"Fuck…"
Running through the forest, Akira knew he had to be fast. His class was in danger, he was in danger. He knows what could happen, he has to save everyone, he has to save himself. Suddenly, a green flash of lightning passes him.
"Midoriya! Wait!"
Akira kept running, luckily, Deku noticed him and ran back. "Togata, I thought I'd lost you, what happened?"
"No time, I need you to tell Mandalay something for me."
A few minutes earlier
"Alright everyone, listen up!" Mandalay and Pixie-Bob had gathered everyone in Class 1-A and 1-B, and were all talking outside the forest. "Tonight is the night of the test of courage! Each class will take it in turns hiding in the forest, and we'll send the other class in pairs to walk through, whoever scares the other class the most, wins!"
"So like a crappy haunted house?" Akira stated blatantly.
Lowering her hand from the air, Pixie-Bob frowned. "Sorta?"
"Pass."
"No passing on this Akira," Aizawa said, walking towards the group. "Unfortunately for you, this is mandatory."
"Really?"
"Yes, now stop complaining."
Rolling his eyes, Akira crossed his arms and stopped talking.
"And no, Mina, Sero and Denki, you're still coming with me, we have extra classes to do."
Groaning, the three dragged themselves towards Aizawa and followed him back to camp.
"Now," Mandalay spoke up again. "Class B will be the scarers first, so you lot go in now, while we put Class A into pairs."
Class 1-B hustled into the forest, leaving Class 1-A to be paired up. "And the pairs are as follows!" Mandalay began listing groups.
"Tokoyami, let's do this well." Shoji said with one of his arm-mouths as he walked towards Tokoyami.
"Yes, we shall revel in the darkness."
"Geez, let's beat the crap out of 1-B while everyone else here pees their pants Icy-Hot!"
"Sure, sounds good." Todoroki just shrugged at Bakugo's usual aggressiveness.
"Woah, can you believe it Jiro-san, we were put together!"
"Yeah, let's not screw this up Hagakure."
"Let us be glamorous, mademoiselle."
"Uh… ok?" Momo just stood still, confused at Aoyama's antics.
"Hey, Ururaka, looks like we were paired together ribbit!"
"Yeah, can't wait!"
"God how I wish I were touching boobs right now."
"Uhh, does anyone want to swap with me?" Ojiro asked, clearly uncomfortable with Mineta as a partner.
"No! We must stay in our given groups, isn't that right Kota?" Iida said, with his signature arm chop, Kota just nodded.
"Woah Sato, looks like we were paired together again, let's do this, the manly way!"
"Yeah!"
Everyone else was paired up. Who did that leave Akira with?
"Hey Akira!" Midoriya's voice grew closer. "Looks like I was paired with you, let's do well okay?"
"Yeah whatever," Akira just rolled his eyes.
"Oh don't be so down, Akira! It'll be fun!"
"What did you call me?"
"A-Akira."
"We're not of first name basis Midoriya, just because you smile and you're friendly with anyone doesn't mean we're friends." Akira faced away from Midoriya, shoving his hands in his pockets. "The only people who can call me Akira to my face are Kirishima, Momo, and Sato, and I'm being generous with Sato."
"But-"
"I don't want to be doing this stupid courage test anyway, I don't want a dumbass who just smiles all the time to make it any worse, you're too friendly." Akira walked away to sit in a tree, leaving Midoirya confused.
"Don't worry about him Midoriya," turning around, Midoriya saw Momo walking towards him. "He'll warm up to you eventually, he did to me, he's just… special."
"Yeah, that's a way to put it, he's like a mix between Kachaan and Todoroki."
"Don't be so crude, Todoroki and Bakugo have reasons for their behaviour, I'm sure he does too."
"I'll take your word for it."
A few minutes later, the first pair started their challenge, and every few minutes, a pair started their challenge, until…
"Is that… smoke?" Mandalay spoke, sniffing the air.
Before she could speak again, a sword slashed through the air, barely missing Mandalay.
"Wha- who are you?"
"We are the Vanguard action squad, and we are here to fulfil Stains' will!" The green-skinned one spoke.
Akira's eyes widened in shock, causing him to fall out of the tree, the sound of the impact causing the three villains' heads to turn.
"Who goes there?" The green-skinned one spoke again. Clasping a hand over his mouth, Akira ducked behind a tree, hoping the villains would direct their attention back to Mandalay, and by the sounds of it, they did.
Akira took this opportunity to run into the forest. Mandalay said something about smoke, and smoke means fire, and in a forest, that's no good. Akira needs to find someone, they could be in trouble! But there's not a person in sight, Akira keeps running until…
SLASH
Akira ducked, barely avoiding the knife that just got thrown at him, that now lodged itself into a tree.
"Well I hoped I would at least have scraped you on that one." A voice came from the forest. Walking towards him was a girl, presumably, wearing a mask to hide her face. "Oh, but where are my manners? I'm Himiko Toga, and I'm here because of Mr. Stainy, I'd love to have some of your blood!"
Akira grabbed the knife out of the tree trunk before Toga could finish talking, and dashed towards her. Slashing a knife at her, Toga managed to block it with another knife.
"No fair mister! I wasn't done talking!"
A kick quickly met Akira's stomach, causing him to fall back on the ground. Pushing himself back up, Akira dashed back at the villain.
"Sorry I didn't hit you the first time, I'm a tad out of practice!"
"And it shows~" Toga giggled, dodging Akira's attack with minimal effort. "Now, why don't you just get cut for me?"
With a slash of a knife, Akira takes a sharp breath as the knife cuts Akira's leg. In a hurry, all Akira can think of is to run. He can't fight so soon! He isn't over… no! He can't think of it now, dropping the knife, Akira runs as fast as he can away. Luckily, even with a cut leg, he's still able to run pretty fast, but just Akira's luck, he ran right towards the fire.
Skidding to a half, Akira dropped the knife he still held in his hand. He looks around frantically, trying to find any hint of his classmates. Nothing. There's only one thing he can do. Run. He runs and runs and runs.
Minutes pass, nothing. Is he running in the right direction? Who knows? The cut on his leg makes it harder to keep running with each step, but he keeps moving. Breathing through the pain, he kept running.
"Fuck…"
Akira knew he had to be fast. His class was in danger, he was in danger. He knows what could happen, he has to save everyone, he has to save himself. Suddenly, a green flash of lightning passes him.
"Midoriya! Wait!"
Akira kept running, luckily, Deku noticed him and ran back. "Togata, I thought I'd lost you, what happened?"
"No time, I need you to tell Mandalay something for me."
"What?"
"Tell her that it's exactly what All Might was worried about."
"How do you know what-"
"Go!"
Watching the direction that Midoriya ran, Akira followed. Who was that on his back? Was it Koda? Akira just shrugs it off. He has to make it back to camp, no matter how long it takes.
'Damn it. Why didn't I just stay with Mandalay when the other villains appeared? Am I really that scared to get into a proper fight again? No! I'm in a hero school for fucks sake! Get a grip Akira!'
Panting, he kept running, hopeful that eventually, he'd reach the camp, and a few minutes later, he did. Avoiding the fight as much as possible, he ran towards the building that supposedly held the spare lessons that Mina, Kaminari and Sero were taking.
In the building, through the halls, through the door…
SLAM!
He burst into the room, shocking everyone there.
"Togata?" Mina asked. "What's wrong?"
"No time… Aizawa, is he fighting?"
"Yeah, he left a few minutes ago." Kaminari answered.
Taking deep breaths, Akira walked to a desk, sitting himself down. "Good… good."
"What are you just sitting here for, shouldn't you be fighting with the rest of the class? Just because we're not allowed doesn't mean that-"
"No!" Akira snapped, making everyone freeze in fear? Shock? Who knows.
"Akira he-"
"Togata! You call me Togata, and no, it's too dangerous to fight, I'll just get in the way."
The tension in the room was thick, it would have gone unbroken, if not for the annoying snob who had yet to talk.
"Haha! And Class 1-A calls themselves well put together, they can't even get someone's name right!"
"Shut up Monoma!"
If the 1-A students in the room could agree on one thing, it was that. Akira sighs in defeat, putting his head in his hands. He's a failure. He was meant to become a hero, not some flightless bitch!
'I know… I know I can fight, but why won't my body let me?!"
"Hey Ak-" Akira shot Mina a cold glare. "Togata… can I ask you something real quick?"
"Knock yourself out."
"Did something happen with Momo yesterday?"
Akira froze up. Does she know? No, she can't, right? Right???
"Uhh… no, no, not that I know of."
"Really? I could've sworn that-"
"I'm not the person to ask about other people's problems, if you're concerned about Momo, ask her yourself when this is over."
"Alright, geez, way to be a buzzkill."
Once again, the room was so tense you'd need a knife to cut it, and all the while, Akira just sat, thinking over what happened when he was accepted into UA.
TWO MONTHS EARLIER
"All right then Akira," the odd mouse principal of UA spoke after closing a folder. "Your transfer to UA has been approved, despite some… ahem, problems. But as long as you prove you're a hero, it should all be just fine."
"Thank you sir."
"Oh please, just call me Principal Nezu, that is my position after all."
"Oh, right… Principal."
"I know you've gotten used to not having anyone else in charge but yourself yet, but I thank you for your cooperation. You may take your leave."
Standing up, Akira bowed as thanks, before leaving Nezu's office. It was after hours, so most students had gone home, and those who were still here were either in detention, or training their quirks. Letting out a sigh of relief, he kept walking, only to be interrupted by a bold voice a few metres behind him.
"Quite unusual of Nezu to allow a student halfway through a term, even if there's only been a month of school this year, hmm Togata?"
Drat. The one person he didn't want to run into until he was officially a student just initiated a conversation with him. All Might.
"You remember me… don't you?" Akira asked, not bothering to turn around to face the Number One Hero standing behind him.
"Whatever do you mean young lad?"
"Don't play dumb old man, just because it's been five years doesn't mean you can pretend like you don't recognise me. I'm the only person with a pure white eye… that I've heard of at least, thanks for that."
"Why would you need to thank me for something like that, hmm?"
"What do you want?"
"Well I just find it suspicious that after all this time, you come to UA now, the same year I've started teaching, and just a week after the U.S.J. attack nonetheless-"
"And the same year you chose your successor."
A shiver flowed down All Might's spine. Very few villains could strike any amount of fear into the beast of a man, especially not a 16-year-old boy.
"How do you-"
"Izuku Midoriya, the same person that went after the sludge monster, right? You should know by now that I'll know whatever happens with your quirk, especially with your withering state."
"That's not-"
"Important? Possible? Whatever, I'm here to become a hero, and I won't let you of all people get in my way."
Without looking back once, Akira began walking again. Just before he turned the corner, he could hear All Might say "no bad deed goes unpunished." Akira sighed.
"Yeah, whatever."
PRESENT DAY
"Geez, what's going on with Akira right now?" The yellow-haired Denki asked.
"How should I know?" Mina replied. "Momo's the one who's going crazy over him, not me!"
"Wait, Momo's doing what now?"
"You didn't know? She denies it, but she's obviously head over heels for him."
"No way," Denki spoke in disbelief.
"Guys, we shouldn't be talking about Momo behind her back like this…" Sero said.
"Oh relaaaax Sero, she's my friend, it's fine."
"If you say so."
Before another word could be said, a green flash bolted into the room.
"Midoriya?" Sero asked.
Panting, Midoriya barely managed to say "they got Kachaan…" before collapsing on the floor.