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Chapter Six

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"I!"

"AM!"

"HERE!"

Kazuya's eyes widened in shock at the sight of the country's number-one hero standing right in front of her. To say she was fangirling would be beneath her…but she was totally freaking out.

"I'm gonna pass out," Kazuya whispered, red from withheld enthusiasm.

"You look like a balloon about to pop," Kirishima noted. When her gloved hands flew up to cover her face, he chuckled behind closed lips.

"Welcome to the most important class at UA! Think of it as Hero-ing 101!" All Might stood victoriously on the podium before flexing his way into a short speech, "Here you will learn the basics of being a pro and what it means to fight in the name of good! Let's get into it!"

"Today's lesson will pull no punches!"

When the hero pulled out a card with the word BATTLE! written on it, Kazuya felt a swarm of butterflies burst to life inside her stomach. This could either go horribly wrong or awesomely right.

"One of the keys to being a hero is looking good! These were designed for you based on your quirk registration forms and the requests you sent in before school started," All Might explained while pointing to a wall on the far side of the classroom. Panels slid out with a push of a button and revealed several cases marked with student numbers.

Kazuya's legs bounced restlessly under her table, much like a dog wagging its tail. After All Might told them where to meet up once changed, she was the first to get her costume and run to the locker room. Upon opening her case, she let out an excited squeal that caught the attention of the other girls. A sheepish smile crossed her features.

"Sorry," she apologized softly. A ponytailed girl, Yaoyorozu Momo, smiled gracefully.

"No need. This is exciting for everyone," she spoke with a twinkle in her eye. Kazuya admired the girl's red bodysuit for a moment before going to change into her own. Looking around, she noticed her outfit was simple compared to some of the others, but she had designed this look with Kagami as a child. It meant a lot to her.

She quickly slipped off her everyday uniform and applied the wrappings to her arms first. The bandages covered her palms, leaving her fingers exposed for easy contact. Her gloves would no doubt cover up this detail, but she didn't trust herself to not wear them, yet.

The black jumpsuit she put on next had vertical line accents running down the sides of her body and even stretching across her shoulders to creep down her arms. Their ends were pointed at her wrists and calves like arrows.

Another vertical line that crossed paths with a blue horizontal one made a t-shape across her back. This was the insignia Kagami had chosen for her, the ruby and sapphire motifs matching the fluorescent aura of her quirks.

Matching her sister's grunge style, she threw on some black combat boots and a red oni mask that was capable of more than just looking cool.

After admiring herself in the mirror, Kazuya slipped her gloves back on and made her way to Ground Beta. While the girls walked in their big group (Kazuya lingering a few feet behind), a pink-haired classmate with yellow antennae hopped up to her with a big grin.

"You look awesome! I mean everyone here does, but you've got this edgy assassin vibe and I am living for it," she intertwined their arms and pulled her up to the group of conversing girls. Kazuya's cheeks turned scarlet as she was squished in between the two of her classmates.

"Hah, thanks…I guess. You look hot — I mean good!" her eyes snapped wide open in fear of her own words, "Good. I meant good," she repeated as if reminding herself.

Her sputtering thankfully went unnoticed, "I'm Ashido, but you can call me Mina."

"Imai Kazuya." She deemed it appropriate to offer up her first name as well. A few of their classmates shared their names, easing into light and less awkward conversation. Mainly, conversation about their clothes.

"This outfit is a tad more revealing than I imagined," sighed Yaoyorozu as she gazed down at her bodysuit. Kazuya instantly averted her wandering eyes out of respect.

Don't think about boobs. Don't think about boobs. Don't think about — she stared directly at the girl's cleavage — SHIT!

"Guys, don't worry," Ashido put her hands on her hips like All Might and stood proudly at the front of the pack, "We're total badasses."

"Yeah, we've got this," added a brunette named Ochako Uraraka, despite the nervous look on her rosy face.

The subject changed a few times before everyone was reunited at Ground Beta. Kazuya found girl talk could be fun when it wasn't just two sisters shouting at each other.

They were all allowed a moment to admire one another's costumes before getting started. Much to Kazuya's surprise, she was approached by Kirishima and Kaminari.

"Imai, is that you under there?!" the redhead squinted, trying to see under her Oni mask. She pulled her jumpsuit's hood down and lifted the mask so it sat on her head.

"In the flesh," her smile could have rotted teeth, it was so unnecessarily sweet.

"You look like some sort of villain," Kaminari joked, earning a surprised look from the boy beside him.

"Dude, not cool!" he hissed under his breath. Kazuya quickly shook her head in his defence.

"No, no, no, he's right! My sister helped me make this when I was little and she loved it. This is perfect," she let her fingers linger on the cool metal of her demon mask. The boys stared at her for a beat and she quickly reapplied her smile.

With no coaxing necessary, she got them to agree to walk to the front of the group with her for a better look at All Might. It was cool having him as a teacher, even better when he could be used as a distraction.

"You all look great!" the pro bellowed. Kazuya glanced to her left, expecting to see Kirishima but finding a masked kid in a teal rabbit-like costume instead.

"Hmm, oddly familiar," she unintentionally muttered aloud while examining his outfit. The boy jumped and turned like a whirlwind, prompting her to frown behind her mask. "I like your costume."

"R – Really?!" he gasped excitedly but quickly shifted to nervous rambling. Kazuya nodded quietly, the amused twitch of her lips hidden by the metal over her face. "Thank you!"

"No problem."

All Might chuckled deeply, seemingly pleased with the first years, "Shall we get started, you buncha newbies?"

"Sir," a suit of armour that could only hold Iida raised its hand, "This is the fake city from our entrance exam. Does that mean we will be conducting urban battles again?"

"Not quite. You see, most of the villain fights you see on the news take place outside. However, statistically speaking, run-ins with the most dastardly evildoers take place indoors," All Might clarified, impressing Kazuya with his devotion to the dramatic.

Does he always talk like that?

"For this training exercise, you'll be split into teams of good guys and bad guys to fight indoor battles. Teams will be two-on-two except for one team of three. The heroes must try to foil the villain's plans by either catching the evildoers or recovering the nuclear weapon hidden in the building. Likewise, the bad guys succeed if they protect their payload for seven minutes or capture the heroes!"

The students' names were entered into a box and teams were decided by drawing lots. Because of uneven numbers, Kazuya was put into Team J, with Kirishima and a boy who introduced himself as Sero Hanta.

When All Might instructed everyone not participating in the first fight to make their way to a monitoring room, she glanced down at her gloved hands and bit her bottom lip hard. Work with me, baby.

The mousy boy whose costume she complimented earlier was up first, with him and his teammate Uraraka Ochaco pitted against Bakugou and Iida. Despite the free entertainment, the gears in Kazuya's brain began to turn as she used her time to strategize.

She grabbed Kirishima and Sero's sleeves and pulled them to the back of the room. They looked a little annoyed that they had been pulled away from the screens, but she didn't care.

"I'd like to know what everyone can do before we get called up," the cobalt-haired girl whispered.

"I shoot tape from my elbows," Sero said.

"That's surprisingly useful."

"I can harden," Kirishima held his arm up and let his forearm harden.

"There's a joke in there somewhere."

"What about you?" the redhead asked, completely oblivious.

"I can push and pull things I've touched in the last hour; however, it doesn't work on me or any other living being. For example, I can move someone's shirt, but I can't move their hair or hands," Kazuya explained simply. She thought it was best to leave out the part about her being unable to control the direction or speed of her pulls. They didn't need to know that, right?

With all the information she needed now gathered, she allowed herself to sit in the back and watch the tension unfold in Midoriya and Baugou's fight. To say those two had issues would be a gross understatement. The villain versus hero roles were taken a little too far, even All Might could see that as he tried to stop the arguing duo from breaking each other's bones.

In the end, Midoriya got the upper hand with a punch that sailed through the air and broke the ceiling above, giving Uraraka the chance to put her gravity quirk to use. She clung to the fake weapon, floating high into the air and secured the win for her team, although Midoriya looked a bit worse for wear.

"Is he…gonna be okay?" Kazuya asked a sweating All Might, who looked like he was going to pass out.

The second battle of the day was Todoroki Shoto and Shoji Mezo versus Hagakure Toru and Ojiro Mashirao. As soon as the clock began, team Todoroki and Shoji cautiously entered the building. The latter used his ability to replicate boy parts to make a second set of ears and locate the "villains" through the walls. Some inaudible words were exchanged between teammates before he completely exited the building.

Kazuya's breath hitched as she watched the entire building glisten, thick layers of ice growing up the walls and floors like shimmering frosting on a cake.

Holy hell…is this the level we're supposed to be on?!

Todoroki walked up to the top floor and anticlimactically tapped his hand on the weapon as a bead of perspirant fear dripped from his classmate's brow. Team B was rightfully declared the winner.

All Might called group J once the frost was melted away by the same peppermint-haired boy who had created it. The fact he had not one but two quirks sparked her interest, but she was too busy wondering how the hell she was supposed to follow that up.

"I hope you've got a plan ready because I sure as hell don't," Kirishima admitted with a defeated sigh when they left the room to prepare. Kazuya silently narrowed her eyes, mulling over battle scenarios in her mind. There weren't many tactics she could apply that didn't chance her quirk failing, but she was praying that she'd at least make it the full time without throwing herself out of the building.

As Team J passed the exiting Team B, she caught sight of the dual-quirked Todoroki boy and decided to compliment him on his skills. You know, be a good sport and all. When she passed by, she found he was much more intimidating than she initially gauged, especially with that cold yet heated aura of his. It was like the freezing burn that comes after being left in the snow for too long.

Unfortunately, the words she had planned on saying fled her brain within seconds.

Hey, you were pretty cool out there!

"Hey, cool. You were pretty out there."

It was uncomfortably silent for a long while, during which Kazuya questioned why the universe hadn't put her out of her misery. Todoroki furrowed his brows confusedly and thank the Gods Kirishima accidentally bumped into her.

"What was that?" Sero choked back his laughter with a strained cough.

"The death of a young soul, my friend." Kazuya's Earth-coloured eyes filled with existential dread, never daring to leave the ground as she shuffled into the building. Face beet red, she kept up hopes that she'd be able to get through seven minutes without incident and used it to take her mind off whatever the fuck just happened.

Five minutes after her group was sent into the building, Team H's Tokoyami Fumikage and Asui Tsuyu were allowed to enter. No one was close enough to know each other's quirks yet if they hadn't already asked, so she volunteered to stay on the lower floors for surveillance. The boys were tasked with hiding and protecting the weapon. Kirishima argued that it wasn't right to let her fight two-on-one.

"It's not very "manly" to undermine the power of a woman, either," she grinned like an idiot to hide the annoyed twitching of her brow. That shut him up fairly quickly.

Come time for the mock battle to start, Kazuya had situated herself in the shadows of the third floor, gloves off and ready to throw some kids. She sat in a corner and replayed memories of nights her sister would let her watch her train until Bird Boy stalked into the room. Based on how little she knew about him, it would be optimal to fight from a distance, but she had no moves of her own. Not to mention the fact that she had to establish contact.

Back when Kagami was just starting to make her name known as a pro hero, she would often let Kazuya watch her train in the morning. Her preferred style was close-combat with hits lacking in power but fast enough to overpower her opponents. Kazuya had never practised her punches, but she was flexible, and that could help with some of the more tame moves.

After surveying Tokoyami, she found a perfect opportunity in the form of his flowy cloak. She felt around her mask until she found a small button on the inside corner. A built-in gas canister released a thick smoke that quickly covered the room, covering her movements. The vapour was non-toxic and was added for stealth reasons; it even smelled like cherries!

The smokescreen kept her hidden as she crawled along the floor, grabbed the hem of her opponent's cape, and pulled him to the ground. Before she could even activate her quirk, a bird-like shadow emerged from under Tokoyami's cloak and forced her back until her back slammed into the wall. Her lips twitched downwards when the same creature waved its arms around to disperse the cloud of gas.

"There you are, villain," her classmate narrowed his eyes.

"You know, I never liked roleplay," Kazuya threw her jumpsuit's hood up, leaving only her mask visible from underneath.

"Should we skip right to the combat, then?" Tokoyami asked, living shadow turning to face her with battle-ready talons. She cracked her knuckles, took a deep breath, and tried to push Tokoyami, but was denied that surge of power that came with every activation. Of course, her quirk would choose to instantly screw her over.

"Actually, there's supposed to be two of you, isn't there?" she stalled in hopes of hiding her growing anxiety, "Where's Asui?" Tokoyami gave no indication of his teammate's location, but his shadow seemed to grow impatient.

"Come on, come on, come on! Let's fight already!" it screeched.

"It talks?" she raised her eyebrows, genuinely surprised. She was caught even more off guard by the sudden lunging of the creature. Luckily, her reaction was quick enough and she rolled out of the way, the only casualty being a slash in her left pant leg. It was the first day of training and she had already ruined her costume!

"Dark Shadow, calm yourself! We'll get a battle, soon enough," Tokoyami called, straining to hold back his quirk. Kazuya hesitated for a beat when she saw the shadow writhe about while being pulled back. Her quirk wasn't alive, but she had a feeling she understood this kid more than either of them thought.

Finally, she felt her quirk spark to life. The moment she was hit with that familiar tingling in her arms, she slammed her hands onto a nearby wall. A blue aura illuminated the spot where she touched the hard stone as well as the corner of Tokoyami's cloak. This was a helpful indicator of which two objects were the main focus of Kazuya's quirk.

She had always thought of it as highlighted options in a video game; if something's shrouded in her red or blue light, it was going to be affected.

As Tokoyami was unwillingly dragged closer to the wall, his shadow moved to shield part of his body and soften the impact. This gave Kazuya enough time to inform her teammates of their situation.

"I've got Big Bird's emo cousin under control. I assume Asui's heading your way," she spoke quickly into her communications headset, noticing that the "hero" was getting back onto his feet.

Dark Shadow grabbed some rubble from the wall it smashed into and hurled it towards Kazuya. She shifted the concentration of her quirk from Tokoyami to the pant leg of her own jumpsuit and the same wall. She then dropped down to the floor and slid under the debris, her Attract quirk working much quicker than before.

"Crap!" she yelped when she realised she was barreling straight towards Tokoyami. Her legs swept her classmate's feet out from under him, sending the poor kid three feet into the air. Her oni mask clattered onto the floor a few feet away.

"I assume…you don't have the best control, either?" Tokoyami groaned.

Kazuya felt the vein in her forehead throb with irritation, mask no longer able to hide her sour expression, "Not a word about this to the others."

"Agreed," her opponent nodded and dusted himself off before regaining his fighting stance. With less air in her lungs than before, she tapped her hand on the rubble from the broken wall and psychically pushed them toward him with Repel. The sapphire aura surrounding the rocks faded into an angry red colour.

Dark Shadow swatted away the projectiles but didn't account for their sudden change in direction. Kazuya, unaware that she was switched quirks, was just slightly more startled. She winced and averted her eyes when she released her control and entombed Dark Shadow in broken cement pieces. It hurt to watch just stand by and watch Tokoyami try to help his partner out, but she had a timer to beat.

"Just – uh – stay down…okay? I really don't want to hurt you," she hastily apologized then bounded up the stairs, grabbing her fallen oni mask on the way out the door. With her headset back on, she was able to talk to her team again, "Birdie's taken care of. I'm coming up."

"Hurry, please! I don't know how long I can hold her off — God, why is she so fast?!" Sero shouted into her ear. Flinching from the volume, Kazuya closed the line and headed for the top floor. Cutting through the cellophane barrier her raven-haired teammate put in the doorway took more time than she cared for. The struggle, however, was worth the hilarious sight inside.

Sero was grumbling curses to himself while attempting to hit a hopping Asui with his tape like a weird game of darts. Meanwhile, Kirishima had somehow gotten himself stuck to the ceiling. He flashed Kazuya an awkward smile from his cocoon of adhesive and she could only facepalm.

With her gas canister empty, there was no way of sneaking up on Asui like she did with Tokoyami and Sero was no doubt growing tired. So, what was the most logical solution?

Rocks.

Very fast rocks.

Kazuya snatched up some nearby gravel and threw it into Asui's face as a distraction. She stopped long enough for Sero to catch one of her feet and pull her to the ground. Trying to hop away just entangled her legs further. The disheartened look on her face when she realised she had been captured made Kazuya's guilty heart ache.

"No hard feelings right?" she asked when the timer ended, crouching down in front of her captured enemy to carefully help her out of the tape. Asui took the hand offered to her before standing.

"Of course not, ribbit," she noted with a warm smile. Kazuya's heart melted when the frog girl tilted her head slightly.

"Oh, my Gods, you're adorable," her head dropped into her hands to hide the scarlet flush on her cheeks. She was certain she had made a new friend and looked forward to getting to know her…as long as she didn't combust first.

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The rest of the day was tame compared to combat training. Afternoon classes passed by, with Midoriya arriving after their final class finished. Kazuya wouldn't admit it but she was worried. She didn't want her father's identity to be revealed just yet, but if she needed replacement limbs for a classmate, she wouldn't hesitate to call. They were starting to prove that they were rather entertaining.

"So, Kazuya," Ashido, Kirishima, and Sero casually slid up to her desk. The pink-haired girl leaned in close with her arm around her new friend's shoulder and whispered in her ear, "What do you think of Todoroki?"

"Oh, um, his fight was alright, I guess. Super intimidating, but quick and effective when it came to getting things done," Kazuya shrugged while absentmindedly fidgeting with the velcro strap on her glove.

"Aw, sweetie, that's totally not what I meant!" Ashido threw both her arms around her and ensnared the unsuspecting girl in a bear hug. It had been a while since someone outside her family hugged her. Shinso didn't count because he was the one that begrudgingly received her hugs.

"What did you mean then?" she squeaked once released from the lung-crushing embrace.

"I may or may not have let it slip about your…introduction," Sero explained, awkwardly scratching the nape of his neck.

"She ran with it," Kirishima sighed defeatedly. Kazuya stilled, eyes darting between the two boys in front of her and then to the restless girl to her right.

"W – Why are you staring at me like that…?" she felt a shiver crawl down her spine when she saw the stars in Ashido's eyes.

"I understand completely if you have a crush on him! He's super hot — " the pinkette's words were muffled by a hand suddenly covering her mouth.

"Okay, first of all, I haven't even talked to the guy — no, I'm not counting whatever that was — and second, I don't think any of us know each other well enough to warrant feelings like that," Kazuya dropped her cheery smile. She didn't remove her hand until she said her piece.

"But if I don't have people to ship soon then I'll die!" Ashido whined as she pretended to faint on a nearby desk. Kazuya rolled her eyes, then reminded herself she was supposed to be nice.

She replaced her resting bitch face with a smile, "Yaoyorozu and that Jirou girl seems to be getting along pretty well. Maybe there's something there?"

"Princess and the popstar forbidden love story," Ashido muttered to herself before leaving to stalk her unsuspecting victims. Kazuya made a mental note to apologize later.

"Smart," Sero chuckled, nerves gone with the pinkette.

"You're not off the hook, yet," Kazuya huffed before he and Kirishima could walk away. When she noticed a green head of hair enter the room, she immediately diverted her classmate's attention, "Oh, Midoriya's back."

"Hey! Good to see ya back, super!" Kirishima was the first to approach the bruised and broken boy with a massive sharp-toothed grin. "Man, I don't know what you were saying during that match, but you were all fired up, huh?"

"I can't believe you held your own against Bakugou. He's super strong," Sero followed up.

"You were super great at dodging!" Ashido bounced around excitedly, apparently putting her shipping craving on the back burner.

"Mina, you're gonna have a heart attack if you don't settle down," Kazuya placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. When she realised there was no stopping the endless energy that radiated from her, she sighed. Midoriya's eyes turned to her with recognition when she spoke.

"You were the one who commented on my costume, right?" he tilted his head slightly and squinted as if trying to read a small text from far away.

"Kinda hard to tell with the mask, I know. Imai Kazuya, nice to meet ya," she held out her hand for the boy to shake. As he did so, she caught sight of something purple shuffling by the door behind him.

"Midoriya Izuku, but uh…I'm sure you know that," the poor kid looked flustered with all the attention.

"Well, Midoriya, you were awesome out there. Keep it up," Kazuya gave him a thumbs up then excused herself from the conversation.

Because she decided to stay late to check on her classmate, she expected Shinso to go home without her. Much to her surprise, when she slipped out the door, she found him leaning against the wall and patiently waiting.

"Took you long enough," the violet-haired boy scoffed as she got closer.

"Quit sulking, you look like a sad puppy," she scolded him with a playful elbow to the ribs. He smiled slightly when she turned down the hall with their arms linked at the elbows.

Despite their hometown, Shizuoka, not being far from UA, train rides were always uncomfortable for her because of her personal space issues (Shinso and family being the exception). She was glad to have someone suffer through it with her.

"What was the hold-up, anyway?" he asked, hands buried in his pockets.

Kazuya waved dismissively, "We had mock battles in All Might's class today and I had to make sure this kid wasn't dead."

"All Might's your teacher?" Shinso asked with a raised brow.

"Why is that the part you focus on?" his childhood friend pouted. She unconsciously tightened her grip on his arm when he shot her a fed-up look. "He's a bit loud and egotistical. I thought it was cool at first but then he kept shouting because he was doing normal things like walking through doors."

"And here I thought it couldn't get worse than Present Mic," Shinso scoffed, making Kazuya crack up. Her snorts of amusement made her sound like a piglet.

She went on to explain that day's training exercise and how her teammates were idiots that turned out to be pretty cool. He listened patiently, having grown accustomed to her incessant rambling.

"It sounds like they're growing on you," the violet-haired boy glanced at her smugly through his peripherals, "What happened to that whole lone-wolf routine?"

"What's it to you? Scared you've replaced as my favourite boy?" she grinned like a fool while stepping behind him. Her arm un-looped from his before both came up and snaked around his neck. "Don't worry! You're still number one."

"Whatever you say," Shinso quipped, rolling his eyes and trying to shrug her off. She retaliated by leaning more into his back so that her chin rested in the nook of his neck.

"'I will throw you out of a window," she threatened in a concerningly cheery tone, lips not too far from his ear.

"I'm sure that line will work well. Guys will just fall at your feet," he deadpanned. Kazuya's laughing fit caused her to finally let go of her old friend's neck. The small smile on his face didn't go unnoticed as she slipped her arm through his again.

"Oh, hush. You know you love me," came her giggly reply. She gave Shinso no chance to speak, pulling him down the halls of UA with laughter anyone else would have thought to be annoying. Neither minded the stares they got from passersby.