Hey guys, before we start, I just wanted to let you know this is a bit of an important chapter, a very highly experimental type of chapter compared to the others, so this is a very important chapter for me and the story in more ways than one.

I'm sorry for the delay. I also explain the situation at the end notes in MUCH more detail on how this is an experimental chapter. I hope you all enjoy!

Jayluf couldn't wait until school ended today, because there was no doubt the moment when he would sit down in the limousine later that day, Miss Hunee would ask him about his day. And if she did, he would tell her that he had a new favorite part of the day.

Lunch. That was his new favorite thing at the moment. It was hard to believe. Who knew that such a simple act such as eating a meal could be so amazing?

As he walked back towards the classroom with his friends, he wished that lunch had not ended so soon. When the bell had rang, he and the others from Class 1-A had to say their farewells to Pony, who said she'd try to meet up with them after school hours from now on, which sounded just fine to Jayluf.

When they had gotten up to leave, Jayluf noticed that for some odd reason, he couldn't help but walk in a rather bizarre way. When Uraraka had noticed, she'd turned her head in his direction.

"You've got a bounce in your step, Jayluf." she had told him. "I guess that means you liked your lunch?"

Jayluf had no idea what a bounce in his step meant, but he knew for a fact that he definitely liked his lunch. So he nodded. Now as they were entering the room and sitting down in their chairs, he still couldn't help but think of the food, how the lingering taste of the teriyaki chicken and white rice still persisted on his taste buds. The thought of being able to eat that kind of food again… his cells bounced around in delight at the idea. I like lunch.

As his mind wandered while everyone finished settling down into their chairs, Jayluf took notice of the strange fact that wasn't here yet. That was odd. Where was the teacher? The bell had rang, and everyone was already sitting in their seats.

Did something perhaps happen?

And if Aizawa came in, what tasks would be given to them as a whole? Would it be written work? Physical work? If it was physical, would he try threatening them with expulsion like in the past?

Jayluf honestly had no clue. But whatever Aizawa had planned th-

"I AM…"

A loud voice that was so powerful that it nearly shook the room, suddenly jolted Jayluf from his thoughts. Immediately he was at attention. What was that? Instinctively looking around for the source of the voice, he spotted Midoriya in the corner of his eye, who happened to be the only other person reacting to the voice by lighting up with a huge grin on his face.

But as Jayluf opened his mouth to inquire about Midoriya's reaction…

"ENTERING THROUGH THIS DOOR LIKE A COMPLETELY NORMAL PERSON!"

The door to the room suddenly slid open rather quickly, almost violently, and Jayluf saw what he thought to be what was probably the biggest person he'd ever seen in his entire life.

The stranger was built extremely well, with large bulging muscles that were visible through their clothing advertised clear strength, might, and power. Their costume was one Jayluf did not recognize, but at the same time, the more he stared, the more it seemed somewhat familiar to him?

The brilliant red suit, the flowing blue cape, the yellow gloves and boots, the coloring scheme seemed so familiar to him. The strangers jaw was very defined as well, it seemed their whole body was muscle. The hair was the most prominent part, a golden shade of blonde, with the hair going up into a strange "V" shape.

Jayluf blinked. Wait… I know that hair… I've seen it before… This is… "All Might?"

It was! It was All Might! The All Might! The number one hero that he'd seen so many times in the video Miss Hunee had shown him in the past! The only hero he really knew was here, in his own classroom! All Might… here? How is this possible? Why is he here?

Jayluf could only stare in disbelief as his brain cells struggled to comprehend the sight in front of him, desperately attempting to differentiate whether what he was seeing was real or not.

As All Might began to triumphantly march into the room with a big grin, the other students lit up with excitement at the sight of the number one hero.

"It's…" a spiky yellow haired student uttered. "It's All Might!"

A red haired student pumped his fist with a smile on his face. "Cool! So he's really a teacher at U.A?! That's so awesome!"

The statement from the student made Jayluf pause for a brief moment. All Might… is a teacher here? I did not know this… How did he know? I wonder if Miss Hunee will be interested to hear about all this?

A girl that Jayluf remembered being a good jumper rested her finger on her chin in an inquiring manner. "Wait, isn't that a costume from the silver age, isn't it?"

He tilted his head, yet again being confused by a student's inquiry. Silver age? What is a silver age?

As All Might strided to the teacher's desk at the front of the classroom, the students continued to chatter in excitement.

"It's style is completely different from his normal one!" said a student with a large tail. "It's giving me goosebumps just looking at it!"

If Jayluf's brain hadn't been preoccupied with juggling so much information at once, he might have noticed All Might throwing a quick glance at him. Mainly, at the metallic collar that still happily clung to his neck.

"Why yes!" hollered the overly buff man. "It is I, All Might! Why am I here, you may ask?! I am here…TO TEACH BASIC TRAINING!" He stuck a finger up. "But not your average basic training, no! I will be teaching you all HERO BASIC TRAINING! It's a subject where you all will train in vastly different ways, in order to learn the basics about being a hero! Given the importance of this subject, this will be the subject where you all take the most points!"

As his brain absorbed the new information, Jayluf could only look on in still somewhat bewilderment at the revelation. Not only was All Might a teacher at U.A, but he was going to be teaching in the very class Jayluf was in!

All Might let out a laugh, flexing his arms dramatically as his arm muscles bulged to an almost comedic extent. "Well, let's get right to it, shall we? Today's assignment is what we'll do today, and that is…" he suddenly ceased flexing, and with a quick movement of his right arm, whipped out a paper card, which had the word "BATTLE" printed on the front in full capital letters.

"We're going to do COMBAT TRAINING!" All Might finished.

Although Jayluf had not physically reacted to the news, two students in the front had quite visible reactions.

"Combat…" Bakugo growled, a psychotic grin on his face.

"T-Training?" Midoriya squeaked out, his eyes widening from fear.

But All Might kept going. "And to with that… are THESE!" He pointed to a wall to everyone's left, and the wall suddenly began to hiss as panels slowly slid out from the wall.

"Costumes that are based on all your quirk registrations, combined with your own requests that you sent before school began!"

As the rest of the class looked at the panels with excited expressions on their faces, Jayluf was still absorbing what All Might had said. Costumes…

Costumes were the gear or uniform that a hero wore when on duty. Jayluf remembered that, at least. However, he had no idea that there was a program where he could send in requests for a costume. In fact, he didn't remember sending in a "quirk registration" either.

And when he counted the amount of panels that had come out of the wall, he found that it had been two short, which meant there weren't enough costumes for the whole class. He also hadn't brought a costume of his own, either.

In conclusion, it means I do not have a costume to change into.

This presents a problem.

So, what could he do? Change into a gym uniform and perhaps hope for the best? Inform the teacher of his failure?

"Now!" called All Might as he jabbed a thumb to the now exposed costume containers. "Take your costumes to the locker room, and after you kids change, meet me at Ground Beta!"

"Yes sir!" cried out every student enthusiastically, except for Jayluf.

As his classmates in front of him began to rise and walk towards the entrance, he internally debated on the next course of action. He had to follow the teacher's command to go to the locker room, but at the same time, he had no costume to change into.

But that didn't mean he could just sit idly by in his chair, for he still had to partake in the hero training anyways. Forcing himself to rise from his chair, he began to allow his legs to guide him behind Midoriya, who was nearing the door.

"Young Jayluf, a moment of your time?"

Jayluf halted in his tracks, the booming authoritative voice causing him to freeze up momentarily. Rotating himself to face the person addressing him, he saw that All Might was facing towards him, his smile as prominent as ever.

The size difference was clearly obvious, the seemingly giant adult towered over Jayluf, who was forced to look up in order to look into All Might's eyes respectfully. The hero had a strange pose, with his hands on his hips, yet his hands were clenched into tight fists. Was it a heroic pose of some sort?

"Yes sir?" Jayluf said.

"It has been brought to my attention that you have no costume yet, am I correct?" All Might questioned, raising one eyebrow.

Jayluf's eyes widened. How had All Might known that he had no costume, when he hadn't even told him in the first place? As far as he could recall, he had not mentioned it to anyone at all. Did All Might have some sort of ability or quirk that allowed him to read minds? "Yes..?"

All Might let out a boisterous laugh. "Judging from your reaction, I'm guessing you're probably assuming I have some sort of mind reading quirk or something!"

Jayluf's eyes were now wide as saucers.

The pro hero let out another chuckle. "Worry not, young Jayluf! I have no mind reading quirk or anything like that. The reason why I knew you did not have a costume was because of a visitor earlier today!"

A visitor? Jayluf tilted his head. What did a visitor have to do with a costume? "A visitor?" he repeated.

All Might nodded. "Yes indeed! While you were in class, a car pulled up to the entrance gate, and low and behold, a rather frazzled young lady had stepped out of the vehicle!"

Jayluf still did not understand. "Why was this woman here?"

"A very good question! See, she apparently told the person working the intercom that she had meant to surprise you that morning with this!" All Might proceeded to reach under the teachers desk, and pulled out what appeared to be a briefcase.

Jayluf knew very well what a briefcase was, he'd seen people back home carrying them around. It was a thing made to carry papers or office supplies.

But this was no ordinary briefcase. This briefcase was a strange glass or plastic briefcase that had silver metallic edges. It also appeared to be somewhat electric, for the face of the briefcase seemed to be glowing slightly. It wasn't bright enough to be an LED, but it still seemed to have some sort of electronics inside that allowed for illumination. The briefcase's face had a faint blue glow, with the middle being a bright white logo that almost looked like an "O".

Wait… I recognize that logo. He took a closer look. "That briefcase is… Nohken Industries property." Which could only mean… He looked up at All Might. "The woman that was in the car was Miss Hunee?"

"Right you are! CORRECT!" All Might beamed, almost shouting the last word in loud english. "She had told us she had forgotten to give it to you, so she came back just in time while you kids were at lunch! Lucky for you!"

"Miss Hunee… had a costume made for me?" Jayluf said.

His response made All Might's smile dim for a brief moment, as if he hadn't expected the question. "W-Well, yes! You didn't think they would make a costume for you to use?"

Jayluf eyes wandered back down to the briefcase still lying on the desk. "I suppose? I do not remember them mentioning a costume, or asking me if I wanted one."

"Well," All Might said as he gave a thumbs up, "She did say it was a surprise! But either way, what's important is that you have a costume now! Head on down to the locker room with the others, and get changed!"

Nodding, Jayluf reached out to pick up the briefcase, but stopped half way. He didn't know why, but he felt like he needed to speak his mind. And since he was speaking to All Might this very moment, he'd take the chance. "Sir, may I make a statement before I depart?"

"Hmm? And what would that be?"

"I would like to say… It is a great honor to be able to receive your instruction. I have seen videos of your heroics as far as I can remember being under Nohken's care. You were the only hero I had known of until recently."

For some reason, the words seemed to make All Might pause, before he simply waved a hand in the air. "Why, how kind of you to say, young Jayluf! However, you say that I had been the only hero you knew of?"

Jayluf nodded. "Miss Hunee did not want me to be exposed to technology too much. She said it was bad for a developing child. However, she did allow me to watch videos of you for good behavior. She even allows me to use your hero aid in the morning."

"Hero aid?" All Might questioned.

Nodding, Jayluf pulled up his left sleeve to expose the most recent hero aid, clamped to his arm securely.

Leaning forward slightly, the massive man's eyes seemed to light up. "Ah, I recognize that brand! Those are none other than the classic silver age bandages! I remember, we had made a deal with a corner pharmacy to allow them to exclusively sell those, which had me with an alternate looking silver age costume! Other stores have the normal silver age ones, or my more modern one! It's been quite some time since I've seen that brand!" The pro hero scratched the back of his head. "Actually, I'm surprised the deal hasn't expired…"

"Miss Hunee allows me to use one every day," Jayluf said as he pulled his sleeve back down.

"Every day?" All Might repeated as he leaned back to his full height. "Why would you need bandaging every day? Do you have some sort of injury or insect bite that won't go away?"

"Negative," Jayluf replied as he shook his head. "The bandage is for the small puncture wound from the sample Miss Hunee takes from me every day."

All Might's posture faltered slightly. "Sample?"

Jayluf lifted his left arm. "Miss Hunee will come in every morning to take a small blood sample from my arm. When she is finished with her task, she will put a bandage on it, and it is always the All Might variant."

For a brief moment, it looked as if All Might's brows were furrowed down, and his smile had faltered. But when Jayluf blinked, the pro hero's face was back to normal.

Maybe he was seeing things.

"I see…" said All Might. "That is very informative… But anyways, be sure to hurry up now! Your hero costume won't put itself on, will it? Take your costume, and head on out!"

Reaching down, Jayluf brought the surprisingly weighted briefcase to his chest with both hands. "Yes sir." He turned, and sped walk out of the room, too fast to notice that All Might had reached out to try and stop him.

"Jayluf, wait! I was going to suggest carrying it with the handle…" All Might mumbled halfheartedly.

Izuku Midoriya wouldn't consider himself as a person who had an ego. His self esteem was usually in the negatives most of his life. Heck, until he had met All Might, he had always considered himself a quirkless nobody.

Even though he was currently in the locker room admiring his costume in the mirror while the other male students began to leave, he wasn't admiring himself. No, in reality he was actually just admiring his mothers fantastic craftsmanship.

Before the school year had begun, he had created a plan to make his own costume, and he'd use his allowance to pay for the supplies required. But his mother had surprised him with an already made costume, based on the notes and doodles he'd absent-mindedly scribbled into his journal when brainstorming for designs.

He smiled as he did a small pose. Mom really is amazing. Perhaps it would look silly to some, with the bright green coloring and the cartoonish smile. The ears were rather prominent as well, combined with the large eyes and mouthpiece, it might look more akin to a rabbit hero compared to what he had originally based the costume off of design wise.

Or who he had based the costume off of.

Izuku sighed. Sure, maybe the costume design had been a bit excessively inspired by All Might, but he wasn't about to apologize for that. All Might was his Number One hero! In his opinion, it had enough unique factors to it that didn't make it just a costume that resembled All Might's, it was its very own thing!

Although he wanted to keep getting a complete look at his costume, he remembered that he should probably get a move on. I should probably head on out, everyone else was already out of the locker room, it's just me in here now.

Or so he had thought.

The sound of the entrance door to the locker room made him jolt in surprise and reflexively twist his head around to see who was at the door. Perhaps someone had forgotten a piece of their gear, or costume?

It had been neither. In fact, it was someone who Izuku hadn't even recalled changing into their costume yet.

Jayluf Viller stepped in, clutching a strange glowing rectangular object to his chest. The object had a white logo that seemed somewhat familiar to Izuku.

Wait, isn't that the same logo on the limousine? The company that owns the limo? What had it been called? Nohken something, right?

Jayluf slowly looked around, scanning the room until his eyes presumably settled on Izuku.

"Oh," Jayluf spoke softly. "My apologies. I had not realized someone else was still changing."

And he turned towards the door, presumably to leave.

He's just leaving?! "W-Wait a second Jayluf!" Izuku sputtered out before the boy could completely exit.

Jayluf halted in his tracks.

"I… I've just finished changing," Izuku explained. "I was just looking at the mirror, you know, to see how it looks."

Jayluf slowly turned around, and took a few steps towards him while having a slight squint on his face. "Midoriya? Is that you?"

"Y-Yeah!" Izuku stuttered out, confused on how Jayluf did not recognize him.

Oh wait. I'm wearing a mask. Duh.

"So that is your costume?" Jayluf said.

"Yeah, it is!" Izuku replied quickly, scratching the back of his head. "I uh, I know it's n-not the coolest looking, or the most technologically advanced in design or form compared to everyone else's costumes, but I'm proud to wear it. W-What do you think?"

In response to the inquiry, Jayluf leaned forward slightly, eyeing the costume from head to toe in complete and utter silence. "It's… very well made," he finally said. "Its design is unique."

Izuku was taken aback for a moment by the unexpected compliment. Oh, I was just expecting a yes or no… "Well th-thanks!" he said with a bashful smile. It was good to hear that both his own design and his mother's craftsmanship held up in a pro hero school.

"You're welcome." Jayluf replied.

Izuku suddenly realized something that he had forgotten. "Oh, y-yeah! Where were you earlier? If you don't mind me asking… it's just, I thought I heard All Might stop you, but I didn't want to interrupt, so I just kept walking with the others." He glanced nervously at the metal collar, still secured around Jayluf's neck. He didn't want to assume, but… "Did… something happen?"

"Oh. That." Jayluf adjusted his hold on the glowing square from earlier, holding it out for Izuku. "He had stopped me to inform me of the fact that Miss Hunee had personally delivered this to the school."

Izuku squinted as he tried to decipher just what the object was. "What is it?"

"It is a briefcase, containing my hero costume." Jayluf replied as he pulled the box back to his chest.

They even made him a costume? "Oh th-that's great!" Izuku gave a half-hearted thumbs up. "All Might must have had a long talk with you, huh?"

"Negative."

Izuku blinked. Eh? "But… didn't you just get here? I thought you were implying you chatted with All Might all this time…"

Jayluf shook his head. "I arrived at the locker room here several minutes ago."

"Then…" Izuku began with a dumbfounded expression, "What have you been doing all this time while everyone was changing into their clothes?"

Turning towards the door, Jayluf adjusted the briefcase so that he would be able to point with a free hand. "I was merely posted outside the door there, waiting for the other students to finish."

Frowning in confusion under his mask, Izuku scratched the side of his head. "Why were you just waiting?"

Jayluf gestured his left arm in Izuku's direction. "I cannot change into my costume while other students are near."

Oh. "I see… d-does being around other people undressing like that make you upset?" For some odd reason, even while he spoke, Izuku considered the possibility that he was maybe prying into business that was very much not his business. Should I have not said that? He didn't want to make any assumptions about Jayluf.

"Because, Miss Hunee had explicitly told me that I should not be seen without my clothes on." Jayluf moved his free arm back around the briefcase. "She also said I should not see other people without their clothes on either."

"Oh. Well, I uh, suppose that's fair, and completely reasonable." Izuku shuffled awkwardly in place. "I guess you're waiting for me to leave then? Want me to uh… wait by the door?"

"Only if you wish to do that. I would not wish to keep you if you had something else to attend to, I will not mind being left behind."

Izuku nodded, slowly walking towards the door in order to give his friend privacy. Stopping at the door, he turned to give a friendly wave. "A-Alright. I uh, I'll see you at class?"

"Affirmative," came the smooth reply.

Flexing his hands in his gloves experimentally as he passed through the exit, Izuku allowed the door to swing shut behind him, and he took a step forward.

Then stopped.

He wished he didn't have a clue why he stopped, but he knew himself better than anyone. Which was why he also knew that he was obviously feeling guilt at the idea of leaving Jayluf behind.

But it's not like anything bad would happen if I left Jayluf by himself! One part of his mind argued. He clenched a fist. But… he tried to escort me to the nurses, and then he waited for me when I broke my finger yesterday… He could still recall the image of Jayluf patiently standing by the door.

Sure, maybe Jayluf was… a little bit different than most people, but the kid clearly wanted to help others around him, and that was a good trait to have.

Yet at the same time, it had seemed Jayluf had no comprehension of the idea of someone helping or being kind to him. Izuku recalled when the simple act of kindness of buying food for him had ended up with the smaller boy tearing up.

Izuku remembered what Jayluf had told them about his food situation back home.

It had seemed like the kid was adjusted to people not being kind to him at all.

"I'll wait for you Izuku."

"I will not mind being left behind."

It seemed like Jayluf would be kind all of his life, but expected no kindness from anyone in return. It wasn't a very cheerful thought process, but at the same time, Izuku found that he could sympathize with that sort of mindset.

As his eyes flickered back towards the door, he felt a strange sense of guilt. What sort of hero would he be if he didn't try to help those that needed it? Taking a breath, he relaxed his fists. I won't leave him behind. Having made up his mind, he planted his feet by the door, leaning up against the wall, quietly waiting for Jayluf to finish.

A minute or two had passed until he had finally heard the locker room door opening once again, and turned around to see Jayluf, fully dressed in his costume.

And Jayluf's costume was certainly… unique.

His top appeared to be a dark blue zip up hooded jacket made out of a combination of cotton and polyester, the latter material usually seen on waterproof winter coats. Slightly lighter blue lines were scattered all over the jacket, forming bizarre yet unique patterns and shapes that seemingly served no purpose, but that sort of thing was common with hero costumes.

The upper left part of the chest area sported a rather familiar looking logo, the same one that had been on Jayluf's briefcase earlier. The hood was the more unique part of the jacket. White arrow-like patterns ran along the edge of the opening of the hood, seemingly mimicking the hood of a winter coat that would usually have fur sewn into them.

Unlike gloves like most other hero costumes had, Jayluf's hands were instead covered by polyester baby blue colored mittens.

The lower half of Jayluf's costume was a bit less unique in regards to aesthetic and design, his pants merely being a dark shadow of blue that seemed to be also made of polyester as well.

His shoes were blue and white boots, the bottom being completely white, while the upper part was a deep blue. Strange black rings went up the shin area to the top of the boot. The boot lacked any laces, instead having black straps on where the laces would usually go.

But as Izuku did a double take of Jayluf's, he suddenly realized that the hood of the jacket was holding Jayluf's hair in place, preventing it from flopping down and covering anything.

Like Jayluf's eyes.

Izuku blinked. He could see Jayluf's eyes. And Jayluf's eyes were… not exactly normal.

Large, unfocused, orbs that were colored a solid dull grey stared at Izuku. Combined with the fact Jayluf's facial muscles were completely relaxed, his skin being considerably pale, and the fact his eyes lacked any life or light of any sort, it had almost seemed like he resembled a corpse that was somehow still standing up post mortem.

He shook those thoughts away, forcing himself to shrug off whatever unsettled feeling he had broiling around in his gut, and gave a weak thumb up as he attempted to recompose himself. "W-Well, th-that's a great looking costume, Jayluf" he managed to stutter out. "It's uh, festive?"

Jayluf tilted his head. "What is festive?"

Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "O-Oh, I was being slightly humorous. I meant festive as in like Christmas, since it kind of looks like a snow suit."

"What is Christmas?"

"What is-" Izuku blurted out, realizing mid sentence what Jayluf had just asked him. He's kidding right? "You don't…" Alright before I go crazy, I need to regain control of this conversation. He held up his hand. "Okay, we're having that discussion another time. For now, it's on hold."

"But I'm not holding anything."

Izuku liked Jayluf just fine, and he wasn't really annoyed or anything, but he didn't want to get into another feedback loop to the point of Jayluf asking something like 'what is paper'. "Anyways," he said slowly. "I'm saying your costume is good. Do you… like your costume?"

"It is satisfactory, but…"Jayluf looked down and reached below to his still undone jacket zipper, and began to fiddle with it, attempting to press the metal parts together by force. "I am unable to attach these parts together."

For several silent moments, Izuku stared at Jayluf, waiting for the boy to suddenly claim that he was joking, or pulling a fast one on him. Jayluf did neither. In fact, he simply continued meddling with his jacket zipper, attempting to yet again force it together.

"Y-You…" Izuku began, terrified of the response he might receive. "You've never used a zipper before?" Please don't say it.

Abruptly, Jayluf ceased playing with his zipper, looking up to Izuku. He tilted his head to one side, as if confused.

Izuku's eyes widened as he clenched his fists, recognizing what that head movement from Jayluf indicated. No, no, don't do it Jayluf. Please don't!

"What is…" Jayluf began.

Izuku squeezed his eyes shut. Stop!

"...a zipper?" finished Jayluf.

The taller boy had attempted to let out a raspberry, but the noise that had escaped his mouth was less of a raspberry, and more of air being forced through his teeth. He put his hands to his head as he angled his face upward to the ceiling, sliding his hands down until they went back down to his side. "I was afraid you'd say that."

"I apologize, Midoriya. I did not intend to frighten you," Jayluf offered.

Deep breaths, deep breaths. Izuku put his hands together and took a deep breath to compose himself. "Oooo…Kay. Jayluf, a zipper is a device used to seal an opening in a quick manner. It's designed to be reusable, being able to be sealed, opened, sealed, and so on."

Taking another breath to regain his cool, he continued. "Jacket zippers require the user to put the big tooth on the end of one zipper row into the slider that zips it all up. It's also on your backpa-" he stopped. "Wait, how do you now know this? Isn't there a zipper on your book bag?"

Jayluf shook his head. "My backpack is opened and sealed using small metal pieces inside the stitching. Miss Hunee says they are called 'magnets'."

Running a hand through the rabbit-like ears on the mask, Izuku sighed. "Right. Okay, Jayluf. I'll show you later how to do it, alright? But for now, we need to get to the training site with everyone else, so would you be okay if I zipped it up for you?"

"It would not trouble me."

"Right then, let me just…" Izuku said, reaching forwards, silently hoping his gloves wouldn't get caught in the chain. Jayluf's eyes followed Izuku's hands, curious to what he was doing.

Taking the large tooth from the left row of teeth, Izuku carefully inserted it into the diamond mouth of the slider, hearing a satisfying click noise.

Jayluf's head was now angled downwards, quietly observing the process taking place.

On the bright side, the zipper was one of quality, and was not like the cheap hard plastic brand zippers usually seen on small coats made for kids who would outgrow said coats in a year or two.

Reaching down with one hand to grasp the bottom of the jacket in order to keep the chain steady, Izuku took hold of the pull with the other hand, and started to move it upwards.

A quiet zipping noise was heard as the slider was carefully guided to the top of the chain, effectively sealing up the opening in Jayluf's jacket. "There!" he declared. He took a step back, allowing Jayluf to observe his now zipped up jacket. "Now your costume is complete!" he continued, looking at Jayluf in in his full glory. "What do you think?"

Jayluf looked up at him. "Thank you Midoriya. I will say, this zipper thing is rather… odd. It is much more convoluted than my boot straps."

"Boot straps?" Izuku echoed.

Jayluf silently got on one knee, reaching down to his right boot, and grabbed the end of the strap. Pulling up, an audible tearing sound could be heard as the strap was ripped free.

Izuku squinted. Wait… "Jayluf, do you have… velcro straps for your boots?"

Lowering it back down to re-fasten the strap, Jayluf patted it firmly a few times, securing it before he rose back up to his full height. "Is that what they're called?" he said.

Glancing down at the smaller boy's boots, Izuku shrugged. "Well, yeah. But velcro is something for kids' shoes. Why on earth would they give you those instead of laces?"

"You refer to shoelaces?" Jayluf questioned.

"Well yeah," Izuku replied.

"Perhaps," Jayluf began. "It is because of Miss Hunee. She had said something in the past, if I can recall correctly, she had said something about her not always being there to tie my shoes for me."

He doesn't know how to tie his shoe- Izuku forced himself to stop, and simply held up a hand. "Right. Okay, well, we should get going. We don't want to be late for hero training, right?"

Jayluf nodded, and began walking off, Izuku taking a second to catch up, due to seeing the back of Jayluf's costume.

Unlike other hero costumes that just had the same patterns as the front, or a big symbol or letter, Jayluf had a combination of the symbol, and letter. On the back of Jayluf's jacket, Izuku could see two large words in bold font, and an even bigger logo.

NOHKEN

INDUSTRIES

He stared for a few moments before he jogged to get slightly ahead of Jayluf, in case the other boy didn't know where to go. "Y-Yeah, let's go."

He didn't know why that logo had given him a strange sense of unease.

Ochaco Uraraka stood diligently, her arms behind her back as she almost bounced in place from excitement. She was idling along with other students in Ground Beta, all dressed up in their fancy Hero Costumes.

Hero. It was almost hard to believe. Here she was, enrolled in the top hero school in Japan, with the class teacher being the number one hero! (Well Aizawa technically was their teacher, but still!) Even though her reason for becoming a hero would probably be considered not very heroic by some, she was still proud to be here! Months ago, this would only have been something possible in her dreams, yet now she stood here in the top hero class, with All Might just a few feet away from her in all his glory!

Said hero seemed to be in the midst of appreciating the class's costumes. "That's great stuff everyone!" All Might said. "You all look cool!"

Taking a glance around, Uraraka could safely agree with that statement. Well, mostly. Some costumes were the classic type of hero getup, where they just had multi-colored designs around their clothes with little to no flair. Some did have flair, such as the explosive kid with the spikey hair.

Some of them looked less like costumes, and more like high tech gear, like the knight armor. She had a hunch with how the legs had exhaust tubes, that the person wearing the knight armor was Iida.

And then there were the outright bizarre costumes, such as the one the small grape kid was wearing. Like what in the world was that design? It had taken her several minutes to put two and two together and figure out that the weird white part of grape kids costume was NOT a diaper, but instead a grape BOWL.

Still, out of everywhere on the costume to put it on, he decided that he wanted it there? I can understand going along with the aesthetic of your quirk and all but that is the worst place to put said bowl. AND WHY DID HE COLOR IT WHITE?!

As for Deku…

Uraraka frowned. Wait, where is Deku? She did a quick recount of all the students, looking for the slightest hint of greenish hair, but the only green she could find was the one frog girl.

Before she could begin to ask around if anyone had seen him, the sound of footsteps behind her caused her to whirl around to see a green figure running out of the shadows.

Green! That's gotta be Deku! Jogging towards him as the boy looked around, she jogged over to him with a big grin on her face, waving in a friendly manner. "Deku! Over here! Hey!"

Upon spotting the approaching girl, Deku seemed to freeze in place, eyes going wide as he got a full view of her costume. "U-U-Uraraka?!"

"Deku, your costume looks so cool!" Urarska cried. "It's actually really down to earth compared to the other costumes here! Like uh… mine." She shuffled uncomfortably in place while her cheeks flared up. "I uh, probably should have specified what I wanted… my costume was uh, very skin tight. I wish mine was less restrictive like yours is."

"N-No, I m-mean, uh, your c-costume looks a-a-amazing Uraraka!" Deku managed to squeak out in a rather high pitched tone of voice. "S-Sorry that I'm a bit l-late…"

She waved off his nervous antics. "No problem Deku! Did you have trouble putting on the first time? I definitely did…"

Deku frantically shook his head in denial. "O-Oh no! Nothing l-like that! I was j-just, waiting for the last person to finish."

Last person? But he's by himself? "But, I don't see anyone else with you…" Uraraka trailed off. "Who was left?"

For a brief moment, Deku's eyebrow was lifted upwards, as if confused. But then he lowered it, his eyelids widening in an understanding manner. Wordlessly, he took a single step to the right, revealing the form a smaller boy had been behind him the whole time. Jayluf Viller stood in front of her, complete with a costume.

Jayluf seemed to do a double take upon spotting Uraraka, as if he had just registered the fact she was now standing in front of him as if she had magically materialized in front of him.

"Uraraka," Jayluf spoke, his dull and monotone voice the same as it always was. "Greetings."

Uraraka had also done a double take, when she realized that she was now able to see Jayluf's face in full. He definitely wasn't ugly or anything, but the way his large grey eyes seemed to stare right through her, she'd admit it was kind of unsettling. It was as if his eyes had no light in them.

Either that or he was in desperate need of eye drops.

But on the bright side, his costume actually didn't look half bad! "H-Hey Jayluf!" Uraraka managed to blurt out after regaining her composure. "That costume is uh, unique? You kind of look like an Antarctic explorer!"

While she turned around to face a blushing Deku again, she failed to see Jayluf abruptly freezing in place upon hearing the word "antarctic". Or how he slowly lifted his arms to stare at his own gloved hands with huge unblinking eyes, as if in complete trance.

"Anyways, Deku, we-" Uraraka started, but was cut off.

"Well well!" Called a booming voice from up front, "Glad to see you two finally decided to join us!"

Uraraka whirled around to see All Might, who was glancing between both Deku and Jayluf.

"S-S-Sorry sir!" Deku managed to squeak out, a bashful expression on his face as he rubbed the back of his head. "I-I-I was j-just helping Jayluf w-with his costume, he was h-having trouble, a-and I didn't want t-to just leave him behind-"

No one noticed Jayluf lowering his hands down, and taking a shaky breath.

All Might put up a hand. "I'll let it slide this time, first day and all! But try not to have it happen again!" Turning to the rest of the students, he threw up a friendly thumbs up and began walking away to the front of the group. "Now you zygotes, it's time for some combat training!"

Uraraka shuffled. Ugh, now that he went back to the front I can't see him, gotta move to a better spot. Glancing to the side, she saw Deku, who seemed to have the same she settled in a spot she was comfortable with, questions were already beginning to be asked.

"Teacher!" said the student in the knight armor.

Oh yeah. Uraraka thought. Definitely Iida.

"This is the combat arena from the entrance exam, correct? At least one of them, I mean." Iida gestured around them. "Will we be battling against villain robots once more?"

"Nope!" All Might cried, pointing a finger upwards. "We're actually going to be taking the initiative, and jump ahead some steps! Most of the time, the public exposure to villains are usually the villains seen outside, since they are making no effort to hide themselves as they battle heroes."

He pointed to a building behind him. "But in reality, the more devious and atrocious villains are smart enough to stick to the indoors! In the society of heroes, smart villains do their best to stay out of sight!"

"So…" Uraraka began. "If not robots, what will we be fighting?" I hope it's not something like hand to hand, I'm not good with close quarters stuff…

"Each other!" Came All Might's jovial reply.

"Wait, without any basic training at all?" Croaked a girl in the front. "We are already going to be doing that?"

"Yes!" All Might beamed. "This is a real battle between students! You'll fight each other instead of robots, with this, you'll begin to understand the basics of being a hero in modern day! Any questions?"

Several students began to speak at once.

"How will these teams be chosen?"

"Will there be multiple rounds between a specific pair of teams?"

"Can we still pummel the enemy team, even if it's training?"

Uraraka managed to stumble out her worries about the class as well. "W-Will losing result in us getting expelled?" I don't wanna get expelled…

"How will said teams be broken up when they're chosen?"

"Isn't this cape cool?"

The sudden volley of inquiries seemed to overwhelm All Might for a moment, who put a hand to his forehead. "Okay, okay! I'll answer all your questions with a single explanation!"

Without another word, All Might dug into a pocket, producing what appeared to be a little booklet.

Uraraka thought the small booklet in All Might's giant hands was actually kinda cute.

"OK let's see here…" All Might muttered. "Ah! Ahem… Teams of two students will be battling inside a large building! One team is the heroes! The other being villains! The villain team will start inside the building, being tasked with guarding a nuclear weapon that they must protect until the end of the round."

All Might flipped to a new page. "The hero team will be forced to begin from outside, and may either sneak in, or just use the front door. Their task is to either find and secure the weapon by touching it, or find and capture the villains! Although be warned, the villains are also able to capture you. Their main goal is to keep the weapon safe until time runs out!"

All Might glanced at something inside the booklet. "Oh, and one more thing, teams will be chosen via random drawing lots!"

"D-Drawing lots?!" Iida sputtered out. "Teams are being picked in such a haphazardly fashion?"

Uraraka couldn't help but agree. Random drawing lots? That's something a kindergarten teacher would do when there was a group project or something! But before she could open her mouth to voice her disapproval, she'd been cut off by Deku.

"Well Iida, in the real world of heroes, sometimes pros are forced to create small makeshift teams with heroes from other agencies, like when they're on the job!" Deku said with a reassuring smile. "Maybe this is a way to simulate that?"

Uraraka smiled. Deku seems to know a lot about hero stuff. I wonder how much he knows about the world of heroes?

Iida nodded slowly, a hand going to the chin of his helmet, seemingly satisfied by Deku's answer. "I see! The discernment to look ahead!"

"Uh, Mr All Might sir?" piped up a female voice.

All Might lowered the booklet, looking around until his eyes landed on a purple haired student, who's ears had headphone jacks hanging off. "Yes?"

"You said teams of two," she continued. "But there are an odd number of students!"

"Whaaat?" cried a pink girl with horns protruding from her head. "No there's not! There's…"

She whirled around to face the group of students, quickly muttering numbers as she counted the students one by one. "Twenty!" She finished. "There are twenty students!'

"Twenty one." A new voice called out.

The girl turned to see a boy who's costume was half ice themed, staring at her with an unimpressed expression.

She raised a challenging eyebrow. "What?"

The ice boy lifted his left arm, pointing to something out of view behind the group of students. "There are twenty one students. Not twenty."

The entire class including Uraraka turned around slowly, to see what the boy had been pointing at.

Standing there was none other than Jayluf Viller himself, who had not moved from his initial position from early, causing him to be completely obscured by the taller students in front of him.

Oh. Uraraka thought to herself. I thought he would follow Deku like he usually did. Did I say something wrong to him earlier?

"A-Ah, right. I didn't even see him there," the pink girl said bashfully, embarrassed at her error. "S-Sorry."

"He has been here the whole time?" A multi-armed student muttered.

"Why is he just standing back there?" The red haired student blurted out.

The grape head from earlier had a frown on his face. "He's not even saying anything. What a weirdo..."

"Well, to the question you asked young lady," All Might began, "It seems that one team will get an extra member. I will choose a team at random, and that lucky team will get Jayluf added to their team!"

"E-Eh?" Uraraka stuttered. A third member? That's not a fair fight at all!

"But doesn't that make one of the battles unfair?!" cried yellow hair.

All Might chopped a hand in the air in a manner not unlike Iida. "A valid point! But remember, in the world of heroes and villains, real life doesn't play fair! That is something you all need to remember!" Lowering his hand, All Might let out a cough. "Now, I can answer one more question, since we've got to get a move on while we still have daylight. Does anyone have a last question to ask me?"

"Excuse me, All Might sir?" a voice piped from the back.

It was a rather tinny and soft voice that Uraraka recognized. She and a few other students turned back around to see Jayluf, who still hadn't moved from his spot, raising his right hand, which was still barely visible due to his unfortunate height.

"I have a question." Jayluf said.

"Go ahead."

Jayluf gingerly lowered his arm. "You informed us that this is a hero class. Yet, now some of the students are to be labeled as villains? Why would we train to be villains, when we all have come to this school to be heroes? Is not becoming a villain something we are trying to avoid? I do not understand why we would want to act as villains."

Uraraka frowned. That actually is a good question. Kind of weird they're having such an emphasis on villains all of a sudden.

But All Might didn't appear taken off guard in the slightest. "This is merely training, young Jayluf! While your concerns are understandable, a good lesson to remember is that heroes are sometimes forced to think differently than normal!"

Jayluf stared blankly, his expression not changing. "I see…"

Despite his seemingly indifferent expression, the slight change in the tone of his voice gave Uraraka a gut feeling that he wasn't completely satisfied with All Might's explanation.

All Might pumped a fist upwards. "Now that we're done asking questions, let's begin! The teams will be chosen first! Then which teams will fight which! First team is… Izuku Midoriya and Ochaco Uraraka! You are a hero team!"

Oh wow! Me and Deku are on a team?! Uraraka lit up, and turned to face a blushing Deku, who was now seemingly shaking in place. "Wow! It must be luck, or maybe even fate!" Uraraka cried. "Let's work together, Deku!"

Deku had turned away, his eyes wide, his face a tomato red as he almost fainted from shyness.

The control room was unlike anything Jayluf had seen before in regards to technology. Technology was still a fascinating thing to Jayluf, even if the outside world constantly upped his exposure to it. But the control room was whimsical, borderline magical even. It was a large dark room, lacking any tables or seating for leisure, but it did have one giant screen that glowed a somewhat eerie yet comforting green.

Beeps of machinery inside the terminal could be heard, sounds that he never heard before in his life. The room had a pleasant slightly warm temperature to the point of being warmer than other rooms, but not enough to be uncomfortable. There was a very bizarre smell of metal and rubber, likely the fans from the running computers pushing out the scent from inside the terminal.

As all the students that were not in the training exercise yet moved to the front of the room, Jayluf found himself near the back.

"Okay everyone!" All Might called from the front of the group. "Pay attention as much as you can. You all need to think as well, you're about to witness a real battle!"

Jayluf's focus on the new sights and smells would have to be put on hold.

Even as the class peered at the screen to watch video feeds of both teams, Jayluf felt something was wrong. Something wasn't right. Villains. The word echoed in his head, refusing to leave his mind. All Might was encouraging them to be villains, or to at least act as them.

Why?

All Might had said it was merely training, and that's all. But then at the same time, Jayluf remembered him mentioning that these are supposed to be real battles.

He did not like it.

He also did not like the faint creeping feeling in his stomach that became more and more prominent the more he thought about the villain team. Clenching his fists, he stared at the floor.

This wasn't right. Nothing is supposed to bother me. Is this bothering me? Is this what being bothered feels like? I do not like this feeling in my stomach. His cells all shuddered in discomfort, his agitation beginning to rub off on them as well.

"Hey."

A voice suddenly cut through Jayluf's thoughts, pulling him out of his miniature crisis for a brief moment. Looking up, he saw a face he had interacted with before. A tall female student with black hair wrapped into a large ponytail was standing in front of him, looking at him with black grayish eyes.

Jayluf blinked.

The girl raised one eyebrow. "Are you alright?" She spoke with a low tone, as if she did not want to bring attention to herself.

Jayluf took a breath, attempting to regain his composure and stave off whatever bad feeling was swirling around inside him. Adjusting his posture so that he no longer stared at the floor with clenched fists, he gave a simple nod. "I am… functional. But something does not feel right about this."

The girl frowned. "Are you referring to earlier, when you had voiced your doubts to All Might?"

He nodded again.

She glanced in the direction of All Might for a brief moment. "I don't think it's something to worry about. After all, it's just training. Don't worry too much, alright?"

The girl moved away, likely going back to her spot to get a better view of the live video feed, leaving Jayluf alone to his thoughts.

Training. It is training. He repeated the phrase over and over again like a mantra to himself in his thoughts. Just training. Training. Before his thoughts could wander once more, Jayluf forced himself to turn and look at the giant screen in an attempt to focus on the battle.

Only for him to get a full view of Bakugo lunging towards Midoriya and Uraraka with a psychotic grin, palms sparking and crackling.

As Midoriya pushed Uraraka and himself out of the way, an explosion went off, throwing up smoke and dust. But even though Midoriya had managed to avoid the attack, he did not escape unscathed, for half of his mask had been burnt off.

"A surprise attack from the start?!" cried the grape head. "Already?!

"Bakugo, that's cheating, man!" yelled the spiky red head. "Surprise attacks like that aren't manly at all!"

But before anyone else could voice their disagreement or distaste, All Might began to speak. "A surprise attack, cowardly or not, is still a strategy. You must remember that these students are in a real battle now."

Jayluf's eyes widened upon hearing All Might's words. Real battle. But training? It does not add up. He looked over at the Pro Hero. "But sir, I do not understand how it is a real fight when you had said this was merely training?"

"Indeed it is," All Might replied coolly. "But they are still in an actual battle, training or not. There are no boxing gloves or safety equipment for this. But be assured that I will stop it if any of the students goes too far."

Jayluf looked at All Might hard for a few moments, digesting the words before diverting his attention back to the screen.

"Wow, the way he avoided that attack though was like a scene from a movie" cheered a girl with completely pink skin and hair. "That Midori is like, the coolest!"

His head whirling in the girl's direction, Jayluf tilted his head. She knew Midoriya? Who was this? Did Midoriya know her? "How do you know his name?"

The girl raised an eyebrow upon hearing the question, as if the inquiry had puzzled her. "Uh, we were given all of our classmates names. Weren't you paying attention?"

Pausing for a moment, Jaylluf hesitated to give an answer. Were we? He was sure he was mostly paying attention in class, but maybe not enough? The red head seemed to know Bakugo's name. Perhaps the girl was right? Maybe he needed to pay more attention sometimes?

But before he could begin to give the girl a reply, the spiky yellow hair suddenly jabbed a finger towards the screen. "Look! Bakugo's going for another attack!"

Eyes immediately gluing themselves to the screen, Jayluf observed as Bakugo had lunged at Midoriya like before, his arm raised to let out another explosion.

Only for Midoriya to effortlessly dodge again, this time grappling the offending boy's arm, and proceeding to body slam Bakugo into the floor.

Jayluf blankly stared at the screen. He blinked.

Wow.

For some odd reason, he had begun to hope Midoriya would win the fight. It didn't matter who won in reality, Midoriya losing or winning wouldn't bother him too much. Yet, he found the idea of Midoriya winning a much more preferable outcome.

As the screen displayed Bakugo climbing to his feet, Midoriya had begun to speak several words to his opponent, who seemed to immediately shout back, yet for some reason would not look at Midoriya.

Well, Jayluf assumed they were shouting. Both parties had wide eyes and their mouths opened very wide with each word. That meant they were shouting, right? Other people in the control room seemed to think so, at least.

"Eh? What the heck is Bakugo saying?" The red head questioned, his arms crossed. "We can't make a lick of whatever they're talking about, we have no audio, and the cameras themselves are in fixed positions.

"He's not talking to them" All Might explained, his eyes temporarily removing themselves from the screen to glance in the students direction. He tapped a strange metal device in his left ear. "He's actually speaking to his partner via a wireless radio."

"Do we get wireless radios?" one student said.

"All teams will be able to equip them," he replied. "Each team will also have a plan of the building's layout, along with capture tape, which can be used to capture your opponent by wrapping it around them."

Jayluf glanced at the small earpiece curiously. Wireless radio…

His mind poked around where his memories were stored, eventually managing to recall the fact his own collar used to have a wireless radio as well. He remembered talking to Miss Hunee through the collar during the entrance exam.

He wondered why it had to be removed, he did not mind talking to Miss Hunee. It was a shame that there were cases that wanted to be caught, or whatever Miss Hunee had said to him the other day on why they had to remove the radio in the first place.

"Teacher," began the pink girl from before, "The time limit is only fifteen minutes, and the heroes have no idea where the weapon is located, right?"

"Correct!" All Might said.

"But… doesn't that like, leave the hero team at a clear disadvantage? How is this fair to the heroes?"

"It's not about how fair it is," All Might said as he gestured towards the screen. "This is a real fight. And in real fights, heroes need to learn how to be able to turn the tables in any situation, no matter how dire!"

He abruptly turned to face all of the students in the control room. "Besides, didn't Aizawa tell you? You all know the school motto…"

Suddenly, everyone in front of Jayluf seemed to light up all at the same time with smiles and wide eyes, confusing him slightly. What is happening?

Pumping a massive fist in the air, All Might's smile grew even wider than before. "Please everyone, say it with me!"

Jayluf looked from side to side, befuddled on what he was supposed to say. Say what with him? What is going o-

"PLUS ULTRA! All the students suddenly shouted out unanimously, pumping their fists in the air as well.

He didn't understand. Plus what? What are they doing? Am I supposed to be doing that?

Seeking guidance, he desperately scanned the room for Midoriya, in order to see if he was doing it as well.

But Midoriya was not there. Midoriya was in the battle exercise.

Jayluf then tried to see if he could perhaps see if Iida was doing it.

But Iida was not there. Iida was currently in the battle exercise.

Jayluf glanced to his side, what about Uraraka?

But Uraraka was not there, for she was currently in the battle exercise.

Completely out of options, Jayluf settled to just gingerly raise a mitten fist, mimicking everyone else in the room to the best of his abilities. Unfortunately, everyone had already put their hand down, leaving him as the only student awkwardly holding his arm up.

An ice covered student to Jayluf's left gave him a judgmental side eye, staring at him as if he'd grown another head.

Jayluf could only blankly stare back.

"Sir," a student spoke up from the front of the group. "Bakugo, he's…"

Upon hearing the name, Jayluf immediately looked back up to the display, getting a glimpse of Bakugo once again engaging Midoriya in close combat, with Uraraka sprinting off in a random direction, presumably to find the weapon on her own.

Even though Bakugo was stepping up his aggression, Midoriya seemed to be easily matching his every move. Bakugo had swung, missed, and angrily threw out his foot in an attempt to kick the other boy in the face.

Midoirya caught it, much to everyone's shock and amazement.

"This guy's insane!" A rather buff student dressed in yellow called out from the side.

Even Jayluf, who was surprised yet again at Midoriya's superior combat skills. As he watched Midoriya pull out the capture tape to wrap around Bakugo's leg, he began to think. Just how strong was Midoriya? He knew that Midoriya had strength, for when he threw the ball on their first day. But he didn't seem to be using his quirk here, this was pure raw muscle.

Jayluf was well aware that muscle and strength was not his speciality, at least while he wasn't using his Bio-Form as a crutch to quickly gain muscle. No matter how much training Nohken put him through, he could never bulk up. It was if his body wanted to stay this way.

"Totally!" The yellow hair from before chimed in. "He's not even using his own quirk, and yet he's still fighting the dude who came frickin first place in the entrance exam!"

Unfortunately Midoriya's victory did not last very long, as Bakugo quickly caught on to his plan, and twisted his leg to free it from the tape. Before long, he had managed to send Midoriya stumbling backwards with an explosion, allowing him to regain his footing. Now clearly irritated, he took a threatening stance, inviting Midoriya to take the offensive this time.

So Bakugo can quickly learn how to adapt… Jayluf wondered to himself.

Surprisingly, Midoirya did not accept the invitation, choosing to instead spin around and sprint away in the opposite direction. Several students were caught off guard, including Jayluf. What was Midoriya doing?

Bakugo had run after him as well, only to quickly discover that Midoriya had given him the slip, forcing him to search room by room.

"Pssst. Hey."

A feminine voice snapped Jayluf from his television trance, forcing his attention towards the speaker.

It was the pink girl, who somehow managed to weasel to the back where he stood now. She gave a friendly wave, a small grin on her face.

"Greetings." Jayluf automatically blurted out, unsure of what the girl wanted.

"Yeah, hey." She whispered. "I figured since those two are having a wild goose chase, I could answer your question from earlier. You asked how I knew Midori's name, right?"

It didn't take Jayluf very long to find the memory, given how fresh it was. "That is an accurate summation, yes."

"Well, like I said earlier, the names were mentioned." She continued. "All Might announced the names of the students in each team one by one while he reached into that box thingie, and the first one was Midori and the girl, her name was Uraraka I think?"

Her words made Jayluf pause for a moment. Has All Might really said all the names? "If that is so, then you are correct. I had not been listening."

The girl's eyes widened briefly, as if she hadn't expected the response. But her lips curved upwards in amusement as she waved a hand. "It's no problemo, since to be fair, I can be pretty forgetful sometimes too."

She rubbed the back of her head in a bashful manner. "Especially when it comes to written exams… But anyways, that's how I know their names! It's also how I know your name! Jayluf, right?"

He nodded. "That is my designation."

"Coolbeans." She replied, giving a friendly thumbs up. "My name's Mina Ashido."

"I understand. Would you like to become friends?" He said.

Ashido looked at him for a brief moment, before eventually relaxing. She shrugged, a careless grin on her face. "Eh sure, why the heck not? We're gonna be seeing each other for the rest of the school year anyways, and it'd be weird if we were just strangers to each other the whole time."

Jayluf's cells bounced around as they received the information that yet another friend had been acquired. Her name was quickly rushed to his brain's memory storage.

"W-Whoa!"A voice yelled out.

Jayluf turned to see that the yellow haired student was pointing at the screen with a rather unsettled expression.

"B-Bakugo's really steaming right now, it's actually pretty terrifying!"

A look to the screen showed that Bakugo was still searching around for Midoriya, and his lack of success seemingly angered the boy even more, yelling out words that were once again inaudible for all of the students in the control room.

The side camera showed that Uraraka was having a standoff with Iida, but Jayluf wasn't too interested in that, as his eyes were glued to Bakugo's screen, because the the hotheaded student had suddenly slowed his angry descent, and began to creep slowly down a hallway.

Jayluf leaned closer to the screen. What is he doing?

It looked like they were going to have yet another brawl.

But Bakugo appeared to have other plans. Lifting his arm up, Bakugo fiddled with something on his gauntlet, which was a strange green thing that swelled up at the end, and pulled a ring at the end. Then the gauntlet began to brightly glow at the end, almost as if it was powering up. Bakugo continued to speak unheard words.

What is he doing? Jayluf wondered.

However, All Might seemed to know exactly what was going on, for when Bakugo pointed it and pulled the pin, he grabbed the microphone. "Young Bakugo!" He shouted suddenly, spooking almost everyone in the room from the loud volume. "STOP! Are you trying to kill him?!"

Jayluf's head turned abruptly towards All Might upon hearing the words. Kill him? What's going on? What is Bakugo doing? Is Midoriya in danger? Did it perhaps have to do with the glowing gauntlet? "All Might sir, what is happening?"

Glancing at the screen displaying Midoriya, he could see that his friend's face had an expression of raw terror. Was Bakugo's arm device really some sort of weapon? Did it really have the ability to really hurt Midoriya?

Other students seemed to think so. "Sir!" The red head cried. "That Bakugo is really out of his mind! He'll kill Midoriya!"

Something began to twist and squirm inside Jayluf's stomach. A new feeling that he swore he had not felt before. It was one that did not feel good at all, but at the same time, it felt like it was pushing him.

Something was pushing him to do…

To do…

To do what?

Suddenly the sensation increased ten fold, and he felt the strange urge to… do something. He wanted to do something about what was happening on the screen, yes! He wanted to stop Bakugo from hurting his friend! But before he could make any movements…

The gauntlet went off.

Immediately both Midoriya and Bakugo's respective screens flashed a bright white, obscuring any possible viewpoint on what was happening. The loudest crashing sound Jayluf had ever heard pounded his eardrums, and the entire room shook from the explosion.

Immediately several students began to voice their panic and worry, scared and unsure on what was happening

That explosion had been Bakugo! Jayluf attempted to spot Midoriya by scanning every screen, searching for the slightest hint of green. Although the white light had dissipated, both of the screens in that area had been completely obscured by thick smoke.

He… he couldn't allow this to continue. He couldn't just sit there and allow Midoriya to be hurt. He needed to do something.

He needed to act.

Before he could register his movements, Jayluf found himself turning towards the exit, and his feet began to move him forwards.

"Wait, is he going to-?"

"Jayluf, where are you-?"

He ignored the half hearted protests coming from the other students behind him.

He'd reached the exit, one more step and he would be out of the roo-

"Jayluf," an authoritative, booming voice echoed across the room from where All Might stood. "STOP."

And Jayluf stopped. Not because he wanted to, but because he'd heard that type of voice before so many times in the past. The harsh tone. The commanding voice, he'd heard it so many times in the past before, back home. So many times, that he had lost count. Spoken by angry, irritated voices, voices that instructed him to do as he's told.

To OBEY.

His body reacted on instinct, his conditioning kicking in at maximum, causing his muscles to all simultaneously tense, effectively freezing him in place.

"You cannot interfere with the battle, Jayluf." I understand your concerns, but let me make sure that young Midoriya is alright!"

Forcing himself to slowly turn around, Jayluf ignored some of the looks he got from his classmates as his eyes hovered over both Bakugo's and Midoriya's screen, looking for any sign of life.

Was Midoriya okay?

Eventually, the smoke had slowly cleared, and Jayluf saw the image of Midoriya on the ground. Blessedly, it seemed the boy was using his arm to keep himself propped up while he sat on the ground while talking through what Jayluf presumed was the wireless radio mentioned before.

Relaxing, Jayluf slowly walked back to his original spot to watch the was okay. That was what mattered.

Midoriya actually seemed completely fine, aside from what appeared to be some burns on his arm alongside the soot and grime from the explosion that Jayluf had just realized had blown an entire HOLE in the wall.

He stared hard at the smoldering hole, still sizzling and smoking from the rapid change in temperature. If Bakugo's gauntlets did that to mere walls…

If that explosion, if that had hit Midoriya head on…

Thankfully it did not. But now was obviously the point in time to cancel the battle, right? Jayluf remembered that All Might had said that he would stop the battle if it had gone too far. And the giant explosion obviously was too far, right?

"Young Bakugo!" All Might shouted sternly. "The next time you do that, the round will immediately end early, and your team will be declared the losers."

Jayluf's head abruptly turned to All Might. Next time?

"To let out such a large-scale explosive attack while still indoors, is inviting the destruction of the fortress you should be protecting!" All Might continued. "That is a foolish plan, and it is one that will cause you to lose many points!"

Next time.

It echoed in Jayluf's mind. Next time? All Might is continuing the battle? He could not keep silent any longer. "Sir, I have an inquiry to make."

All Might glanced behind to look at the much smaller boy. "What is it?"

"Why are you not ceasing the battle?" Jayluf looked back to the screen. "Midoriya has been hurt. Why are you allowing this to continue?"

He did not understand. All Might, the number one hero, was not going to help someone in need? Jayluf didn't understand. He didn't want to understand.

All Might said nothing in response, staring at Jayluf with a seemingly conflicted frown before turning back to look at the display.

On the screen, it appeared that Midoriya had mostly regained his bearings, since he now stood up, seemingly ready to face Bakugo one last time. The other boy charged, but this time let off a smaller explosion right in Midoriya's face while jumping, and using the same explosion to propel himself OVER Midoriya. Upon landing, Bakugo hit Midoriya again with yet another explosion, stumbling him.

The other students were saying something about the fight, but Jayluf ignored them, his eyes glued to the screen.

Bakugo apparently was not finished, he threw a right swing into Midoriya's back, and while the boy was stunned, threw him onto the floor with a loud thump.

This was too much. Jayluf knew that Bakugo enjoyed hurting Midoriya.

Others seemed to agree. "This is a lynching!" Ashido cried from in front of Jayluf. "Bakugo could just use the capture tape and end it now!"

A strange student with pure dark hair and a strange curved mouth nodded in agreement. "Those are not the actions of a hero…"

Jayluf found himself agreeing. Yet All Might seems to want this to happen, for Bakugo to act as a villain… Does he care that Midoriya is getting hurt?

"I thought Midoriya was good," yellow hair said. "I mean, he still is, but Bakugo is a powerhouse, it's just too much for Midoriya to handle."

Before Bakugo could get another hit in, Midoriya managed to scramble away on all fours before clambering back to his feet, fleeing the fight once more.

"H-He's running away again?" Ashido said with a worried expression.

"It's not a very manly thing to do," said the red head. "But it's all he can really do in this sort of situation, given his odds against Bakugo." he frowned. "But for some reason… I feel like something's off. What's he up to?"

His comment gave Jayluf pause. Was the student implying that Midoriya had a plan of some sort? But what was there to do? Both sides were locked in a stalemate, meaning that when the time ran out, the villain team would win. The only thing that Jayluf noticed was that Midoriya was running considerably less faster than last time, allowing Bakugo to keep up without breaking a sweat.

The camera's changed as Bakugo continued the chase, until Midoriya abruptly stopped in place, and turned around to face his pursuer. They immediately began shouting at each other, but this time, while Bakugo began to spark his palms, Midoriya's entire arm began to… glow?

Jayluf had never seen that before. He was aware of Midoriya having some sort of strength based quirk, sure.

But it almost looked like some sort of power was surging in the boy's arm.

Raising his fist, Midoriya held his arm up to presumably punch Bakugo, and both began to charge at each other.

"Teacher!" The red head cried. "This looks really bad! We need to stop them!"

"Please sir," Jayluf persisted. "We need to help Midoriya, and prevent him from being injured."

All Might still did not reply, the only visible acknowledgement was him gripping the microphone a bit tighter than before.

The two boys on the camera were nearing each other, both having their quirks at the ready.

"I said we need to stop this!" yelled the student.

All Might did nothing.

"Sir, Midoriya is going to get hurt." Jayluf repeated, this time with a bit more force.

Finally, it seemed that his begging managed to get through to All Might, who grabbed the microphone at the very last second. "Both of you, sto-"

Then All Might stopped talking, reeling back as if he heard or saw something that Jayluf hadn't.

He stared at All Might. What is he doing? Why did he sto-

Impact.

On the camera, Midoriya swung his fists upwards, purposely missing Bakugo and instead sending a huge gust of wind through the ceiling.

And then the ceiling above that one. And the next. It kept going until it finally escaped through the roof of the building, breaking the glass of every window through the whole building.

Jayluf watched, at a loss for words at what had just happened. That was Midoriya's quirk? It was insanely strong, considering it tore through concrete like paper.

"Whoa! Uraraka got the weapon!" A voice said from the left of Jayluf.

Glancing to the other screen, he saw that Uraraka was currently clinging to the weapon with a happy smile on her face, complete with a devastated Iida watching in horror.

They… they won? Jayluf realized. If Midoriya has such a strong quirk, why had he not used it before when… when he…

His thoughts came to a crashing halt when he saw Midoriya.

Midoriya… looked horrible. His left arm was completely burned, which was used to shield his face from Bakugo's explosion, while his right arm was a sickening red and purple. Midoriya's arm was broken.

Jayluf watched as Midoriya seemed to speak to Bakugo for a brief moment. Of course it was not able to be heard, but whatever Midroiya had said to him must have been something unsettling, considering how the blonde's face quickly gained an expression of fear and shock.

And just like that, Midoriya went limp, slumping to the floor, unconscious.

"Hero…Hero team…WINS!" All Might suddenly shouted cheerfully, as if there was nothing wrong with the world.

Jayluf could not help the way his eyes quickly snapped to the right where All Might was. Why was he being so cheerful after what had just happened? He did not stop it, again. Why did he not stop it?

He took another glance at Midoriya's still form.

He looked back to All Might.

All Might had allowed Midoriya to be harmed.

Bakugo harmed Midoriya.

Jayluf did not like it.

Hey yall, before I get into explaining stuff, let me know in a comment what you think of Jayluf's costume! It's currently my profile picture if you wanna give it a look! I worked really hard on it, and while it's not the best, I had a lot of fun designing it!

This is, as mentioned before, a highly experimental chapter, and to be specific, I went through this chapter four times, trying to proofread and adjust and fix sentences to be as digestible as possible. I also adjusted the names of the characters, so when it's an izuku focused section/pov, it'll be izuku, and when it's jayluf's pov, izuku will be called midoriya, and so on and so forth.

It's also the longest chapter so far, even longer than the entrance exam battle, which had been roughly 10k words. But this is actually roughly 13K words, which is honestly a bit less than I had wanted, but I don't want to inflate the chapter anymore than necessary.

Which is why I would really appreciate a comment on this chapter, even if you haven't or never will comment on the previous ones, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter, like what you liked about or thought about it in general, so I can see if this system I have works or not! I really hope it paid off for those who were waiting for another chapter!

No one seemed to mind the previous chapter, but I still think that it was rather quickly made and not too digestible, which is why I decided to try this new system! So if you enjoyed, leave a comment, I would really appreciate it for this specific chapter!

Also I'll try to get another chapter out by next week, I am taking a mini small break though because writing this chapter over the course of two weeks has fried my brain, and although I'd like to have a consistent schedule, I'm aiming for quality over quantity.

As always, if you enjoyed it, duh. And maybe share/recommend it to a friend! Bye for now!