Chapter 76

His friends were currently fighting against his onslaught of Grimm.

It was a battle that he was losing, but then again, he had plenty of friends and not quite enough Grimm. Something that still surprised him to that day. Either way, it was the perfect way for training to go, because it meant his creatures were destroyed and he had to work on creating more and doing so faster. Furthermore, it allowed his friends to not be quite so overwhelmed and let them try new things instead of trying to play it safe against difficult odds.

Everyone won, really, and Kazuki was happy to see that.

'It's becoming easier,' he thought, although he wasn't too certain. The speed at which he created Grimm was increasing, he was pretty sure, but it was so slight a change, so gradual, that he couldn't help but doubt. 'Hmm, thinking about it, I should ask one of the others to check with a chronometer. Then I can keep track of the progress,' he thought to himself.

He probably should have thought of that before.

Alas, it was a little late for that and he didn't want to interrupt the training for that. He could just ask once things were done and then continue checking every so often. There was no rush and no pressure. It was nice, to be able to attend school without anything looming in the distance for once. No situation reveal, no Sports Festival, no press. Just normal life, or as normal a life as he could ever hope to have, at least.

Kazuki was quite happy with things then and there.

The most pressing thing at the moment were the end of term tests. That seemed to be a big deal for his friends and classmates. Class 1-A and 1-B were both working to prepare for them and such, but Kazuki… Wasn't too worried. He was confident in his grades. Sure, he could improve, but he was pretty sure he could pass and do so well. 'I feel like my sense of pressure has been sort of messed up,' he mused to himself as he continued turning his friends' anxiety into Grimm for them to fight.

Sure, the tests were important and all… but they just weren't quite as scary as the things he'd had to deal with so far. Starting classes at U.A. as a guy with a body count. Having to hide who he was from his friends. Telling them the truth. Revealing himself to the world during the Sports Festival. Needing to do well in said competition. His mother's interview. Dealing with the press. All those things had been much more scary than some school tests.

At least the written ones.

There'd been increasingly more prevalent comments about how there was a practical part to their final tests for the term. The interesting part was that there wasn't anything quite confirmed about it. They had absolutely no idea about what that part would be. Thus, Kazuki could just continue to train as best as he could, just like he had so far, really.

Maybe it was arrogant of him, but he thought that if he failed the practical, then either he'd have been screwed over or plenty of the others would fail too. He was among the best in all areas, after all. Not quite the best in any of them, he felt, but he had most bases covered. Quirkless fight, regular fight, land and air movement, defense, attack, detection and so on, all of it was stuff that he could do.

'Nothing to worry about,' he told himself, eyes scanning his spar partners and checking if any of them was particularly tired. They were getting there, it seemed. 'Will have to end things soon.'

Sure enough, when things started to spiral after the first of them messed up, his Grimm quickly gained the upper hand. Not that it felt like a victory. If they'd really pressed their advantage at the start, with their numbers and strength, they could have beaten him. That wasn't the goal of the exercise anyway.

"Good job, everyone!" he called, moving to pick up some water bottles with Hagakure. She'd been the one on spray duty, as usual. She didn't quite have as strong combat capabilities as everyone else, so she usually offered to be the one in charge of knocking him out if things got out of control.

Something that he was happy to note hadn't happened and calls to get himself under control were rarer and rarer too.

"You did great too," the invisible girl commented when everyone had a towel and something to drink. "What's in the schedule now for Monster Daddy?"

"Ugh, you too?" he asked, giving the girl a flat look. For whatever reason, she seemed to gain an uncomfortable feeling that she usually did around him. His best guess was that he was being successful in looking at her eyes and she wasn't used to that. Otherwise, he had no idea.

"Blame your own reactions," she replied, recovering pretty quickly. She was getting better at dealing with that, evidently. "They are just too amusing not to go for it."

"You all suck," he grumbled under his breath, but there was little actual annoyance there. Things were pretty good those days, actually, at least when he wasn't getting paranoid for nothing. So, all in all, Kazuki could say that he was pretty happy.

He'd try to enjoy it while it lasted.

[}-o-{]

"Ok, give me a sec," he said, raising a hand and rubbing his eyelids with the other. The spots stubbornly clung to his vision though, but that was expected. He couldn't do anything other than wait for the effect to go away. "That's really annoying, no matter how many times we do this," he commented with a wry smile.

"Sorry," Hagakure replied, but he waved her off. Part of her training was using her slight light control in a combat situation. So, since he was the best Quirkless fighter in their group, he had offered to be the one to help her with that. That way, she could work on that without the pressure of Quirks and such.

There was also the fact that she needed to train while actually being invisible, and that meant either going naked or using her costume. Now, the school didn't usually allow costume usage other than spares, props or practice versions. However, they were making an exception for Hagakure, since she couldn't really get any of those to replace her costume. She only had the one and it was a work in progress too.

So… that was another reason not to put her against a Quirk. Kazuki had no way of damaging the thing Quirklessly unless he really tried, which he wouldn't.

"Water?" the invisible girl offered, breaking him from his thoughts. Blinking, he took the bottle, noticing that his vision was returning… a little bit. "Again, sorry."

"Stop apologizing. You gotta practice somehow, right? And we don't really apologize when we beat each other up, do we?" he pointed out, taking a gulp from the bottle and feeling it bringing some life to him. Still, that training session had been kind of long, between the flashbang testing with Hagakure and everything else. After a moment of thought, he brought the water up again and splashed his face with it. "Ah, much better," he groaned, running his free hand over his face and then through his hair.

"Uh, I guess you are right," the girl muttered, some embarrassment reaching him, which made him chuckle and shake his head. "Shut up," she muttered, giving his shin a light kick.

"So, you wanna continue or are we done now?" he asked, putting his bottle down and stretching a little. It was mostly to kill some time while he waited for his eyes to start working properly again, but it was also because his muscles were kind of complaining already.

"Yeah, I think that's enough," Hagakure replied, still a little out of sorts, but there was exhaustion beside her embarrassment, he noticed. It'd been pushed aside for a moment, but it'd come back with a vengeance. It wasn't the usual weariness though. 'Mental exhaustion? Her Quirk does probably need a lot of focus, I guess,' he noted to himself. "What was that, fifty-fifty ratio?" she asked, some dejection bleeding into her feelings and her voice.

"That's a pretty good ratio, isn't it? You got that far really quick. You'll get the hang of it in no time, I'm sure," he reassured, moving carefully as he tried to read her position through her emotions. It was tricky. It wasn't like his negativity sensing gave a detailed shape of the person's body, but he got some info from that.

Pain came from wherever the pain was located, and he'd gotten a few solid hits in. Regular emotions usually came from the head, but there were some that bled into the body too. Like the throat in the usual knot feeling or the chest or even the stomach. He'd been working on trying to use all that to better hone his sense and…

He was fairly sure that he patted Hagakure's back well.

"That was your back, right? Please tell me it was your back," he said, a little nervously. He didn't know what else could be. It couldn't be her chest – … obviously –, but maybe it could be her arm. He didn't think so.

"... Oh! Um, I, yeah, that's right," she answered, evidently very surprised. He was confused for a second, but before he could process that, she continued talking. "I think that's the first time someone has been able to do something like that when I'm completely invisible," she muttered, so lowly and quietly that Kazuki barely caught all of the words.

"Glad I didn't screw up," he replied with a grin.

"So, um, I think we are done now? Not sure if you want to keep training or not…" she mumbled, shifting on her feet. Or, at least, he thought she was, trying to continue reading her body through emotions. The actual feelings were a bit jumbled, so they weren't very helpful at the moment. Nothing was too strong though, so he wasn't worried.

"Nah, I think I'm done," he all but sighed, pondering the merits of just dropping to the ground and staying there for a few months. Alas, he had shit to do, he supposed. "Might as well do something I've been putting off," he mused out loud, but he felt so lazy at the moment…

And there was also the fact that he didn't really want to do it. Being allowed to procrastinate felt like a great luxury at that very moment. There was no rush and no problem looming in the distance. At least, not close enough for him to actually see it. However…

"Yeah, I should," he decided, deflating.

"Do I wanna know?" Hagakure asked, curious and also amused by his reaction to his own thoughts. "Come on. You aren't going to leave me hanging, are you?"

"I don't know. Am I?"

"Kazuki~!"

"Now, if you'll excuse me," he said, ignoring her whine and walking away. There was an even more frustrated protest behind him, but he quickly got over that. His new goal was in sight already and he needed to put himself together beforehand. He had a feeling that things would get very worrying very soon… for him, at least.

"Do you have a minute, Chikuchi?" he asked, making the girl turn to look at him.

"Uh, sure, what do you need, Boss?" the General course student – for the moment, that is. He still held onto hope – asked back.

"There's just something you might be able to help me with," he answered, bringing a hand up to run it through his hair. He was already nervous and he hadn't even gotten anywhere close to the hard part. Just his luck. "So, I've heard some things about the General course, and I thought you might be able to lend me a hand."

Now that seemed to catch her attention even more.

[}-o-{]

"And the director just wouldn't call it a day!" the woman whined in his ear through his phone. "The shot was fine, but noooo. One more try, with more feeling. Pretty sure he was trying to make the movie a comedy with how over the top he wanted the acting."

"How'd you escape that?" he asked, not quite genuinely curious or interested, but the least he could do was hear Maeda out. She put up with a lot of shit for him, including hearing about his problems, so the least he could do was listen to hers.

"Had to pull a string or two, but we managed to convince him that the scene was fine," she told him. She sounded tired to his ears, but before he could comment on that, she continued. "And now I'm going for an ad shoot. I just want to be laaaaazy right nooooow, pleaaaaase."

"Well, you did say that if we got most of our work done quickly that just meant more free time afterwards," he told her, getting a whine in response.

"You can't just throw my words back at me like that, Kazuki. That's not fair!" she protested like a child. It was kind of amusing to see – or hear, more like – a different side from his mentor. She'd never been shy about letting loose from time to time, but he guessed since they mostly saw her full on professional during the internship, it hadn't been quite as much. Kazuki had been witness to a lot more of that after that first week.

"Sure is," he replied mercilessly. "So, things are going well?"

"I keep telling you. You worry too much," she answered, letting go of her dramatic act and sighing exasperatedly. "It was a bit of a hassle, but things are fine. I'm not worried or stressed, so neither should you be in my stead. That's worse than useless," Maeda explained to him and he knew she was right. He just couldn't help it. "Be a little selfish for once and focus on yourself, Kazuki."

"I know, I know," he said, running his hands through his hair.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Maeda told him, clearly doubting his words. Not that he blamed her for that, really, especially since she wasn't wrong to do so. "On a different note, are you interested in participating in ads or movies?" she asked out of nowhere and he blinked.

His first instinct was to say no, not at all. However, he forced himself to actually think about it. Was he saying no because he wasn't interested, or was it because of something else? The answer was clear immediately to him. He was saying no because he didn't think he had half a chance to get into either of those things.

Kazuki was who he was and he knew nobody would be interested in featuring him in anything that worked off of getting attention.

"I don't know if I'm interested, honestly," he answered and he meant just that. Because he really wasn't. He didn't dislike the idea, but he wasn't sure he'd enjoy it, on account of… Well, everyone else probably hating it. "Do you think there's a chance of that happening?... And of people liking it?"

"It could happen, and people could like it," Maeda answered, and Kazuki appreciated the honesty. She didn't say they would like it, but they could like it. "I'm just trying to think of things you can do to improve your situation. I might be going a bit overboard. Tell me if it bothers you. I know you aren't used to… Well, any of this."

"It's…" he started before closing his mouth. Once more, he took a moment to consider that. It was something that Maeda had taught him, actually. To not answer questions impulsively if he could avoid it.

Did he want to be a public figure like Uwabami? Did he want to be on the news, talking with people, appearing in movies and ads and generally being face to face with the public all the time?... No, he absolutely did not. He wanted to have a normal life, spend time with his friends, enjoy his hobbies and do the job he wanted to do.

However, that was never really an option for him. At the very least, it hadn't been one since the Black Rampage. The public was already looking at him, and if they were going to do so anyway, then…

"No, I want to do this," he decided, taking a deep breath in and then letting it out. "Anything I have to do for people to like me, even the smallest bit more. Anything I have to do to have as normal a life as possible. Throw it my way, Maeda. Please, help me get that."

"It's settled then," she replied and there was an odd tinge in her voice. He couldn't place it and he wished he could be next to her so that he might get some idea through her emotions. "Be prepared, Kazuki, because I'll see this through one way or another. I have a million ideas and you are now under Uwabami's wing… or in her coils, I guess would work better."

"Was that a dad joke, because that was terrible," he said flatly. "And it ruined the moment."

"More of a mom jo-"

"Please… don't," he muttered, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Why did he keep association with this person again? Oh, right, PR help. Of course. "Speaking of helping me. There's something I wanted to talk with you about, actually," he added, looking at the ceiling of the training facilities.

Session was going a little long, but he was done already. Mostly, he was still there for a few reasons, none of which was training anymore. So, after having showered, he looked at his friends still going at it. He was so very tempted to join them, feeling like he should be there too, if they were working so hard.

Alas, he had to work on something else.

"Oh, do tell?" Maeda asked, obviously curious.

"So, I have a few doubts," he started with, opening a notebook he'd set beside himself on his lap and picking up a pencil. It was going to be a long few minutes, at the very least.

[}-o-{]

There was no use beating around the bush.

Once his call with Uwabami was finished, he'd gotten up, told his friends he was leaving and walked out of the training facilities. With any luck, he was still on time. Else, he'd have to wait until the next day. Not a real problem, but he wanted to get things done quickly. He knew what he needed to do, so the sooner he got things started, the sooner things would get done.

Admittedly, it was also because he didn't want to give himself time to chickening out.

Better to strike the iron while it was hot.

With every step, he went over what he'd talked with Uwabami. Occasionally, he had to take a moment to check his notes, but that wasn't done much. He'd prepared for that since before. He'd talked with the woman herself before that day. He'd talked with Inui too. He had the information he could get and the advice he could get.

That last talk with his internship mentor had been more about smoothing the rough edges of a plan that had already been worked on. Now, it was just a matter of actually going through it. There was time to back down though, of course, and that was the worst thing in the world at that moment.

There were little voices in the back of his mind that told him maybe he could take it easy. He could just sit back and enjoy himself for a bit more before diving into another "big step". Maybe he could prepare better, have a better idea of what he wanted to do and so on.

Kazuki ruthlessly silenced those voices.

They weren't wrong, not at all. However, he was sure that if he listened, it'd be so much harder to take that step forward. He was doing great and that was why he needed to keep going. He'd gotten the ball rolling now, so he needed to make sure it didn't stop. He needed to keep his momentum and continue taking strides, else he became stagnant.

Things were well, but that didn't mean they'd be well forever.

Maybe that was paranoid of him, maybe that was his issue with positive moments shining through, but Inui and Maeda had agreed with him on that. So, he decided to trust them more than he trusted himself. Being paranoid was bad, but being cautious and proactive was not. He needed to toe that line as best he could and, much to his relief, he wasn't alone in that endeavor.

"Taking it easy isn't a bad thing," Inui had told him. "But not allowing yourself to become stagnant is not either. If you want to do this and you aren't overdoing it, then keep going, Endo. Plus Ultra."

"Fortune favors the bold, Kazuki," Maeda had told him. "And opportunities present themselves to those who are prepared. Although, I guess, in this instance, you are going to grab those opportunities by yourself. Which I think is much better."

So, with their words in mind and his resolve properly solidified, Kazuki continued walking. His destination? The teacher's lounge. Failing that, he had a bunch of other places to look through. Which was good, because the teacher's lounge didn't work out. The entrance office of U.A. worked a little better. At least he got the information he needed to finally narrow down his search.

Resolutely, he stalked his way through the halls, this time sure of where he was going and that he'd find what he needed… Or rather, who he needed. 'Thank god they are still around,' he thought to himself. It was late, after all. Classes were over by quite a bit, since he'd had time to have a session with Inui and then go to the training facilities for quite a while.

Then again, he guessed if they weren't around still the situation would be quite different. It reassured Kazuki quite a bit, which he really needed. Still, all the information he had pointed to good chances, but none of that mattered if he couldn't nail what came next.

He needed to approach the conversations that would come next like his big interview. That thought was what made him stop when he was close by. There, he pulled on his emotions, his anger, boredom, pessimism and doubt. All of it worked to hone his mind, push away unnecessary emotions like nerves or fear and help him focus on what he needed to do.

Taking a deep breath in, he checked that his hold on his emotions was good. He did the same once he started walking again and then when he went back to going over what he needed to say and how he needed to act. His hold on the emotions was good enough. He still needed to perfect it though, but it'd do.

Taking another deep breath in, he pushed open the door and walked in.

Immediately, one of his targets stopped and looked up. They were all there, which made the smile he plastered on his face a little less fake. Another one of them noticed his arrival a moment later and Kazuki felt his trepidation. That wasn't good, but it also wasn't unexpected. The third hadn't noticed him yet, but that was fine.

"Hello," he greeted simply. He didn't need fancy speech, just solid speech. Things would depend more on how he presented himself than on the prose he used. "You are Futo Nagashira, Komako Masu and Ronaudo Keage, right?" he asked, catching the three off guard immediately. He wondered if that was because he knew their names at all, because of who he was or because of something else… or a combination of things. "From the Management course?"

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

A fair bit of training and yet another step in Kazuki's journey. Also, finally have someone from the Management course. Now Kazuki has met people from all courses of U.A. That should be an achievement of some kind, I'm sure.

[Achievement Unlocked: Complete the UAdex!]

There we go.

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.

As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:

P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing

Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Any guesses as to what's going on?

See you.