Hey everyone! Glad you all enjoyed the last chapter!

Now, a fair number of you were mentioning that I forgot about Izuku's blue healing fire. I assure you, I did not. :D

A lot of you also really enjoyed my Yu Yu Hakusho idea. I may or may not try something with that one at some point. No promises. I actually have a short prologue-ish outline created for it, but nothing beyond that. I may do a pilot chapter just to get it out of my head, but I really would like to focus on a single story per fandom before I end up with another Crush situation.

Huge shout out to The Sinful for creating a TV Tropes page for this fic! Cheers buddy! You all can find it under fanfic / theemeraldphoenix. AO3 readers can just click this link: /Fanfic/TheEmeraldPhoenix

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Chapter IV: Halcyon Days and A Phantom Menace

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"Midori, Inasa, are we going to have our first big group training today?" Mina asked cheerfully later that day. "You guys have any ideas for what we could do?" All classes for the day were done now, and they had all been let go for the day. After such a fun day of Hero training, Mina was all fired up and still raring to go.

"I don't see why not!" Inasa yelled in much the same manner, "The earlier we start and get an exercise regime set up, the easier it'll be to maintain it!"

"I-I was actually thinking we could take it a bit easier today, and just do some lighter training." Izuku surprised them with that statement. Still, he kept on smiling despite the confused looks he got in return, "We hardly know each other and how our powers do and don't work, especially in terms of endurance. I f-figure it'll be easier to learn how to help each other if we g-get to know e-each other first!"

"A very astute observation, Midoriya-kun!" Iida threw his two yen into the pile, "A group session getting to know one another's abilities would be a huge boon in helping each other overcome our limitations!"

"We are a fairly big group though, Iida-chan." Tsuyu croaked from his side, "Do we have any ideas of where we could go? Kero, kero."

At those words Momo started bouncing happily, a small flush of happiness on her face, "Oh, we could always go to my home! We have plenty of space to practice in too!" She was practically vibrating from excitement. 'Coming to this school had been her best decision ever! I feel like I finally have friends!'

"Oooaah! Really, Yaomomo?" Mina started to match the black-haired girl in glee, "That would be pretty sweet! I can't wait to see your house!"

"Oh, I should call Mother and have her open up the hall!" Momo continued, not noticing how several of her classmates seemed to have a brain freeze moment as they contemplated the word 'hall.' "What kind of tea are you all partial to? We always drink Harrod's or Wedgewood!"

'Harrod's and Wedgewood Tea?!' Inasa'a – and several others – eyes started bugging out at that, recognizing the words if not the brand of tea.

"Oh, but if you have any preferences please let me know and we can send out one of the butlers to pick some up!" Momo went on obliviously, her bounciness actually intensifying as she thought about bringing so many friends home.

'BUTLERS?!'Ochaco had the strangest look on her face as she stared at the beautiful girl, a sudden thought occurring to her. 'W-w-wait! Is Yaomomo 'rich' rich?'

'I tried to hit on her?!' Kaminari almost started to panic.

Several of the others were just smiling blankly and nodding, choosing to focus on how giddy the girl was acting instead. Mina in particular was internally giggling at how warm and fuzzy Momo was acting, 'It's like she casually slapped me with the differences in how we were born but she's so cute and adorable I don't even care.'

'T-too cute!' Izuku blushed helplessly as he stared in her direction.

"Well, that's the where settled!" Inasa took charge, "We should get going before we burn too much daylight! We do still have classes tomorrow after all!"

"Ah!" Momo snapped out of it, "Right! I'll phone ahead so that they'll be expecting us! Hopefully there's enough room in the car." She mumbled to herself as she stepped away momentarily.

"It's going to be a limo isn't it?" Kaminari asked flatly.

Yes. Yes, it was.

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Practically everyone who had decided to join them for this training time was sitting incredibly stiffly around the truly massive cherry wood table in Momo's dining hall. Only a couple of them were able to relax in the slightest, and even then they were nervous and rather terrified of damaging anything as expensive as literally everything around them looked to be. There was even a damned chandelier above them and the entire compound was gigantic. All of them were super intimidated.

"I hope everyone is comfy!" Momo said cheerily as she walked in, pushing a cart with a dozen teacups and multiple kettles, "Please, make yourselves at home!" the rich girl was so happy she was actually sparkling.

The sparkly arrival immediately defused a lot of the nervous tension in the room by sheer adorable overload, with the group thought of 'S-so cute!' Once everyone had taken at least some sips of the admittedly-delicious tea, they settled around the table for their discussion.

Izuku – valiantly holding back a blush – somehow found himself seated between Momo and Mina, both of whom had gone straight for him. "So, I figure that we could just talk about our Quirks and things we've tried with em!" Mina grinned at the rest of them, "I'm sure all of us have things that we've tried and failed at! I had a bunch of accidents burning through my clothes when I was younger! Wahaha!" She let out a cheery laugh at the thought, not noticing Izuku go slightly redder.

"S-sure, that sounds g-great Mina!" Izuku managed to get out without much stammering, though it was obvious he was still nervous. "How about I start then, since it was my idea initially?"

"Of course!" Momo smiled brightly at him, "The floor is yours, Izuku-san!"

Izuku smiled and leaned back, before his grin turned surprisingly mischievous, 'Well, my Quirk is called Phoenix Force! You all already know that makes me a psychic.'

Several gasps rang out around the table because Izuku had not moved his lips an inch, yet they heard his voice loud and clear! "Wow, you really are a psychic! You can talk telepathically!" Momo exclaimed, clapping her hands. Inwardly she was thinking through the implications of that, and suddenly became very thankful that Izuku wanted to be a hero so much.

"You'd totally be able to get around my Quirk without even trying." Kyōka looked a little irritated at the thought, "Even I can't hear you if you don't say anything."

Tokoyami leaned forward, his voice rumbling, "Does that mean you can also read our minds?"

Several of them stiffened as they all reached the same conclusion Momo had a second ago, looking at the boy a little uneasily.

Izuku nodded, "I can. Well… barely. I can feel emotions, but any more than that I consider a huge invasion of privacy. I have basically zero practice with it because of that and would never even try to do it unless I need to. That was how I knew Aizawa-sensei was lying about the expulsion thing. He just hadn't felt like a liar when I skimmed his emotions."

"That is a little scary Midoriya-chan, but I think you're a good person, so I think you wouldn't abuse it, kero." Tsuyu threw out, smiling gently at him.

Izuku smiled back, touched at her trust, "Never! Like I said, I'd only use it as a last resort."

"Hmmm, that ain't good though. You'd have like mad advantages against any Villains you were fighting if you used it more often" Camie threw out, "I'm not saying to start digging around in our heads during the day, but you should totes be practicing it during Hero Classes."

"Agreed." Tokoyami said with a sharp nod in her direction, "Moreover, if you practice it more maybe you'll be able to do large-scale coordination tactics, linking the minds of many heroes into a single interconnected team."

"Huh…" Izuku looked touched at their trust in him, and at the fact they weren't decrying his ability like he had feared they would, "I guess I never thought of it like that. My telepathy was always more a byproduct of what I saw as my real Quirk. You… you guys would really trust me to do that?" He asked, his voice once more giving away how unsure of himself he was.

Mina latched onto his arm, making him jump with a squeak, "Of course we trust ya, Midori! Just the fact that you're telling us about it is enough for me. You didn't have to do it." She grinned widely at him, "You shouldn't be afraid of being the best Hero you can be! That's why we're all here, yeah? So don't hesitate to improve! Now, what other things can you do? With that little reveal I'm super hyped up! We know you can fly – how fucking badass is that anyway? -" Mina skillfully ignored Iida being a fuddy-duddy at her language as she went on, "- and can do force blasts that hit like All Might's punches on top of it! Plus, you have that awesome sword technique! Its super cool!"

Izuku went red at the praise, "T-thank you, M-Mina! Let's see… I can move things telekinetically – myself included. You saw that in the battle trial after Kaminari-san managed to electrocute me – and I have some abilities with fire too! My blue fire can heal my injuries-"

"Wait what?!" The whole room exploded at that, "That's too overpowered!" Kaminari yelled, pointing at him with a shaking finger, "Why the hell didn't you use it in our fight then, huh?"

"That's such an amazing Quirk!" Mina – and Kirishima too – were crying crocodile tears, "It's so cool! I'm too jealous!" She sobbed theatrically as she clutched onto his shoulder, making him go rigid as he felt two very soft somethings press into his arm. "Share with me, Midoriiiii~!" She play-wailed.

"W-well!" Izuku cleared his throat as he tried to get his face under control. Mina was so cuddly, and he was just not used to that. Heck he still wasn't used to talking to girls period, much let having one want to be this close to him, "Healing myself takes up a lot of energy. And the bigger or more widespread the injury is, the more stamina it costs. An electrocution is… kind of a fully body injury I guess? And you got me multiple times. I would have been exhausted trying to heal myself. Plus, the flames would have blocked my vision since they would have been covering my entire body. You would have just gotten me again while I was trying to heal myself. I thought that puppeting myself was just a better use of my powers. Back when I first developed my Quirk, I actually couldn't use it without getting injured. It took me a fair while to learn how to call it up whenever I wanted, and even longer to learn to suppress it if I thought it would be a bad time to use it."

He let out a nervous chuckle as several of them started nodding in understanding, "Though I guess I did forget about it once the match was over. I could have healed myself but let Recovery Girl do it instead. Probably a bad idea. Her Quirk tires me out even more than my own." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Hmm, if your powers are psychic, does that mean you share the same weaknesses?" Momo surprised them by asking, "A couple of old comics in my collection have characters with similar powers – though to be honest you don't use yours even remotely the way they do! I haven't even seen you use the Pstandard Psychic Pstance once yet!" Several of them almost choked as their image of Momo as a possible prim and proper ojou-sama was suitably destroyed, "-and knocks to the head tend to be more debilitating than normal."

Izuku froze in place, "Huh… I don't know. I've never been hit in the head before." Inwardly he mirrored some of the others with a, 'She's a comic fan?!' Although in his case it was more a squeal of joy. 'Maybe we can talk comics together sometime.'

Kyōka snarked, "Good thing you have that helmet in your costume then, huh?"

Izuku nodded, not at all mentioning that the helmet was only in his costume because of All Might's hairstyle. Nope. Not opening his mouth. No way. Instead, he changed the subject, "So, how about your Quirk, Momo-san?"

"Well, as you know I am able to create anything I know the molecular structure of." She smiled – though Izuku noticed that her lips and eyebrows had twitched a bit like she wanted to frown, as though she were disappointed for some reason – and went on, "Unfortunately, anything I make comes from my skin and is constructed using my lipids, so it does become a matter of surface area when I am using it. That is why my costume shows so much skin." She pouted a bit, "I wish it didn't have to be that way. It is fairly limiting, and I've ripped through a lot of costume designs."

There were several red faces around the table. Izuku though, surprisingly was not one of them. Instead, he noticed how down on herself Momo was getting. She dipped her head, "And my creation speed leaves a lot to be desired. I panicked and couldn't do anything useful during our ma-"

"Hey, that's not true at all." Izuku ignored his social awkwardness as best he could and laid a hand on her shoulder, firmly, "We went over this in class, didn't we? You were invaluable for your team. You made a fully functioning drone in a scant few seconds. You were able to create military-grade gear to locate and breach into a defended area. You were amazing, Momo-san."

Momo blushed a bit, "…I…I wish I had your confidence in my Quirk. But everything I try to make is just so slow. Unless it's incredibly simple I always take too long to prepare."

"Make something!" Izuku said. No commanded.

"Uhh!" Momo went wide-eyed at being put on the spot so suddenly. "I- make wh-"

"Make something!" He cut her off, making her jump in shock at the sudden aggression in his voice.

This time she didn't even stop to think and just reacted. One of her favorite matryoshka dolls popped out of her arm and landed on the table. They all stared at the tiny toy for a moment, before it rose into the air. It came apart and the many – exquisitely detailed – layers separated and revealed themselves. Izuku chuckled, "Momo, you made something this detailed on the spot. I didn't give you time to think or prepare. You just did it."

"I-" Momo cut off, staring at her doll for a moment, before she slumped, "It's not that simple. That was the very first thing I ever successfully created. It's one of my favorites."

Camie surprised them by jumping into the conversation at that point. "Like, why would that matter? Like, even if you're like, totally brilliant – which we all know you totes are – you're not a computer. You can't like, save the design in your memory, right? You're not a 3D printer. And even if you were, those things can like, take hours for really detailed things."

"Utsushimi-san-" Izuku started to say.

But the owner of the name instantly threw a weapons-grade pout his way and tried to correct him, leaning over the table to poke him in the forehead. "Ca-m-ie~! Say it with me, cutie. Camie-chan!"

Blushing hard, he acquiesced, "C-camie-c-chan is right. You're brilliant! But without a Brain-Type Quirk, there's just no way even someone as smart as you can actually be doing what you think you're doing. The way you're describing it makes it seem like you're doing it layer by layer, atom by atom. And that's crazy! Look at even this simple doll! You had to create five perfectly-sized-and-shaped shells. All of them already painted in all sorts of colors which is a bunch of different chemicals! And then create it all in the correct package, one within the other. Without me giving you a moment to think. In less than a second! That puts even the best fabricators to shame!"

He waved his hand vaguely towards the window trying to indicate UA and the match they'd fought earlier that day. "And then there was the drone! You created something with programming already installed! That's not something physical! Plus, there was that battery! You created something that was already holding an electrical charge! Something has to be going on which we're not seeing."

Momo was looking at him, her mouth open in a cute little 'o.' "I…" She looked at the doll, grabbing it out of the air gently with both hands and staring at it. She then pulled it into her chest and hugged it, looking a little lost, "I… I never thought about it that way. That, I…" she trailed off, overwhelmed.

"Holy cow Yaomomo!" Mina looked like she was having ideas. Momo's Quirk had so much potential that even she hadn't realized. 'Holy shit, she could totally be an anime protag! We totally have to dive into some comics and video games for ideas! If she can make an already-charged battery and a drone with actual programming already installed, what the hell can't she make? HOLY SHIT! WHAT IF SHE CAN MAKE A LIGHTSABER?' The pink-haired girl did not have a chance to shout her amazing idea out, because someone else was already speaking. She'd have to save it for later.

Ochaco on the other hand just sounded awed when she spoke up, "Your Quirk may be just as OP as Deku-kun's! I didn't even think about your drone actually needing programing." She stopped, and a strange expression ran across her face, "And wait a minute! If you're really using your fat cells to make everything, how are you not…" She paused, looking as if she was thinking carefully about what to say as her cheeks darkened a bit, "Okay, sorry Yaomomo, but it's gotta be said. How are you not like, 500 pounds? You made a cannon and a jaw of life without eating anything in between! Even if it was just the cannon, that's still a couple hundred pounds! I know we're not that far into physics yet but I'm sure we've all heard about conservation of mass!"

"I am suddenly no longer enjoying this conversation." Kaminari slumped, "You said the 'P' word." Most of them ignored him, though Mina shot him a commiserating look before focusing back.

"Not only that…" Iida sounded a bit nonplussed as he shifted the conversation back to what Momo had created instead of how she was doing it. Even he had more sense than to touch the 'conservation of mass' bit with a ten-foot pole. "The tablets you used would have needed programming to turn the film the drone was taking into useable data. Or in other words… a way to display the video. All of which also needed to already be charged."

"Screw 'might!' Your Quirk is just as powerful as my man's, Yaomomo! Wahahaha!" Inasa started to cackle in glee, "Oh, this group up was an awesome idea!"

The sheer belief her new friends had in her – as well as the absurdity of truth in the latter part of Ochaco's statement, which she was now kicking herself for overlooking – was starting to overwhelm the heiress, and some tears started forming at the edges of her eyes, "T-thank you so much." She clenched a fist and held it in front of her, "I won't let any of you down! I'll work night and day to make my Quirk as amazing as you all believe it to be!"

"We have your back, Momo-san!" Izuku gave her a thumbs-up, "We'll help you with whatever you need!" He then seemed to realize what he was saying and blushed once more. Momo saw and matched him both of them looking away and fidgeting slightly.

Mina smirked as she saw them, 'They're both too cute. I need to tease Midori more, and Yaomomo too!'

"I have a question, Jīrō-san." Tokoyami turned his attention to the purple-haired girl, wishing to help Izuku out before the girls closed in on him like so many sharks smelling blood. "How were you not effected by Kirishima-san's racket during your match? With the way we saw you using your Quirk, I thought it would have been a good way to overwhelm you. It must have taken quite a bit of training to overcome it."

Kyōka snickered, "Kyōka or Jīrō-chan is fine, dude, I'm not much for formality. And you're right, but not exactly for the reasons you're thinking. I love concerts and they're loud. I could never enjoy one if I couldn't learn to focus my Quirk properly. Let alone our classes with an asshole like Explody Pants around." She twirled her ear-jack as several of them deadpanned at her, grinning, "Plus, I do have a little help. Even if mom never became a Hero she still has an almost exact match with my own Quirk. She helped a lot. She taught me how to tune out certain noises entirely and amplify others. It took me only a couple seconds to dim Kirishima's racket down to a manageable level and also turn up the volume on Hagakure-chan."

"Wow, that's awesome!" Izuku's notebook was out again, "Can you do anything like Present Mic? I know you're able to project sounds like your heartbeat the way he does his voice, but have you tried to do other stuff like that?"

"Simple stuff only." Kyōka told him with a shrug, "You know, like Morse code and stuff like that. Unfortunately, I can't really do any complex sounds. Mic-sensei's Quirk is way more OP than mine."

"Ooh, what about your instruments?" Momo asked, latching on to the conversation, "I saw the way you were using your costume. You plugged both jacks into the speakers. What if you do one jack into an instrument and use yourself as an amplifier? Or even just connect to your music player. You could even do pre-recorded messages on your phone!" Kyōka stared at her, her jaw slightly unhinged. Momo kept smiling for a moment, before faltering, "Uhhh, Kyōka-san? Have I upset you in some way?"

"HOW THE FUCK DID I NEVER THINK OF THAT?!" Kyōka finally exploded, waving her arms up and down. Momo jumped in her seat, flinching slightly, "Gah, I'm such a-! Uggh!"

"Wahahaha! That's two out of three! This was such a great idea, my man!" Inasa gave Izuku a thumbs up as they watched Momo make a speaker for Kyōka, who immediately tried it with her player and started banging her head on the table when it worked perfectly. Momo patted her on the shoulder, starting to giggle a little helplessly followed by Camie and Mina.

Their talk continued late into the evening, and by the time everyone went home, they had barely done any practice at all. But they felt it was worth it, because everyone went to bed that night with either new technique ideas or new perspectives on their Quirks.

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What they all found on the way into school the next day tried even Izuku's patience. The school entrance was positively being mobbed by reporters and they were hounding the students. And not one of them looked to have learned the manners his mother had taught him when he was a child, getting into the student's faces and hounding them with questions one after another.

He glanced over at Kōda who was surrounded and looking like he was just barely staving off a panic attack. The large boy was waving his hands back and forth and looked to be sweating bullets. 'Is he claustrophobic?' he wondered as he pushed past the microphone in his face and marched forward. He never would have had the courage to follow through with this before his Quirk showed up and he befriended All Might and Inasa, "What are you all doing? Can't you see he looks uncomfortable?" He patted himself on the back for saying it all without stuttering, "Come on, Kōda-kun." He grabbed the boy and started gently pushing aside the reporters, only partially feeling any guilt when he had to nudge them with his Quirk on occasion.

"We just want to know about All Might!" One of them nearly showered him in spittle, looking like a rabid dog.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY!" He heard Kacchan's voice somewhere up ahead, as well as the familiar crackle of threatening pops from Explosion.

"We're all trying to get to class and you're going to make us late!" He heard Mina from his left, and he veered off with Kōda to join up with her.

Kirishima was there as well, giving him his fanged grin, "My man! How are you today, Midoriya?"

"I'll be better when we're in the building." Izuku muttered, clapping hands with the redhead. "Hey m-Mina!"

"Hey Midori!" She cheered immediately upon seeing him, "Man, these guys just won't get a clue, will they?"

"How does All Might look in front of the class?!" They twisted and saw an uncomfortable-looking Ochaco flexing at one of the cameras, though they couldn't hear what she was saying. Izuku veered off again and grabbed her, adding her to the clique.

"-Eminent educational institution. Beyond his obvious dignity and presence, he is also quite humorous. As we students are privy to observing his many facets…" They saw some reporters clearing away from Iida's voice, and boggled when they realized the studious boy had just kept on talking to nothing, not realizing they had left.

Mina started cackling loudly as she grabbed him, "Bwahaha, that was awesome dude! You actually bored them into leaving you alone! What a great plan!"

"H-how rude!" Iida looked shocked, "I was merely answering their questions diligently! Did they really just leave me standing there?"

Mina almost doubled over at that, laughing so hard she was almost crying. She hung off of Izuku, who was biting his lip at Iida's indignant look and having Mina pressing into him like this again. 'Oh god, is this going to be a daily thing? My heart can't take it.'

"Good work avoiding the idiots, you lot. Hurry to homeroom." Aizawa praised them once they reached the barrier. He passed them nonchalantly, and went straight up to the reporters, "All Might is off today. You're disturbing our students. Leave now, or be arrested for disturbing the peace, invasion of private property, and harassment of minors without parental consent."

The reporters started to clamor once more, "We just want an interview with the number one Hero! And why should we listen to someone who looks so shabby?"

Aizawa ignored them all, turning back around with his piece already said. He walked through the barrier, smirking when he heard it slam shut with a clang. 'Morons.' Their indignant groans were music to his ears.

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"Good work on the Battle Trials yesterday." Aizawa addressed his homeroom. He let his words of praise settle into their little mental worlds for a moment, before his eyes narrowed at them. Several students went stiff in their seats as his gaze turned to them. Aizawa glanced at Aoyama, Todoroki, Mineta, and Bakugo, holding their gazes for a moment each before going on. "For the most part. Several of you need to work on your egos as well as your teamwork. There were some pitiful performances yesterday. You know full well who you are." He speared a now-stiff Katsuki with his best glare, "And several of you had performances that were beyond pitiful. You all may have had no audio during the matches, but that was not the case for All Might and the rest of the faculty. We heard every word. Bakugo! The world doesn't revolve around you and until you make something of yourself, you are nothing I haven't seen and expelled a hundred times before. Grow up and stop wasting your talent before you see your dream explode in front of your eyes."

Katsuki's jaw clenched, but he was calmer now. More focused. "Got it." His rage had burned brightly for hours after they had been dismissed the previous day, until he was utterly exhausted. Only then did he start thinking back and trying to see where he had gone wrong. "Won't happen again."

"Good. See to it that it doesn't, or the best you can hope for is many, many remedial lessons." Aizawa stared at him for a moment longer, before moving on to Aoyama, "Aoyama, neither you nor your partner had abilities suited to tracking your enemies. Which is why the utter implosion in teamwork the two of you suffered was beyond simply illogical. You both actively sabotaged yourselves and each other. Do not think I did not notice you coincidentally almost hitting Bakugo with your laser. Shape up or you'll be shipped out too. Ego has no place here."

Aoyama was decidedly not sparkling today, and he wilted further at the dress-down. "Oui, sensei."

To the side, Katsuki's intense look got even more irritated as he had confirmation that the sparkly fake frog had actually been trying to hit him the previous day. Still, he took a breath and let it go. For now.

Aizawa nodded and turned to Todoroki, who surprised them all by standing, "Before you say anything, Aizawa-sensei, I would like to speak."

"Very well." Aizawa let him have the floor.

The heterochromic boy turned to Camie and Sero and bowed to each of them, deeply, "I apologize to your both. I overreacted above and beyond any reasonable scope and put a sour note on the exercise. I am very sorry for injuring you, Utsushimi-san."

"Hey dude, it's like… it's cool." She finished lamely. Camie looked a little uncomfortable surprisingly.

Todoroki straightened, "I would also like to apologize to the rest of you as well. I was arrogant and that was unbecoming of me. It will not happen again." The last part of his statement came at a slightly different tone. He sat back down.

"Very well." Aizawa nodded, pleased that at least one student had already learned his lesson. "We all were able to see you had realized your mistake as soon as it happened. You know what you did wrong and know what you have to fix. That is the reason we are being lenient. You will serve detention with me, and you still owe All Might that essay."

"Yes sir." Todoroki replied evenly, head still a little bowed.

Aizawa's eyes flashed red as he glared at Mineta, who squeaked in his seat, "In some ways, perhaps the worst performance of all of you was yours, Mineta. I seem to recall telling you at the end of the first day that the only reason you were not going home was that I saw a meager amount of potential in you. After watching that Battle Trial, I am forced to think that I wasn't quite clear enough. Allow me to clarify; another incident out of you and you're out. If you can't control your proclivities then you're never going to be anything of note, much less a Hero. Shape up or you're gone." Mineta was trembling in such terror he couldn't even speak, "Well?" Aizawa barked sharply.

"Y-yes sir!" The short boy managed to squeak out, only sagging in his chair once the attention turned away from him.

Aizawa glared for a moment longer, "And now that we have the more… egregious examples out of the way… Hagakure! You may not have gotten much chance to shine, but we all saw that you took the exercise seriously. And obviously, a day or two isn't enough to get you up to where we would like you. However, you're on the right track. Good work. Keep working hard and we'll make a Hero out of you yet."

"Yes sensei!" Hagakure sounded utterly relieved, and they could see her clothes slumping slightly in her seat.

Aizawa glanced back down to his papers, "The same goes for you, Kirishima. You displayed the right attitude during the battle, and correctly focused on the objective rather than your opponent. Excellent work. You need to improve your ability to deal with speedy opponents. You already saw that not everyone is going to want to sit and trade blows with you. Work on your planning and ability to work with others. You and Hagakure could not decide on a plan and made the worst move you could have made in your situation by splitting up. Two-on-two would have been a better match than two one-on-ones. Overcome your limits."

Kirishima banged his fists together, "You got it Aizawa-sensei!"

"Yoarashi! You obviously have the power and enthusiasm, but you need to learn when to calm down. You raced ahead of your partner which could have gotten him killed if you were facing real Villains. Not everyone is going to be capable of keeping up with you and you need to be more aware of that." Aizawa was past the point of any real irritation, so he didn't glare too much at the boisterous boy.

"YES, SENSEI!" Inasa stood and once again banged his head while bowing.

Izuku bit back a groan when he saw it. 'He's just going to start losing brain cells if he keeps doing that… Damn it Inasa…'

"Don't damage the desks." Aizawa deadpanned, causing Inasa to apologize profusely, "Moving on… Midoriya, mistakes like that can end promising careers. Don't do it again."

Izuku did not even have to ask what the teacher was talking about, "It almost cost us the match and was extremely painful. A hard lesson to learn, sensei."

"Other than that, you did a great job. Continue to grow and improve." Aizawa nodded to him before turning to Momo, "Yaoyorozu, Ashido already spoke to you about this. Make sure your assumptions are correct before you implement your plans with such confidence. That can get you hurt if you aren't careful."

She nodded but did not say anything in response.

Aizawa turned to Iida, "Iida, your plan with Uraraka was well-thought-out and implemented. However, you both went overboard once you had already secured your victory. There was no reason for you to keep engaging with your opponents once Uraraka removed the bomb and doing so got you captured. Uraraka also jumped in to save you once Bakugo turned your attack back at you. The both of you could have gotten flawless victories if you had known when to back off. Especially with the way those two were arguing with one another. The both of you need to learn to exercise better judgement in picking your battles."

"My sincerest apologies, sensei!" Iida stood and bowed deeply.

Aizawa held back an eye-roll, "Cut it out. You both did well. You just have areas you need to improve on. That's why you're all here, is it not?" He flipped a page on his packet, "The rest of you did extremely well and I have no major advice to give. Some of you won, some of you were simply overpowered despite stacking the odds in your favor. That is something that is simply going to happen on occasion and is something you need to learn to recognize. The only other point I have to make is this: always make sure your opponent is down and out before you take your eyes off of them. Midoriya almost lost his match because of that mistake and though they won the match, Utsushimi and Sero's victory was pyrrhic. Had that been real, they could have died. All of you need to either start taking this seriously or keep on target. That is all."

"Yes, sensei!" The loud chant from his class hit his ears, and he allowed the slightest upturn of his lips to show for a bare second, before he continued.

He finished shuffling his papers and walked to the blackboard, so he could get behind his desk, "Now, sorry for springing this on you so suddenly, but there is something you must do." A nervous tension rose behind him, with several wondering if they were about to get hit with a brutal pop quiz, "You must pick a Class President."

The tension bubble basically popped, "Such a normal school activity!" They cheered as the room electrified.

"PICK ME! LEMME DO IT!" Kirishima yelled loudly.

"I want to be a leader!" Mina started to cheer as well, raising her hand high.

"The position was made for me." Aoyama was back to sparkling and was summarily ignored.

"I'd like to do it as well." Kyōka raised her hand, but she was definitely the most relaxed of them all.

"My administration will require girls to show thirty centimeters of thigh!" Mineta crowed, his lambasting overlooked quickly. Well, internally at least. All of them stopped and turned to glare at the boy. He quickly started to squirm in place and shrank back into his seat.

"Sensei, what does the position actually involve?" Izuku cut across the new, angry tension to ask the teacher. He didn't honestly want to save Mineta from his well-deserved fate – as the short boy continued giving him (and the rest of the class) some very creepy vibes – but they did actually need that information. "With this being a Hero school, I'm wondering what our responsibilities would be and what it would mean in terms of extra work."

"Hmm, I suppose that is a logical question to ask." Aizawa replied, "Very well. The primary duty of the Class President is to be the second in command behind myself or any other teacher while in the field. Ours is a dangerous profession, so a clear chain of command is important to have during possible emergencies. The Vice President would then be the class president's second, or third overall in the chain." He sat down in his chair before continuing, "You would be responsible for corralling and leading the rest of the class and making sure everyone is safe, on the off chance that the Pro Hero with you is indisposed or otherwise occupied. Hard-headed refusals to follow your orders would be met with strict punishment once the situation is resolved."

He saw that several of the students no longer looked as excited for the position as they had been, and he almost smiled, "Furthermore, the President and the rest of their 'cabinet' will also have the power to organize events for the class, pending approval from the school, of course. They will also be able to bring up proposals that they think may help improve either the class, any individual's scholastic standing, or even the school itself to the faculty's attention. No guarantees that any such proposals would be accepted, of course. So, who's it going to be?"

"I'm out!" Camie laughed, "I think that's a bit too much responsibility for my book, ya feel me?"

Several other also dropped out, while those like Katsuki – knowing it meant being the leader of the group, in a sense – raised their hands even higher, with the explosive boy snorting almost like a bull. Izuku was also about to put his name in, when Iida spoke, "Quiet down everyone!" He stood, "Leading the many is a task of heavy responsibility and ambition does not equate to ability! This sacred office demands the trust of its constituents! If this is to be a democracy, then I put forward the motion… that our true leader must be chosen by election!"

All of this was said with the straightest face possible while his entire body trembled from trying to raise his hand the highest, causing many of the students to laugh, with Kaminari leading the way. "This is a classroom, not congress! Chill bro!"

"And you're totally raising your hand the highest, dude." Camie joined him in giggling.

Tsuyu put her finger on her chin in thought, "We did have that group session yesterday after classes, but I'm not sure that's enough to truly build enough trust, kero."

"Won't everyone just vote for themselves anyway?" Kirishima asked him.

Iida chopped in his direction, "That's precisely why anyone who manages to earn multiple votes will be the best-suited candidate for the job!" He turned to Aizawa, "Will you allow this, Sensei?"

"Don't care. Do as you wish. Just make it quick." The class sweatdropped seeing the caterpillar was having a triumphant return. As they watched, he laid down and went to sleep behind the desk.

"Alright then! Everyone who is interested, raise your hands!" he stood and went to the blackboard to take names down. Most of the class still was interested, and he quickly jotted down the names.

Meanwhile, Momo had made a top hat which she brought to the front of the class, "Utsushimi-san, would you collect the votes and tally them for us as a neutral third party?"

Camie stood with a grin, "Sure, would be happy to! And I thought I told you to call me Camie-chan, Yaomomo!"

Momo giggled momentarily as she passed the hat to the busty fawn-haired girl. "Of course. My apologies, Camie-chan."

Minutes later, Camie let out a giggle as she stood aside from the board, "Well, this turned out just the way I hoped! Check it out!"

Izuku's jaw dropped as he saw the number next to his name, "S-s-seven?!" He had shown interest – how could he not? It was good practice for when he took All Might's place. It was a challenge he wanted to see through, to grow as a person. – but he never expected to blow the competition away!

"Who the fuck voted for shitty Deku?!" Katsuki roared in indignation.

"Guess we know it wasn't you!" Sero snickered nearby, "I'm surprised you got any. I figured after yesterday your vote'd be in the negatives!" He jeered in good humor. "Y'know, people putting down 'anyone but Bakugo'."

"What was that you shitty tape dispenser?" Katsuki roared as he whirled around, growling as several of the others joined in on ribbing him.

As he walked to the front with Momo, Izuku was inwardly shuddering a bit, 'Seeing Kacchan on the other end of teasing… is so surreal.'

"Zero votes!" Iida trembled in shame, "I thought as much… This is the reality of this sacred office…"

"What the hell dude? You didn't even vote for yourself when you wanted it?" Kaminari looked a little weirded out.

"You even proposed the election man. The hell was your plan?" Mina had a question mark over her head.

"Congratulations, Izuku-san." Momo gave him a bright smile, not at all disappointed with her own tally of six, putting her as Izuku's VP.

"T-thanks! I can't believe I got so many!" He grinned at her, before bashfully muttering, "I actually voted for you."

She swallowed a gasp, and instead settled for smiling warmly at him, "And I for you."

As both of them blushed and glanced away resolutely, Mina couldn't help but squeal, for the second time in two days at the uber-cuteness. 'They're both so damn cuuuuute!'

"You both will do awesome! You were totally manly during the Battle Trials!" Kirishima shouted.

Momo rolled her eyes a bit, "I should hope not." She muttered under her breath before sending a smile toward Izuku then turning back to the rest of the class.

"We'll do our best everyone! Thank you f-for putting your trust in us!" Izuku took a breath, before putting on his best smile and clenching a fist in front of him, "We won't let you down!"

"Yeah!" The class cheered in response.

"You all are too loud…" Aizawa – for once – went ignored in his corner.

-]|[-

"This rice is so tasty!" Ochaco nearly moaned in rapture as they all sat for lunch. She was in between Iida and Tsuyu.

"Agreed. Lunch Rush is truly a wonder. Even some of the best restaurants I've been to can't match this quality. It's perfect." Momo said primly and coming from her, that was probably a grand approval. "I am a bit curious though. If you don't mind me asking, who did you vote for, Uraraka-san?"

"I voted for Deku! He's just been amazing the entire time I've known him. Ever since the Entrance Exam." She giggled as Izuku went red at the praise.

"Indeed. Your grit and decisiveness in a pinch is truly admirable. I felt those qualities made you perfectly suited to lead us. I also put my vote in for you." Iida revealed his own vote.

"On the other hand, I voted for Momo-chan. She impressed me very much during the Battle Trials and the Quirk Assessment Test, kero." Tsuyu said after finishing her bite of salmon. She got a beaming grin from the heiress in return.

"I did as well. She totally blew us all away. Even Mr. Pres!" Kyōka grinned at the two of them.

"Tsuyu-san! Kyōka-san!" Momo sparkled as she smiled at them, "I will endeavor not to let either of you down! Thank you for placing your trust in me!"

"I don't get it though!" Ochaco turned to Iida, "I thought you really wanted to become president, Iida-kun. You've got the glasses and everything!"

Izuku and Inasa bit back grins as they glanced at each other, 'She really just says whatever pops into her head, huh?'

"Ambition and suitability are entirely different matters." Iida replied calmly, though a tad bit morosely if you paid attention to his tone, "I humbly made the choice I felt would be the best. My admiration for my brother inspired me to become a Hero on my own. However, I realized during the past few days that I am not truly ready to be a leader like him yet. It is something I have to work on. Midoriya-kun outperformed us all in the Entrance Exams in a way I had not even considered until the exam was all but over and hasn't slowed down since. He's also been nothing but supportive of the rest of us, which is amazing in and of itself. I aspire to follow his example as a Hero."

"i-Iida-kun!" Izuku blushed hard, not at all used to this amount of praise.

"Yep, yep!" Mina cheered, "That's why I also voted for Midori. His plans were amazing and he's probably one of the strongest in the class."

"You guys…" Izuku started tearing up a bit, which got Mina to immediately just glomp him, something he just knew for a fact was going to become normal with how often she was doing it, "M-Mina!" He was just going to have to learn to accept it. What a hardship that would be.

In another part of the cafeteria, Mineta started gnashing his teeth for no reason at all.

They started to chuckle lightly as Izuku's nervousness showed its ugly head, with Inasa laughingly stating that, "His confidence still needs some work though!"

"Traitor!" Izuku playfully shot back.

"I'm quite curious about your entrance exams. The Recommended Students must have done an entirely different test." Momo said, before taking another bite of her rice.

"It was pretty fun. We had to rack up points by destroying robots." Mina giggled, "They pulled a fast one on us though. They had like a massive ten-story robot that was supposed to just be a 'trap.' We were all told we'd lose all of our points if it captured us or even if we just got distracted by it and fought it!"

"Wow, that's unexpected!" Momo said, before frowning slightly, "But that means that only combat-related Quirks really got a chance to shine doesn't it? I'm sure there are some amazing heroic Quirks that would not help in that situation in the slightest."

"Looking at it by itself, you're right. However, there was actually a hidden test none of us were told about; Rescue! Basically, if we helped out the competition or showed selflessness, we were awarded points too! Plus, the whole 'lose your points' thing was actually a lie." Izuku said, "Though they could have told us after the test. They let us stew for an entire week." He started grumbling darkly under his breath.

Inasa cackled, "Yeah, they're lucky they didn't let us stew for longer than that. Me and my man here already had Shiketsu applications printed out."

Mina gasped, and squeezed harder onto Izuku, "Damn right! I would have been pissed if I never got to meet my cuddle buddy here!"

"M-Mina!" Izuku steamed under her cuddling, feeling as her chest squished into his arm and the back of his shoulder, 'S-so soft!'

Momo bit her lip slightly, wondering why she felt so odd as she watched the pair. 'Why do I feel like doing that too? Is there something wrong with me?'

The others laughed, before Kyōka brought up their big group, "Anyway, are we up for our group later today?"

"Of course. And like yesterday, you are all welcome at the estate." Momo confirmed with a happy grin.

"I'm afraid I need to take care of my siblings today for a couple hours. It would be too late for me to join you later, kero." Tsuyu said, shrinking down a bit in her seat. She loved her younger siblings, but it hurt that she wouldn't be able to be with her friends because of other obligations.

Kirishima let out a groan, "Sorry guys. I'm expected elsewhere as well. My dad needs my help with something."

Ochaco was frowning, "I can definitely come, but it sucks that not everyone is going to be able to make it. It would be amazing if we could just stay here on campus for our practice. They have such great facilities. Or if we just had more time every day to practice actual hero stuff."

"Huh, there's an idea, Ochaco-chan!" Camie grinned, "Wouldn't it be mad lit if U.A. had dorms?"

"Hmm…!" Momo and Izuku straightened, before they glanced at one another, "That is actually a great idea. I wonder if it has ever been considered before."

Izuku started to mumble, "With it being U.A., it wouldn't be out of the question if we brought it up, like it would be at a normal school. I mean, they have entire mock cities created around the campus, thanks to the Pro Hero Cementoss working here. The logistics of building dorms wouldn't be overwhelming or even massively time consuming…" mumble mumble mumble.

"You're doing it again, dude!" Kyōka laughed as she gave him a light-hearted jab with her jack, "Back with us Prez?"

"S-sorry!" Izuku sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"I agree though, it is a wonderful idea. Perhaps we should bring it up, Izuku-san. Aizawa-sensei did say we would have the power to bring up proposals that could improve the school. And I'm sure Father would not be unwilling to make a donation to the school if money was an issue." Momo muttered the last bit to herself, though thankfully she didn't go off like Izuku had.

"Oh, come on!" Kaminari didn't look convinced. "Even for U.A, there's no way a suggestion like that would be treated seriously if it came from the students. That's just pushing it!" He paused, before hesitantly asking, "Right? I'm not crazy, right?"

"Jury's out on that." Kyōka leered at him, drawing a groan from the target of her jab, "But saying that, it does sound a bit too crazy. Maybe we should speak with the other students first, yeah?"

The talks continued in a light-hearted manner, but their merriment was rudely cut off as a blaring alarm started pounding their eardrums.

At the totally unexpected racket, Kyōka was caught entirely off guard and let out a squeak of pain, clamping her hands to her ears and rapidly regulating her Quirk to try to tune the noise out. "Oww god damn it! What is going on?"

They all stood up, with poor Ochaco nearly choking on her rice. "What in the world is causing this?"

Suddenly a loud, mechanical voice started booming through the loudspeaker, "ATTENTION! SECURITY LEVEL THREE HAS BEEN BROKEN! ALL STUDENTS MUST EVACUATE IN AN ORDERLY FASHION!"

"What's security level three?" Iida yelled as they were starting to get swallowed up and separated by the tide of panicking students.

An upperclassman yelled back, "It means someone has infiltrated the building! This has never happened in my three years here! Hurry up and get out!"

"Oww! Get off!" Kyōka yelled as an elbow jabbed into her side. Momo was pressed up against Mina who was crushed up against Izuku. But none of them had any inclination to possibly enjoy the situation. Not when they were packed so tight together they could hardly breathe.

"Stay together guys!" Ochaco was trying her hardest to hold on to Tsuyu and Camie, who had started shoving back roughly when someone took advantage of the chaos and managed to get a grope in. She couldn't even tell who did it for any revenge.

"Kero!" For once Tsuyu's croaking did not sound adorable. She was almost wheezing from how hard she was being shoved into Inasa.

"Someone's going to get hurt!" Inasa roared as he pushed forward to keep student from pressing into Tokoyami. The raven-headed boy had been forced to jab his beak into Inasa's throat a second ago, "We got to do something, Izuku!"

Iida had meanwhile been crushed against the glass, and gasped when he realized it was the media outside, 'Where are the teachers?! Are they all outside dealing with the press? No one knows there's no cause for alarm! Everyone just fell into a herd panic! Like gazelles stalked by a lion!'

He was about to try to yell something when he heard a loud cry that sounded very much like their invisible classmate!

Izuku practically had a front row seat to see it happen. Poor Tōru had been tripped and fallen completely on the ground, and the person behind her had not seen a thing and had stomped right on her thigh, before falling himself. Tōru's pained yelp rang in his ears and he could see another very large shoe approaching what must have been her head, followed by more rushing students.

Phoenix Force exploded. His body started glowing a heavy emerald as a green shine burst from him, engulfing the entire student body in it. And all movement stopped. Entirely. Some who were even mid-fall now simply floated diagonally. And drawing from his peers' encouragement from yesterday, his telepathy sought out any feelings of pain and sought to separate their hosts from the source, which meant quite a few people being forced apart.

Izuku slowly rose into the air, glowing emerald with his hair waving slightly in a nonexistent breeze. He was trembling, the exertion from freezing and holding this many people straining him heavily. And he was not smiling like his Hero. No, Izuku looked furious.

He took a deep breath before channeling his inner Katsuki, "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU ALL DOING?!" His bellow rang in the halls even louder than the alarms. "ARE YOU HEROES IN TRAINING OR A BUNCH OF STAMPEDING IDIOTS?! CAN'T YOU SEE YOU'RE HURTING EACH OTHER?! YOU ALMOST CRUSHED ONE OF MY CLASSMATES!"

He glared at all of the ones he could see, seeing a wave of shame enveloping several of the older students, though many more of them yelled that they were just 'business students.' His eye twitched at that, wondering not for the first time why U.A. even offered such courses to students who had literally zero interest in Heroics. General Ed and Support classes he could understand and support whole-heartedly. But marketing? In any case, that wasn't an excuse he was willing to accept, "This is U.A! The greatest Hero School in the world! Act like it!"

"Midoriya-kun, the Press is in the campus!" Iida managed to finally yell.

"The PRESS?" Was the general, infuriated statement that rang through the hall.

Izuku's eye twitched, "All this because of THEM? I'm starting to see why Aizawa-sensei hates them so much." He focused, feeling his body grow sweatier as he put everyone on their own feet, "You see? Students almost got hurt because of this?! If I were you all, I'd start seriously thinking about what I'm doing here at U.A regardless of what course you're following!" He said, and then he let his powers fade.

Immediately, he fell to the floor and started breathing heavily. He heard Momo say his name in shock, and she hurried to support him as he started almost falling over, "S-sorry." He panted, "Holding that many people still and doing all that wiped me out."

"Don't worry Izuku." She did not realize she was dropping even the honorific from his name now, concentrating on helping him stand, his arm over her shoulder, "You did amazingly."

"Thank you so much, Midoriya-kun!" Tōru stepped close and gave him a hug, before stepping away, "You really saved my butt there. I think that big guy had been about to kick my teeth in."

Izuku was blushing, but Mina's constant cuddling meant it wasn't as bad as it could have been, "Y-you don't have to thank me for that. I couldn't let you get hurt. I did what anyone would have done."

Tōru pouted. Not that they could see it, but she did so all the same, "Mou, just take the praise. If anyone could have done it why were you the only one who did?" She grinned brightly, "We chose well, Mr. Prez!"

"You're so cool, Midori!" Mina finally caught back up and took his other side, "Now come on, we have you." She started to giggle, "Never thought I'd hear you swear though!" Izuku flushed a bit darker at her teasing and started to stammer.

"It happens on occasion." Inasa laughed once he managed to come close enough, "Not very often though. Last time I heard him swear was like four months ago when he failed a milestone in training."

"Stupid truck…" Izuku grumbled, before remembering he had finally managed it and could do it much easier ever since the entrance exam. Everyone started to giggle, the big group forming up once more and travelling as a unit towards their destination.

-]|[-

"What a mess." Aizawa groaned, hours later. He hadn't been able to get a single wink in ever since he'd dismissed his homeroom. Plus, he had to stop Mic from blowing up the press. Even when he wasn't with the kids he was still a damned babysitter. 'Although the idea does have some merit right about now…' He thought to himself with an inner growl. He'd already heard all about how one of his students had almost gotten trampled.

"There's no way this was just some reporter." Vlad King sidled up to him, "That barrier was entirely disintegrated. None of their Quirks matched."

"Great." Aizawa groused, "Now we have a possible Villain with an extremely dangerous Quirk running around."

"Was this a distraction so that they could slip into the school, or a declaration of war?" The tiny Principal has his paws behind his back as he stared at the destruction. He looked to be a combination of several different animals, with a shiny white coat of fur. He sported a white dress shirt, a dark red tie around his neck, a black double-breasted waistcoat, and matching dress pants. He wore orange lace-up sneakers with incredibly thick soles which seemed to be quite large for his body.

He stepped forward and reached into one of the two large piles of dust, watching as the flakes of what had been ultra-hardened steel crumbled even more from his touch. He shook his paw to get the detritus off, and turned to face his faculty, "I think a meeting would do us some good. Chiyo, could you be a dear and access the security system? See if you can find video of the incident. Check inside the school as well. Look for any high security areas fifteen minutes post-incident."

"Of course, Nezu. I'll meet you all in the lounge as soon as I can." Recovery Girl sighed, before calmly walking away.

Nezu turned to Power Loader, "Higari, please take some samples and have them analyzed. See if you can find out what we're dealing with here." Power Loader nodded, so the principal turned to All Might, "Toshinori, you're the fastest. Sweep the school and see if you can find anyone that doesn't belong. It's been several hours, and I doubt you will, but there is no room here to be complacent. Look out for any signs of forced entry or more uses of this dastardly Quirk." He paused, "Perhaps showing yourself will also help set the children at ease, too."

"Luckily no one got hurt." He smiled widely, "We can thank young Midoriya for that. He was able to take command and force the rest to calm down. I'll show up regardless, but I think it may be unneeded."

"You certainly chose well, haven't you? Even if it didn't work out the way you hoped," Nezu smiled as he dropped his tone low, so the others wouldn't overhear. He spoke up again once he got a smile from his newest faculty member, "Now go. We all have work to do. The rest of you, make sure the students are calm and uninjured." As the rest of the teachers left, he turned once more to stare at the crumbled barrier. He turned and stepped away, his thoughts going down dark paths.

…

"Nothing." Aizawa's tone was flat, "Nothing at all? Not even on the cameras?"

"No." Chiyo let out a disgruntled groan, "Not even an opened door to speak of. If this was a distraction, then it wasn't a very good one. Even an invisibility Quirk would leave a mark for us to find."

"Unless the Villain possesses a Warp Quirk." Toshinori's tone was grave as he threw the idea into the air. The idea of such a powerful quirk in the hands of a villain was horrifying.

"If that is the case, it was an ingenious distraction. All of us were forced to deal with the cretins in one way or another, drawing us away from our offices." Nezu replied calmly, "It is also one with even more troubling implications… because they would have had to know where to go beforehand."

"Is U.A.'s construction public record?" Midnight was not acting up for once and was taking this extremely seriously. She may like to tease and play, but never let anyone think she did not care about the students. Even if at times, she cared perhaps a little too much…

"Older buildings were. Not the newest renovations, or even the last two versions of the plans. I made sure of it." Nezu replied, "And with Cementoss here, they gave up trying to force it. We can always change the building at a moment's notice if we need to."

"If there's even a chance someone managed to get a hold of schedules and put the children in danger, we must treat it as an absolute fact and answer accordingly." Vlad King growled, "What will we do about the 1-A and 1-B trips to the USJ?"

"We should combine them." Midnight threw the suggestion forward, "Putting two of our most versatile fighters together to defend the students, along with Thirteen and All Might."

"It could work. Especially since they could all watch each other's backs." Cementoss approved of the idea.

"It would also be a good opportunity for the kids to network past their own classes before they develop cliques." Toshinori smiled, "If you recall, I did wish to host some larger-scale Battle Trials between both classes. I think some friendly rivalry between the two groups would do some good."

"Yes, I like the idea. I approve. Are you and Vlad up to it, Aizawa-kun?" Nezu asked the tired-looking man.

"Of course." Aizawa yawned tiredly, "An extra pair of hands never hurts." Vlad merely nodded.

"It is settled then. Both classes will have their joint training earlier than normal. Keep a weather eye out. If anything changes, the kids' safety is the top priority. You're all dismissed. Be prepared for anything."

-]|[-

"I see your infiltration was a success, Kurogiri." The voice coming from the staticky monitor was affable and calm, yet there was an underlying current of sheer malice that could chill any onlooker.

"Indeed. Even if they suspected, I made sure my tracks were covered." The speaker was a purple, gaseous figure dressed sharply in an elegant suit and tie. "All Might will be present in the morning at their USJ facility on Friday, along with the entirety of class 1-A."

"Finally!" Tomura Shigaraki – a pale, lanky, skinny man barely out of his teens with pale, gray-blue hair who was covered in severed hands – crowed in elation, "It's finally time, Sensei! Finally time for that bastard All Might to die! All the conditions are cleared to meet the final boss!"

"Of course, Tomura. I see you are excited… however, you must not underestimate your foe. A cornered animal is the most dangerous one you could face." Sensei replied, "Tell me again how you plan to accomplish your mission?"

"We have a bunch of cannon fodder to handle the brats." Shigaraki replied giddily, "I wonder how they'll scream before they die? I wonder if Nōmu will be able to play with that damned Symbol of Peace before we end him. Maybe if we break him first, he can watch his students die in agony!" He started cackling maniacally.

"Hmm, I'm not certain you've thought this through the entire way, Tomura." Sensei told him gently.

"W-what do you mean, Sensei? All Might is weak now, right? This should be easy. Even if he fights hard, there's no way he can beat Nōmu." Shigaraki turned to look at the small screen.

"Of course, of course." Sensei's tone was indulgent, "But I'm not certain this is the right way to go. After all, when you kill a Symbol you merely create a martyr, don't you? No, perhaps I have a better idea. Tell me Tomura, how does one truly kill a symbol?"

"Ehh?" Shigaraki started to scratch at his neck, a little irritation seeping in, "How do you do it sensei?"

"You kill a symbol by making it give up. You kill a symbol by ruining its legacy. You kill a symbol by destroying it first." The voice on the other end was clearly smiling. "Simply killing All Might is not enough. No, no, first you must break him."

-]|[-

Hey, they can't all be monster 30k chapters, right? Sorry it was so short, but I got everything I wanted to do in this chapter done.

This was definitely a set-up chapter. We're getting things ready for the conclusion of the first story arc. I have some fun things planned for the next chapter (or two. Likely two. We'll see how long the USJ gets). I had some fluff in it as well, which is always fun.

I've officially run a bit dry on MHA inspiration, so the next one probably won't be for a while. I've been taking a stroll through the Pokémon fandom. Maybe I'll finally post the first chapter to that fic I started a while back. LOL