A/N: Alright, folks! The segue is officially over, and it's time to get back to the source material! That said, I'm glad that you all seemed to enjoy my little side arc, and how it ended.

Let's see how this altered version of Class A does against Class B- who will have a rather... interesting way of evening the numbers.

*Execute Order 66*

Rivalry

Kurai was up the next morning by six despite his relatively fresh injuries, but he was surprised when he crossed the hallway to find Izuku pacing back and forth in front of his door. Having spent the night in Mina's room, he had no idea how long his classmate had been there, but he hoped that it hadn't been for long. "You okay, man?" he asked as he approached. His head was still in a bit of a daze after his technical proposal to his girlfriend the previous evening, but he was also alert enough to know that his friend was distressed about something.

"…I'm not sure," the other boy answered in a low tone as he stopped walking, his eyes glancing at the shut door behind his friend. "Can we talk in your room?"

"Can we do yours' instead?" Kurai requested. "Mine's kind of a mess."

"Uh… Okay, we can do mine," Izuku shrugged. "I guess it'll actually help me explain what's going on, anyway."

"Huh?" In response, the other boy led his friend over to his room and opened the door so that they could both enter, whereupon Kurai found a strange sight. "What happened in here?" he asked as he noted the broken window and scattered memorabilia that had been hastily put back onto the other boy's desk.

"I had a really weird dream last night," Izuku answered as he shut his door. "In it, I saw seven people lined up beside me, mostly people I've never seen before, though they all looked like heroes. The further away from me they were, the less I could tell about them, but I felt a weird connection to all of them. I think… they were the other users of One For All- there was even a shade that looked like All Might among them."

"Hold on a sec," Kurai said with a slight frown as he quickly did the math. "You said you saw seven people, right? If you're the ninth user, where was the other guy?"

"He was separate from the others," Izuku answered. "Through him, I started to see… things."

"Things?"

"All Might told me the story of how All For One and his brother could never agree on anything, and how eventually the elder brother gave the younger one a quirk," the other boy said shakily. "But last night, I saw it all- everything that All Might had told me, and then some."

"Wait…" Kurai said slowly. "Are you sure that this was a dream? Or do you think…?"

"I think I saw the memories of All For One's brother," Izuku nodded with a slight shudder. "At least, that's how it seemed at first. I was shown how All For One got his start by attracting followers- people who wanted power, and people who were shunned because of theirs', they all came to him to find a solution. Then I saw him creating One For All… His brother looked like he was in pain, so I reached out to help him, and when I did, he reached back to me, and told me that there was more to tell, but because I'm barely using a quarter of the power, there was only so much he could do. He named me as 'the ninth', and that's when I woke up, my quirk having activated in my hand and broken the window without me even trying to use it."

Kurai was silent for a moment, processing everything that his friend had just told him. After a few second's consideration, he inquired, "Have you asked All Might about this?"

"I haven't yet, but I texted him once I woke up," Izuku answered. "Hopefully he'll agree to meet me before classes start. If you don't mind, I'd actually like it if you came along with me, seeing as you've agreed to share this burden with us." Kurai had attended training sessions with Izuku and All Might during the semester, but for the most part he left the two of them to more private discussions when it came to the history of One For All.

"But why tell me?" Kurai asked him. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that you feel like you can come to me about this kind of thing, and I'm more than willing to lend you my support, but I don't know what I could add to All Might's knowledge. I don't have One For-" He cut himself off in mid-sentence before he said, "Oh… I get it."

"Have you ever had a dream like that?" Izuku asked his friend. "Have the previous owners of your quirk tried to talk to you?"

"If they have, I don't remember it," Kurai shrugged helplessly. "Maybe they did, but I probably would have just passed it off as a weird dream. After all, up until recently, I wasn't even aware that Energon wasn't my quirk to begin with, so I wouldn't have paid any great amount of attention to a vision like the one you're describing."

"I see," Izuku sighed. "Well, thanks for hearing me out, anyway."

"Hang on," Kurai said before his friend turned to leave the room again. "Has that ever happened before? Your quirk activating without you meaning to turn it on?"

"No," Izuku said with a swift shake of his head. "It was really startling, almost as though One For All suddenly had a mind of its own."

"Hmm…" Kurai said with a slight frown. "We should keep an eye on that, then. Hopefully it was just your body sleepwalking because of the dream, but there's a fair amount about your quirk that we don't know about. Be careful when you use it, and let me know if something seems off, or if you need help of some kind."

"I will," Izuku said with a smile that brightened his formerly worried face. "Thanks, Kurai. Just knowing that there's someone looking out for me who knows what's going on is a big help."

"Happy to assist," Kurai said with a grin as he clapped the other boy on the shoulder. "Now, let's go get some breakfast. I get the feeling that today's training is going to be best handled with a full belly."

"Yeah, I get the same feeling," Izuku chuckled as they left the room. A thought then occurred to him, leading him to ask, "Hey, uh… Shouldn't you wake up Mina? She should eat something too, shouldn't she?" His cheeks were red, which led his friend to grin in a silent amusement.

"She prefers sleep to breakfast," he said with a slight roll of his eyes. "I'll make her get up in time to have some coffee if nothing else, but she gets pretty cranky if I try to get her up any time before seven." As they reached the elevator, he asked, "What sounds good for food? I'm thinking an egg sandwich, but I can make something else if you wanna split a dish."

As they waited for the lift, he made a mental note to tell his brother about the newest development in his relationship with Mina as soon as possible. In fact, this had been his intent when he had headed for his room to begin with, but his conversation with Izuku had derailed that idea. For now, it seemed as though he was going to need to keep his attention focused on this bizarre new development with the quirk that transcended the passage and decay of time.

"I'm afraid that I'm in the same boat as you, Young Midoriya," All Might said with a ponderous look on his face as he gazed at his successor. "I saw the shadows of the previous users when I was young, and I was still getting the hang of the quirk, but none of them ever spoke to me, or appeared as clearly as you've described them."

Izuku had just finished telling his mentor what had happened to him the previous night while Kurai merely waited in silence for his turn to be called on by either of them. Truthfully, he didn't know that he had much to contribute, but he had agreed to come and support his friend either way, so he stayed.

"There were a couple of things that stood out to me," Izuku now said. "I couldn't make out two of the users at all, just their shadows. You were also in there, and you had some kind of flame-like aura around you. I dunno if that's because you're relatively new to the quirk in comparison to the others, or because you're still alive, or something else entirely…"

"Hmm…" the retired hero mused before he shifted his gaze to look at the other student. "Young Hikari, do you have any thoughts on the matter?"

"I don't think I take your meaning, sir," the boy answered with a slight tilt of his head.

"Have you noticed anything about young Midoriya or One For All lately that might explain this sudden change in its manifestation? Perhaps something that happened while you were fighting each other yesterday?"

The two boys exchanged a thoughtful look before Kurai shook his head and replied, "Nothing comes to mind. We were fighting with more intensity than when we normally spar, but other than that, nothing felt different."

"I see," the skinny man nodded. "Even so, I feel like we should keep a close eye on any interactions that occur between your two quirks. They were both made by All For One, after all."

"I've fought two Nomu, plus Wolfram on I-island, and none of those encounters caused any kind of psychic reaction in my opponent like this before," Kurai said with a puzzled frown. "Why should this be any different?"

"Three reasons," the teacher answered. "One, Nomu don't seem to possess any self-awareness or intelligence, save for the one that Endeavor fought the other day. If there was some kind of reaction on their end, I doubt that we would have a way of knowing about it. Two, you hardly had any direct contact with Wolfram, so I doubt it would have been enough to trigger something like this, though of course, I can only speculate. The third reason I have is also largely a guess, but given what I know about All For One in addition to the events at Fukuoka, it makes sense."

"That being?" Kurai prompted when the older man paused.

"I think that he was trying to create a quirk capable of matching or surpassing One For All in strength," the former hero replied grimly. "I have no doubt that even if events hadn't progressed as they did leading up to Kamino, he was planning on coming for me again, or whoever I had passed the quirk onto at that point. He had an arsenal of quirks at his disposal, sure, but he never would have had time to master each of their individual aspects. If he could have done that, there's no way I would have won against him in my weakened state, even if he was equally wounded. He mentioned that he planned to make Shigaraki his successor, and if he really meant that, he would need to have a powerful quirk ready for him to inherit- one strong enough to beat a quirk that even he failed against."

This gave both of the boys pause, but it was Kurai who broke the silence. "That makes sense," he finally said. "Once I knew where my power came from, I knew there had to be some kind of ulterior motive for that bastard, bargain or no. If he was using me to test the quirk's potential for Shigaraki, he probably thought that he'd be able to steal it back from me at a later date. Him getting started on the Nomu project through me was just icing on the cake."

"Good thing he underestimated your resilience, huh?" Izuku chuckled, though it was a bit of a hollow sound.

"Back to One For All," their teacher said, drawing their attention back to him. "If Energon was created to counter it, there's a good chance that All For One might have designed it to cause my old power to react to it in a way that might throw off the current holder."

Kurai was already shaking his head in the negative at that, though. "Tsukauchi was monitoring All For One the whole time I was talking to him," he reminded the older man. "He told us the truth when he said that he made my power with three quirks. To do what you're talking about, there'd have to be a fourth quirk layered in there, since Energon isn't a psychic type of power."

"Hmm, good point," All Might muttered.

"That may not necessarily be the case," Izuku mused, causing the others to now turn to him. "If One For All can carry the vestiges of the previous users, who's to say that other quirks made by All For One can't carry a piece of him in them, too? Maybe that's why my quirk reacted the way that it did- the vestiges of the past users are trying to protect me from whatever influence might be left in Energon by its maker."

Kurai gave vent to an involuntary shudder at that. The thought that even a shred of All For One's influence might be rattling around in his head was not a welcome one, to say the least. "Let's hope not," he muttered.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much," All Might said as reassuringly as he could. "We'll keep an eye on both of your powers, just in case, but this is all just speculation on our part. After all, like I said earlier, this is new territory for me, and I had the quirk for over forty years. It might be an event exclusive to young Midoriya. The power does evolve each time that it's passed down, so maybe this is a new facet of the abilities it grants."

"I'd much prefer that than think about the fact that I might be All For One's walking meat puppet," Kurai continued to grumble.

"Whatever the case is, I'm glad that you came to me about it," All Might told them. He gave another smile that he aimed at Kurai as he added, "I'm glad to see you opening up more in order to help young Midoriya. Goodness knows he'll need all the support he can get in the days to come."

Setting aside his doubts for the moment, Kurai gave his friend a sidelong grin as he replied, "He'll definitely have it, sir. Even if this power was originally meant to take down One For All, I'll make sure that it's used for demolishing everything that madman worked to accomplish. I'll make him regret ever experimenting on people to begin with."

After their meeting, Kurai was once again taken to see Recovery Girl, who was less than pleased about seeing him three times in the span of four days. "Blame your colleagues for this last one," Kurai grumbled after she had finished healing him. "And really, what was I supposed to do in Fukuoka? That Nomu had it out for me."

"That may be, but you still could have backed out of the challenge that the principal and Eraserhead had devised," the elderly lady countered. "You shouldn't feel the need to take on every problem laid out in front of you. Keep up that attitude, and it'll get you killed someday."

Kurai's eyes narrowed slightly before he said in a lowered tone, "Despite the similarities in the origins of our powers, I am not All Might, ma'am."

"Then why take his catchphrase?" she asked him seriously as she handed him a pill bottle, his next month's dose of sleep medication contained within it. "I saw your declaration on the news after your victory. For someone who claims to be different from that reckless man, you certainly seem to have adopted some of his more negative tendencies."

I am here… to stand my ground. Kurai's own words echoed in his head at that moment, as if his subconscious was agreeing with the nurse.

The boy thought about her question for a few moments before he answered, "I have never sought out trouble, but it always seems to find me, regardless. I simply react the best way that I know how each time, and I think it's time for my enemies to know that even if I bend, they will never break me. All Might may have been reckless, but anyone should admire his perseverance. I do my best to be more conscientious of my actions than he was, but I will not apologize for emulating his tenacity."

"Hmm," Recovery Girl mused with a slight frown. "That's all well and good, but do try to remember that even you need a proper rest every now and again. In fact, after today's exercise, I'm going to have you excused from the rest of the week's hero course physical activities- and no extracurricular programs, either!" Before he could protest, she whacked him on the head with her cane and added in a sharp tone, "Someone around here needs to keep your reckless impulses in check before you burn yourself out! It's a bad habit of yours'!"

Kurai went to protest, but then shut his mouth when he realized that this was far from the first time that he had been lectured about pushing himself too hard, whether it was for his own sake, or someone else's. Maybe I could do with a few days of rest, he thought heavily. All that aside, he didn't want to get hit upside the head with the Youthful Heroine's weapon of choice again.

It was finally happening.

Kurai allowed himself to give vent to a small grin as he attached his scouter to his ear and looked around at his classmates, all of whom had equipped their winter gear for the upcoming exercise. It had grown rather chilly almost overnight, and so the young heroes were glad that the support lab had already prepared their new costumes in advance. The most notable difference in their class had to be Yaoyorozu wearing a long cloak as a windbreaker to ward of the chill, though there others who had made similar modifications, such as Bakugo's thermal shirt that would keep him warm in order to produce nitro-sweat, even in freezing conditions. Other people, like Iida and Kaminari, had very little done to change their costumes in accordance with the weather shift, but theirs' were already a little on the heaver side to begin with.

Kurai was one of the people whose costume was more for visual aesthetics than support, since his quirk no longer had any dangerous backlash attached to it, so the only change to his outfit was that he now wore long sleeves on his gi, and his boots had extra wrappings on them that would help keep his feet insulated during conditions like the present ones. Mina's costume had also added sleeves to her jacket, but other than that, her attire was virtually the same.

"Whaddya think?" she asked as she gave him a twirl with a goofy grin that made him chuckle. "Isn't this cute?"

"You'd make a potato sack look good if you were wearing it," he snickered, causing her grin to widen.

"Ooh, good answer," she laughed while some of their classmates rolled their eyes.

"Really, how shameless," Weiss sniffed at the pair.

"I know they're in love and all that, but come on, can't they use a little discretion?" Ojiro grumbled in agreement.

"I think it's sweet," Yang commented with a genuinely approving smile. "Kinda reminds me of my mom and dad when I was little."

"From what I know about Ashido, she's always wanted to be in love," Kirishima chuckled as he looked on at the couple fondly, even as they continued their playful exchanges. "Looks like she's got what she always dreamed about."

"We should be happy for them," Koda added, which surprised the others a great deal. "It's kinda weird sometimes, but Hikari's been through enough that I think he should be allowed to enjoy stuff like this if it makes him happy." The animal tamer hardly ever spoke unless he was prompted first, so for him to voluntarily say such a thing was nothing short of astonishing.

"It's more than him just being happy," Iida now interjected, further surprising his classmates. "Something must have changed between them recently. I don't know what it is exactly, but I've never seen Kurai so happy and at ease, not in all the years that I've known him. He actually reminds me of his uncle, at least what I can remember of him."

"You knew his uncle?" Yang asked, wondering how it was that such a subject had not come up before, though it made sense, seeing as the two boys had been practically raised together.

"Yes, indeed," Iida nodded with what sounded like smile from within his helmet. "Sergeant Hogo-sha and his brother- Kurai's father- were very much alike in many ways, but I always remember Kurai's uncle as being the one to make us children laugh whenever he was in the room. I believe that Kurai and Akarui's sense of humor is an unconscious tribute to the man, now that I think about it." As if on cue, Mina erupted into another burst of giggles that caused her to double over while Kurai shook his head in mock despair.

"He sounds like a great man," Kirishima said with another smile.

"He was, indeed," Iida replied, a little wistfully. "I do hope that he was able to reunite with his brother, even in spite of what Commissioner Hogo-sha did in the past."

"Well, well, well, aren't you all looking as carefree as ever?!" A familiar voice set all of Class 1-A's teeth on edge as they turned around to see Class B standing a few feet away, Monoma at their head while his peers all just looked on with resigned expressions. The blond boy was cackling maniacally as he held out a piece of paper with what looked like a graph chart and hooted, "Guess what, class A losers?! I took a poll to see what people thought of our performances at the School Festival, our stellar theater performance versus your shabby little concert, and guess who came out on top?!"

Before anyone could formulate a response, Weiss' rapier flashed out in front of her, causing Monoma to freeze in place as the chart fell away from his fingers, with only a little shred of paper left in his grasp. Blake then snatched up the document before it hit the ground and read it quickly before saying in a deadpan, "You won by two votes. Big whoop."

"I'd bet good money on one of those votes being his," Kurai added as he stepped up to the front of his class. His presence made some of the class B students flinch and draw back involuntarily, but he ignored them in favor of focusing on Monoma. "Also, you didn't even participate in that play, so where's your right to brag?" Unlike in the past, whenever he had greeted the other boy with a flat expression, Kurai seemed more like his usual self today- and some of his classmates were immediately wondering whether or not that should be more concerning to them.

Monoma looked like he was trying not to choke on his tongue as he was put under Kurai's scrutiny, though he said nothing, which just filled class A's thoughts with a collective question; What did Vlad King do to make Monoma back off so completely, in spite of his disdain and outright hatred for Kurai?

"Sorry about him," Kendo said as she walked forward with an uneasy smile, pushing the red-faced boy aside as she did. "His bad attitude aside, we're all looking forward to these matches."

"Likewise," Yaoyorozu said as she stepped forward and shook hands with the other girl with a friendly smile on her face. "I think today will prove to be a very unique experience."

The hero course students were all set to compete against one another in a series of matches over the course of the day. This would be the first time that the two groups would be pitted against one another in such a definitive matchup, and there was something to be said for it feeling as though it had been a long time coming. There was also the general unspoken consensus among Kurai's friends that they wanted an excuse to lay Monoma flat with a hint of excess force, if they could get the chance. Today could very well provide that chance.

"It'll be unique in the sense that you peons will finally learn the taste of defeat and be left in the dirt where you belong!" Monoma burst out, seemingly unable to contain himself any longer.

He started to cackle again, until a familiar piece of fabric shot out and wrapped itself around his throat hard enough to cut off his air supply. "Shut up," Aizawa growled as he approached, Vlad King right beside him, who was looking on with his usual disapproving scowl. Following them were four other students whom the others did not recognize.

"Monoma, if you can't control yourself, you can leave my class right now," class B's teacher said as they finished their approach. "The only reason you're here is to make up the numbers, otherwise I'd have you sit this one out and watch so you could learn from your betters."

Aizawa let his scarf fall loose so that Monoma could draw in a fresh breath of air and gasp out, "Sorry, sir. I'll stay quiet." His frame was sagging, as if he were a little child who had just been told that he wouldn't be getting any toys for Christmas. Kurai raised an eyebrow at his sudden compliance, but he decided that it wouldn't do him any favors to rub salt in the other boy's wounds, even if he had long since earned it.

Aizawa, not one to waste any time, turned to address everyone else with the words, "Because my class has extra members this semester, we've decided to do things a little differently this time around. I'm sure you're all wondering who's behind us, so I'll cut to the chase and say that they're students from other courses who are hoping to transfer into the hero department. Depending on their performance today, they may be added to class B, starting with your second year. Applicants, introduce yourselves."

The first student, a boy with dead eyes, purple hair, and a scarf that seemed suspiciously familiar, stepped up and said, "I'm Shinso Hitoshi. While I'll thank you for having me to participate in the exercise, understand that I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to prove that I have what it takes to become a hero, even more than many of you do. You are all obstacles that I aim to overcome. As long you all understand that, we'll get along fine."

"That guy looks kinda familiar," Kurai muttered in an aside to his girlfriend.

"I think that's one of Mister Aizawa's scarves that he's wearing," she whispered back as Hitoshi began to retreat.

"Yeah, but there's something else…"

"Pretty sure you punched him in the face when he tried to take our headbands during the cavalry battle," Izuku told his friend, who looked askance at him.

"How do you remember that?" Now that he had been told that, he had to admit that it sounded right, but the Sport's Festival had been so long ago that it was one big blur to Kurai now.

"Well, the only people to make it to the cavalry battle who weren't in the hero course were him and Hatsume, but I couldn't figure out what his quirk was the whole time," the greenette answered. "I didn't see him during the race, but that's probably because we were in the lead for most of it, and he was in the low thirties."

"Well, if he's got Aizawa's scarf, he's probably been scouted by our teacher for some reason," Uraraka added as the next student began to take her turn. "We should be careful if we have to fight him."

"Agreed."

The second student was a girl with pixie-cut, flaming red hair and ice-blue highlights who grinned at them with a surprising amount of confidence. "The name's Ao Mitsuha," she said by way of introduction. "I was gonna go for the hero course back during the entrance exams, but I got injured in a sport's accident before I got the chance, so I decided to go into the support course during the interim. Now I'm here to make up for it."

Interesting, Kurai mused to himself as he watched the girl step back. If she had been good enough to apply for the entrance exam, this girl might actually be a challenging opponent.

Next was a girl with jet-black hair and red bangs that matched her eyes. She also appeared to be dealing with a nosebleed, because she had a wadded-up tissue in her right nostril that she kept dabbing at, a nervous air about her. "Hi," she said softly. "I'm Hazuki Akabane, and I'm here for… reasons." She seemed to have a hard time maintaining eye contact, so the other students had to wonder what someone as timid as she seemed to be was doing trying to make it into the hero course.

"Sheesh, I think even Blake talked more than that when we first met," Yang commented to Weiss, who nodded in a silent agreement, somewhat to their friend's annoyance. Kurai, Mina was intrigued to see, was looking at the nosebleed girl with an unusual intensity, so she resolved to ask him about it later.

Last to speak was another boy, this one with startlingly blue eyes and white hair, though his most prominent feature was his cool gray skin. "I'm Yuri Asada," he told them with a friendly enough expression. "Mitsuha and I are classmates in the support course, but we both aim to become heroes, even if we have to take a roundabout path to get there. Thanks for letting me join you today. I look forward to learning from the experience, regardless of the results."

As the others gave the newcomers a polite applause, Mina leaned closer to Kurai and murmured, "What do you think?"

"None of them seem duplicitous like that guy from Ketsubutsu," he answered her in a similar manner. "Mister Aizawa and Kan wouldn't have just let them in on this exercise on a whim, and we have no idea what their powers are, so even if they're inexperienced compared to us, we shouldn't let our guards down."

"So, business as usual when it comes to his class?"

"Pretty much."

"Also, what's up with you checking out the nosebleed chick? I'm right here." She said it with a grin, but she also knew that he was already fairly immune to that particular joke by now.

He confirmed it when he rolled his eyes and said, "I think I know her, or maybe someone related to her. I just can't remember where from. Problem is, I kinda feel like it's important, and that I'll come across as a total ass if I don't remember who she is."

"By your own words, that's not much different than how you normally come off to new people."

"Oof," he pretended to grimace as he clutched at his chest. "That hurts. I feel betrayed."

"Dude, just go talk to her and ask what's up," Mina giggled as she grasped his arm gently. "I can even run interference for ya if things get weird, as long as she's not someone you used to have a crush on."

"That would be a definite 'no' on my part," he chuckled in response. "And I don't exactly wanna come across like I'm trying to intimidate the other team before the matches start. I can just talk to her after the exercise is over."

"Mkay," Mina grinned, her mind already working on how she was going to approach the other girl so that they could get the conversation over and done with, and not have it hanging over Kurai's mind the whole time.

After All Might and Midnight had arrived to join the activity, the teachers set about explaining the rules for the exercise. Essentially, there would teams of four pitted against one another via random matchups in combat with an urban jungle as the setting. A team won once they managed to lock up everyone on the opposing team, by any means necessary. Each round had a time limit of thirty minutes, and if the clock ran out, whichever team had more prisoners at the time would be considered the winners.

The one exception to the drawing of lots would be that Team RWBY was set to face off against the hero course applicants from the other classes. This must have been news to them, because Asada protested, saying, "Isn't that kind of a stacked contest? They have way more experience working as a team than we do!"

Which of course, was the wrong choice of words to use in front of Aizawa. "If you're trying to be a hero in a world full of fairness, you can get out," the scarfed teacher growled as his eyes flared an ominous red. "My students have fought a deck stacked against them from the very beginning, and never once have they complained about the unfairness of it all. Class B has also experienced that hardship, so if you're looking for sympathy, you won't find it here."

"Sorry, sir," the boy said, looking crestfallen. "You're right."

"Hmph," the scruffy instructor grunted before his hair settled down. "As I was saying, the rest of you will be decided at random. Class A, come to me and draw your lots. Class B, do the same with Vlad."

The team-ups took less than two minutes to sort, and by the time it had been done, Kurai, Mina, Izuku, and Uraraka were all grinning at each other. "How do you like that?" the boy with the artificial limb said happily.

"We're gonna crush the other team, whoever they are!" Mina cheered.

"Let's not get too overconfident," Izuku cautioned them, but it was easy to see that he was also excited by the prospect of getting to work with his close friends as a team- rather, as the team that they hoped to become after graduating.

"Team Lightning Drop's first live combat is about to go down!" Uraraka said, her normally cheerful smile turning into a fierce one. "Alright, so who're we beating up?"

It took another moment for the lineup to be announced, and when it did, everyone in both classes turned to see that Kurai's grin had faded in favor of a more somber expression. Monoma, for his part, affected not to look at his would-be opponents, though some of the Class A members could have sworn that he was fidgeting just a little. Whether it was from excitement or nervousness, they couldn't tell, and no one really wanted to find out from him, anyway.

Seemingly by the alignment of fate, it would be Kurai's team against Monoma's for the final round of the day's battles.

Seeing Kurai's change in expression, Vlad King started forward, only to be held back by Aizawa, who said, "I want a clean match on both sides, understand?"

"Yes, sir," Kurai nodded, his expression reverting back to a semblance of his normal cheer. "I handled an encounter with my uncle's killer professionally. Monoma is nothing like what I went through with Needle Mouse." There was nothing in his expression or tone to indicate that he would be given over to a lack of control, yet his classmates worried all the same.

"A defeat over him will be more than good enough for me," Monoma sniffed over his shoulder, which most of his peers decided to discount. Really, the only thing they felt bad about was the fact that their other friends would have to go up against a powerhouse strong enough to keep up with- if not surpass- the current number one hero. If they were being honest, some of them were looking forward to seeing how Kurai would handle Monoma, who had been an embarrassment to their student body for far too long.

"All right, then," Aizawa said as he lowered his arm without looking at his peer. "Team RWBY, Team Applicant, head out to the starting points. We'll give you a signal when it's time to begin."

"Yes, sir!"

While the named students were making their way out onto the field, Kan pulled over Aizawa to speak to him in lowered tones. "What's the big idea, Eraserhead?" the blood-themed hero demanded. "I want my class to win, obviously, but you know as well as I do what Monoma has done to Hikari over the course of the school year. There's no need to torture him if we don't have to, especially after what he went through in Fukuoka! Monoma will use any excuse that he can to torment Hikari again, and you know it!" Vlad may have been class B's teacher, but he respected Kurai for his sense of restraint when it came to his oppressors, and his opinion of the boy had only grown after witnessing his fight a few days ago. He wasn't Kurai's instructor, but he also felt that the young hero had been put through more than enough in recent times to justify rearranging the matchups.

"If you know as well as I do what Monoma is responsible for, then you know that he should have been expelled long ago, especially after having his provisional license revoked for conduct unbecoming of a hero." Aizawa replied unflinchingly. "Unfortunately, the school board decided to give him another chance because they think we need new heroes on the streets as soon as possible with All Might gone. Maybe this will be his divine punishment, if there is such a thing- after all, unlike when he's been picked on in the past, Hikari's cleared to fight back this time. Perhaps Monoma will learn what happens when you make him truly angry."

"The anger of a good kid isn't something that Monoma should be afraid of," Vlad grumbled. "I'd say that it might do Hikari some good to loosen up his moral code just a little bit this time."

"You think Hikari has a strict moral code because he's a good kid at heart?" Aizawa snorted. "That's not it, Vlad."

"What are you talking about?"

"Good people don't need rules to curb their anger," Aizawa muttered into his scarf. "Monoma's probably about to find out why Hikari has had to follow so many since he was young."

"You gonna be okay?" Mina asked her boyfriend worriedly. "I'm sure that Izuku can handle him if you think it'll be too much to fight Monoma."

"You worried that I'll take it too far?" he asked her with a sidelong grin.

"No, I'm actually kinda worried that you'll hold back too much against him because you'll be worried about taking it too far, and it might affect your performance during the test," she answered him.

"Well, I wouldn't worry about that," Kurai assured her, maintaining his usual, friendly smile. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that their plan will hinge on him confronting me, no matter what kind of measures we prepare. I might as well be ready to face him."

"What makes you say that?" she inquired with a slight frown. "If their reactions were anything to go by, they'll probably wanna keep him as far away from you as possible so they don't run the risk that he gets them disqualified for bad behavior."

"Normally, I'd agree with that, but there's something to consider here," Kurai said as he held up a finger. "My power was just showcased to be strong enough to outdo Endeavor. Anyone with Monoma's ability would know that my quirk is the best one to copy, even if it is an obvious plan. You saw how everyone reacted when they thought that I might get hostile with him- my power scares them. If they have it on their side, they might feel a little more at ease, even if it is Monoma using it. He'll come for me, grudge or no; I have zero doubts about it."

"So, what will you do about it?" Mina asked, her worry beginning to increase with the anticipation of the upcoming match.

"Let's just say that Monoma's gonna wish that his costume came with a big-ass umbrella."

"What?"

"Cos I'm gonna rain down hellfire on his swollen head like he wouldn't believe," Kurai elaborated as he turned to look across the deck at Monoma, who was studiously ignoring them.

It was just as well, too. There was no telling what might have happened if he had seen the vicious wolf's smile decorating his enemy's lips as a silent promise that the blond boy was going to get everything that he had coming to him.

Deku: Umm...? You're sure you haven't stacked the odds a little too far in our class' favor?

Mataras: Trust me, these guys are gonna surprise you. Besides which, I think I've done a fair enough job at adding counterbalances to the factors that would otherwise make things go your way in this story.

Kai: Gimme... Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme!

Deku: Uh... Is he okay?

Mataras: I think he's just excited about your guys' match-up.

Akarui: Too bad he's gonna have to wait another six weeks before that gets started.

Kai: WHAT?!

Mataras: I told you not to say anything about that! You know how he gets!

Akarui: I know, that's why I did it.

Mataras: Anyone ever tell you that enjoy chaos a little too much?

Deku: Whoa, Kurai, calm down! Let's just take it easy...

Kai: Ka...

Mataras: Okay, that's actually bad. Announcements!

Kai: Me...

Deku: Uh, next time- What it Takes!

Kai: Ha...

Mataras: Big shoutout to prmths.c on Instagram for lending Akabane to this story!

Kai: Me...

Akarui: Hey, where have I heard that name befo-?

Deku: Get down!

Kai: HAAAAAA!

Next time on Your Hero Academia: Ipseity...

"So, what do you do?" Yang asked as she cocked her gauntlets, the sound of the chambers being loaded serving to make her opponent flinch nervously. She had made for a northwest heading at her sister's discretion, Ruby's quirk allowing her to gain an almost-bird's-eye view of the battleground and see their opponents departing their own base about a half-mile away.

"Uh… I just wanted to give you a chance to give up," Akabane said as she eyed the blond girl from behind her red bangs. "If we actually fight… Well, my quirk is kinda gross." She was now wearing, Yang was intrigued to see, what looked like a nasal cannula, except that the tubes ran down into a pair of black gauntlets about the same size as Yang's own weapons.

"I've got a classmate who can spit out her own stomach," the American girl grinned confidently. "You ain't got nothin' on that." This was a good setup for her- Yang's natural self-assurance would lend to her being able to walk all over her shier opponent.

"…Don't say I didn't warn you," Akabane murmured before the cannula began to fill with a dark red liquid that made Yang pause in mid-step.