AN: Professor Donger: here's another chapter for y'all nice and spicy! See the end of the chapter for Damian's authors note!

Shouto was not a very emotive person, at least outwardly. He tried, and pardon the pun, to keep his cool through most situations. He had to, because of his father. He could get away with running his mouth somewhat, his father wanted his "creation" to be strong in all things, including willpower, so he excused most cases of insubordination, as long as it didn't impede his plans.

But losing his temper was something he didn't want to do, his quirk required anger, so he wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

So why was this loss against the American so… jarring? Why did it bother him more than anything else that had happened to him so far at UA? It bothered him more than Bakugou's attitude, more than his classmates…friendliness and Aizawa's "logical ruses…The answer to his question eluded him but he still asked his empty room anyway.

"How did I lose?" He leaned back in his chair pondering the question.

How indeed. He had been trained his whole life. Day after day of the same exercises, the same spars, the same hell, all increasing in intensity over time. He had trained his mastery over his mother's ice as much as he could, and he believed he had perfected his control and maxed out its strength. He didn't need his fire, and the battle trial should have been undeniable proof of that fact.

So how did he lose? How did he lose when he had the stronger power? How did he lose when his opponent was quirkless?

Not that Shouto looked down on quirkless for their lack of powers, but by all logic, both his fathers and his own, he should have won that match. By the rules of nature, Shouto was stronger and more powerful. He had her trapped. He had all but secured the win.

So how did he still lose?

The question refused to leave his head. And rightfully so. His loss, in a way, worried him. If his father discovered that he was bested, and by a quirkless person, what sort of repercussions would there be? Would he be forced to train harder?

He was meant to be the strongest, that's why he endured his father's "training", that was his purpose. To be strong. Stronger than All Might. And he swore he'd make it there with just his mother's ice.

But if he couldn't even beat someone who had no quirk to speak of…

He wanted- no, needed, to know how he lost.

And there was only one person who could answer that gnawing question for him.

The woman who had defeated him.

"Gym Gamma…" He recalled, before standing up and moving to leave his room.

It took some time to find Gym Gamma. Shouto kind of just… wandered for a bit, hoping to stumble upon it eventually. He seriously underestimated the size of UA's campus. Eventually, he ran into some Second Years and decided to just ask… only to find out he was heading in the wrong direction the whole time.

So after getting proper directions, and making twice as long of a trip as it should have been, he finally found Gym Gamma. Other than its size, it looked relatively normal from the outside. Definitely not as extravagant as he initially assumed it would be, but he figured UA had to have some normal facilities that weren't basically 1 to 1 scale-models of cities.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Shouto walked up to the doors and entered…

And immediately, any dash of normalcy that the gym may have had was destroyed.

Speaking of destruction…

"DIE!"

Bakugou was, for Bakugou-related reasons most likely, extremely mad at a pillar of cement.

"Hey, Kacchan, I said 'try to hit Iida', not 'blast him to bits. Watch it!" Shouto heard the voice of Flintlock from…somewhere in the gym. There were pillars everywhere, so she was most likely within the cluster.

"Why the fuck did you put up so many pillars then?!" Bakugou yelled as he chased Iida, who Shouto saw was weaving between the pillars, occasionally slipping up on the tighter turns.

"It's to help both of you!" Flintlock was busy showing Uraraka proper punching forms but she expertly split her attention to all her students, "Iida needs to work on his maneuverability and you need to work on your aim and target acquisition, so he can try and dodge your explosions while you try and blow him up! It's a win-win!" She carefully adjusted Uraraka's stance and had her repeat some punches with a nod.

"I find nothing beneficial about being blown up!" Iida is heard yelling as he continues to run for his life.

"Then you better keep those legs moving. He's right on your tail!" Flintlock yelled out to them, before shifting her attention to a blonde kid Shouto didn't recognize, sitting off to the side near the gym wall. "Monama, how are those scenarios coming along?"

Monama hummed as he looked down at his notebook. "Definitely challenging. Not many quirks to work with. And with my time limit, I can't drag out these fights, but backup will take too long to arrive."

"Keep working on it. You'll figure it out." She said before dodging a strike from Uraraka. "Oh ho! Trying to get a sneaky one in aren't ya!?" She turned her attention back to her wayward student and raised her hands. "Try and hit my hands this time, not my head."

"Sorry." Uraraka apologized.

"Don't be. Take any chance you get to strike. It's a mindset you'll have to have as a hero."

"Are you sure I need to learn how to fight as a Rescue Hero though? I mainly want to focus on saving people from natural disasters…" Uraraka threw another punch which Flintlock took in her non-prosthetic hand before motioning for Uraraka to continue.

"Even Rescue focussed heroes need to learn how to fight Uraraka. Ask Thirteen or the Wild Wild Pussy Cats, they've had to square up against their fair share of villains. Sometimes there will be a guy between you, and the people you're trying to save, so you're gonna have to clock 'em!"

Shouto simply watched for a minute, trying to take in the controlled chaos of what was happening around him. He looked over to and saw the man he remembered as Twice, on roller skates. He seemed to be coaching Tsunotori, who was clearly having trouble keeping balance.

"This is hard!" She yelled as she almost ate concrete, only for Twice to catch her and right her stance, all while keeping his own balance. "How are you so good?!"

"I am a man of many talents. I turned my hacks on." Right, he's weird, Shouto remembered.

Shouto looked back at who he came to talk to but saw that Flintlock was still working with Uraraka. He knew better than to step between two people during a spar, so he continued to patiently wait and observe. He heard strained noises coming from around a pillar, so making sure he wasn't about to run into Iida running for his life, he walked around it and saw what was probably the weirdest thing going on in the gym. And that's saying something when you've got Bakugou trying to commit die to Iida, with no one batting an eye.

He saw an indigo-haired guy who looked like he needed sleep, currently trying and struggling to do a rep from a weightlifting bench.

But the weird part was the blonde skeleton currently spotting him.

"Come now, Young Shinso! Five more reps! Keep pushing forward!" The skeleton encouraged.

The newly named Shinso gave out a strained sound of exertion as lifted the bar once more before his arms gave out and he nearly dropped it on himself. Luckily, the skeleton, in a surprising show of strength, caught the bar easily, without effort.

Shouto was confused but didn't let it deter him, He was about to turn to see if Flintlock was free to talk when his quarry beat him to the punch.

"I'm glad to see that you joined us, Mister Todoroki." Flintlock cheerily said as she appeared seemingly out of thin air.

Shouto immediately jumped and he felt his control over his flame half slip for a split second, generating a few licks of flame on his right side before he could get it back under control.

Flintlock whistled in appreciation. "I knew you had some firepower in you, literally, but damn, those flames look like they could give my Pa a run for his money and he uses his fire breath to weld metal."

Shouto, instead of being immediately offended, raised an eyebrow at her as he tried to calm down. "What do you mean?"

Flintlock grinned at him, "My Pa can breathe fire hot enough to reach the melting point of most of the metal he works with, and I work with ballistics and other fire-causing substances for a living since you know…" she gestured to the gun on her hip. "Quirkless, but your fire, even though it was only active for a split second was hot, you didn't notice it but It was hot enough to cause Mineta to flinch and he's five feet away." It was then that Shouto noticed the shaking form of Mineta, nervously holding up a water bottle for him.

He took it with a nod of thanks, Mineta rushing off afterward towards where Tsunotori, Uraraka, and Monama were last. Shouto then turned to Flintlock. "Sorry, I didn't mean to use it."

She waved him off. "Eh, no harm, no foul."

"But I still shouldn't have." Shouto looked down at his left hand, before shaking his head. He can worry about control later. He came for answers to a different question. "I came to ask you a question, about the battle trials."

"Hm?" Flintlock tilted her head. "Weird time to ask about those, but sure. However, you'll have to wait a minute." She said as she started walking off, Shouto followed close behind.

"I've been waiting since I've gotten here." He told her.

"Yes, but you got here late, and it's just a question about something that happened hours ago. Your classmates here came because they wanted to attend the class." She told him, before turning to face a spat going on between Yaoyorozu and a Twice.

They were both fighting with bow staffs, Yaoyorozu holding her own against the duplicator, but Twice was, surprisingly, incredibly skilled with a staff. The man had just managed to sweep Yaoyorozu off her feet, and as he was bringing his staff up to bring it down on top of her, Yaoyorozu's hand glowed, and she created a handgun, which she shot Twice in the shoulder with. The man screamed in pain as his shoulder exploded with a spray of weird goo, and Yaoyorozu dropped the gun, looking horrified.

"No no no! I'm so sorry! That was supposed to be a rubber bullet! I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine." Flintlock calmly said as she walked forward to the now melting Twice. At both present students' looks of confusion, she answered. "Twice's clones aren't exactly the most durable things. Even a rubber bullet will rip right through them."

"I'm meltiiiiing!" The clone said as he slowly melted down into a gooey puddle.

"Wizard of Oz reference. I didn't know you watched that movie Jin." Flintlock turned to a nearby Twice, who had a bandana on, denoting him as the original. He was just standing there, staring at the now dissolving puddle of what was once a clone of himself. "Jin?"

"I… I think I need to take a break." He said, his voice monotone.

Flintlock looked at him in worry, before nodding. "Sure thing. Go right ahead."

"Thank you, Sis." He then walked off.

"Is he okay?" Shouto asked.

"He'll be fine. Seeing his clones dissolve doesn't sit well with him sometimes." Flintlock explained with a hand wave.

"I'm sorry." Yaoyorozu once again apologized, bringing a hand up to her chest. "If I had known…"

"Hey," Flintlock placed a hand on her shoulder, "There's no way you could have known what would happen. Besides, the gun wasn't a bad idea. It was quick thinking, which is something you needed to work on anyways. I'm more impressed by how you not only made that gun quickly but also loaded it with rubber bullets and managed to quickly aim and hit him in the shoulder. In a real-world situation, that's entirely viable."

Yaoyorozu blushed at the praise, but a smile formed on her face nonetheless. She bowed slightly. "Thank you, Sensei."

Flintlock hummed. "I wanna try something if you're okay with it."

Yaoyorozu blinked. "O-Oh, of course."

"Right this way." Their teacher started walking off, but Shouto was starting to get just a little impatient.

"Flintlock-Sensei, my question." He tried to tell her.

"Look, Todoroki," She turned to him and placed her hands on her hips. "If you showed up here when this class began, I'd be more than happy to answer whatever question or questions you may have. But the fact is, you chose to show up late, so I don't want to sound like – and excuse my language – a bitch, but that question of yours doesn't take my priority." She gestured to Yaoyorozu, who was standing next to her and patiently waiting, while also looking a bit uncomfortable, bearing witness to what was happening. "Your classmates who showed up on time, they are currently my priority. So you have two options. The first one is to pick a corner of the gym that's out of the way and wait patiently, or you can shadow me while I work with the others. The second option is that you head back to the dorms, and try to catch me at a later date to ask whatever it is you want. The choice is yours."

"Bakugou!" Iida was heard yelling in panic. "You nearly brought that pillar down on top of me!"

"No, I didn't! You nearly ran into it! Not my fault you're blind!"

"Boys!" Flintlock yelled out into the gym. "Play nice, or I'm coming over there!"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

"Fine, Deku!"

"On second thought," Flintlock said as she sighed, "if you choose to stay, it might be best if you just shadow me."

Shouto honestly didn't want to have to walk all the way back to the dorms, especially after wasting so much time trying to find Gym Gamma in the first place. "I'll stay and wait."

"Alright then. When I have a free moment, you can ask your question." Flintlock then turned back to Yaoyorozu. "Now, Miss Yaoyorozu, since Twice is…indisposed, where were we?" She started walking again, the two recommendation students following her.

"You said you wanted to try something, Sensei." Yaoyorozu reminded her.

"Ah, yes. So, you've had some form of combat training, clearly, does that extend to firearms?" Flintlock asked as she led the two to a stretch of free space.

"To an extent. I've learned how to fire ranged weaponry in the event that I make a tranquilizer and need to shoot it." Yaoyorozu explained.

"That explains the good aim a minute ago. Twice, can I get a Cementoss over here?!" The green-haired woman called out to one of the clones nearby. He gave a thumbs up, and a second later, a clone of Cementoss manifested next to him, who then made his way over to Flintlock. "Sit tight for a second." She told them, before walking over to talk with the clone.

As the Gunslinger talked with Cementoss, Yaoyorozu looked at Shouto with a bit of curiosity. "Why did you come here late?" She asked him. "And if it's not too much to ask, what is your question?"

Shouto simply stared at her for a bit before looking back at Flintlock, who was instructing Cementoss on what to construct. "Coming here was a recent decision I made while in my dorm room. And my question has to do with how I lost the battle trails."

"I see. But, didn't they cover how we lost in the post-match reviews?" Yaoyorozu brought her hand up to her chin. "I thought they covered our faults pretty well. There shouldn't be a need for further questioning on how we lost."

"No," Shouto said, making her blink at him in confusion. "There has to be more to it. I want answers."

Yaoyorozu looked at him for a bit, before humming. "Well, I hope you get your answers, Todoroki."

Flintlock left Cementoss to finish up his construct, making her way back to the two students. "Alright, sorry about that. So, Yaoyorozu, what guns do you know how to make?"

"Oh, the handgun I made earlier is the only 'true' firearm that I know how to properly make. I do know how to make different variations of tranq rifles, tasers, and shotguns fit for bean bag rounds." She explained.

Flintlock gasped in shock, looking like she had just heard blasphemy of the highest order. "Okay, we're fixing this, now."

"I'm… sorry?" Yaoyorozu looked confused.

"Twice, go to the weapons locker nearby and get Miss Yaoyorozu here a gun!" She yelled out to the same clone as before.

"But… Sensei… I have a gun." She gestured to the handgun she still had in her hand.

Flintlock didn't seem to hear her though and started looking more and more excited by the second. She then yelled in English, "Get this bitch a cannon!" Her words earned a shocked gasp from Yaoyorozu, who seemed to have understood her words.

Flintlock then crossed her arms, a wide smile on her face. "Bitches love cannons."

Shouto had a feeling he'll be waiting for a while.

Izumi wasn't crying prideful tears.

She wasn't!

It had been thirty minutes since Jin returned with Izumi's Barrett M82A1 and one hundred rounds of ammunition. Since then all the students had stopped what they had been doing and with ear protection on, watched Momo at their makeshift gun range as she went from an amateur, too scared to even fire the massive gun, to a pro sniper in under five minutes.

Izumi was so proud!

"Deku? Are you… crying?" Katsuki asked in disbelief. "I thought you grew out of this crybaby shit!?"

"I'm not crying! You're crying!" She yelled while not crying. She sniffed and rubbed her eyes with her natural hand. "Shut up!"

Before anyone could formulate a response to their teacher's act of… not crying, Momo set the rifle down and got up, before running over and hugging Izumi. "Sensei, that gun is amazing! The accuracy! The precision! The power! How much does one cost? Will you sell it to me? Let me borrow it? I need to study it! Intimately! Name your price Sensei!"

Oh God, she was about to "not cry" again.

Tenya interrupted with a chop of his hands. "Yaoyorozu! You can't just purchase a firearm from our teacher! She isn't even certified to distribute firearms in such a way!"

Izumi raised a finger. "Actual –" Unfortunately Tenya wasn't done.

"You aren't even licensed to own a firearm! For shame! Trying to get around the law in such a way!"

It was Momo's turn to try and talk. "Well, actually –" Tenya, like always continued to race forward.

"You both should be ashamed –" And that was as far as he got before Izumi had enough and smacked him upside the head with a newspaper that Jin had handed her.

"Right, first, I am certified to sell firearms in any NATO country as long as the person is certified." She crossed her arms and frowned. "Second if you had let Miss Yaoyorozu speak, she'd tell you that she is legally certified to own firearms in Japan."

Momo looked at Izumi, surprise evident in her eyes, "Well, yes that's true… How did you find that out?"

Izumi chuckled nervously and shrugged. "Nezu."

"The all-knowing rat," Jin says dramatically. "He sees you when you're sleeping, and he knows when you're awake." He sang only to be whacked with the newspaper.

"If anyone decides to join him in the heresy he calls singing," Izumi held up the newspaper threateningly, "Just know I'm not afraid to use this."

None of the students joined in.

"Anyways, with that out of the way," She turned back to Momo. "My Barrett has been modified, by yours truly, so I can't sell it to you. But I can let you borrow it for study, so long as you keep it exclusively on school grounds. Just please try not to break my baby." She smiled. "I can also show you a couple of excellent dealers online when we're done here! Though I don't see why you'd buy the guns when you can literally make them, but I won't complain."

Momo shrugged "I like to own the objects I create, I own the few airsoft guns I've learned to make, as well as the one or two shotguns and handguns I know how to create." She frowned. "I tend to destroy anything I create to prevent damage to the economy or stop people from getting access to something dangerous, so I like to have the originals on hand more out of integrity than anything."

Ochako frowned "Why do I get the feeling I'm witnessing something illegal…" She looked to her right, where Pony was a second ago, only to find her American friend had vanished. "Pony? Where did you go?"

A sound of awe drew her attention to where Momo had been firing the high-caliber sniper, and Ochako wasn't surprised to see Pony standing over the Barrett. The horse girl had a look of pure want on her face, and her hands were held out towards the .50 cal, but not quite going to grab it.

"What did I tell you guys?" Izumi laughed as she saw Pony holding back from grabbing the gun. "Bitches love cannons. If you want, Tsunotori, you can try it."

Pony gasped in pure disbelief. She gets to shoot the gun! Before she could stop herself, she threw herself at Izumi and hugged her tightly. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Izumi blinked in surprise, but giggled nonetheless and smiled as she petted Pony's hair.

Pony then realized what she was doing and turned red in embarrassment. She immediately backed off of her idol, who she saw was laughing in good nature at her reaction. Pony then pointed at the .50 cal. "I going… I gonna… I'm going to go shoot the gun now." She finished in English.

"Sure thing, Tsunotori." Izumi watched as she sped off towards the "gun range". She looked at her watch and frowned. "If you all want to start cleaning up and heading out you can. It's just about dinner time and I don't want to have you all out past curfew." She pointed at where Pony had gone. "I'll make sure this one makes it back, and if any of you do stay longer to wait for her I'll cover for you with Aizawa." She directed that at Ochako with a wink, causing the girl to smile radiantly at her and nod in appreciation.

With that everyone began cleaning up in their own ways, with Minoru doing most of it, as per his punishment. Everyone seemed to immediately leave, thanking Izumi and Yagi for the extra lessons, while Neito handed her the notebook she had him working on with a nod.

"I think I see what you want me to try, Sensei. " He said.

"Oh?" Izumi raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. I'll of course ask all my classmates for permission, as well as explain the reasoning behind such a… request." Neito cringed at the thought of how awkward that conversation would be.

Izumi chuckled. "Asking someone if you could have a piece of their hair is inherently going to be awkward. Let me know how it goes or if anyone gives you problems."

"Thank you, Sensei." And with that, he left.

A groan of pain drew Izumi's attention to the other 1-B student. "How are you feeling, Shinso?:

Hitoshi rubbed his arms and moved them around a bit. "Like Hell."

"Then that means you did good today."

"Yes, he did." Toshinori walked up to them, a packet of papers on hand. "Young Shinso, I've compiled together a workout regimen, as well as a diet plan to help with muscle growth. Follow this to the letter, and you'll see changes in seemingly no time at all! We'll have you caught up with your peers in no time!"

Hitoshi took the packet and skimmed through it a bit. "... Thank you. For doing this for me."

"You're our student, Shinso," Izumi told him. "It's our job. And we want to help you."

With one final nod, Hitoshi left the gym. Toshinori gave his goodbyes to Izumi as well, patting her on the shoulder affectionately before making his own exit. The next person to come up to her was Katsuki.

"Gotta say Deku, you're not bad at this whole teacher gig." He muttered with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Aww, Kacchan!" Izumi cooed with a massive grin plastered on her face.

"Don't make it weird! I'm trying to be nice!" He yelled and turned away from her and Izumi could see the makings of a slight blush on his cheeks,

"Admit it. You're happy that I'm back." She told him, her smile never leaving, only growing bigger.

"I already said that shit earlier today. I ain't repeating myself." He growled. "But you got some shit to explain. Starting with him." He jutted his thumb over to Jin, who was directing his clones to clean up rubble and broken pieces of concrete. "'Brother'? 'Big Sis'? Since when? You're an only child!"

Izumi sipped her water and shrugged. "Long story… well, not exactly long, but the explanation makes it long. I'll explain later when we have the whole family together." She frowned. "I doubt Aunty Mitsuki and Uncle Masaru would want to miss the explanation, and you know how your Ma gets when she's excluded from family things." They both shuddered at the thought and Katsuki growled in frustration.

"Fine, we'll wait for the Old Hag and Old Man, but I want that explanation!" He pointed at her "And what's with this 'Ma' shit?!"

Izumi though just laughed and grabbed Katsuki in a headlock with her prosthetic before giving him a noogie. "Never change, Kacchan!"

"Gah! Let go of me!" After a few more seconds of not being let go, Izumi let him go so he could head back to the dorms. On his way out, he stopped and stared back at her, his eyes drifting to her prosthetic arm. "You've got that to explain to."

Izumi looked down at her arm, her smile slowly shifting into a small frown. "... Yeah. Yeah, I'll explain this," she waved her prosthetic hand. "When we have the family around too. Now head on back before you miss dinner. I doubt your classmates will want to see a hungry Bakugou."

Katsuki grunted, before leaving the gym.

"Alright, and that leaves me with…" She looked around the gym. Jin was there for cleanup, Minoru was let go a minute ago, Pony was firing the Barrett while being observed by Ochako… and Momo? Huh, she must have chosen to stay. Probably for the .50 cal.

Oh, and then there was Shouto. Right, he had a question for her.

She walked over to where he was standing and plopped down onto the floor next to him, before patting it down with her good hand. "Pop a squat, Mister Todoroki. You had a question for me?"

Shouto, not really understanding the terminology or slang she had just used on him, decided to take it literally and squat down next to her. He was about to ask his question when he heard Izumi giggle.

"It means to sit down, sorry it's an American thing." She giggled again before once again patting the ground. "Take a seat, and ask your question."

Shouto sat down and looked at her. "How did you beat me?"

Izumi blinked. "... Okay, straight to the point. Well, while you were distracted by my little surprise, I slipped away and took out your partner, then I mislead you to where I was, and while you were distracted again, snuck up on you-"

"That's not what I meant," Shouto said, cutting her off.

"Oh? Then what did you mean?" Izumi raised an eyebrow.

"I've trained almost my whole life. The same thing every day, all so that I could be strong. Strong enough to surpass All Might himself. I trained my quirk to be as strong as it is. So how did you beat me?"

"Ah, how did I beat you. I see." Izumi brought one knee up to her chest and hooked her arms around her leg. "Well, for starters, you were predictable."

"Predictable?" Shouto asked.

"Yup. I knew with a quirk like yours, you'd try to trap me and end the match like that. So I planned to get trapped. Did I expect such fine control of your ice? No, but it didn't change my plan. You showing up alone wasn't part of the plan, but it was a nice convenience. But I think your biggest mistake, which allowed me to win, was that you either underestimated me or were overconfident in yourself. Either way, you only had one trick up your sleeve, which was to trap me in ice. It's easy to counter someone with only one trick."

"You sound a bit like Aizawa Sensei." Shouto couldn't help but compare the two teachers.

Izumi chuckled. "If there is one thing Aizawa and I agree on, it's that a hero shouldn't be a one-trick-pony. I had tricks up my sleeve. I was unpredictable. "

Shouto thought over the explanation in his head. "So, I lost because you were unpredictable?" Shouto asks.

"That, and because you were predictable." She points at him.

"I see." Shouto nods.

"Yep. Like I said, I figured you would just try to use your ice to trap me and think that'd be it. So during the prep phase, I planted explosives to catch you off guard. You need to expand your arsenal, both in strategy and in terms of your personal abilities." She gives him a serious look. "That also means, stop handicapping yourself."

Shouto narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"When I snuck up on you at the end of the match, you could have easily warded me off with your flames, maybe even turned everything around and defeated me at that moment. But you didn't. You didn't use your fire, and it cost you the win." She explained.

Shouto's look turned cold. "I won't use it."

"What do you mean?"

"I refuse to use his quirk." Shouto sounded... agitated.

"What do you mean 'use his quirk'? I'm not telling you to use someone else's quirk, I'm telling you to use yours." Izumi lowered her leg and crossed her arms.

"My father's fire. I vowed never to use it in combat. I won't use his quirk."

"... You think that your fire belongs to your father?" Izumi questioned.

"Yes. He gave it to me, but I won't use it. My mother's ice is all I'll need, all I'll use."

Okay, so clearly there was some familial drama going on. Izumi put a pin in that because right now it wasn't a therapy session. No, this was now a lesson.

Izumi looked at him, silently, for a long while, before speaking again. "Then what's going to be your excuse?"

"Wha-" He was cut off.

"What will happen when your 'mother's ice' isn't enough to stop a villain? What if that villain managed to kill someone because your 'mother's ice' couldn't defeat him in time? What will be your excuse? What will you tell that dead person's family, their loved ones? 'I'm sorry for your loss. I tried but I didn't want to use half of my quirk.' Is that what you'll tell them? That their loved one is dead because you have some grudge against your own father?"

"I- that won't happen!" Shouto raised his voice to defend himself but she plowed on.

"Won't it? Are you so certain, so overconfident in half of your quirk, do you underestimate others so much that you'll make that gamble, that you'll risk other people's lives, and all because you think your fire belongs to Endeavor, so you won't use it?"

"I... I-I..." He didn't know how to respond.

Flintlock stared at him before she sighed and closed her eyes. "Look, Todoroki," She opened her eyes and he was surprised to see compassion in them, instead of anger as he expected. "You need to learn quickly that your personal goals and grudges are just that, personal. You need to keep them exclusive to your personal life, and not let them get in the way of your job. You will be responsible for protecting the lives of people. You have the power to protect those who can't protect themselves. But, what good is that power if you don't use it?"

Shouto was at a loss for words. The thought that his mother's ice would not be enough…

"Okay," Izumi got up and offered Shouto a hand. "How about you think about what we talked about today? In the meantime, go head back to the dorms and get some food in you, think on it and come back to me later."

Shouto stared at the offered hand for a bit, before grabbing it and allowing himself to be pulled to his feet. Without another word, he walked out of Gym Gamma.

Izumi sighed "He's a good kid. He has issues, but is a good kid." She turned only to see Jin, Momo, Ochako, and Pony staring at her. "Uh, you guys heard all that didn't you…?"

They all nodded and she sighed "Just, keep it to yourselves okay? I'm trusting you here…" She glared at Jin for a second "Jin."

He nervously saluted her. "You got it, sis! Hot N Cold's secret is safe with me!"

Izumi nodded and was about to say something when she paused and face palmed "Oh shit…"

"What's wrong Sensei?" Ochako asked nervously, hopefully, she wasn't about to say she forgot to hand out homework or something… that would suck.

"I forgot to go get Himiko!"

Everyone looked at her for a minute before Jin laughed and waved her off.

"I sent a clone to get her, she's eating in the dorm right now so don't worry. Be worried, Himiko has unrestricted access to our beds."

"Oh, Jin, you're a lifesaver… wait, a clone of me?" Izumi asked.

"Well, duh." Jin sassed back.

"Does she know she's with a clone, and not the real me?" Izumi crossed her arms.

"... Well shit."

Izumi sighed. "Well, may as well go surprise her. You three," She looked at the girls. "I'm gonna have Twice walk you girls back to the dorms, that way if anyone sees you carrying my gun, he can explain. Also, leave all the ammo for it behind."

"Yes, Sensei!" The girls all nodded.

With that, Izumi left to go check on her sister. Meanwhile, Pony, who was still holding the gun, unloaded the magazine and was about to remove the bullet in the chamber, when Ochako tapped her shoulder.

"Uhm… can uh… c-can I… try?" She asked shyly.

Pony slowly gasped as her eyes widened. "Of course you can!" She immediately handed Ochako the high-caliber sniper rifle and moved to help her get set up on the range.

"Uhm, Tsunotori, Uraraka, maybe we shouldn't use it while Flintlock-Sensei isn't here with us," Momo told them.

"Just one bullet." Pony said.

"Yeah, and plus, Twice-Sensei is here." Ochako nodded her head in Jin's direction, who was busy with the cleanup. "It's just one shot, I promise.

Momo was still unsure but figured it couldn't hurt. "Well, okay. But be careful, it has a kick to it." She warned.

"She kicks like a horse!" One of the Jin clones shouted causing the girls to jump.

Pony finished helping Ochako learn how to hold the rifle properly, before teaching her how to turn the safety off. Her excitement to see her best friend shoot the gun was so strong that she defaulted to English. "You've got this, Ochako!"

Ochako blinked at Pony. "Uhh…"

"She's giving you encouragement," Momo explained, "Specifically saying 'you can do this." motioning for the other two girls to put their ear protection back on.

"Oh! Thanks, Pony!" Ochako took aim with the rifle, setting her sights On the bullseye of the cement target. Then, following Pony's instructions (which Momo had to translate some of), she took a deep breath, then squeezed the trigger.

The sound echoed throughout the gym, and still caused their ears to ring just a little, despite having proper protection on.

Ochako wasn't an eagle-eyed marksman by any means, but she only missed the bullseye by a few inches. She pulled her eye away from the scope, a look of pure disbelief on her face as she slowly looked down at the powerful sniper in her hands.

Everyone was quiet as Ochako kept staring at the gun.

Pony nervously approached her friend in concern. "Ochako?"

Momo was about to flag down Jin when they heard Ochako, mild-mannered and kind Ochako Uraraka, utter something they never expected to hear come out of her mouth.

"Oh, fuck the hell yes~" The gravity girl purred, hugging the gun with delight, a glint in her eye.

All of the Jin clones had stopped to watch and one of them could be heard whispering. "Holy shit she's just as scary as big sis…"

"Oh, my," Momo held a hand up to her chin. "I didn't expect her to enjoy shooting a single round that much." She looked over to Pony, only to furrow her eyebrows in confusion. "Tsunotori, are you okay?"

The American girl was staring at Ochako, her cheeks turning just a bit red. "H-Huh? Y-Yeah, sure. You do that."

Pony was… distracted.

Momo stood there, looking between her two classmates until she decided to speak.

"So… can I have the Barrett back so that I can study it now?"

Her words seemed to have triggered something within Ochako, as she held the gun more protectively and hissed at Momo. "Mine!"

"Uraraka, I asked first," Momo argued.

"But it's so cool!"

"You can ask Flintlock-Sensei after I'm done with it."

"But Yaoyorozu!"

"Girls!" Jin yelled. All the girls turned to him, and he was shifting his gaze between all of them. They briefly thought that he'd confiscate the gun, not allowing anyone to have it, but his next words surprised them.

"Why don't you just share?"

The girls blinked at him, before looking between each other.

"I'm fine with that," Ochako said.

"Yes, this seems the best solution to this predicament." Momo agreed.

"Communism!" Pony threw a fist into the air.

Meanwhile, Jin stood with his fists on his hips looking proud of himself.

"Jin, you genius!" One of his clones said.

"Thank you." Jin nodded to himself, literally. "Sometimes my genius, it's almost frightening."

AN: Damian02: Bitches love cannons.