Saturday was a somber affair for the students of the U.A. hero course. Particularly for the members of 1-A. For the most part, they had managed to keep their minds off of the death of Tenya Iida. However, once the day of the funeral came around, there was no hiding how distraught they all were.

As expected, class 1-B also attended the ceremony to pay their respects. But most of them couldn't help but feel out of place amongst the mourners.

This was especially true for both Midoriya and Tokage. For Midoriya, he had never really had a conversation with Iida. So it felt a bit awkward to go to a memorial service for the taller boy. And for Tokage, the only time she ever interacted with him was during the one class rep meeting they had at the beginning of the semester.

But today was not about them or their feelings on the matter. They were here for emotional support...which also was a role that neither of them were familiar with.

The ceremony was simple enough. The Principal spoke, as did All Might. Both of them talking about the importance of being a hero even as the community was hurting. And about the type of person Iida was, as a loving son, brother, student and friend.

Once things were all said and done, the crowd broke apart. Some chose to leave, others stayed and talked to remember their fallen friend. Uraraka in particular looked as though she was moments away from breaking down, but Asui seemed to have that covered. However, there was one detail that Midoriya couldn't help but notice. And that was Bakugou's absence altogether. He doubted that the two of them were anything even close to friends, but it was still a bit odd that he didn't even bother to show up.

Deciding not to dwell on it, the boy briefly said a few words to the Iida family and made his way home. He didn't really know how to operate in this situation, so he thought it was best for him to give everyone their time to grieve and heal their wounded hearts.

~Super Friends~

T-Rex: How's everybody doing?

Fist: I'm good.

Dumbbell: Pretty good.

Skeleton: Hanging in there.

Cross: My heart is still a bit heavy from the ceremony. But I'm doing well.

Ghost: Same.

Skeleton: I don't want to sound like that guy. But I felt super awkward being there.

Dumbbell: For real. Everyone around me was crying their eyes out and I had no idea what to do.

Dumbbell: Does that make me a bad person?

Fist: I don't think so. Barely a few of us have ever talked to Iida-kun before. So it's understandable.

Cross: Agreed. What matters is that we were there to pay our respects and support our fellow students.

Ghost: It was still incredibly awkward though.

Apple: Yeah.

Fist: So why'd you decide to text all of us?

T-Rex: To see if we were still on for the study group. We didn't really come up with a plan before the weekend and we don't have a lot of time before exams.

Dumbbells: That reminds me!

Dumbbell: Awase wanted to join us since he's doing terrible and class. Is that okay with you guys?

T-Rex: Fine with me.

Skeleton: The more the merrier!

Fist: I'm fine with it.

Dumbbell: Cool.

~Yosetsu Awase has been added to the chat.~

Welding Torch: What's up?!

Dumbbell: WAZZUP!

Skeleton: WAZZZUUUP!

Welding Torch: WHAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSUUUUUUUUUUUUP!

Ghost: Never do that again.

Cross: Agreed.

T-Rex: Now that the bro-tribe has been reunited, let's get down to business. We need to come up with a date and time.

Fist: How about this weekend?

Fist: We can do whatever individual studying we need to over the week and then have a giant cram session so everything is fresh in our minds come exam day.

Apple: Sounds good to me.

T-Rex: How about Saturday at around 13:00?

Fist: Sure

Skeleton: Cool

Dumbbell: K

Cross: Sure

Ghost: Acceptable

Rabbit: Ok

T-Rex: Sweet! We can do it over at my place since we have enough space.

Fist: Your dad wouldn't mind?

T-Rex: Metalhead comes over all the time and he doesn't have a problem with it. And I'm sure that you guys are actually house trained.

Dumbbell: Dude!

T-Rex: You'll be alright.

Fist: Alright, Saturday at Setsuna's house it is.

T-Rex: Bring snacks! I feel like we're going to be going at this for a while.

Dumbbell: I got chips!

Welding Torch: I got drinks!

Skeleton: I can order us some pizzas.

Ghost: I'll bring some cookies.

Fist: Aww man, I was gonna do that. I'll figure out something else.

Cross: I shall bring a salad.

Apple: I'll have to think about it.

Rabbit: I'll bring some fruit and bagels.

T-Rex: Don't worry Izuku, you don't have to bring anything since you're already a snack.

Dumbbell: That was so lame…

Cross: Indeed.

Fist: Setsuna, I envy your confidence sometimes.

Skeleton: I'll give it a 3 out of 5.

Welding Torch: How much you guys wanna bet that Midoriya just passed out?

Ghost: It was rather clever. I'll give her that.

T-Rex: Thank you!

Fist: On that note, I have practice today at the dojo so I need to get going. I'll see you guys at school.

Rabbit: Same

Apple: Me too.

Ghost: Goodbye.

Dumbbell: Yeah, I'm gonna go take a nap.

Cross: Agreed, I hope all of you have a splendid rest of your weekend.

Welding Torch: Deuces!

T-Rex: You people are no fun! Whatever, catch y'all at school.

Once Monday came around, things pretty much went back to normal for the hero course hopefuls. They were scheduled to have another joint class with 1-A today and the students were definitely looking forward to it.

"Will first year student, Izuku Midoriya please report to Principal Nezu's office. I repeat, will Izuku Midoriya please report to Principal Nezu's office."

"Wait, what?" Midoriya looked up at the sky in disbelief. Why would the principal call for him of all people?

"Geez Midoriya, what did you do?" Awase asked across the classroom.

"Dude, are you in trouble in something?"

"I knew it, it was only a matter of time before he was found out." Tokage joked while dramatically shaking her head.

"I-I don't know…"

"Alright class settle down!" Midnight silenced the students with a crack of her whip. "Midoriya, it appears that you've been a very naughty boy. Hurry and report to the principal's office to receive your punishment."

"Oooh!" A few of the other students cooed with a bit of laughter.

"R-right." The boy stood up from his seat and made his way out of the classroom. He had a strange feeling in his gut and his nerves were already starting to get the better of him. This was his first time ever being singled out like this. Whatever this was all about, it probably wasn't good.

Barely ten minutes later, the green haired boy found himself standing in front of the large wooden doors that served as the entrance into Nezu's office. Midoriya gave one final uneasy gulp before placing his hand on the door and giving three forceful knocks.

"Come in!" The cheery voice of the unidentified mammal said from beyond the barrier.

Midoriya did as he was instructed and shakily entered the room. There, he was met with the sight of the principal sitting comfortably at his desk. The man was stirring a cup of tea and had an unassuming smile on his face.

"Midoriya-kun, please have a seat." He motioned his paw to the open chair in front of him.

"Y-yes, s-s-sir." The boy nodded before doing as he was told.

"First things first Midoriya-kun, you are not in trouble."

"Really?"

"Yes." Nezu reassured him.

"So what is this about then, sir?"

"Midoriya-kun, is it that strange for the principal of such a fine institution like U.A. to take an interest in one of his more talented students and have a simple chat over some tea?"

"Talented?" Midoriya said in slight bewilderment. This was the first time he could recall anyone ever calling him such a word. "I-I'm really not all that much, sir."

"I disagree Midoriya-kun. Based on the reports I've read and the training footage that I've seen, you seem to be quite the capable young man."

"You really give me too much credit." The boy bashfully rubbed the back of his head.

"Midoriya-kun please, after being at this school for as many years as I have. You develop quite the eye for young hero prospects." The man continued. "I wanted to talk to you for a bit and ask a few questions, if you don't mind."

"Uh, okay...sure."

"Excellent!" He clapped his paws together. "So Midoriya-kun, tell me a bit about yourself. I've already read over your student files, but those only tell part of the story."

"There's not a whole lot to tell, honestly. I'm a pretty average person."

"An average person with an above average quirk." He shot back. "I'm not as well versed on telekinetic quirks as I would like to be. But even I know that possessing the ability to fly puts you in rather exclusive company."

"Yeah, I've been told that a few times." The boy answered. According to Katsuragi, only her, her sister, a retired hero in England and himself possess such a rare skill.

"Even one of our alumni, Fubuki Katsuragi has taken an interest in you. Both her and her older sister were very exceptional students. It's no wonder why she extended her hand out to you. I assume she's already talked to you about interning with her in the future?"

"Yes, sir."

"How excellent."

"I guess so."

"Now, onto our next topic. While looking over your file, I noticed that you were homeschooled before attending U.A.."

"Yes…"

"Of course there is nothing wrong with that, I'm just curious. Your grades prior to leaving your old school were exceptional. You were even tied with second place amongst your class before leaving."

"That is true, sir."

"Coincidentally, the person that you tied with was another one of our more popular students, Katsuki Bakugou."

Midoriya's entire body tensed ever so slightly. To the untrained eye, it wouldn't even have registered. But Nezu being the intelligent being that he was, caught it almost instantly. Obviously there was something there that required further exploration.

"Yes...we used to be classmates."

"How interesting, two former colleagues ending up at the same hero school. Of course, something like this is not uncommon. I believe two of your own classmates, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu and Setsuna Tokage also went to school together prior to enrolling at U.A."

"Yes sir, their good friends."

"What about you and Bakugou-kun? Were you two friends?"

"No sir." Midoriya didn't even hesitate to give the answer.

"I thought that was the case." The man responded. "Given Bakugou-kun's rather...abrasive personality, I doubt that he would have many people that were willing to call him themselves his friend."

"I agree sir, he's a bit rough around the edges."

"That's a fair assessment." He nodded before changing topics. In matters such as these it was best to keep the conversation flowing in different directions to keep a person on their toes. "So tell me, Midoriya-kun. What was your reason for wanting to become a hero? I'm always interested in hearing about what motivates the youth of today to pursue such a dangerous career field."

"Well...I guess the simple answer would be that I've always to help people sir." Midoriya answered honestly. "That's pretty much what it boils down to."

"That's rather simple, but noble nonetheless. Most children these days have aspirations of fame and fortune...what are your thoughts on that?"

Midoriya racked his brain for a moment as tried to find the right words to convey his thoughts on the matter. Once he came up with what he felt was a suitable response, he had no trouble answering the man's question. "I'm not really in a position to judge others on their goals. As long as they do their jobs as heroes and protect people it doesn't really matter what their motives are."

"That's a very mature answer."

"Not really."

"Even so, being here at U.A. puts you right next to some rather famous heroes. Except for Eraserhead, Vlad King and Snipe, we have no shortage of well known heroes amongst our staff. Why even the number one hero All Might is one of your teachers."

"Yeah...it's pretty crazy." Midoriya's voice slightly tensed.

"Practically everyone is a fan of him and his work as the "Symbol of Peace". Would it be too bold of me to assume that you're one as well?"

The slight bit of hesitation the boy gave was more than enough for Nezu to see that this was a hot button topic for him. "Honestly sir...I-I've never really been a fan of his. I appreciate all that he's done for the country and his work as a hero. But he's just not the kind of person I look up to."

"Why is that?"

"He's a bit too flashy for my taste. Don't get me wrong, he's a great hero and deserves all the praise that he's earned. But it's just not my cup of tea."

"It's rather interesting that someone who's grown up under All Might's influence has that view. He is the world renowned "Symbol of Peace" after all."

"Well...that title only means so much at the end of the day."

"Would care to explain?"

"It's r-really not my place to say." Midoriya sputtered a bit.

"Midoriya-kun, you have permission to speak freely. I'm actually very intrigued in what you have to say. Oh, where are my manners? Would you like a cup of tea?" The man offered as he pulled out a second cup from behind the desk.

Now that he had the boy right where he wanted him, the next step was to make him as comfortable as possible. Most people would've offered him a cup right out the gate, but he intentionally held off on doing so until this moment.

"Sure, sir." The boy agreed while he watched the principal pour him a fresh cup and hand it to him. He wasn't an expert on different types of tea, but this particular brand was rather soothing on the tongue.

"So, back to your earlier comment."

"Oh...right." The boy nodded before setting the cup down on the table. "In my opinion sir, the idea of the "Symbol of Peace" was kind of flawed from the beginning."

"How so?"

"I get that it's useful to help keep crime down and to act as a deterrent, but it's not feasible for the long term. All Might may be strong, but at the end of the day he's still just a man. And despite what people may think, he won't be around forever. Once he retires, I doubt that there will be anyone who can fill the hole that he'll leave behind."

"And what do you think we should do when that particular day finally arrives?"

The boy was silent for a couple of seconds before giving his answer. "I'd say it's best to get a jump on things sooner rather than later. Start preparing now for when he's finally done. There are tons of heroes out there, so it doesn't make sense to put all of our eggs in one basket. I'm not an expert on architecture, but even I know that you can't support a house on one pillar."

"You seem to have thought about this quite a bit."

"N-not really." The boy blushed slightly. "It's just something that a person I know said to me once and it made a lot of sense."

"Understandable." The unidentified mammal folded his arms. "I am curious though, if you don't look up to All Might. Then what hero do you want to be like? Everyone has someone that they try to emulate, even myself."

"I guess that would be Blizzard, sir. She's definitely the kind of hero that I want be like if I ever go pro."

"Makes sense, you two have similar quirks and she's doesn't have very much of a public presence. The only time she's ever seen on television is when she's on duty. The same was true for Tornado before her disappearance."

"Yeah."

"Actually, this brings to my next topic that I wanted to discuss."

"Which is?"

"Like I said earlier, I took the liberty to review some of your training footage. And I couldn't help but get the feeling that you're not pushing yourself as much as other students."

All Midoriya could do was give an awkward laugh at the accusation. Granted, it wasn't like he was wrong in saying so. "I wouldn't say that exactly, sir. I always give it my all during class, it just so happens that my quirk is really convenient for most of what we've done here so far."

"I can agree with that. With your power, most battles would be over before they started. And given the fact that you can fly, very few students at this school present a real challenge for you. As of right now, I'd say that only a few third year students could really give you a run for your money. Nejire Hadou is actually the first to come to mind. You two spend your lunches together on the roof if I'm not mistaken."

Midoriya failed to hide the look a surprise that palstered itself onto his face at the mammal's words.

"Midoriya-kun, you should know that I have eyes and ears all over this school. It's not against the rules to spend your time up there. But I do find it odd that you chose to eat there and not with your classmates." Nezu said with a curious look.

"I-I'm just not good with big crowds, sir. It's never really been my thing."

"And there's nothing wrong with that." The man answered before standing up from his seat and walking towards the open window. "Well Midoriya-kun, unfortunately that is all the time that we have for today. You have to get back to your studies after all. But I think I finally have a good idea on what kind of student you are."

"Oh, okay?" The boy stood up out of his own seat.

"I look forward to seeing how you progress during your time here at U.A.. I have high hopes for you and I'm sure you'll live up to my expectations."

"Thank you, Nezu-san." Midoriya politely bowed.

"Have a wonderful rest of your day."

"Yes, sir." He bowed once again before turning on his heels and walking out of the room. As soon as the large wooden doors closed behind him, Tsukauchi and Yagi popped out from behind the cracked open bathroom door near the back of the room.

"So Tsukauchi-kun, did you get all of that?" Nezu turned to the two men.

"Yes, for what it's worth the boy is a rather honest kid." The detective answered. "Most of everything he said was true."

"Most?" Yagi gave him a concerned look.

"There were two instances where he lied. The first was when he said that he wasn't really in a position to judge others on their goals for becoming a hero. The second...was when he said that he's never been a fan of All Might. That one practically broke by internal polygraph the moment the words came out of his mouth."

"Interesting." Nezu rubbed a paw to his chin. "Coupling that with his thoughts concerning All Might, this paints quite an interesting picture. He was a fan of yours at some point Toshinori-kun, but now he's not."

"I wonder what made him change his mind." Yagi said to no one in particular. Did he do something to make the boy lose faith in him? Or was it something else?

"Well, his views are rather unique."

'Unique yes, but not unreasonable.' The mammal thought to himself. "In any case, I didn't feel the need to push the conversation any further than that point. Nothing else he said raised any major suspicions." At least none that he was comfortable with pointing out at the moment without some more information.

"I agree." Tsukauchi added. "For now we should just stick with our original plan and keep our distance. We were already pushing it with that interview of yours."

"Indeed, for the time being let's not do anything else so rash. Now then, Toshinori-kun, you have a class to instruct if I'm not mistaken."

"Yes sir." Yagi looked at his watch, seeing that he only had about thirty minutes before the first year's heroics lesson. "I'll be on my way."

"Me too, I'll keep you up to date if something else comes up in my investigation."

With that, the two men made their exits, leaving Nezu alone with his thoughts. After a brief moment of contemplation, the man walked over to his desk and sat himself down in his chair.

'Quite an interesting person indeed.'

"So Midoriya, what the hell did the principal want to talk to you about?" Awase asked as the boys of 1-B got changed into their hero costumes.

"Nothing really, he just wanted to pick my brain and ask me a few questions." Midoriya answered.

"Man, we totally thought that you were about to get expelled or something." Tsuburaba joked.

"Yeah...it was pretty nerve-wracking. There's something scary about him."

"Seriously, I've heard that he's one of the most intelligent beings on the planet. That's definitely something to be freaked out about."

"Still though, what did you guys actually talk about?" Tetsutetsu inquired.

"He just wanted to know why I'm trying to become a hero." The boy said, he didn't really feel the need to fill the others in the rest of their conversation. Mainly because something about it made him uneasy.

"That's it?" A few boys said in unison.

"Yeah."

"Oh…"

"Alright guys, we better hurry up and get out there before we all get in trouble." Honenuki proposed, causing the group of boys to make their way outside.

"I am here...to teach!" The voice of All Might boomed after finally arriving in the viewing room, striking a dramatic and heroic pose. Despite being well into their studies, it was still pretty crazy to most of the students that the number one hero was one of their teachers. "Today all of you will be engaging in a bit of friendly competition."

"What do you mean, sensei?" Ojiro asked.

"You students will be participating in a three-man game of "capture the flag"." The man began explaining.

"The rules are pretty simple. All of you will form up into thirteen teams of three and begin at various ends of the training ground. Your objective is to secure the black flag located on the tallest building and bring it back to your starting point. Combat is authorized as long as you don't use excessive force on one another, and there is no time limit." Midnight explained.

"It's kinda like in the Sports Festival."

"So it's just one big ass free-for-all." Awase commented.

"That is correct young Awase."

"So what are the teams?"

"That young Kirishima is the fun part. You will all have the luxury of choosing your own teams. You'll have ten minutes to form your groups. After that, you'll head out and make your way to your starting points."

A silence fell over the room as everyone let those words sink in. In an exercise like this, speed and mobility were the key. Getting into a fight with some of the other teams was practically unavoidable, and with all the chaos going around it would be pretty hard to hang on to the flag for too long. Factoring all of this in, it would be smart to choose a partner who was both powerful and hard to get a hold of. And there was one person in particular who had a guaranteed advantage over the competition….

"Midoriya!" Practically all of the 1-B students shouted in unison as they directed their attention towards the boy in the green jacket.

'Oh no…' A sense of dread washed over the boy's body as they all crowded around him. He expected something like this to happen, but now he had a bunch of unwanted attention on him.

"C'mon dude, be my partner!"

"Fuck that, obviously he should team up with me!"

"Obviously partnering up with me would be the better choice, Midoriya-kun!" Monoma said in haughty tone.

In the back of the gaggle, Tokage and Kendou were watching their classmates plead their cases as to why Midoriya should join their team. It was plainly obvious that he was going to be the one that everyone would go after. But considering the fact that his quirk was perfect for this, it was only logical.

"You aren't gonna try and ask Midoriya-kun to join you? I thought you'd be the first one to try and call dibs on him." The orange haired teen quirked an eyebrow at her class vice-rep.

"You kidding? This is the perfect chance for me to finally go up against him since our battle trial. I've got a few new moves that I want to test out and he'd be the perfect person to practice them on." The green haired girl smirked.

"Seriously?"

"Of course!"

"Well in that case, why don't we partner up? We have a pretty good balance of offense and defense. The only thing that we're lacking is speed."

"Sounds good to me." Tokage's grin widened. "And I know just the person to make up for that."

Back with Midoriya and company, the gaggle showed no signs of letting up. The green haired boy was about to try and make a break for it before a hand placed itself on his right shoulder.

"We're partners. Our quirks are a good match and I'm the only one that can keep up with you and watch your back in the air." Yanagi stoically stated in a way that didn't leave any room for discussion whatsoever.

"O-okay." The boy agreed for some strange reason. Although he couldn't argue with the girl's logic, it made way too much sense.

"What? How the hell is that fair?!" Kamakiri pointed an accusatory finger at the girl.

"Who cares? As long as they pick me then we have nothing to worry about."

Seeing as they were running short on time, the grey haired girl decided to put an end to this nonsense. "I'm thinking of a number between one and one hundred. The person who guesses right or the closest to it will be on our team."

Everyone looked around at one another before nodding their heads and shouting out their guess.

"Seventeen!" Shoda shouted.

"Forty-five!" Monoma followed.

"Seventy-five!" Kuroiro added.

Instead of speaking, Kodai held up a two in her right hand and a zero in her left, signifying the number twenty.

"Sixty-nine!"

"Dude, really?" Honenuki glared at Tsuburaba.

"Sorry…." The 'solid air' user quickly apologized for his inappropriate outburst.

"Kodai-chan got it right."

"Hmm." The emotionless black haired girl nodded.

"What? How?"

"It's my student number."

"That...makes sense."

"Alright, everyone else go form your own groups. We need to strategize." Yanagi ordered the rest of students. No one had the heart to protest since they lost fair and square. So they quickly split up into smaller groups and began forming their own teams.

"Thank you, Yanagi-san."

"It's no problem." The girl replied. "But we need to hurry and form a strategy."

"Hmm." Kodai agreed.

"So what do you think we should do?"

"I think a simple strategy would be our best bet. Seeing as we'll have the air advantage, all we need to do is make sure that we're the first ones at the flag. We can pretty much avoid everyone else after that."

"I agree." The boy replied. "But seeing as the two of us are on the same team, we're gonna have a pretty big target on our backs. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the others tried to take us out before that."

"So, what do you think we should do about that?"

Midoriya was silent for a moment as he went over his options. Based on the teams that he could see forming, Bakugou, Todoroki and Tokage's groups were going to be their immediate threats. But everyone in the class had some type of advantage in this scenario. However, it didn't take long before a strategy popped into his head.

"I think I have an idea. And Kodai-san, you're going to be the key factor in it." He then turned towards the emotionless teen.

"Hmm?"

Not too long after that, the students found themselves outside of their designated starting points waiting for the horn to sound. Most of the teams were pretty balanced in terms of strength and ability. But there were a few obvious groups that were full of heavy hitters.

Team 1: Bakugou, Sero, Kirishima

Team 2: Shiozaki, Fukidashi, Shishida

Team 3: Satou, Kamakiri, Ojiro

Team 4: Yaoyorozu, Ashido, Shoji

Team 5: Todoroki, Honenuki, Tetsutetsu

Team 6: Awase, Rin, Bondo

Team 7: Monoma, Tsuburaba, Jiro

Team 8: Midoriya, Yanagi, Kodai

Team 9: Komori, Kuroiro, Hagakure

Team 10: Tokage, Kendou, Tsunotori

Team 11: Mineta, Kaminari, Koda

Team 12: Kaibara, Aoyama, Shoda

Team 13: Uraraka, Asui, Tokoyami

"Some pretty interesting groups in that line up." Midnight said as she looked over the teams. "Who do you think is going to win it?"

"The obvious favorite is Team 8. They have the advantage in mobility since two of their members can fly. And Midoriya can carry Kodai, so she won't be an issue." Kan voiced his opinion.

"I'm having a hard time disagreeing. But I'll be rooting for Team 10."

"Careful Kayama, your bias is showing."

"Don't sleep on Setsuna. The girl is a lot craftier than you think."

"There's no point in placing bets." Aizawa interjected from his sleeping bag.

"I'm going to go against the grain and say that Team 5 will emerge victorious. Young Honenuki and young Tetsutetsu have a pretty good defense against young Todoroki's ice. No doubt they formed their group with that in mind." All Might added.

"He's still not using his fire, huh?" Midnight looked to Aizawa.

"No, I've already talked to him about it but he won't budge. Whatever his reason for holding back is, it seems to be a serious one for him."

"I wonder why that is?"

"In any case, I'm looking forward to how this one turns out."

"Begin!" All Might's voice boomed over the loudspeakers.

Once they got the word, practically every team shot out of their respective starting points and sprinted towards the objective. The building was only eight hundred meters away from them so it wasn't too long of a journey. But considering the fact that every other team was an obstacle, they knew they were going to have to be careful.

"Alright, let's go." Midoriya looked to his partners. Without missing a beat, Kodai hopped onto the boy's back and the two telekinesis users took to the sky and slowly began their advance. Everyone was probably expecting them to rush to the flag, but they had other ideas.

Team 8's strategy was rather out of character for all of them, but that didn't make it any less brilliant. To put it simply, they were going to let the other groups fight each other and wear themselves out. And then take the flag for themselves once one of the other teams were on their way back with it.

However, they didn't even get a chance to scope out the competition before their first obstacle of the day reared its head. A few hundred meters away from them, a loud explosion caught their attention. The group turned heads to see Bakugou barreling towards them with a full head of steam. With Kirishima and Sero right on his tail.

"Dammit Bakugou, we're supposed to be heading towards the flag!" Sero cursed the blonde haired boy, only to get no response.

The 'explosion' quirk user only had one thing on his mind, at that was taking out Midoriya once and for all. The stupid exercise could wait. And it wasn't like he couldn't handle the rest of these extras on his own. Right now, the only thing that mattered to him was settling the score with this green haired loser.

"Wow, you were right Midoriya-kun. He was going to try and come after us." Yangi said.

"I knew this was going to happen. But I didn't think that he'd try and do this right out the gate." The boy sighed. "Kodai-san."

"Hmm." The girl nodded before reaching into one of her pouches and handing something to him.

"Too bad his quirk completely lacks subtlety."

"It doesn't really matter." Midoriya gave her a neutral look under his helmet as he activated his quirk. No one outside of 1-B had ever seen the maximum range of his telekinesis before. So there was no reason for Bakugou to be expecting what happened next.

About one hundred and fifty meters away from his target, Bakugou's body suddenly stopped mid-air. The ashen blonde teen was surprisingly thrown off by this, but didn't have a chance to make his next move before being pulled in the same direction that he was going. Barely a couple of seconds later, the boy was only a few meters away from Team 8.

"Let me go, you damn loser!"

"No…" Midoriya flatly stated as he turned his attention towards Kirishima and Sero. The boy then used his quirk to lift the both of them into the air. And just like he did during their earlier exercise, bunched the three together with Bakugou in the middle.

"You just had to pick a fight with the one person that you can't beat, huh Bakugou?" Sero said in a very annoyed tone.

"Shut your damn mouth before I blast you, plain-face!" He growled at his partner.

"Well...we certainly don't want that happening." Yanagi interjected as she held her arm out and used her own quirk. The group watched as Bakugou's arms suddenly moved and his hands clasped together against his will.

"What the hell?!"

"Wait, you can manipulate a person's body parts individually!" Midoriya gawked at the girl.

"Not exactly, I manipulated his gauntlets. Not his actual limbs."

"That's amazing! Doing something like that takes a ton a precision and fine control. I don't think I can even do that! Manipulating clothing is insane!"

"I learned it during my internship. It's easier to do when the person is wearing something heavy like Bakugou-san here." The girl replied.

"Yanagi-san, you have to teach me-"

"Hmm." Kodai waved her hand in front of the boy's face before he could start his signature mumbling.

"Oh, right." Midoriya blushed before getting back on track and turning his gaze back to his opponents. Seeing as they already wasted enough time on this matter, the boy held out his hand and revealed a tiny metal rod no bigger than his palm.

"Kodai-san, do it."

"Hmm." The 'size' quirk user compiled as she brought her hands together. Out of nowhere, the metal rod expanded in size to about three and a half meters in length. Using his new found knowledge that he gained from Katsuragi, the boy proceeded to wrap the object around the bodies of the three 1-A students. It was tight enough to keep them in place, but not so much so that it would cause any injury.

"When did you learn how to do that?" Now it was Yanagi's turn to ask the questions.

"I learned it from Fubuki-san."

"She taught you a lot of st-"

"You think this will be enough to stop me, Deku!" Bakugou angrily barked at the boy. Not only did these extras have the audacity to do humiliate him like this. But they had the nerve to hold a conversation while doing it.

Deciding that he was now tired of looking at the boy, and getting yelled at, Midoriya gently placed the group down on the ground below them. Much to the blonde haired boy's chagrin. With that small annoyance officially dealt with, Team 8 continued their approach towards the target to continue scouting out the competition. Leaving a very angry Bakugou to think about this entire situation.

'Damn that fucking nerd! This isn't over, Deku!'

Back with the rest of the students, things were quickly heating up. After a brief scuffle with Team 13, Tokage and her group managed to be the first ones to make it to the flag. With the girl levitating pieces of her body across the sky and Tsunotori transporting Kendou on her horns, the trio of girls were able to avoid practically everyone else up until this point.

"Alright, let's hurry and get the hell out of here." Tokage quickly grabbed the flag with one of her hands. She still had quite a bit left in the tank. But since Midoriya's team was nowhere in sight, she preferred getting this exercise done with sooner rather than later.

"Yeah!" Her teammates nodded before reassuming their earlier formation and leaving the building.

The girl's didn't even make it a hundred meters away from their destination before something flew pass their faces and into the sky. All three of them looked down to see Yaoyorozu and her team standing next to a giant cannon. The raven haired teen was in the process of producing another projectile and Shoji appeared to be playing lookout for anyone else nearby.

"You were right, Setsuna. I guess some of the other teams were waiting down below for another group to grab the flag for them." Kendou said.

"Doesn't matter, they only had one shot to get us and they missed it." Tokage shrugged her free-floating shoulders. "Let's hurry and get out of here."

The other two girls agreed and quickly left the area before Yaoyorozu could get another shot off. From what they could tell, they were pretty much by themselves. The only indicator that someone was close to them was a small wall of ice about two hundred meters on their right.

About halfway through their journey, they made sure to keep an eye out for any other teams. Most of the other groups were stuck on the ground so they didn't need to worry about them. The only problem was that Team 8 was nowhere in sight.

"I wonder where Midoriya-kun and Yanagi-chan are?" The orange haired girl wondered.

"They probably got attacked as soon as we started the race. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the other teams wanted to cut down on the competition early."

"Makes sense."

As soon as the words came out of Tsunotori's mouth, the group had their advance cut off by some giant screws that were launched into the air from down below. By sheer luck, all of them managed to avoid getting hit. But that was the least of their worries.

"I guess we spoke too soon." Tokage clicked her teeth while gazing down below them. Sure enough, Team 8 was standing in the middle of the road about eighty meters in front of them. The group didn't have enough time to think before the second wave of enlarged objects was sent flying.

Once again, they were able to dodge the attack without getting hit. But now they were in the middle of a fight that they were hoping to avoid.

"Here!" Tokage shoved the flag into Kendou's hand. "Take that thing and keep your distance. I'll take care of them."

"You sure?!"

"Trust me, I got this." She flashed the orange haired teen a confident smirk before splitting herself up some more and hurling her body towards her opponents.

Down on the ground, Midoriya wasted no time in flying up into the air to meet the girl head on. In all honesty, Tokage is one of the people in his class that he preferred not to fight if he could help it. But with her in the way, getting to that flag wasn't going to be as easy as he hoped.

Just before the boy could use his quirk to grab a hold of her head, Tokage quickly spread herself over a larger area and used her pieces to create a sphere his body. In the blink of an eye, the boy was locked in on all sides and barely had time to react before the girl started her attack.

"Don't take this personal, Izuku. But my need to get my payback for the battle trial!" The girl's head taunted him as she activated her move. "Scale Storm!"

All of a sudden, all twenty pieces of the girl's body began violently rotating around him. As he looked up and down, he noticed that he was truly surrounded on all sides. This was his first time seeing the girl perform such a move. And if it wasn't for the fact that he was caught in the middle of it, he would've been impressed. Just before he could snap himself out of his thoughts, one of Tokage's fists nailed him on the right side of his back. Out of instinct, he immediately went to guard that side. But not even a second later he was struck again in the back of his head.

'She's going after my blind spots!'

'Damn, that helmet is harder than it looks.' Tokage gritted her teeth. She knew enough about the boy's quirk to know that it was limited to his field of vision and that his head was his weak spot.

Seeing as he had no hope of tackling this move head on, Midoriya instead chose to launch himself further in the sky as fast as he could.

"You're not getting away from me that easy!" Tokage shouted as she gave chase. Leading to a veritable game of cat and mouse in the sky.

While that was going on, Yanagi decided to make her move. The 'poltergeist' user mounted her hover disc and made a beeline straight for Kendou and Tsunotori. From what she knew of the American's girl's abilities, she wasn't nearly as mobile as either herself and Midoriya. And she was limited to only two horns at a time. Both of which were being occupied.

The girl got about thirty meters away from her target before Tsunotori and Kendou managed to dodge it. However, it proved to be useless since they were now in range of her quirk.

"Heist!" The girl said before ripping the flag from Kendou's enlarged hand and grabbing it herself. With their objective now complete, it was time to enact part two of their strategy. "Midoriya-kun!" The girl said in slightly higher tone of voice than what they were used to hearing from her. Luckily for her, her green haired teammate got the message.

"Kodai-san, do it!"

"Hmm." The other stoic teenager of the group nodded as she pulled out a fist full of miscellaneous objects from her pouch and tossed them on the ground before activating her own quirk.

With the stage now set, Midoriya and Yanagi went barreling towards the girl's direction with their opponents hot on their heels. What happened next was definitely a sight to behold.

At the last possible second, Yanagi suddenly changed directions and made a hard left turn. While at the same time, Kodai made a mad dash for a nearby alleyway. Unfortunately for Team 10, they failed to recognize this in time and were exactly where Midoriya wanted them.

The green haired boy himself quickly changed directions and made a hard stop above the pile of enlarged screws, nuts and washers. And with one quick breath, activated his new super move. "Hellstorm!"

In the blink of an eye, Tokage, Kendou and Tsunotori were caught in the middle of what can only be described as a tornado of house appliances that left them practically no room to move.

"Fuck!" Tokage shouted while doing her best to avoid a few stray nuts and bolts. However, her partners weren't so lucky. In the middle of the chaos, Tsunotori got flanked by a washer and had the wind completely knocked out of her. Forcing her and Kendou to the ground with a couple of not-so-subtle groans.

"Pony, Itsuka!"

"Midoriya-kun, let's go." Yanagi told her partner.

"Right!" The boy agreed. Without a moment's hesitation, Midoriya lifted Kodai off of the ground and the three made their exit. Leaving Team 10 behind to try and recover after their loss.

"You're gonna pay for that!" The 'lizard tail splitter' user angrily waved her fist in the air.

With the flag now in their possession and no one in sight, the only thing that Team 8 had left to do was to secure their victory.

"That was one of Tornado's moves, wasn't it?" Yanagi looked to the boy.

"Yeah." He gave her a slight grin. "Fubuki-san showed me how to do it. It's not perfected yet, but I have a decent handle on it."

"It seems useful."

"It is, I'm pretty sure that you of all people would have no trouble learning how to do it." Was his honest reply. With Yanagi's level of control over her quirk, he wouldn't be surprised if she mastered it in no time.

"I probably couldn't do it on that level, though." She shot back.

With their starting point only about a hundred meters away from them, Team 10 relaxed a bit by descending closer to the ground and slowed down to what could be considered "cruising speed". However, this proved to be a costly mistake since they weren't prepared for what happened next.

"Jiro-san, now!" The voice of Monoma shouted from right in front of them.

"Wha-"

Out of nowhere, the airborne trio were hit with an absolutely ear splitting noise from the opposite direction. It was not only loud, but the level of vibration that they experienced was enough to rattle their bones. They tried to cover their ears to shield themselves from the disturbance, but it proved to be pointless. Barley a couple of seconds passed before everything went dark and three of them hit the ground.

"Oh man, I can't believe that worked." Tsuburaba sighed in relief from his spot next to Monoma.

"We took a pretty big gamble, but it paid off. Your idea to hang back actually paid off, Monoma." Jiro added.

"I knew that Midoriya-kun and his team were probably going to be the ones to claim victory. So it was only logical to wait for them to return and ambush them when their guard was down." The 'copy' quirk use haughtily replied with a satisfied smile.

"Pat yourself on the back later dude, let's just grab that flag and get back to our starting point before someone else shows up."

"Good idea." The 'earphone jack' user agreed.

As much as Monoma would've loved to copy Midoriya's quirk, he decided to save it for later. Without missing a beat, Team 7 secured the object from Yanagi's hand and sprinted towards their destination. Earning themselves a come from behind victory.

After wrapping up their exercise, and a few much needed visits to Recovery Girl's office, the hero course students were released for the day. Midoriya was by no means a sore loser, and he gave Team 7 a well deserved "congratulations" for catching him and his team off guard after he finally woke up. However, the boy did make a mental note to keep track of Jiro in the event that the two were ever pitted against each other in the near future.

"Nice job out there today." Tokage said to Midoriya after finally catching up to him just outside of the main entrance.

"Yeah, you too." He replied with a bit of a grin.

"Yeah…I almost had you there. But then you went and busted out that new move of yours. It totally caught me off guard."

"You too, using your quirk like that is really useful for a fight."

"So, did you learn that from Blizzard?" She asked him.

"Mhmm." He nodded. "It's called, "Hellstorm". I'm nowhere close to mastering it yet, but I have a pretty good handle on it so far."

"That's funny, I call my new move "Scale Storm". Great minds think alike, huh?"

"I guess so…."

"So, about our date…" Tokage quickly changed subjects.

"Oh…yeah…" Midoriya blushed slightly, finally remembering that he agreed to go on a date with her. Something that was still a bit hard to wrap his head around.

"I think we should hold off until after our exams."

"Huh?"

"Oh man, what's with that look?" Tokage laughed while holding herself up on his shoulder. "But seriously, we need to focus on studying for now. You know what they say, work hard and play later."

"Yeah, that makes sense." He agreed. The girl was right, the end of semester exams were too important not to focus on. Even so, he still had a couple of questions about their eventual outing. "So what are we going to be doing?"

"I have a few things in mind, but I haven't decided yet. I want to make sure that it's something fun that we can both enjoy."

"Okay."

"Unless you already have something in mind~?" She leaned in a bit closer and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"N-no, sorry." The now red faced teen stammered.

Seeing as she now had him right where she wanted, the girl decided to tease him a bit more by walking her fingers up his chest. Partly because she knew it would get him flustered, but mainly because she needed an excuse to feel him up a bit.

"Just make sure you wear something nice. Not saying that you should go all out or anything, but you should definitely throw on something that showcases those guns there mister muscles. Y'know, you should really show off some more. The girls would be all over you."

"I'm n-not really into that kind of thing."

"Yeah, I know." She giggled before rubbing a hand in his hair. "That just means less competition for me. Man, I really miss your old hair. It was so much more fun to play with."

"I...don't really know how to respond to that." He blushed even further. How this girl was so comfortable doing something like this out in public was a complete mystery to him.

"Yeah, that was kind of the point." Tokage then linked their arms together and started leading him out of the school. "I know you're not heading over to the orphanage today, but we can still walk to the station together."

"Yeah, that's fine." He gave her an honest smile.

Eventually, the green haired duo left the school and found themselves about halfway to the train station. Thankfully, no one else was around. So it was pretty much just the two of them. Seeing as now was as good a time as any, Tokage decided to strike up a conversation.

"Hey, Izuku?" She looked at him with a slightly worried expression.

"Yeah."

"Does all my teasing make you uncomfortable?"

The boy held his tongue for a few quick moments before giving her a response. Of course the girl's antics were a bit too over the top at times, but they weren't exactly unbearable. He learned pretty quickly that Tokage was just the type of person who enjoys getting a rise out of someone. But it was obvious that she made an effort to keep things under control.

The boy was no stranger to getting teased. But compared to what he had gone through for most of his life, it was a far cry away from truly making him uncomfortable. Flustered and slightly embarrassed, yes. But not really anything more than that.

"To be honest…not too much. But you do get kind of crazy at times."

"You know you can just tell me to stop whenever you want, right?"

"Yeah, but I know you don't mean anything bad by it."

"True, but the last thing I want is to overstep my boundaries."

"It's fine, Tokage-san."

"Setsuna." The girl shot back.

"Huh?"

"Call me, Setsuna. You let me call you by your first name so it's only fair if you call me by mine. You can drop the honorifics too."

"I c-couldn-"

"You can, and you will. I think we're good enough friends by this point for you to stop being so formal with me."

There was that word again, friends. No matter how many times he heard it, it was still weird for someone to openly address him as such. Naturally because of his former quirklessness, no one ever wanted to have anything to do with him. He was still on the fence about whether or not the rest of his classmates would treat him the same if they found that out about him. But he had been working on not being so critical of people.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"And it's not like you haven't already told me a couple of secrets about yourself. Come to think of it, I haven't really told you any of my secrets yet have I?" The girl tapped a finger to her chin with a thoughtful expression.

"You don't have to do something like that."

"Nope!" The girl smiled at him. "Just to be fair, I'm going to tell you one of my secrets so we can be even."

"You don't-"

"My big secret is…is that I was actually really nervous about asking you out."

…

…

…

"Really?" The boy tilted his head in confusion. He doesn't really know what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't that.

"Oh definitely!" The girl chuckled. "I was like sixty percent sure that you were going to shoot me down."

"Seriously?" He said. "But you were so calm about it."

"On the outside, sure. But on the inside I was super anxious about it."

"Wow."

"So there, now we both know at least one secret about each other. So we're even!"

"Tokage-san…"

Silence was the only response that the boy received. "Tokage-san?"

"I already told you to call me Setsuna, didn't I? I won't be responding to anything else from now on."

"But-"

The girl stopped in her tracks and turned to face him before placing her hands on his cheeks and moving his jaw. "Oh come on, it's not that hard. Just say it with me…Set-su-na."

"S-Setsuna…" The boy repeated after her with redness on his cheeks.

*Ba-Dump!*

Hearing him say her name immediately sent a wave of warmth all over the girl's body. That, along with a slight tightness in her chest. It wasn't a bad feeling, but it was definitely weird.

"Better" Tokage smiled to hide her own blush.

It was only after she finally looked up did the girl realize that the two were already in front of the station. Seeing as this was a pretty good stopping point for their conversation, the girl gave him a tight hug around his body before making her way over to her terminal. Leaving Midoriya to think about the last few seconds of their interaction.

"See you later, cutie! Try not to dream about my beautiful face too much!"

"B-bye..." Midoriya said in a low tone and a polite wave. Still extremely embarrassed about calling someone, let alone a girl, by her first name. Once she was out of sight, all the boy could do was shake his head and do what he could to bring down his rapidly beating pulse.

Tokage was definitely a strange girl. One who was way too forward for his liking at times. But there was something about her that just couldn't help but make him feel all fuzzy inside. Deciding to push those thoughts aside for now, Midoriya walked over to his terminal to make the short journey back home. It was only after he boarded his train that he noticed the awkward smile plastered over his freckled face.

'Man…what the hell?'

Author's Notes: Not really a whole lot to say about this chapter. I will admit that the conversation with Nezu was way longer than I originally planned. But I think that it came out rather well. Next chapter is going to be the study session with our crew. So there won't be any action.

Like always, thanks for reading and don't be afraid to leave a review/comment.