The crackle of explosions took me a second too late to hear and within a second Bakugou was flying through the air towards Izuku, snarl on his lips-

"THAT'S IT! DEKU!" His shout silenced what little conversation was had in the face of Izuku's third place - as of now - pitch "What the hell is this! Explain you bastar-agh"

I didn't use my quirk, as much as I wanted to, but Bakugou was stopped in his tracks nonetheless, Aizawa's scarf - a long, winding grey thing I'd written off as a weird fashion choice a man wearing some of the plainest clothes I'd ever seen would make - whip through the air and wrap around his body and face, snapping in place, his flames flickering out in an instant

I narrowed my eyes at the sight. Bakugou wouldn't just give up like that, not when he's pissed like this anyways, and he wouldn't falter just because a scarf got in his way, not when his quirk should just let him blow out of it, so something else was at play

"S-Shit, the scarf? Why is it so damn strong" I heard Balugou's mutter, followed by Izuku's gasp as he finally calmed down enough to look at Aizawa instead.

"Because it's a special Capture Weapon" Aizawa responded unimpressed, hair floating lightly and, from where I could see, his eyes blowing a vibrant red, almost the colour of my hair actually. "A steel wire alloy woven with carbon nanofibres. Now stand down, it'd be wise to avoid making me use my quirk too much. It gives me serious dry eye"

A reveal of weakness? How fun

"Those goggles… I know you" I heard Izuku's remark, alongside the rest of the class once the Pro let Bakugou free. "You can look at someone and cancel out their powers, The Erasure Hero: Eraserhead"

"Eraser?" I heard one of the boys mutter "Who's that"

"Oh, I've heard of him" the voice I had come to know as Asui's replied "I think he's an underground Hero"

I frowned. The name tickled something in the back of my mind, probably one of the many times Izuku had ranted about heroes that I'd tuned out and he'd been brought up, but I couldn't honestly claim to recognise the name. Still, it explains why he was put in charge of a class like ours.

Midoriya, Bakugou, Candy Cane, Ashido, Tokoyami, Aoyama, myself. Each have potentially volatile quirks, powerful abilities which can do as much harm as they can good, abilities that can be stopped in their tracks with a single glance if need be, rather than needing a physical intervention like other teachers would have to risk if something were to go wrong.

He's also a stern lecturer, someone who can keep a handle on all the egos in the class, my own included, and come out of it smelling of roses. Someone who would make an excellent teacher for a bunch of misbehaving misfits like us, how perfect. I'd take him over anyone else any day of the week!

Except Midnight

But that's for totally different reasons.

The final test was all but a mockery in the face of endurance. Should we have taken the endurance exam seriously, so we could understand how much stamina we actually have? Probably. Did anyone do so? Some people, whose quirks weren't suited to this kind of exam, but the rest? None whatsoever.

Momo rode around on a bike she made, I stole the inside lane of the track and just set it to spin, Todoroki and Ashido skated around on their respective quirks- We made a mockery of the exam in every sense of the word and I don't think Aizawa could be prouder. Sadly, that was our last exam so-

"It's time to present the results" Aizawa-sensei spoke my thoughts into reality, levelling his phone and pressing a button to display them all but not before- "Oh yeah, that whole 'expulsion' thing was a lie"

Seeing the blank stares levelled at him, he gave a cocky grin and continued

"It was a logical ruse" He smiled "To make you all perform at your best"

""WHAAAAAT?!"" The class all but echoed, a select few remaining silent in the face of the realisation

From the corner of my eye, I could see Momo send a hesitant glance my way and I realised she'd assumed it was a fake out as well, but my words from earlier was making her hold her tongue on saying anything. I shrugged, if he was actually doing this to force Izuku into a position where he could use his quirk without breaking himself, then the threat probably started real and got nullified when he started using his power over his entire body

"And… right. Yup, with that it's over" Aizawa muttered, turning to walk away. "Your curriculum sheets are back in the classroom so give them a once-over yeah?"

And then he was off, disappearing around the corner to where All Might had been hiding for the entire test, stopping next to the man to have a conversation, though I quickly tuned out of it.

"A-Are just allowed to go home now…" One of the boys, my fellow redhead Eijiro Kirishima, asked

"Rest of the days free" I called over, drawing attention to myself. I shrugged, I read the manual, so what. "You can tour the campus, look at clubs, go home, whatever. Just grab your stuff and you're free."

I cast a quick glance at the floating hologram displaying where we'd placed and smiled. First place, as expected. Momo in second was a nice touch, Candy Cane in third, Bakugou fourth and- ah. Izuku in 7th, perfect. Being able to use his quirk helped but it wasn't enough for him to clear all the exams, given time though… well, he could get much higher that's for sure.

"Oh, 'Zuku" I quickly caught him as everyone broke apart, tapping his shoulder and interrupting his conversation.

"Kaori?"

"If you're going home after this don't wait up" I gave him a heads up, ignoring the looks I was receiving. "I'm going to explore the school with Setsuna so there's no need to wait up alright? Remember to tell Yagi-san what we talked about earlier, I'll see if I can track down where the gyms are so y'all can work together. Oh! And tell your Mom I said thank you but not to make me any food, I'll probably grab some food with Setsuna."

"Got it" He smiled, and I snorted, elbowing him lightly "Congratulations on first place"

"Congrats on 7th" I laughed, walking away so I could get changed and take some pills stronger than what I was given to curb the edge of the migraine away.

"Setsuna!" I cheered, spotting my favourite Lizard girl in the distance, a trio of other people around her I figured were from 1-B, considering we were meeting outside of her class.

"Kaori!" She laughed as I closed in. "Didn't see 1-A at the orientation, where were you? Can't believe you'd abandon me like that~"

"Y'all actually went to orientation? Nerds" I snorted playfully, looking between her and the others with a smile. "We got to go to the field and do a quirk apprehension test~ Basically just redid all the stuff we did in Junior High but with our quirks. Also, you'll never believe who's here"

I rolled my eyes, spilling the gossip easily.

"Oh?"

"Candy Cane's here!" I exclaimed "Little fuck wasn't allowed to pull the same trick as last time though, so his ass probably got busted by Nezu"

"Ah, your big br-"

"You shut the fuck up" I growled lightly, slapping my hands over her mouth to silence the evil temptress! You make a joke one time and all of a sudden it's all she'll bring up! I turned to her companions. "I haven't introduced myself. Kaori Hirano, Class 1-A, it's nice to meet you"

I didn't let go of Setsuna's face, even when she licked my palm to get me off- to get my hands off.

"Itsuka Kendo, 1-B" The Ginger answered with a smile, offering a hand to shake which I accepted, removing one of my hands from Setsuna's face but not the other "It's nice to meet you"

"Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu! 1-B as well!" I felt my eyes widen slightly, what… a unique name. Still, nice to meet a fellow Hero in training.

"A-ah, P-Pony Tsunotori" Oh wow, an American~! Finally, someone who can understand when I swear at people in english!

"Begh, you taste of sweat!" Setsuan complained, gagging lightly. I rolled my eyes offering her my water bottle from earlier, which she took a swig from. "Thanks~! Right! Kaori, Pony here-"

"Is American, I could hear" I cut her off, laughing at the exaggerated eye roll and stern look I was sent in return. "Yes, yes, I'll stay quiet~ Just how you like me to be be~"

"Don't you know it~" She laughed back. "Pony can't speak Japanese well and you speak English so… you think you could help her? Sorry to ask"

"Hm, nah, s'all good" I shrugged, turning to the much smaller girl and sticking my hand out. "Kaori Hirano. It's nice to meet you Pony"

"Ah! English! You speak English, thank god" She muttered thankfully. "Setsuna said you might be able to help me learn…"

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I'm fluent in both, let me know your schedule and we can set up some study times. You staying local in Musutafu or…?"

"Ah, yes. I have an apartment in the city" She replied in the positive, fishing out her bag while I grabbed my phone

"Cool, I'm local too" I smiled happily. "Gimme your phone number, we can set up some study sessions. Just not sundays, I enjoy my holidays too much to do more work on them"

"Ugh, don't get me started! School on Saturday? Who does that"

I laughed, turning back to the cluelessly but smiling Setsuna and friends who were watching on happily.

"Complaining about school" I summarised, getting a thankful nod. "Gonna set us some sessions so I can help her learn"

"Thank you so much" Kendo thanked gratefully, bowing lightly "Some of us know bits and pieces but not enough to really help, this means a lot to us!"

"Nah, don't worry about it." I laughed, turning to Setsuna with a smile "These guys coming with or…? I don't mind if you wanna bring your friends"

I cheerfully ignored the small pang in my chest as I said that, wanting to spend more alone time with Setsuna but not wanting to deny her the chance of hanging out with her friends. Or getting to know her friends either, they all seemed nice enough and meeting the other class would always be fun.

"Ah, no, no we've got to go" Kendo apologised on their behalf, sending us a smile.

"Yeah!" Tetsutetsu replied happily "I wanna go find the gyms! Prepare yourself 1-A, 1-B are gonna beat your ass!"

"HAH!" I laughed, slapping his open palm in a high five. How fun~! "Bring it 1-B, I promise to not hurt your ego's too badly~"

"That's the spirit! Lets GO!" he cheered in response, a wide smile on his face as he began to march off, Kendo running after him with an apology on her lips.

"Ah, I have to go now too" Pony interrupted before anything could begin, smiling up at me "I'll be in touch later yeah?"

"Yup~!" I smiled "Let me know if you have any questions or need any help. I know Musutafu ain't as big as American Cities but it can be difficult to find the good places to shop, so just hit me up if you need help."

Pony gave a small thank you, saying an accented Japanese goodbye to Setsuna before darting off into the school, leaving me to stare at Setsuna and her at me while we waited.

She looks good in the uniform, was my first thought. She had kept her pink trainers instead of the more traditional shoes and had ditched the tie, leaving her in the grey blazer and white shirt, her skirt resting over a pair of knee high socks, leaving her thighs exposed to the wind. She hadn't put her hair up either, the flowing emerald locks flowing down her shoulders freely.

"Whatcha looking at~" She cut through my thoughts, amusement in her tone as she caught me checki- examining her uniform choices.

I'd hadn't bothered buttonging my blazer but the rest of my uniform was on right, though I kept a pair of trainers on instead of the traditional brown or black loafers.

"You," I replied honestly, smiling. "No tie Setsuna? How daring~"

"Gotta keep you on your toes somehow" She smiled "Now, we going anywhere in particular or just wandering?"

"May as well just wander right? We'll find our way around somehow" I shrugged, beginning to move in a random direction through the school.

"Did you guys seriously skip the orientation to do a quirk exam?" She asked almost immediately and I smiled

"Yup~" I popped my 'p'. "Ten exams, softball pitch, sitting toe touch, 50 metre dash, grip strength, the works. Last place got expelled"

"Seriously?"

"Nah," I joked. "I mean, the threats very real and I'm pretty sure Aizawa-sensei would've gone through with it but he changed his mind."

"Damn" She whistled "Aizawa-sensei your teacher huh? We got Kan-sensei. Vlad King, the Blood Hero"

"And I thought Aizawa-sensei was edgy, damn," I whistled, impressed. "Aizawa-sensei's an Underground Hero, the Erasure Hero: Eraserhead. I didn't recognise it but 'Zuku was impressed when he figured him out"

"Eraserhead huh?" She hummed, looking thoughtful for a moment and I was worried I was about to get laughed at for not knowing him. "Never heard of him~"

"...you did that to fuck with me huh" I smiled, taking her innocent whistle as confirmation enough. "Seriously though, you recognise the name?"

"Nah, but I'm sure you'll tell me all about him later right?" She predicted my next move and I flushed at the correct answer, making her snort. "Don't worry Kaori~ I like hearing ya rant~! They call me chatty, but get ya started and you have enough words for an entire class"

"I'm not that bad!" I bemoaned, making her laugh and me groan. "Okay, so maybe I like talking! Sue me."

That just made her laugh harder and I couldn't stop my lips from tugging into a smile at the sound.

"Face it babes, you rant a lot," She chuckled. "Like, 90% of your conversations end up being rants. I'd bet you ranted to your classmates today, didn't you?"

"...No comment" I looked away, commenting quietly at her remark, feeling my blush grow as she continued to laugh at my expense.

"Awww, it's okay Kaori, I love your ranting," She chuckled, linking her arm through mine and tugging me into her side. "Whatcha rant about today, lay it on me~"

"I just told them to use their quirks creatively" I sighed with a smile. "They were shocked at how powerful my quirk was so I was trying to tell them they should use their quirks more, that the only way to really realise what they could do is to push themselves to the brink. That's what I did! Pretty sure it's what all the top students did, they wouldn't be at the top if they didn't push themselves as hard as they do."

"Let me guess, you came off preachy?" She asked lightly, smiling into my side, arm still intertwined with mine.

"I mean, probably," I sighed. Not the best first impression, all things considered. "I wouldn't like it if someone with a quirk like mine told people to 'jUsT bE cReAtIvE' to get stronger. Doesn't help that I called out Candy Cane for being… uninspiring. Can you believe he got third place in our test today? Coasting by on an arrogant basis, not even trying to get better. I know it's kind of elitist but I felt embarrassed that he's the other recommendation student in our class. The gap between Momo and him was insane, we dominated basically everything and he wasn't even closing third on most of the exams, ugh-"

"Your ranting Kaori~" Setsuna cut in with a laugh and I froze, stopping the worst about to follow. "You're right though, you do sound kinda elitist there. Try and get to know your classmates better, alright? I know it's been a while, but you need some actual friends in your class."

"Yeah, yeah, you're right," I replied. "I'll get to know them and actually make conversation and stuff. If they don't take the Hero stuff seriously though…"

"You'll ignore them, I get it," She rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling. "Seriously, you're almost too dedicated to being a hero Kaori, remember to take a breather sometimes."

"That's why I have you~" I chuckled. "Don't think about hero stuff when I'm with you. Well, unless one of us brings it up. Usually me. It's my go too"

"I know!" She laughed. "There's only so many times I can bear hearing you rant about Mirko and Best Jeanist before it gets old. I think I have your entire Hope rant memorised by this point. 'Hope isn't an individual! It's a collective, an experience that links all people of all ages, races, beings or understanding! It's my-'ack"

I cut off her impression, elbowing her lightly in the ribs with a laugh.

"I don't sound like that!" I smiled.

"You totally do," She teased. "Your voice goes all dreamy and soft~ And you stare so intently into the floor I start thinking you've developed heat vision or something."

"I- No I do not!" I denied vehemently.

"You do~!" She laughed at my expense. "You literally started talking about it in your sleep Kaori! You recited that weird poem remember, what was it… 'In fearful day… in raging night. With strong hearts full-' Kaori! I was trying to remember your poem."

My face burned with shame. I'd fallen asleep on the phone with her once and I just had to dream about being a blue lantern! You know how embarrassing it was waking up to her giggling and recording me! It was so bad man, I wanted to cry!

Evil Setsuna! Mean Setsuna! Making me cry!

"Hopefully they'll just let it be tomorrow." I sighed, going back to our earlier conversation. "Hero Class should be fun, so hopefully they'll just assume I was really into the exam today and let me be. Assuming they even listened to what I was saying."

I couldn't blame them if they didn't to be fair, or if they'd give me shit for it, I wouldn't particularly like it if someone ranted to me about how to do better, especially someone my age and born 'with a better quirk', whatever that means.

I really hate that line of thought.

"First day jitters," Setsuna replied happily. "Just tell em you were hyped for the day and it got the best of ya, should be fine. Now, seriously, we going anywhere, because I think this is the third row of classes we've walked past."

"Oh! Yeah, we should probably actually ask where stuff is, I wanna drop by the nurses office so I can talk to Recovery Girl and I wanna hit up some other places, you?" I asked, sending a small ripple through space so I could- ah! There we go, a teacher.

"Hm, think we want all the same spaces," She laughed. "The gyms, the library. Oh! Where the clubs are too, I know we can't join but it'll be fun to check them out."

"What club would you even join?" I asked, looking down on the green haired girl. "Doubt there's a Bonsai club, but we can have a look if you want"

"No idea~" She smiled, turning to look at me slyly afterward "Maybe cooking club, you could see me in an apron then~""

"Oh? But then I'd have to repay the favour~" I smiled back, chewing on the inside of my lip.

"You'd look good in an apron," She complimented, giving me a once over.

"Hmm, I can cook a little bit" I hummed, remembering the cooking lessons inko had given me over the years, as well as all the cooking channels I'd seen by just chilling around with the woman. "Can't promise it'd be good, but I could make us lunch? Maybe not tomorrow, I actually wanna go to Lunch Rush's cafeteria."

"Aww, but then I wouldn't get the show~" She laughed, smiling up at me "I wonder how his food tastes though? Gotta be good right"

"I mean, he's a celebrity chef so probably. His quirk's suited for it to be fair" I shrugged, frowning a tad bit. Like Uwabami, Lunch Rush used his Hero Career to launch another career, specifically cooking. His quirk; Perfect Timing, allowed him to know exactly how long certain actions would take to hit their apex, which he used as a Hero to execute rescue manoeuvres, but he was more known as a chef for his ability to cook food to an almost perfect standard.

"You're ranting again~" Setsuna's sing-songy voice reminded me to stop. "Just because I said you can talk for a class doesn't mean you can rant in your head babe, the silence is just as loud."

"Sorry" I winced, rubbing the back of my head. "There's a teacher in the room over there, if we wanna ask…"

Setsuna didn't say anything, just unlinking our arms so I could take a few steps forward and knock on the door, getting a muffled 'come in' after a few seconds, the hero filing away some paper works and straightening out their desk.

"Mirio- Oh." Snipe-sensei paused, looking at us confused. "First years! Pleasure to meet ya! What can I do for ya?"

"Oh, Snipe-sensei!" I smiled. Perfect! One of the teachers I actually wanted to meet and talk to! "Is this your homeroom? Sorry, I'll get to why we knocked in a second, just wanna know if I should come back here later."

"Class 3-B" He confirmed, "Ya can find me here most times, if I'm not in the office. Now, whatcha want? Not lost are ya?"

I looked back at Setsuna who shrugged happily

"Kinda," I shrugged in turn. "Just started wandering around but all we've found are classrooms so far. Could you tell us how to find the Gyms, the Library or where Recovery Girls office is?"

If he gave all three that'd be great, but I'd take any right now so we can actually find where everything is.

"Each pillar has a separate library" He told me and I quickly began to note it down in my phone. "Each one has the basic lectures, but each department has specific books about their course. Hero Course library is on the top floor, you can't miss it. You'll find all you need up there. Recovery Girl got offices all around campus, but her hub is in the cross"

I hummed, writing that down too.

The Cross, I'm assuming, is the long corridor that connects the Management/General Corridor to the Hero/Development corridor and the Management/Hero corridor to the General/Development corridor, creating a cross in the centre of campus.

"Different gyms are dotted around campus," He continued. "If y'all aren't in a rush, I can send Mirio to give y'all a tour of the gyms. He's one of my third years, good role model for y'all kids to aim for."

"You wanna tour with a third year to the gyms?" I asked Setsuna, who blinked a few times, clearly debating something in that head of hers, before sighing out a 'sure' "If it won't be a bother Snipe-sensei"

"Don't have to be today if y'all are on a date or nothing" He chuckled, and my face burned at the implication. "Course, if ya desperate to know where they are, then Mirio should be here soon "

I couldn't feel anyone else walking through the corridors. I turned to look at Setsuna and shrugged. Wasn't that important.

"If that's fine Sir, could we do it tomorrow?" I smiled, watching Setsuna raise an eyebrow out the corner of my eye. "Think we're just gonna walk around and find out where everything is today, but a proper introduction to the rooms would be nice"

"Hah, what class you girls in, I'll send him to pick you up tomorrow" He asked, bringing out a piece of paper to begin writing.

"Kaori Hirano, Class 1-A." I answered easily enough

"Setsuna Tokage, Class 1-B" She chimed in over my shoulders, voice a fair bit lighter than it was a moment ago.

"Hero Course huh? I look forward to teaching ya in a few years." He complimented. "Y'all are in Hero Studies tomorrow afternoon right? I'll let your lecturers know to put your gym clothes in your lockers so y'all can try out the facilities. That all"

"Oh! Do you know where the Clubs are gathering? Know we can't join but figured we should still give em a look," I asked quickly. "Nothing after that though, thank you so much!"

"They're gathering on the quad" He answered, turning back to his laptop. "Have a good first week"

""Thanks Snipe-sensei"" We echoed, heading out the hall.

"So… Recovery girl first or the gyms?" I asked as we resumed our pace, smiling just a bit stupidly when Setsuna wrapped her arm in mine again.

"Recovery Girls closer" She huffed a laugh as we continued on.

LINEBREAK

[Much shorter chapter today and more slice of life too :3

Did I write this Chapter because I wanted Setsuna time? Absolutely I wrote this chapter because I wanted Setsuna time. I also wanted to wrap up last chapter and going to the next day would've been weird so this is basically a .5 chapter instead of a true chapter but we won't talk about that :3

Met some of the 1-B people~! I wanted to interact with them before the USJ since their 'rivalry' wouldn't have turned so heated at that point, so we met Kendo, Pony and Tetsutetsu (whose name I spelt wrong like, 5 different times and I'm still not sure I spelt right ;-;)! Honestly, Kaori might end up spending more time with some of the 1-B people than the 1-A people until the USJ but idk. As y'all have been saying their lack of training won't sit right with Kaori so she'll porbbaly be friendly with them in class but spend more time out of school with 1-B since, at least Tetsutetsu anyways, is more serious about training and keeping up but thats not a definitive and I like hearing y'alls takes as well.

This chapter was actually supposed to have a Mirio interaction, as y'all could see from the end... but Kaori literally said Hero stuff doesnt matter when she's with Setsuna so I turned down the Mirio interaction for another day ;-; It was supposed to go with Kaori not sending anyone walking through the corridors and Mirio just falling from the sky.

Anyways, hope y'all enjoyed :3]