It'd been about a month since the second year Sports Festival and everyone had healed from their physical injuries. Todoroki joined the class a couple days after the event but had been more quiet than normal. He pretty much stayed in his dorm room, trained, and went to class. Deku was the only one he was ever seen talking with besides a couple teachers.

At the beginning of June, Mr. Iida made the announcement at the end of class that they would, in fact, have a summer training camp this year.

"Because that worked out so well for us last year," Bakugou grumbled.

"With the Paranormal Liberation Front taken down and the vanguard's key members either gone or taken into custody, Principal Nedzu determined that it would be safe if all of the teachers came along," Mr. Iida explained. "Which means all the classes will be going to the same location."

"Where are we going?" Mineta asked. "I hope it's the same place!" He licked his lips, obviously remembering last year's bath space.

"It's classified. Only Principal Nedzu knows. However, this camp has another factor you'll need to prepare for ahead of time. You'll need to pick a buddy that you will walk to and from areas with since the grounds are expansive. I encourage you to pick someone that has a good combat and quirk match up with you. Since you all have provisional licenses, it's imperative that you and your buddy are able to fight together in the rare instance that we are attacked. In place of your physical finals, we'll evaluate your team up with a test before the camp begins. If we determine you haven't done enough, you'll be put in a remedial group like if you'd failed your normal finals. Pick wisely, everyone. Submit your buddy picks no later than the end of this week or I'll pick for you. Class dismissed."

Todoroki immediately left.

"Sensei, can our buddies be co-ed?" Ashido asked.

"It doesn't matter to me," Mr. Iida answered. "You'll be sleeping in separate areas."

"Alright! Thank you!" Ashido made eye contact with Kirishima and raised her eyebrows.

"I'm going to talk to Todoroki. See you in the dorms!" Deku said, running out of the class to catch up with him.

"I guess we can't just be buddies with our friends, ribbit," Tsu frowned. "We'll actually need to consider who we're good in a fight with."

"Yeah-," Ochako was about to ask Tsu to be her buddy since they'd already fought plenty together while working with Ryukyu when Bakugou walked up and stood over her. "Um, hi, Bakugou. Do you need something?"

"Train with me," he said, his red eyes intense.

"Oh, like, be your buddy?" Ochako was taken aback but then realized this would be really good for her. She could learn a lot from him.

Bakugou gave a curt nod for his answer.

"Uh, sure, if that's what you want," she replied. Ochako was kind of stunned he didn't pick Kirishima or someone he normally hung out with.

"I said what I said. Meet me in the sparring dojos after class everyday. Starting now." Bakugou turned and walked out of class. Ochako knew he was serious and started gathering her stuff. She didn't want to get off on the wrong foot with Bakugou in the first hour of them being partners.

"That was weird, ribbit," Tsu stated.

"Huh, yeah, I mean we did really well in that team up event at the Sports Festival," Ochako said hurriedly as she stuffed her notebooks and pen into her backpack.

"Uh, did Bakugou ask you to be his buddy for camp?" Ashido asked. She slid over to them, wide-eyed and waiting to soak in the gossip.

"Yeah, but-," Ochako started.

"Kirishima! Bakugou asked Ochako to be his buddy!" Ashido screeched with excitement.

"What?!" Kirishima ran over to them, a wide-smile already breaking across his face. Ochako would've assumed he'd be disappointed that Bakugou hadn't picked him.

"Um, yeah, it's not a big deal. Our quirks go well together. You saw at the Sports Festival. Plus, I need more practice in combat training." Ochako spoke fast, not liking this sort of attention.

"Psh, you're fine!" Ashido dismissed.

"I'm not as good as Bakugou. I want to be better."

"Yeah, yeah but I think this means Bakugou has a soft spot for you." Ashido jumped with glee. "Oh, Kirishima, our grumpy guy is making new friends!"

"She's not wrong, Ochako," Tsu realized. "He captured you in the Sports Festival when he could have easily taken you out."

"He was badly injured!" Ochako told them with exasperation. "We both couldn't fight anymore and it was the only way he'd end the match outside of a draw. Listen, I'm going back to the dorms. I have to change into workout clothes. See you all later!"

When Ochako finally found the sparring dojo that had Bakugou's name on it for this time slot, he had already warmed up. He was wearing a tank top, loose shorts, and grappling gloves. Ochako hadn't thought about bringing her gloves.

"Took you long enough," he said as he stretched out his arms.

"I had to find the dojo and you had a head start," Ochako explained, starting her own stretching.

"Excuses. Be faster." Bakugou started jumping, shifting his weight back and forth on his feet. Ochako rolled her eyes as she moved on to stretching her back. Bakugou dropped and started doing pushups while she finished her warm-up.

"All right, let's get started," Ochako said as she stood up straight and shook out her limbs.

"Finally," Bakugou groaned. He rushed her and started the training with his signature right hook.

"Ah!" Ochako yelled in surprise, narrowly avoiding his attack. She swooped down low and tried for a jab in the ribs but he turned to dodge.

"No quirks," Bakugou reminded, using the momentum from his dodge to move into a roundhouse kick that made contact with Ochako's thigh.

Her leg buckled. She dropped to the floor and used it as an excuse to try to pull his weight out from under him. She reached for his ankle and he jumped out of the way. Ochako got up and steadied herself as Bakugou attacked again.

They fought for another ten minutes without Ochako landing a hit on him. He landed plenty on her. Ochako held up her hand which stopped him mid-charge.

"Time out," Ochako breathed out.

"What!? We're just getting started!" Bakugou shouted in frustration.

Ochako went over to lean on the wall. She needed to catch her breath.

"You're never gonna get better if you don't push through your limits," Bakugou said angrily.

Ochako flipped him off and Bakugou chuckled.

"You watch too many American movies," Bakugou mumbled then started stretching again.

"You do too if you know what that means," Ochako laughed. Bakugou pursed his lips.

"Whatever."

Ochako pushed off the wall to grab a quick drink of water.

"You're too slow," Bakugou muttered.

"I'm hurrying!" Ochako took another big drink and set her water bottle down.

"I mean at attacking and dodging. It's easy to predict where you're going to move." Bakugou walked over to her. "The only reason you landed hits during the festival was because your opponents underestimated you or weren't used to your fighting in the air. That won't always be the case, so first things first you need to get faster."

"Okay," Ochako said, only slightly offended as she knew he was right.

"Your technique isn't horrible. You think too much," he continued. Bakugou raised his hands in a fighting stance. Ochako mirrored him. "I'm not going to hit you at full power. Just block me when I start to move."

Ochako nodded and Bakugou started off with slow, basic attacks. Ochako blocked and blocked. Eventually Bakugou started to speed up. Ochako kept going. Suddenly, Bakugou added a surprise kick and Ochako dodged as if second nature.

"Wow!" Ochako exclaimed.

"It was one dodge," Bakugou said with a scowl. "Keep going."

Ochako nodded excitedly and they continued with this exercise for the rest of their time slot. By the end of it, Ochako was sweating and Bakugou still looked annoyed.

"We might need to up our training if you're gonna get to the level we need to be at by mid-July," he told her. Bakugou grabbed his stuff and took a drink of water. "Meet me here before class."

"Before and after class?"

"Yeah. That a problem?" Bakugou asked on the edge of anger.

"Nope," Ochako answered, shaking her head firmly.

"Good." Bakugou put on his bag and motioned his head for her to follow him. Ochako picked up her stuff quickly and ran to be by his side. "You should carry extra clothes so you don't waste time going back and forth to the dorms."

"Good idea," Ochako agreed.

"Hey! You guys done training too?" Kirishima walked out of another sparring dojo with Ashido. They were sweaty and red in the face.

"Yeah, we're just heading back to the dorms," Ochako called back.

"Awesome, we'll walk with you!" Ashido yelled. Both she and Kirishima ran to join them.

"How'd it go?" Ashido asked Ochako quietly as Kirishima and Bakugou began to banter.

"Oh, it was eye-opening. I've got a lot to work on." Ochako hadn't realized how much it would take to get on Bakugou's level before today.

"Ugh, same! Only Kirishima isn't very good at explaining why he's good. There was a lot of frustration for both of us. I do know that I've got to get stronger." Ashido flexed her biceps with a cheeky grin.

"I'm with you there. I couldn't even land a hit today."

"No quirks?" Ashido raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah."

"Rough." Ashido patted Ochako's forearm. "How long did it take you to land a hit on Bakugou, Kirishima?"

"Oh, a while. We usually only trained a couple times a week last year but it took like two months before I got a good hit in." Kirishima mockingly sighed. "In the good ol' days before I was replaced." Kirishima ran a finger down his face to mimick shedding a tear and Bakugou punched him. "OW!"

"Shut up! If you want to get murdered so bad, say the word and we'll fight here and now." Bakugou held up a fist ready to punch him again.

"Murder or homework?" Kirishima weighed his two options in his hands. "Homework is due tomorrow so I guess murder will have to wait."

"Whatever," Bakugou said, returning his attention to the walk ahead. "Don't ask me to help you. I have enough to deal with right now. I don't need to spend three hours trying to teach you how to do math."

Kirishima pouted.

"No," Bakugou said firmly.

"Fine! I'll just ask Yaoyorozu. She's nicer anyway," Kirishima huffed as they walked into the common area of their dorms. A small study group was already gathered at a table. Tsu waved at Ochako.

"Want to join us?" Tsu asked.

"Sure but I need a shower first," Ochako answered as she headed toward the elevator to go get her toiletries from her room.

"Can I join you?" Mineta called from the kitchen.

"Oh, shut the fuck up, you creep!" Bakugou snarled.

"Yes, show some respect, Mineta!" Iida shouted from the table. Deku shook his head in disgust.

Bakugou, Kirishima, Ashido and Ochako were on the same floor like last year. Tokoyami and Ojiro were also on their floor but they weren't on the elevator with them.

"Hey, can I join the study group? I think I need some help with the foundational hero studies homework All-Might gave today," Ashido asked as they split off from the boys to head to their own dorm rooms.

"Of course, Ashido, you're always welcome," Ochako said as she entered her door which was first in the hallway. Ashido's room was all the way down the hall. "I'll be down in a little bit."

Ochako stuffed her shower stuff, pajamas, and homework into her bag then headed back down the elevator.

She ran over to the table that now had Jirou and Aoyama along with the original squad of Tsu, Deku and Iida.

"Be right back!" Ochako announced as she threw her homework in the seat next to Tsu.

As the hot water hit Ochako's skin, she sighed in relief. Training had worked her muscles hard. The shower next to her turned on by itself as Ochako was washing her hair, causing her to scream.

"Sorry! Sorry! Should have said something before I walked in!" Hagakure apologized.

"Oh, no it's okay," Ochako laughed. ""It keeps me on my toes."

"Haha, you'd think by now I'd have learned since we've been living in dorms for almost a year."

After a few moments, Hagakure started up the conversation again.

"How did training with Bakugou go? He is so intense. I'm sure training with him is too."

Ochako hesitated as she rinsed her hair out. It was tough training but Bakugou had actually been relatively calm and patient with her besides getting annoyed a couple times. She wondered if he was like that with Kirishima.

"It was a good workout. Learning some good skills," Ochako said as she scrubbed her body.

"That's good! Shouji and I trained a little today but it was just the normal hide and seek we do for our training in class. Nothing too special."

"I bet he's getting good at finding you."

"Getting there! Since we're gonna be buddies, I think it's important that he always be able to find me."

"Definitely! If there's anyone who can, it's him. Ya know, with the multiple sets of ears."

Hagakure laughed.

"Yeah, that's why he hates living in the dorms. He says he can hear everything even if he doesn't have multiple sets of ears on. He's just so used to focusing hard on his senses."

"Oh, I didn't even think about that. That must suck."

"Yeah. I made the suggestion of buying ear plugs in bulk but he said he'd rather hear everything than nothing."

"I guess. Though I wouldn't really want to hear anything happening in Mineta's room." Ochako grimaced thinking about it.

"Ugh, same!"

Ochako finished her shower, dried off, then changed into her comfy pajamas. She left Hagakure singing softly in her shower.

"Thought you might be hungry after training with Bakugou for a couple hours," Tsu explained as Ochako eyed the chicken katsu that was waiting for her at her seat.

"You were right, Tsu. I'm starving." Ochako sat down and opened her schoolwork while simultaneously taking a bite of the food.

Ashido and Kaminari had joined the table as well. Everyone had plates of chicken katsu but most of them were almost done eating.

"Let's continue with the foundational hero studies work," Iida began. Unfortunately, for someone as tired as Ochako, the study group lasted past 9:00pm.

Once everyone started yawning more than talking, they decided it was best to call it a night. Ochako sleepily put away her homework. She'd finished everything that was due tomorrow at least. Now all that was in the way between her and sleep was getting ready for bed.

"You're training twice a day with him? For over a month? How are you going to function?" Ashido asked as they did their nighttime routine together. Ochako shrugged, wiping her mouth of any leftover toothpaste.

"I need the training. I'll do homework and dinner at the same time. It won't be that bad," Ochako said.

Ochako was wrong.