"Well, to start, we should probably postpone the sports festival." Vlad King asserted in a gruff tone. "The students' safety takes priority, and it's clear we have some improvements to make regarding campus security."

Nezu grinned and jotted down the suggestion on his small whiteboard. "An excellent proposal, I must say! Any objections?"

With his eyes still closed and leaning back in his chair, Aizawa murmured an agreement. "Hmm, yes. The sports festival has become a bit predictable for the readers, anyway."

The confused silence in the room prompted him to crack open one eye and frown. "…The readers of UA Magazine?"

"Ohhh." came the collective realisation from the group.

"What do you think, Shirakumo?" Midnight asked. "You do so love the celebratory aspect of the festival, and we rarely get your input on school matters."

The teachers in attendance turned their attention to an attractive teacher taking stock of the terrible time he'd had at work yesterday, lying face down on the table with his arms stretched out as far as they were able. Oboro Shirakumo, gracing the staff with his presence for the first time since they'd stopped serving pizza at meetings, melodramatically lifted his torso off the table and flailed. "Dude! I'm still processing that skinny guy over there is All Might; the implications of a two-hundred-year-old super quirk being passed down from generation to generation; that the boogeyman is real, and the fact I've gotta replace sixteen hundred panes of glass in the USJ, and you want my input on the SPORTS FESTIVAL?!"

"You know, you would have known about all of that a lot sooner if you showed up to a meeting," Aizawa remarked, slowly and nonchalantly unwrapping a toffee.

"Cram it, Shota!"

"Well, if we're all in agreement," Nezu said, before hopping off his desk and walking towards his bookcase. Happily, he plucked a book titled 'The Death of Team Sports' from the shelf, holding it at an angle. There was a faint click, followed by the distant rumble of an explosion over toward the stadium. "That takes care of that loose end," he remarked, brushing off his paws before returning to his seat.

"Next order of business, the young chap who nearly decimated an entire facility by running a tad too quickly!"

"Uh, about that," Thirteen said, raising their hand. "The USJ was designed to withstand an 8.0 on the Richter scale. Like, clearly. It's kind of the USJ's entire deal, so… what the hell? Shouldn't we have known someone with that kind of power was coming to UA?"

Present Mic smacked himself in the head with both hands before raising his arms appreciatively. "THANK YOU! Someone had to say it!"

"It's the quirk singularity, I'm telling you," Cementoss said seriously, nodding his head. "First the kids are running at super speed, next thing you know…" he drew his thumb across his throat.

A number of the other teachers, mainly the ones that don't get names because they're so unimportant, mumbled agreements amongst themselves.

"For the last time, Ken!" Vlad King shouted. "It's not the damn singularity! This isn't the first student we've had with super speed and I'll bet it won't be the last!" He finished by crossing his arms and taking a sigh before turning to Nezu. "So, what do we know about his quirk? I imagine they must have had a decent amount of training to move at that rate."

"Oh my, not at all," Nezu answered. "Midoriya was rather surprised, himself."

"Midoriya?! The sticky kid from the exams?! Good God, Aizawa! He's only been in your class a week and you managed to coax that out of him?!"

Everyone waited to hear the brooding teacher's techniques, the incredible truth behind his mentorly acumen. But they had to wait a couple of seconds, as Eraser held a finger up while he finished chewing his toffee. After a moment, he swallowed. "I didn't teach him that." The disappointment in the room was so palpable you could have palped it, even without the aid of an automatic palping device.

Calmly, he continued to explain. "We, meaning the collection of mentors Midoriya has somehow accumulated, may have put into his head the possibility he can become completely frictionless."

Oboro smacked a hand against the table loudly, "And you go on at ME about missing meetings?! Didn't we all agree that a student with physics-breaking abilities should at least be mentioned in an email?!"

"Don't worry about it. It's all being sorted." Aizawa stated. "Skycrawler is taking the reins on training him."

The collective lack of recognition across the room prompted him to clarify. "Cruller." That cleared it up for everyone.

Deep in thought until this moment, Toshinori Yagi cut in with a question of his own. "That group of students are starting their in-school suspension this week, aren't they?" He asked, trying to seem subtle in his intentions. "Who is, uh, going to be attending those sessions, just out of curiosity..?"

"No, Yagi." Aizawa immediately responded. "There's no way I'm letting you pick him as a successor. The kid nearly caused an earthquake, and that was without everything you've got going on thrown into the mix."

Nezu emphatically agreed. "Indeed, I emphatically agree! Given the power of two centuries of stockpiling, he might end up splitting the country in half. Which would be awful for attendance. I don't need to tell you all how bad the trains have been lately. I dread to think how a canyon would affect your commute."

There was a murmur of recognition amongst the staff. They had to consider the infrastructure.

"Hey!" Yagi said defensively. "While I appreciate the concern, not everything I do is to find a successor!" He crossed his arms and slumped down in his seat, turning his head to look away from everyone. "I am a teacher as well, you know..."

Nezu bowed his head respectfully. "You're quite right. Please accept my humble apologies."

"Yeah, sorry," Aizawa added.

"Besides." All Might shrugged. "I'm offering one for all to young Hagakure."

A harsh beam of sunlight shone on Tomura Garaki's face, the smell of cooked fish invading his nostrils as he awoke. With a grumble, he rubbed his eyes and attempted to blink away the sleep before reaching for his phone on the bedside table - something he did so often he could do it without looking. But this time, instead of his usual device, his hand encountered something soft and furry. "Weird…" he muttered, still half-asleep.

Tomura frowned, grabbed his phone (which squeaked for some reason), and lifted it to face him.

It wasn't his phone, but a very pissed-off squirrel glaring back at him. "What the hell!?" Tomura exclaimed, startling the little creature, which promptly launched itself onto his head. "AHH GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!" he screamed in a panic, as the furry intruder scurried around his head, biting and scratching.

"Peanut Brittle! Come!" A commanding voice rang out, and the squirrel obediently leapt off Tomura's face, leaving behind a trail of scratches and scampered away, but not before turning and sticking their tongue out at him.

"What the HELL!" Tomura said in a daze, now taking stock of where he was for the first time. This wasn't the bar he'd been stopping in, this wasn't even his dad's old apartment from before his arrest. Instead, he found himself seated on a makeshift cot crafted from tree branches, nestled under a leafy canopy. Everything around him was fashioned from natural materials—furniture made of tree stumps, roots, and branches, with a giant leaf serving as his blanket.

As Tomura tried to make sense of this surreal setting, the person who had called off the mischievous squirrel approached him, carrying a plate of steaming hot cooked fish. The short boy with purple hair set the plate down on the table and adjusted his leopard-print loincloth. "I didn't think you were gonna wake up," he remarked casually.

Tomura immediately leapt forward and put a hand around Mineta's neck. All it would take was a flick of the finger and the boy would be dead… "Give me one good reason not to kill you! Where the hell am I?!" he demanded.

Mineta snorted defiantly. "Pfft, yeah, you kill me and then what? You're in the forest, pal! You don't seem like the type to enjoy foraging for berries, so right now I'm the only thing stopping you from dying of malnutrition."

"Hmph," Tomura hmphed, releasing his grip. "Fine, you get to live for now… But only until I get out of here."

"Yeah, good luck with that. I still haven't found a way out and I've been all over this dangass place… Anyway, you were trapped in one of my nets. How'd you end up out here?"

"Heroes…" Tomura scowled bitterly.

"Heroes, huh? I remember heroes, used to be one myself… But that was a long time ago, a very, very long time ago…" Mineta trailed off, looking into the middle distance.

Tomura's frown deepened. "Exactly how long have you been out here?"

"Eh, about a week, give or take." The odd child shrugged before whistling a quick tune. The mischievous squirrel promptly returned and perched on Mineta's shoulder. "This is Peanut Brittle. He can be a handful sometimes. Say sorry to the man for attacking him, Peanut."

The squirrel huffed and looked away, clearly unimpressed.

"Peanut Brittle…" Mineta insisted. Reluctantly, the squirrel placed a hand on his hip and held out a paw. In what Tomura considered the most absurd thing he had ever done, he shook the squirrel's hand.

"That's better," Purple Tarzan remarked. "Now, eat! Caught fresh this morning." He gestured toward the meal.

With what might be a permanently confused expression, Tomura began to eat the fish, wondering how his life got to this point.

"KAPOW!" A marble shot across the gymnasium like a rocket, lodging itself in the concrete wall, among several others. A few feet away, a line of glass bottles perched on a low wall, all noticeably undamaged.

Izuku stomped his foot in frustration. "Ugh! Why is this so hard?!"

For his first real training session with Skycrawler, Izuku had assumed that with the newfound knowledge of how his quirk operated and what it was capable of, it'd be smooth sailing from here on out. Even the chance of figuring out a new ability every other week! But so far all he had found out was that he absolutely sucked donkey eggs at aiming.

"Hey, Midoriya, come on. It's not that big a deal, yeah?" The new teacher was trying his best, but truth be told, he was out of his depth as much as Izuku. Koichi had some experience working with younger people, but he never had to act like a real hero teacher before.

"It's just so frustrating!" Izuku angrily insisted, beginning to pace the gymnasium. "I managed to hit the target so well back when that robot attacked, so why can't I do it now?! Is it my stance?!"

"Maybe it's because you shouted 'kapow'." Koichi teasingly said, only to have the joke fall flat. "Look man, this stuff doesn't come overnight. Do you think All Might was saving everyone and throwing out Detroit Smashes on his first night on the job?"

"Yes, there are videos of it."

Koichi relented, "Okay, poor example. I know it took me a long time not to blow chunks at shooty-go-blamming. I mean, I didn't figure out what I could do until I was 19." He settled onto a bench and motioned for Izuku to join him, tossing the boy a water bottle.

Catching the bottle easily and unscrewing the top, Izuku stuck the lid to his arm until he could find a bin. Heroes don't litter. "What do you mean, didn't your school teach you how to use your quirk?"

Koichi scratched his head. "Well, sort of. Just the basics, you know." He held up a finger to count down the myriad lessons he was taught. "Number one: don't use it in public." After a brief pause, he lowered his hand. "I guess that was about it."

"What, are you serious? Where did you train? …Ketsubutsu, right?" Izuku nodded in sympathetic understanding.

The expression on Koichi's face showed a mix of embarrassment and confusion. "Hold on, did your mom not tell you?!"

"Tell me what, that KB is a clown college?"

"No, man!" Koichi said in surprise. "I never went to a hero school! I was a vigilante for like, 126 chapters!"

Izuku looked at him and shrugged, confused.

"Sorry, Naruhata slang. About 3 years. But yeah, I was a motorcycle-riding, sunglasses-wearing, don't-take-no-for-an-answer, uh… Cool guy vigilante. That's how I met your mom. She had to interview me for a school project."

Shaking his head incredulously, Izuku tried to come to terms with this bombshell of a revelation. "It's just so hard to imagine! I figured you met my mom after she became a hero…" He furrowed his eyes and looked as though he was appraising Koichi. "I mean, for real?! You were a vigilante?! Huh… maybe vigilantism isn't only for hardened badasses…" He finished by scratching his chin thoughtfully.

Koichi leaned in, jabbing a finger and ready to set the record straight. "Hey! I was the real deal, a certified tough guy! I was even friends with this guy who was practically a giant! Bandana, leather jacket, the works!" Sure, it might seem silly for a grown-up to be proving his coolness to a teenager, but this seemed incredibly important for some reason.

"Okay, okay!" Izuku held his hands up defensively. "I believe you!"

Koichi sighed and leaned back against the wall. "My point was if I, a small-town dummy with zero training, could figure out Slide and Glide, nothing is stopping you from figuring out Stickiness."

"Hey!" Izuku shouted. "You're not a dummy, Koichi! You just weren't afforded the same opportunities that other peo…people… Wait, did you just say your quirk is called Slide and Glide?"

"Well, technically, they reclassified it as Flight, but I think Slide and Glide has a nice ring to- Hey, man! Stop laughing, it's not that funny!"

Wiping his eyes with his arm, Izuku tried to compose himself through his laughs. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry it's just, did you have to make it rhyme?!"

Koichi couldn't help laughing now, either. "I wanted it to be memorable! Also, to be fair, I was seven years old when I named it."

The two of them laughed together for a while, the tension Izuku was feeling earlier beginning to fade away. Izuku leaned back and felt the back of his head rest against the concrete wall behind him, and he took a deep breath. "I've just gotta keep trying until I figure it out."

"I was wondering about that," Koichi said, turning to better face him. "Why are you focusing on the shooting first, anyway?"

"Well, it just seemed the most useful thing, you know? Eraser said I should try to focus on what thing a lot until I'm really good at it, and this was one of the first things I figured out I could do besides sticking to things," Izuku explained with a shrug.

With a shrug of his own, Koichi countered. "Alright, sure. But is it what you want to be doing with your quirk, or is it just what you think you should be doing?"

Bashfully, Izuku looked at the floor. "Honestly… I want to try flying again."

"Then try flying again!" Koichi exclaimed. "Why not, right?! I'm meant to be helping you come to terms with new powers, and I think it'll go a lot smoother if it's something you actually want to try doing!"

Izuku's eyes lit up. "Do you think I should, really? I've been thinking up ways I can get it to work. It's all about pushing and pulling the air molecules around my body to let me move through the air, sort of like squeezing a bar of soap between your hands! I was a little worried about trying it out in case something went wrong and there'd be nobody around to help out because it's hard to do a risk assessment on something nobody has done before but if you're here to help me out do you think I should just give it a go?!"

Koichi's eyes glazed over, and he blinked a few times. "Uh, …Sure! What's the worst that could happen?"

Minutes later, the pair were outside the gymnasium in the centre of the playing field, where quirk apprehension tests at UA took place. Izuku bounced on his heels and swung his arms back and forth, loosening the muscles. Nearby, Koichi was setting up a camcorder ("For posterity!") and sending Izuku a thumbs up.

"You ready, Midoriya?" He called out.

"Ready!" the boy shouted back. Izuku stretched his arms above his head and began bending his knees. "Okay, I'm not gonna do too much to start. I'll try to jump and hover for now. If I've figured out the right methodology, we should be good."

"Sounds good to me, buddy."

With a nod of his head, Izuku squatted down, ready to jump. "Okay, jump into the air, stick to the air. It's just like sticking things to myself, only I'm sticking myself to something else… Three, two, one,"

FWABOOM!

Instantaneously, an enormous shockwave burst out from Izuku's feet, a crater forming where he once stood. The blast threw Koichi and the camera to the floor in a heap, as Izuku rocketed into the sky like a mentos doused in cola.

"Shit shit shit shit shit!" Koichi shouted, scrambling to his feet and activating his Slide and Glide at full throttle, hoping to intercept Izuku mid-air.

Miles above, Izuku began to descend uncontrollably, overwhelmed by the winds at that altitude. He plummeted, limbs flailing as Skycrawler accelerated with powerful jets erupting from his feet to reach him.

"Come on come on come on FASTER!" Koichi shouted to himself, before he finally made it, grabbing Izuku in his arms and beginning a controlled descent. "What the hell, kid!? Seriously, what the hell?! Ahhhh jeez, his mom is gonna kill me! Aizawa is gonna kill me! I'm gonna have to leave the country again!"

Skycrawler landed gracefully, laying Izuku on the grass, but he remained unconscious. "Oh my god, All Might is going to kill me!" Unsure of what else to do, Koichi placed his hands on Izuku's chest and let out a small burst of air, hoping to jolt him awake.

Izuku's eyes shot open, and he gasped sharply, sitting up and coughing.

Koichi put his head in his hands in relief. "Oh thank god! Midoriya, kid! You scared the hell out of me!"

Suddenly, to Koichi's surprise, Izuku grabbed his arms excitedly. "Koichi! I did it! I FLEW!"

Toru Hagakure casually strolled home, kicking a can down the road and not paying a huge amount of attention to where she was going. She was paying so little attention, in fact, she didn't notice the wall-sized man in her path.

"Oof!" She fell backwards and landed on the pavement, only to look up and see the symbol of peace himself, silhouetted by the bright sun.

"Young Hagakure!" All Might exclaimed, before holding out a hand. "You too, can be a hero!"

"…Huh?"