Shattered Fate

by CaedesPlerique

A world so focused on heroes has lost its way. As the beginning steps of the critical events to the future of their world start to occur, they get some unexpected help. Can these new arrivals save their world from themselves? (MHA/Spider-man/Naruto/Ranma)

13. Chapter 13 - Training Days

Chapter 13 - Training Days

Aizawa tried to ignore the sounds of his students speaking with each other before class began for the day. He usually succeeded, as he had experienced doing so for years, but the school's bell ended that fight abruptly and not in his favor. He yawned, his face looking away from his students as he reached for his yellow sleeping bag's zipper.

By the time he had exited the bag, stashed it to the side, and turned towards his class, his students were all sitting properly at their desks, silently watching him. He was pleased at how quickly this class had adapted, waiting for the last few rings of the school bell to end.

He looked over his students, trying to understand their current state. While it was one of his jobs as a Homeroom teacher, he personally had taken that to be an important task. Especially for this class, considering the attack and the unsettling revelations that it wouldn't be the end of events.

His gaze concentrated on Haruno and her training group. The girl was seemingly relaxed and he couldn't tell her emotional state, though she was significantly better at hiding such things than most kids her age. Considering what he learned about her background yesterday, it explained much. Iida had been the most affected of those who attended her group, but he was sitting like usual. His eyes only occasionally glanced in her direction with no spikes of anger that he could detect. That hopefully meant he had resolved his conflict from last night. The others glanced at her more frequently than usual, but only Kaminari and Asui seemed hesitant or concerned. That is good enough for him.

He then focused on those who had attended Saotome's club, having gotten a list of the students who had participated. He had been told that he had run them ragged, and looking at them now, he could see the signs that it was true. A meal and a good night's sleep were likely the main reasons they were functional at all.

Not everyone had attended a training group, which he wasn't surprised by considering what he knew about each of them. Most of them either didn't feel comfortable joining them or did not have a sufficient reason. Parker was the odd one out of everyone, as his interest in the Sports Festival never appeared to spike during any of the discussions. From what he could see, Parker was not super competitive and if his mind was on other things, it made sense. However, he did wonder what he was working on that was so important.

The one other oddity was the occasional glances that Bakugo sent him. Had they interacted yesterday? Aizawa decided it would be prudent to check, though it would be best to check it anonymously.

"Morning," Aizawa said in greeting as he walked to the front of the class right after the bell finished ringing.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Sakura was one of the first students to reach the table they had been using as their usual gathering place at lunch for most of Class A. She figured this would be when she found out if she had lost any of them last night. She usually would have met Tenya or Mina on the way to class, but Chiyo had wanted her help transporting a few extra things to the school for another Hero Class in second year.

Tenya and Mina were some of her first friends that were her age– her adjusted age- who she had made in this new world. While Tenya had started out being an awkward and unusual friendship, even if his personality reminded her of Lee or Sai at times, it had quickly grown to one she adored and would hate to lose. Sure, he was loud and didn't seem to grasp some things most people understood or sometimes put others in embarrassing situations by association, but one of her best friends was Naruto! Tenya didn't hold a candle to him for being obnoxiously loud. And just like Naruto, he was also kind and extremely loyal.

Mina reminded her of her friendship with Ino before they had started to fracture and fray due to their infatuation with Sasuke. She was kind, energetic, and fun-loving. While she could get scared, she didn't let it control her when she needed to help someone.

Soon after she sat, others joined her: Momo, Fumikage, and Kyoka. They smiled, in their own ways, when they greeted her. She responded back, glad some of them were there. They ate silently as more classmates joined them, including Shoto, Rikido, and Yuga. She wondered about others who sometimes sat with them, but then she saw them walking towards Ranma's table. They didn't have any trays with them, which was unusual.

"Hi, Sakura!" Mina said from behind her, quickly setting her tray down beside her and taking a seat. Sakura sighed as she did so, one concern down. "So, what gruesome training are we looking forward to after school?"

"Yes, how are we going to train? You were rather vague about that yesterday," Fumikage asked, taking a bite of his food from the side of his beak.

Sakura smirked but said nothing as they looked at her. While her 'students' expectedly looked at her, the ones who weren't currently attending their training looked on curiously as they ate silently.

"It will be painful, and we will most likely curse her name while she subjects us to it," Tenya said from behind Sakura as he, too, took a seat next to Sakura, on the opposite side that Mina had taken. "I have mentioned she trained my brother's agency before. I was not allowed to witness it, and no one was allowed to speak of it. But during the training, they were often exhausted and would curse her in rather creative ways and started to call her–"

"Stop, Tenya-kun," Sakura said, leveling a glare in his direction.

Tenya paused, before nodding. "I apologize, Sakura-san."

"Thank you," Sakura said before grinning. "And I'm glad they didn't break my rule; I would have hated having to pay a visit and terrorize a few sidekicks because someone got careless."

Shoto looked at her evenly, finishing a scoop of his soba noodles before asking a question. "Why is your training secret?"

"I like to ensure that people's expectations are not ruined. I won't say more than that," Sakura answered. Her training worked best when people didn't know what to expect. Part of the point was to keep them from working it out in advance, after all.

"She subjected my brother's sidekicks to her training for weeks on end in groups. But when they finally passed her training, even the most vocal complainers said nothing about it. Their attitudes changed after that," Tenya said, scooping up some of his rice.

"Ribbit."

Sakura looked to her side and was pleased to see Tsuyu and Denki walking up to the table and grabbing a seat. They didn't interrupt; they were just willing to listen for now. It seemed none of them were turning their back on her, though she still saw the occasional concerned look from those two.

Sakura was about to continue the conversation when a loud shout occurred from one of the other tables.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Izuku walked towards the cafeteria with the others from their training group from both classrooms. A few others from both classes followed them, curious about the strangely solemn group. He was nervous, as were Ochako and Toru since all they knew was that Ranma would show them how to train while eating. They had no idea what would happen beyond his suggestion of how to eat their rice.

Ranma had only told them they would eat together today and that food would be provided. Izuku began to get a better feel for Ranma this week, having shown a mischievous personality that popped up occasionally.

They entered the cafeteria and began looking for where they were to meet Ranma. It didn't take them long to spot her in the middle of the cafeteria at a conspicuous table, one that hadn't been there the previous day. In place of the usual cafeteria table bench was a small round one, surrounded by folding chairs, piles of plates and utensils, and a mountain of food sitting in the center.

While they made their way over, Izuku noted that Eijiro was waving to Koda and Peter, who moved off to their own table, and Itsuka and Mashirao were waving off a few other classmates. Other students wondered what was happening as they occasionally glanced at the table.

"Glad all of you made it!" Ranma was far too cheerful as they finished approaching. "I think you would have hated it if I had to run you down and drag you here, even if it would have been fun for me!"

Izuku and several of the others sweated at the idle threat. The fact that none of them seemed willing to test it was left unsaid. But now that they stood there, they could see the miniature mountain was filled with various meats, veggies, and other items that could be easily plopped onto the pile. To one side was a stack of trays, plates, bowls of rice, and a large pile of chopsticks.

"Have a seat, everyone," Ranma said, waving an arm at the empty seats.

Once everyone had found a seat, they watched as Ranma flicked the trays, plates, and other tableware like they were playing cards or skipping stones, sliding along the tabletop far too quickly! This caused several of them to nearly jump out of their seats, but the implements quickly settled into place and stopped spinning as if some Quirk was in play.

Izuku prodded the tray, thinking maybe they were stuck to the table or something, but they came right off. Nothing seemed particularly odd about either the tray or the bowl. He wasn't the only one investigating, even as Ranma passed around four pairs of chopsticks for everyone.

"Alright, we'll try to eat what meals we can together, but I got the school to help us set this up. As a celebration and reward for doing so well during yesterday's training, I made sure to get more than enough food, two to three times what you would normally eat. Plenty of food for everyone!"

Izuku was still hesitant. Remembering yesterday's smirk and her current enthusiasm made him guess that more was involved than what she was telling them. He glanced at his fellow trainees and saw most of them looking back, obviously not entirely buying it.

"Alright, everyone, let's dig in!" Ranma yelled, getting the attention of others with her outburst. Izuku watched as she calmly grabbed a piece of fish and put it on her plate.

Eijiro, who sat across from Ranma, grinned as he grabbed a pair of chopsticks and picked up a piece of chicken. His smile disappeared as, halfway back to his plate, his chicken disappeared from his chopsticks. They had seen nothing. It had been there one moment and gone the next. He stared dumbly at the empty space it had been in. "Huh? Where'd it go?"

"Yum, chicken," Ranma said as she munched on some chicken. It took them all a moment, but they recognized the chicken piece that was moving into her mouth as she chewed before it disappeared entirely. After a few moments of chewing with her mouth swelled, she swallowed it all. "That's some good chicken! Do you think the cooks would share pointers?"

"Hey! What the hell, man! That was my chicken!" Eijiro shouted, standing up and pointing an accusing finger at the natural redhead. He didn't seem to care that he got the attention of the rest of the cafeteria.

"Oh? Was it?" Ranma asked, her innocent face smiling softly at him as she nibbled on another piece of food. Her eyes, however, were cackling at the other redhead. "Well, if it was, it was delicious."

"You can't just steal my food!" Eijiro shouted, a fist slamming down on the table.

"I can't?" Ranma asked, tilting her head to one side.

"No!"

"Why?"

Eijiro seemed to sputter there momentarily, his train of thought lost. "Because I had it first!"

"Did you?"

"I was holding it with my chopsticks!"

"So?"

Izuku was getting a bit of whiplash, turning back and forth between the two as one bickered in somewhat justifiable outrage and the other responded with childish questions.

"You can't take something once it's mine!" Eijiro said, trying and failing to point out the obvious to his classmate.

"No, it wasn't."

"Yes, it was! I had it in my chopsticks! So it was mine!"

"That doesn't make it yours yet," Ranma said, though the childish innocence was diminishing.

"Why the hell not?" Eijiro demanded to know, crossing his arms and glaring at her.

"It isn't your food until it lands on your plate."

Eijiro blinked several times. "What?"

"Until the food is resting on your plate, it isn't yours," Ranma said, grinning up at him now. "Those are the rules."

"Eh?" Eijiro and half of their table asked in utter confusion.

For Izuku, it suddenly all made sense now. This wasn't just a lunch where Ranma would teach them how to train, but the training itself! And he wasn't the only one to realize it, as several others, specifically Itsuka, Mashirao, and Mezo, caught on quickly. Izuku shared a look with them before they eyed the trays and the chopsticks. They each scrambled for a pair of chopsticks and rushed for the tray.

"Ah!"

"Ow!"

Two of them grunted, pulling their hands back as if something had struck them. Mezo and Itsuka cradled their hands, rubbing sore spots as they tried to figure out what had happened. Izuku and Mashirao had been able to grab some food but quickly realized that it had disappeared before they could get it back to their plate. They found that food resting on Ranma's plate.

"What was that?" Itsuka asked Ranma, still rubbing the back of her sore hand as she opened and closed it to ensure the range of motion wasn't negatively impacted.

Ranma turned in her direction and plopped an elbow on the tabletop while resting her cheek on the available palm, grinning at the girl with an orange ponytail. Itsuka's eyes were drawn to the twirling chopstick that spun around a finger on her free hand. She was about to repeat her question when Ranma stopped moving too fast for them to see as she flicked that same chopstick behind her back, hitting the top of Izuku's hand. A hand that had been trying to sneak its way to the plate of food. The fact that the chopstick rebounded into her available hand was just an added insult to the situation.

"Good attempt, Izuku! It might have worked if you weren't the only one attempting that," Ranma said, but never taking her eyes off of Itsuka. Eyes hinting at how much Ranma wanted to be laughing right then.

"What the hell?"

"How did she do that?"

"What the hell are they even doing? This is the lunch cafeteria!"

Ranma ignored the growing crowd of students who were watching. Izuku and the others noted that even their classmates were included in watching what was happening. Some of them were getting somewhat embarrassed.

"You know, the food is going to waste like this. It's getting cold; it won't taste as good if you guys don't hurry up," Ranma chirped, her eyes closing as she gave them a big smile after sitting upright.

"Ah hah!" Eijiro cried out after finally catching on to what was happening. He thrust a hand towards the giant platter of food with his Quirk activated, causing parts of his body to be covered in a layer of rocklike flesh.

The hand never made it to the tray, courtesy of a chopstick poking into the side of his arm, still held by Ranma's outstretched hand. They all stilled as they absorbed what they had just seen; Ranma had been seated one moment, then casually leaning over the plate of food the next. Eijiro pulled his hand back, collapsing into his seat, and whimpered as he tried to cradle it while his eyes watered from the pain.

He used his other hand to try to touch the point of impact but found no apparent wound. Then he discovered the other thing that had happened, he couldn't open or close his hand! It was stuck like that, his fingers refusing to respond. Eijiro's eyes widened as he stared in horror. "What the hell?"

Then, his Quirk was still active, he felt something hit him in the forehead, causing his whole head to rock backward from the force of it. His hand went to the new painful lump, finding yet another instance of something efficiently bypassing his hardening Quirk. He stared wide-eyed as Ranma held the chopstick tip threateningly in her hand as she glared at him.

"As fun as it is letting you all stumble through this, I've been told I should inform you of the rules early into the training. You cannot break these rules without punishment unless I give you permission. If you feel you can get away with it, have at it! But if you fail, then I might get creative with your punishment," Ranma said as she sat down casually.

She then held up a single finger. "Rule one; no active Quirk usage. I will let it slide for you today, Toru, but you must bring gloves from now on.

"Rule two; you will only attack, collect, and eat with your chopsticks. Bare-handed attempts, even to defend yourself, are not allowed! Accidents happen, but you're all three-hundred years away from being able to sneak one past me," Ranma said with a smirk as she repeated yesterday's taunt. "Food that makes it to your plate is yours; no one is allowed to steal it. Anything that didn't make it to your plate is still in play.

"Rule three; you have three pairs of chopsticks at your disposal. If they all break, either by me, your table mates, or by your own actions, then you are out! You are not even allowed to eat the food you have already acquired.

"Rule four; your fourth pair of chopsticks is to eat your rice. But like I suggested to you yesterday, you may only eat your rice one grain at a time. If you don't, I will break that pair of chopsticks, and you will then go hungry for the rest of lunch."

"Rule five; unless otherwise given the okay from Yagi-sensei, Aizawa-sensei, or Principle Nezu, you are not allowed to skip this training for any reason other than illness, injury, or being kidnapped," Ranma said.

"Kidnapped?" Ochako asked.

"I don't care if you are asleep, in detention, or trying to run away to China. I will find you and I will drag you back. If I think you were trying to escape this training, I will devise an appropriate punishment."

"Rule six," Ranma said as her hand closed and then extended a single finger again, "is that you are not allowed to eat anything two hours before or two hours after lunch unless given the okay by me or a sensei."

"Rule seven…" Ranma started to say before her hand flashed around the table, intercepting several pairs of chopsticks with her own pair as everyone except for Eijiro flung their hands forward to try to steal pieces of food off the platter. It continued for several seconds as frustrated growls, grunts, and general mayhem occurred at the table as they all tried to get some food.

The crowd watched in wonder and horror at the utter chaos. An excited Eijiro quickly tried to get in on the action while he had the chance, but he only added fuel to the fire. They watched the various attempts, some standing up and bringing their plates closer to the mountain of food or other strategies to get as much as possible. Eventually, it settled down.

When it had, they saw that Ranma's plate was piled high with food, and her smirk had changed into a pleasant smile. Everyone else's plates had nowhere near as much food as what was on Ranma's plate, though everyone had been able to get something. However, this was not without consequences, as they were all wincing and cradling parts of their bodies, mostly their hands.

Ranma then picked up another bite of food and moved it towards her mouth before stopping. "Rule seven; it is called indiscriminate grappling for a reason. In other words, anything goes!"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"What the hell are they doing?" Kyoka asked, staring at her classmates as if they were a group of barbarians.

"Merci! They are so uncivilized!" Yuga said, his face clearly displaying his disgust, before returning to his table to eat with dignity.

"I think I'll have to agree," Momo mumbled before turning back.

"Sakura?" Mina turned to her giggling friend as the others returned to their table. "Do you know what was going on?"

Sakura turned her head back, grinning in mirth. "An interesting way to train, if I heard the rules correctly. It seems that Ranma knows some good methods!"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Gotcha!"

Sakura chuckled as Denki's shoulders slumped at having failed. It didn't help that his chest was covered in slimy acid. He was delighted the solubility wouldn't hurt him or his clothes, but they were training as if it could melt the flesh from his bones. That everyone had to go up against Mina with this adjustment was a reality check for some of them. If Mina decided to go on a rampage one day, she would be a nightmare to fight.

Of course, the girl was happy to win most of her fights like this as she danced in front of the blonde boy. Mina enjoyed the respect she was receiving but was also purposely trying to distract them from the reality of how dangerous her Quirk could be. She was all too aware of that fact and had no wish to do anything so horrifying.

Sakura smiled as her classmates began to understand that each of them was dangerous in different ways. She hadn't been able to get to all of them yet, but she had plans for a few. Denki had gotten to show the dangers he posed to others yesterday. Today, it was Fumikage and Mina.

For Fumikage, she had dimmed the gym lights, making Dark Shadow, his sentient Quirk, significantly more powerful and faster, almost to the point where Dark Shadow was getting unruly. This made the others nervous as they sparred with him, quickly finding that he would grow significantly more potent in the right environment.

She planned for one of their training sessions to happen next to or be in a body of water so Tsuyu could show off. She was still trying to figure out what to do for Kyoka. Maybe bring in some sound equipment or fight in an arena with good acoustics?

Momo, she was saving for last. Like with Mina, there would be no limitations on what her Quirk would be allowed to do. A gas mask and a few smoke grenades would be sufficient for a demonstration. She would only tell them after they had finished sparring that she was substituting the smoke grenade for mustard gas.

After they all had chances to show off, she would force them to deal with the flip side of that possibility: environments in which they were weak. She would force them to get used to it and find ways to fight around it as much as possible, but that wouldn't start until next week.

"Alright, that is enough sparring for today," Sakura said. Mina stopped dancing, and everyone turned to look at her, wondering what else was planned.

"For the next two hours, you will be splitting into two groups of three. The first group will remain here, where you will spend an hour focusing on controlling your Quirks in new ways. I will help guide you on what you should start on first, but you'll largely be on your own for the next hour. Aizawa-sensei will be available for assistance," Sakura said as she glanced to the side where the man stood and eyed them before nodding.

"The other group will follow me for team training. After an hour, the two groups will switch," Sakura said.

Momo raised her hand, so Sakura nodded at her. "You said two groups of three, but there are seven of us. If it wasn't a mistake, I assume an odd person will be out, so what will they do?"

"Yes," Sakura said, smiling at Momo. Her tendency to notice things reminded Sakura of herself when she was younger, though there was a lack of need to prove herself. "The odd person will spend the two hours working on their Quirk instead of participating in the team training. Whoever performs the best in the team training will get this reward for the next day. This means it will alternate every day."

"First, the odd person out for today will be Denki," Sakura said, surprising the boy at being chosen. He scrunched his face as he tried to determine whether that was good. "Group one, the one that will be training outside, will be Tenya, Momo, and Tsuyu. Group two will remain here for the first hour: Fumikage, Kyoko, and Mina. Group one, head out to the field to the west, near the treeline."

Sakura waited as the three moved to the door and left the gym, heading for the designated spot. She then turned back to the remaining four. "Alright, pick a spot in the gym, and I will come by to give you instructions. Since some of you may be activating your Quirks regularly, keeping a distance from each other is for safety more than anything else.

Sakura followed Denki as he tried to find as isolated a spot as possible, knowing how indiscriminate his Quirk could be. "Alright, Denki," Sakura said as they sat, "I know from yesterday's quizzing that you have the hardest time controlling your Quirk. That is also why you get the first chance to work on it so much today."

Denki sighed, nodding along.

"Electrical Quirks were not uncommon for my Village. In fact, since my Quirk is one most of my Village has, you would be interested to know that many people with a variant of my Quirk could use electricity. They could shape and mold it like I explained."

That got Denki's attention rather quickly, surprising the boy.

Having spiked his interest, Sakura told him more. "My first sensei, after I became a shinobi, was rather famous for a technique he created that focused that electricity into his hand, allowing him to pierce most objects. The jutsu was named after the noise it gave off, sounding like thousands of birds chirping. It was called Chidori."

"That sounds awesome!" Denki said, grinning at her.

"One of my teammates, Sasuke, was taught the jutsu by our sensei because both had a natural affinity to channel electricity. He took that control to higher levels, forming swords of lightning. Now, because they both had an alternate version of my Quirk, there is the chance those techniques are out of your reach."

Denki's brightening smile at the idea of reaching his dream of creating a sword out of electricity dimmed at that reality check. "Oh."

"But we won't know until we try, Denki," Sakura said, trying to cheer him back up. "They spent years learning how to form and shape their Quirks, so even if it may take you some time to get control of it, it doesn't mean those kinds of techniques are out of your reach."

Denki gave a weak smile. He was still uncertain how far he could go in this training, but he looked willing to try.

"Alright, first, I want you to go ahead and sit in a lotus position like this," Sakura said as she folded her legs and sat on the ground. "Now, don't do it while I am here, but watch what I am doing. The first and most important step is to learn how to focus your Quirk and get it to respond how you want, besides being on or off. So, you should visualize and feel your Quirk and try to force all of it to focus into a single point."

Sakura showed him by cupping her hands together. A small ball of water formed between her hands, sloshing around as it rotated. Denki looked in amazement and then in deep thought as he tried to figure out how to do it himself.

"You know, more than most, how electricity flows. But Quirks affect how natural forces operate, giving people more control over how those natural forces take shape. Knowing how electricity works, try to bend and move it to your desired location."

"When I was learning to use water and Earth affinities, I knew that they do not respond the same way as the other. Water flows and moves around, like you see in rivers and streams, while Earth is more like a large landmass that moves as a single unit and is slow to respond but sturdy. I had to adjust how the two flowed to make use of them. You need to do the same thing with your Quirk. Don't force how it flows; instead, alter the paths it can take."

Denki listened attentively to her instructions. He had a hard time figuring out how to do it, but he at least had a better idea now. A goal he could work towards. Denki smiled, happy to have the advice. "Thank you, Sakura."

"No problem," Sakura replied, returning his smile before standing up. "Try visualizing it first, picture how you think it might go, then try to make that picture a reality. Pay close attention to the results you get, get a feel for how it is responding so when you try it again, you can alter that visual image to account for adjustments."

Sakura left him alone as she moved on to the others. She spent one or two minutes with each of them, giving them ideas and suggestions of ways to get them closer to grasping their Quirks in new ways. After she finished, she walked towards the door the other group had left through, finding Aizawa leaning against it as he watched over his students.

"Thanks for keeping an eye on them, Sensei," Sakura said as she paused at the door.

"Yeah, I'll keep them safe. Go on; they are waiting for you," Aizawa responded, not taking his eyes off his charges but prepared to give them orders or use his Quirk on them.

"See you in an hour," Sakura said.

After leaving the gym, Sakura shot off at a quick pace to arrive at the field. Momo and Tsuyu looked slightly surprised at her arrival, having been distracted talking to each other. She smiled at Tenya, who had been on the lookout for her.

She stood in front of her three trainees, all of them in their gym uniforms, including herself. Even though she would have preferred her regular fighting clothes, she knew most people would be unsettled by them since they were part of her 'hero costume.' She did strap some of her pouches to her thighs, the perfect length from her outstretched arms.

"Alright, it's time to explain the training," Sakura said as she reached into a pouch and pulled out two bells attached to tiny strings. She then attached them to her belt loops, both were clearly visible. "First, your goal is to acquire one of these bells. If you capture one of them, you are marked as having passed my training."

"But there are only two bells…," Momo noted, her eyes drilling into the objective. "That means only two of us could pass your training at any time. If groups of three are required to acquire the bells, assuming you do not make it easier for them, then if our numbers dwindle to one or two people, the probability of them being able to pass becomes significantly harder. And, presuming that the bells cannot be given to someone else…"

"They cannot be passed on," Sakura answered her. "If you acquire a bell, it is yours. That means you cannot hand the spare bell to anyone else if you acquire two in one attempt."

"So, unless we decide to leave a teammate behind, we must work to get those least capable of acquiring one to pass. This is likely what you mean by developing teamwork: We have to be able to help each other pass. Even if my own Quirk may be instrumental in a support capacity, I cannot pass if I cannot acquire a bell by myself."

Sakura smirked. "Correct, taking a bell from me means you pass. Even if two of you acquire my bell today and the other group acquires both bells, that will still leave another group of three to acquire two bells the next day, and finally, that last person would have to get a bell themselves."

"So strategy and planning, in advance. Whose Quirks allow for the greatest chances of success," Momo said, performing a thinking pose as she stood there and rubbed her chin. She looked towards the gym as she delved deeper into it.

Tenya nodded but was clearly confused by her description. Likely trying to make sense of what little he had heard about it from the others she had trained and comparing it with what she had just told them. She decided to give that part of his brain a little nudge, seeing as it might be helpful later on. "Everyone can pass this training. But it is difficult, more so for some than for others," Sakura said.

"But there are additional components to this testing than the bells themselves. There are punishments every day for giving that day's worst performance. One from each group. I will designate who receives the punishments, who did the best at the end of the training, and what those punishments will be."

Sakura then turned to her digital wristwatch, still marveling at the technology involved and how common it was to have something like it. She hit a few buttons on it before turning back to the others. "You have one hour to get a bell. Begin!"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Ranma performed another kata of her school, one to showcase more of the aerial nature of her particular branch. She wasn't moving slowly, like yesterday's kata; instead, she displayed some gravity-defying aspects she could perform in the air. Those who had arrived were observing, wondering how she was defying physics.

She finished her kata, turning to smile at her waiting students. She had been surprised to find a new student today, this one with messy gray hair, sharp teeth, and a tan-colored substance surrounding his eyes. He was sitting next to Eijiro, the two of them occasionally speaking to each other but never willing to take their eyes off the show.

"Welcome back, everyone. I see we have an additional student today," Ranma said, looking at the other boy in his gym uniform. "Well, come on up and introduce yourself. After that, you will spar with me. The first spar will be two rounds, with no Quirk usage. The second spar will also be two rounds, but you can use your Quirk."

The gray-haired boy nodded as he stood up. "My name is Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, I am from Class 1-B. My Quirk is–"

"Iie!" Ranma ordered, surprising the boy.

"Wha–" Tetsutetsu tried asking her but found his head rocking back and his forehead complaining about something painful that apparently just hit it. He looked back just in time to see the chopstick spinning around her fingers before she shoved it up a sleeve.

"Anyone want to take a crack at why I don't want to hear about his Quirk?" Ranma asked, still facing him and looking annoyed.

Itsuka raised her hand before answering. "Tetsutetsu was just about to give away a tactical advantage."

"Good job, Itsuka!" Ranma said. "Now, iron boy, before you blunder your way into any more mistakes, we're going to spar!"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Computer, load Bakugo's latest scan analysis," Peter said as he sat on his rolling stool. He waited as the room darkened, and the M.P.S. system launched the designated file.

Katsuki wasn't looking at the holograms yet as he was scanning the stack of papers for the chemical formula that was his sweat. His other sweat glands, the ones not on his palms, also seeped glycerin like his mother's Quirk. The glycerin was deluded by mixing with regular sweat, all of the tiny amounts of ammonia, urea, salts, and sugars.

On the other hand, the sweat from his palms chemically was nitroglycerin. This surprised him a little, as he had always been told it was like nitroglycerin. When they tested his Quirk, they hadn't tested for the actual chemical formula for his sweat, only how it behaved, which had given different results than what nitroglycerin produced.

It didn't take him long before he looked up at the larger model of his palms, all the different layers of his flesh displayed in smaller windows but could easily be expanded or combined with the others. It was like holding 3D models, which gave you a better understanding of how something worked and seeing images with different layers of the body combined. The fact you could adjust and move things around even further revealed just how useful the M.P.S. system was.

Peter said his company was open to more than just support technologies. Katsuki believed him as he looked things over and saw just how useful they would be for medical purposes. The only reason it wasn't advertised to those groups- yet- was that it was a power hog. It required a good deal of power for the holograms, the local computers, and other infrastructure.

He hadn't asked Peter about it. Instead, he had looked up online by searching for M.P.S. and the company name Stark Industries. Discussion boards were beginning to go ballistic over the technology, with people talking about it and theorizing all sorts of details like who had designed it, what it could do, its requirements, and more. But one thing they had all agreed on was that it was a power hog. Only companies that tended to have their own localized power plants could dedicate the resources to it. That or pay a considerable amount to local utilities, driving up the cost of maintenance.

Katsuki grinned as he read some of those theories, people speaking about how the power requirements made it unsustainable in the long run as a practical technology. It amused him that he knew Peter was working on something that would make those complaints non-existent and make the entire system nearly self-sustaining if they desired. The thought crossed his mind a few times about correcting them, revealing what he had learned, but it wasn't his nature to do so.

If Katsuki had any money, he would have started investing every cent into the company. He was considering dragging his parents into doing it, but it wouldn't be easy since the company was not openly traded. It was a private company and sounded like it would remain that way for some time.

Even though it wasn't directly related to hero work, it impressed Katsuki. This was the kind of stuff you do to get your name recognized worldwide, spoken of with reverence and adoration, and recognized everywhere you went. It was a different path than heroics but could achieve a similar outcome.

"Alright, so, as you can tell from the paperwork, you do sweat nitroglycerin, but it behaves differently. Nitroglycerin is usually unstable, but when you sweat it, it is more stable. That is what threw them off," Peter said as he brought up the surface layer, showing his skin.

He set that image to the side and zoomed in much closer to the point where one could see the crevices and other oddities the skin showed when it was close up. He then grabbed a few additional layers, including the sweat glands, and added them to the current image.

"Now, fair warning that this is just going off the current analysis and chemistry we've found. We need to take more samples of the different groups to confirm things. I don't have the kind of tools necessary here, at this time, to get those samples without having to dig into your skin more or do other uncomfortable things. So that will have to wait if you want that confirmation," Peter said as he glanced back at Katsuki.

Katsuki thought about it for a moment before grunting. "It's fine, I can wait. This is still better than what I knew before."

Peter nodded as he turned fully to Katsuki. "Alright. So, working on the information we do have, I have three hypotheses that may account for the oddities we see."

"Hypothesis one is that you do not sweat the nitroglycerin itself, but somehow the base components, and they mix on your hands without the additional steps for safely mixing the chemicals. This is the least likely possibility, but it is still included until we can eliminate it. Especially since this hypothesis primarily tries to account for why it doesn't go off in circumstances where it should. The primary conflict is that you do decide when it goes off.

"Hypothesis two suggests that you have direct control of the nitroglycerin yourself for when it does go off. This is supported by your ability to control its activation. But this control is limited to being close to your body or your palms. This may mean you are generating some sort of field that actively protects it until you decide to set it off."

Katsuki nodded, finding it aligned more closely with his experience than the first hypothesis.

"The last hypothesis is closely related to the second, but instead of controlling the nitroglycerin itself, it mixes with your other sweat to create a barrier that protects the chemical molecules from going off all the time. Likely from it mixing with your normal sweat, but you can disable that protection at will, possibly purposely setting it off."

Katsuki squinted at that, understanding what he meant, but failed to figure out why he had suggested it. "Why do you think that is a possibility?"

"You told me that while your sweat can be ignited after it leaves your body, it doesn't automatically go off if you move away. That leads me to believe this protective layer dissolves the nitroglycerin to prevent it from going off naturally. Nitroglycerin is naturally soluble in water, so this makes sense. When it leaves your person, the protective layer starts working to break it down. But if you decide to fling it at something, that protective layer remains for a time," Peter said as he rolled his chair to a nearby mini-fridge to pull out some drinks. He tossed one of them to Katsuki, who caught it effortlessly.

"A large part of the nitroglycerin was already dissolved from the samples we took yesterday, and that is why I have the three hypotheses in the first place," Peter said before opening his and taking a sip.

"You want to do some more tests?" Katsuki asked, raising an eyebrow. He unscrewed the top of his own drink before quenching his thirst.

"Eventually, yeah," Peter said, "but the problem is the tools I have on hand at the moment would have too much difficulty getting the chemical analysis fast enough or separating the different parts. Some specialized tools would be necessary. We have a few back on I-Island that might work, but they are bulky and require too much power."

"More than your holograms?" Katsuki asked, raising an eyebrow at that.

"Yeah, unfortunately."

Katsuki nodded before moving the subject along. "What else did you learn?"

Peter turned and started manipulating the hologram to focus on a single gland with a sideways view of it, much like a medical image would. "So, your palms are mainly composed of eccrine glands, which develop in the womb, with apocrine glands occurring after hormonal stimulation. Since your ability to use your Quirk occurred before puberty, it means either your apocrine glands," Peter said and pointed at the two different glands, "are not involved with your Quirk or developed earlier than normal. Again, I would need to get samples to confirm."

"But your eccrine glands have myoepithelial cells, a thin muscle that can expand and contract your glands. You said you can control how much you sweat from your palms, meaning you have control of at least some of those glands. Normally, those cells do not open because we want them to, and these specific ones don't tend to open due to heat exposure, but instead open or contract based on stress and exercise," Peter said. He then smirked at him before asking a question. "Let me guess, it became easier to use your Quirk by shouting and getting angrier all the time when you were younger?"

"Fuck you," Katsuki said, glaring at him for a few seconds before turning back to the holograms. "But, yes. Your background check included my mother, didn't it?"

"Yeah," Peter chuckled in response. "She reminds me of some women I've met in New York. But the research recognized the increased likelihood of your attitude adjusting when you wanted to use your Quirk, which makes sense considering the environment and particulars of your Quirk."

Katsuki grunted as they continued to look through the images.

Peter then lectured on his muscles and other body parts, explaining how they increased his resistance to explosive shockwaves and the generated heat, especially in his hands. Even his eardrums were significantly reinforced to protect him.

After that, Peter reviewed some preliminary estimates and projections about his development as his body grew older and his Quirk grew stronger. The analysis still needed to finish working, so the estimates were wildly varying, but this was far more detailed about how his body worked than he had gotten from all the years of the Quirk doctors looking him over.

"Anyways," Peter said as he finished the current analysis, "it will take longer for some of this, but you have more to work on for now. The recommended study material has been updated. It's estimated to take a few days, but I'll show you how to use the M.P.S. after you finish it. You can work with it to figure out ways to improve using your Quirk without having to destroy everything."

"Where's the fun in that?" Katsuki asked in genuine confusion.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Kyoka! Don't let her get past you!" Mina shouted, running as fast as she could, lobbing balls of acid at a smirking Sakura as she ran away from her. Mina was hoping the fact that Sakura's back was turned to Kyoka would give her a leg up on intercepting her.

Sakura had leaped sideways in a cartwheel, avoiding a few more balls of acid and a swipe of Dark Shadow as he had tried to hit her from the other side, forcing her into Kyoka's path. The dark-haired girl's earlobes flew out to get her around the waist, moving on the intercept path. They would get her this time!

Only she didn't keep going in that direction, Mina realized, as Kyoka's earlobes didn't touch anything. Sakura had halted in mid-air– no, her feet! She attached herself to the bottom of the branch! "Crap! Don't let her escape!"

Sakura's giggles were unsettling, especially when Darkshadow flew at her and hit… nothing! A fake! Mina watched as the Sakura they had been chasing faded out of existence, making her look everywhere, as did Kyoka, Fumikage, and Dark Shadow. But they couldn't see her! Sakura was no longer visible! Where had she–

"Boo."

"Ahhhh!" Mina screamed. The voice had come from next to one of her ears, making her jump and turn towards the voice… only to find nothing. Her heart was still performing its new role as a jackhammer. The hour-long exercise to capture her had seemed fun initially, but they quickly realized how harsh it was when all three of them had been run ragged and with nothing to show! But the little 'games' that Sakura threw at them just made it sooo much worse.

"Where the hell is she?" Mina shouted, trying to get her breathing and blood pressure under control.

"I don't know! Dark Shadow and I can't find her anywhere!" Fumikage shouted.

"I didn't think ninjas were this good at hiding!" Kyoka said, her jacks plugging into the ground to try to detect her somehow. "I can't hear her at all!"

Beep beep beep beep.

Mina realized they had failed as Sakura's watch went off. However, her mood worsened when she noticed the sound coming from where Kyoka was standing. The fact that Fumikage and herself were both doing it was telling, but when Kyoka looked up and her face ran a gambit of negative emotions, they realized just how bad it was.

Mina and Fumikage stepped closer to Kyoka, looking up into the tree branches above her. They saw a smiling Sakura sitting upside down on one of the branches and holding her watch out for them.

"No way!" Mina cried out.

They watched as Sakura tapped the buttons to stop the timer and released her hold on the branch, flipping in the air to land softly on her feet and right-side up. "Nice try, you guys. But no luck today!"

"Ah, come on, Sakura," Mina whined. "Have mercy?"

"None. You shall receive no mercy during this training," Sakura giggled with her reply. "You will not find any because it doesn't exist!"

"I think I've gotten a new respect for ninjas after today," Fumikage said, rubbing a sore shoulder from running into a tree. A tree that hadn't been there a moment before.

Kyoka could only nod along with him, having had similar encounters with things that were supposed to exist or didn't exist. When they had demanded to know why she had done that, all Sakura had told them was to be more observant of their surroundings.

"Let's get back to the others. I need to hand out the rewards and punishments from today's training," Sakura said more seriously. Being reminded of punishments being part of the deal with the training did not help their moods.

It took them a few minutes to return, their bodies still exhausted from the training. They found the other group and Denki still working on their Quirks when they entered. Sensei was off to the side, observing them.

Sakura gave a single, loud clap of her hands to get their attention, startling them. "Alright, gather around everyone! It is time for your debrief!"

Everyone gathered near her, separated by the groups they were currently in. Aizawa had stepped a little closer but wasn't interfering.

"For your evaluations, I will give it to you straight, and I will not sugar coat it," Sakura said. "Recognize that any harshness in my words is not intended to be cruel but to wake you up on what it is you need to do to improve. Understood?"

Sakura waited a few moments as they all started to acknowledge her statement. They staggered their responses, mainly because some of them were unsure and hesitant.

"Your teamwork was clumsy, your communication skills made it easy for me to understand how you would work together, you failed to predict what your teammates would do more often than not, and no attempts at deception were used," Sakura said. "Your attacks with and without your Quirks were easy to predict, and none of your attacks complimented each other to increase the likelihood of success."

Sakura's face remained neutral as they all winced at the criticism. The fact they knew she was right just made things worse.

"Lastly, I found your observational skills to be seriously lacking, not noticing many of the flaws I intentionally put into the illusions. That cost you greatly." Finished, she paused, giving them time to digest her points.

Sakura then turned to the exercise's top performer. "Tenya, you performed the best out there today. Tomorrow, you will spend two hours practicing with your Quirk. Denki, you will take his place."

The two boys nodded, not speaking out about the evaluation. "For punishment, the two selected will switch teams for tomorrow's training. Today, it is Momo and Kyoka."

Both girls winced, knowing that their physical prowess had held some of their teammates back in the running battle. They were often out of position or unable to do anything compared to the others.

"Your punishment is that you will run fifty combined laps for the track field. Quirks are prohibited, and you may only stop once you are done. The rest of you are free to go home."

All seven eyes widened at that, unable to speak as they realized just how painful that was.

"What?" Mina shouted finally, outraged on behalf of her classmates. "That's too much!"

Sakura leveled a glare at her friend, causing the other pink girl to jump backward at the look she had received. "That is why it is called 'punishment,' Mina. It is there because they failed to perform. To make up for that punishment, they must work harder so that they do not hold their team back. If you find it unfair, you are welcome to join them–."

"I will!" Mina shouted, "I'll help them!"

"-for one hundred combined laps."

Her words acted as a needle that popped her growing desire and Momo and Kyoka's growing hope.

"That applies to any of you," Sakura said as she looked around at her classmates. "If anyone joins them, the number of laps will double."

After that, they quickly backed down, not wanting to make the situation worse. The punishment was horrible enough already.

"It's okay, Mina," Momo said, standing up straight as she adjusted her ponytail. "It was our fault, and we must work on improving ourselves. We will get it done. Go home and get some rest for tomorrow. I think we'll need everyone in their best shape if we are to succeed."

Kyoka shivered, glaring at Sakura for a moment before sighing in defeat. "Go, we'll deal with this."

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Alright, come at me, slowly, Ochako," Ranma said to the nervous girl. He stood before her, both hands raised, palms forward, while his feet were spread apart, one foot forward.

Nodding her head, she threw the slow punch, though it was more like an attempted grab than a punch. Ranma slowly did a half-step to the outside of her punch, using his left hand to grab her wrist and his right hand to grab her elbow. They paused there, Ochako observing what he had done.

"Now I have control of your arm. With it, I can control your center of gravity with minimal amounts of pressure," Ranma said before displaying such. He lowered his hips while not moving his hands from the position he had grabbed her.

Ochako was startled to feel herself being dragged towards the ground, though because of the speed, she could quickly re-adjust. When Ranma raised himself back up, she returned to her previous position.

"Since your Quirk deals with gravity, this is something you need to learn to do instinctively; you need to be able to adapt to people's center of gravity without consciously having to think of it," Ranma said.

Ochako nodded, her eyes widening as she was pulled side to side when Ranma rotated his hips and moved forward and backward. She and the others had at first believed that Ranma was just using his or her superior strength for some of these techniques. Using some of the judo moves he had shown Mashirao and Itsuka, he proved to them that it wasn't the case when he had Izuku perform those same moves, even if more clumsily than what Ranma had performed.

"Normally, grappling moves like this are still tied down to requiring gravity to do much of the work for you. Against someone significantly stronger or with far more mass, it can become much harder to perform," Ranma said. After receiving a confirmation she understood, he went on to the next point. "Against Martial Artists or Quirk users with enough strength to lift not just themselves but others as well with one hand, the usefulness of these types of grappling techniques drops significantly. But I still learned these moves because there is one place in which you can have total domination by mastering the principles behind these moves."

Ochako blinked, unsure of what he was talking about. After seeing that she wasn't connecting the dots, he checked on his other students to see if they could figure out what he had meant.

"Can any of you answer?" Ranma asked them as they all watched the demonstration.

They were silent as they racked their brains to figure it out. Mashirao and Itsuka tried their hardest but came up blank. Ranma didn't hold it against them since they had only ever seen Ranma fight during training or that martial arts challenge from last week.

Izuku was muttering again, but Ranma had made sure no one interrupted him while he was doing it. His only problem with it was how he became less aware of everything around him, leaving him vulnerable. But he had plans to train for that. Finally, the mossy-haired boy's eyes lit up, and he raised his hand before shouting. "In the air!"

"Very good, Izuku," Ranma said, smiling at the boy. He had seen how he had used his mind to adapt to situations. Of everyone in his class, he had the most flexibility. The few negatives off-set that somewhat, but he just needed training.

"Oh!" Eijiro shouted, his eyes widening as it appeared he had also caught on. "That Nomu guy! When he tried to attack us, you stopped him in mid-air. I only barely saw it, but he tried to grab you, but you just grabbed his arm and then flipped him into the ground!"

"Good eye, Eijiro," Ranma grinned at him, receiving one in return. "That was an example of what I'm talking about."

Ochako's eyes widened at that, remembering, loosely, the same action and what she had seen. "My Quirk… if I am dealing with someone stronger or bigger than myself, being in the air reduces the leverage they would have on me!"

"Correct, Ochako," Ranma said as he turned back to her, still moving his body slowly to get her used to his hold on her and how simple movements changed her center of gravity. "That doesn't take away their strength, but it does change their leverage. In addition, with your Quirk, you can control when that leverage can be applied or taken away. Both for yourself and for them, allowing you to control if you or your opponents will have gravity at any particular time."

Ochako's eyes widened as the implications hit her. "Wow!"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Where did she go, Tsuyu?" Kyoka asked as she sprinted to catch up with her and Mina.

"She disappeared into the bushes. Ribbit, my tongue was too slow," Tsuyu said as she hopped along, often trying to use low-hanging branches to increase her speed and control.

"Are you sure it wasn't an illusion?" Mina asked while panting, not taking her eyes off the field even though she wanted to collapse to her knees. She did that yesterday, and Sakura punished her for it, both on the field and afterward. If being poked painfully in the butt by a giggling Sakura that caused her rear to be uncomfortable for the rest of the day and receiving that day's punishment wasn't the best way to prove a point, Mina didn't want to find out what was. She made damn sure she didn't make that mistake again.

"No?" Tsuyu said, hesitant on whether that was the correct answer.

Mina winced at her response, knowing Tsuyu's growing hesitancy was a new development. Their shortest classmate was usually so calm, but Mina had watched over the last couple of days of training as that calmness began to fray.

While Tsuyu was having the most trouble mentally and emotionally, they quickly realized that Sakura's way of making you question your reality was terrifying!

Her most common tricks were the clones. Sometimes, they were nothing, sometimes solid, and other times, they were something else! Tenya had tried to grab Sakura from behind once, only to find himself soaking wet as she burst like a water balloon!

Sakura had all sorts of illusions, ones they were slowly figuring out weren't real. Sakura had been right in that she created minor discrepancies in the illusions, forcing them to truly open their eyes to what was going on and not just accept what they saw in front of them.

Getting her focus back on track, even if she wanted to go over and hug Tsuyu to reassure her, she tried to think of what to do now that they had lost track of her yet again. What could she… "Backs together!"

Kyoka and Mina scrambled to get into position, but Tsuyu's indecision cost her. Just as they turned to look at the rest of the field, Mina's eyes caught the glint of metal flying through the air from the corner of her eyes. "Wat–"

It was too late, as Tsuyu was pegged by several daggers and shuriken in the side. One to the side of her head by her ear and one in the neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist, abdomen, hip, knee, and ankles. Tsuyu cried out in pain as they had all hit at almost the exact same moment. Seeing things like that, even as the metal weapons bounced off of her due to the heavy rubber padding covering their blunt edges, made Sakura's few stories feel so very real!

"You're out for five minutes, Tsuyu!" Sakura said gleefully as she stood up from her position. She stood on top of a branch of one of the trees several dozen meters away. It was also in the exact opposite direction from where they had seen her go last.

The frog-like girl grumbled as she rubbed the spots she had been tagged with. While spending time recovering would be nice, Tsuyu knew it would not help her final score. It just made the likelihood of her getting today's punishment more likely. She was just glad she didn't need to take care of her siblings today because she would be home late.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Alright, Toru, come forward," Ranma said. She waited until Toru stood at the designated position, ensuring her voice and words addressed the intended student and the others.

They had asked her why she had everyone present when she showed them what their individual training would be since the others weren't expected to learn it yet. Her answer was to ensure they were exposed to as many different styles and forms of combat as possible, both for their own usage, training in the future, and helping the intended target. Exposure was an essential component of her Art, especially in the early stages, followed by regular shifting of hyperfocus and broad exposure.

"Toru, your first focus will be on learning the basics of Kyusho-Jitsu," Ranma said.

"Pressure points?" Toru asked, tilting her head as she tried to understand what Ranma was getting at. The name didn't ring a bell for her, but she had interacted enough with Itsuka and Mashirao in the past week to know that when their attention snapped to Ranma, it was something important.

Ranma smirked, having observed all of their interactions. "For those of you unfamiliar, at its base, Kyusho-Jitsu is a way of inflicting a massive amount of pain with minimal effort. Both you and Ochako will have the most trouble inflicting damage on your opponents, so you need to find a way around that. For Ochako, her Quirk will give her an advantage in grappling. For you, excessive grappling and trying to hold someone down will be counterproductive as that leaves you where you are, and as a result, you will be vulnerable. "

Toru nodded, understanding his point. Ranma's previous lessons had been incredibly astute in helping them work with their strengths or cover their greatest weaknesses.

"There are two difficulties, for most people, with learning Kyusho-jitsu. The first is learning where and how to use the points. That requires study, what they do, and how to use them. The second is reaching and activating them because accuracy is required to perform them well. Normally, in a fight, an opponent that is aware of them will make it nearly impossible to use it in battle. But this is where your Quirk comes in, Toru, as most people will have difficulty defending themselves against an opponent they can't see."

"The initial stages of Kyusho-jitsu focus on pain points in the body and controlling specific joints that, when bent or moved in certain ways, increase the amount of pain they encounter due to the nerve clusters. Against most people, that's good enough, but because of the nature of some Quirks or those with high pain tolerance, the effectiveness of these moves reduces as you advance."

Toru's excitement dwindled at that. She had begun to get excited at the idea of being feared for her physical capabilities. Especially since she was both a girl and someone with near Quirkless levels of physical capabilities.

"Once you begin to harness Ki, you can use more advanced points that can only be activated by manipulating your Ki into the point. It will make you an extremely dangerous opponent to go up against."

Izuku raised his hands, curiosity leaking out of him. "Ranma-sensei? What can these additional points do? Can you give us an example?"

Ranma grinned before turning that grin towards Eijiro. The redheaded boy began to sweat at that, as he was often called on to display techniques against 'tough' opponents. Seeing how easy it was to bypass his Quirk was rather painful and humbling. Tetsutetsu had lessened the load of being the guinea pig, but it was still something he'd prefer to avoid.

"I've already shown you multiple examples of pressure points, including one example of a pressure point using Ki," Ranma said. "During our lunches, especially that first day, those hits did not sting as much as they did because of the impact of the object. Instead, it hits the nerves beneath the skin in certain ways, generating most of the pain. But it was when you tried to grab the food after activating your Quirk that I used a Ki-based pressure point."

Everyone's eyes bloomed, remembering how Eijiro hadn't been able to open or close his hand for the rest of lunch, forcing Eijiro to use his non-dominant hand to try to get some food.

"That technique impacts the nerves regarding opening and closing of the hands, with the Ki keeping them deadened for longer than normal, so the nerves couldn't communicate. Additionally, imparting Ki into the targeted area let me lock his muscles in place.

"But those are also early techniques. There are pressure points that, if used correctly, could render someone unconscious with a tap of the finger or paralyze them for hours. And then you get into particularly eccentric pressure points and combinations that can make even lukewarm water feel like it's scalding or take away the strength of a person permanently if you don't know the counterpoint."

Toru's eyes tried their damnedest to take on the dimensions of dinner plates. And she wasn't the only one. What Ranma was describing was petrifying! A single touch could allow them, specifically her, to defeat foes. Combining that with her Quirk would make it even better!

Toru began to cackle evilly, followed by Ranma's chuckles. Everyone else just shuddered at the thought. Yes, the world would soon fear the Invisible Girl!

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Katsuki's forehead was scrunched in concentration as he tried to do the math in his head. He had some paper next to him that he had already used multiple times for other equations, but he wanted to internalize it regularly. If he did it without writing it down, his score would increase significantly for this test.

He knew he was highly competitive and loved challenges, so when the software suggested it, Katsuki couldn't refuse. Both Peter and the computer had mentioned that if he could master these equations in his head and improve the speed at which he did them, they might help him in an actual battle, which was all the incentive he needed.

The current problem was determining the psi for a figure ten meters away, with a specific shaped charge at a forty-five-degree angle from where they were standing. Knowing just how dangerous his Quirk could be to others would let him know precisely how close to the edge he could push it without injuring someone. So many of the test questions were relevant to real scenarios.

He had an intuitive approximation for most of the questions, so he knew if his figures were at least somewhat accurate. He had tried to go off those intuitions and skip the actual math until the test threw him a curveball, one where his intuition had been wrong.

When Katsuki saw the program call him out on it, he began to get angry, but the facial recognition software must have realized what was happening and went, step by step, why he was wrong. It also provided him how and why his intuition was wrong and how to fix it.

Katsuki hated being wrong, but he was willing to admit it when it was proven. The fact that the program wasn't condescending or judgemental tended to help cool off his anger when it spiked at times. As he got used to it, he became more comfortable with it and trusted it when it told him he was wrong.

Katsuki worked his current challenge over in his mind, keeping things in place and working out the numbers. What made this extra challenging was that the question only gave him the chemical formula, the explosive kilograms, the object's shape, and the distance to the target from the explosion. He had to first determine how much energy was being released, the particular type of explosion, the material that was shaping the charge, and the angle and distance from it. Then, he also had to factor in the angles of the shockwave bouncing around, the length of the barrel, and how much bleed-off would occur.

It was a lot of information to keep in his brain, but he kept at it, his stubbornness not allowing him to pick up the pencil. After several minutes of structuring the problem and doing the math, he finally entered how much MPa would impact them. He held his hand over the enter key as he re-ran things in his head to make sure he didn't miss anything, then hit it.

Katsuki's intense grin formed as it was marked correct. He'd like to see Deku or some of the others be able to pull that off! However, after a few moments, he figured that Momo or Sakura might be able to do something similar. Either way, it was a challenge, and he succeeded.

It was also the last question in today's test. Katsuki looked at the time, finding it surprising that nearly two hours had passed. He removed his headset and got off the chair he had been using. It was comfortable but didn't feel or look like the types that rich snobs tended to use.

He stretched a little but noticed he heard multiple voices coming from the larger lab. Curious, he made his way back.

When he entered, he found Peter working on the M.P.S. again, but one of the projected holograms was a video call with some blonde girl with long hair and wearing glasses. He could also more clearly hear their conversation.

{"-ned that we are missing something in the construction or the mixture. The simulations indicate that the basics function and the practical tests confirm the simulations aren't wrong. We get an ignition sequence, but it stalls out and won't sustain itself."}

{"Yeah, I am worried about that as well,"} Peter said in English, not actually sitting on his stool this time. Instead, he was hanging upside down from one of his webs. He would often alternate between the two, claiming it helped clear his mind. It was also something he couldn't do outside of the house very often, which Katsuki could understand.

"Ah, is that Bakugo?" the blonde girl asked, changing to Japanese as she noticed him appearing on whatever video recorder Peter was using in the room.

Peter turned his head, causing his swing to rotate slightly and confirming he was there. "Yeah, that's Bakugo. Hey, man, let me introduce you to my partner in crime."

"Peter! We are not criminals!" She shouted while rolling her eyes.

"Sure we are, Mel," Peter replied back, far too happily. "It's criminal how much money we're going to make… and how much we could make but won't. Once the corporate elite realizes how much we'll disrupt their monopolies and that they can't jump on board to get in on it, they'll pass laws to make sure we are labeled criminals. I am just getting ahead of the curve on that."

Katsuki snorted at that, finding it rather humorous and a spot-on assessment of what those in power would try to do. His own research regarding Stark Industries had already hinted at some people trying to demonize or control them, with more people theorizing that possibility.

"See? He agrees with me," Peter said as he grinned back at her. "We'll be the most wanted people in the world soon, wanted by every country and government that exists!"

The girl shook her head, her slight smile barely visible, before looking at what must have been her screen and smiled warmly. "Ignoring the wanna-be criminal–"

"It's inevitable!"

"-it is nice to meet you, Bakugo. My name is Shield Melissa."

Katsuki grunted, planning to end their greeting there as he had little interest in most people's lives. But after a few moments, he decided she deserved more than his usual dismissal. "Yeah."

"You were right, Peter, he does sound like a New Yorker," Melissa grinned. "And just as dismissive. Although, I must have impressed him somehow as he actually responded to me without a swear word being involved."

Katsuki glared at her image for a moment before he thought about it. Peter wouldn't be the only one to look at his profile and do evaluations. He also had to admit she was right, but he wasn't too happy about it.

"I have a request for you, Bakugo," Melissa said more seriously.

"What?" Katsuki asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Make sure Peter doesn't get too stuck on his work? He's a bit of a workaholic, and no one is there to make sure he does something other than working on his project," Melissa said before her eyes hardened as she nearly growled at the screen. "And watching anime while you're working. Does! Not! Count!"

"Hey! I have to concentrate on getting this done, or we'll be way outside our estimated timeframes!" Peter replied, shaking a finger at her image. "I don't want my side of things holding you back, Mel."

Katsuki raised an eyebrow at that. He at first thought it had something to do with their projects, but the way Peter phrased that seemed off. It sounded more personal. "Holding you back from what?"

Melissa smiled, her eyes closing and head tilting slightly as she answered. "He's trying to get past our primary roadblock so I can join you guys at U.A!"

That confused Katsuki even further; why would their project prevent her from joining them? From his understanding, she was a wizard with support items, robotics, and other engineering wonders. "Why would his project keep you from joining the Support Department?"

"That's simple; I'm not going to U.A. to join Support. I will be taking the Heroics course as a student."

Katsuki was surprised, but it quickly gave way to confusion. "Why would you have to wait for Parker's project to take it? Does your Quirk require it for some reason?"

"Oh, no. I don't have a Quirk," Melissa chirped.

Katsuki started to get angry, reminding him of Deku's attempt to get into U.A. He had been pissed to hear he had gotten in, a Quirkless nobody. Learning he had a Quirk had surprised him and pissed him off even more. The asshole had been mocking him since they were little by holding out on him! But Katsuki used his brain as he worked through more of the facts he had acquired. She was planning to become a hero, not just hoping to be a hero. She and Peter both expected it.

Katsuki narrowed his eyes. Peter had, grudgingly for him, earned his respect in several ways. More so than anyone else in their class, even if Pigtail and Forehead were stronger or faster than him at this time. Peter had also shown several types of technologies that were more advanced than almost anything he had seen before. And the last puzzle piece they were talking about was power. If you could walk around with as much energy as a nuclear power plant could put out in the palm of your hand, he had to wonder what else it could do.

"Whatever your building would have to be something seriously impressive for that to happen," Katsuki finally answered, looking between the two people.

"See, Mel?" Peter said. "I told you he was smart!"

"Fuck you, Parker!"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Izuku tried to listen attentively as their cement-skinned sensei, Cementoss, spoke about Oba and how he befriended Takeichi. Izuku had found the book fascinating, especially as it was a Japanese classic from just after World War 2 and before Quirks appeared. Some of the subject matters struck close to home for him, like Oba's fake cheerfulness or the abuse he suffered. He saw some similarities in his life before he had met All Might and acquired his Quirk.

He usually could concentrate on class during lectures just fine, but it had become more challenging in the past week. The class had only started about five minutes ago, but Izuku's worries and apprehension about another battle for food in the lunchroom continued to pop up in his mind. Usually followed by his stomach growling.

Just a few days after the lunch battles had started, he had gotten into the habit of eating large breakfasts and dinners, sometimes bringing snacks for after the designated time that Ranma had said they could not eat. But it was still never entirely enough.

He didn't know how Ranma did it, but hours of P.E., Hero Course classes, or even All Might's training was kinder than what Ranma put them through. A few hours of training left everyone exhausted, sore, and sweating. Focusing on slow or fast katas stressed their muscles in ways they didn't anticipate. The spars were fast-paced and constant, getting back up and fighting repeatedly. Individual training stressed everyone out, as Ranma forced them to concentrate on particular skills.

But the battle for food in the middle of the day was the worst part! They had to get enough food to have enough energy for the rest of the day, forcing them to painfully fight over the platter, all the while hoping desperately that Ranma didn't stop you or just take the food from your chopsticks. And it wasn't something they could skip, as Ranma had been serious about the rules.

Once, Mashirao was held back by a teacher who requested to talk to them about something; Izuku never heard the details, but Mashirao didn't want to be rude to the man. So he politely listened while trying to get away to get to lunch. But he had taken too long, as Ranma had appeared in the doorway, picked Mashirao up in a fireman's carry, returned to the lunchroom, and sat him down in his seat. Ranma hadn't said a word, but she had been whistling as she jogged the distance. Technically, Mashirao hadn't been late, so he didn't get punished. But Ranma had proven she was perfectly willing and able to carry out her threat.

His mother fretted at him for coming home so late, day after day, as exhausted as he was, especially after the attack by that group of villains. He had told her that it was an after-school training group. That they were training for the upcoming Sports Festival and this training would also help him to protect himself. That had managed to calm her down.

Realizing his mind was drifting again, Izuku turned his attention back to their sensei as the story turned to the fabled and lost Van Gogh paintings, how Oba had turned to painting to exp–

Izuku flinched as something bounced off of the top of his head to land on his desk. Blinking a few times, he realized it was a small wad of paper that was scrunched up. His curiosity got the better of him, and he opened it to see what it was. But reading it only confused him further, as all it said was 'Point!'

Izuku looked around the classroom, trying to figure out where it had come from or its significance, but he could see nothing. No one was looking in his direction, except maybe Toru, but Izuku didn't think it was from her.

He ignored it for now, crumpling it up and putting it away so he could refocus on what their Sensei was teaching. He had forgotten about it until a few minutes later when he heard a quiet yelp of surprise from behind him. He turned around and noted that he wasn't the only one, but he saw Toru pick up a wad of paper from her desk and open it. If he had to guess by the motions of her clothes, she was looking around the room, trying to figure out what had happened.

Izuku wondered if it was related to his own, so he grabbed his wad and opened it, making sure that their sensei wasn't looking towards them, and showed her his own. She then turned her own wad to show that it had the same written word. Her shoulders also went up for a moment and then down– oh, she was shrugging. They both decided to leave it alone, concentrating on their sensei again.

Within minutes, though, Izuku caught sight of another wad bouncing off Mezu's head near the front. The multi-armed boy didn't even react, concentrating on their teacher while his spare arms went to work on opening it and a spare eye looking at what was written. Izuku noticed how he had moved the arms so that one arm held the paper out and readable to Izuku and, he suspected, Toru, with another of his arms growing a hand and pointing in the opposite direction from Izuku.

Why was he poin– oh, Izuku realized. Finally, he connected the dots as he looked towards Ranma. He sat in his seat, looking extremely bored. He was staring towards the front and possibly listening to their sensei's lecture. But, after a few moments of not turning his eyes, Izuku caught a glimpse of a subtle smirk.

Why would Ranma send wads of paper with the message 'Point!' written on it? It briefly confused Izuku, but he then remembered Ranma's discussing some of their extracurricular activities for their club. This was just another form of training, but Izuku needed to figure out its purpose.

He forgot about the class as he started mumbling about the possibilities of what was being trained. But he didn't get very far before he was interrupted.

"Shut the fuck up, Deku," Katsuki said from in front of him, just loud enough for Izuku to hear him.

Izuku blushed and considered apologizing before thinking– another impact, this time from the left side of his head. Izuku blinked, looking down and finding another wad of paper. Opening this one revealed a different message.

'An opening!'

Izuku blinked, thrown off by the message, before turning to look at Ranma. He still hadn't moved from his spot.

Izuku moved on more quickly than before, turning back to sensei–

Another feminine yelp, this one much louder than before but also further away.

"Is something wrong, Uraraka-san?" Cementoss-sensei asked.

"Umm, no, sensei. Everything is fine, I was just startled," Ochako responded. Most of the class had looked at Ochako, causing her to blush at the attention before glaring at the wad of paper on her desk. Izuku had noted that Ranma was one of the few who hadn't turned, and the tiny smirk had returned.

Izuku hoped there wouldn't be any more interruptions like that, but he suspected there would be. So Izuku kept Ranma in the corner of his eye while he tried to pay attention to sensei to see when he would do it again.

Five minutes passed with no change, but Izuku still didn't believe that would be the end of it. He needed to stay vigilant if he wanted to–

"Midoriya-san?"

"Huh?" Izuku asked, startled at his name being called as their sensei was looking at him. Oh, no, he had stopped paying attention to the class–

"Hey! Who the hell threw that?" Eijiro cried out as he stood up and glared around the classroom with a wad of paper in his hand.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Tenya panted as he continued his run into the night, passing Fumikage yet again. They were almost done; only four more laps around the partially lighted athletic field and one or two more for Fumikage, and they could go home for the night.

Running like this gave him time to ruminate about the past and the present. He was currently thinking about how all of this had started. For him, it felt oddly tied up in the entire legacy of his family. His grandfather had started their current agency well before the current times of peace when walking down the street was far more dangerous. His father and mother had carried on the tradition, solidifying themselves as a strong foundation and expanding its influence, taking on more than the usual number of sidekicks. Then came his brother's turn.

When Tensei had taken the reins from their father, he tried to maintain and even expand on what their father had done, but the agency needed help finding ways to improve their performance. They took team-building classes and asked other agencies focused on teamwork, military soldiers, etc. It was why their logistics were so good. But they still needed help with the actual fighting. No matter what they did, who they asked, or any number of training sessions, their ability to work together still faltered. And with so many of them being sidekicks to a hero with a rank in the bottom half of the top one hundred, the quality of the sidekicks could have been better.

That had changed the day that Sakura had shown up at their agency. He had heard she had been involved in an incident a month previously; she had helped out several of their sidekicks and civilians. She quickly showed she was not someone they could look down on, even for how young she was. He mainly had seen it from a distance, but his brother had conversed with her often, inviting her regularly to attend, sparring against him and his sidekicks. Never once had they been able to land a blow without some sort of surprise or her allowing it.

Eventually, after several months of her meeting them at the agency, his brother announced that Sakura was going to help them train. She would help them individually and with their teamwork.

Tenya had been absent for those sessions and was too preoccupied with school. All he had heard was that it had been grueling. They quickly grew to show contempt for her, for the abuse they felt she put them through, and for how unfair she was to some of their teammates. Her only response was that they were failing her tests. This continued for months; small groups participated in training and were put through a wringer that none saw a way to escape. He remembered overhearing them speak to each other, despairing of never passing her test and not being allowed to withdraw.

Until one day, a team actually passed. Tenya hadn't heard what had happened, but he saw the looks in their eyes shift to something new, something that Tenya couldn't adequately describe. It was like a lightbulb had gone off in their heads, causing their behavior toward each other on and off the field to shift.

The others had also noticed it, but no one explained what had happened. Tenya didn't even know what the training entailed. But it had changed his family's hero agency in a way none of them had expected. Their ability to work on themselves and to work together had drastically shifted.

The results on the streets were even more significant as they adjusted their operation. They functioned as small teams of three or four members, patrolling areas with new methods that played to their strengths while supporting each other. Crime had plummeted in their area. Villains feared encountering any of his brother's sidekicks because they were never alone and rarely got away.

While they still spoke of how difficult or painful it was, they spoke of it respectfully instead of in anger or fear. When Tenya asked his brother what had happened, he laughed, telling him that he would understand one day while giving him a massive grin.

He hoped that day would be soon because his classmates and fellow trainees were nearly at their breaking points. They had improved during the training, especially since Sakura made it a point of doling out harsh lessons during and after training, explaining their mistakes in detail.

His hard lesson today was to be careful of those that could travel beneath you. Sakura surprised him when she reached up with a hand and grabbed his leg, unaware of the danger while they were chasing another illusion. After his leg had been caught, he had been pulled beneath the surface of the ground so that the only part of his body that was visible and accessible was his head.

He had spent half of today's training stuck in that state as he tried to get out but found he could get no leverage, and his teammates were then pressed harder than usual to keep them away from him to dig him out. The only good thing to come from it was being trapped for so long had allowed him to rest, so he used that extra energy to cover the majority of the laps for today's punishment, reducing Fumikage's workload. He had protested at first, but Tenya's logic and will to shoulder more of the burden had won out.

None of that fixed the problem of nearing their breaking point. At this point, they were being held together by a few loose things. One was Tenya's encouragement. He tried to encourage his classmates not to give up, as he remembered seeing this before. Other factors included some of the results they saw for their Quirks, their improved teamwork, and their slowly improving physical endurance. However, the most important reason was the respect they had for Sakura.

She fought all of them, all alone, every day using her Quirk in new and inventive ways, or at least ways they hadn't known she could use. She ran circles around them, showing them the dangers of combat and how little mistakes could cost them their lives. That and the terrifying nature of ninjas. At the end of the day, she did not look exhausted, merely winded at worst. She also stayed until everyone went home, not partaking in food or anything they were not allowed. She just sat there, stoically waiting for the punishment to complete, even if she had to sit there for over two hours for people to finish it.

Tenya made another lap, and Fumikage halfway finished with another. Sakura had stood up as he passed, indicating they were almost done for the day. Tenya put more oomph into his final sprint, wanting to complete it as quickly as possible. Two minutes later, he came around the final bend of the lap just as Fumikage passed the finish line and collapsed to his knees. Sakura remained on the side but had grabbed several bottles of water for them.

Then it was Tenya's turn to cross the line, though he didn't collapse like Fumikage had. Instead, he held his knees as he bent over, focusing on controlling his breathing. Sakura waited patiently at his side, holding the cold water. After giving himself several seconds, he reached a hand out and took the water, only standing up once he had popped the lid and started to chug some water. He ensured he didn't take in too much on that first pull, swallowing the first bit before spitting out some of the rest. He waited a few more moments to control his breathing before taking a longer and deeper drink.

"Thanks, Tenya," Fumikage said from his side, finally standing up and giving a fit bump to Tenya's shoulder in appreciation. Tenya just looked into his eyes momentarily before giving a silent nod of appreciation.

Their attention was pulled away as Aizawa approached with wet towels and a few dry ones. He also had buckets of ice water that both boys took and poured onto their heads immediately, relishing the cool liquid's ability to cool their bodies further. They thanked their sensei as he handed the towels over, letting them dry themselves and then using the cold towels to help keep them cool.

"Good job, you two," Aizawa said, praising them. "Grab a bench to relax for a few minutes, then head on home. You'll have tomorrow to get some extra rest."

Tenya and Fumikage nodded at that, looking at Sakura as she gave her own nod at that. Then, the two boys walked towards some of the available benches.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Aizawa watched as the two exhausted boys walked off after being dismissed. Sakura was cleaning up, ensuring they didn't leave any trash or items on the field or where she had sat vigilantly watching them.

On the surface, what she was doing to them was borderline cruelty, especially for some of her classmates who were not as physically fit as the others, forcing them to go the same distance as everyone else. And she didn't give them any slack while she fought them, keeping the bells well away from everyone. No one had gotten even remotely close to snagging a bell. Instead, his students were trying to get to the point where they could even touch her without her allowing it.

He saw the growing panic in his student's eyes as the reality of trying to pass her test, a test that everyone supposedly could complete, like Sakura had claimed they could. Yaoyorozu in particular was at her wits' end since Sakura's training and the punishments didn't allow them to set up scenarios where the weakest of their trainees snagged a bell and then hoped their strongest could finish it out. All of her plans were constantly being derailed.

They were losing hope of passing her test; the bar to pass was impossibly high. Even if someone managed to snag a bell, some of them would continue to be punished daily. They didn't want that, but they saw no way around it.

And that was one of the results he was pleased to see coming out of this training. They didn't realize it themselves, but none of them were willing to go for the selfish win of getting the bells at the expense of everyone else. They didn't want to cast aside their classmates, to leave them to the continuous torture of her training.

While it did concern him that one of them might eventually go down that dark path, he suspected that it wouldn't happen. They would pass her training before then.

Aizawa waited patiently, watching as the two boys' breaks finally finished, and they walked towards the locker rooms to change their clothes. He felt Sakura walk beside him, though she didn't say anything as they watched them finally enter the building.

His curiosity and need to ensure his students didn't wander into the dark made him ask his rhetorical question. He was fairly sure of the answer, but it was better to get confirmation than to assume things.

"The bells are not the only way to pass, are they?" Aizawa asked as they started walking towards the gym.

Sakura remained silent as she walked beside him but eventually answered. "I won't let them pass by getting the bells, so no, it is not."

Aizawa nodded, thinking he had a decent idea of what it would take to pass. He was concerned and impressed by it, but he would wait to hear her reasons before judging it. And he would hear her reasons, as his students wouldn't accept anything less.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Ranma walked down the line as his students trained. He currently had them sparring or focusing on personal training. He had already shown them what each of them would concentrate on, some got excited while others were outraged or confused. The two most excited to learn their designated styles were training against each other as Ranma stopped beside them.

Ochako and Toru grabbed each other's arms and tried to pull the other to the ground. The first one whose knees or butt touched the ground would lose that round. They fought for nine rounds, and whoever lost five of them would have to face punishment.

Neither of the girls wanted that punishment since they would then switch to sparring against Eijiro and Tetsutetsu. But the loser of their contest would not be allowed to use their Quirk, while the boy's Quirk was active. The winner was reversed, able to use their Quirk while the boy was not. The girls panicked when they learned that, giving them a good incentive to make sure they did not lose.

The two boys, both of whom reminded him of Ryoga at times with their attitudes and fighting styles, that of taking and dishing out punishment, were a study in contrast to the girl's training. Unlike the girls, their objective was to not be tagged. At all. Any part of their body that they touched counted as a point, with different parts counting for more and how it was touched.

They had voiced disagreement about the training, wanting to concentrate on being able to take hits and deal them out. But instead of dissuading them, Ranma gave an evil smirk and told the boys they would spar with him while the class watched.

After he had given them his lesson and they returned from the nurse, with a reluctant grunt of approval from said nurse, the two boys quickly decided they wanted the training he was offering on how to avoid blows. Any time they started to backslide, Ranma would just pop up next to them and slam a fist into his palm, topped with a kind smile and a mention that Recovery Girl would understand.

Ranma left those two groups and turned his attention to the other sparing pair of Mashirao and Itsuka. Their difficulty was different, as they were required to spar without using a single move from Karate, even if the other styles they were learning had similar counterparts. If they failed, they had to go through a particular kata ten times for every failure. While they had been concerned, they did it without question. It was only yesterday that they recognized why he had them do it, as the two realized their inclination to use karate techniques dropped rapidly, adopting some of the newer techniques in their place far faster than they had expected.

And that change was drastic, as Ranma's diverse number of techniques and responses to his techniques weren't as intimidating as it had been before. They recognized more of his moves and had more ways to respond than ever before. Their techniques were clumsy, lacking the required polish, but it was noticeable either way.

Ranma only stayed briefly as he did not need to police those two. They willingly held themselves accountable and accepted when something was pointed out. They went at it with a great deal of drive as they sparred.

Ranma then approached the next group, Mezo and Izuku, who were currently working on individual training steps.

Mezo was off to the side doing a type of kata that helped him to concentrate on improving his punching speed. It was important for his first style, one commonly called Wing-Chun. Mezo had been confused as he had never heard of it before, but Ranma had quickly demonstrated its use against Mashirao and Itsuka, letting him understand why it was chosen. It was a style focused on remaining close to your opponent to intercept, redirect, and strike fast. His multiple arms and greater-than-normal strength gave him advantages that most people lacked.

Izuku, on the other hand, wasn't doing anything physical at this time. Instead, Ranma had him focusing on meditation in order to refine his control of his Quirk. Ranma had told him how Ki users started to learn to use their Ki, similar to how he was using his Quirk. The early manipulation was limited to extremities to get stronger attacks or for other purposes, but then they were trained to cycle their ki through their entire body.

He started with trying to just fill his entire body with his Quirk, but Ranma had nixed that idea, as it wasn't flowing. He had described it more like how blood flowed through their veins, moving through the body and controlled by the heart pumping it through. Izuku had caught on to what he was suggesting but had yet to succeed.

Ranma was pleased, though. Their training was going well and some of them showed signs that they might be capable of touching their Ki within a few months. Unfortunately for them the Sports Festival was less than a week away, so they would have to use what they already had.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Katsuki waited patiently for the results. He had quickly learned how to use the M.P.S., especially with how ridiculously intuitive the entire system was. He saw in front of him a hundred tiny holograms running through various simulations. As one set was completed, it went on to another, covering a slightly different set of equations.

They were all testing how he could maximize his Quirk, focusing primarily on just his regular hands and not the gloves his Hero costume had. They were going over different ways he could hold his hands together to create shaped charges, provide thrust, and any number of potential uses he had thought of from the last couple of weeks. While it didn't replace practical experience, as that would still need to be something he did to make sure it worked and he could use it properly, it helped to focus on the how and what he should do.

The primary problem with using his normal hands was that the explosions created a great deal of force behind them, making it more likely to bypass his normal toughness and the physical strength he needed to counterbalance the repelling force of the explosion.

Most people didn't think about the specifics of what a gun did, which was to set off an explosion in an enclosed space. All they saw was the result of the bullet flying off in one direction, not thinking about the fact that it involved an explosion that was balanced correctly for the materials of the bullet and the gun so that the whole thing didn't turn into a grenade.

They also didn't consider that a rocket was basically a controlled and focused explosion. A rocket's effectiveness also requires controlling the flow, like with a nozzle, to increase pressure and accelerate the flow to create thrust. Different designs resulted in better and worse results, though not always in the same way.

His Quirk made this a challenge since nitroglycerin was categorized as a high explosive, which was different from gunpowder, a low explosive. The main difference the two types of explosives were their burn rates, with low explosives being capable of generating pressure as it built up, compared to high explosives which burnt far faster and thus did not allow the pressure to build.

What he had realized while studying was that he needed to be more efficient and tricky with how he used his explosions. His Quirk produced so much power in their normal state that he didn't think about efficiency much. For simplicity's sake, he almost always had the explosion happen just in an open-handed palm. It was generally sufficient for his purposes. But now he needed to step his game up if he wanted to take on their class's powerhouses. Let alone dangerous Villains.

Katsuki continued to watch as more simulations ran across the screen, each set with a slightly different position to hold his hand and fingers as the explosion went off. After that set was completed, it was rerun at least ten times with very minor changes in variables, determining wrist and arm positions, body positions, quantity and timing of his Quirk activating, and more, with his recorded strength, durability, and flexibility taken into account.

As Katsuki stood there waiting, he regularly glanced at the progress bar to see how far along the simulations were and their estimated time remaining. When he saw it spike, going from an estimation of less than ten minutes to over an hour, he growled. He waited, hoping it was just a minor hiccup of the available resources, but it still remained… until it got worse. It was estimated that it wouldn't be completed until tomorrow!

Katsuki peered over his shoulder as he saw Peter messing with something on one of the computers. He was looking between two monitors, likely juggling multiple projects yet again. Deciding to figure out what had caused the problem, he made his way over to him.

The first screen looked like it was the problem's source, as Peter appeared to be trying to reallocate available resources for some of his designs on their handheld reactor. He was trying to broaden the search, to see if their current problem was due to going down a wrong path. The problem, of course, was that it was just an additional and cumbersome job stacked on top of everything else.

Katsuki considered chewing him out for it but decided to see what else he was working on. He didn't recognize it at first, as he wasn't very fast at reading English from that distance. Eventually, a page popped up with images of a few of their classmates and graphs and charts regarding them.

Some of the lettering was large enough for him to figure out what some of it meant. It was evaluations based on the available data on how likely they could trust the others in their class regarding Peter's secrets. Some of the extras were rated as unlikely to work for shady organizations, but might not reliably hold a secret very well, like the extra girl that four-eyes had downed for their Battle Training. Others passed both checks, but either seemed too close to someone marked as unknown, or they hadn't conversed with Peter at all yet.

It also cycled to the page of unknowns, those with flags in their background checks that made it difficult to determine. He recognized Forehead and Pigtail as being on that list. Something about an inability to get more information requiring more thorough and deeper checks. Their personalities and behaviors were acceptable, but more data was needed. That made things intriguing regarding the two, making him wonder what was happening with them.

But the next page caused him to growl, catching Peter off guard and realizing he was standing behind him. Katsuki ignored him as he stepped closer, looking at the words on the screen.

"Bakugo?" Peter asked, a little concerned, as Katski's hands were starting to throw out some firecrackers. Peter tracked the blonde boy's eyes to where he was looking at the screen, realizing something about it was setting him off. "What's wrong?"

"What the fuck does 'Unknown Quirk Acquisition' mean?"

Peter sighed as it now made sense to him what had set Katsuki off. The two had been childhood 'friends', kind of like his relationship with Flash. There were lots of complications that made for a messy situation. Adding Quirks to their lives just made things so much worse, especially for situations like this.

"I take it you didn't know Midoriya had a Quirk until recently?" Peter asked, trying to get the confirmation.

"Little shit kept telling the school and everyone else he was Quirkless," Katsuki growled, the memory pissing him off. "He never told us he actually had one."

"That is because he most likely didn't have one," Peter said.

"The fuck you say?" Katsuki growled at Peter, wondering if he had gone stupid. "You are born with your Quirk, you don't fucking acquire it!"

"What we could get of his Quirk registry did, in fact, list him as Quirkless. The doctor that tested him put in all the required tests and it appears it wasn't doctored, at least without diving deeper," Peter said.

Katsuki wanted to demand why he hadn't dived deeper, but he knew Peter and his company were trying to play it safe. He was trying to stay off as many people's radars as possible until they were ready. Katsuki suspected he wouldn't have been told anything if the U.S.J. attack hadn't occurred.

"But, most importantly, you're wrong. A 'Quirk' does not require you to have been born with it. It is possible to acquire one from outside sources."

"What?"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Beep beep beep beep.

"Damn it!" Mina cried out as they heard Sakura's stopwatch going off. One of the worst parts about hearing it go off was finding out where she was. And it was seldom where they suspected it to be.

During a previous training session, they had cornered one of her illusions, trying to act like they thought it was her, but they secretly were trying to find her hiding place. They had found her sitting upside down in a tree above them. So they prepared themselves to attack the real Sakura once the illusion moved to a proper place beneath her. She had just moved to the correct spot, and they launched their attacks at the unsuspecting Sakura. Mina was nailing her with an acid ball, and Tsuyu's tongue passed through her. Only, it wasn't her, it was just another illusion! And that was when her watch went off, right beneath the illusion's spot, as the one they all thought was an illusion turned out to be real! Sakura had giggled at their reactions.

However, the end of training at least brought sanity back to the world. Mina had no idea just how sick and twisted her friend's mind could be at times.

Like the last time the three of them had teamed up, they had split up while trying to chase her, regrouping after a minute to find they had gotten the drop on Sakura. Tsuyu had tagged her with her tongue, but she immediately suffered the effects of Denki's Quirk as it turned out the Sakura she had grabbed was their teammate! Mina had turned around after realizing it, to find a grinning Denki who then proceeded to restrain her, gag her, and tie her to a tree branch. Then Sakura ran around the rest of the match as herself, with neither of her teammates none the wiser.

All Sakura would say was to be more observant and to 'See underneath the underneath.' Even though Sakura had told her that line once before, she failed to see how it was helpful here.

They continued to suffer from Sakura's mind games for the last two weeks. It made the task of getting the bells seem impossible, and they were nearing their limits. Mina was going to crack, and she knew it because while they all suffered from mental torture and every attempt to strategize failed spectacularly, they might have kept going if it wasn't for the punishments.

"You okay, Mina?" Tsuyu asked, stepping up to her pink-haired friend.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine in a moment, Tsuyu," Mina replied as she controlled her breathing, not wanting to look her friend in the eyes. One of the things they noticed as a pattern was that Sakura did not tend to punish the same people as the day before. So she knew Tsuyu might be picked, and she did not want her friend to suffer like that, especially after all she had done today to keep them safe and in position.

"I'm sorry, you guys…" Denki said as he walked up to the two girls, grimacing as he rubbed the back of his head. "My control still wasn't good enough and I thought I had a good shot at her."

Mina and Tsuyu looked at the apologetic boy, both used to occasionally taking his stray shots. Sakura had made it impossible for him to go all out, always staying near his teammates or removing any protection they might have. It had gotten so aggravating that they decided to let him risk it if he thought he might get her.

"You did what you were supposed to, Denki," Mina said, trying and failing to give a genuine smile.

"Alright, that's enough of a breather. Time for the evaluations," Sakura said. They all winced at that but followed her. They entered the gym a few minutes later, dragging themselves inside with their collective exhaustion.

"All right, evaluations first, as usual," Sakura said after they had gathered in the gym. "I saw more improvements on the field regarding teamwork. Your communication skills are getting cleaner and faster, as well as verbal and non-verbal communication. That made it less obvious for opponents to determine your next moves. Still room for improvement, but you are making steady progress."

Mina and the others nodded. After that first debacle of a day, they realized Sakura barely had to do anything to predict them since they had told her what they were going to do. Momo and Tenya had worked to help them develop more nonverbal means of communication, such as hand signals. It had sped up how quickly they communicated and thus their coordination. It had surprised Mina how much it had helped them.

"Your coordination has improved as well, requiring less communication for multiple-pronged attacks while avoiding getting in each other's way. Even in situations like Denki's control issues, you have tried to reduce the impact and improve your chances. But you already know that and are continuing to work on it."

They looked at Denki, who was nodding with her words but couldn't muster the will to look any of them in the eye. They knew he had it the hardest of all of them on controlling his Quirk to not hit friendlies. He did not want to be useless to them, as he was their best shot at being able to finally tag her and maybe get a bell eventually.

"Attempts at deception have improved, both for hiding your intentions and misdirection, but it is still the area with the least growth. Though, as I have admitted to several times already, my standards for deception and misdirection are rather high," Sakura said, smirking at some of their eyerolls.

"All of your attacks are getting better and more fluid, but until we can spend the time to focus on them more exclusively, I don't expect rapid improvement." Mina was beginning to doubt they could ever concentrate on it.

"Your observational skills have improved, and you have been spotting the more obvious illusions quickly while decreasing how much time you spend questioning your actions. The more subtle illusions are still throwing you off, but you are all working on it. Overall, today showed more progress. Good job."

And now it was time to hand out the 'prize,' Mina knew. Followed by the punishments. Mina braced herself, almost hoping to receive the punishment a second day in a row.

"For today's top performance, Mina will get tomorrow off," Sakura said.

Mina gasped in surprise, she had not earned that in her eyes! Why was Sakura giving it to her and not Tsuyu or Denki? They worked incredibly hard to close the gaps, even as their personalities and Quirks made it difficult. Of everyone, they had it the hardest of Sakura's mind games.

"For punishments, Momo and Tsuyu."

Mina wanted to scream at that, to shout at her friend about how unfair she was being to them. But she held off, barely. Mina stood there, closing her eyes and holding her anger back. She knew Sakura, in some odd or sadistic way, was trying to help them. And she had. Mina was amazed at how quickly they had all improved, but it was tempered by the unfairness of the punishments.

Even as she stood there, everyone made their way to the track field. In the last week, they had begun to stay longer and longer, deciding that they could at least sit on the sidelines and cheer them on. It had helped both groups to be there, knowing you weren't alone while they carried it out. But it was a temporary salve that had become less effective as things went on.

As Mina took a bench on the side of the field, sharing a strained smile with Kyoka, who sat beside her, she saw what would eventually break her.

She hadn't noticed it at first, but as Momo made her way to the field she had stepped on an uneven surface, destroying the ponytailed girl's stride as she limped. She had been hiding it successfully, as Mina's tortured mind hadn't realized what had happened until now.

"Wait!" Mina cried out, standing up in a rush and moving onto the field to halt things. "Momo can't run right now! She's injured!"

"I know," Sakura said calmly, not even bothering to look at Mina as she stood her ground. "But the punishment must be completed before she can seek medical attention."

That caught everyone off-guard, staring at Sakura with a bit of horror. She was always so medically minded, making sure their injuries were dealt with promptly, that this didn't make any sense. Even Aizawa, who rarely spoke or reacted during training, turned to look at her.

"But you can just heal her now, can't you?" Mina shouted, trying to implore Sakura to help their classmate and friend.

"I can heal the injury, yes," Sakura said, her tone unchanging or giving any hint of sympathy. "But she must complete the punishment before I will do that."

"No," Mina sharply said but didn't shout. Her voice became softer, but her core still displayed her unyielding determination. "I won't let her participate in this punishment like this."

Sakura turned to look her in the eyes, her gaze unflinching and with no recognizable emotion. But Mina still held her ground, not giving an inch.

"The only way for you to not let her participate, Mina, is for you to take her place. But that will still mean the number of completed laps that need to be done will be one hundred for today's punishment."

"Fine!" Mina shouted, still glaring at Sakura. "I will run all of Momo's laps and run all of the laps I am adding to it!"

"What?"

"Ribbit."

"No way!"

"That's not fair!"

Sakura turned her gaze to the others as they stood and spoke up, similarly caught off guard. "Those are the rules. If Mina wishes to help, or anyone else tries to help them, the number of laps is doubled. No exceptions."

They all winced at that, backing down from their outrage, but none of them retook their seats. Momo and Tsuyu were both thrown off and unsure of what to do, not wanting to subject Mina to something she hadn't deserved. Twenty-five laps were difficult enough after a tiring day, but to do seventy-five laps?

"No, Mina-chan, don't do this," Momo said, trying to implore her friend to back down. "I can deal with it. I'll make a cast or something to help with my leg for the run. When I have been healed afterward, it will be okay."

"You shouldn't do this, Mina," Tsuyu said, her eyes showing her worry, shaking at the torture she knew her friend was subjecting herself to.

"I am doing it, whether you want me to or not!" Mina cried out, her resolve solidified as she moved to the starting line. "Momo, you should rest and relax your leg as much as possible."

Momo was at a loss for words, finding Mina's logic sound but also not, as it would mean she would have to run so many more laps. So she opted to at least try to alleviate it and help, using her Quirk to create an ice pack, squeezing it until the chemical reaction inside caused it to rapidly cool, and then applying it to her ankle. She hoped no one saw her wince of pain it caused.

Sakura stood, waiting until people settled down in their spots. "Begin!"

Mina pushed herself forward, trying not to run too aggressively, knowing she needed to conserve her energy for the long haul. However, she couldn't run too slowly, or it would take her far longer to complete. Her anger and sense of justice were ignited, and she hoped that the extra energy and drive she got from it would hold up long enough for it to work in her favor.

She had noticed that Tsuyu was trying to keep up, likely trying to help reduce the number of laps Mina would run. But she paid little mind to it as she kept going. After several laps had already been completed, Mina only now began to feel any decrease in her adrenaline. But she wasn't going to let that stop her.

While completing another lap with Tsuyu, who was not far behind her, she heard Sakura yell. "Continue the laps, I will be back soon from using the restroom. Sensei is in charge while I am gone." She then turned towards the building and walked towards it. Sakura had done that a few times, though rarely, so they ignored it.

As they completed another lap, with Sakura nowhere in sight, Mina was surprised to find Tenya now running alongside them. "Tenya!" Mina tried to say between huffs of breath, "What- are you– doing?"

"I'm helping," Tenya said as he ran with them. "Sakura's words– specifically said one hundred laps– will need to be completed– if you or anyone else– helped."

"Yeah," Mina huffed back, "But that– was just– when it– was me– helping! You'll– increase– the number– of laps– again!"

"Her words were one hundred– laps, she did not– say it would double for additional– people. She must have– misspoken. She will likely acknowledge her– mistake, and correct it for next time. But we– can use that against her– for now!"

"And if– you're wrong?" Mina asked, concerned for her friend.

"Then so be it," Tenya replied, with a steady resolve that Mina recognized as matching her own. "I will deal with the– punishment if that happens."

Even while running, Mina couldn't stop the warm grin that graced her face. They remained silent as they finished their first lap, dreading Sakura's return but pushing to complete as many as possible.

But when they started the next bend, they realized the track was full of people, as everyone else had jumped in and started doing laps as well. Even Momo was doing what she could as she limped along, refusing to not do her part.

With seven of them running as hard as they were, they made a heavy dent in the number of laps in a short amount of time, Aizawa-sensei was not saying anything other than calling out the number of laps that had been completed. Within fifteen minutes, they were nearly halfway done, with forty-eight laps completed. They made their way as a group, coming around the bend just as Momo was completing her first lap when Sakura made her return.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Sakura shouted at them, appearing in a swirl of leaves just before them! They all had to break suddenly, caught off guard by her sudden appearance. Some of them ran into those ahead of them, with Kyoka bringing herself and Denki to the ground in a crash of limbs.

What was shocking to Mina was how angry– no, how utterly furious Sakura appeared to be! They had seen a range of emotions, with dips into anger when talking about certain subjects, but nothing like this!

"We are helping them run laps," Tenya said, remaining strong as he challenged her. "You specifically said one hundred laps if Mina or anyone else helped her."

Sakura shook with rage, lifting a finger as she prepared to yell at him. Then, she paused, her anger diminishing for a moment. They saw her grimace, most likely remembering what she had said and her mistake. But then her anger returned, though colder than it had been before.

"You are correct. That was what I said, but you didn't ask me or check with me whether that was acceptable or not!" Sakura said, her voice promising that they would suffer.

"If I am incorrect, then I will accept the consequences of my actions," Tenya replied, standing his ground and not backing down.

"And yet you were not the only one to do that. As a result, you will all get the same treatment," Sakura growled as she looked at the other three additions, some grimacing under her assault. But then she glared at Tsuyu and Momo, who had backtracked to join the class. "All of you."

Mina gulped, realizing they may have seriously messed up. She was even looking to punish the ones who hadn't had a say in the matter, which meant this was really bad!

"This training… is finished. You will not be returning to it," Sakura said dangerously.

"Wha– what?" Mina asked, her eyes going wide. "That's not fair! Especially to Momo and Tsuyu!"

"Quiet!" Sakura roared at them, causing everyone to back up a step at how Sakura, who was certainly not the tallest, loomed over them with the promise of pain. "This training is finished, whether you like it or not! You will not be continuing it because you all passed!"

Mina cringed with every word Sakura spoke, feeling like she was a little girl being shouted down by a parent for burning the house down or something. Why was Sakura so angry at what they had done? Why had–

"Wait, what?" Mina asked, now clearly confused as she looked at an angry Sakura. "What do you mean passed?"

Mina and the others were then further shocked as Sakura's anger evaporated as if it hadn't existed in the first place, replaced by the biggest smile she had ever seen from her friend. To add to the disconnect, she closed her eyes, held two fingers up in a peace sign, and then stuck her tongue out at them. The rest of her body language was relaxed, the complete opposite of what it had been moments before.

"What– what the hell?" Denki asked, thrown off by the sudden change.

Everyone else was silent as they had difficulty understanding what was happening, though Tsuyu gave a soft ribbit.

"But- but we didn't get any bells!" Mina pointed out.

"The bells were a way you could pass, but they were never the intended method for you to pass," Sakura said simply.

"But- you said–"

"My exact words, Mina," Sakura said softly, "'If you capture one of them, you are marked as having passed my training.' I said if you could get one, not that you had to get one. This test was never about the bells."

"Never about the… bells…" Momo said, her voice trailing off as she thought about it further. "You– you set us up. You were precise in your word choice, making us make the logical leaps for passing your test. We tried to find the most efficient way for everyone to pass, knowing it would become more difficult with fewer people. It was a complex problem attached to a distraction."

"Yep!" Sakura said, grinning at the other girl. "Your intuitive leaps of logic actually worked in my favor. If I had tried to explain it, it would have been detrimental to the narrative and, thus, more suspicious."

"But because we had identified the method of passing, based on the limited rules you had provided, we didn't look further. Especially as it played into the idea of using teamwork to pass, which was what we assumed the point of this test was," Momo said as she continued to connect the dots.

"It was, but she was testing for it in a different way," Tenya said, breaking his silence as a small smile formed. "The test was not about us acquiring the bells. The test was how we dealt with the punishments, wasn't it, Haruno-san?"

"Yes, it was, Tenya-kun," Sakura said, returning his smile. "Good observation!"

"How we dealt with the punishments? How is that supposed to test teamwork?" Denki asked, thoroughly confused. "And what about everything else you did to us during training? You were purposefully messing with us!"

"Yes, I was," Sakura said, eyeing each of them as they glared at her for her many tricks. "I'll deal with the second part of your question first, Denki. There were two reasons for me to do that."

"And what were they?" Momo asked.

"Your observational skills are the most important part. The better you are, the more likely you will notice the world around you. With it, you can more easily detect deception or weaknesses you can exploit," Sakura said before turning her eyes to look at Tsuyu. "The second is to help you deal with indecision."

"Indecis– ooohhh!" Mina said, figuring out what she meant mid-sentence. She looked at Tsuyu as well, seeing her friend shaking a little.

"Training you to more quickly respond to confusing situations is important. Being unable to act because you don't understand what is happening can lead to disaster. Not just for yourself, but for others," Sakura said. "Teamwork needs its members to be observant and decisive, or it will all crumble away to nothing."

"As for how you handled the punishments, it's to see how far you are willing to go for your comrades, whether you are willing to try to break the rules for their sake or your willingness to suffer consequences by helping them."

"Break the rules? Ribbit," Tsuyu finally spoke up. "We shouldn't be breaking the rules! If we break the rules, how is that any different from a Villain?"

"From many people's points of view, you would be correct, Tsuyu," Sakura answered, keeping her tone even. "But I think the words of my Sensei, the one from my village who taught me the importance of teamwork, might help you understand."

"'Those who break the rules and codes of the ninja world are called trash,'" Sakura said, saying the line with some authority. "Those were the words we understood, that we needed to follow the rules. But my Sensei made an addition, 'Those who don't take care of their comrades… are lower than trash.'"

"But, ribbit… you shouldn't break the rules," Tsuyu softly said. She rubbed her hands together in front of her chest while the rest of her body began to shake. They could also hear more emotion behind it than they could remember hearing from her. Kyoka and Fumikage both put a hand on her shoulders.

"Tsuyu, why are rules made?" Sakura softly asked her.

Tsuyu paused for a moment in thought. She visibly managed to collect herself a little before she answered. "Ribbit, so that we don't hurt each other."

"Yes, because we don't want to hurt our friends and comrades," Sakura said, adding a little more to what she said. "But what if those rules would hurt them?"

"The rules are made because we don't know everything! Ribbit, it is supposed to stop us from making mistakes!"

"Yes, but the rules are also made by people who can make mistakes at best or intentionally cause harm at worst. You must remember why the rules are there in the first place. They are there to protect you and everyone else. But if those rules get in the way, preventing you from saving someone, then what good are the rules?"

"What?" Tsuyu asked, slightly stunned.

"Let me create an example that I think all of you can understand," Sakura said. "What if you had a friend that you just pulled out of the water after they started to drown, but they had water in their lungs, they weren't breathing, and their heartbeat had stopped. You learned how to perform C.P.R. at school but had not yet taken the test for certification. You must have your certification before you may perform C.P.R. You check and there is no one else around who could save them in time and there are no emergency services. Their only chance of survival is you performing C.P.R. What would you do?"

"I would perform C.P.R. and accept the consequences," Fumikage said clearly, his arms crossed as he stood his ground. Tsuyu looked at him, still conflicted.

"Tsuyu-chan, what if it was your younger siblings?" Sakura asked, taking a half step closer to her distraught classmate while leaning towards her. "You spoke of how much you loved your family and took care of your brother and sister because your parents had to travel. You were their protector, making sure they were safe."

"I– I would– ribbit– I would– save them," Tsuyu finally said as she stared at the dirt.

Sakura smiled at her, glad she could make that leap. "Tsuyu, do not feel bad about being conflicted about that."

Tsuyu looked up, surprised at her words, but it didn't stop her from shaking. "Why not?"

"Because you care deeply about other people, not just your family and friends, but everyone else. You recognize that rules have a purpose; they are supposed to help us so that mistakes are not made. I know you would not break them for selfish reasons, which separates you from Villains, Tsuyu. You would only break a rule if you had a good reason and I believe you would accept the consequences and judgment that comes with it."

Tsuyu started shaking again, but when she started crying, everyone became concerned. They became startled, however, when she leaped at Sakura, crashing her arms around her as she continued crying into her chest.

Sakura smiled as she cradled her head, glad she could help the younger girl. "It's okay, Tsuyu."

"Call me Tsu," Tsuyu said after a moment, strengthening her hug.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Ring.

The phone rang, ignored as it sat on a small table in an apartment building. The building had seen far better days, with cracked concrete, damaged bricks and paint, destroyed windows, even the railing for the rooftop was warped and dripping down the front. Anyone who saw it understood why there were hazard barriers surrounding the four-story property. The only question anyone would have is why it had not already been torn down.

Ring.

Despite all that, the apartment building had one active tenant. His room had some decent furnishings, if old and worn out, though in better shape than the outside looked. The walls, floors, and ceiling had some cracks and peeled paint but were otherwise in decent condition. He had a few older appliances that he used, but the best feature of the room was the bookcases, which were filled from top to bottom with hardcovers.

Ring.

The tenant, an old man, was well past his prime. He had heavy wrinkles on his face, with gray and spiky hair and a chin curtain beard. He was also extremely short, a little over a meter tall. But the most notable thing about him was his domino mask, the full-body superhero suit with far too long of a cape, and a large walking stick.

Ri– click.

"Hello?" The old man asked.

"Torino-san?"

"This is he; who are you, and what do you want?"

"I am a detective with the Police force. I am hoping I can come by for a visit, as I have some sensitive information that may relate to an old friend of yours," the detective said.

"If you're talking about All Might, don't bother. Go bug him."

"While it is somewhat related to All Might, he is not the person I want to talk to regarding this. It is about an old friend of yours, one you both knew before you became a teacher at U.A. You also knew that person better than he did."

The old man froze, the phone nearly falling out of his hand as he realized who the detective was speaking about. But why?

"What… is this about?"

"Like I said, it is sensitive information."

"Fine, come on by," the old man finally said.

"Thank you. I'm out front now," the detective said.

With the receiver still in hand, the old man bounced over to his window and looked down. He found a single man standing out front with a phone to his ear and looking him in the eyes.

"I'll be up in a minute," the detective said before the phone clicked and went dead.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Chapter 13 - End

Author's Note - Thanks once again to my Beta-readers: Boldish42, Iron454, and Purplefox.

Next Chapter will be the start of the Sports Festival!