Runner Ups

by renren-writes

[Runner Ups Reboot] Even with the League of Villains gone, 20 years later a new threat emerges and terrorizes not heroes themselves, but Hero Academy students. The Boogeyman and his numerous copycats are on the loose and targeting students at all schools, with the latest victim to go missing a Zenshi Academy student. Time will tell if, or when, the others will follow.

7. VII: Settling In

So uh. Been a while.

I'm currently in the process of pre-writing chapters, and this was finished all the way back near the start of the year. Future updates will be similar in length to this one, maybe give or take 5k words, and I can't stress enough that I almost didn't come back to this fic at all. I kinda fell out of love with MHA and stuff, but working on DTR and retracing the steps of canon, as well as focusing more on my Yayoi fic, has helped kind of reignite that love of the fandom? And I missed this cast a ton, like a TON, so I really wanted to at least finish the Boogeyman story while exploring the adventures of Zenshi's 1-B. The next couple of chapters will be mostly slice of life/the kids getting into their classes, and I've been having a lot of fun with the class's first combat exercise a couple chapters down the line. If you're in the Inflorescence server, you probably saw snippets I'd post every time I got a chapter done. No more dangling a carrot in front of y'all, it's time to start posting what I got down =w=

Anyway hope you enjoy, and as a side note that I can't believe I have to say, I have not and will not ever give permission for my works to be reposted on sites like YouTube or TikTok. If you see someone posting my work on another side like the helpful guest reviewer on this fic has, please report the person reposting in question. If I crosspost my fics to other sites, I'll be the first to inform everyone and the usernames always, ALWAYS line up with the username I post on FFN from.

Again, hope you all enjoy!

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VII.

Settling In

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Arc Theme: Hello, World! - Bump of Chicken

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First thing in the morning on a Saturday, Teru was dragged out of bed by his senpais with enough excitement that he almost regretted applying for Zenshi.

Shortly after the entrance exam had concluded, Teru had been able to move into the dorms early at Zenshi with the other recommendation student. It was a break if he ever saw one, and he was relieved to not be at home in case Shiichi tried to come to his door and argue with him some more. Settling in hadn't taken long, and he'd even gotten into a nice routine with his future classmate as they talked about their Quirks and hobbies. Very peaceful overall, and he got comfortable quicker than he'd anticipated.

Shuzenji Shiki was an interesting person. Even when Teru wasn't entirely familiar with him back during the entrance exam, it was obvious that there was more to the boy than just the stereotypical musclehead jock. To begin with, Shiki didn't even like playing sports and would rant for hours about the numerous irreparable damage done to the human body by contact-based sports alone, and don't even get him started on the other types of sports. And Shiki wasn't exactly all muscle—he really took medicine seriously, and Teru figured it made sense with his Quirk and his family. His grandmother was Recovery Girl, and while he couldn't see the resemblance quite yet, Teru took him at his word. How many other people kissed others to heal them, after all?

Shiki hadn't minded Teru's own details either. In fact, Shiki was like a kid in a candy store when Teru got into the mood to bake and opened one of his moving boxes to find the right tools. Teru had even given him a hard time over how sweets were bad for the human body as well, but Shiki was smug with his reply.

"I'm always at peak condition," Shiki had bragged. "That's the best part of my Quirk. Healing others and near-perfect self-healing."

Lucky bastard.

Moving everything in had been easy, and when they'd been done, they were invited to help some of Class 1-A move into their dorms above their own floor. Teru hadn't been surprised to see Tsuna had made it into 1-A, but she'd been surprised to find out he was a recommendation. The first thing she did when she saw him this morning was hug him tight and spin him around in circles. It was dizzying, and Teru almost felt his breakfast come up, but Tsuna set him down quickly after hearing his stomach gurgle.

She'd been quick to make friends, it seemed, and two other girls stuck by her side with wide, interested eyes. One was a girl with blue hair named Mazuna, who greeted Shiki and Teru with a big smile and a bubbly personality, and the other was a girl named Saika, who wore goggles around her neck loosely like it was a fashion trend. Despite making new friends, though, Tsuna clung to Teru's side as he helped everyone in 1-A unpack their things and settle in.

"I thought you were applying for UA," Teru said once they got a moment to take a break. Tsuna rubbed the back of her neck and laughed softly, looking guilty to be caught in the act.

"Everyone insisted on it, and so did Tsume-san," she admitted. "But you know the saying—I cut off my nose to spite my face. He kept ranting and all this junk, and I decided we'd both show him what for and apply for Zenshi. We'd make a kickass team, right?"

Teru sighed and hung his head. "Tsuna…"

"Besides!" Tsuna tried again. "If I'd gone to UA with Tsume-san, I'd have gotten myself expelled for being too rough during practical training!"

Shiki was walking past with a box in his hands, pausing to listen in. "Why would you have gotten expelled?"

"UA would've kicked me out for beating up Teru's ex," Tsuna said casually. Teru felt his face flush a bright mint green, embarrassed at how blasé she was about the topic, and cleared his throat.

"Do we know what time the guys from our class are arriving?" he asked Shiki.

The silver-haired boy hummed. "I think Mamonaka-sensei said in the evening. Oh, don't head to bed as soon as we're done, either. I heard one of our seniors is planning on everyone doing a Q-and-A to get to know each other better."

Tsuna perked up. She sat up a bit and smiled up at Shiki, and he took that as an invitation to set down the box and sit in the empty seat in front of them.

"Hey, hey, is it true one of them is Quirkless?" she asked, lowering her voice.

Teru blinked and nodded. "Yeah, Olivia-san, isn't it?"

"She's our only foreign exchange student, too," Shiki recited. "She and her cat are a package deal."

"Oh-em-gee!" Tsuna held her face in her hands as she gushed. "I saw the picture of that little baby when Sensor Girl showed us who we were up against in the exam! Her name's Bebe, right? How cute, Bebe and Olivia-san…"

"Call her Bebe-senpai," Teru reminded her. "Shuzenji already made the mistake of just calling her Bebe."

"Broke my ribs, she did."

"She inverted your chest, Shuzenji."

"That still counts as breaking my ribs."

Out of nowhere, Tsuna let out a squawk and jumped up from her chair. She was excited, more than before, and her eyes were sparkling as she looked at Shiki.

"I knew I heard that name from somewhere! Are you related to Recovery Girl?" she asked loudly.

Shiki proudly smiled back at her, pleased to hear the topic of his grandma come up. He nodded fervently, and Teru had to pause to think about how that family tree worked again. Recovery Girl was getting there in age, probably about to hit 80 this year or somewhere near it, and he had to wonder if she'd had children later in life, who went on to have Shiki a little later too. From what Shiki had told him, his mother, Kimi, was a doctor who followed in Recovery Girl's footsteps—Teru was fairly certain she'd been the one to handle Shushu's condition back when the amethysts wouldn't come off her skin, ruling surgery for Shushu to be too mentally scarring with how much her skin would suffer from having whole layers peeled off.

Teru supposed, when you had a son like Shiki, you came to recognise very quickly what a normal teenager could handle in comparison to him. He walked off an inverted rib cage like it was nothing. Talked to Teru the whole time too and walked him through each repair his body did.

Distantly, he wondered if this made Shiki functionally immortal. Things that were usually lethal, like aforementioned rib cage inversion and offhand remarks about getting hit in traffic on the regular for Shiki, didn't seem to keep him down for long.

Tsuna and Shiki were very animated as they talked, and the topic eventually moved to not only Shiki's Quirk, but Tsuna's as well. She proudly showed off the chains that emerged from her skin, spinning one around idly as they spoke. They were such a beautiful sight, flawless gold that never broke under pressure. Teru had been there when Tsuna had demanded the Quirk's name be changed to "Adamantium Chains", but the government refused to give it a false name—they were simply a combination of several metals, not adamantium, and calling them "Chains" was simple and to the point.

"I feel you on that," Shiki said once she relayed the story. He propped his hands on his hips and sighed. "I had friends tell me my Quirk should've been called CPR, and I tried to do it for the bit, but calling it Lifeforce was more accurate to its effects. Can't complain, though. Lifeforce is a badass Quirk name."

For the bit, he said. Teru could imagine there were quite a few funny names to change Lifeforce to for the bit. CPR just sounded like the funniest off the top of his head.

Teru got to walk around and help the other students from 1-A pack their things away. He found one of the girls who'd been with Tsuna, Tsunematsu Mazuna, on the far side of the dorms with four other students and helped her set up her things. She'd brought a lot of chewing gum with her, and Teru was surprised to see her blowing bubbles and carrying things on them. Must've been her Quirk, he thought, and he complimented it as being handy for rescues.

Mazuna had been pleased to hear that. Apparently rescue work was what she aimed to do once she and others with similar skills could form a group.

"Keima-san is very versatile, the more I think about it," she noted. As soon as she was done unloading something from one bubble, it popped. Unlike a balloon, it was a soft, muted pop like most bubblegum tended to make when stretched to the extreme. "I bet she'll be the face of whatever group she joins. Maybe she could even get a solo gig!"

Teru cleared his throat and nodded in agreement. "We were both going to aim for UA, but I guess she decided to follow me to Zenshi instead. Don't tell her I said this, but it's good to have a familiar face around."

Mazuna gushed at the admission.

"Aw…" she cooed. "You guys must be the best of friends! That's so cute… I'll keep hush-hush on it, don't worry. But I'll do my best to help you two hang out if you ever wanna!"

He smiled softly. Mazuna got him, and he was relieved to hear that. Maybe he might hang out with her when things settled down and the two heroics courses interacted more often.

Almost everyone in 1-A was settled in by the time Teru and Shiki could go back to their floor. They ran into some of the upperclassmen in the hall leading to the elevator, and Bebe proudly marched around with a harness fastened around her as she dragged a sled of moving boxes behind her with ease. The last members of class 1-A were trailing behind her, tears in their eyes as they filmed her on their phones, and Teru watched over his shoulder as Bebe let out a loud, "Wawa!" as she turned the corner.

Everyone was getting a treat out of seeing Bebe today, he thought. She might as well have been the welcome gift the first-years needed. Teru hummed once, planting his hands on his hips, and Shiki paused his entrance into the elevator to look back at him.

"What's wrong, Kousaki?" he asked, peering back at Bebe as well. "Did you want to give Bebe-senpai butt scratches?"

"What— No," Teru said quickly. He coughed and felt his face heat up at the idea of giving his senpai butt scratches. Even if she was a cat, that was still his senior. "I was just thinking—Bebe-senpai's a nice treat for everyone, huh?"

"She's a sign of good luck," Shiki reasoned. "Think of Zenshi as a ship, and Bebe-senpai is our chief mouse inspector!"

That was one way of looking at it. Teru hummed again, uncertain, and he turned back to the elevator. Something just needled into his mind, the idea of Bebe being a treat for the newcomers sitting weirdly with him. None of 1-B had arrived yet, as far as they knew, and Teru tapped his foot against the elevator floor as it made the short drop to their floor below. A treat, he thought. Bebe was a treat for 1-A today.

Maybe he should figure out a treat for 1-B? Teru rubbed his chin as he thought, brows furrowed as the elevator dinged and opened up at the 1-B lobby.

Shiki called out to him again, asking if he was coming to the dorms to wait for their classmates. Teru blinked and glanced up again. He hummed a third time.

"I'm gonna go check something with the seniors," he told Shiki. "I know it's a while away, but can you ask our classmates to come to the cafeteria when they're done unpacking?"

Shiki stared at him, confused. "Sure? Why, though?"

"I don't think a cake big enough for the class will last a walk back to the dorms."

The word "cake" seemed to get Shiki excited. He sprinted back to the elevator as the doors slid shut, crashing into the wall as he did so. Teru crowded him, alarmed, and asked if he was alright. That was a big thud, he thought, and even if Shiki was fine physically, that was still a big thud.

"What kind of cake?" Shiki asked in place of reassuring Teru he was okay.

Really? All he was concerned about was the type of cake? Teru coughed into his fist and looked away as Shiki stood up, fit as a fiddle.

"I haven't decided yet," he mumbled.

"Are you buying it from somewhere?"

"No, I… thought I'd see if I could make it."

"You make cakes?"

Teru pressed the button for 1-A's floor rapidly. "I bake a lot of things."

The elevator began to move at last. Teru wasn't sure what to make now, but there was definitely pressure. Not only did he have to make a cake big enough for all of the students, of which there were twenty-four, but he had to take into account tastes and allergies. What if one cake couldn't be eaten by several people? What if some people had bigger appetites? Smaller? What if Teru messed up the cake anyway? That was a lot of people to disappoint.

"You can't beat a cheesecake," Shiki mused. "Especially the super jiggly ones. Do you own one of those cake branding irons? I saw this one channel, I think it was called Jin's Kitchen, he ordered one specially for his siblings. It's in the shape of a cat paw."

Teru had heard of that. He didn't watch cooking channels often—those instant meal channels were fat liars, if he ever saw one—but a cake branding iron was something worth investing in.

"Where would I get one?" he asked Shiki.

Shiki pulled out his phone in an instant. "What shape do you want? A star? Wait, what's your Quirk? We can base it off of that."

He was definitely enthusiastic about it. Teru relaxed somewhat as he leaned near Shiki, peeking at his phone screen as he scrolled through online shops selling custom irons. He wasn't too keen on something shaped like a gemstone, especially since a diamond was the default when people picked gemstones, and Teru wanted to at least pick something nice.

Maybe not something trademarked, like Moomin was, and as much as the Totaro iron was tempting him, Teru saw a simple one that he felt had a nice, if a bit obscure, nod to his interests.

"The spiral one reminds me of that one horror manga," he mumbled. Shiki paused his scrolling, clicking on the listing for a simple iron in a spiral shape. It looked more like the spiral on a fish cake, but the theme of the horror series was spirals overall, so it worked. "I might buy that one later. Text me the link."

Instead of texting him the link, Shiki innocently tapped, Add to cart, and proceeded to checkout.

"Shuzenji," Teru deadpanned. "What are you doing."

"Was it not obvious?"

Son of a…

"Why are you buying it?" Teru reiterated.

Shiki smiled down at him innocently. He finished purchasing the iron and pocketed his phone. "Saves you the trouble of buying it later. And I'll owe you for the cake anyway."

A cake did not cost under six hundred yen. Arguably, a cake cost more in terms of ingredients used. But a slice of cake did not cost six hundred yen—not from an amateur, at least.

He squinted up at Shiki as the elevator dinged and opened up to the 1-A floor again. Bebe was at the door, letting out a loud, "Wawao!" in greeting as she trotted inside. Teru and Shiki backed up instinctively—her sled was a little big, but the memory of her kick was bigger—and the doors shut before Teru could leave to search for an upperclassman.

Bebe looked up at both boys expectantly as the doors shut and the elevator stayed in place. She sat down, yawning, and a little, "Mya…" escaped her in the silence.

Teru and Shiki looked to each other nervously. Teru wasn't keen on asking Bebe which floor she wanted.

"Um…" Shiki pointed to the buttons near Teru. "Which floor, senpai?"

The collar around Bebe's neck let out an almost scratchy sound, and a small rod emerged with a round speaker attached to it. It hovered above Bebe like some kind of antenna, and Teru felt his heart leap into his chest with hope and expectation. Was this it? Was this the culmination of shitty meow-translating apps? Was Bebe about to speak? What pronouns did a cat use? Was Bebe going to use the ever-arrogant ore-sama?

Bebe's mouth didn't open as a voice rattled through the speaker.

"Can you please hit the ground floor button?" the voice asked politely. Teru and Shiki froze, stunned. Bebe's voice was… heavily accented like an American trying to enunciate their words correctly. Were cats American?

Teru awkwardly reached around Bebe's sled and pressed the button. The elevator began to move towards the ground floor at a languid pace.

"Do you need… help, Bebe-senpai?" he asked, nervous.

Bebe licked her lips and straightened herself up at the sound of her name. She began to move around, doing a U-turn with her sled in order to face the doors, and the speaker stayed upright all the while.

"Bebe's got it covered! Thank you, though!" the voice chirped.

She refers to herself in the third person, Teru thought as he felt his heart squeeze.

The elevator slowly crawled to a stop at the ground floor, and the boys were silent the rest of the ride down. Bebe only really meowed once at them, lifting her head like she was demanding pats, and Shiki indulged her with ear scratches. But when the doors opened, Bebe was quick to rush out with the sled and run towards an upperclassman carrying some boxes.

The upperclassman must've been Olivia, because she was the only foreigner the boys had seen today among their seniors. Her blonde hair was tied up in a messy ponytail, half of her hair clipped out of her face, and the large glasses perched on her nose had come loose as she carried the boxes. She heard Bebe approach, no doubt the cat wanting to return to her owner for praise, and Olivia dropped the boxes onto Bebe's sled with a grunt. She let out a tired sound, hunched over herself as she paced her breathing. The boys awkwardly exited the elevator and simply stared, uncertain of what to do next. Even if Teru wanted to bake something for his future classmates, whether or not he was allowed to was up in the air now.

Olivia finally noticed the boys and smiled at them. She made her way over, Bebe in tow with eager meows, and waved to them.

"You must be the new first-years!" she greeted, and her voice had the same lilt and enunciated Japanese as Bebe's speaker did. "Nice to meet you both! I'm Olivia—Olivia Mendes."

Well, that confirmed it. Teru cleared his throat and was polite in his reply. "Nice to meet you, Olivia-senpai. I'm Kousaki Teruki."

"Shuzenji Shiki," Shiki chimed in with a wave. Olivia was pleased to learn their names—more than the others had been, at least.

"I hope you guys are settling in alright," Olivia told them. She was chipper, very warm in her approach, and Teru couldn't help noticing the slightly reserved way she conducted herself. Almost like she was trying to force herself to be quiet while greeting them enthusiastically. "I think Ichigo told me about you two—weren't you both recommended? I heard one of you was recommended by Deku like I was."

Teru was startled into raising his hand. He awkwardly added, "B—Barely."

Olivia gave him a warm, reassuring smile. "Have a little more faith in yourself, Kousaki-san. Deku rarely recommends anyone to a hero academy, and if he's recommended you to Zenshi, it means he wants to see your potential realised. I never would've been able to give Bebe the opportunity to prove herself back home, and most places don't want Quirkless students in the heroics course. I think he believes you'll flourish with people who can help you in the field."

That was a pretty way of looking at it. Zenshi formed primarily groups who would debut or become sidekicks at the same agency, but rarely did a Zenshi alumnus go solo after graduation. Skathi was the one outlier, but her teammates retired quickly after a year of work as Pro Heroes. Honestly, if he thought about it, a lot of students from Zenshi tended to retire early—maybe they couldn't cut it in a group? Maybe they wanted a solo career, but were so used to working in groups, they couldn't? Whatever the reasons, Teru just considered himself lucky to even be given to a team to work with.

Shiki nodded fervently, though, and he seemed encouraged by Olivia's words despite them being meant for Teru.

"Thank you, senpai!" he chirped. "The other upperclassmen have been telling us about your achievements. It's really impressive that you're able to come this far with Bebe-senpai!"

Olivia laughed, almost nervous, as she looked down at Bebe. Teru frowned at the way she reacted—almost like she was ashamed—and leaned closer to Shiki as Olivia tried to compose herself.

He didn't get a chance to whisper to Shiki that they should keep moving, because Olivia replied with a soft, "Thank you… Most people outside of the heroics department would disagree, though."

Ah… Now that Teru thought about it, some of the upperclassmen were telling 1-A's students to ignore the comments about Olivia. Despite all the good things they had to say about her, others believed it was unfair that Olivia was in the heroics department because of Bebe. Some felt slighted, while others—with more personal motivations—felt that the recent kidnapping of Usagiyama Usamaru should've been Olivia in his stead. The son of Mirko had more potential than a Quirkless girl who hid behind the sidelines and pointed her cat towards danger.

Teru pursed his lips and glanced down at Bebe. The calico was rubbing against Olivia's leg, keen to the change in the blonde's disposition, and Bebe let out a quiet, "Woo…"

Olivia cleared her throat and smiled warmly again, doing her best to cast aside the thoughts of those outside of the heroics department.

"Well, what can you do, right?" she laughed.

Before Teru realised it, he blurted out, "You know, Olivia-senpai, I was actually just going to go to the cafeteria and, uh…"

As he trailed off, Shiki finished for him, "He's making a cake."

Olivia blinked, surprised. It took a few seconds for the words to process, but then she was giggling to herself as Bebe relaxed somewhat.

"The cafeteria is better than the communal kitchens," she agreed. "Make sure to ask for permission—Gourmand should be there right now, preparing ingredients for breakfast tomorrow. Ask him if you can borrow his kitchen first."

Olivia entered the dorms after that, not much else being said. She did tell Teru that she might send Bebe later to collect leftovers for the upperclassmen, but reassured him that the goodies for his class would go to 1-B first. Teru relaxed a little more, watching Olivia and Bebe disappear into the elevator, and he and Shiki continued towards the cafeteria afterwards.

The Pro Hero running the kitchen, Gourmand, was apparently a sidekick of Lunch Rush's before switching to Skathi's agency and joining the staff at Zenshi. Zenshi's general studies department had home economics classes where everyone else had Pro Hero-related classes, and Gourmand was apparently a very patient teacher. True to his name, he was someone who enjoyed all types of food—both eating and cooking them. He rivalled Fat Gum in roundness, Teru found, but his Quirk of being able to create whatever he wanted from light didn't quite fit his gourmand theme.

To each their own, Teru supposed.

The man was in the kitchen when Teru and Shiki arrived, and without hesitation, Gourmand sent a tendril of light to the fridge across the room and pulled out two drinks for the boys. Juice boxes were apparently part of what they included on the menu, depending on who wanted them, and Teru sipped his quietly as Shiki happily relayed to Gourmand that they were going to make a cake. Gourmand, chubby face flushed under his bushy moustache and large chef hat, let out an intrigued sound as he listened to Shiki list the types of cakes he liked offhandedly.

"We're getting more food delivered tomorrow," Gourmand told the boys as they finished their juice boxes. He jabbed a thumb to the large fridges and pantries, unbothered by the request being made. "A few cakes won't hurt our supply. Make a couple of them! One won't be enough for twenty-four kids, anyway."

Gourmand didn't even pause to ask if Teru actually knew how to cook. He just hobbled out, smiling like jolly old Santa with his red cheeks, and left to go report to Skathi about preparations for breakfast being done.

"Guess that's that," Shiki said, satisfied. He beamed at Teru excitedly. "So what kind of cake are you making?"

Well, since it was multiple on the menu now, Teru felt a little less restricted on what to make. He sniffed, checked the time on his phone, and then peeked at all the ovens inside. This kitchen was almost as big as the entire house combined, he thought, and no oven would go to waste at this rate.

"I think I have a few ideas," he mumbled.

---

When the cute talking kitty pointed her in the direction of the cafeteria, Yoyo wasn't going to question it one bit! When something cute pointed you in the direction of something you loved more than anything in the world, you didn't stop to question it! You asked how fast you had to get there, lickety split!

She barely had time to unpack her things before the cat—who was her senpai! Her senpai!—entered her room with someone else, and the cat had a little speaker tell them to leave. The other girl who'd arrived, Emiko, was getting along with her super well once the cat left, too. It wasn't often that people matched Yoyo's energy, and the dragon-like girl was laughing along with Yoyo's jokes as they finished packing their things away and left for the elevator.

Emiko looked so cool, Yoyo thought as they waited for the trip down to end. From what it looked like, her claws on her feet were too big for shoes and the talons on her hands were sharp enough to cut through anything—but then there were the blue scales all over Emiko's arms and legs and even on the back of her neck, peeking up to her cheeks! The emerald sheen to them made it feel like Emiko was looking at a real dragon! She watched Emiko's tail move back and forth happily as the elevator slowed to a stop, and she briefly wondered if Emiko ever tripped over her tail before. It was pretty big, for sure, but Yoyo always heard that heteromorph Quirks were basically like regular arms and legs!

"What do you think is in the cafeteria?" Emiko asked as they walked at a comfortable pace.

Yoyo was drooling as she quickly replied, "Food! Lots and lots of food!"

The cat never told them what was waiting for them, but a girl could hope. What else would be at the cafeteria, if not a warm meal?

They practically kicked the doors open as they walked in, marching proudly side by side. Emiko sniffed the air and let out an interested sound, and Yoyo practically sprinted towards the window where someone was already sitting.

She recognised the silver-haired boy from the entrance exam. Yoyo stopped and pointed to him, mouth in a perfect O-shape, and the boy beamed at her and waved.

Emiko laughed softly as she walked past Yoyo, who was still pointing at the guy. Emiko simply waved back at him, grinning, as she remarked, "Beat us to the punch already. I thought we'd be the first ones here."

"Not quite," the silver-haired boy chuckled. "But you're in for a treat. Kousaki's been moving non-stop in there."

Yoyo finally ran the rest of the way to the window, wedging herself between Emiko and the boy, and she said loudly, "I know you!"

"And I know you," the silver-haired boy chirped back, also matching Yoyo's energy. The trio laughed at the greeting, and Yoyo leaned against the window eagerly as she tried to peek inside. "He's making cakes. Our job is to wait for the cakes to finish cooking."

"That's, like, the hardest part!" Yoyo whined. She deflated a little, leaning against Emiko as she did so, and she went on, "Emimi, I'll die without food!"

Emiko snorted a laugh and patted Yoyo's head. She looked over Yoyo, at the silver-haired boy, and spoke to him instead.

"Mori Emiko," she introduced herself. The boy nodded in greeting. "Lookin' forward to workin' with you."

"Country girl, huh?" Shiki asked, and Yoyo wondered if he was talking about the way Emiko spoke. Was it easy to tell she was from the countryside? "Shuzenji Shiki. My buddy in the kitchen is Kousaki Teruki. Ah—before anything gets asked, he's a guy."

Well that was a weird thing to specify! Yoyo was certain she could tell boys from girls, but she supposed some people needed that kind of reminder. She pulled herself from her downtrodden mood over waiting for cakes and perked up again, getting right up in Shiki's face as she introduced herself.

"Yoyo Yoyo, at your service!" she declared. "I love food, and I love food! I also love food!"

"Do you think she likes food?" Emiko joked.

"Don't I know it," Shiki groaned. He rubbed his jaw, and Yoyo tilted her head at him. "Gotta say, taking a bunch of candy to the face and almost choking on it all was a first. How much do you have in there, anyway?"

Candy? Yoyo patted herself down, wondering where he could see candy on her. But then, as she pulled her sweatshirt down, she saw the star on her chest. Doy! How did she forget that? Yoyo giggled innocently as she reached inside the star on her chest, rummaging around for her snacks.

"I always keep a stock prepared for a rainy day," she informed Shiki. "Do you guys want some? My dad made a bunch of sweets before I left today!"

It didn't take long for Shiki to go into the kitchen and produce a ton of platters to sit the sweets on. Yoyo wiggled on the spot as he laid each plate out, and she quickly and methodically pulled out each sweet as she put them on the platters. One full platter of bocchan dango sticks, one full platter of sakuramochi, one full platter of ichigo daifuku—even a full platter of mitarashi dango! The long tables of the cafeteria were lined with plates of sweets that Emiko and Shiki were struggling to pick from, and Yoyo just continued to pile them out. A platter of nerikiri, a platter of gyuuhi, and a platter of higashi too!

She gestured to the plates with a flourish, but as soon as she was done, Yoyo wasted no time in piling a ton of the sweets into one hand and munching down on them.

Japanese cuisine really was the best, she thought as the taste of the sakuramochi lit up her taste buds.

"So I know how Yoyo-san passed the exam," Shiki said as he munched on a sakuramochi, "but how did you pass, Mori-san?"

"It was the darndest thing," Emiko said. She was dual-wielding mitarashi dango, three in each hand, between each knuckle, as she chewed the remainder of the daifuku in her mouth. "So I met this guy, Koizumi-san, before the written exam. His Quirk was future sight, and he acted like we were best buds and all that—and after the written exam, he beelined for me with this other guy, Irinaga-san! It was so weird, he kept acting like we'd been friends since we were in diapers."

Yoyo rocked back and forth as she stuffed six gyuuhi into her mouth. "Maybe you were all childhood friends," she chimed in. Yoyo even began to rub her hands together sinisterly as she speculated this juicy information. "Maybe it's a super badass origin story amnesia!"

Emiko shook her head, grinning at Yoyo. "Nah, he was just so used to seein' me and this other guy as his friend in the future that he got lost in the present," she explained. Oh… That's right, Emiko did just say that he had a Quirk that let him see the future. Doy, Yoyo! "Anyway, me an' Irinaga-san just followed his instructions and breezed through it! Ah… But we sprung a pitfall trap someone laid in the forest at the end. I thought for sure we wouldn't make it in, since they took our badges!"

The way Emiko described how she'd passed, it got Yoyo super inspired. She watched the dragon girl speak with glistening eyes, enamoured by the story, and she super, super wanted to meet these Koizumi and Irinaga fellas! She hoped Koizumi wanted to be friends with her too—he sounded like a super nice guy!

"All's well that ends well!" Yoyo chirped. Emiko chuckled and nodded in agreement. "Oh! Oh! You wouldn't believe who I got to work with while I chased down Shikiki!"

"Shikiki?" Shiki asked, confused.

Yoyo let out a dismayed sound. "Yeah, you're right. It doesn't roll off the tongue all that well. Maybe Shi-chi?"

The ever elusive Teruki walked over to the window when Yoyo said that. He was carrying a bowl filled with dark brown batter—no freaking way, was he making chocolate cake? Oh, Yoyo could kiss him!

"Vetoed," he chimed in. "It's basically the same name as my ex, and Shuzenji's too nice to share a name with that dirtbag."

Shiki brought a hand to his chest. "Aw, bro…"

"I'm so sorry to hear about the breakup," Emiko added. She was a little awkward, not quite sure where to look, and cleared her throat as she glanced at Yoyo and Shiki. Shiki just shrugged, and Yoyo tilted her head cluelessly. "Do you. Uh. Want me to beat the guy up?"

Teruki barked out a laugh. He was smiling ruefully as he turned on his heel, walking back into the kitchen to pour the batter into a tray.

"Already took care of that. You guys keep enjoying the candy," he called through the window.

Who was Yoyo to deny such a generous request?

Emiko cleared her throat again. She looked at Yoyo, smiling more comfortably, and finished the first of her mitarashi dango. Five to go!

"So, you were saying, Yoyo-san?" she asked.

Oh! Right! Yoyo nodded fervently as she swallowed the nerikiri hurriedly. "So Shi-chi's off the table—how about Shi-chu?"

"Oh, I love that," Shiki said quickly. "My Quirk involves kissing."

"My hero, Shi-chu-chu!" Yoyo cheered.

"Uh…" Emiko laughed nervously again. "I meant about who you worked with in the exam. Who was it?"

Oh! Gosh, Yoyo was such a scatterbrain sometimes!

Yoyo posed dramatically, one arm wrapped around her waist and the over hand masking her face, and she smirked at Shiki and Emiko as they watched her.

"Once known as the number two in Japan, now a brooding Pro Hero who patrols the skies by night," she monologued. "The pride of the Public Hero Safety Commission, and one of the legendary Pro Heroes who defeated the High End Nomu twenty years ago. Scarlet wings zooming through the sky, sassy voice stealing the show at every interview."

And then Yoyo stopped posing, giving Emiko and Shiki a wink as she planted her hands on her hips.

"I got to work with his daughter!" she chirped.

Shiki was the one who reacted first. Maybe it was because Emiko was a country girl, but it seemed she didn't recognise the description as quickly. But, Yoyo thought, Shiki probably lived in the area his whole life and knew the Pro Hero rankings better than everyone else in the room.

"No way, Hawks's daughter applied here?" he marvelled. "I wonder if she got in. I thought the HPSC would've recruited her like they did her old man."

Emiko seemed to understand who they were referring to now. "Oh… Then again, with the stuff that happened with Lady Nagant and the president being killed, wouldn't it be safer for her to just apply to a hero academy instead?"

"Maybe," Shiki said, half-convinced. "I wouldn't call it safer now compared to back then, though. With the whole Boogeyman situation, I mean."

The trio went silent. It was an instant conversation killer, which Yoyo thought was appropriate, considering the topic was an actual serial killer. It felt so awkward again, and Yoyo chewed with a frown as the silence settled over them. Man, she wasn't really keeping up with the whole Boogeyman stuff, but it was so depressing to think about. Making it into the hero academies was such a big deal, wasn't it? To Yoyo it was, at least.

She never expected that she could stand toe to toe with so many talented people, especially in 1-B. It made sense that someone like Yoyo didn't make it into 1-A, but to still land in the heroics department? That was such a big deal!

Yoyo nodded thoughtfully, confident, and she chirped, "But at least we're safe in the dorms, right? I didn't pay much attention to it, since it was all too confusing, but isn't this place, like, Fort Knox?"

Emiko let out an impressed sound, agreeing with Yoyo, but Shiki took a moment to think on it as he scrunched up his face. Eventually, he asked, "Didn't Faye Tality break into it a couple years back?"

"Eh!? Someone broke into Fort Knox!?" Yoyo gasped.

"Yeah, I think her Quirk just steamrolled the security system. Something like a perpetual motion Quirk?"

Oh no… What if Boogeyman had a Quirk like that? Were they sitting ducks?

The questions seemed to show on her face, because Shiki was quick to backtrack and hold his hands up in surrender. "Ah, but that was totally different to our situation!" he tried. "With all the possible Quirks Boogeyman might have, a perpetual motion Quirk wasn't one of them! L—Look, I even have a list I made online to try narrow it down!"

He fumbled in search of his phone and pulled it too quickly out of his pocket. Yoyo watched the phone fly up into the air, soaring towards the candy, and she gasped in horror as the sakuramochi seemed to be in danger of splattering. Yoyo reached for the phone, letting out a horrified scream of, "The mochi!" as Emiko stood in shock at the sight before her. Even Shiki tried to dive for the phone, desperate to keep any and all stickiness off of his phone.

Shiki landed on top of a platter—gyuuhi flicked up into his face and blinded him—while Yoyo opened her sweatshirt with one hand to suck up the candy she would've landed on. Neither of them managed to reach the phone, but it seemed they wouldn't have regardless. The phone hovered in the air mid-fall, spinning on the spot a little, and as they stared at it in awe, Emiko let out a surprised, "Oh!" and gestured to the cafeteria doors.

Standing there, one hand raised, a grey-haired boy stared at them with a mildly intrigued expression. Behind him, a smaller girl with black and red hair peeked around his shoulder with a grin.

More classmates, Yoyo thought in awe. More classmates!

---

Even though there weren't many of them at the school yet, it seemed enough of class 1-B had arrived to warrant a small gathering at the cafeteria.

Tora was told upon arriving to go to the cafeteria, but his priorities were a bit more focused on something else before that. He packed his stuff away in his room, and he didn't miss that each room on the floor was labelled in order of desk number. Not a bad layout, but that made it a little difficult with what he wanted to find. He had to check every single plate on the doors to double check everything—Tora even recognised the names of other Pro Hero children, having heard of their parents from his own mother—but it felt like it took way too long to find the name he wanted to find. He'd wasted so much time checking 1-A's doors as well, believing the target of his search to be in the higher-placing student body from the entrance exam, but that wasn't the case.

As soon as he asked the people in 1-A if they knew someone named Teruki, a girl with chain tattoos on her arms and another girl with blue hair waved him down and happily told him that was his classmate. Tora was elated beyond words, and he wasted no time sprinting back to the elevator to go to 1-B's floor. Finally, after recognising the other names, he found it—Kousaki Teruki. Seat eleven.

They were in the same class… They were in the same class!

The girls from 1-A had followed him down in order to help him with his luggage, and he only found out about the cafeteria after he found Teru's room. One of them seemed a little antsy, watching him with less of a smile each time, but he didn't mind it. Tora knew that his eccentricness wore people down, and it was none of his business why unless it was actively hurting them. He was obsessive, but he wasn't cold-hearted.

Finally, though, when he went to move for the elevator and head to the cafeteria, muttering under his breath that he hoped Teru was there already, he felt something snag his arm. He looked down, spotting a chain wrapped around his arm and linking him to the girl with the tattoos, and Tora tilted his head innocently at her.

"Keima-san, what's wrong?" the other girl asked.

"I, um…" The girl with the tattoos sucked in a deep breath through her nose and steeled herself. "Look, uh… Ono-san, was it?"

Tora nodded once.

"I'm not saying this because of some cliche rival junk or anything," she went on. "But I need to know what your intentions with Teru-rin are."

Oh? She called him Teru-rin? Tora felt himself bristle. Competition? No, she just said she wasn't asking for the cliche reasons. But then again, did she consider another boy competition? She was hard to gauge. Tora smiled at her, expression tight and firm, and he pulled at the chains around his arm. The girl's eyes went wide as she reinforced her stance, refusing to be pulled with her chains.

"I just want Teru-chi to flourish," Tora told her firmly. And then, in a more chipper tone, "He left such an impression on me, you see. He's dazzling, if you ask me!"

The girl didn't seem convinced. She glared at Tora, frown deepening, and the girl with the blue hair had to step between them with her hands raised at both of them.

"Now, now, you two!" she said loudly. "Let's calm down! We all clearly like Kousaki-san here! Ah, not in that way for me, obviously, but, ah… We're all friendly with him! So let's cool our heads and use our words, hm?"

The girl with the chains sucked in another breath, and she was clearly following Blue Hair's instructions as she reluctantly unsnared Tora's arm and recalled her chains. She planted her hands on her hips, frustrated, and shook her head.

"Right, right, use my words…" she muttered to herself. And then she was composing herself, a bright and sunny expression on her face as she looked at Tora. Tora, reflexively, returned the sunny disposition immediately. "Sorry about that! I'm Keima Tsuna, Teru-rin's friend from middle school. I'm a bit protective of him, I guess you could say…"

So that's how it was. Tora wasn't bristling anymore as he turned to face Tsuna fully. "No worries," he laughed. "I may have misinterpreted the situation a little myself. I'm Ono Tora, though you probably saw my room's name plate earlier."

Blue Hair looked pleased with herself as she gave a little cheer. "See, look at us getting along! Oh, and I'm Tsunematsu Mazuna! Nice to meet'cha, Ono-san!"

Yes, yes, they were all getting along swimmingly. Tora nodded in greeting to Mazuna, but his focus was still mostly on Tsuna.

"Forgive me for asking, but why are you so protective of Teru-chi?" he said. Tora brought a hand to his chin in thought. "He seemed pretty capable of taking care of himself. That amethyst kick was nothing to shirk at. I needed an ice pack for a couple days afterwards."

"Ah, no, I don't think he can't defend himself," Tsuna said quickly. "Far from it. He's… very fighty. I don't need to threaten you not to bully him because I know he'll go nuclear immediately. I just… Forgive me for asking again, but what are your intentions?"

Tora tilted his head again. "Oh, was I not clear?" he asked. He shrugged and giggled. "I guess you could say it was love at first sight, so to speak!"

Tsuna's coldness was back again. Hm… Maybe he shouldn't have ruled her out as a rival. Whether or not it was platonic on her part was up for debate, but she clearly had enough of a problem with Tora's feelings to reject him on the spot. Was it possessiveness? Refusal to let her best friend leave the nest? Oh, was she one of those overbearing group mothers who gaslit their friends into being dependant on them—

"Respectfully, I ask that you take your time with sorting out your feelings," Tsuna told him. "He just got out of a rough relationship, and the last thing he needs is another one."

Tora blinked. Him? Rough? Never!

But then the words sank in, and his smile dropped as well. He stared at Tsuna, unblinking, as he asked slowly, "How rough?"

Tsuna furrowed her brows. She opened her mouth, hesitant, but then closed it. She looked away from Tora briefly as she muttered, "I don't want to see him belittled again, is all. Let him get his confidence back before making any moves."

Ah?

Ah?

Tora was speechless. He stared at Tsuna as the words continued to circle in his head, the scenarios playing out over and over. Did Teru seem like he wasn't confident in the entrance exam? No, he didn't seem like he lacked confidence—but he did seem like he lacked patience and tolerance. As soon as Tora had mistakenly called him a girl, Teru was quick to anger and fight back. Was that a product of the old relationship? Was Tsuna there to witness it? Why didn't she do anything? She was right there, wasn't she? She knew how it'd affected Teru, so what business did she have in dictating these things for him? Teru seemed plenty confident in his firm stance at the entrance exam. Why did she think his confidence was kicked down?

When Tsuna's face came back into focus for him, he noticed an unnerved expression had replaced her shameful one. Even Mazuna looked uncomfortable, holding Tsuna's hand tightly with her own.

"Hey," Tora asked, still speaking slowly. "Is that person at Zenshi too?"

Tsuna was startled out of her stupor and shook her head quickly. "N—No," she told him. "He went to UA. Teru-rin, he was supposed to go there, too, but… Zenshi was a better fit for him after the breakup."

Tora let out a breath and smiled brightly again. He relaxed his shoulders, letting out a small laugh, and he waved a dismissive hand. "What a shame," he joked. "But I guess that means Teru-chi has less to worry about here, huh? Anyway, it was nice meeting you guys!"

He could hear them muttering even as he stood in the elevator and waited for it to go down. Mazuna was the one freaking out more, and Tora just laughed to himself softly at her words. Yeah, he had that effect on people, he thought. But Tsuna seemed to be taking it well, despite her initial shock.

"Keima-san, we gotta warn Kousaki-san!" Mazuna was whispering frantically. "I think he's one of those types! You know, the type who cuts your hair in your sleep as a keepsake and sniffs your stolen laundry!"

"No," Tsuna said firmly. "I think he's perfect. I don't have to worry about Teru-rin being expelled for getting into a fight if Ono-san beats him to the punch."

Yes, Tora thought as the doors closed and the elevator began to move. He was perfect for Teru.

He was skipping to the cafeteria as he ran into a couple of others—a girl with dark skin and cherry red hair going by the name of Takishima Asuka, another girl with an eyepatch over one eye going by the name of Hachisuka Hime—and the trio walked together to the cafeteria while holding a delightful conversation. Or, rather, Asuka and Tora held the conversation. Hime was keeping an eye open and glancing about, and whenever a bee would approach her she'd seem to communicate with it quietly.

Eventually, as they approached the main building—and the cafeteria by proxy—Hime held up a hand and asked the duo a question.

"How's your social battery on a good day?" she asked.

Asuka snorted a laugh and waved Hime off dismissively. "I'm a social person, darling," she boasted. "Meeting and greeting is my forte."

Tora nodded fervently in agreement. "I don't have any problems with being around a lot of people," he chimed in.

Hime looked displeased. Not disappointed or dismayed, but seemingly displeased someone didn't seem to share her own apparent apprehension. Asuka moved closer to her, though, and she looped one arm around Hime's in a show of solidarity.

"Let's make a safeword," Asuka proposed. Tora let out an intrigued sound and nodded in agreement again.

"Yeah! We can find somewhere quiet for you if you say it to us," he told her. "I'm sure there's a spot you can chill out in—"

"Ah, no, you've misunderstood me," Hime cut him off. Tora and Asuka looked at her in surprise. "I asked because I already met a nervous wreck in the exam, and I didn't see him inside the cafeteria, but I figured I'd ask ahead of time for you two."

Tora tilted his head with a hum. "But you looked disappointed that we're extroverted."

"Oh," Hime said quietly. "No, I was more bothered that the big guy wasn't in there. I didn't commit his name to memory, either, so checking the names on each door was out of the question."

"I think we're missing the most important part," Asuka cut in loudly. Both teens looked to her with a curious expression. Asuka's brow was pinched in frustration as she tugged Hime closer to her. "Hachisuka-chan just said she saw inside the cafeteria, but the doors haven't opened yet! So? How'd you do it? Was it your Quirk?"

With how strong Asuka's grip seemed to be on Hime's arm, it was obvious Hime was being put on the spot. The blue-haired girl sighed and frowned, and more bees began to gather around her. It was almost like they were drawn to her, and Tora idly thought back to an old story his mother once told him about someone with a bee-manipulation Quirk. Didn't that villain wear an eyepatch to hide where the bees came from?

The more Tora thought about it, the more he wracked his brain for all the names the villain went by. She'd been one of those rare cases of an animal possessing a Quirk, like Bebe and the headmaster of UA were, but she went by so many names instead of her own to stay under the radar. What was one of them? Bee Pop?

Hime groaned and sighed at last, and she reached up to adjust her eyepatch. "Are you familiar with a Quirk called Queen Bee?" she asked.

Asuka blinked at her, surprised. "That sounds familiar. Is there a Pro Hero with the same Quirk?"

Before Hime could answer, Tora chimed in, "I recall my mother telling me about a villain with a bee-related Quirk. I think she went by the name Hachisuka as well."

Hime nodded once, pleased that Tora was quick on the uptake. But of course, he thought! His parents were Pro Heroes, and his mother was part of one of the top-ranking groups back in the day! Hime lifted her eyepatch, and her eye was shut. But it didn't stop one of the bees from forcing its way between the eyelids, and Asuka was quick to let go of Hime with a disgusted sound.

"Oh, don't worry. They only go into my eye. My bees are polite, you know," Hime teased. She dropped the joking vibe just as quick, though, and propped her hands on her hips with a frown as she covered her eye again. But not before Tora caught sight of something wriggling under the eyelid, shifting the skin as though trying to come out. "But seriously, don't worry too much. The school knows about my situation, and I've had a Pro Hero—ah, a retired one, but still—she's verified that the bee's been rehabilitated." Hime paused and weighed up what she'd just said. "As rehabilitated as an omnicidal bee can get."

"So you have two Quirks?" Tora asked. Asuka gawked at him.

"The bee has multiple Quirks?" she demanded.

Tora shook his head quickly and smiled in apology. "Sorry, sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. The bee had a Quirk separate to the host body, so if the bee took over… For example, my mother—the body would have both the Queen Bee Quirk and the Earth Flow Quirk that my mother has."

"So the bee's a parasite," Asuka said, unimpressed. She turned her gaze to Hime. "Are we even talking to the real Hachisuka Hime right now?"

Hime paused and genuinely seemed to think on her answer. Tora and Asuka both tensed up.

"Well, in a way, no?" Hime tried. "I used to be known by a different name, and I was Quirkless, and I had a lot of issues that were never going away on their own. And Kuin could've taken over my body entirely and run rampant again, but I was a child. What could she have done? And like I said, I had a former Pro Hero looking out for me. Kuin and Hime just sort of co-existed, if that makes sense? So the person you're talking to now is less the real Imasuji Hime, and more the culmination of both Kuin and Hime finding middle ground—Hachisuka Hime."

What a… strange way of putting it. But if the bee wasn't doing villainous things, and the school knew about the situation, and a Pro Hero had already verified the bee was reformed, who was he to object?

And then the name Imasuji filtered through his brain properly, and Tora pointed at Hime with a shocked expression.

"How many villains were you involved with!?" he demanded.

Hime was quick to get on the defensive, appalled. "Muscular was the one bad egg in our family! The only one! My grandma did more work as a Pro Hero than he ever did as a villain! Back me up here, Takishima!"

Both of them looked to Asuka, and the redhead held up her hands with an annoyed expression. She looked to be at her wit's end, silencing the bickering duo with a single hiss of, "Enough!"

They fell into silence immediately. Tora was surprised at how similar Asuka sounded to his mother when she got angry. He couldn't believe his first instinct was to almost blurt out, "Sorry, mama," to the redhead.

Asuka composed herself and clapped her hands once. "Let's think about this pragmatically, instead of with our opinions," she chirped. "Hachisuka Kuin has been proven to be rehabilitated through her symbiotic relationship with H— Hime-chan?"

Hime scrunched up her face at Asuka. Asuka smiled at her with a look in her eye that declared she wouldn't drop the change in name.

"The school is aware of the situation, like Hime-chan said, and after everything that's been going on with this… Boogeyman business… I like to think that the school is on high alert for any signs of villainous activity on their grounds." She looked to Tora with a smile, kinder than the one she'd given Hime, and Tora relaxed somewhat. She did have a point. He was really discrediting Pro Heroes and Zenshi as a whole over a single bee. "Besides, we're all here to become Pro Heroes, right? Even if you or I don't notice anything amiss, I'm sure other people in the class will. I spoke with some of the people in 1-A—they seem rather capable."

He supposed… Tora pigeon-toed about and groaned, unhappy with the shame blossoming in his chest. He'd jumped so quickly to conclusions, when all Hime had done was answer some of their questions and try to look out for them. He supposed she was alright, but there was no telling if his Teru even liked bees at all. So Tora nodded once, determined, and jabbed a finger at Hime.

"You get a pass in my book," he declared. "But if Teru-chi doesn't like your bees, then neither do I!"

Both girls looked to him with a dry expression, the clear question of who Teru was on their faces. Tora wasted no time going into full fanatic mode, the clear image of Teru's beautiful, icy face at the forefront of his mind as he wiped a tear from his eye.

"A beautiful young man whose Quirk is befitting of his diamond-in-the-rough talents!" he gushed. "A prince with a sour expression! Someone who needs a partner just right to melt the ice around his heart! And he's not a girl, thank you very much!"

"What a weird thing to specify," Hime deadpanned.

"Did you suffer brain damage in the exam, Ono-san?" Asuka chimed in, equally deadpanned.

"My mind is clear and my heart is pure!" Tora insisted. "You'll see it when you meet him!"

"Wish I had a hype man half as excited to see me as Ono-san is," Hime said to Asuka. Asuka nodded in agreement.

Tora marched over to the doors of the cafeteria, determined to show them what for, and he slammed them open with a flourish as he gestured inside. The girls watched him from a distance—someone was already approaching, and Hime was distracted enough to pause and smile at the large boy in the distance, muttering something about her exam partner making it into Zenshi—and Tora turned his gaze to the people inside the cafeteria.

They were mostly gathered around one of the tables, munching on various snacks and chatting to each other. Or they were until Tora arrived on the scene. Two of them were choking on their food from the surprise, while the others were looking at the door with stunned expressions and varying levels of annoyance sprinkled in.

He recognised a couple of students as being fellow Pro Hero kids—Hagane Tetsuya and Suzuki Aoi for one, though he never spent time with them like he did other Pro Hero kids—but others he wasn't quite sure he recognised. He did spot Yoyo Yoyo and Takami Kiaria, who'd worked with him in the exam—and the latter being the daughter of Hawks, who Tora had been introduced to when they were in grade school—but the only other one to stand out to him enough to think he recognised them was the orange-haired girl he swore he'd seen on posters for products.

His pink devil tail was swishing back and forth as he looked through the sea of faces and sweets. He'd have to double back and nab some of the sweets for himself, especially the apple cake with toffee crust and one of the slices of fluffy cheesecake in the centre of the table. Everything with chocolate could be given a pass, of course, but maybe the traditional sweets like the dango would help fill his stomach. Maybe he could feed some of it to Teru. He could see it now, telling Teru to open wide and placing a delectable dessert in his mouth with careful fingers—

What was he doing!? He had to find Teru first!

Tora began to skip into the room with a giggle, and he looked through the crowd of other students as he chirped, "Teru-chi! Where are you hiding, hm?"

The orange-haired girl, who Tora swore he'd seen on a billboard before arriving at the school today, slammed her hands down onto the table and pushed herself away from it with a snarl. She was quick to get on the offensive, crowding Tora and invading his personal space to jab a finger at his chest. Oh? Did he finally meet someone who didn't mesh well with his enthusiastic demeanour? Maybe she'd warm up to him eventually.

"How dare you refer to Teru-kun so casually!" she snapped at him.

Tora's expression darkened.

Ah, Tsuna wasn't the one he had to worry about. It was Billboard Girl.

The challenger finally reveals herself.

He smiled up at her in an attempt at keeping the peace, but he was clearly tense as she snarled down at him like a rabid chihuahua. There had to be, what, four inches of difference between them? How rude of this girl, starting a fight with a cute little boy who was smaller than her.

"And who are you to refer to Teru-chi so casually?" he fired back. People at the table were already groaning and turning away from the scene, and he swore he heard someone mutter something about this happening again. Oh? A second challenger? Did the girl already try to eliminate one other rival? Damn, she was thorough. Tora had his work cut out for him.

Billboard Girl went to open her mouth and shout her answer at him. But then she paused, and her face began to turn red as she struggled to find the words. Despite Tora's smug smile up at her, she managed to choke out, "He's— I'm— M—Middle school classmates."

Tora narrowed his eyes at her. "Oh, like Keima-san?" he asked loudly.

At the mention of Tsuna's name, the girl seemed to back off a bit. But not out of defeat. She looked at him with an equally smug expression, and she crossed her arms over her chest with a snort. How undignified, he thought.

"So you've already been warned, I see," she drawled. "I knew Keima was useful for something."

Hm. As much as Tora had clashed with Tsuna over Teru's relationship status, he could definitely say he had more respect for Tsuna than to reduce her to something to be of use to him. Wasn't she in the objectively better heroics class? If anything, Tora and Billboard Girl were lucky to be of use to Tsuna. But whatever. Tora knew in his heart of hearts that Tsuna approved of him more than Billboard Girl. She said so herself that he was perfect—why should he bother worrying about this clown who had her face all over the city's walls when Tora was clearly more beneficial for Teru?

And then the girl, displeased by Tora's unwavering smugness, decided to out who his other rival was.

"Besides," she said, snooty and snide, "you think you're the only pink-haired boy who has his attention? You're nothing special, hon."

Rather than the rage of jealousy she'd clearly expected, Tora was just even more smug. He looked down his nose at her, smirking, and he asked, "So you're saying his type is pink hair? Not, oh, orange?"

Her face exploded into a bright red that made her look like a sunset in a stock photo gallery. She glared at him, clearly livid beyond belief, and when Tora heard Asuka and Hime enter with their new friend, the girl raised her foot high and stomped it down on Tora's with extreme prejudice.

Tora jumped back with a pained shout and dropped to the ground to cradle his poor foot. The girl sneered down at him, and she was able to loudly declare, "Know your place, peasant!" before someone jumped between them and separated them.

The two dragon-based students in the class stepped between the two. The girl, who was more humanoid than the boy, was corralling the girl back to the group with a shout about not starting shit she couldn't finish—apparently she was told this earlier with the other pink-haired boy. The boy, who looked more like a dragonborn from those D&D games Tora had once seen become popular online, patted Tora's back and shook his head with a sigh.

"Don't antagonise her, man," he advised Tora. "She's one of those kids who still isn't used to being told 'no' yet."

Ah, a spoiled brat. Definitely not worthy of his Teru.

Tora stood back up and dusted himself off. The dragon boy seemed chill enough, like he wasn't really upset over the hectic start to the class's introductions, and he just sighed with a laugh as he looked over at the dragon girl and Billboard Girl. The dragon girl had managed to sit Billboard Girl down and handed her a plate of creme caramel—Tora heard something about them being freshly made by Teru, and his body was wracked with a violent urge to dive for the table of sweets and inhale as much as possible in one go—and all the while, Billboard Girl sat angrily as she munched on her food with a petite spoon in her hand.

"Sorry about that," Tora finally told the boy. "I'm just really excited, is all. Someone I really admire is in our class, and I couldn't wait to see him."

The dragon boy shrugged. "Get in line, then," he joked. "Yoyo-san is talking his ear off about the sweets she likes the most and if he can make them, and Torihiki-san already grabbed an apron to help make some coffee jelly. Then there's Shuzenji-san keeping everyone out of the kitchen so there's less injuries—already had Yoyo-san slip on an egg shell she dropped when she tried to help earlier—and Nekota-san is catching up with him, since they went to the same middle school."

Gah… Why was he so popular? Tora could feel himself starting to sulk as he realised he might not be able to get quality time with Teru. It'd been so long since the entrance exam, and what if Teru found a different friend group once classes started? He had to be quick to the punch, had to plant the seed that he was open to hanging out if Teru was, and he couldn't do that if he just admired him from afar!

Ugh.

Tora looked to the desserts on the table, and then to the group of students already in the room. This wasn't all of them, he could tell that much, but the food was almost finished. Some plates were already empty, and a ton of napkins had already been used for the messier treats.

Aha! Tora could think of a way to socialise and get close to Teru!

"Do we need more treats for the others?" he asked the dragon boy.

He seemed to consider it. "I think we're missing almost half the class… We could restrict treats and let the others have at the leftovers, but it doesn't feel fair. Why?"

"I'm pretty good with baking desserts, actually," Tora admitted. "I'm more of a pastry guy, myself, but things like Swiss rolls and dessert pies are also right up my alley!"

"Oh? Do you know how to make banoffee pie?"

Tora nodded fervently. It was his father's favourite, when he could beat Uncle Chatora to a freshly baked one.

The dragon boy nodded once and seemed pleased with Tora's answer. "Great! Mori-san—the girl who stepped in with me—she said a kid she participated in the entrance exam with really likes banoffee pies and she wants to surprise him. He isn't here yet, from what I can tell."

Oh, how sweet! Tora beamed at him and nodded some more, eager to participate for more than just Teru now.

"Ah, my manners," Tora said quickly. "Ono Tora. You might've heard of my parents, Pixie-Bob and Lynx."

The dragon boy seemed to recognise the name. "Oh, my parents worked with Pixie-Bob back in the day! Kaiyo Ryuichi! Nice to meet'cha, Ono-san!"

They shook hands, and Tora was surprised at how the scales on Ryuichi's hands felt. Not like they were cutting into his skin, but definitely not soft like the palm of one's hand tended to be. He didn't miss the fins behind Ryuichi's ears, nor the webbing between his clawed fingers, but the more he looked at him, the more Ryuichi just really seemed to be straight out of a fantasy world. Reptilian face, elongated, streamlined snout, azure scales all over his body except for his face, which was a lighter shade of blue; even his shoulder-length hair was damp and seaweed-coloured, enough that it looked like it was seaweed. He was only a little bit taller than Tora, maybe by an inch or so, and the shark-like tail behind him seemed to wave back and forth happily in a similar vein that Tora's did.

Ryuichi jabbed a thumb back to the two girls, and he also went on to add, "The other dragon Quirk girl is Mori Emiko, and the, ah… opinionated girl with her is Kirameki Hibana. She's a model, from what I can tell, but the products she models for don't really apply to me and my family. For obvious reasons."

Right, hard to buy products for scales and talons when the model promoting them didn't have either. Tora would take his word for it, but he wasn't about to worship the ground Hibana walked on just because she was a model.

He gave Ryuichi a salute and a wink. "Well, I'll go get started! The two who came in with me are Takishima Asuka and Hachisuka Hime, but I don't have a clue who the third one is yet! They're alright, if you ask me, though!"

He skipped off towards the kitchen with a hum this time, and no one else seemed eager to stop him as he informed the boy guarding the kitchen that he was there to lend a hand.

---

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Mom," Aoi said around her dango, "but there's totally a Terubowl happening right now, isn't there?"

Beside her, quietly eating his own slice of cake, Tetsuya nodded once in agreement.

There hadn't been a single moment of peace since they'd gotten there. At first it had been chill enough, with Tetsuya managing to talk to Shuzenji Shiki (after the boy cleaned the desserts off of himself, of course) about the blog he ran online. Who'd have thought that Tetsuya would meet the same person who ran the blog he'd check periodically for updates on speculated Boogeyman Quirks here at Zenshi? That had been enlightening, and Tetsuya even got to hear theories Shiki had regarding how Boogeyman—and his copycats—seemed to have so many Quirks at their disposal.

But then the first headache happened, when Yoyo tripped and cracked her head open on the kitchen floor. Shiki was put on guard duty immediately after giving her a smooch that she fervently washed her mouth of, and Tetsuya began to notice the… eccentricities of his classmates.

Despite being a relatively chill guy, it was obvious that Kaiyo Ruyuichi was as obsessed with improving himself as Tetsuya was, and there was no room for two high achievers in this one-horse town. Nekota Miyuki, despite having an aunt who worked as a Pro Hero and a good reference point for how she should act, was so casual and unbothered by everything she needed to do that it bordered on negligent when Ryuichi had tried to ask what her strategy was for the next three years. Shuzenji Shiki was way too trigger happy with his Quirk, and from the stories he told in jest, it was obvious he had no sense of self preservation either, so he was a walking life insurance scam waiting to happen. Takami Kiaria was way too standoffish to mesh well with other students in a team-based hero academy, so having her be reliable as a teammate and fellow Pro Hero was out the window. Kirameki Hibana—she was a neurotic control freak who didn't like anything about anyone, and it seemed like she only came here to follow her middle school crush who was so obviously gay and she just was in denial over it. Torihiki Yuzuru was constantly sipping coffee and probably had a serious caffeine addiction going on, which was going to be a pain in the ass to deal with if he went through withdrawals, so whatever he could offer was already being off-set by that little problem. Yoyo Yoyo, the little airhead, was as stupid as she looked, and Tetsuya was unsurprised when she'd slipped on an egg shell, of all things, and almost ended her whole career in one fell swoop with brain damage. Mori Emiko, a country bumpkin compared to the rest who came from the city, clearly was in over her head with her lofty goal and too used to might-makes-right with her brothers. Aoi—well, Tetsuya could make a whole list of everything wrong with Aoi, so why even bother?

The real issue was Kousaki Teruki.

Despite being a recommendation, nothing about what Tetsuya heard about his Quirk screamed hero-worthy. It wasn't a villainous Quirk, but it was obviously a Quirk his body couldn't handle. Teruki had idly told the smaller group, before the others had joined, about his sister and mother's struggles with the same Quirk, and all Tetsuya could think was the same thing over and over again: Why are you even here?

He couldn't produce gemstones harder than a 7 on the Mohs scale, and even if he could, the pain he felt if they'd shatter or break was more intense the higher the scale went. His default gemstone was a 3.5, which meant it was far too brittle for most daily things, and it also meant that Teruki's default gem to produce was just a weak phosphophyllite. If it was something like diamonds, he might have a chance, but Teruki just wasn't at the threshold for being a Pro Hero.

He'd be the first to die if Boogeyman targeted this school a second time.

It didn't help that a whopping three of the students among them already had a weird interest in Teruki, to the point that he seemed almost overhyped. Tetsuya didn't get it, and he didn't care to understand it. He just knew that this petty relationship drama would impact their education, and it'd just make Teruki even more of a target. These clowns didn't even know it yet.

He wouldn't have called it a Terubowl like Aoi had, but the budding love square was bad news on the horizon.

More people entered the room, and more food came out of the oven to serve. Yuzu kept coming out with more platters of decorative cakes, and Tetsuya eyed the strawberry shortcake that came out alongside the coffee jelly. At the end of the class's get-together, everyone was going to need a trip to the dentist. No way none of them were walking out without any cavities by the end of today. Tetsuya didn't recognise anyone who came in, not immediately—he saw a girl with tawny brown skin and an anglerfish bulb on her forehead, a drawstring bag covering what he assumed was the bulb itself, and he saw another girl with long, cerulean blue hair tied back in a braid enter behind her. The girl with the braid beelined for Hibana, and Hibana just turned up her nose at her, but they seemed friendly enough; the girl with the tawny skin seemed hesitant to approach anyone, though, and just quietly picked up a slice of strawberry shortcake to munch on at the table. Ryuichi crowded her without hesitation, grinning in his friendly way, and she loosened up a little. At least until Asuka called out to someone called Mizuki-chan, and then her expression soured considerably as she held up a hand over her peripheral to block Asuka out.

He did recognise the next person to enter, though. Tetsuya had gotten a breakdown of Arashi Lyoko's Quirk on their way to the exam site, so he knew there was potential waiting to be tapped into for Lyoko. It was just a matter of getting him to be smart about it, which the boy seemed averse to despite the numerous ways he could get creative with his Quirk and its strengths. Aoi jumped up and waved Lyoko down, and Tetsuya didn't miss the hollow look on Lyoko's face before he noticed them; he was quick to train his expression again, and Tetsuya just hummed and frowned as the scarlet-haired boy approached.

"You guys made it in," Lyoko greeted them cheerfully.

"Obviously," Aoi snorted with a smirk. "Mom's got a totally OP Quirk for passing physical exams in urban jungles."

"Can you drop the Mom around other people here?" Tetsuya deadpanned.

"But you are my mom," Aoi whined.

"You already have a mother."

"Yeah, my mother," Aoi grumbled. "But you're my mom."

Tetsuya scrunched up his face into a scowl. "I'm sure Auntie Kira would be thrilled to hear that," he muttered.

Lyoko looked between them awkwardly. "You know, I don't think I asked before, but…" he asked, but trailed off as he pointed to them both.

Aoi was quick to wave a hand with a grin. "Oh, don't mind us. We're one of those childhood friend types," she explained. "Both our parents are—uh… were… Pro Heroes. So we met through them!"

He wasn't sure which part he disliked more: The reminder that they were introduced thanks to their parents having Pro Hero connections, or that his mother wasn't a Pro Hero anymore.

No, Tetsuya thought. He supposed the detail that bothered him most was that it wasn't entirely because their parents were Pro Heroes that they were introduced. He was bothered by the fact that the truth behind their childhood friendship was more sinister on Aoi's grandparents' part.

He never did like Quirk marriages and the ethics behind them. He supposed he should be thankful neither his nor Aoi's parents approved of it, too. It wasn't like they even needed the money offered, either. That family was just… unhealthily obsessed with only producing metal-related Quirks.

"We were introduced in kindergarten," Tetsuya explained curtly. "I've failed to shake her since. And her siscon brother makes me suffer for it if I don't keep an eye on her."

Aoi squinted at him. "Jin's not a siscon," she grumbled.

"Whatever he is, he needs to talk to someone about it," Tetsuya said dryly.

Aoi grabbed at his cheek and pulled at it. Tetsuya groaned and let himself be pulled. It was too much effort to force her off of him with his Quirk.

"Listen to this, Arashi," Aoi scoffed, addressing Lyoko now. "This is totally the heretical words of a single child, right? You practically lived with us, Mom! You shouldn't be saying such lonely child things about sibling love!"

Lyoko laughed nervously. "I might have to agree a little," he said, and he nodded in apology to Tetsuya. "My sister gets pretty aggressive about keeping me safe."

Ugh, he was surrounded by sibcons. Was that even a term? To hell with it, it was now. He struggled against Aoi's grip so he could finish the rest of his cake before it started to go stale. He held the plate carefully, scowling up at Aoi as she hovered over him and pinched his cheek harder.

And then she swung her head back and faceplanted the plate of cake, shoving the whole slice into her mouth in one go.

Tetsuya let out a screech in shock. "Suzuki Aoi, you did not—"

"You know how I get around cheesecake," she shouted back at him. "Don't be waving it in my face!"

"I'm trying to get away from you so I can eat it!"

"Sure didn't look like that to me, mister!"

Lyoko looked between them with a panicked expression, unsure if they were genuinely fighting or if this was normal, and he looked back at the others as more eyes landed on them. Ryuichi was already starting to move over towards them, ready to play peacekeeper again, and Tetsuya had had it up to here with everyone in this class showing their bare ass right out the gate.

"That's it!" he shouted, and he activated his Quirk. "Time out!"

Aoi was sent flying at high speed towards the ceiling of the cafeteria. She didn't crash into it, because Tetsuya valued his life more than that, but she did let out a short-lived, "Whee!" before coming to a stop with a thud on the ceiling.

A good forty feet of distance might do them some good while Tetsuya got another slice of cake.

Lyoko trailed behind him as he stormed over to the table. He was still looking up at Aoi, face as white as a sheet, but he was hanging close to Tetsuya while the others stared up at Aoi in awe. Even Yuzuru, who'd come out with a new chocolate chiffon cake—something Tetsuya beelined for as soon as it was cut into slices—paused to stare up at Aoi with a quiet, "Huh…"

"Is she gonna b—" Lyoko started.

"Yep," Tetsuya cut him off.

"A—And you're not worried she—"

"Nope."

He paused. And then Lyoko asked, "Does this happ—"

"All the time."

Lyoko cleared his throat and looked almost stunned as he turned to the table and picked up a chocolate mousse and began scooping it into his mouth. He glanced at Tetsuya again, and Tetsuya moved away from the table after letting out a pleased sound at the taste of the chiffon cake. God, for all the faults he could find in the clowns in the kitchen, baking wasn't one of them.

"You have, um… really intense control with your Quirk," Lyoko said.

It was a weak compliment, but Tetsuya figured he meant it was an ice breaker. Too bad Tetsuya wasn't a Quirk geek, per se, so he just shrugged and licked some frosting off of his fingers.

"Lotta metal everywhere," he said around another bite of cake. "Get a lotta chances to practice. 'Specially with that thing as a playmate."

"Do you… not like Suzuki-san?" Lyoko asked, hesitant.

Tetsuya glanced at him. He found it odd how much he was interested in Tetsuya and Aoi's relationship, and it seemed to go beyond even the idea that they might have romantic feelings for each other. Maybe it was jealousy over a platonic relationship? The more Tetsuya thought about it, he recalled Lyoko never mentioned any friends he was meeting with after the exam or even if he knew anyone other than that Mazuna girl—real rough that she got into 1-A, Tetsuya was sure, but what could you do? Did the guy just not have friends at all? Couldn't be because of his Quirk, could it? Sure, it make him look like an absolute berserker, and Lyoko didn't seem the type to focus on his own wellbeing in the midst of things, but it couldn't be that bad, right?

Or was it really just that simple and stupid? That people distanced themselves from him because he was too self-sacrificing and self-sabotaging?

Then again, with the way Mazuna had tried to ward away Tetsuya and Aoi on the train that day, Tetsuya wouldn't put it past Mazuna to be half the reason why Lyoko didn't have any friends backing him up anymore.

Tetsuya sniffed and waved for Lyoko to follow him. Lyoko did so eagerly, carrying an extra mousse for Aoi—he assumed—in his free hand.

"I don't dislike her," he said. Lyoko let out a relieved breath and nodded. "In fact, I can't say she's done anything to me worth hating her over. We're kids. I just grew up a bit quicker than she did, I guess."

No, that wasn't entirely true. Aoi had done plenty of growing up on her own. He remembered, after cornering her in their final weeks of middle school, the way she'd let herself break down for a fraction of a second, long enough for Tetsuya to see something really was wrong. She'd forced herself to grow up in a way that came off as childish, avoidant. Like Tetsuya, the burden of her goals and lot in life had worn her down over the years.

It wasn't like they only had each other. It wasn't like Aoi could only rely on Tetsuya for her Quirk, nor that Tetsuya could only rely on Aoi for his mother's switch to villainy. It was more like… no one else seemed to understand it right now. They were just biding time until someone could relieve both of them of their stress.

He supposed Aoi was on more of a time limit than he was, though. Not that he could blame her.

He glanced at Lyoko and shrugged one shoulder. "You get used to her. But don't be afraid to tell her to back off. I know we look like we're going at it, but she does listen if you say something makes you uncomfortable. Trust me on that."

Lyoko nodded eagerly. "I will, I promise! I just… You can really tell you guys were like siblings growing up."

Maybe. Tetsuya didn't have a reference for how siblings actually acted in his own household. He just acted the same way the Suzuki siblings did when he was with them. But he supposed, if the Arashi siblings were the same, he could take Lyoko's word for it.

"Ah, but… your parents were Pro Heroes, huh?" Lyoko tried to broach. Tetsuya flinched and looked away, the mood ruined. Even Lyoko seemed to sense it. "W—What? Oh my God, I'm so sorry, are they—"

"She's not dead," Tetsuya grumbled. "Just… do your research on my mom first. She's a bit of a taboo subject in the community."

The air was tense again. Lyoko withdrew once more, scolding himself for his blunder no doubt, and Tetsuya sat down as more students entered the cafeteria. They were almost a full class now. A lanky girl with thick, wavy black hair and red eyes walked in, and behind her was a boy with an intimidating face and hazel eyes; he was chatting to another student, whose gender Tetsuya wasn't sure of, with fluffy red hair at their shoulders that was layered to resemble rose petals and pastel pink eyes. They broke off into their own groups by the time a girl with short, brownish-cream hair wandered in and noticed Asuka, calling out to her excitedly as she skipped over.

And then came the final students. Two boys, one speaking animatedly while the other awkwardly seemed to zone out, almost dissociating the whole time. His long silver hair was pulled back into a small half-ponytail, and Tetsuya could see the underside of his hair was dyed a bright blue. His more talkative acquaintance was freckled and had shorter, pale pink hair in comparison, though the third eye on his forehead was a dead giveaway to what his Quirk possibly could've been.

Tetsuya looked back up at Aoi as the class finally got to know each other in earnest, some reuniting from the same middle schools while others recognised children of Pro Heroes and celebrities alike. The only one who really flitted from group to group was the boy with the third eye, and Tetsuya tried to focus on Aoi as chatter began to pick up. She was clearly enjoying herself up on the ceiling, rolling around as she curled up into a ball, and Tetsuya almost wanted to drop her to the floor without anything to break her fall. That was supposed to be a time out, not a reward.

Even Lyoko seemed to notice she was having fun in the air, and she unravelled herself to wave down at the others as the newcomers noticed her.

"The class doesn't seem too bad," Lyoko mused. Tetsuya hummed in agreement as he finally finished off his cake. They still had another thing with the upperclassmen after this, but he supposed whoever came up with this little banquet earned some points in his book.

Just as Tetsuya was going to voice this thought, though, someone approached the two with high energy and an excited call of their names. A very casual call of their names.

"Lyoko-kun! Tetsuya-kun!" the boy with the third eye called. Tetsuya looked down from Aoi with a scowl, and the boy stopped in front of Lyoko while he was gasping for air. Now that he was closer, Tetsuya could see bags under his eyes. Did he stay up all night last night?

"Uh…" Lyoko glanced at Tetsuya. Tetsuya gave him a look that said he obviously didn't know the kid. Lyoko looked back at him. "H—Hi?"

"Hi!" the boy chirped back. "Before I forget! I'm Koizumi Mirato! My Quirk lets me see the future, and I saw futures where you guys were in my class here! So, in a way, I'm already friends with you all!"

That was a stupid way of looking at it. By that logic, someone who wasn't a villain until a year down the line was still a villain right at this very moment, when the idea of terrorism wasn't even a twinkle in their eye.

"Oh, really?" Lyoko was more intrigued by the future sight aspect of what Mirato had just said. Really, some of these people were like toddlers with keychains… "I bet you see all sorts of stuff sometimes, huh?"

Mirato nodded fervently. He was beaming at Lyoko as he chirped, "Don't worry, Lyoko-kun! Mazuna-chan will understand eventually!"

Lyoko faltered. It was noticeable enough that even Tetsuya sat up a bit straighter and debated getting between them. Did his future sight really focus on something like that? What was going to happen if the future Mirato saw didn't come to pass? This was just being too cruel to Lyoko, who was clearly in bad shape over the whole thing with Mazuna already.

He saw tears brimming at Lyoko's eyes. Tetsuya bristled and he jumped up with a snarl aimed at Mirato. He knew Lyoko for all of four hours total, but some blows were too low.

"Ah, Tetsuya-kun!"' Mirato chirped, unaware of the hostility in the air. He clenched his fists and beamed up at Tetsuya with a determined look in his eye. "Don't falter! Peewee's weakness is sharp objects!"

Huh?

Tetsuya's mind blanked at the absurdity of the statement.

Who the hell was Peewee?

Tetsuya's mind went through a full shutdown as he tried to make sense of it all. He wouldn't be surprised if a computer buffering icon was on his forehead right now. But what he was surprised by, when he heard Aoi screech, "MOM, MY FLOATIES!" was the fact that his Quirk had basically deactivated from the shock of it all and sent Aoi on a plummet.

Tetsuya dove for her, and he let slip his own screech of, "MOM'S COMING!" as he finally managed to catch sight of her and caught her again with his Quirk. He faltered a little again, but her fall had been broken enough that when she did land on him, nothing was crushed or broken in the process.

Just in time for the double lemon Swiss roll to be carried out on a tray, too, and Yuzuru let out a shocked sound as Mirato flickered over to him and gave him some sage wisdom of the future as well.

What a wonderful start to the class dynamic, indeed.