Four days before the UA Entrance Exam.

Who in the hell would have thought that a paintbrush would hurt more than a sword? Because as it turns out, Sheo could cause more damage with PAINT than anyone with a standard weapon ever could.

Every time Izuku had challenged Sheo, he had lost. He had been painted red and green, blue and yellow; The paint could pierce his tough skin… so far one of the only things that could do so. It was always intimidating when he had to fight Sheo; the man was nearly seven feet tall and built like a brick house. And Izuku had just barely managed four nine… genetics suck.

But while he had been regularly stagnant when it came to fighting Sheo, Izuku had gotten better in other aspects of his training. The endurance runs he went on had gotten longer over the past seven months since he started doing them regularly. They originally started five miles, nearly causing him to pass out even with the athletic increase of his quirk, and then they escalated to almost ten miles. It was almost like he had a speed quirk, only every time he had been stopped and reprimanded by police and hero's about illegal quirk usage… well, speed was not his quirk, so they could not do anything about it.

He had also gotten relatively good at parkour over his long months of physical exercise. The ability to traverse areas he usually could not be turned out to be incredibly exhilarating! He had seen so many fascinating quirks while just running around! He had even seen the lady with pink skin again! But even though he had wanted to speak to her about why her skin was pink… She seemed to always have a large group of friends with her. He- he was not spying on her! She just seemed to always be in the entertainment district! It was not his fault his usual run ran through there!

"What do you think he is mumbling about now?"

"To be completely honest… I have lost count of the topics he speaks about while he mumbles... Last week it was his pink crush and quirk theory."

"S-should we stop him?" The question from the newest of the dojo was sincere... But it didn't dissuade the laughter of the rest of the group.

"If you can stop him, be my guest! Only Sheo has been able to snap him out of it at this point!"

The sudden sounds of water running in the art room caught the small group of friend's attention. Water meant the class was over and the paint messes were being cleaned… which meant Izuku would finally get his rematch.

"OI Zuku! You wanted a rematch right? Sheo just finished his art lessons!"

The storm of muttering was cut off abruptly as Izuku shot off to the art studio. He had waited all day for his rematch!... of many.

—

The busy husky and bustle of the outside street did not slow for the growing tension of one of the buildings beside it; Izuku had just declared another rematch between himself and Sheo. Izuku felt more prepared than the last… twenty-two times? He, like most of the dojo, had lost count.

On one side of the arena sat Sheo, calm, collected, and very ready to slam his student into the pavement. And Izuku sat on the other side, breathing deeply and focusing the heat built up inside of him to his nail. Each side was given five minutes before the battle to get ready. Sheo was picking his colors of paint carefully, sorting them by thickness and color. Izuku, on the other hand, was nearly totally still. The only sign he was preparing anything was the dark aura that seemed to bathe the room in shadow.

Oro walked up to the edge of the arena and spoke, "Your five minutes are up! We once again welcome Master Sheo onto the arena! And his small opponent Izuku Midoriya!" The excitement in his voice sounded forced to all present. They had gone through it many times. "You both know the rules! Quirks are permitted and the use of deadly force is prohibited! You may start when you are ready."

.

..

...

The silence of the arena surprised many. Izuku was commonly the one to strike first. However, the only thing he did since the start of the match was called upon his mask. Sheo struck the first blow of the competition. A thick steak of thin yellow paint sliced through the air from sharpening and thinning as it flew to its stationary target. Only it never hit its mark. In a millisecond, the room seemed to darken, the bright shine of Izuku's mask blazing a train as he seemed to appear behind Sheo, cutting at his instructor's exposed shoulder muscles. Only where blood should have started flowing, it seemed to harden around the wound.

A streak of thin blue paint cut deep where Izuku had been, digging inches into the thick cement wall of the arena. Sheo expected his protege to appear behind him again, anticipating it with another streak of blue where he should have been. Only to be landed on top of by his small student.

Izuku's nail dug deep into his master's muscle, not enough to kill or even maim, but it definitely hurt. Wrenching, the now bloodied blade from Sheo Izuku kicked off, only for a thin purple spear of paint to pierced his shoulder.

The paint went from the rigid crystalline structure it had formed into to liquid the second Izuku touched down on the concrete ground. Focusing back on the energy inside him and the heat around him, he sprinted straight at Sheo. The elder fighter, with practiced ease, dipped his paintbrush on his easel, focusing the energy inside him into the paint, and with a graceful wave of his large hand, sent a wave of color careening towards his disciple... Only for the sharp blade of paint to be consumed with a horizontal streak of black energy.

Sheo jumped into the air dodging the supercharged darkness as it passed, only to be caught in the side by another. The shredding black dug deep into his tough skin, but the greater of the two strikes hit the cement behind him, carving several inches into the wall. The sudden new move their little green warrior had produced caused all three of the Nailmaster's interest to be peaked. The little one must have been practicing for weeks on that attack.

The momentary lapse in concentration left Sheo open, and a sudden weight crashed upon his shoulders, and the cool edge of his student's blade pressed firmly on his throat.

A second passed…

Then Two.

Then Oro spoke up, "Well! It took a while but today, Young Izuku WINS!"

The sudden escalation jarred the small crowd out of their surprise. The group of regular attenders cheered in joy for their small friend, and the hero's themselves could not help but be proud. Sure it was not an all-out hour-long slugfest, but it was brutal; In a real fight. They all knew Sheo would win, but it was more of a test of determination. No one beat Sheo on the first try. Hell, no one had ever beaten Sheo when he went all out. But it showed that even when he lost, Izuku would keep trying. And that was all they needed.

A small party was held after the arena was cleaned of paint and blood. Izuku was given his hero-certified weapon carry license as well as his support item certificate. By the time the treats had been eaten, and the fun had been had… Izuku did not want to leave. The Nailmasters had always been kind. Mato had always been called dad teasingly for his doting nature when one of his students did something right. Oro had always been thorough in his teaching. And even a bit dense, but he always wanted the best for the students. And Sheo always thought of their futures. Teaching them art as a stress relief mechanism and a way to express their emotions… Going the hardest on them in training because he knew they could do it.

So Izuku sat in the comfortable familiarity of the dojo that he had grown used to. Sure he could come back and train… But when he got into, UA he would not have the time. All the hero training plus his personal training and studying and trying to just make it through the hallways each day. Just the thought made him exhausted.

Heavy footsteps fell next to Izuku; the great shadow of Master Sheo engulfed him as Sheo sat next to him and began to speak. "Izuku… I do hope you make an appearance here every now and then, even if only to resharpen your blade. And do keep in touch, we'll celebrate you getting in UA when you get the letter ya? Your mom already agreed to a small party, just you, her, and me and my brothers… How does that sound?"

The only response Sheo got was Izuku leaning on him heavily, lightly snoring.

—

Bakugou Katsuki hated silence.

Ever since his parent's clothing line started booming in both sales and requests, they were never home, always busy. Always too far away to pay attention to him… and when they did, it was only on Christmas and his birthday.

So he started acting out… childish? Yes, he knew that. But he couldn't help himself at this point. He wanted them to be mad, to yell, and STAY at home with him. But the school never reported him for bullying the damn Deku. They NEVER, in the ten years since he started tearing into the fucker tried to stop him…

He knew it was not fair to Deku. They used to be friends. Until the fucker broke his promise until his parents left him alone. Katsuki remembered when Deku followed him. He remembered when the fucker used to look up to him. But he had his mom… And now he had a quirk that made him a powerhouse from the start.

It took Katsuki three years to stop making small fireworks with his quirk, and even then, the explosions were not strong enough to burn anything but the fuckers skin.

But when the police called his parents. When the policemen put bullying on his record… when the police said that the punishment would be handed out by his parents… He expected more than the disappointing silence they gave him. HE was expecting his mom's anger; He was expecting his father's judgment… BUT HE GOT NEITHER OF THOSE!

He got the silence. He got quiet disapproval. The reactions he had been expecting never came. And for the WEEK his parents were home, not a sound rang through the house other than cell phones.

And then they were gone, a letter on the coffee table, and the rage Katsuki had felt for years grew even worse.

—

Mina Ashido loved the arcades that littered the streets of the Musutafu entertainment district. The colorful atmosphere and people, she included, made the tires of a school day fade away. She enjoyed the food from the food carts and even the noisy hero wannabes running around as a form of training.

One of the arcades was her favorite. They held bets once a week on who could beat the new hard track on the dance machine… She always won and, the manager hated it when she appeared, but it was always fun to see people try and beat her score.

So while waiting for her turn on the machine, she watched the crowds bustling about outside the small building, familiar faces from school appeared and waved. But one person always caught her attention. Scaling the side of a building, their small frame, and green, fluffy hair swaying in the wind as they hauled themselves up the ledge of a roof. Every day they were running across the building, jumping and rolling. Climbing and making everyone on the streets seem slow. They never seemed to need to stop when they started running. She had seen them at hero fights watching from roofs. And even watching people just walk around from their high vantage point.

She wanted to talk to them… but every time she tried, they seemed to jump in surprise and run away, their face always bright red as they did so.

She could not wait for the day she caught them one day. She would have to ask them some embarrassing questions just to see their response.