Dragonspawn (My Hero Academia SI)

[Blackout]

Chapter 10

"...And then I got second place in the test."

"See?! See?!" Ryuko whooped. "What did I tell you?!"

She and I were sat down in the kitchen, Ryuko on a chair while I was curled on the floor.

"The tests were just suitable for my Quirk."

"Some day you're going to run out of excuses, 'Zaki." She said, shaking her head. "Did you at least make some friends?"

"Maybe? I think, one, or two."

"Oh?"

"Her name's Pony Tsunotori. I don't know if that really counts as friendship, we just talked a little. She was nice."

"That's how it starts." Ryuko said, clapping me in the shoulder. "Who was the other one?"

"Inasa Yoarashi. The other recommended student in our class, I met him in the exam and apparently he thinks my Quirk is cool."

"Well he's right. Yoarashi… I think I've heard that name before. They're a new name on the Hero scene, but they're from Hokkaido so I don't know too much about them."

"He's… really enthusiastic. About everything. And he won't shut up about it."

"That's… not exactly the kind of person I would've expected you to make friends with."

"Well, I have only actually met him twice, but he's got a certain kind of… I guess innocence to him. The kind of childlike enthusiasm where it's like he thinks you're the best thing since sliced bread, just the way you are. It's hard not to like him."

"That's great to hear. Anybody else?"

"I… Yui is in my class."

"Oh? But that's good then?"

"I…" I faltered. How do I put this…

"We… well, we didn't get off to a great start when we met again. She got… kind of mad at me."

"Why? You got along great in grade school, from what you've told me." She frowned.

"Because I didn't tell her about what happened." I sighed. "Two years ago."

"Well, it's your choice whether or not you want to talk about it."

"No, I mean, I didn't… tell her anything. Back then. She thought I just disappeared."

Ryuko looked at me in disbelief. "So you just… never even sent a message. To your best friend. To tell her that you were dropping out of school because you'd been injured. And she never tried to contact you either?"

"I… yes."

She buried her head in her hands. "Oh my god. You two were made for each other."

I made an indignant noise.

"Don't even try it. You were friends for what, seven years, and you never even invited her over?"

"...Well she didn't, either."

"Hence why you deserve each other." She shook her head. "You should've at least sent her a message, and she should've tried to contact you after you disappeared. You're both idiots."

Well.

I suppose I can't argue with that.

"Well, it isn't all bad. At least this way, you two still have a chance to fix things. Not everyone gets given that kind of chance."

"But how do I fix this?" I lowered my head onto the floor, feeling miserable.

"Well, you can't. Not by yourself. It's a two-way street." Ryuko said, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder. "What you need to do is just talk to her. You both did something wrong, and the first step to correcting that is apologizing. From there, you can put this behind you and move on."

"But what if she's still going to be mad at me?"

"If she continues to hold on to a grudge after you've apologized…" Ryuko took a deep breath, sighed, and continued. "Then that's on her. Repairing a relationship takes two, and you can't make her be your friend again. What matters is that you can move on with a clear conscience."

I slumped, my ears drooping. I couldn't find fault in her words, even if it wasn't what I wanted to hear.

"Hey. One argument won't break seven years of friendship. And if it does… well, then she wasn't worth it in the first place."

I laid down on the floor, exhaling through my nose.

"...Thanks."

"That's what I'm here for, 'Zaki."

For a few moments we just sat there, in silence.

"So, how come you never told me about the licensed Ryukyu manga?" I finally said, changing the subject.

Immediately Ryuko's expression shifted into one of exasperation.

"Because I knew you'd be like this."

"Like what?" I asked, tilting my head and spreading my ears in an innocent gesture.

"Like that."

"I'm just curious about this series that has been so expertly hidden from me. Why, if I knew that there was a manga series made of my beloved sister, I would surely have obtained every volume."

"I know." She sighed, rubbing her temples. "It's not even a very good series, you know."

"But I don't know, that's the thing. Why, do they mention me?"

"Of course not, you know full well they don't do that."

I did.

Despite the celebrity-like status of most Pro-Heroes there was an unspoken rule among most media outlets to not draw attention to their immediate families, unless they actively sought it.

Ryuko had talked to me about it, when she began her career, and I'd studied the topic myself, when I was piecing together the history between my time and today.

In the beginning, when Vigilantes transitioned into Pro-Heroes, there had been certain growing pains, as society adjusted to the new reality. One of those problems had been, well, tabloid gossip.

The Pro-Heroes were on the spotlight, and so inevitably their private lives were put under the magnifying glass. And when villains, who might bear grudges against those Pro-Heroes, took notice… it rarely ended well for anyone, including the publication responsible.

The public backlash tended to be lethal for business. A self-serving motivation, to be sure, but it did the trick. For all the media circus surrounding Pro-Heroes, they shied away from direct coverage of their families lest they be held responsible for misuse of the information they distributed.

My injuries at Fujiwara's hands, for an example, were never made public.

It was hardly an ironclad rule, waning back and forth as journalists grew bolder and hungrier for scandals, or backed off after being burned.

But it held most of the time.

"You know, that's actually something I've been meaning to talk to you about." Ryuko spoke out, shaking me from my thoughts. "I have been sent an invitation for an award ceremony in a week's time. I'm permitted to bring a single guest, and I think it would do you good to come along."

I felt myself recoil at the very thought. I'd never been to one of her PR events but I'd seen her on TV and heard her speak of them. "You know I'm going to hate it there."

"I know. I know you hate that kind of attention. If I could spare you from it I would. But in this line of work dealing with the public is unavoidable." She sighed, her voice sympathetic. "Most Pro-Heroes don't enter the public eye until their debut, but the UA Sports Festival complicates things. And with your Quirk and your name, no matter what you do you're going to be famous across the country by the end of the semester."

I felt a chill run through my body, the sharp spines along my back shuddering. "Is there no other way?"

"There isn't really a way around it, I'm afraid." She replied, sombre. "Going underground isn't really an option for you. I won't force you to come, but you'll need to learn how to deal with it eventually. In the Sports Festival you're going to be in a high-stress situation in front of thousands of people, that's going to be televised across the nation and even abroad. I was thrown head first into the deep end, and it wasn't pretty. This way you can make your first public appearance on your own terms, deal with it all in a controlled environment. I'll be there right besides you, and the event isn't about you so if it gets too much you can bail out at any time."

I sighed in defeat, and nodded. I couldn't find faults in her logic, no matter how much the thought of being paraded before the cameras made my skin crawl beneath my scales.

"It's not all bad. I can't wait for the day I can buy some of your action figures." Ryukl said, her tone much lighter.

"Don't think you can distract me from the manga." I fired back. "You still haven't answered what's so horrible about it that you've kept it from me all this time.

"It's just… wildly inaccurate."

"Please tell me it's a romantic subplot with Endeavour."

"Enji Todoroki is older than either of our parents." Ryuko replied, exasperated. "He has children around my age."

"...Is it Hawks, then? I know you had a crush on him at one point."

"I did not."

"It is him, isn't it?" I couldn't help myself: though I tried to stifle it a giggle escaped me.

"Stop that." Ryuko swatted at my snout. "You sound like a seal choking on a fishbone.

"That's not a denial." I replied, still giggling.

"Shut up."

"Stiiill not hearing a denial."

-----

On Monday we returned to UA for our first proper day of school, as Heroes-in-training. I studied the faces of my fellow students as one by one each took their seats, trying and failing to connect faces to names.

Pony greeted me warmly as she arrived, and Yoarashi similarly stopped by my desk. Though it seemed like he had made it his mission to befriend every single person in our class. Predictably Yui didn't even glance in my direction as she came in, though the orange-haired girl with her at least offered a friendly wave.

Aside from that, however, most of the class seemed to hold their distance. Which I wasn't necessarily inclined against. Better than being overwhelmed.

Our first class was Foundational Hero Studies. There would be regular classes in the afternoon, according to the schedule, but this was why we were in the Heroics Department.

To say that the atmosphere was charged with excitement would be putting it extremely mildly. Everyone was the edge of their seats, waiting for the teacher to arrive.

And what an arrival it was. Everyone was watching the door, so nobody anticipated the window being thrown open, a white and blue shape leaping through. The first warning anyone got was when the black-skinned boy shrieked in surprise, pitching over his chair as none other than All-Might himself appeared in front of him.

"Ah, perhaps it would have been better to come through the door. My apologies, young man! But nonetheless!" He offered, before turning to the rest of the class, spreading his arms. "I am here!"

The cheer that rang out was nothing short of explosive.

When I'd been doing research into the time that had passed between my time and today, the effects of the Symbol of Peace were even more pronounced. The man had caused a double-digit drop in the crime rate across the country, single-handedly, and been a major if not the contributor in abolishing the chaos that had reigned since the appearance of Quirks.

And now he was here. Teaching us.

The thought made me feel just a little bit light-headed.

And I wasn't the only one. Poor Pony looked like she was hyperventilating, and Yoarashi looked like he was going to pass out from excitement.

"Greetings, my young students! Today, we will begin your Hero studies! And what better way to do that, than Battle Training!" All-Might spread out his hands, gesturing towards the far wall of the room which suddenly opened to reveal rows of numbered compartments. "And for that you'll need these! Each of you have submitted a request alongside your admittance forms, and today they are here! Clothe yourselves for battle, my young students, and meet me at Training Grounds Alpha! Because from today onwards, you are Heroes!"

-----

A trip to the changing rooms later, we arrived at the Training Grounds, each clad in our Hero costumes for the very first time.

Monoma wore a fancy suit and tie, with several old-school watches on his belt. Tokage's outfit was a domino mask and a skintight bodysuit of blue scales, showing off her athletic figure. Yoarashi had opted for the most extra superhero costume I had ever seen, consisting of an armoured suit coupled with a large cape, furred collar and a pair of heavy-duty goggles. Pony had opted for an orange jockey uniform, with a horse halter and stirrups.

And as for me, well…

"Hey, what gives? Where's your costume?" Pony asked.

"Whatever do you mean?" I mimicked a shrugging motion with my wings. "I'm wearing it right now."

She looked at me blankly. "...Is your costume not having a costume?"

"Do I really need one?"

"...I guess not."

As Pony had pointed out, I'd just taken off my student uniform. What need did I have for a showy costume, when nothing could ever be as showy and distinctive as being a goddamn dragon?

It would only be needless inconvenience to get a costume on. I couldn't always count on having an assistant around to help me.

"I didn't completely neglect to make use of the opportunity, though."

I turned over my right forelimb, showing an armband around my wrist. It was made of dark grey plastic, with a comparatively small screen mounted on it.

"This support item has all the functions of a mobile phone, and more. With the combination of touch screen and voice commands, I can receive and send messages and calls, allowing me to communicate effectively out in the field."

"That's so cool!" She exclaimed, moving closer to examine the device. Though small for me, to her it was the size of a laptop. "Wait, does that mean that you've never had a mobile phone before now?" She asked, looking horrified.

"No. Um, I wasn't always like this. Stuck as a dragon, I mean."

"How did that happen then?"

"I… don't really like talking about it."

She looked a little put off, but bounced back pretty soon.

"So! What do you think the Battle Training is going to be like?"

"Well, my sister told me about it a little from her own time here. All-Might didn't teach her, but she said they often had villains vs heroes team exercises, so probably that."

"Oh." She looked a little surprised, not to mention nervous. "Don't you think basic training would come first? I mean, everyone went through the exam, but I don't think everyone's had formal training before."

Her eyes flickered towards the other students, but it was clear she was referring to herself.

That gave me pause. I'd never really thought about it, but in hindsight, obviously not everyone would have had the same opportunities I had. A willing, experienced teacher with a similar Quirk, time and place to train, looking back on it I had had quite a few advantages.

It was a humbling thought to consider. In the end I wasn't here at UA because of my achievements. I'd been blessed by the cosmic lottery by a powerful Quirk and favourable circumstances.

Did I really deserve to stand here, beside all the others who had done the same with so much less?

I shook my head, trying to banish the thought for the moment. Now was not the time for existential crisis.

"I don't know. UA's kind of famous for unconventional teaching methods and letting people learn by doing."

"I'm just worried, you know? I've been doing some reading online and there's all these stories, it's just, you know?" She began speaking faster, nervously wringing her hands. "UA has high standards, and I don't want to disappoint them after coming this far and where would I even go and I'm rambling again-"

Expulsion. She was talking about fearing expulsion.

She was here as a transfer student, so the prospect must have been twice as terrifying to her.

"I don't think, um, you have anything to worry about." I spoke haltingly, trying to find the right words. I sat down, doing my best to convey reassurance through body language and conceal how unsure I actually was of what I spoke. "I'm sure Vlad King and the principal understand people coming here have different backgrounds. UA is known to be harsh, but not unfair."

"I guess." Pony, seeming at least a little bit reassured. "I think it's starting now" She added as All-Might arrived.

We listened to him as he explained the scenario. Two teams of two per round, heroes vs villains. Villains have hidden a nuclear weapon within a building, and the heroes must secure it or capture the villains to win. Villains win if they capture the heroes or fifteen minutes have passed. Wrapping a capture tape around an opponent is proof of capture, and the weapon can be secured by touching it.

Both teams are given the layouts of the building, tape, and communicators. Villains have a little time to prepare, but are not allowed to move the bomb after that.

Now this was getting interesting. I'd sparred against Ryuko more times than I could count, but an elaborate scenario like this was all new to me.

It stirred a surge of excitement in my chest, followed by trepidation.

"Isn't this going to put you at a disadvantage?" Pony said, giving voice to my concern. UA and my home had space enough for me to move around, but most buildings were not designed to be comfortable for a dragon. I would have trouble squeezing through doors, and the cramped spaces were going to be a challenge to fight in. Especially with the capture tape, a faster, more agile opponent was made exponentially more dangerous to me.

"It's the name of the game, isn't it?" I said, trying to push down my own unease. "Heroes rarely get to choose the ground they fight on. I'll just have to deal."

"Now, we shall determine teams! Everyone, draw your lots!" All-Might's booming voice rang out as he grabbed a small box, holding it towards us, and one by one we each took a small piece of paper containing a single letter.

I awkwardly held onto the slip with my claws, looking around the room for the other "E". Thankfully it wasn't Yui, she was paired off with Pony. I didn't think I could've handled the awkwardness.

Soon enough the only ones without a pair were me and the salt-shaker guy, and he sheepishly presented me an "E" slip. I guess he'd been hoping for somebody else.

He was the second largest person in the room after myself, with inhumanly large hands and a skin color like straw wheat. The most bizarre part however was the aforementioned salt-shaker like head, with seven of what I presumed to be his eye holes on the side. From what I'd seen he was kind of shy and passive, following others around.

"Ryuuzaki Tatsuma." I introduced myself. I wasn't sure if he didn't know my name already but I certainly hadn't gotten his yet.

"...Kojiro Bondo…"

"Seems like we're a team."

"Yeah…"

"So what's your Quirk then?"

"Oh… I can shoot glue out of my head."

Oh. That was… something, certainly.

"That's good then, you can help cover my weakness. It's going to be hard for me to fight faster opponents in an enclosed space, but you can slow them down."

"I guess…"

I tried to discuss strategy with him a little more, but it was like having a conversation with myself. Just my luck that I'd be paired off with someone even less talkative than I was.

After a few moments to acquaint ourselves with our teammate, All-Might moved on by taking another box from his cape, shaking it and taking two rubber balls out, each with a letter corresponding to a team.

"Our first match will be A as Heroes, up against F as Villains!"

-----

A few moments later we were at the observation room in the basement, gathered loosely around a collection of screens. The building would change with each round to keep it fresh, but the location of the first round was a squat concrete building, perhaps three floors high.

"Does anybody know what Awase's Quirk is?" The orange-haired girl asked.

I glanced at the CCTV, doing my best to commit the names to memory. The student in question was adjusting his bandana whilst conversing in low tones with his partner, the squinty-eyed kid.

"No idea, other than that he didn't use it yesterday." The boy with the spiral Quirk replied.

"That foretells it should not be of physical nature, at least." The gray-haired girl replied.

"You never know, he might have been hiding it."

"You think Vlad King would've stood for that?" I interjected, and the attention of the room was suddenly on me. I swallowed the lump that suddenly appeared in my throat, and went on. "I mean, if he was deliberately sandbagging?"

"Hm, I guess that's true." He conceded.

"Hero team, you may enter!" All-Might's voice boomed out from the loudspeakers.

The two got up and moved out, approaching the building with trepidation. Instead of going for the doors, however, the two moved by one of the walls, and Tsubaraba jumped on his partner's back who began scaling the sheer concrete seemingly just by using his palms.

So he could stick to things? I could see how that wasn't very useful yesterday. I also had to appreciate the sheer upper body strength required to pull yourself and another teenager directly upwards.

Indeed, Awase seemed to be struggling a little, and the two apparently elected to take the first window they came across. The hallway was pitch-black, the only light being from the window they had just entered through.

"The villains! They must have smashed the lights while they were preparing."

I glanced at the screen. The gray-haired boy was standing guard over the bomb, while Kuro… whatever his name was, was nowhere to be seen, but based on seeing his Quirk yesterday he was probably lurking around somewhere.

It was an interesting situation. Near the outer walls the Heroes could open up windows to give themselves illumination, but if they wanted to find the bomb they would need to venture deeper inside and into the pitch-black darkness.

As they hesitantly began to do just that, All-Might flipped a switch and suddenly the video turned into muted shades of green.

Of course UA would go to the effort of putting a night vision mode into their CCTV system.

Of course.

"Aww, they're holding hands!" Tokage's voice came from behind me.

True to what she said, on the screen Awase and his partner advanced cautiously, using their free hands to sweep for obstacles while the other clutched each other's hands.

"Do not laugh!" All-Might said, and several students looked abashed. "It is the right choice, to communicate and avoid being separated, all without making noise that would allow the Villains to locate them. To do what is needed for the mission, even if it is embarrassing, is very heroic!"

And true to what he was saying, the black-haired boy (Kuroiro, as I overheard the chatter from the others) seemed to be having trouble with the darkness himself, having emerged from it near the entrance. He must have been waiting to get the drop on the Heroes as they came in, but it seemed like his Quirk did nothing to improve his night vision.

For a few tense minutes a game of cat and mouse was played in the darkness. I could see sweat on the faces of the hero team: it cannot have been easy, trying to navigate in the darkness while making minimal noise, all the while Kuroiro could burst out of nothing at any time. And all the while relying only on human senses and shaky memory of the internal layout.

Kuroiro was getting close, and I could tell he must've heard the footsteps of the Hero team too. He slowed down, careful not to reveal his presence as he creeped closer.

I strained my ears to listen in, past the noise of the discussion. The CCTV had no audio feed but All-Might must've had a personal communicator, muted so that only he could hear, but my ears were sharp enough to pick it up anyway.

Just then, as Kuroiro closed in to attack, a harsh voice crackled in.

"What's taking so damn long?!" A glance at the other screen told me iron-skin was speaking angrily into his communicator, his patience clearly at an end. "Are you doing anything down there?!"

The effect was immediate. Awase and his teammate perked up in alarm, unable to see Kuroiro but now knowing he was near. He cursed, before going on the offensive.

It was… an odd fight, to say the least. Neither of the two sides could actually see each other, leading to a lot of blind flailing around. Kuroiro emerged from the floor, a wild sweep of his arms managing to hit the leg of the squinty-eyed kid who gave a shout of surprise as he lost his footing.

A few more seconds of struggle ensued as the two wrestled, until Awase intervened, drawn by the sound. He tackled Kuroiro off of his teammate, slamming him onto the floor.

There was a flash of orange light, and Kuroiro's back was suddenly stuck to the concrete, unable to raise. Before Awase could extricate himself, however, the black skinned student wrapped a piece of capture tape around his torso.

"Awase is out!"

The student in question slumped to the floor, defeated.

"Just go, Tsuburaba!" He yelled out at his teammate. "I've immobilized Kuroiro but he got me as well! Go and find the bomb!"

True to what he said, it seemed like Kuroiro was unable to escape his imprisonment, even with his Quirk.

Taking his teammate's advice, Tsuburaba took off at a running pace now that making noise was no longer an immediate issue. After confirming the bomb wasn't anywhere on the second floor he took the stairs to the third one, where the lighting remained untouched. It seemed like the villains had run out of time during preparations.

It took a few minutes more for him to find the bomb and the other villain, going by the name of Tetsutetsu according to the other students.

The two exchanged a couple of words before Tetsutetsu charged, his skin hardening into shining metal. Tsuburaba exhaled, the air suddenly solidifying into a translucent, glass-like shield hovering before him, but Tetsutetsu swung his metallic fist, shattering the shield right after it formed, before pressing on.

He was a big guy, as his leave-nothing-for-the-imagination costume showed, and clearly held the advantage in the fight. It was obvious he had some form of self-defence experience, though I'd hesitate to associate his movements with any particular style.. He was swinging wildly, trying to get a good hit in, though to be fair that was probably all he'd need. No need to worry about defence when your opponent would probably hurt himself more by hitting you.

Tsuburaba was being pushed back, desperately evading and blocking the hardened punches being thrown at him, and his arms were getting pretty bruised. Any time he created an air shield Tetsutetsu smashed through and kept on coming, until he finally managed to land the decisive blow.

A huge uppercut smashed into Tsuburaba's jaw, bodily lifting him off the ground. He came down hard, and didn't get up. Tetsutetsu took out his capture tape, wrapped it around him, and that was that.

All-Might called the match, and a moment later the two teams were standing in the observation basement once more.

"Now, my young students, we must analyze the previous round!" He swept his muscular arm towards the four students who'd just returned. "In order to improve, it is important to know what went right, and what went wrong! Therefore, I would like to hear your comments!"

A complete silence met him. You could almost hear the crickets.

"Anyone?"

Finally, the gray-haired girl with the telekinesis Quirk sighed and stepped forward. I really needed to either remember their names or come up with better placeholders.

"The villains had a an agreeable plan, but hung it entirely on the heroes taking the most apparent route in and the lack of illumination hampered Kuroiro's efforts in tracking them down."

"A most dismal failure on my part." The boy admitted. "I must rectify this immediately."

"This is all part of the learning experience!" All-Might flashed a dazzling smile and a thumbs-up. "You might consider submitting a request for night vision equipment to be added to your costume, for an example!"

Seemingly given confidence by the example, others began chipping in.

"Tetsutetsu's impatience cost Kuroiro the element of surprise."

"Tsuburaba didn't seem to have thought of how to actually beat Tetsutetsu."

"All valid points! Next match, Team E as Heroes vs Team D as villains!"

"Ha!" Tokage shouted, her expression exuberant as she turned towards me. "This is perfect. We are going to crush you!"

"Alright." I replied sincerely. "I believe in you."

"That's not what you're supposed to- Urgh. Never mind." Tokage growled and stomped off towards the door.

The orange-haired girl, Itsuka Kendo apparently, offered me an apologetic look. "Sorry for her, it's just a bit of a sore point for her."

"It's fine." I waved her off.

"Well, good luck!" She gave Bondo and I a warm smile, green eyes sparkling, before moving to follow her teammate. "May the best team win!"

We had a few moments to prepare, so I turned to talk to Bondo as we waited.

"I'm going to need your help. Tokage's going to be hard for me to fight in enclosed spaces, but you can trap her pieces in place."

"I'll try…" He trailed off. "But she came in fourth yesterday. I heard she almost got in on a recommendation…"

He seemed to realize who he was talking to, and quickly backtracked. "I mean, of course, you did get in on a recommendation, I'm just… not sure if I'm really cut out to take her on…"

Well that puts us two for two, then.

"It's alright. Just do your best. I figure I can take on Kendou, so you just need to keep Tokage off my back long enough for us to get to the bomb."

"Right…"

Hm. Kendou would probably wipe the floor with him in close combat. We can't afford to split up. That would make finding the bomb difficult.

"Time to go! Hero Team, you may enter!" Well, time was up.

"We could try alternative entrances." I said, sizing up the building in front of us. "But I'm not fitting through a window without smashing down a part of the wall, and that'd cost us a lot of points in the final score. What fo you think?"

"I'm fine either way…"

"...Then we take the front door."

The hallways were just barely wide enough for me, forcing Bondo to walk behind me. It felt a little claustrophobic, but the fact that I could've broken through the walls at any time helped assuage that feeling. I'd just be docked a lot of points for it.

We moved deeper into the building, my ears twitching as I listened for any sign of the villain team. I could hear faint ringing noises in the distance, but they came from all around us so that was of no help.

Suddenly the whooshing sound of displaced air carried into my ears, and a pair of dark shapes flew out from behind the corner. Two parts of Tokage, with a piece of capture tape held between them.

It seems like she'd come to the obvious conclusion.

I swung a clawed forelimb in an attempt to swat them out of the air but only managed smash the wall, the force of the impact ringing across the structure and gouging a deep indent into the metal.

I felt a mix of frustration and desperation bubble in my chest. Tokage was too fast, and I had no room to move. If she got a capture tape around me it would be all over.

I snapped my jaws wildly, forcing Tokage to evade. She darted back like a mongoose circling a cobra before diving back towards me.

"Bondo, now!"

I squeezed right against the wall as best I could, my weight causing the metal to deform, but creating enough of a gap for Bondo to push his head over my shoulder.

He sucked in a deep breath and leaned forward, before a jet of gray liquid sprayed out his eyeholes. Shaking his head back and forth he covered the entire hallway in the sticky substance, the spray catching Tokage's pieces and gluing them to the floor.

"Well done, Heroes!" A disembodied voice rang out, echoing in the hallway. "You've captured two of my constituent pieces! But it seems like you've blocked your own path as well!"

She was right. The path forward was now covered in glue, and with how tight the hallway was for me I'd end up covered in it as well. It would slow us down unacceptably.

"...Sorry…" Bondo said, looking despondent.

"Not your fault." I weighed our options. Power forward or go back? Neither options struck me as being favourable. Being covered in glue would make it even easier for Tokage to tag me with capture tape, while backtracking could take us even further away from our target.

"What's it going to be, brave heroes?" Tokage's voice floated across the hallway, taunting us. "Forward or back?"

"We go back." I said after a few more moments. There wasn't much of a point in not discussing it aloud: Tokage's reconnaissance abilities and my inherent lack of subtlety made it pointless to even try to conceal our location. "We can take the next hallway left and then go left again."

"Oh? A bold choice. Let's see if it pays off."

Where the hell was her voice even coming from?

I strained my ears, sweeping back and forth before spotting a small ventilation shaft near the ceiling. Less than a second later a massive clawed fist impacted the grate, talons ripping through the metal like sheet paper and smashing another indent into the wall, but I was too late. I caught a glimpse of an eyeball and a disembodied mouth floating down the tunnel, a mocking wink directed my way before disappearing around a bend.

I sighed in frustration and extracted my fist from the wall before turning to Bondo.

"She's using the vents. Keep an eye out."

"Okay."

"Let's get moving."

The hallway groaned as I squeezed myself around, turning to follow Bondo back the way we came from. There was another intersection a little way back, and soon enough we were moving down another hallway.

-----

"What do you think?" Kaibara asked as he sat down next to Monoma, watching the two teams through the displays. "Who's going to win?"

"If it was a head-on fight, I'd definitely bet on Tatsuma. In a straight confrontation, I don't think there's any one of us who would have an advantage over her." Monoma replied after a moment's consideration, a hand on his chin. "But this scenario doesn't play to her strengths, as you can see."

"It's going to come down to time." Shishida agreed. "Miss Tokage needs to delay the Hero Team as long as possible."

"Her confidence."

"What was that Yanagi?"

"Her confidence." The pale-haired student replied. "Tatsuma's abilities are exceptional, but she lacks confidence in them, and Bondo is far too subdued and shy to make up for it. That's going to be their downfall."

-----

I surveyed the hallway before us, covered in a thick layer of glue. This wasn't working.

We'd settled into a rhythm: go down a corridor, get ambushed, Bondo glues Tokage's pieces in place but rendering the hallway inaccessible in the process.

"Do you think that you could limit the spray of glue next time?" I asked. "At this rate we'll run out of hallways before she runs out of body parts."

"...I don't think so…" Bondo said, bringing a hand near his eye holes. "It's hard to see when I'm using it, so in order to hit a small target like that…" He visibly slumped. "Sorry…"

"Well." I sighed. "We'll just have to deal."

I paused for a few moments, assessing our options. None seemed good.

"Running out of options? You always just give up, you know!"

"Can you seal the air vents?" I glanced towards where Tokage's voice was coming from.

"I could, but I might not have enough glue for another fight after that..."

I sighed again, deeper. "Alright, conserve it for something more important."

What to do, what to do...

"Do you think your glue has dried yet, in the other hallway?"

"...Probably?"

"Then we need to backtrack again." I bit out in frustration.

"Oh, are you sure that's the right way to go?"

She was trying to stop us from going that way. Unless it was a double bluff.

Shit.

No, can't do that. Can't let her get to me.

We turned around, returning to the first hallway moments later. The glue had solidified, but where Tokage's pieces had once been stuck the floor there were only cracks in the dried mass.

"Ooooh, that doesn't look good for you, now does it?"

"Kendo must've pried them free." Shit. Why didn't we capture the parts? This really wasn't good. "If she can recover her parts, she can just keep delaying us over and over."

Bondo looked as distraught as I felt, but stayed silent. I had to make a call, quick. Do we go back and secure the other parts, which they might've already freed, or press forward?

Fuckfuckfuckfuck.

No good options. But which was the least bad one?

Indecision paralyzed me, even as the clock was ticking.

Ultimately that was what resolved it, the time. Even if we went back and secured all of Tokage's pieces there were no guarantees it would actually matter in the time we had left.

"We go forward."

I sniffed at the air, trying to ignore the overwhelming stench of glue burning my nose. I usually relied more on my hearing, but in a pinch my sense of smell wasn't bad either. Tokage's scent was everywhere, but I could at least get the vague idea of where Kendo had gone.

I began moving along the corridor, stepping over the dried glue.

"We have to hurry. Only a few more minutes left."

"You're running out of ti~ime!"

"Shut up!"

With Kendo's trail we now had a path to follow rather than a blind search, and progress was much quicker. We went up several levels, picking up pace as we went, emerging from the stairs into another hallway, extending left and right-

"Watch out!"

Only Bondo's shouted warning saved me, as two of Tokage's pieces shot out from beneath each corner. They'd laid down a strip of capture tape across the doorway, holding each end. If I'd taken one step further I would have been right on top of them as they sprung their ambush, and they could have simply wrapped the tape around my midsection and taken me out of the exercise.

As it was, I swung a clawed limb at Tokage, knocking one piece out of the air and ripping the tape from the grip of the other.

Then another pair dropped from the ceiling, holding a piece capture tape. There was no room to evade as the jaws of Tokage's trap closed in. Then, suddenly, a spray of glue flew overhead, nailing the chunks and knocking them to the ground.

I turned back to glance at Bondo, who looked like he thought I was going to eat him at any moment.

"I'm sorry, but you didn't see the other pair and she was about to capture you and I didn't have time so I sprayed her and-.

I growled in frustration. "It's fine."

Except it wasn't. The way forward was now covered in glue once again.

"Oh dear, it looks like you've blocked your own path once more! How shall you proceed now?"

I glanced down at my wrist, checking the time. Less than two minutes left. I felt panic coiling around in my chest, closing my eyes to try to clear my head and just think.

This wasn't working. Even if we looped around to find a new path, we'd never make it in time. Tokage only needed to delay us for a scant few minutes. And if I couldn't come up with something we would do that all by ourselves.

We were going to fail.

What do I do, what do I do...

I saw Bondo glance at me with concern, and I felt an overwhelming urge to vent my frustrations at my teammate. He certainly hadn't helped come up with a solution.

"What will you do, heroes? Tick, tock, the clock is racing away!" Tokage's sing-song voice emanated from the air vents.

Alright.

That did it.

I didn't want to do this, but giving up was not an option.

"Follow me." I snapped at Bondo, before walking through the wall on our right. I'd say "smash through", but "walk" is really the more accurate term for all the resistance it offered to me. I simply bulldozed through the metal and concrete like it wasn't even there, and after crawling through cramped corridors letting loose like that felt good.

"All-Might said-" Bondo began, but I cut him off.

"All-Might said we'd lose points from collateral. But I'm pretty sure we'd lose more points from losing. Come on, we have to hurry."

I thundered down the room, straight through the next wall and into another hallway, bypassing the glue entirely. This was definitely the right way to go: my nose may not have been as sensitive as my ears, but I could tell Kendo's scent was getting stronger.

A few moments later we came upon a door and I slammed it open, Bondo right on my heels.

And at long last, we found our objective. The room was fairly expansive, about the same size as our classroom, with series of pillars on either side. And there, on the far end, was the bomb.

Before we could do anything, my ears picked up movement above us. Before either of us could react Kendo dropped from the ceiling, her fists rapidly growing in size until they were each equal in mass to the rest of her body. Evidently the increase in size came with a requisite boost in strength, as a massive fist impacted Bondo and sent him flying through the doorway out of the room.

"Now!"

With Bondo out of the picture for the moment a blue shape slipped out of the air vents near the ceiling. It seemed like Tokage had gathered herself in a loose cloud of parts, holding a piece of capture tape as she darted towards me.

However, by now I finally had room to fight properly. As Tokage rocketed towards me I waited for the right moment before sinking my claws into the floor and pivoted my entire body, my tail swinging towards her like a baseball bat.

My tail isn't just for show. It accounts for more than a quarter of my total body weight, and most of that in raw muscle. And to make matters worse for the poor fool that gets hit by it, it's covered by thick, segmented plates of armor, making it akin to being hit by a truck at full speed.

My tail collided with Tokage's torso, the impact making a noise akin to a thunderclap as she was physically hurled across the room and into a wall, slumping onto the floor with a groan.

The swarm of body parts lost cohesion, and with the threat neutralized for the moment I sprung forward towards the bomb.

"Think you can just ignore me, do you?" An enlarged fist smashed into my side with a surprising amount of force, staggering me. Kendou didn't relent, assaulting me with a barrage of punches in a methodical, jackhammer-like rhythm designed to keep me off-balance.

But still, this was an enemy I knew how to fight. Kendo was strong but far, far lighter than I, and as I recovered my footing I threw myself forward, my thick, armor-like scales absorbing her return blows as I slammed into her. Her boots slid on the concrete floor, my claws and sheer mass granting me an inexorable advantage in a pushing match.

Recognizing the futility of matching force with force, Kendo grabbed my shoulder and flipped herself over it at the last moment, narrowly avoiding being body-checked into the wall.

There was a resounding thud as I hit the wall, a deep crack appearing in the concrete. I spun around, sweeping my tail at my opponent, but she deftly dodged over it, taking a couple steps back to put herself between me and the bomb.

Time was running out. I didn't have even a second to spare to check the clock but I knew it had to be down to the seconds.

I used the momentum of my tail to twist my body around before taking off again, charging at Kendo.

All I needed was to touch the bomb. Let's see her halt in excess of four metric tons of bone, scale and muscle.

And to her credit, she did her best to do just that.

She went low, aiming a lightning-fast chop at my left forelimb just as I was about to put my weight on it. She wanted to break my balance, cause a stumble that she could exploit.

It was a tactic Ryuko favoured, and even if fighting a human wasn't quite the same as fighting a dragon, I knew well the counter to that move.

I lowered my horns and swept them horizontally, catching Kendo's midsection with the flat side. She grunted in surprise as she was thrown off to the side, landing roughly on the concrete and leaving me with a clear line towards the bomb. Tokage was still recovering from being slammed into a wall, neither of the villains in a position to stop me.

But in the end, they didn't need to.

"Fifteen minutes have passed!" All-Might's voice rang out suddenly, moments before I slammed into the bomb, knocking it on it's side. "Villain Team wins!"

And that was it.

"Please proceed to the observation room as soon as you are able!"

It was over.

"Did I hear that right?" Tokage had staggered onto her feet, holding her side. "Did we win?"

"Yeah." I took a deep breath. Just a training exercise. "You did."

"Ha! I knew it!" Her mouth curled into the biggest shit-eating grin I had ever seen as she pumped her fist in the air. "In your face!" Kendo looked at her celebration a little disapprovingly, but she couldn't help the small smile tugging at her own features.

Bondo's face was hard to read, but going by his body language as he limped inside he seemed absolutely crushed.

"Are you alright Bondo? I hit you pretty hard. You too Tokage, that tail slap was no joke."

"I'm fine…"

"I can regenerate!"

"Let's head down then, the others must be waiting."

-----

"You know the drill by now!"

"Tatsuma was far too indecisive." Yanagi said. "She took too long to make decisions, and only committed to smashing through the walls after it was too late to make a difference."

"To be fair to her Bondo was also completely passive, leaving her to make all of the decisions by herself." Shishida noted.

"Tokage also did a good job getting under her skin!" All Might added. "That's an important lesson, for all of you. Many villains are talkers, who will make you doubt every decision you take. Careful consideration is important, but in a life or death situation you must be decisive!"

I unsuccessfully fought to keep my ears from drooping, as he turned towards the villain team.

"However, Young Tokage, while it worked out for you in this training exercise, in a real situation you can never be sure how your opponent will react. Provoking your opponent is inherently unpredictable!"

She nodded, but even that couldn't wipe the smile from her face as All-Might turned back to the rest of the class.

"Anything else, perhaps something you feel the teams did well? Positive feedback is important! Even if it seems obvious to you, it might be something others have missed.

"The Villains had a good plan." said. "Realistic, and suited to the circumstances."

"Tatsuma's combat effectiveness was scary." Kendo admitted. "Once she got through the hallways we could barely slow her down."

"All good observations!" All-Might flashed a brilliant smile and a thumbs-up. "I would add two more, however. Young Tatsuma, no matter how you feel yourself, you should spare a thought for the morale of your teammates as well. As a recommended student they will look to you, and if you accept defeat before the match has even begun you do disservice to them as well."

I cast my eyes down onto the floor. Every word of what he said was true.

"In turn, Young Bondo, you are a teammate, not a sidekick. You cannot simply passively follow the lead of others. Offer your own opinions and solutions rather than leave your teammate to make all of the decisions, no matter how intimidating they may be."

Intimidating?

Me?

Was that the problem the whole damn time?

"But do not look so downcast, my young students! You came within an inch of victory, and I have no doubt that next time you shall do better! Learn from your mistakes and move on, for learning is what you are here for!"

With that All-Might turned to randomize the next set of teams, only to be interrupted when the door to the observation room creaked open, and the tiny form of the principal entered as everyone turned around.

"Good morning 1-B!" He said, his sound chipper. "I hope your first class is proceeding well?"

There was a general noise of assent as All-Might suddenly stood up straighter. It was almost a comical sight, to see the Symbol of Peace intimidated by a rat.

"Ah, Principal Nedzu! Was there something you wanted?"

"I was just coming by to check up on all of you, see how things are going." Nedzu replied, checking up on his watch. "After all, it is almost halfway through the period. Remember, you have 1-A in the afternoon as well, nor would we want our young Heroes here being late for lunch, would we?"

He looked up at the much taller man, a bit of sweat appearing on All-Might's brow.

"Of course! Nutrition is highly important! Very well, we may have to cut down on the review portion, but rest assured you will have plenty of opportunities to analyze your performances in the future. Now, fourth round, let's get moving!"

He took out two balls from the box, showing them off to the class.

"Team C as Heroes against team F as villains!

That meant Yui and Pony against uh… spiral guy and the boy with the braids? I really really need to get better at remembering names, I must've heard them before...

As we waited, a faint sound of somebody speaking carried to my ears. I glanced to the side and saw the Principal conversing with All-Might on the other side of the room, a fair distance away.

"You know, you have to be more careful with your scheduling. You're really cutting things to the wire, with no room for error. What if something happened?"

Nedzu's voice was barely more than a whisper above the background chatter of excited students, next to impossible to overhear. But it seemed like he had underestimated the precision of my senses.

"I know, I know. But it's their first day of school, and I wanted to go Plus Ultra for them. I am not blind to how much my presence means to them."

"Is that why you didn't want to split teaching the two classes to separate days?"

I felt a little bad, listening in on what was obviously a private conversation. But it wasn't if I could just block the sounds from carrying over, and besides, they wouldn't talk about anything secret in a place like this, anyway.

"I did not wish to show favoritism to one or the other by delaying their lesson."

"Just hold that thought, come the afternoon."

"I will be the very model of impartiality, worry not."

"I trust that you will. Now, I think I'll take my leave. You have twenty bright, young students to attend to."

Spoiler: A/N

Jesus fuck it is late, but I promised myself I would get this one out today.

This all took longer than I wanted it to, but there were miscellaneous delays. Including the fact that I kept having to stop writing because I was so tired my brain was going in circles and go the fuck to sleep.

Next time we get to see a dragon eating lunch. But now, I can finally sleeeeeeeeeepppp.

 

[Blackout]

Chapter 11

"Well done my young students! We have finished just on time!" All-Might spread his arms. "You have all performed beyond my expectations. I will be forwarding your evaluations to your Homeroom Teacher. But now, I must be off. Duty calls, and so does lunch! Plus Ultra!"

Pony Tsunotori smiled as All-Might made his exit, disappearing in a burst of speed. The exercises had finished without incident, leaving everyone sweaty, tired and hungry.

But oh had it been worth it. For those fifteen minutes, she had felt like a real Hero. Every step she'd taken to reach here, she would have taken them twice over for this.

Pony yawned and stretched her arms. "Man, I could really use a shower right about now."

There was no response from beside her. Yui Kodai had spoken maybe ten words to her teammate over the entire exercise, all of them strictly related to the mission at hand.

"What do you think lunch is going to be like?"

Kodai grunted noncommittally. That seemed to be her go-to answer when addressed directly, communicating that she'd heard the speaker but declining to respond, shutting down the conversation.

Pony suppressed a sigh at the non-response, but let it go. Can't win everytime. In the meanwhile warm shower called to her.

Some time later Pony emerged from the showers, feeling clean and energized. Now all she needed was a bit food and she'd be set for the rest of the day. She walked over to her locker and beginning the arduous task of putting on the UA student uniform, carefully pulling on the white dress shirt over her horns. The changing room was bustling with activity as her classmates were preparing themselves for lunch.

However, there was one absence that Pony immediately noticed.

She poked her head into the showers, glancing around. She found the large, scaled form of Ryuuzaki Tatsuma in the far end of the communal showers. She stood under the torrent of water falling from the showerhead, leaning against the wall with her eyes closed as she soaked in the warmth.

"Are you coming? Everyone's leaving for lunch."

The massive dragon startled as if she'd been dozing off.

"Yeah." She hissed, her blood-red eyes blinking rapidly. "Yeah, I'll be along in a moment."

Pony nodded and retreated back to the changing room, returning to her locker.

Moments later, there was a sound of heavy, clawed footsteps on tiles, followed by Tatsuma emerging from the showers, her scales glistening with water that was already turning to steam.

Pony's new friend seemed a little down. Ryuuzaki Tatsuma was hard to read at best, owing to vast differences in physiology, but in the small amount of time they had spent together Pony had learned to look for her ears. They might perk in excitement or surprise, flatten in anger or droop in worry. It had been strangely adorable to see a dragon the size of an elephant look like a puppy being scolded for pooping on the floor, after the second round of battle training, and her mood did not seem to have bounced back to normal yet.

So Pony resolved to find a way to cheer her up. Because that's what friends did. After finishing dressing herself and straightened her tie she approached Tatsuma, her hands behind her back to keep them from fidgeting.

"Hey, do you wanna sit with me?" Pony said, rocking back and forth on her hooves as she looked up at Tatsuma. "We can eat lunch together!"

"You sure you want do that?" She answered in her strange, hissing voice. "When I eat, it tends to be a little… loud."

Pony eyed the jaws that could have comfortably swallowed her whole, jagged teeth the size of daggers jutting out even when they were closed. She didn't doubt it.

But if she was being honest with herself, the offer hadn't been purely for Tatsuma's benefit alone.

"I'll be fine!" She waved it off.

The cafeteria was bustling with activity. It was a large, open space meant to accommodate a third of the student population at a time, with each year group's lunchtime being staggered to avoid overcrowding. There was no separation between classes with business, support, general and heroic students intermingling freely.

They made their way towards the tables through the crowd, Tatsuma's sheer mass clearing a path for Pony, like a scaly icebreaker. It struck Pony just how large her draconic classmate was, taking up space nearly equal to a full table just by herself even with her wings fully folded and tucked against her side. She didn't exactly push her way through, but most students were wise enough to make way.

In all the stories Pony had heard of UA almost everyone had praised the food, and she could see why. She quickly loaded up her plate on salmon and rice, with plenty of cheese sauce. The meal wouldn't have looked out of place in a restaurant, and yet it was provided to them for a pittance.

They found a spare table, and Tatsuma settled down on the floor alongside it, curling her tail around her legs to take up less space.

A pair of robot helpers struggled to carry the steaming pot between them, joints grinding as they dropped it in front of Tatsuma.

"Lunch Rush sends his best regards, meatbags."

Contained within was a vast quantity of cooked meat and bone, cut in large chunks. It looked like it had been well-prepared and seasoned, though there must have been hundreds of pounds of it.

Tatsuma carefully lowered her head to snatch a piece of meat between her teeth, before throwing her neck back, jaws snapping. There was a horrendous crunch of bone as she bit down, dagger-like teeth sinking into the meat. It reminded Pony of a feeding show at a crocodile exhibit. Tatsuma twisted her head back and bit down again, and little by little what must have been dozens of pounds of meat disappeared down her gullet.

She repeated the process, faster this time. The noise was considerable as meat and bone were subjected to immense amounts of pressure between her jaws. Tatsuma paused after swallowing the second piece, red eyes scanning the cafeteria, and Pony couldn't help but have a look as well.

The clamour of the cafeteria went on unabated. They had drawn attention, certainly, but not in a bad way. And she could tell Tatsuma was glad for that, a tension bleeding out of her posture that Pony hadn't even noticed was there.

"That is super manly!"

Tatsuma turned around, the floor creaking under her weight. The student who'd just spoken was a crimson-haired boy, sharp teeth flashing a confident smile. He craned his head to look up at Tatsuma- even sitting down her head was above eye level for all but the tallest people.

"That's so cool!" The boy leaned in closer. "They put real bones in your food?"

"Yeah. I need a lot of bone in my diet."

"That's awesome! Do you ever get worried you're going to choke?"

Pony questioned whether that was really an appropriate question to ask during a meal, but Tatsuma seemed to roll with it.

"I can't really choke." Tatsuma shrugged. "It, uh, it involves a lot of boring biology, but I can breathe through my nose even if the primary airway is blocked."

"Oh. Is that so that you can breathe in through your nose while breathing fire out through your mouth?"

"Yyyes." Tatsuma said, drawing out the word, but the other student paid no heed to it.

"Dude, that's the opposite of boring biology." Flashing a brilliant smile, the boy held up his hand. "Eijirou Kirishima, from 1-A."

"Ryuuzaki Tatsuma, 1-B." She took his hand in her claw, the size difference making the shake look awkward.

"Pony Tsunotori, also 1-B."

"Damn, 1-B has a dragon? I guess we'll have to pick up slack." He grinned, shaking Pony's hand as well. "Anyway, I've got to go now, just wanted to drop by and say hi."

"That was a little bit weird." Pony said as the boy walked away, presumably to find his own classmates.

"Could've been worse. Curiosity I can deal with." Tatsuma shrugged, before adding. "And he was the first person I've met at UA who didn't immediately ask about my surname."

Pony felt a bit of red creeping up her cheeks. "I guess that would get old pretty quickly." She sighed. "When I first enrolled in a japanese school, all anybody would talk about was that I was american. My japanese was even worse back then."

"Do you miss it, the US?"

"Every day. Not that I hate it here, but sometimes it's just… hard. It was worse in the beginning, when I understood maybe half of the conversation, and even now I still miss phrases and words. It's frustrating."

<"You know, we can just have the conversation in english, if you want to."> Tatsuma replied, in surprisingly good english. There was a noticeable accent, but nowhere near as thick as most japanese she'd encountered.

"Thanks, but no. It'd be comforting, but I'll never get better at japanese without using it." Tatsuma meant well, but she had made a promise to herself, when she decided to come to Japan. No taking the easy way out.

Plus Ultra, as they say.

"Fair enough." Tatsuna replied in japanese again, nodding. "I can respect that."

"Your english is really really good though!" Pony exclaimed with a smile, feeling a little bad for shutting her down like that when she'd only wanted to help. "

"Oh, I just… use the internet a lot."

"Well, it's obviously working!"

There were a few seconds of silence, stretching on to become uncomfortable. Tatsuma was as still as a statue, triple-lidded eyes blinking slowly before she spoke again.

"Say, how have you found Japan so far? You said you'd been here for a little over a year?" It was obvious Tatsuma was just trying to come up with small talk to fill the silence, but Pony appreciated the effort nonetheless. It was clear her new friend wasn't a very sociable person.

"Yeah!" She replied enthusiastically. "I've been living with my uncle. I don't regret coming to Japan, but it hasn't always been easy."

"Taking that kind of leap into a completely different culture can't have been."

"True. My father always told me stories of what it was like here, but it's one thing to hear it and another to live it."

"Did he teach you japanese?"

"A little bit, and I took a japanese elective at school. Most of it, um, I learned through watching anime and reading manga." Pony could feel her cheeks redden, but Tatsuma didn't seem to react to her confession.

It was just… embarrassing to admit. She didn't want to be thought of as the dumb, american tourist who only knew Japan through anime.

She'd seen the upturned noses, heard the scoffs and witnessed the dismissive attitudes towards her. Not always, not everywhere, but frequently enough to make note of. She'd come here to learn of her father's home country, and even before leaving she'd done her best to educate herself. She loved Japan.

But in the beginning, she had often slipped up. She still did, if less frequently. She'd miss a social cue, or show her ignorance of a particular custom, or slip into english without noticing. It hadn't made it any easier to make friends, and so she had learned to appreciate them wherever they may be found.

Tatsuma lowered her massive head, nodding. It was impossible to gauge her expression, but Pony didn't feel like she was being judged.

"Like I said, I learned english from the internet. But I think our food is getting cold."

They returned to their respective meals, before leaving. Pony made a bit of small talk, but it seemed like Tatsuma had reached her conversational quota for the moment. As they were making their way towards 1-B's classroom, Pony's phone suddenly began vibrating. Taking it out of her pocket, she glanced at the screen.

"Sorry, I have to take this." Without waiting for a reply Pony tucked around a corner, clicking the green icon as she brought the phone to her ear. <"Hi mom!">

<"Pony! How's my sweetheart doing?!"> A bright, cheerful voice rang out from the speaker.

She took a deep breath, savouring the sound of her mother in her ears. She'd missed it so, so much.

<"Good! We just got off from lunch, so you called at a good time. I still have a little bit before the next lesson.">

Due to time zone issues, keeping in contact was hard. When Pony had free time, her family was asleep. When her family had free time, Pony was at school. Weekends were fine, but otherwise finding a good time to talk was nigh-impossible, and thus all the more treasured for it.

Sure, they texted too, but it wasn't the same as hearing each other's voice. It was also the only english Pony allowed herself, outside of slip-ups.

<"That's great! I'm going to sleep in just a bit, but we can chat for a bit.">

<"Yeah, anyway… I talked to my homeroom teacher, and he said the trip's not going to work out.">

<"Well, we always knew it was a long shot.">

<"He said UA does make some allowances for transfer students but the date's in the lead up to the sports festival and I really can't miss those lessons. The flight there and back would just take too long.">

<"I know sweetie. Your future has to come first. We'll mail you the presents, and sing the song over a video call, like we discussed.">

<"Yeah." Pony sighed.>

<"Hey, cheer up! You're doing amazing, so far from home! You got into one of the greatest Hero Schools on the planet entirely on your own merit. You have a bright future ahead of you.">

<"...Thanks, Mom.">

<"You can count on me, sweetie! Now, have you made any friends yet?">

<"Well, one. I think. Her name's Ryuuzaki Tatsuma.">

<"Tatsuma?">

<"Yeah, she's Ryukyu's sister.">

There was a beat of silence, and Pony could all but hear the eyebrow being raised at the other end. <"Ryukyu, eh?">

<"It's not like that!"> She squeaked, indignant. <"I became friends with her because she was nice! What kind of person do you think I am?">

<"The kind that has three different posters of Ryukyu in her room, owns all twelve volumes of her official manga series, has watched every last one of her televised fights, dressed as her for halloween three times in a row… want me to go on?">

Pony stomped her foot in frustration, unable to help herself. <"Mom!">

<"I know, I know, I'm just teasing. How has class been?">

They chatted for a few more minutes, until Pony had to tear herself away from the conversation in order to make it to class in time, pulling into her seat just as Present Mic arrived for their first English lesson.

It was, naturally, stupendously boring for her to sit through, being that it was her native language. To his credit Present Mic gave her a bit of breathing room, and she noticed him cutting her some slack when it came to focusing on the lecture.

But even so, Pony wasn't the type of person who could just sit still with nothing to do, and as the class ended she was all but bouncing up and down in her seat.

"I'm guessing you didn't enjoy the class that much?"

"It was horrible." Pony bemoaned to Tatsuma, turning her seat around. "Your english is near-perfect yourself, how do you not die of boredom?"

"Practice." Tatsuma replied, tilting her head. "And I appreciate the opportunity to refresh my memory. Skills degrade faster than you would think."

"Well you must have the patience of a saint. I don't know how I'm going to survive."

"You could ask for a pass?"

"Already tried." Pony sighed. She'd even foreseen this exact situation occurring, from the year she'd spent in japanese Middle School. "Vlad King said I should still be present. Helps build up class unity or something."

"Well. Even if it feels bad now, when the midterms start getting closer it'll probably be quite nice to have one class you can practically sleep through." Tatsuma noted. "And then you can trade english tutoring for help in whatever class you're struggling with."

"I guess that's fair." Pony sighed. Then she perked up again and began digging around in her school bag, before retrieving a small softcover manga book, laying it onto Tatsuma's desk. Pony could tell the exact moment her friend realized what it was when her ears suddenly perked up.

"I promised to bring it, so here it is! Volume One of Ryukyu's official manga!"

It was something of an absurd sight, a massive dragon caaarefully turning each page with gentle nudges of her claws. After a few moments Tatsuma paused, raising her head to look at the clock, with only a few more minutes left until the next class.

"I need to- can I borrow this? This is the best thing that I have ever read."

"I-"

"If you let me borrow it, just for tomorrow, I'll get Ryuko to sign it for you."

Pony felt her eyes widen in their sockets. "Ryuko as in-"

No way.

"As in Ryukyu, my big sister, yes." Tatsuma replied distractedly, seemingly ignorant of Pony's reaction. "She doesn't mind. And even if she does, I'll just make her do it anyway."

"A Pro-Hero autograph can go for hundreds of dollars! Surely you can't-"

"Sibling privilege." Tatsuma replied with a firm note of finality in her voice. "She's dragging me to a PR event on Sunday, it's the least she can do."

Pony considered her options. On one hand, it was a keepsake of hers, well-worn and treasured. She didn't want to part with it. But she also wanted her new friend to be able to appreciate it.

And the idea of having it be signed by Ryukyu herself made Pony's heart accelerate at the mere thought.

"Alright." She relented. "But only if she agrees!"

Not that Pony knew how she could possibly force Ryukyu to do anything, but then again she was an only child herself.

Tatsuma nodded distractedly and carefully clutched the book in her claws, putting it away into a pocket in her wrist holder.

The last class of the day was simply titled "Homeroom" in the schedule, and as soon as Vlad King walked into the classroom he dropped off his papers onto the desk and turned to the class.

"Our first order of business will be the selection of Class Presidents. You have twenty minutes."

All hell broke loose almost instantly, a dozen voices clamouring for attention simultaneously. People were shouting, expressing their opinions, forwarding themselves as candidates- it was pure mayhem.

Pony looked back towards the front of the room, but instead of reining in the class like he had done on the first day Vlad King had simply leaned back on his seat, seemingly content to observe. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Kendo give up trying to make herself heard over the general noise, getting up from her seat and walking towards the back of the classroom.

A moment later a great noise rang out from behind Pony, a tremor running through the floor. She swivelled on her chair to see Kendo standing by Tatsuma who had stood up from her seat, her tail resting against the floor.

Pony realized she must have slammed it on the floor, to draw everyone's attention. Kendo nodded gratefully at the dragon, before turning to regard the class, all eyes now on her.

"A shouting match will get us nowhere, and it's obvious that there's only one way to fairly resolve the issue. We hold a vote, and the two with the highest totals are made president and vice-president." She looked across the room. "Does this sound alright with everyone?"

Seeing that there were no dissenters, Kendo turned towards Vlad King with a questioning look.

"That is acceptable." Pony frowned. That was more subdued than usual, at least from what she knew of their teacher. He liked to take charge.

"Right, we'll need some paper slips and-"

"Don't need them." Pony piped in. "I can just quickly add everyone into a group chat and make a poll."

"That sounds alright. Any objections?" Hearing none, Kendo turned to Vlad King. "Sir, permission to use our phones in class?"

"Granted, but make it quick."

Pony was already on her smartphone, thumbing through the messenger app to create a new chatroom. The school had mandated the sharing of phone numbers for security reasons, and she fired off invites to everyone in the class before moving onto the poll.

Within moments everything was set up, and the voting began. Pony scrolled over the list of names she'd created, considering how to cast her own vote. In truth she had scarcely had time to interact with most of her classmates, to judge how well suited for it they may have been.

Kendo was the obvious candidate. She breathed the essence of the older sister, the reasonable mediator. Even just from her handling of the class just moments ago, it was as clear as day that Kendo had the qualities of a class president.

But it was that obviousness that made Pony hesitate. In all likelihood Kendo would win anyway, and whether she did so with one additional vote wouldn't matter. She could afford to entertain other options, and she felt her thoughts turn towards her newest friend.

Tatsuma had been a little more withdrawn after the battle training, and Pony couldn't help but sympathize. The losing was hard enough, but with the expectations that come with being a recommended student…

Even if she didn't win, Pony could show her her support. It was the least she could do, after Tatsuma had been nothing but friendly and helpful towards her. She thumbed the button, and the screen blinked, a loading symbol replacing it.

It seemed like she'd been he last one to cast her vote as the image changed into that of an infographic, showing the results. Predictably at the front, with eleven votes, was Itsuka Kendo. However, second place…

"It is decided, then." Vlad King spoke out. "Kendo will be class president and Tatsuma vice-president."

Beside her own vote, two more of her classmates appeared to have done the same, bringing Tatsuma to a total of three. With Monoma and Honenuki both at two votes and Tokage and Yoarashi at one, she barely scraped into the second place.

There was a brief instant of silence of stunned silence. Then the spell broke, a wall of noise erupting from the class.

"What? How did that happen?"

"Congratulations!"

"How did I only get-"

"I knew it!"

"I, for one, welcome our new draconic overlord-"

Pony could see Tatsuma physically recoil from the cacophony, her ears twitching. The dragon glanced at Vlad King, who simply raised an eyebrow in return. Pony could see her a draw a breath in resignation, before her tail came down on the floor again.

Even though she was prepared for it this time, Pony couldn't help the instinctive flinch at the loud bang that ensued. The class quieted instantly.

"Thank you."

She glanced back at Vlad King, who nodded, and stood up.

"These two shall now be your class presidents. Their duties are to assist me in organizing the class and its activities, and keeping order. For a class of prospective heroes, this is no small responsibility, and I expect that all of you will comply and aid them in their duties wherever possible." Once more he paused, his gaze lingering over the class.

"Now, onto the next order of business. Has everyone brought back your permission slips for tomorrow's trip? If you have, return it to…"

The rest of the day passed by in short order, and soon enough Pony and Tatsuma were walking towards the school gates.

"Thanks again for letting me borrow the book."

"You're welcome!" Pony smiled. "So, how's Vice-Presidenthood taste like?"

"I don't know." Suddenly morose, she breathed out through her nose, and Pony could see the heat haze in the air. "I don't know if I really deserve it. I'm not the most social person in the class."

"You know, I'm sure Vlad King would still allow you to withdraw, if you don't want it." Pony ventured, but Tatsuma shook her head.

"...No. I'll do it." Tatsuma sighed, her massive body shuddering. "I won't like it, but I'll do it."

"Then why?"

"Why aren't we having this conversation in english, even though it would be much easier for you?"

"I told you." Pony replied, her mind returning to the conversation in the cafeteria. "I'll never get better at japanese if I- oh."

"Exactly. Bowing out would be the easy thing to do. Which is why I can't. So even if I don't feel like I fully deserve it, I will accept the responsibility and trust placed on me."

Spoiler: A/N

In light of some deserved criticism, I've done a bit revising of my plans for this story. Nothing too major, just moving up some events and plot points to happen earlier and cutting out some stuff that I ultimately realized was just pointless filler.

 

[Blackout]

the dragon is The Dragon

Click to shrink...

How dare you make me read this with my own two eyes.

Yo, this story is rad as fuck.

Writing is 10/10 competent; which I mean as a compliment. The cadence makes it easy to forget one is even reading, I completed the whole story in one sitting.

Pacing also is incredibly strong. You spend just enough time on the characters internal world to let us know what is up, not so long as to bore or over explain. Action is described just so, with enough detail to produce a mental image but nothing purple.

Excellent so far; eagerly awaiting more DRAGON.

Click to shrink...

Thanks for the high praise.

I am my own worst critic, so it's nice to hear that other people are enjoying my writing.

It gives me motivation to work on the next Chapter.

Also, can I just say that your writing is great. Some of the interludes have felt a bit stilted at times, but that's to be expected when changing to a foreign perspective, and overall I love every inch of this fic so far.

Click to shrink...

Mmm, I've found it quite difficult to differentiate the "voice" of the different characters.

But the only way to get better is to try, so I'm going to keep writing different POVs where I find it necessary.



Also, finally remembered to crosspost this from SB:

Spoiler: Approximate Ryuuzaki-Human Scale

(Brought to you by the power of MS Paint)

 

[Blackout]

"Excitement."

I pulled my ears up and raised my tail.

"Curiosity."

I tilted my head to the side.

"Sadness."

I flattened my ears, holding my head perpendicular to the ground.

"Anger."

Keeping my ears flattened I drew back my head, tucking my tail and expanding my wings.

"Very good." Dr. Kawaguchi told me. "With enough practice, you won't have to consciously think about it, the correct response will simply come to you naturally.

"I think that's already been happening." I confessed. "I've started to notice that it's been happening involuntarily."

"Then you have been progressing even faster than I could have expected." She gave me a bright, reassuring smile. "But that's enough of that for today."

"What's next?" I said, suppressing a yawn. It had been a long day.

"You've told me about your experiences at UA already, but I'd like to hear more about what you thought of it. Last time we talked about your expectations, going in. We'll start off with anything positive that surprised you at UA?"

"Dealing with my classmates." I said after a moment of consideration. "It's, well, it's been easier than I had thought. Everyone's more mature, and things aren't constantly moving at lightning speed. I don't feel like I'm being judged for being a little withdrawn."

"That's often how it is, growing up." She said. "What about negatives? Any unpleasant surprises?"

"Well embarrassing myself in front of the entire class doesn't really qualify because I pretty much saw that one coming. But there was one thing. I don't know if it's just because, you know, first day of school and all that, but I got the sense that UA likes keeping us in the dark. On saturday we had a big Quirk test right out of the blue. Today we had battle training under All-Might, with no warning. And tomorrow we're going on a class trip, and we don't even know where we're going. I don't like that."

"You like routine, and knowing what's coming, so that you can mentally prepare for it."

"Yeah."

"Well, undoubtedly it will be at its most difficult in the beginning, when you haven't yet gotten a feel for how UA does things. It will get easier. But in the meanwhile, have you tried asking your homeroom teacher? It would be perfectly appropriate for Class Vice-President to inquire about an upcoming class trip."

"Um, no, I haven't." I admitted, a little bit embarrassed. "The whole thing still feels so new to me. I…" I wasn't sure how to put my thoughts into words. I had told Pony I would accept it, with all the confidence I could muster, but in truth I was still of two minds about it. I had my doubts about my suitability for the role, and I dreaded the responsibility that came from it.

But those were all things that I needed to work on, weren't they? In becoming a Pro-Hero a vast amount of responsibility would be placed upon my shoulders, and my self-doubts were the reason I failed in the Battle Training scenario.

Like Ryuko said, I needed to confront my shortcomings earlier rather than later, while I could still do so in a safe environment. So I'd accepted before I could talk myself out of it, and now there was no going back.

"I don't really know how to feel about it." Was what I ended up saying aloud. "Can we open that can of worms some other time? I have one big issue I wanted to talk about, and it's getting late."

I was starting to feel my eyelids inexorably slipping downwards. Sleep beckoned, and I wasn't going to be able to hold it back for long.

"Absolutely." She replied immediately. "These sessions are for your benefit alone."

I nodded, taking a few moments to find the right words. "During the exercise today, I made an observation. Before getting into UA, I trained extensively with Ryuko in using my Quirk in a fight. I never thought that was anything special, until today. In hindsight it seems obvious, but I noticed… I noticed most of my classmates weren't very good at using their Quirks in a fight."

Dr. Kawaguchi leaned in, intrigued.

"Even just saying that aloud sounds really arrogant, especially because I lost, but it's the truth. They were brilliant in their own ways, and most of them knew how to fight, they just… most of them had very little experience fighting using their Quirks. They didn't have the luxury of a Pro-Hero to train and spar with them."

"So you started to wonder about your own circumstances?"

"Yeah. And… and more specifically it made me think of Fujiwara. I started to think… could he have been on to something?" I said, giving voice to the thoughts that had been gnawing at me the whole day. "Do those coming from Hero families really have an unfair advantage over those who don't?"

I'd considered going to Ryuko with this, but I wanted an outside opinion, from someone impartial. And as much as I loved my sister, she was neither of those things.

"I see." She began, folding her arms on her lap. "I cannot tell you whether you are right or wrong. I can only advice you to consider the matter in a vacuum. Detach the idea from Fujiwara, because he does not own it. No matter what, his actions were unequivocally wrong. Do not let him taint an idea just because he advocated for it."

I sighed. "I don't really know what to think, to be honest. On the one hand, it doesn't seem fair that some have the opportunity to receive proper training in a key area to being admitted to a Hero School. But at the same time, you can't just tell them to stop giving advice to their family members, you know?"

"Dragging everyone down to the same level doesn't seem right either?"

"Exactly. It's… it's more like everyone should have an opportunity to excel, regardless of where they came from. Instead of banning training, it should be made more available."

-----

Come the next morning I arrived at the gates of the UA campus only to find the path blocked. A mass of people crowded before the gates, and as I got closer I began to pick out words.

"What is it like to have All-Might as a teacher?"

"Channel Nine here, what's your opinion on-"

"Do you ever get afraid of being-

Dozens upon dozens of reporters and cameramen were standing in front of the gates, barring access to the students arriving to school. I could see several of my classmates trying to get past the reporters, but they refused to shift.

I swallowed the lump that had been building in my throat. It seemed like my first brush with the media would come even sooner than I had ever feared. But it didn't matter. I had a duty to fulfill.

As I drew closer a hush settled among the gathering, my towering silhouette easily visible over the crowd. I made my way through the mass of students, coming face to face with the reporters, and immediately had several mics shoved into my face.

"Are you a teacher?"

"What is it like-"

I ignored the questions as I stared down the reporter in front of me.

"I am going to have to ask you to move aside." I usually made an effort to avoid intimidating people, subtle cues taught by Ryuko and Dr. Kawaguchi. Keeping my head low and wings folded in order to appear smaller, holding my tail upright, moving with deliberate, careful motions, using my ears to communicate. I made no such effort now, drawing myself to my full height, leaning forward and glaring down at the man in front of me.

For a moment, nobody moved. I kept staring, unblinking.

Then the man's nerve broke and he stumbled aside in a hurry.

"Thank you."

I forged onwards, my bulk serving to carve a path through the reporter crowd to the gates, and my fellow students followed in short order.

I diverged from the usual path to our homeroom, finding a secluded hallway. I glanced around until I was confident nobody was around to see me, and then leaned against the wall, the structure creaking under my weight.

That had not been as easy as it had looked.

But I had done it. That was the important part.

I remained there for a few moments, gathering my strength, before pushing myself off the wall and resuming my journey towards 1-B's homeroom.

"What's this about?" I surveyed the scene in front of me as I entered the classroom.

Kendo and, uh, Shishida? The guy who looked like a werewolf, were sat on either side of a desk, arms locked.

"They're armwrestling." Yosetsu supplied.

"Thank you" I replied. "Why are they armwrestling?"

"Well, Tetsutetsu and Yoarashi decided to pass the time with a hot-spirited competition of strength."

"Uh-huh." Sure, that I could see. "Where'd they go, and how did Kendo get involved? Doesn't seem like her."

"Well, Tetsutetsu won so he proclaimed himself the class armwrestling champion, and that nobody could beat him. So Kendo took him up on that, and literally threw him off his seat. Then Monoma challenged her and lost too, so now he's sulking." The boy indicated to the back of the class where, sure enough, the blonde was browsing his phone, expression sullen. "Then Shishida challenged Kendo, and that's where we're standing at right now."

As he spoke, Kendo forced Shishida's arm down, slamming it into the table. The furred boy groaned but vacated the seat, and Tokage stepped up to take his place.

"Well, as long as they finish and get back to their proper seats before Vlad King gets here, it shouldn't be an issue." I said, after a moment's consideration.

"What, not going to take your turn at the table?"

I turned to look at Awase. "That would hardly be fair. I outmass the rest of 1-B combined. I can't exactly turn off my Quirk."

"Then make it a Quirk Armwrestling duel!"

"And wreck the classroom? No thanks."

I settled down on my desk to wait for class to start, getting my desk in order. The armwrestling match seemed to be dying down, with Kendo as the uncontested winner. With no more challengers, she walked over to me.

"Good job with the reporters." She flashed me a thumbs-up. "They wouldn't listen to me so I was going to call the teachers, but you resolved the situation. I knew you could do it!"

We talked for a few more minutes, about Class President business, before the clock ran out and she had to take her own seat before Vlad King arrived.

He got straight into business, walking in front of his desk.

"I have reviewed your performances yesterday, taking into account video footage and All-Might's notes. You have done well, but all of you have room to improve."

He then began going over each student in turn. Awase required more hand to hand training. Komori needed to work on her confidence. Yui had to communicate more with her teammate.

"Tatsuma. You spar with your sister, correct?" At my nod, he went on. "Describe the rules and circumstances of the sparring, please."

"Um, open field, Quirk use is allowed, first one to pin the other to the ground wins?"

"Damn, that sounds awesome." I heard somebody whisper in the background. Tetsutetsu, I think.

Vlad King ignored them. "It's a good basis from which to work forward from, but we'll need to focus your training on how to fight and safely incapacitate human-sized opponents, as well as enclosed spaces."

I nodded, it made sense. I expected him to say something more, but I supposed All-Might's lecture had been sufficient, and he moved on to talking to Tsuburaba about strengthening his Quirk.

Eventually he had covered everyone, and the topic turned to today's lesson.

"We will travel via bus to the training site, due to the distance. Kendo, you are in charge of getting everyone seated."

"Umm… how will Tatsuma be getting there?" Kendo asked. Unless they got me a special bus all for myself...

"An excellent question. Tatsuma will be making her own way to the training site."

I felt my ears perk up in excitement as I realized what he meant. "I will be following the bus from the air?"

"Yes. You will maintain an altitude of no more than one hundred meters, and remain in eye contact with the bus at all times."

"Understood."

"Now, all of you have the option of using your Hero costume instead of the gym uniform if you wish to. Today's exercises include rescue training in field conditions, so consider if your costume is suitable for it. In either case, get yourselves ready and meet me at the front doors in fifteen minutes."

-----

I took off with a beat of my wings, leaping into the air. No matter how many times I did it, nothing ever beat the freedom of being in the air. I tucked in my limbs and gained speed, following the bus along the road.

I could make out awed faces looking out of the windows as I became visible. I resisted the urge to show off, and concentrated on maintaining my altitude and relative position to the bus. Violating Vlad King's trust would surely lead to a much more boring trip come next time.

The training site was a huge dome, stretching hundreds of meters into the air. The diameter must have been absurd, just from a cursory look.

I landed on the parking lot, claws digging into the dirt.

"That was so cool!" Pony exclaimed as she ran over. "You have to give me a ride one day!"

"Uh, maybe."

As the class piled out of the bus, a man in what looked like a space suit complete with a bulbous, darkened visor, approached us from the direction of the main doors.

"Welcome, welcome!"

"It's Thirteen!" Pony cried out.

"Who?" I asked her.

"Don't you know him? He's the Space Hero: Thirteen! Specializing in rescue operations!"

"Huh. I guess it makes sense he'd be here today, then."

Thirteen lead us inside the dome, spreading his arms wide as we entered, with me awkwardly ducking through the doorframe.

"This is the Rescue Training Center! Or as I like to call it, the Unforeseen Simulation Joint!"

The place was just as gargantuan as it looked from the outside. There were forests, rocky hills, urban cityscapes, and even an entire lake, with a luxury yacht in the middle of it all.

"It is capable of covering all the necessities of Rescue Hero Training! But before we begin, I have something I would like to talk about."

"The floor is yours, Thirteen." Vlad King told him.

"As I'm sure some of you are aware, my Quirk is called "Black Hole". It can suck in and tear apart anything." Thirteen began, a tinny, artificial voice coming out of his helmet.

"I have turned this power towards rescuing people from disasters, but it could just as easily kill and destroy. I have no doubt many of you possess similar abilities. In our super-powered society, the use of Quirks is heavily restricted and monitored. It may seem that this system is a stable one. But we must never forget that it only takes one wrong move with an uncontrollable Quirk for people to die."

I would have grimaced if I still could have. He had a point. I thought back, thinking of gunshots and a man pinned beneath my claws. I shook my head, focusing back to the speech.

"On your first day, you learned of your own potential. On your second day, you began to learn how to apply it in battle, and the danger it can represent to others. In this class, however, you will learn another perspective! You will learn how to utilize your Quirks to save lives. Your powers are not meant to inflict harm. I hope you leave here today with the understanding that you're meant to help people. That is all. Thank you for listening!" Thirteen bowed deeply, to the sound of enthusiastic applause from the class.

"Great. Now, to start us off, let's lay down some ground rules." Vlad King began.

"Ah, yes!" Thirteen raised a finger. "While the facility is as safe as I could make it without compromising its purpose, there is always a chance of an accident. Therefore, I must ask that you do not stray away from the exercise area currently in use, and always obey instructions from myself or Vlad King."

"We will be visiting each of the four zones in turn. Landslide and Shipwreck zones first, then a lunch break, followed by Conflagration and Storm zones." Vlad King listed off.

"You will receive training in how to utilize your Quirks in rescue missions under different conditions. We will use these to simulate civilians in need of help!" Thirteen held up a life-size dummy, not dissimilar to the ones I'd seen back in my time, only with a bit more electronic equipment. "They may be inanimate, but they are equipped with sensitive systems to provide a degree of realism. Treat them as you would real civilians!"

Some time later, we found ourselves near the Landslide zone, concrete buildings upturned and halfway buried in the dirt. As I stood there waiting, I saw Monoma walking towards me.

"Could I ask to borrow your Quirk for the duration of the exercise? I believe doubling up on our physically strongest Quirk would be the most useful contribution I could make."

"Are you sure mine is what you want?" I tilted my head. "Does your Quirk help you acclimate to what you copy? Because otherwise you'll have a hard time dealing with a completely different body structure."

"It does, up to a point. Not instant mastery, but enough to get me by. And I've gotten quite good at adapting."

"Still, wouldn't Shishida's be more useful? You would at least retain humanoid shape."

"Ah, his Quirk possesses a certain drawback. It releases a chemical rush into his system when the transformation is activated, causing a state of heightened emotion and somewhat impaired judgement."

"Well, knock yourself out." I shrugged my wings. "I can offer some tips, but don't expect me to babysit you."

"I would not dream of it."

He gently laid a hand on my scales, and was enveloped in a familiar flash of energy.

Watching the transformation… it brought back memories. A longing that I'd pushed into the back of my mind.

Within moments there was a second dragon standing in the field. Compared to my white-grey colouration his scales shimmered in shades of yellow, growing darker around his stomach and wings. I also noticed Monoma's dragon form didn't quite stand at eye level with me, being a fraction smaller and slimmer than mine.

I saw him flex his clawed forelimbs experimentally,

"Wow. Is this how you feel all the time?"

"What do you mean?"

"This… feeling of power. It's like a furnace is burning in my chest." He marveled. "And it's suddenly all so sharp."

"Eh. You get used to it."

"Even the sense of touch? Everything's… muffled." He said, running a claw along the ground.

"It does suck, but it's also comforting. Having a layer of nigh-invulnerable scales between you and the world, I mean."

Monoma gave me an inscrutable look, before averting his gaze.

"I suppose."

And then there was no more time for talking. We were spread out to work in small groups, assigning at least one sensory Quirk per team. Kuroiro slipped into the cracks in the rubble, coming back to inform Tetsutetsu where to dig, with Awase standing by to reinforce the broken concrete to ensure it didn't collapse. Tokage located the dummies using her detached eyes and ears, before Honenuki softened the ground and dived into it like it was water. Shiozaki's vines crept through tiny openings, feeling for the dummies before relaying their position for Kendo to dig out. Shishida was a one-man rescue crew, his sensitive nose locating his targets before digging them out with his prodigious strength.

Like him I didn't need a teammate, though Monoma stuck close by to renew his borrowed Quirk. Thirteen hadn't been kidding about the dummies, they were designed with chemical dispensers that gave them a smell similar to a human's body odour, some of them were fitted with voice modules that called out for help, and they even had systems for simulating heartbeat and breathing.

So I spent the next two hours with my ears pressed into the ground, listening for the signs of another dummy, before using my claws to excavate them. If I handled them too roughly they'd chime an alarm, and instruct me to be more careful. Vlad King and Thirteen wandered around the Landslide zone, offering advice and criticism.

The constant concentration was taxing, but physically the rescue training was easy. For me anyway, I could tell the others were starting to tire, some more than others.

At the two hour mark, Vlad King called a break of fifteen minutes before we moved onto the Shipwreck zone. After a bit of a rest and some water everyone was feeling invigorated again, and we gathered at the beach.

"The most important thing to learn about how to rescue somebody who's drowning, is how to avoid drowning yourself in the process. At that point you have failed to rescue your target, and are in need of another rescuer yourself. A common cause for this is that once a person has entered a blind panic, they may latch on to a would be rescuer and drag them underwater as well. This is why it is always best to approach them from behind and take hold of them, rather than that they take a hold of you. Are you with me so far?"

Everyone nodded along.

"Good. There are rescue dummies floating on the water, and your task is to bring them back to the shore." Vlad King held up a stopwatch. "Your time starts-"

"Wait, we're supposed to go swim like this?" Monoma asked.

Vlad King stepped in front of him in a flash, eyes smouldering.

"And?"

"...And we'll get… wet?"

"An astute observation."

"Am I to understand that you consider yourself too good to get your clothes wet?" Vlad King directed an absolutely scorching look at Monoma. "That your comfort is secondary to rescuing drowning civilians?"

I was starting to feel a little bad for Monoma by now. He could have worded it better, but this...

"Of course not, I just-"

"Then get to it. I told you to dress appropriately for rescue training." With that he turned away, addressing the class once again. "Any other interruptions? No? Good. Your time starts now."

I had considered my options while we were waiting. I didn't have the aerial maneuverability to pick up a dummy with anything approaching care, and flying so close to the water I'd be creating significant waves. No, I needed to swim over to the dummies.

I eyed the murky water warily, a feeling of dread creeping up my spine. Well. Nothing to it. I just had to cope.

I stepped into the water, careful not to create a wave with my mass, and then got to swimming. Gang Orca's lessons came to mind and I tucked my wings against my body, using my tail to propel myself.

Despite my hesitation costing me a bit of time I rapidly passed most of my classmates. Everyone was using their Quirks where they could: Kendo was using her enlarged hands to front crawl her way forwards, Pony once more used her horns as anchors to draw herself forward, and Tokage was already hovering over the first dummy, lifting it out of the water.

I reached mine only seconds later, grabbing it in my claw and turning around. It helped that most of my propulsion came from my tail, leaving my forelimbs free to hold on to the dummy and keep it above the water.

Just don't look down.

I reached the beach moments later, rushing onto firm land once more. Vlad King raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

The rest of the training in the water passed by in similar fashion. I did my best to spend as little time in the water as possible, and I could tell the others were starting to notice my behaviour.

We were standing on a break by the lake, taking a moment to relax after the intensive training. A car had stopped by from UA to drop us field lunches, and everyone was eating and chatting in small groups.

"So, Tatsuma." Tetsutesu asked, wiping water off of his hair. "I got to ask, are you like… afraid of the water or something?"

"No." I denied immediately.

"She is." Yui's voice suddenly chimed in. With how quiet she could be, it was easy to forget she was there. "During a class trip she found the center of the boat and refused to leave it for anything."

"It was a rickety fishing boat. It could have fallen apart at any moment. I am not afraid of water."

"Prove it." Yui continued prodding. I glanced around, seeing the eyes on me.

"Fine." If that was what it took, fine. I could handle a bit of water. Just before diving under the water, I saw Yui whisper something to Yanagi.

Underwater, the visibility was poor. The rays of sunlight coming from the windowed ceiling overhead pierced into the water, but could not illuminate the entirety of the lake.

My body kept the water around me comfortable warm, and I could hold my breath for an extended period of time. I figured I'd just chill a couple meters under the surface for a few moments, maybe just long enough to make them worry. That'd teach them. I concentrated on that thought, doing my best to avoid thinking about where I was.

It really was dark down here.

Then, I saw something, a tiniest bit of movement in the corner of my eye. I whipped my head around, but it was gone.

I felt a chill running through my spine, and it wasn't from the water temperature. The water was murky, but I was certain I'd seen something.

I tried to calm myself. Just a couple moments, and I'd return to the surface, and I could put this whole stupid thing behind me.

Then I felt something brush against my tail, and spun my head around.

I screamed.

-----

There was a muffled noise coming from the direction of the lake, causing Itsuka Kendo to turn her head towards the waterfront, just in time to see the water's surface be broken by a massive splash. The beat of wings filled the air and a large white shape rocketed into the air and towards the ceiling.

There was a sudden choking noise coming from beside Kendo, and she whipped around to see Yui make a single, undignified snort. By her standards, it was akin to rolling around the grass in laughter.

"What did you do?" Kendo demanded, glancing back up at Tatsuma before returning her gaze to her friend. Many of her classmates had noticed the commotion as well, gathering around.

Yui looked at Yanagi, who lifted her hand and a collection of rocks between the size of a pebble and a basketball burst out of the water, levitating over to the shore. They came to a halt, before rapidly arranging themselves into the distinct outline of a shark. On the surface it was obvious that they were simply rocks, but down in the murky waters...

"Ummm… guys, she's not coming down." Kaibara's voice suddenly interjected.

Everyone's attention returned to the ceiling, where the white-scaled dragon had perched on one of the light fixtures hanging from the metal framework. It was hard to tell, given the distance, but Kendo could've sworn she was shivering as if caught in a cold breeze.

"What are we going to tell Vlad King?"

----

"And I hope that properly demonstrates why phobias are not a matter of cheap comedy, and should never be made light of." Vlad King finished his lecture, his tone positively scathing.

After a while, they had managed to coax me down from the ceiling. The worst of shock had long since worn off, replaced by a deepset feeling of humiliation roiling around in my chest.

"This manner of behaviour is unbecoming of future Heroes, and I am disappointed in both of you." Vlad King went on. "Yanagi, I am letting you off with a warning for now. Kodai, you knew exactly what you were doing. I am assigning you two weeks of detention with Principal Nedzu. Do not let me see you pull a stunt like this ever again."

He let the two suffer his glare for a few more moments, before turning around to address the rest of class. "You have ten more minutes of break left. Use it well. Dismissed."

The others scattered, but as I made to follow Vlad King held up a hand. "Tatsuma. A word, please."

I stopped cold, a chill running through my spine.

"You are not in trouble. If you are up for it, I would simply like to discuss what just happened with you."

I nodded, still apprehensive. "Alright."

"First of all, do you feel up to completing today's exercises? I can grant you leave to skip class and go home early."

"I… I'm fine now." In truth I was still a little shaken up, but I didn't want to miss out on the remainder of the rescue training.

"If you say so, then I trust your judgement." Vlad King nodded. "However, I would still like to address the underlying issue. I noticed during the shipwreck rescue training that you acted skittish around the water. Was that a factor caused by your phobia?"

"I… Yes." I admitted. "I get… nervous around deep water. Swimming pools are fine because the water's clear and I can see with my own two eyes there's nothing in there, but… as soon as I can't, even if rationally I know there can't be anything there, I start to get anxious."

"I see. Your file told me you saw a therapist on a regular basis, have you discussed this issue with them?"

"No, I haven't." I bowed my head. "Well, I've mentioned it, but I haven't talked much about it. I don't think she knows how bad it is."

Vlad King nodded again, accepting my words without judgement. "I would recommend that you do, or if you don't want to talk to your regular psychologist, we have several licensed therapists on staff here at UA and we can schedule an appointment with one of them."

"Can I think about it? I don't really feel up to making a decision like that at the moment."

"Perfectly understandable, take as much time as you need." Vlad King said, giving me a reassuring nod. "Now get back out there, you still have a bit of break left."

I nodded, feeling a little better, and began making my way towards the beach again.

"Man, how can you be afraid of sharks?" Tsuburaba asked incredulously as I returned to the rest of the class.

I sighed. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"I mean, you're a freaking dragon! You could eat a great white for breakfast, lunch and dinner!"

"I said I'd rather not talk about it." I growled from between clenched teeth, my voice physically reverberating through the ground.

Tsubaraba took an involuntary step back, eyes widening and beads of sweat appearing on his skin as the air temperature suddenly spiked to sauna-like levels.

"Right, right, taboo, zip, let us discuss something else!"

The others immersed themselves on various conversations as I laid down on the grass, calming myself down and observing. Pony and Monoma were skipping stones by the beach. Kendo was giving a lecture of her own to Yui and Yanagi.

And Yoarashi was… walking towards me.

"Yo! Tatsuma! I wanted to talk to you about something!"

I braced for another question, or expression of disbelief, or even just an expression of sympathy. But the stream of words that came out of his mouth was none of those things.

"See, I started thinking, after I saw you flying on the way here-"

"If you're asking for a ride, the answer is no."

"What? No, I want you to help me learn how to fly."

"What?"

"See, I can use my wind to propel myself along the ground or in short bursts but every time I try sustained flight I'd lose my balance and spin out. But! I had an idea! See, if I add these tubes to my costume, I could channel the wind through them to keep myself stable!"

"...I'm flattered, but I'm not sure how much help I'd be. My method of flight is completely different from yours."

"That's still more than nothing, which is what I'm starting with!" He exclaimed, bowing deep enough to put his forehead on the grass. "I would be deeply honoured by your assistance!"

"I'll do it, just don't expect a miracle." I replied. "You might want to ask Pony too, she was talking about learning how to fly too."

"We can make into a group activity!"

"Great..."

After the break, the Conflagration zone training passed without incident. Vlad King and Thirteen went through an extensive lecture on safety before letting us loose, talking about the dangers posed

To be honest it felt a little redundant in my case, since I was immune to heat and smoke, but I was told I needed to understand what those who aren't go through.

The last rescue training was conducted in the Storm zone, wind and rain generators creating realistic weather conditions across the cityscape. The idea was that we needed to coordinate search and rescue over a wide area, with the weather making things even harder for us.

It went fine until around an hour and a half into it. Kendo and I were clearing out some rubble when all of a sudden an alarm began blaring out.

"What do we do?" I looked at Kendo.

"I don't know, everyone's spread out. Maybe yo-"

Before she could finish Vlad King rounded a corner, gesturing towards us.

"Class Presidents! Gather everyone together and meet me outside the zone!" He yelled over the wind. "Do a headcount and make sure everyone stays put until further notice, I'm calling Nedzu to see what this is about!"

He pulled a communicator to his ear, leaving us to it.

"Well we definitely don't have the time to find everyone individually." I noted.

"I hate to a make a habit of this, but I don't think everyone could hear my voice over the alarm and the wind." Kendo said, looking up at me. "Could you.."

"Yeah." I drew in a deep breath as Kendo clapped her hands to her ears.

"1-B GATHER AROUND!"

Even though I had instinctively folded them flat against my skull, the noise still rang in my ears. I could be really, really loud when I needed to.

Moments later the rest of the class began to trickle in, full of questions we had no answers to. Once everyone was there we headed out of the Storm zone, finding Vlad King and Thirteen waiting for us outside.

"Well, I've just gotten off the phone with the Principal, it sounds like it was just the reporters. They broke into the main building, but they're contained and the police have been called."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. I wasn't sure what I'd been expecting to have been the cause, but most of the possibilities I'd thought of had been considerably more grim.

"However, in accordance with protocol we'll be cutting the lesson short and returning to UA."

"Oh come on!"

"Really?"

"It's standard procedure. UA takes no chances within regards to security. We only had an hour left, at any rate."

And that was that, Vlad King brooked no further arguments. After that everything seemed to happen in a blur, Thirteen and Vlad King herding us to the bus and back to UA. In no time at all we found ourselves dismissed for the day as Vlad King and Thirteen rushed off, leaving us in a state of bewilderment and confusion.

"But how did reporters get past the security system?" I told Yoarashi and Pony as we were walking towards the exit. "I'm just saying, Vlad King seemed to be in a lot of hurry for somebody who's just following standard procedure."

"You're overthinking it!" Pony exclaimed. "There's probably a back door, or they got in when the door opened for somebody who is authorized. The teachers have it under control. They wouldn't have cleared us to leave otherwise, right?"

"...Maybe." I admitted. "It just doesn't feel like things are adding up."

Just as we were about turn around the corner, I heard a voice call out from behind us.

"Tatsuma."

I turned to see Yui standing in the hallway, as impassive as ever.

"Could we talk?"

I glanced at Pony and Yoarashi. "Do you guys mind if I…?"

"That's fine."

"We'll wait for you!"

"Alright." I watched them walk down the hallway until the disappeared around a corner, and turned towards Yui. I had planned on seeking her out at some point today, but then the incident at USJ had left a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth whenever I thought of it. But now that she was here I might as well hear out what she had to say.

"I'm sorry." She began, quietly. "I'm sorry for what I did earlier today. It was completely inappropriate of me."

I didn't respond. What she'd just said was... exactly correct.

"In my head it was just a way of getting back at you. But it wasn't. It was… it was bullying, wasn't it? I was a bully, right then. Just like those two, at grade school. And… that's not who I want to be." There, just for an instant, her voice cracked. It was gone the next instant, her usually flat inflection reasserting quick enough to almost make me question if it had ever happened, but I had heard it.

"So I'm sorry. It won't ever happen again."

I considered her words for a good while. She was right in that it had been bullying, and that it wasn't okay for her to press my phobia like that.

But she'd also recognized she was at fault, and personally came to apologize to me. In seven years, I had never heard her speak for that long at a time for anything other than a school presentation.

And then there was that momentary chink in her icy facade just now. That, more than anything else, had convinced me of her sincerity. I had known her long enough to know what a slip-up like that meant for her. I knew that she must be genuinely desperate.

I remembered Ryuko's words, about one incident weighed against seven years. I remembered my own feelings of regret over what had happened between us, and the apology I'd been preparing for her over my own failures. Perhaps she had done more wrong to me than I had to her, but it didn't matter. I knew what was running through her head, and I couldn't bring myself to hold it over her head forever, not when she had already been punished appropriately for it.

"I accept your apology."

Yui's face was like a sheet of ice, but not even she could help herself, and there was a slight relaxation of her shoulders. It made me feel more confident in my choice.

She nodded and made to leave, but I raised a claw. "Wait."

Might as well get it done now, and clear the air between us. I took a moment to compose myself and find the right words. I'd thought extensively about what I would say, but now that I was here, face to face, all my preparations seemed to have disappeared into the mists.

"I'm sorry too, for what happened two years ago." Yui's expression remained impassive, but I knew she had realized what I was talking about. "There was… something happened, that left me unable to turn back to human. It was the worst day of my life. At first, there was so much to do, so many things to adjust to, so I pushed off telling you. I just… couldn't find it in myself to do it. And then, it only got worse. I would've had to explain why I'd put it off for so long."

There was a silence for a few more heartbeats as Yui looked at me, impassive as a statue. Then she let out a tiny sigh, her stony mask dropping fully.

"I accept your apology. And I'm sorry too. I do understand why you didn't contact me, that's the thing, because I went through the same process. When you didn't show up to school, I assumed you were sick. To make contact I would have had to find your phone number somehow. When the teacher told us you weren't returning to class, weeks had already passed. I would've had to explain why I only made the effort then."

She shook her head.

"Then when you turned up here, three days ago… I got angry. I told myself you'd just ran off. Because otherwise, I would have had to confront the fact that I hadn't tried to make contact either."

"Sounds like we both suck."

"...Yeah."

"...Do you want to hear what happened, that day?"

"It sounds like something you'd rather not revisit." She said, a sad smile on her face. "I think, that if you ever feel comfortable sharing it with the rest of the class, I can hear it then."

We stood there in silence for a few more moments.

"So, friends?"

"...Yeah. Friends."

Spoiler: A/N

This Chapter was extensively planned in advance, contributing to the speed with which I was able to write it(and yet I'm still posting this at 3:45 AM ). Still, it was quite satisfying to conclude several plot threads.

 

[Blackout]

Anyways, I am sad to announce that Dragonspawn will be going on a month-long Hiatus due to IRL reasons.

I've begun writing Chapter 13, but until 14.5 I will not be able to to work on it anymore because I will be studying for university entrance exams.

I have no intention of abandoning this story, I still have tons of plans and scenes I want to write, but I just can't afford the distraction at the moment. I've come to enjoy writing a great deal, but it is very time and attention consuming.

Updates will resume in May.

 

[Blackout]

Chapter 13

Ryuuzaki became dimly aware of raindrops landing on their face. Sluggishly opening their eyes, they saw the night sky stretching before them, dimly lit by the silvery disk of the moon on the horizon, peeking the from between the clouds. And all around them was the sea.

They were floating on their back, arms and legs limp in the water, the ocean surface as still as a pool and broken only by the ripples of the rain. The water was pleasantly warm, but it was like frozen icicles had been stabbed into their body. They tried to turn around, begin swimming, but it was as if their limbs were made of lead. No matter how much they tried to move, they were paralyzed, unable to move.

Then, they felt something. The tiniest of currents in the water.

Ryuuzaki ceased their struggles to move, and all was still. Not a sound could be heard save for their laborious breathing, even despite the downpour.

Then they felt it again. A tremble in the water, stronger this time, they could feel the water moving, lapping over their face. There was something moving in water.

Something right behind them. They could feel its mass passing by again, avoiding a brush by mere inches. There was a distant sound, a distorted wurble that grew in intensity, seeming to come from all around them.

Ryuuzaki struggled to turn around, to see, to fight, or even just flee, but their body refused to obey. Something moved under them again, right below them, the wake of it's passing washing over them.

Then it was gone. The water was still once more. But Ryuuzaki knew exactly where it had gone. It had not fled. It had dived. It was gathering speed for an attack.

Ryuuzaki redoubled their efforts, but it was to no avail. The background roar grew higher in pitch, and volume. A certain manner of manic desperation began to set in, and one of their fingers twitched. Then their arm. The sluggishness that had afflicted them was soon gone. And yet they knew it was far too late.

Before they could turn around there was a lance of pain across their back, and then nothing.

My eyes flew open, taking in the sight of my bedroom.

I looked down, seeing my white-scaled, clawed forelimbs, slowly controlling my breathing. My subconscious liked to taunt me, and I was almost always human in my dreams.

And when I had dreams, most of my them were nightmares.

I screwed my eyes shut for a moment, trying to scrub the memory from my head. Mercifully it faded quickly, as dreams are wont to do, and soon enough it was nothing more than a vague jumble of impressions.

Pillows were scattered on the floor- I must have been tossing and turning in my sleep. I gently gathered each of them and tossed them back to the pile that served as my bed before yawning and stretching my wings, the clawed tips scraping the walls. The digital clock across the room told me it was 6AM, meaning I'd gotten maybe five hours of sleep. Less than ideal, but I wasn't going to be able to fall asleep again, so I might as well begin the day.

-----

"Favorite colour?"

"Orange."

"Favorite Food?"

"Minced chicken with cream."

"Alright, what about favorite hero? And you can't say All-Might."

"Ryukyu, obviously." I replied without missing a beat, rolling my eyes.

"Okay, I deserved that one." Kendo said with a laugh, raising her arms in surrender. "It's crazy to think that the Number Ten Hero is your big sister. That's almost like having All-Might in your family."

"It's really not." Honenuki interjected. "All-Might is such a mythical figure because we don't really know him. If you knew All-Might personally he wouldn't be All-Might to you, he'd be, well, whatever his real name is." The skull-faced boy stopped and glanced at me, and then hastened to add. "Of course, that's just my thoughts on the matter-"

"No, no, you're right." I admitted. "It's pretty much like that. Ryuko is an awesome hero, but it's hard to see her with the same awe as everyone else seems to. She's, well, to me she's been my sister for a lot longer than she's been a Pro-Hero."

"I guess that makes sense." Kendo deflated a little, before perking up again. "Yui, how come you never told me you knew Ryukyu's sister?"

"...You never asked."

We hadn't exactly made some grand announcement of it, but the others had clued in pretty fast that Yui and I had made amends, even if they didn't know what it had been about.

"I did! Many times! But every time I asked you about what school was like you just deflected."

"Oh." Yui replied flatly. "Must have slipped my mind."

Ever since, I'd noticed Kendo had taken steps to include me in their group of friends, including inviting Pony and I to sit at their table during lunch. Which was how I found myself there, curled on the floor beside the very crowded table, occasionally taking a bite out of the steaming pile of meat in front of me.

"So, what about-"

"Just give it a rest already, Kendo."

"Come on Setsuna, I know you like Ryukyu too!"

"I do, I just don't see what the big deal is."

To be honest the crowd was a little uncomfortable. Cramming five people and an elephant-sized dragon around a single table wasn't exactly ideal. I took up one entire side of the table, with Pony and Honesuki on either side and Kendo, Yui and Tokage filling the long side opposite to me. I'd curled my tail around myself, but even so I was acutely aware of how much space I was taking, and even a small movement could knock somebody over.

But declining the invitation would have been rude. And I didn't want to make Pony feel like she needed to refuse for my sake.

"But aren't you interested to hear more about her?" Kendo pressed Tokage.

"Kendo, I don't doubt anybody here is uninterested, but don't you think you've interrogated Tatsuma enough for now?" Honenuki intervened. "In fact, let's turn it around. Who are everyone's favorite heroes?"

"That's a great idea!" Pony piped in. "Let's make it so that All-Might and family members are forbidden."

"Conveniently that leaves you able to nominate Ryukyu." I noted.

"Well, yeah." Pony huffed. "But that's true, Ryukyu's my favorite. She's just always so cool. I could never be so calm and collected."

"I should get you to actually meet her." I mused. "I assure you, she's not nearly as cool once you get to know her."

"Stop ruining my childhood idol for me." Pony whined, shoving at the side of my head. "You can go next, then, if you're going to be like that."

"No All-Might or family, huh?" I scratched the side of my head. "It would have to be Gang Orca." I paused, and after a moment of consideration went on. "You know, from a distance. But he's genuinely trying to the best with what he's got."

"What about you Yui?" Honenuki asked.

"...Miruko."

"Come on, you could at least explain your rationale!" Kendo prodded, but Yui only gave her a flat look that screamed "I have said my piece, now leave me alone".

Apparently the two of them had been neighbours ever since they were little, though they went to different schools, which put Kendo in an awkward spot between me and Yui recently. I think she felt bad for me, especially after the fiasco during Battle Training, but also felt obligated to take her friend's side in our little squabble, and now she was trying to make up. I wasn't sure how much I liked that thought. She was nice enough to be around, but being pitied didn't sit well with me.

But then again what did I know about her motivations? I was fully aware that I didn't always quite get people.

"Setsuna? I know you like Ryukyu." Kendo asked, once it was clear Yui would volunteer no more information. Tokage had seemed a little glum the entire time, and I wondered if that was because of me. Again, though, I had no idea.

"Eh, she's pretty good, but Golden Saurian is even better. Dinosaurs are cooler than dragons anyway."

What?!

I surged to my feet, suddenly looming over everyone, and slammed a clawed forelimb on the table.

"How dare you?!"

I leaned forward, the metal creaking under me, though I was careful not to put my full weight on the table. "Dinosaurs. Are. Not. Cooler. Than. Dragons."

Nobody moved, and for a moment I was afraid I'd gone a step too far.

Then Pony snickered, and the tension suffused.

"Dragons are just lizards with wings." Tokage replied, kicking back on her chair. "Cheap imitations of the real thing."

"Cheap? They're the classics, the original monsters. Knights versus dragons is a staple of storytelling!"

"Jurassic Park is a timeless masterpiece and honestly Rexy is better than any dragon." By now, the others seemed to be completely lost as to what we were talking about.

"Toothless would like to disagree with you." I muttered.

"The what now?"

"Uh, nothing." I cursed at myself, trying to think of something that had retained its relevance better. "Er, Smaug! Smaug is better than Rexy."

Tokage scowled. "Smaug is just an overgrown worm with wings. You can't compare him to a proper dinosaur."

"But can a dinosaur fly, or breathe fire? I didn't think so. Anything a dinosaur can do, a dragon can do better."

"Yeah, 'cept they're not real. Anybody can just slap extra traits on to an existing animal to try and make it look cool. At least we know dinosaurs existed."

"Emphasis on the past tense."

"You think dragons would have survived being hit by an asteroid?"

"All I'm saying is, dinosaurs had their chance. Dragons cannot disappoint us."

"Because, again, they're imaginary. My point is, dinosaurs are killing machines perfected by evolution, following its rules. Dragons can never come close to matching that kind of authenticity."

"You're going to stand there and talk about authenticity right after bringing up Jurassic Freaking Park?For starters, where are the feathers-"

"Oh my fucking god do not even start on the goddamn feathers-"

Tokage looked ready to go on, only for a thin vine suddenly whip out from behind me, poking her in the chin.

"Do not take the Lord's name in vain!" Shiozaki yelled from the neighbouring table, while giving us the stink-eye. Tokage only groaned in frustration and put her head on the table.

Soon after that things started to calm down, as everyone began to realize we needed to finish eating before the next class started, and I was glad for the bit of peace and quiet. Don't get me wrong, it had been surprisingly fun to spend time with my peers and socialize, it was just something to be engaged in in moderation.

With the lunch break coming to an end we returned to our Homeroom, where Vlad King was waiting for us.

"Today's class will be mainly theoretical." Vlad King began, only to be met with a chorus of groans that were summarily ignored as he pressed on. "On Monday, you had a chance to demonstrate your Quirks in battle. Over the course of the next three years you will all become intimately familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of your classmates and their Quirks. But out there in the real world, you will come face to face with a dizzying variety of enemies and situations, and you will be expected to be able to take on each and every one of them. Adaptivity and analytical skills are strict necessities for a Hero, and they are what we will be working on today."

Vlad King laid a stack of papers on his desk. "I have prepared several different hypothetical scenarios for you to take on. Working in pairs, you will prepare a plan for how you, as a team, would approach the scenario and achieve success. Points will be awarded based not on the magnitude of your combat skills or Quirk, but how well you are able to apply them, and understand your own strengths and weaknesses. Pick your pairs and retrieve a scenario paper from my desk."

Huh. That… actually sounded like it could be real fun.

I turned towards Pony. "Do you want to-"

Then, just as they had yesterday, alarms suddenly roared to life, filling the air with sirens. But this time there was something off, a different pitch in the noise.

"What, did the reporters get in again?" Somebody asked.

"No, this is the Level Five alarm." Vlad King frowned. He reached under his desk, pressing some hidden button, and the alarms cut out. At the same time armoured shutters slammed on the windows, whilst a huge blast door descended from the ceiling to cover the doorway.

"What does Level Five mean?" I asked, a sudden feeling of dread descending into my stomach.

Vlad King paused, taking a deep breath. "Level Five is code for villain attack on UA."

A stunned silence settled over the class as everyone struggled to process the statement. Villains. In UA.

"A-Are you serious?"

"What do we do?"

"Are we in danger?"

"I'm needed elsewhere. Kendo. Tatsuma. You have the class in my absence." Vlad King opened a drawer on his desk, taking out a folder and handing it to Kendo. "Do not, under any circumstances, open the door until I return and present the code phrase written inside this. With the lockdown active this classroom is built to withstand military ordnance, and can only be opened from the inside. It has its own air supply and generator. All other classes and personnel are also on lockdown in their own classes, so you have no reason to open the door until I return. In case of further emergency, the folder has instructions."

I felt a strange sort of calm settle over me as Vlad King rattled off the instructions. I was self-aware enough to know that given the opportunity, I could twist myself into knots of uncertainty and indecision. But this I knew how to deal with.

"Right." I breathed out, hoping I looked more confident than I felt. "We won't disappoint you."

"I have faith that you will not. And remember, you open the door only for me, only with these codes. Nobody else."

He gave Kendo and I a hard look, before putting a hand to his ear, probably to some hidden communicator.

"This is Vlad King, 1-B is in lockdown. I'm on my way." He hurried out of the door, the locks clicking into place behind him.

A deathly quiet fell over the class once more, nobody quite sure what to say or do.

Then, the silence was finally broken by a scraping noise as Yoarashi pushed off his desk and sprung up to his feet.

"I'm going after him."

"I'm coming with you." Tetsutetsu said, scrambling to follow the taller student towards the door, but I was faster.

"No you're not." I said, moving to physically block the doorway with my body. "Did you not hear what Vlad King just said?"

"You think we're just going to stand and wait here while there's villains running around the place?" Yoarashi asked, pulling closer. "When people's lives are at stake?"

"We were given an order." I growled down at him, vehemence creeping into my voice that surprised even myself. "You two know what those are, right?"

"Alright, let's cool down everyone." Kendo said, stepping between us with her hands held out. Yoarashi backed off and I sat down against the door with a snort.

"I know what you're going through." Kendo went on. "We all do. But you two can't just run off on your own. Think about it, you don't even know where the villains are."

Tetsutetsu looked down at his feet, sullen, but Yoarashi seemed willing to argue.

"Then we'll find them! If there's even a small chance that we'll be able to help, we have to take it!"

"At any cost?" Shishida asked from his seat, pushing up his glasses. "Engaging villains without permission or license, when not in self defence… I hope you realize that it would be vigilantism? That's a real, legally defined crime."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take, if it means helping those in need." Yoarashi scowled. "A Hero should never hesitate."

"You may be ready to pay the price, but consider this: you would be getting everyone here in trouble, not just the two of you." Monoma pointed out, having stood up as well. "Kendo and Tatsuma certainly, for allowing you to go. I won't insult them by saying that's why they're against this plan of yours, but you must understand that your actions have consequences beyond yourselves. All four of you could end up expelled."

Yoarashi looked defiant, but when he opened his mouth to argue nothing came out. After a few moments, he cast his gaze down and wordlessly returned to his seat, though he still seemed furious.

"I know we're all shocked and stressed out, but please, let's just all calm down a little." Kendo said, hopping onto a chair to address the whole class. "There's nothing we can do about what's happening out there, so let's try to take our minds off it, alright? Let's get some homework done while we wait for Vlad King to return."

"You want us to do homework while there's villains on the school grounds?" Tokage asked incredulously.

"Do you have a better idea?" Kendo replied. "In fact, I could use a little bit of help with that derivative problem Ectoplasm gave us during Math class…"

She trailed off, as everyone simply looked at her. I winced.

"Come on Yanagi, I know you know what I'm talking about. It's the one on page fifteen."

The pale-haired girl sighed. "Well, you just have to…"

It was an incredibly transparent attempt at a distraction. And yet, for all that, it worked. Little by little she drew everyone in, not taking a no for an answer, providing the first spark to get people started.

I felt a newfound respect kindle for Kendo. I did not think I could have done what she could, breaking the ice like that.

I think on some level everyone wanted to let themselves be distracted, and for the next few minutes she went around the class, organizing people into study groups.

"This is crazy." Kendo confessed in a low voice, having joined me by the door once everyone had gotten settled, flipping through the folder Vlad King had given her. "Look at this, there's different passwords depending on the time of the day, code words to convey hidden messages in case somebody's listening... And then there's the instructions for… as far as I can tell, every scenario under the sun. There's food, water and a medical assistant bot in the closet. There's a hidden doorway into the toilets, which are also in lockdown." She kept going through the pages, glancing in the direction of the others to make sure they were out of earshot. "There's even instructions in case of a nuclear war, pandemic, earthquake or tsunami."

"I guess Vlad King wasn't kidding when he said they take security very seriously." I ventured, unsure what to say.

"I suppose." She took in a deep breath, and glanced in the direction of the rest of the class. "This is all just… kind of crazy. Like, I'm not alone in that, right?"

"You're not. I don't think there's anyone in this room who would disagree with that sentiment."

"You seem to be very calm about it." She pointed out, to which I could only shrug.

"I'm just good at hiding it." I said, truthfully. "And, well, we have our orders. We know exactly what to do. There's a certain kind of comfort in that certainty."

"Fair enough." Kendo said. "Anyway, if you watch the door I'll try to keep the others distracted."

"Agreed." It seemed like a fair division of responsibilities.

And that was that. While the others got started on homework I waited by the entrance, watching and listening for any signs of Vlad King's return. The blast door that had replaced the regular door was a thick slab of metal, a small window mounted on it. There were no handles, only a pair of buttons, titled "alarm" and "open/close".

Time passed. I wasn't sure how long, I didn't check a clock, though it can't have been more than a few minutes, when I heard something.

"Sssh." I hissed to the others, my ears twitching. "Footsteps. Approaching."

Vlad King had said everyone was in lockdown. So either it was one of the Pro-Hero teachers, who were all supposed to be heading out to deal with the villains, or-

I felt my blood freeze as the source of the footsteps walked around the corner. A tall man in his mid-twenties, messy brown hair coming to his shoulders. He walked with a slough, checking each door he walked past. I saw the badly scarred hands, and instantly knew who it was.

I slammed a claw on the alarm button, and a keening alert sounded throughout the building once again. By now everyone had noticed the commotion by the door, and were gathering behind me.

"Is that a villain?!"

"What's happening?!"

"Ah, just who I was looking for! Long time no see!" Every word was like a cold needle being shoved underneath my skin. The voice wasn't quite the same as in my memories, dripping with smug self-satisfaction rather than fury, but it was undoubtedly him.

"You cannot be here."

"I can't? Hm." He looked down at himself, theatrically spreading his hands. "But here I am."

"Tatsuma, who is this?"

"Are these your classmates? Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Katsuke Fujiwara." I heard a sharp intake of air from Yui.

"He's a villain." I bit out. "That's all."

"Now now, you're selling me short here, after all I did for you!" Fujiwara continued taunting.

"Tatsuma!" Kendo shoved at me, putting a bit of enhanced strength into it to emphasize. "You're burning up the floor."

I looked down and lifted my forelimb, only to see clawed footprints scorched into the floor. I took a deep breath, struggling to control my emotions.

I felt beyond frustrated at myself.

I was supposed to be past this. I'd gone to therapy and everything. I hadn't had an issue in months. And now he could just waltz back and take that all away. It felt like I was right back to where I'd begun.

"How are you here?" I spat out at Fujiwara, a bit of smoke escaping from between my teeth. "You're supposed to be in prison."

"Oh you know, just thought I'd come in for a visit." He smiled, showing a gap-toothed grin. "A couple new friends of mine gave me a lift, and with them distracting everyone over at USJ I thought it'd be a perfect opportunity to come and say hi."

"So this was all just set-up?" I asked, incredulity momentarily overriding my anger. "The villain attack, everything?"

"Tatsuma, are you sure you should be-"

"Don't kid yourself, you're not that important. No, they have much bigger fish in mind. They needed some extra muscle, and I needed a ticket inside, so I simply took the opportunity. But they've served their purpose."

"So that's it?" Yui said, pushing her way to the door. "You're just here because you can't let go of a childish grudge?"

Fujiwara scowled at her, but I didn't see a spark of recognition in his eyes. He'd always been a terrible teacher, so I wasn't surprised he didn't remember Yui. "Hardly. I serve but my own role in a much greater design."

"And that is?"

"Ridding the world of fake Heroes, those who feed upon the hypocrisy of society, one at a time."

"And you're doing that by assaulting a school?" I bristled, leaning forward - when had I stood up?

"If that's what it takes." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Fake heroes… you're a follower of Stain, aren't you?" Monoma asked, realization dawning on his face.

"What can I say? Life in prison has a way of showing you the way the world really works." Fujiwara shrugged his shoulders. "I was illuminated to the truth."

"How do the two of you know each other?" Tokage asked from behind me and for just that moment, I felt like punching her.

"He tried to kill me." I growled.

"Tried? Trying to sell me short again, are you? I did kill you."

"What are you talking about?" Somebody asked.

"It didn't take, as is obvious." He nodded towards me, oblivious to the glare I was directing his way. "But I did kill her. There was quite a lot of blood, as I recall."

"Shut up."

"And screaming, too. It was all rather pathetic." He went on. "Do you remember it? That day in the park? I wasn't planning on killing you, but then you went and broke my nose. You just don't do that to a guy. So really, you brought it on yourself."

"Shut up."

"Tatsuma…"

"It was a sight to behold. One of the great and proud Tatsuma clan, with a proud tradition stretching back to the emergence of Quirks, choking in her own blood and screaming for her big sist-"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" The entire blast door shook. Detachedly, I saw that my fist was resting against it, the metal around it dented.

I looked down at my hands, and blinked.

Clawed, scaled, massive.

Not soft, tiny and weak.

I took a shaky breath and then released it, smoke streaming out into the air.

"Tatsuma." Kendo put a hand on my side. "Stop. Please. Calm down."

"Why is he still talking?" Monoma spoke up, pointing at Fujiwara. "No, really, why? He has to have come all this way for a reason. But now that he's here, he's not even trying to get inside. He's just talking, almost as if he can't get insi-"

"Shut up!" With a sudden roar, Fujiwara brought up his hand towards him, and a horrible bang rang out. I closed my eyes, and for a moment I thought I felt a burning pinprick in my chest, but when I dared to open my eyes there was nothing. Only a small mark had appeared in the armoured window, and a hole in the opposite wall where the bullet had ricocheted off to.

"See?" Monoma looked a little shaken, but to his credit he quickly regained his composure. I didn't think I could have, in his position. "That- that just proves my point. He can't get inside. There's nothing he can do to us from the other side of that door, unless one of us opens it. He's just trying to provoke you into opening it for him."

I recoiled as if struck, as the moment of horrible realization washed over me, and everything clicked into place, why he was here. It had been bugging me this entire time. I was a dragon with bulletproof scales, and we had already seen how that fight would go.

"He's trying to get you into trouble." Yui whispered. "He doesn't need to kill you. If you open that door…"

Not only would I be engaging in vigilantism, I'd also be putting my classmates in danger. I'd be betraying the trust Vlad King and my class had placed on me. I'd be facing expulsion, or worse. That was what he was after.

"I- you're right." I bowed my head as i stepped back from the door, my tongue suddenly feeling heavy in my mouth.

"Coward!" Fujiwara howled, metal fingers beating on the armoured glass. His smarmy mask from before was gone completely, his face twisted with fury. "Come out and face me!"

"Why?" Pony piped up from where she's moved to stand beside me. She almost shied away as everyone's attention suddenly turned on her, but she straightened her spine and spoke up. "Why should she?"

"If you don't open this fucking door." He spat out, leaning forward. "I am going to go find the next classroom and kill every last little shit in there instead."

"Everyone is already in lockdown." I pointed out. "If you can't get through our door you can't get through theirs. You have nothing. No leverage."

Fujiwara scowled, but said nothing.

Then, I heard a sound. Could it be…

I scrambled to my feet, pressing against the window.

"You failed again." I began, slowly picking up speed. "You couldn't kill me two years ago, and you can't stop me from becoming a Hero now. That's all you are, a washed-up failure."

I felt myself get angrier and angrier, streams of smoke escaping from between my teeth. He really thought he could just walk out of this with no consequences? Well fuck him. Might as well keep going, now that I'd gotten started.

"You can hide behind Stain's ideology all you want, but in the end you're just a petty, vindictive asshole who can't accept that you and only you ruined your life and your future. You want to ruin my chance to become a Hero? Well you can't, because I am going to become a better hero than you ever could have."

"Don't make me laugh, you-" Fujiwara began, but I simply raised my voice and talked over him.

"I wasn't done talking yet. Remember that spiel about how Hero families have an unfair advantage?! You might've even had a point about that! But then you lost every little bit of ground you might have had to stand on when you decided to take it out on a thirteen-year old who had done nothing to you! So you can take it and shove it up your ass too! In fact, no, I'll do one better, I'm going to fix it because fuck you and everything ou stand for. And, and-"

A cluster of translucent, shimmering red tendrils suddenly wrapped around Fujiwara's hands, coiling around his fingers and binding them in place.

"-And I've kept your attention just about long enough.

"You-" Whatever he was about to say was interrupted as yet more tendrils wrapped around his face and ankles, yanking him off his feet, dragging him backwards. He slammed into the wall, more and more red liquid surging around him to form a cocoon that began to rapidly harden.

I sagged in relief; I was just about out of material. But it had been cathartic as hell to let it all out.

"Well done." Vlad King said, stepping into the view of the blast door window. "You heard my approach?"

"I heard footsteps and hoped it was you."

"I came as fast as I could, once you rang the alarm." Vlad King nodded, glancing at the dent in the door. "None of you were hurt? He didn't get inside?"

"No, sir." Kendo supplied. "He tried, but failed."

"He's, uh…" I tried to figure out the best way to explain. "I know him. He was here to, well, he wanted to provoke me into opening the door."

I glanced at Fujiwara, his eyes blazing with fury though his mouth was bound by a layer of hardened blood, and I saw Vlad King's eyes widen widen slightly in recognition.

"We can go over the details later. At any case, the danger's passed. You can open the door now."

Kendo nodded and moved to open the blast door, but I stopped her. "He didn't say the code word."

"Really?" Vlad King said, raising an eyebrow. "At a time like this?"

"A time like this is exactly when it should be insisted upon." I replied, doing my best to hold firm, hoping I was right. "You were very clear in your instructions, at any rate."

Slowly Vlad King's expression morphed into a smile. "Well done. Most fall for that."

There was a moment of silence.

"You still haven't said the code word.

His smile got fractionally wider. "One-one-one-one-three Beekeeper Trifecta Germany Epsilon Budapest."

"Checks out!" Kendo said after a moment of consulting the folder, and I pressed the button.

The door groaned as it was pulled open, the dented metal grinding against the rails as it retracted into the ceiling. I had hit it very hard indeed, but Vlad King hadn't been lying about it's durability. The dent was shallow, and the mechanisms overengineered.

Vlad King stepped inside, his eyes taking in every detail. I felt like like disappearing into the ether as his gaze swept over the burnt claw-marks on the floor. But he said nothing, and eventually nodded slowly in approval.

"You did well, all of you." He said, folding his arms. "This was not a situation you should have been expected to be able to deal with, not this early into your training. That none of you were hurt is the important part."

"Um... I don't mean to pry, but-" Kaibara began, only for Tetsutetsu to interrupt.

"If you feel the need to say "I don't mean to pry", you're definitely prying."

"I'm just saying, a villain just tried to break into our classroom. I mean, I think that's a situation that deserves at least an explanation."

I gave Vlad King what I hoped to be a pleading look. I knew I'd need to tell the full story eventually, or the others would fill in the gaps with their own imagination, but, just… not now. I had a feeling I'd have to revisit that day more than enough, by the end of the day.

"We can talk about it another day." He said with a shake of his head. "For now, we are needed outside. The police are here, and your families have been notified and are on their way."

"What happened out there? Was anyone hurt?" Pony asked.

An odd look crossed Vlad King's face. "It was… a villain attack. There were no life-threatening injuries. That's all I'll say on the matter" He said with an air of finality.

He lead us into the same hall where the entrance ceremony had taken place, with the other classes already gathered, with one notable exception. 1-A seemed nowhere to be seen, and with Fujiwara's mention of the USJ I suddenly began to develop an idea of what might have happened.

We settled down to wait, as the police called people one by one to different rooms to take their statements, though judging by the turnover rate it didn't seem like most students had much to say. From what I could make out of the general chatter and gossip, the closest the others had come to contact with the villains had been seeing Fujiwara pass by, and hearing gunshots and yelling. All of which continued to further point towards 1-A as having been the target of the main attack.

Predictably when it came 1-B's turn the interviews took significantly longer, which didn't go unnoticed among the general student base. Rumors were already starting to circulate, as 1-A's continued absence began to stand out.

When my name was called, I gave the officer a full account of what had happened, from the beginning of the lockdown until now, as well as who Fujiwara was and why he had been after me.

By the time he was done asking questions I was tired to the bone, and I laid down to wait, doing my best to tune out the chatter of the other students. Little by little the crowd was starting to disperse, as parents arrived to pick their children up. Thankfully, my classmates gave me a bit of space, and didn't try to talk to me.

I think I drifted off for a moment, until I was brought back to awareness by a rush of noise. There was a commotion by the doors, and a moment later they were thrown open, two figures walking in.

"You might be the Number Ten Hero, but you can't just walk into the middle of a police operation!" The frustrated detective yelled out.

"Watch me, and see if I give a damn." Ryuko replied without so much as slowing down her pace, her gaze sweeping across the room. "Where is my sister?"

An instant later her eyes settled on me, and no amount of protests could keep her as she rushed to my side. I pulled Ryuko into an awkward half-hug, and to my surprise she didn't protest, throwing her arms around my neck despite the dozens of eyes upon us.

"Are you alright? You're not hurt, are you?"

"I'm alright." I breathed in, taking in my big sister's scent. She smelled of ozone and… home. "I'm alright now."

Spoiler: A/N

I LIIIVE!

Hiatus over, it's back to regularly scheduled updates.

There's another one on the way, about 60-70% done, so it should be coming in the next couple of days. This time it's going to be an actual Interlude, explaining and expanding upon a couple of things I wasn't able to organically work into this Chapter.

But at any rate, I hope you all enjoyed my take on the USJ crisis, even if it didn't feature a huge fight scene (there will be lots of those coming in the Sports Festival).

 

[Blackout]

Interlude 1

Sekijiro Kan walked into Nedzu's office, immediately taking note of the atypically chaotic state of the room. Stacks of papers were scattered across the table, alongside empty teacups.

The rat-like Principal himself sat on his specially elevated chair, animatedly talking into a phone with a half-filled cup of tea in his off hand.

"No, we will not be holding a public press conference until friday and that is final. Our first priority is to the students and their families. No, I am not open for interview, nor is All-Might. Yes, we will be reviewing our security protocols to be better prepared for future incidents. No, I am not going to make any further comments. Goodbye."

Kan settled down, patiently waiting until the Principal finished the call, before clearing his throat.

"Ah, Kan, did you need something?"

He raised an eyebrow at the principal's ragged appearance, but said nothing of it. "I'm here for the meeting. Detective Shinshaku should be here soon."

"Ah, of course, of course. My sincerest apologies I have just…" Neezu blinked once, then twice. "Well, I won't lie to you, in between handling the fallout of the USJ attack it slipped my mind completely."

"Understandable." Kan said, his expression neutral. "Artificial Humans, an attempt on All-Might's life, children forced to fight for their lives…."

"A greater tragedy does not erase the lesser. What happened with 1-B could have been so much worse." Nedzu said, adjusting his glasses. "If he'd gotten inside…"

"But he didn't. Our security protocols proved adequate."

"That's the kind of statement I expect to see from you in the press release tomorrow. I want to hear what you think about all of this."

Kan sighed. "What can I say? My students shouldn't have had to deal with that on their own. They weren't prepared or trained to come face to face with a villain. But I can't help but feel glad that at least they weren't at USJ. I've read the interview manuscripts, some of Aizawa's students were seconds away from a painful death. Seconds."

Kan ran a hand across his face. "But all in all, my class is doing as best as could be expected. No injuries, and while everyone was obviously shaken there should be no lasting issues, though I will be monitoring the situation. With any luck they will emerge stronger for the ordeal, having seen the face of villainy firsthand. But there is one of them that gives me concern."

"Tatsuma? She did well in handling the situation yesterday, did she not?"

"Concerning the circumstances, yes. I could not have expected more out of her. Yet I cannot overlook the fact that she almost had a breakdown in the middle of the villain attack." Kan sighed, rubbing his temples. "Academically and physically she's been doing very well, but psychologically, what she's already been dealing with, and now this… Nobody should have to have that much on their plate at once, least of all a child."

"You fear she'll crack under the pressure?"

"Only time will tell, but I fear she'll find it all too much to deal with." Kan nodded glumly. "She's a good kid. She's adapted to her condition surprisingly well, and she knows what she needs to do to improve herself. Just the other day, she impressed me when she stepped up to the title of Vice Class-President. It wasn't what I expected, but I think it's just what she needs. But we can't ignore the warning signs either."

"What would you suggest we do then?" Nedzu asked. "She is already attending therapy."

"Nothing. We'll continue to give her all the help that she deserves, but this is something we cannot do for her. But if things take a turn for the worse, we may have to start considering alternative options."

"Dropping her from the Heroics Course?" It wasn't often that Kan got to see the principal shocked. "From everything that I know of her, it would devastate her."

"It would." Kan agreed. "The hardest part of being a teacher is knowing when to let go of a student, even if it's for their own good. But sometimes it must be done. I've seen it before. Just because I can understand what she's dealing with does not mean I can ignore the reality of the situation. Our first duty is to her health and wellbeing."

The two of them sat in morose silence for a moment.

"This is, of course, still just a hypothetical scenario." Kan added after a while. "The first warning signs are there, but the picture is not yet complete. She deserves the chance to prove she can make it."

-----

Ryutsuki Tatsuma was a tall woman, only half a foot shorter than Kan. She was the spitting image of her older daughter, with long white hair in a neat ponytail and sharp, blood-red eyes.

Nedzu took charge, greeting her with a curt handshake. "Welcome, welcome, Miss Tatsuma. This is Sekijiro Kan, and Detective Shinshaku."

"Thank you for coming on such a short notice." The Detective was a portly man with a thick moustache, a pair of ram-like horns jutting out the sides of his head. He bowed respectfully as he shook her hand.

Tatsuma nodded curtly. "My eldest elected to remain with her sister, as did my husband. Ryuuzaki was… a little shaken by yesterday's events."

"Absolutely understandable, though I hope to talk to them at a later date." Shinshaku nodded as he sat down. "I'll cut to the chase then, we're here to discuss the events of the villain attack yesterday, specifically in relation to your daughter. Though it was part of the larger attack, a separate investigation has been assigned due to the sheer scale of the event, as well as to avoid it being buried underneath the events that took place at the USJ center."

He looked around the table, but seeing that nobody had anything to add, he opened a folder and retrieved several documents, laying them down on the table.

"Katsuke Fujiwara, age 25. Expelled from UA's Heroics Course ten years ago on account of disruptive behaviour, repeatedly neglecting to complete assignments, and failing the first term final exams. Moved on to an educational career, until he was fired from the position of Assistant Teacher at Himeji Middle School two years ago. Convicted of attempted murder and several lesser charges soon after. The victim of the crime was Ryuuzaki Tatsuma, a former student of his whom he viewed as having been responsible for his firing. She survived, but with crippling injuries."

Kan noticed Tatsuma's jaw tighten at the mention of her daughter, but she held her silence.

"Fujiwara was incarcerated at Rodia Penitentiary, and was logged with several incidents of bad behaviour and fights. Two days ago, Rodia Penitentiary came under attack by a previously unknown group of villains which we now know as the League of Villains. Eight guards dead and seventy-two convicted villains disappeared, all of whom were recaptured yesterday. As of present, seventy-one of them remain in custody."

"Are you saying-"

"Miss Tatsuma, the reason we wanted to speak with you was because yesterday, Katsuke Fujiwara disappeared from detainment without a trace soon after his capture." Nedzu stated grimly.

"You cannot be serious!" Tatsuma shouted, springing to her feet and slamming a hand on the table. "You lost him?!"

Kan flinched. "We have no concrete evidence, but we believe he may have been extracted by the League's teleporter."

"You knew they had a teleporter and didn't properly guard him?" Tatsuma seethed.

"Please." Shishaku began, bowing his head. "I will not seek to make excuses, but simply explain the circumstances. Seventy-two villains were arrested yesterday, as well as the creature that fought All-Might. Given it's power we expected it to attempt to break out, or for the League of Villains to attempt to retrieve it, and so the officers on the scene made the call to prioritize it's guard detail. We did not expect the League to risk their teleporter for the sake of the rank and file villains."

"So what are you going to do about this failure?" Tatsuma questioned, still clearly furious. A thin wisp of smoke had slipped out as she spoke, dissipating into the air.

"That is what we are here to discuss today." Shishaku said firmly. "We will, of course, be dedicating our resources to catching the League, but what we wanted to speak to you was about what we can do for you and your family, Miss Tatsuma."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"On two occasions Katsuke Fujiwara has attempted to attain revenge against your daughter, and we have no reason to believe he intends to stop. After direct physical attack failed, he attempted to get at her through indirect methods. The logical next step is to go after family. We need to consider the appropriate security measures and contingencies to ensure your safety."

-----

"Again."

The white-skinned Nomu lifted the prisoner off the ground with one hand before slamming him face-first onto the floor again. The first few times he'd tried to resist, but now he simply lay limp and took the blows. Whether that was because he'd resigned to the futility of struggling or simply couldn't muster the effort to, Kurogiri wasn't sure.

"Careful now." He said to the only other occupant of the bar, laying down on a stretcher, bandages wrapped around his arms and legs. "The floorboards were just replaced last month."

Shigaraki Tomura responded by throwing an empty soda can at his head, which passed harmlessly through the black mist. "You're useless, you know that?"

Kurogiri elected not to point out that without him, they'd all be sitting in Tartarus already. Tomura was in an irritable mood, and it was best to leave him be.

"Can't even follow simple orders." The younger man grumbled.

"I did my best to retrieve the Nomu, but he was surrounded by twenty police officers and half a dozen Pro-Heroes." Kurogiri explained for what felt like the twentieth time that day. "I was lucky to be able to retrieve the traitor."

"Yesss…" Tomura drew out the word, returning his attention to his current victim. "Traitor. Such a nice word."

Katsuke Fujiwara coughed blood onto the floorboards, his face a mass of purplish bruises. The Nomu had not been gentle in it's ministrations, under Tomura's instruction. His hands were still bound with handcuffs and encased with blocks of hardened blood, after Kurogiri had snatched him from a police transport.

"You know, I didn't give two shits about any of you. You're nothing more than bottom-feeding trash. The others, they failed, but at least they had the decency to follow orders and get captured trying. But you?"

Tomura pointed a finger at the man, powering through the pain from the gunshot wound in his shoulder. "You ran away. Did you think I wouldn't notice? That you could just betray me and walk away?"

Technically he hadn't noticed. Tomura hadn't even bothered with a headcount of the thugs they'd recruited, it had been Kurogiri who had taken note of the disappearance and notified the other villain after their escape, which he had latched onto.

"I gave you the chance to participate in the greatest villain attack in recorded history, and you threw it back at my face. I don't appreciate that." Tomura's features twisted into a snarl. "I don't appreciate that at all."

Before the younger man could go on, however, the video monitor mounted on the bar's wall flickered to life, displaying a blank "Sound Only" notification.

The change in Tomura's attitude was instantaneous. His flippant smirk was gone as he turned face the monitor, bowing his head respectfully. "Master."

"Shigaraki Tomura." An old, gravely voice sounded from the speakers, though distorted. "Have you given thought to my suggestion?"

"Yes, Master. You're right. Relying on chaff like this is not going to work." He said, giving a contemptuous glance to Fujiwara before returning his gaze to the screen, with something approaching reverence in his eyes. "I will rebuild the League, with real villains this time, stronger than ever before."

"Oh? This is the man that has had you in such a frenzy all day? You took quite a risk sending Kurogiri after him."

"Traitors can't be allowed to walk freely." Tomura sneered. "It would set a bad example for the others to come."

"But of course." There was a crackle of distortion that might have been a laugh. "Now, have you any candidates in mind for recruitment?"

"Yeah, I had Giran snoop around and he found two that I liked. The first one's a real nutcase, but he killed three Pro-Heroes and was only taken down by Endeavour and Ryukyu working together. We'd need to bust him out of the deathrow, but that shouldn't be too hard."

"Indeed, it seems Kurogiri here is quite adept at jailbreaking! And the other?"

"He's the one who killed the Water Hose couple years back. I think he goes by the name of Muscular, or something like that. Giran said he'd get in contact with him but it'd take a while."

"I see. Both are quite excellent choices for recruitment. But tell me, Shigaraki Tomura, do you have candidates of your own? Giran cannot build your League for you."

"Yeah, I have." Tomura scowled at the scolding tone of the voice.

"I think one of the kids we fought yesterday might have had the right attitude… well, we'll see. But in the meantime, I wanted to find and recruit the Hero Killer."

"Oh? He would be quite a catch, but Stain is known for being quite hard to get a hold of."

"Yeah, well Ku-" Whatever Tomura had been about to say was interrupted by a rasping voice speaking out down from the floor.

"...S-stain?"

Kurogiri was surprised Fujiwara was still capable of talking, with the Nomu still pressing his face against the floorboards.

"Y-you want to find Stain? I can- I can help. I can h-help you find him?"

"You?" Tomura said, sneering down at the man. "You're nothing more than the trash of society."

"I f-follow his path. I can lead you t-to him."

"You're one of his disciples?" Kurogiri asked, curious. The Hero Killer was known to work alone.

"What does it matter?" Tomura asked, clearly irritated. "He's a traitor."

"Come now, there's no harm in hearing him out, after all the trouble you went to to bring him here." The voice spoke out from the screen.

Tomura scowled again, but acquiesced. "Nomu. Bring him here."

The white-skinned Artificial Human lifted Fujiwara off the ground with one hand and held him out to Tomura, it's four eyes staring vacantly into the distance.

"Here's how this is going to work." Tomura said, putting a thumb onto Fujiwara's neck as he hung limply from the Nomu's grip. "You're going to tell me everything about Stain and how to find him, and I might be persuaded to let you live if you're useful enough."

"How- How do I k-know you won't just kill me afterwards?"

"You don't." Tomura replied, laying his index finger on the man's neck. "You can always choose certain death by refusing, of course."

"I-" Fujiwara hesitated, only for Tomura to lay down his middle finger.

"The question you have to ask yourself is, are you the kind of person who can do that?" Tomura said, bringing his ring finger on contact with skin, leaving only the pinky. "Are you ready to die?"

"Alright, alright!" Fujiwara yelled out, his eyes wide with fear.

"Didn't think so." Tomura leaned back, his cracked lips curving into a grin.

"I don't, I don't know how to find Stain." Fujiwara began, before hastening to add. "B-but I know somebody who does!"

"Looks like you've had your stay of execution." Tomura said. "Let's hope that your usefulness lasts."

BEGINNING OF SCHOOL ARC END

Spoiler: A/N

And there you have it. Honestly this Chapter would have been finished ages ago if it wasn't for All For One and Shigaraki's dialogue being an absolute bitch to write. I knew exactly what I wanted them to say, but I'm still not too sure I succeeded in the how.

But at any rate, now it's just two more Chapters until the start of the Sports Festival, which to be honest is probably the Arc that I'm most excited about writing.

 

[Blackout]

Chapter 14

"I can tell them."

"What?" I asked, shocked out of my reverie. I'd been staring at the door to 1-B's Homeroom, pondering whether to open it or run away.

"I can tell them." I twisted my neck around to see Vlad King standing behind me. "I can inform the class of who Katsuke Fujiwara was, in as little or as much detail as you want me to. But after everything that has happened, they should be told something."

"No. I'll tell them myself. I don't want them to-" To what? To think less of me for it?

"...I want them to hear it from me."

Vlad King gave me a long, hard look, but eventually gave me a curt nod.

Everyone else was already at their seats when we arrived, and by the time Vlad King pulled the door shut behind him all conversation had ceased. Everyone's eyes were on us.

Vlad King gave me one last look, probably to ask if I was sure about going through with this. I nodded, and he moved off to the side.

...If that was a test, I hoped that I'd passed it.

I walked over in front of Vlad King's desk where he usually stood when giving a lecture, looking over the class.

For a few moments I felt paralyzed. I had the whole, undivided attention of the room. I don't think I had ever felt that small as I did in that moment, no matter that I outmassed the rest of my classmates put together.

I shook my head, trying to get the unwelcome feeling out of my head. This was ridiculous. I'd done so much worse. I'd stood up to a horde of reporters, and those were way more of a hostile crowd than this.

...Those were also people whose opinion didn't matter to me.

Fuck.

"Wednesday…" I began, forcing myself to start. The beginning was always the hardest, Dr. Kawaguchi had advised me. Once you get going it becomes easier. "On wednesday, we came under attack by a villain with the intent to kill or maim you for the sole purpose of getting at me. More than that, he attempted to provoke me into facilitating his attack, and nearly succeeded."

Little by little I began to pick up pace, words spilling out from between my jaws.

"I do not enjoy talking about it, but considering the circumstances, I feel you deserve to know… why."

I stared past my classmates, doing my best to focus on a spot on the opposing wall rather than meet their eyes.

"Well. I'll try to be brief. My Quirk is called Horned Dragon, a Transformation-type. It allows me to shift into a rhinoceros-like dragon form."

Yui and Pony already knew this, but a few others made a horrified gasp as they realized what I was getting at.

"The obvious question is, then, if I wasn't born a dragon, why have you never seen me as a human? Two years ago, I had an encounter with Katsuke Fujiwara, the villain who attacked us yesterday. Well, he wasn't a villain yet, then. He- he had a grudge against Heroes, and we didn't get along once he got wind of who my sister was."

I steeled myself, trying to control my breathing. In and out. In and out.

"He ended up getting in trouble because of it, and he blamed me. He tried to kill me… and I guess, in a way, he succeeded. Nobody really knows why, but after he shot me, I didn't die. What happened instead was… I became stuck in this form."

In. And out.

"No matter how hard I try, I can't transform. Healing didn't help. Mind Control didn't help. Forced Quirk Activation didn't help. Quirk Erasure didn't work. For all intents and purposes, my Quirk is a Mutant-type."

Nobody said anything. I could read a mixture of emotions in their faces, but nobody said anything. Were they expecting me to say something more?

Well.

I did have one more thing.

"I… also have an announcement for the class, that I'd like to make." I began, taking a deep, shaky breath. "During the attack… I almost opened that door for Fujiwara. He could have killed or maimed you, because of that. You had to stop me. And that- that isn't conduct befitting of someone entrusted with leading this class. I- I would, therefore like to resign from my position as Vice-President of Class 1-B."

A deathly silence met my proclamation. Nobody moved a muscle.

Then, Monoma spoke up.

"I see." He stood up, and slowly turned to look at Kendo. "I propose an immediate election."

Kendo held his gaze for a moment, and then stood as well, nodding. "I concur. Tsunotori?"

Pony looked shocked for a moment, before her face shifted into an expression of determination as she took out her phone, tapping on the screen a few times. "Right. I've reopened the poll."

"Everyone, cast your votes." Kendo ordered.

I looked down at the small screen mounted on my wrist and opened up the chat room Pony had created, checking the results as they ticked up.

Only one candidate was receiving any votes. By the end it was nineteen votes to- to-

"The ayes have it, Ryuuzaki Tatsuma is re-elected unanimously." Kendo announced.

I looked up from the screen. Not a single person remained seated, each and every last one of my classmates looking at me.

…

...

I tried to muster up a response, but though my jaws moved no words came out. In that moment, for the first time I wished I could cry as a dragon, because words alone felt entirely inadequate.

"Why?" I managed to whisper after a few moments of struggling with the strange tightness that seemed to constrict my throat.

"How could we possibly hold what happened against you? It's like what Vlad King said, on our first day. We lift each other up when we fall." Kendo said, her expression deadly serious, but there was a soft warmth in her eyes. "You have performed beyond anyone's expectation as a Vice-President, and there is no-one we would rather have in that position."

-----

Vlad King had given us a few moments to gather ourselves, before moving onto business.

"In three weeks time, the UA Sports Festival will be taking place. Despite what happened, we must move on and show the world that we are not afraid."

Right. The biggest sports event in the country. Now that the introductory week was over we'd need to start preparing for the main event of the whole semester.

"The Sports Festival represents an immense opportunity for each and every one of you. The whole nation will be watching, and if you want to make it big you'll have show the world what you've got. Pro-Heroes, managers and recruiters will all be following the event with close attention, and if you do well that can open the door to work experience spots and internships, and beyond that, job opportunities and marketing deals. Networking is critical, and you only have three opportunities to make an impression in front of everyone, so be sure to bring your best. This could determine the shape of your future careers."

I could remember cheering for Ryuko on the TV way back when she was still in UA, and to be honest now that I thought about the media circus was absolutely insane, especially for the higher years. You'd have in-depth analysis by experts, betting pools, the full works. The first-year event was usually just a warmup, since the competitors were mainly unknown factors.

But with all the attention the villain attack had brought, who knows?

"In the coming weeks no expense will be spared in preparing you for this ordeal, but do not think that that alone can carry you to the top. You must carry the drive to succeed yourself, and Go Beyond."

-----

"Man, I am just so PUMPED!" Yoarashi yelled out as we began packing up for the day. "The UA Sports Festival! I've always dreamed of being there myself!"

"No kidding." Kendo said. "I don't think there's a single kid in Japan who didn't imagine themselves in that arena."

"And now we get to be there." Shishida said. "It almost feels surreal."

"Aren't you excited?" I asked Pony, who looked a little glum.

"Yeah, of course!" She pulled up a quick smile. "Don't mind me!"

I frowned, but was distracted by a loud noise from the front of the classroom.

"What the-" Monoma had pulled open the classroom door, looking out in disbelief. I glanced over his shoulder: the hallway was packed with people, so thick that you could barely squeeze out of the door.

But curiously, they weren't crowding around our doorway. No, it was more like this was the edge of the crowd, with the target of their attention further down the hallway to the right.

"What are they doing here?" Tetsutetsu asked.

"Scoping out the competition, of course." Monoma begun. "We-"

"They're not here for us." I interrupted him. "Notice where they're looking? That's the direction of 1-A's Homeroom."

Monoma blinked like an owl, absorbing my words, before his eyes widened with realization. Then his face twisted with an emotion I knew all too well. Resentment.

"Why? What makes 1-A so special?" He muttered. "Do they think that we aren't a threat?"

"Monoma, they've literally been on the evening news for the last two days." I pointed out. "They're famous, of course people are going to focus on them. And they've got the Number Two Hero's son in there."

"We faced a villain too." He said stubbornly. "And you're the sister of the Number Ten Hero."

"Are you… jealous of 1-A?" I asked, a little incredulous. "Because you really, really shouldn't be. I'm not trying to downplay what happened to us, but they didn't have a blast door between them and the villains."

I tried to pick my words as carefully as I could, but I couldn't help the small twinge of annoyance I felt at Monoma's attitude. He'd never known what it was like to defend your very life against a murderous villain, knowing that each breath you draw could be your last.

It wasn't something I'd wish upon my worst enemy, and for him to reduce it to a matter of popularity, of all things...

"Look, if you want, think about it this way. Everyone's going to be looking at 1-A, and they're going to be put in front of the media circus." I explained, trying to appeal to pragmatism instead. It was clear that I wasn't getting through on the emotional front. "They're going to be the obvious targets, while we can prepare out of sight."

"Hmmm…" Monoma said, and I could practically see the gears turning behind his eyes. "I guess you're right."

"Glad to hear. Now, let's get moving." I said, pushing past him into the hallway, using my bulk to clear a path through the crowd.

"Actually, I think I'm going to go do some opposition research." Monoma said, shaking his head. "Tetsutetsu, you want to come with me?"

"Yeah! I wanna see how tough these guys are!"

"That's going to be trouble." I told Kendo as the two disappeared into the crowd, elbowing students out of the way. "Should we go after them?"

"Mmm, Tetsutetsu is pretty hot-headed but Monoma should be able to keep him in check."

"Well, if you say so." I replied, though I didn't feel all too confident. "Pony, you want to walk to the training field together? Yoarashi reserved it for practising flight, for the next two hours."

"Sure." She said as we walked down the hallway, the crowds rapidly clearing as we left the Heroic Department behind, though her usual cheer seemed a little subdued. "Can you just give me a minute, I have a call I need to make?"

"Of course."

-----

Soon enough, Saturday rolled around. It was funny, how the award ceremony had felt like an insurmountable obstacle just a couple of days ago. But now, after everything, it really didn't seem that big of a deal.

"You know, you don't have to come." Ryuko told me, sitting at one of the lawn chairs at our backyard, munching on an apple.

"I never did, you said it yourself."I sat curled on the grass across from her, devouring my own dinner. UA handled lunch, but we still had to maintain a delivery deal with a local catering company because there was no way our kitchen could handle the amount of meat I needed on a daily basis. "I am choosing to come."

"It's just that after what happened, the media is going to be out in force." She shook her head.

"Isn't that the whole reason I'm coming? To experience it first-hand?"

"There's a difference between acclimatization and throwing yourself in right at the deep end. We can do this some other day, once things have settled down."

"For the next three weekends I'm going to be training." I pointed out. "And then it's the Sports Festival, which is only going to make things even wilder."

"Well, I know when you're past being convinced." My sister sighed. "I'll pick you up at six and we can walk to the venue."

"What, you're not going to arrive via limousine like all the cool heroes?"

"If you find one big enough to accommodate you, I'd be happy to. But until then we'll walk."

-----

The rest of the day passed rapidly. I stayed mostly in my room, avoiding the crew of technicians who'd shown up to set up security cameras, alarms, and the like.

Thursday evening Mom had sat me down with Dad, explaining what she'd been told at the meeting with the police, and Fujiwara's disappearance.

It was… frustrating, that what we did had been so easily undone, but at the same time I wasn't sure I could blame the police for being unable to stop a teleporter. It was just a mess, all around.

They'd also told me about the new security measures that would be implemented. There was precious little Fujiwara could do to me personally, but he'd already tried hurting me indirectly. The fact that we lived next door to Ryuko and her agency was a god-send in that we wouldn't have to move to a safe house or anything, but there'd be a lot of new security measures and systems we'd all have to get used to.

True to her word Ryuko showed up at six, all ready to go.

"You know, I'm pretty sure it's considered some form of cheating to use your costume to substitute formal wear."

"What are you talking about?" She smiled, adjusting her claw-like head decoration. "This is a proper qipao dress, perfectly appropriate for an award ceremony. Besides, you're literally naked."

"Don't remind me." I grumbled. "It's hard enough to not think about it as it is."

"You know, it is a shame I never got to teach you how to use makeup."

"If you think there was ever a chance of that, I don't believe you've ever even met me."

"I know you don't care, but do you think Mom would have let you go in front of the world looking like you'd just rolled out of the bed?"

"She could try and stop me."

The walk passed quickly in conversation as we approached the city center, drawing quite a bit of attention to the two of us. The location the ceremony was being held at was one of the fancier hotels in town, with a dedicated area for events like this.

Mygeeto Hotel was a huge, towering building, illuminated by spotlights lined along the walls. There was quite a crowd near the entrance already, with dozens of reporters and news crews milling around the barricades set up around the red carpet. I felt a chill run through me, my gait involuntarily slowing as we approached.

"I told you there was going to be a lot of media." Ryuko said with a sympathetic smile. "Last chance to back out."

"No, I said I'm doing this." I said quickly, knowing that if I stopped to think I'd convince myself to back down. "Are you sure I won't tear up the carpet? I mean…"

"Relax, the people who plan these events know what they're doing. In a Post-Quirk world an organizer who can't account for things like people having sharp claws doesn't stay in business for very long." She paused. "Also, I called in ahead of time to make sure they knew you'd be coming."

"Right." That did calm me down a little. "Thanks."

A little.

And then there was no more time for talking. The security took us through the crowds and onto the carpet, and suddenly all attention was on us.

They don't matter, I tried to tell myself. All the people whose opinions meant anything were either not there or walking by my side.

It wasn't working very well.

The camera flashes were blinding, and even worse than that was the noise. People reporting, gossiping and judging on every single thing, my ears picked it all up

"Is that Ryukyu's sister?"

"Yeah, her name was on the UA recommended students list…"

"Can't she turn off her Quirk?"

"Very disrespectful-"

I felt incredibly awkward as we finally reached the doors, and I ducked my head to fit through. The ballroom set up for the ceremony was even fancier than I had imagined, with golden chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and glass tables laden with various delicacies.

It was kind of like being elephant in a china shop. Everywhere we went, there were important-looking people in fancy attire, and I constantly feared I'd knock somebody or something over with my tail. It was something I dealt with every day by necessity, with my size and weight I could break most things with just a misstep. But here the pressure multiplied manyfold, in front of so many people. Thankfully most people took one look at me and gave me plenty of space to move.

And then there were the Pro-Heroes. Dozens of them, people I'd only seen on TV before, here in the flesh conversing with one another or enjoying the available cuisine. Sure, nothing could quite live up to meeting All-Might, but it was still kind of overwhelming.

"Right." Ryuko said, turning to face me. "So, what we're going to do tonight is, we're first going to socialize with the other Pro-Heroes a little bit, then we're going to talk to the press, then there's going to be the ceremony itself, then a little more socialization and then we're done. If at any point you feel like you need to leave-"

"I won't."

"If you feel the need to leave, tell me and I'll have the staff get you out via a back entrance. Remember, you're only here for your own sake."

"Right."

I stuck close Ryuko, letting her lead the way across the room. A lot of eyes followed us, for obvious reasons, but there was one pair in particular that I recognized.

There, lurking on the outskirts, talking to some green-haired lady was Ryuhachi, also known as Ryuo Tatsuma, our uncle. He looked much the same as when I had last seen him ten years ago, though his scales had darkened slightly to an ochre green.

"Why is he here?"

"Who?" Ryuko asked, following my gaze. "Oh, Ryuo? I specifically invited him."

"Why?"

"Because he can't refuse without looking like a jackass. And if he does accept, I get to see him squirm when I get handed another award. He thinks Mom is a traitor to the family? He wants to yell at a five year old?" Ryuko's expression grew sour, and I could smell a tang of ozone in the air. "Well, he can have a front row seat as I eclipse his every achievement."

I just stood there for a moment, before hurrying to follow her. Never let it be said that my sister can't hold a grudge.

Ryuko lead me towards a cluster of people, and I felt my heartrate pick up again as I recognized the faces. Miruko and Endeavour, the Number Eleven and Number Two Pro-Heroes in the country.

"Are there… are there usually this many Pro-Heroes in these types of events?"

"Hm? Yeah, pretty much. If you want to make it big, just winning a lot of fights won't be enough. You really have to make good use of PR, because popularity plays a huge role in the Hero Rankings, and the Hero Rankings are everything when it comes to, well, anything." She said. "I mean, underground heroes obviously don't care, but for most of us rankings influence support company deals, marketing, teamwork, and just in general the ability to get anything done. And of course, there's the prestige involved in the higher rankings."

I nodded as if I understood, as we reached the pair of Pro-Heroes. Objectively I knew that Ryuko worked with these people and knew them personally, she'd even told me about them occasionally.

But that was entirely different to seeing her walk up to Miruko and pull the shorter woman into a quick hug, before exchanging a quick nod with Endeavour. I thought I was starting to get the point of how disturbing it was for my classmates when I talked about Ryuko so casually.

"...I want you to meet Ryuuzaki, my younger sister." I tuned back to whatever she was saying.

"Oh! This is Ryuuzaki?" Miruko bounded up to me, snatching my claw into a vigorous handshake. "Your sister speaks so much about you!"

The Number Eleven Hero was a short but very muscular tan-skinned woman, with white hair coming down mid-thigh. Her most striking feature, however, were the massive bunny ears that extended a good foot into the air above her like horns.

"Um, hi. Nice to meet you."

"She's as shy as you were at her age!" Miruko elbowed Ryuko in the side as she stepped aside, causing her to stumble slightly.

I had met Endeavour only once before, and that had been at a distance, but it was impossible to avoid exposure to the Number Two Hero. His flame-mustached face was everywhere, from the news to licensed merchandise.

"It is a pleasure to meet you." He said. "My son had mentioned your participation in the Recommended exams."

That seemed improbable given we didn't really interact, but I had no cause to dispute his words. I took Endeavour's hand and shook it as the man looked me up and down. I don't know what he was looking for, but it seemed like he'd found it.

"I've heard good things of you." He continued, giving me a firm look. "I hope to see you live up to them in the Sports Festival."

Did… did I just get a compliment? From Endeavour?

"But at any rate, I had just finished my discussion with Miruko. I shall leave you to it."

"Hm." Miruko said as Endeavour walked away. "The old grumpy is usually more gruff than that. I think he likes you!"

I felt so confused.

Ryuko, for her part, only frowned.

"So your sister finally brought you out to the big leagues, kid? About time, too, with the way she keeps talking about you."

I really wasn't sure what to say to that.

"You'll need to work through that shyness, at least." Miruko boomed with laughter, clapping me in the shoulder with surprising strength. "A hero needs to be bold!"

"I'll keep that in mind." I said neutrally.

"Ha! Take care you two, I have a bowl of punch with my name on it!"

After Miruko left several other Pro-Heroes stopped by to offer congratulations to Ryukyu, though I was thankful for the fact that Ryuo elected to skulk around seething instead.

Things continued at a steady pace for a while, Ryuko exchanging pleasantries with various Pro-Heroes as I hung back, aside from occasionally being introduced to new people.

Eventually a suited man came by, his name tag identifying him as an employee of the Ryukyu Hero Agency.

"Ryuuzaki, this is Hiroto Koizumi, my PR Manager. He's responsible for managing my interactions with the media."

"Nice to meet you." He gave me a charming smile, before turning to Ryuko. "I've got the interview set up, the crew is waiting."

We were directed to a smaller side room, where we were met by a tall blonde-haired woman with cat ears standing alongside a cameraman, both of them carrying press badges.

"This is Naoko Kurosawa of Channel Nine live here at Mygeeto Hotel with Ryuko Tatsuma, better known as the Dragon Hero: Ryukyu!"

"It's my great pleasure to be here Naoko." Ryuko was of course in her element, slipping into her role with natural ease. "I'd also like to introduce you to my younger sister Ryuuzaki Tatsuma, who decided to join me today."

"Nice to meet you!" Kurosawa told me enthusiastically, as the cameraman shifted slightly to get me in the shot as well. "Is this your first public appearance?"

"...Yes." I said, feeling incredibly out of place.

"Ryuuzaki here recently started her training at UA's Heroics Course." Ryuko smoothly took over from my stumble.

"I see, the classic tale of following in the footsteps of your big sibling. Can you tell our viewers what it's like to be the younger sister of the Number Ten Hero?"

"It's not something I think about most of the time." I doubted that was the answer she'd been looking for, judging by her expression. "I just- she's my sister. Her rank doesn't factor into it."

"Ah, so you've been able to keep humble!" She smiled pleasantly, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "That's good, very good. Well, Ryukyu, we'd like to ask you some questions about…"

With that, it seemed like my contribution to the interview was done, and I certainly wasn't about to butt myself back in. I hung back as Kurosawa threw a couple more quick questions at Ryuko, just generic ones like "how are you feeling on this historic night" and "is there anything you'd like to tell our viewers?", that sort of thing. In a few moments it was over and done with, and we returned to the main ballroom.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"It was certainly something." I said, letting hold of the breath that I'd been holding.

"Hey. You did fine." Ryuko told me, reaching up to put a hand on my shoulder. "I did much worse, when it was my first time in front of a camera."

"Mmm."

Ryuko was about to say something more, but before she could we were interrupted.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Pro-Heroes and civilians, the time has come for the main event of the evening!" An old man holding a mic had stepped up on the raised platform dominating one side of the ballroom. I think I remember seeing his face before, unless I was entirely mistaken that was the mayor of Musutafu.

I'd never seen my sister pale that quickly, except for the time Mom found an empty bottle of hard alcohol in her room when she was sixteen.

"Wait, how can it already be that late? I still need to- I have to go." She fumbled, looking around. "Will you be alright by yourself?"

"I'll be fine."

"Right." She pinched her nose for a moment. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Ryuko disappeared into the backroom, leaving me alone on the ballroom floor. Well, if there's one good thing about being a dragon it's that most people aren't exactly eager to talk to you, and I was mercifully left alone for the most part. However, there was one face I was semi-glad to see approach me.

It's funny. You'd think that looking down at Gang Orca instead of up would make him look less scary. It doesn't.

It really doesn't.

But at the very least he was familiar, in a way nobody here aside from Ryuko was.

"Tatsuma."

"Gang Orca."

There was always this little moment of awkwardness whenever I met somebody who knew me before the incident, where I wondered if they knew why I was, well, the way I was.

"My congratulations on your admission to UA." He said, either oblivious to my nervousness or, more than likely, simply uncaring of it.

"Thank you." I said.

"Tell me." Gang Orca began, as bluntly as ever. "Why did you cease attending the lessons at the aquarium?

"I- Two years ago, I was-"

"I know." He stated. "I saw the police reports. What I do not know is why you stopped attending the lessons."

"Because I couldn't have fit through the doors!" I bit out, defensive.

"I see." He said, folding his arms. "And did you ask any of the staff or myself whether there were alternative accommodations available for use?"

"I assumed-"

"But you did not ask. Do you think you are the only one to suffer from issues with nonstandard body size?" He didn't wait for an answer. "But that is in the past now. Do you still suffer from Thalassophobia?"

"...Yes?" I said, feeling a bit of whiplash from the rapid change of topic. It was true that I hadn't explicitly asked, but…

"Why are you asking me?"

"Yes, I still have it." I corrected my statement with a growl.

"You have not sought treatment for it?" He went on, utterly immune to my growing annoyance.

"I… No. I have not."

"Unwise." He stated matter-of-factly, as he did everything. "Especially in this field of work. It is an avenue of weakness villains will exploit."

I bit my tongue to keep myself from speaking out. He wasn't wrong, but…

"The best time to do so would have been as early as possible. But it is never too late." He took out a small card from his pocket, handing it to me. "Call that number anytime within business hours to set up a meeting."

I looked at the card as if he'd just handed me a loaded gun.

"...Why?"

"Is it so hard to believe that I am trained and licensed to deal with such issues?" He said with a grunt, turning away. "They are quite important to me, as you might imagine."

"No, I mean… why?" I asked. "You don't work at UA. You're not responsible for me."

Gang Orca paused for a moment and then turned back around, his expression unreadable. "Because being a Hero is so much more than just fighting villains and waving in front of a camera."

-----

I found myself a good spot to watch the ceremony, on the outskirts of the room, with my back against a wall. The crowd was starting to congregate around the main stage, but I could easily see over their heads just by standing up straight.

"...Please welcome, the Pro-Hero Ryukyu!"

Just as Ryuko re-emerged onto the stage, I noticed movement from the corner of my eye. A woman wearing a press badge around her neck was making her way across the room in my direction, followed by a cameraman.

I initially hoped they were simply trying to get closer to the stage, but as they drew closer and closer it became obvious they were coming for me. And I'd just cornered myself between the crowd and the wall.

"Excuse me, I'm Yuuna Takenaka from Heroes Daily. We'd like to ask a few questions, if you don't mind."

"I-"

"You are a UA student, correct? Has wednesday's villain attack and the failure of UA's security shaken your faith in their ability to provide a safe learning environment?"

"No, I-" I began, before realizing the loaded nature of the question.

"You-" I began, annoyed, but she interrupted me again.

"Do you feel safe in UA's care?"

"Yes." She opened her mouth, presumably to throw another question at me, but this time I kept talking, raising my voice to speak over her. "It took the largest villain attack of the decade and a teleporter of unprecedented power to breach UA's defences, and even so it was dealt with without permanent injuries or deaths."

"What about All-Might?" She countered. "Do you feel safe under his tutelage, knowing that he is being targeted by a powerful villain group?"

Damn. That… actually wasn't something I'd thought of. And the more I did think about it, the more complicated it got. Of course, having the Number One Hero there . But at the same time, if his presence was inviting attack and students were being caught in the crossfire…

I had no easy answers to that, and I certainly wouldn't be able to form any in time to give to the reporters. But thankfully I did have an easy out.

"Well, I don't have to worry about it, because we have people specifically trained and qualified to do that. I have full confidence in UA and my teachers, and whatever judgement call they end up making I will accept, because they are the experts with all of the relevant facts and experience."

I saw the reporter blanch at the stock non-answer, and gear up for another shot, but I took the opportunity and pressed my advantage.

"But while we're on the topic, wouldn't you say that the constant media attention on All-Might and the fact that his presence at UA was widely reported upon despite UA's attempts to keep it down were likely contributing factors to the villain attack? In fact, and you can correct me if I'm mistaken, but did the villains not use the media's as a cover to break into UA for scouting? I mean, I am just a highschooler, but I think I remember something like that happening."

That last part may have been a little much, but I wasn't in the mood to be generous. For her part the reporter had the grace to look abashed.

"Let's talk about something else, then-" She began, but I took the opportunity to interrupt her in turn.

"Sure, we can talk about something else. Like, for an example, how you're preventing me from following my sister's award ceremony, despite the fact that you're ostensibly here to cover it?"

I nodded towards the stage, and without waiting for a reply I pushed past her and the cameraman.

I sagged in relief as soon as I got out of sight, feeling utterly exhausted. For a moment I considered taking Ryuko's offer to leave, but I'd already come this far and I didn't want to call it quits now.

By the time I'd found a spot on the other side of the room Ryuko was stepping down from the stage, the main ceremony already over. Her eyes scanned the crowd, easily spotting my massive form as she made her way over.

"What did you think of my speech?"

"Well I'd be happy to offer my opinion, but I was kind of distracted with having a mic shoved into my face at the time." I told her.

Ryuko's face fell slightly. "Let me guess, Heroes Daily?"

"Yeah."

"I'll lodge a complaint against them. They've been going downhill in recent times, with rampant gossipmongering and paparazzis. If they keep it up they'll probably start losing press badge privileges for events like this." She said with a scowl. "That's a big part of what I have a PR Manager for, to set up interviews and make sure the ones doing it know the right balance between just throwing softball questions at you all day and being obnoxiously pushy."

"I don't know, even that one we did just felt kind of… fake."

"You get used to it, after a while." She assured me, but I wasn't quite sure how I felt about that. We fell into a silence for a while, before Ryuko broke it again.

"You know, I think I saw ice cream on one of those tables."

"Lead the way."

Spoiler: A/N

I was feeling quite inspired, so I went and churned out another Chapter post-haste. I'm pretty sure I even broke my personal record for words per day.

 

[Blackout]

Chapter 15

For the next two weeks, we barely did anything but train. Of course we had to attend regular classes as well, but they were an afterthought compared to the amount of sweat we poured into training for the Sports Festival. And when the school day was over we'd simply press on. At first, I feared the looming competition might poison the atmosphere. After all, there could only be one winner, and I remembered Ryuko's stories of the eve of the Sports Festival, with everyone looking over their shoulders for the slightest advantage in the upcoming trials.

But to my surprise, that didn't happen. Most of it I could attribute to Kendo, organizing after-hours group training and gluing the class together. But the more surprising contribution came from Monoma. The blonde-haired boy moved amongst the class, offering encouragement and kind words to anyone who would have them.

Nevertheless, Foundational Heroics classes were always the highlights of each day, and today Vlad King had directed us to one of UA's indoor training areas, a large room with a soft mat covering the floor.

"Today, we will be taking a step back and going over one of the more basic aspects of combat." He announced as we gathered around him in a loose semi-circle. "For some of you this will seem self-evident, but you would be surprised to learn how many Pro-Heroes fail to grasp it."

"Sir!" Yoarashi's hand shot up, straight like a plank. "What is this aspect?"

"An excellent question. Allow me to demonstrate it in action." Vlad King stated, turning towards the younger man. "Attack me. Use any means within your disposal."

Yoarashi hesitated for a moment, before grinning and raising his hand, a massive column of spiralling air gathering above him.

Before he could release it, however, Vlad King simply moved. One moment he was standing there, and the next Yoarashi crashed face-down onto the mat, his arms bent behind his back Vlad King's knee pressing against his spine.

"Now, can any of you identify the mistake he made there?" He asked as he got off of Yoarashi.

"He didn't try to increase the distance between himself and you?" I suggested.

"Not incorrect, but not the answer I'm looking for here." Vlad King said. "Why didn't he create more distance?"

"I thought you would use your Quirk." Yoarashi admitted as he pulled himself to his feet, looking properly chastised.

"Precisely." Vlad King nodded. "For many people, when allowed to freely use their Quirks for the first time in their lives, it quickly grows akin to a second pair of limbs. They become reliant upon it, forgetting that they have a perfectly serviceable pair of flesh and blood ones, and leaving themselves open to a more conventional attack."

"Not all of us." Tetsutetsu scoffed, pointing a thumb at his chest. "A long-range type like Yoarashi is one thing, but anybody trying to pull that on me would be in for a surprise."

"Would iron skin help you get out of a hold, like the one I used on Yoarashi there?" Vlad King replied evenly. "Or take Kendo for another example of a physical Quirk, would her strength prevent me from picking her up and throwing her?"

"Well, no-" Tetsutetsu admitted, before folding his arms in defiance. "-but only if you managed toaaah!"

His face met the mat the same way Yoarashi's had, Vlad King's boot on his back.

"Like that?"

"I- You caught me by surprise!"

"I did." Vlad King confirmed, nonplussed. "What of it?"

Tetsutetsu spluttered as Vlad King rose off of him.

"Catching your enemy by surprise is a great way to win a fight. Villains will certainly make use of it, and I hope that you will learn to appreciate its value as well." He offered a hand to pull Tetsutetsu up. "Do you at least accept that there is a possibility in which you could end up in a hold on the ground?"

The gray-haired boy glared at the taller man as he was pulled up, but nodded sullenly.

"Then you'll want to learn how to counter that kind of move." Vlad King said with an air of finality, before returning his attention to the wider class. "Never underestimate what a skilled fighter can do in the right circumstances, even without using a Quirk. Today, we will be covering Quirkless self-defence. In later lessons, once you all have the basics down, we will be moving into more advanced techniques."

That all made sense. However, I was starting to see a certain problem with all of this.

"Kendo, Rin, Yoarashi, Tokage, Honenuki. All of you already possess a certain level of proficiency in martial arts or self-defence. You will not benefit as much from this training session, but you will take this opportunity to refine your skills and reinforce your foundation. The rest of you, do not be afraid to approach any of them for guidance."

Namely, the fact that I was permanently a quadrupedal walking tank. I just didn't really see what I was supposed to gain from a self-defence class.

"Kendo!" Vlad King barked. "You will lead the class in warm up and stretches until I return. You have ten minutes. Tatsuma, you're with me."

"Sir! Class, follow me!"

As Kendo led the others to start doing laps around the classroom, Vlad King turned towards me.

"I assume I won't be participating in today's lesson?" I asked.

"Correct. You will rejoin the class in the future once we start covering more advanced topics, particularly fighting larger opponents, which will double as your training for fighting smaller ones. But forcing you to participate in a Quirkless self defence lesson would be pointless, considering your situation and physiology. Here at UA we do not mold students to fit the training, we mold the training to fit the students."

"So what will I be doing, then?" I didn't think for a second that he would actually let me sit idle.

"Follow me." Vlad King beckoned me with a hand gesture, starting to walk towards the doors.

"What would you say is the single greatest advantage of your Quirk in a battle?" He asked me after a while, as he lead me down a path through the building.

I was silent for a few moments. I'd say my Quirk is very well-rounded, but…

"My size." I answered finally. "The advantage of reach and mass is very hard to counter. Engaging me in Quirkless combat would be futile."

"Unless they had access to special equipment, or there were external factors to consider." Vlad King reminded me sternly. "Never convince yourself of your own invulnerability, no matter how weak your opponent. But it is not a bad answer, though not the correct one."

I shrugged.

"Flight." He gestured towards my wings. "Three-dimensional mobility. That is your true strength. Many Quirks can be used to boost mobility, in a variety of ways, but true flight is surprisingly rare."

I nodded in understanding. "If you can fly you can dictate the pace of the fight."

"Unless the enemy has a ranged option." Vlad King corrected. "On the ground, you can afford to take hits, but in aerial combat avoidance must be your first choice. No matter how strong your scales are, a good hit in the wing membrane will bring you down. Have you been trained in crash landing and impact mitigation?"

"Yes." I replied. "It was covered in flight instruction."

"Good. One less thing to worry about."

We arrived at one of UA's fake cities, a massive expanse of concrete jungle. Two people were standing there waiting for us.

The first was obviously a teacher, and I was pretty sure I'd seen him in the entrance ceremony. He was clad in a simple red cape with frayed edges, a cowboy hat and a gas-mask on his head, with a revolver holstered at his hip. The other was clearly a student, a short girl with long, light blue hair, some of it twisted into two horn-like spirals. She wore a form-fitting green jumpsuit, with spiralling patterns around her ankles and wrists.

"Tatsuma, this is Nejire Hadou from class 3-A, and Snipe, her Homeroom teacher."

"Nice to meet you!" The girl greeted us cheerfully, her voice seeming oddly familiar. She bounced forward, and without so much as a pause leaned down to admire my claws, running a finger along one's edge. "Do you sharpen your claws or do they stay sharp naturally?"

"Um. They grow inside out in layers, like a cat. The outermost layer periodically sheds away to keep them sharp." I glanced at the two teachers over her head, giving them what I hoped was a pleading look.

"Hadou, please remember to give Tatsuma some personal space." Snipe chided her gently.

"Tatsuma?" She blinked. "Wait, you're Ryukyu's sister?"

"Yes." You know, if I didn't love Ryuko as much as I did, I could see myself growing to resent her for this.

"We met once already!" Hadou said with a snap of her fingers. "We talked on the phone that one time! Remember me?"

Then it all clicked, where I'd heard her voice before. She was the one who had-

Oh wow.

I felt my head spin a little, struggling for something to say.

"You were Ryuko's intern, right? I never saw you at her office."

"Oh, she had some big family emergency soon after we talked, and had to cut back on heroics a little for a while." She gave me an odd look. "We agreed to go our separate ways, and I found a different internship."

And she didn't even know.

I felt a confused mess of feelings curling in my chest.

If she hadn't been there that day, maybe-

But she couldn't possibly have known-

If I couldn't hold it against my sister, then logically I couldn't blame her for what had happened as a completely unintended consequence of her actions. But even so, an irrational, emotional part of me whispered of what could have been, had she not distracted Ryuko that day.

Not for the last time I felt incredibly grateful for the fact that it's easy to maintain outward composure as a dragon.

"Oh, um. That's a shame."

"It's alright!"

"If you're done, we're on a schedule here." Vlad King reminded us sharply.

"Sorry!" The older girl said, without the slightest drop in her level of enthusiasm.

"The Third Years have been training just as hard as we have, if not harder- after all, this is their last chance to leave an impression." Vlad King went on. "Hadou here needs to practice her accuracy while you need to practice dodging, so we thought we'd combine the two lessons for efficiency."

"Um… how is that going to work?" I questioned, trying to think of the right way to put this. "I mean, I don't think I could provide much of a challenge for a Third Year."

"Simple." Snipe said, putting a hand on his holster. "You won't be fighting each other, you'll both be fighting me."

"Hadou's objective will be to hit Snipe while riding on your back, while you focus on avoiding his return fire. That way, he can adjust the level of challenge the two of you need individually."

"My Quirk allows me to control the bullets mid-air, making them safe."

"It'll be like a superhero team up!" Hadou cheered.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked. "What if she falls off?"

"I can fly!" She gave me a thumbs-up. "I'll just catch myself."

"Why do you need me at all, then?"

"To make it harder on her." Snipe replied, tapping his boots together, small fuel nuzzles extending from the sides. "Shooting from an unstable platform while both it and the target are moving and dodging in three dimensions, will be a good way of challenging her."

...Challenging, huh. I'd hate to see what kind of training they'd consider "hard".

"So, uh, Hadou-" I began, after Vlad King had left to rejoin 1-B.

"Call me Nejire!" She interrupted with a chirp.

"-Nejire. What is your Quirk, if I can ask?"

"Oh! It's called Wave Motion, I can convert my stamina into energy and fire it out!" She raised a hand, and a small, blast of swirling golden energy shot upwards, reaching towards the clouds. "They pack a punch, though they're a little slow."

"Right. Hop on then. You can hold onto the vest straps." I really wasn't sure how to speak to Hadou. She spoke and acted like somebody half her age, but by every right she was the senior here.

"We can start as soon as you're ready." Snipe called out, as I lowered my head and Hadou climbed on, settling up near my shoulder blades.

Well. I guess that was that.

"Um, hold on, then."

I bounded forward, gathering speed before taking off with a mighty leap, beating my wings furiously to gain some initial altitude. I had no expectations that Snipe would go easy on-

A gunshot rang out, echoing across the cityscape. For a moment, I felt my stomach drop out, my breath suddenly constricted.

There was a slight thud, and a dull thump against my chest. I opened my eyes just to catch the flattened bullet fall off my chest scales, dropping towards the ground.

Oh. When had I closed my eyes in the first place?

"Are you alright?" Nejire asked with concern in her voice, and even Snipe had come to a halt, though his mask was unreadable. Humiliation burned my ears.

"I'm fine!" I tried to sound reassuring. "I was just taken off guard."

I wasn't sure how convincing it actually was, but Snipe nodded and kicked his bootheels together, activating the rockets built into them and taking flight.

The next time embarrassment won out, and I managed to just flinch, pulling myself into a quick dive that sent the bullet hurtling overhead, the bright tracer leaving a trail across the sky.

Rather than fire again, the trajectory of the previous bullet curved, coming around for another pass as Snipe exerted his Quirk. I waited for it to close before spreading my wings and arresting my dive at the last moment, avoiding the attack.

Once he was sure I'd gotten my head back into the game the training began in earnest, a barrage of shots coming my way whilst Nejire started shooting back, lighting up the morning sky with flares of energy bolts. I wasn't sure if Snipe had realized what had happened, but I suspected he had. He conserved his ammunition, firing sparingly and reusing missed shots.

They weren't real bullets, of course. For one they were too slow, and I was reasonably sure the impact I'd felt was that of a rubber tip. Not even UA would go so far as to shoot real bullets at a student, no matter how accurate they were or how bulletproof I was, especially when I was carrying another, presumably squishy human on my back.

Or so I hoped.

Nonetheless I was kept busy, as Snipe weaved his projectiles to and fro, and I struggled to keep up, trying to keep track of the small bullets amidst the lightshow Nejire was creating with her return fire. This wasn't something I'd ever practiced before and it showed: I felt frustratingly sluggish, furiously maneuvering to avoid incoming fire. Newton worked against me, as I struggled with my own momentum when making tight turns.

But Snipe knew what he was doing, and never offered me a challenge I couldn't have overcome. When I was hit, it was because I made a mistake. Nonetheless at least a dozen bullets grazed my scales as the morning went on, until eventually the seemingly unending barrage abated for a moment.

It seemed like Snipe had elected to spare me a bit of breathing room.

I finally had a sliver of free attention to spare to watch what Nejire was doing, only to drop my proverbial jaw. I didn't know what I had been quite expecting from her, with her silly exterior and seeming childishness.

But this…

The sky was lit by a blinding constellation of lights, energy blasts slowly spiralling in patterns of dizzying complexity. It seemed that knowing her attacks lacked speed, Nejire had decided to compensate with quantity,

At first it appeared as a crude machine gun spray, an attempt to substitute precision with raw firepower. But now that I had time to focus on it I realized that wasn't the case at all.

No, the spread and timing of her fire was far too regular for that, and an expression of pure focus had replaced childlike curiosity on Nejire's features.

I didn't have even a fraction of the concentration required to unravel the pattern in full, but I could gleam glimpses of it: an egregiously off-target shot that almost caught Snipe as he was forced to dodge in it's direction here, a slow-moving cluster of projectiles that came to be relevant a full minute later as the fight progressed there.

To coordinate all of that, while hanging from my back, adjusting for my own movements and position at any given time..

It was humbling, to see what even a Third Year Hero student was capable of, let alone a full Pro-Hero. It also highlighted how far I still had to go.

-----

Another day, another Foundational Heroics class. This time a theoretical lesson, and the soft scraping of pencils in paper filled the 1-B homeroom as we worked on a set of problems Vlad King had assigned us. Being that I was unable to properly hold and write with a pen I instead tapped my answers via a computer mounted on my desk, my claws clicking against the large touchscreen.

Explain the difference between Provisional Hero License and the full Hero License.

Whilst the Provisional License permits Heroics without direct supervision, it only does so for emergencies. It does not entitle the holder to establish a Hero Agency, become or take on sidekicks, or make commercial deals. It is also contingent upon remaining a student in an officially recognized Hero Academy...

As I was writing I heard Pony's phone going off, and saw her glance down, before giving Vlad King her best puppy-eyes look. He gave her a single nod, and she flew out the door like a missile, and didn't return even as the lesson ended.

"Is it just me or has Pony been acting a little off, lately?" Kendo said, setting down her tray on the table. Pony still hadn't come back from where she'd gone off to, and after waiting on her for a while we had to go lest we miss lunch ourselves.

"Define "weird". We've only known each other for a couple of weeks, for all we know this could be normal for her." Monoma pointed out as he sat down as well. He didn't seem to have any particular group he hung out with, instead drifting between them seemingly on a whim.

"You know what I mean." Kendo chimed in. "She's been disappearing more and more recently."

"Maybe she's just having constipation." Tokage suggested with a grin. "Who knows?"

I knew.

I tried not to eavesdrop, but Pony underestimates how good my hearing is and I couldn't help but overhear a thing or two.

She had been making calls to her family, back in the US. Her birthday was coming up, but with the Sports Festival just a week away she couldn't afford to take the time off for a visit.

Pony missed her family and home.

And wasn't that just it. If it was something else, I don't know, but homesickness… how could I not feel for her?

I was mostly over it, I could never go home again. I'd accepted that it was impossible. And year by year, it got harder and harder to remember. But sometimes, a little innocuous detail could remind me of the life that I had lost. And what I felt then, I knew Pony felt now.

I wanted to help her, I really did. But I didn't know how. I didn't know what to tell her or to do to make her feel better.

And that, more than anything, was why I was considering telling the others. It felt like an intrusion of privacy, a secret that wasn't mine to share, but… they might know what to do. They might be able to help her where I couldn't.

I mulled the thought in my head over and over as I munched on my lunch, but found myself no closer to an answer.

Eavesdropping was a bad habit I needed to get rid of, and gossiping didn't sit right with me. But I couldn't help but go back to those words.

"You will lift each other up when you fall."

As the Vice-Class President, and even moreso as her friend, I felt a responsibility to help her.

Maybe… I didn't need to tell them the full story? Pony's birthday was a matter of public record, and it was perfectly reasonable deduction to make that she was homesick. I hope.

Latching onto that idea, I examined it from all angles. If I told them only what could have been learned without listening in, then it wasn't really a breach of her personal privacy, right?

Right?

"I think she's homesick." I finally relented, blurting out the words before I could regret the decision.

"What do you mean?"

"Her birthday's coming up, she's probably just missing the US." I elaborated as the others turned to look at me, trying to look as nonchalant as I could.

"Oh." Kendo said with a note of realization. "Oh yeah, this must be her first birthday in Japan."

That quieted even Tokage, who seemed to have been lining up another quip, as Kendo's words sunk in. Silence reigned, first becoming discomforting, then suffocating.

Then, finally, Honenuki broke the ice.

"Maybe we should do something for her?" He ventured, ever the reasonable one. "We can't help her with homesickness, but we can try to make sure she knows she's welcome here."

"A birthday party?" Kendo leaned forward with a thoughtful expression, looking at me. "When is her birthday again?"

"...Tomorrow." I told her.

"Yeah, I'm not sure we could get a party organized in time for that." She winced.

"Doesn't need to be anything big, just a small celebration with the class." Monoma pointed out. "I don't think Vlad King would begrudge us a moment before starting the day's lessons."

"Mmm, that just seems a little barren." She considered for a moment, before snapping her fingers. "Pony's a huge fan of anime and manga, right? We could see what's in the theaters, and take her to the movies. She'd probably like that."

"Yeah, that could work." Monoma nodded. "It's a little on the short notice, but we could ask around to see who's available."

"We'll also have to find out if Pony has any plans of her own that day." Honenuki said. "Don't want to organize an outing only to find out she can't attend."

"It'll work better as a surprise, though." Tokage replied.

"If you want to try to figure out Pony's schedule without her finding out, be my guest." Kendo told her.

"You know what? I will." Tokage bit back, folding her arms.

I followed the conversation I'd set in motion as it unfolded, feeling more than a little out of place amongst the back-and-forth as ideas were thrown back and forth. But this was what I'd wanted, right? To get the others to figure out how to help Pony, when I couldn't.

Of course, chances were it was always going to be something I wouldn't be able to take part in.

"What about the cake?" Yui chimed in quietly.

"That's right! We'll need to get something for her." Kendo said, turning towards me. "I wonder what kind of cake would she like?"

"I don't know."

"Well you're the one closest to her." Tokage pointed out. "You two are always hanging out when I see you."

"Like Monoma said, we've only known each other for a couple of weeks." I bristled. "So I don't exactly know her dietary preferences in intricate detail."

"Maybe instead of cake, how about apple pie?" Monoma suggested. "Pony would probably like that, right?"

"What, because she's a horse she must love apples?" I asked.

"What, no! Apple pie is an american thing." He paused. "I think."

"That's also a stereotype."

"We could just ask her what she likes." Honenuki pointed out, but Tokage protested.

"But then that would ruin the surprise."

"Guys, she'll probably just appreciate the thought and effort put into it either way." Kendo said with an air of authority, bringing the argument to a halt. "So. We'll organize a movie night and bake her a pie for a small celebration tomorrow. Any objections?"

"Just one." I raised a claw. "How exactly do we acquire that pie?"

"We could buy some from the store." Honenuki said.

"I don't know about that." Tokage argued. "Store bought would be kind of... impersonal, for something like this."

"Then how do we get some?" Monoma asked. "Do you know how to make some?"

"Well, no. But somebody here must, right?"

A moment of uncomfortable silence followed, as everyone looked around at each other.

"Seriously?" The question escaped my mouth unbidden. "None of you know how to bake a pie? It's the easiest thing in the world."

"Do you?" Tokage shot back.

"Or course I know how!" I raised my voice, eliciting a couple of looks from the nearby tables. "I just…"

I looked down at my enormous, scaled forelimbs, each longer and thicker than an adult man, and adorned with dagger-like, razor-sharp claws.

"...I can't make one." I said, morosely.

For a moment Tokage looked a little taken aback, an unknown emotion flickering across her face.

"Well, you have the knowledge while lacking the means, while we have the means but lack the knowledge. The solution is self-apparent." Kendo chirped, dispelling the sombre mood. "You can instruct us, and we'll do the baking."

"That…" Sounded like a terrible idea. But I didn't want to dismiss it out of hand. I didn't have to like it, but if it was for Pony…

That's what friends do, right?

"Well… I'd need to actually be there, to be of any real help. And I can't exactly fit into a normal kitchen. We'd need a place that's accessible me, and…"

And I knew of only one place that had that. Fuck.

"Well. We'd need to go to my home."

-----

"-just remember to clean up afterwards. Love you."

"We will. Love you too Mom."

I tapped the screen on my wrist-mounted communicator, ending the call with a sigh before trodding back into the cafeteria. I saw that Pony still hadn't returned, while Kendo and Tokage were standing a little way from the others, talking animatedly.

"-this isn't about you or her. This is about Pony."

I didn't quite catch Tokage's reply, over the background noise of the cafeteria, but Kendo's reply was clear.

"You don't have to like her, you just have to put aside your stupid rivalry for a little bit. Can you do that? For Pony's sake?"

I was starting to seriously wonder if I should make a public service announcement to everyone that hey guys, I have super-sensitive hearing so I physically can't help eavesdropping if you're talking in my general vicinity.

...Maybe some other day. Instead I made my way back to the group, my heavy footsteps interrupting the argument.

"Oh, Tatsuma! What did she say?"

"We're good to go on that front." If I didn't know better I could have sworn Mom had started tearing up when I mentioned I'd be bringing friends over. "Did you sort out who's coming?"

"Me, Yui and Tokage." The last of them gave Kendo a dirty look, but didn't contradict her. "Honenuki and Monoma have other commitments that can't be easily rescheduled. We also got Yoarashi onboard."

"It would be my honour to take part in such a passionate project!"

"Does he know how to bake a pie?"

"Um, no."

"Marvelous."

"I've been talking to the others and got them in on the plan." Monoma interjected. "But unfortunately there wasn't anyone else available on such short notice. I could try to persuade them, but..."

"No, it's fine. We'll be fine." I sighed. Past a certain point having more people would be more of a hindrance than a help, but it would have been nice to have at least somebody who knows how to bake.

I guess this was just going to be one of those days.

-----

"You know, it occurs to me that we never actually discussed how we were all going to get to my home."

Kendo, Tokage, Yoarashi, Yui and I stood outside UA's gates, which had thankfully been vacated by the media. Eventually even they must have gotten bored.

With the afternoon classes over, hundreds of students were leaving the campus, streaming towards the nearby train station.

"Why? Just take a train-" Kendo began, before her eyes widened with realization. "Oh."

"Exactly. I normally use the commute to go for a run." I scratched my side in thought. "I could tell you the right route, but you'd still have to wait for me to show up."

"That won't do." Kendo decided. "We'll all go together. We can turn it into endurance training."

"Are you sure? It's a fair amount of distance, I don't know-"

"Are you implying we wouldn't be able to handle it?" Tokage wheeled about, sudden edge of steel in her voice.

"No, I just-"

"Then it is decided."

The others looked ready to charge out at once, but Yui reached out and tapped Kendo in the shoulder. When the taller girl turned around she poked her in the chest of her pristine UA uniform.

"Don't you think we should change clothes first?"

"Oh, right!" Kendo rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "Let's go for a change of clothes first."

A few moments later the others had gotten changed, and we set off. I lead the way, setting what I thought was a reasonable pace.

-----

Yoarashi collapsed with a groan, falling onto one knee on our front porch as he gasped for air. Yui looked little better, her typically stoic demeanour cracked by exhaustion, and even Kendo was struggling to control her breathing.

See, the law says that even if your Quirk is always on you're not supposed to be actively using it to perform superhuman feats. So no running around the streets at full tilt. But the thing is, while it's easy for law enforcement to spot somebody who's outrunning motorcycles on foot, how would you enforce restricting, say, superhuman endurance?

What I'd forgotten, after so long, was how fast regular humans tire. While it was only a light jog to me, the pace I'd set was absolutely punishing on the others.

I'd tried to correct it and slow down, but, well…

"Come on, get up, that was nothing!"

Some of them had taken it as a challenge.

Tokage had fared better than the others, or at least she was the best at concealing it. She'd egged the others on, pushing them beyond what was probably wise, refusing to slow down.

Even Kendo, usually the voice of reason, seemed to have gotten swept up in the spirit, with the Sports Festival looming so tantalizingly close.

"You think you can become a Hero if you drop from a bit of exercise? I thought you said you were hot-blooded or something?"

Yoarashi struggled onto his feet with obvious effort, swaying but remaining upright as he pumped his fist. "Right! I can still keep going!"

And now I had to deal with four tired, sweaty teenagers.

"Maybe leave that for another time? We do still need to actually bake the pie." I ventured in an attempt to curtail their enthusiasm, shrugging the direction of the doors. "You can go back to training once we're done with that."

"She's right." Kendo said, rubbing the back of her head, seeming a little embarrassed. "Maybe a quick break before we get started?"

I would have frowned if I could have. It wasn't as if I disliked the others, but my room was my space, where I could recharge and lay off stress. I had never considered that they would be sticking around for more than strictly necessary for the baking.

But I could see the logic in her words. This was going to be difficult enough as it was. And I'd already invited and brought them here. I might not be an expert by any stretch of imagination, but denying them would be very, very rude.

After a moment's consideration, I shrugged and lead the way. The doors swung open as I approached, the recently-installed security camera recognizing me.

"Well. Welcome, I guess."

How long had it actually been since I'd had friends over? Yui had been my only friend growing up, and we never spent time together outside of school. It would have had to have been… I was suddenly painfully aware that I had no idea how I was supposed to act in this situation.

Most of the house was fairly normal, other than the raised ceiling and somewhat unusual arrangement of furniture to give me enough room to move around.

Not so much for my room.

My room was in fact, by most standards, rather strange. It was in truth less a room and more of a large chamber, with a raised roof and thick, reinforced walls. What furniture I had retained was sturdily constructed and bolted into the floor at the corners of the room, with the exception of the chair, but even that was designed to slide along the floor rather than topple over.

It was the one place where I didn't have to worry about knocking something over and breaking it with a misstep or because I wasn't keeping track of my tail.

"Well, this is-" Kendo began, but Yoarashi interrupted her.

"Now this is a proper lair of a dragon!" He announced, stepping further into the room. "It is so hot-blooded!"

"Literally." Yui noted, tugging at the collar of her shirt.

"You know there are adjectives other than "hot-blooded", right?" I asked Yoarashi.

"What a hot-blooded statement!"

I squinted at him. He had to be fucking with me, right? I could never tell with him.

"You have a dragon-sized computer?!" Tokage exclaimed, excitement seemingly overriding her grumpiness for the moment. "And a chair?"

"Yeah." I said, thankful for the distraction. "Being a dragon… kind of limits one's hobbies. I spend a lot of time online."

"Is that why your english is so good?" Kendo asked. "You've been acing that class."

"...Yes."

I stood by the door, feeling vaguely uncomfortable and unsure what to do.

Was this normal? Should I tell them to stop? Would that be rude? A million unanswered questions swam around in my head, competing for attention.

"What's this? Kendo asked, looking at the large wooden bin in the corner. It was filled to capacity, a strip of metallic white material hanging over the edge.

"Oh. That's, um, that's where I put the waste after I shed my skin. I haven't gotten around to emptying it yet."

Kendo reached into the basket, lifting a large patch of shimmering white scales, about the size of a bedsheet. The edges were ragged, where I'd scratched the strip of dead skin off with my claws, but for the most part it was intact.

"There's loads of this stuff." She said, looking down into the bin.

"I renew most of my surface area every few months." I shrugged. "Of course there's going to be a lot of it."

"What do you do with all of it?"

"We send it away with the garbage disposal. It doesn't burn so it needs to be sent to a landfill."

Tokage made a strangled noise, like she'd been about to say something before stopping herself. I turned to look at her, tilting my head in the universal "What?" gesture.

"You just throw it all away?!" She gestured animatedly towards the waste bin.

"I mean, yeah?" I asked with a shake of my head, feeling a little defensive. "What else am I supposed to do with it?"

Tokage made a frustrated groan. "I thought you were supposed to be the expert on dragons?"

I just looked at her blankly.

"Armor! You make armor out of dragonscale!"

"...I mean, I guess you could?" I ventured. "I don't know if it would make for good armor, though."

"Of course it would!" Tokage threw her hands in the air. "It's dragonhide!"

"Alright, tone it down." Kendo said, stepping forward and looking up at me. "If you're not comfortable with it, just say the word and we won't speak of it any more."

"I mean, I don't necessarily have anything against it, I don't have a use for the stuff. But isn't it kind of… gross? You'd be wearing strips of my dead skin."

"But it's genuine dragonscale." Tokage emphasized, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Do you really think anyone would mind?"

"Well, if you say so." I sighed. "You can have it, I don't really care."

Kendo nodded. "We'll take a sample for the Support Department and see what they have to say about it. We might be all getting excited over something that would be totally impractical."

Yoarashi and Tokage deflated before Kendo's realism, but didn't raise any objections.

Looking around the room I saw Yui looking through the cabinet built into the opposite corner of the room. It was a small thing, a glass door display I used for… a few memoirs.

"You told me about these once." Yui said, noticing my eyes on her. "You made them yourself, didn't you?"

The small plastic figures looked out from the shelf, cast in dynamic poses and waving a variety of weaponry in the air.

"I did." Another thing that Fujiwara had taken from me.

"Do these guys have chainsaw swords?" Yoarashi asked, leaning in closer.

"Yeah. Yeah they do."

"That is awesome!"

"Well, I think everyone is sufficiently rested by now." Kendo said. "We should stop imposing upon Tatsuma and do what we came here to do."

"I can tell you about those some other day." I told Yoarashi, and he reluctantly tore himself away from the display as I lead the group out of my room.

The kitchen wasn't anything particularly fancy, but it had all the necessary equipment. The table used to be bigger, but we had to get a smaller one so that I could fit past. I sat myself down, my tail and back half still in the living room, and began wracking my memories.

"Right, so, first we'll need the ingredients. Um, Kendo, there's flour and sugar in the cabinet next to the fridge. Yui, Yoarashi, we'll need milk, cooking oil, eggs, butter and apples from the fridge. Tokage, if you could get the baking powder from over the cabinet? Just, uh, gather it all on the table, we need to make sure we have enough of everything."

A few moments later the requested ingredients were piled on the table, and I inspected their findings.

"Yui, those are citruses, not apples." I squinted at the yellow fruits she'd gotten. "How do you even mix those two up?"

"..." Yui mumbled something that even my hearing couldn't pick up on.

"Just, um, apples are smoother and green-coloured. Yoarashi, could you get us some? In the meanwhile, we'll need bowls from that cabinet, and the measures should be above the sink, just get all of them."

Eventually, we'd finally managed to measure the correct proportions of ingredients, laid out on the table in order.

"Right. Um, Yoarashi, why don't you crack the eggs into the bowl?" I turned around to look at Kendo. "Alright, you can mix the flour and baking powder. What you'll want to do is take a small amount of flour, add the powder, stir, and then add it to the-"

"Here I go!" There was a loud cracking sound, and I whipped my head around again. Yoarashi had smashed the eggs with such force that half the yolk was on the counter, and there were shell fragments in the bowl, mixed in with the dough.

No.

Don't set fire to the kitchen.

No, bad dragon.

I was thankfully distracted by the sound of the front door opening. Mom said she wouldn't be home until six and Dad didn't get off of work until seven on a tuesday, meaning it had to be…

Oh.

This was going to be good.

A few seconds later, Ryuko walked into the kitchen, out of costume. She must've gotten off of work early.

"Oh, hi 'Zaki. Are these your classmates?"

I savoured the look of mental short-circuiting on the others' faces as they came face to face with the Number Ten Hero of Japan, in a casual shirt and jeans.

"Yeah. Yui Kodai, Itsuka Kendo, and Setsuna Tokage, this is Ryuko, my big sister."

"Nice to meet you."

Whilst the other stuttered out a response, I moved on. "Can you help us? We're having some trouble here."

"Sure." She said, rolling up her sleeves. "What do you need?"

"Show Yoarashi how to crack eggs. He's using way too much force."

"Got it."

"Right." I turned back to Kendo, who was looking slack-jawed at Ryuko. "So, where was I?"

"Uhhhh… the baking powder mixed with a little flour?"

"That's right. Then you add the mix to the rest of the flour. That way it'll spread more evenly."

-----

With Ryuko's help the dough progressed quickly, and I talked Yui through peeling and cutting the apples. It was… odd. I could understand not being familiar with baking, sure, but Yui seemed, well, she seemed like she'd never even seen food being prepared before.

After fifteen minutes or so the pie was all but done, with Yoarashi sprinkling on the last of the topping.

That was when we were interrupted by a loud, high-pitched beep coming from Ryuko's direction. She quickly got out her phone and checked the screen, her face falling instantly.

"I need to go."

"Go." I said, concealing my disappointment. "We'll be fine."

"It's, well, I'm not allowed to tell you." She said over her shoulder, even as she was all but running towards the door. "But you might want to turn on the TV."

"Right. Be safe!"

"Always."

She ran out, and I could hear her transform and take off as soon as she was outdoors. The others looked shocked, probably unused to the suddenness with which a Pro-Hero might get called into work.

"What did she mean?" Tokage asked.

"If it's big enough to warrant them to call in the Number Ten Hero like that, it's probably big enough to be in the news." I sighed, trying to conceal my nervousness. "Get the pie in the oven, set the timer for 30 minutes, and get to the living room."

Part of what had made Ryuko so successful was her ability to rapidly respond to situations over a large area. There were few heroes who were better in a fight, or could respond quicker, but almost none who could exceed her in both categories.

It had also made it hard for her to stick to a schedule, as she could be called in at a moment's notice.

But she had genuinely made an effort to improve in the past two years, making it clear that when she was off work she should only be called in for when there were no other options. For her to run off like that…

"Television. On. Channel Nine." I called out as we piled into the living room. The voice command had been a necessary addition, so that I could make use of the TV without having to try to fiddle with a tiny remote and ruin it with my claws.

The screen flickered on, rapidly coalescing into the image of a city, probably being filmed from a helicopter. Fires dotted the urban landscape, thick columns of smoke rising towards the sky as firefighters and Pro-Heroes alike struggled to contain them.

A running script was scrolling on the bottom of the screen, showing the words "RAMPAGE ACROSS HOSU". The reporter was saying something, but I tuned her words out and focused on the feed.

There, amidst the fires, were two figures. Massive, muscular forms, humanoid in shape yet distinctly inhuman in nature. Exposed braincase, smooth, rubbery skin, it was the visage that had been plastered on every news outlet for the last two weeks.

Nomu.

One alone had been enough to fight All-Might himself, and now two more were on the loose. The first, an eyeless, black-skinned giant, walked with a steady purpose as it emerged from a burning building into a park, smashing aside a tree trunk. The other was a slimmer creature, it's four eyes blinking rapidly as it scuttled about in the larger Nomu's wake.

Local Pro-Heroes were already on the scene, as a heavily-armored man used the vents in his elbows to propel himself forward, slamming a devastating haymaker into the white-skinned Nomu's face and sending it flying into a wall.

"That's Ingenium!" Tokage called out.

"You know him?" I asked.

"I used to live in Hosu." Tokage said, but didn't elaborate.

"His younger brother is in 1-A, I think." Kendo noted.

On the other side of the small park, a huge spectral bear was fighting the black-skinned Nomu, the vague outline of a man visible within. He raked the creature with his claws, but the wounds seemed to close as soon as they were being dealt, and a contemptuous backhand sent him to the ground with concrete-cracking force, before the Nomu raised a foot to stomp on his head.

We watched in frozen silence as another hero wrapped his tentacle-like arms around the monster's other leg, just as a goat-horned hero jumped on its back while a third one directed a pressurized stream of water at its face. The black-skinned giant staggered and fell with a crash, and the ghostly bear scrambled to his feet, but it was a small victory at best.

The Nomu was already getting back up, none worse for the wear. The camera suddenly swung around to focus on Ingenium, desperately evading the white-skinned Nomu's tongue which had grown to grotesque proportions, outsizing the creature itself.

It was clear that the heroes were outmatched. But even so…

"Is it just me, or do these Nomu seem kind of… weak?" The others turned to look at me. "I mean, not to put down the efforts of any of these Heroes, but the Nomu was supposedly able to fight All-Might. They should have been squashed flat, already."

"You're not wrong." Kendo admitted. "I hate to say it, but these Heroes are not on the level of All-Might."

More and more Heroes were arriving to fight the Nomu or help combat the spreading fires, many of them possessing flight or speed type Quirks.

"They must be calling in every rapid-response Hero available."

Suddenly a spiralling blast of flame lit up the sky in the distance, illuminating the evening sky. Once again the camera swung about, focusing on a pair of figures fighting on the rooftops.

One was unmistakable, the fire-wreathed form of the Number Two Hero, Endeavour. Opposite to him was another man, wrapped in long strips of cloth, wielding a shortsword as he dodged the Flame Hero's Hellfire.

He was more known to the general public by reputation, but I'd recently looked him up in more detail, and what I saw matched the blurry photos I'd seen in old news articles.

"Is that… Stain?"

"Yeah." I swallowed, my tongue suddenly feeling like lead in my mouth. "It is."

The Hero Killer was there, fighting alongside the League.

We watched in grim silence as the two disappeared into an alleyway, though the light of Endeavour's fires was still visible. Almost unbidden, my mind went back to that day two weeks ago.

"You're a follower of Stain, aren't you?"

That couldn't possibly be a coincidence. It just could not.

Back in the park, the battle was going poorly. Nothing the heroes could throw at the black-skinned Nomu seemed to do more than slow it down, but they had nowhere to retreat to, lest they allow it to attack the firemen struggling to pump water into a burning building at the edge of the plaza. Even the news reporter had fallen quiet, following the battle unfolding below.

The ghostly bear was thrown across the entire clearing as it sought to bar its path, the ethereal shape flickering out. The man within didn't get up.

Then, a familiar shadow passed overhead, and suddenly I knew that they would be alright.

Ryuko in her full dragon form landed on the black Nomu like a meteor, cracks snaking across the concrete as she slammed it into the ground with a mighty crash. A cloud of dust was kicked up, but by the time it cleared the Nomu was back on its feet, swinging wildly at its assailant.

Despite her size Ryuko dodged gracefully before biting down, fangs sinking into black flesh as she yanked back, pulling the Nomu forward. It's footing lost, she lifted it bodily into the air and hurled it across the street with a twist of her neck, away from the firefighters.

Yet still the creature was undaunted as it stood right back up again, the wounds left by Ryuko's teeth visibly healing until they disappeared entirely.

She yelled something at the other Pro-Heroes, though the news helicopter was far too distant to capture her words, but they took off to assist Ingenium with the other Nomu, while Ryuko faced the black-skinned one.

However, rather than attack her, it instead turned around and began plodding towards the firefighters again.

"It's just attacking indiscriminately?"

Wasting no time Ryuko sprang forward, and as soon she closed the distance the Nomu wheeled about, and met her scaled punch with one of its own, the street shaking from the shockwave of their clash.

"Yeah." Kendo nodded. "It seems to be just attacking whatever's nearest."

Out in the distance, the other Heroes had gone to help Ingenium, even as the speedster struggled with the white-skinned Nomu. It had grown vastly in size, huge muscles bulging underneath it's skin as it swung wildly at its opponent.

Ingenium dodged again and again, narrowly avoiding the massive fists that cratered concrete with every blow, even as the other heroes rained fire on it from afar. But every attack they threw at it, it could seemingly throw back, absorbed into it's skin and reflected towards the source.

"Why doesn't he put more distance between them?" Yui asked quietly. "He's so much faster, he should be leading it around."

"It's like Tokage said, it is simply attacking whoever's closest." Yoarashi said, gritting his teeth as he leaned closer to the screen. "He cannot risk losing its attention, or it'll go after the rescue workers."

Ingenium darted in close once more, but this time the Nomu extended it's huge, multi-branched tongue, swinging it towards the Turbo Hero. So close, there was no way he could dodge in time.

Suddenly, blue flames spat out of the exhaust pipes, and he rocketed forward far faster than before, grabbing a hold of the tongue as he went soaring over the Nomu's shoulder. The monster was yanked from its feet, dragged into the air behind Ingenium. Engines howling with exertion, he swung the Nomu by its tongue, smashing it against the street like he was wielding some grotesque flail. The impact sent shudders across the pavement, kicking up a cloud of dust. Ingenium's engines sputtered and died, smoke streaming out of the exhausts as he fell, only for one of the newly-arrived heroes to catch him. The others watched the white Nomu with apprehension, but it seemed like the Turbo Hero's final attack had been enough, and it stayed down.

The camera swung back to the other Nomu and Ryuko, on the other side of the plaza. She had pinned the Nomu down, her massive claws holding each of its arms in a firm grip. Yet, seemingly mindless determination drew the creature forward.

It began pushing itself up, twisting its own arm in the process. With a disgusting rip it came off entirely at the shoulder, revealing a mass of red flesh beneath the black, rubbery skin. Within seconds the stump began writhing, new muscles and bone pushing out to form a new arm.

The Nomu rammed it's barely-reformed fist into Ryuko's face with such force that the huge dragon staggered from the impact. It wrapped it's massive fingers around her throat, squeezing with both hands in an attempt to choke her.

She replied by simply raising on her hind legs, lifting the Nomu clean off the ground. It's footing broken, she slammed it down again, headbutting it into the concrete so hard that it formed a crater.

Before it could get back up again Ryuko sunk her jaws into the Nomu's shoulder and yanked to the side, swinging around to gather momentum before tossing it high into the air, sending the Nomu flying almost directly upwards, well away from the helicopter.

"What is she doing?"

"She's getting it into a position where she can use her most powerful attack without having to worry about collateral damage." I'd seen her use this move before on many occasions.

Ryuko followed the Nomu into the air, spinning around to slap it with her tail and sending it ever higher. She beat her wings, coming to a halt as she opened her jaws, revealing rows of dagger-like fangs.

"Is she going to-"

"Yes."

Just as the Nomu reached the apex of its flight and gravity began pulling it back down towards the ground, there was a clap of thunder. The sky was split by a gigantic arc of lighting flashing between Ryuko's throat and the Nomu, passing through it and into the clouds beyond. It persisted for several seconds, twisting and crackling as the Nomu howled.

A few moments later its charred hulk crashed into the pavement, streams of smoke rising from its surface.

It didn't get up again.

With both of the Nomu down, the tension slowly seemed to unwind as we leaned away from the screen, trying to process the events that had just taken place.

No matter which way I looked at it, I saw the connection. Fujiwara. Stain. The League of Villains. There had to be something there.

I just didn't know what it was, or what to do about it. But it kept eating at me, gnawing at the back of my mind.

"Your sister is awesome." Yoarashi finally said, breaking the silence and shaking me out of my thoughts.

"She is." I said, grateful for something else to think about. "Ryuko is the one who taught me all I know about being a Hero. I owe her everything, for being here."

"Don't put yourself down!" Yoarashi said, clapping a hand to my shoulder, as best as he could considering our size difference. "It was your own labour that brought you to this point! Others may stoke it, but only you can light the fire within you!"

"Even so, it was her recommendation that got me to UA." I told him. "She staked her reputation on me."

From the corner of my eye I saw Tokage giving me an odd look, but she said nothing.

"...Is this you?" Kendo asked, looking at a cabinet off to the side of the room. There were a couple pictures of me. You know, before. She was looking at one of them, a picture from when I'd graduated Grade School, standing side by side with Ryuko.

I nodded.

"You look… nothing like what I imagined, and yet exactly like yourself." She commented.

I shrugged my shoulders, unsure what to say.

"Do you ever miss it?"

…

"Kendo." Yui spoke up, a note of reproach in her voice.

I shrugged again, helplessly. I had accepted I wasn't getting my human body back, so what's the point of reminiscing about it? All it does is… make you feel sad.

The doctors had two theories as to the cause. The first was that it was physiological, that my body had died and there was nothing to shift back into. The other possibility was that the barrier was psychological in nature, created by my trauma at the hands of Fujiwara.
I preferred the former. At least that way, it was something that was out of my hands, something I couldn't affect. That way… it wasn't my own fault.

"Sorry." Kendo apologized, rubbing the back of her head with a bit of embarrassment. "That wasn't a fair question."

"Well, look on the bright side, it could have been worse." Tokage said. Yui gave her the most withering look I had ever seen on her face, but the green-haired girl was unfazed. "Look, imagine if you'd gotten stuck as a human?"

I felt a chill run through my body. Being rendered Quirkless, after having experienced it before… I couldn't think of a crueler fate.

I genuinely didn't know what I would have done then.

"This way, you can still become a Hero."

-----

Though the coverage of Hosu was still ongoing the others had to eventually leave, as tomorrow was a school night. We'd parted amicably after cleaning up the mess in the kitchen, going over the last arrangements for tomorrow, but a part of me was glad to be done with it all, my quota of socialization more than fulfilled for the day.

Ryuko returned late at night, tired but smiling as she gave me a quick hug before going to sleep. The Hero Killer had managed to escape Endeavour and even now a nationwide manhunt was being organized, but the Nomus had been stopped, and there were no deaths, though several pro-heroes and civilians had been severely injured. The League had lost, again.

The next day, we returned to school, but the attack was still the topic of the day and it seemed like everyone was talking about it as I made my way towards 1-B's homeroom. I also noticed an uptick in the amount of attention and looks I was getting from the other students, after my sister's performance last night.

"Today, we will be going over yesterday's results and analyzing what went right and what went wrong." Vlad King began, once everyone had finally arrived. "Before we begin, however, the Class Presidents have requested a moment. Kendo. Tatsuma."

Kendo and I stood up, and I retrieved the pie from where I'd hidden it under my desk, having arrived well before anyone else. She quickly lit the candles and I turned around, walking towards Pony's desk.

On cue, Yui, Tokage and Yoarashi started singing, in english.

<"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you.">

One by one everyone joined in on the song, as I dropped the pie on Pony's desk.

<"Happy birthday to you dear Pony, happy birthday to youuu.">

All the effort that got put into baking it was instantly repaid in the massive smile that split across Pony's face, water glistening at the corner of her eyes. She pushed off her chair and wordlessly sprung forward to throw her hands around my neck in a hug, before moving onto do the same to everyone else.

Spoiler: A/N

And so, the first big butterflies start to happen, and we finally get introduced to Nejire. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for that.

My writing speed has been slowing down due to some idiot meddling with the work schedules, so now that for once I have inspiration to write I don't have the time or energy to. Fantastic.

In other news, I have been granted a channel on @Gorgoneion's Discord server, come over there to bug me about stuff and/or receive updates on the next chapter's progress.

 

[Blackout]

Here's a quick one-shot inspired by discussion on SB about a possible way things could have gone down.

-----

"I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do."

"That's… that's not possible." I replied, holding the doctor's gaze. I was sitting down on a hospital bed, my bloodied clothes long since replaced with a simple green gown.

"Are there no more tests you could try?" Ryuko asked, standing off to the side.

"We've tried everything we can. But it is as if- for all intents and purposes, the Quirk simply isn't there."

"No. You're lying." I said, springing to my feet, and the doctor flinched back. "It can't just be gone!"

"Zaki, please. Yelling at the good doctor won't help."

I sat back down with a crash, as what I hadn't even dared to allow myself to consider before now began to sink in. Not an hour ago, my biggest concern had been that Ryuko hadn't shown up in time for the training, and how I'd wasted time waiting on her.

Wasted my time. Hah. It was all wasted now, all of it.

So fucking pointless.

"We'll get through this." Ryuko said, in an attempt to find the silver lining, as the doctor took his leave to give us some privacy. "At least you're not dead."

I felt the mattress of the hospital bed sink as Ryuko sat beside me. She laid a hand on my shoulder, but I flinched away.

"You should have been there."

I didn't turn to look at Ryuko, but from the corner of my eye I saw her recoil as if struck. The words were stumbling out between my lips, like a river that I couldn't bar.

"You went behind my back. You got Fujiwara fired. And… you were supposed to be there, but you weren't."

I regretted the words before they were even fully out of my mouth, seeing the hurt look on Ryuko's face. But they were out now, hanging between us like a cloud of choking smoke, and neither of us said anything more.

-----

"You are all Third Years now, so it's time to start thinking about your future careers!" The teacher announced, as he laid a heavy stack of papers on the table. "Now, I know what you all-"

The roaring cheer that ran through the class was deafening, as the students made their desires known.

"Yes yes, you all want to be Heroes." The teacher nodded. "Take these career forms, fill them out, and return them to me. We'll get your applications on track."

As the class ended I began gathering my things, few as they were. The others were still talking about their choices,

"I'm applying to Shiketsu!"

"Eh, I think Ketsubutsu is more balanced, to be honest."

"I've been training real hard at my Dad's gym. I'm going to get into UA, you better believe it!"

"Only the best could have a shot at getting into UA. You'd need some real big advantage. Like, say, a recommendation from a pro-Hero." The boy on my right scoffed as he turned to me, a malicious smile on his lips. "Isn't that right, Tatsuma?"

I flinched as he leaned in closer, but didn't otherwise react. Yui, on the other hand, had no such compunctions as she moved to stand between us.

"Koshiro. You can keep your opinions to yourself." If looks could kill, the boy would have spontaneously combusted on the spot.

"Oh, the Ice Queen getting real hot today, aren't you?" He leaned back, folding his arms behind his head. "Well, if you choose to waste your days hanging out with cripples it's no concern of mine."

He walked off, and I could hear laughter as he and his friends piled out of the classroom.

I turned to Yui. "Coming?"

"Sorry." She shook her head. "I have- I won't be going home for a few more hours."

"Preparing for the UA exams, right?"

I had never actually seen Yui look guilty before that moment, as she squirmed in her seat, visibly struggling to find her voice.

"...I see." I said, my expression remaining blank. "It's alright. Best of luck to you."

It was just... alright.

-----

"Honey, we need to talk."

I didn't move my attention from my cereal, as Mom sat down opposite to me.

"Alright."

"Ryuuzaki, look at me when I'm talking to you."

I did so, as she sighed.

"Your homeroom teacher called again. He said that you still haven't sent in your career form."

"..."

"Ryuuzaki. We've talked about this. You need to get into a good High School that'll put you on the track towards a career path."

"I see."

"He also said that your grades still haven't improved. You need to pay more attention at school, or you won't even qualify to take the entrance exams.

"I will." I stated, though we both knew it was a lie.

"I know it's hard." She said, softening her tone. "But you can't give up. It's been two years. You still have a whole life ahead of you, and the choices you make now will impact you years down the line. Even in your condition, you could be a doctor, or a police, or whatever you want."

"But not a Hero." I concluded flatly.

"...No. Not a Hero."

"..."

Mom took a deep breath, and pushed a small stack of papers over to me. "Just... try to take a look through these options, okay?"

I glanced down at the papers, but said nothing.

"I need to get to sleep, I have a conference early tomorrow." She sighed. "But I want you to pick one of these before the end of the week."

"Okay."

"Good." She smiled sadly. "Night."

"Night."

I stared at the pile, unmoving, until Mom was out of the room, before returning to my cereal. After I'd finished eating I got up, and began walking towards my bedroom.

I opened the door, turning on the lights. My room was packed with… stuff.

A brand-new PC. Books. The best audio system money could buy. Rare minifigures. DVDs. Video games. A plasma TV that took up a whole wall.

All of them Ryuko's attempts at making things up, trying to make me comfortable.

I hated them.

An envelope had been left on my bed, unmarked and unaddressed. Curious, I picked it up and retrieved scissors from my desk, cutting it open.

I shook the contents onto my palm, finding sole sort of metallic object, with a red blinking light on the side that suddenly turned green as I touched the device.

Suddenly a myriad of horror scenarios ran through my mind, but before I could act upon any of them, something happened.

Whatever I'd been expecting, it wasn't for the air itself in front of me to start rippling, spiralling as it twisted upon itself, and suddenly black mist began pouring through. It pulled around me, enveloping me before I could so much as let out a yell.

An instant later I stumbled out of the mist, trying to get my bearings. I blinked several times, my eyes slowly adapting to the harsh light glaring from above, and realized I was no longer in my room.

I was in a warehouse of some sort, covered in darkness. The only source of light was directly above, fixed on me.

"Ryuuzaki Tatsuma." I jumped as I heard a voice from behind my back, my heart thumping between my ears as I turned around. There was a shape just outside the light, the distinct outline of a man sitting on a chair, though the contrast made it impossible to discern his features. "Welcome."

"Who are you?"

"We're here to talk about you, my dear. My name is of no importance." He spoke with a strong and clear voice, a pleasant, almost grandfatherly affection in his words. "I heard about what happened. Terrible business. They just don't make villains like they used to."

"What do you want?" I asked, trying to keep the nervous jitters from my voice. "Why have you brought me here?"

"You still want to become a Hero, do you not?" He asked in a conversational tone that nonetheless sent shivers down my spine. "You still yearn to follow in your sister's footsteps, and to fly in the evening sky with your own wings."

I said nothing, as his every word sent a stab at my chest.

"What if I told you that there was a way that you could do that?" He said, and I felt my breathing stop. "What if I told you that there was a way to transfer Quirks?"

"I would say that nobody can transfer a Q-quirk." I stuttered. "It is an impossibility, a miracle."

Yet even as I said that, my mind went back to those old historics, speaking of the time since the emergence of Quirks. Tales and legends of a man who could give and take Quirks.

I felt my heart pumping in my ears.

"Oh, but it is real. I possess just such a power." I saw him lift a hand, holding it out before him. "Hyper Regeneration. Forced Quirk Activation. Even a new Quirk entirely, should your original prove beyond repair. Gifting such an ability, well, it would be as easy as this."

The sound of fingers being snapped echoed across the silent warehouse.

"But such things do not come without a cost. Tell me, Ryuuzaki Tatsuma, what would you give? What price are you willing to pay, for the rebirth of your dream?"

"..."

"I'm sorry my dear, I cannot quite seem to hear you. Please do speak up, my hearing isn't quite what is used to." He chuckled.

"...Anything." I cleared my throat, which suddenly seemed parched. "I would give anything."

"Anything? My my, you drive a hard bargain." The man leaned forward, bringing his face into the light, and I flinched backwards. From the mouth up, his face… it was gone. Nothing more than a horrid mess of lumpy scar tissue. "I'm sure we'll be able to come to a mutually beneficial agreement. All I'll need is… a couple of favours."