The first day of the new semester went about as expected for the students of class 1-B. The syllabus they received from Kan that morning let them know that their overall workload was going to be increased for the new term. Which earned quite a few groans from everyone not named Midoriya, Tokage, Kendou, Yanagi, Honenuki or Kodai. But overall it wasn't anything that they couldn't handle.
Despite all of this, there was still a silver lining that the students were more than a bit excited about. And that was their upcoming work studies. Much like the internships at the start of year, the students had the opportunity to work under any pro hero of their choosing as long as they were accepted. Except now that they had their provisional licenses they would be granted a lot more freedom on the job.
At the moment, the students were getting ready to head out to lunch. They had a pretty easy schedule for the rest of the day, which did nothing to quell their overall excitement.
"So Izuku, you plan on actually eating lunch with the rest of us today?" Tokage asked the green haired boy as their usual group made their way through the hall.
"Oh yeah, it's been so long that I almost forgot." Honenuki interjected. "Where exactly do you run off to during lunch?"
Midoriya paused for a moment as everyone gave him a slew of curious looks. Only taking a second before giving them an answer. "O-oh well...I usually just go to the roof."
"Really?" Yanagi glanced back at him.
"Yeah."
"Well that certainly makes a lot of sense." Kendou said. "No wonder we could never find you."
Next it was Tetsutetsu's turn to speak up. "Y'know what, that sounds like a good idea. The cafeteria is usually packed. I bet the roof has a ton of space!"
"Then it's decided!" Tokage cheered. "Looks like the roof is our new lunch spot. Is that alright with you, Izuku?"
"Yeah, sure." The green haired teen nodded. He pretty much expected this to happen ever since Tokage found out about his secret hiding spot. In the past he looked forward to having some alone tone during the break. But nowadays he wasn't opposed to the idea of having some extra guests.
Just as the group of teens turned the corner, an all too familiar sea of sky blue hair made her presence known.
"Izu-kun!" The bubbly voice of Nejire Hadou shouted from across the hall. The group of first years all turned their heads to see the blunette walking alongside her classmate, Tamaki Amajiki.
"Tamaki, hey!" Kendou gave the boy a wave. Only for him to immediately hide behind his classmate.
"Hadou-senpai, how's it going?"
"Hey, hey, I heard that the first years are going to be starting their work studies pretty soon! Cool, huh? You know what this means, right? You can finally join me and Ryukyu at her agency. Doesn't that sound like fun?" The blunette said in an excited tone.
"Actually…" Midoriya said a bit bashfully while scratching his cheek. "I was already planning on working under Blizzard again."
"Really?" Almost everybody said in unison at that announcement.
"Yeah."
"Hmph!" Hadou began to pout. "No fair! I already called dibs on you."
"I'm sorry." The boy apologized with a bow.
"Hey." Tokage suddenly interjected after noticing a missing person. "Isn't there usually three of you? Where's that blonde dude with the crazy hair?"
"Oh yeah, Mirio-kun is busy with his work study. So he's not at school today." The girl quickly explained before an idea popped into her head. "Hey, why don't we all eat lunch together? Doesn't that sound fun? I haven't had a chance to talk to the rest of you first years yet. And you guys have some pretty awesome quirks."
"Sounds like nice idea for me." Tsunotori shrugged.
"Yeah, I don't see why not." Awase followed up.
"Alright, then it's been decided! Let's go!" Hadou cheered before grabbing Midoriya by the shoulders and pulling him in the direction of the cafeteria. Forcing the others to try and catch up with her.
It didn't take long before the group consisting of Midoriya, Tokage, Tetsutetsu, Kendou, Yanagi, Honenuki, Shiozaki, Tsunotori, Awase, Amajiki and Hadou to grab their food and make their way up to the school roof. It was a lovely day outside and the atmosphere was pretty much perfect to get some fresh air and avoid the usual madness of the cafeteria.
"Wait, so Blizzard offered to take on all three of you?" Kendou asked her fellow classmates in between her sips of coffee.
"Yeah, I was actually pretty surprised myself." Midoriya replied.
"Man, you guys are so lucky." Awase groaned in jealousy. "I don't know if I'll be able to even do a work study. School's already hard enough as it is."
"Well I'm excited! I can't wait to get started!" Tetsutetsu said confidently after taking a massive bite out of a chunk of aluminum foil.
"Are you sure that your GPA can handle that, Metalhead?" Tokage joked, only for the 'steel' quirk user to immediately deflate at the idea of his grades dropping lower than what they already were.
"I still think that you should join me at Ryukyu's agency. But Blizzard seems like the best fit for you. Hey, are you sure that you two aren't related? You guys look a lot alike and you have the same quirk. I'm pretty sure you can pass off as her younger brother."
"Believe me, we've been trying to get Midoriya-kun to admit to it all year." Honenuki chuckled.
Next it was Shiozaki's turn to speak. "I've been meaning to ask, what are the work studies like? They can't be much different from our internships, can they?"
"Essentially they're not. You just have a lot more freedom to help out the pros that decide to take you on. And you can get called in at any time to help out." Amajiki quietly responded while facing away from the group.
"Oh yeah, are you still working with Fatgum?" Kendou asked the indigo haired teen. Earning a silent nod.
"Seriously? I love Fatgum! He's a total badass!" Tetsutetsu's eyes lit up at that information . "Working with him must be awesome!"
"I desire to do work studies too. It sounds like much fun. I can't wait to start!" Tsunotori said.
"Aww, you're like the most adorable person ever, Tsunotori-chan! And I love your accent." Hadou said to the horned teen.
The conversation continued on like this for another five minutes or so before the door to the roof opened up. Everyone turned their heads to see a trio of 1-A students consisting of Tokoyami, Asui and Uraraka standing there with their lunches in hand.
"Hey, what's up 1-A. We haven't seen you guys in a while." Tokage was the first to greet them.
"I didn't know that this many people came up here during lunch, gero." Asui, the vice-rep of class 1-A with the long scar on her face said rather bluntly.
"Indeed, we assumed that no one else would be up here." Tokoyami continued.
"Yeah, this is kind of a new thing for us too. How have you guys been?"
"Pretty good, gero." The frog themed teen answered as the three of them sat down to join their fellow students.
"How did the licensing exam go for you guys? I texted Yaoyorozu-san, but she never got back to me." Kendou inquired.
"Half of us ended up passing." Uraraka answered.
"What happened?" Said Awase.
"Most of us got knocked out in the first part. The other schools pretty much ganged up on us at the start." Uraraka explained.
"You guys too, huh?" Honenuki asked. "If it wasn't for Kan-sensei tipping us off beforehand, we wouldn't have been prepared for that. Apparently they call it the 'Crushing of U.A.'."
"It seems as though your class was far better prepared than we were. It was truly a turbulent trial, but some of us were still able to make it out victorious."
"Doesn't he sound exactly like Kuroiro?" Awase whispered to Shiozaki who silently agreed with him.
"So, who all ended up passing?"
"Besides the three of us, gero. There was Momo-chan, Rin-kun, Kyoka-chan, Kaminari-chan, Shoji-kun, Toru-chan and Mineta-kun." Asui explained.
'Wait, so Bakugou and Todoroki failed?' Midoriya and Tokage thought at the same time. It was hard to believe that the two strongest students in their class failed the exam. To be frank, they should've been guaranteed to get their licenses. But considering the former's attitude it wasn't all that much surprising. Todoroki however, was definitely a shocker.
"What about you guys?"
"All of us passed." The 1-B students echoed in unison. Which was quite the surprise to the others.
"So, are you guys taking part in the work studies?" Said Kendou.
"Yes." Tokoyami nodded. "I'll be working with Hawks again."
"The number two hero? Nice going dude!" Tetsutetsu flashed him a thumbs up.
"That's so cool!" Hadou spoke up. "The two of you are birds so of course he'd pick you. Hey, Tokoyami-kun, can you fly too? You're the one with that bird spirit quirk, right? I bet you can transform it into a pair of wings and soar around the sky like an eagle. Oh hey, we should start a flying club. Wouldn't that be awesome?!"
Something about what the girl said made the raven headed teen pause for a moment. Admittedly, Midoriya had the exact same question. If anything, Tokoyami more than likely had some trick up his sleeve that would grant him some level of aerial ability. He didn't know much about the boy besides his quirk. But he was definitely one of strongest amongst the first years in his opinion.
"What about you guys?" Tetsutetsu asked the other two 1-A students.
"I haven't decided yet, gero."
"Actually...I'm planin' on going to Ingenium's agency." Uraraka announced a bit nervously. "He asked me a while ago if I would like to work under him and his team. And it's too good of an offer to refuse."
Yet another surprise to add to the list for the 1-B students. Of course everyone was well aware of the situation concerning the famed Idaten Agency. With their flagship hero permanently out of commission and the wouldbe heir having been killed by Stain, there were more than a few questions about what direction the group would take in the future. But it was nice to see that they were still continuing hero operations for the time being.
From what they knew, Uraraka was probably the closest to the now deceased Tenya Iida out of everyone in 1-A. So it made sense that Ingenium would make her an offer. Their group dynamic was pretty much flawless and she would definitely make a good addition to the team.
"Man, you guys are so awesome!" Hadou cheered before everyone went back to their food.
-(o)-
Soon enough, lunch came to an end and the students were all on their way back to class.
"Izu-kun, Tokage-chan!" Hadou shouted at the two greenettes.
"Yeah?"
"What are you two doing this weekend?" The blunette asked somewhat impatiently.
"Nothing much." Tokage answered. "Why?"
"How would you guys like to go on a double-date with me and Yuyu this Friday? I've been wanting to do one for a while now and I think it'd be a lot of fun. You think so too, right? What do you say?"
"Seriously?" The green haired girl gave her a surprised look.
"Yeah!"
It suddenly occurred to Midoriya that he completely forgot about Hadou's girlfriend mentioning that to him a couple of weeks ago. With all the craziness surrounding the exams, it totally slipped his mind. The boy then glanced over at his girlfriend who was also giving him a curious look.
"Where do you plan on going?"
"There's this new Korean barbeque place that opened up not too far away from the school. They're having a special where you get half-off if you bring a group of four or more people. Yuyu's been wanting to check it out for a while now. Tamaki-kun and Mirio-kun won't be able to make it, so the two of you are the next best thing. Sounds awesome, right?"
Tokage took a moment to think about this proposal. It had been a while since her and Midoriya had been on an actual date. And now that exams were over, this was the perfect chance to make up for lost time. On top of that, she was certainly a fan of Korean barbeque. So that was just an added benefit. "Sounds like a good idea to me." She said with her signature toothy grin.
"Yeah, I think it would be a lot of fun." Midoriya followed up.
"Awesome! I'll text you the details later. See you guys later!" The blunette gave them one final wave before heading in the opposite direction to her class. Leaving the young couple to do the same.
"I'm kinda looking forward to this. We haven't gone out in a while."
"Yeah." The boy nodded.
Tokage was quick to grab him by the hand and begin leading him towards the class. They still had plenty of time before the bell rang, so they were no way in a rush.
"That reminds me...we're still going to the orphanage on Saturday, right?"
"Yeah, I already got the green light from Kan-sensei and Kosai-san is fine with it. Unohana-san is even going to be there since classes don't start for him until next week."
"Cool." Was her short reply. Actually, this was more than cool. This was the perfect chance for her to bring up a topic that had been plaguing her mind all week. "Hey, since we're on the subject. Can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"Brain-Boy isn't cutting himself anymore, is he?"
That question was enough to make Midoriya freeze in place. For a couple of seconds, he simply stared at her in bewilderment before she continued talking. "I first noticed it that time you helped him out during our internships. Plus he's almost always in long sleeve shirts. I don't plan on asking him about it or anything, but I was just curious."
"N-no, he's not doing it anymore." Midoriya replied rather easily. "He stopped a while ago. Before I met him."
"Good." She nodded. "I was worried for a second. That's not really something people should be doing."
"Y-yeah…." Midoriya nervously agreed.
"I remember reading something about self-harm stuff a while ago. Most of the time it's people who are really depressed and need some kind of release from all the stress in their life. Considering the fact that he used to get harassed in school, I'm really not surprised."
"Yeah...I-I can't really argue with you there."
Tokage quickly glanced down at the boy's abdomen before catching herself and looking back at him. "Have you ever felt like doing something like that before? I know you used to go through something similar before you did the whole homeschool thing."
"No, I can't say that I have." He answered rather quickly. Something about the way that she asked him that seemed odd to him. Almost like it was a loaded question and she was expecting some kind of answer.. 'Does she…?'
"Okay." The girl simply shrugged. "Y'know, if you ever need someone to talk to about anything. Or just need to get something off your chest, I'm here for you."
"Thanks, but I'm fine. I'm past that part of my life. So you don't need to worry."
"Cool." Was all Tokage said before detaching her head from her shoulders and planting a few quick pecks on his lips.
"No PDA in the halls, you two! Hurry up and get to class!" The voice of Snipe randomly came from out of nowhere. Forcing the two teens to straighten up and rush back to their classroom before the bell rang.
Later that afternoon once classes were finally done for the day, the majority of the 1-B students were all lounging about in the common area.
"Really, Hadou-senpai asked you about doing your work study with Ryukyu?" Midoriya asked Tsunotori as the two powered their way through their literature homework.
"Yeah, totally crazy right? I ran into her on the way back to the dorms and the two of us just started talking. Next thing I knew, she offered to put in a good word for me with Ryukyu." The horned teen answered excitedly.
"Well that's awesome. I'm happy for you."
"Thanks!"
"Hey guys…" Yanagi interjected from across the table. "Can we please stick to Japanese while we're doing our homework?"
"Oh yeah, sorry." The two apologized.
"It's cool."
On the other side of the room, Tokage, Tetsutetsu and Awase were doing their math homework. Or more accurately, Tokage was doing her best to help the two boys out while they struggled to figure out exactly what they were doing.
"So you're going to ask that Amajiki dude to let you talk to Fatgum?" The green haired teen asked her childhood friend.
"Hell yeah I am!" The 'steel' quirk user replied. "You know Fatgum's one of my top five favorite heroes. Why wouldn't I jump at the chance to do a work study with him? And Amajiki seems like a cool dude. I'm sure he'd put in a good word for me."
"Well, I'm rootin' for ya'. Just try and make sure that you don't end up failing any classes because of this. I can't guarantee that I'll be able to help you out as much if we're all doing work studies. And your mom would be pretty pissed if I let you fall behind." She told him.
In all honesty, Tokage should've seen this coming. Tetsutetsu has been a fan of Fatgum ever since elementary school. She never really understood why he liked him so much. Only that it had something to do with the fact that they both had to eat to get stronger and that the BMI hero punched people really hard. So it wasn't a surprise to her that he was going to do everything that he could to work under him.
"Don't worry about it." The boy waved off.
Things continued on as normal for the next fifteen minutes or so before Monoma, Kamakiri and Tsuburaba came running down the stairs. The three boys were all wide-eyed and almost looked to be out of breath.
"Hey, have you guys seen the news yet?!" Tsuburaba asked the rest of the class.
"What's going on?" Kendou asked.
"Look!" The boy almost shoved his phone right into the orange haired teen's face.
Kendou examined the mobile device for a brief moment before her own eyes blew open. Prompting the rest of the students to become much more interested in what was going on.
"Well don't keep us in the dark. What's up?" Tokage said impatiently.
"They caught the 'Hero Killer'!"
"What?!" The entire building almost erupted.
"Oh, thank the lord!" Shiozaki clasped her hands together in joy after receiving what was certainly some delightful news. No one had forgotten what happened to their classmate at the start of the school year. And hearing that the man who ended his life was now behind bars was a massive relief.
Kamakiri was quick to pull out his own cell phone and walked right over to Midoriya. Wasting no time in showing his fellow green haired student the JNN article. "You might want to take a look at this."
Midorya grabbed the device from Kamakiri's hand and began scrolling through the article. The rest of the class started surrounding him, so for the sake of time he chose to read it out loud.
"Early this afternoon in west Tokyo near Minato Ward, the serial killer commonly referred to as "Stain" was apprehended after making yet another attempt on a hero's life. The man has been wanted for the assaults and murders of over sixty-five heroes and sidekicks over the course of the last year…." He said.
"Who took him down, shroom?" Komori asked. Presumably speaking for everyone else.
"Keep reading!" Kamakiri demanded.
Midoriya was quick to comply before continuing on. "After receiving an alert signal, police and nearby heroes responded to the call. Details about the situation are still unclear as of yet. But from what information has been gathered, the pro hero who apprehended the villain was….Holy shit!"
~Earlier That Day~
When Fubuki Katsuragi woke up this morning, she thought that she was just going to have a regular and uneventful day. Her schedule was primarily filled with the administrative duties that came with running her own hero agency. Along with a quick trip to west Tokyo for a short meeting with the president of the HPSC. However, it looked like she was going to have to put her meeting on hold for the time being.
"Damn you, you false hero!" Stain, also known as the 'Hero Killer', shouted at the green haired woman as she wrapped a nearby fence around his body.
"Thanks Blizzard. If it wasn't for you, I'd be dead by now." Air-Jet, the "Buster Hero", said to her in a grateful tone as he continued to patch up the wound on his left leg.
"Don't worry about it." She replied. "I'm just glad that I decided to take a shortcut to the HPSC Headquarters building."
True to her word, the green haired heroine just so happned to be flying over the city when she caught sight of Air-Jet laying in a nearby alley in a pool of his own blood. Naturally the woman was quick to rush to his aid and showed up just in time to save him from what was sure to be certain death. Much to her surprise, she found herself standing face-to-face with someone who the police and heroes had been trying to track down for months. The infamous "Stain".
"I've heard that this man has some sort of paralysis quirk. Is that how he got you?"
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure it's activated by blood. I saw him lick some of mine after he stabbed me. Then my body completely froze up." The Buster Hero explained.
Blizzard was quick to turn their attention back to the captured villain. "Well...I guess today just wasn't your day. If it was anybody else besides me, you might've gotten away. But I don't need to move my body to use my quirk."
"Silence you fake!" Stain barked back at her. "I know who you are, you're one of those 'Psychic Sisters'. You may have only recently started to clean up your act, but you're just like all the rest of them! All you care about is fame and recognition!"
"I'll admit that popularity used to be a priority of mine back when I was younger. But I haven't cared about stuff like that for a couple of years now. However, I will not tolerate being talked down to by a psychopathic murderer." The woman countered.
"If you think that these restraints can hold me, then you're sorely mistaken!"
"Yeah, yeah, tell it to the cops." Air-Jet interjected after finally standing back on his feet. "I just sent the emergency signal out on the 'HN', the police will be here in a couple of minutes."
"Good." The woman nodded. "Well 'Hero Killer', it looks like this is your last day as a free man. You've built up quite a name for yourself. And I can assure you that you will not be seeing the light of day any time soon."
"Damn you!" Was all the masked man bothered to say before a crew of police officers and heroes showed up to the scene. He was quickly put into the back of an armored vehicle and taken away to the nearest precinct.
"Good job, Blizzard. We can all sleep a bit sounder tonight knowing that this maniac is finally off the streets." One of the police officers said to her in a grateful tone after taking her statement.
"I was just doing my job."
"Y'know, the hero rankings are going to be coming out pretty soon. I wouldn't be surprised if this gave you a massive boost."
"I'm not concerned about stuff like that." She waved off.
"Well thank you anyway. You're free to go. Our office will send the paperwork to your agency to be processed once we're done. Have a wonderful rest of your day, ma'am."
"You too."
When all that was said and done, Blizzard wasted no time in going about her business. Although she certainly felt proud of herself for finally bringing that sword-wielding maniac to justice. A part of her knew that she should expect some unwanted attention from the press pretty soon. It hadn't quite dawned on her that she just captured one of the most wanted criminals in the country yet. But once the news caught wind of this, the reality of what she had just done will certainly seep in.
'I should probably give Lily and the others a heads up about this.' She thought before her mind wandered over to her late sister. 'Hmm, is this what onee-chan felt like when she took down Moonfish? Probably not. Actually, I wonder what Izuku will say about this when he finds out?'
With that, the woman took off in the direction of her original destination. Thinking about how cool she was going to look to her younger brother once the news of this finally broke.
A/N: First of all, let me start off by saying that I'm shocked that this story now has over a thousand followers. Apparently, it's been this way for a while and I'm just now noticing it. So thanks to everyone who's been reading and keeping up with this fic!
1. So yeah, the work studies are going to be switched up quite a bit. I guess the biggest surprise is that Uraraka will be doing her's with the Idaten Agency. There's a reason for that, but I'll keep that a secret for now. Like I said before, this story is a 1-B focus, but I plan on making sure that the 1-A guys get some love.
2. Next chapter will be the double-date/orphanage visit. Then after that we're getting into the heavy stuff. I don't know how long the work studies will last. But I'm going to try and condense it to about four or five chapters. And I'm pretty sure that you guys can already guess what this arc will be about.
3. I've decided that I'm going to switch up the joint training arc as well. It's going to be a mix between the one in canon and a "school vs school" competition. One of my friends at work floated this idea to me and I kinda like it. What non-U.A. students do you want to see make an appearance in the story? And who do you want them to go up against. I already have a couple of ideas. But I wanted to see who you guys would like.
Like always, thanks for reading and don't be afraid to leave a comment/review to let me know what you think.