychic. He just smirked, like usual.

The rest of the day, it was uneventful, much as I would like to say it wasn't. The most interesting thing was Midoriya giving his place as lieutenant rep to Iida. But as I walked out the gates alone (Kirishima had to go early, something about "man things"), I heard Shinso shout behind me.

"Hey *huff* Ashido! Wait up!"

I turned to see him run up and stop, a bit out of breath. I tilted my head in confusion.

"Hey, Shinso, what's up?"

He straightened up, seeming to have recovered.

"I think we can walk home together. Are your parents home?"

I gave him a smirk.

"If this is a way of asking me out again, I think I need to work on my own feelings before I go for anyone else."

H's eyes widened before he blurted out quickly.

"Oh no I didn't mean that way! I meant we should talk more."

I waved my hand dismissively.

"Yeah, yeah I know. Just messing with you. We should, considering, you know, the thing tomorrow."

He nodded, and we started a long walk. After a minute he spoke up again.

"You gonna pay for the train or should I?"

"Maybe we split it?"

"Nah. How about we go rock, paper, scissors?"

"Best two out of three?"

"Deal"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

That night was somehow both frustrating and the most fun I'd had in a while. Shinso and I had brainstormed as hard as we could, but there really wasn't much we could do to prepare. We were currently teenagers, it really was hard to think of anything other than 'expose ourselves as not technically the rightful owners of our body and likely get locked up until we could prove we weren't here on purpose'.

It honestly did get to me. Aizawa was a great man who didn't deserve to be injured as bad as he was, and our classmates were kids who didn't deserve to be traumatized. So our plan essentially at the end of our brainstorming was essentially 'keep Aizawa from getting too injured and ensure our classmates were safe'. Once we agreed on that, both of us, plus Mina (Anne said Shinso didn't understand what we meant) decided we needed to relax, and cracked open a classic: horror movies.

At least the ones I could find. Turns out streaming services in the future were still a thing, though not the ones we knew. Had a lot of fun just watching movies we'd never seen, a whole new trove we didn't even get a tenth through by the night's end. It definitely helped that when Mina's parents got home, her dad jumped right in, apparently happy his daughter had taken an interesting something he'd always liked (Mina said she hadn't really given them much of a chance. Her thing was romantic comedies apparently). It was quite the night.

The next day came with a lingering sense of dread to it. I got dressed as always and headed out, though Shinso met me at the station near UA, and we walked together, Kirishima having gone ahead. It was strange thinking about what was to happen. No one around me had any idea of what was about to happen, but I did. Not even our normally cautious teacher had any compunctions as homeroom began, looking tired as ever. Makes sense, he did still work as an underground hero, so he was double timing it.

He still works as a hero? But I thought they were teachers.

'Eh, I'm not totally sure, but it makes sense with his personality to pull things like that'

The day passed quick, despite my objections. Shinso and I exchanged looks a few times, but that was about it. Before I knew it, I was on the bus, but before I did, I stopped by where Aizawa was sitting.

"Mr. Aizawa?"

He looked straight at me, seeming bored.

"What is it Ashido? If it's not important, save it for after class."

I nodded and gave him a nervous look.

"I wasn't really sure I should say this, but there's just… I have a bad feeling about this class. Like there's something bad just ahead of us."

He seemed unimpressed.

"So it wasn't important. It's just nerves. Get to your seat."

I reluctantly nodded and headed to the open part of the bus, sitting near Aoyama. Shinso took the other side, while Kirishima and Kaminari both waved at me when they sat almost across. Soon enough the bus was going, and conversation started up, once Iida had stopped lamenting his boarding strategy of course. Yaoyorozu had left that one to him, after he had asked. I decided to cut in at one minute into his lament, and Tsu spoke up after that.

I simply watched as things unfolded, enjoying the chaos around me. From the looks of things, Shinso was enjoying it too, smirking. He had chosen not to wear his hero costume's overcoat, giving me a better look at the jumpsuit he wore, not missing that it resembled Eraserhead's in a few ways. It wasn't all that complicated, but the design was quite a good (and practical) one. I even spotted a spiral icon, the same one on his coat, on his back. Good branding there. Then again, Anne was always good at that sort of thing. Shinso likely had an idea of what he wanted, and Anne had likely taken that and added to it. I'd have to talk to them about it, but if I knew Anne, my theory was likely the truth. I chose not to ask in favor of leaning back a bit and grinning.

It didn't take that much longer for the bus to pull up to the USJ, and for us to disembark. The class grouped up by Thirteen, and the spiel began. I knew it all by heart, so I instead looked around and thought on the upcoming situation as we headed inside. The USJ was quite the sight in person, and it really did give me pause to see this kind of thing.

'Geez, how much money does UA have that they can build this kind of thing?'

I dunno, I think they get some of their money from the government. I know as much as you on this one.

I paused as we walked in. I swore that near the top of the USJ, I saw movement. Just something small, like ducking out of sight. But that couldn't be. Right?

'You see that Mina?'

What, did I miss something?

'I thought I saw…oh forget it. Was probably nothing. But we should probably keep an eye on the ceiling.'

Roger that!

Thirteen continued talking, and gestured to the inside of the USJ like it was their magnum opus. Made sense, but they talked and talked and talked. Sure, it was a good speech that the class really needed, but I only half paid attention, since I had heard it before, and the anticipation of the attack was getting nearly unbearable. Time seemed to be moving at a crawl as I tried desperately to keep my cool. I'd dedicate the majority of that to Mina, whose nervous energy was combining with my own, forming a big ball of nerves.

Finally, I heard a sound, and the class gasped as lights began shattering one by one. I felt my anticipation release, even as the tension remained.

'Here we go…'

Right, let's go I guess…

'Nervous?'

Well duh! Why wouldn't I be? We're gonna be fighting villains! We shouldn't have to do that until like a year from now!

'If it makes you feel better, this attack is pretty unplanned and sloppy.'

That does not help!

I couldn't help the smirk, even as I tensed and looked over at Shinso. We watched as the portals opened, and villains stepped through, including the hand man himself, Shigar- wait what the hell is he wearing?

Shigaraki looked like he did Post-Kamino, trench coat and all, plus a pair of black gloves. He slouched as Nomu walked through with him, even more monstrous in person. He already was disturbing, but seeing it like this made the thing even more viscerally disturbing.

You didn't tell me about that thing!

'There are a few details I'd like to keep right now. The Nomu are one of them.'

Nomu, what, is that its name?

'More like the kind of creature it is.'

Okay, now I'm confused, is that thing a person?

'In a manner of speaking. Look, I'll tell you later, okay?'

I focused on the scene happening in front of me, as the villains finished emerging, and Aizawa walked forward, ready to fight.

"Thirteen! Protect the students!"

Kirishima stepped forward, looking worried.

"What's going on? Is this part of the exercise? I thought we were rescuing people."

Aizawa immediately responded, throwing his hand out and looking deadly serious.

"Stay back! This is real! Those are villains!"

And with that, a wave of fear swept across the class. Even I felt a chill down my spine at those words, despite knowing this would happen.

And with a few more words exchanged with Midoriya, Aizawa dropped down to engage the villains. I braced myself, ready to do my part as we started watching our teacher briefly. Things seemed to be going according to plan.

That is until a faint shattering sound came from above and a figure dropped down for the top of the dome, landing on a villain and flipping to land near Shigaraki.

Okay, I give up. I have no idea what's going on anymore.