The Hero & The Demon

Chapter Seventeen

Sora Kinzoku's first day at UA was already going poorly.

Her teacher seemed to hate her from the moment she showed up – late, because the building was gigantic and how people were supposed to navigate it even with a map was completely lost on her. Her classmates generally gave her a broad range of pitying looks, which was almost worse to her. She hated being pitied. Fortunately, there was no time to dwell on that as the class began moving out of the classroom.

The classroom she had only just found. They were already leaving it, so really her hurry to locate the exact room was hardly even necessary. She could have just followed the crowd.

She huffed as she pulled herself off the floor and dusted herself off. Kage stepped over to her and gave an apologetic look. She narrowed her eyes.

"You know, with all your future knowledge, you could've given me directions." She grumbled, crossing her arms. Kage gave her a sheepish look.

"Sorry, it doesn't work like that." He said quietly. He looked around, then leaned in to whisper as the two followed the rest of the class. "Also, could we maybe not talk about my 'future knowledge' with everyone else around? It's pretty important that we keep that a secret." Sora raised an eyebrow.

"I'm cool with that, but why?" She asked. Kage took a moment to explain, seemingly needing to pick an answer out of several he had in his head.

"Butterfly effect." He eventually landed on. "The more people know about the future, the more likely they are to change things in ways I can't predict, thus rendering it all useless. If everything is kept quiet, then I'm the only variable I need to account for. Well, mostly." Sora nodded.

"Mostly." She acknowledged. "Just let me know if there's anything that could seriously screw me over, okay? According to you, I'm new to this story. I'd rather stick around to the end if I can." She said it in a joking tone, but her concern was very much genuine. Kage agreed.

"You should be fine today." He explained. "The first big thing to happen will be later in the week, although it's possible I can stop it from going forward before then. I'll give you a rundown if things don't work out. Just don't panic, and I'm sure you'll be fine." He gave her a thumbs up, though Sora could tell it was nervous. His smile as a little forced, his hand shaking just a bit.

Whatever event he was referring to, it was a risky one.

"Let me in on your plans to stop it." She said. It wasn't really a question or a request. "I can help, I just need to know what to look for. You don't have to do this all on your own." Kage looked torn, his eyes drifting away from her. She wasn't sure how to take that. Was she really not someone he could trust by now? Or was he so concerned that her simply knowing about his plans would change the outcome regardless of what actions she took?

All of this future stuff seemed so intense. She was already shaken by it, and it had only been a few days. Kage had been living with this for months. No wonder he was hesitant to even talk about it.

"I'll think about it." He mumbled, barely loud enough for Sora to hear. She frowned, but nodded. She didn't want to force him, but knowing there were big things coming that she wouldn't be able to do anything about was so frustrating. Was this the kind of feeling heroes had to deal with all the time?

Maybe the tired look and attitude of their teacher made more sense than she thought.

The two split off at the changing rooms themselves. There were three present, though only the male and female ones got any use for their class. One or two students briefly stood in front of the 'Q' rooms curiously, but no one entered. Those rooms were originally intended for those with Quirks that separated them from standard physical classification – people whose entire bodies were made of slime, for example – and thus didn't fall into other categories. They were also commonly used by trans and non-binary people, and had been unofficially dubbed Queer rooms. They were becoming more common, though it was still a surprise to see one at UA.

Sora stepped into the girls changing room. There were sets of lockers lining the walls, and benches in the middle of the room. The room was rather spacious, especially since there were only six other girls in the class as far as she could tell, so a total of seven. One of them, a cute girl with pink skin and eyes with black sclera, tapped Sora on the shoulder. She looked at her with an odd grin.

"You and Kage were talking the whole way down here." She said in an amused tone. Sora raised an eyebrow. "What's the deal there? Is he your boyfriend?" She giggled a little. Sora immediately realised what was going on. She supposed it was the kind of thing people talked about all the time in high school. She wasn't much of a social person, so she was never involved in those conversations herself, but people in her middle school were always going off about relationships.

"Nah, he's just a friend. We only met at the entrance exam." She said, then shot the girl a grin. "Lucky for you, I'm single."

"Oh, so he's up for grabs?"

"Him too, I suppose." Sora shrugged, then winked at the girl. She was rewarded with a small blush as the girl laughed loudly. She threw her head back as she laughed before returning her focus to Sora. Her smile seemed a little more natural now.

"Oh, I like you. You're fun!" She cheered. She held out a fist. "I'm Mina Ashido, and we are totally going to be best friends." Sora bumped the fist gently with her own. Ashido made an exploding gesture with her hand, reeling it back and making a 'WOOSH' sound. Sora copied her, though she chose to make a 'BANG' sound instead.

"Sora Kinzoku." She replied happily. "Call me Sora. And yeah, we can be friends. Why not?" At this point another girl literally croaked up. She had long, brown hair and round eyes. Her stance was a bit strange, seeming as though she was hunched over.

"Didn't mister Aizawa say we shouldn't socialise?" The girl tapped one finger against her chin. Sora raised an eyebrow at her.

"I wasn't there for that." She shrugged. "Besides, that's a stupid rule. We're gonna be around each other for three whole years, right? The least we can do is try to get along. Just because he's not got any friends doesn't mean we shouldn't." She crossed her arms. Ashido made an appreciative 'OHHHHH' noise and Sora smirked.

She liked this girl. Her first friend made at UA had been chosen wisely.

Another girl cleared her throat, a tall and beautiful woman with black hair tied in a large ponytail. When she spoke, her voice carried a sense of authority with it.

"Whilst the thought is nice, it should probably wait until after we're done here." She said. "We have a class to get to, after all. That has to take priority." As much as Sora would have loved to continue chatting with Ashido and the other girls, she had to admit this was correct. They would all probably have the chance to hang out together later. She walked over to one of the lockers.

"You're right. Sorry, miss…?" She said. The girl looked confused for a moment before letting out a small sigh of realisation.

"Right, you arrived late." She said. "I'm Momo Yaoyorozu. Apologies, Kage actually handled introductions earlier before class began, so the rest of us all know each other's names." Sora nodded. The fact that Kage had apparently opened up conversations with the whole class seemed odd to her, but she was glad it seemed to have gone well.

"That explains everyone using his first name." She muttered under her breath before replying properly. "I'm Sora Kinzoku, but everyone can and should just call me Sora. I'm sure I'll pick up everyone's names later. So, any idea what this is all for?" She asked as a general question to the room whilst she got changed into the school's gym uniforms.

Each locker was labelled, and there were notes inside mentioning that considerations had been made for each individual's Quirks. Sora sighed in relief when she saw that. She didn't want her upper body clothes to fall apart when she summoned her wings. Most of her clothes were bought and modified with special materials to allow them to pass through, and it seemed her UA clothes would be no different. They already had the details from her costume forum, so it only made sense that it applied to the rest.

"I don't think so." A girl with short brown hair replied to her. "He just told us all to get changed and meet him on the grounds. I guess he'll tell us more there. I'm Ochako Uraraka, by the way. Nice to meet you, Sora!" She finished with a bright smile. Out of everyone she had met so far, Uraraka immediately seemed the most normal to her. Not that the others being a little stranger to her was a bad thing, but there was something reassuring about not feeling quite as much like an odd one out.

"It's gotta be some sort of opening ceremony, right?" A girl who Sora literally could not perceive the features of added. She seemed to turn for a moment, so Sora could only assume she was looking at her. "Toru Hagakure. Anyway, what else could it be?"

"It could be a test. Why else would we be dressed for gym?" The slouching girl said. She faced Sora, her expression seeming blank. "I'm Tsuyu Asui. My friends call me Tsu. I say whatever's on my mind."

"Me too." Sora agreed. "And what's on my mind right now is that our teacher is an ass for not explaining himself."

"Yeah, he's a weird guy." The last girl, someone with short, dark blue hair and what looked to be earphone wires hanging from her ears, nodded at Sora. "Kyoka Jirou. I don't think you'd have seen it, Sora, but he was on the floor on a sleeping bag when he arrived at class."

"Seriously?" She snorted. "Are we sure he's really our teacher and not just some homeless guy who stumbled in?"

"Not really." Asui – it felt like it would presumptuous to use Tsu this early – said, and everyone in the room laughed. Conversation died down a little from there as everyone focused on getting changed, and soon they were all set in their UA gym clothes. They were comfortable outfits, Sora thought. The design was also well thought out, with the lower torso and legs having white lines to make an A and the upper torso area covering the U. They seemed to fit everyone exceptionally well, highlighting their builds without being too revealing.

Sora couldn't help but feel just a little insecure as she looked at her classmates. She was noticeably thin and lacking much in the way of muscle to speak of, whilst just about everyone else looked more broadly athletic. It would have been rude of her to comment on it, however, so she simply frowned in silence to herself.

"No matter his appearances, he is still our teacher." Yaoyorozu said, walking over to the door. "We should treat him respectfully. After all, he is a pro hero. Probably." Sora got the sense she wasn't supposed to have heard that last part, as Yaoyorozu's gaze drifted off them as she added it without seeming to mean to, but she did, and she had to supress another laugh over it.

She managed to, until Ashido leaned up behind her and, in an overly posh voice, repeated "Probably." In her ear. She cackled for just a moment. It felt perhaps a little mean, but she couldn't deny that it was funny.

Yaoyorozu held the door open for the other girls, and one by one they left the changing room in a line. The boys seemed a little less organised, with no one holding the door for their exits. They weren't all coming out at the same time, either. There were brief gaps between every first or second person to exit. The last person to step out was a tall boy with six arms that all seemed to be webbed together. Sora guessed it probably took him a little longer to properly change like that.

It seemed more sensible to all move as one unit, so that was what they all did. Twenty students walked down the halls of UA and made their way to the outside grounds. There was some light conversation, but for the most part everyone was quiet, clearly growing uneasy around whatever their teacher had planned for them.

Sora searched her mind and tried to recall if the name Aizawa was familiar. It sounded vaguely like something she knew, but she couldn't really place it. As the group arrived to find him standing and waiting for them, she looked at him closely to see if she recognised anything.

Nothing. He was an entirely non-descript man of shaggy black hair and basic black clothing. If this was his hero outfit, it seemed extremely underwhelming. The only thing of note was a long, grey scarf wrapped around his neck and shoulders.

"You all took your time getting here." He said judgementally. "I'll say once again that you need to familiarise yourselves with the school map. We won't always have the time to wait so long for everyone."

"It was only a few minutes." Sora said, crossing her arms. "We could've made it here faster if someone had decided to show us where he was going instead of just leaving us alone." She had to stop herself from saying he had pissed the hell off. He was still a teacher, after all, even if she really didn't like him.

"If you've made it this far and you still need someone to hold your hand, you can leave." He replied firmly. Sora seriously hated his attitude. There was no reason to act so harsh over simply needing some directions on literally their first day.

"This is the UA hero course. Being a student here isn't going to be easy, and being a hero is going to be even harder to accomplish. You want to succeed here? You can't let anything slow you down." He continued. Personally, Sora felt he was just making excuses, but he was the expert here. He was probably a pro hero, after all. Not that anyone seemed to recognise him, but that was apparently the situation with all of UA's staff. This should have been no different.

"Excuse me, sir, but what are we doing here exactly?" Uraraka raised her hand and asked. "Shouldn't we be making our way to the entrance ceremony, or handling guidance sessions?" Sora nodded in agreement. Those seemed like the sorts of things worth handling before any actual lessons kicked in. Aizawa, however, disagreed.

"There's no time for those." He shook his head. "What we'll be doing here is much more valuable to your future than those wastes of time. UA is known for taking unconventional approaches, both for students and teachers alike. What that means for now, is that we'll all be conducting tests of your Quirks."

"You'll all have most likely gone through some form of these fitness tests in middle school." He said. Sora briefly looked over to Kage, who she knew had no school experience up until a year ago. She herself had limited experience in that area – she had largely been homeschooled for most of her life. Her attitude was often found to be a source of irritation for more traditional educations, and her health concerns had been known to cause some issue in those areas as well. It was hard to find a school that could properly accommodate her.

"They're all your standard fitness tests. Softball throwing, 50-meter dash, endurance running, standing long jump, grip strength, seated toe touch, side-to-side stepping and upper body training. You'll have all faced these in some form or another, though crucially without the use of your Quirks." He said. "This society isn't accounting for the exceptional nature of its citizens, even now. It's entirely irrational. Not only does it hold everyone back from excelling as they should, but more specifically, it limits our knowledge of Quirks and your skills with them. Today, we're fixing that." He pulled a softball out of his pocket – had it been in there the whole time? What kind of man just carried softballs around wherever he went? – and tossed it. It was caught quite easily by Bakugou.

"Katsuki Bakugou. You placed first in the entrance exam." He did? Sora didn't pay much attention to the rankings beyond her own, but Bakugou having been that successful really bothered her. It was frustrating to see someone with as big an ego as he seemed to have be validated. "How far was your throw in middle school?"

"About 67 meters, I think." He said. Sora as pretty sure her own attempts in the past hadn't even gotten half as far. Aizawa nodded, then gestured to a drawn circle on the ground. Bakugou stepped up to it.

"Try it again, this time with your Quirk." He instructed. "Do whatever you need to, so long as it's not leaving this circle." Damn, that ruled out Sora's strategy of flying and simply carrying the ball with her. She could manage some other way, but already she felt a gap between herself and the other hero students, who were all sure to be more versatile and creative with their abilities.

Bakugou reared back and launched the ball with a huge amount of explosive force, yelling out "DIE!" at the same time, because of course he did. He probably thought that made him seem cool and not distinctly lame. Sora was expecting the ball to have been incinerated in the blast, but instead it landed far off in the distance. A robotic voice called out exactly how far.

"705.2 meters!"

Sora's jaw hung open. For as much as she didn't like Bakugou, she had to admit that was seriously impressive. Plus, explosions like that were at least a little cool when they weren't directed at her friends. Aizawa held up a small screen that showed the number more clearly, and everyone, herself included, made awed gasps.

"It's important for us to know your limits." He said. "That's the first logical step in determining what kind of heroes you'll all become. Hopefully this gets your attention more than an entrance ceremony." Dammit, even his slightly smug tone was coming across as a little cool after seeing that! Several members of the class began talking excitedly.

"So we get to use our Quirks as much as we want? Hell yeah!" One of the boys called out, one with spiky red hair. Ashido pumped up her fist in the air nearby.

"This looks awesome! It's gonna be a lot of fun!"

"But wait, there's more…" She managed to hear Kage sarcastically mumble. She raised an eyebrow before turning back to Aizawa, whose expression had fallen into a harsh glare. Great, this was some annoying future thing. She braced herself.

"Awesome, huh?" He all but hissed out, the annoyance palpable in his voice. "You're striving to become heroes, and you think it will all be fun and games? Fine then. Let's make it interesting. The person with the lowest overall score of the class will be deemed 'hopeless', and will be expelled."

The temperature dropped as everyone's blood went cold at the threat. Sora sucked in a breath. She was already at a disadvantage – she hadn't trained for this sort of lifestyle like the others had. She wasn't much to speak of physically, and had only gotten this far due to her Quirk.

This was bad. Real bad.

"Bullshit!" She instinctively cried out, hardly caring to mind her tone at that moment. "How the hell is that fair? It's the first day?" Aizawa looked at her with a dispassionate expression. He wasn't overly frustrated with her, just impatient, it seemed.

"Do you consider natural disasters fair?" He said firmly. "Or massive villain attacks that wipe out cities? Crime rings that prey on the vulnerable? This is not a world built around fairness. A hero is defined by the struggle against that adversity." He gave an ugly grin.

"If you were hoping to be able to relax and enjoy your high school life, sorry to disappoint." He called out to the whole class. "UA is going to put you all through the wringer, and it'll take everything you have to keep up. That's Plus Ultra for you. It's your job to use everything you have to succeed. Stop complaining and start acting."

Sora regretted allowing herself for even a moment to think this man was cool. On a scale of one to ten Bakugou's in terms of annoyance, he was sitting at a seven or eight. Still, as much as she wanted to continue arguing, she knew it would be pointless.

This was a trial by fire. She just had to hope she wouldn't burn up.

Kage Sekai was prepared for anything Aizawa could throw at him.

Sora's presence hadn't changed anything up so far. Aizawa's fitness test was the same as usual, and even his explanation was distinctly familiar. It was reassuring to see things proceeding along as they were supposed to. He smiled as he stepped up to take his place at the first event – the 50 meter dash. Two people ran at a time, though it wasn't really worth approaching like a race. All that mattered was not coming dead last in the class, after all. Kage called forth his power, feeling the chill of the black energy flow throughout his body. He tried to focus a little more of it in his legs. The sensation wasn't exactly pleasant, but it wasn't enough to actually hurt.

Running alongside him was Fumikage Tokoyami, a boy with a very distinctive bird head and otherwise a perfectly ordinary body as far as he could tell. He wasn't really sure how his Quirk, Dark Shadow, could be helpful in running, but he was sure the boy had something in mind. As h looked at him, though, Kage remembered something.

Back when he had first entered this world, he had bumped into someone and ran away screaming. That person had a bird head. A very distinctive bird head, one that was all black with a yellow beak.

His first encounter in this world was Tokoyami. No wonder the boy looked at him with wary confusion. He probably thought he was being judgemental about his form. Kage cringed.

"Hey man, sorry about…you know." He struggled a little to find the appropriate words. Given how long it had been, it felt weird to talk about, but it warranted acknowledgement. "That time at the train station. It-it really wasn't you, I was just having a weird day and I freaked out. It was uncalled for." Tokoyami hummed in response.

"No need to punish yourself." He said simply. "I am used to being reviled, as those who dwell in the darkness often are. I bear no ill will." Kage frowned, but the timer went off before he could think to say anything more.

"Ready? START!"

He pushed off of the ground so fast that he could swear there was a small boom as he sprinted, though that was likely just his imagination. The world blurred before him as he ran. It was only for a few steps, but in the moment, the UA grounds vanished. For just a few moments, he was under a red sky, standing across a cragged wasteland.

The place from his vision, the one during the entrance exam. It felt familiar, but it called no memory of his to mind. He didn't know this place in his head, though his heart seemed to recognise it all the same. He didn't have much time to notice, but he could tell the vision showed him as a warrior in armour.

What was this supposed to mean? He had enough things to worry about in the future, some strange images of what he could only assume to be a distant past were not the sort of things he could afford to deal with. And yet, they still lingered in his mind. He craved some way of understanding them. Whatever secrets or lessons there were to gain from them could have been important.

"4.18 seconds!" The electronic voice of a UA machine snapped him back into the present reality. The world blinked back into its default state. He stood back up and looked behind him. Tokoyami arrived only a moment later.

"5.34 seconds!" The robot exclaimed. Kage smiled at his not-really opponent and approached him.

"Nice work, man!" He praised. "You did really well, especially when you don't have a movement-based power." Tokoyami looked at him oddly for some reason. Kage frowned. He turned behind him to check if there was something he had missed, but there was nothing.

"I'm sorry to startle you," Tokoyami said. "But there's something…something strange about that power you hold. At risk of sounding mad, it seems to unnerve Dark Shadow." Kage blinked, taking that in.

"How am I unnerving to a big, clawed bird demon thing?" He said, tilting his head. "No offence, Dark Shadow is awesome. Which is why the idea that I concern it – him?" He asked. Tokoyami nodded.

"Why the idea that I concern him is so weird." He put a hand on his chin thoughtfully. Aizawa called out to the two of them before they could dwell on this conversation however, prompting them over to the rest of the class. There would be time to unpack that later, it seemed.

Dark Shadow was a black, shadowy mass of energy that formed itself into a sentient entity. Void Energy was a black, shadowy mass of energy that could be spread across all of Kage's form. Was it possible there was some connection between the two? He had wondered before about the awareness of his powers. How he sometimes found himself hearing voices that weren't there. Something in his head.

Maybe his power was truly sentient, and sentient Quirks tended not to get along? It was possible that Dark Shadow saw his Void Energy as some sort of threat.

But why? Did Void Energy possess some greater strength than Dark Shadow? It was a more versatile ability. Was it rooted in jealousy, then? Could a Quirk even get jealous like that? No, that didn't seem right. Jealousy wouldn't be described as unnerving. There was something about Void Energy that made Dark Shadow afraid. Kage had no issue with Tokoyami or Dark Shadow. Could the same be said of his powers?

"Great." He rolled his eyes. "Now even I'm an unknown variable. Because what today really needed was more things to be stressed about."

"Tell me about it."

Kage practically jumped as Sora spoke up from beside him. He relaxed almost immediately upon realising who it was, but his pulse was now moving a fair bit quick quicker. He thanked the gods that he wasn't thinking any more detailed thoughts out loud. That was a habit he couldn't afford to keep.

"Sorry, Sora." He said. "You startled me. Did you do your run yet?" Based on the fact that she had two large wings made up of silvery-steel metal, he could probably guess the answer. It was an impressive sight to behold. Certainly a Quirk worthy of a hero – if Hawks could make just feathers work, metal would do excellently.

"It wasn't really a run." Sora smirked. "But that's not what I wanted to talk about. You said something about another variable, yeah? Tell me about it." She insisted. Kage inwardly sighed. It was understandable, but he was starting to wish he hadn't told Sora anything. He didn't want to be constantly fielding questions about the future.

"It's no big deal." He explained casually. "Just something weird going on with my powers. It shouldn't be a problem, at least not any time soon. You don't have to worry about it." Sora frowned and crossed her arms at him.

"You're my friend." She said. The words stung at Kage, immediately making him feel guilty for his moment of annoyance. "If something's wrong with you or your power, I'm gonna be worried. That's not even related to any of your…other stuff," She made sure to choose her words carefully, given the class was all gathered. Everyone was talking amongst themselves as the last few runners went up, but it was always better to be safe.

"I just care, you know?" She said. Kage sighed, though this time not in annoyance. He was fortunate to have such a good friend, even if there wasn't much he could say to ease her worries right now. It really wasn't a big deal.

"Thanks. I appreciate it." He admitted. "Really though, it's not a big deal. At least, I don't think it is right now. It shouldn't get in the way of anything here." The last two runners went off. Izuku and Bakugou's performances were pretty much exactly what was expected, with Bakugou blasting off hard and Izuku going for a pretty standard run. Sora tilted her head.

"What's the green-haired guy doing?" She asked. Kage considered for a moment how much he should give away in his response. Probably not much, he decided. Izuku's secrets were his to share, not Kage's. He knew them only because of circumstance.

"His name's Izuku Midoriya." He introduced as the two walked over with the rest of the class to the grip strength testers. "He's a good friend. You wouldn't know it from looking at him right now, but he's probably stronger than I am. He blew up a zero pointer in the entrance exam with one punch."

"You're kidding." Kage's expression remained the same as Sora stared in disbelief. After a moment, she let out a whistle of appreciation. "Okay, you're not kidding. But if that's the case, why did he run so normally? He had to know that wouldn't do much for his score." An idea popped into Kage's head – something he was embarrassed hadn't occurred to him before.

"Good question. Why don't we ask him?" He decided, walking over to where Midoriya was. The boy in question was staring at the grip strength tester nervously. It was clear he was considering his options on whether or not to use One For All. In the original canon, Izuku would decide against that until the ball throwing exercise. Things would still work out in the end, but it came close to becoming a disaster. With the butterfly effects already in place from Kage and Sora's arrival into 1A, it was possible things wouldn't end so well.

Maybe he was just being paranoid, or maybe he just wanted to offer some kindness to a friend in need regardless of the context. Either way, he realised that he could at least make an effort to support him.

"Hey, Izuku!" He snapped the boy out of his thoughts. Izuku blinked and looked over to him, smiling as he and Sora approached. Sora gave a soft smile of her own, though Kage could tell she was a little nervous from having been drawn into this without warning. "How's it going?"

"Hey Kage." Izuku greeted, his voice laced with an undercurrent of despair. "It's…it's not looking good. Everyone else is capable of getting some great scores here, but I still can't control my strength. I've gotta be able to keep up, but I don't know what to do."

"I get that." Sora piped up, drawing Izuku's attention to her. His eyes went a little wide at a girl talking to him – Kage knew he'd get used to that eventually, but the way his face went red was a little funny. "My Quirk might be pretty good, but I don't really have the body to keep up with everyone here. I mean, look." She held out her grip strength tester and squeezed as hard as she could. Her face and body all visibly tightened, and even her metallic wings tensed.

The result was 28kgs. Even without his Quirk, Izuku's score was well above that. Sora looked down at the screen despondently.

"You're not the only one who's no good at this." She said. Izuku's entire expression shifted. His worry almost seemed to vanish as he looked at Sora.

"T-that's not true!" He declared, surprising her. Kage smirked, already knowing where this was going. "Not every event is going to be well suited for every kind of person and every Quirk! Heroes always have a wide range of different body types, so it would totally make sense that you might be at a disadvantage here, but you're going to do so well in the other events!"

"I assume those wings are light enough that you can both manoeuvre them with relative ease and take off the ground with them," Izuku half-mumbled, going deep into thought. "which means that you should have a serious advantage for events like the long jump. Endurance running also probably isn't a problem so long as you can keep the wings running, and side to side stepping will be a breeze when you don't even need to actually step. I have to assume that the wings would be much faster than standard movement, and given your lower apparent body weight- s-sorry, I know that's rude to mention – but given that, you should be able to move effectively at high speeds for long periods of time." He finished, only seeming to realise he was still going right at the end. He sheepishly scratched the back of his head. Sora blinked.

"I got about half of that, I think." She said. "Still, thanks for the encouragement? I'm glad you think my Quirk is cool." Izuku smiled.

"It's totally awesome!" He said. His face died down a little as he continued, looking away from her. "I-I mean, I've always been a huge fan of Quirks, so I can tend to get a bit carried away, b-but it is cool! I think there's a lot you're going to be able to do as a hero."

"Yeah, my friends are awesome." Kage crossed his arms and wore a wide grin on his face. It was honestly great seeing his two closest friends getting along. Sora and Izuku had somewhat similar issues, which it seemed would be great for their ability to bond. That was reassuring. He would hate to have conflict between them.

"Oh, you're Kage's friend?" Izuku said. "Sorry, I probably should have introduced myself. I'm Izuku Midoriya." He held one hand out to shake, whilst the other was still on the grip strength device. Neither he nor Kage had used theirs just yet. Sora shook his hand after a moment of surprised hesitation.

"Sora Kinzoku. Just call me Sora." She said. Izuku nodded. He briefly glanced to Kage and seemed to make a connection in his head. Kage had no idea what it was, though.

"I-I guess you can call me Izuku, then?" He offered hesitantly, looking between the two of them. "That seems to be the general preference here, and I don't really mind, even if it is a little unusual." Sora raised an eyebrow, but shrugged.

"Sure thing, Izuku." She said. Izuku let out a small gasp of surprise at hearing her use his first name so casually. "It's not like it's a big deal, really. I just don't like my last name." Kage wanted to ask about that, but he noticed a pointed look from Aizawa just a little further back. They didn't have much time to get into personal backstories, no matter how curious they were.

"Right, Izuku. I actually came here to help." Kage turned to face Izuku more directly. Izuku straightened and focused his own expression. He looked determined. Kage nodded once he looked ready. "Aizawa will probably want us to move soon, so I'll be quick. Watch what I do and tell me what you think."

Kage took a deep breath and once more allowed his power to flow through his entire body. His initial instinct would have been to focus it through the arm on the grip tester, but that wouldn't be as effective a tool to teach with. The black veins covered him head to toe. He held down the grip device forcefully, but made a point to keep his energy output balanced. A small bit more went into the hand, but not much more than what was already in the rest of the body.

The screen read 300kg. Kage blinked, making sure he was reading the number correctly. 300. That was right. He knew he was strong, but seeing it laid out like this was something else. The robots from the entrance exam didn't seem difficult to break, and he had basically gotten lost in the adrenaline during that.

"Huh. Neat." He said before clearing his throat and looking to Izuku. "Right, the number's not the important part. What did you see?"

"R-right, right." Izuku went into analysis mode quickly, holding his hand to his chin. "You used your enhanced strength, obviously. You spread it across your entire body, without focusing any more than was immediately required on the grip strength and balancing it out with the rest. Was that for stability?"

"Close enough." Kage nodded. "It's important to keep the output spread out. That way, you're never pumping way too much into one place. It's safer and generally more efficient. Keep that in mind. It'll probably prove useful." Aizawa called over to the group, urging them towards the next event. Izuku nodded to Kage, which was confirmation enough that he had been understood.

Izuku walked off to the next event, the standing long jump. Sora, however, stayed behind for a moment with Kage. She watched him curiously. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"What?" He asked. "I'm just trying to help out a friend."

"He's different." Sora said. "There's definitely something different between him and me, at least as far as you're concerned. He's in this story, isn't he? If I think about it like that, he's clearly some sort of underdog. If I had to guess…" She hesitated for a moment, frowning before leaning closer and whispering.

"He's the hero, isn't he?" Kage froze, unsure of how he was supposed to react. If he said no, he doubted Sora would believe him. If he said yes, he would give away even more important details about the story and the future. But if he said nothing, if he left her to her own conclusions, there was no way things wouldn't get worse.

In that moment, he had to make a decision on whether or not he could really let her in on everything. He took a deep breath.

"I'll explain more later," He replied. "But you're right."

AN: And Sora joins the inner circle! Well, it's not really a circle if it's only like two people. But the inner line doesn't have as much of a ring to it. I hope you all enjoy this chapter! I'll admit it may not be the most exciting one, but I had a lot of fun with these character interactions. It'll be nice going forward and having Kage and Sora interact with more of the class. Oh, also, if it wasn't clear from Sora describing Ashido as cute and Momo as beautiful, I'll say now that she's bisexual. In fact, assume all characters I write are unless I explicitly state otherwise. It probably won't come up all that much, but I think it's fun! See you all next time!