Suzume thinks she might be in love with Ichigo.

Daiga Ichigo is a few years older than her, but she's one of the best MMA fighters in the country already, and she had been well on her way to that title when Ryuhei had first sent Suzume her way, just over two years ago now. She's abrasive, and powerful, and Suzume's first impression was watching her suplex a man three times her size into the floor.

Ichigo, who's quirk let's her manipulate the ground, is strong and fast and utterly unafraid. She's everything Suzume wishes she was, with brilliant pink-white hair and flashing green-on-black eyes.

She's also a vicious taskmaster, and might just kill Suzume before she has a chance to make her way into the hero world.

"Get back up, Yusada," she barked, kicking her heel on the floor. It rolls with her movement and tosses Suzume up, where she barely manages to get her feet up under her. Her eyes are drooping and no amount of energy drinks has helped her.

Mitsuo and Tekito watch her try to shake herself off while Ichigo looms above them.

"Get back at it! What are you gonna roll over and take a nap in the middle of a fight? Is that what they teach you at that soppy hero school? Get a move on! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Suzume grimaces and turns away from her, towards the boys. They're older than her too, and Tekito stands a good head above her shoulders. His palms glow faintly and his typically yellow eyes burn red with the activation of his quirk.

Mitsuo lifts his hands, his fingers poised as if he's going to play piano. There's the faintest flicker of light against threads, thin as spider silk that lead to his finger tips.

They all pretend that using quirks like this (That training quirks period, outside of hero courses) isn't entirely illegal. They're training Suzume, is the justification. They can get away with a lot more that way than one would expect, and no one in here is a snitch.

Most of the rest of the students have already gone by now. It's just the four of them in the back room of Ichigo's dojo.

They don't wait for Suzume to get ready before Tekito lunges for her, lashing out hard. She has to duck and dodge him carefully, the heat of his quirk beating against her skin where they almost connect. She dips behind him, carefully avoiding everything he throws at her. His heat can't leave his body, but it's still oppressive. She knows he's not scared to burn her if he gets the chance.

She can't grab him or grapple him to the ground, she just has to avoid being touched by his cherry hot hands.

Worse, is the faintest touches of silk strands against her skin that she has to twist away from and between. She can't let it actually touch her, or it's bound to leave deep cuts on her arms and back. She just has to dance between the wires she can't even really see, and avoid the heat in front of her.

At the same time, Tekito is also at risk from Mitsuo's sharp threads, and the pair of them are working together. So that helps her. It means that the strings withdraw when Tekito gets close, but in that same measure staying too close to him puts her skin at risk.

It's hard, she won't lie. She can't let herself be touched a single time by anyone or anything. Not by the heat burning under Tekito's skin or the tight lines of artificial threads that Mitsuo weaves around them. The ground moves faintly, changing texture wherever it's about to shoot up and try to smack her in the face, curtesy of Ichigo. Although that one is indiscriminate, the boys are just as at risk as she is of the sudden spikes that shoot from the ground.

She's never been claustrophobic but now it feels like everything is starting to close in around her. They're boxing her in, leaving only a little room to move.

Suzume twists and ducks, minding the wires and carefully picking her steps. Each turn takes her further and further from where they started. The whole time Ichigo watches them, her green-black eyes sharp and observant.

Tekito isn't as patient as her. He's starting to press his attack, pushing her harder and harder.

And making it easier to lead him on.

She's sweating and starting to get dizzy when she finally picks her time. She knows that Mitsuo is nearly right behind her, he'd placed himself against the wall at the start and now there's nowhere for him to go. The threads have hardened and closed together, making a barrier between them.

It's exactly what Suzume needs.

She's spent the entire time walking circles around Tekito, twisting under his arms, darting between his legs.

Now she curls herself low, spins around his hip and catches his ankle with her own. She yanks, ripping his leg out from under him and sending his careening into the threads, which snap and retreat before they can do more than split his hair.

Mitsuo's focus is on Tekito. With the last of her strength Suzume launches herself up, catching one of the support beams on the open ceiling above them, and swings herself at him. Her shadow falling across his is the only warning Mitsuo get's before she lands on top of him, her knees on his shoulders and her hands cupping his cheeks.

She rests her thumbs gently just under his eyes.

"Give?"

Mitsuo stares at her, his chest heaving under her weight. His blue hair is sweat slicked to his forehead. Apparently using his quirk is as much a physical strain as a mental one.

"I- yeah. I give."

She turns to look at Tekito, who's bleeding faintly from a few lines on his forehead. His right hand is cut slightly too.

"I have your partner as a hostage. Will you give up?"

Tekito, who somehow looks even worse for wear than she is, grunts. He thumps his head on the floor and the heat shimmering over his body fades.

Suzume rolls off of Mitsuo with a groan.

Ichigo looks pissed when she stands above them.

"I've never seen the three of you so sloppy before. Suzume, you could have burnt your leg off in that last move, and if they were partners of convenience instead of partners because they're friends you would have lost. Mitsuo should have cut you into pieces, and Tekito would have burned you up instead of letting you take a hostage. I know you can do better than that."

"Tekito, you need to watch your output more. Your surroundings almost caught on fire more than once, and you wasted way too much energy keeping yourself heated up the entire time. Look me in the eyes and tell me you didn't just cook part of your brain. Well?!"

"And Mitsuo! You have the potential to have one of the most versatile quirks out there, but you use the same Bird Cage strategy every time. Ev-er-y. Time. You could have won from the very start, but you lack the creativity to do it."

All three of them get themselves on their knees in front of her while Ichigo tears them apart. She is right each time, of course, and even if she hadn't been they all know better than to try to argue with her by now.

She carefully rips them apart, picking at each mistake that they made. Suzume knows she made plenty, she's too tired to even properly register every criticism that Ichigo gives her.

Finally, Ichigo claps her hands together.

"Okay. Get out."

They stand and bow to her before filing out, sweaty and tired.

"I was starting to think that would never end," Suzume admits. She tugs her hair out of it's bun and shakes it out, running her fingers through it to try to cool down.

"You're telling me. You looked like a zombie when you walked in today and you still didn't throw it," Tekito shoves her shoulder, his hands cooled by now.

"I'd never throw a match," Suzume rolls her eyes at him.

"Mhmm. You should know better. Suzume is stubborn."

"Traitor," she grumbles at Mitsuo.

He shoots her a quiet, harmless smile, just as mild as milk.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow," she promises, and walks out into the night with a small wave.

She has no idea that it's a total lie.

"Rescue Simulation."

The words echo in Suzume's ears. Her hands tighten into fists under her desk next to the window. She wasn't expecting this to be so soon. It's only been a few days since the incident with the media. And now they're all going off to fight villains, even if she's the only one who knows about that.

The idea of telling someone surfaces again, but there are the same problems. So she's going to have to stick to her plan. Which isn't a very good one, by her own admission, but she's low on other options.

Their costume cases come out of the wall again, each one marked by their student numbers.

"It's up to each of you whether or not you wear your costume. Some of your costumes probably aren't adapted to the task at hand, after all. The training area is fairly far away, so we'll take a bus to get there. That's all. Go get prepared."

Aizawa motions them all off and they clamor to get their cases and run off to the changing rooms. Suzume chooses her costume, almost everyone does but Midoriya, who's suit had taken some damage during his practice match. It hadn't been professionally made, apparently.

Who knew?

Once the comfortable weight of her utility belt is settled on her hips she makes her way out with the rest of the girls and piles onto the bus.

School buses suck, that's what Suzume has decided.

Even ones for hero schools, as roomy as it might be, it's still too hot and it bumps hard going down the road. Suzume sits between Kirishima and Tsu, and on Tsu's other side is Midoriya, who has been sending her weird looks since their first battle training exercise. He hasn't said anything to her yet though.

What's he even going to say?

While Suzume is thinking about opening up her book and stuffing her face in it, Tsu turns to her other side.

"You know Midoriya," she begins, "Your quirk reminds me of All Might's."

Suzume hides a smile when the boy pales and he starts frantically waving his hands in front of himself. "I-is that s-so? But mine isn't all that much like his!"

"Wait Tsu, he's right," Kirishima jumps in, leaning around Suzume to talk to her, "All Might's quirk doesn't hurt him when he uses it. That's about where the likeness's end, right? Although, I'm actually kinda jealous of that kind of simple enhancement type quirk though! There's a lot you can do with one, and flashily too."

He lifts his hand up and his flesh splinters into something sharp and jagged. "Hardening isn't bad for punch-up's, but I wish it was a little less bland ya know?"

Midoriya is quick to jump in and defend the quirk, "Well I think it's an awesome quirk! Definitely a heroes quirk, Kirishima!"

"It will be a good quirk," Aoyama grins, "but my naval laser is both flashy and strong!"

"Just so long as your stomach doesn't give out, right?" Mina teases. His face falls. "If we're talking the double whammy of flashy and strong, I think Todoroki and Bakugou fit the bill."

"Sure, but Bakugo is always angry, so he'll never be that popular." Tsu points out.

"What did you say? I'll kick your ass!" Bakugo jumps out of his seat and snarls at the girl.

"You see," she points at him, unphased. Suzume's trying hard not to laugh, while Midoriya looks bewildered.

"You know we basically just met you, so it's kind of telling that we all know your personality is like shit being steamed in a sewer." Kaminari shoots Bakugou a crooked smile, and nearly get's a bomb to his face.

"You're going to regret the day you applied to this school, you loser! I'll kill you!"

Suzume does laugh at that, startling herself as much as her classmates, and the absolute fury on Bakugou's face makes it worth it.

"You got something to say?" he snarls at Suzume, who responds by flipping him off. Before he can launch himself across the bus and try to kill her, Aizawa pipes up from the front.

"We're almost there. Stop messing around."

They all calm down a little. Suzume tugs her gloves on over her amber sleeves, and the light catches them just right.

"Oh hey, I didn't notice those before," Tsu motions to the lines on her arms and armor. They're faint, a few shades darker than the rest of it.

"Ah, yeah. They were supposed to be like hornet stripes, but the company made them darker amber instead of black."

"Hornet stripes?"

"Mhmm. Like 'suzumebachi'."

"Oh! That's cool," Tsu smiles at her and they all start crowding off the bus.

Suzume startles when Kirishima bumps shoulders with her.

"Hey," he starts, looking a little chagrined.

"Hi?" she tilts her head at him.

"I uh. I wanted to apologize? For talking that way about our quirks when. You know."

"When I don't have one," she finishes for him.

He cringes. "Yeah. That. I wasn't trying to rub it in your face or anything. I mean, my quirk's not flashy but you- shit, I mean- uh?"

Suzume takes pity on him, and shakes her head. She's a little bit touched that he's even trying to apologize, even if it is awkward and a little patronizing.

"Don't worry so much about it. It's not like I haven't spent my entire life around people with quirks, or like I expected there to be anyone else without one here. You're not going to hurt my feelings talking about yours. Honestly."

She might get a little jealous, or think they're being silly, but she's starting to realize that Kirishima at least means no harm.

"Yeah?" he perks up a bit.

"Yeah," she promises.

"Awesome," Kirishima shoots her a sharp toothed grin. "I'm glad you know it's not like we were trying to make fun of you or anything. I mean, it doesn't matter what your quirk is, if you've got a manly heart!"

Suzume stares at him.

What?

"...Thanks?"

He grins cheerfully at her and crowds out of the bus with everyone else.

Suzume climbs out with the rest of them and slowly stretches out, so she's the last one in the long line of students. Right before they step inside she pulls her phone out and sends off a text.

At the beginning of the year she had saved all of her teachers phone numbers in her real phone, and in a burner phone she'd gotten from Kai years ago. Now, prepared to get in trouble if her memories are wrong or if something has changed, she shoots off an SOS text to every single one of them and drops a pin from the burner.

As soon as she steps foot inside the USJ her service cuts out.

She doesn't know if she's relieved her memories are right or horrified.

Both?

Either way, she climbs up in between Iida and Kirishima while Thirteen gives a long, 'Water is Wet' speech about how quirks can be used to help or hurt people.

The whole thing makes her want to roll her eyes at how silly it is.

"All right. First things first…"

Abruptly, the lights flickered out. Suzume stiffened, and followed Aizawa's gaze down to the fountain in the center of the plaza. A twist of shadows appeared before it started to slowly spread out over the area. Hands crawled out of the shadows, and a familiar head appeared.

Suzume bounced lightly on her toes. Okay, so she had been mostly right. It still looks cool, in the same way that a lion would look cool right before it ripped your throat out.

Aizawa spins towards the group. "Huddle together and don't move!" he barks, his entire demeanor changing in an instant, "Thirteen, protect the students!"

Kirishima pokes his head up next to Suzume's, looking down as more and more vague villains appear. "What is that? Is this like the training robots at the entrance exam?"

"Don't move!" Aizawa snaps again, "Those are real villains!"

"Eraserhead and Number Thirteen…" The shadows at the head of a pack turns his gaze across them. It falls upon Suzume like a physical, cold weight. The golden eyes of a walking corpse. "According to the teacher's curriculum we procured yesterday, All Might was meant to be here, and yet…"

"I knew it. So yesterday was your doing?" Aizawa pulls his goggles down over his face.

"Where is he? We went through all this trouble. And rustled up so many npc's to bring along. You can't tell me that All Might isn't here today." Tomura tilts his head, one hand crawls up to grip at his throat.

"I wonder if he'll show up if we start killing kids?

"Thirteen, start the evacuation procedure and call the school. These villains know how to get around our security. There's a chance there's an electromagnetic quirk at work interfering, Kaminari, try contacting UA with your quirk." The order's come fast, and Suzume unclasps her holster.

Midoriya looks horrified. "Sensei, are you really gonna fight them alone?! Even if you suppress all of their quirks, there's way too many of them! Your battle style is to capture villains after you've erased their quirks, with that many people-"

"Midoriya," he cut's in swiftly, utterly calm, "Any hero worth their salt knows how to compensate for their own weaknesses. Thirteen, I'm counting on you. Protect these kids!"

"Right! Everyone, let's move!" Thirteen ushers them all towards the door. Suzume runs with the rest of them, right into the waiting cloud of Kurogiri. Who is weirdly polite about trying to kill a bunch of high schoolers.

Bakugou and Kirishima launch themselves at him, tripping up Thirteen. It's the only opening Kurogiri needs.

Black mist whips out, cocooning Suzume before she can even think to dodge it.

All at once she's falling, falling, falling-

It's cold, when he drops them through the shadows and into darkness.

Suzume can't help it. She screams, the air leaving her lungs like it's being sucked into a vacuum. She hits the ground hard, jarring the half healed burn on her shoulder.

Suzume hisses and sits up. Fuck, that hurt.

She looks around herself warily. They're inside a building, what looks like it used to be an office, and outside the broken window she can see more busted buildings all over the place, stretching out to a good sized city scape. Some of the buildings look like they're inches from toppling to the ground, and others are missing whole chunks out of them.

Kirishima and Bakugou come crashing out of the swirling mist after her, which is.

Great.

Awesome.

"Fuck."

Kirishima is fine, but couldn't she have been here with someone nicer than Bakugou? Or even Todoroki, who's at least quiet.

"Ah shit, what happened?" Kirishima rubs the back of his neck, looking around them.

"Isn't it obvious?" Bakugou scowls. "We got teleported by that jackass smoke guy."

Suzume tilts her head when she hears footsteps approaching from outside the room.

"Look alive, boys," Suzume reaches behind her and pulls her bo staff off her back. It extends with the softest of clicks to it's full size. The weight is comfortable in her hands.

Just like practice.

Only the chance of dying is more serious.

The door bursts open, and villains spill into the room of all shapes and sizes. A whole pack of adults, some of them with blades for hands and other's circled by small pieces of metal, and all of them are intent on killing a bunch of kids.

It's not nearly as hard to take them down as Suzume had been fearing. They fall easily under Bakugou and Kirishima, who barely have any training at all, and Suzume hardly sweats, smacking them down over and over with fluid, practiced moves.

The hardest part is avoiding Bakugou's blasts while she dances between their opponents and breaks them down bone by bone and joint by joint. To her own irritation Bakugou takes down most of them, and he keeps looking at her, the smug asshole.

It's a little worrying that she's done more permanent damage than either of the boys combined, but she doesn't fuck around when it comes to fighting for her life.

Dying once was enough, thank you.

She stands above a villain with six limbs, which are now all twisted in the wrong direction, with her foot pinning him to the ground.

"That was kind of sad, wasn't it? Losing to a bunch of kids like us."

He doesn't answer. He's completely unconscious, after all.

"I think that's the last of these weaklings," Bakugo says. He's out of breath, but with each swing and each drop of sweat his power has built up. Still, Suzume can see the way he's flexing his hands. It's causing a strain on his body.

"Alright, let's go find the rest of our class. If we three are still in the USJ, then everyone else probably is too. And not all of them have the offensive skills we do." Kirishima looks worried, and guilty. "We've gotta make sure they're safe, especially since we were the ones who screwed things up when we got in the way earlier. If Thirteen had been able to suck up that villain, we'd never have been separated like this. We've got to make it up to the others."

Bakugou scoffs at him. "You wanna track everyone down, have fun. But I'm gonna go kill that warping bastard."

"Huh? Our physical attacks didn't hurt that guy. Come on, don't be an idiot, man."

"Shut up! I'm going to take him down because he's their way in and out. If I cut off their escape route, they'll be stuck here and have to pay for what they've done. We'll just have to figure it out when we get there."

Suzume doesn't bother warning him about the rippling air over his shoulder. He doesn't need a warning to smash the camouflage villain into the ground.

She hates to admit it, but when he's not being a total shit stain he's kind of cool.

"Anyway, if all these Villains are small fries like these guys were, then our classmates can handle them."

"Aaw," Kirishima grins, "Sounds like you've got some faith in our classmates, huh Bakugou?"

"Shut up! If this quirkless little shit can take on these losers then the rest of those extra's shouldn't have any trouble!"

Aaaaand his coolness is gone again.

"You say that like I haven't beaten you twice, puppy."

"Shut your goddamn mouth wasp girl!"

Wasp girl? She wonders, bewildered. Whatever, we don't have time for this.

Suzume kicks the window and smashes it the rest of the way out.

"Kirishima, c'mere. It's time for us to get back to the plaza."

"Huh?" he walks over to her curiously. She lifts one arm up like she's offering to hug him. The other one holds her grappling gun.

"Bakugou can use his explosions to propel himself, but we'll be faster if we swing our way back. So hold on to me, okay?"

"A-ah! Right, just like in training," he still looks flustered when he wraps his arms around her shoulders. Suzume grips him tight around his middle.

"Just like in training. Don't let go of me, no matter what, okay?"

"Got it."

"Try to keep up," she glances at Bakugou before she shoots, and pushes them out the window. Wind whips around them, tearing at her hair and she hears Bakugou swear and the sound of explosions erupting behind them.

When she looks back he's only doing short bursts, exploding and then landing before taking off again.

They land on a roof top before she picks another point, shoots, and they swing off again.

They need to move faster.

They need to get back.

And they do, the group of them bursting out of their dome and into the plaza just in time to see Nomu bat Aizawa away from Shigaraki. Their teacher goes skipping like a stone across the hard ground.

Suzume looks frantically towards the front door. Where are the other teachers? They had to have gotten her text message. They have to!

The massive, grotesque creature takes hold of Aizawa's already battered arm and starts to squeeze.

Suzume doesn't think. She lifts her grappling gun and shoots.

It spears straight through one of the Nomu's eyes.

The scream that rips from its beak will haunt her nightmares for years to come. Blood spurts around the point, and it only increases when the hook deploys itself inside of its head. Suzume doesn't have the presence of mind to let go when it pulls her forwards, dragging her towards the flailing beast.

Shit!

Thinking fast, she lets it yank her forwards and swings her weight low to catch hold of Aizawa before she finally let's go, and the momentum carries the pair of them away from flailing limbs and screaming.

They tumble to the ground, Aizawa bleeding badly with his arm twisted wrong and Suzume scrambling to crouch above him.

"Damn it," he groans beneath her. "Kid, you need to-"

"If you tell me to run, I swear to god I'll-"

"Now that," a voice hisses, cutting through them, "Was pretty brutal. Are you sure you're a hero, little girl?"

Suzume lifts her head to see Tomura Shigaraki looming over them. His hands twitch, his fingers curling and uncurling.

The door bursts open, and the UA teachers pour into the room en masse. They're early, and they're all there.

"Nope," Suzume grins up at him, vicious and victorious, "But they sure are."

Shigaraki lunges for her.