Authors note; Here by popular demand! Scene breaking lines!

Midoriya slouched on the side of his bed, his phone sat patiently in his hand, his foot slowly tapped a slow and dreadful beat on the floor. Around him the unmoving faces of his mentor stared down at him with unspoken criticism. They silently judged his inaction with unshakable expressions. He eyed the contact for All Might, the call button ready to be swiped.

In his heart, something felt… like it didn't sit right. 'At the USJ, I didn't blame Tanya for what she did, we were up against villains too early… None of the class really could blame her… But some part of me… blames myself. I took the mantle of One For All to save everyone, yet at the USJ all I could do was run away. The class needed a hero to save them.' The stories he heard from his classmates haunted him. How Koda ran and screamed till he nearly passed out. Ojiro had fought off a horde of villains by himself. Toru nearly got caught. Their stories made his seem almost tame in comparison.

He had One For All, he could have sacrificed every finger on one hand and guaranteed himself safety… 'But that's the issue, isn't it? Even if I expend myself efficiently, there are too many threats for me alone to handle. I could only save myself and those immediately around me… and even then Tsuyu almost got killed.'

His thumb touched the contact, ready to swipe and call. He whispered to himself as he gained newfound conviction, determination given direction, "I need to learn how to use One For All. To save everyone, I need more power and experience. I need to become worthy."

The phone rang in his hand. Anxiety tried to crawl up Midoriya's spine until it burned up from his blazing drive.

"Young Midoriya!" All Might's boisterous voice came through, followed by his coughing and a shot of steam. Now, much calmer, "What brings your call?"

"I-I want to practice with One For All!" Deku blurted out, a fist curled onto his lap.

"Oh?" Yagi asked. He sounded a bit surprised. The old hero grew concerned as he thought, 'But, it still tears him apart to use… I'll hear him out though.'

"At the USJ, everyone was in so much danger and I-" Deku was cut off.

"Hold none of the responsibility." All Might said, his stern voice took control of the sentence. "That would lay with me."

Deku stuttered, "B-but you weren't even there."

The silence on the other side of the phone gave the young man pause. Something heavy sat in the silence, unspoken as it writhed and took form.

"You ran out of time… How long do you have left?" Midoriya asked, a shadow over his face.

"Long enough." With words as strong and patient as a bulwark, Yagi put forth his situation. "I have long enough to train the class. Long enough to train you."

"So… Will you train me to use my Quirk?" Midoriya perked up. The strength his teacher showed bolstered his morale.

"Yes Young Midoriya, I shall! By the time the sports festival rolls around, Recovery Girl won't have to worry about a thing!" He laughed.

With the warm, high noon sun overhead, Midoriya stretched as he waited in the training grounds. He wore his hybrid gym/hero costume while he pushed the stiffness out of his arms.

"Hello Young Midoriya." Yagi called out from behind him.

Deku spun around and paused for a second. Beside Yagi was none other than Recovery Girl, her cane tapping along as they walked. He quickly bowed as his voice stammered, "Ms. Recovery Girl! I-I wasn't expecting you!"

"Hmph." She huffed. "Calling me out to help with training was perhaps the most responsible thing you've done as a teacher yet Toshinori."

Yagi rubbed the back of his head as he explained his thoughts to his protege. "Young Midoriya, it's no stranger to either of us that One For All hurts you to use."

Midorya grew excited! "So you plan on having sensei use her healing Quirk to accelerate my growth! When working out, your muscles tear apart and build back stronger. Are we applying that logic to it's mo-"

He shut up the moment Recovery Girl smacked her cane into the ground. "We will be doing no such thing young man!" She chastised. With an exhale, she calmed down and spoke, "I am not here to be an accelerant of your self-destructive behavior, but to be a guard rail to help you learn to temper them."

He bowed his head. "Thank you Recovery Girl. It means a lot to me that you'd join us out here today."

She gave an honest smile. As a doctor, students often wrote her off till they needed her, and some never learned their lesson. It felt good to be respected. She walked aside and took a seat at a mock bus stop, complete with an overhang.

"All right Young Midoriya! Let's start!" All Might puffed up and cheered.

UA had given their students a week off, but some… some never rested.

Midoriya, All Might, and Recovery Girl started their training. During the week off, they'd have more time to dedicate to One For All. With grueling amounts of determination, perseverance, and pain, Midoriya slowly tempered and attuned to the power bestowed upon him.

But, he wasn't the only student pushing forward. While Deku struggled to tame the beast with 8 lives of strength, Tanya began putting her own plans into action.

Tanya hummed along in response to the chatter coming over her phone. Mina was busy fending off a little sibling. She sat in her office chair while idly spinning, her wings shifted to keep her momentum going. Now that she looked at it, her room more resembled an at-home office than a teenage girls bedroom. Other than her bed, wardrobe, and mirror, everything else was dedicated to productivity. She had a cheap desk with a laptop and a filing cabinet to call her own. The poor thing was full of all the random papers that worm their way into your life but typically have nowhere to go. Handling her adoptive fathers taxes tended to do that. At least they were organized.

She held back a sigh while she heard a door close on Mina's side of the call. 'While annoying, this is a necessary part of networking. Without military hierarchy, I require goodwill and mutual benefit to assemble and strengthen my team. I have everyone picked out, now I just have to strengthen some bonds. Once those are good to go, I'll train them to be an effective fighting unit.'

On the other side of the phone, Mina finally calmed down enough for Tanya to get a word in, "Yes, Mina, I actually wanted to call and ask about a few things."

She was answered by a curious "Gooo on?"

"Some of our classes can be pretty tough," Tanya began her sales pitch by starting with a sympathetic note, "and with all of our hero training, I figured we can all use a little help." She finished rolling out her carpet with a promise of being mutual beneficiaries.

A shadow flashed over Mina's face. 'Class is tough? Tanya… we were in a life or death situation like 2 days ago. You killed a man… and saved Tsuyu for it. If it were me… I wouldn't have had any other choice. All I could have done is hope my Quirk wouldn't have killed them on the spot, and if it did, well… It would be a price I'd be willing to pay.' While Mina wasn't terribly comfortable with Tanya's decision, she forgave on the account that she couldn't have seen herself doing better. If it was between a murderous villain and Tsu, she'd choose Tsu every time.

She wagged her head around and shook off that downbeat feeling. 'Tsuyu is still alive! Tanya is still alive! We are all still here! I should be happy about what good there is!'

"Well… I have been struggling." Mina shyly admitted. "Books smarts has been the one friend I could never win over." She grinned to herself while she thought, 'She's looking for something, I'll play along for now.'

'Good.' Tanya smiled as she heard Mina's white flag go up. "I was wondering if you'd like to help me set up a study group?"

Unseen by Tanya, Mina's grin grew three sizes. 'An excuse to get some students together.' Her shipping instincts were going off. The hunch was paying off. "I take it, you'd like Bakugo to be there?" She asked with all the charm of the cheshire cat.

"He's on my list of people I'd like to invite." Tanya answered. She had an odd feeling of confusion with Mina, like the girl was plotting something. "Why do you ask?" She prodded with a voice of lighthearted curiosity.

'Gotcha. There's something there.' Mina could feel the fireworks going off already. "I've just been seeing you two hanging out a lot in our classes is all." She idly reached up and tapped at her horn. 'If I play this right, I can get a reading on just how she feels about him.'

"We're classmates… We sit right next to each other. Time spent together is only natural under such circumstances." Tanya deadpanned. Her wings drooped in confusion. The pink girl was a total anomaly to her.

"Is that why you compare grades after class?" Mina jabbed a question. She bounced off her bed and onto her feet, she could barely contain the overabundance of energy she had at reserve for juicy talks like the one they were currently having.

"He has a competitive spirit." Tanya defended. She began to sit upright as she felt a flurry of Mina energy coming towards her. 'Quickly, try to change the topic and shut her down!' She barked an order to herself and began erecting a defense. "Maintaining good grades is a healthy endeavor, and benchmarking around others can be a good measure of one's progress. One should strive to bring their best and sharpen their skills. Hence the study group."

'So you share common traits in ambition and competition! let's see how many more!' Mina flanked around with the bus memory. "Odd that you'd want to hang out with him though? You practically had to hold him from going feral on the bus."

Tanya tried to rationalize the defense of her classmate. She waved off the ridiculous scene. "Kaminari started taunting him, and with his short fuse he went off. He wouldn't have done anything serious other than shout at him, but with our expulsion happy teacher, I didn't want that to get him in trouble."

'She's protecting him! Beauty and the raging beast! It's so cute!' Mina took a skip step across her room before turning back around. "So you wanted to keep him safe?" She playfully jabbed with a powerful question. Mina knew she could drive it in deeper, but she had everything she wanted already.

"I'd like to not lose my… friends to Professor Aizawa's whims." She had caught herself before she said something foolish like recruits, or troops. 'That was a close one.'

Mina flopped back onto her bed with a shit eating grin. 'She had struggled with the word friend. Hahaha. She wants more than that.' She swallowed a laugh before saying, "Seeing as you're friends with him, I can hook you up with his phone number."

Tanya paused as she wondered where Mina had gotten his number from before seizing the chance. "Oh, I'd like that. Could you text it to me?"

'Oh Tanya, I had picked it up after the USJ.' Mina had already begun typing the number before the winged girl had spoken. 'The poor boy tried to yell and scare me off, but the moment I brought up your name, he gave it over without a fight.'

Her phone pinged in her ear which caused her to reel away from it for a second. "Thank you." She said with a swift respect.

While Tanya set up their study session for tomorrow, she realized how simultaneously annoying yet intriguing Mina was. Talking to her gave Tanya the impression of flying through endless fields of invisible mines.

'Perhaps Mina has more of a head for social working than I thought.' Tanya made a note as she got a message back from Bakugo.

Bakugo: Raccoon Eyes told me you'd contact me

Tanya: Ok, but will you go? Kanbi Corner at 1PM

Bakugo: I don't need to study!

A moment passed as Tanya stared at her phone, half amused that even his texts gave the impression of a screaming adolescent. She mused as she looked at the Is Typing symbol, 'But he didn't decline going.'

Bakugo: I need to find something good on their menu.

The study day had come, and initially Tanya had thought herself to have been early but…

"Hey!" Mina waved her over. The pink girl was nearly jumping with energy as she came over to Tanya. "You made it, and you're all dressed up!"

"This is what I normally wear." Tanya was confused by Mina's compliment. She wore her usual attire, a white office blouse and gray dress pants. Custom made with openings for her wings.

"But I've never seen you wear it before?" Mina asked, her hype train became confused. 'Did she not dress up for this? She can't seriously wear an office dress all the time?!'

"You've never seen me without my uniform." Tanya reminded her. "Besides, it's best to always look presentable." Her wings shifted as she adjusted her posture.

Tanya couldn't bring her head around Mina's outfit. It was a bright, colorful mess that gave her the same feeling she could only imagine military officers of old felt when they watched the nobility in one of their countless parties, disorienting. Where Tanya's outfit was in all grays and whites, Mina's seemed to be unable to make up its mind and chose random colors from the entirety of the color wheel. Dark brown running shoes, white and purple splattered socks that came over her calves. Black with white striped running shorts. A purple graphic tee with the logo of some obscure band Tanya didn't recognise on it. And the most offensive of them all, an unzipped sweater stylised in a fashion similar to her hero outfit, in a variety of blues and lavenders, and was covered with so many off-color patches the thing looked to be more patches than original cloth.

Upon closer inspection, many of the patches were more music groups, dance groups even of the training variety, an ice skating competition, and a couple were just for fun. There was even a chibi xenomorph.

'Hmm.' Tanya made a note. 'She must live a very… active lifestyle. An interesting choice to wear all of that at the same time. Reminds me of an adventurer's suitcase, covered in stickers of their various destinations over the years.'

Mina dashed over to the door and waved for Tanya to catch up to her, "Come on! Sato already has us all set up!"

Tanya took a long, deep sigh before walking after Mina. 'They'll take a little adjusting to. The world of heroes is markedly only semi-professional, so as long as efficiency is maintained then it is acceptable.'

Entering into the familiar cafe, Sato was already at a table and looking at them. He gave a small wave from behind his small mountain of textbooks. Hero arts, mathematics, a few language books, and of course there was the ever-so-helpful battle strategy guide that All Might never used in his class.

For a moment, and only a moment, Sato looked through Tanya rather than at her. His eyes were glazed over by a cloud of thought. 'I made friends with a killer. No, that's not right. I am in no position to judge her when I nearly killed a man myself. That gun dude, if there weren't other villains to fight, I would have killed him there. Tanya was just in a transformation, like myself, and she did what she could. The only thing separating us is focus. If I was a little more focused, or maybe a little less, I would also be a killer too.' Sato brought himself to look to Tanya and see that the fault he saw was in himself as well. He blamed both of them, then shouldered it… there was nothing more either of them could have done.

His outfit was disappointing by Mina's standards and understable by Tanya's standards. An extremely large, well worn shirt with a faded SUGAR written on it. His muscles were pushing the poor shirt to its limits. Alongside those, he wore simple jeans with red and white sneakers.

'I see they've gotten set up. No signs of actual study yet, but points for preparation and punctuality.' Tanya gave her judgment of the duo's attempt at a start.

Mina practically flew into her seat at the rectangular table to the left of Sato, which left the last open seats together. 'Eh! I'm so excited!'

Sato's eyes shot open as he grabbed the back of Mina's tipping chair and eased her back up. "Woah, almost fell over there." He gave a weak chuckle.

Tanya raised a confused and half concerned eyebrow as she took her seat. Her wings once again folded up and became a throne backing for her. "Shall we get to work?"

She watched as Mina sheepishly looked away and Sato's only tell was glazed over eyes. "I see…" Tanya muttered. "I take it neither of you are the studying-regularly type?"

"Well." Sato quietly droned as he fidgeted with one of the books. "I've tried but no amount of effort gets me away from consistent Cs." He lost eye contact with Tanya. "After some point, I began to see it… like a meaningless ritual. If the outcome is always the same, why bother?"

Mina playfully slugged him in his massive arm, he winced as he was snapped out of his headspace. "Don't go saying depressing nonsense! We're heroes! Trying is the bare minimum!" She gave a toothy grin.

"And what of your studies Mina?" Tanya's question rang like an ominous bell upon Mina's ears.

Internally she began to cry. 'I just wanted to push my ships! Don't actually make me study! Don't do this to meeeeeeeeeee!'

Mina propped her hands up by her horns and stuck her tongue out. "Nothing to worry about!"

"She needs your help." Sato threw her under the Tanya bus. He propped his hands up on the table like a businessman as Mina froze up beside him.

"You said you had difficulty studying, I only want to know how much work we're going to have to put in." Tanya commented as she opened her phone and began tapping it over to the school app.

She opened up the grades received on their latest math work where she could see the class spread. "Considering that Sato said he's trapped at Cs and Bs, that would place him at the median of the class, yes?"

Sato couldn't bring his eyes to meet her gaze and his hands idly sat over his books. He shrugged in response. "Yeah, sometimes above, sometimes below."

Tanya clicked her tongue as she turned her phone around to face them. The class spread had its segments where all the students were bunched up, but the tail end for low grades was stretched out. "Mina, where are you on this graph?"

Mina sighed in defeat, her entire body sagging as the energy left her. "May as well be fighting with Kaminari for last place…"

'I know, I know.' Mina monologued to herself. 'I have to keep my grades up, but there's nothing I can do anymore. All these complicated, abstract things hurt my head. WHY DO WE NEED THEM ANYWAY!'

She had always kept a joking front on the terms of her grades. Smiled in the face of Fs and Ds. Here at UA, those could spell disaster for her.

"An impressive battle I'm sure." Tanya turned her phone back around. 'This is good. If they need more help, it means more opportunities to bond with them.' She smirked at the victorious scenario before her. "Between you and Kaminari, your combined efforts dragged the class average down."

Mina pouted. "Ok, I'm not good with smarts."

"Yet you are a dedicated individual capable of ambition." Tanya commented as she pointed to the pink girl's patches. "You show that you can master a great many things, and you show boundless energy. With someone to guide you, I'm sure we can get your grades up."

Sato glanced between the two as they spoke of school struggles and failures of studying. His voice awkwardly broke the conversation the two were having. "What did you guys score on the practical exam?" Sato swiftly brought up the question.

Tanya looked at him with quizzical eyebrows while her wings twitched. "Hmm?"

Sato tried to relax as he veered the conversation away from grilling Mina. "Before we were enrolled, what did you score? A-against all the bots."

Mina lit up as she began to tap her fingers on the table like a little drum. "Oh! I scored 13th! Melting the bots was easy, and I even squeezed out some rescue points!"

"15th." Sato grinned in minor pride. He crossed his arms over his massive chest. "I didn't have to worry about hurting anybody. Didn't get any rescue points though." He gave a slight shrug and a head tilt. "Couldn't really. When I use my Quirk, my mind shuts off. Was hoping to improve that actually."

Tanya gave a genuine smile. 'They just keep getting better! Like they're begging to be led!'

The other two looked at each other before looking back at Tanya. 'Is her grin always that scary?'

Tanya watched Mina check over her shoulder and give a big grinned smile. She decided to lean around her wings and check for herself.

Bakugo stepped into the cafe, his eyes already locked onto the table of 'friends'. His sneakers stomped along below his loose fitting jeans. Stretched across his strong, triangular chest was a skull icon of a semi-popular rock group. Over his arms and back was an unbuttoned, and likely never will be, red and black flannel.

Mina immediately stood up and waved him over. "Bakugo! We saved you a seat!" She cheered, much to the minor disturbance of the other guests. 'Finally, some shipping action!'

"Shut it Racoon Eyes! I'm not here for your study buddy bullshit!" He spun the chair that had been saved for him open before sliding into it and kicking back. "I just came for some fucking food."

"It's a pleasure to have you here." Tanya said with all the pleasure of a greeting desk worker. "We were just discussing our entrance exam placements."

Bakugo huffed cockily as he was handed a menu. "Hmph! Placed first, top of the exam."

'Hahaha!' Tanya laughed to herself. 'I really did pick the best bunch of students in the class for this!'

Bakugo saw her chuckle and let his ego grow a little. His cocky grin began prideful and a bit more relaxed.

"What kind of points did you have?" Sato asked, thoroughly impressed. He placed an elbow onto his books and leaned into a comfortable pose. He doubted studying would be happening anytime soon.

"77 villain points. Best of the whole school!" Bakugo beamed as his passion flared up and manifested in an angered tone.

"What about rescue points?" Tanya asked. She leaned closer to the table and eyed him like she was in a poker match. 'Why didn't you mention rescue points?' She instantly found a weak spot to begin digging into.

"Who the fuck needs those! Everyone was out for themselves on that exam!" Bakugo puffed up as he felt his pride being challenged. "And I placed at the top despite having none!"

Mina tilted her head, "But would that make you the best though? There were two categories worth of points and you only maxed one at the expense of the other." She teased Bakugo, happy to take him down a peg without hurting him.

"Of course I'm the best!" Bakugo barked and slapped his hand on the table.

"Best at what though?" Tanya restated the question as she put her hands into her lap and grinned. She was ready to mentally duke it out with him.

"Fighting villains! That's what heroes do!" Bakugo glared at her. "Last time I checked, Chicken Wings, that's what our job is and it's what I excel at!"

"The majority of the top ten heroes lack destructive firepower." Tanya shot back calmly, her sky blue eyes pierced into his scarlet reds. The battle had begun.

Mina rested her head onto her hands and held back a satisfied sigh. 'Ah yes, look at them go.'

Meanwhile, Sato leaned back and shrunk away from the much-scarier-than-a-villain blondes who were currently glaring at each other with vastly different temperatures. He became intimidated by their ferocity, 'I can never tell if these two are having fun, or are about to fight each other.'

"What are you on about!?" Bakugo barked. "They're all fine as fighters!"

"Are you implying Wash, a member of the top ten, is a good fighter?" Tanya set her bait as she turned to face him. "Despite the fact that he has one of the lowest takedown rates of any of the top fifty heroes."

"Yet he can handle himself in a fight just fine!" Bakugo began to snap and his palm began to heat up. He found himself invested, there was no turning back.

"He's in the top ten for the same reason Best Jeanist is in the top five. Neither of them have tremendous firepower or even destructive ability, they specialize in rescue and quick restraining takedowns." Tanya straightened her back and her wings flexed up. A genuine smile grew on her face as Bakugo had begun to back himself into a corner. "So, in light of who is favored amongst the top ten, does this still lend credibility to your neglect of an entire point section? If you are the best, the unarguable and unchallengeable best, what happens when we have to compete over rescue work?"

Bakugo glared at her and his teeth began to grind in a silent growl. 'You wouldn't dare go there!' He fought to escape his shrinking corner, "No one has more destructive power than All Might, and he's number one!"

"He's number one because he can do it all." Tanya shut him down on the spot. "He can fight, rescue, do damage control, everything. Let's not forget that his debut video, his most famous video, was of him carrying people to safety. He's had some big fights before, yet he remains most well known for his rescue work." Tanya's grin softened into a content smile as she felt victory short at hand. "He's a master of all aspects of being a hero. Endeavor more fits your ideals of pure power and fighting, and-"

"He is trapped in second place." Her words rang through Bakugo's skull. He began to heat up, his blood started to boil. Everyone knew Endeavor takes down more villains than All Might, but that's really all Endeavor did. He couldn't say that All Might's pedestal was false, that Endeavor deserved the first place because… that would be wrong.

"Fuck you!" Bakugo barked before shooting up out of his chair, it nearly spun out of control. "There's nothing even spicy on this menu!" He tossed the plastic sheet onto the table, barely having read it and no longer caring. He turned his back on the group and began to march away.

"Huh?" Tanya felt confused. 'He wants to take hero work seriously yet can't even approach the necessity of more skills than fighting?'

Sato stood up and took a soft step before saying, "I'm, uh, gonna go talk to him." His face looked hurt like he had been second handedly offended.

"I think that went rather well." Mina propped herself up on an elbow and gave a nervous smile. 'These two are so made for each other, they just don't know how to coexist yet. They both have such strong fighting spirits, they just can't help but fight each other.'

"I fail to see how." Tanya commented weakly as she turned over her shoulder to watch Sato step out of the cafe and chase Bakugo down.

Outside the cafe, Sato speedwalked and swiftly made ground to catch up to Bakugo. The sweet giant's rapid and nervous footfalls gained on the nitro-blonde's aggressive march.

"Bakugo wait up." Sato walked up beside him.

The blonde bastard huffed, never even gave eye contact. "Fuck you want?"

"I just want to talk man." He answered with a reassuring smile.

Bakugo picked up his marching speed. "I don't want to listen to anything you have to say Diabetes!"

"Then I will listen." Sato easily kept up with Bakugo's pace and kept his calm demeanor. "Nothing more."

Bakugo slowed back down. "I know what I'm good at. I'm the best at what I do!" He began ranting and waving a hand around.

Sato said nothing as he had promised. His hands went into his pockets as he strolled along while quietly letting his friend vent in peace. 'I wonder if anyone has ever seen eye to eye with him? He's so talented, so bold, yet so aggressive. I wonder what made him this way?'

"I'm good at fighting and beating people up!" Bakugo ignited his palm in a series of little cracks before clenching his fist. Smoke rose between his fingers like steam from a pot. "And everyone keeps going on about useless shit that doesn't concern me! I don't give a damn about anything other than winning!"

"What do you want to win at?" Sato asked softly. He was scared that his question would touch a sore nerve and hoped that his tone would be of curiosity rather than being adversary.

"..." Bakugo was quiet as he thought up an answer. He hated bullshit, the meaningless lip service people gave others that meant nothing and amounted to nothing. He hated the idea of being anything less than the best but whenever he pictured victory it was on fire.

'Victory is being better than everyone else. Combat is the only competition no one can cheat, the purest form of victory a hero could achieve. Everyone is awed by a good fight. They watch heroes on their phones, on TV sets in windows, they talk about them with friends. I still remember the first time I saw All Might on TV; when he emerged from the fire carrying everyone and reassured them all that they were safe. He had beat the bad guy. The fire behind him, the carnage he overcame. Complete and total victory.'

"I want complete and total victory over my opponents." Bakugo snarled without any real venom. He opened his palm and let the smoke trailed away into the wind. "I want victory that shocks and awes everyone."

"No one doubts your strengths." Sato confided as he shooed away the smoke with one hand. "You have your talents, we can all see that."

Bakugo smirked. "Yeah they fuckin can."

"But we all have our talents too. We all made it into UA for a reason." Sato's voice became firm as he took his stance. He would be patient, slow, yet as powerful as the tide.

Bakugo became silent again as his lips curled into a silent snarl.

"But you beat me at restraining someone? Could you beat Mina at safely removing debris? Could you find people before Shoji could?" Sato posed his question like an open door. He waited to see what Bakugo would do.

Bakugo looked him in the eyes. Sato's position was unwavering yet… accepting. "..."

"There's more to being a hero than fighting, but specializing is cool too!" Sato smiled awkwardly. "Personally, I'm a huge fan of Death Arms. He's strong and uses his strength for more than just punching people."

"What are you on about?" Bakugo was bewildered and annoyed. "Why the fuck do I care about how you feel about some subpar hero?"

Sato flexed his arm and examined his own biceps. Years of hard work and dedication manifested into tightly knit muscles. "Someday I hope that others can rely on me like they do with him. And I hope that I can rely on you to blow the enemy away."

Bakugo gave a toothy grin full of battlelust yet to come. "You finally saying some shit that makes some sense!"

"So, what'll it be?" Sato asked as he dropped his flex. "Care to let us pick up those other parts of being a hero?"

"Heh." Bakugo huffed and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. I can stomach you extras backing me up."

The guys walked back to the cafe in relative silence.

Back in the cafe, Tanya looked back at the door and smiled as Sato and Bakugo walked back in. 'Finally, an escape from Mina's chatter.'

"There's no way that they're not a thing." Mina was wrapped up in her latest relationship theory before glancing up and almost ignoring her friends' return. She waved happily over her head. "You made it back!"

Bakugo took his seat again with all the annoyance and angst that he carried with him. "Watch it Raccoon Eyes." He warned her. He wasn't in the mood for her peppy nonsense.

"Sorry for the interruption." Sato muttered as he edged into his seat. "Just wanted to chat with Bakugo about hero training."

"On the note of hero training," Tanya folded her hands and leaned onto them, her devil aura flared up. Fueled by her situation over everyone at the table, she began her sales pitch.

'Another deal.' Sato smiled a little. 'Let's do this.'

'Was this girl raised by villains?' Mina laughed at the thought. Outwardly she examined Tanya and waited for her to continue.

"I was wondering if you'd like to train together? To round out our abilities, or even to specialize more comfortably as a group. Everyone here wants to win and we all have good skills. A well rounded company." Tanya looked around the table at all of her new recruits.

"You really do have a flair for the dramatic." Mina laughed as she placed her hands atop her head behind her horns. She had already planned on joining in on this, so it couldn't hurt to have more friends. "I'm in!"

Sato hummed in agreement. He had already made a deal with Tanya, and was along for the ride from the start. His heart was in it with this group. 'My strength cannot be wasted. I need to put my gifts to good use. I want others to rely on me.'

"You all are a bunch of fucking extras you know that!" Bakugo barked, his tone more light hearted than a minute ago. He jabbed a finger at the group as he continued, "I want to win, indisputably, at everything."

Mina chuckled, "I'm pretty sure we all knew that already, Pomeranian." She stuck her tongue out.

"Fuck you." He barked, "This is the best way for me to stay on top till I outgrow you all!" He began to stare down everyone at the table, as if daring them to challenge him. He wanted to make it painfully clear that he wasn't joining because of any friendship bullshit, but because at the moment he didn't have a fully rounded skill set.

"Till then, you can cover for the shit I don't want to do and I'll cover for the shit you can't!" He flipped up his menu and fumed in silence.

"Division of labor and specialization." Tanya sighed in satisfaction. "Truly a wonderful thing."

"No nerd talk!" Bakugo barked. "I thought you needed to study!"

Mina flopped her arms onto the table, "NOoooo! We were so close!"

"This is what we agreed to." Sato sadly gave in as he opened up one of their textbooks.

Tanya opened a copy of the textbook. "We'll begin with mathematics." She instructed.

Through hard work, and Mina's suffering, the group made good progress. The learning students learned a little of their class material, more than they would have on their own. They had also learned that Tanya was an interesting teacher. She was cold, straight forward, and effective at getting results yet her temperament was forceful and impatient, a train with an unyielding schedule.

During the study session, Bakugo would bark out instructions when someone was too stuck for Tanya's tutoring. When he wasn't snapping at someone, he was idly brooding over his food.

'He actually seems to enjoy our company in his own weird way.' Mina grinned to herself after Bakugo had loudly and aggressively instructed Sato. 'His very weird way…'

By the end of it, Mina had a headache but felt she could pass and Sato felt like he had used his Quirk with how much his head spun.

"Same time Tuesday?" Tanya stated while she stood up to leave. She was satisfied with their progress that day. "Don't worry, we won't be studying. We'll be training on the testing fields."

Bakugo grinned. "Combat?"

"Combat." Tanya nodded. She stretched her wings out, cramped from the long time spent sitting.

"Finally." Bakugo huffed. His posture fixed itself as pride swelled forth. His neck rolled and cracked.

Mina popped out of her chair and fist bumped the sky with a big, open smile. "Let's go!"

Sato laughed quietly as his friends got all hyped up for something that was a few days away.

The spirit of ambition and growth hung over the friends as they split up until the training day restarted. Everyone knew the sports festival was coming up, and there was work to do if they wanted to stay ahead of the competition.

The Tuesday training with Tanya was brutal and exhausting, but felt so very rewarding.

Tanya worked on her air blasts. She practiced bouncing around in the air by diving into her own gusts. This resulted in her being able to dash around at jagged angles through the air, just like in her old life as Degurechaff.

She laughed aloud while dashing about like a rubber ball bouncing off invisible walls. It rang out with a regained joy, like meeting an old friend once thought dead. Her wings and shoulders hurt from the exhaustion, but it didn't stop her from having the time of her life.

'It's magic flight!' She cheered to herself. 'No mathematical formulas or complex mental structures, it's all built in! Like how a frog jumping doesn't need to calculate for gravity, it just does!' Her mind ran with her newfound freedom. 'All the freedom of aerial superiority with none of the mental taxing!'

She came to a sudden stop then dashed upwards, then sideways, then dived and hit the breaks. Over and over, she practiced dashing around without needing to beat her wings the whole time. To move more like Hawks or the aerial mages.

Back on the ground, Sato felt like hurling up his guts.

"Augh! ACk!" He gagged and gasped for breath. His arms and legs shook, his vision swam around him despite his efforts to focus on a single point.

'OK! Lesson learned!' He chastised himself. 'Coming down from times twenty five sucks! I-' His consciousness swam like a fish in a shaken jar. 'Everything comes crashing down!'

He had begun to explore the new limits presented by his Quirk's awakening. Every ten grams of sugar resulted in three minutes of times five strength and minor muscle expansion. When he went into times twenty five mode, it was like a layer of icing. Another ten grams of sugar for another three minutes, but it had to be contained within the original timeframe and all layers collapsed at the same time.

If he set his first layer, times five, for six minutes then activated times twenty five for three, once three minutes was up he'd collapse. Three minutes of times five would be canceled and lost in the process.

He held his breath as he steadied himself. 'Don't hurl, don't hurl, don't hurl!'

Mina stood in the middle of a road full of potholes, each one hissed softly with a puddle of acid. She rubbed her sore skin and groaned. "Uuuugh."

Her bubblegum pink skin had darkened and her pores felt stretched and dry.

She took a deep breath as she summoned up her determination. 'Control my acid. Move with me!'

Her skin ached as she produced more high quality acid. Purples and blues pushed out of her skin and slithered around her wrists. She relaxed the tendrils and let them droop limply but didn't let them fall apart. Long whips of acid hissed at the ready as they laid on the asphalt.

"Let's go!" She shouted as she brought her tendrils to life. They writhed and swung through the air like tentacles with long curls of movement.

Gray acid surged from her boots. She laughed as she skated around and swept the area with her tendrils.

'Use gray for skating and spraying!' She already began to dream up methods to use her newfound knowledge. 'And use purple and blue for fine control!'

Bakugo growled as he watched his team improve around him. He was annoyed at Sato's optimization of timing and strength boosting. He was angered by Mina's area of denial and light mobility. But most of all, he was furious at Tanya's hyperactive movements.

Watching her dash around the sky was like tracking a laser pointer wielded by a giddy child. His head began to hurt as Tanya banked on a dime yet again.

'She'll be my competition in the sports festival.' He growled to himself. 'Deku won't be a threat. His shitty excuse for a Quirk will take himself out long before he threatens first place. Smash all he wants, he doesn't have enough to take him all the way to the top. No, Chicken Wings here, she's competent, efficient, and lethal.' Something inside him fumed at the idea of anyone posing a threat to his title. 'She and that Half and Half bastard will be the real competition and I will win.' His fighting spirit roared to life.

He started training a moveset just for her. His firepower and mobility was already enough to wipe Half and Half off the roster, it'd just be a bit of effort. An attack that can work at range while also having area affect. Like the flak cannons from the before times. A canon was just a barrel

He aimed his palm to the sky, put the other hand over it in a cupped circle. and fired!

A jet of explosive flame shot from his hands into the air like a massive blowtorch.

He grinned. 'Better, but not good enough! More range!'

He prepped a glob of his sweat into his outer hand, then fired the inner one.

The glob heated up and was shot out of his palm before exploding in the air.

'That's it!' He grinned at the firework of smoke and soot.

He began firing over and over again, faster and faster, bigger and louder, till his arms felt like falling out of their sockets. Sweat ran down his face as he continued detonating the sky. The globs would explode further away, or closer to him depending on what he wanted but he had to decide when he fired.

Everyone trained themselves down to the bone. Till wings hurt, stomachs curled, skin stung, and arms felt full of nails.

An; Sorry this chapter seems empty. It's fairly long and covers some important moments for the characters; Deku's accelerated growth and the formation of team Tanya.

Tanya wants a group to work with, so she builds one. She wants meat shields and troops.

Mina likes having friends and wants to get more powerful so she can use her acid without hurting others.

Sato wants others to validate his strength so he can feel useful. He also likes having friends. Plays a unique role in the group as a coolant for Bakugo to let off steam.

And Bakugo. He's confident in his combat skills. He thinks he's the best, and for the most part he's right. But being a hero is more than just blowing up the bad guy and I feel he's smart enough to acknowledge this but too stubborn to admit to flaws so he accepts delegating that away to his team.

Next chapter will cover the dorms and the start of the sports festival.